I'm BACK--and BETTER THAN EVER!

Well, well, well…look who it is!

Bet you all thought that I took myself up on that offer to get into the car, drive away and never come back! Well, I thought about it, and it didn’t seem prudent at the time, so I decided against it.

Just kidding.

I’ve just been busier than an ant at a picnic lately. It appalls me that my last entry was 2 weeks ago. That’s not like *ME*…but, like I said, life’s just been a “dizzy blur—don’t think I have the energy” (that one’s for Freak!). And, in all sadness, I haven’t done anything that’s TERRIBLY worth posting about! It’s just been work, kids, a little bit of housekeeping, and when there’s time I cram in some TV shows, hobby stuff—OH—and let’s not forget holiday shopping and preparations--and most nights I don’t usually get into bed until about 1 or 2 A.M., only to have to get up at 7:30A.M. to start all over again! I am BEAT. Between the coffee, the Red Bulls and the couple of Vivarin I pop every day, it’s a wonder I can still functioning.

There have been a couple of noteworthy things happen lately, so let’s get on with the details, shall we?

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, 2005: FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA – Me, Ralph, Roy and Toni all drove up north about 80 miles to the Northern Arizona University campus to see CARLOS MENCIA and “The Mind Of Mencia Tour – LIVE!” IT RAWKED SO HARD! OMG—if you don’t watch his show on Comedy Central, “The Mind of Mencia,” you SHOULD. He tells it like it is! I think he’s such a hit here in AZ because he cracks a lot of jokes about Mexicans and Hispanics…and out HERE, its still “PC” to do that! Here’s the link to sample him:

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/mind_of_mencia/index.jhtml (and no, I ain’t hidin’ SH*T as far as the link goes! I think some people like to SEE what they are linking to!) …look over in the list on the left of this page and click “VIDEOS” and see some snippets of what he’s all about.

OMG—I was ROLLIN’! Definitely worth the time and money to see. His “little person” Brad Williams is cool too! And I thought we were all gonna fall out of our seats when Ted, The Whetto in the Ghetto, came out! (:-D Too funny! It was a fun night out! After Ralph and I dropped Toni & Roy off @ about 2am, I got a hair up my butt and made Ralph take me to the casino on the way home. We had about $30 that wasn’t spoken for, so I thought we could take a chance! Boy did I lose MY ASS…fortunately for me; my husband had a lucky streak that night and turned about $5 into about $160 on a quarter slot machine! :o) YOU GO, BOY! We finally got home and got into bed @ 4am…luckily Mom and Dad had the girls that night or it would NOT have been pretty! LOL!

MONDAY DECEMBER 5, 2005: (The photo above was taken that night...please note on the right side of the photo, the "orb"...the Hotel St. Michael in downtown Prescott,AZ is allegidly HAUNTED!! There were NO OTHER orbs in any of the photos, therefore ruining Ralph's theory of "dust on the lense"!!!!) Had that day off because Rodney switched with me that day. What a guy! I love that he’ll do that for me when I’ve got things to do or plans for something other than WORK. Anyhow, that day I met my newest doctor in a long line of doctors, Dr. Eric T. Baumann. All I can say is WOW. And that’s “WOW!” because he’s going to be able to help me with all of the pain and stiffness I am in. He’s got a plan for me to attend physical therapy and try different combinations of medications and at the end of 6 weeks; I’ll get an eval to see how far I’ve come. That afternoon, Ralph and I got into a huge argument because he’s a butt-wad and don’t realize that I am not frickin’ SUPER WOMAN and can’t do about 10 things in 3 hours. Once he realized that HE WAS WRONG (Imagine THAT!), he got over it. Then that night we went to the Marriott Christmas party over at the Hotel St. Michael. It was WONDERFUL! Last year the dinner was a bit off, but this year they hit it right on the head with juicy roast sirloin and a chocolate rum cake for dessert that was TO DIE FOR. Then after wards, the four of us (Me, Ralph, Roy and Toni) went to the Casino and wasted a small bundle of cash…Ralph and I were just hoping to REPEAT our winnings of the morning of 12/4!! No luck! It was fun anyhow…then after that, we went back to the hotel where Ralph and Roy work and we all went to the hot tub and kicked back for a while. It would have been OK, but the tub was turned up to about 120F and there was SO MUCH chlorine in it that it was tearing up my skin! I turned red and started itching all over, especially my feet…I scratched until I broke the skin and was bleeding, then in my alcoholic-haze decided that I’d had enough and I went upstairs and showered and tried to salvage my skin while Ralph and Roy went looking for late-night snacks for me and Toni. I fell asleep before they got back and so Ralph woke me and we didn’t join them to eat. Ralph and I ate then went right to sleep. I didn’t know anything until he showed up @ 845am in the room with Kaylin! My point there? We have GOT to get a NEW MATTRESS!!!! OMG—I slept so soundly it was amazing! So I was rested and bright eyed and bushy tailed for Tuesday. I was so afraid I was gonna be all hung over & stuff…thank goodness!

Moving right along….

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, 2005….”How I Spent Pearl Harbor Day…”
SIKE!!! Actually around *MY* house, that day is more commonly referred to as: MY BIRTHDAY! :o) I had to go to the dentist that morning and get a temp crown put on a tooth...blah. I hate the dentist, but at least THIS TIME, I had a little something to occupy my mind: Ralph got me an RCA Lyra MP3 player! Oh yeah...! Gotta have SOMETHING to listen to those 19 gigs of music on my computer with! So, I got that taken care of...took myself to the Dollar Store (don't ask--it's a fetish of mine! LOL!) and then went to get Kaylin from my Mom's house. She spent the night the night before since my Dr appt was @ 08:30.

We went window shopping at the mall, I paid a couple of bills before we left town and then I went home! Ralph had bought me a red velvet cake that morning and Kaylin eyed it IMMEDIATELY and started begging for cake & ice cream. I think I told her "No" for about 5 straight hours. So we hung out and watched TV & I played on the computer moving my music files around until Bayleigh got home from school. Then we did buncha “girlie” things like doing our nails and beading our hair. My beads wouldn't stay in, but the girls' did!

I made dinner that night and after we ate, we had cake & ice cream...which Kaylin didn't EVEN touch (Little stinker!). Then we watched some Christmas movies like "Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas" and "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" (gotta LOVE them "Spankenheimers!"). I also caught up on some correspondence and Christmas cards while we were watching movies.

I started to get a bad sinus headache, no thanks to the cold & dry weather we are having here, after the girls went to bed, so I took myself to bed fairly early and got a great night's sleep…well, not as great as it was on that MARRIOTT mattress, but good enough. There’s still no feeling like being in your own bed! :o)

So that’s about all I’ve been up to….the only things WORTH mentioning! I am bummed we’re not having any snow any time soon….*sigh* Fawkers. I also went today and had a sacroiliac injection done on my lower back. It will be about 72 hours before I will really notice anything more than my sore muscles, but I am hopeful. I am not that fond of writing long entries like this one, so I will try to stop by every few days at least and say SOMETHING so you all know I am alive! LOL!

Take care and Happy Holidays and MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all! O< ;-)