Loading days!

OK, im headed back into Phase 2. (P2,R2). Today is day #1, my first loading day. Im fairly certain that loading days were created to make you realize how much food you USED to eat, before you became aware of it. I went to lunch today. I had a footlong hotdog and fries, a cookie and a drink. I could BARELY eat it. It literally took me 30 minutes to finish it. Now, im so full i could puke. And, Ive barely even started! I have more meals today, as well as TWO MORE DAYS of loading! Im feeling sicker just thinking about it :( *PUKE*

The beach, recovering from my maiming, and baby Stellan, in no particular order:

First - Please pray for Baby Stellan. He needs our prayers! He is a tough spot right now, duking it out with life for a safe, slow, happy heart rate.

My elbow is nearly completely healed. Still painful, but definitely doesnt look like the elbow clap anymore. I went through a stage where I was pretty angry with it, but im over it now, for the most part. It did culture as MRSA, and the doxycycline, according to mr. Ihavecarrotredhaironmyfacesoyoucanhaveahardtimeconcentratingonwhatimsaying. (did you get all that?) will kick it the first time. He says I will not become a carrier. He gave me creme for my nose, and advised it wouldnt be a bad idea for John to do it either. If I get it again, I might go postal...or postal staph on John. LOL.

Anyway, the beach was great. I enjoyed everyones company and felt like it was something that we could do again. I do admit that I feel like a boring person when I go places like that and cannot keep myself entertained. Or I sit and wonder how everything is at home, and if my chickens miss me :( The weather was PERFECT. So perfect, in fact, that the sharks were frisky.
On Saturday, the entire day was spent either in 5 inch water, or on the beach, since the sharks were constantly being spotted. Jared was nearly eaten. We had to pull his body from the jaws of a shark...well, not really, but he was apparently only 20 feet from a shark, and the lifeguard said it was circling him. We'd been there about 45 seconds. Long enough for Jared to put his stuff down and run (baywatch style, mind you) out into the ocean! Crazy!! That sure woulda changed the tone of the vacation.
The officer that I asked about it said that apparently its shark mating season (fish mating season in general) and the waters that were murky had sharks and sting rays in them right now (Murky water -20-40ft from 5" water). He told me (amidst all the ma'ams, even though he was my age) that their concern was that the sharks, which were only surfacing enough to see their dorsal fins, were Hammerhead sharks, and apparently, they hunt in paLcks. Which I took in translation to mean: Ma'am, if you put your pasty legs and arms in the water, looking like a squid, they will eat you for an 'after friskin' snack. Uh, yeah, thankyouverymuch, Ill sit on the sand.

Ahh...the sand...
The crabs were apparently breeding too... Ive never been able to really appreciate that there were crabs in the sand. John reached into the sand and came up with yep, you guessed it, a handful of sand! 3 crabs! Yucko. Ruined for me, i tell you.
Thats it, pretty much. We didnt swim. I lost all appeal for the ocean. As far as Im concerned, you can put some sand next to my swimming pool and Ill be happy as a clam. The worst thing you have to worry about in a POOL is a stupid frog (which is STILL scary, but mostly disgusting). Ew gives me the heebie jeebies just thnking about the frogs... Anyway, thats it! Enjoy the pics!

Peace, homes!

Life's a Beach :) A Carolina Beach, that is.

We're heading to the beach tonight! Yippee!!! Im SOOO excited I can hardly stand it. Its been 4 years, atleast, since Ive been to the beach, and probably even longer since John has been. Warning: I will be going into the water, with my MRSA infected arm :) Hopefully the sharks wont eat me. Mom, Dad and Brother are already down there, waiting. I hope they dont soak up all the sun before we get there!!

We're all packed, dogs are ready (for the most part), house is clean(thanks to John!) and we're ready to hit the road! I'm debating on wearing my bathing suit under scrubs, but I think I'll just skip that, and change when I get home....

My arm culture still hasnt come back, so the cannot definitively tell me it is MRSA.. Im currently waiting on them to call and give me the results. Ive called twice today, with no return. But fear not, eventually, I will know. I am less angry in general about it, but still touchy.

Little angus posed for some great shots this morning! I was SUPER stoked to be getting home when the light was hitting the bed, just so I could take adorable pictures of my boy :) Well, super stoked about the lighting, less than impressed about the hour of home arrival. At any rate, alls well that ends well, I got a 4 hour nap, a few good shots of Angus, and plenty of good cheer to last the day!

I'll definitely be updating when i get back to put some beach pics up! WHOOO HOOOO!!!!

Ive been hit with a staph

So, mr. elbowbiter was a figment of my imagination.

I finally went to the dr today, after several days of anguishing over it (both my arm and having to go to the dr) and turns out its a MRSA infection. He isnt 100% positive yet, but he cultured it and I'll know for sure by thursday. Nice, huh? Im angry. Very angry.

Im trying to rationalize this. I'll get back to you on how thats going for me.

My favorite nurse. Spider venom that maims.

My favorite nurse called this morning. Who's that?, you might ask? Well, I cant tell you. Its a mistake that I did not find out her name secret! Cant a girl just keep a few things to herself? She had all the answers to my questions this morning. Its amazing that sometimes they take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to call you back, and Ive essentially had 3 phone calls this week!,

Anyway, my dr lady says she doesnt think I should do anything different now. She wants me to continue losing weight, eating healthy and being active. She wants me to have my bloodwork rechecked one more time, likely @ my physical in Jan, and then, she'll help me get pregnant... (I mean she will help me by giving me medications, she wont actually BE there for the activities..I can see that now "ok, honey, this goes here..." umm eww and no thanks..). Im pretty stoked! My impression from the favorite nurse was that Nona felt like I was going to BE pregnant by Jan if I was not using protection. She asked twice if I wanted to get pregnant NOW. I kept explaining that we've decided to wait til the first of the year so that I can reach my weight loss goals FIRST. This has been an excellent week so far... All good news! The nurse agreed with me, btw, and said that Nona had looked at my bloodwork and agreed it was likely due to weight issues, and that my thyroid would probably be COMPLETELY normal when I reached my goal weight!
Even thought It would NOT change anything, I still cant believe that nobody has asked WHAT I am doing to lose weight. I surely will not offer up that information unless probed questioned, but I am certainly NOT ashamed of it!

OK enough boring stuff!

I was bitten by the bug. No, No, silly, NOT the Jamey bug. The SPIDER bug. Apparently, it was hanging out in my WV sweatshirt. When I put it on and went to bed, Mr. IthinkElbowslooktasty (Yes, he is related to Bob Wehadababyitsaboy) BIT ME. Yep, you guessed it. Right on the elbow. The left elbow, to be exact. Initially, it was slightly painful, slightly red, non-swollen. John made jokes at me all day about how whiny I was being. Yesterday, when I woke up, the backside of my arm was swollen with a huge knot. Now, I cant straighten my arm out all the way. I feel certain that the venom has moved into the elbow joint and could shoot to my brain at any second. I could just be typing along and BAM! I'm toast from spider venom. Wouldn't that be terrible? You people would forever be wondering what else I was thinking for today! Oh,the tragedies you would suffer at my hands!

I am opening up the floor to people who feel moved by this, and would like to step forward and volunteer to suck the venom out.

We're expecting puppies again :) Tate AND Pelo are both expecting cute little litters around mid-september. They will EACH have some adorable little puppies. (wasn't that nauseatingly cutsie?)

Im riding high for now... If only Jamey would call...

The bloodwork results are in

(Drumroll please...)

The phone rings, I answer. She ID's herself as the nurse. She says my thyroid results are back. She says everything is normal, (NORMAL, PEOPLE!!,NORMAL) and Nona (the midwife lady) says to just continue taking your medication like you have been. Me: (Chuckle) I havent been taking it. At all. Nurse lady: Oh, well, at all? Me: Nope. Nurse lady: ever?
Me: Nope (I did take it for 1 week, sporadically, but thats been months and months ago, if its still effective, ill just take one pill a month, lol). She was clearly at a loss for words, so I started explaining to her that I had a hard time believing that I had a thyroid condition, much less a condition that was strictly familial, with no family history. So, I bucked up, lost almost 40lbs and wanted it rechecked. She said well, it was clearly working because it was dead on normal. WHOO HOOO!!! I was right and they were wrong, nananaananana boooo boooo!

Oh what a day!

Today has sucked. The animals have been a major pain, slightly overwhelming and my chickens aren't hatching! AAGGGHHHH!!

My Hair dryer has ringtones. And voices.

Anytime I am in the bathroom, drying my hair, I hear people talking. I am suspicious by nature. Each time I HEAR the talking, I have to turn the hair dryer off and wait a couple seconds to be absolutely positive there are not strange people invading my house. Sometimes, the hair dryer likes to do something different. It plays ringtones. Then, I have to turn the hair dryer off, and wait to be sure my phone isnt ringing. Or, go and find my phone to be SURE I havent missed a call.

Why dont I just ignore it? Well, occasionally, I will ignore these things, only to find that I HAVE missed a call, or the mailman is at my door. I think the hair dryer is trying to run me crazy.

Im off today!!

So, because of that, I woke up in a good mood. We're heading up to Lowes in Elkin shortly, to get some supplies for our cute little chickens. (I say OUR and WE, it means John is building the fence, lol) Im planning to order about 16 more chickens and im SO excited! Anyway, I'll update with some pics of what we create, shortly. Whoo hoo!

Well, well, well

The nurse called this morning from the dr, and she has agreed to re-request part of my labs. Now, I just have to get the courage up to go IN there and have my blood drawn. Not a fan of needles, when they are being directed at me. I can use them ALL day long at work, just dont try and poke me. The rabies shots nearly did me in. One vaccine a week, which definitely involves a needle, for several weeks. No thank you. I kept imagining myself with Rabies though - Slobbery and disoriented, with wild hair, and yellow fur..oh wait. no fur. Anyway, that helped me get through it. At any rate, Ill let you know how it goes!

Im off this Saturday, and trying in earnest to figure out something exciting for John & I to do! Any ideas?

My blog is posessed. Earlier I looked @ Tshirthell.com. Apparently, part of it wanted to come to my blog with me? Now I cant delete it.

Perhaps im losing my mind? Its gone now.

Blah...

I feel blah. I feel like Im stuck in the doldrums. I need to be moving forward with things, and everything is on hold. Normally, im planning for something. Or, I have something to manage. Everything is at a standstill!
My diet cannot restart until the first of August - That, in and of itself, is akin to pulling out eye teeth. I KNOW whats out there, I KNOW the potential, yet I am forced to drudge along through these phases. I realize, logically, that they go hand in hand, and one without the other cannot be indefinitely successful. Its just frustrating!!

The new dogs settled in without a fuss, the chickens are easy (albeit still inside), the dogs are simple now, the cat issues have resolved... I need a project!

I called the dr today to discuss bloodwork. I Spoke with the nurse about my thoughts and my weight loss. I want to have the same tests repeated to see if my thyroid function has corrected, as well as my hormones for pregnancy. In my heart, I feel like my thyroid issues are just a result of my weight, and im anxious to have that proven on paper. Plus, if I start the bloodwork now, and can convince her to re-run it every 2 months or so, then I will have her help with fertility when I want it (if I need it). Her last thoughts on the matter were th at I needed to go to the endocrinologist, stabilize with him for 6-9 months and THEN consider getting pregnant. He diagnosis me with an inherited disorder- an inherited disorder that no person before me (in my family, I mean) has. His solution was to just take meds for the rest of my life. Well, thats freaking perfect. Thank you so much, sir. So, essentially, Im using that same time frame to lose my weight, then we will start trying again. The first 38lbs knocked out most of my symptoms. John & I realized on our way to Nashville that I was still awake...and in the car. Those 2 almost never go hand in hand (unless im driving, dont worry). My dry skin has resolved, Im not freezing cold all the time, and I actually have energy. Im preaching, I know. Its just frustrating to me to be in a situation where my hands are tied.

Today (really yesterday, by now) has been long, boring, and wasted. I feel like I got nothing accomplished. I feel like I squandered it away. Im just not happy right now. I need to be whiny. And mean. I think they might refer to this as hormonal. Call it what you will :)

Oh, and PS! You peeps who read this blog, overall, are horrible commenters. I read other peoples blogs, and they arent even INTERESTING and they get one or two LOTS of comments! Whats the dealy-yo?

Oh, and for some reason, this completely random button has shown up. LOL I have ABSOLUTELY no clue what it does or where it came from. I cannot, however, delete it. I suspect that, if clicked, it will take you into a timewarp, where you will become a member of some scary cult like gathering of ...aliens?

See it? The freaky button? Yeah, idk

Newest Additions.

Thanks Johnna for making it possible :) We're both really happy with the new kids on the block. - If only we can convince JJ(thats his name, its fate huh? Get it? JJ - Jamey Johnson?) that peeing on Pelo's kennel is inappropriate. LOL


Capelli
Capelli scoping out the couch
Me & Capelli
JJ - begging to be held
See how photogenic she is?

Goodbye sweet baby deer....

and GOOD RIDDANCE!! Crazy creature fought me for FOURTY FIVE solid minutes. I have bruises on my calf. She gave me a charlie fawn. I couldnt even extend out my leg for a bit. I have a bruise on my arm, scratches on my knee. Lemme tell you, when this girl let her hair down, she was a wild animal F-R-E-A-K. To top off the alreadyhorrible car ride, with lots of me screaming and slamming the deer around FANTASTIC car ride, we went through a state trooper license check. Luckily, I had the little twerp wrapped up to her snout in a duvet. The officer just calmly checked the license, and handed it back to John. As we start to pull away, cute little Flower lets out a bawl that would curl your hair (maybe not that loud, but when you're already holding your breath, it was bad). Luckily, officer Mc License Checky missed it. Luckily. Or, we'd be in jail. It is I-L-L-E-G-A-L to transport wildlife. and lemme tell you, inside that car was DEFINITELY wildlife. Holy cow. Or deer. Anyway, that sums up deer adventure #first and last. Thanks for playing. Buh bye now.

My little Angus is growing up.

Ok, so Im feeling especially nostalgic with my little angus. So, I'll share his story. Angus may be the only redheaded child I ever get, and hes extremely special to me. Has been from day one. When he came barrelling into my heart, with all of his 2.4lbs, I was a goner. Complete mental block. I couldve cried when I saw him in that tote, with the dirty newspaper. He was so cold, and almost dead. The "owner" wouldnt spend any money on him and preferred euthanasia. I couldnt hash it. I went in there with my heart on my sleeve, and begged for Angus' life. He (the "owner") relented and I had my little emaciated puppy. No more than 5 seconds after we gave him the Karo syrup, he wagged his tail and barked (a little half bark, mind you) at me. Hooked. Completely and utterly. I would've done whatever it took at that point to make him well. I am a freak. I wouldnt let myself believe he was going to live, in case he didnt. I was constantly checking his breathing while he was asleep. I made him take naps with me to ensure I could keep my hand on his heart (logically though, if it stopped, I woulda been asleep). I am completely irrational when it comes to him. I stopped taking him with me to work because I wanted to fight people who even sarcastically said bad things. Angus is my little man. He brings out mama bear. Now, I believe its safe to say he will live normally. I can start getting attached. Anyway, Angus was especially cuddly tonight, and it made me remember how special he was, and is. Musta been his birthday present to his mama :) He climbed up on the bed, smelling like fish worms and dirty pool water, and snuggled with me for a while. Then, he was over it, and went on to harrass the cat some. Its hard to believe Ive already had him 8 months! Time has FLOWN by. When I look back at the pictures where he was nothing but an enormous head, it seems unreal! But, hes still adorable :) Thats all. Sorry if this was immensely boring, but it made me happy.




~4 weeks.
13 weeks..




AngusAngus, 7/1/09, 7/1/099 months.


7/1/09 -9 months old!

The cutest little baby deer ever....

Has completely lost its charm. I mean, seriously lost its charm. At first, it was sweet and innocent. She drank from a bottle (4 little oz at a time). She was quiet, reserved, and she urinated on command, rather than at will. Now, shes approx 2 weeks old. Now, this cute little creature drinks 20oz 5 times a day, pees like golden retriever, and acts like a feral cat. Poor mommy deers have their work cut out for them! In reality, she is still really cute, and I dont regret the opportunity. This has, however, helped me realize that fawn rescue probably isnt for me!! lol. I'll stick to the cute chickens, thank you very much!



Oh, and Happy Birthday to me! :)