July 4, 2008
Perfect every time.
It is so far, a nice quiet day here.
Mark will be going to my sister's house for the night, Sebastian will be staying with me, and I'll have to figure out what the heck to cook he and I for dinner.
I have the most awesome recipe for sweet n' sour chicken poured over rice, but every time I make it, the boys refuse to eat the rice.
It's because I am probably the only person alive who can screw up instant rice.
I love rice, and I know the boys do like it, they eat it elsewhere, so I know it's the way I personally cook it.
So maybe if I had one of those rice cookers, I wouldn't mess it up so bad.
Lucky for me, Buy.com has one on sale this week as part of their weekly deals.
They have a Fujitronic 10-cup electric rice cooker, for just $26.99
The regular price is $54.99, so that's a huge $28 dollar savings.
It comes in either a flower or turtle pattern, and is a multi-function use pot. It can make perfect rice, porridge, or soup. Has an automatic keep warm function, a non-stick inner pot for easy cleaning, and helps make even terrible rice cookers like me, be able to cook perfect rice every single time.
At the sale price, it is definitely something I can afford to pick up, and then maybe the teens will eat my most awesome sweet n' sour chicken with rice dish.
July 3, 2008
It's a bit of a challenge.
First, I just want to give a screaming loud shout of thanks to Christine for installing MT version 4.12 for me over on my new blog.
It still doesn't have a name yet, but battles were never won in just a few short hours!
I swear, getting a whole new blog and an upgraded CMS, is like buying tons and tons of discount furniture and trying to cram it all into a tiny little house.
You just had to have it because the price was so dang good, but now it's going to take a few days to fit it all in the house the right way.
Version 4.12 is not like the version of MT this blog uses.
This one is still using 3.35, and I'm completely used to it, it's like a perfect fitting glove.
4.12 does things a whole lot different, and it's going to take me a few days, or a few weeks, to get the hang of just what it is they've done with everything.
For the life of me, I cannot switch up the sidebars.
I messed with it for like 2 hours I think, and got nowhere.
Oh well.
I will have plenty of time tomorrow to learn things.
Sebastian decided to go home with my sister tonight because Matthew has invited him back over to play again tomorrow, and it's just easier for Jo to take him home with her, than it is to try and pick him up really early in the morning again.
He will be home tomorrow night though.
Mark and I went and did the shopping, ate dinner, and watched a bit of tv, and now he's playing his video games again.
It's all good, he earned that play time tonight.
He picked up, carried, and put away all the heavy stuff from shopping, and then he changed out the litter boxes, took out the trash and recycles without me asking him to do any of it, so yeah, play on young man, play on!
Ok, I really need to go catch up on some work and stuff, and then maybe try and learn some more new stuff.
Later days!
July 3, 2008
Notice anything missing?
That is the titanium bar tongue ring I wear.
It's missing the other ball at the end.
Guess where it is?
See, I had to have that MRI today, and they make you take off all of your jewelry, so it requires me taking out all my piercings as well.
When I got home I put them all back in, and I must not have tightened it enough, and during dinner, it must have come even looser.
I decided to have a little snack a few minutes ago, and I took the first bite and felt this scraping feeling against the roof of my mouth.
I immediately panicked and thought I chipped a tooth and it had scraped the roof of my mouth, so I ran to the bathroom to take a look.
No chipped teeth, so I stuck out my tongue and that's when I saw it.
My tongue piercing was missing the top ball.
Now, it didn't fall out on the floor or into what I was eating, I definitely would have noticed it falling out of my mouth, so the only obvious place that tiny titanium ball went is down the old pipes.
Yup, I swallowed it.
I came out of the bathroom and told the teens, and they both got this look of horror on their faces.
Ha!
I've had this tongue ring since 1999, so 9 years, and in these past 9 years, I have never had an issue with it.
I've never accidentally bitten on it while eating, and I certainly have never swallowed one of the balls.
There's a first time for everything they say!
I do have others so I just replaced it, not really a big deal, but I thought it was quite funny.
July 1, 2008
Well that zipper tat I am planning can now go all the way up.
I went and saw my pain doc today, and I hope he is wrong, I'll know for sure when I see my surgeon on the 15th, but he thinks this is the cause of all of my pain.
Click for bigger.
This is a slice cross scan of my neck.
My vertebrae from C2 -C4, are fused together and compressing on my spinal cord.
That's not a good thing.
He thinks it will require surgery to fix, and Doc M will be the one who decides all that.
The compression is actually called stenosis, and what it is is seriously crushing my spinal cord.
I know it's kind of hard to see, but my spinal cord is being squished pretty bad.
Doc R thinks this explains why I have so much pain in my neck, shoulder, and pretty much my whole left side.
I really don't want to have another surgery, but if it comes to that, I'll have no choice.
The stenosis is at such a level that ignoring this could mean some really bad things, and I'm not even going to get into all of that.
I can't let my mind go there.
I've been dealing with this since I got home today at 1pm, and I did my crying and screaming, and now I've moved on to the let's deal with this part.
I have to go in for an MRI of my left scapula tomorrow, back to Doc R's on Thursday, and then to my surgeon Doc M on the 15th.
So that's my update for now, I need to go make dinner for the teens, and then find something else to do.
I'm not going to dwell on this bad news, Doc R could be wrong, so I'm not going to think about it until I really have to.
July 1, 2008
Rabbit rabbit July 1 2008.
I don't know why I do that some months, maybe I'm hopeful that the first words of the first day of the month, will somehow make me have a great financial month.
Even though I don't believe in superstitions like that.
Heh.
Anyway, I should be asleep right now, I have a follow-up doc appointment in the morning, and here I am, wide awake again.
I didn't sleep at all during the day today, I just laid on the couch attempting to get some rest and not upset my stomach any further.
I haven't eaten a single thing all day.
I'm afraid if I do, it will come back up.
Or come shooting out.
TMI I know, but I hate being sick like that, I have food phobias because of past stomach bugs.
Sebastian does think it was the subs, specifically the Parmesan cheese that were put on all of them.
He said his stomach was a little upset today, not like mine, but he kept burping and tasting the cheese.
I'm really hoping that everything that is supposed to come through for me tomorrow, does.
I have a lot of stuff to take care of, and so yeah, I need those payments to come through first thing in the morning.
I guess I should go and try to sleep, I have a lot to do tomorrow and the rest of the week.
Later days.
June 30, 2008
Not quite the way to start your day.
I'm really not sure what caused it, but something I ate yesterday did a one-two punch on my stomach.
It (my stomach) was a bit upset last night before I fell asleep, but man, when I woke up this morning, I was sure that every ounce of food I've eaten in the last week was making an explosive get away from my body.
If it was the subs from Publix, it hasn't affected the boys, at least I don't think.
They are fine from what I can tell.
So anyway, I'm wicked way tired from spending the entire first half of my day running in and out of the bathroom expelling the contents of my bowels and intestines, so if I'm not around much today, it's because I'm trying to rest and not upset my stomach any further.
Later days.
June 28, 2008
Off to eat and play!
We're all finally awake, and the teens are taking their showers, then I'll head in to take mine.
We're heading over to Mindy's house this afternoon for some bbq and video gaming.
Not really sure how long we'll be gone, but we'll be off having a good time.
I hope y'all have a great day and enoy your weekend!
Later days!
June 27, 2008
Coral and over cast.
My medical tests went off without a hitch, and much faster than the estimate they had given me.
They said it would take any where from 2.5 hours, to a possible 4+ hours.
I went in at 10:30am, and was out by 12:15pm.
I really, really liked the seated/open MRI machine.
That was awesome.
They had a huge flat panel tv in the room with it, it was on the Fox news channel, *gag* but eh, it was better than nothing.
They did my neck MRI first, then I had to sit sorta sideways while they did the shoulder MRI.
Then I went in for the CT, and when it was done I went out and waited for Mindy to pick me up.
Then we stopped off at Publix really quick so I could get the cat food, toilet paper, paper plates and trash bags I didn't go get yesterday.
Just as I was heading out the door yesterday afternoon to go, it started raining a little bit.
Rather than risk getting soaked, I just waited.
I took the above picture while waiting at the medical park for Mindy.
These bushes of flowers were all over the place, and they were just so pretty and bright in today's over cast skies.
I love that beautiful coral color of the flowers.
I have no idea what kind they are, but they are just really pretty I think.
I barely got any sleep last night, perhaps 3 hours, my alarm never went off, so I woke with a quick-start panic to my day.
Mindy's clocks at her house were all off by like 20 minutes, so she was running late as well.
We had a good laugh about that though.
It's kinda funny that we both were totally screwed up this morning.
Tomorrow, both our families will be getting together to spend some time hanging out.
Maybe the beach in the morning, a little bbq in the afternoon.
The teens can all drive each other crazy playing video games.
It'll be nice to be leaving the house to do something fun, rather than the usual leaving the house to go do sucky stuff like doctor's office visits.
I need a just take it easy kind of day.
I'm always doing stuff, so it will be really nice to just chill out for a few hours.
Well, off to try and catch up on all my blog and forum reading and stuff I do with those.
Later days.
June 25, 2008
Watch reruns if they replay your memories.
I love how Dove chocolates come with happy little sayings printed inside the wrappers.
June 24, 2008
Save some, spend some.
I wish I had had some extra cash on me tonight, because Publix had this huge shelf section filled with all sorts of clearance items.
They had so much stuff on it like some really nice place mats, their cute little matching salt and pepper shakers, table cloths, candles, soaps, laundry detergent, baby items, and holiday items.
All of it marked way, way down.
I always look at the clearance section, and if there are any good deals on food items like canned foods or pastas, I snag those right up because I like to keep my cupboards stocked with the basics.
I did grab a couple different spices they had on the shelves, and I asked the manager who was stocking even more items on it, why these were all so cheap now.
He said they had decided to no longer carry that particular brand of spices and herbs any more, so they had to make room on the regular shelves for the other brands and a new brand they now carry.
I bought 4 bottles, cinnamon, oregano, basil, and garlic salt.
All 4 bottles were normally priced at $2.99 each.
I got all 4 of them for exactly $2.00
Bargain-o-rama baby!
I picked up some more lunch meats, ham and Genoa salami, more bread, a pound of burger so I could make spaghetti later in the week, and some subs for dinner tonight.
Summer is sub and lunch meat season at our house.
It's amazing how much teenagers can eat.
I just went shopping on Thursday when I got paid, and had bought ham, salami, and roast beef, a pound each, and when I came home from the doctors today, all of it was gone.
It lasted about 5 days, that's not too bad I guess, with all 3 of us eating it I suppose.
Oh!
While I was waiting in line and ordering the lunch meats, Sebastian was waiting to order the subs.
The guy who was working the sub counter completely ignored him, and waited on 3 other customers who came to the counter after we did.
I got done getting the meats and walked over there, and Sebastian was like "Mom, let's just go, he keeps ignoring me, let's get something else, he won't wait on me."
The guy heard him, and I looked right at him and said, "I've been standing over there getting what I need and watching my son. You did ignore him, you took people who were in line after him, why? We are in here all the time, you know him, he buys subs all the time."
He tried to say he didn't see him, and I said "You didn't see this 6 foot tall young man standing here?"
He stuttered an apology, and a lady who always works in the deli and usually waits on the teens, came over and pushed the guy out of the way and took Sebastian's order.
There was a manager standing there, she heard the whole thing, and she pulled the guy aside and spoke to him. Then the guy took off his apron and walked into the back room.
Maybe she sent him on a break or fired him, I don't know, but I do know that this isn't the first time he's ignored the teens when they order subs or deli meats.
Mark can't stand the guy, he says he does it to them all the time, and Mark has had to raise his voice to get service.
It's not like the teens are really young kids with no money, they always pay for everything the buy, and the amount of times we are in there buying subs and other lunch meats from Publix, you'd think they would treat them a little better.
Maybe that guy just hates teenagers, and I know some teens can be real idiots and troublemakers, but my boys are always respectful and polite.
I've like totally rambled on, sorry about that, but bad customer service just irritates me.
June 24, 2008
I probably glow in the dark by now.
I cleaned out my SD card from my camera, so I have tons of room on it to take pictures with, and in a little bit, Sebastian and I are heading to Publix to grab some easy and light food for dinner, and then something for the teens to eat for lunch tomorrow because I won't be home.
I always take my camera with me because I just never know what I'll see along the way, or even while I'm in there.
Tomorrow I have to go have a 3D CT scan done at 12:30, and then a cervical (neck not cervix) and shoulder MRI at 1pm.
I'm hoping my sis can drop me off at least, and then I'll take the bus back home.
The radiology place called me back this afternoon (at frigging 3:45pm) with these appointment times, and so I had to ask sis if she'll be able to drop me off because Mindy already has plans to take her daughter swimming tomorrow afternoon, and I'm not going to screw that up.
I'd rather be swimming with them instead of spending 2 hours inside giant machines being scanned I tell ya.
Katie, Mindy's daughter, is such a good sport.
She goes with us to my doctor's appointments, and it's boring as hell.
I get bored sitting there waiting, so being an 8 year old in a boring doctor's office is pure torture.
I think she does great though, she does her best to behave and wait it out, and my doc was running behind today, so yeah, major long boring waiting time.
I'm pretty sure bus 15 runs the full length of Clark road, so I should be able to catch it and ride it back to at least the intersection by my street.
I've had so many of these tests in the last 6+ years now, I wonder if my organs glow by now.
Seriously, I've had 17 MRIs, 13 CT scans, 4- 3D CT scans, well over 100 xrays, and then about 10 or so specialized radiation type tests where they strap you to a table and inject dye in your spinal canal and tip the table all over the place.
I'm not a fan of the 3D CT scans though.
That stuff they inject you with, it makes you get instantly hot, you get nauseous, and it feels like you pissed yourself.
It's not too much fun, and then I have to go straight from that test into the MRI machine.
I think Doc M. checked off that I can use the seated MRI machine though, which is cool because you sit on this special chair, and the front of the machine is open.
So it won't be as claustrophobic as the laying down machine.
I'm just going to go do it and get it over with though.
I don't have much choice anyway, so do it and then sit and sweat while for the bus to come back home.
That's another reason for me to need my mp3 player charged up.
It'll keep me from losing my mind while waiting for the bus.
June 16, 2008
On my mind all day.
It's been a super quiet summer day here.
The teens and I haven't done much at all, we have been playing some games, watched Clerks II
This news story has been on my mind all day.
TURLOCK, California (AP) -- Police killed a 27-year-old man as he kicked, punched and stomped a toddler to death despite other people's attempts to stop him on a dark, country road, authorities said.
June 15, 2008
I'm losing weight again.
I have been wanting to and trying to, lose weight.
I know I need to, and not really a lot either, just about 20 lbs or so.
So I have been reading a lot of diet pill reviews on line, learning about all the new diet pills that are out there, but I'm losing weight anyway, without pills and actually, without much working out either.
I'm just getting fuller, faster.
I made mesquite bbq'd ribs and a caesar salad for dinner tonight, 4 ribs per person, and a nice helping of the salad.
I was only able to eat 2 ribs, and they were actually very small, from the smaller end of the ribs I bought, and my salad.
I ate my salad first, and then ate the 2 ribs, and when I picked up the third one, I just wasn't interested in eating it.
I ended up giving the remaining two to Mark.
I felt totally full, and really kind of over full.
It's been this way for a few weeks now, I just don't have much of an appetite anymore.
Yesterday was the same when I bought the subs for us.
I bought us all full length subs, and I had eaten about half of a half, got a phone call, and when I came back to sit down and finish eating, I had completely lost my appetite and felt full.
I don't know what is going on, but I like it if it helps me lose weight.
June 15, 2008
How will I survive summer break?!
I went and did my actual grocery shopping for the week today, and wow, the prices of food are just continuing to rise and rise.
Most of the coupons I had in my stash, were not for any food items that I needed, and the only non-food item that I needed to get (because I forgot) was dish soap, so no coupons were used this week.
That makes for a painful shopping experience.
I somehow managed to save $20.89 on in-store specials, but that's nothing really, and not what I'm used to saving.
I just don't know how I will be able to make the food and the food budget, get us through the summer months while the teens are out of school.
During the school week, I am the only one home during the day, and I barely eat any lunches most days, but now with them home, I actually have to stock lunch items.
They get reduced meal prices at school, so during the school year, I mainly just have to worry about dinner and breakfast.
On the weekends, they sleep during breakfast and lunch.
The prices on food are rising and rising, and it's getting harder and harder to manage meals on my super tight budget.
Last year at this time a loaf of white sandwich bread was just .89 cents.
That same loaf of bread today is $1.29.
That may not seem like a lot, but when you have 2 teenagers who need to eat, that's a big jump in price.
The same for the price of meat, chicken, milk, and non-perishables.
Everything has risen in price anywhere between .49, to on some items, as much as a $2.00 price increase.
It's crazy!
How are all you moms managing so far?
And single moms, what are your plans to save as much as you can on just your one income?
June 11, 2008
It's been 3 hours, you just noticed it was missing?!
My neighbor needed to go grocery shopping, and she's currently not allowed to drive due to her health, so she asked me to come with her in the cab.
She hasn't ever ridden in a cab.
I know, I was like what?
Who has never ridden in a cab?!
So yeah, me being the good person I am, I called the cab for her, and agreed to go with her.
She spent nearly 2 hours shopping.
Up and down every aisle, had to look at everything even though she had a list.
And it wasn't a big list either, but by the time she got done, she had filled the basket on the motorized scooter she was riding in, and a whole other cart which her son was pushing.
$241 later, she thinks she got everything.
I did need a few things, cereal, milk, dinner for tonight,pet supplies like the cat food I forgot to get the other day, more soda, kool-aid, and a few other things which are completely slipping my mind right now.
Then I just followed her and her son around while she looked at everything.
I can't do that.
I'm one of those people who knows what I need, I go in, get it, and get out.
I cannot spend hours in the grocery store just looking at stuff.
They have food, household cleaners, and basic household crap, why could you possibly need to look at everything?!
So we finally checkout and go outside to call and wait for the cab.
It took them about 10 minutes to get us, but damn it was hot, and damn was she complaining.
So we get home, I had already called the teens to meet us in the driveway to help unload the goods, ours and theirs, because her kid is a lazy bum, and we've now been home for 3 hours.
She just called me to ask if I ended up with her bag that had paper towels in it, and "God only knows what else!", and I said nope, your son was the last one to take groceries from the cab, ask him what he did with it.
She said he doesn't know, which translates to he left it in the cab.
So she needed their phone number to call them and ask if they found her bag of groceries.
For a brief second, I thought she was going to ask me to call them and ask, but amazingly she didn't.
I gave her the number, wished her luck, and hung up.
I don't understand how it took 3 hours to figure out she was missing a bag of groceries, but whatever, I did my good deed for the day, the teens did theirs.
I'm tired again, and I need to find something to eat for dinner.
I bought the teens subs and salad, so they are full and happy, now for me to eat something before I pass out.
All I've eaten was what I had at McD's today.
Later days!
June 11, 2008
Still no idea what it is.
I just got back from my pain doc appointment a little bit ago.
The pain doc is till not sure what it is, and is very glad I'm seeing my surgeon on Friday.
He said no matter what it turns out to be, call his office, and tell one of his nurses when I get home from that appointment.
I'm still banned from doing any ellipticals workouts until we know what it is, but amazingly, even without working out, I've lost some weight.
I told him it's not that amazing, I've been sick the last few days.
When you're vomiting and the smell of food makes your stomach turn so much you can't eat, it's pretty damn easy to lose weight.
But I am doing better today.
I've been taking it so easy the last few days and having the teens put staphaseptic on the red spot, so I was able to eat last night and today.
Mindy drove me again, and we took her daughter Katie, and Sebastian.
When we got done at the docs, I had promised Katie that if she was good and patient while waiting for me, that I would treat her to McDonald's for lunch.
But when we got out, it was still too early for lunch, so we went to Best Buy and bought Sebastian the graphics card he needed for his computer.
He had most of the money in a gift card he got for his birthday from his Aunt Heather, and I paid the balance.
Then we got to McD's, and ate, then came home.
I installed his graphics card, and then he installed the rest of his Sims games, and now he's a happy camper.
I'm way tired, and need to rest for a little bit, and then I have a lot of catching up to do.
Later days.
June 8, 2008
It's all bleach flavored and tingly.
I had Sebastian scrub the tub with Soft Scrub today, it really needed it.
Teens are nasty, dirty, filthy creatures, who just leave layers of brownish colored soap scum on the sides and bottom of the tub, so I had the biggest dirt covered teen clean it.
Sebastian is the one who goes outside all of the time with no shoes on, runs through puddles, and climbs trees, plays for hours on end in the dirt and grass, and then comes in the house and proclaims he "must wash his feet."
He does wash his feet, but he does not wash the muddy filth down the drain when he's done, he just leaves these brown foot prints on the bottom of the tub.
Anyway, I had him clean the tub and I put the Soft Scrub in the tub.
Had I left him to do it, the brand new bottle would have been empty.
Just squirting it in there so he could clean, and then being the one to take the shower sprayer and rinse the tub after, all I can taste and smell is bleach.
I've blown my nose, brushed my teeth, rinsed with mouthwash, and I even went so far as to squirt water up each nostril a few times in the hopes of rinsing the bleach off of any nose hairs that were clinging to the smell of it.
Nope.
Everything still smells and tastes like bleach.
Dinner should be just scrumptious.
Not.
And speaking of dinner, as I was removing the foil for the last 10 minutes of baking, the scalding hot steam escaped in a quick gush on my poor left index finger that was trying to remove the foil.
I let out a scream only someone in extreme pain could possibly make, and Mark came running.
He finished removing the foil and pushed the rack and pan back in, and closed the door.
This is HUGE for him, as he always fears getting burned by the oven.
Perhaps it's all these years of watching me sustain burns that made him that way.
Hrm.
Then he ran the cold water, grabbing me by the arm and forcing my finger underneath while he searched for ice from the freezer.
We don't have any ice, so he grabbed a bag of frozen broccoli and made me hold it on there.
I now have a lovely steam blister on the top of my finger.
Yay.
Now I have to go take dinner out and serve it up, and I'll be glad when that's done.
Just bending to put it in there, remove the foil, and now one last time to get it out, is seriously no fun on my shoulder.
I'm going to eat and take a pill, and then watch some crappy tv for the night.
June 7, 2008
Diet sized Ben and Jerry?
Sebastian and I went to Publix yesterday to buy more food for the food-inhaling teenagers, and I decided I wanted some ice cream.
They were out of the fudge royal we all like, so we decided to get some Ben & Jerry's.
That's when we spotted these diet sized(?) ones.
They were only $1, and they only had 2 flavors, so I grabbed 2 cookie dough and 2 chocolate fudge brownie ones for the boys, and I got myself a regular sized Phish Food.
But aren't these cute? Have you seen them?
Adorable baby or diet sized ice cream!
Hopefully after I catch up on some of my bills this month, I can start shopping for some slipcovers for the sofa and love seat.
I do love my leather furniture, but in the summer, your body sticks to it.
It's rather gross and uncomfortable, so I want to find some nice burgundy colored slipcovers to put over them.
I need to get caught up on everything though.
I've had so many doctors appointments to pay for all last month, 3 so far this month, and another big one coming up on the 13th.
And I really hope the DOT has fixed things on the interstate by then, so that I can actually make it to my appointment on time.
We had a tanker truck fall off an overpass and explode a few days ago, which made the southbound lanes of both the overpass and the lanes below where he landed, get destroyed.
They demolished the overpass yesterday, and it will take up to 6 weeks to rebuild the new section.
For now, they are putting a divider on the north bound lanes, which will make it 2 lanes going both north and south on just the one stretch of road.
It's a big mess.
June 5, 2008
It's poppin'! Zit poppin'!
Poor Mark, he inherited his father's bad face genes, lots of acne all the time.
We've tried just about every single product that others have suggested were the absolute best acne treatment they ever used, and we're still not getting great results.
He has some good days, but most of the time, he's got at least 3-4 zits right smack in the middle of his face, and boy doesn't it drive him nuts.
I just keep reminding him to wash his face really good while he's taking a shower, and use the face pads when he gets out, and then for pimples that are already there and formed, I have this tube of stuff that like instantly dries them out.
We've also done the plain white toothpaste on the zits over night, but eh, it's summer, he has bad genes, he's stuck with the zits.
Tonight, the teens and I will be going over to Mindy's for dinner, I have no idea how long I'll be able to stay though.
The meds are helping, but I'm still getting waves of spasms, and if I move too much, bam! Instant muscle freak out happens!
I slept ok last night, only woke up twice due to pain, but I really am trying to give my shoulder as much rest as I can so it heals.
Not over-doing anything, heck, I'm barely doing anything at all. haha
Ok, I suppose I should get going and check on stuff I'm supposed to do from my chair, and then I'm going to lay down and watch some tv while I rest my shoulder again.
June 4, 2008
Well, I didn't have a heart attack.
I have been having some really serious pain from my shoulder thingy, and it moved to the front, in my chest.
My ribs feel like they are broken, but they're not.
The Norflex injection I had on Monday, never kicked in to take the pain away.
All it did was make me vomit while I was waiting at Walgreen's to pick up my script for the Norflex pill muscle relaxer.
I had to excuse myself and run to their restroom.
Mindy has been running me back and forth to the doctors, the pharmacy, and last night, her husband drove me to the ER.
The pain was so intense all day yesterday, and I kept refusing to go to the ER, but Sebastian called Mindy and told her I really needed to go, that the pain was so bad, I could barely move.
So her husband Chris came over and drove me there, where the doctors were concerned that I may have had a heart attack.
My blood pressure was through the roof, so they did an EKG, an angiogram, a chest x-ray, and another CT scan with contrast this time.
They thought maybe a heart attack or a blood clot, but it was neither.
I kept telling them and my own doctor, that this is the muscle or a pinched nerve, by the way it feels.
If I bend over or even move too quickly, even just a tiny movement, it feels like my muscles are ripping and they burn.
No one has the slightest clue what is going on with this, the ER doc said perhaps it's too much muscle growth around the fusion, or a pinched nerve, or maybe a tear in the muscles, but he really doesn't know.
His parting words to me last night at 11pm were, "I have never seen a fusion this big or anyone with this much hardware inside. Your spine is beyond the realm of my medical education. You really need to go see your surgeon. I think he's the only one who is going to be able to figure this out."
I went back to my pain doc today, told him about last night, and he's just as stumped as the ER doc was.
He suggested that I may have to go to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, to have them run a full battery of tests. He's thinking it's an ulcer or my pancreas, maybe my gallbladder.
He just doesn't know.
I've had an ulcer, this does not feel anything like an ulcer.
I'm not throwing up, I'm not getting the diars, my stomach does not hurt.
This is my shoulder blade right next to my spine, and my chest between my breasts, and under my left breast, it's the muscles, not the stomach, and the gallbladder is on the right side of the body, not the left.
It could be the pancreas, that's in the middle, like right below the rib cage, but I don't have pain there.
He gave me a much stronger pain pill this time, 15mg oxycodone, and to take 1 tab 3 times a day as needed for pain.
I just got home a little bit ago, and took one, I'm waiting and hoping for it to kick in soon.
It hurts to sit, lay down, pee, and OMG, typing is absolutely killing me.
Any movement of my left arm is sending shooting, stabbing, burning pain into my chest and shoulder blade.
It feels like the muscles are ripping apart.
I can't take much more of this, this new med has got to work, it just has to.
I have work to do, and the boys, the poor boys, have been eating sandwiches and frozen pizzas since Friday.
Mindy said if it still hurts too much, she'll either bring a hot meal over for them, or come cook something for them here.
I'm hoping that I can at least walk Mark through cooking something, and when it's done, I'll take it out of the oven.
Both the boys have this fear of getting burned when taking something out of the oven.
It's silly I know, but they are always so afraid they will burn themselves on the pans or the rack.
I have to call my surgeon and set up an appointment for as soon as possible.
I'll do that in a little bit, I need to rest a bit first, I'm tired and in agony.
I need to see if my sister can take me, and if she can't, Mindy said she can do it.
I hate asking people to give me rides and ask for help, his offices are so far away.
He has one in Safety Harbor, and one in Tampa, but both are a pain in the butt to find.
Sis and I get lost every single time, and we've been there multiple times now.
We take for granted the various muscles in our body, and what they allow us to do, until those muscles get injured.
Simple tasks like pulling up and down your pants to pee, it's such an easy movement, we do it all day long, but even that so easy movement, is torture right now.
Brushing my hair after a shower, sends waves of pain through my shoulder, washing my hands, brushing my teeth, such easy tasks, are murder.
June 1, 2008
Rabbit rabbit birthday
My little baby boy is 15 today.
He is no longer small enough to fit on my lap, he's almost 6 feet tall.
He's smart, and handsome, funny, and a great human being.
He's caring, loving, and helpful.
And he's grown up right before me, in the blink of my eyes.
He's awesome, and amazing, and I'm so proud to be his mother.
May 29, 2008
Save money on your grocery bills.
I was sent this link today for the Grocery Game.
The Grocery Game is a website that can save you hundreds of dollars on grocery bill each month. Log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and you're off to win The Grocery Game!
When you play, you'll get a weekly list (called Teri's List) of the lowest-priced products at your supermarket matched with manufacturers' coupons and weekly specials -- advertised and unadvertised. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, and presents it to you in a straightforward format.
If you don't cancel, you will begin the full membership automatically, and once your full membership is activated, you will be billed $10 every eight weeks for a single store List.
That's only about $5 a month. For each additional List add $5 every eight weeks.
Part of how this works, is that the Grocery Game not only finds the sales fliers for the stores in your zip code and matches them up to coupons from say, the Sunday newspaper, it also gives you website links for coupons you can print out, cut out, and use at your grocery store.
My problem is that the Publix where I live closest to, and have been shopping at for years now, does NOT accept any printed from a home computer coupons, due to fraud.
Apparently, these types of shopping helper websites, had so many people printing coupons in duplicate and triplicate, that the vendors were not paying the stores back on ANY of the printed coupons, because people were printing so many of them, and changing the value of the coupons using photoshop and other programs.
One of the managers at my Publix told me they lost thousands of dollars on these fraudulent coupons, so they now refuse to take any printed coupons at all.
It must be an original vendor coupon from the Sunday papers, magazines, or sales flier coupons, or you don't get to use them.
And after skimming the message board at Grocery Game, it seems quite a few people canceled their subscriptions due to how much work it was to just print out 1 list for 1 store, go to all these other websites, and print and cut out all these coupons.
And another thing I found off putting, was when you read or post to the message board, you cannot talk about anything that may be printed on your shopping list.
It's all very hush-hush information, and they have mods who will edit out any list specifics because they want to protect "the list".
O-k!
This site may be worth it to some people, but it's not something I'm going to try after reading the site over, and the message board postings from unhappy grocery gamers.
I can't use printed coupons where I shop, so most of the coupons from the internet that would be on my list, would be a total waste of my time.
___________________
What I do to save money is to look at the Publix weekly sales ad on line, (most major grocery chains have a website with their weekly sales ad on line) and then I go through my shopping list and add a check mark next to the sales items.
Then I go through my coupons and add another check mark to anything on my list I have a coupon for.
Then I go back through the sales flier, and match up my coupons to anything else they have on sale.
When I get to the store, I grab the paper sales ad, rip out the coupons they have, and also grab the coupon fliers they have in the spinning rack at the front door, and go through my list again to see if any new coupons match my list.
If not, they get tucked in my purse for my next shopping trip.
I take advantage of pretty much every in-store unadvertised special they have going on if it's an item I use or could use.
I have tons of staples items in my cupboards at any given time.
I take full advantage of all the buy 1 get 1's too, and try to match up coupons on those items as well.
I pretty much never go to the store without coupons, and I take my time going through each of the aisles so I don't miss anything, and I also eat before I go.
I do not impulse buy if I can help it, and going on an empty stomach pretty much insures you will buy crap you don't need.
Basically, you don't need to pay a website to show you this week's sales ad, it's on line and usually sent through the mail in that big stack of ad papers that gets jammed in your mailbox on Tuesdays.
Or you can make a quick swing-through to the front door of your grocery store on your way home from work or other errand running, and just grab the ad and go back home to work out your list.
May 29, 2008
Spam in the can!
No doubt many of you moms and dads are feeling the pinch of rising gas and food prices, and many families are buying more Spam.
Yes, I said Spam. 
Food prices are increasing faster than they've risen since 1990, at 4 percent in the U.S. last year, according to the Agriculture Department. Many staples are rising even faster, with white bread up 13 percent last year, bacon up 7 percent and peanut butter up 9 percent. There's no sign of a slowdown. Food inflation is running at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent as of April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to sales information coming from Hormel, provided by The Nielsen Co., Spam sales were up 10.6 percent in the 12-week period ending May 3, compared to last year. In the last 24 weeks, sales were up nearly 9 percent.
I'm not a fan of Spam, but if times get super tough, I'm sure I can find ways to use it to save myself some money on my grocery bills.
I know there's a ton of recipes out there that make good use of the meat in a can, you probably even have some.
There's Spam fried rice, Spam sandwiches, Spam, egg and cheese sandwiches, and Spam burgers, Spam mac n' cheese.
There's a ton of ways to cook Spam!
So tell me, if you are a fan of Spam, what's your fave way to cook it that your family will actually eat.
You can post the recipe in my comments, or link to a recipe you like if it's on line.
Annnd go!
May 28, 2008
You know I want it.
I have become so crazy obsessed with checking out Buy.com's weekly deals since I found it because of all of the cool products, gadgets, DVDs, computer parts, games, and other items that they put on the list every single week.
I have found so many things that I want and and I swear, if I had a no-limit credit card, I'd have all the things I covet.
So I was browsing the sale items this week, and I came across a kitchen item that I have been wanting since the first time I saw it on tv at like 3:00am when I had insomnia really bad one night.
It's one of those counter top halogen ovens.
They are pretty pricey, I'd never buy one at it's normal price of over $100, but Buy.com has it on sale for $91.99, and then there's a $20 rebate, so the final total price is $71.99, and it has free shipping!
I love these things!
You can take a frozen piece of meat and toss it on there, and it will cook all the way through without burning the outside, and without being raw on the inside.
It uses 75% less energy than a regular oven, it's smokeless and odorless, and won't heat up the whole kitchen or the house like a regular oven.
It can cook 8lbs of meat, or if you add the extender ring that comes with it, you can cook a whole 16lb turkey in it in half the time of an oven!
That would be awesome!
Just set the timer and walk away until it beeps.
It cooks by using conduction, convection, and infrared rays, it's practically fool proof.
I love turkey, but I don't love cooking a turkey.
I am always checking it and worried that it won't be cooked all the way through, and oh man, it gets so hot in the house when I cook one up.
I always say how glad I am that turkey is usually a traditional holiday food, because of how long it takes to cook one, and how hot the house gets.
With this, I'd be able to make turkey more often and not screw it up or sweat to death while making it.
If I had the money right now, I'd totally buy it, but things are a wee bit tight for me right now, (Who isn't money tight for right now?) it's the end of the month, Sebastian's birthday is Sunday, the teens get out of school for the summer on Friday, so yeah, t-i-g-h-t, tight right now.
But I will just keep checking the weekly deals, and with any luck they'll put it back on sale again sometime in the future.
I will have one of these someday.
I will have it and I will love it, and I'll give it a name and it will be mine!
Oh yes, it will be mine.
I love cooking and have worked in quite a few restaurants in my career days, and would have loved to have gone to a culinary school or apprentice under a great chef, so I've provided the following information for any one who may also be interested in going to culinary school, or just learning to be a better cook!
Get the most out of your cooking (and get a fulfilling career) by finding your nutritionist or dietitian degree at Guide To Healthcare Schools. If you're having fun learning to cook, Guide To Career Education offers a degree in culinary arts -- join the pros!
May 23, 2008
Total saved = ?
Total before coupons and deals - $148.36
Store flier coupons - $3.75
Vendor coupons - $18.99
Advertised special savings - $17.65
Advantage buy savings - $7.58
In-store special savings - $2.50
Total savings = $50.47
Total spent = $97.89
I did ok today.
I bought quite a few buy 1 get 1's, and I got two bottles of Kraft salad dressing for free because they had them on buy 1 get 1, and in my Kraft Food & Family magazine, was a coupon for a free bottle.
They normally cost $3.69 each, so the one with the coupon was "paid", and the other was my get 1 free deal.
Heh.
I get a little giddy when I can sneak in a deal like that.
Now, onto what Publix has done.
Grr.
They closed early on Tuesday night and rearranged the entire store.
All of the aisles are totally swapped around, I have no clue where anything is.
In the 10 years I have been shopping there, it's always been exactly the same.
My OCD was in hell this afternoon.
Health and beauty products are no longer to the right side of the entrance, the wine and Hallmark cards are there now.
Health and beauty is now 7 aisles over, and some of the stuff is missing.
Razor blades for instance, are no longer with the shaving cream, they are now on the end cap displays at the registers.
uh, er, yeah, that makes total sense! *rolls eyes*
Baby products, jar foods, diapers, wipes etc, are now in the aisle with the cookies and candy, which used to be in the same aisle as the diet products like slim fast and rice cakes.
Diet products are now opposite the health and beauty products in aisle 7.
The entire store is now totally swapped around.
After all my years in retail management and working at grocery stores, I know exactly why they did this.
See, if you know where every thing is, you go in with your list and can get out quickly.
If everything gets moved around and the placement of products doesn't make sense, (hello? razor blades should be with the shaving cream!) it will take customers twice as long to do their shopping, and because you will now go up and down every single aisle in search of your items, you will end up making impulse purchases.
A manager was standing at the doorway handing out maps, a list of products alphabetized, and what aisle number those products are now in.
I needed to pick up some girly things for when Aunt Flo comes to visit, and I figured they'd be in with health and beauty, where they were before.
Where they belong.
No!
They were over with the bar soaps and toilet paper in aisle 9.
Yes! that makes total sense doesn't it?!
Tampons and pads should always be with the toilet paper!
The marketing guy geniuses who figured out that feminine hygiene products should be with toilet paper, should get a big 'ol pat on the back or a quick kick to the nut sack.
I don't know why they would do that.
Maybe because when a wife asks her husband to pick up her girly things for her on his way home from work, men automatically think if it goes "down there" then it's probably like ass wiping paper, and that's where men would look first.
They certainly were not thinking about where women find all of their products like hair dye, shampoo, conditioner, shave cream and deodorant, would be the logical place to put all women's products.
Anyway, it's probably going to take me and my OCD about 2-3 months to figure out the new placements of everything, and then they'll decided to switch it up again.
But I got them.
I didn't impulse buy a single solitary item.
Neener fucking neener.
May 23, 2008
I'm skeered to go food shopping.
I have to go to the grocery store later today and get some more food for the human food disposals, but I'm worried about how much it's going to cost.
Publix is having a HUGE buy 1 get 1 free sale, but the prices of food are increasing every single day due to the trickle down effect of rising gas prices.
I'm getting far less groceries for the same amount of money than I used to just a few months ago.
Bread used to be .89 cents a loaf, it's now $1.59.
A gallon of milk used to be $3.20, it's now $4.20.
A pound of ground beef was $2.29, it's now $3.99.
The prices are getting higher and it's putting a serious crimp in my grocery budget.
And Sebastian's birthday is coming up, and I already got him a really nice digital drawing pad for an awesome price thanks to Charlotte, and I'm going to try as hard as I can to get him the computer memory he needs so he can run his Sims 2 games on his computer.
The boys Aunty Heather got them an awesome monitor instead of sending her old one like she had planed to do.
It would have cost her over $150 to pack and ship her old Dell monitor here, so she bought a 17" flat panel gaming monitor for just $89 with free shipping.
It's an Acer, just like the brand tower they have, so they have quite the nice setup going on their room.
I'd love to be able to get him the memory card though.
It will help make their computer run much faster, and help make his games look and run better.
I'm going to do some major price shopping on all the electronics sites and local stores as well.
He gets so frustrated when the Sims lag or freeze up because there isn't enough memory to keep it running for longer than an hour.
May 21, 2008
The EBS will be in effect.
The Emergency Blogcasting System will be in effect during the upcoming hurricane season.
What is that?
Well it's where I will have 2 contacts, other bloggers, that I can contact if in the event I lose power or have to evacuate due to a hurricane hitting this area.
Sarasota has not been hit in the 10 years I've lived here now, *knock on wood* but it could happen.
This year's crazy weather is making me think it could be a bad hurricane season here.
There's been a ton of tornadoes in the midwest, the earthquake in China, the cyclone in Myanmar, and flooding elsewhere in the country.
I'm concerned, but not panicking.
My 2 contacts are Christine and Holly.
If in the event I lose power or have to evacuate, I will contact the both of them to let them know, and they will post here to keep you all updated.
I may go out and check out the prices on generators now rather than wait till a hurricane is coming.
If you wait too long here, you won't get any plywood or a generator, or food and water.
I start stocking up on hurricane supplies the first week of June.
I go shopping and get canned food, batteries for the flashlight and radio, more candles, lighters, water etc etc.
Every time I go shopping, I buy at least 6 more cans of spaghettios or other easy to eat, don't need to be heated food items.
If we don't use it ourselves during season, I either slowly add things to the cupboards for the teens to eat, or I take it and donate it to an area where people did get hit.
Hurricane season starts June 1st, and I'm hoping I won't have to use the EBS, but if I do, I have 2 really great blogging friends to help me keep all my readers updated.
May 16, 2008
Bummed-out.
Yesterday when Sebastian and I went to Publix, we walked past Boogie Woogie, a CD/DVD/video game store.
They would buy, sell, and trade any of those items, I loved going there for great movies and good prices on cds.
Well, they are closing down for good at all locations.
The economy is forcing them to shut down because people just don't have entertainment money to spend right now.
The rent on the storefronts here and in Bradenton is a combined total of $19,000 per month, and they are barely making that.
The girl who was working there yesterday when we went in told us all of this while her eyes filled up a bit.
She said; "This is the best and most coolest job I have ever had. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but this place made me love coming to work everyday."
They are having a closing down sale, pretty much everything in there is marked down substantially, so we got Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 and 5 DVDs all for $49.73.
The PS2 game's normal price was $39.99, so yeah, big time price mark downs.
If you live in Sarasota or Bradenton, head on over to score some really good deals on CDs, DVDs and video games, it all has to go.
They will be shutting down for good in just 2 weeks.
I know I'll be going back to dig through the cds and DVDs some more.
It really sucks they are closing though.
No more close by music store.
Bummer.
I did ok at Publix this week, not great, but ok.
My total bill before coupons and buy 1 get 1 and the in store sales was $206.24.
In store coupons - $2.60
Vendor coupons - $6.74
Advertised savings - $26.52
Advantage buy savings - $2.70
In-store special savings -$1.24
Total savings- $39.70, which brought me down to $166.54.
Like I said, not great but ok.
I'm trying to adjust to the new meds, it's going ok so far.
They don't hold off the pain for the full 12 hours, I've had a few bouts of breakthrough pain, but they make me tired, like super duper lazy tired.
Not the same kind of pass out cold tired as the Somas did, but yeah, I'm like ultra lazy as you can see by my lack of posting today.
At least they aren't clouding my head, no blurry vision, no feeling like my heart is racing like some of the other stuff we've tried, but the tired thing is very annoying.
I hate being so tired.
It's depressing being in pain and it's even more depressing sleeping a lot.
Just not a good feeling over all.
After the boys went to school this morning, I fell back asleep and woke up at 11am.
That kind of sucked.
But I've been doing some reading and the say the tired side effects should go away in 5 days to a week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it does.
May 15, 2008
Why can't we just eat cereal every day?
I have to go grocery shopping and I don't wanna.
I just don't want to have to go buy the food that I'm going to have to cook.
Blah.
I just want to hang out at home and be lazy, play a few games, watch a few movies.
I don't want to have to go deal with people, spend money, pack it in the cab, unpack it from the cab, bring it in the house, unpack it from the bags, put it all away, and then have to cook something for dinner.
I do have to go though, I know this.
I need to get wasp and hornet killer, lightbulbs, tp, shampoo and conditioner, and all that crap.
Later days.
May 14, 2008
Just 2 more weeks! Ack!
I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.
The teens get out of school for the summer in just 2 weeks, on the 30th.
Can you believe that?!?
I was sitting here tonight watching Law and Order, and going through coupons for tomorrow's grocery stockpiling, and it hit me.
Just 2 more weeks to go and then they'll be here around the clock.
Sleeping, eating, playing video games.
Making messes, asking what there is to do, what's to eat, when is dinner, and making the dreaded summer statement, "Mom, I'm bored."
I'm hoping that Mark gets a call back about the applications he put in, I'm going to have him call the game store and ask if they had a chance to look it over yet, and would they be interested in an interview.
He went as far as applying, he can go a step further and show serious interest right?
I'm sitting here at my pc, and Shahiro and Kali are playing together, running all over the house, scrambling across the furniture, and then Shahiro found a spot to hide so she can dive-bomb on Kali.
Yeah, Kali will never see her hiding under that sheet.
Nope.
May 13, 2008
This commercial drives me crazy!
This is a commercial for Pediasure, the kids healthy meal replacement, add-on drink, to make sure they get the nutrients they should.
This commercial makes me want to slap that kid.
First, she's far too big to be sitting in the baby seat of the grocery cart.
Second, she's a pain in the ass.
"I don't like broccoli. I don't like chicken. I don't think I like waffles."
Yeah?
Then guess who's going to bed hungry tonight you little brat.
I know kids can be extremely picky eaters, but my mom had a rule, I have had the same rule since the boys could eat solid foods.
You eat what is on the plate in front of you, or you go without eating.
How do kids know what they like or don't like unless you put it on their plate and make them eat it?
Sebastian always said he hated broccoli without ever trying it.
Then I made it, mixed it in with some chicken Alfredo, and what do you know?
He ate it, said he liked it, and as soon as I told him he just ate broccoli, he was like oh, it's not that bad.
The faces that little girl makes, the tone of her voice, just makes me want to scream.
I complain every time I see the commercial, I get so annoyed listening to her voice, and the mother just smiles like it's no big deal.
No.
Sorry.
Tell the child to put a sock in it, she'll eat the broccoli, the chicken, and the waffles, or she'll be one very hungry little girl come bed time.
Oh, and she's big enough to walk beside the cart holding her mother's hand or the cart handle.
I've seen the commercial at least a dozen times since waking up this morning, and I just couldn't hold back anymore.
That kid is just so damn irritating.
May 12, 2008
Hoppy birfday to woo.
Christine made a post about kid friendly restaurants and birthday parties for kids, and entitlement jerks.
Basically the dad was mad because the restaurant didn't offer his 3 year old son no free gift or cake at his birthday when they dined out.
I worked in many different restaurants when I was working outside the home, and I can tell you that not a single one ever gave anyone, kid or otherwise, a free gift or free cake, on their birthdays.
The cake was added to the bill, and it was usually just a slice of cake from our dessert menu unless someone called in advance to arrange for a whole cake for the entire group to have.
We would sing if asked, but most people didn't because it is publicly humiliating for both the birthday person and the restaurant staff who are forced to sing it.
That dad is a butthead.
He complained about the crappy meal, the bad drinks, the bad service, and yet he expected the restaurant to shower his 3 year old with a gift and free cake, as well as sing the damn happy song.
______________
But we did do this once, to Sebastian on his birthday, at our fave Chinese buffet here in town.
He was about 10 or 11, and my sis and I felt like embarrassing him.
We pre-arranged with the manager to bring a cake over at the end of our meal, a small Pepperidge Farm one we brought ourselves, and also to sing to him.
The entire staff who work there are Chinese with very heavy accents.
We finished our meal and Sebastian thinks that's it, when the whole wait staff comes over with his cake and like 100 candles on it.
It was like on fire, I thought for sure the smoke alarms in the place were going to go off.
We never asked for the candles, the staff did that on their own, but it made it even more funny to sis and I.
They get to the table, Sebastian is already mortified because of the flaming cake o' death, and they start singing.
"Hoppy birfday to woo, hoppy birfday to woo", all really thick Chinese accents, so thick you could barely understand any of the words to the classic birthday song.
Every patron of the restaurant is staring at our table, people are standing up to see, and how could you not see?
There were 20 wait staff all dressed in matching black pants and white shirts, singing very loudly, and a tiny cake with flames shooting off the candles.
People were laughing, some were singing along, and Mark is nearly pissing himself with laughter.
My sister and I have tears rolling down our cheeks because all we wanted was the cake brought over, and maybe like 2 waiters to sing, NOT the entire staff, and it was just so loud and so bright, we were losing it with laughter.
Sebastian's face was bright red, he was so embarrassed, but it was just awesomely funny.
We've never done that again, but we threaten it every time one of the teens have a birthday.
We always take them out on their day to where ever they want to go, and when we get there, we joke about how we tipped the waitress etc to bring a cake and sing.
Both teens usually get immediately red in the face, and ask like 100 times through the meal if we're kidding or not.
We usually hold out on the joke till the very end, when we finally tell them we were kidding, but watching them get nervous every time a waiter passes by our table is priceless.
May 9, 2008
I'd paint it like the Partridges.
I had to go grocery shopping this afternoon, I know, totally crazy to go there on a Friday afetrnoon, but the cats needed food.
I thought for sure they were going to try and eat me every time I walked into the kitchen.
So I went and while I was waiting for my ride home, this big old school bus pulls into the parking lot, it's been modified like a camper, and it had painted on both sides and the back, "bus for sale".
I ooohed and ahhed it.
Yes, I'm one of those dorks who would love to own an old school bus.
I'd rock it out and paint it all sorts of groovy colors and stuff.
At least the store wasn't busy, I was actually able to shop without any problems.
In and out in under an hour.
May 1, 2008
Cuisinart food prep giveaway!
There's a lot of neat giveaways going on right now, I have 2 of my own, (just scroll down) and Lori of My Wooden Spoon, is having one right now too.
Lori is giving away a Cuisinart food prep and a really nice Calphalon wooden spoon to go with it.
I would absolutely love to win this.
Right now I have a really tiny chopper, like super small chopper.
I don't even have a blender that I could do stuff in, so this would be awesome.
And y'all know how much I love kitchen gadgets, so yeah, I followed all the rules, stumbled, techno faved, posted a comment and even a banner in my sidebar.
This would be totally awesome to win!
Thanks Lori for having an awesome contest!
May 1, 2008
2 winners book give away!
I have and will give away, 2 copies of the new book, The Hot Latin Diet: The Fast Track Plan to a Bombshell Body
More than just a diet plan, The Hot Latin Diet offers a new outlook on what it means to live well, feel great, and look fabulous. Dr. Manny introduces the 7 Latin power foods and reveals how incorporating these savory and satisfying cuisines to their diet can help women stay slim and maintain those sexy, natural curves. With everything from delicious recipes from leading Latina chefs to effective tips on balancing exercise, health, and nutrition, this fun and practical weight-loss plan reveals the simple secret to an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle and a dream bombshell body.I'll be reading my copy, (thanks so much to Dr. Manny for sending 3 copies of the book, 1 for me and 2 to give away to my awesome readers!) and then posting my review of it before the contest ends.
The contest will run from today, May 1st, to Thursday May 8th, that's 1 week to enter.
This contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike.
Here's how to enter:
1. Leave me a comment on this post.
2. Post about this contest on your blog linking back to this post and the home page (My Single Mom Life)
If you don't have a blog, just leave me a comment and you'll still be entered.
I'll be using random.org's random integer generator to draw the two winning entries.
The 2 winners will need to provide me with a home mailing address.
The information will only be used by me, and will never be sold or given away, in accordance with my privacy policy.
Dr. Manny has been featured on shows like Rachael Ray, and is the managing editor of health news at Fox.com.
Thanks again to Dr. Manny for making this contest possible, and I look forward to reading and reviewing the book as well as sharing it with 2 lucky readers!
April 30, 2008
Sorry 'bout that.
I know posting about barf and then going out to eat a greasy blue cheese burger, all in the same post, was kind of nasty, but that's just how my brain was working at the time.
Sorry if I grossed anyone out.
Anyway, the teens loved their hot wings.
They were totally surprised and like OMG! Mom I love you!, and then we sat down and watched The Golden Compass
I liked the move, a little long in some parts, but good none the less.
It also was an opportunity to discuss with the teens why so many people were pissed about the movie when it came out.
Mark brought it up when the movie ended, and he asked; "Why were people trying to get others to boycott that?"
I explained to him that it was because A) the book's author is an atheist, and B) because the things contained in the movie have an anti-religion, anti-government message.
The magisterium represents both the government and the church.
They were trying to keep people from learning about the other worlds and other people who lived in those worlds, by controlling the people by limiting the information that gets out, as well as controlling the people themselves.
Telling them what to do for their own good kind of thing.
The college was about free thought, the ability to freely learn, and pass on what they learned, about the other worlds and people, the "dust", so the people could think for themselves and not be controlled.
Mark had one of those "a-ha" moments, and then he laughed.
"So basically, the people who were attempting to get this movie boycotted, were attempting to control the free passage of thought and information, because the messages that may be learned are not what they feel is for the good of the people. How ironic."
I love that kid.
We also have another movie to watch tonight.
I'm going to introduce the teens to Patrick Bateman.
For those who don't know, he's the main character in American Psycho
While it is very violent, it is also comical.
It has a very dry sense of humor flowing throughout the film.
The business card scene is perhaps the most well known, and most brought up at any meeting where people may be handing out cards.
Last summer was one of those times when I sat around a large table and one man started handing out his cards, then another, then myself, and then everyone with a card.
We all ooh and ahhed at the thickness of the card stocks, the luster, the fonts.
Someone even mentioned how they suddenly felt like they were Patrick Bateman, and then a couple of giggles followed by those of us who know the film.
There's always someone who has no idea, and then someone else explains it.
It's a really great scene in a really great movie.
April 30, 2008
Toss your cookies.
I woke up around 3am to a wicked pain in my stomach and an urgent need to urinate.
So I'm sitting there peeing, and all of a sudden I got that hot wash over me.
You know what I'm talking about.
All of a sudden you feel super hot, you know you're gonna hurl at any second, so I grabbed the trash can and out it flew.
And it just kept on coming for the next 10 minutes.
I couldn't move from my seated position to throw up in the toilet, it was just coming that quickly.
When it finally stopped, I was exhausted, dripping with sweat, and feeling like I was going to pass out.
I cleaned myself up and made my way back to bed.
When i woke up this morning, I was perfectly fine.
It was as though I hadn't been sick over night at all, and as a matter of fact, I actually felt a 100 times better.
I have no idea what brought on the hurl or why, but I do feel much better than I have in several days.
My friend and I just got back from running a few errands and having lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.
I had the most tasty blue cheese burger and some onion rings, and then I picked up 24 hot wings for the teens to eat for dinner tonight.
I have some fries here that I can cook up to go with them, and they'll be happy.
April 28, 2008
It's better to be quiet than to complain. Again.
I took Sunday off from blogging to do absolutely nothing but rest my back and shoulder.
I had over done things in a big way all week even though I knew not to, and I paid dearly for it.
Then as I was sitting here at my desk yesterday reading through my blog feed reads, I came across ProBlogger's how to be more positive post.
And I felt guilty.
Just as I always do when I complain about the pain I'm in, here on my blog.
I don't like complaining, really I don't, but it's a daily part of my life and trying to be positive all the time, well, that just ain't happening.
The pain gets me down, I can't help it.
I know a lot of people think that those of us in chronic pain are lying about it, or it's all in our heads.
It's not, and as mean as it may be, sometimes, I wish those people who tell me that it's in my head, would get hurt and be in pain so that they finally know what this is like.
Constant chronic pain is depressing as well as painful.
There are days I don't even want to get out of bed, because between the pain and the bad feelings over it, I just want to curl up and die.
And just reading through the comments on that post, well, sorry, but it brought me even further down feeling than I was already, so I just didn't blog.
If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the hell up right?
And I'm sure I've lost readers over it, but that happens and not much I can do.
I wish my daily life wasn't like this, I wish I didn't get down about the pain and loss of "life", but I have, and try as I might to think like little Miss Pollyanna all the time, sometimes the thoughts just don't go away.
Plus, I believe in being honest with my readers.
If I have to lie and say every thing is just fucking awesome just to keep readers, then I am doing a major disservice to any of my readers.
Nobody likes a liar, even if it is to try and be more positive 'sounding'.
So anyway, I laid around and watched movies, napped, and just tried to feel better.
I watched Cloverfield
My neighbor and I just got back from Walgreen's and Publix, with both our scripts and food for our heathens.
I'm hoping that I snap outta this funk and soon, I don't like it when I'm like this very much either.
April 21, 2008
Keeping myself busy.
While waiting to find out what happens today, I'm trying to keep myself busy.
Actually, it's not that hard.
I saw a single cockroach last night, and so the deep clean has begun.
I know how it got in, that mini fridge I borrowed.
They had kept it in what is basically a storage room, used it only for sodas and beers, but the cat and dog food was stored right next to it in open bags.
In Florida, you cannot have open food anything.
Everything has to be in plastic containers or kept in the fridge.
So I've started in the kitchen where the roach was seen.
I've done all the dishes, and am just taking a small break so I don't over do things.
I'm wearing my sling so I don't mess with my arm and cause more pain too.
Next up, I'm taking everything out of the cupboards and washing all the shelves down with a water/bleach mixture.
That's not only the food cupboards, but also the ones below that hold all the pots and pans.
Then I'm going to wash down all the counter tops, wash the cupboard doors, the stove top and front, the baseboards, and bleach the sink.
Then I'll head into the bathroom and bleach the hell outta that room too.
Then I'll sweep, vac, and then mop all the floors with bleach too.
It has to be done.
If you see a single roach, it means there are hundreds more just not brave enough to come out when the lights are on.
Once every thing is clean, I'll get some roach bait/traps, and the house will be free and clear within a week.
You have to take charge of a roach situation as soon as you see one.
If you don't, they breed like crazy and it gets beyond normal cleaning and you have to call in pest control.
In between, I'm also messing with the position of the antenna so the converter box works better.
I've almost got it.
Almost.
I still can't get those 2 local channels, but I'm working on it.
April 20, 2008
I caved.
So um, yeah, I caved and bought the cake when I went shopping.
I couldn't help myself.
I haven't eaten any of it yet, but I want to, just a bite.
Argh.
I have issues man.
If I had a lot of spare money, my impulses would win out all the time.
I would eat cake when I wanted to, I would buy tvs and luxury watches, and jewelry, lots and lots of jewelry.
I'd buy what I wanted when I wanted it.
I mean, I even told myself not to buy the cake.
That I didn't need the cake, but no, I bought it anyway because as soon as I saw it, I wanted so bad.
I'm weak.
Weak I tell ya!
It's probably a good thing I'm broke as hell all the time.
April 20, 2008
They're gone! They're all gone!
For the first time since November, the roads were clear and easy, and Publix was not full of crazy old blue hairs ramming me with shopping carts.
It was lovely I tell you!
Just absolutely lovely!
The aisles were a breeze to walk through, no one was anywhere near my ass with a cart, no old ladies stealing my bread outta my cart, no snatching a can of spaghettios outta Sebastian's hands, no clogged lines at the deli, no long lines at checkout.
It was beautiful.
I almost shed a tear.
Nothing but year round locals as far as the eye could see, and NONE of the senior variety.
But there was an incident which almost made me go mom crazy.
We were in the cookie and snack aisle, and this 10 year old girl (looked to be that age) asked her mom for a package of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies.
The mother snapped back, "How much will you work out if I let you have a cookie?!"
Yes, she did stress the 'a', as in a single cookie.
The girl pleaded back, "I will workout for 2 hours mom, please! I just want one cookie mom, please!?"
The mother looked at her and said she didn't believe her, and asked her again how much she would workout for the cookie because it's all fat, nothing good can come of a cookie, and she will not let her have a single solitary one if the daughter was not going to work it off.
The daughter said, "Fine mom, I'll workout for 3 hours. I'll do laps around the neighborhood, I'll do laps in the pool, and do 100 sit-ups. Please mom, I really just want one cookie. Please. I swear mom, I'll workout till you tell me I can stop, please mom!"
The mother said no, final answer, was not going to allow her daughter to become "fat".
I thought the girl was going to cry.
She put her head down, said please one more time, and the mother gave her the look of death.
It was only then that the girl dropped it, but I swear she looked like she was going to cry.
Now, I'm not one to get in other people's business with their kids at the store, but this girl was about 10 years old, was nothing but skin and bones, and the mother was the same.
I could see her breast bone through her shirt type of skinny.
I have no idea if the girl is a sports player or is studying to become an actress or something like that, but clearly this mother was imposing her weight issues onto her daughter who was way too skinny anyway.
The both of them looked like little skeletons walking through the store.
Everything they had in their cart was labeled organic, soy milk, fruits, veggies, no meat or cheese, no cereals, and no breads.
Nothing but ultra healthy, and all this girl wanted was a single cookie.
I felt bad, really bad.
I said to Sebastian after they left the aisle that the mother clearly has issues with food and she's pushing her eating disorder onto her daughter.
Its gonna blow up in her face someday.
Either the girl becomes seriously anorexic and dies, or becomes a bullemic and starts binging and purging as a way to get a cookie, or she goes the total opposite and becomes food obsessed and becomes an overeater and puts on 200 pounds.
But it really just made me angry.
I wanted to say something ya know?
Like what the freaking hell woman, your daughter is wasting away right in front of your super skinny eyeballs, let her have a freaking cookie every now and then. It won't kill her, but starving her and denying her, and forcing extreme workouts on her just might.
This girl was really just a twig. I could see every bone in her arms, her legs, her neck and back.
It's truly disgusting when you can see the ribcage on both the front and back.
I felt like opening up the package of Chips Ahoy cookies (buy 1 get 1 free!) and just handing one to her, tell her to eat it, enjoy it, and not to worry about it.
I never tell the boys what they can or can't eat.
I don't push my emotional over eating issues on them.
I buy a lot of healthy foods, I make well balanced meals, but I also buy snacks like cookies.
They usually just eat 2 or 3, and that's all they want.
Those 2 packages of cookies will last a month or longer.
Mark isn't big on sweets anyway, he's more of a meat and potatoes kinda kid, hot wings, chicken, steak, stuff like that.
Sebastian knows his limits too, they know when to stop eating on their own, and I do not ever discuss my food problems with them.
I know I have issues, I always have had issues with food, but those belong to me and it's not right for a parent to push our issues, especially with food, onto our kids.
Anyway, it just made me mad.
Then we came home, we put everything away, and Sebastian started playing Rock Band
Now I don't know who did it, but when the game started it sounded like we had a Bose home theater system hooked up in here.
It was like super loud, OMG loud, and everyone was scrambling trying to find the remote to turn the tv down.
I love the game and the music in it, but holy crap that was loud!
The boys were of course, laughing at me freaking out trying to find the remote or the right button on the front of the tv to turn it down, but dammit man, there's good loud and then just holy hell I think the tv is gonna explode loud.
April 20, 2008
Trying to wake up and move it.
I slept like total crap.
That trigger point injection has NOT kicked in yet people.
It should have kicked in by now and it hasn't.
Every movement with my left arm is like being stabbed.
Argh!
Anyway, I'm up this early because my friend called about going shopping.
We're going to go do it this morning after we stop and pay her car insurance.
The payment she made online the other day didn't go through for some reason, so they called and told her that, and when she checked her bank balance, sure enough, it didn't go through.
Their office is open this morning at 9am, so we're going to run there and pay really quick, then hit up the store.
I love that most businesses are open on Sundays here.
Missed paying the cable bill?
No worries, just drive all the way the hell out to the end of Fruitville road and the intersection of I-75, and pay it.
You may even get to watch a funeral at the cemetery across the street while you're at it.
I totally miss how easy it was to pay bills in Maine.
You just walked into whatever grocery store was your fave, go to the customer service desk, and you could pay your phone, cable, water, get money orders, stamps, mail packages, rent movies, all kinds of stuff.
They don't do that down here and man, was that a shock when I got here.
I actually went to the CS desk at Publix that first month I was in my own apartment, and asked to pay my phone bill.
They looked at me like I was crazy.
When I explained how it works up north, they said if they did that here, they'd never do anything else at the desk. They said it was bad now with having to just sell money orders and sell and give Western Union payments, never mind do actual bill payments.
Um, they barely do that.
They will sell money orders, but they don't cash them.
They will cash paychecks, but it has to be from a company in their "book".
It's weird.
It makes me very happy that I get paid through Paypal for everything I do because when I was working outside the home, getting my checks cashed without having a bank account was a nightmare.
If the place I worked wasn't in the book, they would refuse to cash it, and if I persisted, they would call my place of employment to make sure it existed.
Um, who hasn't heard of Pier 1 Imports or Ruby Tuesday's?
Then not one, but two store managers, would have to approve the check and add it to the book.
But whatever, I'm rambling now when I should be getting my ass in gear.
I tend to ramble upon waking.
Gotta run, time is slipping away faster than I think my body can move to get ready.
Ack!
April 19, 2008
Plumpadump.
So I didn't make it to the store, she never felt better, and neither did I.
No big deal, I'll attempt it again tomorrow.
But anyway, after I wrote that last post about the cake, I started thinking how I don't really need the cake.
I mean, I have this undying craving for it, but I certainly don't need it.
I feel like I should be wearing some maternity clothes with all the weight I put back on over the last month.
I lost about 10 pounds when I was working out every day on my elliptical, then I kept injuring myself, and told not to do anything strenuous, so I put that weight back on and then some I'm afraid.
Afraid because I haven't actually looked at the scale, and I'm afraid to look at the scale.
But I can tell I have, I just know the spots on my body that weight appears in first, and yuppers, there is some extra poofiness for my lack of being able to work out and eating things I don't need but need.
Being unable to do things tends to get me down and I'm one of those emotional eaters, so when I felt down, I felt like I needed a boost, so I ate what made me feel good.
Good ol' fattening, high caloric intake, thick, rich, oh so bad for me comfort foods.
Like princess cake, which I will try like hell not to buy when I go to Publix tomorrow.
I will go, I have to.
We have other family food needs aside from my emotional cravings.
April 19, 2008
Waiting to feel better.
I have to go grocery shopping, and so does my neighbor, but the both of us are feeling the effects of today's weather.
It's sunny out, but the wind is in high gear, and it's going to rain.
So my back is twitchy, and her fibromyalgia is flared up.
As soon as she feels like she can move a bit better, we're gonna go to Publix and get what we both need.
You know, the basics and the necessities like chocolate.
I am absolutely craving some serious chocolate.
Maybe a piece of Princess cake from the bakery. I am just so so needing some thick, super rich gooey chocolate.
I know the name of it evokes visions of pink and flowery frosting, white cake, but no, Publix's princess cake is 3 layers of dark chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate mousse, a layer of chocolate fudge, and then more cake covered in a layer of chocolate ganache, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and the corners have 4 little triangles of white chocolate.
It's so so tasty and totally fills up the need for chocolate cravings.
So while we're waiting, we're watching Joe Dirt
I'm that bore
