Grandpa T

Yikes! I didn't realize that it had been 2 months since my last post! Oops.

The past 2 months have been pretty eventful for us!  I'll do my best to catch up.

In May, my paternal grandfather passed away. He had been in hospice care for a while, so his death was not unexpected. However, it was still very sad. Grandpa's passing meant that I no longer have any living grandparents. It also meant that I would never get to visit his and grandma's house again. That house was a fun part of my childhood. I'll never forget the fake hardwood carpet, the orange hide-a-bed couch, the candy duck, the wallpaper, Marj's huge knitted cube, grandma's spoon and Precious Moments statuette collections, and their clock and always gonged every hour. It meant the end of our bi-annual Thanksgiving in Boise with my dad's entire family (we've been doing that since 1990).

Most of all, it is sad to no longer see my grandpa in this life. He was a great man. He loved God and his family. Grandpa always smiled and was very generous. He was not one to say "I love you" out loud, but I never cared because he showed he loved us in so many ways. He gave very tight hugs each time I saw him and would be attentive to any of my stories that I would tell him. Growing up, every time we said good-bye, he would always say, "You be a good girl". I always liked hearing that. I remember one time when I was about 20, he simply said, "You are so good!" That's a simple but sweet memory I have of him.

Jordan and I were able to fly to Utah and attend my grandfather's funeral. It was wonderful to see my cousins, aunts and uncles, and siblings. I was also happy to visit my grandparent's house for a final good-bye.

Grandma and Grandpa's candy duck

 Dad and his sisters (and cousin)

My family, minus the spouses

My dad's cousin and husband, my parents, and the Jo's

We love you, Grandpa! We are happy you are reunited with loved ones; especially Grandma and Ozzie (their beloved and faithful dog who died last year).

3

Tres.
Drei.
San.
THREE!

Happy 3 year anniversary to us! Can't believe our wedding was 1096 days ago.

The past three years have not been filled with too much adventure. We have lived in the same apartment for the past three years, we spend many a day and night falling asleep on the couch watching tv, we have 0 pets and 0 children. Still, these years have been simply wonderful.I would rather be in my little Tulsa apartment with Jordan than traveling the world solo.


I remember when I was single, marriage was pretty terrifying to me. The idea of sharing my life with somebody, having to allow someone else to have a say in what I do...yuck. Now, I can't imagine being independent. I have really grown to love being a couple and having one life we share together. Plus, it's nice to have someone around who can carry heavy stuff and reach high things for me.

Three down, eternity to go!

My Homemade Weekend

I like crafting, and I loooove to read about crafting by people who are far better at it than I am, so I usually spend a good portion of my lunch hour looking at crafty blogs every day. One theme I see often is people proudly making something that is "homemade" when it would be either cheaper or just as much money to get it from a store.

For example, I attended a relief society meeting about making homemade jam. What. a. HASSLE! The whole process takes well over 45 minutes (which is about 44 minutes longer than buying it) and costs more than buying the stuff. "But you can make so much with the recipe". Don't care. I'm not in desperate need of more. Jam costs me about $2.50 at the store and usually one jar lasts several months (hmmm....after typing this out, that sounds kinda gross...oh, well). 

Another one- I've seen a lot of tutorials on homemade deodorant and shampoo, homemade toothpaste, etc...Usually these end up costing MORE than something bought, leads to making a mess, and takes up time; precious time that could otherwise be spent watching Law and Order: SVU. No, thank you.

However, when a homemade tutorial DOES claim to be cheaper and better than store bought, it peaks my curiosity. So, this weekend I tried a few "homemade thingies" out.

Homemade Thing #1: Greek Yogurt
Jordan has been successfully becoming more healthy this year. He has lost 15+ pound since Christmas and has been getting more exercise. Mainly, he has been watching his calories and eating better. I'm totally fine with this, as it means when I make cookies they are ALL FOR ME! Or when his dad gives us a chocolate bar, I know I don't have to share it. Muhahaha (hmmm...after typing THIS out, that sounds kinda gross...I can live with that). Anywho, one of Jordan's favorite new treats to eat is Greek yogurt. It's all the rage right now, apparently. It IS really good, but the packs that Jordan likes are $1 per HALF cup. This lead to us spending about $35 a month on yogurt alone.Yikes. So, when I stumbled upon a homemade yogurt recipe, I thought it would be worth a try. I made some this weekend and....

Hurrary for yogurt!

The Verdict: WE LOOOOVE IT! It takes a while to cook in a crock pot and you have to babysit it a little more than I like, but in the end it taste the exact same as store bought, it costs $2 to make about 3 1/2 cups (where store bought would be closer to $6). Plus, I got the satisfaction of sounding more domestic by proudly texting my mom "I just made yogurt!" I ended up making more on Saturday as well! (Here is the recipe: http://shannonskitchencreations.com/2011/05/30/crock-pot-greek-yogurt/ ((the only difference I made was sticking the towel covered crockpot in the oven with the light one- I learned that from another website))

Homemade Thing #2: Laundry Detergent
So, I've been hearing about people making homemade laundry detergent for a while now. Initally, I thought it sounded like something that was way more trouble than it is worth. But then I read more blogs about how it makes your clothes sooo much cleaner and smells sooo much better than normal detergent, so I thought I would give it a try. It actually didn't take very long at all  make, AND I got to watch Law and Order while I made it so no time was lost :).

The Verdict: Meh. It works fine, but I didn't notice anything different or special about my clothes. They looked equally clean and didn't smell like much of anything. I'll keep using it until it runs out because it works, but I'm not sure if I'll make more. Probably will just stick to buying it from now on.

Homemade Things #3: Necklace
There is no special story. I made this necklace:
 The Verdict:...um, jury is still out on this one. When I initially made it, I thought it looked dumb, then I kinda liked it, then I went back to not liking it, etc. I'm gonna wear it to church today to see if anyone comments on it in a positive or negative way before I make up my mind.What do you think? Does it took obviously homemade? Should I just chuck it? It won't bother me either way because it cost about 30 cents to make.

And THAT was my homemade weekend!

Bye, 25

Another year of life almost completed. I'll be 26 tomorrow. Even though I have moaned and groaned about getting older, I'm feeling a little more "at peace" with this year. Yes, I know that I am still very young...it's just sad to know I can never be this age again. As I've mentioned before, finality never really sits well with me.

But, all in all, the twenty-five year old version of myself had a good run. Here she is in review:

Me, version 25
In April, I sang my first solo in church since primary. It was terrifying and required several days of prayer and a blessing from Jordan, but I got through it and I was pretty proud of myself for not crying during it.

In May, Jordan and I celebrated our two year anniversary on a Caribbean cruise, and it was maaaahvalous.


In June, my sister and my niece came to Oklahoma and visited, which was way too much fun! I also got to go to Utah and see one of my good friends, Melissa get married in the Draper temple!


While I was there, I also got to spend an afternoon with my OTHER very amazing friend, Melissa. She and I hadn't seen each other in over 2 years and were so excited to hang out. Naturally, we had a blast. I'm so grateful I got to see her one last time. She passed away this past Winter (I've wanted to blog about her for a while now, but I've been avoiding it. Makes me too sad right now.) I'm also sad that the last picture we took together was so blurry :(

In August, Jordan and I got to go to Tucson and play with my brother and his family.


In September, I got to go to Seattle and see my amazing cousin Jaime get married in the Seattle Temple. She and I are only 2 months apart and lived only about 30 minutes away from each other throughout our childhood. I was so excited to be there for the big day!


In October, my parents came for a week to play with us in Oklahoma. I also got to go to the ER for the first time since I was super young AND  ride in my first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride.

In December, we got to go back to Seattle and spend an entire week with the fam!



In January I got to experience the joys of a kidney surgery, a stent, kidney stones, and enemas (yes, plural). Didn't really love that time.

In February, things chippered up as my entire family (minus one poor Brad) got to go to Southern California for a week. It was magical and exhausting; just the way a vacation should be. I may blog about it someday.

So, yes. Twenty-five year me did pretty well. I also had about 350 boring and highly uneventful days during 25, but we can forget about them. I'm hoping 26 brings more traveling, less surgeries, and a puppy. Stay tuned...

Still not a grown up.

Even though I am about to 26 in a week, I was reminded last night that I have no need to fear about aging yet. If anything, I should call my doctor to rule out Benjamin Button syndrome.

Last night, I attended a fireside at my church. It was a special fireside for Young Women, their mothers, and Young Women leaders. It was a the General Young Women Broadcast, and there were two wards meeting for it- my ward (the New Haven ward) and the other ward that goes to our building (Riverside ward).

Since I am not a young woman or a mother, I sat down by myself on a side pew. While the building coordinator was setting up our projector, A mother from the other ward smiled at me and said, "Hi, you must be from New Haven. Are you new?" I responded, "No, not really. I've been in the ward for about 3 years." She looked confused and asked, "Really?! What's your last name?" I told her my name. She continued to look perplexed and then asked, "Are you a leader, or a young woman?" BAH! I explained I was a leader. "OH!" she replied, "I thought you were a new youth....how OLD are you?" I wanted to respond, "None of your dang business, lady. You wouldn't ask someone your age that question, would you?" but instead I smiled and said, "I'm almost twenty-six." She looked even more surprised and said, "Wow, I thought you were maybe 19 if you were a leader!" Ugh.

Last forward about 5 minutes later. The broadcast was just starting when a friendly looking teenaged girl from the other ward came up and sat next to me. She smiled and asked, "Hi, what's your name?" I started to think that maaaaaybe she's just friendly? I told her my name. She introduced herself and then nervously asked if I wanted to sit next to her and her friends. Yes, she thought I was a lonesome teen. I didn't want her to feel stupid for asking me because IF I was a teenager all by myself at a fireside I would have appreciated her invitation, so I accepted her offer. I smiled and told her I was a leader but I would be happy to sit next to them. She lead me to her pew with her friends and her mom. Her mom smiled and asked, "Hi! Are you new?" I politely explained that no I was NOT a new youth, but a leader. The mom's jaw dropped. "OH! My goodness you, look so young! We thought you were a new young women!" Oh, brother. I made sure to let them know that it was great for them to invite a stranger to their pew, but yes it was a little awkward.

So, Universe, I give up. What do I need to do to look older than seventeen?

Letters to myself

Dear 4 year old me,
You have NO IDEA how amazing your life is right now. No work, no school, no responsibilities. Cherish it.

Dear 5 year old me,
Yes, Mrs. Gruber is the scariest kindergarten teacher in the world, but you'll never get in serious trouble, so stop worrying about it everyday.

Dear 6 year old me,
You know how Molly is currently obsessed with living in Oklahoma when she grows up and talks about it all the time? That will be kinda funny. Stay tuned.

Dear 8 year old me,
Don't get that haircut. It's a mistake.

Dear 12 year old me,
You know how the orthodontist said you'll wear your new braces for 18 months? Don't believe him. Those puppies aren't going anywhere....

Dear 16 year old me,
Hang in there, the braces will be off soon! Also, don't you think it's time you get your license? Stop being such a chicken.

Dear 18 year old me,
Yes, it does royally suck that UW did not accept you into college. Don't worry. You'll escape BCC and move on with your life. Stop thinking you are such a loser. It's exhausting.
Also...are you SURE you want to apply to Kindercare? Cause there ARE other places....


Dear 20 year old me,
Congrats into getting into BYU! You'll like it a lot...and when you get that C in American Heritage, it won't be the end of the world. Your GPA will be resurrected and you will even get into grad school some day.

Dear 21 year old me,
OK, seriously? You really need to stop dating such weirdos. And when that nice Jordan boy asks you out, just GO.

Dear 22 year old me,
Look- you like him, he likes you. Stop worrying about it.

Dear 23 year old me,
See what I meant about how nice that Jordan boy is? Marriage won't be as terrifying as it is right now. Don't worry, you'll actually enjoy Tulsa in a few months.

Dear 24 year old me,
There, see? Marriage is AWESOME! And no, you can't quit your job and spend everyday at the pool. It's time to be a grown up....sigh. By the way, your job WILL get easier and you will like it much more later.

Dear 25 year old me,
Ah, look. Your job is ok after all. Heads up- you are about to meet your worst enemy...in the shape of tiny kidney stone. Also, stop freaking out about "being old". Strangers will still think you are 17.

Dear 26 year old me,
Am I normal yet? Let me know!

This sums it up for me

I found this picture on Pinterest and I couldn't help but laugh. This is TOTALLY me.

Don't get me wrong, I DO care about human suffering and my heart does go out to people who experience pain or trauma (otherwise I made a very poor career choice). I also acknowledge and believe that human problems are more important than animal problem, but there is something about an animal in pain, fear, or otherwise poor living arrangement that just KILLS ME!

For example, here is a list of my hypothetical reactions to bad things happening to people vs animals.

Watching a movie where a person dies: "Oh, how sad."
Watching a movie where an animal dies: "I HATE this movie. Waaa Waaa! Who thinks this is good entertainment?! Why are we watching this in the first place?? I'm covering my eyes."

Hearing about a parent who abuses their children: "What jerks!! How dare they? Who do they think they are? Those poor children don't deserve that. Let's send them to jail."
Hearing about a pet owner who abuses their pet: "BURN THEM! BURN THEM ALIIIIIIIVE!"

Seeing a homeless man on the street: "Look, there is a homeless person."
Seeing a homeless person with a dog on the street": "HOW SAD!!! Poor dog. I must give them all my money. Maybe I can run and grab dog food really fast. WAAAA!"

Seeing a one legged person: "hmm, I better make sure I'm not staring. Act natural like you don't even realize it."
See a three legged creature: "Awwwwww. I'm so proud of you, you little soldier! You're an inspiration to us all!"

Hearing about a child who gets no attention: "The poor kid! Every child needs positive reinforcement and affection in their lives. The parents should change this behavior as soon as possible, or we need to help the child get positive attention else where."
Hearing (or seeing) a pet who gets no attention and is not ever allowed in the house with its family: "MONSTERS! Let's demolish their house so they have to be outside with their pet forever! Buahahaha."

So yeah. That picture is me.

We're like the Wonder Pets...only not as lame

This evening, when I was driving home I noticed a bird sitting in the middle of the street. One hundred percent of the time, a bird like away as my car approaches it, but this little pigeon was not going anywhere. As I came closer, I noticed it was rapidly flapping one wing and trying to hop. It was SO SAD! I didn't know what to do, so I just stopped my car and put on my emergency blinkers. I stumbled across the passenger seat and ran up to the poor bird, picked it up (ewww), and then set it on the sidewalk. I hopped back in my car (which was in front of about 30 backed up cars. Why didn't anyone go around me?) and started to drive off....but then I started to think, Ok, the bird won't get ran over, but it can't move. It can't eat and it can barely hop. The bird will either get eaten by something, eventually fall back on the road and get ran over, or starve to death. None of those seemed like good options, so I moved into action.

Unfortunately, bird saving is not a hobby of mine so I had no idea who to call or what to do. On top of that, my phone was already blinking red and continually reminding me that I am about to lose battery power. I knew that if there was a rabid wolf in my house, it would be appropriate to call 911, but what about a pigeon? I didn't have any other options and my phone was blinking, so I made the following calls:


To 911
Police: "911, is this medical or emergency?"
Me: "I'm so sorry! This is not an emergency! Sorry! I just don't know who to call. There is a hurt pigeon. I'm so sorry!" (And yes, I did feel like a moron).
Police: "Call 411, they can help."

To 411 (my phone definitely about to die)
411 person: "411, How may I assist you?"
Me: "HeyIfoundahurtpigeonandIsaveditfromdyingtbutIdon'tknowwheretotakeitorwhattodo!"
411: "Uh...I guess an animal hospital? I'll transfer you to one."

To Animal Hospital
Vet person: "Hi, Such-and-Such Vet hospital"
Me (even faster this time): "Hey411saidIshouldcallyou.IfoundahurtpigeonandIsaveditfromdyingbutIdon'tknowwheretotakeitorwhattodo!"
Vet: "Well, we don't care for wildlife animals, but there is a wildlife hospital in Tulsa. Here's the number."

To Wildlife Place
Person who answered the phone: "Wildlife Place! How can I help you?"
Me:*a slur of words so fast because of my phone, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned a pigeon*
Person: "Yeah, you can bring it here, but we close in 30 minutes."

Last call! To Jordan:
Jordan: "Hello?"
Me: "This is an emergency! I saved a pigeon and we have to take it to a hospital! Come quick and meet me! And bring gloves and a box! Hurry, we only have 30 minutes!!!!"
Jordan:.......(sigh)

Jordan did a great job of hiding his excitement as he came and met me to rescue the bird. We scooped it up and drove it 8 miles to an animal hospital and handed him off to the workers there.

It was quite a hassle and the whole process ate up over an hour, but I'm glad we did it. I can sleep better knowing that the pigeon is at least in a safe place for now, instead of worrying about whether or not it was something's dinner tonight. It also reminded me how important life is for all creatures. Really, we all want to survive. (Almost) all animals feel worry and fear. I think it is good to be conscious of each other's feelings...even dirty pigeons. I also believe in Karma, which means if I ran over the poor thing I would probably have a bird poo avalanche on my car tomorrow. Nice save!

P.s. I named it Jimmy.

In case you didn't believe me when I said January sucks....

Yesterday I called my doctor's nurse (she should be on my speed dial by now) and explained that my UTI symptoms were still present and seemed to be getting worse. It is most likely a kidney infection so she had me come in during my lunch break and do a "urine culture" test. She also gave me a different antibiotic.

This morning I came into work and 15 minutes into my morning I threw up. My supervisors don't like to turn a blind eye to employees puking their guts out in the bathroom and told me they would be much more comfortable with me going home. I am completely drained of all my PTO and in debt 5 days, so today gets to be an Unpaid Leave Day. I called my nurse again and she said to not take any more antibiotics until tomorrow, which means more horribly painful pee for me. Yay.

February could not come slower. I promise I will be less whiny next month. For now, I am going to take a 15 hour nap. G'night.

January 2012: Good Riddance

Is it just us, or.....

HAS THIS BEEN THE WORST MONTH IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE?!

Ok, maybe that's a little extreme....worst month of the history of the planet? That's better.

I am truly starting to believe that those crazy Mayans were onto something with their calendar, because so far 2012 has been less than bueno.
It all started with the first weekend of the month/year. Jordan had been complaining about fatigue and never feeling as though he was getting enough rest. He felt pretty nasty and thought that maybe he had walking pneumonia. After a pretty lousy Friday night and Saturday morning we decided to go to the Urgent Care center.....four hours, one x-ray, and several blood tests later we left the clinic with Jordan's diagnosis of mono. D'oh! The timing was less than perfect because Jordan just began his ER rotation which had several night shifts. Jordan continuously apologized for "wasting [my] Saturday" at the clinic with him. I told him I'm sure there will a time when he'll have to spend hours in a hospital with me... when I said this, I was thinking in about a few years when we have a baby; not the following weekend.

Fast forward to the following Monday after the Urgent Care visit. I had a follow up appointment with my Urologist to see how my lithotripsy went in December (In October I was diagnosed with a huge kidney stone and had a pretty easy procedure done in December to shatter it. Since then, I experienced very little pain and was considering myself lucky. Ok, back to the story.) My doctor told me the reason that I had no pain was because nothing happened with kidney stone. It was in the exact same place and did not look any different. Double D'oh! He explained that in order to get it out he would need to get all up in my bid'ness, send a tiny laser up to my kidney and zap the stone. He said that it wouldn't be a big deal and I believed him. I scheduled the procedure for the following Friday (which was Friday the 13th...I should have known).

I was pretty nervous going through the whole laser thingy. Jordan fulfilled my prophecy by staying in the hospital with me all afternoon for it. Before I was knocked out, my doctor talked to me a little and explained that the laser surgery would be easy and only about an hour. Then I fell asleep. I woke up in the recovery room with really sharp pain in my back and lower stomach. The nurses kept politely asking me to stay still. I guess I was being pretty wiggly as I moaned. I also fell back asleep after they shot morphine into my iv. Next I woke up in a different room with Jordan. Jordan explained that the reason I was in unexpected pain is because when my doctor got up to my kidney he realized that I had Infundibular Stenosis, which is a fancy way of saying that my kidney tube that goes from my kidney to my ureter was abnormally small. It was preventing my kidney stone (and other calculus) from passing, so he had to use the lasor to essentially carve out the tubing and make it bigger. Hence, the pain. Not to sound dramatic, but the following weekend I experienced the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I am officially terrified of childbirth.

The next week I had to miss three days of work, which drained me of vacation days. Boo. Jordan was able to stay home with me for several of those days. Once Friday (one week after the surgery) came, I was feeling a little better and actually left my apartment.

The following week I started to have an increase in pain in my back and in my bladder area. It also stung super bad to pee....which lead to a diagnosis of a urinary tract infection. Boo. So now I am on more pills for that. Also, I had a stent placed in me that had to stay in there for two weeks. When I called my doctor's nurse to ask if I could pull it out (which was the plan), she said yes and warned me that I would need more pain killers to curb the inevitable bladder spasms I would experienced. Yay.

So yeah...January has not been so fun. But despite the crappiness of it all, there were some positives.

My boss was super understanding and sympathetic toward me. She eased my anxiety about missing work.

My mother in law was an amazing help. She brought us dinner several times, helped me with errands, brought me tons of candy, did our grocery shopping, and bought me my new best friend (my heating pad).

Jordan was a HUGE help and never complained once. He slept on the couch next to me (it hurt too bad to sleep in our bed) and would set his alarm for every 3 hours to give me my medicine- even in the middle of the night. He gave a ton of back rubs and would help me go to the bathroom over and over. I really relied on him for the first 3 days for just about everything.

Lastly, I am so grateful for my doctor's nurse. I called her several times (usually in tears) asking about symptoms and help. She was very patient with me and always called me back right away. I'm sure she never wants to see me again after this.

Our good friends had their very first baby and we got to see the new little family. That was a fun reminder that there are some cool things about the hospital too.

So that was our month. There are only three days left of it. Bring on February!!