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February 21, 2011

The plan.

Oprah had a family on her show today. The family consisted of a mom, a dad and SIX 8-month-old babies. (See picture below.) She proceeded to give them a $250,000 gift certificate to Wal*Mart, tons of other baby/kid stuff and a dream honeymoon to Las Vegas- all expenses paid.



Over the past few years, I've noticed this trend. If you're willing and able to shoot up a bunch of fertility drugs and produce at least six babies at once, people LOVE to give you money, stuff and possibly even a TV show.

So while Leo was getting ready for our date night, I busted into the bedroom and announced my new plan... In another 5 years or so, we'll go ahead and get our hands on some of those fancy fertility drugs, and get pregnant with at least sextuplets. (6 seems to be the magic number to get all the free stuff.) And then we'll take some super cute pictures to showcase our clan. Oprah will be off the air by then- but I have a feeling she'll make a special exception just for us. And with inflation and everything- I'm sure we could get a cool million.

Leo's exact response to this was: "Absolutely not." Citing as a main reason that he didn't want to "carry around my stomach because I couldn't stand up straight on my own." He predicted the use of a donkey cart (Botswana style) or at least a small wagon to help transport my belly. But after I stopped laughing- I came up with a slight revision.

Instead of keeping all 6, we'd go ahead and give 3 to my dear friend, Amy. We'd still tell Oprah that we were raising all 6, so we could still get that million, but really we'd only have 3. Perfect! Leo is still saying no, but I got Amy on board. He'll come around eventually...

February 15, 2011

gravitationally challenged.

So... last weekend- superbowl sunday to be exact- I woke up, jumped out of bed as I normally do, and was so overcome with sudden dizziness, that I walked straight into the door frame. And yes, while I've done that approximately 107 times in my 26 years, this time was different. It wasn't just my inner klutz. I was truly DIZZY. I stumbled to the bathroom and back, collapsed back into bed, and it did go away after a few seconds. But it's been lingering ever since. While it's not exactly constant, it can definitely hit at any time. If I turn my head a certain way, or even dart my eyes quickly, I literally have to grab onto something or else I will seriously fall over. It's almost like I'm drunk. You know that feeling, when you've had too much to drink, and it seems like the floor is moving beneath you? It's like your eyes can't focus and you have absolutely zero balance... that's EXACTLY what it is.

And again- I see the hilarity in this... I've been "gravitationally challenged" for pretty much my whole life. So much so that even Leo didn't believe me at first. That Sunday morning, as I lay back down in bed, still rubbing my forehead where I had smacked the door frame, he just chuckled a bit and rolled back over. And only three days later, when it still hadn't gone away, is when I finally picked up the phone and called a doctor.

So yesterday, our very first Valentine's Day as husband and wife, was spent in a doctor's office. Leo was diagnosed with tendonitis in one of his knees and asked to get an X-Ray, MRI and a brace, and I went home with a new diagnosis-- "Benign Positional Vertigo." Or better known as BPV.


The picture from the informational pamphlet they gave me.

First off- I was extremely pleased with that first word: benign. Since I was 100% convinced I had a brain tumor... The doctor assured me that if it were in fact a brain tumor, the symptoms wouldn't have come on so suddenly. So that was good. But basically- something is going on in my inner ear. They don't know which ear, and at this point, it seems they don't care. But one of the little structures deep inside there has been somehow moved out of place. Whether it was a whack to my head or the fluid build-up from my latest sickness, there's no way of telling. But they gave me some pills to help with the dizziness, and said it'll hopefully resolve on its own. If not- well, then we go onto more drastic measures. But for now, I just like that I know what it is.

Unfortunately, it's definitely a new onset, so I can't blame past stumbles and broken bones on it. But I still like to think that it's been a slow progression over the years... playing a small but vital part in every one of those "incidents."

February 09, 2011

Worth 1000 words.

Friday morning- 6am. Digging out my car before driving to work... snapping a few pictures with my phone in the process.


4" of fresh snow on top of a layer of ice that was still underneath.  Conditions that are best enjoyed from the comfort of a warm bed...


But just for fun- I left a snow mohawk on the car. I felt it added a little something.


And Leo took some great ones while I was at work--




I think Mother Nature is trying to send us a message.

February 02, 2011

Ice, Ice... and more Ice.

Along with about 80% of the United States, Dallas has been knocked to its knees this week by winter weather. I was extremely skeptical on Monday as they were predicting all of this, but come Tuesday morning, I was definitely proven wrong. Ice everywhere, schools closed, gusting winds, news stations breaking into regularly scheduled programming... all that fun stuff.

And Leo and I were stuck inside for about 40 hours straight. So today-- we busted outta here! We were out of flour, and therefore it was an emergency. Because we can't make super awesome, homebaked cookies without it! Luckily, they just opened up a Tom Thumb grocery store about a mile away. So we put on about 4 layers of clothing each, and started walking.



And it was COLD! It hit us very quickly that we never got those gloves for Leo like we'd planned. (Oops) And while he was confident at first, and completely ignoring my warnings about how slippery the ice was, he smartened up very quickly after a few close calls. It doesn't matter which shoes you're wearing when you're on a sheet of ice. Traction is out the window. There were a few grumblings of: "America is crazy! Let's go back to Africa" and I couldn't help but giggle... and agree. 


There's a sidewalk under there somewhere.

And while there were several almosts, we managed to get there without even one fall! We loaded up on just the necessities- bread, flour, eggs, wine, etc- and headed back.


Technically, we could've probably driven and been fine. But we didn't even want to chance it. Mostly because in order to get out of the apartment complex, we'd have to conquer this:


There in the middle is about 3 inches of solid ice. We've watched cars slip and slide on it all week. And I'm NOT excited to drive over it to get to work tomorrow morning... But we'll worry about that later.

Our mission was an ultimate success...



Our apartment smelled like cookies the rest of the day, and I discovered this awesome new recipe.



Oatmeal chocolate chip-- But made with whole wheat flour, apple sauce instead of oil, egg whites, extra fiber... and tasty! And that my friends, is how you turn a frown upside down.

It really was reminiscent of Peace Corps life. No driving, walking to the grocery store, hauling it all back home (and having to think about what you could carry), baking the day away, Leo watching soccer in the background... I loved every second of it.