KatyLou

So, it's been one of those days and it's not even half over yet. I read far too long last night and into this morning so I had trouble getting going at my usual hour. Who are we kidding, I didn't even come close to seeing my usual waking up time. Thanks to the weather pattern that's been in the area, I haven't been feeling even close to the 85% I usually run at. Don't get me wrong, I love the cold and wet, I just hate how it's been making me feel as I get older. Weather like this usually means migraines most of the day now so I try to be sure to wake up slowly. Don't rush into getting ready because the wrong move could trigger more pain than I care to have. So anyhow, as I was waking up and getting my meds into me, I heard the front door open up. Hubby came home, early. I know he hasn't been feeling too well either so I just figured he came home sick. No biggie. Then he yells up the stairs that he's taking Katy to the vet. Considering our discussion from last night, this wasn't much of a surprise. Even on her meds, she's had a rough couple days and her poor fuzzy belly's been so distended. It looked as though one more trip to the water bowl was going to make her pop. So he called this morning and made an appointment to see what can be done. He took her in and I guess the look on the vet's face said it all. He said he could drain some of the fluid off, but it was likely that she might not survive the procedure. All it entails is a syringe to siphon off the excess liquid. However, she's an old dog, not in great health with a heart problem... so the stress could kill her. Hubby decided to have it done anyhow because she was so uncomfortable and having trouble getting around. Good news is she made it. He got a load of bad news while he was in for the appointment. Katy's in her next decline and we're not entirely certain she'll make it to her next birthday, actually we're not certain she'll make Christmas at this point. Especially since there's still some drippage still and that's got me more than a bit worried. I've contacted hubby,who in turn called the vet. I'm just waiting on a call from the vet to see what's best to do at this point.

The question is now becoming quality of life because that belly's just going to refill. We'll need to bring her in and expose her to that stressful situation again and again. Each time is a possibility that she could die right there on the table. I've told him.... it might be time. As much as I hate to say it, as much as it's hard to tell our girl is really sick by the way she acts, it might be time. We're hoping she gets through Christmas at least so we don't have to face the heartbreak during the holidays, but when a body's ready to go... it's ready to go.

Untitled

So the Creative Moose has wandered off into the dandelion patch and has been refusing to come out forever now. Trying as I might to entice him to frolic a bit, but it's been damn well impossible. Stupid mooses. I see a dear friend from NYC area has started up her blog again. I so missed seeing stuff from her. After a back and forth in the email from her I figured I'd better drop a note in here and let others that don't see me much in FB know that I'm still kicking.... somewhat. Seriously need to get over this writer's block. Anyhow, shortly after dropping my friend a note, I saw this on my newsfeed:

You have permission to rest.  

You are not responsible for fixing everything that is broken. 

You do not have to try and make everyone happy. 

For now, take time for you. 

It's time to replenish.

Okay, so it's taking me alot longer to replenish than most. Considering the 10+ years of crap I dealt with and all the medical shit that's been hitting the fan over here, it really isn't surprising that the moose is refusing to leave the dandelion patch.  Maybe I need to think and refresh some of these pages because evidently,  some are no longer what I need to be doing. It's highly possible I simply need to close out a few and retool a few others.

Tomorrow's Never Promised

So Sunday I signed into Facebook as usual and found a friend request sitting in there from a person that I haven't heard from in several years. By several years, I mean that I was 10 or 12 the last time I saw her putting it at more than 30 years since we'd talked. I have my account on lock-down, so it's very hard to find me if there isn't at least one friend in common. I noticed there was one.... a girl I had gone to school with. So I went to the mutual friend's page, to see if the requester and I had been talking or if she'd "liked" a thread I'd been talking on. Something to tell me why I was getting this request now....

And that's when I saw it..... those 3 letters that no one ever wants to see on a friend's page.... R I P. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? She and I had just been talking on Friday evening, early Saturday morning about a tv program. Suddenly, just like that, she's gone.... and all because of a freak accident. The same kind of accident that I had not 2-3 years ago. Only this girl, she wasn't so lucky. Seems she fell and hit her head. That's all it took. A fall and then nothing. From what I saw in the comments, they found clots in her chest. It wasn't specified whether they were in her heart or lungs, just that they were there.

*sighs*

She was so excited about what was going on in her life. She had a good job and had just moved several months ago to her dream home.  There had frequently been new pictures on her page showing what she'd done to decorate and how well her garden was coming along. I hear that she'd had a Memorial Day picnic at her new home and had one planned for The Fourth of July. Things were really looking up for her and her long time boyfriend. Then in an instant, it was gone and we're left with a hole in our lives.  She was only a few months older than me..... she was only 46......



It got me to thinking exactly how much there was to lose and exactly how lucky I am. Make sure you tell those close to you that you love them today and hold them a bit closer because tomorrow's never ever promised.....


  

Just a few things

Still trying to get back into some of the habits I had before. More than likely going to take a bit to re-establish those patterns again....

Hubby's had this week off as he gets back into night-shift mode for work. We've had some news though. It's likely that it'll only be a one month deal this time around because the company is looking to restructure and make a permanent scheduling. This means that if you have a compressed day schedule, you'll be on days... period. If you're on nights, you'll stay nights. I told hubby that he might want to put in for a day-shift, even though the sleep schedule will kill me. Why? Because of the health of 75% of the life-forms in the household. We need to be available to get to dr/specialist/vet appointments and a night-shift schedule simply doesn't make that easy in the slightest.

***and that news hasn't hit my FB page yet ^_~ ***

We had to get rid of Penny (our Lincoln) a couple weeks ago or so. She'd turned into a real Money Pit to say the least. The repair a couple months ago was actually more than the car was worth so when she had another issue come up, we decided it was time to get something a bit newer. We are now driving a 2012 Nissan Altima that we named Anyssa. Yeah, it sounds like an odd name, but hubby wanted something that combined Nissan and Altima. *shrugs* Actually, a funny story comes to mind. We'd named the car and I posted a picture of our new precious when a friend asked what color she was (she couldn't tell if the car was dark blue or black).  When I said she was dark blue, my friend pointed out that she needs to have a Tardis sticker on her. With this idea bouncing around in my head, I thought "why not name her after a companion?" So I looked up all the Dr Who companions and imagine my surprise to find that she was named somewhat appropriately! Heh.

Hubby's looking at wanting to move. I know, we've been saying this forever now. Anyhow, we're in the process of starting to weed out stuff. I got started on the clothing the other day and we ended up dropping off a huge bag of clothes to the Goodwill store down the road. While we were at it, we took in 3 boxes worth of dishes (we'd decided to switch to some lightweight Corelle dishes because the stuff we were using was getting too heavy for me to handle anymore thanks to my arthritis). I still have the dresser and the tub of out of seasons to go through yet. I half expect there will be another bag or two of them to donate. Tomorrow's project is to start going through my crafting items and figure out what I really plan on doing and what I can ditch.  A few of the small pieces will stay (like my Santa trio) and I forsee a bunch getting re-homed or tossed. After I get the boxes downstairs and the craft closet upstairs weeded, I'll be going through my ceramic dolls. Hubby said I should keep them but I pointed out to him that I'm simply not as into them as I was and I could stand to get rid of about 1/3 of them. After the dolls, the stuffed animal collection will get culled. Tired of seeing some of this stuff around. So much to do....

I know there's a bunch more that needs updating. If one of my FB friends would kindly post in the comments the items I need to discuss in here... because I've slept a few times since it all happened.  Thanks bunches!

OCHA picketing for handicap rights

I know not everyone in here is caught up with my goings on because you're not in Facebook... but I figured I'd share what I just posted there here to see if it's a Creative Moose for someone else ;)


So.. we had an okay-ish trip coming in to the "In-Loves" place yesterday. I decided that I really REALLY miss Penny's seats (the Lincoln) because of their lovely lumbar support. Oh goodness did my back hurt! Hubby's bought something for my seat that has a lumbar support so the trip home shouldn't be as bad. Other than the traffic jam we encountered (a horrid wreck) and that nasty storm we ended up going through... there was only one real complaint I had on the trip. Seriously, Virginia, if you're going to have one of your rest areas patching and repairing their parking lot, could you PLEASE tell them to plan accordingly? Not a single handicap spot available (not that we have a tag, but still... there were others in need for sure). In the few minutes we were in there were 5 of us with canes, one on a walker and one on crutches. It would have made much more sense to patch up to the handicap ramp, wait until it was cured, then start patching in batches past the ramp. Then there would have been at least a few places closer to the facilities....

Hitting the Refresh Button

I've actually started getting the itch to write again, so I'm hoping a freshening of some of the blogs will get the desire rebooted again.

A couple of new things

Although I'm not in here nearly as often as I should be, there have been a couple minor adjustments to the page.

First and foremost, you'll notice that the Weight Progress bar has been removed. This is because I've been fighting and fighting but most of the weight's returned thanks to a pair of legs that don't want to cooperate. Plus with my dr appointments so few and far inbetween lately, the bar doesn't get updated as often as it should (I was using the drs visits as the official weight check for the tracker) and most of the time it would lock up because I hadn't added to it in forever. No sense in keeping it up at this point.... mostly because I was finding it depressing.

Second, you'll find a couple new links on the right. One is for the music I'm digging at the moment. This way I'm not junking up this blog with nothing but videos. Not much writing goes on over there, unless I decide to do another music meme, then who knows. The other link is for the book I'm in the middle of reading. I seem to be on a reading kick these days. It started in early September sometime. Since then, I've read the following:

James Patterson's Maximum Ride series (all 7 books, there's an 8th coming in February so I'll be re-reading them after the top of the year again)
Throwaway by Heather Huffman
The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D'Lacey (all 6 books, a 7th is expected in April)
Shanna Swendson's Enchanted, Inc series (4 books, unknown if a 5th will be out)
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr) and now into the last book of the series, Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini

I'm nearly 200 pages into Inheritance right now and will be headed to bed in a few to get another few chapters read. I've been averaging a 200-300 page book in about 2 days or so (considering I'm only reading a couple hours or so a sitting). This one I expect will take a bit longer as it's got nearly 850 pages....

I guess it's official now

So Friday was D day according to one "niece". That morning I got a message from the other saying that it was confirmed that he was getting out on Sunday and heading for his folks' house. I thought it was rather weird that they'd release on a weekend simply because I'd thought that administration dealt with releases and in most businesses (even if it's in a service industry, it's still a business) the admins don't work weekends. I as much told her this but got no answer. hm.

Anyhow, here it is... the Doomsday that I had originally in the timer and I look up on that trace site and see this:

Inmate Locator Results

No inmate found according to the requested search criteria. Please click here to search again.

If you have problems finding an inmate, please contact the Support Team.

Return to search page

No, I didn't mistype the id number as I've had it committed to memory for years now.....

Guess I'd better find something to keep me distracted today. All I really want to do is curl up on the sofa and bury my head in the blankets.

~~comments off~~

It's just one of those...

days, weeks, months....
Oh I could so go on.
and on
and on

but I won't

Why?

Because I'm depressed enough as it is, no sense making myself feel worse.

A couple of you know what's going on
and it's oh so more than I've let on
and it's definitely NOT just because tomorrow's Friday and that asshat is getting out from prison.

For when it rains
it pours
and these days we've had to refresh our memories on what a cubit is, it's that bad.

An asshat getting free
another asshat from the other side of our family slinging BS and causing a Civil War in the family (it's literally brother against brother)
neither of us knowing quite how to handle it
and seeing each other in pain
because of not only our own hurts, but because we hurt for each others problems too.

~sigh~

And suddenly I'm talking, not in my usual complete sentences
but in the little fragments that one of my other friends uses

Suddenly I understand
why her communications get like this when she's upset...

This is gonna be a long battle folks
and here I was doing so well

SO

Instead of closing out this on such a shadowy note
I'm going to share a song... something uplifting
She's not my absolute favorite artist
so few of her songs I like enough to drop the money for the cd
However, I found that I like more than half this newest album...
and this song
is my favorite.

Day 31

Habit? Naw. I just had no friggin clue what to write today and definitely had no idea what to call the post. However, I'm in a habit that I kinda like and I really would like to keep going. If not everyday, then at least 5 of the 7.

I did find some links that had a few more of the 30 day type memes on them. Who knows, I may just borrow one .... or several of them. Better yet, maybe I'll mash a few of them up into one huge game. I do have one that I want to post beforehand, though, but I have to dig back to the post that made me snap the shot as well as get the shot off the camera.

Anyhow.... I'm hoping I got my mojo back    ^_~

I do need a teeny favor. I'm repurposing the Journey journal and using it for my medical posts. I need a snappy name... or at least some ideas for a name. It ..um... had and will have an adult setting on it. 

When Sir Arthur Becomes a Bigger Bitch Than You Are

I know I haven't been the best in and around here for awhile. However, a few have asked after me and it's just so much easier to update everyone at once instead of trying to write everything out each and every time....

As ya'll know, about a year, year and a half ago, I decided that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I know a great deal of the problems could be corrected with substantial weight loss (and maybe a trip or five to a therapist..) so I got myself to a nutritionist. She put me on an eating modification and I took up riding a stationary bike. Boy I was doing so well too. I'd lost 50 pounds and was feeling great. That's when my "good" knee decided that the grinding in the "bad" knee obviously wasn't enough to aggravate me and decided to give me a great deal of pain, heat and swelling. A couple days rest and things were fine, so I carried on. I did, however, make an appointment with the dr and then went to an orthopedic regarding my knees.

The dr had x-rays done on both knees and the ortho and I sat down to review them. I was diagnosed with severe arthritis, bone spurs and knocked knees. Great. I was also told the latter problem I'd more than likely had all my life and was I prone to falling? Yeah, I was and had. The damage had been done and there isn't much they can do but suggest OTC painkillers or shots (I chose the former). It was recommended I find a good cane and take some of the weight off that bad knee. This was October of last year.

By November, my right knee had taken a rather alarming turn for the worse and developed a bad wiggle. It didn't just give out slightly, oh no. It gave out enough that my whole right side fell downwards and as a result gave me a lurching walk and placed extra stress on my knee, hip and back when I walked. By December, I was walking with a cane and by Christmas the knee went one step farther and started a back and forth wiggle on every step. I could no longer walk at a normal speed. A normal speed gave me the double wiggle, a slower pace gave me the lurch and the only way I could get around cane-free was to take little half steps.

By January, I was begging for the shots. I kept putting it off because I knew they were going to hurt alot. By February, my knee was popping several times a day and my hip would join in 2-3 times a week. It grew extremely painful to get around and any thoughts of getting on my bike had gone out the window. Actually, thoughts of the bike were shot by December by the knees being so very uncooperative.

In April, I caved in and went in for a shot in the worst of the two knees. I also broke down and bought a wheelchair suitable for my weight (it's not, that's another story though) so I could still go to DC (pictures are slowly getting loaded to the Flickr account) when my friend (NYBro) came down from NY.

I was told in my appointment that my knee "crumpled due to severe pain", but this shot would "make my knee feel as good as new", that it would "hurt for a few days after" and that "it took a couple weeks to feel the effects". What's this tell you? Told me that I shouldn't have much of an issue getting around, just a bit of a wiggle once in a while. They were kind enough to sign some papers for me to get a temporary handicap placard for the truck because I simply couldn't make the walk from the back of the parking lots anymore. After the shot, I was totally LAME for the entire night and had a helluva time getting around my home. The next day? I felt great. I was able to get around the store during our weekly shopping trip with minimal to no pain. Awesome. The next day, however, I only got a half day pain free.

Since then, it's been all down hill. The Icy Hot I'd been using on both knees does nothing, the OTCs don't work and the shot most definitely has done nothing. The pain's actually increased in both knees. The left knee, which had to start taking all the weight 80% of the time as opposed to only half the time, has increased in pain and has started giving out a couple times a day. This was the way the right knee started so many months ago. It's very painful going up and down stairs now. The right hip, which had cleared up there for  bit, is back to popping 2-3 times a week. The right leg tends to drag when I'm super tired. The cane's not doing much good anymore. Oh and I seem to also have developed another pain in my left leg. If it doesn't feel like a bug climbing up or water dripping down my leg, then it constantly feels like it's wrapped in an ACE bandage and it always feels like it's on the brink of falling asleep on me. This pain developed a couple weeks ago. I guess it's time to bite the bullet, get over the fact that I gained ALL of that 50 pound loss, and just go to the doctor again.

Today and yesterday have been a real joy as getting in and out of chairs and any amount of walking is almost enough to bring tears to my eyes. Lying down hurts, sitting hurts , walking hurts.....

Oh... and my shoulders have decided they want in on the action. The right one I'm fairly sure got jacked up with my purse. In December, after a week of pain and the acquisition of the third leg, I decided that it was in my best interest to wear the purse cross my body. Go figure it's "in style" now. All I can say is thank God for adjustable straps. The left shoulder has just recently started acting up (as well as my hand and forearm) but there's not much that can be done. It's doing that because it's being worked constantly with that cane.

I'm suspecting the temporary red handicap tag is going to get made into a permanent blue tag by September....

Any bets that I end up in that damned chair for good and we'll need to move simply because this townhouse isn't built to handle a handicapped person?

Uncle Nick-Nack's winter wardrobe. Uncle Nick-Nack's summer wardrobe. Uncle Nick-Nack.

*WHEW* Was that ever a busy 10 days with company! Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoyed it. I've remembered what I've been missing this whole time. Something I've been desparately needing for a good while now and more than likely the reason WHY I'm so damned cranky all the time. I need face time with family. Not just any family, MY family, blood or otherwise. Over the course of the last 2 decades, I havent been getting that and dammit, I MISS it. Oh sure, we have a friend or two that occasionally visit, but it's always trips out to shop or grab a bite to eat... not anything like I had growing up. Chill, eat supper and whip out the board games until the late hours of the night. *sigh* NYBro? You're welcome for the hospitality... but I really need to be thanking YOU. So thank you for being my friend and spending time at our humble abode (and the lovely RAK pressy!!). Can't wait for your next trip out.


Now comes the hard work... clean-up and organization (as well as attempting to get my life back to some form of normalcy). On my to do list:

01) tweak & upload to the Flickr account the scads and scads of photos I clicked (got a few up this morning so the early risers have something to glance at) as we went and did ALOT of touristy things.

02) upload the videos of the same various places

2.5) panic because Im missing a half day's worth of pix & vids thanks to the laptop dying on us in midtrip (we went to Baltimore for a couple days)... I so hope the last half of the B&O Museum is still in there somewhere!

2.75) pray as I attempt to revive the laptop long enough to retrieve said pix & vids (make sure to open a bottle of Riesling and have copious amounts of chocolate on hand....)... also pray as I search the harddrive because if they aint there, I'm gonna cry.......

03) switch out the cold weather clothes with the warm weather ones (hence the title of the blog) because the temps changed early this week

04) catch up on my reading in the blogs (I popped in a few last night but I haven't made it to everyone's yet, gonna be a while)

05) put panties away because this season of Idol ~SO~ does NOT deserve a panty-throwing session or even thoughts there of

06) spring clean (yeah right)

07) catch up in my Facebook emails and consider dropping out of a few groups... to be honest, I made it in there twice during the whole time NYBro was over and ya know.... I barely missed it at all (apologies to any of the FBers reading this)... maybe it's time to consider moving on in that area of my life (it'd certainly make the friends list a bit more manageable...)

08) Get pictures of the new additions to the dolly family, stuffed animal club and the beautiful RAK that NYBro brought me.

I think that's it for now. There will be other entries to come... I mean... I HAVE been missing for what, 3 months now? Until then, feel free to explore the Flickr account on the left there to peruse the pictures that I'm loading.

It's been HOW long???

Lately I've been seeing my friends celebrating their bloggy anniversaries and every single time I say... "I really should check and see how many entries I've done" or better yet "How long HAS it been?"

This morning, I noticed a very significant number on this, the 2 Cents blog. I figured, now is as good as any to start running the totals.

I started blogging in Yahoo 360 on October 13, 2005. This makes this past Tuesday my 4th year anniversary. I originally started blogging to work out some of the hurt from the last marriage and it has sense grown into something much much more. It's grown into 10 blogs on this one account that deal with many different topics. As a friend of mine once said "She's got something for everyone". Some of it's just junk and little shares, and others have a bit more meat to them. Either way, it's all me.

The blog numbers are substantial. Not as many as some bloggers (you know who you are), but definitely alot of writing.

2 Cents from a Chaotic Mind has reached it's 500th post as of last night at 9pm.
Life's A Stitch (the Jokes I get in emails): 341
A Journey to Parenthood: 15
Styx Picks (the American Idol/Music blog): 71
The World Can Be Amazing (the home page): 323
Inspirationally Speaking (another blog started in the necessity to clear out the emails): 38
Craft Corner: 9 (I really need to add to this one)
Archived 360s: 124
Memories:1
and finally, the one that really needs more entries, The Like a Phoenix blog (which I often call the Padded Room): 45

For a total of 1,467 entries. Well 1,468 if you count this one.

Alotta words. Not much content. What can I say, deep thoughts give me a migraine. I'm hoping to rectify this someday. Heh. Maybe I should add it to the Bucket List...

**** Be more profound.

Yeah right, I see that happening. Especially with everything going on in my life.

Truck in the repair shop for 4 weeks in a row. It got so I threatened to draw up joint custody papers for her because she obviously LOVES her mechanic. The last time we brought her in, the poor dude nearly had heart failure seeing us. Until hubby told him it was just an oil change. He said we were so wrong for messing with him like that.

Then us into the doctors (and him outta work) for 3 weeks in a row. My sinuses are outta whack and I'm on my 3rd course of antibiotics. I hate this because these last two... well they've given me a certain side effect that I won't go into. Just know it's uncomfortable for me. Hubby has an infection in the sinuses too, I guess. The dr never said where it's just that it shows up in the blood work. He has also been on his 3rd course of antibiotics. Seems to be getting better.

There is some good, however.

I've made a couple trips in August to places unexpected. If you have been checking out my Flickr stream, you'd know what I'm talking about. For those that don't, I made a trip to the military museum as well as the Battlefield. Not exactly my favorite places to be, but I was desparate to get out of the house. I did manage to get through both trips without any major melt-downs. the only problem I had was when we were in the Gift Shop at the Battlefield. It was a bit small with alotta people in it and nothing that I really wanted to look at (unlike the Shop at the museum, which had some jewelry and a couple porcelain dolls, on of which I ended up buying).

We had a vacancy show up in the neighborhood. Let's just say it's mighty peaceful nextdoor and it's been that way since August. No, there wasn't a weird smell coming from under the door but there certainly is one of those realtor lockboxes on the handle. I'm kinda hoping it stays empty until we get ready to move. Then all we have to deal with is the other neighbor's teenage girl who tends to act out now and again. Not often, but sometimes the music gets a bit loud.

I was searching online early Tuesday morning to see what's out there and found a few jobs that I'd be qualified to do so I applied to one. They called me yesterday (Wednesday) for an interview today around 330pm. Unfortunately, the job I applied to wasn't being filled at the time (well then WHY was it listed on your job site???), but we discussed the possibility of a different position. I'm kinda hoping I get it because I can wear what I want that way and won't need to worry about getting uniform shirts and making sure they're clean daily (this company only gives you 2-3 depending on how many hours a week you pull). Besides being able to wear what I want, I'll be working overnight and won't have to deal with customers. Don't get me wrong, I like people just fine...but I'm more of a task oriented person. Give me some freight, a knife and leave me alone and I'll be just fine, thanks. Put me on the floor and expect me to get a task done AND handle the customers at the same time.... not really condusive to a happy worker.

Apologies

Many apologies for those that came in looking for the usual Wednesday post. Ya see, things are a bit off schedule around here this week and it wasn't until 3pm before I realized that it was Wednesday and that I hadn't posted the clouds. Why are they off scedule? Because hubby's home, sick, this week. How sick, you ask? Well, Sunday he had the technicolor-yawns at work so I told him he'd better go to the dr on Monday. With the aches and pains and the other symptoms, I suspected the flu. He went to the dr on Monday, told them he had the flu, and they diagnosed bronchitis and bronchialspasms. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? 'Scuse me? With the yucky spewage and aching and no diagnose of the flu? Well he rested and took his meds and was scheduled to go back to work today. By 5pm yesterday, it was obvious that he wouldn't be making it in today because he wasn't holding too much down. Back to the dr today where they diagnosed him with bronchitis and


wait for it


you see it coming right???


THE #()&^! FLU

No shit sherlock. We've had it often enough to know when a certain type of flu comes along and knocks us on our collective asses thankyouverymuch (yet another non-existant word just to throw Pooba for a loop).

Mind you, I haven't been 100% since they gave me that flu shot a couple weeks ago, but it was manageable. Last week, they gave him his while he wasn't feeling 100% and now he's got it. Which means this headache and feverish feeling in my face is prolly just what I think it is. If I still feel this bad tomorrow. I may just change my shot appointment into a dr appointment instead.

So anyway, my mind's been in a few different places this week and as a result...I plumb forgot.

So I did it

I finally sat down and composed a letter to the person that prompted that 3rd Wordle. I'm not going to go into detail about it here, a couple people know what's going on. Let's just say I had a huge decision to make and I threw the gauntlet down....drew the line in the sand. Told her that her behavior was simply not acceptable any longer. If she couldn't straighten up than to not bother writing me back. This was a big deal because there are ALOT of years invested in this friendship but it's gotten to the point where I simply cannot allow this treatment anymore. At this amount of time, there should be a level of respect given to each other and I simply wasn't being given it. Oh granted, she's going through a bad patch...but I've been there and done that already. I can be a great resource if you just ask. I'll help where I can....all I ask is the most basic of courtesies.

Anyhow. I've steamrolled over one speed bump and I think I feel a little better. There are a few more that I need to deal with. At least I am now aware of what the problems are, the hard part will be dealing with them. I won't go into them here. They're fodder for another entry.

awards and a tour of bloggyville

Warning: extremely long entry.You'll be here and in other blogs for awhile so save me for the last read. I don't mind, honestly. Just make sure you go potty, wash hands, grab a meal or snack and drink...yadda yadda yadda...you know the drill...before sitting down. Oh and grab some kleenx just in case.


We all know what a poor bloggy buddy I've been. I didn't get my thank yous out timely and this one deals with the awards I didn't post when I should have. As much as I'd like to blame it all on the addiction to that site that I have, I suspect many of these simply got jambed up behind the Journey entry. Most of my usual readers can tell you, if I get something on my mind and I don't blog it right away, well everything else gets tossed to the back burner until it's dealt with. Usually, once I get the problem out of the way...the rest of the entries all insist on being told LIKE NOW!! However, I had a dr appointment on Thursday and it's taken til today to actually feel close to 95%. That's another whole entry though. If you have yet to have these awards given to you, please feel free to help yourself.

Anyhow, these are all the beautiful awards that were either specifically sent my way, OR the general reader was instructed to please take. Many of my friends are like that as we don't like thinking that anyone got left out. The only two that I'm sure of where I got them are the first two, because I made sure to change the name slightly while in the files so I knew who. Not sure why I didn't with the other two. Anyhoo...the first two were swiped off of Deanna's Blog. They were so beautiful that I couldn't resist.



I ~think~ this next one came from Wendy, I'm not entirely sure. I seem to remember making a comment on her blog saying I already had it....


*goes to double check*


Yeah, here we go the rules to this one are on this entry that she wrote on September 2nd.


Now, this one....I have no clue who I swiped it from. I suspect it may have been iggy's blog although I'm not really 100% certain on that. If someone could look into that for me? Thanks.

N/M I found it.

Anyhow, if I recall, this one was supposed to provoke some actual thought and as such became a bit of a speed bump because if you've learned anything about me , it's that anything that takes thought pretty much places my brain in traction for weeks. Well. In honor of this award I'm going to put in some links of my more popular entries as well as a few of those entries of others that really touched me in some way. Personally, I think collectively ALL of you deserve this award and should be proud to wear it on your blog somewhere (oh crap...this means I gotta get these uploaded into the Slideshow stream now...).


The most popular of my entries by far seem to be when I'm in a very dark spot or when I fail at something. Why is that? I thought for sure everyone wanted happy bloggers? *laffin* Anyway, I had two tie for the position of "Most Popular Blog Entry" at a whopping 21 comments a piece (ok, so it aint whopping, but dammit...I got a very small following comparatively speaking and not everyone leaves a bloody comment like some of y'all's entries get!). The first one was written on February 10th, dealing with my then SCSis (now GaSis) who'd called me up and left me feeling very disturbed. The entry was titled In A Dark Dark Spot Right Now . This story seemed to have reached a bit more even footing as of the end of July. However, I'm in the dark....again.... I am hoping it's just that she has no phone service and no friggin common sense to ask the boss if she could make one 5 minute phone call to assure her friend of 30 years that she's ok. I surely HOPE it's nothing more serious than that. Needless to say, it's weighing heavily on me right now. I do have an idea, but it needs to wait until tomorrow.


The next one was written on August 11th in 2008 and was entitled Itshouldabeenakodakmoment. A bitch of a title to write, but one that expressed the frustration of not being properly armed, OR while being properly armed just not having enough juice in the damned camera to get that perfect "Kodak moment". This, too, garnered 21 comments. I think this one may have actually gotten that number because I asked a question at the end of the entry (which is something I don't generally do). Maybe I need to write when I'm pissed off, sad or frustrated more often?

Some of the runners up are:

From the Home page (please remember this blog section plays music automatically BUT the player's at the top so you can turn it off):

The Committed TShirt creation that was made for iggy. This May 12, 2008 entry got 14 comments.

The Super Bowl Sunday post that debutted the new bumper sticker for the upcoming election season. This entry from Feb 2008 had 11 comments.

From the "Padded Room" entries (the Like a Phoenix blog):

The Nov 13,2008 entry entitled Tour of Duty-TRU intermission where I go into a small side track of some of the troubles occurred in the one apartment I was living in. Surprisingly, they WEREN'T caused by the jerk I was married to at the time. That one had 9 comments on it. It only got that many because I'd neglected the blog for so long though.

Then there was the 2 parter I wrote in June of 2008 called Great Escape. Both part 1 and part 2 got 2 comments a piece. Not bad considering that it's a much smaller circulation than the 2 Cents blog.

The last 3 entries come from the Journey blog. It's another that I don't exactly update frequently. Mostly right now, it's a place to whine and put things that I deem much too adult at times for my usual writings. All 3 are ones I wrote in 2007.

Interesting Read dealt with information as to why certain test were being performed and why certain medicines were being considered. We've sense discovered that the one medicine does NOT play nicely with my body. This was writen August 16th and got 8 comments.

Two days prior I posted one entitled Thursday August 2nd where I dealt with the indignity of being a woman, seeing a new doctor and having a very long overdue pap. What some of the issues were that the dr was considering placing me on. All the "Let's try and get this baby started" good stuff ya know. All that stuff that had to be placed on the back burner because hubby had to have certain surgeries to fix him up. At the time, I had to weigh things as to importance. His, which were MEDICALLY necessary.... or mine, which were just because I wanted a baby. Obviously, his were much more important.(7 comments)


The last worth mentioning in this section is I Hate This Feeling which dealt with the fact my dr stuck me on Prometrium and how the drug affected my body. This got 7 comments.

Now. Here are some of my favorites of the ones I read.

The entire Insight Series written by Dorkys Ramos, where I think I saw this reflection type post first. I like these posts because they really make me think (and then the brain goes into traction and I forget to comment most times....just know that they're some of my favs of yours).

There are a few over at Yaya's Place (whose Fragment Friday entries are the bomb all and on their own) that really get to me. Why? Because Yaya and I are sorta in the same boat right now... or at least in two like boats rowing side by side. Each wanting desperately what some women (Octomom, Kate, et al) seem to get so friggin easily. We just wanna be mommies. Her entry on Aug 10 2008 called Why I'm A B^tch goes into the side effects of the medicine she's taking to help her get pregnant and the frustration (and I suspect a bit of depression) she gets every month when the medicine hasn't worked it's magic.

Then there's her entry on March 22nd of this year that actually made me cry. I had to step away from the computer for a good long while after reading How Do You Be Happy For Others where she answers a reader's email in detail on her blog. All those same feelings that I have...right there...and someone else was feeling them too.

Next we're going to visit iggy's blog entry called Trees Are Like People (June 3rd) was stunning and thought provoking even in its simplicity. I haven't seen a tree the same since. A real shame that no one thought to include this gem in their choices. Oh look...it was HIS blog I first saw the award on...awesome.

Oh look...THIS is where I got the award (*whew* I really would hate to think I swiped yet ANOTHER award!) so I actually EARNED this one too!! I got the award from over at Deanna's Blog in August. I am going to agree with iggy on his selection of He Had Curly Hair and a Crooked Smile and I Loved Him Very Much as one of the best entries. I'd say that a close second would go to Change Your Thinking entry. That one got me to thinking of an idea for an entry which I have yet to post but I think I'll stick in the drafts for the next appropriate moment as they seem to hit every year at least twice...

.....7th inning stretch.....

Put down the food for this one. This one is from Marmy's blog and the entry is called Laff Me Red Stripey Sock Off. Actually, most times it's inadvisable to be drinking or eating while reading her posts. It's much too messy and I'm sure the monitor and keyboard don't appreciate getting splattered. This is one of her shorter entries but gives you a good idea what she's all about.

Then there's always a trip to Razors and Vines blog. I suggest reading the entry entitled Ever. I love the quirky writing style. I just may need to adopt that style considering both sides of my personality like to fight for control of the keyboard.

do not

Do so.

And the last stop on this entry is going to be in Shan's blog. Her entry, An Apple For the Teacher? Nope, School Supplies which went into how little teachers get for supplies for their classrooms. Every word of what she had to say was true. Actually, things are much much worse for the private schools... or at least it was at the private Christian school I worked at in Louisiana. I was there for about 3-4 years and I can tell you the average there wasn't even the national average for teacher pay. They were alotted ~maybe~ a grand total of $50 per semester for stuff for the classrooms (visual aids, decor, standard supplies like chalk and erasers were supplied by the school if extra was on hand) and dickyboy's salary never topped $24,000 for the year.

She also wrote one called We Are Women...We Must Backstab that I think should be required reading for everyone. Thankfully, I don't believe I've seen any of my bloggy readers saying stuff to purposefully hurt another around here. Now sometimes, there's the errant question that gets misread, misinterpreted, whatev... but that happens because of the medium. If we could only HEAR what the heart and mind of the writer is writing, then there wouldn't be nearly the hurt feelings.

Well, that completes our 3 hour tour...

Holy shit it took me that long to write???

Yep, it did (thanks to the contant stream of emails that came in while I was writing and we all know I just can't let 'em sit there when I'm at the computer....).

from the passenger seat

Several months ago, we'd paid for a Pampered Pet Package at the vet's for KatyLou. The package had 14 days boarding, 5 vet appointments and 7 groomings all bundled for one price. Awesome. So this last Friday we carted her off to the "spa" and ran some errands.

I'm not sure when it finally happened but that Walgreens that they were building across the street from the strip mall the Shopper's grocery store is in is finally open. It's really good to see some new businesses come into the area as it shows some growth. It would have been nicer to see some really new businesses come into the area, ya know a store that didn't already exist around here. It could have been worse, though, it might have been another WalMart or 7-Eleven.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this picture slightly amusing? One side of the building contains a medical center, while the other houses not only a bank, but a Dunkin Donuts and a Baskin Robbins. At least when someone has a heart attack from all the fats in those sweets, they won't have too far to go to get to a doctor.

While we were on our way to drop off and later pick up the dog, I noticed that the new apartments are almost completed. These are the same ones that were just breaking ground when we were living in the corporate housing. There will be lofts on the top 2 floors while stores make up the ground level. I half expect that we'll see curtains in some of those windows by next year. By then, we'll be having road construction out there because I certainly don't see that the present roads will be able to accomodate the traffic that I'm sure will start showing up in the area.

Here is KatyLou, fresh from the dryer. She was one happy, clean poochie.

Just for fun, cops, decor and more

Got this one off from Jeannie's blog a few weeks back. I'd really meant to post it within a day or two of doing the quiz....

You Are Soft Serve

You are laid back, peaceful, and accepting. You are easy to please, and you enjoy letting others do things their way. People might be surprised to know that you're experimental and funky - at least in your own mind. You are open to wherever life takes you, even if it's very unconventional.

What Frozen Treat Are You?

I wanna thank those that came in to wish me a Happy Birthday (I see a couple new names..YAY! Feel free to visit again.), but someone announced it a wee bit early. I'm not a July baby. Actually, I should have been... however, even from birth the female gene for "fashionable late" was kicked into high gear. Yeah, that's right...I'm going into this particular birthday kicking and screamin and certainly don't wanna be 40 until I damned well HAVE to be.

I see a few of you picked up on the cops comment. Well a few nights ago, I popped into bed early and did a bit of reading. I went to a lights out about 30 minutes after midnight (1230am) and actually fell right to sleep. Very unusual for me but I've been attempting a decent lights out so I'm not sleeping until 11am-noon daily. Anyhow, I fell right to sleep. I was only asleep an hour when the doorbell rang. Yeah, at what many would deem an UnGodly hour. Certainly one does NOT go ringing people's doorbells at 130am unless there's an emergency. As I roused from sleep, I realized I was seeing lights being flashed into my windows! So I very carefully peeked out my blinds and I saw cops in the neighborhood and one standing at my door, looking up and aiming his flashlight at our bedroom windows. I told hubby that we had a cop at our door, so he went down with his wallet to see what was up. I can see the question marks now....why bring the wallet? Well a month or two ago, we had another cop show up at our door , looking for someone and had wanted proof that hubby was who he said he was. I guess the neighborhood must be filled with liars. So anyway, hubby was prepared this time. When he answered the door, the cop asked if everyone inside was ok. Ummm yeah, why? Well, there'd been a shooting in the area so they were checking on all the residents to make sure everyone was ok. They'd said "in the area" but I don't recall hubby ever saying that the cop specified where. I figure if it wasn't our cul du sac, it might have been the one across the street or the one across that empty lot the kids play in (the one where I get some of the "Old Timer" cone shots). It's also possible that it might have been in the strip mall behind us. All three areas are within seconds of our place if the person(s) in question are at a dead run. I actually suspect they hadn't caught the person and that's why they were REALLY looking. Couldn't have been too major, it never made the news here.

A couple days after that one, we had another cop (?) show up at our door while hubby was at work. I hadn't called them and hadn't been making any noise myself (now why can't they show up when I'm teaching the neighbor a lesson? Did ya know heavy metal music pumping at level25 aimed straight at the adjoining wall works wonders?) so I know he wasn't there for me. I question whether he was a cop or not because he wasn't in any uniform that I could tell, just plain street clothes... a polo shirt and dockers. However, he had his id and badge handy for when I opened the door. He asked me if a certain person was here, to which I told him that no...I didn't even know the person... this was the ____ residence and we'd been here nearly 2 years now. I also told him that we're constantly getting calls from the cops regarding that particular person and 3-4 others and each time we've told them that those people haven't lived here for X amount of time. The dude apologized for the inconvenience and as he walked away, said "I guess he gave me the wrong address".... which tells me that maybe he wasn't a cop, but a parole officer. Great.

Hey! Some of you may have noticed that I've taken to answering comments via email. I'm going to try and keep that a habit because I know not everyone has time to come back to previous entries and see if I said anything in response. If I haven't commented back or I've left the response in your blog, it's because I don't have an email addy for you. Please remember I am only leaving the email link up in my profile for another few days. This Sunday it comes right back down. If you're wanting to keep in touch, I'm encouraging you to use that link by Saturday. Oh....and those that HAVE been using the link, you'll notice that I've bounced your answers to my comments on your blogs over to another account before answering. That one's my main addy that I check religiously during the day. The ladystyx1969, well it's checked once a day...if even that.

I'm also on strike with a few of the blogs. If you haven't been visiting and leaving love here, ya aint been a very good bloggy buddy. No one likes one sided bloggy friendships ya know. I know, alot of you follow ALOT of blogs (or work or both) and may not have time, but I don't exactly update this as often as some of those out there. You know the ones I'm talking about, the multiple entries a day posters. I do, however, wanna say thank you to the few of you who do have massive amounts of blogs to follow and STILL manage to leave at least a lol or a one word comment. I won't embarrass anyone by pointing them out, but you know who y'all are. So...if you look around your blog and see I haven't visited in a good long time, yet I seem to be commenting on everyone else's blogs, that could be why. Please remember to leave some comment love where ever you visit. If you got nothing to say, just leave a hug...they're always appreciated! I don't mean on every post, but at least often enough so the author knows you're still there.

Oh! And thanks to those that commented on the new decor around here. I thought that banner in the header was appropriate. My desk, my 2 pennies...but the carpeting is from the dr's office. I thought it'd look cool as a backdrop because of that pattern.... well cooler than the nasty, boring beige we have in the townhouse.

I was reading over at Red Pen's today that the IE error that some of us have been suffering on certain blogs might just have a simple fix. It means dumping the Follower widget off the sidebar. Now all we need to do is decide how important that little bit of code really is. If it's really important for you to have that little widget up so your readers can see who all has been sucked into your blog, then I suggest making friends with FireFox as I haven't had a single problem with that widget it FF. However, if it's really not all that important and you don't like the fact you have to change browsers just to read a few entries... then dump the widget.


I'm going to copy and paste the comments so far from her site here (which amounts to just my comment and hers at this point):



LadyStyx said...
Dang, is that all it takes? Sheesh. You'd think they'd get it fixed.
July 29, 2009 9:52 AM


THE GRAMMARPHILE said...
You'd think that Blogger would have found a workaround for all blogs, but they didn't. Unfortunately, this is the best--and ONLY--workaround I know of. IE8 is really buggy, and I'm actually really curious as to how and why the folks at Microsoft have not yet fixed IE 8, since that seems to be the source of the problem.
July 29, 2009 11:22 AM


Here's to hoping that Windows does a better release the next time around. If not, I may just have to talk to my brother about Linux and Red Hat.

and now for a word from our author

Ok, I think I just about have this blog to where I want it. I'm actually pleased with the look I have so it shouldn't change too much....well until autumn shows up in the next few months!

Anyhow, you'll notice a few additions and changes. Some will be staying for a while and one or two, well they'll be on their way out the door at month's end.

I've got a new profile pic up. There's this cam sitting on my monitor that I haven't used so I was playing around with it a bit last night (early this morning). I liked some of the effects it did, especially the one that's in the profile pic. It kinda reminds me of Hula's profile shot. Does anyone else miss her? I do. Alot. Anyhow, if ya reading this...that pic is a tip of the hat to you, my dear.

Since I changed my profile pic, I knew Pop N Ice would be going thru withdrawals so I reposted the pic of the kids. I may put a slideshow up of them later just so she can get her Dharma fix in.

The pictures I've been posting that I took are also over in my Flickr account. If you look to the right, you'll see a section called Styx Clyx (originial, I know)... click over there and it'll take you to the account. Feel free to poke around and check the other Clyx over there out. Some pictures have notes and descriptions and in some cases, additional stuff that I don't mention in the entries. I'm trying to decide if it's going to be worth my money to go pro there. It depends on the traffic and if I'm clicking enough to make it worthwhile.

Oh...I found out last night, while going through my brother's Flickr that he'd done a shot similar to my banner one. And here I thought I was being original. Sheesh. Anyhow, that'll change in a few days because I think I found a better shot (I was aiming for the words on the mirror) of it.

Some of you have noticed that I added an email to the profile. Well I'm here to say that I absolutely hate the fact that I caved in to those that clamored for it. Sorry y'all. Why? Because all the updates of comments on my blog go to my main account... it's the account I check multiple times during the day because I generally have a certain IM service running. The yahoo account that the account sends you to, well I don't check it as often so sending something there doesn't always guarantee that I'll get it in a timely manner. I've had a few emails show up and I'd completely forgotten why I left the comment I did. I'm really kinda pissed I caved and NO, I'm NOT about to change it to the main account I check frequently. Most of you know why. The year 2012 is coming fast and I need to make sure the hatches are battened tightly. Anyhow, I'm leaving the email hooked until the end of July, at which point it will be removed again. I figure by that time anyone who really WANTS to contact me will have been given the other email addy. Either way, the fastest way to get a response is to drop a comment here.

I've mentioned some weeding. this will happen sometime this next week I think. I'm following about 50 blogs and only have 24 followers... well 23 that I can see, someone is obviously following as an anonymous because I can't see them (wuss!). Anyhow. Since I've been following everyone's blogs and have been more or less faithful on leaving a comment or three daily and I'm getting so little in return, I have to venture a guess that the bloggy love is only going one way and to be honest, I aint up for a one sided friendship. I've got many other things I could be doing than following all these blogs and not hearing anything back. I've got a pretty good idea on who is leaving the love and who aint but I'll be watching and tracking back a month or so to check out the pattern. Anyone who is following me, is pretty much going to be kept in my "must read" area. Those that comment but don't follow, well I'll be keeping you around too. Those that don't bother? Pbbbbt! If this means dropping a couple that I enjoy because they don't visit...ah well. I've done it before and after a few weeks I simply won't miss 'em.

As for the invisible reader... please drop a comment otherwise I'll take this puppy private and you won't be invited. I'd rather lose readers and keep those that really give a damn to keep the friendships going than to be over stressed and cranky because I have little to no time for anything else (painting, needlework, READING!). I have no clue how those with many more followers manage to keep up with everyone but ya know, I'd be much more than willing if I was being shown the same in return.

NYBro, if this goes private, I'll email you the blogs so you don't miss out.

just a few updates

We made it back home sometime yesterday. I'm so happy to be home to be honestly. There's so much to do. I've got nearly 400 pictures to sort, resize and get uploaded to my Flickr account. The project is liable to take me a few days.

I came home to 30 messages in my inbox and 80 entries to read. Yeah, I can tell I've been gone 4 days. It's taken a couple days but I have them down to 39 more to read.....

While we were on or way home, I had a couple more title possibilities come up. I figured that when I got home if there wasn't any more votes I'd add them to the poll and extend it by a week. Imagine my surprise when I checked the poll and found 3 votes last night and then another 2 more this morning. I was even more surprised when the one title ran away with the poll. Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote.

I've got some weeding to do this week. When blogging begins to feel like a one-sided friendship, it's definitely time to re-assess the blog following procedures.

The trip went fairly well. Everyone survived... surprising. Some of us ended up a tad crankier than others. Then again, if the sun did this to your skin everytime you spent anymore than a few brief minutes in the sun. What you can't see in the picture is the fact that there are little blisters EVERYWHERE on that arm. The sad thing is, even if I use the strongest sunscreen... I ~still~ blister. It's not a heat rash because it just happens on my hands and arms and not on other parts of my body that are covered (where you'd expect heat rash to occur). It's also not an allergy because, like I said, it only happens on the hands and arms and not everywhere that's exposed (in other words, my face doesnt have a problem although I seem to have a very slight problem on the upper chest when wearing a v-neck shirt). The only thing that seems to work on the itch is Benedryl gel. Creams don't work (not even my Aveeno that I use every shot day). I think I'm going to add it to my list for the yearly physical and ask the dr. In the meantime, I need to see about making a lightweight cotton jacket for when I have to be out in the sun for longer than 10 minutes.... but mostly for car rides where I can't get into some shade regularly.

I think that's it for now. I'd like to get some reading done before I crawl in for the night.