46 Acupunctures, 22 Injections, 1 Exam, & 1 Shot in the Butt!

The above consisted of our day! I drove to Tulsa to get tested for allergies. They started off by putting 46 acupunctures of potential allergies in my forearms. I had to sit still with my arms out for 20 minutes. They then came back in, looked to see which ones reacted. I did not have a reaction to 21 of them so they had to do further tests on the 21 (plus a histamine) with an injection just under the skin on my upper arms. They did this because some allergies only show through with higher concentration. I then had to wait another 20 minutes. My whole appointment was over 2 1/2 hours. I found out I am allergic to cats, dogs, horses, some trees, some grasses, some weeds, some mold, and dust mites. I am considered a candidate for allergy shots. Do I want to start a 5 year process of shots? What will my insurance cover? Can you have these shots when you are pregnant? NO, I am not pregnant, but definitely within the next 5 years we hope to have at least one kidlet running around. I am not really worried about the whole shot process, but to me the real question is, "How much is this going to cost me?" That is the accountant in me.
I later drove home. I think all the testing made me tired. I had to pull over and get a Pepsi to wake me up. This was so hard for me to do because I did not want those calories. I have started Weight Watchers again and have 35 pounds to lose. On top of all this testing, I had an exam at 5:30.
Jason was not feeling well today so he stayed home and went to the doctor. He ended up having to get a shot in the butt for his illness (I took pictures today, but I must have left my camera adapter at work). Jason is off of work until Monday.

PS-Our hot water heater is working again. It was defective so we got a new one!

My Crazy 16 Hour Day

Yesterday started with me leaving the house at 6 to go to the gym. After climbing those stairs, showering, and getting dressed for the day, I went to work. During my lunch break I went home to do some cleaning. I started doing dishes and after 5 minutes of still having cold water, I knew something was up with our hot water heater. Here is the kicker: this water heater is less than 2 months old! Our water heater has the auto pilot light. It ignites itself when it needs to be lite, and turns itself off when it does not need to be on. It was off when I checked, but I did not want to manually light it just in case there was gas lingering. To make a long story short, one guy came out and had no idea what was wrong. A second guy came out and thought he knew what was wrong. He came back this morning to fix it, and it turned out to be something else. We will not have hot water until at least tomorrow. Fortunately, we have a great landlord who is great about taking care of things. Unfortunately, it seems like every month (and I am NOT kidding) something goes wrong with our duplex. We are sick of all the problems. We are ready to move. Our lease is up June 1st. Does anyone know of a place available?

So back to my crazy day, I had gone home on lunch to clean a bit. The dishes did not get done, but the kitchen got straightened and the living room cleaned. After work I had a meeting at 6. Then I ditched mutual last night to meet Jason for dinner (since we did not have hot water). Then I proceeded to the library to get some homework done. I finally got home at 10 pm. Jason went home after dinner and set up our NEW COMPUTER. Our laptop is three years old and is so slow. I was holding off for as long as possible to purchase something that big. My friend at work found me a ready good deal on a Dell. It is quite the beauty! I will have to take a picture and blog about it later.

On a happy note, my meeting yesterday for Young Women's went very well and we got a lot planned. We also at at a new restaurant in Stillwater that is VERY good, Louie's Bar & Grill on Main & 8th. Everything on the menu was less than $10.

Only one more day until the weekend. Yeah!

Super Bowl XVIII

Those of you who know me, know that I am not a sports person. We were invited to a friend's home, Justin and Kristin, to watch the Super Bowl. I will admit that I did not watch the entire game. However, I did see most of it and the parts that I did see were amazing. My first amazement was when Harrison (I believe #92 for the Steelers) made that awesome interception and then ran it almost 100 yards and made a touchdown for them! We all thought this was MVP worthy. Then, in the third quarter this same "amazing" guy proceeded to punch #47 Cardinals (sorry, I do not know his name) in the back AFTER the play/tackle had ended. The Cardinals' player tried to just walk away and Harrison continued to punch him. Harrison completely lost my respect and the other guy gained my respect.

I was cheering for the Cardinals. I thought the Steelers have had their glory and it was time for an underdog to have theirs. It was said to see them lose, but it was a close game and that last touchdown was amazing. This was the first football game that I have been excited about to watch.

*Excuse my hair that looks weird in this picture and also my body that needs some help.

Some random facts about me

Because we live a boring life (or maybe just a busy boring life) and have nothing to post, I thought I would share some random facts about ME!

1. My first real job was at Subway
2. I HATE cooked fruit, therefore I am not a fan of pie.*However, I do love my mom's apple crisp-one can of apple pie filling, one yellow cake mix, and one stick of butter (sliced). Layer everything in a 9x13. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until butter is melted and top is golden. YUM.
3. I do not even like chocolate pies, etc.
4. The only pie that I have always been able to stand is Key Lime, but I do not eat the crust. It has no flavor and is dry and bland.
5. I only came to appreciate pumpkin pie in during the holidays in 2007.
6. I would like to say I am organized, but many would laugh. I am organized at certain things, but a complete mess at some others (come look at my house right now-my living room and kitchen were pretty much clean on Saturday, but now...)
7. I have been skydiving and would do it again in a heartbeat, but I think my days are done.
8. I was a nanny for 4 amazing girls for over 2 years
9. I have been to 4 colleges/universities
10. I love to read, but I am extremely slow. In 7th grade I took a standardized tests and scored very low in my reading comp section. In 8th grade I was pulled from PE twice a week to go to a reading workshop class. By the end of 8th grade, I asked to test out of it because I did not want to look stupid and still be in it in high school. My teacher had me read out loud to her. I get very nervous when I read out loud. She could tell I was struggling. She stopped me a few minutes into my reading and asked me what my GPA was. I told her 4.0. She told me that I might be a slow reader, but I do not let it affect my grades and my desire to succeed. She allowed me to advance from the class.
11. I have 3 sisters
12. I went para sailing in Hawaii and I really want to go para sailing again.
13. I love roller coasters. I grew up on Knott's Berry Farm (an amusement park in southern California). I remember the day when I was FINALLY tall enough to ride the BIG rides.
14. My favorite workout is the stairs. I found my love for the stairs in high school. Starting in 10th grade I took an aerobics class with a wonderful lady, Ms. Martin, who meant business. If you did not come to her class prepared to sweat, breath hard, raise those arms, kick those legs, you had to get out. Well anyway, about once every two weeks she would have us run the bleachers. I absolutely loved the workout. Everyone else seemed to complain.
15. I love to learn (but right now I cannot focus on my homework)
16. My favorite restaurant is Tio Leo's in California
17. Height: 5 nothing
18. I have one food allergy: Smarties. yep, that is what I said. Weird, huh?
19. I prefer desktops to laptops (I think it comes with the accounting major)
20. I still have not meet 2 of my husbands siblings
21. I am finally going to meet the rest of his siblings when Jason and I do a 2 weeks trip this summer from coast to coast. We will be in California the last week of May (maybe I could go para sailing for my birthday. Someone might have to drop the hint to Jason). Then we will fly to the DC area for Jason's youngest sister's graduation.
22. I pole vaulted in high school (I was not good, but boy, did I have fun!)
23. I cannot stand contention (okay, so I am sure a lot of people cannot stand it)
24. My funnest job ever: working with develop mentally disabled people.
    
25. I have a wonderful husband who makes me happy. I tell him I want to do something, he goes along with it even if he is not too excited about it. Usually in the end, he is happy we did it. He works hard for us out in the COLD. He is so caring towards others. Today we had a winter storm with the roads iced over. I got sent home at 2. When Jason came home, he bought enough ice and sand for our driveway and our neighbor's. He then went out and took care of the driveways so we would not slip. Jason, I love you so much. Thanks for all that you do and all the smiles that you put on my face.
    

Christmas 2008 Continued

Where to begin with our festivities this year? I guess Jason and I started the season off by participating at church in our Christmas program that was held on December 21. Jason and I were both a part of our ward choir singing "Silent Night Medley." Jason was also a member of a men's quartet, singing "Guard Him Joseph." To top it off and my favorite of the bunch was Jason and I doing a musical number together, "The First Noel." Jason sang, and I signed it. This is the second time that we have done something like this together, and I love it! I was so nervous going into it. The Lord definitely blessed me in remembering my signs. My last day of work was on December 23. I went back to work on January 5. The break was so great. Jason had to work half day on Christmas Eve. I picked him up work and then we headed to my sister's in the Tulsa area. That evening we went to one of my sister's friend's home for homemade Chinese and the reading/acting of the Christmas story. It was so yummy. The next morning I believe started in the late 7 o'clock hour. We opened gifts and ate breakfast. The kids played with their toys and I just hung out. Andrew got this cool kid's tool set.

Madilyn got a huge doll house with elevator and all. It was a very relaxing day. My poor sister thought she bought just a turkey breast (no bones, etc) wanting to make it easy and to cook a nice juicy turkey in the crockpot. When she opened it, she discovered it was a normal turkey, just on the small side. Dinner was very tasty. For dessert we had something nontraditional, BTS Cake (My dad told me years ago that I was not allowed to use its actual name). For those of you who do not know what this is, it is a chocolate cake with hot caramel syrup over it, then cool whip, topped with crushed Heath or Skor bar. Jason, my sister, and I stayed up late that night playing Nurts (sp?). Super fun, but fast card game.

The next morning Jason and I headed down to Texas to visit his family. We are grateful that we live close enough to them to visit for many short weekend trips. Heather (Jason's cousin) and her husband, Delvin, were so gracious to let us stay with them. Delvin decided to do some cooking since we were coming. Delvin is amazing with the grill. He cooked crab, lobster, tuna steaks, and I cannot remember what else. After dinner, the guys did their thing and the girls ended up watching episode after episode of Operation Repo, Dirty Jobs, and Ruby. The next morning we finally ventured out of the house around noon. Jason and I have been to the Ft. Worth/Dallas area many times and we always seem to just hang out. Now, do not get me wrong, I love hanging out with Jason's family, but we are in the DFW area and I want to do something fun. We decided to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. We thought it was $5 to get in. After standing in a long line and paying $5 for parking, we discovered it was about $20 to get in. Heather asked what we thought. I told her I did not feel like spending $20 each for an aquarium. We then decided on plan B, plan B did not work out. We then decided to go shopping! Heather introduced me to Sam Moon, it is a store with tons of purses and jewelry. I got 3 sets of jewelry for $18. I cannot wait to go back. The guys even scored with covers for their phones and clothes from Haggar for way cheap.

We also purchased a wall decoration that unfortunately fits Jason and I too well. We can clean a house, I promise. We just cannot seem to keep it clean.

We had so much fun. Heather and Delvin felt so bad because they felt like they drove us around for 1/2 the day, but we had a ball. To top it off, we also got to see The Grassy Null, where JFK was killed, the old Dallas Courthouse, which I particularly loved. For those of you who do not know, I love to look at neat buildings. I have a fascination with architecture.

We (Heather, Delvin, Hunter, Jason, and I) then meet up with another cousin and his wife, Cory and Lisa, for dinner.

I had homemade tortillas that were scrumptious (okay, you guys have probably heard enough about me and my Mexican food, but I just have not had enough. I love Mexican so much).

Cory and Lisa then mentioned that they were going with the friends that evening to go skating right by their house. We all decided to go. It brought back so many childhood memories.

I do not think I have rollerbladed in over 10 years. Jason and I ended up getting rollerskates. Good thing we did. It was hard! My upper legs were killing me and Jason's calves were killing him. I guess if you don't use it, you loss it. We never fell, but maybe I have discovered an new workout I could pick back up. We will see. We had such an amazing time.

That pretty much sums up our holiday festivities. Hope your holidays found you safe and were filled with family and friends and the true spirit of CHRISTmas.

Football

Does this work on me?

No, let's just put it on him. I will sit on the sidelines, cheer, and attempt to understand what it going on.

Help!

So today I decided I wanted some edamames. I put the pan on to boil, then went to the computer to browse blogs. I got carried away. I started to spell something burning, and this is what I found (with more burned edamames in it). I have had my pan collection since we got married, which is not a long time in terms of pan life, but in the past year, I have had to throw out two pans, this one included. THE FIRST ONE WAS NOT MY FAULT! It now appears that I will need to invest in a new set of pans. I need your help. I want a good set for a reasonable price (less than $100). I grew up with Farberware. When I was younger, I thought they were so plain and ugly. Why couldn't my mom get new pans? The reason: Because you do not need pretty ones. I have come to love Farberware. I only have two of their frying pans. I found two different Farberware 10 piece sets on Amazon for about $80. Two questions for my readers: What brand do you use? And do you recommend nonstick (that Teflon stuff) or just classic?