NaBloWriMo: Day 30

Today was the big Halloween party at my work.  Our little worm in the dirt cup station was a HUGE hit!  We made 250 cups - used 9 bags of gummi worms, 9 packages of Oreo cookies, and a HUGE can of chocolate pudding.  We put two cookies and 2-3 worms in baggies, put the baggies in the cups, then stuck a plastic spoon in and set them all up on a table for when the kids came in the room.  We also put some little prizes in some of the cups - some had temporary tattoos and some had little baby glow-in-the-dark rubber ducks (Halloween-style - the ducks were dressed up as witches, mummies, cats, etc.).  The kids really seemed to enjoy it and we got lots of compliments from parents saying that they thought our idea was really creative and they really liked the interactivity of it.  Bonus!!!

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day.  I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo! The kick-off party is tomorrow after we're all done with the whole Trick-or-Treating thing.  Dan will be taking the kiddos around the neighborhood while I stay home to pass out the candy.  Our porch looks great, all covered in fake spiderwebs, and we have this little spider that drops down on people's heads before it pulls itself back up again.  It's motion- and sound-triggered so we hung it right over the doorbell.  It ought to be fun!

Ok, time to get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day with the kick-off party and all, so... yeah.  Hasta peeps!

NaBloWriMo: Day 29

OMFG what a day.  A disastrous day.  Well, mostly.  Be forewarned - this post will likely get long.

It started out with finding that the kids' school was closed again.  Not only that, but Dan's work had decided to cease operations for the day, as well.  How nice for him!  My company won't shut down for anything.  Back in the big blizzards of '03 and '06 we were still required to come to work (or take a personal day).  In fact, we were told then to stay in nearby hotels so that we wouldn't be late to work and that if we showed up after 9am we could be written up for tardiness.  Nice, eh?  Ok, but this post isn't about years past.

Anyway, so Dan was able to stay home with the kids. We turned on the news and found that as of 6am, the official snow totals for the town we live in were up to 17.5 inches with another 3-5 expected by the end of the storm this evening.  Yikies!  Because I haven't been feeling all that great and I've been getting
these weird "zinger" headaches, he didn't want me to try to drive in to
work by myself so he insisted on bundling up the kiddos and driving me
in to work. The roads weren't too bad considering the amount of snow we got and how little had actually been plowed.  (I took some pics and I'll post 'em once I get them off of my camera and phone - I haven't done that yet!)  It normally takes about 15-20 minutes for me to drive in to work.  It only took a little under 30.  Not too bad at all.

So I got into work and set up for the day.  I've had some little things to work on to keep me busy, so that's been good at least.  At one point in the day I went down to the cafeteria to get some ice for my water bottle and looked outside to the patio area and saw how the snow had piled up on the patio furniture.  It looks like a huge wedding cake or something.  Check this out:


Crazy, isn't it?  I took this pic around 10am if I recall correctly.  It was still coming down like mad, too.  Later this afternoon I found out that one of the major projects I've been working on (and that I've been really proud of because I took a concept and made it work!!) needed to be completely reworked because some of the functionality had changed.  No one had kept me in the loop on these changes to the project scope so I'd had no idea that I was going to need to make these changes.  That's incredibly frustrating, you know?  Uggh!

So, I called Dan around 3 or so and told him I should be picked up about 5pm.  He said he'd leave between 4 and 4:15.  At 4:30 I got a call from him saying he was going to be very late.  I asked him why he was going to be very late - fearing the worst, of course, like accidents and such.  It turned out that Dan had thought he'd left the keys in the ignition in the van and he and the kids went out into the garage to get into the van.  When he realized the keys were actually inside hanging on the key rack, he tried to go back into the house, only to find that one of the kids had been playing with the lock to the garage door and locked the door.  Dan and the kids were completely locked out of the house and unable to go anywhere because the keys to both vehicles were locked in the house.  He was ready to try to use his shoulder to break in the door.  I told him to call a locksmith.  I looked one up on the web and found one that guaranteed $29 and lowest price of all locksmiths in our town.  They also said they could be here in 15 minutes.  Dan called 'em up and they said because of the weather it would be more like 30 minutes and it would also be $80, not $29.  Apparently $51 of it is for labor. *rolling eyes*  Thirty minutes later he got a call saying it was going to be another 35-40 minutes.  Another 30 minutes went by and he got another call saying that it would be another 30 minutes before anyone could make it out.  Yeah, Dan was pretty ticked off.

Dan's a pretty smart guy and by this point he was ready to say screw it and try to bust in the door but he pulled out his iPhone and looked up other locksmiths in the area instead.  Another one said $30 with a 30-minute arrival time so  he called them.  They said with the weather it would be more like 45 but they'd get someone out there.  They did, eventually, and the guy charged us $180.  So much for the $30.  Ridiculous!  Dan said it took the guy about 3 minutes to pop the lock and let him in.  Is that really worth $180 when the website said $30?  Well, technically, I guess not, but given that he and the kids had been out in the garage in the van (bundled with blankets that I keep in the car and van for emergencies - yay me!) in the freezing cold for a few hours, I think it was worth it in the long run.

I finally got picked up at 8:15.  Long freaking day.  But, looking on the bright side, I got all of the necessary changes made to the previously mentioned project and when we left after he picked me up, there were hardly any cars on the road.  That's a bright side, right?

Tomorrow is the Halloween Festivities where I work.  I'm the event lead for my department so I'm in charge of getting everything and getting my team to help with set-up and working it.  This year we're doing Worms in the Dirt cups for our station.  It ought to be fun.  We've got 4 big packs of Oreo cookies, a couple boxes of baggies, and 9 bags of Gummi worms.  Tomorrow at lunch I need to go to Sam's Club to buy the cups and cans of pudding.  Fun times.  Hopefully the roads won't be too bad.  Uggh, it's almost 10:30 and it's STILL snowing!  Supposedly this storm was supposed to end by 5.  It's only 6 hours late. *rollseyes*  Ah well.  Until tomorrow, then.

NaBloWriMo: Day 28

Today has been quite the eventful day.  Woke up this morning at about 4am needing to use the restroom.  Looked outside and there was a really light dusting of snow - certainly nothing like the weather people were calling for.  Went back to bed and woke up again at 7.  There was a good 2.5 inches sticking to the roads.  Fun!  Not.  It was snowing pretty heavy.  Found out the kids' school was closed.  In fact, all of the school districts in the area (except for one up north) shut down today.  I was surprised given that there was less than 3 inches (at least where we live).  According to our district's website, they decided to shut-down to be proactive since the storm was supposed to continue throughout the day and into the night.  Okay, whatever.  The daycare was still open so we got ready to go and Dan dropped me off at work.  (I'm so glad I bought a pot roast this week - tossed it in the crock pot with some veggies so we'd have a nice, hot meal when we got home.)

On the way in to work this morning, we witnessed two accidents - both of which were cars right in front of us.  The first one was the car spinning out of control and slammed into the curb pretty hard.  May have jacked up his/her axle.  The second one was this SUV in front of us when we were in the right-hand lane.  He slid into the left lane, narrowly missing another SUV, before sliding into the median.  He then somehow managed to turn a 180 and came right back into the left lane where the SUV he'd narrowly missed ended up slamming into his back end.  The first SUV then drifted across our lane again before coming to a rest on the right-hand shoulder.  Thank heavens we were giving him a wide berth in front of us.

So anyway, I got to work, did the whole work thing, all the while waiting for the daycare to call and say they were closing early.  Amazingly enough, that call never came.  Dan's work, however, did tell all of their employees to leave at 3 and to not come in until 10am tomorrow - unless they decide to shut down.  Wish my employer would do that stuff!  Ha!

I was able to take some pics, which I'll post at the end of this post.  Got some really cute ones of the kiddos!

The other semi-eventful thing that happened to me today is medical-related.  Last week I went to the doc and had some bloodwork done.  I got the results today and the doc faxed me all of my results.  My thyroid is all out-of-whack again so I need to see my GP to get put back on Synthroid.  I think I'm going to have to stay on that stuff for good instead of going off of it.  Fun times.  I also found that my ESR was elevated which, surprisingly enough, has not been elevated in years, despite my lupus and fibromyalgia flares.  Go figure, right?  So I decided to google up what the medically-accepted normal ranges were for ESR.

While googling for that information, I found a site that talked about Temporal Arteritis.  It's apparently one of the diagnoses that can start by finding an elevated ESR.  Being the curious person that I am for medical conditions I've never heard of, I decided to read about it.  The page had a list of symptoms - common and rare.  Every. single. symptom was something that I have right now.  It was kind of creepy to see that.  Now, keep in mind that pretty much every symptom that I have can be explained away by various ailments that I have - lupus, fibro, Raynaud's, cold-like symptoms (despite the fact that I had the flu over Labor Day and it's been nearly 2 months)... but this was ONE diagnosis that covered every. single. symptom.  Dr. House always dismisses ideas that symptoms can be explained by multiple things going on - he always believes it is one thing causing everything.  (Yes, I know the show is fictional and thus the character is fictional, but ya know what?  That belief is kinda right in my mind!)  So I called my doc and left a message for him to call me back.

He did actually call me back this afternoon and we had a pretty long discussion.  The one symptom that I have that seems to really stand out is I've been having this headache (been there since Friday) that's in my left temple but the pain radiates down into my jaw.  At first I thought it was wisdom-tooth related, but realized that wasn't the case.  (There's more to it, but I don't feel like typing it ALL out.)  So anyway, he said that it was extremely rare in anyone under 50, though it is much more prevalent in caucasian women, especially those with rheumatic illnesses.  It isn't completely unheard of in someone at my age, but it is very rare.  He wants me to see an ophthalmologist first since they would be able to see if there was any inflammation in the vessels behind my eye(s).  The only way to truly diagnose Temporal Arteritis is by doing a biopsy of the temporal artery (basically going into my temple and taking a very tiny biopsy of the artery).  He doesn't want to do that unless there's more to go off of than an elevated sed rate, which I can understand.  So, now I have to see if my insurance will cover an ophthalmologist.  Since my rheumie is referring me to one, I can't see why they wouldn't, but with insurance companies these days, you just never know.  Blugh!  I do need to get in with my GP to get my thyroid stuff going, too.  Too many doctors!!!!  Oh, and I should add that the treatment for TA is relatively simple - a semi-long-term course of prednisone.  It would suck to be on it for even a short term, but when blindness is something that can happen in untreated cases of TA, I'd rather be fat and cranky from 'roid rage than blind. ;-)

At any rate, the day was actually a good one, all things considered.  We came home pretty early (well, a bit earlier than normal, that's for sure) and the kids played in the snow for a bit.  Our front yard didn't get as much snow accumulation because of the way the wind was blowing but our back yard got pretty blanketed.  The kids had fun while I snapped some shots.  Here, look!







To warm them up, I made some homemade stove-top hot cocoa.  The kids even helped!

Mmm... look at this chocolatey goodness!



And now we pour in the milk (which is actually half milk and half heavy cream because, despite it being much more unhealthy, the cream just makes it taste so much better)!




Ahhh, the milk and cream mixture has been completely blended with the chocolate mixture.  It's nice and smooth now!



And here's boy-child stirring it up.



Girl-child, of course, had to get in on the stirring action, too!



Hot cocoa, fresh pot roast from the crock pot, and a cheesecake for dessert.  A high-calorie evening but a very nice one spent with family.  Wouldn't trade it for the world!

NaBloWriMo: Day 27

Four more days of NaBloWriMo!  But have no fear - I won't stop blogging at the end of the month.  I think NaBloWriMo has kind of kicked my butt into gear as far as blogging goes.  I may not (ok, likely not) write every single day, but I have a feeling it will be much, much more regular than the sporadic posting I was doing previously.  So, yay for NaBloWriMo!

My mantra today started out as "I will not get sick, I will not get sick, I will not get sick..." and morphed into "I am not sick, I am not sick, I am not sick..."  If I say it enough, do you think my body will believe it?  Uggh!  This is starting out like the flu I got over Labor Day started out.  I can't get sick again!!! I have no more days off, let alone I just don't think my body can handle another one.  Uggh.  I took some Emergen-C earlier today (I mixed it with Perrier which made it pretty yummy - but a word of caution: don't just dump the whole packet into the Perrier as the fizziness of the Emergen-C combined with the fizziness of the Perrier gives it the volcano effect LOL) so I'm hoping that will help to ward off the sickies.

We finally finished up our Halloween decorations tonight, so we're all good there, finally.  Girl-child is uber-ecstatic about that. LOL.  Hopefully the huge snow storm we're supposed to get won't destroy some of our outdoor decorations.  Oh, speaking of this storm, look at what the lovely weather service has to say we will be expecting:

... WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM MDT THURSDAY...

THE WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM MDT THURSDAY.

SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY AND WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES... ESPECIALLY ON WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 12 TO 24 INCHES WITH UP TO 3 FEET POSSIBLE IN FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS IN THE FOOTHILLS. NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS AT 15 TO 30 MPH WILL PRODUCE EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN OPEN AREAS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF WINTER STORM CONDITIONS WITH DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TRAVEL ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. CONSIDER COMPLETING TRAVEL THIS EVENING IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY... TAKE ALONG A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT.

Nice, eh?  Uggh.  All I can do is hope that the weatherpeople are as wrong about this storm as they've been about nearly every storm so far.  Here's to hoping!

NaBloWriMo: Day 26

Wow... can you believe October is almost over?  November is just around the corner... as in, November is in just 6 days.  Eek!!! NaNoWriMo starts in 6 days?!? Holy crap!  I'd better figure out a plot for my book pronto!  Or at the very least, I'd better hope the finger vomit comes. LOL

Today was rather boring.  Woke up, went to work, did the work thing, went to rehearsal, did the rehearsal thing, came home, watched some boob tube and now I'm writing this.  I lead such the exciting life, no?

I still have this headache.  It's obnoxious.  And now my skin is starting to hurt which is a surefire indication of a full-on flare.  Bloody hell.  I'm waiting for all of my blood work to come back from the doc so we can decide on the best course of treatment.  Blech.  Hopefully I'll hear something within the next day or two.

I'm in the process of compiling a gift for some of my Blue friends.  I hope they'll like it!  I mean, I'm pretty sure they will, but you know just never know for sure until it actually happens, know what I mean?  It's just taking a bit longer than I had anticipated.  Hopefully I'll be able to get it uploaded and to them tomorrow.  That's the goal, at least.  I'm hoping to upload from work if I can get the network to recognize my server (stupid work proxy servers) but worst-case scenario I should be able to do it tomorrow night. 

Okay, it's nearly 11pm and I have to work tomorrow and I got crappy sleep last night so it's time to put the computer away and try to get some sleep.  Wish me luck!!

NaBloWriMo: Day "AhWhoCaresIKnowI'mBehind"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm behind.  I'm blaming it on the fact that I feel like someone's taken a sledgehammer to the side of my head and then decided to pummel the rest of my body to a pulp.

It started in the middle of the night the night that I wrote my last post.  I woke up around 3am feeling ridiculously nauseated.  I got up, hovered around the "porcelain throne" for a bit and finally took some Pepto Bismol to try to settle things down.  It quickly became obvious that any food that I'd eaten that day (and possibly the weeks before!) were not going to stay in my body.  Didn't matter how or from which end of the body - that food just wanted out.  After a couple of hours of this I crawled back into bed to get another 90 minutes of sleep.  After dealing with the body-wracking chills, I mean.  Even with my electric blanket on high I couldn't get warm.  Uggh.

I went to work (I have no days off - what few I have left I have to save because we're going to TX for Christmas) where my tummy was still pretty tender and food didn't want to really stay put.  I took it easy but eventually ended up leaving an hour and a half early.  I came home and that's when the headache really started - and hasn't stopped.

My entire body aches.  Not just aches, it's like it's pulsating with pain.  Between the body aches and the massive headache (it wasn't an actual migraine, but good-freaking-doG it was migraine-strength) I finally broke down and took a percocet.  Which did nothing.  Last night I started coughing.  I have post-nasal drip, only it's more like sludge rather than drip, and this "phlegm" is sitting in the back of my throat.  It won't slide down into my stomach and it won't allow me to cough it up.  I try clearing my throat and even that doesn't help.  It's really freaking obnoxious!!!!  Last night I took some NyQuil - both to try to sleep and to get rid of this phlegm - and it did seem to help a bit.

This morning, though, I still feel like crap.  The phlegm is still there, making me cough, and the cough makes my head hurt even more.  I swear I'm falling apart.  At least the food I eat has decided to stop making multiple appearances.  I guess I should focus on those kinds of positives, no?

Le sigh.

NaBloWriMo: Day 22

Today's post is brought to you by the big ol' glass of haterade I drank earlier.  Yes, I've got my hate on right now.  It looks good on me, yes?  It's rather slimming, I'd say.  But why have I caught the hate?  What has made it course through my veins like the venom of a vampire in a Stephenie Meyer novel?  Two words: Insurance Companies.

Did you know that insurance companies all know you better than your doctors know you?  And, even more incredible, apparently they even know you better than you know yourself!  This must be the case since they have the God-like power of approving or denying anything medically-related under the sun.  If they disagree with the doctor on your course of treatment, they, in all their medical knowledge and glory (praise be the Lord of HMOs and private insurance companies, hallelujah!! can I get an AMEN?), can say "Nope! Too bad! Too expensive! I know you pay over $500/month in insurance premiums to cover these kinds of things, but I'm saying no! Nanee nanee boo boo on you!"

I saw my doc today (that was a whole other debacle which I think will have to wait until tomorrow because right now I'm too focused on my crappy insurance company) and we discussed  the best course of action for all of the symptoms I've been having.  He didn't want to prescribe much without knowing what my blood work was looking like, but he did want to address the biggest issue I've been having which is lack of sleep.  OTC sleeping pills don't help at all, the muscle relaxants that we tried most recently didn't help me sleep but made me feel whacked out the next morning, and he wants to see if the lack of sleep is causing my pain which then causes me to not be able to sleep due to the pain which is therefore causing more pain (vicious cycle anyone?).  It's possible that I'm just having bad fibromyalgic pain that's causing the lack of sleep which is causing the pain to be worse (notice anything familiar about this vicious cycle??)... either way, we have to pick one thing to address and so Dr. T decided to try working on the sleep issues first to see what happens.  As such, he prescribed me Lunesta.  We've talked about this prescription a few times in the past - we decided against Ambien because of a bad prior experience - and there were two others that he mentioned but because I have some fluid retention issues he didn't want to do one of them (fluid retention was one of the side effects) and the other one he didn't like to prescribe to lupus patients because of the potential for bad side effects.

So he writes me the script, sends me down to the lab so the vampires  phlebotomists can take the lovely 9 vials (8 big ones and 1 small one wheeee), and sends me on my way.  Once I'm done at the lab I drive all the way home and go to the Walgreens that's just down the street from my house.  I drop off the prescription and wander around the store waiting for them to call my name when my prescription is filled.  About 15 minutes later I hear my name over the loud-speaker and go back to the pharmacy section where the pharmacy manager proceeds to tell me that my insurance will not cover a dime of the Lunesta but if I want to pay for it out of pocket, I can.  The cost?  $212 for a one-month supply.  **jaw drop**  I figured it would be a Tier 3 drug, meaning the most expensive co-pay possible, but I never expected them to outright deny it.  So when I ask why they denied it, I'm told "Well, they feel there are other, better, and cheaper drugs out there that you can take instead."  I'm so glad that they were able to make such an important decision without looking at my charts, my medical history, or talking to the doctor.  I'm also glad that they were able to make such an important decision without even having a medical degree!  Hot damn, I'm in the wrong field!!  I wonder if they get a kick-back for every denial that saves the company money... **mutters**

I'm going to call Dr. T in the morning and the pharmacy manager also said that he would fax something over to the doctor, as well.  We had already decided today that if the Lunesta didn't work for me that we would try Cymbalta or Lyrica - I guess if we can't get the Lunesta through insurance we can try one of those and see if either of those will work instead.  But seriously, what is it with people with (likely) no medical training being allowed to make these kinds of decisions?  Do they really think I WANT to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a drug that may not even work?  Even on the highest tier I could spend up to $75 out of pocket - that's a lot of $$ for a one month prescription - do they honestly think I would choose the most expensive drug out there?

Grrrr!  I was so excited to possibly get a real night's sleep for a change... and now the rug's been yanked out from underneath me.  Poopieheads!!!  Maybe Dr. T will be able to talk some sense into them... I doubt it, but there's that little glimmer of hope right there in the outer reaches of my mind.

Here's to hope... **tips her wine glass since she has nothing else to attempt to try to help her sleep at this point**

NaBloWriMo: Day 21

Today was a very productive day at work.  I was doing some ActionScript coding and managed to get some of the stuff done that I really needed to get done.  And I pretty much got it done, too!  Nearly 2000 lines of code when all was said and done, but hey, it works!  (My math was off - Yes, Michelle, 1+4=5, not 4: oops!!! - but the functionality in and of itself is working beautifully!!!)  I really do know how to add and do math, I swear!  I think I was so focused on the actual code that the math was just sort of ignored. LOL

I'm really stoked about this because, really, I'm not a code junkie.  I can do some coding but it's not really my strong suit.  Though, I must say, I find coding in AS3 sooooooooo much easier than coding in AS2 or AS1.  Something about the structure and how organized it has to be to work just clicks in my head, ya know?  AS1/AS2 are not very structured and you don't have to be precise when you write it... I think that's what confuses me.

On a different note, to day was wet and cold and snowy.  It snowed all. day. long.  Blech!!!  Our backyard has about 3 inches and it's still snowing - I'm guessing we'll collect another inch or so before the morning.  It was sticking a bit to the roads and sidewalks this morning but by mid-day all the snow on sidewalks and roads had melted.  It's still on the grass, trees, and bushes, though!  And the fenceline, the roofs of the houses, mailboxes, etc.  I know it's coming up on the end of October and snow this time of year is normal, but really, I could do without the snow and cold!

I really do live in the wrong state for the conditions that I have.  Allergic to the sun and extremely sensitive to the cold - and here I am in the state with 300 days of sun per year and generally a lot of snow.  I can't help it, though - I love it here!  And Dan was born and raised here so I don't see him moving any time soon.  Plus, we just bought this house and we love it... so, yeah.  I guess I'll just have to continue to suck it up and deal, right? ;-)

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Dr. T up in Fort Collins.  I'll be taking a half-day from work in order to go up and see him.  It will be my last appointment with him - I kind of want to cry about that!!  He's been one of the best doctors I've ever had.  He trusts me and I trust him implicitly.  He remembers the little things - not just the medical-related stuff, but the little stuff about life - even when I don't see him for months on end.  He really makes me feel like he cares, not just about the disease but about me as a person.  I'm really, really going to miss him, but it's just not feasible for me to drive all the way up there to see him, especially if I'm in a flare.  I end up having to take half-days from work just to make a doctor's appointment and with the way work is, well, you can see why that's really not an option any more.  I've gotten the names of a couple of other rheumatologists down here and I hope I can get to the same level of trust with whoever it is I choose to go with.  Whoever that person is has some big old shoes to fill!

Well, tomorrow morning I need to delve back into my code and clean up my math issues and hopefully that will make it work.  Once I can get that final piece of the puzzle put in, then I can go back to focusing on writing the training module I'm supposed to be working on. I really should have been working on that today but I was really in a code mood, so coding is what I focused on.  (You know it's bad when you dream about the best way to make something work using code - yes, I'm that lame!)

Ok, time to end this post. I've got some other things I need to take care of and then I need to hit the sack. I'm actually thinking I may take my shower tonight so I don't have to deal with it in the morning... my hair will kinda suck, but such is life, right? ;-)

G'night peeps.  Catch ya on the flip side!

NaBloWriMo: Day 20

Today was just like any other day.  Woke up, took a shower, got dressed, went to work, did some work, went home, cleaned up the kitchen, ate dinner, and now I'm vegging out watching TV.  Yet, despite the day being another typical, boring day, I'm still obliged to write in this blog.  It feels awfully daunting.  A part of me feels like I should come up with something witty and fun to write about yet another part of me doesn't think I have any of that in me today.  My head is right on the edge between annoyingly achy and painfully achy.  (And why do I want to keep typing that as achey and having to correct myself? Good heavens!)

Tonight is supposed to be rainy/snowy. I wonder if there will actually be any snow on the ground in the morning for the drive in to work.  Thank heavens we're down here in Denver now - I'm just 10.7 miles away from work though Dan is a bit farther.  It's still better than the 90+ miles (one-way!!) that we had when we were commuting from Loveland.  Well, 90+ miles when you took into consideration dropping Dan off at work, then dropping the kids off at daycare, and then me going to work... but still.

And now I'm just rambling... the story of my life, or so it seems some days.  I should probably just end this, watch Heroes, and go to bed.  Yep, I think that's what I'll do.

NaBloWriMo: Day 18

Whoops! Totally spaced my blog yesterday.  I so totally suck!

Well, at least I remembered pretty quickly (I actually remembered this morning but had no ability to do anything about it til now).  At any rate, here is my blog entry that should have been for yesterday and then later tonight I will do today's blog entry. Err, something like that.

This entry is devoted to football.  Dude, seriously? What a F*ed up day in football!!!  The Chiefs won??  The RAIDERS won?!?  And the Titans fell 59-0?!?  That's a big fat goose egg there, peeps. 59-0?!?  That's not just pathetic, that's... well, that's unmentionable.  And Tom Brady threw for FIVE freaking touchdowns in ONE quarter?! *FAINT*  And that all happened while I was out raking leaves.  The first quarter was pretty boring and, to the point I'd watched, scoreless.  We went out to rake leaves, come in and find that Brady threw for FIVE TDs.  Then they come back after half-time and he goes and throws for yet another one!  A total of 6 TDs before they finally pulled him from the game.  They should have just called the game in the 4th quarter.  That would have been merciful.  That would have been kind.  I kind of feel bad for Tennessee... it's just cruel and unusual!!  (I guess the Pats were just that ticked off after losing to our awesome Broncos, eh? CACKLE!!!)

Now let's talk NFL RedZone.  Ok, that channel is pretty wicked awesome.  I didn't think I'd like it, and at first that was proving true.  At first I found it difficult to follow exactly what was going on and then they'd "schwooooof" into a new game and I was like "Wait! I was just watching that!"  But then I started getting into it and how they switch from game to game and realized, IT'S REALLY FREAKING COOL!  Other than Broncos games, I have a feeling we'll be watching a LOT more of the RedZone channel!

And speaking of the RedZone channel... the announcer said something that I thought was funny and I tweeted about it.  I didn't say the guy's name or tag him in any way but later that night I got a RT from him apologizing for his comment and explaining how it happened.  It cracked me up!  I guess they're searching the trending topics for NFL RedZone to see what comes up.  I wonder if they do the same with blogs?  *ponders*  At any rate, he was really funny and I thought he did a great job all-in-all and I'm still cracking up that he retweeted to me. LOL

Tonight (now, see, if I'd written this post when I was SUPPOSED to, this would have said "Tomorrow night" *le sigh*) is the Broncos/Chargers game.  Monday Night Football!! Woot!  Which I'd be much more excited about if I didn't have rehearsal.  Boo! Hiss!  I enjoy rehearsal - don't get me wrong - but missing Broncos MNF almost feels like a cardinal sin.  We don't watch MNF on the HDTV usually because we have two timers firing on the DVR on Mondays at 7 (House and Heroes).  I usually make Dan go to his "man cave" to watch the game... but I feel bad for making Dan sit down in the cold basement with the crappy little SDTV to watch a Broncos game so I told him to cancel the timer on Heroes for tonight.  Of course, I also found out that the G4 network plays the new Heroes episodes the day after so I'll be able to record it from there.  Ha!  (And y'all thought I was just an uber-awesome wife, huh? *cackle*)

Hopefully rehearsal will go well tonight.  And hopefully the fact that I won't be watching the game won't jinx the Broncos! (LOL - because, you know, I have that much power over the outcome of the games!)

NaBloWriMo: Day 17

See? Told ya I'd write again today. Bwahahaha!

So today was the big Meet-N-Greet for the Denver region of NaNoWriMo! It was great to meet some new people and catch up with some peeps from the past. I really think we're going to have a great group down here this year!!

This year I'm an ML (Municipal Liaison) for the Denver region - more specifically the Southern part of Denver (since I live in Parker and work practically in Lone Tree). I'll be hosting a couple of write-ins this year - 2 per week - so hopefully I'll get some people to show up at them! LOL!

I can't believe it's mid-October already. NaNoWriMo is literally right around the corner - two weeks away! Eep!! I still don't have a plot.  I have, however, been challenged to write a 22 chapter novel with each chapter's title being the name of a card of the Major Arcana in a tarot deck. I've pretty much accepted the challenge - now the question is, What do I do with it?  I probably won't bother outlining anything... when I tried to do that last year it was horrible.  The story, I mean. The first NaNo I won I didn't have anything in mind - it just all came out, so I'm going to let it do that this time... just with a really minimal framework (the whole Tarot card chapter title thing).  Who knows, I may end up scrapping the Tarot card thingie anyway... LOL!

In other news, my head is still kind of bugging me.  Not horrifically but it's still aching quite a bit.  I'm probably going to make this a short entry so that I can go lie down and let my head rest for a bit. Maybe I'll watch a movie that I can veg out to. Maybe I'll even fall asleep (what a novel concept...)

So with that, I bid you adieu... and a great night!

NaBloWriMo: Day 16

Yes, I know this entry is technically a day late. I'll write another one later today as today's entry but for now I'm going to explain why this entry is a day late.

So, as many of you know, I have Lupus. I also have fibromyalgia and Raynaud's. The Lupus has been under pretty good control, thankfully.  The fibro flares up a lot but I'm generally able to deal with that with some NSAIDs, massage, and sheer willpower.  The Raynaud's, however, is an entire beast of its own.

A quick background: a couple of years ago I had a headache that lasted over 6 months.  One headache.  It would explode into migraine-strength (light/sound sensitivity, vomiting, the works) and then fade back down into a headache that I could just try to ignore.  But it was always there. I saw two neurologists about it, had a spinal tap done (that resulted in a spinal fluid leak that had me hospitalized to repair - it took two blood patches to get it to the point where it was hardly leaking at all and then over the next few days it ended up sealing itself) tried several medications (none of which worked, some of which made it worse), and just did everything in my power to not want to chop my own head off to be rid of the pain.  Ultimately, my rheumatologist and I realized that it was a Raynaud's headache (or, more likely, several Raynaud's headaches that clustered, but just felt like one headache) and, as such, all of the conventional migraine treatments would make them worse.  Apparently Raynaud's headaches are extremely rare which is why no one ever thought to "connect-the-dots," so to speak, with mine.

As they were described to me,typical migraines are caused by the blood vessels in the brain expanding and letting too much blood flow through, causing a "pounding feeling." This is why medications that constrict the blood vessels are used for migraines (caffeine being one of the foremost thought of "medications" used for migraines).  With my headaches being Raynaud's headaches, vaso-constrictors are actually the worst thing I could take - and likely why the headache got worse instead of better.  Raynaud's causes blood vessels to constrict and/or spasm.  I have a history of both typical migraines and now Raynaud's headaches so it becomes really difficult to figure out which one is the culprit.  I've learned over time how to tell the difference, but sometimes they present so similarly that I honestly can't tell.  I have to look at outside factors to try to determine which kind of migraine it is (ie, have I been exposed to cold, could hormones be playing a part, have I been drinking too much caffeine, etc.)

The one thing I found that helped my Raynaud's headaches - temporarily - was for my husband to do a deep vessel massage.  It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch but it helped.  Basically he would put extremely forceful pressure at the base of my head/neck where the blood vessels are and sometimes massage, sometimes do just pressure.  I'm not really sure why it helps, but it does, and in the throes of those nasty headaches, I'll take ANYTHING that helps.

So... why am I posting about this today?  Well, last night I got slammed hard-core and out of nowhere with one of my Raynaud's headaches. Sometimes they come on slowly and other times they literally hit out of nowhere. When they hit out of nowhere, I can generally know that it's a Raynaud's headache because with my regular migraines, there are usually warning signs.

I've had a bit of a rough week.  Last night I decided I wanted to unwind.  I don't drink alcohol all that often but I like to have some every now and then.  I've always had a ridiculously high tolerance for alcohol (it took over $150 bar tab to get me feeling "good drunk" once - the only time I can remember actually being drunk).  Last night I had two large whiskey sours - or the equivalent of 4 whiskey sours in a bar.  I was feeling pretty relaxed and Dan and I decided to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine while the kids were watching The Wizard of Oz.  Right towards the end of the movie *WHAM!!!* that stupid headache hit - and hit hard.

I know that alcohol can cause blood vessel constriction but I've never had it affect me like this before. Maybe it was just because of the volume of alcohol I consumed... I really hope so because I really enjoy the occasional beer and whatnot.  Dan did the vessel massage thing and that allowed me to fall asleep.  One of the problems with the vessel massage is that sometimes it can leave unsightly bruises - sometimes it just feels like there are unsightly bruises LOL - and then I get a lot of questions.  It also aches in that area for a day or two but at least it's not the nasty migraine-like headache pain.

Today I feel completely wiped out from the headache.  I slept like crap thanks to the headache.  There's still some residual pain in my head and I'm hoping that some Advil will take care of it.  My neck/base of head ache from the pressure of Dan's massage.  What a way to start off the weekend, eh?

Add to this the fact that I can no longer sit in denial... I'm in a full-blown Lupus flare.  My back has been en fuego for awhile now and I've been battling some low-grade fevers, too.  I've attributed the temperatures to the fact that my body still seems to be beating off the flu that I had over Labor Day but I think that was just the denial talking.  This past week the mouth sores decided to make an appearance en masse and they are so freaking obnoxious.  I have one back by my wisdom tooth that I originally thought was because of my wisdom tooth, but with the appearance of all of the other ones, I'm thinking that's not the case.  I've been feeling so. bloody. exhausted, which is another tell-tale sign of a flare that I've been in denial about.

Le freaking sigh.  At least I have an appointment with my rheumatologist already set up for next week (Thursday).  I've had the appointment since August - it was supposed to be a regular "check-up" appointment and my last with him since he's nearly 2 hours away in traffic - but since I'm obviously flaring, so much for the whole "regular appointment" stand-point. Lame. I've had a couple of people recommend a rheumie down here - I just need to make an appt with her.  I wanted to see Dr. Thakor one last time, though, because I adore him - and I love the fact that he trusts me and knows that I generally know what's best for me and he knows that I won't go in to see him for a flare unless I know it's something I just can't cope with on my own.  I'm hoping this new lady will at least develop that kind of trust in me (and vice versa).

Ok, this was a long post. Time for me to get out of bed, hop in the shower, and get through this day.  I've got a Meet-N-Greet for some NaNoWriMo folks this afternoon that I'm actually really looking forward to.  It'll be nice to meet some new peeps and reconnect with some old ones.  I can't believe we're already half-way through October already.  Yeeps!!

NaBloWriMo: Day 15

Exhaustion. Tiredness. Weariness. Fatigue. Debilitation. Burnout.

Damn. I can't think of any other words for how I feel.

I'm so tired but I try to sleep and nothing happens. And then I realized I hadn't blogged today so I figured I might as well turn on the computer and at least get this entry in. So now here I sit and I can't even figure out what it is I want to write about.

I actually think I'm going to log off and try to sleep again and see if that works... I know this isn't much of a blog entry, but it's just going to have to do.

Catch y'all on the flip side.

NaBloWriMo: Day 13

Today's blog post brought to you by the word "accountable."

According to the dictionary, "Accountable" means:

Liable to being called to account; answerable.

Today I was told that I needed to work on my accountability. Huh. You see, that's interesting, because I tend to hold myself accountable even for things that aren't my responsibility.  But ok.  I guess I'll work on my accountability.

::blink blink::

Ok, so, that aside, my day was pretty boring, as usual.  Work is kind of frustrating right now - well, more frustrating than normal, I suppose.  One of the projects that I'm working on is turning out to be more of a mess than I originally thought it would be.  I'll still try to make my deadline of Friday, but it's going to be interesting. I may have to see if I can push it out to Monday so I can do a bit of work on it over the weekend. 

It's kind of funny - I thought I'd have no problems working this project based off of another project because they are so similar but, as it turns out, there are just enough differences that it's making it rather difficult to use the original structure.  I think it'll still be done more quickly this way rather than building it up from scratch, but it's still going to be quite the process.

And now onto more of the complaining department of this blog post... my wisdom tooth is bugging me again. It feels like I have a major canker sore back there or something.  Uggh!  I know I should probably bite the bullet and get my two wisdom teeth pulled but I'll admit it - when it comes to dentistry, I'm a bit of a chicken.  I can watch my own surgeries but dental stuff... eep! I think the main reason is because I can't see what they're doing when they're inside of my mouth and then my imagination takes over.  I have a very active imagination, ya know... s'probably why I love NaNoWriMo. LOL!  But back to the tooth... the two that I have are mostly in, and they're straight, and the only affect I've noticed them having on my teeth is that they've been pushed so close together that it makes flossing difficult.  Anyway, every 4-6 months or so one of them will start to come in further or whatever and it makes the whole area really swollen and sore for a few days - then it's fine again for another 1/3 - 1/2 of a year. LOL.

I'm just a little ray of fucking sunshine, aren't I? LOL!

NaBloWriMo: Day 12

So I've sat here with this window open for a good 20 minutes now and I can't figure out what to write.  I suppose I could drone on about having yet another Monday go by.  I could talk about work and how this project is frustrating me.  I could talk about the fact that rehearsal went well tonight, despite being a Wench short.  I guess I could talk about how my back is killing me and it's really freaking frustrating that I can't make the pain stop no matter what I do.

But really, who would want to read any of that stuff?  And even more important, do I really want to write that stuff?  It's so... trite... boring...

Kinda like me...

NaBloWriMo: Day 11

Uggh... today just wasn't a good day, with the exception of the Broncos win over the Patriots, bringing the Broncos 2009 record to 5-0!

I woke up achy - not like sick achy but fibro achy.  Le freaking sigh.  The achiness turned into full-on ow-inducing pain by about 9 this morning.  Ob-freaking-noxious.  Here's the really lame part - my back hurts ridiculously bad on the lower left side - lower left sacro-illiac area for you medical types - but the rest of my left side feels fine.  My right side hurts in the middle, except it's not really my back, it's my ribs.  Dan tried to massage my back for me earlier to relieve some of the pressure and just lightly running his hands over my ribs felt like someone was running a hot coal over them.  Go figure.  My right shoulder hurts, but that's pretty much a given with the bursitis.  I should probably be doing my PT exercises again since it started hurting again but I just seem to forget about them until it's too late.  Maybe it's a subconscious thing.

On top of that, something I ate yesterday didn't agree with me - or with girl-child.  I think it might have been the popcorn at the theater. I rarely eat popcorn but it actually tasted good yesterday.  But last night my tummy was roiling and I ended up actually giving in and taking some Pepto Bismol to try to settle it down some.  It was a bit miserable but the Pepto seemed to help.  Girl-child can't have the Pepto but I gave her a Rolaids tablet to chew and that seemed to help her, too.  This morning we both woke up feeling pretty nauseous - at first I thought mine was just from the pain and discomfort because that happens frequently, but then she told me she was still sick to her stomach, too.  The males in the house don't appear to be afflicted.  Go figure.  Between the tummy and the aching back, I stayed in bed for the majority of the day and even managed to doze off into a bit of a nap this afternoon.  Of course, I missed almost the entire first half of the Broncos game, but as it turned out, once I woke up and actually started paying attention to the game, they started playing well.  Good timing, I'd say!

Boy-child is driving me batty. He's been going through this ridiculously annoying phase right now where he whine-cries over the littlest thing and when you try to talk to him he either shouts "You're not listening to me!!" or "I don't want to!!" and neither reaction tends to make sense for the situation.  I know he's just learning various things and is testing the boundaries on other things but oh my doG, it's seriously driving me batty!!  What is it with the half-years being so rough?  Two-and-a-half was rough, three-and-a-half was worse, and now four-and-a-half is proving to be just as bad!  Around the birthdays he seems to settle into a nice relative calm (well, you know, calm for him with his issues) but these half-year marks are dreadful!!

Girl-child has also been pushing some boundaries, but that's to be expected at 7. My only real issues with her is that she's sooooo emotional about everything.  I was that way as a kid, too, so I can understand and now I see why my mom was so frustrated with me when I would act that way.  Sometimes with girl-child, all you have to do is look at her funny and her eyes will well up with tears.  It's so difficult to truly discipline her because her face just falls so much and it's like you can read her mind and she's thinking "My mommy hates me! I can't do anything right!" when that's not the case at all.  I know no one ever said parenting was easy, but sheesh!  Not that I would trade any of it for the world...

Well, it's now about 10:30pm and I have to work tomorrow so I suppose I should log off this blasted machine and attempt an evening of sleep.  I have a lovely day of fighting with ActionScript ahead of me so I suppose I should at least try to get a good night's sleep... though I'm guessing the husband will end up keeping me awake with his constant shouting at the TV, as if his comments of "Pull that pitcher - he's not getting the job done!" and "You idiot, you're doing it wrong!" are really going to get to the Rockies or the Rockies management. LOL

NaBloWriMo: Day 10

Today was actually an ok day, all things considered. It started out with the fact that the kids actually SLEPT IN for like the first time in what seems like forever!! We didn't wake up until 8am! (I know that doesn't seem like sleeping in, but trust me, it really is!)

We had a nice quiet morning around the house and then Dan and I decided at somewhat the last minute to take the kiddos to the 11:15 showing of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D down in Castle Rock. We got dressed all warmly and then piled into the van to head to the theater. I know those movies so well and I swear they put in some scenes that weren't in the original! I'm going to have to watch the DVDs to verify, but I'm 99% sure of it!  The kids had a good time and were pretty good through both movies.  Boy-child got a little antsy towards the middle of the second movie and actually asked to go home (silly kid) but I got him settled down pretty quickly by having him climb up into my lap.

After the movies we headed back out into the dreaded cold and drove back home where the house was freezing.  (Okay, it was 65, but to me that's freaking freezing!)  Why was the house so cold, you ask?  Well, because we have a crappy programmable thermostat.  It has you program what you want your day to look like as far as heating the house, but instead of being able to program the weekends for different temps than the weekdays like our old thermostat allowed, this one just has one program.  We just recently installed it so we're still getting used to remembering that we have to override the settings for the weekends.  I have a feeling we'll just end up buying a new one later on because this is rather obnoxious.

So, anyway, I was freezing cold so I climbed into bed and turned on my electric blanket. It didn't seem to help, as was evidenced by my nailbeds which have been a lovely shade of blue since.  Stupid Raynaud's.  Ah well. I kicked back and watched the original Andromeda Strain. I haven't seen that movie since I was in high school. Really, for the time, it was a pretty good movie.

Tonight we watched Coraline with the kids. There were a couple parts that were a bit scary but the kids seemed ok with it.  It's a cute movie but I'm not sure I get what all the major hype was about.  Maybe I just need to see it again.

Ok... time for me to go wash the dishes from dinner and then snuggle down in bed. I think Dan and I are going to watch Apocalypto tonight... unless it bores me to death. ;-)

NaBloWriMo: Day 9

So last night I talked about snow. Today I shall also talk about snow AND do a quick show-and-tell with pics! Oooh, lookie here, this blog has shifted from a recipe blog into a photo blog! Damn, I'm good! ROFL!

We got quite a bit more snow down where I live than where I work. I guess being that close to Castle Rock means we'll get more snow... this is our first winter in our house, so I guess we'll see. Thankfully the snow didn't really stick to the ground at all so the drive was fine both last night and this morning coming in to work. Our backyard was completely covered in the white stuff. We couldn't even see a blade of grass through the blanket of snow. Very pretty - very calm and serene. Until you have to go out in it.

I had to grab my camera and start taking some shots this morning. There were some branches on the tree right outside my bedroom window that were just too pretty to pass up. In fact, I'm going to share a few here. The bokeh in the pictures is what really makes the pic, for me at least.

Well, without further ado, here are my pics of the first real snow:

Pic #1

Pic #2

Pic #3

NaBloWriMo: Day 8

Snow. You know, that white, cold, wet stuff that falls from the sky. Slightly frozen water. YUCK!

Really, snow is very pretty to look at.  When I can be in my house, curled up in front of the fireplace with a cup of fresh stove-top hot cocoa, knowing that I have no reason whatsoever to go out in that cold.  It's very pretty to look at. Really. Especially the way it just gently blankets the ground, leaves lines of powder along the branches of the trees and the occasional leaves that are still left behind on the tree.  But the cold... oy vey, the cold...

I know it's not really all THAT cold, but to someone with Raynaud's any cold is bad.  So, now that I'm home from work, I can snuggle up in my warm jammies, under my special n-a-p Cuddle Blanket, a cup of yummy hot cocoa, and a couple of good TV shows.  It works for me!  Of course, I still have to get up in the morning and go to work, but at least I can snuggle up and relax for the evening.

Speaking of... I think I'll log off of here and actually enjoy my snuggly evening. Love to everyone!!

NaBloWriMo: Day 7

So I finally got set up with Google Voice. This thing is so wicked!! I love the free SMS and the separate phone number! Love, love, love!!!

Today was pretty lame. Not really much to blog about, really. That's the problem I have with blogging - I'm a pretty boring and lame person so it's hard to justify putting my boringness (is that a word?) and lameness (again, is that a word?) out there on the 'net.

Ok, but back to Google Voice. I'm going to put the widget here on my blog, but I'm also going to put it in this post because I can. ;-) Check out this bad boy!



Edited to add:

Ok, never mind, it won't load in here. I'll have to play with my settings later on and see if I can make it work. Just take my word on the fact that it's nifty, k?

KTHXBAI!

NaBloWriMo: Day 6

So a couple of you have noted that I don't have a blog posting for yesterday. Actually, I do, I just ended up deciding to make it private. Long story. LOL

So, is it just me, or is this week seeming ridiculously long so far?  I can't believe it's only Tuesday... it feels like it should be Thursday, at least.  Maybe it's because I've actually had quite a bit of stuff to do at work this week... and that I'm actually accomplishing quite a bit of it, too! LOL

Tonight was a fundraiser night for the kids' school. It was a dinner night at Red Robin, so at least it was pretty good food and a fun atmosphere for the kids.  The Red Robin mascot came over to the table for the kids for awhile and the waitress was really awesome to the kids, even brought Amy a free second side of broccoli (yes, my daughter loves broccoli and wanted a second helping LOL) and Matthew wanted a second side of mandarin oranges.  I couldn't even eat half of what I'd ordered, which is typical, but at least it means I have lunch tomorrow!  It was a bit pricy (I can't believe how much they've raised their prices... man!) but the proceeds all went to the kids' school, so I can at least feel good about that.

Speaking of the kids' school... I don't know if the economy has affected the school and their ability to have school regularly, but it's kind of weird how many days off they have this year.  They have this Friday off, followed by two weeks off (their normal two week fall break) and then two weeks after they get back they have a Friday off, then two weeks after that is Thanksgiving so they have Wed, Thurs, Fri off for that, then two weeks after that they have a Friday off, then two weeks after that is their Winter break (two weeks off)... it's just weird!  I'd love to have a 3-day weekend every couple of weeks!!  Unfortunately, it kind of smacks our budget some because all of those extra days off mean money going into daycare. Uggh.  Oh well... such is life, right?

Well, it's time to call it a night. I'm exhausted, so, bed for me!  "See" y'all tomorrow!

NaBloWriMo: Day 4

Who knew that this blog would turn into a recipe blog? LOL!  I don't really think it will, just lately I've had a lot of people asking me for recipes.  I'll probably go ahead and write a "real" blog entry later on, but since I was just asked for this recipe via Twitter, I'm going to go ahead and post it.  A lot of people hear me talk about this recipe. It's a favorite post-Thanksgiving recipe, though it can be made at any time. It's even won a few awards (chili cook-off contests hehehe).

Turkey Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper (or more for spicier chili)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/3 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 3 cups beef broth
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed, drained
• 2 1/2 cups chopped turkey
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin (or make your own pumpkin puree and use 2 cups worth)
  
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes (or more if you like more tomatoes - or use Rotel for a little extra something)
  
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion, bell peppers, jalapeno pepper and garlic. Cook and stir 8 minutes, or until onion is tender. Stir in chili powder, cumin and oregano. Cook and stir 1 minute.

2. Add broth, beans, turkey, pumpkin, tomatoes with their liquid, sherry, salt and black pepper; mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It's even better the next day as leftovers.  It keeps really well and is really good served with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.

NaBloWriMo: Day 3

So today was an utter waste... and I'm SOOOOO glad of it!!! I like random vegging out days.  I probably should have done more, but you know what? It was really nice to just kick back and watch old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the majority of the day.  The kids were out terrorizing the neighborhood playing with the neighbor kids for the majority of the day, leaving Dan and I with some time somewhat to ourselves.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  You know, it's been YEARS since I watched this show.  I found Seasons 1 & 2 on Hulu this week so I've been watching these old episodes.  I've even caught two so far that I'd never seen - and I could've sworn I'd seen them all in syndication when they played them on FX all those years ago (specifically when I was pregnant with girl-child eight years ago).  Of course, I watched the show when they were new episodes, too, but I thought I'd definitely caught them all in syndication.  Apparently I was wrong.  Who knew?  LOL!

So a few of you have contacted me wanting the recipe to the caramel apple sticky cinnamon rolls that I posted about yesterday.  Here you go (but I will not be responsible for the increase in waist size that you'll sure incur in making these!!!):

Ingredients:
(Cinnamon rolls)
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
4 cups flour
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
Scant 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Heaping 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ground cinnamon

(Caramel sauce)

1 stick regular/salted butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark brown corn syrup
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons apple brandy OR apple juice (optional)

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely diced.

Directions:

To make the dough: heat milk, oil, and sugar until warm (do not boil.) Allow to cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle in yeast and 4 cups flour. Stir gently and cover with a tea towel, allowing it to rise for 1 hour. After 1 hour, add remaining flour and dry ingredients. Set aside.

To make the caramel topping: add 1 stick butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, and optional apple brandy or apple juice. Allow to melt over low heat until totally combined. Allow to boil for a few seconds, then remove from heat. Set aside.

To make the rolls: roll out half the dough into a large rectangle. Pour on half the melted butter, half the sugar, and half the cinnamon. Roll into a long roll, then slice into rolls.

To assemble: Spray 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Pour in half the caramel topping. Sprinkle dice apple over the top, then arrange sliced rolls all over the pan. Allow to rise for 20 to 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, covered in foil for the first 25 minutes.

(Repeat with other half of dough if desired, or save dough in the fridge for another use.)

Invert on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Rolls will be very hot at first; allow to cool slightly before serving.

Thanks to Ree Drummond for this amazing recipe (and photo)!!! Look for her cookbook in bookstores now!

And with that, I'm off to watch some more Buffy.  Have a lovely evening!!!

NaBloWriMo: Day 2

So, this morning I got up early to make some cinnamon rolls for the co-workers. I made two batches - the first came out perfectly. The second didn't quite cook properly and I ran out of time to let them cook a little longer. Bummer. Oh well, there was nearly enough for everyone. Maybe I'll make more and bring 'em next week.

These weren't just ordinary cinnamon rolls, however. They were, to quote a co-worker, "divine little morsels from Heaven." LOL! They were caramel apple sticky cinnamon rolls. Very, very yummy, though almost a bit TOO sweet for me. I'm going to make some more this weekend for the family, not that my hips need them. But, did I mention they are very, very yummy??

*droolage*

Happy October everyone!

Today is the first of October... which also means it's the start of NaBloWriMo!

Wait, what?  What is this NaBloWriMo of which I speak?  Well, I'm sure you've all heard me talk about NaNoWriMo - aka National Novel Writing Month.  NaBloWriMo is National Blog Writing Month!  I'm using this as a kind of warm-up for November.  I'm committing myself to writing at least one blog entry per day.  And look!  I'm starting this month off right!  (Shock of shocks, right? LOL)

So I'm going to tell you about what a dork I am.  All day yesterday I thought it was Thursday.  Never mind the fact that I knew Thursday marked the beginning of October, and I knew it was September 30, but still, I thought it was Thursday.  Which means, of course, that I thought today was Friday.  Imagine my surprise when I realize late last night that yesterday (all day, in fact!) had actually only been Wednesday.  Lame!  So, yeah, today is actually Thursday, which means that tomorrow is actually Friday.  Bloody hell, could this week get any longer?

I suppose I could look at the bright side... this just means that I'll be able to get more work done this week.  Or something.