It's been awhile...

...a very long while since I have blogged. I would blame it on being busy (which I am) however I find time to Facebook so I should find time for this as well. I suppose I'll do my normal run down.

Surgery Update- Everything is looking (and sounding) AWESOME. I am just absolutely amazed at how much my hearing has improved. All of the packing is out and I had a hearing test a few weeks back. God is great and certainly blessed me with a wonderful doctor to get me back where I should be. My only current issues are some incision pain and a few tiny lightening bolts from nerves regenerating. All of the anxiety and pain was most certainly worth it. I even enjoy hearing my students tap their pencils on their desks! Haha. I think that will get old quick once the amazement wears off. I am re-learning how to locate sounds behind me. Before I always thought people were to my right (because that's the only ear I could hear them out of) now I am localizing sounds more and retraining myself to pinpoint sound locations.

Here's my new audiogram. The one to the left is before surgery. The "x" marks my left ears tonal range. The right is 2ish months post surgery. I"M NORMAL (almost) I never thought that I would ever say I was normal in any aspect of my life but lookie here, it's on paper! Also, I should expect improvements during the next year and beyond.


Teaching- Can I just say I LOVE IT. Before I started I had my doubts and questioned myself about whether or not I would like 5th grade and now I must say that for the most part I really enjoy it. I have a great group of students so that really helps. I am even learning to enjoy teaching math, which is a big deal to me because I have always hated it. I know, I know, a math teacher should never say such a thing but I have to be honest. I love watching that moment when the spark goes off for a student and they get it. It is so much fun to see their whole attitude towards something change in just a short period of time.  The only con (and this would be for any grade) I am already tired of feeling sick. I catch bits and pieces of everything they get. Currently I have a sore throat and chest junk but it's worth it. I attempted pulling the sympathy card today since I sounded like a frog but it didn't work so well. Oh well, life must go on!  Oh yes! By the way, the people I work with are AMAZING! I just love working with them and they make every day so much better. It is so nice to work together AND be friends. I had that at the cave too but sometimes school things can make that harder. I am just so relieved on how well everything is going. The teacher that my kids switch with is just lovely. I had her as a teacher and now she is my co-worker and friend. I have so enjoyed getting to know her better and working with her.

One thing I am proud of myself for is my battle with migraines. Between the computer, smartboard, classroom lighting and noise I keep one constantly, which really isn't any different than before teaching. I have really learned how to manage the pain and most importantly the nausea. A good deal of it is my mindset I think. The show must go on whether I feel like it or not. Sometimes I wish that I could call someone in for about 15 minutes so I could re-group myself but that doesn't happen in the real world. Thankfully I have some great helpers that will help pass out papers for me and do little things that make the day easier.

Wedding Planning- Sent in the deposit yesterday! I am so flipping excited! Yes, yes, yes... it's early however we were not even the first 2013 wedding to book! So glad that it's set and I have plenty of time to spread out payments. I really like the thought of just putting my "spare change" towards it here and there verses shelling out a lot of cash at once. The place just has everything I have dreamed of and Grant seems to really like it too. Besides looking at magazines I'm backing off at looking at anything else until around my birthday which will be under a year and a half out. I really want to go dress shopping (to look) so hopefully it will fit into birthday plans! Maybe it's a flaw but I am a planner. I can't help it. Being a planner is probably why my day is totally screwed up when I forget my watch. Haha.

Mail like this makes me happy!

Phone- This is a new issue as of yesterday. Who knew that phones don't like to land on hard classroom floors?! I called in to get a replacement and it turns out that I didn't have coverage on it. My only option was to buy a new phone or get a refurbished one for like $150.00. Luckily for me it was upgrade time so I decided to try out the new iPhone 4S. I am a bit leery because I do love my android system. I have 14 days to return it if I do not like it so I decided to see what all of the iPhone hype is all about. If I don't like it I will probably return to a new version of my Thunderbolt.

D.C.- We got a new kitty! Ok, so I was a bit skeptical at first and even a bit mad that mom brought him home but now I just love him to pieces. I've already told Grant that he will be coming with us once we are married. He and Emma will just love each other (hopefully). He is just so calm and friendly. D.C. also happens to stand for Dumpster Cat because that's where my mom found him. Luckily ode-a-la-dumpster has wore off because he sleeps on my bed every night.

D.C.'s  "Please stop working and play with me" look. I have the wonderful camo sheet down to keep his black hair from getting all over my white bedding.

Freak Snowstorm in October- A picture will suffice. We lost power and a tree. Exciting.


Halloween: Callie came by and so did several of my students.

Callie girl as a vampire!

Halloween quilt that I made

I believe that is about it for now. Hopefully I won't be gone for so long next time!

Whew!

Man has this month, well I guess last month, been busy! August always seems like such a jam packed month. List/Photo rundown:
Annual Crab lunch- Always so much fun and the crabs were very yummy! This was in a past post, check out the pictures there.

Checked out a wedding venue-Also in a previous post.

We were pretty busy at the cave, on the 14th we celebrated our 133rd anniversary of discovery with Discovery Day. It was so much work but totally worth it!

Several months of cleaning candles and planning, a week of setting up and about 2+ hours of lighting that morning. Totally worth all of the work. It is so cool to see the cave by candle light.

After the anniversary I started working away on my classroom. It was fun to set everything up and for it to be MINE :-)



Just part of my classroom. I am sooooo lucky not only do I have a great school to work in but I have awesome technology. It has been challenging and rewarding to figure it all out but I am loving my SmartBoard and document camera as well as everything else.

Around the middle of August I helped Diane out at the fair. That was fun but I ate WAY too much junk food. Example: Dinner consisting of fried oreos and frenchfries....

I will not even go into how many orders that I ate throughout the week...

At some point I made pickles. This was my first go around with them and it wasn't terrible. I really don't like pickles so they are all for mom. She likes them thick cut so that's why they are so big. (yuck)


The week after the fair we started school. Boy is 5th grade different than 2nd; defiantly all in good ways though. I have a great group of students and they make me laugh all of the time. I cannot wait to watch them grow this year!

Ok, so a million other things happened in between these events but that is the quick and dirty version. Some people have been asking for a surgery update so here goes:

I CAN HEAR! It's pretty amazing. I go to the doctor this Friday for him to take a look at everything. The packing has come out and that made a huge difference. I can also finally lay on my left side with almost no pain which is so great. The only thing I have is a battle scar and some hair left to grow back. Turns out the doctor not only shaved what he was supposed to but also cut several inched off of my hair in other places. My wonderful hairdresser made this discovery (I wore my hair up after the surgery so I never noticed) and now my hair is shorter to try to even it out. Here's the picture version:

Before

 After- Pretty loopy and hot. They gown thing was cool because it had ports that hooked up to a machine that pumped in warm air. Embarrassing Confession: I thought I peed myself because I was so sweaty, luckily for me (and my cute dr) I didn't.

 Very drunk but excited to go home

 Taking pictures because I was still too numb to feel anything.

 Colby did a great job of taking care of me.

 Stayed by my side the whole time.

 Chelsie and Callie came to visit.

 My scar as of yesterday 9/4/11

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Dinner time so that's all for now

Bathroom Remodel

So over the weekend while I was shopping I had the bright idea that I wanted to remodel my tiny bathroom. Once upon a time I loved the lime-ish green color on the walls but between dogs and a growing brother the walls have taken their share of abuse.

At TJ MAXX I found a cute shower curtain. Actually I got a great deal and bought all of the accessories there for under $40.00. That includes a shower curtain, shower liner, toothbrush holder, Q-tip holder, hand towel, new bathroom cabnit knobs, rug and picture. I think it was a pretty great deal for the quality of the items. I just LOVE that place, but that is a whole other obsession story.

Sunday I had the day off so I went to the store and got paint and whatnot. It took me about an hour for all of the prep-work (I swear it's the worst part of any job) and I began. A few hours and three coats of paint later I was finished and finally went to bed around midnight.

Today after work I painted the ceiling and trim, put everything up and did some cleaning.

Overall I am VERY happy with the way that it turned out. Now I have a "grown up" bathroom as my brother says.

Before

 After

Now if I could only get rid of the stupid blue toilet and sink! I didn't do too bad for a girl, huh?

Crabs

Yesterday was so much fun! In the morning Grant, his mom, me, and my parents met up to look at a reception venue. Of course I fell in love with the place and I don't even want to look at anything else. It is exactly what I want and so much better than I had even imagined. We will probably still look at some other places but at this point I have a feeling I'm going to compare them all to this place. Now if only the next 685 days would fly by! Here's a pic with us at the place. I'm not saying where it is because I want everyone to be surprised, if that is even the right word. Basically if I put up the 5 million pics I took of the place there would be no reason for you to come see it yourself! Haha.



After that we headed to Annapolis to meet up with some more of Grant's family to eat blue crabs. We had a great time and I didn't cut myself on a crab once! Also, my mom did pretty well for it being her first time eating blue crabs.



After that we headed to the waterfront in Annapolis and checked out some of the things in town. It was pretty cool and I defiantly want to go back sometime.

So somehow I managed to get today off as well therefore I'm thinking of re-doing my bathroom. It's getting pretty grungy and needs a face lift. Yesterday I found some stuff at TJ MAXX so I'm excited to get it up and paint at some point. Also, I'll probably work on cleaning out my room some. Every time I do it it gets messed up in less than a day. Grr. We shall see.

Drug Problem

I know... I know... Two posts in one day. I just happened to see this on a friends facebook and wanted to share:

Just Peachy

Hello All,
I've been a busy bee here lately. I have pretty much worked at the cave every day, minus today, which makes for a tired me. Today I worked in my classroom. I am pretty excited about everything that I have done. I have decided to try out group seating, we shall see how that works out. Also, I have almost finished my bulletin boards. Every time I do one I just can't believe how long that it takes. It is pretty silly! Here's a few pics of the work in progress.



There is still a lot to do on this one. To the left will be the lunch menu/ student information and on the right is my area which will hold notes and whatnot. Mixed in will be student work. Over the year the tree will change with the seasons

Overall I have a lot of organization left to do. Now that the bulletin boards are done I feel like it is starting to look like a real classroom.

Humm... other things that have been going on. Oh, I made peach preserves. 30 half pints to be exact. They were pretty easy but made the kitchen pretty steamy. This is how  easy it is.

1.Start with 12-15 large peaches. Wash and slice them up (cutting out any bruised/bad parts) and put them in a pot.

2. Bring them to a slow boil for about 20 minutes. While they boil mash them up. I used a potato masher. Mash them until they are a consistency that you like. If you like chunkier preserves leave them chunky if not keep  mashing.

3. After everything has boiled down measure out 6 cups of peaches into another large pot.

4. Bring to a boil and add 6 cups of sugar.

5. While boiling add 2oz of powdered fruit pectin. Boil and stir for one minute.

6. Remove from heat and start canning process.

See, it's pretty easy! I did 4 batches to make 30 half-pint jars

Other than that and a bunch of piddly stuff that is all I have been up to. My ear is doing pretty well. I got all of the bandaging off last Friday and it seems to be healing up pretty well. Only one area has pulled back open. My hearing is about the same but I think when I start the drops to dissolve the packing on the 11th I will have a more noticeable improvement. I suppose that is all for now!

Update 2

Just another update. The past 2 days have been far worse than the first two. Nights have been pretty restless because I cannot get comfortable. I have moved downstairs to the couch and that seems to have helped some.

I think a good majority of the pain is coming from the packing but then again I have no clue what I am really feeling. The stitches itch and some of my hair is slowly coming back. The outside of my ear feels pretty weird. The top is numb and the bottom has some feeling to it. Dr. Kesser said this was to be expected and pretty normal since blood flow and other stuff was interrupted by the surgery. Full feeling should come back in a few weeks. Mom did help me wash my hair so that has been nice. Feeling yucky and smelling yucky just makes things worse.

The meds have me a bit loopy so the past few days I have been stumbling around or sleeping. I hate feeling so groggy all of the time. One pill wasn't quite helping the pain so I had to increase to 1.5 which just made those issues worse. Yesterday I tried to get out of the house for a bit but the heat proved to be too much and I stumbled around the farmers market like a drunk person. I did get some free blackberries from Ms. Frymyer out of it though! Haha. Our outing lasted a half hour or so and then I came back and slept all afternoon.

Today I decided to try to go to church. That was a bad idea. The band was overwhelming and the buzz of people just got to me and hurt my ear. Also the meds had me all jittery so I stood in the pew swaying back and forth until I finally had to walk out. After the band stopped I came back in and fought the rest of the service to stay awake. I hate hate hate feeling that way. Plus it's just plain embarrassing. After that we came home and had lunch. Guess what I did after that?! Yup, I took a nap. Then somehow this evening I got tricked into making peach preserves. We shall see how they come out, I'm not holding my breath for award winning preserves.

I'm getting nervous about going back to work. The pain is still there plus I can't really lift anything or walk very far. Should make for an interesting day Tuesday. Tomorrow I am supposed to be going with my grandparents to Borders since they are closing. Gives me another chance to get out and get my legs back beneath me.

I suppose that is all. Thanks for all of the prayers and well wishes!

Tympanoplasty Post Surgery Update

Woohoo, I have an eardrum! I suppose this post is mainly for myself to remember it by someday and my nerdy friends who like all of the technical stuff and gory details.

Yesterday went great. It's actually hard for me to believe it is all over with. I thought for sure that I would be super nervous but having such a great doctor really put me at ease. I simply cannot say enough great things about my team at UVA. They were all so wonderful from the nurses, anesthesiologists, residents and Dr Kesser himself. Everyone really took their time to make sure that I was comfortable and answer all of my questions. Lets starts from the beginning of the day and go from there.

6am- Woke up, got ready and headed to the hospital.

9am-Checked in and filled out some paperwork. We waited around in the family surgical area for a while then I was called back to do the pre-anesthesia work up. The nurse there was great and made me feel even more confident. She raved about Dr. Kesser and told me that he had patients come in from all over the country just to have him as their doctor. It's always comforting to know that your doctor is the best of the best and is loved by his staff. After she took my bp, temp and O2 stats I went back out to the waiting area.

10:50 I got buzzed that my room was ready. The hospital had these cool buzzers like you get at a restaurant so it was nice not to have to constantly be on alert for them to call my name. I was so hungry that when my buzzer went off I was really disappointed not to be greeted by a waitress asking what I wanted to drink and if we wanted an appetizer. LOL. The nice lady took me up to my room where I changed into what I referred to as my kimono and I got to get in bed. I called my gown a kimono because I swear it was a triple extra large. It had these really cool ports in it that tubing hooked into and blew in warm air. It was pretty nifty. After that a nurse named Kat came in and hooked up my I.V. She wins a prize in my book as it only took her one try and she put it in my hand as I requested. I HATE arm IV's. They are so uncomfortable. Another nurse came in and took my vitals again then the waiting game began. We watched some show on discovery channel about marines while we waited and I was surprisingly calm.

11:40ish- The doctors started stopping by. Dr. Kesser and two residents came in and we went over the game plan again. He answered all of our questions and went to start scrubbing in. Next the two anaesthesiologists came in. The first was nice but the second was nicer. Luckily the 2nd I dealt with more. He was pretty funny. I told him I was disappointed in the service because my buzzer went off and I had yet to have a waitress take my drink order. He laughed and said he brought me a mimosa which was really a mild sedative. He gave that too me and we chatted some more waiting for that to kick in. He explained what all we would be doing once we got back to the O.R. and that the breathing mask would smell like a shower curtain (he was right!).

12ish- He wheeled me back to the O.R. and they put some really cool massage cuffs on my legs to prevent blood clots. Then he put some more stuff in my I.V. and put on the shower curtain smelling mask. It felt like I was awake for 5 more minutes but it was probably only 30 seconds. I remember looking around at everyone and them looking at me like ok, close your eyes now. Haha.

3:30ish-The next thing I knew I was waking up and dreading feeling sick. After I had my tonsils out I was super sick so I was afraid of that. This time I had no nausea. Come to find out they had given me some anti-nausea meds in my I.V. before hand. I am super thankful for that because being sick is no fun. My head felt funny and I thought for sure that I had peed myself. The nurse laughed and said that I was probably just hot and a bit sweaty from the gown. Thank goodness she was right! The dr's were all too cute for me to have peed myself! Haha. Dr. Kesser came in and told me that everything went really well and that my 2nd and 3rd ear bones looked much better than he was expecting. Apparently my 2nd ear bone is slightly turned for some reason which made it appear eroded. The 1st bone he was able to fix some. I don't remember the technical details because I was so loopy. Next, mom and dad came up and I got dressed. A few minutes later I was munching on some ice chips and my grandparents came up and brought me some pretty flowers. Here's me still pretty drunk as you can tell.

4ish- Discharge papers were signed and a wheel chair was brought for me and we headed home. I got some pretty interesting stares from passing cars and we finally made it home.

Decided to try to eat however it hurt to chew so I ended up swallowing some ramen instead of the pizza. The numbing meds began wearing off so I tried some Tylenol before the vicoden. Tylenol helped for a bit but I've ended up switching to the other as it helps more. The night was pretty restless because I could only lay certain ways. I'm a side sleeper so it was hard to keep off of my left side. Here's my beautiful mummy head band.

My grandmother came and stayed with me this morning since mom and dad had to work. Dr. Kesser called to check in on me and told me that I could take my mummy wrap off. I was a bit surprised because my ear looks so strange. All of the packing has it sticking out a bit more than the other. Hopefully once the swelling goes down everything will return to normal.

Once mom gets home she's taking off the material behind my ear. Behind that there should be some band aids covering the stitches and incision behind my ear. I tried taking it off myself but I was afraid I would also rip off the bandages that are supposed to stay on. I am also interested to see how much hair they had to take off to do the skin graft. I would say it's just the area that is bandaged. We shall see. This whole post probably made very little sense because I'm still a bit loopy.

Lastly, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has called, texted and fb messaged me. Your support, thoughts and prayers mean so much to me!

Beach Week 2011

So I have been a bit behind in blogging as there has been so much going on. Between the beach, work and other things it has just been crazy around here. Hopefully this blog will make some sense. I'm rather tired so who knows.

Lets start with the beach. It was AMAZING as always. The surprise baby shower for John and Genny was a hit and they were totally shocked. It makes me so happy to do things that makes others happy. I just cannot believe they are having a baby! They are going to be such wonderful parents. Having Genny as part of the family has been so wonderful and I know that baby Ruby will make things even better. I cannot wait to hold her. Here are a few pics



Ruby's family tree. I just love how it turned out. Can't wait to do one at our wedding!

We had such wonderful weather at the beach that I just couldn't believe it. We usually have a few rain showers here and there but none this time! Grant's parents were able to come this year and we had such a great time with them. I hope that they are able to come back again

My mom, me and Grants mom at Tail of the Whale

The guys! My dad, Grant, Kyle and Grants dad



We stopped by my favorite lighthouse, Bodie Island

Aren't they cute! I just love my family to be!

Henry and Lydia had a great time too!

I do believe that everyone had a great time. I swear every year just gets better and better. I absolutely love spending time with all of my family. There are at least 50 of us that go. Basically my whole immediate family was there minus my Uncle Chris. It is wonderful to have so much family time and to catch up with everyone. While we were at the beach Rebecca took engagement pictures for Grant and I. We cannot wait to see them. It was so windy so I am sure my hair will be a sight but I'm sure they will still be amazing. Rebecca does such a wonderful job and I highly recommend her, and no, not just because she is my cousin! If you get a chance check out her website http://www.sterlingreflectionsphotography.com/

Hummm, what else has happened.... OH YEAH! I GOT A JOB! I am officially the newest 5th grade science and math teacher at L.E.S. I cannot wait to begin. I am nervous but so excited. I was able to sneak a peek at my classroom today and it is pretty sweet. The old teacher moves her stuff out sometime this week so I am looking forward to getting started. I have collected so many things over the years so I am anxious to get it in my room and start setting up.

Work at the cave is a bit nuts. I was off for a week of vacation then will be off for a few days after my surgery at UVA on Thursday. I feel so far behind but it will all be ok.

On to the surgery thing. Today I had my pre-op appointment at UVA. It went well. I met with their Audiologist and she was very nice. She did such a wonderful job and really took her time. After that I went up to see Dr. Kesser. This time he had two students with him. They were both amazed by my lack of ear drum. The second guy looked in and said "OH WOW!" which made me laugh because usually they get really quiet when they are surprised. I told him that I would rather have that reaction than the silence and that I'm going to start charging admission to the freak show. He laughed and promised me that he would make Dr. Kesser fix it. I'm trying hard not to be nervous but surgery is surgery so it's a bit scary. Thursday is the day and everything will be fine!

I think that is just about it for now. At least that is all that I can remember. Lets leave off with a picture of the beach so we can stare and pretend we're there shall we:



July 7th, 2012 cannot come soon enough. Until then Nags Head I will miss you terribly!