That's High Quality C P R !

Instructor BCLS renewal was due. It was Instructors only so it was going to be a quick morning. Our Instructor status is good for 2 years but there were some changes with AHA so everyone had to be re-certified no matter what. We each went through and took turns running through infant, child and adult CPR as well as using an AED properly. After the 1st round of adult CPR, I felt a pain in my left wrist. I pulled up my sleeve and it was black and swelling. The swelling was getting bigger by the minute. I took my watch off, put some pressure on it, ran up to the ER and had Karen wrap it for me. I headed back down stairs to finish. I did the rest of my check-offs with my right hand. Oh, and I passed! Yeah! After I got home, I unwrapped it, and aside from it hurting it was black and it HURT!~ I thought that after a few days it would go away! It didn't. It took nearly 2 weeks before it got back to 'normal'.

It hurt and even after it healed completely, it was days later before it didn't hurt at all.

I told Gwen (the Training Center Coordinator) that I gave some high quality CPR and she should be proud! She got a chuckle out of it! I really should have told her Chris tied me up, but, that I didn't think was 'politcally correct'. ha ha!

They must eat alot of carrots!

Heading home from Wake and trying to get home to watch the NCAA tournament and I get almost to the Poole Road exit and look up and there are State Trooper lights behind me. Where he came from, I will never know. I was only going 70 in a 65. So I pull over, he walks up and I don't even wait on him to ask me anything...I say.. " I know I was speeding, Im trying to get home to watch the NCAA tournament". He then proceeds to tell me thats not why he pulled me over. He tells me that my sticker on my plate expired in January. Really? Again, another reason why I need a man, maybe that can be reason #6, so I don't have to worry about crap like this. I knew the taxes had been paid. He then proceeded to tell me the car was overdue for inspection as well. Then it hit me....yep, I never got the car inspected. UUUgghhhh He wrote me a ticket.

I went home, pulled out the old mail and sure enough the registration renewal was there. I got online immediately and paid it, printed it out. The next day, went and had the car inspected, saved that copy as well. A few days later I got my sticker in the mail.


So off to court I will go in May and get it taken care of. How in the world do they see this little sticker? Really? At 70 mph? They must eat a lot of carrots!

Another Reunion....Thank You Facebook

Thank you Facebook for another reunion of sorts! I worked with Nathan's wife years ago. Like more than 10 years ago. Even though Heather has kept in touch through emails a couple of times a year, we never have actually hooked up for lunch or dinner. Nathan and I used to go to movies all the time because Heather loved the 'love story, sappy' movies and Nathan and I loved the 'scare the hell out of you' movies. I remember seeing the Blair Witch Project and Im sure there were some Freddy, Michael, Jason movies in there too. Anyways, Nathan got a Facebook page and we have sent each other messages, comments, posts, etc. but hadn't actually hooked back up. Nathan was out on school break and we decided to make a late lunch date. We picked the Carolina AleHouse at Briercreek. Kind of a meet in the middle ground area. Nathan and Heather still live in Durham but not where I remember. Actually kind of on the way to VIR. Of course I had to fill Nathan in on Chris, where I was, where he was and taking any advice he wanted to offer. We enjoyed sitting there for about 2 hours. Food, drinks and great conversation of catch-up on 10 plus years. Nathan hadn't changed a bit. And, hopefully, neither had I. I did catch him up on some Facebook posts though, so now he knows.....the rest of the story! ;) It was great and I started to wonder how many reunions Facebook has been a part of. Which is the main reason why I love Facebook. I have gotten in touch with my most dearest friends. People I haven't seen in more than 10-15 years, and its amazing that these friends are sometimes the truest friends you will ever have! Don't worry, Nathan and I are planning another get together soon enough!

Angus Barn anyone?

I haven't been to the Angus Barn in years, but when we got there, nothing had changed. It is still a premier spot for dinner in Raleigh. We had the entire 2nd floor, minus the Wild Turkey Lounge and Bar. The ENA meeting was scheduled with the theme of bringing pet food. We brought some pet food. Kind of weird walking in a steakhouse with pet food but it worked.

There were a ton of people from Wake, most of which I knew. Mare showed up and sat with us. Yeah! Even Bob was out for the occasion. Since Bob hadn't been seen since his kidnapping. He is now 'officially' back. Look out!

Sarah, of course you can't take anywhere! But what else is new, with my ClubMed friends. ha ha

Despite Elaine and her 'cold sx' she did manage to get a smile out! ha ha

Laura and Sandy, my Bob planning friends.. ha ha. Laura is so into whatever Bobs adventures are and is pretty good at coming up with stuff.

Of course, Bob had to try to get some wine. Erin and I seemed to hit up the Wild Turkey Bar, a few times, I might add.

We did enjoy an awesome filet as well as salmon that was perfectly cooked (of course), shrimp, ribs, salad, dessert. Yum Yum!

Sarah seemed to add the writing as we were waiting to leave!

I love it!

And boy was it yummy!

This was supposed to say 'eat in the dark & naked'. But for some reason that got left off?

My bud, Erin! Yeah, Erin, if I switch sides, I will definately be your girlfriend! Bring it on!

Dad is a 10....Treatment number 10 that is!~

Can you believe it? Almost done! Number 10 out of 12. Dads labwork looked good, so that proceeded on with treatment. 2 more treatments and he is DONE! It seems not that long ago I remember getting a text to call him. I was sitting on the Enchantment of the Seas waiting to ids-embark when Dad asked me to call him and 'it was important'. Im 12 hours from home, 14 hours away from him and to get the news of a malignant tumor wasn't anything I expected. Throughout surgery, recovery, the chemo process, it seems like the time since last September is a blur. But here we are, 2 more sessions and hopefully that will be it, forever. I have had the most wonderful friends, including MD's I work with always asking about Dad. Kind of nice. I wish Chris was going through this with me. He always would ask about my family and thats one huge part I love about him and his family, they are so close. They all have a great relationship. I miss him!

Saying Goodbye to the Sherwin Williams walls....

Next on the list was Lauren's room. She had been wanting to repaint for awhile, but I hadn't had everything together yet. I guess I just decided that NOW was the right time. Got everything out, got all the supplies together and started....

First thing to go, was the popcorn ceiling..I hate them! Eventually the entire house will be popcorn free, but for now, one more room! This stuff comes down so easy, if you do it right. Her ceiling was one of the best after I got the popcorn off. Not too many uneven spots and not alot of break through where the sheetrock meet. Overall it was the best one I had done in the house. I sanded a few spots, spackled a few and then it looked like we were ready for the primer.

It took two coats of primer to get all the different paints covered. I was going to miss that design. I had seen a magazine ad for Sherwin-Williams paint with a childs room painted up like castles. I fell in love with it. I found it years before I ever had kids. I saved that ad. Even after Allison was born, we were still renting and hadn't bought a house, so I didn't want to do it then. After we bought this house, I knew it was the 'right time'. I couldn't find the right paint colors, so I emailed Sherwin Williams. They emailed me back with instructions on how to achieve the look as well as each, individual color code! I was set. I remember taping the walls, sponging on the cement bricks that didn't seem like they were going to turn out until I peeled that blue tape off. They actually looked real. I couldn't believe I had done it ALL on my own. I think every girl should have that paint theme. Totally beautiful!

Got the primer on the ceiling....looks good! I LOVE smooth ceilings...they really do make it seem as if its higher! The color I am using is from Restoration Hardware...Silver Sage. Its kind of a green, blue, gray, depending on how the light hits it. But its beautiful! And Lauren loves it! Even in these pictures, which were all taken at the same time, just a different angles, the light hitting each wall, looks different!

I also got a new ceiling fan! It took Allison & I to get it up, it was a little heavy. I did remember to turn off the electricity nd it looks great as well! Lauren loves her new room! Not to mention the new bed. Just need to find some closet organizational system so that I can keep all her clothes organized. I thought about how proud Chris would be of me. Well, maybe more if I had left the electricity ON! ha ha

What do you spend your $$ on?

Well, I guess you could interpret that question alot of different ways. I thought about putting 'What do you see when you look down?" My emphasis was really talking about shoes. I looked down one day, snapped a picture and sent a text message. So it came the 'text of the shoe'. I guess everyone chooses to emphasize certain things with money. I definately don't hesitate to drop some dollars on shoes. Mainly because I am on my feet at work for 13-plus hour shifts. With what I do, I need something that isn't going to make my feet cramp or my legs cramp.

I was in the office when I snapped this one. Every once in awhile I will put on tennis shoes for work. Most of the time its my Dansko's. Guess it depends on what kind of mood Im in that day. Out for a run, notice the lovely Carolina Blue socks....well the girls steal all the black ones I have. It doesn't matter how many pair I buy, they don't end up staying in my dresser drawer for very long.
Ah, the Dansko's. They are a heavier shoe and are a bit pricey. But I wouldn't have any other shoe. Especially when Im working 70-80 hours a week. They definately do not wear my legs/feet out. I have black, white, navy, another black, brown and blue. I need some new ones though. I have had these for years. I actually have 2 brushed pair that I wear with jeans, because they look too nice to wear for work.

Every once in awhile I will pull out the Converse. I just have a white pair and a pink pair. If I don't plan on being at work long, I will throw these on. They are cute and they are probably the cheapest shoes I have, but they work.
Out for a run, again. Notice the dork-ness white socks. Again, no black socks. Wonder why?

Em and I were teaching one day and noticed we both had on Converse, so of course there had to be a picture....

Then there is a few more stories..... Linda came back to work one night after working all day to help me with something. We ended up sitting in the office for 15-20 minutes talking (about work, of course) and then Linda looked down and had 2 DIFFERENT shoes on. We busted out laughing. Then I wondered if we needed to call a Code Stroke. So, we definately need a picture of this!

As I send my 'shoe pix' texts, I get one back...
I about fell out of my chair laughing. Emilee knew all about the 'shoe texts' so she got a chuckle when I got this one too.

I left work one day, got in the car and got this picture sent to me!

I knew exactly who it was from....then a few minutes later I got another one.....
I found out it was PJ who was working with Emilee! I have such great friends! Ones that always seem to make me laugh!~ WOW!

Recipe for All Day Laughter & a Smile!

This year was a little disappointing for the Tarheels. Go from National Champions of 2009 to the NIT. It is definately, not only, an expectation to make the NCAA Tournament, but to go far. So with this season done, pretty much, the NCAA Tournament wasn't quite the same. Although I did fill out my brackets and felt pretty good. After all, I did pick Murray State and St. Marys in the 1st round, and I did pick Butler to go far, so I wasn't doing too bad. Ok, back to the story....So I had WVU/Duke in the Final Four, which is what leads us to this story. WVU made the Final Four for the 1st time in 51 years. WOW! Go Mountaineers! After the Elite Eight round and talking to Mike, he sent me a link... here it is:

Yep, Final Four tickets! Woo Hoo, what an awesome experience. Welcome to the Big Time WVU! So again, Im off subject...but kind of have to fill you in on what led up to the surprise..so WVU got beat by Duke. Wasn't sure if Mike was going home after that, going to the Championship game, and wasn't sure when he was going to be back at work. Sometime Tuesday I figured out he was back in Charleston, so I called Pam and asked her if I ordered a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake could she pick it up and deliver it without Mike knowing it. She jumped on the chance. I believe her response was 'of course'. I wanted to order it from Cookies By Design, but I found out that Charleston had one but they went out of business, so I had to call my sis back to find out what cookie companies were up there. She recommended Great American Cookie Company. I called, told them I was calling from NC and wanted to order a cookie, what I wanted on it and I would pay for it but my sister would pick it up. No problem. It was set for Thursday.

I sent Pam the address and that she could pick it up any time after 11am. I was working at Wake and had put on my facebook status 'I think Im in the mood for chocolate chip cookies'. So this is when I started laughing. Some peeps that were up that early jumped on with comments like 'yummy' and 'I love chocolate chip cookies' and then my sis writes 'me too'. Again, another laugh and a smile. Work goes on...

Then the next message that pops across my phone is a comment Pam left "The Eagle has landed'. I busted out laughing so loud, everyone in A bay turned around and looked. Every little thing that kept happening made me laugh even more. Im not sure why, it just did. About an hour later another update that said Pam had posted something and it said 'C is for Cookie, good enough for me'. I laughed louder than the 1st. Of course, everyone knew about the 'cookie' but the comments kept making me laugh. I haven't heard the Cookie Monster song in probably 30 years. I still don't know how she even thought of that. Little did I know that she posted the ENTIRE Cookie Monster Song on my facebook page. I, again, laughed and had kept a smile on my face all day long. I left work around 1530 and called Pam as soon as I got in the car. Both of us were laughing so hard, we could hardly talk. But as the phone conversation went, I got a text from Mike with the picture below...... With the words 'Eagle has landed". I think I about wrecked the car. Again, more laughing and smiling. This was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! I mean, really, how much more of a perfect ending could there be. Totally awesome! So when I told Pam, again the laughing continued! I can't remember a time when I laughed so hard for an entire day. The thought even continued the next day, just the thought of it made me laugh! Its definately a scrapbook page, thats for sure. When something feels so good, it has to be right, right?

This story has made me laugh for days.