Month: December 2010

2010 Year in Review

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2010 was a pretty good year although I didn’t blog much. Some of the highlights with a few low points as well:

The first part of the year was slow going, the highlight being seeing the Windy City Rollers in January.

I got a new computer in March.

We hatched mantids in April.

During this time there was a huge transition at work in my department specifically which was scary at first but ended up being a really good thing.

Oreo passed away and we visited Ohio and Kentucky in May.

In June we saw Aziz Ansari live and Miss Toad came to live with us.

Nutterbutter died in July.

Nothing worthwhile happened in August. Or at least anything worth writing about.

In September we visited a new area of Wisconsin.

We had a lot of fun doing Fall activities in October.

November and December were filled with family and holidays which is always fun and I got my Kindle which I love love love!

In all, a pretty good year, although it was marred a bit today by a trip to the emergency room. Remember that attack I had on Valentine’s weekend? Well last night at 11 pm I woke up with one again but this one lasted all night alternating in intensity and I didn’t get a wink of sleep. It showed no signs of going away so finally around 7 am I asked Joe to drive me to an urgent care center but they were all closed (apparently illness DOES take a holiday), so we went to the hospital, the same one all my doctors work in and I’ve had all my procedures in. I love the people at this place! Everyone is so nice and caring and this morning was no exception. They hooked me up to an IV and heart monitor, then did an EKG, took blood and urine, and did a chest x-ray. They also gave me a shot of Ativan to calm me.

We were there about three hours while we waited for all the test results. The ER doctor felt my heart was perfectly fine (same thing I was told earlier in the year by a cardiologist) and that I had suffered from a panic attack. He gave me a low dose prescription for Xanax which I plan to only take at night since that’s the only time I ever have these attacks. I just wish I knew for sure what was causing them. I think it’s a perfect storm of food and stress because last night I ate onions and drank a can of Coke Zero (onions and caffeine were present the last time I had an attack), plus Joe’s kids said some hurtful things to him in relation to my family so I had that on my mind too. I really wish I could just not care about some things but how do you do that? You try to be a good person who thinks of others but that doesn’t necessarily make the other people in your life return the sentiment. Kids think divorce messes them up, and I will never argue that point, but it’s hell on the adults too, particularly when you’re a step-parent who has to keep their mouth shut regarding a lot of things that go on.

So anyway, I’ve gotten just a few hours of sleep since yesterday morning and I’m wondering if I’m going to make it to midnight. Joe is already asleep on the couch. How old are we?

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and that 2011 is just as great, or better, than 2010!

Christmas

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We had a nice Christmas with my family and the kids. We picked the kids up Friday evening and went to my parents’ for food and games. Many years in the past we had played something called Crazy BINGO, and this year we played Crazy Uno. All the prizes were numbered and inside was candy and money. E made out good winning $50 and K got $20. I was happy with my $10 and Dove truffles.

Christmas morning we ended up sleeping until 9:15 because someone (me) forgot to set the alarm. I set the alarm time, but I didn’t actually activate it, and it was easy to sleep late after going to bed around 2:30. We got home before midnight but I was wide awake and had fun looking for stuff for my new Kindle. I’ve probably messed around with it more than I’ve actually read on it so far, but that’s because I think it’s so cool. I even found an ePub version of Songwords (a book of Cure song lyrics) that someone on my favorite Cure fansite put together and expanded to include all the songs that they’ve released since the book has come out. It was easy to convert to the Kindle format using a free program called calibre. I’ve already added a handful of books, and a game, to my Kindle.

This morning I looked for a case at Target but wasn’t liking any of them. I looked online yesterday too but the only ones I like seem way too expensive when the case is a third of the price of the device, like this one which I really love. For now I will stick to my “homemade” case – a manila bubble envelope. But I digress …

After we tortured the kids by making them eat breakfast first, they opened their presents. K, of course, knew she was getting a new camera. She also got an iTunes gift card and a Discover gift card since she’s a bit difficult to buy for. E got many presents, but instead of listing them you can check them out in the photos below. The only item not pictured was a Sansa Fuze 4GB MP3 Player that was delivered after I had wrapped all the other gifts. Also, some of the presents shown are from my parents since we help them with the shopping.

I started on the ham early which was a good thing since it took a heck of a lot longer than the directions indicated. I really like Target’s Market Pantry spiral honey ham. It’s a decent price and it tastes good, plus it’s not huge since there’s only four of us. I made the regular sides – mashed potatos, corn, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, stuffing and rolls.

The rest of the day was spent with the kids playing with their new toys and us doing the same. We also played a few games of Aggravation which we usually do when the kids are over. In all, a very nice low-key holiday.

Merry Christmas Eve

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Joe and I decided to exchange our gifts today so that tomorrow will be all about the kids. In our excitement I didn’t get any photos of our presents, so I’ll just tell you what we got.

I gave Joe:

A creeper & an LED work light (which I gave to him early about two weeks ago since he was working on my car and they came in handy)
A multimeter
A magnetic stud finder
A dial-a-drink cocktail shaker for when he plays bartender
Magnets for labeling his tools in the tool storage chest in the garage
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
A game guide for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Joe gave me:

A dustbuster (hey, I asked for it!)
My Fitness Coach for the Wii
Buckyballs
Despair, Inc. Calendar (hilarious!)
Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock iPhone Case

And…

An Amazon Kindle!

I’ve been kinda drooling over one recently but didn’t think of getting one since I’m such a cheap-ass about buying books, but this thing is really cool, plus there are a lot of free books online, so I think it will be a nice compliment to my library trips. It will really come in handy when we travel too. It’s charging at the moment, but I’ve already added a few books to it and linked it to my Facebook account. I love the e-ink; very easy on the eyes. I’m looking forward to using it when I read in bed. Now I just need to find a suitable case for it.

Oh my shitty peanut butter cookie

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I’m off work for a whole week, woo hoo! I’m ridiculously excited about it because of the extra days off after Christmas. It will be nice to “play” with whatever new toys my hubby got me this year. He keeps teasing me about one present in particular so I’m curious to find out what it is. It better knock my socks off after he’s built up the anticipation so much.

I’m just happier in general this year because I’m feeling the Christmas spirit and we get to see my family, unlike last year which was lame.

After logging off work today (worked from home and got off early), I made peanut butter M&M cookies from a recipe I found in the coupon section of the paper. I’m not very happy with how they came out. First off, I can’t believe it called for an entire bag of M&Ms. I used half a bag and it was too much. Plus it ruined the flavor so I picked the M&Ms out of the remaining dough for the last two batches. Good thing I’m taking some to my parents’ because I’m not wasting my precious calories on them. The plain ones were better than the chocolate ones, but I’m not sure why I needed to include rolled oats. They really didn’t work in this particular recipe. Oh well, live and learn. Until this year I was perfectly fine with my hand mixer but now I’m starting to wish I had one of those stand mixers. I couldn’t bear to spend hundreds of dollars on one, though, so I’ll probably keep on trucking with the little hand mixer that is 10 years old.

Now I must go put ornaments on the tree. I’ve been procrastinating on that for a bit too long.

P.S. Go Bears!

P.P.S. I watched the first five EPs of Parks & Recreation Season 2 On Demand Monday night and now I’m asking myself why I didn’t get into the show sooner. It’s funny and Louis C.K. has a small part in a few EPs. I hope they add the rest of the season to On Demand before Season 3 starts in January.

P.P.P.S. I watched the sneak Preview of NBC’s new show, Perfect Couples, and while I liked it, I’m calling “cancelled in first season” right now.

P.P.P.P.S. What’s with people hating on rats? This is why I don’t make it public knowledge I have a pet rat – people are way too rude about it. They make great pets and I feel sorry for anyone who is too narrow-minded to realize that there’s more than just cats and dogs out there.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Has this gotten annoying yet? Just wondering. ;)

A Chorus of Frogs

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We finally made it to Milwaukee Public Museum on Sunday. We didn’t go on Saturday because there was an IMAX movie, Bugs, playing at 10:30 am on Sunday I wanted to see. If we had gone on Saturday we’d have had to wait until 3:30 pm to see it, and as much as I like the museum, there’s not enough there to keep us there that late. Ironically enough, the movie broke down just as it was starting so we didn’t end up getting to see it anyway. C’est la vie.

The main reason for going was the special exhibit, A Chorus of Frogs, so we checked that out first. It wasn’t as big or impressive as I was hoping, but this one Waxy Monkey Frog was the highlight of the trip. I’m not sure whether he was cute or creepy, though. Be the judge for yourself and check out the video.

My, what big eyes he has! Here’s one more video of a butterfly from their live butterfly wing. Don’t get me started on the idiots trying to touch all the butterflies.

Exciting stuff! I live life on the edge; don’t hate.

Milwaukee Public Museum photos – On Flickr | On Perfect Pixels