Tuesday, April 19, 2011

4-19-2011

Well tonight was an interesting night.  I was enjoying my evening with my Addie friend watching the Biggest Loser as well as Parenthood, and well wouldn't you know it, in the middle of Parenthood, the fire alarm goes off.  Ok, this isn't a big deal because we'll be right back in a matter of two seconds.... WRONG!  Who would've guessed that when we were standing outside, we would be able to see water building up through the window on the first floor.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, because in all that commotion, there are now a few million stories floating around about what happened.  Well here's my version of he said she said stuff.  Apparently the sprinklers were broken on the first floor, I don't know how, but it was in a guys room.... so enough said.  There were buckets being filled with water and hauled out.  The students were trying to make sure the carpet wouldn't get ruined, BUT... it was pretty swamped so we'll see.  They're still sucking water out as we speak.

Luckily, I live on the 3rd floor and nothing was damaged up here.  It's been a crazy hectic night and I am ready to sign out.  Good night.

Another Day!

Well, I haven't blogged for quite awhile.  I have been busy trying to get school straightened out as well as just everyday life stuff.  I also like to have some quiet time when I write down my thoughts, and when you have seven roommates, quiet is hard to come by sometimes.

I am definitely ready to move back home and get to work.  I have some goals that I want to achieve this summer.  One being I want to get down to a size four.  I am in between a size six and a size eight right now.  Yes, I really am.  It's not one of those things where girls are lying about the size.  I found out when I went and got measured for the bridesmaid dress I'll be wearing in Britt and Zach's wedding on 9-10-11.  I'm very excited.  I think that'll be a fun time.

I am excited to try some new things as well.  I want to try some new recipes that are healthy, because I get really sick with the unhealthy recipes.  Hopefully this will be an enjoyable adventure and I'll find things I really truly like instead of just choking the same old things down because I have to.  Among these healthy dishes, I would like to start doing some canning.  We'll see how well that goes..... :s that worries me a bit haha.  I have some other little adventures I would like to pursue as well, but those have to remain secrets for now.

There will be some exciting new adventures for me here before too long.  (Maybe not exciting to most, but I am tickled!)

Saturday, February 26, 2011

In a Nutshell....

It seems like there has always been something going on here from the day I moved to Logan.  This last month has been no exception.  In November I had gotten a common cold and noticed one of my "glands" as I called it at the time was getting swollen.  Obviously I didn't think much of it and went home for Thanksgiving and showed Mom.  It still hadn't gone away by December.  I was planning on going home for Christmas and Mom wanted me to fly home.  I had always had problems with my ears and was concerned with that lump being there that the elevation would cause my ears to KILL me (figuring it was all related).  I ended up flying... much to my dismay.  (I got stuck in Denver on my way home for Thanksgiving for a day and wasn't looking forward to my fate in Denver again.)  Mom made me a doctors appointment and the doctor was concerned about it being lymphoma so he wanted me to see an ENT (Ears, nose, and throat) doctor.  Well... it was Christmas time and we were doing family vacation stuff so I ended up being back in Logan before the could get me in to see a doctor in Williston, ND.

I got back to Logan and started looking up doctors, (kind of a frustrating thing when you don't know who is good).  Mom told me to look up a Dr. Bennion and once again I did as I was told.  I went to the doctor and he wanted that thing out in November.  Well.... the semester had just started and I wasn't about to miss school.  I had finally gotten accepted into the Huntsman School of Business here in Logan and finally got put into my accounting classes and there was no way that I had time for surgery.  I started looking at my schedule and noticed oh hey I have a 3 day break in February, we'll do it then.  So I scheduled the surgery date and that was kind of that.  It was kind of forgotten about since it was the beginning of January and surgery wasn't scheduled until February 18th.

During this time, Tyson had found this thing on campus that was called USU's Next Top Model and he wanted me to try and compete in this thing.  At first I wanted nothing to do with it.  I did not want to be parading around in a bikini by any means.  I find out that there are no bikinis involved and I finally was convinced to submit a picture of myself, compliments to the photographer (Tys).  Ok, no biggy I submitted a picture and that's the end of that.  (At least he'll quit bugging me about sending in a picture).  Voting starts..... and I'm a bit competitive so now this thing started getting a little serious and I started stressing "Ok I just want to make it in the top three because how cool would that be?"  I started sending out e-mails, "Hey! Vote for me sort of deals!" and it got down to the last few minutes and it was neck in neck. I woke up that morning and "Congratulations to our Top 3....... Contestant 1, Contestant 2, and Chelsea Dahle."  Woah dude!  I was a bit excited.  I had an interview soon following and ended up getting a phone call from one excited mom (while I was in class) telling me that I won the contest.  I was pretty excited.  I thought it would be way fun!

We hadn't heard anything about when a photo shoot would be and then we started getting close to surgery day....AHHHH!  Well Tuesday before I'm supposed to have surgery I get an e-mail saying we would like to do a photo shoot later this week for upcoming events.  At this time my "twin" as Kara Adams started calling it had grown to be about half the size of a tennis ball sticking out from underneath my jaw and it was getting very uncomfortable.  I was a bit self conscious and had been wearing scarfs for the end of January and the whole month of February.  I replied to the e-mail and asked if we could do the photo shoot February 17th (the day before surgery) and left out that I was having surgery.  The photo shoot ended up happening on the 17th and they never said anything about the lump and I ended up wearing a scarf to model anyways.  WOOHOO!

Now by this time my Mom and Dad had gotten to Logan for the surgery.  I had to be at the hospital by 6:00 a.m. on the 18th to get all "dolled" up for surgery.  (Those people need to learn to be less invasive.) I also love the fact that when you go in there for surgery (on your neck) you have to be FULLY naked in a gown that has a pocket that has a hole right where your boob just happens to be... my hell.  OH then you get the sweet back... I don't think I need to go into that.  Try walking into the O.R. holding your chest and blocking off your backside from the world... rough.  I get into the O.R. and see what looks to be like a stretcher...(Did I mention before I had surgery they asked if I'd be an organ donor...COMFORTING!)  So I lay down on the stretcher that's made for a size 0 girl and try to balance myself so I don't topple onto the ground exposing myself.  This uncomfortable stage only lasted a bit before I was passed out.

I woke up in a bed, not sure how I got there but I ended up there and the first thing I did was grab my face.  The doctor said that he was concerned with the location of the thing that getting it out might damage the nerves and cause the left side of my face to be paralyzed.  I was so excited that when I smiled and touched my face I felt my lips move and my cheek on the left side tense up.  I was brought into a recovery room where Mom, Dad, and Tyson all ended up joining me.  Much to my dismay Tyson got some lovely pictures.  I had a tube in my neck at that time that was connected to a bottle that collected fluids from inside my neck.  (That was enough to make me want to pass out.)  That was hard to handle, especially when you saw your own blood being collected in this bottle that was on your chest.  Luckily I got that out and off the next morning.

Mom and Tyson were there to accompany me getting the tube out and it really didn't hurt getting it out, it was just the thought that grossed me out.  Mom sat down I guess to prepare herself and all I heard from my support (Tyson) was "OH MY GOSH!  THAT'S HUGE!  I WASN'T EXPECTING IT TO BE THAT LONG."  As the tube is being pulled from MY neck..... if that's not enough to make you dizzy I don't know what is.  

Recovery has been fast and painless for the most part.  I haven't had pain medicine since the day of surgery.  I also got results from the thing and they called it a Branchial Cleft Cyst and there was no cancer so that is awesome!  I also found out that the cyst was so massive that it ended up rupturing before the doctor could get it out.  He said it was bigger then a tennis ball.  The only thing I have that's a reminder for me that I had surgery is that the whole left side of my face from about nose level on over to my left ear lobe and down is numb.  The doctor said this could take a year to go away.  Nobody can tell that it's numb because I have full mobility as I mentioned.  The only thing that is noticeable to other people is my about 2 inch incision on my neck.  Not too shabby.  :)  So thankful for all the prayers that were being sent my way and for my grandpa, grandma, and Lisa for putting my name in the temple.  I really think it was all the prayers that made the surgery go so well.  :D

Hi, I'm the new kid!

Seems like as soon as somebody would start talking to me they'd ask me where I was from.  (Turns out they just don't say bag the same down here.)  I met some awesome people right off the bat and was thrown into a living center with 7 roomies... SHOCKER!  I met one of my best friends one of those first days.  We were going up the stairs to our rooms and the first thing she ever said to me was "Do your roomies like you?"  Haha... Miss Addie is awesome.  She has helped me through a ton and I don't know what I would do without her now.  Addie has lightened me up a lot and gotten me to come out of my shell.  There's been a huge change from before and after Addie.  :D  We could stay up all night having our discussions about guys, religion, or school.

I started feeling more at home in Logan now that I had a whopping 2 friends!  I started to realize that people in Logan were very down to earth and easy going.  It makes living here and being away from home a lot easier.  Thank you for friends and family in Fairview, Billings, Logan and everywhere else that have been a part of my life.

Me Blogging? Hm... that's odd.

Never in a million years did I think I would start a blog.  What do I have to say that might interest people?  I am in Logan, UT where being Mormon is pretty much the thing to do.  :)  I love that everybody is religious here, or that is how it appears to be.  Lately I've been feeling kind of out of place about the whole Mormon situation and started talking to my cousin Lexi....(who I blame for me now blogging).  I told her that I feel like everybody here is a ton more Mormon then I am and that they know so much more about the religion then I do.  Lexi told me to read her blog and I did as I was told.  WOW!!!  I was about in tears... (I'm usually not very emotional, unless you ask my older brother).  In her blog she talks about finding herself and having people surround you that are positive influences when you're trying to find yourself.  I've felt for awhile now that I haven't really ever taken the time to find myself and it was neat to read about Lexi's experiences.

Me ending up in Logan was kind of one of those "soul searching" moments I guess you could say.  If you don't know me very well I can be very hard headed, (again ask my older brother).  Chris, my older brother that I've referred to went to college here and constantly tried to get me to come here.  I kept blowing him off saying yeah, yeah, yeah... "maybe next semester."  Well after Chris heard "maybe next semester" about 80 million times, he gave up until BAM!  "Hey Chris, I'm registered in Logan for school."  Chris was pretty excited and thought it was a good move.  Well... here came August and the anxiety of going far away set in and of course I met a boy... as Lexi would say, my "pimpin" skills set in.  The day before I was supposed to leave I told Mom... "I'm going to school back in Billings, MT".  Imagine any moms reaction when we're supposed to be leaving the next day and oh did I mention that tuition, boarding, and everything had been paid for in UT waiting for me?  YIKES!  That was one big mess not only with my family, but with trying to get my parents' money back for everything.....WOW!  So the next year when I told Chris, "Hey Chris, I'm registered in Logan for school."  Imagine his reaction.....  So.... August rolls around and the day before I was supposed to leave, I packed up my things (at least I got closer that time).  Nobody believed that I was going yet.  They all figured I'd end up unpacking my stuff or just leaving it in my car until it was time to start school in Billings again.  (Mom waited until the last minute to pack her suitcase).  August 20th ish came and I was Utah bound.

It was all fun and games taking the road trip to Logan with my mom and (we also picked up my aunt along the way)... UNTIL we were about a hour away from Logan and I was on my phone checking my class schedule.... well that's odd... my phone isn't pulling it up.  I called my little brother Jordan in a panic and had him look up my schedule... Jordan- "Uh... you're not registered." Me- "Look again, I have to be!"  Well sure enough I WASN'T like 5 days before school started and I wasn't even registered.  Not to mention we were like an hour away and I had to tell Mom and Peggy after all the "Yep, I'm going this time" stuff "Oh... P.S.  I'm not registered."  It was one of those moments where you cringe before telling, tell, then flinch waiting to hear the disappointment, anger, or whatever emotion was going to follow.  To my surprise it went over well and Mom is always usually pretty laid back so I shouldn't have been worried.  We continued our trip and pulled into Logan.  I was a frantic mess trying to get my classes and way emotional (I'm usually not emotional) Haha.

Logan- check, classes- check, room- check, friends... wait what?  It started to set in that I knew NOBODY here.  I think Mom sensed my anxiety because EVERYWHERE we went while we were there, "Hi, what's your name?"  "This is my daughter Chelsea."  AWKWARD.... The last encounter was the worst.  It was when I met Tyson.  Haha, not that meeting Tyson was bad, it was just the most embarrassing time ever.

We had a terrible time finding a hotel and finally found one for the night.  Mom went in and my aunt Peggy and I waited in the car.  Mom comes out waving me in and I looked at my aunt and said "Not again."  Well sure enough... Mom made me a friend.  Hahaha!  Well hello Tyson!  I'm so glad that introduction happened otherwise I wouldn't have met a whole lot of people and definitely would have been lost when Mom and Peggy finally took off.