Let’s Take It Down A Notch With My Third Pic From The New Phone

June 10, 2013 at 10:24 am (Blood Pressure, Cheap Red Wines, Day to Day, Exercise, Family, For Mason, For Stevie, Getting Old, Giant Food, High School Football, High School Volleyball, Losing the Fat, Movies, Phone Camera, Picture Posts, Posts In Pictures, Summer Break) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

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Life is not all that serious. But you know, I get caught up in the typing and before you know it, a five paragraph essay on mortality appears. The above picture illustrates the life-shortening things we did on my last weekend off. First we went and saw Fast 6. It’s a good movie. If you like those kind of movies. And we do.

Spoiler Alert! Seriously. I will be typing info of the spoiler variety right now. If you have seen any of these movies, you know they tease you at the end. Well, guess what? There’s gonna be a Fast 7. I won’t say how they do it, but if you are like me, you might say to yourself, “You know who they should get for these movies? Jason Statham.” And you would tell all the people around you, right away, at the beginning of the movie, because it’s a British, military-type bad guy in this one, and be really annoying about it. But then you’d be totally validated at the end and all self-satisfied ’cause you’re so smart. You could totally be a movie producer person. Whatever.

After the movie we went and got my new phone. Yay! Not gonna lie again. It’s awesome! It’s a beautiful phone. Samsung Galaxy S4, in case you missed that bit of info in my last mush post. It’s all Otter Box’d up so I don’t ruin it at work or in life. Plus it’s not very recognizable in it’s case so bitches can’t steal it! Ha. I also have it functioning now the way I like it, except for a ringtone. I am still trying to figure out if I should go back to my previous one (PriceTag–Jessie J or Peace Of Mind–Boston) or pick a new one altogether. Life is sooo hard right?

Then we went to Sam’s Club for alcohol and hot peppers to bring over to the BF’s mom’s house, because she was making dinner, roast beef sammy’s, because the BF’s brother, was in town from Oregon where he lives now. Whew. Got all that? I could have summed that up better, but I have a little time here to spread my typing wings. So obviously we got wine. Apothic Red–the best mixed red, for the best price, hand’s down, in my opinion, of all the brands that I have tried, right now. I posted about it before. The other wine. Ehh. It was OK. I think we got a bad bottle. Smelled and tasted almost like it was spoiled. Compromised. The cork was really dry and it had that sharp vinegar whiff to it. We drank it though. No ill effects noted. And since we were at the big warehouse center for giant, low-cost items, and we needed more Jack, we bought the economy size bottle. I mean, come on, that’s just smart money. And the peppers. Which were tasty and pretty hot actually and pretty much the smallest jar you can buy there. And a pair of jeans for the boy. He can never find Levi’s in his size, because most stores only get, like, 2 pairs of his, per shipment. But there they were, on the giant table of Levi’s, just waiting for him to come along and riffle through the pile. If you have ever been to Sam’s, you know they check your receipt and your items before you walk out of the door. So we were all carrying something; the wines, the giant Jack, the giant pepper jar; and the lady that checked our stuff said, “Ok, you got, what…wine, bottle, peppers, OK, well yeah, it looks like you got everything you need right there, uh huh.” And off we went. Layed everything so nicely in the trunk and snapped the pic with my new toy. Then we went to the dinner (delicious) and drove the kids out to their dad’s for an overnight.

Sunday was kind of lazy but chore driven. Laundry. (Which honestly, got done, completely–folded and put away–but is now back with a vengeance. I HATE laundry so much.) Breakfast. Where I met the 102 year old lady and her younger sister, a sprightly 95. Then more laundry when we got back home. (This was a before and after session of laundry. There was a lot.) Then we had pizza for dinner and waited for the kids to get home. That was their first and last week of summer vacation. Athletic camps are now in session, starting today, and they will be busy for the duration. I believe school starts for them about August 11 or 19. Yet to be determined. I don’t have a schedule yet anyway. So it’s a mystery. Well, it’s not really a mystery. I could spoil the surprise for them by looking on the school website, but I will let them dream of long, lazy, summer days and nights for a few more weeks.

And that’s it for now. Exciting re-cap of a day-in-the-life, huh? Now do you see why I fear getting old? Boring. Laundry. Breakfast. Alcohol. Oh. Alcohol. That must be the key. Drink and you will forget that you are getting older. As I said yesterday, I really do have a doctor appointment to get to. So I need to end this. My hip still hurts, but I think alcohol could probably fix that little problem too. Hmm. I suppose exercise might achieve that same result. Build up some strength to stave off the decaying process. Maybe I’ll try both. Drinking would probably make the exercise easier and more enjoyable, with less pain. Or send me to the ER with a dislocated hip ASAP. Still, with less pain. Did I mention that I have to get weighed, along with the B/P check and whatnot? That’s what is really going to cause me pain. I will follow up. Expect a new series of exercise-healthy-losing-weight-live-forever-type posting to start appearing in this lazy space. Later.

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Just because this starts a whole new year. One week late.

January 6, 2012 at 8:25 pm (Body and Brains!, Books, Day to Day, Exercise, Losing the Fat, Movies, Phone Camera, Pictures, Skeleton Trees, Unemployed Posts, Weather) (, , , , , , , , , , , , )

And because I get to combine all my favorite things. A chunk update. Another weather update. And pictures from my phone. Of the sky. At sunset. With a lot of skeleton trees. This is what 55 degrees in January at dusk looks like this year. It was warm today too. I don’t generally go for the no jacket thing just because it’s hotter than usual. I’m the first one to yell pneumonia. And we’re all being lured into poor health by good weather. But I’ll admit I was only wearing a zip-up hoodie and I was getting kind of hot outside. The sun was shining down so bright that I was getting crabby and drowsy. The warm sun just makes me want to lay down in it and take a nap. Like a snake I guess. Or a fat middle aged non exercising chunk of fun. Here comes the chunk part! It’s a tough week. I’m more tired than usual. Kind of achy and greasy. And I was particularly sick of feeling sad and depressed. So I spruced up this old carcass a bit with some new hair color (sorry Amanda…I know you are the only one who should be allowed to fix my hair but I swear I cannot drive for two hours, pay for gas and tolls and feel good about myself until I get a job…the box has to be the cure for now…it looks good by the way. The kids didn’t even notice. They thought something was different but couldn’t put their fingers on it until after I told them. My theory on home hair coloring, or anything really that you try to do yourself, is that if no one notices anything different it’s a good job. Only the glaring mistakes or radical change gets any attention) and some good hygiene and hair removal. However I also ate a bunch of crap that I shouldn’t because it was here and I had to get rid of it by next week when the real work on chipping away the fat cells begins. You will all be happy to know that I managed to eat, er, get rid of, all the chips and dip and most of the cheese/sausage/cracker stores. I also disposed of an entire box of Whitman’s Dark Chocolates, with my daughters help, who interestingly enough HATES dark chocolate but was able to power through and help me save our household for the greater good. I also drank the rest of the wine from the other night and am currently working on the final two bags of Ghirardelli chocolates while washing them down with Jack Daniels. I haven’t cooked in a week or worked out. In fact we have been staying up way too late watching the bad movies we love so much. The kids have to go back to school Monday and I should be working by the next week. (That’s very wishful thinking as I am making it my sole purpose in life–well besides eating all the food in the house—to have a job in another week or two.) I will have a full report on the snacks because I took pics of them. Really. For instance, I found this GIANT potato chip in the bag. I mean it was really big. I don’t think I have ever seen one this big. So of course I took it’s picture. With the dip container and the TV remote for scale. I also took pics of the sky and some more trees, big surprise. And I have a movie list if you’re interested! We watch BAD movies. Like B movie bad. With old stars like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in them. Or Lorenzo Lamas. Remember him? And they usually are battling a giant crocodile or a sharktopus, you know a shark-octopus hybrid, or a giant squid against a giant snake. Some are better than others and some are just terrible. This is how we spend family time. As for tonight, I have to try and hurry this along, because the BF is on his way with another sack full of fast food from the local greasy spoon and we have a special night of, All New Releases!, to watch. They have to be back tomorrow so we have to plan our time carefully. I actually feel a little sick right now from the food I ate today. I know this is not something I should even say out loud, but I cannot wait until I get my dang period! (pardon my french). My appetite will disappear, I can get some energy back and hit the gym instead of the Dunkin Donuts, and burn off the winter weight. From about 10 winters but who’s really counting anymore. I only have about 10 pounds to lose (for each winter) so it’s pretty do-able! I’m excited. Oh! I almost forgot! I finished a book! A reading book. Not a school book. It was the Denis Leary one. You might have read about it here two years ago or so. Sadly, that’s how long it has taken me. I finished it last year. Made it just under the mark too. Like December 29th or something. I still recommend it for anyone who likes Denis Leary. It is funny and easy to read. Even my mom’s brain surgeon said, “that guy is something else…” and he chuckled. So there you have it, a brain surgeon endorsement! I’m just not good with the whole concentration thing in sentence and paragraph form without a lot of pictures to break up the words. Except for when I type. I can really string some letters together huh? I put a picture of the book below so I wouldn’t ruin my sunset shot. Oh! And I also found my first street money of the year. One penny and one dime. I will try and keep that up to date now. Just as soon as I tally up last year and post it under its proper heading. There’s just no excuses for letting all you loyal readers down. You want to know these silly mundane things that have no benefit to anyone.  And I cant even keep up. And truthfully I am not doing much else besides sitting around and thinking about doing stuff. I’m lucky we have laundry. Alright, seriously, let me wrap this up. I know the BF will be here any minute and I want to catch up on my Words With Friends (evil evil evil—addiction in smart phone form) and BeJeweled (the other evil in the world of computers and high tech gaming–that was meant to be funny. BeJeweled is hardly high tech. It’s really no-tech. It’s pretty though. Match the gems for one minute. Try to score as many points as possible. Why, oh why, would that ever be addicting??) Ok, I think I hear a car in the driveway and my liquor glass is empty. Using the words from my son’s first book that he really liked…breathe and think…relax and run…om shanti shanti…Until later…

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Conspiracy!

June 11, 2011 at 1:45 pm (Day to Day, Exercise, Movies, Running Stuff, Warrior Dash, Weather) (, , , , , )

Now, if I really want to push the issue, I could blame my chest cold on my complete lack of trying–training–for the Warrior Dash. (And not just the weather). It’s legitimate. However, if I need someone or something to blame for my complete lack of STUDYING for this test I’m supposed to be taking, well then, I HAVE to blame the cable companies 100%. That’s right I said it. How dare they give us free movie channels?!? All weekend long! With free HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, TMC, Flix, and other stations that I’m not even sure what they are, how in the hell am I EVER supposed to go study?? Half the movies are crap anyway, but…I haven’t seen them or I have seen them but they suck you in, and they’re free. Freeeeeeeeeee…..I haven’t seen that movie on the list but I’m sure if they play it I will watch it. Ugh. Here’s a little re-cap of how I wasted Friday night:

Scary Movie (still pretty d-a-m-n funny)

Transformers. 2. (s-u-c-k-e-d, but I never saw it, and glad I didn’t waste any money in the theater to see it. It really was bad. sorry.)

Salt (saw it about 5 times already, and even watched it on DVD a mere three days ago with Stevie, but watched it AGAIN)

And we are already planning for later tonight. Easy A is being recorded (only saw that one 3 times and the BF has never seen it, so that makes it ok and a good excuse, plus, it’s really cute. I recommend that one for people exactly my age and with children, particularly girls…I won’t turn this into a giant movie review but trust, it’s good.)

Stevie wants to see Tooth Fairy and Grown Ups, (not interested and also seen 3 times) but I say, half the fun is just scrolling thru the guide and picking at random! Crazy Saturday nights! Man, I need to get a job quick! I should prob go study so I can make that happen.

 

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I need a vampire over here!

March 24, 2011 at 3:04 pm (Day to Day, Exercise, School News) (, , , , , , , , , , )

I should be studying…but instead I am waiting for my kids to get home so we can drive in the car. We have a few more things to do and it’s a good way to spend some time with them. My girl is leaving for the weekend and the boy has spring break fever. They start and I end, so our time is always off. Speaking of…

It’s Thursday and boy did my spring break just fly by…stinks. I have only studied half of what I need to. No. That’s a lie. I probably only studied one fourth. However, I did manage to drag my lazy carcass to the gym to run on the treadmill. Really don’t have a choice. I am still only up to three miles. But–under required time. And on an incline. I think I will be ok for six miles but it’s outside and I am hope hope hoping that the weather will break by April 3rd. I can’t stand running in the cold. Especially at 7:30 in the morning. And as an added bonus to finish out my nursing program, my body has decided it will give me some blood pressure problems. Doc wants me to take the drugs, but I seem to be having side effects to the most basic dose. I feel that my lack of exercise and poor eating habits and high stress in the last nine weeks have caused this unfortunate circumstance. Especially since I was fine in July before I started again in the Fall. So, exercise I will force myself to do and stick to the recommended diet while still taking the meds although at an adjusted dose. In 12 weeks I should be getting the all clear and hopefully be many pounds thinner! Thank you getting older!! First the crappy near vision and now the B/P…what a crock!

Anyway that’s why I need the vampire. I need to stop the aging process. Sure I’ll be one of the undead but considering the options, I think that would be alright. Death is not really going to work for me and I don’t want to be a werewolf. That change seems painful and I am trying to avoid extra pain. I’m not really a fan of the whole “not going out in the day” thing because my classes are in the day and that would mess up all my plans. Crap. Looks like diet and exercise again. I will tell you a giant medical secret right now. For every modern medical miracle and medications and treatments to cure or alleviate all that ails you, the single best way to feel better and prevent lots and lots of problems is…you guessed it…healthy diet and daily exercise. The nine pound book I lug around every day is full of things that have no preventive measures and you definitely need everything there is to offer in the medical world, but if you are able to prevent even one extra problem, I say do it. Hell, do it anyway. Even if it makes no difference at all. It feels good. (After) I am always a reformed believer when I am walking out of the gym. But it’s so darn hard to get in there! Ok I think that’s enough with the sermon for today. Can I get an Amen??

On an entirely different topic…I was goofing on the internet but it was acting flaky so I thought I would update here on all the other boring things I do or say I will do. Here’s what I have accomplished thus far:

Laundry! Oh yes. So sad. Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that ONE day of clothes wearing, by four family members, generates TWO loads of laundry?? It’s true. It has the potential for three if the clothing happens to be white or needs extra cleaning techniques. Not that I would ever do that. I’m more of a throw everything into the pot and see what happens. (Except red stuff, I do try to pick out the red items from any light stuff. Especially after I ruined my first pair of white scrub pants by turning them a lovely shade of pink due to said red items.)

I have also been cleaning…kind of. Starts and stops. I still have tomorrow. That is mostly–well, ONLY–because my sissy is coming to my house next week and she’s very particular about where her dust and cobwebs are. She likes all that stuff outside. Me, I can take quite a bit of nature surrounding me where I watch TV. But for her, I shall clean.

I have also managed to watch quite a few old movies this week, as I like to do when I am home in the daytime. TV mostly sucks. But they play alot of 30’s to 50’s movies on amc and Turner, or TNT or TMC,  I think. That’s where I saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. A really excellent movie and a nice place to start if you have never seen a Liz Taylor movie (She passed this week, I know I didn’t mention it, but I have no other connection besides that movie—and I hate to pretend like I was such a fan when I’ve really only had recent and minimal knowledge of her talent and life’s work—she was a  groundbreaker and an advocate for those who could not speak for themselves. Rest in peace.)

I guess I should list some but the only one I can think of right now is called Smarty. It would never go over in this day and age, but it was funny. It always comes down to the writing. These movies have a lot of words. Not too much action or special effects because there just wasn’t technology to do it. There are a few more, but I would seriously have to go on the internet to look them up and get the titles and I am just so lazy right now. Plus the kids are home, eating their sushi snack (yes, they like sushi and they will eat the kind they make at Target so it’s not that expensive and I can buy it ahead) and then we are going outside. It’s cold but it’s sunny and I need my Vitamin D.

Looking back, this whole post seems kind of random and scattery, but I am leaving it as is. I will be staying up late tonight for real. So I will probably post into the night, in between study breaks. I have to devote time to the books and get back into the stream of things for next week…it’s gonna be a good one…until then…later.

 

 

 

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What is going on?? Why am I so popular??

January 6, 2010 at 7:18 pm (Day to Day, News, School News, Shameless Self Promotion, Updates) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

I am NOT complaining, but I sure needed a day like today! BIG GIANT THANKS to whoever (any and all) out there,  generating some traffic to this site! I think it’s cool and hopefully you will too! Don’t be fooled by that long standing Christmas Tree…I am updating I swear!!! See?!? Right this minute! Fresh material!

This was the first school related day that I have had to have in about a week and a half…holidays and all…I even had to dress up! Well, black pants, black top, tall shoes (not boots–the weather is a bit crapola around these parts and supposed to get worse in the next 24–not big news to those east of here (Chicago) but crap for us just the same–last report puts us at 6-10 inches of snow! Joy!) off track…business casual dress, second semester orientation (nursing), pictures will be taken for the Illinois Education Foundation that helps me achieve my goals! It’s all good.

So, I had to get up early anyway because the kids are back in school this week. So fine. The weather is a sunny 2° (TWO degrees). Whatever. With the wind chill it’s a brisk -15 or something. I drive to the school and there is literally, NO ONE, in the parking lot. At least not the one I park in. It’s the far one. The one that usually has less people than the front so I can park closer…to the back of the school (Ha. It is actually farther, but I hate the regular lot—too much traffic and you need a permit and blah blah blah) ok back to the story…walk from the lot to the school, climb FOUR flights of stairs to the class, enjoy some speech, sign some papers, go buy the syllabus, get my I.D. updated/punched, walk back to the car, drive home. (Are you still reading? Sorry about that…turned into kind of list thing…)

Open syllabus. Get school papers/books/highlighters/reading…reading…skill…reading…reading…skill…reading…reading…endless reading/complicated (?) skills/scary clinical stuff (?)/ on and on and on…realize that I haven’t eaten from the nervousness (I don’t know why–fear of failure makes me overly crazy and unduly paranoid) then realize right after that I might actually vomit from the whole afternoon. My crazy is just like an adverse side effect: unpredictable, unavoidable, and undesired. (Studying for the day: Done! And we all learned sumthing!)

So anyway, I basically marked everything I need to read, gathered my materials for said reading, collected the necessary objects that I will be lugging back and forth to school with me in two weeks, steth, BP cuff, pens, pencils, spirals, binder, scissors, tape, stapler, books, books, books (one book weighs NINE pounds!! as usual I have them all weighed and measured for your enjoyment—to be posted later) and in order to carry all this around I had to break out the…GASP!…Rolling. Book. Bag. Horror! It’s not even a book bag really…it’s more like luggage. I hate it. But I hate breaking my shoulder and spine worse, and I am not even entertaining the “backpack” route so just leave it alone. If you knew me—like all close and personal and all—I am hardly the backpack wearing type. I’m more like the make everything as hard as possible before giving in to any idea that is even remotely smart and sensible type—but that’s another webpage.

Where was I?? After my panic episode I decided it was time to, 1., eat something before I passed out, 2., turn up the heat–I was freezing at 60 degrees in the house, making me feel worse, and 3., sit on the couch and stare at the wall until my son came home from school. You will be happy to know that I did indeed do all these things.

And now I am here.

My kids are here too and that is making this extra difficult because they can’t seem to do simple math and vocab without asking me every 2 seconds what something is. For instance: What is the past tense of thrive? And what is another common multiple of 11 and 4? Why did you have kids mom?? (Ha ha ha, I threw that one in from my own brain…I was thinking it in my head… But still, why?)

Meltdowns are occurring so I must wrap this up for now. Plus I need to make dinner. I am the controller of food at the moment since we are all on intake-reduction, exercise and all around better health. Learn new stuff and everyone around you must suffer for it. They’ll thank me when they are old and can get up from a chair without the help of a hydraulic system on their furniture or a robot-servant or whatever they’ll have in the future to assist with the decrepit. I’ll be dead so I’ll have to watch from…heaven?? We’ll save theology for a later date, I gotta go.

To sum up:

School is almost rolling.

I am panicking.

Kids are trying to incite me to murder.

I have books and icicle and food and nature pictures to share.

I have the final Street Money Update for 2009 (I know! Can you believe I waited all the way until now to reveal this hot info???)

I have a new year, 2010, Street Money tally to roll out—already found some!!

I have more Weird Sh*t You Find Around the House! (I’ve been saving some! Dedicated to my new friend Merianne–shout out! “Hey!! I hope I spelled your name right!!”)

I have a new movie clip with the New York Coffee Cup. Mmmmm…

I have movies to talk about! I saw some over the holiday break! Some were even new(-er)!!

I have words and quotes and all the fab random riff raff that people, like you, hopefully, like to waste even a minute of their time with, with ME! (Thanks again! I am feeling the love. Or the boredom. But I’m feeling something!)

Check back later. It’s going to be an early bed time for the kiddies—they are throwing broken pencil pieces at each other so I better get the tweezers and the alcohol (I use the vodka–tastes great, steadies my hand and dulls their cries of pain) and close this thing. In the words of my favorite ex-husband:

“Roger that.”

“Over and Out.”

“Dork.”

Here’s a picture. For continuity.

It's a snow-dirt snowman that my son made with the first of the snow we got way back when. Look for a larger more exciting snowman in the near future!

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SuperFastUpdateForTheSeventeenPeopleStill

November 30, 2009 at 6:33 pm (Day to Day, Exercise, Hiatus, News, Updates) (, , , , , , , , , , , )

Following This Mess…Even though there is NOTHING new to read. I mean, I like my writing style, and I think that I am pretty interesting, and there  is alot of stuff in past posts that you should totally check out…but I am straying off my original path here….

Since I had a comment (thanks Jesse!) I thought I’d throw down a few words and let the last of November fade out with a quick update.

This is week 15 out of 16 in the nursing program. Two more weeks and a Final. I am hanging in there to say the very least. My grades are fine, but the stress is going to give ME a disorder. I have dreams every night about what I read (tomorrow is ostomy care so…maybe I should just stay up…)

Nutrition has been the focus for the last few weeks…it is interesting and VAST. I cannot dream about vitamins and beriberi and rickets one more night! I used to laugh at my ex-father-in-law and his beriberi comments as excuse to call in sick, but not anymore. I thought he was making it up! It’s not as funny when you have to actually know what it is!! And then identify it in an application question about thiamine or niacin or B6 with staggering walk and mental confusion….see?? Remember in Down and Out in Beverly Hills when Nick Nolte grabs the grapefruit off the tree and says, “Don’t want to get scurvy!” He’s not kidding. Same thing. I see this learning-stuff everywhere! It’s terrible!

However, it has made me more aware of my diet and my family’s diet, and guess what?? It sucks. We are flabby and unhealthy. We eat poorly and we don’t exercise enough. So, I am inviting you, along with me and the kids and BF, to jump on my bandwagon. Check out this site:

www.mypyramid.gov

Go to the My Pyramid Tracker portion of it and start calculating that food and energy. Let’s really do something next year for our health. I mean, if it really blows that bad you can always just quit and eat chips and junk again!

It’s a cool site, really. Very helpful. All about the food pyramid and guides for healthy choices. It takes some time and effort to make it work for you, but believe me, I had to use it for a graded assignment and I spent lots of time, back and forth, tweaking the thing. My family can testify to the choice words I may have uttered (shouted screamed yelled) but in the end…Pass. Satisfactory.

Also in honor of better health, I started running again. I stopped after the 5 Mile. Ran every few days to weeks, but nothing in the last month, until Saturday. Do I pace myself? Take it slow? Easy? 30 minutes, maybe a few miles? Oh No! I go full out five mile run for 65 minutes. (Not a great time, but let’s see how long any of you would do after a month break) And then to top it off I go do some sit-ups and arm exercises. You know, gain all that fitness back in one giant shot. HA. FAIL.

I can barely walk 2 days later. Stairs are excruciating, especially down. Why is that? I should probably know huh? Oh well, we ain’t on muscle disease and disorders yet…I blame my sister Amanda. We were supposed to be running together but she got all preggers with another kid and now we can’t do that. Thanks alot babymaker. Heehee.

Anyhoo, that’s all for now. I have to go back to studying. The ball keeps rolling and I like to stay ahead of it. Check out that site. Check out my stuff and stay tuned! I have some really awesome playlists to catch us all up on. Perfect for getting back into shape with and just rocking out. (Rocking out…what a nerd!) I also found more money! Nothing spectacular like twenty bucks, but change and stuff. Also we have sushi pics (I know there is at least one person out there who likes to look and tell me what I’m eating! Thanks to you-know-who-you-are!) And what else…I think I have Challenger pics and some other stuff on my phone that I can’t think of right now. You know me. I’ll get all the useless info out there for ya. I’m a giver. I also have some serious stuff too…for real. I wish I had enough time to do it justice. I will in about three weeks. For now, let me just say:

Good luck Scotta! You are the bravest woman I know! Keep fighting the good fight and do not lose that sense of humor. You rock! We are sending out all the love and strength in the world to you!

Alright. I have to attach some kind of pictures because these are just too many words. Talk to you all on the other side.

You have to ask yourself, "What could this be?? And why did she post it??" Best guess gets a shout out...and an explanation to follow later.

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New York Coffee Cup. Goodfellas. “…get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”

September 28, 2009 at 3:07 pm (Find The NY Coffee Cup, Movies) (, , , , , , , )

Sunday night movie time! AMC, thank you! I haven’t seen it in so long and there it was. This is a fine, fine, addition to my little scavenger hunt! Check it out at the 9:12 mark.

I love this movie even though it’s long. Ray Liotta. Joe Pesci. The kids were watching and JP is so good onscreen that every time he came on the kids were nervous about who he was going to kill next. Uncomfortable tension that really projects. They went to bed so they didn’t get to hear my fav line, but I recreated it for you. Say it like he would say it.

Then watch this, 4:55 mark:

“And now it’s all over.”

“And that’s the hardest part. Today everything is different; There’s no action…have to wait around like everyone else. Can’t even get decent food…I’m an average nobody…”

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I think we’re the demons…

September 19, 2009 at 10:43 pm (Fire, Movies) (, , , , , , , )

You really can’t watch more opposite movies back to back than Mask (the Cher/Sam Elliott/Eric Stoltz one) and Natural Born Killers.

Rusty and Rocky and Mickey and Mallory.

Add about 10 hours of aging and its effects and loss and grief and death and dying. Throw in a bottle of wine and some drinking music and the unknown isn’t as scary as it was just a few hours ago. Sunday will be here soon and the fun will be over for another week. I’m going to try and do something constructive tomorrow.

But tonight is for mayhem.

[Mickey:] “The whole world’s coming to an end, Mal.” [Mallory:] “I see angels, Mickey. They’re comin’ down for us from
heaven. And I see you ridin’ a big red horse. You’re drivin’ the horses, whippin’ ’em. And they’re spittin’ and barfin’ all
on you now. They’re coming right at us. And I see the future. There’s no death ’cause you and I, we’re angels.” [Mickey:] “I
love you, Mal…” [Mallory:] “I know you do, baby. I’ve loved you since the day we met.”

Anyone who’s ever had a heart
Wouldn’t turn around and break it
And anyone who’s ever played a part
Wouldn’t turn around and hate it

Sweet Jane

You’re waiting for Jimmy down in the alley
Waiting there for him to come back home
Waiting down on the corner
And thinkin’ of ways to get back home

Sweet Jane

Anyone who’s ever had a dream
Anyone who’s ever played a part
Anyone who’s ever been lonely
And anyone who’s ever split apart

Heavenly wine and roses
Seem to aspire to me
When you smile

… Now you can go anywhere you want, baby.

—Rusty Dennis

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Pre-Class to the Pro-Class

August 10, 2009 at 8:31 pm (Books, Day to Day, Exercise, Flowers, Movies, Pictures, School News, TV Shows, Video) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

It’s Monday P.M. and I have to apologize to all my peeps who are counting on me to give them a little laugh…hahaha…I kid.

In case you were wondering, I was kind of busy. Again. My days of ever lasting freedom are drawing to an end. Had to get up like real people today to get to my first pre-class for Nursing. (Got another one tomorrow.) Starts at 9, which isn’t really early, but next week when I have to add 2 kids back into the mix and get them out for their respective school start times, it’s going to get a little hairy. I am OOP’s!! (Out Of Practice). I used to juggle complicated schedules like that chainsaw juggling guy, (nice lead-in), but now, I can barely coordinate the coffee and water  into the coffee maker! Ridiculous!

The class was good though. Getting some valuable information. I have no room for failure, basically. All my eggs are in this basket. But, it’s not SO dramatic as all that. I find it overly interesting and extremely exciting and I can’t understand, or do, yet, nine tenths of the stuff that are in these books I keep buying.

Fyi on the book thing: there are a lot. Thirteen on the list. They said there would be, but you never believe until you are looking at the shelves of them. And I mean, “shelves”. You are not required to buy ALL of them, just most of them. At the moment, I have about half. I am stacking them up in an area and will take a picture after I get the rest tomorrow. It’ll be more epic that way. I don’t want to be a teaser and just take pictures one at a time. There’s no flare in that! Besides you won’t get to appreciate the seriousness of these books or the height and weight of these books in inches (I’m going to measure them AND record how much they weigh) or the understanding that I may have to bring several, or 5 or 6, to the school with me at any one time. These suckers are HEAVY! One of the main reasons I didn’t buy them all today was the weight issue. I seriously could not have carried them all out to the car along with my binder and folder and purse and coffee cup I already had for class. Too much. Another reason is cost. Of course.

I spent $251 today. $140 last week. $120 and $50-ish for summer. And I have at least $300 tomorrow. I’m not saying it for sympathy (gotta have ’em! ya’ keep ’em forever! nursing library!)  or bragging (yeah right, credit card usage is not anything to brag about, especially these days), or anything. It’s just another wheel on the bigger machine rolling me to my future. It doesn’t exactly feel good to spend all this money, but it does feel like progress, if that makes any kind of sense. It also feels like mac and cheese every night for dinner and walks around the block for entertainment, but I digress.

At any rate, my birthday will be drastically  downsized this year (it’s a big-zero one). It’s gone from Vegas, for a long weekend, to “the boats” for an overnight, and now, as it fast approaches, and I am out of time and money, to a poker party at the house with myself and my Pocket Poker Hand Held Game! I can never lose any REAL money! It’s awesome. It’s all good. I can stay up all night drinking vodka, furiously pressing and re-pressing buttons (I can even turn the sound on for that real Vegas effect) then in the morning I’ll fill a bucket with some water, set a chair up next to it  and pretend I’m at the pool, burning off the “casino” from the night before! I have a good imagination. Believe. I could pull it off!

Anycheapyway, that’s all I got for now. I had a small assignment to do. Done. And prepare a joke to tell in front of the class. Done. (I’m guessing it has to do with communication—but I could be miscommunicating that.)

Yesterday was Sunday. Me and the BF did a nice 19 mile bike ride in the sweltering midday heat (92° and sun-nee!) then we went to his momma’s house for a visit. We bought her a Pierogi Magnet—real cute–and no picture!! I stink! From the Pierogi Fest, click for previous post if you care, and that was pretty much it. Went home, had dinner, watched half a movie and NatGeo, auto-tuned to Drain the Ocean! I love that kind of stuff. (Giant Crystal Cave was on right after but I missed the whole thing—watching the beginning will suck you in—you have to force yourself to turn it off and go to bed so you can get up and participate in the world week) (Tonight is Hooked! Snakehead FishFishzilla’s they tagged it) (I am LOVING the parenthesis!) (Problem)(Finished the movie too. Quantum of Solace. James Bond. It was ok. Not a big Bond-movie fan, but I like Daniel Craig. He’ll always be Alex West to me.)

What I was getting to with all this, was the picture I do have, of the beautiful gladiola that the BF’s mom has grown in her flower bed this year and every year for the last few. It’s perfect and spectacular and very prettily colored. But it falls over with its own weight. So we cut it and I took its picture for the site (cause I like flowers around) and I’m going to post it after this! I got the flower with its owner and without.

Enjoy your night. I got TV to watch!

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When last you heard from me, I was on my way to school…

August 5, 2009 at 10:37 am (Celebrity, Day to Day, Drunk Posts, Exercise, Movies, Phone Camera, Pictures, School News, Things The Kids Like, TV Shows, Video) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

…with high hopes for the rest of the evening. When suddenly…Tequila! (And that was TWO days ago.)

I did go to school. I got the “pre-heads-up” to the actual “heads-up” classes I have next week. Signed some paperwork. Got some questions answered. Payed for classes. Bought more books. Drove home excited as hell, but unaware of the complicated nature of what I am about to embark upon.

I have three books and a syllabus right now, and I have three more books to buy. Definitely the most I have needed so far. When I trained for EMT I was on an adrenaline rush for hours after every single class, for like 4-6 months. It was crazy. And I have that same crazy feeling just looking at these books. Two years and god knows how many hours are about to go into this program, but I am ready. I’m not sure my body can take the intensity. I had trouble sleeping before, but I guess that will just help me on the job!  I talked so much on the phone to the BF just driving home from a pre-class class, that I, “low-battery-powered-off”, the cell phone. The damn thing drained out good. First time I talked to the cut-off. Even after I plugged it back in it wouldn’t turn on for a little while.

So I take a closer look at this new book. Calculating With Confidence. Drug calculations, measurements, math conversions…OMG, it looks hard. Drug labels, syringes, pills, liquids, fractions, decimals, cc. mL. mg. oz. You need: Aspirin gr 10 p.o. q4h p.r.n. for pain. You have: Drug label, that suddenly makes no sense whatsoever. And tell me how much, with how much diluent, time of day, route of administration, but don’t forget who you are giving it to, how much they weigh, what else they are taking; now mark it on the drawing, and don’t “F” it up because you could kill someone…. I’m paraphrasing…but that’s the idea. Once you take off the plastic shrink wrap, the front cover has a skull and crossbones on it. They don’t want you to see that until it’s too late. And you thought that the nurse handing you two Tylenol in the hospital after dinner didn’t require any skill. HA!

The amazing thing is, that in 2 months, that book is going to make perfect sense, and I’ll be calculating in my sleep (not literally), but for now…we better go to Pepe’s and think about the future.

So the guy that has been working there since he was a child, really, (I know, because we as a family, collectively have been going there for his whole life basically, I even remember a time when he was out in the parking lot trying to drive off in his older brothers car…he got in trouble for that…) anypepestoryway…this kid/adult now (Ricky? The name would not come to me, don’t judge, I’m approaching 40, but Mason and Stevie both agree, yes, on the name) made me a killer, and I mean KILLER margarita. I took 4 drinks and I was feeling the heat. By one third gone, I was TWO thirds gone. I wish I could say I was joking, because I was getting “altered” and fast. (My teeth were numb and I tried to walk out of the clear glass panel NEXT to the door, when I left the restaurant) I ate some chips and salsa and some shrimp cocktail on crackers and a tamale and a chili rellano but food was failing me fast, so I concentrated on finishing the medium margarita that, based on my morning calculations of how-long-it-takes-my-body-to-filter-out-the-alcohol (years of research have perfected this system) there must have been at least, 5 shots of tequila in my drink. I can say that with confidence because I was still slightly drunk at 7:30 in the morning. And I even tried to move the alcohol along with activity and oxygen before I fell into dreamy-drunky sleep the night before but sometimes you can’t keep a good buzz down, or up, or whatever. End of story.

I dragged myself up, took out the garbage, diluted my remaining blood level of tequila with coffee, and watched Regis & Kelly with Pat Tomasulo subbing for Regis (!!) I wrote it on the calendar! Busy schedule, yeah yeah, I’ll be working soon enough and you’ll miss these long, rambling posts. (More Pat Stuff)

The Pat Down. For your enjoyment. And since this is Chicago, we have 2 newspapers…here’s the Trib version. Ok, I think I’m done now.

Then I really pushed the limit with a five mile run. Five point one something something, to be exact. I ran the water bill to the Village Hall, which maps out at 5+ miles. MapMy Run.com. 30 minutes there. 34 minutes back. One hour, four minutes. I will take it. I ran on the sidewalks. Concrete, hard on the shins with lots of hills, (dang Park Forest doesn’t have a completely flat spot 10 steps in a row), and chock full of tripping hazards. Broken cement, uneven, crooked, weeds, rocks…I’m not sure what the village is doing all the time. It seems like they dig holes in random spots all around town just so there’s something for the kids to fall into. At any rate. I was done for the day. Kids got home about 3 ish and we ate ice cream and talked about all they did last week. Stevie made cupcakes! First time on her own and no crunchy ones from egg shells! (So far) So proud. Then dinner and a movie. (Burgers on the grill and Smokey and the Bandit from Netflix) unpack the bags, go to bed and poof! Here we are. Today.

I’m going to skip the run today, maybe go take a walk at the nature trail if I can get the kids out there. Mason has grass to finish and we are open. I have the pictures you have been waiting for…I didn’t forget, it’s just time and energy and getting them off the cell phone. I even have video! The kids wanted to play in the water, but we don’t have a pool. We have a hose. So they filled up larger, plastic, Tupperware bowls and put their faces in them or dumped them over their heads. They would swim in a wet sponge if they could. Then they played water-hose-jump-rope, which is actually pretty funny. So that’s coming too! And all that other stuff I said I had…Remember my theme: Everything is always two days ago!

Cupcakes!

Half with sprinkles, half without! Tasty!

Half with sprinkles, half without! Tasty!

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