I Love My Grandma!

Well I hope everyone had a great Easter, I know I had a wonderful Easter. My grandparents, Aunt & Uncle, sister Lisa and her husband Mike came over for lunch. And our lunch was oh so yummy. We had ham, mac-n-cheese, sweet potatoes (or yams not sure), sour dough bread, deviled eggs, and much more.

But the best part of it all was sitting around talking. My aunt asks my grandma how she liked her new digital camera and my grandma said she had not gotten a chance to use it yet, but if my aunt wanted to take pictures now that she could. But then my grandma says, "oh wait I don't have any film in the camera".

Ok at this point I almost fall out of my seat laughing so hard. I love my grandma and it just makes me wonder what funny things I will say when I am old and grey and my kids know more then me on technology.

My Brain in a Frying Pan!

So I am finally feeling much much better. No more kidney stone pain and no more throwing up day in and day out. I think my toilet is feeling lonely these days. But just because I know you are dying to know, I actually cleaned my bathroom from head to toe. That is an accomplishment for me. I really hate chores. I even mopped the floor. My next thing to do is buy a new shower curtain. That really needs to be done. By now I know my sister Susan is dying laughing and is wanting to see pictures of this clean bathroom I talk about. As kids I was definitely the one that tried my hardest to sneak out of Saturday afternoon chores.

But all these painful actions brought to mind some bad habits of mine. Since I have currently been having problems with kidney stones, it has brought to light that I have a health problem. One that could be solved somewhat easily. That is, if I could lay off my personal crack called sodas. Yes, I said sodas. I have been trying for a while to cut out sodas, but I just have not been very successful. I will go for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden I will fall off the wagon. Lately I have fallen off the wagon, but I am determined to get back on and stay on. Dr. Pepper is my current choice of crack. It is just so good. Working late hours doesn't help me at all either. I use Dr. Pepper to keep me awake and going. I know this is a bunch of excuses and I just need to suck it up and kick the habit.

Another lovely bad habit of mine that really gets on my boyfriend's nerves, I believe, is biting my nails. I know tons of you are saying gross. Do you know where those fingers have been and touched? But hey I just can't resist. They are just drawn to my mouth. I try to avoid them but next thing I know I am biting away. My dad loves to say, "Are you hungry? Did we not feed you enough?". As for the biting the nails habit, this is going to be tougher to break. But I am determined to try. So keep me in mind week to week and if you see me doing any of these bad habits, I give you permission to yell at me.

Oh, I almost forgot, one I have to start eating healthy foods like vegetables. Ok I said yes, vegetables, the green ones and all. Oh gosh I think my stomach just twisted. Ok got to run but I will catch you all later. And have a great Easter and enjoy your family and company this Sunday. I know I will.

Heinz 57 and Kevin Harland

Check out this video that Kevin (Scott Harland's younger brother) and his friends made to submit for a Heinz 57 contest that is going on. It cracked me up hopefully it will make you laugh also. Have a great weekend and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFavmmlhZd4


Also attached is a picture of a old Heinz 57 print ad I believe. It just looked cool.
The newspaper ad designer coming out in me. haha

Life is Good!

WARNING: This is a unedited post. Wrote by Kathy herself. So bad grammar, misspellings, and run-on sentences are sure to follow.


Well I hope everyone is doing well out there today. I have been sick for the past couple of weeks. Things have just not been going my way health wise. But yesterday I finally started to feel better. And in this life there are just a few simple pleasures that I believe we forget. Those for me yesterday was the great taste of a McDonald's McFlurry, Coke, and French Fries. Since being sick I have not been able to eat anything and keep it down.

So just taking a mouthful of that sweet cold McFlurry put a smile to my face. And tasting the salty French fries yum. The Coke oh my gosh was the best after a week worth of nothing but water. Do I need to say anything else. But luckily I am doing better.

Unfortunately today I am feeling a little kidney stone pain. But cross your fingers that this passes quickly. I am ready to be back to my cheerful Kathy self. Also to be back to making more blog entries for you great people. Have a great weekend all.

One More Time!

There are many things I would not wish upon my worst enemy. But lately what tops my list is kidney stones. Yes believe it or not I have actually managed to get another stone this week. I really don't understand my luck with these things. But lately, me and kidney stones just love each other. The pain started Wednesday night at work and has continued so far though Saturday. No fun whatsoever. On top of the kidney stone pain, I have been throwing up too. Talk about being hit hard twice. I am not quite sure which is worse: extreme pain in my side or hugging the toilet like it is my best friend all night long. But I think I am going to make it though it I am one tough cookie I believe.

On a happy note I have come across a blog that has been keeping my interest, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. This is a big task because as many of you know I tend to have a small attention span for many things. But this blog is great. She talks about her family life and life on a ranch. The extra cool thing is she also has a cooking blog. Lately it has been really intriguing me as I want to become a better cook, shoot who am I fooling, I want to become a cook period. And just today I read that she is going to start a photoshop blog. Extra cool. I believe that maybe, just maybe. I found this out before Lisa did hehe. (*edit: I did not find out before Lisa.*) By the way, Lisa is the wonderful person that introduced me to this great new blog. I hope that you all enjoy it has much as I do. I am especially recommending this to my sister Susan. She has informed me that my blog has not been occupying the time she needs to kill at work and that the trusty blog she can count on is my best friend Lisa's. So there you go Susan don't say I never think about you.

Also wonderful this week was having lunch with my big sis Lisa. This is a huge event because, to be honest, me and my sister Lisa love each other but have never been super close. Lately we have been talking more and reaching out more than usual. This has made me super happy. The more and more I talk and get to know her, the more I realize she is pretty cool. We met at her work in Charlotte and had lunch at this place called Cabo Fish Taco's. Her workplace was super cool. It is located in a old coca cola factory and is decorated really modern. It even has its own bird cage with colorful small birds in it. Now sometimes I believe that my sister Lisa might have forgotten who her little sister is when she suggested eating at Cabo Fish Taco's. The name alone made my stomach curl. Most of you know that I am a super picky eater. A five year old probably has the same tastes as me. But I was able to find something to eat and I enjoyed my sister's company more than ever. So I look forward even more to the future conversations and time I will have with my cool sister Lisa. Don't worry Susan you are still extra cool also.

Since I have been sick this week I have actually been able to clean out my DVR listings. I know this is a huge task for those of you who know how much I have actually managed to store up on my DVR. But I am so proud of myself and now I don't have to listen to my dad scream every day about how the DVR can not hold this much. Now I actually think my dad has more on there than I do. Oh yeah! I am all caught up with my favorite shows such as Kyle XY, Ace of Cakes, and America's Dance Crew on MTV. Now I am just waiting for next Sunday when the ABC Family tv movie The Cutting Edge 3 comes on. I know I am a big dork but I love it.

Ok well that is all for now folks. My stomach is curling and I am starting to ramble on about nothing. I will catch you all later.

Long Time A Coming!

Well what a year this is already turning out to be. I must say I feel like I am in
the fast lane of life. I mean I am only 25 years old, but it seems like just yesterday I was in high school. Then all you worried about was passing your tests and getting that cute boyfriend. And for me, winning the softball game. Next comes college and your worries get a little bigger. But still the same worry about passing those exams and figuring out what you want to major in. And eventually figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Then before I knew it I was graduating college and my worries took a big turn. I started to have to worry about paying all my bills. Then finding that perfect job in my career that still seems to be just out of my reach.

I guess those are still my worries today; finding that great job and just being happy. I have reached my goal of that perfect boyfriend. But it just seems that I am getting swept up in life itself. Listening to everyone's opinions and views of what I should be doing with my life. Not to say that I don't need direction and don't value peoples opinion, but lately I feel like I am losing myself in it all. I am usually a people pleasing type of person. Not to say that I am not very stubborn at times. But for the most part I will take everyone's advice in and at least
digest it. But honestly my head is starting to spin. I know in the end it is all up to me to decide what path to take. And to also pray to God that I am listening to his opinions above all and try to stay on the path he has laid out for me.

Ok that is all I want to say so I will get off my soap box. But to end this on a happy note. I did have a great weekend not too long ago with Reiggin down in Wilmington. We decided to take a weekend trip and enjoy the beach. It was just what the doctor ordered for me. I had only ever been to Myrtle Beach so this was a treat. The beaches were so clean and since it was the off season it was not crowded. Our hotel was super nice. I can not say enough about Hampton Inns. Saturday, we went to Wrightsville Beach and walked around. It was super cold and windy and my usual trusty bladder kept the walk short. So we headed back to the hotel and rested up.

Next we went bowling. This was Reiggin's surprise for me. I have been begging him to bowl with me since I love bowling and now I only bowl in one league. The bowling alley was a little scary and not in the best part of town. But I had a blast. I was first and the first time up I totally busted my butt and fall on my knees, but I made a strike. The whole bowling time was great. Needless to say
I will not be asking Reiggin to be my bowling partner unless I want to use his high handicap. But I love him. He could totally kick my butt
in poker so I guess we are even.

Next we went to this restaurant called Hell's Kitchen. It was downtown and I was excited to go because the place had been used in the
filming of Dawson's Creek. It was a unique bar/restaurant. It had it's character. The food was great and it was not crowded so we
got a chance to have great conversation. After that we went back and crashed for the night.

The next day we traveled to Topsail Beach. The day was perfect, the weather was about 70 degrees with a light breeze. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We drove around looking at all the nice houses and finally stopped at the one burger place in town. I had the best burger ever there. I mean the food was to die for. After stuffing our faces we made our way onto the beach and spent the whole day just walking and laying around on the beach watching people go by. Also, I was enjoying watching the surfers surf and Reiggin trying to find the perfect sea shell.

But sadly we had to pack up and head home. I was sad to leave but I was happy to get back home to my mom and dad. But I definitely would have to say that the weekend was the perfect cure. It really helped lift my spirits and make me feel 10 times better. So to all of you, I am back to my healthly self and over all the sickness that I had the previous week. I hope everyone is doing well and I will talk to you soon.

I Am Alive!! Promise

Ok! Ok! So I am not dead and I have not fallen off the face of the earth. This has just been one crazy start of my year. Putting up a blog entry has been the last thing on my mind lately. But to please a few of my great friends out there *cough*Lisa*cough*, I am writing a blog entry and I promise no great stories or excitement. But I will try my best to update you all on what I have been doing this past month away from my blog.

Well to start off, Sylvia, one of my good friends at the Gazette, has gotten engaged and has decided to leave the newspaper. We are all excited about her marriage and sad to see her leave. With her leaving, this leaves the graphics department short one person until they hire a new artist. So for a couple of weeks, Sylvia has been training me to do Sunday's and Monday's classifieds. This I am not too thrilled about, but I am slowly learning how to do it by myself. This past Friday was the first night having to do it all by myself and luckily this Monday no one mentioned any mistakes to me. So far so good, I guess.

Unfortunately, two weeks ago was Sylvia's last week and I was really really sick. Monday I was throwing up blood and having my nose bleed at the same time. Not fun at all, I must say. So I went to the hospital to find out that I have kidney stones and a urinary tract infection. This is not the first time I have had kidney stones but at the same time, not too thrilled to hear I have them again, especially since I just recently stopped drinking soda. But that is just my luck. So I spent a long afternoon in the hospital which, I must say, I was not very impressed with how I was treated there. On my release all they gave me was a print off of my drugs and that's about it. Not a single referral to another doctor or instructions on what to do for the kidney stones. So I am not too happy with my hospital.

So the rest of the week goes by and I have to be out of work for the whole week because I couldn't stop throwing up. I didn't think much about it, I just thought it was because of the pain of the kidney stones. Well by Friday, I was still throwing up. So I knew something was not right. I went back to the doctor and found out I was dehydrated. They pumped one bag of fluids into me there and that did nothing, so off to the hospital they sent me. There, the nurse pumped about 5 more bags into me. That has got to be one of my worst experiences ever. I thought I was going to float away or burst. I did find out there that I have a low heart rate. I don't know if it is good or bad. But the nurse did make me laugh by asking me if I was a runner or exercised a lot. For those of you that know me you are probably laughing already at the thought of me running or exercising. So yeah my heart rate was like 52 to 55 when I was at the hospital. That was a little scary but the nurse didn't seemed worried. Well they finally got enough fluid in me and sent me home. I was very thankful. I don't know what I would have done without my mom. She has been great. She basically waited on me hand and foot. And checked on me every couple of hours to make sure I was ok or if I needed anything. I am truly thankful to have such a wonderful mom. I know sometimes I forget how much she loves me and how much she cares for me. But this week I would not have gotten through it as well as I have if it wasn't for her. So I must say a BIG THANK YOU for all the things my mom does for me on a daily basis and just for being there for me.

With all this happening, the week I returned to work my boss informs me that my schedule would be changing from 4pm to 1am to 2pm to 11pm. I basically got a days notice. But luckily things worked out. Sadly, I had to quit my Tuesday morning bowling league and had to quit Longhorn. The bowling league really made me sad to leave. Those old women are just great, they are like extra grandparents to me. So I had a heavy heart telling them I could not bowl anymore on Tuesday. Leaving Longhorn was tough but I was ready. I have not had much energy lately and doing 2 jobs, even though it was only 2 extra days, was starting to get to me.

On the topic of bowling, a couple of weeks ago I finally bowled my first 200 game. I was so excited and I received my 200 game badge this Sunday. They called my name out and all. I was smiling from ear to ear. Right now, the badge is up on my fridge for all to see. So now my goal is to bowl 100 points over my average.

Ok well I think that is about it. Sorry for such a delay and hopefully I will be better at updating my blog but no promises. I am slowly but surely regaining my energy and health. So soon I will be back to my self again. Til then, I miss you all and hope you all are doing well.