Free firewood...

It was a particularly bleak day in our household today. My beloved pine tree in front of the house is now nothing but stumps of firewood. The power company finished destroying this dear friend today. I know intellectually that the tree had to go but still, every chainsaw rip was like a dagger through my heart, not to mention the fact that trying to sleep with three chainsaws going right outside your window is not fun. The house looks SO bare now...driving down the street and seeing just the house...well, it's just so foreign. I don't like the house so much now, you know? That tree protected and shaded our house and provided some lovely privacy to the front porch. Now we are bare and exposed and it feels gross. It is also now blaringly obvious that we need to fix our gutter on the porch...ugh! I have a headache...

We also lost our dear friend, Jeffrey, the fish I was trying to help by cleaning his aquarium. Jeffrey apparently liked the polluted water he was living in as he expired last night in his nice, clear, clean water. I suppose the shock of it was what put him over the edge...the shock of actually seeing outside the aquarium I mean! Lulabell and I had a quick funeral for him before we dumped him into the toilet. We flushed and Jeffrey swirled.......and came back! I had a moment's pause about fishing him out, thinking he was too big to go down, but reasoned that plenty of bigger loads have gone down, if you know what I mean! I don't want to get too graphic here, but plunging the toilet is a daily occurrence for SOME of us (not me of course!). So, after an extra flush, Jeffrey stayed gone and we went about our business. I do feel some relief that he is gone and the awful, icky aquarium is gone. There was definitely some new kind of gross fungus growing in that thing..which we decided to pitch the whole thing. We are now fish free for the first time in several years and it is a bit of a relief.

Peaches returned from his overnight school trip today a little subdued. I had feared that things may not go well because none of his close buddies went and we all could use a little help from our friends at times, but he says everything was fine and that he did have fun, so I'm not pushing for details, but my feeling is that he is glad he is home now, especially since it is Easter break and he doesn't have to go back to school till Tuesday! YAY!

Whew, yesterday was a weird day also because after getting up around 1 or so I felt dizzy and kinda drunk. I called my mom to chat and even she noticed that I was slurring my words...I thought my blood sugar may have been low but it was fine. I was able to rouse myself and type a little but then had to take a 2 hour nap immediately afterwards. This wasn't like me at all...I couldn't figure it out. Even after my nap I didn't feel so hot and had no energy...what is wrong? I thought. I recently had blood tests done which showed that I basically have no thyroid left, which would explain all my icky symptoms like weight gain, hair loss, tingling in my hands and such. My doc put me on Synthroid and I have been feeling better with this, but jeez, yesterday was just a mystery to me. Then, I remembered that when I went to bed that morning I had taken a Nyquil capsule because I felt a stuffy nose coming on. That was it! I wasn't having a stroke or some strange metabolic problem, the damned Nyquil had drugged me and it took a whole day to get over the effects. Never again, I'll tell you, that stuff is crazy! Today I woke up to the damned chainsaws and even though my heart was heavy, at least my brain was working right. My new midnight shift seems to be working all right...I definitely like being home in the evening and seeing the kids and relaxing with them. It will be nice in the summer as I love summer evenings in the back yard....It's basically what I live for....I appreciate that my boss is flexible with me. It is of note that on 4/6/08 I will be celebrating 10 years working at the hospital, quite a milestone for me. It is the longest I have worked anywhere and I still enjoy it. They are talking about sending us home to type at some point and I hope that I will be chosen to do this...they're not saying much at this point however so keep your fingers crossed!

A visit to grandma's house

This is grandma Edie at the aviary
in her apartment complex.


The lobby of the apartment complex


Edie in her kitchen

Well, I finally made it to Canton on three hours of sleep in the wet, cold rain. I had been planning on seeing my grandma for some time and (finally!) made it on Friday. Usually I make plans to see her but then she calls or writes me a letter (!) to tell me not to come as she had better things to do (like get her dog groomed or her hair done). But, since no phone call or letter came, I sensed a visit was coming. The day before I gave her a quick call:

Me: Hi Edie! It's me...
EDIE: Yeah....?
Me: Uh, just making sure you're still expecting me.....
EDIE: ARE YOU HERE NOW?????!!!!!
Me: Um, no....I'm coming tomorrow, remember?
EDIE: Oh, yeah, right...what time?
Me: About noon, is that still good for you?
EDIE: I guess.....

So, with that warm welcome, I set off for Canton. I truly only had about 3 hours of sleep having gotten home from work at 3 AM and getting up at 6:30 to get the kids moving for school. However, I made it in good time and had no trouble finding the place. It really is very plush and comfortable and I made my way to her apartment. I knocked and she opened the door and immediately announced that she wasn't going to lunch......um okay....I told her I thought we were going to eat in the dining room here and she said "NO!" in such a way that I was a little taken aback, but not too surprised frankly. She told me she would give me money so that I could go out to eat, but that she wasn't going, but maybe I could bring her back a hamburger from Heggys? Fine...we settled down and she showed me her place which was really very nice. We sat talking for awhile and my phone rang...it was my mother, who at that moment was minutes outside of Canton on her way home from Florida! She suggested coming into town and meeting me at Heggy's for lunch, which really worked out rather well, you know? So I let Edie know my plans with mom and her response was "well, don't bring her back HERE!" Now, I know this sounds harsh, but my grandmother is nearly 90 and you KNOW her mind isn't always right. She offered no further explanation for the banning of my mother so I just dropped it. We continued our visit with a tour of the whole facility and I was rather pleased with it. We met her friend, E across the hall who is in her upper 90s and weighs about 92 pounds. She was VERY excited to hear I was going to Heggy's for lunch and wanted a hamburger too. So, I headed off to the restaurant where my mother and I had a perfectly lovely lunch with two hamburgers to go for the ladies. I drove back to Edie's and delivered the lunch to E who was laying on the couch. She directed me to put the lunch on the counter as she didn't feel like eating. Edie later confided that E never eats and she didn't know why she had ordered a hamburger. Besides, she has having her "nerves" at the moment and the doctor and her son were on their way. Well E looked just fine to me, but I let it go. Edie proceeded to gobble up her hamburger so fast that she choked 3-4 times and I actually had a moment where I was considering the Heimlich maneuver on her. However, she happily kept eating and sharing her meal with her little dog, Misty. So the visit continued. I got out my Ipod and played her some Frank Sinatra music as apparently all of her music was gone. I was a little stunned by this as she had quite a big collection of music, plus a boom box that we had bought her to play it on. All gone she said, courtesy of her neighbor who apparently tossed everything when she was moving here...(BITCH!) This is the same neighbor who, when we were frantically trying to locate my grandmother after she had been hospitalized, told my sister that we were NOT Edie's family and therefore she was not going to tell us where our grandmother was...(NOTE: Don't EVER tell my sister that she is not part of her own family....NOT a good idea). So, I think Edie enjoyed our visit and the music and I am hoping to maybe get her a new boom box and some CDs for her birthday in April. All in all, a good day, I'm glad I visited. Edie looked so old though (she is) and small. She always used to be taller than I was but now I TOWER over her and I am no giant (5'3" in my tall shoes). She seems relatively happy in her new place and I am glad she is there because the thought of her tottering up and down her steps at her house was terrifying to me. The house and its contents were sold at an auction a week ago, so my whole family's heritage is gone I guess...even my china, which she had promised to me for years (I even have about half the set), but she had apparently sold it to a friend some years ago! ARRGGHHH My sister got HER china, but I'm screwed I guess....sigh. If you know anyone who would like a half set of Wedgewood china, let me know....

All kinds of this and that....

Elephants!


Peaches at the circus!

Oh my, so much to report...sorry for the delay in posting...you know I go hot on cold on this blog...sometimes I post everyday for a week, then nothing for two or three weeks. Busy, Busy, Busy.....Let's see. Today my kitten came up for breakfast and I picked her up to give her a loving hug and nearly puked....she smelled SO BAD that I had to immediately strip off my shirt and wash my hands and face and STILL the smell clung to me. Now what she got into to make her smell so bad, I don't know. The worrisome thing isn't that she smelled so bad, the worrisome thing is WHAT THE HELL is in my house that is SO STINKY? I mean, just a cursory walk through the basement did not reveal anything. The litter box was fresh and sweet (well relatively, having just been emptied the previous evening). The only thing I could liken this smell to was something that had died many days (weeks) ago, and I can assure you, there is nothing dead in my basement....so, the hunt continues. Needless to say, little Miss Cookie promptly received a good bath and was a relatively good sport about it too.Her mother, Tinker was anxiously peering up trying to figure out why her baby was crying, but pretty much kept her distance. The Cookie finallystopped yelling and settled down to receive her bath. Let's hope tomorrow morning does not present another stinky kitty.



Last Saturday we had the chance to visit the circus in Youngstown, the honest-to-God real circus...Ringling Brothers....not some two bit circus in the boonies, which we have been to before. No, this was the real deal and what a swell time we had too! We had pretty good seats right down front, although we certainly were not in the center ring region of seats, more like the FAR right ring region...where they do all the lights and things. But, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, even though their prices there are OUTRAGEOUS! For a tray of plain nachos (just cheese and chips), a soft pretzel and two 16 ounce Diet Pepsis I paid 14.75!!! I grumbled but paid up. As I was walking away with my food, the woman behind the counter called me back...curious, I returned and was told that I owed them another $3.25!!!WHAT!!! YOU made a mistake and you want ME to pay you more money????Yeppers...so what did I do you ask? Well, like a fool, I gave them more money. I told her that I didn't HAVE to since it was THEIR mistake, but what am I gonna do? I'm an honest person and I just paid it, although it burned my hide a little and when I got back to my seat I was frothing about my idiocy....later, Lulabell, who had brought all her money ($6.00), decidedshe had a hankering for some cotton candy. What they heck...we're at thecircus, let the kid have some cotton candy, right? So, I let Lulabell walk to the cotton candy place, which was just down the steps from our seats and made sure she knew our section number and seat numbers (she did). Five minutes later she comes back huffing and puffing and complaining (loudly)that she didn't have enough money....well, how much money could some cotton candy cost? Are you ready? $12 freaking dollars! (which is just howLulabell said it to me!) Now this was not some HUGE bag of cotton candy mindyou, it was just regular size, about 10 inches high....what a gyp! The next day at Wal-Mart I saw a can of cotton candy, about the same amount, selling for 2 for $1!!!! COME ON!!!! (I bought that one for her). No info so far on the canceled concert for Lulabell...we are REALLY hoping they do reschedule this...what a letdown....
/
Okay, for you TV watchers...here are my thoughts on Lost: The episode with Desmond and Penny just ripped my heart out....I cried buckets at that last seen with them on the phone. I think he is relatively safe now from dying from the time travel now that he has his "constant". I think the Oceanic 6 are (Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun and Aaron). These are the only people wehave seen in the future. Here is a theory: what if these people were allowed to leave the island but their "partners" had to remain on the island so that they would "keep quiet" about the island (Juliette for Jack, Sawyerfor Kate, Claire for Aaron and Jin for Sun). The holes in this theory are who are the people for Hurley and Sayid? Do I REALLY think Claire would allow Kate to take her baby if there was not something drastically wrongwith her? NOOOOOOO. Another theory: The Michael we saw on the boat is really...wait for it.... a grown up Walt!!!! Think about THAT!



American Idol - okay....I started off the show really liking David Archuleta and David Hernandez and Michael Johns. I had no real feelings for any of the girls except Amanda kind of intrigued me. My faves now? At the moment JasonCastro, Carly Smithson, David Cook, Brooke and Chikeze...go figure. Although everyone is talking about Jason's "Hallelujah" song and referring you to hear Jeff Buckley's version, my own fave is Rufus Wainwright (theversion you hear in the Shrek movie). Also, kd Lang does a bang up job on this song...but be warned, when you hear it you may cry. Stu and I saw the Academy Award-Winning movie No Country For Old Men. Myquestion is...what is the big f'ng deal about this movie? I HATED IT! It has no purpose. It is violent and boring. The main character dies and at that moment, the movie just dies and I don't care what happens to the other people. I do LOVE Tommy Lee Jones generally and he did an interesting job with his character, but he lost me towards the end. I think people who like this movie must be smoking some kind of crack because I DON'T GET IT!!!! I apologize if you liked this movie but could you explain to me how this won Picture of the Year? Thanks.

&#&@(@_#!~SNOW!

Do you remember how, a few months ago, I was SO excited about it snowing?...well, I'm SO over that now. In fact, snow has screwed up things here royally, so much so that Lulabell's concert was cancelled!!!!NO!!!! We have worked so hard! They all went down to Pittsburgh from school yesterday morning, practiced with the whole group all day and then we were to join her for the concert at 7:30 that evening. However, the weather decided NOT to cooperate, we got the biggest snowstorm of the year and they cancelled the concert by about 3PM. Lulabell got home around 5:00, VERY DISAPPOINTED, as you can imagine. Of course, the hope is that it will be rescheduled...More later.

Welcome to the family!

This little sweetheart is the newest addition to our family (no, he's not mine...). Stu's sister FINALLY had her baby, a boy (JD), arriving a week late and weighing in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces. We are very blessed and thrilled to have a new little nephew to enjoy, one who has three older sisters (YIKES!). God willing we will see him and his family soon. Welcome JD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEACHES!

Well, the day has finally arrived, my son's 16th birthday..GAH! This is a bit of a milestone, don't you think? We just had another milestone, on 3/1/08 we had our 10 year anniversary of arriving in Pennsylvania after a week long car trip with a 9 month old baby, an almost six year old boy, 1 dog and 3 cats. Remind me to tell you about THAT trip someday! But, suffice it to say we arrived safely and began our life here in PA. It's been terrific so far, albeit with a few bumps in the road here and there but we are presently happy and healthy, and that's all that matters, isn't it? We all went out to dinner to Peaches's favorite restaurant last night (Jalisco) and had a lovely time with D&C as well. Then we went home and had cake and I forgot my leftovers at the restaurant! However, my wonderful hubby graciously went back to the restaurant to get them for me! Thanks Stu! So, all in all a low key birthday for my son, but a nice one spent with loved ones. I will be taking him out to lunch later this week as it is kind of a tradition to do that and one the kids look forward to. Happy birthday honey...I love you very much!

It's a big week for Lulabell as on Friday is our concert that she has been getting ready for. We have our outfit all picked out and it's getting exciting....oh, did I tell you that the other boy from Lulabell's school who is going is actually the one she has a HUGE crush on? Saturday I had to go to Wal-Mart for some things and Lulabell decided to go and spent a VERY LONG time getting all spruced up to go...which is strange because it's just Wal-Mart for God's sakes. Here is a picture of the finished product:

Doesn't she look nice? Well we messed around in the store, took our time, looked at stuff and then headed for the checkout. As we settled in line, didn't Lulabell catch her breath and start tugging at my coat, pointing to the people in front of us. What did my eyes behold? The CRUSH!!!! Lulabell whispered fiercely to me, "Mom! There he is! This is why I got all dressed up, in case I saw him!!!!"OMG, why it's fate, isn't it? Did we have to go to Wal-Mart? Hang out? Get in the SAME EXACT LINE????? I'm sure it was fate. So, I introduced myself to the CRUSH's father, who was very nice and asked him some things about the concert and made small talk. Lulabell and the CRUSH were all shy and such but it was so cute because they BOTH BLUSHED! Then, HE said goodbye first, giving Lulabell heart palpitations and fodder for daydreaming for the rest of the day...ain't love grand?