this blog sucks

It was kind of a rough week. I went back to work on Monday and I knew right away I had pushed myself too much by going back only 5 days after my surgery. I felt so miserable by the end of the day that I didn't even want to go out to dinner for my birthday. We went to the A&W drive in so we wouldn't have to get out of the car. Saving the day? Eating cake in my pajamas and playing Scene It (one of my bday gifts from Kev) when we got home.

I felt a little better each day after that, but didn't do so well on Thursday. I was working on something that had me leaning over my desk for about 4 hours. Leaning forward for that long put a lot of pressure on my nose and the pain started to get unbearable. I left work early, took some pain meds and laid down for the rest of the night. I made sure to lean back in my chair all day Friday to keep that from happening again.

We celebrated Cinco de Monica last night with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I even got to have a margarita! That more than made up for how things went earlier in the week!

Today is the 4th day after my surgery and I'm doing pretty well! The first 2 days were probably the worst. It was really hard to sleep the first day and night with the packing in my nose. I actually started to look forward to pulling it out. I got to remove it on Thursday morning. I'll spare you the details and just say it was pretty wretched. But, once it was out I got a preview to how well I'm going to be able to breathe once all the swelling is down! That definitely lifted my spirits! My parents came on Thursday night and stayed with me Friday while Kev went to work. They were a huge help and I was so happy to have them here.

I haven't taken any pain meds since Friday night and feel way more coherent. My nose is a little swollen and stuffy, but it's not too bad. It'll clear itself out about 10 days after surgery. I have moments where it's completely clear and I can't believe how great it feels to breathe. It's those moments that make me absolutely sure that the surgery was worth it!

I'm going back to work tomorrow for Cinco de Monica. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house, but am a little nervous about remembering not to lift things or bend down for the next week. For those of you that work with me, you know how difficult that is when the printer always gets jammed or needs paper. I guess I'll be off the hook for helping fix it this week ;)

Thanks again for all the comments and emails you've been sending me while I've been recovering! It's really helped to know you're thinking of me!

Zoe hung out in this spot with me almost all day and night yesterday.

I was pretty uncomfortable yesterday, but am feeling a little better today. Thanks for the comments and thoughts you've been sending my way!

For those of you checking in, Monica's Septoplasty went aces today. We got to the hospital at about 8 am and were home by 1 pm. Nurses gave her high marks as a patient.  She's recovering well and keeping down the pain meds without issue.  Post surgery meal: Vernor's and saltines.

We were in the middle of cleaning the house yesterday when one of our smoke/carbon monoxide alarms went off. Figuring the battery was low, we took it down and removed the battery. About 5 minutes later another alarm went off. This one is a digital carbon monoxide alarm. And it said in bright red capital letters: GAS.

We threw Zoe in her cat carrier in case we would have to evacuate and called the fire department. They parked the big red fire engine in front of our house and I'm sure we instantly became the talk of the neighborhood. They took readings all over our house and tested the furnace and water heater. They didn't register any levels of carbon monoxide or gas. Their best guess was that both alarms had low batteries. Which didn't really make sense since one of them plugs into a wall outlet.

After they left, I went back to cleaning and it happened again! This time it gave a gas level reading, which according to the manual, is considered a high level of gas. Since the fire department had JUST left and it went back to 0 right after that, we didn't call them to come back. Luckily, it didn't happen again.

As I was reading the entire carbon monoxide detector manual last night, I came across a section that lists some things that can trigger the alarm to go off. The very last thing mentioned is cleaning products. I had been mopping with the Swiffer Wet Jet when it went off the first time. And went back to mopping before it went off the second time. I've used the Wet Jet before, but had just replaced the mop solution yesterday. I looked online today and sure enough, I found other people that had the same thing happen.

What kind of cleaning solution have I been using that is detected as gas by a carbon monoxide detector? Does anyone else use the Swiffer Wet Jet? Have you ever had this happen with that, or any other cleaning products? I love the convenience of the Wet Jet, but am thinking about switching to something a little more environmentally friendly. Let me know if you have any suggestions for something else that is easy to use, but maybe not so full of chemicals!

My surgery is one week from today! I've been fielding calls from my surgeon's office, the hospital and the anesthesiologist during the past week to go over stuff. The next call I'll get will be from the hospital next Tuesday afternoon letting me know the time of surgery and when I have to arrive at the hospital the next day.

I'm getting a little nervous as it gets closer, but am trying to focus on the outcome rather than the surgery itself. I just hope they schedule me for early in the morning. I'd rather get it over with and not have to think about it all day!

While in the midst of the car buying whirlwind, I forgot to post some baby news. Congrats to Chris and Holly, who welcomed their second child, a boy, on April 10! Bodie McNeill weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 22 inches long. Big sister Noel shares my Cinco de Mayo birthday and will be 3 this year.

Chris and Holly will be moving to Farmington Hills from East Jordan next month. We are very excited that they're moving to our area and can't wait to see them more often!

Be careful what you ask over your Saturday morning coffee. You may set wheels in motion, so to speak, very quickly! On Saturday morning, I asked Kev how his car research was going. He's been doing online research for a few months and we've been planning to trade in his car in May. Ironically, he had looked up some cars that morning and found a really good deal. He told me about it, but said he should probably wait a few weeks. I urged him to go check it out. Good deals don't come up very often and it may not be there in a few weeks.

Long story short, he went to the dealer, test drove it and got all the details figured out. We went back tonight to drop off Grady, his 2000 Ford Focus, and left with his new car, this 2007 Honda Element:





It's such a fun car! It looks brand new and only has 10,000 miles on it! As we were driving home, I noticed there was a CD in the player. I took it out to see what it was, but couldn't tell because it was a CD-R. I put it back in the player and the first track was Bruce Springstein covering a Tom Waits song. Kev is a HUGE Tom Waits fan. It's like the car was meant for him :)

Do regular diapers make your baby's butt look big? Maybe you should try this.

I loved the Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High books once upon a time. I owned most of them and regret the fact that I didn't keep them. I also didn't keep all my Baby-Sitters Club books, but that's a different post for a different day.

On Tuesday, new versions of the first two books in the SVH series were released: Double Love and Secrets. The books have the same plot, but they've made changes to appeal to today's teens. This article talks about some of the changes that were made to update the characters' fashion choices.

At first I was surprised that they would make changes to the books and release them again. But, if it gets more teenage girls into reading books that were a rite of passage for most of us, then I'm all for it! Did you read the SVT and SVH books? Do you think it was a good idea to update the books for the new generation of readers?