Sunday, June 26, 2011

I put off True Blood for this!

Well, HBO Go is loaded on my computer right now. The first 2 episodes of True Blood season 4 are ready to play however I WANT to update this blog once a week because my mom doesn't use Facebook so I try to keep her as up to date as possible since we can't always talk every week.

One thing I remember about my childhood is my mom always made sure that I had books to read. She either packed all 4 of us up and took us to the library or sometimes she would buy books for me. The series I remember the most are the Trixie Belden books. Trixie Belden was a 13 year old "detective" and what I didn't know until recently was the series started in 1948 and lasted until about 1986. There are 38 books in all.
Anyway, I got off track. My mom started getting these for me sometime starting around 3rd grade I think. I LOVED THEM. I connected with Trixie Belden as much as a little girl could. SO, when I found the first 9 books as a set on eBay I was blown away. I HAD TO GET THEM right away for my niece. She turns 11 in less than a month and I'm 100% convinced she is going to love them as much as I did. (The set was actually missing book 5 so I purchased that one separately and it BETTER get here before I mail these out for her birthday!) When I got my grubby little hands on them a few days ago I started flipping through the first one and each page I skimmed across I was thrown back in time. I KNEW what happened next! I'm pretty sure that my mom has most of the books she bought me as a little girl in her attic and since we'll be home in September and it won't be 12030253 degrees up there I'm going to drag Gary up there with me and search every box until I find them because Gary and I will be driving from my mom's house to Lily's house a few days later and I'd LOVE to show up with the rest of them. Man oh man, I really hope she loves these books, and with 3 sisters in tow I'm hoping each and every one of them gets to enjoy them as much as I did.

As far as what happened this week it was pretty mild. I had sedation last monday to get the last set of injections on my back. This time he went into the nerves and heated them up and I'm telling you, even sedated the tears were rolling down my face. It hurt so bad. AND they could only do one side of my back (the right side) so on 7/11 I have to go back in to get the left side done and I'm dreading that pain so much. Other than that I pretty much relaxed all week. My energy level was low so my house is looking like a bomb hit it. I did spend Friday with Melia and Riley running some errands with her. Saturday night Gary and I went over to their house to set up her new computer and eat some pulled pork sammiches. I however, forgot the power cord so it's all set up but you can't turn it on. I'm going back on Tuesday to remedy that little problem.
This coming week is packed full of little gems. I had a bunch of doctor appointments that I had to schedule but I specifically skipped this coming week. I really need a week off from being poked and prodded and questioned and xrayed and blood drawn and yeah, I just need a break. I planned a ice cream date on Monday with my "nephew" Lane and a Starbucks date with his sister on Thursday. I like taking Sandra's kids out on outings, I just can't handle all 3 at a time so I split them up and that way I get some one on one time with them and it's great fun all around. It was really cute when Lane found out it was his turn. He comes up to me and says "Rachel, I really don't want to go to Starbucks". (That's where I take his sisters) and I just said "Lane, you silly goose we can go WHENEVER you want!" so he picked Baskin-Robbins.

Hmmm, yup that's pretty much it. A few movies Gary and I wanted to see came out this weekend but we decided to wait a week or two to skip the crowds. We ran out this afternoon for some quick errands and ended up at Ah-So. It's a teppanyaki grill close to our house. I remember as a kid my mom and dad took me and my siblings to one and we all threw a fit because we just wanted hamburgers and probably embarrassed the crap out of my parents who really thought we'd enjoy watching the food get cooked and now it's one of my favorite places to go. Sorry Mom!

My life isn't as exciting as it used to be. It makes for a boring read, however I'm happy so .. meh.
This concludes this weeks boring update. =D

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

It's Summertime!!!

It's time for pedicures and sandals and breezy dresses because 115 is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little of this and that

It's been a while since I've updated. The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!

Things with me and Gary are going very well. Since my doctor upped my Lamictal my moods have been 99% under control. We've had a few "Meh" moments but nothing to worry about.
It's getting stinking HOT here so we did some summer clothes shopping. Lots of shorts and tees for him and dresses and tanks for me. It's just SO HOT! It's supposed to be 115 today and tomorrow and it's only June... we still have July/August/September to go!

Speaking of September - I booked our airline tickets to go home at the end!!! We'll be gone 9/19 til 9/27. I'm already nervous as crap to fly but I have 3 months and I can't just worry about it the entire time. I have to find somewhere to board Quagmire. I'm hoping our old vet still boards. He's a special needs dog and I really trust them to take care of him properly. We've never gone on vacation without him and this is going to be a long one. I'm going to worry about him the entire time I'm gone and probably drive the vet nuts calling to check on him daily... if not 2 times a day. :D
I'm pretty excited though. Even though Mom and Dad were out here November '10 (wow it's been THAT long?) and Mom was out here last December for my surgery, WE haven't been home in I think July will be 4 years. At that time my sister Lisa was still living in Florida and now she's in Maryland so I finally get to see her and meet 2 of her babies I haven't ever met and 3 I haven't seen in YEARS!!!
It's going to be exciting. We're also going to drive up to NY to visit Gary's family. Yeah, it's going to be a fun trip!

Good thing about living in Phoenix is there is no "Spring" so you can skip Spring Cleaning all together... which has left my house in an atrocious state so I'll be doing that for the next week. Guestroom is done and all I need to finish the computer room and bedroom are 2 bookshelves which I think we're going to run out and get this weekend.
We also need to grab a new printer (our current one is a piece of crap that doesn't work AT ALL now) because I found the cutest little PDF files you can print out to keep you more organized.
Here are some pictures of what I have and if you're interested in any of them let me know via email (rachelcdoyle@gmail.com) and I'll mail them to you to!








Thursday, June 9, 2011

My week in a nutshell

It started off slow but has picked up in the last 2 days.
I took Quagmire for grooming on Wednesday. I had noticed that the gunk in his eyes (normal for yorkies) was a different color than usual so I asked the groomer to look at it and if it looked infected to please have the vet look at it. Well what do you know... it's infected.. with a bacteria AND a fungal infection. I swear this dog is going to be the death of me... So, he got a nice shot in his butt and sent home with a few pills. That was yesterday. Early this morning the vet calls me back, apparently the medicine that he's already on for his valley fever will help clear up the eye infection that he has already .. the fungal part that is, so I returned the meds a little while ago and got a refund. I'm not going to complain about that!

Today (It's only Thursday!?!?). I was up at 6am to take Gary to work. Then I have to take the car to Mazda. When it was getting repaired 2 weeks ago they took the time to get grease all over the hood liner and the visor and I wasn't about to try and wipe it out so they said they would detail clean it for me. So, 2.5 hours later they call to tell me it's ready. Sandra, who had picked me up so I wouldn't have to wait there, dropped me back off. You would THINK after 2.5 hours that they would have detailed the ENTIRE car since after all they left the grease in there but nope, they just got the spots out. UGH.. did I mention that they would NOT give me a loaner car which meant I had to sit there or put someone else out of their way? Not a good experience with them and I'm going to remember that when I'm car shopping in a few months.

Tomorrow, I have NOTHING to do. That's because Gary ordered like.. probably one of everything at newegg and he's been stalking the newegg website and the ups website and knows where these parts are at any given moment. Well, they're supposed to all get delivered tomorrow and newegg requires signatures so yup, here I am stuck at home waiting for the UPS guy.. who I hate but that's a different story.

Saturday is going to be a busy day from start to finish.
I'm starting the day with an early afternoon baby shower. It's for my friend of 6 years who also happens to be my hair dresser (which reminds me, I need to get rid of these roots Friday night). I'm hoping to not have to stay too long because then I have to run home and change because I'm headed to Melia's house for her BIRTHDAY BASH!!! Cake and ice cream and presents OH MY!
We're going to go to dinner, eat some cake, open some presents and then I need to head home to the husband who's going to be neglected all day but he won't care because he'll be playing with new computer parts.. which is ANOTHER reason I'm hoping they get here tomorrow or he's going to be heartbroken that he has to wait until Monday (actually Tuesday because no one will be here Monday to sign for things).. yeah UPS better be here tomorrow. I won't be happy if I sit around all day and no one shows up.

Sunday, DAY OF QUIET - FINALLY (not that I am complaining that my week is so busy with fun things :) )

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Is it over yet?

It's been a really rough month. In the middle of working my ass off on my marriage (Gary is too) and making sure my friends are ok I've lost track of ME. I saw my shrink today and I had to tell him for the first time in a while that I'm NOT ok. My moods are a complete mess. I can go from bitchy to crying to happy in a matter of 15 minutes. I'm responding to situations in a fashion I wouldn't normally respond. (Crying about things that aren't sad, mad about things that wouldn't normally make me mad). My bipolar feels out of control. I told Gary last night that I feel like a stretched out rubberband, just waiting to snap. All that being said, Dr. Bisla went through my meds and he said that I've been on the same doses for about 3 years now and maybe between that and the fact that my life IS complicated right now I could use a few changes. He upped my Lamictal by 100mg. He said that SHOULD do the trick. I really hope it does. Having a little more control over my emotions would be great. But, it's kinda why I've been avoiding phone calls and visiting people because I never know what's going to set me off and I don't want to take it out on any one that I really care for. It's also why I really haven't posted.

Over all though, it has been a good week or two. Busy weeks but the weekends are nice.
Saturday (the 28th) I picked up Melia and Riley and we headed over to Sandra's house so that Melia could take her family pictures. (I sneaked a peek and they are awesome!) Sandra has such a gorgeous family and Melia is a fantastic photographer.
Also, I've known Melia about 8 years and Sandra for about 4 years and I have NO pictures (good ones anyway) of me and Melia or me and Sandra so I got my wish AND they turned out really great!!! I can't wait to print them out and use the new frame I got with these pictures in mind.
After the pictures we went and grabbed Gary from home. Gary, Melia, Riley and I went out to get ice cream from ColdStone and then headed back to their side of town to take them home.
Sunday was a day of relaxation and since it was Memorial Day Monday was as well.

This week was hectic. I told Gary today that it's been the LONGEST 4 day work week ever. Every day seems to be dragging by and that has a lot to do with my emotions and how busy I've been.
I have a nice weekend planned though so I'm really looking forward to that.

Enough rambling from me for now (which is a side effect of out of control emotions). I love you guys and if the weekend goes as planned you'll hear all about it on Monday.

(Me and Sandra)

(Me and Melia)

(Melia, Me and Sandra)