Never... until Last Night

Last night something happened to me that's never happened before... or at least I cannot remember it happening. Chad and I were in the kitchen making a couple of cookies (we have a tub of cookie dough and enjoy making a couple of fresh baked cookies at night from time to time) Well then it happened... that was a flash of light and a loud crack... Basically lightening struck near us... somewhere. It scared the bageezes (sp?) out of me... and Bozley... that poor dog was scared the rest of the night. I've heard people talk about experiences before... and it was exactly how they described... I was suddenly awake after that!! Craziness!!

Food

Okay... originally I was going to make different posts about a lot of these food pictures... but well, then I realized I was going to post like 6 new messages all about food, and that would have been strange. So since they are all mostly related one post will do.

First up... I made rice krispie treats for the BBQ we had on Sunday. I haven't made rice krispie treats in quite awhile, and I was pretty satisfied with out they turned out
I even added in sprinkles for some spring-y color... not the greatest picture I know

Next up... I went in for snack/dinner Sunday night... I decided to eat spaghetti-os... When I pulled out the can I found this:
Yes... that's right Chad bought the spaghetti-o's with Disney Princesses... how cute... The noodles are suppose to be shaped like Disney Princesses and realted items (like crown, castle) However I couldn't made them out.

Next up is my Chili from last night... it was just so amazing looking I had to take a picture... the sad thing is I look at this picture and want some more!! I'm like way full right now and would eat more!

And finally Chad had all the ingredients for a slinger... so he decided that's what he wanted for dinner... he put a lot into making it, and it did sure look good.
Before the chili... notice our good new bacon... nice and thick... mmmm
Chad adding the most important part
And finally Chad with his slinger... this one is totally going on the wall someday!!

Chili Night!!

I am so freaking excited... today Chad made us chili... Chili is my fav-or-ite... like for real... OMG I am EXCITED!!!!!!!

Interesting Link

Chad thought I would like this... and I did... so I wanted to post it as well.

http://jezebel.com/371654/3-reasons-why-smart-women-love-baseball

Random Sunday

rwell... it's been awhile since we last meant... why? Well I'm not really sure... (okay that's a lie I totally know why I haven't been writing, I found out right after Chad's surgery that you can play Blokus online for free. This is one of my favorite games, and now I can play anytime... so! exciting!) So here is a random post...

• Chad is doing really well... I'm very proud of him... he got his staples out last Thursday and is driving now... he will probably go back to work a week from Monday... go Chad!!
• While I was at the hospital for Chad I realized that I've been eating Malt Balls incorrectly this entire time... I've always just bitten into them... I did not know that you were suppose to let them melt in your mouth... how does one learn this... b/c I never did!!
• We went a great wedding yesterday... a friend from middle/high school got married. They are a very cute couple and I wish them all the best (which I know will go great!!) Due to Chad's stuff I waited too long to get her anything off the registry, so I ended up getting them this awesome vase off etsy by seller antb... it has a very cool coating... I hope she likes it.

• Another cool thing about the wedding is Chad was able to come with me... of course we didn't take any pictures together (although I'll probably get to steal some off Facebook soon enough) But when I heard his story would be on the 15th, I didn't think he was going to be able to come, and he was!! We even wore semi-matching outfits :)
• Okay... one last thing about the wedding... the DJ was effing obnoxious!! Seriously... a-n-n-o-y-i-n-g!!
• Today we had a lovely bbq with my family... it was a beautiful outside and we played ladderball (also known as monkey ball, redneck golf, hillbilly golf, etc.) We ended up buying this very cool set from Target. It was a lot of fun to pay... we've decided we also want to get a bean bag set for the basement as well.
• I cannot wait to get new furniture... we are going to shop soon... I am really excited to start getting this house decorated with our style... like for shizzle dizzle.
• Chad and I watched three movies yesterday that I've never seen (Chad has seen one of them.) We watched:

What Happens in Vegas: Which was pretty funny, I enjoyed it even though you knew how it was going to end1408: Which I really don't know what to say... it was bad, but it wasn't good... I hate movies that I can't decide if I liked them or didn't like them... it was eh... although I will say that I woke up from a dream about this movie last nightAnd last and probably least... You Don't Mess with the Zohan: This movie was stupid... There might have been a few good laughs but mostly I thought it was not very good.
That's all for now... hopefully I will make good on my promise of more pictures and posts... I haven't been doing well yet, but I hopefully will.

Chad's Surgery Update

I wrote this yesterday, so that's what the todays/tomorrows refer to... just so you aren't confused.

Today was Chad's surgery... it went very well!!! The surgeons were very happy with how things went. They were able to remove the entire tumor/cyst!! They actually found out the tumor was different than originally expected... it's a type they usually find this type in 2 year olds... it's possible he's had it for that long. Which is craziness. I was able to see him in recovery. He looks very good, I was prepared for his face to be really swollen, but he didn't swell much... It was kind of funny b/c the first thing he said to me was where is my [wedding] ring? (since they made him take it off) I told him it was on my finger all day long and then he told me he loved me... he's so sweet!! They are moving him to the ICU and should be there tomorrow. They think he'll have to be in the hospital for another3-5 days... But they are very happy with how he is doing and it's possible he could be moved to a regular room tomorrow.

Tomorrow Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Chad's surgery... Chad is doing well... this doesn't seem to be phasing him at all... he's taking it all very well... I will try my very best to keep everyone posted... I'm just not sure how the next week is going to go... It will just all depend on how the surgery effects Chad. I will try my best to at least give quick updates... maybe even from my phone, who knows...

Once again, thanks everyone for the well wishes and prayers... they mean a lot to the both of us... We all know he's going to make it through this surgery just fine... and have a quick recovery.

New News

Well... Yesterday Chad had an appointment with a new neurosurgeon... After a morning spent on the phone getting our insurance information worked out... we finally got that sorted out (thank goodness!!!)

Chad found out that his surgery is scheduled for April 15... yep... that's right, next Wednesday!! I was really shocked by this date... I was guessing we would have a little more time to prepare... So the deal is Chad will be admitted to the hospital on Tuesday to do some pre-op stuff... then on Wednesday he will have surgery... incesion time of 11am... After that he will be pretty out of it and will be in the ICU that night and probably all of Thursday... as long as he is doing well he should be moved to a normal room after that...

It's just craziness... C-R-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S

So next week I will be working Monday and Tuesday, and I'll take off the rest of the week... that next Monday is my AWS day so I'll be back to work on Tuesday pending any unforeseen events.

A lot of people have been asking me how I've been doing... well... I'm scared... I'm nervous... and frankly I'm scared... I know that everything will go fine with him, but I'm still scared... I mean this is major major surgery... and I love Chad very much... This will be a very trying time for us... but I think in the end we will be stronger b/c of it.

Thank you everyone for the support, we both really appreciate it... It's situations like these that really show you how important your friends and family are and how awesome they can be to have around. We really appreciate all the prayers and good thoughts. Everyone has been truly amazing...

I promise to try to keep everyone posted on the going-ons of next week and following... This will probably be a good way of relying information... I know I'll be spending a lot of time in uncomfortable hospital chairs... but I should not be the one complaining!!

Alright, I feel like I'm totally just rambling now... so I'll wrap this up...

#101

Well I just noticed today that this is my 101st post... It only took me about 6 months to get here... go me!! There's been some highs and there's been some lows... some additions and some subtractions... and some changes...

I'm looking forward to the next 6 months and become a better blogger... I'm hoping to post more pictures and do more DIY projects...

So I appreciate all of my loyal readers and I hope you stick around and stay tuned for much much more.

Friday Night Lights

Well... since I've already written two entries tonight so I figure why not a third?!? Friday night after Chad's appointment we went out with some friends... I was practically begging him to go out (he didn't get much sleep) I think he was happy that we ended up going out. We met up with Pat, Sam, and Carrie down in Soulard... it was a fun casual time... we drank a little (enough to feel good but with no hang-over in the morning -- the perfect amount) and just enjoyed being worry-free. So since I'm so bad at posting pictures with my blogs (other ones I read usually always include at least one picture... maybe I'll try to get better...) here are some pictures of our Friday night out.

Chad and Me... my hair looks flat... grumble... but he looks good!!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing
Carrie and Sam
My super short straw
Sam, Chad, and Pat doing a serious look?
Carrie and Me

Saturday

Last Saturday I spent the day with my mom and Grandma... Mom and Grandma wanted to take me shopping for my birthday... so we planned on Saturday to do this. Mom and I drove out to O'Fallon to meet up with Grandma... we first went to lunch at Stefanina's... It was okay... maybe we just didn't order the right things...

Next we headed over to Kohl's where we did a little shopping... I glad I was finally able to feed the shopping bug... but more so than that it was a lot of fun to spend time with my mom and Grandma... I always enjoy spending time with them!!

It was a very enjoyable Saturday!!

The Appointment

Last Friday Chad had his neurosurgery appointment... finally... His mom and step-dad came in for the appointment so all four of us went together. After waiting for about 3 hours in the waiting room (normally this would bother the crap out of me... but we were able to talk and it was more of family time than anything...)

So we were finally taken to a room to see a doctor... he came in pretty quickly and I immediately recognized him from the doctor we first spoke with in the ER. We had a lot of questions for him. He made it seem like this could be a more leisurely process... for Chad the next step would be to get an angiogram to check the vascular nature of the tumor and also how assessable it will be to surgeons. This way they can see how much of the tumor/cyst they can get safely. Then after they do that they would do surgery.

We got all of our questions answered and then the doctor said he would go grab some paperwork and be back... well we waited around for about 20-30 minutes before a different doctor came back... he made the situation seem a lot more critical. He told us that the mass was 6 cm in size and if they hadn't found it he would have started experiencing symptoms in 6 months to a year. ** (I'll get back to this in a second)

So the next step now was they are referring Chad to a different neurosurgeon (he has an appointment on Thursday) They are now wanting to get this tumor removed by the end of April. (C.R.A.Z.Y. I know) The surgery would take about 5-6 hours... and he would be in the hospital for about 5-7 days afterward... after brain surgery his brain will swell and there could be symptoms from that. Then he will be at home out of work for 2-3 weeks.

It's all quite crazy to me... I can't believe Chad is actually going to have brain surgery... he is taking it all really well... and we are ready for this to be over with...

**now my point from earlier... knowing Chad if he wouldn't have found out about this I know once he would have started to experience symptoms he would have waited longer than he should have to go to the doctor... more and more I believe this was meant to happen in some sort of way...

I love Chad so much... he is my everything... and it is very crazy that we have to go through this... I cannot believe it... I seriously think about it sometimes and it just seems so surreal. I'm so happy he is in my life and that I can be by his side while he has to go through this...