elementary, my dear watson

I was homeschooled for junior high and high school (I know...explains a lot about me, huh? lol). For science we would watch Bill Nye the Science Guy.

For history we had a giant timeline we put together and had up on the wall around the dining room (to this day I still remember that Abraham Lincoln was the
16 preseident because he served in 1861. You can remember it because you just have to reverse the 1 and the 6. For geography we learned all the state capitals...quiz me. I still know them. :) For English we read Spakespeare and Sherlock Holmes. Every time we came to a word we didn't know, Mom would have us write it down. Then we had to look up the definition, and use it in three different sentences.

I love to read. I read all the time. I love learning new words and I think this stems from the reading and vocabulary lessons my mom would have us do for school. This past month I read a couple new books and was introduced to some new words. Call me a geek, but I kind of get a rush whenever I come across a word I don't know. I write it down, look it up, and try to think of ways I can use it.

Here are the words I learned this month:

Aggrievedly
Mollycoddle
Copacetic
Sibilance
Adroitly
Colluding

If you don't know them, write them down, look them up, and use them in three different sentences...

ups and downs

Past time for an update. I apologize. I could write an eloquent entry all about the wonderful things I've been doing to keep busy with but....it would all be a lie. After spending two month looking for and putting offers in on houses, one of my offers was accepted! I've been dealing with getting the inspector out there, waiting with crossed fingers and held breath for the appraisal to come back good (which it did...sigh of relief), having the seller replaster and fill the swimming pool (that's right, I have a pool...), faxing bank statements, signing loan document after loan document, and waiting for the loan to finally be put in place. If all goes according to plan I will be closing on June 7th!!!
Three weeks ago, in preparation for moving into my own house, I moved out of my "closet" at my brother's house and moved in with my parents. Some of you may be asking why. Well, at the beginning of May, J.R. and Esther blessed their baby in church. Because of this, Esther had a bunch of family (and by "bunch" I mean 12) come into town and all of them staying at the house. I decided to vacate my room, thus giving them an extra bedroom and bathroom for all their company. Also, my parent's house is closer to where MY house is and it's saving me from paying two month's rent (plus Mom cooks dinner every night!).

I started another class in my online Master's degree program. After this one I have four classes left and I will be able to say I have a Master's degree in Psychology! This class is "The Psychology of Learning." So far it's been really interesting. Work is the same. "Crazy Cat Lady" is the same as always. Friday I almost slapped her three times. I've determined this is my test of patience from Heavenly Father. I don't know how long He's going to make me take this test, and I don't know how I'm fairing so far. I just pray that the test ends soon....

I've managed to sneak a few movies in the last few weeks. Iron Man 2: AWESOME! I am in LOVE with Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr.

And Letters to Juliet: cute story, but screenwriting/dialogue needed a LOT of help. The guy in the movie, "Charlie," is a cutie though. I can't wait to see what he does next! :)

Also, my brother Steven got married yesterday! We've had family in town and have had fun visiting, taking pictures, and eating lots of good food.

hello kitty

My thumb is healing nicely. I haven't taken a pain pill since last Wednesday and I have progress from the super sexy red bandage I sported for most of the week to just a simple band-aid. It's amazing how much a Hello Kitty bandaid really does help you feel exponentially better. It makes you smile every time you look at it. Faith and I went to Target this morning to pick up a few things and I bought several boxes of bandaids since I'm going to be wearing one for awhile. I bought Spongebob, Disney Princesses, Toy Story, and another box of Hello Kitty. Growing up, I don't remember my mom ever buying us fun, cartoon bandaids. We always had the plain, boring, "regular" bandaids. I realize now (since I am an adult and I am all too familiar with how much things cost) that this was because the fun, character bandaids are a lot more expensive then the rgular ones. Also, there was that one time that my friend and I filled up the bathroom sink with water and dumped in a whole box of bandaids just because.....but that's a story for a different day and I was only 4 at the time....

My thumb on Sunday....



And today...notice the difference just a day makes!

hey, hey good lookin', what ya got cookin'

Yesterday I got the idea to make English Muffin pizzas for dinner tonight. Faith and I went to the grocery store and found these mini pepperonis which meant we now HAD to make mini pizzas. I mean, who can pass up mini pepperonis??

Mmmm....looks good, huh? We decided to round out our very nutritious meal with some chocolate milk. Mmmmm...chocolate milk....

viewer discretion advised

***The following images and story may not be appropriate for all readers. You have been warned.***

Six years ago I started noticing a weird purple spot under my left thumbnail down by the cuticle. At first I didn't think anything of it, thinking I had hit it against something and it was just a little blood blister under there. Then I started noticing the pain. My thimbnail was now extremely sensitive. When ever it was bumped or hit with something (actions that on my other thumb I wouldn't even notice) I was reduced to tears. It was also now very sensitive to cold. During the winter it would throb in pain all morning and whenever I would hold a glass of ice water in my left hand--pain. I just dealt with the pain for a while thinking that as soon as the blood blister went away everything would go back to normal.

*fast forward 6 years*

I still have the purple spot under my thumbnail. It is still extrememly sensitive to touch and cold temperatures and I am beginning to get tired of dealing with the pain. Also, a ridge has developed in my nail that runs right down the middle of the nail.

Now, many of you are probably thinking, why didn't you go to the doctor six years ago? The answer: Because I am a mega wimp. I hate going to the doctor. I hate needles. I hate pain and the thought of surgery and I knew that if I went that is what the doctor was going to tell me: that I needed some kind of surgery to fix whatever was wrong. Finally, however, I forced myself to go to the doctor. I had had done some reasearch on my own to try and figure out what was going on with my thumb. What I had come up with was this: a glomus tumor. For those who are interested you can do a Google search, but basically it is a growth that can develop under the nail. I talked to the doctor and he substantiated my research. He told me I had two options: live with the pain or he can remove the nail and take out the little growth. The catch? There's no guarantee that the nail will grow back correctly. Because he's going to be cutting where the matrix is (where nail cells grow) there may always be a ridge or split in my nail after the surgery.

I thought about it. I called my mom (when in doubt, call mom!). I made the decision to have the procedure done. I was already taking some time off this week because my parent's were going to be out of town and I was going to be staying with my sisters, so I took a few extra days off before my parent's left to have the surgery. Monday afternoon my mom came and picked me up from work and we went to the doctor's office. (Yes, I'm almost 28 and yes, my mom came with me to the doctor. You got a problem with that?) Finally we were called back to the room and the medical assistant who took us back asked me the stupidest question ever. "So, you want to take your nail off?"

Uhm. No. I don't want to take off my nail.

She gives me a disclosure statement to sign about the possible alergic reactions I could have to the anethesia and about the possibility that there is going to be a scar, yadda yadda yadda. I sign it, she leaves and mom and I are left in the room to wait some more. My heart is fluttering anxiously in my chest the longer we sit here. Have I mentioned that I hate doctors, needles, surgery and pain?? I'm trying to breathe evenly. I don't want to pass out.

In comes the doctor, followed by someone else (a medical student, I assume, who is shadowing him today). We are introduced to the other guy as Scott. And he's cute. (Too bad he has to be introduced to me when I am going to be acting like such a huge wimp....) What did Scott look like? Tall, thin, dark hair, really pretty blue eyes...and he looked very familiar to me. It took me until later that evening when I was home, lying on the couch and trying to ignore the pain in my thumb, that it finally dawned on me why Scott looked so familiar. He looked kinda of like Sean Maher. (And no, Katy, I am not making this up so please stop laughing.) Who is Sean Maher? He played the doctor, Simon on Firefly.

The doctor preps my fingers and reaches (for what I assumed was the syringe of the anethetic) and I immediately turn my head, grab my mom's hand, close my eyes and cringe in the chair. To which Scott replies, "It's just a pen."

"Oh." I reply, relaxing some and mentally slapping my head. Idiot, idiot, idiot....

After making some marks on my thumb indicating where he is going to be cutting, the doctor NOW grabs the syringe of anethetic and I cringe again. He talks to Scott about where he's injecting the anestheic and why...as my thumb slowly goes numb and tingly. Then starts the process of removing my thumbnail. Thankfully the anesthetic is doing it's job and I don't feel anything. I keep my eyes focused on the wall behind my mom and keep a steady hold of her hand. The doctor gets the nail off and remarks, "Everything looks normal. Your nail bed is really healthy looking."

Damn it.

"I'm feeling around now." The doctor says. "To see if I can feel anything that shouldn't be there. I can't find anything..."

Here I must pause and point out something that struck me as funny. The radio that is being piped into the room made me laugh at this point. What song, you ask, is playing? "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2. LOL! The next song that comes on was very apropo as well: "Had A Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.

Back to the operation taking place.

"Well," the doctor says a moment later. "I can feel something but here's the problem. It's underneath the matrix." (The matrix is the root of the nail--where nail cells grow). "If I cut through thee matrix there is a possibility that it won't heal properly and you'll always have a ridge or split in your nail. So it's up to you on what you want to do."

I looked at my mom then took a deep breath. "Do it." I say. I mean, he's already in there, I want whatever is in there taken out." (Break through the Matix, Neo!) So he goes through the matrix and takes out what he calls "a growth of fatty tissue" then puts a few stitches in my finger where he had to cut the skin to get to the matrix and they bandage me up. He wrote me out a prescription for some pain pills (Tylenol with codeine....as my friend Kristen said, I got jipped!) and I went home with mom.

Monday night was the longest and most painful night of my life. The codeine did almost nothing for the pain. I was kept up all night with the throbbing and stinging pain. I popped as many pills as I could through out the night but nothing seemed to help. Tuesday was.....interesting. All the codeine I injested the night before finally started kicking in during the afternoon and evening. I basically just sat on the couch and zoned out. I wasn't loopy, I wasn't tired, I was.....nothing. Then I started getting nauseated. Too much codeine, not enough food. Thought for a moment that my long streak of not puking was going to end. But it didn't.

Last night I took one pill before I went to bed and kept the bottle on the table by the bed, prepping for another night of pain. I went to bed.....and woke up at 6am! No need for pain pills during the night and no pain in my thumb! It was a miracle!! Another miracle: I haven't taken any pain pills today! :)

The thumb seems to be healing nicely but I have to say that it is very intersting trying to shower, get ready, drive, prepare food, TYPE, basically do anything, with one hand. Luckily it's my left hand that is semi-incapacitated but it is still more difficult than I thought it would be to do things minus one thumb. Below are a few pictures for those who have been asking for them and I will keep you all updated on how the healing goes :)

This is the super sexy red bandage I have on my thumb....mmmm...that's hot!! lol

This is what my thumb looks like without the super sexy bandage. The little black lines on my finger are the stitches.

babs and baby john

Barbara knocked on my door this afternoon. This is how she chooses to dress when she's going outside for a walk: undies, her monkey backpack, her red sunday shoes, and her baby and stroller.
John is now 7 weeks old and looking less like an alien and more like a baby. He smiles all the time now and it is the cutest thing ever!

are you waiting for a guy?

I went to the temple this morning. (For those of you who read this that aren't LDS, the temple is were members of the church go to participate in certian religious ceremonies that are considered very sacred. It is also a place where we are able to spend time meditating, praying and communing with God.) I was needing some time to contemplate a few decisions, seek some answers and spend some time away from "the world." My friend, Elaina, was going to meet me there. I got there and sat down to wait for the 10am session to start. No Elaina. So I decided to wait for the 10:30 session, giving her some more time to get there. As I was sitting there and older woman in the bench in front of me turned around and asked me, "Are you waiting for a guy?"

*pause*

My internal answer: Why, yes. Yes, I am. Been waiting for the last 28 years actually. Do you know where one is?

My real answer to her: "No." (with a smile on my face.) "I'm waiting for a friend who's running late."

Her response: "Oh, it just seems like we're always waiting for the guys."

This unexpected conversation left me thinking. Why are we always waiting for the guys? How long am I going to be waiting? To "my guy" (whoever and wherever you are): I'm tired of waiting.