Move over Betty Crocker

I have found the key to having happy friends and roommates: homemade, warm out of the over chewy, gooey, chocolate chip cookies.

Baking has become my favorite thing to do...good thing I work out.

Good Morning Saturday

I had Tysabri yesterday. Thrilling stuff, I know. Everything went well, as usual. It was number 15 I believe, which it seems crazy that I have been going there for 15 months. The only bad part is that number 24 is quickly approaching which means after that its blood work every month for me. I guess I have 9 months to develop a way to get blood samples without needles. :) Anyways, I decided I would quiz the nurse that does the infusions about my last MRI, because she seems to know a lot about the workings of the office. She also found it strange that my MRI that should have been in March was in the beginning of Feb., so at least I am not the only one scratching my head about that. Anyways, she was able to see the results of my MRI...I would hate to be living in suspense until my next appointment in July! Good news to report - no signs of PML, no new lesions and visible "shrinkage" (that is such a funny word - always have flashbacks to Seinfeld when I say it) of my old lesions!

Time for the happy dance! I think its rather safe to say that Tysabri was the best choice for me.

Well, my parents are coming to visit today around 1, I believe that my brother is tagging along as well. I made very yummy half moon cookies too (a.k.a - black and white cookies). However, I still need to perfect my chocolate frosting...its a work in progress though.

Since when did a little bit of snow hurt anything?

Today (as in yesterday (Thursday) because I forgot to actually "publish" my draft until this morning) I trudged my way into the city, through the unplowed streets and unshoveled sidewalks. Thankfully I have four wheel drive because there was some serious spinning action happening with my tires. Anyways, my mission was to make it to this place Lakeshore Record Exchange . Trust me, if I could marry a store, I would marry this one. It is small, and uber cute, and full of some really good music, like the hard to find kinda stuff, that you begin to think doesnt exist outside of Amazon.com. The best part is the music there isn't sold at crazy marked up prices, everything is very reasonable and they even have a 5 dollar used CD selection where you can pick up some really good finds. I had to park like forever away because well, I went at lunch time and that road is a nightmare at lunch because it is lined with small cafes, and the local science museum, right around the corner, is swarmed with minivans do to the infestation of children on mid-winter vacation.

But alas, even with wet, salty and just down right dirty jean bottoms I managed to grab a few good finds...so here is what I bought...

Three Flights From Alto Nido - Greg Laswell

Through Toledo - Greg Laswell

(which Greg is playing like 10 minutes from my house tonight...lame...lame...lame.)

Up To N0w - Snow Patrol

Train - Train

And then this one time...

I decided I was going to drop out of school and open a bakery. OK, maybe that is a lie, but last night in my entrepreneurship 2 class while our guest speaker was talking about passion and drive and yada-yada-yada, it hit me that I would be 100% complete in a small bakery, making sweets all day.

Of course that is not going to happen any time soon, so instead I will be baking black and white cookies Friday night for my parents who are visiting Saturday. I guess that will suffice my baking craving for this week.

My roommates will be gone this weekend. My weekend has already started with no classes tomorrow. I have plans for a trip to the record store tomorrow and then a fun filled day of homework! Tysabri, of course, on Friday...so that should be thrilling...oh IVs how I love you so.

Random thoughts...and a bit of my favorite guilty pleasure... Jersey Shore

Today I realized while folding laundry that I was one step away from becoming like the people on Jersey Shore (don't worry you can admit that occasionally when you can't sleep, you turn on MTV to find the best guilty pleasure show around, Jersey Shore). All I need to add to my daily schedule is tanning and then the acronym GTL (gym, tanning and laundry) will be complete. If you have no idea what I am talking about, then I congratulate you for not succumbing to the Jersey Shore mass cult-like effect.

I am also on this whole watch what I eat craze. Not like calorie counting, but like cutting way back on the overly processed foods and eating things that are a lot less processed. So goodbye hot pockets and hello homemade chicken meatballs. My roommates think I am insane, but in a good insane kind of way. I even made these super yummy banana oat muffins with homemade apple sauce and basically I didn't add all the extra sugar and nonsense normal muffins have.

So, not only have I been feeling better, I eat better, I'm becoming on heck of a cooking queen, and oh yeah I kinda sorta fit into my pre-MS jeans (thats right, pre-MS jeans people)...cause well, lets face it, I buried my feelings in a giant bowl of cake, topped with ice cream and hot fudge...and plus steroids make you so freakin' hungry!

I guess I will end it here, I have Zumba (which is actually helping with my coordination skills which is pretty darn cool) in 50 minutes and class at 6...which gives me a whopping 1 hour in between those to magically shower, look somewhat presentable for class, and stuff some healthy food in my body...always, always, amusing.

*tap tap tap*

9:14 arrival to the MRI office.

9:15 scheduled MRI arrival time.

9:45 scheduled MRI start time.

MRI length- Just about 30minutes.

10:10- I was actually called back into the prep room and very quickly had a IV stuck in my arm.

10:15- When I thought I would be heading out of the door and into my car.

10:20- When I was "really" supposed to be taken into the MRI room.

10:55- Finally handed a set of ear plugs and shoved into a tube.

12:05- At my favorite pizza place getting a slice of mac and cheese pizza to go thats right around the corner from the MRI medical building.

Total Estimated Time: One Hour. Total Actual Time: 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Lesson Learned - Next time bring something to entertain my mind.

Oh fatigue how I haven't missed you at all...

I have been feeling really good lately. The whole eating better, eliminating junk from my diet, and of course a healthy dose of exercise has been great. I even managed to cook a insanely good meal Friday - yes it may have taken forever to cook, but it was so good. I made corn and potato chowder, biscuits and eclair cake. I had some really happy roommates that night, so I think everything turned out pretty well.

So fast forward to Sunday...I did all my usual stuff and then I was just dead all afternoon. Usually when I am kinda crashing I usually pick back up within a few hours - kind of get that whole second wind of energy thing - but not yesterday. Luckily one of my roommates was in charge of Super Bowl food, because I think I would have fallen asleep cooking it. I barely made it through the game - I definitely fell asleep a few times and was in bed before 10.

I unwilling got up this morning at 8:30, and literally felt like I had to drag myself out of bed. I am going to go looking for some toothpicks to hold my eyes open soon if things don't pick up shortly. I had to make a call to the MRI center because they really wanted to talk to me, apparently me leaving a message like their instructions on the phone was not good enough. They probably just wanted to hear my voice :). Anyways, I'm all set with a 9:15 appointment tomorrow - I'm just so excited. My favorite part of the whole 5 minute conversation with the technician was when he pulled up my old forms and said "has any of the information changed since October?" and then I said "nope, everything is the same." In which is said sounding very confused "oh, nothing has changed?" For some reason it just made me laugh...and I for a split second thought about saying something like "nope, I just really love MRI's so much and I cant wait for the part when I get the contrast dye injected into me and everything gets all warm and I feel like I cant breath for a few seconds - that is definitely my absolute favorite". However, I refrained and just answered yes, it's always hard to tell who will be able to understand my sarcasm over the phone.

Anyways, I am off to be productive, and then maybe a nap before class...

Hello ridiculousness - MRI torture

So when I was at my neuro like 2 weeks ago, paperwork was started to make sure my MRI was in order to happen in April. Well I received a phone call from my mom Monday letting me know that I had a appointment for next Tuesday morning for my MRI. Somehow the idea of 6 months between every MRI shrunk to not even like 3 1/2 months.

I just wish that my doctors and their office could just pull their act together and get organized. In the mean time I guess I have an appointment to go and lie in a tube for a while - which sometimes I feel like is the best torture for a MS patient. The scenario - lie in a tube, without moving for a 45'ish minute time period - haha pure and utter torture.

Oh and last but of course not least, I am really trying to eat healthier, which is actually working pretty well so far. I am doing the whole drinking the recommended amount of water (which by the way I have to pee all the times it seems), and I am eating a mix of organic food and just cutting out the nastiness from my diet. Plus the whole working out thing mixed in - even though the current weather makes getting out of bed and moving very difficult - but I'm still going strong. So, so far, so good, feeling pretty ding dang darn good.

Oh Charlotte

(picture - from right to left - Myself, Kelly and my Mom)

Charlotte shuts down when it snows. Luckily we got in early Friday, otherwise we would have been stranded in Kentucky. It was a quiet weekend and my mom and I managed to catch all of our connections which is always a plus. Ate some weird food - my cousins are into the whole vegetarian/vegan lifestyle so that was a bit different. Of course now it has sparked my interest so I may eventually move more towards that kind of lifestyle.

I am off to Zumba though very shortly, so that should be a butt kicking working a blast. Then class tonight and then Lost (which my roommate is having her Aunts over for a bit of a Lost party - sadly I can't say I am a Lost fanatic but I will suck it off and put on my "I (heart) Lost" face for tonight).