sick.

I've been sick all week. It started on Sunday night- with that oh-so-familiar tickle in the back of the throat... and only went downhill from there. Leo was hoping for a movie night when I got home on Monday, but after about 5 minutes on the couch, I ran for the NyQuil and dove straight into bed. And for most of the week- the couch has been my home.

Leo snapped this little gem while promising me: "It's only Keebler! Don't worry!" I knew better, and therefore covered my face. But apart from taking awful pictures of me, Leo really has been a great nurse. He's willing to make fresh tea and/or hot cocoa whenever necessary- which is especially nice. However, we do have differing views of proper getting-better-procedure. You know how in Central & South America, every illness (from the common cold to TB) is called "gripe?" (gree-pay) A woman can come into a clinic with fullblown pneumonia, and claim she has "la gripe." And a little boy can come in right behind her with a minor sniffle, and again "la gripe." Trust me here.

Well- in Africa (or at least every part I've heard of so far), it's "flu." Anything involving sickness is known as "flu." Not THE flu. Just flu. "Oh no... Warona missed work today. She has flu." "Did you just sneeze?? You have flu." People close up the windows on sweltering buses just to avoid letting flu in... And while Leo doesn't quite go to that extreme- he's definitely a firm believer that while sick, people should only consume hot foods. So when I went to CVS on Tuesday morning to get the necessities and came back with cold medicine and ice cream, he just shook his head. Every time I drink ice water, he basically starts crying on the inside. And on Wednesday, when I dragged myself out of bed to go and volunteer at IRC (which was great!) and then wanted to reward us both after with a Freebirds burrito, he argued a very good case for soup instead. I LOVE soup- and have eaten it for probably 90% of my meals this week... but sometimes a girl just needs a burrito. And cold stuff is soothing when my throat is on fire!

I did suck it up and go to work yesterday... which ended up being ok, but there were a few close calls. I was trying to discharge a patient around 2pm, and had a major coughing attack. I think the poor lady left the hospital about 30 minutes sooner than necessary because she was afraid of my germs. It was horrible. But with the help of my traveling pharmacy (DayQuil, 2 different types of nasal decongestant and about a bajillion cough drops), I got through it. But I swear that stuff to clear up congestion does NOTHING.

I ended up sitting in the bathroom last night, letting the shower run super, duper hot, filling up the room with steam, and enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in the process. It was about the only thing that helped with the pressure in my head...

We're headed out right now to get some fancy tissues. My nose has had just about all it can take of the wal*mart brand, and it's time to move up in the world. Our apartment is filled with great value everything, and we love the whole saving money thing... but this is an emergency.

The Keebs

Leo & I live with the funniest cat on the planet. 

His name is Keebler. (Or- more officially "Sir Keebler Stubbs.")

I'm not a cat person. I've never especially liked them... so I have no idea what compelled me to go looking for this little guy in 2004. But I did. And I found an ad in a local northwest Arkansas newspaper advertising "Munchkin Kittens." Having no idea what that meant- I immediately googled them, and found out that they are some of the most interesting looking felines you'll ever come across.

(That's not Keebler, but it's definitely one of his distant cousins.) Munchkin cats have the same genetic mutation that causes dwarfism in humans. So they're a completely normal cat, but with tiny little legs. "Weiner cats"- if you will.

It was a perfect match from the very beginning.  

"I didn't do it."

Rarrr!



And not only is he funny looking, but Keebs is just plain 'ole funny. He cracks us up on a daily basis. Whether he's chasing bottle caps across the floor for hours (yes- HOURS) on end, attempting to jump on the bed and missing completely, or attacking and tipping over household plants... He's hysterical. As a kitten, he used to just love climbing all the way to the top of the kitchen cabinets. ...which was especially ironic since one of the selling points of these cats is that they "can't jump as high as a normal cat." I'd like to talk to the guy who came up with that little scenario. Because it is UNTRUE.

He loves the bathtub. (except for that one time that Tom turned on the shower...)

And once took a nap in a smirnoff box. (I snapped this picture right as he was fleeing the scene.)

He's never been accused of being modest.

And is proud of all things Munchkin!

After the recent failure to successfully jump on the bed, Leo has started up a kitty exercise program. And mostly, it involves Leo trying to get him to exercise and Keebler backed up into a wall trying to bite Leo every chance he gets.. but I think they're making progress.

Happy 7th Birthday, Keebalicious!  Here's to many more highly entertaining years together!

the magnets.

My sister, Sarah, opened up this can of worms the other day- and in the interest of full disclosure, I give you "the story of the magnets."

Back when I was in junior high, I once got my hands on a set of tiny, but extremely powerful magnets. If I remember correctly, someone from church gave them to me. And so I brought them home and was testing their power by putting one on the table and moving the other one closer and closer until it was pulled into the forcefield of its partner. I believe I also threw one at the fridge a few times to see if it would stick every time. And yes- it did. These were powerful little suckers. Only maybe 1/8" in size... but STRONG.

So I upped the ante. I decided it would be fun to give myself a nose ring. The plan was to put one magnet on the outside of my nose, and the other on the inside to hold it in place. And while that was a good plan and all-- something went horribly wrong with the execution. As I tried to get them into place, they somehow flipped around and ended up on either side of my septum. BOTH inside my nose. And have I mentioned how powerful these things were?? It HURT.

For a few minutes, I sat in my room, trying to take care of it myself, but I soon learned that I would need some help with this predicament. They were squeezing HARD, and each second that ticked by led to even more pain. So, as my eyes began to water, I walked out into the kitchen... where I had to announce to my entire family what a moron I was. As the rest of the family rolled on the floor, wiping away tears of laughter, Dad sprang into action. When fingers couldn't pry them apart, he ran for the pliars. And to this day, I'm very glad that no cameras were present. I can only imagine what that looked like... A set of pliars in each hand, digging around in my nose, trying to get ahold of those stupid little magnets. But he did, eventually, prevail!

I don't know what ever happened to those little magnets, but trust me - an invaluable lesson was learned by all who were present that day.

The end.

Don't ya just love crafts??

Our spices have been out of control. They've been housed in a big wal*mart bag since we moved in... no organization whatsoever... all sizes & shapes... and led to frustration every time we needed to dig and find something to cook with.

So a few weeks ago, I hatched a plan. Since we're a little short on kitchen storage, I liked the idea of the magnetic tins that stick to the fridge (or maybe eventually, the inside of a cabinet)... but I refused to pay what Bed Bath & Beyond was asking. So I found a way to do it for a fraction of the cost.

Thanks to a lovely website called http://www.specialtybottle.com/, I got the smaller tins for $.64 each and the larger ones for $.80. A definite stretch from the $2.99 each in stores!

And then with the help of a pack of little magnets, some super glue and my super-awesome new label maker... TA-DA!

And the finished product! 

Good for the eyes, and good for the bank account. Our cabinets are smiling once again.  :)

Mr. & Mrs.

The wedding pictures are officially finished!!  And while I've been trying to write a blog for DAYS to show you a few of our favorites, my dear sweet husband has been dabbling in internet downloads & has managed to seriously screw up our internet connection since Friday. So blogging has been delayed a bit. But I've since reset our modem a few times and it seems to be recovering just fine...

So let's do this.

From the second Leo popped the question, we knew we wanted a small wedding. And so when I made it to Dallas back in September, I started looking around for the perfect venue. And in October- I stumbled upon Sambuca. It was exactly what we wanted!

Gorgeous all on its own- so we had almost nothing to decorate, amazing food, great drinks, and had the perfect sized areas for our ceremony AND reception. Exactly what we needed.

And then came December 12th- the big day!

A good friend from work, Ed, did my hair and my sister, Becky, did my make-up for me. They both did a fantastic job!

And Leo getting ready... He calls this one his "Obama Picture."  :)

And then the moment we'd all been waiting for! I took Dad's arm, and headed down the aisle.

My first glimpse of Leo.

The ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Short, sweet and to the point... laid back... and BEAUTIFUL. 

We did it!

While the guests headed to the bar for a few minutes, Leo & I got to take some pictures of just the two of us.

Our favorite of the whole night.

If you look closely, you can see that Leo is striking his "GQ pose" and I'm trying to figure out why... He kept trying to turn this part of the night into a modeling session, and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Next Up-- the Reception! And the cake!

That cake was just as delicious as it looked... It was Italian Cream, and was absolutely the quickest and easiest wedding decision we made. Sooooooo tasty!

And our favors. Cookie cutters to remind everyone of where it all started.

Throughout the ceremony and reception, we had this single white rose front and center. --to remember all of our family members who have been lost over the years.

A group shot of the family.

Unfortunately I can't post all of them, but there are so many other wonderful pictures that can be seen HERE. Betsy Stratton with Bella Novella Photography is responsible for all of them!

We just passed the first month mark, and things are going great! If I can keep him from breaking the internet, it should be smooth sailing from here.

Trough of diet coke, anyone?

Drink sizes are out of control. And for ME to say that means A LOT. Because I'm a camel. I'll drink any amount of beverage you put in front of me. But seriously... Leo & I were headed to the IRC today (we'll get to that in a minute), and decided to stop by Jack In The Box to grab some drinks before we arrived. So he got a medium lemonade, and I decided on a large diet coke. And THIS is what I ended up with:

That monster contained 42 OUNCES of Diet Coke. That's 1.25 LITERS! I was honestly too embarrassed to even take it upstairs to the offices... It stayed in the car until we finished, and then I prompty finished it within 10 minutes of being back in the car. Like I said: CAMEL.

But honestly, people. I remember back when a "large" was no more than 20 oz. And that was HUGE. What has happened around here??

So anyway...


Yes, we went to the IRC (International Rescue Committee) today for our first day of volunteering together. Leo's been working with them and their soccer events, but today was my first chance to get my hands dirty. And it was SO much fun!

The IRC works with refugees- getting them to the US, and then helping once they arrive. And at the office, they have a closet full of donations. The refugees are able to come in and "shop" and take home things they need. So Leo & I will be helping out on a weekly basis to organize and run the closet. There's no money involved, just some paperwork where we write down what's taken and who comes in and out. And the language barrier definitely adds another layer of fun! Most of the refugees in Dallas are from Bhutan, and speak Bhutanese with very limited English. So my bits of Spanish & Setswana and Leo's French/Swahili/Kinyarwanda don't seem to help much... but we make do!

It's also pretty cool because in going through the immigration process ourself, we know about all the documents and what they're all going through. In fact, one of the ladies today had a clear plastic pouch with some of her important papers- one of which was a social security card! I pointed it out to Leo-- there's hope!

Another bonus of working with the clothing was: Leo learned what a onesie is!

And just for fun...

I would like to introduce you to our newest technological additions around here:

First up, we have our new scanner/printer/copier combo. And it's wireless! And I set it up in literally 10 MINUTES!

And there on the right: Keebler is doing his Vanna White pose with the new shredder. Yeah, that's right- it's a cross-cutter. WITH a slot for CD's & Credit Cards.

The only downside to these additions was that they boosted my techie self-esteem so much so that I decided to go ahead and tackle some issues with my laptop. iTunes is now irreversibly screwed up, and I don't know that any issues were actually fixed... My bad.

A Perfect Day.

The local news stations were all aflutter this weekend with talk of a huge, winter storm that was supposed to hit yesterday. They were predicting inches upon inches of snow, with ice on every interstate, and the world basically ending. And while I was skeptical as I drove to work in the rain that morning, around noon, the snow did come. I was stuck indoors at the hospital, running between patient rooms, and still managed to enjoy it as often as I could peek out a window. Snow!! It never gets old! But after a couple of hours of the white stuff, it all seemed to go away. Nothing had really stuck, and the sun even came out at one point! I got out to my car, thinking I might be stuck chipping away ice with a credit card, but just found a tiny layer of WATER. No ice in sight. Yes, it was still teetering on the edge of freezing, but the roads weren't even close to hazardous.

Oh, those overly dramatic weather people...

Yes, there were definitely areas just outside of Dallas that got a few inches, and we're still seeing cars driving around covered with snow- with just a hole cleared away where the driver can see out. But the closest our neighborhood came to any accumulation was some heavy frost we woke up to this morning. And from seeing that outside, we decided it was too cold to open any windows or doors until 6pm. Yes- that's right. We stayed in our PJ's until 6 o'clock this evening... and it was magical.

Now, we got a lot accomplished in the apartment-- Don't be thinking we're lazy slugs who don't own real clothes... we got a lot finished that we had been putting off. Including: organizing and putting away a LOT of paperwork that's been accumulating literally since we moved in. It has been driving me CRAZY. ...growing to unbelievable heights. But no more! I actually ran out of file folders. But we've taken one giant step for mankind around here. (And by mankind, I mean organization.)

I also did some name-changing with many-a-companies. Yay for bills with my married name!

But around 6pm, cabin fever got the best of us, and we headed out into the world. (on streets that were NOT icy) We decided to make it a date night, and went to the movie theater at NorthPark Mall. And I don't know if it was just a special night, or maybe we just don't get to watch mall-folk often enough, but it seemed like all the crazies came out to join us. First, we rode up an escalator with a woman and her dog stroller. Dog included. The stroller was bright pink with black polka dots, and the white furball with a face that was closed up inside it looked downright embarrassed.

Then, as we grabbed dinner at Chik-Fil-A, we saw weirdo #2. A teenage girl who was repeatedly running toward a giant window and stopping within inches of it. Since it was dark outside, she could see herself in the reflection, and I guess she was conducting a test of some kind? I have no idea. I was just waiting for her to take one to many steps and go crashing into it... Unfortunately, it never happened.

And then, after we sat down in the theater, we found our third source of entertainment for the night. Two guys walked in, talking and laughing, obviously being friendly to one another, and then sat down in the row in front of us, with two seats in between them. Not just one- but TWO! They literally did not speak to (or even acknowledge!) each other until the lights came back up after the movie finished.

We saw "The Fighter"- and were completely blown away! So, so, SO good! And Christian Bale?? That man is seriously amazing. I've known ever since "Newsies" that he was destined for good things. And he just (*sniff*) makes me so damn proud!

Productivity? Check. Extended PJ time? Check. Date night? Check. Not going back to work 'til Friday?? CHECK.

To-Do

December 12^th – 17^th. Those were the dates that Leo & I were allowed to stop all thoughts of immigration and paperwork and filing fees and Uncle Sam in general. The 12^th was our wedding- and it was absolutely wonderful. And while the original plan involved us mailing off the next round of paperwork as we left toward New Orleans the next morning, we realized very quickly that it wasn’t going to work that way. So we hit the open road, enjoyed a fabulous New Orleans honeymoon, and got back to work on the documents as soon as we got back.

Now, unless you’ve ever been through an application for an American visa and then adjusting status and getting a Green Card afterward, there’s really no way you can understand the effort and frustration involved. There are basically 3 different government departments in the mix: Immigration (USCIS), The State Department & Homeland Security. You send all the paperwork into USCIS, get the actual visa from the State Department & then Homeland Security deals with entry into the US and getting your first official Green Card. And you might think that all of these agencies communicate with each other and share the same info, but that would be so, so wrong. Papers routinely get lost, delays pop up, and sometimes it helps to just sit down and cry.

But as of 12:30 today, Leo’s newest batch of paperwork has been SENT! Now we get to wait… And as terrible as that is, a friend made a very good point: This time we get to wait TOGETHER. And that, on top of having a major item checked off the to-do list, makes me smile.

Another big item we checked off the list was the mailing of our wedding announcements! Their arrival at the apartment yesterday was a tad dramatic when the UPS (which Leo calls “Oops”) guy decided to forego the knocking on our door and just drop it off at the office. We were at home with the sole mission of meeting him, and he just ignored us completely and stuck that annoying little yellow & brown note to the door instead. Needless to say, I called the 800 number immediately and gave them a piece of my mind. I’m sure I’m now on a list- but it made me feel better. And since we did eventually get our announcements, I let it go…

So last night, we sat at the kitchen table and got a little assembly line going. I was in charge of writing addresses and putting stamps on, and Leo was the master of stuffing & sealing envelopes. When we first started, I offered him a wet sponge so he wouldn’t be forced to lick them all, but he decided against it. But after about 20 envelopes, he informed me that he could “no longer feel his tongue.” He gave in to the sponge. And that made me think of a certain Seinfeld episode when George’s fiancée DIED after licking about 250 poisoned envelopes. I told Leo about it- so now he’s convinced that he’ll surely die after his mean, mean wife made him lick all that paper. But don’t worry—I checked his pulse and I’m sure he’ll survive. We all have to make sacrifices!