A Whirlwind Weekend!

Well this weekend all of hubby's side got together to celebrate his father's retirement from Verizon after 30+ years. It was very nice to have the whole immediate family together. Middle Brother and Sister in law from Houston and their two little ones came in as well as the Older brother and Sister in law from Austin and their daughter. We had a full house at hubby's parents! Brother and sister in law from Houston came in Friday night and we were lucky enough to have Mom and Dad babysit the two little ones while hubby and I took the brother and sister in law to see Star Trek. Since our nephew is almost 3 and our niece is only 5 months, they don't get out much so we were happy to share this time with them. I think they loved it, just as much as we did the second time! But we definitely realized we don't stay up as late as we used...we saw the 9:55 showing of Star Trek so we didn't get home and in bed until 1:15 am. LATE bedtime for us!

Then we were up around 6:30 am-7 am Saturday morning to clean our house since we were sure to have some of the family staying at our house that evening. We finished up around lunchtime and then drove over to have lunch with Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister in law from Houston and their two kids. The other brother, sister in law and their daughter from Austin arrived around 3-4 pm. After everyone had arrived, we all went out to a little local Mexican place for Dad's retirement dinner - it was very good! Needless to say we all loved it, even the kiddos. After dinner, we retreated back to Mom and Dad's where we had cake....OH MY GOSH! Our lovely sister in law in Houston made the retirement cake, from scratch, with fondant and gum paste and it looked SO professional!! She did an AMAZING, JAW DROPPING job. It looked so real. She made it into a baseball cap and along the side she wrote all the names of the companies Verizon had started out as in the beginning and Dad had stayed with them all. Here are the cake pictures of her masterpiece.....


Front View


Side View

And it was SO YUMMY too!! Inside it was chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache. Don't you think she outdid herself?? I am totally jealous of her abilities! Oh, and if that isn't enough, she and brother in law gave us their extra laptop to use! We had been having computer problems at home and they gave us an EXTREMELY nice, fast, state of the art laptop that brother in law had got through his work. Hubby and I are still flabbergasted that they would bless us like that, but B and L we really, sincerely appreciate it! Thank you again!! Everyone started their drives back home this morning and hubby and I went back to finish our cleaning on the house. He cleaned cars and cleaned out the pantry while I cleaned up the office. After that, we drove over to Plano to have hamburgers on the grill with my parents for dinner and watched New in Town with Harry Connick Jr and Renee Zellweger. So I am still in awe that it is already 9 pm! But like I said, we had a whirlwind weekend! Guess it is time to go back to work to relax!

Survived 2 Days of Torture by Nature

This is a picture I took of the storm that came through Wednesday night and totally took a beating of the Dallas/Fort area. Hubby and I were watching TV around 6:30 pm Wednesday night and they said the storm would be hitting our area around 7:15 pm. Well, ten minutes later, this is what we saw. We got hit HARD! Our fence is gone, all blown down. We almost lost our 1-2 year old tree in the front but it hung on even though it was pretty much almost bent over in half. We had several power blips off and on throughout the evening and the local news even reported that they think a tornado rotation touched down around the Flower Mound area. Our power officially went off for good around 8 pm and by 9:45 it still wasn't back on. We decided it would be best for me to head to Plano (45 mins away) to stay with my parents who had power since I had to be at work the next morning. On my way to Plano, around 10:30 pm, hubby called to say power still wasn't on and that he was driving to Plano himself.

We woke up Thursday morning around 5:15 am to an ongoing thunderstorm. Hubby got up and left to drive back home to check the house and to see if we had power or not. I left around 6 am to head to work only to arrive on site and found out we had no power, no nothing at the office. Hubby arrived home to find still no power at our house either so we both sat in the dark, me at the office, him at home. The power at our house came on around 11 am but the power still had not come back on at the office so we had a generator brought in from our other local office so we could try and get something done. We finally had power back on at the office around 1:30 pm - still no phones though. We were able to get the timesheets entered and some paperwork done before it was time to close down at 5 pm. I finally arrived back at my house at 6 pm last night and let me tell you, I was pooped!! I knew I needed a break before the storm and now I think I need two vacations!

SO excited!

Okay, for all of those who have read the Twilight series books, did you see the new teaser trailer for New Moon?!? WOW!! So ready for this movie...too bad we have to wait until the Friday before Thanksgiving. I think I have watched this about five times already....for those of you who haven't seen it, here it is:


Besides my excitement over New Moon, I received an email from a co-worker with things/tidbits from Jeff Foxworthy about Texas. Since I am a born and raised Texan, I had to share some of them with you because they, in fact, are true statements!
"If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas"

"If 'VACATION' means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas"

"If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas"

"If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everyone's passing you, you may live in Texas"

Just a few things I chuckled over this morning while reading my emails...for those of you who live in Texas or have, you know how right these are. Last little announcement, husband and I have decided to get back on the weight loss wagon - doing it ourselves. With our budget being tight, we can't afford to join WW and go to meetings so we are going to try and do it ourselves. I am apprehensive about starting this well known hard journey on our own but husband says it is all about attitude, nothing more. I guess we will see how my attitude fairs up.

A New Look

Surprise! I didn't disappear, I just had a makeover! Doesn't it look amazing?? I loved the new look of one of my favorite blogs, Living to Love and so I found the creator of the look and emailed her. Patrice, you did such a fabulous job!! She was so courteous and very speedy - you should totally check her portfolio out at Purrfect Designs.

Life has been going, not exactly how we would like but we have to remember we aren't on our own time schedule. I have been working same as always, trying to get as many hours as I can. Hubby is still looking for a full time job - he was blessed enough to find a summer job for three months that has a probability of going full time so we are keeping our fingers crossed there. He hasn't started the summer job yet but we are hoping all the paperwork processing will be finished and entered so he can begin next week.

Lately we have been struggling with insurance in regards to getting hubby's jaw surgery approved. It was determined by the orthodontist and oral surgeon that hubby needs to have jaw surgery, pretty detailed one too. After three months of fighting and calling the insurance company multiple times, we were told today that the procedure and the hospital has been approved for surgery but the oral surgeon has not. The insurance is claiming he is not in network and that he will fall under the out of network category meaning less coverage. So we are working with the oral surgeon to see if they can help us out any and in the meantime we are going to see if we can get some assistance. If not, we might have to forgo the surgery due to cost complications.

I did have a down day today after spending hours on the phone with the insurance company and then I unloaded all my stresses and struggles to hubby on the way home from work. Once home we watched the movie New In Town with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. that just came out to DVD and were able to relax. I am just hoping that we are allowed to see the light at the end of the tunnel very soon. I think my new blog is a great start, don't you?

Accepting

How does one accept? This seems to be the underlying issue I have been wrestling with for last almost two months. I didn't drop off the face of the earth but it was very nice to hear from my mother-in-law who said she missed my blog. So I have decided to start posting again and I have been reading my friends' blogs daily, even if I haven't been posting.

Back in the middle of March I started having some stomach issues - going to bed with upset stomach and waking up with some dull cramps. This happened for a couple of days until I finally took hubby's advice and went to the doctor. I was told that I have an reflux problem, a less common one in the fact that I don't have the sensation of acid in my throat - mine is more constant turning of my stomach from overproduction of acid. So I was given a prescription to take for two weeks and some blood work was drawn. When I returned for my follow up appt two weeks later, I was SO relieved to hear that my lab work was ALL normal! However, I was switched to an older form of the drug I had been taking which is less expensive than the current samples I took for two weeks. I was instructed to take the new drug for 3 months and to come back in for it didn't seem to help as much as the samples I took.

Well, I thought I was doing well and back on the right track - I had taken the older drug for 9 days without any problems. On day 10 & 11 I woke up in the middle of the night with the cramping and uncomfortableness again. I was able to roll onto my side and fall back asleep without too much hassle but for the last 2 days I have been fighting off and on again stomach cramps. Hubby requested, firmly, that I go back to see the doctor again and maybe get switched back to the original medicine I was taking. So I have an appt this afternoon at 2:45 to see what the doctor thinks. The changes over the last 4 days hasn't been a positive thing for me. It is somewhat frustrating. I just want to be normal, I want to be able to enjoy everything and not be constantly fighting a stomach issue. I guess the strangest part for me is that I have no idea what triggered these changes to occur. Part of me wonders if it isn't stress mixed with the overproduction of acid. Last week was HORRENDOUS for me at work, things just kept coming and coming.

So to make a LONG post shorter, hubby thinks I need to try and learn to accept things that are out of my control. To try and enjoy the good things in life instead of focusing on the negative. But how does one do that?? I will be honest and say that I have been struggling with my faith lately as well - I try and pray but it is hard for I don't feel like I am getting answers. Sorry, didn't mean for this post to be such a downer, but this is my current situation - hoping it will change VERY soon!

Clean Swap from Homespun Heart

One of my favorite blogs to read is Monica's. She is so warm, friendly, caring and a true role model for those women and mothers who are looking to draw their families better to God. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Monica was hosting a clean swap with Carrie. I had seen a couple of her swaps before but I had never participated in one. I decided to take the plunge and ask Monica if I could be allowed to join in the fun on this Clean Swap. And she said yes! I was thrilled!

First, we had to answer a questionnaire in which we explained our favorite smells, our favorite duties and our least favorite duties associated with cleaning. We also got to describe our perfect day if we had no duties that needed to be completed and what area of our home life, cleaning wise, we would like to improve and how. My biggest hurdle with my cleanliness at home is the laundry. I truly do think that it multiplies when I am sleeping! Once we answered the questions and submitted our answers, Monica and Carrie paired us up with another swap member who had similiar interests/likes and our goal was to put together a shoe box for our partner, full of little things that represented cleanliness, that represented our partner and that offered encouragment and helped to bridge the gap in starting a friendship.

My partner was Katherine from Wisconsin - I had such great fun learning about her and her home. We asked each other more questions about ourselves and then we mailed our boxes and BOY WAS I SURPRISED!! Katherine did an AWESOME job! She totally got me, she knew me and I was SO spoiled. I told her that I was going to boast ALL about her because she is the BEST! I truly believe I was blessed with the best partner. I have enclosed three pictures for you to see my blessings!


This is the overview of my stuffed box of clean swap goodies!! She had every item wrapped in a pink ribbon, with a pink cardstock Scripture passage!! (My favorite color is pink, by the way)


First picture of a closeup of my goodies - she got me a three pack of sink scrubbers, handmade soap, pink dish scrubber, room freshener spray in Clean Linen scent, and a mug with a Scripture passage from the Book of Matthew (which also happens to be my hubby's name!).


Second picture of the closeup of my goodies - a handmade red/pink mini tote, a handmade tea bag holder, handmade cards with envelopes, handmade holder with some cocoa inside, a small bag of homemade sink cleaner/freshener, two laminated pages about getting out laundry stains and laundry symbols AND a handmade schedule, laminated, so I can plan out my cleaning duties for the week and check them off when I am done!!

I LOVED this swap and I am truly thankful for my partner. Thank you SO much again Katherine. You truly were the best!! I hope you liked your box as well - you went above and beyond. I hope we can do this again in another of Carrie and Monica's swaps!! Thank you girls for hosting this swap. I had LOADS of fun!

Caught A Bug

Well, today I am starting to feel somewhat back to normal. Yesterday was a day I don't ever want to relive. I woke up at 2:30 Wednesday morning and was up for a hour and a half before my stomach decided it had had enough. After that icky experience, I laid on the couch and feel asleep for about a hour or so. I was then back up at 5 or so with stomach rolling again. It went on that way until about 11 am when hubby convinced me to try and take a cool shower. I guess that was the catalyst my stomach needed because my stomach decided to let go of what else it had, with my hubby helping me. I was so exhausted after that - I had 1 piece of dry toast and took some anti-nausea pills before taking a nap.

I woke up around 2:30 pm and ate another half of dry toast and some animal crackers. That lasted for a hour or so before I took another nap until 6:10 pm. Dinner consisted of 2 more pieces of dry toast and some warm 7UP. I tried to watch some TV with hubby when I began to feel very warm and hubby mentioned my eyes were glassy. We took my temperature and was surprised to see it was 100.7. So hubby got me some Tylenol PM to help with the fever and to help me go to sleep. I went to bed around 8 or so. I proceeded to wake up at 9 pm and took another anti-nausea pill before going to sleep and was lucky enough to sleep until 5 am when hubby came in to retake my temperature. It was back down to 98.6 so I was back to normalcy there. I went back to sleep until 7 am or so when I got up while hubby was getting to leave for his appt.

I have been on the couch, relaxing and resting while I watch TV/movies. I am hoping and praying that this "bug" is over and gone. My mother seems to think that I caught a stomach flu. I definitely don't want it again if that is what it is. I was hoping for a day off of work but not this way. And poor hubby has been helping me and looking after me, Lord bless him. I truly know what kind of husband I married - one who doesn't mind seeing me without a shower, messed up hair, pale, getting sick....I truly am blessed to have such a loving and patient husband. Now if I can just get back to my normal self and show him just how much I appreciate all he has done for me. One thing at a time...