What's finals week without a party?

Another 3 am rude awakening early this morning. This time, it was a drunk woman, or maybe 2 screaming hysterically at someone else. She was so drunk and hysterical it was impossible to understand what the heck she was upset about. But with THAT kind of hysteria in her voice, I'm guessing someone tried to move in on her man or something similar to that. This has been finals week for the college kids. I'm thinking it started out with an innocent "Hell, yes! School's out for summer!" party, and degraded from there. Anyway, everyone is sleeping with thier windows open because it's so nice out, and that means everyone could hear this disaster unfolding. Someone flashed their outside light on - that slowed things down for about 1 second while the confused drunk was blinded temporarily. I heard doors slam, I heard people trying to get these girls off the deck they were fighting on (thank goodness! What if one had pushed the other off?). Finially my next door neighbor goes out onto her deck and (her voice carries really well, and we could all definately understand what she was saying) yells "Hey! Do we need to call the police? What the F--- is going on?" That had the desired effect of shutting the party down within moments. Doors slammed. A car started and squealed away, hopefully driven by a more sober person than the girl that was yelling. Everyone settles down and tries to go back to sleep.

What this whole episode really made me wonder was this...since we could hear this insane fighting so clearly in the night air, do my neighbors hear me snore?

Random 3 am Thoughts

My brother Ray called yesterday. He said his chajuajua Jaz (who is 12) was to get her teeth cleaned, and when the vet did the preliminary blood work, she discovered something in Jaz's blood levels that concerned her. She told Ray it might be Cushing's Disease. This disease causes increased drinking and increased urination, loss of hair, panting and sometimes seizures. You treat it by giving the dog medicine that is very expensive. Anyway, I told Ray how Butch has been peeing in the house, and I can't decide if he's mad about something, or just really has to GO. I took him to the vet and described what is happening, and my vet wants me to bring in a sample of urine. HELLO! How am I supposed to get urine? Butch won't let me anywhere near him when he's "Doing his business". Why would he? I won't either. If I had some one chasing after me when I am trying to pee trying to stick a container under me, I'd run off, too.

So. It's 3:15 am, and for the "I don't even know how many days in a row now" Butch woke me up to go outside. He starts with this little Mruff, which progressively grows louder and more persistent until I wake up. I come back to bed, and Butch has to lay directly on my feet. Sometimes I try to outlast him on who moves first. I'll just leave my feet underneath him, which HAS to be uncomfortable. He'll sigh, but he won't move. I never win unless I wiggle my feet and annoy him. 15 minutes later I'm still lying in bed thinking about how Butch probably has Cushing's disease and what the implications of that may be. I'm hoping that writing this will get it out of my head so I can sleep again.

I'm going to Chicago today for a mediation tomorrow. When I made reservations there was only ONE hotel in downtown Chicago I could get into because of some convention, and that hotel is going to cost my company $285 for the one night, which is twice the price of my plane ticket!! Good lord. On the up side, Chicago is a fun place to go. Now that I've done it a few times the El is fun to ride, and I imagine I can look as bored and nonchalent as the real Chicago people. I'm sure I don't - I probably look like a country girl coming to the big city. But it's fun to pretend.

Sarah is supposed to be moving out. She is getting a place with a couple of her high school friends, and allegedly the move date is this Friday. I see absolutely NOTHING to show she's actually going however. No packing, no excited talking about it, no indication what the apartment number is... very suspicious.

My apartment complex called me today to see if I am renewing or moving. I went to the office and asked them to show me a 3 BR flat and a 2 BR flat. Right now I live in a 3BR townhouse, which I do like. The 3 BR looks o.k., the 2 BR would be a little tight I think. The thought of moving is just not appealing in any way, and I'm trying to decide if the $40-95 difference is worth moving. Changing my address both personally and updating all my licenses etc professionally, packing, unpacking, moving stuff ... I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay where I am. Here, I can have my bird feeder and plant stuff if I want to. I don't have to worry about making too much noise for the upstairs/downstairs neighbor. The positives of staying here outweigh the positives of moving.

Well, I suppose I can go put the iPod on 15-30 minutes and listen to a book on tape, or maybe a podcast of the Dave Ramsey Show. Most of the time I can fall asleep w/i the 15 minutes, and almost always before 30 minutes. I thought maybe Coast to Coast would be on the AM station, but no such luck. That show is a hoot, and if I can't sleep at least I'm amused. Another podcast I love is NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! which is a totally liberal news show that takes news stories from the week and callers try to guess who it's about. If they win, "Carl" will call and put a message on their answering machine. Even though I'm conservative, I still have a sense of humor and think the show is funny.

Nite. Morning. Whatever.

cje

Ah, Youthhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.spell.gif

4:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time, Bloomington IN.

Every door in the house slams either open or shut. The wind is blowing so hard curtains are flying straight out from the window. Suddenly, the rain, lightening and thunder, along with a smattering of hail centers directly over our living quarters. (I would say "House" but it is not technically a house. It's a 'something-plex'.) Anyway, I get up close all the windows because the rain is POURING in. I tell Sarah to come with me to the downstairs bathroom and we head down the stairs. Those of you who know me, know that I am FEARLESS in the face of tornadic weather. But that's mainly because I can usually sleep through it. The tornado sirens are bleating and Sarah, Butch and I settle down in the bathroom and wait for the sirens to stop. However, they don't.

Eventually, Sarah and I start talking, and she begins to tell me how really wrong the world is right now. President Bush is actually EVIL. We are a selfish people who think only about getting rich and not about helping the poor and unfortunate in society. Marriage is a dead institution, people shouldn't have kids because the world is over populated. I take all this in, and say something along the lines that Bush may not be the best president we have ever had, but the other choice was worse. We do tend to like our money here, but aren't we lucky that we have it to like. If, however, she wishes to take her $7.00 per hour salary which is really only about $5.25 NOW after state, federal, county, ss and medicare taxes are removed, and THEN take a couple more dollars per hour out to give to people who don't want to work, then, feel free. I, however, will hang on to my extra bucks. She protested that that isn't really fair and we should all help each other. (Gasp - that sounds suscpisiously like Communism!) So, I point out several people we know that are lazy, do not work, live off other people and the government, but are PERFECTLY healthy and able to work. They just choose NOT to bother. That gave her pause for a moment.

On to the INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE. We spoke of committment, and I pointed out how hollow committment is if you don't follow through with actual actions of committment. Kids. Yeah, the world may or may not be overpopulated, but the US is not overpopulated. Not having kids here is not going to keep Third World Nations from having kids, however. Hmmmm.

I can see the condecending attitude building and how really stupid she thinks her mother is. And it makes me laugh right out loud. I tell her, "Ah Youth. I remember when I was like you are now. There was a time when I was your age and the most important thing to me was Saving the Whales. Never mind that I lived in Iowa and had never even SEEN a whale first hand. I was going to save them from the tragedy of unfair hunting and extinction. I told her my Uncle Charlie thought that was hysterical and decided to "Save the Walrus" and put an article and magnet on the refrigerator discussing the plight of the Walrus. You know, it was probably 2 years before I realized he was making fun of me, and trying to teach me how silly I was. I remembered him asking me why I picked "saving whales" as opposed to helping starving children in my own area. I remembered looking at him like he was just SOOOO out of touch. Now, I realize how really IN touch he was and how silly I was.

Having said all of this, thank GOD for youth. Because the passion they bring to things in our world really can change bad things to good things. Fresh ideas are always nice. (Not that any of her ideas are FRESH. I've heard 'em all before...) Most important of all, however, is their ability to make us remember our youth and take a break from all that "grownup-ness". Even if it's just for an hour, sitting on the bathroom floor with your almost-grown daughter, waiting for a storm to pass.

Change is in the air...

Today we had a "volunteer" meeting at Wild Care. It was very interesting, even though I've seen all the animals before, to hear their "stories" and how they came to be part of the Wild Care family. But even more interesting than that was how God spoke to me about diabetes. A woman, probably about my age, maybe just a little older, came in on crutches and said she had to have some sort of surgery on her foot yesterday because of a complication with her diabetes. I didn't think much of it until the woman I work with on Thursday nights told me about her husband (totally separate conversations...) and how he has had diabetes since his 30's and has never tried to take care of it like he should. Now, he can't feel his feet, and can step on a nail and never know it. He recently had heart surgery (diabetic complication) and the wound would not heal (another diabetic complication). He had the surgery MONTHS ago and it is finally just now almost completely healed. To top it all off, his kidneys have failed and he must have dialysis Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Each session is SIX HOURS and the cost (Medicare) is 35,000 a WEEK. And still, he does not eat right or exercise. He's waiting for a kidney from someone who will die now. Oh my goodness. That is really horrible. And part of me feels he doesn't deserve to get one since he does nothing to counteract his diabetes.

And yet...here I am and I do not watch what I eat or exercise or try in any way whatsoever to control my diabetes other than my medication. And if I lost weight, I wouldn't have to take that medication for a long time, and I could probably stop taking my blood pressure medication and maybe even my cholesterol medication. It's very sad. I know God is reaching out to get my attention. I will pray every day for the willingness to ask for strength to take care of my body. Because I don't want to. It's so much work. And, apparently, I'm very lazy.

On the monetary front...that is certainly two steps forward and one step back. I have put into action a new savings account with money automatically deposited into it from my checking account. (Out of sight out of mind...) It is not linked with my checking account. Different bank, even. I made a budget. I paid bills. I had 50 bucks to get me through this week, and I have a full tank of gas... I got up, I read the 3 chapters out of Dave Ramsey I'm supposed to read, I worked some more on the budget. Everything was great. Then Sarah asked for money and I said no. She said she needs gas. So, reluctantly and trying to riddle her with guilt, "You are taking my gas money...that's all I'm sayin'!", I give her my Speedway gas gift card that has $7.00 on it and told her it has $7.00, that's all I've got. Then I was mad at myself for doing that. Soon, the doorbell rang, and Sarah's new boyfriend "Ben" is at the door handing Sarah money. What?!? Sarah introduces Ben to me, I ask Ben if he's giving Sarah money. Sarah hastens to say she's going to pay it back. I tell him he shouldn't give her any money. (MEAN MOM! and hypocritical, too!) I told him she gets paid on Friday and she WILL pay him back then. (Let's point out here that 1. It's none of my business if he loans her money. 2. It's none of my business if she does or does not pay him back. 3. I'm mad that I gave her money. The real point here is that it was none of my business and I'm mad.) As another aside, Ben is tall and skinny, short hair, seemed polite enough...

Back to the monetary front. I decide I HAVE to have some flavored syrup to put in my coffee. Off to TJ Maxx I go, where fun syrups abound for 1/2 the price of other places. I find a syrup!! Two in fact!! I find a bowl for $2.00 I can't live without. OH! There's another one! I manage to escape TJ Maxx having spent $16.22. I'm driving away, and I remember my mom telling me about a tea sample she tried that she got in a magazine. It was a Tazo green tea with orchids or something like that in it and she really liked it. I'm driving right by Starbucks (I mean Four-bucks) and decide to "pop" in and see if they sell that kind there since I KNOW they sell TAZO tea. Nope. Not that kind. But, while I'm there I'll get a grande almond mocha (ie. four-bucks and 3 cents). I am now down in my checking account 20.25. But I'm not as mad at Sarah any more. hmmmmm. There may be a connection here...

Yuki and Eliz make a snowman

Yuki after working hard to make a snowman. He looks cold and tired!

Pictures from T-giving And Liz & Matt's Wedding

Photos: Mom holding Sofi, Christy with Yuki and Eliz.





Elizabeth & Sofi.













Yuki in the dog kennel (his choice, honest!)















Matt and Eliz getting married November 25th.












Matt praying to the Stove God that the turkey will turn out just like Alton Brown said it would.

Rudolph grows up and realizes a thing or two...

Good Gad. I haven't watched Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer for probably 10 years. What a piece of work!

Santa is so self-centered and mean! Telling Rudolph's dad he should be "ashamed" for spawning Rudolph and his defective glowing nose. And then when Rudolph comes home, Santa lays a big guilt trip on him, telling him that "Your dad is out looking for YOU, and without HIM, we can't have Christmas". Nice, Santa. Nice.

The "Island of Mis-fit Toys" - what? Put all your misfits in a group home? Then when another misfit comes along to "show the light" they can be integrated into society? Please. Did they give the misfit toys to handicapped kids? Third World children? Kids on Angel trees? What's up with that? If the toys aren't good enough to be given to regular kids, then how come the elves that made them aren't in prison? Do you think Santa told the elves they should be ashamed for making defective toys?

Poor Herbie doesn't want to be an elf, but a dentist and is not accepted because he doesn't fit into the status quo? But heck, he pulls the Bumble's teeth and he's a hero? And what about the Bumble? He's just being a Bumble. So they "reform him" (basically by emasculating him) and now that they can use him to do their will (re: slave) he's great.

Do you think I've been in therapy too long? It used to be a cute cartoon about being nice to others.

Butch the Wonder Dog

I took Butch with me to stay at Elizabeth's while I was hanging out with her and the baby. Every morning Yuki and I would take a walk and go to this little playground about 2 blocks away. There is a little pond there with a walking path around it. And on the pond are many ducks and a few geese. So, Butch was running around checking out the lay of the land, and sees a duck getting into the pond from the shore. To fully understand how completely amazing the following is, first consider that

1. Butch will be 10 years old on September 18th.
2. Butch HATES water. In all the years I've had Butch, he would avoid water like the plague. The most I've EVER seen him do, is just walk in water along the shore of any body of water, but only until the water was about 1/2 way up his legs.

So, there we are watching all these ducks waddle down to the water's edge and start to swim. And to my amazement, Butch jumped in and started to swim after those ducks! I start to panic because I think "Butch Can't Swim." I figure he'll just have to drown because I can't go in after him and leave Yuki on the shore alone. I keep calling to Butch, and when he was about 1/2 way across the pond, he finally listens and comes back to shore. Whew! Close call!

The next day, I think to myself, "I'll go the OTHER way so that Butch won't be tempted by the evil ducks. Lo and Behold we come upon an area with THREE small retaining ponds. The largest one is probably one and a half times the size of the duck pond. But, I see no ducks, and feel confident that I can let Butch off the lead and that he will avoid the water. Yuki and I are examining the pond when about 20 ducks came out of one pond, over a little hill and into the pond we were looking at. All the ducks were mallards except one large white one. In the water they go, and in the water Butch follows! Butch is hot on the tail of the white duck. The duck is not at all concerned, and stays just out of Butch's reach, and, in fact, swims in wide circles in the pond. Butch swims in wide circles behind the white duck. Occasionally the duck would switch directions unexpectedly, and amazingly enough, Butch stayed in the game. Finally I decided that Butch needed to come out of the water before he became too exhausted to continue on and make it back to shore. I called him. He continued swimming in circles behind the white duck. I called again and again. Even Yuki got into it. He calls Butch "B" because he can't say Butch. Suddenly he points at Butch and yells, "B!! blah blah blah!!." I'm not really sure what the translation is there, but Butch sure was getting chewed out! When Butch finally did decide to come to shore, he had a bit of a rough time making it to the bitter end. He was really sucking wind when he finally got his feet under him.

Today, I woke up and decided Eliz just HAD to see Butch do this swimming miracle. But Butch refused to leave the house. Why? Because it was raining, and he hates to get wet...

Yuki Speaks Out

Elizabeth, Matt, Yuki, Sofi and I all go to Eliz's home. The baby will NOT nurse. Elizabeth will NOT be consoled. The baby cries, Elizabeth cries. Day one at home, we are up all night with a crying baby. She just refuses to "latch on". What kind of term is "latch on"? Sounds like something to do with a cabinet if you ask me. Day 2 at home. Same song, different verse. Hysterical baby, hysterical momma. By this time, Yuki has HAD it. He walks up to Elizabeth, who is trying to pump milk so we can give it to Sofi with a syringe. He pats her right on the breast, and then points at Sofi who is crying and says, "Baby? blah blah blah." Then he did it again. I start cracking up. I tell Elizabeth that what he was really saying was "Baby? She is crying. Can you please hurry that up and give her something so she'll shut up?"

Later that night, Yuki is playing out in his little wading pool and I can see him through the window. He has several pool toys, including what looks like an oil funnel, which looks like the end of Elizabeth's pump. I look up just in time to see him stand up with that funnel and place it on his chest. Can't you just hear him saying, "Man. If mom can't get her to shut up, maybe I can. How does this thing work???"

New Baby - and Drama

Here we have a picture of Grandma and new baby Sofi. She's healthy and pretty quiet so far! That could be because she's scared out of her mind. Because Grandma needs to pay more attention to detail.

Matt and Yuki were out playing in the park, and taking a nap at my house. It was just Elizabeth, Sofi and me at the hospital. The problem was, it was HOT in the room. And I don't do well with hot. Hot really stinks. So, I say to Elizabeth, "Man. It's hot in here." She agreed and said that Matt got cold in the night and turned the heat up. (As an aside here, skinny people are always cold. Matt likes the temp to be around 75 degrees. That's just insane.)

So, I say to Elizabeth, "Do you want me to turn the temp down?" "Sure." So I head over to the pretty panel on the wall. I look it over with all the buttons, and can't read the words because it's dark in that part of the room. I try every single light switch and couldn't find one that would come on and illuminate the panel. So I lean in real close, and squint to read the words. I see a square button with a blue outline that says "Cool blue", which I thought was really odd, but, well, blue means cool, right? So I push the button, and wait to see if a temperature readout comes on. Nothing, so I figure it will just cool down on it's own to a pre-set temperature. I walk back to the chair in the room, pick up the paper and start to read. All of a sudden, 5 or 6 nurses burst into the room and say, "Are you ok in here?" I say (confused by the concern in their voices) "Yeah, its just a little hot." One of the nurses turns around and yells into the hallway "It's ok, it was a mistake." I'm still confused. What the heck? Then, it dawns on me. OMG! The button was "CODE BLUE", not "Cool blue". And it doesn't just go off on our floor, it makes the announcement all over the hospital. At this point, I want to sink through the floor. All the nurses leave, and and Elizabeth and I laugh hysterically until we cry. And we sob. One by one, the nurses came in and told us it was o.k., and that it was funny seeing the doctors running down the hall, and really, it was good practice for them. They forgot the crash cart, so it was a good learning experience. Don't worry, don't cry, it's o.k.

I'm pretty sure Elizabeth will never allow me with her again in a doctors office or hospital. But you know, there have been plenty of times when Elizabeth has horrified ME. Karma. It's all about Karma. And in this case, I'd say that was one heck of a payback.

Day Two Without Sarah

Day 2 with no Sarah.

I took Sarah to college (Ball State University) Wednesday. Not much drama. Wasn't too bad. No weeping and gnashing of teeth. Until...Thursday. When I received a heart wrenching e-mail from Sarah...she hates it there, she can't sleep, she doesn't like her room, she wants to come home, she loves me, she misses me... Oh yeah. And, "I want my car!!!"

Today was better. She sounded o.k. when I talked to her. She's made a couple of friends. She'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

Meanwhile, Butch is wondering where she is. I can hear him thinking now..."The tall human is gone. I didn't like her much and she never did pet me, but...man. I think mom really liked her. Am I next???" Poor guy. He'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

I haven't had to cook even once since Sarah left. But tomorrow I will have to, because all the left-overs are gone. Unless I want to eat shredded wheat for many many meals. I'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

And life goes on...

Friday

TGIF

What a week. Sarah graduated last Saturday and now she thinks she owns the world and should be able to do whatever she wants. 76 days until she goes to school (and counting). . .

Retail Therapy

It's been one of those weeks...I've been a little down. Maybe it's empty nest. Maybe it's because I'm not looking forward to "The Party" I'm throwing for graduation, and all the associated hoopla surrounding it. Who knows.

So, last night I decided I needed a hammock. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond. Didn't like the hammock material, so went to Lowes. While in Lowes, I suddenly had to go to the bathroom, so I went clear to the back of the store to the bathrooms, which is far away from the hammocks. On the way OUT of the bathroom, I saw the area rugs, which reminded me that the rug in my room won't stay put, so I put a "rug gripper" in my cart. Walking toward the hammocks, I see the plumbing isle, which reminds me I wanted to look for this aerator thing for my kitchen sink. Don't find it there, sales person tells me to check in a different isle. While walking down that isle I don't find the thing I want, but see some "Spot Shot" for carpet stains and pick that up. Back down the isle, into the main isle back toward Hammocks. I see the stand mixers, and my cart turns all by itself down that isle. I see the beautiful Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers. I think about how my Lowe's card has a special - 12 months same as cash - and after debating (not on whether I should get it, but on which COLOR to get) I decide on the pretty red and put it in my cart. Back toward the hammocks. I see light bulbs. I remember two light bulbs are out upstairs and I have no replacements. Look at ALL the light bulbs, then decide on compact florescent. Then debate on wattage. Finally decide and put a pkg in my cart. This is now very close to the hammocks. I'm in the hammock isle! I stand there for probably 20 minutes debating on whether I want rope or cloth. Eventually I decide cloth, put it on my cart and get a kid to help me with a stand.

I pay for the whole thing on my Lowe's card (12 months same as cash!), work feverishly to fit it all in my car, go home, set up the hammock, and lay in it for an hour looking at the sky. It's a beautiful thing. Maybe today, I'll use the mixer.

Long Time No Blog

Holy cow, it's been a long time since I've blogged. It's not that I've had nothing to say. I ALWAYS have something to say.

Today is Saturday, and I've been watching cooking shows all morning. I think I'll make spaghetti as a result. But not the kind I saw on a cooking show this morning. I'll make the kind that comes out of the jar that you pour over the noodles. That's just called lazy.

Sarah has 1 month of school left. I'm telling you, I cannot WAIT until the girl graduates. She's got senioritis so bad it hurts ME to watch. She honestly should take a year off after high school and work. I think she's pretty sick of school, and maybe she needs a dose of reality from the work world. But, her Dad won't have that, so off she'll go to Ball State this fall.

It's been a wild couple of weeks. I had to go out on 3 serious losses last week - Louisville, Columbus & Champaign. Then this week I was off to Pittsburgh for a deposition. THAT was fun. Unfortunately, coming back from all that leaves the office a huge mess and lots of work to do in a short period of time. I'll have to go in today or tomorrow to finish catching up.

Back to the world of food TV and spaghetti....

Testing

testing blogger button

Yuki Feb 2005

Here's a picture of Yuki taken last week. He has a cold, which he so graciously passed along to me, just in time for me to go out of town on a mediation and a settlement conference. My nose ran the entire time. I got back on Thursday night, and only made it through 1/2 day at work yesterday because I couldn't talk unless I had a Kleenix shoved up my nose to keep the flood at bay. Even though he gave me a cold, I'll keep him anyway. He's a cutie.

If you don't like crafts, skip this entry. These are things we learned at last night's Close to My Heart party. 

I don't know how...

I am sorry - I don't know how to put several pictures on one post. So, the Christmas photos are individual posts.

Thank GOODNESS it's a new year! I'm ready for it!

CJ