Dear Sweet Little Baby Jesus...

we'd like to give thanks for this meal of food we're about to receive. (quick, name that movie!). It's hard for me to believe it's Thanksgiving already. I still feel like we should be making plans to go tubing or take the boat out. This year has really flown by and I have to say, I've enjoyed every minute of it.

We're straying from the holiday norm for us this year, we're making and eating dinner at our house instead of going to the in-laws. I was trying to find a less combative approach to get out of the family dinner, and decided if I cooked my own turkey I would have an excuse to decline the invitation we were going to receive. My plan worked out perfectly! My hubby was on board with my decision and I think is a bit relieved as well. So I'll be cooking a turkey with green bean, squash and sweet potato casseroles. Along with the normal fixings of rolls and cranberry jelly.

We did agree that we would see the family for dessert only and this way we would really be limiting the time we were there and hopefully experience less of the usual drama. I'm very excited that our Thanksgiving will be laid back. We'll have a fire going and probably watch a movie or two. Pineapple Express anyone?

Friday we will be forgoing the Black Friday pandemonium and instead hit up an early showing of "Twilight" and then head home to start putting up the Christmas decorations. Before you know it, it will be Christmas Eve! Hmm, better start thinking now how to get out of that family drama, oh sorry, celebration.

Count back from 10.....

10, 9, 8, zzzzzzzzzzz. Yesterday was my adventure into Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, or EGD for short. Basically, they knock you out and stick a camera down your throat to check out your esophagus and stomach. I've been having issues with abdominal pain since the beginning of the month and it's gotten to the point where most foods upset my stomach. I've pretty much been eating bananas, rice, applesauce and toast for a month. Not fun.

My hubby went with me to the hospital for the outpatient procedure. After they put a painful IV in my hand (ouch, but I didn't cry!), the doctor came in to explain the procedure. They use twilight anesthesia and then go in with a small camera to look at the esophagus and the stomach lining to look for tears, ulcers, or anything else unusual. From start to finish, the whole procedure takes about 15 minutes, and about 30 minutes to come to from the anesthesia.

They wheeled me into the room and I kept complaining how the IV was killing my hand. They hooked me up to some machines to watch my heart rate and oxygen levels and told me they were administering the drugs. Note to self: But some regular, fullback undies for hospital procedures. I had to flip on my side and I was told to count backwards from 10. I was out by the 8 count. Next thing I knew I could hear someone saying "she's a lightweight" and I gradually came to. It turns out they had given me about 1/4th of the drugs they normally give to patients and I was out cold. Hmm, does this mean my bill will be lower?!

The doctor cut out two biopsies to send to Pathology and my initial test for the bacteria that causes Gastroenteritis was negative, a good sign. However, they are still not sure why I am feeling like crap. So, now I have to endure a two hour test on my gallbladder to see if that's what's causing my problems. Joy. So until then, I'm just going to pretend the bananas are chocolate and rice is pizza. *Sigh*

Weekend Wrap-Up

Ah, the Christmas bells are ringing. Actually, they've been ringing since the day after Halloween, but who's paying attention? I know Thanksgiving hasn't even passed but since it's not really a decorating holiday, I tend to skip over it. This weekend my hubby and I finally put away the Halloween decorations and lugged down the 8 boxes and containers that hold my growing array of Christmas paraphernalia. As he handed down the boxes I admit I stopped to scratch my head to remember when I purchased a few items. Oh well, you can never have too many decorations!

We also ventured out into the cold to do some gift shopping. My favorite purchase of the day was a ski hat with faux fir trim that I got for $3, marked down from $70! I don't even intend to go skiiing, but for that price, who could resist?! Hubby found me a Wustof knife on sale and got it for me as a present. Overall, we crossed quite a few names off of our list and stocked up on White Elephant presents as well.

Later that evening we headed to T.'s house to watch the Texas game. I decided to make chicken wings (who doesn't like those?) and a new recipe for brownies. I found it on the HungryGirl website and you take a box mix for Brownies and add in one can of pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie filling). Don't add anything else and bake for 35-40min. It takes the calorie content per piece down to 65. Not too shabby! The kiddos ate them without complaint and being the sweet lover I am, I was thrilled with them. I'll only make my brownies this way from now on, sorry people!

The highlight of Sunday was finishing the last book in the Twilight series I've been raving about, Breaking Dawn. This book had about 800 pages and I was hooked from the first page. Loved it, and now I can stop obsessing about it since I know the ending. I also did my food shopping for the lovely turkey I'm making on Thursday. It was a nice relaxing weekend and I really enjoyed hanging out with my hubby and the neighborhood friends!

Bookworm

I was able to finish the third book (Eclipse) in the Twilight series last night. Sigh. I LOVE this series. Have I mentioned that before? I've already started the last book, Breaking Dawn, and will probably polish it off this weekend. It's nice to be a speed reader.

Concert Review

Last night my hubby and I went to see Augustana and One Republic at a hot local music venue. Two other opening acts performed, but we didn't go early enough to check them out. Augustana went on around 8:30ish and kicked off their performance with some songs I was unfamiliar with (but still rocked out to) and then went into their radio hits Sweet & Low and Boston. Loved it! They were entertaining, got the crowd involved and made me laugh out loud a few times.

The headliner, One Republic, took the stage in a behind schedule, but totally expected rock star way. The lights in the venue were dimmed to a moody blue tint and a single candle was placed on the piano. The cello/guitar player came onstage and began playing a song all while recording it onto a looper. About two minutes into his instrumental playing, the other 5 band members came onstage and they launched into "Goodbye Apathy" which was amazing to say the least.

Going to a concert is always a crapshoot. The artist will either sound similar to their CD or nothing like it at all. You always hope for the best and that the artist can actually sing without all that post-production jazz they do on CD's. One Republic did not let me down! It's safe to say the lead singer, Ryan Tedder, sounded even better in person. The notes and runs he can sing are beautiful and impressive. He hits some rather high notes for a male singer, but he's able to come off sultry and not feminine in the least bit.

They sang all their hit songs: Apologize, Say, All Fall Down and Stop& Stare. They even tried out some news songs that will be on their second album due out next summer. My hubby and I swayed to the music and sang along to the crowd favorites. Like Augustana, they interacted with the crowd, made us laugh and even made me forget my feet were hurting from standing! Overall, I give them an 8.5 out of 10. Totally worth seeing them for $25!

My Warranty Expired When?!

We've been having some car issues with my hubby's car. I thought it was running funny because the engine sounded different when I was driving it around town. My hubby ignored my concerns because the car was only 5 years old and had under 50,000 miles on it. "It's fine. It sounds great."

Last week while I was trying to drive to work the dang car stopped working on me. I pulled over and called my hubby (who wasn't very helpful) and I left it at a pool house and waited for a cab to take me to work. We called a tow truck and had the car taken to a local mechanic with a good record. They decided to do a tune-up and they were hoping that would take care of the problem. Not so much. Turns out there was metal chunks in the transmission which in short means we needed a new one. Crap, more money to be spent.

Sadly, we found out the transmission was two months out of warranty, so we couldn't rely on Acura to foot the bill. My hubby thought this was ludicrous, I mean, what kind of car craps out at 50,000 miles? I decided to let my hubby handle calling Acura and trying to get them to see our side of the issue. My heart fell when we found out a re manufactured tranny costs around $2500! Hello new tranny, goodbye new washer/dryer.

I don't doubt the arguing skills of my hubby, he's just a smooth talker who normally gets what he wants. So he managed to talk with Acura and based on the cars age and the fact we were young car buyers,etc,etc, he got them to pay everything but $500! Hallelujah! We also found out the airbags were defective, but they are fixing them because the warranty was still in effect.

Product Review

I try out a lot of makeup and hair products, mostly out of curiosity. I thought I would start reviewing the products to help save others some money on products that are below par.

My first product review is Tresemme Curl Locking Spray. My hair has a curly/wavy attitude naturally and I'm always looking for a product that doesn't weigh my curls down and doesn't have the crunchy texture that is so often associated with curls. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by this product. It suggests you mist the underside of your hair first, in order to achieve ample volume. Then flip back and spray the top of your hair. You must then use a diffuser or the dryer on low and set the spray.

This spray helps with frizziness and really locks the curl in. The only problem I have with this product is that it works so well, it's harder to comb through my hair after it's been washed. The cost was around $4.00 per bottle, and the spray nozzle applies an even mist over the hair. I have spent around $20 per bottle on a Curl Spray from Aveda, and I think I'll be switching to the Tresemme version for good. I give this product a 8 out of 10.

I'm A Book Nerd

Last night I managed to finish "New Moon," which is the second book in the Twilight series. It's so freakin' good! I couldn't put it down and I was engrossed in the book all through lunch and once I got home. If you haven't started reading this series, give it a try. But it's addicting, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Word on the street is they are also adapting this book into a movie to be released sometime in early 2010. It wouldn't surprise me if they work overtime to get it released in 2009 to really cash in on the series popularity. There will also be movies based on the last two books in the series.

I personally can't wait to see Twilight in theaters, which happens to premiere this Friday! I doubt I'll be one of the crazies standing in line to see it on opening day, but maybe I will catch a matinee on Sunday.

I've Jumped On The Bandwagon...

I freakin' love the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I've been seeing the previews for the movie adaptation coming out on the 21st, and decided to buy the book. I did a little research on the book and found that half the women raving about this book were over 25 years old. Based on the previews, I did realize the storyline was about a girl who falls in love with a boy who is a modern-day vampire. What's not to love?

Off I went to Barnes & Noble this weekend to pick up a copy of the book. The entire 4 set series is available for purchase, but I decided to get the first book and go from there. You can definitely tell how popular the series is just based on the book's placement in the store. Another detail I noticed is that the beginning two books are offered in both hardback and softback. The last two books are offered only in hardback which are a good $10-15 difference in price. It goes to show you that the publishing company knows that they had a winner on their hands and the readers would pay the difference just to have the book.

After I awoke from my nap on Sunday, I headed out to relax in the hottub and start reading my new book. Let me tell you, I couldn't put the damn book down! The book is about 480 pages and not one chapter, lest one page is remotely boring. For the next 5 hours I was captivated by the book and I was transformed to the little town of Forks, Washington (where the story takes place)and couldn't wait to finish the book. Keep in mind I'm a speed reader, but I think most readers should be able to finish this book in 2-3 days easily.

The author, Stephanie Meyer, weaves a story that includes such intricate detailing that I had no trouble envisioning the most minute details. I could picture the main characters, Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, in my head and I could really picture their mannerisms and energy. I'm in love with this book and I understand why so many girls and women have fallen for this series. It feels like your reading the diary of Isabella or "Bella" because it all feels so personal. It was easy to feel the angst of Bella and the energy between her and Edward. Remarkable. While doing some research on the author, I found she really had no intention of sharing this book (which was based on a dream) and that's why the writing has such a personal feel to it.

I give this book a 10 out of 10 and I'm buying the second installment after work today. Needless to say, I'm very excited to see the movie. Movie adaptations are usually lacking details that are imperative to the book, but I'm still open to what the movie has to offer.

Weekend Wrap-up

I had such a lovely weekend! Friday night right after work my hubby and I along with two friends headed to the Spurs vs. Houston basketball game. A builder friend gave us the tickets for free, and I do love free events!

I'm still having some stomach issues so while we were driving I was eating a huge bowl of rice (for which I was ridiculed for) all while hoping my stomach would behave at the arena. We laughed and chatted the whole ride and we were all very excited to eat some "ballpark food" once we found our seats. I really wanted cotton candy and a hot dog, but I figured it would do quite a number on my stomach, so I went with the safer choice of cheese pizza. I'll admit, I did stalk the cotton candy hard and really hoped she would make it to our section.

Our seats were pretty good, we were in the first row on the higher section, but we were in a railed off part so no one was actually sitting directly behind us. They were on a raised platform which meant no kicking of seats or spilling of drinks, etc. The game was good, but the last 5 minutes were the best. It was a low scoring game, 76 to 74 in favor of the Spurs. I used to cheer for basketball in my middle school days so I do know the rules of basketball and can follow along nicely. I was hooting and hollering with the best of them and I really enjoyed myself. My poor hubby has been burning the candle at both ends for the past few weekends and to my surprise he was checking his eyelids for cracks after half-time.

Saturday found me meeting up with some girlfriends for an afternoon of shopping and camraderie. We all managed to find some great additions to our wardrobes and even some holiday decorations. Needless to say, I'm not allowed to buy any more decorations this year! After we were tired of shopping, we headed back to C.'s house where Bobby was cooking up a pre-Thanksgiving feast. It was his test run for the meal he is going to prepare for his family next week. The food was fabulous and we all stuffed ourselves silly.

The fun contined as we all decided to play Guitar Hero Rock Band on the Wii. I've never played Guitar Hero and it was a learning lesson for most of the crew. After a while we got the hang of it and I'm actualy really good on the "drums." It's safe to say we played the game for around 5 hours. My hands were killing me from holding the drum sticks! We played until we got sleepy and then called it a night. I was too tired to drive home so I crashed in the guest bedroom with C's chi Penny. I had to poke her a few times during the night because she never moved!

Sunday I rose early and headed back home. I stopped at McDonald's for a busicut and decided to pick up some food for my hubby. He was jealous I was having so much fun and didn't come home so I thought I would be nice. When he woke up and saw the food I got him he asked me if "I was feeling guilty for not coming home and if that's why I bought him food." Um, no actually. I didn't feel like cooking breakfast for your ass so I got you food. Crazy boy.

It was a great weekend and I had a blast hanging out with everyone. Can you believe it's only 10 days until Thanksgiving?!

Music I'm Diggin'

Lovin' me some Kanye West right now!


Totally diggin' Lady Gaga:


Rihanna is so spot-on with every dang song!


This Apocalyptica video montage is great because it's the version that's heavy with the cello and instrumentals.


I love HIM, and this new song Bittersweet is awesome. Gotta love the cellos!

Rewind

Is it possible to just go ahead and rewind the month of November? So far it's been pretty shitty and I'd like a do-over. First the hospital issue, now this morning my hubby's car tanks on me while I'm heading to work. Apparently it could be a cheap fix, or potentially a $5,000 fix if it's the transmission. F'ing wonderful.

November 1st please come back!

Finally A Missed Connection!

Wahoo, it's about time! I realize I'm lame, but I've always wanted to see someone thinking I was their "missed connection" on Craigslist. Case in point:

Little Red Riding Hood - m4w - 39 (heading to 6th St.)

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Date: 2008-11-01, 12:42PM CDT

Red, you were beautiful and sexy. I was hooked the moment I saw you, and wished I could have been your Big Bad Wolf.



The only reason I know this is me is because an older guy yelled something about being my Big Bad Wolf while we were walking from the Warehouse district to 6th St., lol. Too funny. Thanks again T for letting me borrow that costume!

Dreaming away...

The other night I had a fabulous dream where I was swimming in the ocean and it was very calm and peaceful. I was swirlling round and round with a stingray that was on my back and we just swam in circles until I was dizzy. It was a very nice dream. When I woke up I discovered that my furbaby was laying against my back, so I think that's why I had the dream being back-to-back with the stingray.

Since it was an unusual dream I thought I would consult the dream dictionary to see the hidden meaning of my dream. Here is what I found:

Body of water -A body of water such as an ocean, lake, etc. can represent:

The context of your life—meaning the setting and situations within which the your life takes place—"your world"

You swimming or floating in a body of water can represent freedom from your usual limitations or stresses.

A calm body of water can represent peace or relaxation.

Stingray- Fluidity of movement, agility, and the ability to lay low and camouflage oneself (especially emotionally).Dreaming of this animal can represent: Having too much of one of these qualities, or that you could benefit by being less this way.

Not having enough of one of these qualities, or that you could benefit by being more like this.

Someone or something in your real life with whom you associate one of these qualities (an event, situation, threat, etc.)

For more clues, pay attention to what the animal was doing or any particular characteristic that stood out.

Swimming -Swimming can represent moving forward in your life or trying to achieve a goal (get somewhere in your life), or freedom from your usual limitations.

After disecting my dream, I think it has to do with my trip back home and how my hubby and I realized we did the right thing by moving away and we made a good choice. I believe the fact that the stingray was sweet and very chill means that I'm in a good place in my life.

I Just Flew Into Town, and Boy Are My Arms Tired!

Following my hospitalization drama, I was cleared to leave last Wednesday and fly back home for a dear friends wedding. Talk about trying to fit a square peg in a round hole! It's so difficult to try and balance seeing family and friends that it tends to leave me feeling exhausted, yet deliriously happy. I was able to spend some quality time with my grandparents and sister early on in my visit and catch up on the latest news.

Both grandparents are doing well, we watched a ton of Western movies as well as a few scary movies while I was there. My grandpop even cooked his Sunday breakfast (which happens to be my favorite) on Friday since I wouldn't be able to make it to his house for the breakfast on Sunday! For a man who thrives on schedules to take care of my grandmother, I knew this was a big deal for him and I really appreciated it.

I was also able to have lunch with my mom three times as well as meeting her for breakfast Saturday morning before the wedding festitivies took place. I saw a few movies with my sister (FYI $9.75 for an adult movie ticket is crazy!) and we did some shoe shopping, Starbucks runs and cruised around Target for good deals. Oh, and we tried some Harry & David Chocolate Covered Bing Cherries and they are to die for!

Friday night brought us to the beach for the rehearsal and then off to the swanky Venetian Village for dinner at Bayside. I finally got to meet our friend's fiance and her family and they are amazing. One sister lives by me so we've exchanged phone numbers and plan on getting together, and the finance's twin sister is a crazy fun partier. The dinner menu was sumptuous: Your choice of Grouper, Pistachio and Macadamia Nut Snapper, Herb-crusted Chicken or the biggest steak I've ever seen. Oh and my personal favorite, Flourless Chocolate Cake or Key Lime Pie. After we gorged ourselves on food and conversation, the younger generation headed down to 5th Avenue to bar hop. We danced the night away at Yaba's and then McCabe's Irish Pub (one of the first dates the couple went on). My lovely younger sister was able to join us for the afterparty and we had a good time dancing away. My cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much.

Saturday we were able to fit in a little time at the beach before the boys took off to get over to the hotel and into their tuxes and I had to beautify myself for the wedding. All guests were instructed to meet at the Philharmonic for cocktails and then the trolley would take us to the beach. Let me tell you, the cocktails were Champagne with peach nectar and they were amazing! I knocked back two of them in a short while (all without eating much earlier) and needless to say I was a bit tipsy for the ceremony! After the bride and groom said their vows with the beautiful beach and ocean as the backdrop, we were whisked back over to the Philharmonic where the real party started. The food was plentiful and amazing, and they even had a chocolate fountain! We ate, danced, and laughed the night away. We finally called it a night around 2am, we were exhausted.

Sunday had us running around trying to see all of our friends with kiddos so we could be the good out-of-town Aunt & Uncle. It was really amazing to see how fast these kids have grown and their individual personalities. I took a lot of great photos which I will share tomorrow!

So Good To Be Home!

For those of you who don't know, I've been in the hospital the past couple of days. I started feeling unusual and sharp shooting pains in my abdomen after lunch on Friday. I've had long-standing issues with my stomach so I took my usual Zantac and figured it would go away in an hour or so. My office worked a charity event for Halloween Friday night and I knew something was wrong when I didn't even eat any candy! I continued to suck it up and even managed to dress up as Little Red Riding Hood and braved the overwhelming crowds on 6th street to party with my hubby and some friends. We called it an evening around midnight because my pain was rapidly increasing.

When I woke up on Saturday, I realized the pains were constant and this was not your run of the mill stomach ache. Logic would have said to go to the ER right away and be evaluated, but my vanity said the ER would have to wait. After all, I had a color appointment scheduled that afternoon and I wanted to look my best for the fancy wedding I was attending the next weekend! So off I went to the salon and sat through my appointment in pain and the whole salon thought it was very funny (and probably pathetic) that I kept my appointment. After they finished and I had some bitching dark highlights put in, my hubby picked me up and off the ER we went. Once there, I told them my symptoms and they immediatly put me on a stretcher and hooked me up to and IV, drew vials of blood and generally scared the shit out of me because it was apparent something was really wrong. Oh and did I mention I have baby veins and it takes forever to find them and when they put the IV in I cried like damn baby? And I can guaratnee it wasn't the only time I would be crying that weekend.

I was whisked off for a CT scan of my abdomen and then for an ultrasound to check for cysts or a possible ectopic pregnancy. My pain was increasing so to make me comfortable they gave me morphine. Two words: NASTY STUFF. They had only pumped about 1mg in my and I began to sweat, get tunnel vision and feel nauseaus. I demanded they stop( ok, I cried and feebly told them no more morphine) and it took me about twenty minutes to stop breathing heaving and the nauseaus feeling to pass. After four hours, they couldn't find a cause of my pain and loaded me up on synthetic morphine for pain and sent up home. They called about two hours later and informed us the the second radiologist DID think I had appendicitis and I needed to come back immedatily. Oh goody. Forty minutes later we arrive and again, I'm stuck with needles, asked to drink a foul and vile tasting idoine mixture and they would then do an enhanced CT scan. Again, nothing conclusive so we were sent home with instructions to return if resting on Sunday didn't help the pain.

After resting Sunday and speaking with my boss who is a doctor, he informed me to go to the ER as soon as possible because my symptoms were cause for alarm. For the third time that weekend, we headed to the main hospital downtown and I was seen in about ten minutes (It pays to know people in high places and with medical pull!). They informed me I needed to have a special ultrasound where they insert a catheter and fill up my bladder so they can see my girly parts better. Oh, and the kicker was they wanted a med-student to insert the thing! Hell to the NO! I agreed to the test, but only if a regular nurse inserted the catheter. I'm sure you've guessed, but I cried. For thirty minutes straight, thru the whole test. If you ever are informed you need a catheter, run for the freakin' hills! With this test, he does the belly ultrasound, then informed me to insert this harpoon looking vibrator stick like I would a tampon. Exscuse me? What tampon do you know that looks has the thickness of a summer sausage?! I was not a happy camper.

At about 4am they decide they want to keep me overnight for more tests and evaluation. They were trying to decide if they needed to do exploratory surgery and see what the problem was. The main issue for me was I was not allowed to eat or drink anything all of Monday until about 3:30pm. If you know me, I normally eat every two to three hours. I was freaking misearble and kept calling the nurse to see if I could eat yet. They inform me they are not sure about the surgery and will be keeping me overnight again. WHATEVER, JUST FEED ME! They brought me a smorgashboard (jello, pudding, crackers, carrots and half a sub). I was hooked up to more IV's and stuck with so many needles I lost count.

The doctor woke me up around 6am to tell me they don't want to operate and they think the worst is over. Their best evaluation was I had a ruptured cyst or a gastroinestinal issue that would hopefully subside by the weekend. I was okay with that answer because the pain hadn't gotten worse and I was ready to get the hell out of there. So I have pain meds and instructions to go back in two weeks and possibly have a camera stuck down my throat to see my insides. Cool. The only good part of the whole weekend was my girlfriends came to visit me and called multiple times to check on me, sent text messages and brought me beautiful flowers and magazines. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Any takers on helping me pain the ineveitable huge hospital bill that will be in the mail next week?!