Merry Christmas-2009

Ok, so maybe my kids get way too much for Christmas? But, hey I am my Dad's kid and I guess it just runs in the family. I love this time of year. Absolutely LOVE IT! I do get that from my Dad, and its nothing to be ashamed of, thats for sure! I only wish I had scheduled more time off. I did make a comment though, the next house we buy, we are buying based on Christmas gifts, tree, etc. ha ha

Lauren and her Nickelodeon Laptop with the green slime! So perfect that she had a whopping virus that hit it up within 30 minutes of her using it. I can't even write about that. Ugghh

If there could be a TV Christmas, its for Lauren this year. The In-Styler curling iron. This is a $100 curling iron. Seriously? $100? Im glad I made all those Santa Claus payments this year, because I definately would NOT be buying a $100 curling iron!

Perfect for her. Allison got Tony Hawk's skateboard game, and with Lauren's history, I didn't want her falling again to end up breaking something else!

This was Allisons FAVORITE part of Christmas! Glad Santa Claus could find these. Neither of my girls eat chocolate. Allison will only eat White Chocolate Kit Kat's and they only come out around the Christmas Holidays. And not every supermarket sells them. But she got four cases of them. Wonder how long these are going to last?

Snuggie! Yes, another TV infomercial...Lauren is the infomercial Queen. They make infomercials for people like Lauren. She attempts at selling them to me with as much enthusiasm as the tv personalities do. Its rather amusing.

And of course there had to be Team Jacob stuff. Im neither a Team Jacob or Team Edward, but the girls are huge Team Jacob fans.

Allisons stack of boxes.. ha ha ha.. Filled with Hollister, American Eagle, Aeropostale, etc. Not to mention the TV and who can remember what else. Not too bad for a 13 year old, huh? Guess Santa thought she was a pretty good girl.

Allison & her game! She couldn't wait to try it out! All in all a pretty good day. Mom came down and spent Christmas with us. This is the first time she has done this. It was great having her here. Maybe she will get down here permanently soon enough! Now off to the clean up!

Chaos on the rocks, please!

I guess this is the best way to describe work, right now. Its amazing how 'adult' you can be, by the age on your drivers license, but how 'young' you are based on your actions! I mean, do people really EVER grow up? I guess we call can't be as perfect as me! ha ha

I mean what is wrong with coming to work, doing your job and NOT trying to make someone else look back because YOU can't succeed? And sometimes people actually think because Im blonde that Im stupid. W-R-O-N-G! Everytime someone says something, when I know they are trying to find out something else...inside I just laugh. Because you aren't the only one that can play that game. So can I! Let the games begin.......more to come!

Round 3 anyone????

Another 2 weeks has flown by and Dad is up for Round 3 today! Not sure if it goes by as fast for him, but I know it seems like its time for another Round everytime I blink. Which, for me is great because he will be at Round 12, his final, soon enough! Deep down, I know it doesn't go by as fast for him, or it would already be Round 12. Still doing great, despite it being chemo.

Chemo #2

Dad went for Round #2 today. So far, so good. Dad is still having some sensitivity with his mouth until the infusion pump comes off on Wednesday, but other than that, he is doing great. Chemo is cumulative so I hope that he makes it through his 12 rounds without any horrible side-effects. He said his appetite has decreased, not that he is nauseated, just doesn't feel like eating. I did lecture him about eating and drinking. Constipation seems to be an issue, but he is taking stuff for that. I am so very proud of him!

Allison sugery follow up

Allison went back for her follow-up appointment with Dr. Cusamano today. They did another panorex and everything looked good. He said that everything was healing good and the next step was following up with Dr. Vinson, the orthodontist. I told him we had an appointment set up for the following week. Dr. Cusamano said we needed to wait at least 3 weeks. He then called Dr. Vinson and spoke to him to explain Allison's circumstances and because it was such an 'extensive mouth' and the reasoning behind the wait, Dr. Vinson agreed. I spoke to Dr. Vinson and he said he would follow Dr. Cusamano's recommendation. I love both of these doctors. They are both amazing and I wish all doctors were like them. They both have such great bedside manner and are wonderful with their patients! Even though I loved Dr. Cusamano, I hope we never have to see him again!

The Most Thoughtful Friend Award goes to.....

Alicia of course!

So I got Allison home from the oral surgery she had done. Both of us were extremely tired. I finally got her asleep on the couch and after watching her for awhile, I didn't feel like she was going to stop breathing, so I curled up on the other sofa and closed my eyes.

Ding-Dong! The doorbell rang. As I looked up through the glass beside the door, it was a Pizza Hut man. As I go to the door, I tell him 'Im sorry you have the wrong house'. He looked at the receipt and said 'is this 105 Hiddenwood Court?', I said 'yes, but I didn't order any pizza'. I then asked 'what name do you have?' He responded 'Michelle French'. I said 'I swear I didn't order any pizza' I then asked him what was on the pizzas and then told him I didn't even have any cash on me. He stated 'its already paid for'. I am still standing there baffled, and half asleep. I then ask what the last 4 digits of the credit card were. I had Lauren get my wallet, after he told me it was an American Express card, I knew it wasn't me. I haven't had an American Express card, since I left American Express. THEN is when it hit me. As he was calling the store, I asked if there was a phone number associated with the order. He gave me the area code of 602, I think. I got out the iPhone and searched for area code 602 which came up to Phoenix. I KNEW IT! I was Alicia. It had to be! Then is when he talked to his Supervisor who told him it was a surprise!

So Lauren and I chowed down on hot, fresh pizza, breadsticks and Lauren even had some Sierra Mist. WOW! What perfect timing and what a great friend!

After I came and got settled and went to send Alicia a message on Facebook, she had send me an instant message, IT WAS HER! I told her how thankful we all were and how perfect her timing was. That type of surprise is the best kind! The kind when you least expect it, most of the time, means the most. THANK YOU ALICIA~!

Oral surgeon anyone?

Today was the day Allison was dreading. We had the consultation appointment about 10 days ago, and I wanted to get this surgery done before the end of the year because of the cost. Needless to say, Allison wasn't thrilled at all. She did take the medication last night and this morning like she was supposed to. They gave her a big soft blanket and got her hooked up to a cardiac monitor, blood pressure cuff and a pulse ox. Dr. Cusamano started her IV, a 22g in her R arm and gave her meds almost immediately. Needless to say, it didn't take long for her to be 'out'. I left and it was originally scheduled to take about 45 minutes. At 60 minutes I started wondering, and at 90 minutes I was beyond wondering, but then they came to get me and I could go back to see her.

This is what I saw!

She was still pretty much out of it. The assistant did show me pictures that were taken during the surgery that were pretty neat. I didn't know they were going to cut her palate and pull it back. It ended up being way more extensive than what I had originally thought. I was sure glad they gave her good medicine!

As time went on, they sat her up more. She had some shallow respirations during the procedure which caused her SpO2 to drop a little but seemed to have come back up fairly quickly. They ended up putting gauze in her mouth and some vaseline on her dry lips.

They took her IV out and went to get a wheelchair. She was as awake as they needed in order to get her home!

That looks like a pretty good rhythm to me, BP good...lets go! It took the assitant and myself to get Allison in the wheelchair. We ended up being wheeled out a different door and then I helped her get into the car. Her mouth hadn't been bleeding until she started moving, then it seemed to be bleeding consistantly.

I got her home, changed her gauze and placed her on the couch. Neither one of us had any sleep the last night, so both of us were really tired. Allison, of course, at least had good meds on board, so she had a little help going back to sleep. I got her tucked in, changed the gauze a few more times and she finally fell asleep. She ended up sleeping until 1700. She had 8 sutures which are wrapped around her teeth and braces as well as 3 extension wire sets that are hooked into her braces as well.

Her next follow up with Dr. Vinson (orthodontist) was scheduled for next week, but we talked to him prior to me leaving the oral surgeons office and Dr. Cusamano feels that she needs 3 weeks to heal properly, so Dr. Vinson is agreeing to that and we will now follow up on December 29.

I am so proud of her. She got through this day much better than what I had anticipated. We will see how well the next few days go. We do have pain and nausea medicine if she needs it!

Putting up the perfect tree....

After we got the tree in the house and it was actually to the ceiling, Allison started cutting the net. This was a complicated process that took both Allison & Lauren to work together in order to get it off.

She started at the bottom and then worked her way up. It was falling out beautifully! I couldn't wait to see what it looked like when she got done!

One by one she cut, they finally got everything cut and the netting out from around the entire tree. It was beautiful! I don't think we have ever had such a huge tree, it was beautiful!

Then, of course, I come around the corner to this! Nice skirt you have there Allison! Cute!

Yes, both my kids are complete opposites. Thats what makes them unique!

It actually is alot more full than this picture makes it look. It is gorgeous! I thought of Dad and the year he cut a Christmas tree down from the Capital lawn in Charleston years ago. It had to rival that. I told him he would be proud of me. It was the best tree ever!

Where do you buy the best Christmas tree? Pop-n-Son, of course!

This is the 1st year that we have gone to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving! So where else would we go except to Pop-n-Son. I think they should have a frequent buyer program. We could probably end up with a free tree! There really isn't anywhere else that sells better trees. When I pulled up I noticed they had paved the driveway and also had redone a ton of stuff.

As always, there were trees everywhere! Beautiful trees. Big, small, short, fat. You name it, they have it! We are picky tree people so it usually takes us awhile. And there were a ton of people walking around so we had to be sneaky. We had to find the perfect tree!

Lauren wanted this one for her room! Not sure where we would put it, being that you can never see the floor, but it was cute!

We ended up finding one in the front section where some of the taller trees were. I told the girls I hoped we had a house one day where we could put up 2-3 of these trees up. How pretty would that be. We found one we thought was perfect. I had the girls stand there while I tried to find someone to get it for us!

Even if it doesn't need shaking, the girls think this is the funnest part. The shaker machine. ha ha. It ended up falling and the guy had to get help to get it up in the stand again.

Up on the car it went, we paid and headed home! I couldn't wait to get it in the house! It was going to be gorgeous!

Allison cut it off the top of the car for me. We then attempted to get it in the house...we didnt have much luck. We then put one of the skateboards under it and tried to move it to the deck where we could get it in the tree stand and then bring it in the house. That didn't work either.

Allison then fell on it and thats when this picture was taken. I then had to resort to getting Tarek to help us. Again, maybe another reason why I need to find a man! ha ha...

Bring on Black Friday....

Kelley & I headed out for some Black Friday shopping. We had surfed the Thanksgiving Day ads and determined our plan of attack. Kohls had some good deals and it wasn't like we were going out to run anyone over for the $99 laptop, we just wanted to be part of the excitement. Kohls was opening at 0400, so around 0345 we headed to White Oak.We pull in and park and are hysterically laughing at the line that extends down the entire strip of stores. It was hilarious. Now, we had passed Best Buy and I don't think the line there was as long. But hey, we were here for the fun, right? About the time we got out of the car to walk toward the line, the doors opened. It was crazy. We ended up merging in with the line and some lady said 'uh, I've been in this line for 30 minutes' for which I wanted to respond 'believe me, I won't be attacking you for anything Kohls has on sale' Merry Christmas lady!

Needless to say, I ran into my tanning salon owner and Tara (pic above). It was funny and how long the line got to check out, even on both sides of the store, but Kohls sure had a way of keeping those lines moving. As far around the store we were in line, it didn't take 15 minutes for us to get checked out. Then off to our next stop...Target... they were opening at 0500. It was now 0445.

We pulled in, and again, the line from hell. All the way to Chik-fil-a. Really? Target? Again, what deal was going on that we obivously missed? We had our list there too, as far as what we needed. The Target Nazi's were out and when those doors opened they let the ENTIRE line in the store prior to the people that had just pulled up.

We did make it through without being trampled by anyone and actually laughed along the way.

We are still smiling as we are checking out! We did get gift cards based on how much you spent. We did realize after the fact, that we made a HUGE rookie mistake....if you buy $200 and get one $20 gift card. Maybe next time divide your purchase so you get 2 $20 gift cards since the promo was $20 if you spend $100. Duh!

Next stop..Home Depot! Can't write what I got because its Dad's Christmas present and they read this blog. But I will let you see the back of the car!

It was cold, we were tired and I still had to be at Wake by 11am. But we had conquered our shopping list for Black Friday. There were other stores that we would have liked to go to but it was now close to 0700 and EVERYONE was up by now and out, so we didn't want to mess with those crowds.

We did manage to pick up a bag of powdered doughnuts at Target and eat them between Target and Home Depot. Little did I know I had powder on my face and sweater as we hunted through Home Depot!

But we had a blast and it was great shopping with Kelley! Who happens to be the best neighbor in the world! Awesome Acres here we come!

Bring on the chemo....Round 1

Dad went for his 1st round of chemo today! About 5 hours worth! He has to wear an infusion pump for 48 hours and will have that removed on Wednesday. He does say that he has more sensitivity in his teeth and jaw that seems to be alleviated when he stops wearing the infusion pump.

He then goes back in 9 days for blood work and then 5 days after that back for Round 2. He has a total of 12 sessions to go through! As of right now, no side effects like nausea or vomiting! We are keeping our fingers crossed!

Too much H2O can be a problem....

Especially if its coming from your water heater. I had taken a shower, then Lauren, then I was on Allison about getting in the shower. She turned on the water, and then told me it wasn't getting hot. We had always been able to all three take showers without running out of hot water so I wasn't sure why it wasn't getting hot. So I said 'let me go down and look at the water heater'. I said that knowing that there wasn't anything wrong, but really didn't know what else to say.



Well, I walked into the garage to a huge mess of water all under the water heater. I went next door and got Tarek (whose water heater went out last month) and he came over and helped me shut off the gas AND drain the water heater. So Allison headed over to take a shower at Tarek and Kelley's. What a night!



The next day I called the same guy that Tarek had called. He came told me what I needed to do in order to find out what size of water heater I needed. I went to Home Depot and Lowes before calling the place he advised me to call. It was cheaper at the place he referred me to and I went and picked up the water heater. The next night he came over, replaced the water heater and had it running in an hour. Cost of the water heater and installation...$600. Not bad considering most places for installation and the product is close to $1100. However, all this happening a month before Christmas isn't good on the wallet. But we can all take hot showers now...so all of our friends are thankful!

A wedding I wouldn't have missed....Lizard & Brian

Lizard & Brian officially tied the knot on November 14, 2009. I have been Lizard's 2nd mom for a long time. It was a wedding I wouldn't have missed, despite the invitations being screwed up and not getting to their destinations. The pictures through this blog are not in order but it was an afternoon and evening of fun and excitement.The girls and I headed to the church. We ended up running into Shae, Tim and Emily in the parking lot, along with Rob and Karen.

The fact I got both girls to wear their hair down AND actually have something other than American Eagle or Hollister on, was amazing! Lizard should realize how important she is in order for them to accomplish this feat! ha ha

After the wedding we headed to Chili's for drinks and appetizers since we had about a 2 hour delay prior to the reception starting. Mark, Karen, Rob, Ashli, Elaine, Ed, Elizabeth, me and the girls all headed to Brier Creek.

As you can see, Karen was enjoying herself. As well as the rest of them and their margaritas! I wanted a Vodka Collins, but they were out of Collins mix, so I went with a Strawberry Daiquri which I ended up taking the glass. It was a good size glass and was perfect to add to the collection!

We ended up being there until the reception started and then we headed to the hotel, which we were actually staying for the night.

We ended up getting there before Lizard & Brian, so we ended up standing around talking for awhile.

Me & Elaine! Look how relaxed we look! Not at work, maybe thats it? Or maybe its the margaritas?

I miss Ashli, she pops in every now and then and its always great to see her! We sure do miss her!

Tim was helping me with a drink!

Had to get an A Team picture! Its always appropriate, no matter what the attire!

I had never seen Allison dance like this before. Lizard got her out there and that was it!

The entire Rex crew, or at least the ones that matter were there! You definately NEVER get us dressed up all at the same time! Kind of funny!

My boss lady with my 3rd job. But of course being the Marketing Director of EmileeBeth Photography is not as easy as it sounds!

Don't look at the new fashion stockings Emilee has on. No, thats not a hole in her stockings, thats the new ventilation system designed by Anne Klein!

Again, Allison is at it! You go girl!

Another picture of 2 less stressed looking Rex employees. Whats wrong with this picture?

I love this picture! Allison actually smiling without her tongue hanging out, without her rolling her eyes! Both of them are simply, beautiful!

And I had to get a picture with the groom! Probably the closest to a groom Ill ever get! It was a beautiful ceremony and they both looked extremely happy!