ugh

Hey ya'll. I really wanted to update before now. But shit happened. Like a road trip from hell back from PA. Took us 13 hours and I somehow drove 11 of it. W kept feeling too sleepy or dizzy or something, which was a portent of things to come. Seems he came down with whatever his dad had on Christmas Eve and spent Friday puking. The same evil whatever also hit Bubba at 4 am yesterday morning. Right now, I feel about five minutes away from puking myself, but one guess where I am? Work. Blah.

So about the car. It wasn't a surprise, because I had to sign over the title on my Stratus, which got pretty much nothing for trade in. But I have one payment left on W's truck, and the first car payment will be a few weeks after that. I'll try to get some pics, but see above. Very unmotivated. I haven't even upload the Christmas pictures yet.

I finally got to meet my niece, W's brother M's little girl, who he is in an ugly custody battle over. She's beautiful and such a good baby. Too bad she has a total witch for a mother. Their court date is Wednesday, and things should go in his favor, but you never know.

Overall, Christmas was great. Bubba got incredibly spoiled and was batshit when he realized Santa brought him exactly what he wanted. Considering Santa didn't FIND exactly what he wanted until oh, the 22nd. He was also pleased with the other stuff we scrounged up for him, not to mention all the goodies from the inlaws. We were totally crammed into my car coming home with everything. I got goodies, too, of course, and my favorite (aside from the car) was the big, fluffy, supersoft bathrobe, in guess what color, oh mud friends of mine! Noone else quite understood why I squeaked, OH IT'S MAUVE!!!! *sigh*

W also scored points with a little gag gift. I have a tendency to be watching something or other on tv and getting upset at the unbelievability of it and 'raising the bullshit flag.' Well, now I have a bullshit button, and it says five different bullshit sayings when you press it. I laughed out loud big time when I opened that one.

I froze my tush off in Pennsylvania, and am so glad to be back to my 60 and 70 degree weather. It's supposed to get cold here again, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying my new sunroof in the car!!

Hope ya'll had a wonderful holiday. Best wishes for a great New Year. 2008 here we come, may you be better than '07. For everyone.

ETA: minutes after hitting publish, the puking has commenced. pray i make it home.

forgive me.....

......for leaving this for the last minute, but I've been swamped at the office because I'm taking a whole week off....I won't be back in front of a computer for like a week, either, since I don't get much time at the inlaws to compute.

But y'all. My husband? Pulled one out of his ass, and bought me a new fucking car for Christmas. Yes, a brand new, 2008 Dodge Caliber....go google it! I am so flipping over the moon. I'll catch ya'll up later, because I have to leave to go to the bank and then get Bubba and then go home and pack. We're leaving tonite. In my NEW CAR!!! It's fantastic.

Merry Christmas y'all. See ya, and here's hoping I don't freeze my ass off in PA.

Love ya!!!!

hectic

So the radio statio Christmas party was last Friday. It was awesome. I ate too much, drank just enough to get happy, without getting obliterated, and overall had a wonderful time. We had a surprise from the big boss, a chinese auction, or white elephant game as some call it. It got ugly. Fighting over gift cards to the mall. Lemme tell ya, we had awesome gifts in the mix, best I've ever seen at a party like this. I tried to swipe a gift card, but got swiped right back, and ended up with a certificate for golf for four at one of the fancy places. Turns out, it's gonna be Boss1's present! He should absolutely love it, and I feel no guilt for regifting it.

I still have some Christmas shopping to do, but have no motivation to do so. I just want it all to be over. I'm dreading the trip to Pittsburgh, because of many things. Bubba will enjoy it, I'm sure, so I guess that's all that matters.

Speaking of Bubba, he helped us wrap a batch of presents last nite. We still need to get his wrapped and figure out what we're taking with us and what is staying here. We finally got him to tell us what he told Santa he wanted, which started the mad scramble to find it. Which W was able to do yesterday.

Our secretaries tea and gift exchange is this afternoon. We do a secret pal thing all year long and the big reveal is today, of course. I can't wait to see the look on my pal's face, when she realizes it's been me all year long. She normally figures out who has her, but she hasn't this year. I knew who had me for the first part of the year, because she left the office, and told me, but then I got someone new, and I'm not sure who it is.

It's absolutely freezing down here today. The low overnight was like 25. Hello, I live at the beach, I moved here to get away from those temperatures!!!! Blah. I know most of you have much colder weather, but man. I can't even imagine how cold it's going to be in PA next week. I don't have a heavy coat. I don't want a heavy coat. I don't want to NEED a heavy coat. I sincerely hope it doesn't snow, at least not when we are driving home. If we get a little for Christmas, it'll be ok, because Bubba will get to play again. For as long as I can manage to stay out in the cold, anyway.

Ok, I gotta get back to work. I'm behind thanks to last minute stuff with Boss1 yesterday. And I hear him down the hall, so it's time to get back to work. See ya.

If I don't make it back before I leave, Merry Christmas to all. Hope it's a wonderful holiday for you and all your wishes come true.

woo hooo!

My boys are on the way home, having left around 10 this morning. I should see them in about 5-6 hours!!!! One last nite of freedom at home, and then back to the craziness that is life at my house with my boys. But I'm looking forward to it. I miss them both so much.

2007 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!!!

Thanks Missy. (anything still in all caps indicates I didn't change your answer!)

You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge!!! Fill it out and pass it on.... send it back to me, I would love to hear your answers!!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? HOT CHOCOLATE

2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps, other people don't do this, I've just recently discovered! WTF?

3 . Colored or white lights? Colored

4. Do you hang mistletoe? NO

5. When do you put your decorations up? ANYTIME AFTER THANKSGIVING

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Turkey

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? snooping through the house for presents

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I have no idea

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I never did until I started dating my husband.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? MORE = BETTER
.
11. Snow: Love it or hate it? Hate it

12. Can you ice skate? It's been a while, but yes.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? ???

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Mother in laws chocolate pie!!!!!!!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? SPENDING TIME WITH MY FAMILY AND EATING LIKE A PIG

17. What is on top of your tree? An angel

18. Which do you like best giving or receiving? DEFINITELY GIVING

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night

20. Do you like candy canes? I liked them better when I was a kid!!!!

This dog really enjoys snow

In an effort to continue to not post anything about what I've been up to, which is nothing, really, here's another youtube video I found. It's funny, and it makes me smile, especially since I don't have to deal with all the snow.

As she says, "Eye Candy"

I stole this from Missy's Myspace, because I just had to. The tenth pic, of John and Kenny smiling huge is my favorite. I think. There are some awesomse shots of them both in it. I'm so totally drooling. The slideshow is from their video shoot for "Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace." Missy, I think this might be more appropriate for the Mafia page, huh? Oh well, it's here.

This is the one I mean.

Another video

Big & Rich with John Anderson, "Seminole Wind" This was on CMT a while back, on a Cross Country special.

If...

noone hears from me for a while, it's because I'm jail for killing my fucking asshole dickhead shitbag husband. Think I can manage that when he's still 750 miles away? Anyone wanna add any insult names? Most of mine entail some variation of fuck.

Stuff I'm grooving to.

trying to post some videos i've been liking lately, and it won't work the way I want. This one has emedding turned off so I have to link to it. It's Big and Rich with Bon Jovi, "We Got It Going On". Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hys-kfJpkcc


I figured out how to embed...this is Bon Jovi with Leann Rimes.

                    

I have a lot of stuff on my youtube page, if anyone is interested, email me and i'll give ya my username. or whatever. Man I could spend days on youtube looking for Big and Rich stuff.

I just realized....

I never posted birthday cake pictures...

Here it is, half decorated. And yes, I put the cake on the floor for the picture.





Here it is with the cars on it and some finishing touches with the icing. Notice the wrecked car, he loved that.



This was so incredibly easy to make, but I have no clue what I'll do next year.

Tales from Grammy's

So Bubba is having a great time with Grammy, and I have some stories to share, because they are worth sharing, and it's my blog and I'll write what I want to, HA!

First, he's been skipping a LOT of naps lately, missing more than he's taking. Monday nite, around 8 p.m., he walks up to Grammy and says, I need you to put my jammies on because I'm tired and want to go to bed. (he has NEVER asked to go to bed here, NEVER!!) So by the time she gets his jammies on and reads one story, he's sound asleep. My silly, silly boy.

The night before W's brother, M, was visiting his daughter, don't get me started on the fiasco that is his visitation. They were driving back to drop her off, and she was fussy in the car. M, was just starting to sing Hush little baby and Bubba interrupts and says, "No, M, you dont' know the words, I'll do it." And he proceeds to sing her the FULL lullaby (which he hears just about every night from me) and wouldn't you know, she not only calms down, she goes to sleep. M says he about cried it was so sweet.

Also, we got M a little snow innertube for the baby, not that she can use it yet, and Bubba says, "She's too little, so *I'll* sit on it, and hold her and I will protect her." (They just need the snow!)

Too cute, man I miss that little bugger.

P.S. W got his first deer of the season, here's hoping there's more to come.

Howdy

Umm, hi. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, which we did at the Hideaway. Well technically, at my parents hideaway. Ate too much food. Wanted to drink too much wine, but better judgment prevailed. Craving leftovers and have none.

Things have been dark and gloomy here, just a lot of things. I keep praying it all gets better, but......

W and Bubba have (finally) headed out for PA for second round of mad hunting in an effort to fill our freezer. (They got delayed almost a whole day by a screw up with the pharmacy and waiting on scripts to get filled properly) Bubba will get spoiled rotten again, and then come home and be evil demon child from hell. His behavior lately has prompted us to discuss getting him evaluated for some deeper issues than just tantrums and four year old stuff.

I now have two weeks to stay up late, goof on the computer and watch all my trashy tv shows when they are actually ON instead of DVR'ed.

See ya.

I feel compelled to post this

In honor of Veteran's Day, and for all those who serve, have served, or will serve. Thank you. I am the only child of my family that did not join the military, with a father and grandfather that also served, not to mention uncles and cousins, family friends, what not. I am a devoted supporter of our Armed Forces and have had countless holidays with my loved ones at war. (Thankfully, my middle brother is not overseas right now, but he may be going back soon.) My father spent over 30 years in the Air Force. My oldest brother has been in the Navy for 19 years. And the middle brother has been involved with various branches for about 10 years or so, I'm fuzzy on his time.

Regardless of your political views on the President, the war, whatever, support of the troops is of the utmost importance. Someone emailed me this link and I had to share it.

http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

Again, to all our troops. Thank you. We wouldn't be America without our troops of the past, present and future.

If you have the opportunity, thank a Veteran today. And every day.

If I remember, I'll try to edit this with links to the video for 8th of November by Big & Rich. (I can't do it right this minute.) Otherwise, if you're intrigued, do a youtube search for it, it's awesome.

Halloween pictures

The pumpkin carving:


The end result. (this was his third pumpkin this year and first he let us make that was scary.


My little fireman



Let's GO MOM!

The BOUNTY!

Playing NASCAR Thunder on Playstation. He drives by himself, wait, no, he wrecks by himself, we have to help him stay on the track, but he doesn't like it when we do. He likes the wrecks.

And finally a goofy one of W, because I want to:

how lame am I?

I'm live blogging the CMA's on the Muzik Mafia site. I think that's lame. I'm seriously rooting for Big & Rich, but they are so underappreciated, I doubt they'll get anything. Check it out. Real time, or once it's all done. Lemme know what you think, either there or here. I'm having fun with it.

Birthdays and whatnot

So Bubba's birthday is Saturday. While I had planned on just getting a cake from the store, W kinda expressed dismay at that. So I searched for cake ideas online and came up with this year's masterpiece. A racetrack cake. Shouldn't be all that difficult to decorate, and hopefully it will top last year's pirate ship cake. We'll just have to see. W has promised to help me decorate, I'll be baking tomorrow, freezing them and then either decorating Friday night or Saturday morning. Getting all the stuff tonite. Have I mentioned I still haven't bought the child a present? Gah, I'm a bad mommy. Maybe I'll use the jammies I have tucked away for Christmas. W has something he wants to get, but never got around to it, and I'm not driving out to the store where it is.

Because, gas prices are insanely insane. We are normally among the cheapest down here in the south, and lemme tell ya. It's now $3.00 a gallon at our cheapest place. It's outrageous and it's killing me.

Work is blah. Crazy busy for the most part, and I have been a good little girl and getting bunches done, normally right after it comes in, instead of holding off. Preparing for the upcoming onslaught, when I'll be even busier, I suppose. Still getting to play around a little, but not as much.

We're trying to sell the last of the stuff out of the neighbor's house. A bunch I've taken care of, even tho it was supposed to be W's thing, but go figure, he's out of town. No hits on the electric, fancy wheelchair, and I'm hoping to be able to do something with it before the bank comes for the house, it would suck to have it be gone.

I didn't tell the story about our utility trailer, did I? Well, we got this used trailer, forever ago and the four wheeler fit on it perfectly for running to and from places, and it helped in the yard with stuff. W used to be able to put the four wheeler in the back of the truck but when he added the tool box it didn't fit any more, hence the need for the trailer. Anyway. In order to get the fourwheeler to PA, it would have to go on the trailer. But the trailer can't leave the state without a plate, it's not necessary to have one instate (stupid, but there ya go.) Well, since this was a used trailer, we didn't have the paperwork for a title, which you need to get a plate from the DMV. He tried everything he could and no go. So faced with either lots of tickets if he used our trailer anyway, or no four wheeler in pa, we went out and bought a new fricking trailer. See, when you buy them new the store gives you the paperwork for a plate. Grumble grumble grumble.

W is leaving PA on Friday morning to get in sometime that night. Bubba has convinced Grammy that he needs to travel with them, so they'll be all down together, leaving Friday night. I can't wait. I miss my family. I've loved the independence, of doing what I want, whenever (like going shoe shopping after work yesterday, I bought TWO much needed pairs, but fear not, budget is intact because I used giftcards!!!), but I can't keep it up forever. I have no discipline, and I've stayed up too late either on the computer or watching trashy tv. The only thing I've been GOOD about is my eating, sticking with grilled chicken, either in wraps, in salad or with rice for dinners. Wish I could keep that up when W gets back but alas, I know that won't happen.

A list of things I haven't been missing: Bubba's tantrums, W's flatulence and snoring. Hum, that's not too long, is it. I think that's good. If I wasn't starting to get too much thrown at me at work, I'd have more, I'm sure. Gotta wrap it up now and deal with the boxes of office furniture for Boss1 now piled in the hallway.....hopefully he doesn't expect me to help build it, because that wouldn't end well.

Have a great rest of the week y'all, I'll probably be MIA once the family gets here.

Home alone

Shortly after Trick or Treat, my boys left. Off to Pennsylvania for hunting for W and fun and games with Grammy and everyone for Bubba. He dressed up as a fireman and hauled in the candy, I tell ya. I have a lot of pictures on the camera, and will try to upload some tomorrow.

I'm getting a perm tonite. So excited. Been six months on this one, and it's not looking horrible, but it's time. Got a trim about six weeks ago, so I may have her trim it a bit too. Also, we won't be at the salon, she offered to do it at home, which will save me bunches of money. Couldn't turn that down.

Christmas Club money is in the bank account now. I have a huge pending order at an online store, just waiting for me to click pay. I'm searching for free shipping coupon codes, but they did send me a coupon for joining for 10% off, which amounts to about the same thing. So when I get home tonite, since that is where I left the code, I will put it through and scratch a bunch of names off our list. Then I'll do more online stuff, probably, because it's easy.

Between you, me and the lamppost, I don't want to do this personal injury stuff at the office. It's complicated, I don't have a clue what I'm doing, I'm terrified I'm going to mess something up and have Boss1 all mad about it. He's all gungho for it, but he's not taking the calls from the idiots who want money for nothing. I had one lady say she never even knew the other person hit her until they walked up to her window. Yet she is so injured she wants money. Gimme a break. Oh, I'm getting a nameplate for my door! Awesomeness. Maybe I'll do a picture, but I'd have to blur it or something. Too much work.

I miss my child and it's been less than a day. I guess I miss the husband, too, but not any of the drama we've been dealing with the last few months. They won't be back until next week, in time for Bubba's birthday.

Off to lunch at my desk. Take care and Love Everybody!

Why can I never beat the odds in a GOOD way?

K, as promised, I've deleted the post, but not fully, because I didn't want to lose y'alls wonderfully supportive comments.....we're in a bit better place but still disgusted overall with the whole thing.

New post soon, depending on how swamped I stay at work

In other news

I have failed to mention, because I've been so caught up with the Big & Rich excitement, that changes are happening at the office. One of the attorneys is leaving, one has already left, but this second one is taking both of his assistants with him and opening his own office. What does this mean for ole Beachgal? I get an office from one of the girls who is leaving. And Boss2 is going to starting doing a different type of law, in addition to all the other stuff we already do. Which means I'll be even busier. He's also moving into the office of the leaving attorney, and what that ultimately means is that I will be in an office right next to him, which is also right next to Boss1. It's all very exciting, but I am not looking forward to the actual moving part of it all. But having an office, with a door, that locks, is going to be totally awesome. I'll have enough room (hopefully) to spread out all the stuff I need to have everywhere. And I'm going to have a little refrigerator, and room for a tv/vcr/dvd combo, which I haven't asked for yet, but will make the criminal law aspect easier so I won't have to take stuff home for viewing.

Home life is still up and down. Bubba has been behaving a bit better, we've really been working on a lot of things with him.

We have a tentative appointment for W's next procedure, depending on if one of the key people is actually available. Still not sure if this procedure will help anything, but we have to try.

Nephew A had another surgery in New York with the surgeon that did his cornea transplant. They removed a bunch of scar tissue and some other gunk in his eye and they feel his eye is doing great. So hopefully he won't need any more surgeries any time soon and he can get back to being just a normal 3 year old.

I'm at the station, working a race. Not much else going on worth noting. Happy weekend everyone and catch ya later.

Love everybody!

The official picture

Here it is! The shot they took of me with everyone. Notice how close I managed to get to John Rich. *sigh*

Pinch me (this got really long, I'm sorry)

Ok, ya'll. I gotta tell ya, I didn't fully embarrass myself yesterday when I was backstage. But picture this. You finally, after years of embracing an artist, be it an actress, musician, whatever, and engrossing yourself in all you can about them, you finally get the chance to meet them. Now, multiply that by about 1000 and you get my situation last nite. I CRIED!!!

We waited forever and ever it seemed to be able to go backstage, after hanging out up front with the radio station folks. The tour manager or whoever, gathered us around and was explaining no pictures, no autographs, etc. Lemme tell ya, I was pissed. They gave us an autographed picture of the boys that has a website where we can download the picture that THEY took of us with the guys. Eventually they said we could take pictures while in line but to not ask for an autograph. Well I had brought my book, (that is the Big and Rich book) and the shirt we have for Bubba with as many signatures of groups and artists that we can get. My radio folks were assuring me that since we were going last, it shouldn't be a problem for autographs and it wasn't. So finally the guys came out, and I went a little bonkers, saying, "Oh my god, oh my god." I calmed down soon, cause I had to. Before the guys came out we ran into the lead guitarist from Lynryd Skynrd and he was signing some autographs and posing for some pics. It was cool. So I took a lot of pictures while in line and got some great shots, and I can't wait to get them off the camera. So as we were waiting our turn people were getting stuffed signed and I felt better. Finally it was my dad's turn, and he went up, then me. I was so excited. All the wonderful things I had wanted to tell the guys flew right out of my head and I never said them. I did tell them a few times how much I loved them and their music and all that. I kinda grabbed onto John Rich and didn't wanna let go after they took the picture...then I asked them to sign my book, and they did. In between the picture and the signing something just went off in my brain, and I blurted out, "I'm gonna cry!" They told me, "Don't cry darlin'" I wasn't bawling, but I was just sooo damn happy to have finally met them, and that's what I said. I need to add that Two Foot Fred, the little man that helps with all their shows, and Cowboy Troy the hick-hop country rapper dude, were also there for the meet and greet. So I said hey to them and told them they rocked. By this time they were really trying to usher us along and out, but my morning show guys from the station were still getting stuff signed. Then Korby (the female of the morning show duo) was able to get ALL OF THEM to sign Bubba's shirt, which kicks ass. He was excited when I gave it to him this morning. I hung around as long as I could, and the guys started walking away, but I asked John, "Hey one more pic for me, please?" And he gave me a great look and I snapped the pic right as the guys in charge were ready to grab me and show me out. Granted it was maybe ten minutes total that I was in their presence, and only about five standing right next to them, but to me it was absolutely momentous. When we went back out and got in our seats I just sat down and heaved this big sigh and was so content. One of my biggest dreams has come (partly) true, and only partly because I still want to hang with them and jam or something. But meeting them is high up there on something I've wanted to do for a very long time.

The guys put on an awesome show, which I expected, no need to go on and on about that. My dad really had a good time with Big and Rich, and then it was time for Skynyrd. Man, what a show they put on. I was a little uncertain whether I'd really enjoy them or not, but I shouldn't have worried. It was fantastic. Ricky Medlocke, the guitarist we met backstage, was absolutly phenomenal. I don't know just how old this man is, but keep in mind that Skynyrd has been around for thirty damn years, and he was at least probably 25 when they started. He never stopped bouncing around on stage, and his playing was just unreal.

The only bad parts of the night was the fact that it poured down rain for about half of Big and Rich's show. We had rain ponchos so we didn't get too wet. Then it took us over an HOUR to get out of the parking lot. Due in part to the fact that I parked right at the front of the gate for the pre show stuff we did with the radio station. Papa bought an awesome shirt, and the same one for W. Great quote by John Rich, "If you don't love America, why don't you get the hell out" with an American Flag on the front.

Okay, that's probably way more than most of you like to read about this kind of stuff. I'm hoping to work on the pictures tomorrow, but I have tons to do at work. I'll get them posted as soon as I can.

C-ya, and in the words of Big Kenny, "LOVE EVERYBODY!!!!"

Ugh

K, I've been MIA a while, but with good reason. I've struggled with how to write about all of this. So much has happened in the past few weeks, not much of it good. In a nutshell, my neighbor, right next door, died. We stepped in to keep the minor daughter from going to social services, and foster care, because she had now lost both parents. Then we had the funeral, and a week plus of helping the out of state family try to get the house taken care of as well as all the necessary arrangements for relocating the daughter. We're still trying to find a home for one last pet. It's been a rough few weeks with all of that. It was a very sudden and unexpected thing. Farewell Carolyn, you are missed.

Work has been crazy. Very busy, same other issues with the bosses.

Still in limbo with W's back. Waiting to hear about whether they are scheduling this thing we're going to try.

Bubba has been demon child from hell. He refuses to listen, won't do simple tasks he's told to do, etc. Started a new incentive program, which was my mom's idea and it seems to help. But my patience is so thin right now, I am not handling his disobedience properly, and that isn't helping matters any.

I'm really tired today, and I'm hoping it's just allergies and impending mother nature issues. I havent' felt this low on energy in a long time. Sure I'm always tired, but this is bone crushing fatigue I'm feeling right now, struggling to keep my eyes open at work.

Hope all of you are well. I'll try to check in more often, as I keep saying.

Time for a LIST!

Things that are aggravating me today:

• WORKERS COMP! W had an appointment today, and we thought we would be moving on to scheduling the next thingymajig, but NO! He drove the hour and a half plus today, met with the doc, only to be told he has to come back tomorrow for three hours of tests. And before we can move on to the thingymajig, he'll have to go back to review the test results first. NOONE TOLD US THIS! (until today. this pisses me off!)
• MY HUSBAND! While at his doctor appointment, an hour and a half plus away, he locked his keys in the truck. Left them in the ignition, something he has never done before. THANK GOD for the roadside assistance with the warranty on the truck because they came out and got him back in and it didn't cost anything. I was going to be furious if I had to leave work, drive out there to unlock the truck and drive back.
• WORK! This place is just driving me absolutely crazy. My bosses are never here, but I have so much stuff piled up that I need them for. Then they act all crappy when I am swamped with stuff and can't do this or that at the drop of a dime. HELLLOOOO! Come to work for more than a few hours a day and I wouldn't be as stressed out.
• HOLY SHIT MY SON WILL BE FOUR IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS!!!!!!! I am not prepared for a party, the inundation of gifts and more meaningless JUNK toys and stuff. If I thought it would be effective, I would institute a "no toy" gift rule. Books and clothes or puzzles, instead of useless piles of plastic crap he doesn't need. Then Christmas is shortly after that and my inlaws do NOT know the meaning of not going overboard on him. I'm glad they love him and so on, but my house is too cluttered.
• CLEANING! The belt on my top of the line Dyson vacuum cleaner broke. After six months. I looked for one in about five different stores this weekend, with no results. Turns out, they aren't sold in stores. One call to the company, and a new belt along with a new complete brush component, since they updated the part after we bought ours is on the way. All under warranty and free of charge. Guess it does pay to have a deluxe vacuum cleaner. 'Cept I can't actually, you know, VACUUM until the stuff gets here. Two dogs, two cats, a messy toddler, and hair that falls out of MY head with a slight breeze makes for gross carpets. But forget I mentioned any of that if you ever have a chance to come visit me! (hahahahahah)
• K, I think that's it. Must go back to this pile of meaningless work on my desk, even tho the bosses don't seem to care about any of it, so why should I?

Hope you all have a good week. Talk to you soon.

P.S. This is my 100th post at Blogger!! WOO!

What's that strange sound?

Oh yeah, it's SILENCE!!! And I don't mean from me and not posting forever, but in my house, because there are not SIX extra people in it. And an extra dog, who did NOT get along with my animals at ALL! One of my dogs went to the vet after a minor scuffle. Then my one cat, you know, the one with the claws, shredded the visiting dog's nose and face. Why? Because the stupid dog didn't get the clue that when a cat is hiding under the bed, and is growling at you, it might NOT be a good idea to get all up in her face. This is after my non-clawed cat beat the hell out of the dog, too, and bit her ear. Who said dogs were the smarter species??

Anyway. The inlaw invasion is over, they are home safe and sound and no permanent damage was done. By the end of the week, nerves were frayed and everyone was getting snippy, so it was good once they left. We did tons of stuff in the evenings, Bubba stayed up late all week, regardless of my objections, of course. I ate way too much junk food, way too often. I don't know how I didn't gain ten pounds.

Work is crazy and I would love to write about this crazy case we took that keeps snowballing into more craziness, but I just can't. Maybe when it's all settled, which won't be a while considering all the aspects of it.

W has been down in the dumps again. We've not been fighting bad, until he blew up the fricking computer at home. Joint effort got it up and running again, but not before some ugliness. I've been telling him and telling him to quit downloading so much junk, but he never listens and then gets pissed when the computer goes kaput. Damn thing is only a year old. But it's all fine now.

His next appointment is Monday, but it's with the shrink he has to see before following through with the next step. Which, hope against hope, is going to relieve pain in his back, but we just won't know until it happens.

Bubba finally got a haircut. He kept telling us he wanted to let it grow, it was getting pretty shaggy, and he finally said we could cut it, and we quickly ushered him into the bathroom and buzzed him up good. He looks so much older. OH! He's getting FRECKLES!!!! Some very light ones under his eyes and on his nose. Thought it was dirt at first, but no, cute, adorable little freckles. He spent a lot of time at the beach with the inlaws, and even smothered in 45SPF the sun still got him freckles, and I LOVE THEM!!!! But don't call him freckle-face, he gets mad. Freckles alone is ok, but not freckle-face.

I did find out, officially, that I will be meeting Big & Rich next month with the station. I volunteered to help out on site, with last minute giveaways and what not, and that was appreciated. For the chance to totally embarrass myself a little work seems miniscule. I need to plan out what I'm going to say, when I finally get my chance, because I really don't want to totally embarrass myself. Not to mention, I want to ask them if I can party with them after the show. Not sure that will go over well, but you never know.

Ok, I gotta get back to work. Hope all is well in your worlds. I haven't chatted with any of you in a while. Thanks for stopping by, I'll try not to let so much time go in between posts.

we're alive

I don't get much computer time when the inlaws are around, so I'm trying to make a quick post from work.

Our weekend was fantastic, albeit expensive. We gambled away everything we took with us, which we expected, we were just hoping to win big and be all happy and such. We had fun, the slots were great, different, and the concert. Oh man, it was phenomenal. My voice still isn't back to normal, it's all scratchy and hoarse, but it was so fricking worth it! I tried to crash their after party behind the casino, but W wouldn't let me, and I was kinda scared of getting arrested. I hope so bad I can meet them next month when they are in this area.

Took some pics, but not many, was fighting with the camera, I really need to learn the settings better.

The trip up was nice, it was gorgeous driving through the mountains up there. We want to go back, for a longer trip or vacation, stay in a cabin by the creeks or something. Dreaming big, but probably won't ever happen. We still talk about going back to Williamsburg, too, but doubt it will happen.

Otherwise, the weekend flew by. Bubba had a fantastic time at G-ma's with my brother and his son. He's currently being spoiled rotten by Grammy and company. He's still having meltdowns at times, but I'm dealing with them.

Today is the first day in about four days that I have not had a splitting headache. Even through the casino/concert, etc. and popping W's migraine pills, I was quite miserable at times. Yesterday was the worst, but it seems to have gone away after a night's sleep. Don't know how long that will last since work has me crazy.

Off I must be, got to get some junk cleared off my desk. Boss2 has been out since last week, so once he appears this afternoon, the craziness will begin. And no sign of Boss1 yet today, either, tho I have discussed some new calls with him.

Hope you all had a good Labor Day. We grilled about ten pounds of chicken, and my refridgerator is completely stuffed since we have so much company. Normally it's empty but for soda, milk and lunchmeat and water. I should take pictures of the difference.

Have a good day y'all. Hope all is well.

Hey y'all.

Jeez, how do I keep letting a week go by without posting? Just shows how boring my life really is. Not much going on. Worked at the station a bunch this weekend, but it was busy and I didn't get to goof much. Had a Busch race Friday night, along with a high school football game. Then because of all the damn rain we've been having the game I was supposed to work on Thursday got postponed until Saturday evening, and I did that, too. It's more involved than a race, but it's still the same basic job. I liked chatting with the game announcers when we were at break, they seemed really cool. The one is a deputy, and knows Boss1 from all the courthouse stuff. Small world.

Let's see, what else. Bubba is sleeping over at my parents Friday and Saturday, with the added bonus that my brother and his son are coming down for the weekend, too. Bubba and Tank (that's what I'm calling A from now on) are going to have a blast. Mom is going to take them to Build A Bear, and do a dinosaur, which is a new branch of BAB. I've been wanting to take him for that, but of course, haven't done it yet, so G-ma offered. She's also gonna try to get them to get some pictures taken.

We've had storms almost every day for a week. Bubba keeps getting freaked out by it, and we're at a loss to get him over it. Seems he goes through this stage every summer, since we have so many storms this time of year. Hopefully it passes soon.

Greatly looking forward to this weekend for our trip and concert. The inlaws will be in sometime Saturday while we are out, but they have keys and can take care of the animals, and we'll just see them when we get back on Sunday. Then we'll go pick up Bubba and the party will be on. They are staying for a week, which means Bubba off schedule and spoiled and everything. *sigh* Not much I can do about it, so I'm going to try and just go with the flow and try not to get stressed out.

Work has finally calmed a bit. I've had a couple really rough, busy weeks, with too much drama and craziness. I'm hoping it settles back down for good soon. Somedays I just have way too much to do, I rush and end up making mistakes, then I beat myself up about them, the bosses get upset with me, etc. However, if either one of them were actually IN the office more than a few hours a day, it would be much easier.

Ok, I'm off to do filing and various other stuff that completely bores me silly.

So what's up with all of y'all???

So we're making this trek to Cherokee for this concert and some gambling. I got the hotel room, more than I really wanted to pay, but most places were booked for some reason. And, to my surprise, what do I find out last week? Big & Rich are coming HERE!!!!! Not to Myrtle Beach, but to Marion, which is only like 30 minutes....and the radio station is giving away tickets all week and my boss promised me a pair!!! I'm so unbelievably excited. Now I will get to see them a third time. With the possibility of meet/greet, since the station will probably do something like that. And heaven forbid, if the guys come to the radio station, I am totally ditching work and going to hang. Already told my boss at the office. I am NOT getting my hopes up on that, I don't know how likely that is to happen, but it's fun to think about.

Didn't do much this weekend, was off from the station for my birthday. We did our shopping, some yard work, went swimming. Ate cake. Bubba loves cake, he eats all the icing first, then nibbles on the cake. Smart boy.

I had an incredibly stressful week at the office last week. Crisis after crisis and just soo much work to try to get done each day. Finally got caught up come Friday. I have a bunch already today, and I'm totally unmotivated to get it done.

My parents went to Pittsburgh over the weekend for the first time since they went up to move ME down here in 1999!! I should have gone with, it was for a funeral of the son of a very close family friend. I regret not going, but I just could NOT get off work on Friday. Not to mention, I wouldn't have had Bubba snuggles on my birthday. That was hard enough last year, I didn't want to do it again. Anyway, rest in piece, Mike, you will be dearly missed.

Not to end on a sad note, but that's all I got. Have a good week, y'all. Talk soon.

Not so VIP

Well, after some miscommunication, travel discussions and whatnot, I've got my tickets. I wasn't allowed to buy VIP tickets because they are only for basically the highrollers at the casino or whatever. But I did get floor seats, and will try to find out how close we'll actually be and if I can bring a camera. We've also decided to get a hotel, instead of driving up and back in one day/night. The show is at nine. We leave early enough and don't have problems, we should have time to find the hotel, get to the casino and pick up the tickets and maybe do a little gambling. Now I just have to get some money stashed for gambling....I'm setting out now to find a hotel close. We can't stay at the casino because they are booked. Figures. Regardless, I'M EXCITED!!

Last nite we had a tremendously wicked thunderstorm roll in around one am or so. How bad? Bad enough that W, Bubba, the dogs and I were in the CLOSET! We feared a tornado, bad. Couldn't get the cats to stay in the closet. Didn't help that the closet is jam packed with all W's new hunting stuff. Bubba was terrified, unfortunately but he settled down quickly enough once it passed through. We lost power for a good while, had flashlights and candles out. I woke back up around four to the lights back on so luckily it wasn't a long outage. That was the worst storm we've had in a long time. Both of the flag poles out on the front of the house got messed up. The POW one broke completely off the house, bracket and all. The American flag flew off, and I found the top of the pole in the POOL, around back. The part of the pole that is left attached to the house is bent into some wicked shapes, so that tells us just how bad the wind really was. The humidity broke for a while this morning, but it's still going to be in the 90's this afternoon. We've had a heat index of around 120 F every day for the past week.

Well, off to work, they'll be calling soon for the first break of this remote...I'll have time to shoot home in between this, the race and next remote. And I have to work tomorrow, which I usually don't do. The trade off is I'll be off next weekend. (Happy Birthday to me!) Then I gotta tell my boss that I need the concert day off, too! Have a great weekend y'all....more soon.

AGAIN!

Oh man, I can't believe this. I've just discovered that Big & Rich are coming to Cherokee, NC (which isn't really THAT close to us) and W has said to get the tickets if I really want them. OF COURSE I WANT THEM! VIP tix are 75 bucks each, and I've actually convinced myself to go for it. I'll be using a credit card, so I won't drain the savings, and I am NOT going to feel guilty about it. We only live once, dammit, and I love these guys and have GOT to see them again. And I could be in the first few rows! HELLO!! That would be AWESOME!!!!

Problem: W's family is coming into town that weekend, and we'd be almost 6 hours away. So, we're going to find out tonite when exactly they'll be getting in, and I'm gonna see if W doesn't want to miss them, if someone in the family wants to go with me, if they get here in time. Tickets go on sale tomorrow moring. The shows are either the 1st or 2nd of September, Saturday and Sunday and I'd have Monday off for Labor Day. It seems like they just posted these concert dates, too, cause I don't remember seeing them before. GAH! I'm afraid to get excited for fear that something will come up, but HOT DAMN I could be going to see my heroes again.

Keep your fingers crossed and I'll update when I can about this.

Hey y'all. Still kinda boring around these parts. Been spending lots of time with the neighbors, since W is watching C, we normally end up having dinner at our house once I get home with Bubba. The past two nights, tho we went over there. Last nite, we hung out for a while, I had some drinks. General bullshitting followed, and it was fun to just hang....Bubba ran around like a madman with C and a bunch of the kids from the neighborhood and didn't go to bed until after ten. You'd think he'd have slept in, but of course not, he was up by 7:30. Crazy kid.

I'm at the radio station. No live shift this weekend, but I've taped my shift for tomorrow nite....the race is on now, and it's weird...they are in Montreal this week, and hearing NASCAR stuff in French is just odd. It's the Busch series, though, the Cup boys are in Pocono tomorrow, and most of my inlaws will all be there. A bit jealous, I am.

Oh yeah. My mom gave me Harry Potter on Sunday. I spent a few hours with it Sunday nite, enthralled. By Monday nite, blissfully child free because he slept over at Nanny's, I was itching to get back to it, but I promised W I'd at least wait until after dinner. I then proceeded to spend the next five hours, until about 12:45 finishing the book. I WANTED to put it down and not stay up so late, I WANTED to savor the book, read it slow. But, I just couldn't. I could NOT stop reading. No sense in another breakdown of the book, I'm just gonna say how much I loved it. Do I need to put a spoiler warning? Well, that's your warning.

Deep down, I KNEW Snape was pulling double duty at the behest of Dumbledore. I think my biggest shock was that she killed one of the twins. I knew Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione would end up together. Anyway. I loved it, can't wait for the time to REREAD it, and then movies. My god, the possibilities for this movie. I could go into deep analysis of this and that from the book, but... I don't do stuff like that, unless I HAD to when in college. My mind is too cluttered with trivia, song lyrics, shit like that to have enough cells left over for critical thinking. hahahah.

Anyway, in another burst of news, my nephew, A, had an artificial cornea surgery on Monday. By Tuesday, full sight had returned to his eye. My brother is absolutely over the moon, as are we. Thank you so much to all of you who added him to your prayers, because I fully believe we received a miracle, along with the help of medical technology. Had his doctor here not referred him to this surgeon in New York, he'd still not have vision. Luckily the doctor here knows that surgeon. Regardless, even with the wonderful surgeon's skill, it's still a miracle, and thanks again to all of you who kept him in your prayers.

We are moving forward with something with W's back. It's a trial run of a stimulator. Will basically block pain signals from the nerves to the brain, and theoretically he will not be in any more pain. NOT getting hopes up, because it doesn't work for everyone. I know we have Worker's Comp approval for it, we just don't have it scheduled yet. Fingers crossed all that jazzed, eh?

K, I gotta run to the little girls room, and then get lost in racing. Have a great weekend, y'all. Hope all is well with all of you and your familes. I'll try to post more often.

ho hum

Not much is going on around Casa Beachgal. I get up, argue with either W, or Bubba or both, go to work, slave away at my meaningless job, fight traffic and head home. W has been watching the neighbor girl, C, during the day because her mama started a new job. He's kinda enjoying it, but finding it difficult to entertain a nine year old girl sometimes. It's just until she starts school, but then she'll be over after school before her mama gets home. Bubba has been wanting to stay home so he can play with C, but he's still going to Nanny's. We toyed with the idea of keeping him home, but she'd miss him terribly and yadda yadda.

Spent most of the day shopping with my mama and Bubba. Bought boss birthday gifts, because of course, both bosses birthday's fall in the same week. One is getting booze and the other a gift card to the mall.

Um. I really don't have anything to say. Still haven't read Harry Potter. My mom is almost done with her copy and then I get to borrow it. She was kind enough to tell me spoilers I didn't already know, nor did I want to know, which upset me a bit. I am happy to say my prediction on minor things was right from what she told me. I can't wait to get it, and then I'm gonna struggle to find time to actually read the damn thing.

Radio station is good. I did an hour live last Saturday before the Busch race, and right now I've got about a half hour to do live before this week's race. It's only like three breaks tonite. Not that big a deal, but I haven't had the heart racing moments like I'm going to screw up, or "HOLY SHIT I'M LIVE ON THE RADIO" moments. Last week was more breaks, being it was a full hour, but still, I didn't freak out at all.

That's it, really. I'm sure I could rant on and on about money, stress, W's back, but y'all don't need to hear it so I won't.

Hope you all are doing well. Talk soon, if I can find something worth talking about!

other stuff

I donated blood after work on Tuesday. The Red Cross had called me last week, but I wasn't committing to driving all the way up to their main center. It just so happened that I passed a church near the house with a sign out front with the hours for Tuesday. I hadn't donated since January, I think, so I went. The nurse was a little flaky, but she was great. Barely felt the needle and not even a tiny little bruise. Very impressed. Got another tshirt to add to the collection. Hopefully my blood will go to help someone.

Bubba will be home TOMORROW!!!! Man I can't wait. I miss that kid. This should be the last extended time away for a while. Nothing planned as far as I know. Our evenings have been spent avoiding housework, goofing on the computer and watching television. So exciting. We did the movie thing last weekend, with a quick walk on the beach after but that's all. We lead such incredibly boring lives. I don't work until Saturday nite, so I will have the whole day Saturday to snuggle as much as possible with him.

I was supposed to go and cut my mom's grass on Saturday after working at the station, but it rained. (My dad was out of town, and I refused to let my mom cut grass.) I went anyway, slept over, and tried Sunday morning, but couldn't start the stupid mower. We had our mom/daughter day and went to see Harry Potter. LOVED IT! Sure, there's things I don't remember since I read the book last summer, if not longer ago then that, but it was a good movie. I have got to find a way to get the book before seeing spoilers online after this weekend. I don't think it would totally ruin it for me if I did see some, I'm not a super manic fan, like some others. But I don't wanna have the huge plot issues spoiled. I'll have to call the library and see about a waiting list for the new one.

I have been so incredibly hungry lately. Still managing to drop a pound here and there, but I'm not convinced it's gone for good. I normally eat a Three Musketeers bar EVERY DAY at work, but so far today, I've held off. Exercise has been sporatic this week, well, non-existant unless you count the grave-digging, which was very strenuous. I still have some sore muscles from it. I did some stuff in the pool last nite that wouldn't really count as much but stretches. Meh, whatever. If I can get away with staying around where I am now within a pound or two, eat the way I've been eating, and be hit and miss with the exercise, I shouldn't really complain.

Okay, starving again, and it's lunchtime so I'll be off.

R.I.P. Pooh-Bear

Monday was a very sad day. Our neighbor's Sharpei has been deteriorating (jeez that word looks silly) and finally reached a point where she made the difficult decision to have him put down. So I rushed home from work, so W wouldn't be helping her lift him, and to help comfort her. Lemme tell ya. The vet was awesome, especially considering poor Pooh-Bear had no veins left for easy injection of the stuff. So they sedated him, and then did intrathecal injections. Yes, that was injectionS. The first didn't stop his heart, so they did another. That didn't work, either, so they had to do a third. The vet was flabbergasted, never seen a dog take more than one, especially done intrathecal. It was brutal. Lots of tears, between W, me and A. After that we headed to her other house (the new one they'll be moving to eventually, meaning she won't be my awesome neighbor anymore!) for burial. W and I dug and dug and dug and dug. South Carolina ground isn't easy to bury stuff. Top layer is fine, but after a few inches, it's hard clay and very heavy. We finished that up finally, had some more tears and headed home to clean up, because we were sweaty, filthy messes. I STILL have dirt under my nails I can't get out completely.

More to come, want Pooh to have his own post.

Photographic evidence of my awesome vacation

One of the equipment haulers outside the park, downtown Pittsburgh



The scoreboard making it clear what *I* was there to see. (oh yeah, we won the game, too.)



The king of Hick-Hop, Cowboy Troy started the festivities.



And finally:


BIG AND RICH!






The guitar says it all: SCREAM!! I did a LOT of that.




My favorite shot of all, the amazingly gifted John Rich.



Some of the pyrotechnics...the pics just didn't do them justice. We FELT the heat from some, it was great.




Beachgal, fisherwoman. That's the last fish caught, one of the bigger ones, a largemouth bass.

Finally

I finally got caught up enough with work (and blogs, goodness all the blogs) to spend a few minutes blogging myself!

I managed to get the car completely packed while waiting for W to get home from the doc. Never did it myself before, always let him handle it, but I did a great job. We left around seven or so and we stopped for dinner on the way because I surely wasn't cooking. Bubba fell asleep around 10:30 after watching Cars and then talking NONSTOP for thirty minutes...I'm not kidding, he just kept babbling and babbling.

W drove the whole way up, I stayed awake, which I have decided NEVER to do again. If he isn't going to let me help drive, I'm just going to sleep. I was sooo miserable on Tuesday, as there was no real opportunity for me to nap. Well, I did try, but like babies who get overtired and you have to fight to get them to sleep, I simply could not get to sleep so I gave up. W and Bubba napped, of course.

Wednesday was the big day! We went and got Grammy's party all set up, it was a cloudy day, and storms were rolling in. I was worried. I didn't want to get drenched or have the day be rained out. W's back was not up for the game, knowing the little metal seats wouldn't be that comfortable, so my wonderful sister-in-law, Mitch, agreed to come to the game/concert with me. We had time to talk to all the guests as they arrived, scarf down some yummy grilled burgers and potato salad and such, before I changed, then we zipped to her house and she changed and we were off. It was going to be a great girls day out!

Had some rain drops on the way, and the clouds look bad. After circling around trying to find a parking spot, we ended up right in the ballpark's lot, and I paid way too much to park, but we all felt that was best so we wouldn't be traipsing around downtown Pittsburgh afterwards. We were a little late, due to the parking issue, but we only missed the first inning, and the top of the second. We were down 3-1 at that point. The park is absolutely gorgeous, and we quickly got swept up in the ballgame atmosphere, cheering for our boys, jeering for the other team. Still no rain. We were seated down first base side, on the first level but back under the second level so if it did rain we'd stay dry! After some homers and great defense work, we WON!!! Oh, yeah, the whole fricking park is NON-SMOKING!!! It's an open-air field, but you couldn't even go out onto the balcony areas all open around you and smoke. Ugh, that was rough.

Anyway, we took a pee break, tried to sneak into better seats, because they were setting the stage up across second base and I wanted to see a little more, get closer, but that didn't work. Eventually, the opening act came out, and finally it was time. Out came my musical hereos. I, no shit, had chills, and was bouncing up and down as they were announced. I knew these boys put on a great live show, and they did NOT disappoint. Words just fail me, but I screamed, and sang, and danced and hooted and hollered, and was thoroughly entertained. I have GOT to find a way to go see them again. Seriously. I NEED to see them again, and hopefully be closer and be able to get up to the stage or something. They didn't let anyone on the field, so there was all this empty space in front and it looked so strange from what I'm used to at concerts.

I didn't want the show to ever end, but they played for a little over an hour, all their big hits, and a bunch of stuff off their new album, which I adore. We took an interesting little tour of downtown trying to get back to the ramp to get on the road we needed to get home. It was a blast from the past, man, I hadn't been in that area of town since I moved down here. I've flown over downtown on a flight in, and driven past on the way to W's sister's house, but we were smack in the middle of all the hubbub of Fourth of July at the Point. (the area where the three rivers of Pittsburgh meet up, it's called the Point, and yes I still remember the names of the three.) Anyway, the football stadium was right there, and they had all kinds of activities going on, plus the city was gearing up for the fireworks. Watching the fireworks on the bank of the river is an absolutely amazing experience. I did it years and years ago. We decided to skip it, tho, and just go home.

Oh and the rain? Apparantly, my prayers were answered, and even though it didn't look good, right before showtime the storm system kinda split in two and moved around us and we were left with clear skies, no rain, and SUNSHINE by the end of the concert. It was amazing, and even the one singer had to comment that it only proves that God is a country music fan. Many thanks were sent upwards lemme tell ya.

Hmmm.....rest of the trip pales in comparison to the concert. We spent Friday with W's big brother, doing lunch, playing miniature golf, eating ice cream. Bubba won putt-putt, go figure. I lost, go figure. Bubba managed to catch some kind of bug from his cousins at Grammy's party. He was miserable. He kinda skipped his nap, and every time we tried to get him to rest, he'd sit up, cough and hack and spit up lots of phlegmy stuff. NICE! We medicated him, and then he crashed on the way home from putt-putt. He slept for a while, woke up, and spit up again. This was troublesome because he was supposed to go with everyone camping for the weekend, while W and I went to his aunt and uncle's for fishing and fireworks before leaving on Sunday. Their house is like an hour into the trip heading south, so we like to go there before we actually leave, and then have an hour less of driving once we go, supposedly.

Bubba insisted he was going camping, even tho he felt horrible, and Grammy agreed that if he got worse, they'd come home. By the time they got to camp he was feeling better, and the only lingering effect of the bug is a bit of a cough. His runny nose stopped completely by Saturday morning. I felt bad leaving him when he was sick, but was so relieved he was feeling better.

So W and I headed to the farm (where his aunt and uncle are, it's not quite a farm, but they have cows and a horse.) We got in late, crashed and then got up in the morning and went fishing. They have two ponds, right by the house. We were after bass, but the fuckers were persnickety and weren't too interested in any of the lures we were using. W finally figured out something and we started catching some. By then it was time to head up the road for the huge dinner/fireworks party they had planned at a neighbors. I ate so much incredible food, I don't know how I didn't gain ten pounds. We zipped back to the farm for a few more tries at the bass, and I finally got a picture of the last one I caught. Then it was dark enough to go set up the fireworks. W and I did the show, we're quite a team when it comes to fireworks. We had brought some good stuff up from home. You can't buy them in PA, because they are illegal! You can only get the little stuff, sparklers, bottle rockets, lame stuff. We had Bootleg fireworks! Mortars, Fountains, gigantic rockets. Everyone loved them, and we didn't get hurt, but had some close calls. We always do.

We got up, late, the next morning and spent the next twelve hours in the car. I drove about four hours at the start, and W finished. We stopped for some shopping at an outlet place, but didn't buy anything important.

Once I get a chance, I'll throw up some pictures from the show, and my fish. Sadly, I didn't bother taking pictures at Grammy's party and I wasn't there when they did presents. This got really long, but I'm caught up now. Hope you all had a great holiday and weekend.

On the road again

We'll be leaving tonite for our almost weeklong vacation. I am fully packed, W packed today. I'm sure last minute things will need to get added, but we are pretty close to being ready. I am totally dreading the actual drive. W plans on starting us off, so I may try to snooze, but Bubba won't sleep at first, either, so he'll have to be entertained. Probably another rousing viewing of Cars.

W has a doc appointment this afternoon, so we won't be leaving as soon as I get home, but I should be able to start the car loading process before he makes it home. We'll be one cell phone short for this trip, because W's cell phone got fried yesterday when he was fussing with all the pictures and the memory stick things. I sent it back to Sony today. They will either repair it, or replace it. What an annoyance.

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone. And Happy Canada Day, to my Northern friends.

I'm going to be in blog withdrawal, because I don't know how much computer time I'll have up there. Not too worried about emails, but lordy is my feedreader going to be overload if I don't check all week. After two days, I normally have over a hundred new posts. Sure, the majority come from the gossip sites, with 50 some, but a weeks worth of gossip AND blogs? YIKES!

long overdue

Finally pulled the race pics off the camera, so it would be empty when we got to PA next week. I haven't started packing yet and I haven't even made a list!!! I need to make a list. But here's some pics.

My mom hates having her pic taken as much as me.



The nicest one I managed of me, in my new Dale, Jr. hat.

Carl Edwards....this picture came out great! He was at his merchandise hauler, but we didn't get autographs, you had to have a ticket, and we didn't get there in time.

Jeff Gordon's burnout.

BUD MAN!

*burp*

There is something about being at the radio station that always seems to make me hungry. I could show up for work after eating a normal size meal, and be totally full, but then be ravenous about an hour later. It's insane. Maybe it's the snack machine filled with junk. I purposely come after eating, or bring something with me, but it's always the same. It's hard on long days like today to try to stay on my healthy(ish) eating plan. I brought some chicken to cook, not remembering there was no oven, so I had to microwave it, and it didn't come out as good. That was around 2 pm. I worked until six, and have a break until 8 when the race starts. So I ran out to Arby's for dinner. I still feel hungry after a medium roast beef sandwich and fries. I know it's not thirst, which lots of people mistake for hunger, because I've already downed two bottles of water throughout the afternoon, plus the drink that came with dinner. I feel like I could eat another sandwich. I'm going to try to resist raiding the snack machine. I doubt I will since I'll be here working until 11 pm. I'm not on the clock right now, so I'm just hanging out, cause there wasn't much point in driving home, for about an hour, then driving back. Arby's was just a quick trip down the road. I'm playing Pogo in the meantime. Some twerp just came in my empty room, and I'd rather be playing alone....gonna have to change rooms. Jeez, I am sitting in here goofing, and I look at the screen where the music is, and notice, hey, there's no voicetracks, who is supposed to be on the air right now. HAHAHA, I look at the schedule and IT'S ME!!! I had to go flying into the second recording studio and track up until 8 when the race starts. I never even noticed it on the schedule I picked up, it wasn't hilighted like my stuff normally is....too funny. I did miss one spot, but got all the rest in, if hurried a bit. I'll have to do some more for after the race is over up to midnite, but I have plenty of time to do that. Now it's gonna be weird to be sitting here listening to the radio and hearing me while I'm right here. Will pay more attention next time to the schedule.

Bubba is hanging out at G-ma's. We all went down this morning, because my brother and nephew came down for the weekend. He was so excited when we were getting ready, and kept asking in the car, "Are we there yet?" He's NEVER done that before. The boys played really well together, and had so much fun. They got drenched in this new sprinkler toy my mom got. After lunch, we hit an expected issue, because A was going to nap in 'Bubba's' room and Bubba was going to have to nap in G-ma's room. We eventually got it settled, and shortly after he snuggled into his sleeping bag, W and I left so I could get here. He'll sleep over tonite, which hopefully, since he'll still have to sleep in G-ma's room, won't be a problem. They were supposed to take a trip to the beach after naps, which will tire them out some more. A is doing ok, as far as his eye goes. It's as healed as it's going to get I think, and he has it open now, the last I saw him, he still couldn't hold it open. His eye is all cloudly like he has a huge cataract. Bright lights bother him, so he wears shades when he's outside. He's been told that A is a perfect candidate for an artificial cornea and there's a doctor in Rochester, NY who is reviewing the medical records. He has no sight, or very, very little sight, from that eye now, but a new cornea would change that. He just needs to arrange some help with travel, expenses when up there, and what not. He's checking into the Ronald McDonald house, or maybe the Shriners or something. I don't know the timeline for when it will all take place, and I don't think he does yet, either. Pat also went to see a malpractice lawyer, and will having some other consults as well. The first told him he had a case but he had a conflict and wouldn't be able to actually handle it. Apparantly the first of almost 7 or so doctors A saw told Pat that he, the doctor, didn't take the infection serious enough, that lead to all the problems, with it becoming a staph infection and all the countless surgeries. Such a mess, and a total shame that A has had to go through so damn much.

Picked more veggies out of the little garden the other nite. The beets didn't get as big as they could/should have, but there is another batch of them coming up in the big garden. W called the other things I picked snow peas, but I thought they were supposed to be beans. I only remember planting one thing of peas, and they got picked a few weeks ago. Still have oodles of cucumbers growing and some are about ready to pick. That will do it for the little garden. The corn, pumpkins and watermelons are moving along nicely in the big garden, but something, a bug of some sort, has disovered the leafy corn stalks and has been munching away. Hopefully the repellent I sprayed will put a stop to that, because I want lots of corn.

Okay, I'm off to Pogo some more. Have a great weekend y'all.

busy busy

I didn't mean to let almost two weeks pass between posts. I've been slammed at work, and busy at home, as well.

W and Bubba arrived safe and sound last Sunday morning. Things are back to normal as far as scheduling, but he's still kinda fussy about bedtime, he stays in his room babbling, singing, and generally not going to sleep until almost ten or so. Bubba boot camp has progressed, we're dealing with normal three year old behavior. He talks back, smart mouths, tantrums. We're working on it, just don't know if it will actually do anything.

Jeez, I don't really have much to talk about. Hopefully going to be seeing my brother and nephew this weekend. I have a full day at the radio station on Saturday.

Still planning on the trip to PA for the 4th. We've hit a snag on dog care, tho, because our neighbors we'd hoped to do it will also be going up to PA, but are leaving a few days later than us. Which means we'll have to ask the other neighbors and they did a shitty job of it in December.

W had another MRI last week, in hopes of trying to find some cause for all his problems. They seem to be multiplying and it's more than just the pain issue. He went all the way back up to Florence yesterday for his followup appt. only to be told the doctor was called into surgery and after waiting almost two hours, they just rescheduled him. It's a good thing I didn't go this time, because I get really pissed off when stuff like that happens. We're feeling so helpless at this point, because they keep telling us there is nothing else they can do. Neither one of us can deal with all this much longer, and the thought that this is how he'll be forever is absolutely terrifying. I just don't know what else to do. I see him deteriorating and can't do anything to fix it. Gah!

Well, I've gotta get some work done before the boss' show up, or I'll be all behind again. If something post-worthy comes up, I'll be back soon.

Ramblings

W and Bubba were supposed to leave this morning for the trip home, but W woke up with a migraine, so he went back to sleep for a while. I haven't been able to reach him so I don't know if he's on the way by now or not. I hope so.

Also, we have decided we are going up to PA for the game/concert. I am very excited. BIL, M, bought the tickets, as birthday presents for the two of us, so we'll only be on the hook for gas up and back. I can totally manage that. I love concerts, and have so many great memories, this will be another one. It is easy to understand our affinity for good concerts, because we MET at a rock concert up in PA so many, many years ago. (15 if anyone is wondering.)

Gah, I don't know if I ate something that was yucky, whether something just didn't agree with me, or I'm getting sick, but I've lost track of the times I've run willy nilly to the bathroom, not sure if I'd make it in time. Not so bad when at home, but kinda complicated when there are times when I am tied to the board here at the station. I hope it stops soon. I'm up to my fourth bottle of water today, in an effort to keep hydrated. I don't feel sick, just tired, as usual. But man, I would really like to stop shitting.

Work was horrendous on Friday. More drama, having to deal with the same characters. A few of us had a bitch session, and who do you think got singled out for 'running their mouth'? ME. It didn't end well, and I am so damn tired of that place. I'm hoping to find a solution sometime soon that doesn't entail me sucking it up and putting up with all of it.

On an absolutely awesome note, W took Bubba fishing for the first time yesterday, and he had so much fun. W kept sending me phone photos of the fish Bubba was catching ALL BY HIMSELF. Including one that was as big as his head! I"m gonna see if he'll email it to me and I'll try to post it. I was so proud and so jealous all at the same time. That led to some of the emotional turmoil at the office, because I miss them so much, and really wish I could have been with them. So when things started going haywire I just broke down and was a stupid crying mess and couldn't stop. I HATE feeling like that.

I had a traumatic end to my night Thursday. I had been BSing with my brother on the computer and stayed up a little later than I wanted. No biggie. I let the dogs out for the last time, and was taking stuff out of the dryer when I heard them carrying on, more than just the barking they do if someone is outside the fence. It was real ferocious barking and growling. I'm in my nightgown, of course, but I step out onto the back porch and peek down to see them both confronting a baby possum, they had it cornered against the side of the house. The poor thing wasn't very big, maybe half a foot long? I threw shoes on real quick, run down the ramp, yelling at the dogs to come, get up the ramp, whatever. Needless to say, they ignored me. I got between them and the varmint and still they wouldn't budge. Finally Dusty went up the ramp, but I couldn't get Emmy to leave it. I grabbed Bubba's little toy wheelbarrow and cover up the possum, but even that didn't fool her. So I run in the house and get a bribe, a piece of cheese. I get back outside, she's about flipped the wheelbarrow. I dangle the cheese in front of her, and she follows me back up the ramp into the house. Phew. But now I have a poor scared possum to deal with. I'm already sweaty and wound up, because it was quite muggy. I put on a pair of pants, call W and say, what should I do? He suggests getting the net from the shed, which meant I had to go BACK inside for the shed keys. Then I had to go inside again after unlocking the shed because I needed a flashlight to see in the shed. Gah. So net in hand, I pick up the wheelbarrow. I had a slight freak out moment cause the thing was lying on it's side, not moving, but then the light bulb went on, DUH it was playing possum. So I'm trying to flip it into the net, and it wasn't working so I wanted to grab something to flop it into the net. Bigger light bulb goes on when I pick up the pooper scooper and instead of flipping it into the net, I scoop him up, walk him over to the fence and gently flop him onto the ground outside the fence. At this point I expected him to get up and run into the woods, but he stayed put, curled up, mouth gaping open. Whatever. Realizing the dogs hadn't done their business, I put them back out, while I wiped off all the sweat that was dripping off of me. And, of course, Emmy tracked the fucking thing to the fence and stood there barking and growling at it some more. I had to bribe the bitch again with a piece of cheese to get her back into the house. By then, a half hour had passed, I can't believe it took so much time. I was so fired up, it took me another half hour to get to sleep. By morning the varmint was gone. I can only hope he doesn't decide to visit my yard again.

We really need to harvest the little garden soon, some of the beans are like four inches long. Ready to pick are those beans, peas and the beets. Not sure if the carrots are actually going to make it, but maybe they just take longer than the beets. The cucumbers aren't ready, either, and there's another kind of bean that has just sprouted, itty bitty little beans, they are very cute. In the big garden are the tomatoes that W transplanted, corn, pumpkins, watermelons, more carrots and beets and ummm, I think that's it. About half of the tomato plants died, but I think there's four that should give us some maters. I must water when I get home, but it might be too late, so I'll probably do it in the morning before it gets too hot.

Wow, this got really long. Maybe I should've made it more than one post. Nah, that's too much like work. Have a good weekend y'all. Hopefully I can spend a glorious day with my little rugrat tomorrow. I imagine W will need a day to sleep to recover, so we'll probably just run down to my parents since they haven't seen him in forever, either.

deep breaths

Ok, I am trying very hard NOT to get too excited about this, because we ALL know what happens when *I* get excited about something. I have noticed for a long time now that Big & Rich, one of my FAVORITE bands has a date listed on their Myspace page, for July 4th, in Pittsburgh. I casually mentioned it to my husband on the phone last nite, that I'd love to go. Not ever thinking we could swing it. BUT, he says, if you want to that bad, we can tie it in for a week up here for Bubba and we'll do it. I commenced to freaking out a little. He had first mentioned that his brother gave him a voucher for two tickets to see Poison at the House of Blues down here, on July 3rd. Yikes. We can't do both, and I'd MUCH rather see Big & Rich.

Anyway, after searching at the wrong venue for a while at work, I actually went to the Myspace page (wait, am I lame for having Myspace and using it as much as I do? I hope not) for B&R and got the proper venue. Then, heartbreak, I couldn't find any ticket information for the RIGHT venue, I even called the ticket office. There is a Pirates baseball game scheduled for that day.

I sent a sobby, boo hoo text message to W and he calls me and lets me know that his brother checked himself in town today. Seems there IS a show, and it IS on the fourth, and it's AFTER the Pirates game. You just gotta buy a ticket to the ballgame. No general admission seats are left, just 20 and 25 buck seats. I so badly want to do this. My big concern however, aside from how much gas will cost us to get up and back, is what seating arrangements for the concert will be like. If we get the GOOD seats for the ball game, are we gonna be screwed for the show? I want to be CLOSE, if I'm finally able to get to see these guys. Will they open the floor of the field up, like other venues I've been to for floor seating? Who gets those seats? ARGH! And who do I have to blow to get backstage? hahah, I'd never do that, but I WANT TO MEET THEM!!! Is it totally insane to drive almost 800 miles to go see a band??? They will NOT be in concert anywhere near here for the rest of the year. This could be my only shot to see them anytime soon. And it's already going to be somewhat of a let down, simply because with their new album, their 3rd just out, they will not play any where near as long as I'd like. I SHOULD have insisted on going to see them when they first came out and were in concert an hour from here.

Am I really overthinking this? It's gonna easily cost us 200 bucks for gas alone. Sure we don't need to get a hotel or anything. I have a chunk in the savings I could use, but I'm constantly preaching to W that we are only supposed to be using that for emergencies, yadda yadda yadda. How big of a hypocrite will I be to almost drain the savings for a flippin' concert, regardless of how badly I want to go? Not to mention I'll have to take like four days off work. Three at the least. I *do* have vacation time. Gah.

As if I really needed another 'by the way' the fourth is also W's mom's Bday. And we wouldn't be spending much if any time with her that day if we do this. Double Gah!

Thoughts y'all?

Still T-minus maybe 2 days

They are staying a few more days so instead of home today, Thursday or Friday at the latest. Egads, I miss that kid. He's having so much fun tho. Nanny is really missing him, too, but she has her hands full with K who has been back in the hospital for her heart issues. She had a defibrillator put in, possibly a pacemaker as well, I haven't heard a full update yet today. Once they can get her disability status taken care of she will most likely go on the transplant list. Which means Nanny will have to be down in Charleston with her, at a hotel for the long haul. She's at the big university hospital down there, and it's about an hour at least, so she won't be able to watch him when that happens. Not sure what time frame they are looking at for that, though. W will be taking over Bubba duty at that point.

We have another girl from the office in the hospital, as well. She had a massive heart attack Sunday nite, and was technically dead. They shocked her about 10 times before getting her back. Her dad drove her to the hospital, doing chest compressions at the same time!!! Can you imagine! She's only 45, so young for such bad stuff. She had two stents put in, and seems to be recovering well. She's griping about wanting to go smoke, so we know she's doing better. She's up for serious lifestyle changes once she's out. Hopefully going to step down ICU today or tomorrow, a regular room soon after that, and possibly home by the end of the week, early next week. We were all so numb yesterday from it, because most of us didn't hear about it until we walked into the office.

I've been slammed at work, still, and really need to get back. The tropical storm dumped oodles of rain over the weekend, and now it's hot and sunny again.