"Day old PB&J safe?"

Today for lunch I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Not just any sandwich though, this PB&J was a day old. Jeremy made it for my lunch yesterday(he is just the sweetest), but then I ended up getting free food at work. So I just brought it for lunch again today.

As I was chowing down on it like a lady, after I carefully removed the crust, I wondered if I was about to make myself sick.

My first consensus was no, nobody refrigerates their PB&Js. And then I thought about how we refrigerate jelly and jelly was on my sandwich and my sandwich had not been refrigerated yesterday, last night, or today.... and then I became more concerned. (Oh, and I did finish the sandwich.)

So I googled it. "Is it safe to eat a day old PB&J?"-nothing. "Day old PB&J safe?"-nada. "Old PB&J"-nimic ("nothing" in Romanian). I ended up with links about kids with peanut allergies and their friends bringing PB&Js for lunch, others wondering if raw bacon is safe to eat, and then someone concerned about the peanut butter recall a while back.

In short (or long), I still don't know.

Any experts out there on the topic?
I am obviously in need of your wisdom.

C'mon! Hit Him!

Saturday, we went to the Demolition Derby in Heber. They are SOOOOO fun! I have been looking forward to this for quite a while. We (well, my mom actually) bought tickets for it in the beginning of June. We haven't been to one in a long time, so we were all really EXCITED!

But first we had a picnic in the park.... and played around with a soccer ball.

Soon after we headed to the arena for five hours of Demolition Derby! That's right... five hours. It started at 7:00 pm and went until midnight (we got home around 1:00 am). In Demolition Derbies, old painted cars keep crashing into each other until only one or two are still running. They tow off the cars that are too crushed to drive and they start the next heat. They eventually have all of the finalists in one big round, "The Main Event," and the winner takes home $2000. They have other events like Powder Puff, Trucks, The Figure 8 Race, and Herby Derby. This specific Demolition Derby also included: dancing to the Macarena like our lives depended on it, an argument that required the assistance of 6 cops, lots of tow-trucks and tractors, free frisbees, tons of whiplash, 4 ambulances, 2 fires, 1 rollover, 1 truck's top had to be sawed off in order to get the driver out (she was also involved with one of the ambulance sightings), Miss "Wasatch County" complete with sash and tiara, the American Flag on top of a crane (not a flag pole), seeing cousins, picking our favorites and hoping they would win, and endless amounts of screaming and cheering. This was Jeremy's first Demolition Derby and he has already decided we are going again next year. That's how sweet it was. He kept turning to me and saying, "I had no idea it would be this fun. This is awesome"

Well, surprise! It is THAT fun! check out the pictures below...

and then the night ended with fireworks! Woohoo!

Another One!

From an empty lot in Provo we bring you another music video, click here to see the first one. We danced to "All I Ever Wanted" by Basshunter. It's a sweet song! We had way too much fun!! Thanks again to Jeremy for being in charge of the camera. You rock!

"Am I more handsome now?"

I just recently started volunteering at the Mental Hospital. I wanted to get volunteer hours there because I think I want to specialize in Mental Health. Well last night we had a big dance for the patients and it was so fun.

At the beginning of the dance everyone was just sitting on the sides and then Guy #1 came and asked me if I wanted to dance. I said yes and then he grabbed my hand and we headed for the dance floor (which was really the cement right in front of the DJ). We were the only two dancing for about two whole songs until a couple other volunteers finally joined us. Eventually, more and more people came out to dance.

Later after I took a quick water break, Guy #2 asked me to dance. While we were dancing, he told me I had a "nice little wiggle," and then suggested I go dance on the table and he would dance around me. I told him, "That would be CRAZY!" (obviously not the right thing to say to a patient at the Mental Hospital- oops!) but he replied with his hands in the air, "We ARE crazy!" Oh what a funny guy. I quickly changed my wording saying it would be dangerous and he said I looked pretty light and he would just catch me if I fell. Needless to say, I did not get on the table to dance.

One older gentleman, Guy #3, sure had some dance moves. He had a slight hunch in his back (similar to the one I will certainly have when I am older- scoliosis rocks!) and I bet he was in his late sixties. Every time he was dancing with me, he would keep getting closer and closer until I put my hand on his shoulder. Then he apologized for getting in my face- his wording not mine. He asked if I was married, I told him I was, then he said that I was too young for him anyway. This guy was really something. We kept dancing and dancing and then he started unbuttoning his shirt (he had another one underneath thank goodness) and as he was peeling it off he said, "Am I more handsome now?" So funny!

Throughout the entire dance Guy #4 (complete with a ponytail out the back of his hat and sunglasses) kept giving me pieces of candy. He wouldn't even say anything, we would just come out in the middle of the dance floor and offer me the candy. I took it, said thank you, and put it in my pocket after he wandered off. At the end of the dance when we were cleaning up, he came and offered me big handful. How sweet! My pockets were bulging by the time I made it out the door to head home.

We danced our hearts out for an hour and a half (we did the bunny hop, the macarena, the hokey pokey, the electric slide, the chicken dance, and more) and boy did my self-esteem ever sky rocket. So many people told me I was "really pretty" or that I was a good dancer. It was really fun! The people are just so nice.

If you ever need a lift, do some service. seriously.

Even better do some service with people who are very genuine and are just dying to be your friend. I am so glad I did.

i ♥ feet

i love to take pictures of feet...

click here or here for some of the evidence.

so when i saw the theme of "feet week" over at

i just had to join in on the fun. i have never submitted
anything but the theme for this week seemed to be MADE for me.

it was way hard deciding what feet picture of mine to submit...

but i think i will go with this one...


because sitting by the pool sounds just so relaxing.

(especially if its a pool in hawaii and you are on your honeymoon... i wanna go back!)

a wedding

today i helped my friend shoot this wedding. it was my first and it was so fun!

go here for more...

an apple, a rabbit, and a butterfly

I have a bridal shower to go to tomorrow. (and no its not mine)

My friend is having a baby girl and I thought it would be fun to spruce up some white onesies for her! I took a trip to Walmart for some needed supplies, finally opened up my new sewing machine that I got for Christmas (its only been seven months), and got started.

It was a slow start that's for sure or just slow throughout the whole process actually. After a while of.... cutting, ironing, cutting, peeling, ironing, sewing, messing with the dials, sewing, reading the manual, getting frustrated, messing with the dials, sewing the front of the onesie to the back, unpicking what I just sewed, getting frustrated, reading the manual, messing with the dials, more sewing, and finally figuring out the sewing machine (or the sewing monster)... I was done. I may or may not have had to take a break and play tennis with Jeremy for an hour before I could actually finish them. Well, here they are...

And if you can't tell what each figure is because of my amateur attempts (yeah, don't look too close at the stitching), check out the title of this post....

I sure hope my friend likes them.

Maybe I will throw in some chocolate...
then she will LOVE them.

bored?

not anymore!

play this game

p.s. i'm going to keep taking coumadin for a while

p.p.s jeremy and i have been married for 5 months! woohoo!

rat poison, needles, and goop

I went to the doctor on Wednesday for the good ol' blood clot.

He listened to my heart and my lungs- they are doing well. Then he looked at my legs- told me my left calf is definitely bigger (I know... by 2 cm, I measure it often). He messed with my legs a little more asking if anything hurt. Nope.

Then we talked for a looooooooong time.

He told me all about blood clots (like I'm a beginner). He drew pictures of how messed up my vein probably is (which he did last time, too- thanks!). He talked about how things were back in his day. He talked about studies that had been done, recent and not so recent. He gave me his opinion about compression socks- I added it to the others I have heard. He also gave me a small lecture on how blood thinner is not the correct term for my Coumadin (or rat poison), because it doesn't actually thin my blood. Coumadin is correctly called an Anti-Coagulant and it stops my blood from clotting. So when I eventually stop taking it, my blood won't suddenly thicken up and form tons of clots...ok. And he told me of all the high-risk activities I should avoid- sky diving, etc. I think that was about it for the idle chit-chat.

Then he got down to business.

He gave me my options, and let me choose: be referred to a lung specialist, be referred to a blood specialist, be referred to a vein specialist (but they are surgeons and will probably want to take your vein out), be referred to my original doctor who is now out of state and now I have different insurance, get an ultrasound (to look at the blood flow in my left leg) and then see if I can stop taking my Coumadin, or just stop taking Coumadin and see what happens.

My doctor was all for the last option of "just stop taking Coumadin and see what happens." Did he know how big my blood clot was to start out with? I don't think so! He didn't really see the point in getting an ultrasound because in almost every case the vein opens up, so we might as well just skip it and take me off of the stuff now. But if I had shortness of breath, etc that he would want me to come in- Yeah right, I would have to go straight to the ER. He asked me how I felt about it. Obviously, I said I would feel way more comfortable getting an ultrasound first.

So he ordered one. Battle won!

The nurse called the Imaging Center for me and they had a spot open that day. She asked if I had a car. Yes. Perfect, Go there right now. Ok, I have to get my blood drawn for my PT/INR test, do I have time? Yes. Ok, thank you.

I got my blood drawn- they use the same vein every time and I feel like they should know me by name now.

I went outside and remembered that Jeremy had the car and he was at work. Luckily, it was close and I had a set of keys with me, so all I had to do was find the car. After 10 minutes of searching in the heat of the afternoon: Bam! Found it! I hurried to the Imaging Center for my requested ultrasound.

A cool, red-headed, freckled face girl (I don't even know her name) took me to the room for my ultrasound. I put on the paper shorts and we got started- goop and all. (They put the goop on a little warming plate these days so its all nice and warm when they slosh it all over you. I was wishing that it was cold because I had just been running around a parking lot searching for my car- yes, cold goop would have been way more refreshing.) She turned the screen towards me during the ultrasound so I could see the veins in my leg. Every so often she would squeeze my calf and I could see the blood go through the veins- sweet! Things were looking good- at least that's what she told me. But she had to check my leg three different ways. There was about 40 minutes of squeezing my leg, adding more and more goop to it, and scanning every inch to see what is going on, while I watched the screen eager to know what it all meant.

When she was done she told me that the blood flow in my leg is looking really good in my thigh and also in my lower leg, but behind my knee the blood clot still survives-ugh. So by the looks of the ultrasound my leg is getting way better! YAY! And then she gave me a little towel to get the huge amounts of gel off of me leg, those towels really should be bigger, and I was off to get back to work. (I was on my lunch break... a really looooooong one I guess.)

So that all happened Wednesday...

And I just got a call from my doctor today- while I was writing this post actually- with my lab results (still WAY low) and also the official ultrasound report. Again we talked for a looooooong time. And after everything- the studies he's read, the questions, the conferences he's been to about DVT, etc- he has left the decision up to me.

I have the weekend to talk to my husband, my parents, and you devout readers (haha) about whether I should continue taking the rat poison or just stop. And then I can call him next week and tell him what I want to do.

There are risks either way. I would go into it all and get you totally confused and not knowing what to do either, but I am so sick of writing about it and thinking about it right now... my head is swarming... and I kind of feel like crying- don't hug me or else I will certainly start.

Forever Young

I was looking back at some of my old posts from when I started this blog and came across this one.

Since I still get mistaken for being way younger than I actually am, I thought I would add a couple recent stories into the mix.

So in continuation with this old post of mine, I present:

Case #5
Last October right after I got back from Romania, we thought I was having a stroke one night, so my dad and I went to the hospital around 9:00 pm. A nurse in the emergency room was surprised when she read on my medical reports that I was 20. I asked her how old she thought I was and she said "13 or 14." I was thinking to myself, "I am getting married in 4 months and I look like I am 14 years old... nice." (P.S. I ended up being fine... I had a complex migraine that was effecting my eyesight, speech, and feeling in my hands. No biggie- I was home by 1:30 am.)

Case #6
This one happened on our honeymoon to Hawaii. We were just about to board the plane for the flight back to the mainland and the guy taking our tickets asked if we were on our honeymoon? Another couple had just boarded and they were on theirs, too. We said yes we were. He then looked at me, told me I looked young, and asked if I was even old enough to get married. I proudly declared that I was 20 years old, definitely old enough to get married, and took off for the plane.


I am still looking young, but since I chopped my hair off (the second time around), I like to think that I am looking a little more my age. But we can only hope.

pedallin' away

i wore a dress to work today... remember that. we just got our car washed inside and out last weekend... remember that, too.


jeremy and i got these lovely red bikes today, courtesy of my grandma and grandpa. they haven't used them in a while and gave them to us. thank you!! the bikes have been at the bike shop getting a little tune-up and we picked them up today... and boy was it quite the event.

we decided to go get the bikes on my lunch break today, i clocked out at 12:05 and had an hour- plenty of time (or so i thought).

the bike shop is five blocks from our place. so my idea was to drive home, walk to the bike shop, and then we both ride the bikes home. but for some reason jeremy wasn't feeling my plan. we ended up driving straight to the shop- jeremy was sure he could fit the bikes in the back seat of our little camry.

we paid for the repairs and headed outside. jeremy was still sure that he could fit the bikes inside the back of the car. i told him i didn't think so, handed him my purse- which contained my phone and my keys (yeah really smart)- and rode home on one of the bikes. yes, even while wearing my cute light blue dress.

i arrived home in like three minutes and after sitting on the doorstep waiting for sweet jeremy to come home... i thought to myself, "there is no way that he is getting that bike in the car. and he is not going to just leave the bike or car there. i don't have my phone. that was dumb to give him my purse. well, i better start walking back." i tried to pick the route i thought he would drive just in case he magically got the remaining bike in the car and was on his way.

i walked and walked and walked and walked (remember that primary song?) and i conveniently ran into my visiting teacher, dear olivia. how wonderful?! she was on her lunch break, too, and she was walking home. we had the same cute flats on from good old payless. more importantly, she let me borrow her phone to call my sweet husband. he quickly confirmed that he couldn't get the bike in the car- shocker there- and i told him i was on my way. i thanked olivia and told her i would see her thursday (when i thought our visiting teaching appointment was) and she said she would see me tomorow (when the visiting teaching appointment really was). "oh ok... sounds good," i yelled back as i took off for my love.

i walked some and ran some this time, because i knew j was in need. so i arrived sweaty and screaming, "i'm here for you jeremy, i'm here for you!" he asked if i would like to ride the other bike home or if i would like to drive the air-conditioned car home? i took the car and beat him home. i got inside and looked at the clock and saw that i had to be back not just at work at my desk in 20 minutes...

he came in a couple minutes later... i complained of the tire marks the bike left on my dress and he got the oxy clean out and asked if it would get grease out. "what grease?" "well i got some grease on the seats" "Are you SERIOUS? we just got the car washed!" yada yada yada... katie's mad. jeremy's sorry. katie's still mad. "can i have a hug and kiss? i don't like it when you're mad at me." "well you better get the grease out while i am at work."


i gathered some food and jeremy made me a sandwich (he is just so sweet) to eat when i got back to work. we hurried to the car so i can hopefully get back in time. i looked at the back seat to find the grease stain and... it was huge! seriously... way bigger than what i thought. i was even more ticked, "why didn't we just go with my idea?!?" but jeremy dropped me back off at work with the promise that it would be gone by the time i was done with work.


an hour and a half later i get a text proudly declaring that the back seat was grease free! i guess dish soap did the trick. it looks perfect..

Thanks Lovey!

Lesson Learned Today- listen to your wife's good ideas

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

AMERICA! the big 2-3-3!

above image graciously borrowed from here

our patriotic weekend was filled with bowling, going out for a good old fashioned American breakfast, singing the star-spangled banner 1.5 times, shooting guns (the boys were remembering the wars fought to secure our freedom i'm sure), shopping at the outlets and getting great deals (supporting our great economy), escaping the afternoon heat with long naps & funny movies, as well as the following that i remembered to take pictures of...

we played dominoes. mexican train to be more specific, but i don't think that game is very politically correct. and now that i am thinking about it, i am really not sure why we played it on the 4th of July anyway.

we had a delicious dinner of flank steak, twice baked potatoes, rolls, corn on the cob, & watermelon (not that i ate those last two things). but it was good. check out our table decorations... it was pretty much last minute- we just put fireworks & confetti stars on the table.

we watched the fireworks...

and then we set off our own...

and lastly... we played with sparklers! i love sparklers! we had way too much fun.

writing our names... ok, so just me writing our names

dancing in the street!

for my little brother.... so he can see the great job he did at writing his name

we had a blast with my family! love you guys!