HAPPY FRIDAY!! Oh. Wait.
Well globally it’s Friday somewhere right?
It’s amazing how hard puberty hits and also how annoying it can be at times. But with my magical, greenish-yellow elixir, of all that is calm and serene, two teenagers doing everything in their power to drive me crazy seems all so wonderfully “after-school special”.
I just thought I’d take a minute to acknowledge a fellow blogging site who took time out of their postings to “like” me! This is what I get sent to me:
Howdy,
imonthebandwagon recently read your post, titled NEW FEATURE!!!, and enjoyed it enough to click the ‘Like’ button. Congratulations.
Here is the post they liked:
https://masnstevy.com/2011/09/19/new-feature/?sn=l
and here is their info:
Name: imonthebandwagon
We think they’re from: London, England, United Kingdom
(Click on their name to check them out!)
You might want to see what they’re up to – perhaps you will like their posts as much as they liked yours.
(I did look them up and you might like them too!)
Thanks guys or gals, I appreciate the feedback! Good luck with the number 1 thing!! Cheers!
JSOP
Running is NOT an option
I was behind this Jeep on the way home from school one day. Pretty cool I thought. And now I have a place to put it! I’m going to just have to face the fact that I cannot use my foot the way I want to. Since I broke that toe (or two) three weeks ago, the swelling and bruising have gone away but the pain remains. I’ve been walking on it and doing various other dumb things, like trying to bowl, droppingamotorcycleonit, and even trying to run. Fail. I hobbled out one fourth of a mile. Being generous. My son was walking faster than I could run. And the next day, forget it. I couldn’t even put my shoe back on and the top of my whole foot was kind of fat and swelly.
This is the first time in my life that running can not be my main form of exercise. Walking is really pushing it. One more reminder that I will not live forever. Suh-uh-ucks!
So I have to find a way to do cardio type, but stationary, working out. Preferably with no shoes. I have some Yoga X and some Kenpo I can do from the P90X workout system. And I have to say, Jillian Michaels Beginner dvd’s are pretty good. It’s something new I added to my page, What We Have In The House Right Now. (I’m trying to do this fabulous site and update all this old information.) Anyway, like I said a few days ago, we are trying to accomplish alot this summer. Body and Brains. Now that daily school is over, exercise needs to be the only option along with healthy eating. The weight is creeping up and so is my B/P. We weigh again tomorrow to see if any of our small changes this week have knocked out an ounce or pound or two. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy big. Remember, if you are doing it too this summer, anything the same or less is good as long as you are moving every day and trying to make the better choices.
Speaking of which. I need to get some water. It’s HOT over here! 96 degrees. I guess the heat is here to stay for awhile. I’m going to take that water and sit out in it for a bit. Sweat some of the gunk out.
Oh wait a second, Two and a Half Men is about to come on the TV. That reminds me of my favorite kind of water made by Skyy. Yes, I have seen them all, but that doesn’t make them any less funny or easier to watch with a big glass of. Of. Ummm. Liquid.
Later.
Looks like Vegas may not be where I wake up tomorrow
Not for $2000 per person. Just for the airplane. How can that even be the right price?!?
Anyway…In my vodka haze I must have misread the channel guide. 2½ Men was done at 7 pm. But hey! Role Models! And I’m recording Turistas. I think I remember hearing that it was scary, so that should be good in a few hours after more of the vodka soaks in.
For now, here’s a picture of my Pocket Poker game. I have been playing it non-stop throughout my school year but never with the big wins like I had last summer. Well guess what?
That’s right. I hit the Royal Flush. Again. It’s not quite as satisfying since I was at, like, ZERO points, but I still got 5000 for it! Now I’m trying to hit it again to beat my all time high score. What? Did you say you needed a picture to remind you of what that was? Great! I have one!
That’s 7130. Seems like it wouldn’t be that hard right? But it is. And so addicting to someone like me with OCD tendencies. It’s prob good we aren’t going to Vegas after all. Having credit cards with no balance and a high limit is just too easy. But, oh man, the sun, the pool, the casino’s…I love playing poker all night and laying by the pool all day. With drinks. In that hot, desert sun and those cool air conditioned hotels. Torture. I need to stop. The drinks are totally kicking in and I would pay any amount and hop on a plane right now, with those awesome airline mini-alcohol bottles, flight in the night, with the lights of Las Vegas shining in the distance as we approach McCarran International ….man I could be in Vegas in 5 hours! License first. Vacation later.
Have a great night wherever you are!
Now why does this seem so familiar?
Another long weekend is upon us. Memorial Day! (Take a vodka soaked minute to honor and think about all our soldiers please, past and present, and currently serving to protect our right to drink too much and act stupid all weekend. Thank you.)
Anyway…long weekend, kids are gone (camping with their dad), no school, nothing to study, it’s getting dark, kind of cool outside, the BF is trying to find us a cheap flight to Vegas, we’re watching 2½ Men on TV, drinking martini’s and playing my favorite game–we drink when Charlie drinks–, and I’m posting about it!
It’s like the best kind of déjà vu! Here’s the difference:
Swords! For the olives. They add a fun touch and they were the only kind of sticks available at the store. Rainbow colored!
Also, we are watching 2½ Men on TV, but….
We do own the last season on DVD. We watched it already though. Three discs. Three straight nights in a row. I probably shouldn’t let the kids watch it, but most of the jokes go right over the heads and my son looks just like Jake…really, and they think it’s pretty funny for what they do get. So I have a soft spot for the show. But I don’t want to get off the subject or start over thinking about my kids because then I’ll miss them and that really kills the buzz. But anyway, luckily, FX Network is playing the show tonight until 8 pm, so I can be pretty blotto-ed by then! (They’re also running a marathon on Monday, but sitting around all day watching that would be lame right…?)
Alright, well it seems that my glass is empty and this episode is almost over so I gotta go make another one and get ready for the next hour. Later.
One more picture because I knew it was here somewhere
And I just LOVE to waste time when I should be studying. Seriously. Two stinking tests left! Focus!! But since the picture is here and I am already typing….
After all that talking in the long post I wrote the other day, I actually DID go out and ride this here motorcycle. I was a little worried because it is bigger (and heavier) than the one I “trained” on, but, no fear! It was fine. Felt good. Felt even better because this bike is newer and all the parts and signals and gears work exactly the way they are supposed to! Anyway…that’s all about that for now. I prob won’t talk about it anymore unless I fall off…so let’s hope it NEVER comes up again!
As for my tests…Lab Test was alright. Didn’t get enough points to raise my grade, but didn’t miss any to lower it either. Renal Test was 100%. Grade stays the same. Final is Monday. This is where I can win it or lose it. Again. Unbelievable. I want that A pretty bad, and I am not the only one this time. I think there may be several of us going for it. Pressure!! Big finish!! Then we have an exit exam that has to be passed. Final is important but that only gets you half a chance to graduate. Anyway…enough. Sorry A, I am bringing one of my books this weekend…just some review over birthday cake and vodka!! It’s almost over and the dream gets closer….
Going for my daily dose of B/P control and then to the books! Maybe more later…I have SO many pics and so many things to catch up on! I know everyone can hardly wait! Haha. See ya later!
News from the armpit of America
As I fondly refer to the state of Arkansas. And for all you about to jump on the comments, just know that I call it the armpit out of love (and because armpit starts with an A, and I like the repetition of it all). My daddy moved there, lived there, died there, and is buried there. I have been to Arkansas several times and don’t plan on going back anytime soon. It’s pretty and country and closes early. It has modern parts and really backward parts and now it has alot of dead parts. Unconfirmed, of course, as to what is causing the deadness. I think it’s very interesting so I reposted the article I found that kind of summed up the birds and the fish, with links I believe, in case you want to explore further and don’t have anything else to do tonight (especially since football is no longer an option—sad face). The whole thing is below. My favorite explanation so far is the end-of-the-world thing. I personally have been talking about it for some time, ever since I saw the special on Krakatoa (the volcano) and its part in the destruction of life as we know it. It’s one small reason why I wanted to be a nurse. I plan on living. So I have to start my shelter construction and supply gathering as soon as I graduate in May. I’ll have the money to do it, the knowledge to keep us alive for awhile, and access to hospitals and medicines. The kids are used to it. They think I may be crazy but these dead animals should change their minds! I realize that other stuff has happened lately that’s much cheerier, like Christmas and New Years, and I have stuff like pictures and things, but the mass killing really grabbed my attention and felt post worthy, especially with my close, personal, family connection. I have to hurry because my 4 shot vodka martini is kicking in and it’s getting hard to type. Don’t worry the kids are gone with their dad for the evening. It’s all good. So enjoy the article!
Thank you to “The LookOut” a Yahoo News source, and Brett Michael Dykes for writing it. I haven’t altered it, just re-posted it for more people to read.
Oh yeah! And Happy New Year!
Mon Jan 3, 12:10 pm ET
Thousands of dead birds and fish in Arkansas leave many
scratching heads
(sorry I don’t know what the hell that is below there, or why I can’t get rid of it)
Maybe the Mayans were on to something?
That’s surely what students of the famed Mayan 2012 prophecy for the end of the world had to be thinking with the news of recent eerie wildlife die-offs in Arkansas. Just as the calendar nudged a year closer to that fateful date, birds began falling from the sky in Arkansas and a massive fish kill occurred some 125 miles to the west.
[Rewind: Mysterious bee deaths explained]
Roughly 5,000 red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky over a mile of land near Beebe, a small town in northwest Arkansas, and observers spotted the fish kill near the town of Ozark. You can watch a video report on the blackbirds below, courtesy of ABC News:
CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE WITHOUT SEARCHING THE SITE
And here’s a CNN report on the incidents:
No one seems to know just yet what caused the two die-offs. But theories abound.
In a statement Saturday morning, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission quoted staff ornithologist Karen Rowe as saying that such events have happened before around the world: “Test results usually were inconclusive, but the birds showed physical trauma and that the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail.”
[Rewind: Haunting images of Gulf Coast oil spill]
Because it happened New Year’s Eve, some officials suggest that revelers shooting fireworks may have spooked the birds, to the point that they died en masse from stress-induced cardiac arrest.
“It is unlikely they were poisoned,” Rowe said, “but a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds died from trauma or toxin.” Tests were to begin Monday.
Click image to see photos of the dead birds
Daily Citizen/Warren Watkins, via AP
Meanwhile, wildlife officials say that the estimated 100,000 drum discovered by a tugboat captain over a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River appears to be a natural occurrence that isn’t tied to the bird kill in any way.
[Photos: Massive fish kill hits Louisiana]
“The fish kill only affected one species of fish,” Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told CNN. “If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish.” He added that fish kills in the area are common, though this one was larger than most.
UPDATE: A state veterinarian tells NBC that preliminary necropsy results show that the birds died of “multiple blunt trauma to their vital organs.”
(Screengrab via CNN)
I blame the booze
And messed up cosmic bowling. And a million people all driving towards the mall. And a long line at the liquor store. And that first, delicious, vodka martini with garlic stuffed olives (pretty good, not as over powering or breath killing as you might think). And the movie Elf. And the bottle of wine that I bought the other day. And the other bottle of wine that I bought today. And the sore muscles that prevented me from getting up and moving in a timely fashion. And the Wizard of Oz, with commercials, so that I could struggle to my feet and exercise my way to the kitchen for more drinks in between.
But not actually exercise. Or not eat. The moment I said I would just drink and not eat, all I could think about was food. So we ate pretty much all the leftovers in the house. And then some other stuff too. Sorry Mason, we ate the cheese sticks. I’ll buy more this week.
And then it was so late. I could stand and walk enough but I was not doing, like, a workout. And now it’s morning. For the record I slept like crap. And I had a headache all night long. And I was really thirsty. And I had strange, weird dreams about working in a hospital. A giant, multi-level, spread out hospital that doesn’t exist in real life. I had to put eye drops in a long list of patients scattered everywhere, and measure their pupil dilation. But I couldn’t find the rooms. And the patients were listed categorically by disorder and it seemed most were psychiatric. It took me 15 minutes just to get near the hospital rooms. There was a huge, 2 level, narrow, oddly stepped staircase I had to go down (and back up) and my kids were following me and I was wearing my school uniform. AND I was drinking in my dream too! IN the hospital. All the other nurses and doctors were too. I don’t know what that means but it’s probably not good. In the end I could only find one person on the list and he refused.
Thank god I woke up. I’m drinking coffee now without anything in it, although I bought something for that yesterday too. I’m going to wait until later. During football, to start drinking again. And I must try to exercise even though just trying to cough hurts at this point. That’s the problem with irregular exercise. Those muscles hate stretching out after you let them sit for awhile. Then they punish you big time by not letting you move faster than sitting and not lifting more than a fork or a glass. Thank goodness I can type, right Amanda??
I suppose I better get up now and do something. In celebration of school being over I got myself some fake nails. But I am not skilled on managing alot of personal hygiene things yet. Takes practice and some different moves. Like, for instance, it took me half an hour to put in my contact lenses. It’s stupid. I don’t know how the fancy girls do it 24/7. But in a week or so, I’ll have naturalized myself to the whole concept and I’ll be fine. I let my daughter get some too, but her’s are probably all broken and chipped by now. 2 days would be a record. She likes to tap them on everything and pull at them all the time. Anyway…my point was that it takes longer to do less.
And I have a crazy fish to deal with. My son’s Oscar has taken to swimming around the tank in circles. Not like around the outer edges, literally swimming in fast circles like he’s a dog chasing his tail. We can’t figure out what the problem is. One site said water issues, one says nutrition, one said maybe he broke the heater and he’s getting electrocuted continuously. Well, there’s another fish in the tank and he seems fine so I doubt it’s that, but we unplugged the heater anyway. Still spinning. He also likes to attack the surface and throw water out. He just did it again. The other things are not easily fixable so I say just move him out. I think he’s too large for where he’s at and needs to be moved to the big tank. There are a variety of fish in it already and one giant Oscar. He used to be really aggressive, but he seems to be tamer now. I think it might be ok. It’s a pity though, because Mason’s fish is nice and smooth with no scars or damage and he’s probably going to get beat up a little bit if we switch him.
Anyway, these are the problems of a Sunday morning stall. Type long enough and something else will come up to do other than exercise. Like your mom calling you and asking when you planned on coming over. Hi mom! Thanks! Did you read all this? It’s funny huh?? So, since I didn’t make it clear when I called her earlier, and she won’t drive her scroungy butt to me, I guess I better really go get dressed and haul it out there! See? No exercise! Yay fat me!
I am posting a picture of the big Oscar that Mason took as companion to this fine piece of writing, except that its at the top, so you’ve already seen it. And I still have lots of Christmas pics I took from around my house when I was goofing around with the camera. And hopefully, I’ll have really old pics to post from when my dad was alive later too. Pretty exciting stuff. You do want to see those, I promise. In the meantime though, here’s a picture of Mason’s crazy fish:
He’s not as clear as he could be, but you get the idea. He’s about 8 inches long and 5 inches top fin to bottom. In a 36 gallon bow tank and looking mean, but we’ll see.
I gotta say…
I don’t know who the heck is still looking at this every day, but, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my 15-week-jammed-up-school-crazy-going-no-time-to-post-anything heart! Someone is keeping me alive and on the charts and I thank you.
I literally have one more clinical and one more week of class to go this semester. One care plan. One evaluation sheet w/ goals. One Hesi test. One Lab Final and one final Final. Now that I have typed it…it seems like alot. But trust. It is not. Actually it is but that’s just because I have to study everything, all over again, and then answer even MORE questions. But then I’m done. Until January. One post in 15 weeks…not bad.
Here’s a quick update: School. Football. School. Football. I take the kids to bowling. I go to clinicals. I don’t play any games anymore on facebook, but I do check the site. I stay up way too late. And not for good stuff. I rebooted my Ipod but I am not in love with it anymore. I lost all my playlists and a few hundred songs when I re-loaded the back up discs. I haven’t exercised in weeks. Unless you count the few pushups I do every few days to make sure that I still can. Which I do. But I still fit in my small pants so I don’t care too much about the extra flab hanging over the top for now. I can hit the gym in about a week. School is busy but fun this time. Stressful but in a completely different way from last semester. And my license is calling. I can almost hear it now. I haven’t really been drinking either. Not even enough time for that. Or movies. Or pleasure books. Or mags. I have alot of gossip news to catch up on. My mags are from August…I know I should just throw them away…I’ll decide at Christmas about that. Anyway, I am having a drink now and it is good.
The two things for fun that I have still been doing is collecting change off the street (and keeping it in a cup) and playing my pocket poker game (the quest for the royal flush). Don’t I sound like FUN?? I will post the amount for the last few months in a few days maybe.
AND….wait for it……the quest is over!!
I GOT THE ROYAL FLUSH!!
Oh yeah! No kidding. I think it was clubs. I got it awhile ago but saved the pic for just this moment. I am a wild woman! Do not mess with me and my mad fake poker points skillz! The back of the game says I get 2500 points for the royal flush but I got 5000! What?? I know! It was an exciting day! And just when I did not think it could ever happen again….IT DID!!
TWO Royal Flushes! This was a hearts set. Another 5000. Oh yeah…I’m going for the 10,000. I am unstoppable.
I need to go eat dinner and study something. Thanks for hanging again with me thru the weeks of drought! I really do appreciate your time! I’ll have more later! Pictures are below.
The first one. And that was pretty exciting.
Ugh! Blurry! But you can see it! Another 5000.
That was the high score but I am going for more points. I think I am over 7100 now. Yes I know. Sad life. That’s what the vodka is for. See ya!
What is going on?? Why am I so popular??
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!
Overdose!
Seriously. Analgesics and opioids. I feel like I am sedated right now. Of course I am on my third vodka martini. I call it a martini but it’s just vodka swished around in some ice and poured into a glass. Euphoria.
Saturday night. Kids are gone. I am waiting for my BF to get back from a night with the boys. A short night. We have the house and we need to catch up on some medical procedures.
While I am typing this I am watching the movie, “The Notorious Bettie Page”. Pretty interesting. I hardly even notice that it’s in black and white. I think it keeps changing into color and then back again. Marvin thinks its abnormal. It’s just costumes, she says. I think it’s ok. She was cutting edge…
Good vodka.
The movie is talking about taking a vacation. Florida of all places! I am there. There is nothing like having drinks on the beach near the ocean!
Here’s a pic. Let’s all pretend together.
Persecution fear complex! Nice word combination. If you know what I’m talking about…make a comment.
Bondage and sexual deviation. I better stop. The 50’s were quite scandalous. Murder and psychosis…reminds me of the wax museum. Pure evil.
just shy of pretty 