Recordings of Chaos

Man, I'm tired.  It has NOTHING to do with how late I've been staying up, I SWEAR. lol  I really need to get some sleep.  So let's post stuff instead! lol

I lead such an exciting life, I swear.  Hey, at least I have fun.  Ariel came over last night around 9:30ish and we made tacos.  I can not eat hard shell tacos and not make a mess...Ariel said my plate looked like a rabbit had been there...I decided that it probably would've been better for me to have a taco salad instead. lol  Mmmm, taco! :)  I fell asleep during the movie Michael Clayton that we were attempting to watch.  From what I saw it seemed like a pretty okay movie.  Reyes came home about...well, I don't really know what time it was. lol Like 11ish maybe.  He sat with us for a bit then went to bed.  Ariel and I pushed our way through the movie, though we both fell asleep.  She left around 1 I believe.  It was fun. :)  OH OH! And she introduced me to my new favorite song.  It's a morbid "love" song of sorts. lol Avenged Sevenfold's "A Little Piece of Heaven."  It's great.

Work has been steady the last couple of days, thank goodness.  And the last two mornings I haven't gotten sick to my stomach thinking about going there in the mornings!  Yay!  That's something for me.  I've surprisingly been in a pretty okay mood, given the couple things that have happened in the last week.  I can feel it slipping slightly...but I'm not gonna let it. lol  Anyway, I was nice and awake this morning.  I was able to get up and actually get ready for work instead of just washing and going. lol  I felt fairly pretty, even.  Very rare. lol 

I came home and picked up slightly.  Didn't throw too much effort into.  Though, it doesn't really need too much work.  I need to do the dishes, though.  It's past my turn. Derek ended up coming by tonight, so that was cool.  I haven't seen him since high school, and we hadn't actually TALKED talked, as he pointed out, since then either.  Just the recent text msgs. lol So yeah, go shyness for me.  He said I better not be, because he's not...but I just shut down, I swear. It was high school all over again where I forgot how to talk. lol  After the initial "what's new" convo, we decided to watch Alpha Dog.  It was a movie we both liked, and it spurred some convo, at least.  I'm guessing I didn't bore him too much because he said to let him know when we're gonna do something...either that or he was just being nice. lol :)  Either way, it was fun to catch-up...or just talk period. lol We didn't talk too much in high school.  Like I told him, he always seemed to have "Fuck Off" written on his face. lol

Ugh, I'm tired and I have a huge headache!  Crap, just remembered that I have to wake up early for PT in the morning....grrrr.  I don't wanna sleep!  My mind is too busy right now to even think about sleep.  Wish there were a nob on the side of my head or something so I could turn down the volume. lol

Well, I'm gonna attempt to get some sleep, I think. 

First off, some of you know that my grandpa died on Monday night.  He was so tired and was ready to rest.  That is what he told us just the day before on Sunday when we were there to visit him.  He said he was tired and just ready to rest. :(  He was 87 years old.  As I’ve posted before, he was going through some health issues the last month and a half that he was here.  Towards the end things started looking up.  The doctor even said that it wasn’t the health issues that took him; he just wore out.  We left Thursday morning to go to the visitation in Springfield.  I was really scared to do that.  I really did not want to see grandpa laying there all painted up looking nothing like he did while he was alive.  You know how they mess people up...But they actually did a really good job.  Granted...that really doesn’t matter, but at least that part wasn’t jarring.  Of course there were tears.  The next day was the funeral.  Poor Mom...Poor Aunt Charmayne...Poor Grandma Sally.  That was the really hard part.  Watching those three break down.  I didn’t actually loose it until we were at the gravesite and they did the 21 gun salute and played Taps. :(  My grandpa earned that.  After the funeral we all went over to Knights Action and had a luncheon.  Dad and Shaun drove in for the funeral.  Aunt Charmayne and Grandma Sally were so happy to see Dad!  It was funny.  And Shaun was there just to support us and be there for us....and to help Jeremy pick on me and Leka, I swear. lol  I really did not want to leave at all.  It was such a good feeling to be with the rest of our family and talking with them and spending time with them.  It was really depressing to have to leave them all and come back home.  I told Mom and Aleka that we should just move down there.  What do we really have here besides from jobs and a few close friends?  It’s not that far away and we have a ton of family down there.  We got to joke around with Aunt Charmayne and chat with Nicole and pick on Jeremy and meet this beautiful little girl named Mariah and her grandma Mickie (who is a freakin awesome chick!) who is family that we had never met before.  I didn’t want to leave any of it.  I still think we should move down there.  I know there is nothing holding me here, personally.

After we got back into town, Leka, Mom, and I went to Sparky’s to have a beer for grandpa.  Neither me nor Mom drink beer, and Leka doesn’t like Bud Light, but that’s what we drank because that was his beer of choice. One and half beers and a margarita later and Mom was smashed. lol  Friends of hers that work there bought us our second round of beer and a margarita for her. lol  It was hilarious.  I will be putting up a couple pictures of us toasting with our nasty beer. lol

Later that night me and Leka decided to go out being that she is going away for a little while.  A couple of our friends, Steve and Derek, were gonna meet up with us but that ended up falling through, so it ended up being the two of us and Ariel.  It was fun. :)  Me and Leka started at Jager.  For the longest time we just sat in the chairs.  We got there kinda early...lol  Then eventually it started filling up.  The friggin Pirates were there...and wow that got annoying real quick. lol  We ended up meeting up with Ariel over at Diesel.  The show was over by the time we got there, so we were able to dance.  We were running through the doors, "We’re home!" lol At that time of the night it was no fun over at Jager. lol  We did, however, end up heading back over there with Ariel later in the night.  That was fun.  There was this guy that was trying to catch my attention I guess and was pointing to me, then to his friend, then back to me.  I just looked at him...and looked away.  So Ariel walks up to him and says, "That’s my girlfriend." lol  A little earlier than that these other guys walked up to us and were trying to talk to me, so I grabbed Ariel’s hand.  They asked me if I was single, and I told them I wasn’t and made sure to make a show of swinging hands with Ariel.  They looked down and then walked away. lol  Leka said to be careful with that though because some would like that.  I told her it worked just fine, and Ariel said she would be a "possessive bitch" if she needed to be. lol  That’s when that guy started up the "you and my friend" thing.  So I guess he ended up asking her if that was a no, and she repeated again, "that’s my girlfriend," and he said something again.  "That’s my f*****g girlfriend! No!" I was dying.  Took care of that.  Shortly after that we headed back over to Diesel...and sat some more. lol  We did, however, take some fun pictures though.  And my JC(yes..no..full name or initials..i don’t know. lol) , the DJ, took some fun pictures with us which I will also be putting up here soon. :)  Luv him! lol  Got home after closing time and sat up talking with Reyes for a bit, recapping the night pretty much.  We don’t see each other, really, even though we are in the same bar, so we had to tell each other about our nights. lol  Finally got to sleep!

Saturday...after finally waking up...me and Leka went shopping.  We were gonna go out again for one more bash before her going away and AGAIN were gonna meet up with Steven and Derek.  So we decided to go shopping.  I try to buy a new shirt when I get paid, and I generally try to buy something that I can wear out and to work.  I succeeded this time as well. :)  We each got a new shirt (love Deb’s prices! so cheap) and I bought some really cute wedge shoes that were on sale!  And earrings...thought it was time for some new pair of those...Anyway! We took a break and ate some supper at CiCi’s Pizza.  Nummy.  Then, since we were so close, stopped into Dots.  That was hilarious.  Dwayne, a friend of Reyes, was working and had us laughing so hard. lol He’s great.  I finally made it home around 9..which put me getting home RIGHT when they were going to start to get ready. lol  So I grabbed my stuff and headed back over to Leka’s so get ready over there.  Turned out that the guys weren’t going to meet us again. lol We assume that Steve turned off his phone cuz he was tired cuz it wasn’t on when Leka called. 

James was in town yesterday, too.  He messaged and said that he was at Perkins with Cid and at some point wanted to hug Leka before she went away.  So we still had quite a bit of time left after we got ready, so we just headed over there to meet up with them for a bit.  We visited for a half hour or so then headed down to Diesel.  It was actually fairly busy for only bein midnight.  Anja was right inside the door when we got there and bought us our first drink of the night.  We ended up grabbing a table at the back on the wall and sat down there for awhile.  The girls started filing up after they got ready.  That’s about the time I found out that Derek probably wasn’t going to show, which was fine.  It’s been six years since high school, what’s a little more time? lol  About that time my friend Oscar showed up as well.

We all hung out for a bit, chatting and introducing and taking some more fun pictures, which I will also be posting. lol Love pictures! lol  After a bit me, Leka, and Oscar decided to head over to Jager.  On the way out I grabbed Alexia and said that she should come with us, and she did! It was great.  So much freaking fun!  She was a blast to hang out with.  One of the best parts was the guys hitting on her...not knowing she’s really a he. lol  Loved it.  She’s so damn pretty you can’t freaking tell.  But we were dancing up a storm.  We all had to keep running to the ladies room to wipe the sweat off our faces.  By the end of the night we were a mess.  You can see the night progress on in the pictures as well... lol  Very pretty and sober...to very not so much! lol  And it was nice, too.  The three of us were treated like ladies and didn’t have to buy any of our drinks at either place. :)

We headed back to Diesel with and hour to closing.  I guess Reigna was mad.   :(   (could’ve came, girl!)  She said she thought Alexia was walking over with us...then walking back. lol  Told us we stole her. lol  We danced some more and drank some more (water, that is...lots of water. so very warm), and took some more pictures. lol  A little before close Oscar split.  We hung around and chatted with my JC and others.  Afterwards we went to Perkins for some breakfast, which is a whole other fun and hilarious story in itself. lol  Lots of laughs, lots of picking on mean Reigna, lots of Jeff Dunham quotes...and a mini-episode of Cops, I swear.  Do not threaten of friend of Reigna’s, let me tell you.  I’ve never seen someone run in high heels so fast in my LIFE!  She was ready to pull off the wig and throw down.  Me and Alexia walked over with our no shoes on and watched from the sidelines saying "she loves to fight..." lol  It was hilarious, the whole night.  I haven’t laughed that hard in awhile.

After dragging myself out of bed after very little sleep, I took Mike to the laundry mat.  As promised since he bailed the last two nights, Derek messaged asking what was going on...but I was so tired and so blah.  That and I had more going on today than I thought I would.  I forgot about laundry, or more so it slipped my mind, then once I was done with that I didn’t see the point in going anywhere cuz I had to pick Reyes up from work because the stupid Tracer decided that it doesn’t feel like running right now.  We are gonna work on fixing that tomorrow....that is going to be interesting, I’m sure. lol  As soon as I picked him up, we grabbed the kids from Geoff’s and met up with Mom and Leka at Hometown Buffet for supper.  That was fun, aside from Mom not feeling so well. :(  But she was laughing a bit, too.  As much as she could without going bleh. lol

Wow, this was really long...but I’m bored and really haven’t posted anything in awhile, so I’m making up for it now.  Ha!  Hear me!  I don’t know...I’m gonna post my pictures now.  Enjoy! :)

I'm not gonna whine on here.  I don't even feel like it right now; I'm tired from crying...as usual.  Just wanted to post about what the doctor told me after my MRI and X-Rays.

Had the tests yesterday, saw the doctor today.  My back is messed up which is causing all the pain down both legs and the other stuff.  I have massive pressure on my nerve in my spine, and "more arthritis than someone your age should have."  Physical therapy will do absolutely nothing for it.  The only thing that will help is surgery, which she said she will not have me do, or epidureal (sp) shots in the spine.  I told her no....then teared up...then listened to her some more. If I don't do these shots, my back will keep getting worse and I will loose strength in my legs...nicely saying I'll have issues with walking... I asked if there was anything else I could do instead of that, and she said the only other thing we could try was an oral steroid, but she highly doubted that would work.  I asked her to let me try anyway.  I go back in two weeks so see how the med is working.

So I'm sad (complete understatment...) Yeah, it could be worse...and it continually does, it seems.  Everything keeps threatening to take away my ability to walk.  Whatever...I'm done with my update.

So, my leg has been giving me some issues and it scared me, so I decided to see the doctor.  They did this horrible shock nerve test thingy on me, which I cried a bit through, and the nurse called me with the results today.

The results?

More shit and more tests...leading to more damage.

The test showed that I have a few different things wrong with my person.  I have radiculopathy, neuropathy, sciatic problems, and joyful nerve disease of some kind that I haven't been told of yet.  Of course, none of that really meant anything to me at the time she was telling it to me, except that I have to go for yet another freakin MRI, which I hate. 

So now I'm home looking up this crap and I think I've tried out my tear ducts.  Probably not for some of the reasons most would think, either.  Could it be because of all the pain I'm gonna have for the rest of my life?  No.  How bout the possiblity of my nerves being fried without cure?  Guess again.  Nope, I'm upset about all the freakin drugs I'm probably going to have to take.  Drugs are the number one "cure" when I read about this shit.  My most favorites being Morphine, Ketamine, and random antidepressents (low doses are for nerve crap, apparently.)  I REALLY don't want to go through life in a fog and drugged out all the damn time!  I see people every freakin day that take so many medications and they are zombies...or they have a pill for every side-effect another pill can give them...and a pill for the side-effect curing pill....and so and and so forth.  I always say I don't ever want to be one of those people.  I won't be. 

Yeah, I'm scared what this could potentially do to me and my life.  Another big fear is having a walker by 30.  I'm 23 years old!!  Why is all this going wrong with me!?  How much more am I supposed to take?  How long am I supposed to put on a strong front?  And how many times am I going to have to say, "Well, I guess it could be worse..." and have it continually get worse!?  I'm sick of this...

Maybe I am having a pity-party, but damnit, I'm scared!

I feel like I should post because there was just a holiday...but yeah.  I'm still zonked from that.  It was so freaky busy and tiring.  Yeah, it was fun to hang with family, but it was just rush rush rush all day.  I'm so tired and bored right now I can't even think.  Well, not true.  I just have so many damn thoughts running through my head that I can't make sense of half of them.  I almost just want to go to bed and it's only 7:39.   Retarded...

I feel really numb. lol I do.  I don't want to work tomorrow.  I'm tired of working. lol (I constantly say that, I know.)  I don't like working the register anymore at work.  I never used to mind.  Now there are so many mistakes happening at work all the freakin time that leave you looking for a f***ing prescription for 20 minutes.  When you work the register it puts you in the spotlight and makes YOU look stupid because you can't find the script, even though it's really someone elses fault.  It's ridiculous how much stuff is going wrong these days.  It really makes me hate working there sometimes. Ranting.....

Back to numb.  Maybe I'm just really tired.  I don't know.  I just know I'm blah right now.  I don't really even want to be typing this.  I want to do something, but I don't want to do anything. lol That makes no sense.  Actually, I would really like to curl up with a book, but I've finished everything, except one book that got put away and I can't find it.  I don't feel like searching for it right now.  I like to read.

I miss my friends.

I'm tired.

I don't wanna type anymore.

Joel has joined the world of XBox Live.  :) I was excited to see what it was gonna be like once he finally got on there.  See, I was thinking it was going to be kinda like an MMORPG, only FPS.  Ya know, random people hopping about forming parties to kill bad guys.  So I was bouncing up and down almost.  Not so much like I thought it was gonna be.  Still seems fun, but it's basically the same as game play as normal, only the person isn't sitting right next to you.  You have to hope one of your friends are online or you can't play.  Well, maybe there's a selection that will throw you in a random game with a random person, but I'm not sure.  Either way, it wasn't what I personally was thinking that it was going to be.  Doesn't really matter, though.  He's having fun and he's the one that will be playing it. :)

So we've taken to feeding Domino separtely from the other ferrets now.  She's just so thin.  She's been thin for awhile, so it's not like she keeps losing weight.  She's been like that for awhile, but it's still not right.  She used to be a chunker.  We noticed that when she's eating and one of the other girls comes up, she backs away from the bowl.  So now when we let the other three ferrets out, we put her alone in Thor's cage and let her eat until she's had enough, while keeping the other ferrets away from the cage.  We even bought some Ferra-Vite, or something, that supposed to A, give ferrets vitamins, and B help a low weight ferret put on some weight.  Of course, she hates it.  She's picky. lol  Blaze, who in NO way needs the stuff, loves it. lol

Going to work in the morning is becoming a real chore. *sigh*  That place just bugs the crap out of me.  Whatcha gonna do...?

Okay, it's time for me to wash my face now. lol Ta!

Today was boring. lol  It just was.  I was supposed to go watch Joel paintball at the new indoor place on Knoxville, but that didn't work out because Mom called me and told me that Brian (her friend) and Cody (his nephew) were coming over to look at my Tracer.  That was at 10:30 and we were supposed to leave in an hour.  So I was hoping that they would come over and check it out before we had to leave.  That didn't work out like that, though.  I'm not complaining because I really want to get the Tracer running so I can drive it this winter.  So I ended up staying home waiting for them to come over.  They made it over around 2 ish. lol  Oh, and I might need a new fuel pump for the Tracer....joy.

So while I was sitting at home I watched about four or five different cooking shows on the Food Network. lol  When I cooked supper tonight, I told Joel that I felt like I should be explaining what I'm doing.  "Okay, so now I'm just going to add a dash of Creole spices, just to give it that little extra kick." lol  Yeah, TV does not affect people at all. :)

So yeah, pretty much most of the day I was just sitting around watching TV.  I did clear the garbage and junk out of both of my cars, though.  That was a good thing. :)  Other than that....just sat and watched TV, and attempted to read more of my book, but I didn't get too far with that.  Nothing was holding my interest. 

We're going to have Thanksgiving at our apartment this year.  First Thankgiving at my place. :)  As I was just sitting around today I kept telling myself that I needed to get up and clean the apartment so it would be a mess-free zone on Thursday, but I just couldn't do it. lol  I was completely lazy.   Not that the apartment is messy or dirty....it just needs to be picked up a bit.  And I have to figure out if I want to move the coffee table out of the way or not.  We don't have a table (no room, really...computers in here.), and I don't know if I want the kids to eat with plates on their lap or the coffee table.  The coffee table takes up a good portion of the walking/living space in the living room, but if I take that out, then they WILL have to eat on their laps, and that could lead to spills on my new rug. lol  I'm just rambling now.  Of course, spills can happen either way.  Maybe I can haul over Mom's TV trays.  That's an idea.  Who needs a table to have a family gathering when you have three-decades old TV trays? :) 

I like rambling.  Oh well.  I don't want to work tomorrow.  Or pretty much ever again, really.  I'd be okay with not working.  Well, I'd keep my Mike job, of course.  That doesn't really count as work, though.  I don't hate my job....I just don't wanna be there.  I need to win lots of monies so I don't have to work ever again. :)  Who doesn't feel that way....

Oh, Thor's doing a lot better.  I think I might keep him. :)  He almost got me last night though.  If it weren't for my baby ring on my pinky he would've had me.  As it was, his teethed latched through my ring and he wouldn't let go.  He wasn't being mean, though.  I probably just held onto him too long.  I told Joel that he almost had me, and he said, "Were you being Elmira and squeezing and holding him?"  "No!" pause..."Well, maybe I did hold on a little too long...."  I can't help it!  They're all so cute!  He did try to push out of my hands and I cradled him back against me.  Then he huffed...then went for my pinky. lol  He's cute. :)

Now Joel and I are trying to get a damn O-ring in the manifold of his bolt system thingy in his PMR because it's leaking air.  It's friggin imposible.  You have to get it in a groove inside a cylinder and the O-ring seems like it's really too big for that groove, but the manual says it's right.  *sigh*  Frustrating....

Bah, I'm done typing.  Again, I've lost interest. lol

Okay, so I'm a bit obsessed.  We got another ferret.  When we bought Blaze we were aiming to buy a boy because I want at least one, and then that was going to be the last one.  Well, Blaze was too cute to pass up.  So I've been drooling over this freakishly huge ferret that has been at the store for several months now.  He's all white, save for a very few random dark hairs making him not albino.  He's also 5 months old and the size of a fairly large cat, no joke.  I had  gone to visit/play with him four times before I decided that I wanted to buy him for sure.  Joel and I went Monday night to play with him, then talked about him at home that night.  Joel had seen him before and never wanted him.  We had even played with him before together.  But after Monday he really wanted to get him just like I did.  So we did last night (Tuesday).  When we got him home was when he changed completely. lol

He was cute at first, hopping around and barking playfully.  Then he started to charge at us...and rear....and bite.  He made Joel bleed. (his mouth is huge and powerful.)  So then we got nervous about him, and around him.  We were thinking about taking him back.  Then we decided we had 15 days to decided (the store would take him back within 15 days) and he was probably just freaked out from being in a new area and he really didn't know us that well.  But for that night we really had a hard time picking him up without being charged.

So today we got him out again.  He bit Joel lightly a few times, and Joel pulled out the Bitter Apple.  Thor (the ferret...Thor is the only name for a ferret that size) does not like the taste of that...like most animals. lol  He pretty much stopped bitting after that.  Joel picked him up several times in a row, told him "good boy" after each try, and then it became obvious that he was starting to trust him.  So I sprayed my hand and starting picking him up a couple of times.  He seems to be a lot better now.  I'm still a little afraid, though. lol  I'm trying not to be because, like Joel said, he can probably sense that. lol :)  Now we just have to get past is wolverine-like claws....my hands are all scratched up and welted. lol  He can't help that, though.  It just happens when we hold him.  Once he gets more used to us we're going to trim his claws. :)

Him and Blaze will probably never get along properly. lol  He wants control and she doesn't give a flip and just wants to tackle, play, and overpower. lol  He can tell that Domino is the weakest, so he's picked on her a bit.  They go back and forth on their relationship.  Thor and Kita are probably going to be best friends.  She's the dominant female, and he's obvioulsy the dominnat male.  They have had no problems so far and walk around with each other.  lol Messed up because Kita has always liked being a loner. :)

Again, as soon as I find/buy a cord for the camera, I'll put pictures up.  I might take my card to work and see if the computers there take them...

Ta!

Finally I have something real to post about and not just random thoughts that come to my head. :)  That might mean this is kinda long, though. :)  Oh well. :)  Here we go...

Monday I pretty much stayed at home, I think.  I know I ran somewhere, but of course now I can't remember it.  lol I was supposed to do something with Aleka that day, but we ended up  not because she had a couple things that she needed to do and I had to go to Mike's and the times just didn't work out.  We made up for it the rest of the week though.  My vacation week turned into Sister Sister time with Aleka, which was fine with me.  We had fun and got to catch up with each other.  Pretty much most of Tuesday through Thursday was spent running around with her. :) We went to see go Saw IV, which turned out pretty good, I think.  The ending confused me though.... We went shopping one day, grabbed lunch on the spur, and just acted like fools.  It was great. :)  We went out and visited with Tiffany for a few minutes while she was at work.  We were out at Grand Prairie looking for this pet store that's out there in search of ferrets, but they didn't carry them.  So we stopped by and said hey to Tiff for a bit. :)  I really enjoyed spending time with Aleka, though.  We really havne't gotten to do that lately. :)

In my spare time during the week I did lots of laundry, cleaned up some parts of the apartment, and read A LOT. lol  I am one of the slow people that hasn't read the last Harry Potter book yet. lol Ciara let me borrow hers and I'm almost done with it.  I literally have like 20 pages left, if that.  So the story is pretty much done now, I just gotta close everything up.  :)

The trip to Kentucky (right outside Ohio) to meet Paul (for those of you who don't know, he was the man that raised me. lol) halfway from North Carolina.  It wasn't as long of a trip as I thought it would be.  Well, at least it didn't seem that way, to me at least. 

The first night we all just kinda hung out and caught up.  We had to make an emergency trip to Wal-Mart because the Days Inn have not updated their Tvs and could not hook up the DVD player or the Xbox to it.  So we had to get a converter. lol  We got a couple pizza while we were out.  And even thought we bought a converter...we watched a movie on Tv instead. lol Oh well.

The next day we drove into Ohio (which took maybe 15 mins lol) and went to the Cincinnati Museum.  They have an OmniMax theater there, which is freakin HUGE!  It completely surrounds you, basically.  It wraps all in front and the sides, and all over top of you.  We National Geographic presentation of Sea Monsters and it was so neat.  There were parts where it was so overwhelming though.  It was kinda making me dizzy at points, and Mom felt like she was gonna be sick at points.  It was so neat though.  It overwhelmes your senses! lol  Forget 3D...this was so much better.

After that we went into the Natural History and Science section of the museum.  Obviously that's about the history of the world, with artifacts, fossils, and what not.  They had to sections set up in there, one being an iceberg section, and the other being a cave.  The iceburg section takes you back to the Ice Age (go figure) and they set up a trail with man-made icebergs set up all around you, and animals lining the trail, and even running streams.  It was really neat.  Then the cave was almost like entering into an actual cave.  They said they have the largest man-made limestone cave.  There were two trails, a beginner and an advanced, so all four of us did the beginner first because there were no stairs and it had more light.  That was cool, but it was short.  Joel and I went back around and did the advanced trail, which was quite a bit longer and took you through more trails and rooms.  It was so real! lol  It had waterfalls and dark rooms, narrow paths where you could slip into the water if not careful, and even tight walkways where you had to turn sideways to make it through like in an actual cave.  There were even live bats! lol Of course, they were behind glass... :)  The whole museum experience was just awesome.  We wore Paul out though.

We had supper at the Cracker Barrel after though, then went back to motel and chatted for a bit, took some pictures and played around.  If I ever find the cord for the camera I'll post the pictures.  This computer doesn't have a slot for my memory card.  Anyway, we finally did put our converter to use and watched a DVD.  Right after that was done Paul left and went to his room to sleep.  He was really tired.

So that brings up to today.  Obviously we got up (lol), had breakfast, got ready, then visited in the room for awhile.  It turned out that Paul had to stay an extra day because his car got an attitude right when he got there.  He's having transmission issues and is gonna have it flushed before he chances takin it back to NC.  So we hung out in his room for a bit after we checked out of ours and got in some extra visiting time.  We left around 11:30 their time, 10:30 our time.

It was a good visit. :)  Short, but good. :)  The drive home didn't seem long, either.  Joel and I were anxious to get home so we could feed the animals, so we were a bit antsy, but it still didn't seem like a long trip. :)

And now I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow....I like staying at home and getting things done around here. :) Oh well, though.  I gotta work, so I guess I'll just deal with it.  At least it's not a TERRIBLE job.  I don't always enjoy it, but I guess it could be worse.  *sigh*

So,  I haven't posted in awhile, and I feel obligated to do so, I guess.  Don't have really much to say.  Well, I always have a lot to say (lol) but I've got nothing I really care to write about right now, I guess.  Just wanted to post...I'm kinda bored. lol  I have this awesome book sitting next to me....but right now I'm just not feeling reading.  I should, though, cuz it's all a pretty neat part, but oh well.  Props to Holly for loaning me awesome books.  FYI, Holls, I'm curently reading Lioness Rampant, the fourth book in the Song of the Lioness series.  I'll have that devoured like everything else in no time. lol

I tried to upload some, in my opinion,  pretty friggin' hilarious pictures of myself portraying different emotions. lol  Stupid things wouldn't upload, though, and it pissed me off. lol  There's like 25 or so of them.  I was bored and flying on Benadryl cuz of these damned sniffles, so what can ya expect? lol  One thing I did learn, though, was that apparently I can cross one of my eyes while the other one stays looking forward, on each side. lol I never knew I could do that intentionally.  On accident, sure.  Mom always had to snap and Aleka and me from time to time and tell us to straigten our eyes because sometimes they would cross. lol  Anyway, so I got pictures of me crossing each of my eyes individually. lol  I was having fun. lol  I wish they would upload! lol Oh well.

A little behind the times, but we finally got a X-Box.  Not a 360, but a regular X-Box.  Hey, I'm excited. lol  And it was cheap, too!  Always a plus.  Especially since I never planned on owning one, but hey...it's got Halo, and that's never a bad thing.  Of course....I haven't played it yet because I don't so much like playing the actual game as I do playing against someone, and we don't have a second controller yet.  Only had it since Friday.  Joel's enjoying it currently, though. :)

Blaze is getting THICK!  Okay, not GETTING, she IS thick.  She's a fat girl.  Kita's been chubby before, but you could squeeze her.  Blaze is solid. lol  I dubbed her the football player ferret.  And she pretty much is, because she literally tackles the other two girls.  No joke. lol I'll have to get a video of her attacking them and post it sometime... :)

So it seems I found something to write about.  Notice I didn't say something worth READING.  I don't recommend it.  It could cause waves of boredom. lol  Yeah....goodnight. zzzzzzzzz

Just a quick update, most likely.  Nothing too much has been going on.  I've been really busy at work, thus I'm really tired in the evening and just want to chill and do nothing.  With Misi leaving at the beginning of June, that will leave just me running the back counter when Judy goes on her vacation.  I want her to know that I can handle it.  It will be really hard, and I'm sure there will be nights when I go home and just cry, but it will get done.  I can handle it for a week.  It's gonna suck, though.  Anything that can be filled is due to fill the week she is gone. lol  I mean EVERYTHING is due.  lol It's kinda funny, but not. =D  Judy made me promise that I won't walk out the door as she's walking in from vacation. lol  Though, rumor has it I'm leaving in July anyway. lol  I wish I had known that.

Oh oh, the girls came in town this past weekend.  It was great!  We spent the whole day together.  We played with animals at the pet store, looked at puppies, did some shopping at Wal-Mart, and visited Tiffany at her work. lol  Then of course there was the just plain being silly-ness.  That's always great.  Tiffany met up with us later in the evening after she got off work to have supper.  I love hanging out with them.  It sucks when I don't get to.

Happy early birthday to my Holly!  As usual, your gift will come from Acen. =D

Mom and I started at Curves on Monday.  It's great.  They suggest you go three times a week, which is no problem and I completed succesfully, and you go from station to station.  I'm excited because it doesn't strain my back or my leg.  It seems like something I can actually do.  Well, that I KNOW I can do because I've been my three times this week and I'm not in anymore pain than I normally am. (as far as reg back/leg pain goes)  got the normal work-out pains.  Feels great!  Hopefully it will help and I can loose some of this weight....My oldest sister (dad's daughter) also suggested the South Side Beach diet.  She said her and her two kids lost quite a bit of weight on it already.  I might check it out to compliment the work-out.

Well, that's pretty much it.  I work tomorrow (joy) so I need to get to bed soon.  Sucks, really.  Tomorrow I get my Ciara!  I'm excited.  I wish I could have the boy, too, but his daddy has him all weekend.  Oh well, maybe next time.  They are sooo cute... =D

is ANYBODY going to acen?!

Granted, today is Tuesday, but this is the first chance I've gotten to post about it.  I'll try and keep this short for those of you who read this, but we'll see....

Saturday was a very...interesting day altogether. We got to sleep in a bit, which was nice.  I didn't have to work at the pharmacy this weekend.  Joel worked, so I got up at pretty much the same time he did, but that was okay.  I got a little extra sleep.  I ran around and checked out some gyms to see what they had to offer.  Later in the afternoon we went out to Mike's so I could work.  I had to switch out his closet, replacing his long sleeve shirts with his short sleeves.  That is a horrible job.  He has limited room, so everything is piled in there.  I have to lug everything out, drag out two tots of shirts, take the one shirts off the hanger, fold them, hang up the others, refill the tots, then toss everything back in the closet.  Takes a lot longer than it sounds.  Oh well.  It didn't bother me that much this time.  We all talked and joked around as I worked, and I got Joel to help me fold a bit, so it was as bad.  The interested/scary part came when it was time for me to leave.

Mike started acting really strange.  He kept repeating himself and couldn't rememeber what he had just told me minutes before.  He speech became very slurred, and his face paled.  He was saying things that were confusing me, and I started to get worried.  I asked him what was wrong, and he told me nothing.  I looked at Joel and he had the same expression that I did; something was wrong.  Mike was acting funny.  So I grabbed a chair and sat down, telling Mike that I wasn't going to leave until he told me what was wrong.  He kept insisting that he was fine, but he was still slurring and drooping around.  I called Mom to see what she had to say about it (she helps with him, too...keeps him in line. lol), and she talked to him.  He told her the same thing.  I eventually told him he needed to let me take him to the hospital.  He got scarred.  "Why do I need to go the hospital?"  I started asking him what he was going to do later that night, which he had already told me earlier....but he couldn't remember what he was going to do.  I told him that's why he needed to go to the hospital.  We "argued" back and forth about that for awhile and I finally told him either he let me take him, or I call the ambulance.  I was a lot cheaper and a lot nicer.  He still refused to go.  Joel got the car and apparently called his grandma (a nurse) while he was out there.  She suggested checking his blood sugar, which I never even thought of, because it may be low.  So I kinda freaked out about that.  Blood, ya know. lol  Well, turned out the batteries were dead in it and he didn't have any to replace it.  I then asked him when the last time he checked his blood was.  It had been awhile...and he's supposed to check it two or three times a day.  He just didn't feel like doing it.  Nice.  So I asked him when Gary (his friend) was picking him up, and it was a couple hours away.  Joel suggested calling him because maybe Mike would listen to him.  So I called Gary, told him Mike was acting funny, and he said he'd be right over.  In the meantime, I made Mike a PB&J sandwich in case it was his blood sugar.  I was scared, though.  Of course I had all these crazy thoughts running through my head.  I even checked his legs to make sure he didn't have a small wound that was infected or anything like that.  Gary got there and turns out it was just a blood sugar attack.  He's seen Mike in one before; I never have.  But the sandwich helped.  Yay!  I did something right.  I'm glad Joel called his grandma, though, because I wouldn't have thought of that.  Some help I am. lol  So, that crisis was averted. (sp?)

On to the next one....

Later that night...I was online chatting with a friend about...10:30 maybe.  Can't remember.  Anyway, Mom calls me and says, "Just thought you should know your dog got out and ran away, like completely ran away, like Whitney used to run away."  What!?  She said he just jetted.  He's NEVER done that.  Whitney used to get out and put up a real chase...Namu would peek around a bit at things then go to the front porch whinning to get back in.  But he jetted, and she couldn't find him, and she had been searching for about a half hour already.  So, I closed down everything without saying goodbye, got dressed and woke up Joel (he feel asleep on the couch during a movie.)  We headed towards Mom's.  I called her when we were close and asked him which way he ran....like he would still be there.   She told me and we searched that area.  He's hearing is going bad (he's 13) so yelling wouldn't do much good...plus it was almost 11 at night....in a bad neighborhood.  Don't want to yell too much.  We didn't see him, and headed to Mom's to see if anything new came up.  He hadn't come back, and she hadn't found him.  So, back in the cars to search some more.  Remember, Joel and I started looking at about 10:45. 

So after some more searching, I'm freaking out.  My damn puppy is missing and alone.  Who knows why he ran off.  Of course I have the horrible, negative thought running through my head that he ran off to be alone to...well, ya know.  He's an animal, they do that.  I didn't want to lose my puppy.  So I'm trying to drive and not cry, Mom's calling me asking if I've found him, and now she's bawling her eyes out.  Who knows if he's okay, if he's been hit by a car, or if he's just plain hurt.  I told Mom I was going to pull over and call down in the creek for him.  Paul used to take him there to play and I had a strange feeling that maybe he would be there.  Well, we pulled over and I got out and yelled into the darkness for him for a few mintues with no luck.  So then I cried some more because I didn't know what else to do.  It was getting late, he could've been anywhere.  Mom called Brian and Cody and they came out to walk through the wooded areas behind the high school to see if he was there.  I found out later that Brian told Mom that he was worried that he would come across his body and would have to tell us..

During this search, I had to bright idea to drive down some alleys in the hood...probably not my best idea of the night.  We ended up coming across this group of girls while waiting for a break in traffic to pull out onto the road from the alley.  They kept getting closer and closer and it was obvious that they were drunk off their butt...and they looked MAYBE 17.  They were laughing and stumbling and kept saying things like, "It's okay, you can go now."  The way the cars were parked it was hard to see to get out.  So they were right up on us as we were beginning to pull out.  As I did, they laughed, stumbled, and one of them slapped the back of my car.  Don't MESS with my car!  So I...probably stupidly now that I think about it...yelled out of my rolled down window some choice words about keeping their hands off of my car.  Of course they yelled back their choice words, and Joel joined in.  It was a fun time.

Back to the search.  No one had found him yet.  We'd been back to the house several times just to see if maybe he had come back.  I had taken to just taking random turns hoping that God would lead me to my dog, as I had been praying since the beginning of the whole thing.  Mom had to stop to get money and gas because she was out.  It was midnight now.  I didn't know what else to do but give up, cry, and call the pound on Monday.  I didn't want to give up, and it wasn't Monday yet, so I just cried. lol  Joel said, "Check Knoxville.  Maybe he's walking around on the sidewalks, or something."  I chuckled at the image, but headed that way anyway.  We saw Mom at the gas station and waved as we went past.  I figured she thought that we had given up and went home.  The thought crossed my mind.  We drove Knoxville briefly and no Namu.  I quickly turned McClure just to head back to Mom's to say goodbye.  I can't remember if she called me or if I called her, but I told her we didn't find him.  As I was turning from McClure to North street, I was telling Mom that we were giving up and going home.  That's when Joel yelled out, "There's Namu!!"  I started yelling his name, told mom we had him, hung up the phone and pulled over on the side of the road.  He was walking along side of the road...right next to the creek.  I went to the wrong part of the creek, or actually, he did. lol  And he was a little wet, so he was in there, just like I thought he'd be. lol  He didn't come right up to me, but it was night and I don't think he knew who I was until I got out of the car.  I grabbed him and petted him and hugged him.  And this shows how much I love my dog; I let him in my Celica, smelly-ness and all. lol  He sprawled across our laps in the front seat. It was hilarious.  So we got him home safe finally around 12ish.  Brian fixed the fence so he couldn't get back out.  We watched him walk around for a bit to make sure he was okay, and he seemed fine.  After more hugs, Joel and I went home.

Monday (last night) was a scary  night.  Mom called me about 10 to 9 saying that Namu wasn't doing so good.  She was crying pretty hard.  She said he wouldn't stop whinning and everytime she went to go pet him he would act like it hurt.  She said he couldn't make it up the stairs, either.  I found out that was an understatement....she was convinced that something bad happened to him Saturday night and he wouldn't make it.  After seeing him I could understand why she thought that.

I headed right over there to see what was wrong with him.  I almost lost it.  He couldn't even walk.  He would take a step, then sit down.  He was limping really bad, and when he did try and walk, he would drag his back legs, and even then he would have to stop every two steps.  I was doing my best not to cry.  If I cried, I knew Mom would lose it completely.  It's always kinda been the thing (though it started as a joke) that it a situation wasn't serious unless I freaked out.  So I didn't want to "freak out."  I sat down on the well and called Namu over to me and made him lay down.  I watched him as he walked and it looked like maybe it was just his right leg that was hurting him, but I wasn't sure.  I rubbed him and talked to him, as if he could answer me. =D  Mom went into the house after I said it looked like maybe his leg was sore.  I asked if she had any Tylenol Arthritis or something.  When she went into the house, I started praying.  I rubbed his leg and just prayed, and I massaged his back and hugged him.  I told him that no matter he was going to be okay.  I know he can't understand me, really, but he can pick up the tones in my voice; anyone's voice.  So I talked to him really calm and comforting.  The actually words were really only helping me. lol So I cried some more over my dog.  I couldn't stand the thought of him being in pain.  I hated it.  Mom came back out with Ibuprofen and I gave him some of that wrapped in turkey.  Mom asked if I wanted to take him to the all night vet, but I wanted no part of that.  I know that with older dogs, if something is wrong with their legs, they usually just put them to sleep.  No way did I want that.  So I just petted him some more and told Mom that I thought that maybe if he stayed off of it for awhile he would be fine.  I believe that, too.  I think that maybe he just pulled it.  I hope that's all it is.  But I stayed there for awhile sitting with him...until I realized I sat down right on an ant mound...lol  Nice.  He got up and scooted around a bit more, then layed back down.  It sucked seeing him like that.  After it seemed like Namu, and Mom, was calm I went home.  I stopped by the house in the morning before work today to visit him.  He was laying in the corner next to Whitney's grave.  He started to get up when I walked onto the back porch, but I told him to stay and went over to him.  He seemd like he was doing fine.  I petted him for a couple minutes and took some pictures of him. (I'll post them tomorrow)  Then I left and headed for work.

Tonight Mom told me that he made it up the porch stairs.  So it seems he's getting better, and I hope it stays that way.  Either way, I need to start spending more time with him.  He's a very old dog.  I love my puppy.

Ugh...this turned out to be very long.  Congrats if you've made it this far in reading.  You get the prize of tired eyes.  Enjoy.

Ugh...Work.  Need I really say more?  I am so frustrated with that place it is unbelievable.  I made a promise to my supervisor/pharmacy mom (Judy) that I would stay there at least until the end of June so she can have her vacation.  She didn't ask that of me; she wouldn't do that.  I told her I would.  I make no guarentees after that.  I can't pinpoint when I became this unhappy with work, but I know that it's happened.  There are a few people there that I really enjoy being around and would completely miss if I ever left there....but there are so many more there that I just can't stand anymore.  Everytime I hear their voice I want to cause bodily harm to them.  I hate feeling that way, but it's true.  It's just like, "SHUT UP FOR ONCE!!!  NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!!!"  I want to shake them!

Misi put in her notice, and that just plan sucks.  I'm happy that she moving up and going to a place that she feels she will much happier at, but man...  Same as it was with Tiffany; I was so sad to see her go, but was so happy for her at the same time.  'Course, TIFFANY stayed in this general area so the option of hanging out is there.  Stummy MISI has to go and move to Arizona. lol  It's not like we can decided to hang out randomly if we wanted to.  Not that we hang out outside of work anyway...though that is my fault, not hers.  But either way, the option will no longer be there!  Grrr.  And also with her leaving, I get her job at work, which SUCKS!  She takes and fill orders from surgi-centers.  They say what crap they need and she orders it and sends it out.  Sounds very easy, but not so much.  It's confusing, time-consuming, and all around sucky.  And on top of that I'll also have my regular crap to deal with.  *sigh* Oh well.  I can handle it, but I just want to vent at the moment.

We had a new lady start today.  Her name is Bonnie, and first impression of her is that she is STUCK UP.  She knows most of the people at the pharmacy already being that she worked with them at CVS.  *shakes head*  I forsee issues with her.  It's already been said that she is hopefully going to be Judy's replacement.  'Course Judy didn't know that she was quitting/needing to be replaced. lol This was told to her face!  That Bonnie was hopefully her replacement!  When Judy asked what that meant Mike said, "Oh, I didn't mean it like that."  How the hell else should she have taken it?  Bring it!  Replace Judy and see who else ya lose!  I'll be damned if I stay.  I'm only still there because of her.

I really hate that place.

Although, apparently I'm supposed to be getting a raise.  Just a random raise when Mike took over the pharmacy.  That'll be nice.  An extra dollar for me.

I can't wait until the beginning of July...I talked to Judy more about that today.  I would/will be so hard for me to leave there, even though I'm so unhappy.  I get attached to people.  They are like family.  Disfunctional family, but still. lol  That and I don't want to leave Judy in a bind.  I don't know...I guess we'll see when July comes back from vacation. 

On a positive note:  Joel starts a side job on Monday learning/doing something he really wants to do.  He gonna be learning to paint and customize cars.  He's so excited and I'm so excited for him!  This is something he's been talking about for awhile.  I'm glad that he's finally getting this opportunity.  That and the extra money is really going to help. lol  =D

Well, I guess that's all I can say for tonight.  Actually, there's a lot more I can complain about regarding work, but I've done that enough for tonight. =D

Today is the last weekday before I have to go back to work.  I'm happy and not at the same time.  I'm tired of sitting around with nothing to do, but I really don't want to go back to work, either.  I have mixed feelings about that place, and I go back and forth with if I want to work there or not.  It sucks because they have done a lot for me.  There isn't a better place that I could work at right now.  Not many places would be as understanding as they are about my "situation" right now.  I don't have to worry about scheduling my appointments because they don't mind when I go.  If I'm tired or in pain I can sit, or even go home with no problem.  I found out randomly that I needed a whole week home and they didn't even flinch, even though we are so short staffed right now.  And they help me with the prices of my medicine and fix it so it's not expensive.  So, in that aspect it's a really nice place....but on the other hand....*sigh*  Nothing is organized there.  The rules change everyday, sometimes two or three times, even.  You have to guess who your boss might be that day because too many people believe that they have power when they really don't/shouldn't. (I KNOW who I'm supposed to go to, and DO go to.)  Two of the three pharmacists are constantly lazy, and the other has tendencies to be lazy, BUT if something isn't being done because everyone is busy the two don't hesitate to yell about it, then turn back to their computer or phone call...There are only a few people there that can actually be counted on, and one of them is gone after Monday.  My Tiffany has a new job.  I'm happy for her, but I will miss her.  She can keep me calm and we joke about this issues there to make it easier.  And she just fun to be around.  Not to mention that I hate the position tha she has there and I know it's going to fall on me.  I HATE running the computer for extended amounts of time.  At first I thought it was cool because it was a "step up" from counting....not really.  That person gets the most crap.  It sucks.  That, and I was really happy at the back-counter doing med boxes and what not.  The last time that I was this close (==> <==) to quiting (and they didn't know it) I was asked if I wanted to work at the back-counter.  I snagged it and stayed.  That was awhile ago.  I could stand it back there.  I was content.  Now that I'm back up front I'm thinking of leaving again, which sucks for the first several reasons above, and more.  If I don't get back to the back-counter eventually, I will leave.  I've been dealing with up front because I know that we don't have a lot of help.  I keep breathing through it because I keep telling myself that it is not permanent; I'm only up there until they get some new techs.  Well, we had another tech who wasn't even there a full week and they got rid of her because she "made a couple mistakes."  It was her first week!  What it came down to was she annoyed someone in charge and they wanted her gone.  Her voice was very annoying, but oh freakin well.  She should have been given at least another week to see if she could pick it up.  But anyway, so I've dealt with up front until they get someone.  But now I'm probably going to get stuck on the computer, and damnit I don't get paid enough to do that.  No one wants that computer.  But crap seems to fall on me when help is needed and I hate that.  I'm the one that gets pulled from the back if help is needed up front.  I'm not complaining....but why does it have to be me?  I won't run that computer forever.  I just won't.  It just sucks because there are a few people that I don't want to leave, and don't want to leave hangin', either.

Okay, now that I've rambled about work....My leg is doing much better.  Almost all of the yucky, tough skin is off.  That was what was causing most of my pain, I think, because everytime I would walk it would crunch that skin together and it hurt so bad.  It's not oozing anymore, either, so the infection must be gone, or at least almost.  Yay for Levaquin.  The pink healed part is growing more and more everyday, and it's almost winning. lol  The black, crusty portion of the skin is gone finally.  That was nasty.  I almost threw up, even.  Aren't you excited to hear about it? =D 

Holly and Niki are coming in town tomorrow so we can hang out.  The only thing that sucks was that I was under the impression that they were coming earlier in the day.  That was why I requested a weekend instead.  During the week they get here around 6:30 or 7:00 and I'm in by 9:30.  That doesn't give up much time.  Well, they're coming in the same time tomorrow.  Granted, it's a Saturday, but I'm going out of town with Joel and his family and we're leaving pretty early, so I'll be in at the same time.  So we still don't have a lot of time to hang out.  It just bothers me.  I actually want to spend a fair amount of time with them, but it never works out.  I was looking forward to a full day with them.  That's why I wanted a weekend....Oh well.

I guess I'll end this long, drawn out, whine fest now.  Ta!