I hate timing

EDITED on 04/14/09 after a discussion with mom. Edits at bottom of entry.

Go figure I'd do a Wordle from my memory blog that has the one entry on my great-gramma and end up with a phone call at 12:38pm from my Daddy with this news....

Heaven got another angel today. My mom's mom passed on earlier this morning. She was in her late 90s. Busha lived a very full life. Both her and grampa had held jobs and managed to raise 8 kids as well. My mom is the next to the youngest of the group. In the picture up top, with her is an aide from the resthome that Busha's been in for about 5-7 years or so. The lower picture has my Uncle Skeet on the left (don't remember his real name, just remember he's the shortest "kid" and that he's somewhere in the middle when it comes to age) and Uncle Fred (the oldest child of the family). Busha had been back and forth with her health for a few years now and a few times we thought we'd lose her. Somehow, she always managed to fight back. There had been quite a few emails back and forth lately (just this last week, infact), updating Busha's condition. The one I got a couple days ago talked about how the doctors had said she was headed into demise and they suspected she didnt have more than a couple months left. The same email said that the boys (meaning Uncle Skeet, Uncle Fred and Uncle Bill) suspected it was just a matter of weeks. About once a year I'd get emails like this, so there was no real shock upon receiving it. However, this time, while reading the email I was struck with the feeling it was going to be a whole lot less time than that. I hate when I'm right. The email that was received last night was filled with hope because gramma had perked up quite a bit. She still wasnt eating much, even with help, but this has been the norm for a while now. However, she still had her razor sharp wit. This morning, she's gone. She's left 7 children (one passed on already several years back due to diabetes complications), scores of grandchildren, many great grandchildren and a handful of great great grandchildren.

RIP Audrey Juanita Sugden.

edit 04/14/09 after talking with mom. Uncle Fred's the 2nd oldest.
Gramma was 93 not in her late 90's...that hateful alzheimers made her look older than she was.
Uncle Skeet's name was Lester. No wonder he chooses to go by Skeet.

mental blow up

Ok. So first and foremost, Im going to apologize to all of you as I havent exactly been the best bloggy buddy lately. The green-eyed monster likes to pay me a visit around the end of December when people start talking about going to visit (or having over) family for the holidays . Why? Well because my family happens to have gypsy tendencies and is scattered to the 4 corners of America so the ONLY family I manage to get to see during the holidays is my hubby's family (who all conveniently live in one place). God forbid if we were to plan a trip to see my family or my friends because somehow we'd just have to visit his family anyhow (cutting the trip to see mine in at least half). Ok, his gramma's in her 90's and frail...I'll give them that... but still. We wont even go into the fact that they ask every other phone call (and both sis AND mom call once a week each) when we're coming back in.


If the family issue wasnt bad enough, Christmastime is usually when some blogs go into high gear posting about the kids in their lives....sharing videos and pictures of little ones having a great time opening presents and joining in on the festivities. I CANT be telling others that they can't discuss these things as they're THEIR blogs and I have absolutely no right to tell others what they can and cant discuss such matters. All I ask is that you understand why, at times, I seemingly just fall off the planet. Thing is, I was married before for more than 10 years.....and there are no little ones (other than the furbabies) gracing my home. Although some days Im grateful that one didnt come along at that point of my life because the divorce would have been worse than it was, the fact still stands that Im going to be 40 this year and the clock's ticking away. I know there are a few of you out there that know exactly what Im going through.

The end of January was a little rough too. I was running on a high from my appointment and a low from the bug (discussed below) that I almost forgot a couple of very important dates. The 28th is an important date for me.....this year is Independence Day 4. On the 31st, was my daddy's 63rd birthday and my gramma's 2nd year Heavenly Birthday....man I miss her.

The last month or more hubby and I have had a cold going back and forth between the two of us. For the most part it's been lasting a day or so with me and then pops back over to spend time with him. The same bug's been going around his work as well. This past Thursday, after that wonderful appointment, I came home and wasnt feeling so well. My cheekbones were hurting and my face felt warm. I felt so unwell that I took the first dose of that antibiotic that's been sitting on my counter (it was issued to me over a month ago "just in case")...I even skipped my bike ride. Yeah, I felt ~THAT~ sick. I crawled upstairs to watch my usual Thursday night line up and ended up putting on my long sleeve night gown AND the plush robe.....and I was still cold. I ended up cancelling my shot for Friday because I cant have it if I've been on antibiotics. Friday I was still ill enough to keep me off the bike. Saturday I felt a bit better so I did a gentle ride that day as well as Sunday and Monday. I was schedulled to go to level 8 on Monday *IF* I felt well enough but when I went for my ride, I felt I better not push things. Im going to give it another week or two and see about increasing at that time. It'll all depend on the dr's appointment on Friday. The ZPak didnt seem to do too much good this time around and I suspect by Friday I'll be miserable again. I've been so out of it that I not only failed to keep up in the blogs in a timely manner (there are more than 50 I follow and some of ya'll write many times a day!!), but it was also Monday evening before I switched my tunes out in my MySpace..... Oh man...and I still have a few awards I'm meant to be posting (and then update in the Awards entry) but for the life of me I cant remember who all awarded me ones lately. If you'd be so kind and check...if you have one you awarded me and I havent posted it yet.....leave the link to the entry in my comments and I'll get to them............................I promise.

I havent written my review for Idol yet. There werent too many I was really thrilled with. Alot of "I likes" and not enough "Hell yeahs" to fill an entry...even with 3 night's worth of notes. Im wondering if this will be my last year watching ...or if I'll even make it through the whole year. So damn many plants this year. We'll see once we get through Hollywood week. The big question is, do I really want to put myself through that work again this year?

My SCSis is presently staying with her sister and mom in Ga. The last call I got was loaded with boo-hoos because she'd had a ~really~ horrid day. I wont go into details here. I will say that I finally had enough for the most part and as she was raging at all the things she wanted to do to the man (and I can understand those feelings...I had them at one point or another myself)...I told her to "shut up". Yeah...I used that term with my bestie of nearly 30 years. I told her that yeah I know she wanted to do all this mean, hurtful stuff and it's ok to feel that way BUT she shouldnt ACT on it and proceeded to tell her why she shouldnt (can anyone say stalking and harrassment with the intent to do harm?). I then gave her a suggestion to check out a certain not for profit organization that might be able to help her out, if not directly...then certainly they may have certain resources that will get her steered on the right path. I told her she needed to go sooner rather than later. She did do one thing right though....she called ME at 1230am...and NOT her x2b. Im so proud of her for that. She's also started taking steps for life after divorce.....address change and bank account changed so he has no access to her funds (not that she has any to work with anyhow). I wish she would have done all this sooner to be honest. She IS facing the fact that she's "screwed" and has actually used that term. The one mistake she made during this call was when she asked me how I'd feel in her shoes. It's a mistake because Im likely to be alot more blunt with what I say when Im feeling poorly. I was extremely blunt with her. I told her from day one I would have been packing, getting my ducks in order, changing accounts and would have been talking to a lawyer already. It would have all been done BEFORE I lost my job (not that that was expected but you have to figure if the jerk you're living with gets you thrown in jail, it's highly possible they're going to find a way to leak info to someone in Human Resources or a Co-Owner and manage to get you fired from your job )...at least I would have gotten the first meeting out of the way so I had an idea which steps I needed to take. I qualified it with a "but then again, Im much more pessimistic than you". Boiled down, I told her "I told you so" without being overly cruel about it. Yeah, I know it wasnt really nice, but it was stuff she needed to hear.

We started getting some mixed precip last night (Monday). When I peeked outside, it looked like we were getting some white stuff on the ground again. YAY. The weather's calling for a couple days worth of snow. It'll be nice if the ground gets fully covered over again.

We're on the night shift here. I havent decided if I'm going to stay up real late as per my usual or if Im going to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Im leaning towards the latter to be honest. Not today, obviously....maybe the next sleep cycle. I could use the extra sleep....

I have scads of stuff I emailled myself that I've meant to blog. With any luck, I'll be getting the email cleaned out in the next few days and get some of it put up. I think there's a game or three in there that I saw in other blogs that I wanted to do in mine....I know there were a few jokes that will be going up in the appropriate blog area.

I think that's it....if you can think of something that I didnt cover that you're wanting to know about....put it below in the comments.

Oh...and if someone could kindly talk me through those nifty little messages that some people have up near their comment boxes (Jeannie....Dorky.....someone.....anyone....)...Im thinking I'd like to add something like that to my blog as well.

a phone call from SC

Calories burned: 382.3
trip miles: 10.92
ave mph: 21.84

My SCSis called today. It seems when excrement decides to roll downhill, it picks up speed and becomes an avalanche. I havent gone into alot of detail in regards to her situation so I'll just say that everytime I hear from her, the situation's gotten even worse. Not only did her husband tell her ON THANKSGIVING DAY that he wanted a divorce, but due to events after that day she's managed to lose her job as well. I really feel for her because I was in somewhat the same position not just a few years ago (losing a job through no total fault of my own). The company boss has encouraged her to file for unemployment and he'll be certain it goes through (the firing wasnt due to poor performance). However, now she's facing a divorce and now no income. The call wasnt all bad though as she's driven to Georgia to pick up her sister and they're making plans to go to Louisiana to get their mom so they can all move to Georgia together after the divorce is final. She's needing a job now though. What she needs is a job that she can do from home online, something she'll be able to keep even after she moves. She is like me, only a high school education, but is quite bright and learns fast (she learned that web stuff faster than me!). In the job she was at, part of her duties was to revamp their website and make it easier to use for the customers to use. She even added the MSDS sheets so they are available to their clients online, just incase one was needed after hours. She'd be really good at web upkeep for a site (or even more than one site). If anyone has any ideas as to where she can at least start looking, it'd be appreciated.

day 13 complete

Calories burned: 363.4
trip miles: 10.38
average mph: 20.76


...and today's ride did NOT have the added incentive of me being pissed off at the neighbor. Tomorrow's the last day of the month so I'll have one more ride at level 1.5 on my bike and starting Saturday I'll be on level 2 tension. Im going to see how well Im doing in 2 weeks time and decide whether or not I can take it up another half notch on the tension. At worst, I expect I'll be able to increase tension once every month.

While we were out to supper a couple nights ago, hubby saw something interesting on ABC News while he was up at the bar sneaking a smoke. When he got back to the table he told me about it and so I looked up the website. I really wish I'd known about these web addies before the campaigning started. It would have saved me a bit of grief....not to mention saving my sanity.
I'm leaving the links in here for you to peruse at your own leisure.


http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org/ht/d/Join/pid/196
http://thinkdodone.typepad.com/ccd/
http://thinkdodone.typepad.com/ccd/2008/09/the-top-5-ways.html
http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm

Oh and iggy gave me an award today in his blog....I've added it to my awards area (they've been shuffled around so the most recent ones will be first in the list). If you click the award, it'll take you to the entry he gave it to me in. Thank you very much iggy!

I cant wait until it's over

We had 5....of these damn calls again today. With these and the other 6 that are already on block, Im quickly running out of block spots. Im about ready to just unhook the phone until the election's over. Just not answering doesnt help matters, it's still annoying when they call ad nauseum....

weight, weather, way annoying phone calls and word from home

Oh how I know that feeling! I mentioned a couple weeks back to Chicago that I was looking at getting a recumbent exercise bike. I had one all picked out at that point on the WalMart site and all I had to do is order it. After a discussion with hubby, it was decided that he'd put it on the WalMart card. So I figured he'd get right to it. Ummmhmm. I finally mentioned it once too often and he handed over the card so I could place the order. We're having it delivered to the Wally World right down the road from us. We could have had it delivered here for an extra fee but we were afraid they'd want to deliver on a Monday or Tuesday and the next 2 Mondays and Tuesdays are all tied up with doctor appointments. I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm tired of my legs and corresponding joints giving me fits. Most of all Im tired of not being comfortable walking and standing. Like Mr Lockhorn is saying in the comic to the right "My body is in perfect balance...everything is falling apart at the same time."



The weather has been nice here. Last week was nicer than this week. This week it warmed up some and we've had to shut the windows and turn the AC back on again. I'm not overly happy with that. I was enjoying the nice fresh air we were getting. It was a very nice change of pace. I was kinda hoping the trees in the area would show us some nice bright colors this year, Texas never had it that's for sure. However, so far this year, we've had some yellows and asgoodasdead browns. There are already leaves on the ground and some of the trees are bare in less than a week's time.



Thanks to the upcoming election here in the states, my phone (and my doorbell) has been ringing seemingly nonstop. As much as I'd like to say that I'm getting it from both parties, I'm not. I do want to thank the party that's been harrassing me, it's a real good way to get me to vote for anyone other than your candidate. I got so annoyed the day before yesterday that I dug up on the Comcast website instructions on how to block certain calls and ya know? It's been a real peaceful couple of days. As for the doorbell, I'm about ready to answer it while naked. With any luck it'll scare the volunteers littering my yard with their crappy fliers as well as any potential annoying "Witnesses" away. I will be so damn glad when this election is over with. Oh, and before anyone slams me for not liking their candidate because the volunteers are harrassing me constantly, I can't stand either one of the main choices this time around (whether they're harrassing me or not)....not one bit.

Got an email the other day from home. Seems the ex wrote and has had a parole hearing earlier this month and that "things looked good" for his release. However, ALL paroles and approved releases were put on hold because an earlier parolee had killed a cop at a traffic stop. All prisoners that had been approved for work outside the prison walls were recalled from their jobs as well. Now, as much as I'd like to have them keep him locked away forever, why should those who have done their time....and made steps to rehabilitation....be punished for the one creep that couldn't keep his actions in check? The letter went on to say that all the property that had been left at the apartment that he was renting prior to his arrest had gone to a sister's house and then eventually to his folks house. From what I gather, that's where he'll be released to when he finally gets out. Here I was under the impression he'd have to stay in the state of his incarceration for a few years before he could leave and file as a sex-offender. Maybe I was mistaken? Or maybe they failed to mention this to him yet? This is, however, possible good news though as Im in hopes that he'll still have a few of the items that I'd left behind and will be nice enough to send them along to my family. Then again, knowing how he is, it's more than likely he was just saying what he thought they wanted to hear. *SHRUGZ*