Rewind

I'd like to set the clock back to maybe, last weekend - because I feel really cheated on the past week or so of time.




Last Friday night, when Chas was with his dad, I got a text that he had a fever of 101.3.  His dad was handling it and treating the symptoms.  No problem.


He carried a fever all weekend, at one point getting up to 103.9  .  By late Sunday night, his fever had still not broken, so I knew he was going to have to stay home from school on Monday.  That day came and went, and still had a fever, so Tuesday morning, I called his pediatrician.


Her nurse told me that there are a lot of bugs going around, and to just let it run its course for a couple more days.


Sure enough, the fever broke early Tuesday morning, so I sent him to school on Wednesday. He still had a cough, but with the weather, and Doctor's recommendation, I just let it go.  I dropped his inhaler off at school on Wednesday in case he needed it during the day and that was that.


He went to school Thursday too, but came home Thursday night looking clammy and saying he was having trouble taking full breaths. 


Bek needed to get to swim lessons that night, so thankfully her friend Kayleigh's mom was able to help me out with all of that while I took Chaston to the E.R.  My co-pay is the same for ER and Urgent Care Centers, so I always opt for the ER, just in case additional intervention is needed, we are already there.


After about 40 minutes in the ER, a breathing treatment and chest x-ray, we were released with a diagnosis of pneumonia, a Z-pak for antibiotics, Mucinex and another inhaler.


Obviously, he stayed home from school again on Friday, but started to feel better as the day progressed.


Friday afternoon, he got in the shower before we were supposed to take my Grandpa out for his birthday dinner and I noticed some odd bumps/welt/rash looking stuff on his back and a bit on the front of his chest.


He said it didn't really bother him, so I told him we'd go to dinner and see if it progressed throughout the evening.  Sure enough, I checked him out after we left dinner and he was covered with these scaly-raised-welts.


Ugh.


So, back to the ER we went, late Friday night to solve the new mystery of the rash.


While there, the doctor told us that the Radiologist read his x-ray from the night before and found pneumonia in both lungs.  


So, so awesome - especially at the direction of his doctor's office to "wait it out".  


Ugh.


In the meantime, the rash was an allergic reaction to Z-pak.  Which, as you know, is not cool, since z-pak is used to treat so many different kinds of infections.  We were told to discontinue use of the Z-pak and start Biaxin Saturday morning.


By this afternoon, his welts were not as raised anymore, but his back and front still looked shameful.  I'm hoping the Benedryl will help the reaction subside and the new antibiotic will kick in and make his life a little better.


All of this.... just in time for ISTEP testing this week.


Is it Friday yet??

Caveman

As many of you know, I did an insane thing this semester and took a full 12 credit hours.

It's going pretty well, overall except for this STUPID Geology Course.

If we've never had a conversation about this before, I'm going to go ahead and let you know that I do not care about Geology.

Maybe I should.

But I don't.

And after taking this ridiculous 100 level Geology class, I'm pretty sure I don't care about it even more now, if there ever was such a thing.

I just got finished writing a "simple" paper about caves.  I didn't care about caves to begin with, but after learning WAY more than the average person knows about caves, I care even less now.

Just to really drill this point home I will explain why I do not give a CRAP about caves.

1.) There is nothing about actively dissolving limestone that makes me want to crawl through the Earth's crust.

2.) I do not care about a Stalactite and a Stalagmite and I certainly don't need to know that they form columns that I would potentially have to crawl around exploring in web dissolving rock.  I will feel like i have missed out if I never come in contact with drapery formations, bacon formations or any other type of calcified cave growth.

3.) Caves are HOLES in the EARTH.  They are not fully supported and therefore could crush your head if they  fell in.  Where do you think the old saying "caved in" came from?  Your head will be "caved in" if you don't stay out of caves!!

If I don't get a decent grade on this crazy cave paper, I'm going to dislike caves (also known as caverns) even more!

Ethnic-Chameleon

First things first...

...I feel like I spelled Chameleon wrong.  

Truth be known, I'm too lazy to look up the spelling, so I'm just going to go with it.  My apologies if improper spelling offends you.

Many of you know, and for those that don't, my future Husband is 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 American.  His mom is a sweet little Japanese lady, while his dad is a nice American man.  These two people created my favorite grown man.  And while, I'm thankful for a plethora of attributes that he brings to our relationship, his ethnic humor... or irony rather can be quite amusing.

Case in point.

A few months ago, he was pulled over for speeding.  On the ticket, the officer wrote that his race was Hispanic.

But he's not.

When he travels to his Monterrey, Mexico office for work, many of the locals believe that he is Mexican.

But he's not.

Last week, when we went to eat at the Hacienda, he ordered Flan for dessert.  The waiter came back and began speaking Spanish; indicating something was wrong with the Flan.

Joe had to tell him he was Japanese/American and didn't speak fluent Spanish.  Only "Un Poquito".  

I laughed.

Friday night, on our date, we went and had a couples massage.  After we were done, the massage therapists started speaking to him in Taiwanese.   He had to tell them he was Japanese/American... AGAIN.

I'm not sure why this amuses me so much.  Perhaps because I'm not cool enough to be as versatile as he is.  Or maybe it's because of the blank look on his face when he is mistaken for another ethnicity that speaks a totally different language.  I don't know, but I have to laugh.

The Happy Ending that was Not Allowed

I had the opportunity to try something this weekend that I've never done before... a couples massage. 


Joe and I had a date night planned Friday night, and he suggested that we go have a couples massage together.  He perused some local coupon sites and found a 20 minute foot massage plus one hour full body massage for $30 each.


First and foremost, I'm going to be upfront and tell you that initially, I felt a little 'dirty' about this so-called couples massage.  I have no idea why.  Probably out of naivety and quite possibly out of just general weirdness, but I felt dirty.  Maybe you've felt that way before, or maybe not, but I certainly did, but went along with it because ... come on.... I should probably grow up when it comes to things like this.


So, I called the place and it sounded legit.  In the back of my mind, I was very nervous that it was going to be some kind of "shady" place like I've seen on the news where women are giving "massages" to lonely men.    I went ahead and scheduled the appointment for 6:30 for the two of us and promptly began staling this company's facebook page to determine their viability in my book of "approved places we can go".


Based upon the reviews on FB they passed, so I kept the appointment.


..but not without warning him that "he no get massage with Happy Ending."


I'm pretty sure he thought i was really stupid for even saying that, but you know what... i had to make sure we were clear.






So, we get there a little early and hang out in the waiting room chatting.  


They took us back to this little room with 2 chairs/beds and had us take off our shoes and socks.  We stayed clothed for the remainder of the massage.  They offer group rooms too, where a bunch of ladies can go get pampered one afternoon and be able to lay there together.  That would be nice too!


But anyway - we rested peacefully whilst the nice man and lady massaged almost every muscle in our bodies!  It was so nice!  After our massage we went to eat dinner and headed home.


Saturday, we had some errands to run in the morning and spent the latter part of the afternoon Registering at Target!  That was fun!


That evening, we headed to Broad Ripple to eat at Union Jack's, as we'd both been craving a nice healthy deep dish pizza.  Thankfully, they didn't disappoint.  After we ate, we headed to the mall to pick up his son and proceeded to go back to his condo, where I took a test and hung out with the boys while they did what men do!


Overall, it was a really fun weekend and I simply cannot wait until we can spend more time together in closer proximity.... like the same address!


YAY!

Hang 10... or.... 20

I made a wedding splurge.  And I'm ok with admitting it.

I'm all about tiny intricate details that really don't mean anything to anyone except me.  I've been to a few weddings where the bride had a custom hanger that her dress hung on.  Did it serve any purpose?  No, none.  

Did it look freaking CUTE?  

YES!

So, out to etsy I went for a dark wooden hanger with an ivory bow and the words "Mrs. Shelton" spelled out in metal at the bottom of the hanger.  And I paid about 1000% more than it cost to just put it on a plain 'ol hanger and call it a day.

But I like it, so don't judge.

It finally came in the mail today and I am SO EXCITED!!!!  

It's the little things that make me super duper happy.

$25 including shipping on a wooden hanger with my new name made me really happy today.  I can't wait to hang my dress on it!

 

House Hunt 2k12 - Update!

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been since the House Hunt began.  I'd tried to update this blog numerous times, but much to my dismay, apparently I needed to download Google Chrome in order to update it.


...so much for being a Tech nerd, eh?


Finally, I am able to update my blog!  Whoo hoo!


As you know, we'd been looking at houses in the area, not rushing, just looking for something to come across that suited our fancy.  We were going to Joe's parent's house one day and saw a moving truck outside a cute house on his old road.  We both thought that was kinda odd, especially since the garage didn't look like they were packing to move, but whatever - we assumed maybe one of their kids was moving and left it at that.


A couple of days later, a For Sale sign went up in the yard.  It's a cute 2 story brick cape-cod style house with shutters, dormers, cute backyard, etc - so the minute we saw the sign, I had to call. It hadn't been listed yet online, but the Realtor told me a few details about it .  And i knew we had to schedule a showing.


It was 4 bedrooms (BINGO!  Exactly what we need!)
It had a small office area (SUPER!  I need that too, for work!)
A bonus room above the garage (SCORE!)
A Main-level Master Bedroom (This was high on my list of WANTS)
A Fire Place (This was a borderline NEED on my list of wants/needs)
It looks modest from the outside (Exactly how i wanted my house to be)


So, I scheduled a showing. 


Despite a few cosmetic issues that I had with it (a bit too much wallpaper, the dining room is lavender, etc) .. it was just perfect.


But I didn't want to be jaded by the fact that it was literally the first house I'd looked at.


So, I told Joe that I love that house, and we decided to continue our search.  He found a few other houses he wanted to see, so I scheduled the showings on a Saturday when we could look at them all and get a good idea of what we liked.


He fell in love with the same Cape-Cod that I did.  Loved it.  We thought the price was a bit high, but when we factored in the new roof, new windows, new furnace and air, new main area carpeting, etc etc - we decided that all the major repairs it would need that would cost the most money were all less than 6 months old, and as long as it passed inspection, it was a pretty good deal.


We talked to the Realtor about making an offer and found out that there were 2 other offers the owners were reviewing.


So, we put in our offer and to make a long story short, they accepted!


We had the inspection done last week and they found only a few minor issues, all of which the owner is going to fix, so that's even better!  We should be closing the week before Spring Break and get possession within 30 days.


So, it was time to start figuring out what to do with my house and his current apartment. He contacted his landlords and asked if he could get out of his lease.  He of course offered to pay until it was rented, but hoped to get out soon.  I decided to list my house on Craig's List for rent/buy and see if I got any bites.


I was contacted by 3 different people, 2 of which came to look at the house and said they wanted it.  One of Bek's friends parents was looking for a house to move into, since they currently live in Anderson and are wanting to buy, but not right away, etc - so they have decided to take it!  Their timeline is flexible, as is mine, so I think it will be a good fit.


This makes me especially happy because I know the people that are going to live in/buy my house.  As you all know, I was struggling with selling my house, as it has a lot more meaning than just 1400 square feet of brick and shingles.   It may be a small and simple home, but it's mine and I bought it on my own; so getting rid of it is difficult.


Within a week, Joe's landlord called and said that he had 2 people interested in looking at his condo as they are very interested in buying it!  So, everything is falling into place nicely!


I'm getting very excited and very nervous at the same time, but I can't help but encourage myself with the fact that everything is working out with minimal issues (so far, knock on wood)... so it must be the way it's supposed to be.

Heirloom

I've been shopping for wedding bands here and there, trying to figure out what I think I would like and what would be pretty with my engagement ring.

I'd like to think I'm a modest person.  I don't like to be "showey" or have a big giant ring to establish my status in this world.  I don't need $10k sitting on my finger to define love. 

So, i found some bands that i liked on the Shane Co website and decided to run in there real quick while I had a few minutes last week.  I wanted to put them up next to my ring to narrow my search a bit.  I took a few pictures and went on my way.

When I showed Joe which ones i'd looked at, I let him know that they were rather inexpensive and I was just trying to be modest and respectful of the fact that we are buying a house and will be spending money with moving, etc.

Joe described the fact that he'd purchased my solitaire with a "wrap" in mind for the wedding band.  He envisioned a nice wrap surrounding the diamond and making it all come together in a nice looking set. 

Then He said one of the sweetest things that I'd never considered before, with regard to the cost and modesty of my ring.  He told me not to worry about the cost because it's an "heirloom".

Hmmm... an heirloom.

He was so right. 

It's not just a symbol of love  and commitment between the two of us but something that is typically cherished by those left behind when we are gone. 

What a sweet way to look at it.

So, when I shop for my wedding ring/band/wrap in the next few months, I'm going to stop thinking about saving money and getting the cheapest thing that still looks nice, but rather... searching for my heirloom.