The time I was sick and went a month without blogging....

Merry Christmas, Goodbye 2013, and Hello 2014.

Yeah, so I clearly did not mean to go over a month without blogging. Or, not waxing poetic about how much I love Christmas. Or, not talking about how excited I was about my massive family being all together. Or, not letting you know how much fun we were having.

I clearly didn't mean to not wish you all a Merry Christmas. Or, not reflect on 2013. Or, not look forward to what 2014 has to bring.

I didn't mean for it, but it happened. Here's why....

Monday, Dec 9th - I went to work as normal and went about my day. Basically, I was fine. At 5:24pm, my boss closed his office door and waved good-bye. I remember, because I looked at the clock and was surprised by how late it had gotten. Sometime between then and about 5:40, I started getting this odd and intense pain in my abdomen. At first, I thought it was a weird gas pain or something. My coworker/friend M came in to chat and I stood up, thinking that would help work it through. However, the pain quickly became worse and I could barely focus on what M was saying.

Immediately after she left, I quickly grabbed what I could and left. I almost didn't make it to my car without passing out. After sitting in my car for a few minutes to try to regain my bearings, I grabbed my keys and phone and headed back inside. Again, I barely made it to my destination without passing out. The pain was HORRIBLE and I thought I was going to be sick.

Thankfully, things started to fall into place.... Both my mom and Heidi were on their way to get me. A coworker (who I scared to death when she found me in the hall, curled up in a ball) sat with me until they got there. My mom and stepdad took me to the ER where I underwent test after test for about six hours.

Diagnosis - Ruptured Ovarian Cyst.... Went home with pain meds and orders to follow-up with my GYN

Tuesday, Dec 10th - After barely being able to walk all day (not that I was going very far from the couch to the bathroom and back) and basically rotating between being in horrible pain and knocked out from the pain meds, my abdomen began swelling and I developed a fever. Back to the ER I went.... More tests. ANOTHER CT Scan (with contrast, which pissed off the ER nurse as I had been given contrast 24 hours before).

Diagnosis - Ruptured Ovarian Cyst (from the day before) and a Bladder Infection.... Went home around 2am with antibiotics to go along with the pain meds.

Wednesday, Dec 11th - In bed all day.

Thursday, Dec 12th - Feeling marginally better. GYN visit, where after reviewing everything from both ER visits and examining me, the Dr decides that he doesn't think it was a cyst.

"It doesn't make sense." - He thinks it might have been a flare up from my appendix and the meds they had me on was killing any infection.

Well, that's just great.

Friday, Dec 13th - Feeling A LOT better. *Almost* back to normal, except that I developed a cough overnight. It gets worse throughout the day. About 4pm, I'm shivering uncontrollably, cannot get warm, and apparently have a fever.

I refused to go back to the ER, so my mom takes me to Urgent Care. When I arrive, my temp is 103.2. More tests. More bloodwork. A chest X-Ray. About 45 minutes of letting me sleep in a back procedure room while they are waiting for everything to come back.

Diagnosis - A respiratory infection which the Dr thinks I probably got from one of my ER visits. Effing Fantastic. Since I was already on stronger antibiotics than he would have prescribed for a respiratory infection, he sends me home with orders to come back in 24 hours to make sure I haven't gotten any worse. He also says to take OTC meds in between my pain meds to help keep the fever down.

Saturday, Dec 14th - Still not well, but totally better than the evening before thanks to the meds. Go back to see the Urgent Care Dr. He congratulates me on my upswing and refers me for a follow-up in a couple of weeks.

Monday, Dec 16th - My Uncle Bobby arrives in town.

Tuesday- Dec 15th - Go back to work, even though everyone there tells me that I sound and look like death.

Wednesday, Dec 17th - Still sound and look bad.... Still go to work.... My cousin Ben and his wife Terra arrive in town.

Cough and generally feel crappy until after Christmas, but go along with all the plans we'd made for our visitors.

Monday, Jan 6th - Ben and Terra leave to go home.

Tuesday, Jan 7th - Uncle Bobby and Aunt Deb (who got in on Christmas Eve) leave to go home. Jess returns to her blog.


I did have fun over Christmas, New Years, and their visits, in general (which I hope to document here). I was on vacation from the 21st until the 2nd, so I got to have fun and recover.

Here's hoping I will be able to blog more frequently and stay well in 2014!

Flashback Friday: A Christmas Cousin Reunion

One of my most anticipated things about Christmas was the fact that my cousin Ben (Heidi's brother) and his wife Terra would be joining us for the holiday.

I hadn't seen either of them since their wedding almost 6 years prior and us cousins haven't spent Christmas together since we were small children. This was an EVENT!!!

They were driving in and all day long at work, I was giddy with excitement. Finally, they were here!!!! They came by my office to say Hi......

My Ben and I.....

His beautiful wife Terra and I

One of the first items on the list to do was go over to our Great Aunt Karon's house for cookie decorating and then go out to look at Christmas lights. Again, it had been over 20 years since Heidi and Ben had been in Florida for any holiday, so everyone was excited to see them.

Chilling at Aunt Karon's house....

We were the only ones of our generation for years, so when we were kids, we were SPOILED at Christmas. The last time we got a picture in front of a Christmas tree, we were significantly shorter.

The Original Cousins........ 

The Sisters..... Aunt Karon, Aunt Martha, Aunt Dot, and Ninny

During the festivities, I tried to soak up as much atmosphere as I could. Just getting as many pictures (even if they were low-quality cell phone) as I could. It was such a great night and full of sweet moments.

Paula and I....

Flashback Friday: Christmas at Gaylord and Disney

The first weekend in December, we had the opportunity to stay a night at Gaylord Palms. It is seriously one of my favorite hotels ever. Heidi's family joined us, as well.

Dive-In Movies in December..... Only in Florida.....

Me and my Little Bit..... She was so cold, lol.

The adults sitting by the pool, while the kids swim and watch 'Madagascar 3.'

Gaylord Palms is a BEAUTIFUL resort and is decorated so beautifully during the holidays. Late, late at night, they had live shows in the atrium........

The next day, we headed to Disney for a day of Magic.

First stop..... Dole Whip

Gorgeous girl.........

Yep, that was real.........

I always get excited when the huge trees go up......

So, that weekend was the official Grand Opening of the New Fantasyland. There were celebrities all over the place. At one point, I realized I was standing right next to Ginnifer Goodwin. Like, less than five feet away. No one else was even recognizing her. I'm still so mad at myself for not getting a picture.

When we went to Hollywood Studios, this was as close as I got to getting a picture of/with her.....

"Take a picture of me with this tree."....... Um, ok, kid.

At least once per season, we go see the Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas in Florida............

Flashback Friday: Oh, Christmas Tree

So, generally speaking, we get our Christmas trees the week after Thanksgiving. Sometimes, we slack, but little Lydia was adamant that it wasn't Christmas until there was a tree (girl after my own heart).

In fact, she almost broke our hearts when we were decorating the house and she earnestly came over to my mom and asked if we could please get a Christmas tree.

The next night, we adopted Rufus............. 

Yes, we named him Rufus. Quite frankly, he was the largest and best tree we ever have had. Lydia actually picked him out.

While we were giving Rufus a couple days to settle in before decorating, we got Lydia set up with a Christmas tree for her playroom. The kid was overjoyed to be decorating her little tree.

Eventually, we did get Rufus all dressed up. Every year, we top our tree with the Tin Foil Star that Mike made 21 years ago...............

Seriously, a gorgeous tree.........

Princess Tree........... I adore the way a lit tree looks in a dark room.........

I know it seems silly to document a Christmas tree, seven months after the tree is long gone, but I just had to. Not only do I personally LOVE Christmas trees, but this was the year that Lydia fell in love with them also. A couple days after Christmas, I had her most of the day and I asked her what her favorite part of Christmas this year was. She so innocently said, "Getting a real tree for my house."

It melted me. Sometimes, I do wonder if I'll ever be blessed with children of my own. I pray that I do and I pray that they are as sweet and precious as this kid. But, even if I don't get my own, I've been blessed to see so many of these milestones and priceless moments of Lydia's life.

Flashback Friday: Thanksgiving Cruise (Day 1 and KW)

Happy Friday!

So, as I'm typing this, I am broadcasting from Universal and I get a text from my uncle. He lives in Arizona and is scheduled to come down for a visit next Weds. Well, he sends a pic of his phone and the menu of a local eatery that we all love.... "Lunch is on me!"

I called Heidi to see if he's actually there and she had called the place to see if he actually was, lol! He is, in fact, in town a full four days early! Never, ever have I been so sad to be broadcasting from a theme park.

Anyway, I'm going to try to catch up on some drafted posts using my new "Flashback Friday." I have a lot of posts from the holidays and earlier this year that I've never finished, so here's hoping I can manage one post a week!

Let's start with Thanksgiving 2012, shall we?

On Thanksgiving morning (November 22), piled into three different cars to make the drive to Miami for our cruise. Mom, Jeff, Linda (family friend), and Joanie (Linda's friend) in one. Trevor, Uncle Bobby, and Bryan in a second. Megan, Megan, and I in the third.

It's a 4 hour drive to Miami. Not a problem. However, it *is* a problem when that 4 hours is mainly a two lane highway on Thanksgiving morning.

Tip #1 - If you are making a long drive on a holiday, pack a snack. It took us an hour to find a McDonald's that was open.

Our view for the better part of four hours....

Sister car.....

We finally made it to Port of Miami! Then, the fun *really* started. Getting so many people's allowed bottles of wine, water, and soda onto the ship turned out to be not so fun.

Uncle Bobby didn't wait for that mess and got right on the ship.

Tip #2 - Don't put ALL the water and wine in one vehicle, no matter what your mother says. You and your two sisters will end up trying to figure out how to get all of that onto the ship.

A full HOUR AND A HALF LATER, we were able to get this picture........

My brother is grabbing my butt which is why I'm positioned so weird.

By the time we got on the boat, Uncle Bobby had been on there for almost two hours and had the whole place scoped out. We got settled, walked around, and generally started our official vacation!

Dinner time eventually came around and our large party had its own table.

Tip #3 - YES, you can order whatever you want off the menu. My brother thought we were lying, at first, and was scared to order more than one entree, lol.

Tip #4 - DO NOT ORDER THE TURKEY. Regardless of the fact that it's Thanksgiving, just do not do it. Not worth it.

After dinner, Uncle Bobby, the two Megans, and I all changed and then met back up for the comedy show.

Uncle Bobby and his girls.....

The next morning, we arrived in Key West!! The weather was awesome and it was a perfect day to just walk around. We didn't bother with booking an excursion.

Trevor, Bryan, Megan, Megan, Me (and Jeff photo-bombing)....

I seriously love Key West. It's so fun and quaint-feeling.

So, we found this. A Tervis store. Not only are Tervis cups generally the best drink-ware in the world, but it was Black Friday. Challenge accepted. They had a great sale, free shipping, and the biggest selection of awesome cups I'd ever seen.

I never get tired of the crazy amount of chickens walking around....

Last time I was in Key West, I didn't get to get this picture, so I was pretty excited.....

Trevor desperately wanted to ride a scooter around the island, so Mom rented him one and then rented a supersized golf cart for everyone else. I took my life in my own hands and joined him.....

Megan took the second half of the trip......

Bryan and I decided to walk back to Sloppy Joe's and Megan had Trevor drop her off, so we could indulge in some fun adult beverages......

I think the name of this yumminess was 'Pain in the .....'

Alas, it was eventually time for us to get back on our ride....

Megan and I actually made it to the gym (go us!). We then hung around until it was time to get ready for Fancy Night on the Ship!

We all clean up pretty well, I think!......

Trevor and Uncle Bobby didn't feel like dressing up, so we changed and met them on the deck after dinner. They were playing 'The Wedding Planner' on the big pool deck screen, which was pretty cool!

After a fun-filled day, we all called it a night to get ready for a day in Mexico.......