Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Just a few days to go....

I made my last trip to Walmart yesterday, I am planning a grocery trip on Friday or Saturday and then that is it. I am extremely proud of my spending this year. I didn't overdo it and it feels pretty good at the moment. There are plenty of gifts under the tree and Robert even has a few surprises, the main things he wanted though were tools and so even though they are for Christmas, I consider them an investment in his future--and still we got them on Black Friday so I got really good prices on them. Andrew and I know everything that is under the tree for each other too, but as I mentioned earlier, they were things we wanted and the BF sales, made them so very reasonable. We are taking a weekend trip for New Year's and I would just as leave spend my money then as spend it on stuff just to have things under the tree.....he is the same way.

I have had a bad few days as far as the UC is concerned, calling the doctor today. I went down to 25 mg of prednisone Saturday. Sunday afternoon I started cramping and this morning, I am bleeding. I have kinda figured out the target so I know if he ups the prednisone again, what to try to avoid at all costs this time. I have also been into some junk food/Christmas food and that just doesn't work for me. When will I learn?  Hopefully today.

So, three more days of work and then off until the 27th, then 3 more days and I start vacation. I really don't have a lot to do this weekend and that feels great. Dust and sweep the house, cook Christmas dinner and that's about it. I am also (once again) very happy that if I want to, I can "de-Christmas" the house in an evening--especially if I have Robert take the tree down one of his days home. I am thinking about having that done before we leave for our trip. Robert isn't going with us, work comes first and with books to buy for a new semester, he is needing the money.

I think that's the "Browning report" for right now, nothing too exciting, just keepin' on keepin' on.

Happy Tuesday......

Saturday, December 17, 2011

My Christmas Songs of the Year

I regret that I was blogging so little last year that  I didn't put down what my "Christmas song of the Year" was.  I know year before last it was Christmastime is Here--made popular by the Charlie Brown Christmas Special but for some reason, last year....I can't even remember.

This year though, there are two. I alternate depending on what mood I am in. I want my song to be A Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant, and for the most part, it is. I am looking very forward to Christmas this year. My sis and BIL are staying from late Christmas eve until the day after Christmas, that makes Christmas so relaxing, no "hurry and get things done because we gotta go home". Yes, as always, I am hoping for snow.....there is just something about snow on Christmas.

At the same time though (and partially thanks to last week's Glee and my friend Sarah) Joni Mitchell's "River" pops through my head and as much as I don't want to admit it, there are just things about this Christmas that are sad to me. Seems so many people I care about have lost people they care about this year and so many of my friends are going through some real uncertainty and not so good times with their health, family and finances. I have spent a lot of time praying for a lot of friends this year.....I know part of it is we are all getting older but part of me feels like the closer we get to Christ's return, the more we are going to see of this.  It seems like a lot of us have come to realize things like, it's not IF you get cancer, it's WHEN you get cancer. The more we have to realize things like this, the more we have to put our faith in God and just thank him for sending us a Savior, and a Comforter to get us through this.


So, pick which one you are in the mood for and click on the following as my gift to you this Christmas.

A Christmas to Remember

River

Monday, December 12, 2011

The Christmas Countdown

Here we go, two weeks from today and Christmas 2011 will be in the books. Normally by this time I am crazy with trying to get a million things done. I still have a million things on my list but am bound and determined not to let it stress me out this year. It is doable, very doable and I actually plan to have everything done and under control by Saturday--it's a goal and I really can see it working out.

This weeks list:
  • Finish the crafts I am making for Christmas presents
  • Put finishing touches on homemade cards, sign and send
  • Finish shopping for the boy I adopted for Christmas
  • Make menus for Christmas day
  • Make grocery list for food I am making for presents
  • Move craft stuff to the basement (with help and cooperation from the guys)
  • Go shopping one last time.
Yep, that looks like the list. Taking this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon off as personal time--taking next Monday too, I think we will do a little shopping that day as well, but if it all goes as planned, it will just be picking up a few things, not really Christmas shopping.

Robert's last Final is this coming Wednesday and then he will be out until the 6th----hope he knows I still have plans for him!

I am really glad now I made the decision not to go overboard this year....I'm already liking that.

Off to work, Happy Monday!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The day finally came!

Back in June, at my first recheck from my first visit to my gastroenterologist, I thought I was doing so much better than I had been--no, I WAS doing so much better than I had been that I was happy with the results. (Warning: bodily function graphics ahead). I had went from an average of 25-30 bathroom trips a day, most without any warning to 7 or 8 and a little warning. I was, at the time, very happy with that, and told my doctor I was doing great. Beleive me, when you go from having NO warning and not even making it from your office to the bathroom, which is just down the hall to knowing you know you have to go, its an improvement--let alone the fact that what you see is more blood that BM. His response" Uh....no, you're not". He told me that day he would consider my Ulcerative Colitis still flaring until I only had 2 or at the most 3 bowel movements a day, and not be diarrhea. I thought he was dreaming but we went to work on upping prednisone continuously until the 19th of November, it finally happened.

I got up that morning and went to the bathroom...normal stool. At about 8 p.m, I had my second one, still normal. It has been that way ever since and I have still been in shock. I have not been like this in over 2 years.  I am loving every minute of it.  The look on Dr. Peterson's face, he is too.  When I told the nurse how great I was doing, she said, "You will make his weekend, you are his last patient of the day." And it DID seem to make his day.  I love that he loves what he is doing enough to get really excited about the results.

I told him I was having the normal side effects of the prednisone now that I didn't have diarrhea, weight gain. He is so funny, he is probably 6 foot tall, about my age, or a couple years older and not a string bean. He had put in my last notes that I was "slightly overweight", I giggled about it for two days because as flattered as I was, facts are facts, I'm fat.

Anyway, he told me if I "wanted" to start working on the weight he would help me, so we are starting that journey. Eventhough I am supposed to write down every bite I eat and count the calories, I am not supposed to look for anything to happen for a few more weeks because of the prednisone. He took the time to explain to me why the prednisone causes people to gain wait. You know that commercial on tv about women and cortisol? Well, prednisone is a manmade form of cortisol. Healthy cotisol levels should be around 7 mgs in the human body at any one time. I am taking 40 mg every day......my body has stopped producing the cortisol because it senses the prednisone, but having the 40 mgs still causes the same effects--hunger and weight gain. I dropped to 30 mgs yesterday and will decrease 5 mg a week until I get to 10. He warned me that when I drop below 10 (which I will do at 2 1/2 mg intervals instead of 5) I will have some days I feel rough, no relapse or anything (we hope) but my body will need to start adjusting to making it's own cortisol again and it will kinda shock my system. See why I think this guy is great?  He took the time to prepare me.

Any sign of going back to a flare, and I call him, otherwise, he doesn't want to do a colonoscopy because it has been so long since I have felt normal that he doesn't want to run the risk of throwing me into another flare...also most appreciated here.

So today I start yet another chapter in my life. I have kinda joked around that I couldn't lose weight because then I would be perfect----seriously, I'm JOKING!! But it does seem to be the only thing I have never been able to tackle if I tried, now I am going to try harder. Don't know what I will end up with but I never knew how much I missed something until I couldn't do it. I am ready to get back on a routine.

On a brighter note, shopped til I dropped yesterday with Mom, good times, I'm glad she was able to go with me--made the day a treat in every way.



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Big 2-0

It is really hard to imagine that 20 years ago today, I became a wife. What a wild ride it has been, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Don't know if I ever shared this, but when I first started working for Walmart, Rita Seimer introduced me to the overnight manager, his name was Drew and the first time I met him, he was wearing a purple shirt with a frog on it, it said "Kiss me, I might be a prince". Rita even commented to me about the shirt after she and I walked away--she had bought it, I said, it was cute. She asked if I meant the shirt or Drew. I just laughed, but the thought honestly did cross my mind.

"Drew" and I were friends from there on out. He was my boss so he was most definitely off limits but we were still friends. We had a mutual friend who knew more from each of us than he would admit for a long time. I used to catch shoplifters, this friend, whose name was Mike, was my mentor. One day, Mike pointblank told me that he had to tell Drew to let me be that day. I had gotten beat up by a shoplifter one time and after that, if Drew was working, the people would end up dumping what they had.....I had no idea that Drew was making them nervous and making them dump it. Anyway, Mike was the catalyst that caused us to finally go out after work one night. A week later, we went on our first official date  (I was officially done with the Effingham store the night we went out after work--so we could FINALLY date) and 6 weeks later, we made the trip to Kentucky to tie the knot.

Why did I put "Drew"---I had called him Drew for 2 years, on our way to meet his folks, 20 minutes outside of town, he tells me his mom hates for people to call him anything but Andrew. I have called him Andrew ever since.

We are at home this evening, we knew when we got married that doing anything big right before Christmas is impossible if you work in retail. We are planning a trip over New Year's to Louisville. I am taking him to the Ali museum and he is taking me on a New Year's eve dinner cruise.....can't wait!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Into December

It amazes me that time could go any faster, but it does. How is it that I remember those times as a child that it took forever for a certain day here or there to get here?  The day school was out, the first day of a family trip.....Christmas???  Now it seems like it gets here before you know it.

I have decided this year to downsize Christmas as our house---not the meaning mind you, but all the preparation and decorating. I normally decorate every nook and cranny in the house and yesterday morning, I decided I wasn't doing it. I have the tree up, the mantle decked out and of course the porch as well as the kitchen is decorated and I have declared it enough. I couldn't do it on my own though, I had to have someone validate my thoughts. I called my mom, not home. So when Robert got up, I asked him if it would be okay.....yep, he says, "I always thought you went overboard anyway". So, when Mom called, I told her I had decided to do this.....her response: "I always thought you went overboard anyway". So there you have, my official permission to get by with this. Yes, pangs of guilt sweep up every once in a while and I think, "I should just run up and get this, or that and put it out. I hate the "I have to do it all" syndrome I have....and am fighting it like killing snakes. My reward is telling myself over and over again, it will only take me about half a day after Christmas to get life around here back to normal.  We have a couple of other projects in the works so eventhough I am planning vacation the week after New Years, I really do like the idea of it not being spent taking down Christmas. Whew, now that's off my chest.

The main project we are getting ready for is the basement. It is not finished and we have no big schemes to finish it now either. We are repurposing it though. It had always been the "teen cave" but now, with Robert's friends scattered, it hasn't been used for that lately. When his friends do come home, they end up in the family room now, if here at all. So, Robert is needing more room in the garage to work on cars, Andrew is wanting a place to do woodworking ( which he never honestly got to do with his shop in the garage because it was always pushed aside to work on cars) and I want a craft room. I made my own Christmas cards this year, and the fact that I had my dining room a mess while doing it drove me nuts. We are still in the moving stuff down there and laying out plans stage but I am hoping to have everything 100% by the end of the first week of January. Should be great!

I keep waiting for life to slow down because Robert is out of high school, it hasn't, it has just changed. This week, he had ballgames on Friday and Saturday night both to play at for pep band. He went to work after he got home from them, which means he has had a couple of really late nights. Andrew is supposed to be working three twelve-hour days, in reality, he is working three twelves and a nine. And then there is my work, which just remains interesting and crazy and fun all wrapped into one. Thursday I got an email from the state wanting to come and do a site visit on one of our offices.....this was an honor because the people who are working on the software for our new program wants to see how it is working and how we are interacting with it. They want to go someplace where they know the workers know what they are doing. This will happen either Wednesday or Thursday of this week and I have chosen the Paris office for them to visit.

On the medical front, I go back to my gastroenterolist on Friday. I have had, as of today, 2 really great weeks. I have not had one bad day since the 18th of November. The downside----since the diarrhea has stopped, I am getting the typical weight gain from the prednisone that everyone else gets. I do at least feel like getting on the treadmill though so I have been trying to combat it. I believe he will start weening me back of the prednisone, I was not happy thinking about this at first but I think I am ready because this watching what you eat and still gaining is for the birds.

I think that catches up our lives, church this morning, shopping this afternoon, church this evening and then back to the grind tomorrow.

Life is good!