Where is the maid when I need her? My house is pig sty, and it's driving me nuts. Seriously. It's bad. However, All the painting is done. I also got a built in liquor cabinet and a new fireplace mantel custom made. I can't complain. I've spent some of the day trying to catch up on cleaning and organizing, but the fact that I'm sitting here blogging means that I didn't get too far. We're heading over to my in-laws for the afternoon, so it doesn't look like a clean house is in my future.

On a more positive note, I'm counting down the days until our trip to Arizona. I need to still check out the website for Phoenix and get some ideas of things that we might want to do or see while we are there. So far, the only thing on my agenda is the zoo. I have 4 more days to fill up, so I need to start planning.

In a very grown up adult move, I finally purchased some luggage. We're always borrowing it when we need it and don't have any decent suit cases our selves. It probably took me a week to pick out a set, and it felt like I put more thought and energy into that than I do when making major purchases. Can't have black because it's hard to pick out of the line up at baggage claim. Can't be too big, and not too small. Oh, and how much does it weigh, because I wouldn't want it be heavy before I even pack it. It worked out well though because by the time I finally settled on a set, it was on sale, and I was able to use a coupon, AND I got free shipping!

Yes, sometimes it's the small things that make me happy.

Spoke too soon and have been dealing with another migraine on and off for the last couple of days. I had 2 whole weeks without even a minor headache, so I'm not going to get too disappointed just yet. This migraine started on Saturday, which was a stressful day all around. Had a funeral to go to, and they did one of those photo montages, set to really sad music. Those things get me EVERY time. I started bawling, and it wasn't pretty. Anyway, I was fine on Sunday, so I thought that it was gone, but Monday morning proved me wrong. I'm okay tonight, but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

While my brother is still in NH, he's been here doing some painting for me. He finished my downstairs ceiling, and then painted the upstairs ceiling and hallway. I'm so glad that it's finally done, but it's made me look at other things now and think that they need to be replaced. For instance, the carpet going up my stairs and into the hallway. I've always hated it, but now that the painting is done, it sticks out even more. And don't even get me started on my kitchen!

February vacation is booked!! The hubs, the kid and I are heading to Phoenix next month to visit my Grandfather and Aunt. I've never been to Arizona, and I'm really looking forward to it. If I'm being honest, I really looking forward to getting away from the cold and the snow. Even if it's only for 6 days.

In other big news- I am still headache free! Probably not such big news for anyone reading this, but awesome news for me. I've been feeling great, and enjoying every moment of it. Tomorrow I have an appt with the actual ENT Dr and not the nurse. It will be last weekly follow up visit. I'm not sure the frequency of visits now, but it's nice to not have to go every week.

TWO whole days without a headache!!!! I am so excited, and happy. While I was waiting on some prescriptions to be refilled last week, I came across a copy of Migraines for Dummies. I started flipping through it and thought that it had some pretty decent info, so I bought it. My little light bulb went off when I came to the part about the rebound headaches. Since my surgery, I've been taking Percocet and Vicodins. Not a ton of them, there's no worries about me needing any type of rehab, but for a couple of weeks I've taken 1 or 2 a day. That may not be a lot for some people, but with how sensitive my system can be, I really think I was having rebounding pain.

So this week, I made a huge effort to deal with this whole situation. First, I started by making an extra effort with my post surgery sinus care. Not that I wasn't doing a good job to begin with, but my sinuses are being stubborn with draining properly (which causes pain & pressure, hence the need for meds). So I pushed the steaming, rinsing, using the saline and the ointment. I am really starting to feel the difference these last couple of days. The only real way to deal with the rebounding effect is to not take pain meds, so that meant suffering through it. I slept a lot, and used cool packs on my head, used my warming wrap around my neck when it felt like I should. I also used my migraine meds without any extra pain relievers.

Will this be the answer? I'm not sure, but for the first time in a month I've been headache free for 2 straight days. It's certainly not going to cure me of my migraines, but since the surgery I hadn't had 1 pain free day. Chronic pain is truly depressing, and I'm so ready to join the land of the living again. So for now, I'm enjoying every minute of this.

So as my little reward to myself, I went out and bought an iPod Touch yesterday. I was a good girl and only got the 8gb. Since we can't use our computers at work to access the internet, and now we have a manager there until 8pm (so I won't be able to bring my laptop in), I thought an iPod would be a good idea. Plus, our office mgr (the wise one) decided to have the speakers cut on our side of the office so there is no longer any background music. It tends to get very quiet at night, so now I have a new toy to keep me busy. I absolutely love it so far and Griffin already asked me if he could have one to!

I've been so lazy about getting my Christmas pictures on here. No big news here, but I've felt like complete crap all week. More migraines. More sinus pain. More frustration.

Finally, I'm feeling well enough to take some time to do this.

Christmas Eve Yankee Swap at my house with my family:





One VERY tired little boy



Christmas morning:











Christmas afternoon at the in-laws:

Happy New Year! Hoping everyone is excited and looking forward to a fresh start to a new year. Any one making resolutions? Not I. I think they are silly, but hey, if it's your thing. I'm looking forward to watching Griffin grow and wonder how he'll change over the course of the next year. I'm curious whether I'll get pregnant or what kind of decision Ryan and I will come to about building our family (or not). I'm excited to see where we will go and the things we will do this year. Lots of good stuff to look forward to!

Now, back to business. I have finally transferred all my pictures off of my camera. It will be a huge post if I try to do them all on here now. So I'm going to go back a couple of weeks to my day of Christmas baking. I don't know why, but I felt like taking pictures of my cookie workshop.

The start of some really yummy buckeyes!


I may have made too many. We STILL have some left.




Bad nuts.........


Good nuts.........


I followed the recipe exactly, and that first batch came out absolutely horrible. So I made my own recipe and made a second batch. I'm glad that I tried again. They came out awesome.


Lemon sugar cookies


It wouldn't be right if I didn't made some chocolate chip cookies.


Peanut butter cookies. Not sure I'll use this recipe again. They were crumbly, but if you could get past that, they melted in your mouth. I think most people had a hard time getting past the crumbly part, and immediately thought they were dry.





Finished! The cleanup is the worst part.



Time to start working on getting the Christmas pictures on here.......