With a Side of Hope

Hi there!  I hope all of you are having a great week or at least better than mine has been!  Thank you for everyone’s kind comments and concerns about me.  I sincerely appreciate it more than you could possibly know.  I am so thankful for the support system that has been surrounding me through all of this.  It’s been very stressful, painful and hard to go through.  Having the support of family and friends makes it easier to go through.

So when I left off yesterday, I was waiting for Melissa and my mom to pick me up to take me to fill the new paid medication that I was prescribed. Once I filled it, I held off on taking it for a little bit since we were out.  I wanted to see if I could deal with the pain enough before having to take medication.  Since I had been cooped up in the house for so many days, I decided that I would stay out and go to some stores with them to walk a little bit.  I thought maybe if I did some slow walking, it would get things moving and my chest pain and stomach/incision pain would feel better with me moving around.

So we stopped at the produce store so I could get some produce since Mike and I haven’t been to the supermarket in almost two weeks.  We have been trying to use whatever we have in the house and so far we have been getting through fine.  After the produce store, we went to Target.  That took a TON out of me. I think I pushed myself way too hard because by the time we were ready to leave, I had to break down and take pain medication.  I was in so much pain.  At that point, I wish I could have been pushed in a cart.  Sadly, I’m too old for that now.  I did have a successful find at Target though.  Wait until I show you what I found there!

Before heading home, Melissa and my mom needed something from Home Goods.  I still have a gift card from what I won at the Bridal Show, Melissa and I went to back in the summer.  So they got what they needed and then I said, let me just see what baskets they have here for our wedding.  I’m almost done getting various baskets that I need for the wedding for the bathrooms, programs, etc.  I just needed a few more.  Well I turned a corner and wait until you hear this!  I found different sized baskets that were gray and had purple cloth covering inside of them and going around towards of the outside!!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  It is the exact purple color that I needed!  I was so excited and my gift card covered the cost of everything!!

I seriously cannot wait to show all of you what these baskets look like.  They are perfect!  I will definitely be using them for the programs, and some other special things to display that you will have to wait until after our wedding to see!  ;)  I also got our toasting flutes and cake server in the mail along with our engagement pictures.  So next week will be a very full Wedding Talk Wednesday.  Stay tuned for that.

After we were done, Melissa and my mom helped me bring everything back into my house and I collapsed on the sofa and waited until Mike came home to start dinner.  I could barely stand up.  I really out did it with the walking.  I thought I could do more than I can.  I’m not ready for that yet.

Once Mike got home, we decided that we were going to do Italian for dinner.  So we picked a sauce from our pantry and went from there.

Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Sauce

We opted for Trader Joe’s Spinach Tortellini.  This is one of our favorites from Trader Joe’s.  Plus, it’s so quick and easy to prepare.

Spinach Tortellini

Mike roasted up a bunch of vegetables for us since I haven’t had very many in the past week.  I was so excited to get back to eating my lovely roasted veggies!  I was nervous about the next thing I asked Mike to prepare.  I had picked up a package of ground beef from Target.  I know Mike doesn’t really like touching raw meat.  So I nervously asked if he would mind making us meatballs from scratch.  He said no not at all as long as I sat in the kitchen with him and talked him through everything.  So I agreed to that!

We followed my favorite recipe for meatballs which is really easy and happens to be my mom’s recipe.  All we did was season the ground beef with onion powder, garlic powder and ketchup.  It’s a no-fail recipe.  Then you form the meatballs and bake them in the oven for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.  You have perfectly seasoned meatballs when all is said and done.

Mike also added some fresh spinach to the sauce and the spinach tortellini.  He ended up making us a lovely dinner!

My dinner plate

Delicious meatballs

I loved dinner!  It was really delicious!  I was so proud of Mike for making meatballs from scratch for the first time.  I think he felt really proud of himself which he should be.  It was nice to be cooked for.  :)  Do you enjoy being cooked for or would you rather be the one cooking?

After dinner, I felt so bad!  Melissa called really upset because her car wouldn’t start.  I was so nervous for her!  We ran over there to help.  Mike did all that he could to help but her car still wouldn’t start.  So she called AAA and they came over very quickly and charged her battery.  I was so glad that it was the only problem with her car.  Her lease is almost up so she is going to get rid of it soon anyway.  I’m just glad that it happened right outside of her house and she wasn’t driving and it happened.  I was glad that we were able to be there to support her and try to help her.  I get so scared with cars and issues and everything since my previous car was a mess.

Once we got home, I agreed to watch the 24/7 Flyers and Rangers special on HBO with Mike.  Yes, I hate sports and that is a known thing.  Well, I can tolerate watching baseball, basketball and Mike playing tennis but that is about it.  I watched the show with Mike because I knew he really wanted me to watch it.  It actually wasn’t that bad.  Yes, Mike, I admitted it.  It actually was interesting to see behind the scenes of the hockey players lives.  After watching that, we both fell asleep instantly.

I woke up this morning in a ton of pain.  I made sure to take the pain medication right away.  I was pretty excited for my breakfast!  Look at what I found at Target yesterday!

New Chobani Flavors!!!

I found the newest Chobani flavors!!!  Apples & Cinnamon and Blood Orange!

Newest flavors!

Apples & Cinnamon

Blood Orange

I decided to try Chobani’s Apple and Cinnamon this morning.  I couldn’t wait to rip the foil off the top of the yogurt!

New Yogurt!

Wow!!!!  Run, do not walk, run to the store and grab this off the shelf!  Seriously!  This is the BEST Chobani flavor I have ever had!!!  It has great cinnamon and apple flavoring.  There are even chunks of apples in the yogurt!  I loved it and I’m sorry I only bought two, one for me and one for Mike.  I definitely need to get more!  He brought the blood orange to work today. So once I found out how that tastes, I will definitely report back!  These are just so good!!  Do you like flavored yogurt or do you prefer plain?

Alright, well I suppose I should try to make myself look somewhat presentable now.  I have my follow-up appointment with the surgeon who performed my surgery on Sunday, today.  I’m interested to see what he will say about the pain that I have been experiencing and how my incisions look.  I will be sure to come back with what he says.

Have a great Friday today!  We are getting closer to 2012!

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