Tuesday, May 18, 2010

- Stone Free -

Happy to report as I blog today I'm stone free!! I missed a couple days of work and it definitely wasn't pretty but I did get rid of those bad boys. Tuesday I was just so tired and sore that I missed work and then Wednesday I tried to catch up on sleep so I called in then too. I was back to work on Thursday and I only made it half a day. Turns out there was still one little bugger that wasn't gone yet and it hurt SO bad to sit at my desk that I could only stay half the time. Thursday night was pretty bad again. It hurt the whole night and the Vicadin didn't even help really. I was sobbing by Friday morning and I'm pretty sure that was the first time I cried in the whole thing. Mainly the crying came, I think, too was b/c I was so exhausted. I really hadn't gotten a goods night sleep in a week and it was catching up with me. Luckily right before I had to be to work, the stone passed and it was like almost instant relieve! I was a little sore over the weekend and I did miss my friends wedding but I'm really glad the stones are gone.

Now, onto bigger and better things. Work was NUTS yesterday! Everyone got slammed with work which sometimes makes it better that it's just not you that got busy. Some days do seem to be hit or miss. Some people will get swamped and you'll end up not too bad. Yesterday on the other hand showed it's wrath to everyone across the floor. Busy Mondays make for busy Fridays is my motto. I usually set myself reminders to follow up on my Monday claims on Friday so it just makes for an all around busy week. What you going to do? Job security I guess!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

- Hell and Back -

There are some things I don't like - and I think you'll agree with me. I don't like pain. I don't like dull aches (like toothaches and ear-aches.) I don't really care for needles, especially those that are lodged in somewhere and not coming out. I don't care for hospitals. And last night I got to experience all three in all their glory.

The story goes like this - I was woken up about 11:15pm or so and I had these sharp pains in my side. Sometimes I get these because I eat supper so late (I work until 8:oopm) so I really didn't think anything of it. I went and took three extra strength advil and went to go lay back down. However, the pain started to radiate and I mean radiate through my entire right side. All I could think was holy crap, never eating spaghetti that late again. The pain would not subside at all. It was like a knife being put into my side and then into my back and then moving around. It was probably some of the worst pain if not THE worst pain I've ever felt in my life (right up there with severely spraining my ankle in volleyball and getting a granule in my eye.)

I gave myself a time limit - if this doesn't get better by 1:30 then I think it's time to go see the emergency room. When I started throwing up, I knew it was time to head out. Now before you yell, yes I've lived here two years now and no, I don't know where the closest emergency room is! I knew of an Aurora clinic that was close so I got in my car and drove the 15 minutes there...only to find out there is no emergency room there!!!!! I wanted to cry, throw up and just plain give up and lay on the road all at the same time. So I did what any normal person would do and drove myself home. Then threw up some more...way more. I tried every position known to man and I'm pretty sure I made up some new yoga moves trying to get comfortable. Nothing worked, not even dulled the pain. When 3:00 rolled around I knew I had to get somewhere.

I ended up at the emergency room about 20 minutes away. The sweet girl checking me in probably thought I was crazy but I could barely stand there to answer her questions. Then a sweet nurse - Dennis took me back to my room (#11) and got all my info. He pretty much new right away what was wrong. We did a urine sample (t.m.i. - i know) and he took some blood to run labs. I got an iv for fluids b/c I was dehydrated and something for the nausea and the pain. I could have kissed him when those pains started to dull. The tests came back and I was assigned a CT scan of my abdomen. All I can say is thank God those CT machines aren't those old one's like a tube that you go into. This one was wide open and really fast. I got sent back to my room then for the radiologist to read the report.

A little later my doctor came back....kidney stones. Two of them, one right by the bladder and one still up higher. Now I don't know anyone but my friends dad who's ever had kidney stones. I got some vicadin - thank God - and some pills for the nausea and told to go home, drink lots of fluid, keep moving and they hopefully will be out soon. So as I sit here, still some off and on pain that comes and goes but I really hope it's that dang second stone just working it's way out.

So if anyone ever has kidney stones - call me. I'll drive miles upon miles to be there for you b/c I have never experience pain like that before. He's hoping to fast moving rocks!!

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Twista




Tornado Warning. Pretty sure there are not two other words together in a sentence that scare the crap out of me more. Tonight we had a tornado warning while I was at work. It's probably better it was when I was at work and with 30 other people then when I was alone in my apartment. They made us shut all our computers down and go into a conference room. Get this though, on the second floor! I said, If we have to be in a conference room can we at least be downstairs and not on the second floor? So they let us all go downstairs into a big conference room and we all had to sit there and wait for the warning to be over before they would let any of us leave. Let's just say that 45 minutes in an 80 degree room was 44 minutes too long! Luckily no tornado came, or at least not one that we saw. Not like the particle board door would have saved us. I just hate storms. Well I like thunderstorms but not tornado's. It's probably a good thing I live in WI b/c we don't get too many strong storms like this.
Anyways for Cinco De Mayo tomorrow I entered a salsa competition at work. So when we could finally leave work I had to run to the grocery store. Walking to my car at work I got soaked so I looked like a wet dog in the store. Good thing there weren't that many people there. I got my salsa stuff and I can say right now its completed and hoping I'll win tomorrow.
Ohh and to get from work to my apartment tonight I had to run through the sprinklers. Yeah, we got like an inch of rain in an hour and the sprinklers were on right next to the sidewalk to get to my front door! I was throughly soaked and none to happy about it!! Wish me luck in my salsa competition tomorrow! Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!
Take Care!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Home Decor/Bedding = Broken Budget

For this time of my life, I feel like I'm not on a budget. We'll I mean I don't spend like crazy and watch what I spend but I don't really consider myself to be on a strict budget. My bills get paid and I have a place to live so when the paycheck comes, yes, I do probably spend a little more then I should. There's a couple things I think I have a weakness for: 1) bedding or bedding sets, 2) home decor, 3) fabric.



1) Bedding sets and bedding. I have always been addicted to blankets and duvet covers, throws and pillows. I like to mix up my bedroom and the bed spread is fastest way to do that. I have a couple I'm considering right now and one I just bought at Wal-Mart the other day, it is a queen size comforter for only $16, figured you can't go wrong. (For those of you who hate Wal-Mart, I respect you and your decision. But for me - it's quick, close and I can run in and run out get what I need w/o spending an arm and a leg.) My only worry I always have though is after I buy something I always sit and contimplate whether I really need it. I worry that I'll find something better the next week. Here are the one's I like:


Target - DwellStudio® for Target® Mandala Bedding Collection


I love the yellow in this. A yellow bedspread, quilt is what I've been looking for so when I came across this one I was very happy with it.


Wal-Mart - Better Home and Gardens Set



Now this one I love all the colors - not to mention it has some great throw pillows with it! I think it would look super in my bedroom! It's also more affordable then the one at Target. We'll see though, I love them both so much!

2) Home Decor - candle holders, pictures to hang, vases and jars - I love it all!!!! Lately I think I've been able to control myself more b.c I have to keep telling myself that I only have so much room. Living in a one bedroom apartment makes you realize you can't buy too much stuff - there's only so much room to store things! (in reference to #1 though, there is always room for more blankets - I just need to invest in those space saver bags that shrink things so you can store them!)

3) Fabric - When I was unemployed from my previous job I had a lot of time on my hands and had to come up with some hobbies. I started making jewelry and sewing. Jewelry making was really fun and something I've always wanted to learn. I love making earrings and finding great beads to make things with.
My mom had an old sewing machine she got when she was married and I brought it back to my apartment and got some old fabric and made some cute bags. I like to think I've gotten pretty good at sewing - nowhere near quilt making good but I would love to learn to make quilts! Also, I saw this great book with pillows in it and I would love to make some great pillows. I got some great discounted fabric at Jo-Ann's and I've been waiting to find a great pattern to make some throw pillows for my couch.

I'm sure we all have our little quirks and things that draw our attention (and our budgets.) Hopefully I'll be able to send some pics of my new bedding when I finally decide on something! If only I could paint my walls, that would be great! Oh and I need to make some new curtains. Think I'm going to go with a khaki/off white so it goes with all my bed sets. Right now I have brown and it doesn't really match everything. Maybe I'll test my sewing stills on curtains and a bed skirt. Sometimes I feel 80, haha. Saturday night sewing - here I come!