Current Needs, Wants, and Obsessions

Now that I have been home for a week on bed-rest I have A LOT of time on my hands. While Alice is in school or asleep I am usually binge watching netflix or online planning Alice 3rd birthday party (which is in July) or checking Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, blogs and such.

During some of this free time I watched an interview with Cameron Diaz on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon promoting her new book and it got my attention. I decided to look up some reviews and they were all pretty great so I decided to order it here.

The second thing I have been wanting since seeing it on Instagram a few weeks back is this shirt and I finally ordered with my book on amazon. 

The shirt just seems so perfect and was a good deal on Amazon. I think I'll get a lot of use out of it on my down time. 

I am also obsessed and can't live without my Roscoe Knee Scooter (which I call Rosco - I am super creative like that) that my mom purchased for me. I didn't even know anything like this even existed, but I am so glad it does because it is a million times better than crutches and so worth the money if you need to be off one foot/leg for an extended amount of time. Maybe I'll do a "What's in My Rosco Basket" post next! 

Next is my new sidekick: a wound vac that uses negative pressure to heal wounds quickly, I call my blood- sucker. Oh the fun to have this attached to me 24/7, oh wait this is the most uncomfortable, pain in the ass ever, it better make my wound heal fast or so help me!

I am also very attached to this water bottle by Aladdin that I bought at Target. I like my water ice cold and preferably with mint and lemon and this bottle allows it with the ease of throwing it in my scooter basket without spilling.  

Post Surgery- Part 1

All the little annoying things that went wrong:

1. My paperwork stated that I needed to arrive at Mass General at 5:15 AM which meant I woke up at 3:00 AM and left the house at 4:00 AM. We got there on time even though we had an issue with what garage to park in and which entrance to use only to be told we couldn't even enter that wing of the hospital until 5:30 AM so why did they tell me to be there at 5:15??? I have no idea. 

2. Once it was 5:30 AM there was a mad dash to the elevators by everyone scheldued to have surgery that morning. We were all going to the same place, because of this I asked my mom to wait until the crowd cleared. Once we got to the check-in we realized we didn't avoid the crowd at all we're now in line about 15 people deep to check in. 

3. Finally we checked in and as I was getting ready forbsurgery someone from the anesthesia team decided to torture for 30 minutes while trying to get an IV in me. First off, I know I have awful veins and add that to being dehydrated is just a reciepe for a bad time. Anyway she immediately blew one vein in my left hand that still looks like this 6 days later

After that she tried my right hand and got it in; however, 2 days later my entire arm was red and sore and was an obvious vein from my IV site, the cein is still super hard and is still extremely sore today. 

4. I wake up from surgery at 10:30 AM feeling pretty good and my mom gets to come see me and everything seems great and the nurses are even telling me I might go home that day!

 Then things go to shit. While trying to get me discharged (because there was a bed shortage) they realize they placed a wound vac on my skin graft that my insurance did not cover which meant they would have to take off my cast and reopen my skin graft to take the current wound vac off to place the other one on. Sounds crazy right?

Wouldn't have been easier to place the wound vac that my insurance covered on my skin graft post-op? YES!! 

Did they have enough time to know which vac should be used? Yes!! My surgery was delayed 3 weeks! 

Did I have to stay in the hospital an additional 3 days because of this error? Yes!!!

5. Because of the bed shortage I had to wait in recovery from 10:30 AM until 6 PM, no joke!! My roommate? A 90 year old woman who had to page a nurse EVERYTIME she needed to use the bathroom. 

This is my first iv site that they were unsuccessful with - this is a week later

Day 3= discharged 

Keep Fighting

Surgery....!

Today I am tdying to stay positive about my surgery tomoorow but it is so hard when I leave my daughter for the first time. Best case scenerio I will be an hour and a half away for 3-5 days. 

This is my 20th surgery in 32 years and it is so difficult to keep fighting your own body. Thank God for my beautiful girl who makes the fight worth it. 

Photo 101?!

Okay, I was finally able to upload the very first pictures I have taken so far in "project: get a hobby" and they aren't too bad, of course my daughter Alice and flowers from Vanlentines Day. This is the camera I am using, the Nikon D3100.

Alice: I got my eye on you

Alice: silly dancing 

This week I have also been obsessed with my hair, mostly because I am really bored. 

I got a trim and asked my hairstylest about dying my hair lavender/lilac like the photo below I found on Instagram @nothingbutpixies and she said I would hate it, booooo. So I inlisted my mom to dye my hair dark purple with manic panic and it came out SOOOO Dark, like Black with purple undertones, not exactly what I was looking for. 

What I WANTED

What I got was this by using ManicPanic color in ultra violet actually looks blackp in some lighting- ugh 

Currently...

1. Thinking of Valentine's Day and how glad I am that I am not teaching tomorrow.

2. Enjoying watching BBC Survivors, it is like The Walking Dead without the zombies. 

3. Feeling anxious about impending surgery on the 24th. 

4. Wearing Uggs because it is freezing in NE.

5. Needing sleep because my insomnia is awful lately. 

6. Wanting the Stella and Dot 'Rebel' necklace, check it out on stelladot.com 

7. Listening to "I'm a Believer" on repeat because my daughter loves the movie Shreck.

8. Making photo collages and photo canvases. See the tutorial here

My inspiration, so pretty!

9. Eating croissant roll-ups 

Pinterest:

mine:

recipe here

10. Drinking infused water daily. I love lemon water with cucumber and mint, my daughter does too she will take sips and say "MMM, that's cucumber?" There are supposed to be a lot of benefits too. Check it out  here

Things That Make Me Happy

We had a fun and productive weekend. I finally got out of the house in order to go to the mall to get a birthday present for our neighbor's child. Of course we did a little shopping too. I love Crazy 8, when they have sales (like this weekend an extra 30% off the entire store) you can get great quality clothes at Salvation Army prices, which makes me happy. Check out their website here .

While walking around the mall Alice noticed this Ariel hat a mile away, she looked so cute and happy how could I not buy it :)

While at the mall I was able to purchase and try bubble tea, which I have seen around Instagram forever; however, it is the first time I have seen it in New England. I liked it but I'm not sure I would get it too often.

I found this quote on Pinterest and feel like it totally relates to how I feel right now.

On the photography front I have my battery charged and bought a memory card that is supposed to be the best. The price at Best Buy made it worth it (normally $100 for $40).

I also finally finished my Pinterest inspired collage wall. I made the canvases by modgepodging them on to cheap canvases and they came out great and saved hundreds of dollars. See how to do it here yourself. I also was inspired by these images display  display 2

I am in the process of creating my second wall collage and trying out my camera.

Hobbies, Loves, and Finds

Since I have had more time on my hands than I have ever been used to (while waiting to have my surgery) I decided to pursue a hobby of mine, photography. In order to do this I first need a better camera than my iPhone 4S supplies (my old digital camera has even less megapixels than than my phone). After a few days of research on entry level DSLR cameras and shopping online for the best price I decided to get the Nikon D3100 at Best Buy. You can read the review and comparison here . Just by shopping a little a bit online I saved $15 going to a Best Buy near me who had the camera on clearance vs. a Best Buy equally close who did not. 

While researching online I saw this Nikon bag with DVD on sale from $70 to $40. In store it was still the $70 price, thankfully I researched online and they price matched their online price-SCORE!! The bag is great and I love it, see the sale here

 Right now the battery is charging and I need a SD card because apparently I need a special one. I can't wait to try it out and while I am stuck in the hospital read the manual and become an expert! 

Here is my baby :)

Another exciting event in my life today is finding out there will be a Pitch Perfect 2!!! I love this movie, love, love, love. I have the movie in 3 different formats, the soundtrack, a cup, sunglasses, pens, etc... This is just a fun, happy, silly movie that always makes me feel better. You can still purchase this set on Amazon here

The next thing is my Diamond Candle ring reveal number 2: In my last post I wrote about these candles that I received as an early Valentine's gift. Neither ring is worth much but they are pretty and I like the candles so much I ordered another one for myself :) You can purchase yours here . What are your hobbies, favorites and finds???