Calgon Take Me Away

Why am I such a stress case? I'm acting like I've never gone on a 2 week trip before. I actually blame the fact that I have too much time on my hands. You know how when you don't have a lot of time you work quickly to get everything done? Well I think when you have too much time you work slower and your 'to do' list continues to grow. At least that is how it is for me.

I've been stressing out so bad this week that I've been sleeping bad every night AND waking up with headaches. However today I was able to get a much needed massage thanks to my friend Stephanie who gave me a gift certificate. The masseuse is a friend of hers and let me say that she was AWESOME! I couldn't believe all of the small hidden knots that she found. I was really amazed. She even massaged the front side of my neck, which was really sore. She said that people who are on the computer a lot are often really sore there. Big surprise. However now my back is starting to stiffen up again! I was just hoping that the looseness could last until Thursday. Oh well.

You would not believe the stuff I'm stressing about...just over what to pack! I'm trying to pack so light, which is so hard for me. I can't help it if I want to look cute. Why can't I bring three pairs of capris'? One casual, one jean and one dressy? Yeah not going to happen. It's also not just my pants. It's also my shoes and coats. Why can't I coordinate?

In case you are wondering what cities we will be visiting I created the graphic below: (click on it to enlarge if need be)

Two years ago when John and took our first trip to Europe I create the graphic below:
Obviously this graphic inspired the Italy one. Unfortunately I did not put what the 'trifecta' consisted of...it was beer, cheese and chocolate. I forgot how silly this graphic was and when I opened it I just about busted a gut from laughing so hard. I really should have made one of our trip to Belize/Guatemala last year, but I spaced it.

We leave Thursday afternoon and I will try to blog while we are in Italy. Considering I'm addicted to the computer I don't think I'll be able to stay away too long. Unless I'm in such a complete gelato haze and can't type. I think that is the only thing that will keep me away.

Test Update

This past week I had a bunch of doctor's appointments which ended with a body scan. I had to get my thyroid hormone shots on Monday and Tuesday...then take a small (5 milicuries) radiation pill on Wednesday and then get the body scan on Friday. The test was harmless and easy. This hugest machine took a full length photo of the top part of my body and the bottom. Below is the result:

Does that sum things up for you? Yeah, I bet.
Imagine me laying on the bed like so:

The technician said he didn't see anything unusual, which was good news. However I didn't think he would find anything.

I also got more blood work done on Friday and should find out the results next week. I got the same tests done as I did a few months ago when my test came back positive for thyroid tissue. (Just in case there was some hiccup when I got my first tests.) If the test comes back positive again I will get a PET scan after we get back from our trip. If they find the location of the tissue with the scan then I will probably have another dosage of radiation. However, even if they don't find the tissue from the scan I think I will still have the radiation. (Better be safe than sorry, right?) So the way I'm looking at it is if my blood test comes back positive I will most likely have more radiation.

Even though I haven't been worried throughout this whole thing I was still in a funk on Friday from the scan. I was frustrated that I knew they weren't going to find anything and I felt like it was a waste of time. Test after test and still no answer. I can't wait to find out the labs next week.

Also one of John's childhood friend's dad is dying of colon cancer, who is also one of my dad's good friends. It's so sad to think of what his family and friends are going through.

In lighter news we leave for Italy on Thursday and I can't believe it's already here. So much to get ready for in so little time!

A 5 Year What?

Over the last few years I've become extremely jealous of the advancements in engagement/wedding photography. I can't believe how much is has changed for the BETTER over the last 5 years...and I'm so disappointed that my photos are now totally old school. John and I didn't even get an engagement session with our photographer. (GASP!) We had to settle for Sears. (Don't get me wrong, they turned out as best they could, but I still feel gypped).

One day while I was looking on my Google Reader for more blogs to subscribe to, it suggested a blog from a local photographer. After I read it for a few months, I blogged about it thinking that some of you would enjoy it as much as I did. Well once I did that my cover was blown, and Ken, (the photog), found out that I was in full stalker mode.

Over the next few months I realized that there was NO WAY I should go through life being disappointed that I never got to have the creative fun photo shoot and that I had to do something about it! So, lil' 'ole crafty me decided that John and I needed a 5 year anniversary photo shoot! How brilliant is that? I mean it all makes perfect sense, right? Let me put it to you this way...if we had a kid by now, you know we would have wanted some family portraits taken. Why should I deny myself something I want just because I haven't gone through the hells of childbirth?

John, being the good husband that he is, agreed to have the shoot although he had never heard of a 5 year photo shoot. However he knows me well enough to know how much I love photos...and to do what he is told.

So the date was set a week before our anniversary for the shoot, and let me tell you it was SO MUCH FUN and so much better then I ever expected. I guess I should have been a model? Well I don't like getting my photo taken that much...I just like the end result.

We decided that the location should be downtown SLO since that is a huge part of why we love living here. Ken was game in meeting us super early while the streets were pretty empty. We spent about 2 hours shooting all over. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to restrain myself from asking to see the photos in the camera view finder.

Once Ken started taking photos I could just tell he loved it and was such a pro. You can't ask for a better photographer then that! If you are like me then that is the type of person I like to hire. He was so easy going and even made John feel comfortable, which isn't the easiest task.

Ever since the photo shoot I have been doing my best in not trying to bug Ken about the photos. However I couldn't help myself! I was totally DYING to find out how they turned out...and then this morning he sent me an email titled 'THE HARASSMENT MUST STOP!' Just kidding...but he did tell me that the photos were up on his blog! I cannot tell you how much I love them. I think I've gone back to look at them like 15 times today. They bring a smile to my face every time I look at them.

I really love them all, but I think these might be two of my faves below. I don't know how I'm going to decide which ones to print. I may just have to print them all, and frame them all...all on the same wall. A shrine to ourselves. That is classy isn't it?



Now go over to his blog and check out the rest of the shots here! NOW!

Victory

Last night when John and I got back from our walk we checked out the trap in the car, (the one behind the passengers seat). It still had peanut butter, but it was empty. DANG! Then John shined the flashlight on the back seat and saw the squatter!! John opened up the driver's side door and the little bugger ran across the drivers seat and up under the dash by the pedals!

I was pretty upset that we weren't able to take care of him, but John was more positive saying that at least we had evidence that he was still enjoying his holiday in La Maxima.

Last night I even had a dream that we caught him. I can't remember who it was but I was telling someone how we were trying to catch a mouse in my car and then the person held up a trap with the mouse and said 'oh do you mean this guy?' I know really weird...but even after that positive dream I still feel like we weren't going to catch him and that he was going to out smart us again.

Right when I woke up I went out side to check the scene. I slowly peered into the window to see the trap fully in tack with the peanut butter. I was SO disappointed. At least if the peanut butter had been gone I would have known that he was out patrolling the area during the night. I almost wasn't going to check the trap in the trunk but decided to anyway. I slowly peered into it and saw a big brown body on the trap! I immediately closed the trunk. Even though I was happy we killed the sucker it totally shook me up. I think because I really wasn't expecting to see a little body in there.

I told John and he asked if he was moving, and I told him I didn't know! I barely glanced at him before I shut the trunk. Then I tripped on the fan cord and almost biffed it, which made me realize that I needed to take a few minutes to deal with the shock.

An Unexpected Co-pilot

This past Sunday morning I went out to my car to get something out of the back seat. I noticed on the floor of the passenger there were a bunch of small pieces of Kleenex. They looked like they were spilled out of something. I asked John if he had been in my car and if he had made the mess. He said no, so I was like 'whatever.' MISTAKE NUMBER ONE. Now don't you think I should have been a little bit more curious how a bunch of shredded Kleenex wound up in my car? I wasn't. I just ignored it. I seriously can't believe myself sometimes.

Later on in the afternoon after John and I cleaned out the garage I went to my trunk to put some stuff in it for Goodwill. I remember I still had a few items left in it from my trip that I needed to clean out. I first saw some brown fuzzy fabric intertwined in my jumper cables. That is weird, I thought since I didn't remember seeing that before.

Then I lean over to take out a Ziploc plastic bag that contained some uncooked dough. (I was given some 'friendship' bread on my trip. You make the bread after 21 days and then make new bags of dough to your friends...or something like that). As I pick up the bag I noticed it had leaked in my trunk. Dang it! I purposely used two zip lock bags to avoid it leaking. That worked real great. Then I notice that there was a hole in the bags like something had CHEWED through them!

John comes by asses the scene and announces that it looks like I've got a mouse in my car. SAY WHAT? I instantly opened all the doors and started searching for the little sucker. I made John look under my seats as I did not want to see the guy eye to eye and of course we didn't have any luck finding him.

The next morning I had John go check my car to see if he saw any new developments. I waited in the house as I still in my towel after showering, (standing discreetly by the window so the neighbors couldn't get a peep show).

John noticed a bit more stuffing under the passenger seat and the noticed that the floor mat underneath it had a big curved in it and was not laying flat. He moved the mat, saw more stuffing and even the little dude's butt and tail! After I heard he was still alive, I ran into my room and got dressed as fast as I could.

Once I got out to the crime scene I moved the passengers side seat forward and it uncovered a HUGE nest made out of some sort of stuffing, (I'm assuming from my car seat), and a ton of Kleenex. It was about a foot long, which fit perfectly under the curved floor mat. I couldn't not believe it! I was so mortified!! So mortified in fact that I didn't even run and get my camera.

I left all of my car doors open in hoping that the little guy wanted to go home to nature. However I had to leave in a half hour, and I did NOT want to drive my car! I was so worried that the little guy might decided to crawl over my foot or up my leg while I was driving. Or I'd look over to my right and see the little fella sitting in my purse just enjoying the ride. Fortunately neither happened.

I picked up two different kinds of traps and that night. The first kind we used had these little black plastic covers that would somewhat cover up the carnage. We place a nice helping of peanut butter on them and placed one near the passenger seat and one in the trunk.

I awoke this morning like a kid on Christmas! I could not wait to see if we caught that little bugger. I tip toed over to the car and slowly looked into the window afraid to see some gore, and I saw NOTHING! In fact I saw TWO CLEAN traps with NO peanut butter! I could not believe it! I was so mad! The rodent totally out smarted us. He probably couldn't believe that someone was nice enought to set out a peanut butter buffet for his enjoyment.

Before John went to work I had him set the old fashioned traps, (which were the other kind we bought.) I was out in the field all day with John today checking out houses and when we came back the traps were still in place...BUT the peanut butter was still there. I'm really hoping the trespasser is nocturnal and hopefully he will get his tonight. Granted I would love it if he would just escape and run free...away from our house that is.

So where did this guy come from you ask? Well I think he must have hitched a ride when I was at Rebekkah's in Ukiah. She lives around a lot of foliage and she even told me that she often finds dead mice in her dog's water bowl. What kills me is that he has been living in my car at least since LAST Thursday! We are going on 6 days and it could even be longer! Did he enjoy traveling with me for 7+ hours? Did he think he was Ralph S. Mouse on the adventure of a lifetime?
I will definitely keep you posted, but let me tell you that there better be a death in my car tomorrow morning! I'm tired of being stranded in my own home!

I HATE YOU READER!

Why is the Google Reader 'Mark all Read' button RIGHT NEXT TO the 'Refresh' button? All I know is that Google needs to MOVE IT! I just hit the mark all read button and I had about 100 entries saved as 'not read' to read for later. I AM SO MAD! What is worse is that I couldn't undo the action OR go to those specific entries and mark them as not read.

Crap nuts.

Nanny on Duty

This past week I headed up north to visit Rebekkah and her family. Even though I've been so busy, with God knows what, I knew I had to take the trip while I had the time. Had I waited I could just see me not being able to go and visit if I got a job or something.

It was a pretty mellow three days in Ukiah. I tried to help out Rebekkah as much as I could as she really has her hands full with two little ones. She still seemed pretty exhausted so I'm not sure how much I helped out.

I did get to play a lot with Sydney. She is almost 3.5 years old and it's such a cute age! I can totally carry on complete conversations with her, which I don't think I was able to during our last visit. We had lots of fun together.

Also one morning while Sydney was at preschool I got to spend some quality time with Addison. She is getting cuter and cuter, and I got to see more of her personality. She is such a happy and EASY baby! Granted I did not change any diapers, but even with that she is still easy!

Having a camp out in the Barbie tent.

Having a picnic...the first one of two.

Timer photos!!

Rebekkah and Addison hanging out in at the lake while Sydney fed the ducks.

Addison is such a good sport!

Bath Time!

Hola Padre!

We had so much fun in San Diego this weekend! What a great city. To top it off, we had great seats at the Padre game, they won, and we were paid a visit by the Padre himself!

I would blog more but I'm pretty bummed out that I'm not going to work tomorrow...and no...I haven't been smoking crack. I really can't believe I'm sad to not have a job. That sounds so crazy to me. I think it's just the fact that it's not my decision to not work. I even just got a new offer for another freelance job and I don't want it. Does that make sense? I realized that I am still normal in that I don't want to work...but that I only want my old job. Ahhhh the life of a crazy person.