tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14647176563958063972024-02-19T06:47:43.170-08:00Madwoman without a BoxKortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-12644576685105556962012-03-11T10:08:00.001-07:002012-03-11T10:34:09.538-07:00Been quiet lately...<div><p>But I really haven't had much to say. The past few weeks have been an emotional wringer, to say the least. Depression has kicked up pretty bad and I have no idea what to do about it. It's not like after my nervous breakdown where getting on Lexapro helped. I think this is mainly situational.</p>
<p>For the first time in my life, I'm facing the problem of having no money. There is $20 and some change in my bank account right now. The messed up part? It's largely my parents fault.</p>
<p>Well, let me rephrase. The first one two weeks ago was. On February 9th, they decided to take $7900 out of my account without telling me for money I owe them. I found out when I tried to buy lunch at work a little over a week later, my card got declined, I called the bank and found out. They said they left $500 in there, then my paycheck got deposited the next week which would have left me over $1000. I'm almost positive the charges the lady at the bank read off to me from the 9th to two weeks ago didn't come nowhere close to $1000. A couple hundred, yes, not a thousand.</p>
<p>Fast forward to last night. I went to the bank to take out some money to help Ben with his car payment. By my estimation, there was AT LEAST $300 in the account. I moved $300 to that account from my savings right after I found out about the money transfer, then used $100 of that to open a new account my parents have no access to, so that left me $200. I got paid three days later, which was just over $500, then paid around $225 in bills. I haven't bought anything but necessities since then. Food for me and Robbie, cigarettes, stuff like that. Needs instead of wants. When I checked my balance last night, it said I had $52 in my account.</p>
<p>I am almost hoping there are unauthorized charges to my card at this point. That would be a lot easier to deal with than calling and finding out about another money transfer done without my knowledge.</p>
<p>On the bright side of all of this, I get my Sam's Share this week. Even with the month LOA for my surgery, the week LOA when those issues started in September and the week LOA I had to take in May when my neck got messed up and the muscles locked up on me, Melissa estimates I'll still be getting around $1100. I changed my exemptions to nine for the Sam's Share and with that and my regular paycheck, which will be a little more since I've worked as many extra hours as I can, I should have at least $1600 in my account on Thursday.</p>
<p>Must not forget to change exemptions back on Wednesday...</p>
<p>Most of it I am going to take out Friday and then deposit to the new account next Monday. After the Sam Share hits, I'm changing my direct deposit info to my new account.</p>
<p>On the downside, when I call the bank later and find out there were unauthorised charges, that means I'm going to have to go through the statements for the last few months and try to figure out what charges are and aren't mine. Ugh.</p>
</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-14012475914446795352012-01-19T20:49:00.000-08:002012-01-19T20:49:18.083-08:00One last weekend......before I go back to work. It sucks and I'm looking forward to it all at the same time.<br />
<br />
It sucks because I've enjoyed all the extra time I've gotten with Robbie and Ben. Even when I was laying on the couch in post op pain and/or sick as hell from the Loritab's, I got to see them way more than I would had I been at work for eight hours, four to five days a week.<br />
<br />
I'm looking forward to it because on Sunday I'll have been off for a month and I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and being productive regularly again. As much as I go back and forth on liking/not liking my job, it will be nice. But at least now I can remind myself that with starting school in the fall, I won't be there much longer anyway.<br />
<br />
So, for my last weekend as a free woman, I'll hopefully be taking my driving test tomorrow, which means being at the DMV by 7am as a walk-in. Ick. At least Robbie's on normal hours and I'll already be up, but still. The ass crack of dawn is still the ass crack of dawn no matter how you try to dress it up. Like putting a plumber in a tutu, the crack is still unattractive no matter what. Anyways. I say hopefully because Ben re-hurt his back at work tonight and is back at home, so he may not feel up to driving that much.<br />
<br />
Regardless of whether I take the test or not, the rest of the plan for the weekend involves Robbie and I staying over at Ben's place, which is something we all love. We bring the Wii with us so Robbie has something else to keep him occupied, as well as a few of his movies, but he also plays on Ben's PS2. I'm going to get a few toys for him to keep over there tomorrow, maybe a bucket of Lego's and a couple other things so he's not always playing video games. Robbie loves the fact he has his own room there, something we can't do here due to space constrains. He got to pick out his Lightening McQueen sheets and blanket before we stayed the last time and it thrilled him to no end. His bed never stays made, usually the bedding ends up in the walk in closet in his room, where he will make a pallet on the floor to play, but that's a five year old for you.<br />
<br />
So, yes, it's going to be a fun weekend. :)Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-70795067997513084722012-01-16T22:56:00.000-08:002012-01-16T22:56:13.380-08:00New and improved stomach.The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a challenge with my stomach. It really makes me want to hit everyone that told me, "You'll be as good as new once you have your gallbladder out!" While the pros are still outweighing the cons at this point (especially the fact it probably would have ruptured had the docs dragged their feet anymore), it's still requiring some annoying adjustments until my body adapts.<br />
<p><p><b>1) No eating 6 to 8 hours after eating.</b><br><br />
If I eat a big meal, I have to wait at least six to eight hours before eating again, no matter how hungry I feel. I have a fast metabolism, so it's pretty common for me to be hungry after a few hours. But doing so right now will result in me getting sick. I discovered this the other day after having Cattleman's steak with Ben then Taco Bueno eight hours later. This is when I became aware of the fact that my stomach is digesting as quick as it did, as I revisited with undigested bits of salad, potato and steak later on when my stomach decided it was having quite enough of all this nonsense. Definitely no bueno.<br />
<p><b>2) Alcohol makes me sick.</b><br><br />
Whether it be one beer or a few, one mixed drink or a few, one shot or a few, it sits heavy on my stomach and will make me sick. Plus, I feel like I have a hangover for two days no matter how much I drank. As a result, I'm going to quit drinking. I've been wanting to for awhile anyway, plus Ben and I have talked about it a few times as something good for both of us to do, so now's the time.<br />
<p><b>3) Spicy food hates my stomach. </b><br><br />
Anyone that knows me knows I like spicy food. If it can't take the paint off the side of a barn, it's not hot enough. For awhile there, it was a running joke whenever I would go out for sushi with my friends that "sushi night isn't sushi until Kortnee overdoes it on the wasabi at least once. Well, apparently my cast iron stomach has hung up its hat and said "I'm done". Anything even remotely spicy will send me to the bathroom within a half hour. Even just a small sprinkling of crushed red pepper on pasta will do it. I feel like this is the biggest gyp ever. People told me not to eat spicy food when I started having the gallbladder issues, to stick with bland food. Spicy food didn't bother it at all, it was the bland food that bugged me the worse. Now it has flipped. Bland food loves me, spicy food hates me.<br />
<p><p>Most of it is easy enough to deal with. I just eat smaller meals more often, sometimes just grazing throughout the day rather than eating a proper meal. I don't drink. I avoid anything that might be hot. (-sob-) But that doesn't make it any less annoying.<br />
<p>The perks of all this?<br />
<p><p><b>1) No more pain.</b><br><br />
This is the biggie. In the three months it took to get my gallbladder out, from the initial pain to surgery, I hurt all the time. While it was worse after eating (sometimes worse than others), I always hurt in my back under my right shoulder blade. It varied from a steady ache to feeling like someone was stabbing me in the back. I also hurt under the right side of my rib cage, which varied from a steady ache to something akin to what one would think the chest popping scene from Alien might feel like. The night before my surgery, I had the worse gallbladder attack to date. Which was really fun since I had so much to finish for Christmas before my surgery. I alternated between being curled up on my parents bed while trying to wrap presents, curled up in the shower throwing up down the drain, to curled up on the porch with a cigarette, crying and reminding myself suicide wasn't an option because it'd be over soon.<br />
<p>The pain I experienced with gallbladder redefined my concept for pain. After the pain of labor and of kidney stones, I didn't think that was possible. And I'm not one of those lucky bitches that had little to no pain during labor, oh no. I would take labor AND a kidney stone simultaneously over the pain of a gallbladder attack.<br />
<p>Funnily enough, when I talk to women whom have had both and I say its worse than labor, they agree but admit they never thought about it like that. Most women will agree that kidney stones and labor are pretty on par with each other, but no one ever compares the gallbladder. My theory is that a gallbladder attack is so much worse, you automatically rank it in another category without even thinking about it and don't think to compare it to something like labor until someone else points it out. My coworker Sharon is who first clued me in on the comparison when she said, "It's like labor fifty times over but in your stomach."<br />
<p><b>2) Breakfast is once again edible.</b><br><br />
I don't mean breakfast foods, I mean breakfast in general. Ever since I was 16 and started having stomach issues, eating within the first couple of hours after waking up would make my stomach very upset. It started out as a once in awhile thing, depending on what I tried to eat, gradually getting worse over the years until every time I ate within the first two hours of getting up would send me running for the bathroom thirty minutes later. Right before the gallbladder attacks started, even drinking coffee of Dr Pepper was causing this reaction.<br />
<p>Kinda hard to believe that I may have been dealing with my gallbladder for 12 years, I just didn't know it because it didn't present any of your A typical symptoms until last September. Go figure, it is my luck after all.<br />
<p><p>But yes, that's where I'm at stomach wise.<br />
<p>And did I mention no pain? :DKortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-81086901414504558352012-01-13T18:42:00.001-08:002012-01-13T21:28:59.080-08:00Chapter 1<div><p>Henry Banks wasn't the type of person that made waves. Not even in Unity, Arizona in 1843. Since his arrival to the town, he settled down quietly, working himself a modest living, and caused no trouble. He wasn't the richest man in town, but by far was he the poorest. He liked everyone, saw the good in everyone, no matter how ruff the ruffian, and was well liked in return. He never talked about his past before coming to Unity, and no one ever asked. The Sheriff of Unity, Tom Reynolds, especially liked him. Henry had a fair and even Outlook, Tom would say. An eye for an eye. </p>
<p>This opinion eventually led to Tom deputising Henry. After months of protest, of course. Henry did not want to be in the public eye, just wanted to live a quiet life. It may have taken Tom getting Henry rip roaring drunk and singing with the ladies at Unity Saloon to get him to accept, but no matter. Henry was eventually the deputy sheriff of Unity, and was well received.</p>
<p>Even as deputy, Henry did his job well. He eventually made a daily venture to the Sheriff station where Tom would sit in a rocker. Henry stood next, of course, cause he didn't feel he was of the stature to sit with the Sheriff yet. Tom didn't protest, was just glad his pupil was falling into his failed role. Henry had his own opinion, which Tom consulted frequently, but he never questioned a final judgement, something he had found deputies lacking in.</p>
<p>Until, that is, about six months after Henry's appointment. Tom and Henry were having their daily commune when Tom spotted someone new on the way into town.</p>
<p>"Well, look at what we have here," Tom said.</p>
<p>"Hmm?" said Henry in his usual noncomittal way.</p>
<p>"We have ourselves a figure of folklore in our midst." Tom pointed to one of the four riders coming in from the west.</p>
<p>Tom looked up at Henry. He saw Henry look at the riders casually, then do a double take.</p>
<p>"You see her?" Tom asked.</p>
<p>"Yes," Henry said after a pause. "I do."</p>
<p>"Her name is Annie James," Tom said, a bit incredilous. "I've heard of her."</p>
<p>The rider in question was unmistakable. She rode with men, but was obviously female. Annie wore the clothing of a man, but tailored to fit her figure, including a steep cut in the front to display the tops of her breasts. Her hair was tied back, blonde at the bottom, black halfway up and under her hat. But was unmistakable about her was the six gun on each hip.</p>
<p>As other people on the street caught sight of hér, they stopped and stared. The gang paused just before the station. They seemed to converse with the woman, then the rest headed for the saloon, while she took a slow canter to the Sheriff's station.</p>
<p>"Afternoon," she said from the coral, dipping her hat to the Sheriff."</p>
<p>"Afternoon," Tom replied with a hat dip in kind, noting Henry did the same with a shaky voice and hand.</p>
<p>"May I have a moment of your time?" the woman asked.</p>
<p>"Of course," said Tom, and felt his deputy stiffen beside him.</p>
<p>The woman dismounted, tethered her horse, and approached the Sheriff, stoppimg just at the top step of the station.</p>
<p>"I wanted to introduce myself coming into town," she began. "Because a woman like me is not usual."</p>
<p>"Of course you're not," Tom said. "You're Annie James."</p>
<p>It didn't take a genius to see her eyes fall and her shoulders slump. "Oh. You've heard of me?"</p>
<p>"Of course I have," Tom said, forgetting about his deputy for the moment, who was pulling his hat down low over his face. "Who hasn't? The woman that dresses like a man? The woman that wears guns like a man? And, more importantly;" he leaned forward, glaring at Annie. "The woman who can use guns just lime a man?"</p>
<p>Annie seemed to shrink back, then puffed herself up. "Yes, I am all that. But did you hear I don't cause trouble? Did you hear I don't draw a weapon unless in self defense?" she took a step closer and looked Tom in the eye. "And did you hear if you want me to leave right now, I will? Me and my gang. We will buy water and supplies, give your town commerce, and be out of here."</p>
<p>Tom looked at her for awhile, and Annie looked back. He dected no deception in her...but he had the town and what they thought to think about.</p>
<p>"Well," he said. "I have to say, in my town's opinion, your presence wouldn't be very wel-"</p>
<p>All of a sudden, Henry kicked the hell out of Tom's boot.</p>
<p>"Well..." Tom restarted. "What I meant to say was, if you and your gang don't cause no trouble, you're welcome here."</p>
<p>The surprise and relief to cross Annie's face was unmistakable. "Thank you, Sheriff. We're much obliged."</p>
<p>After she rode off to the saloon, Tom turned to Henry. "You better have a good explanation for this."</p>
"I do," Henry said, finally raising his head, to reveal eyes brimming with tears. "She's my wife."
</p>
<p><font color ="#000000">"</font></p>
</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-63513677770920926402011-12-29T17:58:00.000-08:002011-12-29T18:03:24.974-08:00Why stupidity should be a crime.I've been following the case of Aliahna Lemmon pretty closely since the news broke she was missing. Even after the man watching her admitted to murdering the poor girl, seemed like a pretty straight forward case. For whatever reason, the man watching three girls decided to murder one of them.<br />
<br />
That is, until you actually start reading more in depth about the case, and you find out exactly how stupid the mother of this poor girl was.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/27/babysitter-michael-plumad_n_1171173.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-nb%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3&pLid=123276">Here is the article I read that really goes in depth of what happened.</a><br />
<br />
At first, it doesn't sound like Tarah Souders did anything wrong at all. She moved herself and her three daughters in with her father to take care of him during his final days. I think that's something most of us would do and would want to be with our parent(s) in their final days and there's nothing wrong with that.<br />
<br />
However, there is something wrong with it in this case. The trailer park her father lived in was home to 15 registered sex offenders, including her own father who was convicted of molesting a child in 2006. There were two men in particular whom had been helping her father out that she expressed concern about before moving, one of which was Michael Plumadore, the man that ended up murdering her daughter. He wasn't a convicted sex offender, but obviously something didn't sit right with her for her to be concerned about him. <br />
<br />
This whole thing could have been prevented had the mother thought this through more carefully.<br />
<br />
1) Moving those children to that trailer park would be like sitting a can of gas and a book of matches in a room full of pyromaniacs and telling you expect them not to touch it. The chances of those girls leaving that trailer park unscathed were slim to none. While none of them may have been murdered at the hands of someone else, they would have had permanent psychological, if not physical, damage.<br />
<br />
2) She knew how many sex offenders were living in that trailer park. Rather than move there, she could have moved her father home with them. It probably would have been cheaper, plus would have kept her daughters out of harms way.<br />
<br />
3) She didn't know Michael Plumadore at all, yet still sent her daughters to LIVE WITH HIM for a week while she had the flu. WTF??? As a single mother, I've had to take care of my son with a bad case of the flu before. Sure, it isn't the easiest thing in the world, but it can be done. I certainly wouldn't trust Robbie with someone I hardly knew just to make my life easier. The safety of my son is far more important to me than getting some sleep.<br />
<br />
Of course, you're going to have people say she had a slip of judgement because she was grieved, but that is NO EXCUSE. Your children come FIRST above everything and anyone else, including your parents. Why she would even WANT her kids around her father after his own conviction as a child molester is beyond me.<br />
<br />
The only thing that could have made this story even stupider is if she had moved for a boyfriend and he was a convicted sex offender. With the way the rest of this story has turned out, I'm surprised it wasn't.<br />
<br />
It is such a shame this poor little girl had to die because her mother didn't think things through more. It's amazing the two surviving girls are even still alive. RIP little Aliahna.Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-60697451715607932502011-12-29T03:31:00.001-08:002011-12-29T06:23:17.186-08:00I still want a hula hoop.<div><p>Christmas was a big hit this year. We did ours at home on Tuesday since Christmas Day was so busy. I don't think Robbie cared either way. The expression on his face when he finally realized there were more presents under the tree was absolutely priceless.</p>
<p>Robbie: "Mama! Mama! More presents! What happened?!?"<br>
Me: "Santa came last night after you went to sleep."<br>
Robbie: "Santa?!? He came?!?"<br>
Me: "He sure did!"</p>
<p>He then turned and slowly walked back into the den, like he was in a dreamlike state, with this expression of absolute wonderment on his face.</p>
<p>The big overall was the Skylander starter set. Robbie has had his eye on it for awhile now after seeing the adverts on TV and playing wit the demo in stores. Ben got him the Trigger Happy figure for Christmas and Robbie wanted to play it then. He was a bit disappointed finding out he didn't have the game. He got a couple of triple packs of figures from Santa that he opened before getting to the starter set and had the same reaction. The starter set was the last present he opened. When he ripped the paper off and saw what it was, the roof about came off the house. I don't think I've ever seen this kid so happy over a particular present before.</p>
<p>"Mama! I got it, I GOT IT! YAY!!!"</p>
<p>He's been playing with it pretty much non stop since then. When we put on a movie, he'll usually bring all of the figures to the couch and just play with those. He really likes how you can play it on the game and play with the figures when you're not playing the game.</p>
<p>All in all, it was a great day. Santa brought presents for everyone, so I guess that means we were all good. My take was Tremors, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Cowboys & Aliens, all on Blu-Ray. I can't believe I finally own a copy of Nightmare. It's my favorite movie ever, so you'd have thought I'd have owned it by now, but nope. I don't know why I never got around to buying it, I just never did. I can't wait to watch it with Robbie. He knows who Jack Skellington is from my bedding set and other random things I have with him on it, so I think Robbie will enjoy the movie.</p>
</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-57540311077005657702011-12-23T10:50:00.001-08:002011-12-26T13:59:41.715-08:00Post Op Fun<div><p>The surgery last Thursday went well. It didn't take them long to discover the source of my pain once they were in there. My gallbladder was about the size of a softball, roughly three times larger than what it shouldn't been. They were still able to get it out with the laproscope, but it stretched the incision they took it out through. That incision has hurt and bruised a bit more than the others, which they warned me would happen.</p>
<p>Overall, the recovery hasn't been too bad. I'm hurting, stiff and sore as expected. But no pain in my back anymore and the only pain I feel under my ribs is the internal soreness from where my gallbladder was. I'm hesitant to say this is easier than what I was dealing with. While it certainly seems so, it could be psychological since I know this won't last. Plus the painkillers make it a hell of a lot easier pain wise.</p>
<p>The worse part has been the nausea. I'm on Loritab 7.5 and side effect goes back and forth from a slight nauseous feeling to being sick as a dog. Take it from me, being that sick after abdominal surgery really sucks. It just makes you hurt more, which makes you take more painkillers, which just makes you sicker.</p>
<p>I've decided after surgery, you are always in one of three states. In pain, comfortable and sleepy, or sick as hell. The gray areas between those states are just the transition period from one to the other. You can jump back and forth between in pain and sick as hell quicker than you can go from in pain to comfortable and sleepy. And you can go from comfortable and sleepy to either in pain or sick as hell really quick.</p>
<p>The fun of pain killers. But it's better than the alternative.</p>
</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-86828797142864652812011-12-21T02:23:00.000-08:002011-12-21T02:32:00.160-08:00Santa Claus is coming to town.One of these years, I am not going to wait until the last minute to get Robbie's Santa picture done. I think this is the closest to the wire I've come yet. While the parking lot of Penn Square Mall was packed, very few people seemed to be inside. I think it is busier on a Saturday in the middle of summer. I suspect people were in the theater. But I do have to admit, as soon as I saw the parking lot, I was thankful it was my dad that took us. With his handicap permit, it's so much easier finding parking. Horrid of me, I know, but dad got a kick out of it.<br />
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUpJuQ_GDek05NTyuAQUiMOB1EiOMdoUP_SL9CRDFDCxU0ZrFGL0LAg1Rl-kyDErASbtJkym95S3Z9rZROtl6FMr3g71Uv0FDeGxn0cOsoyzrPF6LTvf5MrCCJkpkU7M8GPO1M3u7damY/s1600/Santa2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUpJuQ_GDek05NTyuAQUiMOB1EiOMdoUP_SL9CRDFDCxU0ZrFGL0LAg1Rl-kyDErASbtJkym95S3Z9rZROtl6FMr3g71Uv0FDeGxn0cOsoyzrPF6LTvf5MrCCJkpkU7M8GPO1M3u7damY/s320/Santa2011.jpg" /></a></div>There was no line at Santa, surprisingly, so it didn't take long to get that over with. Robbie did well this year, unlike two years ago when I got the quintessential screaming baby photo that every parent must get at least once. BUT. We could NOT get him to smile. Not even once. He just sort sat there, whispering things to Santa whenever Santa would ask him a question, then got a goofy shy smile on his face. We got a sort of smirk once, but the rest of the photo wasn't that good, so I went with overall best out of nine photos.<br />
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrv75zZ_pYnVvgnL5y4m-JEFhDKJDjpGeWFIImiEhxJcVUL_mbPZR0mD2WHa1O0PdhTdwP_ZJdBawPmxt8Gc2UPTCRjNbHmhS0RSMUw54AEXY8BgL5cGn-rtDz3kOsoE8VdkG4p4irmmB/s1600/PhotoBooth2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrv75zZ_pYnVvgnL5y4m-JEFhDKJDjpGeWFIImiEhxJcVUL_mbPZR0mD2WHa1O0PdhTdwP_ZJdBawPmxt8Gc2UPTCRjNbHmhS0RSMUw54AEXY8BgL5cGn-rtDz3kOsoE8VdkG4p4irmmB/s320/PhotoBooth2011.jpg" /></a></div>Then we jumped over to a photo booth for our Christmas Photo Booth fun pictures. I started that tradition his first Christmas. He doesn't do much better when it comes to looking at the camera and not the screen. At least he doesn't do the bewildered, "Mom, what the hell are we doing in here???" face anymore. You can really see in the first photo of the series where his missing tooth is on the bottom front.<br />
<p>My only other business at the mall was to stop into Hot Topic for eye liner. I have yet to find a better black glitter eyeliner than the one they carry. So, I walked in with the intention of buying eyeliner and walked out not only with eyeliner, but almost $100 worth of stuff. It's been awhile since that's happened, mostly cause everything they carried for awhile now except for the make-up sucked. I can't tell you the last time I actually bought clothes in there. It's been YEARS. I ended up finding the perfect dress for my graduation. A strapless leopard print number that's not quite knee length and has a bit of a flair at the bottom. I'm ridiculously excited over excited over this dress. It's so ME. I also ended up buying Jack Skellington pajama pants, a Jack Skellington beanie, eye liner, eye shadow and a package of Nightmare Before Christmas hipster undies. I have a bit of a thing for Nightmare Before Christmas.<br />
<p>We ran over to Target after the mall, finally found Cars 2 on Blu-Ray for Robbie and bought it for him for Christmas, got him some new clothes from the Shawn White line that were on sale and some groceries. It's been a pretty busy day.<br />
<p>Tomorrow is my last day of work before surgery. It feels very bitter sweet. While I am ready for the pain and various types of discomfort to be over, there will be some people I will miss. I know I will be going nuts before my recovery time is done from not working for so long. But you've got to take the good with the bad, I suppose. Once it is time for me to go back to work, at least I'll never have to worry about being struck with pain at random times up there ever again.Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-10956702563810337712011-12-19T20:13:00.000-08:002011-12-19T20:15:53.106-08:00Recap of the week.The last week has been severely hectic. It's finally starting to calm down a bit so maybe I can get a day or so of rest before my surgery.<br />
<br />
The appointment with the surgeon last Monday went well. He looked over the results from the stomach scope and we set the date for surgery to get my gallbladder removed. December 22nd is the big day. I was glad they didn't want to do it that week, even though Ben chided me for not pushing for an earlier date. But this way I had time to get all my Christmas stuff done.<br />
<br />
After the appointment, Ben dropped me off at home to get my stuff together for the trip to McAlester and picked me back up about an hour later. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at McDonald's, gassed up the car and hit the road. It took just over two hours to get there and I handled the trip well. I didn't start to really hurt until the last hour, but making a couple stops to get out and walk around helped out a lot with that. As we were driving through McAlester towards Hartshorne, however, I started getting sick to my stomach. A longer stop was required for that one, but the feeling passed and we headed for his grandpa's house. Which resulted in us getting lost and his cousin having to come retrieve us. Meeting the rest of his family went well, then we went to the wake/viewing. Ben handled it a lot better than I thought he would. For me, wakes are always so much harder than funerals because that is when you see your loved one for the first time after their passing, thus I was really worried how he would take it. I'm very proud of him, I know it wasn't easy.<br />
<br />
After the wake, we went to Western Sizzlin' with his mom, sister, nieces and nephew. All was well until I had some broccoli cheese soup. The pain kicked in after just a few spoonfuls and was sick as a dog not long after we got back to the room. I was still hurting the next day and took painkillers before the church dinner after the funeral, but it didn't help much. The drive home was hell as a result and took three and a half hours. I got sick again once we hit Midwest City, about thirty minutes from my house. We stopped for about fifteen minutes then we went the rest of the way to my house. I started feeling better at home and got my stuff put away, which roused Robbie from his nap. He fawned over me being home then showed me the tooth he lost the night before.<br />
<br />
That's right, my baby lost his first tooth. It happened Monday night. According to my mom, Robbie was a bit freaked about the whole thing. He acted like he thought he was going to be in trouble for it. He even hid it under a pillow on the couch. She explained to him everyone loses their teeth at that age and big boy teeth grow in to replace them. That seemed to calm him down. He was still pretty hesitant about it on Tuesday when he showed it to me, but has sense gotten used to it. The Tooth Fairy still hasn't come it, that concept seemed a bit weird to him, so I'm letting him get used to it.<br />
<br />
Since last Tuesday, I've been getting everything ready for Christmas so I won't have to worry about it after surgery on Thursday. As of tonight, everything is done. Tomorrow I'm getting my hair cut, we're taking Robbie to get his picture with Santa and then I need to make my bed up at some point. I haven't gotten around to that quite yet. Robbie likes running across the memory foam and seeing his footprints, so I have been letting him have fun with that.<br />
<br />
I'm starting to get nervous about surgery, but I'm still excited at this whole thing finally being over.I'll be off work for at least two weeks. Dr Carey likes to keep his patients on a 10 pound weight restriction for two weeks to a month. The lifting requirement for my job is a minimum of 25 pounds. I'll see him at my post op visit on January 3rd, where they said he will evaluate my progress and my ability to return to work, but the FMLA paperwork he filled out for them says I'll be off until January 22nd. So we'll see. Either way, it's a bit of a vacation. Although, I'll bet you 10 to 1 I'll be going nuts by the end of it.Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-88806132922399882072011-12-11T16:20:00.000-08:002011-12-11T19:03:27.615-08:00The Long DecemberThe last couple of days haven't been too bad pain wise. I went back to work on Friday and worked 11 to 7 with only one major episode of pain. Sitting down and eating lunch seemed to help a lot and, by the end of the day, it was no worse than it has been the last couple of months. I worked 1:30 to 10:15 last night and didn't have any major episodes at all. The pain got worse at times, but not like it has been this week.<br />
<br />
My body picked a really good time to give me a reprieve from all this. Ben's grandma passed away Friday night, so it has allowed me to be able to give him more attention than I think I would have been able to do otherwise. After work on Friday, my parents watched Robbie so I could go be with Ben for awhile.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow is my second appointment with the surgeon at 9am, which will hopefully yield in a surgery date. Then we are driving down to McAlester and staying until sometime Tuesday to be with his family and for the funeral. I'm not sure how well I'll handle the car ride. It's two hours and fifteen minutes according to the GPS on my phone. The 45 minute drive to Chicksha two weeks ago to take Robbie to the Festival of Lights left me in a bad state. But at least I'm forewarned now and can take painkillers beforehand.<br />
<br />
Today I've been feeling pretty good and so have been a productive little house elf. I got some laundry done for Tuesday, washed my new sheets -king size Jersey knit in black, woot!-, stripped my bed and got the old egg crate mattress pad off. I've been meaning to get that old pad off for months. I even bought a new memory foam mattress topper for when I finally did. I've just never gotten around to it. It was finally the concept of having to come home from surgery and sleep on that old thing that finally kicked me into action. It's uncomfortable as it is, I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it would be after having a major organ taken out. But now it's done and the egg crate has found its final resting place in the trash. The memory foam mattress topper is now on the bed and fluffing itself out as we type.<br />
<br />
Speaking of memory foam mattress toppers, those things are a BITCH to unroll. I figured it'd be hard getting it out of the box. That was the easy part. You just dump it out. Cutting the shrink wrap was a bit tricky since you don't want to cut the memory foam. But them you get to unroll it out of the plastic, onto the bed, unfold parts while pushing and pulling on others. At one point, I had to do a really tricky maneuver of pulling and holding one piece and pushing the weight of my body against the rest of it to get it to budge. Not fun. It left me laying on the damn thing, very out of breath and amazed at how it now looks like I have a large strip of bread dough on my bed.<br />
<br />
Let me tell you something about laundry though, after 28 years I still have yet to find an easy way to fold a fitted sheet, nor do I have a reasonable explanation as to why the washer will turn one pillow case inside out and not the other.<br />
<br />
Now that the laundry is done, I'm going to give the mattress topper a couple of days to finish fluffing before making it up. It looks like it's done unfolding and settling, but the directions said wait at least 24 hours. Since I've been sleeping on the couch due to comfort reasons, this won't be a problem. Well...it will on the grounds I really want to sleep in my new-old bed. Ah, paitence. Such a pain in the ass virtue at times.Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-30102741156758136902011-12-08T22:34:00.001-08:002011-12-08T22:34:27.857-08:00Another day in paradise.Today marked my second day in a row calling in because of this crap.Woo.<br />
Can you tell I'm excited about this?<br />
Unlike a lot of people you get who work retail, I'd rather be at work and feeling good than at home feeling like I'm dying. Especially since for the most part I actually enjoy my job.<br />
<br />
Especially on the day of my department's Christmas party/gift exchange.Which I forgot about until a couple of hours ago and just now remembered I have yet to buy the gift for the name I drew.<br />
Crap.<br />
Okay, well, I guess I'll run to Home Depot before work and get the gift card Peggy wanted, since I am going to attempt going to work tomorrow.Or, rather, today since it's after midnight.<br />
<br />
I am actually feeling better this evening. The pain was pretty bad this morning, was making me nauseous and sick still, but has tapered off since then. I was able to pick Robbie up for the first time since Monday morning, which thrilled him. He was very gentle about climbing up into my arms, even sat on my left hip instead of my right, which is his usual spot. He can be such a sweetheart at times. Other times, I fully understand why some animals eat their young.<br />
<br />
Dr Perkins' office called today with the formal results of Monday's stomach scope. Everything still looks good. They are sending them over to Dr Carey's office for my appointment Monday morning. Hopefully then he will get surgery scheduled and all this will soon be over.<br />
<br />Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-69151338524905855872011-12-07T21:20:00.001-08:002011-12-08T22:38:01.360-08:00Ah seppuku.<div>
When your body decides to commit hari kári, it really goes all out.<br />
I didn't get to sleep today until after 1pm. At that point, I was sitting at 27 hours without sleep, all because of the pain in my back and right side.<br />
Honestly, the pain in my back wouldn't be so bad to deal with on it's own. I'm no stranger to back pain, even with the sharp, stinging pain I feel regularly on top of the constant hurt, it wouldn't be difficult to manage with it.<br />
However, when you add in the pain under the right side of my ribs, then I have issues dealing. It's really no worse in the front than it is the back, it's basically just the same pain just on the other side of my body, it just seems more intense somehow. Or maybe my body just doesn't want to play anymore and my pain tolerance is lowering.<br />
Apart from labor, I'd have never thought this much pain was possible for someone relatively healthy. I've never been in such bad pain it made me sick, been dizzy and short of breath with it, or have become frozen in place, unable to move because of it. Except for when I was in labor with my son. <br />
It's really kind of amazing in a sick, twisted sort of way how one thing in your body can be virtually fine one day and cause you nothing but hell the next. Literally, that's how it went for me. And you really wouldn't think something like your galbladder would cause it.</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464717656395806397.post-70273027052003210712011-12-06T23:48:00.001-08:002011-12-08T22:40:10.418-08:00A new old first.<div>
It's been a few years since I've kept any sort of regular blog. Facebook doesn't really count in my book since it's just post and go.<br />
Not that I'm complaining, mind you, since it makes everything so easy and I'd be lying if I said I don't appreciate convenience. But I miss the creativity that goes into blogging, the taking an everyday thing and making it entertaining for the masses. It makes for a good exercise in writing.<br />
And, after laying on my couch in pain for the last eight hours, playing Angry Birds, I figured now was as good as time as any. The smug faces those pigs get after you fail a level were making me want to scream.<br />
Stupid pigs. <br />
<br />
Why was I laying on my couch for eight hours in pain, you ask?<br />
That's a fairly simple answer. My galbladder decided it hates me and is bound to make my existence as miserable as possible for the short time it remains in my body.<br />
Well...simple for anyone reading that sentence, the actual process has been a bit more complicated to live through. I'm pretty sure from now on whenever I hear someone use the metaphor "stabbed in the back" I will think back on the sharp, stabbing pains I feel under my right shoulder blade.. A little bit of a literal thought process, but I'm pretty sure betrayal was never this physically painful.<br />
Unless your name was Caesar.<br />
<br />
Hopefully sometime soon that will be over and I'll be on some very good drugs. I'll probably go nuts in the time I'm off work, but you take the bad with the good.<br />
<br />
Has anyone else ever noticed health problems you have to take off work for never hit when you actually WANT time off work? That has to be another of Murphy's Laws. Someone should find Murphy and kick him.<br />
<br />
I'm pretty sure I'm not making much sense anymore. I'm now kinda giddy that I remember how to do HTML. It's been YEARS. And I can do it from my phone. Wooo! I'll have to redo the layout when I actually feel like sitting at the computer for more than five minutes. Until then, it'll drive me nuts, but so be it.</div>Kortneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01468102391245941551noreply@blogger.com0