By Kat on 1/29/2008 7:28 PM

This story among others is much delayed because of the craziness that the website brought me at Christmas.

I was working late at the retail store, it was busy and there was much to be done since Christmas was a week away. As I was returning the sports apparel to the sports department, I took a little detour into the men's underwear department to check out the ripped abs on the front of the packaging. All of a sudden I felt a terrible stabbing/throbbing/punching/biting/butt kicking pain on the right side of my body below my ribs but above my hip bone. I keeled over for a second, trying to act totally normal, my eyes were level with the belly button of a tan man on the front of the Jockey underwear packaging. I said a little prayer and stood up.

As I continued my journey I felt the jabbing pain every time I walked. Luck for me it dissipated about 3 minutes later. For the next hour and a half the pain returned in a muted fashion but it wasn't unbearable until a few minutes before my scheduled break time. I headed to the break room for some help. Someone went to get help but none came so I walked or staggered to my car and returned a call to my mother in law. Meanwhile, the pain wavered in and out, causing terrible pain every few minutes. My in-laws and I decided that it might be my appendix so I started driving to the hospital, they started heading towards the hospital, KC started heading towards the hospital and Jay started heading towards the hospital. 

When I arrived at the ER, I was in tears but not out of pain, just out of fear. My license was in my work locker and my insurance cards were at home. Despite all of this, they helped me. So began my long wait in the ER. Soon my supporters arrived one at a time (or two at a time in the case of my in-laws). We all waited together until I was finally seen. I had an IV put into my arm and blood drawn. The results came back fine so they decided to do an MRI. With the MRI came about half a gallon of nasty crystal light tasting lemonade. I think the "lemonade" was more painful than anything.

Five or so hours after I entered the ER, I went home with a prescription for pain killers, exhaustion and the news that I had cysts on my ovaries and one had burst (hence the pain). Yay! Lucky me! 

By Kat on 1/29/2008 3:18 PM

 Now that I'm older, my hair is not growing as fast as it used to. This being said, last night I took some inches off of my hair. It may not look like much to you but knowing how long it took me to get there makes it seem like a lot to me.

If so many people tell you that your hair looks soooo much better or something to that effect, what does that mean for how it looked before? Did it really look terrible? I do feel lighter, younger, etc. Overall, I'm just hoping that it takes some serious time off of my primping in the the morning.

By Kat on 1/28/2008 3:31 PM

 Jay and I had an amazing weekend with some of our friends from church and the youth group! We left Friday (we got a two hour late start)  and met up with the church bus and about 9 or 10 others from the youth group for dinner. After a slow go through the snow (nice rhyme) and the purchase of a $40 bathing suit, we arrived at the lodge at the state park. I headed straight to bed and Jay went out and played with the kids.

Saturday morning Jay went to play again and I slept in until 9am. It wasn't a very restful night of sleep due to thin walls and the fact that the pipes from every toilet/bath/sink/shower from every room must connect to our bathtub. All night I heard rushing water and people in the hallways. When Jay and the kids were done tobogganing, I dragged him down to the lake. I've already begun my next 101 things list as I am working on the current one. On my list for next time I have written: stand on a frozen lake. Not being from the cold weather, I've never had this opportunity until NOW!

After lunch, the kids all wanted to swim in the pool. I suggested that  we were in our suits, we all run down to the lake, stand on it and take a photo in our bathing suits. It was sooooo much fun! The pictures are so cute! Swimming inside was much warmer. Later, I rode the toboggan with Jay and two of the parents. The evening concluded with some socializing with the adults and a bottle of cherry wine.

On Sunday morning we packed up, ate a delicious brunch and said good-bye to the 70+ people in the group and went home. The church has this trip every two years and I cannot WAIT until next time!

By Kat on 1/25/2008 7:02 PM

Some friends of mine put tile in their kitchen last year and it looks beautiful. Jay and I decided on tile for the master bath and it also looks beautiful. While Jay finished the tile rather quickly and we had use of our bathroom after a week, I won't tell you how long we went without a toilet. Our friends had their meals in restaurants for almost two months! The purpose of doing home improvement projects yourself is to SAVE money! This is why I have decided that IF we decide to redo the kitchen floor (from the flood in July—story to follow in a few days), then I want to have someone come and do it for us.

This flooring is much needed and I really hope that it all works out financially. IF it does work out financially, this is what I want:

 AND IF it does work out financially, this is probably what I will get! I'll tell you all some more later! DD Momma and I are gearing up for the home show! We're attending next week and VERY excited. We always get some crazy ideas when this time of year comes around!