Hey, that looks familiar!

So, I love NatalieDee.com and her comics. Some of them are sooo funny and they're pretty much all off the wall. Her husband does toothpastefordinner.com which is another great one. They're obviously a pretty hilarious couple. Anyway, I check Natalie Dee pretty much every day to see the new comic of the day. Some of them are lame but the ones that are good are really great. Anyway, I went to check today and yesterday's was up, too:

And I was thinking.. hmmm.. That looks familiar!

Then I realized what it reminded me of. Like a year ago, maybe more, Rachel showed me how to knit. We just started with some cheapy yarn that she had and i was going to make a "wash cloth" (aka SQUARE), just to practice. That way it would be an easy pattern and wouldn't use up much yarn at all. I practiced and didn't really get addicted like the girls did, so it stayed at home for a long time. They never taught me how to bind it off so I never finished. It looks almost EXACTLY like the comic, even the nice blue needles. hahaha! Awesome.

I just need to add a sad face to it! HAHA!

If you go to her site, just start hitting "Random Comic" and you're bound to find something funny (or offensive!) :)

PS. Mondays suck. I hate football.

Weekend

We slept wayyy in yesterday and then we stayed up really late last night (2:45am?) so we skipped church today, too. I slept in today as well. Somehow I was still tired this evening so I laid on the floor. "Ryan, don't let me fall asleep for an hour and a half again" (like I had last weekend). That was around 5:30. Around 7 I woke up to Ryan with a plate of cookies in my face "YOU WANT A COOKIE?! I know I wasn't supposed to let you sleep for long. Sorry". hahaha. Apparently he made cookies (pre-made dough) and I slept through the sound and the SMELL. hmmm. What can I say? Football ALL FREAKING DAY lulled me straight into a boredom coma.

Anyway, we were home basically all day so I got a loootttt of laundry done. So that's good. As for the rest of the house, I can't say much for it. It pretty much looks like a tornato went through it. I did manage to do all of our laundry (load finished in the dryer waiting for me right now), and our dishes, too. I finished up my pumpkin for work, too. I made a witch. She turned out cute. I'll post it along with the website so you can go VOTE FOR ME so I can win a nice prize. :) After I woke up from my nap Lynae called so that I could Skype with them and see my boys in their matching jammies that I found at Target for them. They were really cute and cheap and matching so I HAAAD to get them. :) We watched an ep of Lost - Flashes Before Your Eyes - a classic. :)

I love my boys so much. I'm glad I got to see them on Skype today since I didn't get to see them at church. Last night I went with Lynae to Erika's house for a girl's night. It was fun. We made pumpkins and watched the office, mostly. I finally got to hold my Joey-pie for a good chunk of the evening and James joined us later, too. He's so cute and funny. He is so cute with Jordan. They have really funny conversations and they're really sweet together. Jordan is so cute and likes to be very helpful with everything. What a sweetie. Welp, all that's left to do today is pay all of our bills and get those out of the way and then we will go to BED!

Doc appt update

I just got back from the doctor about 15 mins ago. Now I am about to enjoy an episode of Ellen. :) I had an appointment with Mitch and then with Dr. Johnson right afterward so I just took the 2nd half of the day off. It also gave me about an hour in the afternoon to rest and unwind! (it's 4-ish now instead of 5-ish when I'd normally be getting home).

So, basically after I stopped doing hyperbaric I started on a new med, amoxicillin. They told me that for about a month after stopping hyperbaric treatment that I could still benefit from it. Within a few days of starting the amox, I got a reaction that could indicate lyme. As the bacteria dies off, it dies off at a fast rate and your body can't process it very fast. In turn, you can notice an intensification in your symptoms and that's exactly what happened to me. BUT, it only happened for about two weeks or so. I have a feeling it was the combination of the benefits of hyperbaric and the amoxicillin.

So, after meeting with Mitch and Dr. Johnson, this is what the new plan is! First they're going to take me off of clarithromycin and put me on I think Flagyl? Now I can't remember. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly why they're changing it but if they think it's the right move I'm fine with that. I think the amoxicillin is working well so I'm glad they didn't take me off of that. I think flagyl is just another antibiotic but I think it works a little bit differently. AND it can penetrate tissues and cells which is where the lyme bacteria (or "buggies" as I like to say) like to hide out sometimes. So it will probably be a good change.

They're also going to let me do hyperbaric for two weeks (maybe more if it's working, I hope!). I really, really hope that this finally going to be the "trick". :) Pray, pray, and pray some more that it'll work! I will do hyperbaric 5 days a week and then 3 days a week they're going to keep me there 20 mins longer and do something called light therapy. They'll do it on my hands first but if it works they'll do my feet, ankles, knees, etc. It basically is a localized treatment that blocks inflammation. So we'll see how that goes. He seems pretty excited about it.

He told me something else interesting. I asked him if I'd have to take my wedding and engagement rings off for the light therapy because basically, they're STUCK on my finger. He asked me if it was due to swelling and I told him I didn't think it was swelling - I've just gained a lot of weight since we got married 3 1/2 years ago. He told me that weight gain is something they often see in Lyme patients. (Whaaat??) I told him that I think a lot of it is due to me not doing much movement or exercise during the day because I tend to be really sore afterward (and my fatigue factors in, too). He told me that there might be a possiblity of an actual SLOW DOWN in my metabolism from the lyme. Another thought is that the toxins actually hang out in the fat cells which can cause the extra weight. Sometimes when people lose weight, as the fat cells shrink down the toxins are released and their symptoms can intensify. Pretty crazy!

So, I'm trying to be hopeful with the new stuff we'll be trying. I am really thankful that I get to go into the hyperbaric chamber for a weeks, too. I want this to work!

Rayms

I've been thinking about how funny James is now that he's talking a whole bunch. I thought I'd share a few funny stories / conversations.
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James: ouch!
Me: Oh, sorry hun. I scratched you with my ring.
James: Your ring?
Me: Yeah, see? Uncle Ryan gave this to me when we got married.
James: I want you to get married!
Me: We are already married, silly! Do you want to get married someday?
James: YEAH!
Me: Who do you want to marry?
James: Ummmm... DADDY!
Me: haha! I don't think you can marry daddy. You need to pick a girl to marry. What about Jordan?
James: YEAHHHH!
Me: Who should Josiah marry?
James: JORDAN!
Me: He can't marry Jordan if YOU'RE marrying her. How about Norah?
James: YEAH! NORAH! Where's my ring??? (looking and his tiny cute fingers) :)
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We went out for pizza with the Condits after church on Sunday.

We sit down, immediately James says,

"where's my pizza?"
Us: They're still cooking it, James.
James: Where?
Me: back there in those big ovens
James: I can't hear it!!! (hand by his ear, leaning over toward the kitchen)
Me: Can you smell it?
James: Yeah. Where's my pizza?

James also introduced his new impression of The Count to me while we were eating. It's SOOOOO cute! "a-one, a-two, ah ah ah!" I love it.

When we were leaving after pizza, we were all getting in our cars and saying Bye. James says, "Byyye! We should do it again sometime!" Love it.
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So, I Skyped (web cam) with James for the first time last week. He was so cute. The main part of your screen is the other person and then there's a little "Me-Cam" in the corner and it shows yourself so that you can see if you're on screen and stuff. James was obsessed with the little picture of himself. "Is that Rayms?" (He can't quite say his J sound yet so he calls himself Rayms). We'd ask him "are you talking to Aunt Lee Lee on the computer?" and he'd say "I want to talk to Rayms!" Every once in a while I'd just see his forehead in front of the camera which meant he was looking closely at the picture of himself. Later he was spacing out on his picture and demanded, "Rayms! Talk to me!" I don't think he understood that there weren't TWO James', but it was just himself on camera. HAHA! Joey woke up and Nae put the computer and James in Josiah's crib with him so I got to see both of them. The only downside was that I couldn't hug and kiss them. :( Luckily on Sunday I got to spend a good chunk of the day with them while Ryan and Seth played frisbee golf with Tones. It was so fun!

Self-discipline

I have put no "structure" into my life besides my work schedule. I think I wouldn't go so crazy and I wouldn't have such a mess around all the time if I structured my week better. It just needs to be small things. I was thinking of making one night "clean the bathroom" night and a few days a week "do the dang laundry" day. I'd also need a "put away the dang laundry" day, because I'm SO bad about that. I just have a pile for EVER sitting in the laundry basket, in front of the couch, or upstairs on our bedroom floor. If I had a chore system then maybe I wouldn't get behind on stuff. It's just hard to tell what we'll be doing each night (although our weeknights are usually pretty open), or how I will be feeling each day.

I decided to start a not-very-strict diet/exercise plan this past Monday. I can't go crazy or I will not stick with it. Also, with exercise, I just have to do what I can because I get sore and tired from basically NOTHING! So I kind of just have to take baby steps toward better health and hopefully losing some weight. My weight has skyrocketed and I'm sure it's contributed to worsened symptoms and also not so great of a self-image. So I made a calendar for this week and the next 3 weeks of my lunches, Ryan's dinners and my dinners. Some of our dinners are the same but Ryan is really picky so often times if I want to eat healthy I have to make two separate dinners. I generally choose easy stuff for both dinners if I make two meals or else I'd go crazy. Anyway, with a food schedule/outline it helps me stick to the plan more easily and I get the groceries ahead of time which makes it much easier! I think I should definitely plan a weeks worth of groceries ahead of time no matter what. It makes it easier if I don't have to run to the grocery store after work for just a few things and it will probably also help me to make healthy choices and not just resort to the most convenient thing (which sometimes means driving through Taco Bell).

I've also been setting my alarm earlier to go on a walk before work. I only walk about a mile but I think the "structure" of starting the day the same each morning will help the other plans during the day fall into place. It'll hopefully put me in a more self-disciplined mindset. So far this week I walked Tues, Wed, and today. 3 out of 5 is okay with me. I'd like to do 4 - 5 though. I want to try to talk Ryan into taking a walk with me in the evening before it gets too rainy. My walks have been good so far. I used to listen to my ipod but I haven't updated it forever so I've just been walking, listening to my brain instead. Haha. It's good though because it gives me time to think before the day starts and it also gives me time to pray and reflect on Gods will. If I don't make time for things like that it doesn't happen. I don't know why I can make time for sleep, watching TV, cooking, etc, but not for God. Why does it seem harder than the other things? I don't know. But that is another - and the most important thing - that I need to have more self-discipline about.

So, besides exercise, food, and chores I would like to schedule in quiet time. I want at least once a week to set aside time before bed to read the bible and pray WITH Ryan. Soon I would also like to get up earlier and read the bible before I take my morning walk. I'm sick of just being a "Sunday Christian" with that being the only time that I read the bible. And if I just pray all the time but never pick up the bible (aka GOD'S WORD!), that's kind of a one-sided conversation, right?

Anyway, I neeeeeeeeed to set up more structure in my life and have more self-discipline when it comes to pretty much all aspects of my life. It's going to begin with being clear on what God wants for me, so I suppose I need to start there.

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Anyway, tonight I'm watching Jamesie from after work til around bed-time. He's sooo cute! Nae's going to an art reception tonight where she has some of her art pieces submitted. James is at preschool and then he'll ride his lil bus over to Playcare. I'm picking him up from Playcare after work and then he'll hang out with me and go night night at my house. Robin lent me Finding Nemo and Over the Hedge in case Jamesie wants to watch something. The only kid movie we have is Shrek and that's what we watched last time he came over. I can't wait to hang out with him! :) He's sooo cute these days and he says the funniest stuff.

Ryan is leaving for Reno tomorrow morning for a bowling tournament with his mom. They'll just be gone overnight. Hopefully I will get some stuff done while he's gone. I tend to do better at attacking the chores and cleaning the house when he's gone for some reason. At the same time, the time will probably go by pretty fast. I hope Ryan and Tammy have fun and do well in their tournament! They'll be squeezing in some gambling, too, I'm sure. :) I love my Ry-ry sooo much. He's always willing to listen to me and he's really sweet with me. He's also really funny and fun to spend time with. :) He's the best!

Quick health update

I had some intensification with my symptoms for about two weeks which would indicate that the meds and/or effects of the hyperbaric chamber were killing off the lyme bacteria. I haven't had the same type of intensification for several weeks now, although I have been sore (as usual), more tired than usual, and I've had some headaches here and there as well. I emailed Mitch and Joanne about possibly going in the hyperbaric chamber again. I think that the combination of hyperbaric and the 2 antibiotics that I am now on could really attack the bacteria better. They told me that the effects of hyperbaric can still help me for about a month after I stop the hyperbaric treatments. During that month I started the second, more powerful (and higher dose) antibiotic and that is when I experience the herxing. That's why I want to do hyperbaric treamtent AND antibiotics at the same time this time. I have an appointment with Mitch and then Mitch and my doctor together in two weeks from today. Hopefully they will be open to me going into the hyperbaric chamber again. In the last week I've felt really yucky but it's not the same as before. I'm not sure if it's my meds or if I'd just feel this way anyway. BLEH. It sucks though because I have NO energy or motivation.

Anyway, it's time for Flash Forward so I must be going!!!!!!!!!!