Christine's profileConversations With Chris...PhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
September 30 I just found out about the most amazing thing..There is a website called DailyLit that will email you wonderful books to your inbox (or RSS feed) in installments! For free! And you don't even have to register with user name, password, all that extra stuff to remember.
I just signed up for Les Miserables, the first installment should be in my mailbox first thing tomorrow. Can't wait!
Oh - you also get to choose the frequency and time of delivery.
Awesome! September 24 Surgery updateThe surgery went well! It was delayed in starting, but he napped while waiting. The surgery lasted 2 1/2 hours, and the neurosurgeon came to talk to us himself. He said the surgery was good, told us what to expect for my dad pain wise. He can't drive for 2 weeks and is going to hurt in his neck and between his shoulders. When we left he was still on pain medicine so just uncomfortable, no pain yet. And he was starving!! Hadn't eaten since 10 last night - 22 hours with no food or drink! He was in good spirits, joking with the nurse and with us. He asked for a mirror to check out the incision - they just glued it right up! He is hoarse and very dry so having difficulty swallowing, but he kept saying it didn't hurt. We were there 7 hours and Emma was so good I couldn't believe it! No whining, complaining, or acting up at all. After he was out of surgery and in recovery, we went with my mom to the cafeteria to eat. She hadn't eaten all day either! By the time we finished he was in his room already - much faster than the 2 hours we were told!
He is staying overnight and will be going home sometime tomorrow. September 20 Best birthday ever!Oh. My. Goodness. I am still dazed! So last night we go to the restaurant for dinner - and the room is full of people I know! My parents, Chris's mom and sister (all the way from Chicago!), and lots of friends. This party has been planned for months! I can't believe it! We ordered, and while we were waiting for the food I opened presents and cards. It was so nice to spend time with everyone, though. Mom made photo boards, with pictures from when I was a baby until recently. No embarrassing ones, thank goodness! There was a big sign that everyone signed. We even had birthday cake for dessert! After we left the restaurant, a few came over to our house to visit. It was almost midnight before we got to bed - I was sooo sleepy. This morning we got up very early and met my mother in law and sister in law for breakfast before they drove back to Chicago. They had to be back for tomorrow so they couldn't stay longer. We are going there for Christmas, though. I still have excitement from last night - I just can't believe it happened, you know? So many people knew about the party, and not one person (even Emma!) let anything slip. I never suspected a thing! September 19 Big day!So yesterday I turned 30. Wow. I really don't feel that old at all, but then again some days I feel so much older. That's the way it goes I guess...
I had a nice day. Wednesday night I found a big box of goodies on the bed, pretty pjs and undies. Beautiful colours! My husband has good taste. =) Yesterday morning was picture day at school for Emma, and we overslept a little, so we were a bit rushed in the morning, tempers snapped a bit, but it ended well and we were all off to work or school. As soon as I got on the shuttle I was given a present by one of the case managers - the one who gives me aobut 75% of my business! Seriously - she was out sick for a few days and I did almost nothing. I was completely surprised, did not expect anything at all. I took myself out to lunch; there is a restaurant nearby that makes amazing sandwiches. Later in the afternoon, two coworkers brought me a beautiful pot of flowers and a cake that was just the right size for the three of us at home!
On the way home I made a couple stops; had to pick up a few things at Target I cant' get at the regular grocery store, and also took the time to get Chris's presents since his birthday is next week. Emma has a party to go to tomorrow also, so I had to get a present for that child also. I have such a hard time buying presents for boys!
When I got home, I almost sat on a stack of presents! Emma got the newest Sims 2 expansion for me, and a dolphin Webkinz! He (or she) is my second one LOL. Emma has such a good time with hers, she wants to share the joy. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. Chris had another present for me, too - Beatles Monopoly! I had forwarded him the email months ago, thinking it was neat thing and he should see it... and he preordered it for me then! I had actually forgotten about it. The properties are albums, and the pieces have to do with songs. My favourite is the big strawberry. No submarine, though! Can't wait to play it =)
Tonight we are going out to dinner. I usually pick a place, but couldn't decide. I found out last night that Chris has already made reservations somewhere for dinner also! From what I remember it is a very good restaurant, but I haven't been since my senior year of high school - 12 1/2 years ago! I am so excited. September 17 Motivation!I just found the most fun website! The clothing will not fit me right now, which is unfortunate because there are some amazing pieces. They also have the cutest shoes, accessories, and decor. It's called ModCloth and I think I'm in love!
I love these kitchen towels, and these stickers are hilarious.
Andthis coat is all the motivation I need to lose this weight - it is amazing! September 16 Completely random and irrelevantI finally was able to sleep all night last night! So why have I been more tired today than all the days when I DIDN'T sleep? Just need to get caught up, I guess. Not going to happen this weekend, either.
I have only one more day left in my twenties. I have gone from being sad, to happy, to just wanting it over and I have no idea why. Maybe I'm just too tired to be excited right now?
Have a new girl coming to Girl Scouts tonight. I am so glad! Now if only I could get in touch with the mother of the other girl who registered, all will be well.
I am husbandless for the night. Tomorrow will be my first time taking Emma to school at the middle school. I hope I have her there on time!
Less than a month until the Race for the Cure! I'm registering myself and Emma this weekend.
I had a nice lunch with a friend today and got my first "You're 30" birthday card. It was great! Made me laugh!!
Monday is my last class for this semester. I am going to start going to the gym again now that those two evenings will be free again. My turn for something politicalSeems like every blog I read is weighing in on the political candidates, so I decided to join in. The big debate seems to be Barak vs Sarah, even though Palin isn't running for president. The arguement is that McCain is so old - 72 really isn't that old any more! And before the past few years, most of the presidents were older men. If I'm not mistaken, Kennedy was the youngest president in his 40s, and I remember the huge deal made when Clinton was the first Baby Boomer president. Well guess what - Boomers are in their 60s now, McCain is not much further along than that!
Anyway, I've been looking at the different platforms, and I still can't clearly decide which way to go. I liked Palin at first (the first article or 2 I read on her) but I cannot give my vote to someone who wants to repeal Roe v Wade and set women's rights back 50 years. Nothing good can come of that! Women will once again resort to black market abortions, possibly performed by non-medical personnel, just like they did before abortion was legalized. That leads to infection, infertility, and death. Sorry, women need that choice. I also cannot support someone who is opposed to gay marriage. Who cares if two men or two women want to marry? Big f-ing deal! "All you need is love" works for me. And stem cell research! I could write pages on that - to oppose that is just screwed up!
On the other hand, I don't fully trust Obama. I strongly agree that we need a change, but am already disollusioned about a true change ever occuring. I'm not too big on his Social Security plan, or the fact that he also does not support gay marriage, but on paper the rest of his plan looks decent. Something just doesn't sit well with me, though.
But to reverse again - what does Palin's daughter (or any of her kids) have to do with the election?? NOTHING! September 15 BS part 2From the Knoxville News Sentinel:
Knoxville posts highest gas prices in SoutheastNews Sentinel staff Knoxville had the highest gas prices in the Southeast, at least, over the weekend. The AAA Fuel Gauge Report, which measures prices daily based on credit card swipes at 85,000 gas stations around the country, put Knoxville's average price for unleaded gasoline at an all-time average high of $4.652 per gallon, based on the last swipes Sunday. That was almost 35 cents ahead of the second-highest average, Asheville, N.C., at $4.303 per gallon of unleaded. More than a dozen cities topped the $4-per-gallon average, and some stations in the Knoxville area were charging $4.999 per gallon this weekend. Cities in California averaged close to, but not more than, $4 per gallon. Cities in Texas averaged generally around $3.60-$3.70 per gallon, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report. Here's a sampling from the Southeast, all representing the highest recorded averages for each market except Louisville, where the average hit a high of $4.268 on June 30: -- Knoxville: $4.652 -- Asheville: $4.303 -- Macon: $4.291 -- Columbia: $4.209 -- Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill: $4.181 -- Roanoke: $4.138 -- Tuscaloosa: $4.122 -- Atlanta: $4.111 -- Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson: $4.108 -- Louisville: $4.101 September 14 Oh the drama...My poor kitty has had a traumatic weekend. First Chris and Emma took her to the vet to get a hydrocortisone shot so she'd stop scratching and licking the fur off her neck. The cat is a bit neurotic; once she starts she doesn't stop until she's ill and we have to take her to the vet. It's a flea allergy, and we are careful with treating the dogs, but it still happens about once every two summers that she will catch a flea or two and go nuts. I had to be at a Girl Scout event early, so I told Chris what she needed and what tablet to ask the vet for to get rid of whatever existing fleas are on her, and we'd re-treat her today with the flea drops we have. He was going to drop Emma off at the event after the visit. After a couple hours, he called - the $28 shot increased tenfold. Poor kitty had to be anesthetized and her neck shaved, two shots, and was sent home with a cone on her head. She doesn't do well with anesthesia anyway, never has her whole life. It takes her a long time to come out of it, and even longer to recover. She was quite upset once she was brought home, and when I came home later in the afternoon I held her and cuddled her for a while. She was fine that evening. At 330 this morning, Tucker started his scratching and whining at our bedroom door again. When I went to the hallway to chase him back to bed, she meowed at me from the office. I figured she was hungry, and brought her into our room to eat (the cat food dish is in our bathroom). Poor girl couldn't eat with the cone! It was the same size as her food dish so her head couldn't go down into the bowl. I took it off of her, and she ate quite a bit, then wanted back out after a while. This morning when I got up, I fed the dogs but couldn't find the cat anywhere! In the kitchen, I noticed a bottle of cleaner from under the sink laying on the floor, so I opened the cabinet to put it away, and there she was - sleeping on an overturned bottle of orange Mr. Clean. Problem was, since she was laying on the bottle, it leaked. And her fur soaked it right up! So Chris and I had to start out the morning with a cat bath before she tried bathing herself. Then her antibiotic, and some Frontline. Then, she kept trying to chew her bandages and getting it stuck in her mouth! Finally we cut them off and she's been fine ever since. September 13 This is pure BSSo yesterday morning on the early news (6 a.m.) there was a story about one gas station that had run out of regular unleaded gasoline - but were expecting a delivery later in the day. Then the weather came on - Hurricane Ike, of course, was the major story. The meteorologist just HAD to mention that IF the storm gets stronger, and IF it its in just the right place, then MAYBE it would damage the oil refineries. This was told to the same region that, if the forcast says it MIGHT snow, POSSIBLY up to on inch, everyone goes out and buys all the milk, bread, and toilet paper in every grocery store. Whether they need it or not. So guess what happened?? Sheer panic. Everyone was getting gas yesterday, if they needed it or not. Prices started jumping, and stations were running out. I passed dozens of sold-out gas stations on my way home yesterday (and I DID need gas!). I had to wait until today to get gas, and the price was $4.99 a gallon. Yesterday morning it was $3.65. I wish we had public transportation. September 09 An update on my fatherToday he saw a neurosurgeon. I've asked everyone I see here at the hospital, and people at church who worked in different facilities over the years, and everyone says he is excellent, amazing, wonderful - good to know.
Daddy is scheduled for surgery two weeks from tomorrow - my husband's birthday! - and is going to have two discs removed and replaced with donated discs. He will be in the hospital overnight and go home the next day. The discs are now pressing into his spine so much, the dr says that is most likely the cause of a majority of his MS symptoms. After the surgery, I suppose he will be re-evaluated for MS. If the compressed discs are causing so much of the problem, he might not even have it! But the lesions are present in the brain... We will see I suppose.
It was nice to see them during the day, though, although not for long since I had to get back to work and they had more errands to do before going home. We are going down next weekend for the family birthday dinner (yum!) and the following week is the surgery. I don't know what is up with our pets latelyBut they seem to think sleep is optional.
Two nights in a row, Tucker for some reason has been sitting at our bedroom door whining and scratching at the door - and he does not give up after a few minutes. He doesn't have to go out, it's like he's lonely or something.
Then night before last one of our 2 cats decided she liked my pillow. And the cat is a purrer. Loud purring. It is nice she is so happy to be near us, but quiet already! And stay off my pillow! I can't just put her out of the room at night, either, because her food is in our bathroom and she needs access to it. I'd hate to give her the evening insulin shot and then have her not get enough to eat and go into a coma - scary. She is normally so quiet we don't even know she is in the room.
Last night, Charla was once again the silent one, and her sister Ocoee was the problem. For the longest time, back and forth, on top of me, on my husband, trying to steal my pillow, sitting on my back and bathing (!!), all around a pain in the butt. I finally put her out of the room, but that was when Tucker started his whining again.
Throw in my husband's snoring, and I just simply have not been sleeping well this week! It's no wonder I'm nodding off at work - I can't keep my eyes open. September 07 Guilty pleasure... So I had been hearing so much about the new 90210 coming out - at first I though "oh no!" but then I kept hearing about several of the original characters coming back as teachers, children from the original now in high school, and I admit I was curious. I set up our DVR to record it (which I can do online, so cool!!) and finally watched the first episode. I actually liked it. I was all prepared to sit here and criticize it, make fun of it, and never see it again - but it was really good! Kelly is the guidance counselor, Brenda is a drama teacher, Kelly and David's little sister Erin is there, and Andrea's baby Hannah is there (and filling her mom's shoes). And Nat! How could anyone forget Nat! Although the Peach Pit has undergone quite the remodeling - goodbye diner, hello bistro. I went online again today and set up a season pass - for which I got some grief from my husband. But come on, I loved the original! I am glad this version lives up to the predecessor - and the hype. You have to be kidding me....Let me begin my saying that if your name appears below, I am so sorry. I was reading the birth announcements in today's paper. I don't do this very often, but one of Emma's friends' mom is expecting twins and I am not sure of her due date, so I was looking just in case. I could not believe all the names I saw! Usually I see a few that make me say "that poor kid" but today was bad name jackpot! It started out not too bad, with a Ronan and a Kainan (all spellings are exact) which aren't terrible, but the kids will be spelling them out for people forever. Then I see a Jolordan (seriously) and a Zaiden. A few lines down is a Rohan, and a Kemper who had a Fisher. Some chose perfectly fine names but butchered the spelling, like Jaxsen . Adyson, and Kayt-Lynn. Some combined a couple names or so -Aubreyanna, Tayleigh, Adalynn, Ellianna, Chandrabree. Then there are the names that defy explanation: Semaj Judaea Berlin (a girl), twins Cainen Jamarey and Camdyn Jakorey, Raiden Atreyu (a boy), and De'Mauri Kwamae. While I am all for names that are not so common they are almost cliched, there has to be a line drawn! This is what your child will be known as for the rest of their lives! Do you really want to brand them as Graier or Rilee Sincere? Come on now, that last one almost sounds like a porn star name. And the spellings that are so "creative" really are just the opposite - everyone is doing it, and all it does is give the impression the parents' IQ is around a 2. Just last week my husband had on a ball game and one guy was named Geovanny. The first thing that came to my mind was did his mother not know how to spell Giovanni? And if you are going to give your child a name from another country, know how to spell it or skip it. September 05 Stupid stuff that makes me laughI absolutely love the website "Overheard in New York." Sometimes the things I read make me laugh so hard I have to share them!
If you are offended by certain language, sorry. There is " adult language" included.
Starbucks barista (giving out some samples): Hey, would you like to sample our frappuccino?
Man with a bottle in a brown paper bag: Pssh. Nah. That shit don't go good with Hennessy. Starbucks barista: Oh, okay. Have a good day. Man with a bottle in a brown paper bag: Wait, sorry. That was fucked up. Do you wanna sample my Hennessy? ---
Woman: Honey, how about McDonald's? You want some chicken nuggets?
Toddler in a stroller: I'd rather die. --- Hippie woman: Ma'am, what did you just feed my dog?
Elderly woman: A treat. Hippie woman: What was it? Was it meat? Elderly woman: Well, not really, it was a sausage. Hippie woman: What is wrong with you?! My dog is a vegetarian! What if he had a food allergy?! Elderly woman: Right. Go away. ---
Mother: I ran into cousin Seth here the other day.
Two-year-old son: You mean, you hit heads? (taps forehead) --- Mom: Honey, what's the matter?
Girl: Am I going to turn green for being a bad girl too? Mom: Honey, I was just kidding about that! --- There are more - there is Overheard at the Office, at the Beach, by celebrities, and Everywhere else.
Just cracks me up.
September 04 One more thing about last night's speech... While I definitely agree we should drill for more oil (as a temporary solution until we find alternate fuel sources), the hundreds of people chanting "Drill baby drill" was just disturbing. September 03 Decaf coffee & Sarah Palin Honestly, what is the point of decaf coffee? Does anyone really drink it because it tastes good? Everyone I know drinks coffee for the caffeine, to wake up. Decaf coffee makes as much sense as a Big Mac and Diet Coke - pointless. Yes, these are the things I think about while at work. There has been so much about Sarah Palin lately. At first, I admit I was impressed with the initial articles I read about her. Taking on her own party, ethical house cleaning so to speak. Not being afraid to go against the grain. Sounded like the kind of thing I would like to see in the White House. But there are so many more sides to the story! Personally I could care less that her daughter is pregnant. I do hope she is not being forced into marrying the father, though; there are not many things more horrible than being forced into marriage with someone you do not want to spend the rest of your life with. (And yes, I was pregnant when we got married; no, nothing was forced. We were already engaged before the fact.) What I DO care about, though, is the fact that she is strongly anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. I strongly believe that whether or not I personally agree with abortion, women should have that choice. No government should have the right to tell me what I can and can't do with my body. I also strongly feel that if two people are in love, let them get married! Who cares if they are two men, two women, or a man and a woman. We need to stop interfering in everyone else's lives! I do like the fact that she is a member of the NRA. I firmly believe in the Second Amendment. If more responsible citizens had guns in their homes, more burglars, rapist, and murders would think twice about breaking in to houses. Besides, research has shown that more children die in swimming pools than from gun accidents every year. You don't see people calling for bans on pools, do you? I also find it wrong to criticize Palin for running for VP while having five children, especially an infant with Down's Syndrome. Ummm.... she has a husband. It's not like she'd be leaving her family behind in Alaska, either; they'd all move to Washington. How many other women in high-profile, demanding jobs have children and it is not mentioned at all? I'm sure she has a nanny also; and so do thousands of other women. Nothing wrong with that at all! I'm still trying to work out which way I will vote. So many issues that I feel strongly about fall on opposite sides of the party lines. I know a lot of the issues will not truly be issues, they never change and are basically just talking points. However, I am so tired of this country getting involved in the fights of other nations all over the world; spending billions, if not trillions, of our money in the fights of other nations that don't even involve the US. I heard something on the news a few days ago about us getting involved in the Russia/Georgia conflict. WHY WHY WHY??? It's bad enough that we went from "looking for Bin Laden" in Afghanistan to suddenly invading Iraq. And still being there. Found Bin Laden yet? He is the one who was responsible for the attack on NYC seven years ago, or was that forgotten? Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. It's late, I have to get up early in the morning, and I've drank so much caffeine today to try unsuccessfully to wake up and it's just now hit me. Perfect. Goodnight. |
|
|
