The Amish and The Terminator

Yesterday myself, Raquel, Dalyz, and Abba-Dabba-Do-Me went down to the local Amish hub, Kalona. They all met at my place at 8:30am and I greeted them with Caramel Macchiatos. Oh gosh, were those good - thanks Starbucks! Then we headed out for our drive to K-town, which was hilarious, but you would have had to been there. Erik actually grew up in Kalona and we lived there for a short while, so its always fun to visit. No we are not Amish, most of their community lives in the country.

We hit up the famous Bakery for breakfast and it is one of the more delicious places you'll ever go! After our hearty Amish breakfast, we headed just outside of town to one of the Amish nurseries. This is a pretty well know secret around here, so you always have to come early to find what you want. By Mother's Day, there's nothing left! There was so much beauty there, that it inspired me to once again try my hand at keeping something green alive. Wish me luck - I give this poor unsuspecting 'Summer Wave Blue' Torenia Hybrid about a 50/50 shot.

Not my Torenia - but one of the other beauties at the Nursery.

Bosley hasn't seen his girlfriend, Rosie (Dalyz's Golden), since the surgery, and Dalyz thinks its a mortal sin that I haven't seen any of the Terminator movies, so Erik and I went over for a cook out last night. While everything was cooking we sat around the fire pit. It was a bit cold but well worth it. Plus, the dogs got to run around the yard. We had Nathan's Hotdogs, pineapple brats, and strawberry pretzel dessert. This dessert is a must try - perfect combination of salty and sweet!

The movie was okay. Definitely entertaining and I was happy Arnold only had a handful of lines. The highlight of the movie for me was when Bosley climbed up on the back of the couch and started snoring in my ear.

I also run my first 5k race today - wish me luck!!

Upsidedown Thursday

Completely relaxed.

Glaring at mommy so she will stop taking pictures

Attack of the Brain Mushroom!

So here is a picture of a Morel Mushroom, a.k.a. "Super-Creepy-Looking Brain Mushroom". This is one of the treasures Erik brought home from his weekend of manliness. Morel 'hunting' is a big deal in Iowa, and they are actually pretty hard to come by because they need to have the perfect temperature and moisture level to grow.

I laugh every time I hear someone say 'mushroom hunting'. It brings about images of people stalking them through the woods with their faces painted camo just waiting for the mushroom to get preoccupied for just a moment so they can strike. In reality, its essentially just walking through the woods until you trip over some.

The classic preparation for these creepy little guys is to bread and fry them. Erik also brought home some bass, so that got breaded as well. Luckily I got him to cook up some sweet corn and roasted asparagus to offset the amount of fried breading.

Honestly, I was nervous about trying the wrinkly little things, fried or otherwise. I wasn't sure if I was going to survive.  After some hyperventilating and holding my nose, I just bit the bullet. Turns out I survived, and they aren't that bad. The bass was phenomenal! I was so proud to eat a meal that my man went out and hunted down for me!

Erik of course was craving froyo later, so we headed to Ghurties'. This place is amazing! Now after fried food and about a pound of frozen yogurt we are all feeling like this...

Man Camp

Erik has really been adding to his deck of man cards lately. Not too long ago he went with a family friend to a shooting retreat where he won a new fishing rod and his friend gave him a shot gun. Erik Has never owned a gun before and didn't currently have a rod. Since the retreat he has been talking frequently about getting an opportunity to use them.

One of Erik's friends, Nate, has an uncle that has a farm with a couple of ponds and a barn they converted into essentially a lake house. Well Erik and Nate went up to the farm on Friday for what they were jokingly calling 'Man Camp'. Erik was really excited to go on this trip with Nate and  'Man Camp' consisted of fishing for their dinner, shooting guns, Morel hunting, and lots of beer.

 

This is one of the beautiful Bass Erik caught. They let this big one go, but both guys were real bullies and several smaller ones weren't so lucky.

Erik brought both some Bass and Morel mushrooms home. I haven't had tried either and I'm excited about the fish, but not so much the mushrooms. They look like little brains...its kinda creepy. I guess you bread and fry them, but we'll see how this turns out. I'll let you know if I survive.

They make me work for my dinner

Girls Night

Myself and Raquel

Abby and Dalyz

As always, I had a ridiculously amazing time with the girls! The four of us are celebrating Dalyz's birthday month, so we got a hotel room at the casino and made appointments at the spa. Enter almost 24hrs of hilarious debauchery starting with taco dip, strawberry-lemonade cupcakes, and hard liquor out of red Solo cups appropriately labeled for each of us..."I'll do anything for $20" "Dumb @ss" "Abba-Dabba-Do-Me" and of course the instigator only labeled hers "Kelly". 

The casino was an absolute BUST, but it didn't matter. We were a party of four and weren't going to let even the sweat pant clad crowd stop us. Yeah, Iowa keeps it classy. One of the jokes of the night came at the expense of a potentially lonely middle-aged man named Tim. Tim was soon given the last name Dahmer, due to his horribly awkward and scarey pick-up line, "I've got a plan for you". We left that situation faster than you could ask, "How's your older brother, Jeff?"

The next day headache was cured at Village Inn over eggs, pancakes, and a pot of coffee while reliving the night before. This was a gloriously fun time and I can't wait to do this again!

I love my girls!

Mom, he doesn't have to go to school today does he?

On the mend

Since my last post, so much has happened! What I thought was just a bit of tummy trouble for my little man turned out to be rather serious.

We ended up spending our Easter at the puppy emergency clinic. Bosley got much much worse that Saturday night. He stopped even keeping water down and that really scared me. Since he's had quite a few stomach problems in the past, we have been through similar situations in the past, but this just seemed way worse. 

We went through blood tests to check his kidneys and liver, x-rays to check for an intestinal obstruction, and a few other tests. The blood tests came back clean, thank goodness! The x-rays however came back suspicious for an obstruction. The doctor on call couldn't make a decision either way so we sent out the films to an expert, hoping for a more definitive answer telling us whether he needed surgery or not. No such luck.

Our only other options for ruling out an obstruction was an ultrasound and a Barium series. Barium glows during an x-ray so they can track how it travels through the intestines. Well that option would have taken 4-6hrs and hundreds of dollars. We went with the ultrasound.

The hour and a half wait to see the results was one of the worst times of my life. As Erik and I sat in the front waiting room we witnessed some horrible other emergencies come in. I'm crying just typing this. All I can say is the vet techs and veterinarians that work in the emergency clinic are a different breed. The emotional strength it must take to work there is on a whole other level. I commend them all.

They ended up giving us the all clear, saying he just had a case of gastroenteritis and the suspicious portion of intestine was just full of gas.  Bossman got anti-nausea meds and subcutaneous fluids which Erik and I jokingly called his water boob since they literally just put a bunch of IV fluids right under his skin creating a water pocket. It was funny because it jiggled when he walked.  $900 and some change later and we got to go home.

 When this has happened in the past, the anti-nausea meds and water boob made him improve within a few hours. After a long worry filled night there was zero improvement. Thank goodness my regular vet was open the next day. I gave my vet, Nadia a call first thing and luckily she said she would fit him in. Well I ended up with a new doctor since we were walk-ins, so that added to my worry. It shouldn't have. New Doctor was AMAZING!

We went through more x-rays to see if anything had changed. It hadn't and New Doctor was very suspicious of a blockage. We were looking at surgery as an option once again and that made me nauseous. Since the only thing we hadn't tried to rule out an obstruction was the Barium, and since I was on the verge of tears, we went ahead and did it. New Doctor said to go home and she'll call with any news. I had called in and taken off work, so I tried to distract myself with movies. Well, that didn't work at all.

Several hours later the news came that the Barium was not moving. New Doctor was keeping my Bossinator overnight and was going to do another x-ray in the morning. I did not sleep. The morning x-ray showed no change and Bosley went in for exploratory surgery at 10am. New Doctor said she would call by noon to tell me how it went.

I had gone into work and accomplished nothing. As 12:30 rolled around I was sitting at my desk shaking. Someone came into my office asking questions and I'm fairly certain I didn't make sense. I was only focused on not vomiting on the nice man. I finally got the call and everything went perfectly! Bosley was resting and there was definitely an obstruction. They pulled out what appeared to be hair, fabric, and little bits of plastic. What?! My little monster has been known to eat socks and underwear (ew...i know) so the fabric was not a surprise, but hair and plastic?
What a weirdo.

All drugged up after surgery

First day home - sleepy recovery

Bosley had to spend two more nights at the vet, but we got to take him home on Thursday! He's on a regimen of soft, low-residue food; pain meds; and antibiotics. The pain meds make him go all whack-a-doodle, which is somewhat entertaining. The other night he spent close to 10mins just licking air.

Hey ladies, check out my big, tough scar!

I LOVE belly rubs, especially when my belly hurts.

He's got a pretty hefty scar and a cone (which he loathes and makes mommy giggle), but everyday he is acting more and more like my little Terrible Terrier. Stitches come out on Friday, so cross your fingers that nothing happens until then! And my wallet is currently screaming in pain, so hope for that to have a quick recovery as well!

Sicky Poo

Its Saturday night and I'm chilling on my couch. Should I be upset about this? Anyway, I've got a sad little puppy who has been sick all day :(  So while Erik went to a friends BBQ, I opted to stay home and comfort my little peanut.

Bossman has had on his best 'pitty me' face and as a result has gotten so many belly rubs he might callus. He did seem to perk up after extensively cuddling with his daddy.

Now that Bosley is finally asleep - he is like having an infant - my Saturday night has become flipping between food porn and HGTV. Ooo! Maybe I'll make some cocoa!

Crafting a Collage Wall

I have a long, extremely white hallway in my apartment. I've lived here for two years now and could not decide what to do with it. When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I loved it immediately. I tend to be somewhat of a thrifter since we're on the grad school budget plan, so I decided to get crafty!

This is what the hall looks like now.  I think it turned out fairly well considering the whole thing cost me $15! All of the plants came from the city trail that runs right behind my place - I just pressed them between books. The frames were all on super sale and I had to jimmy-rig hangers on the backs of two of them. Let's just say there is some yarn is hiding back there. And the butterflies came from the University Hospital gift shop at their end of season sale. What do you think?

Mortally Wounded

I have a horrible nail biting habit. Whenever I'm stressed I just go to town on those puppies until they are almost gone. Its gotten so bad, I barely notice when I'm doing it any more. My friend Kelly, has been really getting on me about getting my nails in better shape. I've been self conscious of how they look so it took a lot of convincing to get me to get a manicure. Plus, they really didn't have much to work with.

Once I got there I decided to go all out and get a full set of acrylics. I've had them before but they didn't last long. Its been about five or six weeks now and they were holding up so well! Until I tried to close a window. That sucker fought back and I took a beating!

My fingers slipped right off the edge and it felt like all of my nails were ripped off! My fingers are still throbbing a bit but luckily I escaped my fight with only a chip. That nail is now a deadly sharp weapon so I'll have to be careful until I can get it fixed. Hopefully I can keep my awkward, accident prone self in check long enough to prevent further injury!

Family Affair

When I first met Erik he had just finished playing college baseball and told me he was interested in going into Zoology. Oh how times have changed. The universe threw him some curveballs and he decided that what he really wanted to do was follow in the footsteps of his uncle and cousin. Three and a half years later and he's in his second semester of Dental School.

Erik is one of the most brilliant and charismatic people I have ever met. He quickly formed friendships with some of his fellow classmates. Luckily, they live very close to us so we all frequently carpool since I work at the University they attend. I am very out numbered on these car rides, and I often sit in silence and just listen to them talk about class. These conversations are in another language to me. It's all occlusal this and periodontal that. It mostly just turns into loud buzzing for me, but even though the jibber jabber gets annoying, secretly I'm grinning like an idiot. I'm so proud of what he is accomplishing and the man he is becoming.

Sunday Cinna-Bunnies

I had a great Sunday reconnecting with my inner child. A couple of the girls came over and we dyed Easter eggs! I love having people at my house! It could be one person or thirty.  Either way I act all excited and run around the house annoying Erik because I've forgotten something and have asked him to go back to the store for the third time. Thank God he loves me!

As a treat I made Cinna- Bunnies!

Since one of my ladies, Kathie, is baking a little muffin, I thought it would be fun to use natural dyes in lieu of the artificial kits. Pinterest provided me with some amazing ideas - go figure. I used Spinach for green, Black Berries for purple, beets for pink, and coffee for brown. Turns out the spinach green failed miserably, but the other three worked beautifully!

 

We ended up using a kit for the yellow, orange, green, and blue. It was so much fun and a great time with my girls, and the little muffin!

Us...

Hi, I'm Amanda. The loves of my life are a man named Erik and a Westie named Bosley. Sometimes its hard for me to believe this is really my life and then others, I don't want to believe this is really my life. In the end, we all love big and laugh often. Thanks for reading and I hope you come along for the ride.