2009 Reading List

Below are the books that I have read during 2009 (or currently reading). They are in the order of Most Current to Oldest ones read.

1. Annes House of Dreams - Book 4 (Lucy Montgomery)
2. Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, Book 3) (Lucy Montgomery)
3. Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, Book 2) - Book 2 (Lucy Montgomery)
4. Anne of Green Gables - Book 1 (Lucy Montgomery)
5. Dracula (Bram Stoker)
6. Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
7. Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer)*
8. Eclipse (Stephenie Meyer)*
9. New Moon (Stephenie Meyer)*
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7 - J. K. Rowling)
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6 - J. K. Rowling)
12. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5 - J. K. Rowling)
13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4 - J. K. Rowling)
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3 - J. K. Rowling)
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2 - J. K. Rowling)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1 - J. K. Rowling)
17. Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer)
18. Eclipse (Stephenie Meyer)
19. New Moon (Stephenie Meyer)
20. Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
21. All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot)
22. Diary of Anne Frank (Anne Frank)
23. Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson (D. A. Carson)
24. Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Family Farm Values (Jerold Apps)
25. Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian: One Man's Ruminations About Faith, Family & Livin' The Good Life (Herrick Kimball)
26. Carry A Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt (George Grant)

I pretty much enjoyed all of the books this year. There was one more book that I read that I didn't finish because I didn't like it. So, I didn't add that one to the list since I only read about 1/2 of it.

I especially enjoyed the Harry Potter series because Kevan and I read them together and then we would watch each movie. So, that was a lot of fun. I love anything about history so the Roosevelt books and the Anne Frank book was great. I love farming so the rest of the books were enjoyable too. I also really enjoyed the Twilight series, but it made me really miss my 20's. :o( Made me feel old.

I was very surprised that the Dracula book contained so many references to God. They prayed to God for strength, spoke of God sending His Son as our Savior and even gave God glory in the end for giving them the strength to overcome Dracula.

Also, the Anne of Green Gables books also contained many references to God and his Providence, keeping the Sabbath holy and one of my favorite things was that lying was such an awful thing then. I wish it was still so. Today, lying doesn't seem to be a big deal and it should be. The Anne of Green Gables movies do not have the religious side of the book and that is disappointing.

*Reread again since the movie was coming out.

Our 6th Anniversary!

Kevan and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary yesterday. I am blessed that God has given us these 6 wonderful years together. Kevan is a wonderful husband and I am very thankful for him. We ended up going to church, the beach, drove around animal watching and then ended with a lobster and shrimp dinner at Dixie Crossroads. It was a wonderful day together.

I didn't realize that when I ordered the Lobster dinner (it was on sale) that it would come with eyeballs. My gracious husband cut the head off for me and hid it under a paper basket. He's so sweet.

Click here to see more pics.

Sewing Project

My friend from church showed me how to make these cute bears. I kept one for myself. I made this one for a friend that is having a baby boy (his is the one with the trucks and tractors on it). Aren't they so cute! Also, I didn't finish their bows yet so they look at little funny.

Sewing Room

I organized my sewing room a little more this weekend. It is still quite a mess, but at least I can move around in there now. :o) Click on the picture below to see more pictures.

Bathroom Renovation

Kevan and I started demolishing our master bathroom last weekend. I am not brave enough to show you a before picture of the shower. The previous owners had used drywall instead of cement board and the tile was falling out so it looked REALLY bad. Let's just say I did NOT take showers in the shower, but always used the guest bath. I started to chip up the floor with my handy dandy demo tool/chipping hammer/hammer drill (Kevan got it for me for my birthday a couple of years ago). We have used it quite a bit for our home improvement projects. Below is a "before" picture and a "current" picture of where we are. We chipped up the floor last weekend and Friday night we started to take out the shower tile and tub. We think it went really well. The hardest part was getting the tub out because it fit perfectly in it's little spot. We had to take out some drywall to get it out. We finished everything and were leaving the dump by 2pm on Saturday. Our trailer load of debris was 1100 lbs!!! The tub was cast iron so it weighed quite a bit!

Here is a picture of our trailer full of the debris. We set it right outside the window so all we had to do was throw the debris out the window into the trailer (even the bathtub). I guess that is one of the pluses with having a window in your shower! Probably one of the only one!

New Purse

I made a new purse today. It took me about 2 hours. It was one of the easiest pattern I have ever done. It was from the Quilts & More magazine. I loved it and will definitely be making another one. It has 6 pockets around the outside that are large enough for my ipod and my palm phone.

Gyros and Hummus!

Tonight I made Gyros using Tammy's pita recipe and also made hummus. The pitas puff up in the oven which creates the "pocket" to stuff all of the meat, lettuce, tzatziki sauce, onions, cucumbers and tomatoes into. I should've taken a picture of the gyro, but we were so hungry we didn't want to stop to take pictures.

Here is a picture of my pitas. They turned out great. Kevan even asked me to make his sandwich for lunch tomorrow using the pita pocket instead of his normal sandwich bread.















If you like pita bread you should definitely try Tammy's recipe using the link above. I can't wait to have more hummus and bread for lunch tomorrow.

EKG Before & After

Below is a picture of my EKG before the ablation. It is showing PVC's:












Below is a picture of my EKG after the successful ablation. No more PVC's!

EP Study and Heart Ablation (Long Post!)

On Friday I had an EP Study and heart ablation (they place a bunch of catheters up through a vein in my groin area and burn some abnormal cells that are causing the PVC issue). I searched all over the internet prior to the procedure to find a personal experience to see how it might go for me. I couldn't really find much. So, I decided that I would try to document as much as possible in case someone else has to go through this. The reason I had this procedure is because I have been having PVC's for about a year. At the time of the procedure I was having about 15-20 every 5 minutes or so.

(View from the Waiting room windows)
My husband and I arrived at the hospital at 6AM. We were checked in and asked to fill out paperwork (including a living will). We were in the waiting room waiting to be called by about 6:30AM. My husband took a nap on one of the couches while I sat nervously waiting to be called. Everyone in the waiting room (about 4 others) were called in before I was. I thought maybe they had forgotten about me and I think I was okay with it. Finally, a nurse walked out and asked the woman at the desk who Ms. Riley was. She pointed at me and the woman was in disbelief and thought I was too young for this type of procedure. I thought so too.
She brought me to the prep room where I had to remove all clothing and change into the hospital gown (open in the back without tying it). They had me submit a urine sample (for a pregnancy test), inserted my IV and placed all of the electrode sticky things on my chest. If you are a man, this is when they would shave your chest. Luckily, I am a woman. They decided that I did not need a "foley" (urinary catheter) because I was young and could probably make it just fine through the procedure. They allowed my husband to come in and say "goodbye" and pray with me. Then, I was wheeled into the OR. The OR looked like a security surveillance room. There were flat screen monitors all over. 2 in front of me and about 15 to the side of me. There was a HUGE digital clock on the right side of the room. I noted to myself it was about 8:20am.

(Before I left to go to the OR)They pulled the gurney up next to the OR table and had me scoot to the OR table. It was a really hard table compared to the gurney I was on. It was freezing too, but I could feel warm air coming from somewhere so I was comfortable in a little bit. Everyone was extremely nice and they could tell I was pretty nervous. They tried to assure me everything would be just fine and that Dr. Pollak was a great doctor. They tied each leg and each arm to the table in case I tried to move during the procedure. They placed 2 big sticky things on my back and one on the middle of my chest. They took an x-ray of my chest so they could see if the sticky things were placed correctly. One tech commented on where he believed my PVC's were originating. Then, the anesthesiologist put something in my IV to make me fall asleep. I do not really remember anything after this. I remember the doctor waking me up to say hello when he arrived, then waking up and looking around before the anesthesiologist walked back over and put something in my IV. I even questioned him about it before falling asleep again. I did dream about my leg hurting some which I'm sure was due to the catheters they had going up my groin area. I finally woke up still in the OR when it was finished. The clock said it was about 11am. So, the whole procedure took about 2.5 hours. I didn't feel any pain and I just felt very peaceful. I was already on the gurney and the sticky things were already removed. They wheeled me up to my room and asked me not to move while they moved me to my hospital bed.

When the procedure was finished the doctor walked out to the waiting room (still in his scrubs) and told my husband that it was successful and that I would need to take 1 baby aspirin each morning for 6 weeks. I also needed to come in and see him in about a week. He told my husband that he could meet me in my hospital room.Shortly after I arrived in my room my husband walked in. I was in and out for a while, but not in any pain. I was amazed at how easy it all was and that I should not have been so nervous before. I noticed right away that my PVC's were gone. My nurse came in about every hour and checked my incision area, blood pressure, pulse and temperature. My temp was about 99.4-99.8 during the first day or so. I NEVER have fevers and my temperature is always low, like 97.6 or so. My heart rate seemed fast to me. I normally have a heart rate about 65-70 bpm and it was ranging about 80-90 bpm. Also, I normally have a low blood pressure (106/60 or so) and my blood pressure was about 115/80 or so. One other thing I remember is being pretty hot the first few hours and I tend to be cold most of the time. I even removed my blankets at one point.

I had to lay totally still for 6 hours and not move my right leg at all (this was the leg the catheters were inserted into). I did have to urinate right away so I had my very first experience with a bed pan. After that I decided I would wait the 6 hours if I had to go again so I could actually get up and use the restroom myself. The bed pan was not fun and very strange. lol I thought it was going to be very hard to lay there for 6 hours, but I slept for about 4 hours of it. They had my IV hooked to a saline drip, but I forced myself to wait the next 2 hours to use the restroom. As soon as 5pm rolled around I was calling the nurse so I could get up. lol!

Unfortunately, when it was time to get up they unhooked the heart monitor in the room from me and put a wireless version on me. This made me sad as I could no longer view it myself. They also unhooked my IV from the saline bag and just left the IV thingy in my wrist (yes, it was in the side of my wrist! OUCH!). I was able to get up and walk (slowly) and use the rest room. It was not easy to bend, but I used the railing in the bathroom to help me sit and stand back up. I was told that if I had to cough, sneeze or anything like that to push on my incision area in order to prevent it from opening back up and bleeding. I never really had to do this.

Shortly after this I noticed blood on my hand coming from my IV. The nurse came in, tried to fix it and flushed it. While doing this it was VERY painful. I started feeling very nauseous and sweaty. The nurse figured out right away that my blood pressure had dropped. She checked it and it was 80/44. She panicked and ran out to get an IV stand and some fluids. She moved my bed so my legs were above my head and in about 45 minutes or so I was back to normal. Due to this fact though I was told NOT to walk around again for the next 6 hours unless I had to go to the restroom. Later we asked the doctor about this episode and he told us it was due to the pain and that is why it dropped.
I did have some blood on my incision dressing so the nurse changed the dressing before she left for the day. I went to sleep at about 10:30pm. Nurse came in at 11:30pm to check my vitals. Then, I slept all the way until 4:30am before I was awakened again for a urine sample. This was due to the fact that I had a urinary tract/kidney infection earlier in the week and they wanted to check on it. Then, I was awakened again at 5:30am for blood being drawn, 6:30am for an EKG and then 7:30am....

I slept great without any issues really. My groin area was a little sore, but it wasn't bad at all if I didn't have to walk. If I did walk it just seemed to stretch the sore a bit so I walked really slow. I felt great and I didn't even have any pain meds.

(Ready to go home in my polka dot pants!)The doctor came in about 11am (the morning after the procedure) and told me that everything looked great (he checked out my incision as well) and that I could go home. When I got home I noticed I had about a 1" x 1" bruise on my inner right leg. About 4 inches or so from the incision. It continued to get bigger over the next 32 hours. It is now about 3.5" x 1.5". It actually hurts more than the incision. When I arrived home I slept for a few hours and then took a shower. I had my husband take it with me just in case I fell or anything. He helped me remove the dressing on my incision and I washed it as directed by my nurse. BTW, my incision continued to bleed just a little bit over the next few days so I just kept a small band-aid on it until Monday.

Overall, everything went great. I was even able to go to church on Sunday morning. God really blessed me and he answered everyone's prayers. I am grateful to everyone that prayed for me.

One thing I would do different is bring snacks with us! The hospital food was awful!

Update: I spoke with the nurse Monday night and she told me the bruising is normal. Apparently, blood becomes trapped during the procedure and makes its way to the skin over time. That is why the bruise continued to get larger. So, nothing to worry about. Also, I continued to see bruises all around the incision area and this is normal too.

(Picture of my bruise Monday morning 7am)

My Sister's Room

While I was in Michigan for my mom's surgery I took my sister to Home Depot and let her pick out paint for her room. She is 16 and her room was white...VERY white. She picked out bright pink. I tried to talk her out of it because my mom doesn't like pink, but that is what she wanted. All girls want pink rooms at some point in their lives so this was her time.

We also looked at some room decorations and picked out a zebra print border. :o) It only took us about 1.5-2 hours to finish painting the room. Here are some pictures.

Cheese Straws

My mom bought me a "Christmas with Paula Deen" recipe book for Christmas and I noticed there was a recipe for cheese straws. My husband loves them and buys them whenever he sees them at Target. So, I tried making them about 2 months ago and now he asks for them all the time. They turned out great. We made them tonight while the President was speaking.

Also, for Christmas I received a stainless steel cookie press (it is 1/2 off right now). I use the star disk to pump out the strings of cheese.

Here are some pictures and you can view the recipe here.


This post is being linked to Tammy's Recipe's (Kitchen Tip Tuesday).

Valentine Gift for my Sweetheart

This is a pretty late post, but I've been pretty busy. For Valentine's Day I decided to purchase an Ipod for my husband. I know, very expensive gift for a Hallmark holiday, but he has wanted one for awhile that will work with his car stereo and Apple was having a good deal. The deal included free engraving. So, I purchased a black one to match his new (used) Black Eclipse. Here are some pictures.



Then, I thought he would need a case for it to keep it nice and shiny so I made him a little camo bag thingy to keep it in. I made it before I received the ipod though and it ended up way too big. I can't believe how tiny the ipod is!


The 1st picture is the back. There is a little pocket for him to put his headphones. I have noticed with the ones I have seen at the store I can never find one that will hold the headphones too. Then, I have a pocket on the inside to put the ipod in and a little flap that folds down and velcro's to the main part. I also added a little clip thing so he can clip it onto his belt loop or whatever.