luxe chandelier

Last week while we were making dinner I noticed that the floor was a little bit dirty so I decided to clean the floor using Arm & Hammer (new & improved!) with a paper towel. Not even 30 minutes later, Tyler started complaining of numbness feeling on the bottom of his foot and it started swelling up. He took Benadryl and rested his foot on the couch for the rest of the night. We thought Benadryl would do its job overnight so we went to bed.

Tyler woke me up at 4:30AM with this horrible & scary look on his face like something bad really happened. All kinds of bad things were running through my head: house’s on fire? someone die? an intruder broke in?! and quickly enough he told me he had to go to the hospital because his lips were swollen and possibly his tongue too.

We get to the hospital and thankfully no one else was in the waiting room so we knew we didn’t have to wait long. We finally got checked in and waited for a nurse or doctor to come in. All within 5 minutes, he broke out quickly and it spread to his whole body.

I was starting to get restless because no one was seeing us yet and it was getting bad. A nurse finally comes in and as Tyler is getting checked out, I started explaining to the nurse about what happened with cleaning the kitchen floor.

He immediately interrupted me and asked, “What’s wrong with your voice?”

UM, REALLY?! No one has ever asked me that question before. I told him maybe it was because I’m deaf? and he continued to ask Tyler more questions. I wonder if he felt embarrassed for asking me that. I know that sometimes my voice is quiet because I’m afraid of speaking up and possibly being too loud. Whatever, I’m over it now.

We were released from the hospital with 3 days worth of medicine and was told to go to the doctor if he broke out again. Around 5PM that day, he broke out again…just when the doctor’s office closes for the weekend. I made sure I kept the epi-shot nearby so I could be prepared to stab it in his leg if he stopped breathing.

On Sunday we decided to get out of the house because maybe it was something in the house that he’s allergic to. We went to see Inception which happened to be open-captioned…FINALLY! The last time we saw a movie in the theaters was probably in 2008 – way too long.

Just when we thought the worst was over with Tyler’s allergy reaction, he woke me up again on Monday morning at 6AM saying he had to go to the hospital again. His face was swollen up!

Again we were fortunate that no one else was waiting in the emergency room. We felt that we were getting the proper care we needed this time rather than the first visit. A doctor came in and asked Tyler all kinds of questions and did blood work. Tyler was drugged up on steroids and fell asleep.

I tried walking around his room because I was so exhausted and cold. So I had this brilliant idea to go outside for a while because it was 90+ degrees. A while later, Tyler woke up and smiled at me and said, “I’m on steroids. Are my muscles any bigger now?” while flexing his muscles for me. I thought it was so funny and Tyler doesn’t remember saying that at all.

This picture proves how bored I was at the hospital and how crappy I look. Seriously I need to get my hair done. It’s been months since I got it colored & cut.

Anyways, finally the doctor came in and said his blood work was fine and gave him more meds for the week. He also gave us a doctor’s name and phone number to call and make an appointment to find out what he’s allergic to. We called and made an appointment for today later this afternoon (hopefully we’ll get some answers).

Off we skipped (not really) to the car together hoping that was our last hospital visit for a long time.

We were driving home on the freeway and I came up next to this school bus and I had a feeling that it was my dad. Sure enough it was him!

He looked over at us and was surprised to see us. We rolled down our windows to briefly update him on Tyler’s hospital visit since he didn’t know we went to the hospital again.

I love how seeing my dad just brings a smile to my face and makes all my worries go away. Just the kind of medicine I needed for the rest of the day and week.

Now it’s Friday & I’m ready to enjoy the last weekend of August. I hope you all will too. Also Tyler and I wanted to thank you for all your awesome thoughts & prayers this week through Facebook and Twitter. You’re all amazing!

the sun on your cheek,
the wind in your hair,
the speed beneath your feet.
summer in your lungs,
a sparkle in your eye,
a dare in your heart.

-unknown

• We just got back from Las Vegas (a recap on that later) where DeafNation World Expo was. It was indeed great seeing old friends & meeting new people!
• Seriously where has the time gone? I can’t believe it’s going to be August next week. I feel like I’m constantly changing my monthly calendar at work every week or so.
• It’s been a sickly month for me. The doctor told me I had chest congestion but I’m still not sure since I’m still coughing my lungs out and it’s week 3. Last week the joints in my hands & wrists started hurting so bad! It’s actually painful in the mornings and took me forever to get ready. I don’t know if I have carpal tunnel or if it’s something else. It doesn’t hurt as much today and I’m hoping it doesn’t continue in the mornings. I need my hands to sign with my deaf friends!
• I need to get back into going to the gym…seriously! I have no excuses. Our grocery budget is out of control and because of this I’m determined to change that and cut our budget into half. It’s hard though since we buy our household items & personal care stuff with groceries too. I need to work on my habit of saving receipts and not losing them or throwing them away. This is a goal for August!
• Another mini goal is to tackle Google Reader. I’m definitely behind and need to catch up on commenting! Amazing how one day can really get you behind….I guess depending on how many blogs you’re subscribed to. <3

First came Lolla then Zella and now let me introduce you to Carmella!

I never thought we would come to the point of owning a new car until we were in our 30s. We didn’t have much of a choice anyways when Zella (2002 Hyundai Elantra) gave up on me last week. Tyler had to borrow my mom’s car and come to my rescue!

Apparently the transmission was messed up and would not let me go faster than 40 mph while it’s at 4 rpm. Tyler managed to get it to go faster while in 3rd gear and so I followed him to drop it off at the car place where we usually get it fixed. The next day we found out it was going to cost a lot of money to fix it. I was financially exhausted of putting more money into Zella so I decided it was time to get rid of her.

Saturday we decided to go car shopping. Unfortunately Tyler had to work so he couldn’t come with me. My parents took me to a few places starting with Ford which we didn’t even stay long enough to test drive since I don’t really care for Ford. Next stop was Dodge/Jeep. I saw the Jeep Patroit and I didn’t really like how the windows were small and it wasn’t worth the price it was at. Looking around again, I saw a Dodge Journey and we took it out for a test drive. Really smooth ride!! We were hesitant though since our family doesn’t have good experience with Dodge & the reviews online were not good at all. We got an offer on it then left and went over to Kia.

The Kia Soul is so cute but too small and not what I want for a long time. Of course I wanted the Kia Sportage so we got an offer on it and it was ridiculously high and not what I had hoped for. The number I was hoping for was way too low that they would have been offended. Luckily for us we had an awesome salesman, Paul, helping us. He was funny & talked with us while waiting for them to do the credit check, get an offer, etc. After going back and forth…we showed them the offer we had from Dodge and at that point all eyes were on me when they had made another offer. I told them I needed more time and went outside to talk with mom for a while. After mom talked some sense into me & gave me some advice… we came back in. Paul asked me what my magic number was so I told him and he came back with an offer of $11 over my magic number. I couldn’t believe it and took the offer!

I texted Tyler and said, “We just bought a car!!” I wanted to see what his reaction was. I think he knew what kind of car we got since he knew I wanted a Kia Sportage anyways.

His replied, “Sunroof? Color?” Supposedly he was too busy at work and only cared about if it had a sunroof & the color of it.

“No sunroof and it’s volcanic red”, I replied being short with him as I was distracted at the dealership.

“Does your dad like it? He hates red. & tinted windows?”… now he was asking more questions and obviously cares about what my dad likes?! I read my text out loud to my parents & we all had a good laugh. Seriously who cares if my dad hates red? He’s not married to him & it’s not his car. It’s ours!

They only had 3 cars left before bringing in the 2011 models. Two of them were blue and the other one was red and the interior is beige. I’ve always loved dark interior but the beige color is starting to grow on me now. It just makes me want to drive barefoot so I don’t get the inside dirty at all. It’s like getting new shoes and not wanting them to get dirty at all.

The offer included the trade of my old car. It’s a huge relief getting rid of Zella since I don’t need any more financial emergencies with her.

Last year we purchased a house last year in July and now it’s July and we just purchased a car. What’s next year? Another car, pool, or babies? Or all of the above! Now having experienced purchasing a house and car… I definitely have to say buying a car was more fun only because I got it the same day I purchased it! That’s huge for me since I always want things the minute I lay my eyes on them. I’m guilty of that! Don’t tell me I’m the only one…

Now isn’t Carmella pretty?!