Attack Of The (Killer) Bumblebees!

Anyone who knows me (or has even SEEN me outside at just the right moment to really make a fool of myself!) knows how I feel about bees - I'm TERRIFIED of them! I'm braver now than I used to be, but I still run like a maniac anytime they are near.

This past weekend I went to visit my sister for a few days to do some wedding stuff (for her! I've already done as much planning for my own wedding as I ever wanted to do!) I had planned to be there for a day and a half and then she'd drive to San Diego to visit her fiance and I'd drive farther North to visit some friends. Well, we ended up being AWESOME and getting done in a half a day, so I decided to leave her house early to continue my trip.

HOLY COW, IT'S A GOOD THING I LEFT WHEN I DID! The next day I got the following email from my sister:

So yesterday night, a swarm of bees decided to make a home in the vent leading to our kitchen. This morning there were hundreds and they would get agitated throughout the day and the sound was crazy. We called property management, exterminators, and bee keepers and no one was available until tomorrow. Luckily, they seem fairly docile just annoying. Later today, they started to come in the vent, the light socket, the edges of the window, and pretty much any other opening so we had to duct tape any and all entrances. Brandon killed about 100 while I sealed the kitchen. The war against the bees has begun and so far we are winning... barely. Wish us luck :-)

She attached the following pictures (I get the willies just LOOKING AT THESE! AAAAAHHH!)

Uh-oh, that can't be good.

Better seal up the kitchen, maybe if they can't get in they'll just decide to leave.

Uh, nope. They did NOT leave. In fact, I think that's more!

So the next time I get jumpy and panicky about a couple of bees flying by, I'll just remember that holy moly, it can ALWAYS be worse ;)

Grapes = Play Structure?

This is a post from my old blog that I made about a year ago. We drove by this park again this weekend, and seeing it made me want to revisit the topic ;) So if this is a repeat for anyone, I'm sorry, but I hope everyone else enjoys it! :)

We were driving around Escondido about a month ago, and drove by something that made me giggle every time I thought about it for the rest of the week. The next weekend, I told Jason we had to go back so I could take some pictures. The place we went to was, of course, the coolest playground I'd ever seen!

Yes, that is a giant bunch of grapes! :) See, doesn't that make you giggle? Who came up with such a thing?

 
I guess a long time ago, Escondido was really into grapes, and they built this playground to celebrate that. So in that spirit, here are some pictures of me enjoying myself with the grapes!

Gotta love the random fun we have on the weekends (I would be perfectly content to sit around the house, but Jason gets bored. And this is our compromise! We're a great fit!)

This Is What Happens When J Has The Camera

Tomorrow is our 1 year wedding anniversary (and 5 years of dating!) so we got all dressed up for a fancy dinner. Before we left, and because we don't get dressed up very often, I wanted to get some pictures of us. J's arms are longer, so I asked him to take the pictures. This is what happens when J takes pictures (and why we have almost no photos of us together!) :)

 

A Child Friendly Explanation of Autism

I work with kids with autism, and describing what I do on a day to day basis can be tough to explain to people. I usually end up listing the diagnostic criteria and just saying that we work on correcting those deficits and excesses. The hardest thing, though, is trying to explain to other kids what I do, because launching into an explanation of the DSM-IV criteria won't get either of us anywhere in our quest for understanding. (And anyone who has ever encountered an inquisitive child knows that you won't be going anywhere until you've explained it to their satisfaction!)

So when I got an e-mail from a family member I'd recently visited asking how to explain autism and my job to her daughter, this is what I came up with:

Autism is such a spectrum disorder that I generally just say that I work with kids who need extra help learning stuff - some of them need help learning how to talk, some of them need help learning how to play with toys, and some of them need help learning how to make friends and fit in at school. (The trick is to explain it so that they don't think they have autism if they are having trouble with kids at school). I also usually explain that those things are extra hard for kids with autism, so a lot of times they get really mad at me for making them work so hard, and then sometimes have temper tantrums or yell or throw things at me. Part of my job as their teacher is to help them learn how to do those things so that it won't be hard anymore, but I also have to help them learn how to use their words and calm down when they are upset. So sometimes my job is really hard because kids are angry and don't want to work, but sometimes it's really fun because I get to go to the playground and hang out and play with toys.

That obviously is a super duper simplified explanation, but it's the most comprehensive yet simple definition that I have come up with so far. So if you ever have the need to explain to a child what autism is or what someone who works with them does, feel free to use my definition (and let me know if you can improve it in any way!)

J Ate The Double Down!

Everyone has heard of KFC's new Double Down, the bacon and cheese sandwich that replaces bread with fried chicken. Being huge fans of cheese, bacon, and chicken, it was only a matter of time until we had to go try it :)

Look, you can see the grease! That's how you know that it's good ;)

 

I had heard lots of statistics about how many calories were in the Double Down, and at less than 600 per sandwich, my guess was that the thing was going to be the size of a slider ;) Well, it wasn't THAT small, but it certainly wasn't big. 

Here it is with a potato wedge, a packet of hot sauce, and a container of ranch dressing to give you a sense of scale. See, not tiny, but also not very big.

I tried a bite, and it was kind of a let down after all the media hype. To be honest, it tasted like chicken (and they've been selling that for years!) The boys said you couldn't taste the bacon at all, and the "pepper-jack" cheese was lacking in peppers. So ultimately, it was fried chicken with a hint of cheese. That's not all that interesting. J and our friend thought it should be spicier, so they added the hot sauce to it. That gave it a mildly interesting taste, at least.

 See, look how un-interesting it is to see J eat it! What a bore.

In an effort to prove that the idea could be delicious, J pounded out two chicken breasts, coated them with a flour and seasoning mixture, and then melted spicy pepper-jack cheese on it for our dinner tonight. THAT was delicious. 

So while most of the world is shunning the Double Down because it has excessive quantities of ingredients that are perfectly fine on their own, I'm going to take a stand and say that the sandwich is lame because it LACKS the wonderful flavors of the ingredients! Even though our homemade version didn't have bacon on it, I'd recommend it over the KFC one any day! So if you feel like spending $6 on a chicken and cheese sandwich, come to our house and J can treat you right ;)

Attack Of The Killer Iguanas!

This is an iguana. Notice the spines on his back, the threatening posture, and the deadly claws. AAAAHHH, are you scared?

 

J was, obviously ;) 

Well you don't need to be too afraid, because these ones were pretty tame (not entirely tame, but I'll get to that later!) They had daily iguana feedings on the activity schedule at the kids club, so the iguanas hung around wherever there was sun.

(You have to look closely, but there are iguanas in the bottom left and right corners of the sidewalk).

The thing you have to watch out for, is that (apparently) they like the pool area the most. The first time I went to a chair to set something on it, a huge iguana crawled out from underneath it. (I learned to look underneath them before sitting, after that). Once I was seated on a free (iguana-less) chair, I was enjoying the sun when I looked over to see an iguana climb up on to the chair next to me. CREEPY! That's nothing, though, compared to the woman who was eating her lunch when an iguana leaped up onto her chair to share her food. YIKES!

(This guy is on his way over to claim a lounge chair).

I had wanted to get some pictures of these tame creatures before we left the resort, so we headed down to the pool with my camera before checking out. I saw one little iguana start to head for a lounge chair, and I took her picture.

(See how tiny her head and spines are? Aw, how cute! I think she is a girl).

What happened next took place too quickly for me to capture on (digital) film. That lounge chair must have been the best spot by the pool, because out of nowhere a MUCH larger iguana came charging at her! And so she came running at me! So I went scuttling backwards into J! Who did not go scuttling backwards very far, which is good because we were right at the edge of the pool. Once the (presumably) dominant male had chased the smaller iguana away, she wandered off and they both left us alone. I sure wish we had gotten the whole thing on video, though. That would have been worthy of submitting to a stupid video contest, and I'm down for looking stupid if I get paid for it!

(Look at those cold, cruel eyes! See how proudly he surveys his domain! He was pretty pleased with himself for securing his rightful place by the towels, apparently. Shame on anyone who tries to sit by towels without permission!)

And that is how I risked life and limb to take photos to share, and just barely avoided certain death by falling into the pool (for my camera, that is. Don't be ridiculous! I can swim, so I would have been fine. Sure, I'd look ridiculous, but since that happens quite often, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'd just be mad I wouldn't be able to take pictures of us in the pool in our clothes with everyone laughing!)

So the next time you see an iguana, don't be scared! If I can survive it, anyone can ;)

(Okay, and try to avoid chasing the iguanas and scaring them, too. J, that was just mean of you!)

I Admit It, I Am One Of THOSE People

I've always been a picky eater, just ask anyone who has ever had a meal with me ;) In my own defense, the older I get, the more willing I am to try the occasional new food item. I even eat burgers and sandwiches now, that is a big deal!

With that being said, it shouldn't be a surprise that I am very particular about what goes ON my burgers and sandwiches. No onions, no sauces of any kind (ranch is the only acceptable condiment for anything besides french fries), no pickles, no peppers, and did I mention no onions? :)

That means that more often than not, when I go out to eat, I have trouble finding things that appeal to me off the menu. We went to Ruby's for dinner tonight, and here is what I wanted:

• The guacamole burger
• Exchange the swiss cheese for the pepper jack cheese from the caliente burger
• Add the bacon from the bacon cheeseburger
• And put it all on the whole wheat bun from the veggie burger

So guess what I ordered?

Yup, THAT! (And if I'd realized that it came with some secret sauce on it, you can bet I would have asked to have that taken off! Instead, I had to scrape it all off and try to pretend I hadn't seen in there in the first place, blech). Even with the sauce remnants, it was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! (I don't know why that burger isn't on the menu).

So I admit it, I am THAT friend that makes the horribly complicated order. I was very nice about the whole thing, and really, how much more difficult is it to make that burger than any of the original burgers that the pieces originated from?

I've never worked in food preparation or serving, so please, enlighten me - am I only slightly annoying, or was it blasphemous of me just to write out that order? I can't say that knowing will make me change my meal orders, but I would love to know just how much spit I'm probably ingesting in place of all those sauces and sides ;)

Our Puerto Rico Trip - The Quick Version (Well, As Quick As I Can Be!)

So here is the super-condensed version of our belated honemoon/friend's wedding in Puerto Rico! (Imagine what my non-condensed version would be like . . . )

Day 1 - Wednesday (Arrival)

• Our flight was at 8, so we had to leave the house by 6, at the latest. We left right at 6, which was okay but didn't give us much cushion . We get 15 minutes away when J realizes he left his wedding ring in the house. He turns around to get it, and then drives like a crazy maniac to get us to the airport on time. Traffic was light, so we got there right on time, but only had a few minutes to grab a few bites of food before we left for the first leg of the journey.
• We were supposed to have an hour long layover in Dallas, where there had been some crazy storm in the morning (I heard it was hailing, but when we got there, it was sunny and dry out. We think they made the storm up). It backed up all the traffic at the airport, so by the time we actually landed, we had about 10 minutes until our next flight. And as it turned out, the other terminal was so far away it took a train to get there. In a sweaty panic with 1 minute to spare and no idea where the train was, I stopped an employee to ask what would happen if we didn't make it (how many flights to Puerto Rico can there be in one day?) He actually found us a flight that left in 3 hours, and reserved us a spot just in case we needed it. However, so many people were late that they held the plane, so we made the flight. We did not have time to get lunch. (Luckily, they sell lunches on planes now, for about the cost of an arm and a leg. We sacrificed a leg and got a sandwich to share).
• A very nice man moved seats with us on the flight so that J and I could sit by each other. He volunteered to give up his aisle seat for my middle seat (which NOBODY in their right mind would prefer) and I just thought that was such a nice gesture that he should get a whole bullet point to himself ;)
• We landed safely and went to get our luggage. Our friends were outside in the heat and humidity waiting to take us to the hotel (nobody is allowed in the baggage claim area). Our luggage doesn't arrive. We stand in a very long line (there's only one employee - in all fairness, it is about 9 PM on a Wed now) just to find out that our luggage got put on the other flight from Dallas, and since we've already waited so long, it should be there in an hour. We all go across the street (to Buffalo Wild Wings!) to eat, listen to some very bad rock cover group, and then get the luggage.
• Raz and Betsy (the bride and groom) take us to the resort we are staying at, The Rio Mar (don't trust the website, it doesn't really look like that). The resort is nice (well, it's pretty darned late at this point so we can't see much outside, but the interior is okay. Nothing to write home about) but they don't start off too great - we'd made the reservation about 8 months earlier, and they somehow weren't able to get us a room with a king sized bed (nothing says, "let's pretend we're on a real honeymoon this time!" like a room with two queen sized beds! Actually, that is what we had on our wedding night when they messed up our reservation, so I just kept thinking maybe the resort would take care of us the next day) and our room smelled. We never figured out what it smelled like, and you'd get used to it after being in the room for a bit, but every time you'd come back, it'd hit you again. Also, I'm convinced the thermostat was just a decoration - no matter what button you pushed, nothing changed. It was warm in the day and FREEZING in the evening! All in all, it was a room like you'd have in a (broken) Holiday Inn, or any other generic hotel in the US. Not what I thought a "resort" room would look like.

Day 2 - Thursday (Bachelor/Bachelorette Party Day)

• Rain! Lots of it. Not how we thought vacation would start (apparently rain at this time of you is really unusual. Of course it is, what luck!)
• After a leisurely lunch and wandering around the inside of the resort we got dressed up and met with the bride and groom to prepare for shenanigans! The boys went down to where there is a strip of clubs and bars in San Juan and got a hotel room down there for the night. The girls did a lot of getting lost when driving and waiting for people to show up, but then spent most of the night at what is apparently the hottest club in Puerto Rico (at the moment anyhow), where I pondered how short girls liked to wear their skirts and wondered why, if the dance club was so awesome, the dance floor was divided like a junior high dance (with all the boys on one side and the girls on the other. It was the oddest thing I've ever seen a bunch of grown adults do).

Day 3 - Friday (Day Before The Wedding)

• We slept in a bit and then headed off to one of those timeshare presentations, which we'd been assured would be fine to attend even if we didn't intend to purchase anything. WRONG! After an exceptionally long presentation (the girl was new and it took longer than they said it would) we got yelled at by the sales manager for wasting their time when we said we weren't in the market to spend money on anything today but still wanted to know the price of what they were offering. (She said we had to "earn" the right to know, disputed J's claim that when you purchase a car they tell you what the price is, and told us to never attend timeshare presentations because they spent a lot of money on marketing and we were wasting it and using them for the wrong reasons. I wrote the sales manager a bad review and was in a REALLY bad mood for the next few hours. But, we did get a $75 credit for anything we purchased at the resort (which was good, because all the food there was super expensive!)
• We had a rental car in order to drive the groom to the wedding next day, so we decided to go out to dinner for some actual Puerto Rican food (imagine that, wanting to try something other than burgers and fries!) We had some mofongo, which looked weird but tasted good (and I was proud of myself for trying something new!) and then got a call from the groom needing help. He was supposed to stay the night at the resort with his best man, but nobody could give him a ride over. We came to the rescue, and then decided to go on a trial run to find the church so we'd know what time to leave at the next morning. GOOD CALL, because the church was in the middle of nowhere, the directions we were given were originally in Spanish, and since Puerto Rico has few (if any!) street signs, we were supposed to navigate by landmarks (hard to do in the dark). We couldn't find it to save our lives! The bride and her sister had to drive over and lead us to the church, and we wrote our own directions for the next day ;)
• Then we had another set-back - the room the best man had rented had some plumbing issues and his kid was sick, so the groom couldn't stay there. Remember that we had that room with two beds in it . . . ? So the groom stayed the night with us, which wasn't the end of the world, but was made difficult by the fact that both he and J decided to snore in tandem that night, and I had to sleep in sweat pants (I HATE sleeping in pants!) Add to that the fact that the thermostat had an identity crisis and it ended up not turning the AC on all night . . . . I did NOT sleep well! ;)

Day 4 - Saturday (Wedding Day!)

• We all woke up early and I tell you, watching the groom get all primped and ready was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I have a picture of J and Raz standing at the sink shaving together (using my Raspberry Rain shower gel) that I ADORE, because how often do you see a man get ready for his wedding? There's usually only photos of the bride getting prepared. However, J is in his underpants in the photo, so I figure it's not safe to post online ;)
• Knowing where the church was, we left with enough time to get us there by 8 AM (the wedding was supposed to be at 8:30) when the bride's dad was going to arrive to open up the gates and doors into the church. By 8:20, the only other people waiting outside the gates are the best man and his wife. Long story short, I think this was an example of different cultures having different expectations of timeliness ;) Dad showed up to open the church at 8:30, and up until about 9:15, we were pretty much the only people there. Turned out there was an issue with the hairdresser and a bunch of guests got lost, but the bride and guests arrived and the wedding did take place, it all just started an hour later than anticipated :)
• The reception was a brunch outside under a gazebo - very beautiful, very yummy, very humid ;) How the bride managed it without looking like a wet dog, I'll never know!
• After the reception J and I took a short nap, and then got down to the belated honeymoon part of our trip! I'd been feeling rather resentful at not getting to spend much time with him, so this was really the kick-start of the "us" part of the trip. We walked along the beach and poked at coconuts and shells, got a table at a casual restaurant facing the ocean, and ate hamburgers and sipped rum drinks (oh my gosh, THAT is what a mojito is supposed to taste like?? DELICIOUS!) as the sun went down. Lovely!

Day 5 - Sunday (Sun Day, Literally! Haha!)

• What would a trip to a tropical island be without some time in the sun? The weather was gorgeous, so this was the day to do it! Here's the problem - J is WHITE white white. He skin burns from just the WORD "sun". So we both slathered up from head to toe in SPF 50, clear zinc oxide on the face, and hats. Then we found the shady area of the pool and hung out there. We went in the ocean once, hit a volleyball around in the pool for a little bit, and called it quits after maybe 2 hours. Even after all our precautions, J (of course!) got burned! It was really mild, but what still makes me laugh is that he managed to burn everything except his pecs. It looked like he put his hands over his nipples and laid out in the sun for too long ;) I have no idea how that happened, but I still laugh when I think about it ;) We also had some crazy encounters with iguanas, but I will have a separate, photo-intensive post with more details about that.
• That night we had an expensive dinner at one of the nice restaurants at the resort. It wasn't anything special, but it was romantic and fun :)

Day 6 - Monday (Rainforest Day!)

• The one thing EVERYONE we talked to kept telling us to do while we were in Puerto Rico was go visit El Yunque (which is Spanish, so of course it's pronounced "yoon-kay", though the way the locals say it, it sounds more like, "june-kay". So of course, J and I started calling it "El Junky"). El Yunque is the rainforest that was right next to the resort, and that the area is famous for. We decided to rent a car so that we could see the rainforest that day, and then drive ourselves to the airport the next day (instead of paying $37.50/person for a shuttle ride there, what a rip-off!) 
• Everyone had continually told us how close the rainforest was to our resort, so we just headed out to the main road and thought we'd see signs telling us how to get there. Well, between the few number of street signs we'd seen, the tiny map of the area we had, and Google maps on my phone, we managed to figure out a very round-about way to get to the middle of the rainforest. We drove and drove and drove and ended up at . . . . a dead end! We drove all the way up the back of the mountain only to find that the small road we were counting on was closed. So, we backtracked all the way back to the resort, still confused as to how to GET onto the great bit mountain that we could clearly see no matter where we went!
• At the street leading back to the resort, we finally saw a sign for El Yunque. Apparently, the entrance to the rain forest is across the main street from the resort (of course the only sign we ever saw was from the main road as we were driving, why would they want to make it easy for tourists at the resort to find the biggest tourist area on the island??)
• Our adventures at El Yunque were probably the highlight of our trip (for me, anyhow) but those stories will also follow (eventually!) in a more photo-intensive post.
• We were super sweaty when we finished, so we went back to the resort, showered, and headed out for our last dinner on the island. We ended up at a shopping mall, ate Chinese food in the food court, and went to see a movie (it was only $5.75, another highlight of our trip as far as I'm concerned!)

Day 7 - Tuesday (Going Home)

• Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we checked out in the morning (and saw how much money they charged us each day in "resort fees". What a rip-off! We didn't ever look at the free newspapers or use the lounge chairs or cabanas by the pool, we stayed in our rooms when we weren't eating in their restaurants, and we had to pay for that separately!) got in the car, and headed off downtown!
• We met up with Raz and Betsy for lunch and ended up getting a parking ticket because we parked in the Burger King parking lot but didn't eat there (though in our own defense, we had PLANNED to eat there but then got side tracked by a pizza place. And how do they know we didn't eat there anyhow? Did they go inside and ask around? And who makes parking tickets without any English instructions on them, if it's such a tourist area? There isn't any address listed, so I can't pay the darned thing, even if I wanted to!) then dropped off the rental car, got onto our flight, made all of our connecting flights, and got home really late at night, but totally safe and sound :)

SO, there you have it, that was our trip! If you actually read this whole thing, boy are you a trooper :) I have lots of follow up posts to write (which will have all of the humorous moments, I think!) but now at least you don't have to wonder what we did while we were there ;)

Medical Professionals, Give Me Some Credit!

Before I say anything else, I just want to say that I have the utmost respect for medical professionals. I have a lot of family who work in the field, I've worked with some amazing people, and I still plan to go back to nursing school eventually (I'll be that old lady in your class making references and analogies between the homework assignment and some random story about my kids. Look for me there!)

BUT! As someone who's seen plenty of doctors during the course of my life, spanning a number of different disciplines (both for myself and for my siblings), I can tell you that for everyone one person you find that's really really great, you find ten that are worthless. (My particular pet peeve are pediatric personnel who act like they've never dealt with a child before in their lives, namely because I'm sure I could do what they are doing better than they are with only the minimal training I have).

What bothers me most overall, though, are the doctors/nurses/PA's/NP's/etc. who treat me like I don't know what I'm talking about. And when I say that, I don't mean that I'm trying to dispense medical knowledge. I mean that if I tell you something is wrong with my body, I expect you to take me seriously. I'm a big advocate for knowing your body and your limits, and I'm pretty good at knowing when something needs attention.

In their defense, I'm sure being a nurse or a doctor you see thousands of people who are absolutely imbecilic when it comes to dealing with their own health. I don't doubt that you end up cynical about the intelligence of your average patient. I've had my share of false alarms too, but at the very least, if my "cold" that won't go away after four weeks turns out just to be allergies, I can learn something from that, which means that my trip to urgent care wasn't a complete waste of either your or my time. I'll know for the future how to avoid it and won't be coming back again soon. (During that particular trip I got one of the best pieces of medical advice that I can't believe nobody had told me about earlier - the benefits of regularly using a sinus rinse. Doing so has changed my life, and now my sister's, since somebody else finally took my advice and gave it a try! I owe that PA, whose name I don't remember.) Please don't dismiss me immediately without listening to my story, because I may just be one of the few patients with something real to say. The majority of the time, my complaints are warranted and have at least some basis in reality. So please, try to treat all patients like they are worthy of listening to, on the off chance that they know what they are talking about.

Also, please don't dismiss what I say based solely upon your previous experiences. You may honestly have never had a patient who reacted negatively to a generic version of a medication, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't ever happened (all it takes is a quick internet search to find out that it has, because that many people sharing the same story can't be a fluke) or that it isn't currently happening to me. If I tell you that I have already tried to switch from a name brand to a generic and had truly AWFUL results, I need you to trust me, because I have no reason to lie. (I've been broke for years, trust me, nobody wants a generic brand drug more than me!) If you REALLY are insistent that I try the generic again, and I agree but say that I plan on calling for a new prescription if it doesn't work, then take my call when I try to tell you it isn't working! Don't string me along for a week, having various nurses leave me voicemails with ridiculous and conflicting advice, before I have to take more time off of work to come in and tell you in person what I told you the first time - it didn't work. My health is important to me, and with as much trust as I put into the hands of anyone who is taking care of me, I expect some level of trust in return, particularly when it comes to what I tell you of my own experiences. You can't confirm or deny what I am going through, and while I'm sure you have to look out for drug-seeking or other manipulative people, please try to trust me when I tell you how I am being affected by your decisions.

And finally, please don't put the cart before the horse - run your tests first and THEN give me your medical diagnosis! I went this morning for a throat culture because I thought I had strep throat. Again, the nurse didn't know me and I didn't know her, so she had no reason to trust my instincts except for the fact that the respectful thing to do would be at least to listen to them and take them into account. I told her my symptoms and she looked in my throat. She said she saw no signs of strep, but she (rather reluctantly) said she'd do the rapid test anyhow. I told her again that I rarely show the classic white spots on the back of my throat but that during the course of my career working with small children, I've had enough head colds and strep throat to know the difference. While the test is running, she is telling me to drink lots of fluids, take Advil, and use throat lozenges (DUH!) She gave me all the paperwork to send me packing and sent me to the waiting room to, well, wait :) After a few minutes, she brings me back into the room and says, "Did you say you'd had strep before?" Apparently, the test results looked like they were coming back positive, so she wanted to do it again to double check. Hey, I am all for thoroughness, but this was clearly being thorough because she didn't think it could be true. Well guess what, ladies and gentlemen? THE SECOND TEST CAME BACK POSITIVE! She was really shocked. I felt vindicated, but mostly really really awful (because, if you'll recall, I had strep throat, and that is miserable).

So I got my antibiotics and got in the car feeling, as mentioned, vindicated and yucky, but mostly I just felt angry. Because while most of the medical professionals I've ever dealt with were very sweet and well-meaning, the reason I ended up persevering in all those cases is because I know my body and I know enough about common illnesses and medical protocol (from my past experiences, I'm not claiming to have a medical degree) to know when to stand up and be assertive. So I'm upset on behalf of all the people who don't know enough about what they're being told to know when to object, or who don't know their bodies well-enough to trust those instincts that tell you when something is really wrong.

So to all of those doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, x-ray technicians, and everyone else that I can't remember to name who take the time to really talk and listen to their patients, and take what they have to say into account, I salute you. You have an incredibly difficult and important job, and you have managed to find a way to be the exception to the rule. You are my heroes, and I really aspire one day to be among your ranks. But to all of you who are going into any situation as a patient, I urge you to go in prepared to ask questions, be honest, and stand up for yourself and your own health.

In the meantime, my Advil is wearing off and it's getting hard to swallow, so I'm going to return to my "sick" spot on the couch next to J (who was also home sick today - don't come visit us, we're toxic!) and take some more medicine. Because right now I am listening very closely to my body, and it's telling me to go do that, so I will. What's that you say, body? I should also eat a cookie while I'm at it? I guess I'd better take that advice while I'm at it :)

Color Blindness is HYSTERICAL!

J is red/green colorblind, which isn't all that uncommon (our friend says he is red/green/purple colorblind, and THAT one I don't understand. But hey, I'll go along with it!) And for the most part, it doesn't affect his living in any way.

What it DOES affect is how I describe things to him, because I can never seem to remember that he doesn't see those colors. I cannot tell you HOW many times he's asked me something along the lines of, "Which one is it?" and I say, "The green one". "Which one?" "The green one, the one right there, RIGHT THERE! What, can you not SEE green . . . oh. Oops". (That particular example was from a monster truck rally. We are just THAT exciting of a couple!) Those moments when I realize that he legitimately can't see red or green always make me giggle.

What REALLY makes me laugh, though, is when he's honestly trying to see red and green, and just can't. For instance, there is this shirt I love (WARNING: THERE ARE NAUGHTY WORDS IN IT!) that has a sentence printed in red on a green background (if anyone has seen those colorblindness tests with all the tiny blobs of colors, that is what it looks like). And the reason I love it is that I can so clearly see what is written, and J just CANNOT see it! He sits there at his computer - standing up, then sitting down, then getting up close, then tilting his head to the side, then asking me to point out where the words are, or what it says again, and then eventually he just gives up. And just watching him trying to figure out what is clearly written on the screen drives me to hysterics! I would wear that shirt 24/7 if they took the bad words out of it, just because every time I'd look down at it, I'd laugh picturing J trying to read it. (And I realize that probably doesn't SOUND very funny, so maybe someday I'll hook up a nanny-cam and try to catch it on video so everyone can see that it really is hysterical! I think if I just tried to record it, it wouldn't end up being a very natural performance, and that would kill the essence of what makes it so funny!)

So maybe laughing at colorblind people trying to see colors isn't a very nice thing to do, but in my own defense, he is my husband (so I think I'm allowed some allowance when making fun of him!) and as far as disabilities go, it's probably one of the most minor ones. If I'm going to laugh at someone, I'll feel free to indulge when it's my husband and it's because he can't see the words on a t-shirt that I will someday buy just to wear around the house ;) Or maybe you should buy it and wear it over to our house sometime - I'd love to see if he'd recognize the shirt or just think you're wearing a giant gray circle on your chest :)

Puerto Rico, you CAN know the island!

So after my post last night when I was upset, even though J thinks pictures are stupid, he spent a bunch of time using different programs to try to recover my photos. And this morning, he did it! Or sort of, at least. Some of them are corrupted, but I at least have SOMETHING to work with now! So, my super exciting posts will be made into a reality, but not right now, because I have to go to work :)

Keep your eyes peeled!

Puerto Rico, you know the island . . . .

La de dah de dah de . . . . (Those are the only words from the West Side Story song that I know, sorry!)

So J and I just got back from a week in Puerto Rico, and let me tell you, I had some FANTASTIC posts planned. Do you want to see some iguanas get into a fight over territory underneath a lounge chair? I got it! You want to see what J and I look like after climbing around in the rain forest? Right here! You want to see what J and Raz look like as they stand side by side in front of the bathroom mirror and shave using my raspberry shaving gel? (I've never seen men prep for a wedding before, it was cute). Well, look no further!

OH WAIT, YOU CAN'T SEE ANY OF THOSE! (And neither can I, for that matter, so don't be offended). APPARENTLY our external storage device hates me and my photos, and while the first folder of photos I lost a few months ago was attributed to my being an idiot somehow, nobody can convince me that I did anything wrong yesterday when I moved the pictures from our trip off of my camera and into a new folder on the device.

So now I have some cute picture frames but the rare photos I had gotten of J and I both looking decent and NORMAL (J doesn't like to have his picture taken, so any photo with him in it is always entertaining, but never what you'd call a "good" picture) are gone.


ARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!


I'm super frustrated and sad, but part of that is just because I had specific plans for all those photos. Once I readjust to not having them I'll be fine, but for now, suffice to say that this is NOT what I had planned for my trip summary :(

A Good Day (And A Rocking Horse)

Today was a great day! We spent it a friend's house, where the boys played Dungeons and Dragons (yep, those are the kind of men I roll with - the ones that roll play!) and I got to spend time with a new friend and play with a baby. Sometimes the simplest days are really the best. Throw in some pizza and a few episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and really, it's hard to get much better than that!

It is possible though! (We rarely go out without having some kind of wacky event to share by the end of the evening). Today's wacky event involved J and a really sturdy rocking horse (kudos to the maker of that rocking horse, it's indestructible!) When he was taking breaks, J came out a few times to play on it, and how much fun he had while doing so is still making me giggle. So that is just one more reason that I love my man - he can always make me laugh :)

 

Just try to look at that and not smile, it's impossible!

Tomorrow we plan to run errands and do some grocery shopping. I don't think there will be any rocking horses there, but I'm sure we'll find something wacky to do before the day is over! Because that's just how we roll ;)

How NOT To Save Money (But It Sure Was Fun!)

I have been meaning to write this post for almost a YEAR now, but hey, better late than never, right? :)

We met up with a friend for lunch at Oggi's last year shortly before we got married, and as a gift, he said the meal would be on him. Well, none of us could find anything on the actual menu that sounded good, but we agreed that all of the appetizers sounded amazing.

So our friend said, "Let's just order all of them".

Lots of people might say something like that, but Kaz is the kind of crazy, wacky, friend that will actually follow through with statements like those. And so we ordered appetizers for lunch. LOTS of them (not ALL of them, because there were some seafood ones that we didn't like, but with the exception of about five, we got them all).

The waitress really thought we were joking when we placed our order (she also came back later to take our picture). We were the envy of all the other tables around us (the ones that people could sit at, at least! The food wouldn't all fit on our table at once, so we ended up taking over a nearby table, also).

In short, it was AWESOME! There was such a sense of reckless abandon and freedom at our table, and in the end, I think that's what Kaz's gift to us was (I doubt that was his intent, because while Kaz's whimsicality is always fun and entertaining, he's not so much for being serious or deep). The food was great (and he had leftovers to last him and his roommate for days upon days!) but more than that, it was the gift of being told that it was okay to really just let go, enjoy ourselves, and have fun without worrying so much.

It really made me realize that, after all the financial issues we'd been having over the past few years, going out to eat for me had become all about the food itself and the cost-benefit analysis of each bite. I still liked not having to prepare the food, and I always like going on dates with J, but the meal part caused me so much stress simply because it involved money. I don't think I used to be like that, and I don't want to be like that anymore either, but it is a hard habit to break.

Our lunch that afternoon ended up having very little to do with the food (and since Kaz was the ring-leader of the ordering, I didn't feel too guilty about the cost) and so much to do with enjoying ourselves and the afternoon. My dad has perfected that skill to an art form - he sees nothing wrong with ordering two entrees for himself, or two desserts (or both for that matter!) and anyone who's ever gone to dinner with him knows what a wonderfully fun evening that attitude leads to. (For the record, he always takes home leftovers. I don't want the world thinking my dad is hugely obese or something!)

So, while I certainly can't afford to have such extravagant lunches on a regular basis, I think it is important to have those days sometimes where you say, "Heck with it all, let's do something for ourselves!" because life should be about balance. And I'm still not very good at striking that balance, but I am sincerely trying, because what good is a life spent living in fear and worry?

So thank you, Kaz, for showing me that sometimes a lot of money spent on something frivolous is a good way to remind ourselves of what we want from life!

This is Kaz, showing his approval of our spread (notice I can't fit it all into the frame at once!)

** There are more photos of the event, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get text and photos formatted (together) into this darned program. So if you really want more pictures, let me know and I'll put together a gallery or something (because I aim to please!) **