The bearded eye-roller

• I subscribe to a site called dealloco.com on my feedreader. Amazing deals to be had, and I do most of my Christmas shopping through this site.
  
  Anyway, one of the deals today was a fire escape ladder that hooks to a window. It reminded me of when I was a kid and was FREAKED OUT about "what if there's a fire?" I've always been rather literal, even as a kid. I'd hear stories in Sunday School about the Holy Ghost prompting you when something bad might happen (at least, that's how I interpreted it...) so, if I ever worried about something, I was POSITIVE that it was the Holy Ghost prompting me about [insert worry of the day here]. Worry wart. Some things never change.
  
  One of those worries was a fire. I don't remember how old I was, but it was in the house before our house in Yorba Linda (thebirthplaceofRichardMNixon) <- Factoid: I can never say the words "Yorba Linda" without following it up with "The birthplace of Richard M. Nixon".
  
  I remember my dad sitting at the edge of my bed several nights talking to me about this and then installing one of those fire ladders outside my window. Thanks, Dad, for making me feel safe.


• I've come to the conclusion, "once a mother, always a mother". You worry about your kids when they're little and you worry about your kids when they're grown. It seems to me that the problems when the kids become adults are just as worrisome- only they typically have a bigger impact. I think I'd rather have the little kid worries to worry about.


• Einstein has had a little bug the last couple of days. I started to obsess about it, so finally we took him to the vet. The conclusion was stomach flu of some sort (I'll leave this to your imagination)and allergies (swollen eyeball). I'm so used to his daily activities and schedule that little warning bells go off when he's not himself. He had a nausea shot at the vet, and he was so still last night that I kept looking over at him to make sure he was still breathing, because usually he's a bit of a monkey at night. Reminds me of when the boys were babies and they slept too long.


• We hired our landscapers to remove Old Man Winter from the gardens. We were out yesterday and came home to find six people working in the garden beds. I was giddy with excitement at seeing all this dead stuff (plants, not bodies) being hauled away out of the yard. It took them one day to accomplish what would take me WEEKS to do. I am so excited that all I have to do from now on is plant cool new plants and leave the rest to the gardeners. Squee!


• I've been immersing myself in the series, "Six Feet Under" for the past few weekends. I've seen it before and loved it. BJ hates it (of course) and says that it sounds like a big Soap Opera. He said, "Soon you'll be telling me that you're watching 'your stories'". It's kind of amazing to me how well we get along and enjoy each other's company, but our taste in movies and TV shows are so far apart, with the exception of a few. I refuse to question the reason.


• I'm going to see the cardiologist tomorrow to see about getting a monitor surgically implanted. I'm 100% for the idea because I want this fainting stuff figured out. Too many broken bones and injuries and it has to stop. I'm seeing the foot surgeon on Tuesday because my foot isn't healing AT.ALL. I'm starting to feel depression seeping in because I can't go out and do anything without my foot hurting- sometimes even more than my face. I've gained 15 lbs due to my foot (well, and coconut M&Ms), because the foot surgeon told me to get off of it as soon as it starts to hurt. That's usually about 10 minutes. Bleh. Yup, I'm feeling depressed. I guess that's not so hard to understand, given the hand I've been dealt the past couple of years, right? Thankfully, I can still see the good. Most of the time, anyway.

I'm one of those people that sings stupid songs many times a day. I've done this since I can't remember when. When the boys were little, I'd sing songs and replace some of the words with their names and now I do that with Einstein.

::ahem:: for example:

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my oh my what an Einsteiny day.
Plenty of Einstein comin' my way, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, zip-a-dee-ay

There are several songs in my repertoire, but that one is my go-to song of the day. I don't think a day goes by that I'm not singing that song in one form or another.

Today is Friday, a half-day for me and I was shutting down my company laptop. In doing so, I fired up my Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah song to Einstein. What do I hear next? BJ shutting his office door!

I'm SO SURE!

OK, yes, I can understand that it could become annoying and yes, I do it several times a day but I told BJ he's going to miss it when I die.

NOTE: I'm not dying anytime soon- that's just my way of making him feel guilty. It's a good one, eh?

I'm surrounded by sick furry things. BJ (the one with the furry face) has had the flu for about five days now. Einstein (the one with fur all over) has had the sniffles and snorts for about a week. Me? I'm washing my hands like crazy. I've been feeling slightly sore-throaty and sniffly, but it could be allergies. Yeah- that's what I'll believe. It's allergies.

I'm leaving for the airport at 5am for a 7:30 something flight. I'm hoping I won't get sick at all, but if I do it HAS to wait until I get home tomorrow night. I've flown way too many times with a stuffy nose/head and it's by far my least favorite thing to do. Besides, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't win a popularity contest if I infected the people at my destination.

The new furniture came, so BJ is convalescing in style and comfort in front of his 7ft movie screen. Einstein is laying smack next to my leg, so he's doing his own form of convalescence. Poor guys, but really they could have it much worse. For example, Ranger Mike also has the flu. He sounds miserable and doesn't have anyone to get his medicines or tuck him in. It makes me want to fly him out here so I can take care of all three of 'em.

Welp, see you on the other side of Saturday!

I'm going to publish our Vegas trip in separate posts, so I don't make y'all go blind. Shall we start with the Donny and Marie concert? Of course we shall!

BJ bought us front row tickets. See that green dot? That's me- only I wasn't green. My shoulder was touching the stage. THAT's how close I was.


We weren't allowed to take pictures, so we let the official picture taker dude take our picture before the show. KaCHING!
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Now as you read the following stories, you'll be tempted to not believe a word of it, but thankfully Caryl and John were there to verify what I'm about to write.

Not too far into the show, Donny was singing and I would have had to turn around to watch him because he was behind me. Instead, I watched the dancers (or maybe imagined I was 12 again with my cousin Laura, who knows what was going on in my head.) SUDDENLY out of nowhere, Donny is right in front of my face and scared the heck (not hell, because well- we're talking Donny Osmond) out of me. I jumped about three feet and my hands flew in the air. He was laughing so hard that he couldn't sing right away and then apologized to me for scaring me and asked if I was OK. I got a lot of ribbing from the audience members sitting close to us after the show about being scared by Donny Osmond.

Not too long after that, he came up to me and instructed me to give him a double high-five. I didn't hear the double part, so I left him hanging on the second high five. He got in my face with two fingers held up and said, "I said double high-five" (laughing of course.) Yeah, I'm cool like that. Leave Donny Osmond hanging for the second high-five.

After Donny had his set, Marie came on and called the guy next to us up on stage. She then looked at BJ and said, "Hey you- the guy whose wife Donny scared to death- what's your name?" He told her and she said, "BJ, this could have been you" and then makes the guy who did go up there sing with her. Part of me would love to see what BJ would have done, but the other part of me would have been mortified for him. She called him handsome at one point in the show (go BJ!)

The show was AWESOME. Even BJ, not a fan, liked it a lot.

Since we got special passes- we got to meet up with them after the show. It was then, that I decided I'd have them autograph my boot, since I'll be wearing it for about three months.


When I first met Donny, I went up to him and said, "Hello, scary guy". He laughed and then noticed my foot:


Then we all posed together:


I leaned over afterward and told Marie how great she looked and I swore I was going to start Nutrasystem as soon as I got home. Now that I see the pictures? I think I'll be keeping that promise! I told her that we were there celebrating my 50th and somehow the conversation went to menopause (I swear, she brought it up!). She said something to the effect of, "Ah- so you know about menopause". The 'handler' was trying to shoo me off, but Marie was doing all the talking. What do I do? Walk off while Marie is talking to me about hot flashes, or have the handler toss me out? I just said, "oops- looks like my time is up" and she told me to go to her site and I'd see some stuff she uses to help with menopause.

My claim to fame- menopause talk with Marie Osmond. Tee hee.

This was a night that I'll never forget as long as I live, which can't be said for my actual birthday night. More on that next time......

Can I just say how much I love being home? I got home from my business trip yesterday afternoon and seeing my furry-faced husband pulling up to the airport to pick me up was one of the best feelings ever. I just don't like being away from him for an extended period. The cool thing is that he feels the same way. I love being missed and I love having someone that I miss terribly when we're apart.

The other furry face in my life was beside himself with joy when I walked in the door. I decided to sit on the floor and let him kiss me and crawl all over me. If he could have managed to climb up to the top of my head, he would have. He tried a couple of times! I'm pretty sure I had no makeup on my face by the time he was done greeting me.

The joy I feel from coming home from a business trip ALMOST makes going on a business trip worth it.

So, lessee.... on to the this and that.

• The "Big Fish" company told me that they've extended my contract again, so now I'm contracted until the end of June. It wouldn't surprise me if they continued extending my contract, as long as there are funds in the budget based on the things they told me. They like me! They really really like me! (said in my best Sally Field voice.)
  
  My previous manager (and friend) as well as one of our previous colleagues is also contracted to the "Big Fish" company and were both there while I was there. That made the trip so much fun for me. It reminded me of how much I liked being around them and how I kind of miss having an office to go to simply for the social aspect. But I don't miss it enough to even THINK about working for an employer. I'll just be more diligent about getting together with my buddies.
  
  I was introduced to people who are planning to add me to their approved vendor list, for work outside of my contract with "Big Fish", so once again I'm faced with the idea of expanding my business. I'd only do it to give my sons an opportunity to work for me and make the kind of money that they deserve- but the idea of managing a business or people doesn't appeal to me in the least even though it's a guarantee of more money. Money has never been a motivator for me. I love it that I love what I do and that's good enough for me.
  
  Tra-la-la.... I'll think about that next month.


• Vegas is just two weeks and a day away. Woot! The boys and their sweethearts are coming; along with our friends Caryl and John and Scott and Sonja. I also have some friends and relatives that we need to visit while we're there. I've been having nightmares about the Donny and Marie show, of all things. Every night! It's dumb stuff like walking in late and being noticed. BJ bought front row, seats one and two for us- so if we were late, it would be noticed.
  
  I need to find some shoes that are cute AND will fit with the orthotics. My foot still isn't healed and walking around so much on it over the week reminded me of that fact. I can't imagine walking around in Las Vegas without some kind of support on my foot. I also need to find a couple of cute tops. Oh shoot- I'll have to go shopping.



• BJ is out furniture shopping today to replace the black leather 'bachelor' sectional couch. It's my understanding that almost every guy brings a black leather couch with them into a marriage and they are forced to part with it when two households combine. I was hoping that would happen sooner than this, but at least it's happening. It was black at one time, but now it's a weird color of green. I'm sure that most wives would worry about letting their spouse pick out and buy couches and love seats without their input, but I don't. He wanted to go today, and I had NO INTENTION of leaving my home this weekend. I have some puppy-cuddling and TV-watching to do.
  
  Speaking of which- I think I'm going to stop rambling and get on with the TV watching. I already have a cute little puppy snuggled up against my leg. ::Bliss!::