the adventures of kev and monica
I submitted the picture of Kev and his 1Up cake to Pink is the New Blog and it made it into today’s readers’ photos post! I had a feeling a creative and fun cake like this would make the cut.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had a photo posted on PITNB. I submitted another one after our last trip to Colorado. You can read my blog post about it here, or you can go here instead to see it on PITNB.
Kev’s birthday was on Wednesday and in honor of turning 33 on 3/3, he had a special request for his cake this year. I love cupcakes, so he got me this cupcake cake mold for Christmas. The shape inspired his request for the Super Mario Brothers 1Up mushroom cake:
It was a team effort. I put on the green frosting and Kev did the white dots and face. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out way better than I imagined!
Now I need some ideas for my Cinco de Mayo birthday cupcake. Maybe a sombrero? Something else Mexican inspired? Post your ideas!
I am an organizational freak, I admit it. Our house is usually in pretty good order because I can’t stand to leave things lying around. I feel more relaxed when things are put away or organized.
There are a couple spots in our basement that have been bothering me, one of which was a corner housing our camping gear. This corner isn’t one I see often because it’s on the opposite side of the stairs from where our basement living room is set up. But I knew the pile was there.
We made a trip to IKEA yesterday and picked out a shelving unit to better organize and store our camping gear. If you’ve ever purchased furniture at IKEA, you know it comes flat packed in boxes with picture directions. After a few hours of putting it together, realizing it wasn’t quite right, taking it apart and putting it back together again, Kev successfully transformed the pile into this:
That sound you heard was my sigh of relief.
I did something so idiotic today that it needs to be shared in the hopes that maybe you’ll comment and share a story of something silly that you’ve done lately. It’ll make us both feel better.
We have an exercise bike in our basement. I’m shorter than Kev, so every time I use the bike after him I have to lower the seat, and vice versa. There have been a couple times where the knob to lower it is too tight and I have to ask him to come down and loosen it for me.
Today was one of those days, but Kev wasn’t home. Rather than give up right away, I tried everything I could think of to get some kind of a grip on the knob to turn it: my fleece jacket, a blanket, a gardening glove…you get the idea. After 10 minutes you’d think I would’ve given up, but no. I had worked up a sweat just trying to loosen it and I thought of one more thing to try. I grasped a 2 pound weight covered in rubber and lodged it in one of the grooves. You can see where this is going, right? The knob didn’t budge, but the weight and my hand went flying. One of my knuckles took the brunt of it and it started throbbing immediately.
After that I came upstairs and ate dinner. An hour later, I have a big red bump on my knuckle and it hurts to touch it or bend my finger. Kev is home now and lowered the seat for me in case I decide to try again tonight. Moral of the story is to be careful with exercise equipment. It can be more dangerous than the actual work out.
Update: I discovered I was turning the knob the WRONG WAY. Must remind myself to chant righty tighty, lefty loosey from now on.
It’s been about 13 months since my ankle inury on the stairs. After 3 months on crutches, 6 weeks in a brace and 2 months of physical therapy, it’s still causing me problems. I went back to my orthopedic doctor in early October and he sent me for an MRI. The MRI came back showing that my ligaments are damaged and there’s scar tissue, but he wasn’t sure if there might be more going on. So he referred me to an ankle/foot orthopedic specialist.
Yesterday was my appointment with that doctor and I finally have some answers as to what’s going on. He agreed with my other doctor on what was showing up on the MRI. He also said that it doesn’t look bad enough for surgery at this point because scar tissue is going to continue to grow. It shouldn’t be causing me all the pain, swelling, limping and locking up that I’m experiencing.
After examining both my feet and having me stand up, he determined that the problems are caused because I stand/walk pronate. Meaning rather than my feet pointing straight forward like they should, mine point out a little bit. It’s never been an issue, but all that extra weight that gets put on the outside of my foot is what’s causing the problems on an already unstable ankle.
He gave me a cortisone shot and told me to get orthotics to put in my shoes that don’t already have arch support. I have very high arches and hopefully the orthotics will help to distribute the weight more evenly when I walk. He said to give it 6 weeks and if I’m still having problems to come back. Then we’ll consider other options or surgery as a last resort.
I feel so much better now that someone could tell me why I’m still having these issues and that I have a plan!
I have a difficult time getting into the holiday spirit. I love Christmas and the week off we get between that and New Year, but it also means I have to cram the usual amount of work into less time. I’m not complaining, I know how lucky we both are to get that week off to spend visiting our out of town families, but it makes me feel stressed out and bah humbug.
Music always helps pull me out of that slump. I popped one of my favorite holiday CDs in last week and like flipping a switch, I was hit with that feeling of joy and spirit I’d been looking for. I’m just glad it hit now rather than just before Christmas because it’s not fun being a grinch.
My favorite holiday tunes are Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan and Midwinter Graces by Tori Amos. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise most of you since I’m big fans of both singers. There’s a mix of original and traditional (with the Sarah/Tori spin) music on both albums.
Sarah’s album came out a few years ago and I’d recommend the following songs as downloads:
River
Wintersong
Christmastime Time Is Here (from A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Tori’s album came out last month and these songs would be good additions to your holiday music collection:
A Silent Night With You
Holly, Ivy And Rose
Snow Angel
Pink And Glitter
Some of the classic songs are worth checking out too, but I like these because they’re different than the usual holiday music you hear all over.
What are your favorite holiday tunes?
We celebrated Thanksgiving in our traditional non-traditional way. We tossed around a few ideas leading up to the holiday, none of which involved any cooking. Sonic became our top choice after driving by the week before and seeing on their sign that they would be open. This is the first Sonic near us and it’s been extremely busy since it opened a little over a month ago. Thanksgiving ended up being the perfect time to go because so many people were eating at home. There were others that had the same idea, though.
Behold our Sonic feast:
I had grilled cheese and tater tots. Kev had a cheeseburger and onion rings. We split a Fritos chili cheese wrap and also had strawberry limeades. Our dessert (not from Sonic) was chocolate moose tracks ice cream with magic shell.
Now we’re ready for the several home-cooked meals we’ll get to enjoy in a few weeks with our families for Christmas!
Summer is my favorite season, but there are things I appreciate about every season. In the Fall, I love all the pumpkin flavored coffee, food and beer. And the candy! No other time of year can you buy bags of Dots or Nerds in single servings. Those aren’t even for the trick-or-treaters, they’re for ME!
Like many of you this week, I carved a pumpkin for Halloween. The only thing I hate about pumpkin carving is cleaning out the pumpkin. Lucky for me, Kev is the best husband ever and did that part for me. Isn’t that sweet? Here’s my masterpiece carved from a stencil with one star for easy since it’s about all I can handle:
The above picture is pretty dark because I put the pumpkin in the basement, which is the only place we had space for it. I’ll probably move it to the front porch tomorrow night. Here’s a picture of it with the lights on (Zoe couldn’t wait to start sniffing):
Last night Kev and I donated blood for the first time ever. I had wanted to do it for awhile and about a month ago I found out there was going to be a blood drive at the Ferndale Rec Center where I work out. I signed us up and before I knew it, the date was here.
I did fine with the finger prick for pre-screening. I did fine with the IV and blood part. I did fine when I sat up. Things went downhill after I stood. I warned them ahead of time that I tend to get dizzy after a blood draw, so thankfully they were ready for it. As the nurse was helping me across the room, things started to swim and look a little fuzzy. It didn’t register at the time, but I was pretty close to passing out. The nurse picked up on it and dragged me across the room to the semi-private cot. I laid down and she made me breathe into a paper bag. Kev brought me lots of cookies and orange juice and eventually I was able to sit up. After 8 oreos, 2 cans of orange juice and a bottle of water, I was ready to go home.
I figured I’d be fine by today. I was wrong. I got so dizzy in the shower that I had to sit down. I felt so weak, dizzy and light headed that I couldn’t get ready for work. I’ve spent the day guzzling water, eating big meals and making pumpkin cupcakes (once I could stand without dizziness):
If you want the recipe I used, click here. They were super easy to make and are SO GOOD. I’m feeling much better after eating one of them, so I’m pretty sure they are the key to recovering from a blood donation. I’m proud that I was brave enough to donate blood, but I don’t think I’ll be signing up to do it again.
Step 1: Bring a box home for your cat
Step 2: Put the box on the floor
Step 3: Put your cat in that box
Or in this case your cat will cram herself in the box even if a shoe is taking up the other half
Different box, same week
I’ve been suffering from bloggers’ writer’s block lately. I like to write, love it, actually, but don’t get much of a chance to use my writing skills except on this blog. Yet when I think about writing a post, I don’t know what to write about or where to begin. I share so much on Facebook on a regular basis that it seems like old news by the time I get around to writing a blot post. I’ve been blogging since 2004 and I’m not ready to give it up.
I’m not sure what that means except that I need to come up with something to make this different what I post on FB. I’m no Carrie Bradshaw, but I can be creative when I want to be. I enjoy writing reviews on things I’ve read or watched, which is something I started doing last year when I was couch bound with an injured foot.
So, any ideas for me? Are you interested in something different like reviews, or maybe a blog book club? Anyone else feeling the same way about their own blogs?
