The Dreaded Update

I have been procratinating this update just about as long as I could.  This post is filled with so many frustrations, impatience, and emotions.  I guess it's about time I filled everyone in on what's going on with my health issue.

I'm on month 3 of a mysterious pain in my lower left abdomen/pelvic area.  I have gone to my personal doctor a couple of times, and a couple of specialists and have had 2 procedures down all to no avail.  My doctor explained that the only 2 things in that area is an ovary and the colon so she ordered an ultrasound to figure out if it was the ovary.

I had to go to a different doctor to have the ultrasound done.  Nothing showed up on the ultrasound and I was told that both ovaries (they went ahead and looked on the right side, too) looked fine.  So with the ovary eliminated, I was sent to a gastrointerologist.

After an unpleasant appointment with a gastrointerologist, I was scheduled for a colonoscopy.  I apparently went into the appointment knowing way to much about gastrointerology.  If you remember, I had decided to try a gluten free diet a while back just to see if I noticed a difference.  Well the doctor did not appreciate that I took matters into my own hands and she sort of chastised me for it, but after explaining that I have a specific form of hypothyroidism that is closely associated with celiac disease, as well as a mother with celiac disease, she finally came around and said I should maintain the new diet.  Anyways, she didn't care for me, I didn't care for her, she hasn't followed up on a blood test she ordered for me, and I'm choosing not to return to her.  But, I did go ahead with the colonoscopy (which another doctor did).

So last week, my dear mother came to visit me and take me to my colonoscopy which really wasn't that bad.  People hyped up about the preparation being the worse part, but that was quick and painless for me.  The worse part for me was the IV.  It stung like crazy and they gave me a special pillow to lay my arm on so I'd quit complaining.  After it was all done, the doctor explained to my mom (I don't remember much after the procedure other than being woozy and thinking I could walk by myself) that everything looked normal and he  didn't think the problem is in the colon or intestine.  He said after reviewing my file, he thinks it was an ovarian cyst that had burst.  However, the ultrasound didn't show anything, and I'm still in pain (which he didn't grasp).  He did go ahead and take a few biopsies to make sure there's no infection or bacteria causing the problem.

So I'm back to square one.  I am no further into figuring out the pain than when it first started.  After the surgery, the pain came back in full force like how it was when I first discovered it.  The gastrointerologist set up another appointment with the first lady I met with.  I'm going to try and see if I can switch to the doctor who did the colonoscopy so I don't have to play round-robin with the lady again -- but that appointment isn't until the end of July.  I don't know if that's because they are waiting on the biopsy results or if they're just that busy.  I don't know, I guess I just have to call the office and haggle with them, but I hate doing that.

So in the meantime, I'm going to go back to my original doctor and see if maybe something has been missed or if there's a different procedure I should be looking into.  You would think with all these people working on this problem it'd get fixed quick.  Oh well, I guess I don't fuss enough.

In other news, I'm having LASIK done in 3 days --- AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.  I'll update on that after the surgery!

A New Foyer

I put off painting the foyer for as long as I could.  I kept thinking of it as my nemesis because there is so much space and it covers 2 floors.  With Steve's help and an entire 5 days of work, our foyer is looking brand new!  I still have to do a little bit of the trim above the stairs and the fancy window trim.  To do these areas, I'm going to have to use the ladder on the stairs and it's going to be a 2 person job.  But for now, I'm just enjoying the new paint.

Before:

(I really liked the old color and had hoped to be able to find the same color and only have to spot paint in areas.  The color was very deceiving on the wall and after several wrong matches (options 1, 2 & 3), I finally found the closest match ("new color").  We lived for several weeks with all these random paint color marks around the area until I finally chose the color and decided to start painting.)

(We had to buy an extintion pole and edging tool to paint the area over the stairs.  Steve was a trooper and manned the pole while I worked on taping off and edging other ares.  Thank goodness for tall husbands!)

(The stair case was a disaster.  This picture doesn't really show the that the previous owner had used some sort of silicon caulk to edge the trim along the stairs/wall.  I had to peel out all the caulk, clean it up, use spackle to fill in the gap, sand, and repaint the area.)

(There were lots of nails, screws, and anchors all around the area.  I took everything out and patched up the holes before painting.)

(Just like in the rest of the house, there was paint all over the trim, drips on the wood floor, and even different paint colors used for bad touch-ups.)

(The front door was atrocious.  There were lots of cracks -- that you could see through to the outside.  I did some patch-work when I changed out the locks, but never completed the job- until now!)

(Here is a close up of how horrible the door was.  You can see a big crack in the second panel from the right.  The trim was also dinged up pretty bad.)

(This area is to the right of the front door.  There is some sort of damage to the wall and trim that made the plaster crumble and peel in the area.  I chiseled at it, cleaned it up, spackled, sanded, and repainted it.)

After:

(Here is the trim by the stairs after all the repairs I completed.)

(The wall is all patched up and you'd never have known the previous owners had something hanging there.  You can also see the stairs look much cleaner and brighter.  I repainted all the white areas, but I still need to repaint the bars on the banister.)

(The trim is all clean again!)

(The front door now appears to be solid.  You can no longer see through cracks, and it is all the same color again.  The door know now looks like it belongs there, too.)

(We really like the shape of the front door and are glad that it won't need to be replaced.  The door jamb shows that there was possibly a different or even double doors in at one time.  Who knows.  The bottom right corner of the picture shows the area that had the damage.)

(Close-up of the damaged area.  You can still tell that there's something not right, but it looks way better than it did.)

(A view of through the foyer and the connect dining room -- green -- and living room -- appears to be yellow but is really a gold/orange color.)

(Okay, so let me tell you about these chimes.  Months back, Steve and my brother-in-law Chris discovered that the original doorbell to the house was still installed.  Later on, my dad and Steve did some electrical work on it and added a new fuse and discovered that the plungers still worked!  The only thing was, we couldn't find the chimes.  Steve did some research and found a company online that sold chimes for $130.  We went back and forth on whether to buy them, but thought that it'd be a cool conversation piece and we have hopes of reconnecting the acutal doorbell buttons to the old system (it'll take more work to get it all working properly).  So we decided to buy the chimes.  After doing all the paint in the foyer, we finally unboxed the chimes (which had sat in the boxes for a month) and hung them up.  The chimes have been hanging now for a couple of weeks and guess what happened this weekend.  We found the ORIGINAL BLASTED CHIMES in our garage.  We had searched the entire house for these chimes.  All through the basement, in the crawl space in the attic, everywhere! -- Or so we thought.  I blame Steve since I found them leaned up against the wall right next to his car.  The original (okay, we don't know if they were THE original, just that they were obviously once used in the house) chimes are longer, silver, and are kind of beat up.  We like the look of the brass ones better (which is a good thing since we are past the 30 day return policy).  Oh well, who knows why it happened this way, but it did.  And we now have 2 sets of chimes.  Maybe we'll go crazy and switch them out for different seasons in the year.)

Ruby

Steve is trying his hardest to keep our red Honda (named Ruby) around for as long as he can.  I on the other hand don't trust her as I once did.  When we went to Gatlinburg last year, she had some issues with randomly dying on us.  We got a new battery and Steve also replaced the ignition switch.  We haven't had any issues since then, but I question what will be the next thing to go out.  I think she has lived a good full life and she be limited to Lima driving only. However, Steve prefers to put more miles on her than the new car so we've been using her on our drives to Indiana.

Despite much love and care from Steve, Ruby has had some issues with rust and fading paint.  The entire roof is in dire need of a new paint job, but Steve decided to tackle the rust spots first.  (I was also informed that repainting the roof and just fixing/repainting the rust spots were two different techniques and he felt the rust was the more dire need).

After ordering supplies online (like paint from the manufacturer), couple trips to Menards (for primer, rust eliminator, Bondo, different sanding tools, etc) and a week without using Ruby, Steve has mastered cosmetic rust repair!

He found some website online that walked him through all the different steps.  He had to un-attach the bumper from the sides of the car, sand down the rust to the bare metal, spray a rust eliminator, use Bondo, sand the Bond, primer, paint, and clear coat.  It's not perfect, but the rust has been stopped in those areas, furthering Ruby's life in our home.

(This is the back right side of the car.  This area is the worst.  When we first noticed the rust a few years back, the paint was just bubbled.  We've watched the rust grow deep and finally pulled the trigger on the project.)

(This is the back left side of the car.  This is how the right side originally looked when we first noticed the rust.  Good thing Steve took care of it before the bumper fell off!)

(This tiny spot is on the back right side close to where the big rust spot is located. Hahahaha, notice the reflection of the garage and brick wall.)

(Once Steve got the bumper detached from the area and sanded off the rusted metal, this is what he was left with.  He then sprayed the area with a rust eliminator and then coated it with a thick layer of Bondo (kind of like a paste that turns into fiberglass and fills in the holes and missing metal).  He then sanded the Bondo down and it feels just like the metal was never missing!)

(Look at how safe he is -- safety glasses & ear plugs!  He also made sure to cover up the wheel and later the areas of the car that he didn't want the paint to get on.  It was too hard to take the entire bumper off, so he used that block of wood to prop the bumper away from the area he was working on.)

(Thanks Scott & Ash for the birthday sander!  It came it very handy with this project!)

(Back Right side all finished!  If you see the car from a distance, you can't notice any difference.  However, up close you can see just some discoloration, and the area is also not as shiny as the rest of the car.)

(Back left side of the car.  The main purpose of the project was to stop the rust from spreading and cosmetically cover the current spot.  All was accomplished and Steve did a great job!  He feels that he may be able to repaint the roof, but for now he's refocusing his energy onto house projects.)

Making Friends

Even though we are six months into living in Lima, we haven't made many friends.  Up until last week, I would have said that we don't have any here at all.  I have been blessed with a wonderful neighbor who makes sure I don't stay inside alone too long.  She and I try to go to breakfast either every week or every other (dependent on our travel).  She has been in Lima her whole life (except for 4 years at Purdue) and has taught me a lot about the place Steve and I now call home.

Our chruch search is still ongoing.  We've tried some new ones and have also revisited some of the same ones but still haven't found "the one".  Until we can find a church and get involved, I don't foresee us getting close local friends.  I guess we really got lucky with the wonderful Lundays in Tennessee.

Steve hasn't had much luck in finding Christian friends at work; however, he has started to become friends with some coworkers that are around our age.  We first just went to a party at a guys' house that has developed into a corn hole tournament, volleyball, and a trivia night (all were work sponsored events, but I was allowed to tag along).  After visiting the different events, I have gotten a better idea of his coworkers and am looking forward to more events with them.  Luckily, the volleyball and trivia night (at BW3's) are weekly events that we plan on visiting again.

I know that this doesn't fit with the making friends theme, but I'll go ahead and add about getting to visit my best friend from grade school.  She had her first bridal shower the Saturday before father's day.  It just happened to work out perfectly that I got to attend the shower in Kokomo and be there to support her (which I will be her Matron of Honor in September).  Here are a few pictures from the shower:

(Even though I was not a part in giving the shower, I ended up helping giving the gifts to Meg to open up and taking them away when she was done.)

(We've been best friends since 2nd Grade!  Our teachers hated us because we would talk and laugh in classes, so they always assigned us seats apart.  We would stay at each other's house all the time and would join clubs in school together just to hang out more.  We went to separate colleges, but still remained close through phone calls, visiting each other, and going to concerts.  In high school, we were voted as "Most Likely to Remain Best Friends" and I know we will!)

(The future Mr. & Mrs. Joel Levi!!)

Indiana Visit

My trip to Chicago allowed me to tag on a visit with my family back home.  While I was in Indiana, I got to have a movie night with my good friend April (where I introduced her to a childhood favorite -- Encino Man), visit my youngest niece (my brother's daughter) who had just gotten home from the hospital after battling asthma-like symptoms, as well as spend a whole day with my other three nieces.  They chose to play on the playground (my parents backyard ends at a school playground), play with their American Girl dolls, as well as watch Hairspray (of course Gabbie's love for the movie has warn off on her older sisters, too).  

(Wile visiting Charlotte, I got to watch her do her nebulizer treatment.  She sat very patiently waiting for the treatment to be over.  I think it helped that she got to watch a cartoon as well as hold "daddoo" -- the caterpillar in her hand -- while the nebulizer was running.)

(Gabbie and Emily playing on the slide)

(Allie riding the dinosaur.  Each girl called the dino by a different name, but I have forgotten the names.)

(Very rarely can you catch all three of them playing well together.  This was one of those rare moments.)

(Watching hairspray and eating dinner.  Notice each of them have "ballerina hair".  The two older girls had a dress rehearsal for their dance recital later that night.  Gabbie of course just had to match her sisters.)

(Some day, this child is going to be on America's Next Top Model.  Allie just absolutely loves posing for pictures.  She comes up with all her own poses.  My sister Amber will even take her to the store just to try on clothes and model them in front of the dressing room mirror.)

(Another pose.)

(Emily won't volunteer right away for a picture like Allie will, but after some coaxing she will do her own poses.)

(I can't believe how big they look!)

(Gabbie got left behind at my mom's house until her dad could come pick her up -- since the Amber had to take the other girls to the dress rehearsal.  While waiting, she colored on my phone while watching High School Musical 2!)

Chicago Trip

I got the privilege to chaperone a field trip to Chicago a couple of weeks ago.  I was asked to come along by my mentor Mrs. Berry.  As a seventh grader in her class, I was inspired by her teaching and decided to become a history teacher to be like her.  I got the privilege last October to sub in her class for two weeks while she was on vacation.  Many of the students on the trip were the same ones that I taught which made the trip even more fun.

She teaches a social studies extension class that focuses on the middle ages.  While in the class, you take on a role of someone from the middle ages and write a diary in that character.  You are also put into a group that has to design a castle both on paper and create a model.  At the end of the semester, all the student groups have to present their castles before a king at a banquet.  The class is really fun teaching the students not only about life in the middle ages, but also about responsibility, working in groups, using your imagination, literary skills, and much more.

The field trip is a bonus to the class.  It actually happens after the school year has ended.  It's always such a hit that many eighth graders and even high schoolers return for the trip.  After meeting at the school in the morning, we loaded up on 2 school buses and headed to the Chicago Art Institute.  As a group, Mrs. Berry takes the students through some of the Renaissance Art and Armour in the museum.  After the kids go through the Renaissance Art they are allowed to go through other exhibits on their own in groups.  After a couple of hours in the museum we regrouped and headed outside to walk through Millennium Park.  The kids got to play in the fountains and we did an obligatory group photo in front of the "Chicago Bean".

We then continued walking through Chicago along the shoreline until we reached Navy Pier.  The kids are set free again and allowed to stroll along the pier, take advantage of the rides, or just snack on all the food options.  After some freedom and sunshine (we had gorgeous weather!), we loaded back up on the buses and headed to Schaumburg, IL to visit the Medieval Times dinner show.  While at the show, the kids get to experience what eating was like in the Middle Ages (no silverware!) and got to watch knights compete in a tournament.  After the show, the students even got to meet the knights, get autographs, and take pictures with them.  We loaded back on the buses and made back to the school at 2:30am!  Our bus was pretty quiet and most everyone slept (including me and Mrs. Berry) on the way home.

I spent most of my time trying to catch Mrs. Berry up on everything going on in my life and hearing what is going on in hers.  Even though we keep up via email, it's always great to hang out with her.  She is such a fantastic lady and I truly love and appreciate all she does!

(The bean!)

(Mrs. Berry giving the kids instructions and rules for the walk to Navy Pier.)

(Group shot -- not counting chaperons, which there were around 10 of us -- in front of the opening to the pier)

(The Lovely Mrs. Berry and myself in front of the pier.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the water was crystal clear.)

(Medieval Times Dinner Show!)

(I think the waiter called this baby drago, but it was actually half a chicken.  They also served soup, bread, ribs, potato wedges, and a pastry.  Since there was no silverware, you had to pick apart and eat all the steamy hot food with your fingers.  The chicken was absolutely amazing.)

(Here the knights are preparing for some jousting games.)

(We were seated in the blue section, letting us know to cheer on the blue knight.  He sadly did not win the tournament, but it was fun cheering him on anyway.)

A Blog Storm. . .

In the words of my father in law, my blog has become "all dried up".  HA HA HA HA.  Well be warned -- there will be a "flood" of posts in the next couple of days.

We (and especially me) have been super busy in the past couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogs.  I've been trying to get a lot of stuff done around the house before my upcoming procedures.  That's right, I'm having 2 different procedures done in the next couple weeks -- a colonoscopy and Lasik.  I'll go into more depth in an upcoming post -- pinky promise!  The first procedure happens this week, so I'll be able to do lots of blogging during the downtime.

So, let's go back to what has happened since the last post:
- 2 trips to Indiana (one by myself, the other with both of us)
- I chaperoned a field trip to Chicago
- I still have continuing health frustrations
- I've completed 95% of all the painting in the main level
- We've mulched 1/3 of the landscaping
- Volleyball hangout with Steve's work friends
- Corn hole tournament with Steve's work friends
- BW3's trivia night with Steve's work friends (which our team won -- woot!)
- Steve has done some cosmetic work on the Honda
- I've continued my breakfast dates with my neighbor
- We've axed 2 potential churches from our hunt leaving us still looking
- I cleaned some windows (beyond just Windex --> working off paint and tape residue)
- I turned 25!
- I celebrated with my best friend Meg at her 1st wedding shower
- Made the decision to return to Europe -- IN AUGUST

Now that I've hooked you back into the blog, you will have to patiently await in-depth blog posts on each item!