How did no one get me hooked on this “game” before? Of course I’ve heard of Sudoku, but since it became one of those quick crazes I’ve avoided it like Bunco, US flags, American Idol and CD’s. For Josh’s birthday he received a Nintendo DS game that he’s been wanting called Brain Age. The first time around the game told Josh his brain age was in the 70’s! So he challenged me to play and do better (which of course I did 
) but part of the game is Sudoku and now that I have tried it I am hooked!!! It is exactly the kind of brain-challenging puzzle I enjoy, like cryptograms. The kids are annoyed because now I am playing on their DSes more than they get to! I’ve found some that I can play free online, but so far I haven’t liked playing that way because it means I have to type the numbers in and it just doesn’t feel convenient to have to use the keyboard, especially since the 2 3 and 4 keys are all kind of stuck together and I can’t press one of them without getting something like this: 3443
Archive for January, 2008
Well, just to let you all know what’s going on in our lives right now, today is going to be a rough day for us all. I’ll mention this first, Gordon B Hinckley, the president and “prophet” of the LDS Church (whose teachings Josh has been following more or less his entire life) died last night. Of course the church has a plan of succession and will carry on as before, but many individuals feel a deeply personal loss–or at least a huge change, which can also be sad and scary. So, whether you believe in the LDS Church or not, please keep Josh and his “Brothers and Sisters” in your thoughts and or prayers (whichever you decide is right for you, I’m not here to pressure or judge ). We haven’t told Jacob this news yet, but plan to when he returns home from school AFTER taking the ITBS today. He is nervous about the big scary tests and we didn’t want to upset him beforehand. I’m sure he’ll do just fine, but this is his first year with the ITBS and I remember how gut-wrenching that intense test-pressure can feel. We haven’t told the other kids either and I don’t know if they’ll be upset or not, but Jacob always takes death hard. Cameron will probably get through it alright because he has a playdate tomorrow with his best little friend Grant that he’s excited about. My bit of (sarcastic) lovliness for today is a dental appointment and I get to take Elena with me because Josh has meetings at work. Yay! I can hardly wait! Seriously, I would so cancel, but it didn’t occur to me until this morning and I’m afraid they’ll still charge me something if I cancel at this late notice. I don’t really know if they do that, but it’s annoying enough to have to PAY to go to the dentist that paying and not even having the visit over with would really suck. I don’t mind my dentist or the other guy that cleans and checks my teeth, I just don’t like my teeth and it seems a real shame to waste time, money, and comfort on such a seemingly lost cause. And it should be a real riot to try keeping Elena in place while I’m under the big lamp!
To leave you with some better news though, this weekend, after probably at least 2-3 years of arguing and complaining, Josh FINALLY agreed to go shoe shopping and get new dress shoes! We like the look of his old shoes just fine, but they apparently really hurt Josh’s feet and he gets grumpy after wearing them for any extended period of time. About two years or so ago I had tried just buying shoes his size and bringing them home for him, but they never worked out for whatever reason and I always had to return them so finally we agreed that I wouldn’t buy him any more shoes unless he was with me. So, two or more years later, he finally decided it was worth shopping with all the children to replace his shoes! And since I know how to find the deals, he loaded up on three pairs and all the rest of us got shoes too!!! Of course, I still haven’t had ANY luck finding boots for myself. Perhaps that’ll have to wait till next year and I just may have to pay …(gulp) full price. (deep sigh)
Well Kathy, I’ve just consulted with Josh and neither one of us can remember EXACTLY why I call him that. We agree, however, that it originated early in our dating relationship when we were working at the movie theatre and watching lots of movies together–one of which was For Richer or Poorer starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley. 
So, the factors are that we were young and silly and in some conversation combined a line from the movie when Tim Allen’s character gets called “Mr Fancydesk” with making fun of obnoxious cutesy couples who give each other ridiculous pet names (and of course we were right about at the point in our obnoxious cutesy relationship for such things) so we started combining random words in silly combinations to call one another and I chose Cuteface for Josh (for obvious reasons ) and when we would write notes to one another at school we would occasionally head them with such titles as Mr Cuteface Fancydesk Monkeybutt, (and end them with phrases like “you’re the schnitz pie, no you’re the schnitz pie!” ETC. Anyway, we can’t remember why Monkeybutt stuck, but eventually it all just got shortened to Monkeybutt. Also, and completely unrelated, I don’t feel badly at all for continuing to call him that because he for whatever reason calls me “pumpkinbutt.” I will say though, that the “butt” at the end of the words is simply for endearment, not specifically anatomical or sexual or anything like that. Does anyone else reading this perhaps remember anything about this that Josh and I do not? Perhaps you remember the origins of the monkeybutt? This is the best I can do for now.
Yes, it’s finally here, my Mr. Cuteface-Fancydesk’s birthday. Our Josh is now 29! I remember the first birthday I celebrated with Josh~~I wore a men’s yellow button-up shirt (nearly unheard of for me–the yellow that is, not the mens shirt) which he later took over after the merger and we have since gotten rid of. He had a party at his home and invited several of my friends. We had been dating for just over three weeks and were both completely smitten. I got him the Special Edition Star Wars Trilogy on VHS (it hadn’t been released on DVDs yet) because I couldn’t believe he didn’t already have it! I think we have since given those to his younger brothers because of course I already had the set as well as the original trilogy so again, his didn’t last long in the merger. We’ve celebrated 10 more of his birthdays together since then, many of you have been involved in one or another at one time or another in the past and for that I thank you. This year, although we already had the wildly successful birthday weekend, we’re having a fairly small to-do for Josh this evening. It’ll be an in-law event mostly. We’ve invited the neighboring family over for spaghetti but Jenny and Jason can’t make it so it’ll just be us and our kids with my sister Sarah and her husband Scotty and Jason’s wife Elise with their two children and then there’s a very slim chance that Jenny’s Chad will show up. I have already given Josh his present from the kids and I this year. It is a lego townhouse set. 
Maybe if he finishes his schoolwork early enough tonight I will let him play with it Otherwise I think he’ll just have to wait for the weekend. I just re-read all this and realized its kinda boring so I’m gonna wrap it up, but not before officially wishing Josh a VERY MERRY BIRTHDAY and MANY MORE to spend together! I love you Monkeybutt.
This past weekend we spent celebrating Kate and Josh’s birthdays with the Wheelers. Friday night we were up late playing cards and video games while talking, and Kate and I went to the scrapbook store (to see Angie and her displayed page of Elena which was ADORABLE!!!) where we picked up some super deals! Kate’s parents and mine were generous enough to watch our children overnight on Saturday so we had a whole day and night of freedom together! We decided to drive up to Cedar Rapids to see National Treasure 2 in the DLP theatre. It was my first experience with the theatre “snuggle seats.” In many ways, having the ability to snuggle without the armrest poking into your side was a pleasant experience, however, it also made for more internalized pressure to sit that way which isn’t always the most comfortable. I mean, when you’re in the same seat for 3 hours, sometimes ya gotta change position! Also, it complicated where to put your drinks because of the cupholders being located on the armrests. But I digress. Josh and Kate had been excited to see the movie and I was like whatever, but I wanted them to be very happy. It really was good. I enjoyed the movie. It was good enough that even though I ran out of my concessions in the first hour and could’ve gotten free refills and by the last half hour I really had to pee, I did not leave the movie! When the show was over we made a little stop at Josh’s grandparent’s place for a quick visit before dinner. I was surprised to see Josh’s cousin Kimberly there, but apperntly Josh had known she was in town. We had a nice visit, but had to get going because it was getting late and we still hadn’t eaten. For dinner, we decided to try someplace none of us had ever been before. Red Robin: yummm 
Well, the commercials say “yummm,” I cannot agree or disagree at this time. You see, everything looked pretty good so I didn’t know what to order, and by the time our waitress took my order the others’ orders were just about out. Which was no big deal, we were in no hurry, and looking to possibly order more anyway, but the thing is, my food never came. There are supposed to be “all you can eat fries” and three times we asked our waitress for more fries, and not once were they given to us. And she kept saying that my burger was on its way, but it never was! So finally Kate went and got the manager and Josh told him that we hadn’t been getting our food and drinks etc. and so he comp’ed my meal and brought us some complimentary desserts. 
Unfortunately by the time dinner was over and we made it back to Coralville, we didn’t really know what to do, and we were all a little tired from being up late the night before etc. so we just entertained ourselves for a while. 
It’s good to be friends.
You’re a beautiful person inside and out and I am so happy to call you my friend. I was gonna post a big long funny mushy post with all kinds of pictures, but this really sums it up without embarassing either of us
I don’t really have a lot to say about this. One of the games that I periodically play on the computer is called Peggle. Today I finally gave in and downloaded the free trial version of the actual complete game. When the kids came home from school I was very near the end of what I thought was the whole game and they were very excited to watch me. When I completed the last level, the computer screen gave me a big trophy and there was a swell of music and graphic explosions, but then it immediately told me that there were more challenges ahead! When I completed the five final levels to more music explosions and a big medal calling me a Master, the next screen offered me the opportunity to become a Grand Master Champion! I started off on that quest but after 3 more pages of challenges I realized there was a LOT more to come so I finally quit playing and my free trial expired. It’s a fun game. Some day I may buy it. But I never need to play endlessly for hours again!
…for the perfect pair of boots. I finally found a pair I liked on ebay last night but they went for a lot more than I was willing to pay. 
But, in happier news, while I was out getting Jacob new (used) tap shoes today I happened past a Shoe Carnival adorned with signs for a clearance sale! I had nothing better to do, so I popped in for a quick look with Elena and as soon as I found the aisle I wanted the salesman announced over the intercom that the shoes on the tables in the middle aisle flying blue ballons would be $5 for the next 15 minutes! So of course I backtracked just a bit to check them out and lo and behold I found a decent pair of Mootsie Tootsies in my size so I snatched those up. Then I returned to the aisle that interested me the most and tried on several pairs of cute leather shoes. Elena scooted under the chairs and made herself happy with the foot-measuring tool which all shoe stores possess. I found several good deals and so it took a while to narrow down my selections, but just as I was figuring it out the man on the intercom made my decision so much easier by saying that for the next 20 minutes all shoes were buy one get one half off (equal or lesser value of course). I’m not gonna lie, there were some really good bargains and I seriously considered buying 5 or 6 pairs! But I narrowed my selection to the $5 pair and two others (in order to get the BOGO deal!) and while my wardrobe is still desperately in need of a fabulous pair of black boots and brown boots, I now finally have my nice-looking casual brown shoes, nice casual black shoes, and dressy black flats! Josh is excited that I will now consent to send my previous black casual shoes (men’s dress shoes in my size which Josh thinks are just hideous!) to Goodwill. Oh, and did I mention that the other two pairs are Clarks brand? Oh, and I did still manage to find a suitable pair of tap shoes for Jacob! So it was a pretty productive shopping day.
Well, I’m not 100% completely back to normal, but I do feel much better and am basically back to my regular daily duties. I stopped taking the muscle relaxers on Friday because they just knocked me out and Josh had to go to work so I didn’t want to be unconscious alone with Elena. We still haven’t heard anything more about what was causing all the pain, but I do have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday and hopefully we’ll learn more by then. I was well enough yesterday to join my good friend since high school, Asia, for lunch at a nearby Japanese sushi bar & tappanyaki grill. I don’t do sushi, so I got the chicken grill–complete with flaming onion volcano and a chunk of zucchini tossed into Asia’s mouth! After our meal we got some really interesting ice cream ball things–I forget what they’re called, but they were good. I brought Josh home a California roll which made him happy. Josh and the kids got a lot of laundry taken care of while I was gone and so last night we watched Hairspray (2007) with the kids. I haven’t been sleeping very well again since all this pain started. I sleep long, but not well. I have really long and usually discomforting bizarre dreams which don’t leave me feeling at all rested. Of course unusual dreams are nothing new for me, I think I may have even blogged about them before, but its not often that they are so intense that I’d say I don’t sleep well. Anyway, today I have gotten a lot done and we’re having a good day, so hopefully tonight will be better. The kids don’t have school tomorrow for whatever reason so I will definately be needing my rest tonight!
Well, as per my promises to Kate and my mom, this morning I called and made an appointment with my doctor–well, my doctor is off on Wednesdays (which I should’ve remembered from my whole gall-bladder fiasco) so I got an appointment with the physician’s assistant. My appointment was at 10 am and they got me in pretty promptly, however, once I was in everything sorta slowed down. In their defense, they were attending to me, but they just kept checking this and that and then running more tests etc and couldn’t seem to figure out what is actually the problem. The physician’s assistant also had a med student today so I had the two of them and the nurse all checking things and asking me questions and two hours later here I am. The blood test revealed that something is inflamed, but not likely infected because my white blood cell count is not elevated. Basically the guy said that usually getting the test results back helps narrow down the possibilities and you can figure out what’s wrong, but that I was a conundrum and mine just muddied the waters. Uplifting words to hear from your doctor. So, they’ve sent the blood out for more tests to check for blahblahsomething rheumatic something–sounds like ruling out arthritis, and I’m to come back to see my doctor in a week for a follow up and maybe they’ll know more then or maybe I’ll be feeling better. In the meatime I’ve been prescribed to take three medications: 1) strong Ibuprofren 2) a non-steroidal muscle relaxer (although I was also offered a steriod shot for today which I turned down) and 3) anti-biotics just in case it is strep or infection. Basically sounds like they’re just going to try to dope me up until they get more test results back and I can meet with my other doctor. So, no real answers yet (although I asked for you and they did rule out shingles and lyme disease is highly unlikely). Unfortunately since Josh got the kids to school again this morning and had to help me get ready for my appointment and had to get Elena ready and drive me, AND it took so long so he had Elena and today is early dissmissal so the kids are almost home and he offered to watch someone else’s children for a while this evening, he hasn’t been able to get much work done yet. I’m hopeful that once I have these pills raging through me that I will feel well enough to be home alone with Elena so that he can get back to work tomorrow, but we’re both concerned about what it will mean if I basically have to stay like this all week with no real end in sight and no answers for what is wrong and why its happening. My neck, shoulders, wrists, and fingers are hurting the worst now, although my other joints are still stiff and tender. The nurses were so impressed at how patiently I was sitting and waiting to which I said “heck, it’s easy NOT to move!” So anyway, that’s where we’re at for now. I may write more when the pills start working–if they help.
UPDATE: I took the first round of pills around 12:30 this afternoon and the last thing I remember was getting a call from kate around 2pm. After that I fell asleep until 7 and stayed in bed until 8pm! Don’t feel any differently either, so tomorrow’s not looking up for me yet.