2/20 What A Week

I don't have a clever title for you today. I'm tired. Not just sleepy tired, exhausted tired. It's been a week. And it's only Tuesday hahaha. It's been a long 7 days since my last post, let's go with that. Let's get started, shall we?

Tuesday last week I took Milo to the vet for normal routine things: heartworm test, general check up, etc. Easy, no nonsense, nothing to worry about, just super expensive as always. We set up an appointment to get him neutered for 2/19 (yesterday), and were on our way.

Wednesday I swear I was on the phone literally all day. From the second I woke up I had my phone in my hand and pressed to my ear all day. Doctor's offices, HR department, my mother, setting up job interviews, my boss, Joanns, checking voicemail from telemarketers. Lord. You name it, I had a phone call about it. I. HATE. Talking on the phone. I have horrible social anxiety as it is, and having to make a phone call to anyone other than my mother, The Boy, or my boss is enough to send me into an institution most of the time. I seriously have to rehearse and script out what I'm calling about, have a checklist in front of me of things I want to say, and make sure I'm in a closed room where no one else can hear me. By the time I had everything done I was ready to crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep I was so tired and stressed out.

Thursday I had to run the last bit of my FMLA paperwork up to my surgeon's office to have that signed so I could be released back to work on Sunday (that's a whole 'nother store you need to get ready for in a few paragraphs). Nothing too crazy on Thursday, just a matter of driving up to the hospital and back during the lunch rush. It's fine.

Friday my mother and I went out for a lunch date and to run a few errands. My parents are going on a cruise next week and she, of course, wants to have all fancy new things for it. We went and got our nails done, she got a pedicure and I went all out for a full set of acrylics (I haven't had them in legit 7 or 8 years, I'm fully on the struggle bus here). They look phenomenal, the gel polish is super shiny and I got a glitter overlay on the tips so they're REAL fancy looking. But the guy that did them did a real half ass job on them and I'm not super thrilled. Similar to my haircut experience from last week, I tried to point out the problems I was seeing and he just brushed me off. I told him they were too long for me, he said they would get filed down as he went (they didn't). I told him I didn't like how one hand looks like it's already a week grown out, he said it would look fine once the polish was on (it doesn't). I said I wanted them more almond/stiletto shaped, he flat out ignored me and said the standard roundy square shape "looks better" (personal preference dude, I say I want something and you should do that for me). After that less than thrilling experience we went to a BBQ place that's a favorite for The Boy and I (which is always amazing), then wandered up to the mall so she could get a new travel purse and wallet for the trip. Came home to the news that The Boy's mother was on her way down from up north for the weekend (she stays with her parents so not really an issue) but she was stopping by for a few on her way through town so we had to speed clean the house and make sure it was good to go. She came in for a whopping 5 minutes (no exaggeration), dropped off a box of stuff for The Boy to go through, and was on her way. Great.

Saturday was an adventure. We decided to go to Ikea for new dishes, and that was a huge mistake. The initial plan (which we've been talking about for ages by now) was to just go and get a handful of bowls that match the current set we have. He's had the same set of dishes for 8 years, they're in pretty good shape, we're just down to 5 bowls out of the 12 he started with. OF COURSE, they don't carry the same color any more. Of course. So we picked out a new set (white and shiny, they look super nice) and went on our way. As we're leaving we start heading a different direction than I expect, which I question and he informs me we're going to see his Grandparents and his mom for the afternoon. All fine and dandy, but my poor brain needs to mentally prepare for that. His brother and the brother's girlfriend are also there, we hang out for a bit and then take a quick trip to a local game store for a quick breather and so The Boy could pick out a birthday present for himself. Head back to the Grandparent's, run through the first 2 scenarios of the game (Zombie 15, it's actually really cool once you understand how to get it going), shove a quick dinner in our mouths, say our goodbyes and head home. Sounds like a relaxing afternoon after the Ikea trip, and it really should have been. I love his family to death, but everyone is very hands on especially when there's something new like a game involved and sometimes my poor brain can't handle the questions and the constant arm/head pats and the asking if I need a drink. It was a long 4 hours.

Sunday. Oh man, Sunday. Sunday was my first day back to work and OF COURSE it was a total clusterf*ck. I will never for the life of me understand why President's Day of all the dumb not real holidays is a huge shopping weekend. It starts off with finding out that HR screwed up my start back date so I'm still technically "inactve" in our systems until the 23rd, meaning I wasn't able to log into ANYTHING except our cash registers. And because it's a holiday weekend, everyone at HR is out of the offices until Tuesday (today) so there was nothing anyone could do. The store was a disaster from Saturday night, on top of being busy pretty much all day Sunday as well, and I was just way overwhelmed. By the time 7pm rolled around I was ready to run out of the store. As luck would have it as well, we're still short a key for our deposit drop box and the keys that were left for me were the set that didn't have the drop box key, so I had to swap keys with the opening manager with the promise that I would bring hers back up Monday morning because she needed them Monday night to close.

Monday morning dropped Milo off at the vet bright and early for his surgery, ran the promised keys up to the store, chatted with my boss for about 40 minutes, and came home to just chill out. I was still super on edge from work on Sunday, and as much as I told myself to not worry about Milo I was still internally freaking out because he's my baby and that's what happens. I spent the afternoon keeping myself busy getting new products ready for my Etsy shop, and doing a successful job of annoying The Boy as he had worked from home yesterday. 4pm rolls around and even though they said pickup was at 5pm I headed to the vet to see if I could grab him early. He was ready to go, so I shed a small tear over the ridiculous bill and loaded the very drugged puppy into the car and headed home. It's been almost 10 years since I've had to have a dog fixed (Radar was a rescue so she was already spayed when The Boy brought her home, and he refuses to have Bentley neutered) and while I feel bad they're in pain for a bit it's so damn hilarious watching them try to get it back together as the drugs wear off. It took him most of the night, and now (Tuesday morning) he's pretty much back to normal.

So. That's been my week. I'm off of work again today so I'm just keeping an eye on the puppy and plugging away at the samples for the Etsy shop with Milo tucked in at my feet while I try to figure out what to make for dinner. Now that I have my Pinterest almost 100% organized (seriously, so many lists! I'm in love), I'm on a mission to actually try the recipes I've saved over the years. We had stir fry last night so I think I might stay on the Asian food kick and attempt some kind of dumping/wanton type thing and see how that goes. My friend Kate has started a blog and is working her way through Chrissy Teigen's cookbook and she posted a recipe a few days ago for Crab, Cream Cheese, and Scallion Wontons that sound super tasty so that might be something I try tonight if it's not too hard to get everything together. Which goes completely against the Pinterest statement I just made, but still. It's a good concept in theory.

Have a cone of shame puppy to make your rainy Tuesday a little better.

2/13 Banana Bread and Botched Haircuts

Not really botched. But just annoying. Backstory: I'm really bad at getting haircuts. Like, I know you're supposed to go every 6 to 8 weeks. My range is usually every 6 to 8 months. That kind of bad. I've also been really bad about staying on top of dying my hair for the last 2 years or so. I put it off and put it off and put it off for months until I find myself wearing a hat every day to hide the 3 inches of new growth that doesn't even kind of match the dyed color. I've been dying it myself for what has to be going on 8 years at this point, and I'm just over it. It's a messy process, I have a LOT of hair so it always takes forever (not to mention mixing and prepping 4 boxes of dye), and it's just not an easy task. I made a very valiant effort to go out and get it taken care of yesterday, and it clearly just wasn't meant to be.

I'm not super picky about where I go to get my hair cut, I've been going to the Great Clips across the street from our house for the last few years now (which really only equates to like 5 hair cuts, but still) and I've never really had a problem before. The girl that checked me in and ultimately ended up cutting my hair was super nice, which was about the only plus. I asked when I checked in if I could have my hair both cut and colored or if I needed to make an appointment for the color and she said that both were fine, she'd cut my hair first though. She sits me down and tells me what they have in their system from the last time I was in, which of course was a solid 8 months ago but I don't really vary my hairstyle so it's the same concept, and gets started. She parts it down the middle, trims off the edges and layers it, then parts it THE WRONG WAY. I politely corrected her, and she KEPT GOING. ON PURPOSE. It's not like she didn't hear me, I was the only one in there and no one was cleaning or making any other noises. I said something again, and she was like "It's okay, it'll sit the same on the other side too." No, no it won't. I'm not experienced in cutting hair except for attempting to trim my own bangs for a few years, and even I know it won't look right if you do it backwards. But she tried to assure me it would be fine, and still kept going. She finishes, smooths some product through my hair, quickly blasts it with a blow dryer, and THEN parts it correctly. It clearly looks like I'm parting my hair the wrong way. Then she says we're all set and walks away to ring me out. I stop her, again, and ask about the color to which she replies "Oh we don't do color services, just cuts and styles." I'm sorry, what? I specifically asked that when I came in and she told me it was fine. And now you're telling me you don't offer a service I asked about that you told me you did have. In her defense, they don't offer color services so that's fine. But when I asked about it up front, she probably should have said something then and not waited until I was done. Now I'm annoyed that I have to go somewhere else at some point this week on top of already being in one salon for an hour today. Sigh.

ANYWAY. Today's domestic adventure is going to involve attempting to make banana bread, but of course because it's me there's a multitude of things that don't work in my favor. I'm using this recipe I found on Pinterest (I've spent a LOT of time on Pinterest while I've been off of work, I'm sorry).

Here's your shopping list:

3 medium bananas (over ripe, you want them to be mushy)
3/4 cup sugar (you can substitute 1/2 cup of honey instead if you'd like)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon (you can use less or just fully omit this if you don't like cinnamon)

Here's your order of operations:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash your bananas. You want the skin to be almost fully brown so they're mushy, the worst thing in banana bread is having actual chunks of banana. I tossed them in the mixer while I was measuring out the rest of my ingredients.
3. Add your egg, sugar (or honey), and oil to the mashed bananas. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, I subbed canola oil because it's what we had on hand and it's a little healthier for you.
4. Add all of your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. I left out the cinnamon since The Boy doesn't like it and I don't think it really makes a difference. You don't want to over mix otherwise your bread will be tough instead of moist.
5. Spray the bottom and sides of your loaf pan with cooking spray, and dump your mix into the pan.
6. Bake for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and transfer directly to the wire rack to finish cooling. The best way to remove from the pan is to lightly run a butter knife around the edges to make sure nothing is stuck, place a plate over the top of the pan and flip it upside down so the loaf slides out and then transfer it to the wire rack.

Here were my issues (not necessarily with the recipe, just with my life). I tried to substitute the honey in place of the sugar, but ended up not having enough honey. I don't know if you've ever tried to dump honey back into the bottle but it doesn't work very well, so I just rolled with it and added an extra 2 tablespoons of sugar trying to balance it out, but I definitely could have used more. Also, because the honey is liquid it definitely changes the consistency of the dough. I don't have anything to compare it to since this is the first time I've made this recipe, but the outer layer of the bread was super tough compared to the inside of the bread and I feel like the honey definitely played a part in that. I like my sweet breads to be a little more dense, and this was definitely lighter and almost fluffy.

2/9 Snowed In Pinterest Binging

I don't actually know how "new" of a thing this is on Pinterest, but as of recently you can make SECTIONS on your boards now. Sections = lists. Pinterest boards are basically a list of things you like, so now you get to make more concise lists within your already curated lists. I love a good list, guys. Lists on lists on lists. My favorite part of planning anything is making prep lists. Grocery lists, planner lists, to-do lists. Lists to keep track of things, lists of things already done vs. things that still need to be done. I've been told a time or two that I'm....ahem...OVER-organized. I fail to see how that's a bad thing.

Anyway. I spent the good majority of my time in the hospital as well as the first few days home sitting on the couch perusing Pinterest and carefully crafting the newfound Sections, and I've picked back up today with the impending snowpocalypse looming down on us. I've been pounding out samples and color swatches and new product patterns for my Etsy store and my brain (and pin pricked fingers) needed a break. I've shifted my focus from creating samples and patterns to creating font color swatches and lurking Pinterest while the embroidery machine does it's thing.

I think one of the only good things about being on medical leave from work at the moment is not having to go anywhere in this ridiculous snowstorm. The Boy has the luxury of being able to work from home almost whenever he needs (or wants) to, so he never usually needs to worry about winter weather traffic. Working in retail, that has always ALWAYS been a concern. You don't get to take sick days or weather days, you don't get to work from home. The mall I work in has (as far as I know) literally NEVER been closed. For anything. Except a select few holidays, and let's be real even those probably aren't guaranteed for too much longer. Even if there's 6 feet of snow expected to drop in a matter of hours, you're still expected to haul your ass to work with a smile on your face. Don't get me wrong, I do (for the most part) enjoy my job. But some days I'd kill for the option to say "Hey, it's not worth risking my life to drive here right now. See you tomorrow."

Still on the Pinterest topic, as I'm organizing and re-organizing the THOUSANDS (no seriously) of pins I have, I'm discovering things I saved years and years ago that either have zero relevance in my life or are just hilarious to me now. I took a break from Pinterest for a few years, I didn't get the point of it for a while and I didn't see the need to have a bunch of ideas saved for things that I didn't actually need. Some days I still think that, but then I see another farmhouse sink and an emerald cut sapphire engagement ring and I'm hooked again.

This is short and sweet-ish today, as I think I've spent enough time glued to my desk and sewing machine for the last week. I'm going to have a few beers and watch The Boy play some video games.

2/7 Post Surgery Ramblings

In an attempt to revive this site yet again, I've discovered not 1, not 2, but a total of 3 different blogs I've used over the years at varying rates of consistency. Or with zero consistency, if we're really being honest here, because it's me and I've never been one to keep up with anything to save my life. There's quite a few gems tucked back in the archives, but I think it's probably for the best they stay hidden there.

In other news, I'm very slowly working my way back to being a normal human again since my surgery. Last night I was able to sleep on my side for the first time in 2 weeks and it was GLORIOUS. I've always been a side/stomach sleeper so to be forced to sleep on my back I feel like I haven't had a good night's rest in ages at this point. I still can't quite get comfortable in bed, I'm probably at least another month away from being able to sleep on my stomach again, but I'm getting there. Slowly. I'm still a little shocked at how well I did bounce back. To be fair though the surgery was incredibly minimally invasive, and although there were still 5 incisions they were all incredibly small. I believe he said 4 of the 5 were 1 centimeter or less, and only one was 2 inches long. The incisions themselves are healing phenomenally with the exception of one at the top of my abdomen, it's constantly getting brushed against and irritated because of where it's placed and I feel like it's never going to fully heal over.

Speaking of never healing over, I'm mildly devastated that one of my cartilage piercings closed up after my surgery. Obviously all jewelry has to be removed for procedures, including ear piercings, and my 2nd cartilage piercing has never quite healed right so in the LESS THAN 36 HOURS it was out, it's started to close up. I'm so sad. The first time it happened was with my knee surgery in 2006, and I was able to "gently" force it back through. (I use the word "gently" very, very loosely. It hurt. A lot.) But this time there was no saving it. When I originally had it done, somehow it was pierced at a weird angle and it's impossible to replicate it to easily put the earring back in. That's probably the least important thing I could complain about, and it'll finally give me the excuse to go get it done again the right way and hopefully have it heal correctly this time.

I've been living in leggings and sweatpants for the last 3 weeks and while it's insanely comfortable, the list of things I'd do to be able to put on a pair of jeans and feel a little more put together is rapidly growing. I also keep having to remind myself that despite being able to bounce back from everything that's ever happened to me physically quite well, I literally have holes in my abdomen that need to heal up. They sliced through ALLLL the layers of muscle and while I'm not actively in pain, it's going to be a while before I can actually do things the way I used to. I'm still struggling to do basic household chores like lugging laundry up and down the stairs (although to be fair, at the rate I normally do laundry that's not a new struggle and those bags are always heavy), and I can barely push the vacuum. It's frustrating to say the least, and there's not much I can do about it yet. I still have about a week and a half before I go back to work, and once I am back I'll still have light restrictions on what I can do which is ALSO frustrating.

Moral of the story: stay on top of your health, kids. I've been living with this.....thing....in my abdomen for lord knows how long, and I knew something was wrong but I just didn't do anything about it until it was nearly life-threatening. I've had problems bending over and pressure in my lower abdomen for a handful of years now but I just attributed it to being overweight and my jeans were too tight, or that the uncomfortable pressure was from my IUD. Nope. Not even close on either part. Had I done the smart thing and gotten it checked out when I started feeling like something was wrong I could have planned the surgery out and made time for everything to fall into place in a way that it didn't inconvenience anyone. But no. Because I was too stubborn, I had to wait until the pain was bad enough to send me to the ER and ended up with an emergency situation that needed to be taken care of RIGHT NOW.

I fully intended for this to be a happy introduction back into the online world, but unsurprisingly it turned into bitching about what's wrong in my life. Again. I guess the good thing that came of this (other than having the....thing.. removed) is I really needed time off from work. I got so burnt out this holiday season and we were struggling big time to fit in everyone's PTO at the end of the season. Not that I can really call this a "vacation" by any means, but lord knows it's been so nice to have some time away from that place and attempt to decompress a bit. My Etsy shop has also been getting a pretty good re-vamp to look a little better and get things more organized both in the listings and pictures as well as offline. So. Y'know.