Making a List...

Ugh! Why do gifts have to be so complicated? I feel so bad for hubz because he doesn't want me to give him a list (and truly I'd have no idea what to put on it), but he thinks I'm really hard to shop for. This is not the first time I've heard this. I don't know where this came from - I know I have high standards and like what I like, but people, come on. You know me better than that - I think I've exchanged two gifts total in my entire life. I'm so appreciative of anything I receive.

So what to do? Anyone want to dream up some great gift ideas for me and send them to hubz?

And then there were nine...

So this year alone I have been to see 11 doctors (ELEVEN!):

Primary Care Physician

Rheumatlogist

Pulmonologist

Gastrointerologist

Optometrist

Dentist

Podiatrist

Psychiatrist

Therapist

Dermatologist

Gynecologist

Now, I know I'm not the healthiest of people, but that is just ridiculous. And, it's not like I went for just one visit each. Nope, I have see these doctors for a total of 38 office visits this year. WHOA!

Well, I'm happy to say that with my recent "graduation" from therapy and now a good report from the pulmonologist today I can reduce my number of doctors to nine. Whoo Hooo!!

I'm fairly certain I'll be adding some more doctors soon (more on that later), but if you don't mind, I'll just relish in the reduced numbers for right now.

Happy Weekend ya'll!

Graduation Day!

I may be done with official diplomas, but today I was able to add a new milestone to my personal education. I've officially graduated from therapy. I've been minimizing my sessions over the past sixth months and today was the first session since September. Both me and my therapist agree that I'm in a pretty good place right now. So I'm discontinuing therapy for the time being. I, of course, reserve the right to check in every now and then or go back fully if things get tough. But just last night, hubz and I were commenting on how improved things have been. So yay for me on growing up, and making progress in my life. I'll take that over a walk across a stage and a piece of paper any day.

RE: The Babies are Here!

Babies R Us owes me big time. I cannot tell you how much I despise that store. With all the babies listed in the aforementioned post, you would think shopping for a gift there would get easier. But, alas, no. I truly think their strategy is to keep you in the store for as long as possible, and to ensure there are lots of little items grouped together that automatically add up to exactly double what you were planning to spend. So frustrating!

The babies are here!

If you previously read my blog, you would know I've had a banner year of friends' pregnancies** to celebrate (and be jealous of). Here's a recap beginning November 2008 through October 2009:

New Bundles of Joy:
Tori - Priya Valentina born November 7, 2008
Amy - Maevy McGuinness born March 4
Alisha - Matthew Dale born April 2009
Carrie - Declan William born April 3
Audra - Celia born April 15
Traci - Sam born May 20
Danielle B - Reagan Rose born May 27
Sarah B.- Carter born May 27
Shannon A - Delainey born June 2009
Sarah S. - Dylan Ajay born June 13
Kerry -Patrick Steven born June 26 
Rachel - Sam born July 11
Danielle J - Charles Davis born August 19
Jennifer- Zoe Luna born August 17
Diana - Hunter James born August 21
Megan - Matthew born August 22
Gina - Gianna Dorothy born September 9
Amanda - Claira Rose born September 14
Alyssa - Sean Andrew born September 15
Marlar - Evelyn Avery born September 29
Lisa T - Lydia born October 16

Expecting:
Aimee - due January
Gena - due December
Becky - due January
Sally - due ?
Nicole - due ?

CONGRATS TO ALL!!!!

**26 total not including random facebook friends - crazy!

What to write?

So, I've re-committed to my blog - at least mentally. But now that I'm here, I have NO idea what to write about, which is super frustrating. I'll have to start making notes about blog topics or I'll put you all to sleep.

While I'm figuring things out - here's a change. I'm no longer drinking chai la las - I know, HUGE SHOCK! With all my health issues this year, I've switched over to green tea lattes. So, does that warrant a blog name change? I don't know, you tell me...

But, fear not, I have stayed true to character when it comes to my confusing order. I'm sure I solicit plenty of stares and huhs?!?? when I order a "grande, soy, no foam, no classic, two sweet n low, green tea latte." But seriously - if I'm going to pay four+ bucks for a drink, I'll choose to embrace the embarrassment.

Oh and for any of you soy drinkers out there - get a Starbucks card and register it online. You get free soy!!! ($0.40/day can really add up)

A long awaited return

I'm back...I think. That's it for now!

Life as I Now Know It....

I had intended to post this two days ago when it would be exactly two months since my last post, but like the title of this post - LIFE HAS CHANGED and things no longer operate for me on my normal to do list or plan.

My dear, sweet, wonderful Dad is gone. The tears are flowing again just writing those words. Everyday is SO HARD. To all my friends, I cannot tell you enough how much you mean to me. I continue to be overwhelmed by all of your love, thoughts, prayers. I only hope I can be as good a friend to all of you not just in your times of need, but always.

I'm hoping to get back into the swing of life, different as it may be, and that includes giving some attention back to my blog. Please be patient with me - someday I know the laughs will be back.

Oy!

It's been a tough week, y'all. I'm not really going to go into details, but craptastic would be the best way to describe it. Besides one seriously mortifying incident (don't ask!), there's nothing that I can really pinpoint as being horrific or unbearable, but let me tell you I am feeling low. Or as Hubz would say - feeling "swing low." I just can't shake this funk (not the caffeinated kind - that Funk I lurve truly). Hopefully this will pass and I'll be back on the up and up (or uppers) by the weekend. In the meantime, I'm going to wallow - don't try to talk me out of it.

Favorite Things Friday: Red Stamp's Computer Desktop Calendar

Since this is my second Favorite Things Friday post in a row with calendar in the title, you might be picking up on the fact that I'm slightly obsessed with calendars, planners, organizers, etc. I'm already on my third planner this year - I seem to find something wrong with all of them, but so far my newest one seems to be working well.

Anyhoo, back to my new Favorite Thing...I'm a huge fan of redstamp.com they have great stationery and desk items. I also use them to create special save the date emails, but I won't divulge all of that information in this post. I recently stumbled upon their blog and discovered every month they post a free link to a cool and creative calendar image you can use on your computer desktop. They even have different resolutions available so it works with different monitor sizes. Just follow the simple instructions and voila, you have a very stylish computer desktop.

I can't wait to see what April's design looks like. Enjoy!

Silence Really is Golden

So today I got to conduct one of my infamously long and boring training sessions and I basically talked from 10:30 am until 4:30 pm today. Now, talking this much may not bother some (like hubz who can TALK), but for me...my head hurts, my ears are ringing, my throat is sore and I've gotten no other work done today. I knew I was going to be doing this and it's probably the 20th time I have with this job, but no matter how much I prepare, all that incessant noise spewing from my lips really sickens me...mentally and physically.

There is one upside to today's rant...since I am not yet talented enough to yak and sip my chai at the same time, I ended the training session with almost a quarter of this morning's chailala left (and yes it tastes just as good cold). Sweet!

So, please let me enjoy the rest of my chai and consider me on the DO NOT CALL list...at least for tonight.

Favorite Things THIS Friday: Mibo Studio Calendar

Today's Favorite Things Friday is inspired by my lack of desire to be in the office today - the only thing keeping me sane right now is my insanely adorable FREE(!) calendar I received from Mibostudio.co.uk (a really cute UK site) just for signing up for their newsletter. I was first turned on to the free 2009 calendar by one of my all-time favorite blogs: Fifi Lapin...the World's Most Stylish Bunny.

I had the best intentions of sharing this favorite with my nearest and dearest in a New Year's e-card, but somehow I never sent it and before I knew it was way too late to celebrate New Year's. So now all my nearest, dearest, and dear readers can have this fun and stylish calendar hanging on their walls too.

To receive the pdf calendar, just go to this site: http://mibostudio.co.uk/# and click on Free 2009 Calendar, then select the Sign up Here* link. The geniuses behind this adorableness will email you to confirm and then send you the pdf. I printed mine on regular letter-size paper and tacked the first six months to my cubicle wall. The designs are gorgeous and I can even imagine lopping off the calendar portion and framing or matting the designs when the year is over.

Enjoy! Oh and, Happy New Year, y'all.

* I don't normally like to sign up for too many sites, but I promise Mibo rarely emails, so it's really not a major hassle for your inbox.

Favorite Things LAST Friday

So obviously my life is boring and my blog is uninspired of late, but I promise I am working on posts. They just don't actually make it to the blog. But last week, I did experience on of my most favorite things and it happened to be a Friday too.

Since most of my few readers know about my chronic illnesses, I'm not afraid to post about my regular colonoscopies. I had my 9th, yes 9th, one last Friday. And I realized one of the things that truly makes me happy is Propofol. For those of you who don't know (or are too lazy to click on the link) Propofol is a short-acting intravenous sedative agent used for the induction of general anesthesia for adults and children, maintenance of general anesthesia, and sedation in medical contexts, such as intensive care unit (ICU) sedation for intubated, mechanically ventilated adults, and in procedures such as colonoscopies and endoscopies (source: Wikipedia). For me it means not waking up in the middle of a colonoscopy, which did happen to me twice before. No, I'm not one of those crazies who likes to be awake and watch their procedure. No thank you. I'd rather be in my happy place and be woken up a short time later not remembering a thing.

So ultimately the plus side of having so many colonoscopies is so I can share this wonderful favorite thing. When most of you hit 50 and have to go through this, be sure to ask for Propofol. Until then, be happy you don't have to go through such things.

BOTB Again

So since the last time I posted about all my knocked up friends I think we were up to 13, so now we have to add Megan, Danielle J, Alisha, and two HS friends from Facebook to the list. Seriously I think we need to call in reinforcements because this is obviously an epidemic.

Again, I'll reiterate that I am super duper thrilled for everyone and not an ounce jealous (maybe just a little...ok, lets be honest here - A LOT jealous). When is it going to be my turn???

Favorite Things Friday

Today marks my return to Favorite Things Fridays. The fact that I only had one post in the last month of Fridays is pretty pathetic. But hopefully my renewed dedication to my blog will improve my track record.

My favorite thing today is a basic, but great website for all kinds of fun, free fonts called betterfonts.com Because I love formatting and have quite a few printed projects right now thanks to my sister's upcoming wedding, I've been on the hunt for interesting fonts. I came across betterfonts.com while designing her engagement party invite.

What I love about this site is that not only do that have a large selection of free fonts in many categories, but also that you can preview your own text instead of just the typical "Lorem ipsum...." Just click on change preview text and type in whatever text you are using. In the case of the engagement party invite, I wanted a pretty font for the names of the honorees, but not your typical script. I chose the script category and then changed the preview text to "Melissa & Patrick" and could see exactly what all the fonts would look like. So great!

Repeat Offender

So apparently, my warning to myself and my promise to my readers (and caffeinated's readers) held absolutely no weight, because here I am 10 days later and no new blog posts. I just don't have my game together right now and honestly I think I lost my funny...seriously. But, I'm going to challenge myself to turnaround this pattern of blog abuse and get my funny back. If anyone has any material to help with the turnaround, please help a bloggirl out by posting in the comments.

Blog Abuse

Oh my poor, poor blog. How I have neglected you. It really is a tragedy and I am soooo sorry. If I can try to explain, I'd mention my aggravating five hundredth sickness of the year (yes, that's 2009 people) or the fact my poor little chaihuahua (ha!) was sick all week. If it makes you feel better I forgot to call one of my best friends in the whole world on her birthday. And, I sent her birthday present to the wrong address - classic.

So to make it up to you, I am renwing our blog vows. "Oh blog, I do solemnly swear to post in sickness and in health...blah blah blah." And to my friend who has sung our praises...I'll try my best not to embarrass you. Really.

Favorite Things Friday

Today is the start of a weekly feature on my blog, inspired by many others (like Smiling Mama and EmilyStyle). I'm a big fan of searching the Internet for interesting ideas and products (especially decor & desk accessories). So I will start sharing some of my favortie things every Friday.


Today's fab find is inspired by lunch with Smiling Mama yesterday and the multitude of baby showers I'm inevitably going to be invited to this year. I don't know about you all, but baby shower invites with strollers, rattles, etc make me want to gag. Us modern ladies, can definitely do better.


I've long been a fan of the site weddingpaperdivas.com for their unique wedding and party invitations and now I have discovered their sister site tinyprints.com They have adorable baby announcements, invites, and more for really reasonable prices. Here's some of my favorites:

We're officially up to 12

12 babies...seriously! Between the baby showers and my sister's wedding I am going to be broke. Please send all the invites C/O The Poor House.

President Obama!

Today has been an amazing day for our Country. I felt so proud while watching this momentous occasion (from home, see below). I'm excited for the change to come and I pray for President Obama and his family as they lead us into that change.

Now on to the important stuff...Inaugural Fashions!
1. Michelle Obama - love, love, love. Am I the only one who totally gets the green gloves and shoes. Amazing!

-Photos by Getty Images-

2. Jill Biden - not digging the boots, sorry...

3. Malia and Sasha - freaking adorable. Wish that blue coat came in my size.









-Photo by Getty Images-

To go or not to go....that was the question

Living so close to DC, it was agony for hubz and I to decide whether or not we would go downtown for the inauguration. Since Election Day, he maintained that we would be there no matter what. As the day drew closer his resolve (and mine) was steadily weakening. Between the road/bridge closures, metro warnings, and cold-weather forecasts, the thought of making it into the city seemed impossible. And, since health and bathrooms are both major issues for me, I had made up my mind to not go.

Then, last Friday rolled around, and my dear friend called with an unbelievable offer. Two tickets. I was excited and terrified at the same time. She even offered to never tell my hubz (the real political junkie in the family) if I decided I just wasn't up to it. But, I had to tell hubz and I was quite surprised when he was torn too. After much deliberation, and advice from co-workers and friends, we decided to pass on the tickets. We knew there were lots of people waiting to get their hands on them and truth be told I was exhausted just thinking about it.

After hearing Smiling Mama's account of her experience today and others. I'm really glad we made the decision to stay home. I really feel for her and everyone who traveled near and far to be there. But I know everyone, no matter where they were, can still relish in the moment that was today.

Make that 11...

How could I forget about Shannon?? So now I have 11 friends who are preggers. I'm a little concerned for the world with all that mushy pregnancy brain around, but am oh so happy for everyone!! Yay babies!

BOTB

Boy, do I have BOTB (Babies on the Brain). Before you jump toward conclusions, they're not mine. The BOTB belong to the not one, not two, not three, not even nine lovely ladies I know who are pregnant. That's right, I know 10..count them 10!....people who are pregnant right now. And two others who recently had little ones. Yes, you know who you are....Amanda, Amy, Danielle, Diana, Gina, Kerry, Rachael, Sarah B., Sarah S., and Traci (all in alpha order...natch).

I guess this is what happens in your 30's - all your friends start having babies. I'll admit that I'm a little (ok A LOT, A LOT, A LOT) jealous because I can hear the tick, tick, tick pretty much everyday lately. I know my time will come, but in the meantime I'll live vicariously through you lovely ladies. And, ask you to sprinkle some baby dust on me. Oh and don't take that as an offer to babysit - I love y'all, but seriously - just because I want to be a Mom, doesn't mean I'm ready.

Hooray for Hubz

I didn't think Hubz could top last year's Christmukkah gift (seriously sparkly earrings), but he has. On top of the aforementioned massage, he also got me an assortment of non-Starbucks delicious chai - yes, I know I previously told you that I only like Starbucks chai, but well...I lied.

And, he got me a beverage warmer for my desk. How ingenious is that? So, since I've been back at work I've had four of my six new chais, all deliciously kept warm. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

New Year's Revolutions

Yes, readers, I did spell that right. To me, it seems like resolutions are just like a revolving door. They go round and round and round and round and...ok, you get the idea. I've never been big on New Year's Resolutions, but when I sit back and think about my personal goals - I see some patterns from year to year. For example, I'm perpetually trying to lose weight (who isn't?) and I'm always trying to be more patient and not overreact to stupid things. And, I am always trying to less stressed.

So this year, I'm going to focus on stress - since really, weight loss, patience, and not overreacting should all improve if my stress level decreases. First up, schedule the massage my darling hubz gave me for Christmas!

And the Chai drama continues...

So I was just beginning to wrap my head around a 17-pump chai and then I go to a different Starbucks this morning. They tell me that yes, the chai has been recalibrated, but now it's actually more than it used to be. Why, oh why, do they have to confuse me? Darn you Starbucks.

Holy 17 Pumps Batman!

Seriously? I went to Starbucks today and after ordering my normal chai la la, I was informed that the chai has been recalibrated. Yes, dear readers, they have changed the chai - they introduced some new drinks that have chai in them, so to not make those other drinks too strong - one pump of current chai is equal to 0.5 pumps of previous chai. So what does this mean? My normal chai la la is 17 freaking pumps. 17!!!!!! Like it wasn't a ridiculous enough order as it was...now this. And, let me tell you - I am not happy about this at all.

I'm thinking I should just order some business cards with my freaking 17-pump,whatever, whatever order. Starbucks? Are you out there? Is it so difficult to have two chai containers? And don't get me started on how these new drinks sound gross and probably will be discontinued and then what - I'll have to change my order again. This is SO not a good start to 2009. UGH!