Photos from My Life Break

February 15-21

Usually my parent's house has snow even when we don't. They are about 2ish hours north of us and in the mountains. This time though they missed BOTH of the big storms that we'd had. So when I got home the ground was mainly bare of all snow. Weird.

Monday night though (my first night there) look what I saw!!

Apparently I brought it with me!

Other notable photos that week. I sent this one to Josh and told him I bought a new hat.

He was not amused. Such a weirdo. Lol.

Mom and I were playing dress up while shopping obviously.

I also found these at Walmart.

They are super yummy and not at all gross like people think. Mainly peanut butter flavored with just a hint of strawberry, everyone I've forced to try them love them. SUPER addictive.

I did try to get a photo of it actually snowing.

But with screens in all the windows it didn't turn out too well.

And here is a photo of Sassy watching the snow and waiting for her two boyfriends to come visit.

They evaded me all week. I think she told them I was mean or something because the evening after I left they showed up. Ugh.

I got home on Friday and we had a party to attend. It was a fondue and game night at our friend's house and it was SO MUCH FUN. Josh was super sleep deprived and it made him absolutely hilarious. Next post will discuss Josh's sleep deprivation. Lol.

Saturday was a lazy day.

Sunday I was back up near my parent's house. Unfortunately, my family couldn't meet me. I had gone up with Kandice to pick up a puppy. Long story, but the puppy is Kandice's new puppy Masi (MAY-cee)'s sister. Did you get all that?

Here is the former Lucy Lou. Her new owner's renamed her.

Kandice and I did get to eat lunch at Wegmans with her parents. Oh I love Wegmans. We also grabbed some premade sushi for when we got home for dinner. And when we stopped at Sheetz I found some coconut M&M's (Can you tell I'm on a chocolate kick lately?? - Easter is around the corner!) that I shared for dessert. Lol.

So that is all for now about that week. Can't wait to tell you what Josh was doing while I was gone!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Time for a three week update.

Three weeks already? Who I am kidding? This feels like the LONGEST three weeks EVER.

The difference between last week and this week are crazy though. This time last week I was a blubbering, crying, inconsolable mess. This week. Eh. I would say I am about 70% back to my normal. Give or take a couple percents.

Physically things hurt less. I'm still having some breathing issues, I have a little trouble occasionally when I eat (it seems I can't swallow food, which feels stuck, which makes me feel like my chest is ripping apart, which makes me panic, which makes me feel like I'm dying), and my shoulders and ribcage are still tender.

Mentally I am processing everything better. I am not so forlorn and lost. Things are starting to look up.

Emotionally I have stopped crying every day. I have it down to like once every 2-3 days.

I think that last 30% is going to take a while. I wish it wouldn't, but it's just a feeling I have. Which is not cool because I KNOW that healing is mind over matter and my mind is just not into it.

Grrrr.

Oh, and did you know that we are having SNOW?!?! Yes it is SNOWING. I have to capitalize SNOW because everyone is all worked up about the SNOW. Lololol.

I took this photo at 4:30ish. It had just started.

There is supposedly 22 total inches on the way for here. Maybe? Who knows.

I couldn't get a picture of the snow tonight because it was too dark out. So I took this photo of ME at 9PM.

I love Oscar. And my Halloween skull PJ pants. Oh baby!

And I haven't mentioned the upcoming Super Bowl yet because so much ELSE is going on. So about that Super Bowl. With those teams playing. Who I have NO idea who they are. Yeah...

People wigging out have ruined my Super Bowl food making plans. I wanted to make pizza roll. I need frozen bread. THE GROCERY STORE WAS OUT OF FROZEN BREAD. Seriously?? I HATE being that person at the store, but I was so annoyed. So I might be making pizza bites instead. Or I may use my friend's pizza dough recipe found HERE. She has an awesome cooking blog.

We aren't hosting this year and have two parties to attend. I'm kind of excited as long as snow doesn't freak too many people out.

So that is my three week wrap up.

Maybe I will get out tomorrow and take some SNOW pictures.

I haven't used my camera in almost a MONTH. BOOOOOOO.

*hugs and kisses*

mj

I realize it's December and all...

but can I add to my wishlist??

I want THIS.

It is a freaking heaven in brownie form!! And I can make rice crispy treats, and mini cakes, and any other tiny snack I want!

Please Santa, if you are listening... I NEED this. :-)

I found out about this from some internet friends. I participated in a gift exchange and sent my exchangee her gifts on Monday. She got them today!! Her husband had gotten her the magic posted above and had it sent to their house. Silly husband forgot she gets home first. Lol. BUT she's excited none the less.

People also started getting my Christmas/Holiday cards. Yay!!

I'm currently sick (boo) with super sore throat and monster head congestion. Tomorrow I meet with the surgeon about my alien baby.

Only 8 days until CO!

Only 21 days until Mole Removal!

Only 22 days until Operation too busy Christmas Season begins!

And Only 23 days until CHRISTMAS!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

It's December 1

Which means only 24 days until Christmas. I love Christmas and normally adore this time of year, but things have been less than fabulous around here.

Let's do a list of things that is going crazy in my life as a way to deal with it and MOVE on.

1. My alien baby. Surgeon appointment on Thursday. I better get some answers.

2. Family issues. Teenagers are stupid. I love them, but stupid. *sigh* I screwed up too as a teenager, but when I was a teenager there wasn't the social networking or INTERNET or the over abundance of cell phones. Stupid.

3. A week from Thursday we leave for CO. The Ativan test went exceptionally well on Sunday. I'm still nervous about getting everything together and about the whole... you know... FLYING thing.

4. My christmas/holiday cards are out. Now I'm afraid I forgot people. Awesome.

5. I'm getting sick I fear. My throat is sore. Really sore. I have a tree to buy and decorate on Saturday!!

6. Still have presents to buy and wrap, and yet when?

7. Need to buy all the ingredients for Christmas cookies, make said cookies, wrap and distribute. Oh, and before all THAT I need to figure out WHAT I'm making.

8. Oh, and I have to pack for the trip.

9. The house is barely half decorated.

10. We are hosting TWO family Christmases at our house. This means we need to clean the house.

So want to be able to properly stalk my movements?

Thursday Dec 3 - surgeon appt

Friday Dec 4 - pick up friend WEDDING dress

Saturday Dec 5 - get Christmas tree

Sunday Dec 6 - pack and maybe make cookies

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Dec 7,8,9 - work

Thursday Dec 10 - fly to CO!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday Dec 11, 12, 13, 14 - hang out in CO and try to get together with some friends

Tuesday Dec 15 - fly back from CO

Wednesday Dec 16 - do lots of laundry

Thursday, Friday Dec 17, 18 - work

Saturday Dec 19 - finish shopping/wrapping for Christmas

Sunday Dec 20 - enjoy the day... or most likely clean the house

Monday Tuesday Dec 21, 22 - work

Wednesday Dec 23 - have my arm cut open to remove the pre-skin cancer cancer cells

Thursday Dec 24 - work early and begin food prep, then have immediate family Christmas

Friday Dec 25 - Christmas! Open gifts with Josh, then drive to parent's house

Saturday Dec 26 - Drive back from parent's house in time to make it to FIL side family Christmas

Sunday Dec 27 - Get up early to make food, and then host MIL side of family Christmas

Monday Dec 28 - SLEEP

Tuesday, Wednesday Dec 29, 30 - work

Thursday Dec 31 - New Year's EVE

Friday Jan 1 - Thank God it's the freakin new year and hope it's better than the last one!!

I might update now and then. If not either I'm doing the above things or I'm dead. Weeee!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

A Swell Sunday

Originally today we were supposed to hit up Virgin Mobile Freefest today in Columbia, MD. I managed to score some tickets thanks to a friend I chat with on the internet. :0)

And even with the awesome line up (Girl Talk, Weezer, Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday and more...) we decided to bag it. Why? Although the idea of a concert is fantastic, the actual concert makes me cringe. I am NOT a crowd person. As much as I love people and LOVE being in FRONT of a crowd, being IN a crowd make me want to ball up and cry.

Oh wait. I've done that. The last time was in high school (it was fourth of July, I lost my friends, I sat on a curb in the middle of a crowd and cried until someone found me). I was 18. *sigh*

Since then I have managed to not actually do the whole sitting down and crying thing, but I still start to hyperventilate a little sometimes. I do slightly better at concerts if there are seats. This concert was not to have seats. And there would be LOTS of people at this sold out event.

The closer it got, the more nervous I got. Josh is the best husband in the world, knew I was getting apprehensive and this morning we decided to just stay home. We did manage to find some friends interested in the show who took the tickets from us today (hope it was good!).

THEN I made Josh a happy little camper. He's been missing his favorite Skull Candy ear buds (that I bought on clearance because they were blue and Josh was all like "WHY did you buy those for me?" and I was all like "because they were on SALE and they were BLUE." And he was like "You'd probably buy crap - literally - if it was on sale." And I was all like "Only if it was blue." And he rolled his eyes. And then I said "Fine, I'll return them." But then I didn't and then he fell in love with them and he completely ignored the fact he didn't want them in the first place. So I win.) since FOREVER and he was soooo upset.

Guess who found them today? Oh yes. I am the freaking most awesomest person ever.

As my reward he agreed to grab some dinner and go to a park. We grabbed subs at Jim and Nena's. I had suggested Same Lewis. Josh wanted something new. So instead we headed to Highpoint Scenic Vista (the Mason Dixon Trail goes RIGHT through here).

This whole post started as a reason to post some pictures. That was a lot of words just for some pictures. Lol.

There are more pictures. And more story (involving ice cream!). But it's late and I'm tired.

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Gender Biased While Dining Out

I suppose Josh and I are not a typical couple when it comes to dining out - or eating in general. Is it fried, full of calories with no real nutritional value? Please sit it down in front of me. Is it water, salad or "good/better for you"? Please pass that over to my husband.

This is how a typical dining out evening will go for us- we sit down at our dining establishment of choice (usually some mid-priced chain place - what? we're cheap!). I order a coke - Josh asks for a water. Waiter scurries off, returns and puts the water in front of me and the coke in front of Josh. *sigh* I've tried saying something, quickly switching them so the waiter sees, or even making a joke about it. Nope. Does not compute. They will even refill the drinks and HAND THEM BACK TO THE WRONG PERSON. I do NOT drink DIET. EVER.

And then for the ultimate fun is when the ordering begins. I usually request some sort of fried food. Usually just an appetizer or something. Josh will order a salad about 75% of the time. Once again they will put the salad in front of me (ummm - I don't eat salad. It does not digest. At all. Salad makes my post dinner time WAY too TMI.) and pass the unhealthy appetizer/dinner over to Josh.

To finish off this fun of misunderstanding - a lot of evenings I have my purse, but Josh will leave his wallet in the car. It's a joint bank account. Yet, not only do they give him the bill, but when they bring it back to sign they hand it to him. The card has MY name on it. Melissa. Which is not even a partial boys name. *le sigh*

People, people, people. There are some men that are conscientious of their figures (take Josh as a healthy example of working out, eating right, etc) and some ladies that just love to eat what they want (*waves*).

For any servers out there - please consider that the woman is the soda drinking, fried food eating person who pays for dinner. And for any other's like us - any advice? At all??

And here is a picture of me biting Josh's face just because it's a funny picture. I feel as though I need to place a photo in every post to make this blog more interesting. Hopefully they all won't be me "abusing" my husband.

*hugs and kisses*

mj

What things have I missed blogging about recently??

There are a couple of problems with me blogging. Well at least when you're entire blog is just an ongoing self-centered dialog of one person's relatively uneventful and monotonous life. See my blog STARTED as an informative blog about my upcoming surgeries with lots of detail, my experiences etc. I did throw in some personal non-related stories - but mostly it was useful. Now... not so much.

The Problems:

*Does anyone even read this thing? I mean I guess I could consider it a journal and just be okay that *I* can look back and remember the fun things I've done. BUT there is some comfort knowing that others appreciate my narcissistic self proclamations and stories.

*Even if they read it, do they care? When I was younger I wanted to be famous. I thought I was special. I wanted to be a writer, an entertainer. Not really an actress/singer/model fame - but a fame because of me fame. I find myself amusing and insightful. I enjoy writing and talking (I may be a bit of a loudmouth). I read other bloggers who have become famous and I admire them so much. I thought I had that charisma. I am starting to think it's just me who thinks that.

So to my few blog followers. Leave me a message. Even if it is just to say "hi." Help feed my narcissistic self please. Kthanksloveyou!!

Some things I've missed and not blogged about. Not going to do it now either really... but here are some links with pictures.

Two weeks ago today on July 11, 2009 Josh's sister got married. Here is her rehearsal from that Friday night. And then here are the wedding pictures and the reception pictures. Taking wedding photos is HARD to do. I don't have another wedding for a while to practice with, but hopefully I'll start figuring out how to use this camera. *sigh*

What else have I missed?

Well - my grandparents anniversary (july 9), my parents anniversary (july 18), and Josh's littlest sister's 9th birthday (july 14) - which we celebrated at his middle sister's wedding on the 11th.

Ummmm... lots of dinners at Jason and Kandice's new house. Wings with friends. Tuesday night Zumba classes.

Oh, and my final appointment with the plastic surgeon until April 20TEN. Lol. It seems so far away. He said all looks well, blah blah blah. Mammogram next April. Ugh. And unless I have questions or issues, he'll see me then. It seems so weird that pre-surgery this was such a big deal. And although it's still a big deal (I still sometimes find clothes I used to wear that I haven't since and it's like "whoa") it doesn't even really feel like I had surgery. I mean I recovered so quickly with such little pain... I expected more pain as a reminder. Nope.

Although - there is a little pain currently. My boobs are sore. But more like period sore than any other pain. So that's excellent.

Okay, off to get ready for a bike race today. Wish Josh luck!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Day ELEVEN post op

Where does the time go?  Seriously.  Where?  Because I am desperately finding the hours and minutes slipping by and I'm not sure how I'm even going to get all I need accomplished.

Remember when you were little (or maybe it was just me... I doubt it) and time would go by SO SLOW.  You'd be like "I can't wait until I'm [fill in the blank age here] so I can [fill in something that seemed so COOL right here]."  Bet you don't say THAT anymore.  Okay, unless some of my readers are like 9 years old and then I'm sure you still can't wait until that next big birthday.  MY next big birthday will be the 30 one... and that's only 3 years from this May.  *sigh*  Nothing cool happens after the 21 one.  NOTHING.  Argue if you like, but that's how I feel.  Hrmph.

Back to the post title.  Today is day 11 after my surgery. So far so good!  My last update was day 6 (oops) and I've been pretty busy.  So let's play recap and go over what I've been doing and how it's affected my recovery.

Thursday our house guest came early, so we went to Cobblestone's with some friends for Yuengs and wings.  All good.

Friday was GORGEOUS out.  I went for about a 40 minute walk.  Then hung out with some neighbor peeps.  Got a little gossip, got a little information and met my neighborhood friend's new boyfriend.  

During this walk I was in HEAVEN!!  I had ZERO pain.  I could walk with my back straight.  Heck, my bra's shoulder straps weren't even DOING anything to hold my new boobs up.  It was magical and oh so gratifying.  I could have walked another 40 mins... well except for the strange reconnecting nipple nerve pain that was going on.  Lol.  But all my previous issues were GONE.  

I practically floated around on my walk.  Well maybe not, but it certainly felt like it.

Later that evening we went to an outdoor bar with friends.  It was nice at first, but when the sun went down.  HOLY coldness!! I was sitting there shivering in the following - tank top, 3/4 sleeve shirt, zip up hoodie, jeans and closed toed shoes.

So we are all sitting there, in the outdoor bar, BY THE WATER (creek, whatever) and in walks these three girls.  LMAO, OMG, LOL, ROTFL.  Okay, now all three girls are very attractive, very nice bodies.  But while I sit at our table shivering they are wearing itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, DRESSES.  My favorite though was the girl in this tight strapless number that hit mid thigh - and ZIPPED up the front.  Granted it was fully zipped but... ummm... yeah.

We left shortly after their arrival, came back to our house and watched Yes Man with Jim Carey.  It was a cute movie.

Saturday was gorgeous again and as soon as Josh got home from his Round the River 70some mile ride with the boys, we headed to Sam Lewis Park.  Before getting there we grabbed subs.  Yummmm.  I love subs on a nice day in a park.  Seriously.  

After eating I went on ANOTHER long walk with Josh.  Well it was supposed to be long.  I petered out.  Holy boob pain!  Now I am still taking my Tyenol every 4 hours like a good girl, but there was still a lot of like zapping pain.  Not enough to make me sit down and cry, but enough to make me flinch so much Josh made us cut the walk short.  

Okay, so lesson learned is, just because you aren't in "serious" pain, does not mean you can stop taking it easy.  Apparently my body is still healing or something. :-P  Who knew??

That night we went to hot tub friend's house.  Most people got into the hot tub.  I can not.  We left around 11.  I was starting to get worn out.

Sunday we slept in.  Then putzed around until we headed out for some errands.  All was well until Josh slammed on the brakes for a light.  OMG ouchies.  I didn't tuck the seat belt behind me and not only did it hit me, but it "locked" and I couldn't get it off and I was all teary eyed.  Poor Josh felt awful.  No damage was done, it just hurt really bad for most of the rest of the day.

Dinner was at a friend's and we had snow crab legs *drools*.  They were so yummy!!  Mmmmmmm....  They have a four year old daughter who, I think it would be safe to say, loves Josh and I a lot.  I hadn't seen her recently (surgery, etc) so she was super lovey.  She kept trying to lay on me during a movie and we kept having to remind her to lay on my tummy only.  It was a little painful, but totally worth it to snuggle her!!

So YESTERDAY was Monday.  I noticed Sunday night that I had a little seepage going on under my right boob.  Yesterday I took about 3 hours and just laid around topless (which my plastic surgeon recommended I should do daily - oops).  I also spent 20 minutes topless after I showered (to let everything dry out).  We picked up dinner at Roburrito's (yum) and brought it back.  Our house guest, one of our neighbors and another friend came over.  We watched some cycling and went to bed.

Today the seepage looks MUCH better.  I'm still being super careful and not doing much today.  I've done way too much too quickly and I really need to remember that although there isn't much pain, I STILL had surgery and that my body needs some healing time.  

It's currently sunny, but supposed to rain later.  Boo.

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go...

I wanna be sedated.  Who doesn't love a Ramones song to start the day?  Seriously, I woke up this morning with that song in my head... and the phone ringing.  Dr. Adams will be my anesthesiologist tomorrow.  He was calling to let me know he had nothing to tell me.  Ha!  Someone from his group will meet with me tomorrow when I get to the hospital.  I STILL don't have a time for my surgery yet.  I am supposed to know sometime this afternoon up until 7PM tonight, so I'll be blogging again later today most likely.

Last night was my "last supper."  How many is this now?  Josh and I had a friend in college that had I think 3, maybe even 4, going away parties.  He was moving to another state.  About a year later he was back.  Lol.  Josh said I was starting to milk it a little like he did.  The picture inset is me in the car waiting to go to dinner.  

After dinner we headed to the grocery store.  I got 5 things of juice, some chicken stock, some bullion cubes and jello.  Josh really enjoyed this shopping trip because he got a bunch of food that we normally don't keep a lot of because I don't eat it.  Yeah for him!  We also met Amanda at the store so we had fun shopping around with her.  

Overnight we had some pretty bad wind that has unfortunately continued into today.  I have already been having trouble sleeping since I stopped my meds, but the wind last night made everything much worse sleeping wise.  *yawn*  Right now there are shingles in our backyard.  I checked and they aren't ours, but it makes me nervous that it is that windy.  I'm not a fan of high winds and am very thankful we don't live where there are tornadoes!

Today I have a to do list of last minute things I want to get done.  I'll be working on my list hoping the hospital calls sooner rather than later so I know what time I'll be getting surgerized.  I'll try to post on here when it is.  If not, sometime tomorrow I'll be getting fixed up and probably won't post an update until late Saturday or Sunday.

*hugs and kisses*

mj

I'm going to starve!

Well maybe not actually starve, but you wouldn't know it to see what I've been eating lately.  Lol.  I keep having all these cravings for different food and instead of being good and not eating it, I keep justifying it by saying "well I won't be able to for a couple weeks, so I deserve this."  Ugh seriously brain?  You know better!!  

Thursday was Romo's - their cream of crab soup is fantastic and their bread is homemade mmmmmmm.

Friday was Fuddrucker's - burger and shake

Saturday was Longhorn - appetizer, drinks, dessert (my favorite kind of meal)

Sunday was Cider Cheese Fondue, Old Bay steamed shrimp, Sirloin seared fondue with Green Goddess dip (Thanks Amanda and Dave for my last "Sunday family dinner" for a couple weeks!!)

Ha!  I usually don't eat like this, but I've been indulging a little.  Just yesterday I bought a Gertrude Hawk caramel and chocolate dipped apple with marshmallows and sprinkles on it. And I wish this was all of it.  I am going to ignore the rest.  

I can't wait for Friday so I stop eating like a madwoman.  Ha!

*hugs and kisses*

mj