My Single Mom Life

Buy.com has a Lasko Ceramic Heater on sale right now for just $19.99.
It was unusually cold here this winter and I only have one little space heater, so getting another one for next winter may be a really good idea.

It was really cold here this winter, and it's technically not over yet, it's not even February yet, so we could still get another wicked cold front or two between now and the end of March.
Having another small space heater would be very useful and helpful.
The one that I have now was only able to heat up just this one room, so yeah, having another one would be a good idea.
Then I could put the other heater in the dining room or kitchen hallway, and that way the boys bedrooms would get some heat on those cold winter nights that we had.

The Lasko ceramic heater has an adjustable thermostat just like the heater I have now, and it has an automatic overheat protector just like the one I have now, so that there's no risk of fire.
You would be amazed just how many people try to use things like bbq grills and stuff INSIDE their homes here during the winter and then die of carbon monoxide poisoning and stuff, it's really kind of crazy just how many people do really stupid things to get their house warm when it gets cold.
I'd rather just have a couple of portable heaters than to do something so stupid like bring a grill inside the house, and really, for $19.99 or even the regular price of $29.99, is a small enough price to pay to stay warm and not have any accidents.

Posted by Kat at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I haven't been feeling very well at all since last Thursday, I have an intestinal thing, that's all anyone really needs to know as I'm sure if you've ever had some sort of intestinal thing, you know all too well what I'm dealing with.

Anyway, Sebastian is doing so well in his digital design class and in his technology class, that a teacher has helped him prepare for something greater than where he's at right now.
There is a special high school here in town called Suncoast Polytechnical High School, that specializes in technology based programs.
You can read a bit more about them at that link, but their mission is as follows;

The mission of Suncoast Polytechnical High School is
to provide a highly personalized educational experience where students master a rigorous career and technology driven curriculum within a thematic, analytical, and interactive teaching and learning environment.

Vision
It is the Vision of Suncoast Polytechnical High School to be recognized for providing a world-class technical education.

Not only do the students have to adhere to some very strict classes and rules to stay in the school or be dropped back to their regular district high school, but the parents also have to do certain things to help their student stay at SPHS.
Parents have to volunteer 15 hours per year in the booster program or in the classroom, they have to check their students work every single week and sign-off on it, they have to be able to provide a computer and high speed internet connection, and they have to make sure their student attends every single day.
Any mistakes in following the rules by either the student or parent, results in the student being dropped back to their regular district high school.

Part of the admission process is to write an entrance essay explaining why they want to attend SPHS, and tonight Sebastian had me read his entrance essay.
I was absolutely blown away by how amazingly articulate he has become, what he stated as his career goals, and some of the reasons why he wants to work in the technology field, what he excels at, what he wants to excel at, and what his future employment plans are after attending SPHS and post-secondary school.
He also stated that he wants to improve his life, to not have to struggle to make ends meet like his mother has for so many years.
He explained in his essay about me and my work ethics before my body quit on me, the surgeries which completely changed my life and theirs, and how during the last surgery, I died twice on the table, had my lung collapse, and ended up in a medical coma for 4 days.
He explained that almost losing the only parent that has ever been there for him, that has worked so hard to provide for him and his brother, and still tries to provide the best that I can for my children, but struggles every day to make ends meet, to give them everything that they need, that he wants to be the absolute best that he can be at a career that he absolutely loves to do, so that once he's made it and providing well for himself, that he will be able to take care of me when I'm older and on my own.
He said,

"My mom has always been there for me, she provided not only my needs, but also provided me with all of the love, support, and encouragement, that has enabled me to have the courage to follow my dream career. I could not do any of this without her, even with all of her own physical limitations and problems, she has never once told me that I couldn't do anything that I wanted to do. My mom has always told me that if I want it, go get it, fight for it, be the absolute best that you can be, and that you will have the career of your dreams, the life of your dreams, and be able to stand up and be equal to any other person applying for those dream technology New York jobs where I want to live and work. Once I make it there, once I make my dream job come true through attending SPHS and any further education that I want to pursue, I want to be able to give back to the woman who has stood by me my entire life, loved me, supported me, and encouraged me to reach for this and to never let it go. If you allow me to attend SPHS, I will work hard for you, I will give you my all, and my mother will be here for the parents portion of enrollment, and then you will see where I learned to go after my dreams.
Thank you for your consideration in allowing me to attend SPHS for the 2011- 2012 school year. "

The giveaway for the book Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops will close at midnight tonight, Thursday the 28th, and the 5 winners will be drawn.
So far, only 5 people have entered, so if no one else enters, all 5 of them will automatically win a copy of it.
So if you'd like a chance to win a copy, you have until midnight tonight to get your entries in.

Posted by Kat at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Ok, so I seriously need some adult acne treatments that really do work, work well, won't make the skin become dependent on having to use it every single day for life or anything, because the zits be getting out of hand around here.

The teens just came home from my friend Mindy's son Jeff's birthday party, and after he eats his dinner, he sits down on the couch and a few minutes later announces that he "just popped a big huge zit and it shot across the room Mom! Holy crap!"

Yes, that is so what I want to hear being said while I'm eating some ice cream and trying to relax after my long afternoon in the ER with intestinal issues, 3 bags of fluid pumped into me, 2 injections of some stomach meds, and 2 injections of dilaudid for the back pain and muscle spasms that I was battling for the last 3 days.
Yup, sure did want to hear that now somewhere on a wall close by the couch, is a giant wad of zit juice.
This kind of grossness really needs to stop, and it will stop when we make the zits disappear.

Posted by Kat at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The bathroom tub is clogged again.
I hate it when it gets clogged, it takes forever to get rid of the clog.
In the past, I've used de-cloggng stuff like Liquid Plumr, the plunger, I've even used a straightened coat hanger to try and snake down there when all else failed.
I've spent countless hours at times trying to unclog that drain, and like after a good 2-3 days of working on it off and on for hours at a time, I finally get the clog to go away using a combination of de-clogging tools.
It hurts, too, being hunched over like that for hours and hours trying to get rid of the clog, every single muscle in my body aches, oh man, it sucks.
I feel like I'm getting a super workout on my arms, legs, and lower back muscles when I do it, I feel like if I was using a supplement like super pump 250, I'd probably get really ripping biceps just de-clogging the tub drain. haha
This is a very old house, it was built in 1976, and I think it still has all of the original plumbing fixtures in it, and it's still on septic even though the city has been promising to get us on the city sewer system for the entire 11 and a half years that I've been living in this house.
I really wish they would just get this sewer system project started at least, then at least I would know, or have some kind of time-line on when we may finally get some free flowing drainage going on.
Septic is so hard to deal with when it gets clogged, and sometimes when plunging, you end up plunging some super funky smells because of how old the septic system is.
Those super funky smells are soooo not pleasant, not at all.

Posted by Kat at 4:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My thermometer that is.
I tried to take my temperature this weekend when I was sick, but it wasn't registering correctly.
I know that I had a fever, but the thermometer said that I was barely breathing.
It said my temp was only 94.3!
So yeah, I think I need a new one and Buy.com has a Q3 ThermoHAWK 220 Infrared Thermometer on sale for just $19.99 with free shipping too!

I'm not sure that you can use it on people, but it's touchless so you aren't spreading germs, so that makes me think that you can use it on people.
You just point it at the object or person's head, press the button, and it tells you the temperature instantly with a 1 second response time.
That's pretty damn fast!
Our current thermometer takes about 1 minute or so, so yeah, having an accurate temp in about 1 second is pretty awesome.
It has an accuracy reading of +/-2.5% and a measurement range of -33C-100C.
It's small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, or my stuffed first aid kit box.
I'm really pretty positive that our thermometer is broken and I really should have bought a new one quite a long time ago.
I think my thermometer is about 8 or 9 years old, so yeah, it's definitely time to get a new one.
It lasted a good long time though, so I really can't complain about it being broken now.

Posted by Kat at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Remember how I said that I felt like I was coming down with something?
Well I did come down with something, I've been sick for the last 4 days or so.
Blah.
And on top of being sick, I got a few pimples.
What the hell?
I haven't had any pimples in years, but now I have some, so while I'm still searching for the best acne treatment for the teens, I'm now searching for one for myself too.

I haven't been able to sleep much at all, so yeah, it really sucks when I get sick because all I want to do is sleep, try to get some rest, and my body just won't cooperate.
I've had less than 6 hours of sleep for the last few days, I just lay in my bed and toss and turn all damn night.
My brain is in a fog, my hands are all shaky, I just feel like total crap.
I really hope that I can get some sleep tonight, I need it bad.

Posted by Kat at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night Mindy and I went and saw Extraordinary Measures at the Muvico in Tampa.
Many thanks to CBS films for letting us be at the advanced screening of the film for free, it was most definitely appreciated as we both needed a night out, just us girls, so we could see a good movie, talk, and have some fun.

Synopsis

"Extraordinary Measures" is inspired by the true story of John Crowley, a man who defied conventional wisdom and great odds, and risked his family's future to pursue a cure for his children's life threatening disease. From his working class roots, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) has finally begun to taste success in corporate America. Supported by his beautiful wife Aileen (Keri Russell) and their three children, John is on the fast track. But just as his career is taking off, Crowley walks away from it all when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a fatal disease. With Aileen by his side, harnessing all of his skill and determination, Crowley teams up with a brilliant, but unappreciated and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill. (Harrison Ford) Together they form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. One driven to prove himself and his theories, the other by a chance to save his children, this unlikely alliance eventually develops into mutual respect as they battle the medical and business establishments in a fight against the system - and time.

I thought the movie was going to be a total tear-jerker, but it wasn't.
There was only one scene where I felt like crying like the main character did, John Crowley, played by Brendan Frasier, when he thought he had screwed up so bad that he ruined his chance to help save his kid's lives.
Based on a true story, John Crowley was doing everything that he could do and think of to try and save the lives of his kids who suffer from Pompe Disease.
In Pompe Disease, normally, the body uses GAA to break down glycogen, a stored form of sugar used for energy. But in Pompe disease, mutations in the GAA gene reduce or completely eliminate this essential enzyme. Excessive amounts of glycogen accumulate everywhere in the body, but the cells of the heart and skeletal muscles are the most seriously affected.
Kids with the disease often don't live much past the age of 9-10, so John Crowley gave up his job, moved his family across the country, to try and prove the theories of Dr. Robert Stonehill, played by Harrison Ford.
Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of both Crowley and Stonehill, an enzyme replacement therapy drug was created and it is actually working to help babies and kids with the disease to keep their hearts and other organs from growing too large and breaking down the muscles.

It was a really fantastic movie, I really enjoyed it, and as I said, it wasn't the tear-jerker that I thought it was going to be, not at all.
It was a movie about the hard work, determination, and love a parent has for their children.
I would highly recommend the movie to anyone to go see, it was definitely a movie worth watching as both Frasier and Ford did an outstanding job in their roles.
Harrison Ford plays a really eccentric and cranky scientist with a theory about the disease and how to treat it, but he's never had a drug go to trials, and never had a drug approved, so getting the venture capital needed to make and test the drug was an impossible feat for him.
That's where Frasier's character comes in, he has the business skills needed to get people to invest, he does whatever he has to to get the funding so Stonehill can get the drug made and into trials, and then approved, including having to sell-out to a larger drug company so that everything can happen at a much faster pace.
The things he did, he had to do even though it really angered Stonehill to have to sell-out and go work in a huge pharmaceutical company, but it had to be done, Crowley's kids were drying, they didn't have much time left at all.
In the end, Crowley even had to be fired from his job in order to get his 2 kids into the sibling test trials for the enzyme replacement therapy.

As a parent, I would do anything for my kids, I know how Crowley felt, do anything, everything, to try and save his kids.
Luckily, my sons don't have any life-threatening diseases like this, but Mark does have problems with his spine and I am fighting with the doctors and insurance almost every single day to get him treated now, not in 15-20 years when it may be too late to help him, when it may be so late that he ends up like me.
He's 18, has his whole life ahead of him, I can't let him end up like me, so like Crowley, I will fight and do what it takes to help my son get the medical treatment he needs now, not later.

The movie isn't that long, so we made it home before midnight, and I was dead tired from the long ride there and back, and sitting in the theater seat all that time.
I woke up this morning exhausted, I had big dark circles under my eyes, so I grabbed my eye ice pack and laid back down on the couch for another couple of hours.
I'm still tired but have a lot to do including the grocery shopping.
Ugh.

Oh, when we got to the theater, CBS had saved us our seats because I had asked to be in the handicapped row, middle seating if possible because of the tilt of my head, I cannot be way down front.
Sharon, the host of the screening, escorted us to our seats which she had roped off with caution tape.
The theater was totally packed, there were a lot of people there for the screening, so walking into a packed theater and being escorted to our roped off seats was kind of embarrassing.
Everybody was staring at us because she escorted us to the roped off section and she said really loud that the seats were for the VIP movie screeners for CBS Films, and that they had to hold up the movie for a few more minutes for a few more VIPs.
Ha!
All of the other screeners were from some group that I want to look up, GOFOBO or something like that, but we were treated as VIPs, given special seating, and thanked like a million times, so it was fun and kind of embarrassing, but kind of cool too to be given special treatment.
So thank you very much to CBS Films for allowing us to be a part of the advanced screening.

Extraordinary Measures will be in nationwide release on January 22nd, and I highly recommend the movie.

Posted by Kat at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tonight Mindy and I are going to see the movie Extraordinary Measures all of the way up in Tampa.
It starts it's nationwide theater release on January 22nd, so we are going to see an advanced screening of it tonight, then come home and blog about our thoughts on the movie.

I'm really excited to go see it, it looks like a good tear-jerker of a movie, and I like seeing movies like this especially when they are based on true stories, and I don't mind a good cry because of a movie or tv show every now and then, but I will be prepared for sitting in the movie theater this time.
I'm bringing a pillow with me to sit on so I hopefully don't end up with the same kind of horrible pain that I was in when we went and saw Avatar.

This time, I am going to do whatever I need to do to try and make sure that I don't end up in too much pain from sitting all of that time.
I'm going to take my pain meds and use some of the joint pain treatment things that I have to try and relax my muscles and stuff before we go, and use the pillow to sit on while we're there.
I'm going to take a nice, long, hot shower, rub on some of the pain gel stuff that I have, take a muscle relaxer, and use my wearable heating pad for the ride up to Tampa.
Hopefully, this will keep some of the pain away so that I can enjoy the movie.
I'll let you all know how the movie is when we get back.
It starts at 7:30, so I don't expect to be home until around 11:30pm or midnight.

Posted by Kat at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Special K commercials are getting more and more annoying, but there's one that drives me absolutely bonkers.
Every single time I see it, I start yelling at the tv, I end up leaving the room I get so upset.
I can't find a video for it on youtube, but it's the one where a mom and daughter are sitting at a CHILD'S PLAY TABLE AND CHAIRS, and the phone rings, the mom gets up, and her butt is stuck in the chair.
A chair that is made for a child, but this freaks the mom out so much that she goes to eat some more Special K cereal to help her with quick weight loss.
It's a child's chair, the mom is already skinny, but OMG! She wants to lose even more weight because she gets stuck in a child's chair, one that is made for like a 40-50lb child.

Every single one of the Special K commercials is like this, the women in them are already skinny, but they need to lose more weight, they just have to, so all they eat is Special K.
I hate these commercials, can't stand them, I think they are just sending the wrong message to women.
Skinny but not skinny enough?
Not anorexic enough?!
Eat some more Special K!

Posted by Kat at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I haven't felt like myself over the last few days, not at all.
I'm not sure if I'm coming down with something, or just in a total funk.
All I know is I don't feel right, I feel off center of myself, out of place, out of whack.
I know something is wrong because normally, a few days after the holidays are over, I take down all of the xmas decorations.
Nope, they are all still up.
The teens don't care, they said just leave them up year round, I'm all like no, people will think I'm totally nuts if I leave them up all year long, so they told me to take them down if I don't want to be called nuts.
Problem is, I can't seem to take them down.
I look at them, tell myself to take them down, yet I can't, I just have no motivation at all to take them down, box them all up, and put them all away.
I dunno.
Maybe it's the after holidays blues kicking in and kicking me hard, I'm down and dragging butt, just want to lay on the couch and sleep with the kitties.
I am waking Sebastian up for school every day, that's a plus, and I am talking to Mark about school, there's another, yet I can't seem to motivate myself to put the damn decorations away.
A friend of Mark's is also talking to him about school, so maybe he will decide to do it soon.
He needs to do something other than sleep and play video games, and feel bad about stuff.

Oh, and enter my contest to win 1 of 5 copies of Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops, or at least spread the word on your blog and Twitter, please and thanks.

Posted by Kat at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This Thursday night, the 14th, Mindy and I will be having a girls' night out in Tampa, to go see the movie Extraordinary Measures.

Synopsis

"Extraordinary Measures" is inspired by the true story of John Crowley, a man who defied conventional wisdom and great odds, and risked his family's future to pursue a cure for his children's life threatening disease. From his working class roots, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) has finally begun to taste success in corporate America. Supported by his beautiful wife Aileen (Keri Russell) and their three children, John is on the fast track. But just as his career is taking off, Crowley walks away from it all when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a fatal disease. With Aileen by his side, harnessing all of his skill and determination, Crowley teams up with a brilliant, but unappreciated and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill. (Harrison Ford) Together they form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. One driven to prove himself and his theories, the other by a chance to save his children, this unlikely alliance eventually develops into mutual respect as they battle the medical and business establishments in a fight against the system - and time.

I know, not your typical girls' night out, no partying at a nightclub until dawn, but it's a night away from home and family, no kids to tend to, no cooking, no cleaning or dishes, but a night out to see a what looks to be a good movie, with a friend.

Now when I went and saw Avatar 2 weeks ago, I loved it, it was a fantastic movie, but sitting through the movie was very difficult on me.
I may have wide hips and a bit of a belly, but I have a very bony ass.
And not just my bony ass, but I also have two 4 inch titanium screws in my hips, and the titanium rods from my spine fusions that go all of the way down to the bottom of my tail bone.
Even though the theater chairs are very well cushioned, having a bony ass and that titanium in my tail bone, made sitting for almost 3 hours, extremely difficult.
Not even at the halfway mark, I could feel my tail bone in my butt, I could feel the titanium in my butt, and I kept trying to shift side to side to make it a little more comfortable.
When I'm sitting here at my desk, I do have a great office chair, it's very cushioned, but I have to have a pillow on it to help, and I still can feel my tail bone and the titanium after a few hours.

What am I getting at here?
Well, when I go see the movie this Thursday night, I'm going to have to bring a pillow with me to sit on, but I would honestly pay $20 for a movie ticket if there was at least 1 specialized movie theater.
What kind of special theater?
Well, one with good and comfy, home style seating.
Maybe some super plush but contemporary sofas, some big and squishy recliners, super long and soft sofas, furniture like people have at home.
I would totally pay $20 per movie ticket to be able to either kick all of the way back with my legs and feet up in a super soft recliner, or lay down on a big and soft sofa.
I would totally love it.
Heck, a big movie theater could makeover just 1 of the many theater rooms they already have, into the special theater room, and play the top movie release of the week, maybe change out the movie in that 1 theater every day or something, but charge $20 a ticket and see if people would buy tickets.
I know that I would, my sons would love it too, so I would pay for them to be in the theater with me on a big sofa or in recliners.
Those of you who have a home theater in your house, you know that it's awesome.
You have all of the benefits of surround sound, a really great and big HDTV, but with the total comfort of home.

I think a special theater would be really cool and totally work, and so if a theater made-over 1 theater room to have the super comfort of home, would you pay more for a ticket to be in there?

Posted by Kat at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My friend Nic and I went to the dollar store early this afternoon, I needed to grab some cat food and stuff, and when we got out of the car to walk to the store entrance, we almost got whacked by not 1, but 2, going way too fast in a parking lot, high risk drivers of the blue haired senior variety.
We almost got run over by 2 blue-haired seniors who obviously couldn't see where they were going because A) they were driving way too fast, and B) because they think they have the right to do whatever they want to whenever they want to, and C) because they probably didn't even see us!
They didn't use their blinkers either, and 1 of them parked in the handicapped space and did not have the thing on their license plate or the plaque hanging from their rear-view mirror either, there was absolutely no handicapped sign anywhere on their car, and neither of them appeared to be handicapped.
Being old is not a disability, it's just being old.
I know that not all disabilities are visible, I know this better than anyone as my disability is not visible, but if there is no handicap sign somewhere on their car, they should not be parking in those spaces no matter how old they are, as I said, old age is not a disability.
When they got out of their cars, Nic yelled at them to watch where they're going next time, and 1 of the old ladies turned around and told us to leave them alone or they were going to call the cops.
WTH?
Call the cops because we told them to watch where they were going?
Seriously, I absolutely hate season, hate it with a passion kind of hate because of all of the out-of-state seniors who are here and driving so dangerously, thinking they own the roads, thinking that they can do whatever they want, and just being incredibly rude.

Moving on!
The dollar store had a really good deal on the kind of cat food that I buy, The Goodlife Recipe.
At Publix, it's $4.99 for a 2.7lb bag, and the dollar store had it for just $3.29 for the 2.7lb bag.
I saved $1.70 per bag, so I might just have to go buy the kitties cat food from there from now on.
I also got a box of Arm & Hammer carpet powder to not only get rid of odors, but I found that it also helps pull all of the cat hairs out of the carpet.
With 4 cats, there's always a ton of cat hairs in the rug, and I end up dumping a ton of dirt and hairs out of the bagless vac normally, even more if I use the carpet powder.
I also picked up some night time cold medicine for Mark because he ends up coughing a lot from his cold when he's trying to sleep.
He's coughing a lot, but he coughs even more at night.
I think I may get some of that Mucinex and see if that helps him, I know that it worked good for me when I tried it, so hopefully it will work good for him so that he can get some sleep.
The poor kid had huge bags under his eyes when he got up today from not getting much sleep.
I'll try to remember to pick some up when I go to Publix tomorrow to do the grocery shopping.

PLEASE check out and enter the giveaway below!
It's to win 1 of 5 copies of a really fun and interesting book!

Posted by Kat at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I received a free copy of the manuscript for Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops: The Origins of Objects In Our Everyday Lives, about a month ago to read and review here on my blog.

It's a really fascinating and funny look at why certain things got invented, and why they were named what they were.
Take the bra for an example, a lot of people believe that it was invented and named after someone named brassiere, not true.
It's kind of a long story, but all the way back in 2500bc in Minoan Crete, they were using pieces of fabric strapped around the chest to support the bosoms, it probably resembled a sports bra of today because it was wrapped so tightly.
Corsets had been around since the 16th century, but it was in 1893 when American socialite Mary Jacobs was dressing for an evening event when she got really upset about her whalebone corset.
She took 2 hankies tied together with ribbon, and used them to keep her breasts looking the way she wanted them too under her tight party dress.
She was so pleased with it, that she patented the design and began selling them as "Caresse Crosby" bras but with very limited success.
Eventually she sold the design rights to the Warner Brothers Corset Company, and they went on to make a huge fortune from Mary's idea.
By the 1920's, they were in wide circulation, and now today, we have a huge assortment of over the shoulder boulder holders that flatten, tighten, plump, support, volumize, and of course, push up!

There are a ton of very interesting stories in this book about all kinds of products like the breathalyzer, the condom, toothpaste, cigarettes, bubble wrap, paper clips, bar codes, the camera, lipstick, the airbag, the GPS, parking meters, aluminum foil, canned food and carbonated drinks.
There so many things in this book that I'm sure you've heard a story about how they were made and it's probably wrong, so this book tells how and why things were made and why they were named what they were.

It was a really fun book to read, I learned a lot and laughed a lot along the way, so I want to share the learning and laughs with 5 lucky readers.
Do you want to win a copy of Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops for yourself?
Or maybe you know someone who enjoys learning about why things were invented?
If so, all you have to do is follow the rules below.

Here's how!
Rules:
The giveaway is open to United States, (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada!
This giveaway is open to all, not just bloggers, but rules must be followed.
Only 1 entry per person/family/household.
Only 1 person per IP address can enter the giveaway and complete the required entry and extra entries.
No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc.
I can check and verify IP addresses and email addresses. *wink*
If you are caught cheating, you will be banned from this giveaway and any future giveaways on my blogs.
This giveaway is only open to those ages 18+ only.
All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Thursday January 28, 2010.
I will pick the 5 winners randomly using random.org on Friday January 29th, 2010, email the winners, and they will have 48 hours to claim their prize.
If I do not get a reply within 48 hours, I will pick a new winner using random.org again.

How to enter:
The required entry:
This is mandatory, if this one entry is not done, you will not qualify for the giveaway.
For a chance to win, leave me a comment telling me what you would have named any current product/invention, and why you would have named it that.

For extra entries:
The following are all for 1 additional entry each, and you must leave a separate comment for each 1 that you do.
If you bundle entries in 1 comment, the comment will be deleted and disqualified.

1.
Post a new comment telling me what you would like to see invented.

2.
Blog about this on your blog, and leave a separate comment with the url to your post.
The post must remain on your blog for the duration of the contest.

3.
Post about this giveaway with a link back to this post on Twitter, and then leave a comment on this post with the link to your Twitter post about this contest.
You can use this link in your Twitter post to tweet and tell others about this giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/yb4zlw3

4.
Follow me on Twitter.

5.
Post about this on Facebook and give me the link to your Facebook profile so I can verify it!

That's it!

***There are 5 books in total, they will be shipped directly to the winners from the publisher, so you will need to leave me a valid email address when you enter, and if you win, I will contact you for your mailing address which will only be given to the publisher, and only for the purpose of sending you the book.
None of your information posted like full name, email address, or mailing address which you have given for contest entries, will ever be given or sold to any person or company, it will only be used for the purpose of contacting you, if you win, to send you the book.***

Good luck!!

Posted by Kat at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

I didn't post yesterday because I just didn't feel like it.
Hey, just being totally honest.

At 3:15pm yesterday afternoon, I had my monthly appointment with my pain doctor to do a check-in.
Check-ins usually all go the same way, him asking me a bunch of questions like, tell him on the 1-10 pain scale, where my pain was at right at that moment, what it was for the last couple of days, how the new medicine is working since my last appointment, have I had any new or unusual symptoms, any news on whether or not my surgeon has been able to come up with a way to fix my head, any more visits to the ER for itching, rashes, welts and hives, and do I have any questions for him.
The whole thing probably takes less than 10 minutes, in, out, see ya in 30 days, but because there was an emergency with a patient at the hospital, he was running about 45 minutes to an hour behind.

My 3:15pm appointment didn't actually happen until 4:27pm.

My pain on the scale yesterday was a 10 due to the freezing cold temperature.
My pain on the scale for the last few days has been bobbing back and forth between 9 and 10 because of the freezing cold temperatures too.
The new pain medicine works pretty good, not as long as the old one did, but that's because they were ERs, (extended release) these are immediate release, and they just do not last as long.
I'm supposed to take 1 every 4 to 6 hours as needed for pain, so between 4-6 pills per day depending on the amount of pain that I'm in.
It's been terribly cold as you you know, (I've been complaining about it enough) so the rods are frozen which causes a lot of pain, so I'm on the higher end of the dosing.
Nope, no new or unusual symptoms.
Nope, my surgeon has not found a way to fix my head yet.
Nope, I didn't have any more trips to the ER that he didn't know about, and nope, I didn't have any questions for him.

I left from his appointment around 4:35, then me and my friend Nic, who had driven me to my appointment, drove over to the pharmacy to pick up my scripts.
We waited about 10 minutes and they call me to the window to pick them up and pay, and their merchant services machine goes down.
Great.
I have to leave there and go find an ATM.
The shopping plaza the pharmacy is in, is like the only one in Sarasota that doesn't have a single ATM machine, so we have to drive over to the Hess station across Bee Ridge Road.
I use the ATM, grab the cash, and drive back across the street.
I go back to the pharmacy, the girl tells me the machine is still not working, so I pay in cash, get my scripts, and we leave.
From there, we start heading home but we both need to run to the store to grab something to feed our families for dinner.
We run into the Publix closest to our house, she runs 1 way, and I run to the frozen pizza.
Hey, I'm tired and cold, the teens can eat frozen pizza and love it, and they did, moving on!
I use my debit cards all of the time, I rarely ever use cash anymore, so when I went to pay, I instinctively swiped my debit card.
Declined.
What. the. hell?
Swipe again.
Declined.
Ergh, what the hell is wrong?!
Please tell me not another machine is down!
Swipe again.
Declined!
*smacks forehead*
D'oh!
I don't have enough money in my account for this purchase because I used my debit card to pay for my doctor appointment which ended up costing me less than the appointment girl told me when she called me Tuesday afternoon to remind me about my appointment, and I had to withdraw some cash earlier to pay for my prescriptions.
D'oh!
ATMs only let you withdraw in multiples of $20, so I had to draw out more than my scripts actually cost, but it also wiped out my balance down to like $4.89, the pizza that I was trying to pay for was $12.50.
I totally forgot that I had the remaining cash in my wallet.
So I looked like a totally broke fool at the register while a growing line of people stood behind me making it vocally clear *ahem* *cough* *ahem* that they wanted my dumb butt to just pay for my stuff or get the hell out of the way!

I swear, I can be just an absolute idiot sometimes, but honestly, when you get so used to using only 1 form of payment all of the time for everything, shopping, paying the bills, gas, take-out food, whatever, it can be very easy to forget that you have other forms of payment available to you like I did.

By the time I got back home a little after 5:30, my toes were completely frozen because of how cold it was outside and because I still can't wear regular shoes, only sandals, and because there's no heat in Nic's car, so the 2 of us drove all over the place and back home yesterday afternoon freezing our butts and toes off, I came in, changed and got into comfy clothes, and then aimed the portable heater at my chair and my feet for probably over an hour.
After they finally warmed up around 7pm, I got up and made dinner.
I made some home made General Tso and home made teriyaki chicken strips, I cleaned up from dinner, and then I was so tired and started to get cold again, so I laid on the couch, watched some tv, and then got my second wind which has now, kept me awake the entire night and the entire day. .
I'm so tired right now, I don't even remember if I got any sleep on Tuesday night.
I think I did, but I honestly don't remember if I did.

Posted by Kat at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was going to post a book review and giveaway for 5 lucky readers to get 1 copy of the book each, but not tonight.

My Aunt Lorraine has passed away after a very long battle with cancer, so I just don't feel like I should post a fun giveaway tonight.
Aunt Lorraine is my Mom's sister, and my Mom is very upset this evening, which is perfectly ok for her to be sad and upset, grieving for the loss of her sister.

I remember Aunt Lorraine as being a really wonderful woman, a fun aunt who used to let us stay up late and watch scary movies while we laid in sleeping bags on the living room floor.
She was just a happy and fun person from what I recall of my memories and trips to Pennsylvania for family vacations.

She always found the most unusual but beautiful dolls to give to us girls when we were little.
I remember that she gave my sister Jo and I these dolls that said the night time prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep."

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I'm pretty sure that it was my Aunt Lorraine who also got me the Mattel Sunshine Family dolls and their Surrey Cycle too.
I remember at some point later on, someone got me the craft/pottery wheel for the Sunshine Family, which is discussed here as other girls remember these dolls too.
The Sunshine Family lived sort of the "hippie" lifestyle.
They wore sandals, rode a bike, made their own clothes and threw their own pottery, farmed organic produce.
You could say these dolls were living in the times, they were made in the early 1970's when people were living in communes and growing their own food, making their own clothes, and making crafts and pottery too.
I loved those dolls, I remember sitting there using the tiny little pottery wheel and making little bowls and pots and pans for them to use to cook with.
Aunt Lorraine just had this gift for finding me the most beautiful, unique, and fun to play with dolls.

I'm sad that she's gone, I'm sad to know that my Mom is sad and hurting, but at the same time, I'm relieved that Aunt Lorraine is no longer in any pain from the cancer that she had.
I'm happy to know that she had gone to Texas to be with her daughter, Toni, in the end, that she was with her grandsons and family.
I have very good memories of her and that is what is making it a little bit easier to deal with the news of her passing.

Posted by Kat at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It's taking about 1 minute to warm up the tap water in the kitchen and bathroom, and I don't want Sebastian to step into a freezing cold shower when he has to take his shower for school, so when the alarm goes off at 6am and I get up to use the bathroom before waking him, I'll turn on the shower to get it warmed up and ready for him.
The water is seriously cold coming out of the faucets.
Our hot water heater isn't inside the house, it's in a closet in the carport, like where we keep the lawn mower and and outdoor junk, so the water tank is super cold from the cold weather we're having.

That's Carmine kitty up there.
He's sound asleep on 1 of our quilts, and Sebastian covered him up in my baby blanket.
About an hour or so later I went to check on Sebastian because he's got a cold and not feeling well, and I found that Carmine had rolled around and got himself all curled up in the blanket.
It was just too cute so I had to take a picture.
I pet him and he started purring wicked loud, I know that he's happy to be inside at night.
He goes in and out all day long, and at night when you open the door and call his name, he comes running to get back in the house because he's so cold.
He gets in, runs straight for the food bowl, gets a drink, and then he finds a blanket to curl up on to try and get warm.
When he came in tonight, he laid right in front of the portable heater for about an hour, his fur was so hot, I thought to myself how could he stand it, but I guess after being outside all day long in the chilly weather, it was exactly what he needed.

But yeah, both Sebastian and Mark have colds, they are coughing, sneezing, and just plain miserable.
Sebastian had a bit of a fever before bed, so I don't even know if he's going to be able to go to school tomorrow.
The school has rules about fevers, if you have one, stay home.
That's just great huh?
He's perfectly healthy and fine for the entire Christmas vacation, and he ends up catching a wicked cold the weekend before he has to back to school.
Ugh.

Posted by Kat at 3:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A road construction project, a HUGE one, down in Fort Myers has been halted due to a possible asbestos issue.
The $25 million dollar Summerlin road project has been stopped, roped off with caution tape, while state inspectors check for asbestos, a cause of cancer, most specifically, mesothelioma.

While county leaders are reserving their comments until after results are announced, on Monday state inspectors shared more information about what they're finding and how much asbestos may be out there. "If you look in close, you can see the fibers up in here and that's usually an indication of asbestos," said Sherrill Culliver of FDEP.

Posen Construction, the contractor for the flyover, has had asbestos issues before. They were forced to clean up asbestos chunks on a site near Alico Road a few years ago. The company, which has not returned our repeated calls, has several other high price contracts in the county.

The state does allow up to 260 feet of asbestos laden material to be at a construction site. If the tests come back positive and exceed that amount, those responsible will face environmental fines and, possibly, action by the county.

If the state of Florida knew that Posen Construction has had issues with asbestos before, if they knew that they had gotten in trouble for using it before, why did they hire them again?!
This is a huge project, a $25 million dollar project that has now been halted while state investigators search for the asbestos.
If it's found, all of the work that has been done so far on the flyover will have to be taken down and the whole thing started again, costing the state of Florida, the taxpayers, to have to hand over even more money to get it done correctly.
I just don't understand this kind of stuff.
I don't understand why it took so long for them to start investigating this construction site when they knew that this construction company, Posen Construction, has used more asbestos than the state allowable amount on past construction projects.
When I know that someone has messed up something in the past, I don't wait for the project they are doing for me to be more than halfway completed before I start looking at it, I usually try to find somebody else before using them again.
Isn't that what most people do when they get bad customer service somewhere?
You go somewhere else or try to find someone else, before ever going back to the place that gave you bad customer service, or did a bad job, you don't go back to them again, and if you do, you keep a very close eye on them.

Does the state like wasting taxpayer money?
Apparently they do because now not only will it cost the state more money to get the flyover done correctly, but now we're paying for the investigation.
The investigators who do the work, the lab tests, the lab workers, and so on, it's just even more money that's being spent on an already very expensive road project.

Posted by Kat at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The teens went to Publix late Saturday afternoon to grab some subs for themselves for dinner, some 4-cheese pizza Hot Pockets for me, and to pick up some laundry detergent so I could do the laundry before Sebastian has to go back to school on Monday.
I know, Hot Pockets aren't exactly good for you, some people think they are totally gross, but I actually like the taste of them.
They are all that I was able to cook for myself for weeks on end for lunches after both of my surgeries, so I got used to them and grew to really like them.
Anyway, the teens picked up a big 64 use/wash-load bottle of Tide, the biggest bottle that they could find because I had that coupon for a free bottle thanks to the Bounce Dryer Bar fiasco, and the coupon did say any size, so I made sure that they knew to grab the biggest bottle on the shelves.
If they are going to give me free product because I went for 3 whole weeks with itchy red hives, a rash, and welts, from my neck all of the way down my entire body, anywhere my clothes, towels, or blankets touched, caused me to be covered in it, you can bet your butt that I'm going to get the biggest sized product available.
I had to re-wash every. single. load. of. clothes. that I had dried with that thing in my dryer, and considering I do about 6-8 loads of laundry per week, yeah, I ran out of my Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets really quickly.
After they came home, I started getting the laundry done, I think I just have 2 more loads of towels to do, and then I'll be done for a day or 2.

I posted to KatScan late last night about how cold it is here, and so I've been up all night long with insomnia and freezing my toes off.
I am still totally unable to put on socks and shoes, I still can't bend over to tie shoes either, so I've been wearing flip flops, actually, they are Dr. Scholl's sandals, and they are what I have been wearing since August 2008 after the kitties chewed apart my last pair.
Yup, I've been wearing the exact same sandals every single day since '08.
I've never had an issue with wearing sandals every day, that is until now.
Like I said, it's freaking cold outside!
I'm in the house, but the floor is cold, it's just cold in here, and I can't put on socks and shoes, and wearing my sandals would be like wearing nothing on my feet, so I went Amazon hunting for some slippers that I could actually get on without any problems.
I found some Dearfoams Women's Boucle Mules, and they look like they would work perfectly for me!

They are indoor/outdoor, foam cushioned, lined with faux fur, and slip on!
Perfect!

They come in my size, and they come in black!
Yeuss!!
I could wear them in the house as slippers, and I could also wear them outside to keep my feet warm when I have to go to the store and stuff.
The best part?
They're less than $20 bucks!
I am so getting a pair as soon as I pay off a few bills this month because I don't think my toes can survive the super cold weather much longer.

It's not usually this cold here at this time of year, it doesn't get really cold until around the middle to the end of February, the beginning of March, not right now or in December when we had a few cold fronts come through, so this super cold air is making my toes freeze and my titanium like an iceberg.
I've been wearing my Thera pod practically all night long.
Every single time it cooled off, I nuked it for another minute and then strapped it back on my lower back.
It didn't warm up all of the titanium, but at least my lower back was warm, that's the area that I have the most pain in, so it worked good for that at least.
I really should have turned on the portable heater much sooner than I did.
I completely forgot that I even had it, it was sitting right here in the living room though, right on the other side of my tower table on the floor, but d'oh! I didn't plug it in and turn it on until like 7am after spending the entire night with frozen toes.
I can be such an idiot sometimes, but at least it's starting to warm up so that when the teens wake up, it'll be a bit warmer in here.
I can't believe that Carmine the kitty wanted to go out so early, he was crying and meowing to go out starting around 6am, but I didn't let him go until a little after 7.
I'm going to go check and see if he wants back in yet.
Last night, he kept wanting to go out, and then we'd hear him scratching at the door just 10 minutes later because of how cold it was.
I bet anything he's either sitting right at the door, or sitting on the chair that's out there right next to the door.
It's still only 38 degrees!
Brrrrr!!

Posted by Kat at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In just 9 days, I will have been blogging in some capacity for 13 years.
I can't believe that I've been doing this for that long, but I'm not complaining at all, no way.
I love everything about blogging, mostly the ability to connect with people.
I've made friends from around the world because of it, that's really pretty awesome.
I've seen a lot of bloggers come and go, I've seen people give up their blogs entirely to use Facebook or Twitter, and I've seen the greatness of the community of people who blog to raise money for charities and fellow blogging friends.
It's really been an awesome experience that I don't plan on ending anytime soon.
________________________

We're not doing too much of anything today, the teens are still sleeping after staying up to watch the ball drop and then a movie after that.
I'll be going grocery shopping at some point, doing the laundry at some point after that, and then I need to sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom floor tiles as they are quite a mess.
I have no idea what got spilled on the kitchen floor, but it's a sticky mess that is making me a bit more irritated every time I have to go in there.
*stick stick stick*
Yuck.
What movie did we watch?
We watched Inglorious Basterds and it was pretty damn good.
For a fun fantasy film, it was really pretty good.

Anyway, not too much going on here right now, just me awake and waiting for the day to move a little faster.

Posted by Kat at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)