Last night, Spawn Nugget had a blast drinking straight out of a water bottle. With every sip came boisterous laughter. We're talking, he couldn't catch his breath and had painful hiccups laughter.
P.S. When did he become a big boy? Did I hit up the concession stand for popcorn during that part? Why did no one tell me about this turning point?
Off and on over the past month or so, I've had these two little white patches on my left tonsil. They didn't really bother me all that much, just left me with the sensation that I had a fuzzy something in my throat. No big deal right? Well, being the insurance-less, self-diagnosing hypochondriac I am, I hopped onto WebMD to discover my ailment. (Last time I checked in with Dr. WebMD, it was when I wasn't sure if my water had broken when I was pregnant with Spawn Nugget.)
In true hypochondriac nature, my first thought went straight to oral cancer, Luekoplakia to be exact. One visit to the dentist (7 years since the last) and an oral cancer exam later, no Luekoplakia. Phew! Crisis averted.
I'm a chronic Strep throat-getter. No lie. I sometimes get it 2-3 times per year. The next thing I found was that I may have chronic tonsillitis. This is the self-diagnoses I was convinced I was sticking with folks. It looks a lot like the disturbing pictures I found. Seriously Google it, they're gross. Reading a little more into the symptoms of tonsillitis and I noticed the only similarity in my case was the white patches on the tonsils. Hmmm...
At the very bottom of the tonsillitis page was a link to tonsilloliths. Or, as I like to refer to them as, pain-in-my-ass-vile-smelling-disgustoid-liths. In lamans terms, they are tonsil stones. Calcified bacteria and mucous in the crevaces of my tonsils. Barf! Go on, barf profusely. I won't judge you. These things are a cause of halitosis, aka EXTREMELY bad breath and taste. Last night, I started to see the signs of these putrid tonsilloliths. There are two in my mouth right now and, according the WebMD, I can try to pop them out or let my body run its course and they'll "extract themselves in time".
I'm calling in the toothpicks and Qtips. Wish me luck in self-surgery today.
**Update: The tonsilloliths have been removed. It was a quick and painless process yet all the while uber stinky. Thanks for the flowers and get well cards, they won't go unnoticed.
The Ustream follow up to yesterday’s topic was…a bust. At one point there were 5 guests and a friend. Woo! Victory was mine. Until Julie left to take a nap and I, in my Ustream virginity, started clicking on page elements. Oops! I closed the broadcast window. When I re-opened the window, everyone was gone; with the exception of Guest.
Guest sat there and said nothing. Not even, “Hi!” or “Hi.” Guest sat there as I struggled to talk about the most random of things. It turned into a play by play of my Twitter and Facebook stalking between the hours of 1pm and 2pm. Ouch.
I’m REALLY hoping there will be some steam behind the upcoming Vlogging Vednesday topics, so this torture is no more.
Any suggestions on a better time that you know you’ll personally be able to log on and contribute? Leave a comment and let me know. I’m open to a bit’o’shufflin’.
I just BARELY figured out how to mobile blog without opening my browser on the ole Crackberry. I'm talking sheer minutes ago.
I have these startling revelations when I suffer from extreme insomnia. The insomnia is typically an aftermath of a day filled with high anxiety. Sadly, that happens often in my world. (I smell a Vlogging Vednesday topic here.)
I did just revel at the thought that I've advertised a new "feature" to the blog called Vlogging Vednesdays where you'll get to stare longingly at my mug as I jabber about my thoughts on differing topics. The first few ducks are in a row, but your feedback is greatly appreciated. It can be any topic your little heart desires. If I happen to be unfamiliar with the suggested topic, it'll challenge me to get my butt into gear. Broaden these horizons will ya?!
Every Thursday, I'll have a one-hour follow up Ustream chat where you can tell me off for being such a bitch or urge me to further explain certain bullet points. Naturally, I'm finger crossing for more of the latter.
Right now my eyeballs feel like acid is being generously poured into my eye sockets so I bid you adieu for this evening/morning.
Thursday, August 20th was a day.
Thursday, August 20th was a day I wish had never been born.
I despised Thursday, August 20th so much, I came dangerously close to wishing this day on my worst enemy. That is if one of those even exists. You know, because everyone thinks I'm the bee's knees. Right?!
I'm peeved at CNN for dedicating a segment a few weeks ago to a stay at home mom's discovery of an affordable, high-end teeth whitening system. Never once in the broadcast was there mention of the stomach-churning scam behind the just-pay-shipping offers.
Obviously, I was duped.
Severely duped.
What peeves me the most about CNN is that in order to "sustain the integrity of their broadcast content", they were the LAST network to announce the passing of Michael Jackson earlier this year. I'm assuming the person responsible for segment integrity was on vacation in Barbados a couple of weeks ago when the teeth whitening story aired. We all sneak a last-minute summer trip into our busy lives before the school year resumes, right? I'm sure they got a smokin' deal.
The moral of this story: Don't trust CNN when she tries to convince you she's clean...unless you want a heaping bowl of headache for breakfast the next morning and you're prepared to do some explaining in 40 weeks.
My morning/afternoon consisted of phone calls and hold music, really horrible timing, and my first dental visit in upwards of 7 years.
I know you're dying to know the status of my chompers. I need 4 fillings (slated for Sep. 1...yikes), 2 crowns, an erupted molar extracted, and I'm ready for my roof-tooth to make a swift departure. I have a pre-molar that appears to have seen something shiny before it's debut on "The Inside of My Mouth Show" and opted to park itself alongside the rest of my teeth as opposed to in its rightful place in line. Bastard.
I'm snuggling more with my Crackberry right now when I have a perfectly cuddly Husfriend lying next to me...oops, he's caught the Z-train and the obnoxious snoring has commenced.
Meeting Tom Morello takes a lot out of a grown man.
-Jess
I never imagined covering so much ground (literally close to 700 miles of it) in a 22 hour time period. I used to do trips for concerts at The Hotel Cafe in Hollyweird all the time back in my single-and-ready-to-mingle days. Those trips never seemed to phase me. Ever.
Now that I'm a 20-something mom with a 1-something Spawn Nugget, this trip leaves me disheveled. Those bags under my eyes and the sleep-deprived headache. That headache! Not to mention the physical distress my feet endured being shoved into high heels for the first time since God knows when. My daily wardrobe difficulty is usually a struggle between differing sweat pant options. Oh the horror of having to slap on some dress slacks, a nice blouse, and, you may want to sit down for this, jewelry.
The actual audience member experience for Dr. Phil was far from what I was expecting. For as outspoken I am on the episode's subject matter, my inability to raise my damn hand, as if it had been paralyzed by the fact that I was clearly the youngest mom in the audience, pissed me right off. Apparently I was suffering from not-on-stage fright. Like I mentioned in the last post, the bitchassness was on full volume and didn't waver even when the executive producer attempted to banter with a particular audience member. I'm not sure whether or not Paramount will edit that entire exchange out of the show, but be not afraid, I'll share after it airs.
Heather wasn't as much of a "guest" as I'd assumed she was going to be. Not to say I was expecting her to have radiant beams of light fanned out over her head and witness the flight of a dozen doves as she walked into the studio, but possibly a few more interjections than Dr. Phil simply plugging her site and real time Tweet-capades. Maybe I'm just irked by the latter because I WASN'T able to sit on my Crackberry and give the world a play-by-play? Who knows? Me. And I was. Damnit.
I sat next to this awesome blogger for the duration of the taping. She's curt, to the point, and not afraid to put someone in their place. There's something to be said about people like that...they're badass!
P.S. Did I mention that the show parking happened to be in a Jewish cemetery...for $10? Oh yah, parking was in a Jewish cemetery for $10.
I could tweet about this (in fact I just did HERE) but I'm currently adjacent to my sister Shannon at Kitchen24 in Hollywood...at the same table Husfriend and I were seated at back in June at 11pm. What are the odds right?!
We just finished being valuable members of the audience at the taping of Dr. Phil's Stay at Home vs. Working: The Great Mom Debate.
There was some bitchassness going on I'll explain in the trip recap.
We'll be hitting the open road with the Valley of the Sun in our sites after lunch.
At the ripe young age of 23 my excitement meter is maxed out today by the purchase of a Costco membership and this...
I find this excitement fully acceptable because I'm going to be a part of the studio audience for an appearance by THIS woman. Which, by now, should be blatantly obvious to any of my readers as the pinnacle of my existence.
Shannon and I will be leaving Phoenix on Monday evening for LA-LA Land and returning Tuesday after the show taping.
Yes, I'm that insane.
xo,
Jess
All it takes is a little jimmy-rigging (i.e. powerpoint, photobucket, publisher, & godaddy.com) and you've got yourself a real life, professional-ish looking website.
I'm proud of myself so don't rain on my parade you damn Mac owners.
http://www.shugglippo.com
In the course of my no good very bad day, I realized the new application for one of my "jobs" had failed on me. After opening 498 pieces of mail and entering names, addresses, Y's, N's, email addresses, and monetary denominations, an essential file for the application miraculously went missing. So did 3 hours of my life.
Whilst re-entering 498 pieces of information, I stumbled upon a note that will forever remind me of how appreciative these consumers are for my willingness to ensure they receive their rebates.
I think the hyphens in the first sentence with all of those exclamation points is supposed to say love, but probably is code for shit.
It may have been a bitch, sir, but your check for $2.99 less postage will be in the mail on Friday.
Fudge frosting never made me cringe so badly. I was sure that I would be gagging through a messy crapping mishap. Much to my relief, it was the remnants of the previous night's cupcakes.
Poor little cupcakes.
I found this one crying (rightfully so) in the side of the entertainment center. Before seeing the massacre that was my kitchen, rug, refrigerator, wall, sofa, and carpet, I thought this was the worst of it.
Yesterday it seemed one thing after the other to crawl beneath my skin to try eating away at my sense of humor...and patience.
My snort filled chuckles prevailed through the martyrdom of 11 fudge iced chocolate cupcakes (initially mistaken for poop), the mail holder fiasco, an affirmation of my love for all technology, and a botched breakfast for dinner attempt.
Sometimes Dylan is just as shocked as I am at the outfits the pedestrians of CenPho decide to don.
Trust me when I say you'd totally have had the same exact look on your face if you'd seen what this lady was wearing. Think tranny meets construction worker meets pole dancer. Yowza!
That seems to sum up the happenings around here lately.
This past weekend I had a sisters-only-sleepover at my sister Melissa's out in the QC. The 5 of us had a blast pigging out on junk food, playing rock band until our eyes were about to pop out, and singing along to Mama Mia whilst are brains and bodies were dozing off to Sleepertonville. For a solid two hours on Saturday afternoon, I did something I haven't done in what seems like eons. I laid out by the pool and got a sexy, dark red sunburn. With the "excessive heat warnings" that the new has been putting Arizona residents on alert for since, well, the temps reached 100+, I haven't had the courage or patience to lay out by the pool at home with Dylan. He's such a pasty white little guy, I wouldn't dare inflict on him the pain of a horrid sunburn.
Sunday, the little one and I journeyed down to Mesa to visit Grammy and Popi who we hadn't seen in close to two weeks. Yikes! That's a long time for us to go without seeing each other. They had just put grass in their backyard that used to be a large area of dirt, not suitable for toddler playtime. My mom decided to turn on the sprinklers and let Dylan cut loose. He was a grassy, wet mess of amazingness. He rode home WTB in his diaper with a bottle of water to rehydrate. I snapped a picture of him passed out in the backseat, but I'm way too exhausted to climb down and back up two flights of stairs to get the camera out of my purse. Sorry. I'll upload it tonight.
Having to type for essentially every job I've ever had in my whole life, I have never felt comfortable typing on a laptop keyboard. There's something about the angle my wrists have to be in that just makes it annoying and painful. I find my hands cramp up a lot more when I type on a laptop than when I have a desktop keyboard at my fingertips. To rectify the situation of not having a desktop PC and being "stuck" typing on a laptop keyboard, I sprung and picked up a wireless keyboard and mouse combo. This new purchase may even result in an increased frequency of blogging. No promises. Don't go getting your hopes up.
I've been good about exercising lately too. Dance twice a week and abs on the living room floor for 30 minutes a day. It's working. Score. Steve and I have challenged ourselves to run the PF Chang's Marathon in Vegas on December 6th. I'm running the half-marathon because I'm still a novice in the running department, but Steve will be doing the full-marathon and then the half-marathon in January in Phoenix. Training is so much fun. Until you have potentially broken two toes, like Steve. Playing with your toddler son is more dangerous than anything apparently. The boys were playing Superman and Steve caught the edge of the area rug in the living room, causing his toes to curl under and his body to fly forward. Dylan was lucky enough to land on the sofa, but Steve was an injured duckling. He's been having some difficulty walking normally today so we're going to Urgent Care tonight after he gets off of work to get an X-Ray to make sure it's nothing super serious that will prevent him from continuing his training. Wish us good luck.
Work has been keeping me busy and on a daily schedule which I'm loving. It makes for planning appointments and trips outside of the house a lot easier. It's also kept me in front of the computer a lot more which inspired my desire to rebuild the website with fun new digital discoveries. I'm all about the jimmy-rig so my masterpieces don't come from fancy software or operating systems. Just my brain and its ability to conform to the "ghetto" way of life.
End random tangent post.
xo,
Jess
I will be participating in Handmade Parade, hosted by the lovely Rosemary.
Obviously I've updated the layout of the blog.
I'm still tinkering around with different ideas for a cohesive theme to have carried over to the website. Speaking of which, I've decided the site will be home to a retail shop that hosts handmade goodies from America's little guys. I'll be actively recruiting vendors in the coming weeks.
**All of our friends' blogs can be found at the bottom of this page along with the blog archives.
I want to make a congratulatory shout out to Rosemary, Braden, Olivia, Landen, and Penelope for their future family addition. Go you Fertile Myrtles!!
I'm taking a trip to Old Navy in search of some dresses and lounge-y pants/shorts for little Spawn Nugget before picking up Husfriend from work later this afternoon.
Slated for the dinner table tonight: Slow-Cooker Meatloaf and Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes.
xo,
Jess
I was turned onto the 3/50 Project by Rosemary's recent post (found here) about the darling new toy/novelty/candy shop, Smeeks, that just happens to be an under five minute jaunt from my house. Read her brick and mortar review and swing by the shop soon to experience the pure{sugar} bliss.
Steve and I decided to check out the Summer Sidewalk Sale going on at Kierland Commons in North Scottsdale after I picked him up from work yesterday. Basically it turned out the be the summer stock clearance for a good portion of the shops on a nifty table right outside the store entrance for you the peruse. If I weren't a Goliath already, I'd have splurged on a ton of different espadrilles and strappy sandals from here and here. However, in the true selfless me fashion, I opted to focus on things for Spawn Nugget...and kitchen goods...naturally.
I stumbled upon what I thought was a whole new world of children's clothing, books, and toys at Peek...aren't you curious.
The shop name says it all. After spending tons of time in there, I decided that every mother, aunt, grandmother, friend of a person with a child(ren), should be more than curious. They should be ambitiously loading their spawn into the minivan to get their hands on the absolutely adorable threads that this place has for the little ones.
They have all the details worked out to the "T". From the soft cottons of their basic and graphic tees, to the prints and quality of their denim and button-ups. Not to mention that a majority (if not all) of their summer merchandise is on clearance for 50% off or more. Their participation in the sidewalk sale included two rolling racks of tees, dresses, shorts, and bottoms as low as ten dollars. TEN DOLLARS!! We snagged this little jewel for Spawn Nugget.
Just look at the detail:
Now, when I say that they have paid major attention to the details of their operation, I mean MAJOR ATTENTION. They have a cute little tee pee in the center of the store with floor cushions and books for the rug rats to keep entertained while Mommy shops. They also give the little boys a dinosaur to take home with them. The goodies don't stop there though. Husfriend was able to snag a pin for his messenger bag with a sheep on it and the artwork is just precious. Simple. Precious. Artwork.
xo,
©2008-2011 shuggilippo | designed by Shugg Media
