The Early Bird Gets the Bookworm

Wanna Be Neighbors?

2007-10-27T12:22:00.000-05:00

I told you we were Rednecks!

Life is Good

2007-10-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

The pills appear to be working! The side effects disappeared, but I upped my dose yesterday, so I’m waiting to see if they come back. I had some nausea this morning, but not as bad as it was when I first started, so I can live with that. Hopefully it disappears pretty quickly.

Last week I got irritated with Chris for something stupid and I WAS ABLE TO LET IT GO!!! You have no idea how awesome that was. I don’t even remember what it was about or where we were going, but rather than ruining the entire evening I forgot all about it.

And Chris has admitted that I’m a bit easier to live with. This weekend we even spent some time laughing about something, and I couldn’t tell you the last time that happened.

As a bonus, I’m losing some weight. The negative side of that is that one of my favorite pairs of pants is way to big now (I can pull them over my hips while still buttoned – which is not something I wanted to find out about at work but what do you do?) and I hate wearing a belt. I’m wondering if I dare pull out the sewing machine and try to take them in? Maybe I should just take them to a tailor….

In the meantime, my office is starting to come together – I have my bookshelves put up. I haven’t put any books on them yet because I want to try to organize them so my plan is to spread them out in the front room, get rid of duplicates and any books that I won’t ever read again and then put them on the shelves by author and series. I thought about trying to catalogue them and then I decided that I was crazy to even consider it.

This is a busy week. I have to give a speech on Thursday that I thought was next week, so tonight I get to go finish that up. Then I’ve got a test in my law class on Monday (thank goodness for open book tests) and I signed up to do the Ethics Essay contest again this year (what the hell was I thinking?). I got the case study yesterday and it’s due next Friday. Last year they gave us 3 full weeks, this year less than 2.

Bridge – thank you for your comments. I must say that you hid it well and that I never had any idea. That’s really pretty sad though, that we can be so blind to what’s going on in our own families. Come by and see me sometime, you’re welcome to come hang out any time you want (we’re usually home – except for Monday’s which is football night anyway).

Life Happens

2007-10-09T10:50:00.000-05:00

I went to my doctor yesterday for my regular six month checkup (to make sure the blood pressure medicine is still working properly), and I talked to my doctor about starting on an antidepressant.

I took Zoloft for years before I moved to OKC and it always worked well for me. Then I started on meth and stopped taking the Zoloft. Once I moved to OKC I guess I just didn't feel like I needed it. I'd done without it for a couple years and seemed to be doing fine.

Over the last few years I've had to deal with alot of stuff - Mom and Dad, getting married, work, school...Life. I've wanted to start back on something for a couple of years now, but Chris is REALLY against the idea. He says that I'm not that bad and that he loves me just the way I am - moodiness and all. He says that I need to start doing something just for me, and that when I start getting pissed off about something really stupid I just need to realize that it's stupid and let it go.

I've tried that. Believe me, I have. I told him as much - for the last six months or so I've made a real effort to control my anger and to let the little stuff go. Cuz it's always the little stuff that sets me off - walking into the kitchen and seeing all the cabinet doors open again (what does he have against closed cabinet doors?) - and then all the little stuff adds up into this huge deal and I just go off. And I know when I'm doing it that I'm being ridiculous but I can't stop myself. I've tried.

I'm just not happy and I know that I have everything in the world to be happy about. I have a wonderful husband that I love more than I ever dreamed I could. I have a great job making decent money, we just bought an awesome house that's more than I ever imagined that I'd have. I make good grades in school and I'm basically healthy. I have everything I could want and most of the time I just can't enjoy it.

I don't expect perfection. Ever. Money's tight cuz we spent a bit more on the house than we should have, so this month I'm juggling bills, but I know that in another month or two we'll be back on track. There's never enough time in the day to get everything done, Mom or Dad are always going to need something. Life happens and there's always going to be something to stress about. I just want to be able to enjoy it at the same time.

So I started on Zoloft last night. It won't really take affect for a couple of weeks, but I already feel lighter and happier knowing that I'm finally taking steps to make things better.

Here kitty kitty

2007-09-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

For the first time in some 8 years or so I have a cat!

When I first moved to OKC, the apartment I moved into didn't allow pets. I tried to sneak in a cat, but got caught after a couple of months, so I had to get rid of her.

Then, when Chris and I got together, he had the birds and absolutely refused to even consider getting a cat.

"If the cat killed a bird, I'd have to kill the cat, and then you'd kill me."

Then we had to move in with Mom for three months, and she had Dufus. We decided that we'd keep our bedroom door shut all the time to keep the cat away from the birds.

That lasted about a week.

One day I came home, and Dufus was laying on top of the birds cage and the birds didn't have a problem with him at all. And also? Dufus plays with Rascal! Cool. So I convinced Chris that if I were to ever get a cat, Dufus would be perfect since he gets along with both the birds and the dog. Mom was wanting to get a kitten, but didn't want two cats, so win/win situation!!

I was going to wait until we (finally) get the tile grouted (don't even ask - three weeks later and I'm not a happy camper), but Mom got a notice on her door the other day that because there are so many stray cats at the condos, the HOA is going to take steps to get rid of them. And if your pet gets taken care of too? Too bad. And Dufus gets out the door at least a couple times a week.

So I brought Dufus home last night. He's already getting comfortable (it's easier when he already knows everyone), and while he hasn't left the area I set up for him yet, he's all about us coming in there and loving on him.

I've really missed having a cat and am so happy to have one in my life again.

Now, I have to worry about the one-eyed tom cat across the street and the fact that Dufus has been de-clawed....

I need to send this in to AFV

2007-09-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

She killed it about 30 seconds later.

Lesley has a new blog

2007-09-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

It's Fairywisdom, and she's actually put up several posts! Now go make a comment so she knows we're out here.

37

2007-09-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

It's my birthday, and I'm really kind of having a hard time with this one.

The worst thing about 30 was realizing that that's how old my dad was when he was injured. I spent a lot of time thinking about that and being very grateful that I was so healthy.

32 was harder. Nothing specific, it just seemed more real to me. Damn, I'm in my 30's.

I don't even remember what I thought about for 35. Whatever it was, age wasn't bothering me enough to remember now.

And now I'm 37.

We went to (my very first) a country concert last night. Clint Black. He's one of Chris' favorite country artists, so I ordered tickets as soon as I heard about it. I only knew 2 of the songs, but he played a 2 hour set at a small venue, which are my favorite kinds. So it was a good concert and I enjoyed myself.

At least when I wasn't thinking about the chapters I hadn't read yet for school and planning my day at work today.

There was this little old lady there. She had to be 80. And she danced and danced and danced. I wish I'd taken my camera just so I could have taken pictures of her having such a good time. I actually watched her more than I watched the show.

On the way home I told Chris that I was feeling pretty old for this birthday and I'd figured out why. (I know, I know. I'm not even 40 yet, just wait until then, blah blah!) I used to be fun. We'd go somewhere, anywhere, and we'd just about always have a good time. Laugh, alot.

Then I started growning up and I still was fun, but I also knew I needed to be home at a certain time so I could go to work in the morning, and so it wasn't the same kind of fun it was before.

Now, I just don't feel like I'm really fun anymore. I'm always thinking of what I should be doing, or that deadline that's coming up, or whatever.

When did I stop being fun?

So my goal for this next year is to re-learn how to be fun. Not to let go of all the responsibilities, but to maybe forget about them occasionally, for just a little while.

To learn that the world isn't going to end if I actually let go, for just a little while.

Another bitchy post about parents and their uncontrolled kids

2007-08-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

Why is it so hard for parents to control their children? Why do they think it's okay to bring their young children to my house and allow them to destroy my things? WHY? And no, it's not "just being a three-year old".

When Sandie brings Britt over or Des brings Shaley over we have a good time. The kid plays (or runs around in circles or whatever) while we visit, and if the kid starts getting into something they aren't supposed to Sandie or Des says "Hey, don't do that".

So when Chris' friends come over yesterday (they are SO lucky I wasn't home) with their three-year old daughter and allow her to pick up rocks and throw them as hard as they can on my new wood floor or try to push over the boxes we still haven't unpacked or track dog shit in on my brand new carpet and then tell Chris that "She's just being a three-year old"...I just have a hard time believing that since I have friends whose kids aren't like that.

I say Chris' friends because I don't really care for the wife very much. She's a SAHM* who told her husband when she got pregnant the first time that she would go back to work and then quit her job without telling him. When that child got old enough and he told her she had to go back to work, she got pregnant again. He gets an allowance of $20.00 per week while she gets to go shopping every day. She gets mad at Chris because he won't loan them the money to fix their heat and air but they have taken over a year before to pay back $50.00. They borrow things like a (brand-new) lawn mower or a tent and bring it back broken and don't offer to pay to replace it.

And then this morning I'm in the shower and there's no soap. What happened to the soap? I get out of the shower and go looking around and find some in the other bathroom and it has this black stuff all over it. I didn't really think that much about it and just wash it off and finish my shower. When I said something to Chris about it he says: "She didn't wash it off?" "Wash what off?" "That's the soap she used to clean the dog shit off her daughter's feet yesterday." *shudder*. I wasn't wearing my glasses when I found the soap but she didn't clean out the sink either.

Who does this shit?

I've told Chris that she and her children are not welcome at my house anymore and I don't have a problem telling her that we don't have kids, my house is not child-proof, and if you are not willing to watch your children then don't bring them to my house.

Everyone else who actually watches and takes care of their children: Come on over.

*Disclaimer - I have no problem at all with SAHM's, if you can afford to do it I think it's great. What I have a problem with is when you lie to your husband and tell him you're going to go back to work and then on your own decide that you don't want to regardless of whether you can afford to stay home or not. And then you spend all your time buying useless shit at garage sales but won't give your husband $20.00 to go fishing and so MY husband has to pay for him to go fishing. But that's a whole different bitch session.

I'm Glad I'm Not the Only One

2007-08-21T13:45:00.000-05:00

I've been reading other peoples blogs and there's a couple others who have been buying a house and moving at the same time we are. I really appreciated reading this one from Rude Cactus about all the trips made to Home Depot. I can't top the 5 trips in one weekend, but we've been at least once a day since we bought the house! Over three weeks that's a lot of trips and way more money than I thought we'd spend. Thank goodness that's just about done. We still have a little paint to buy and whatever we decide to do with the office and then we're DONE. At least for now. (Unless the gravitational pull of the Home Depot half a mile from the house pulls us in.)

It's funny how different people see the same space. We've had several people over to see the house in progress, and every one of them has had suggestions for what we ought to do here or there. None of them have agreed, including Chris and I. We're learning the fine art of compromise.

Once the movers are done, I'm going to start unpacking and Chris has to finish our kitchen cabinets. I swear the previous owner built them himself in the backyard. I don't think he even used the nice (level) garage. The fronts aren't so bad (although he didn't sand the wood before badly staining it - it's going to be a bitch to keep them clean), but he didn't put backs or tops on any of it. So you open the cabinet door and look at dusty sheetrock. And holes. I couldn't tell you why there are holes, but there's three or four of them just letting whatever lives in the walls out onto my dishes. Well, not onto my dishes because I refuse to put anything in there until this problem is solved. I bought some contact paper but Chris didn't like that idea. Instead he went and bought a table saw (you saw that one coming, didn't you?) and is going to build tops and backs for the cabinets.

Now he wants a miter saw so that he can do the trim in the living room. We were going to wait for our carpenter friend (who works for beer) to do it, but dove season is coming up, and I'd really like that part to be done before NOVEMBER.

That's okay though, because I've been wanting a camcorder, and since I'm taking my Speech class online, I need one to record my speeches so that I don't have to go to school and stand up in front of people and talk. So he gets a couple of ~~toys~~ tools and so do I.

(I got the strike thru to work!)

Speaking of dove season, we're leaving Friday the 31st for Sandy Sanders so that Chris can get out at sunrise to kill birds. I'm going, but it's just too damn hot this early in the season to be running around the desert looking for dove. That and my eyesight is too bad to really dove hunt. By the time I see the little fuckers it's too late to shoot them. Darn! It's an interesting place though and beautiful in it's own way. I never dreamed that we have actual desert here in Oklahoma. I'm worried about taking the mutt though, there's nothing out there that doesn't bite - cactus, mesquite trees, rattlesnakes. Personally, I prefer the Blue River (be sure and check out all the pics - it's a beautiful place).

Here's Rascal's favorite spot while we've been working at the house:

(I finally figured out that I can't use the Blogger insert picture deal - I just have to copy the HTML straight from Flickr!)

Moving Today

2007-08-21T09:37:00.000-05:00

The movers are coming today. Actually, by now they've already arrived. I had always said that we needed to use movers but Chris wanted to do it all himself and save some money. Then, we spent the last three weeks working non-stop on the house and he agreed that movers would be good.

The extra money from the install he did this week didn't hurt either.

I have to work all day, so they should be done by the time I get home. And then I get to start unpacking. I'm actually excited about that - I'm so ready to have all of my stuff around me again. I'm sure we'll go thru a week or two where we can't find everything, but it'll be better than not having it at all.

I'm going to try some before and after pictures - I hope this works:

The Master Bedroom Before:

The Master Bedroom After:

The Living Room Before:

The Living Room After:

I didn't take an after picture of the living room from the same angle, but you get the idea.

These were the two rooms that we made the biggest change in. We're not painting the entry or the hallway until we get all the furniture moved in, so we don't have to repaint anything. We haven't decided what to do in my office yet. We were going to do concrete stain on the floor, but there's a crack where the slab meets the stem wall and if we fill it in with concrete, we'd have to wait 30 days before we could do the floor. So now I have no idea what the plan is. Maybe some ceramic tile. Who knows. It's not stopping us from moving in, so we'll worry about it later.

I'm so excited. Today we officially move in!!!

It's Happened

2007-08-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

I found my very first, definately gray hair.

I'm a genius

2007-08-16T16:47:00.000-05:00

Now, if I could only get my husband to listen to me!

I found this quiz on Bob's Myspace page.

No pictures

2007-08-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

I've managed to misplace my camera, so I can't show my before and after pictures yet. We've got the living room done (except the trim pieces - we've got a friend who is going to do that for us for beer, but we don't really know when yet) and the master bedroom done. I love them both, but the master is my favorite. We picked some really awesome carpet that is so soft I want to roll around naked on it.

Chris keeps coming up with these "really cool ideas" after we've already agreed how we're going to decorate the rooms. I finally told him that he could do the spare room however he wants, but leave the rest of the house to me. It's not that they're bad ideas, it's just not the look I'm going for. Destiny was over the other day and asked me what my house theme was going to be? I don't have a house theme. It's a place to live and be comfortable in, not a showcase or a "really cool, funky place to hang out". It's where I want to go after work and school and my other responsibilities to relax and be comfortable. So that's my "theme".

I actually like what Chris is doing to the spare room, except for the color he chose for the chair rail. I hope that I like it better after the colors are on the wall (I'm doing that tonight), but right now it's kind of funky. I won't say anything though.

We are doing a theme for the hall bath. We have all of these framed sea shells that we had in the hall bath at the last house. And the previous owners had some shell towel bar/toilet roll holder thingies, so we decided to go with an ocean theme in there. We're planning on painting the walls blue and then stenciling on various fish, dolphins, whales, etc. Then we're going to hand paint the various fish however we want. We've even discussed leaving paints in there so that other people can paint their own fish and sign them.

Things are moving right along, even if it's taking much much much longer than I had thought it would. I keep thinking about these decorating shows, where they paint a room in a couple hours. That doesn't seem to be working for us. Of course, we've had to Killz everything before painting on the color, and then you've got the cutting in and the painting of the trim and the back-filling....

We will be moving in this week though. We're to the point that we can work around our stuff. I really didn't want to do that because we all know me and Chris, but I think that in this case we'll actually get everything done.

That's the plan anyway.

I've been trying to post pictures

2007-08-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

But when I use the code that's supposed to link back to Flickr I get error messages in Blogger and it won't work. I guess I'll have to contact Flickr and see what's up.

The Curse of the Restaurant

2007-07-26T14:52:00.000-05:00

Chris has the curse of bad restaurant service. By default I have it now too. 4 times out of every 5 that we go out to eat either the food or the service is going to be just terrible. Now I always expect the food to be good, but we do try to make allowances for service. If it’s really busy we expect service to be a bit slow. If we get a trainee (which happens fairly often to us) we expect there to be some errors. We don’t (try) to keep the server running all the time. We try to order everything we’re going to want all at once, including extra salad dressing (why do they give you the little bitty thing of dressing? It’s enough to cover one piece of lettuce.), napkins, tea spoon, whatever. If they forget something, we nicely tell them immediately and have them go get it, but it’s not like they bring the food and we’re all “oh, I forgot I want this.” And they bring that and we’re “oh, I also need that.” We’re reasonable people. Usually.

But we’ve had some humdinger experiences. There’s the time the waiter took our order, came back and told us they were out of most of what we ordered, then forgot to turn in our order, then brought us the nastiest food you’ve ever seen. I’d ordered a brisket sandwich with mashed potatoes. They brought me a plate of brisket swimming in about an inch of grease along with mashed potatoes that had that nasty skin over them from sitting out too long. Like two days too long. I told the waiter I’d ordered a brisket sandwich, so he brought me out 2 slices of white bread and told me to make a sandwich out of it. He hadn’t brought out Chris’ onion rings, so a few minutes later the MANAGER brought out this blackened pile of something, set it on our table and started to walk away. You should have seen his face when Chris asked him to come back and eat some of those onion rings. And thru it all, we were polite and understanding, right up until the manager said “I guess we won’t be charging you for tonight’s meal.” Ya think?

We were running around last night looking at floor coverings (OMG, we’re looking at $3,000 to do the flooring we want – at wholesale prices!!!! Warning: Change of plan ahead!) and stopped by our favorite restaurant to have dinner. It was 8:00 on a Wednesday so it wasn’t too busy at all. Unfortunately for us, this was the 3rd time in a row that we got terrible service at this place.

Are we so hard to get along with? Is it too much to want someone to come by the table every 5 minutes or so to make sure we have enough to drink? Is it too much to expect to get the appetizer you ordered before your meal arrives (some 40 minutes after ordering)? Or even at all? When you ask to speak to a manager, don’t you expect one of the three people you’ve asked to go and find the manager?

Last night’s wasn’t as funny as the one above – we were actually laughing when we left that one. It had been so horrible you had to laugh. It was like a sitcom or something. Last night was just the last of a several month history of bad service at the same restaurant chain.

We left, and went to a more expensive restaurant across the street. Not a lot more expensive – it was about $20.00 more and we got desserts. We also got exemplary service, fresh hot food and a waitress that stopped by periodically to make sure that everything was alright. When we were done, I asked to speak to the manager and he actually showed up! In about 1 minute! So I told him that we’d walked out of the previous restaurant because of the terrible service and that I wanted to thank and compliment him and his crew for such a wonderful dining experience. I swear his mouth dropped open.

We’ve actually been to that restaurant several times and have never yet had a bad experience. We don't go more often because it's primarily seafood (along with some prime rib and chicken items. And also things like alligator) and I'm not a seafood fan. So if you want a wonderful meal with friendly and efficient waitstaff and really pretty decent prices (be sure and try the fried cheese – but beware, it’s cajun spicy) go to Trapper's. And if you wanted to, you could figure out where we were that was so bad (across the street and a little to the west).

I finished it!

2007-07-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

I finished the final Harry Potter book last night. Without going into details, I was pretty pleased with it over all. There were parts where I went "I KNEW it!" and "You've got to be kidding me." And there was even a part where I cried. Well, not cried, but shed a few tears anyway. It had a pretty good ending, and no possibility that there will be future books in the series. (I've been waiting to hear someone say "but there could be another". Not happening)

I'm going to miss them.

YMCA

2007-07-24T16:13:00.001-05:00

So we got a family membership at the Y a couple weeks ago. Mom's supposed to be doing water aerobics to strengthen her knees and I've been wanting to do some toning and yoga classes. We all three need to lose some weight, and Chris and I would both use the weight room.

At least, that was the plan. I've had intentions every single night to get over there and do something, even just swim (cuz damn but it's been hot). As of today, I have not made it over there once. And every single night it's been something. Gotta go see Dad, have homework due, need to go to the store.

How do people with kids ever get anything done? I have a dog and I can't get anything done.

Thursday is toning and yoga classes, and I swear by my Harry Potter book that I WILL make it to at least one of the classes. At least I'm going to try damn hard.

Oh yeah, I have homework due that night.

Damn.

Appraisal

2007-07-24T11:16:00.001-05:00

I forgot to mention that we got the appraisal back yesterday. It was for exactly the amount that we're borrowing on the house. The bank said that's standard - you don't want it to be higher for 2 reasons.

1. The seller can back out if they think they've sold it for too little.
2. Property taxes are based on the appraisal amount.

We were really looking forward to getting the appraisal because we are convinced that the house is worth more than we're paying for it, and we wanted to know how much more. The banker said that you only get true-value mortgage appraisals when you do a refinance. I guess if we really wanted to know, we could pay for a true-value appraisal, but since we had to pay for this appraisal I doubt we're going to do that.

I did get my insurance quote today. It was about $500.00 higher than had been estimated (by realtor and banker). Really good coverage. Of course, the program they used figured that it was going to cost almost $70,000 more than what we're paying for the house to rebuild it if something happend. I wonder if that indicates the value in any way? Probably not. Plus it figured that we would have $112,000 worth of personal property! I always scoff at those numbers, and then I think "If I had to replace all of my books tomorrow, even if I figured I only have 1,000 books (I'm pretty sure I've got more than that. One thing I'm really looking forward to is getting all of my books out for the first time in at least 5 years. I've had boxes of books in the garage because I had nowhere to put them.) at $8.00 per book....Then there's CD's - several hundred of them between the two of us, fishing and hunting stuff, clothes, furniture.....I guess it does all add up. And it's not value of what we have but cost to replace it.

Plus, did you know that you can get a "Sewer Rider" on your homeowner's policy? That way when you come home and sewer water is flooding your house, you get to go stay in a nice hotel and buy a bunch of new stuff while someone else has to deal with the clean-up? This is a good thing, and cheap in the scheme of things (I've heard an extra $10 - whether month or year, it's worth it to me) and very definately recommended. As are backflow preventer's that would prevent the problem in the first place. We're going to have both - just in case.

No Harry Potter Spoilers Here

2007-07-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

So I'm just over half-way thru the final book, and I have to say that so far I'm pretty pleased. After a good strong start there's been parts where I'm going "Alright already, it was hard, it was terrifying, yada yada yada. Next step please." I'm to a point where it seems to be picking back up and I have high hopes for lots of action in the remainder.

I felt this way about the 5th (I think) book too (the Tri-Wizard Tournament one). Quit with the whining already and get a move on. For having been such an angst-ridden teen, I don't appear to have much sympathy for it now!

I am enjoying it though, and I might have been getting frustrated with all of the INTERRUPTIONS last night while I was trying to read. Cook dinner? I'm reading Harry Potter here! Have company and need to be polite? To hell with that! Still spoilers on TV? Get over it already.

So now I'm at work, wondering how soon I can take a smoke break and go read for 10 minutes...looks like right about now!

Creditors

2007-07-23T16:36:00.000-05:00

One thing we've had to do to buy this house is clear up the 3 or 4 things that are still showing on my credit. One of those was the cable bill I swore I was never going to pay because the bastards reconnected my cable service without my permission. I didn't even have electricty (I had moved in with Chris but my landlord wouldn't let me out of my lease, so I shut off all of the utilities to save at least some money). Anyway, they refused to credit my account and I told them "Fine, but you'll never see a dime from me."

I paid them last week. Bastards.

Anyway, somehow one of Dad's medical bills got put on my credit. I called to try to take care of it, and they agreed that it shouldn't be on my credit and said that they would have it removed. I told them I was closing on a house in a few more days and need this taken care of immediately - could they fax me or my banker a statement that showed it was Dad's bill and not mine? No, my name wasn't on the account so privacy laws won't let them release information to me. WTF??? You can put it on my credit but can't fax me a statement. They'll mail a letter to the address on record, which is my PO Box, but that'll take at least a couple days to get.

Of course, I forgot all about the power of attorney thing, so I called them back and of course they left 5 minutes after I talked to them.

Damn creditors.

I Got It!

2007-07-23T09:19:00.001-05:00

I just got back from the post office where I picked up the final Harry Potter book. Now I'm going to sit here and stare at it until lunch time when I can finally start reading it.

Yet More About the House

2007-07-23T08:19:00.000-05:00

Sandie asked what the outside of the house looks like. I'd planned on taking pictures of the outside, I really did, and then I got to looking at it.

The front is so overgrown that I couldn't get a good view of it, so that will have to wait until we get some cleared out before I can get a good picture. And the back, well, the back has a few issues too. Like the hot tub we've got to pull out of there, and the wooden walkway someone put back there. It's not a deck, just a walkway around the hot tub and along the back of the house (the part with no windows). And the yard is so small that I couldn't really get a good angle.

So, the house is brick and frame with a stone facing on the front of the house. Stone that someone painted. Blue-Gray. That's peeling off in places. That's going to get sand-blasted as soon as we can afford it.

Who paints stone????

There's a silver-leaf maple in the front yard. Chris just happens to hate silver-leaf maples. Don't know why, never asked. I personally think it looks fine, but that's one of the first things that's going to be cut down. Then we've got some way overgrown bush things (Chris knows what they are, I have no clue) that actually do a really good job of separating us from the house next door. Those are going to get thinned out or possibly cut down and replaced with the exact same thing. Depends on how the thinning goes. (Chris likes whatever they are - I do too, but if I were going to totally remove them, I might look at putting something else there. Just me.) Then we have some holly bushes in front of the front living area (the peach room) as well as some ivy and something else I couldn't get around to see. Chris wants to keep the holly and maybe we'll get to see what the rest of the stuff is once we thin out the others.

Finally, we have a bagworm tree right on the little corner of the house beside the garage. That's the first thing to go. (It's actually a little juniper tree.) When I was a kid, we had several evergreen bushes in our backyard and I spent many an hour picking those stupid little bags off of them. Since we don't have kids to torture (how do you guys do the strike-thru thing?), I mean give chores to, I'm not interested in juniper trees.

The backyard has nothing but the hot tub in it. It's small enough I'm not sure I'll be able to put anything back there. We'll have to wait and see how much a difference taking the hot tub out makes.

Oh, and Sandie, I am expecting some help with planning. Just warning you.

Damn

2007-07-20T16:30:00.000-05:00

Turns out that "In Transit to Final Destination" doesn't actually mean that it's on a truck and heading my way. I don't get the book until Monday. Now I have a whole weekend of avoiding spoilers. No internet or tv for me.

Harry Potter

2007-07-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

I pre-ordered the final book, over a month ago, and just checked to see when I'm going to get it.

TODAY!!!

So now I'm staring out the window wondering where the UPS driver is.

I want my book dammit!

How about everyone else? I know that Lesley had ordered it, and I believe that Jamie has been following the series. It's been difficult, but I've managed to avoid all of the spoilers so far. If I really do get this book today, I'm going home and not putting it down until I finish it.

I'll even put off doing house stuff - that's pretty serious.

Comments

2007-07-20T14:15:00.001-05:00

For some reason, I can't get into my comments today. Thank goodness I get an email for each comment or I wouldn't have any idea someone is actually reading this thing!

Bridge left a comment on the Inspection Completed post about why it takes so long for the appraiser to do his thing. I always assumed that they just looked at the house itself and said it's worth this much. It makes sense that the area has something to do with the value of the property but I had no idea that they had to compare my house to 3 others. What if he picks really crappy houses? Actually, we've got the records from the last few months of sales and ours is the cheapest in the neighborhood - we couldn't afford it if it weren't. Thanks for the info!

In fact, this house is actually over our approval amount by $1000.00. We figured we could just pay the difference, but the bank put it on the loan, so no worries there.

Bridge - I just want you to know that I had every intention of going thru you when we bought a house. We didn't actually think that we would qualify at this time, so I just called the bank because they already had all my info and I figured they could tell me what I needed to do before getting a loan. (And I wouldn't have to bug you for the 3rd, or is it 4th?, time since you've been in the business!) You could have knocked me over with a feather when they called back an hour later and said "You're approved for X amount." Then I was pre-approved, so it just made sense to keep on with them, especially since we were approved for a 100% loan, fixed, with no penalties for early payment and a decent interest rate.

I generally try to use family and friends when I can, so I've really felt guilty for not using Bridge. How about you come over when we have our party and we'll feed you lots of good food and drink? Or, you could come over some other time and we can hang out and eat lots of good food and drink. Whichever. Or both.

[Someone needs to come over and drink all this alcohol! How did I end up with so much? Chris is allergic to alcohol (but still drinks occasionally) and I just don't drink but every rare once in awhile. Last time I got drunk? In Cozumel with Lesley (poor, poor Lesley) some 15 years ago? Damn, has it been that long????]

Someone else left a comment on another post (forgot which one) about a store in Tulsa that I might be able to get a deal on a pool table from. That's a great idea, and thanks I'll definately check it out. Chris said just last night that he wasn't sure what he thought we should do with that room but that there was a slate table in the paper for $750.00 that had just been refinished. (Sounded like a "hint" "hint" to me!) Have I even seen a slate pool table? Sounds cool anyway. Fortunately, we have plenty of time to figure that one out, especially since we're doing the carpet and paint and stuff first.

Pictures

2007-07-20T10:52:00.001-05:00

Here's the view as you walk in the front door:

To the left you see the front living area:

The rest of the front living area looks like this:

From there you see the dining area:

And the window:

View from the kitchen door to the front door:

The kitchen:

The living room:

The only natural light in the living room:

The front door and kitchen from the living room:

And finally, the master bedroom:

That bedroom's really red, isn't it? I didn't bother to take pictures of the other 2 bedrooms or the bathrooms. Actually, I tried to take pictures of the baths, but I couldn't get a good angle and gave up. We're replacing the carpet in the front living area and in all three of the bedrooms. We're going to put laminate wood floor in the main living area. Eventually we'll replace the vinyl flooring in the kitchen with (probably) ceramic tile. We're going to keep all of the ceramic tile that's already throughout the house. One day we'll probably do something with that kitchen, but it works for now.

And what's up with the tile in the pictures? I promise, it's all straight and even in real life.

I'll post after pictures once there is an after.

EDITED: I just noticed that I was supposed to use a different code so that these pictures linked back to Flickr. I'm not going to redo this one (I promise I'll use the correct code next time Flickr), but am going to put a link to Flickr here. And also, I heart Flickr and plan on using them for a long, long time. Hope that's an acceptable compromise for this one post.

Inspection Completed

2007-07-20T09:41:00.000-05:00

Chris has a friend who does home inspections, so of course we called him to do ours. This meant that we were at the house for three and a half hours to do the inspection and talk. The only surprises were that the hot water tank needs a new T&P valve on it and the gas starter on the fireplace needs to be replaced. Chris can do both of those and everything else (very minor stuff) that needs to be done.

The appraiser is supposed to go by either today or Monday, then it usually takes 3 days to get his report (I have no idea why) and that's the last possible obstacle. Well, unless someone throws a lien against the house at the last minute but that's doubtful.

We're getting a house!!!!!!!!!!

We went to Home Depot last night to look at carpet and paint and light fixtures and plumbing fixtures and all of that wonderful stuff. I was wandering around there thinking of all the possibilities. The glorious possibilities. I also reconfirmed that I have excellent taste in stuff - if price is any indicator. We're going to put laminate flooring in the main living area and of course the one I liked best was the 4.50/sq. ft. and the one I liked least was the 1.98/sq. ft. I liked the $500 light fixture rather than the $50.00 one. Etc.

Poor Chris. He thinks that just because I point out the more expensive stuff that I like that means that's what I expect to get. He doesn't understand that just because I like the $1450.00 flooring, that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the $650.00 flooring. I'd prefer to keep as much money in my pocket as I can. Well, maybe not in my pocket - just think of how many books that $800 would buy! Or maybe that light fixture....

I did take pictures, but they really didn't come out too well. The front of the house is overgrown with bushes, so no light comes in the front windows (those bushes will be removed shortly after we move in) and there are no windows on the back wall of the house at all, so the only natural light in the living room is thru the sliding glass door. I had to increase the brightness on the pictures so much that they really look pretty bad. I'm going to play with them a little more and then I'll get some pictures up.

Now I'm off to look at bar stools. We've got a 10' long bar between the kitchen and living area that's just begging for some stools. Especially since that's where we'll probably eat most of our meals.

House Info

2007-07-19T08:27:00.000-05:00

I'll be posting pictures later (I'm taking them today during the inspection), but the basic info is: It's 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and has a 2nd living room at the front of the house. I have no idea what we're going to use it for. Originally I thought a 2nd living room would be great for my office, and then we'd actually have 3 bedrooms, but that won't work for this house. It's 1846 square feet and has a pretty open floor plan.

Warning: I am not an artist and this looks like crap, but here's the basic layout as I remember it from my one walk-thru of it:

Right outside the master bedroom exterior door is a wooden walkway and a hot tub. Neither Chris nor I are interested in a hot tub (I'd have taken a pool, but not a hot tub) so we're going to get rid of that. I don't even know if it works, but we've already pawned it off on someone else if it does.

The yard is pretty small, which is really going to limit my gardening ability - not that I had any before ;) what with the dog and all. We're on a short street (2 houses) between 2 cul-de-sacs so it ought to be a quiet street.

My only complaint so far: There are NO windows on the back of the house. None. That door out of the master bedroom is it. Kinda weird and something we may have to change one day - how do people not put windows in a house?

Anyway, I'll post the pictures I take today as soon as I can. Next I get to start picking out carpet and paint!

FINALLY 100%

2007-07-18T16:41:00.001-05:00

About damn time, isn't it?

Have I said 99.99999% sure yet?

2007-07-18T11:02:00.000-05:00

I've been told to quit worrying about the seller signing the contract. It's a bank out of CA and apparently this is pretty standard for them (taking a long time to do stuff).

I signed the loan paperwork last night, inspection and appraisal is scheduled for Thursday, and closing has been scheduled for 11:00 on the 31st.

Sounds like it's ours!!!!!!!

Barring any disasters found during the inspection tomorrow. I do know that we don't have termites - the seller already had that inspection done.

Now I get to go pick out carpet and paint - what do you think, every room in a different color? Chris wants to do all white paint and tile etc. He's worried about when we go to sell the house (hypothetically in 5 or 10 years). I keep telling him that I'm not buying an investment property, I'm buying a home. And it's not going to be white! I've promised not to put in purple carpet or anything like that, but I do want some color in the house.

Ah, the joys of marital compromise! I have a feeling it's just starting.

(Is it Freudian that I typed martial instead of marital?)

Almost there

2007-07-17T10:06:00.001-05:00

We signed the addendums last night, and our realtor is taking them along with our earnest money check to the other realtor today. We've scheduled the home inspection even though we don't have the sellers signature yet. We should have an actual contract by the end of the day today. If all goes as planned, we'll officially own our house on Tuesday, July 31st.

Don't worry, I'll be posting lots of pictures as soon as it's all done.

We're getting close!

99.875%

2007-07-16T21:23:00.001-05:00

We're up to 99.875% sure we're getting the house.

Still need sellers signature.

Frustration mounting.

85% of a house

2007-07-16T11:10:00.001-05:00

We placed an offer on a house last week, the seller countered wanting to change the closing date from 8/10 to 7/30. The banker said 7/31 would be better for her.

This was as of Friday.

All weekend was spent praying that we got the house.

This morning, the seller has still not responded (it's a bank in CA). Currently we are 85% sure we got the house and that no one else got to look at it over the weekend (so far as the other realtor has admitted anyway).

I'M GOING FREAKING NUTS OVER HERE!!!!

All positive thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Still House Hunting

2007-07-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

Still looking for houses. At this point, I couldn't even tell you how many we've looked at, but I know it's over 200. So far we've made 2 offers, both of which have been turned down.

If this takes much longer, we're going to rent a small cheap apartment that doesn't require a lease. I love my mother dearly, but I really really REALLY want my own place again.

In other news, I'm taking 2 classes this summer - Micro and Macro Economics. One was in June and the other in July. I got a B in the June class, so I'm bound and determined that I'm going to get an A in this one. Just for the record, economics sucks.

What a Headache

2007-06-28T09:17:00.000-05:00

Lately I haven't had much of an appetite. Actually, that's not necessarily true, I have an appetite but nothing ever sounds good to eat. Things have been so crazy that we've taken to eating out for every meal and we're both so tired of all the options.

This has been going on for about a month now, and you'd think that a side benefit would be that I might lose just a little weight simply by default. Instead, my favorite pair of pants is now tight around the waist. (They were my favorite because they were loose around the waist and fit perfect everywhere else.) So WTF?

Then I did some math, and I discovered that I drink 6 Mt. Dew's at work every day, then I go home and have a couple Coke/Pepsi's. Add up the calories and I'm drinking a full days recommended calories without ever putting a bite of food in my mouth.

So Friday I told my boss not to buy any more Mt. Dew (he supplies all kinds of pop and snacks) and that I was going to start drinking tea at work. Monday I did pretty good. There was one Mt. Dew left when I got to work, so of course I drank that, then I had a soda with lunch and one with dinner. What? You didn't expect me to quit all at once, did you?

Tuesday I went the whole day with a single soda! I was pretty proud of myself.

Wednesday I woke up with a headache that hasn't gone away since! I've been drinking lots of tea (and spending lots of time in the restroom!), so I didn't really think I'd have a problem with a caffine headache. Turns out I was wrong. So I drank a couple soda's yesterday and had one this morning. My goal is to only have the one today but we'll see.

In other news, Chris is braving flash floods to do some fishing. I think 3/4 of Oklahoma is flooded right now and he HAS to go fishing. He'll be back Friday evening and then he has a surprise for me on Saturday. (I really hate waiting for surprises). I'm to pack a bathing suit and casual, lounging around clothes and we're going someplace private. I've been wanting to go swimming, but considering there's about a gazillion to one chance it's going to rain, I didn't think we'd go this weekend. The awesome thing is that we have the van for camping - no more setting up tents in the dark (why is it almost always dark when we arrive somewhere?)!

In the meantime, I'm having my hair cut this evening. Shoulder length. Chris isn't going to like it much but I'm so sick of it being long. And it doesn't even look good - split ends, frizzy, etc. I keep imagining running my fingers thru my hair without catching a thousand tangles.....

How Contrary am I?

2007-06-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

I've been complaining because I don't have any girlfriends. Well, I've got Sandie but she's really my aunt, and we don't hang out that much. She's got Britt, and I've got work and school and parents and looking for a house and....

Then there's Jamie, also my aunt, but she's a couple hours away, and we are both involved in school.

Then there's Steph, my best friend from high school, who happens to be in Iceland now, and has 3 kids.

Chris has a couple of friends who are married, but I don't have anything in common with the wives - kids and garage sale-ing, just not my thing.

So we get invited to go to his step-brother's house this weekend for steaks and drinks. I've only met his wife a couple times over Christmas last year, but we got along okay. And I complain because I have to go make nice, small-talk, and all that. I had to stop myself and think "I've been missing girlfriend companionship, this could be a good thing" to pysch myself up to go.

We had a great time and I didn't catch myself watching the clock to see if we'd been there long enough to gracefully leave! I don't think that we're going to be new best friends or anything, but it was nice.

Sandie tagged me

2007-06-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

For the (Insert Number Here) Odd/Unusual/Strange Things about me meme and asked for a specific story. I think she really meant 6 embarrassing things. I've been wracking my brain, and the sad, sad truth is that I appear to be pretty normal.

1. I was an exhibitionist. While Sandie is my aunt, she’s only 8 years older than I am, and we’ve always been close. Well, at least since after I quit “borrowing” her good high heel shoes to go walking down the gravel road in (I was around 8-10 or so)! One day, Sandie was visiting me at my apartment and we decided that we needed something from the convenience store down the street. It was the closest store to my place, and I was in there all the time and “knew” all the people in there to talk to. This time, when I got to the counter with my stuff, the guy pretty much just stared at my chest. Now, I ended up with most of the boobs in the family, and having them stared at isn’t unusual, but it was in this situation. I mean, dude had never stared before. So I get back out to the car and tell Sandie what had happened and she starts pointing and laughing.* I look down and there happens to be a hole in the flannel shirt that I’m wearing (without a bra) and my nipple is sticking straight out! I never went back to that store again.

Sandie very kindly told that same story to my husband, and both of them persist in bringing it up periodically just to see me blush!

*She didn't literally point and laugh, but the thought was there.

2. I found a dead body. This one isn’t funny, but I swear it’s true. S (not Sandie) and I and various other people used to go downtown and hop on trains. They’d slow down to go thru town, and we’d jump on the last car, ride it until it slowed down again, hop off and catch one going the other direction. Sometimes there wouldn’t be another train and we’d have to walk back. Early in the morning one November 1st (that date is important), we decided that we were going to go hop a train. This time was me and S, her brother, and the guy I was dating at the time. We perched under an overpass and smoked a couple of joints while waiting for a train to come by, and when one didn’t show, we decided to walk along the tracks for awhile. While walking the tracks, we always put anything we found beside the tracks on the rail, so that when a train went by it would cut it in half. (Never anything big that would derail the train or anything – tennis shoes, sticks, a penny to see if it would get flattened, etc. Don’t ask me why, but there are always tennis shoes next to train tracks.) S reached down to pick up a tennis shoe and there was part of a leg in the shoe – from the knee down. We walked a little further and found the rest of the body lying next to the tracks. S’s brother completely freaked out, jumping up and down flapping his arms. My boyfriend took off running back to the car, and S and I stood there going “This can’t be real. Someone stuck a dummy on the tracks as a Halloween prank. This can’t be real.” We headed back to the car ourselves, and as I was climbing in the backseat, S’s brother shut the car door on my leg, so I screamed “Oh my God, my leg!” and he totally freaked out again.

Turned out, the body was a homeless man who had tried to hop on the train while drunk, missed, and was dragged to death.

That was the last time I remember hopping a train.

My stories are pretty long, and I can't think of any more right now, so if I come up with anything else, I'll continue this later.

A Little Blah

2007-06-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

So, I've been a little down lately. You know: house floods with sewer water, asshole landlord that forces you to sue her because she won't take care of her house, moving in with your mother, finding a house that you really really like and not getting it, living with your mother, not having a house, living with your mother.....

There seems to be a theme up there! I think Mom is actually kind of enjoying it though. Payback from when she lived with us! I actually feel pretty bad about it because she stays in her room 90% of the time, and I feel like she's hiding from us. Or it could be that she just likes to hang out in her room. Who knows. Still makes me feel bad.

Poor Chris though. I guess I'm going thru a bout of depression, and my PMS episodes seem to be getting worse every time. This month he got depression AND a bad PMS. Yesterday I was in tears most of the day, but today I actually feel pretty good.

I've decided that the next time I go to the doctor, I'm going to ask them to do the fertility blood test, and then I'd like to get on some anti-depressants again. I haven't taken any since before I moved down here, so going on 10 years now. Chris has always been very adamant that he doesn't want me to take anti-depressants, and he actually says he loves me just the way I am - Moodiness and Bitchiness and all! I need some of whatever drug he's been on!!

------------------------------------

So, I finally switched to the new blogger deal 3-4 posts ago, but I haven't taken the time to really check it out yet. One thing I do like is that I can actually type my post in Blogger instead of doing it in Word and then copying it. Other than that and the labels option, I haven't noticed any real difference so far. How does everyone else like it? (Am I behind the times or what?)

Frustration

2007-06-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

We made another offer on a different house. We were declined again. Houses in our price range are selling in 3-6 days for full asking price, and buyers are paying closing costs.

Current score: 0/2

Frustration Level: 15

Number of houses left to look at: 0

We're not doing too well on this house hunting thing.

House Hunting

2007-06-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

To the newsperson who said that it's a buyers market...NOT! At least not in Oklahoma.

We actually made an offer on a house on Saturday, it was declined. The people sold it for their asking price and refused to pay any closing costs or repairs.

We've been through all of our listings, so now we're looking at the For Sale by Owners and waiting for more listings. I've noticed that the FSBO's are very proud of their homes and any little thing they've done to their house. VERY proud.

Kyra

2007-06-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

Doug's granddaughter, Madison (that always messes with me cuz I think our Madison), tested positive for MENS type 1. I haven't heard the status of the tumor on her pituitary gland, but last I heard medication was helping, so hopefully she's doing okay.

This doesn't mean that Kyra is going to have the disease, but it does mean that they are going to test her for it. Lesley says that even if she does have it, they have preventative measures that they can take and that knowing about it this early would be a good thing. I really hope that she doesn't have it, but even if she doesn't, it's a genetic disease, she could pass it on to her own children so this will be an ongoing concern.

Keep them all in your prayers.

Nutshell

2007-06-05T09:23:00.000-05:00

Vacation was great, school's started, we're going to sue our old landlord, and we're house hunting - my life in a nutshell. Much excitement and little time. More info later.

Isn't It Ironic?

2007-05-16T15:39:00.000-05:00

We're leaving on vacation on Saturday to Texas, so I called up Kenny to see if we could stop by and see everyone (it's only been a couple of years now) and they are coming up here this weekend! We're going to try to see them on the way back home the following weekend.

It's been a hell of a month so far. We're moving out of our house because the city's sewer main backed up into our house (the insurance adjuster said it was one of the worst he's ever seen)and our landlord is refusing to clean up the mess completely. I'll bitch and moan about it after we get back from vacation, but right now there is mold growing in the master bathroom that you can smell throughout the house. Landlord says that once she gets the tile installed you won't be able to smell it anymore! We told her we weren't interested in living in a mold house, so the movers are coming tomorrow to put our stuff in storage and we'll be staying at Mom's until we find another place.

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

In better news, school is over today! At least until June 4th. I did get a scholarship for the summer, but I don't know yet exactly how much it's going to be. I've got to write a thank you letter to the people giving the scholarship and tell them how many hours I'm taking. Then they'll tell me how much money I get.

A new way of seeing

2007-04-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

I was a very healthy child and rarely ever got sick. That actually kind of sucked since I didn't get out of school very often, but now I look back on those days and think "if only".

I didn't develope allergies until I was in my 20's, and they've progressively gotten worse over the years. The last 3 weeks or so have been the worst I've ever experienced. Sneezing, itchy eyes the whole bit. Yesterday afternoon my eyes itched so bad I could barely stand it and by the time I was heading home (well, to Mom's to take care of the cat and then to visit Dad) I felt like there was a small pebble lodged in my eye. It kept moving around on me, but I never did find anything. By the time I made it to Dad's I realized that I had some sort of an eye infection. By the time I made it home (about 9:00) I was miserable.

This morning my eye was just about swollen shut, but it actually felt better - not really itching anymore. I went to the health clinic because I was pretty sure that I had pink eye for the very first time in my life. The doctor confirmed it and said that it was caused by the allergies and admonished me to not let them get so bad next time.

I don't take anything for my allergies because I have high-blood pressure and I can't take most cold medicines because of it. I always assumed (ass u me) that carried over to allergy medicine too and so I've always just suffered through it. He gave me a script for some eye drops, an antibiotic, some allergy medicine, and a decongestant.

I went to the pharmacy after leaving the clinic to get the eye drops and the antibiotic. Wanna know how much I paid for 6, count them - 6!, GENERIC antibiotics? $50.00. Amazing.

So now I'm wondering, could I have skipped the doctor, saved some money, and just let this thing clear up on it's own?

In other news - I got the results from my second pap back - NORMAL again. Thank God. I've worried an amazing amount about these things. Not between tests, but once they've done the test and I'm waiting for the results I'm a nervous wreck.

The next issue is going to be that I don't think I'm ovulating. That stupid test line will get almost as dark as the reference line, and then the next day it's barely visible. I don't know if I'm just somehow missing the surge or if I'm not ovulating. I guess when I go back in July I'll ask about starting on Clomid to see if that helps.

Isn't there a simple blood test to check fertility? Maybe I should do that? At least then I'd know.

I talked to Lesley

2007-04-08T08:11:00.000-05:00

and Doug's oldest granddaughter has a tumor on her pituitary gland. This could be a sign that she has MENS type 1 like Doug did. Lesley left a comment about it on the "I'm still here" post, a couple of posts down.

Apparently Doug was never actually tested for MENS, he had enough symptoms that they decided that's what it was without the test. Kyra's not old enough to be tested yet, they wanted to wait until she's at least 5. So now, we're all anxiously waiting for Madison's test results to come back - should be Wednesday. Then depending on the results, Kyra's geneticst will decide if she needs to be tested.

So I'm off to see what I can find out about this disease. Is there something that can be done now to minimize the effects? I don't think it's curable, but I don't know for sure.

Pray for both Madison and Kyra - and the rest of Doug's children who might also be affected by this disease.

Vacation

2007-04-08T08:01:00.000-05:00

Chris and I are going to Texas for our 2nd anniversary. We're leaving on a Saturday and heading to Ausin where we're going to catch some live music - I found what's supposed to be a traditional Irish pub where we'll go for dinner and then we're going to wander around 6th Street. Then we're going to camp for a night before heading to South Padre Island for the rest of the week.

I'm really looking forward to it. We've got a hotel for our anniversary night and the next night, and then we're going to camp on the beach for the rest of the time. He used to live in Brownsville, which isn't far from S. Padre, so he's got a list of places he wants to take me to. I asked him when was the last time he was there? It's been some 20 years, so we'll see what's still there.

We are going to take a dolphin tour. I found a place that does private ones, so it'll just be us and the dog. I'm thinking we'll do an evening tour - nice and romantic. These are wild dolphins, so there's no swimming or feeding them, but it'll be great just to be able to see them in their natural environment.

I know that Kenny and Haley live in Texas, but I don't know where. I'd love to stop by and see them, so I guess I'd better call Debbie and find out how to get ahold of them.

So, does anyone know of any other cool things to go do or see while we're there?

April 6, 2007

2007-04-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

Monday 4/2/07 - 84 degrees, sun shining, beautiful.
Friday 4/6/07 - It's snowing.

I'm ready for Spring!

I'm still here

2007-04-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

It's been such a long time since I posted, I almost forgot how to log in! It's been a crazy couple of months: Dad's been in the hospital 3 times and had to have his leg amputated. Mom's had an unsuccessful surgery on her knee - she's going to have to get it replaced fairly soon. She and Grandma are in Washington now, they tried to leave Friday morning, but the Dallas airport was closed due to all of the rain, so they didn't leave until Saturday am. They made it safe and sound, and if they don't take pictures of my niece and nephews I'm going to be VERY upset.

I'm still working and going to school. Speaking of school, let me ask you about this:

I misread a due date for a test in one class, so I took it one day late. The professor told me he'd take 10 points off my grade for being late. That's fair. Then, he curved everyone's grade EXCEPT mine 12 points. When I asked him about it he said it wasn't fair to everyone else if I got the curve. I didn't agree but what can I do? So I lost 22 points on that test. Whatever you do, don't be late on one of his tests!

So then I take the 2nd test and when I get it back, I missed a question that I felt should have been correct. So I talked to the teacher and he agreed that the answer had been mis-coded. Did I get my two points? Hell no. Instead he curved everyone 10 points. So in effect, I only got curved 8 points.

Speaking of curving - this guy just picks numbers out of the air. Usually, the highest score on a test gets raised to 100 and everyone else gets raised that number of points. I had the high score on the test of 96 (I actually did get one question incorrect, so my grade should have been 98). Therefore, the maximum curve should have been 4 points, right? How did he come up with 10 points?

Does that seem fair to you? Chris says I'm being silly. I still have a 95 overall in that class, so it's not like I'm failing it or anything. It's just the point. So far I've gotten screwed by 14 points. If this keeps up I will fail the class!

That's about all going on in my life, how's yours going?

Back in the Hospital Again

2007-02-23T11:16:00.000-06:00

Dad is back in the hospital again. He never did start eating again after getting out of the hospital. Obviously, he was eating some, but not very much at any meal. He’s also been very lethargic, not very talkative – and when he does talk he’s harder to understand than usual. The other day the doctor came in and said that he thought Dad was anemic because he was so pale. So they started running tests and were going to start him on Iron and some different vitamins. Then they started talking that he might need a transfusion and I started wondering. See anemic is lack of iron in the blood. Transfusion is not enough blood. Quantity vs. Quality. Yes, I’m aware that if you don’t have enough blood then you’re going to be anemic. My point is: If he doesn’t have enough blood, where the hell is it going?

So yesterday I called and talked to the director of nursing at the home to find out what the hell was going on. She said that they’d done some bloodwork and that his hemoglobin came back critical, and that they had found blood in his stool that day (they usually do a 3 day test to make sure there’s an actual problem and that was the first day of testing), and that his doctor wanted to run more tests next week.

NEXT WEEK? Dad’s telling me that he thinks he should go to the hospital (so you KNOW he feels bad), his hemoglobin is half of what it’s supposed to be – apparently that’s the how much blood you have test – and he has blood in his stool. Can we say BLEEDING INTERNALLY? The nurse told me they were still talking to the doctor and I told her that I wanted Dad in the hospital immediately.

So, the hospital gave him a couple of units of blood last night and admitted him. Today they will be testing to determine where the bleeding is coming from. They believe it may be upper GI, and one doctor came in asking about the asprin and naproxin that he takes, so that may be an issue as well.

He’s not in any danger of dying or anything, but if we’d waited around for this doctor he could have been. I think I need to find another doctor for him, but there’s only so many who go to nursing homes to see patients. I guess I’ll start talking to doctors in the area to see what my options are.

I talked to him this morning and he's already ready to go home so he can have a cigarette. Must mean he's feeling a little better.

Today is the last day

2007-02-08T09:28:00.000-06:00

I get to smoke. Pray for me, and stay very far away!

In the meantime, I'm going to smoke as many cigarettes as I can today, hoping it will buildup in my bloodstream and carry me thru a few days anyway!

Man, quiting meth was so much easier than quiting smoking. It just doesn't seem right.

Thanks Sandie

2007-02-07T13:27:00.000-06:00

Sandie gave me the name of an amputee support group that she had found, so I called them today, and they are going to meet with us at the nursing home next Monday at 4:00. The husband of the lady I spoke with is a double amputee, and they will both be meeting with all of us – Dad, Mom, Chris, and I. She said that the support groups are for the families of the amputees as well, that we need help coping with the amputation just as much as he does.

I’m excited and relieved, and really hoping that Dad will give this a chance. He’s got that man thing going on – you know, the one where they can’t talk about their problems because it’s not manly or something.

Men: you gotta love them, even when you want to beat them over the head!

Good news Bad news

2007-02-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

Dad’s heading back to the nursing home this evening. I haven’t actually talked to him yet, but I’m sure that he’s thrilled, he’s been asking to go back for over a week now.

The good news is that he’s going back skilled nursing, which means that Medicare will pay for his time in skilled nursing. The bad news is that skilled nursing is a different wing, and if we want to keep his original room, we have to go ahead and pay for it, even though Medicare will pay for the skilled nursing room. I’m of two minds on this one – Dad doesn’t do well with change, so I’d rather keep him in the same room, but he hates his roommate, and he hates that his room is at the very end of the hall, so.... Of course, he’s been out of that room for going on three weeks now, and will be out of it for at least another couple weeks (I’d think), so maybe a change wouldn’t be so bad. We’ll have to talk about it.

In other news, the catalytic converter went out on Chris’ truck. That’s $500 down the tubes. The guy told Chris that Chevy’s had problems with this particular part and he’s had to replace a lot of them, but of course there’s no recall or warranty. That would just be too easy.

Lesley – In case you see this before I get home tonight and call you - I forgot my cell phone today, so I’ll call you later this evening.

Who do you talk to?

2007-02-05T16:09:00.000-06:00

Dad's not dealing very well with the loss of his leg. He's angry and depressed, and he's taking it out on the people around him (I feel sorry for those nurses at the hospital), but he won't talk about it to anyone.

I expected the anger. I started to say I understand the anger, but obviously I can't. I did expect it though, and I've tried to find a support group, or someone to come and talk to him about it. Someone who's been through this and who can understand what he's been through. I called the only support group listed in OKC and they can't be bothered to call me back - obviously they aren't a very good support group.

Mom says I'm expecting too much too soon. I say the sooner he starts to deal with it, rather than ignore it, the better off we all are going to be. Because he's still not eating, can't speak civily to anyone when he does speak, and just lays there telling us that the breeze from us walking by hurts his leg.

Part of the problem is that he hadn't admitted to himself that he couldn't walk anymore - he hasn't been able to for almost 2 years now. And before that, he could barely walk 5 feet. But in his mind, he always has walked, so by God, he could still walk. So now he feels like his mobility is gone for the first time, and he's having to deal with that issue on top of losing his leg. That losing his leg has cost him his mobility.

Hopefully he's going to go to physical therapy in the next couple of days, and they will be able to show him that he's just as mobile now as he has been for the last couple of years. Maybe then he can start to deal with the loss.

Maybe I am expecting too much too soon, but I can't stand to see him like this.

He made it through

2007-02-02T09:45:00.000-06:00

The doctor was very pleased with how things went yesterday, and said that Dad has good muscle in that thigh, which will really help with the healing. Dad was in quite a bit of pain yesterday, which he didn't understand. He seemed to think that there wouldn't be any pain once the leg was gone. We tried to explain that he'd had major surgery, so he was going to hurt for a little while, but that they would be giving him drugs to help, and once he was healed, there shouldn't be any more pain at all.

Unless he gets phantom pains. Please God, just for once make it easy on Dad and let there be no more pain.

As for me, I was fine until they brought him back up to his room, and I saw his wrapped leg. My first thought was "Oh God, there's been a terrible mistake. Put it back!" My second thought was a morbid curiosity to see the amputation. Probably perfectly normal, but still. I did manage to hold it together until we were almost home. I asked Chris what he thought they did with the leg - incinerate it, throw it out with the trash, what? And then I cried.

I know that this was necessary, and I still believe that he will be healthier minus the leg. But Dad didn't want to do this, and I think he agreed to do it because I told him he should. And last night he kept asking why it still hurt, it wasn't supposed to hurt anymore. Just make it stop hurting.

I know that life's not fair. It's hard and it hurts, and sometimes I wonder why we even try. But it's the only game in town and we have to get up every morning and do the best we can.

But for once, just one time, I wish that it would stop kicking my Daddy in the face.

Nothing ever happens like it's supposed to!

2007-01-31T17:52:00.000-06:00

Dad called me at 9:00 this morning to tell me that they were going to take him to pre-op at 10:00. So I left work and rushed over there, calling Mom and Chris on the way to let them know. Chris is having truck problems and had intended to work on his truck this morning before heading to the hospital, but Mom had to go pick him up instead, so with one thing and another, it was noon before they arrived.

About 12:10 the anasthesiologist comes in and starts asking Dad about the breakfast he had this morning. That's right, the hospital served him breakfast this morning before surgery! You see where this is going, right? It was chicken broth, jello, juice, and coffee, but since you're not supposed to eat or dring for at least 8 hours before surgery....

So tomorrow at 1:00 - supposedly.

They're taking his leg tomorrow...

2007-01-31T00:36:00.000-06:00

and that's all I really have to say about it. We were joking today about getting him a peg leg and a talking parrot to sit on his shoulder and an eye patch, so I think I'll go try to find some stuff to take in tomorrow (actually this afternoon) to try to cheer him up a little.

No, it's not gangrene

2007-01-30T08:19:00.000-06:00

I just read Sandie's blog, and no, it's not gangrene. He has a staph infection and a dead toe. His leg needs to come off because the chances are slim that they can get rid of the staph infection and heal the pressure sores because of his diabetes and poor circulation. The surgeon was actually more concerned about the pressure sores than the dead toe. The toe has to come off so that it doesn't turn into gangrene, but if they don't remove his leg, the infection will eventually kill him. It could be several years before that happened though.

I've been expecting this outcome for several days now, and I think that in the end Dad will be healthier without his leg. I think that he's been fighting infections for a long time now, and I know that he's been in pain from that leg.

The final decision has not been made as yet - meaning Dad hasn't actually agreed to the surgery yet - but the doctor is coming in again this afternoon and the decision will probably be made then.

More Info

2007-01-29T14:45:00.000-06:00

I took off work this morning to go wait at the hospital for the doctor. Turned out I got there just in time, and the doctor came in right after I did.

They are just about ready to send Dad home. He does have the infection in both the wound and his blood, but not in his bone. They said that he will need to continue the antibiotics and the wound care, and that could be done at a skilled nursing facility. They aren't completely sure about the fracture and wanted to do an MRI but Dad refused. I didn't push on that one since there's nothing they can do about a fracture at this point - they can't put a cast on it because they have to have access to his wound to take care of it.

I asked about his toe and the doctor said that he felt that a surgeon should look at it but that Dad had refused that as well. Dad said he didn't, but knowing Dad, I'm sure he did. Anyway, we agreed that a surgeon should at least look at it and determine if that is a danger (how could it not be?) and that we would go from there. Like I told Dad, I'd rather see him loose a toe than a foot/leg/life.

Yesterday he did come up with some blood in his stool, so they are going to run additional tests on that as well.

All in all though things are looking okay.

You'll know more when I do.

Still have no idea what's going on...

2007-01-29T08:23:00.000-06:00

I've left a message for the doctor to call me, so maybe I'll find something out today. None of us is ever at the hospital when the doctor shows up, so all of our information comes from the nurses (who are wonderful people, but they can't tell us what our options are, or what his prognosis is) and from Dad. And Dad said that the doctor told him they would only cut off his toe if Dad wanted them to, and he thinks that because he has a staph infection he's going to die.

Granted, a staph infection can kill you, but it doesn't mean that he'g going to die. Unless you don't cut off the dead toe, and then you get gangrene....

Oh, and now his leg might not be fractured!?

Lesley called last night, but somehow I missed the call. She's probably mad at us for not getting ahold of her earlier, but what could we have said? Dad's in the hospital, we don't know what's wrong or what they're going to do about it. Or whether Lesley should come home just in case. And if she did, when should she come? How long could she stay, and how long before we know something definate?

I am very worried about Dad though. He's depressed, hasn't eaten much of anything all week, and just really doesn't seem to care about anything. He doesn't want anyone's pens (that's a really bad sign), he wants Mom to do everything for him - even hold his cup so he can take a drink. He doesn't talk while we're there, doesn't complain about not getting to smoke - well he does occasionally, but not near what you'd expect.

We all kind of dance around the possibilities without really talking about them. I think that we all know he's going to lose at least the toe, maybe more. I'm afraid he won't survive the loss. But we don't talk about it, I guess cuz that might make it all real.

Dad

2007-01-27T22:48:00.000-06:00

Dad's in the hospital again. The nursing home called me on Tuesday and said that he hadn't gotten out of bed that morning, and when they went to check on him, he was difficult to wake up and disoriented. So they took his blood pressure and it was 70 something over 40 something. By the time he got to the hospital it was 70/13.

Many tests later, they determined that somehow his left leg got fractured (at this point we have no idea when or how it happened) and the pressure sores (that he's been going to wound care for months now because they can't get them to heal) on that leg became infected and the infection has moved into his bone.

Right now we don't know what they are planning on doing about all this, except that he's on the strongest antibiotics there are. I was looking at his leg this evening, and he has one toe that is deep purple, almost black. I'm afraid that this time he's going to loose his leg.

I'll post again when I know something definate.

A twin?

2007-01-18T21:29:00.000-06:00

We were watching the National Geographic channel tonight, and they had a show on multiple births: In the Womb. I've always wanted to have twins, so of course I had to watch, and amazingly enough Chris let me! It was a pretty neat show with some really cool 4D images.

I had told Chris once about the vanishing twin syndrome, and how one fetus can be absorbed by the other fetus (or the placenta), so when they started talking about it I called him in to watch. Then they said that some estimate that 1 in 8 people started life as a twin while only 1 in 70 is born a twin. One theory (evolved from "mirror" twins) is that left-handed people were twins in utero!

So maybe I started out as a twin! I guess that could explain why I've always wanted to have twins - 1 girl and 1 boy. I also found out that that's pretty rare, most twins are the same sex. I also found out that I have pretty good odds of having twins because of my age and weight.

I'm on my sixth week of folic acid, which coincided with my expected ovulation (I never figured out when I ovulated on my last period, and I haven't bought another box of testers....), so next month we get to try!

So, what's up with you?

2007-01-18T00:26:00.000-06:00

I've wanted a telescope since I was a kid, and it's just one of those things I never thought about getting. Every time the subject would come up I'd be all "Yeah, I've always wanted one of those!" and then I'd promptly forget about it again. Chris got me one for Christmas, except he couldn't find one in town and I ended up ordering it online. That meant I didn't actually get the telescope until January something. Of course, it arrived during the full moon, which was actually pretty cool - getting to see the craters and lakes and stuff on the moon. But we couldn't see anything else because of all the light from the moon.

So, last weekend would have been the perfect time to use the telescope - no moon. Unfortunately for everyone in Oklahoma, we had that ice storm come thru - lots of clouds, no stars. Ok, no problem. This coming up weekend is supposed to be another good weekend for star-gazing. EXCEPT. We have another ice storm coming in this weekend as well.

Don't you just hate it when you get a new toy and can't play with it?

Not much going on around here other than that. School starts on Monday, I'm taking all internet classes this time, which is going to be nice. Especially if we keep getting this unusual weather. I mean really, we get a couple of storms a year, usually one in January and one in February, and neither of them sticks around for long. Must be global warming or something!

I'm thinking about selling some stuff on ebay, but I have to check out all the fees and talk to Sandie and get the inside scoop on just how much of a pain in the ass I'm setting myself up for.

We were supposed to go see Jamie & Phil, but that's on hold til this weather clears up. I haven't seen them in ages, so that'll be good. Chris wants to get them out to go do something outdoorsy, we'll have to see about that. Maybe some star-gazing if it ever clears up.

I guess that's about it, my life in a nutshell!

I am still alive!

2007-01-16T20:41:00.000-06:00

And I just got my new computer (not a laptop darn it) and my cable internet connection! So right now I'm playing, but I will be able to post more often (whether I will or not is another question), and upload photos, and everything!

Christmas Cheer

2006-12-18T09:13:00.000-06:00

We had an exciting weekend. Friday Chris caught the next-door neighbor’s 5-year-old kid, who had climbed the 6’ privacy fence, squirting Glass Plus at Rascal. Chris asked the kid not to do that because it could make Rascal sick. These people have 4 kids, the oldest is the 5 year old, and the youngest is a couple months old. I can only imagine how busy this woman is, but she lets those kids play outside unsupervised all the time. I personally would not want my 5 year old climbing a 6’ tall fence, especially when if he falls, it’s going to be on a concrete sidewalk. But that’s just me.

Friday night we went to a client’s Christmas party – they gave me one of those box towers of truffles – you know, a 5 boxes that get progressively bigger, stacked up, and each box has a different flavor in it! Yum. So we got home fairly late, and I didn’t go to bed until after 2:00. I woke up around 10:00 and walked into the living room to find a bottle of Glass plus, minus the sprayer part of it, laying on the floor. There was still just a little wetness inside the bottle, but I didn’t find any wet spots in the house, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Then about an hour later, I found the spray part of the bottle, chewed up, along with the little tube that sucks up the liquid. About an hour after that, Rascal threw up, and her head started bobbing, kinda like she had a mild Parkinson’s or something.

So of course we rushed her to the emergency vet, and they decided they wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Turned out she was fine, they did bloodwork to make sure her kidneys and what all were okay. And of course, everyone there was gathered around her cuz she’s the sweetest, cutest thing you ever did see, and one of these days I’ll get some more pictures up so that you can see for yourselves!

Chris is terribly upset. Well, ok, he’s pissed. We’re going to give the vet bill to the neighbors and ask them to pay it, but I really don’t think they will. It was $215 that I would rather have spent somewhere else, but it’s worth knowing that Rascal is okay.

In other news, my Christmas shopping is done, except I’ve got to pick up a few stuffers’ for Mom’s stocking. Oh, and someone I know hasn’t bothered to tell me what she wants for Christmas. HINT HINT HINT. I’m going today to get some gift cards, and I’d really hate for that to be this person’s gift, but since I’m running out of time………….

If I don’t make it back here before then, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Happy Holidays!

Hello again!

2006-12-09T11:39:00.000-06:00

I’m just finishing up a nice long vacation. I was scheduled to be off this last week, but with the snow storm the previous Thursday, I’ve been off work since 11/30/06! Of course, I don’t think I have enough vacation time to cover the whole period, but it was still pretty nice.

Actually, it would have been pretty nice if I didn’t have this sinus infection for the whole time! I’m finally pretty much over it, but it did put a stop to most of our vacation plans. We ended up staying home and sleeping a lot. We did get a little Christmas shopping done, but not near what I had originally planned – and always after 5:00. Really smart, huh?

I did get 2 pieces of good news this week though. First, I won second place on the ethics essay contest I entered - $500 scholarship for next semester! With the other school scholarship I got, that covers all of my classes and part of my books as well!

The second was that my last pap was normal!!!!!!!! Thank God. Now, I have to take folic acid for 6 weeks, and then we can start trying to get pregnant. I know, I should have already been taking the folic acid. I just never even thought about it.

This week is the first time I’ve ever really felt my biological clock ticking. It started even before I got the test results back. I was flipping channels, and there was a video on CMT (yes Jamie, I’m actually starting to like country music – a little! And just the newer, rock-type country). The father was singing the song about his little boy and how the little boy wanted to grow up just like his dad. And it was the cutest tow-headed little boy. And I wanted to have that, and to give that to Chris.

From that point on, everything on TV has little kids or pregnant women, and I want that so bad. I’ve always wondered if I could even get pregnant, you know, 36 years old and it’s never happened, and there’s been plenty of opportunity. Always before I thought “If it happens, great. If not, that’s okay too.” And now I really want to be a mom and I’m afraid that it won’t happen. So now we just have to wait and see.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T08:24:00.000-06:00

We're gearing up for turkey day - one of my favorite holidays. I look forward all year long to that huge turkey dinner, and all of the left-overs that go along with it. Chris and I picked up an 18 pound turkey - he say's it's going to fit into the fryer, I sure hope so. Mom's picking up a couple turkey breasts just in case.

We're going to be at Mom's pretty much all day tomorrow. We're supposed to pick up Dad around 10:00, and he wants to stay "late late late late", so don't plan on taking him back too early. Cheryl, a friend of his at the nursing home may be coming over as well. Her family told her they'd get her on Friday instead of Thursday, so she would be alone all day - well, not alone but not with family either. But then they may have changed their minds and she won't know for sure until tomorrow morning. Whichever - we've got plenty of food, and that's really what this holiday is about, isn't it? Family and friends.

So have a Happy Thanksgiving, eat until you burst, sleep until you wake up, and eat again. That's my plan for the day anyway.

Christmas in November

2006-11-20T10:43:00.000-06:00

At work we listen to an easy listening/pop type station. It does have some current hits that it plays, but overall it's a much milder station than what I normally listen to, reference the horror. I turned it on this morning, and they are already on the ALL CHRISTMAS ALL THE TIME mode.

It's not even Thanksgiving yet people!

I do have to admit that I've already started shopping and am pretty much done with both my Dad and Chris' Dad. Oh, and Chris' combo birthday/Christmas gift should be in any day now. Other than that, I have't done crap.

I called Lesley the other day to get the kids wish lists and she told me they won't do those until after Thanksgiving. I reminded her that I have to ship all that crap up there, and I'm not the quickest about getting that shit done, but I couldn't convince her to do it any sooner. So I'm saying now, I don't want to hear a word if presents arrive late AGAIN this year!

We're not putting up the tree this year. We decided that since anything that rests even a little bit near the floor is an automatic dog toy, it wouldn't be wise to try to put anything within the dogs reach - which includes the tree, the presents, the stockings, and any decorations that would go on either the coffee table or the mantle!

Speaking of the dog, I bought the rechargeable batteries for my digital camera, but have now lost the plug-in to it and so cannot recharge the rechargeable batteries. I keep meaning to stop and buy some regular batteries until such time as I find the plug-in, but of course I keep forgetting. Rascal has grown so much, and has the cutest mask on her face, and she makes the funniest noises. One of these days I'll get some pictures/videos taken and be able to post them. Some day.

Trainwrecks and SAHM's

2006-11-10T14:42:00.000-06:00

I’ve been reading Trainwrecks lately, I can’t remember for sure where I first found the link, but Contrary has listed it, so we’ll credit her (thanks Contrary). It’s a sometimes very interesting and sometimes very boring site that finds heated disputes (a.k.a. idiots spouting off insane ideas while other idiots rebutt them). Mommy bloggers appear to be Trainwrecks favorite group to laugh at, and after reading some of these items I have to agree with that.

What got me today was the group of people discussing whether or not being a SAHM is a right or a priveledge, and one person actually wrote that it was a right even though her husband doesn’t work either and they live on welfare and food stamps. Unfortunately, you can’t respond on the original sites without registering, and since I’m not a Mom, and I really don’t plan on visiting again, I didn’t get a chance to weigh in with my opinion. Right my ass.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem at all with SAHM’s. Sandie’s one, well, I guess she’s a SAHGM, but still. If your family can afford for you to stay home with the kids, more power to you. A lot of families can’t afford that though, and my issue is when these people say that the government (meaning me and you) should have to pay them for staying at home to take care of their children. One woman was so fanatical about the idea that she said that even though she’s pro-Life, she voted for an abortion bill because if a woman can’t stay home with her kids she shouldn’t have any. Apparently it’s child abuse to put your child in day care!

Monday I go back to Ada to find out if we can start trying to get pregnant. I hope we find out Monday, but they’ll probably do a pap and I’ll have to wait a couple weeks to get the results back before I find out for sure. I’ve been supposed to be tracking my ovulation to make sure that I am ovulating, but the test strips I picked up say that you should test between 10am and 12pm, and that you shouldn’t have gone to the bathroom for the last 4 hours. I’ve had a couple of problems with that. First, I’m at work during those times and usually I’m not thinking “Oh, I’ve got to go see if I’m ovulating” and second, I haven’t been able to hold it for 4 hours in a couple years now! I know – TMI. So I don’t know if I’ve been ovulating or not. Which is really going to make it difficult to get pregnant since we’re not supposed to have unprotected sex for another 6 months EXCEPT for when I’m ovulating.

What a pain in the ass it all is. The point of the above is that Chris and I have talked a lot about what we expect from each other when we do have kids. He’s always wanted me to be a SAHM, his mother was until her death. My mother was until I was a teenager, and then she started her business. We both agree that there are definate advantages to that. Unfortunately, there are definate disadvantages as well, money being the biggest one. And I’ve always said that I want to work at least part time. I have these issues about earning my own money and paying my own way. Chris and I had some fairly serious discussions shortly after we first got together – I was unemployed for a month (with no savings) and refused to accept any money from him to pay any bills. I let him feed me of course, but I wouldn’t take money to make the car payment or insurance or anything. He got pretty pissed about it. I have a hard time asking for help, and I really hate to ask for money, and it would just bug the shit out of me if I had to go to him every time I wanted to go buy a book or whatever.

Then, the more we’ve talked about it, we’ve decided that we really don’t want our kids to be in public school. Neither of us feels like it’s a safe place, and we don’t feel that our kids would get a quality education in public schools. Yes, there are some wonderful teachers out there. There are also those teachers out there who can barely read themselves, and I really don’t want those types of teachers around my children. And in public schools, I don’t have any say about who teaches my children. So, we would have to either have the money to put the kids in private school (which a lot of those are religious schools, a whole different issue), or we would have to home-school our children.

My attitude has also changed since I’ve been back in school myself. I’m enjoying my college years and being active in my club. I find myself wanting to be more involved, and work just keeps getting in the way of that! So maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be a SAHM, assuming that I could still go to school and do those things that interest me.

I’ll tell you this much though, you’ll never hear me say that everyone else needs to pay so that I can stay home with my kids and teach them that it’s the government’s job (which makes it MY job as a taxpayer) to take care of them.

Opportunity and Regret

2006-10-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

I received another invitation last weekend. This one was from some Laureate Scholars program, and was an invitation to go to China, Australia, or Central and Eastern Europe (including Hungary and Venice!) Of course I knew immediately that there was no way I was going to be able to go, even if it was a legitimate offer (which I haven’t checked, since I can’t go anyway). But the very idea that I could go to another country – and I’ve always wanted to go to both Australia and Europe, especially Venice, and Chris still has family in Hungary – makes me regret that I didn’t stay in school back when I was young and free and didn’t have responsibilities so that when I got these kinds of offers I could actually go.

And then I realized that even if I had stayed in school way back when, I probably wouldn’t have done nearly as well as I am now, and that I am getting a lot more out of my education now than I ever would have before.

All this has had me thinking about opportunities and regrets. Mostly regrets. You know the old saying, it’s what you don’t do that you regret. I’ve decided, at least for me, that this is pretty much true. To this day, I still regret that I agreed not to go to that Pink Floyd concert in 1987. It was in Joplin or Kansas City, I can’t remember, and it was the last tour before they had that last disagreement and split up forever. We had the tickets and the acid, and everything was set. I hadn’t asked if I could go, since I knew there was no way in hell Mom was going to let me go to a concert in another state. Hell, I wasn’t allowed to drive to the next city! But she found out and we agreed to a trade, she’d do something I’d wanted and I wouldn’t go. That didn’t quite work out as planned, and I’ve always regretted it.

So if I regret what I didn’t do, how about the things I did do. The thing that immediately popped into my head was, of course, my drug use, and the relationship that I was involved in back in 1998, and all of the drama that went along with it. And I realized that, No, I don’t regret that, not even shooting up meth. If I hadn’t been in the situation that I was, I would never have accepted Sandie’s life-saving invitation to move here and start over. (Have I ever really thanked you for that? If not, I need to, very badly, because I really do believe that you saved my life.) If I hadn’t moved here when I did, I wouldn’t have gotten the job that I did. If I hadn’t gotten the job that I did, I wouldn’t have met Chris. And I never would have met my perfect match. (Oh, isn’t that just so sappy?)

So even though it was a terrible time in my life, and I did things that I swore I would never do, and at the time I felt like I was running away from everything rather than running TO something else, if it hadn’t all happened, I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I just cannot regret that.

But I am going to regret, just a little, that I’m not young and single and able to drop everything to go to Australia or Europe.

X-Men III

2006-10-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

I've been a fan of the X-Men for many years now. The first I ever saw of them was on Saturday morning cartoons (and yes, I watched Saturday cartoons up until just a few years ago) and boy, was I hooked! I even started getting the comic books. I knew all the different story lines, including the alternate universe ones.

As you can imagine, when the first movie came out I was ecstatic! And they did a great job with the first one, followed the comic books pretty well, and what they didn't follow didn't detract from the movie.

When the second one came out, I was a little leery - you know how sequels work. But again I was pleasantly surprised.

Then there was a third one coming out, and I told Chris that we might actually have to go to the theater to see it - and I haven't been in a movie theater since I was a teenager! Then we didn't hear anymore about it, so I thought it had gotten held up for some reason. The next thing I knew it came out on video. Okay, I don't know how I missed that, but we ordered it from Netflix, and we got it yesterday.

We watched it last night, and I was SO disappointed. Most of the effects are great, and there's a decent fight scene or two, but all of the characters were flat. I didn't see the same character personalities from the first two, and there was no real development of the new characters. It was almost like they did it just for the effects and fight scenes.

It wasn't so bad I wanted to turn it off or anything, but it wasn't what I was hoping for, not by a long shot.

Shoot me now, please

2006-10-19T11:58:00.000-05:00

I was just singing along with the radio, and when the song was over, they said it was Nick what's his name - you know, Nick & Jessica. And I was actually enjoying the song!

Please, just shoot me!

Irony

2006-10-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

The biggest issue Chris had at his last 2 jobs was that he wasn't working as quickly as they thought he should. The other day, he told his helper to go home because "I'm not going to pay him to stand around smoking cigarettes and throw the ball for the dog."

Of course, Chris' bosses on those last 2 jobs wanted him to go to a house, throw some freon in, and leave without spending any more time there, and Chris would stay long enough to actually fix whatever the problem was, whereas his helper was just standing around smoking. I still thought it was pretty funny - though I didn't tell Chris that!

Arkansas Part 2 (finally)

2006-10-09T15:27:00.000-05:00

After safely escaping from Pine Bluff, we stopped for dinner at Western Sizzlin’ in Hot Springs. It cost us almost $25.00 for the two of us for the buffet meal? I asked about it, and it turns out that in Hot Springs, the sales tax at a restaurant is 11%! 11%. Did you see that? 11% WTF???? We won’t be eating in Hot Springs ever again!!!

I wanted to do some crystal digging, and had done my research online and found a place that let you dig by the hour instead of having to pay for the whole day. So I called to find out how late they were open and all that, and she told us of a couple campgrounds within a few miles of where she’s located. One had a shower but was much busier, and the other had some nice restrooms but no shower and fewer people. We chose the fewer people. This is the view from the tent:

We got there right before sunset, and so were frantically trying to get our monster tent up (for the very first time) before it got dark. We didn’t make it. Chris can get very imaginative when it comes to cursing! Here’s the picture I took of the monster tent the next morning:

We did however get the privy set up and I got to use it for the first time! Totally awesome, and I don’t know how I ever camped without one before. I certainly will never do so again!

Sunday morning we got a slow start, and finally headed over to Crystal Seen just about noon. Julie was very helpful and friendly, and gave us way too much information to take in all at once. There was a big pile of dirt, and we had some gardening tools and we dug to our heart’s content. Chris found all of the good stuff – most of what I found were broken pieces and little flakes, although I did find some small points. Here’s the biggest piece Chris found:

That picture is just about real size!

After we finished digging crystals, we headed for Talihina Drive – which was absolutely beautiful. I want to go back at the end of the month when more of the trees have changed color. Here’s a couple pictures:

and

Then we headed to get our puppy, whom I’ve already introduced you to, so here’s a picture, just cuz I can!

And finally, on our way home from picking up Rascal, we stopped to see some friends who live outside Shawnee – in BFE. On the way back out, we saw this:

This is a copperhead, and Chris took the picture from about a foot away. I of course was have a little freak out back in the truck, but he did get an awesome picture, and the snake never did try to bite him, so it was all good.

And then we were home!

Nothing makes me feel quite as bad

2006-10-03T16:12:00.000-05:00

As Dad calling me and saying that he wasn't sure if he could call me since I got mad at him yesterday and hung up on him. And never called him back. And didn't go and see him like I promised I would.

I forget sometimes that he's like a little kid that way. You don't make promises you're not going to keep, and you don't punish by ignoring. Which isn't what I was trying to do, but it's what I did.

He's so difficult to deal with sometimes, and yet I feel so sorry for him and worry so much about him, and love him so very much....

If I didn't have a test tonight (that I'm not prepared for anyway), I'd cut class and go spend some time with him. Maybe tomorrow I'll take Rascal up there to see him, spend a couple hours before going home.

Our newest family member

2006-10-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

I was going to post Arkansas part 2 first, but I have to show off our new daughter, who I believe is going to be named Rascal.

We've taken several pictures of her, but she won't sit still long enough to get a good one. She moved her head on the one above just as I snapped the picture.

This is the only other decent one I've been able to get of her. She is totally fearless and has had no problem moving to a new home. She knows who her Mom and Dad are, and already has Daddy wrapped around that little paw.

Don't worry, you'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of her, but I've got to get back to work now!

Having a bad life

2006-10-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

I never really wanted that much out of life. I didn’t dream of being a rock star or a movie star. I never wanted to be rich and famous. Well, rich, but not famous. I just wanted to grow up and do my own thing.

I don’t like the person I am right now. I don’t like constantly fighting with both of my parents about money. Every conversation is a struggle and I just can’t do it anymore.

I’m going to talk to Chris tonight, but I’m thinking about turning everything back over to Mom and telling both of them that’s it. If they want to spend every dime they have on junk, then that’s fine. But when the money’s gone, I’m not going to be buying them cigarettes, or paying for trips to the casino, or anything like that.

I’m just so tired of being the responsible one. The ONLY responsible one. They don’t seem to understand that this isn’t 20 years ago. They aren’t rich. In fact, they spend several thousand dollars more a month than they have coming in. And yet they want to know where it goes and why they can’t do all those things they used to do.

I want to go to work in the morning and go home every evening to my husband. I want to have weekly phone calls with my parents and occasional visits, and that’s all. I don’t want to have to deal with the drama anymore. I’m not sure I can even if I wanted to.

I want to be able to focus on my life instead of theirs. Is that really so much to ask?

Arkansas Part 1

2006-10-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

We made it back from Arkansas in one piece. It was looking a little scary there for a while, but we made it safe and sound.

We left Friday morning (late of course!), and made it to Pinebluff before 6:00. We drove past a city lake less than a mile from the hotel, so Chris was pretty excited that there would be nearby fishing. About 2 blocks from the hotel we watched a crack deal going down (great), and when we checked into the hotel it looked pretty good, they were obviously doing some remodeling but there was no obviously damaged areas until you got upstairs to the rooms, which were nice and big and had balconies and a fridge and coffee pot in the room. They also had water damage and peeling wallpaper, but you know, when you pay $70.00 for a room what do you expect? (That was the PTK discounted rate, regular rate was $85.00.) Of course, I expect at least the quality that I would get for $40.00 at say a Motel 6 or wherever, but that’s just me.

I had a meeting Friday night, so Chris went up to the room and took a nap (that he wouldn’t wake up from) and then I went to the room and tried to sleep over the DJ and karaoke that was playing 5 floors below me. They sounded like they were right on my balcony. I gave up trying to sleep and decided to watch tv, but had to turn it up so loud to hear the dialogue that I was really surprised I didn’t wake Chris up. Then I decided that since I wasn’t going to sleep, I might as well make a pot of coffee, because surely there was going to be some at breakfast in the morning, so I wouldn’t need to have coffee in the room. Right? Except the coffee pot and both of the cups they provided were dirty – as in they might have been rinsed out after the last people used them, but they sure as hell hadn’t been washed. I think there was still some left-over creamer in the bottom of one of the mugs!

Saturday morning we get up and head downstairs to get our complimentary breakfast. You’d think by this point that I wouldn’t have high expectations, but I’m an eternal optimist and was looking forward to some eggs or bagels or something. How about a nice bowl of cold cereal along with a shriveled up apple? No coffee. There was orange juice, and what I hope was apple juice, but I wasn’t getting anywhere near it to find out for sure. Chris and I headed for McDonalds, where we ordered our usuals and where, as usual, they messed up the order. We finally got that straightened out and were enjoying breakfast until I bit into my hashbrown and some brown shell thing that I didn’t look too closely at. Sometimes I just really don’t want to know!

We made it back in time for my meetings to start, they were about what you would expect. The conference was a mini-institute over PTK’s honor study topic for 2006-2008, which is Gold, Gods, and Glory – The Global Dynamics of Power, a relevant topic for the times. We had 3 general sessions for everyone, one on Gold, one on Gods, and one on Glory. Then there was a “breakout” session where you got to pick one of 5 speakers you wanted to go listen to. 3 of them were related to the 3 G’s, one was on this case study deal, and one was on the PTK alumni organization. I chose to go to the Gods breakout session, and the speaker had me from the very beginning. The first words he said were “There is only one God. Whether you are Muslim (he was), Christian, whatever, they are all the same God.” Which is pretty much what I’ve always believed. So we had an interesting discussion about the 1st Crusade, and how it was just as much about Gold and Glory as it was about God. Very interesting.

Then we went back for the Gods general session where we got to listen to a minister (who convinced me he was a fanatic) try to give us logical reasons why Creationism should be taught in school right alongside Evolutionism. And then there was a lively debate afterwards that looked like it could have gone on for hours. And it was lunch time and I was hungry (scared to eat, but hungry), so luckily the question and answer segment of this session was cut short.

On the subject, my main question about teaching Creationism in school is “Which version of the creation story are you going to teach? The Christian one? The Muslim one? How about the many Native American ones? Or the Buddist, or whatever other ones are out there?” Isn’t that part of what you learn at church – whichever church you go to? And what about the atheists? Are you going to force them to learn your religion regardless of their beliefs?

Then we went and had a really awesome catered lunch, after which I called Chris to see if he wanted to come and visit before the next session started. So he did, and informs me that he had gone to the lake to see how the fishing looked, and ran into a local who told him that that was the best fishing lake in the area, but that he didn’t want to go there. Chris asked “Alligators?” cuz apparently there are alligators in the area, so you don’t want to do any swimming there, and the guy says “No, you’ll just get mugged and shot.” Oh, well, if that’s all! Apparently, we were not in a particularly safe part of town.

That was the last exciting thing that happened in Pinebluff. As soon as the last session was over, we hoped in the car and got the hell out of there! We headed toward Mt. Ida to camp since I wanted to do some digging for crystals the next morning. More about that later since this is already a long post.

To be continued……

Almost in Trouble!

2006-09-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

Chris called me at lunch today while I was at Petsmart getting the "bare necessities" for the new puppy we're getting on Sunday. We've only met the people we're getting her from once before, and they thought we were someone else when Chris called to see if they still had pups left. So they called Mark and said they weren't sure they wanted to give the dog to us, cuz they wanted it to go to a good home. So Mark explained that no, we weren't those people and that we'd take really good care of the new pup.

Chris calls to tell me this and I told him to reassure them that I was already spending too much money on this dog we didn't even have yet. This dog is going to be well taken care of! Of course, Chris wanted to know how much was way to much money, so I asked how much would I get in trouble for? (Exasperated Sigh) $150.00. Oh good, I only spend $137.

After a moment of dead silence, he asked what all I had bought. Well, by the time you buy the bed (since the poor thing is going to be living in the laundry room until it's house broken), the training pads, the toys, the food & treats, and the training book, and the spill proof bowls, and the collar and leash, and I'm quite sure I'm forgetting something....It kinda adds up quick!

Can you tell I'm just a little excited? I'm going to teach her how to do tricks. Chris says it won't work with a Heeler, but we'll see.

Families!

2006-09-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

I find myself struck by the contrariness of people. Just over a year and a half ago, the whole family was up in arms, “You’ve got to do something about your mother.” and “How could you have let her drive to Tahlequah for your wedding shower? You should’ve gone to pick her up because she doesn’t have any business driving.” And now, today, when I express concern about the fact that Mom is planning on driving Grandma back to Tulsa this weekend, I hear “Who am I to say that she can’t drive wherever she wants to” and “I’m 74 years old and drive everywhere I want to go.” Actually, no you don’t, because that’s why Mom is planning on driving Grandma home, because Grandma doesn’t feel comfortable driving all that way anymore, and hasn’t for years.

Apparently we offended Grandma last night by suggesting that we weren’t sure if it was a good idea for Mom to take Grandma home, especially if Phil is willing to come and get her. I realize that parents are protective of their children, but come on, it’s not like I’m trying to pick on Mom or something. It just happens that after receiving 3-4 phone calls from the highway patrol to come and pick Mom up or they are going to have to arrest her, the little fender benders, the major accident that should have killed her....I feel justified in being a little concerned. Remember this?

It was a very difficult decision to even get Mom another car. One the one hand, at the time of the wreck we were trying a little experiment called ‘Let Mom have control of her drugs’. That experiment didn’t work and so we moved onto the ‘Sherri is going to dole out your drugs for you’ and the ‘I don’t care how much you overdid it today, I’m not giving you an extra pain pill’ approach. Which seems to be working pretty well. It’s very rare now that Mom seems “out of it” and drugged up – although we still have a lot of those overdid it days (2-3 a week). Unfortunately, now that Mom has moved into her own place and I am not planning on seeing her every single day, we have moved onto the ‘I’ll give you a weeks worth of drugs at a time, and if you run out early I don’t want to hear a word about it’ approach. We’re still waiting to see how this one works out. But we did get her a car, she got a 2005 Chevy Impala and is very pleased with it, even if it is gold. (Don’t even get me started on the color issue! Who buys a car based on what color it is? My mother, that’s who!) I'll post pictures of it as soon as I see it in the daylight.

So Chris and I are going to Arkansas this weekend for another PTK event. We’re going to follow the bus there, and then Saturday afternoon when the PTK deal is over, we’re going to go somewhere to camp, and he’s going to do some fishing. I want to stop at one of the crystal mines and see if I can’t dig me up some crystals. Chris didn’t look very excited by the prospect, but I’m going to make him stop for at least an hour! Then on Sunday, we’re going to go pick up our new puppy. I’ve got to go shopping and get all of the necessary items – training pads, a bed, some toys and food, and of course a book on training since I haven’t had a puppy in years and am not sure I remember squat about housebreaking and teaching “sit” and “stay” and all those other necessary commands! But I am very excited and can’t wait to go get her. Stay tuned for lots of pictures.

Birthday Gifts

2006-09-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

Lesley sent me a package for my birthday. I'm not sure when I got it, I found it in the kitchen over the weekend, and no one could tell me when it came! Anyway, it had these really cool Lapis Lazuli and Malachite Soap Rocks. They smell really really good, and they actually look like rocks. Chris wasn't sure it wasn't a rock until he scratched one of them!

Anyway, they are really cool and I almost hate to use them, but I'm gonna! She also got me a decorated candle that has a tea light holder in the top of it. Pretty cool. I'll see if I can't take a picture of it to post on here later.

Awesome gifts, and Chris can't complain that I bought some useless pretty's since they were a gift! Thanks Lesley!!!

ftworthmesquite106

2006-09-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

ftworthmesquite106
Originally uploaded by bookworm91770.

We found this mesquite tree outside the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. It is the largest mesquite tree I've ever seen. I don't think that 3 people could hold hands around it!

My Misspent Youth

2006-09-19T11:19:00.000-05:00

Sandie says she’s never heard this story, I thought I’d told it to everyone by now. Steph tells it a lot better, but I’ll do my best. Mom, you’ll want to stop reading now.

Back in the day we used to do a lot of drugs. Mostly pot, but some acid and pills as well. Being teenagers and therefore invincible, we often would walk around downtown late at night looking for stuff to do. Sometimes we’d find a building we could get on the roof of and go party up there. Sometimes we’d talk to the pimps and their ho’s. And sometimes, we’d hop trains. The trains always slow down going thru town and you could run up behind them, grab the ladder, and jump on. Usually we’d only ride it a mile or two before jumping off, but sometimes we’d get stuck for several miles – it would speed up too fast and we'd have to wait for it to slow down enough to jump back off. Once we ended up at least 10 miles out, that was a hell of a walk.

We had several places we’d go to hop trains, but one of our favorites was at an overpass. We could stand under it and smoke some weed while waiting for the train. This particular night, which was early in the morning November 1st, we waited for a long time but didn’t see a train. So we started walking along the tracks, picking up various stuff to put on the tracks. There were 4 of us this night, and we were walking in a line rather than all together. Steph was in the lead and she bent down to pick up a shoe lying beside the tracks. Just as her hand touched it, she realized that there was a leg attached. Well, part of a leg. We walked a little further down and found the rest of the body.

We found out later that the guy used to be a reporter in Dallas, but when it happened he was a bum who had tried to hop the train and missed. His leg was caught by one of the wheels and he was dragged for several yards. Of course we were all shocked and freaked out. I was convinced that it was a mannequin, and that someone had played a Halloween joke by putting it on the tracks to try to freak out the conductor.

After a brief discussion and a major freak out, we ran back to the car and got the hell out of there. We made an anonymous call to report it and saw in the papers the next day that he had been a well-known reporter some time ago in Dallas.

And that was the last time we ever hopped a train.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-09-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

Chris spent the last week preparing my birthday surprise. Not very subtly either! Phone calls right in front of me, where I know they are discussing it, but can’t get enough detail to figure out what’s going on. Bastard! He knows I hate waiting on surprises, so of course he delights in surprising me!

He did give me one too many hints though. I did guess where we were going – wasn’t absolutely sure, but I figured it was a good bet. Still, he did very well at keeping the secret. From me anyway. Everyone else knew what it was. The guys were all over for Monday night football last week, giving me shit about it! Bastards!

Saturday morning we headed downtown for my very first legal train ride! We were calling it my very first train ride, and then I remembered “Oh yeah, Steph and I, we used to hop trains.” (Remember the body we found?) Freight trains, not passenger trains, and I’m not sure hanging off the back of a train really counts….

We hopped on the Heartland Flier from OKC to Ft. Worth. There were 4 stops between here and there. The only one we could get off for a smoke break was at Ardmore – a whole 2 minutes! I swear I thought I’d just smoked a really good joint I was head-rushing so badly! I’m not sure what time we arrived in Ft. Worth, but we got off the train expecting to hop in a cab for a short trip to the hotel and then off to explore downtown Ft. Worth.

The first glitch came when we found that there were no cabs waiting in front of the train station. Apparently the train was about an hour late coming in and none of the taxi’s had waited. We got a security guard to call us a taxi who arrived pretty quickly. And then we drove and drove and drove some more. Chris and I are looking at each other going I thought our hotel was downtown. Turns out there’s a Cherry St. downtown and a Cherry Lane about 20 miles away from downtown and we ended up on Cherry Lane!

Normally I make all of our travel arrangements, but since this was a surprise for me, Chris had his Dad make the arrangements. What is truly hilarious about this situation is that Ted is the most anal person ever about double-checking and making sure everything is exactly how you want it before you ever go anywhere. He always creates a trip itinerary as soon as he decides he’s going somewhere and updates it as soon as 1 detail changes. “Oh, we’re leaving at 4:05 instead of 4:00?” New itinerary. So he was horrified when Chris called him to harass him about the mix up.

Originally, Chris had planned that we would go to the Jazz Festival being held downtown and we’d hit a fairly nice restaurant for dinner. Instead we decided that it would be cheaper to have something delivered, so we ordered Fuddrucker’s. I’d never eaten there before and it’s not bad. The onion rings aren’t all that great, but everything else was good.

Sunday we walked over to IHOP for breakfast and then called a cab to come and take us downtown. The original plan had been to leave our bags at the hotel until we were ready to go back to the train station, but obviously that wasn’t going to work now, so we found out that the bus station had lockers we could use. An hour and a half after calling 2 different cab companies, one finally showed up, and we headed for the station. Chris ran in to get a locker while I sat in the cab watching the rain just pour out of the sky. After about 10 minutes, this guy walks up to the cab and tells us that a bus is going to be pulling up in a few minutes, how long are we going to be? Right about then, I look out the back window and see Chris dashing across the street after some guy, they turn around and go back inside. WTF?

Turns out the lockers are computerized. You put your bag in, then go to the key pad and enter the locker number, insert some money, and it’s supposed to lock the locker and give you a receipt. Except when the guy Chris chased down entered in his locker number, it locked our locker. And we didn’t have a receipt. So Chris had to find a manager to open the locker, chase down the other guy for the second time (after which he “loaned” him one of our umbrellas) and we finally got the receipt for our locker.

The other guy was waiting on the train and was going to get a drink. It was really pouring by this time, so Chris loaned him one of our umbrellas, cuz the guy was going to be right back. Except he wasn’t, and there was a cab (actually in front of the station!!!), so we hopped in it and headed to the cultural district, in the rain, with one small umbrella.

We went to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History, and then back to the train station for the trip home.

All in all, I had a wonderful time. Chris was a bit upset – first the hotel, then we watched the OU game (we won’t talk about that, other than to say that the refs were blind and cheated), and then all the cab issues that we had. But I enjoyed every minute of the time I got to spend with my wonderful husband who planned such a wonderful surprise for me.

Now, I just have to figure out what I’m going to do for his birthday!

School Stuff

2006-09-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well, in the last couple weeks I've received a couple invitations that I'm pretty proud about. The first is that I've been asked to tutor an Accounting Lab. The college has always had a Math Lab and a Computer Lab, those kind of labs, but they've never had an Accounting Lab and they've asked me to work it Monday nights. It's a non-paying position of course, but it looks good on my transcripts and on scholarship and employment applications.

I received a phone call yesterday with the second invitation. I've been asked to be on the Accounting Advisory Committee at RSC. We will be looking over the curriculum to see if it meets accounting students needs and what, if any, changes there needs to be. It's a one shot deal, but the Dean of the accounting department at UCO (which is where I want to go after finishing at RSC!) is going to be there, and there will be other people to network with.

Kinda cool.

I got my National Dean's List book over the weekend. I have a little 2 line, maybe 3, blurb in there. Looks like next year will have a few extras to put in there!

There are pictures!

2006-09-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

P1010271
Originally uploaded by lesleyweiler.

Of the kids. On Lesley's blog. From Flickr

Look at how much Taylor has grown! I almost didn't recognize him in some of those pictures. And Kyra looks JUST like Lesley. And my very first pictures of Beamer. I'm going to save them to disc and take them to the store and print them all.

PICTURES!!!!!

Another Really Long Post

2006-09-10T21:06:00.000-05:00

We went to Britt’s birthday party last night. Bob was there (Hi Bob), and it was nice to see him again. He looks like he’s doing well, very busy in an apprenticeship program so he’s going to school and working 2 jobs. He’s excited about it, and I think he’s going to do very well. Saw Bridge, she’s gotten a better job and is doing great. It’s kind of sad, everyone’s growing up. Someone, I think it was Bridge, said something about seeing Huey Lewis in concert, and I said “That’s the very first concert I ever went to!” And then I realized that was 20 years ago. *sigh*

I don’t usually do the italics sigh thing, but it was really appropriate there.

I asked Sandie what Britt’s into when she called to see if we were coming to the party. Books. Of course. The women in this family are the readingest people I’ve ever met. It’s that H. gene. Chris asked if Britt had any Dr. Seuss, cuz that was his favorite as a kid. Nope, they’ve checked some out at the library but don’t have any. Chris was horrified and immediately declared that she had to have “Green Eggs and Ham” and Sam I Am, better known as “The Cat in the Hat".

Yet again, I do my job as a good aunt/cousin and provide gifts that are both fun and educational! As soon as Britt saw that they were books, she started tearing at the paper with both hands. We actually had to take the books away from her so she’d open the next present! She had a great haul though, and lots of clothes and toys including a computer from Gigi that she wouldn’t quit playing with either. Grandpa was upset, they got her a new kitchen, and it didn’t have any of the accessories in the box.

Sandie asked if I was ever going to blog again? I said I don’t ever do anything to blog about anymore. She said I never did and it hadn’t stopped me before! True enough. ;)

Personally, I’ve been a little stressed and depressed lately, so I’ve been making an effort to get some more “me” time. There are several lakes not far from here, and when I can, I stop by on my way home from work and spend some time sitting in the grass, looking out over the lake, watching and listening to the birds, the fish jumping, the wind. Just enjoying. I need to start meditating again, and I’ve even been thinking about trying some yoga or something.

September 1st was the opening of dove season, and that was the holiday weekend, so we were all set for a long weekend out at Sandy Sanders WMA. Chris left Thursday morning to get the preferred campsite. I was supposed to drive out there Saturday morning. It started raining there on Friday night and didn’t stop til Sunday evening. Chris called me Saturday, right before I was going to leave and said the roads were mud and it took them an hour in a 4-wheel drive to get somewhere they could call me. So I had 3 whole days to do anything I wanted!

I used to just get in my car and go sometimes. Pick a direction and see where I ended up. I never went very far, never outside the state, but I’d load up the car and get on a highway and look for something interesting. I’ve had that urge again lately, so I loaded up the car and headed west. Saturday I drove halfway out to Sandy Sanders. That way, if the rain cleared and the roads dried, I could go ahead and meet Chris. There’s these Cherokee Trading Post signs all along I-40, and I’ve always wanted to stop in but never had. So I did, and found a couple of CD’s, and a couple books as well as some Christmas gifts. Sunday and Monday I just drove around, and stopped at some parks and lakes, and just enjoyed myself.

We closed on Mom’s house Friday. Chris decided that he’s not up to (prior injury) moving all of the heavy furniture upstairs, so we’re going to hire a moving company. Then Dad knew someone who knew someone (you know where this is going, don’t you?) and it was Friday before we found out she couldn’t get ahold of the person. So, Mom’s a little upset, cuz with one thing and another, we didn’t get her moved this weekend. Chris is supposed to get something lined out on Monday.

Dad’s a bit upset cuz we’ve told him that he’s not going to be going to be able to get upstairs. He swears up and down that he’s walked up stairs for years and doesn’t understand why we say he can’t now. Hmmm, do you think it has anything to do with the fact that he can’t walk across the room anymore? I know it’s tough to admit that there’s things you can’t do anymore. I’m starting to run into the same thing myself, and I’m only 36 (in another week). But I’m not going to let him fall down the stairs just to prove a point. So he’s mad at me right now. And this after he gave me some book money for my birthday! I’m a terrible, terrible daughter!!!

That reminds me, I am in desperate need of a laptop computer. Well, maybe not desperate, but I really really really want one. And it would be useful at school. I’ve wanted one for a couple years now, and every time we get money set aside for it, something else comes up (usually medical), and so I never manage to get one. The one I want is $550-600. The one I had I bought used back in 1999. It was a Windows 95, and it was one of the original Pentium processors. I can’t even remember what speed it was, but it was s l o w. You could only do one thing at a time on it. Any more and it would lock up and you’d have to restart it. So when we moved Mom down here in last May, we hooked up her computer and I used it for some internet classes. When we moved her back to Tulsa, she said she wouldn’t use it anyway, so I could keep it here to finish my classes. (Prior to that, I was using the computer at work which was a pain.) Since then, I’ve been given 2 computers. The first one is only a 12G hard drive, which is still 100% better than what I had, but I couldn’t connect to and stay on the internet. Then Chris’ dad gave me his old computer. It’s a Windows 98 and he found out that MS was not going to be supporting it anymore, so he upgraded. And he says there’s not a thing wrong with it either. I haven’t hooked it up yet, I was waiting until we got Mom moved and now she doesn’t think she’s going to have enough room. We’ll see.

The point of all that – actually, the point before I went on that tangent up there – is that Dad decided he wanted to buy me a computer for my birthday. And he’s pissed at me cuz I told him I couldn’t let him buy me an $800 birthday present (so I stretched it a little). I swear we are forever arguing about money.

Chris told me a couple weeks ago that he had some surprise planned for my birthday. He knows I hate waiting on surprises, so he always plans one, so a couple days ago I came in and asked him what my surprise was – hoping he’d just automatically blurt it out since I’d made a point of not asking for 2 weeks. He looked at me with this totally blank look on his face! Then he remembered, and whispered it to Mom, and she ran around singing “I know what you’re getting. I know what you’re getting.” like we used to when we were kids.

Originally I’d asked for a deep freeze for my birthday, but we haven’t gotten the garage cleared out enough yet, so we’ll put that off until Christmas. Instead, I’m getting a privy! I love camping, always have. Hate the facilities though. Usually it’s just port-a-potties, and we’ve all had experience with those. Sometimes though, you do what’s called primitive camping – which translates to “There ain’t no bathrooms here”. And usually that’s okay too, cuz you’re someplace nicely wooded, so you can find someplace private. And then there’s dove hunting at Sandy Sanders. A desert. With cactus and mesquite, and not much else. No trees. And what trees there are, there might just be a hunter hiding behind. Not very private at all. So after 4 years of complaining, I get a privy! I’m pretty excited. It’s a shower stall too which will come in handy.

I’ve lost my digital camera. I stashed it someplace and can’t remember where. I’ve looked in all my usual places, and a few unusual ones, but it’s nowhere to be found. It’ll turn up one of these days and I’ll have some pictures to post.

I’ll try to post more often. Shorter posts too!

Mom's buying a house, well a condo

2006-08-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

We finally found Mom a condo we could all live with and made an offer which has been accepted. Of course, we still have to do the home inspection and all that other crap, but assuming all that goes well, we should close on the house September 8th.

We're all VERY EXCITED!

I'm bored

2006-08-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

Bored, bored, bored, bored. The thing I hate worst about my job is the fact that I'm always waiting on my clients to bring in their stuff so I can do my thing with it. This month I'm waiting on every one of my clients - even the ones that normally bring their stuff in by the 5th of the month. So here I am at work, with nothing constructive to do, but I have to be here, and I don't want to get caught playing on the computer.....Bored!

School starts next week. Did I mention that I got a scholarship from the school? Not a whole lot, but it's paid for my classes this semester, and enough next semester for the same. There's enough left over this semester that I get to use some towards my school books, so I've got to go after work, pick up a voucher and go by the bookstore and pick up my book. They'd better have kept my reserve copy, since it's a little too late to order one now.

I wonder if I can find a quiet corner to take a nap in?

A really long post...

2006-08-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

I finally got my A.C.A.T. test results back. Actually, I ended up calling them because they never sent them to me. The day I called, they told me my scores (95 on part 1 and 83 on part 2 – top 15 people nationwide!) and told me that they were mailing grades and some letters that day. I never got those, but I did get my certificate over the weekend, so I am now officially Sherri R., A.B.A. I have initials after my name!!! Now, to keep the designation, I have to complete 120 hours of CPE (continuing professional education) in 3 years and pay a renewal fee. My only question at this point is: Does this actually mean anything? Hell if I know.

Oh, the A.B.A. stands for Accredited Business Accountant. Sounds pretty official, huh?

I’m going thru a bout of boredom. I want to do something different. I’m tired of working (who’s not?) and would really like to be able to go to school full time. And I could, if I wanted to take on $40,000 of student loan debt to be paid off for the rest of my life. At least that’s the amount I keep getting offered. So I think (wistfully) about it, and decide that no, that just doesn’t make much sense. Especially if we’re serious about having kids anytime soon.

Lesley and James are having issues with one of his ex’s and the whole visitation thing. Lesley really can’t talk about it because a comment she made on her blog has already caused some issues, so I have advised her (cuz what else is a big sister for but to tell you what to do?) to not say anything on her blog about this person or the situation, and as I go to find the post she got in trouble for, it looks like she’s removed it. Good girl.

(Yes, I think you should be able to blog about anything you want to, but this is real life here, and when you are fighting for rights to your children you have to be very careful.)

Anyway, while the kids were visiting, they mentioned some things that were happening that were against the parenting plan that was established at the time of the divorce and so Lesley and James asked them if they would like to come and stay with them. A couple of the kids said yes, the rest are happy where they are. Now that the kids are back with their mother, and kids being kids, they told about the discussion. So now, mother is saying that Lesley and James did nothing but talk bad about her the whole time the kids were visiting, trying to turn them against her and all this other crap. You know Lesley, she can’t talk bad about anyone at all.

So now they are talking to an attorney, and who knows what all is going to happen next.

No boredom at Lesley’s house – well, except for Taylor!

We missed the watermelon festival. It was just too much effort to get out and drive an hour for free watermelon when we could drive a mile down the street to the grocery store and buy one. We didn’t do that either!

We lost Curby a year ago, and Chris just couldn’t face getting another dog. He would talk about it sometimes, and say that he wants a hunting dog next time, but every time I would suggest getting one, he wanted to wait just a little longer. When we went to Eufaula a couple weeks ago, one of the guys has a heeler named Brainy. Curby was a Heeler/Spitz mix, and after being around Brainy for a couple days, we decided it finally time and it just so happens that Brainy’s Mom is pregnant now! So we’ve put in our order and will go pick one out once they are born. Chris still wants a hunting dog, he really wants a Brittany Spaniel, so the heeler will be mine and he can have the spaniel.

I can hear Sandie now: I have a dog you can have! Actually, they just got Pepper spayed hoping that would calm her down a little, I haven’t heard how that went yet. Pepper is a pretty dog, and very friendly, and VERY hairy. And I can’t afford to pay for a dog, and I know that they are hoping to get their money back on her. And she’s going to be HUGE, and I want a dog that can go places with me. And having already had a heeler, knowing how intelligent they are and how active – we still do a lot of outdoors stuff, at least when it’s not 100 million degrees outside. A heeler's the dog for me.

In the meantime, a neighbors cat has adopted us. She's at the front door every morning when I leave, demanding to be fed. Then last night it was pouring down rain when I got home, and she was mewing pitifully by the garage, so we opened it up and let her hang out until it quit raining. She actually came into the house for a little while, but wasn't really interested in staying - which is a good thing, since I can't have an inside cat while we have birds. Damn birds.

Not much else going on in my world. School starts the 22nd, so I'm enjoying what freedom I have while I have it.

Jitterbug

2006-08-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

This song just came on the radio, and I can't ever hear it without thinking about Bridgie. When this first came out (more years ago than I care to think about), she and Bob were staying with us, and this song was guaranteed to get her bootie moving!

I guess it's actually called Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, but it'll always be Jitterbug to us.

Hey Bridge, long time no see.

In other news

2006-08-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

I haven't been writing much lately, but there really hasn't been much going on. Chris has been working pretty steadily for the last month or so - he's working on a big install right now. We went to Lake Eufaula a couple weekends ago. I finally got to go swimming to my hearts content! I got a little sunburn, but it's actually turned into a kinda tan - for me anyway! It's a beautiful lake, and I can't wait to go back there. We were visiting the family of a friend, and they have a nice sandy beach, along with a gator and a mule so we didn't have to walk down to that nice sandy beach. They also had a couple of jet skis. Chris took one out, but I've never driven one before so I just watched him. I know, be adverturous and all that. I was enjoying being in the water too much. They set off some leftover fireworks that night and there were 3 that exploded in the tube. Much excitement.

Then last weekend we took Mom to the Riverwind casino in Norman. She came home with money, both Chris and I lost every dime of ours. I actually got more money out of the atm! I played slots, Chris played poker. It was fun for something different to do, but I'm just not a gambler. I keep thinking about what I could have spent that $50 on. Afterwards, Chris and I took Dad to have Chinese for dinner. Then I went home and slept for about 14.5 hours! Longest I've slept in a long time. Once I got up, I stayed up for 3 hours or so and took a 4 hour nap. Catching up I guess.

This weekend we're going to the Rush Springs Watermelon Festival. Free watermelon at 4:00 - some of the sweetest watermelon in the country!

I haven't taken any pictures, I'm now thinking I should have kept the free membership on Flickr it's been so long since I've uploaded anything.

I did finally see War of the Worlds, which I had avoided seeing because I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but it was actaully a pretty good movie. I still haven't seen it all the way thru in one viewing yet, but I have managed to see all but the first 5 or 10 minutes.

Schools out until the 22nd, so I'm enjoying it while I can. It's going to be a busy year between work, school, and PTK.

Reading

2006-08-11T21:29:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I'm actually reading it so that I can enter an essay contest to try to win some money for school and a new computer. Chris has read it, and it made an impression on him. He said that it would change me, how I look at the world.

Unfortunately, I'm familiar with the theory, and it's one I have a hard time with - especially since I can see it happening. But I just don't understand how people really buy into this.

The society in the book is one in which new ideas are forbidden and productive people - businessmen, entrepenuers - are evil and villanized. Everyone in society should have an equal chance, regardless of their abilities or willingness to work for and earn what they have. No one person can have interests in more than one field or own more than one business, because that's not fair to everyone else.

And they don't understand that the shortages, the closed businesses, the lack of new art music stories are a direct result of this villinazation. Why should anyone try to do anything new, when they can get something for nothing.

I've always believed in T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. The acronym is from Robert Heinlein, probably my favorite author of all time. Chris says there are only 2 rules in life:

1. You have to have a job

2. You have to live within the means of that job.

Same difference.

Another essay I'm working on is should illegal immigrants have access to free healthcare? Similar issue, different question. At least the illegal immigrants generally do work - pretty damn hard. But it's my tax dollars going to pay for that free health care that I don't get. Well okay, I get the Indian health care, but my husband doesn't get any.

I just can't comprehend a society that goes against everything my country was built on - the little man having the opportunity to work hard and earn that nice house and all the other stuff he wants. So I'm having a hard time getting thru the book, it's just too contrary to my own belief system. I've gotten about 250 pages into a 1000 page book that I've been reading for about a week now. I should have finished it by now.

I'm now debating how badly I want to win that essay contest, and whether I'm willing to work for it.

Everyone's healing up nicely

2006-07-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

I’m turning into one of those people who never post anymore. Unfortunately, we haven’t done much lately to post about! I just don’t do anything that exciting anymore.

Mom had her surgery last week. It went very well and the doctor appeared to be very pleased when he came out to tell us how it went. They kept her overnight and sent her home on Saturday afternoon. Grandma and Phil came and sat at the hospital with Chris, Dad, and I. It was good to see them, it’s been awhile.

I originally had my follow up appointment with my doctor today, but they called last Thursday and said they had to move it to Monday (yesterday). So I got the all clear – all healed up and can go swimming again!!!!! Of course, now it’s not 110 degrees in the shade anymore, but I won’t bitch about that.

He did tell me that the biopsy came back moderate dysplasia, which is even worse than the last one. My first pap was just abnormal. Second pap was mild dysplasia. Biopsy was moderate dysplasia. The only thing left before cancer is severe dysplasia, which is basically cancer before it starts spreading if I understand it right. So I’m very glad that I went ahead and had the procedure done as quickly as I did, since it sounds like I would have ended up with cervical cancer soon. Hopefully, this procedure has taken care of the problem, and my next pap in November will come back normal.

Now, please everyone, DO NOT tell my mother the above paragraph. She’s already convinced that I have cancer and has been freaking out pretty hard about it, and right now; she needs to worry about getting herself well. I’m not really worried about her reading this, cuz she can’t ever find my blog unless Sandie pulls it up for her.

After my appointment yesterday, Chris took me to a lake so we could go swimming, and we finally found a private little area and drove out to the beach, and he pulls a bag out of the truck where he packed my bathing suit and towels and stuff. At least, he thought he did! My bathing suit came with this little skirt/wrap thing, and that’s the part he grabbed instead of the actual bathing suit. The look on his face! I do wish I’d had my camera. So we head on home, and he promises to take me swimming this weekend. I’ll be sure to do the packing for that one!

Hootenanny

2006-07-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

Of course we missed the hootenanny. We pulled up just as people started exiting the building. The good news is that it was indoors, which means that next year we don't have to worry about how hot it is, we can just go and enjoy it!

That's okay though, we had a good time anyway. We stopped at the store and bought some munchies and headed out to Okema lake. I still can't swim damn it. Another week before I go to the doctor, and he'd better tell me I can go swimming again! Still, it is a very nice lake, amazingly clear, and we will be going back again soon. But it was too hot to sit out there without being able to get wet (I'd not planned on getting wet, so didn't have appropriate shoes. I just can't walk barefooted in a lake - ick.) I told Chris he could go swim if he wanted, but he said if I had to suffer, he'd suffer too. I think he was just afraid that I'd really make him suffer if he got to cool off and I didn't!

Anyway, we had a nice time just driving around, enjoying each other's company. It is time to start looking for a fuel efficient car though - $2.839/gallon in a truck that gets approximately 15 mpg's (I may be optimistic with that figure) isn't cheap.

Then we headed to Steak & Ale for their all you can eat prime rib - our very favorite dinner of all time. Four hours later I still couldn't fall asleep cuz I was still so full. Mmmmm.

We are sooo lazy!

2006-07-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

Chris and I were going to go to Okema to the Woody Guthrie Bluegrass Festival yesterday, but it's been 100+ for the last few days, so we decided to go in the evening instead of all day like we normally would.

I used to be able to stay up all night and sleep in til 2:00 in the afternoon on weekends. Then I'd get up, smoke a little, eat, and go back to bed. Repeat as necessary, then go out that night and party till 3:00 in the morning and repeat again. Perfect weekend in my opinion. At least back then.

Then I got the job where I had to be at work at 7:00, and I just didn't have a choice but to get up early - which meant go to bed much earlier. Now, I'm usually in bed by 12:00 and up by 6:00. Even on weekends. Even when we went to New Mexico for a week and I was waking up at 5:00 every morning (different time zone). Sleeping late these days is 8:00, which I actually managed to do this morning.

On the other hand, Chris "power" sleeps. That man can sleep for 10 hours at a time if you let him. So by the time he gets up, I've already been up and worked on homework, or been on the computer, or something, and I'm ready for a nap. So I'll stay up with him for an hour or two, then go lay down and ask him to wake me up in an about an hour.

So yesterday, he doesn't wake me up and I sleep til around 5:00. I don't know about you, but an all day nap always makes me feel groggy for a couple hours afterwards. Especially if I eat right after getting up, which we did. Next thing I knew it was 7:00, and neither of us were even close to getting ready. The festival was only open til about 11:00, and it's over an hour's drive from here to there.

(I just realized that I use the word 'so' a lot.)

We decided to do something else last night, and that we'd go to the hootenanny today at noon. Isn't that a great word? I love saying it - hottenanny. It just sounds fun.

Except we kept debating about where we wanted to go. Movies, bowling, pool, comedy club, go visit people. There's actually not a lot of choices around here. We never could decide what to go do, and UFC Championship Fighting came on, so we ended up staying home instead. Which is actually okay with me, I'm a homebody, and would much rather be able to kick my feet up and smoke a cigarette, and be comfortable than be out around a bunch of people.

Now I have to go get Chris up, so we can maybe make out to the hootenanny by noon. Wish us luck!

I'm back!

2006-07-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

Lesley called me last night to ask me what was wrong, I hadn’t blogged in a couple weeks? I always wonder what’s going on when one of the blogs I read isn’t updated for a while, unfortunately, I can’t call any of mine to find out.

I’ve actually had some news to share, I just haven’t had the energy to write about it all. I was elected Treasurer of my PTK chapter, and we went to a leadership conference at Texas A&M in Commerce. That was so much fun – the best time I’ve had in a long time. We laughed, and played card games, and laughed some more. I can’t wait until the next trip.

I also got a scholarship for the 2006-2007 school year. It’s not a very big one, but it will pay for most of my tuition, so there’s one less thing I have to worry about!

We spent entirely too much money on the 4th of July, and I forgot my camera so didn’t take any pictures of our beautiful fireworks. We didn’t get to set them all off – turns out that during the week, the park has an 11:00 curfew instead of 12:00, so we didn’t get to set off any of the really good ones at all. We waited until the next Saturday and went out to a friends place (in the middle of BFE) and set them off for the kids – they loved it. Shaylee is almost 2 so we worried how she would react, but she ooohhhed and aaaahhhhed and wowed.

Things have been a little tense around the house lately. All of us have been fighting off some depression, none of us very successfully. It’s been pretty tough on Chris and I having to deal with and take care of Mom and Dad, especially as newlyweds. When Mom first got sick with her aneurysm right before the wedding, and we knew that we were going to have to take care of Mom and Dad, and that Mom was going to have to live with us for a little while, I told Chris that if he wanted to postpone, or even call off the wedding I would understand. Of course he didn’t, and I am so very glad that he didn’t. But neither of us really understood what we were getting into with Mom & Dad.

Chris and I talked the other night, and I told him that I feel like I’m drowning. Everyone needs something and it seems like I’m the only one who can provide any of it. When Mom moved here, I thought that things would get better, that she would be able to help me with Dad – go and visit, take him stuff, etc. Instead, she never wants to go see him, so I still have to do everything for him and she’s here with her wants and needs as well. Her not having a car isn’t helping the matter any, but what am I supposed to do? I refuse to let her drive while she’s on the Xanax and the doctor wants to wait until after her aneurysm surgery to get her off of it, so yet again we’re in limbo.

Chris has been a bit depressed himself. He was in between jobs when Mom had her wreck, and he’s been a godsend to be able to take her to all of her doctor’s appointments. But he doesn’t feel like he’s contributing to the household, and every time he goes to look for a job, something else pops up that I need him to handle for me.

I went to the doctor on Monday to discuss my potassium, and she said that the last blood work showed I’m diabetic, and all my bad stuff went higher and my good stuff went lower, and she’d be putting me on a bunch of medication except we’re going to try to get pregnant in 6 months. So I’m to diet and exercise and quit smoking…….

And then I’ve got that respiratory sickness we had last October again. It’s not as bad this time, but I can’t sleep at night for coughing, can’t breathe, and if my nose doesn’t open up soon, I’m going to cut the damn thing off! Where does all that snot come from?????

So right now I’m just getting thru each day, trying not to take it out on the people around me, and hoping that someday soon it’s going to get better. It’s got to, right?

Chris' Favorite Shirt

2006-06-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

favoriteshirt102
Originally uploaded by bookworm91770.

Chris got this t-shirt before we ever met. It's his favorite t-shirt, and he wore it at least once a week until shortly after we moved into the house we're in now. At that point, the shirt disappeared, and search where we would, the shirt was nowhere to be found.

Chris accused me of getting rid of it, his buddies of stealing it because it was their favorite shirt, and even my sister of "accidentally" packing it up when she stayed with us for a few days before moving to Washington.

Last Friday, the shirt magically reappeared. Does anyone want to guess where it was THE ENTIRE THREE YEARS IT WAS MISSING? Go ahead, guess. That's right, hanging in his closet, right where it should have been.

Actually, it WAS found in my closet, but I have a perfectly rational explaination for that. See, we have small closets, so all of my clothes hang in the master bedroom closet (cuz I have more of them), and his clothes were hanging in the spare room closet. Then, when Mom stayed with us last May, right at wedding time, and I thought she was going to be staying permanently, I moved all of his clothes into my closet. And then they never got moved back.

Still, found hanging in the closet, right where it was supposed to be!

Healthy again?

2006-06-21T13:36:00.000-05:00

For the last year or so, I’ve had a periodic malaise that I’ve been unable to describe to my doctor. It’s in the muscles of my upper chest and back, and in my arms. They are tingly and numb all at the same time and I’ll have some nausea and heart palpitations. Sometimes if I eat it helps, sometimes not. I never could trace it to anyone one thing – I thought it was heartburn for a while, then I wasn’t taking my blood pressure medicine exactly every 8 hours, and I don’t even remember what all else I thought it might be. But it was frustrating and a little scary.

Sometimes, I’d have it for several days in a row. Then I might go for a couple weeks without an episode. Then I might get it for 1 day only. No rhyme or reason to it at all.

So I was telling Mom about them telling me I had low potassium when I went for my surgery, and she said that water pills will do that to you, flush the potassium out of your system. When we decided we wanted to get pregnant, I went to the doctor and had them change my blood pressure medication to something that would be safe for me to take while I was pregnant. Turns out good that I did, because it took about a year to get the dosage correct and my blood pressure stabilized. But the blood pressure medicine that she put me on causes me to retain water – especially around my period (usually the week after rather than the week before). So she put me on a second medication that I take only as needed, that works as a water pill and helps to keep my blood pressure normal when I’m retaining water (the water makes your heart work harder).

When I talked to the anesthesiologist right before the surgery, he asked me about the water pill I take, and after I explained went “Oh, okay.” like that explained everything. But he didn’t tell me that caused the low potassium or anything. Of course, about 30 seconds later I was out cold, but still….

So this morning, I finally get around to looking up low potassium, and guess what the symptoms are? Just guess. You’ve got it. All the ones I listed above, plus a few more that I don’t have, but that’s enough for me. So I’ve put a call into my doctor’s office to talk to her about it. They do make water pills for this specific issue, that won’t flush the potassium out of your system. I’m hoping she’ll just switch me to that, but I’m sure I’ll have to go in, give some more blood, go back, and then switch.

I’m just excited that I (think) I’ve finally figured out what’s wrong with me. It’s terrible to know that something’s wrong, but not be able to describe it. “I’m tingly and numb all at the same time” just doesn’t sound right, ya know?

Speaking of getting pregnant, the surgery doctor told me that the (probable) reason my HPV hasn’t gone away on its own, like so many peoples do, is that Chris and I keep re-infecting each other. So he told me that for 6 months after we’re able to have sex again, we should use a condom every time. Then for the next six months, we should continue to use a condom except on my fertile days. The main point here is that in 6 months (from July 25th hopefully), we can start seriously trying to get pregnant!!!J We’ve been waiting so long to get everything ready – blood pressure under control and this mild dysplasia thing taken care of, and I was truly afraid that it would take too long, and I would be too old to have any kids. I’ll be 36 before we can start trying, but that’s still young enough. Everyone cross your fingers that this all works.

Chin Hairs Suck

2006-06-20T15:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, admit it. We've all got them. Don't we? Please tell me that I'm not the only one. Please.

It started out so innocently. A casual glance in the mirror and then "What the hell is that?" It's a really long hair coming out of my chin. Just one to begin with, but over the years, a few more have popped up, until now I've got several. Hell no, I'm not going to count them. Besides, they come up at different times, and I don't really want to know if I have 10 of them.

So the question now is, "Is it time to start waxing, or should I just keep plucking?" Of course I go to the internet for answers and find.......NEITHER ONE. Turns out, you're not supposed to pluck or wax chin hairs. Everything I looked at said do the laser hair removal - and spend a bazillion dollars doing it.

So, how do you guys handle your chin hairs? (At least have the decency to lie to me and tell me you have them too).

Freaky People

2006-06-20T13:11:00.000-05:00

I was reading some blogs at lunch today, and there are some truly scary people out there. What's really sad is that the ones I'm talking about are self-proclaimed Christians! I truly can't decide if they are serious or not. I think they are, and then I read a little more and think "No Way". And then I wonder.

I don't know where I originally got this link, I ended up bookmarking it and was reading it again today. Then I got to reading a few other posts, and I'm sitting here thinking that I don't ever want to be a part of their religion.

I'm not a big fan of organized religion. I've never believed that there is only ONE true path to God, and that anyone who didn't believe EXACTLY how I believe was going to go straight to hell. No two people share the exact same belief system, so of the billions of beliefs out there, I find it hard to imagine that any one person has it exactly right, therefore everyone else is wrong. Most organized religions are in essence the same. God may be called by a different name, there may be some dispute about the interpretation of a particular line of gospel, whatever.

So I'm sitting here reading the post that I linked to above, and I can't remember reading anywhere in my bible (the one that was written by men, has been translated how many different times, and edited for content) that says that if I use frozen orange juice in the morning I'm a whore.

What would they say if they knew that currently, I work, my husband doesn't. I go to school, my husband cooks dinner?

And, (gasp) I enjoy sex!

PS - Be sure and read the comments on that post - hilarious.