Happy Birthday, Love

Today is Travis' 24th birthday. We are celebrating by throwing a gigantic barbecue. I know that it's not one of those milestone birthdays, but there's never a better reason to throw a huge party. We are going to set up the yard and garage this morning and the guests are suppose to arrive at 2pm. There are a few friends and family that are coming over early to help us set up (including tapping the keg), so things should start to get chaotic around noon.

I am delighted to report that the mosquito population seems to be under control in my neighborhood. We still plan to fog the yard and put out bug spray for mass use, but at least the risk of a guest contracting West Nile Fever has dwindled significantly.

Cheers to a celebration of another healthy year of life under the belt!

This pic cracks me up because Travis is sitting with Wednesday's booger-bulb.

That's hot.

Happy Birthday Travis!

Love,
Your Wife

Upgrayedd (with two D's for "a double-dose of pimping")

Gustav has been upgraded back to a hurricane. Just in time to go across the Gulf and build up more energy. Travis said he heard on the Weather Channel earlier that the storm may calm down a little just before landfall because a low pressure system will be working it's way south off the consecutive states around then. I hate to hope for someone else's pain, but I'm hoping this thing stays on the projected course - towards New Orleans. The idea of evacuating again just kills me. Now we have three cats and a dog. And we wouldn't be taking Travis' truck since it only gets 10-18 mpg. Which means the family zoo would all be in one vehicle. PLUS, I really, really, really want to have this barbecue for Travis on Sunday. We just spent a small fortune on perishable food. I would hate for that all to go to waste. Here's hoping!

Note: 1) Title was stolen from the movie Idiocracy. Don't see it. 2) Arrow idea was stolen from Rachel.

Let Labor Cease!

Travis and I watched American Gangster this past weekend. I thought it was pretty good. It was a little slow, but a good story. Worth mentioning anyway. I took a few photos around the yard (still enjoying having the camera back) and thought I'd share them.

Strange mushrooms keep popping up.

Fun purple ivy that I have to keep convincing Travis not to dig up.

Crazy orange bugs keep eating my hibiscus.

Callaway stays in the yard when he is told to. =)

TGIF! David, Stephanie and Wednesday are getting into town this afternoon. They are staying the weekend to help us celebrate Travis' birthday. I have Monday off for Labor Day and Travis has Friday through Monday off. Partly for Labor Day, partly for his birthday. It will be a nice break before the storm. By storm I meant the turnaround (working 7 12's) at his work, but I guess that goes for Tropical Storm Gustav too. I sure hope that storm does not interrupt the barbecue we have planned for Sunday. Otherwise we may be evacuating with David and Stephanie!

AM List

4 Super annoying things that happened to me in the first sleepy moments this morning (in chronological order):

1. The alarm on my cell phone went off, reminding me to call the vet clinic first thing (Callaway has a recurring rash that needs to be taken care of).
2. Callaway rammed his toy bone into my shin when he decided it would be better to squeeze in the two inches between me and the bed instead of the three feet between me and the dresser.
3. With my eyes half-closed to ward off the blaring light of the bathroom, I stepped on a small cockroach with my bare heel. (And proceeded to have heebie jeebie feet until I got my shoes on.)
4. Fought off three mosquitoes at the bathroom sink that must have weaseled their way into our home on Callaway's back after his morning potty break.

Ugh. Is it Friday yet?

PS - We (everyone in the Gulf) are keeping their eyes on Gustav. Wouldn't want him making any surprise stops!

Swarming Culicidae

This is how bad the mosquitoes are in my area right now: County wages war on mosquitoes, The Galveston Daily News. Looks like I'll be wearing long sleeves and pants for Travis' birthday barbecue planned for Sunday. NOT FUN during hot weather, but better than the alternative. I have 7 mosquito bites on my feet alone. Then there's my legs. It is OUT OF CONTROL.

When I go out to my garage in the morning, there is an absolute swarm of mosquitoes around me. I have to unlock the door with a key so it takes me a moment. A painstakingly looong moment. As soon as I jump in the car, they run into my window. This morning it reminded me of some horror flick where the monsters are attacking the car, trying to get in to their prey. When I let Callaway out to go to the bathroom, I first spray him with bug repellent, then stand by the door to let him back in immediately when he returns. Then I have to spend 10 minutes smashing the mosquitoes that fly off of him. Callaway and the cats usually help by smashing the ones close to the ground. It looks like a massacre because of all the blood splatter. After the bulk are killed, I walk around with 409 and a paper towel to clean up the mess.

I remember when I was in college, I would sit in my car during lunch and watch students walk around the campus. It was always hilarious during the times of bad infestation. People would wildly flail their arms in front of them as they ran towards their destination. It may have been more funny to me since I made that same dance going to class every day.

I knew these bugs would be bad after all the rain we had last week, but this is insane.

Olivine Bridesmaids

This past Friday, I went with Sara and two of her other bridesmaids to try on dresses. She has the choice narrowed down to one. She just wanted to see each of us in it to be sure. Brittany, JR's sister, and Dana, Sara's friend and maid of honor, each met us at David's Bridal in the evening. It was a day especially for bridesmaids. Not sure why they called it that, but whatever, it was fun. They offered hand and back massages and various samples from different caterers in the area. It was a nice appetizer to the dinner we had planned for afterward. I really like the dress and I think we found the perfect heels to match, in champagne-color.

We tried to find our dresses in the color Sara wanted

- Olivine -

Brittany got stuck with a black dress.

For dinner, we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant that I have been to frequently with Sara and Dana. They have pretty good food and awesome (and cheap) margaritas. The whole meal cost me $13! Although, Sara did pay for my margarita in return for driving. I guess her car has been ravaged by the rain from last week. She started a paper route and that gets delivered rain or shine. It was a nice evening, that didn't end too late. Good thing, cuz I got up bright and early the next morning to mow the lawn...

Muggery

It was a rough week for our family. First, there was a robbery, then there was a mugging. Ah! Travis' mom, Brenda, and step-dad recently moved to a new subdivision in Illinois. They lived in North Carolina for a few years, but decided it was time to move "back home". The subdivision they moved into is a really nice one, which is why I think they were the target for a home robbery. It happened while they were sleeping - thank goodness they didn't wake up and interrupt the burglars. Who knows what could have happened! When they woke up one day last week, their laptop, two cell phones, cash from Brenda's wallet and a six pack of beer were all missing. I'm thinking they may have been kids. Not joking - a six pack of beer. After their morning discovery, they decided it was time to get a home security system. Everything is installed and in working order. Hopefully they are not so unlucky again!

The mugging involved my sister Ariel. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt, because it could have been worse. She was walking home from the gas station a block from her apartment on Sunday afternoon when some punk grabbed her wallet out from under her arm as he ran by. Instinct took over and she raced after the kid in her skirt and sandals. He ran across the street and jumped into a getaway car. I don't know if she got the plate number - I'm doubtful. Honestly, I'm glad she did not catch him because who knows what he might have done to her. With her wallet, she lost her social security card, drivers license, debit card and cash. Now she gets to worry about identity theft. She didn't have her cell phone with her, so she had to wait until she got back to the apartment to report it to the police and the credit bureau. After work last night I tried to pick up pepper spray for her to put on her key chain, but the two stores I checked were out. I will check back later this week. After that I took Ariel to the police station. The police officer who wrote the report said if she gives a written statement, they will have a better chance of charging the kid with a felony if he is ever caught. I'm doubtful that will ever happen, but it was worth a try. The police officers were delightfully pleasant with us. Different from what I have thought of the police in our area.

I have started to worry about myself more and more as each year passes. I am in a constant state of paranoia, convinced that someone is lurked behind every corner waiting to attack. I do have reason to feel this way, even more so now than before. When I first moved down here, my mom was at a gas station and noticed a policeman in line. She told him that her daughter had recently moved to the island and she wanted to know if this was an okay area. He told her that I should never leave a cigarette (I don't smoke so that's not a problem) or even a quarter sitting out in my car. People will break in for anything.

Since I have lived down here I have had a bicycle stolen from my front porch and I have friends with similar stories. The day before Sara and JR were moving to their new apartment, they had their car parked on the street. Sara had left a Walmart grocery bag with a box of new plates in the back seat. In the middle of the night, someone threw a brick through her window and stole the plates. It was a huge ordeal, as she had Logan who was only an infant at the time that sat in his car seat in the back. There was broken glass everywhere (dangerous) and an open window (rain and wind). A few blocks from where Sara's car got broken into, another friend had her purse stolen off her lap while sitting outside a coffee shop that I, and numerous friends, frequent. Actually, it was the same night we visited while my family was here. Luckily, her boyfriend scared the guy enough that he dropped the purse and kept on running.

I didn't realize how cynical I had become until I went to Illinois this past July. Chrissie and I made a quick trip up to the gas station for coffee and when I parked my car, I rolled up the windows and closed the sunroof. Chrissie made fun of me for freaking out and told me I could have just left the windows down. When we got out of the car, she pointed out that everyone else in the parking lot had their windows down. NO WAY would I EVER do that here. I remember when I was growing up, we never locked our home or cars. And we never thought twice about it. Granted, I live closer to a big city now and not in the middle of corn fields. But I can't help but hate the constant anxiety I live with.

Blairified

Little man Blair just keeps on keepin' on. Seriously, he advances so much everytime I see him. Do you know what he's learned since the last time I saw him? How to roll over. Holy cow. He's a rolling fool. Actually, Mom tells me he rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time ever - in front of me!!! So exciting! It really is amazing how babies just keep on growing and maturing. It's unreal. We had Chris R., Alexa and Chris W. over for dinner Saturday night and got some awesome pics. Check 'em out:

Bouncy Chair

Bouncy Chair + Mommy = Awesomeness

Belly Raspberries

Lovey Time with Daddy

Keeses from Daddy

Dad is cool

Blair can roll over. Seriously.

Belly time with Mommy

Baby Blue

6 Wonders

If I could have done ANYTHING I wanted for a career, I think I would have chosen deep sea explorer (I am easily sea sick, so this didn't work out for me). It is amazing the diversity of strange marine life that is found down there. I know these aren’t necessarily deep sea animals, but I thought I’d dedicate a post to the oddities out in the oceans.

Frilled shark
Deep sea shark that was thought to be extinct, until live specimen was found off the coast of Japan

Goblin Shark
Not much is known about this deep sea shark

Goliath Grouper
This Atlantic fish can get as large as 8 feet and 300 pounds.



Red-lipped Batfish
Walks on it's pectoral fins



Flat-faced Anglerfish
This fish also walks on it's pectoral fins. What makes it so unique is it's two forward facing eyes.


Kiwa hirsuta, or yeti lobster
This crustacean lives around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean.

That's all for your marine biology lesson for the week. Anyone have something they think should be added to the list?

Aw. No Bigfoot.

Turns out the body that was found a few months ago and was believed to be Bigfoot, was nothing more than a hoax. *gasp* I know, hard to believe, but it was actually just a frozen ape suit. No idea where the DNA crap came from...

New Blog List Layout

I'm trying out a new layout for my blog list. What do you think? Should I get rid of the snipits?

I GOT MY CAMERA BACK!!

Look at how much the shroomies grew in just 10 hours!

Playing catch with Callaway

Bella, in her regular spot under the futon

Phage likes to sniff the camera. It's hard to get a picture of anything besides his nose.

My Sagira-magira sitting at the table

Logan likes to wear big-people sandals... then watch himself walk... teehee...

Playing the Eukalale

Bed Time Routine: Deviated

Do you remember those times when you were a kid and it was time for bed when you had a friend staying the night, and you both got so giddy you couldn't stop giggling? It's like I was so excited that my schedule had somehow deviated from the norm and I was the only one who had noticed my parents' blunder. Well, Travis and I had one of those moments the other night, sans parents. We were sitting on the couch, having just finished watching the latest episode of Saving Grace, avoiding going to bed. I saw that it was 10:30 and told Travis that we should probably head to bed, otherwise we might regret it later.

He moaned and brought out his childish voice, "But I don't wanna!"

I agreed, "I don't want to either because then we have to get up and go to work!"

After a little more moaning and groaning we both lugged our lazy butts off the couch and into our pj's. Travis postponed the inevitable by playing tug of war with Callaway while I brushed my teeth. Then when it was his turn to clean his grill, I took a go with Callaway. This time shoving a pillow case over his head and seeing how long it took for him to get out of it. Turns out he's pretty quick. I'll have to think up some sort of added obstacle.

By the time Travis got to bed, Callaway was all riled up, ready to go. Travis blamed me for working up the dog before bedtime and I had to remind him he was the one that started it. We both jumped into bed, in giggle-mode. We started talking about passing gas when I accused Travis of being a wafter (pronouncing it waaafter).

Then I said "wafter?" (pronouncing it woffter) "Which is it?"

Travis laughs and says, "Waaafter?! Those are in the ceiling!" Referencing rafters, with a lisp.

We couldn't. stop. laughing. And then Callaway breaks us up by actually farting. Audibly. Instinctively, we each pulled the covers over our head, too accustomed to his deadly stench. After we calmed down, Travis was brave as he attempts, "You better go out there and see if the coast is clear."

"What?!" I say, "You go out there! I'm not going out there!"

This volley goes on, until I suddenly rip down the comforter, only to realize that I had only exposed myself. Travis was still hidden under the sheets! Coward.

Snickollet

Hooray for rain! It has rained at least once a day since Saturday and it looks like this should continue through the week. I think we can finally say we are out of our months-long drought! Travis and I both woke up in the middle from an enormous clap of thunder. I realized what happened once I heard the steady down pour of rain outside our windows. This morning I noticed there is standing water on the sidewalk that leads to my garage. Our grass has suddenly remembered how to grow. I just hope our Pampas grass follows suit. These little guys sure did:

I wanted to bring up another blog I read: Snickollet. I noticed I don't have it up in my list the other day. It's a little sad, since the blogger is a mother of twins whose husband died of cancer when the kids were only a few months old. Thankfully, her blog posts are generally not depressing. It's just amazing to see how she deals with it. If you are interested, check it out for yourself.

PS - I am very excited to say that I finally sat down and restitched the pile of clothes that have been sitting on my dresser for two months now. =) Personal accomplishment for me!

Little Dog in the Big Sea

Another quiet weekend for Travis and I. Travis did a side job Saturday and I had to be into work early too, so we didn't stay up late on Friday. Saturday evening, we went to this bar and grill place for a friend's birthday. Travis used to work with this guy at his family's residential electrical company. They are all really great people and I actually miss them. I used to stop by the "shop" (the owner's garage) after work on Fridays to hang out with the guys. We would chill out and have a few beers before heading home. It was laid back and comfortable, like a family. We stayed at the restaurant until midnight, when the birthday boy headed to the bars. Neither of us were up for that, so we just went home to bed.

Sunday, we got up a little late. We decided to play it easy and go out to breakfast at IHOP. We haven't done that in forever! The Belgian waffle really hit the spot and I don't know what it is lately with me and coffee. I've started to want it more often than I used to. It used to be that I could only really drink iced coffee in the summertime, but lately I've even wanted hot coffee. I don't like the feeling of need. I don't want to get addicted to drinking coffee everyday. I recall being a little kid and always despising it when adults would get down on my level and talk to me with their coffee breath. Ew. Well, that IHOP coffee really hit the spot!

After breakfast, we stopped at the house for a change of clothes and to pick up Callaway before heading down to the beach. We haven't taken him in a long time, so we were excited to see his reaction to the water. He seemed okay with Logan's baby pool last weekend, so we figured he would do alright. It ended up that he really enjoyed the water, but the waves seemed to make him nervous. Every time a wave would come up, he would run away from it a little before jumping over it. It got even funnier when he got into deeper water.

There is a place nearby where we went that gives horse rides up and down the beach. I was a little nervous to see what Callaway would do when he saw the horses. He did bark at them, but the horses didn't even seem to notice him.

We threw the ball around in the water for Callaway. Travis kept throwing it deeper and deeper in the water to see how far we could get him to go. He always went all the way out to the ball, but sometimes he would lose sight of the white ball in the surf. We had to call him back a few times because the ball floated all the way back to us without him finding it.

We left a short time later. There were big, dark clouds heading our way and we were hoping to give Callaway a bath before the rain started. We wanted to grill out, but when the rain started immediately after giving the dog a bath we changed our plans to broiled kabobs. Callaway was exhausted and slept the rest of the evening away. He wouldn't even lift his head when we called his name. I love it when we are able to wear him out that much. Sometimes I feel like it is next to impossible.

It was a perfect summery day.

Wednesday's Muvee

Courtesy of Stephanie

Oh, and you need to check out Blair's latest video on Alexa's blog.

Pollution Tornado

Look! It's a tornado! Just joking - it's pollution pouring out of the oil refineries. Gotta make that gasoline!

Bigfoot? What?!

First there is el Chupacabra in Texas, now they've found Bigfoot in California. What's next? Two guys, who just happen to sell Bigfoot merchandise found the "body". Hmm...

Three DNA tests were run to confirm the species. One was inconclusive, one said 3% human and the third said 96% opossum. So, chances are, this is not Bigfoot. It's a opossum. Or maybe five opossums? Look at that photo! It's a cooler full of hair. What I want to know, is where did that 3% human come from?!?! Are they going to look into these guys? What the hell is in this box?!

El Chupacabra!

I welcome the rain that is pouring outside at the moment, mostly because of the extreme drought we are in. The dirt around all my plants outside is rock hard. Our poor Pampas grass looks like crap. But all I want to do whenever it is dark and dreary like this is lay down and watch a movie. Preferably a romantic comedy. But that's not going to happen.

Thank goodness it's Friday. Still, I am a little annoyed that I have to work a full day today. For the past few months, if not longer, I have been getting out early on Fridays because either I worked the weekend before, or worked extra hours during the week. No such luck this week. I have to work ALL DAY. Ugh. Then I get to go grocery shopping. Which, actually, I am very excited about. Our fridge is embarassing right now. There is nothing in it.

In other news, el Chupacabra has been sighted in South Texas!

Attack of the Furballs

The thing I hate most about our house is the white carpet. I always said I would NEVER want white carpet. Well, our dream house came with it. It irritates me on a daily basis. When we first moved in, it was immaculate. The previous owners had just had it installed. I was really nervous about having white carpet, seeing as at the time I had three cats. THEN we got Callaway. We didn't know how much damage he was causing until he was several months old. When he was a puppy, he used to pee on the carpet. When we caught him, we cleaned up the mess. What we didn't catch, slowly accumulated dirt over the months until we got to where we are now. Now there are little dirty patches all over the house.

Another test to the carpets has been Bella (pronouned "Baya"). Her little urinating-all-over-the-place fiasco has left us with a not-so-pretty smelling hall closet. Knock on wood, she hasn't done that in a while. Yet another problem is the cats vomiting. At least once a week, one of them eats way too fast and then spews a pile of orange, un-chewed kibble right back up on the carpet. I can't remember the last time any of them did that on the hard floors. It's ALWAYS the carpet.

Lastly is the HAIR. Three cats and a dog, all with dark hair. It accumulates at the baseboards, which makes for very difficult vacuuming. We don't have any of the attachments to our vacuum, so we have to deal with the round end of the extension tube. I want to buy a Dyson SOOO bad. But I have a really hard time convincing myself that it is actually worth the $400-600 price tag.

The result of all these animal messes is the constant need to vacuum, mop and a general "de-furring" of the house, as we like to call it. Before vacuuming, I usually dust (AKA, wipe hair off all horizontal surfaces) and use a lint brush on all beds, chairs, couches and curtains. And I have to do all this at least once a week or it gets entirely out of control. It should probably be done twice a week, but no way am I going to spend that much of my time cleaning. We waited until Callaway was properly housebroken before renting a wet vacuum. It seemed to have helped, but as soon as the carpet completely dried out, the spots showed up again. I've tried spot cleaning with the little hand held wet vacs (thanks, Alexa!), but then I had all these clean areas spotting the rug. I suppose I could do that first, then immediately wet vac the entire carpet? UGH.

A logical preventative is brushing the animals. I leave Callaway up to Travis, so that doesn't get done very often. Plus, we've had trouble finding a brush that will remove his fur. I'm hoping to invest in the Furminator soon. Honestly, that's what I would be doing - investing. That thing costs around $50, depending on the size. For a COMB. I brush the cats about every other week. Sagira, doesn't let me brush her, but she doesn't shed very much. Phage will let me for about a minute before he attacks the brush. Bella will let me brush her for a while, but I swear I could do that for hours and the hair would just keep coming. I'm tempted to have her shaved. Or maybe we'll slip her some Benadryl and give it a try ourselves. Hmmm...

Last Real Meal of the Week

Woohoo! Ariel and Robert came over last night for dinner! It's been a LONG time since I've been able to spend any quality time with my sister. I have seen her here and there, but usually in a party atmosphere where we don't really get a chance to talk. I've been wanting to stop by her apartment after work, but she keeps insisiting the place is a mess and she doesn't want me to see it. Silly girl. Anyways, she finally made it over to our house last night. We had white chili (Mom's recipe) and corn bread, then went outside to play Ladder Golf. Travis made some improvements to the game after our Sunday test run. We quickly learned that the PVC needed to be glued together and we needed some form of weight on the bottom of the ladder. Travis' fixes were perfect!

While making dinner last night, I cut my finger on can AGAIN. Not as bad this time though. I was thinking maybe I should stay away from opening cans. Although, that might be close to impossible. I always keep canned veggies and beans on hand for those days when I can't get to the store and we don't have any fresh veggies in the fridge. And I absolutely refuse to soak beans overnight in water before cooking them. That requires thinking WAY too far in advance.

OH, and funny story. This morning, when Travis was leaving for work, I went into the kitchen to refill my water glass and do you know what he was carrying out the door as his "breakfast"?! ICE CREAM!! With chocolate in it! I wish I could eat the way he can. Well, sort of. Then I'd have to work long, hot, laborious days at the plant to balance it all out. Um, no. I guess he has semi-good reason to eat that first thing in the morning. We have almost no food in our house. It is ridiculous. We need to go grocery shopping so bad. Thank goodness for leftovers!

Death in Hollywood

What is up with celebrities lately? There have been two unexpected deaths and one insane murder attempt. You'd think they would be living the high life, right? First, you've got Bernie Mac, who died of complications related to pneumonia at age 50. He was great in Ocean's 11.

Then there's Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef on South Park and southern soul singer, who died at age 65. Travis is really worried about what will happen to Chef now. Very empathetic, I know.

If you've ever seen the 40 Year Old Virgin, you might remember Steve Carrell's character's co-worker Haziz. He's the guy who is pissed off at the world and throws a fit when he wants to take his smoke break in the same place as Steve Carrell's character while he's having a heart to heart with his buddy. Well, that psycho allegedly stabbed his former girlfriend more than 20 times and is looking at attempted murder on his record. His girlfriend is in critical condition, but is still alive. WTF?

Weekend Randomness

For having nothing planned for the weekend, Travis and I had a surprisingly full schedule. Travis spent all day Friday wakeboarding with a friend of his. He came home looking pretty fried. We attempted a photo with my phone. He looks shiny because he had just lathered on aloe gel. I stood next to him for comparison.

Saturday was another day with nothing planned. My arm was even more sore, if that is possible. I was tired and didn't want to do much. We slept in until 8 and then I sat on my butt the majority of the day. I tried to watch a movie called Once, but turned it off 15 minutes in and sent it back to Blockbuster. I just couldn't get into it. Then I ended up watching Charlie Wilson's War all the way through, while Travis surfed the web. That one was pretty good.

In the afternoon I tidied up the house and prepared for company. A few friends came over for a dinner of stir fry, rice and egg rolls. We sat around for a while and then piled in the car together to go see a movie (wow, I guess it was the day of movies). We saw Pineapple Express and it was SO FUNNY. It's about a bunch of pot heads trying to escape a crazed drug lord because one of them witnessed a murder. I think I only stopped laughing for about 15 minutes in the entire film. Good ab workout. Everyone came over afterwards and we all showed off whatever bar tricks we knew. It ended up being a fairly late night.

Sunday was a little different. My arm felt a lot better and I was feeling horribly guilty about not having done anything around the house all weekend. I spent all morning cleaning. I was so busy that I forgot to eat breakfast AND lunch. That's a big deal for me. I usually can't go longer than two hours without eating. I'm thinking it was because I slept in late and then drank coffee. I realized around 1:30pm that I hadn't eaten anything and quickly scarfed down an energy bar. I have an intense fear of fainting.

Sara and JR invited us over to their house that afternoon to grill out and play in the sprinkler with Logan. Travis made our own game of Ladder Golf. It was cheaper than buying the game pre-made. I had a great time considering I thought the whole weekend would be blah.

Logan, playing in the sprinkler

Me, in the shade
Logan, playing in the pool

Hanging out under the tent

Callaway even got in the pool!!!

Playing Ladder Golf

Another Night of Pummeling

Wowzer. My arm is WORSE today. I had to use my right arm to lift my left arm up to the keyboard just now. It feels like whatever is in there has drained towards the back of my arm, leaving most of the swelling and pain on the side/back of my arm. Last night was horrible. I kept waking up because I was trying to roll over in my sleep but it would hurt too bad. Then I would attempt to roll over while I was awake and give up. I slept on my back ALL NIGHT. Now my neck is sore.

Actually, I don't know if my neck is sore from my sleep position last night, or from my visit to the chiropractor yesterday. I have been going for adjustments every two weeks for several months now. Every other visit I see a massage therapist beforehand. I thought that made sense - loosen me up before throwing me around the exam room. The problem with that is that I felt TOO comfortable when I went in to see the chiro. Every adjustment felt like horrible work. All I wanted to do was lay there. This time, I tried the reverse. I saw the chiropractor and then went for the massage. IT WAS AWESOME. I felt adjusted and right and then I got to lay there while someone pummeled my sore muscles. That probably doesn't sound awesome necessarily, but I really like deep massage. You know, the kind where it is on the verge of painful. I have so much muscle soreness on a regular basis around my neck and upper back. It's nice to have someone work that out for me. Travis has tried before and I hate to say it, but he's not that great at it.

Well, no idea what we are going to do today. I don't even want to lift my arms to wash my face. We'll see how this goes... Maybe we'll go to see a movie...

Boxing in My Sleep?

Sorry I haven't been writing very much lately. Not a whole lot going on over here. I have been really busy at work though. My days have been going by quickly because of it. On top of that, I have been going to bed around 9:30 every night. Mostly due to the fact that I have run out of things to watch on my DVR for the evening, and then at about 9 I read a magazine in bed. That makes me sleepy. When my dad was here a few months ago, he bought me a book for deck and patio ideas. I found a free subscription to Better Homes and Gardens inside. That got sent out the same day I received the book! I just started getting the magazine in the mail. It was a nice surprise, since I forgot about it right after I sent it.

Yesterday I went to get a tetanus shot. My work is really awesome and offers them free of charge to any employee who wants one. I finally decided to get one. I know I am way overdue for that 10-year mark. Plus, in the past year, I have watched two separate people around me have to get the shot because of an injury. I guess maybe a little over a year ago, Travis was attacked by his friend's German Shepherd. He had been around the dog everyday for years, and he helped feed the dog occasionally. I don't know what happened on this one day to make the dog snap, but she lunged at Travis' hand as he was turning around to go back into the house after putting out her food. The dog latched on and would not let go. He did everything he could to get the dog off, but it wasn't until the owner came out did she finally let go. It was just one bite, but it was deep. Being a typical, stubborn guy, he refused to go to the doctor. At the time, I worked with a woman whose husband was a medical doctor. He looked it over and said that most likely the doctor would just say to keep it clean and get a tetanus shot. Sewing it up would not allow the wound to ooze properly. Travis decided to forego the formal doctor's visit and go straight to a clinic for the tetanus shot.

The other instance was last summer. My sister, Ariel, was walking on the beach at night with her boyfriend when she stepped on something sharp that punctured the arch of her foot. They couldn't find whatever it was she stepped on, but they went on with their walk anyway. By the time she woke up the following morning, her foot had swollen to the size of a softball. No pun intended, but she does play softball and therefore has a bunch of scrapes on her legs from sliding into base. All of her wounds had started to get red and swollen as soon as her foot got infected. I ended up taking her to the emergency room when I got off work that day. They cleaned it up, gave her an injection of antibiotics and a tetanus shot, too. Later, we found out from my mom that whenever Ariel was little, she would sometimes get a lot of scrapes and cuts. She was a wild child. They would eventually all become infected and my parents would have to cover each one with triple antibiotic ointment and a band aid. I guess it has been so long since Ariel has had this many cuts that she didn't know this problem existed.

Anyhoo, it seemed like a good time to get a tetanus shot. I would rather do it while it is free anyways. The nurse told me my arm would be sore (as Travis had already warned me) and recommended taking ibuprofen as soon as I had a chance. I did so immediately and didn't have too much pain by the end of the day. It just felt a little sore, like I had worked out only my left arm. This morning was a totally different story. When my alarm went off, I attempted to hit the snooze button, but was instead jerked awake by sudden searing pain. I had the feeling that some boxer had repeatedly beat my arm with a left hook. I took more ibuprofen right away. Getting ready this morning has been quite the task. Shampooing my hair was a slow, laborious process. Lifting my arm to put on deodorant was surprisingly difficult. I even winced when I pulled a box of cereal from the shelf. The pain is slowly subsiding. Looks like my best friend today is going to be a bottle of ibuprofen.

Montauk Monster

What the heck is this?!?!

Is it a Raccoon? Who knows.