Me 'n My Laptop

And They Call Her Mariah

My best friend, Mariah (formerly BF) had a son in Iraq, and her husband was deployed to another state. The song is "God Bless the USA". 

He made it home safe and sound.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Just Shoot Me Before You Go Go

.

A heart with a syringe - MS doctors cause of those damn Copaxone shots. 

The ringtone is "Take This Job and Shove It", cause my health is my job now.  It doesn't pay very well.  Hey... I deserve a bonus, cause I'm damn near cured! 

.

.

.

.

..

.

.

I did a google to find a reference/lyric about health and healing and the only thing that came up was Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing". Ahem.

.

Intestines?  For the doctors, of course.  Normal doctors, cause there's other docs for MS.  The ringtones for all the doctors is "Please Release Me", let me gooooo if I don't like that particular doctor, and "Doctor, Doctor" by the Thompson Twins for the doctors I like. 

I smell rice for some reason and it's driving me batty cause I hate rice.

Anyways, I definitely screen these calls either because I don't want to hear it, or else I'm waiting for results and/or a prescription change.   

.

.

.

Let There Be Ringtones and Pics and Let It Begin With Me

One of my biggest frustrations in daily life is my freaking phone.  And eye glasses.  I have about a dozen and never seem to be able to find them.  My eyesight has dissolved at such a fast pace that I can't see what I saw clearly a week ago.  The pinochle cards in my hands.  The list is long, but I forget.  The words on the money machine that you slide your debit card thru. 

But the phone.  Even tho I remember back in the day before cell phones, answering machines, and not knowing who it was calling, I've become dependent on knowing who it is before I answer.  My current excuse is I need to know who it is, so I don't answer it if I know they're not with the same provider I am with - Verizon to Verizon is free minutes, everybody else eats valuable minutes of our family share plan of 1500 minutes a month with 5 people on it.  Ahem.  SFM and I alone used up 200 of my allotted 300 just in the last 3 or 4 days.  Oh wait, never mind, cause we talk when minutes are free, after 9pm, and weekends.  We're both suffering bouts of not being able to sleep, but that's another story. 

Anyways - I can't see the screen on my phone.  A couple of months ago, I put myself near into bankruptcy for buying different pictures and ring tones for the phone calls I get.   First, like an idiot I downloaded pictures that represented something about the person calling.  I found a collection of hearts. 

My son's picture "Love Grows Here" - it's grass growing.  Scuse the blurry. 

His ring tone is "Sounds of Silence", because he hasn't been calling me every Sunday, and we communicate by texting most of the time, since he's not on Verizon either. 

.

.

.

.

.

Oh!  Now I remember what the point of the post was.  I can't see the damn screen.  So I downloaded all the pics so I could ID the caller by what popped up.  Only ... what pops up isn't the size of the full screen - it shrinks down in order to fit the words "So&so is calling".  Which I can't see either.  At first I had about 3 of them that looked alike, so I couldn't tell who was calling, but I can tell sometimes just by the color, sometimes.  When a green thing pops up, I know it's SonOne calling cause he's the only green. 

So then I downloaded the ring tones, and turns out good that I did, cause half the time I can't remember what pic goes with who, and same with the ring tones, but so far I've been able to remember one or the other. 

That is how I screen my calls.  Cause I know you wanted to know.  I either have to stop meeting new people or have them provide their own heart pic, and ring tone.

Originally, I had ALL the ring tones in a great big long post.  That would be a nightmare to read and listen to, so I was kind to you.   

*

Just Call Me Sick to Death of this Post

Taking a Break

I won't be blogging for at least the rest of December.  Recent revelations have taken the wind out of my sails, and I feel too unsafe and vulnerable.  That sounds ominous, doesn't it?  It's nothing serious, and I don't mean "physical" or stalker type unsafe because someone knows where I live or has threatened anything kjind of unsafe.  Just that I don't feel comfortable with sharing the things I want to write, and yet, not wanting to share because of ... the things I write being used as ammunition, and I'm suffering a crisis of confidence - of feeling unworthy for much of anything.  I even keep forgetting to feed those damn cats, and then when I do remember, I find myself squinting at them with resentment ... and wondering how long they can go without food...

I kid!  They always have dry food - it's the canned food that just takes too much energy.  Plus I put Barf on notice that if he doesn't stop with the incessant talking constantly, then he doesn't DESERVE canned cat food. 

So I'm taking this time for a break, and to decide whether I want to continue blogging.  It's possible I may start up somewhere else, but that's probably ridiculous, unless I decide not to write about the dogs, or MS so I can't be found again.  All someone would have to do is do a search for the dogs, and I do come up quite high in the MS blogs on occasion.  Maybe if I change the puppy's name, and change the disease?  Can you imagine me not writing about the dogs??!!  Ain't gonna happen! 

But should I decide to start blogging elsewhere, I'll be glad to email the new URL address to those of you who want it.  There are several loyal readers who never comment (hi Kuna!) but feel free to email (link in the sidebar) to say so, and I'll be sure to do it, when and if I begin again.  Those who do comment - you're on the list already. 

Thanks to all you - it's been fun, and helpful, and therapeutic and and and ... well, you know.  Some of you are closer to me than those in real life and that means alot to me. 

*

Just Call Me Tired

. 

Oh yea, also, a large part that is making me feel so lackluster is the pain, and not getting any sleep.  I average about 3 hours a nite, which conincidently is the duration of the cycle of each dose of meds.  Imagine that.  But if I take extra doses, I'll run out for the last week or two of the month, and the doctor says I'm at the maximum doses of both the Ultram and Lyrica.  The next step is the big guns (narcotics?) and I am afraid of those, as I shouldn't have them in the house during certain times of the year.  Like Christmas!  And New Year's! if you know what I'm saying.  Wthout the physical pain, I could be alot better about dealing with certain issues going on, or at least be stronger about taking the punches if I wasn't dealing with The Hands and Feet from Hell. 

.

Thursday Three - Even in the skies

This is a picture out the window of the plane during my flight to San Francisco last month.  Do you see what I see? 

.

.

.

.

.

.

How about here?

.

.

.

.

.

.

Awesome.

*

Just Call Me Photographer Extraordinaire or ... Eagle Eyes

.

Could she JUST SHUT UP?

*

There's been another accident

Hiney did it. 

Why is he up there?  Cause I screamed bloody murder as I watched my Jeffie go flying. 

I had to go borrow some super glue from an old people. 

Get thee to Radio Shack

256mb memory cards are $6.00

1G memory cards are $10.00

2G memeory cards are $20.00 (normally $60)

Also CA Anti-Virus Plus & Spyware 2008 Free

Reader cards are $12.00 and now I don't have to mess with that damn cable.  There's something wrong inside my camera - I have to hold it in tight for it to connect and download the pictures, even with a new cable.

Sale over tomorrow - December 8th

Let the pictures begin!

*

Just Call Me I SCORED!

.

Spelling Lesson

I am having a day.  This day is not working right.

Neither is my camera.  Neither is my other camera.  My hands and feet would like a reprieve.  The feet are bright red, and perhaps being on fire would be a good description. 

I got a wild hair and decided to clear all surfaces.  I'm trying to stop myself from re-arranging my bedroom.  I have bookcases for my clothes, because the dressers were too dark and gloomy.  Oprah told me a serene bedroom is good if you're having trouble sleeping.  Even tho I know it's pain that is keeping me awake, I prefer to believe it's because I see the clothes and start an internal debate that I'm unaware of - of what to wear when I get up.  I prefer to think this because it's fixable, and my pain is not. 

I requested the easy caps to my pill bottles this time, because I'm too weak to open the child-proof ones.  The ease of just popping off the cap was wonderful, but I was having trouble with one of them.  Simply could not get it open.  So I took it out to the lobby and ask an old people if he could open it.  He unscrewed the cap.  Oh.  A simple screw cap ... who knew?  I claim it's the MS, as I furrow my brow to show the irritation I have to live with, FOR HELLS SAKE!!!

Now I can't baby-sit my neice's baby, because I'm not child-proofed. 

I've got Josh Groban's Christmas CD playing quite loud.  These apartments are amazingly sound-proof.  Boy, I have alot of words with "ie", "ei:", and "-" in them today.  It's irritating me, because I have to stop and think 'i before e, exept for the c" thingy, and half the time I don't believe that little ditty.

I'm off to buy a damn camera cord to connect to my camera.  I can actually visualize the moment I threw it in the garbage, thinking I didn't use that one. 

TTFN

Sex lottery

Okay, I need to get to working on this blog.  I have so many ideas to improve it, so I can start to make money from it.  But when I sit down, I am overwhelmed with all the ideas and sit here with my teeth in my head instead. 

Speaking of The Teeth, things are good there.  I'm getting used to smiling without them dropping out.  And Muttin hasn't got her teeth on them.  Mostly cause I KEEP them in my mouth for safe-keeping. 

I went to a fabric store yesterday to pick out one more piece for a quilt for my kid/s.  I found several patterns that would work, but most of them were $19.o0 bucks a yard.  Then I walked around to the other side of the table, and there was a sign saying "Sale $2.50 a yard".  Awesome.  So I bought two yards of several pieces, and I probably will have enough for 4 quilts. 

Last Christmas, I gave my mom and sister the gift of my time once a month, to do a chore, run an errand, go to lunch or a movie.  I  re-organized my sister's closet, and a movie with my mom.  For the first few months, I called and asked what they needed, and they couldn't think of anything.  My sister was supposed to get me started on organizing her photos, but she hasn't done it yet.  Eventually, I forgot all about it, until this Christmas when I'm wondering what to do for their Christmas.  Obviously, they don't want my time ... sniff.

On Oprah today, she told me about a research study about sex that said increasing having sex from once a month to once a week, was equivalent to getting a $50,000.00 bonus or lottery ticket.  In happiness terms.

!!!!  Ahem ...  just a shout out to my FWB ... I can fly free, anywhere, anytime ... 

Okay, now I'm distracted, and can't think.

*

Just Call Me Done With Blogging Today

.

You're hilarious

People, people, people.  I did not get married. 

Course, now that I read it myself, how could you know?  Well, cept for the part where I mentioned I was awake in the wee hours of the morning because of pain!  Obviously, I wasn't quite right in the head.  Which is not where the pain is ...

That's how my second husband happened. 

Every time, and I do mean EVERY TIME I see this commercial, I laugh out loud.  "No.  You come on."  Hilarious. 

Muttin's taken to speaking with a French accent.  She doesn't come close to being suave and debonair.  Jeffrey just giggles when he tries it.

*

Just Call Me Awake at Midnight Dammit

.

Decisions were made

Someone said "It's time to shit or get off the pot".  Someone decided to shit. 

So we got married. 

*****

Cannot sleep because of pain, and I am thinking too hard.  It's 3:34 am. 

*****

Gosling is doing her visa interview today?  I think.  So she can move to the states and go to college.  She's from India. 

*****

One deer caused 5 cars to crash on a local freeway yesterday.  The first car hit the deer.  The second car hit the first car.  They both pulled over, one to the right, and one to the middle of the road.  A third car hit the  deer laying in the middle of the road.  The fourth car, trying to avoid the third car, turned to the right and hit the first car on the right side of the road.  Then a fifh car, in trying to avoid both the third and fourth car, turned to the left, and hit the second car parked in the meridian.  A man was hit by his own car, cause he was standing in front of it when it got hit from behind.   He's in critical condition.  The deer is dead.

*****

I might be going to Connecticut with SanFranMan to see his kids for Christmas, instead of baby-sitting Duke in Spokane. 

*****

I think it's time to hit the pot.  The weed.  The smoke.  The medicinal marijuana. 

*****

Muttin has a lump.  Do dogs get breast cancer?

*

Just Call Me Illegal in Idaho

.

Monday blues

I haven't blogged in awhile, it seems.  I go thru this every time I come from San Francisco.  I WANT to write about my visit, and the place I love, but dayy-um, I hate coming home. 

His roommate was horrible once again.  To both of us this time.  Tell me, if you had guests, would you come unglued should that guest put some food into the wrong food recycling thingy?  It was the liver from the turkey, and I asked SFM where to put it, and he said in the food scrape recycling bucket - so I did.  Boy, was that a mistake!  If I had been the hostess - I would have simply corrected it on my own, knowing that not everyone knows how you like things CAUSE YOU DON'T LIVE THERE, and not said a word.  I could understand being such a snip about it had I planned on being there for a month, or even a couple of weeks.  But nooooo.  Bad Laurie gets chastised about it, and "if you don't know where something goes, just leave it in the dish rack, and behind my back to SFM, "She left the front door open last nite".  Ummm no.  I washed the dishes, SFM put them away PRECISELY because I don't know where things go.  And nooo, I didn't leave the front door open - the other roommate came in after us, later that night. 

Other than that, it was great.  We went to the ocean, did I mention that?  I like the ocean. 

My son called and needs me to babysit Duke again at Christmas time.  He and SmartGirl want to go back to her parents in Connecticut for the holiday.  I'll explain later why she's got "Smart Girl" for her blogname, cause one wouldn't necessarily she would be under the circumstances of how she came into his life and got LIED to in a MAJOR way.  But smart she is, and I like her, and I LOVE Duke, and I'm a sucker for whatever my son wants from me, evidently, cause I said yes immediately.  Wait.  I'm not a sucker.  Unless it comes to finding kittens in my car.  I just love that Duke dog.  SonOne said he'd pay for my gas to drive up there, so I can have my dogs with me.  I'm leaning that way, altho I do like the idea of flying the friendly skies at Christmas time.  And stresing my sister and mother. 

I was seriously thinking I'd go to San Diego/Ben for Christmas, but when SonOne calls, SillyMom jumps.  Can you tell I'm a little bit upset with myself?  Yes, I am.  I consider inviting Ben up, but he's got a young daughter whom he should definitely stay home for.  SanFranMan is hoping he'll be able to see his kids for Christmas, but is unsure if it'll work out.  So I invited him to come with me to Spokane, cause I can't stand the thought of him being alone for Christmas without his kids.  Maybe Ben can come for the New Year's end. 

Still dealing with PPGuy's shit.  And I do mean shit.  He got all lined up with a daily nurse, daily house-keeping, daily personal care.  Last Thursday and Friday, he got dressed and put on shoes!  I was shocked to see how tall he actually is.  He was nice to be around.  Well, compared to what he is normally.  He was funny, and he remembered things.  I told him I can't get the beer for him anymore.  He didn't seem to be too upset.

Ah, but there's still the damn cigarettes.  Gotta have those cigarettes.  On a daily basis.  Cigarettes = another excuse to have to go to the store so he can buy beer too.  So Saturday he asked me to take him, and I told him yes, but he couldn't buy any beer.  All that does is make him more sneaky, and I knew it.  I knew he'd buy it, and hide it.  So he had 2 stupid beers, and Saturday nite I couldn't wake him up for his meds.  And I saw that he'd had his shitty accidents too. 

So today, when he asked to go to the store, I said no, cause I knew he'd buy beer, and I'm not gonna be responsible for his downward spiral again.   Did I mention that the day he went to the hospital, his blood sugar was 406?  He's diabetic, btw.  When he came out of the hospital, it was 80.  He was withen minutes of going into a diabetic coma.  Which you can die from, even WITH medical intervention. 

I'm REALLY upset with the home health services people because they assumed I'd take care of him the weekend, since they don't come in on the weekends.  I found this out, by reading the notes they had left me.  To make sure he took his meds on time (7 different prescriptions), check his blood sugar 4 times a day, and make sure he took his insulin.  Ahem.  When did I get my nursing degree? 

He's in a bind.  Without the calories of the beer, he's a eating machine, trying to fill the void of the alcohol.  If he eats, he shits.  I haven't determined why he can't get to the toilet, or flush, but it is what it is.  If he shits, I get disgusted with him, and don't want to help.  If he doesn't have help, he'll drink willy nilly.  If he drinks willy nilly, he doesn't eat.  If he doesn't eat, his blood sugar goes nuts.  When his blood sugar goes nuts, he goes to the hospital.  When he goes to the hospital, he comes out stronger.  When he's stronger, he thinks he can walk to the store for his beer.  Which he can't, really, but he thinks he can and it's freaking winter now. 

He asked me 3 times this morning to take him to the store.  Three times, I said no.  Saying no is exhausting!

*

Just Call Me Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

.

Posting out of order, yes indeed I'm. It's called "blogging housework"

I have looked high and low for my prescription glasses.  For days.  I finally gave up a couple of days ago.  Today, I found them in ... the eyeglass case in my purse. 

Am flying out tomorrow.  Should not have any problems getting a seat.  Flying stand-by is an exciting adventure for me, because I'm a freeee spirit.  A free spirit who delights in freaking out my mother and sister, who can't fathom flying without a booked, paid for plane ticket. 

I've got to take the dogs to the kennel.  Sniff.  Can't stand the thought of leaving them in a cage, and walking away from them.  Cause you KNOW I have to take them in myself, and arrange their beds and bedding, and water bowl.  Oh shoot, I need to make sure I have enough chicken. 

I'm not organized at all, cept for my suitcase - it's all packed.  For the first time EVER, I'm only taking one suitcase, and it's a carry-on.  Those who know me, know what a momentous event this is.

Would anyone know why my Firefox browser is all wonky?  It is only showing a white background, with the words in blue or purple, and that is on all websites.  Irritating.

I'm about to be released from my time with PPGuy. 

UPDATE:  He's been taken to the hospital, yes!  So relieved not to have that burden anymore.  It's been a moral dilemma, buying his beer, when it's the reason for all of his problems, medically, physically, mentally.  What no-one seems to understand is I didn't want to be responsible for him going thru the DT's without medical attention.  Quitting the drinking cold turkey, as bad off he is - not a good idea.  And as of today, he's got a daily nurse to make sure he takes his insulin, home health, who will do his housework, laundry, and cooking.  Also a daily PCS, who will make sure he showers, etc.  I quit doing everything but the cooking about 2 weeks ago, cause he didn't do one damn thing he promised to - not even flush the toilet, which is important because he flooded his apartment sometime ago, simply from not flushing his toilet.  He hasn't eaten for 4 days.  I'm just so glad not to have this on my shoulders anymore. 

*

Just Call Me On My Way

.

So I'm a bit slow with this - sue me

Am back from San Francisco, where SFM cruelly informed me last nite was 75 degrees at 8:30 pm.  Meanie.

I'm ready to leave it all.  All I need to take with me is the wicker, the animals, and some clothes.  I would really leave it all.  Most of it.  Cept for my Christmas stuff.  And my seasonal stuff.  And the computer, dinosaur that it is.  Oh and the butcher block.  And the toolbox.  And the dog beds.  And the glass dining table.  My bed can stay here.  As well as most of my clothes.  Must take my plants tho.  And at least half the books.  And my sewing machine, must take the sewing machine.  And the cat box.  Of course the cat box. 

Well, I'm tired now, having packed up my entire household in my head. 

Had a great time in San Francisco, did I mention that?  Love the houses, love the city, love SFM, love the weather.  And the public transportation.  Hate his roommate. 

*

Just Call Me Wondering Why My Font is so Large

.