That is some GOOD STUFF!

Well, my travelog continues... My mom had an "incident" a month or so ago. A piece of plaque broke loose from her carotid artery and entered her eye (not her brain, thank God) and caused some temporary vision loss. No permanent damage though, for which we are very thankful. She had carotid artery surgery last week to clean out the worst of the plaque, although the other side will require a vacuuming in a few months. I flew to Florida to be with her at the hospital then take care of her (sort of) for the next week. The trip was exhausting, but the flights were more relaxing because of my little buddy clonazepam. That is some REALLY good stuff! I was able to relax on the flight, despite the fact that my return flight was delayed due to severe thunderstorms with lightning and high winds. I'm afraid my prescription drug-induced friendliness caused me to overshare a bit with airport strangers, but I guess there are bound to be some side-effects! I could probably afford to be a little more friendly anyway I guess...

The Friendly Skies

So it feels like I've been traveling a lot lately.... I just took a trip to Sacramento to see my California family. It was a bunch of fun and it was nice to see everyone. The only problem was....I had to fly. Oh, FYI: I HATE to fly. I know it is much safer than driving (see Jeep vs Semi post), but I just have a really hard time convincing myself that I don't really need to panic. Or help the pilot. I can't tell you how sore I am after a flight from all the window seat driving. You know what I mean...pushing the break and gas (floor) and shifting my weight from side to side as if I am actually contributing. Giving people the evil eye for weaving up and down the aisle on the way to the bathroom during turbulence (most of the ride it seems) when CLEARLY they should not be changing the mass distribution on the delicately weight balanced aircraft. Seriously. I have a problem. It's funny now, but not at 30,000 feet! I tried relaxing with alcohol...which resulted in my own turbulence accompanied rush to the potty. This was followed by Xanax which (mixed with Dramamine) made me sleepy without decreasing my anxiety. How can you be both, you ask? I managed! (I should mention that the vodka and xanax where on different days before someone yells at me for mixing meds). Oh well, I feel so silly. It's a stupid fear, but unfortunately I can't reason my way out of it. I even tried watching Lost on my DVD player to distract me. In retrospect, maybe a series about plane crash survivors wasn't a good entertainment choice... I will be on my way to Florida in a week or two to be with my mom who is having surgery....Here's hoping my doctor can come up with something that will help! :-) Miss you all!

I'm So Lame...

OK, so all of you are my friends so you know I have adult ADD. It has been a really long time since I posted, so I thought I'd write a paragraph or two. I started playing World of Warcraft (oohhh...butterfly....) and have done pretty much nothing else online since. Level 59! w00t! Lame. Anyway, the weather has finally broken and we have had temperatures in the 60s the last week or so. But this weekend Wisconsin says SIKE! They are forecasting snow showers this weekend. WTF???? It's almost May! I feel like my mornings should start out: "consider this..." (twilight zone reference, FYI). Not much new going on in my (lack of) life, but I really miss all of you...

Semi VS Jeep

Well, it has been a few weeks since I posted last, but I think I have a good excuse this time! Cleo and I decided (rather last minute) to go see my family for Christmas. We thought it might be good to visit when we weren't attending a funeral at least once this year. My mistake. I had to drive it (1300 + miles) because there was no place I was comfortable leaving Cleo that had space over the holidays. We left at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday to beat a big winter storm that was fore-casted for Christmas weekend. It was crazy foggy, so the first few hours were kinda stressful, and by the time the fog had lifted we were somewhere in Illinois. We were on the road all day and dropped in (unannounced - because that's how I roll) on my sister near Atlanta for the evening. After a nice overnight visit, we made the seven hour drive to Lakeland and relaxed.

Christmas was really (new laptop - thanks mom!) nice. My brother and I made dinner and it turned out pretty well, even if the ham booby trapped! Why they have to put a stealth net on that SOB that you can't even see until it's on fire I'll never know... Could they mention removing the invisible incendary device before cooking ... is that too much to ask? Anyway, it was edible - but I don't think we are in charge of cooking next year (score!). The visit was lovely and I wished I could stay longer, but alas - I needed to return to work.

We left early Saturday morning and while traveling through Georgia we hit a snag... or shall I say the "snag" (read Semi truck) hit me! Someone several cars ahead of me suddenly decided they needed to be stopped RIGHT NOW with no warning and the rest of us were left smoking tires to keep from causing a crash. The semi behind me didn't make it. He tried to avoid me (running a sedan off the road in the process), but he still hit me pretty hard. It was very scary to see pieces of my bumper and tail lights go flying past my front windshield. Luckily, Cleo and I were OK, but sadly the Jeep (my baby!) wasn't! My jeep limped across the road on a shredded tire and bent rear axle to become mired in about six inches of Georgia devil clay. The tow truck almost tipped us over trying to winch us out of that mess. The sedan had to be hauled out as well because they were in clay to the top of their wheel wells! I called my sister, who drove 2 1/2 hours to pick me up in front of the jail (the only place I could sit with Cleo). My brother and his girlfriend kindly drove 6 hours (each way) to bring me back to Lakeland where I waited several days to find out if the jeep was totaled or not...

Luckily it was not, although the damage was about $6000. Insurance is taking care of the repairs, but it won't be ready for another week. In the meantime, I flew to Wisconsin - so I'm back at work. Looking forward to the long drive back (ha ha), but it will be nice to see Cleo again (she had to stay in Florida for a few weeks). Well, that's all for now.... miss everyone!

I'm baaaaaaack!

OK, so I've been a little remiss in updating the blog recently... Things have been a bit crazy with the moving and unpacking (which is still not done!) and also some family issues. Most of you will know that my grandmother passed away in October. I miss her a lot even though I only saw her a few times a year for the last bit. Even writing this now makes me a little weepy... it's hard enough to loose a grandparent, I cannot imagine what it's like for my mom. My paternal grandmother passed in 2005 (which was really hard on my dad and my aunt) and the recent loss of a second grandmother kind of rekindles that grief too. My family has had to deal with what feels like a lot of death recently because my brother, Chris, was killed in a car accident earlier this year. The result is that I have become closer to some of my surviving family members recently and I hope this will last. It has caused me to do a lot of thinking about how little time some of us have and how we shouldn't waste even a single minute. It's a good way of approaching life I think. I just wish the price of such a realization wasn't so high.

Anyway, on to less emotional things: Other than the previously mentioned issues things seem to be going pretty well! I really enjoy my job, but I am often working long hours. It seems to be appreciated, though. That's always a plus! Cleo is doing really well, but she misses the other greyhounds. She has taken to kidnapping my shoes when she feels she is not getting enough of my attention. She doesn't chew them - she just throws them in the air in front of the TV - just to remind me that she is (clearly) much more entertaining than whatever is on the tube. She recently got a new bed for the living room (because the one in the bedroom is too far away for her to stare creepily at me while I am in the living room or kitchen) which she really seems to enjoy. Check her out!

Her tongue was hanging out, which freaked me out for a minute, but she was just that relaxed!

Cairo and Mama are, well, still fat. They are on a diet, but don't seem to be losing much. I think they have cut down on activity to conserve calories.... They now hiss at one another at night because (apparently) a queen size bed is not quite big enough for the two of them. It would probably help if Cairo didn't have to jump up directly on top of Mama, but what are you gonna do, eh? They are both still sweeties to me though... In the spirit of getting in the way, Cairo also enjoys sleeping on (and over, and around) the stairs. If he (by chance) is not covering the entire step, he will go the extra mile by swishing his tail back and forth over the centimetre of space left for me to place my foot when I am ascending the stairs. Ah, my own personal obstacle course...

What? It's where I sleep!

My "Children of the Corn"

The weather is pretty nice right now, but chilly! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! It snowed here!

I'm dreaming of a white....thanksgiving????

Well, gotta go for now. Miss you all! PS: Happy wedding day Jen! (and Paul, of course)

Say Cheese...

Well, I'm finally in "America's Dairy". The drive was long and we are all glad to be here. There was some really pretty scenery on the way, but I (of course) did not stop to take pictures. I did, however take some pics of the apartment. It's a pretty nice place, with Cleo's bathroom really close to the apartment, which is good for both of us! Madison seems really pretty so far, but I haven't done a lot of exploring, because I really don't want to look at my car right now. Hauling the trailer was alright, but backing it into the driveway was a bi*$!. Anyone who has seen the "cliff" I used to live on knows why. Also the neighborhood dog picked that time to come and visit. She was waiting for me in the driveway! My nerves were so shot after ten minutes that I had to take a nap! Cleo (aka Cloe) traveled well, but she always does. The cats were ... ok. I just heard the occasional pathetic meow from the back. I can't imagine how they would have been without the sedative. Here are some pics of the apartment:

The Bedroom...

The Kitchen...

The Necessary...

The Living Room (the dog and cats I brought with me)...

and The Dining Room...

My last few weeks in Richmond were very sad. I spent a lot of time with my friends, but I already miss them. I have to admit, I was something of a crybaby. I'm not one of those pretty criers either. My face gets all puffy, my eyes squint up, and snot runs like a river. Charming, huh? Anyway, that's enough for now I suppose...

In the begining....

Well, I've finally done it. I've gone and started myself a blog. It seems that almost everyone has one now and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon (baaaaaah!). Anyway, if nothing else maybe it will give me a chance to stay in touch with friends (old and hopefully new!) and family, and more importantly - post pictures of my pets! So...um... I'm staying pretty busy because I am getting ready to move to Wisconsin. I'm a Florida girl and I've not really experience a true winter. I am looking forward to it though, I think it will be cool (I know - groan).

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my live-in family members: Cleo (the dog - what can I say, I was in my "Shakespeare Phase"), Cairo and Mama (the cats). They are a

constant source of amusement...I wonder if they would say the same about me?

Cleo wishin' she was inside...

Mama looking a little irritated because I interupted a nap

Cairo in the only picture in which he was something other than a smear. I swear the only other time he moves so much is when the automatic feeder drops food in his dish....