A Few Things

I sometimes forget that you're not with me 24/7, and that I don't always remember to tell you certain things about the family. Then I look up one day, and think, "They don't know about this, and this and that." So here's a whole bunch of random stuff to get you caught up. Besides, this Daylight Saving Time thing is kickin' my hiney, and I don't have it in me to make one great cohesive post. Bullet points it is!

-The weather here is fantabulous. We're having a really early spring, as in the temperatures this week are in the mid to upper 70's. That's highly unusual, but I'll take it. I love the feeling of running this time of year in shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt. The general public however, is probably not loving my ghostly white legs.

-We took our dog to a veterinary ophthalmologist in Nashville last Friday to have his eyes checked. They are unable to take off his cataracts because his retinas are detached, but we are giving him eye drops daily now to keep away "the glaucoma" as my grandma used to say because glaucoma would cause him painful headaches, and we don't want that.

He also had an ear infection for a few days, which meant at one point he was getting eye drops twice a day, ear drops once a day and two insulin shots a day. When I got a printout of last year's drug store expenses for filing our income tax returns, I realized we paid way more for his medications than mine. What does that say about us? We are crazy dog people.

-I had zero prescriptions last year. Zero. Not even an antibiotic, which is a miracle because my sinuses usually like to get really good and infected at least once a year. I did the dance of joy at that piece of good news because yay for me. And it helped to make up for the fact that we spent a fortune on the dog.

-Teen Angel now has three jobs. Besides going to school, she works at the bakery, she hostesses at a busy restaurant in town and is now tutoring one of the neighborhood kids. It keeps her good and busy. Some days I don't see her until she comes in from work at 12:30am, and wakes us up to tell us she's home. We have discovered in this process that I can apparently carry on a full conversation with her while being sound asleep.

-Teen Angel and I are saving for a trip to Italy. While it is slow going, we are making progress. If we get really aggressive about it and give up new shoes, we might be able to make that trip in August before school starts. It could be next year though. We'll see. I'm doing some photo shoots on the side to raise some travel money. In the meantime, I picked up some books on Italy, and we are learning as much as possible so we can decide exactly where we want to go and what activities we want to do so we'll know how much money to save. I want to ride in a Gondola in Venice. She wants to see the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, including that little girl in the glass box, Rosalia Lombardo. What do you do with a child who wants to gawk at ancient carcasses in rotting clothing? Google it. You'll understand my confusion.

-I looked at this picture of her taken at a recent Mardi Gras celebration and said, "Self, when did she get so grown up?"

-Speaking of pictures.  Before they took down the Christmas decorations at an area tourist spot, I made my family pose for a self portrait so we'd have something to make a decent Christmas card out of next year, as it apparently takes us more than a few weeks to get our act together in that department.  PIcture taking is not their favorite activity.  We got one good photo and this:

You see what I have to put up with?

-Ya'll I'm so excited about the Murray State Racers' seed for the NCAA tournament. My alma mater is having one heck of a season, and while all eyes are on the University of Kentucky, those of us in the Bluegrass State are also rooting for Murray. If they make it past the first couple of rounds, and they very well could, I'll have to pull out my old MSU pom pom squad tights with the horseshoes on the butt and put them on. Rally tights! Here's hoping they still fit 'cause if they don't I'll have to wear them on my head instead.

-I bought tickets the other day to see Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks in concert this summer. Happy birthday to me. I sprang for good seats, and I just can't wait. He may be wrinkly and old, but I still find him as hot now as I did in 7th grade. Perhaps it's because I'm no spring chicken either. And I'm thinking we should try to catch Aerosmith on tour this summer too, since I've never seen them live, and let's face it, you never know when one of those fellas is going to fall out. Did you see the segment on 60 Minutes about them and all of the physical therapy and stuff they have to undergo just so they can perform?
-And I'm happy to say that daddy is doing just fine after his little heart scare. Did I tell you about that? I can't remember. He had, as mama says, a sinking spell a couple of weeks ago, and since it included some sweating and chest discomfort mama shuffled his butt off to the hospital. A stress test and heart cath later, he was given a clean bill of health. We still don't know why he had that spell, but he's doing fine. Well enough to eat Girl Scout Cookies, let's put it that way.

-And finally, I'm glad I didn't give up cake for Lent. I was at a get together last night where dessert consisted of two of my favorite food groups: strawberry cake and cream cheese filling. I am weak against the cake. Weak, I tell ya'. If eatin' strawberry cake is a sin, I'm ridin' to hell on a fork. In the fast lane. Lord help me, 'cause I can't help myself in the presence of cream cheese in any form. Ciao, y'all! (I'm practicing my Italian.)