reflections of me

here we go again...

2008-10-06T19:09:00.002-05:00

my rants are on the move again. please update your bookmark to http://reflectionsofme.com/rant if you would like to keep up with my mundane natterings. if you want an easy out... ignore this post.

cruise blogging and weekend wrapup

2008-10-05T15:29:00.005-05:00

i'm starting to post about the cruise. it'll probably take a few days to get all of it up because, while i did make sure to write up each day, typing it up and organizing pix takes time and my attention span doesn't last very long. the first five days are up but you've got to scroll down for them since posts are newest to oldest. no, i don't know how to reverse the order for a single category and i didn't want to mess with the date/time stamps to get them in ascending order.

the weekend has been restful. after work on friday, we went for a four mile walk on the beach (it counts!). saturday i woke up feeling very dizzy and the spinny-sensation persisted all day. i suppose it was probably delayed land sickness but it sure was annoying. still a bit dizzy today but not nearly as bad. we made it down to the pool a bit this morning and watched a speed boat race (pix in another post to come) in our backyard. mostly, we've been working on our respective websites. i've been organizing pix and trying to figure out the best way to post them in a blog format since i can't really do my travel logs on this pc.

cruisin' half-way (live post)

2008-09-27T11:11:00.002-05:00

we're back in port for a few hours, marking the halfway point in our cruise. It's been a wonderful week filled with rest, relaxation, snorkeling, and way too much eating. The coolest thing was an
excursion from calica (which isn't really a town, just a port in the middle of a quarry - the nearest town is playa del carmen ten miles away). We snorkled underground in a cavern called chaak tun. I think we have some good pix of the underwater stalactites, stalagmites, collumns, and even some fishies. We also met some great people, including a girl traveling by herself from Russia (siberia to be exact). She was very interesting and we spent a lot of time hanging out with her. Of course, pix and full recap will have to wait until we're home at the end of the week and I have my computer.

cruisin' day 5

2008-09-26T23:59:00.007-05:00

days at sea are wonderfully lazy days. i love them. we showed up to the breakfast buffet just before they shut down the line. the day consisted largely of napping, watching movies, and lounging by the pool. hubby tried to teach me chess on the massive game board on the pool deck. luckily, i didn't lose because we had to end the game to get ready for dinner. as the last night of a cruise usually goes, there was much exchanging of emails and good-bye conversations.

burrell and linda
charles and suzanne
we missed the show because they inexplicably rearranged the schedule so that the show was before dinner and we missed that part of the bulletin. however, we did make it to the late-night adult comedy show which was the same guy as two nights ago and, while i still didn't laugh as much as with the first guy, i thought his adult show was much better than the general one. i laughed quite a bit. when we got out of the show, we headed into the disco where we had agreed to meet up with anastasia (she doesn't partake of the comedy shows because, while her english is great, her slang is not and the subtleties of the comedians are hard for her to understand). we ended up hanging out, talking, and dancing with anastasia until almost 02:00.

me and anastasia
anastasia and hubby
towel ~~animal~~ du jour: flower

cruisin' day 4

2008-09-25T23:59:00.010-05:00

today we ported in calica (ca-lee-ka) which sounds like a wonderfully exotic place but, in reality is just a quarry with a dock for barges. we learned that the holiday is the only cruise ship that ports there. seriously, this is not a place that you decide to just walk around town. heck, there's not even a shopping plaza - there's about six or seven merchant tents like a tiny flea market. you can catch a taxi (no complimentary shuttle provided) to playa del carmen for $13. if you are on the holiday and have a stop in calica, i seriously recommend an excursion or don't bother getting of the ship.

from this side of the ship, it looks like an inviting place

fortunately, we did have an excursion booked that we were really looking forward to. we went to the chaak tun cenote (cavern) for some underground snorkeling.

folks, the whole time we were in there, i kept saying "this is so cool!". and not just because the water was 72° either. we've been to caverns before like mammoth cave and diamond caverns but there's just something about seeing the stalactites and stalagmites and all that jazz underwater. add in some bats and cool fossils and it was just a good time. most of the time we had to wear life vests which i found annoying and nasty (i'm pretty sure they've never been cleaned and it kept scooting up into my face) but at the end, there was a thirty-something foot pool that we were allowed to take our vests off, at our own risk of course, and do some free swimming/diving.

when we were through, our guide led us out to a refreshment area where we were offered bottles of water, sodas, and cerveza. being in mexico, i figured they'd be giving out some coronas but it was some generic looking stuff called sol which the imbibers didn't seem to care for much - most switched to water or soda after the first. it was a relatively short excursion and, on the way back to the ship, the bus driver was kind enough to stop in play del carmen to drop off those that wanted to do some shopping in town. saved them one of the $13 taxi fares, right?

apparently mexico is too poor for barbed wire
as for us, we went back to the ship, got showered and changed, had lunch, walked around a bit, ran into anastasia and talked with her a while, played putt-putt (i won!), hung out by the pool and relaxed.
windy hair

fore!

when we went back to our room to get ready for dinner we were surprised to see invitations for a past-guest reception (whoohooo! i love the receptions!!!) and a couple of holiday pins. we headed to the reception, then dinner, and the show of the night was the guest talent show. there were six singers and while they weren't all *ahem* talented, it was entertaining.

towel animal du jour: bull dog!

cruisin' day 3

2008-09-24T23:59:00.010-05:00

today was our first stop in cozumel. the engines got very loud and our room started shaking around 07:00. it wasn't too bad but i'm pretty certain that never happened on the glory (maybe, just maybe, i'll actually write up a travel log for that cruise someday, although it would probably just be pix because it's been two years and i don't remember many details). while i'm at it, i might as well review the holiday a bit. it is a noticeably smaller and older ship than the glory. it is clean and in good repair but there is not as much to do. all in all it doesn't bother me too much but it is much noisier and the motion is much more exaggerated (really, i never felt any motion on the glory at all but nobody can walk straight on this ship). i've seen many people walking around with patches behind their ears and i'm pretty sure someone like my cousin, bro-n-law, or MIL would have a rough time on it. /review

anyhow, the excursion we booked today was more of a beach break deal. it was an all day snorkeling pass at the el cid resort which included all-you-want food and drinks. we laughed a bit because it ended up being right at the end of the pier so we had a view of our ship all day (until we came up from snorkeling one time and realized that our ship had grown and changed it's name to imagination).

we lounged for a bit when we first got there before finally testing out the waters.

the snorkeling wasn't the best because the small reef that was there was very bleached. they said that wilma destroyed a lot of their reefs, which is a shame. however, there were patches of nice coral and some colorful fish, anemones, and urchins.

we snorkeled for a bit, got out to rest and enjoy refreshments, and snorkeled some more.

i think we went in about four times and snorkeled for probably an hour or so each time. i took a few dunks in the fresh water pool which was a welcome change from the salt water (i haven't even tried the pools on the ship because i remember not much caring for the salty pools). all in all, it was a great way to spend the day. after all, this trip is all about relaxing and we got to do plenty of that. the sun and swimming took its toll and we ended up taking a short nap when we got back on the ship - our wake up call being the engines as we were leaving port. our after-dinner entertainment was a juggling show followed by another comedian. the juggler was manuel zuniga who we had seen on the glory two years ago. he's good at what he does and puts on a funny show. the comedian was tim harkleroad who wasn't as funny as the other guy. i'm not sure if it was part of his act or what but he just seemed nervous and ill-prepared. tonight was also the night of the big deck party and midnight buffet (at 23:30) which was mexican food. unfortunately, i absolutely stuffed myself at dinner and had no room for midnight mexican (i'm sure my tummy thanks me for that) but we walked around a bit before coming to bed.

towel animal du jour: scorpion!

cruisin' day 2

2008-09-23T23:59:00.006-05:00

this morning we had breakfast in the dining room with a young couple from pensacola who are moving to japan next week. we spent the rest of the morning back in our room relaxing and watching movies. we emerged for a late lunch and a round or two of putt-putt. it was an interesting day for golf since the ship was rocking quite a bit and the wind was blowing fiercely so the balls kept rolling around when we were trying to swing at them. needless to say, i won! (my blog, my version!!!)

heading into a storm
anchors aweigh!
after our cut-throat putt-putt match, we found a couple of lounge chairs by the pool and people-watched a bit. anastasia, the siberian girl from the dining room line last night, sat next to us and we had a great conversation. i am very impressed that she is traveling alone so far from home. she is my age but i would be far too chicken for that. we got so wrapped up in talking to her and comparing cultures that we barely had time to get ready for formal night and ended up being late to the captain's reception (truly a shame to be late to those). we then stopped at a couple of portrait stations to get some formal pix taken on our way to the dining room where the maître d' graciously accommodated our request for a new table on the opposite side of the dining room from the loud, obnoxious chick. we are now sitting with an older couple, burrell and linda from tx, and a couple around hubby's age, suzanne and charles from al. there was good conversation and good food and we couldn't even hear loud, obnoxious chick. when we left the dining room, we got changed into more comfortable clothes and went to walk around the promenade deck. we ran into anastasia in the disco and danced a bit before heading to the xtreme country show. it was a decent show but not my favorite. although i think hubby enjoyed the skimpy costuming. we finished up the night with the adult comedy show (same guy as last night) which we managed to get front row seats for and it was freakin' hilarious.

towel animal du jour: elephant!

cruisin' day 1

2008-09-22T23:59:00.008-05:00

today was embarkation day on the carnival holiday. we left home around 09:30 and headed to mobile, al. we made one stop along the way to find a dress for me and some dress socks for hubby who had forgotten to pack any. we had no problem finding the cruise terminal in mobile and embarkation was much quicker at such a small port than it was at port canaveral. we were on the ship by 13:00, stopped at the excursion desk to book our excursions, and waited around a little bit to be let into the stateroom areas so that we could take our luggage to our room. by 14:00 we had dropped off our luggage and headed up to the lido deck for some much needed lunch. after eating, we walked around the ship for a while to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. before long, it was time for the muster station drill and then we stayed on deck to watch our departure.

the characteristic carnival "whale tail" with mobile in the background
hubby and me
pulling away from the dock
the uss alabama at battleship park on mobile bay
once we were out of the bay, we headed back to the room to drop off our life vests and ended up taking a nap. we woke up shortly before our scheduled dinner time. while waiting to be let into the dining room, we spoke with a nice russian girl from siberia named anastasia. we had dinner with a couple from tx, melody and mark, and a couple from mobile, felicia and larry (honeymooners). we enjoyed talking with the people at our table but it was hard to hear them over the extremely loud, obnoxious, drunk chick the next table over. i think we'll probably try to change tables for the rest of this cruise because we ran into her four more times tonight after dinner and i just can't take any more of her mouth. the show tonight was a comedian by the name of john wesley austin who is a very funny man.

towel animal du jour: mommy and baby seal!

bon voyage!

2008-09-22T08:33:00.002-05:00

we are moments away from heading out to catch our cruise ship. since i am very excited about this cruise and getting away, i'm not even going to rant about how terrible i felt last night when i was trying to fit into my old "formal" wear. i'm not going to tell you how devastating it was to my recent exercise mentality. i won't even tell you that if i had had a half-gallon of ice cream and a bag of cheetos, they would have been gone. what matters is that i'm going on a cruise and that's something to be happy about!

balancing out the body

2008-09-21T18:27:00.001-05:00

since we both had good lower body workouts this morning (104 flights of stairs for me, 10 mile run for him), we took the kayaks out this afternoon to give the upper body a chance too. we played around a bit and had a nice two mile paddle. it was tiring but so nice. now how about some packing?

going on a cruise (aka hurricane time!)

2008-09-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

naturally, since we are getting ready to cruise, i have been watching the tropical activity closely. especially with all of the 'canes that have been going on in the last month or so. so i was very pleased last week when, all week, there was no clyconic activity in the atlantic or gulf (according to the nhc). then, on friday morning, there was a big yellow blob on the map indicating a low potential for tropical formation within 48 hours. that same afternoon, the blob was orange which means medium potential... yesterday was a busy day of having fun so i didn't look at it at all. but today, the blob is twice as big and red - high potential for tropical formation. fantastic!

A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED OVER THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN SEAABOUT 100 MILES SOUTH OF PUERTO RICO IS PRODUCING WIDESPREADCLOUDINESS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE LESSER ANTILLES...ANDADJACENT CARIBBEAN AND ATLANTIC WATERS. THIS SYSTEM IS SHOWINGSIGNS OF INCREASED ORGANIZATION...AND UPPER-LEVEL WINDS AREEXPECTED TO GRADUALLY BECOME MORE FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT TOOCCUR OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. A TROPICAL DEPRESSION COULDFORM LATER TODAY AS THE SYSTEM MOVES SLOWLY NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TOINVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ANDSTRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL AFFECT PUERTO RICO...THE VIRGIN ISLANDS...AND THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLAND THROUGH MONDAY. INTERESTS IN THESEAREAS SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR PRODUCTS FROM THEIR LOCAL WEATHERFORECAST OFFICE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM.

where'd that burst of energy come from?

2008-09-21T11:35:00.002-05:00

somehow, i woke up this morning feeling energized (makes no sense since i didn't sleep well). i got up, saw that hubby was gone, got dressed, and hit the stairs. i took a watch this time so that i could track my time a bit better. i made it down (22 floors) in four minutes flat. i made it up (24 floors) in 05:13. not too bad. i expected by time to dramatically increase on the second "lap" because i tend to be much more winded and my legs tend to protest more the second time but i made it down (all 24 floors this time) in 04:25 and up (all 24 floors) in 05:40. not too shabby, imo. anyhow, i ended up doing 104 flights (2x24, 3x10, 4x5, 3x2) in sixty-seven minutes. though i still feel like i'm dying, i am clearly getting better at this. go me. of course, when i try it again in two weeks, i'm expecting to be right back at square one again. oh well - that's a worthwhile price for vacation fun.

lunch activity

2008-09-19T13:51:00.007-05:00

fifty-five minutes of weights. and i slightly increased weights (i purposely do low weights, high reps because i want to get fit, not bulky) on almost everything today so it was a rigorous workout. i then did the nineteen flights of stairs up to the top and two back down to our floor. it may just be my imagination since i don't wear a watch but i really felt like i did the stairs quicker and easier today. my breathing didn't become severely strained until the 21^st floor. seems like that usually happens around the 12^th. it really just felt like i maintained a better pace all the way up. and, if i had had the time, i felt as though i could have kept going.

so that completes three weeks of a good workout routine (four days a week, half weights, half cardio). now comes the tricky part: can i maintain that routine while on a cruise ship and can i jump right back into it when we come back in two weeks? this is always my weakness. i start a routine and do really good at it but then we go out of town or something interferes and i just don't get back into it. i'm going to strive to do a better job this time. i'd be happy if i can force myself to do at least three days a week for the next two weeks. i'd be thrilled if i did more. it would be so easy since there's a running track around the top deck of the ship and state of the art gym. of course, it's also much too easy for me to say "i'm on vacation" and shirk it. i'll try to keep in mind the pain that my cousin is putting herself through for a fantastic cause and maybe, just maybe, that will be enough to guilt me into some vacation activity.

marital wii-ing

2008-09-19T13:51:00.002-05:00

last night hubby and i enjoyed some rock band and wii sports, just the two of us. we really don't play much when we don't have company but we really should make it more of a habit. it was a good way to spend a crummy tv evening. of course, hubby still kicks my butt at pretty much anything and everything but as long as we're having fun together, i won't complain.

lunch activity

2008-09-18T14:24:00.001-05:00

forty minutes on the treadmill followed by nineteen flights of stairs (plus two down). is it naptime yet?

exploring the new seascape

2008-09-17T11:24:00.005-05:00

yesterday was so beautiful that we decided to go snorkeling after work. the water was comfortable and clear. it was interesting to see how much the gulf-floor was changed by ike. i knew it had since you can see the difference in the sandbars from up here. not to mention that our beach itself is almost two feet higher than it was the beginning of last week (i can tell this because the first two steps of our walkway are under sand now and the showers at the foot of the walkway that used to be hip-high are now below the knee). but it was amazing how different it is under the water now. it used to gradually get semi-deep from the shore and then shallow again for the sandbar and then deep after that. now, it plunges to deep right off shore and the sandbars are pockets of shallow almost perpendicular to shore. it doesn't gradually build up to the sandbars either, there's a three or four foot wall of sand that creates each one. we found some great shells. and there were some huge crabs washed in. it was a very relaxing way to spend an hour and a half. we ended up pulling our heads out of the water just in time to see a magnificent technicolor sunset into it. and since the air is starting to get cool at night, we made a mad dash to the hottub to warm up when we got out.

it's a beautiful day

2008-09-17T11:24:00.003-05:00

truly it is. there is a wonderfully cool breeze. the water is calm and back to normal clarity. the sandbars have been restructured significantly. our beach is higher and cleaner thanks to all of the sand that ike brought ashore. it's simply lovely out there. i adore our backyard.

lunch activity

2008-09-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

fifty minutes of weights and seventeen flights of stairs.

today's activity

2008-09-16T19:31:00.002-05:00

shockingly, i managed to force myself to be active after work today. i'm not good at that. i'm much more likely to be active during lunch since it's a break from work. yesterday i had the same goal and failed. today, i climbed 89 flights of stairs (2x24, 2x10, 3x5, 3x2) in seventy minutes. i then came back, got changed, and gathered my hubby. we walked thirty minutes on the beach and swam six lengths of the pool before finishing off in the hot tub. the way i see it, that's practically a triathalon. over two hours of activity. so then, time for some fresh, warm cookies, eh?

weekend wrapup

2008-09-15T17:45:00.002-05:00

this weekend we had my dad and his wife come to visit. we had a great time and i think they did too.

they missed the really impressive storm surge that we had thursday but the waves were still plenty big on friday
dad and rhena
hubby getting pulled around by his kite
ready for liftoff!
hubby and his kite
wii rocked!
wii rolled!
wii even golfed a bit
poor dad got beat by everyone

it seemed like my dad really enjoyed the wii. especially golf and bowling. other activities included walking around the marina, driving through our favorite shopping plaza (rhena's got a bad foot and can't walk much), looking for shells on the beach, swimming, hot tubbing, pokering, and conversing. it was a fun visit but having morning persons as houseguests can be tiring. i guess it was fair though because i kept them up way past their bedtime and they woke me up way before my weekend wake time. i was happy to get a three hour nap after they headed out yesterday though.

in search of la parrilla

2008-09-12T08:39:00.003-05:00

which is the mexican restaurant that we frequented with the office group in ga. when i say we frequented it, i'm talking pretty much every-other-friday lunch for four years. we miss it very much so we decided to start looking around here for a good mexican restaurant. in that pursuit, we stopped at a place in town last night to give it a try. it had all of the indicators of good mexican - silly name, hole-in-the-wall looks, lots of cars in the parking lot. it was such a let down, folks. the chips were too thick and chewy. the salsa had no flavor (seriously, it might as well have been water with chunks). the meat seemed to be cooked in the same taco season mix that i buy at the grocery store and make at home because i don't know any better. i ordered nachos and, instead of a thick, soupy plate of chips drowning in melty cheese sauce and meat, i got a plate of burnt chips with meat and shredded cheese sprinkled and burnt over them. needless to say, we will continue our search for another la parrilla but we WILL NOT be going back to los rancheros.

storm surge

2008-09-12T08:16:00.004-05:00

i plurked yesterday about the surge that we are getting from ike. i'm a little surprised because it's a slightly bigger surge than we saw from gustav and gustav was much, much closer to us than ike. i didn't expect to get very much from him. anyhow, these are some pix that do not at all portray how impressive it truly is.

the waves may not look all that big in this pic but remember that it is taken from 22 floors up

that's our dunes and walkway, i couldn't catch the bigger surges that were coming up into the dunes and well under the walkway
this is between our property and the one next door, you can see in the sand how much higher it was getting
and just for reference, this is what our backyard usually looks like (i didn't have any looking straight down at the walkway and dunes but this shows the area from the above pic)

lunch activity

2008-09-11T14:15:00.003-05:00

forty-five minutes on the treadmill and walking the seventeen flights of stairs back home. i'm guessing that tomorrow will be a gymless day since my dad will be here. so far my five-day-a-week workout schedule is 0-2. i guess four days is better than none though. as a bonus, here is hubby kayaking tuesday when i was too tired from stair-climbing to join him:

this is from our balcony twenty-two floors up

never forget

2008-09-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

lunch activity

2008-09-10T15:29:00.002-05:00

even though i'm tremendously tired from a long night of eluding sleep, i managed to drag my sorry (non-shrinking) butt to the gym. not only did i do forty minutes of weights but i then took the stairs back home. granted, it was only seventeen flights - nowhere near yesterday's sixty-nine - but it still kicked my butt. that's far too much talk about my butt (though there's more than enough of it to talk about).

miserable night

2008-09-10T07:31:00.002-05:00

it's funny because i was so exhausted all evening from my stair climbing yesterday but if i slept an hour the whole night, i'd be shocked. i finally fell asleep well after 04:00. i was wide awake again at 05:00. i dozed a couple of times before the alarm started hounding me at 06:30. i LOVE nights like that. i was so tired but i was just... restless. and to top it off, there was a noise. see, hubby has been doing some a/c work around here. he's been adding vents into our bedroom to get me more of the cold at night, which is wonderful! unfortunately, the stronger air is apparently affecting the fan so when the air starts blowing, the fan makes this horrible clicking noise sporadically until the air stops. granted, the sound is not incredibly loud. i've actually noticed it for days but hadn't paid enough attention to it to figure out exactly when/how it's happening. but i'm one of those people that when i can't sleep, ANY noise is enough to drive me batty. this is how hubby gets in trouble for snoring. it's not that he really snores loudly, really just heavy breathing, but when i can't sleep it rubs my nerves and furthers my non-sleeping. i strongly considered putting in ear plugs last night (since they are right there next to the bed from all that concrete drilling last week) but i'm the keeper of the alarm clock. hubby doesn't even hear it in the morning. by this morning, the clicking of the fan had me wanting to drill a hole through my brain with a rusty spoon. here's hoping that ya'll had a more restful night than me.

lunch activity

2008-09-09T13:48:00.003-05:00

today was stairs again. it looked something like this:

- 22
+ 24
- 24
+ 24
- 5
+ 5
- 6
+ 6
- 6
+ 6
- 2
+ 2
- 2
+ 2
- 2

that brings today's total to 69 flights of stairs up and down or approximately 2484 steps in 55 minutes. the two full climbs weren't any easier but the shorter pieces after that seemed much easier today. my legs never really gave out on me so maybe i won't be unable to walk tomorrow. i did a much better job of stretching before and after today, which may have been part of my too-tight-calves last week.

lunch activity

2008-09-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

fifty minutes of weights

snork' instead of 'yak

2008-09-08T11:26:00.002-05:00

the weekend was sort of a bust because of my non-cooperative head. i had planned on doing some nice paddling on the kayaks but it just wasn't meant to be. for the most part, we just rested and hot-tubbed. yesterday afternoon, we did manage to get the snorkel equipment out and enjoyed some underwater voyeurism. we found several pretty shells and i even nearly caught a few fish. one shell, which i just HAD TO HAVE, was occupied. hubby and i spent about an hour trying to find another shell with the right shape and size for tenant relocation. (no, the tenant was not happy to be carried around that whole time and kept pinching my fingers in protest.) hubby finally found another shell just like the one i covetted but with less pretty coloring. i held the two shells together and it only took a minute or two for the tenant to relocate. everyone was happy (well, one of us might have been a bit angry and kept waving claws at the two crazy giants that had held him hostage). we released him and then continued to follow him as he made his underwater getaway. i'm certain he was happy after we left. i wish we had a reef here. that would make this the absolutely perfect home. in the meantime, all of this practice snorkeling is getting me very excited about the snorkeling we'll be doing on our cruise in fourteen days. assuming, of course, that the cruise doesn't get cancelled due to a parade of hurricanes!

decapitation, please...

2008-09-07T10:48:00.003-05:00

i don't know what i've done wrong but my head has been so very angry at me this week. much more so than it has been in quite a while. last night was pure hell. usually, even with my worse migraines, i can take some motrin, lay down in the cold, wrap a blanket around my head, and it's gone in just a few hours. last night, i took four doses of motrin and still ended the night in agony and sick to my stomach. fortunately, i am able to move again this morning but my head is still hurting. i am very much hoping to keep it at a dull ache today and not let it spiral into that hellish torture again.

friday night unwind

2008-09-05T22:19:00.003-05:00

it was a wonderful evening of wine and hot-tubbing. we had a very nice conversation with a nola evacuee. she was a pleasant woman with a jovial kid. she's going through a divorce and, for some reason, i get very sad when i hear about someone becoming a divorcée.

lunch activity

2008-09-05T13:48:00.002-05:00

one hour of weights at the gym. for some reason, i've always had a much easier time of gymming when i'm doing weights. i don't get endorphins apparently because i never leave the gym with a feel-good, life-is-great, love-the-burn feeling but, while i completely loathe cardio which feels entirely like work, weights give me a powerful feeling that works well with the loathing i feel while gymming. does that make sense at all?

exercise and recuperation

2008-09-05T11:27:00.002-05:00

i was disappointed that i didn't get to the gym wednesday since this was my first week of trying to get back into a routine but my head was so not into it thanks to all the concrete drilling (yes, today is day 4). yesterday was my cardio day so instead of going to the gym and getting nowhere on the treadmill, hubby and i walked about 4.4 miles on the beach last night. it was a wonderful walk and the sand was great for stretching out my calf muscles that have been so tight since tuesday's stair-stepping session. between stretching them out on the walk, sitting in the hot tub when we got back, and making myself smell like a little old lady by slathering mineral ice on them before bed, my calves are feeling much looser today. yay for that!

postless

2008-09-04T18:17:00.001-05:00

as you can see from the sidebar, i spent far too much time today plurking and working to even try to think of a post. shame on me.

kill. me. now.

2008-09-04T10:35:00.001-05:00

really, what more is there to say on day three?

what did i ever do to them?

2008-09-03T15:13:00.002-05:00

i'm really starting to feel like all of this drilling is a personal attack on me. the headache that i worked so hard to get bearable is now throbbing my eyeballs again. this is the first thing that has really had me questioning condo-living. i know things have to be fixed but all i can think while trying not to cry from the pain of the drill reverberating through the concrete and into my teeth is "why won't they just leave me alone?!"

knocked on my butt

2008-09-03T10:37:00.002-05:00

so the headache that started yesterday afternoon lasted all night and this morning. i took countless motrin and could not knock it out last night. i couldn't even get up to reheat leftovers for dinner. this morning, i couldnt' lift my head off the pillow so i had to call in sick. i took some more motrin and waited for it to dissipate enough to start working. after two and a half hours, it eased off enough to login to work. the wonderful part is that they are doing more concrete fixing today. i wonder how long it will be before they drill right into my skull again.

drilling through my skull

2008-09-02T15:20:00.002-05:00

they are fixing some problem areas in the walkways today. this means that on and off all day we have been listening to the drilling, chiseling, and hammering of concrete. the concrete between floors and metal studs in the wall are all reverberating with horribly loud and annoying sounds. the furniture is vibrating and my head is throbbing (alright, this is probably partially blamed on the stair climbing but the noise and vibration of the floor, ceiling, and walls is the bigger villain, methinks). i'm really hoping that they finish fixing at least our floor and the ones above and below us today. i think i'll jump off the balcony if i have to listen to this all day tomorrow too.

lunch activity

2008-09-02T13:34:00.004-05:00

today's cardio was all walking but it was the most exhausting and excruciating 45 minutes i've ever had. i only walked but i walked the stairs. i walked down the east stairs and up the west stairs. for 45 minutes. i'm so done. let's see if i can calculate my steps.

- 22
+ 24
- 24
+ 24
- 2
+ 2
- 2
+ 2
- 5
+ 5
- 2

carry the one, that's 57 flights down and 57 flights up for a grand total of 2057 steps. i had to leave the stairwells a few times for a cool-down lap across the building but i stayed in motion the whole time. i'm pretty certain i had at least two coronaries and sweat a gallon and a half. you can see that the last few laps were small, cool-down laps around the top floors of the building (stay close to home in case you die). i'd like to get to the point that walking up the full twenty-four doesn't kill me. after six or seven flights i am gasping like crazy and my heart is pounding out of my chest. it's good cardio though and good for my legs so i might try to keep at it and build up my endurance for it. maybe one day i can throw in a third lap of the full building.

storm? what storm?

2008-09-02T07:44:00.002-05:00

other than some fairly impressive waves (the gulf came all the way up to our beach access walkway) and a stronger-than-normal breeze, gustav didn't touch us. we stayed under tropical storm watch all weekend but all we got was clouds - no rain, no lightening, no severe wind. it really made for a nice labor day weekend. my only regret is that we were going to get out and 'yak saturday afternoon while the water was still nice and calm but the waves started earlier than we expected. friday and saturday nights we went out to our favorite hangout and hungout till 2 or 3 in the mornings. yesterday, i started the new month by getting back in the gym. i did all weights, no cardio but then we got changed and walked down to our favorite shopping plaza and walked around so that was sort of like light cardio, right? i think my plan right now is to try to do weights three times a week and cardio twice. today will be some sort of cardio day. we'll see how things work out.

sweet dreams are made of this

2008-08-29T07:28:00.003-05:00

i don't know where i come up with my dreams sometimes. it's never really that they are that outlandish - usually they're very realistic - but the contents can be astounding. last night i dreamt that three of my coworkers died within a week. one of them being my very dear friend who i have been so concerned about while he is fighting cancer. in my dream, i even lamented about how i had been so worried about him beating the cancer and he died from this stupidly unrelated cause (the cause was linked for all three but i'm not even going to get into it because it was so stupid). one of the other guys was the one who got new lungs two and a half years ago. i cried for days walking around the office, packing up their stuff for their widows to pick up. when i woke up, my pillow and face were drenched in tears. i spent the rest of the morning going in and out of the dream and it has left me emotionally drained this morning.

yes, i will gripe about hubby on his birthday

2008-08-28T11:54:00.003-05:00

he has a habit of ruining surprises. i've all but given up on giving him gifts because anytime i get a gift idea for him, he goes out and gets it for himself before i have a chance to give the gift. it's frustrating. and i'm not a good gift idea-er so it's hard enough to come up with something that i think he'll actually like. i've always done whatever i could to make a big deal about his birthday but this year he's seemed really down about it (and we've been crazy busy) so i didn't really do anything. so this morning he had a board meeting for the condo association and it was the perfect opportunity for me to slip out real quick and get a birthday cake (which he'll probably gripe about anyhow because it's not good for you) and card. i made it to the store and back before him. i walked in the door and shouted out to him to make sure he wasn't already home and got no response. i opened the fridge to hide the cake and he walks in the door. jerk. i yelled at him and told him i wasn't talking to him anymore. so much for surprises.

(the earbuds are in because he got a family singing call at the same time i was singing to him)

and by special request

2008-08-28T11:51:00.002-05:00

one of my two loyal readers, samster6, asked for pix of the backyard. well, ask and ye shall receive...

dolphins

stingrays

alright, technically this isn't our backyard - this is from our favorite hangout about four miles down the beach

why, yes, that is heaven shining down
that wall of clouds is an approaching storm; i love the look of weather over the gulf

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUBBY!!!

2008-08-28T07:28:00.002-05:00

even if YOU don't think it's a special day, I do. i love you and am so proud to celebrate another year of you!!! yay for being the answer!

i got nothing

2008-08-26T09:09:00.003-05:00

last night was a well-deserved rest night. we napped a bit after work and then moved out to the couch to hold it down and watch tv. it's still stormy today, although i haven't hear about any tornado warnings around us this morning so that's a plus. my hubby is NOT getting sick. i still feel wiped out from the weekend (most likely the complete lack of sleep saturday night combined with a very full day sunday). i wish i could get motivated like my cousin. i'm so impressed by her training for a marathon. enough nattering for now?

weekend wrapup

2008-08-25T09:56:00.004-05:00

it was a busy weekend packed full of family visiting. we got up there friday night at a decent enough time to visit with MIL a bit. saturday we had our family get-together with gma h in the nursing home. it wasn't a great turn out, less than fifteen when we usually have over sixty, but there was good conversation. it was only the second time that gma has ever not known hubby. she can't even remember any of her old stories anymore, which is sad. i guess she's still doing alright for being nearly ninety-eight years old but it just almost seems like she's already gone. she's such a wonderful woman. we left that nursing home and went to another to see hubby's ex-grandmother-in-law. she was perfectly fine when we last saw her a couple of months ago but it seems that she has started to lose her mind since then. she didn't know me and assumed that hubby had just gotten remarried. she was very proud to meet me and was happy to call me one of her own. i'm glad that after a couple of years of visiting her, i still make a positive first impression. she didn't know she was in a nursing home, thought she was in the hospital and getting ready to go home. after leaving, hubby and i talked about how heartbreaking it must be to lose your mind. we are hopeful that they don't know that it's happening. we went from there to hubby's ex-in-laws and went to dinner and back to their house to see a slide show from their recent 50^th anniversary party. we've always had nice visits with them but this one seemed much more relaxed and personable than before. i guess because we were always there primarily to visit granny a, they didn't feel as relaxed. who knows. it was a pleasant evening but, as always, i left saddened by the fact that i have a better relationship with my husband's ex-in-laws than with my own mother. his ex-MIL hugs me and tells me she loves me; mine told me two years ago that she didn't want to see me or talk to me anymore. such is life, eh? we got back and spent some time with MIL and FIL before going to bed. unfortunately, i was not to get any sleep whatsoever saturday night. that's when the storms rolled through from fay's outer bands. generally, a storm doesn't bother me but the wind was so strong and swirly-sounding i was certain that we were going to be carried away in a tornado. i can take a hurricane any day, i am terrified of a tornado. even after hubby got up in the morning and the weather had calmed down some, i wasn't able to get a nap in. made for a very long day yesterday. we had our family-gathering at gma m's house which was bought by a grandchild after her passing this year. it was the first time i had been back there and i was afraid that it was going to be awkward and sad but it wasn't. the cousins have done a nice job of opening things up and utilizing the house more. it was a good turnout (all but two grandchildren+ showed up) and everyone had a good time. i felt a little bad for cousin's wife because she was so worried about everything being perfect and everyone being comfortable and after twenty or thirty minutes there, the power went out. it stayed out the whole afternoon (despite the power company's estimated fix-time that came and went with no power). luckily, it was a breezy afternoon so with the windows open, it was fairly comfortable and the food was being cooked via propane anyhow so no plans were disturbed. we got on the road late in the afternoon and made it home around 22:00 last night. we asked around and fay was a non-event around here ("how was the storm?" "storm? what storm?"). now can we all agree that it's friday and get on with our three-day weekend?

have a good weekend, ya'll

2008-08-22T15:30:00.003-05:00

busy day but it's almost over. i was happy to talk with my dad and brother today to make sure that they were both fairing well with all the wetness down yonder. looks like fay is on her way here but, unfortunately, we're not going to be here to welcome her. i'm actually a bit bummed because i think it's going to be beautiful. weather on the gulf is really a whole different creature. alas, this is the weekend of the annual summer family gatherings up in al. DIL's side tomorrow, MIL's side sunday. i'm sure fay will be gone by the time we get back home sunday night.

lunch activity

2008-08-21T13:31:00.002-05:00

three laps in the gulf (a gulf lap is considered one full length of our building) and intended laps in the pool but it was inexplicably crowded so we ended up just floating around trading the bodily coating of salt for chlorine. the gulf is wonderful today. it is as calm as the pool and clearer than i've ever seen it. our gulf works like this, there are two sand bars and then a deeper "trench" about 150 yards out and then another shallower area again before it turns to deep blue sea. it is so calm and shallow and clear right now that i can actually see through to the bottom of the deep "trench" from our balcony. i've never been able to see through that little band of water. it's lovely. i adore my backyard. it really helps other stuff to melt away. a little. for a short time.

downess

2008-08-21T09:20:00.002-05:00

yesterday was a very headachy day. to the point that i had to stop working for a couple hours and lay down so that it would stop the babooming. luckily, it did get more bearable after that. in the afternoon, we dug out our snorkel gear and headed down to the beach to play around a bit. not that we expected there to be anything much to see but we've got to get ready for our carribean snorkeling in a month. it was fun and the fins made swimming through the water so much more effortless. i'm all for effortless. anyhow, we had a good time and found some nice, whole shells. we also went to the pool and swam some laps. i think we managed ten - not great but something. this morning, i'm completely down about work. i wish i had more options. it's such a shame that i've gotten so spoiled so young (been working from home pretty much since i was nineteen, don't know if i could go back to a true desk job). at least i'm not getting dumped on (outside of work) too.

lunch activity

2008-08-19T14:52:00.002-05:00

hubby and i went down to the beach and swam in the gulf for lunch. we did about four laps the length of our building. i'm estimating that was not quite 1,000 feet of swimming. i thought i was going to die. we then went up to the pool to rinse the salt off and swam a couple laps of it. hey, at least we did something, right?

catchup

2008-08-19T14:27:00.002-05:00

my cousin left yesterday but we had a great weekend. sunday's fun swimming and 'yakking in the gulf in the morning. hubby and i paddled about a mile and a half which doesn't sound like much but i was very proud of myself and my arms were exhausted by the time we got back. not to mention that my hands have blisters all over them from gripping the paddle. after a morning of watery fun, we grabbed some lunch and rested a bit before heading to our favorite shopping plaza to walk around in the way too hot sun. after our lap around there, we came back to the air conditioning for a little more relaxing before dinner. my cousin and i played a partial game of scrabble. i was smashing her until she managed a 92 point play and then we went back and forth for a bit. we never finished the game because hunger got the best of us. they were wanting seafood. apparently most people feel that it's unnatural to be at the beach and not eat seafood. guess i'm just a weirdo. since we don't go out to eat much, we couldn't really reccommend a seafood place off the bat. we did mention a place that we keep hearing is great but we've not been. that's where we went. i'm very pleased that my cousin, who is totally a foodie, could not stop raving about the food. we now have a seafood place to take people to. it was actually a nice place too. looks like such a hole-in-the-wall from the road. after dinner, we came back for more beach fun. my cousin swam by herself while me and the boys hung out on the beach. when it got dark, the crabbing commenced. hubby and my cousin were hunting the water crabs while cousin-n-law and i hunted beach crabs. i'm sure she'll have pix up at some point on her blog. after crabbing, there was pre-bedtime wii fun. we really had a great time all weekend. i'm so glad they came to visit! after they left yesterday morning, things got way busy around here. work exploded, it was messy. last night was a bunch of being lazy. who knows what's on tap for tonight.

fun-filled weekend

2008-08-16T20:05:00.002-05:00

we've been having a great time with my cousin and cousin-n-law! yesterday, they entertained themselves about town while we worked and then we all went out kayaking when we got off. apparently, i tried to kill my cousin. i'm such a failure. such is life. after the harrowing experience, we relaxed with dinner, wine, and olympics. we went to bed earlier last night than i have all week. good thing the swimming and gymnastics are wrapping up. this morning, i woke up to news about a potential hurricane heading our way. makes sense. as my cousin was packing to come up here, she assured me that her visit would bring a hurricane our way. she's good to her word, most of the time. i'm also fully expecting her to flood my house. after a yummy breakfast - i love having a good breakfast on the weekends - we headed to seaside, where the truman show was filmed. it was a very pretty town. we walked around for a couple of hours, consumed some tasty gelatos, and then started back toward home. we stopped along the way at a similarly planned community (actually, quite similar since it was developed by the same persons who developed seaside fourteen years earlier), rosemary beach. some friends of ours recently moved there and have been trying to talk us into following so we went into the realty office and were able to go into a few condos and a house there. i doubt we'll be moving that way but it was fun to look. the architecture in these towns was amazing but i really wasn't all that keen on the insides. i've always been that way. i like the exterior look of historic homes but i really need a modern interior. it's just how i roll. we made a lap around that town and then headed home. my cousin was jonesing to get back on the proverbial horse. luckily the water was far calmer today (yellow flag as opposed to double red) and her and i had a very nice paddle in the 'yaks. we then went out and swam around a bit while my hubby paddled some. there was an extraordinarily large (no joking, this was the biggest i've ever seen!) school of fish out there that we played around with and my cousin managed to get a nice fish pedicure out of them. it was wonderful water time. there was some talk of trying to get together with mrs who but plans fell through so we went from the gulf to the pool/hot tub. we then came back up for olympics and dinner. there will likely be rockband (hubby is really pushing the rockband) and/or scrabble in our future tonight.

my cousin arrived safely

2008-08-15T08:01:00.003-05:00

and they were awake inexplicably early for vacationers. if i didn't have to work, there's no way i'd be up that early. weirdos. they made a quick attempt at getting online but it didn't work right away so they gave up and headed down to the beach. as well they should. early morning and evening-night are the best times for enjoying the beach, imo. i really wish that i had been able to get today off so that i could enjoy spending time with my cousin and cousin-in-law instead of sitting here working and making them play by themselves (yeh, i know that they are absolutely miserable having to spend time alone together on the beach at the gulf of mexico!). is it five yet???

have i mentioned today that i love my husband?

2008-08-14T13:23:00.004-05:00

today is nine years since our first not-a-date. i'm so happy he stole my phone number off of his roommate's caller id and asked me to hang out with him - you know, since he was new in town and didn't know anyone. we have been nearly inseparable since then and it has been a truly happy nine years.

(and might i just say how much i miss being that flippin' small?!)

company coming

2008-08-14T11:11:00.003-05:00

yay! my cousin is coming to see me tonight!!! i hope the weather is cooperative this weekend. it's unfortunate that the water is not very pretty right now. the very impressive storms that have come through the last few days have really mucked things up. at some point today i need to make a shopping list so that we can go right after work to get some groceries for the weekend. i'm at a loss because my cousin and cousin-in-law are gourmet cooks and i am so not. makes me wonder what i've fed them every other time they've come to visit us. hmm. in other news, the olympics are keeping me up way too late this week. i am guessing that is contributing to my migraines. it's strange because i've never been an olympic watcher. really, i probably watched more last weekend than i had in my whole life. but i've really been enjoying it this week. not sure if i'll really be into anything after the swimming and gymnastics are done but we'll see. i've tried to get into the volleyball but i apparently have too short an attention span for that. it would be better for my head if my olympic viewing is over this weekend and i can go back to a decent bedtime next week.

shower time!

2008-08-13T14:00:00.006-05:00

since it's been a migrainy and stormy day complete with multiple power outages, what better time to get the pix downloaded and read to post, eh? so without further ado, my pride and joy - the favors!

step one - decorating the box

step two - decorating the other side of the box

step three - personalizing chop sticks
(no, i don't know why blogger chose to turn the pic the wrong way)

step four - candy coating the contents
turns out fortune cookies and chow mein noodles are excellent when covered in chocolate

assembly complete - commence beaming pride!

who'd've thought i could create something so pretty?

pretty as punch

it was such a tasty spread

i should've taken a closeup of the picture frame

the guests seemed to have a good time

as did the bride

i am very glad that i was able to put together a shower for one of my best friends. although i'm just as happy that it's over. party planning is hard, stressful work! i do need to give a huge thank you to my sister's whole family who all chipped in to help with whatever they could (not to mention lending me their house). also, without my fabulous hubby, i never would have made it. he stuck in there with me until everything was done, even after the guests started showing up. he was beyond helpful!

more on the praying front

2008-08-12T08:45:00.002-05:00

still no time for shower blogging but i wanted to do a quick update on previous prayers and make a new prayer request.

coworker's son cam has finally been moved out of the icu after six weeks. he is breathing on his own four to five hours a day but he gets tired and has to be put back on the respirator. he still has no control of anything below the chest but hope remains that that will change. he has bicep and wrist control but no fingers. with a special wristband that holds utensils, he is able to feed himself.
my friend starts his chemo treatments tomorrow. i pray that he is able to get through these treatments with little ill-effects. he just hopes he can keep his hair.
my sis-n-law's mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. she will be undergoing a radical mastectomy in the next week or so. please send prayers her way as her family has had its unfair share of cancer. SIL's father died a few years ago from cancer and her sister had a very scary battle with it after that. they are naturally very worried about their mother and i worry about SIL's genes.

happy to be home

2008-08-10T21:37:00.002-05:00

it was an incredibly busy week but things went well. updates and pix of showereing to come. not tonight, far too tired. i'm glad to be home. it's strange that this is really the first place that we really feel home. i love going to orlando because it's the only place that we actually have a social life and it's great to have so many friends to hang out with, but i miss home the whole time i'm there.

poking was successful

2008-08-06T21:57:00.002-05:00

both at cards and balls. showering was less than successful but i'm still feeling good about progress for some strange reason.

random

2008-08-06T14:32:00.002-05:00

i arranged to take my lunch break at the end of the day today so that i can run errands without worrying about getting back in an hour. i've got a few shower things i want to get done before heading to my cousin's. i need to get all i can off the list since thursday and friday will also be cleaning days. i'm getting increasingly excited about the shower plans. hopefully, my first attempt at party planning will be a success.

yay! a start!

2008-08-05T21:29:00.002-05:00

the good news is that i feel like i finally have accomplished something on the bridal shower front (gee, you think it's about time since the shower is in four days???). granted, it was mostly grocery shopping but that goes a long way toward establishing theme and such. so i'm feeling better about it and i mostly have a plan for the rest of it. who'd've known there was so much to party planning? since my sissy needed to make a sam's run for nephew¹'s party that will also be saturday (night), we left the chilluns with the men-folk and made a shopping night of it. tomorrow night i'll be taking a fun-time break from showering in order to poke my cousin. when i go home, i greatly miss wednesdays in orlando.

tootsies

2008-08-05T11:44:00.003-05:00

my first attempt at a self-pedicure. i got stiffed on the tip because of the lack of foot/leg massage. maybe next time i'll do better. in the meantime, my tootsies feel pretty.

recap

2008-08-04T14:38:00.003-05:00

my cousin stalked us yesterday by stopping by (nearly) unannounced at my sissy's. later in the afternoon, we headed to my dad's for dinner and visiting and then we stalked my cousin back by dropping in unannounced while she was pulling chicken. we had a great visit with her and my cousin-in-law before coming back to find my sissy and BIL up in the renovated playroom playing old arcade cames on ps2. hubby had to join in so that he could show BIL his mad galaga skillz. we stayed up far too late but had a nice evening. i slept hardly any and after hubby left for the office this morning, i discovered that the internet was down. great. now that it's finally back up, time for cramming some productivity!

honey, we're here!

2008-08-03T10:42:00.002-05:00

we made it to orlando around 23:30 last night to find my sissy's whole family waiting up for our arrival. turns out that they've been doing some serious redecorating and were anxious to show it off. almost every room in the house got some fresh paint so everything looks very nice. some great new color schemes. but the big reveal was the play room. they did a complete t(w)een makeover on it. it is an awesome space now, we were truly impressed. especially when they said that they did all of the painting two days ago and all of the furnishings were done yesterday in order to have it all set for our arrival. i feel so special. so today i'm trying to ~~get woken up~~ get some organization going on these shower plans and we've got dinner at my dad's tonight. i wonder if our friends made it home alright from our place.

ready for four

2008-08-01T10:52:00.002-05:00

i don't know what the problem has been, but this week has just seemed all but unbearable to me. i'm ready for it to be over and maybe next week will be better. at least as far as work is concerned. after work i'm going to be running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out how to throw a shower. won't be much visiting going on this trip. unless some of my friends want to help me run around like a headless chicken. ;-) since we've been working, we haven't had a whole lot of fun time with our friends (one of them works with us so it's the norm). after we three finish up in the evenings, we've been going down to the beach to meet the others. there's been some fancy sand sculpting and a little kayaking. not a whole lot of water-play because there's been dangerous conditions this week and they've been going by in a truck every thirty minutes and yelling for everyone to get out of the water. they've started ramping up the warnings and flag-education after a couple more folks died in the water this week (and, of course, dozens of rescues). we've also had some good conversation and wii-play after the kids have gone to bed. we should get to spend some good time together tomorrow and whenever they start packing up to leave, so will we. i'd imagine we'll get down to orlando pretty late but i should get to at least visit my dad on sunday. i'll have to call my brother and see when we can see him too. i can forego some friend visits for the shower, but i can't not see my family.

more melancholy

2008-07-31T13:49:00.002-05:00

i'd really like to write about what a good time we're having with our friends - because we are - but, unfortunately, i'm just very down this week. if it's not bad enough that i'm a completely worthless employee, i'm also a subpar wife. swan-dive off the balcony anyone?

feeling underappreciated again

2008-07-30T09:43:00.003-05:00

why is it that work depresses me more than anything else in my life? no matter how loyal i am or how much i bust my butt at my job, i always end up feeling like a completely worthless loser.

wash, rinse, repeat

2008-07-28T15:06:00.002-05:00

i've already got the bunk bedding done and the towels are ready to be dried. wash up one more bed, make said beds, fold and put away said towels, vacuum, and we're just about ready for the next houseguests coming in tomorrow night. i love that people come visit us!

my sissy is gone

2008-07-28T11:49:00.008-05:00

they just left. they're actually heading west an hour or so to drop their boy off with friends and then they'll head back home. sadly, it seemed like a very short visit. but we had a great time. saturday we had a fun time at the beach and pool with boogie boards and my duckie. my duckie was a huge hit amongst all of the chilluns. there was then some afternoon nappage followed by a nice evening of walking around our favorite shopping plaza and dinner at a place we had not yet tried. there was even some late night rock band jamming.

sunday was a more adventurous day that started out with sissy and the chilluns flying around.

the boys thoroughly enjoyed taking a dip or three.

the girls were happy hanging out together.

it was then time for maiden voyage - the sequel. our new kayaks with their matching life vests were anxious to prove they were better than the other 'yaks.

the whole family got in on the action after hubby and i had our fun. bro-n-law was a fierce paddler.

he even tried to t-bone his son.
nephew² enjoyed surfing.

sissy braved the deeper waters a bit.

and even niece caught a wave.

we followed all of that water play up with some lunch and relaxation and then some frisbee and pool play. when everyone was done outside, hubby and i had dinner, movie, and crabbing time with the kids while my sissy and bro-n-law went out for the evening. it was a wonderful weekend and i'm already looking forward to their next visit (thanksgiving?). luckily, we won't have to go through withdrawals too long since we'll be going to see them next weekend!

surf's up!

2008-07-28T08:26:00.003-05:00

after buying the new 'yaks home friday at lunch, we left one (mine) in the car so that we could take it on a quick trial run after work (before returning the other kayak and paddle). the surf was up (for this part of the world) that afternoon and we were tremendously pleased with how the new 'yak surfs.

new kayaks - the sequel!

2008-07-25T14:06:00.002-05:00

we actually managed to sell the kayak that i won yesterday for the amount that we were asking. so, we are taking the other one back tonight and we got these beauties to replace them. since i'm such a girl, we got a red one to match hubby's red life vest and a blue one to match my blue life vest. we'll be well accessorized kayakers! the biggest reason that we made the switch is that these are 1.5 feet shorter. doesn't seem like much but when you live in a condo, it's a huge difference. they went into the elevator with no struggle, i can carry one by myself much easier (about the same weight but more compact and better handholds), and, perhaps most importantly, we'll be able to keep them in our outside storage instead of having to carry them through the house to store them on the balcony. that'll really save our carpet, furniture, and walls. my cousin, in her wonderful selflessness, went way out of her way last night to purchase paddles for us and drop them off at my sissy's so that they can be delivered to us tonight. yay for new (nicer) kayaks again!!!

don't tell my sissy

2008-07-25T09:31:00.002-05:00

we just spent about twenty minutes out on the balcony watching a relatively large (probably about five foot) shark swimming all around a couple of swimmers. i don't think the swimmers noticed him, even though he got as close as ten feet from them. we watched him swim out to sea and come back in around them again several times but i think he finally got tired of them and went out to sea for good. it was fascinating to watch. i had my camera ready but he was too far away (next building over) and staying too far under the water. it was a fun break anyhow. and, luckily, those two body surfers must not look very tasty.

cancer update

2008-07-24T13:24:00.002-05:00

my friend had his pet scan and bone marrow biopsy last week and met with the dr to get the results yesterday. the good news is that they don't believe that it has gotten into the bone marrow. the not so great news is that they have identified three separate cancer masses (one large one) with high suv values. they have identified him as being in stage III, which from my research isn't really all that important in the grand scheme of treatment in non-hodgkins lymphomas. the dr gave him several treatment options ranging from watch and wait to an experimental clinical trial form of chemo. my friend is weighing the options with his family. they are leaning toward the experimental treatment right now but they have two weeks to make a decision. my friend commented that if he can just survive long enough to walk his daughter down the aisle in a few years, he'd be happy. i, of course, started tearing up like crazy at this point. i just can't imagine. but he is trying to stay positive and i'm trying to stay positive for him. i know he's going to beat this and he's going to be around for a long, long time. he'll walk his daughter down the aisle, spoil his grandkids, and take his wife on that hawaiian honeymoon that he promised her twenty-five years ago.

sigh

2008-07-24T10:33:00.002-05:00

every time i think it's going to start getting more tolerable, i get !$#&#! all over again.

it would just be super

2008-07-23T10:44:00.001-05:00

if my head would stop throbbing now.

vacancies are filling up quick

2008-07-23T09:18:00.002-05:00

assuming that they can get a spot for their dog at the kennel, my sissy and her family will be coming to see us this weekend. they plan to leave monday or tuesday and tuesday night, our friends beth and jeremy and their kids will be arriving to stay with us until next saturday. we'll leave when they do to head down to orlando where my hubby has to go into the office for the week and i'll be planning, preparing for, and throwing a bridal shower for my friend the following saturday. we'll come back home sunday after the shower and then my cousin and her hubby will be coming to see us the weekend after that. yay for having lots of fun company to look forward to in the coming weeks!!!

it's taken long enough

2008-07-22T14:21:00.002-05:00

but i finally made it back to the gym. i only did thirty minutes on the treadmill because i was running late on my lunch break but something is better than nothing, right. every night i toy with the idea of setting my clock much earlier so that i can go jogging in the mornings like i did the other day. it really was a nice and peaceful way to start the day (although an hour or two later i was exhausted and thought my head was going to burst). i just don't know that i can drag myself out of bed any earlier than i already do. i'm just starting to finally get used to the idea of working at 07:00. anyhow, maybe one of these days i'll win over my body and begin a morning jogging regimen. i bet that would actually get some results if i could do it.

too dumb

2008-07-22T09:15:00.002-05:00

since i can't figure out how to make the folds only show up on expanded posts, i'm going foldless again. i hate when i'm too dumb to do stuff. there was a time (ever so long ago) that i truly believed i was an intelligent person who could learn anything. granted, that was when i was a stupid teenager who had it all figured out. the cockiness of youth, eh?

only a handful of people will understand the significance of this pic

2008-07-21T11:47:00.001-05:00

are you one of them?

easy sunday

2008-07-20T18:58:00.003-05:00

yep, it was a nice, take-it-easy kind of day. after sleeping in a bit and a nice breakfast, we went to see the dark knight. phenomenal. truly up to the hype. hubby, who really doesn't get into movies at all, stated that it was the best movie he'd seen in quite some time. we then went to a park, looked at some condos that are going up for auction, and had dinner out. all that adds up to a very nice sunday in my book. shame that it gets followed up by monday.

request for technical assistance

2008-07-20T10:25:00.005-05:00

so i was trying to figure out how to create folds in my entries. i think i finally got it working but the fold link now shows up at the end of every entry whether i have an expansion or not. does anyone know what i need to do to get the fold link to only show up when there is a fold?

picked up

2008-07-19T21:28:00.002-05:00

after bringing the 'yaks back up and getting cleaned up, we had a bite to eat and walked down to the country bar at the plaza (after 23:00, we're so young!). we were sitting in the back getting cooled off a bit after the walk and the guy at the next table started talking to me. i introduced myself and my husband and then he asked me to dance. he did at least ask hubby if he minded and then he led me to the dance floor. i can't think of what song was playing but it was a semi-slow song so he was very close to me and kept putting my arms around his neck. it was strange. it was really strange. he didn't try anything funny and when the dance was over, i went back to hubby and that was that. i guess it was a flattering experience, but pretty akward too. hubby and i danced for a couple of hours and then walked back home. it was a fun night.

maiden voyage

2008-07-19T20:05:00.004-05:00

thursday we purchased a kayak for hubby to go with the one that i won earlier this month. when we brought it home, we put it in the water and took turns trying it out. last night we took both kayaks down to the beach for the official maiden voyage.

they were itching to get in the water

have i mentioned how much i love my backyard?
hubby paddling into the sunset
our kayaks missed each other
you wouldn't believe how long i chased this stupid jelly around trying to get a pic
they're fast little buggers

unfortunately, i didn't find my shark (although hubby finally saw one this morning from the balcony - he said it was right out in front of our building, about twenty feet from swimmers). we didn't paddle far at all (since i spent all that time going in circles chasing jellies). but we stayed out on the water for close to an hour and had a great time. we even found a few waves to surf.

images from fourth of july weekend

2008-07-19T18:09:00.009-05:00

driving through centre, al there was a stretch of about three miles or so that was lined with flags and crosses with soldiers names and their war. it was beautiful.

our cabin was designed just for me

there were so many gorgeous ducks

unfortunately, there were also a few that i didn't like at all

i wonder why they call them the smokies?

hungry bird babies

old mill in cades cove

are you looking at me?

chicks dig it when i flex

just so that you know, i felt tremendously guilty seeing these miserable bears but the family wanted to do it, so i was obligated to participate. they were so sad looking.

just look at that tear - heartbreaking

just for my cousin

companionship on a sleepless morning

2008-07-18T09:09:00.003-05:00

i woke up just before 0400 because i had to pee. after that, i could not get back to sleep. i woke hubby up for a few minutes but he was able to go right back to sleepi (i hate that about him). i got up and went out to the balcony to watch the moon over the water for a bit. i rummaged in the dark through our closet to find batteries for my camera (both sets of batteries are dead; anyone know where my charger is???) and tried to take pictures of the moon but, as much as i heart my camera, it sucks in low light. it was beautiful though. it was a full, orange moon. it was behind a light cloud so the cloud was glowing orange with just the tip of the moon peeking out over top and then there was a trail of the orange moonlight all the way across the water into the shore. it was wonderous. shame about the lack of good photo. this doesn't do it justice at all. and it was after the clouds moved away.

about 0500 i laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. no such luck. at 0530 i decided to get up and go jogging on the beach. while i am not a morning person or jogger at all, it was very nice and peaceful out. there are no waves so the water just lapped at the shore and my feet a little. it was cool and quiet and relaxing (in a i-am-so-not-a-jogger/morning-person kind of way). my goal was to go to a building that would have made it about three miles round trip. i'd say i was about a quarter-mile from that buildng when i got an unexpected jogging companion. i kid you not, five feet away from me a shark was swimming the shoreline. it was only a baby, three feet from nose to tail, but it was soooo cool! i was very excited and ticked off that i didn't have my camera. it stayed five to eight feet away for probably thirty yards before it finally decided to swim back out to sea. i could have reached out and touched it, it was so close. i'm no shark expert, but i'm pretty sure it was a black tip based on body style. clearly, i need a super tiny, high-tech, spy camera. something tiny that i could carry on me at all times no matter what i'm doing but takes great pix. yes, i did vent to the shark about him having the audacity to show up when i was completely cameraless. maybe he'll come back around while we're kayaking this weekend so that i can get his closeup. we've also had a six foot or so eagle ray passing by the last couple of days. i had no batteries in my camera yesterday. i did get a couple pictures today but he was much farther out and you can't hardly make it out as an eagle ray.

boys just don't get it

2008-07-17T13:27:00.001-05:00

every step of the way, my boy has been bewildered by the effort that i am going to for these shower invitations. everything from "just buy the fill-in-the-blank kind" to "you know these aren't the actual wedding invitations, right?". i asked him if he thought that people cut corners for our wedding to which he answered that he'd just stay out of it (for the next five seconds anyhow). as it is, the idea i had in my mind for the invitations was so much nicer than what i ended up with and i actually feel badly about that. truth be told, the invitations are a bit ugly. don't get me wrong, i think i did the best that i could, but i ended up having to completely dismiss what i really wanted to do (bad thing about small towns is that it's harder to find specialty stuff) and what i ended up going with is truly a hideous color. they would actually be very cute if it weren't for the color. anyhow, i just think it's funny how he doesn't seem to remember all of the hardwork and detail that people put into making every aspect of our wedding wonderful. i want to do no less for my friend. i feel very badly that i had no experience with this sort of stuff when i was bridesmaid for my other friends. i just didn't have a clue what i was supposed to do or how to do it so i was less than helpful to them. i guess you just learn these things over time. anyhow, i've got most of the invitations sealed in their envelopes and ready to go to the post office. i'm still waiting on three addresses and then this phase of the shower will be done. time to start planning a menu, favors, games, prizes and such.

HAPPY (one day late) BIRTHDAY, NEPHEW1!!!

2008-07-16T14:26:00.005-05:00

hey, i did remember to call and assault the answering machine with my "singing" yesterday afternoon.

have you seen my glue sticks?

2008-07-16T14:26:00.004-05:00

geesh, the shower is going to be over before i ever get the invitations sent out. i'm in need of a glue stick. i've got glue sticks. i don't know where my glue sticks might be. i'm certain they're around here somewhere as i remember exactly where that box was when we first moved in but i have no idea what happened to it since. when i get a gluestick, assembly will be completed and i'll be down to envelope stuffing, stamping, and mailing. yay! there are four addresses i'm still waiting on too.

you'll be a dentist! you have a talent for causing things pain...

2008-07-15T13:37:00.001-05:00

but at least i can feel my lips again (usta!). dental visit went smoothly but took way too long. got bridal shower invitation supplies on the way home and need to get those done and sent out tomorrow. the mountain of laundry is about to avalanche and i'm pretty sure we'll be goners. hubby has made a bit of tidying progress around the house but not me. maybe, just maybe, today's the day to get something done!

nothing to say

2008-07-14T15:10:00.001-05:00

i'm sure you've noticed. or not. whatever. i think my mind is still recovering from three weeks of overload. there may have been a short-circuit or two so rebooting is taking longer than usual. that and i'm just not feeling right. i've had heartburn since saturday, which is highly unusual and i've had a mega-headache (though, thankfully, not yet migraine) since yesterday afternoon. today i was supposed to be back in the gym but i just feel icky. i know that's a crummy excuse but i really was looking forward to getting back into the gym today (in a i-still-loathe-the-gym-but-am-desperate-to-get-smaller kind of way). i plan to go back through my pix from pigeon forge and insert a few back into the appropriate entries. i'll let you know when that gets done. the little bit of non-work brain time i've had has been going toward bridal shower planning. and, by the way, have i started on that laundry yet???

update on cam (son of coworker hs)

2008-07-10T16:06:00.003-05:00

on our way out of atlanta yesterday, we stopped at the facility to visit with hs a bit. he seemed to be in good spirits and couldn't brag enough on the facility. he said that all of the doctors there are totally johnny-on-the-spot about things and he is astounded with how quickly they get things done when they say they are going to do it. they have also been tirelessly working with him to cut through all of the red-tape of getting ssi and medicaid(?) and how to make their houses accessible. cam is back on a respirator because of some lung problems that went untreated at the other hospital but they are getting them taken care of and he should be breathing on his own again shortly. the good news is that he continues to regain motion in his arms. he still does not have tricep control but he is able to flex his bicep and has figured out how to slowly relax it in order to extend his arm back out again. he is also moving his wrist a little. still no progress on his lower body but since they were originally told that he would be a quadriplegic, they are thrilled with every progress he makes. hs feels that if he can at least get his upper body back, he can still have great quality of life. he also said that cam is very much himself and, though he has moments of despondency, he is overall positive and ready to overcome. what a blessing! amazingly, he remembers the entire incident and, during the few days that he was off the respirator, was able to tell his dad about it all. he said that he was running into the ocean, jumping waves, and on one jump the ocean floor was just closer than he thought. he landed on his head and immediately knew he was dead. he could not feel his body at all and could tell he was laying on the ocean floor being pushed around by the waves. his friend was in the water with him and thought he was playing around (poor friend had a major guilt-breakdown and required medical attention himself to get calmed down). cam said that the waves pushed him toward his friend and he saw his foot and bit down on it. that's when his friend knew something was wrong and dragged him out of the water. amazing. i feel badly for his friend and i pray that he is able to get past this and realize it was not his fault and he did nothing wrong (unrelated but humorous - hs told friend to drive cam's car home and after driving all that way, he got within city limits of home and the car blew up from being low on oil; hs has no idea where it even is). hs had some great stories of cam being cam and it was a really nice visit.

update on bl

2008-07-10T10:58:00.003-05:00

my buddy had more tests run yesterday and they were able to determine that it is follicular lymphoma which is an indolent non-hodgkins type. i was not happy to hear this because, from the research i've done, the indolent forms are worse than the aggressive forms but he said that the doctors tell him that this particular type responds very well to chemotherapy. they also say that it has a very high incidence of recurrence so after they put it into remission, chances are very good that it will come back and will be more aggressive when it does. *hold back tears* his next step is to get a full body pet scan and bone marrow biopsy done so that they can find where the cancer has already spread to around the body and what stage he's in so that they can determine what treatment course they need to pursue. it looks like it's such a slow-growing cancer that by the time it's discovered, it's usually already stage three or four because it's been growing for years without symptoms. i think my friend is in the anger stage of grieving. he wants to know how this happened; what caused it. he told the doctor that he's in good shape, exercises, eats right... the doctor told him cancer doesn't care. i think he's very upset that he couldn't have prevented it. several years ago, he had clarks level 3 melanoma because of too much sun-worship in his youth. this is not something that he can look back at and say, "it's because i did this..." he said that his kids are holding strong and that he's trying to keep a positive attitude. the doctor told him that's one of the best indicators for survival. i, myself, will continue to pray for him and tell him that he's going to beat it.

mentally, physically, emotionally... spent

2008-07-10T08:57:00.002-05:00

yesterday was a long day, with a long drive, and an unhappy night. at least i'm home. and do you know what's on sci-fi at 03:00? rediculously ginormous mosquitos and spectacularly horrible acting.

heading home

2008-07-09T19:27:00.003-05:00

and couldn't be happier about it. we stopped at the spinal center for a couple of hours to visit with hs. I'll have more to say about that when i have an actual computer to type on. we should be home way late but i was able to switch shifts with a coworker tomorrow so i don't have to work until 08:00. the extra hour will be appreciated.

no commutes for me, thanks

2008-07-08T16:26:00.004-05:00

after staying up far too late talking without friends, i got a good (though short) night's sleep. we then got up far too early to make the commute into the old office. i had almost forgotten how much commuting sucks. unfortunately, i won't be seeing my favorite buddy as he is off today and tomorrow. however, i did get to go to my favorite mexican place for lunch! it was every bit as yummy as I remember and i truly hurt myself. i just couldn't help it. tomorrow I'll be visiting my favorite italian place around here. yay for yummy visitations!

i think we're alone now

2008-07-07T18:43:00.002-05:00

the in-laws left early this morning and we aren't expected at b&j's until 21:30 so we have had a wonderful day of just the two if us. fabulous, it is. we took it easy getting out of the cabin and then stopped on top of the mountain to walk up to clingman's dome. over the mountain, we stopped and wasted a little time around cherokee before continuing south to waste more time in gainesville. we are now headed toward b&t's to continue loafering around until they get home from church. it's been a great day.

here ducky, ducky

2008-07-06T19:37:00.003-05:00

i feel much better after a nice, quiet nap. i think all three of us got a bit of rest before deciding to head back to town. the in-laws still haven't returned from their day-tripping and we haven't been able to reach them by phone so i guess their off having a good time. we're at a little pan in town. hubby and nephew played frisbee while i walked some laps around the park (i'd guess two miles). we then walked down to the river together to talk to the ducks. there was a momma with some brand new hatchlings and we had a good time watching them. they even came up on the bank a few feet in front of us several times. the strange part was when the momma flew off above the dam, leaving her babies behind. we watched in bewilderment for several minutes and the babies were frantic for their momma. finally momma came to the edge of the dam and looked down at them for quite a while like she actually expected them to fly up there with her but she knew better than that. she did eventually come back down and they flocked to her anxiously. i was just astounded. i've never seen any of my ducks abandon their chilluns like that. did i mention that my hubby also held up mountain traffic to rescue a turtle in the road. we are now getting ready to play some putt-putt with the group.

sk8r

2008-07-06T15:14:00.004-05:00

after finally getting to sleep in this morning (really, all this getting up at 06:00 is just not my idea of vacation) we met up with the cousins for some ice skating fun at ober gatlinburg. hubby, nephew, and i were actually the only ones to get out on the ice but we had a great time. i think we're going to relax a bit this afternoon and then maybe get the group together again when it cools off this evening to play some putt-putt or something. i'd like to get back in the very nice hot tub again but it's much warmer today than it was yesterday so i'm not sure that will be wise. we'll see. oh, i almost forgot about the amazing storm that came through last night. I couldn't tell you what time it was since there is not a clock in our room but it was bigger rain, thunder, and lightening than i've heard in a long time. it woke us up but that was okay because it was so pleasant to listen to. it really was truly impressive.

more prayers needed

2008-07-05T07:24:00.002-05:00

a very dear friend of mine found out a couple of weeks ago that he has lymphoma. they found it in his abdomen and say that it has already spread to many lymph nodes around the body. he will be going wednesday for further tests to try to determine a prognosis and course of treatment. it was all i could do to keep it together on the phone with him last night and as soon as I hung up I started bawling. i cried a lot last night because I just can't stand the thought of anything happening to my friend. I told him he needs to come down and spend some time at the beach before they start chemo or anything. I'm worried, folks, but I am praying that they are able to get him into remission and i'll get to have many, many more conversations with my
friend.

we also got an update on hs's son yesterday. the surgery went well on wednesday. he is breathing on his own again and he can flex his arm up towards his body but he cannot straighten it back out yet. apparently, the same nerves that control that extension action also control many
leg movements. he also cannot move his fingers yet. hs is dealing but said that his son isn't talking much and it doesn't seem like it's really hit him yet. they will be flying him back to atlanta monday to a spinal rehabilitation facility. with any hope, he will be able to regain many movements.

ready for home

2008-07-04T15:24:00.002-05:00

it took forever, but we finally made it. we've been hanging out at the cousin's cabin playing pool, talking, relaxing, and most importantly cooling off. it's bloody hot out there, folks! our car started
overheating while sitting in traffic in town. it's definitely pretty here (in the mountains) but the general area is far too crowded and touristy for my likes. last time we were here was new year of the millienia. it's even worse now than it was then. i'm much more of a spend the holidays close to home kind of girl, myself.

reflections of me

here we go again...

cruise blogging and weekend wrapup

cruisin' half-way (live post)

cruisin' day 5

cruisin' day 4

cruisin' day 3

cruisin' day 2

cruisin' day 1

bon voyage!

balancing out the body

going on a cruise (aka hurricane time!)

where'd that burst of energy come from?

lunch activity

marital wii-ing

lunch activity

exploring the new seascape

it's a beautiful day

lunch activity

today's activity

weekend wrapup

in search of la parrilla

storm surge

lunch activity

never forget

lunch activity

miserable night

lunch activity

lunch activity

snork' instead of 'yak

decapitation, please...

friday night unwind

lunch activity

exercise and recuperation

postless

kill. me. now.

what did i ever do to them?

knocked on my butt

drilling through my skull

lunch activity

storm? what storm?

sweet dreams are made of this

yes, i will gripe about hubby on his birthday

and by special request

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUBBY!!!

i got nothing

weekend wrapup

have a good weekend, ya'll

lunch activity

downess

lunch activity

catchup

fun-filled weekend

my cousin arrived safely

have i mentioned today that i love my husband?

company coming

shower time!

more on the praying front

happy to be home

poking was successful

random

yay! a start!

tootsies

recap

honey, we're here!

ready for four

more melancholy

feeling underappreciated again

wash, rinse, repeat

my sissy is gone

surf's up!

new kayaks - the sequel!

don't tell my sissy

cancer update

*sigh*

it would just be super

vacancies are filling up quick

it's taken long enough

too dumb

only a handful of people will understand the significance of this pic

sigh