Ambers Update

For those of you who were waiting for a blog update on me:
I am doing much better, although not quite back to myself.

Friday July 13th, I wasn’t feeling well, I came home from work telling Nic I just didn’t feel right. His advice was to take some Tylenol, have some rum and take a bath. I thought it was a great idea. After doing all 3, I started feeling better. About an hour later we went to the park with family. As we got there the wind started picking up, to the point we left after about 3 minutes of being blinded by flying debris. We all decided to go back to our house and just hang out. By about 7:30 I started having pains in my lower abdomen. I went upstairs to lay dawn. I didn’t make into my room, I had passed out on the bathroom floor. I remember waking up and thinking someone must have heard me fall. Then I realized it probably sounded like kids jumping around. I was then able to make it to my room, where I passed out again next to my bed. This time Nic found me, after saying farewell to our company. He helped me up on the bed, brought me a glass of water and some Alka-Seltzer. He checked up on me from time to time- looking on the Internet, trying to match up my symptoms, and taking care of the kids- We just happened to have an extra 3 staying over that night. At first I thought it was my appendix. Nic looked on line for other possibilities. Gallbladder, food poisoning and kidney stones also fit in to the symptoms I was experiencing. After about 4-5 hours of feeling a pain I wasn’t familiar with and could no longer tolerate and passing out, Nic finally talked me into going to the ER. That was my first time going to the ER as a patient, I've been pretty lucky. No one else was there, much to my surprise, as it was a Friday evening or Early Saturday AM by the time we arrived. After going through my symptoms with the doctor, they did a few tests and they were leaning closer to the kidney stone diagnosis. After getting the test results back he announced to Nic and myself that my pregnancy test was positive. All of a sudden the world stopped for a few seconds. As my eyes met with Nics their was silent communication. We weren’t trying, so this was a surprise to us both. After further testing and about 10 more minutes, it was determined that the pregnancy was the problem. It was ectopic. They made the call to OB/GYN on call. She is a Doctor at the office I go to, but I had personally never met her. Teresa Durbin from Rocky Mountain- she will now be my Doctor for any future appointments. She was honest and kind, which anyone can appreciate in this situation. About 2 AM they took me in for surgery, she had prepped me for the worst, telling me she may need to take most my girl parts, depending on the damage. Surgery lasted about 3 hours. After I woke up enough to remember talking to her she told me they were taking me to do a scan, because they weren't certain it was an ectopic and wanted to check my spleen. I had a lot of internal bleeding, which I was told is where most of my pain had been coming from. She said after making the second incision all my girl parts looked to be in perfect health, so they didn't have to take any of them. The scan came back clear, so she ordered more blood tests. She told me I could still be pregnant and wanted to check my HCG levels. They took my blood at 9AM and told me they would take it again at 6PM and that would let her know if I was in fact still pregnant. The results came back and it was determined that I was no longer pregnant and it was in fact an ectopic. They gave me a shot to clear out any tissue left by the pregnancy and sent me home. She prescribed me some iron pills as I was low on blood, but didn't end up needing any units. I almost wonder if my recovery would have been a little easier if I had been given some. It's been a long month, but it's also hard to believe it been a month already. I am still struggling to feel normal. I run out of energy fast, can't run yet because it hurts my incisions.
 I want to Give a HUGE Thank You to those who sent flowers/plants, stopped by to visit, brought over dinner or treats. My Family and Friend support system never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for all the prayers and positive thoughts. This has been the hardest situation to go through mentally and physically. It was much easier to give birth and recover from that. I am taking it day by day, some days are worse than others.
Thank You all for your love and concern,
                                                           ~Amber

PASTA

Simple Tomato sauce

2 TBSP Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 TBSP fresh basil

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

- Add olive oil along with garlic & saute- about 30 seconds (do not let it turn brown, it will get a bitter taste) Add tomato's, bring to a boil, simmer 10 minutes, stir in basil, pinch salt & pepper, add meatballs, stir occasionally, cook for about 5 more minutes or until meatballs are warmed through. this will be enough sauce for 1 lb pasta

-Side note-My kids would probably have preferred that I blend the can of tomatoes, for more of a sauce consistency.

Meatballs

2 slices white bread, no crusts, torn into bits

1/2 C buttermilk

1 lb ground meat

1/4 C grated parm cheese

2 TBSP parsley

1 large egg yolk

1 small garlic clove minced

3/4 tsp salt

ground pepper

-about 1/4 cup of veggie oil for frying

*Combine bread and buttermilk in small bowl, mashing until a paste. Mix all meatball ingredients including bread mixture & pepper to taste in a bowl. Lightly form 3 TBSP into meatballs. Will make approximately 14, can be refrigerated or cooked immediately. To brown, cook in veggie oil, turning to brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.

-Side note-I made a double batch, using a hot & spicy sausage & a regular sausage. They were quite spicy, but added a great flavor to the spaghetti sauce. Probably won't use hot sausage again, because was too hot for the kids

First Time

Okay, this picture has 2 "firsts" for me. I am sure you can see the first one.- Eyelashes. This was my first time putting on fake eyelashes. I had to get it right the first time, because they were self adhesive & pulling them off & trying to get then to have the same "stickiness" wasn't going to work. I could very well have them on the wrong eye, I am not sure if they have designated eyes. I don't know that I would wear them again. I found a GREAT mascara from Avon & it adds length to my eyelashes, so I'll keep to that.

The 2nd- 1st-- Well the red lipstick, I have never owned red lipstick until that night. My costume era, allows nothing BUT red Lipstick. Cassidy took the second picture of me & told me I looked like a vampire. I can see that. I have white teeth, which look even whiter when next to red lipstick! I also have very pointy K-9 teeth. Next full moon, watch out! Ü

Shoulda, coulda, woulda

The Cabin

So, I am totally aware that I need to update my blog. I had plans to do it tonight/tomorrow. I've got pictures from first day of school, a zoo trip, soccer games, football games, the wedding cake, my garden over haul, ... But for now I would only be able to do the stories, for you see a tragedy occurred today. Trent had a football game in Smithfield. After the game we went to Nic's moms' cabin. It is about 20 mins from Smithfield. Much closer than the 1 hour drive home. Knowing this would probably be the last trip we were taking up there this year, I wanted to get a few shots. Nic & the kids were down at the river catching baby fish-- & when I say catching, I mean inside a paper cup, just for the kids to get a closer look & maybe hold the cup for a few minutes. I was in the river on a rock. I had taken a few picts. & lost my balance. Really, do I need to say more? I am sure most of you are saying yes & that you want detail. Especially those of you who know I have a fear of water, and what the extent of it is. (Deep breaths-- oh the memories). It starts on a rock. A mossy wet rock. I move to get a different angle. Not only is the rock wet & slippery, it is loose. I slipped. I tried grabbing the post to regain my balance. However, the post was rotted & was no help. I didn't really have room to turn my slip into a jump, because of the kids trying to catch fish. SPLASH, down I go, camera and all. I held my arm up to try and save my camera (after it was submersed). My head & 1/2 of my torso was above water. I had nothing to grab onto to get myself up. & had Nic grab the camera so I could use my arm to get up. The water was cold and most of Nic's family was there & heard me making these gorilla noises. whooo haaaa, between the cold water, the laughter & a little hidden phobia, I am sure the sight & sound was hilarious. Had my camera not been dripping I would have asked Nic to take a picture of me. Once he had my camera & had set it on a rock, he helped me up. I almost pulled him in , being that the rocks he was standing on were also slimy & unstable. (Pretty sure my weight had nothing to do with the fact that he was having a hard time- those of you reading, feel free to insert nose giggle here [ ] ). I climbed back on the the cabin lawn laughing in disbelief, with a few family members wondering-- do I laugh, or is she going to make a scene because she touched water. They are all aware of my water phobia. After Jon- my brother in law asked if I was okay, they sensed that I wasn't going to go into shock & hypothermia. Nick described the whole incident as a turtle who was stock on their back. Arms and legs flailing, bot not able to move. I can laugh about it now, so go ahead and join in. about 10 minutes later, after a change of clothes, I wanted to try & catch fish myself-- not this isn't going where you think it is. about 2 minutes after I was down at the river, the kids were all headed up (can't remember why) & I started back up. I had 2 rocks give way & start rolling. I had both hands free & steadied myself on a step. When the kids went back down to let the fishes go. I decided I had better stay up on the lawn. My camera is currently drying. I decided not to try turning it on for a few days. I am sure the pictures I had on the memory card will be fine, but not sure the camera will recover. I accidentally left it up at the cabin, but will be seeing my mother in law on Tuesday, which will be a great time to turn it on and see if it still works.

This would be the post that no longer serves a purpose.

The rocks have been moved, bit the general area of where I fell in, is the obvious one, only I'd say there was more water involved. These pictures were taken when the water was lower.

Wedding cake

The fresh flowers really add to the cake.

What a fun cake to make.

Phone

Anyone trying to get a hold of me will have to E-mail, for the next few days. I have surpassed both the amount of minutes & text's in my plan. I have turned my phone off, & will turn it back on Thursday Morning.

RODEO TIME

Parachutes


Mutton Bustin' How cute is that?

Waiting for the rodeo to start with the temp at 100

The Girls

Me and Stockton

Me and Maddie Me and Trent

Good Evening-Or not.

Story # 1

So last night was my Bunko night. The food was Yummy and I had a good time, nice to get out. On my way home ( it took all of about 5 minutes) I noticed a car was following me. Normally I wouldn't care, small town.. But it kept honking at me. I sat at a traffic light waiting for my green arrow & I kept hearing a honking. I looked around, no hand gestures (waving or otherwise) I didn't recognize any of the surrounding cars. So I ignored it. I got my arrow, then turned, the car behind me still seemed to be trying to get my attention, flashing brights at me & then finally pulled over & it looked like they wanted me to pull over as well. I checked & had my phone & purse, my doors were all shut, my lights were on- I didn't leave anything on my bumper, I didn't hit any small animals or children, so I kept driving. The car had pulled off quite close to the turn into my neighborhood. Feeling a little paranoid, I took the long way home to ensure that the car had in fact quit following me. I went home & called my friend Kim (Bunko was at her house) and asked if I had left something there & maybe she sent one of the gals after me to let me know. Nope, she didn't. So glad I took precaution. To all of my friends reading this, if it was you, let me know, so I am not looking over my shoulder Ü

Story # 2

As I was pulling into the driveway Trent & his friend Kasey were leaving on bikes. I stopped Trent to find out where he was going after 9 O'clock at night. He said they were making a Walmart run & that Nic had approved & he would be home by 10. Okay, no problem. I went in, got ready for bed, & went to bed. I laid there awake for a while, ears picking every little sound (thanks to my paranoia). Also, I had had an extremely large brownie sundae for dessert & my stomach was on the verge of exploding I had stuffed it to the max and then some, so I couldn't seem to get comfy enough to drift off. Nic came in about 10:20 or so to get his phone and call Trent, he hadn't come home yet. I hear him call Trent's phone, then I hear Trent's phone ringing in his room. I then yell for him to call his friend Kacey's cell. Then I hear a car pulling into the cul-de-sac & saw very bright lights. The paranoia kicks in again & I get up to look and see if the car looks similar to the one in the above referenced story. No, this on was a cop car with the spot light on. SH**, as I sigh, thinking the worst of my 12 year old son. I march myself down stairs to tell Nic & I hear Trent & Kacey talking to him. In a state of partial slumber, annoyance and anger I demand to know why there is a Police Officer driving slowly around the cul-de-sac using his spotlight. They picked up on my accusatory tone & explained to me that Trent's bike had almost been stolen. It took about 3 times hearing the story, stopping for them to talk to the officer and me asking questions in my tired state of mind, to finally understand and comprehend the story. I am going to try & get Trent to write up a version of his story for posting. I ended up going to bed at about midnight, then woke up about 4:45am to go to the gym for a much needed workout.

5K

Well I was unprepared but I ran the Syracuse Days' 5K.

It only took me 3 days to be able to move again.

Latest cake

On Friday, Kim and I both had cakes to work on. Usually when this happens, we work on them together. They were both for our nieces. I have a picture of the paper plates I was trying to match the cake up with. The orange cake was for my niece's first birthday, that is the one she got to mash. Kim and I got new sample frosting and filling to try, and I must say so far so good!

Shinny frosting

Finger

While doing laundry, I had a pants hanger & was squeezing the little section open. It must have been old, for I had to apply quite a bit of pressure to get it to open. Then Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My fingernail length was 1/2'd. Man that hurt.

Lucky Friday- w/pictures

This is what leaked into my garage through the dry wall.


This was after most of it was soaked up.

These are just a few towels that soaked it up. I think I used 7 total

Wow, it's only 8:00 am.
I got up about 4:30 am to go to the gym. I got home at 6. I did a batch of laundry, made a batch of cookies, and took a shower. I got myself all ready for the day, which will consist of baking those cookies, making a cake, chauffeur Trent's class to the skating ring, then to the park, then back to school, doing more laundry in between, and going to his class graduation (reason for the cookies) As I sat down to my crackeling bowl of rice krispies, I told Cassidy to go & do her hair. she starts toward the bathroom & stops dead & stares at the floor. Then I see it to. Water, and lots of it. CRAP- I had Trent investigate to see if it was from the bathroom or the laundry room. Laundry room. For those who need a refresher, you can go back into my blog and look up washing machine, for you see, my brother gave us his washer when ours pooped out. Apparently & I am not placing any blame here, but Nic didn't screw the drain hose on right, or tight enough, so this last batch of laundry I did, when it drained, it was inside my house, it went through the heating and cooling ducts & is dripping downstairs, it went through & somehow is dripping through my garage, & best of all, I had about 3 batches worth of clean clothes on my laundry room floor, those will now need to be re-washed- Hooray- I am officially fitting more on my plate. (okay that was a bit sarcastic). So now I am about to leave to take Trent's class to Classic, on the way I am dropping off the cookie dough to my mom to bake the cookies, so that I can clean and not have a mold issue. Ahhhh, I am now humming the tune of-- Well it's a great day to be alive. not sure who sings it, but it's a country song, I don't know all the words, but I know enough of the chorus to keep the song in my head.

Cakes

Ryder & Lenny had a surprise party on Saturday, and I was lucky enough to make the cake! No, no sarcasm, I offered to. I haven't made any cakes for a while, and was looking forward to it.

I made little dance silhouettes out of frosting, a challenge for me. 9 dance positions for her 9th birthday.

I made little dancers out of fondant- I wanted to put faces and hair on them, but time was of the essence.

Ryders I was most proud of, a baseball diamond. No problems here. ahhh, nothing like a fine finished product.

So.... I got to the party, dropped the kids off to park elsewhere. Trent took in the baseball cake. Me, I grabbed the gift's & the dancer cake..oops, oohhh. %&!$# ... It was salvageable, I fumbled with it in my car & it bumped the front seat. Grrrr. the positive, I didn't spend time on the faces- would have made it even harder for me to see it damaged. Really it was a corner of the cake-- yes I know it is a round cake, but still, if you were to divide it into 4ths, 1/4th of it was damaged. I felt bad, but at least there was still cake. Had I dropped it on the road, I would have had an 8 year old moment, and cried about it. Instead I took a deep breath, & took my walk of shame to the house, shoulders sunk, you'd think I was about to be grounded for lying to my parents the way I felt. Then the kids didn't make much notice of it, & were calling who got to eat what dancer.-- Okay, not so bad then. & Plenty of cake. Didn't miss the scuffed part.

Treatment # 4

Treatment # 4- Completed

Only 8 more to go!

So far so good, however, I am sure come tomorrow morning, it will be a different story.

It's a good thing too, that Nic is doing well. I seemed to have developed what I would say is one of the top 5 migraines I've ever had. I get them here & there, & my pills usually take care of them. I rarely get to the point where I am sick to my stomach & vomit. Well, my friends, today was that day. A sick to my stomach migraine. I took a double dose of my medicine. It took the edge off enough that I could still function- as I vomited. Then the time came for me to take more. I took a different kind, I haven't thrown up since, and my migraine has gone down to a headache. I will certainly be taking a sleep aid tonight, so I can wake up refreshed tomorrow.

What caused my migraine-- Well when I concentrate or get ency, I grit my teeth, too much of that is not a good thing. If I don't drink enough water, that is a contributor, if I don't eat right (too much MSG or don't eat when I need to) another contributor. When I stress (which is every other Wednesday and then some). I happened to do all of the above today. It makes for a great reminder that I need to take my water bottle to work, & make time for breakfast and lunch, try to relax a little, and calm down. Sounds easy right?????

New Phone

Not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but I got a plastic "shell" to go over my phone.

I also got a phone made of metal not plastic.

I also got insurance for it.


So far so good. I have sent about 5 blank text messages. I had to look in the manual to find out how to text. Trent figured out the camera and the ring tones for me.

Puke

Once again---- Awakened to the sound of barfing. Cassidy was sleeping with me & about 1 hour after going to sleep I heard the dreaded sound-- the warning sound that would have given me about 5 seconds warning had we been awake-- but since we were asleep I dazed into waking life as she let the mother load fly- good thing her head was turned away from me. I thought I had woke her & told her to go into the bathroom. So I went to gather towels & rags to clean it up & when I came back she was still asleep and throwing up. At this point, it is matted into her hair, & all over her face, some in her ear- & there she was, sleeping. So I started cleaning & turned on a bath- HOWEVER, those of you who know me well, know I don't do well with throw up. I know I am a mom & that it comes with the territory, but it doesn't make it any easier. As I am cleaning--a song came to mind- Silly I know, perhaps it was because I still felt like I was moving at a paused pace in sleep mode, but the song came to me- Over the river and through the woods... Particularly the part where-- " It stings the nose & bites the toes" only in my sleep state, I was thinking, It stings the eyes & bites the nose. Call me crazy, I can't justify my thoughts when awakened from my slumber.. But with thoughts of that song, here comes the feeling over me. My eyes were watering, my mouth was watering- I was trying to keep the smell from my nose so I was breathing out of my mouth. But alas, it was too pungent. I get a couple of fake/sympathy heaves as I am trying to clean- as I usually do, I just don't do well with puke. But I couldn't stop it, then I lost it- in time of course to get it to the sink. So afterward, I opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol & wafted it around my room & bathroom, so I could get through it with out "tossing" more than I already did. So I got it cleaned up, I opened my back door & shook the sheets, rug, & pillow that were affected & then started the washer. Poor Cassidy still couldn't figure out what was going on-- Why was I making her take a bath in the middle of the night. We just did a quick rinse, because she was 1/2 asleep & we now had debris floating around the tub. I got her back into bed & went to rinse out the tub & sink. In the process I decided that I needed to buy some draino. My drains now drain VERY slowly, I used a little plunger for my sink, because I didn't think pulling up the debris piece by piece was going to help out my cause much. So I plunged them down, then poured a little alcohol down with it- The smell just causes a reaction I don't appreciate. Neither do the neighbors-- once again those of you who know my know why. My kids did inherit this silly trait, Trent got a full dose, Cassidy & Stockton have a 1/2 & 1/2 with me & Nic. Nic can throw up & no one hears a thing. Me, the neighbors hear, it starts from my toes, and the closer it gets or the longer I do it, the LOUDER I get. Nic has to make jokes every time- I totally understand why, just not usually in the mood for a joke when it's right after.

Anyhow, we slept good the rest of the night, of course I went to sleep with the tune of "over the river" in my head. She is fine this morning, she must have eaten something that didn't agree with her last night.

For those of you wondering, I am pretty sure my brothers & sister have the same traits-- I've heard my sisters-in-law talk my brothers vomiting in the same loud manner.

~Phone~

So, I'll be getting a new phone. This one has been dropped for the last time.

If you try to call me- I may or may not get the call, when I do get them, it's hard to talk, because I have to hold the phone together.. I'll be getting insurance on the next phone.

Birthday

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Thanks to Kim for making my cake!!!

Holy Smoke

H A P P Y

B I R T H D A Y

T O

M E !!!!!!!

My mom and sister took me out to Holy Smoke BBQ in Layton for a birthday lunch. I am going to say how much I enjoyed the food, service, and of course the company. We all tried something different. Quite a few of them were firsts for us. Hush puppies-- Scrumptious. Sweet potato fries, absolutely delicious. Catfish- I will be ordering this again the next time I am there, with the lemon sauce. The brisket was good, the chicken was good. Ribs, "Holy Smoke" they were good. I was a little surprised, I thought the pork would have been better- Don't get me wrong, it was good, but.. out of everything I tired, that would be my least favorite. they had a sauce bar ( I guess that is what you would call it) of sauces you could get & dip in or pour over your meat. They also had little take home containers for your sauces. The Mac'n'cheese had great flavor, the baked beans were sweet- too sweet for Cassidy, but I really liked them. Since we were all first timers there, we took a minute to look over the menu & decide what we were going to order, so the owner came out and gave us a little advice. Which worked out for us! When we were done eating he came out again & told us that the girls could have a free ice cream on him. Then Monica was nice enough to tell him it was a birthday Lunch for me and Alenika. So he then put on his silly glasses (the kind with big eyebrows, a big nose and mustache attached to the glasses) & he got a little blow horn type thing & stood on the table and announced that everyone was going to sing happy birthday- which they all did. It was a great experience in all & I will be going there again, hopefully soon. The staff was so nice, the owner is a good guy. I highly recommend this place to anyone VERY family friendly. Higher than Famous Dave's by far!!! Such a fun atmosphere. In the beginning we had take out menu's and were going to rate the food we had, so we would know the next time what we did and didn't like. By the end, we had tossed them. For trying foods we hadn't tried before, everything was either good, great, or exceptional. Nothing was bad.

Got my hair did...

Well, I got tired of doing a ponytail every day,and after reading my friend Jessica's blog about her new hair do.. I decided to get me a new one as well..

This is how it started. Look how long.

Then this... Gotta Love Karlie's face.

That is a lot of hair....


Tada-- last night at 10:15

Today for work.

**disclaimer** all photo's were taken by cell phone