hammer time [TMI with photos]

this is going to be a pretty gross post, so I apologize in advance. 

fact: I have ingrown toenails. I've had to deal with them my ENTIRE life. when they start to hurt, I cut them out myself, which has been working great as a temporary relief plan. recently, they've been hurting much worse than normal, so I decided to make an appointment with a foot doctor (I don't know if he's a podiatrist or not, so foot doctor is good enough) last week. 

I went in thinking "oh, they'll give me some cream or make an appointment with me in a few weeks to do something about it." wrong. he decided the best idea would be to go ahead and take care of them right then and there. "take care of them" meaning to cut them out completely. 

so they shoved a bendy type needle into my big toes (yes, both of them) and pumped them so full of some kind of numbing medicine that made them look full of fluid and swollen. and then they used that pre-surgery dye, which made them look very Shrek-like. thankfully the numbing solution kicked in almost immediately. 

I concocted a little drawing in Paint to demonstrate exactly what they did to my poor toes:

basically, they cut the nail at the root to prevent it from growing downwards again. based on what the doctor said, I think the skin will grow back over the part that was removed. at least I hope that's what will happen, haha! 

they're still pretty sore, but it looks like they're healing up. I mean, I guess they are. I keep them bandaged at all times, except when I shower and clean them out with antibacterial soap. I'm not gunna lie, they look pretty rough though. Sean keeps calling me hammer toes, hence the title of the post.

for your viewing pleasure/disgust, here are some pictures I took with my cell phone - they're pretty nasty, so if you're eating lunch or are queasy about feet, it's probably best to just close out of this window.

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right after the numbness injections. SHREK FEET!

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after they cut the toenail out of the right toe. eeks!

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all wrapped up and ready to go!

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so yeah. needless to say, I've been in quite a bit of pain since Thursday. they told me to try to stay off my feet as much as possible that evening. I'm glad I went straight home because I got home, took my shoes off, and realized that the gauze around my right toe was completely saturated with blood. I had to put my feet up for a good 2 hours before it finally clotted up. 

poor me, I know.  

oh, and this morning, I knocked the iron over. on my foot. that was awesome. 

Happy Monday?

fill in the blank Friday!

link up with Lauren!

1.   I am currently obsessed with     school work, reading awesome books, blogging, the color mustard, staying organized (otherwise known as OCD), saving money, and cooking. 

2.  Today I am  in a pissy mood    because,    my toes hurt. I got ingrown toenails removed from my big toes yesterday and they are reallyreally sore today. wahh. 

3.  The age I am is    24     and the age I feel is    ehh, it varies. some days I feel as though I'm still a teenager living it up, and other days I feel like I am at LEAST 45.

4.  My favorite place is    honestly? my couch. my couch is fucking awesome.

5.  Something I have been procrastinating is     cleaning our bedroom. man, there are clothes everywhere and Christmas gifts still unopened. I really need to get on that this weekend. 

6.  The last thing I purchased was        coffee this morning, and only because I'm out at home.

7.  The thing I love most about my home is      that it's mine. well, I guess I should say OURS. I love the fact that I can do whatever I want to it, and that I love it like a child. 

the kitchen. FINALLY.

I know you guys are in terrible suspense over this, so I figured I'd go ahead and post my COMPLETED, albeit messy, kitchen pictures. ya know, so you can finally get some sleep. it's only been about... oh... almost an entire year since I first posted my inspiration post for our kitchen. 

here's a little reminder what our 50's kitchen looked like before:

and (insert big sigh here)... the after:

excuse the mess. I was too excited to NOT take pictures right away. 

I'm so, so, SO happy with the results... of course, I'd eventually love to have a new backsplash and counter top, but that's not in the budget right now. we did have our floors replaced back in April, which you can read about here. we didn't end up doing the work ourselves outside of removing the cabinet doors and sanding the base, but we bought all the materials and just paid for labor. 

if you'd like to get a source list, I posted about our giant trip to Lowe's right here. the kitchen handles came from a website online that I can't remember the name of, but I'm sure I could dig it up if someone really needed to know.

Happy Wednesday, folks!

wee bit Wednesday!

 {one} do you always wear your seatbelt in the car?always. I feel very unsafe if I don't.
{two} do you crack your knuckles?no, and I HATE the sound of it. I do crack my back a lot though.
{three} what is your favorite flavor of gum?any kind of mint or watermelon.
{four} what is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own?my engagement/wedding rings (even though I forget to wear them quite often... woops!), my mom's diamond stud earrings, and my Q pear necklace that Kaley got me for Christmas (see picture). I wear it everyday! 

{five} who is your best friend?I have a few - Sean, Kaley, and Kaycie. they are my favorite people ever. :)  {six} what is your favorite smell?lavender.
{seven} what is your favorite lunch meat?oven roasted turkey breast. yum!
{eight} do you still have your tonsils?yes I do. I had a really bad tonsil infection when I was 17, but they refused to remove them.
{nine} do you untie your shoes before you take them off?most of my shoes don't require ties.
{ten} what color is your car?she's silver.

your Bear fix.

the gym, working late every night, keeping my house clean, school work, and The Hunger Games have completely ruled my life for the past week! so until I have the time for a substantial post, you'll have to look at this cute kid. I know, how horrible of me. 

it was nap time. speaking of nap, excuse the nappy hair. it was day 3.

I've mentioned before that he thinks he's a human... this is just a smidgen of proof. there's ice water in that cup.

"RAWR! I am manly and ferocious. I am a BEAR!"

Happy Tuesday!

The Help [book review]

I'm so thankful for folks that have such great taste in reading material, because without them, I never would have discovered The Help by Kathryn Stockett. While it took me longer than I expected to get through it, it was a fantastic read and I'm still in shock over the fact that this was her first book, for it was beautifully written.

Summary

The Help is historical fiction, set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's, during a time when segregation between races was a fierce issue. The story is told by three distinct voices... all strong minded and compassionate women living in Jackson. 

Aibileen is a black maid working for a typical Southern white family and practically raising their children, while still suffering the pain from the loss of her own son. Miss Skeeter is a white college graduate who dreams of becoming a writer in New York City, but knows she won't get far living with her parents and restricting herself with writing weekly cleaning columns in the local paper. Minny is Aibileen's best friend, another maid who can't seem to hold a job due to her inability to filter her mouthy comments, even though she has multiple children and a drunk husband to care for. 

These three strong women, as different as they can be, come together when the question "what if things could change?" is presented. Together, they form a movement that will forever change their town.

Review

This book was absolutely wonderful. I quickly became extremely enamored with the characters, and their passion for the cause they're supporting is amazing and so inspiring. Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny risk their entire lives to change the opinions of everyone in their town, to start a movement, to make a difference. They want to change the way that women look at one another... they want women to remember that despite the difference in their skin tones, they are all mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends. 

The Help was definitely a powerful, heartwarming, and inspiring read... the amount of love and compassion streaming from the characters allows you to love them, despite their obvious flaws. Each woman has their individual voice, which Stockett clearly researched in depth in order to make it so real. Stockett did a wonderful job portraying the everyday lives of the women in the book, from the black maid, to the rich white woman, to the mother of the single college graduate. It's clear that the writing of this book came from the heart and from personal experience, which makes it all the more respectable, in my opinion. 

To know how much the women living in Jackson went through during this time makes me feel extremely fortunate to have grown up in a later generation, but allows me to truly appreciate the actions of past characters to ensure our freedoms. I love every single one of the characters in this novel, and I would have been proud to be a part of their movement, to have made such a difference, to have stirred the pot so effectively.

Garlic & Lemon Shrimp [recipe]

I tried this recipe a few weeks ago. We had a 2lb bag of frozen shrimp that had been in our freezer forever, so we figured we'd go ahead and cook half of them using a new (to us) recipe. 

As always, the recipe was found on allrecipes.com. It was super easy to make... keep in mind that our shrimp were frozen, so I had to thaw them out and then peel them, which took a little longer than it would have if I'd had fresh shrimp. Instead of cooking in the oven on the broiler setting, I cooked them stove-top in a saute pan. We served this with wild rice and green beans.

Garlic & Lemon Shrimp

[Facts]:

prep time: 10 minutes

cook time: 5 minutes

ready to eat: 15 minutes

[Ingredients]:

• (1) pound frozen large shrimp
• (3/4) cup butter or margarine 
• (1) teaspoon minced garlic
• (1 1/2) tablespoons lemon juice
• (3) tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

[Directions]:

1. Defrost shrimp by placing them under running cold water until soft. Peel, devein, and remove tails.
2. In a medium saute pan, combine butter, garlic, and lemon juice over medium heat. 
3. When mixture bubbles, add shrimp. 
4. Cook shrimp over medium heat, approximately 2 1/2 minutes on each side, or until cooked thoroughly.
5. When shrimp is shrunken and pink, remove from heat. Pour remaining butter mixture into dish for dipping. 
6. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over shrimp. (I forgot to do this until after I took pictures)

[Photos]:

love letter to Kitty Paw

a few weeks ago, Ashley announced the beginning of her very first contest. she is now accepting love letters to her meow-face, Kitty Paw. being the crazy cat lady I am, I was entirely too excited about this.

so without further adieu, here is Bear Cub's letter to Miss Kitty Paw: 

Bear worked very hard on hims letter to his dream girl, and he hopes that she'll say yes! yes, he knows that Valentine's Day is over, but he's a hopeful and optimistic cat.  he's also a procrastinator.    
  

fill in the blank Friday!

play along with Lauren here! 

1.   I am       an artist, a wife & friend, a mama to four furry felines, a daughter (and in-law) & sister, a reader, a student, a caffeine addict, a progressing cook, and a blogger. 

2.  The bravest thing I've ever done was    I think running out to the middle of the road to save that dog last week is pretty high on the list of brave things I've accomplished.  

3.  I feel prettiest when      I have the time to really get ready for an outing... meaning I have time to take a long shower, completely blow dry my hair, do my makeup in my bathroom (and not in the car), and dress to the nines, including accessorizing. that's when I feel my best. _

4.  Something that keeps me awake at night is   _uhh, this is why I have a prescription for Ambien, people. cause anything & everything keeps me awake at night.  

5.  My favorite meal in the entire world is     Thanksgiving dinner. 

6.  The way to my heart is        making me laugh. I am a lover of laughter.

7.  I would like to      have the rest of the day off to pamper myself with a mani/pedi, and then go home and spend the rest of the day reading Mockingjay. OBSESSED is not the word. 

Happy Friday!

wee bit Wednesday!

{one} what is your favorite breakfast food?eggs over medium with bacon sprinkled in it. OR bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a bagel. yum.
{two} how many pairs of shoes do you currently own?oh geez... if flip flops count... at least 20.
{three} city or country?country.
{four} what is your favorite part of your job?the laid back atmosphere.
{five} what is your favorite junk food to snack on?pistachios.
{six} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?maybe once or twice.
{seven} do you use post-it notes?oh god. you have no idea. there are post-it notes ALL over my office. I use them on a daily basis. 
{eight} do you have freckles?only in the summer time.
{nine} is it okay for men to wear pink?I don't see why not?
{ten} when was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?I wrote a short letter to my Nestie Secret Santa recipient, if that counts. :)

black&white Wednesday

to read Tropicana's (aka Miss Chow) story, click here. 

even all busted up with a cone on her head, she is beautiful.

random tidbits

- you know those Chevy commercials that show the Rockies and the theme song says something like "like a rock"? when I was a kid, I thought the words were "lock her up." dumbass. 

- after my horrible hangover last Sunday, where I admittedly spent at least 6 hours at or on the toilet, I couldn't poop for a week. IT WAS TERRIBLE. I can say it was honestly one of the worst weeks of life. I've always had a pretty regular digestive schedule, so the sudden bout of "I have to poo, but I can't" really fucked me up. 

- I met with our accountant over the weekend. thanks a huge financial decision we made early last year, we now owe the federal government $5,000. not cool, especially since I was counting on that refund to get some things done around the house. ya know, maybe buy a dining table? maybe some chairs for the dining table? looks like we may be refurbishing the old set in the garage after all. 

- my Bear cub is the cutest kitty ever. 

don't mind the eye boogers... he's been getting them a lot lately.

- thanks to the suggestions of many people, I started reading The Hunger Games last week. started on Friday, finished on Thursday. started Catching Fire (the second book) on Friday, and I should be finished with it this evening. 

I AM HOOKED. I'm pretty sure there's crack in the pages. it's such an odd and morbid concept that it makes me value the government of our society, as corrupt as it may seem. I'm also considering naming my first born Primrose. thank you, Suzanne Collins. I will be posting reviews of all three once I finish, which shouldn't be long! 

- yes, I still have The Help review to finish and post. slacker. 

- I'm actually really liking my English class this semester. I'm not big on reading pieces of literature and analyzing/interpreting them, but unfortunately, that's the gig for this class. professor seems really laid back though, so that's awesome.  and the other classmates seem really nice and supportive.

- I'm going to email everyone who donated to the Miss Chow Fund and get their addresses. a happy ending like this one deserves proper thank-you notes.

- according to Bear, this is his couch. 

Happy Tuesday! :)

Miss Chow: a story about love

I know I didn't have much time to post about her on Friday, but I wanted everyone to know everything that happened/is still happening with her story. 

let me begin by saying that I am SO honored to know good people. thanks to the love of so many people, we raised $1400 to contribute to her vet expenses. it amazes me to know such generous and kind folks, and I hope that if any of them ever encounter a tragedy like this, that someone is there to help them. 

I think it'll be easier if I just copy & paste all the updates I posted on Facebook and on the Chip In site. so much happened in such a short period of time that it's all kind of blurry now. 

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as you know, I hit a dog on Thursday evening on my way home from work. there was no way to avoid the accident, but I knew I had to take immediate action. I got her out of the road and thanks to the help of a stranger, I got her to my car and to the local veterinary clinic. They got her stable with fluids and pain medication, but they discovered through an ultrasound that she has some loose fluid in her abdomen, which meant that she was bleeding internally. Thursday night was a sleepless one for me... we weren't sure if she would even survive through the night.

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update posted Friday 12:03PM:  

she made it through the night and animal control will (hopefully) not be collecting her until Monday because she's still pretty unstable and bruised up. no owner has shown up yet, so I'll be going around to local places tomorrow with a picture of her to see if anyone recognizes her and to look for missing dog fliers. if anyone could offer to give this dog a loving home, that would be amazing.

at this point, I received an emailed picture of the pup, so I posted ads on Pet Finder, Craigslist, and the Anne Arundel County Animal Control  website. I also contacted several rescue organizations by email and called our local ASPCA to report the found dog and to inquire about the possibility of someone fostering her once she got healthy. 

I posted her story and a description of her on Facebook and asked people to pass it along. I tagged a bunch of people in her picture to make sure it would make it's way to tons of different people, in hopes that I could possibly find her owner.

at the suggestion of a couple people, I started the Chip In donation site to seek funding for her care. I knew that she wouldn't really be treated for her injuries unless I had some way to pay the vet. 

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update posted Friday 6:39PM: 

just talked to Dr. Ruiz. they said she's still in the same condition as she was in earlier today - no better and no worse. legally, because she could potentially be someone's dog, any willing foster or adoptive pup parents will have to go through animal control to take custody of her. so pretty much, what I'm doing is awesome, but I can't just walk in there and take her if we get enough money donated.

I will definitely keep everyone up to date! I'm going to the vet tomorrow to see the pup and talk to the doctor about actually finding out what exactly is wrong with her and how/if she can be treated. I'm also going to call Animal Control tomorrow to see what their policy is with adopting homeless animals. I mean it makes sense to me that they would rather her be in a good home than in their facilities, but who knows.

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and this is when I realized that things were going to be okay...

update posted Friday 9:01PM: 

I am seriously in tears right now. you all are SO amazing to hand over your hard earned money to help this poor pup live a full life. we are up to $1,000 in donations already! you are all unbelievable. I wish I could tag every one of you in this post, but you know who you are! I owe you guys... big time. 

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update posted Saturday 10:53AM: 

wooo! we're up to $1200 in raised funds for Miss Chow pup! heading to see her now and talk to the vet about possibly transferring her to another facility or to a rescue place. will keep everyone updated!

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update posted Saturday 1:17PM:

visited Miss Chow at the vet this afternoon and this is what I found out:

legally, they have to turn her over to animal control because they have already been notified of her whereabouts. the good news is that she cannot go there until she is stable. I paid $800 of her balance today at the vet. they are going to run blood tests as well as do more extensive x-rays to figure out exactly where the problems lie so that she can be treated accordingly. if there are people lined up to foster and possibly adopt her from animal control once she's there, that is a VERY good thing.

the good thing is that she's not necessarily getting any worse, but she's not getting better either. she's not mobile at all and there's definitely something wrong with her back legs. they're trying to keep her out of pain but the pain medicine also causes her to be sedated all the time, so it's hard for them to gauge where her pain is coming from. every time she comes out of her loopy state, she TRIES to get up on her back legs, but she can't.

the vet said that it's still very early and that the owner could still show up. it might be a situation in where the owner was on vacation and someone was supposed to watch the dog, but she got out, etc. there are a number of different reasons why the owner has not shown up, so we just have to keep up hope that they're out there looking for her too.

either way, they are going to treat her the best they can while she's there. the vet seems eager to work with me in helping her and diagnosing her injuries. I don't have an exact vet bill, but I will know more on Monday after they run the rest of the tests. luckily, animal control is letting them keep her and treat her until she's better, and I'm hoping that by the time she's ready to be transferred, we'll have enough money together to pay for her treatment AND have a place for her to call home!

please keep in mind that there are no guarantees that she will live on and lead a happy, normal life. her injuries might be so severe that there is no possibility of survival. trust me, it's devastating to think that might be the case, but it is possible and I want everyone to be aware of that. we are going to try everything we can to help this poor girl.

thank you ALL so much for your support. please continue to pass Chow's information around! we still have $426 in our fund at the moment and I'm holding onto it until I find out the results of the rest of the tests. 

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update posted Saturday 6:40PM:

Dr. Ruiz called me at about 4:30 this afternoon to let me know that miss Chow is standing on her two back legs, which was one of the biggest problems she was having, and also what worried the doctor the most. she's still a little stiff and wobbly, but because she's putting weight on them, there's less chance for a spinal cord injury.

she's also eating now, which is GREAT! this means they took her off the pain medicine drip and have switched her to oral pain medication. she's still super anxious and stressed, so they're going to continue her pain management to keep her calm so that she doesn't injure herself any further.

Dr. Ruiz will be checking up on her a few more times throughout the day tomorrow, and then she'll run the rest of the tests on Monday. we're keeping our fingers crossed that there are no kidney or liver issues and that her blood comes out clean and that there are no serious fractures. 

ALSO. I'm teaming up with my friend Nicole Palermo, who has been working her butt off saving dogs for the last few months. she truly is a saint, and is going to help me make sure this pup doesn't end up being euthanized. her friend Kim, who runs a rescue organization, spoke to animal control this afternoon. they told her that the owners of the dog have until February 17th to come in and claim her. after that, she gets put into the adoption program.

I'm in dire need of someone to foster her when she's well until we can find a permanent home for her. she's going to have a long road ahead of her and it's going to be difficult to find someone who wants a dog with a potential vet bill.

thank you all SO much for continuing to pass this information on and donating! it makes me SO happy to know that there are good people in this world!

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FINAL update posted Sunday 6:15PM:

AWESOME NEWS! I was just contacted by a family who is the owner of Chow! They saw the ad on Pet Finder and called me immediately. They will be going to the vet tomorrow to get an update on Chow's progress, and then we'll be getting together in the evening to talk about everything. The woman said she's been in the hospital and that's why she didn't know that Chow was missing. I am so relieved to know that Chow will have a place to go when she's all healed up.

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me, posting her story, and donating your money. If I could go out and save every animal out there, I would. You are all amazing people and you should be proud of yourselves for doing such a good deed! I continue to be impressed by the good hearted nature of the people I associate with.

I'll be meeting with the family tomorrow. I've informed them that I've paid $800 of the vet bills and that I still have another $631 in donations to go toward her care (yep, that's a total of $1,431 raised). I'm not sure what to do from here in regards to the money. I was thinking that I could donate the money to an animal organization, or even to Muddy Creek Animal Hospital for working with my crazy ass. I don't know if the owners have the money to pay me back, and I'm honestly not worried about it at all, because my goal was to get Chow healthy.

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everyone agreed that the best thing to do would be to pay the remainder of the donations to the clinic to go towards Chow's continued treatment. I'm also going to suggest to the owners that we go ahead and get Chow microchipped. ;)

I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to associate myself with such amazing people. to those of you who passed on the story, donated, or just kept Miss Chow in your thoughts: I thank every single one of you, from the bottom of my heart. if it weren't for you guys, this story may not have had such a happy ending afterall. 

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥