About Me

Oookay. So.  I'm not "new," per se, to the blog-o-sphere, but I haven't done it in awhile, so I may be a bit out of practice.  Bear with me.  I thought I'd do a wee little snapshot into me to get started, so here goes!

Name: Rebecca Lynn (I go by a plethora of nicknames, namely Becca, Bex, Beck, and Chewy. Don't ask. :oP)

Birthday: 1/15/85 (I like shiny things- and cash.)

Occupation: Gimpy student, but there's a backstory here.  I haven't always been a gimp or a student, but a certain series of events last April (the 5th to be exact) changed life as I know it.  I rolled my ankle and, in turn, (bust out Dr. Google or your latest anatomy chart for this one!) fractured my 4th metatarsal base and tibia, as well as ruptured my tibiofibular ligament, both peroneal tendons, the Achilles tendon, the soleus muscle, and a lisfranc's dislocation.  That last one, the lisfranc's, I'll give you some info on.  Not like you care, but who knows?!  Maybe there are some nursing students, future doctors, or anatomy geeks (like me!) who might want to know.  So. The lisfranc's dislocation is pretty rare in that it's difficult to rupture.  The joint is located between the 1st metatarsal (that's the big toe) and the 2nd metatarsal (the one next to it), and usually is only torn/sprained a little bit when it's injured.  This particular injury accounts for 1/55,000 injuries annually, so guess who drew the lucky number in 2010? (This girl! Boo.)  Anyway, my dislocation was so severe that it literally ruptured the entire joint from the top of my foot to the bottom of my foot.  Super, right?  Moving on... After a pretty gnarly 4-hour surgery (with some damage left unrepaired due to the amount of time I was under general anesthesia- story within a story there, but don't worry, I'll get to that) and the amount of time I had the blood withheld from the bottom of my leg, (I was maxed out all the way around), I've been left with a permanent nerve disorder called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).  Double super awesome.  Oh, story about anesthesia.  Apparently, my doctor was going to do the surgery with me under "twilight anesthesia," meaning I wouldn't be under general, but I also wouldn't feel the surgery.  He told Nathan after surgery, that I started moving and squirming around on the table (oops), then began calling (and here's where it gets really funny) for "some guy named Ray."  Well, hubs burst out laughing and said "Our daughter's name is Rhea!"  Dr. Lim, according to Nate, "had never looked more relieved."  Leave it to me to have my doctor thinking that I'm delivering OR table confessions! Digression over...
Prior to all this fun, I was an assistant store manager for Starbucks.  I've been with the company since 2001, and was actually on a paid break when I got injured.  Did workers comp pick up the tab?  Nope.  So now I'm chillin' on disability.  (Double boo.)  I got bored on disability and decided to go back to school to finish my bachelors (finally!), and I'm now an incredibly cool driver with a handicapped placard.  Hence, gimpy student.

Marital status: Married since 10/10/08 to the love of my life, Nathan.  We're high school sweeties (aww), who were bffs for two years before we started dating.  I was a cradle-robbing, newly graduated high school senior and he was... not.  He was heading into his junior year of high school when we (finally!) decided to start dating after the two previous years where we'd had mutual crushes on each other but neither of us was ever single at the same time as the other.  Funny how things work out.

Children: 2.  RheaLynn Patten (pronounced "ray" not "ree-uh" or "ray-uh") is 3, and a total goon.  Nathan Robert III (aka Trace) is 1 and hilarious.  They're almost 25 months apart exactly, which is so awesome.  Well, except for the newly developed sibling rivalry coming from "Princess Justin Bieber."  You'll get to know them- since I'm on disability and unable to work at this time, I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I spend 99% of my time having Justin Bieber dance parties (mainly me hobbling around the room for about a minute then busting out the video camera) and playing along with Trace as he rocks out to the Wiggles.  Speaking of Trace, you're probably wondering where his nickname came from.  I'm a half-breed Mexican (my father- eh, sperm donor really- is from Tepehuanes, Durango, Mexico, and my mom is a European mutt with a dash of Native American thrown in for taste) and when we found out "officially" that T was a boy (I already knew- just had "that feeling), I said to Nate "Awesome! Let's call him Tres!"  Nate, however, not being Mexican, found it a bit ridiculous that I wanted to call our son "a number in Spanish."  So I suggested a spelling change, and here we are!

Pets: Jesse (beagle/pit/possible Jack Russell mix): Super fat- picture a ginormo beer battered brat bursting at the seams, stick it with toothpicks, and you've got our girl; Phoenix (golden/greyhound mix): Jesse's exact opposite, he's tall and lean with the body shape of a greyhound and the hair of a golden; Angel (long-haired tortie): Cat and oftentimes the complete opposite of her name; Betty (guinea pig): Insane. What more can I say? She's a guinea pig.  Finally, we supposedly have a betta fish named Dory in the aquarium in the kids' room... however, he goes missing and then mysteriously reappears.  He's not jumping out, and he's not buried in the rocks- trust me, we've looked AND emptied the aquarium.  No fish inside, no bones outside... I wonder if we'd gotten an electric fence if he'd be more detectable...

Living situation: We live in a 2 bedroom ranch house that was renovated in 1941.  Didja hear me? RENOVATED in 1941.  So, it's old.  Really cute, really old. Our kitchen is probably my most favorite room, although 9/10 times, it's in complete disarray.  That also applies to the rest of my house, too, so if you know where I live, don't stop by without warning.  Otherwise, you've been forewarned.  My brother-in-law Adam (who I figured out yesterday, I've known for about 10 years *gasp*) lives with us parttime.  I don't know why it's necessary for me to add the "in-law" onto his relationship because really, he's my brother.  Although I guess it would be a bit weird if I was like "This is my husband Nathan, and this is my brother Adam, who also happens to be my husband's brother."  That just sounds a little too down-home for me.  Adam's dating one of my good friends, Michelle, and they've been together for almost 2 1/2 years.  Shell and I used to work together, and we met when I was pregnant with Rhea.  Random digression: Best pregnancy moment ever was about a week before I was due, I was still working, despite having my own gravitational pull, not being able to see anything below my boobs, and not being able to really hug anyone because my belly stuck out about 3 feet in front of me.  For those of you who haven't had kids yet, pregnant bellies make the best tables.  Anyway, I was working the register (since I couldn't get close enough to the bar to actually make drinks without resting the belly- literally- on the counter... but then I couldn't bend over or get back up to get milk, so there was a conundrum- and working the drive thru window was an even bigger situation- no pun intended!) and Michelle was walking behind me with a huge bucket of ice.  I turned around to grab a cup to pull coffee for a customer, not realizing that Shell was crossing my galactic plane, and with my bump alone, took her clear off her feet.  Ice went flying everywhere, she was on the floor on her bum laughing hysterically, and my customer was a-freakin' out!  Ah, good times.  Adam and Michelle hang out here a decent amount, so we've got a pretty full house most of the time.

Hobbies: music (I sing/write/play piano, and am beginning the excursion into learning guitar- again), writing (duh), reading (when I get a moment of silence), martial arts (I am, for all intensive purposes, a 2nd degree black belt in taekwondo).  Before this injury, I had plans to spend a week last summer down in Texas training with the Lopez family.  For those of you who aren't martial arts geekazoids like myself, they're the First Family of Taekwondo.  Steven had medaled at the Olympic level multiple times, as have his siblings Mark and Diana, and they're all coached by their older brother Jean.  So cool, and Jean's really nice.  At least he seemed to be when we were emailing back and forth about my anticipated excursion to Dixie.  Now, obviously, martial arts are out of the picture.  (Anyone need a coach a la "Dodgeball"?)

I'm addicted to my Blackberry, I love to travel (but never seem to have enough money to do it now... hmm, wonder why?) and have been to Honduras and Canada (eh?), and I'm a crunchy person.  I need at least 1 crunchy food per meal otherwise I feel like I'll freak out.  Weird, I know.  I'm a Christian, but don't worry- I promise not to thump by Bible at you.  I may make mention of things that come up in society that bug me with regards to matters of faith, but I will never try and shove my religion (note: I said religion, not faith- they're two different things) down your throat.  I won't do that with my faith either because I can't make anyone believe through words alone.  I just try and live the best life I can, recognizing that, for me personally, I wouldn't be who I am without faith.  *stepping off soapbox*  Hmm hmm hmm... I think that's about it for the introductory shenanigans.  The rest I'll reveal and you'll discover as we go, I guess! :o)