She just floomphs anywhere.
Category Archives: Friends
Watching the designer work!
Don’t get excited thinking I’m showing too much… this is not the final look. This is just one picture of many different options she tried.
To be honest as she was doing it I was liking it, but /skipping a lot of design and redesign/ it ended up waaaaaay too flowery and poofy so I asked her to redo it. Those pics will come later!
When the kids are away…
You can leave at the drop of a hat for dinner out with old friends and new friends an hour away to celebrate National Tequila Day! We drove to Aurora to meet at El Jefe.
Anna and Jami were meeting for the first time but they said it was like they already knew each other! (They met just by posting in my Facebook business group and then friended each other.)
The Al Pastor tacos (me) and octopus (Tom) were both delicious. We also loved the guac trio, the oysters, the flaming cheese, and the margaritas!
The only bad thing was that the music was SO STINKING LOUD that we couldn’t even hear anyone at the ttable—so we really only got to talk to the people directly next to us.
Katie loving on Pepper
In a surprise turn of events, Aiden was taken to the hospital yesterday with what turned out to be apendicitis—so we took Evan for the first night and then tonight Tom and Katie needed to go over to let the dogs out. Katie always loves on Pepper and tonight was no different.
Happy 9th and 12-1/2th birthdays!
The show must go on! We had paid for the double birthday party and the weather was gorgeous and we were not cancelling—even though lots of people told me they wouldn’t have been surprised. Really, though, most everything was taken care of by the staff—we basically just had to haul in the drinks and snacks and then had the pizza delivered. I pretty much stayed on the picnic table the whole time.
A great time was had by all!
Our first big drive in movie!
The community center was having a drive in movie so we thought that would be a nice change of pace. We went with David and Anna and watched Sandlot (really cute). Of course when we planned it, I didn’t know if just be getting out of the hospital… But I really just had to sit there so it was okay!
I’m not sure exactly what happened but I didn’t take a single picture. Anna only took one. (Whaaaaat is happening?)
Of course we did have drama… They handed out glow necklaces to everyone and Owen and Katie found a way to be annoyed with each other over them. Then Katie was excited to see a bunch of her friends there—but refused to go talk to any of them.
But the movie was cute and I think everyone enjoyed it!
Lake Forest, Day 7—I’m sprung!
I woke up assuming it was discharge day but I had to get the official word. While I waited I took another walk.
And then one of the docs came in to remove my pouch—which I’m just remembering I didn’t tell you about. So I had a little pouch with a line in my abdomen to drain the surgical site. I hadn’t even known I had it until like late into the day after surgery. Anyway, they emptied it a few times and I didn’t think much of it. But last night, one of the nurses came in…and wanted to show me how to drain it in case I went home with it.
WAIT—WHAAAAT?
I might be going home with this thing? Oh hell no. I wanted no part of that. But I diligently watched and tried to accept that I might actually have to do it. Ewwwww.
So back to the doctor coming in to remove it. I was ecstatic and told her she just made my day! I had no idea what was involved in removing it, so I was a little surprised when she just said she was going to pull it out. Yikes. Okay. She said it shouldn’t hurt but it would feel weird. Ooookay. And she was right. And it felt just like you’d imagine it would feel to pull 4″ of plastic tubing from your body. (Which, sidenote, I had no idea it was that long. I hadn’t even thought about it. I mean it makes sense but ewwww.) Then she just put a bandage on it and that was that. She also then gave me the good news that I would be going home for sure today!
12:23p — Anna was on call to come get me because Tom had an interview that morning—so here I am in her car! In real clothes! Feeling sore but in good spirits since I was going home!
Final thoughts? Man was that a crazy experience… I never would have predicted SIX days in the hospital for a gallbladder issue (what should be a very typical and easy thing) but apparently it was as old and cranky as I am! Let’s just hope I don’t need another visit for a very long time. I think nine years (to the date!) between visits is good!
Oh! One thing that surprised me was how much weight I gained from all the IV fluids! I had thought I’d lose weight since I didn’t eat for five of the six days…but they were literally pumping me fill of liquid all day every day. There happened to be a scale in my room and I remembered what I weighed upon admittance…and I had gained like 12 pounds! And all my clothes—even though they were stretchy—felt uncomfortably tight. Yuck. But I knew it would go away on its own (which it did within a week).
1:56p — Ahhhh. I have my dog on me for a nap. I’m good.
2:02p — Three nappers. (I think we let the kids binge on devices to leave us nap in peace.)
I stayed pretty chill the rest of the day and moved slowly, but the pain meds helped quite a bit. I was only allowed to go up the stairs once a day, so that was at bedtime… At which point I finally got to take a shower!
I actually asked Katie to come in the bathroom with me so she could be there in case anything happened (I mean who knows?). I had her help me remove some of the bandages, too, so hopefully she wouldn’t be super freaked out… And also so she could see this really was serious so she would hopefully not be a poop when asking her to do extra things to help out.
The shower felt good but I couldn’t really bend much so everything was slow and measured and I spent most of the time just standing there. I know Katie loves her Band-Aids so I had her get some ready for me so they were unwrapped and ready to go!
And I was stupid excited to do my full skincare regime!!! After a week without most of it, it felt like heaven!
Lake Forest, Day 5
8:01a — The surgeon just came in and confirmed the survey is still scheduled for 1p. If everything goes great I could be going home tonight. But since the surgery is a tiny bit later (the surgery takes about an hour, and usually it takes about an hour to wake up) they may want to keep me overnight one more night.
Look at all my gidgets and gadgets!
And look at what Owen texted me? I love him.
How are the kids doing? Just fine. They’ve been spending a lot of time at Anna’s with the boys and today she treated them to ice cream!
3:30p — The surgery went very well. I personally haven’t had the post-op discussion with the surgeon but the doctor apparently told Tom that my gallbladder was large and they needed to make an extra-large incision to remove it…and it was FULL of stones!
There are no crazy videos of me coming out of sedation! By the time I got back to my room where Tom was, I was pretty coherent. Sorry!
I know I had thought I might possibly be able to come home tonight (since this is typically an outpatient procedure) but with the bigger incision plus my pain level getting in and out of bed, I was actually glad to be staying another night.
I actually felt the best I have felt in days so I invited Anna to come visit for a bit so I actually felt human again eating CHICKEN POT PIE from the real food menu and visiting with people who weren’t staff.
By 7 o’clock or so, I was able to maneuver pretty well and didn’t need help getting out of bed. I kicked Tom out so I could catch up with my bestie and we actually took three laps around the wing.
Then—SURPRISE!—I had to switch rooms so now I’m in the even quieter mom/baby unit so hopefully I’ll get a full night’s sleep. They said they won’t bother me unless I page them. Fingers crossed.
So all is well. Now I just need to fart (AND poop!) before they’ll let me leave! #tmi
Lake Forest, Day 4
9:27a — I was in pretty good spirits initially since I thought this would go quickly but everything is moving so slowly and the drugs are starting to wear me down and I’m just exhausted, hungry, have a headache that won’t go away (I just want to curl up in a fetal position and cry and they only gave me Tylenol), and I just pulled a muscle in my groin trying to sit up. I didn’t even want any visitors since I was so miserable. I couldn’t even look at my phone or the TV for more than a few minutes so I tried to sleep as much as I could.
11:52a — Surgery tomorrow around 1! Which means I had to get another Covid test (since the first one was only good for 72 hours). I was pretty sure I hadn’t picked up Covid in the hospital but I guess they had to be sure. Unfortunately, this one went to the brain.
12:56p — I heard our Ring camera go off so I checked and it was Katie. Our friend Jen was coming to get the kids to take them to the pool and she was waiting outside. So I surprised her and talked to her via the doorbell.
4:23p — Still have a killer headache. Even tried an ice pack…and more Tylenol. Nothing was helping.
6:22p — The doc finally came in and SURPRISE! She said it’s a hunger headache and I should have been on a sucrose drip this whole time since I wasn’t eating! Plus she gave me Tordol and sleeping meds. I’m happy things are going to get better but I kind of feel like they should’ve known it was a hunger headache since this was my third day of fluids only.
Soooo. It’s possible I’ll be released tomorrow. But also possible they keep me another day to do the actual gall bladder removal surgery. I’m actually hoping for the latter so I don’t have to repeat any of this.
My liver readings are still a little high and she said the surgeon likes to have them more normalized before doing surgery but it’s also silly to go through all this again.
But on the bright side…they brought me a salt packet with my broth. It’s the little things.
Lake Forest, Day 3
7:20a — Currently awaiting prep for surgery—even though I still haven’t officially been told what surgery I’m having…or when. But I did finally brush my teeth and take a hot washcloth to my face this morning! It’s killing me to not have my daily skincare regimen but I figure missing a few days won’t kill me.
2:24p — I was just told I’ll need to have the Endoscopic procedure today (first) because there’s a stone stuck in the duct. Because of course there is. I’ll still need to have the lapriscopic surgery to remove the gall bladder, but they don’t know yet whether it will be tomorrow or scheduled at a future date. It depends on how I recover from the first procedure.
5:05p — Endoscopic procedure complete—and I didn’t feel a thing!! I do remember them warning me the mask smelled like plastic and that was gross. Anyway…they removed sludge! There were no complications and I feel totally fine. Now to wait and see if they say I can have the lapriscopic surgery tomorrow… In the meantime, the countdown is on until 6:30 tonight when I can have clear liquids for dinner!
Anna came to visit since I was feeling really good…and she brought me gorgeous flowers and a balloon!
#pissygallbladder
PLOT TWIST, continued!
Out of nowhere about 9:15 I started having extreme pain in my chest and just felt really crappy—enough so that I texted Tom to come home because I was NOT GOOD. It was time to start getting the girls ready for bed and I couldn’t even think straight so needed him to come handle it.
It wasn’t reflux or gas or anything I’d felt before—and I knew women’s heart attacks had different symptoms and that’s all I could think of. I googled and it didn’t seem like a heart attack but whatever was happening was not normal. I thought if I could just go to bed and hopefully fall asleep…maybe I could sleep through it. But the pain wasn’t going away and it was actually a little scary. And then just like that I felt better! Weird. I sat up in bed and just as I was getting excited that it was over…BAM, it came screaming back. At this point I called Tom upstairs and actually told him I was scared and it was at this point (about 10:30) that I said I needed to go to the ER.
Someone obviously had to stay with the kids—and Tom wasn’t able to drive safely (remember, he’d been at a poker night with the boys)—so he called Anna and she got here—from a dead sleep—within about 10 minutes. She drove me to the ER as I writhed in pain and tried to breathe through it. We spent the next five hours at the ER (10:30p–3:30a), most of which I was in about a level 7/10 pain.
I was on morphine for the pain (thank God for morphine) and it was weird how I could feel the pain ramping up (I started breathing differently) and knew to ask for more. Anna was googling trying to figure out what it could be. She was staying in touch with Tom. She was updating the sleepover moms on my phone. When I wasn’t incoherent with pain we visited like normal.
After some tests and bloodwork—my heart was fine, kidneys were fine, my liver was a bit elevated but not worrisome, and overall bloodwork was all fine. But the ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a really pissed off gallbladder. Stones and something else I forget. So then it was my first Covid test ever (which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be) and a leisurely ambulance ride to another hospital to be observed and prepped for emergency gallbladder surgery! Anna went back to our house to stay with the kids while Tom drove to the hospital to meet me there.
Not exactly how I planned to spend Katie’s birthday…
But I cannot thank Anna enough. Seriously. She was my angel tonight—from the initial car ride to admission to keeping Tom in the loop to grabbing nurses to texting the sleepover moms…to relieving Tom at home (and watching the kids) so he could come see me. Whatever I needed, she was there.
Katie’s birthday sleepover…and more!
Katie had two friends over for her first birthday sleepover. Holy cow were they loud. And of course there was some drama because GIRLS. I was dealing with it all myself because Tom was at a poker night down the street (I had breakfast plans with my mom group in the morning so it was a fair trade off).
But overall it wasn’t too bad. I hoped a movie would keep them quiet for a bit but that lasted about 15 minutes because one girl refused to stop talking and the others were getting annoyed so they just stopped.
And then…PLOT TWIST! Go to the next blog entry for the rest of the story!
Kitchen table shake up!
Someone on Nextdoor was getting rid of household stuff soAnna grabbed a TV and sound bar…and together we grabbed the kitchen table and chairs—Anna wanted the table and I liked the chairs! So they got our old chairs and we had to do a switcheroo. They also took our old recliner that no longer matches anything in our house.
Cleaning while waiting!
Anyone else clean out their purse when they have time to pass? No? Just me?
Meeting new friends!
Cheri is one of my clients who I just hit it off with and so tonight we finally got the husbands together. I pulled together a pretty good charcuterie board and we all had a great time visiting at the bar listening to 90s music!
Lunch foursome!
One good thing about Tom not having a job yet is that we can meet friends for lunch! Yes I only took a picture of the sushi and not us!
Neighborhood fireworks!
We spent the evening at Dave and Anna‘s and their neighbors were having a street party and doing tons of real fireworks. It was both exciting and frightening at the same time…and it went on for hours!
HAPPY 4TH, Y’ALL!
I decided to do a full blue eye with red lips to have a more normal-looking eye instead of a red/white/blue look!
- Face: CCTM and Light Powder with Clove ShadowSense contouring
- Eyes: Sapphire Shimmer and Lapis Glitter with Warm Gold Shimmer highlights.
- Cheeks: Red ShadowSense
- Lips: Hurricane Red with Prism Gloss
Also? I officially suck at doing other people’s makeup. Especially crazy holiday looks. I didn’t quite mean it to end up like this but oh well. She doesn’t care so it’s all good.
Anna also came over to do a holiday look with my colors since she doesn’t own them (she thought blue was too scary). She looked gorgeous!
And my glitzy earrings that I love!
Celebratory dinner!
David got a promotion so we all—kids included!—went to Primo to celebrate! Don’t ask me why Katie looks so awful in this photo—she was having a fun time.
I’m glad the animals are comfy.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!
Tom’s youth baseball coaching career is off to a great start—the Phillies are the Gurnee Youth Baseball Mustang Champions! It took two days and 9 innings but they did it!
What made the win even more exciting is that they beat the undefeated Cubs to win! (And the Cubs had actually slaughtered us in a previous game—something like 17-2.)
It was a nail biter for sure—they caught up and we were tied 12-12 which then pushed us into an extra inning! And after no scoring, another inning! And then in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, we scored—which meant the game was immediately over!
A special sidenote: Anna and family showed up again to cheer the team on!
Brunch!
Peach Bellini, peach crepe with homemade whipped cream, and candied bacon.
The kids’ first ferret!
A friend of mine was in town to drop off her ferret for another friend to watch…but she stopped at my house first to pick up an order. So I thought the kids would like to check out a ferret for the first time…
We hired an Interior Designer!
I’ve always wanted to hire a designer so I can end up with a put together room/house…and it finally happened! A friend is an interior designer and came over to give us some guidance! We figured since this is our forever house, we’re ready!
We talked about what we wanted, what we liked, what we didn’t want —and decided on a color scheme, the curtains and rods, the mantle (Tom will build it), and carpet size.
So she sent us to look at furniture and we found a bunch of things we liked right away at the first store—a couch, leather glider chair (to replace Tom’s recliner that will no longer match), a new chair for the front room, a lamp, and an end table!
That night I searched online for the perfect rug and found it! So we have a good start!
Gurnee Moms Hot Mom Summer Kickoff
One of our local Facebook forums (Gurnee Moms) had an event at our favorite restaurant —so most of our group went!
They had a professional photographer and of course I was ahead of the group heading inside to grab a table for dinner (they had appetizers but not nearly enough for the number of people) so I missed being in the group pic.
Neighborhood baseball practice!
Just some neighborhood practice before tomorrow’s first championship game. I had to take some cool photos after a pitch got stuck.
Internet ax murderers found each other!
A TiVo member was going to be passing through on a road trip so we all gathered for dinner! It was so great seeing them after almost a year and a half!
Dinner at The Turf Room was amazing, too!
PASTRAMI SALMON BRUSCHETTA
SMOKED FAROE ISLANDS SALMON, GRILLED SCALLION GOAT CHEESE MOUSSE,
PICKLED MUSTARD “CAVIAR”, GRILLED PRETZEL BAGUETTE, MICRO GREEN
MONTE CRISTO CROQUETTES
FOREST HAM, BACON, PEPPER, ONION, PEPPER JACK, SWISS, CHEDDAR, SAMBAL SOUR CREAM
SEA SCALLOP CARBONARA
PAN SEARED SEA SCALLOP, SWEET PEA, BACON, SHALLOT, PORTABELLA MUSHROOM, LINGUINI, SMOKED WHITE WINE PARMESAN EGG YOLK CREAM
IMPERIAL AMERICAN WAGYU FILET
8OZ IMPERIAL NEBRASKA AMERICAN WAGYU FILET, GRILLED ASPARAGUS, ROMESCO SAUCE, LEMON OIL
SOUS VIDE FRENCH TOAST
NUTMEG, CINNAMON, VANILLA BEAN, BACON SYRUP, VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM
Dads Day fishing trip!
Some of the dads went on a fishing trip in Wisconsin!
Tom’s offering was Bloody Marys with huuuuge skewers of meat, cheese, veg, and pretzel bites!
Tom didn’t take many pics so these are from others!
Rally fingers!
This is what color testing looks like!
I’ve been busy this morning! Elizabeth came over to test some lip/shadow colors and powders before she moves away! Better to figure out your wishlist in person! Plus she was able to pick up her order and get ALLLLLLLLLL of the bonus gifts with purchase!
Safe travels! Gonna miss you, friend!
