Wordless Week: Tuesday: it exists!

it exists!

Wordless Week: Monday

a wordless weekend rewind

Fashion Friday: The Easter Dress

I'm not getting a new Easter dress this year.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I did.  Throughout college I wore the same outfit every Easter.  Bright pink BR skirt with a black BR camisol and cardigan.  Maybe next year I'll start the Easter dress tradition again.  But this year I'll just have to tell you the top three dresses I'd choose from if I was getting a new Easter dress.

Side note: While parusing the Target site for cute dresses I came across this navy, green and khaki outfit.  To die for...

And it appears that is the extent of cute stuff I'll find at Target.

Moving on...

If I could get any Easter dress, I'd first stop at Lilly Pulitzer.  While I'd take almost any dress from the (except this one), here's my fav.  I love the bright colors and flowers.  And how cute is the looping?  Perfect for celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. 

Suppose I couldn't afford this dress (which I can't). Then I'd have to settle for something a bit more economical.  I love bright colors for Easter. It's like ringing in spring full force.  Nordstrom  has a cute little ditty that can also be worn for work.  

There's one more dress that I've always thought I could use in my wardrobe.  It's not as dressy, but still cute and preppy (and also pricey).  While this is a Lacoste, I know I could find it cheaper elsewhere. 

I know what you're thinking now.  What would she wear on her feet?  I'd wear some simple little strapy gold gladiator sandals.  Last year I found a pair by Steve Madden that I absolutely adore.  I haven't checked on them yet for this year, but I have a feeling I wore them so much last year that I wore them into the ground. 

If none of those work, there's always Kohl's.  They usually have some cute, semi-cheap dresses.

All growed up

Look who’s all grown up. After hours (literally, my entire Tuesday night) I have managed to create my own background. While it looks all pretty on the outside, I don’t even want to think about the mess I may have turned the HTML code into. Oh, and getting the sizing of the background right so that it fills (or doesn’t overfill) the screen took me 10+ resizing attempts in Picasa and Photobucket. I’m sure it would have been much easier to create in the correct size in Photoshop, but let’s face it; I’d rather spend that money on groceries and toilet paper.

Thanks to my sudden burst of “creativity” Tuesday night I now have my custom made background and header. But because of said creativity we also do not have any clean washcloths.

Oh, I also created this little booger below.  Not sure how I feel about it yet.  This may be its first and only appearance.

wordless wednesday

i am a stone farmer

At least that's what the doctor said.  Apparently a lot of us are just stone farmers.  And there is nothing we can do about it.  Except maybe join our local farm bureau.  

In case the blogger world is wondering "Whatever happened to that stone?" I thought I'd provide a little update. A final, Lord willing, update.

I went to the urologist yesterday.  I would have gone sooner but it appears that it is just as hard to get an appointment with a urologist as it is the Pope.  With the baby boomers growing older I have a feeling getting a timely appointment is only going to get harder.  I felt a little out of my element as everyone else who was there for a appointment had their visit covered by Medicare and were collecting social security and I am not talking about the disability or supplemental income kind.  There was, however, an 11 year old coming in after me, so that made me feel a little bit better.  While I'm on the young end, there are stone farmers younger than me.

I was also given a prescription note with three things to help prevent stones:
1.  Increase my urine output to 2.5 liters a day (that is A L O T of urine).
2.  Decrease salt and red meat intake (that won't be hard for me, but Big Red* may have some problems with the first part if she ever becomes a stone farmer).
3. Combine 4 somethings (maybe tablespoons?) of lemon juice and 2 quarts of water and drink daily. This is "Good to Citrate". (Can sweeten with whatever I want if I don't like the taste of lemon.)

I am almost positive I will not be drinking 2 quarts of a lemon/water mixture every day for the rest of my life.  All because a grape-nut caused me the most intense pain I have ever felt in my entire life.

And that's really about it.  My stone has been sent off to the stone lab for analysis.  My urine was "crystal clear" (too much info?) and it appears there isn't anything else I can do to stop one from happening again (aside from drinking and peeing a lot).

*I'd link to Big Red's blog but she doesn't have one (even though she really really should).  Tisk. Tisk. Tisk.

weekend rewind

Hmmm... Where to begin.  Our weekend was pretty much consumed by basketball.  At least mine was.

Friday night C and I went for a nice walk in the very nice weather.  We returned home to watch March Madness and had some delicious Giordano's pizza we brought back from Chicago last month (don't worry, it was frozen).  We then watched the Buckeyes taken on and defeat the UNiversity of California, Santa Barbara Gauchos.  I couldn't help but think of the pants every time the Guachos were mentioned but apparently these Guachos were supposed to be resident's of South America.

These guys were supposed to be the person

Not the pants.

Saturday C and I went to Starbucks before he headed to work.  I think this little morning run is becoming a trend.  I then made spring/easter cupcakes for church and watched more basketball (it really consumed my weekend).  C returned from work and we went up to Easton because someone needed a steak.  I just needed to get out of the house.  McCormicks and Schmicks was great!  Then we ended up at the Cheesecake Factory so I could get a slice of Stephanie's Cheesecake/Red Velvet cake/cheesecake thing.  Then we high tailed it home to catch the rest of the Kentucky game.

Sunday our handbell chior played at church.  Afterwards we had a delicous cookout with my parents and sibs.  Can you guess what we did next?  We watched the Buckeyes.  We also were able to take a medium length walk before returning home to watch more basketball and finish off our pizza.

That about sums up our basketball filled weekend.  I apologize for the lack on content in this weekend rewind installment, but there really wasn't much content in our weekend. 

life

Happy Spring!

I'm ringing in the by shaving my legs, applying my Ocean Potion Magic Lotion, and wearing shorts.  Now I'm dressed to impress with no where to go.

Yet I refuse to stay inside all day.  And since we don't have a balcony that I can sit on a read all day I'll have to improvise by instead going to the grocery.  The walks to and from the car will have to count as my fresh air.  And maybe we'll picnic later.  I just don't know.

I've been putting off the rest of this post for over a week now.  But this morning as I thought about my "Welcome Spring!!" post I thought this was a perfect post to include the Life Documentary in.  With spring comes new Life (except the trees haven't picked that up yet - at least not here).  Maybe that's why the Discovery channel chose tomorrow as the series premier of its new documentary Life.

Since I loved Planet Earth (still not finished but only a few episodes left) I am sure I will love Life as well.

In case you don't get Discovery it appears that all Discovery affiliated networks will be airing the two episodes tomorrow night (TLC, Science Channel, and Animal Planet).

Check it out.  Seriously.






















(I apologize for this being larger than the blog area.  I don't know how to make it smaller so you'll just have to click on the video and view it in youtube.  Full screen will probably be the best view anyway. Enjoy.)

Fashion Friday: India Edition

Once upon a time I went to India.

While in India we purchased punjabis and saris.  Since everything is so inexpensive in India I spent roughly $7 (including custom tailoring) for my "high end" sari.  And since I had some extra change, I splurged for the $4 punjabi.

(that's my sari fabric)

In my blalking (blog/stalking) yesterday I came across punjammies.  They are super cool (and support a good cause.  I think one of these days I may have to order a pair.  They're like saris for your legs! So gorgeous.

These are such a great idea and very unique (I think).  I'm pretty sure I'd even wear them in public.

Now I want to go back to India and spend time with the people and take in the awe inspiring scenery.

(especially this guy)

But my stomach is not quite ready for the food.  Not sure it ever will be.

But India is beautiful.

And I didn't realize these punjammies would make me miss it so much.

i want a dog

If I've said it once I've sad it 10 trillion times.

I. Want. A. Dog.

Since we live in an apartment and Landlord doesn't want us to have a dog (and since I won't let a dog live on the 3rd floor of a yardless building - not fair to the dog) I'm left with Katie and Oreo.

and Izzy...

One of the 8 "screen cleaners" on my iPhone.

But for now I will take all three.  

Because I love them all. 

wordless wednesday

a monday evening post, posted on a tuesday

Incase you couldn't tell, this post was supposed to go up yesterday.  But that didn't happen because I didn't write it.  Well, I did have some stuff down. 15 words to be exact.  The original notes will be bold (that bold doesn't count as an original word) in this post just for kicks and giggles.  I also didn't do a weekend rewind because I felt two weekend rewinds in a row, both rehashing me staying on the couch the entire time, was a bit too boring, even for my blog.  Oh, and by the way, I have three other pending posts that are just half thoughts or post titles. I'll start working on those just as soon as I feel like blogging.



Lets get on with yesterday's post.



I am finally on the mend.  After being sick 8+ days I am finally feeling more like myself.  As soon as the kidney stone passed (literally, like 5 seconds later) I started coughing non-stop.  Turns out I got my brother's cold when I stayed with my parents last weekend.  I'm pretty sure the cold was intensified by my body already having been beaten down by a 2 millimeter stone.  That stone, by the way, cost (my insurance company) $2,324 to take a CT scan picture of.  That picture was over half of the bill.  Another thing I learned,  morphine is expensive.  Even if I had become addicted I would be unable to support that habit.  But I wasn't about to become addicted because I am not a fan of the side effects (read: nausea/vomiting).



On a final and yucky note my haven't thrown up in 3.5 years streak ended last weekend.  As of today (today, being Tuesday, not Monday) I have been throw up free for 10 days!



In other news, it's March Madness time!  I live for this (and some other stuff).  I may or may not do my bracket the old school way on paper and carry said bracket and a clean bracket around with me at all times during the tournament.  I also may or may not also carry a highlighter and pen to highlight those (non)educated guesses I got correct and write the winning teams on the blank bracket for my records. Sunday, when I started writing taking notes for this post, I stumbled across some tips for choosing which team will advance in the tourney. 



C and I are planning on having a wager.  Just as soon as he figures out what he wants if he wins.  But since he won't we should probably just go with want I want when I win.  Over confident? Yes (except not really confident at all).



I think that's about it for last night and tonight.  Hopefully I'll get the desire to blog back soon and finish the other posts.

Big Ten Champs

  
Congrats, boys! 

Way to bring home the trophy.

Now on to the Big Dance!!

friday fanfare

I've decided to forgo Fashion Friday this week for two reasons.  The first being that I don't want to start an every single week trend that has my readers (ha - "my readers" always makes me chuckle because I really don't have any) expecting a post every Friday.  The second being that I haven't really been in a fashionable mood this week.  Unless you count color coordinating my entire outfit (down to the socks and sports bra) for my 3:30 a.m. trip to the ER last Saturday.  Did I mention the power was out too?  Despite the feeling that I could die at any second, I was not about to walk into FMC all mis-matchy.  Impressive, I know.

It has been super warm here lately.  And by super warm I mean in the mid 50's.  I started yesterday morning with a sweetened passion tea lemonade, which only means one thing, spring is here (or at the very least is on I-70 in Illinois and will be here by next weekend).  I've wanted to take a walk in the evenings but things kept getting in the way from me having a kidney stone, to C having to work late, to Lenten services, and most recently rain. 

We have a very exciting weekend planned at the Elsea household.  I'm not sure what it entirely involves yet.  But I'm sure there will be some cleaning and movie watching and walking.  The landlord is coming to check the water temps on Tuesday so he'll be in and out of our bathroom.  I should probably at the very least pick up the ruler, coffee filters, and other pee strainers I had been using and put those away (Landlord was supposed to come yesterday, which didn't happen, therefore my cleaning didn't happen either).  Or maybe I'll just keep them out for the next stone in 5-10-15 years.  Oh, and I'm thinking about actually cooking for us tonight.  It's been roughly 2 weeks since I've made a meal for us.  I bet C will be very surprised.

One more thing that's happening this weekend.  One of my boy groups, The Ohio State Men's Basketball team, will be playing in the Big Ten tournament.  Here's to hoping they make it past the first game at noon today.  Then next week, the beginning of March Madness!!

Update: I'm still sick and thus not thinking about cooking for us tonight.  Add another tick to the tally.  Maybe tomorrow.

Snickerdoodles

I've gone a while without posting a recipe.  And for that I apologize.  I've had a lot on my plate lately.  Here's a classic.  Betty Crocker's Snickerdoodles.  I apologize for the poor quality photos.  I was too lazy to get the actual camera and went with the iPhone camera.

Fortune Cookies Snickerdoodles*

Here's what you need
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarin, softened
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
2 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a mixer combine 1 1/2 c. sugar, butter, shortening, and eggs.  Once combined add in flour, cream of tartar, baking powder and salt.

Mix 1/4 c. sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls (I used this sucker) and roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture (I used this sucker as well - you know, the small cute ones).

Place on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

*That's what you get for writing a blog post while under the influence of pain killers.

wordless wednesday

kidney stones and grape-nuts

Dear Left Kidney,

Now that this latest incident seems to be behind us I wanted to take a moment to let you know if you ever, ever, ever do that again to me, I will give you away.  In case you haven't heard, humans really only need one kidney to sustain life.

So, Left Kidney, I strongly urge you to do your job (and I will do mine) to ensure this does not happen again (but odds are looking like it will).

Sincerely,
Your Owner

P.S. If you could please pass the message to Right Kidney I'd greatly appreciate it.  RK and I are currently on good terms but I'd like this to serve as her warning as well.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to spare my readers from showing a picture of the stone itself and instead show you an image it resembled.

A weekend I'd rather not rewind

Disclaimer: I'm writing this post while under the influence of Rush Limbaugh's drug of choice.  So if this post makes even less sense than usual, I'm blaming it on the drugs.  If the blog actually makes more sense, then maybe I should make it a habit of writing while medicated.

This past weekend was a weekend I'd rather not rewind, but I figured for the sake of this blog sort of acting as my journal, and for the sake of my 2 followers who I am not related to, I would. 

Friday morning I took C to the airport so he could go visit his grandparents in Missouri.  Originally I couldn't go due to a work commitment but then that was canceled so I looked into flights to join them Friday night.  Those were muy, muy pricey and I just didn't feel like I should go (which sounds bad, but now makes sense).  Friday evening was typical.  I made a trip to the Y (5 days in a row! a streak which has now ended), stopped at Wal-Mart for some soup supplies for Wednesday's Lenten Supper, then picked up some Chinese.  I then proceeded to enjoy the Chinese while watching 16 and Pregnant.  Then I retired to bed around 11:30.

Now to the not so fun part of the weekend.  Early, like 2:55 am early, Saturday morning I woke up with a very sharp pain in my left lower back.  Seriously, the worst pain I had ever felt before.  I tried to walk it off, spent time curled up in the fetal position on the bathroom floor, and also tried some ibuprofen. I should also mention that our power was out (something that never happens).  I finally called C around 3:20, not sure what I thought he could do from Missouri, but being my husband I thought he should be my first call.  Then I called my mom who decided I should go to the ER.  

My dad came to pick me up while my mom got dressed and met us there.  I then spent the next few hours in FMC's exam room 14.  Once I had some morphine in my system I was feeling much better.  They drew blood and sent me to have a CAT scan (something I am sure was very expensive - wish I had invited that machine).  Since I was almost pain free, I made friends with the nurses and doctor (still a little upset one of them took my ice chips away).  Mr. Doctor said that some women who have had babies say that the kidney stone pain is worse than labor.  (Probably because you don't get a baby out of the deal).  It was at this point that I wished I was also pregnant and in labor so I could kill two birds with one stone (pun intended).  Around 6:30 (I think) my newly found kidney stone and I were discharged (along with a few pee strainers).  

(goodbye, exam room 14)

Since C was out of town I went to my parents house where they took great care of me.  I think 5 grocery store runs were made by the end of the day to make sure I had my meds, popsicles, cranberry juice, and gum (I realize that's only 4 things but I know there were a few more).  The rest of the day was the longest day ever as well as a blur.  I managed to break my throw up streak of 3.5 years (new streak - 2 days and counting) which then made me very hesitant to take any more of Rush's drug.  Seriously, after spending the morning curled in a ball in the bathroom, I do not understand why people drink (in excess) or do drugs.  Once I had some anti-nausea meds in my system I was able to take the pain meds (my new best friends) and sleep the afternoon away.  Since I have no shame, I am going to show you a pic of me once I got my system to finally accept the percocet...

(complete with Easter bunny chaser)

Sunday was a lot like Saturday only with a little less pain (again, love the meds). I managed to take a shower (I'm not holding any details back) and even "help" make lunch.  That "helping" wore me out and I was pretty much useless the rest of the day.  Once I was up from my 58th nap of the day I tried to walk out the nasty stone on the treadmill.  This didn't help, but did give me a whopping headache and again, wore me out.  My brothers picked up C from the airport for me and returned home shortly after 11 pm.  C helped me pack up my stuff and I was then discharged from the Davidson's Assisted Living Facility. 

And now we are to Monday.  I am not yet stone-less and am waiting to hear from a new doctor on whether or not I need to go see him before the stone passes.  Until then I am drinking lots and lots and lots of fluids and hopefully taking some walks later.  I've tried to think of a good name for said stone, but can't come up with anything.  I am open to suggestions.

Fashion Friday: Suits Edition

I figured the most appropriate item that the first Fashion Friday post focused on should be something that I actually need.  After today, I'm pretty sure the posts will center around general likes/wants/already haves.

I should preface this post by letting you know that I do have a pant suit. And a few skirt suits (if that the actual term?).  Another thing I should bring to light is that my legs are not the average length for gals my height.  I have the torso length of a 5 year old (I am not exaggerating) and the leg length of many guys who are taller than me.  While C is definitely taller than me, our hips definitely hit at the same height.

I've always had problems finding pants that are long enough.  For a while, in my teenage boy years, I was able to just buy Old Navy's boy pants.  But then I grew my hair out and decided I should start dressing like a girl (even though I would rather watch a basketball game instead of going shopping - which is still the case today). 

Fortunately, I have found that Gap's Tall, Extra-Long inseam is just my size.  Unfortunately for me, Gap does not make suits.  So while shopping for pants has become less painful (unless there isn't a Gap around), I don't even like thinking about shopping for suits.  Not even wanting to think about it has deterred me from even looking.  And quite frankly, I don't even know where to start. (Except maybe I do. Maybe BR. Except I like to try on pants before I buy them and I've never seen their Tall/Long inseam in the stores.)

Let's just get started.

The Tan Suit
I am a huge fan on the tan summer suit.  I also love men in khakis and a blue blazer (I think it's the prep in me). Banana Republic (also know as BR and Banana for future reference) has a super cute tan suit that may allow my fear of suit shopping to subside.  Another fav is j.crew but this style is a bit more old school.

The Black Suit
Black suits are always a must have and the one suit I do have (even if the pants are too short) is a black suit.  They are slimming, sleek, and all seasonal.  You can even make them into an adorable three piece.

The Blue Suit
I'm not a fan of these.  Or any other color of the rainbow.  Moving on.

The Pinstripe Suit
I think I should amend "The Blue Suit" statement.  I am a fan of the blue pinstripe.  When it's done correctly.  When it looks like you rolled around on a freshly painted park bench, then you have a problem. I do have a pinstripe suit skirt.  I'm a firm believer in the itsy-bitsy pinstripes.

The Grey Suit
I'm not completely sold on the grey suits.  One moment I'm loving them, the next not-so-much.  I think I'll eventually come around. Then again, maybe not.

The Dress Suit
While not entirely a suit.  Dress suits are sold in the suit sections (at least online).  I also like them because I don't have to worry (as much) about how long they are.  I'm a fan of jus about any dress suit (but only own one).  They even come in khaki!

So there, in a nut shell, are my feelings about suits.  Let's recap: Yes to khaki, black, and dress suits.  Maybe to pin stripes and grey suits.  No to blue suits.

And with that I send you off to start the weekend!

This Tomorrow is the day that the Lord has made

What a glorious sight...

I thought about preempting the second edition of Fashion Friday.  There's only one thing that trumps my love for fashion and that is my love for sports.  Especially baseball.  But then I decided by posting this a day early, it would alert everyone as to how important tomorrow is.  And then my "followers" could soak up the entire day, not just part of it.

Tomorrow is the first Indians Spring Training game.  They will be taking on the Cincinnati Reds (yuck) at Goodyear Park.  Goodyear happens to house both of the teams' spring training camps.  I wonder how they decide who will get to be the home team? I'm thinking it's the team that has used the facility the longest.

There are few thing (many even only one) that C cannot give me a hard time about.  We have actually discussed this.  The most important being the Tribe.  He isn't allowed to tell me how horrible they are (unless I first say so) or crack jokes at their expense.  I take my boys very seriously.

With that being sad, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and every day after than through October (I'm not banking on my boys making it to the playoffs, they probably won't even be able to get tickets).

Welcome back boys.  You were terribly, terribly missed. 

wordless wednesday

blogging while "biking"

I had fettuccine alfrado for dinner and less than twenty minutes later I am at the Y biking. (I hope this doesn't turn into a Michael Scott incident.) I'm biking as hard as anyone who is posting to their blog at the same time could be. If been putting off picking up my book because last time I was here I laughed so hard I had to cover my giggles with the book. In case you couldn't tell I'm not a serious workout freak. But I am a serious blogger. Who else would update their audience while doing this...