I want to take a moment to remind my readers that as we reflect on the days past and present, to keep your hearts open. Tonight my kids have spent some time in their rooms with the doors shut, this is not something that we usually allow in our house. We like to have open hearts and open communication. However, tonight they wanted this time and asked their dad if it was okay. They were making cards for me. Tomorrow is my birthday. As I thought on it, I couldn’t help but think of Susan. There is still no information and she is still missing. I thought about her sons. They will never get to have a moment like my kids had. They may have made things they are hoping to give to their mom. As much as this made me sad, I felt like we need to keep searching for an answer. Friends, Family, Bloggers, PLEASE take a look again at this postand the poster below. If you have ANY information, PLEASE contact the appropriate parties. Even if you wish to remain anonymous. Someone has answers and the family is desperately trying to find out what happen. Something, anything, they need/deserve to know. 

I want to thank ALL my readers for taking the time to read this post and look at the face. This face & story will be familiar to someone and that someone will come forward with answers. Answers the family is so desperatly seeking!

I had my muscle biopsy on Tuesday. They took a 2″x2″ part from my left thigh. It was not a fun experience but I must say that this biopsy went WAY better then my liver biopsy. In short, that procedure was a nightmare. I was at the local Bellin Hospital, but the nurse was a bitch, they didn’t control my pain, and I begged to leave! Actually I didn’t beg, I demanded and then they agreed, I left and sent a nasty email the next day to the hospital coordinator. No reply, no shock! This time I was worried because I was going to a UW Hospital and if you’ve ever been to one, you know they are a MAD HOUSE!! They are clinics and a hospital all in one, they have students and staff and it’s like the BIGGEST place of medical personnel EVER! So to say that I was treated BETTER there, then I was at the local hospital which is like 1/8 of the size is just well… weird to me! Honestly, you’d think a smaller facility would be more personal then a large “your just a number” place. However, I was treated SO amazing at the UW Hospital that I could not even believe it. It was sort of surreal. First, I explained my desire to not use a full anesthesia because I end up sick for days after. The anesthesiologist was great in understanding and then explaining my options. She decided that it would be best for me to be “out of it” with some meds but conscience. I would not remember the procedure but wouldn’t get that sick feeling after. And they would numb the area on my leg because some people are more alert then others. I agreed this would be a good option. I didn’t get sick afterwards and I didn’t remember anything besides being brought into the OR. The nurse that put the IV in… I explained that my veins are small and I am not found of needles so I would appreciate only being “poked” once. They got the smallest needle and he did it, in JUST one try. He was so nice and amazing and UNDERSTANDING. Upon waking, within 20 minutes the nurse asked if I’d like something to eat or drink and it was delivered within MINUTES! The nurse was there every 5-10 minutes, not 45-60 minutes. They explained everything to me. They did NOT release me with a prescription, they faxed it directly to the pharmacy so I could get it on my way home. Even though I had a 3 hour drive there and a 3 hour drive back, it was by FAR the best experience I could have asked for, considering the situation. The next day the nurse called, she was so sweet. She also wasn’t convinced my pain was being managed by what I was telling her. She told me she would call me back on that. I NEVER said my pain was BAD or that the medicine wasn’t working, but I was answering her questions and said that I did have a burning feeling. She called me back within 45 minutes and said, changed medicines, we think this will work better. She also had some other suggestions to help me out. I couldn’t believe it. I am still kind of in shock over the whole way they treated me so GREAT.

Having said all that, I am home and recovering. My husband has been AMAZING the last 3 days and helping with everything around the house. In fact, I haven’t really moved off the recliner. He’s had me resting and treating me like a QUEEN. He’s so super amazing, it reminds me why I fell in love all over again.

I can not wait until next week when I can head back to the gym. I am changing from my Quick Trim pills to athermogenic fat burner. I stopped seeing results with Quick Trim and I am not going to continue spending money on something that has “stopped” working. I am hoping that I can lose this extra weight before summer. I just NEED to do it. My husband has again been supportive and being he is into the gym and supplements, he’s spent ALOT of time researching different things for me and he’s helping me along. Even though he says I do not need to worry about it, I do. It’s a personal thing for me.

I scrapped my ADSR 5 Challenge 6 layout today. Here’s a peak:

This layout was a HUGE challenge… just because they only allowed 4 of this and 4 of that and no more. I am not typically a person to use so many types but only 4 or 4 might be too many. It was a challenge, which is what it was supposed to be, but I a, okay with the final layout. I will be making a few changes to make it “me” and then I will be adding this to my printed book, because it is a good idea!

I also managed to scrap a layout using Bella Gypsy goodies that are coming SOON to Elemental Scraps. I love being on their CT. What a fun bunch of girls and what an AWESOME set of designers Lena and Tabitha are!! One of their new kits is called Blue Skies & Mud Pies… How cute huh? Here’s my page with it:

I’ve linked them both to my DSTGallery in case you’d like to leave me a comment there! I am so glad to be back scrapping again and it feels amazing! It’s been so nice and stress free! Even the ADSR challenges!! Okay bloggers, I will be back tomorrow with more! My meds are starting to kick in and it’s time for a girl to hit the pillow!!

Today was the kids birthday party. They had a blast. There was somewhere around 30 kids there. I wasn’t really counting and didn’t care to know the exact number. All I know was it was LOUD. We had a party at the roller rink here in town. It’s only open for parties on Sunday so we had the entire thing! What a good time the kids AND ADULTS had. They all skated and dance/skated like it was 1999!! Literally!! Some of the parents, our friends and I had gone there as children to skate. It used to be open on Wednesday nights, Friday nights, Saturday nights and Sunday nights. Now it is only open for parties and family skate two times a month. It is sad that it is gone now. But the original owner passed away and through the years we’ve (as in people/society) gotten more busy and more involved with our kids and grandparents these days work, sometimes both parents work there is just no one to tend to it full time anymore. The kids were of course stumbling some with skating, but some of the adults were on their behinds too. They are going to have some sore legs and back sides tomorrow. Unfortunately no hemorrhoids treatment will relieve THAT pain!! LOL Anyhow… The kids cake was a 2 tier candy coated fun cake!! Covered in fondant frosting that was lifted off (for lack of better words fondant is chewy and nasty tasting). So the layer on fondant was able to come right off and the butter cream was underneath. It was SOOOO amazingly yummy. The top tier was white cake with vanilla frosting, the bottom tier was marble cake with chocolate frosting! I had to cut the pieces HUGE to get most of the cake gone because I always go elaborate on the cake. I love HUGE BEAUTIFUL cakes!! My cake is always the highlight of my party and today was NO exception! Because my children are born 4 days shy of 3 years apart we do their parties together and have one nice huge cake. They got a ton of presents and gift cards. Tomorrow they want to go shopping, but I have no idea if I am up for that adventure. Right now I am enjoying and learning about my MAC. It did arrive, however I haven’t had much time to play on it. This is my FIRST post from the MAC. I’ve decided NOT to name this one yet. In the past I named my laptops… I had “Mean Green” which was my first Dell laptop, and then I got “Pinkie” {and me being the brain… it was Pinkie & the Brain… Get it?!?! HAHA!! I kill myself with humor} my second Dell laptop. I HATE Dell and I wanted to try a MAC. So I ordered it. I love it. So far.

Of course with the MAC I am having a HUGE learning curve. I need to seriously learn so much. It’s sometimes frustrating and I just want to turn Pinkie back on and be done. I am not sure who all of my readers is/are MAC users so I will just tell you a few of my issues {briefly} and if anyone has any tips/tricks I would be HAPPY to hear them.

1. The plug SUCKS! The wall part is HUGE and hates staying in the outlet and the part that plugs into the laptop itself is, well crap-tastic!! It’s magnetic and pretty much falls out as soon as you touch it. *sigh* Apple WHY? You have the most amazing things, but do *something* crap-tastic to it. The iPhone has a 12″ cord! It sucks too!!

2. The internet is VERY laggy. I tried Safari a few times and I thought maybe it was that. So I downloaded Firefox. Still no go. It’s laggy and seems like it doesn’t load anywhere NEAR as fast as Firefox did on Pinkie.

3. It’s downloading ALL my Gmail. Even Gmail that has long since been deleted. All the SPAM too. ANNOYING!!

4. The dock… *sigh* It’s either always there or “invisible”. I want it to stay, but under my windows. It doesn’t. When I maximize a window the dock is at the bottom and I lose part of my “expanded” screen size.

5. The mouse… *sigh* I obviously am used to a PC mouse and my mouse is working on the MAC, but it seems laggy. If I get a MAC mouse is this going to happen? Is it because it’s a Universal mouse? I don’t like and never liked using the touchpad on laptops.

6. Navigation… Where’s my stuff? I haven’t even TRIED to add anything like Photoshop to it yet. I’m confused as to wear my documents and things are or go… so I haven’t really done anything more then install Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger. And by the way… Is iChat different or does iChat use my AIM contacts? How confusing is that?!? The window says AIM buddy list, but I had to sign up for a mac.com address to use it???

7. Color… The screen color seems ummm OFF to me!?? I am afraid to edit photos on it because I am afraid the colors aren’t right. How can this be? Pinkie had a true color screen so this just seems a little more yellow-ish maybe to me?

I think I get a one on one with Apple to help learn some things. I am pretty sure it was with my purchase, but I can’t remember. Plus we don’t have an APPLE store in my city… We have authorized agents? Wonder if that works the same way? At this point, I do like the MAC, but I am frustrated and having a huge learning curve stumble. I wish I knew someone that had a MAC, was in my area, that could sit with me!! I am open to ideas, advise, tips, tricks!! I know some of my readers have got to know what I mean!!

Until tomorrow bloggers…

I just want to scream at the top of my lungs right now!! For the last 2 days I’ve been stalking and refreshing the FedEx site. What is the best arthritis treatment? I need it now!! I see my MAC is on the delivery truck and I’ve been staring out the window all day. Finally I spot the truck, T_H_E truck! I’ve watched the FedEx man drive up and down my street for the last half hour. He is not noticing that he is PASSING my house and apparently can’t read house numbers. I am so annoyed. I’ve called FedEx and they are issuing a dispatch message to the driver. He’s got my special package and I want it!! Seriously, what’s so hard about looking at the OTHER side of the road for the house!!