Deyas of Our Lives

Rockclimbing and other mischief

2009-07-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

Now it's not the same as outdoors, but with the right friends, it's a blast!
At one point, Kristin left Mary and I alone w/ her car (aka mini sports club...) so we might've had some fun...
enjoy the pics!!

James and the Giant Waterslide

2009-06-02T20:56:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday I was able to spend some time at a party with my 2nd favorite little boy, James. He is my boss' 2 yr old who for whatever unexplicable reason, thinks I'm the coolest. Maybe because I know all the characters in the movies "The Incredibles" and "Cars"..

The funny thing about James is he is SUPER cautious. There was a giant waterslide and his mom kept asking if he wanted to go down it and he kept saying no. He sat in the house playing with his cars. I finally asked him if he would go down the slide with me and suddenly it sounded like a good idea. I perhaps should have thought this through....

Why would it be a good idea to be responsible for my boss' first born, on a really steep ride, that deep down, when honest with myself, I knew he was terrified of? No, it'll be more fun with a kid! So I carry him all the way to the top and we position ourselves to slide down...

At the top it occurs to me, this is not smart. If something happens to this kid, there are witnesses. Oh yeah, and there is his mother filming this...evidence!! What am I thinking!!??? Wave to your mom James, here we go!

James stood up as soon as we hit the water and started screaming bloody murder. I couldn't stop laughing because he made this face... he then immediately rode it again with his dad.

Why I Should Shave My Head

2009-04-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, my hair-dryer died. Of course it happened while I was in the middle of drying my hair and making a sad, sad little noise like a dying cat. Luckily it was a Saturday and I didn't have anywhere I had to be, so ponytail it was. After "borrowing" Jillian's hair-dryer for two weeks, I finally sucked it up and bought a new one. Now any girl will agree with me, this is not something we enjoy spending money on, but a necessity nonetheless. Annoying. So I figured if I had to get one, I would get the cute hot pink one with all the attachments and the retractable cord. More expensive, but worth the investment. It was hot pink after all!

So the second time I use my fancy new hair-dryer, I'm round brushing (you ladies know how coordinated you have to be for this) and notice.....gray hair. So while the hair-dryer is still going I'm leaning into the mirror in pure horror and disbelief examining my scalp. Due to my dismayed distraction I dropped my new hair-dryer. No big deal, right? Did I mention I was leaning over the sink that was soaking my egg-dyed shirt? So the still blowing hair-dryer falls into the water-filled sink. Splash!! Smoke, and other sad electrical noises. I know I should turn it off, but I'm scared to touch anything and electrocute my pacemaker. So I finally grabbed my rubber handled brush and start hitting the plug over and over until I knock it out of the wall. It finally turns off and all I hear is a glub glub bubble coming up from the sink. Once I finally pulled it out of its little watery graveyard, water poured from both ends.

Now my hair is half fixed, half wet. I'm late for work and have to find Jillian's hair-dryer once again. That was a fun text to send my boss. Luckily she laughed when I reenacted the entire scene for her at work after being 40 mins late.

I guess I am not meant to own a hair-dryer.

Spring Break in DC

2009-04-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Since BYU never gave us Spring Breaks and I've been watching all the college kids playing in Orlando, I felt I was long overdue for a break of my own. Lake and Elysa were more than generous to offer up their apt as a relaxing getaway for a few days and bonus I got to hang out with them! Double bonus- it just happened to be Cherry Blossom time in DC! I mean seriously- the whole city turned itself pink for me! How great is that? You can't feel more welcomed and relaxed than that!?! I took a whole day just walking around by myself while they were working and in class. When is the last time you actually stopped to smell (and take pics of) the flowers? It was so great. We had a good time the three of us all weekend!! So here are some pics from the weekend. Somehow Lake managed to only end up in one. :( He was there, I promise.

Ticker Update

2009-03-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

It was called to my attention I have not given any updates as to the original intention of this blog... my heart check-ups for family. Soooo sorry. It doesn't bother me much so I kinda forget others are worrying about it! Well, I had a check up on Wednesday and received two pieces of good news...
1. I have "graduated" to annual visits! (insert pomp and circumstance here...) This is great news because I'm doing well, or they're just trying to get rid of me. I'm not sure, but I was taught not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
2. This is my favorite one yet...I have been cleared to do something I REALLY miss doing and is something really hard for me NOT do living in Orlando. Have you guessed what it is? I can ride roller coasters again!!! WOO HOO!

I think this should be my first one, what do you think Mom?

Who's with me?

I'm getting a nephew

2009-03-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true! Lake and Elysa are having a baby boy and in true little sister fashion I am living to spoil the kid and torment my brother. I have nicknamed baby bump Wall-e ....don't ask and thus far my contributions to instill a sense of humor in this child are this:Wall-e's other aunt, Aunt Lulu, has found onsies that say things like "I like to hit the bottle", "I'm kind of a big deal", and "Fat kids are harder to kidnap". Any other suggestions for evil doting aunts??

Relaxing Sunday Afternoon

2009-03-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

I went with some of my friends to a dog park this afternoon with Cally and her new friend Citgo. Cally got groomed yesterday so she had the time of her life strutting her stuff and showing off her little bows. Note to self, dog parks are dusty, sandy, drooly, and muddy. Not the best idea for the day after a grooming....

We got home just in time to watch the shuttle launch. We saw the lift on tv and then ran out into the driveway to watch the rest in the sky! So beautiful!

Frustrations Solved

2009-03-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

When I first moved into this house, there was this scary crazy bush by the front door. I'm not sure what it was supposed to actually be, but I finally went and bought some pink gardening gloves and shears, waited for warmer weather (yes it actually gets cold here), and two hours of pent up frustration outlet later, voila!Who knew there was a double palm under there!! It's so cute and I can actually see my front door! I've always wanted to say, just look for the house with the red door, and now I can since you can finally see it!

P.S. Don't judge my lawn, I'm working on it...

Jillian's Bday

2009-01-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

In true fashion, we had a Hannah Montana party! The poor people at the Olive Garden were very understanding of our little treat bags, stickers, party blowers, and cake! Awhile ago I had a purple Hannah Montana guitar that was autographed by Miley Cyrus for an auction for work. Jillian found it by accident and got so excited asking if that was her birthday present. So I recreated the guitar in cake form. That's close enough, right? I even had Miley sign birthday wishes to her in icing! So here are some pics from our little birthday party and it goes to show you, never let me be in charge of a theme! (and yes, we made everyone wear Hannah Montana stickers all night, including the boys! How did we manage that? The rule was they could pick the first sticker and if it "disappeared", we got to pick the second one. Not all the stickers had Hannah on them so it was definitely in their best interest to play along)Two nights later I was fortunate enough to tag along with her to celebrate with her parents at the Yacht and Beach Club steakhouse for dinner. It was so yummy and we had leftovers! What more could girls want?

My Little Pony mania for GKTW

2008-09-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

As some of you know (since I've been talking about it for months) Give Kids The World has teamed up with the Hasbro line My Little Pony. We have been getting celebrities and famous artists to design their own versions of large My Little Ponies for an online auction that benefits Give Kids The World. Well, the auction started yesterday and the ponies look awesome!!! I wanted to share them with you so you could see how cute they are! And the first pony that is purple, Twinkle Hope, is a GKTW pony that will be put into production for little girls to play with everywhere and a percentage of the sales goes to GKTW. I'll let everyone know when you can buy them. Here's the link and a few pics of my favs...

Here's my girl Twinkle Hope! They added some extra bling to her for the auction.

This one is by LeAnn Rimes. She had her nail technician help with the design. Just goes to show you really can't go wrong with a good manicure! And it reminds me of rainbow brite. :)

A Japanese manga artist (no clue what that means) Junko Munoz designed this. I like her furry bonnet and her great Geisha shoes!!

This one is done by an artist/designer Claw Money. How great are her Nikes?!?

This one by two of my fav celebs Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette.

Designers Maze and St. Roman best known for their clothing line Kid Robot did the pretty pink carousel pony. She has a great Farrah Fawcett shag and in my favorite color!

Long Weekend Fun

2008-09-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Chris had to work all weekend, but I was able to get in some fun with Jillian and her parents for her dad's birthday. Between boating around the Polynesian Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, it was great! Going to Disney with Jillian is like learning all the secrets to the parks. Did you know you can ride in the front of the monorail with the driver?!?! Me neither! But between Jillian's persuasive talking and Mr. Paciello's birthday button, we were able to do it. So fun!!Captain Jillian and her crew!

Sexy glasses for Mickey's Philharmagic.

Us in the front of the monorail. The view was amazing!!!

Fay Went Away

2008-08-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Several people have been asking how we are with the hurricanes. We are great! Our lawn was watered enough for the rest of the year, so we are good! The winds didn't hurt us, but it just poured for days. Chris kept wondering when we moved to Vancouver. Cally did not enjoy the hurricane as much, but we did end up with some great pics of her. Poor Chris had the roughest time, though. Even after the rain stopped, the golf course was closed for days due to flooding. Chris even went out one day to find ducks swimming down the 16th fairway!

The street in front of our house.

Our little trooper. Cally is terrified of thunder and rainstorms due to a traumatic experience as a puppy before we got her. We were very proud of her although she looks a little more like Paddington Bear here.

Chris took this in one of his sad attempts to go golfing. The floaty things in bottom left of the water are birds swimming on the golf course!

Here you Go!

2008-08-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

So once a month, I have to work a night shift. I enjoy these shifts as I get to see our awesome evening entertainment and I have waited a full year to see one of our Entertainment shows, "Safari Double Dare" because one of the staff members threatened to pie me in the face. He no longer works on Monday nights and a few people have come and gone in the department so I felt it pretty safe to finally check out the show. What was I thinking?!?!?!??!

They did find the most innocent looking little girl dressed in a pink dress with pink shoes just for me. But she was not that innocent! She got me good and then rubbed the whole thing in my hair too!And for future reference to everyone: whipped cream turns into a bit of a pomade in your hair which some volunteers had fun with. Hence the picture in the previous post. The bonus was I smelled like a candy store for about two hours. Then the dairy started to sour. Not so bonus. I washed my hair and face 3 times. When I woke up this morning, Chris suggested one more time. :)

Coming Soon....

2008-08-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

....The explanation for this picture:

He's Back!

2008-07-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

He's back!
Cally and I missed him and we're happy to have him after his month long excursions with Golf Channel. I know he was glad to be back too after being stranded at 2 different airports!!! The lawn missed him too- I still haven't figured out how to start the mower. I'm just glad we didn't get a letter from the HOA. :)

Boise Part 3

2008-07-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

You can't go to any type of wedding celebration and walk away unscathed from an awkward social situation. Boise was no exception. (How many words can I use that end in -tion?) I expected something being as how I hadn't seen Jackie since my own wedding over 5 years ago and her family even longer. I knew no one else there but my own parents. There was bound to be some awkwardness among meeting of new friends, right? Well, wrong. I'm not shy and I pretty much get along with everyone, so the awkward social situation had to come from left field- completely unexpected.

So this very nice-looking woman comes and sits down next to me at the table fairly late into the evening and asks me if I am Deya Dishman.
"Um...(there is hesitation as no one has called me that in awhile)..yes."
"You hit my car."
"Excuse me?"
"You hit my car. During one of your concerts. You left a note. "
(crickets chirping...)
"I'm sorry...?"
"I know. But you hit my car."
"I did. And I'm sorry. We did take care of all of that right?"
"Yes. I've just always wanted to put a face with your name."

For the record, one of the few times my dad let me drive his car, I slid sideways in a parking lot on the ice into a parked car- 9 years ago! I know, I know, I hit a parked car, but isn't the more ridiculous thing here that this lady held onto it for 9 years!?!?!

Boise Part 2

2008-07-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here are pics from the reception that night. It was held at the Boise Art Museum and of course the featured exhibit was cockroaches! Poor Jackie, but we avoided that wing of the museum. :) I kept trying to add the music, but the only song I liked was Colbie Callait's Tailor Made and I couldn't get it to work...so hum it in your head while you watch. :)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trip to Boise Part 1

2008-07-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took a whirlwind trip to Boise to celebrate my best friend from high school's marriage. I flew into Salt Lake REALLY late on Thurs and spent the night at the parents' house- and see the petting zoo- yes they're all still alive!! :) ...the animals...and the parents...moving on......before driving Mom's new Prius the 7-hour trip(yeah Lake, it was 7, not 4 so thank Google Maps for the helpful insight on that one). They even let me drive! I love saving energy and gas with these prices!! Friday night was a really casual BBQ and I was finally able to Jackie who I haven't seen since my wedding!!!!!!!! Oh, and do you like how my parents and I all packed separately, in two states that are ACROSS the country from each other, with no spare outfits, and we were the little matchy matchy family from a catalog? Saturday morning Jackie and I were able to sneak off and have brunch just the two of us and catch up. Then she ran off to rest up for her big night and I was able to enjoy the downtown street market with Mom and Dad.Here we are checking out the duct tape purses. Yes, those are 100% duct tape! I'm a firm believer you can solve most of life's problems with duct tape (especially in florescent flamingo thanks to Paul Bodmer). I'm just not sure how I feel about my purse getting that nasty grime all over it that duct tape seems to attract....But it was creative and they were surprisingly cute!
Stay tuned to for more Boise pics and stories!

4th of July Fun

2008-07-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July we went to Eric's house and he rented a 20ft inflatable water slide. Chris of course decided this would be such a fun experience for Cally who a) doesn't really like "rides" and b) is TERRIFIED of water. Please don't call PETA on him!

Here are more pics of the day, including some of the more daring slide tricks and someone jumping off the boat house! (Do not try this at home!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Garbage Man

2008-06-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Late last night I'm sitting on the couch while Chris takes Cally for her final walk of the night. I hear this strange noise, like someone is scooting a box across the floor. It continues and I finally see Cally slowly and pathetically walking towards me while dragging her leash behind her. Chris is nowhere to be seen. Keep in mind it's like after 11pm. Suddenly the front door swings open and all I see is the black silhouette of a man holding a giant judo-like stick and the moonlight in the background. Kinda creepy.
"DEYA! There is something in our garbage!" Exhale. The creepy figure with the weapon is Chris.
"And by something you mean...?"
"So Cally and I were walking and I heard a noise coming from our garbage and looked to see the lid slowly closing. So I ran over and yelled, 'I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! COME OUT! GET OUT OF MY GARBAGE!' But the dude wouldn't come out. So I grabbed this walking stick and started beating on the side of the can while I was yelling at him to come out. So I finally flipped up the lid and shoved the stick inside to poke him and he grabbed the stick and started pulling on it back! But I don't think it's a person anymore because it's too small. I could get the stick in there too far."
At this point I'm putting on my shoes knowing full well how this is about to go down and wishing the battery for our video camera was charged. So we both go around to the garbage can, flip the lid back and I step up to the can (insert yelled warnings from Chris about vicious attacks that are about to occur). Two little black eyes look up at me. "Hey Mr. Raccoon. I would really appreciate if you could please go through someone else's garbage and not ours. Thanks." I stepped back, he calmly climbed out and ran away.
I don't know why our house is such a target for wildlife, but we do enjoy all the blogging material it provides!

The Football Cake

2008-06-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is for you mom...I had to hold Jillian's clothes hostage for the pics. :) Here is Eric's bday cake from Memorial Day. He wanted a football cake. It slid a little in the car (Happy turned out more demented than "happy"), but turned out pretty well.

So.....we have a new pet

2008-06-15T13:58:00.001-07:00

That was the only text to an email I received on Friday morning at work from Chris. As many of you know, I tend to take in stray animals (learned it from you Mom and Dad!) so Chris and I constantly battle over little furry creatures I find lost in our yard. So I'm expecting maybe a puppy. He hates cats, so I knew that probably wasn't it, unless it was an itty, bitty baby kitten. So imagine my surprise when he starts discussing a lizard. Not just any lizard, but "Zeus". He had named it Zeus due to its "size and rileyness". Cally was trying to help find sneaky Zeus but was finally deterred by some thunder and Chris lost his scout. That was 3 days ago and the last time we saw Zeus. We keep hearing odd noises and assuming it was him. We even unscrewed the vent on the A/C but alas, no Zeus. Early this morning, we finally found him on the leg of the dinning room table- no thanks to the bloodhound. Apparently we didn't pay for the warranty on her sniffer. It took us about 20 minutes to catch poor Zeus as he kept running over my bare feet and legs. It tickled so much I would start laughing and lose focus. Once we'd find him, he would disappear. It was as if he borrowed Harry Potter's invisibility cloak or something. Maybe he was apparating to the other side of the room. After his weekend getaway in the Graham Bed n' Breakfast, Zeus was thankfully returned to the wild.

Insight into the Mind of My Husband

2008-05-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

So when Chris is out of town, we completely use and abuse our cell phone family plan. I would like to shake the hand of whoever thought of that. Anyway, this last trip, Chris was away during one of our best friend's bday and naturally I was in charge of the cake (pictures to come). As I was excitedly describing Chris over the phone what kind of cake I was making, the following conversation ensued:

C: How come you never make me a cake?
D: Because when it's your birthday or any other special occasion that warrants a cake and I ask you what you want, you say 'Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake'
C: That's because it's yummy. Can't you make that?
D: No. And gross.
C: Well, couldn't you make me one of your cakes to celebrate a non-special occasion? Like me being married to you every day. We could have a cake that celebrates all my patience and tolerance.
D: Patience and tolerance?
C: Yeah! A Patience and Tolerance Cake!
D: Well then how come you've never made me a cake for all of my patience and tolerance?
C: Honey, all that is required to be married to me is Happiness and Joy!

I think I've finally met someone who can out argue me! I was laughing so hard by the end at his seriousness. We will keep you posted on the patience/tolerance/happiness/joy cake. :)

Why I'm a Wii-tard

2008-05-20T18:08:00.001-07:00

I've never been good at video games. I think I was in first grade when we begged our parents for a Nintendo ES. I was never coordinated enough to catch up with Lake in Super Mario Bros to ever save the princess so I kept to Duck Hunt. Apparently sitting 2 ft away from the screen is cheating. Even then, I would become frustrated at the laughing dog.

A few years later my interest was renewed when I received the gift of a Barbie Nintendo game. This is sadly the only game we (oh yes Lake, I am calling you out) could never beat. We could dodge the flying fashion accessories, but the dang fountains at the mall got ya every time. I think Lake made it to the 3rd level once, but I never did make it to my dream date with Ken.

I think my problem was the fact that I didn't want to push the buttons on the controller so much as I wanted to "steer" the controller in the direction I wanted it to go. Oh, and yell at it when that didn't happen. 18 years later, someone finally read my mind and invented the Wii. I don't have to push all the buttons to go in directions, I get to move the controller! MarioKart finally has a wheel controller- the way I believe it was always "nintended" to. Sure I over-correct my pink kart (no Chris-not like in real life) and fall off Rainbow Road everytime, but I'm tons better than I used to be.

So what's my point? The point is, the stupid Wii is dangerous. Yes, it fights childhood obesity. Yes, it helps the elderly with physical therapy. Yes, it solved my own personal video gaming issues. But dangit, did the stupid bowling and tennis games have to make me sprain my knee?!?!? I popped it further at work today, so now it's all swollen. Enjoy the pic of my leg here at work today. Yes, that is ice duct-taped to my pants. Everyone there had a good laugh, you might as well share in the fun.

House Chris-tening

2008-05-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

We had to have our first dinner party and we figured what better way than with a set of grandparents, our two best friends and two dogs? I don't know which was more exiting:

- having LOTS of counter space to cook and prep with
- not having to move the table into the living room so that we could fit 6 people in the dinning room
- or Muffin puking on the new couch :) Gotta love microfiber- it came out!!!!!!!

New Neighbors

2008-04-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

We live on the corner, so we only have one next door neighbor. We don't know their names, but they are....how to say....good for blog postings? The dad is probably my parent's age and has met both of our fathers. As my dad worded it, "He's a good ole boy from the South". He actually tried to talk us out of buying our house because "others" were moving into the neighborhood, "you know, not of our kinfolk." You can read into that however you would like. He is very congenial to us. We can always count on him coming out of the house in his wife-beater and stonewashed jeans which is extremely complimentary to the robust shape and ruddy complexion.

Today we learned he has two daughters. The oldest, about our age, came out while Chris was power-washing the house. Being the friendly guy he is, he shouted hello. She gave a very condescending "hey" back. Trying to make friends, Chris pushed the conversation further. Noticing she was rather dressed up for 10am he asked, "Going somewhere fancy?"
"No. Just out."
"Okay." At this point Chris was going to let it go. But apparently she was not done with her snippity tone:
"So, you've been doing a lot of work for them?"
"uh, yeah?"
"That's good. The last people didn't really keep it up very well. I'm glad to see they hired someone to take care of the place."
Chris never did tell her he was man enough to work on his own house.

And for our last new neighbor, here is a picture of Mr. Long who we met at the park tonight. We apologize for the graininess, but it was taken on a cell phone!

It's Coming, Be Patient

2008-04-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

I WILL post pics of the new house.....when it's ready. Chris has gone back to work now and I haven't stopped, so it's kinda hard to find time to unpack. As soon as I can get a shot of at least one room that doesn't look like a cardboard jungle, I will post a cool before and after shot. Okay? So thank you for the emails, comments, and Facebook messages, but I have not forgotten. They are coming.

For those of you still interested in a great new house story.....Thursday night was priceless. I came home from work about 7pm, still light out and the garage door opening wasn't working. The thing is only 3 weeks old, so there is no way the battery is dead. I was on the phone with Dad, who as the ever (please note Dad, I did not say over) protective father that he is, asked me to make sure no one was inside and had just cut the power. I wasn't scared or paranoid when I thought it was just a cheap, dead battery. Now, maybe a little. So I open the front door with my key (I know, it's sooo Stone Age! Next thing you know, I'll have to get off the couch to change the channel on the TV!) and Cally comes running out. Intact guard dog is always a good sign. So I check all the rooms and realize the power is out. I check the breaker, which is flipped to on. Hmmmm..... Then I check the water......also not on. This cannot be good.

So I call Chris and ever so sweetly and calmly ask if he did indeed switched the utilities into our name. "Oh Deya, they do that for you!"
"What?!?!"
"Yeah. Whenever they see a transfer of property ownership, they automatically switch it into your name."
"Um, I don't think so. What in the world would give you that idea?"
"That's how it works in Canada."
I very rationally and again calmly reminded him we live in America and that is indeed not how it works here. So four hours of sweet talking on the phone and $200 later, we had power and water.

Final score: New House-2 Chris-0 or USA-1 Chris-0
Either way, I think he needs a hug.

Chris' Everest

2008-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

The last owners of our house decided to take all the light fixtures and ceiling fans with them as a parting gift. Apparently, the higher the cost of the fan, the better the instructions and assembling materials. Chris put together the first ceiling fan in the main room no problem. The next one, in our bedroom, was his Everest.
First of all, let me say that Chris is very handy and great at putting things together. What did not help the situation is that every bedroom is wired all weird. They all have the ceiling fan power going to the hole in the middle of the room and then the light power going to a hole two feet away. So poor Chris had to rewire the room first.He assembled (on the ceiling) and disassembled the wretched fan five times before we had to return it to the store. After returning it to Lowe's, he convinces the man to sell him the floor model- already assembled! They took it apart anyway. :( Once he got it home, he realized they forgot to give him the ceiling mount bracket, probably still attached to the store. Long story short, it took a total of 8 installs for our little fan to work! But it works!!! You can't live in Florida and not have a ceiling fan in your room. I'm pretty sure there are laws.

The Wooden Anniversary

2008-04-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Our 5th anniversary seemed like a big mile marker so we wanted to do something big to celebrate. For our first anniversary we got a dog, so we had to top that for sure. I consulted the traditional wedding gift list and it cited "wood" as the appropriate gift for 5 years. Wood? I don't see Chris excited about me buying an indoor tree as the last one was left with Dad when we moved to Florida along with my childhood cat. An outdoor tree wouldn't go over well with our HOA.....what's a girl to do? So you go all out or go home.................we bought a house! I waited to post this today as we finally closed on it this afternoon. It's exciting and scary as we are now officially responsible adults (I don't care, I still LOVE the Disney Channel). :) Chris' dad and his wife are here helping us fix up the house so I'll post pics once it's all fabulous.

The Big 05!

2008-03-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

This is a week late, but I've always been a little bit late to life in general. Unless you want to take the stance that I am a princess and to quote the movie Princess Diaries, "A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early." Not sure if I can use that excuse at work, but we'll see when the time comes.

Anyway, back on task, last week was Chris and my 5th Wedding Anniversary. So I thought I would do a then and now shot along with some fun wedding facts you never knew!
1. I absolutely HATE winter more than anything, but we were having a hard time finding a time when Chris was in town from golf tournaments, my dad wasn't out consulting, and Chris' family could come from Canada so we picked March 21 which happens to be the first day of Spring. While it wasn't super springy in Utah yet, it was officially NOT winter.

2. Our wedding rings both have cool stories. I never wanted a wedding band since I have such small fingers (for the record- really hard to find gloves without Hannah Montana on them now- glad I live in Florida), but I didn't want the same ring that everyone else had. So Chris picked a ring out all by himself and even convinced my parents to use a diamond from my great-grandmother in the ring so it is very special to me.
Chris on the other hand did not want a ring at all. This of course did not go over very well. I finally found a "hammered" titanium (for the record- this metal truly is indestructible! I can't even begin to tell you what all that poor ring has been through) ring that looks like dimples on a golf ball.

3. Chris was over an hour late. Yep. For any single guy readers out there, this is not a good rule to go by. I never thought he stood my up, but I was a little worried he was lying in a ditch somewhere (insert dramatic sigh here). I will give you all 3 guesses where he was and the first 2 don't count. You guessed it! Golfing! But he got there and to this day refuses to wear a watch. It's okay, he's pretty.

Jenna's Jeans Cake

2008-03-16T08:48:00.001-07:00

My friend Jenna from work decided to take another job and move to Vegas to be closer to her sister. So we had her going away party the other night and of course I wanted to make the cake. Now, Jillian and I were wracking our brains trying to figure out what to make this cake out of as Jenna loves to shop. We toyed with the idea of a credit card, a Prada purse (while this is a challenge I might want to undertake one day, I was not up for it this weekend), and other things, we finally thought, what does she own more than anything? The girl must own close to 70 pairs of jeans. So she got a jeans cake.

We will miss her, but she promises to keep in touch and is already planning on coming back to visit this summer.

What has Chris been up to?

2008-03-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

You can also find this on You Tube! Chris shot and edited this video himself, so I'm a little biased when I say I'm proud!

Me in Pony Form...

2008-02-27T20:14:00.001-08:00

This past Monday I was able to start my new position at the Village in Development (fundraising, corporate alliances, etc). And would you believe that one of the accounts I am supposed to work on is My Little Pony?!? I remember my cousin Elisa and I playing with these like crazy when we were little. Well, believe it or not, as part of my job (you are about to feel really bad for me) I had to attend the My Little Pony Live! stage show and then escort Pinkie Pie herself at the Village during our Candy Land party. During the show, she even sang a song called "Think Pink" which is honestly the only way I know how to think!

An all new height of laziness...

2008-02-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

Did you notice the rollerblades?

For Sale!

2008-02-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry to blog readers, if there are any left as I am SUCH A FREAKING SLACKER! Things have been busy for us with house hunting and parental visits. So we are still here, but just haven't been blogging. :)

As we are trying to find a house, our townhouse is also for sale. That has been a huge undertaking. But if anyone knows anyone or if you are looking for a 2/2 townhouse for sale in Orlando, I can help!

Jillian's Birthday

2008-01-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

Jillian wanted a Ballerina cake for her birthday. She wanted white cake with raspberry filling. This is what I came up with:

Here I am with the birthday girl and Jenna.

Who Loves Santa?

2007-12-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a few pics of how Christmas morning went in Canada with 14 people, 1 dog, and a beaver in an evergreen tree.Chris' mom got a saxapone. While that sounds like a silly gift, she immediately started crying. She had lost hers years ago in a house fire and that was the one thing she had never replaced. It was such a great surprise!All Darien wanted from Santa was a "completer". Santa gave him a Vtech computer, which was just perfect so here he is with his Auntie Deya, both of us on our completers! He waited till the last day to learn my name- figures. But it's better than Uncle Donna! I got a hippopotamus for Christmas!Auntie Lisa got really tired after 3 hours of present opening. She cozied up by the fire in her new pink blankie and settled in for a nap! Don't worry, Auntie Deya got a pink blankie too!The best was little Daniel who passed out under the tree- cookie in hand!

Canadian Christmas Eve

2007-12-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon in an attempt to brag that we were all done with our shopping, we decided to go see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. We really liked it. Chris' Nanny especially loved it. I included some pictures of those of us who went to see the movie in the car, except for Chad as we were all waiting for him to get his Starbucks. That's what happens when Tim Horton's closes their drive through at 3pm on Christmas Eve!

I have been dubbed "Auntie Martha" by Chris' brother and was thus nominated to supervise and "be in charge" of gingerbread house decorating. For all future ventures, we have decided to wait until kids are at least 7 years old. Chris did video tape the event, but we have to find a short clip where I am not yelling "don't eat the glue!"

As is true with Martino tradition, Christmas Eve includes new jammies for the kids. Here is Darien modeling his, including the housecoat (Canadian for robe). Note the Edmonton Oilers Teddy Bear. A popular choice on this year's runway.

O Canada!

2007-12-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

We made it to Canada safely! We are spending Christmas this year in Vancouver, BC with Chris' Mom and her family. It is great to see some siblings and grandparents and so many family members we haven't seen in awhile. We even have a nephew we've never seen! So, we are excited to be here despite the cold.

The most lively time in the house is bath time- which seems to last longer and longer every night. Partly due to the luxurious tub bath time is in. and we never seem to get them in their jammies right after the bath for some reason. Something about running around free as a bird with Uncew Cwis chasing you through the basement seems to be just the thrilling crowning glory to the bedtime regiment you need when you are 4 and almost 2.

So far Cally has acclimated to the house, the weather, and really taken to Papa Frank. We've already had one huge adventure with her today as she followed the pizza delivery man outside and go on an exploration of the mountain. She finally decided to come home to the back door much to her mother's relief.

Part of the reason I was so worried about Cally was because it actually snowed today! I was promised it didn't snow in Vancouver. I am now reminded the quote was added the caveat of "often" or "much". Chris and I keep remembering why we moved to Florida and how much we DO NOT miss snow, or driving in it!

Mommy's new toy....

2007-12-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

For the record, this is doctor mandated. Not for Cally :) but for me. Mostly just a great perk for the dog. Or torture, however you want to read into it. Your choice really. This was my favorite picture we took:

How lazy am I?

Thanksgiving Weekend Pics

2007-11-27T18:55:00.001-08:00

Florida ICE

2007-11-26T19:46:00.000-08:00

One of the resorts down here has an ICE extravaganza every year where they use more than 2 million pounds of ice to make some of these amazing pictures! It actually takes more than 3 months to freeze all the water to make the ice for these sculptures. Everything you see is made out of ice. The only thing in the exhibits that wasn't ice were the signs and the carpet I'm pretty sure. It was Mom and Dad's first night down here and we knew they were missing out on the Utah weather, so we decided this would be fun. Especially for Mom since they make the exhibit a mere 9 degrees (for you Canadian readers that is Fahrenheit)!!! They actually provide you with parkas but you have to bring your own toques and mitts (for American readers those are beanies/hats and gloves/mittens). -See how diverse and multicultural we are here? Just trying to spread the love.

Please note the earmuffs on the fish. Didn't even know they had ears...

Here we are standing in a huge gazebo. I wish you could see the hand-carved life-sized doves that were resting on the top.

Dad and Chris in the Engine of the three-car train. We never could fit the whole thing in one camera shot. Pardon the camera work, it kept fogging up, it was so cold!

This was a life-sized scale nativity scene. All the animals and figures were so intricately carved and life-like. The camera just doesn't do it justice!

And did I mention there were 3 slides? And of varying length? The tallest was 40 feet! Here is Dad saying, "I'm done!" Lake- he compared it to the Bobsled track.

This one is my favorite.

IKEA

2007-11-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

We are proud to announce that Orlando just opened an IKEA store today! I really wanted to attend the Grand Opening festivities as the website and media were promising giveaways like furniture and gift cards to the first so many hundred people. Unfortunately, I had to be at work at the same time the doors opened. Such a sad predicament. But let's see, Chris doesn't have to be at work until 2! Woo hoo! Come on down!

I can't say he was exactly "excited" per se when I drug him out of bed this morning at 7am so he could get to the Grand Opening and stand in line for (he loves me and he knows it!) which in his own words I "made" him go. Well, I called him later and asked him how it went and did he get anything. "Oh yeah, I got something so awesome. I'm sitting with it right now."
"Was it totally worth it going and waiting?"
"Oh, definitely. But you're going to have to wait till you get home and see what it is."
After several phone calls of badgering, begging, pleading, and groveling, I did have to come home to see what he won:And by the way, the hot dogs were only $0.50!

10 Easy Steps to a Stressful Day

2007-11-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

1. Promise to be at work at 8am instead of 9am.
2. Get dressed in the dark.
3. During important tour that is outside, have realization that your black pantyhose that supposedly matches your black sweater and heels is in deed navy blue.
4. Have second epiphany outside that you should not own or ever wear wool sweaters in Orlando and certainly not during outdoor tours, because it will in deed eventually reach 80 degrees.
5. Promise the President of the company to drive wives of dignitaries to their hotel. Make sure you have no idea how to a) drive the company van and b) how to get to the hotel.
6. Discover this is the scheduled time for the second in your series of Hepatitis B shots. The nurse conveniently waits for you so that you may endure that much needed pain on a day like today.
7. Get nominated to get 175 gift cards from Wal-mart (which have to be rung-up separately,) and a 50 lb bag of nuts. A trip to the store so costly, you must drag the CFO with you.
8. Give your husband generic instructions of something you want him to do and yell at him later when he did not do the very specific thing you really wanted him to do.
9. Very sheepishly apologize when you realize he has a point, that you should have told him what you wanted in the first place. :(
10. Make an appointment with a Realtor you know you'll never make after work as that would require you to leave on time (insert laugh here).

My New Roommate

2007-11-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

I should be used to these. They are everywhere down here. All over the sidewalks, crawling all over our yard., running in our tree, and climbing on our screendoor. Yet, they seem to always surprise me. For instance, one day I unlocked the HR office to find one in Dina's chair. "Hmmmm," I thought. "I know Dina was getting her hair done this weekend, but that is a bit of a drastic change." Turns out it wasn't her. Although I did get yelled at by a volunteer for letting it go outside. I suppose it could have been her Prince Charming awaiting her return. Although I don't believe Prince Charming would've bitten the Lady in Waiting. But I'm no Brother Grimm, so what do I know?

So last weekend, I was cleaning up around the house and went to hang up a sweatshirt and what did I find? Oh....I think only a picture will suffice:Yes, that is a lizard on a hanger. A hanger that hangs 6 feet off the ground. This little guy (or gal, we aren't sure) was just chillin' in my clothes. Jillian and I tried to catch him, but he started playing musical hangers. At one point we thought he ran inside a shirt, but thankfully he didn't. We were eventually able to grab the hanger without him jumping off, but even then I was nervous. Cally and Muffin were jumping at it and the poor lizard did this little Superman stretch and was trying to be as long and flat as he could so no one could see him. I was so nervous he would jump off before we got outside. But he made it in one piece safely. :)

We had a lizard in our house once before. Sadly, Cally found it before I did.... and, well, let's just say that this Thanksgiving season I am thankful for the regeneration of lizard tails. :(

Boo-lated Halloween Pics

2007-11-07T19:33:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time there was a little girl by the name of Alice. She was very curious. On her search for the White Rabbit, she happened upon a place called East High and met a lovely girl name Gabriella.After a few song and dance numbers, she followed the path towards a tea party where she met the Mad Hatter and then into a garden where she met the prettiest flower.
When sweet Alice is not around to keep the peace, mean Bob pours ice cold water on poor Gabriella's head making her make-up run down her face. This causes Deya's costume to look more like Vanessa Hudges crying over Zac Efron than anything else. :(
Halloween was so much fun this year and I am so glad I was able to volunteer. I didn't have to be as stressed as Entertainment and still got to join in on the fun. They did an awesome job as always! I just wish I had a picture of Jenna and Leah dressed as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!

Ode to Uncle Bob

2007-11-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

One thing we have learned as we moved to the ultimate tourist destination in the world, is we are much more likely to have friends and family visit us. Many of you even have to travel here for work, and as incentive to pencil us in along the way, you will receive a shout out on the blog.

So here is our piece for Chris' Uncle Bob.

There once was an uncle named Bob
who never dressed like a slob.
He wouldn't eat onions or fungi
But on the golf course he was a fun guy.
He isn't a priest, just Uncle Bob.

We had a great time going to dinner and breakfast with him. Chris was able to golf and give him a tour of the Golf Channel. And yes, a woman did think he was a priest, and yes, he was in his golf clothes at the time. :)

Cally's Halloween Costume

2007-11-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Since they have no grandkids to spoil, Mom had to send something for her grand-puppy to wear:

Deyna's Halloween Adventures Part 2

2007-10-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

The second big competition at work is the office decorating. There is a most fall themed or a most Halloween themed category. As my fellow skit members now know, I have a mantra when it comes to theatrics and crafts- go all out or go home. I'm pretty sure if I say it again I work, I'll get pushed in the pool. So we decided instead of just being spooky or leafy, we would add humor, since we knew we could do that. And when else is HR allowed to be funny? NEVER!!!!!! :) In an effort to not offend anyone, we decided the target of our satire should be ourselves. Can't make offend yourself, right? Well, I guess if you tried hard enough you could, but in our good-natured little world, we didn't.

We figured, what is fun about Halloween...it's evil. And everyone thinks HR is evil. So let's play with that. I turned Dina and I into witches with photoshop and scrapbook supplies. We made roadsigns and Hazard signs all over the door. Dina even found the perfect doormat on clearance at Target. We made 3 ghosts out of 1$ material and balloons and replicated our name tags. We tortured her poor plastic office tree and Dina splurged on the motion-sensored freaky witch. Whatyda think?

Deyna's Halloween Adventures

2007-10-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

Every year, the staff Halloween luncheon is the biggest of the year. There are decorating, baking, and skit contests. The air gets competitive with trash-talking and threats, and if you've ever seen friends, I can be a bit like Monica. Just a wee bit competitive. Right, Lake? So before you get excited, I'm just gonna lay it out now that I did not participate in the food decorating contest. Time was not my friend, it didn't happen, get over it (this is mostly directed at myself as my inner Martha is still a little disappointed). This being Dina's first Halloween at the Village, wanted to go all out and decided we should sweep the competition (except for baking as she doesn't bake).

Let me start out with the skit. Departmental skits are the highlight of the year. This is the one point in time when it is okay to make fun of your boss, your co-worker, or just anything in general. It is extremely important that you do not divulge any details to another department about your skit as they will use this information to dominate you during the competition. Legend has it, that in past years, an employee broke into the reigning champs' rehearsal and videotaped their skit for an advantage and won. Now, I was going to post a video on here of the actual skit, but the camera settings were so bad, it is not really worth it, and it's 7 minutes long. We had really wanted to do High School Musical spoof, but through a fair informative, we knew another department was already doing this. So we teamed up with Volunteer Services and IT for Dancing With The Stars: GKTW Edition. Let's just say, I was Britney Spears and Dina was Ugly Betty. I think I dislocated my jaw from chewing such a large piece of gum. And I was unable to perform my dance number because I had to "go shave my baby's head". It was funny, and I tell ya, the hardest part was making a modest Britney outfit. Instead of having professional dancers for the washed-up celebrities to dance with, we had GKTW staff member parodies. We got some good laughs.

We won second place! First place went to Entertainment. They did High School Musical 2. At the end of the skit they all grabbed hands and jumped in our swimming pool. That kind of commitment should be rewarded. All 4 One!

Deyna

2007-10-28T16:34:00.001-07:00

It is hard to answer the phone at work: "Give Kids The World Human Resources, this is Deya."
"Hi Dina"
"I'm sorry, this is Deya."
"This is Dina?"
"No, this is Deya. Dina's on the other line, can I take a message?"
"But I need Dina."
Unfortunately, our names sound exatly alike on the phone. So several of our fellow staff members have started to refer to us as Deyna.

Adventures of Deyna Part 1: A few weeks ago, our insurance broker invited my boss Dina and I to a March of Dimes charity dinner at the Portofino Hotel at Universal. I'm not really one to pass up an opportunity to get all gussied-up, but when I found out that local chefs and restaurants were having a cook-off at the event and we would be voting on the food, well, I'm no idiot. Dina and I went to the event and had a great time. I will say, the biggest challenge of the night was trying to find me a non-alcoholic beverage! All off the restaurants had wine pairings with their food, so the servers weren't bringing drinks to the tables at all. I asked for a water and was completely scoffed at as if I had requested a free-night in the Penthouse Suite. I tried to explain the situation and was told the cash-only bar had soda. This plan had 2 loopholes. 1) I never carry cash and 2) I hardly ever drink soda. Nice. Dina is now very distressed that I will become dehydrated and pass out before the night is over so she is on a mission to find me a drink. She goes to the Blue Martini (a very trendy club in town) booth and convinces them to give me a martini glass of ice and orange juice- yes, straight. Everyone at our table was dying to know what my fun drink was. And no one believed me! The Playboy bunny-esque bartenders did not want to refill my 5oz of juice so we were back at square one after my ice melted. Hmmm, what to do? We eyed a coffee cart and saw a pitcher marked "Skim Milk". I poured a coffee cup full of skim milk and it was possibly the most satisfying dairy drink of my life. The moral of the story? Don't bring a hand bag that won't pack your own bottled water.

Tagged

2007-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I was tagged by Megan Hilton- I thought I was going to get out of this, but it's different than the last time I was tagged. Dangit!!!

1. I am completely and deathly afraid of spiders. I can't be in the same room as one, go to sleep if one is alive, or even look at a picture of one (SHANNON!). I have been known on occasion to call my parents who live thousands of miles away to "help" with the spider on the laundry room door because Chris was out of town.

2. I am obsessed with anything pink. My entire desk at work is decked out in pink paraphenalia since Chris won't let me decorate the house. When I moved into the Freshman dorms and Mom let me pick out new grown up bedding, the only pink comforter or sheets being manufactured in that day and age were Barbie. So I had a Barbie dorm room. :) If the high heel fits....

3. I love hearts. Love is my middle name and I've had four open heart surgeries so I feel a bit of a connection with the generic shape. If someone has something that reads "Love", I do claim it has my name on it. Let's face it, nothing ever says "Deya".

4. I have hiccup tourette's. Not my fault all though I was constantly in trouble for it high school. Who else has to bring a doctor's note saying they are excused from hiccuping in class? Seriously?!?!

5. I can't eat any vegetables. Sounds like the dream diet, but you never want broccoli until someone takes it away. Well... technically that's a lie. That's probably the one vegetable I do like. A salad then. I've never been a big salad eater and now I would kill for a trip to Sweet Tomatoes. Mmmm, my mouth is watering!!!!!!!! Juicy ripe red tomotoes, cripsy romaine lettuce, broccoli florets with ranch dressing! AGH!! Stupid freaking Vitamin K!

6. I love the Disney Channel. I have never really grown out of my 14 year old self when it comes to music or television. Sign me up for High School Musical, Hannah Montana, or Aly & AJ any day. It's fun and it sure beats a lot of the crap on TV now. Although I have to admit to Beauty and the Geek!

Now I tag: Lake, Elysa (That's right- both of ya!), Kristl, Shannon (payback time!), Samye, and Carma

Carnival Cake

2007-10-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

Mom, this is mostly for you. And Elysa- since you were asking about the cake. This stupid thing took me a week to make. This was Judith's 30th birthday cake and I was pretty much making it up as I went a long. It took a week because I did it in stages. Made the cookie dough one night, cooked them another, frosted them the third. You get the idea. The cookies which were used as the animals for the carousel and to supplement the cake as we had no idea how many people would be coming to the party. It was a "whimsical" carousel which in reality meant I could not for my life find a horse cookie cutter that was the right size or that I liked (it's possible I only looked in 1 store). These I already had. :)

Then I baked a 2 layer cake, but did not put them together. I used some cake pillars and separator plate to make the carousel pieces and used icing as glue for the "ponies". The decoration is a Meringue Buttercream icing which I found on the Martha Stewart wedding website and the candies are Skittles Gum. I would've loved to decorate it more elaborately, but at this point, I was really done with the cake. :)

Bestest Birthday Part Ever!!!!!

2007-10-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was our friend Judith's 30th birthday party and she decided her theme should be a carnival. Not just any carnival, but the kind of party you always dreamed of having as a child. The one your parents could never afford to give you or didn't want the liability of throwing. :) Keep in mind, this is an adults only party- no children. Here are the activities: Twister Championship (that would be me!!!), Three-Legged Race, Wheelbarrow Race, and Waterballoon Toss. Yes, the adults participated in all the activities which made it even more hilarious. We also had the following "attractions": Snowcone machine, Popcorn machine, pinatas, inflatable rock-climbing wall, inflatable waterslide, and a bounce house. Oh yeah- coolest birthday ever. Enjoy the pics. Chris was there too, but feeling under the weather, so he was taking a lot of the pictures. I'll post the cake I made a little later.

Playing Hooky

2007-10-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts, it's been a bit of a whirlwind over here. Don't worry, I have tons of blog material for you over the next few days. Gear up, here we go! Last Tuesday, Chris and I miraculously had the same day off, so we decided to take advantage of our proximity to the Most Magical Place on Earth and headed for EPCOT. Yes, it does have to be in caps as it is an acronym. While I agree with most tourists that it means "Every Person Comes Out Tired", the actual meaning is "Experimental Prototype Community Of Trivia". This is the place Disney does a lot of research and tries to help the world, in addition to taking it over. Chris had never been and I hadn't spent more than 2 hours there since I was 14, so we figured, what the hey!

Let's first say it was again a Tuesday in October and it was raining. As the parking attendant stated, "It's a Florida day!" Apparently only natives are either a) smart enough to come during the week in the off-season or b) stupid enough to brave the rain even though they live across the street and could very well wait for another day. Either way, it was indeed a Florida day for us. I apologize we have no pictures of us in our sexy rain gear and poncho. I waited for Chris to ride the two extreme rides (yes, this is really the reason Chris had not wanted to go to EPCOT till now- not enough "thrill" in an amusement park for his taste) .

After the rides, we walked through the House of the Future or whatever they call it now, since you can actually buy the things you see inside. I was literally drooling over the kitchen. And not because of the fake cookie dough in the oven. If and when we ever buy a house, I would like to just transplant the EPCOT kitchen into my house, thank you very much. Chris liked the TV you talked to. Never worry about losing the remote again. It's great advertising (and shameless I might add) for all of their corporate sponsors. It's just too bad that only Brad and Angelina can afford any of it.

Then we headed to the new Nemo ride, which was fairly lame and low-key. I guess they have to have rides for all the little kids too. It just would've been nice to realize that before we stood in line for 30 minutes. Although, I have to say, the highlight of the morning was being corralled around these giant rocks where the ocean splashes and some tin seagulls start saying "Mine! Mine! Mine!" We were laughing really hard. If that's not funny to you, you really need to see Finding Nemo and probably get out more in general.

Soarin' is the cool ride I could go on, so it was clearly my favorite. They sit you in a Hang-glider and fly you up to an IMAX screen where you fly all over California. Very cool. But in payback for waiting around while Chris rode all the other rides (I figured sitting in a spaceship that puts you against 3 G-force + my pacer = a bad time) I made him stand in line for 35 minutes to take pictures with the characters. It's highly possible we were the only people in line without children. But we were also the only family in line who wasn't whining, crying, screaming, climbing, or in any other form bothering everyone else. So that has to count for something, right? He paid me back by flirting with Minnie Mouse and kissing her on the cheek every time the photographer tried to take the photo. That poor rodent was so flustered, even I was laughing.

We eventually headed to The World Showcase and of course spent the most time in Canada where Chris had to play the "Do you know so-and-so?" with all the employees of Canada. He is definitely getting pumped up for Christmas in Canada. He is trying to teach me the words to the national anthem and is increasingly discouraged by my lack of enthusiasm for the task. I'm sorry, I just discovered the soundtrack to Legally Blonde: The Musical- yes, seriously, and which would you rather?

So on went the day, dodging in and out of rain. We had a lot of fun and it was great to just relax and not worry about anything. Oh, we did meet a giant troll in Norway, who we thought really more resembled the House Elf, Dobby. May he rest in peace.

The Disney photographers (a.k.a. money-hungry commission-based thieves) took some fun pics that you can check out for the next 3 weeks. They disappear after that, so don't say I didn't warn you! :) I'm crossing my fingers this works...

Hair Raising Experiences

2007-09-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me, Legally Blonde is one of my all-time favorite movies. That said, I REALLY needed to get my bangs cut this weekend. I still have yet to find a hairdresser that I like here in Orlando that Chris thinks we can afford (men just don't understand!). Being that he loves me and likes to solve problems, Chris decided to find me a hairdresser himself. Knowing I refused to go to any of the chains advertising $15 haircuts due to past experience and my own beauty principles, he decided to go on referrals. After asking all the ladies at work and gawking at the three-figure numbers they pay for their hair cuts and color (welcome to Orlando!), he went back to the drawing board. Mmmmm, what's a guy to do? Then it hit him, Chris' answer to everything....Craig's List!

Yes, Craig's List. The mother of all online classifieds. I was extremely opposed to the idea. Especially after seeing one which read she could "do ponytails"!?!? But one particular add dropped the right salon name and price so I agreed.

Enter Ruth, my new hair lady. She walks up to me and I swear she was going to do the "Bend and Snap" or show me her "Precious Baby Rufus". She literally looks just like Jennifer Coolidge, but with bigger eyes. Since she had such awesome hair, I decided to stay. Rule of beauty #6- don't ever let anyone do your hair, if they don't have good hair themselves.

So I've been growing my hair out so I could donate it. It's a really fun process, you grow it out to at least a 10" ponytail and then Locks of Love can use it for wigs for cancer patients. Many salons will do major discounts on your hair too. I highly recommend it, it's really fun, especially if your hair grows fast.

To make a long story short (pardon the pun), all the anesthetics and drugs I had been on during my surgery had really done a number on my hair and skin. FYI- it can fry your hair and skin for several months afterwards. So my new friend Legally Blonde Ruth and I are assessing the damage and realize it might just be easier to start from scratch. "Okay," I said, "Let's just chop it off". "Oh no! We don't chop hair! We cut hair.....we chop parsley."

So here is the outcome.............. Sorry it took so long, I actually did this on Saturday but didn't want to post about a haircut without a picture (Shannon!!?!?) and had to wait for Chris.

It's Not Easy Being Green

2007-09-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Cookie Tuesday was moved to Monday this week to accommodate a birthday in the office. The lady loves (by loves I mean has deep obsession with) frogs so I made these courtesy of the M&M's website www.brightideas.com They call them Lily Pond something or others. I can't eat their shortcuts of cake mix and store bought icing, so it was a little more involved than stated, but they were really fun to make and now I finally posted a treat you can make with the kids!

I vant to take your blood

2007-09-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to thank all the Martino's and Dishman's for the fasting and prayers. I never question the power of the family fast as it has come into play for me once again. I DO NOT have a blood clot! WOO HOO! No sexy compression hose for me. As fun as those were going to be to wear in the Florida humidity...right. I also would've had to take more blood thinners which doesn't sound so bad except for the funny story that happened today: I was filing some papers in my boss's office and we have those heavy-duty filing cabinets made out of 2"plastic. The phone rang so I jumped up to answer it and I scraped my shin on the corner of an open drawer. Normally, it would have just scraped the skin and by morning, not even a mark would be seen. But let's be honest here, this is me we're talking about. Queen of the "owie". Thanks to my Coumadin, I started bleeding. And bleeding. An hour later, still a little oozy (if that's not a word, it should be). My manger saw my leg over an hour later and insisted I file an accident report with the Manager on Duty (MOD). No thanks. "Your in HR now and need to set the example for the other employees." What about my stinking pride!?!? So I went in there and the MOD kept looking at me like, why are we filling these out for you now that you arne't in Entertainment anymore? See, the thing is, I used to fill them out a lot. Let's just say a theater marquee fell on my head in a gust of wind once. But my favorite time was when I hit my head on the puppet stage, knocked myself out, and then came to with a 6' tall rabbit kneeling over me to see if I was okay. At any other place, I would've been hallucinating! And I thought HR would be safer!!

Cleaning House

2007-09-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Quick Note-
I just sat down on the bed to talk to Chris. He has been gone a lot this summer and I have gotten used to my own little life style. As you can imagine, living with smelly and stinky boys in hotel rooms, so has he. So, Chris is sitting here working on the laptop and I plopped down on the bed when my knee hits something hard. As I rub the quickly forming bruise, I feel around for the culprit and find...a spoon! Eying Chris with "The Look" he realizes this is an unacceptable home for the utensil.
"What's this doing here?" I ask in a flat tone.
Chris responds with, "I wanted to spoon with you?"

Deya's of Our Lives Soundtrack

2007-09-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

No, it is not currently being sold in stores nor does it hold any tracks from High School Musical 2 (darn it!). But I have had a few questions about the girl that sings the background music to my blog. I changed the song a few days ago, but it's still the same artist. Her name is Colbie Caillat and she writes and performs all her own music! Finally something to replace that uber talented Britney...wait, what am I saying!?!?! Yes, the girl actually is talented and no unfortunately her record label isn't paying me to plug her album. :( But Chris and I love it, you can get it on iTunes or check it out on her website, which I hyperlinked it to above (which means, Mom, that you click on it and it will take you there so I don't have to send it to you later..love you!) and she's on tour right now with the Goo Goo Dolls (who knew they were still around?!). Enjoy!

Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind

2007-09-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. It is not only my pleasure but I (Chris Graham) have been told (by Deya) it is mandatory that I write this blog for your entertainment purposes. And seeing as how much I enjoy eating and the occasional cuddle, I find myself typing this entry. It should be said that all the events in this episode are based on true events in as far as I can remember them.

Very rarely does a day go by slowly working in live television. There is always a deadline to be met and the clock very quickly becomes an enemy. I have had the great fortune to meet some incredible people in my thus far short career. From the simple, to the super famous, they all have something to say and it’s my job to make sure they say it in as short a time as possible.

Last night proved to stand out among far too many of the rest.

A couple weeks ago while I was on the road at a tournament I got a phone call from the executive producer of the Golf Channel’s Original Programming department if I could be the Stage Director for the live finale show of Fore Inventor’s Only. It’s basically a reality/game show where the winning invention stands to make a lot of money.

“Chris, it’s Jay, can you do me a huge favor??”
“Depends, what can I do you for?”
“We decided to add a live studio audience so I need someone to run the floor and I heard you have done it before.”
“Well I am supposed to work on Golf Central that night.”
“I’ll take care of it.”

At this point I knew he was going to have to throw some authority around to find someone to cover me on Golf Central so without delay, I agreed.

Last night I showed up and was looking forward to the task ahead for several reasons, but the main one being it was going to be a great opportunity to do something out of the ordinary. Plus I was going to hang out with George Lopez all day because they got him to co-host the show.

So, I arrive at the studio and we had to run thru a rehearsal at 2:30pm, with just the contestants, then the audience was brought in 7:30pm so we could pre-tape the first 2 segments of the show and then we were live at 10pm for the final 4 segments.

As I walk onto the set to make sure all the inventions are in the right place I hear the very recognizable voice of George Lopez entering the studio behind me. Now fortunately I have met enough famous people that very rarely do I get star struck. So I did not have to deal with being a bumbling idiot or anything. I mean really, he puts his pants on one leg at time right? Except….. his pants cost a lot more than mine…… and once his pants are on he makes about 4316% more than me per hour.

So, after our rehearsal it was time for our crew and contestant dinner. There was a special VIP catered section in the part of the building where the ‘Suits’ have their offices. Then there was another catered section, for the rest of us.

I apparently made an impression with George during our rehearsal because he invited me to come with them for the VIP dinner. Which was a lot of fun. George told me a lot of really funny jokes that I can certainly not repeat in this forum but trust me they were funny. But I would say the most impressive aspect of George’s comedy is how amazingly quick witted he is. For example once we actually started to tape the show we got thru the entire 1^st segment and we went way longer than we were supposed to so we had to redo it. So I walked up on stage to tell George and Rich (the other co-host) that we were going to retape it and George looks at me and says,

“I just burned a lot of good material. If I use the same jokes they aren’t going to laugh as hard.”

In a flash of immense wisdom I proceed to shrug my shoulders. George then proceeds to come up with all new material for the retape on the spot. I was incredibly impressed.

In the end, it was a great show, the audience was full of energy and while my favorite did not win the show, I was happy with the outcome.

And George invited me to go golfing with him the next time he was in Orlando. It didn’t take me long to agree.

Cookie Tuesday

2007-09-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

I started a tradition about a year ago called Cookie Tuesday. Every Tuesday I bring in a batch of cookies, brownies, cupcakes, or some kind of sweet concoction I have come up with to work. I'm a baking addict with all my pink Kitchen Aid accessories if you didn't know. I have to admit the last few months I slacked off, but for the most part I have been very regular about it. Anyway, I made the most a-mazing cupcakes for a Labor Day party and for Cookie Tuesday and had to share! They are of course from the queen herself, Martha, and she calls them Hi-Hat Cupcakes. Anyway, that links to the recipe, my only tip would be to make sure you scrape the bowl of the icing while you boil it. This is not a good recipe to make with kids as it's pretty time-consuming and involved, but boy were the results amazing!!!!

RDD

2007-09-04T19:01:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago, Jillian and I took Rachel to her first Disney trip ever! Since her initials are RDD and we kept calling it Rachel's Disney Day, the term ADD means nothing to me now. I don't care if people tell me you have to go to Disney with a child. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a twenty-seven year-old get ready to meet Mickey Mouse for the first time. So, sorry the pics are kinda lame and slightly under/over exposed, but I didn't really know how to use her camera (I was the official photographer, but that apparently wasn't the best idea). But she's from Dallas and she gets major points for owning a pink camera.

And yes, she wore the tiara almost the entire day. Beth Ann, I dedicate the hand-painted 5-foot tall pink flamingo to you. Rachel's a Dallas girl and didn't understand you don't wear make-up to the parks, so that's why she looks so amazing compared to myself, although Jillian still manages to look pretty good, so I'm just gonna leave the subject alone here. But we park-hopped, something I'm not sure I was up for yet, but I did anyway (sorry Mom!!!). We opened up with Animal Kingdom, did Magic Kingdom in the middle of the day (I skipped some of this to go pick up Cally from the groomer- see Emily, I am a good mom!), and then came back for dinner and fireworks at Epcot. Whew!! We were tired!

Don't You Know Who I Am?

2007-09-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

To get in the spirit of our celebrity sighting, I wanted to share a story that happened pre-blogging in our Provo days. We are pretty big Costco fans and for those of you who aren't big wholesale shoppers, you can't enter the store without showing your membership card. With that said, here is our fun anecdote for the day:

Chris and I were not members of the fabulous chain that is Costco yet and were accompanying Mom and Dad on a shopping excursion, mostly to lunch on the free samples. Chris realized he left his phone in the car and ran to the parking lot. After he left, it dawned on my mother that he would not be able to get back in the store as he didn't have his own membership card. So we are standing next to a pallet of Campbell Soup while I scarf down the latest flavor out of a paper shot glass and Mom is wringing her hands, trying to stand on her toes to see the entrance to the store and hopefully Chris. We are of course nowhere near the entrance and her intimidating 5'3" frame can't see over the racks of fake Sherpa coats anyway. Dad has wandered off towards the latest Dan Brown novel at this point and I have spotted another sample an aisle down. Mom is nervous that I am not more concerned with my husband being stranded in the parking lot of Costco than tasting the microwavable turkey burger. Excuse me for being a starving student. And I know my husband is clever, I just didn't realize quite how clever.

Mom finally convinces me to call Chris, and I tell him Mom will meet him at the front (I don't want to miss the first batch of frozen burritos do I?) at the entrance. He says not to worry, he can see me now. Up he walks with quite the story:

Chris walks importantly through the store entrance, ignoring the employee in the red vest.
Employee: "Sir, I need to see your membership card."
Chris: Annoyed, "Are you kidding?"
E: "......No, sir."
C: Arrogantly, "Don't you know who I am?"
E: "Um, ....no?"
C: More patiently now, "You must be new."
E: "Well, ....yeah, ....I've been here about two weeks."
C: Explanatory, "Well, .....I'm Chris Graham"
E: "Oh....... I'm really sorry Mr. Graham......Go right ahead." Ushering him into the store with no further questions.

Teaser!!!!!!

2007-08-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

I just want to announce that in the near future we will be having a guest blogger about a celebrity appearance. I won't say who on either account. But now you'll check back often! Ha ha!!!!!!!!!

She's Crossed Over

2007-08-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

Like my new boss? Just kidding! I hope Dina doesn't actually read my blog. :) If she does...my new boss is a very young and attractive, nice lady!

Drumroll.....I have accepted a temporary assignment in the Village as a Human Resources Coordinator!!! I started yesterday and we have already had very exciting things happen. I will double the department in size (yes, we are a whopping 2-member team!). Unfortunately, I can't share any of our funny work-related stories on here, but just know that I'm having a good time. Not much of a consolation prize, sorry. Kinda feels like Let's Make A Deal, but you're okay. Anyway, I'm there till the end of the calendar year and we'll see if a) I like it, b) Dina likes me, and c) budget gets approved for a full-time position. If not, I still work at the coolest place on Earth and would still love to show you around if you're ever in the area!

Tagging

2007-08-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, I made the tagging post awhile ago, but saved it as a draft for when I had a lull in my posts. I just went to post it and it posted it for like 2 weeks ago!?!? So it's there, but you might have to search for it. I didn't forget about it, sorry Shannon and Samye! But I DID DO IT!!! Yay! Try under August 11th I think. Good luck. Just letting you know that I did it and I didn't forget. And if anyone knows how to avoid this in the future or how to change the order of my posts (even better!) that would be great. Thanks!

Not-so Shaggy Puppy

2007-08-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Cally couldn't quit smiling, she was so happy to see!

Give Kids The World Virtual Bowling

2007-08-15T17:22:00.001-07:00

I normally would NEVER do something like this, but I'm curious to see what happens. As many of you know, I work for an amazing non-profit organization called Give Kids The World. Children with life-threatening illnesses bring their families and enjoy a week at our resort along with all of Central Florida's attractions (Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc), and other goodies we provide for them at no cost.

Well, we are having a local fund raiser called a Bowling Ball and for the first time ever, we are having "virtual bowlers" where individuals or companies can contribute online from all over the world and not be present during the tournament. Please don't feel pressured or obligated to participate. But if you or anyone you know has been looking for a really good organization to donate to or partner with, we are one of the highest ranked charities. Check us out on Charity Navigator or www.gktw.org

I've Been Tagged!

2007-08-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

So curses to the Martino clan for starting this (not really, I love ya!). Just had to post my name on your freaking blog didn't you? (YOU know who you are!!!!!!!!) :) So, I've been saving this for when I didn't have anything to post, and here you go. I don't really like these, but as Shannon once said before, I also enjoy reading other peeps'.

Jobs I’ve Held:
1. Hostess for Perkin's- Dad, who misses the eclairs?!?!
2. Admin Asst. BYU Performing Arts Management
3. Gap Body Specialist- I was the "bra specialist"- yeah, that's a real job, and boy do I have stories!
4. Customer Care Center NorthStar Alarm
5. Team 2002 Winter Olympics- coolest job ever!!!!!!!!!
6. Veterinary assistant Riverwoods Pet Hospital
7. Give Kids The World Entertainment Coordinator, Village Vacation Planning Coordinator, more to come on GKTW jobs.....

Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1. Clueless
2. Legally Blonde- I like to refer to it as "Clueless goes to college"
4. Any Disney classics
5. Musicals

My Guilty Pleasures:
1. Sleeping Late
2. Baking up a storm and not cleaning it up- Love you honey!

Places I Have Lived:
1. Provo, UT
2. Carrollton, TX
3. Denton, TX
4. coughPocatello,IDcough
5. Orlando, FL

TV Shows I Enjoy:
1. Friends
2. Lost
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. What Not To Wear
5. Just For Laughs

What were likely the 1st things you thought when you saw your significant other for the first time?
1. Very cute
2. Too bad he's from Canada, he had such potential
3. He's fun and flirty, but not marriage material- clearly I am not a visionary

Places I’ve Been on Vacation (other than the U.S.):
1. Cancun and Puerto Vallarta- Mexico
2. London
3. Taipei, Taiwan
4. Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
5. Calais, France
6. Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary- Canada

Favorite Foods:
1. anything chocolate and I do not consider mole as chocolate
2. goldfish crackers- by the way, how exciting is it that Lake and I found Whole Grain Goldfish when we were in DC!!!!!????!?!?!
3. Cafe Rio
4. My mom's lasagna- I miss it :(

Websites I Visit (almost) Daily:
1. Email
2. Blogs linked to mine
3. I wonder if there is such a thing as internet window shopping?!?! I love looking at different stores whether it be for clothes, home, beauty, scrapbooking, organization projects, or just fun facts, but I never buy anything! Although Mom will be happy to know, it helps with my Christmas list. :)

Body Parts I Have Injured: a list of parts I have not injured might be shorter, but here goes!
1. We'll summarize with crutches all three years in junior high but never a broken bone. Mixture of ankles and knees, twists and sprains. Don't ask.
2. 4 open heart surgeries and proud of it!
3. Broken collar bone in college- no thank you to future motorbike rides
4. broken thumb from church volleyball- I think they were relieved I could no longer play
5. dislocated shoulder playing Frisbee in yard- that was a fun one wasn't it mom?
6. a few concussions at GKTW- hit head on puppet stage and theater marquee fell on my head when wind blew it down. Can you say accident report?
7. Stitches from swimming accident involving 1-2-3, my dad, and my brother. I forgive you now, Lake. I always wanted red hair like Ariel anyway.
8. Did I have stitches when the vacuum fell on my head? I don't remember.
9. I think my life can pretty much be summed up with a soundtrack filled with "Owie's" and the front cover could be a band-aid really.

Nicknames I’ve been called:
Hmmm, can't avoid this one, huh? If we haven't called me this in years, we can't bring it back. "Vintage" nicknames are not cool by the way!
1. Deyadoodle
2. Princess- has been and always will be my favorite
3. Goofus
4. Squirt
5. Pumpkin
6. Nighta Hate Fishman
7. Dirty Dishrag or Dishwater
8. Double D- Please can I point out that those were my initials growing up. That is all.
9. Deya Lova Lova- Hey Emily- what was her name and whatever happened to her?!?!?
10. Pinkie- this is a newly acquired one at work which has stemmed from my desk. Guess what color it is?

Now I get to pick other Blog buddies to do this! Tag, you're it:
I am not going to pass this on. Sorry peeps. But if you like this, ask me for it and I'll email it to ya!

The Shaggy Dog

2007-08-11T11:18:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are a little slow, we live in Florida. And if you didn't pass geography or earth science in school, it's REALLY hot and humid here. So I haven't been letting Cally go outside. I know, I know, she's a dog. She is, however, litter box trained. When last weighed, all whopping 6.4 pounds of fluff was still less than mom's cats so Chris decided we would give it a whirl. Not for the benefit of the dog so much as he knew I would be too lazy to get up and shovel snow in order to take her outside when we lived in Utah. Turns out Cally was more of a princess than I since she refused to "go" in inclement weather anyway. So litter box train her he did. They even make special litter for dogs made out of recycled newspapers called, wait for it....Yesterday's News! "Awww", I know. So, due to Chris' genius, I don't have to let her outside to do her business. It's nice to go out, and she enjoys it, but I don't particularly enjoy the sticky Florida summer air or the harmful reactions is seems to have on my less-than-perfect hair (Insert horror-film scream here). The weather hasn't been hotter than usual, but Cally's hair has gotten longer than I normally would allow. This is because she is overdue for her shots. I know, bad mom. I should be flogged. Go ahead, send me hate mail. I deserve it. Cally's hair has gotten so bad, that she can no longer see. She will not allow me to pull it out of her eyes with any type of cute fashion accessory like a bow or a clip. Heaven forbid she should look cute. People will come over to our house and slip into a gruffy baby-talk voice, "Oooh, wook at da poor baby! You cayunt even see, can you? No you cayunt! No you cayunt! Awww, poor baby!" It's surprising how many intelligent people actually talk like that. (I NEVER do, I swear!). So I finally took her to the vet this morning and got the poor fur ball vaccinated. I can now in good conscious make a grooming appointment for her next week. But I thought I would show you a picture of what she looks like, it's great!

New Things

2007-08-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is mostly for Elysa and Andrea (not that either are quite as fanatic as myself, but other Martha fans please enjoy! Martha Stewart (she bakes, makes crafts, and let's face it, she's one tough cookie since she served time!) is a bit of a hero of mine and I don't really care if you hate her, I still love her. Make fun of her, I still do, but I respect what she's done for the American housewife and for my recipe collection. Anyway, she has a magazine called Blueprint which I really like (hint, hint family for Christmas!) and they have their own blog called Bluelines. I have linked to it over on the right so enjoy! Feel free to post jokes, you can't sway my allegiance. :)

Day at the Beach

2007-08-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't think going for a CT scan would be comparable to a day at the beach, but the designers of Celebration Hospital would say, "au contraire mon frere." As we walked into the Imaging Center, we we put into "Sun deck 1" where Chris is pictured here watching Saved By The Bell reruns. If only it was the season they were at the beach resort. That might have been too coincidental. Ah, those were the days of Stacey Carosi. Anywhoo, here is Chris while we wait for my iodine contrast. They even had an area fenced off with fake cattails and painted sand. In the actual CT room, the ceiling had ocean scenes painted on it. It was quite the experience to which I was impressed with. And I am not one easily impressed with hospitals.

Camping in the City: Trail D

2007-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we set out to see sites more pertinent to the Dishman clan. Lake took me to tour George Washington University Law School which seemed extremely posh and exciting. There seemed to be a little tension in the air which could possibly be due to the fact that the bar was only 10 days away at the time! They have their own Moot Court where local (which in this case means federal and supreme) judges preside and answer questions to the students. Very exciting. I left impressed. The deal we made with the parents was they would help contribute to the sibling-weekend-o-fun fund if we promised to take lots of pictures. Well, we went one up on them and took pictures for future purposes, like when Lake starts school and will be too embarrassed to take pics at school in front of all his friends. You're welcome Mom and Dad.

I was also excited to take pics with the GWU hippo, although it wasn't as exciting as riding the Wall Street Bull that used to grace the streets of New York, as the size of the animal was slightly disappointing. You know for a hippo, having such a large mouth and all, he was very hard to understand.

After touring law school, we went down to see Baker Botts, Elysa's employer in a few weeks. But not before the city branded me one of their own. I'm pretty sure that the chemicals listed under Sharpie ingredients translate into metro soot and spray-on sunscreen. Unfortunately, the Barnes and Noble across the street did not carry paint thinner.

Camping in the City: Trail C

2007-07-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

I should probably explain the Jeep ads. After Lake and I dubbed the weekend "Camping in the City" we walked off the metro and were inundated with these Jeep ads literally seconds later. So it became the official campaign for the weekend. I knew this would be dad's favorite. May the Jeep (fish-mobile) rest in peace.

After fighting off the paparazzi for the future Justice of the Peace, we grabbed lunch and headed to Arlington Cemetery. This is actually a pretty cool place despite the ominous title. For future travel reference, it is worth shelling out the extra $7 to watch your fellow tourists sweating and crawling up the steep hill from the open-air bus. Even I braved the spider-webs in the "windows" of the bus to avoid having to repel back down to the metro station.

Can I take a minute to express my appreciation for the cleanliness of the DC metro system? I've ridden on many undergrounds in my short life and never have I felt okay about leaning against walls or sitting on benches! No garbage! None! It was soooo clean! I wish we had a metro system in Orlando, I'm sure that would make my commute to work much shorter. Although, given that Florida is all marshlands, I'm not sure how much safer since Steve Irwin is no longer with us.

After the cemetery, we were both pretty wiped out so we went back to the brick and mortar "tent" (just go with the whole camping thing, okay?) for a "non nap". We took the evening pretty easy. Had a nice local treat for dinner, window shopped and splurged on dessert. See Lake's blog.

As for my "roughing it" part of the day, I did have a slight injury. Rich and Kristl, you are going to LOVE this. Lake's friend Rich, thinks piggie tails are dangerous. The picture he created for me, made ma a little self-conscious about them. Being as we were roughing it and I didn't have a hair-dryer, I had to have SOME type of pig-tails, I decided to tuck them under to make them "safer". Needless to say, it got stuck in my purse and once I got Lake to quit laughing, he untangled me, but not before taking a picture.

Camping in the City: Trail B

2007-07-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning after valiant efforts from each of us to sleep in, we were out and about before 9am. Our first battle with the natives of the day was with the local pharmacist at CVS. Future traveling tip, make sure you do NOT ever have to buy medication off of your insurance plan. Even just 2 measly little pills can cost you short of $20 bucks!

Pills in hand (actually in purse, which was in backpack, which Lake was carrying, so really I had no responsibilities at this point whatsoever other than NOT looking like a tourist) we headed to the Library of Congress. This had to be the single tourist-ish thing Lake had NOT done in DC. I was so excited to be the one to share it with him! I had been a little worried the weekend would be redundant for him, so this was a treat. The Guttenburg bible was quite impressive as was the Reading Room. Although, being our father's children, we sadly spent the most time at Bob Hope's joke file. Yes, dad, we might have forgotten to mention that part earlier. It is not a legend, it really exists and Chris, there were infinite references to golf! All the men in my family would've been proud! For a more historical look into these places, please see Lake's travelblog.

We then headed towards Union Station for lunch. Along the way we had to pass the Supreme Court building. Well, as many of you know, Elysa just graduated from UVA Law School and will be taking (ahem... passing) the Bar in 2 days and Lake starts GWU Law school in a few weeks. So I felt the need to take a foreshadowing pictures if Lake would've been so indulgent. Of course, he couldn't be bothered by his public, so the resulting picture is the one I plan to release to the press in 20 years when he is elected to the Court for tons and tons of money. I mean, a girl's gotta eat, right?

Camping in the City: Trail A

2007-07-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend, I flew up to DC to spend some time with my brother, Lake. He and his wife, Elysa, have a new apartment there they have not moved into yet. We were happy to have electricity and running water, but were limited on other supplies, thus the title. I slept on a futon that had been purchased a left on their previous visit and Lake brought along with him an air mattress which he proceeded to inflate himself only proving to the rest of us that he was indeed full of hot air. For those of you who have ever been taken in by Chris' practical jokes, we got him pretty good with a long story about how Lake hyperventilated and we were at the hospital waiting for Elysa to drive up from Charlottesville and I wasn't sure what we were going to do with the rest of the weekend.

Once we had the sleeping arrangements figured out, what got really tricky was the shower situation. As we all know I am a bit of a germaphobe, not showering was of course not an option. I did also promise Elysa to enforce laws of personal hygiene at all times. This presented us with a problem when the shower did not have a shower curtain. Now, I enjoy a good soak in a Lush bath like the next girl, but not to get clean. I do not, at any time, enjoy soaking in my own filth. I am not a pot of soup that will boil out germs. But we are roughing it, so fine. The only problem seems to be, there is no stopper in the tub! There was some serious contortionist stretching and folding with lots and lots of splashing. Let's just say, thanks for sending extra towels Elysa!

Playing around

2007-07-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting to REALLY learn how to use photoshop for awhile now, but I haven't. So I finally made myself sit down this afternoon and take some online tutorials. I played around with a picture of my aunt and uncle taken at Granddad's funeral, that I thought was cute and wanted to see what I could do with it. After a few hours, yes hours. If you are a photo shop master, you probably could've done this if a few minutes, but I'm learning. So here are the before and after shots of what I did. If you know of any good sites or helps, PLEASE let me know!!!!
Before:

After:

Wild Thing

2007-07-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

Some advice for all you ladies out there...keep an eye on your men. I understand that in this day and age, most people have to travel for work. No one understands that better than a golf widow such as myself. But it is hard to be away from your husband for long periods of time. To be honest, I sometimes have a hard time trusting him. I never know for sure what he is doing while he's away. For all I know, he becomes a totally different person and leads an entirely new life on the road.

How much trouble could he possibly get into, you ask? For those of you who grew up with Chris, you didn't just ask that question. You know. And perhaps more than you know, but he just let Chad take the brunt of it. But for those of you who aren't familiar with my troublemaker of a husband...

Time out...I didn't want to use "troublemaker" so I googled a thesaurus and I had a good laugh at the synonyms and had to share: agent provocateur, agitator, bad actor, dog, firebrand, gremlin, heel, hellion, incendiary, inciter, inflamer, instigator, knave, loose cannon*, meddler, mischief-maker, nuisance, phony, punk, rabble-rouser, rascal, recreant, rogue, smart aleck, smart a--, snake, stormy petrel, weasel, wise guy. Are those great or what?

Sorry, back to my "rabble-rouser" of a husband....I really don't know what goes on or have any control of his actions. Do I think he would go gamble our life savings away? No. Do I think he will take up clubbing and become a rave junkie? Not a chance. Would he ever be secretly perform for a travelling circus and use the "golf" as a cover? Probably not. Would he get caught up with some hot young thing? Nope. But it's the little things you think are automatic such as...oh, I don't know....personal hygiene? You've mostly all seen my handsome husband as pictured here:

Awww...so pretty! But after 3 weeks on the road of just boys, this is what comes home:

sigh.

Before the Wii, it was just we

2007-06-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

In a tribute to times gone by, Lake and I camped out in Grammie and Pop's sun room for a tournament while in Dallas this past weekend. Some of my friends play tennis, some pool, and some card games. The only kind of tournament allowed at the Martino household includes none of those activities. Let me take you on a ride in my delorian with it's flux capacitor. How about an early 90's flashback to the old standby of Dr. Mario? Ah yes, the original Nintendo game. While Duck Hunt was my original favorite, the chuckling dog starts to get on your nerves after awhile and I think PETA banned the game eventually. If they didn't, they probably should have.

Grammie and Pops bought the Nintendo, I assume, in an effort to keep up with the times and show the grandkids how "hip" they were. And they really were hip as Pops would practice while we were in school and when we visited on holidays, he would kick our trash! There is nothing more degrading than losing a video game to your grandpa. For you young ones out there, Nintendo was the first really big game console. and even our parents didn't know how to play them, so props to Pops (we should so make that a slogan!!) for learning it! The only predecessor was Atari and you can only play pong for so long. As a side note, before video game consoles, you had to play on your computer and who remembers Frogger?!?!?

Come to think of it, I don't ever remember us not having some kind of video game. I remember when we had an IBM that had a black screen with green type and a printer with paper that had green and white lines on it...any who, Dad got us this plastic keyboard that you plugged in and could play Muppet games on. Good times. Then there was good old Mavis Beacon typing game who taught me to type. Not the most fun game, but effective nonetheless. I guess in a way, I owe this blog to ole Mavis.

Okay, back to Dr. Mario. If you are so young you have never heard of Dr. Mario, I'm sorry for you. This is possibly the best game ever. Not only do you have to manipulate your pharmacy choices (could this be the stem for all the prescription drug abuse these days?), but you have to kill germs. This alone can get boring. The best option is the 2-player option. You race against each other to kill all your germs first. (Perhaps the stem for my germophobia?) But the single best part of the 2-player game is that if you kill more than one germ at a time, your opponent gets "rained" on with random pills he doesn't need. As it "rains" it plays this annoying little tune that I only wish I could convey over a blog. But I can't. Use your imagination, I know it's in there.

So during our tournament, I quickly remember why I NEVER play against Lake...he always wins! And I would like to point out here as a side note, and a bit of a jab towards Lake, that we only ever owned one video game he couldn't beat. Yep, just one. And it was the only game that was mine. Neither of us could ever get past the second level. What is this intriguingly difficult game, you ask? It is none other than Barbie. Yes, Barbie. We figured out how to dodge all the flying shoes and hats in the stores, but we never could get across all the mall fountains without dying. Sigh. Now you understand why I consider the mall a workout. Okay, sorry Lake (not really), but back to my story.

I realize quickly I am not going to clear my germs faster than him, so I decide to take a different tactic. I wonder if this is how our political leaders plan war...? If I can't beat him, then I'll just torture him. To my advantage, he forgot about the dreaded drug rain. Mwuahahahaha! I finally got him with a really great rain and he jerks out of his chair, jumps in the air, and screams with no intonation, "You just da da da danted me!"

I will never figure out how to play Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, and even Wii can't improve my tennis score, but I will always be the evil scientist in Dr. Mario who poison's your pharmacy. Da da da danted that Lake!!!!
p.s. I love you!!!!!!!

Driving Miss Deya

2007-06-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've been reading all my old postings and in order to dispute a certain rumor (I am only funny when I'm sick), I felt the need to write something. I'm going to share a story about a friend. We will call her Jane. No, it is not really me, you'll see why and if you are reading this and your name really is Jane, I'm sorry I used your name and it's nice to meet you since I really don't know anyone named Jane. All disclaimers out of the way now? Oh wait, "Jane" I am sorry, but it had to be done and as good of a friend as you are, I don't think you read this anyway. Guess we'll see...mwuhahaha (is that how you would phonetically spell an evil laugh?!?)

As I mentioned before, Chris' car went to the shop to get a little work done. Let's start with a shout out for extended warranties! Woo Hoo!!!!!!! So, I'm talking to Jane about the CRV's little excursion to the dentist and she asks me a funny question: "Do you know how often you are supposed to change your windshield wipers?"
Immediately I ask Chris, my friendly in-home mechanic, who answers: "every 6 months." (you didn't know that either, did you?)
"Ok, I didn't know that!"
"So, what's the big deal? When did you change them last?"
"I didn't know you were supposed to change them!"
"You've never changed them....ever?!?!"
" (in a timid almost whimpering voice..) No."
"So, the whole time you've had the car, you've never changed them?!?! (Even I know you have to do it when it quits wiping the rain off the windshield. otherwise, what's the point?) When did you get your car then?"
"Um...2004?"

Ladies, this is why men make fun of women drivers. Men, we get it, don't say it, just smile and nod. In Jane's defense, I had to share with her a story exhibiting my own ignorance in car maintenance which I know my father will never forget and Lake, if this happened on your mission...sorry about your car. :)

To start out with, let me say that I got 100% on my written driver's ed exam. 100 freaking percent. The actual driving test, we won't discuss, but I still claim it's not my fault I didn't want to hit the squirrel and that I was emotionally traumatized for the rest of the test. In high school Lake and I shared a 1988 white hard-top Jeep Wrangler. The key word for this story is '88. If you are currently driving an '88 automobile, props to you for keeping it running this long as we are all about to learn that I couldn't have accomplished such a feat. So I am driving along, taking some stupid short cut by the train yards in the not-so-friendly part of town and smoke starts coming out of the engine. I am smart enough to know this is not good, so I pull over. As a pull over there is an exploding sound right before the engine dies. Not good. Let me just clarify that this was a time before cell phones. Yes, try and think hard, there was a time before cell phones. So I analyze the situation and try and figure out my best options. There are no other drivers on the road, period. One side of the road is a cliff-shaped lava rock wall. The other side is a cemetery. Yes, a graveyard. If only this happened in the night time, I could have made a fortune on my cheesy horror flick story rights. Behind me, I passed the train yards. Not wanting to get picked up by a scary vagabond (if you are reading this and have ever at any point in your life been a vagabond, I am not slamming you, I have great respect for what you did, I just know I am a weakling and could not live the life you led) I decide to walk forward. Eventually in the distance, I spot this creepy dirty diner next to an abandoned gas station. Think Corner Gas in Hell. So I venture into the diner. There is not a house phone that I may use (which I still think was a lie), but there is a pay phone. That would be great if I had any coins. A nice truck-driver man took pity on me and tossed me a quarter. After a short and panicked conversation with my dad, he agrees to come pick me up. I walked back to the car as I sadly felt safer there, next to the decomposing bodies than in the diner. Once Dad shows up, not less than angry, we had this conversation:
"Deya! You are out of oil! Why didn't you change it!?!?!"
"The light didn't come on."
"The what?!?!"
"The light on the dashboard that tells me to change my oil never came on."
"...(slight reddening of the face and glaring of the eyes)...."
"That's what I learned in Driver's Ed. The light will come on when you need to change the oil, and it didn't come on yet. So how was I supposed to know when to change the oil?"
"...(at this point I can tell he is trying to talk himself out of strangling me)..Well, Deya, how many miles have you driven since your last oil change?"
"Um, last..oil change....? The light never came on, Daddy."
Despite what Lake thinks, there are a few times when I cannot get away with murder by wrapping my arms around Dad's neck and saying, "Daddy, I love you!" Costing him a new engine in the Jeep would be one of those times.

Cally's Super Fun Weekend at Auntie Connie's

2007-05-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were worried about Cally while we were in Virginia, here are some stress-relieving pics. Cally spent the weekend at my friend Connie's house with her boys, Bucky and Rocky. As you can see, they aren't quite Cally size, but they sure love her and she sure loved her Uncle Bob!

Charlie's Angels

2007-05-31T15:56:00.001-07:00

The other day at work, I hear this heart-wrenching sound like an animal in distress. As you all know me, you know that I can't ignore this and must investigate further. Come to find a little baby kitten who seems to be injured. No need to worry, Nancy Drew is on the case!

Unfortunately I startled it and it jumped into my friend Andrea's car. Not in where the people go, but in the engine. So after about an hour and a half of poking, prodding, deceptive turkey-giving, and swarms of nasty love bugs, we get the poor thing out...only to have it run out the gate. At this point, I am content to walk away, but my other friend Jillian, who is a bigger softie than me, chases the cat off-property. So then Andrea and I chase Jillian. As the caravan continues, the security gate closes and we are all three stuck on Bass Rd. This is not good. Andrea's car is sitting in the parking lot, not in a stall, but the road part, with the hood open, her door open, and her keys and radio sitting on the seat. We are locked out. At this point, we HAVE to catch the cat if we are to ever explain this to our respective bosses. So we corner the scared-out-of-its-mind animal and trek the half-mile to the welcome gate. It turns out the kitten has a bloody paw so we wrapped her up in a towel, made a vet appointment, and proceeded to send out fliers for adoption. I am happy to report "Charlie" is healthy and in good hands. But what a day!

Driving Miss-Demeaner

2007-05-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Quick story for the day...
Chris took our CRV in to get serviced and they called him a rental car. The Hertz guy shows up, Chris hops in the car so the driver can take him to the Hertz place. As they are backing out of the parking spot at the Honda dealership...BAM!
Chris: "Oh geez, what was that?"
Poindexter the Driver: While looking in rear-view mirror at the test-driver he just hit, "not again!"
After much deliberation about what needs to happen, CHris finally asks if someone else can come pick him up as he needs to get to work soon. So Hertz sends out a new driver.
The new driver shows up, looks at the situation and asks Poindexter what happened. He explains how he backed into the other driver in the dealership parking lot. His friend slumps his shoulders and says...
"Not again!"

No Shave and a Haircut

2007-05-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

So, we all had a good laugh at Chris "Timberlake" Richardson on American Idol, but I spent the majority of his performances gritting my teeth. Not because he was a poor singer, but because my Chris kept telling me how great he would look with the same haircut. I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

He actually doesn't look that bad (mom). :)

Golfing 101

2007-05-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

After a weekend of "friendly banter", I had to post these pictures of Ron. His anti-blog campaign was begging to be challenged, so here I am defying "the man". Chris decided to give a little "Golfing 101" in Lake's parking lot. Chris turned out to be a pretty good teacher as his students improved before our eyes. The Star Pupil award went to Melanie for attempting to bounce the ball on her club. I guess it goes without saying that everyone ended up being a good sport.

My memories from Elysa's Grad

2007-05-22T19:04:00.001-07:00

This is pretty much my view of the weekend. Just wanted you to feel like you were there!

My New Friend/Protoge

2007-05-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

So while in Virginia, we met Lake and Elysa's friends Rich and Kristl. I hope they are okay with the fact that I am posting this. Well, all year, we have been hearing Lake go on and on about their little girl Abby. I'm thinking, A) I'm sure she's cute, but aren't all little girls? and B) Maybe Lake is just so enthralled with her because Elysa is trying to study and shooing him away. Either way, I was not expecting to meet Mini Deya. She was adorable from the start, but she really won me over when she pulled my hot pink crocs off the shoe rack and proceeded to walk around the room like a fashion model. The girl has good taste, as these shoes hold all the essentials for a true princess: They are in fact a shoe, they are pink, they have a princess crown attached, and I picked them out initially. Lake then stuck her in the great, big Panera bag as she proceeded to play The Great Tennis Ball Exchange.

Black and White Gala

2007-05-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Every year at work we hold a black tie fund raiser and the employees attend as help. It was really fun, this isn't a funny post so much as some cool pictures. This is Andrea, she is my Martha Stewart twin.

This is Jillian and I at the end of the night, practicing our pose for America's Next Top Model. Yes, I am sadly addicted to the show.

This is Jenna. She was partly running the whole event, so this was before the stress of the evening set in.

Here are the three of us with Pat, our work mom. She loves pink as much as I do. :)

Girls Night

2007-05-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sure Ehu will kill me for posting this picture later, but let's see how long it takes her to even find it. Adriana, Ehu and I went out to dinner at the Hard Rock's Kitchen last night, which I must say was muy bueno. Playing card accessories are courtesy the random roaming magician. Have I mentioned how white I am??!!?!?!?

Wet Rat

2007-05-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

So, I sorta feel this picture is self-explanatory. This great pic occured during the tragedy known as "Superflea 2007". With no thanks to FEMA, we have recovered from this disaster.

The Blood Chronicles

2007-04-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so may I please rant a bit about the tragic and dilapidated system that is medical insurance and blood tests? First of all, my insurance will only pay for me to have an arm draw at the nasty, dirty, icky, not-so-sterile blood lab. I have to have an arm draw even though a finger prick would suffice, heaven forbid they update their equipment. I am now a "regular" and they don't even ask me to come to the window anymore. I have "my lady" Maria who is the least masochistic of the phlebotomists. Only Maria in her thick Cuban accent will say, "Dee-ya! blah blah blah...really long story that I cannot understand a word of and never know if I should laugh at the end or not." I go to the lab before work and sit in the waiting room and attempt to put on my makeup in my teenie compact mirror without getting coughed on. My blood levels are starting to level out (yay!) but we had a nice scare last week. We refer to it as the "South Beach Incident". One doctor put me on it and the other one freaked out. For the record, it is never good for one doctor to say of another, "Is she a complete idiot?!?!" So now I am banned from all foods containing Vitamin K (surprisingly it thickens your blood which would counteract my Coumadin and cause a blood clot, which I've heard is kind of a bad thing). Vitamin K is in anything healthy I've decided so I included a picture of me taken this morning on my new diet.

Our Baby Cally

2007-03-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

This is Cally with her "innocent until proven guilty" face. She is our baby who will be 4 in June. She was our 1st year anniversary present to each other. She is a doll and a monster. It's like living with a litter box trained 2 year old.

Cally was not a huge fan of her princess crown that Grandpa (deal with it Dad!) got her for my birthday. Yep, for MY birthday, Cally got a princess crown. I really am a mom! If no one will play with her, she will kick herself in her face and then attack her foot. Cannibalism or not, it's hilarious. She can't grip our wood laminate floors so we love to startle her and watch her run in place. She would walk into a fire for Chris, but if I ask her to "come here" she gives me a look that says, "you wish." But I love her!

Chris still lives here too!

2007-03-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

So my mother (yay, another reader!) pointed out that I never mention Chris. There goes my nomination for wife of the year! Chris is doing great. He works at The Golf Channel (I know, a WHOLE channel devoted to golf) as a producer. He's very talented at it and meets all sorts of peeps. He is also playing on the NGA tour which is a stepping stone towards the PGA. I like it because most of the tournaments aren't far, but for those out-of-towners, thank goodness for cell phone family plans! He is still a joker, loves to give me a hard time, and treats me like a princess. Although I think he has a new little princess....

As the Village Turns

2007-03-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

So thanks to Shannon for so politely pointing out that I am not free from blogging now that my surgery is over. I must warn you, when not under medical distress, my life is very boring. And since I can count all the readers of this blog on one hand, (Hey Martino's, Hey!!!) I have been waiting for something great and amazing to post. And, I don't have one! I am now back at work and thought I might share with you about the amazing place I work (if that's what you can even call what I do).

Give Kids the World is the most amazing place on Earth. Seriously. It's a resort for kids with life-threatening illnesses. Their entire family can come stay at our Village for a week and experience all the fun attractions Orlando has to offer (you know you are going to come visit me down here just for that eventually) for free.

Right now I work in the Village Vacation Planning Department. The ladies in there are my mother hens and we have WAY too much fun. Oh, and every day someone brings in treats. It's pretty much like pre-school. Only without the nap time. These are the treats I brought one day. I had to shotgun the brownie seat. You know me and my chocolate!

I used to work in the Entertainment department which was really fun only I eventually could not take it physically any more. I gained new skills there such as being able to name every Disney character: EVER, all the Nickelodeon ones too, the ever popular Peanut Butter Jelly Dance (if you don't know it, I will teach it to you and your kids will LOVE it, how to run a carousel, drive a train, clean a wishing well, I am now on a first name basis with Mary Poppins and Santa Clause (he promised me a ride in his sleigh), and I still think Dora the Explorer in person is the creepiest thing ever. Love the show, props for bilingual, but she should stay in 2-D format at all times.

We have a type of mascot at GKTW (like our Mickey Mouse, who is actually his best friend as they go golfing together every Saturday. No, I'm not joking, I'm serious!) who is a 6ft bunny named Mayor Clayton. Here he is pictured with his wife, Ms. Merry (there was an actual carrot exchange a few years back. Seriously.) and their new buddy Murphy the Gingerbread Man. Can you find me in the picture? I do expect some comments on guesses! And no, you cannot eat Murphy.

Anyway, that's a quick overview of where I work. Since that is pretty much our life right now, I'll start sharing fun anecdotes about life at the Village. And I promise to learn to post shorter blogs. I swear!

Series Finale

2007-03-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a good run. Ratings were dropping and the cast was demanding too much money so we have to shut down production of "Deya's of Our Lives". We only lasted less than half a normal season of television, but that's okay since this isn't television. All the fans, I just want to say thank you for the loyalty. We couldn't have done it with out you. So I suppose you might want to know how it all ends. There are a few ways to end a series. You can end in a cliffhanger so everyone can make their own conclusions. You can lead into a spin-off (it could be about Buzz and we could call it "As the Girl Burns" I have to give credit for that to Lake. Darn it.). You can do a cheesy, fast paced, unrealistic ending where all the story lines suddenly work themselves out and everyone has a happy ending. Or you can have the lame, unexciting one I am about to give you. Sorry. :0) Apparently this was not my final check-up. These will continue for a year but I know the ratings won't. Since I had assumed this was the final one, I had prepared a list of questions. Always a good idea when going to the doctor. 4 pages into my questions, (yes, I know, and there really ARE that many questions to ask) she looks at me and says, "Seriously, how many more do you have? Just so you know, when my other patients complain about me taking too long, I'm going to blame it on you." I was fine with that since they have no idea who I am! She repeated over and over while looking at my notebook that it was insane how organized I was. "Deya, how do you come up with these? This is why I treat children, adults are so much harder. Why are you asking me hard questions?" We were all laughing really hard, so it was all in good fun. After my final test, she commented there is still a teenie bit of fluid around my heart. "Don't worry about it. It just takes awhile for it to organize and become reabsorbed. I hope they aren't organized like you and ask a lot of questions!" The bottom line is that once I'm healed, I can live a basically normal life. Since I've already vetoed the life as a motocross racer, that is not a problem now. Maybe a few less roller coasters, but when we have kids, I won't be the one thrown up on. There is a bright side to everything. Mind you, I'll still have to clean it up. But what can you do?

The OC (Hey, technically Orlando is IN Orange County)

2007-03-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

First of all, sorry for the loooooong gap in communication. In my defense, we made the big "mom swap" so we've been having fun over here. I had my final wound check (why does that sound like something for my dog?) this week. I have FINALLY passed with flying colors. Thanks to Buzz, those appointments lasted about a month longer than usual. Buzz's grave site was excavated and has slowly filled back in so we are doing well. Still using that stinky, manly soap though. One of these days, I'll get to be a girl again. I did, however, convince the doctor to let me use girlie lotion. I just get in trouble when there are traces of glitter around the wound site. What's a girl to do?
I did not pass my pacemaker inspection. Now before you go getting all excited, let me explain. I did study hard, but there were circumstances out of my control that did not allow me to get a passing grade. Okay, so I've never had to use an excuse like that, but I've always wanted to. I am using the pacemaker less than half a percent of the time. That's > 0.005 for you visual learners.
I have my final post-op check up on Monday. We have started a notebook of questions to ask her about how my life will be after this. Let's see how she likes the interrogations then! Just kidding, but we are compiling a list. If you think of any good ones, please pass them along. I know as soon as I get home, I will think of something I should have asked. So please share your pearls of wisdom. Or any other semi-precious gem of knowledge you might have.
One thing that will for sure change is I have to wear that medic alert jewelry that we've all seen at the Walgreen's pharmacy counter. Soooooo pretty! Thanks to my mom, we have found some actual pretty ones that don't even look like nasty medic alert jewelry. So if you know anyone who needs to wear this, I have a few great places to look. They have some really awesome ones for kids these days as well.
The big news is I will be returning to work on Tuesday! I know, so soon! It will actually have been 7 weeks at that point and I will be allowed to drive. Look out Florida, here I come. One more crazy driver on the roads can't make that much of a difference, right? I hope to go for all 8 hours, but we will see how I do. My work has been amazing and is very understanding in helping get back at my own pace. Can we have a shout out for Give Kids the World!?!?! If you ever come visit me, I will give you at tour, it's indescribable.
I can't believe how fast it's gone and I can't believe how much I have improved. Modern medicine has always been a friend of mine and we just keep getting closer!

Pacesions

2007-03-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

February 28, 2007

My big "interrogation" was today. The cops drove me down to the precinct and threw me in a room with a two-way mirror, a card table, two folding chairs, and a single desk-sized heat lamp. That detective was straight out of Law & Order. No mercy. Ok, ok, so maybe it wasn't THAT kind of interrogation. A cardiac interrogation is actually how they check my pacemaker. Not nearly as exciting is it? They put a magnet similar to a computer mouse over the pacemaker. Then they right click to get the pull-down menu, and..wait...that can't be right. But it is connected to a special laptop that can measure how often I have used the pacemaker and I have used it less than half of a percent! In case you are a little lost, that is REALLY good. Although, in all fairness, how vigorous can my heart rate be when I spend my days on the couch with the occasional trip to the grocery store? Just to make sure the settings are not too high (meaning it's not kicking in when it should) I have to have another interrogation in a month when my activity level has increased.
I did ask the doctor about the limitations in my right arm and when those might go away. I would just like to say on record, that a doctor, to my face, admitted there had been a mistake. "I'm sorry, this is all our fault. See, you never needed to not use your arm. Because your pacemaker was given during open-heart surgery, we didn't have to thread it through your veins and there is no way you could've disconnected your leads." So my arm and shoulder aren't sore, they're just completely stiff. We are slowly going to start using my arm. But I figure if that's the biggest mistake they made, I can live with it. We have all be so impressed with the entire staff at the hospital and the clinic. They have been so attentive, available, and thorough. If you ever need a recommendation, I have one.
In good news this week, I washed my hair all by myself! This is sadly, the most exciting news I have had in weeks. But just in time to be able to shower before my sweet mother-in-law comes to town. I love her, but I don't think she needs to get to know that side of me. Mom leaves on Friday and Rhonie (Chris' mom) comes on Saturday. Chris is working Friday night so this will be my first "alone" time longer than half an hour. Should be interesting. If phones start ringing after 9pm Eastern time, I might be lonely and/or bored. :) Sorry Dad, I know those are your favorite words.

2007-03-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Buzz and the Beautiful
February 20, 2007
Apparently my affections towards my little friend Buzz were not mutual. He decided he was very angry at me last night and he threw up all over me. He cost me a trip to the doctor's this morning and a little pain afterwards. It turns out he (I'm really not sure how he acquired this gender, probably because I'm mad at him right now) was not a burst blood vessel but a blood blister. According to the doctor, it is not uncommon for these things to gather beneath an incision and gradually "work it's way out" and eventually burst. So after a slightly panicked call, Mom and I trekked up to the hospital one more time. After getting cleaned up, we noticed a small (about the size of mechanical pencil lead) hole in the middle of the scar. I will give you a glimpse of another fun conversation I had with the doctor at this point:
"Well, it's not as bad as I was expecting. I think if we just put some Silver Nitrate on it, it should just cauterize that right up."
"Silver Nitrate, that doesn't sound scary at all." At this point I am not wanting to admit I have no idea what 'cauterize' means.
"Oh don't worry, it will just seal up the hole so it doesn't bother you anymore."
"Oh, okay I can handle that. Will it sting?"
"No, no! This is what we use on babies to seal up the umbilical cord. It doesn't hurt them so I guess we'll see how tough you really are."
"Oh, cool, knock yourself out then." Surely I am more pain tolerant than a newborn infant right? "Wow, that feels like hydrogen peroxide. It kinda stings a little...no a lot....oh my gosh....oh my GOSH....um, OW!!!!!!!!!....Should I be having shooting pains in my chest, not around where you just put that stuff?"
"Where is the pain?"
"Over here" I know... that is helpful when you can't see what I'm doing...Ok, I'll be nice, I was pointing at my heart.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can tell where I am experiencing excruciating pain."
"Huh....(for the record, it's never good when your doctor says that)...You aren't allergic to Silver Nitrate are you?"
"I don't know, I've never had it. Would that be bad considering you just put some into my blood stream that goes right to my heart?"
"Um....." Also not a good thing to hear from your doctor. "Try taking deep breaths".
Long story short, it somehow hit a nerve that eventually calmed down and I am unfortunately NOT allergic to Silver Nitrate. And as far as being tougher than newborns, I would just like to point out that: how in the world would you know if that hurt them or not? Isn't the infant already crying by the time they fix the umbilical cord? And I don't think infants' nerves are completely developed at birth so I stand by my pain threshold. I will share one last thing the doctor said to me, though. "Don't worry, Deya. Even the patients that call me everyday eventually call me less and less because they start to improve." Was that encouragement or a subtle hint?
Now for the weekly medical term vocabulary lesson. If you know this one, you would have been more prepared for the above situation than I. 'Cauterize' literally means to burn. Yes, burn. Not with a flame, but something more along the lines of, oh let's say acid. Yes, acid. Turns out Silver Nitrate is a type of ACID. So now I have a charcoaled memorial to dear Buzz in the middle of my chest. It looks like someone smeared charcoal onto my chest. Burnt to a crisp. Poor little Buzz. But I am all better and even got a great story out of it!

February 24, 2007
After Buzz's cremation, we had planned to scatter his ashes (he didn't have any family for us to take him to) but Buzz had other plans. He decided he wanted his remains to be pushed back into my scar and excavate his grave into a much bigger hole. Yeah, he always was fun like that. Living on the wild side that Buzz. So after another round of calls to the doctor at 10pm last night, we made a midnight run to the pharmacy for antibiotics and met the doctor at the hospital this morning. He promised no silver nitrate and he delivered (he is not the same doctor who gave me the oh so wonderful acid last time. He is the one who made my scar smaller. I like him)!!!!! I'm not saying it was a walk in the park. Although I think we did discuss walks in the park with our dogs as he attempted to distract me during the "cleaning". I will spare you the gory details, although they are quite good if you are interested. So we are back to cleaning and dressing open wounds. It does figure this would happen just as my final chest tube sight was sealing up. So I have to wait a little longer before I can do any girlie things like use my Bath and Body Works (as opposed to the smelly Dial soap) or take a bubble bath (long live Lush!!). I suppose I will have to satisfy my inner (and outer) princess with nail polish and the occasional make-up. The doctor did joke with me about all of this and I explained to him the Law of Probabilities which states, "If the probability of this happening is small, it will happen to Deya." He just shook his head and said, "I live by that same law only I call it 'lucky'. Lucky that I'm still here after everything." Touche Doc, touche.

2007-03-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

The Young and the Restless at Home
January 31, 2007

Well, Deya made it home safe and sound. She is having some trouble adjusting since our bed doesn't move like the hospital bed. Now, when she gets uncomfortable with however she is laying, it takes a group effort to move pillows and readjust the earths gravitational pull to make sure she is comfy. I will miss that hospital bed. a new position at the touch of a button. But that's ok, I would rather have her home. The food is definitely better at home, due mainly to the cafeteria chef at Casa Graham. Deya's mom has been doing a remarkable job of keeping everyone's bellies mostly full, (including the dog). Most importantly Deya's appetite is coming back to normal (I think the menu has a lot to do with it). Deya has been making great strides with her breathing. The little contraption they gave her to exercise her breathing has been put to good use and now she is even surprising herself with how much she can fill up her lungs with air. It still hurts mind you, but it's WAY better than before. She is still doing her daily walks. Today it was very sunny and about 70 degrees so she went for her first walk outside in a long time (yay Florida). The biggest trouble she is having is with her coughing. She still has fluid in her lungs which needs to come out by coughing and well, it hurts. She has been taking maximum doses of Ibuprofen and Tylenol, which really isn't much. The biggest downfall to the coughing is it costs her a lot of sleep. When she lays down is the worst so we prop her up but it is about as comfortable as sleeping on a plane. But we are keeping things in perspective, she is home, she is getting better, and she has a great support group. We go to the doc on Friday for a blood test and we will see if her blood thinner medicine is doing its job, so we'll hope for the best.

Thanks everyone for everything. We truly are blessed to have so many supportive people in our life.

February 2, 2007

Today I come with good news and bad news. Then some more good news, and some more bad news. So let's get right to it. The good news is, the tornadoes that touched down in Orlando today missed us by a good 15 miles. While we did get a whole lot of rain, and pretty decent lightning and thunder show at 5 am, the wicked witch decided we needed to stay here in Kansas a little longer. The bad news is.....Deya got a really bad migraine and fell down today. We went to the lab this morning so they could draw blood and send the results to the doctor and on the way home Deya got a pretty intense migraine. Then, when we got home, she had her eyes closed because she gets very light sensitive when she has migraines, and she went to sit down on the bed and, well...... she missed. Needless to say, it gave us all a pretty good scare, but after some semi-deep breathing, she regained her composure and carried on into bed. The down side, of course, was that now her head hurt and her chest really hurt. The other good news is, Deya's appetite and range of motion is improving more and more everyday. In fact she is able to laugh a little bit and sit up on her own without nearly as much help. So good job Deya! The other bad news is, we got the result of her blood work from this morning and her blood is WAY too thick. Right now she is on 1mg doses of blood thinner and the doc said she needs to take 5 of those pills a day for the next 2 days and then she will go back to the hospital on Sunday for another blood draw. Now, the doctors did warn us when she was discharged that it would take some time to get the correct dosage, but being off by 4mg is pretty big. But we are grateful the tornadoes went away so we could make it to lab this morning and hopefully we will get things straightened out.

Thank You everyone who has been so kind in sending Deya the wonderful cards and flowers. Our place smells so much nicer!!

And a big thank you goes out to Bethanne Freeland who went to Good Morning America on Thursday and held up a sign that said, "Get Well Soon Deya Love" for all to see. We all got a big kick out it.

February 5, 2007

Ok, so I just read all the (as Erica so wonderfully worded it) "Episodes of Deya". I was a little skeptical but it seems Chris did a really good job in informing all of "my peeps". Your responses were touching, appreciated, and hilarious. I am so comforted to know that people out there worry about their "Poor Pink Princess" and that they love my "stictched up little guts" :) See what I mean? Laughter truly is the best medicine. Chris has not allowed me (or I wouldn't allow him) to read these until now as laughter was more painful that curing until now. I have been so overwhelmed with everyone's support and love and prayers. I am once again living proof that prayers are answered so thank all of you for getting me home!

I guess you are now hungry for an update? Don't drool too much as it is not nearly as exciting as moose guts (for the record I did not nor have I ever come into contact with any actual moose guts eventhough I am married to a Cannuck). We went to the doctor today. My blood is still thicker than they would like so we continue to manipulate my home pharmacy. Tonight we are back to 5 pills. Please don't feel sorry for me as these pills are PINK! I am in no danger unless you count (I do) the needles from the blood draws. If any of you have ever accompanied me to a flu shot, you will be happy to know that I can indeed control myself and no longer hide under the chair when I see a needle coming straight for me. The fluid around my lungs has finally cleared (YAY) although there is a little fluid under my heart. Again, do not be alarmed. It is normal for post-op as my heart was enlarged and is now returning to a smaller size, (and this time I'll keep it off!) something has to fill up the space in my chest. Fluid would be the easiest thing for my body to put there so it does. But we are talking a very small amount. For those at the Village, similar in amount to a Jenna-sized sip. :) I am on a really fun pill that drains fluid from my body and gives me a first hand feel of what every woman whines about during pregnancy. So that pill will continue to help drain the fluid. As far as all my wounds, we are doing well. I can't remember if Chris mentioned this or not, but the Surgeon's PA (and my new best friend) cut out my old scar during surgery so now all I have is this skinny pink line about the size of a string of yarn. The bruising is starting to go away (No Touchy!) and I am healing. I have one chest tube hole (it really is that, a hole. There are two next to each other and they are above my belly button so I worry I might be confused with a bowling ball at some point) that is "oozing". I was afraid they would make me have stitches but the doctor seemed very unconcerned and loaded us up with more gauze and tape. Unfortunately during all the tape and other adhesive they have used on me, no one has opted to use my pink duct tape. I have offered and continue to do so but my home nurse is even less amused. I love you Mom! So I am going back for a blood draw on Wednesday and then a check-up on Monday. Woo Hoo!

I have been flagged to be reintroduced into society, so if you call first and I haven't tripped or fallen on my behind today, I just might be up for a visit. Feel free to give me a call and of course you can email. Chris finally broke down and we have internet at home now! YAY!!!!!!

Anyway, I love you all, I appreciate your thoughts and prayers and entertainment you have sent my way.

xoxo,

Your Little Trooper

February 12, 2007
So, I apologize for the large gap in informative emails, but you have to give me time to gather up my new material. We had another doctor's appointment today so here is the update:
Blood levels: We are slowly getting up to the levels that the doctor would like, but we just aren't there yet. In the words of a wise little blue train, "I think I can, I think I can." I am beginning to be on a first name basis with the phlebotomist ( I love all these medical terms, although "organizing" is my current favorite). We have made an agreement that if they try to be gentle and let Chris hold my hand, I will not kick or bite them. Sadly, this is not a joke, apparently adults really do kick the poor employees. They finally prescribed me higher mg pills so I no longer have to take 5 at a time. I have my little rainbow pill menagerie of pink, purple, peach, and white.
Fluid: Last week they found a little fluid under my heart. This week they found it is not increasing, but it is not going away either. the good news is that the fluid is "organizing." (Apparently, this does not mean that the fluid is forming into alphabetical lines and making picket signs preparing for the rally). I said this to Lake and he wanted to know if they were demanding higher wages or benefits. He also asked if the cells "organizing" was my twin and did that mean he would have a new brother or sister. All jokes aside, "organizing" in this sense actually means that it is getting ready to be reabsorbed into my body. This is a good thing.
My incision is doing very well. The scabbing is gone and it is a pretty pink and lavender combination that seems to coordinate well with most of my wardrobe. This isn't hard as my current wardrobe consists of 15 different pairs of pink pajamas! One more shout out...thanks Mom! The little bowling ball holes have finally quit bleeding. We have graduated to oozing other things which I will spare you. If you really want my graphic description, feel free to ask and I will send it to you. If you do ask, you were warned. :)

My valve is doing fantastic and my pacemaker ("pacer" is the slang term I have learned) will be "interrogated" in two weeks. I will leave you guessing and we can learn that vocab word next week. It's okay, If I want to keep your interest I must use some sort of suspense, right? The pacer is on my right side so that arm is a little sore. I can wash the left-side of my hair though! Mom was very excited to have half of her duties relieved. :) So we just pop a few more of my extremely un-potent IBProfen. I am a tough cookie (a pink chocolate cookie that is). I was told that I cannot return to work for 3 more weeks. Mom and Chris are very excited about entertaining me for 3 more weeks. Between games, coloring, crafts, puzzles, magazines, books, and movies, I just might make it. Thank heavens for the internet! I am sad to wait longer to return to the Village, as I feel mentally ready. If only my body would keep up. That is something I have always struggled with (you remember being mentally ready for a cookie but your body wasn't tall enough to reach one for you?) so it's not a problem.
I did want to say thank you again to everyone. I love all the emails, cards, packages, and phone calls. None are necessary but I really like the emails. This could be in part that I hadn't had access to email in so long that I might have experienced a few withdrawal symptoms. :) But we all have been so overwhelmed with feelings of love and support and I thank you. Most of all, thanks for all the prayers. That is all anyone can do to help me at this point so it is much appreciated.

February 19, 2007
****SPOILER****
I wrote "spoiler" on top just in case you were taping tonight's episode and didn't want me to ruin it for you. This is a suggestion from my brother as apparently that is what happened to him last week. Sooooo sorry.
I have enjoyed reading all your email responses and try to respond in a timely matter. Due to the fact that we have 2 computers and 3 humans deeply in need of cabin fever treatment, this is not always possible. Technically there are 3 computers, but "Chris' work computer is not to play on." Somehow that reminds me of something my dad used to say...
Anyhoo, I am doing well this week. I was even able to go to part of church on Sunday. I have had no more doctor's appointments which can only be good. There are two explanations to be fair: 1) I am improving and need less monitoring, or 2) They have finally had enough of me and are tired of my constant questions. I'm going to keep telling myself the answer was #1.
My blood levels have finally reached the goal, (I knew I could do it!). If I can keep it level for 10 days, I will not have to mess with it as often. If not, back to the drawing board. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day and it takes time to become perfect, right? The problem was my blood was too thick. Apparently, that is not something you can just water down. I have some friends that always tell me I have thick skin (if you knew me growing up, you can stop laughing now), but I am wondering if it was just the thick blood underneath. I guess we'll find out.
All this thinning out of my blood has started a new phenomenon, though. I have a funny black spot that is in the middle of my new scar. Slightly alarmed I called the doctor. Now, I must warn you, here is proof we are truly in the technology age when I tell you his response. Here is the conversation:
"Deya, from what you are saying I have to see it. How hard would it be for you to come down here?"
"Not too hard, I guess."
"Well, would you rather just take a picture and email it to me?"
"I can do that?"
"Sure, here's my address. Take a good one and call me when you send it."
He then sat there and talked to me while he looked at it. Since the picture is not great, it does look like a small beetle sitting under my skin. Chris has affectionately named it, Buzz. It turns out Buzz is nothing more than a small capillary leaking due to my blood levels finally being thin enough. The blood is just pooling there and will eventually go away on its own. Crisis averted! That was the big crisis of our week so I consider myself very lucky.
I have however managed to catch myself a cold. I know, I know, my doctor laughed at me too. Nothing a little Benadryl can't cure. So overall, we are doing pretty good here. I hope ya'll are all doing well and I know this is getting redundant, but I really do appreciate all the support, love, and prayers I receive every day. I could not have done this without any of you behind me.