This Old House

You know I have a love of blogs. I’ve added another to my list of links. Gringa-N-Mexico. I found Lindy through 15 Minute Lunch. I have absolutely nothing in common with this girl but find her story amazing. She moved to Mexico to be with her husband who was deported. They live in a border town and she goes back and forth every day to work while her husband stays home with their child and works also in Mexico. I find her story facinating. Mostly because she has such a good attitude about it. She has her days when she gets down but most days she’s upbeat. I don’t know if I could be as strong or have as good an attitude as her.

She also tells some pretty eye opening stories about the motel industry. Those alone are worth reading. Give Lindy a try. I think you might enjoy her story. I sure do!

PS.. Paula - I can’t compete with baby tigers!!!! Nothing is going to top that but at least I posted for you!

We are back from the beach. Here’ are the highlights (sorry no pics - because I didn’t take any).

1. We could not have asked for better weather. It was between 95 & 100 every day, which is kind of crazy for Myrtle Beach. Except for a very cool storm on Sunday night, it never rained. This was great since it was supposed to rain EVERY DAY. Most days it was just blue sky. We’d get up in the morning expecting to see clouds and rain and it would be sunny instead. YEA!!!!

2. The drive there and back was uneventful. On the way back we did hit a crap load of construction near Ashville. Two hours to get thru it and it was all because people don’t know how to merge. But even that wasn’t all that bad. As normal, I got to drive thru the windly parts of the mountains while it was raining. Just once I’d like to do it totally on drive pavement.

3. Den cooked most nights. Thanks Den. We did got out a couple of times and mostly ate in places the locals ate instead of the touristy places. Much better food and atmosphere. Who knew I would have a great greek feta cheese pizza in South Carolina!

4. The beach was great. Not crowded at all. The water was very warm. The 1st day, when it over 100 outside, the water was like bath water. Usually it takes Lee a very long time to get into the water. Not so much this time. He just plowed right in! Denise also took to the water as well. On Monday to spent about 6 hours at the beach (with a break in the middle to have some lunch in the condo and cool off). I swear she spent 3 of those 6 hours in the water. You could walk way out and still only have the water up to your waist. I never saw or touched a fish. Lee said he thought he stepped one but that was it. For all I know there where probably big fish right next to me but as long as they don’t touch me or I don’t see them it’s all good!

5. Lee was obsessed with the crabs. I’m sure you’ve heard of dog fights right? Well have you ever heard about crab fights??? Yes, that’s right. My husband made crabs fight each other. Sick man!

6. Basically we did nothing and it was a very relaxing trip.

now for the flip side….

1. Day two I started to feel funny. Like I was going to have an asthma attack or get sick. Well I woke up Monday and it was in my chest already. I went to have a breathing treatment because at least I was smart enough to bring my nebulizer. Unfortunetly I was not smart enough to check to make sure I brought the vials of albuteral before I left. At least I had my resue inhaler. Being in denial and not wanting to admit there was a problem I spent the day at the beach. After we finally came in and showered I decided I probably needed to go to a doctor to at least get some more vials of albuteral, plus I was coughing up green stuff, which is never good. So off we go to the nearest emergency care place. Very nice people although we had to wait 2 hours and it was FREEZING in there. The doctor was great and he made me get chest xrays and he said there was not pneumonia yet but it was definetly broncitis. FREAKING BRONCITIS after 1 day!!!! That is insane. So we got a Z pack and some vials of albuteral and we were all set. I spent most of Tuesday sleeping because I was wiped out but by Wednesday I was back up and moving.

2. Remember when I said Den spent 3 hours in the water????? We’ll guess who was burnt to a freakin’ crisp? So while I slept Tuesday she stayed inside also. No more beach during the day for Den. She did go walking on the beach during the evening and has learned her lesson.

3. Then Lee got sick. Thursday night Lee got the flu and was down for the count Friday. He’s feeling better now also.

4. And then Den got sick also. Her sinus’s where bothering her and by the time we were driving home she was also coughing up a lung.

So what did we learn?

1. The Ocean is an Evil Bitch and will try to kill you if you are not careful. We wil still go back
2. You must reapply sunscreen after then number of minutes listed on the bottle or when you go in water, even if it says it’s water proof.
3. Emergency care centers are the best things ever invented.
4. We need to become independently wealthy so we can always be on vacation

All in all, even with the sickess, we had a good time and will definitly do it again!!!

So I lost my cell phone. I realized it was missing yesterday morning sometime. I tore apart my office, the car, my black bag I carry back and forth to work ,my purse and the house once I got home. I even called my cell phone hoping I would here it ring but it went right to voice mail. Needless to say I was not happy.

So I was figuring I was going to have to get a new phone, which I didn’t really want to do because I’m waiting for the new iphones to come out (yes, I know, I’m a dork). Worse case I would have them deactive my current lost phone and reactive my old Motorola Razor, that really has nothing wrong with it, I just wanted to new phone :-). And then I remembered I had insurance, which coveres lost phones! But then even better I retraced my steps from Monday night and found out my phone was at Culvers, which is where Lee and I had dinner on Monday night. Needlesss to say I was very happy. But that’s not really why I wrote this post. I wanted to share my experience with Culvers when I called them today.

Here are the players. Terry at Culvers, who answered the phone and myself

Terry: South Elgin Culvers, this is Terry speaking
Me: Hi Terry, can I speak to a manager? (Please note, I had no tone in my voice)
Next there is just silence and then I hear some noises like I’m being put on hold….and then I hear a dial tone.

So I call right back.

Terry: Culvers, South…. - she get’s all tongue tied and stops talking (I know it’s Terry because I recognize the voice)

There’s a moment of silence
Me: Hello?
Silence……
Me: Terry?
Silence…..

I hang up. I call right back.

Terry: South Elgin Culver, This is Terry.
Me: Let’s try this again. I’m not calling to complain. I lost my cellphone and just want to know if its there.
Terry: What does it look like?
Me: It’s a Samsung Eclipse in a Purple Rubber Case
Terry: It’s here.
Me: Whoo Hoo. I’ll pick it up after work. Thank you.

I hang up.

I’m tempted to ask for Terry when I go in. What do you think??

Because I’m so happy my phone is there I won’t even go rip there heads off for the bad customer service. I must be getting soft in my old age

*UPDATE - I went to pick up my phone. Terri was there! She’s the Manager :-). I just asked for my phone and left. I figured she had bigger problems !

A whole month since I posted last. I doesn’t seem that long. In fact I can’t beleive tomorrow in May 13th. MAY 13th!!!! This month just started and almost half over. Actually this YEAR just started and we are well into the 2nd quarter already. And don’t get me started on the weeks. Tomorrow is Thursday for cripes sakes! It just started. Christmas will be upon us again before we know it. Good thing I’ve already started stocking shopping. Gotta love Onesaleaday.com, froobie.com & woot.com. Bargins all around!

Steph cut off her hair tonight in preparation for the chemo. I have not seen pictures yet but I’m sure she looks great whatever length it is. Tomorrow they put in the port and then she can start the Chemo.

The weather sucks. But it’s spring in Illinois and will get better. At least we didn’t have snow

One of my favorite pics of Steph. We had a great time on this trip.

It took almost a month for the vertigo and ear infection to go away. I’m finally feeling 100% again. You don’t know how much you take your equalibrium for granted until you have a problem standing up without the world spinning - or laying down and the world spinning. The last week I could control it by not laying down on the side where the ear infection was. I could actually stop it from happening. And then Sunday it just went away and my ear no longer feels like I”m on an airplane all the time and I can hear again. I’m also back on the Allegra-D. It’s allergy time again! JOY!!!!!

I’ll stop my whinning. Lot’s of people are way worse off than me.

I can’t say I was completely Vertigo free this week but it was 1000 times better. I really only had it if I was laying down on the side where the ear infection was 1st thing in the morning and then it goes away right away. The ear is better. No more pain. It’s still full of fluid in the morning but it’s getting better everyday. I finished taking the antibiotic which will last for another 5 days. If it’s not completely better by then I’ll go back and get meore drugs.

The weather here this was was wonderful. It was close to 80 yesterday and sunny. Today it’s a little overcast but still warm. I think Spring is actually here (Don’t repeat that in case it’s not true, I don’t want to jinx it!)

No vertigo. I’m not falling asleep from the drugs and I can almost hear out of my left ear. All in all, not a bad day!

I was so tired all day from the vertigo meds, which I didn’t even take today. The last one I took was at 10PM last night. They really screw with you. It makes you like a zombie. THis afternoon it was all I could do to stay awake. So tonight, after I kept falling asleep on the couch I went and laid on the bed with the food channel on. It was a very strange way to watch TV. I was watching Dinner, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and a segment would come one and I’d start watching them make a dish and then I’d wake back up and they would be on the next segment. This went on for two episodes, in to”Food Eats”. It was weird.

Then on Yahoo (where we know I get all my news) I saw this:Ricky Martin is livin’ la vida open, says he’s gay! ReallY???? OMG!!!! I would NEVER have know that. Dude, I could have told you that when you first sang “Livin’ LA Vida Loca!”

Well I finally broke down and went to the doctor. The pain in my ear was managable but the fact that I could hear nothing out of it and the Vertigo it casued where not. So off I went to the immedia care clinic today. Diagnosis - Middle Ear Infection and vertigo, caused by the middle ear infection.

So the nurse asks all kinds of questions including “Do you have any drug allergies”. I tell her codine and amoxacilian. She writes these down. I see here write them down. As I’m layiing on the table waiting for the world to stop spinning after the doctor made me lay down, he says that he is going to prescibe me…..wait for it…..Amoxacillian. Seriously, it’s a two page form. You can’t tell me he couldn’t take the time to read both frickin’ pages? So I stop him and tell him I have problems with Amoxacillian and he prescribes a Z pack instead.

And the drug her gave me for the vertigo knocked me on my ass this afternoon. I was commatose for 3 hours. The good news is it stops the dizziness and the nausea. The reason it stops it is because you are unconsious!! So I’m hoping the antibiotics kick in soon so the vertigo goes away.

Katherin Heigl as Stephanie Plum? Really?? Lee and I are big fans of the character Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich books. I mean really, what’s not to like about a female bounty hunter from New Jersey with a Wacky family and cars that blow up all the time right? We have been talking about who we think should play Stephanie Plum in the movies for years - yes, we do need to get lives. Today I read on Yahoo that Katherine Heigl has been cast. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. I do enjoy her movies and think she’s a pretty good actress but that’s just not how I pictured Ms Plum. I was thinking more like Sandra Bullock. I hope I’m not disappointed.

They need to cast either Betty White or Estelle Getty as Gramma Mazor. That would be hilarious!

Yesterday snow (only on the lawns and houses - the streets and driveways were too warm for it to stick) and today sunshine and all the snow melted.

Also, this morning I was sitting on the couch watching a movie and I went to get up and something caught my attention on the floor. At 1st I thought the cat has just thrown up but then I noticed how large it was and took a closer look. Yesterday Den stopped by and left her cafe mocha and sometime last night Maggie, the coffee drinking shit cat, decided she would check it out. So I had to move furniture to clean it all up. Maggie of course just looked at me like “What? I didn’t do it” Shit cat!

Yesterday…..65 and sunny
Today…..Measurable snow fall.

The only good thing about this is it wont last long and the roads and pavements are warm enough now that the snow is melting as it hits it (so far).

Of course we knew this would happend because District U46 is on spring break next week.

Lets hope this is the last of it!

Very mild weather this week. It rained a lot and now all of the snow if gone (except the giant piles in parking lots). I’m not foolish to think Spring is really here. I would be shocked if we DON’T get a more major snow but it won’t last for long and the real Spring is right around the corner. I officialy switched from my winter coat to my fleece about a week ago. The winter coat is still in the car just in case. Most days this week I didn’t even wear the fleece home. Soon I will have to stop hibernating and actually get something done

I’m posting from the iTouch because I can. I’m also I’m the bathroom. Is that to much information?

I LOVE my iTouch!!!! Love it, Love it, Love it!!! My boss got one this weekend also - of course his wasn’t a cool gift from the best parents EVER!) We are like two kids showing each other all the cool features as we discover them. Did I mention I LOVE it……

On a side note, Pete - I’m 20 minutes away from being done with “A Game of Thrones”. I can’t wait for the next book. I’ll have to download it tonight!

Why is it everytime I watch a M.Night Shymalate movie I regret it? Do not watch “The Happening”. You will be angry that you lost that 2 hours of your life. I love Mark Wahlberg but THAT was a stupid movie!

1. I went to see Avatar - in 3D Imax. I really had no intentions of seeing this movie. I don’t care for James Cameron as a person. I think he’s kind of a “male body part”. But people had told me I would regret it if I didn’t see it on the big screen. So I wents. Wow. That was incredible. Seriously, everyone should should see it on the big screen. I thought the story line was good and I was worried about it being too long because some people had said that but I didn’t find it long. And the special effects are AMAZING. Cameron might the biggest ahole around be his changning the way we will watch movies. If you haven’t seen it, go. You will regret not seeing it on a big screen. And I don’t know what ticket prices cost anywhere else in th world, but that IMAX ticket cost $14.00 here - and was worth everyy penny.

2. Mom and Dad suprised me by bringing me my birthday present early. I got a iTouch!!!! I’ve wanted one for a long time. The picture on that thing is incredible. Now if I could just figure out how to sync my movies and videos that are already in my itunes library…… Thanks Mom and Dad!!

3. Den, Lee and I went to dinner at Taco’s El Norte. All I can say is Yummo!

4. Lee had to work yesterday and had to go into work for a couple of hours today also. He was off on Monday and Tuesday because he had a bad cold (all better now). So even though he was off two days he made up all of his time (not that it mattered to me - it was more important that he stay home and get better sooner) and will not have to use any of his sick days but next week will be super long for Lee!

That’s all for now. Happy Valentines Day everyone. I’m going to go watch some Olympics!

I still am very sad that Chicago did not get the 2016 Summer Olympics and I will not be able to go the opening ceremonys but I am glad that there will be Olympics to watch for the next 2 week. We should remember not to compare these or any future Olympics, winter or summer, to China’s Summer Olympic games. For me, as long as the ceremonys are better than that weird Olympics (I think it was either France or Italy) where they performers looked like clowns on bungie cords it’s all good!

I’m sure I’ll still be able to work in some Rock Band also.

Seriously people - you don’t want to hear about my boring life. We go to work. We come home. Lee watches TV and I play Rock band. Next day - same thing. It’s cold outside. You know I don’t like winter

But to keep the peace I will give you details (even if I have to embellish the stories some - see if you can tell what’s real about the stories and what’s not and then I’ll let you know if you are right).

1. Lee wrecked my car. He backed it out of the garage and smashed the side mirror to bits. After the slaming of thing stopped and the accusations stopped (Lee: If you hadn’t pulled into the garage on an angle I wouldn’t have hit the side of the garage. Of course the fact that he speeds out of the garage at the speed of light and doesn’t bother to look I’m sure had nothing to do with hitting the mirror). So now the car is RUINED! and I will have to get a new one. I can’t even show you a picture of it because he has confiscated all of the cameras. This is also the same reason no one has seen any pictures from Christmas or anything else that may have happened since Summer.

2. There is a reason why the only gaming system we had was a Super Nintendo. Some might say that I’m a bit obsessed about things. I think you would be exagerating! Lee forced me to get a Wii. And then to make matters worse Denise and Rich forced me to get Rockband - even though neither of them have any rhythem and can not play the drums or the guitar. So now I’m pretty much playing Rock Band everynight. Lee and the poor cat really are sick of me playing the same song 20 times in a row in attempt to get perfect scores (which I’ve actually done multiple times).

3. There will be no Vegas trip this spring because Densie has a huge gambling problem and is banned from most of the Casino. That, and my drinking problem in Vegas have made us make different plans this year. Instead we will head south east again to Myrtle beach where we will spend a week at the sameCondo we stayed at in Oct - which you probably don’t know about becasue I’m sure I didn’t post about it or share any pictures. So we will spend a week sitting on the beach watching the waves and basically doing NOTHING. Doesn’t that sound good? There may be a day trip to Savannah or Charleston but that’s about it.

4. Sickness was at our house last/this week. I had a cold/sinus thing last week that sent me home early on Tuesday and kept me at home on Wednesday. All I can say is Thank God for The Nettie Pot! That thing is a life saver. And then Sunday night Lee got sick and he was home on Monday and Tuesday of this week. And it seems that Denise got food poisoning while eating at the Buffett at the Casino in Elgin - I told you she had a gambling problem. We all seem to be fine now but it was not a good couple of days there.

Okay - that’s kind of it. I told you….BORING LIFE. And with the Olympics, Survior, Amazing Race, Biggest Loser and American Idol on I’m sure I’ll be obsessed with those too.

So while I checking out the blogs I came across a post from Art saying they were having mist like in the short story by Stephen King named - you guessed it - The Mist. That was on Dec 16th. Nothing since then. You don’t think the Giant Spiders or Prehistoric Birds got them do you??