Couch potato

I say I'm not going to do it, I'm not going to just waste my weekend, but I did it again - I did the couch potato routine. Granted, yesterday, I didn't feel all that great. Nothing specific, just blah - couldn't get going. I did manage to get a few things done. I even baked a batch of cookies, but don't tell Aunt Sally because I'm taunting her about saving me some of the cookies she's making.

We were invited to a couple of events yesterday, but I just couldn't get myself together enough to get ready to go.

I have cleaned the kitchen, made some gift tags, did a crossword puzzle, did some online surveys... you know - productive stuff. At least I can tell myself they are productive. Well, I did need to make the tags because I need them tomorrow, and the kitchen has to be done.

Making the tags was getting to be a little bit of a challenge because my hand kept going numb. I'd have to stop and take a break and rest my hand after only making a few. A sign of things to come if I don't get them fixed.

I'm going to have lunch with Kindredly on Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to it.

Three day work week this week and next. Lots of end of year work to cram in on those few days.

And this blog post, I'll count it as productive.

Oh, and Chris, yeah, he was right there with me the entire time. Well, except for when he went to the grocery store to buy steaks for supper last night. And today, he might have the edge on the potato-ness.

Scheduled

Looks like I'm starting off the new year with surgery. Right hand surgery is scheduled for January 6th. We'll schedule the left hand when the right hand is healed enough. The neurosurgeon who I was seeing anyway, took one look at my EMG and said he is very concerned about my hands and set me up to see the orthopedic surgeon the very next day, who was also concerned about how far advanced the carpal tunnel syndrome is. He told me that I already have permanent damage - bummer. Said I might get some improvement, but he wouldn't guarantee it, but that he could stop the progression.

I am still so surprised, feels like this came out of nowhere, when obviously it didn't because of how bad it is. It's been a sneaky little problem, I just adjusted as time went by I guess. Too much other stuff to worry about.

Meeting that $1,000 deductible EARLY!

Pointed out

It was pointed out to me that I neglected to post about my own birthday on my own blog. So, happy belated birthday to me.

Conspiracy

It has to be a conspiracy - my hands both got together and conspired to take me completely by surprise and throw me for a loop. So, yeah, they started acting up - being numb when I'd wake up, hurt, etc. The pain would go to my elbow or shoulder, but not often. My hand swelled - ONE time. Sure, I have lost tactile sensation in my hands, but that was really gradual - irritating because it made me have the dropsies all the time.

So, one day it was really bad and I had a doctor's appointment anyway - it was the day the hand swelled. He prescribed a splint and an EMG. Got the splint right away, it helped some, but was really 2 days before I could take the splint off for any length of time. Well, fast forward to yesterday, I had the EMG done. Carpal tunnel? Yes - no surprise there. Bad carpal tunnel - well, figured I had it, but not that it was all that bad. Wrong - it's advanced to the point that I have motor nerve damage, and it's "critical" for me to get it fixed surgically - soon. Well, that's the right hand. The left one is bad as well she said, but it can wait a little before I get it fixed, but I've got to move on the right hand.

Suggestions, tricks for using your non-dominant hand for everything?

Next time hands - send good surprises.

Never fun

I know that I have a reputation at work for being somewhat "hard" at times - but after 20 years of doing this, you have to be able to turn the emotion off. I had to fire someone today. I like the person, but the job performance wasn't there. She'd only been with us for a short time, but when you show zero initiative, you leave me with no choice but to turn the emotion off and be hard.

But, I can come here and blog about it, about the fact that it does bother me. I wish I didn't have to do that part of my job - but it was what was right for the corp. and for the other employees.

Brandini

I wanted some toffee, so the other night when I was searching for cherry berry nut mix, I found Brandini Toffee. I ordered some, it arrived today, and let me tell ya - that stuff is gooo-oood!

Triple Whammy & The Lydia Project

First it was Ronda, then Billy Joe -- and now Dr. Daksha. My Dr. Daksha, once my employer, once my doctor, and always my friend, is gone. She passed away on April 18, 2009 of stomach cancer.

Google is so pervasive in our lives, it's always "just google it", so I was googling dried cranberries and nuts in an effort to find the website where I had ordered some mix for Chris before. If I'd only read my own post Gifts from 2 years ago, then I wouldn't have been googling for the elusive company that sold the cherry berry nut mix, I could have clicked and gone right to it, and my heart wouldn't be heavy. But anyway, back to googling, in my search, I saw the word "chutkar". That stirred a memory, of the name "Chudgar" - Dr Daksha Chudgar... so I decided to google her. I was hoping to find that she'd moved back to Augusta after completing her fellowship in Kentucky, I'd love to see her again, have her be my doctor again, but what I saw was her obituary. There it was, staring me in the face. I couldn't take it in, I couldn't believe it. I saw the words, but my mind was scrambling to make it not be MY Dr Daksha.

But, it was my Dr. Daksha, I called my mom - we cried on the phone. She knows how much Dr Daksha means to me. She gave me my first job after I graduated from nursing school, she diagnosed me with endometriosis and saw me through years of pain and tears, she understood me, she knew my body almost better than I knew it myself. She gave me her home phone number and told me to call her at 5 am to report on my condition - one answer would have had me going to the operating room, the other - back to sleep. Thankfully, that time I avoided the operating room. But my doctor gave me her home phone number and told me to call her at 5 am.

She refused to even talk about a hysterectomy until after I turned 30 she said. She would not consider even discussing it until then, so when, at age 29, she sat me down and cried with me when she told me it was time for me to have the surgery, I knew we'd done everything we possibly could to fight the disease. My hope of ever bearing a child was gone, I knew that it was time because Dr Daksha told me so. I had no health insurance at that time, she did the surgery without charging me, she got the hospital to cut 20% off my bill. She did things like that for me, and I'm sure for others.

I visited her home, she invited me and my mom to a celebration once, I watched her kids grow up in person and in photos, she was woven so tightly into the fabric of my life for a period of about 10 years. I cried when she moved to Kentucky. I felt so lost the first time I had to find a GYN, and I went to several before finding one I felt comfortable with. How could I fill a new doctor in on my complicated GYN history? It couldn't be done. But, she'd gotten me through the worst years, and now, I just see my GYN once a year.

Clicking through the pages that google found, had me seeing page after page, article after article about my Dr Daksha. Proof in print of what a wonderful person, wonderful physician she is.

I remember her mis-matched clothes, her soft voice, her laugh. I remember her fibs when she'd tell me something wasn't going to hurt, or when "just one more" meant she was going to go for at least 2 or 3 more.

I emailed the obituary to my friend Liz, the one other person next to my Mom, who could understand the impact this news has had on my heart. She did what I did, she googled, and she soaked up every bit of information she could find. She found out that it was stomach cancer, she found the photo of her. We remembered Dr Daksha this morning on the phone, we laughed and we cried.

The family asked that contributions be made to The Lydia Project. Go, read, check it out, do something. I did, I contributed money, and I plan on doing more.

If her family googles her name and finds my blog, I hope they can smile and know that I'm just one of the many who was touched by this amazing woman. Thank you Dr Daksha, for everything.

For a photo - go here.

Revisiting "To bx or not to bx?" from August 28, 2009

I've found out that there were no changes on my CT scan (compared to the one in August), so for now, it is watch and wait for another year. So, the answer to the question for now is "No bx". Yay!

Billy Joe

Tonight, my heart is heavy, yet light at the same time. Billy Joe Daugherty who was my Pastor so long ago when I lived in Tulsa died today of lymphoma. The heavy is the human emotion, the grief for the family and the grief for me and those of us who knew and loved Billy Joe. The light is knowing that he is in Heaven, in the presence of God, that he has first hand knowledge of Glory.

Salvation. I thank God for mine.

Road Trip

So, last Friday, I get home from work, and Chris is tinkering on his motorcycle. He tells me we are taking a road trip and heading to Helen for the weekend. Even though I know the answer, I ask it anyway - are we going on the motorcycle? Yes was the answer that he gave me.

He decides that I need some sunglasses because my glasses don't tint and we will be heading into the sun at times. So, what do we do but go to Walgreens for "old" sunglasses. Yep, we bought a $15 pair of clip on sunglasses. So what, I'm going to have a helmet with a visor on it. No one will be able to tell.

We buy a few soft drinks for the cooler that he has so cleverly rigged to the back of the bike. It was a soft cooler with a strap. I was pretty impressed with the set up.

We pack light, and about 9 am we set off. It's cold, so I'm happy to have all of the cold weather gear we bought.

The sun was bright so I was so happy for my oh so pretty clip on sunglasses. We stopped in a town about 30 minutes from home and got some breakfast. Then it was back on the road. I'm a fidgeter, trying to get comfortable, and of course, talking to Chris isn't an option because first of all he's concentrating on driving and secondly, he can't hear me. The glasses are bugging me, so I just barely reach under the visor and push them up a bit and even though I had the visor down, they fly off, and out onto the road. We were coming up to a stop sign just then, so I motioned Chris to pull over. I told him what happened, so we turned back and pulled off the road and Chris found them.

They were only slightly damaged, but enough so they wouldn't clip back on. Well, not only am I a fidgeter, I'm frugal about some things, and they were brand new $15 as good as they can get clip on sunglasses, and it was bright out there. Now, I *needed* them. Chris, being resourceful, got a zip tie out of his handy dandy tool kit, and zip tied those suckers right on my glasses.

I couldn't help but laugh, but oh well, we're on an adventure, and I can always take the whole kit and kaboodle off when we're around people. I can see up close just fine, but when it comes to reading signs, well, that's a different story. So, all is good.

Riding along in a sidecar is kinda cool. You definitely get to see things differently, everything seems clearer. You get all the smells, it's just sorta a "free" feeling. Well, that is unless you're looking to the left because when you turn that way, the driver is all you can see and that view stays the same.

Since I mentioned smells, I should tell you that for some reason, it must have been polecat season (skunks to those who aren't familiar with that term). I counted 7 - dead, stinky, smelly polecats roundtrip. And when you're that close to them, well UGH! So yeah, you get the smells! Fresh cut grass - good, dead polecats - bad.

Even when you have great scenery, the ride sort of gets mesmerizing. You can't talk to anyone, you can't fiddle with your iPhone because you need the gloves because it is cold and the sunshine makes it hard to see the screen. What options do you have? You fall asleep. Chris said some lady pointed, he said it looked like he had a dead body with him. I can only imagine... that helmet surely made me top heavy. It had to be hysterical. What's the movie - Weekend at Bernie's?

It's time for a pit stop. We found a nice spot to pull over, and just down the hill was a convenience store, so I decided to walk down there to take care of business and to get some Skittles, the sugar rush from them always keeps me awake.

I walk back up the hill, and burst out laughing, Chris wants to know what is so funny... I had left my zip tied clip on sunglasses on the entire time I was in the store. So much for people not seeing me up close!

We make it to Helen at 2:15 after several breaks, so all in all, the actual tire to road part of the trip was like it should be, but we added lots of time because of all of the stops. Zip tying sunglasses adds more time than you'd think to your trip.

We had no idea where we were going to stay, and for those of you have been to Helen, traffic starts backing up as you get into town, so it is stop and go. We passed a couple of the standard motels, figuring we'd come back if we couldn't find somewhere to stay. We always rent a cabin, and we'd never really paid attention to what other lodging was available. We pull into the Helendorf Inn, and they had a vacancy, so we took a room. We paid just a smidge extra and got a room overlooking the river. The same river we'd floated down on our last trip. Suddenly, we were the people standing on the balcony watching the floaters. Only, there were no floaters at this time of year, but you get the idea.

We notice motorcycles everywhere. The lady at the desk asked Chris if we were there for the ride. He told her no and asked what kind of ride, it was for a police officer. I would imagine that with the turn out, it was a successful ride.

We get unpacked and head out, I want to walk, but Chris wants to ride through town. Anyway, the Hofer's is too far. I tried to tell him it wasn't, but he insisted. So, we put all the gear back on, and we get a UDF before we can even get on the bike. A UDF is the "Ural Delay Factor" which must be built into any trip. We had several along the way. Basically, what it is, is that you are a rock star on a sidecar. People want to walk up and tell you how cool the bike is, and they ask all sorts of engine questions and drive train questions as I zone out. So, once the UDF is over, we strike out. Chris was amazed at how close Hofer's was. I'm feeling a little smug about being right. We barely get off the bike and we get another UDF. This time, wife and kids are involved. Both boys had to take turns in the sidecar. Which, it was kind of fun to see them awestruck. We really WERE rock stars this time. So, we had new friends who kept talking to us in the restaurant/bakery. We weren't there for a meal, just for the cookies I've been thinking about since our last trip, which of course, they don't make anymore and the girl behind the counter just had a blank look on her face when I tried to explain to her what they were. Our new friends even questioned us about our food choices. They really were polite, but Chris and I haven't been able to talk to each other for hours and hours, move along people. Then, we took a short ride up around Unicoi, curves and hills.

Back to the Inn, we park the bike and strike out on foot. After a while, we get to the restaurant we'd planned to go to for supper. Old Bavarian Inn I think is the name, it's the one that is in the alley, down from the fudge shop. The food was great, our waitress was weird, but who cares, we're enjoying our German fare.

We wandered around the shops. Chris wanted a sticker that he could put on his bike, nothing girly, just a sticker that said Helen on it. I found the perfect one for him in the Emporium. It was oval, white with black trim and said HLN. Just what he wanted.

There's a leather shop, we head in - we were amazed at the selection of leather motorcycle gear they had in that little store. Lots of big sizes that you can't really find at the typical stores. Chris is a big and tall sort of guy. They didn't have the actual style he was looking for, but saw lots he might consider in the future. I told him that I wanted some sort of bag that I could hang on the bar in front of me to put a few things I'd like to keep handy instead of having to dig for them. (read - iPhone and Skittles). We actually found the perfect bag, and with the ingenuity of both of us, we rigged it just like I had in mind. I could even attach the charger cord to the iPhone so it gave me some added security that it was anchored. We both got new gloves. Mine keep my hands WARM!!! Chris's just added to his Rock Star status.

I started feeling funny, dizzy - which for those of you who know me, this is a regular occurrence, but one that has decreased A LOT since I've been diagnosed with pernicious anemia and have been on B12 injections. I love, love, love B12!! We go back to the room "just for a little while", but I fall asleep. I keep trying to get up, but it's not happening. Chris started watching a Myth Busters marathon, and when I finally wake up enough to actually get up, he's engrossed. So, we decide that relaxation in the room with the sound of the river is just fine with us and we stay inside the rest of the night.

Up early, we walk to Hofer's for breakfast. They have a great breakfast. We got there just before the line started forming which is usually long at peak times. We start heading back just as the shops started opening. We found some great things in a shop we'd never really seen before, it's one of the downstairs shops that somehow we'd missed on all of our trips. It's kind of a flea market type store with different vendors, artists, etc. Lots of variation. Great shopping.

It's time to head home. It's another beautiful day for riding a motorcycle. We couldn't have asked for better weather the entire trip. About an hour from home, it's time to put on the extra layers. A few UDF's on the return trip and we get home around 5:30 and have a nice evening before the end of the weekend hits us in the face. Thank goodness I did the laundry Friday night after he told me we were taking a road trip. It would have been a bummer to have to deal with that when we got home.

I did post pictures & updates on Facebook along the way which was fun, something new, and my Mom got to know that we were safe.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Wishing Chris a very happy birthday!!

I cooked him a country fried steak dinner and made him a pineapple upside down cake. I hope I helped make his day special.

Eminent Domain

Well, I've always heard the term eminent domain, and now I'm having my first experience with it. Our local government has evoked it, and is taking my office building and tearing it down. So, we will have to move. We have now been thrust into searching for new office space. I now have a big project in front of me. I'm sad in a way because we invested so much time and money into remodeling and moving into our suite just 4 years ago. I'm excited because, well, it's exciting - finding a new location, designing a new space, etc.

It will be a lot of hard work - but I've done it before.

Happy Birthday Edna

Happy Birthday Edna, my friend.

Happy Birthday Lee!

Happy Birthday to my brother Lee

MayaLynn

Just yesterday, we welcomed little MayaLynn to the world. I hear she is beautiful, I hear she is perfect. We are so proud she arrived safely and healthy.

Congratulations Ashley! And Grandma Eron!

Love you both, well, now, love you all three.

Happy 15th Birthday Tyler!

It's hard to believe, but Ty is growing up so fast! Happy 15th Birthday Ty. Love you!

The scarf

My mom is NOT happy about the fact that I ride the motorcycle with Chris. She worries about her baby.

In spite of that, she gave me a scarf that she knitted so I could wear it while riding in the cold.

Thanks Mama! I love it and it helps keep me warm.

Happy Birthday Bebe

Happy Birthday Bebe!!

American Girl

Yesterday was our traditional trip to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro. All the girls go so AG & KB can pick out the doll they want for Christmas. Yes, they get their gifts in October, but at least they get the ones they want. We waited until December the first year and AG was not able to get what she had wanted for weeks. She was very graceful in her disappointment, but we didn't want that to happen again, so we moved it up to October.

On the first trip, the bistro was closed, but the girls were promised a visit to the bistro on the next trip. Well, we found out on that trip that you have to have RESERVATIONS to eat in the bistro in the doll store. So, that was a bust last year.

This year, we got it right, October AND reservations. We had to check in at 9:15 am for our 9:30 reservation.

We made sure we arrived early. We all converged on AG and her parent's house and headed north. We arrived at 8:45 am. Try explaining to little girls that the store doesn't open until 9:00 am. That was an agonizing 15 minute wait!

The girls had already decided which doll they wanted prior to our arrival, so they were able to get in, make the purchase and make our reservation time. Kirsten was the chosen doll this year.

At the bistro, they inquire as to how many dolls are in your party. Each doll is given their own chair which attaches to the table. KB asked our server if their dolls were going to get pretend food, and she was told, that no, they weren't getting pretend food, they would be getting real food. And as you can tell from the photo above, they did indeed get real food.

After our trip to the bistro, we were back in the boutique picking out the all important accessories.

Between the iPhones and the GPS in my car, we were able to locate a Hobby Lobby and navigate there without any difficulty at all.

Spent some time shopping at Tanger Outlets.

It was a great estrogen laden day!

Simple, but good

I went to the grocery store today, and loaded up on groceries. I bought some ground beef and hamburger buns, and some sloppy joe mix. I hadn't had SJ's in a long time. So, I'm back home, putting away the groceries. Chris comes across the SJ mix, and looks at me and said "SJ is to me, like LeSeur English Peas are to you". Uh oh. Cross that one off the list of future meal planning.

So, I back tracked just a tad and made hamburgers and fries instead. It was simple, but it was good! I was happy with the way it turned out. I spiced them up a bit, and all of the spices worked together. (luckily) The meal came together in about 20 minutes. Hardly any mess. Gotta love the simple, but good things.

Anyone need any SJ mix?

(Chris read my blog today and reminded me that we did eat the SJ's, so they are back on the list and you can't have the SJ mix -- he's going to post a comment, so be sure you read it).

Oh no I didn't!

Three words:

LeSeur.English.Peas.

I hate them, I have always hated them. My mother made us eat them when we were kids. Thank goodness our dog Fritz liked them. When the parents left us at the table until we cleaned our plates, Fritz made his rounds and ate the peas for us.

I have gone out of my way to avoid English Peas.

I cooked supper tonight, and thought Chris would like something green. (I'm anti-veggie) And, I found myself opening a can of LeSeur English Peas!!! *Gasp*

They still smell as gross as I remember them. Chris enjoyed them though.

Gripe Gripe Gripe

I don't normally blog about gripes - but I'm going to today. This morning, I'm sitting at a stoplight, waiting for it to change. Sitting in the lane next to me is some young guy in a pickup truck. He has his music so loud that MY car is vibrating. The "music" was awful, I'm not even sure it classifies as music.

It just made my skin crawl, and made me irritable in just that short time. I'll bet he must always be in a bad mood if how it made me feel is any indication.

So, if YOU want to listen to loud, bad music - fine, but don't make me listen to it too.

End of gripe.

Stationery

The loss of a friend of 30 years this week has understandably left me a wee bit emotional. I'm finding myself stumbling across a memory and all of the sudden, I'm crying. Sometimes I'm laughing.

I am kind of amazed at how much joy a box of old letters has brought me.

Today, I sat down and wrote some letters to friends. It felt good. I highly recommend it.

I've always had a love of paper. Growing up, just give me some stationery and I was a happy girl. I guess that scrapbooking was a natural progression. When it came time to write the letters, I couldn't find any stationery! Bummer. So, I opted for whatever I could find.

Tonight, after a trip to Bass Pro, then Carrabba's, we found ourselves at Wal-Mart. I was strolling along and saw "stationery". Jackpot! Or so I thought. Wal-Mart, you are officially ON NOTICE (as kindredly would say). Where's the stationery?! I feel you misled me. I walked up and down that aisle, but there were no pretty pads of paper and matching envelopes to choose from!

I was disappointed. I ended up buying a notebook with a pretty cover. So, until I find some real stationery, the lined paper torn out of a notebook is just gonna have to do.

And you know what, that's perfectly okay! Every letter Ronda wrote me was on notebook paper, and they brought me just as much joy as if they'd been written on the finest stationery you could find.

Eron told me Ronda's funeral was beautiful. I would have loved to have seen the photo montage of her life. I'm so glad Eron was able to go. I went down to the river today, and walked along the paved path while her funeral was underway 1,000 miles away. I laughed and cried. I miss my friend, knowing that we'll never have that reunion, at least not on this earth. I'm comforted knowing she is in Heaven.

Comedy Central

Lovin' Comedy Central tonight, they are looping the Southpark episode that makes fun of Kanye West. (we've flipped over to the channel and it's been on several times tonight already).

I'm not a Southpark fan, but I think it's funny that they chose this way to voice their opinion.

Never liked Kanye, and now I have more reason to dislike him.

Congratulations Taylor on the VMA award, and for your class in handling an awkward situation.

Pancreatic cancer sucks

Sorry Mama about the "sucks", but it does. As I was sitting there, thinking of Eron being at Ronda's visitation and me wanting/needing to be there, but not able to. I was thinking about how bad pancreatic cancer is. It strikes so fast and so visciously. It took Ronda. And then, what pops up as the breaking news headline? Patrick Swayze dies at age 57 of pancreatic cancer.

So, yeah, pancreatic cancer sucks.

Bucket List

Do you have a bucket list?

I don't actually have one, but thinking of Ronda, I'm reminded of how short life can be. I have a few things about which I've said "I'd like to do that before I die", but that's about it. I may have to start my bucket list.

• to visit every state in the United States (am about 2/3 there)
• to go to Scotland / Ireland
• to actually SEE the Alps instead of standing in Zurich and imaging them because you can't see them because of the clouds
• to visit New England in the fall
• to go on an Alaskan cruise
• to learn a new language

Most of mine involve travel. I'm not much for physical stunts like bungee jumping or skydiving.

I'll have to think about what I'd like to add to the list.

Letters

I went in search of my yearbook from the year Ronda and I were in 9th grade together. I can't find it anywhere, and I'm bummed. I know I have a few other pictures of her, but where those are escapes me at the moment.

While on the search for the yearbook, I ran across a couple of boxes of old letters - jackpot! I found a stack of letters from Ronda. I read several of them, and oh -- what problems we had at age 16. I was laughing out loud at some of them. At least I'm able to smile some in the midst of the tears.

Several times over the years, I've thought that I should just throw those boxes away, but tonight, I'm so glad that I never did!

That's one thing I miss in the age of email and chat and text messaging - is the tangible letter, seeing the handwriting, the extra expression in the words expressed with underlining or hearts to dot i's.

The letters from her span several years, so I'll sit down, probably tomorrow and read through all of them.

I also ran across names long forgotten and names of those I still love and keep in contact with.

Maybe I'll write someone a letter soon.

Ronda update

September 12, 2009 about 3:46 pm Tulsa time, Ronda passed away.

Godspeed Ronda. You'll always be in my heart.

Update on Ronda

Eron was able to visit Ronda today. She said it was one of the hardest things she's ever done to see such a good friend in such bad shape. She was able to tell her that we both love her and are thinking about her. That makes me feel better to know that she was able to tell her, esp since I'm not able to be there.

I pray that her remaining time is spent without pain. God bless.

Thinking of Ronda

Just a few days ago, I learned Ronda, my friend of 30 years is dying of pancreatic cancer. She is in an end of life facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've been trying to recall when it was that I last saw her. I remember the day I saw her, I just don't remember the year.

My friend Eron and I had been trying to find her because we'd lost touch for a while. We tracked her down and when I visited Tulsa, Eron and I took a trip down the Indian Nation Turnpike and made a visit to her. We had a great time.

I guess in the back of my mind, I've always thought there was plenty of time for reunions, visits, emails, Facebook, chat... but turns out there isn't. The end of life facility, the Clarehouse, only accepts guests (it is free of charge) who are enrolled in a hospice program and have a prognosis of less than one month to live. She's been in the Clarehouse about two weeks.

I called today, but she isn't able to talk on the phone. I left a message, to let her know that I called and that I love her and am thinking about her. They assured me that they would pass it on to her.

Eron is going to try to see her within the next few days. She said she would definitely give her the message.

She is foremost in my thoughts ever since I heard the news. I'm praying that she is not suffering and that the medications are allowing her some measure of comfort.

We been gaggled!

Several months ago, some of our neighbors got the bright idea of asking for speed breakers to be installed on our road.

I was not, and still am not happy about this.

Every time I leave the house, and everytime I come home, I have to go over two sets of speed breakers. Not only that, but they are ugly. Bright yellow. Thank goodness I can't see them from my house.

Recently a whole gaggle of ducks appeared in the neighborhood, they were hanging out at the houses that line the pond.

I was glad they were staying down the hill. I wasn't crazy about duck poop in the yard.

Now, they've taken to spending time in the road, so you have to stop at speed breakers AND when the ducks are crossing. Yesterday, I had to stop while they chased each other back and forth across the road.

Today, we had the back door open to listen to the rain.

We heard what we thought were ducks. Guess what, we'd been gaggled!

12, count em, 12.

They were having a blast in our yard. They made themselves at home.

They stayed a while.

Willy came to investigate, and didn't quite know what to make of them. I guess this was the first time he'd ever seen ducks.

He watched them for a few minutes...

And then, he retreated to just inside the back door, and watched from afar.

These two guys are strutting because they had just taken advantage of a girl duck. Like I said, they made themselves at home. I'm not posting *those* pictures.

Eventually, they all left in search of whatever it is ducks look for.

301

When I signed in to post this, I saw that I have 300 posts under my belt. I wasn't counting, but I'd say that's pretty good. So, this one makes 301...

I've started blog-hopping and am finding there are some hilarious blogs out there.

Wish I had the knack...

To bx or not to bx?

For the past 9 months, I've been dealing with a medical issue. Now there has been a change, or something they say might be a change, an enlargement - could simply be a different reading due to CT scans being done on different machines - but the question now arises -- "to biopsy or not to biopsy?"

I'm wrestling with the decision - these are my lungs we're talking about.

Do I wait it out until the next CT in 3 months? Or do I biopsy now and know? Those are the choices I've been given.

What would you do?

GNO

We celebrated 4 July birthdays with a Girls Night Out dinner.

Happy Birthday Girls

Abbey

This is Abbey. We are puppy sitting this weekend.

Kittens

Yesterday, we went to a birthday party for a friend's child. There were some kittens running around, so of course, I had to photograph them. I love this one of the the kitten watching the grasshopper.
I wish the kittens hadn't been so skittish. I would have loved to have been able to play with them. Mama cat was friendly, and the kittens would only get so close. The one watching the grasshopper was the least skittish of them all, and I was able to pet him a few times.

Bunny killer

We have rabbits living in our yard. We've co-existed with them peacefully for over two years now. I like seeing them when I come home, or leave for work in the morning.

Chris called me outside this morning, just outside the garage door, one of the rabbits was lying dead on the pavement.

The only thing we can figure is that we have a bunny killer in our midst. Every now and then, there is a yellow cat that will come and hang out in the back yard. Just lie there for a while and then disappear. We may see him for days in a row, and then not for several weeks.

He showed up yesterday. This morning we have the dead bunny. We think he was bringing us a present because he put it by the door. Growing up in the country, I know cats do this - kill something and bring it to you. I hope this does not become a regular event.

Now, we are debating on who gets to remove the bunny from the driveway. I just can't do it!

1st Sidecar Ride

Getting ready...


I'm really gonna do this!



Here we go...



The Ural. Chris took his test for his permanent motorcycle license today. Of course, it was no surprise to me that he passed. We celebrated by purchasing a helment for me so I could go on my first ride with him. So, here are some random photos from our ride - in a jumbled up order.


The only way I could get a photo of both of us... The sun was behind us, and I thought it was kinda cool seeing our shadows in front of us, so I grabbed the iPhone and snapped this photo.



The sidecar is pretty roomy....

My view from my seat in the sidecar.

Cinnamon, sugar, butter and bread...

We finish the low country boil. We're stuffed, but you know sometimes you just need that dessert, that touch of something sweet.

Chris was in the pantry trying to find something to top off his meal. I suggested cinnamon toast. I don't know where that idea came from. I love cinnamon toast. I used to eat it for breakfast when I was growing up. I don't know when I drifted away from cinnamon toast. I don't know the last time I thought about having some.

Chris turned and looked at me, and wanted to know why I suggested it. I said I don't know, I just did. He said that is one of his all time favorite "treats". And he said it has to be prepared just so. Anyone who has heard me talk about Chris in the kitchen knows that he is very particular and I typically just stand back and hand him this, hand him that, or set the table. So, he stepped back and said he was going to watch me prepare it.

I managed to get one slice of bread buttered before he couldn't help it and had to assist. He buttered the bread and I applied the cinnamon. Turns out we both like it done exactly the same way. I know that's a little thing in the scheme of things, but it was a neat thing to discover after 3 years together.

We sat down and enjoyed our treat. And we've decided that we will have more cinnamon toast in our house. Mmm mmm good.

Low Country Boil

Chris cooked a log country boil for supper tonight. It was delish!

Sucked in

Drop Dead Diva - yep, I've been sucked in. I downloaded the Pilot episode from iTunes and decided this is one of my new favorite TV shows. I have it set to record on Dish. It's a an old idea, but with a modern day setting. Cute, with a few twists.

Crosswords

Chris and I like to do crossword puzzles on Yahoo and USA Today. I would use the laptop and he would try to find a place where he could see the screen, and it finally got to be frustrating, so we quit doing them together. I kept doing them solo, but missed doing them with him. He has an amazing vocabulary.

Last week I had downloaded a movie from iTunes and we figured out how to hook the laptop up to the TV so we could watch the movie together. So, you can see where this is going... yep, I hooked the laptop up to the TV and we are back to doing crossword puzzles together. He was able to sit back and relax in his recliner while we worked the puzzle. How cool is that?

Happy 51st

51 years ago today, my parents went black berry pickin'. They know what I'm talking about, and so do my siblings.

Biscuits

My brother loves biscuits.

He said so on twitter.

Traveling T-Man

Just thinking about the great summer my nephew Tyler has had. He has been traveling - South Carolina, Vermont, Texas - has also gone to several amusement parks. I'm so glad he's been having such a good time.

Celebration

A group of us got together today to celebrate Charita's 98th birthday.

Other blogs

I spent some time tonight reading other blogs. I was thoroughly amused to learn that for a mere $23.99 + S&H you can purchase this: http://www.healthypets.com/chiaobamadet.html

I don't think it needs more comment than that.

The Table

Chris decided that his grandmother needed a new table. The one they use when they are doing the annual 4th of July BBQ has seen better days. So, he spent a good portion of yesterday and most of the afternoon today building her a new table. She is going to love it.

He did a great job. He really has so much talent in so many different things. His mind designs tables, and mine designs decorations for cookies....

Cookies

Chris's family annual 4th of July BBQ is tomorrow. The men will cook all night tonight, and we will eat tomorrow. I decided to get a little festive and make some cookies, complete with decorations. This is the first time I've ever iced cookies believe it or not. I thought they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. They even taste good. I hope they taste and look good tomorrow.

Better

Feeling better this morning. Chris brought me some Tylenol Severe Multi-Symptom cold medicine which I took last night and was able to sleep the entire night.

I feel like getting out and doing some things today, I was a total couch potato yesterday. Willy needs some more food, it's getting really low and I know he'd appreciate me restocking the pantry.

We finally went and picked Chris's bed up from his cousin's house where it has been stored for the past two years. Thanks John for storing it and helping Chris load it. He was able to get it in the house by himself. Sometimes I'm amazed by the strength of that man. So, I want to get the guest room set up - finally!

I need to find something red to go with the blue and white I'm wearing to the 4th of July BBQ.

Busy days

Our days have been very busy lately - so much so that we are eating out every night. We always seem to do that when we are running at full speed.

I made it through the end of the fiscal year closing of the books! Yay! Always a stressful day for me.

Scheduled a few vacation days around the holiday to extend the weekend - ended up with a cold, so my vacation day turned into a sick day - b.u.m.m.e.r (Ashley if you're reading this, I always think it is cute when you do that, and I've never really had a place it would work before)

Had to get my XM radio signal reset in my car. I was having a bit of withdrawal while it was out of commission. I love listening to the comedy channels. Sometimes I am laughing hysterically, and I wonder what the other drivers are thinking if they see me. (Ashley, this might help your road rage...)

Upgraded my iPhone to the new operating system - liking texting MUCH better now. Still encounter typos, but not nearly as many. I was spending more time correcting my typos than texting, so I'm happier now with the wide keyboard text feature. Also found out you can slide your finger and the letter you stop on when you lift your finger is the letter that is typed. (that works on the old O.S. if you haven't upgraded yet) The texting was the one thing I really disliked about the iPhone, and now I can use both hands to type, so my speed has improved. You can also forward a text now which was something that was sorely lacking.

I'm hoping the voice memos will come in handy - I think it just might.

While sitting home on the sofa all day, I was channel surfing and stopped on Bravo TV and got interested in "The Fashion Show" and ended up watching a 5 or 6 hour marathon. They are down to the final four, and of course I'm hooked now.

Other than sitting on the sofa, I managed to get 2 loads of laundry done.

I missed a get together with Chris's family tonight because of the cold. He brought food and medicine home with him. He takes such good care of me.

Going out for a girls night out tomorrow night with Susan, Gina and Tonya.

Farrah Fawcett

A few weeks ago, I watched "Farrah's Story" and learned what a strong woman and fighter Farrah is. She went at the cancer that was invading her body with everything she had. I was rooting for her, but it was obvious she was losing ground.

If you havent seen it and if a re-run rolls around, you should consider watching it. Yes, it is sad, but it is so realistic - she takes you in the exam rooms with her and into her consultations with her physicians. You see her learn that the cancer is back, and that it has spread.

You get to see moments of peace and of joy.

When I heard she had died, I was truly saddened. You'll be remembered by so many. Rest in peace Farrah.

Happy 98th Birthday Charita!

Wishing Charita a very happy 98th birthday.

Grandma

Thinking about Grandma today...

Happy Father's Day Pops

Wishing my father a Happy Father's Day.

I got the best father!

I love you Daddy.

One little thing...

So, I'm heading out to get us a fast food breakfast. Chris asks me to stop by Walgreens and pick up a few things.

Breakfast - check

Walgreens -
item #1 - check
item #2 - check
item #3 - check
item #4 - oops

At least we had something similar to Dayquil at home.

My take

My take on the tasteless "joke" by David Letterman -

I am a huge Sarah Palin fan/supporter. I am proud of the woman standing up for her morals and values. All she can do is instill those into her children. Children can and will make mistakes, but I'm a firm believer that you'll come back to the foundation given to you by your parents, it make take a long time, but your foundation IS your foundation.

Sarah's children do not deserve to be joked about just because their mom made a choice to run for V.P. of the USA. Letterman's choice of material is just a grown up old man bullying some teenagers. It was a pot-shot. It does not matter if the intended subject was Bristol, it was still a pot-shot. I think David and his writers forgot that a large portion of America does support Palin and Christian values. I think they've been reminded. America is still a Christian nation.

Is Letterman guilty of poor taste with that particular piece? Yes, definitely.

Has Letterman made me laugh at times over the years with things I found funny that other people did not? Yes, I'm sure he has.

Does one misstep mean he should lose his career? I don't think so. We're human, we make mistakes, we forgive. Hopefully, we grow and learn from those missteps. I watched the 2nd "apology" and I think it was as sincere as Letterman gets, I just don't know that he knows how to deliver the kind of sincerity we seem to expect, doesn't mean he's not sincere in his own way. Take it at face value, accept, forgive and move on - that is what we as Christians do.

Sarah Palin 2012.

Happy Birthday Liz

Wishing my friend Liz, AKA the girl who gets more excited about her birthday than any other person I know, a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Eron

Wishing my friend Eron a happy birthday - hope maybe you'll have some Internet service where you are and can see this. Thinking about you.

Happy 40th Jenn!

Wishing my good friend Jenn a very happy 40th birthday!

Time off

I have been enjoying 5 days straight off of work Thur - Mon -- 3 more to go before it is back to work. Thursday, I just took care of things like returning movies (but first I watched Personal Effects which I hadn't had a chance to watch since I'd rented it and it was due back), going to the post office to mail off a couple of packages, did some random cleaning. Chris and I went to dinner at Red Lobster.

Yesterday, I worked in the garage all day long - from 6 am - 5 pm, and managed to catch up on all of the laundry also. I also took all of the trash to the dump. I know it's not the way most people want to spend their time off, but I'm feeling good about getting this stuff done. I am trying to minimize.

I got up at 7 am this morning, and sat on the sofa and promptly fell alseep again until I had to wake Chris up at 9 am because he had to go into work today. He just left a little while ago, and now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do today... guess it's back out into the garage. I'm making a second run through boxes and trashing some of the things that survived the first cut. But I think I must pause for breakfast first.

Happy Birthday Kelly

Happy Birthday sis!

Fajitas

Tomatoes, peppers and onions....

Homemade chips... the best

Fajitas, with refried beans and what we call "almost pico".

4:45 am ?!?!

2nd day in a row that I've woken up at 4:45 am. I had to wake Chris up at 5 am because he has to work today, so I decided to go ahead and get up instead of going back to sleep once I knew he was up.

Happy Birthday Rhonda

Just wanted to wish my long time friend Rhonda a very Happy Birthday.

Elmo Grows Up - Sesame Street Live

KB and I went to see Elmo

Life School Musical

AG performs in the Life School Musical

Star Trek

Friday night we went to see Star Trek. Surprisingly, there were only 20 or so people there, so we had a plesant viewing experience. We really liked the movie. If you're a Star Trek fan, you should go see this one.

Milestones, cleaning and Life School Musical

I can't believe I forgot to mention that I reached another milestone - one month without Coca-Cola on the 26th. I'm still sticking with it.

I've also been diagnosed with pernicious anemia and am getting B12 shots - I feel so much better. Didn't actually know that I felt so bad! Guess that is where I'm getting all of the cleaning out energy that I've had lately.

Yesterday, I got up early and started on the kitchen. I started pulling everything out of the cabinets, called Chris in "for a minute" and about 5 hours later we finished. We were ruthless - we only kept the things that we really use. After we went through the cabinets - we started on the pantry. I'm almost ashamed at the state the pantry got in - we didn't even know what we had. We tossed so much, and now we know exactly what we have. I organized all of the storage containers. Willy has his own shelf of food and treats, etc. Was able to find a home for all of the kitchen gadgets that were awaiting attention.

I have a few more boxes that I want to go through, and finally - our two households will be merged! Chris and I each moved our lives in the house and we didn't quite have enough room for all of it and it was so easy to just stick it in a room and shut the door -- and of course the garage got it's share. It's almost all done - I'd say 75%.

I am really happy with the progress and the results are the best part!

Scrapbook stuff is sorted and what I kept is organized. A few people have gone through the give-away goodies and loaded up. I have a few more people lined up to come get what they want. There is still a LOT left.

Last night, we went to see Anna Grace in the Life School Musical at her church. She did a great job. The whole production was great. We really enjoyed it. Enjoyed the dinner at Longhorn's afterwards with family.

Papa

Thinking of my grandfather "Papa" on what would have been his 86th birthday.

Dare I hope?

I went through what I *think* are the last two boxes of scrapbook stuff to be sorted! I kept more than I should have... oh well. My mom is planning to come "shopping" tomorrow after I get off of work.

Progress note

I must say I am really proud of myself. Inside scrapbook stuff done - still have to tackle a few boxes in the garage. I've got quite a bit sorted out to give away.

I hope I can keep up this momentum until I am done. I think I can, I think I can -- I know I can, I know I can!

Update

Linens - done.

Scrapbook supplies - in progress.

Kitchen gadgets - pending.

Part 1 complete!

Success! I have the guest room completely cleaned out - all of Chris's stuff stored in the closet in that room. We hauled off another truckload of trash. (We'd taken 3 just from stuff in the garage). It's amazing how much you accumulate over the years. I just put it all in the guest room and shut the door.

But now - the room is completely empty!

I have all of my scrapbook stuff left to organize, a bunch of linens left to find a home for, and some kitchen gadgets. (next project will be the pantry - where I plan to put said kitchen gadgets).

I'm going to re-arrange the dining room.

Tomorrow we might go get Chris's bed from his cousin's house where he has been storing it. I'd really like to do that to get that room set up. It's ridiculous, we've been in the house for two years and I finally got down to business. I was not going to take 5 days off of work and not work on this project.

Chris and I went to have Mexican for supper, and I was telling him that to me all of the sudden, the house seems larger - he agreed. I mean, it's like we just built another room on the house.

I have a ridiculous amount of scrapbook stuff.

I'm really pleased with the progress I've made.

STILL cleaning out

I have sort of re-defined my garage cleaning plan. I decided that I needed a place to put the garage stuff that makes it through all of the cuts and winds up in the keep pile.

So... we never got the guest room set up, and it just morphed into storage space, but I'm determined to make it a usable room. So... I decided to start there.

I have gone through all of Chris's things and put all of his things in that closet. Let me tell ya, I can pack a closet!

So, I have started accumulating all of my scrapbooking stuff in one pile in the living room. Wow. When that is added to what is in the garage - double Wow. I am going to set up a workable scrapbook space and I am going to scrapbook!

I am throwing away a bunch of stuff! I'm so proud of myself.

I've got two more full days I can work on it, so my goal is to have it all cleaned out and organized by Monday night. Then, I can start incorporating the stuff from the garage.

Soon, I'll be able to park in the garage again.

Mission de-clutter is well underway.

Time off

So, I'm at the point at work where I have to start taking vacation time or lose it. So... I got the calendar for the rest of the year and mapped out 20 days. I scheduled myself mostly 3 and 4 day weekends. Thanks to Memorial Day, I'm taking a 5 day and Chris is taking a 4 day weekend.

A friend of ours came up from Florida for a quick visit.

More garage cleaning planned after she heads back home. I think I'm going to clean out some closets as well. I'm on a mission to de-clutter.

Idol

Well, I have to say, I was rooting for Adam. I am not totally bummed that he didn't win - think about it - he never has to sing that cheesy song again and we don't have to hear him sing it on the radio. We will however have to hear someone sing it - and hopefully Kris will do better in the studio with it than he did on the show.

The other not so bad reason is that now Adam has the freedom to do the music he wants without having to worry about the Idol contract. Rock on Adam.

The finale was amazing - enjoyed the show. They pulled out all the stops on this one.

Simple things

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that are the best. I'm sitting on the sofa with my laptop. Willy is right beside me, purring and giving my hands an occasional head butt when he wants to be petted. I love that cat!

More about our Sunday

After we got finished bird watching, we went to Dairy Queen for breakfast. First time we'd ever gone there for a sit down breakfast. They haven't been serving breakfast all that long, so we never thought about it. It was a pretty good meal.

So, it was back home to start on the garage. It was really a good day weather wise to work. It was overcast, and not too hot. About 6 pm, we decided we'd done enough for the day and were happy with our two days progress. I think we need another day, maybe two. It's slow going. If paper were magnetic, I'd be the magnet! I've got boxes and boxes of paper and other stuff I should have thrown away a long time ago. So, I'm sorting: Keep, trash or burn. Chris moved all of his stuff outside and sorted through it and brought it back in. It's an organizational project for him.

For me though, I had a walk down memory lane, I found myself coming across some unexpected memories of lost loved ones.

I found a picture of my grandfather "PaPa".

And from my grandmother "MayMay", I found so many cards and letters and coupons which she loved sending to us. It was one of her favorite things to do - send us coupons with a note buried somewhere inside, she'd ask you if you got the coupons, and you'd say yes, and she'd want to know if you found anything you could use, and of course the answer was yes... and she'd know if you had gone through them or not depending on whether you knew about the note -- I missed making her a doctor's appointment one time because I only thought I had gotten coupons, another time, I didn't see the note to bring her some of her favorite candy the next time I came to vist. I learned that I had better go through the coupons carefully.

And from my grandmother "Grandma", I found a Valentine she sent me when I was in elementary school.

I found a couple of notes from my friend Sandi who died in a car accident. I also found a few cards from her parents. I also found the thank you note they sent me for the scrapbook I had made of photos they'd never seen of Sandi.

I found photos from my friend Janet's rehearsal dinner. Janet died of an aneurysm at age 36. We were lifelong friends - our mother's met when we were babies. We grew up together. I was in the Czech Republic, we'd taken a lunch break from rafting down a beautiful river, the Vltava, I was standing outside looking at a castle on the side of the river when I learned of her death. We had one more day of rafting and camping planned, but we cut our trip short. The guys in the group hitch-hiked back to the cars and brought our rental to us. We had to drive 2 hours to our penzion, then we packed as fast as we could and drove 4 hours to Munich, Germany and caught the next flight out. We made it home in time for her funeral.

I found a photo of my friend Penny from nursing school. She died of an aneurysm in her late 20's. I recently saw her mom and she asked me if I had any photos of Penny. I told her I thought I did, but had no idea where they were. She asked me to please send her a copy if I ever ran across them.

I found a photo from my prom, my date was Jimmy. He died late last year in a motorcycle accident.

A bittersweet walk down memory lane today.

Beautiful Sunday Morning

When we got up this morning, we knew the plan for the day was to work in the garage some more. It was still early, Chris was on the back porch and called me out to see some woodpeckers. I grabbed my camera, but when I got there, they had flown away. However, I did manage to see some bluebirds ...


and a squirrel...


Then, in just a little while, the woodpeckers came back. I was able to get some good shots of them I thought. Here are a few of my favorites.

Spring Cleaning

So, Chris declared today was clean up the garage day. I was happy about it because it's been getting on my nerves for a long time. Last summer, I decided I was tired of paying $65 a month for a storage unit so I cleaned it out and brought everything home and it took root in my garage. Add Chris's tools and guy stuff... and our cars ended up outside.

We ended up getting a good bit done, but we have a long way to go. I worked some on the back porch - lots of pollen everywhere, and he removed some bird feeders and bird baths the former owner had put in the yard- they were getting really weathered. Chris also took down a dead tree in the front yard --- THEN we started working on the garage. My job is to sit still and go through boxes - keep it or trash it.

Tomorrow is another day....

Happy Birthday Hassel

Happy Birthday Hassel.

New look

I decided it was time for a new look to the blog. What do ya think?

Cute pictures of Willy

Just thought I'd add a couple of recent cute pictures of Willy. I found this bed for him at Wal-Mart and he loves it! That is his "purple monkey friend" with him.



Managed to catch this photo of him in mid-yawn. I actually laughed out loud when I saw how it turned out.

Gordon Lightfoot

Last night we went to see Gordon Lightfoot in concert. We really enjoyed the concert, heard some great music, relaxed and enjoyed. The crowd gave a standing ovation when he performed "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". This is one of Chris's top 10 favorite songs of all times. I was so glad he was able to see it performed live.

The crowd was somewhat amusing to watch - lots of aging hippies...

So, this is what

So, this is what $5600.00 looks like.

Rainbow

We had some rain, and in a little while the sky behind the house turned an odd color. I went to look out the front door and saw the neighbors pointing up toward the sky. So, I stepped out on the porch and saw what they were pointing at. It has to be one of the most beautiful rainbows I've ever seen. I wasn't able to get it a shot of it all in one frame.

Weekend

I've had a busy weekend, yesterday started with some house cleaning, then I left to go to the shower, home for some more cleaning, then off to meet Chris's parents for a Mother's Day dinner for his Mom.

Today, it's been laundry and some relaxing. We went and had a quick meal at the Chinese buffet here in town.

Just a few more hours before bed and starting the work week.

Baby shower

Yesterday, I went to a baby shower for Chris's cousin's wife. This was they cake they served, it was done by Chris's aunt, and it was wonderful! All of the food was great. It was easily the nicest baby shower I've ever been too. Company was great. She received many nice gifts. She's due June 10th, so soon, there'll be a new member in Chris's family.

Tinkering

Chris has been tinkering with the carburerator on his motorcycle since he got home from work. I got a lesson on carburerators.

I cooked burritos for supper, it was one of those "I hope we have something in the freezer" nights.

He came in long enough to eat, and now is taking a test drive.

May May

Today, lots of people are celebrating Cinco de Mayo, and I was treated to a Mexican meal at lunch. But today, my thoughts keep circling back to my grandmother, who we called May May. Today would have been her 85th birthday.

I miss May May.

$5600!!!

Well, the A/C unit is going to cost $5600!! It's a bigger, better, more efficient unit than we had priced at first. I'm still reeling from the sticker shock. It has a 10 year warranty, and there's a $1500 tax rebate because it is a 15 SEER unit. Thank goodness Chris did all of the research on it, and thank goodness for signature loans.

Milestone

Today I reached a small milestone. One week without Coca-Cola.

I'm tired of getting dehydrated and needing IV's, and I know I don't drink enough during the day. I tended to drink one Coke at lunch, and one at supper and maybe a little other fluid during the day, but usually not much. So, I decided that I needed to do something.

I bought some juice, (cranapple, etc), and I have made an effort to drink more at work. So, I'm drinking juice now, and I'm actually doing better. I've done better than I thought I would with giving up the Coke.

I finally understand...

As Mother's Day approaches, you naturally think about your mother. My Mother isn't a fan of Mother's Day, her philosophy is that you should love your mother every day, not just one day of the year because someone decided they could make money on a holiday.

Well, I do love my mother every day of the year. I was blessed with the best mother ever.

So, you're probably wondering about the photo of the shoes. Growing up, my mother would wear what I thought were ugly shoes. She'd say, "but they're comfortable". Well, as you can tell by the photo, I finally understand. You can convince yourself that ugly shoes are cute shoes because "they are so comfortable." How do you like my new cute shoes?

Ouch

A/C guy called, checked on prices - the new unit is going to cost between $4200 - $4500. He said he'd try to get us through the next couple of months by adding freon if we wanted to do that. The past few days have been pleasant, we've just had the fans going and the windows open. So, I hope we can ride it out a while so I can cushion my savings account for the blow.

Too soon

I've had a relapse... got up this morning, made the bed, started to get ready for work, and went and crawled back into bed. I'm up and about now, and yes, I'm drinking juice, not going to get dehydrated again.

Working some from home, working A/R by gotomypc. At least I don't feel like a total bum. 2009 was supposed to be my healthy year!

Back to work

It was back to work today, still not feeling great, but much, much better. I lost 7 lbs while sick - YAY! Hard way to do it, but if you've gotta be sick, might as well get some benefit out of it. Hope I can keep it off and use it as a good starting place to lose more.

A/C :-(

The A/C guy came out... some coil something or other is kaput. I don't have a clue about all of the technical detail, but Chris understands it. Bottom line, we can't replace the part, we have to replace the unit - to the tune of $3500 - $4000!

We put a band-aid on it by adding more freon. He said that could hold it a while, or just a couple of days. A while is much better in my book...

IV's make it all better

While at Gina and Don's wedding reception, I started feeling bad, sore throat mainly. On the way home, I got worse and worse. By 5 pm the next day, I asked Chris to take me to the ER. I was dehydrated (again). Got a bag of IV fluids, some Phenergan, slept all night and all day today, got up around 3 pm. Ate my first meal since Saturday. Feeling human again.

Gina and Don

Went to Tennessee on Saturday with Tonya and Susan for our friend Gina's wedding. Gina and Don had a beautiful outdoor wedding with perfect weather.

A/C

Forgot to mention in my randomness post that when we got home today, we walked into a house with a non-functioning air conditioner! We spent $700 this winter to get the heater fixed, so now I have to call the A/C guy tomorrow and have him come take a look at it. The house is only 8 years old. I hope that I don't end up having to get a new unit! Please say a prayer with me.

Randomness

It's been a while since I've posted much other than photos, so I thought I'd catch up a little. It's going to be random and in no particular order.

Tomorrow, Susan, Tonya and I are going to Tennessee to our friend Gina's wedding. Leaving early in the morning, making a day trip of it. I'll be taking the photos of the wedding. Hope I do a good job for her. Weather should be good for both a day trip and a wedding.

I decided to finally set up Quicken on my new laptop. So, I was entering my savings account, and the math didn't make sense, and since those of you who know me know that it isn't my strongest area, I asked Chris to take a look. Well, did you know, that when you add $14.66 in interest, your account balance goes down by $10? And then, you deposit your regular amount out of your paycheck, that it shows up as there, but doesn't add into the balance. So, I have to give them a call and hope they can figure it out. If not, Aunt Sally might have to go up there for me and give a math 101 lesson.

I started to twitter at the request from a few friends. Having fun with it. Kinda cool. Hope I don't turn out to be a total bore for my "followers".

Also, transferred my iTunes library from one laptop to another, and successfully synced it to my iPhone, so all is good.

Bought tickets to the Gordon Lightfoot concert.

Bought tickets to Sesame Street Live; When Elmo Grows Up. I thought it'd be fun for an Aunt Jules and Katie Beth outing. Her dad said it would be okay and that we'd work out the mid-week transportation somehow.

Yanni concert was GREAT! I still prefer his music over the Yanni Voices concert which is his new direction. Of the four singers, I liked Nathan the best. I was a little surprised by the Chloe dance on the piano. But, he played some of his music without Voices, and I got to hear my all time favorites.

Got my car detailed today by the dealership. It was raining the day I bought it and off and on ever since. When it hasn't been raining, I've either had a meeting or an appointment, or work has just been too busy to get by there. She's all shiny! By the way, I've gotten into the habit of naming my cars... somehow, this one got the name Abigail. It just suited her. I tried several, and this one stuck for some reason. So, if you hear me refer to Abby, I'm talking about my car.

Chris has been down in his back. Poor guy... but he is better today than he has been. He's gone to visit the chiropractor and gotten two adjustments.

I started following my friend Ashley's blog, Kindredly.

Wordjong has become my favorite iPhone game app. I also downloaded the Dictionary.com app, and I am going to try to be able to spell that word every day in Wordjong. Chris and I also talk about the word of the day every morning now when we are getting ready for work. Gainsay is the word of the day today. I haven't played Wordjong today because I've been so busy with everything else.

Well, it's after midnight now, so I should quit blogging and head for bed since I have to get up early tomorrow for the road trip.