the horror of friday the 6th

nobody ever talks about the bad luck present on friday the 6th. usually i'm more a proponent of booing monday the 13th. a combination of garfield, a case of the mondays and triskaidekaphobia.
so this morning has been a real treat thus far. it started when i took grover out this morning and i nearly concussed myself. i bent over to take off his collar in the entryway and when i stood up, bashed my head on the stair railing. this, of course, was not enough of a way to begin the day. while attempting to dab some rubbing alcohol on the bruised spot, i oversaturated the cotton ball and dripped a big drop in my eye. as i'm flailing around, my major concern is dumping over the nearly full bottle on the counter and yell at s to come help me. eventually i managed to rinse my eye out and it only stings a little now. on the way out the door to work, i bent over to pick up grover and put him in his crate and i heard a ripping/popping noise. yep, split my pants. admittedly, they’re over 10 years old and very well worn, but that doesn’t make me feel much better.
if this is how friday the 6th is, can you imagine what traveling on friday the 13th will be like next week? don't even want to know what else is going to happen today! hopefully i won’t have anymore updates.

weirdness

the past couple days, really only one or two, i've posted on my facebook status about being a little sore from working out. starting a regimen that includes squats and lunges, along with push-ups will do that to you when you've been sedentary & packed on 10lbs in the past couple months. (another reason i haven't posted much lately: too roly-poly to belly up to the computer)
yesterday in the middle of work, my phone buzzes on the desk with a text message. "you're going to make fat fucks like me look bad" from the ex-bf. i was confused, but figured it had to do with my fb status and went about my business until lunch. then i took a closer look. he'd actually sent a longer text before that that i hadn't noticed, rambling on about if my workout was a wii workout or a real one, what was i getting in shape for and why did i need to do that because i was "looking great" at the wedding where we last ran into each other in april. thought that was really odd & vaguely flirtacious, so i brushed it off with a reply about getting in fighting shape for vegas. immediate response: are you and the bf going down to vegas to elope?
yeesh! if we were, i wouldn't tell you. as my lunch was over i waited to respond again and just told him we're not eloping.

then he posts this on fb last night: Axxx Nxxx Its not funny at all how regret kicks you in the balls in a very non subtle way. FML.

which may be in regards to me if that doesn't make me vain. it's been more than 4 years! i know it took me a long time to get over him & now i realize i was an idiot, but he broke up with me! more than once! of course he's a moron because i'm an amazing woman, but move on with your life.

on another end of the spectrum, we're now contemplating a cruise for the fam for my parents' 35th anniversary next june. any recommendations on cruise lines to avoid or try? we're looking for something reasonable, the sis-in-law definitely wants beaches/sun and 5 days because 4 is too short. and she's the only one who's ever been on a cruise before, 3 times.

halloween costume ideas & absenteeism

yep, been mia for a while now, at least here on my own blog. sorry for the lapse, but there's even more of nothing to write about lately. life is pretty dull, only thing that's been going on is the monotonous day-to-day of work & then nothing of interest when i get home.
we are going to vegas in about 4 weeks so any suggestions or ideas for must-see, must-do, must-eat are welcome.
also, s & i are invited to a halloween/housewarming party on the 30th, so trying to come up with some costume ideas. i wouldn't even bother, but the invite reads "Halloween costumes strongly recommended; if you do not wear one, one will be provided for you." which frightens me. here are some of the ideas i've been tossing around:

salt & pepper
jack & jill
plug & socket
mac 'n cheese
pumpkin pi
a salt & battery
hansel & gretel
pair of dice
hurry up & wait
almond joy & mounds
upper & lower gi
lady & the tramp
burger king & dairy queen
spoon & fork
sick & tired
war & peace
peace & quiet
princess & the pea
nuts & bolts

(if you need to inquire as to what any of these actually involve, just ask.)
lunch break is almost over & i'm working 8 to 6 today because i'm leaving early for some errands on wednesday & we're now required to work late one night a week because apparently no one returns calls to schedule appointments between the hours of 8-to-5 despite numerous messages. they're hoping we'll catch people at home from 5 to 6 and get them scheduled. ha! didn't work the last two times we tried it, but hey, they're all about beating a dead horse.

end of the line

when suz & i hit up the social luxe lounge before blogher, we signed up to receive a free sweater from lands' end, to be shipped at a later date. of course, that date ended up being the week i was in nodak for my brother's wedding. by the time i got home, ups had already given me 3 notices and shipped it back. i called ups, they told me nothing could be done until it arrived at the shipping point. i e-mailed lands' end and customer service told me they had no record of it since i hadn't made an actual order. they said they'd get back to me when i gave them the tracking number. nothing, not a peep from them & that was 2 weeks ago.
yesterday, i received a mass e-mail from lands' end's pr person about a new campaign to blog (or tweet) called good feelings. if you post about the campaign, they'll donate a cone of yarn for each post to knit hats for the homeless and enter you for a chance to win their new good feelings line. i'm going to imbed the knitting video as soon as my connection stops freaking out.
i really want to learn how to knit. i've got basic crocheting down, but have never been able to master knitting.
anyroad, the point of this e-mail was how cool lands' end has been. i e-mailed the pr person back about my returned sweater & she responded immediately that she had my sweater right there & was going to send it back to me. they didn't know if i'd moved or what since it was returned by ups. sweet! now suzanne & i can be twinsies for next year's blogher!

leper?

a few months ago, i noticed this rash on my left elbow crease. sometimes it was itchy & red and other times it would disappear. then a little over a month ago, i saw it was on both elbows. then it migrated to the backs of my knees, almost like i pushed too hard and gave myself razor burn. you know how that stings?
oh yeah, and the other embarrassing thing is that the top of my bum has also been dry & splotchy for about that same period of time.
so now, in addition to all those locations, it's itchy and painfully red at my armpits. not really the pits, but the back part of my arm & also just to the side of where the bra strap goes.
last week i made an appointment with the dermatologist, but it was for september 21. i asked to be placed on the cancellation list & they called me friday just before 5pm with an opening for monday morning. after talking with both my rheumatologist & gastroenterologist, they don't think it's anything to do with my gi or arthritis stuff. the problem is, i think it's exacerbated after my remicade infusions. i no longer break out in hives while i'm infusing, but this rash seems to show up in more places after i infuse.
last night i asked s to apply calamine to the afflicted areas & asked him what his rash was when we met 3 years ago. as i asked i remembered.
"oh yeah, you had nickelitis from the change in your pockets, right?"
"yep, that's what it was & also behind my ears from my metal glasses," he replied.
"well, i haven't been rubbing change behind my armpits. and despite it being called a coinslot, i haven't been keeping change in my &$$ crack, so i doubt that's what it is," i told him.
he busted up & agreed. we finally settled on leprosy. i'm not melodramatic or anything.

home/wedding trip pt iii: the big event

now 2 weeks after the fact i'll get around to posting about my brother's wedding.
saturday saw mom & i headed to the jcpenney salon to get our hair done. it took an hour and 15 minutes for the woman to put up all of my hair. i think it turned out okay.

(that's my old bedroom, by the way)
we were supposed to be at the zoo/park for pictures by 11.30am and i still had to run back to the house to put on my dress and do my makeup. barely made it in time, but at least i wasn't the only late one. i felt awkward because i didn't know any of the girls except from the rehearsal the night before, besides my future s-i-l.
pictures, pictures, then the church. ceremony. as happened at my cousin's wedding (his little boy made the cutest ringbearer), the unity candle went out from the draft in the church. i always wonder if that's a bad omen?
receiving line with bride & groom, so i was accosted by old acquaintances, parents of friends & relatives while we waited for the 250 plus guests to file out. it actually wasn't so bad. i haven't lived there in 10+ years, not really. and as much as i love talking to people (heavy on the sarcasm of course), no one asked me any uncomfortable questions. maybe it was because i brought s home this time. he's the only bf i've ever brought home. then again, he's really the only serious relationship i've ever had (less a from when i started writing this thing).
so we hopped into the limo bus & started cruising the strip, broadway. adult beverages flowed & i got to chatting with one of the groomsmen who was in iraq with my brother. that was pretty cool.
reception was a whirlwind. pasta bar, sit at the wedding party table(s, 2 because there were 16 of us total). i ended up moving to sit with s & the parentals, then chatting with old classmates who are friends of my brother & old family friends. s & i migrated to my aunt & uncle (mom's brother)'s table & after the first dance, we pretty much headed upstairs to the hotel room & crashed by 1am. missed quite a bit of the festivities. no idea who caught the bouquet or any of that.
we ended up driving all the way home after the first couple gifts were opened at the homestead. we got in at about 3am on monday morning & crashed since neither of us had to work that day. it was a really awesome day off with dogpark & other leisurely activities before we had to get back to the real world.
s said he had a fun time, so that made the trip for me.

home/wedding trip pt ii

we left off at wednesday night & safely arriving at my parents' house. i took grover out to pee and play with nikki. nikki is almost 3 and a black lab. my mom likes to joke that she's so open-minded because she has two black grandchildren. a little later in the morning, while s was still sleeping, dad had me get on the trailer and go for a ride with the puppies.


mom made us waffles for brunch and then we had to go get fitted for our dresses. she had hers made by a seamstress who graduated hs the year before me and had just 'eloped' with her bf, who used to be my brother's best friend when they were kids, exactly one week before. my bridesmaid's dress was disgustingly tight, but then i'd ordered a 12. sara managed to get it zipped up (hey, working in theatre, you can get anyone into their costume). she said she'd let it out as much as possible, so i could hopefully breathe.
s & i went to eat a late lunch around 2pm at homesteaders', a place i insisted on eating in hopes that they had their divine wheatberry salad on the salad bar. sadly, all they had was something like glorified rice only with acini de pepe (sic?). it was still tasty & i introduced s to knephla soup. yum!
i'll try to cut this boring stuff short. we hit the mall to look for shorts for s & a supportive undergarment so i could squeeze into the dress. more family time after that, including making bars for the rehearsal dinner the next night.
friday i helped my aunt (pronounced aw-nt, not ant) make her famous beans. s's family calls them calico beans & they flew off the table that night. the giant crockpot was completely empty. s & i went to see 'the time traveler's wife' in the early afternoon to get some alone time. it wasn't too bad, but i don't know how anyone who hadn't read the book to follow the story.
i'll finish up this dull account with the rehearsal and wedding day tomorrow.

home/wedding trip pt i

finally getting around to regaling all 3 of you with our trip to north dakota last weekend.
it all started with my remicade infusion on tuesday. things were going well until i decided to snooze in the chair. i must've pulled the iv when i turned because after 20 minutes, i felt something wet on my shirt. at least insurance pays for it because there was probably over $100 of liquid on my shirt if not more. they had to stop & replace the iv in a different part of my arm, so i didn't finish until 3.30. s was off work by then & he hadn't even packed yet. that stressed me out. then, he wanted to find a cord in our storage unit before we left town. by the time we left iowa city it was 5pm, so we grabbed sonic for the road.
grover was amazingly good in the car and napped on our laps. i realize it's probably not the safest way to travel with a puppy, but he would've cried if we'd locked him in his kennel in the backseat. the drive was fairly uneventful and we decided it would be funny to buy powerball tickets in all 3 states before the next drawing on wednesday the 12th. (that was a total bust.) we arrived at grandma m's house in st paul around 10pm. brought the monster inside along with our stuff and she tells us that she's allergic to dogs.
great, no one bothered to tell us. s's mom, her eldest daughter, didn't say a thing. grandma said it was okay & we headed to the basement to cram ourselves into a twin bed. (there are 2 beds, but that's what we did when we stayed 2 years ago, too)
wednesday morning, i got up at grover's whimpering need to go outside & we took a nice long walk around the block. grandma m has lived in the same place in st paul for over 50 years. the highway is right over the barrier, but it's a cute neighborhood.
the second leg of the trip, we grabbed breakfast on the road and headed for fargo. i had big plans to stop at great harvest bread company where i worked in college. i needed some potato dill bread (great for grilled cheese) and cinnamon chip (awesome french toast!). we got erberts and gerberts subs, then met my friend e who just opened his chiropractic clinic in the last month. we brought the puppy up in the elevator and chatted for a little before driving some more.
the next to last stop was in bismarck to see our friends, t & n. their wedding was the reason we'd stayed at grandma m's 2 years before and i'd barely seen them since they moved back to t's home in bismarck. first we stopped at n's work, then t convinced us to drive over to his parents' to meet his nephew. grover came in to say hello too and get a much needed drink of water.
two more hours on the road (for a total of 11 hours on wednesday). we stopped at the church in minot where my mom & future s-i-l were setting up for the ceremony. we grabbed a pizza on the way home to my parents' house while mom finished decorating & keeping out of the way of my brother's future m-i-l.
at home, my dad and his youngest sister and her husband were there. my aunt & uncle have been staying there as they took the summer off from texas to see their family and travel in their rv.
grover met his cousin nikki and they had a good time playing together. after such a long day, we headed to bed.
i'll finish this up in another post or two. with pictures.

still here!

things have been busy, going to my brother's wedding last week and then getting back to work stuff. i will be posting an update on what happened on our trip to north dakota soon (this weekend, but we're also pupsitting for another dog, so i'll try to work it in!)
xoxo