The Miracle Non-Drug

Hello World, I’m back. I feel like I’ve risen from the ashes of sickness. My illness only lasted 24 hours but it felt more like 24 days. It. Was. Awful. I will not go into the gory details but I will give you some promo highlights. Basically my body was rejecting food and liquid like Laura Winslow rejected Steve Urkel. In addition I had a fever and I couldn’t sleep. My sweet AB called the Dr. and hooked me up with an anti-nausea medicine. It did help me sleep but unfortunately it didn’t’ take care of my Urkel problem. By 7:30pm I was taking the tiniest sips of water possible but my body still wasn’t having it. At that point I couldn’t even get up off the bathroom floor. Both cats happened to be with me and I've learned that those two need to take some tips from Lassie! Tavia sat by me looking freaked out while Phoebe tried to eat my hair. I thought when I told them Timmy was in the well and needed help they would rush to AB. Instead I was stuck with a nervous nelly and a crazy kitten with a hair fetish, who I might add also enjoys eating dust bunnies and fuzz off of blankets. Lucky for them AB and I have a telekinetic thing going and he was by my side in minutes. My sweet husband took me to the Urgent Care where they tipped me off to one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced, an IV of fluids. Hello? Why have I never had one of these before? Why can’t you just buy these at Walgreen’s and keep a stock of them in your home? They. Are. Wonderful. I felt so much better after being re hydrated and after being on the mend for a couple of days I finally feel back to normal. I hope I’m never that sick again but just in case I need to make those cats watch a few episodes of Lassie!

Phoebe Sends an Email

Phoebe loves the computer, she loves chasing the cursor and is constantly on my keyboard interrupting my typing. In this video, she somehow pulls up a new email. Having a kitten around is very entertaining!

I promise to get to Part II of my Holiday post soon...

2010 Year End Recap Part I

Where has the last month gone?! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. I took a study break during the month of December thinking I would be more on top of posting but not so much. It was a crazy month for me and blogging just didn't fit into the schedule so I thought I would just do a couple of posts recapping what I've been up to.

We spent Thanksgiving in Kansas with my family. Since it was our year to spend Christmas with AB's family we went ahead and celebrated Christmas with my family while we were there. Here are a few pics of our time in Kansas.

Nonna & Poppa are putting Jude to work blowing leaves

He is worn out from all that work!


Luckily Poppa returned the favor and gave him a ride

Jude really liked the Adirondack chair we got him


At this age they are just as into the box as the toy

He also loved the tunnel Nonna & Poppa got him :)

After we arrived home I put in one more week of studying and took my last exam of 2010. Once it was over I started decorating for Christmas! We try to buy an ornament on every vacation and it is always fun getting them out and reminiscing about all of our trips. This year AB was watching football so I just reminisced with myself but someday I hope to make this a joint effort! I like to hang all of our memorable ornaments on the staircase garland. The following pictures were taken with the hipstamatic camera on my iphone.

Here is our little tree. I like having a little tree because it is low maintenance. I take the ornaments off and store the entire thing, garland and all in the attic. Maybe next year will be the year we spring for a full size, I think I say this every year so we'll see :)

I loved my mantle this year, most of it was new. It's nice to finally start collecting our own stuff instead of using my mom's hand-me-downs, but thanks to my mom I have a good base of decorations!

We started out the first weekend of December co-hosting a baby shower with Brian & Alisha for our friends Matt & Danielle.

The shower was held at Brian and Alisha's home - all of their Christmas decor looked great!

Katie helped me make this banner that says Baby Quinn. Such a cute name for what I'm sure will be a cute little girl!

Katie also made these cupcake toppers, she was able to use the design from the invitation which you can also see in this picture. Polka Dot Design actually had Holiday Baby Shower invitations which worked perfectly for our party!

As we were leaving the shower very late at night in 30 degree weather, this little bit wandered up to us.

Isn't she precious? AB was totally against taking her home with us but I couldn't leave this tiny little one out in the cold. He told me I was to find another home for her ASAP! I had three offers to take her but after spending a couple of days with her I just couldn't give her up. AB miraculously agreed to this, maybe it was his inner Christmas spirit? We named her Phoebe and she is very loving and sweet but she is also CRAZY! AB says he is too old for a kitten and I second that, she is into anything and everything. She also loves scaling things including the back of our couch, entertainment center and curtains! Tavia is not a fan but seems to be very slowly adjusting. Once Phoebe is out of the crazy kitten phase I think they will become fast friends.

More later....

Thankful

Today I'm thankful for this guy!

He was newly installed yesterday. Our old dishwasher had been on the fritz for awhile, sounding like it was going to explode every time we ran it. It got to the point where we were afraid to run it so we started hand washing. Hand washing = no fun so we finally broke down and purchased a new one. Hand washing every single dish for a month really makes you appreciate the luxury of a dishwasher. This guy has an adjustable top rack, back sprayers and a stainless steel inside with heating coils to help dry faster. It's the little things people, the little things!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Food For Thought

Have any of you ever tried the Fruit N' Yogurt Parfait from McDonald's? Yum - I am hooked! I was always hesitant to try one because I thought it might mimic their hot fudge sunday which has a lot of ice cream but is lacking in the hot fudge department. What a pleasant surprise; lots of fruity goodness in the middle and crunchy granola on top. The best part is they're only $1 so cheers to being a dollar menunaire ;)

Another food I wanted to bring to your attention are the new granola thins by Nature Valley. My friend Karla turned me onto them. I haven't tried the chocolate (pictured below) but I can vouch for the peanut butter, they are delish!

The problem is they are a little small. I think you're supposed to eat them as a snack so being small is actually the point but it sort of defeats my purpose of eating them for breakfast. By mid-morning I'm scavenging around at work for pork rinds and cheese puffs! JK! Not about the fact that those are the snacks offered at my office (can you believe that?) just about the scavenging part. I would rather go hungry than eat a pork rind for breakfast, or any time of the day for that matter.

Pumkin Patch Visit (I'm Behind!)

As usual I'm behind in posting current events so they really aren't too current but it's the thought that counts right? A couple of weeks ago we received a visit from this cutie!

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

Oh yeah, these two may have been with him :)

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

My brother Andrew, his wife Erin, and their son Jude came down for a visit. It was the weekend of OSU Homecoming so we decided to meet in Stillwater Friday evening to partake in the good food and ogle at the awe inspiring house decks that make up Homecoming Walkaround. Even if you are not an OSU fan, this is a must see event. I don't even know how to describe a house deck but lucky for you I was able to find a blog with lots of nice pictures: http://www.thestoryofjory.com/2010/10/22/homecoming-house-decks-2010/

On Saturday we got up and headed to Carmichael's Pumpkin Patch in Bixby where my friend Addie snapped some great photos of Jude. She also took some photos of these two sweeties. Don't we have the cutest nieces and nephew?

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

Addie is an amazing photographer! Check out her website: www.addiescott.com and if you are interested in viewing more pics from our pumpkin patch visit click on proofing, then enter the password pumpkin.

The rest of our weekend was pretty relaxing, lots of college football and entertainment courtesy of Jude :)

Rollin' With His Lady

While driving home not too long ago I approached a low riding truck with tinted windows. Emblazoned on the driver’s side rear window was “Shadow” and emblazoned on the passenger’s side rear window was “Shadow’s Lady”. My first thought was how Shadow would be a good name for a horse because Shadow’s Lady sounds like something you might hear while attending the Kentucky Derby. Of course when I pulled up next to Shadow, lets just say he was not someone I pictured sipping Mint Juleps at Churchill Downs. Then I started thinking about Shadow and his Lady. I loved that he not only made himself known but he also acknowledged the fact that he was rollin’ with his lady. Forget the fact that she has her own name, she is HIS - Shadow’s Lady, and by now she probably doesn’t even remember the fact that she has her own name. Wouldn’t it be fun to roll like that? I want to be known as my husband’s lady but AB and AB’s Lady is a little too milk toast. Then there is my husband’s high school and college nickname, Doo Doo. I’m not really digging Doo Doo and Doo Doo’s Lady either. Well, it was a fun thought but I guess I’ll just stick to being known as myself :)