Life

For the record, I am afraid. For the record, I am scared. For the records, I am terrier. And I don't know what to do Our life is turned upside down. Today is day 21 -- Van has been in CCU for 21 days. I don't believe the doctors are helping . His surgeon has been on vacation for 2 weeks. The partner has yet to visit the room. I am sick to death of dealing with the nurse practioneer. I am confused, afraid and don'tknow what to do.

Wedding

We traveled to north Jersey yesterday, to the wedding of a dear friend.
Had a great time -- despite having to drive like a crazy person -- my hairdresser was late. I wanted my hair blown out nicely for the wedding.
She was late (even though "I" was early) -- took someone ahead of me.
I had to wait.
Should have let Colleen do it for me instead as it would have looked better, I think...

ANYWAY -- much fun and laughter.
Dancing ... and I have blisters on me tootsies!

and back to work tomorrow after a week off.
I need the structure back in my life.

Zoo -- quickie

We went to the Philly Zoo yesterday -- the FIRST Zoo in the United States.
Had a great time.
Weather was good!
Knee was not, but that is what it is.

I need to work the photo's and get them up.

Irene

I'll admit it. I am afraid.
Irene is terrifying me.

I have my family and my furbabies beside me.
But I am afraid.

The house is a house.
it is full of things.
our things.

our life.
our memories.
the state and national says this is a potentially 100 year storm.
i've been through hurricans in Florida.
but nothing with the flooding potential like this.
we are 3 blocks from the mandatory evacuation line.
my office is ON the road that is the mandatory evacuation line
and it is still open.

I am stressed.
we have supplies.
I love my family so much.

Friday things

Colleen and I went to Beadfest in Philly, on Friday.
Our yearly trek.
Our yearly epsioe fo "Thelma and Louise" on the road.

As usual, it was a good trip, filled with much laughter, many beads, sore feet and knee's.
And then there are the other issues.

Other issues?
Yeah, like our argument over who would be who?
She's always the "L" names..
She's always Lucy.
and Laverne.
And she wants to be Louise.

I never get to be "L" names when we have a road trip.

This time she decided that I had to be Cletus and she got to be Bandit.
You know, a la "Smokey and The Bandit".

I guess there is something to be said for me NOT being pigeonholed in the Jackie Gleason character.

And then there's the whole "Rocky" theme that I am compelled to sing every time, I mean EVERY time we pass near the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Now she's making up words to make me laugh so that I will quit singing.
That works.

We had a wonderful time seeing Betcey and Nikia.
We made a couple of new friends.
Hell, we listened to people bitch about their local bead societies.

And we spent sizeable dollars.

I got a new toy -- a hot fix crystal thing -- looks like I may be "blinging" some things.
Look out cat.........
and pug
and poodle.

All and all, a good time was had by all.

Updates

The heat continues and is estimated to be WICKED this week.
Near 100 most days this week with ongoing humidity.
ICK !

It was a quiet 4th of July in my world.
Nothing wrong with that!
I am remembering my grandparents -- this holiday was always a big thing.
Because he was a memeber of the VFW and American Legion, my grandfather always had me out helping him to set up flags.
And my grandmothers birthday was July 4 -- so we always had a great time.

Work is good - busy busy BUSY !!!
We have an audit this week.

Friday Colleen and I leave for Pittsburgh.
Will be back on Sunday.
I am excited but also a bit apprehensive.
She says I worry too much.
Maybe I do.

My BFAC is coming along.
I need some jump rings and hope to find them this weekend.
Hopefully will get them, add and be DONE within the next two (2) weeks.

Another weekend :)

The Eagles lost last night. darn.......... (she said with a snicker in her voice face....).

A guest for breakfast -- went well. A little stilted at first, but we survived.

Cold cold again today. 14 degrees this morning and a wind chill of 3. HELLO !!This is NOT the midwest !

Laundry almost done.
Errands ran.
Meatloaf in the oven for dinner and leftovers tomorrow.
I need to wash my hair before it gets much later.

I am woking on a beaded quilted piece. need to settle in and do that.

This cold weather is killing my hands -- they are so dry -- no matter what I do to them.

Must drive to PA tomorrow for a meeting.
It should go well.
And I will be smart and complete my expense report asap -- it will give me idle spending money.

I got the Wii back up again -- used it last weekend. I'd like to get Wii Resorts. a friend is going to hook me up on how to use a hard drive with the Wii and then I can have lots of games!Sweet.

Good stuff, man !

I gots good stuff for Christmas, man !
Lots o' good stuff!

Wonderful Christmas

It has been a wonderful day with my family.
I love them so much.
My life would be incomplete with Van and Colleen in it.
They make me so happy.

Snowing in Atlantic City !!

Whhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!
About a half an inch right now -- and we lost power for about an hour and a half -- methinks due to the ice on the lines.
The three of us sat in the living room with flashlights, candle and the pets.
It was cosy.

Had a great - rainy and bizarre -- but great day today.
I got us lost when we went out on our big adventure.
Have been told that I am banned from directions.
(giggle -- like that is a bad thing !!!)

Presents

Be careful what you ask for ....... Birthdays can produce that!


Colleen smoked me and tricked me on a present.
When we were in Savannah in a little gift shop near "The Lady and Sons", I saw a pin that I liked.
It is a beautiful Hibiscus pin.
No price on it, we were in kind of a hurry, so I didn't ask.
She snuck back and bought the pin!
Whooo hooo !!! I was quite surprised!
And she got me an awesome fleur de lys shirt too !


He got me a new lens for my camera: Canon F/2 60mm.
I can't wait to experiment with it.
The ratings all say that it is a good portrait lens too.
This should be nice :)

Birthday was great -- I loved every minute of it !

Even the arguments re why I didn't want a cake -- to much sweets for me!!

Birthday day !

Birthday was awesome.
I spent the day with the family -- as it should be !

Colleen and I went out and ran a couple of errands early -- before the crowds got out.
I bought myself the new Bon Jovi cd while it was still on sale at BestBuy.
Stopped at Kohl's and grabbed some socks while I still had a discount card.
(For the record, socks are like Christmas lights to me........ you just can't have enough of them!).

A couple of other stops and we were home.
He got up and then off we went on our days adventure.

I opted for the local diner for brunch -- I had a craving for a Belgian waffle.

Lunch done and we headed out to the Noyes Museum.
They have an exhibit for photo's from Weird NJ magazine.
I was a bit disappointed -- some were good, a couple were REALLY good.
A lot were mediocre.
But we enjoyed it -- and Colleen and I took in the other exhibits as well.
(Noyes is very small -- very. But it is an enjoyable afternoon for a small price).
The gift shop has someone's beaded bracelets for sale -- nice, but nothing spectacular.
And the beaded Christmas ornaments were "ok" -- but then, I am not a basic beaded ornament person.
Show me something that rocks my socks off and I am impressed -- but basic netting over an ormanent?
Not gonna flip my switch.

After that we ran out the the Feed Store on English Creek road -- Colleen needed to get Frontline for the dogs. I mistakenly grabbed the coupon out of the local magazine -- $2 off your purchase over $30.
I failed to see the small fine print "not good on Frontline". Very small print.
The guy at the register was down right rude about it. He snipped at me. I took the coupon back, apologized, said that I did not see the fine print and I walked out of the store, leaving them to get their merchandise.
I will NOT go back there.
Probably no skin off if his nose, but they have lost a customer because of his rudeness.

Then we went driving... our "adventures" as we call them. Start out -- random turns, just being Lookie Lou's -- enjoying the day.
We ended up down a road that came out on the bay -- it had a marina but we couldn't get all the way down to it because of the big holes in the road. Had we had one of the CRV's it would have been ok, but Colleen's care is a bit lower to the ground so we didn't chance it.
As we came back up the street there was a great old abandoned house. I jumped out to take some pictures.
There is something about old buildings that I love.
Methinks part of the attraction is the element of danger, of being someplace I shouldn't be.

Home, leftovers, warmth (It was quite breezy and cold for me yesterday).
And presents !

Nor' Easter continues today!

We've had a mild nor'Easter this weekend.
Cold and windy and rainy.
It could have been worse.

Tides are way up -- some of the turnarounds on Rt 30 in to AC were closed off.
The police were out with scrapers (normally used for snow) last night -- to clean debris off 30 where the high tides are pushing the back bay up over the road.

This morning I woke up to high wind and rain. Got up, went to the bathroom -- opened the window so I could listen to the rain from the bedroom. It was so soothing. And right back to sleep I went.

It IS chilly out!
I've been busy since I got up.
Finally got my suitcase back up on the topshelf in the closet.
Pulled a box down and forced myself to cull the herd. Stuff I have not looked at/worn/done anything with in 2 years. It made some trash, some saves and some to the charity box.
(I keep a charity box in the bedroom. Every so often, something gets in it. When it is full, out to the garage it goes.)

I'm on the second load of clothes.
One more load, then sheets and towels.
THEN I have to vacuum in the bedroom.
Am I up to bathroom cleaning today?
maybe not -- My hands have still not recovered from the dryness of Tahoe.

Ahhh, and I have bead sorting and putting up to do also.

I scanned the AmEx and other credit card bill -- damages have come in from Reno.
Not bad.
Not bad at all.
Dinner for all of us the first day -- very reasonable for that Mexican restaurant!
The motel in Reno was the worst.

Another Saturday night.....

Well, THIS one was different.

As a surprise for her upcoming birthday, I wanted to take Colleen to see Ron ("... they call me Tater Salad...") White.
I've had the tickets since JULY -- she really did not have a clue.
In her defense, she thought something was up because we were being bizarre -- more so than usual.

But the surprise was pulled off and we had a wonderful time!

Laughter is good -- and it FELT good.

A late dinner and the Greek diner afterwards - home and in bed by 11:30.
Slept really well, too !

Labor Day Weekend part 1

It hasn't been a thrilla -- just somewhat average.
We are in the middle of Ragweed season, with NJ's predicted higher than normal.
That explains my headache yesterday.
And I am thinking it explains the raging nosebleed that I have had for the last two (2) evenings.
ICK.

Friday night we went out to dinner -- to Fishtales -- and remarkably, we were not hit with the Labor Day shore crowd.
Yesterday morning Colleen and I hit Target and the bakery -- essentials and fresh bread.
I was disappointed that there was no Muligrain. I much prefer that to the Asiago Herb.
But, such is life. If I am desperate, I guess I COULD drive over today......

We spent the rest of the afternoon working on beading issues -- and then ran over to Los Escondidos II for a quick dish of mexican. This is totally authentic -- no tex mex here.

Back to the old beading table for the evening.
I have 3 of my hearts edged. Hopefully will get 2 more done today (if I work quickly).
Once the finished ones are completed, I will take pictures.
Then must work on the pendant part of my choker. And take pictures.

I also have the Ugly necklace piece -- for the bead retreat -- to work on.

And in my spare time, I picked my Kumihomo back up to finish the piece on there.

We watched The Woodward race yesterday -- with Rachel Alexandra. What a spectacular race!
more later.

Today?
Colleen has to get a card for her new camera.
I will buy pens at Staples (why??? because we are going there... fine points are on sale.... and because I LIKE pens).
so there !

and back to the edging.....

Catching Up

1. We didn't win the lottery -- boo hoo. Looks like my trip to the Dubai World Cup is put off for yet another year.

2. We've had lots of rain Friday and Saturday. Good for the plants -- bad for the tomatoes.

3. I started working on my Ugly thing for the Tahoe retreat. I'm having more fun with this than I should..........

4. Over the weekend I cranked out the Beaded Embellishment book -- old standby. No, that is NOT the correct title. I will look it up at some point.
Good to browse. There are things I have forgotten!

5. Ahh the last full week of summer: it will be nuts here at the Shore now that the shobies and the Benny's will want one more week.

Life is good for me.

Friday started out great !
Warm, sunny, filled with promise.

The first warning sign should have been that we could nto figure out what to do for breakfast.

Warning sign number 2: about 2 miles in to the drive, we realized that "I" forgot the beach tags.
Ummm, when did it become MY sole responsibility to remember the tags?

Decided to go to AC beach (because it is free) rather than drive back to the house.

Found a FREE parking spot on the street (Warning sign number 3).
We parked, walked up the boardwalk, over the dune and were greeted with the most god-awful stench (Warning sign number 4).
The stench is the result of a HUGE abnormal wave of mussels being washed ashore all along the beaches.
The local marine experts can not explain the enormous amounts of "baby" mussels that have been washed ashore. They suspect it was a storm at sea.
At any rate, it stinks.
But the seagulls love it-- it's like a free casino buffett -- all day/all free.
We normally go to Margate/Ventnor City (where the aforementioned tags are from). The stench there was present during the week before. It seems to be working it's way down the coast line.

If you were down wind, and for the most part, if you were lucky, it wasn't TOO bad. Thank god we all had beach shoes/water shoes. The crunch crunch crunch of walking across the shells to get to the water was awful.

We used our new umbrella.
We saw lots of dolphins -- and the lifeguards were moving folks AWAY from them -- the lifeguard boat even rowed over towards them to separate them from the swimmers (umm, hmmm, yeah, that works).
It was a lovely day.

da-dum
da-dum
da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum (insert Jaws music).

Crisis approaches.

We pack up our stuff and head back to the car.
As always, I trail the pack.

Final Warning sign:
They are both standing by the car as I approach with my bags etc.
Key is missing.
Not the key chain -- only ONE key is missing.
The car key.
Somehow it wiggled off the key chain.
They trace our steps back and forth.
I look up and down the boardwalk ramps etc.
No luck.
Oh, and did I mention, we ALL forgot our cell phones?

Good sign: if we can get in the car, there is a set of keys, including house keys that are in the glove box.

Car service is called.
We put out chairs BACK up and sit on the sidewalk, much to the stares of passersby.
An hour later, here comes the truck.
In 5 minutes we are in the car and on the way home.

After much laughter and cleaning up, we headed to Red Lobster for dinner (it's my week).
Great talipia -- just a tad too much salt in their blackening spices, though

3 Day Weekend !!

Friday, Friday, Friday -- and I do not have to go to work.
We randomly picked a Friday for a possible water park or beach day.
I wanted waterpark because I love drifting in the tubes.
In the interest of stretching money (quarters for the parking lot vs $$$ for admission), I postponed the waterpark adventure.
Temp is expected to be 84 degrees with ZERO chance of rain.
We'll be packing our beach tags, towels, chairs, sunscreen, umbrella, books, tiny cooler, snacks and His metal detector and off to Margate/Ventnor City beach(es) we will go.

Colleen and I counted the hours all week -- just waiting for today.

Work has been good this week -- a bit frantic, but good. We had a claims meeting --went well. The other unit had a layoff last week.
This week the main part of the office chose to layoff the receiptionist and consolidate duties with others. That was somewhat uncomfortable. My area is just next as you pass the reception area -- I had no clue but she was boxing like crazy and not saying a word.
FINALLY found out what had happened. She'd been there 7 years.
This stinks -- this economy -- it just stinks.

Not much else. I'm reading at night before bed -- seems the only time I have.

The beading takes a priority ! So I can do that while I watch tv and if I have the needle/beads in my hand, I am less likely to want to put ANYthing in my mouth. It works for me !

Saturday at the Shore

Nice morning.
No humidity to speak of, a little breezy.
I got up early because I was having nightmares about Colleen bringing a walrus into the house.

We did the library run.
And then on to Formica Brothers bakery -- I wanted some whole grain bread.

A quick stop at the garden store and I bought 2 plants for the front yard.
Would have bought some peppers but the woman kept warning me away from them because they were hot -- hello ! I can read. But I wanted them. She kept it up and I put the plant down and walked away.

Not sure why I bought the plants -- felt a little down (maybe more than a little....) and felt the need to spend money.

On the way home we crossed over the AC Expressway.
Good lord.
Three lanes of a parking lot.
Saturday mornings during the summer are light that.
Everyone heads to the shore.

A nice afternoon was spent working on a freeform bracelet.
Good dinner and then we watched "Mama Mia".

And the long weekend begins....

Office let us out at 2 yesterday.
A quick trip to BJ's for regular stuff ($141 worth ick).
Then home to wait for Colleen.
I fed all the animals so we could leave as soon as she got home.
Off to the restaurant -- that was the first time I had ever been in a Glatt Kosher restaurant.
Food was good --- EXPENSIVE !!
Ran by Walmart on the way home. Good god, I won't go back in this weekend if I can avoid that. There are too many "bennies" or "Shobies" down for the holiday weekend!
Italian ice at Rita's and then home.
I was still up at 11:30.
I've been reading Cloth Paper Scissors Studio magazine in hopes for ideas for better organization of my beads. (thanks Dot, for creating a monster!)
I have some idea's. Must sort today.

And I have to get daring and start working with the sewing machine.

There is a nail appt this afternoon.
I need to photograph both Colleen's and my charity piece for next year. They have to be shipped by the first of the week.

Big old Moosie Cat just let hold him (3 times !) for a bit. And almost cuddle him -- big goof :)

More and more is revealed and I am beginning to understand it is not my fault -- but rather that fault is not the right word, but that the other person shares the responsibility in what is not right. (what a great runon sentence THAT was !!! )