my world. my word.

jake & i finally went to the doctor for a physical checkup.  it has been years for the both of us.  we both had a few concerns that we also wanted to check up on.

my suspicions were right.  a few months ago i was watching dr. phil one lazy day off and there was a girl talking about a condition called PCOS.  as she described some of the symptoms, in my head i was saying “check, check, got that too, check..”  as i researched it online it seemed very likely that i had PCOS.  it is mainly known for infertility.  since i’ve hit puberty i’ve always had an irregular menstrual cycle.  at most i would get my period 3 times a year but as i got older it became once a year, sometimes twice.  then there’s the weight gain, hormone imbalance (some of male hormones), risk for diabetes (*i just read from my test results that i have prediabetes…fcuk) and heart attacks (both are on my parents side), and more.  fortunately enough, the doctor confirmed that i have a very mild case of PCOS.  she wants to put me on some medication and also birth control pills – yasmin.

i’ve heard from the past and also did some research yesterday about yasmin and i am terrified!  there are so many bad reviews on it and the side effects are haunting.  on the up side, i have heard that it works for many others as well, mainly women with PCOS which is why i think she chose yasmin of all birth control pills.  when i see her this friday for a follow up i will tell her my great concerns for using yasmin and ask her why she chose it.  she is a professional so if she wants me to take it i will give it a trial period.  as soon as i feel wrong about it i will ask to switch to another brand.  does anybody have any actual experience with yasmin?

another suspicion i had that was confirmed is carpal tunnel syndrome.  damn.  i blame it on being a hairstylist.  i am just surprised i got it so early.  i would’ve thought that if it happened it’d be years from now.  i figured i had CTS while i was still working at the salon i first started at.  during a haircut my arm would get numb and i’d have to stop for a second and let blood rush back down my arm while i combed their hair with my other hand so that they wouldn’t notice.  over time, it became a frequent thing.  then i started to wake up 5-10 times a night because my whole arm would be numb.  sometimes my hand & fingers would be so swollen i could barely  close my hand.  it’s pretty scary.  so the doctor told me to wear a wrist brace to prevent my wrist from bending especially at night.  since my visit last week i have slept so much better.  however, when i wear the brace during the day it seems as if i notice my wrist hurting more than i did before i wore the brace?  i dunno, maybe it’s just cuz of the brace and knowing why i am wearing it that i actually notice the pain.  i just hope that it doesnt get so serious that i have to have surgery.  eeek!

another issue that i was dealing with was ingrown toenails.  again, nothing serious.  it’s something i’ve had since i was little.  probably when i first started getting pedicures.  they must’ve cut my nails wrong that it started growing into my skin which does hurts like a b****.  all these years i thought it was just something i had to deal with but i found out last year that it can be removed permanently.  when i mentioned this to my doctor she recommended me to a podiatrist who can remove them.  my appointment is in two weeks and i’m scared.  i don’t know if i am going in for a consultation, to get it removed, and if i have to do surgery that day.  i tried looking it up yesterday and all i saw was surgery but they were for extreme cases.  you wouldn’t even know i had ingrown toenails unless i told you.  i heard somewhere that you can get them “shaved down” permanently but i am not sure how that works.  i’ll have to do more research on that later.

so, those were the main concerns of mine that were confirmed.  i am glad i wrote down a list of all my concerns because it helped alleviate some of the stress i had, now that i can take medication to prevent it or actually get it fixed.  i urge you to go see your doctor asap and make sure you write down any/every single concern.  you never know it could help in their diagnosis or it could be something that could lead to something else.  i think it’s better to know now than to wait until it’s too late.  i pray all of you are healthy and stay healthy.

here are some sites to reference some of the things i was talking about in this post:

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Polycystic+ovary+disease

http://www.medications.com/se/yasmin/pcos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome

http://www.grace-essential-haircare.com/cms/Hisaki_Hand_Health/p2_articleid/193

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/ingrown_toenails/or_overview.aspx

we thought it was about the right time to leave the dogs unattended, out of their cages, while we weren’t home.  we decided to test it out today while we took our bikes to the beach.  we made sure we put most things on tall, hard to reach surfaces so that the dogs wouldn’t get to them.  we folded the chairs up so that they couldn’t jump onto them and get onto the dining table.  we covered the couches with blankets to protect the couch in case they happened to jump on it (which they aren’t allowed onto in the first place).  we put most valuables away and put toys near things we didn’t want them to touch so that in case they do get tempted, the toy will distract them.

since jake and i were at the garage for about 15 minutes setting up the bike rack onto my car, i decided to go back upstairs and check on the dogs before we left.  i was surprised to see that everything looked just the way it should be and that they were quiet.  that relieved me.  i was really worried that bella would chew everything up and that walnut would mark his territory everywhere.  seeing them by the front door where we left them calmed my nerves a bit.

we were gone about 4-5 hours and came back to a quiet apartment.  we opened the door expecting to see good news and hoped that we could trust them so that they could roam around free…..and what a surprise we found.

our precious little bella ransacked the whole apartment!  the 1000 piece puzzle i worked so hard on into the wee hours of the morning were spread across the dining room torn apart with chewed half pieces here and there.  there is a credenza by our front door where i put my favorite books and before we left i gathered them all and put them away because i didn’t want to risk bella ruining them.  in it’s place, i substituted a random magazine just to see if she would be tempted to touch it.  that way i would know if i could leave the books in its place and trust her not to chew on them.  THANK GOODNESS i did that because around the probably 836 pieces left of the puzzle were scraps of the magazine.  son of a….!

not only that but little adorable bella decided she’d jump onto daddy’s tucked in chair and play with the mouse pad (she left scratch marks all over it)…not to mention the stolen pack of gum she found on the desk as well.  it was a full pack but you wouldn’t have known that unless you saw all the empty wrappers on the floor — and gum stuck to the floor as well.

she even decided to jump onto the coffee table and take one of my candle out of the candle holder and chewed that up.  i am so glad she didn’t get to the squishy squeeze ball there….it’s full of goo and that would’ve been an ugly mess.

after all that destroying, i suppose bella decided to relax on the big fluffy couch….what a diva.  i could tell because i placed the blanket diagonally in a way where you can tell if the dogs went on the couch.  while she was up on the couch she could jump and reach the credenza behind it.  she decided to play with the potpourri and chew it all up!  what is it with this dog and chewing up the flowery things i keep around the house?  i was surprised she didn’t get to our wedding wish tree that i know she loves so much.  i guess the potpourri wasn’t fun enough so she went back up on the couch and onto the credenza and decided to take something i needed to return.  she chewed up the plastic cover of it but thank goodness she didn’t get to the actual item itself.  i dont know if the store will take back a chewed corner of the plastic.  =(

bella also decided to get up on the other couch and play with fatty.  i guess fatty was hogging the couch so she kicked him off onto the floor.  later on she decides to drag him by the door and play with him instead of her real toys which seemed to be in the same spot we left them.

surprisingly, walnut was a VERY good boy today.  he passed the test.  not a single drop of piss anywhere in the apartment.  he was rewarded with treats.

the only reason why we know and accuse bella of all the evidence laying around the apartment is ONE – she has a long long history of chewing everything and anything in her way….and TWO – before we even got bella, walnut was a well trained dog and we happily left him home alone for hours and hours only to find him sleeping….each and every time we came home.  the only thing he has been caught doing is napping on the couch but after finding him on the couch before we got bella, he quickly learned that the couch was a no no place to be.

bella had a chance today to prove everybody wrong that she could be trusted to be left out of her cage with no one home but she blew it.  jake says that if the puzzle hadn’t been there and the magazine hadn’t been there, then bella would have nothing to chew on.  it doesn’t make sense because it would mean that we would pretty much have to get rid of anything on the coffee table, all the books on the credenza, put all the chair away into the room….but realistically…..do we really have the time to clear everything everyday before work?  might as well not have any furniture if everything always has to be put away.

we will give her one more chance tomorrow but if she disappoints us again we have no choice but to leave her in her cage…..and even in her cage she can barely be trusted since she has recently learned how to make a ruckus and slide her tray out even after we’ve locked it.  i’ve got it on camera.  i set up a video feed while i went to the store…  it was terrible…the neighbors must hate us….especially our dogs.  =/

so yah….hopefully bella will prove us wrong and she can learn to obey the rules.  i really hope so because all i want is for the dogs to be happy and i am only looking out for their best interest.  let’s pray she does well and learns right from wrong.

don’t get me wrong, i am not playing favorites with the dogs.  i love them both and i wouldn’t want to give them up.  bella is actually a very smart dog.  she learns quickly and for the most part she obeys commands…sometimes.  then there’s the chihuahua part of her, she can be a diva.  but she’s got a really nasty habit of chewing.

from watching dog shows and reading on why dogs misbehave, it’s usually because they have so much energy bottled inside that they need to be walked for at least half an hour every day.  and we do that…everyday… 2-4 times a day.  so she is releasing her energy.  i just hope it’s just a puppy phase she’s going through and it isn’t how she’ll be forever.  if anyone has some tips we would love to hear it.  we love her and all we want is for everyone to be happy, us and the dogs.

it was robin’s 27th bday on may 13th.  the night was perfect.  fun with the cousins, trip to tall mouse, great food at 369 restaurant, and to top it off yummy delight at yogurtland.  happy 27th birthday robin…  love ya cuhz!!

it’s pretty weird.  i haven’t been debt-free in years but i don’t feel like the weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  i guess it just hasn’t hit me yet.  now, all of my credit cards are clear, each and every one of them with a zero balance.  all i have left is my school debt.

i owe a special thanks to jake.  we were supposed to pay off his credit cards and then mine were gonna get paid with whatever we had left.  it was very nice of him to help me out and clear my name since his cards have been top priority since we’ve gotten married.  (just so you guys were wondering, my debt wasn’t insanely big that it was a burden on us.)

anyway, jake, i really appreciate you putting me first and i just want you to know i love you so so much. mwah.

aside from that, with the rest of our tax return money, we paid off a good chunk of jake’s credit cards, and also started saving.  now that we’re saving a few hundred from paying my debt, we’re gonna start putting it towards an emergency savings, and a savings to buy our first home.  we don’t want to be stuck in an apartment forever.

cant wait!!

it has been a busy last few weeks…

jake and i finally got our taxes done last week.  it took over a month to finally get it done.  last month i called two of my old employers because i never received my W2… i realized they had sent it to the old apartment number so i called both companies to get it sent again to the current address.  i then make an appointment with a tax preparer to get our taxes done in two weeks so that i wouldn’t have to worry about it later on.  a week and a half later, i only received one of them.  now i have to reschedule the appointment again.  i figured i’d give the second company another week before i call the company again.  that week comes along and still nothing shows up.  i call a number again and request another copy and they tell me it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.  perfect. more waiting.   it arrives on monday.  i put it together with the rest of my taxes and realize…i called the wrong company!  it was the other company that hadn’t sent me the taxes.  great.  now i have to call the other company and the tax preparer again.  fcuk.  so i call the next day and get everything handled.  the company says it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of the next week.  grr.  so i make my appointment for the wednesday of next week.  monday come, no taxes.  i call on tuesday to see what happened and they tell me they sent it to the old apartment number again.  ridiculous.  i’ve told them numerous times what the new address is and they keep sending it to the old one.  fortunately, this time i was speaking to the right person.  she told me she would have it sent fedex overnight, depending if she got received it that day or the next – meaning i would get it either wednesday or thursday.  i call again on wednesday before i go to work and she tells me they were able to send it last night and it should arrive that day by 3.  thank goodness i made my appointment at 6pm!!  we barely made it!!  the good thing about all this was we got a lot more than what we expected.  heheh.  time to put that money towards debt, savings, and time to go to the doctors and register the doggies.  whew.  that was a complicated story.

another thing that has changed recently is the doggies sleeping arrangement.  out of the blue i suggested that the dogs should sleep in our room by the bed without the cages.  i had to push jake to let us try it.  he was afraid they might pee/poop in the middle of the night.  they actually did great.  it has been about 3-4 nights and they’ve still been really good.  i think they like it.  hehe..

lana’s first bday just passed on the 11th.  she had her bday party on the 10th at a park in irvine.  she was soo cute!  the food was delicious!  the cake was bomb!!  there was a layer of banana cake (my fave) and red velvet…also very yummy.  tara’s friend made the cake for lana.  it was a paul frank themed party so the cake was paul frank.  cute.  tara’s friend also makes the BEST little dessert.  she calls it “the food of the gods.”  it seriously is that good.  i told jake… even though i’m trying to watch what i eat…i want a box of those goodies for my bday.  seriously.  they are soo friggin good….so addicting…so so soo good.  unfortunately she didnt bring any that day.  i only tasted them when tara had a box during christmas.  yummm.   anyway, ana got tons of cool gifts but of course we gave her the coolest one of all.  hahhaha…just kidding.  we got her a hot pink atv.  she could play with that for years!  we’re grooming her to become wild and playful.. =)  i hope she likes it.

times are tough and we need to sacrifice pleasures.  we canceled of cable and dvr privileges.  now we’re stuck with basic cable and…..commercials.  =/  i find myself watching less tv – which is a good thing cuz i have time to do other things like clean and work out and read.  but still…i dont think i’ve ever not had cable.  it’s weird.  also…i’ve been spoiled by dvr.  i can watch what i want whenever i want.  now i have to surf through a few selected channels to find something amusing enough to watch and i have to either sit through commercials or wait til a commercial to get up and do a bathroom or snack break.  what a difficult world we live in.  hhahahah.  the upside to only having basic cable is i watch more news.  i feel more connected to what is going on in the world.  =)  …and maybe a little bit of maury.  hahah.

on the upside, celine, one of my fave cousins, has passed her exam.  she is officially a US RN! heheh.. so happy for her.  she’s been working hard for this and she deserves it.  it also means she gets to live here permanently.  i am soo happy.  more time to spend with her and the rest of the family.  i really wish tisay wasnt so far.  it would be so nice to spend a lot of time with tisay, robin, celine, and myself without worrying about the distance and time and such.  even i live far.  kinda sucks.  but the 4 of us are trying to get together soon to have a cooking session maybe once a month.  it was tisay’s idea which i absolutely love.

she suggested we get together and either teach the others hos to cook a dish or bring a new recipe and we all pitch in and try it.  one, we get to spend time together.  two, we get to gossip.  three, we get to learn how to cook new dishes and i’m sure our men would appreciated the variety and new things we are learning…cuz ahem… best way to a mans heart is through their stomach.  if only i knew how to cook more than two dishes.  this cooking session would help a lot.  it’s just too bad that jake and i have opposite taste buds.  i like alfredo, he likes meat sauce.  i like pasta and mexican food, he likes bbq and seafood.  ay yay yay.  but i’m sure there are some dishes that we can both agree on.  i am excited to learn.

that reminds me, i was hanging out with dino, robin, celine, and jake last friday and i think it was dino that brought this childhood game up : MASH.  do you guys remember that?  ollllldschool!  we went around the table playing it and when it came to the girls we played my longer version which included job positions for both yourself and the significant other, pets, where you live and where you have your honeymoon.  the last two was robin’s suggestion because she didnt want to do another category that dino suggested: sexual position – such a guy thing to suggest. hahaha.  it was fun.  there were other games that we played that you play during junior high.  brought back many memories.  there was also another game that robin remembered but we couldnt remember exactly how to play.  i am thinking of calling yasmin to see if she remembers.  i think i have the notebook of all these games somewhere in the garage of la palma or maybe even in fullerton.  i wonder if i can find it later when we go to la palma.  i need to find some protector sheets anyway for my emergency kit binder – which brings me to..

the emergency kit project.  i finally started on my emergency kit…somewhat.  but hey, it’s better than nothing.  i’ve started making copies of important documents like insurance and medical records and identity.  things like that.  i just need a few more copies of some other paperwork and also need to start packing the necessities for an emergency kit.  that’s another thing i plan to do with some of the tax return money we’re getting.  i’m wondering whether we should keep the bag near our door or in the car.  i’m thinking both but i’m just afraid..”what if our car gets stolen” even though i doubt that’ll ever happen..but still, you never know.  at the same time, what if the disaster happened while i was away from home?  i’m probably going to put it in both but i’ll put less information to lower the risk of someone stealing my identity because right now my whole life info is in that binder.

okay, it’s getting late.  i need to start getting ready.  celine’s mom is going back home tomorrow to the philippines.  we’re having a goodbye dinner at some really good restaurant supposedly.  i’ve never been there but the fambam has been raving about it.  can’t wait to try it.