A funeral song?

Little Sibella the rat died. I don’t know why. She started labored breathing then was dead within 2 hours. Mau had just left for work when I noticed. I called Sky down to check out the situation. He confirmed she was “hard as a rock”. I cannot touch dead things so I sort of played poor Sky into it by using statements like “we gotta stick together” and “You’re a boy so…”. He reluctantly got the kitchen gloves, reached in the cage and pulled her out. We put her into a box, wrote on it and put it in the freezer. Sky tried to get her tail to wrap around her body but of course that wasn’t happening so I explained all I could about rigor mortis and that we could wiki it later. He wanted to do the burial right then but I said we’d wait for dad, even though burying things in your yard seems more fitting under the cover of darkness. I wanted to keep it on the down low from the neighbor kids but as Mau was digging the hole, I looked behind me and every boy on our street was standing immediately behind me watching. Sky then comes out of the house with Sibella humming “Here Comes the Bride”. I let him know that was a wedding song so he changes it to the “Imperial Death March”. We weren’t exactly going into battle but it seemed fitting enough.

The arrival of Portlander Inga is approaching so we are trying to get the “entertainment room” in order, where she will be sleeping. The floor is hideous and the walls were left to us in disgusting shape with more holes in them than I thought possible so we spent today patching holes and painting it Chinese Coral. I am always so amazed by how a color can change the whole atmosphere of a room. It looks so good! Unfortunately this makes the floor look even worse. I am not sure how you get paint splatters all over the entire floor but somebody along the lines sure did. I can understand not using drop cloths but this is unreal. There is no way you can be that messy with paint, unless of course you were frolicking with it and since I don’t know all the previous owners, this is a possibility. We didn’t use anything since we are putting down a new floor and we only had one mishap and were able to clean it up for the most part. We picked up some of the flooring but there wasn't enough. I guess everyone else has the same idea as we do.

To congratulate ourselves on a job well done, we drove out toIndiana with the dog to pick up some explosives. Credit cards are for emergencies right? The rapidly approaching 4^th of July was enough of an emergency for me. Jeesh, we gotta blow stuff up for crying out loud.

I think I like my new surgeon. No, she didn’t hand out the drugs but she gave me good news. She said the tumor had gotten smaller and didn’t have a shadow in the ultrasound so she feels no biopsy or removal is necessary unless I want it. At this moment I really don’t want to mess with it if she thinks it’s benign. She wants to keep an eye on it and she said if she felt it warranted a closer look, she would force me to get a biopsy. I would rather deal with one medical issue at a time and that would be these headaches that will not go away.

He exists!

We went over to Russell’s on Saturday night and we caught a glimpse of the mysterious boyfriend this time. Well, more than a glimpse…he was talking and walking, he was alive! Seriously though, we hung out and watched a very funny movie. We left Kali at home since they were dog sitting and we weren’t sure how Kali would react. The dog was great though, really cute and would curl up against your legs. Sky was having a blast with him.

Sky competed in a Kung Fu tournament on Sunday up in Vandalia. Dave Chappelle’s wife and kids were there but he wasn’t this time. Sky got 2^nd in weapons and 4^th in fighting. He won his first fight. It was kind of crazy, he was really pumped and bouncing all over making the other kid laugh. Hey, whatever works right? His 2^nd and 3^rd fights, he was coming in too quickly and they figured out his pattern. The judging was a bit screwy but it always is at these little karate tournaments.

I found out why my invoices at work were not making it to accounts payable. My “boss” and a bunch of other people in that department got fired. Uh ok. Thanks for telling me. I got them to a different person but from what he says, my job might be getting the axe too. They are possibly doing away with the site altogether…yes, again. I felt like I was having a meeting with the Bobs.

"May cause dependency"...

I think my new doctor is my new favorite doctor. I have a lot of doctors now but Dr.W has won me over by prescribing me some awesome drugs for my persistent headaches. My headache is still lingering in the background of my floaty, tingly, spaced out world but it’s certainly not bothering me as much! He also prescribed me a ton of allergy stuff since he thinks it might be sinus issues. He found fluid in my bad ear and ordered a catscan of my sinuses and ear to see if possibly my shunt is blocked and he surprised me by making me get a thyroid test…ugh a blood draw. I survived it with little tears shed and I just can’t be mad at wonderful Dr.W as long as he keeps the good drugs flowing. Don’t worry Dr.S, I still love you too even though I am certain he roughed me up during that ear surgery. Some of you remember those bruises.

A good time is taking these headache pills and listening to those Bud Light radio commercials on their website. Yes I am bored.

Argh, this headache!

We spent last weekend camping. We had never camped there before and I accidentally booked the wrong site but it worked out. It was a really nice place and we found the best mountain bike trails, better than our usual campground’s trails. We had a blast riding them until Sky popped his tire then we got lost onto another trail. It was still fun but we had to walk some of it due to the tire issue. We finally found our way out of the trail to the parking lot to find that was not the same lot we parked the car in. Oops! Some other cyclists told us how to get back using the road instead of venturing back into the trails and possibly getting lost again with the flat tire.

We had another skunk encounter the first night. Mr. Skunk was checking out the garbage bag we had forgotten to take up to the dumpster then started ripping it up. I told Mau I had read on the internet to stomp your feet to scare the skunk away so he walked up closer and started stomping. The skunk ran off into the woods and we relaxed. I then remember that maybe it said the skunk stomps HIS feet when he’s threatened to warn it’s foe before it sprays. Oops. It worked, we didn’t get sprayed and thankfully the dog was in the tent waiting for us or the outcome might have been different. As we went to sleep that night, I smelled it coming from the woods though. I almost thought I was going to have to sleep in the car because it smelled so strong but I turned on the fan and it seemed to go away.

We spent time at the lake too where Mau played Doctor for a little girl who sliced her toe side to side on a rock in the water. His involvement included running to the car to grab his skateboarding first aid kit. My advice was to wear shoes in natural bodies of water…duh!

Just to prove to myself that I am old, I have some medical issues lately that are nearly slowing me down. I found some lumps so I went to my Dr and she sent me to get an ultrasound. The radiologist wanted a mammogram so I got to endure the fun that accompanies that test. He said it showed nothing but could see the lumps on the ultrasound. He said it looked benign but said he wanted to check it out further meaning either a biopsy or surgically removing it. It is painful so I am meeting with a surgeon next week and set a date to slice it out…too bad I can’t afford to get a new improved set while they’re in there.

My second issue is a headache that won’t go away. It’s about killing me and has been a nuisance for 2 weeks now. I keep thinking it will just go away but everyday it’s back. It’s behind my one eye and hanging around that temple and into my ear and neck. Mostly it’s my eye that hurts so bad I could scream. Ibuprofen is doing absolutely nothing, which I find odd. Normal headaches usually respond to that. I was in so much pain Friday night I took a Vicodin and it did nothing for it. Ugh, what is going on? I am super dizzy when it’s around which is anytime I am awake. It did go away when I was riding the mountain bike trails yesterday but came back once we got back to the house. Sometimes it subsides slightly if I am exercising or eating. I am calling a doctor tomorrow to see if I can get in sometime soon. I’m falling apart! :P

Happy Birthday Skylar!

The big 1-0, the double digits.

Really ociffer, I haven't had anything to drink...

This is what happens when we get invited over to Russell's house. We also dazzled him with our child playing some "happy hardcore" mix of some clubby sounding song on his computer repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) and our dog totally shredding a toy while we were obviously not paying attention (refer to photo exhibit A above).

It was really great seeing Russell again since it's been years and years and probably years. We still don't believe his boyfriend was "sleeping" in the next room...just admit it Russell, there is no boyfriend! Ha, j/k.

Whoohoo!

The boys playing in the creek at Hueston Woods and jumping over the waterfall.

Sky's dance recital was really cool. The competition team was really impressive and did most of the numbers, the recreational dancers were cute, Sky looked awesome and danced like 'no one was watching' and they have a wheelchair team with "shadow dancers" that brought tears to many eyes in the theatre. It was more than I could have ever expected and very professional. Photos and video were prohibited otherwise I would have them up. We bought the DVD of the production (of course) so we will have that when it arrives and I may scan his posed photo.

Leaves of 3 let them be, berries of white danger in sight...

We went camping up at Hueston Woods for Memorial Day weekend with Keith & Mary Jo. They brought Jonah for Sky to play with and FunkyB joined us as well. We took Mary Jo and FunkyB through the bike trails which were dry so they were less dangerous and easier. FunkyB might not agree they were easy. Keith rented a boat and took the kids out on the lake for awhile on Sunday, they had a blast.

One night we had a little visitor to our site…no, not a skunk this time thankfully. This time it was a little toad. Mary Jo and I trapped him in a cooler so the kids could see him when they got back from the movie. We put him into the woods but he kept coming back. We joked he was probably trying to get to his home on the other side and was pissed because we kept putting him in the wrong direction.

Sunday evening was kind of a bummer because it rained on us so we had to cancel a few plans and huddle under the shelter over the picnic table. Mau & I ventured on a hike with the dog but the trail was narrow and there was poison ivy everywhere that Kali was walking through. I know she can’t get it but she carries it on her fur then we touch her. I’m not sure why I am so freaked out by it because I know we walked right through it in shorts and we didn’t get it so we must be the 30% it doesn’t affect. Even so, I carefully removed all of it from our yard when we got home.

In the world of orthodontics, I am now lilac full powerchains with no rubber bands…yay! My teeth look pretty perfect to me but I think Dr.I is doing some fine tuning now. He said I am still ahead of schedule and says I will most likely be done this year.