Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Have You Seen This?

Oh, I just had to share this! I think Sabrina, my cat, talks to me in her own way, but she could learn a thing or two from these cats:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iV6DQuEh4UQ&search=talking%20cats

I am a 1 Gallon Donor!

On and off over the past six years, I have donated blood to Carter Blood Care. They were at work last week, and I donated again. I have type O+ blood, considered the "universal donor." You get free juice and cookies (not the reason I donate), and they also give you your cholesterol level.

I also learned that my blood is CMV negative. When I inquired about this, the phlebotomist told me it's Cytomegalovirus, and because my blood is negative for the antibodies, my donation can be given to babies. This really made me smile, since I volunteer with the babies at the county hospital.

And good news! My cholesterol is within normal levels (under 200). I'm currently at 180. On their website, I can see all my cholesterol levels over the past 6 years, ranging from 139-181. And, it says I've given 9 times, making me a 1 gallon donor (and I'm 1 pint into my second gallon)!

Monday, May 29, 2006

Moving Sucks

Long holiday weekend: perfect for remembering the soldiers who have fought and died for our way of life, cookouts and pool time, getting together with friends and/or family, and... moving?

Fortunately, we had a long weekend to move all my stuff to Steve's house. Unfortunately, we didn't get to relax and enjoy the weekend.

I took Friday off from work to pack everything. I'm always amazed at how much STUFF I have. It took a solid 8 hours. Before embarking on that task, though, I doubled the size of my backyard garden to accommodate the plants from the old place. Steve met me at the house after work, and we packed up both our cars with boxes and pictures and then raided the garden for the substantial tomato and basil plants. As soon as we got home, we planted them and hoped for the best. Then we unloaded our cars and limped into the house.

Saturday morning came much too soon, and my back was still considerably sore from the previous day. My ever-frugal boyfriend convinced me we could move everything ourselves and discouraged me from hiring a moving company. We rented a truck from U-Haul (their largest), as well as hand-trucks or dollies.

Steve did impress me with his ability to navigate the larger pieces with the dollies. But I made him PROMISE me that if we get any more furiture, he'll let me hire a moving company the next time we move. He [reluctantly] agreed.

We got it all the furniture and most of the boxes here on Saturday. On Sunday, we returned to do a cursory cleaning and pick up the remaining boxes and what-not, which still took a couple trips with both our cars.

So it's all here, but it's not organized. The chaos drives me crazy, but my body is too worn out to do much at this point. I'm looking forward to my massage appointment this afternoon. And at least we got our new king-sized mattress on Thursday.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

A Funny Story

On Monday, I was out-of-town with a client, helping lead a strategy session to redesign their website. One of the tools we often use is a graph where we plot their current site and their competitors' websites against an x-axis of Cumbersome to Intuitive and a y-axis of Emotive to Clinical. This allows us to get a pretty good picture of where each site fits on these continuums and where missed opportunities are.

One of the male participants in our discussion remarked that their site had only moved an inch from its previous version.

I remarked, "One inch can make a big difference."

Everyone cracked up, and both the commenter and I turned red.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Inspiration

Jennifer, my incredibly-athletic-Energizer-bunny sister, challenged me to join her and her husband in their local 5K (3.1 miles). I agreed it's a good step towards getting ready for the Danskin Triathlon, which is quickly approaching. My training has included jogging short distances, interspersed with walking, as well as biking and swimming, but running is my weakest sport.

Jenn set the pace with Anthony and I following. They soon broke away from me as we ascended a fairly steep hill. I realized I did better just focusing on the road directly in front of me, rather than looking down the road.

I walked a few times to catch my breath but kept moving. After a mile and a half, there were several people who I kept pace with, including an older man, a mom and teenage daughter, and a young boy.

I noticed the boy seemed to not have his right shoe on correctly, but then I realized his right leg and foot were slightly twisted. He struggled to throw his right leg around each step and would only run for a few steps before walking a few. But he kept running again and again.

Wow, if he can do this, I have no excuses.

When Jenn and I told Grandma about our upcoming participation in the triathlon, she simply responded, "Why would you do that?" We laughed but later discussed how we are doing it to challenge ourselves physically. After watching this little guy fight for each step, I also realize I'm doing this because I can. I'm doing it out of appreciation for the body I've been given and my health.

I finished the 5K in just under 40 minutes. Jenn did it in 31 minutes; Anth in 34 minutes. Nineteen days until the triathlon!

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Update

No worries...the rash and hives were gone within an hour. The Benadryl must have helped but did make me feel like I was dragging through the rest of the day.

The new antibiotic I'm on lists as its most common side effect abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Great. Should be a fun 7 days. Oh, and it coincides with my monthly cycle.

Sorry I don't have anything fun or interesting to post. I feel yucky.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Itchy


Hives 007
Originally uploaded by Gem-Em.
I've never before had an allergic reaction to antibiotics, but boy, did I experience one today!

It's hard to see much from the picture, but my hands and forearms had red splotches and hives. The palms of my hands were very red and itchy.

Being me, I thought it was pretty fascinating. (I didn't have a serious reaction -- no wheezing or swollen airway.) I took some Benadryl, called my doctor and will try a new antibiotic tomorrow. Cool, huh?

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

You Know You're in Texas When...


cattle-01
Originally uploaded by Gem-Em.
...there are fields full of cattle, even longhorns, right down the street from your neighborhood.

...football is king.

...the locals draw out single-syllable words into two or three syllables.

...all the politicians are backed by oil.

...half the population only speaks Spanish.

...you can travel for 12 hours in a single direction and still be within the state's borders.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A Born Swimmer

It's so nice to have a pool in the backyard. As I train for the upcoming triathlon, it's very convenient, too!

Last week when I jumped in, I found I wasn't the only one swimming. This baby turtle, no more than 2 inches long, was diving in the deep end. We fished him out and cleaned him off.

Turtle 006
Originally uploaded by Gem-Em.

I tried to feed him strawberries and lettuce, but he wasn't interested. After consulting Dr. Jenn, it was determined the best outcome for little-no-name-turtle was to be set free in the community pond.

Steve and I walked with him down to the pond on the country club's golf course. We put him in a marshy area and watched as he sat very very still for a minute or two. Then, as if realizing he was free, he scurried into the murky water and disappeared.

Adios, little guy.

Monday, May 08, 2006

I am an experienced garage salewoman.

As my sisters reminisced on my previous post, we would often visit garage sales on Saturday mornings with our dad. It was a great way to get new toys for low cost. My strongest memory is wanting the board game "Operation." We finally found it at one sale, but the woman wouldn't sell it to us, emphatically stating it was a "boy's game." I was furious -- my first personal experience with discrimination.

As an adult, I've realized the value of holding my own garage sales. I've held a couple over the last 10 years, so I was able to guide Steve this weekend in his first. Fortunately, the heavy rain we've been experiencing held off during the sale, and since this weekend was designated by the community as its garage sale weekend, there were several sales and lots of traffic.

We made a little over $200. We still have a few things we're going to try to sell online, and the rest is going to be donated. We decided against selling hot dogs when Steve heard we might need a special permit for food sales, but we made several dollars selling soda and water. I got to use my pidgeon Spanish several times, as the majority of our shoppers were Hispanic.

Both my sisters mentioned buying beads at garage sales...Steve had several strands of old Mardi Gras beads. They were picked up a dozen times but never bought. They'd ask, "how much?" 50 cents each, was our reply. Then they'd put them back and walk away! Is 50 cents really too much to ask?!?

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Quick Update

I saw Annie last night. She's at home and glad to be able to sleep in her own bed without nurses coming in to wake her every few hours. Her scar is longer than the doctor originally told us (about 6 inches from just below her breastbone down to her belly button), but she isn't too concerned about it. I think she has a healthy outlook on the whole thing.

Another note/correction: I was trying to be witty and cute when I wrote that the "owners are busy renovating" in the story New Beginnings. I didn't mean to imply that Steve doesn't own his own home. He does. The second "owner" I was referring to was me. Although I'm not on the mortgage, he's treating me as an equal in all decisions, and we are planning our future together there.

And boy, have we been busy! Last weekend we worked our butts off on the bedroom ceilings. We've scraped off the old popcorn, patched the gouges and sanded them flat. Now we have to wipe off the leftover dust from the sanding, prime and paint them. We've also been shopping for new carpet for the bedrooms. The measurement guy comes out tomorrow, and we should have new carpet in a week or so.

This weekend, we're having a garage sale in conjunction with the rest of the community. So we've also been sorting through things to identify what we want to sell. It's amazing how much junk two people can collect, but as they say, one person's trash is another's treasure. Steve has also decided to cook some hotdogs on his grill to sell and to entice people to our house.

Life is busy, but really really good.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Successful Surgery

Annie did great in her surgery yesterday!

I got to the hospital just as the surgeon was coming out to tell us how well she did. Janet (her mom) had asked him to take digital pictures of the spleen, (she's fascinated with medical stuff like me), and it was absolutely HUGE! (about the size of a volleyball, when it's supposed to be about a golf or tennis ball)

The surgeon said she had very little blood loss. Fortunately, the spleen had not ruptured. It's a very vascular organ. Rupturing would have meant a lot of blood loss and clean up in the abdomen. He was able to fold it and pull it through the incision, about 4 inches vertically that begins just below her sternum.

We got to see her a couple hours later after she came out of recovery. She looks great and insisted on getting up to go to the bathroom! The nurses were all impressed that she was getting up so quickly.

The doctor originally estimated she would be in the hospital until Friday, but he said she did so well, she may be released on Wednesday.

I'm so glad I saw her -- it really eased my mind. I also got to meet her new boyfriend, Anthony, and he's a sweetheart. He told her she looked beautiful right out of surgery. He's cute, too. I think he looks a lot like Tom Cruise.

Thanks for all the prayers!

Monday, May 01, 2006

Prayers Please


Annie
Originally uploaded by Gem-Em.
My beautiful god-daughter, Annie, is having emergency surgery today around 12 noon. After coping with mononucleosis for a couple weeks, she developed a rare complication that caused her spleen to become enlarged and bleeding. The doctors have said her spleen is the size of a volleyball, and it has detached from its usual location and is free floating in her abdomen. Needless to say, this is very painful.

The surgery today will remove the spleen and hopefully reduce the pain she's experiencing. Unfortunately, because of the spleen's size, they can't do laparoscopic surgery. The recovery time will be long.

So any prayers are appreciated! I'll post an update when there is one.