Palamityville

Slacker

2008-04-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the absence. I haven't felt much like writing. There isn't a whole lot to say anyhow.

I'm leaving next week to go to DisneyWhirled (hee!) with Sunny's sister and her family. It is going to be so awesome!!! I'm not even dreading being stuck in a mini-van with a 3 and 5 year old for 2 days. Who cares? I'm on vacay for the first time since 2000!!! Woo hoo!!! Sunny must be feeling extra guilty because he had me cash the flex spending check and told me to take $2000 with me. Whee!

I had to buy a bunch of summer clothes so I would have something to wear. 18 officially, but 16's and 16w's depending on the cut and style. And my new swimsuit - an XL. Go me! I'm one pound away from losing 50 pounds. Go me again! I have also started working out a little and walking with the neighbor again. We're easing our way back into it.

I started working on the bathroom again this weekend. I started sanding the vanity doors Saturday and moved on to the vanity Sunday. On Monday I stained the vanity and one of the doors. Good thing I only did the back of one of the doors. I discovered that if the old finish isn't gone entirely, the stain doesn't penetrate and it looks blotchy. So yesterday I moved the sanding operation for the doors outside since the mess was incredible and staining inside - more on that later. I got the doors and drawer fronts in pristine wood condition and cleaned them up with mineral spirits. Today I have to spot sand the cabinet and get that stained. I also have to test the poly I bought on the back of the one completed door. Then I have trim to rejuvenate and I have to get the walls prepped for painting. I want to get the bulk of this done before I leave for DW next Wed so I only have 7 days. I work better under deadline anyhow.

Counseling is going forward. I have had some individual sessions with the counselor. I took this test and it turns out I'm very angry. Go figure. I'm also a walking wounded and have a lot of anxiety. Imagine that! We were supposed to have a session on Monday and I thought it was at 6. I'm at the grocery store when my cellphone rings and Sunny wants to know where I am. Oops! I felt horrible because it was our last session before I go away for 2 weeks. I suggested he take it by himself which he didn't want to do, but they must have talked him into it. I went home and it turns out I was high as a kite from stain fumes. Seriously buzzed. Good thing I wasn't stopped for DUI. I wore a respirator whilst applying the stain, but not while cleaning up the area and then I showered and did my hair and makeup in that bathroom and an hour later I was buzzing. When he got home I apologized profusely, and his response - Shit happens. Whatever, you dickhead.

Well, I have tons of shit to do. And I forgot I signed up for a roofing seminar on Saturday, so I have that to do as well. Busy is good.

Snow Business

2008-03-17T09:50:00.004-05:00

I don't know what's worse, piles of snow or the melting of the piles of snow. At least with the melting, the driveway is almost free of the dreaded ice ruts. I moved most of the wood pile down to the boiler with only a couple of mishaps. Two times the trailer slid off the hard packed snow and into the soft melty stuff and tipped over. I had to unload and stack the wood where it fell. I was extra careful the next time and it fucking did it again. The third time I managed to make it through and thank God I was done at that point. Now there's just a small stack of wood that needs to be split and the two loads that are close to the boiler, but not quite there. I wanted to get all the wood moved before melting turned everything into a quagmire.

I finally got most of the Xmas decorations put away. I just have the nativity set and a garland and some lights on the high ledge over the tv which requires dragging the ladder up from the basement and maybe talking my neighbor into helping me a bit. And I have the garlands and lights outside that will have to wait for more melting so I don't have to wade through two feet of snow to get to them. I packed everything up into his, hers and ours again and it wasn't bad at all this time. Two months ago I was a mess dividing up the ornaments. Not so much this time. My SIL called as I was in the process and said maybe it means I've taken just about all I can.

Sunny just called and his day is going to shit. He may not be able to make counseling tonite and will probably have to go back to work if he does make it. He's been working alot lately. At least I hope that's what he's doing. I just will never know. Speaking of counseling, our session last week was weird. I think the guy was stoned. All that was missing was the bloodshot eyes and the giggling and he had the stoned on pot thing down. He could have been on some serious pain killers though too. We are giving him 2 more sessions and if things aren't meshing with him, I guess we'll move on. Hope we don't have to do that because I don't want to wade through all that crap again. I think I'd rather just leave. Fake wave and a buh-bye!

I accomplished a lot off my list from last week:

Check- call Red Cross re: volunteering
Check- move wood
Check- get fitted for orthotic (Appt. Wed.)
Check- pay bills
Almost - put away Xmas decorations
Nope - continue working on the bathroom. (Ack, it's been weeks since I did anything in there.)
Check- change and wash the pee blanket on the couch
Nope - (Gross, I know) wash the spaghetti pot
Nope - do the medical acct forms - get that moolah back!
Nope - wash makeup brushes
Check- clean the puke spots on the carpet
Nope - change the rug in the laundry room and wash the floor - then take the rug to the laundromat and wash it in the big commerical washer
Check- get a new taillight for the truck and replace it

Just so I don't look like a total slacker, I also did a bunch of stuff that isn't on this list. Kapish?

New goals for this week:
- put away final Xmas decorations
- continue working on the bathroom
- wash the spaghetti pot
- do the medical acct forms
- wash makeup brushes
- change the rug in the laundry room and wash the floor - then take the rug to the laundromat and wash it in the big commerical washer
- call Red Cross again
- order rust remover
- change water filter on fridge
- call town prez re: dirt bike track
- make appt at vet for Bizzy
- GET SOME EXERCISE!!!

I watched the I Can Make You Thin thing on TLC last night. Interesting that I bought a book in high school (when I was horribly fat at 145 for chrissakes!) that is pretty much the same thing. If only I can follow it. I am going to give this method a shot since it meshes nicely with the upcoming vacation. I need to change the way I think about food. It's interesting that last Oct-Nov I was sort of doing this exact same thing. I would get an Egg Mc Muffin and eat most of it and COULD NOT make myself eat the last few bites. I was full. I was really listening to my stomach. I still mostly do this, but I can't have trigger foods like GS cookies, chocolate and other sweet things in the house. Those foods call to me and I MUST eat them, even if I am full. I want to get to the point where chocolate goes bad and cookies get stale and ice cream gets freezer burned before it gets consumed. I don't want those foods to have that kind of power over me.

Better get on with the day. Bye!

My Brain Weighs More

2008-03-10T09:26:00.002-05:00

So, as promised I weighed and measured on Friday. I lost a measly 2.8 lbs in February (and the first week of March.) Sucks, but it is a loss. No real movement in the measurement area, but since it was after TOM, my boob and chest region measurements were down by 1/2 to 1 inch. Go figure. On to a new month.

I think I need to make some goals here. It helps to have something to shoot for. I'm going to Disneyworld with Sunny's sister and husband and the kids at the end of April. I'd like to lose at least 15 more pounds by then. Totally doable, especially if I get cracking on the exercise portion of the equation. I'd love to take some walks outside, but just walking down the driveway is hazardous to one's health. I hope we get a lot of melting this week to get rid of the ice. It's 4 inches thick in spots. And rutted enough to break ankles.

What else? In no particular order:
- call Red Cross re: volunteering
- move wood
- get fitted for orthotic (Appt. Wed.)
- pay bills
- put away Xmas decorations
- continue working on the bathroom. (Ack, it's been weeks since I did anything in there.)
- change and wash the pee blanket on the couch
- wash the spaghetti pot
- do the medical acct forms - get that moolah back!
- wash makeup brushes
- clean the puke spots on the carpet
- change the rug in the laundry room and wash the floor - then take the rug to the laundromat and wash it in the big commerical washer
- get a new taillight for the truck and replace it

That's ambitious enough for this week.

Tonite is our fourth counseling session. I'm not terribly hopeful anymore. He made spaghetti yesterday and I came up behind him to give him a hug and thank him for making dinner and the fucker stiffened up like I was a serial killer about to plunge a knife through his back. So unfair. What did I do? Absolutely nothing.

February Recap - Postponed

2008-03-04T10:05:00.002-06:00

I got on the scale yesterday and had a nice gain. Not surprising since I ate anything and everything while I was away. I've decided to weigh and measure on Friday to give the sugar bloat time to go away. It's working since I'm down over two pounds today. February is not going to be a stellar month for me, but March and April are. I'm going to Disneyworld and hope to lose 20-25 lbs before I do. Aiming for Onederland.

I thought about working out, but I went into the basement and something fucking DIED down there. Gag. I checked the freezer to make sure it was still running, and then got the hell out of there. I'll have to return later to see if I can locate the corpse and dispose of it. Unfortunately, there is so much shit down there it could be just about anywhere. Sigh. Always something.

Nothing New

2008-02-26T15:04:00.003-06:00

Sunny came home from work sick yesterday, so I called and cancelled counseling. Our next session isn't until the 10th. He's been working alot so we haven't had time to really connect or anything. Not sure he really cares. For the third time in a row, the pizza wasn't done when he got there to pick it up, despite my calling it in as soon as he left instead of waiting 10 minutes like he directed. Interesting no?

Another interesting thing, I think he found this blog. He went through my history and I hadn't cleared it since my last posting so the links to it were clearly visible. So now I'm not sure if I should leave it public or make it private. I don't really want to give him a view into what goes on inside my head. But on the other hand, I'm not really sure I care if he does read it. I'm all over the place!!!! What do you guys think? Public or private? Leave a comment.

Going down to Chicago Thursday. Yay! Can't wait to see my little munchkins. Hope they stay healthy!

Toodles.

A Milestone of Sorts

2008-02-20T08:07:00.003-06:00

I know, don't fall out of your chair, two posts in a row! A miracle!

I stepped on the scale this morning and despite several days of sucky, stress/comfort eating, I lost another pound. And because I programmed a goal weight into my Jenny Cr@ig digital scale, I hit some special weight today and it started flashing "GOAL" at me. I did a happy dance right there on the scale. I think I'm 25 percent of the way to goal since I programmed the scale. Which wasn't at my highest weight by any means. I'm 9 pounds away from being halfway to goal from my highest weight. Sweet.

And I'm an inspiration!to others! My beloved SIL was so inspired by how I looked when we were down for MIL's b-day that she and BIL are doing Nutr!system together. She's down 5 pounds already. GO SIL! You can totally do this!

I think I'll finish up working in the workout area today. After the guy comes to pick up the ATV for repair, I have to go get Bizzy at the kennel because Sunny worked too late to get him from Fun Camp. He loves Fun Camp. He has special girlfriends there and is known as the Ambassador because he's submissive enough to suck up to new Campers so they don't feel threatened, but not so submissive that he won't stand up for himself. (Doggie pecking order. Gotta love it.) There's at least one dog who will only play with Bizzy. Plus he gets to hobnob with dogs who are rich and famous. One of them even ran the Iditarod a couple of times. It's expensive, but worth it so he doesn't overwhelm Booboo and Bonbon with his energy.

Well, thanks for reading and have a great day!

The Post That Ate My Brain

2008-02-19T15:22:00.004-06:00

Wow! I am buzzing! I just finished off an XXL Lo-carb Monster and whoo-E I am juiced. I'm going to be all over the place folks, so bear with me.

Our third session with the counselor was sucky. (The second one was not so bad, go figure.) Lots of anger and bitching. And according to Sunny, our marriage is dead. Not circling the drain or on life support, but dead. As in doornail. And we all know what happens when you try to revive something that's been dead. Think Pet Sem@tary or Evil De@d or any other zombie flick. I think he's just going through the motions. Look what a good husband I am. We tried. Whatever. I should probably get out now before something tries to eat my brain.

I used to have a phenomenal memory. Seriously. My teacher even gave me a special prize in second grade for memorizing and reciting in front of the class all the poems out of the reading text and some of those fuckers were 5 and 6 pages long. I guess when you're young you have brain cells to devote to shit like that but as you get older you have to remember phone numbers and pin numbers and passwords and all the other assorted crap life throws at you. And let's not forget about all the brain cells killed off in college drinkfests. Although my short term memory is still pretty good. I can ace a multiple guess test like no ones business. My college econ professor thought I was some sort of macro- and micro-econ wiz because I got amazing grades on all his tests but it was only because I read the text the night before and could remember the answers once I saw them. I know squat about economics now because it didn't make it into long term memory. Anyhoo, there is a point to all this. I still remember a poem I memorized when I was in grade school and it applies:

As a rule, man's a fool.
When it's hot, he wants it cool.
When it's cool, he wants it hot.
Always wanting what is not.
As a rule, man's a fool.

So there, that's what I feel about men right now, the one I'm married to in particular. Bite me, asshat.

Valentine's Day is bad enough when you are single and alone. Sheer torture when you are in a shitty marriage. Last year I got flowers for Valentine's Day, this year I greeted him with a kiss and the words dead fish come to mind. Didn't even acknowledge the day, which I suppose would be hypocritical since our marriage is dead. Still, suck it, A-hole.

I could do without any more snow. If this keeps up there won't be anywhere to put it. Our driveway is barely wide enough for a vehicle. And the banks are higher than our snowplow blade so it really sucks to try to plow. And we have to get our plow in for service because the bracket is bent all to hell and Sunny wedged a pin in there, but didn't go through all the holes and it is now bent inside the bracket and will never come out. Not without a cutting torch. So I arranged to have it picked up tomorrow and hopefully it will be back before the next snow. A little maintenance on shit would go a long way. But apparently he wants to live a maintenance-free life. I wish him luck with that.

I had to laugh listening to the Jerry B@der show on WT@Q this morning. He was reading from his blog an essay on who he was going to vote for in the primary today and it reminded me for all the world of the logic employed by the Sicilian in The Pr!ncess Br!de during the battle of wits with the Man in Black. I called in and told the screener my thoughts and we shared a good laugh.

I almost got the workout area up and running. It has been cleaned up and arranged and is just waiting for Sunny to hook up the tv and components. And I have to do some maintenance on the Nordictrak that my neighbor gave me and put together the stand for the adjustable weights. Then I have to watch the DVD to figure out how to use the new Bowflex that Sunny gave me one Christmas, back when he still "loved" me, I guess. Probably a guilt gift like the watch he bought me while he was in NYC with his boss doing God knows what. FUCKER!

Ok, this entry is just getting weird and bitter. but that's kind of how I feel just now. Maybe next time I'll be in a better frame of mind.

January Recap

2008-02-01T10:45:00.000-06:00

How sad is it when you think for 2 minutes and January Recap is the best title of the bunch? Sad, I tell you!

I lost just over 7 pounds in January. That's something of a miracle as I've been an eating machine since we went down to Illinois. Lobster ravioli, people! Calamari. Bread dipped in EVOO. Fr@ppucinos. And it's continued (but on a smaller scale) since we got home. Maybe I wasn't eating enough because I was bouncing between the 3-5 pound gone for 2 weeks and when I weighed myself the Monday after our return I was at 6 pounds gone. Lobster ravioli and KFC and mac & cheese and chocolate. Plus TOM started on Tuesday so I imagine there's a couple pounds of water in each boob alone.

Speaking of TOM, starting marriage counseling the night before is probably not the wisest thing. I was a mess. We were ordered not to fight outside of the sessions since it's so destructive. The counselor's role is to get us the not be so reactive to each other so that we can make decisions in a calm, rational, zen-like state. I'm pretty much not talking to Sunny at all now. Only when I must. Not that we fought constantly, but they are pretty brutal so I can go along with that edict. I'm not holding out much hope for this relationship lasting much longer. We have another session Monday. Yay. A root canal would be less painful.

Sunny pissed off his sister Saturday night when he rebuffed a hug from her. She extends an olive branch to him and he rebuffed her! Fuckhead. So I told her if she needs to tell her folks about this situation, go ahead. And she did. His mom called me Wednesday and we had a nice talk. They are being totally supportive and even offered me their spare room should I need it. I've turned into Jenn!fer An!ston. Only without the fab body and career and money and J@son Lew!s. If there's life after Br@d P!tt, there's got to be life after Sunny.

My family still knows nothing. If, by some miracle, we do get through this, I don't want there to be bad feelings between anyone. I learned that when my brother and his wife had problems. It's still hard to be nice to her knowing what she put him through.

I started working on the bathroom, but it's going slowly. When I realized I wasn't going to get even the bulk of it done by the time Sunny came home from NYC, I decided not to kill myself to get it completed. So I'm working on it when the mood strikes me. This could take all year people. Yesterday I was trying to get the purple paint off the trim. I went through 2 types of G00f 0ff and the only effective means of paint removal is sandpaper. Of course, it's a bit harsh on the stain, so I only did a small portion and am trying W00dsheen today to see if it will spruce up the baseboards. Then I'll get medieval on the rest of the trim. I've never seen such a God-awful mess in my life. Cheap pine trim with huge splotches of wood putty trying to cover the nail heads and big blobs of purple paint. I figured as long as I'm trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, I may as well try to do it right.

My neighbor gave me this for Christmas and I currently have the "I'm having my period and can therefore legally kill you" page displayed. It fits, trust me.

Ice capades

2008-01-13T10:03:00.000-06:00

I took the dogs to the kennel yesterday. I got there 2 minutes before they closed. The doors were locked in fact, but they opened up for me and the kids. I was late because the firewood guys showed up just before I was to leave and unloaded the truck by hand instead of just dumping the wood. Since it was snowing a little I tarped it with the only tarp I had on hand. It was too small so it looks like a horse blanket on an elephant, but the best I could do. Then I hauled ass to the kennel. Thankfully, the roads were in decent shape and empty since everyone was watching the Packer game because I was flying. The snow began in earnest when I hit the kennel's exit. By the time I had unloaded the dogs (less than 10 minutes) a good coating of snow was forming on the truck. I slid a bit when I pulled out of the parking lot.

I got back on 172 to head over to the mall. As I get to the end of the ramp I witness cars sliding every direction about a half mile down the road. Headlights point at me, then away. I braked and the ABS kicked in for like 30 seconds. The dude behind me passed me on the left. I popped the hazard lights on and approached the area slowly. A column of smoke is rising on the right. I pulled off on the shoulder and get out of the truck. Passengers from another car ahead of me are already making their way down the hill. I ran (yes, I ran! Ankle be damned!) down the embankment, following the tracks of the pickup that now lay upside down against a chain link fence, the engine running, lights on and lots of smoke rising from the engine. The other people were calling for anyone in the truck and trying to look into the cab. The passenger window was smashed to about half it's size and we couldn't get to the driver's side which was squashed as well. The passenger door wouldn't open. Two cops showed up toting a huge fire extinguisher. I finally convinced the guy crawling around looking in the cab to cut off the engine and the smoke stopped as soon as he did. We couldn't find anybody in the truck. I look around and see a pile of tarps and some 2x4's on top of the bed's hard top liner spanning the bottom of the ditch. I toss the tarps aside and the sand tubes and the wood and lift up the liner but there was only water under it. We fan out looking for anyone who may have been ejected when the trucked rolled over. I find a side mirror, the side window glass, a bag of frozen brats. One woman comes up with a soft briefcase and starts going through it. The guy appears to be in the Navy and from Sheboygan. A glove, a hiking boot. some cassette tapes, (cassette tapes, no shit!) a back pack. But no people. We searched the area in the falling snow and looming darkness (it's about 4:20 pm by now) for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I see cars sliding into the ditch back toward the exit and we hear loud metal bangs as more cars slide into each other farther up the road. The cops said they had a report that someone may have picked whoever was in this truck up and taken them away. There were so many tracks on the hill it was impossible to tell if someone had actually walked away from this accident. We couldn't see anyone in the cab and the only other place a body could be would be under the hood of the truck.

The cops said we should go since there wasn't anything else we could do. I kind of didn't want to leave since I felt safer there than up on the road with the bumper cars, but I made my way up the hill and back on the road. I did about 25 all the way to the Oneida exit. There were lots of cars in the ditches, including a Domino's pizza guy. Someone's not getting their pizza in 30 minutes or less. Meanwhile the snow is falling harder. I make it to the mall and hurry inside to get warm. My feet are freezing from tramping through the snow and water. My hair is wet with snow. Crazy.

As I'm walking back to the truck, I can hear chants of Go Pack Go from the stadium. That place must really be rocking for the sound to carry that far. I turn on WTAQ and listen to the announcers talking about the heavy snowfall. No shit, dude. I drove home very carefully.

The Big 40

2008-01-12T09:14:00.000-06:00

When I stepped on the scale this morning, it said I've lost exactly 40 pounds. I didn't believe it so I ran down into the basement and hopped on the other scale and the needle bounced around the 39-40 mark. I guess it's true. And after having a Frappuccino yesterday. (370 empty, but delicious, calories.) My weight will probably bounce around going up and down 2 or 3 pounds until it settles. Or it can keep going down. I would appreciate that. Still have to get the exercise part of the lifestyle going. Today's non-traditional exercise wlll be moving wood from the woodpile to the pallet. And shoveling the sidewalks. And maybe raking the roof for that uber-tricep workout.

Sunny left yesterday for his convention. He's getting the royal treatment from vendors. Dinners at places I've always wanted to eat at, drinks at fun bars, tours of cool stores, a Broadway show and a freaking car sent to take him to a bigwig's house in Connecticut to watch the Packer game. Well, he's worked hard enough in the trenches for long enough to reap the rewards. I won't begrudge him that. I can begrudge him the company that he keeps though. Just saying....

Our marriage counseling appointment was cancelled the morning of it because the therapist had strep throat. I cried after I hung up. Huge disappointment because I really wanted to get things out in the open before this trip. Why does the universe hate me??? I haven't rescheduled yet.

I took the Christmas tree down. That was painful. I seperated the ornaments into his, hers and ours. That way I can grab my stuff and go if it comes to that. I guess the "our" box I'll toss in the driveway and back over on my way out the door. 20 Christmas's of memories meet Goodyear.

The dogs are going into the kennel today. I'm spending the night at the cabin tomorrow and want to be alone. And I'm working on the master bath finally, so I don't need their "help". I think paint and dogs don't mix. And I can't keep Bizzy out of anything for long, the little shit.

Well, that's all I have for now. Remember, blondes have more fun, but brunettes remember it the next day.

Merry New Year

2008-01-02T11:19:00.000-06:00

Another year down. Big whoop. I hope everyone had a much better holiday than I did. At least I had my family. And Sunny's. He stayed here to work and I got to represent at all the family gatherings. Happy, happy, joy, joy and all that. Saw old friends too, which was nice. I stayed with Sunny's sister and family Christmas night and the next night so the day after Xmas I could install the closet organizer she wanted for her gift. Turned out great. I took before and after pics and I'll post them whenever I get around to getting a Flickr album up and running.

I caught the cold my mom and dad had so I'm feeling run down. I was using a nasal spray to open up the sinuses, but I had to stop since I reached the limit for the number of days you could use it. Not too stuffy today, so hopefully I'm getting better. I baked in the sauna last night and will continue to do it every night until I get rid of this. (Plus, it's a great calorie burner whilst sitting on your ass!)

Here's the new me breakdown for the last quarter of 2007:
Saw my ob/gyn on October 4. Weight was obscene. My BMI at this point is 38.4. Thanks to two bouts of stomach flu, attempting to eat better, walking a couple of times a week with my neighbor, reduced appetite thanks to marital problems and a decision to make a better me from that point forward, I lost 35.6 pounds (BMI 33.1 or -5.3 in 3 months, YAY!) as of 1/1/08. I didn't take body measurements until the end of November. (25 pounds gone by that point.) From 11-26-07 to 1-1-08 I lost 10 pounds, .5 inch from my bustline, nothing from my waistline, 1.5 inches from my hips and an inch from each thigh. (Plus, TOM is expected any time so I'm probably retaining fluid like a bitch.) I went from a comfortable size 22 to a high 18/low 20.

I found old blood test results from January 2005 to compare to the ones done December 2007.

Glucose - 97/96 (-1)
Total Cholesterol - 177/156 (-21) YAY!
Triglycerides - 95/106 (+11) boo!
HDL - 43/36 (-7) Double boo!
LDL - 116/99 (-17) YAY!

Not sure why the triglyceride and HDL levels went in the wrong directions, but contiued weight loss and adding regular exercise should bring them around. And not too happy with the glucose numbers so I'm hoping that diet and exercise plus reducing consumption of simple sugars and sugar substitutes will bring the glucose number down and cut the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

For this year I'm going to lose an additional 75 pounds, get cardio and weight lifting back into my life, eat less refined food and more fiber, take vitamins and other supplements regularly and get more good fats into my diet. When I get to my goal weight, I'll re-evaluate how I look and feel and see if I need to lose more.

Also up for this year, either a job or volunteer work. And continued organizing and dejunking of this house. I need to see what the next few months bring, good or bad. 2008 could either be good or really, really bad relationship-wise.

And if you want to see the cutest puppy, go to Pioneer Woman's site. Adorable! How come everyone else gets normal pups? Bizzy didn't sleep outside his crate for something like 8 months. I saw a GWP at the vet the same age as Bizzy and it was calm and normal. We keep getting basket case dogs. He's a cutie though.

Hsppy 2008 everyone!! Keep positive thoughts for us. We need all the help we can get.

C-suckles

2007-12-22T07:51:00.000-06:00

I was attempting to decorate the outside of the house a bit. I purchased 3 boxes of C-sicles to hang from the gutters above the front porch. Seemed like a good idea at the time - C9 lights across the top and icicle lights too. Only they are 2 light strands attached together, so 2 plugs. No biggie. They have a nasty tendancy to tangle and since it was cold the icicles wires were contorted into weird shapes. I forge ahead using my trusty pole with the twist off gutter clips. First one goes on great. Next one won't go on. Hmm. Drag out a ladder and discover gutters are full of ice which means the only clips I have won't work. Well, the C9 lights have clips on them which should slide between the ice and the gutter lip. First one goes on fine, second one breaks off, third one breaks off. Then the whole thing falls off and lands on the concrete porch with louds pops of breaking glass. The C9s exploded like IEDs and sent glass shrapnel everywhere. Fuck, fuck, fuckety, fuck, fuck. So now I'm cleaning up broken glass. I dump the broken strand in a paper sack and toss it in the garbage. I returned the 2 unopened boxes to the store and just about had the woman at customer service in tears of laughter from the description of the antics with this miracle of Chinese engineering. She wished she had a video of it. I'm sure it would win a prize on some gag show. If you could hear anything over the bleeping out of all the colorful language.

My ultrasound went ok, I guess. Both ovaries are ok and the 3 smaller fibroids are the same. The only gotcha is the 2 larger tumors each grew by a centimeter in 2 months. That means a half centimeter a month. I go back in six months for another ultrasound. If they grow at that rate they could be 3 centimeters larger. My only option is a hysterectomy since there are so many tumors and other options aren't appropriate or effective. I could live without ever getting another period again. If I experience any increase in symptoms I go back earlier. I had trouble peeing before my last period. She said the tumors could be pressing on the bladder or urethra. I feel like an 80 year old man with a bad prostate.

And now, I'll leave you to enjoy the holidays with the lyrics from the South Park classic Christmas song - Dead, Dead, Dead:

Dead, Dead, Dead, someday you'll be dead
Dead, Dead, Dead, someday we'll all be dead.

The minute we're born, we start dying,
We die a little more every day..
Young or old, rich or poor,
There's nothing we can do to stop it..
So look long at that Christmas tree,
It may be the last one that you see..
Decorate your house in green and red,
'cos someday you'll be dead..

Dead, Dead, Dead, someday you'll be dead
Dead, Dead, Dead, someday we'll all be dead.

It might happen in a couple months
Or 50 years from now..
But no matter when it happens
It will seem too soon to you..
So be sure on Christmas eve
When you snuggle into bed..
That you thank God for your family
'cos someday they'll be dead..

Dead, Dead, Dead, someday you'll be dead
Dead, Dead, Dead, someday we'll all be dead.

Who knows how many Christmas's
Are left in their short lives?
Nobody knows, that my point!
Enjoy them while you can.
And so on Christmas morning
Let good tidings fill your head..
What a festive season,
Someday you'll be dead

Dead, Dead, Dead, someday you'll be dead
Dead, Dead, Dead, everyone you know, dead.
A very Merry Christmas to you!
Dead, Dead, Dead..

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Garden of Love

2007-12-16T09:16:00.000-06:00

I've been watching Fun Shui on HGTV for a while now. One of the recent shows hit home. A couple was having a streak of bad financial luck and the host pointed out that their house was L-shaped and the missing chunk corresponded to their wealth area and showed them ways to correct the issue. If you take this map and stretch it over our house, the love area falls outside the walls. (Actually, our home is a weird shape, so wealth, wisdom and career fall outside the walls too, but I'm just dealing with love for now.) Our "love" area has been a mess since we moved here. It had a mishmash of plantings, pea gravel and mulch courtesy of previous owners. When we had the house re-landscaped in 2005, I had intended to make some raised beds and brick walkways in the area after the landscapers removed the plants, pea gravel and mulch. Having surgery in July kind of sidelined that idea and I spent late fall finishing the stain job on the back of the house. The area became a weedy mess, which I weeded once or twice (so I could get in there and stain the walls) and covered with a layer of chopped up leaves held in place with pieces of lattice which were waiting to become the deck skirting. The next year, we got Bizzy who thought that area was his playground and he consumed what little energy I had so I couldn't even think about laying brick and tilling soil with a puppy who wanted to roll in the mud. We borrowed most of the pieces of lattice to prop up around the deck because Bizzy just wanted to crawl under there and roll around in the sand, so the chopped up leaves blew away until fall when we added some more. Bizzy jumps whatever fence we put around the "garden" and does his business in there occasionally. Summer 2007 arrives and I don't even care enough about this area to do anything. I barely kept the weeds down in the planting beds. So our "love" area has leaves/exposed dirt/piece of lattice/old folding wire fence/soaker hose/some bricks and the occasional dog poop all surrounded by a wrought iron fence. In feng shui terms, is it any wonder our marriage is in the dumper?

So I was going to address the area, but the snow fell early this year and is covering all the junk and the dirt. Kind of pretty actually. But I needed a piece of garden art to place at the corner where the walls would intersect. So I looked around and found one that I thought would work. It's an obelisk with two doves sitting on top and the words "May the sun's embrace fall upon this garden nook" (or similar, I don't have a photographic memory) on one side. It was kind of spendy, but it's for a good cause. I have it in my cart and a helpful store employee says she'll find me one in a box. Against my better judgement, I agree and she returns with this giant box. It just fits in the trunk and I'm on my way home when a songbird dining along the road flies into my windshield with a resounding thud. Shit!!! Major bad omen!!! I get home, open the box, get covered in a thousand styrofoam beads which are attracted to my static cling, wrestle the styrofoam insert out the box, slit the tape and slide apart the two halves just enough to see that the thing is broken and box it back up swearing like a sailor. I had a beautiful, unbroken one in my cart which was helpfully replaced with a broken one and now I have to return it. It felt like another bad omen. After getting most of the styrofoam beads off me, I call the store and have them pull the floor model for me, I just knew someone would buy it out from under me and it probably was the last one. (BTW - it was the last one.)

So I return it and put the new, unbroken one in the garden in the appropriate spot. I love the doves and the saying, but it looks like a tombstone sticking up from the snow. Especially surrounded by the wrought iron fencing. "Here lies our marriage. Dead of neglect." Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week....

Cold Snap Continues...

2007-12-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

Sunny left this morning for work and his business trip by barely looking at the bed and saying goodbye. Gee thanks, I can feel the love from here. I suppose I could have gotten out of bed and tried to kiss him, but I can only deal with so much rejection. He's been mopey all weekend, so I'm glad for this little break from all the drama.

I took out the garbage and recycling and then shoveled the front sidewalk and raked the roof. My feet were freezing by the time I finished. No wonder, it's just above 0F out there. I sorted my laundry and have a load going now. Breakfast consisted of a WW Egg Mcmuffin and a yogurt. Today is all about cleaning and putting stuff away so I can break out the Christmas decor tomorrow. I need to make a gift list too because I feel like I'm forgetting someone(s). Today is already the 10th and I have a shitload of stuff to do, so I'd better get on it.

Toodles!

Baby, It's Cold Outside...Inside Too!

2007-12-09T09:22:00.000-06:00

So last night I took advantage of the fact that all the dogs were kenneled and tried to snuggle with Sunny a bit. It was so cold in bed I think I got frostbite. I might lose an earlobe. I gave up after a few minutes and left without a word. Fuck him!!! He can kiss my big, (but shrinking!) old, white ass. And his attempt to totally downplay a certain issue when I know the whole truth is rapidly causing me to lose any respect for him. Does he seriously believe I just fell off a turnip truck or what? Be a man and admit what you did. Why are you trying to spare my feelings now? Asshat.

I went shopping yesterday. I hate shopping on weekends as a rule, and shopping during the Christmas season even more. But Friday and Saturday were double discount employee days so I sucked it up and braved the mall. And then the BPS store was out of two things that I really wanted so I had to go to the Military store anyhow. Then I went to the grocery store for chili fixings and that sucked too. I was going to stop at some small shops close to home but I was too stressed out to continue. I can hit them anytime. Anyhow - NO MORE SHOPPING ON THE WEEKENDS!!!

Friday I went up to the cabin. The driveway was plowed out, but I had to shovel the sidewalk and deck. I hauled a few things into the house and then went over to my friend Misty's shop to spend some of Sunny's money. (HEE!) I picked up a gift for his assistant and some gifts for my neighbors and then looked for a picture for over the sofa at the cabin. I found the perfect one (although it still isn't big enough to cover the off-center fade spot where the previous owner's had their picture) and even bought a couple of small pictures to sprinkle about. Then Misty came over and helped me hang all the pictures and other stuff I had stashed in the closet. I love the new pictures and may have to get more of this artist's work. Then we went out to eat and the food was fabulous. I'm sure I gained 10 lbs in butter alone. Once in a while should be ok though. I brought home half the entree and will probably toss it tomorrow because I just can't eat like that anymore. It causes issues, IYKWIM.

Today is work around the house day. I have to do laundry and some cleaning. Sunny is going out of town on business tomorrow and won't be home until late Tues so I have some time to myself (ThankYaJesus!) and think I'll get the bulk of the Christmas decorating done. I still haven't decided if I'm going to put up the tree. Bizzy hasn't seen a Christmas tree yet and it's just another thing for him to get into. He chewed on the power cord of the laptop Friday and Sunny was sitting right there. Thankfully nothing happened but he's still a puppy with a puppy's curiosity.

Well, better get on with my day.

Lame Title Goes Here

2007-12-05T08:55:00.000-06:00

Not feeling very creative today, so that title will have to do. On the good news front, I have now lost 31.2 pounds. I bought a new pair of jeans yesterday and they were an 18, which I know doesn't mean much because of the generous cuts some manufacturers use, but it's a small non scale victory (NSV) to me. They have a panel in the front which flattens your tummy. That's cool because my lower abdomen is a bit enlarged because of the size of my uterus. I go back for a follow-up ultrasound on the 17th to gauge the growth of the 5 fibroids and the one ovarian cyst. Hopefully they can find the left ovary this time because I think there is a wicked cyst on that one too. It's been aching for two days. Joy of joys, TOM is just around the corner. Yay!

Sunny and I had another "discussion" last night. I didn't sleep very well so I'm dragging now. He finally got me the number of the EAP so I can call and find a marriage counselor. I need to go now and when he get through the holidays at work he said he'd join me. So there is some hope there. A few things he said last night made it seem like he's not holding out too much hope for us though. I'm trying to be optimistic, but it's so hard. I have so much time by myself to dwell on shit while he's immersed in work that I probably overthink stuff and make mountains out of molehills. Bleh.

All I know is that it's really hard to get into the Christmas spirit and do what needs to get done. I have purchased some gifts, but nothing is wrapped. I don't have any decorations up. I bought some holiday stamps for the cards, but I haven't bought the cards yet. And what do I write in them? "Merry Christmas. Hope you have a great holiday. Mine sucks the big one!" This could be our last Christmas together. God that just kills me. Not that we are going to spend it together because he has to work til at least 1pm Christmas Eve (assuming there are no problems) and then be at work at 3am the day after Christmas. He didn't sound so keen on driving down to spend Christmas Eve at my folks and Christmas Day at his. He'd did it 2 years ago, but it is really hard on him. So I get to represent. I have no idea how I'm going to handle being at his folks. At least his sister knows and I can talk with her if need be. I heard from her that my MIL was pissed at me for not calling while I was home for Thanksgiving, so I had to suck it up and call her last week. Fortunately, she was going to a party, so our conversation was brief.

Well, time to go eat, my stomach is growling. Down boy!

The Suck

2007-11-28T07:57:00.000-06:00

So, there is some marital strife going on here at Palamityville. I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out. I'm so conflicted my feelings. I have to find a marriage counselor because we don't communicate with each other very well. Thank God I have a few friends who I can lean on for support. (You know who you are! Love you!)

For now, I'm going to concentrate on me. I've let myself go, and not in a good way. I have weight to lose, cardio fitness to improve, flexibility to gain, housework to do, lots of organizational tasks to accomplish - the list is long, but not overwhelming. At least it will give me something to occupy my mind so it doesn't dwell endlessly on my feelings.

I also have to figure out a career path for me. Apparently my slackerness is not such a good thing in Sunny's eyes.

Well, that's the Reader's Digest version. I probably won't get into details too much as this is a public blog. Be aware that there are real people and real problems and real feelings here at Palamityville. And other blogs out there too. So leave the snark at the door before you enter.

We are supposed to get snow today. The sky looks like lead. And it is cold. Brrr. I don't want to go for a walk, but I need the exercise.

Crashing

2007-11-17T13:52:00.000-06:00

My life is going down the tubes. It's bad, really bad. I can't believe my life has come to this. How the hell can I go on???

A month already?

2007-10-17T08:37:00.000-05:00

God, where does the time go? Of course, a week passes by in a flash when you are puking and have the runs. (It only seems endless at the time.) Still not 100%, but it'll have to do. Being sick put a real crimp in my fall activities, like weeding and picking up sticks and mowing and 9000 other things. Sunny got the boiler online last weekend. I spent Sunday in the basement with a butter knife trying to straighten out the fins on the radiator. Something seriously crushed them in a bizarre pattern and I was worried it would affect the airflow. He'll have to install it this weekend. So nice having boiling hot water again.

Do Bears Poop in the Woods?

2007-09-17T21:39:00.000-05:00

So the place up north is coming along. I was up by myself last weekend. (Well, Sunny came up long enough to bring his boat up and park it in the garage and hold the ladder while I cleaned out the gutters. Then he had to go home and work on budgets.) He took Booboo and Bonbon home and left Bizzy with me. Poor Bizzy just wants to go in the water and chase his duck decoy, but it was very cold up there (think freeze warnings) and I lost a decoy the previous weekend when he decided he didn't want to get it and it floated away. Usually one of us will retrieve it when he does that, but I was by myself and didn't have my suit on. So there goes $21 floating away. I wasn't going to let that happen again.

Since I was all grubby from gutter cleaning, I decided to prune some branches and cut out some saplings that will be problems when they get bigger. I was hauling stuff across the road and dumping it in the forest, sneaky like since it isn't my property, and on one trip I had 3 25 foot saplings and was running with them so I could get into cover in case a car cruised by when I see a black bear at the dude's deer feeder. It ran away, but I was scared silly and just stood motionless for a minute trying to decide if I should just drop the saplings and leave or continue since the bear was gone. I looked around to see if I could see any other bears, but the feeder is at the top of a hill and not really visible from where I was standing. I decided to take the chance and ventured further into the forest, but away from the feeder, and dumped the trees and then ran like hell. Well, as much as a fat chick with a bad ankle can run in hiking boots. Ok, so it was more like a power walk, but I got the heck out of there. I only hope no one has those deer cameras set up or I am so busted.

Since the bear put an end to my disposal project, I have a small pile of prunings and no idea what to do with them. I may have to just pile them in the truck and bring them back here and dump them with the compost guy, if he's still taking yard debris. I have to bring the pole pruner up since I couldn't reach some of the branches that have to go. And I'll probably have to find a tree guy to trim some that are too high for me but have to go since they are hanging over the house.

Well, I have to run. I hope to start posting more frequently. Still really busy at the casas though, so it may be a while. Toodles.

More Procrastinating

2007-08-17T14:13:00.000-05:00

Yep, I should be doing a thousand other things, but I haven't posted in almost a month. Still working on the lake house. It looks clean on the surface, but then you start to dig and realize it's disgustingly filthy. I know I have a ton of room to talk since our Green Bay house is filthy. (With a capital F!) But I'm not selling my house. (When our house was on the market, that puppy was spotless. And I spent 8+ hours cleaning it after the movers left. The new owner thanked me later when I ran into her at the next door neighbor's house some months later.) Example, I started to wipe down the cooktop which didn't look too bad. But then I took the burners out to clean the burner bowls and underneath and covering everything was a layer of oil. These people must have been some frying fools because there was oil everywhere. My arteries were hardening just cleaning the shit up. After soaking and scrubbing and then running pieces and parts through the dishwasher it was finally clean. Some 2.5 hours later. (There were grill and griddle drop-in units too.) And the microwave only took an hour and about half a bottle of rubbing alcohol which was the only thing that would take the yellow popcorn grease shit off the walls. And the bathroom - Gross. I'm getting ooked out just thinking about it. It's one thing to clean up your own mess, quite another to deal with someone else's hair and dust and dirt. I knew I should have brought in a cleaning service to give the place the once over. Oh well.

Most of the furniture is in. Looks fab. There was a fuck up with the couch/love seat/ottoman order but the store is fixing the issue. (Lucky because they are going out of business and they could have just blew me off.) But I'm getting leather furniture for the price of fabric so I won't bitch too much about having to wait another six weeks for delivery.

Well, gotta go. Things to do...

Procrastination

2007-07-18T12:10:00.000-05:00

What I've done today:
- Wash kitchen window valance and lay flat to dry
- Wash swimsuits
- Tidy desk and put new blotter paper on the blotter
- Devise diet plan
- Clean out 2 junk drawers and organize them and go through a crapload of papers, receipts and assorted junk
- Clean out wallet and purse and put new plastic credit card holder in wallet (It was in one of the junk drawers hence the mad drawer cleaning)
- Load dishwasher
- This entry

What I should be doing:
- Weeding
- Picking up dog poo
- Picking up sticks for mowing purposes
- Planting the flats of plants I bought on MEMORIAL DAY in pots
- Planting the replacemt plants in the planting beds
- Cleaning the barbeque grill

Crap, I gotta go.

Still Big Things

2007-06-18T11:36:00.000-05:00

Still slogging through the home buying process. Inspections, surveys, financing, insurance, etc. Bleh. I'm still excited about this house though. It's so charming. And the waterfront is pretty good. Not ideal since there are steps to negotiate and it's immediately 3 feet deep so no gentle wading in possibility, but it's nice enough. (What's the saying - if you're lucky enough to have a home on a lake, you're lucky enough. Something like that.)

We'll have to put in a new dock, the old one is getting to the end of it's life. Already have the dealer lined up and a deposit put down. As soon as we close on the house, bam - new dock. And the roofs, we'll probably replace next year with a metal roofs. Pricey, but kind of necessary with all the trees and snow. Have to do something about the gutters, they get clogged with all the trees. I'm thinking Gutter Filter or Gutter Stuff. The garage doesn't have seamless gutters and are leaking at the connections, so that will have to be addressed. An Invisible Fence system for doggie containment and a Doggie Dooley for poop disposal. We'll have to install a radon mitigation system since the short term test came back at 51.2 Yikes, that's high. The radon guy (of course) said he wouldn't even live in a house with a level that high. The sellers are escrowing money for that. Furniture and home necessities. And Sunny wants a jet ski for tooling about the lake. We'll be bleeding benjies for quite a while.

More later.

Big things are Coming

2007-05-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

I know, long time - no post. The electrician I was waiting for last time never showed and wouldn't return my calls. I finally broke down and called the firm I used to do the kitchen and requested my favorite master electrician. I got his direct number this time so I will be able to call him directly for any small jobs in the future. The sauna line is run (but the sauna is still in the crate in the garage, grrr) the new bathroom lights are up so I can begin working on the bathroom (finally and hallelujah already!) and the 2 new coach lights look great so I have to pick up 4 more for the garage and a couple of new motion sensor fixtures for the back yard.

Since Sunny decided to stay on at his job, we finally made a big investment. We put an offer in on a lake cottage up north and they accepted yesterday. So yay! And yikes! It's really cute and is fairly new so we don't have to put in much work on the house. Some new light fixtures($$$), a pet fence($$$), a new dock ($$$$) and new stairs and shoreline landscaping eventually($$$$$). Plus painting and maybe new carpet on the main floor although I think a good cleaning may suffice. And then we'll have to purchase some toys to play with on the water. Sunny took me to the woodshed and said I need to step it up around here since I don't work and now my workload will be doubled with 2 homes to care for. (Horrible grammar, I know!)

Well, gotta go cause I need to weed! So far I spent 5-6 hours on one small bed that was infested with course fescue. God that stuff sucks!2-3 hours yesterday got the front beds in acceptable shape. Now I have to do the side, the back, the wellhead circle, the rose bushes and the retaining wall. Sigh. I'm exhausted already.

Watching and Waiting

2007-04-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here waiting for the electrician to show up and install the 20 amp circuit and outlet needed for my sauna. The sauna arrived earlier than expected and is still sitting out in the garage in its shipping boxes. This week I got my ass in gear and finally cleaned out the area in the basement where it is going to live. Ever since we moved here I've been piling stuff for charity there and the mound of stuff was huge, mostly taken up by a king size mattress and box spring. It's all been boxed and cataloged and ready to go. I'm calling around to see if any charities will pick up, but they all appear to close at 4 pm so I'll have to do it tomorrow.

I'm also having the electrician install the new bathroom light fixtures. He was supposed to come yesterday, but cancelled, so I went shopping and bought a better looking track light to replace the one in the piano nook and 2 coach lights. If Sunny likes the coach lights I'll go back and get four more for the garage. And then we will have replaced every light fixture in this house except for the recessed lights and 2 closet fixtures (all fine) and 1 bathroom light (going when we remodel it.) I really should learn how to do these myself. After all, if Tanya Memme on Sell This House can do it, I certainly can. Sunny can, but he's swamped and doesn't have time.

I still haven't started on the Master Bath yet. I got it cleaned and took the before shots. And I've acquired just about everything I need to do the job except for paint, stain and caulk. Tomorrow I'm going to clean out all the cabinets and take a door to the store for a stain match. I hate being such a poky perfectionist with my lists and ADDness. Sucks. Hell, I finally got the raised toilet seat out of the bathtub and cleaned it up and hauled it into the basement TODAY and my butt last sat on it in October of 2005. That's right, it's been sitting in my bathtub for a year and a half. (Told you we never use the tub!!!) So if I get this bathroom done by the end of May a chorus of angels will surely sing. I can't really get started until the electrician does his thing anyhow since I will probably have wallpaper to remove behind the bar light and I'm not starting the messy prep work until I can do it all in one day.

What else? I did some catalog shopping yesterday for some bathroom stuff. Some rugs and a mat for the shower and other bits and pieces. And on Tuesday I did some Froogling looking for a Kitchenaid Pro Line Food Processor. And I found it at Home Depot online for $270. Major score. Note that the MSRP is $499 and most places are selling it for ~$450. It came to $306.66 with tax and shipping. Woohoo!

I stopped at Fleet Farm after dropping Bizzy off at Fun Camp this morning. I'm looking for fencing options for the garden area. The stuff I really like is really spendy at $20 for a 3 foot section versus $15 for an 8 foot run of the other stuff. The 3 foot sections are taller and are made of thick cast iron which will be more Bizzy-proof than the 8 foot section of thin steel wire. I need to measure and calculate and probably the total price of the expensive fencing will send me running in the direction of the cheaper fencing. Such is life.

Diet - Day 1 (again)

2007-03-26T13:49:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up sick to death of being fat. I think that's a good way to start a diet, sick of being fat. Then the desire to shove food into your face is just about nil. I have food issues. Sweets in particular. If a bag of cookies is open, I can't leave it alone until they are all gone. The concept of just having one or 2 cookies is foreign to me. I read once that Jennifer Aniston can only eat one M&M and that's it. Weird. She might as well have 2 heads or 3 legs. That's how weird that is to me. I don't know why I have food issues, just that I do. And admitting it is part of that battle, right?

I have gotten some things accomplished lately. I balanced the checkbook which I hadn't done for 3 months. I pruned some trees that needed pruning. I hauled and stacked wood. I cleaned out the big crate from the truck so we could move Bizzy into it. (He was getting so crunched sleeping in the other one.) We hauled the old entertainment center into the basement. With that out of the way I was finally able to get the nativity down from the ledge and finally got all the Christmas decoration hauled into the basement. (I still have to box some up, but they aren't on display anymore. While I had the ladder up, I cleaned the high windows and vacuumed all the display ledges, the tops of the kitchen cabinets, the tops of high furniture and dusty logs I can't reach from the floor.

I spent some money too. I went to the Green Bay home show and the midwest rep from Healthmate Saunas was there. I have been looking at these saunas since we moved here and left the hot tub behind. I almost knew as much about them as the rep. Anyhow, I got the three person model. I got a great deal on it. The show price was X and I got it for X-$670. And free shipping. (It was returned by a customer because it didn't fit the custom niche in their new house.) So it's technically used, but the crew only removed the base from the crate. It will be here in 3 weeks or so since it has to be shipped back to HealthMate for inspection, then shipped to Green Bay. I just have to get an electrician in to upgrade the service from 15amp to 20amp to the outlet it's going to be plugged into.

Well, this entry is getting on my nerves so that means it's time to go.

Greatest Hits 1983

2007-03-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

Grabbed this from Scale Whore. Here’s how it goes. Go to popculturemadness.com, click on the decade you turned 18, find the actual year you turned 18 and copy the top songs for that year and paste.
Then bold the ones you liked, strikeout the ones you hated and italicize the ones about which you were neutral. The ones you’ve never heard will stay unformatted.

It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Flashdance (What A Feeling) - Irene Cara
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
~~Wanna Be Starting Something - Michael Jackson~~
~~Electric Avenue - Eddie Grant~~
Rock The Casbah - The Clash
Bang The Drum All Day - Todd Rundgren
You and I - Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle
Ain't Nobody - Rufus and Chaka Khan
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Journey
~~Kiss The Bride - Elton John~~
Let's Go Dancin' (Ooh La, la, La) - Kool and the Gang
1999 - Prince
I Melt With You - Modern English
Down Under - Men At Work
Beat It - Michael Jackson
We've Got Tonight - Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton
~~Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye~~
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club
Rock of Ages - Def Leppard
(She's) Sexy and 17 - Stray Cats
Candy Girl - New Edition
Little Red Corvette - Prince
New Year's Day - U2

Nothing Says I Love You Like Dead Flowers

2007-03-01T13:26:00.000-06:00

The highlight of February was Sunny getting me flowers for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, he ordered them from 1800Flowers and they didn't show up until the next day. They had clearly spent the night somewhere freezing since they were nearly dead upon arrival. I salvaged the 3 roses and some greens and they survived until Sunday. The greens (of course) still looked perfect when I tossed the bouquet. The vase that arrived with the arrangement was gorgeous. I told him next year to buy flowers from the gas station like the rest of the guys were doing and I'd be good with that since I already had something to put them in.

What else? I went back home to meet with the accountant for taxes. Bizzy picked that night to get sick. Every hour with the diarrhea and some barfing. Sunny took him to day care where he continued being sick. He picked him up after work and dropped a stool sample the staff had collected off at the vet. Nothing showed up in the tests. Sickness continued. He took him into fun camp the next day and was able to get an appt with the vet that afternoon. They x-rayed him for a blockage, but the x-ray only showed lots of gas in his intestines and colon. Some type of colitis caused by Lord only knows what. Some antibiotics have cleared him up. He always gets sick when I go away. Maybe he misses me?

I discovered my parents' chimney had been leaking. Either a leak or condensation caused by the new furnace. What a mess. Fortunately, the bed was spared. Dad draped a plastic tablecloth over the bed after I left in case the mess spreads. It's always something.

The new tv is great. The furniture came and all the gear is mostly put together. Sunny still has to hook the DVD up and arrange the cables neatly. And we still have to haul the old furniture into the basement so there is still chaos on in the great room. I also discovered that we need a UPS for the equipment since we took a momentary power hit during the Oscars and it took 8 minutes for the Tivo to power up. That really sucked. A major power hit is one thing, but those quick off and on things are a drag. A UPS should tide us through those little hits.

Speaking of the Oscars, what was up with the multiple Goregasms? You could just see the hero worship in Leo's eyes as he slobbered all over his hero. You know, the one who flies around the world in a private jet lecturing the common folk about using mass transit and cf lightbulbs and lives in a mansion that uses 20 times the power of the average American. (Only one of 3 homes-BTW.) Fricking hypocrite, carbon offsets not withstanding. I seem to recall the environmentalist's being all up in arms that big business was using carbon offsets to be green, but when their hero uses them, it's ok. And God, weren't the Oscars boring? At least I could blast through the utter crap thanks to Tivo. Love you!

As for diet and exercise, February was a lost month. For a variety of reasons we didn't eat right at all. And exercising didn't happen either. I did get Turbo Jam and read the materials. I might get around to watching the workout today. I don't even want to get on the scale. TOM showed up yesterday and I can barely zip my snow pants so I know I gained since I've eaten far too much crap. What happened to my resolve? And I can't even muster any excitement to eat or move my expanding ass. I did get some exercise in this week shoveling heavy wet snow, plowing the driveways and raking the roof. And I get to do more today. I'm just not sure when. I don't want to plow if freezing rain is expected since the drives would be a disaster. But I don't want to wait too long or there could be too much accumulation for the plow to handle. What to do???

The bathroom hasn't even been started. I'm still waiting on the cabinets. Not too happy about that. but what can you do? I've bought a bunch of towels, some accessories and a table scarf that I think will make a cute valance. I was looking at some beaded panels at Penneys that I think would be fab with the valance, but they are kind of pricey. I'm still dithering about the paint color, but I think Restoration Hardware's Sycamore Green is just about perfect. I won't know until I get the furniture though. I hope it arrives before I totally lose interest in this project.

I finally finished the damn medical forms. What a PITA! Maybe now Sunny will shut up. He had $1700 put in the account and I managed to scrape up $1702 in expenses, all mine. I couldn't find the itemized receipt from the eye doctor, but I had a credit card slip. I seem to recall Chad's printer being broke and I told him I didn't need the receipt. Hope they take it.

I got my teeth cleaned while I was home. SIL is doing ok at the new job. Her hair has grown out a bit more and it looks really cute, like a messy Meg Ryan. God bless Dr. Hottie for hiring her after Dr. Asshats let her go!!!

I'll go before this gets too boring. Blogger keeps crashing Netscape but I got the brilliant idea to try IE and it's doing great so far. Maybe I'll get to posting more because I can get on, but don't hold your breath.

Surround Sound

2007-02-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

When the Bears got into the Super Bowl, Sunny was all excited. He really wanted to go to the game, no matter what it cost. I told him I was ok with that, but what if you bought a new HD tv and tivo and all the other stuff you need to have a kick ass home theater instead? Guess which one he picked? So far we have the new HD tivo hooked up and Time Warner came out and installed the 2 cable cards into the unit so now we can record 2 channels at once in HD. Last Sunday we camped out in the Best Buy in Appleton because it has a Magnolia department. The longest fricking day of my life!!! Once Sunny pulled the trigger on his selected components, it took almost 2 hours to get checked out. I seriously wanted to pound my head on a wall. (Poor Bizzy was stuck in his crate in the back of the truck the whole time. I felt so bad for the little guy.) We came home with a bag of cables and shit that tends to get lost or forgotten when being delivered and a new BluRay DVD player. (With 2 free BluRay movies.) He hooked up the DVD and that night we watched Eight Below. Gorgeous movie. Not something you can watch while PMSing because I was a teary mess.

Tomorrow, Best Buy is delivering the TV (a 65" Samsung DLP) and various speakers and receivers and assorted components. (I tune out when Sunny starts geeking out on me.) They are also going to move our 55 inch projection TV into the basement and haul away a dead 32 inch picture tube tv. I think that is what I am most excited about, finally getting rid of that piece of shit. On Monday I went to a local home theater store and ordered a fine piece of furniture to put the tv on. (The Jazzy in Cherry Blossom finish, base unit only) It may take a couple of weeks to come in from the Great White North. Hopefully he'll have it all assembled in time for the Super Bowl.

The 55 inch tv, dvd player, old receiver and Bose surround sound system are going to be set up in the workout area so we can watch tv while working out and so I can finally use some of my workout dvds. There just isn't any room in the great room or bedroom to workout and the area I had set up in the guest room died when the 32" did so I haven't been able to try the yoga or Firm workouts and I want to purchase the Turbo Jam and Core Rhythms workouts since I've heard good things about them.

Oh, I weighed myself this morning and I lost a grand total of 3 lbs in January. I'm sure I lost a bit more because I am bloated beyond belief with TOM, but I also slacked off in a big way the last couple of weeks. Time to get back on track.

More fuming

2007-01-26T11:36:00.000-06:00

Sunny stayed home sick again yesterday. He was not too pleased that I ran another oven cleaning cycle as the fumes drove him out of the great room and either into the office or our bedroom. I ran the fan, but wasn't able to crack a window since it was really cold. It looks pretty good, although I'll have to scrub the door by hand since there are still spatters of something all over it.

I should plow the driveway since I never did it after the last snow and some sort of wintry mix is expected today. It's so cold though. I don't want to be out the cold. It was bad enough dashing out to check the fire this morning. I didn't think we were going to make it through the week with the wood we cut on Saturday, but somehow we did. We will definitely have to cut more than we did last weekend since the Siberian Express is on it's way. I should suck it up since it will get me moving and will add some exercise into my weight loss efforts.

All of my exercise this month has been of the uncoventional type - hauling and stacking wood, shoveling sidewalks, raking snow off the roof, (a great upper body workout, by the way) - so plowing would add another into the mix. And being out in the cold causes you to burn more calories to stay warm. I remember when we were hunting in Alaska and living in a tent with no heat. We were eating plates of pasta and huge slabs of meat and the guide shoved half a dozen candy bars into my pack before we'd head out each day, in addition to trail mix and sandwiches and cookies and stuff. True there was lots of exercise what with the hiking and climbing, but also alot of sitting and scanning for prey and I still lost weight, even eating thousands of calories a day.

I can't believe January is almost over. I doubt I will meet my goal of 10 lbs since I don't think I can lose 5 lbs in a week, but I will buckle down and try. I'll have to be firmer with Sunny when he suggests food that isn't part of the plan. I know he's sick and I am too, but that shouldn't be an excuse to pig out or eat crappy food.

I scanned the People while waiting in line at the grocery store. I had been completely oblivious to the whole Tyra Banks got fat thing and all I can say it WTF?!? If people think Tyra Banks is some grotesquely fat woman, (she looks great to me) I must look like Gilbert Grape's mom to the general public. Seriously, I don't even qualify for gastric bypass surgery since I'm not 100 pounds overweight. I wear a size 20 which is big to me, but even when I weighed 145 I wore a 12. I once fit into a 10 when I weighed 130 in high school. I know sizes are all nutty what with the vanity sizing and shit the fashion industry plays but still...

My thighs are bugging the shit out of me today. Floppy and flabby. I start retaining water earlier and earlier in advance of Aunt Flo. Sucks to be so hormonal all the time. I really think if I was offered a hysterectomy right about now I'd jump at the opportunity.

Last night was the first time since we got Bizzy in May that he slept outside his crate. He was worn out from fun camp and crawled up onto Sunny in the recliner and dozed. Booboo was none to happy as that is "his" spot and even laying on the couch with Mama wasn't cutting it. After Sunny retired, I left him out of the crate to see what would happen. He prowled around and got into a few thing on the counters but then collapsed on the floor and slept. I let him and Bonbon out at some point and he prowled some more and then layed down by the couch. At some point I manhandled him onto the couch with me and held him there until he started snoring. He slept there for more than an hour and then got up so I tucked him into his crate for the night. Hopefully he will realize that he can sleep on the couches or the dog bed or wherever and it's fine with us.

Racks

2007-01-24T20:37:00.000-06:00

Sunny stayed home sick today. He has a terrible cough that even prescription cough syrup is not controlling. He coughed so hard last night that he threw up, which was gross, but stuff happens. This morning he felt well enough to go out and procure breakfast which consisted of one chocolate donut with sprinkles and deli-made sausage croissants. Both were good, with the donut being exceptional. It was crunchy outside and cakey inside. MMMM.

So yeah, my diet mojo is still not answering. Both of us are sick, so meals and eating just aren't that appealing unless it's bad-for-diet comfort type foods. Hopefully I'll start feeling better because I have to tell you - this sucks.

I cleaned the oven racks today. First I had to scrub out the laundry tub since that was the only basin big enough to hold the racks. Then I scoured the bottom rack which wasn't too bad since I keep the pizza stone on that rack and the majority of the pizza mess dripped onto the pizza stone. Then I cleaned out the warming drawer liner which wasn't that dirty. Just some juice from a rotisserie chicken had spilled. I wiped most of it up at the time, but there was still residue. Then I tackled the cheese encrusted top rack. Soaking the rack dissolved most of the pizza cheese, but there was nearly 3 years worth of oven grime on that rack. I used up a whole scouring pad and now my hands are cramping from gripping and scrubbing. The racks look like new though. I wiped out the oven and was disappointed to discover the inside of the door didn't get that clean and the very bottom of the oven in the back didn't get clean. I'm going to run another cleaning cycle tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'll have to scrub by hand. The window looks the worst and the spatters did not come off very easily. I looked through the manual but there weren't any special cleaning instructions for the window glass. Just to run another cycle if there was still stuff remaining. The pizza mess came right off the pizza stone since that thing is seasoned so well. I soaked it in the laundry tub and gave it a good scrubbing. I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since the kitchen was remodeled. No wonder the oven was so dirty, although I pretty much only do frozen pizzas and roasted asparagus in the oven. I can't figure out what was spilled on the bottom that made such a mess, but it cleaned up pretty well in the self clean cycle. I am never owning a non self-cleaning oven again.

I also discovered the faucet aerator on the laundry tub has a spray function. I never knew that. I got the aerator free when I joined the Improvements member club a couple of years ago. I had tossed it in a basket in the laundry room and unearthed it when cleaning off the shelves. I decided to install it on the laundry tub and since it swivels all around it make it really easy to rinse out the tub. I was rinsing off the second rack and wishing it had a spray function when I did something and it started to spray. Holy crap. (I wish I would win the Powerball. Hear that, karma?) It took me a while to figure out what I did and now I'm a really happy camper. It's the simple things in life. Really, it is.

So while I was in the midst of oven part cleaning in my grubby sweatshirt and stretch pants and bed head, the UPS guy shows up with part of my order from Restoration Hardware. Which I ordered yesterday afternoon. Their stuff may be expensive, but they have the service to back it up. Unlike IKEA which took months to complete a 3 cabinet order. And I had to drive down to Schaumburg to see where the hell one of the parts was and luckily they had one waiting to be shipped back to their kitchen warehouse or I would have had to make another trip back there or pay $60 to ship a $12 piece of crown molding to Green Bay. So yay for Restoration Hardware. I can't wait to work on the bathroom. I'll have to get pictures working so my 2 readers can see the before and afters.

We went to dinner at the Rustic Rail on Velp tonite. I had the Mandarin Chicken Salad which was tasty and Sunny had the ribs. Since the new management took over and with the new menu and lower pricing, it's become a place we go to frequently. I usually get the wood oven planked salmon, but opted for the salad tonite. I splurged and got the chocolate torte which was really, really dense. I could have used a glass of milk to wash it down. I just love the architectural details with the logs and the salvaged timbers and slate floors. They even had live music tonite and the guy was pretty good and not loud or overpowering like so many live acts can be. Thumbs up for the Rustic Rail!

If any readers out there use Bare Minerals, Colorful Sprinkles is shutting down. She will be liquidating her stock, so if you want to pick up full sized products for 20% off her prices, (which are a buck over retail) visit her on Feb 1 for the best selection. I placed a huge order already, getting a bunch of samples of colors I'm not sure about but may want to try some day. Three of the colors I really wanted to try since they are brand new and not available at the boutiques were already sold out. Bummed at that, but c'est la vie. She will be missed.

Fuming

2007-01-23T14:18:00.000-06:00

Did you ever buy a pizza which had such a thin crust, it sank through the oven rack and made a big mess in your oven? No? Consider yourself lucky. Sunny was jonesing for a pizza last Friday and since I was free-daying it, I said sure. He picked up this Luigi thin crust take and bake at the new gas station grocery store in Suamico and started cooking it. I get home and check on the pizza and noticed a hole in it. Hmm??? When it was done, we tried to take it out of the oven and it just kept falling apart. Melting cheese all over the place. It was awful and the bite I had of the pizza wasn't that great. Sunny tossed the mangled remains in the trash and we ordered a pizza from Wouter's Front. So today, since Bizzy is at fun camp, I'm running a cleaning cycle on the oven. It's the first time I've cleaned it since we got it and the fumes are incredible, even with the exhaust fan running and the kitchen window cracked slightly. (It's 20 degrees out or I'd have all the windows open.) Moral of the story - use a pizza pan next time. The directions said to place directly on the rack, but clearly these pizzas were made to be place on a solid cooking surface. Now I have to figure out a way to clean the oven rack.

Our master bathroom is in need of some TLC. We have intentions of gutting it and starting from scratch, but until we pull the trigger on that project, it is getting a makeover. It still has the awful purple sand paint and awful purple cabbage rose border from the previous owners. I bought some makeshift storage pieces to tide us over and they are now falling apart. (Hey, they were $25 bucks each and have lasted over 5 years, not too shabby.) And the cheap towel bars are pulling out of the wall. It's depressing to be in there so it's time to do something. I wandered into Restoration Hardware when I was at the bone doctor and they are having their annual bath event. Everything is 20% off so today I ordered a tall cabinet, a medicine chest, an open etagere and a bunch of towel bars and knobs and things. I ordered espresso finished cabinets as that color looks good with the almond fixtures. The etagere is in oil rubbed bronze and all the other hardware is polished chrome. I'd love to change the sink faucet, but it matches the tub faucet and that would be a PITA to change. We don't use the tub anyhow, so changing a faucet we don't use would be a total waste of money. I plan to stain the oak vanity to match the espresso stain and put new chrome knobs on it and it should look like a million bucks. The top and sink are in good shape, so those will stay. Scraping all the sand paint off the walls and painting it a soft green should look good against the almond and espresso tones. Some new towels and bath rugs and light fixtures and finding a curtain rod and some sort of valance and it will be good to go.

I thought that would be the last visit to the bone specialist in Milwaukee, but he wants to see me again in 6 months. I have arthritis in the talus/calcanus joint and he thinks the burning pain running up my leg is a nerve they had to pull aside during the surgery. He said nerves don't like to be messed with and since the pain didn't develop until later, that's likely what it is. I'm going to agree with him since I had numbness on the side of my foot for several months and then the pain started. Likely the nerve was going WTF? for a while and then started to complain. By then I should be much lighter and will have done my own physical training for several months so hopefully the joint will be stronger and more flexible.

I gained a couple of pounds whilst on my holiday and am having a tough time getting back into the groove. I've lost my diet mojo and have to find it.

Comment Me

2007-01-08T21:39:00.000-06:00

Blogger appears to be playing a hide and seek game with comments. And I'm not being very good at the seek part. Sometimes I'll look at a post and it has a comment. Then it doesn't. Then in does. So if you've ever left a comment and I ignored it, I wasn't ignoring it, I didn't see it or know it was there. Really, I'm not a snooty beotch. I love to chat with people.

This morning I weighed 6 pounds less that I did a week ago. And I've been snacking like there's no tomorrow. I'm terribly hormonal and am craving chocolate, cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, etc. I'm sure if I was anywhere near a store I'd be inhaling carby crap. (Another bonus for being rural and isolated, if I want treats I have to get in my car and driiiiiive.) I've been eating sugar free jello and pudding and fudgesicles as well as fruit, but trust me - if I had a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough I'd be licking the empty wrapper right about now. Interestingly, since I've been eating better and have been taking vitamins regularly since before Christmas, I barely had any cramps and I think my PMS mood swings weren't nearly as bad. Coinkidink? Perhaps, but maybe it's the vitamins and other supplements I take.

I was taking my supplements last night after dinner and Sunny said "Now that you are using the Nature's Code packets, why are you still taking all those other ones?" Good question since I take a large number of pills:

Nature's Code pak of multivitamin with minerals, calcium and CoQ10 - for general health
L-lysine - to prevent cold sores
Cayenne - for digestive and circulatory systems and metabolism
garlic - immune booster
Chromium piccolinate - supposed to help with weight loss. I've never been sure this works and am just using up a bottle.
Osteo Biflex - for my joints
Borage capsules - essential fatty acids like GLA, and also helps with PMS
Coromega - Omega 3's

That's 13 pills a day and one packet of Coromega paste. I must say that I'm liking the Nature's Code stuff. I saw Dr. Taub's presentation 2 times on QVC before I decided to try it. I got the auto-delivery for me so now I won't ever run out of vitamins. I got a single box for Sunny to try and I think he likes them too. The packets are easy to grab and go and I like that they are supposed to be balanced.

Augh, gotta go. Bizzy is whining to go out.

So Far, So Good (Mostly)

2007-01-04T13:33:00.000-06:00

Things are going pretty good. I got the fridge and freezer cleaned out and swept the pantry for the obvious bad stuff. The pantry really needs a good cleaning, but that will have to wait until next week. Eating is going pretty well. I tend to snack at night, but at least now they are healthy snacks. Too much fruit for either SB (South Beach) or FF (Fat Flush), but I got a box of fruit from the in-laws and am not tossing it. The pears are just amazing. Nice to have relatives in the wholesale produce business.

Sunny complained about having to eat Egg Mcmuffins w/o the muffin for the past two days, so today I hauled my butt out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6:30 and cooked a breakfast consisting of Egg Beaters and Canadian Bacon. It's almost too early for me to eat, (I usually have to be up for an hour or so before eating) but I got it down - minus some small bits of the bacon which I gave to the dogs. I showered and fed the dogs, then took Bizzy to Fun Camp. I think Fun Camp is helping him. Three times in the past couple of days he's gotten hold of things he shouldn't have and after a few "Drop It!"s, he does! Sunny and I both think he's calming down a bit, something that the Fun Camp trainers agree.

Next was a trip to Target for a Bosu Trainer and filters for the humifiers. I came across a quilt I am coveting for Bonbon's couch, but I'm going to wait until it goes on sale. I poked around more, spending too much money, then trekked to Bed Bath and Beyond for an ivory tablecloth which I got on clearance and also used a 20% off coupon.

I was getting a bit hungry by this time and made the mistake of going into Barnes and Noble for a magazine. I've been working on my food triggers and B&N was one of them since I usually got a Frappacino there. I was doing pretty good until the line at the checkout was long and I noticed there was nobody in the Starbuck's line. Fully intending to just pay for my magazine, I walked over and discovered that the cinnamon dolce frappacino's are back. My absolute favorite. I caved, but I only got a small one and enjoyed it immensely. CDF's are the one thing I was going to allow myself to have that wasn't on the diet, and only on my one "free" day each week. (I know I'm making excuses, but this is a lifestyle change, not some temporary diet thing.) I did avoid caving to my trigger at the grocery store yesterday, so yay!

I stopped by the Pig to pick up a few things I couldn't find at the store yesterday and that I need to make the marinade for the turkey cutlets we are having for dinner tonite. Then I came home and played fetch outside with Booboo and Bonbon. I think they enjoyed the alone time - no puppy stealing their toys!

Well, I have to go and clean out the humidifiers, a chore I detest, but it's necessary.

Have a great, healthy day!

A New Me

2007-01-02T11:07:00.000-06:00

2007 is my year of getting fit and healthy. It's either that or an early grave. I feel like I'm 91, not 41. My joints should just not hurt like this. I want to avoid all the obesity related crap I can, so new year, new me.

Sunny is joining me on this journey, since he's on the same road I am, only farther down it. I'm certain that the two of us doing this at the same time will make it easier. It will be nice to have a built-in diet buddy. We are going to do the South Beach Diet. It worked well for us before and we won't get off the track by ripping up the kitchen for a couple of months, definitely not diet friendly. I'm going to do a mix of Fat Flush and South Beach, with a hint of Body For Life thrown in for good measure. It will be fun, it will be crazy and I'm sure it will be frustrating, but we need to change our lifestyle or I foresee bad things in our future. Plus, I want to wear stylish, fun clothes and they don't make many of them in a 20.

I'm at my highest weight ever. I kind of went overboard during the holidays and put on about 12 pounds. Scary. I did my "official" weigh-in and measurements yesterday. I'll do the same the first of every month. My goal is Christmas. That's 2 lbs a week. (98 lbs total for all you math majors out there.) I reviewed my old food journals and have determined that 1800 calories a day and the BFL exercise plan equal the appropriate weight loss. Any lower and I stall, any higher and I don't lose. I'll spend the first couple of weeks getting into the eating plan. I'll be heading down to see my orthapedic surgeon the 12th and then home to visit and it's hard to get any exercise in whilst traveling.

So that's the plan for 2007. Today I'm cleaning out the pantry and fridge of all the "bad" food and going shopping for more fruits and veggies. (I know food is neither good nor bad, but since we are low carbing, the high carb stuff has to go.)

I tivo'd the weight loss episode of Resolutionaries and I found one of the stories incredibly sad. One woman had gastric bypass surgery, lost 70 pounds and just stalled. She busted her ass for 6 weeks, working out up to 3 hours a day and eating healthfully. She finally went to a doctor for thyroid tests since thyroid problems run in the family. Turns out her thyroid was almost totally shut down, a problem the gastric bypass made worse. She now regrets having the surgery since it made the problem worse and now she's stuck with an altered digestive tract for the rest of her life. Why she didn't have the test done before an expensive and life altering procedure I don't know. That should be mandatory. I find it incredible that someone would opt for surgery before ruling out other factors.

Well, I've got stuff to do. Happy 2007 to all!

Goodbye 2006

2006-12-31T12:36:00.000-06:00

I didn't drop off the edge of the earth, but almost. When the rest of my life gets hectic, trust me, the blog will fall by the wayside.

Christmas was uneventful. Sunny did actully get away for a few days of R&R. Sure, he was hassled by the pager and the cellphone, but he wasn't at the office. We stayed at the Marriott on Michigan Avenue and shopped our asses off. Sunny bought me a new camera which I still have to figure out. It is TINY, so I can fit it in my purse. He was in the mood to spend money and I looked and looked for a new purse, but I hate the new styles with the short straps. When we got home I poked around on Coach's site and found a link to Classic Favorites where you can buy purses with long straps. Yay!

We spent Christmas Eve with my side, going to the children's program at church and then eating dinner and opening presents. We stayed the night at a hotel in Joliet where I didn't sleep very well because some asshat was smoking in the 100% smoke free facility and the smoke was drifting down the hall and through the generous cracks in the door and into our room. The only reason I did not pitch a fit is because it was Christmas and I vowed to be into the whole Christmas spirit thing.

After a pretty decent free hotel breakfast, we went to my SIL's unannounced. My nephew was so excited to see me and even more excited to see Uncle Sunshine. The niece did ok with both of us. My SIL is amazed that she isn't scared silly by Uncle Sunshine since he is so big and has scary whiskers, but she does ok with him. After looking at the nephew's new big boy bed and thoroughly getting the kids all excited, we went over to the In-laws. Dinner was great, presents were opened, we lounged around a bit then headed back to Green Bay. We made it home by 9:30. Sunny went out and started up the boiler while I unloaded the car. We went to bed and he slept fast since he had to be to work early. I lounged around a bit in the morning then got my butt in gear so I could pick up the dogs before 1pm, or we'd get charged for another day of boarding.

Thus ends the great Chrstmas saga of 2006.

Meme time

2006-11-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Stolen from Scale Ho:

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (Beaver Mountains, Alaska)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (Does a fireside hottub count? Our honeymoon in Lake Louise, Canada)
08. Said “I love you” and meant it (Yes)
09. Hugged a tree (All the time. I try to encourage my trees to grow by hugs and pats and talking to them.)
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (plenty of times)
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (White Sox playoff game)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (Yeah, grew up on a farm)
18. Touched an iceberg (Prince William Sound, Alaska)
19. Slept under the stars (Beaver Mountains and Iditarod River, Alaska)
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (Yes, most recently my niece's)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (Birthday)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight (with my brothers)
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (When I was 8 or so, our cat got tangled in a fence on the back of our barns and was choking to death. I tried to rescue him and he latched onto my stomach with all his claws and wouldn't let go. I screamed until dad and his friend heard me and came to our rescue. The longest 10 minutes of my life.)
32. Held a lamb (Probably, I've held just about every kind of baby farm animal you can think of.)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster (lots of times, love ‘em)
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (Last time was SIL's bachelorette party at Excalibur in Chicago.)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (At times.)
39. Had two hard drives for your computer (Yep)
40. Visited all 50 states (I've only been to 43 out of 51 (including DC))
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (Lots of times)
42. Had amazing friends (Yes)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign (College)
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip (Drove to Wyoming)
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them (Once at a crowded airport)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (I’m goofy, what can I say)
57. Pretended to be a superhero (As a kid.)
58. Sung karaoke (Yeah, I can't remember the circumstance though. Alcohol haze.)
59. Lounged around in bed all day (Only when I was laid up with the leg last year.)
60. Played touch football (college)
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud (Mud wrestled in the quad in college.)
64. Played in the rain (Just this morning when I took out the garbage. I was out for a good hour for no good reason.)
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (Yep!)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (Computer consulting.)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (Not yet)
69. Toured ancient sites (Anasazi ruins, Arizona)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married (17 years ago this month.)
73. Been in a movie (I was in the crowd at a baseball game in Rookie of the Year. I've never watched the movie either.)
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch (Yes)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (Was the Flower Girl in The Madwoman of Chaiot, plus numerous skits, Christmas programs, band and orchestra concerts...)
85. Been to Las Vegas (I want to go so bad. I hate gambling but love food and shows.)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date (Uh, yeah)
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house (On our second bought in 2001)
91. Been in a combat zone (Does Cabrini Green in Chicago count? Back when it was icky?)
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking (Yeah.)
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart (Yes, my first love. Broke my heart too.)
111. Helped an animal give birth (That was one of my jobs as a kid, watching pigs have their litters and helping out by clearing airways, removing the sacs, etc.)
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (right wrist and right elbow, plus had a bone tumor on my calcanus removed and cadaver bone inserted into the gap.)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (Yes, all three. I suck at shotguns though.)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse (our neighbors' when I was a kid)
119. Had major surgery (Repair of the elbow in 90 and the ankle in 05.)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (No, but I've been there in winter.)
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (I've only been to Canada.)
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi (Yeah, it sucked)
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (When I was little I was on the front of the county newspaper with Santa. And then I had my picture in the Chicago Tribune with a stripper while taking a strip tease class at the Learning Annex.)
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach (Yuck, yes.)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes (Yeah, they were good)
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Yes, farm kid and hunter.)
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair (red)
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T10:49:00.000-06:00

Bizzy is driving us crazy. While I was down taking care of my SIL's tots, Sunny noticed he had a large lump on his belly and he had it surgically removed. They found another one the morning of the surgery so Bizzy had 2 incisions and 2 drains. Sunny took 3 days off work to care for him and I came home early so he could get back to work. Anyhow, an 8 month old puppy on enforced bed rest = one bored energectic puppy. When he's out he's into everything. I take him along wherever I go so he can see new things, but he still has so much energy from being in a crate most of the time. Stitches come out Monday and then hopefully he can get back to fun camp and burn off the energy. We found the Pro-Collar at Petco and all I can say is GODSEND! I hate those stupid lampshade collars probably more than the dogs do. He didn't fuss too much while putting it on, but I could tell he didn't care for it and actually started chewing on the inside where they plastic parts overlap. Joy. The lumps turned out to be a rare kind of cyst that forms around an injury. The vet thinks it was probably a dog bite, either from one of ours or he got it at fun camp.

Poor Sunny is working like a fool. Late, late hours this week and he got up at 3am yesterday to go in an supervise some equipment swap and got up at 2:30am today to get ready for the Black Friday shoppers. Retail sucks.

Our new garage service door went in Wednesday. Since we only have a few nice days forecasted I spent yesterday afternoon caulking the door so I can paint it today. Then I came in and prepared dinner. The smoked spiral cut ham needed to be reheated and I put Alton Brown's grandma's glaze on it. (It rocked.) And I mixed up some baked beans. Some store bought mashed potatos and Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits rounded out the dinner. I had mixed up a chocolate dream pie in a graham cracker crust earlier in the day for dessert. Nontraditional, but it's just the two of us.

Well, I have to go make out a Christmas list to send to my mom. Then I have to paint the door. Maybe I'll make it out later in the day to do a bit of shopping. I'd like to hit the Hallmark store for ornaments and cards. And maybe Taylor Creek to see the displays.

50 odd things...

2006-11-22T16:55:00.000-06:00

1. Height? 5′9″

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? God no.

3. Do you own a gun? Yep. In fact, my 10th anniversary present from Sunny was a .357 Magnum revolver. Romantic no? I have some rifles and shotguns, but I couldn't tell you what they were or even identify them. I haven't really gone shooting since we moved here in 2001. Ironic, since it was such a pain in the ass to own a firearm in Illinois that I'd shoot all the time, but up here in the big woods where guns are no big deal, I've hardly picked one up.

5. Do you get nervous before “meeting the parents”? No.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Yum!

7. What’s your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night. I'm also a big fan of Silent Night.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? A diet soda. Used to be Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi, but since I've mostly given up caffeine it's diet root beer.

9. Can you do push ups? I used to be able to. I don't think I've tried since I broke my elbow in 1990 though.

10. Is your bathroom clean? No. It puts a truck stop john to shame. I hate cleaning up after Sunny, so it gets pretty gross before I finally clean it.

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Besides my cheapo wedding ring which I bought to wear instead of the rock (rocks, even small ones, are not compatible with working outdoors) I wear the Swarovski crystal hoop earrings my SIL gave her bridesmaids all the time. Even though I have a TON of earrings, I gravitate toward these. My next favorite piece of jewelry (which isn't mine yet) is the birthstone ring my grandmother gave my mom, a huge emerald cut genuine alexandrite. Since we have the same birthstone, it will be mine when my mom is through wearing it. (Which I hope isn't for a long, long time.)

12. Do you like painkillers? Only Advil.

14. Do you have A.D.D.? I think so. A mild case.

16. Middle Name? Yes, probably the most common female middle name around.

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? This desk is so messy. Damn it's getting dark early. I really don't want to go out and stoke the fire.

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought: A bag of deer corn, a few miscellaneous groceries at Copps and a small bottle of bourbon for the ham crust.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Iced tea, diet soda, water.

22. Current worry? What to put on the Christmas List.

23. Current hate? People who talk on their cellphones while driving.

24. Favorite place to be? Home.

25. Least favorite place to be? Anywhere there is cigarette smoke.

26. Where would you like to go? Back to Alaska.

27. Do you own slippers? Yes, I have a pair of moosehide, fleece-lined slippers. But I usually only wear Birkenstock sandals because of the plantar fascitis.

28. What shirt are you wearing? My old Joliet Park District staff sweatshirt.

29. Do you burn or tan? Burn.

30. Favorite color(s)? Green and purple.

33. What songs do you sing in the shower? Usually something INXS.

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? That dog from Horror at 37,000 Feet. Nightmares for years. (Hey, I was only 7 when I saw it.)

35. What’s in your pockets right now? 82 cents, grocery list, and 2 crumpled receipts.

36. Last thing that made you laugh? Bizzy wearing his Pro-collar.

38. Worst injury you’ve ever had? I broke my elbow skiing and had to have it surgically repaired. I was off work for 7 boring weeks. (Snowy, icy sidewalks + exposed pins in elbow = I'm sitting on my ass on the couch until this heals.)

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4. Keep in mind it's just the 2 of us. (Although one is a travel-type b&w number that runs on 6 D batteries that we have for emergencies.)

41. Who is your loudest friend? Sunny.

42. Who is your most silent friend? My brother.

43. Does someone have a crush on you? No.

44. Do you wish on shooting stars?? Yes.

45. What is your favorite book? Alas, Babylon!

46. What is your favorite candy? Lindoor hazelnut truffles.

47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding? Never Tear Us Apart - INXS.

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? It is Well, With my Soul.

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping on the couch.

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? I wish the dogs would shut up.

There's always hope

2006-10-25T22:09:00.000-05:00

SIL came through surgery with flying colors. All limbs are moving ok and she is talking. I called this morning with my super secret password to get an update on her status and instead of getting a nurse on the phone, I got her. The conversation was brief, but she sounds just fine. Scared, since she is still not out of the woods, and she was alone which is odd since I thought someone was going to be with her at all times. BIL hadn't shown up yet. I am going down Saturday. I'll spend Sat nite with my folks (unless something changes and I'm needed at my in-laws) and then go over to the in-laws on Sunday. Guess I'll have to figure out how to change diapers. I haven't changed one since my oldest nephew was a couple of months old and he just turned 13.

My joints are aching today. I'm too young for this. Yesterday I spent 4 hours outside cleaning up the woodpile area and stacking wood. I pulled out a whole Hefty bag full of what I believe is poison ivy. The woods are full of it. I'll have to take a sample in to the extension office to see if it really is poison ivy. It has three leave and a hairy stem at any rate. Our property is loaded with plants that have leaves of three, but not all of them are poison ivy. I've never had it, but I don't want to take the chance. Anyhow, today my finger joints are so sore I'm have trouble gripping things or making a fist. I haven't taken my Osteo-biflex for a while - coincidence? I'm going to take some right after I post this.

I did some grocery shopping today for Sunny so he has something to eat next week. Soup, Spaghettios, lunch meat, soda, Monster drinks, that sort of thing. Woodman's as usual only had about 3 lanes open. I got in the one nearest to the exit where I parked the car and was perusing the latest on Jen and Vince when this guy came walking up with a 12 pack of yogurt. I waved him in front of me and he asked "You sure?" Of course, it's the right thing to do and it gave me more time to figure out how Brittany Spears lost all her baby weight in a month. He thanked me again as he was checking out. After he was gone the bagger and the checker were all Ohh and Ahh and I'm clueless as usual. Turns out he was a Packer, which in Green Bay is a HUGE deal. I'm not a football fan and the only Packer I'd know on site is Brett Favre. It's not the first time I've had an encounter with the celebs of Green Bay, but it made the trip to the grocery store a bit more interesting.

I made mini meatloaves tonite and they weren't nearly as tasty as they were last time. The only thing I did different was I mixed them up early and refrigerated them for several hours before baking them last time. Perhaps flavors had time to develop while in the fridge. And I used a different tomato sauce to glaze the top. Hmmm.

I should go to bed, but I'm so behind on my TV viewing (and I'll only get more behind next week) that I'm going to stay up and watch a few more things. I can catch up a bit tomorrow since it's mostly reruns due to the World Series, but I have something like 9 hours of stuff to watch on Tivo. It Takes a Thief started up again and I'm having trouble watching those in addition to all the new stuff. And next month is sweeps so I'm not going to get a chance to get caught up. Plus who knows how long my services will be needed? Could be I'll be on deck during the week while my BIL is working.

Ow!

2006-10-24T08:32:00.000-05:00

Had a great weekend away. The birthday party went off without a hitch and was a complete surprise. I ate way too much and even drank a bit. We stayed at a hotel right in the mall at Oakbrook and were able to walk to Wildfire, hence the drinking. 2.5 raspberry martinis. I would have had more, but didn't want to be hungover at the birthday party.

Woo - the weight on the scale was shocking. But A) still on TOM with all the associated bloating, etc. and B) I was constipated. This morning the scale is down over 5 pounds. And there's still more in there judging by the cramping and bloating. (One of the lovely benefits of having a redundant colon, lots of room in there.)

Bizzy enjoyed his first stay at the kennel. I think fun camp helps alot. Booboo and Bonbon were evaluated for fun camp, but Bonbon is too nervous and Booboo gets to stressed around so many dogs. Oh well, Bizzy is the one who needs it most.

So last night Sunny calls me from work and asks me if his mom had talked to me. No, about what? My SIL had a brain aneurysm rupture yesterday. Massive headache and she fell to the floor and couldn't move her arms and legs for a bit. She was able to crawl to the phone and call 911 and then my MIL to come and get the baby. Sweet Jesus. They were going to do a procedure where they insert coils through a catheter in her groin to block the aneurysm, but apparently they decided not to do that and she is currently in a 5 hour clipping surgery. Oh Sweet Jesus. I just googled brain aneurysms and there's like a 50% mortality after 1 month and worse statistics for neurological impairment. Fortunately she is young and the bleed area was small and she's only at a stage 0 or 1, but still. I may be heading back to Illinois to help out since I'm the only one (besides my in-laws) that doesn't work. She'll be out of work for a while and I'm sure will need help for stuff, esp. taking care of the kids. Please pray for her.

Leaves

2006-10-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Leaves are everywhere. I finally broke my vow to never know how to use the riding lawnmower. (It's the only chore around here Sunny has to do in the summer. Now he'll never do anything.) Sunny has been working so much that he's never here and he wants to hunt on his weekends off, so I fell upon the sword. Actually, it's kind of fun. Now I can keep the lawn mowed and the leaves fairly crunched up. The last 4 years he lets the leaves accumulate until they are a foot thick and the lawnmower is not so good a mulching that many leaves up, so he has to get out the leaf vacuum attachment (which I cannot use, it's too heavy for me to attach to the mower) and suck up the leaves and then find places to dump them. We have a lot of leaves down, but the oaks will keep shedding until next spring, and they still have the majority of their leaves to drop.

After I took the garbage out this morning, I noticed the gutters were full of leaves and since rain is expected all week, I cleaned out the garage gutters and the one over the front door. Those are the ones most prone to overflow. The gutter on the back of the house was PACKED full of leaves. Amazing how something so light and fluffy can condense

I fell off the HGP band wagon. Part laziness and part winter approaching. I had to get some projects done before it got too cold and wet. I got one finished. The trim around the sunroom door was getting some rot at the bottom and the paint was peeling off. I suspect the trim was not primed prior to painting because the paint is not adhering to the wood. As I was taping off the door weatherstripping, a piece of tape landed on the paint and pulled up large strips of paint. And this was after I had scraped and sanded. So I used the tape to remove as much of the loose paint as I could, then primed and painted. (This was after I used an epoxy wood product to repair the rot and put on some fresh caulk.) It looks beautiful now. I really need to paint the door since it looks shabby next to the fresh white trim and the relatively fresh log stain, but that will have to wait until nice weather next year.

I got a new garage service door on order and I hope it gets here before it gets too cold to paint it. Supposedly it comes factory primed, so all I should have to do is apply a coat of paint. The paint I got for the trim and will use for this trim and door is Sherwin Williams Superpaint which is supposed to be good to 35 degrees.

I also checked into the coach lights that we saw at Menards. I'm going out today to have my eyes re-examined and I'll stop at Menards and pick up one of each type since I'm not sure which one will look the best. (After I make sure they can order more since we need six and I've only seen 2 at the store at any one time.)

Special Project Status - I started it! I know you're shocked! Unfortunately, I think I ran out of the hot sun I'll need to finish part of it, but maybe I can come up with some other plan. I did have to seek outside experts since a part I though I could do was worse off than I thought. The bonus is that if they can do it, it will turn out alot nicer than I could have done it. Plus, I can have them do the rest of the items for next year. I have to order a few parts since the original ones are plastic and brittle and one of them broke as I was attemptint to remove it. C'est la vie.

Fat flushing is going, just not as well as I would like. I'm down almost 4 lbs in a week in which I did a good bit of cheating. I'll start in earnest when we get back from the birthday party, since we are going to Wildfire with friends and I want to be able to eat whatever I want. And then there will be birthday cake! It's not the easiest diet in the world, but I do feel healthier when I eat on plan. I've made a few things for dinner that Sunny will even eat. It's just hard cooking with Bizzy around. There is so much chopping and cutting and measuring. It's easy to do during the week, harder on the weekends with both of us around. And the cranberry drink makes me pee ALL the time. I must have a lot of trapped fluids in my tissues because I am peeing way more than I'm drinking, IYKWIM?

What else? I had the weirdest dream this morning. I dreamed that my grandma's house burned down. I must have been high school aged because grandma was still living there (my parents reside there now) and both grandma and Heather (her dog) got out ok and were standing in our yard watching the firemen put out the flames. Like I said, weird. What does it mean?

Holy Moly!

2006-10-04T09:53:00.000-05:00

Has it really been that long? Took less time than I thought for ADDness to kick in. I just got busy and this is one thing I can let slide completely guilt free.

Working out and weight watching fell by the wayside too. I am fat, fat, fat and feel like it. Scared to even get on the scale. Jeans are tight, but not uncomfortable yet. I went grocery shopping yesterday and stocked up on everything needed for fat flushing. Now I'm trying to use up foods that aren't on the Fat Flush diet. I made chili last night with this cornbread that is to die for and am having the leftovers for lunch today. Probably a pizza tonite to get it out of the freezer. Tomorrow I start fat flushing. My fridge is so full of produce it's ridiculous. I bought a couple of bags of greens (mustard and kale) and those fuckers take up a ton of room. Plus 50% of the fridge is devoted to beverages. Seriously! There are 3 fridge packs of soda, 2 six packs of beer (which no one ever drinks) , a 4 pack of Monster, a gallon of milk, a gallon of water, a bottle of V8 and 2 32 oz bottles of cranberry water which I made for fat flushing. I tried it yesterday and it's not bad. I thought it would be too tart, but it's just right. And there is a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne in there. No wonder I have to shop for food every other day. I'm going to get rid of the beer and a 2 of the soda packs. That will give me some room.

We had Bizzy fixed. It's been crazy. Keep him calm for 10-14 days. Yeah, right. The next day he was bouncing all over like nothing ever happened. The only way to keep him quiet at all is to stick him in his crate wearing his conehead. And when he's out, I have to lock Bonbon up because all they do is fight. At least it allows me to get a little more done around here, because when he's out, it's All Bizzy All The Time. And even then he gets into trouble. I was throwing a toy for him this morning. He ran over to get it, then saw the pile of mail on the counter and decided that would be more fun to play with. Boom, just like that, mail everywhere.

I did a mad crisis cleaning of the house last week before the in-laws got here. I managed to get the sunroom and the guest bath HGP'd and the rest of the place got a good going over. I was supposed to HGP the master bath last week, but ran out of time. So this week it's the master bath and the master bedroom. And it's already Wednesday. I'd better get my ass in gear.

And I just found out my best friend has some pretty serious health issues. I feel so bad because this has been going on since July and I just found out. Yes, I am the worst best friend in the whole world, I never call, I never write. I suck! I am seriously going to have to make it up to her somehow.

Special project status - It's constipated - no movement at all. Shit.

Sorry it isn't all sweetness and light around here. That's just the way it goes.

Weeding

2006-09-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

Still in a funk, but trying to work my way out of it. Today I actually got some things accomplished, although not anything Sunny wants me to do. I got up and let the dogs out. While they were out romping and whatnot I got out the vinegar spray bottle and a miracle cloth and cleaned the outside of the family room windows. I know - don't fall over! I never did it last fall. Of course, Bizzy had to come and see what I was doing and get fresh doggy nose prints on the windows, but a couple of squirts from the vinegar bottle and he got the message that wasn't tolerated. Then while Bizzy was in lockdown eating breakfast, I unloaded and loaded up the dishwasher. (He is fascinated by the dishwasher and has to be all over whatever is in it, clean or dirty.) I also started up a load of laundry. And all before breakfast! Go me!

After playtime was over, I decided to clean my oh so nasty stove top. I can't even remember the last time I cleaned it, it was that bad. It took me over an hour to clean the top, the grates, the knobs and all the fiddley bits. I didn't get the grates completely clean, my hands were starting to hurt from all the scrubbing, but I got the worst of the stuff off of them. It's a thing of beauty. I wish Sunny would learn to clean up after himself when he cooks. Everything is so messy when he gets finished.

I had to water today. I would set up the sprinkler, then set a timer for 10 minutes. I'd weed for 10 minutes then go move the sprinkler and start the timer again. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night, so I may not water tomorrow. I'll run out and water the pots and the nursery plants early since we are getting heavy frost warnings tonite. If you water something before the sun hits it, it doesn't get much frost damage. I moved the ferns, blue clips and lungworts into the garage since I still want to get them planted. Anyhow, I got the retaining wall weeded and cleaned out all the sticks and other oak tree debris. It looks so much better. Now all I have to weed are the back yard planting beds. I'd love to get to the nursery and find some fall plants to put in the pots to replace those stupid blue plants that all died, but I'll see how much time I have before the in-laws arrive.

This week I'm going to get the entryway and guest bath all HGP'd. I only have to go through the coat closet and vacuum thoroughly and I'm done with the entry. Next week I'll HGP the sunroom and the master bath. The rest of the house will get the general "company" cleaning. I'm actually considering having Stanley Steemer come in and use their machine on the kitchen tile and grout. It's gotten bad from so much dog traffic. Plus I have a few carpet stains they could work on. Hmmm.

So Bush is Satan? Most likely the stench that dictator was smelling was his own foul odor or that of his counterpart - the Iranian Hitler. And those fuckers at the UN laughed and applauded him. Fuck you and the camels you rode in on!!! Why are we still in the UN? It's like some big pathetic joke. Send them all back to their pathetic countries and turn that building into a homeless shelter, then it might actually do humanity some good.

For the record, I never buy Shitgo gasoline. When we first moved here, we did and it fucked up the fuel injection on all of our vehicles. Only Shell, BP or Mobil go into our vehicles. Now I won't even darken the door to buy a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

In a funk

2006-09-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

I've been in a funk lately. Not sure why, I just am. I'm falling farther and farther behind in all the things that have to be done. The house is officially disgusting and I'm not really sure I care. I've fallen off the HGP with a resounding thud (what'd that take, all of a week?) so now this week I have the entry, sunroom and another room to do. And my in-laws called and said they were coming up next Friday. Ye Gods! At least I have one more weekend before they arrive. I work best under pressure, but still...

We rented a logsplitter and a slit seeder Saturday. I picked them up Friday night. I've never towed anything before, so it was a new experience for me. The idea was for Sunny and I to share the work, but he ended up doing everything. He said there was no way I was going to be able to push the overseeder up and down our slope-y backyard and he ended up getting all the splitting done while I ran to Walmart to pick up some more grass seed. He's a hurting puppy now! I have mountains of wood I have to find a home for so our wood guy can deliver another 12 cords of logs. Hopefully these will be smaller in diameter so we don't have to split any. Next weekend we have to flush the boiler out and clean out the firebox which I never got around to doing last spring. Bad Pal! I ended up weeding the front planting beds. What a mess! And full of stinging nettles which went to seed and had thousands of baby stinging nettles. If the wind ever dies down I'm going to Roundup the hell out of them. I just have a little bit yet to do out front, a strip I couldn't get at because the sprinkler was going. Then I have to do the retaining walls (a complete mess!) and the backyard planting beds (easy, except for the grass around the evergreens. And I have to plant a few replacement plants that I managed to keep alive all summer in their nursery pots. Then the landscaping will look pretty good.

I'll have to water in the morning if it doesn't rain tonite. Only a 30% chance which pretty much means we'll get nothing. There is no way I can water everything twice a day, so I'm just going to try to get some water on the lawn once a day. Seeds will sprout w/o the constant showering, judging by how many weeds we get w/o watering anything, so I'm just going to leave it up to Mother Nature.

Special Project Status - (All together now!) Still haven't started and running out of time.

I didn't weigh myself today, too depressing after all the eating this weekend. Maybe tomorrow. I did manage to get a lackluster workout in this morning. I made myself. I really need to finish reading Fat Flush so I have a clue what I'm doing. I went grocery shopping today but didn't really buy anything. I guess I don't want to buy something and then have it sitting there taunting me from the pantry shelves if I can't have it.

Oh, and Rockstar: Supernova can kiss my ass. Lukas? Eww. Thankfully, I don't really care. I didn't like the few Supernova songs they performed anyway. Too funny that they are being sued for using the Supernova name. Duh! Do your homework next time asshats.

Loving Dancing with the Stars. Mario Lopez was so much fun to watch. I'm rooting for him.

I'm Back

2006-09-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

I called in sick on 9/11. I had been awake all night with cramps from hell and was completely exhausted and drained. I got up when the alarm went off, called in and said I wouldn't make it. It was garbage day, so I hauled the can and the recycling to the curb. I grabbed a Diet Dr. Pepper from the fridge and then turned on the tv. After watching for a few minutes, I called the office again and told my co-worker to get out of the building. She said they were already evacuating.

Later that afternoon, I went outside to prune the dead stuff out of the dogwoods. (Our house was for sale and I was trying to make it look as nice as possible. It would take a month before we had another showing and the market was limited to relos only.) I was stuck by the silence. There was the usual traffic and other suburban noises, but the background noise the planes made on the flight path to Midway was gone. I wouldn't have thought the aircraft noise would have been that loud since we were quite a distance from Midway, but apparently it was since its absense was noticeable.

I decided to go to the dry cleaners and stock up at the grocery store. As I was sitting at the stoplight at Rt 59, I looked up into the empty sky to see several contrails streaking eastward. Air Force One and the fighter escort was heading to DC.

Sunny was in Alaska hunting moose somewhere on the Iditarod River and wouldn't find out what happened until Friday. Fortunately they had sufficient supplies in the spike camp since the supply plane which brought fresh food and water wouldn't come until Friday. They had to resort to boiling river water the color of weak coffee to drink.

Jeffrey Collman was on Flight 11, the first plane to find a target that morning. He didn't normally fly that route, but had switched up his schedule because of vacation plans. He always emailed his stepmom and dad when he got to his destination. They never got that email. I would like to think that as a male flight attendant, he was a target for the terrorists and was already dead before the plane crashed into the building. He and my brother were born 2 days apart and grew up together, reaching all their milestones at the same time. They played softball for the church league and we'd spend time after softball practice in the parking lot drinking Cokes and playing the stereo in my brother's Gremlin really loud.

Rest in peace, Jeff. I'll always remember you. I'll never forget what they did.

Whew!

2006-09-05T21:37:00.000-05:00

I was too wiped out to post last night. I worked on the deck, patio and sidewalks. It's a pretty good workout. My shoulders hurt, my thighs hurt and something in my back isn't happy about being crunched over powerwashing for so long. But everything is clean now, yay. I still have to wash the windows on the deck, but that is pretty minor, and I skipped the grills because Sunny was bbqing ribs in one and the other one has some wasps' nest in it. He's ready to get rid of the old one anyhow, so maybe I won't have to clean it. I had the sunroom down as this week's room, but that has so much cleaning that I swapped it for the foyer/entry even though that has a closet to clean. The entry is tiny and doesn't have much to declutter or clean really. The sunroom though has all those windows and the cedar walls need to be washed. I keep telling myself every year the walls need to be washed and the most I do is vacuum them. But this year I need to wash them. The walls where the former occupants' hot tub was are nasty.

What else? I had the Maytag guy out today because the little drain in the bottom of the boot on my Neptune wasn't draining well. I wanted them to pull the whole assembly out and clean those brush thingys to get all the lint and goo out of them. Man was that thing nastay. And I periodically clean what I can reach with my grandma's cooking fork. Lots of lint and biofilm. But it's all clean now. I should run a cleaning cycle with some bleach, but I just did one last week trying to clear up the problem with the drain and I don't like to put to much bleach into the septic field.

I took Bizzy to the vet to weigh him and get some Heartgard and Frontline for his current weight. A couple was just inside the door with a wirehair puppy Bizzy's age. What are the chances of that? Their dog was nice and calm and well behaved, mine is barking and pulling and totally out of control. How come we never get the calm dogs? I finally had to take him out to the truck because I was afraid I was going to choke him with the way he was pulling on the leash. Then I got a long overdue oil change on the truck. The manager got to meet Bizzy. He used to hunt Springers and said Bizzy should calm down. I'm not holding my breath. Then we went to the kennel to get his toenails cut. It took them a long time, I guess he's getting squirmy.

Special project status - the same. :(

Weight - Bad, really bad. Up 4 lbs. :( Fat flush here I come.

A year agoish - 9-4-05
Got up fairly early (for me anyway) before 8. Got a Diet Pepsi and a donut or 2. I sat on the couch and watched Fox news' hurricane coverage and read the Daily Southtown. All I can say is "Ooo-rah!" the military intervention has cetainly saved the day. The exhausted people who've been doing what they can since early last week have been relieved. Now they have to search house by house for the people who are still trapped. It's hard to believe the disaster area is 90,000 square miles.

Judge Rehnquist died last night. He's a month or 2 younger than my dad. Makes you think how precious life is and to cherish the moments with your loved ones. I don't look foward to these Supreme Court fights. I think the Chinese curse has come to pass. We certainly live in interesting times.

The trip home was uneventful, but long. I got home and put the groceries away and then crashed in the chair. We watched Firefly and news. I napped a bit during Town Haul.

Man, I can't believe people do not want to leave NOLA. What the fuck? How are you going to get food and water? Stupid fuckers. And the authorities are letting them stay! Un-fucking-believable.

9-5-05
I was up before 8 again. Bummer. Sunny left to run some errands after an hour long call to work. I watched the news until he left, then went surfing. Then I watched more TV and read yesterday's Sunday paper. Next up was a shower which was wonderful. I stood for part of it, but I was putting most of my weight on my good foot which tired quickly.

I tried walking with my hated walker. I did surprisingly well and walked all over the house. Sunny came home with my new crutches. I really hope I don't have to use them for very long. I'm amassing quite a bit of medical equipment - crutches, a walker & tray, 2 toilet seats, a safety belt and my wheels (which have to be returned.)

I had soup for lunch and watched more news, then I went to the guest room and started to sort through credit card statements. All done! What a relief! I still have to make some labels and set up the files, but was a relief to go through all those papers and dump the crap. Tomorrow I need to go through the bank statements. I have to go through all of them and write down the saving account info since I haven't done that in the four years I've had the account. Oops! Put it off for too long and it gets out of hand.

Happy

2006-09-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

Happy, happy birthday, nephew of mine. It's hard to believe you're a teenager now. I wish for you everything that can be wished.

Sunny is in a grumpy mood today. It started out that way and hasn't changed. I think he was annoyed that I slept in a bit, although he could have gotten me up at any time. I knew he wanted to go to the hunt club and run the dogs a bit. As it was, I rolled out of bed, popped in my contacts, slathered on some sunblock and put on a bra under the t-shirt that I slept in. I know I'm a classy broad! I smooshed my ratty, bedhead hair under my SolarVeil hat (Sunny - You aren't wearing that hat, are you? Me - Damn straight I am! Although I did exchange it for a baseball cap before we went into McDonalds.) I followed him in the Denali with Booboo and Bonbon, while he put Bizzy in his backseat. We put out a couple of quail. Bizzy does not seem to have natural pointing ability. Sunny says there are things you can do to teach a dog how to point. Bonbon does not want to hunt, although once a bird was found she was more interested in finding them. I think she lacks confidence. I hope if I take her to some obedience classes she'll get some confidence back. She is certainly aggressive enough around the house.

After we got home I did some laundry and other chores. Sunny trimmed and edged the yard. I eventually ended up outside where I started cleaning up the deck. I got started really late so I only got half the deck powerwashed before Sunny had dinner (brats and sweetcorn) ready. I didn't get the deck washed last year, so it is slow going as there is a layer of moss underneath the furniture. Plus my little powerwasher only has 1200 psi and something is wrong with the wand so I can't get a decent fan spray. I bought a new wand, but the wrong tips and it's pretty useless w/o tips. I may have Sunny get out the big one to do the patio and sidewalk. I am so happy that we went with Trex when we redecked. Wood is such a maintenance pig. All the Trex needs is a powerwash and you are done. I hated staining our old cedar deck. It looked lovely when we were done, but it was so much work. I'm glad I insisted on Trex for the railings too. Sunny wanted to do cedar, but again with the maintenance. I don't think the railings need to be washed at all. I just swept out the cobwebs and they look fine.

Special project status - still haven't started.

For some reason, I didn't make an entry in my surgery & recovery journal last year. Strange.

Sorry about that!

2006-09-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

I just haven't had the energy at night to post. Not that it's all that difficult, it just requires an energy I don't seem to have in great quantities by the time the house has settled in for the night.

What went on this week? (Good question!) Saturday Sunny and I went to Artstreet in downtown Green Bay which is a huge art fair that attracted some 200 artists from all over. We weren't so much into paintings, but we found a beautiful wooden box with a lid to replace the basket on the buffet that Sunny empties his pockets into at the end of the day. The basket is always messy looking and Bizzy is fascinated with anything on a surface so we figured it's only a matter of time before the basket and it's contents are mangled. That looked so nice, I went back the next day by myself to obtain a few more boxes for loose change and other goodies. I went to a different vendor and dropped a load of cash with him. I came home with 3 boxes and a small dish carved out of an apple burl. I'm a sucker for anything wood, the wilder the grain the better. I also found a cute pair of button earrings made of handmade glass.

After Artstreet, we stopped at a bar/grill along the river to eat. We sat on the outdoor deck and watched the river traffic. The GB police boat was doing something farther down the river, trying to hook onto something metal floating in the water. Turns out someone had tossed the picnic table from the bars' river front into the river and they were retrieving it. I had ordered an iced tea which came already sweetened. This was a big mistake as every yellow jacket in the area descended on our table. Even after I got rid of the tea for a diet soda they wouldn't leave so we ended up moving to a table across the deck. Much better. As we were getting ready to leave, in comes a huge wedding party. There were so many attendants, the limousine was a full sized bus! A nice limousine bus, but a bus! We figured they were killing time between the wedding and the reception. It was a nice way to spend the day.

I had various car appointments during the week. 2 new tires on my car because of the damage by the bushings. (I find out from the tire guys that a shock is leaking. This would have been totally obvious to the guys fixing the bushings, but apparently they missed it. I really need to find new mechanics.) Oil change and stuff on the truck. Damn chipmunks chewed up the air cleaner so that had to be replaced. 4 new tires on the truck. Hopefully this time he'll keep up with a rotation schedule. Some asshole put a nice dent in my car probably backing out of a space. I don't know when it was done because it's on the passenger side and I rarely get to view that side. Probably Menards. Everywhere else I park out in the boonies to prevent this sort of crap. I guess I'll have to get it taken care of since bare metal is exposed and will rust out here in salt heaven. Fucker. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits!

I putzed around the house but didn't seem to get all that much done. I did get started on the HGP. Monday night I realized it was starting week. Duh. So I printed up some of the forms and plotted my strategy. I don't always follow the room schedule exactly because a) I don't have some of the rooms and b) I match the expected effort with available time. Next week I'm going home to visit so I put a room that (I hope) doesn't need much work since it will be a short week. I didn't get around to working on the front porch until yesterday because of all the visits into GB during the week. Fortunately, it's small and doesn't need much, but I had added the deck and patio (and grills!) which really need a good cleaning. It took me a while to get my little pressure washer going. I think the poor thing is dying which is sad because Coleman doesn't make this little portable unit anymore. I don't have a clue how to operate the giant one that Sunny bought a couple of years ago. This weekend I should be able to get the rest of the deck and patio cleaned and clean all the coach lights.

Special project status - still haven't started. This weekend, for sure!

I worked out Mon and Wed, but hadn't gotten around to it on Fri when Sunny came home sick. So I didn't work out. I didn't weigh in either because I totally forgot on Mon and Tues and on Wed TOM showed up. I'm sure it wouldn't have been good since I've been eating crappy and have those cravings. I've been investigating the Fat Flush diet and think I'll give it the green light after I come back from Illinois. No sense going to the Sandwich Fair if I can't have Fay's pork chops!

I can't believe RS:Supernova booted Ryan this week. I guess he's not the right horse for their course, but he's more appropriate than Storm. Only 2 more weeks to go and Toby is still in the running. Yay!

A year agoish: 8-21-05
I couldn't sleep last night. At 2 am I was drumming my fingers on the chair. Probably a sugar high. I eventually drifted off and awoke at 3:30 when Sunny got up. We switched places and I slept until 7:30 or so. Not the best sleep. I watched home improvement stuff on HGTV & TLC until Sunny got home with the paper, then I read that. And I surfed the net. We had all the windows open because it got down to the 40's last night. Asshole neighbor decided to ride his dirtbike at 10:30. I rolled around shutting windows and yelled "Shut up you fucking asshole!" as I slammed a window shut. And he did! Who knew he could hear over the engine?

I did some laundry and finished reading the paper. Meals were free floating. I had too much sugar and not enough protein and fat. In fact, I'm hungry now because the sugar has burned off.

I took a brief nap - 20 minutes or so- and nuked a Lean Cuisine pizza the took a shower. 22 minutes w/o a leg and pit shave or foot exfoliate. I was up quite a bit and could feel my foot swell and it was very red. I peeled a tennis ball size patch of skin off the good side of my ankle. Weird.

8-22-05
I heard Sunny shower and take out the garbage, then I went back to sleep. Woke up about 10 and got up and dressed. I never made it back to bed after that! LOL!

I fed the dogs, got a soda and went surfing. I was going to order some Bare Minerals after watching the infomercial, but after some research I decided I'd better go to a store and have a consult to get the right colors. The only store around is at Woodfield in Schaumburg, IL. I don't suppose I can get Sunny to stop there when we are down there over Labor Day, so I'll have to stop there when I go down for the wedding. Bummer.

Then I made breakfast even though it was noon. I made a shake of protein, Superfood, mandarin oranges, aloe juice and flaxseed oil. Not the tastiest, but very healthy!

I did a few loads of laundry and unloaded/loaded the dishwasher. We need the BBQ tongs for dinner on the grill. Then I went to the guest room and started going through the boxes of paper, most of which we moved from our last house almost 4 years ago. That's sad. I spent about 2 hours. Hopefully it will go faster as I get more organized. I hope I can get it all done by the 2nd. I figure once I'm able to walk, I won't want to do that anymore!

8-23-05
Sunny woke me up at 7 with that damn body wash. I wasn't able to fall back to sleep due to an allergic reaction, so I got up, fed the dogs and got on the computer. After I surfed a bit, I made breakfast and parked myself in the chair watching HGTV, TLC & DHC until noon. I just couldn't get motivated to do anything. I stripped the bed and finished the sheets that were in the laundry. Then I surfed the net looking for Home Depots near the in-laws and BBQ grills. I couldn't find the one Sunny said they wanted, so I didn't order one. I ate lunch and watched more TV, then I took a shower. 23 minutes including soaking my foot to get the healing pads off and exfoliating my feet. My left foot is still all rough. I decided to stop with the bandages and switched to rubbing Mederma on the scar. I get to do that 3x a day until nearly the end of October. Yay! I slathered my foot with moisturizer and put on a sock because the scar is very sensitive.

Ook! I'm watching Animal Precinct and someone had thrown puppies in the garbage. 3 dead and 10 alive. People suck.

8-24-05
Watched RS:INXS late last night and Ty's "Proud Mary" was amazing! Deanna's original was great, Suzie, Mig and Marty were ok and JD and Jordis (gasp!) sucked.

(later)
Well, I wonder if Suzie was picked for the encore because INXS knew Ty was in the bottom 3? Hmmmm???? Ty and Deanna being in the bottom 3 - shock, especially with the crap performance Jordis gave. Marty I'm on the fence about, but as of now, his INXS performance was the worse. I bet they boot Deanna though - stay tuned.

(later)
Yep, buh-bye Deanna. Should be interesting next week.

In other TV news, the puppies I mentioned in yesterday's entry had a rather sad ending. Over the first week 8 of the 10 surviving pups died. The 2 who lived were adopted, one of them by the vet tech who took care of them from their first day. The 2 women who tossed the puppies in the trash? 3 days in jail and psychological therapy at the ASPCA.

Only thing I accomplished today was to go through the medical bills and insurance statements. I still have to match them up, but it's a start.

8-25-05
Woke up this morning with massive tampon failure. At least the sheets were spared. Coupled with that is the realization that I have 1 maxipad left. 5 boxes of pantiliners, but 1 stinking maxi! I could have sworn I bought 2 boxes, but I can only find the one. I have scads of tampons, so I guess I'll be changing everything frequently. This is the only time I regret not being on the pill.

Speaking of the pill, I was half paying attention to the "Ask the Expert" segment on the radio and the expert was from a woman's medical center talking about a new tubal sterilization that doesn't require general anesthesia and is about a painful as a cervical biopsy. I haven't had a biopsy, but not going under general anesthesia is a good thing. I may have to look into it.

Got the surgeon's bill today. About $500. And the surgery has completely eaten up the flex spending account all by itself. Add to that my physical and eye exam and glasses and I'm at about $2700 in medical expenses this year. Thank God for medical insurance.

The house is a pit again. I really need to get motivated and do a bunch of housework. All I did today was a load of laundry and unloaded/loaded the dishwasher.

8-26-05
I felt like I slept pretty good. I didn't wake up until nearly 10. Strange, strange dream there at the end.

Fed the dogs, grabbed a soda and surfed the net for a while. Then I had a most nutritious breakfast of 3 brownie cupcakes smothered in ice cream. Then I sorted some laundry and did a couple of loads. A category 2 hurricane is pounding Florida right now. So many storms this season.

I also began sorting boxes of papers. It was fun to toss stuff from our old house, old car, etc. I still have lots of stuff that requires major sorting, tax records, checks to file, employment papers and the like. I know I probably don't need 75% of the stuff, but it can always be tossed later. So far I have a grocery sack of stuff to burn and a nearly full tall kitchen garbage bag of stuff to toss. I had a huge file of receipts - cash, credit debit, ATM. Gah. Some of the receipts stirred up memories, like the receipts from our trip to Wyoming in 99. I bought socks in La Crosse on Oct. 20. How mundane in light of the events of that day.

I stopped for a late lunch of a leftover brat. Sunny got home late with Taco Bell. Mmmm.

8-27-05
(Written Sunday as I forgot on Sat nite.)
I woke up to discover Sunny was gone. Probably at work, but I'm not sure. Bad boy! I fed the dogs and made a bagel and cottage cheese w/ mandarin oranges. I decided to watch the Health Channel's When Anesthesia Fails. So glad I didn't see that before my surgery. I can't imagine going through an operation feeling everything. I fell asleep on the gurney on the way to surgery and woke up in recovery. My other surgery I remember everything up until "Take a deep breath and count backwards..." I prefer the way it happened this time.

I didn't accomplish much of anything today. No sorting, not much housework. I cleaned the kitchen counters (filthy!) and did a load of towels. I noticed they were getting sour after my shower.

I so want to do the HGP this year. I hope I can start walking next week so I can get in on the HGP. It starts tomorrow, but the cleaning zone is the front porch which shouldn't take me long at all and I can make the lists this week. Hope FrameMaker will run on XP or I'm screwed.

8-28-05
So I'm not positive, but I think there's a hurricane barreling down on New Orleans! That's all the news is covering today. It is a huge thing, but surely other stuff happened today. Prayers and good luck goes out to those in the hurricane's path.

I think I annoyed Sunny by sleeping in so late. He went out to do yardwork just after 9 and I didn't get out of bed until 10. I ate breakfast and the loaded the dishwasher. I also sorted the laundry and ran a couple of loads.

We watched hurricane coverage for hours and hours, mostly people standing in line waiting to get into the Superdome. I sorted papers a bit and even impressed Sunny by putting my hands on his old driver's license number in a relatively short period of time. Go me!

After dinner, I balanced the checkbook, paid bills, went through the mail, cut out coupons and gathered the newspapers for recycling. It was more than I'd done all weekend.

8-29-05
Woke up when Sunny left and couldn't get back to sleep. I got up and fed the dogs, the got a soda and started reading "Confessions of a Shopaholic." It's a humorous book, but I can't identify with the main character. It's so foreign to me to be obsessive about shopping.

I weighed myself this morning too. I think the scale must be broken because it insists I'm down 11.8 lbs since before surgery. I weighted myself again and it said 10.8 lbs. I certainly don't feel 11 lbs lighter and I've been eating like a total porker these past 2 weeks. It's probably muscle, which makes me sad, but I'll take it.

I also searched for a yoga class and struck paydirt. There is a yoga studio in downtown Green Bay and they have a class called Gentle Yoga for people like me. And there is a Stretching and Mending class for gimps too.

I kept sorting today. I went through a shopping bag that apparently I just shoved a bunch of stuff in during a mad cleaning binge. Old mail, receipts, cards, letters, projects, brochures. I was thrilled to find the brochure for the brand of infrared sauna I want to get. It's a 3 person job I can plug in to a regular outlet. Only bummer is I have to put it in the basement.

8-30-05
I watched Medical Incredible last night and they had lymphadema patients as a segment. Yuk! What a scary disease. There was also a kid who was internally decapitated. Wow! Hard to believe 4 months later he was walking.

Today I got up, fed the dogs, grabbed a soda and went surfing. I think I found the name and number of the guy we get our firewood from. We need to make sure to get on the list because I think fuel prices are going to be astronomical this winter. Gas prices jumped 30 cents in one day. Can you say gouging? We are definitely feeling Katrina in Green Bay.

I sorted more papers today. (Yes, I have TONS of paper.) I'm making good progress though. Feels good.

I tried to get started on the HGP today. I started to print out the forms and then the printer started fucking up. I think it downloaded something. I had to clear cookies and the cache before it straightened out. I wasted lots of paper and precious toner in the meantime. Pissed me off.

Tonite's RS:INXS is really hard to judge. I loved Marty, Jordis, Mig and Suzie. Ty had an off nite, but shockingly I liked JD's Suspicious Minds. He should be in the bottom three though. Tough, tough choice.

8-31-05
Got up, fed the dogs, grabbed a soda and went surfing. Checked the normal pages and a few other sites. It's getting scary out there in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

I made breakfast and watched the news. It's unbelievable the devastation that has rained down upon the south. As I watched Brett Favre's press conference, it made me wish I was physically able to go down and help the Red Cross. They are asking for volunteers here in GB, but you have to be able to walk. I talked it over with Sunny and we are going to donate money to the relief effort. I'm going to check with the dr. at my appointment to see if I can donate blood.

I nearly cried as I watched those poor people wading out of the flood waters toting their possessions with them. Or not. I pray to God they will survive. Except the people looting TV's and computers. They can rot in hell. They should be shot on sight.

I did more sorting today. I still have credit card statements, bank statements and financial documents to go. Plus a mound of filing. But I have 2 bags of trash, 2 bags of burnables and 2 empty paper boxes. Go me!

9-1-05
Woke up early w/Sunny and helped get the doggies off. So luxurious to have a day w/o doggies. I got a soda and went surfing. I found this amazing website of a crew holed up in a high rise in the NOLA business district. They have food and a generator, not sure about water, but they must have a source. People are resupplying them with diesel for $10 a gallon or so. It's a fascinating read.

I ate breakfast and watched hurricane coverage. It's so awful. Now they are reporting that people are shooting at rescuers and helicopters. WTF?

Then I cleaned up the house. I vacuumed everything. That is a real workout. The kitchen floor is disgusting. It's going to take forever to clean it when I can move around. I did laundry, changed the sheets, cleaned up the kitchen and put the guest room back together. I was on my feet a lot and my knee hurts and my foot is quite swollen. I was going to pack but never got around to it. Hopefully I gave myself enough time to do it in the morning, We have to leave here at 7:45 to get to the dr. on time.

9-2-05
Sunny woke me at 6am. I bolted upright and got up. Grabbed a soda and check the Interdictor's site. Still alive this morning. The I dug out my suitcase and packed for the weekend. After my shower, I finished packing and did a few chores before bugging out.

The ride down was uneventful. Gas is up to 3.20-3.40. Shocking. We did spot a 2.99 after we had already gassed up at a station that only had premium gas left for 3.42/gallon. Figures.

I used my wheels at the clinic since I had to pee. I think people were jealous at how well I was tooling along. Love my wheels! I'm healing very well and have the go ahead to start walking. First 2 crutches, then 1, then just the boot, then a shoe. I'll try to get into PT ASAP. I want to be walking by the 16th. I don't have any more time for this crap. I can't donate blood for a year because of the bone graft. I guess they want to make sure I don't come down with some disease. Lovely.

We proceeded to Ill where we searched for a grill. The first place was down to selling floor models. Home Depot of course had what we needed, but only in black. C'est la vie. It was on sale too.

At the in-laws, we oohed and aahed over the new house and all the new furniture, then Sunny assemble the grill while I watched hurricane aftermath on Fox. He grilled brats and sweetcorn on the side burner. It was a success, I think.

Finally

2006-08-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

Palamityville has had some severe weather lately which somewhat accounts for not posting here for a couple of days since I unplug the computer when it's storming. The other part is that I'm kind of lazy and once the ass hits the couch, I have trouble moving again. I'm kind of like a shark in that way - once I stop moving, the party's over.

I'm so glad Patrice was finally eliminated from RS: Supernova. Only six left. I'm rooting for Toby, although I wouldn't mind if Lukas, Magni or Ryan won. I just can't see a woman fronting Supernova, although I think Storm is pretty amazing. I don't care for Dilanna's voice at all, nails on a chalkboard to me.

I've been using the drops for my eyes pretty regularly and thought today would be a good day to wear my contacts for a few hours. Four hours was all I could stand. And I accumulate giant wads of goo in the inner corner of each eye which needs to be removed every hour. Lovely.

This morning while I was playing with the dogs I had something lame on TV since I can't really watch anything I'd like to watch because the dogs make a ton of noise. Today's lame show was The 25 Sexiest Movie Stars or something like that. How in God's name does Brad Pitt come in second to Johnny Depp??? WTF I ask you??? I haven't seen a Johnny Depp movie since Gilbert Grape and I only watched that for Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, and I caught part of Choclat on cable one time. Johnny Depp = blech in my book. Brad Pitt = Mmmmm. Get it right next time people!!!

That show segued into Dr. 90210. One of the patients was a 21 year old who'd had gastric bypass and was going for a tummy tuck and a boob job. I don't know if they were trying to be funny, but when they did the backstory on her they showed a typical family meal and boy howdy could you see why she had gotten fat. Both parents were obese and some of that stuff cooking on the stove had to have pure lard in it. She moved out at the end of the show, probably thinking that if she continued to live at home she'd blow up in no time. The other patient was a young woman who was getting lipo of her hips and thighs. She was going to have her tummy done too but they took the max amount of fat out of her hips and thighs alone. Five liters of fat. She was seriously misshapen in the butt department anyway, but I think the procedures are more effective if you get to a normal weight and then have it done. She was trying to "jump start" her healthy lifestyle. Ok. Whatever. I'd like to live in her land of delusions.

Nothing much going on around here. I took the dogs for nail trims today. Really, can you stand the excitement? I managed to get in three workouts this week and I feel pretty good about that. Especially after watching fat people surgery. The depressing thing to me is that when I lose this weight (and I will) I'll probably have a load of loose skin. I'll probably look like that alien in Men in Black who wore the Edgar skin suit. Great. Oh well, one hurdle at a time. Maybe by losing the weight slowly it won't be too bad. Fortunately my fat is pretty well distributed all over my body, although the ass and tummy have been feeling extremely flabby of late.

Special Project Status - still haven't started. Go me!

A year agoish: 8-14-05
Lazy day today. Finally finished watching all the extras from the S&TC DVD's. Yay! Now I can move on to movies and Tivo'd stuff.

Sunny has been a gem today. Don't know if he's walking on eggshells because I am psycho bitch or what. He went out for breakfast and a paper and brought me a McGriddle. MMM! And he loaded the dishwasher and ran it and put away the stack of dishes on the counter. I heart him.

I did a couple loads of laundry, helped make lunch (brats and corn, the corn was delicious and so fresh) watched TV and vegged a lot. Then I took a shower. It takes about 45 minutes since I have to keep turning the water on and off. Wish I had a lower showerhead.

My incision hurts today, maybe because I forgot to take Advil. And I think my tendons shorten up during the night. It seems like all the gains I make stretching during the day are lost at night. Maybe because I stopped wearing the splint at night. Hmmm.....

We watched the Extreme Home Makeover. How sad. Tears. That is not a show to watch while PMSing.

8-15-05
Sunny left for work by 5am. I eventually fell back asleep and woke up about 8:30. I made a breakfast of a bagel, cottage cheese and cherries. I dug out a movie I've had on DVD but never opened - The Last of the Mohicans - the directors cut. It sucked. And you can't get the theatrical release in the US. I'll have to get my hands on the UK version because I really loved the movie. And the soundtrack. Then I watched Fluke, not exactly the type of movie to watch whilst PMSing. Oh, the tears! And the puppies/dogs were so cute and talented! Their trainers were busy people. Not bad for a movie I bought on impulse while waiting in line at Shopko. To make up for all the drama and emotion, tomorrow I'm watching Spaceballs, The Collectors Edition. I can use a good laugh.

I loaded the dishwasher and hand washed a few dishes. Then I went through some mail and receipts. I got bored and started watching TV again. I finished Spy Hard on Tivo. I really have to clear some Tivo stuff off the playlist.

Sunny came home about 8:30 with a BBQ chicken pizza for me from Boston's. I have leftovers for lunch too. I'm so bloated now. I just wish my fucking period would just come already. I'm exhausted.

8-16-05
I woke up early - actually was awakened by Sunny's new Old Spice Body Wash reek. Too strong for my allergies. And the stench lingers for HOURS. He took the dogs w/him to the kennel for grooming and playtime so I got to eat breakfast unmolested. I watched Spaceballs which was just as funny as I remembered., then took a nap until nearly 1pm.

I reheated pizza from last night for lunch and watched Firefly on Tivo. It's such an interesting show I can't believe it was cancelled. I'll be going to the Serenity flick for sure when it comes out in Sept.

Next up was to wash Bonbon's peepad from her couch. I can't remember the last time I washed it. I put the comforter I took off her couch before the surgery in the laundry tub to soak with some borax. That should take care of the smell and hopefully loosen up the rawhide jizz all over the thing. I hate the mess those chewies make.

I decided to go out and water the plants I could reach from the sidewalk and drive. That was a bit of work. My neighbor saw me and came over to chat. That was nice. I took a shower, ate and am sitting with my foot up. It's quite swollen from being on my "feet" too long. I watched RS: INXS and didn't care for Jessica, Deanna and JD.

8-17-05
Well, RS: INXS booted Jessica tonite as expected. I didn't think Suzie or Deanna deserved to be there tonite. JD's version of As Tears Go By sucked and Ty's Maggie May was weird.

Sunny got up at 3:30 and I went to bed. (I'd been dozing in the recliner.) Unfortunately I couln't fall back to sleep after he left. I'm sure it was about 6:30 when I finally drifted off. The dogs wanted to eat at 9:30 so I got up and fed them and made some breakfast. I ate that while watching the special features of Spaceballs. Well worth it. Then it was time for lunch which was leftover pizza. Much less appetizing with dogs drooling over me.

I surfed the net for a bit then went through the entertainment center looking for stuff for my neighbor's garage sale. (Hey, she offered.) I found a few DVD's, a few CD's and some videotapes that we now have on DVD. I also unearthed about a dozen tapes we record on that I need to go through. And I found the tape with the series finale of the Fugitive on it. How long ago did that end and I still haven't watched it? I also found the series finale of X-files that I've never watched. I'm so lame.

8-18-05
Today was a slug day. I watched Brother Bear. What a cute movie. And I watched all the special features. Then I popped in Finding Nemo even though I'd seen it in the theater. It was still a really good movie. Then I got up and made some lunch.

I gathered together some other stuff for the neighbor's garage sale. I priced a few things then called the neighbor to come and get the stuff. She came right over, what a sweetie! We chatted a bit and I shooed her away when it started to sprinkle. Sunny called and said it was pouring in Green Bay and I didn't want her to get caught in a downpour.

Sunny brough home Taco Bell and we watched Queer Eye. Then we watched a bit of Battle of the Network Reality Stars. He only lasted about 15 minutes before he went to bed. I finished it, but I really don't know most of these people. We only watch Survivor and I did watch Joe Millionaire. I started watching Apprentice after catching it last year at my SIL's, but I can take it or leave it. And the only Amazing Race we watched was the last few episodes of the last one because Rob and Ahmbah were in it.

8-19-05
I watched the special features of Finding Nemo. I still have one more disk of features to watch. I was pretty much a lump all day. I'm not sleeping well again. The painkillers must have helped me sleep better. I was sleeping so well then. I'm bummed.

I surfed the net, did a few loads of laundry and took a shower. It took 33 minutes to wash my hair, clean myself, shave my legs and exfoliate my feet. Not too shabby.

We went to Townline to meet with one of Sunny's co-workers and her husband. Their four kids were visiting the grandparents and so they had some alone time. It was good to get out. I felt self-concious from the stares, but screw them. The food was good. We all ate too much and I had a margarita. The only problem came when I tried to leave. We were seated up against a wall and the tables around us were packed with people. Finally a path opened up and we made a break for it.

8-20-05
Today I'm parked in front of the tube watching Nickelodean and mindlessly eating Mini Mint Milanos. Life is good!

I fell asleep in the chair last night. Sunny came out about 5 and shooed me to the bed. It was pouring with thunder and lightening. I finally drifted off to sleep listening to the radio and rain falling on the roof. Sunny came in at 11 to make certain I was still alive. It felt like a good sleep.

I started to make a grocery list while watching the other bonus feature disk of Finding Nemo. Sunny went off to get the mail and shop. I unloaded the dishwasher and filled it up again. I tossed out a week's worth of recycling and then hosed the counters off. Then I was wiped so I went and laid down on the bed while I finished the Finding Nemo features. When Sunny got home I put away the groceries and made a late lunch which consisted of 2 bowls of french silk pie ice cream. Yeah, real healthy. Wish my period would get here already.

I finally watched the series finale of The Fugitive 2000. (I love Tim Daly!) The ending was so abrupt. I really did like the show. I can't believe that tape has been unwatched since May 2001.

Summer Breeze

2006-08-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

Somehow I fell asleep on the couch before I could make an entry yesterday. Weigh in was wonderful, considering my slackerness in both the eating and exercise departments last week. I lost 1.5 lbs, not bad although I screwed it up with poor eating later in the day. Managed a workout, although it was kind of lackluster. I was a cleaning madwoman, but you can't tell by looking at the house. I made a trip to the dump with some bags of styrofoam and cardboard boxes and a box of glass bottles. The wasps were out in force at the dump and one got in the truck, so I'd shoo him out a window on one side and he'd fly over and come in a window on the other side. Sunny came home late with a salad for me and a pizza for him, although I succumbed and had a slice of the pizza. We watched the finale of Treasure Hunters while we ate. Both of us really enjoyed that show for some reason. I'm glad the Geniuses won, although I was kind of hoping for the Air Force to win.

Today I was up early because the electrician was coming out to install the ceiling fans and replace the outside outlets on the house. The new fans look great and I'd include links, but the Hunter site doesn't have either of them because they are exclusive to Menards and the Menards site doesn't have them because they suck. I can cross another couple of things off the list. I putzed around the house the rest of the day waiting for the fence guy to show up, but he never made an appearance. Damn. Now that I'm getting stuff crossed off my master list (which is HUGE) I'm really anxious to cross off more things.

I finally got a project completed while I was waiting around. I had purchased a chair mat to cut up and attach to the doors and wall of the sunroom to protect them from Bizzy and hopefully deter him from pawing at them by installing them with the nubby sides out. Those suckers are really hard to cut through with a utility knife. I persisted though and then attached them with some Command adhesive strips I had laying around. Hopefully, the adhesive won't harm the wood finish. I'll have some serious repair work to do to the doors and wall anyhow since there are numerous claw marks and gouges, mostly on the wall but some on the french doors. Yay, another thing off the list! Sunny thinks I should install some on the inside of the house too. I'll see how bad it looks first. I think he just pushes the sunroom door open with a paw and doesn't scratch at the wood.

Bizzy was a crazy dog tonight. He was zooming in circles around the great room and then went into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, did laps around it, jumped off and zoomed into the bathroom, came right out and jumped back on the bed for more laps. It was funny, but I reigned him in because I didn't want him to hurt himself or any furniture. He's already taking to leaping off one of the couches by vaulting off the arm. Hopefully the leather can stand up to the abuse because Sunny said he wasn't buying another couch. I had to pick him up and he is very heavy. Probably 45 or 50 pounds. I won't be able to pick him up much longer.

We had burgers on the grill tonight, with canned corn and potato salad. I made some instant pudding for dessert. After I loaded up the dishwasher, I made a marinade for the roast we bought Sunday and have that marinating overnight. I'd like to do it on the grill but Sunny isn't sure how late he'll be tomorrow. I may have to do it in the crockpot.

Special project update - still haven't started. I suck.

And I want to take on another project. Every year I try to do the Holiday Grand Plan and always peter out. (Although, I ended up doing almost the whole cleaning part in one week last year when I decided to have the carpets cleaned the week after Thanksgiving. All the carpets in the house. Every room. They had to come twice because I moved everything from 1/2 the rooms into the other 1/2, then vice versa. It sure was nice to have it all clean though.) This year I'm hoping to stick it out and do the cleaning and decluttering part of the HGP, then do the get ready for Christmas part of the Christmas Countdown. No way I can start thinking about Christmas in August. The end of October is just about right for starting the Christmas merry-go-round.

I'll do surgery journal entries tomorrow. I am yawning and amd having a tough time focusing, which means I'm overdue for eyedrops.

Same Old, Same Old

2006-08-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

The special project that I wanted to concentrate on this week? Didn't even get started. Sucks.

Monday was the last puppy class. Graduation. BFD. All we did was take pictures of our puppy's wearing a mortarboard or whatever they call graduation hats. I ended up taking the official pictures because all cheapo Petsmart gives the instructor is a Polaroid and it had walked off, so she was going to take pictures with a disposable camera. I volunteered because I brought my digital camera.

Tuesday I took the car in for an oil change and to fix the AC fan because the 2 lowest speeds weren't working. Oh, and check the brakes and rotate tires. First the brakes were ok, but upon rotation an uneven wear pattern was caused by damaged control arm bushings. So I said to of course fix them. Then they call me back and tell me the brakes were worse that they thought, in fact so bad the rotors are shot too. Fuckers. I am always asking them to check the brakes on our vehicles and am always assured they are fine, then we somehow go through the rotors. I am so going to find another dealer to work on our cars. And I have to get new tires for the car. Bleh.

Not sure what I did Wednesday, I'm sure it was chock full of excitement.

Thursday I finally called an opthamologist for an appt. The eyes are still bothering me. They said to get there in 30 minutes and they can squeeze me in. So I hauled ass into GB and located their office. While I was filling out the paperwork, I had trouble making out the words. Uh oh, I was getting a migraine, something I haven't had for a long time. No doubt about it, the aura was there. I was finally called back into an exam room where his assistant asked me a ton of questions. I told her a migraine was imminent. The dr. was in with a difficult patient, but she did what she could to hurry him. He finally came in and examined my eyes. Let me tell you, having a piercing light aimed right in the eyeballs when you have a migraine is not fun at all. Turns out I have dry eyes. I probably never had an eye infection, they are just parched. I got a few different eye drops to try and I got the heck out of there. I stopped at the car dealer to pay for the car and get the keys, mostly because I had Advil in the car and if I take some before things get too bad, sometimes the migraine stops. I sucked down the Advil in the parking lot and somehow made my way home. I grabbed a bowl in case I had to barf and layed down with my clothes on. I called Sunny and told him he needed to come home NOW to take care of the dogs. I could not handle their noise and Bizzy has to be watched like a hawk or he'll destroy somthing. He got home and I felt a lot better about an hour later. No barfing and little pain - the Advil worked.

On Friday I hitched a ride to town with Sunny and picked up the car. I stopped at MickeyD's for a McGriddle. Yeah, not exactly diet food and not wheat free, but it sure was good. Then I went to Home Depot to see if they carried the gate hardware we needed and I'm also looking for a certain Rubbermaid underbed box which Rubbermaid customer service said HD carried, but they lied. Strking out there, I decided to see if K-mart had anything and they did. I then dropped in to Woodman's for some groceries and hit the cleaners on the way home. I putzed around the rest of the day until Sunny called and asked if I wanted to go with him to Manitowoc to look for duck hunting areas. I said only if we could stop in at Lowe's and he agreed. We decided to bring Bizzy along so I rearranged the Denali and put Bizzy in the big crate. We drove all over the Manitowoc area, including some really beautiful Kettle Moraine vistas. We stopped at Lowe's to look at light fixtures since we want to replace the coach lights on the house and then headed for home.

Saturday I stayed around the house and caught up on laundry.

Today, Sunday, I slept as late as I could. I woke up when Sunny was getting the dogs ready for the hunt club. He asked if I wanted to go and I declined, then burrowed under the covers where I had weird dreams for 2 hours. The rest of the day was spent doing a bit of housework, some laundry, reading the paper and surfing the web. I was reading the paper in bed and had it sorted into 2 piles, the already read and the unread. While I was switching loads of laundry, Bizzy sneaked into the bedroom, got up on the bed (all by himself, a first) and ripped to shreds the pile of paper I hadn't read. Don't tell me dogs can't read our minds. They totally can. Sunny still hasn't learned Bizzy must be watched at all times. He was doing something or other with the Tivo. Serves him right that he hadn't read any of the paper and now he wouldn't get the chance.

I don't expect weigh in tomorrow morning to be all that great. Eating well has not been a priority and I only exercised Monday. On Monday afternoon, I slammed my little toe into a kitchen cabinet and swore I broke it. It turned all sorts of lovely shades and wearing a shoe Monday night to puppy class hurt like hell. It's much improved so I should be able to work out tomorrow and get back on track.

I'll get back to entries from my surgery diary tomorrow. I'm tired of typing now and have to go put drops in my eyes. They get worse when I stare at the screen for too long.

Obesity

2006-08-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

Sunny decided to go on another safari with Bizzy. He asked if I wanted to go, but I still had laundry and other cleaning to do. Good thing I didn't since he didn't get home until nearly 4pm. I did laundry, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and started that up, dusted the whole place, vacuumed everything, picked up and put away stuff, did poo patrol, watered the pots and started going through a giant box of recipe clippings while I watched Celebrity Fit Club 4. I totally love this show even though it's kind of cheesy. I've watched all the seasons. I was really surprised that Erika Eleniak was on it, but she just had a baby and wants to get back into shape which I can totally understand. Might as well try to win a whole bunch of stuff while you shed the pounds.

Last week I watched a couple of shows on Discovery Health Channel regarding the super obese. I can understand getting large, but once you are to the point you can't walk, that pretty much means you are surrounded by enablers. This one guy was over 1000 pounds and someone brought him junk food while he was in this nursing help getting treatment. Hello??? The enablers clearly don't have your best interests at heart. (He died BTW.) Other people have had a variety of health reasons that turned them obese. One woman was some 400 lbs when she had surgery to remove a tumor from her upper thigh. They had to remove lymph nodes which caused that leg to have lymphadema. When she checked into the nursing home, they estimated her leg weighed 200 lbs. I weigh a bit more than that. I couldn't imagine a leg that weighs almost as much as I do. (I would have sought treatment a heck of a lot sooner though.)

I've had various numbers in my head over the years that I swore I would never, ever go over. First it was 200, then 225, then 250 - which I've never gone over, but have come close. That's as big as an NFL football player!!! I'm that large and it ain't pretty, trust me. I don't expect tomorrow's weigh in to be that great. Not great food choices and salty selections are to blame. I did manage to exercise twice, which is a good start, and I moved my ass today while vacuuming and doing other housework. This week I will really buckle down:

1. Drink more water and less diet soda.
2. No wheat products.
3. No desserts, except sugar free fudgesicles and puddings and jellos.
4. Eat lunch.
5. Exercise on the NT at least 3 times.

It's all habit. If you do something for 21 days, it becomes a habit. That means in one year I can acquire 17 new habits, one habit at a time. Might as well make them good ones.

A year ago: 8-13-05
I woke up again when Sunny went to work. Watched S&TC episodes until he came home again, then napped for a long time. I nuked a dinner then watched more TV. A generally lazy day. Sunny went out to get a haircut and pick up some groceries. While he was out, I attempted to go out on the deck as an experiment. I was successful!!! Buoyed up by that, I went out the front door and off the porch step. Totally doable. I located my sunglasses in the car, right where I said they were. (Sunny searched twice and didn't find them. Typical male!)

Sunny made dinner. Instant Manwiches. Not crazy about the taste. Manwich from a can with your own beef tastes better. He booted me out of the bedroom early since he is still catching up on sleep. I let the dogs out and that is when the fight began.

Somehow the fence protecting the plants from Booboo's pee attacks got moved and Booboo started peeing on the plant he nearly killed. I started yelling at Booboo, then Sunny came out to see what the commotion was and I turned on him. It wasn't pretty. Fucking PMS. Although I will blame it on Sunny since someone had to move the fence and it sure as hell wasn't me. He could have put it back when he was through, but nooooo...

Toxic Sweat

2006-08-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

Posting will be light for a while. I have a large project that I need to get done when it's hot and sunny out. I'll let you all know how it turns out when I get finished, hopefully with pictures. I've been meaning to incorporate pictures on this page anyhow, maybe that will light a fire under my ass.

I cleaned a bunch of eyeshadow jars and disinfected the lids with alcohol. I also sprayed the brushes I cleaned with collodial silver to disinfect them. I left the open jars to dry while I went to workout on the NT. I even stretched afterward. After my shower, I played with the dogs and made a few phone calls. I then locked Bizzy away and went shopping. More rawhides at Petco, a stop at the ATM, Menards West to pick up some downrods for the office fan, (I got a few different sizes so the electrician can pick the one most appropriate) Joann fabrics for an OttLite (50% off), PetSmart since I'm looking for these tablets I used to give Bonbon when she ate grass but apparently no one carries them anymore and Shopko for some paper towels and contact solutions since I tossed all the ones I was using pre eye infection.

I picked up Taco John on the way home. Sunny and I ate quickly as he was expecting a guy to look at the canoe he had for sale. When he showed up he had his little girl with him. What a doll! I put Bizzy on a leash and took him outside to meet new people. He wasn't quite as freaked out as with the Terminix guy, but still a little leery. He finally warmed up to the guy and even sniffed the little girl. Sunny sold him the canoe and motor and then threw in the duckblind. The guy and his wife are in the Army Reserves and he is scheduled for deployment to Iraq next year. Sunny gave him a great deal on the whole package. I was just glad to get rid of the stuff. The canoe had racked a bit because Sunny had it sitting at a bad angle on top of the log pile. I hope it unracks if he lays it upside down on a flat surface in the summer sun.

Today I did a bit of laundry and cleaning. Sunny was tired from being up at 3 and going into work for some changes. He tried to nap when he got home, but the dogs kept interfering. We decided to go to see Talladega Nights so I quickly cleaned up and we headed into GB. After the movie we went to the Pig for groceries instead of eating out, more cost effective. Sunny grilled burgers and I made coleslaw and heated up some baked beans. Sunny crashed early and I fell asleep on the couch again.

A year agoish: 8-11-05
While I was doing laundry I found some bizarre stains on a few of my t-shirts. Not so much a stain, more like bleached out areas. The back of the neck, between the boobs, across the chest. I think my sweat is toxic. It's so toxic it bleached the dye right out of the shirts!!!

Poor Sunny is exhausted. That fire in Downers Grove took down an MCI switching center, which caused disruptions to 54 sites. He was paged around 12:30 and went to the office right after 3am. He got home just before 5am after sitting in a rare GB traffic jam for 30 minutes. Some accident. He's so tired, he was back in bed by 7.

Not much going on. I slept until 11am. I woke up when Sunny was leaving for work at 3 and didn't get back to sleep for a few hours. I dressed and did some laundry while waiting for the Terminix guy. Hopefully the bug barrier will keep those weird black beetles at bay. How sad is it that a visit from the bug guy was the highlight of my day?

I'm just about done with S&TC. I'm watching all the extra features. The audio commentaries are quite interesting. Only have Season 6 to go.

8-12-05
I woke up about 5am with Booboo gagging in the bed. I ended up waking Sunny with all the commotion. I felt bad about that, but fortunately Booboo didn't actually throw up. Sunny got up and I think he fell asleep in the chair. I watched a couple of S&TC episodes. He came in and got ready for work. After he left for work. I ate breakfast, watched more S&TC and dozed off about 9:30. I didn't wake up until 1pm, but ended up only getting about 8 hours of sleep for the "night".

I didn't do much today, TV watching and net surfing. I decided to stop taking the Oxycodone since for the last 2 days I've only taken 2 pills a day. I switched to Advil this morning. Pain is tolerable so I'm good. Not sure if strange feeling is slight withdrawal. Hopefully ditching the Oxycodone will stop the slight heartburn I'm experiencing as well as the constipation.

I dozed off again and woke up about 7:30. Sunny was still out and hadn't called. I felt very alone & blue, think PMS is on the horizon as TOM is due next week. He finally came home and brought me a french silk blizzard. Mmmm. He went off to bed and I watched TV. My ears are ringing right now. Weird.

Lottery

2006-08-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

How cool is it that a group of factory workers each won $600,000 and change? Sunny talked with a buddy of his that works at Sargento (works on the business side, so wasn't in with the pool of folks who mostly work on the line) and he said the CEO/president of Sargento is bringing in financial advisors on the company dime to help these people manage their winnings. For some, this is what they'd make working a lifetime at Sargento. This could really change their lives.

I was too tired/annoyed to post last night. I managed to get a workout in yesterday and now my whole body hurts. Then I went to Sam's club and walked all over creation because those fuckers rearranged the store. I had to look all over for batteries even though they were everywhere. The first display didn't have the kind I wanted, nor did the second, but the third one was the charm. I kept to my list, only adding Zest and Softsoap because I forgot we were nearly out and a bottle of cold water that was by the checkout (can you say impulse buy placement?) because I had forgotten to grab one on the way out of the house and I was thirsty.

Then I went to Woodman's grocery to stock up on stuff I've either only found there or have the best prices in GB. Plus they have just about the best health food selection in the area. I bought wheat free hot dog buns that are made out of tapioca. Four of them were over $4, but I really do think I have a wheat issue. I've been slacking on wheat avoidance and my intestines have been cramping like a bitch. When I go back to the allergy guy next spring, I'm going to insist on testing me for food allergies. Sunny called me as I was driving home and said he was stopping out for beers and did I want him to bring something home for dinner? OK, bring me a salad. He called on his way home, apparently thinking I'd corral the dogs. Well, I didn't and Bizzy knocked over the gate to the laundry room and jumped up on him making him drop my salad which exploded onto the floor. Of course, it was my fault for not locking up the dogs. (Actually, it was my fault for not latching the baby gate properly.) The fact that he was toting a giant box of something he had ordered, his pizza in a box and my salad couldn't have had anything to do with it. Then he left the door open and Bizzy ran outside like a shot. I picked up the salad, much of which had stayed in the container and had Booboo and Bonbon clean up the floor. Sunny ran after Bizzy and came in fuming. It all went downhill from there. Like my Grandma always said - haste make waste. It wouldn't have killed him to make 2 trips into the house, it's not that far from the kitchen to the garage. It was a good salad though.

Today I picked up the dog poop. Bonbon stepped in some fresh poop (her own even) the morning because she's a stupid bitch and I had to clean dog crap off her paws. And she took a crap on the patio right in front of the stairs to the house thereby ensuring that the other dogs would step in it. Twathead! Of course, the dumb shits can't go to the far edges of the backyard. Nooooo, they have to crap right up by the house. I've just about had it with the dogs, can you tell?

Then I spent part of the afternoon cleaning out my makeup chest, cutting new liners for the drawers, wiping the drawers down with alcohol, cleaning some of my makeup brushes and disinfecting the jars and inside the lids of the face makeup. I still have to disinfect the eye colors, clean and disinfect my eye brushes and disinfect and line some drawers. I'm thinking of pouring out the minerals of my most used eye colors in a thin layer, spraying them with c-silver and letting them dry, then pouring the minerals back into disinfected jars. I hate to toss them at $13 bucks a pop and some of the colors are no longer being made, plus they changed the packaging and now you get less than half the amount than the older jars contained.

Sunny came home after a really bad day. He unpacked and played with his new GPS while I made some rice and heated up the chop suey he made on Sunday. I didn't feel like chop suey, so I had a bowl of rice with some butter. After dinner we took a family outing to the DQ in Pulaski. I drove so he could play with the GPS. I'm definitely going to borrow it for the fall Parade of Homes. It has speakers so it will tell you where to turn and everything, although now that I think about it, maybe the addresses will be too new for the GPS to find. It should get me close though.

What the hell is going on with RS: Supernova? People can't actually think Zayra should be singing with Supernova? It must be like Dancing with the Stars where people kept voting for Master P, much to the judges annoyance. I think they ought to change the voting to be like Dancing, a certain number of votes per household. And I think Dancing should change their elimination to be like RS, give the judges a choice of the bottom three, do a dance-off, then eliminate the worst. Would have gotten rid of Master P early, although Kenny Maines was pretty bad too. He was funny as hell though.

A year agoish: 8-9-05
Just finished watching RS: INXS. I missed Mig's performace because our power got knocked out and the cable box got shut off. Tivo was recording nothing! By the time I got the whole thing straightened out I missed his entire performance. I'll have to go check out the website tomorrow to see if they have it online. Of the performances I saw, I liked Brandon, Marty, Deanna & Ty. Jordis had an off night, but she was still pretty good. I didn't like Suzie, JD or Jessica's performances.

I wanted to shower today, but I decided to hold off because I HAD to vacuum. The whole house was gross. And I work up a sweat when I normally vacuum. I figured trying to Rollabout vacuum would kill me. And it did!!! It's like running a three-legged race with an uncooperative partner. It took 45 minutes to vacuum the laundry, pantry, hallway, master bedroom and bath. I was sweating like crazy, exhausted and my right knee was killing me at that point. I collapsed on the bed with a soda and vegged for 2 hours. I got back up when Sunny called to say he was coming home in an hour. So I vacuumed the kitchen, dining room, great room and as far into the bath as the cord would go. I finished up just as he got home and my t-shirt was soaked with sweat. My poor knee was aching. Putting all my weight on my knee and keeping it bent for an hour was too much. Must rest tomorrow.

The Discovery landed safely! Yay! And a 60 acre wildfire near here was probably started by a cigarette. Fucking smokers, use the goddamn ashtray in your vehicle - that's why it's there. Asshats. And GB made it legal to drink (tailgate) in a public entertainment zone on Packer game days. It cracks me up that it's been illegal for years, although the cops never enforced the law, but some bureaucrat got a bug up his ass...

8-10-05
I don't agree with RS: INXS booting Brandon, but he would have gone sooner or later anyhow since he isn't the strongest singer.

I slept pretty good last night. I didn't wake up until nearly 10. I finally weighed myself and have lost 8 lbs since 7/16. It's probably mostly calf muscle that has atrophied in my right leg, but I'll take it.

I unloaded and loaded the dw, tossed the recycling, cleaned the kitchen sink and did a load of laundry. I rested in between tasks. Then I turned to cleaning myself. My first unassisted shower. (Love my wheels!) I washed, exfoliated, shaved my legs and scrubbed and exfoliated my feet. Shaving and scrubbing my good leg was very difficult while trying to hold up my bad leg. I'll have to think of some other way to care for my feet. I cut my toenails, also a difficult task. Finally I used some of my heavy duty foot creams and my moisturizing socks. I have some painful cracks on both feet. After that I cleaned and dressed my wound. All that took me nearly 2 hours. It's exhausting work.

Sunny came home and we had sandwiches and salads for dinner followed by mini mint milanos for dessert. We stripped the bed and put on fresh sheets. I love fresh sheets. We watched tivoed Rescue Me and Queer Eye, then off to bed.

There is a huge blackout in Chicago's western burbs. Must be enormous for GB news to report it.

Blinds

2006-08-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

Another day, same-o, same-o. Played with the doggies and after putting Bizzy in his crate, started on housework. Loaded and started the dishwasher, changed the quilt on Bonbon's couch and washed it, changed the sheets, folded and put away several loads of laundry, cleaned the hall bath and swiffered it's floor and the kitchen's, dusted the great room and guest bedroom, picked up and put away stuff in the master bedroom and great room, moved the plants out of the blind guy's way in the guest bedroom, cleaned the kitchen counters and the sink. Then I showered and dressed.

The blind guy showed up on time. He re-installed the guest room blind and it works great now. Took a look at the butcher job his partner did when he "fixed" the blinds in the master and hall bath and decided both would have to be restrung. They'll take about 2 weeks to fix. I rigged up a temporary curtain using a tension rod and some old lace curtains for the hall bath. (Good thing I haven't decluttered the linen closet yet. Hee!) Course, it not like anyone is likely to see into the bathroom, but I don't like the dark hole the window makes at night. The drapery panels will suffice for the bedroom, I just warned Sunny to be very gentle. The panel rod was never intended to actually be used since the panels are held back with decorative tiebacks, so I just got a cheapie, too light rod at Shopko. I guess it's a good thing I hadn't changed the fall/winter drapes and valance for the spring/summer valance. I had a feeling the blind was going to have to go back to the shop, and since I don't have drapery panels for the spring/summer set, I elected to leave the fall/winter ones up. I think it took them a lot longer than 2 weeks to fix the guest room blind, so I may never actually get to take them down this year.

Wow, could that paragraph be any more boring?

After the blind guy left, I loaded up the dogs and took them to the groomers for nail trims. They had some really cute toys and I bought an anteater that grunts and has a rattle. Normally, I'd buy all 3 a toy, but these were kind of spendy and since they all end up wanting to play with the same toy I figured why bother? It came in handy too, since Bizzy squirmed under the bed and wasn't coming out, at least until he heard the unfamilar new toy.

A year ago, 8-8-05
I'm watching the end of the Miss Teen USA pagent while waiting for the news. What a crock of shit! I've never seen such blinding white teeth in my life. It's like Ross in that Friends episode where he overwhitens his teeth and they glow in the dark. Gah!

I fell asleep after Sunny went to work. I woke up to a call from my SIL around 10. She was greeted by my screaming at Booboo to get the fuck off my foot. Hopefully a 60lb dog excitedly jumping on my unbooted foot didn't do any damage. It's so much fun to dish with her. I was bitching about Sunny being housework challenged and she said my BIL is the same. She'd also discussed this same topic in a dish session with her girlfriends and all their husbands are the same. A sad statement for manhood.

I think I overdid it today, even thought I didn't seem to accomplish much. Some laundry, a bit of cleaning, made instant pudding for dessert, but my knee aches.

I was hoping to do a bunch of stuff on the computer during my house arrest, but I just can't get comfortable sitting at the tube. Bummer.

Peter Jennings died today. They were showing old footage from him and I must say a young Peter Jennings looks an awful lot like Fox's Shepard Smith. The shuttle got waved off for landing. Maybe tomorrow.

Another Exciting Day at Casa Palamity

2006-08-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

I was so tired this morning. I kept hitting the snooze button and finally forced myself to get up as I had to get the garbage out to the street. After the garbage wrangling was done, I hopped in the Denali and went to gas it up. Sunny had it just about on E and I knew gas would probably go up this week since that pipeline got shut down in Alaska. It cost $73 to fill the tank. Yikes!!! Burger King beckoned with a breakfast I didn't have to make, then it was back home where I almost ran into the neighbor kid as he was zooming out. Fortunately, we both stopped in time and I went on through since he was still on their part of the driveway. The doggies got their own breakfast and a rawhide chip. We played for a while, then I put Bizzy in his crate and got into my gardening gear.

More weed spraying was on the menu today after I policed the area for dog mines. The weedier weeds are definitely dying. I must have had a clog in the sprayer when I was spraying the "dead" area since only half of those weeds were dying. This was a sodded area I had put in in 2002 that didn't survive the drought last year. Since it's all weeds, I sprayed the hell out of it today not really caring if I was overdoing it. I'll mow it in a couple of days and whatever is living after that will get Round Up. Then I sprayed a crabgrass killer on most of the crabgrass. I hope it works because there is a lot of crabgrass. I also found a bottle of oxalis/chickweed killer, but will save that fun for another day. Then I sprayed some Round Up in the planting beds. Thistles are tough to kill. And this nut grass stuff has taken several hits of Round Up and is still going strong. The roses got their monthly fertilizer/insecticide/disease protection today. They are really coming back after being eaten alive. And they look tons better since I pruned out the majority of the dead stuff. I watered the pots and put out deer corn and called it a day. I was soaking with sweat again and the shower felt great.

Bizzy's final puppy class was supposed to be tonite, but there was a message from Petsmart saying it was canceled and to come next Monday. Fine by me. I let the dogs out and we played for a while. Bizzy is just full of mischief, getting hold of a tennis shoe and a sweatshirt at some point. And he managed to turn on a burner on the stove. Fortunately I was right there to turn it off and didn't have any Tupperware drying on the grates like I usually do. See what I mean about having an eagle eye?

We were supposed to have sandwiches for dinner since I was going to class, but that didn't really excite me. I talked Sunny into Boston's because I've had a hankering for the BBQ chicken pizza. I've been trying to distract myself from it since it's really bad for the diet and it has wheat, but I finally decided to give in to the craving. Once that itch is scratched, I can resume my regularly scheduled diet.

Speaking of, I gained 1.5 pounds this week. Not bad considering the mess my TOM made of me with the cravings and the no exercise due to a very irritable uterus. Day 5 and I'm still cramping. Fucker. Hopefully I can get a workout in on the NT tomorrow. I have a lot of cleaning to do too. The kitchen is trashed and I need to swipe at the bathrooms and maybe steam the floors. The blind guy is supposed to come out with the repaired shade for the guest room and hopefully fix the mess he made of the master bedroom shade and the hall bath wood blind. I think he cut the cords off too short though, so I'm guessing he'll have to take them back to be restrung. Sigh.

Well, that's all the excitement here at Casa Palamity. Oh, the BIL is going to be OK. He has a right branch blockage. If it was the left branch, that would have been bad, but it's the right one so that's OK.

A year ago: 8-7-05
Slept in the chair again, then went to bed in the wee hours. Doggie barking woke me up at 7 or so. Sunny was outside watering and Booboo didn't like it. He just wants to be wherever Sunny is. I got up and used the john, then grabbed a banana & soda. Sunny decided to take the dogs with him to breakfast, so I had some peace and quiet. I figured mom was up, so I called her before they went to church. She was going to call last night, but they helped Brenda move and got home late. End of an era there, it's kind of sad.

Sunny came home and gave me the paper while he went outside to work on the weeds. He pooped out before hauling the piles away. Welcome to my world. I spent the day watching TV and napping. Incision is itching and the ankle aches plus there is a tightness along the ball of my foot. I can feel the tightness/burning as I gently flex and extend my foot. I'm going to start reducing the pain meds. I'll have to check with the doc to see if Oxycododone and Advil are compatible. Love my Advil.

I did laundry, made the bed and cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. Not too shabby for a gimp. I think the shuttle is coming home tonight. Godspeed guys, Godspeed. And the Russian submariners are rescued by the Brits. Good day all around.

Disappear

2006-08-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the absence. On Thursday I worked in the yard. There was poo patroling and mowing and raking and hauling and the pruning of rose bushes. By the time I finished, Sunny was getting home from work. After we ate I crashed on the couch and ended up falling asleep there. On Friday I did some light yard work, then managed to get Bizzy an appt. at the vet. That was exhausting. He pulled at the leash and barked at everything. When we finally got into an exam room, it was something like 25 minutes before the vet showed up. He was bored and tried to get into everything, not that there is much to get into in an exam room. He pawed and scratched at the doors wanting to get out. I finally gave up trying to stop him. Maybe next time they'll hurry up. He had 4 injections, one of which made him bleed all over the room. I've never seen that from a vaccination. He went crazy, spinning in circles and biting his rear and yelping. Nothing would comfort him. It took at least 5 minutes for him to calm down enough so that I could leave. Then the girl checking me out was so freaking slow I just wanted to scream. Can't you see I have a puppy losing his mind? He was trying to paw at a doberman with a nasty incision down his side. I was so stressed after that. I took Bizzy home and played with the dogs for about 45 minutes, then I drove into Green Bay to check the mail drop and run a few errands. I had planned to get groceries, but after I finished with the errands I was so tired I just went home and crashed again.

Saturday I did another poo patrol so Sunny could mow and picked up sticks. Only Sunny had left the key on and the battery was dead. He pushed it over to the garage and hooked up the charger. He finished picking up sticks and announced he was going to hook the downspout up to the drain line. I had started this project a couple of years ago and buried the drain line, but didn't have the part to connect it to the downspout. By the time I procured one, something else came up and I never got around to it. I had left enough line sticking out of the ground so that the curved part at the end of the downspout could be removed and everything would be in a straight line right into the ground. What does Dumbass do? He cuts the line and pulled it out of the ground and hooked it into the curved part so that now it looks like shit. And no way to fix it unless I dig the whole damn thing up again. I had told him to run water through it to make sure it wasn't blocked anywhere. He went into the house while I finished up and watered the pots. I noticed he hadn't run any water so I unhooked it and jammed the hose into the line. No water, no water, no water, then boom. 900 acorns come shooting out the end. Apparently the chipmunks have been going in there to dine on acorns, the little bastards. The man does not listen to me.

We got cleaned up and went into town. He wanted to go to Gander Mountain to look for boat crap and we needed to pick up some rawhides at Petco. We also decided to look for ceiling fans for the office and guest room. Sunny wants me to get the electrician out to replace the outside outlet on the deck since it has a crack. I suggested we get the ceiling fans so that the electrician could do those at the same time and he wouldn't have to hang them himself. We looked at Fleet Farm first, but those were pretty basic. Then we went to Menards where the selection was better. I just have to find a downrod since Menards was apparently out of them in the color we need. We ended up at the Chinese buffet where I ate way too much. Monday's weigh in is going to suck. Between the TOM bloat and out of control eating it causes, plus the craving for salty foods, I'm probably going to see a substantial gain. When we got home, I crashed on the couch again.

Today I did a lot of laundry and some other housework. I didn't have to water because we got a decent shower early in the morning. Sunny took Bizzy with him to look at more boat crap so I had some puppy-free time to get stuff done. When Sunny got home he wanted to just crash, but I reminded him the yard needed mowing. He tried to tell me he would come home from work early and mow but I reminded him that hasn't worked out very well the past two weeks and the back yard needs a serious shearing. It hasn't been mowed for a month, except for the weedy patches I've been knocking down with the push mower. He grumbled a lot but went out and did it. I vacuumed and swabbed around a bit in the master bath. It really needs a good cleaning but I settled for a lick and a promise today. I still haven't cleaned & disinfected my makeup brushes, but today I sprayed all my clean spares with colloidal silver and layed them out to dry. I threw away my eye creams and contact solutions. Tomorrow I must clean and soak my new contact lenses so I can wear them to puppy class tomorrow night. It's picture night and I refuse to be photographed in glasses, even my cute Ralph Lauren frames.

My in-laws just called to tell me that my BIL had been taken to the hospital with a heart problem. He has to stay overnight and they'll run some more tests in the morning., It wasn't a heart attack, but something to do with electrical impulses not getting to where they are supposed to go. I hope that it is something easily fixable. He's only in his mid-thirties. And my SIL has had to have her torn Achilles tendon casted and isn't supposed to be walking much, not something that someone with 2 toddlers and a husband in the hospital can easily do. It's always something.

A year agoish: 8-3-05
Today was all same-o, same-o. I had breakfast in bed, watched TV & DVD's and napped. I finally got out of bed at 2, dressed, made lunch (Lean Cuisine Pizza) and did a few chores. I even surfed the net for a bit, although I can't sit at the computer for too long.

I'm not feeling so hot. My stomach has been upset most of the day. By late afternoon I had a headache and took a couple of Tylenol. Then I felt dizzy. Not sure if I can attribute that to meds, wearing contacts for the first time in a week or being dehydrated. At any rate my headache is gone now and I'm not dizzy. Stomach is still out of whack.

I finally finished balancing the checkbook. And the bills are rolling in from surgery. I couldn't concentrate on the medical stuff so I'll have to look through it tomorrow.

Sunny made dinner and we had ice cream for dessert. We watched another episode of Northern Exposure and last night's Queer Eye. I dozed off and on, so I'll have to rewatch them. Sunny went to bed and I watched Rescue Me and RS: INXS. I had totally picked Tara & Ty for elimination, but not Brandon. Jessica or JD should have been up there instead. I hated JD's version of The Letter. Yuk. Buh-bye Tara.

8-4-05
I had stange dreams between 5 & 7. I only had Sunny bring me a protein bar and soda for breakfast. I was too lazy to change the DVD, so I watched a couple of episodes of S&TC with the writers commentary turned on. It was pretty interesting! I got up and made my first post-surgery bagel. Mmmm. I love a toasted bagel. I watched the S&TC extras DVD which was kind of lame. Not a lot of deleted scenes, no bloopers, disappointing.

After that, I got up, tossed in a load of laundry, gave myself a baby wipe bath and got dressed, including contacts. I nuked a new variety of frozen dinner, chicken in peanut sauce, and it was mighty tasty. Then I watched Summer School on HBO. Love Mark Harmon. The phone rang off the hook, mom, dr's office, dr's office again and I got a delivery in the morning of a box of chocolates from the G family. Ghiradelli too. I had some chocolate while I surfed the net looking for a b-day gift I can send to my SIL for her 40th bday.

Sunny went out for beers after work, so I bummed around a bit, then called T. We talked for quite a while about life after surgery. I only rang off after Sunny showed up with dinner. After dinner I wanted to see how bad it was to unload/load the dishwasher. Totally doable. Go me.

8-5-05
Today was a long exhausting day. The stitches weren't too bad coming out. Like little pinches. One had scabbed over and she really had to dig at that one, so that hurt a little bit more, but I survived. She put these steri-strips over the incision to help support it, but I think I'm allergic to them. The itching started on the long trek home. By the time we got home, I was totally exhausted, nauseated and in pain. I collapsed in bed, took an oxycodone and sacked out for a while. Sunny woke me up for my dinner choice. I sent him to the grocery store deli and sacked out again. Five minutes later he was back (Note - it takes 30 minutes to get there anc back, not including shopping.) with fried shrimp, french fries and rye bread. I ate the bread, shrimp and a couple fries while I was watching Apollo 13. Love that movie.

Sunny came in at 8. He is exhausted too. Problems at work kept him up all night and he did all the driving today. (Which took even longer because of construction and a nasty accident that closed 41 for nearly 4 hours, plus the weekend traffic going up north. I thought we were going to never get home.) I vacated the bed to the LaZboy and watched Tivo'd shows. The itching finally drove me crazy and I tore the strips off. Large sheets of skin came off with them, kind of like a peeling sunburn. But the itching is gone! Yay!

8-6-05
I slept on the chair until about 4:30 when Sunny woke up. I probably fell asleep around 1:30. I was picking at my foot until then. I peeled off more bits of dead skin. I wonder why the top layer of skin died on either side of the incision? And why is peeling it off so satisfying? Sunny woke me up at 7:30 saying he was going to go to work, then shopping. I checked his list and he was off. I got up and rummaged in the first aid kit. I found some wound cleaning foam and some large healing pads. I picked off a few more dead patches, cleaned the wound, sprayed it with collodial silver, let it dry and used 2 healing patches to cover the incision and the raw, peeled skin. I wrapped the whole thing with the Ace bandage the PA put on it. The patches are waterproof, so I can dispense with the garbage bag/Press N Seal when I shower, although the PA said I could let water run over the incision, just not complete immersion.

I took a pain pill, then went back to sleep when Sunny called me to say he was on his way. He brought me a salad from Arby's. I watched TV and did some laundry. I surfed the net too. Sunny made dinner and retired early. I surfed the net some more, then watched more TV, occasionally itching my incision through the healing pad. The worst itching is directly along the incision. The pad is hypoallergenic, so I don't think I'm allergic to it. There is a deep ache inside my ankle. Joy.

Not So Hot

2006-08-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Boy did it storm last night. Torrential rains and a great light show. The phone woke me up. Apparently I have a $27 bill laying about for the hospital and they'd like their money. Had I been awake, I would have put in on my visa card. The woman was very apologetic about waking me and I said I find the bill and get a check off to them.

Bizzy has been in a rare mood all day. Apparently he doesn't need as much sleep anymore, so he wants to be out of the crate. Trouble is, he is BIG trouble if I don't keep an eagle eye on him. Case in point, he comes running out of the bedroom with a pair of Sunny's Dockers in tow. I got them away from him and distracted him with a toy, but as I was walking away, he ran up behind me and clamped onto a leg. Tore the crap out of them with his sharp teeth. Maybe that will be a lesson to Sunny to hang his clothes up instead of leaving them draped over the bathtub. I still feel bad though. I must have left the bedroom door open. I'm getting a little tired of having to shut all the rooms off though. And I have to put the toilet seat down because he likes to drink out of the toilet. Ick! Neither Booboo or Bonbon ever drank out of the toilet. And I haven't hung up a roll of toilet paper since his arrival. He loves TP. If I don't stick it as far as possible on the back of the vanity, he'll knock it on the floor and then game on! Today I just don't have the energy for him.

I have a non-pink eye conjunctivitis in both eyes. I went to the quick care at Shopko and the PA there thinks that's what it is anyhow. I've had goo in the corners of my eyes for a while now. I thought it was the eye cream I was using, but it's getting worse and I quit using it a while ago. It could be the mineral eye makeup I'm using is getting in my eyes and irritating them. I hope that isn't it. I love the makeup and have a lot of it. It really got worse when I was working outside and sweating and I'd wipe my face on my sleeves. I could have rubbed all manner of bad shit into my eyes that way. I have to take these antibiotic drops for the next ten days and not wear my contacts. I had started putting Sovereign Silver drops in my eyes a couple of days ago and I honestly think they helped more than the antibiotic. If that's the case, I probably have a fungal related problem since silver is such a broad spectrum antibiotic. At any rate, if after 10 days things aren't better, I'll have to go to a doctor for a follow up. The silver had pretty much cleared up the goo, but they still sting and my vision is blurry. That may just be a function of time.

Now I have to clean and disinfect all my makeup brushes. I'm not sure about the eye makeup. Dry minerals aren't likely to support the baddies, but you never know. I just don't know when this started and which colors I've been using. I've probably used 12-15 in the last couple of months, but that is still $150-200 worth of makeup.

I managed to get a workout in today. I'm not feeling too hot though, low energy and expecting TOM any minute. My eyes are very puffy, not sure if it's the infection or water retention. Bleh. At least it was a lot cooler today, in the low 70's. That's the kind of weather I like.

A year ago: 8-2-05
I was a slug most of the day. I watched S&TC Season 6, Part 1. Only 1 more DVD to go. I shall have to savor the final few episodes. I napped for a bit and had strange dreams. I finally got up and put in a load of laundry and did a few chores. Letting the dogs out is so exhausting. It's such a long trip.

I watched a bit of TV and started balancing the checkbook. Sunny showed up in a bad mood bearing lots of mail and my new wheels. He said he'd open the box after dinner. He brought in some bags of goodies from Shopko. I got some pop and the first season of Northern Exposure. Sunny made dinner, chicken patties, green beans and chips, and we watched the first episode of Northern Exposure. Man that was such a good show. I'm glad they put shows on DVD now.

After NE, Sunny unboxed my scooter and set it up. I read the directions and tried it out by going to the bathroom. It works great! I can move about so much easier and with less effort. And I can stand easier and do tasks easier. I got more done in a half hour than I did all day. I'm so happy - although now I lost my excuse for laying around. Oh, well. 6 more weeks to go. I'm going to able to accomplish all the things I'm hoping to do while I'm house bound.

More Hot

2006-08-01T10:43:00.000-05:00

I watched The War of the Worlds on HBO. I had never seen the original or read the book, but I thought it was pretty good. I know it's Hollywood, but the lack of survival instinct portrayed in the film was amazing. (Spoilers ahead!) I can understand going to see where the lightening struck, but when the ground starts heaving and breaking up, best to run. When the ground spins in a circle and sinks, best to run. When a car gets spit up out of the ground, best to run. When a big thing smashes the car you are hiding behind, best to run. When a giant thing stands up, best to run. (Which they finally did, but then they stopped.) When the giant thing emits some weird bellow, best to run. When you hear some kind of engine ramping up, best to haul ass then and there. When buildings are shattering to dust behind you, keep on running, don't stop to look. And when someone you know tells you to get in the car or you'll die, humor them. What have you got to lose but a little time? Besides those annoying things, I thought it was pretty good and Dakota Fanning out acted all of them.

I haven't talked too much about my fitness plans. I'm still kind of formulating them. (Pacing myself, hee!) I know from previous weight loss attempts, 1800 calories a day is about right for a 2lb a week loss. I'm thinking of a combination of Body for Life/South Beach/Perricone-type eating. As for fitness, I'll do BFL, mostly because I like doing it and anything you like you should do. And maybe I'll go back to the gentle yoga class I was taking. It just eats up so much of my day. I have some yoga dvd's, maybe I should try them. We just have to replace the TV in the spare bedroom. The 36" one finally died and we have the old 26" from the master bedroom to take it's place, but I have to figure out where to dispose of the 36" one. The spare bedroom is the only place with enough room for yoga. (That's where the NT is set up.) I also bought the Firm Transfirmer on a recommendation which I haven't used yet because of the whole TV situation. And I picked up a Winsor Pilates thing at a clearance sale for a song. I just need somewhere to use them. I also heard really good things about Turbo Jam, but I'll hold off until I try the stuff I already have.

This week I'll have to investigate the new Bowflex Sunny got me for Christmas. I'm not sure if he got it all put together or not. I'll have to watch the DVD and work up a BFL-style weight routine for it. The problem is the Bowflex is in the basement, which is a total pit right now. I've been reading a decluttering book by Don Aslett (love him) and it's inspiring me to start decluttering again. I used his books back in the late 90's and was able to pare down a lot. The problem is, I didn't keep up with it and more just showed up. He's drawing some parallels between having excess stuff and having excess fat. I think there is something to his theories. I've been shopping more when I really don't need things. (And I don't shop a lot, I shudder to think what my house would look like if I did!) I come by my packrattedness honestly though, Dad certainly passed that gene on to me. The house doesn't look too bad. I don't like a lot of things out. And it certainly is way more bare since getting Bizzy. Puppies like to knock over/eat/destroy anything within their reach. I'm a cave clutterer though. Behind the closet doors and in all the drawers is a plethora of stuff. Plus that basement I keep mentioning. I'm going to work on paring down my possesions while I pare down my poundage.

One year ago: 7-29-05

I was a slug most of the day. I woke up with Sunny and started watching Sex and the City Season 3. I set the alarm for 9:30 so I wouldn't sleep through my shot. It was the last one - Yay! Now I'm supposed to take a low dose of aspirin. I'm also going to wean myself off the Oxycodone. I was reading about Oxycodone and I've been taking it too long to just quit cold turkey. I have to do it gradually.

I stayed in bed most of the day, only leaving for trips to the toilet and to the fridge for lunch and sodas. I finally got up about 3 and got cleaned up and dressed. I smacked the crap out of my right kneecap manuvering around in front of the sink. It hurts like hell now.

I picked up the bath and bedroom. It looks a little better, but the cost is too high to do it again. I sweat like crazy hopping all over the room and I fell down. Thank God I didn't hurt myself or it could have been a disaster. I overbalanced, put my right foot down (ow!), shifted to my left and just rolled over on my left side. Nothing hurts, which is surprising. I hope I didn't injure the bone graft.

Sunny brought home Taco Bell and the dogs. They were so full of energy. Now they're zonked out. Tomorrow I'm doing my best imitation of a sloth, at least until my wheels arrive.

7-30-05
Today was a big ole nothing day. I slept until the painkillers wore off at about 6. I watched S&TC and HGTV. Lunch was wonton soup and an egg roll. Then more TV watching. I finally got dressed around 5:30. and hopped out for dinner. Sunny grilled some burgers, heated up some beans and opened a bag of potato chips. I chose lemon italian ice for dessert.

We watched the Tivo of Battlestar Galactica and then Sunny went off to watch his race while I watched the Tivo'd Rock Star: INXS's I've saved. So far I have no opinion.

Tomorrow is going to be more of the same. I weaned myself to 1 pill every 5-6 hours and 2 at night, 1 low dose aspirin and Benadryl for the itching. Seems better today.

7-31-05
Today was not good. Sunny's attitude whenever I ask for something finally got to me. I blew up, shouting and crying and venting most of my frustration directly at him. He tried to defend himself, but I wasn't having any of it. I'm tired of having to point out every little thing that has to get done around the house. Sunny's all "all you have to do is ask" and I'm all "I shouldn't have to point out every little thing, esp. when I get this attitude that it's such an effort to do things." And then it generally went downhill from there. He always has time for his crap, but shit like mowing the 3 foot high weeds in the yard - can't be bothered. Sick of all of it.

I should have had my Roll-A-Bout sent here instead of the PMB. Who know when I'll get it since he can't be bothered to stop at a store 3 blocks from his office. I give up. I'm trying, he's trying, but we aren't rowing in the same direction.

Why does it have to be so hard?

8-1-05
I was a slug today. I watched season 5 of S&TC and started on season 6. I stopped taking the Benadryl and the itching has nearly subsided. I must have been reacting to the Lovenox. I napped for a while, watched TV for a while, let the dogs out a couple of times and finally got dressed about 5. Mom called to check in. Nothing new going on back home. Sunny got home late from the golf thing. He got a great goody bag. I'm going to snag a couple of things for myself. He brought me a salad from Wendy's . Mmmm. Although I'm hungry now. I guess my lunch of oatmeal raisin cookies didn't give me much nutrition.

We lost power for about 15 minutes. I let the dogs out, then called the neighbor to see if they were out too. We yakked for nearly an hour. She's so nice.

T called apologizing for disappearing on me. She had an emergency appendectomy!!! Silly girl, no apologies needed. I'm just glad she's ok. I made her laugh by telling her the upside of an appendectomy is that she can now live in Antartica. How weird that we'd each have surgery within 2 weeks of the other. We do indeed have a bizarre psychic connection.

I finally watched all the RS: INXS's I had Tivo'd. I think JD is a cocky ass and his voice is kind of eh. Jordis, Ty, Brandon and Marty all have good voices. It will be interesting.

Hot, Hot, Hot

2006-07-31T09:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't feel like blogging this weekend. I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Saturday morning Sunny proposed going up north. It sounded interesting for about 20 seconds, then thoughts of house and yardwork interrupted. He wanted to look for duck hunting areas and take Bizzy to the boat ramp on one of the lakes to introduce him to big water. I told him he could take Bizzy and be gone for as long as he wanted. I would stay and spray the weeds in the backyard and do some housework. Deal. He was gone so fast it was like a cartoon exit.

I surfed the net for a while, fiddled with printing some pictures, then slathered on the sunblock and protective gear and headed outside to pick up dog crap and spray the weeds. I was drained by the time I got finished some two hours later. My clothing was soaked, my hair drenched, I was exhausted. I rehydrated, showered, ate a bit and felt almost human again. Then I picked up the house, did a bit of laundry, dusted and vacuumed. Sunny got home just as I finished up. We had grilled porkchops and sweet corn.

Sunday was a blur of laundry and laying about. It has rained like crazy this week, some 4 inches of badly needed moisture. The weedy weeds are starting to wilt, but the grassy weeds look like nothing has happened. I'm sure they'll be hard to kill.

Today was garbage day so I was up early gathering everything together and trekking it out to the road. I also brought up a lot of cardboard and metal scraps from the basement to haul over to the dump this afternoon. At 9am it was already nearly 80 with about 75% humidity. Once again I was soaked with sweat. I fed the dogs and entertained the puppy until 10:30 or so, then I put on workout clothes and dragged out the Nordictrack. I did not want to exercise, but talked myself into it. I had to dust off the NT, it needs a good cleaning and the skis need waxing but I settled for just getting the dust off. I did 20 minutes of interval training ala Body for Life. I ran out of water because I only had half a bottle in the fridge and I forgot I needed a towel because I sweat like a pig, but I survived the workout. You could almost hear the rust in my joints. Then I stretched a bit and got cleaned up.

I worked at cleaning off the kitchen table because Bizzy is determined to get up there and pull stuff off. I played with the doggies and cleaned a bit, then headed to the dump and the Pig for dinner fixings. Just sandwiches and cold salads, it's too hot for anything else. Then I got ready to go to puppy class. I hate puppy class. Bizzy barks the whole time and strains at the leash because all he wants to do is be with the other dogs. It's so stressful. Only one more, Thank Ya Jesus!

I'm too tired to transcribe my journal from last year. Tomorrow.

Oh, the good news:

Go Me!

Too Hot to Kill Weeds

2006-07-28T22:17:00.000-05:00

The weeds in the yard are getting on my nerves. Bizzy and Bonnie keep eating the crabgrass. I am so not fond of dogs yakking up grassy chunks. The lawn is in such a sorry state. The grass is dying, but the weeds are doing fabulous.

This all started last year. The landscapers hauled in a truckload of dirt to grade the new sidewalks and amend the planting beds. This dirt contained approximately 92 quintillion weed seeds. They dutifully spread grass seed, tossed a little of this pellet mulch on it it and yelled out the window of the truck as it roared out the driveway "Don't forget to water!!!" I did the best I could hobbling about on my sore ankle. So what do you think germinated first and best? (Hint - not the grass.) Also compounding the problem is that 14,000 years ago when the glacier receded, it dropped a huge deposit of sand in this area. (Diamonds too, but I've yet to find one.) Sand is great for beaches, (and apparently raspberry bushes) not so good for lawns. Last summer was also extremely dry and with me out of commssion, the lawn did not get watered very much. It was all Sunny could do to keep the tres expensive, newly installed landscaping watered. So come the fall, the badly stressed and thinning lawn should have been lavished with attention and grass seed. That didn't happen. I was trying to make it through physical therapy and finish staining the back of the house and Sunny went duck hunting. Only my constant nagging finally got him to suck up the leaves with the lawn vac so what was left of the grass wouldn't get smothered.

Cut to this spring - a few halfhearted attempts were made to seed the deadest, barest patches. I heard about some fabulous new grass seed Scotts developed just for yards like ours, sunny and dry. Only problem was finding this seed. After calling the Scotts helpline and being on hold forever, the helpful rep located a place in Wausau that carried it. Great! Road trip! Of course, I called first and reserved the only 4 bags in the STATE of Wisconsin. A pleasant, if boring, trip out and back and I had some of this rare grass seed that would solve all our problems. I left the actual execution of Operation Grass Seed to Sunny. Like I said before, halfhearted. We got some of this seed to sprout and it appears to be doing ok. The problem is the rest of the lawn. (I did mention that the back yard alone is something like an acre.) I think it has a problem with sod webworms not to mention the weeds and other grasses that apparently thrive in sandy soil.

Now anyone who has even slightly investigated lawn growing knows that spring is not the best time to try to grow grass, too much competition from weeds. Fall is optimal. I picked up a couple of larger bags while in the Chicago area visiting relatives and have since discovered that the Walmart on Scheuring Road is now stocking this seed, much to Scotts' surprise. Plus you can order it from your favorite retailer, but that doesn't help if it's Thursday and you need it by the weekend as was the case with the Wausau trip. So, with grass seed secured, it's now time to start prepping the lawn for some fall overseeding. That means weed killing. If I do a round now, and a round in 3 weeks, by mid-September it should be safe for the little grass seeds to do their thing.

The only problem, all the weedkillers I've checked shouldn't be used above 90 degrees. Not wanting to harm what little grass we have left, I'm not willing to risk ignoring this warning. So my plans today to spray the weeds went by the wayside. We'll try again tomorrow morning when it's cool out since this heatwave is supposed to last until at least Tuesday. Or I'll wait until next weekend. The only problem is the weeds are getting out of control and I must kill them soon before they start going to seed.

So, since I couldn't kill lawn weeds, I used some Roundup on planting bed weeds. I was going to hand weed, but it got too hot-90 something with 50% humidity. I also raked the driveway down to lower gravel drive to get all the sticks and leaves and other debris off it. After watering the pots, I called it a day. Sweat-soaked again.

My dad has a pretty good lawn. He probably has about 5 acres of grass. Typical of farm lawns, there are some weeds. (Actually a lawn needs some weeds to be healthy. It's just a good idea to keep the noxious ones in check.) Dad's lawn is the poster child for organic growing. He has NEVER dumped a single fertilizer, weed killer or insect killer on his lawn. The grass managed to survive the serious drought last year without a bit of extra water. I guess it helps that all the good topsoil is still there since back when the farm was established they just dug a hole for the foundation and didn't strip mine the topsoil like today's developers do. The grass clippings stay on the lawn and the fall leaves get crunched up with the lawnmower. He doesn't have as many trees as we do though. No way can we crunch up the leaves enough to leave on the lawn. He occasionally throws some seed on areas that get damaged by snowplowing or rutted by farm equipment, but I think the lawn is the orignal one planted back when the farm was brandy-spanking new. I wish I had dad's lawn. Instead I'm married to a guy who's motto is "Better living thtough chemicals." C'est la vie.

A year ago: 7-28-05
The first of many monotonous days. I was zonked most of the day because of the Benadryl I took for itching. I watched Sex and the City and dozed. I wandered out to the great room to eat some leftover cold spaghetti for lunch. I called and ordered my Roll-A-Bout. It will be here Tuesday. I can't wait. I hope this will do for me what the PA says, relieve the strain on my hands and on my good foot.

I watched more TV. Ray came home and made sandwiches for dinner. I rounded dinner out with lemon meranque pie then went to bed and itched.

Boring no?

Puppy Class

2006-07-27T22:50:00.000-05:00

Another hot day in Green Bay. Bizzy got me up at 8:30, I'm surprised he let me sleep so long. I fed the dogs and watched some TV while I played with them. I finally put Bizzy back in his crate and slathered on the sunscreen and work clothes so I could go outside and pick up dog crap. Why is it that we have an acre of fenced in yard and the lazy shits do their business close to the house? Any time you sit on the patio and it's humid, it smells like dog pee. And if I don't keep the crap picked up, it smells of dog crap too. Uck.

After I finished that chore, I hauled the bags of mulch Sunny brought home last night around to the mess he made trying to put up the lattice. I hauled away at least 2 large pails of sandy dirt from on top of the mulch and I tried to straighten out the lattice. It bows in at the bottom and looks like crap. I sort of succeeded, but decided the lattice looks so shitty that it will all have to be redone, so I filled the trench back in and dumped the mulch on top of the exposed dirt. I checked the garage gutters. The back one was squeaky clean. The front one had a bit of debris around The Wedge(TM), but was completely dry. I cleaned it out and will have to check that thing after every storm I guess.

I called it quits and went inside to strip off my completely sweat-soaked clothing and clean up. I had to leave in less than an hour for a make up puppy training class. My normal night is Monday, but I (and a bunch of others) missed class because of the storm. Bizzy was the only one in class, so he had lots of attention and treats. The trainer just loves him to death and spent quite a bit of time wrestling with him on the floor. She thinks we ought to breed him. I guess Wirehairs aren't real plentiful in this area. After class, I went to get food for the 2 older dogs, but they were out of the small bags so I trekked over to the kennel to pick some up. It was out of the way, but I only needed one more stamp and my next bag there is free. Plus, I could go by Starbucks for a Green Tea Frappacino. (It's ok, I didn't have lunch.) I drove over the cheese bridge (made famous by this video footage) and could see some of the tall ships heading into port for the festival. It begins tonight. We're hoping to go this weekend, but it's supposed to be in the 90's and neither one of us is a big fan of the heat. Then I stopped and bought some of that wonderful sweet corn for dinner.

Only Sunny went out drinking with his boss. He said he'd stop and pick something up, so I said I wanted KFC. He got home about 8:30 and the order was totally fucked up. His hush puppies were missing, as were the baked beans. And my extra crispy that they made him pull out of the drive through and wait for - it was regular. I was pissy, I guess homeboy never saw Lethal Weapon 2 - "They FUCK YOU at the drive-thru, okay? They FUCK YOU at the drive-thru! They know you're gonna be miles away before you find out you got fucked! They know you're not gonna turn around and go back, they don't care. So who gets fucked? Ol' Leo Getz!" Maybe next time he'll check the order before he drives off. He's going to go back and bitch at them tomorrow because that really was a major fuck up.

His mom called on his cellphone just as we were about to eat. I chewed his ass out after he hung up because that meant he called his mom to chat while driving home. I bitch at him all the time about using the cellphone while he's driving. A work emergency is one thing, but to fucking chat with his mom is bullshit. It was dark out and there are kamikaze deer everywhere out here. He claims he's a fine driver while talking on the cellphone, but that is total BS. He practically drives off the road digging his pager out. And his attention while on the cellphone? Let's just say that he drove right by a badly needed gas station while engrossed in a conversation while I was in the car with him. No wonder the asshole always goes over his minutes. That's more than 20 minutes a day, mostly frigging BS because he ain't talking to me. I am short and sweet and to the point when he calls in on the cellphone.

A year ago: 7-27-05
I got up early to shower, dress and gather up everything for my drs appt. By the time I hopped out to the truck, I was dripping with sweat, ugh. The 2.5 hour ride was uneventful. We stopped at Mickeyd's for a bite and so I could shoot up with blood thinner. Only 2 more days of that, yay! It was comfy riding in the back seat of the Denali with a pillow under my foot and another behind my back.

We decided to valet park at the clinic ($3, no tipping allowed! A bargain!) but Sunny picked the lemon of all wheelchairs. Next time he'd better do a better job. We zoomed up to x-ray, which was packed. I was parked in the hallway. I finally got called into X-ray 2 where the techs decided to find out if the cast should go. It should, so I was lauled off to the casting room where they cut it off. X-rays snapped, I went back to the waiting room where I scratched the newly exposed skin for 45 minutes.

At last, I got called to see Heather the PA. We cleaned up my leg with baby wipes, washcloths and alcohol wipes. Much better! Everything is healing well, but the stitches can't come out until the 5th. :( The incision was dressed and I got a new boot cast. I can take it off anytime!!!!

We ran errands and got home just after 4. My neighbor Pat came over with a lemon merangue pie. I heart her!!! She's the best! I'm itching like crazy. The PA says I'm allergic to something and to take Benadryl. It really zonks me out. I crashed watching Sex and the City - Season 2.

Greetings from the Toilet Paper Capital of the World

2006-07-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

I realize that TV networks have a responsibility to warn people bad weather is about to fuck them up, but the Green Bay networks take it to new heights. I had Tivo'd Rock Star Supernova last night and started watching it while I was changing the sheets and sorting laundry this morning. A minute into the show, the weather geek breaks in with storm warnings and continues for 27 fucking minutes. And then when the program comes back they take up 1/4 of the screen with diagrams and scrolls and crawls. Come on!!! I know they now have all kinds of cool shit like doppler radar and VIPIR and Tornado Tracker, but people who aren't experiencing the storm could GIVE A SHIT!!!! Green Bay stations must have the largest viewing area on the planet because they are always doing this and the majority of the time we don't even see a raindrop. One night this went on for 1 hour and 20 minutes and caused us to miss the very last episode ever of Rodney. Bastards! And we've yet to see an episode of Treasure Hunters without the 1/4 screen crap, which is really annoying since TH uses alot of captions and other information that the crawl covers. Yes, I want to know if a tornado is bearing down on Casa Palamity, politely break into the show, tell me, and put up a warning that consumes the smallest amount of TV screen real estate possible. People who are about to be nailed by a tornado do NOT need to be sitting there watching VIPIR, (if they even have power) their asses should be in the basement under the workbench listening to a radio and clutching their loved ones close. Meanwhile my butt can be sitting on my couch watching Toby Rand sing "White Wedding", thankyouverymuch! I missed the first 6 performances, but thankfully was spared Zayra's, so it wasn't all tragedy.

In other TV related doings, I was watching 10 Years Younger while I ate lunch the other day. They were giving this dude a makeover and he needed it. I missed the first part of the show, but the pollers guessed this guy was 56 or 58 (I forget) and he admitted he was 48. After they cleaned him up and stuck him back in the box, there were some dumbasses who said the guy looked 30 and 35. The average age they gave this guy was 40! Granted he looked tons better, but 40? Get real. He looked about 50. Sunny is 42 and looks 10 years younger than this guy, at least. Hate some reality TV, HATE!

Did you know GB is the TP capital of the world? I didn't. I know a shitload (hee!) of TP is made here, but apparently we make just about all of it. Yet another reason to love Green Bay. Fear us if you want to wipe your ass!

A year ago: 7-26-05
I slept good. Woke up when Sunny was in the shower. He brought me my fruit and a soda. I spent the morning watching Sex and the City. The AC place called and wanted to come by early, so I quickly got dressed and put my contacts in for the first time in more than a week. The AC is fine and the visit was uneventful.

I spent the afternoon back in the bedroom watching more Sex and the City. Love that show. I hope laughter is the best medicin cause I overdosed on it today.

My right hand is really sore, the pain is radiating up my little and ring finger. And my left foot feels like it's starting to get tendonitis. If this keeps up, I won't be able to get around at all. I think I'll check into renting a wheelchair or scooter tomorrow.

I went through a bunch of mail and other stuff. I have to fill out some forms to get money from the health care savings account, only I don't have the right forms. It's always something. I felt like cleaning a bit, so I cleaned and disinfected the vanity and mirror, then picked up fuzz off the floor. Stupid dog toys.

I can't wait to get out of the house and get this cast removed. I hate it and my leg itches.

The Fifth One

2006-07-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

I took the day off from posting Sunday. I couldn't post Monday night as hellacious storms blew through the area and I shut down the electronics in case of a power surge or loss. We got nearly 2 inches of badly needed rain. The gutters on the garage were overflowing. I thought the gutter over the front porch was blocked too, but the rain was falling so hard and fast it was shooting right over the top of the gutter. Lots of lightning and thunder. We lost some minor branches and a bunch of little stuff. I'll be raking for a month.

Today I got out and cleaned the gutters. What a crappy chore! It was nearly 90 with high humidity. I was soaking wet in about 10 minutes. The garage gutters were blocked with oak leaves and sticks and baby acorns. The gutter wedge on the front gutter totally blocked the downspout. There was a good inch of water still in the gutter. I unhooked the downspout from the drain line and let the water just run out the downspout. Then I got the hose and rinsed the whole gutter. There was alot of shingle granules in the gutter. And there is some sort of slime that doesn't come out with a blast from the hose. I guess I'll have to get a scrub brush and scrub the whole gutter. I think when the roofers reattached the gutter, they didn't give it enough pitch so water tends to hang around and grow algae even when the gutters aren't blocked with crap. The back gutter wasn't too bad, but I had to rinse the entire length to get those darn granules out so they don't trap debris. I checked all the other gutters and they were clear and dry except for granules. I wonder how long it will be before the new shingles stop shedding so much? It's been 2 years. I'll have to rinse them out, but when the weather is cooler in the fall. The bad part about owning a large ranch is the amount of gutter to clean. We measured once and I think there was something like 200 feet of gutter. At least I can get to probably 80% with a 6 foot stepladder. There was probably a reason the original owner didn't put gutters on in the first place.

I think I'll call it an entry. I'm plain worn out and it's starting to thunder again. We're supposed to be in for a wild night weather-wise tonight.

A year ago: 7-23-05
First shower was an experience. Sunny had to help me in and out because that step is a doozy. (Take note for the remodel.) He was at a bad angle when I came out and I stubbed the hell out of my good big toe. The tall kitchen garbage bag coupled with the Press n Seal wrap worked perfectly. No water infiltration at all. T is a genius!

The Tour de France time trials are today. I'm watching them while Sunny is out running errands and picking up the dogs. Lance just finished (won!) and I'm so happy for him. What an inspiration!

I watched bad movies on the SciFi channel all day. What were some of these actors thinking? I suppose it paid the rent.

I should stop whining about my wounds. I see so many of out vets with injuries that are far worse and they have good attitudes and even want to go back to Iraq/Afghanistan. I just want this to heal, go through physical therapy in record time and get on with my life.

Tomorrow I must cut the toenails on my left foot. They're scraping on my sandal. I guess I'll have to get a pedicure for my right foot as soon as I'm able.

7-24-05
I just spent most of the day in bed. My hands are sore and my left foot is starting to get tendonitis so I decided to take it easy. Sunny went to pick up dinner and I finally wandered out to the kitchen/greatroom. Gawd what a mess! And he just doesn't get it. I have to ask him to do everything, which he does w/o complaint, but he never proactively does anything. AND, he's starting to get an attitude like it's such an effort to get me some water or an item I left in the other room. It IS a huge effort for me to get it. I just want to cry.

I watched several of those new property flipping shows today. They should be renamed "When Stupid People Renovate". God some of these people are so clueless. And they're making huge amounts of money! So I guess the only thing stupider that the flippers are the saps who buy the "renovated" properties. I hope all their friends and family members who see the property on TV give them lots of well deserved crap for being sucked in by a "pretty face".

I also caught a couple of episodes of "Sell This House" on A&E. The "buyers" on the secret cameras make such inane comments. No vision, no imagination and they focus on dumb shit like switchplate covers and paint colors and cabinet knobs. All stuff which a monkey with a screwdriver could fix.

7-25-05
The dogs went back to the kennel. I hope I can deal with them by myself by the weekend. I dozed most of the morning away. I finally got a call from the nurse regarding my appt. on Wed. I got her to push it to 11:15 - they keep forgetting we are coming from Green Bay. We have to be there at 10:15 for x-rays. I hope everything is healing ok. I keep undoing the upper part of the Ace bandage to itch the skin.

Sunny came home early so he could mow the weedy patches. He was greeted by a pile of boxes he left all over the laundry room. I had gone in there to hang up the load of clothes he washed for me. He warned me maybe one shoe might be in the way. Ha. There were 2 pairs of his enormous shoes, his suitcase, 3 large empty boxes and a decoy in the way. I was exhausted by the time I got the mess straightened up. I teased him about it when he came to flop on the bed with me. He's so cute sometimes.

I baby wipe bathed today. I have acne on my back and between and under my boobs. (Backne and Boobne? Sunny wiped my back and Clearasiled it for me. I pull off the sheets and pillowcases and Sunny tossed them in the washer. I've been sleeping on them all week, sweating, so it was time.

I had to call the ins. co since they denied the ER x-ray charge. It was a foul up. The MRI I took later cost $2400 of which we have to pony up $400. Ook! I am going to be afraid to open up the hospital bill. It's sure to stop my heart.

The Fourth One

2006-07-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

The dry, scaling skin on my hands is driving me nuts. Between all the hand washing I'm doing because of the puppy and the leather gloves I wear to work outside, my hands are a wreck. Just 2 months ago they were beautiful and soft. Grrrrr.

I think Bizzy is going to get his anal glands removed like the other dogs. Butler put a serious smackdown on him and I think he squirted that shit out like a squid because all of a sudden a cloud of nastiness arose as I knelt beside him to check him over. Gag. That is the worst smell on the planet. I grew up on a pig farm. I know smells and anal gland goo is nastay. Booboo and Bonbon had theirs out at the same time because they were always getting infected and I was constantly running them to the vet to have them expressed. Best $500 I ever spent. If Bizzy has similar issues, they are coming out when he gets neutered.

I told Sunny he owes me as I was scrubbing anal gland stank out of the carpet. He's all "Whatever do you mean?" This is your dog and all it's done is make more work for me. Bizzy is cute as a button though. I hope he stays cute as he grows.

A year ago: 7-22-2005
I slept great. Sunny was up before 5:30. I got up with him and turned the alarm clock off. Peed and took care of my other needs. Sunny brought me some fruit and a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. Pain meds on board and I settled in to watch my new Stripes DVD - the extended cut version. Don't waste your time, the theatrical release is just perfect. I dozed off and woke up about 9:30. Oops, almost slept through my blood thinner injection. Just as I was about to poke myself, T called to check up on me. Always good to hear from her. She sent books & stuff. Can't wait for Sunny to check the mail drop.

The rest of the day was spent how I expect most of my days to go - watching TV, drinking, eating, peeing. I even managed a tiny bowel movement. Sunny trekked to Wausau to drop off something at one of the stores and I had him pick up some prune juice. Joy!

I watched Rescue Me all day. It just cracks me up. I LOVE that show - bless you Denis Leary.

When Sunny returned, we ate and watched Firefly. What a wonderful show! I wonder why it got cancelled?

The itching under my bandages was intense. I unwrapped the Ace bandage and scratched under the gauze. I even broke a piece of the cast off that was digging into my calf. Temporary relief at best, but all I could do.

The Third One

2006-07-21T22:26:00.000-05:00

Today is kind of a blah day. I didn't do a whole lot. I almost didn't post anything, but it's too soon to not post. One day will lead to another and another and pretty soon it will all go to hell.

Today was double discount day at Shopko. Tomorrow too, although I don't think I need to buy anything else. I got a really nice reversable beach towel for 50% on clearance, plus the 20% discount. I may go back for more. I bought a few toiletries and they carry the fancy shampoo Sunny has been using, so I picked it up. He said it's more at Shopko than where he gets it. Oh well. I went to store #1 so I could see the new display registers Sunny has just rolled out there. Nice. Should make IBM happy.

The dogs cracked me up this morning. Bonbon and Bizzy were mixing it up when she decided she'd had enough. She went zooming off to the other side of the yard and in among the pine trees. Bizzy followed, but isn't as fast. They played hide and seek for a good 15 minutes.

Food was pretty good today, activity nonexistant. I did have a Frappacino and a rice krispy bar at Starbucks, but breakfast, lunch and dinner were kind of light. I stopped to pick up hamburger fixings on the way home, but Sunny is in one of those moods and decided he didn't want to eat. He's all pissy because I criticized the mess he made when he put the lattice skirting on the deck. Instead of putting the dirt from the trench he excavated on a tarp or in the garden cart, he just dumped it onto the mulch. Now there's a big dirty mess that Bizzy just loves to play in and track into the house. When I pointed that out, he just said he has to put mulch on it. I then said a little common sense and planning would have prevented the mess in the first place. Then he got pissy. The man is Einstein smart, but doesn't have any common sense most of the time. He does manage to make lots of work for me though.

A year ago: 7-21-05
I had a pretty good night. Bedtime was before 10 and I didn't get up until 6:15 and only peed once in the middle of the night. Sunny kept waking up when I'd shift or adjust myself, but I think he finally got some good sleep. That $600 latex and wool mattress topper was a damn good investment. The wool keeps me cool and absorbs sweat and I sweated last night because my temp was up again.

I got up and gave myself a baby wipe bath. Maybe tomorrow I can wrap my leg in a garbage bag and use the hand shower and the shower seat so I can wash my hair. Sunny decided to make some scrambled eggs and a bagel. I ate probably one egg and 1/2 a bagel.

Sunny went off to work and I sat in the lazboy watching the Tivo backlog and Caddyshack on HBO. My TOM showed up early and dealing with that is so much fun. I spoke with the nurse regarding some of my scrips and she stressed the need for the stool softener and lots of water and fruit. Prune juice is next if I don't get regular. Joy. The heels of my palms are KILLING me. Sunny brought some padding for the walker handles and I got the idea for biking gloves after watching the Tour de France. He'll look tomorrow. He also hooked up the new TV. It's beautiful. I watched the Tremors DVD and the picture is just amazing. Well worth the bucks. We're just bleeding money these days.

The Second One

2006-07-20T10:09:00.000-05:00

Why blog now? I've been meaning to do this for years. Really! Ever since I quit working in 2002 one of the things on my list has been a webpage. I figured it would help family and friends stay in touch, give me something to do, be a place to put all the exciting things going on in my life. Snort. Watching paint dry is more exciting than my life. Wow, that's really sad.

Anyhow, certain journalers that I have been reading for ages are getting their shit together and getting their fitness sites back up and running and getting themselves healthy again. That inspired me to get my site launched and use it as a tool for my own weight loss/getting healthy journey. Don't worry, that won't be the focus of Palamityville. (Be warned I have the attention span of a gnat.) I just find that if I keep a journal, I tend to stay on track.

I fell off the get healthy track during the kitchen remodel. My weighlifting area in the basement is directly under the kitchen and had to be dismanteled so the various trades could do their thing. That was spring of 2004. It stayed that way until January of this year. DH gave me a new Bowflex for Christmas which forced me to get that area cleaned up so we could assemble it. And I did. And he got the Bowflex mostly assembled, I think. I kind of lost interest after a month or so. I was also trying to clean and organize the rest of the basement. It had become the dumping ground for everything. I lost interest in that too. (Remember, short attention span...)

I was still using my Nordictrack 3 times a week even through the kitchen remodel. Until Feb/Mar of 2005 when my right ankle started to hurt. I stopped using it to see if the ankle would get better. It didn't, which led to the whole surgery thing I'm putting up here for your enjoyment. It was the end of October before I was able to get around well. But I was still having pain. (There is a 40% chance this thing could reoccur.) At one of my followup appointments, it was determined I have arthritis developing between the calcanus and talus. Lovely. So I got this weird shoe insert/orthotic made to help stabilize the heel. A million excuses, I know. I had a checkup last week and things are looking good, so it's time to get off my large ass and get rid of it.

I gained all the weight I had lost (some 40 pounds) during the kitchen remodel and the couple of months after. Stress, no kitchen, eating out, Ho-ho's, no weightlifting. (Emotional eater here.) Lots of excuses. Plus I'm just plain lazy. That is going to change.

It will take some planning though. Take breakfast this morning. Out of frozen omelettes, out of milk, toast was out since I'm avoiding wheat right now because I may have an allergy to it. I am resourceful though, I had fresh blueberries in plain yogurt and there was enough oatmeal to make a serving although it boiled over in the microwave so I lost some of it. Not bad.

Today was busy, I picked up a bucket of dog crap, mowed some tall weeds, raked up some leaves and sticks and emptied Bizzy's pool. It was really hot and I sweated buckets. After a shower and a quick lunch, I played with Bizzy. He stretched out in the empty pool with a puzzled look on his face. Dude, where's the water? Then I left to get groceries. I didn't have a list, but managed to spent a lot of money. I bought a bunch of tuna and salmon filets in zip pouches because they are an easy lunch.

Tomorrw I have to clean off the tables & counters. Bizzy is starting to pull stuff off the higher surfaces so I must keep the house cleaner.

A year ago: 7-20-05
Last night was a bitch. It was a long walk from the car to the house, up 2 steps and to the bathroom. I was totally exhausted. Sunshine pushed me in the office chair from the bathroom to the bedroom. (He doesn't make the big bucks for nothing. His ideas rock!) He didn't want to deal with the toilet seat riser right away, so he ended up having to wheel me into the bathroom 2 or 3 times during the night and helping me met on and off the pot.

I slept somewhat poorly as I had chills and a fever at some point. By morning my temp was fairly normal. I gave myself a blood thinner injection (not too bad) and took the rest of my meds. Made an appt for a wound check & recast on the 27th. The doctor won't even be there, he's on vacation. Why did he rush me into surgery?

So begins the first of many days lying in bed watching TV and sitting in the LaZboy watching TV. I have a bunch of stuff backlogged on Tivo to watch. Sunshine went to run a few errands and pop in on a work lunch. I managed to survive on my own just fine. He stopped to pick up a few groceries and some Chinese food. I had a bowl of rice with some butter and a fruit plate. He also brought me some mini mint milanos. Mmmmm.

The rain storm that came through today (the cause of my headaches that even oxycontin/oxycodone wasn't helping) blew a tree down onto the pine barrier out back. That really sucked. In the news today - Scotty beamed up to heaven. James Doohan has died.

The First One

2006-07-19T11:49:00.000-05:00

A year ago I had surgery. Surgeries happen every day, but when it's your surgery it's a pretty big deal. I kept a paper journal of the experience so here are some excerpts. (I meant to start this blog a few days ago so I could do the whole 'one year ago' thing, but I procrastinate a lot. Better get used to it.)

7-13-05
Got up really early (for me anyway) to go to Milwaukee to meet with the orthopedic specialist. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there. Took the elevator to the 5th floor and handed over my x-rays and mri. We were finally called back to an exam room. Finally the dr and his PA came in to meet us. I have an aneurysmal bone cyst on my right calcanus, most likely benign. It has to be cut out, the void in my calcanus packed with donor bone and casted/splinted non-weight bearing for 6+ weeks. I wanted to wait until the first week of August so I wouldn't have to deal with TOM during or so soon after surgery, but I am scheduled for Monday. I wasn't expecting them to get me in so quickly. I wanted to bank my own blood, but was assured that was unnecessary, yet I had to sign consent forms for blood during surgery. Hopefully it's not from some skank with an undetectable disease!!!

I was sent for a chest x-ray (easy), EKG (very easy) and bloodwork (a royal pain). The tech was clumsy, (that's what you get when you go to a teaching facility) caused much pain and my blood d-r-i-p-p-e-d out slowly. The EKG tech kept popping in to see if I was done yet and finally overruled the blood tech. I thanked God for the break from the vampire. When I got back from EKG, the head of the dept did the tap cleanly, quickly and painlessly. Med students are NOT touching me while I'm conscious, I'm just saying.

I got home and called various relatives to tell them what was going to happen. I wish I could have gone for a visit, but there is no time. Then I called my hairdresser for a cut & color - a girl's got to have her priorities!

I have four days to get ready for this.

7-14-05
I have a short fuse and it's only going to get shorter. The dogs are hiding from me, that's how vile my mood is today. While I was out watering our poor suffering landscaping, 2 of the hoses misbehaved. I think I destroyed 2 plants and I did destroy one of the hose reels. I ripped one of the brackets off it and beat it on the fence. That somewhat mollified me. I want to break more things though. It almost frightens me that Ms. Hyde is lurking so near the surface.

I showered and dressed quickly and dashed off for my hair appt. Barb commiserated with me and took my mind off things for a bit. I had her wax my eyebrows for the first time and they turned out uneven. Crap. I'm pale, fat, puffy and now my eyebrows are uneven. Life is so good.

I drove all over the place - Storheim's for lunch, LNT, Office Depot, Sam's Club, Shopko on Military, Family Nutrition and Shopko at BPS. I bought lots of comfy clothes, some toiletries, a shitload of canned stuff, a ladder and a new bathroom scale. I think I'm the happiest about the ladder (a Little Giant) even though I won't be climbing it for a few months.

I called my best friend, T, with the news. I could hardly get it out. I can be all factual & clinical with the family, but not with T. Totally emotional there. I wish we lived closer.

7-15-05
I think I did some serious damage to the already inflamed tendons in my ankle. I had finished watering and was trying to fix a downspout extender. I gave up on the extender, it was dented all to hell anyhow, and went to get a flex-a-spout that wasn't being used by the retaining wall. I misstepped, either stepping on something or on uneven ground. OH! MY! GOD! I screamed and cussed a blue streak and damn near fell off the top tier of the retaining wall. Somehow I regained my balance, but the ankle is toast. I now have to stop every 5 or 6 steps to let the tendon spasm. And screw the Advil prohibition. Tylenol just wasn't cutting it and I couldn't wait to contact the dr, wait for a scrip and trek to the pharmacy. I am a REBEL! I took Advil! Hopefully I won't bleed to death on the table!

I paid our property taxes at the court house. I had to walk up and down a flight of stairs. Ouch. I'm getting quite good at driving with my left foot. Sunshine says he's going to hide all the car keys so I won't be tempted to drive anywhere. Whatever.

I checked out TV's at Best Buy. Sunny wants a flat panel for the bedroom. We'll go back to town tomorrow to buy one. 2k is a lot for a TV though, but it's his decision. He wants to put HD receivers on both the great room and bedroom TV's. He is being so sweet setting up my "prison" with all the creature comforts.

I stopped at Petco for dog food and toys. Dumbass me forgot to get a cart and food and toys are as far from the door as possible. Fortunately a very nice employee asked me if he could help and he carried the bag to the checkout, checked me out and put the bag is my trunk. My hero. I totally didn't get groceries again. We'll pick up what we need tomorrow. Since we didn't have any whipped cream for the strawberry shortcake, Sunny went to DQ . The french silk pie blizzard is very tasty. Booboo and Bonbon licked out my cup and they agreed.

I laundered my new loungewear. I'm running out of time to get it all done. The hospital called and surgery is at 10am, check in at 8am. Hospital policy is to do a urine pregnancy test, but fuck that. I am SO not pregnant and I hate urine tests.

7-16-05
This morning I had entire new adventures in pain. I about killed the dogs because Booboo threw up in our bed. I lost it. If one more thing happens, I just might kill something. I tried to call the on-call resident for something stronger than fucking useless Tylenol. The dr's partner called back and said "Hmm, surgery might not take place because they don't like to operate when swelling is present." Oh, get over yourself. I've yet to see an orthopedic injury without swelling. AND, she wouldn't prescribe narcotics because I'm not her patient. See? Fucking useless!

Sunshine and I went out to look at TV's and drop the dogs off at the kennel early. I need the break and I'm tired of cleaning up after them. Sunshine can't decide on a TV - LCD or regular, cheap or $, buy local or order online. I could give a crap right now.

I did more laundry, changed the bed, cleaned some - the same-o, same-o but a bit more frantic. Sunshine watered the landscape and the world didn't end!!! He had some trouble with a hose reel (the one I broke the bracket off of) and I said "Welcome to my world!" Payback is a bitch.

7-17-05
I did chores all day long. I'm tired and me ankle is letting me know it. I did loads and loads of laundry, vacuuming, dusting, picking up, wiping down, you name it, I did it.

I went out and picked up the dog poo. I probably was not as thorough as usual because it hurt like the devil. 3 or 4 trips around the yard is plenty. I found a piece of the hose reel bracket a good 50 feet from the site of my meltdown. Hee!

So, the house is clean, I didn't vacuum or mop the kitchen floor, which desperately needs it, but crap happens. I guess another 6 weeks won't kill it.

We drove to Milwaukee and ate at an Outback Steakhouse for the first time ever. Damn tasty is was. I can't believe we've never eaten there.

I'm sitting on the bed at the hotel, foot propped up on a pillow with a ziploc bag of ice on my foot. I've got to fill out a surgical form then it's lights out. 6:15 is going to come soon enough.

7-18-05
It hurt to walk this morning - a lot. But I got up, showered and dressed. We got to the hospital about 7:50. I got a wheelchair and Sunshine pushed me to the Day Surgery area. He pushed me up to the checkin and right into the wall with my bad foot. I shrieked and yelled "Sweet Jesus Christ!" He is fond of bashing my foot.

Of course they wanted a urine sample. I refused. Then they said they weren't going to operate. Fucking bastards. I couldn't produce a pee sample because I hadn't had any water since last night, so they drew blood. I'm so pissed, yet another pregnancy test I have to pay for when I not fucking pregnant. I was hooked up to IV's. A short time after 10 they took me out to surgery. I passed out in the hallway outside the door. Those were some good drugs.

I woke up in recovery. The surgery had taken an extra hour - something about positioning me on the table. Once I got to the room, it took forever to get my pain meds working. I was in tears and pulling out my hair. They asked me if I took a lot of vicodin or oxycontin, basically thinking I was a drug abuser. Right.

I had lots of nausea, a lung issue (I felt like I was drowning), I itched from adhesives in the bandaids and tapes. I was a mess. The food was inedible - meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I ate the watermelon and the very kind nurse brought me some more.

I used the bedside commode, not so bad. I'm seeing double now so I'm going to cut bait and run.

7-19-05
I peed about every 2 hours throughout the night. The in-window mini blind didn't work for one of my windows so anyone walking outside could watch me piss. Oh well.

I was in and out of it all morning. I kept falling asleep while writing or reading. I tried not to bother the nurses any more than I had to, but I needed help to pee. The morphine made me itch and nauseous. I wasn't shy about asking for drugs to take care of it. And the room was SO fucking hot. Sunshine had turned down the AC, but it was still 74 or 75 in the room. One of the windows was broken and wouldn't seal so hot air kept coming in. At least it was a private room.

From 2 on, we waited for my discharge and my fruit plate. Fruit was the only thing that didn't make me want to vomit. The fruit plate finally showed up about 4:30. I also got hold of a bottle of baby wipes and cleaned my legs off. I have a huge bruise on my thigh from the tourniquet.

Finally got my discharge papers and orders. It was about 6:15 or so. We hauled ass home as I have 5 prescriptions to fill. We got to the Shopko at 8:15 and it took until 9 to fill them. I was is some serious pain by then. 3 hours with my leg down was not good.