The ABC's of ME

Hi Everyone!!

Here is something a bit different for you all, its a post that I read on another beauty blog so I figured I would give it a whirl and you'd have a bit of fun info about ME...

A.  AGE: 33

B.  BED SIZE: Queen

C. CHORE YOU HATE: Ironing

D. DAY: Thursday

E. ESSENTIAL START TO YOUR DAY: A cup of coffee

F. FAVOURITE COLOUR: White

G. GOLD OR SILVER: Silver

H. HEIGHT:  5' 2"

I. INSTRUMENTS: I can play the piano just a little bit.

J. JOB TITLE: Legal Assistant for 1 more week (the firm I work for is closing) :(

K. KIDS - not yet

L. LIVES - Alabama

M. MOM'S NAME: DiAnne

N. NICKNAMES: A bunch here, mainly from grandparents & parents: kitten, pumpkin, sugar pumpkin, kiddo, doll, etc.

O. OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAYS: I was a very puny kid so it would be depressing to list them all here. 

P. PET PEEVE: Oh! I've got lots. People smacking food, gum or just in general. Being interrupted in a conversation. Those are my top 2.

Q: QUOTE FROM A MOVIE: 'You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath to my life.' Julia Child to her husband Paul in Julie & Julia.

R: RIGHT OR LEFT HANDED: Right

S: SIBLINGS: Two sisters. One 9 years older than me, the other 7 years older.

U: UNDERWEAR: Pretty. Don't care what brand as long as it's comfy & pretty.

V: VEGETABLES YOU DISLIKE: This is a toughy since I'm a chef & I love to eat. I guess eggplant would be one of my least favs but I still like it in Ratatouille.

W: WHAT MAKES YOU RUN LATE: Not much. I'm habitually early.

X: X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD: Referring back to letter O - too many to list here.

Y: YUMMY FOOD YOU MAKE: All of them baby! I'm a chef!

Z: ZOO: I went to the Wild Animal Safari in Arkansas. It was so much fun! I had a little monkey climb all over my & try to get the antibacterial gel out of my purse! LOL

My Labor Day 2012

Some people use the long weekend of Labor Day to enjoy one last hurrah before saying goodbye to summer.

I picture happy families grilling out by the lake with a hammock in the background. And a dog. There's always a dog. Usually a Labrador.

None of that customary, bland nonsense for me! No sir!

I spent this Labor Day calling 911, mentally reviewing my CPR basics, cleaning up puke & poop & counting the ceiling tiles of DeKalb Regional Hospital.

To sum it up....
Grandmother (the one I live with as her caretaker, henceforth referred to as 'Bud') was fine one minute, scary sick the next. A press of her Life Alert button (and a quick call to Mom) brought EMT's and an ambulance while Mom & I were working with Bud & praying like nobody's business. This was scary stuff. At one point Mom was holding her wrist CHECKING FOR A PULSE while I was in her face trying to get her to talk to me.

Fast forward to ER....
Bud is scanned from head to toe and been given lots of meds to calm her stomach & ease her dizziness. (I told the EMT's & ER peeps I thought it was vertigo. This will be important later.)

13 hours later....
We are STILL in the ER & have not been seen by a doctor. Nurse practitioners are great, but can I get a freaking MD in this place???

Sometime later...
Bud is FINALLY admitted (still no doctor has even looked at her) and we are told a doctor will see her tomorrow. The nurses were sweet & very attentive on a positive note.

Saturday...
What do ya know? A real, live doctor graced us with his presence! We felt honored pissed that after a mere 25 hours from arriving by ambulance Bud finally gets seen by someone who has $200K in student loans. He ordered more tests.
On a side note we watched Bama whip Michigan so that was neat. Roll Tide.

Sunday...
Turns out those guest chairs in hospital rooms are very cozy to sleep in. Wait, am I halucinating from lack of sleep & searing back pain? Yes. Ok, they must be well-disguised torture devices made by people who hate human spines.
All results come back negative which is good. No heart attack or stroke. All signs point towards vertigo. *cough* told ya *cough*

Monday...
Bud enjoyed some broth, ice chips & a hearty dose of meds. Lots of naps followed. We were told she might be busting outta there tomorrow but that may just be a nasty rumor. She graduated to mashed potatoes & boiled chicken which she ate with gusto! Somewhere in this mix my sweet Judd came in & we made several types of jell-o, broths, rice & pudding to greet the patient when she came home.

Tuesday...
I had clients that were coming in from out of state so I had to go to work while Mom stayed with Bud. I literally squealed when Mom's text read, "We're coming home!"

And THAT folks is how you have an exciting Labor Day.

This Just Pinned!

My top 5 pins for this week.

#1 - Changeable Mantel
This one is a Christmas theme using felt snowflakes from the DOLLAR STORE & double-sided tape. I aspire to be this kind of homemaker, changing things around for the seasons & then posting nauseatingly adorable pics on facebook & such so that others feel jealous inspired. pin

#2 - Game Day Dresses from T-Shirts

I'm gonna need to pilfer through the Mr.'s gargantuan Alabama t-shirt collection & go all Martha Stewart to whip up a fancy game day dress that is a bit more than what I've found. Too many are a plain crimson dress with a Bama "A" stuck on it so they can jack up the price to $60. Bonus: the Mr.'s shirts are all 100 years old & have been washed a zillion times so they are super soft! pin

#3 - Easy Nail Art with a Bath Poof!

This is SO CUTE! Maybe a lighter color for the base? Black is a bit goth for my taste. Maybe a dusty pale pink or a soft grey? Oh, and nix the ghetto fabulous rhinestone.

It reminds me of Sally Hansen polish strips in fishnet stockings but I'm not about to pay $10 for some stickers. Sheesh. pin

#4 - NO MORE STINKIN SANDWICHES!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice Dagwood as much as the next gal but sometimes I just get to the point where I cannot ingest another freaking sammich!!! This link has hundreds of ideas that will keep me from eating 2 Cliff bars, dry cereal, half a thing of Tic Tacs & a stale Milky Way something else for lunch. pin

#5 - Metallic Paint to Transform Old Furniture

When the Mr. & I set up house (hopefully before I'm too old & decrepit to do any of this crap) I would love to transform our mismatched furniture into Pottery Barn-esque pieces such as this.pin

THIS JUST PINNED!

I HEART PINTEREST!
I feel a need to pin things that are delicious, beautiful, clever, funny or even the odd ones like how to turn a vintage wine barrel into a sink on the off-chance I'll own a farmhouse in Venice.

It could totally happen.

Don't judge me.

Some of my recent pins are:

Using a copier to mark exact nail or screw placement. Brilliant! pin


A new way to use crackle nail polish! pin


For that awesome backyard I'm going to have one day where everyone wants to hang out. pin


For that um...gathering I hope to have where I leave with a different last name. Ahem. pin


An easy taco ring that could be a fast dinner or a cute party platter.pin


Can I pull this off? Who knows...but I'm gonna try! pin


I hope to be the kind of Mom who thinks of things like this for my kiddos! pin

And one just for fun (cause it's SO TRUE!)

Maybe

Maybe one day, I pray not too far from now, I will have a happy, lazy Saturday with Judd in our own place.

Maybe a load of laundry gets done, maybe it doesn't.

Maybe we eat breakfast at 11 and stay in our jammies until 3.

Maybe we have a clean-out-the-DVR-party with a marathon of reality shows.

Maybe I make a cheater dinner by heating something I've frozen batch-style months ago.

Maybe my freezer looks like this

Maybe we read the entire paper outside while drinking tea.

Maybe we get a thrill out of cutting the coupons.

Maybe we take a luxurious nap simply because we have found the ultimate comfy spots on the couch.

Maybe...

Look out people...she's on the juice!

I'm not an 'accident-prone' person.

I am however a 'had grown people diseases & problems when I was younger coupled with weak lungs, a sensitive digestive tract & a system that refuses to tolerate the top 6 antibiotics on the market forcing my doctor to break out the Big Drug Book he hasn't seen since med school & prescribe me something expensive, weird & so left field they haven't even thought about having a generic for it yet' person.

Sadly, most forms at the doctor's office don't have a box to check for that second sentence.

Here's the thing: I hurt my hand.

While trying not to be a wienie about it I chocked it up to sleeping on it funkily (I know that's not a word but you know what I mean) or doing an obscene amount of filing recently. After a few sweet attempts from Judd to hold my hand (that left me shrieking in pain) and a morning of trying to use my mouse with my left hand (um...not gonna happen) I called the doc.

Of course, when I looked it up online I knew it was fatal & I should get my affairs in order but I just couldn't see how it was broken without being swollen or bruised. To be honest, I felt kind of silly going to the doctor for an ouchie but hey, it really hurts & I've got to meet my Blue Cross deductible some way, right?

After trying not to cuss when the doctor pressed on the sweet spot that sent me jumping off the exam table I was glad to get this mess seen about. It's not broken (Yay, but more on that in a bit.) but it is an acute case of Tendonitis. That blows but I'll take it over a broken bone - even in my very dominant right hand - any day of the week. Yay to that for several reasons in no particular order:

1 - I don't want an itchy, nasty cast that I can't wash under for no telling how many weeks. Ew.

2 - I don't want to debate about which color to get aforementioned cast in.

3 - I can't feed myself left-handed. Seriously. It's kind of gross when I tried at lunch. Maybe a new weight loss plan though....

4 - Besides starving myself, my left hand cannot brush my teeth, put on make up or anything productive. It's only use is to hold a shiny ring on a very specific finger. Ahem.

5 - Broken bones kind of freak me out because they never really heal 100% and it makes me think of the last few moments of Breaking Dawn Part 1 where Edward's venom is healing Bella as it turns her & her bones knit themselves back together. I fear I'd be on the constant lookout for guys who shimmer in the sun so they can bite me.

Instead of vampire venom, my doctor went the traditional route & prescribed me a hefty dose of steroids. Just when I'm getting in the groove of walking every day & watching what I eat. Great. On the plus side maybe I could lift Judd over my head or arm wrestle his brother while I'm all roided up on the juice.

Shabby Tissue Box part 1

I'm crafty.

Not look-at-the-macaroni-necklace-I-made-in-girl-scouts kind of crafty but rather Martha Stewart should be worried kind of crafty.

Yep. I said it.

Recently, my sweet Judd gave me a random bag of prizes from Target & I immediately saw projects in my future!

The first one being to use these bright, cheery napkins.

The J could be for Judd/Jennie! :)

I found this wooded tissue box at my favorite bargain store Salvation Army! It even had a base coat of white paint on it already!

The price was a whopping... 

50 cents! Sold baby!

So I separated the napkins (they were 2-ply) and cut very messily around the designs. Then I glued them down in a cute pattern. 

Why not just glue the napkin 'as is' on the sides? Because it didn't fit correctly, leaving a border of nothingness around the sides which my OCD deemed unacceptable.

I didn't even bother using fancy Mod Podge. Plain old Elmer's works just fine for the super thin tissue paper.

I tried to leave the paper somewhat crinkled so it would have texture but it flattened out a good bit when I put the top layer of glue on.

This is as far as I've gotten because life, being ever abundant, has paused my craftiness.

More to come...