Where I’ve been…
This blog has been quiet for the past month, but I’ve been busy (which is always a good thing when you run your own business).
I’ve been busy working on Wordpress sites for clients (stay tuned for reveals) and on a super secret crafty venture. I’m so excited about this new venture I could burst at the seams!
Things are also going great at Pink Ink Studios, where I design graphic resources for professional photographers. We have really ramped up the site this year, with awesome giveaways (um, Intuos 4 Wacom anyone!!!) and a stellar design team.
Here are some of my newest products (click to view):
Outside of all this, I’ve also made a commitment to be a healthier Amy Kant. As such, I’ve launched a new blog, Losing it without losing me. I haven’t felt this good about myself in years. I will be making that blog more personal, and this one will become more professional. I am very open and honest over at Losing It, so if you learn more about me than you’d like to know, well, then don’t say I didn’t warn you!
All bundled up and on the road to recovery
Wowzers, I haven’t blogged in forever. Life has gotten the best of me lately. I’ve had so much going on, I didn’t even realize I was getting sick.
A lack of energy and continual tiredness was attributed to my new work schedule – 5am to 2pm weekdays – even though I was getting plenty of sleep, I never felt 100%. I could take a 4 hour nap after work, wake up to eat supper and then go back to bed and I was still always tired. Then, the coldness kicked in. I was always cold at work, home and everywhere else. It became the norm for me to keep my scarf, hat and coat on at work… and this was soon joined by a blanket on my lap. My skin always felt warm to the touch to others and I never had a fever. I took my temperature multiple times a day because I was convinced I had some type of infection. Why else would I be so cold so much of the time?
Conversations with family and my Twitter friends led me to wonder if something bigger was going on. Luckily, I already had my yearly physical scheduled for the following week, so I just toughed it out until that appointment.
My doctor confirmed what friends hypothesized – I probably have a thyroid problem. Numerous blood tests later, I found out that not only did I have hypothyroidism (with a TSH count of 10.2, normal is 0.4-5.0), I was also very anemic.
No WONDER I felt like death. Seriously, if I had to guess what death felt like, it would have been how I’ve felt for the last month or so.
Looking back, the symptoms started this summer… but I attributed them all to my work schedule and a changing routine. My symptoms didn’t come on suddenly – I was just ignoring them.
I can tell you this – if I had the sick/vacation time left this year, I would have taken a couple of weeks off work to rest up. I probably would have qualified for short-term disability, but that only kicks in after 7 days… and I couldn’t afford to take 7 days off unpaid before the short-term disability kicked in. So, I struggle through the work day (still working 5a-2p) and quickly crash the minute I get home.
I have been taking my new meds for almost a week and have only noticed slight improvements. My coldness isn’t constant anymore. It is worst in the morning and evening. I still am bundled up most of the day, but I’m not shivering like I was a week or two ago.
I am still exhausted and have very low energy levels, but I’ve been told it can take a couple of weeks to a month until you really start feeling better. This is probably one of the worst times of the year to feel like this, but it has caused me to slow down and not get caught up in the commercialism of the season.
My sister and I decorated our apartment for less than $30. And let me tell you, there are decorations all over the place. We were just thrifty and used what we had on hand… along with our craftiness to decorate the place for Christmas. I will have to take photos and write up a blog post about that this week.
Recipe: Kants’ Rad Fruit Salsa
My sister and I created a ‘rad’ fruit salsa this week. It is sooooo good (if I do say so myself). I mean, really… just look at it!
Interested in making it yourself? Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 3 White peaches
- 3 plums
- 5-7 tomatoes (depends on size)
- 1 pear
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1-2 green and/or yellow peppers
- 3 limes
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2-3 TBSP Mango Lemonade Juice (Optional)
- 2 TSP Wildtree’s Jalapeno Grapeseed Oil (Optional)
- 2 TBSP Wildtree’s Peach Raspberry Sauce (Optional)
- Watermelon (Optional)
Chop peaches, plums, tomatoes, pear, jalapeno, onion, watermelon and peppers and mix in large bowl. Set aside.
Finely chop cilantro (I used half a bunch- use more or less according to your liking). Juice the limes and pour into small bowl (some lime pulp is ok). Add juice, grapeseed oil and raspberry sauce. Mix well and pour over fruits/veggies. Toss together, add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let sit in fridge over night for added flavor.
To find out more about the salsa… and how to make those super yummy cinnamon pita chips, head on over to Kant Touch Us.
Pet Portrait Honorable Mention
Soooo close to winning a free 140 minute pet portrait! Bandit, we almost did it!
I entered to win a free Twitter-style pet portrait from @dogarteest on twitter. Her real name is Aimee Hoover, and she is a fabulous dog portrait artist. Seriously. Go check out her work.
Kant Touch Us
My sister and I ended up moving earlier than planned… We have been talking about starting a blog when we moved in together, and finally decided on a name.
Head on over to Kant Touch Us... I will probably be posting my personal/life stuff over there now and will try to keep this blog more professional. HA. Me — professional? ROTFL
PS the photo of me was taking by the FABULOUS Holly McCaig!
I’m moving on up… to the Eastside…
After three years of living at home – which have been great – I am finally moving out of my parents’ house for the last(?) time.
After college, I moved back home to pay off some bills and to attempt to deal with my millions thousands of dollars in student loans.
Some people can’t believe that I’m 26 and still living with my parents, but it really hasn’t been that bad. I have a great relationship with my parents, I live here rent-free (I pay a couple of household bills and help clean around the house) and I have the entire second floor to myself. Plus, I work 2nd shift, my parents both work 1st, which means we really only see each other on the weekends. I don’t have a curfew, I get to be with my adorable doggies and I really don’t have it that rough.
That said, I’m moving out. Finally.
My younger sister and I will be moving into an adorable lower flat next month in Milwaukee’s lower east side. I cannot wait.
Did I mention I’m moving out?
The house has beautiful archways and hard wood floors. We will have plenty of space, plus a backyard (where our new landlord has already planted some veggies for us!) There is also a HUGE kitchen, which I am just itching to decorate.
Emily and I decided to split up the decorating – she gets the living room (black and white with red accents), I get the kitchen (vintage/retro/diner) and the bathroom will be rubber ducky-themed since she already has all that stuff. Our dining room will become a fabulous office/art studio/crafty space and our extra bedroom is going to be an oversized, walk-in closet. There are only 3 small closets in the entire apartment, so we figured the extra bedroom could be converted into one.
I will be so sad to leave my doggies at home (my parents won’t let me take them and the landlord doesn’t allow doggies), but I know I’ll be at the house often to visit them my parents.
I found an awesome, vintage 50s-style chrome table on craigslist for the kitchen, and found this fabulous retro spice rack on ebay!
Danny Gokey Day
Most days, like anyone else, I grumble and complain gush about my job. This is not one of those days. Today, I am excited to go to work, even though it will be a 16+ hour day.
Why?
Today I get to meet American Idol’s Danny Gokey as he tours Milwaukee for his hometown visit. But that’s not all… I am following him around all day like the paparazzi, taking photos, Tweeting, live-streaming my web cam and blogging. When he comes to FOX 6 in 2 hours, he’ll be greeted by four GREEN BAY PACKERS!! EEK! Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Nick Barnett & Ruvell Martin will all be at the station today, as well as appearing in the parade this afternoon.
After Danny Gokey’s appearance on FOX 6 WakeUp, I’ll be following him around Milwaukee to places like radio stations, an ATT Store, city landmarks – Bronze Fonz, Art Museum, HD Museum, etc… followed by a short parade to the Summerfest grounds where he’ll give a mini-concert! Then we’re haulin’ bootay to Miller Park because he’s singing the National Anthem and throwing out the first pitch at the Brewers – Cubs game… and if the credentials work out right – I’LL BE ON THE FIELD!!! EEK.
So, make sure you follow my Twitter updates both @amykant and @fox6now for updates and twitpics throughout the day… and visit FOX6Now.com for all my photo galleries!
No more late-night gas station stops for me
Tonight I stopped at a gas station on my way home from work. It’s one I frequent – near work, well-lit – I always usually feel safe there. I parked and went inside to get some gum and a drink. As I entered, I could hear a guy at the counter acting a bit billegerent so I kept my distance and “looked” around loitered in the back of the store.
The man, obviously drunk and/or high on something was yelling and screaming obscenities at the worker. You would have needed a 5-minute delay to bleep out all the f-bombs.
He was trying to get a cell phone minutes card and some cigarettes. The worker was having problems getting the code to work for the cell phone minutes. At one point, the man put his hand in the shape of a gun and threatened to come back in and “shoot the mother f-in place up.”
By now, I was thinking, “You have got to be kidding me. I don’t need gum that badly.” But I was afraid to walk past the man to the door.
I am certain if he had a gun on him (and not at home and/or in his car) he would have shot the worker.
Everything happened so fast, but it felt like it was going in slow-motion.
Thank God nothing happened and that I got home safely.
I have learned my lesson – no more stops after work. I will drive straight home.
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
Yesterday, my parents, sister and I drove up to Wallace, Michigan (in the U.P.) to visit the DeYoung Family Zoo. My dad has been there a couple of times with friends from his camera club, but this was the first time he took the family. Let’s just say I think we’ll be making regular trips to this most irregular zoo. I’ll have to write up a more detailed post later on, but here are some of the pictures he and I took yesterday. As I get to it, I will be adding more images to this set on Flickr.
If you ever have the chance to visit, trust me, it is worth the drive!
Angel on my shoulder?
When you see the photo I’m about to share and read the story behind what happened, you’ll know why I’m thinking I had a guardian angel looking over my shoulder Friday morning. I was on the way to an appointment in Waukesha Friday morning. It was just after 10:30 and I got on 894 heading north toward the zoo interchange. I merged onto I-94 WB which puts you in the left lane. shortly thereafter, my car starting shaking and I heard a weird noise (that did not sound like the engine). Somehow, I managed to cross all the lanes of traffic and get to the right hand shoulder at about Elm Grove Road. I waited for a safe chance to get out of the car (so much for that move over or slow down law)… and this is what I saw:
HOLY CRAP. Do you see that? Seriously, I have NO idea how I got to the shoulder without getting in an accident. Luckily, I have steel rims and somehow the rim was not harmed at all. Again, wow. Can you imagine how this would have looked if it was alloy? Now, here is where I wasn’t sure what to do.
1. I don’t know how to change a tire.
2. I don’t have AAA
So I did what any respecting adult woman would do. I called my mom.
She came and met me on the freeway and then we called AAA using her card. They said they’d have someone there within the hour. While we were waiting, a state patrolman stopped to make sure we were ok and gave me the number for his office in case the AAA guy didn’t come soon. He was very nice. I was very surprised that he stopped, but my mom reminded me that before cell phones, all you COULD do was wait for cops to show up. (seriously, what did we do before cell phones?)
Finally, the guy showed up to change the tire… and put on my itty bitty baby spare. Here’s him hard at work:
He had some problems getting it off, which makes me think that even if I did try to change it myself, there’s no way I would have actually gotten it off.
When my dad got home from work, I had him take a look at the tire and we found a huge nail in it. That was the culprit. Of course, if I would have noticed it was going flat, I probably could have gotten the tire patched for much less moola. $175 later and a trip to Sears, I have a new tire.
Here’s a little layout I did about the ordeal. Click on it to see a bigger version.
