Are you superstitious?

I'm not. But it REALLY sucks when something happens on a day like Friday the 13th!

We decided to have our Valentine's dinner out last night instead of tonight hoping that we could beat some of the crowd. We got to the restaurant at 7:30 and walked out at 8:40pm. When we came out, Bryan saw that the passenger windshield of his car had been smashed in and my PURSE was STOLEN! My mind immediately switched into "damage control" gear and I grabbed Bryan's wallet and started getting out credit cards & debit card to call. Bryan wanted to call the police first but I was more concerned with stopping the thieves in their tracks and not letting them have our money! Within 15 minutes I had all 4 cards cancelled and my bank account noted for extra security with all transactions. Luckily, I didn't have any checks in my purse so I don't think they would have access directly to my bank account. But, better safe than sorry.

During this time, I realize that my car & house keys were in my purse (along with my driver's license so they know where we live) so we quickly cleared the glass out of the car & raced home hoping to find our home still in peace. Home was fine. During our drive home, Bryan was on the phone with the police to file a report. Something minor like vehicle vandalism and a stolen purse is just done over the phone, they don't take the time to come out. *roll eyes*

Once we got home, I got online with the 3 credit bureaus (experian, transunion, and equifax) and filed a fraud alert so that credit can not be opened in our name without us being notified first. We decided to park my car at my sister's house for the night (since the thieves have my car keys) and we locked our storm door until we can get the locks changed on our main door today.

WHAT A PAIN IN THE REAR!!!

So, today is a new day. I think I have done all I can to safe guard our identity & money. They did use one of my credit cards last night at a Buy for Less, Save-A-Lot, and rented $15 worth of Redbox DVDs. So, I figured they had a party last night on our behalf and bought beer, cigarettes, and movies. But, that's as far as they got before we had the cards cancelled,

The bad thing is that now we don't have access to money since our debit card has been cancelled and the bank is closed until Tuesday. Luckily, Bryan had some of his Christmas cash stashed away that should hopefully tide us over until then.

I just got off the phone with our car insurance and they will cover replacing our car keys (they are very expense now with the computer chip inside of the key plus the remote) and to also have the doors & ignition locks changed and to replace the broken windshield... after our $500 deductible, of course! Ugh!!! (we'll have to dip into our "new house" fund for that one, man that urks me!)

So, there you have it! HAPPY FREAKIN' VALENTINES! LOL!

You have GOT to watch this!!!

I laughed so hard I made my side hurt! Too funny! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83JDXXKzOXg

After you watch it, post a comment on my blog & tell me how hard you laughed! (plus, I would like to see who reads my blog. *grin*)

A week in the life of... 2/5/09

Last week we had an ice storm that closed the school for 3 days. The boys LOVED school being closed but that meant that I had to stay home from work. I love having the occassional day home, but let me tell you some truth... I am NOT cut out to be a stay-at-home mom! I was going bonkers! They were wild because they couldn't go outside & play (well, they did but would only last about 5-10 minutes at a time because of how cold it was) and we couldn't get in the car & drive anywhere. Even though I couldn't go to work, I still was able to work online from home (gotta love today's technology!) but it is hard to get much done when I am constantly having to play referree.. "mom, Kameron hit me!" "I did not!" "Yes you did...just like this!" "Mom, Kaleb hit me!". Gggrrrr!!! Please tell me that I am not the only one that has this problem!?!

Bryan ended up staying home from work on Friday because he now has the *crud* that I had a month ago. It starts off with a fever for about 4 days and then the cough begins as it moves into your voice box area. Now, today is Thursday and he has not voice at all. He's been back to work all week but his voice was getting more & more horse. So, this morning he walks into work and whispers "good morning" with no voice and they say "good bye". So, he came back home today. He scared the pee out of me when he walked into the house as I was getting ready for work. I heard the front door open & then I saw his shadow around the corner... he better be lucky I didn't stick a hot curling iron on his face! LOL! Anyway, he went to the doctor today & they gave him two shots in the booty and said to stay home from work again tomorrow. I know how he feels... it took an entire month for me to start feeling better & I am STILL battling the cough & runny nose! I hope his doesn't last as long (I didn't go get shots in my booty).

Monday night, my nephew, Ricky, had his coronation for Mr & Miss Del City High School. He represented baseball. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. I got a few pictures but they are on my iPhone and I haven't gotten them off, yet. I will post them when I do.

Right now, I am sitting at Kameron's basketball practice. It is almost over. I have a hard time sitting for a solid hour without having something to do. Hooray for the trusty laptop and wireless internet! :)

Looks like practice is over, gotta go!

School Play & Baseball

For the fall season of baseball, Kameron's team, the Red Sox, played in 1 weekend tournament. Kameron has played for 3 years already but most of the kids on this team have not played before. So, we didn't play in too many tournaments because we didn't want them to get frustrated when they didn't win a trophy (t-ball is a very competitive sport!). This tournament didn't start off very well... they lost their first game to a pretty good team (boys who could hit the ball over the fence). But, they fought hard and won their next game later that day. The next day, they ended up playing 3 games in a row (no break!) because they kept winning and ended up with 3rd place! They were SO proud of themselves! We were so proud of them! They played so hard & the excitement on their faces made the long weekend well worth it. I am assistant coach so I got the honors of handing each of them their trophies. Sorry for the blurry pictures... we didn't have our regular camera so Bryan was trying to get the best pics he could on the camera phone.

Kaleb's school had a small part in his school play this year. I don't remember the title to the play but his role involved the "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song... he was one of the monkeys. He was so funny. He was monkey #5 and he jumped & jumped and when it was his turn to fall he dramatically fell down and a play doctor came and tossed him an ice pack to put on his head (picture #2). He loves to be in the spotlight! (again, bad pictures... I forgot the regular camera!!! Shame on me!!!)

Kaleb's 8th Birthday

Kaleb had a great time at his birthday party this year at Celebration Station. Every time we go to Celebration Station, he will not ride the go-carts. He'll drive the kiddie ones but he won't ride as a passenger on the adult ones. We have been talking to him lately about "facing your fears" and he finally agreed to ride with me on the adult carts. Why me and not Bryan? I guess he thought that I wouldn't drive as fast... little does he know! HA HA! We got in the fastest car on the track & I drove full-speed the whole time, even squealing around corners. He had a BLAST!

What summarizes Kaleb at 8 years old:

Positives:	Negatives:
Loves to Read	Controlling
Enjoys Soccer	Already has a teenager attitude!
Competitive	Gets frustrated when he isn't the "best"
He is SO smart!	Sometimes too smart for his own good.
Cherishes true friendships

He is growing too much, physically & emotionally... make it stop!

Here are pictures of his birthday party...

Check out his face when he got some money in a card from Grandma & Grandpa! This boy loves money! You can catch a glimpse of me in the pictures in the white shirt w/ red flowers.

Gotta love BOY birthday parties!

Here, Kaleb is trying to act COOL and not show his excitement about his cake coming out of the pretend oven. But, he really enjoyed it. :)

This is his favorite present... his electric scooter from us. After getting home that day, he took his scooter out for a test drive. It goes about 5 mph and he has so much fun zippin up & down the street.

Princess Isabella... and an update!

I was going through pictures today & came across some that I took last month of our pretty Bella. We got her back in January of this year as a tiny little puppy. She was so beautiful and sweet and cuddly. We fell in love with her immediately. She has grown quite a bit since then. She started out as a little bitty 6 pound cutie and she is now approximately 11-12 pounds. She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and she just turned a year old on Nov 10th. I met 2 adult Cavaliers about 3 years ago and fell in love with them and told Bryan at that time that I wanted one. They are very expensive dogs and so I figured I would never have one. Bryan never forgot, though. He was looking in the dog section one day and found an ad that had registered Cavaliers for sale at a very reasonable price. I am so happy we have her. She is so sweet & loveable. Although, she doesn't seem to like going pee pee outside... thank goodness we don't have carpet anymore! LOL! But, as you can tell by these pictures... she is spoiled ROTTEN! She is perched up on the couch pillow resting as only a sweet spoiled little princess would.

UPDATE on my surgery: Today is day 6 after my surgery and I am doing fine. I still don't have much energy and stay a good portion of the day with my legs propped up in the recliner. When I get up & move around too much, my legs swell up so much that it makes them hurt. I am wearing a compression garment to keep the swelling down and so that my skin doesn't stretch out from it... thank goodness or else my legs would be the size of an elephant! They already feel that way, though! My dad took me to my doctor's appointment on Monday for a follow-up and I got a thumbs up. My incisions all look good and look like they are healing well. Blood flow is really good in the area so we are hoping that I don't have any skin breakdown issues like I did with my tummy-tuck earlier in the year. I am ready for more movement in my legs so I can start to do more things. Well, the movement really isn't too bad... I still have a hard time picking my legs up to get in/out of the car. But, it's mostly the swelling that happens when I am up moving around. Each day will get better, though.

WHEW! What a week!

I don't have any pictures to share with you today... I do have many pictures that I need to share, but not any that pertain to today's post.

This has been a WHIRLWIND of a week for me. And, I thank God that I have Bryan to help me handle it all.

#1 - I went to Real Estate school about a month ago and kept procrastinating on taking my license exam. With my upcoming surgery (more on that in a bit) I decided last week that I was going to buckle down & study, study, study so that I can take my test this week and get it over with (if I passed) before my surgery and the Thanksgiving holiday. So, that's what I did. I studied non-stop (practically) from Friday night through Tuesday night and took my test on Wednesday morning. It's a pretty grueling 2 hour test and I am happy to say that I PASSED! WOO HOO! On Saturday, Victoria from Prudential took me to lunch to talk with me about what they have to offer. On Monday, I had a phone conversation with Century 21 and on Tuesday, I went to the team meeting at Keller Williams and talked with the broker there afterwards. I have decided on Keller Williams. They all seem to offer the same things... commission rates, ongoing training, business development, and all 3 are in the top 5 companies in Oklahoma. I decided on Keller Williams based on the agents that I met at their office on Tuesday and the overall team-friendly atmosphere. Everyone seemed happy and were talking with each other and helping each other out. Being a newbie in the business, it makes me feel better knowing that they will be willing to help me out with my relentless questions. :) So, between the studying, meeting with brokers, and the test I was under a bit of stress for that.

#2 - Since I was going to be off work for 10 days starting on Thursday, I was feeling under pressure to get AHEAD in my work. With the end of the year coming up, I've got many reports & spreadsheets to prepare for the 2009 year that need to be done by Dec 1st. I'll be off work until the week of Thanksgiving and then that week is only a 2-day week so I knew I had to have them done this week. So, I was bringing work home with me to work on in between reading chapters & taking study quizzes for my real estate exam. My schedule was: read a chapter & take a quiz, get up & put in a load of laundry, log into my work computer & do some work, change the laundry from washer to dryer, read a chapter & take a quiz, fold & put-up the laundry, log into my work computer & work on spreadsheets... get the idea?

#3 - My nerves were on high gear all week because I was having surgery on Thursday morning. With having lost 145 pounds, I've had issues with extra skin. It's a myth that exercise can eliminate that problem. Exercise can tighten the underlying muscles under the skin but it can't shrink the skin. And, trust me, I am an exerciser. But, with that much extra weight and with being overweight most of my life, it was inevitable that I would have extra skin. This is my 3rd plastic surgery to help correct this issue. It's not about the cosmetic issue of the skin but more about the emotions the extra skin reminds me of my "former self"... a person that I never want to see again. This surgery was to deal with the skin folds hanging from my inner thighs. I had to buy pants 1-2 sizes too big in the waist & hips in order for them to fit my thighs. I've been very happy with my surgeries in the past and I hope that this one is no different. Even though this is my 3rd surgery, I was still so nervous. I wasn't nervous about the pain... I can handle the pain. But, I absolutely hate that time frame of when you are first waking up and trying to get your bearings together, the dry heaves, the scratchy throat, and the overall inability to stay awake (I'm pretty much out of it for 24 hours). I guess it wasn't so much "nerves" as it was "dread" of knowing what was coming. And, also, I hate being wheeled into the OR completely awake, hopping up onto that super cold bed (they keep it like 55` in the OR!), getting strapped in, and then the dizzy feeling I get when they are administring the anesthesia. Ugh, there is just something about that feeling that I hate.

Well, I am happy to say that today is Saturday and all of that is now behind me. :) The boys stayed the night with their Aunt Dea on Wednesday night because we had to be checking into the hospital at 6am Thursday morning. Bryan & I sat around in my hospital room... poor guy, he had to listen to me chatter away. That's what I do when I am nervous. I talk. And, Bryan doesn't talk. Luckily, the nurse came in after awhile & she & I talked. :) My dad came after awhile, also, and so he & I talked. At 7:45, they wheeled me into the holding area and got my IV hooked up, and various people came in to talk with me... the anesthesiologist, OR nurse, and of course, Dr. Panchal. He has a very calming demeanor that he always seems to calm me down. They asked me if I wanted some anxiety medicine, but I declined because I don't like how those medicines make me feel. Dr. Panchal got out his markers (good 'ole sharpy markers) and marked up my thighs with the areas that he was going to cut, and the areas that he was going to do the liposuction on so that my thighs can be in a good proportion. After that, they wheeled me into OR room #3. I loved my OR nurse. When I got into the OR room, I had to stand up in the middle of the room so she could disinfect my whole body with an alcohol wash. So, here I am standing up stark naked in the middle of the room with various people walking in & out of the room bringing in supplies & such getting ready for the surgery. Can't be modest in situations like that. LOL! My OR nurse and I just chatted away and even giggled a bit and ignored everyone else (she was the one washing me down). After that, I layed down on the table, they strapped my arms in, got the electrodes hooked up to my forehead and chest, and that's all she wrote until I woke up in the recovery room.

Recovery wasn't so bad this time. I had dry heaves after my last 2 surgeries. I think it was because of the morphine. They didn't give me any morphine this time. They just had me take loritabs when I needed them. They wheeled me into the surgery room at 8:15 and they were wheeling me out of recovery around 12:30pm. Around 3pm I was ready to try getting up out of bed to go to the bathroom for the first time. Ummm... ouch! That was difficult. I had a male nurse that afternoon, but they sent in a female nurse when it was time to help me go to the bathroom. She started pulling me up out of bed and I called Bryan over to help her. I ended up telling her "your going to have to use more muscle than that... I cannot use my legs at all". Once I got up on my feet, it wasn't so bad. I could scoot across the floor fairly well. But, I couldn't lift my legs at all or bend them to get in & out of bed. Ever had your thigh muscles (quads, inner thighs, out thighs, and hamstrings) really sore after a vigorous workout that you had a hard time moving around? Picture that 20x and that's how bad my leg muscles hurt. LOL! AFter I was able to go to the bathroom, they were ready to send me home. We were in the car on our way home at 4:30pm.

I dozed on/off a good part of that evening & night in the livingroom recliner. Friday (yesterday) was about the same... a little less sleeping, but the pain was about the same. I only got up to go to the bathroom. Today the pain is better and I am getting up out of the recliner a little more and walking around the house. And, as soon as I log off here, I get to go take my first shower... WOO HOO! I had to wait 2 days before taking a shower. What I am NOT looking forward to is trying to get this compression garment back on over my swollen legs. UGH! Wish me luck on that one!

Bryan has been WONDERFUL. He has taken on alot this week to take up my slack from being so busy and then incompacitated and he doesn't complain (mostly :) ). I try to be as self-sufficient as possible to help him out. I need to get up to stretch out anyway so I might as well scoot myself into the kitchen to refill my own drink, etc. But, he is always willing to get me something if I ask. He finished off all of the laundry yesterday, and took the boys to Kaleb's soccer pizza party today. Tomorrow, he's going to the grocery store. He's a good man. I love him!

Well, that's all I have to say for today. I'll try to post again in a couple of days for an update on how I'm doing and by then I'll have some pictures ready to share on some other events (Halloween, maybe?).