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Normal

So what is "normal"?  I have Joe off at a drugstore, trying to acquire a TSH (thyroid) test that is supposed to be available over the counter these days.  I began my research to double-check what a "normal" reading should be and found it to be the subject of a big debate.  In the "old" days, "normal" was anywhere from .5 to 5.0 on the blood test.  However, that "normal" reading was derived by taking a large segment of test patients, none of whom had been diagnosed with thyroid problems, testing their blood, and averaging.  It was subsequently determined, however, that a lot of those people actually had mild undiagnosed thyroid problems.  So, "normal" is now thought to better defined between .3 and 3.0. 

Why this sudden curiosity?  Well, I've been exhibiting some symptoms of being overmedicated.  I am aware, having lived with this condition for 20 years, that many, many doctors don't quite understand the dosages on thyroid meds.  They're used to prescribing meds where the dose is in milligrams; thyroid meds are prescribed in micro grams, a MUCH smaller dose.  So, a little tweak goes a long way.  I returned from Mexico and immediately increased my dose by 25 micro grams.  I waited a week (which is much less than a US doc would recommend) and increased another 25 micro grams.  Well, this week has been a week of misery.  I have been exhibiting signs of over-medication--night sweats, inability to sleep and really elevated heart rate.  I finally gave up yesterday and dropped the second 25 micro grams.  I actually got about 3 hours of decent sleep last night, something I haven't been able to achieve all week.  I was beginning to be pretty darn ragged just from lack of sleep.  And, it's pretty unnatural to stroll from one end of the house to the other and feel my heart thundering away.  So, that is doing better, Thank God.

Jen called today and wanted me to babysit the boys.  Apparently she and Jason are going out to dinner with some friends of his who are in town.  Unfortunately, she wanted me to babysit at Jason's house and that just wasn't going to work for a number of reasons.  First, I start the new J-O-B tomorrow.  So, I have scazillion things that need to be done here before I crash for the night.  Second, Joe has to be up early in the morning for an 8AM signing.  As bad as I'm feeling, I really don't want to tackle taking care of the boys alone.  All in all, it just wasn't going to work and I'm really sad about that.  I feel as though I just haven't seen enough of those little guys lately.

I did talk to Jen on the phone yesterday.  It seems Atticus has finally starting saying "mama".  That makes Jen happy--she was getting tired of being called "da".  He also has a version of "hello".  I only heard it once but it sounded pretty good though it was a bit more like "ello" than "hello".  She was telling me she was reading a book to him the other day.  It sounded as though it was a book about colors--"pink dress, green leaf, red apple" and like that.  Well she usually wears slacks to work but had worn a dress the day before.  She said Atticus had shown a lot of interest in the dress, touching it, patting it, etc.  He pointed to the book, something other than the dress, and said dress.  She said no, pointed to the pink dress, and outlined it with her finger.  He climbed out of bed, went over to the closet and pulled out the tail end of the dress and said "dress".  That's some pretty sharp thinking for a little guy.  That reminds me of a project I should probably get started on.  I think I have a scrap kit for a "color" book.  I should make that--soon!

Well, I had planned to make spaghetti for dinner, complete with a big pot of home cooked sauce.  Joe put the ground beef and the Italian sausage in the fridge to thaw last night, but when I got it out of there about 1PM it was still frozen solid.  No way to make meatballs with that!  So, I guess tomorrow, when I get home from the J-O-B, I'll start on that.

That's all the news for now.  Except that Joe came home without the TSH test.  Apparently we're going to have to contact a medical supply company in hopes of finding that.........  So, in addition to making spaghetti and meatballs tomorrow, I guess I'll be working the phone, calling medical supply houses.  Have a good evening.

Queen for a Day

Well, sort of.  I scrapped a page about Will's trip on an airplane all by himself from Baltimore to home a few days ago.  Of course, I think it's a cute page because it has his picture on it and because it documents how proud I was of him.  But late last night I was reading other people's blogs.  There's one called Digi Pick of the Day.  Each day, the writer highlights one new kit put out by a designer and one new layout put out by a scrapper.  I opened up the blog to see what was on there for yesterday and something looked familiar.  It took a moment to hit me--my layout about Will's trip had been chosen Digi Pick of the Day.  In my book, that's quite an honor, and it was something I really needed.  I do work hard to scrap good photos and to scrap them well.  And most times, there's no recognition.  I scrap for one designer who, in two years, has almost never failed to comment on my layouts.  I work for another who is pretty good about it.  There's another who is batting more than 50%.  There's one who never comments.  There's one who is pretty faithful to comment but seldom puts out products so seldom comments.  And, I'm creating for 3 stores where comments are pretty hard to come by.  In theory, where a layout is created with a designer's or a store's product, members of the creative team rally 'round and say good things about the layout because that helps create an air of excitement about what is being showcased.  Well, sadly, that's not necessarily so in this busy world.  And by demographic studies, most digital scrappers are in their 20's and have small children; there aren't a lot of us grandma's scrapping digitally.  So, often, it seems as though I just don't quite "fit" in this digital scrapping world.  When something nice like this happens, it really gives me a boost.  Particularly since I've been turned down for 2 creative teams in the last month.  It's not that I need to add a creative team to my list.  I have plenty of scrapping to do to keep up with the teams I'm on.  But, my gig with one store team ends in August.  There's another store team I'd replace without too much thought.  So, when I see a call for CT members by a designer I like, and I apply, and I'm not selected, it is no fun.  One of the designers who did not select me is on a creative team with me and one would have thought that might mean something.  I DO scrap for some fairly well known designers!  The other designer put me through making two quick pages the morning we were leaving for Mexico.  It was a real rush-rush job and she knew it; then she didn't select me.........  Oh, well, that probably means I wasn't going to be happy working with them, right?

It's kind of funny.  I got a lot of comments (27) on that particular layout at DST which is kind of a major hang out for digi scrappers.  I got 4 at both 2Ps and Designer Digitals.  I got zero at ACOT (yes, I'm on their CT).  I got one at NDISB (yes, I'm on their CT).  And I got zero at ScrapArtist.  ScrapArtist is where Cori sells and since I used her products, I'm required to post there.  Even funnier is that the lady who does the blog found my layout at ScrapArtist--ScrapArtist where there was not even one comment, not even from the members of my creative team.  I was so excited last night when I found I'd been selected, I e-mailed a link to one of my designers.  I mentioned how strange it seemed to be selected Digi Pick of the Day from a site where no one had commented on the layout.  She is such a sweetheart--she went to ScrapArtist and left a comment for me!  Now how could you not love a person like that?  AND, it was not even her products that were used in the layout, but someone with whom she's in competition for business. 

So, after all this talking, here's the layout in question.

Here are the comments that were made about the layout by the writer of Digi Pick of the Day:

"m1218p's Grown Up puts the biggest smile on my face.  It is such a heartwarming layout that captures what so many of us have seen as the children in our lives grow up.  At one moment they can be remarkably mature and self-sufficient and the next they are still our little babies.  I love how the elements match Will's shirt!  Great little detail that pulls the whole page together."

I spent most of yesterday putting together an album for sale at Scrapbook-Bytes.  LaWanna Desjardin put out the cutest Wedding kit.  I got a "bright" idea of a fairly easy way to make an album from it.  I bounced the idea off her, she liked it, and I started creating.  It's done.  I still have to upload it to her, and she will decide on the best time to put it in the store.  I wanted to include a list of page titles so that folks would know what I had in mind for each page.  Kind of like a road map of what to scrap where.  But, it seems there are kinds of legal problems when using a font in a kit.  LaWanna is going to check her stash of fonts and see if she can find one that is appropriate and put the titles together for me.  She put 2 sets of 8 quick pages up in the store for me this morning.  I've only got one set ready in a postable format, so that will have to hold you for today.  It's with a kit called American Pride.  I rushed it to see if we could get it in the store before the 4th of July and we did!

Well, that's my news for today.  I've got about an hour and a half to get something done while Joe is off on a signing.  Don't want to waste this precious quiet time!  Later, gator.......

No light at the end of the "tunnel"

So these days, our hallway is like a tunnel, and there is absolutely no light there.  Besides that, there is no light in either bathroom and no light outside.  We returned from Mexico last week and kind of fell into bed.  A couple of hours later I got up to use the restroom.  I flipped the switch and nothing happened.  Then I flipped the other switch and nothing happened.  I finished what I'd come for and, on the way back to bed, realized the hall light was not on.  (We usually leave that on, but would certainly have left it on for Erica.)  I woke Joe and he went from switch to switch, trying to figure out what was going on.  Finally, he crawled back into bed, mumbled that I was right, the lights were not working, and started snoring again.  The next morning he went to the electrical box to find that the breaker had flipped for some reason.  He flipped it back on and it immediately flipped back off.  He flipped it back on again and it immediately flipped back off.  So........there is either something wrong with the switches or with something at a junction box in the attic or with the breaker itself.  Joe's checked all the switches and they LOOK alright.  It looks as though we're going to need an electrician.  In the meantime, I've learned it's imperative to finish the laundry during the daylight hours because at night, you can't see what you're taking out of the dryer (our laundry area is at the back of the hall).  Where previously I could turn on two separate lights with 4 low wattage bulbs each and see just fine, now I'm standing in a tunnel and there truly is no light!

The other thing we've dealt with recently is a broken dishwasher.  It simply wouldn't drain completely.  I tried pouring a major amount of vinegar into it and running it that way, thinking that perhaps the drain was just slowing down due to sedimentation from our rock hard water and dishwasher soap.  Nope, didn't do a thing for it.  So, we called a repairman and $184.95 later, it works.  He fished two grains of corn and a small hard pink thing out of there.  If I had to guess, I'd guess the pink thing was styrofoam from a meat tray that had been partially melted and hardened by the heat of the dishwasher. 

So, did you ever wonder if the Good Lord has a sense of humor?  Well, He does.  Each morning we pray over our day, our work, the escrow officers, our kids, our finances, my scrapbook designers, our mothers, and whatever other needs have arisen.  Sometimes we pray together, sometimes not.  Well, yesterday we prayed together.  And just as we finished, I reminded Joe to pray Jabez's prayer.  In the 4th chapter of I Chronicles, we meet Jabez.  He has a lousy name (it has to do with pain) but we find out he is more honorable than his brothers.  He prays and asks God to bless him indeed.  To expand his "coasts" or territory, to keep him from evil, and that God's hand would be upon him.  We are told merely that God granted him that which he had requested.  And that is, literally, all we ever hear of Jabez!  But we know that God doesn't play favorites.  He's "no respecter of persons".  SO, if Jabez could pray that prayer and have his request granted, so can we.  So, Joe finished our prayer time with the Jabez prayer.  In the middle of the afternoon, we got a call from Matt, Joe's son.  Seems his company's bookkeeper has been caught red handed, embezzling funds.  About $30,000 or more.  They're not sure how much yet.  And there's a whole drawer full of unbooked invoices from days past.  Of course, he's been fired and they're looking for a replacement.  Well, do you wanna guess who the replacement is?  Yeah.  Me.  Darn.  I was praying for Joe's territory to be expanded, not MINE!  It will be part time and right now the offer is for $20 per hour which is somewhat light for the current market.  Maybe we can get that number moved up once they get over the hump of having more than $30,000 stolen from them.  And I don't really want to do it, but the money will be welcome.  And I can just see the good Lord sitting up there in heaven laughing at me!

Actually, it shouldn't be too bad.  I get to set my own hours and there's no dress code.  So, I don't have to have fancy schmancy clothes to work there.  I can just wear my shorts and a tee shirt.  Eventually, maybe I can work this around where most of the work is done from here though I've not discussed that with them yet.  And, with the "set my own hours" thing, I can avoid the heavy traffic times as well as be available if needed for a signing here and there.  For the first week, I'm looking at 3 hours on Monday and Wednesday.  Maybe Thursday too, since I would ordinarily probably do Friday but Friday is a holiday.  That may be expanded from there, once I see how bad it is and how much work there is to be done in order to catch up.  Well, one thing for sure, they can have every confidence I won't steal from them!

Oh, about that pot roast.  I've got to tell you the story.  If you remember, Joe balked at the idea of paying $10 and change for the meat.  But, after I pointed out to him that a restaurant meal for the two of us would be 3 to 4 times as much, he decided the pot roast was not such a bad idea.  Duh!  Well, anyway, he just assumed HE would make the pot roast.  It is the one meal he knows how to cook.........  Well, that wasn't my plan, but if he's willing to cook, I can certainly find other things to do with my time.  Go for it!  He decided to use this big electric pot my mother gave me a few years ago.  I don't know why--he usually does it in the oven.  Anyway, he decides that if he bakes it in the oven at 350 then cooking it in that pot at 350 should be just fine.  Well, no, not really.  Direct heat and indirect heat are a bit different, dear.  Do I need to tell you we had a lovely dinner of burnt pot roast, burnt potatoes and burnt carrots?  Yuck.  I thought I'd never get that taste out of my mouth!

Okay, so that's the latest scoop on our adventures and misadventures in this household.  I'll post some pages here to add a bit of color and then I have to go sort through some books.  Since we're packing up everything in preparation of having the carpet in our garage laid, I have to decide which of this particular pile I want to donate and which I want to keep.  Still have the daily laundry to finish and then I'd like to work a while on finding my desk.  I know it's under all this paper somewhere.  And I have to call a client to come pick up a tax return so I can get paid! 

A few weeks back, LaWanna put out a really cute kit called "Wheels".  I did this set of pages from that kit.  I went back through them making copies so I could post them here on the blog and realized I REALLY like these pages!  So far, I haven't been able to get her to put them in the store.  It's not because she doesn't like them--actually, she hasn't seen them yet.  I think it's because she already has a brag book up by Jan Hosford and she doesn't want to detract from that....... 

Now aren't those cute?  I can't wait for them to hit the store 'cause I just love 'em!!!!!!!!!!!  Have a blessed day and DON'T pray the Jabez prayer!  Ha, Ha!!!!!!!!

Get with the program, Dude!

So, our adventure for the weekend was a trip to Sunflower market for food.  I love going there primarily because I'm impressed with their meat and produce.  They have their own line of canned goods as well and I haven't been disappointed in those.  And, it's sweet torture to cruise through their bulk foods--the ones in the bins that you scoop into a bag yourself.  They also have a very good price on gourmet coffee beans--cheaper than an equivalent amount of ground coffee at the supermarket.  Anyway, I went to pick up some organic bananas when Joe came out with one of his pronouncements.  "Why are you buying the organic bananas?  I hate all this organic hype.  It's just an excuse to get you to pay more for food."  I honestly don't believe that's true.  I read a while back that we have "invented" more than 70,000 chemical compounds since the beginning of the 20th century.  And, I also read that incidences of cancer are on the rise.  These days, 1 in 4 people can expect some kind of cancer to occur in their lifetimes.  Joe himself has had surgery for skin cancer.  I really feel that a lot of the increase in cancer is due to chemicals to which we are exposed.  Some of those substances are atmospheric--part of the pollution in the air.  Some of them are in our water--After I was diagnosed with thyroid problems, I learned that the water I was drinking from the tap was laced with chemicals which are very dangerous to the thyroid.  Many years earlier, chemicals had been poured on to the ground and had, over the years, contaminated the drinking water.  And, no, the city was doing nothing to try to remove those chemicals from the water.  Some of the chemicals we encounter are in our foods.  I can't do too much about pollution in the air.  We do keep windows open a bit throughout the house to help with indoor pollution--smoke, chemicals given off by electrical appliances, paint, carpeting, etc.  But, that merely means I exchange the indoor pollution for outdoor pollution which is certainly not much better.......  But I can do something about the foods I eat.  I honestly feel as though we are choosing how our money will be spent--better (healthier) food with fewer chemicals or cheaper food laced with chemicals and doctor bills to follow.  I've explained all this to Joe numerous times.  I've told him about what my research has uncovered.  So, I was shocked and upset with his "pronouncement".  And, I wasn't able to purchase the organic foods I wanted to buy, for the most part.  That being the case, we wasted the bit of extra gasoline it takes to drive to this particular market as opposed to just going to a neighborhood supermarket.  Sometimes this man is just penny wise and pound foolish.

Here's another example of "penny wise".  I went looking for a small chuck roast.  I thought I'd make a pot roast.  Well, even a relatively small one was $10 and change, and that's pretty pricey.  However, the alternative is another chicken or ground beef meal and I have several of those planned already.  Or, we could eat out.  We've been eating out some (mostly because he doesn't go to the grocery store) and that's even more expensive.  Compare $10 for meat plus a couple of bucks for potatoes, carrots and whatever fixings are required to the price of a restaurant meal for two (where a salad with no meat is $8) and the roast looks pretty darned cheap.  But I had to do the math for him before he finally let me put the chuck roast in the basket.........

I have been trying to eat a low carb diet.  I think it's important because of the extremely high cholesterol reading I had in my recent blood test.  So, would you like to know what he brought me for breakfast Saturday morning?  Cheesecake.  Now, that wouldn't have been too bad if it had been sugar-free cheesecake, but it wasn't.  I've been asking him, when he makes a fresh pot of coffee to give me half and half in the coffee, not the flavored creamers.  I mainly use the flavored creamers because I want to retch when I'm handed a cup of coffee that has that "old" taste from being heated too long.  The flavored creamers make that taste undetectable, so I can drink the whole pot rather than pouring it down the drain.  But, with a fresh pot, that's not a problem.  Half and half has way less carbohydrates (and chemicals) in it than the creamers do and he usually puts way too much creamer in the coffee in the first place.  He bought half and half at the grocery store last week and didn't tell me.  When I went to buy some last night, he informed me we had some that had never been opened.  Well, here is the question:  If we had half and half and if you made a fresh pot of coffee at any point in the days that followed its purchase, why wasn't it opened and used in my coffee?  I swear, I think sometimes that I am not dying fast enough for this man. 

I decided to try a new cereal.  I bought some Kashi Go Lean.  It has 9 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber in every serving.  It's very tastey but, man, is it ever crunchy!!!!!  I chewed my way through a bowl of it this morning and kept wondering if my jaw would ever be the same.  I've been diagnosed with TMJ, a condition where the jaw pops out of its proper position.  I could hear it and feel it moving around, the more I chewed.  Perhaps we will save the Kashi Go Lean for just one or two days, well-spaced, per week.  Or, maybe I'll just believe I've had the healing I've been praying for and eat it anyway.  Anyway, if you're looking for a new healthier cereal, there's a suggestion for you, especially if you have "normal" jaws, LOL.

So I went the extra mile and saved a bunch of my quickpages in a format that would make them easier to post here.  That way you can see what I've been working on.  So, I'll post some for your viewing "pleasure".
When you look at the pages, you'll see a lot of white space.  That is where the pictures go.  You can either print out the quick pages and tape your film picture into place on the back or you can digitally place your digital image behind the quick page where it will show through the opening and print the whole thing in one fell swoop.  Anyway, since all the design work is done, you just add a title and maybe a bit of journaling telling about the photo and presto you are done.  Ten minutes work instead of an hour or more.

Here's a set of eight I've done for LaWanna Desjardin:

So, that would actually be sold as two sets of four.  They are called Joy of Life which is the name the designer gave to the kit.  I'll try to show more the next time I post.  Have a great day!

QP#34567890

Is this another quickpage?  No, no.  This is my blog.  I feel as though I've been quickpaged to death!  I bought a template good for commercial use to make a scallop album.  Dadgum thing has 16 pages to cover!  I did 10 pages and thought I'd done well.  Then I counted........Drat, I needed 4 more and covers.  And, seeing them all done, realized either there was a latent color scheme I'd not observed before or I'd created one.  And, QP5 was no good--didn't fit in with the rest.  So I went back to work and made more......  Then, this morning I started on a set of 4 Quick Pages with a kit Amanda has in the store.  Well two of them are done and I'm happy with them.  2 more are done but I am going to end up redoing them.  I'm not happy with the way the shadows came out on one.  I wonder if anyone else would notice, but I notice and they don't make me happy.  The other--well I just don't like the design.  There's nothing WRONG with the design, it just doesn't "fit".  The feeling of the kit is fun and funky and somehow the page turned out looking rather formal.  So, still two more to do.  This has all been done in something less than 2 days so I'm feeling a bit worn with them. 

Cori Gammon just uploaded her newest kit to our CT forum.  I got to see some previews--looks like a real winner.  So I guess I will do a page with that this evening.  Her kits are just huge and really fun to work with.  I hope I'm not drained of all creativity by my recent spurt of QP design........  I also have been RAK'd with a new kit from Lynn Grieveson so I need to do a page with that either tonight or tomorrow.

It is hot as hades around here these days.  Temperatures of 108, 109, 110 every day.  Even at night 89 to 90 is as low as it goes.  Even though we put in a larger air conditioner two summers ago, it is still not big enough to effectively cool the office.  We would have needed to install all new duct work for that.  I think I am going to go back to my old habits of sleeping at least 4 hours in the afternoon and working at night.  It's a little crazy, but beats sitting out here all hot and sweaty.  The bedroom is in the shade in the afternoon and like a whole different world when you walk in there. 

I did go out yesterday afternoon to a client's.  She's as much a friend as she is a client.  She is the sweetest thing and has been through so much hardship in the last year and a half.  And, nothing is cleared up yet.......  The next thing is that her home is being foreclosed.  She has total income of about $4100 a month, but her house payment has been $3900 a month.  She's borrowed from everyone she knows to try to hang onto the house.  Her husband is away and she wanted to keep the house til he got home.  But, she's finally given up.  It was by far the wisest thing.  In fact, it is the advice I gave her many months ago.  She has offered me to take any furniture I want from her home.  She has many gorgeous pieces I'd love to own, but the last thing I ever want is for someone to think I took advantage of her when her back is to the wall.  So, I need to conjure up some money somehow before we go get the furniture or work out some sort of payment schedule.  Anyone want to lend me a thousand or so so I can completely refurnish my living room and dining room?  She offered whatever I wanted for free, but I can't do it.  So, we'll see how it works out.  It's too nice to leave behind when she moves out, but she will probably move in with her daughter and son-in-law and her son-in-law's parents owned a furniture store until the last couple of months.  So, you know, her daughter and son-in-law don't need any furniture.....  Someone either hauls the stuff out of there or she leaves it behind.........  I'd love to have it.  Pray with me about this please, or lend me some money on EASY terms!  There's a tan sofa and love seat, a marble coffee table, a marble dining set, and a 5 piece black wall unit. 

Okay, I haven't posted pages in a long time and I think this blog looks pretty darned boring.  So, I'll try to spice it up a bit. 

 As the family were getting into the car after breakfast on Mother's Day, I snapped one more shot--this photo of Atty and his little blue elephant standing all alone. I used black paper from Kim Hill's Art Bin Neutrals. The alpha (which I've lightened to contrast better with the background) is Kim's Newsprint Alpha. Both are available at ACOT. The stars are by Amanda Rockwell, Bren Boone, and Dani Mogstad. The screws and the tiny bow are also by Amanda Rockwell. The bracket frame is by Dunia Acuan, from her Boys Collection, available at NDISB.

Atticus had substantial hearing loss until just a few months ago. But, according to Mom (who researches EVERYTHING on the 'net), he has about 15 words now and "typical" for his age group is 10-20. We're so blessed that everything is going along as it should be. I used a beautiful new kit by Patricia Amaral called "Best Buddies". It's gender-neutral but it sure looks good for boys! You can find it at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking. The alpha is from the Gabriel kit by Bella Gypsy Designs at ACOT. It's amazing how often I "go to" this alpha.

We went exploring in a "new to us" market a few weeks ago. We found reasonably priced fresh organic fruit and veggies and a great selection of meats. It's so good to have fruits and veggies that taste like God intended! I used NinaScraps new kit, Simple Line 5, for this. You can find it at O Scraps and Natural Designs in Scrapbooking. The alpha is by Julie Bullock, her Newspaper Alpha, available at ACOT.

I took this photo at Mission Santa Barbara several years ago. Lovely water lily floating in one of the centuries-old fountains. The colors in this kit go beautifully with it. Everything is from Lynn Grieveson's new kit, French Summer, except the alpha and stitching. The alpha is from her Sweet Wishes Christmas kit. The stitching is from her Pocket full of Petals kit. Lynn's kits are available exclusively at Designer Digitals.

We visited the classic car exhibit at The Imperial Palace a few weeks ago. LOTS of old classic cars, all looking gorgeous, all fascinating, and almost all for sale. The cars were amazing, but so were the prices, LOL. This one is 70 years old, but I'll bet it can still go like the wind. I used Cori Gammon's new kit, High Fidelity, for this page. You can find High Fidelity at ScrapArtist, new today.

This is one of my prized photos from last fall. I literally made 4 trips to southern Utah, trying to capture some fall color. Finally, I found some! I used Doreen Stolz's kit, "You Are So Beautiful", for this page. You can find this page kit at www.daisie.com. The round scalloped matte, used as a clipping mask for paper from this kit, is by LaWanna Desjardin and available at Scrapbook-Bytes.

What have you done for me lately?

Well, on Monday, I left home at 2PM and drove to the daycare.  There, I picked up Will and drove to Sam's Town which is on the far east side of town.  I found the bowling alley and delivered Will there for a birthday party.  I wandered around Sam's Town for about an hour looking for photo ops, then returned to the birthday party.  There I sat watching a group of screaming, jumping up and down, running around, showing off, overly excited boys bowl badly.  (Of the bunch, Will was the best.  He actually had the highest score (105) and hit two strikes and a spare.)  I made sure to tell him what a good job he was doing.  Then we ate the obligatory cake and listened to squeals of delight and envy as the birthday boy opened Will's gift.  Then we went back out to the van and drove back in a westerly direction to the daycare.  Upon arriving there, Jennifer wanted me to meet her in the room Atticus is in.  Honestly, I was too darn hot and too darn tired to get out of the van.  Besides, it was a very hot van when I got into it at Sam's Town and had just gotten down to a reasonable temperature by the time I arrived at the day care.  I didn't want to let it sit in the hot sun to get miserably warm again.  So, I called her cell phone and asked her to meet me by her car which she parks in an area that is shaded by a building in the late afternoon.  There, Will wanted to jump out of the van to go to Atty's classroom.  NO.  I just worked it out with your mom for her to meet us here and I'm not walking anywhere--it's 106 degrees out there, higher in the sun!  Well, when his mom arrived, carrying Atticus, Will got out of the car and acted like the most persecuted little darling you've ever seen.  According to his mother, he probably wanted to go play in the play area at the school and my keeping him in the van prevented him from doing that.  Well, gee.  I'm sorry.  I was more than a little torqued at him.  Yes, I love him dearly, but his behavior sometimes pushes my buttons.  It was, in my estimation, a case of "what have you done for me lately?" with complete amnesia for the fact that I'd spent my whole afternoon making sure he got to go to his friend's birthday party.  Drove at least 50 miles.  Into and out of a very hot van.  Lost but found my way.  Bored, but smiling because he was having fun.  And he behaves in front of his mother as though I've been torturing him.  I headed home and arrived 5 hours after I left with the memory of his hang-dog expression.  I'm sure I'll be extremely anxious to give up another afternoon to make him miserable real soon!  I realize he's a kid and he doesn't understand, but thanks and a smile go a long way with THIS grandma.

In contrast, let's take a look at last Thursday afternoon.  The previous Sunday, Jennifer and Will had flown together to Baltimore.  They spent the next few days checking out Washington, DC.  Of course, the east coast was having a heat wave and it's humid there which they are not used to, so they were hot and miserable, but they got to see a lot of valuable and interesting things.  Thursday, Will made the 5 hour flight back to Vegas on his own, after getting up at 3AM east coast time.  Of course, the flight attendants looked after him, but there was no mom to entertain and supervise him.  Apparently he did very well.  When I asked him what he'd done for 5 hours on the plane, he told me he'd read his book, drew in his sketchbook, and talked to the man seated nearby.  We went to the baggage carousel where he insisted on grabbing his bag off the carousel himself.  Then he insisted on pulling it all the way to the parking garage all by himself.  Finally, he would accept no help loading the bag into the van.  It took him three tries to lift it into the van, but he did it all by himself.  So, even though he arrived with a pair of plastic airline wings glued to his nose, he behaved in a very grown up manner and I was really proud of him.  It was worth spending more than an hour in lines at the airport to get to him, just watching him deport himself like a very responsible little guy.

Friday last week was "fun" too.  Well, part of it was fun and part of it was a bit exasperating but we survived.  Jason had to make some sort of presentation at the Law School and Jennifer was still in Baltimore.  So, I was tagged to pick up Atticus and Will and get them some dinner.  And, Joe had a late signing, so rather than leave Erica here alone, I took her with me to spend a little time with the boys.  The first challenge was that Jason had not left a car seat for me to use with Atticus.  I knew he had to be fed or he'd be very unhappy very soon.  But, I hated having to drive him around without the car seat.  I finally realized I didn't have a choice.  We buckled him into a seatbelt and I drove VERY CAREFULLY to a Mexican restaurant.  There we ordered quesadillas all around.  I also got some guacamole and some salsa in case anyone wanted some for their quesadilla.  Will ordered a drink that was a combination of grapefruit juice and sparkling water.  I tasted it--it was just as yucky as every other taste of grapefruit I've ever had in my life!  But, I poured some in a cup for Atticus and after the hilariously funny initial face he made, he drank it up--poor child.  I tore his quesadilla into bite sized pieces and opened the guacamole.  He grabbed the first bite of quesadilla and dunked it in the guacamole.  Then he sucked all the guacamole off the quesadilla and went back for more.  Apparently he's never heard that double dipping is a social no-no.  He sucked all the guacamole off again and went back for more.  When that bite threatened to disintegrate, he ate it and started the whole process over again with another bite of quesadilla.  Finally, when he'd had his fill of quesadilla, he grabbed a handful of guacamole, rubbed it all over his face and into his mouth.  I grabbed a fork and fed him the rest of the guacamole--I didn't want any anyway, LOL.  The restaurant was full and Jason had assured me he'd be through by 6PM.  So, I got us all loaded back into the van and headed VERY CAREFULLY back to the day care.  No Jason.  I called his cell phone--no answer.  I left a message.  I waited 10 minutes or so, with the car idling, running the engine and the A/C, trying to keep us cool.  No Jason.  I called his cell-phone--no answer.  I left another message.  I waited another 15 minutes with the car idling, running the engine and the A/C, trying to keep us cool and the light for low gas supply came on.  No Jason.  I called his cell phone--no answer.  I left another message.  Finally about 5 minutes later I saw him coming across the campus.  I off loaded the boys, and Erica and I headed home, me praying all the way that whatever the reserve holds, it would be enough to get us home.  I didn't want to pump gas or run out of gas when it was still well over 100 degrees outside in the shade!  We made it and giggled as we told Grandpa about his youngest grandchild's antics with the guacamole and the quesadilla. 

In scrapping news, I finally have more pages up in LaWanna's store.  Scrapbook-Bytes decided to overhaul their site and, for a good week, no one could upload squat to the store.  I don't make that much from the quick pages, but I was thinking what a hardship that week must have been for the ladies who depend on the money from that site to help support their families.  Anyway, three weeks after sending the last batch of pages to LaWanna, they're up!  They  look darned good, if I say so myself!  I've sent Amanda 12 quickpages and 13 bracket pages.  So far, only half the bracket album made it into the store.......  I'm disappointed.  I'd really hoped to do better there.  But, I know Amanda is seriously busy, so....... 

As of the last I heard, it appears Jennifer has lost the camera somewhere in and around Baltimore or en route home.  I'm pretty sad about that.  I'd have loved to scrap some pages of their trip, but more than that, it would have been fascinating just to see the photos.  I've never been to that area, never seen the sights.  Whatever photos she took, they would have been very interesting to me.  But.........maybe it'll turn up.  She did take some photos with her cell phone.  Generally, those photos look good in the little 2 inch phone display but are not good enough to be scrappable without a lot of apologies to whomever looks at them.  And, she gave me the memory card and an adaptor for it, but my card reader won't read it.  So, I'll have to give the card back to her without uploading any of the photos.  If I had the money, I'd have bought a new card reader long ago because it's an iffy proposition whether it will even read the photos from my digital camera.  But, right now, I'm checking all my pockets for enough money to pay for a new pair of running shoes I've purchased through e-bay.  The shock absorption is worn out in the current pair I'm wearing and I'm feeling it in my feet, ankles, legs, knees and back.  In fact, there was probably little or now shock absorption left in them back sometime in early January, given the number of miles on them.  I need shoes; so, the card reader will have to wait..........

Well, I have laundry to do.  And, I'm packing books.  We have to pack up as though we were moving in order to get the carpet laid.  So that's all I have time for right now.  Later, gator. 

Good news and not so bad news

The reports from the doctor are in and things aren't exactly great, but they could certainly be a lot worse.  First, we have decided to lower the dosage on my blood pressure meds.  It is still frequently fairly low but not like it was so that is a very good thing.  The headaches are much milder and farther between.  This is a very good thing.  My thyroid levels tested very low.  The doctor wanted me to increase the dosage on my thyroid meds from 175mcg to 250mcg.  Well, that can't be done overnight.  In that we were talking via e-mail, I'm not sure whether he knows or not, but doctors here in the US recommend that the dosage only be increased 25 mcg at a time.  Well, it doesn't matter whether he knows that or not because I do.  So, I've increased from 175 to 200 for now and will increase to 225 in a week or so.  Good news included the fact that my blood sugar came out just fine.  I always worry about that because genetically diabetes is lurking out there; but, I consider that part of a "generational curse" and I'm having none of it.  The generational link on that one is stopped.  My cholesterol and triglycerides also tested very high.  There are most likely two reasons for that.  First, the blood tests that the doctor ordered are normally fasting blood tests.  Not knowing for sure whether or not the doc would do the blood tests, I went ahead and ate a toasted bagel with margarine on both halves and strawberry jam on one half.  I'm pretty sure that has had an influence on the readings.  Also, low thyroid function leads to the liver not functioning efficiently and not processing fats well.  So, the high cholesterol and triglycerides are almost certainly a function of the low thyroid levels.  As the thyroid levels increase with the increased doses, the cholesterol and triglycerides should naturally come down.  But, just to play it safe, I've gone back on a low carb diet.  In the past, I've been able to drop my cholesterol 100 points in a month just by going low carb for 30 days.  In fact, I sit here and laugh when TV ads tell me I can drop my cholesterol 8 points in a month if I eat oatmeal.  8 points?  Big deal!  And an added bonus of that is that I will most likely drop a few pounds as well.

Other than that, there's not much to talk about.  Or, rather, this is not a good time to talk about it.  The TV is blaring and Joe and Erica are sitting in front of my desk having a very loud conversation, trying to talk over the very loud TV.  (God forbid we should turn the TV off or down, you know...  )  It would take a lot of concentration for me to put many more coherent sentences together.  Maybe tomorrow morning before Erica gets up?  We'll see. 

Learning to live with disappointment, LOL

Well, of all our trips to Mexico and elsewhere, this was probably one of the most disappointing.  We wanted to leave town Friday around 11AM.  All of a sudden, as Joe was trying to pack the car, his cell phone went crazy.  Within the next half hour, we were offered 4 signings, all of which had to be turned down in favor of getting out of town.  Then, intermingled with all the escrow calls, Matt called multiple times.  Though he and Rochelle have been separated for months, and he's been supposed to be working on a DIY divorce for months, all of a sudden it became an emergency and he HAD to have the papers notarized immediately.  So, we had to stop and notarize his docs before we could leave town.  It was well past 12 before we got on the highway for real.  Neither of us had had any breakfast, so we ended up stopping in Searchlight, NV, at a little one-hump casino there for some food as we were hungry.  Back on the road......  We normally stop for sodas, potty, that sort of thing in Vidal Junction, CA.  And there's always been this really interesting roadside "stand" there.  Well first problem, the restroom we usually use has been replaced by port-a-potties and they were totally disgusting.  I was thrilled when one lady handed me a wipe to clean my hands with after using the facility, but I'd have loved to wash myself all over!!!!!!  And our funky little sculpture/antique/second hand roadside place was GONE!  I'd looked forward to grabbing a couple of used books to read on the rest of the trip and some photos of some fun and funky stuff that they always have for sale, but that was not to be.  I had thought I might get a chance to shoot some good sunset shots of saguaro cacti, silhouetted against the sky, but it was too early when we got to that part of AZ.  Much of the road we travel is two lanes and we got stuck behind a couple of unofficial convoys and had to pass and pass and pass cars and trucks to fight our way out of those.  Then, going into Yuma, there is a place where we've stopped in the past for fresh fruit and veggies.  We were SO looking forward to getting some yummy tomatoes, but that place was closed.  If I had to bet, I would bet it's just too hot and most everything has been harvested.  We did run across another little stand, but they had mostly cantaloupe and watermelon, neither of which appealed to us as "hotel" food.  They did have some fresh sweet corn and I tried to talk Joe into some of that which could have been cooked in the microwave in our room with the acquisition of some wax paper, but he wasn't going for that for some reason.  We DID get a few tomatoes there but they aren't impressive looking.  Sure hope they taste better than they look.  We made it into Yuma around 5:30 and checked into our hotel which was very nice.  Praise God, we had a room with two queen-sized beds so I actually got a decent night's sleep for a change.  We were up at 6AM the following morning and in Mexico by 9.

The Mexico part of the trip was a disaster.  First, my blood pressure, taken right before we got out of the car was 80/50.  I jokingly told Joe that if we were on the set of House, a BP reading like that would have all sorts of trainee diagnosticians jumping through hoops to keep me alive.  Instead, I hiked about 3 blocks to the dentist's office.  Joe was in charge of setting up a dentist appointment and communicating with the office there to get a recommendation for an MD.  Well, let me just say there was a total breakdown in communication.  We had NO appointment with any doctor..........  A patient in the dentist's office recommended a doctor and offered to walk us over to the doc's office.  Claimed it was only a block.  WRONG!  We had to retrace our steps to the border, about 3 blocks.  Then across about a block of slight uphill.  Then, climb a block long hill, then another block of mostly level.  It was VERY hot and humid.  I ended up sending Joe on ahead with the other guy to find the doc's office and came trailing along behind as best I could.  Let me just point out that a 7 block hike, uphill, with BP of 80/50 is just not a good thing.  By the time we arrived at the doctor's office, I was just soaked in sweat which continued to drip off my hair and onto my clothes for about 45 minutes after we sat down.  The office had the exact same cooling system as they have at the optometrist we visited last summer, but it didn't work nearly as well.  The doctor was able to speak English.  He was less than fluent, but I think we did a good job of communicating back and forth.  He took my BP, checked my heart and lungs, asked a bunch of questions, etc.  He recommended I reduce the blood pressure meds to the 180 milligram dose versus the 240 milligram dose I've been taking.  Then he sent us to the medical lab.  They were clean and efficient, had the blood drawn in minutes and we were on our way.  I've e-mailed the doc for the results and am waiting to hear back from him.  The doctor visit was $30 and the lab was $80.  I know a dr visit here would run around $175.  I have no idea what the tests would have run here.  He requested 6 different tests.  I know one panel of 3 used to run around $1000.  So, we hiked back down the hill and went to our favorite restaurant.  Alas, it was closed for the summer!  Apparently that is not unusual.  It is so hot and humid that the cost to air condition is too much in that little town and far fewer people come across the border this time of year, so people just close down for 2 or 3 months til the weather cools!  There IS a restaurant which we pass every time we go to Algodones.  It is just a matter of 30 or so feet on the Mexican side of the border.  We've never eaten there but the smells emanating from that place have always been wonderful.  So, this time, on a recommendation from the pharmacy, we ate there.  It was wonderful food!  We did get our prescription medication, though a bit less of some things than I'd hoped.  In the middle of the pharmacy, one of Joe's Gideon buddies called and wanted us to pick up 8 bottles of estrogen for his wife.  Come on, dude, we're not supposed to bring back more than a 3 month supply and 8 bottles is a bit excessive!  Last time, the border folks on the US side said if we were going to bring back so much stuff, we would need a prescription for it!  We got him 3 bottles and he'll have to be happy with that.

So, we hopped into the car and headed across from the Yuma area to the San Diego area.  It was so darn hot and it didn't seem the a/c in the van could quite keep up with the heat.  Of course, my side of the car was facing the sun and Joe didn't complain about being uncomfortable.  BUT, he was in the shade.  There is a stretch of about 100 miles that is about the ugliest most god forsaken terrain you've ever seen.  I'm always thrilled when we're out of that area.  As you get closer to the CA coast, you begin to see a bit of vegetation, then trees, etc, and you can watch the temperature drop.  It was 101 when we left Algodones and 74 in San Diego.  What a relief!

Our hotel in SD was okay, but certainly anything BUT top of the line.  But, the room was more spacious than we had at the Holiday Inn and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.  Joe didn't sleep well, but once again, I had my own separate queen-sized bed and I slept like a log.  We rested a while in the room and then went to Bob and Karen's house.  I felt bad that she'd cooked dinner for us; they'd just returned from a stay in Mexico the previous night and we really didn't give her much time to acclimate to being home.  But she fixed a lovely prime rib roast, baked potatoes, and some of the sweetest corn on the cob I've ever eaten.  She even had a little chocolate for dessert.  There's a long story behind how they acquired the house they're in, but I won't go into all that now.  But the house had been a rental for many many years and NO maintenance was done on it in all that time.  They have had a tremendous fixer-upper challenge with the place.  It's a two-story place which had a cavernous unfinished lower level when they moved in.  Bob has gotten the lower level all fixed up and it now generates $1800 a month rent for them.  He's also managed to get a LOT done in the upper level, but Karen, I'm afraid, is just sick-to-death of living in a construction zone, as any woman would be.  What HAS been done is a wonderful improvement to the property, though.  They basically took out the bulk of the back west-facing wall in their living room and replaced the wall with glass doors which floods the living room and dining area with light.  When they got the place, it had a tiny 6 ft deck on the back of the upper level; that has now been extended to 16 feet with a walkway that goes all around the south side of the house.  He closed off a door that led to the downstairs to provide the tenant and themselves with privacy and in the process created a huge walk in closet for the master bedroom.  Their bathroom is quite large and Bob has completed most, but not all, of the tile work there.  It will be gorgeous when it's finished, but Karen wants it finished NOW.  The kitchen is huge, long and narrow, but the "narrow" part is at least twice as wide as my kitchen.  The fact is, it's about 4 x the size of my kitchen.  The floor in there is not good and needs to be replaced.  There's also a cupboard unit that's been put in there but it has no doors......  THey just got the oven and microwave installed.  It had been in the garage in boxes for 2 years.  She has a huge restaurant stove in there.  Floor and all, I couldn't stop drooling over the storage space she has in that kitchen! 

Bob's health has not been good for a lot of years.  In fact, in 1980 he was given 10 years to live.  He just keeps going.  We were sad to see, though, that he is having a much harder time walking than the last time we saw them about two years ago. 

When we got back to the hotel, around 11PM, I began to get ready for bed.  Imagine my surprise when I found I had no nightgown!  Joe had gathered all the stuff out of the bathroom in the hotel in Yuma and packed it.  But, he didn't bother to look on the back of the bathroom door where my nightgown was hanging.  So, a maid in Yuma has a nice little pink nightie, and I slept in my robe!  And a bottle of facial cleanser had leaked all over my only clean tee shirt.  So, I washed it out, hung it up in the bathroom and hoped it would dry.  It didn't.  It took about 45 minutes to iron it dry yesterday morning.  But it was not much of a choice--iron the wet tee shirt dry or wear the one from the day before that was practically stiff with perspiration.  We picked up Bob and Karen and had breakfast on the patio of a restaurant located right on the beach.  The food was good and the view was spectacular!  But, we didn't get Bob and Karen back to their place until noon..........

Next stop was Mission San Luis Rey, the northern most mission in the San Diego area.  Mission San Luis Rey is billed as the "king of the missions".  Remembering that the mission at Santa Barbara is called "the queen of the missions", I guess I expected the "king" to be even a bit more resplendent.  I have to say it was disappointing.  Every mission we've visited so far has had spectacular gardens.  Flowers of every variety, centuries old trees including fruit trees, and so on.  They are large, they are beautifully tended, they are peaceful and they are quiet.  Well, San Luis Rey also has a large beautifully tended garden, but it is not open to the public.  You can see it through the gate in a brick wall, but that's it.  The mission has a museum.  In these museums, one usually finds relics of mission life, books, vestments, documents, artwork, paintings, various pieces of equipment and tools that date from the time of the mission's establishment.  San Luis Rey had far less of this sort of thing and you were not allowed to take photos of what there was!  The church building itself was lovely, but once again, you are not allowed to take photos.  I have to admit, I cheated and snapped a few.  I set my camera for low light so there would be no tell-tale flash and took a few...........  We drove way too many miles to come away without photos.  We walked the cemetery and were again disappointed.  The Mission in Ventura does not have a cemetery.  Basically over the years, the Ventura mission has lost so much of it's land that its cemetery was sacrificed in order to build a school.  But the other missions all have cemeteries and they are pretty much like an extension of the mission gardens--huge centuries-old trees, flowers of all varieties carefully planted and tended.  The cemetery at San Luis Rey was positively spartan by comparison.  The mission sits on 56 acres, and, it turns out, the huge amount of land the mission controls is the reason it is "king".  I found so little to photograph and I was really disappointed. 

We had some time left, so we headed up the coast about 25 miles to the mission at San Juan Capistrano.  What we found there was the opposite of what we found at San Luis Rey, and that wasn't exactly wonderful either.  First, it is the only mission we've visited where the mission church is not intact.  The 5 story front stone wall is there  and there are pieces of the side walls.  There is enough to see that in its day this was a magnificent church.  Building of this church started in 1797 and it was completed in 1806.  However, in 1812, just as mass ended, a huge earthquake hit.  (This same earthquake destroyed or partially destroyed 7 missions in all).  The bell tower, ceiling and side walls of the San Juan Capistrano mission collapsed during the earthquake and 42 parishioners were killed. Oddly enough there has never been a serious attempt to rebuild what must have been a magnificent structure.  Also, oddly, while the big church is just bits and pieces, the quadrangle at this mission is far more complete and better preserved than at any other mission we've seen so far.  This mission also has a good bit of land, though I don't know exactly how much.  But the patio garden is huge and there are other areas well planted with flowers as well.  Unfortunately, even with the profusion of flowers, this is not your typical mission garden.  Where the other gardens are stately, well-manicured, and serene, this one reminds you more of a wildflower garden.  There's a bit of everything and it seems as though a lot of it could use a  pruning, dead heading, shaping, trimming, etc.  One gets the feeling this mission has a large committee which is in charge of the gardens.  And it's as though every committee member has insisted that 4 or 5 of their favorite varieties of flower be stuffed into the garden somewhere.......  To make this sense of confusion worse, there was a flower and garden show, complete with vendors and a band, going on at the mission yesterday.  Some lady was using a loud speaker system to call out the names of people who had won prizes of various sorts.  So the usual sense of quiet, serenity, solitude, peace, etc. was totally missing.  I could not get a photo of anything without some passerby wandering into the shot.  We walked around there until the bottoms of our feet were screaming, then stopped at a Starbucks across the street for a bit of liquid refreshment, climbed into the van and headed north.  Sadly, as we exited the mission property, we found maps for the property.  It would have been so much better if those had been available as we entered......

We took the Ortega Highway across from San Juan Capistrano to the area where Joe used to live.  As we headed inland, we moved from coastal towns and temperatures, to mountainous farmland and hotter inland temperatures.  We picked up Erica a little after 6 PM and headed toward Las Vegas.  We finally arrived home just minutes before 11PM.  So, here I sit today, in my own little house wishing I dared drop  the temperature on the thermometer a few degrees and facing the fact I'll be having that same wish for the next 3-4 months.  It's very warm here..........

I'll have pictures or pages to spice up this blog in the next day or two, but for now this will have to suffice.  I have laundry to do and a bunch of other things as well.  Have a great day.

Quiet, calm, serene

Yes, you guessed it.  Joe's gone doing a signing!  I doubt he'll be home for at least another hour.  What a joy that is!  A small chance to think my own thoughts.  He has only one other signing scheduled today--for 4PM so I'm really hoping a few more materialize for this afternoon, both for the sake of my sanity and the sake of our budget.

Well, my "launch" of bracket album pages yesterday at ScrapArtist didn't go all that well.  I had a 10 page brag book with 3 extra pages done and ready to go.  Unfortunately, Amanda only got 5 of the regular pages plus the 3 extra pages.  It looks decidedly unstellar in the preview and isn't terribly useful with so few pages.  We'll see if I sell any.  I was pretty disappointed.  I was at the computer yesterday morning at 6AM and the first thing I did was to check the store......I cried when I saw what had happened.  But, it couldn't be helped.  So, I spent the day yesterday working on some quick pages for next week and I'm sending them to Amanda as I type this.  She put out a large, beautiful paper pack several weeks ago--25 pieces of gorgeous paper. To my eye, it seemed as though there were 3 groups of colors, so I did 3 sets of 4 quick pages.  One is masculine and ought to work well for Father's Day.  We'll see if next week goes better.  At least I'll know I'm not sending her stuff at the last minute and stressing her out.  I'd hate to do that.

We leave Friday afternoon for Mexico.  I am about out of blood pressure meds so it's either go to Mexico or spend $175 for an office visit here plus the cost of the prescription.  I'm going to get my teeth cleaned!  Wow, haven't done that for a year!  And, I've made arrangements for an appointment with a doctor down there as well.  I want to ask some questions about my blood pressure medication and see if we can work out some way to do a thyroid test.  I should have a thyroid test every 6 months but it's been years since I could afford to have that done.  I'm hoping somehow I can get that accomplished down there for cheap.  None of this is neurosurgery or rocket science so I don't see why a Mexican doctor/laboratory can't accomplish it.  I'm sure they've been handling this stuff for years.  Besides, I may or may not take their advice depending on my feeling as to the knowledge level of the doctor.

Joe wants to stop and pick up Erica on the way back.  Geez, 5 hours trapped in a car with her nasal, loud voice and inane conversation (she has a way about her that grates on me and the bulk of her thought life seems to center on TV sitcoms--junk I wouldn't let the dogs watch!).......my nerves will be totally shot.  I'm planning on riding in the very back seat of the van where it will be quieter.  Maybe I'll even try to figure out a way to lie down and sleep back there.  My consolation prize for all this should be pretty good, though.  In order to get to Menifee, we have to come west from Yuma which puts us in the San Diego area.  There is an area down there where there are acres and acres of flowers grown for florists.  I'm going to be given a chance to get some photos there.  There's also another Spanish Mission and we're going to tour that before we pick her up.  The biggest blessing in all this is that we are NOT staying at Joe's friend's house in Encinitas.  He, for some reason, has a really strong desire to see Bob's house.  I don't really understand that.  If it looks really good, we still have to come home to this dump.  And, if it looks really bad, who needs to see that?  The biggest thing is that I've only met these people once, for breakfast, so it would be stressful for me to try to make conversation with virtual strangers........  I just want a bit of time to relax.  So, we've booked a hotel somewhere in that area--Joe was in charge of that because he knows the area.  Again, driving back through Menifee and picking up Erica, even with the high cost of gasoline and the cost of a hotel room is at worst a breakeven proposition, given what it would cost us to fly her up here. 

So Joe has begun boxing up stuff in the office in preparation for moving things out for the new carpet.  And, he's doing it in the usual Joe fashion.  I caught him going Sunday with an armload of my videos which he intended to throw away or donate.  I could have killed him.  They're not his to do ANYTHING with, other than put into boxes. 

Well, I have to go stare into the freezer and see if I can come up with any ideas for dinner.  Of course, no grocery shopping got accomplished this weekend--we only managed to waste a mountain of tupperware containers of food........but that's a dead horse so I'll try to stop beating it though I'm still seething over it.

Today's project is to clean out the refrigerator and to pack at least one box of books.  That's on top of all the usual stuff, of course.  Hope you're having a blessed day.