Wednesday, January 30, 2008

TAMPAX in Africa - eeewwwwww

So I'm watching music videos on Yahoo last night, and as usual before the one of the actual videos came on, I had to sit through a 30 second commercial -- that's always annoyed me, but I deal - anyway... So, I see an African girl on the screen and the announcer starts talking about how she has to stay home from school one week of every month... huh?? Okay now I'm intrigued... the announcer continues with the below message:

For some girls in Southern Africa, getting their period means missing school for several days each month. That's because they don't have access to something many of us take for granted: feminine protection.

What?? Whoa! I don't want to know that!

It All Starts With A Pad: For many of the girls, this will be the first time they receive pads on a regular basis. They will learn how to use pads properly and have the opportunity to ask questions and talk openly about their bodies' changing needs.

Turns out Always and Tampax have a foundation that donates pads & tampons to poor girls in Africa. Really now - do we need a separate charity for that? I don't want to know about that! Just the same as I don't want to know about their rampant hemorrhoid problems or diarrhea. Can't that just fall under a bigger charity's domain? I donate to several charities and foundations, including (RED) and ONE - both African charities - and UNICEF. Can't UNICEF handle the feminine protection issues? Okay, okay, fine... if there has to be a separate foundation - and yay for Always & Tampax for taking the initiative -- do they HAVE to advertise with pop-up commercials on Yahoo? Can't they put ads in product boxes, women's magazines, and other websites? Maybe run a commercial during The View or Ellen Degeneres Show? I don't know, just a thought...

P.S.
Just to show my support... here's the website: http://www.protectingfutures.com/

Monday, January 28, 2008

Gained Weight - ugh

I gained 3 pounds... Ugh...

I really don't want to go to my surgeon in a couple of weeks and confess that I gained 3 pounds... I used to lie to my Jenny Craig counselor about what I ate and the amount I was exercising -- I'd lie to my doc, but he's going to make me get on the scale. ugh... I had lost a total of 25 pounds so far. That's pretty good for 3 months! But then the holidays hit and then I went on vacation, and all ideas of eating healthy went right out the window. I know I can only eat about 6 ounces at a time, but 6 ounces of southern cooking, fast foods, or desserts add up! I LOVE food - and I wanted freedom to eat whatever I wanted during the holidays and on vacation. Well, I got that freedom - but I also got an extra 3 pounds. How's it go, you reap what you sow? I'm going to have to buckle down, cut out the crap & sweets, and start eating healthy again asap!

Hannah Montana Concert

I did it! I got tickets to the hottest show out there! HANNAH MONTANA!

These tickets are worth gold - GOLD I tell ya! But my baby boy's worth it! (He's so spoiled!) Okay, let me just start off by clarifying that I did NOT go overboard and spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars on Hannah Montana tickets. My son may be spoiled, but I'm not crazy! LOL The Hannah Montana "phenomenon" as I'll call it, is crazy! It's absolutely insane! I know we've all had our teenage superstars (Tiffany and New Kids on the Block anyone?) with their faces plastered on the covers of Teen Beat & Bop! magazines, but the madness and marketing surrounding Hannah Montana is truly insane! I was walking through Walmart yesterday and saw EVERYTHING Hannah Montana - eyeglasses, blue jeans with her pic on the hems, underwear, clothes of all sorts, bedding, toys, even snacks! I swear, there will be a Hannah Montana breakfast cereal before it's over. But I can't complain too much, because I've spent my hard earned money on several Hannah Montana items, so I'm just contributing to the madness...

But anyway - back to the tickets! I tried for Hannah Montana Rodeo tickets last year - nuh-huh, no way. The concert (at Reliant Stadium I might add) sold out in less than 10 minutes. This year, with the stories of parents camping out for days waiting for tickets, Rodeo Houston didn't even put them on sale to the general public. They held a random raffle drawing to select who was eligible to purchase the tickets once they went on sale. Even if you were selected, that didn't guarantee you'd get the tickets - just guaranteed you'd have a shot to buy them. I refused to be one of those crazy mothers who entered radio contests or did goofy stunts - or made up a bogus Army Dad in Iraq story to get tickets, but hey entering my email address in a lottery wasn't too bad. and lucky me - I won! So I was online at 8:00am sharp on Wednesday January 16th when the tickets went on sale and bought my max 4 tickets. The best part about it all is that they're Rodeo Tickets, so they're only $16 each! I LOVE Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo tickets - they're always super cheap like that - cause it's an abbreviated show only about an hour's worth I'd say. Plus we get into the Livestock Show and Carnival - always fun - and get to see the Rodeo! I absolutely LOVE the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo! YEEHAW!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Disney World Recap

Okay, I've been home for a week now... I've finally recovered enough to blog about my trip - and I've mostly caught up on my sleep! So... about Disney World...

Our plane left Houston at 9:00am on Sunday Jan 13th. We of course woke up late and had to rush to get to the airport on time. Thank God there was no traffic, we were actually a bit early. I swear I always feel like the mom on Home Alone, rushing through the airport and then freaking out on the plane because I know I forgot something! Gaither & I are both so tempted to sit up & scream KEVIN! just once on a plane. But of course I don't really want to meet the air marshals & federal agents at the airport, so I'll just keep that little urge to myself. The flight to Orlando was pretty uneventful thankfully - I read, Gaither slept, and Benjamin watched DVD's. We landed in Orlando & headed to baggage claim. I told Benjamin his job was to find the man holding a sign with our name on it. LOL Backing up a little - as you all know, I'm a completely pampered princess. My old travel agent automatically booked Town Car transfers from the airport to my hotel on about 3 vacations we went on, and I'm completely spoiled now and require it every time if I can. My new travel agent tried to explain that Disney now offers a free shuttle bus service from the airport to resort hotels, uh-huh no way. I told her that there's just something about walking into baggage claim & seeing a man holding a sign with your name on it. He takes our luggage, loads it into the car & off we go - no waiting, no extra stopping, no crammed into a van with 20 complete strangers - it's the only way to go! So... we walk outside to the line of waiting Town Cars, and I'm hanging back to see which one is ours -- we walk right past the Town Cars and go to the LIMO! Woohoo! I wasn't expecting that! I'm riding in style this time! We even had a flat screen tv playing Pirates of the Caribbean - cool!

The trip started out really well for us... My parents were waiting for us as we pulled up to the hotel -- they don't fly, so they left 2 days earlier & drove to Florida. We decided to stay at Disney's Old Key West Resort. It was a bit more expensive than the hotels we'd stayed in in the past, but it was totally worth it. We had a 2 bedroom "villa" - basically a 2 bedroom apartment. Two bedrooms - one king, one with 2 queens, two baths - including a separate corner jacuzzi garden tub, full kitchen with all of the amenities, an island & kitchen table, full size washer & dryer, and a living room with a sleeper sofa & a tv with dvd. If you've ever been to Disney World before, you'll know that they charge ungodly amounts for food. For most meals, you pay about airport prices for airport or hospital quality food. Don't get me wrong, I've had some VERY good meals at Disney, but I've paid about twice what I normally would for them. So, we figured the extra money we spent on the villa, we'd make back in savings on meals - and I think we did. We woke up every morning around 7am, and Gaither and Cindy would make breakfast while my mom & I got ready. We started out each morning with a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, etc that held us a lot longer than donuts or muffins would have. We ate lunch in the parks every day, and then were back at the hotel to eat dinner there. We saved TONS of money that way - and we were able to eat exactly what we wanted!

Anyway... So Sunday we just vegged around the hotel. We were all worn out from the trip, plus we were still coming off of the stress from the funeral the day before. We woke up bright & early Monday morning & headed for the Magic Kingdom. I swear, that place really is magical! I love the commercial where the family goes to Disney and either the mom or the dad turns back into a little kid when they enter the park - do you know it? Anyway... that's me. I swear, I hear the music and walk on to Main Street and suddenly I'm a kid again. I took Benjamin's hand and started SKIPPING down the road. I couldn't wait to see & do everything! He wasn't too keen on having his mom skipping next to him, but I didn't care. I was in heaven! My mom's the same way too - we both turned into the biggest kids all week.

So the schedule went - Magic Kingdom on Monday, Epcot on Tuesday, Animal Kingdom on Wednesday, shopping at Downtown Disney on Thursday (they were expecting rain), MGM/Hollywood Studios on Friday, and breakfast with Lilo & Stitch on Saturday before we checked out & headed home. Oh, and I have to say - I LOVE going to Disney in January. There are hardly any people there at all! It was a bit busier this time than last - they had the Disney Marathon on Sunday the 13th, so we had leftover crowd from that, but generally the crowds were next to nothing.

We did all of the classic rides that are a required part of visiting Disney, though Gaither & I refused to set foot on "It's a Small World". I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a fork than go on that ride again. But Yay - that's what Grandma & Grammy are for! They couldn't wait to take Benjamin on Dumbo and It's a Small World. He attempted to do Pirates of the Caribbean, but he's going through a big 'scared of the dark' phase right now, and it was just too creepy for him. I had to give him credit though, he did try! I could go on for hours about all of the rides & shows etc. Needless to say, we had a BLAST!

The week was great until Wednesday night. Cindy started puking. We thought she had food poisoning from some bad brie (damn cheese!), but then Benjamin & I got sick Friday night. Poor Cindy, she hated being sick in the middle of vacation. She had to stay in bed in the hotel all Thursday and almost didn't make it with us on Friday. Just when she was starting to get better, Benjamin & I got sick. So obviously it was a bug & not food poisoning. Luckily Benjamin only puked a few times and then passed out asleep. I wasn't so lucky. I don't think I've EVER been that sick! Afterwards while talking to my doc this week, he asked me about how many times I puked -- I said I stopped counting at 20. (TMI?? oops! sorry!) It was so bad, I asked Gaither to call an ambulance for me. Maybe it was worse because of my new stomach. I don't know, all I know is that I felt like I was dying. Gaither & I were up all night -- poor thing, he couldn't sleep while I was so sick. We got an hour of sleep maybe two tops all night. Needless to say we cancelled our breakfast with Lilo & Stitch on Saturday (there was just no way). There was also no way I was going to make it back to Houston on Saturday either. I couldn't go 30 minutes without being sick, and I was sooooo weak with dehydration. Gaither took me to an urgent care clinic down the road as soon as they opened. Yep - the doc confirmed, I had a stomach virus. Big surprise huh? But he then became my bestest friend on the planet --- he gave me a shot of phenergen. Yay doc! In case you don't know, phenergen is the best medicine out there for nausea & vomiting. It also makes you feel like you've been clubbed over the head when you take it though. Makes NyQuil seem like speed in comparison. Once dose of that stuff, and I'm out for 12 hours! I always joke that of course it stops the vomiting - it puts you in a coma! He sent me home with a prescription for more phenergen - enough to get me home to Houston. So, now we had to do just that though - figure out how to get us home to Houston - since we missed our flight. We'd purchased our airfare in the beginning of 2007, so we had the super cheap inflexible (can't change, can't cancel) airfare. It would have cost us $300 each - $900 total - to change our flight. NO WAY! Thank God my parents were there and they'd driven. We basically had no other choice but to load up in the minivan with them and drive back home. Oh wonderful! My mom called the front desk and even though the hotel was booked, managed to sweet talk them into letting us stay another night (paid of course) and check out on Sunday. So Sunday morning we had the wonderful experience of trying to fit 3 extra people, plus luggage, and gifts etc into an already packed Ford Windstar. Oh wow was that fun! Luckily Gaither's a whiz at packing, so we managed to fit almost everything. We pulled out the things we could live without & left them for the housekeeping staff. Mainly - our umbrella stroller (Benjamin's WAY too big for that now), a big Igloo cooler, and bags & bags of leftover food & kitchen paper goods. Then we all climbed in and headed out on a 19 hour car trip across the South. BTW, have I mentioned that I HATE car trips?! I mean I HATE HATE HATE them! I can't stand being in a car for more than about 2 hours, and here we were looking at 19 hours - oh joy. Luckily for me, they'd stuck me in the very back. I had my 'little cave' as I called it - I was surrounded by suitcases, pillows, hang up clothes, and God knew whatever else. Fine by me! I plugged my ipod in, popped a phenergen, and passed out for most of the drive on Sunday. We ended up being in the car for 11 hours that day - spent the night in Gulfport MS. Then up again and on the road for another 8 hours on Monday -- until HOME finally! We'd originally planned on being home Saturday, to give us Sunday to recoup & rest before heading back to work & school on Monday. No such luck. So... that's why this is so late and not as detailed as I'd like. It took me a week to recover and get back on my feet. Oh and I'll be adding pics probably tonight -- we just downloaded them off of the camera last night!

Blah blah blah...

I thought about blogging every day on my trip, giving you the break down of all the fun stuff we did that day - but I'm still insecure about writing too much on here. I still worry and think that no one wants to read every little detail about my life and times - especially my vacation. So, instead of the day by day blow by blow, I'm doing an abridged recap of the highlights... and lowlights...

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Still Here

I'm here... still alive and kicking... sorry I haven't written in a while, but as most of you know, I've been out of town. I'm trying to get settled in and back to my regular routine - then I'll post all my stories from the last two weeks...

xoxo,

Wendy

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Busy...

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I have 1,001 stories to tell, but just not enough time to tell them. Everything's been super busy and crazy this past week, when I finally get home in the evenings I just zone out on the couch or pour myself straight into bed. My aunt died this week, we just had the funeral yesterday and this morning. Plus, we're leaving at 7am tomorrow morning for a week at Disney World - yay! I'm leaving my compt at home, so no posts next week. I'm sure I'll have plenty more to write about when I get back - plus I'll fill you in on the stories from this week.

Oh - and just FYI... Friday's my anniversary! Friday January 18, 2008 makes 11 years of wedded bliss!

TTYS...

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Migraine gone bye-bye

All Hail Ray - the conqueror of all migraines!

Ray, my massage therapist, is the best! I frantically called him yesterday for an appointment this week. I didn't care what day or time, just whenever he could see me. I was going insane from my migraine and the acupuncture didn't help that much. Well he's the best and squeezed me in yesterday at 6:00pm. 70 minutes later I left with just a little bit of a headache... and woke up this morning with it gone completely! I swear, I could just kiss that man! Yay for Ray!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Migraine Part 2 - The Cat Came Back

The migraine's still here... dammit...

I had an acupuncture session at lunch. The headache's better, but not gone all the way. I AM much more relaxed though, so that's a good thing. I have an appt with my massage therapist after work. Let's see if that works...

Do you know the cartoon & song "The Cat Came Back"? That's what I feel like... I keep trying everything to get rid of this damn headache, but it keeps coming back no matter what. Let's just hope I don't end up blowing up my head...


Sunday, January 6, 2008

Migraine

Ugh... I have a migraine... I've had it for two days now - this sucks...

I ended up in the hospital for a week in January / February both last year and the year before because of an out of control migraine. I can NOT do that this year. We're leaving for Disney World in 7 days --- I HAVE to be better by then! I caved & took Tylenol with codeine Friday & yesterday, but had to stay strong & not take any today. Even though narcotics are really good at immediate pain relief, they tend to cause severe "rebound" headaches - the headache comes back in full force or even worse once the medication wears off. So, today I've fudged through with 4 Advil at a time. It doesn't take the headache completely today, but it does dull the pain so that's at least some improvement. I'm calling my massage therapist tomorrow and begging him for an appointment. He's wonderful with trigger points and acupressure for relieving pain. I'm also going to make an acupuncture appointment. I haven't done that in a couple of years, but it did work in the past. And honestly, I'll try just about anything if there's a chance it'll get rid of the headache in time for vacation! Wish me luck!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Stomach Problems

I'm doing so well with my new stomach that I forget I can have issues/problems with it - such as my new inability to "stomach" liquor. I had another problem tonight at McDonald's. I've been able to eat a 4 piece Chicken McNugget Happy Meal & child's size Dr. Pepper since I've had my surgery --- I don't know what my problem was tonight. I'm thinking either I didn't chew my food enough - I've had to start chewing my food into total mush before I swallow, if not it gets stuck and essentially "blocks the drain". Or I took too big of a swallow of Dr. Pepper - know what happens when you pour soda into a glass too quickly? Well that's what happens with my new stomach - the carbonation expands causing serious pain. Either way, I started having SERIOUS pains at McDonald's. It hurt so bad and made me so nauseous I couldn't talk, could barely move. I HATE to throw up, always have, and I've taught myself breathing techniques to calm my stomach. I managed to control the nausea tonight so luckily no yacking, but HOLY CRAP was I in pain. It took me almost an hour at McDonald's and then another hour afterwards at home, but I'm finally just enough better to get up & moving again. Yeesh... I really feel for the people who go through hard recovery and adjustment times with new lap-bands...

Goals for 2008

Each year I start out saying "This year, I'm not going to make any resolutions - or at least not any of the 'classic' ones." Because it never fails, you always end up breaking them within the first 30 days. THIS YEAR, I'm going to do something slightly different -- I'm making a list of goals for myself for the year. Yeah yeah, I know - resolutions/goals, same thing. I don't care... let's see how many I'm still heading towards come June.

Goals for 2008:

1. (Okay, this might be just setting myself up for failure but I don't care...) Work out - I pay for a gym membership every month, I might as well use it!

2. COOK - home cooked meals at least 4 days a week!

3. Three Parter:
Become a better practicing Buddhist - follow the 8 fold path, integrate it into my daily living
Attend my weekly meetings
Meditate daily - preferably every morning

4. Take dance lessons after I lose my weight - either finish tap or take ballroom dancing.

5. Start a family games/dinner night with my parents & family. Once a week have family & friends over for dinner & socializing.

6. Along with #5, invite people over more often - family and friends. Don't worry about the condition of the house, just have fun hanging out!

7. Make the most of my Pure Romance business. Make it a success!!

New Years Eve Recap... very disappointing

I am so sad... here I was planning on getting totally FUBARed with my friends New Year's Eve and I barely got tipsy!

The evening started out with me making a last minute dash to HEB. Never send me to a grocery store in a rush, planning a party, and hungry - it never ends well. I ended up leaving the store with $100 in chips & dips, snacks, marshmallows for roasting, and a cake! After loading the car with my 1,000 bags of groceries and about half of my liquor cabinet, I texted Jene' at 5pm saying we were on our way and would be there in an hour. She replies back with a "great! btw, I bought snacks!" Uh-oh... I thought we'd worked that out, but unfortunately not and she stocked up on food too. So, for four people we had 5 kinds of dip, 4 kinds of chips and crackers, celery & carrots for dipping, several kinds of cheeses, sausage & 3 kinds of lunch meat, the cake, the marshmallows, and probably several other things I can't remember... Needless to say, we didn't worry about getting hungry the whole night!

We kicked off the night at 6-ish or 7-ish with a buttery nipple shot (Buttershots & Bailey's), and I made a chocolate martini. That's when my new tiny stomach YELLED at me and told me that it doesn't like liquor - especially shots. So, my first shot ended up being my last too. I finished my martini, had a Bailey's & cream, and then switched to water for the rest of the night. Ugh... it was just enough liquor to make me sleepy, but not enough to get me drunk.

We spent most of the evening watching 2 Suzanne Westenhoefer comedy specials on tv - she's one of my absolute FAVORITE comedians. I'd planned a whole night of drinking games (quarters or asshole anyone?), board games, and/or maybe marathon spades. But nope nuh-huh, none of that! My mellowness from my tiny bit of alcohol must've been contagious because we just sat around talking after that. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time and TONS of fun, but my God it was so different from the NYE parties of my 'youth'! We counted down the clock at midnight, watched fireworks from the front porch, got our traditional smooches, and I talked to my mom - also tradition. Then off to bed for night night time!

I was awake by 6am and up & moving by 7:30am - about the time everyone else got up. We sat around drinking coffee and watching Good Morning America until it was time to go home. Wow... no hangovers, no queasy tummies, no sleeping until noon... When did I grow up?