Monster Kisses...

As most of you know... I love my dog.

I mean, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally love my dog!

Cookie is like a child to me. A furry child... with four legs... and a speech impediment. But, whatever.

I know that she loves me in return, too. She runs to me when she's scared, she watches me like a hawk when I'm sick, and she loves to snuggle with me at night. It's kind of a two way street!

However... The love this little girl has for Steve is on a completely different level. I've posted before about the twisted little relationship the two of them have. It's a special bond... almost like a secret language or a special code. It's something that only the two of them fully understand. It's been like that since day one, and I'm pretty sure it'll always be that way.

Every time Steve comes through my front door, Cookie greets him with kisses. At that point, Steve usually drops whateve he has in his hands, he flops down on the floor, and he allows Cookie her own little "make-out" session. She licks his nose, his face, his ears, his neck, and his head... And Steve just lets her. I think it's a little disturbing, but the two of them seem to enjoy it. I truly believe that the Monster lives just for these moments.

The other day, I was sitting in my back room surfing for airline tickets online. Steve came in and laid on the floor, and Cookie followed right behind him. A few minuteslater, the kisses started....



I grabbed my camera and started shooting... This is one of the better ones I got. I love how you can see her tongue just licking away. Such concentration in those little eyes.

Cookie would kiss on Steve all day long if she could...

Such a smart little girl!

Saving Thanksgiving...

… One gently used cell phone at a time!!

I know what you’re thinking right now… Really, I do! You’re wondering how much time I’ve been spending with my super cool margarita machine!

Trust me. The above statement will all make sense in just a few minutes.

A little back story…

About a year and a half ago, the department I work in decided that we wanted to start giving a little bit back to our community. After doing some research and taking a vote, we chose to contact our local Ronald McDonald House (http://www.colrmhc.org/) to see what we could do to help them out. Every 2-3 months since, we have made a delivery to the House of donated items such as baked goods, cleaning supplies, bathroom tissue, toys/books for the kids, etc. It’s been a lot of fun and it's nice to know we’re helping… even if it’s just a little bit.

Last October, we decided to do a “treat” delivery to the House. This delivery included TONS of baked goodies, candy, trick-or-treat bags, coloring books, and crayons. The volunteers at the House were so excited to see us! While we were there putting away the donated items, Pete (the volunteer coordinator for the House) came to us with quite a situation on his hands. He told us that due to some financial difficulty, the vendor that normally provides the House with their Thanksgiving turkeys was not going to be able to donate. He was pretty stressed and asked if there was anything we could do to help. I told him to give us a couple of days and I’d see what we could do.

As it turns out, we had been collecting gently used cell phones at work, and were planning to send them in to a company by the name of PaceButler (http://www.pacebutler.com/) for cash. We were planning on using any money we received from the cell phones towards supplies for the House for Christmas. Instead, we just sped our plans up a bit and were able to provide 20 turkeys for the Thanksgiving dinner which fed 44 families and a few volunteers!

This year, we are hoping to be able to do the same thing again! The only catch this year is that the Ronald McDonald House has moved to a brand new, much larger facility which now houses 86 families!! That’s more than double what they had last year.

This is where you come in!

If you, or someone you know, have a gently used cell phone laying around that you would like to get rid of… Please let me know! We are collecting the phones through October 14th, and will ship them to PaceButler on October 15th. It’s going to take quite a few phones to feed 86 families, so the more we’re able to send in, the better!

If you’re interested, please leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I will provide you with a mailing address to which you can send your phone.

**Every penny we receive from PaceButler will go directly toward the Ronald McDonald House.**

In The Words of Ozzy Osbourne...

Mama... I'm coming home!!

That's right. After nearly for years... I am going to finally make a trip home to good ol' Eagar, AZ!

The last time I was at my parents' house was December of 2004. I had just had surgery in Indianapolis, and wasn't allowed to return to work for about six weeks. So, I flew to Arizona and spent some time with my family. Since then, a combination of the distance and my work schedule has made getting home nearly impossible. My parents and I have done our best to split the difference and meet at the family farm in Kansas whenever we get the chance.

Well... Steve and I will be heading to the great southwest in early November for some time with my family and friends. I'm really looking forward to it! It should be fun showing Steve around Round Valley... I don't think he quite comprehends just how "small town" this girl really is. I figure if he sticks around after this, I've pretty much got him hooked!

We're not sure yet whether we'll be flying into Phoenix or Albuquerque yet as that will depend on the price of the tickets. But, we're planning on flying out on either the 4th or 5th of November and returning home to Ohio around the 11th or 12th. That should give us a little bit of time to do some sight seeing and to relax with family and friends.

I'm really looking forward to the trip and hope to be able to run into a few of you while I'm there!

My Newfound Fear...

I think most of us... even the big, burly, men in our lives... have our own personal list of things we are afraid of. Some people are afraid of snakes, some are afraid of needles, and some are afraid of flying. I myself am not at all a fan of heights, the smell of a dentist office makes me weak in the knees, and I start sweating and want to throw up at the sight of a spider crawling up the wall. No... I've never fallen from anything high, I've never had an awful experience at the dentist, and I've never been bitten and/or almost killed by a poisonous spider.

There is no reason for them. They are simply my fears. And yesterday, I added a new one to the list.

I have an extreme fear of unusually long objects being stuck up my nose!

I had another post op appointment witn my ENT surgeon at 2:20pm. When he did my sinus surgery, he cleaned A LOT of infected gunk out of my head. However, there was still more in there that would need to drain, so he place a sponge in my sinus cavity that was supposed to absorb the rest of the gunk, break down, and eventually fall out on its own. At my first post op appointment, he gave me a sinus rinse bottle that has really helped to keep my nose cleaned out and to rinse out any loose pieces of the sponge. It's not a great thought... I know.

Well yesterday, my super nice surgeon man comes in and tells me that he wants to look up my nose to see how things are going. No problem... I've done this a few times before... piece of cake. He shoots this numbing spray up my nose, leaves me for about 10 minutes, and then comes back. He takes this really long light (looks like a long pencil, only really skinny), sticks it up my nose, and goes to looking. No big deal... a little weird feeling, but I'm good!

Then he tells me that he wants to try to get the rest of the sponge out, but he wants to put more of the numbing stuff up there to make me more comfortable. Ok... Cool. I'm all in favor of the numbing stuff! He takes a small cotton ball soaked in this stuff and uses a really long pair of tweezers to stick it somewhere up my nose. He tells me to lay my head back and he'll be back in a few minutes.

So as I'm sitting there with a cotton ball stuffed up my nose, this numbing crap is starting to run down the back of my throat, making it numb as well. It feels almost like it's closing up, but I can still breathe fine. It's a little unnerving, but I let it go.

Dr. L comes back and is ready to get down to business... little dorky headlamp strapped on and everything. So I lean back and close my eyes... And dang it to heck, I should've kept them CLOSED!! I quickly opened them right as he was stuffing this really long metal object up my nose... And this thing just kept going farther and farther and farther in. Then, I hear this sickening sucking noise (very similar to the dentist) and felt a really weird pressure somewhere in my head. Dr. L was very nice and kept saying "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Are you ok?" I assured him that I was fine, but I did not like it AT ALL.

I did my best to stay calm, but after about the 3rd time he stuffed that thing up my nose... I HAD HAD ENOUGH!! I had tears running down my face (not at all from pain), I was sweating like you wouldn't believe and I was breathing like I had just run a marathon. I told him I was done! Dr. L said that was fine. He gave me a few minutes to calm down and then handed me my paperwork.... With a note at the bottome to schedule another appointment for next week. I HAVE TO GO BACK!!

I got up to leave and left puddles of sweat in the chair where my legs and back were. I walked out of the waiting room with my shorts and shirt clinging to the back of me and my flip-flops making "farty" noises because my feet were all sweaty. It was awful!

I came home, had a pain pill, made myself an apple juice slushy in my super cool margarita machine, and hit the couch. That appointment was the only thing I did all day... and it was exhausting!!

I'm already dreading next week...

Just Checking In...

*** Disclaimer: I am still on some pretty hefty pain meds, so there is a good chance that some portions of this post (big or small) may not make complete sense. Please bare with me!***

From what I understand and remember... My surgery was a success! WOO HOO!!!

I had an amazing pre-op nurse who was probably the nicest person I have ever met in my entire life. I was a little nervous going in, but she talked and joked with me the whole time she was getting me ready, and she really helped calm my nerves. She was awesome! She called me "party girl" the whole time because apparently after the initial round of medication she gave me, I started to tell her all about my super cool margarita machine and about how Steve can do the "sprinkler"! (She tried to get him to demonstrate, but was unsuccessful.)

Steve also went back with me and he really helped as well. He rubbed my feet the whole time I was laying there on that table and he kept me laughing. I don't know if what we were talking about was really all that funny, but it sure did seem like it at the time! I'm so glad he was able to take the day off to go with me.

I remember absolutely nothgin from the surgery itself... which is probably a good thing. My surgeon told Steve that even he was impressed at all the gunk that was crammed in my head. He also did some chiseling and cutting back in there to open things up, so I'm really glad that I wasn't really "around" to experience that part of it.

I do remember waking up after surgery though... And that was not fun. My throat was on fire (I'm assuming from the breathing tube they had in during surgery), and the right side of my face was killing me! All I could say was "Ow!... Ow!", and then I started crying. My sweet little nurse came over and immediately gave me some pain medication which really helped. I really liked that lady!

After a couple more hours in recovery, making sure that I could walk around a bit and that I wasn't going to toss my cookies... I was allowed to go home. I was SO happy! I don't even remember the ride home because I think I was out cold once my butt hit the car seat.

I have to say... Over the past few days, I have had two of the most amazing helpers a girl could ever ask for! Steve had to work on Wednesday, so it was just Cookie and I here alone. That little dog did not leave my side for one second! If I got up to go to the bathroom, she went with me (and she hates the bathroom because it brings back bathtime memories). If I went into the kitchen, she went with me (another room she doesn't particularly care for because of the cold tile floor). As I've posted so many times before... This little girl KNOWS when something is not right. She knows when I don't feel well, and she's always *thisclose* to me when it happens. I love her!

My other helper, Steve, has also been pretty amazing this week. He got my prescriptions after surgery. He stayed with me to make sure that I took them and that I was ok. He has gotten so many meals for me this week (including a box of cheese crackers and some icecream sandwiches that I was craving) that I can't even count. He's made all kinds of (non-alcoholic) slushy concoctions in my margarita maker for me. He hasn't once made a crack about my wild, frizzy, unkempt hair (Dust, you know what I'm talking about). He's just been amazing! I don't think I'll ever know what I did to deserve such a good man in my life... but I love this one and I'm NOT letting him go!

Ok... I feel like I have rambled on enough for one day. I don't know how much of this will make sense and I don't really care. It's about time for some tortilla soup for lunch and another pain pill. Then, Cookie and I have a hot date with the couch.

I'm off work until next Friday, so I think we're just going to hang out, watch the olympics, read, maybe do a little scrapbooking, and probably take a few walks. That sounds like a really good week to me!

I hope you all have a nice, relaxing week as well... I'll keep you posted!!

Just a quick update...

It's done... it's over... and I survived!

I'm in a little bit of pain today, so I'm not going to post much. Just thought I'd let you know that things went well.

I'll update again in a day or two.

Saying "Sayonara" to Snot!!

(Terrible title... I know. Just roll with it!)

Tomorrow, at 1:00pm... I am going under the knife. Well... it's actually and endoscope... but you get the idea.

Tomorrow... I am having sinus surgery.

When I had my original surgery a few years ago, my neurosurgeon told me that sinus issues could occur afterwards. I did really well for a couple of years... but the past two have been a little rough. It seems like every few months, I end up dealing with a sinus/ear infection. I go to the doctor... take the antibiotics... and it goes away. Then it rears it's ugly head again!

I finally went to see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor in May to see if he could help me. He dug around in my ears, shoved a long probe thingy up my nose (that was fun), did a series of allergy tests, and couldn't come up with anything. Then he sent me for a CAT scan and found out what was going on.

It turns out I have some scar tissue from my original surgery that is blocking my sinuses and not allowing them to drain. So, all the gunk that's in them has no way to get out. So instead, it sits there and my sinuses repeatedly become inflamed and infected. It's not been fun.

But tomorrow is it! Tomorrow... all that gunk that has been hanging out in my oh-so-lovely sinuses will no longer have a place to call "home". It, along with all of its belongings, is being evicted once and for all!!

I won't say that I'm excited for the surgery... That's not the right word. I'm actually a little nervous about it, and know that the next few days probably won't be all that fun. However, I am SOOO ready to be rid of the pain and pressure. It will also be nice to be able to smell things normally again, and to not feel as though there's a big, fat sumo wrestler standing on my face.

I am off work for the rest of the week (Woo Hoo for paid medical leave!), so as soon as I'm somewhat coherant I'll let you know how it went.

Wish me luck!!