Back at home

We're home, and all is well. Thad spent the weekend cleaning like a madman, and he did an amazing job. All our floors are clean (thanks in part to my birthday present, a Hoover FloorMate, which vacuums and scrubs your floors for you), and let me tell you, they were FILTHY. Ugh, it grosses us both out to know how bad they were. He also cleaned out our closets, organized our storage area downstairs, and vacuumed. I cleaned (in a fit of sheer craziness) the bathroom, did a little lite laundry, and kept the monkey out from under his feet.

Speaking of the monkey, we were so happy to get her back on Saturday. Thad's mom was kind enough to bring her up so we could skip the Colstrip leg of our journey and just get home. She's pretty happy to be home with her mama and her daddy. So happy that she hardly lets us out of her sight.

My mom is staying the week with us. I'm on a weight restriction so I'm not supposed to pick Elora up for 4 weeks. Talk about hard, it's horrible. If she wants to be picked up I'll get down and hug her or hold her, but it's a little easier now that she's walking a little more. That's right, WALKING, FOLKS. She will stand right up in the middle of the room, and take a few woozy steps towards whatever catches her fancy. She's taken up to 5-6 steps at a time. Pretty soon there won't be any falling down, it will be all walking, all the time.

Well, it's nap-time at Casa Swan. We're all going to lay down and enjoy some much needed rest. I am making some phone calls today to get various things taken care of that I had been putting off before now, and I'm waiting beside the phone for the doctor to call with my biopsy results. I'll keep everyone posted on how that goes. I'm debating cleaning up work email, but hesitate because I don't want to read any work email that I may need to address when I get back, I just want to clear out a bunch of the CRAP. *sigh* such a tough choice to make.

Hope everyone has a good day!

All by myself

So, I'm sitting in my hospital room on night 3 of this long hospital stay. My chest tube is out, which is great, and I'm feeling better, which is great, but my 02 saturation is kind of low (really not bad at all, especially since we are at a higher elevation and I just had SURGERY). So I'm going to periodically get up, walk around my room and the floor I'm on, and use my cool little breathing apparatus to increase my intake.

Yes, I'm still hurting, thank god for percocet, but the pain is much more tolerable now that the stupid tube is out of me. Now I can sleep much more comfortably on my bed, even though my ass is asleep. I made Thad go stay with our friends tonight because the couch he was sleeping on was not very comfortable AT ALL, and I want to go home tomorrow. So I needed him well rested and comfy and ready to go tomorrow.

So we should hopefully get home tomorrow. Then I think my fabulous, wonderful, terrific in-laws will bring our baby to us, rather than make us make that 4 hour leg of the trip to go get her. And I'm so excited to see her. I can not wait to smooch her, smell her, hug her, hold her, and just cuddle the bejesus out of her. I miss her so much. How could you not miss this face:



Sink bath with Gammy and Papa:



A little breakfast-face:

Magical Denver

So, it's snowing in Denver. Not just snowing, SNOWING. Heavy duty style. Ugh, I'm glad we brought the Mountaineer instead of my car, but still, it's pretty redick-ulus.

I go in tonight for my surgery. I can't eat past 9, and have to stop drinking at 3. I'm a whiny bitch when I don't get to eat or drink, so I'm considering sending Thad out (or going with him, I'm not that much of a jerk) to Sonic for one of their breakfast burritos. Sonic rocks my socks, it's soooooo good. I want one in MT, so much so that we are going to look into opening our own franchise of it. Well, we'll think about looking into it, close enough.

Yesterday we made it out to Golden to visit the Coors Brewery, aka Mecca or the Holy Land. It was pretty cool. Apparently people from town can just come for a "short tour" every day and get 3 free beers. There were tons of college kids sitting around drinking beer and talking, or playing cards. It's was like Starbucks, but with the sweet manna beer! Mary Rose ended up getting her buzz on a bit from Full Moon, Blue Moon, and a Zima (what!? Can't a girl drink a little Zima every now and then?).

We're once again staying with our friends Cody and Lori, and they have been the coolest host and hostess ever. We played a throw-down match of Name That Tune: 80s edition last night (no one was really declared a winner), and had some awesome pizza. They are great friends, letting us barge in here and take over for a few days, but they don't mind because apparently Thad and I are pretty funny and cool.

So, on the agenda today, besides Sonic, is some shopping. If Thad decides that driving to Loveland isn't a good idea with the snow, we may end up just doing our shopping online, but that isn't that bad. At least we can stay warm.

Well, we're braving the cold and snow and heading out to Loveland, wish us luck! I'll let everyone know how surgery goes!

I'm a horrible blogger, I know

So we head down to Denver tomorrow for my lung biopsy. I will try to update when I'm feeling better, it may not be until I get home.
Thoughts and prayers are welcomed and appreciated.

All Adrienned Out

Soooo, as many of you know, my friend Adrienne was coming up this weekend to spend the weekend with me while Thad was hunting and her POS was out of town (and no, it doesn't stand for "Probation Officer's Supervisor"). Well, wouldn't you know it, after we make plans for a month for the great fun that we will have her POS decides to return home on said weekend.

So I thought maybe this meant that fun would not be had..... oh no. Boy, oh boy, was I ever wrong. We started the night at my house, enjoying "Shaun of the Dead" before making Thad drive us across town to Enzo's. We enjoyed a beautiful bottle of wine with a Ahi Tuna appetizer, and we each had a Caesar with anchovies (mine were on the side). Main course consisted of some pasta concoction for Adriennit featuring tiger shrimp and scallops, while I had Kobe beef in a mushroom sauce with squash puree. No room for dessert, we had one of the Enzo's staff call us a taxi and we headed downtown.

We popped into Hooligan's and called Adrienne's POS to come take us to the Crystal for some karaoke. Crystal was packed, so we decided to head on over to the Railyard. Railyard had a cover, so we walked to the Rainbow, and had a couple (stiff) drinks there before moseying on up to the Circle to cap off the night.

All night long we were surrounded by profound realizations and confirmations of our strong womanhood. These usually came in the form of kick ass karaoke songs, like "Just a Girl" and.... well, for some reason I must be blacking out the remainder of the songs that were sung, but they were all really, really deep.

We played "The Hills" while we were at dinner, asking each other really deep questions, then staring blankly at each other for 15 minutes while trying to look as though we're really, really, really thinking of an answer.

I think one of my favorite parts of the night came in the form of a trick I performed. I placed an empty beer bottle on my forhead and proceeded to balance it for about 10 seconds before it plummeted off my head and shattered on the dance floor at the Circle. I don't even think I had enough sobriety in me to lift my hands to try to stop it from falling. At that point I stood up, picked up my purse, and we checked out.

Adrienne, thanks for coming up and making me laugh hysterically, for ditching out on POS on Saturday to come spend a couple hours showering my baby with love and enjoying a fine mini-feast of shrimp and olives and blue cheese and baked chickpeas. I love you! Enjoy these pictures of us (oh, and of our new BFF!)!

My little Mary Tyler Moore

I got this coat from my sister, and I love it! It's so adorable!

I got it

I did! I got it! I'm now a supervisor at Bresnan! I'm still sort of shocked, but also very excited, and deciding on all the things I want to do!

Pictures of Elora

I've updated my myspace pictures, since I haven't done that in forever, and am posting some on here for everyone's enjoyment.

I love this one because I don't normally get a good picture when she smiles. This isn't a great picture, but it captured her for a second.




We love breakfast time.


She's so serious.


Did I say that?

Fun phone conversations

I love driving to work and visiting with friends. It makes the day a little better before I have to go sit at work for 11 hours. And one of my favorite people to have these meandering visits with is Miss Adrienne. Adrienne are champs when it comes to carrying on daily tasks while engaging in conversations that can be deep, philosophical, hysterical, or nonsensical, or sometims they are all of these at the same time.

Today was one such day. She partied like a rock star last night, and we plotted and schemed for her weekend visit coming up. What makes me laugh pretty hard is that it used to be I could toss back drinks like they were free (which most of the time they weren't), and now a weekend with me is actually going to be considered a "dry spell".

But something else that made me happy with our phone convo today is that I appreciate not having a hangover more. Granted, I haven't been pissed drunk in a while, nothing more than a warm buzz in about 3 or 4 months, but I'm loving that I don't want to slit my wrists from my own stupidity. Not to imply that Adrienne is, but by God, I'm sure she will be.

Tomorrow's the supervisor announcement. I'm relieved the whole interview process is over, now it's just the wait for the final answer. Which I don't mind as much because I no longer have to think about what I'm going to say in front of a group of people. This interview process was stressful, but hopefully if supervisor doesn't happen for me this time the next time I'll nail it.

Still no idea about what we're doing with our kid and dogs and stuff when I go to Denver in December. I would prefer not to drag Elora with us, a hospital really is the last place I want her during the winter, but haven't come up with a concrete plan on how to make that possible. We're discussing it right now via Messenger, more news to come!

The "Mommy Dearest" Diet

So, this isn't so much a diet choice as it is a lifestyle (that sounded pretentious, didn't it?). You just make whatever you can share with a 9 month old, and then split it with the child. That means half the calories. And you're eating things like bananas, yogurt, bagels with cream cheese, all of which are somewhat healthy. So I feel slightly thinner today than I have in a while, and I think it's because I haven't been drinking beer (do Bacardi Silver Mojitos count as beer?) and I feel pretty good.

Well, my child is finished with her mandarin oranges, so it's time to wipe her down and get her ready for a bath. Hope everyone has a great Friday night!

Halloween Cookies

So last week I went over to my sister's house to make Halloween cookies with Quayd and Clover. I brought the cookie mix, the frosting, the food coloring (for the frosting), stencils, cookie cutters, and Halloween sprinkles.

Here are a couple of cookies we made and decorated:



And here are a few more:



Here's my little nephew, Quayd, looking ghoulish with black teeth:



And little Miss Clover, she's the cutest:

Awesome!

Big news!!!

I made it to round 2 for the supervisor position! I don't have a scheduled interview time and date, but now it's crunch time to really DAZZLE.

Also, I have a scheduled date and time for my pre-op appointment in Denver, as well as the biopsy. December 10th and 11th are the days, and I'm glad it's finally scheduled.

My brother didn't end up fighting last night. The first MMA fight needs to last less than 2 minutes for there to be a second, and the first fight went 2:47. He was pretty bummed, but the guy that runs the fights said that due to the distance he drove to fight and his hunger for it he would let John fight the next time he came to town.

Well, we're heading to Walmart to get some baby stuff, so later y'all!

I'm a junkie

I've been watching QVC today, and I may buy myself a pretty new ring. I love getting sucked into tv that is trying to sell me something. I mean I love and I hate it, because I talk myself out of buying stuff all the time.

So, I've left this blog woefully unattended for several days.... ahem.... weeks. Not much going on. I applied for another supervisor position at work, and interviewed for it yesterday. I think I interviewed pretty good, but I guess we'll see how well.

My brother is fighting at Thursday Night at the Fights tomorrow night. I guess they do UFC style fighting, and that's what he is going to do. I'll be honest, I am going, but I'm sick to my stomach at the thought of watching my brother get his ass handed to him. Not that I think that's a given, but it still scares me to think about it.

Well, my monkey just fell asleep, so I'm going to do a little light housework while I'm unaccompanied by a minor (haha). I'm making Halloween cookies at my sisters later! Hooray!

Oh, and still no schedule date for a biopsy. Kind of just waiting to hear back at this point.

Hey Jealousy

Why must you rear your ugly head my way? I guess it's human nature to crave to say, do, think, and experience things that others do, and that leads to feelings of loneliness and sadness when you know that you won't.

I'm slightly melancholy, I'm a little plugged up (plugged up like a pregnant woman's cervix is actually the analogy I used earlier with Thad) and work was kind of crap tonight. A long day, coupled with not feeling good, does not a happy duckling make.

One bright side is I've made a wonderful new friend. Her name is Suzanne, and I've never actually met her. I spoke with her over the phone the other night at work, and she ended up being a loooong conversation that led to an email address exchange. She is so kind, and I'm happy to have met her.

There is a supervisor position at work opening up, and I need to get my application in. I feel I have a good chance, but I think that Thad and I will need to have a sit down to figure out if we really want to continue to put the strain of a crap schedule on our relationship. In some ways the pay and the responsibility I'd have are sooooo appealing, but also kind of scary and intimidating as well.

Sometimes things happen when I doubt my abilities. Whether it's my abilities as a friend, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, or an employee, I get that feeling where I wonder if anything I do will be enough. The rat race of life seems to carry me away and I can't remember the last time I did something purely because I desperately wanted to (aside from buying my Coach purse, of course). I do things because I need to, or I have to. When Lord, when, when's gonna be my time?!?!

Eh, just the ramblings of a slightly sad, overly neurotic sick person that just took some decongestant and is aching to feel the sweet release of snot in her ears and nose.

What would I do if I could just do anything I wanted? If I'm really honest would I spend a day doing all the things I know are bad for me but that I've been thinking about (despite how bad they are) since I stopped doing them? Would I read a book and eat sunflower seeds all day? Drink beer and smoke cigarettes? I guess in some ways I do what I really want because I do want to spend so much time with Elora, because she is so much fun to play around with. But perhaps it's the strain of working 9 straight days with no real breaks that is causing me to ponder the decisions I make, both for myself and for my family.

I also feel like I look like crap today, which doesn't help my mood. I have a couple neck zits that resemble a couple of Buicks that have parked on my face. But in light of how crap I feel I'm going to post a picture where I don't look like crap to improve my mood.



Haha, there you go. A slightly fuzzy picture of a girl with a large fatneck and a camera phone. Enjoy.

uhhh

I'm having a hard time thinking of something to write about this morning. I blame it on the early hour, and lack of sustenance. Ugh, and I'm watching "Running with Scissors" and Alec Baldwin just made a drink and lit up a cigarette, and I tried to make myself feel jealous about not drinking as much or smoking anymore. But it came as a shock that I actually don't miss it that much.

This movie is a little funny already. I'll only get to watch a little before I get ready to go to work. So I'm going to pay attention now. Hope everyone has a good day!!!!

Prettiest monkey in the whole wide world

I dare you to find one prettier....



I took her nana away....

5 day weekend, and the makings of a nasty sore throat

I hate when you start getting sick. You know, when your throat starts hurting, and you get achy and maybe a little stuffy/runny, and you feel like your whole body needs to sleep. That's how I felt aaaaall day long. But I toughed it out and made it through working my 10.75 hour long shift tonight, because it's the beginning of my first 5 day weekend.

The 5 day weekend comes about because Thad needs to go back on call for work every 6 weeks, so for the week while he's on call I'll switch shifts with my coworker, Jerry, and work 9-6 so I can take Elora to daycare, pick her up, and be home if Thad should get called into work.

I'll be super pissed if this weekend I'm sick and get better just in time to work 9 days in a row. I'll be really really cranky if that's the case.

In other news, no word back from the National Jewish Medical and Research Center about my blood tests. The doctor had mentioned that they only do some of the blood stuff once a week, so I'm being patient and not calling everyday for an update. I've also decided to do my biopsy in December, if possible, so I'm sure to have Christmas off with my munchkin while I recuperate.

I can't believe it's almost Elora's first everything: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It dawned on me today that we're going to have to buy her Christmas presents, and she'll probably be able to unwrap them herself. A strange realization to come to.

I'm so excited for my morning. I'm meeting my friends Jeni and Marie (sisters) for a mimosa brunch, as long as I don't feel worse in the morning. Jeni's pregnant, and I'd hate to get her or Marie's kids sick, so I need to take a quick shower and head to bed and see how I feel. I'll slit my wrists before I miss a mimosa brunch (just kidding...... well, sorta).

Well, a hot shower and cool sheets beckon me, so I must depart. Peace out, playas.

OMG

I got a purse. Not just any purse, mind you, a COACH purse. It's gorgeous!

No answers, just more questions

Well, this trip has not been as "fruitful" as I would have hoped. We didn't get a diagnosis, which I don't know is a bad thing, because the doctor seems to think that this may not be LAM as we previously supposed. The things he thinks it resembles are either:
a) L.I.P. - Lymphoid Interstitial Pneumonia, which would be brought on by an autoimmune disease called Sjögren syndrome, or possibly Epstein-Barr syndrome, which has actually been linked to Hodgkin's disease, which is the type of cancer I had.

b) D.I.P. - Distal Interphalangeal, which is actually more smoking related, according to Dr. Swigris.

He didn't say it isn't LAM, but he wants a surgical biopsy so we will know absolutely, positively, 100% for sure.

So this trip to Denver hasn't been all business. We have been staying with a couple of fantastic friends who have driven us around and let us decide where to take all of our meals. Cody and Lori have a gorgeous house, and big hearts to take us in and make us feel so welcome. Although they would have liked us to bring the baby they completely understood our need to make this trip on our own, and we feel like we could come back next week and we'd still be welcomed with open arms (and open garage, and open back porch).

So we went to Ruby Tuesday's last night, and it was great. Although my whole reason for wanting to go there was the Jumbo Crab Cake, and I forgot to order it my haste to order this:

THE BEST MOJITO EVER (That's a sugar cane stick inside!)

Tonight we met an old, old friend, Dave (Roy) at ESPNZone, and then walked to an Indian restaurant that was probably the best food I've eaten in a while. I had the chicken tikka, which was a Vindaloo dish (cooked in a clay oven). We all visited over Sam Adams and Indian beer, ate naan bread and the Indian version of chips and salsa (crisp tortilla-like bread with a mint/cilantro chutney and tamarind dip....mmmmmmm). It was such a nice night, followed by a long walk around LoDo.

Tomorrow we head home (we may not even stop at the Coors brewery, I'm so eager to get home to my baby). We are stopping in Casper to have some lunch with my grandpa, then it's back to Billings as fast as we (legally) can.

Here's a little picture of Dave and I. It's been about 5-6 years since I saw him last, but he's the type of friend that stays in touch and makes that extra effort to see someone no matter how long it's been.



Well, folks, it's bedtime after a long day of tests and waiting. I miss my baby terribly, and I can't wait to get home to see her again.

Three day weekend

So I worked all weekend, including yesterday, but I have a new schedule and a 3 day weekend starting tomorrow. Then I work Saturday-Monday, because Tuesday we are heading down to Denver.

There were lots of up and downs this weekend. My in-laws were up, with their camper, and I really like when someone comes to visit but can have a seperate corner to go to that leaves Thad and I to ourselves somewhat. Not saying that I want any visitor to bring a camper, but it definitely made our house seem less crowded even with 3 people visiting.

I'm getting a Zune, and I'm pretty excited about it. Thad found a sweet deal on them on woot.com, so he got us each one. Now I just need an FM broadcaster and I can have music in my car without ever switching out my cds. There are just a couple cds in my collection that I need to convert to mp3 so I can put them on my Zune, like Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell.

I've also found myself growing up a little bit this weekend. When faced with situations that I usually would use to separate myself from others I made a point of remaining open. I also had to work on hardening my feelings a little bit when it comes to the actions of others. I guess in a lot of respects I'm still a very selfish person when it comes to my interactions with my friends, at times, and it's something I don't like about myself . Mostly because I always end up with hurt feelings when things don't work out to my specifications.

Elora is getting bigger and bigger, and she is so fun. She's learning to clap, and she's kind of started crawling. She gets around, but it's like she forgets sometimes how to do it.

I get my haircut tomorrow, and Thad and I are going to start working out together on the Bowflex on my nights off. I want to lose a little bit of weight, and rather than buying more exercise equipment/dvds I figured I can take advantage of the claim that Bowflex makes; Six Week Challenge: 20 minutes per day, 3 times a week. I can swing 20 minutes a day on my 3 days off, as long as Thad doesn't cry off from being too tired after work.

Here are some new Elora pictures. She's got her bottom teeth now, and they are SHARP.

The latest... for those of you that need the scoop

We have an appointment. I'll be seeing Dr. Brown on 9/12, and I'll only need to be in Denver for one day, all follow up will be done here in Billings through Spike.

I'm relieved, and hopeful, so things are pretty good here. My mom and brother and sister left today after arriving Monday. It has been a long but enjoyable week.

We saw Superbad last night. It was pretty funny. I suggest that if you're squeamish about the female anatomy, don't go see this movie.

Please enjoy this Indian version of "Thriller". I hope it brightens your day as much as it brightened mine.

Favorite new shirt

Update - change of plans

Well, we are still going to Denver, but probably not next week.

It turns out that the appointment I had setup was with a doctor that had just graduated medical school. Unfortunately I need a doctor that knows his shizz, so I will be postponing the trip until I've spoken with Dr. Brown's office to schedule my appointment. According to Spike, he's excited to see me.

Elora is teething. Sweet mother of Christ, it is hell on earth. She has now developed a highly obnoxious high pitched scream that pierces the ear drum. It's probably not that flattering to myself to say this, but I think it's so high only dogs can hear it (which is me calling myself a dog, I guess).

I feel terrible for her. She's miserable at times, and needs extra love and kisses, and I give them to her, but I'm exhausted. Thad felt sick yesterday, so I was on baby duty all night with no help whatsoever. Granted, he does it when I'm not there, but he didn't even get to spend any time with me either because he went to bed at 7:30.

So at the moment I'm in appointment limbo, waiting for Dr. Brown's office to call me to schedule my appointment, and trying to get a hold of University of Colorado to cancel my appointment.

Elora has her 6 months shots on Monday (for those of you keeping track, yes she'll be 7 months old, I overslept on the original date of her shots). With her teeth hurting her I'm sure it will be a great time!

A roadie and some fair food

So, we met with Spike the pulmonologist yesterday, and here is an overview of how things went:

A) The doctor agrees with the other doctors that this looks like a case of LAM, but there a some things that aren't typical for LAM, for example the asymmetry of the cysts in the lungs, that make him feel that seeing a doctor that has seen more cases of LAM would be a good idea. This doesn't mean it isn't LAM, but in most cases they are symmetrical.

B) There are new cysts, and an existing cyst has gotten quite a bit larger. What is kind of scary about this is that the cyst is pretty close to the lung wall, so we need to be extra observational due to the risk of lung collapse. He didn't feel it was imminent but he did say that avoiding things like flying would be a good idea.

C) We already had an appointment scheduled in Denver for next week, so we are still going to go, but Spike is calling an associate at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center by the name of Dr. Kevin Brown. He is one of the leading doctors working with LAM in the country, and his name was actually given to us by the founder of the LAM Foundation.

So my mom is going to stay here with Elora and the dogs while we make this jaunt down to Denver. We will be staying with friends, and hopfully back before the end of the week. Since all of my scans and breathing tests are up to date the doctors should be able to see all of them in advance.

In other news, Thad and I went to the fair with friends Mike and Morgan last night. We ate and ate and ate, and walked around. It was pretty fun. Things started with fried cheese curds, then moved on to a Viking, which was followed up with turkey legs, and finally a fried Snickers. I regret not getting an Indian taco, but have decided that this is the year I will make some fry bread and enjoy an Indian taco in the comfort of my own home.

Here are pictures of the men with their turkey legs.





If you'll excuse me, my butt needs to get rid of some of this fair food.

Back on the wagon

I'm back on the wagon in a couple different ways. I'm blogging, not regularly yet, but I hope to get better at it.

Also, I'm fully truly totally not smoking anymore. It wasn't as though I started smoking full time again, since I had the baby I've bought maybe 5 packs of cigarettes (but that doesn't count the ones I bummed, tee hee). But I've had some news recently, and it's put me off the cigs permanently.

So the skinny is that I've got some cysts in my lungs. Soooo, this isn't great news in and of itself, but it gets worse. They're getting bigger. Not so big that my breathing is affected or anything, but between March and July they've grown about 5 mm.

According to the ridiculous pulmonologist I saw in April this may be

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

So, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM for short, is a rare disorder resulting from proliferation in the lung, kidney, and axial lymphatics of a neoplastic cell having a smooth muscle cell phenotype (LAM cell). Cystic destruction of the lung with progressive pulmonary dysfunction and the presence of abdominal tumors (eg, angiomyolipomas [AML], lymphangioleiomyomas) characterize the disease. Because this condition typically occurs in premenopausal women, involvement of the female hormones in disease pathogenesis is a current hypothesis.

Long story short: they think that hormones cause a women's body, the lungs specifically, to start creating smooth muscle cells, which form cysts. There is no cure, but they have began treating it several different ways.

I'm really lucky that I have a CT scan every year, because if this had continued at the rate that it seems to be going right now without any intervention I may have not known until one of my lungs collapsed.

So we are meeting with another, less ridiculous pulmonologist on Wednesday to get some more info. This appears to be a really rare disease/condition, I think possibly because it is misdiagnosed in some cases.

So, we are hoping to be officially diagnosed without a surgical biopsy, then we'll look into referrals to specialists for this particular... ya know... thing.

If you want more info, please visit the LAM Foundation website here.

A lovely day in Colstrip

This was in Colstrip on 8/2. The little guy on the right is naked, which I found pretty funny, and the other two are Lakota and Lakenzie, my friend Dena's kids. Of course the little monkey in the middle is mine, and Mr. Birthday Suit (aka Hayden) belongs to Jen on the end.

The proverbial wagon

I've fallen off, folks. I haven't blogged in almost (over?) 2 weeks. I've left this realm of creativity behind to pursue other interests. Those interests being:

Staying cool
Attempting to make my days off feel more "off"
Not cooking

There really hasn't been anything new and exciting going down in my 'hood lately. Same old, same old. Today I'm at work a little earlier, and I go home a little earlier later, so perhaps I'll get to hang out with Thad for a couple hours tonight before we head to bed.

Elora is fantastic, but a little crankier lately, maybe teething. Who knows? She's pretty funny though, and we can now tickle her, take her swimming, sit her up in her bathtub to splash the water, and she opens and closes her hand now while watching herself the whole time. She thinks her hands are pretty awesome.

Well, I think I'll go pop some popcorn up. I'm feeling a tad peckish for some hot buttered goodness.

Some newer pictures

Hello, my name is Elora, and I'm ADORABLE!


I'm cute, I know it.


BENDIE-GIRL!

Bathing beauties

We got a pool! It's nice, we're pretty excited to get in and enjoy it. It's a 12'x3', so Thad and I will be chilling out poolside. Perhaps we should get some chairs so we can sit down in the pool? Hmmmm, good idea or bad idea?

Here's a pic:



The chair next to the pool is miniature, it's not really gigantic.

In other news I got some lamb chops we're going to cook up tonight on the grill. Super duper excited!

Well, Elora just woke up, so I gotta go grab her, and have some lunch!

Recap of the week

So Wednesday we got up bright and early, got our baby ready, and made our way across town. Dropping her off was relatively painless. She was awake and in a great mood, so that made it much more pleasant. My friend Jeni had agreed to watch her all day, so I knew she'd be in good hands with this pal.

So we get out to Laurel, and start getting ready to giddy-up and go. Coincidentally, the girl that threw my sister's bachelorette party is rafting, along with a few other girls my sister used to work with. All in all we had 13 people to spread out on two rafts.

Tammy, Shawn, Thad, myself, and Sunshine's daughter Sarah's boyfriend Tyler (that was a mouthful) took the yellow raft. Tammy played bartender while the fellas and myself paddled. Once we got a little ways down the river we stopped and waited for the blue raft. The blue one had Sarah, Kaitlyn, Sunshine, Cassie, Amy, Leah, Bryan, and Chris. We then were able to tie our boats together for the rest of the ride and lounge.

We didn't really play any games, but we did all just visit and gab and laugh and tell jokes and stories. We drank a few beers, took some shots (Bullblaster, baby) and smoked way too many cigarettes.

By the end of the float I was pretty drunk, so Thad and I got home and took a quick shower before the baby was supposed to show up. This shower did not aid me in my quest of attempting to sober up all the way before the baby got home, but I was trying.

So Elora got home, sleeping, so I sat myself on the couch to rest until she woke up. Thad made us some dinner, the baby and I both kind of napped, and then we got up to go watch fireworks around 9:45. Thad's co-worker Cione (spelling? He's from Tonga) always buys an assload of fireworks, so we just cruised over to watch a few.

Elora liked a few of them, even though most were too loud for her little ears. She actually fell asleep on Thad while we were watching them.

Yesterday Thad took the day off and we didn't just lounge around and veg, oh no. He got busy cleaning the garage even more than he had last weekend. I spent the day cleaning, cooking, and getting ready to bbq with a couple friends. I made pasta salad, ranch bread (mmmm-mmmm), shrimp skewers, corn and black bean salsa, and some marinade for steak. We grilled, had some brews, and had a nice casual evening.

Today my good friend Jen came over and watched the baby before they leave for Portland in the morning. She and Rick have decided on a Vegas wedding, which I'm pretty excited about since I haven't been to Vegas since I was 20, and Vegas is no fun while you're 20. I won't even be butthurt if I'm not in the wedding party, since going to Vegas is enough for me!

Well, I'm off now. Time to head home and watch some tv before I hit the old hay.

Countdown to FUN TIME!

Okay, peeps, I'm going rafting tomorrow. And I'm going all out, balls to the wall crazy waiting for the fun to begin.

It's not only fun and games though. I also seem to have acquired this thing called "love". This bullshit is making it impossible for me to go rafting all day, leaving my child in the care of others, and not feel a tinge of guilt, regret, remorse, and sadness that I won't see her smiling face for several hours. I'm going through the stages of grief, and I haven't even had to leave her yet.

Tomorrow the fun shall begin with................... wait for it........................ BULL BLASTERS! A little Red Bull, a little Jager, and you've got the party stah-ted!

I hope to keep the sunscreen slathered generously, I don't want to burn. I actually bought a bathing suit, and I'm pretty excited to wear it and show that shizz off!

I'm feeling slightly erratic, so I'll post this and go enjoy some Buffalo Wild Wings at ...... Buffalo Wild Wings with Tray, my call back beeyotch.

I'm such a disappointment

So I didn't go out last night. My friend I was going to go with had to babysit her niece, so Thad and I made steaks and corn and watched tv.

Today I just worked on the house, and Thad said he wanted homemade pizza. So I make dough FROM SCRATCH. And we're not talking just regular dough, here. I made white AND wheat. I get the dough prebaked a little, Thad picked up some toppings, I get everything constructed, and my f***ing OVEN DOESN'T WORK. It gets warm. Not HOT, just WARM. We burnt one pizza trying to cook it on the grill, but the other cooked ok. I'm so pissed, because now we have to:

A) Figure out what is wrong with the oven and fix it, or

B) Buy a new oven.

Baby's in bed, Thad's in bed, and I'm headed there myself. Sorry I'm such a sad case. Hopefully rafting will make up for my lackluster "weekend".

Blast from my past

I'm watching "Wayside" on Nickelodeon today, and it's based on the Wayside books that I used to read when I was way younger. It's about a school that has many different levels and is really tall and looks like it could topple over. Weird.

So I may just make my way down to the Carlin tonight for ladies' night. I just hope my pal Lindsey will be able to go. I want to get a little dressed up, drink some cocktails, and snap some pictures. I need some new pics for this blog and my myspace profile.

This is a rather disappointing blog to read after you've been waiting for a new one for awhile. To all my readers, including Kristine, sorry it's taken so long to get a new one up, and sorry it's so disappointing. I'll either blog more today, or I'll put a big one up tomorrow.

We all have dreams

Mine is to work in an office like this.



God, wouldn't that be awesome?!?!?!

Is she a monkey, or is she an angel

I don't know, but either way, I love her.

My mom is coming up today for a bunch of errands. So I think I may end up carting her from place to place, but then we'll probably hit up Costco. I want to go in to work to take the baby to say hi. She is starting to get freaked by strangers, but hopefully it won't be a full blown freakout if I have her on the floor.

Thad saw my blog from last night because I left it up on the computer in the bathroom. If you're reading this, Thad, I LOVE YOU!

Just another manic Tuesday...whoa-oooh-whoa

Just joking, it's not that manic tonight. We're a little busy at work, but just because work is busy doesn't mean I'm busy. I like that when people start getting the hang of things they stop needing to ask a question for every call they take, but that sometimes makes me feel less needed. Not a good feeling.

Had a Wendy's Frosty Float tonight, and it was gooooo-oooood. Very tasty, especially since they use soft serve ice cream, which increases the enjoyment factor when you aren't trying suck huge frozen chunks of ice cream out through a straw.

I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate better health choices in my already crazy schedule. It's hard to eat right when you don't have the ability to cook a dinner. Thad and I only get two dinners and two breakfast/lunches a week together right now, so I usually try to cook something on those nights. Sometimes we break down and have pizza, but not very often. On the weekends I'll either cook breakfast or we go to Montana Jack's and enjoy their sumptuous buffet. Yummy.

It's just hard to eat Lean Cuisines/Healthy Choice meals all the time too. I guess I should buckle down and eat 3-4 meals at work using Lean Cuisines or Healthy Choice meals, and only eat out 1-2 times a week, instead of my regular eating-out. Any suggestions on how I can achieve this little goal of mine would be greatly appreciated.

I'm pretty tired tonight. I keep yawning, and I wore contacts for the first time in awhile today and my eyes are all sticky. Like they WANT me to close them.

I sat down and watched "Flight of the Conchords" on HBO On Demand last night. These guys are pretty funny, and they have some pretty funny songs. Check out their website here. The also have some pretty funny youtube stuff out there, as I've illustrated below. They are in order of how much I like the song. The first one is pretty fun.

And I'm spent

Well, dishes are done, bottles are washed, clothes are folded and put away, and the living room has been picked up. I think I'll tell Thad that he can take the mini dumpster out to the big dumpster to empty it out tonight.

Thad's folks are in town, and are on their way over to pick up Elora and take her to her great-grandma's house for a birthday party. Since I'll be going to work I don't think I'll be attending, but perhaps I'll get to see some of the family tomorrow. Maybe not, we'll see.

My pants have cuffed hems, and I will probably have to go throw them in the dryer because the cuffs are all whacked out. Riveting information, I know. You heard it hear first..... I don't like to iron.

I have been watching a show called "Til Debt Do Us Part", and it features couples in different stages of their lives that are burdened by debt. A financial planner comes in and gives them a big dose of reality about the way they spend compared to how much they earn. The couple get's their expenses slashed pretty drastically, and is forced to give up all credit and debit cards and use cash only. Their cash is budgeted out into jars for a week, and they can spend it on food, clothes, transportation, entertainment, and other. It's pretty interesting, especially when you see the idiots that sign up for the show for $5000 but don't want to do anything the lady says.

Well, I better get this khaki situation taken care of and go get the mail. It's getting to be the time to get ready to go to work.

I'll try to blog at work tonight!

I'm KICKING, I'm KICKING, I'm KICKING, I'm KICKING!

My little window box part 2

We have little tiny leaves on the basil, and slightly bigger leaves on the parsley. And I think I planted cilantro, not mint.



Condensation rocks.

What my day consists of

So, I realized today that if I get my housework done a little bit today, like laundry and dishes and the garbage, I won't have to worry about them tomorrow, so I can have an effective lazy day.


So here's how the day plays out.


1) TV... now, please be aware that I don't want "American Body Shop", but that's only because it isn't on yet.


2) Laptop - I spend a pretty good amount of time at this computer, watching tv, playing games while I'm watching tv, blogging, emailing, paying bills. It's my mecca, really.


3) Baby's laundry needs to be folded and put away.


4) Bottles need to be washed.


5) Dishes also need to be washed


6) I could probably pick up the living room.


7) The baby will be in here a little later today.


8) She'll also be here.


9) Sweet baby Elora.