Give Thanks

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, I tried to take some time to think of all of the things that I have to be thankful for.

• My husband.  In the five short months that we have been married, we have already been through a lot (not so fun honeymoon and dealing with me being sick).  Kyle has been by my side through everything and I can't imagine having a better partner to go through this journey with.  
• My friends.  I am so blessed to have such a great group of friends!  They are there for me no matter what, standing beside me on my wedding day, meeting me for coffee to catch up, giving much needed advice, the list goes on.  I don't know where I would be without those ladies.
• My family.  I am very fortunate to have the best parents in the world.  They love me no matter what and have supported me through everything.  I would not be the person that I am without them nor would I be where I am.  I also have the best in-laws a girl could ask for, they are so supportive of Kyle and I and have helped us to get to where we are.  
• My job.  I am very grateful this holiday season to have a great job.  I have been with my new company for six months and couldn't be happier.  I work with a wonderful group of people and I get to perform work that is challenging and I am constantly learning something new. 
• My health.  Even though I have struggled with my health over the last five months, I am still grateful that I am generally healthy.  My disease is not life-threatening and I am currently at a stage where it is under better control than it has been since the wedding. 

There are so many other things I could add to this list (extended family, the pups, a roof over our heads, etc).  It's nice to take a step back every once in a while and remember all the things in life we have to be thankful for.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

What do I want to be when I grow up?

Thursday, I had the chance to speak in front of my niece's careers class about my "career".  What an adult word...."career".  I kind of thought I still just had a job :).  I guess that whole going to college thing and picking a major would eventually lead to a career.  I'm not going to lie, it was a bit intimidating standing in front of a group of 13 year olds explaining why I liked accounting.  Even more difficult was trying to explain what accounting is and what an accountant does to teenagers who are just learning what a checking account is and how to work one. I would like to say that I left them on the edge of their seats, excited about becoming an accountant :).  In reality, I think I was lucky they were all still awake by the time I was done!  I forget how un-interested we are at that age.  Having to think about what you want to be when you grown seems like such a far away concept at 13.  Of course, at 26 I still don't think I know what I want to be when I "grow up".  I know that I like what I am doing in my current job, I love the people that I work with, but this is definitely not what I want to do long-term.  Of course, I have no idea what I DO want to do.  I keep hoping that it will just fall into my lap :).

In other news, I can't believe that Thanksgiving is already this coming week!  Kyle and I are planning to make the trek to western Kansas to get together with his dad's side of the family.  I made a deal with him to not drag him to 15 family functions over the holidays, so we are just going to be doing one family get together for turkey day.  I will be a little sad not to see as much family over the holidays, but I am looking forward not having to spend so much time on the road traveling.  We will have the opportunity to relax and spend more quality time with family, which really is what the holidays are all about.

Last night a couple of my favorite ladies came over to our house for a cooking extravaganza!  Rachelle found this fabulous butternut squash lasagna recipe in the KC Star that she had been dying to try, so we decided to take on the task.  Boy was the recipe involved!  It ended up taking us almost 2 1/2 hours from start to finish to get the lasagna completed.  I couldn't imagine trying to make this by myself, but it was a recipe that was completely worth it!  And to top it off it was so much fun to be able to make a big production from start to finish with some wonderful ladies.  My soul felt "full" after last night, sometimes you just need those nights in with friends full of laughter, fun and good food.  We also made some pumpkin bread pudding that was pretty good (it would have been fabulous had I remembered to add the brown sugar....whoops!!). 

I'm looking forward to a short 2 day week! 

What's a girl to do....

I find myself this Friday night in a very unfamiliar situation, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself!  Kyle has taken both of our puppies (which I thought I would be okay with, but am now reconsidering my thoughts on this) and has trekked out to western Kansas for the weekend for a boys hunting extravaganza.  I am officially home alone for the weekend without any plans! 

At first, I was super excited at the idea of having a weekend completely to myself, without any plans.  There are so many things that I thought I would want to accomplish (Thank you notes, clean the house, organize my closet, thank you notes, thank you notes).  Let's just say my motivation to accomplish lots has wained :)...and now I'm starting to feel as if I could get bored!  Ugh, what's a girl to do!  If I get bored enough, I may be tempted to go shopping....which is dangerous.  I'm thinking new boots, a new skirt (because I discovered on Monday that none of my skirts I own fit), and anything else I can find on sale :).  Kyle should have never left me home alone this weekend :).

In other news, I have to say I am definitely ready to start coming off of my prednisone.  When I first started taking it, I didn't feel a lot of the side effects that come with taking the drug.  That has changed over the last couple of weeks.  I am constantly hungry!  This is not good for keeping off all of the weight that I have lost through this whole sickness over the last few months.  Not that I lost the weight in a healthy way (20 pounds in 15 days) but I do notice I feel better not carrying around so much weight and I would like to keep off as much of the weight as possible.  I am trying to start to get back to normal activity, but I am still only able to manage about 30 - 40 minutes of light activity (slow to moderate walking with very light weights).  In addition, I'm still on a somewhat limited diet (low fiber - which limits the healthy foods that I can eat - no whole grains and I still am limited on which fruits/veggies I can have).  I am slowly adding back foods each day, but it's a slow process.  I miss wheat bread, salads, broccoli, popcorn, those sorts of things!  Who would have thought.

I started to try to download our photographers wedding photos to my computer, and it didn't like it.  I got the blue screen of death.  I am going to have to wait until I get a new computer to download my pictures :(.  I've got my eye on a new Mac desktop computer.  I have so many friends that rave about their macs that I think I'm going to become a convert.  I'll have to wait though until after Christmas though, I need to save, save, save and I think it's going to take about that long without stretching our budget.  It'll be worth it though!

Well, I've been able to pass some time tonight.  Happy weekend!

Fall back!

Who's excited about Daylight Savings time ending this weekend and getting an extra hour of sleep on Sunday.......this girl!  Not that one hour is going to make a world of difference, but I will gladly take any extra hour of sleep I can get.  Damn this prednisone for waking me up in the middle of the night....every night.

Besides looking forward to the gloriousness that is the weekend, things have been relatively quiet in the McGuire household.  This last weekend we ventured to Manhattan to watch the Wildcats struggle against the Cowboys.  Even though the game could have gone better, we had such a good time with all of our friends and family.  Abby and Travis made the trek all the way from Colorado, the in-laws came up for the weekend, and my parents were up for the game as well.  We also got to catch up with lots of friends that we don't get to see enough (and a certain little baby G who's getting bigger and bigger!).  All in all such a good weekend!

On other random thoughts, I have been really trying hard to plan out meals for the week ahead of time and then buying all of the groceries that I need on Sunday for the week.  I am now two weeks into this venture and so far it seems to be working.  However, I feel like I am starting to run out of recipe ideas already!  I am a bit limited in the types of foods I can eat (no whole grains, no raw fruits or vegetables, limited low fiber cooked veggies) which limits the recipe options, but I am continually on the hunt for more recipe ideas that are quick and easy that make for good leftovers during the week.  Suggestions are always welcome :).

This was a quick blog update.  I'm hoping to finally download some wedding pics this weekend!!  I'll try to post some soon. 

Sick...Sick...Sick

As most of you probably have heard, I recently had to be admitted to the hospital for 8 days due to a severe flare-up of my ulcerative colitis.  I was diagnosed with this disease in July 2008.  Basically, ulcerative colitis is when your immune system for some reason (the medical profession still has not yet determined why) begins to attack your large intestine (aka colon) because something in your body has changed (again, they don't know what/why) that causes the attacks.  Symptoms can vary greatly, and so can the length of the colon that is affected.  I'll spare you the gory details, but www.ccfa.org is a fantastic website that has a lot of great information about the disease. 

A couple of frustrating things about the disease:  doctors do not know what causes the disease, they don't know what triggers a flare-up, and there is no real cure for the disease (besides having surgery to remove your entire colon).  At this point in time they only know how to try to treat and manage the disease, or like I mentioned above, surgically remove the entire colon to remove the diseased organ.  It is not a life threatening disease, but has a major impact on quality of life especially during a flare-up.

When I was diagnosed, I learned that my mom also has this disease, so it was kind of a bonding/surprising moment to know that we shared something like this.  When I was diagnosed, I had a very mild form of the disease that was pretty manageable and did not really interfere with my every day life.  From the time I was diagnosed until June 2010 I had only 3 flares that were mild and manageable. 

This all changed literally the day after our wedding.  I had a moderate to severe flare-up come on and was in full force during our honeymoon.  Let's just say I couldn't stay away from the bathroom for more than 2 hours at a time and was generally uncomfortable our whole trip to Mexico.  Bless Kyle's heart for sticking with me through the whole trip, he really was so supportive.  When we got back from Mexico I immediately worked with my GI doctor to try and treat this new flare-up.  Over the course of the next two months through trial and error with different medications (at one point I was taking 13-15 pills a day plus other forms of medication) I thought I was starting to get my flare-up under control.  My symptoms had pretty much subsided and I was able to feel like a "normal" person again.  The normal feeling unfortunately only lasted about 3 weeks and my flare-up went from bad to worse.  My doctor ordered me to have a colonoscopy on 9/24 to get a better look at what was going on.  The news was not good.  My inflammation had spread from just being on the left side of my colon to my entire colon and was labeled as severe.  My doctor immediately put me on the highest dose of prednisone he could to quell the inflammation in my bowels, but warned me that if in a week I did not see improvement, he was probably going to have to put me in the hospital. 

The prednisone did not work and on 10/4, my doctor made the decision to put me into the hospital.  He ordered me on complete GI rest which meant no eating/drinking anything, and they had to put a feeding tube in my arm to make sure I got all the nutrients I needed.  At this point from 9/15 to the day they put me in the hospital I had lost 18 pounds, pretty scary.  On the first night they also brought in a colorectal surgeon to discuss possibly removing my colon.  At this point I was sick enough that the surgeon suggested I was a good candidate and that if I wanted, he would go ahead and schedule surgery.  Talk about scary!  Personally, I am very attached to my internal organs and I just had a hard time accepting that I didn't have any other options.  I really wanted to give the GI rest a try and see if there was any way that my body could heal itself (with the help of the GI rest and high doses of IV prednisone).  After being on GI rest for about 5 days, lots of prayers, and lots of love from those around me my body finally started responding positively to my treatments.  I continued to improve enough to be able to eat soft foods and be taken off of my feeding tube after 2 more days.  Finally after being in the hospital for 8 days, I was able to go home! 

I continue to improve each day, though I am still not "better" in the sense that I can function like a "normal" person.  It has taken me the last two weeks to build back up my strength in my muscles and to be able to do normal activities like go to the grocery store, go to work, shopping etc.  I know it will take more a few more months before I will be able to feel like a real person again that can eat what she wants, do what she wants and not let my bowels control me.  That being said, I feel better today than I have in such a long time, and I am looking forward to continued improvement.

As a sum to all this, I just want to say a BIG, BIG thank you to all of the friends and family who have prayed for me, sent me flowers while I was in the hospital, sent me cards, visited me and just generally showed their love and support for me during this difficult time.  I am so blown away at the love and support I have had during this whole time and I know that these things have been so helpful in my recovery.  I love you all so much and I know I wouldn't be feeling as good as I do without you.

The other person that deserves a mention (ok, so not even just a mention, but probably Husband of the Year award) is Kyle.  Who would have thought that we would have been so challenged during the first months of our marriage as we have been.  Kyle has been my rock through this whole ordeal, keeping my spirits up, laughing with me, crying with me and being the most supportive and loving husband anyone could ask for.  I don't know what I would do without him.  I thank God that he gave me Kyle.

Okay, so enough of the mushy stuff :).

I'll complete another post shortly to update on the happy happenings in the McGuire house!

Computer Down!

About two weeks ago my laptop at home decided to crash on me.  This is the second time since May it has done this.  The first time it crashed, I was able to revive my laptop by taking the CD that came with my computer when I bought and re-install the operating system.  Unfortunately, I lost all my pictures (including my Europe pictures, which were by far the most heartbreaking), but at least my computer was still working.  This second time, I can't get my computer to start up enough to even use the disc to reset my computer again.  Sad.  RIP computer.  I would love to go out and get a new computer (I have my eyes on getting an Apple desktop computer), but for now I'll just have to save up our money and wait. 

I finally stopped procrastinating and went to the social security office to get my name changed.  That part was a lot easier than I thought, and the wait was relatively minimal compared to what I expected it to be.  The hard part is going to be getting my name changed on all the little things:  credit cards, insurance cards, doctor's records, work email, driver's license (I loathe going to the DMV), etc.  Guys don't realize how easy they have it on this end! 

I went last week for training in Dallas for my job.  Usually I find training to be pretty boring, the instructors to be uninteresting (and honestly not that excited to be there) and I tend to catch myself doing the head bob during the middle of the day.  I was pleasantly surprised by this training. I was engaged pretty much the entire time, I felt like the training material was relevant and informative, and the instructor was amazing!!  She's an accounting professor for the University of Texas -San Antonio.  She knew her stuff! (and she did such an awesome job of presenting the information, giving lots of relevant examples)  She has renewed my interest in one day possible becoming a college professor.  Let's just say there's more time than not that I wonder if I'm doing something that really captures my interest, if I'm doing something that I really want to be doing for the rest of my life.  I know that most of the time I find the concepts of accounting interesting, but to be in the practice of it is so much different.  I enjoy people interaction so much, which is why I sometimes feel the pull towards becoming a professor and teaching.  This isn't something I would do right now, but definitely something I plan to keep on my radar for the next few years.

I've also lately been spending a lot of time thinking about finding something (a hobby) that I find fun and am passionate about.  Anyone who knows my husband or has met him can easily tell you his passions.  These are things I knew about him within a week.  Let's just say that I have always been envious of the fact (and admire) that he knows exactly what he's passionate about and doesn't care what everyone else thinks.  On top of this, I stumbled on a friend of a friends' blog post regarding people's passions.  In her post she described that during an interview, she was asked what it was that she was passionate about.  She went on to describe that everyone should be passionate about something and should be self aware enough to know what that is.  I kind of sat and thought for a minute, I have no idea what I'm passionate about!  I enjoy a lot of things:  cooking, spending time with friends and family, playing softball; but I don't know if I would say I was passionate about any of these things.  So I had a good talk with my closest friend to get some guidance on the topic of passions.  If anyone knows about having a passion, it's her.  She's known since college, high school, as long as I've known her what she's passionate about.  She's even currently turning her life upside down right now to chase her passion.  It makes me so proud of her that she's taking those courageous steps.  She's been a good sounding board on this topic.  I don't know if I'm that much closer to an answer of what I could be passionate about, but I have been able to find a direction I feel like in getting closer to an idea.

Whoo.  Long post!  I finally got our wedding pics back from our photographer so I will post some next time!

Customer Service?

I just have to take a second to vent.

I am starting to be of the belief that the old days of quality customer service are quickly going by the wayside.  Let me explain.

When I decided to leave my old job in May, unfortunately I had to change my cell phone plan from my company's plan to a plan in my name (a.k.a. I now had to pay for my blackberry!).  When I first transferred my plan into my name, I asked the customer service rep to please add a text messaging plan so I wouldn't get charged per text message.

Fast forward one month.  I go in to pay my cell phone bill at the local Verizon store, and find out that the text messaging plan still had not been added.  I asked the store rep to please add the text plan to my overall plan so I didn't get charged per message. 

At this point we're about two weeks before the wedding.  Let's just say I didn't make the best effort to follow-up to make sure text messaging was added to my plan.  About a week after we return from the honeymoon, I find out text messaging is still not added to my plan.  At this point, I now have two bills outstanding with a ridiculous amount of extra charges for my text messages.

Over the course of the next month (right up until today), it took me two more calls to customer service to get a text messaging plan added to my overall plan (that's right, it took 4 tries just to get text messaging).  It took me three failed attempts to get a customer service supervisor on the phone (the first two times I gave up after waiting on hold for 45 minutes each time).  I actually had one customer service rep ask me if I knew how to pay my bill (I politely explained that I knew how to pay my bill while also asking if she knew how to do her job).  I let her know I'd be happy to pay my bill, as soon as they could get it right.

In all of these attempts to get my billing issue corrected with Verizon, I never once dealt with a customer service representative that was polite, sympathetic, and even wanted to do their job correctly.  By the time I got to the last rep today, I was completely at my wits end.  I understand that you don't go to school with aspirations of dealing with cranky people complaining about how you screwed up their bill; but it's still their job and you should work to do your job well.  There is a lady I work with who's job it is to keep the common areas and restrooms clean, and she is the happiest, most polite, fun person to talk to.  She has fun doing her job and she does it well.

Needless to say, I was ready to cancel my service with Verizon.  Never have I experienced such horrific customer service.  Finally, FINALLY tonight I was able to talk to two individuals who were able to help me figure out how to get my bill corrected, pay the correct balance, and do it without a bad attitude, snide remark or a response involving, "I'm sorry, my system won't let me do that."  Big thank you to the guy who stayed on the phone with me for an hour and 15 minutes tonight to make sure I could get the correct credits to my account.  He totally made my night, and maybe restored a little faith in customer service reps, just a little.