Prayers, Please.

I need prayers for my grandmother.  Yesterday morning she was taken to the hospital via ambulance, again.  This is about her 6th trip to the hospital this year.  It's the same problem, she's throwing up and can't keep any food or drink in her system.  Currently, she only weighs 89lbs.  The doctors can't ever seem to figure out what is causing her stomach to refuse anything put in it.  

I have two aunts, one who lives in FL, Aunt D and one who lives not far from my grandmother in NJ, Aunt L.  Well, Aunt L happened to be in FL visiting Aunt D for the holiday weekend.  When they found out my grandmother was in the hospital again they tried to get to get flights from FL to NJ but due to the holiday weekend they couldn't.  They hoped in Aunt D's car and headed north, stopping in Atlanta  to get my mom.  After driving through the night, they all made it safely to NJ about 8:30 this morning. 

The doctors did some testing on my grandmother today but we still don't have any answers as to what's wrong.  It's just so frustrating that she's been to the hospital for the same thing so many times this year and we haven't made any progress diagnosing or fixing the problem. 

My mom and sisters are starting to consider whether my grandmother should continue to live alone or if it's time to find somewhere else.  My grandmother is fiercely independent and the loss of that independence will really hurt her spirit.  I can't imagine she will willingly go anywhere else.  She loves her condo, her kitty, and her fabulous neighbors.  At 89 she has a better social life than most people I know.  She plays bingo a couple times a week, plays cards once a week, goes to the movies, to plays, etc.  Her friends are wonderful to her and always make sure she has everything she needs.  She also still drives although somewhat infrequently and only short distances. 

My biggest fear is she'll move to an assisted living home and lose her vibrancy and love of life.  When my grandfather was still around my grandmother was a very shy woman.  She wouldn't go to a new store on her own, had very few friends of her own, and pretty much just kept to herself.  My grandfather died almost 23 years ago though.  About 5 years after his death my grandmother decided she no longer could keep up with their large house and bought a condo in a "retirement community".  All of a sudden she was a whole knew woman.  She changed from this quite, reclusive woman, to the life of the party.  I'm convinced if she hadn't moved to this community, she would have passed a long time ago. 

Please pray the doctors find out what is wrong and have a way to treat her.  If she could get her strength back she could easily still live on her own.  I hate being so far away but I just can't go up there right now.  My plan is to go in July and I'm really praying that she will be feeling better by then.  I would greatly appreciate any thoughts and prayers for her.  She's very much the glue that holds our family together. 

I F*ing Hate Friday

This week I'm going to change it up a little. . . .I F*ing LOVE Fridays before a holiday!  Our office closes at 3pm on holiday weekends but my group has usually vacated the building by 1pm.  It's nice to have a 3 day weekend plus a half day on Friday! 

Gus and I don't have any fun exciting plans for this weekend which is fine with me.  I'd like to take my e-ring to get it cleaned and dipped.  Last weekend when I attempted to bake the chocolate cake I somehow managed to get chocolate deep down in the setting of my ring.  OOPS!!!  Note to self - take off rings before baking!  I'm sure if the weather is nice little miss Roxey will get a few walks in.  Roxey loves to take walks.  She knows exactly what drawer we keep her leash in and when we ask if she wants to take a walk she runs over and sits below that drawer.  It is so cute!

I do have an update about my GPS - it finally shipped!!!!  Apparently, the amazon website just likes to stress the heck out of buyers though.  If I track my package on the amazon site it still says the estimated delivery date is June 11 but if I go to the UPS site it says the estimated delivery date is June 1st.  . . .big difference there!!  I am ridiculously excited about getting something I never thought I really wanted!  I can't wait to use it. 

In honor of Memorial Day weekend I would like to thank all of the soldiers and their families who have stood up for our country over the years.  I know I don't have the courage to do what they do and I admire all of them.  I have a dear friend whose husband was severely injured during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.  She has handled his injury far better than I could have.  Her strength through the last year has been incredible.  She is truly an amazing wife and mother. 

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Why Amazon, Why?!?!

On Sunday I purchased this lovely GPS from Amazon.com

Amazon is apparently holding it hostage though and it's stressing me out.  The purpose of buying the GPS now is so I can use it when I drive to VA for my niece's 3rd birthday in June.  The estimated delivery is between June 7th and 11th. . . . .since I leave in the early morning hours of  June 10th, this could be a big problem.  Since when does it take Amazon almost a week to ship something?!?!  Yesterday I decided I'd just go edit my order to pay for 2 day shipping but by the time I tried it told me my order was being packaged for shipping and couldn't be changed.  grrrrrrrrrr.  I really thought 2 and a half weeks was more than enough time to order something from Amazon but apparently, I was wrong.  I will now spend the next 2 weeks stressing over the delivery of this. 

Baking FAIL

I absolutely love to bake despite the fact that it's bad for my waistline, well more like my hips and butt.  Last weekend I was bored so I decided to bake a cake to entertain me.  I was just planing on making a yellow cake with buttercream icing but then Gus mentioned he'd like me to try make Irish Cream Mousse filling.  After some more talking we decided that filling would go better with a chocolate cake than yellow.  I decided on the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa container.  I then searched for a irish cream mousse recipe.  For icing I made a version of a chocolate cream cheese icing I had tried before. 

I've had quite a few baking fails in the past but most are because I try to be all fancy and use the convection option on our ovens.  My experience though is that convection tends to dry out cakes and cupcakes.  This time I used the regular bake setting to avoid that.  Everything seemed to be going just fine. 

I took the cakes out of the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes in the pans.  I then went to flip them out onto my cooling rack when the first cake completely broke in half!  It caught my fingers on the pan and just broke.  I had already made the mousse filling though and figured I just press on somehow.  I didn't think the broken cake would be strong enough to be the bottom layer so I put it on the top and tried to smush it together with some icing in the middle.  As you can imagine, this didn't work!!  I put the crumb coat of icing on but it was obvious my cake was going to have a big valley in the middle.  I admit, I kinda gave up after that.  I just left the remaining icing in the KA mixer bowl and stuck it all in the fridge.  Good thing this was just for Gus and I. 

Gus doesn't really care about appearances though so we've been eating the cake and just piling on extra icing from my mixer bowl.  

Here's my poor, pitiful  (yet, half eaten) cake

I forgot to mention that a big piece of the broke cake fell off when I went to stack it. . . . I just filled that part in with extra icing.  OOPS!

At least it still tastes good!! 

Proud Of My Big Brother

I have one sibling, a brother, who is almost 5 years older than I am.  I love my brother, Jason, dearly but we've never been super close.  After our parents divorced he went to live with my dad in New Jersey while I stayed with my mom in Georgia.  Living 800 miles apart makes it hard to develop a good brother/sister relationship.  He moved back to Georgia after he graduated high school but he spent most his time working and hanging out with his friends.  Jason loves to be the life of the party and gets along with almost everyone he meets. 

This is him dancing the night away at my wedding

My brother has always been in to golf though.  He loves to play the game and he loves to work in the industry.   He has the perfect personality to work at a golf course/country club.  He's very engaging and has a great memory so he really gets to know all the members.  He started off working at a small neighborhood club not long after he moved back from New Jersey.  After a few years there he got a job at a much bigger private club in Atlanta.  He started out in the bag room of this new club and worked his way up to assistant pro.  While at this course he also started working on the PGA coursework to become a certified Head Pro.  After about 5 years he moved on to another very large, well known, private club in New Jersey.  His ultimate goal though was to be a Head Pro at a private club which basically means you own and run the pro-shop.  He finally go to see them dream come true when he took the job of head pro 2 years ago at a course in Virginia. 

During his time working in golf he has also continued to play in various tournaments.  Two years ago he qualified to play in his first PGA sanctioned event which took place last summer in Albuquerque, NM.  My mom, sister-in-law, and niece took the trip out there with him and had a great time watching him play.  He didn't do as well as he'd hoped in that tournament but it was a great learning experience for him. 

Currently he is trying to qualify for the 2010 US Open.  He played in his local qualifier last week and finished 2nd!!!!  Now he has to play in sectionals on June 7th in Atlanta!  If he makes it through sectionals he will get to go play the Open at Pebble Beach!  How freaking cool is that?!?!?  My mom and I plan to go walk the course and watch him play on June 7th.   There is one slight bump in the road, if he does qualify for the Open, he will most likely miss the birth of his 2nd child.  My sister-in-law is totally okay with that though! 

Here's to wishing my brother good luck on the 7th!!  This is finally his chance to make it to a major PGA event and I'm incredibly proud of him.  I would love nothing more than for him to see his dreams come true!!

Jason and my niece, Jordyn, at the Bad Pants Open, the tournament his club always opens the season with. 

I F*ing Hate Friday

I haven't had any time to really post today so I'll keep this one short and sweet. . . I F*ing hate rainy fridays.  It's like traffic isn't f*ed up enough on Friday afternoon.  Add a few rain drops and everyone suddenly forgets how to drive.  It's a crappy way to kick off the weekend.

Seriously. . . who wants to go get in their car when traffic looks like this??

Migraines

Migraines have come to be the bane of my existence over the last few years.  They suck, the medicines that make them go away come with awful side effects, and it always seems a lose-lose situation.

I got my first migraine in January 2004 and things have been downhill since then.  That first migraine landed me in the ER because I was convinced something was seriously wrong with me.  I never imagined pain could be that severe and only have a diagnosis of a migraine.  Back then I only got migraines every now and then.  As the years went on, the frequency steadily increased until I was getting anywhere from 3-5 migraines a week. 

I've seen numerous neurologists, tried numerous preventatives, tracked my daily habits for triggers, but have had very little luck controlling the migraines.  I have found two drugs, Zomig nasal sprays and Treximet, that will make the migraine go away but as I said, the side effects are awful.  Zomig makes my skin and organs hurt, it's really very strange.  Treximet causes horrible stomach pains.  Both make me very sleepy and dehydrate me. 

Migraines are currently the biggest obstacle for Gus and I when it comes to trying to start a family.  I'm not sure I'm strong enough to fight through migraine pain without the help of drugs.  Zomig and Treximet are part of a family of drugs called Triptans.  Triptans are considered a pregnancy class C drug which means they haven't been studied in pregnant women enough and/or testing on animals indicates they can increase the chance of birth defects.  In the case of Triptans, animals given the drugs have shown a higher frequency of birth defects but animals and humans don't always react the same to medications.  More recent studies indicate pregnant women who have taken triptans during pregnancy have no higher rate of birth defects than the normal population.  These studies are very new and not necessarily something I'm ready to accept for truth though.  On my good days I try to tell myself starting a family means enough to me that I can tough it out without drugs but then when a migraine hits I realize there is just no way.  As badly as I want to start a family, I don't want to risk the health of a future baby.