Have fun!

15 things to do at Wal-Mart while your spouse/partner is taking their sweet time:

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they aren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals. 3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares..... and see what happens.
5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.
6. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.
8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, and pick your nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti-depressants are.
11. Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.
12. In the auto department, practice your "Madonna look" using different size funnels.
13. Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, say "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!!"
14. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"
(And; last, but not least!)
15. Go into a fitting room and shut the door and wait a while; and, then, yell, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"


by the way, I have done #13 before - hehe

Bright light...bright light!

Today was not a fun day. I had to go to the opthamologist for a plaquenil screen. If you don't know what that is, let me tell you alllllllll about it . First, I had to go into a room and basically get a mini eye exam. The assistant looked into my eyes and asked me some questions...no big whoop. After that, I had to sit and do a color test...All that was, was to arrange these little colored circles into their proper order, going from different shades of blue, green, brown, red and purple. I got all of those right...so far, so good. Next, I had to go into another room with a different assistant. She basically just asked me more questions, and shone bright lights into my eyes and tested my side vision...again, so far, so good. Then I was taken into another room, with yet another assistant, This is where the whole thing turned ugly. First, she told me she was gonna have to measure my pressure. I thought, no biggie...blood pressure, right? Wrong! She proceeded to put these anasthetic drops into my eyes to numb them. Ok, maybe they are supposed to numb your eyes, but first they have to burn - lol. And burn, they did. And then, once they stopped burning, they felt just plain funky. Then, she took out this pointer looking thing which blew air into my eyes, which I didn't feel since they were all numb. After that, she tells me she has to dilate my pupils. UGH. If I would have known I was gonna have that done, I would have had someone drive me to my appointment and back. So, she puts the dilation drops in my eyes and tells me it takes like 15 minutes to work. In the meantime, I had to sit in this bright office, my eyes growing more and more blurry and the light was just driving me nuts. After a little while, I could barely see. And just when I was at the point where everything was a complete and total blur, she makes me get up and walk into another room. Mind you, I can't see very well at this point, and I almost fell. Then she brings me to a dim room (thank the lord!) and makes me sit there for a while til the doctor comes in. So I sit there.....and sit.....and sit. And finally he comes in. Then he proceeds to shine more lights into my already painful eyes, and looks into them with a microscopic lens to examine the nerve endings. Ok...not too bad. He says my eyes look fine and healthy. Good! Next, he tells me he has to have the nerve endings in my eyes photographed....photographed?? Hmmm...that seemed a little weird. So, the next thing that happened was that the assistant who put the drops into my eyes tells me that she has to put the reversal drops into my eyes now. Huh? Reversal drops? They are supposed to reverse the dilation effect of the dilation drops. Ok...let me tell you something about those...they BURN! Ouch. After this, I really could barely see. But I had to go to yet another room to get my eyes photographed. This part was excruciating cuz I had to look into this bright ass light and my eyes were already so worn out from all the other lights. He took like 10 pictures in all...maybe more. I lost count. And after he turned the room light back on, everything looked pink! Yep....everything. It wore off after a few minutes though. I was told after all this was done, that I will have to have this whole experience repeated every 6 months while I am taking plaquenil. Ugh!!! I guess it is to make sure the plaquenil doesn't start builing up on the nerve endings in my eyes. That could lead to vision problems, color blindness (thus the color test) and even blindness. I mean, the plaquenil does seem to be helping with the pain in my joints, but man! I don't know about all of this eye stuff. I guess we'll see. I just know that next time, I am having my mom drive me! I got out of the appointment at about 3:30 today and my right eye is still all dilated. My left one seems ok. I am gonna lie down cuz my eyes hurt like a mo-fo! Don't even get arthritis! It is too much trouble !!!

2005 - a new year, same me

Well, here it is.......January 2, 2005. Hope everyone's New Year was great. I spent mine at a friend's house, but to tell you the truth , I wasn't feeling very good that night....pain is a beeeyach. But it was nice to be around other people who were having fun. Made the pain seem a little less intense. I decided to stay sober for New Year's, which was probably the best thing for me to do. All of my Christmas decorations are still up. And no, I am not trying to extend Christmas or winter for that matter... I am looking foward to srping's arrival. This cold weather just kills me. I don't like it! I guess I will take down my stuff this week. It is back to work tomorrow, after a nice 4 days off. I am not looking foward to that very much, to be perfectly honest. I have to go to the opthamologist this week for an eye exam, and I am not quite sure what to expect there. He is supposed to exam my eyes to make sure I don't go blind or something from this medicine I take, Plaquenil, for arthritis/lupus. On the plus side, the medicine seems to be helping, which is good. Instead of being in pain 4-5 days out of the week, I am down to maybe 1-2 days a week. And that is great for me :) I am not worried about going blind or anything....that is very rare that that happens. I just hate having bright lights shining into my eyes and stuff. I am a complete wimp when it comes to any doctor's appointment. Seems like to I go the freaking doctor every month - lol. Well, here's to hoping this year is full of fun, friends, family, and less doctors' appointments ! Happy New Year...a little late....but better late than never.

Out with the old and in with the new....

Year that is....

So long 2004. Hello 2005 ! It is just 11 hours before 2005 officially begins. A lot happened in the world in 2004. Martha Stewart went to prison...Britney Spears got hitched (twice)...Janet Jackson had a "wardrobe malfunction"....Anna Nicole Smith lost all that weight, then lost all that money in a recent court settlement...The Los Angeles Lakers were dethroned ...Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for killing his wife and unborn son..and, of course, the horrible tsunami that killed so many people in Asia. 2004 also saw the loss of many celebrated entertainers such as music genius, Ray Charles and screen legend, Marlon Brando. But 2004 was not without its happy moments. J-Lo got married...again....another season of South Park made tv a happier place...celebrities continued to give their offspring "creative and interesting" (gag) names ..and The Red Sox finally won a World Series after decades and decades of losses. I had a pretty good year myself, really. I took a vacation and got to go to Boston, MA for a week, which was just awesome. I didn't get into any trouble...didn't get any traffic tickets....I lost about 40 pounds and started going to the gym (which I resolve to get my butt back in there once this cold spell is over!!! lol). Nothing really special happened to me this year, but then again, nothing terribly bad happened to me either, so that makes for an ok year by me. So, do I have any New Year's resolutions? Hmmm....well last year I resolved to stop making resolutions because you know those resolutions only stick for like a few weeks after the year begins, then it is back to the old way of doing things. All I can really do is to say I will TRY to : 1) be happier ... 2) stop with the road rage already ... 3) not get any cavities ... 4) be more open about my feelings ... 5) sleep better ... 6) take at least 1 trip somewhere fun ... and 7) enjoy life more. At least those are reasonable goals...if I were to, say, resolve to get engaged, well, that would just be silly of me... lord knows that is not gonna happen! (well one can always wish can't they? lol). If that happens this year, which it won't, I will eat worms....yes, I will eat worms...and then I will drink vinegar and walk outside naked yelling "look at me!" - lol. I will also do that if I win the lotto...good thing those won't happen, because I really don't like the sound of eating worms. (ick). Well, I can only hope that 2005 brings some kind of excitement to my life, because this year was just too boring. Farewell 2004. Let the good times roll.

Happy New Year.....have fun.......but be safe!

That can only happen in the movies...right?

I can't help but to feel saddened by the tsunami tragedy in Asia. In fact, I don't think something has touched me more since 9/11. When I see the pictures of all the grieving people holding and the pictures of all the dead, it just makes me want to cry. Then it brings me back to earth, knowing that a tragedy like that can and did happen. It really makes you stop and think about your own life and the lives of your friends and family. It is something you just don't expect to happen, except in movies. I had to call my friend Alicia to make sure her brothers, who are living in Thailand, were ok, which they were. Thank goodness they are living inland! All those thousands of people gone....just like that. Within minutes, a whole population, vanished from the face of the earth. They say the total death toll can reach up to 100,00. That is almost half of the population of this city. I know death happens all the time around the world, but my gosh....it is hard to picture that many people dead. But then, all you have to do is look on the internet at the pictures of the bodies of those poor people, and all of those children. Oh my gosh....all of those poor children! But there were some miracles. I read that a 20-day old baby was found alive, floating on a raft or something. It is hard to believe that something so small and defenselss could survive the massive wall of water that claimed so many lives. To be honest, it makes me sort of happy I live here in Bakersfield, which is far from the ocean. I am happy that my friend's brothers are ok...and I pray for all of those poor souls who lost their lives and also for the survivors who lost many of their friends and family. I don't know what kind of good can come out of a tragedy like that, but hopefully, there will be some sort of silver lining to that cloud, for it is a dark cloud indeed.

getting closer to the 2 million mark - ok....ok....so I have no life!!!! This is all I have...give me a break! lol
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Christmas revisited

Merry belated Christmas.....hope yours was positively grrrreat. My family and I all went to my grandma's house for Christmas. You can see a few of the pictures of my family and some of the places we visited during the last few days below. My mini-vacation started off well....we went out to eat, stayed up and watched some tv, and we actually got along most of the time. We went up to Gilroy and Salinas on the 23rd for some shopping, and stopped off in King City, my old stomping ground. We went up to Santa Maria on the 24th. It was a beautiful day. It was so nice and warm and just sunny and cheery. So unlike Bakersfield, which I heard was cold and foggy. On a few occasions, my brother was his usual punk-self, and my dad was somewhat of a grumpy gus one evening, but for the most part it went well for everyone.....everyone but me that is. You see, I got sick....pukey sick, on Christmas morning, and spent most of Christmas day laying in bed and sleeping. Either it was something I ate, or I got the flu again. Figures! I didn't get sick on Turkey Day, so I HAD to get sick on Christmas. I am feelin' a little better now, just weak from not eating and kinda dehydrated. I overestimated myself today and got me a Pollo Bowl from El Pollo Loco (MMMM good), and ate about 1/4 of it, and now I feel icky again. But I was hungry!!! My family all went out to eat for Christmas dinner and I stayed back at my grandma's laying in bed, but they were nice enough to bring me back a piece of banana cake (which is still in the fridge - I will eat it when I feel better). I had a nice Christmas though, despite the pukeage. I got some perfume (which smells soooooo good), a necklace (gotta love the jewelry!!!), a cool Zen garden and Sonic coupons (thank you Veronica!!), some soft slippers and the softest, warmest, cutest robe ever (thank you Alicia!!), a cute little angel candle (thank you Arlene!!), and lots of jammers and clothes from my grandma and folks. Of course there was also the candy and cookies and oh my gosh sweets, which, if I had anymore of right now, I would probably explode! And now that it is all over, I feel better. I think the holidaze blues are behind me ...for this year. I am going to leave up my Christmas tree til New Year's though. I love the softness of the lights and the feeling it brings to walk into my living room to see it all lit up. I can't explain it really. It just makes it feel more like home. But next year, I promise to get my shopping done earlier!

My grandma Lorene - we spent Christmas with her : )
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another view of "beautiful" King City, CA
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my mom - striking a pose for the camera - say "cheese" mom!
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my mom (hidden by the huge cup) and my bro - gotcha!! he he
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my mom looking "shady" in the car on our trip up to Gilroy, CA
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my dad watching tv at my grandma's house - blissfully unaware that my bro was taking his picture - he he
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another view of St John's in King City, CA
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St John's - I went to school here - sadly, it is no longer a school
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King City, CA - where I grew up - population of around 11,000 or so
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My new Collapse high score of 1,738,582 - stupid addictive game!
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Merry Christmas movie house!

Well, here it is, 3 days before Christmas, and I am still alive. Hope you are too! But I guess if you are reading this, then you are, indeed, alive.....maybe insane by now, but alive at least! This will be my last post until after Christmas, because I am going out of town for the holidays. I am going to see my grandmother, along with my family. But if we make it back in one piece, and still on speaking terms...well that remains to be seen. The holidaze will do that to you though. They can make the nicest person turn into a meanie just like that. At this Christmas, I can assure you that your days will be full of: "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story" ("I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!") and football and eggnog (if you like that sort of thing), Christmas carols, thick sweaters, mittens, candy canes, cookies of all shapes and sizes, pies made of pumpkins, pecans, apples, and berries, snow (or in my case, dreams of snow), and of course, family and friends and presents...don't forget the presents! Are you exhausted yet? I am exhausted just thinking about it! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas. Drive safe, if you are driving out of town, and be sure to keep some Pepto and Tylenol on hand. As I always say, eat lots of turkey but stay away from the yellow snow! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Christmas Oddities

~In Italy they have no Christmas trees, instead they decorate small wooden pyramids with fruit.

~In Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, it is customary for the streets to be blocked off on Christmas eve so that the people can roller-skate to church.

~An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

~It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction.

~A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

~Sending red Christmas cards to anyone in Japan constitutes bad etiquette, since funeral notices there are customarily printed in red.

~In Norway on Christmas Eve, all the brooms in the house are hidden because long ago it was believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.

May your days be merry and bright .... and may all your Christmases be white...
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