Well, it's been three weeks since I came home from the hospital and things are going well. I was supposed to go back to work on the 13th but I woke up that morning with an MSG reaction so I didn't make it back until the 14th. I had assured the doctor that I would be able to get lots of help with lifting so he would fill out my FMLA papers with no restrictions but it was a lot harder than I expected to do my job without hurting myself. As much as we both said that my co-teacher would help me, it's just not that easy to ask her to help me with my babies when she's trying to take care of hers too. So I did too much and could barely walk by the time I went home that night. The next day was a tiny bit better and by Thursday it was much better. I was really scared the first couple of days that I was actually going to get the hernia that the doctor kept warning me about. But I made it through and now I have almost no pain as long as I'm careful and think about what I'm doing and how I'm doing things. We've had a lot of trainings in the last two weeks that kept me out of the classroom for about half the day several times so that has helped with the recovery. I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon two days ago. I was hoping he'd say that I was doing so well that I could go back to the gym this weekend but no luck. One more week and then I can do whatever I want. Except I can't do sit-ups for seven more weeks. Hahaha. WOE? Not. :P

I definitely can eat whatever I want now. It's amazing. I've tried everything that's caused me so much pain the last few years and none of them have bothered me. I love it. However, the bad part is that I'm eating all kinds of "bad" things and not exercising. Bad combination and I can already see the damage it's doing. I will be REALLY ready to go back to the gym next week. Because I'm not quite ready to stop eating whatever I want. :)

Of course the downside of all of this was the huge bill I got from the hospital this week. Due to being given misinformation from my employer about my insurance, I owe more than triple what I expected. It wouldn't have been any different if I'd known but it wouldn't have been such a shock. I'm going to be making payments for a long time. And my family will probably be getting their favorite desserts for Christmas instead of real presents.

Still worth it though. :)

I'm not going to be going to Orlando after all. I'm going to have surgery instead. Not a fair trade!

A couple of weeks ago I finally went to the doctor to see why I have so much pain when I eat. I was pretty sure it was my gall bladder and I was right. I have gall stones and it needs to come out. I'm meeting with the surgeon on Tuesday to schedule the surgery. I only have one day of vacation and one day of sick leave built up so I'm going to push hard for a Thursday or Friday, preferably next week when I already have a three day weekend. I know it's going to depend on his schedule though. I freaked myself out last night when I did a search to find out what I can eat right after the surgery and found a messageboard with all kinds of horror stories about pain and long recovery times and more problems with foods than before the surgery. I've also talked to people like my boss and a friend from high school that have had very easy and fast recoveries but now I'm all worried that I'll be out of work longer than I can get paid for and that I'll get sick every time I eat anything for months. I called Mom and she talked me down a little by reminding me that I'm basically very healthy and shouldn't have a lot of problems. I know it's going to be worth it to not have so much pain all the time but I'll be really glad when it's over. And at least I did find enough info to make a list of foods I can try to eat during my recovery.

ETA: I've never had any kind of surgery before. Heck, I've never even had stitches or a broken bone. I did have an xray once but other than that, nothing. So the fear of the unknown and especially the anesthesia is definitely contributing to my freaking-out-ness.

In better news, my mother's family curse of diabetes still hasn't caught me. When I went to the doctor,my blood sugar was 78 and my A1C was 5.5. I wasn't really expecting anything else but I hadn't had it checked for a while so I had to make sure. Next up is a mammogram. At least I can use the surgery as an excuse to put that off for a little longer. :P

Enough about my health! That's pretty much my main focus in life right now. I did get to have a fun outing of lunch and a visit to the national World War I museum last Sunday with Kare. And if I don't have surgery this week, I'll be at Jaimie's next weekend to celebrate Tanner's birthday. He's going to be 10! How did that happen?

I have now seen RENT an even 20 times. I'm not sure why that was so important to me other than I'm a big dork but I'm happy with 20. The seats were as good as I expected. Justin was amazing as usual and did a few new and different little things I hadn't seen before so I was as enthralled as ever. Adam and Anthony were fabulous together and I loved hearing how well their voices blend. I liked the people playing Maureen, Mimi, Collins and Benny but didn't like the one playing Joanne at all. I cried more today than I have in a long time. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it was the last time? I don't know but I had to fight to not sob out loud a couple of times. Such a sap. :P Anyway, it was wonderful. And I definitely picked the right person to take with me because she loved it too.

I'm being a total sucker for nostalgia today. MTV is running a special about Pedro Zamora. I didn't watch it last night but I taped it this morning and then when I got home it was on again and I watched about ten minutes of it before I stopped myself. I want to watch it all at once. But, man, just those few minutes made me tear up. I'm going to be a mess when I watch the whole thing. I still remember watching the marathon of that season while babysitting one weekend and right after the last episode they reported that he had died and I just lost it. I know I'm going to hate myself for watching this but I can't help it.

And tonight is the finale of ER. I haven't watched for a few years but it used to be one of my favorites and I'm still in love with John Carter. The previews make it seem like he'll be the center of everything tonight so there's no way I'm missing it. But I'm sure it will make me cry too. Ack.

Went back to work today. Kind of wished I hadn't but I'm at least a little caught up now. And now I just have to get through tomorrow and it's the weekend again. Can't beat that.

Now if winter would just officially go away!

I'm leaving for the airport in about four hours. I should probably be packing but I'm lazy. It's mostly done anyway. Only stuff left is the stuff I have to use before I pack it. So I'm procrastinating.

I was annoyed that the forecast for Vegas this weekend isn't very warm but now they're saying that it might snow here on Saturday. So I guess I won't complain about 60's and 70's. :P

My shuffle played "That 70's Song" while I was walking yesterday and I had to restrain myself from waving my arm during the chorus. Hee.

Okay, I really need to take a shower or something. Happy Weekend! I'll see y'all on Monday.

Brian called me last night to get help with filling out his eharmony profile. I didn't mind. We had a good talk. But there's still a little part of me that wanted to protest that I'm his perfect match, damnit! Obviously I'm not and he's not mine or we would have worked out by now but there's still a twinge now and then. *sigh*

Lisa and I had our shopping trip tonight and it was mostly depressing but I did manage to find some black pants and a cute top that will work for Vegas and also for job interviews or office wear sometime in the future. I'm just bummed because Lisa found two cute dresses and I didn't like any of the dresses I tried on. I'm tired of being fat. And yet I continue to sabotage myself in that area. Stupid. But, hey, I walked today. That's something. And I have a plan for the week that will allow me to meet my cardio minutes goal before we leave on Thursday. And I do have clothes to wear in Vegas even if they're not exactly what I'd like to be wearing. Trying to focus on the positive here.

I watched Twilight today. It was about what I expected. I enjoyed it about as much as I enjoyed the book so there you go. Honestly, I liked the books well enough but I only REALLY enjoyed the last one so it'll be a while before I'm excited about one of the movies. Alicia was aghast when I told her I was on Team Jacob. But I was. So there. :P So, yes, waiting for the fourth movie.

Mizzou made it to the Sweet 16. I don't think that's happened for a while. So, YAY TIGERS!

Posting two days in a row. Wow.

I'm bored. Alicia is here but Mom and I apparently wore her out today because she's asleep on the couch. There's nothing on tv and I can't find anything online to interest me. I finally have Breaking Dawn to read but I'm not in the mood for reading either. I'm BORED! :(

Alicia is here recovering from gum surgery. She's doing pretty well but still has to be really careful about what she eats. Hope got to come and stay with us when she had her tonsils out so now it's Alicia's turn. I wonder what Tanner will have done to get a week alone with us. Heh.

It's been a long week. Lisa's kids are sick so she didn't come to work all week and it made for a lot of stress on the rest of us. We had an all-day workshop yesterday and my boss was at her wit's end trying to get ready. It went well though. And it was pretty interesting so it went by quickly.

I had a pretty good week health-wise. I've been taking Prilosec and being VERY careful about what I eat and it's been working. Until I experimented with a biscuit and a little gravy yesterday morning. Ugh. I had to run over to Mom's for a few minutes during our lunch break but that helped me get through the afternoon. I was supposed to go out for comedy and bottomless cup with Melissa and her coworkers last night but since my main reason for going was to dance, I bailed since I definitely didn't feel like dancing. I didn't really mind staying home. I never mind staying home. But I want it to be because I want to stay home. Not because my stomach hurts. I'm supposed to go to a St. Pat's party on Tuesday so I'm going to be very careful for the next few days.

I'm officially stressed about finding a new job and moving to Kansas City. I'm dealing with it but the stress is here. Fun. I'm also really ready to be done with my current job. If I didn't have a lease, I'd almost be willing to leave as soon as I find a job. But I do have a lease and I also made a committment to finish the grant so I will. But I want to go now! /whining

Okay, I guess I'll go and read. Maybe SNL will be good tonight.

Chippendales were fabulous. Totally hot blond boy made me very, very happy and I'm not even sure what the other four guys looked like. I did not give in to the lapdance temptation but Melissa's coworker who was sitting next to me did get a lapdance from him and I totally groped and stroked his back. Yum. Melissa got a lapdance on stage from her favorite and groped the same guy again when he came down into the audience. I will have good dreams tonight about the hot blond boy. *sigh*

We went to eat and then went back to ogle some more but I got tired of watching him with tall skinny blonde girls so we left after I got my fill of the eye candy. And now I'm home in time to get up and be productive tomorrow. Cool.

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the Thunder Down Under when we go to Vegas. :)

Thanks to the skills and persistence of babygotbass, Hope and I are going to see Paramore (and No Doubt) for our birthdays. I'm excited! And Hope is completely abusing exclamation marks in her text messages so I'm guessing she's excited too. Sadly, I can't get ticketmaster to let me buy 2 tickets together for Taylor Swift so I can't make Alicia as happy. How rude. Someday I'll take her to a concert by herself.

The new season of MMASM looks like it will be fun but I definitely miss Ronnie and Ben. Really hope Colin stays around for a while though. He's adorable.

Did I mention the drunken deal I made with Jaimie when we went out a couple of weeks ago? I have to read the Twilight books and she has to read Harry Potter. I've finished the first two books and Melissa is bringing me the third one from Malissa tonight. So far they're not bad but I don't think I'll care about reading them again. Is Bella supposed to annoy me as much as she does? Anyway, I'm a lot more willing to watch the movie now but they're not even in the same league as HP. At least now I know.

Going out tonight to see Chippendales. I'm not a big fan of that kind of thing because they always seem to sense how uncomfortable I am when they come near me. I'm fine with them dancing and looking sexy on stage but when they come out and dance around people in the audience I freak out a little. Hopefully the people I'm with will be distracting enough for them to leave me alone. I will not be waving any money just to be sure. :)

Need to get back to cleaning so I can relax until time to get ready. I love weekends!

I'm staying home tonight! The real part of AI is starting tonight so I'm going to have to flip back and forth between that and TBL but I'm glad to have a reason to stay home from karaoke. I've been needing a break for a while but I kept getting talked into going. I'll still go on Thursdays but not for a couple of weeks. I still love karaoke but I need a little break from some of the people that seem to show up in our crowd. And I definitely need a break from the smoke in the Tuesday night place.

Jake hasn't called. We texted a little last Monday but nothing since then. Whatever. I was mad last week but now I'm just resigned. Lisa is afraid it has something to do with her Jake not wanting to contact her again and I can see some logic in that but in the end it doesn't really matter. If he wanted to see me again, he'd call. His loss.

I have jury duty this week. Ugh. I don't have to go tomorrow but I'm nervous that I might have to go on Friday. I have plans on Friday! It's our monthly staff meeting for the whole agency and then our meeting for our group. And then I'm going to Oak Grove again with Lisa that evening and Jaimie is meeting us there. So being at the courthouse all day really doesn't go well with my plans. I'm crossing my fingers that all the trials on Friday are continued or settled.

I went to the doctor on Friday for my annual checkup. I've been having some issues but I'm hopeful that the prescriptions I got will help. The cats had to go to the doctor too. They were so good. Scared to death and trying desperately to basically crawl inside me to get away from the doctor but they behaved. Chandler is still too fat so I'm cutting down on his food and putting Monica's food on the window ledge in my room since Chandler can't get up there. I feel bad for him but I have the same problem he does so I'm being tough on both of us.

Mom is learning to knit and it's nice to see her so excited about something. She needs something to make her happy for a change.

Okay, I need to focus on my channel flipping. :)