Sunday, August 30, 2009

leper?

a few months ago, i noticed this rash on my left elbow crease. sometimes it was itchy & red and other times it would disappear. then a little over a month ago, i saw it was on both elbows. then it migrated to the backs of my knees, almost like i pushed too hard and gave myself razor burn. you know how that stings?
oh yeah, and the other embarrassing thing is that the top of my bum has also been dry & splotchy for about that same period of time.
so now, in addition to all those locations, it's itchy and painfully red at my armpits. not really the pits, but the back part of my arm & also just to the side of where the bra strap goes.
last week i made an appointment with the dermatologist, but it was for september 21. i asked to be placed on the cancellation list & they called me friday just before 5pm with an opening for monday morning. after talking with both my rheumatologist & gastroenterologist, they don't think it's anything to do with my gi or arthritis stuff. the problem is, i think it's exacerbated after my remicade infusions. i no longer break out in hives while i'm infusing, but this rash seems to show up in more places after i infuse.
last night i asked s to apply calamine to the afflicted areas & asked him what his rash was when we met 3 years ago. as i asked i remembered.
"oh yeah, you had nickelitis from the change in your pockets, right?"
"yep, that's what it was & also behind my ears from my metal glasses," he replied.
"well, i haven't been rubbing change behind my armpits. and despite it being called a coinslot, i haven't been keeping change in my &$$ crack, so i doubt that's what it is," i told him.
he busted up & agreed. we finally settled on leprosy. i'm not melodramatic or anything.

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home/wedding trip pt iii: the big event

now 2 weeks after the fact i'll get around to posting about my brother's wedding.
saturday saw mom & i headed to the jcpenney salon to get our hair done. it took an hour and 15 minutes for the woman to put up all of my hair. i think it turned out okay.

(that's my old bedroom, by the way)
we were supposed to be at the zoo/park for pictures by 11.30am and i still had to run back to the house to put on my dress and do my makeup. barely made it in time, but at least i wasn't the only late one. i felt awkward because i didn't know any of the girls except from the rehearsal the night before, besides my future s-i-l.
pictures, pictures, then the church. ceremony. as happened at my cousin's wedding (his little boy made the cutest ringbearer), the unity candle went out from the draft in the church. i always wonder if that's a bad omen?
receiving line with bride & groom, so i was accosted by old acquaintances, parents of friends & relatives while we waited for the 250 plus guests to file out. it actually wasn't so bad. i haven't lived there in 10+ years, not really. and as much as i love talking to people (heavy on the sarcasm of course), no one asked me any uncomfortable questions. maybe it was because i brought s home this time. he's the only bf i've ever brought home. then again, he's really the only serious relationship i've ever had (less a from when i started writing this thing).
so we hopped into the limo bus & started cruising the strip, broadway. adult beverages flowed & i got to chatting with one of the groomsmen who was in iraq with my brother. that was pretty cool.
reception was a whirlwind. pasta bar, sit at the wedding party table(s, 2 because there were 16 of us total). i ended up moving to sit with s & the parentals, then chatting with old classmates who are friends of my brother & old family friends. s & i migrated to my aunt & uncle (mom's brother)'s table & after the first dance, we pretty much headed upstairs to the hotel room & crashed by 1am. missed quite a bit of the festivities. no idea who caught the bouquet or any of that.
we ended up driving all the way home after the first couple gifts were opened at the homestead. we got in at about 3am on monday morning & crashed since neither of us had to work that day. it was a really awesome day off with dogpark & other leisurely activities before we had to get back to the real world.
s said he had a fun time, so that made the trip for me.

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

home/wedding trip pt ii

we left off at wednesday night & safely arriving at my parents' house. i took grover out to pee and play with nikki. nikki is almost 3 and a black lab. my mom likes to joke that she's so open-minded because she has two black grandchildren. a little later in the morning, while s was still sleeping, dad had me get on the trailer and go for a ride with the puppies.


mom made us waffles for brunch and then we had to go get fitted for our dresses. she had hers made by a seamstress who graduated hs the year before me and had just 'eloped' with her bf, who used to be my brother's best friend when they were kids, exactly one week before. my bridesmaid's dress was disgustingly tight, but then i'd ordered a 12. sara managed to get it zipped up (hey, working in theatre, you can get anyone into their costume). she said she'd let it out as much as possible, so i could hopefully breathe.
s & i went to eat a late lunch around 2pm at homesteaders', a place i insisted on eating in hopes that they had their divine wheatberry salad on the salad bar. sadly, all they had was something like glorified rice only with acini de pepe (sic?). it was still tasty & i introduced s to knephla soup. yum!
i'll try to cut this boring stuff short. we hit the mall to look for shorts for s & a supportive undergarment so i could squeeze into the dress. more family time after that, including making bars for the rehearsal dinner the next night.
friday i helped my aunt (pronounced aw-nt, not ant) make her famous beans. s's family calls them calico beans & they flew off the table that night. the giant crockpot was completely empty. s & i went to see 'the time traveler's wife' in the early afternoon to get some alone time. it wasn't too bad, but i don't know how anyone who hadn't read the book to follow the story.
i'll finish up this dull account with the rehearsal and wedding day tomorrow.

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home/wedding trip pt i

finally getting around to regaling all 3 of you with our trip to north dakota last weekend.
it all started with my remicade infusion on tuesday. things were going well until i decided to snooze in the chair. i must've pulled the iv when i turned because after 20 minutes, i felt something wet on my shirt. at least insurance pays for it because there was probably over $100 of liquid on my shirt if not more. they had to stop & replace the iv in a different part of my arm, so i didn't finish until 3.30. s was off work by then & he hadn't even packed yet. that stressed me out. then, he wanted to find a cord in our storage unit before we left town. by the time we left iowa city it was 5pm, so we grabbed sonic for the road.
grover was amazingly good in the car and napped on our laps. i realize it's probably not the safest way to travel with a puppy, but he would've cried if we'd locked him in his kennel in the backseat. the drive was fairly uneventful and we decided it would be funny to buy powerball tickets in all 3 states before the next drawing on wednesday the 12th. (that was a total bust.) we arrived at grandma m's house in st paul around 10pm. brought the monster inside along with our stuff and she tells us that she's allergic to dogs.
great, no one bothered to tell us. s's mom, her eldest daughter, didn't say a thing. grandma said it was okay & we headed to the basement to cram ourselves into a twin bed. (there are 2 beds, but that's what we did when we stayed 2 years ago, too)
wednesday morning, i got up at grover's whimpering need to go outside & we took a nice long walk around the block. grandma m has lived in the same place in st paul for over 50 years. the highway is right over the barrier, but it's a cute neighborhood.
the second leg of the trip, we grabbed breakfast on the road and headed for fargo. i had big plans to stop at great harvest bread company where i worked in college. i needed some potato dill bread (great for grilled cheese) and cinnamon chip (awesome french toast!). we got erberts and gerberts subs, then met my friend e who just opened his chiropractic clinic in the last month. we brought the puppy up in the elevator and chatted for a little before driving some more.
the next to last stop was in bismarck to see our friends, t & n. their wedding was the reason we'd stayed at grandma m's 2 years before and i'd barely seen them since they moved back to t's home in bismarck. first we stopped at n's work, then t convinced us to drive over to his parents' to meet his nephew. grover came in to say hello too and get a much needed drink of water.
two more hours on the road (for a total of 11 hours on wednesday). we stopped at the church in minot where my mom & future s-i-l were setting up for the ceremony. we grabbed a pizza on the way home to my parents' house while mom finished decorating & keeping out of the way of my brother's future m-i-l.
at home, my dad and his youngest sister and her husband were there. my aunt & uncle have been staying there as they took the summer off from texas to see their family and travel in their rv.
grover met his cousin nikki and they had a good time playing together. after such a long day, we headed to bed.
i'll finish this up in another post or two. with pictures.

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Friday, August 21, 2009

still here!

things have been busy, going to my brother's wedding last week and then getting back to work stuff. i will be posting an update on what happened on our trip to north dakota soon (this weekend, but we're also pupsitting for another dog, so i'll try to work it in!)
xoxo

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Friday, August 07, 2009

no, puppy! pt 1

grover has this habit of licking lotion and other such non-food items. perhaps he has pica?
so i've had these awesome simple flip-flops that have a little slot for chapstick that came with a burt's bees lifeguard/sunscreen type. since they're attached to the shoes, i didn't give them a second thought until i saw grover with this little red cap that he was chewing. then it hit me: he's got my chapstick lid (that happens to be full of melted chapstick). yeah, not for puppies.
and s has this habit of saying words & phrases that are not quite the right words. in this situation he said "grover has an unstable affliction" when he meant an insatiable addiction. but hey, after 3 years i know what he meant.

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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

happy anniversary

so 3 years ago on august 4th was the night i met s. i had completely forgotten what day it was because august came upon us so fast. luckily it didn't pass me by because i'd put a reminder in my phone calendar & it notified me on my lunch break. when i got home, i told s. his response was that we should get something special for dinner. he said he'd pick it up when he made a best buy run. while he was gone, there was a knock on the door. i looked out the peep hole to see a pizza delivery guy. i opened the door & grover busted out straight onto the the pizza warmer box. i managed to wrangle him & tell the guy i hadn't ordered a pizza, then realized that maybe s did. okay, let me just get my wallet. nope, s had already paid for it when he stopped by mesa & ordered. we had some tasty chicken cordon bleu and southwest steak.
he then proceeded to give me a joke hickey on the front of my neck. s does this on occasion, not in the heat of the moment, but because he can & finds it funny. happy anniversary to me! hopefully this bruise will be gone by the time the wedding comes around next saturday.

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Sunday, August 02, 2009

crap!

crap! crap! crap! with all this going to blogher and getting a ready-made roommate, i've neglected to prepare for my brother's wedding on the 15th. i haven't finished his wedding present & it would take 2 weeks from now to get a custom frame made and mat cut for his gift. i haven't broken in the 3-inch heels that go with the bridesmaid's dress i can't zip up completely. until this evening at s's parents' for dinner, it had totally slipped my mind that i might have to give a wedding toast. i hate crowds, specifically speaking in front of large groups, so that'll be awesome. especially since i haven't even started thinking of something to write/say. my car needs some work before we leave on the 11th & i've at least got an appointment for the requisite oil change that's due for tuesday already. but my as yet unnamed car needs some new tires & i thought i could use the awesome employee discount slip from michelin that i picked up at blogher, but no one around here has any michelins in stock. hopefully s's mechanic will be able to get us worked in this week and he can take care of that part.
the apartment is still an unpacked mess & i'd really like to get that remedied before we head out on our 800 mile drive. coming back to a sty isn't in anyone's best interest. hopefully this week i can work through a little bit every day & things will slowly but surely be finished in time for our departure. and i won't forget anything, like the dress before we leave here. i can just see that happening.
the heels are currently crushing my screaming toes. yippee!

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