Super Catch up! #NaBloPoMo

November 4, 2011 - When you are writing, do you prefer to use a pen or a computer? This one depends on what I'm writing.  If I'm blogging, journaling, etc., definitely a computer.  When I need to write someone something serious, I like a handwritten letter to express what's on my mind.


November 7, 2011 - How do you balance your children, relationship, and work life?  Well this one is pretty easy...i have no relationship and I have no work life...ta da!!!


November 8, 2011 - Has anything traumatic ever happened to you? - I think that I'll have to revisit this one.  I want to say no, but who knows what kind of stuff could be dredged up at later date.

FYI - This was absolutely THE most boring post ever!!!  

NaBloPoMo - 11/3/11

Daily Prompt:  Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

Good question actually.  I don't know that I've ever truly tried.  Normally I have the tv on, which in itself is a total distraction.  The thoughts don't flow well with the talking.  I stop and stare (and no, that's not the song I heard today, though it is an excellent one) at the screen.  It's like my brain is stuttering.  You know when my best thoughts come out?  At night.  Laying in bed, trying to sleep, and I have the world in my brain.  Oh the books I could write!  Only, being up in the middle of the night doesn't really work out too well when you have to get up in the morning to get a certain little boy up for school.  That being said, I follow a great author on Twitter, Laurell K. Hamilton of the Anita Blake series.  Pretty much every time she writes, she talks about what music is playing.  So maybe there is something to it?  Maybe I should try it.  And the song I heard today, well, I'd rather not go there.  It brought back some memories of my last relationship.  So yea, let me just cut that off real quick.  At least it was a happy song, not a sad one though.

Now on to other things.  I went to my doctor today for an annual checkup, although I swear I was just there in January.  On Tuesday I passed, yet another, kidney stone.  This is at least the 4th time since I was 22.  The first time was unbearable painful, yet I never saw or felt it pass.  The second time I was 25 and pregnant with the little guy.  Horrible again.  I was in pain for a week with what I thought was just a UTI.  My doc gave me meds, and a week later I was still in pain.  It was so bad the last day, and then they came out and all the pain was gone.  Again, a year or so later, same thing.  I know I've had a couple more times where it felt like I was having issues with them, but never felt or saw anything pass.  Then there's this time.  I feel like it happened again for a reason.  Now that I'm able to actually get to a doctor and have it tested, find out what kind it is, what could be causing it.  I was also given a number to a urologist so that we can find out if there's more in there and if any damage to my kidneys are being done.  That's actually kind of a scary thing to go through.  My grandmother had kidney problems.  Well, more than that, she had them removed.  Both of them.  So, yea, I'm a bit nervous thinking about what my future could hold, but grateful that I'm able to hopefully get a jump on it and find out what's really going on so that I can possibly prevent that from being my future as well.

NaBloPoMo...huh?

So it's National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo for short.  The idea is to blog every day for the entire month.  This is going to be a huge challenge for me, however, with a daily prompt to get me going, I'm thinking I might just be able to pull it off...even if I am a day or two late. :-X  So I have to rewind a day and answer prompt #1:

November 1, 2011 - What is your favorite part about writing?

My favorite part about writing?  I think that it is getting out things I want to say and share with others.  I've never been very good at verbal communication, but boy can I write a letter!  The only thing, is that with blogging, I'm still afraid to say what I really feel.  It's like verbally communication on a screen.  If I think about typing what I really feel, I end up all nervous and anxious, just as if I were about to hold a face to face conversation with someone.  So I guess this here is a start.  It's allowing me to open up and express one of my fears and faults.  I want to be better though, but it's gonna take time.

November 2, 2011 - If you knew whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it be?

Tick tock, tick tock. I've been sitting here for like 5 minutes trying to figure this out.  I used to think spaghetti.  Then another time I thought tacos...which sound really good right now at 11:30pm.  Then there's amazing salad that I make.  It's so simple, yet so delish:  romaine lettuce, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, croutons (lots of croutons), and roasted garlic Italian dressing.  Yes, my mouth is now watering.  Then there's all the burger joints.  :::sigh:::  Yea, there's like no way that I can choose just one of these.  So for my last meal, I want a Big Bacon Deluxe combo from Wendy's, Classic Chicken Sandwich from Burger King, onion rings from Applebee's, Mexican pizza & 5 hard taco supreme's from Taco Bell, my special salad, and I wanna wash it down with a Sweet Tea from McDonald's, a Pepsi, & a Mt. Dew.  I'm going out FULL!!!

Once Upon a Time

  Once upon a time, there was a girl who didn't think she would ever live without pain.  A girl who thought that her life would always involved deciding what to do daily based on how much she hurt.  I used to be that girl.  Now I am no longer her.  I'm the one who can go all day and do stuff, and all that results is a bit of muscle fatigue and sore feet.  And who doesn't get sore feet after being on them all day?  I have truly been blessed with a life that I never thought I would have...a pain free one.  Now that I can do more and more every day, I'm changing all different aspects of my life.  Everything from procrastination to motivation.  It's a hard process tho.  When you spend your life basing everything you do around your physical capabilities, you develop some pretty crappy habits.  So yes, it takes a lot of effort to not walk past that sock on the ground...to stop and pick it up.  It's a slow change, but I'm getting there.  Motivation is coming a little easier as well.  When you don't hurt, it's a little easier to slip on those shoes and go for a walk, or put on that dvd and get in a workout.  I still have to be careful since I'm still healing, and definitely make some mods to certain exercises, but I can already do so much more than I was able to prior to surgery!

Like this past Saturday for example.  I got up early and went to Isaiah's football game.  They played hard, but lost in the last couple minutes of the game which was a bummer, but on a side note, I was on my feet the whole game.  Then we came home, and got cleaned up and Isaiah and me went to Kasper's Kastle.  We came home and I did some cleaning and then later that night me and Isaiah make all kinds of fun constructions paper Halloween decorations.  I was excited to do them with him, cause it's something that's been done for a few generations now in our family.  My mom's mom & grandma did them when she was young, Mom & Dad made them when I was young, and now I got to share it with Isaiah.  All in all I had a super full day, and no pain at all...hip-hip-horray! (Yes, pun intented haha)

     Speaking of "Once Upon a Time"...have any of you seen this new show?  It started this past Sunday, and I must say that I find it to be excellent!  I love the storyline so far, I love the take that's been given to the stories we all grew up with.  You definitely have to pay attention to it in order to know what's going on.  Not many shows anymore can make me shut the computer and just WATCH them.  Usually I sit with the tv on and computer opened up and semi-watch and play.  Right now, the only other shows that get my full attention are "True Blood" & "Game of Thrones".  Now I can to it "Once Upon a Time".  There's another new show coming up this Friday that I'm hoping to add to the list, and that's "Grimm".  It's a crime drama with a twist.  All the crimes are based upon Grimm faerie tales.  I hope it's just as good as "Once Upon a Time"!

One final note:  while I was watching "Once Upon a Time", a tweet came thru my phone from "The Single Woman".  By the way - you can find her posts on both Facebook & Twitter.  Anywhoo...I'm watching the show, and the tweet that comes thru is as follows:  "Sometimes the best fairytale ending is realizing we never really needed to be rescued at all."  How true is that??

'til next time my friends....

It's a beautiful morning!

Transformer Pillars everywhere!

Ok, so maybe it's a rainy and gloomy morning, but sometimes those are my favorite days.  Days that you can cuddle up with a hot cup of tea or coffee, a good book or a movie, and just be in the moment.  I don't do those things often enough though.  Like right now, I'm sitting at the computer blogging while my "sent home from school but not really sick" child watches Transformers: Dark of the Moon and pretends his Hot Wheels are Autobots & Decepticons.  I think he's actually enjoying himself now, despite that he was sad to have to leave school.  I made a booboo and gave him cereal for breakfast.  He's been having drainage and a cough cause of it, so I hadn't been giving him any dairy.  Well, his cough seemed to be less this morning and gave in and gave him cereal.  He only took a couple bites and then drank all the milk...uh oh.  So, I come home, and for some reason I'm really tired this morning and decide that I wanna go back to sleep.  I normally stay awake after he goes to school, because if I do two things happen.  One - I feel like crap all day long.  Two - I end up staying up way later than I already do.  So, I gave in and about an hour later the phone rings, and it's the school.  I thought maybe he just felt yucky - but then was told that he threw up on the bus.  :(  He's fine now though, so I'm pretty sure it was just the milk.

So, anywho, on to my hips.  All I can say is WOW.  What a difference a couple weeks can make.  My incisions are looking really good, and better than anything is that I keep forgetting my cane around the house.  I've even walked out the front door a few times without it, then I see the steps and remember that I need it.   The limp is getting less and less as my muscles get stronger.  Another great thing is that I've lost 4 pounds this past week.  I've been walking and doing my strength exercises, and trying hard to eat better.  I'm getting better.  I'm so determined to get healthy and in shape.  Now that I've got more confidence and don't hurt all the time, it helps me feel more worth the effort.  Prior to surgery, I used to wonder what the point was.  Why get in shape when I still won't be able to enjoy my life and do things with my son.  Now though, I don't have that horrendous arthritis pain and life is so much more enjoyable.  I wait for the pain to come on the days that I do a lot of walking...but it never comes...and THAT is one of the best feelings I've ever experienced.

MakeupGeek's challenge - Pink for Breast Cancer

If you want to get this look, head on over to MakeupGeek!  They have a super simple tutorial there on the front page (at the moment), to create your own Sugar Skull/Day of the Dead skull.  They also do challenges that last about a week and a half long or so.  This time the challenge is to go pink for breast cancer, so I took it up a notch and created the look for all those we've lost due to this horrible disease.  Hope you like!

Oh, and as a side note, I have finished 2 of the 6 looks based on the movie "Thor".  Right now I have ones done for Thor and Loki.  Thor's didn't turn out QUITE the way I'd have liked it to, but I love the look for Loki.  Once I get them all done I will be posting them and the tutorials :)

 

Vroom vroom!

Today I was naughty.  (O . o) I drove myself to get my blood taken for my coumadin testing.  I'm only a week away from my 6 week check up where I'll be cleared to drive officially.  It was such a freeing moment.  In the past 3+ months, it was only the 3rd time I've driven.  Being both confined to the house and chairs has been rather frustrating as of late.  My body has become very irritable.  The best way to describe it, is like having restless leg syndrome, but covering the entire backside of my body.  Some days I almost want to just crawl out of my skin!!  So yea, getting out, driving, being Miss Independent if even for just an hour or so felt great.

In other news, as mentioned above a bit, next week is a big week.  I go on Tuesday for my 6 week post-op check up.  A few of my restrictions will be lifted, such as the most important one (aside from driving!)...weight bearing!  I had a restriction of only using 50% of my weight on my newest hip.  I had the same restrictions last week, but there's something about this one that has made it so hard this time around.  All I wanna do is be free! Ha!  I admit it, I've cheated.  I guess when you don't feel excruciating pain anymore it pretty much just makes you wanna get up and go.  Back to next week, Thursday I'll be headed back to physical therapy at least twice a week.  Yikes!  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time!  I'm excited, because I know it's going to make me stronger and make it possible for me to get off of all walking aids period.  Then I'm nervous and scared over all the grueling work they're going to put me through.  Eh, it's be ok...i've dealt with pain for 18 years that was far worse than anything they're going to throw at me!

And finally.  As I was driving home this morning, came across a short, but beautiful song by Eddie Vedder, "Longing to Belong".