I got a Kindle! I got a Kindle! Yippee!!!!!

I was sitting on the couch, just finishing my lunch when UPS man showed up. He of course had a package. No biggie. I had ordered some DVD's for Max a couple of days ago. Surprised that they had come so quickly I took the little box.

I opened it and sitting there was a smaller box with kindle written on the top. Didn't think anything about it. Figured it was an advertisement by Amazon since they are promoting the crap out of it. I then opened the little box and sitting there all new and purty was a kindle. My jaw dropped and the first thing I thought of was Amazon had made some sort of mistake. A $200 dollar mistake. I started freaking out as to what my bank account would look like with that hit since I had just paid all of the bills for the month.


I frantically searched the box for the packing slip so I could call Amazon. I found it and there written on the top of the sheet of paper was "We thought this would help keep you occupied while you recuperate! Love, Sis and bro-in-law".

For the second time my jaw dropped. No way. She didn't. I am gonna kill her. I called her house and left a frantic message and by the luck of the gods she returned my call 10 minutes later. She hadn't gotten my message but was driving home and had called discreetly to see if it showed up. I razzed her and thanked her and then razzed her again.

My sister is awesome. Love ya sis.

Resume Nightmares

So today I continue with my new agenda of searching the Internet world for jobs. During this process I am also dusting off my old resume. It has been ages since I have done anything with it because I haven't needed it. Well I can tell you it is a pain in the butt.

The experts say to tailor each resume to the job you are applying for. Not lying but highlighting experience relevant to the exact position you are applying for. Easier said than done. That means that for a simple resume on hand, it has to be rewritten each and every time an application is submitted. Yikes!!!!!!!


As for the jobs I am looking at, I am looking at a wide area. I am actually looking at stuff that is not anywhere even close to what I do today. I figure that somewhere out there is the answer and hopefully I will find it. Some jobs listed are pretty funny, some are downright crazy, and some are grossly underpaid. I can't believe some of the jobs and pitiful salary's out there.


I understand that with the current economy businesses are limited as to what they offer but how can a human be expected to live on pay below poverty level! I believe that you should pay a person what they are worth. If they are happy with their job and earning a salary that is compatible with life then they are most likely to stay and become a valuable and productive member.

In my dept. there is a pretty big turnover rate. Some had to do with burnout, some have had compatibility issues with others, some left for bigger salaries elsewhere, and some were just not wanting to actually work hard. When I went on leave for surgery everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, told me to not go back to work to early and take time to recover. They know me too well. I am a complete workaholic. I am the one who has only called in sick 6 times in the last 8 years. Two of those were because of Max. They know that if I called in sick then I must be dying because I just don't do that.

My parents instilled in me a strong work ethic and it kills me to see people who are casual about their jobs. I go in with the attitude of let's just get the stuff done and out of the way and then you all can chat all you want. Less chance of running behind when S**T hits the fan. Well, everyone else spends the first hour of work just chatting and drinking coffee. Drives me nutso!


Recently I was offered a management position. I debated over that offer for 2 weeks. I had several things on the pro's and con's list and after some negotiations with dept. heads I sadly refused. They were upset but understood my position. I still work under the radar in doing management stuff but dont' have the title, meetings, and politics to deal with. An OK deal overall even though I would have loved to have taken the position.


As for the dept., they don't know about my offer or my refusal. The head honchos thought that the new unexperienced person chosen would be better accepted if they thought that she was first pick. There were alot of rumors, as norm for a hospital, and questions about why I wasn't chosen but I kept my mouth shut and tried hard to get her accepted. She is finally getting into the groove and I hope she does well in her future.




My Motto




Now I need to get back to copy #4 of my resume and see where these applications lead me in the future. Maybe I just might find that job of a lifetime.

Radical Changes

With me being in a funk and having tons of time on my hands I decided to do something about it. My sister and I met for lunch Saturday and we talked about everything that was going on and she suggested I do something about it. I just groaned, rolled my eyes, and told her that I didn't even know where to start. But she said start looking at job postings. That maybe it
would give me ideas of what to do or
where to go. Said it can't hurt.

Sooooooo, I started looking online for jobs. I was looking at stuff that is completely different from my current job category. As she suggested, maybe I need a new career field. Burnout is common and I am wondering if this may be the case here. It is intimidating doing job searches again after so long. I will have to dig out the resume, dust it off,
update it, and polish it up.

You should have heard me looking. No, nope, nada, no way, are you crazy enough to do this, hahahaha, maybe, oh a good one, dang, who could live on that salary, uh no thanks, what the heck is that job, could I do that, where in the world is that place, that is in the middle of nowhere, too cold there, oh here is a good one, hmmmm I wonder, but Mom would kill me if I moved there, and so the search went on.


So fingers crossed I will continue searching and hopefully find my answers to the many questions that have come up lately. Now I need to go back to searching online for that little needle in a haystack or Buddha with all the answers.

Sunday's Army Wives episode

Years ago I got hooked on watching the series Army Wives. Over the next couple of years I watched it and Max would give me a hard time about it. I kept telling him to just watch it and he would love it to. Finally one day he was bored and watched it with me. I asked him what he thought and he said it was ok. The next weekend he watched it again. I asked him why he was watching it with me and he said that he was bored. After the third time of him watching it with me I accused him of being hooked on it. He flatly denied it. I wasn't easily fooled. When the series ended for the season he asked me when it would be on again. Ah ha, you are so totally busted dude. After giving him a hard time he admitted that he was hooked on it. It became a Sunday tradition of us watching it together.


When he came home on leave after bootcamp the first thing he asked me was did I remember to record the show. When he had finished all of his visiting with relatives and friends we sat down one night and watched all of the episodes that he missed. It was just the two of us and it was like old times with us laughing and enjoying the show.


When Max left for Afghanistan I promised to send him DVD's of the show so he could have something to watch during downtime and he wouldn't miss it. He flatly told me not to. He didn't want anyone in his unit to know that he was hooked on the show and was embarrassed about it. I promised him that if he had them watch the show with him then they would get hooked on it too and watch it with him. I haven't sent any yet and it will be interesting to see what happens.


Megan, Max's girlfriend, had been giving him a hard time about watching the show. She would constantly goad him every Sunday when he would stay home and watch it with me. He kept telling her to watch it but she never did. Finally, one day a week ago she was bored and watched some episodes on Netflix. She texted me later and said that she was sorry about giving Max a hard time and she was totally hooked on it. Can't wait till Max hears about this. He will be razzing her for ages.


This Sunday's episode hit a bit too close to home. It stirred up feelings and emotions with Max being in Afghanistan. I have lost a few friends there and it brought back memories of them. Plus my emotions being in chaos lately didn't help.

NAS Alameda 1985-87

In thinking about the past the fondest memory I have is at Alameda,Ca during the 1985/87 years. I would hang out at the beach and base EM club every weekend. I made tons of friends but to this day can't remember their names. Most went by nicknames, like Sarge or Gerber Baby, or last names. I remember faces though. Go figure.

I made friends with the marines when I met them on the beach one day when my friends and I were hanging out there. Of course being young, single, and skinny as a rail helped. My mother and I eventually got a condo on Shoreline Drive. Our place, The Willows, was on the main drag and had a view of San Francisco and the beach. When we moved in I had several Marine buddies help us move and they only wanted the payment of beer and pizza for the help. Cheap labor, not quite. Those guys could drink and eat a ton....



Club today.


We partied and had a ton of fun. We would be able to flirt our way on the base to go to the club and have one of the guy's escort us inside the club. Shhhh, don't tell anyone. Everyone knew my friends and I because my white camaro was well known. I would also sometime drive there on a motorscooter. Miniskirt, heels and all. The guys loved it.

"Mom" and "Pop" were the two main people that ran the place and even though they came across as tough they loved the guys and wanted everyone to have a great time. Mom was even famous for her chili that she would make special for some of the guys. There was a section of the club just for the Marines and the rest for the navy and other guys. Of course I hung out with the marines because they were the most fun. Before the DJ started we would go upstairs and play pool for free drinks. I was a pretty good pool player then so I never had to buy anything.

I went the Marine Corps Ball in 1986 that was held in Jack London Square. It was a blast and I had so much fun dancing and hanging out with my friends. I don't have any pictures but I found this one. I am the one on the far right of the picture. In typical 80's fashion I had the brown permed hair with the off the shoulder black dress.

I saw the filming of the movie "The Principal" with James Belushi at a local bar. That was a big thing then and if you watch the movie the bar scene was filmed there. I got to see him but didn't get to meet him in person. I wonder if the bar is still there.

I think of the days cruising the main drag, going to Tillie's for a midnight meal, hitting Taco Bell after the club closed, dancing for hours, parties in a hotel room, a quiet town when the ships were out, a noisy lively town when the ships were in, diving out the barracks window when patrol came around (no girls allowed), and generally a fun time in life. I miss it.


I would love to find the guys again and see what they are up to. I heard that there is a reunion planned for those stationed there during then but of course since I wasn't active duty I can't go.

Effects of having too much time on my hands.

I actually went out for a short venture today. I needed to take out the trash before it got over my weight limit (only allowed to carry 5 pounds) and decided to go out on a drive.

Megan, Max's girlfriend stopped by the other day with one of the kids that she babysits. We talked about things and one of them was ice cream. I have been craving ice cream since then and decided to go treat myself. I dumped the trash and then headed down the road to Baskin Robbins. I got a quart of chocolate/peanut butter ice cream and while waiting in line I saw some bubblegum ice cream. I think it has been at least 30 years since I had that stuff. On a whim I decided to get a child's cup of it for fun. It tasted funky but brought back memories.



Lately with so much time on my hands I had been having strange mood swings. Don't know were it is coming from but it is strange. I am suddenly missing Max terribly and I have been thinking about life that I have lived and what I was thinking about how my life would go when I was younger.




When I was 18 I figured that I would end up marrying a Marine because I loved a man in uniform and hung out with them more than the other branches at the base. Before you ask, I tried to steer Max away from the Marines but he wouldn't have it. It was either Firefighting or Marines. The economy tanked and with no firefighting jobs for a while it was choice number 2.

I figured that I would eventually marry, see the world to a point, have a bunch of kids, and be happy at home with the kids and working to have the extras since military pay sucked back then. Where I ended up is no where even close to where I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and wouldn't change a thing when it comes to them. As for everything else, I would have wanted a different out-come.





Megan and her nephews


When Max said that he wanted to get married I was hesitant. Not because I don't approve of Megan, I love her, but because I wanted him to go and experience life with the freedom of being young and single. In short, sow his wild oats. You are able to do so many things and have a type of freedom before life's handcuffs get you with responsibilities. Basically didn't want him to be my age and regret anything. I married much younger that I was expecting and before I knew it had kids and the typical responsibilities. I don't regret the kids, just regret that I didn't get to achieve the things I wanted to do before marriage and kids came along.
That's what I get for a shotgun wedding.

I recently got back in touch with an old boyfriend. We talked for ages and got caught up with everything our kids are doing now and how we are not where we thought we would be now in our life. Got me thinking about the people I dated back when I was younger and where they are now.

Have you ever looked really deeply into the life you lived and if you are happy with it now. I am doing that and even though I am happy in general I am not happy with where I am in life now. I think this calls for some major changes and I am not sure how to do that. Financial responsibilities being the major consideration and roadblock. Plus where would I go and what would I do. Wish I could go back in time and redo some things.

If you have had the same feelings what did you do about it???????????

Am I losing my mind.

"You are getting old when you start seeing things in your vegatables."

Well, today need answers on whether I am loosing my mind.

I grabbed a potato for my lunch and while I was cleaning it I took a double take and realized what it looked like. Next thing I am doing is groaning and thinking about that quote above.

See evidence:

 

Do ya see it???????

Am I crazy??????

Is it really a heart??????

Aaaaaaack, I really am going crazy and
getting old now aren't I ????????

Bored and going stir crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I have managed to upgrade my walk from a gimpy shuffle to a slow walk. I still have a ways to go but it gets a little better everyday.



Anti-Boredom Kit



The biggest hurdle is fighting the boredom. A person can only watch so much TV. I have some books to read but my muddy concentration with the meds on board is making it hard to read.



Boredom Buster Gift Pack



I could try some movies next to try and see if that works. Only problem is that I tend to fall asleep at the oddest moment and would hate to miss something and have to watch it all over again.



Cool video I found: (hover over any ads and click on X to close it)



I have spent time online doing games, watching funny videos, cleaning out my email boxes, doing my taxes (don't wanna talk about it!), searching for old friends online, and have been slowly running out of stuff to do online. I even found a video that is exactly how Max dances. See below:



Saturn by bored soldiers



Wish I had my motorhome already. I would be on the road during this time and could have at least had the distraction and entertainment of the road. Plus no major walking required. Oh well, someday........

What do you do when you are bored mindless?????????

Being a patient at my hospital. Weird and Painful.

I have just spent time in my own hospital as a patient and finally got home the other day. Talk about weird being on the other side of the fence.


My pseudo-vacation started at 5am (too darn early) with check in at the hospital. Mom is the one who is taking care of me and took me to the hospital. She was a nervous wreck and I was just impatient to get it over with because I was hungry, craving my diet Pepsi, and knew that it would fix all my problems.


Funny enough I kept getting visitors even before I started when everyone there realized that I was a patient this time. They assured me that they would take care of me and we were all joking around. I am sure it looked weird for other patients watching us. Dark humor and all.

As for the surgery it was supposed to last 1 1/2 hours and ended up going for 3 hours. The doc discovered more damage and had a bunch of stuff to repair, add tissue grafts (Pork of all things), and remove tissue. He basically had to reconstruct the whole lower half of my tummy, girlie parts, kidneys, intestines, bladder, and colon. Ick!!!!


I woke up to massive pain. I had a really hard time with them getting my pain under control. I am allergic to alot of pain meds so the options were pretty limited and they usually start at the lowest dose and work their way up from there. Took longer than I wanted before they got it right.

After surgery I spent a few days on the floor recuperating and trying to control my pain with the meds. My first evening there was really rough and at one point I had to wait an hour before I could get the next dose of pain med because I was at the max dose. I was sitting there quietly crying and even the nurse was near tears herself. She said how sorry she was but I told her I understood, it is not her fault. The weird thing to deal with was lots of tubes, iv's, oxygen, contraptions, and monitors attached everywhere. It would take 2 nurses to just accomplish the task of getting me unhooked for a walk or to just roll over in bed. Nice thing was that I had lots of visitors and got many flowers. It was so sweet of everyone that brought me flowers.

I will say that the most embarrassing moment during my stay was having no modesty. My supervisor stopped by my room to say hi and see how I was doing. About 30 min. after he left my nurse said that I needed to get up and take a lap around the unit. So here I am shuffling down the hallway with that gown that covers nothing, socks on my feet, and hair sticking up everywhere. I looked up and saw my supervisor go by me and wave Hi. OMG!!!!!! I wanted to die right there. I was walking down the hallway with a pee bag hanging from my IV pole. In my room I was able to hide it from him with my blankets but not out there, hanging front and center on that pole for the whole world to see.

The weirdest thing is that they have a checklist of things that must be done before you are discharged. One of them was embarrassingly, "Have you farted yet?" I said "Excuse me????" with a shocked look on my face. This is to tell them that your insides are not asleep anymore and working properly.


I finally got home yesterday and I am enjoying the peace and quiet as well as I can with an air show going on next door at the base. My current goal is to be able to walk around normally and not look like an old 100 yr. old lady stooped over with a shuffle step.

Getting Old and Creaky

I had been feeling off for quite a while and finally got fed up and scheduled a check-up with my doctor. He asked me how I was feeling. I said "Just getting old and creaky with aches and pains and getting tired of it!"


He looked puzzled and asked me to explain in more detail. I told him about all of my aches and pains in more detail. He then asked me has this and that been going on? I looked at him surprised and said "Yeah! How did you know?" He laughed and said OK, I need to do some tests and figure this out but I think I know what is going on.


After everything he came up to me with a big smile and said "I am going to give you an anatomy refresher". HUH! I looked at him strangely and wondered why I, a person with tons of medical experience, needed an anatomy refresher. "This is what everything is supposed to look like. This is what your anatomy looks like." Well everything was totally different and in the wrong place. Good news is that with surgery he will get everything back to it's proper place and I can actually live life again without the creaks, groans, and pain. Now I just got to break the bad news to my job that I will be on a pseudo-vacation for several weeks.


Right now I am busy with the darned insurance paperwork maze, pre-op yadda crap, doctors, work authorizations, and people treating me with kid gloves. Geeeze, it is just some surgery guys. I have never been a very patient person and right now I am itching to get this over with. I keep thinking about what normal is like since it has been so long since I experienced it.

Guess I am not getting old as soon as I thought and I suck at self-diagnosis. Despite my worry about the upcoming pain and misery of surgery next Tuesday I am looking forward to getting it over with and discovering a normal life again. Will be strange but fun.


Also if you see some drunken posts next week, I swear it is the drugs talking.

Morning Sunrise

Ahhhhhh, the peace in the world early in the morning. I am a night owl now and have discovered how peaceful the world is at sunrise. I used to love those sunsets, especially on the beach in California.

In the morning while the sun is just rising you can see not just the hills but the layers of hills in the distance. This picture kinda give you an idea. You have to see it to understand.

While a sunset may be spectacular compared to a sunrise there is no substituting the peace and awe of a sunrise.






It is so peaceful and quiet. Unlike sunset where the world is still busy getting from one place to another. Cars are zooming by, children are playing until dinnertime, and dogs are barking at invisible things in the world. Before sunrise starts the birds will start chirping up a storm and waking up for their morning routine around here. Then just before the sun rises there is a sudden calm, quiet, serene moment. I can't explain it but it is amazing. It makes me take a moment and embrace the peace and calm and makes me realize how big the world it and how much people add noise and commotion to it. Sometimes I need the peace and quiet, despite my inability to stay still for long. So the morning sunrise is my peace.

Chocolate Heaven

I spent the day doing errands and ended my day with a trip to a special store. It is Cerreta Candy Company in Glendale, Az. I haven't been there in ages but I needed to bulk up my chocolate stash for next week.

I love chocolate and this is by far the best stuff I have had since I was a kid. The only thing that even comes close to it is some mint candy that was sold in Hallmark stores. I don't remember the name but it was yummy. The other one is fudge made in Solvang, CA. My family is Danish and we would go there every year for
Danish days.

I needed to get a stash made up because I know that I am going to have an ugly time next week and needed something to smoooooooooth out the edges. Nothing does that better than some oh so yummy chocolate.

When you walk in the door you are hit with the wonderful smell of chocolate. Think of a mini-version of Willy Wonka's factory. They have tons of different kinds of candy, popcorn, cactus candy, and on, and on. They also have tours to show how they make their candy. The kids love the tours. Glendale also hosts a Chocolate Lovers festival. I seem to miss it every year but hope to attend this year.

I stroll through the bins looking at all of the choices. So hard to just pick some instead of everything. I also notice new stuff that they carry from local merchants like chocolate covered jalapeno peppers. Ah, not my thing.

So I restrained myself and only got 1 bag full of goodies. See the pic. The best ones are the green ones. Smooth, melt in your mouth, minty goodness. Of course I had to test a few of them out on the way home.

So if you are ever in the Glendale, Az area go check it out. Forget about that diet, it is soooooo worth it! 

Achooooo! Achooo! Achooo! Ugh!~!

Well my nose has announced that spring is coming. I am allergic to tons of stuff. I had to get an Epi shot the last time I was tested for allergies because I started having trouble breathing. The doc was amazed at how many things I reacted to.

I am even allergic to grass which sucked when I was growing up. I can't tell you how many times I spent the evening in a bathtub with oatmeal because I just couldn't resist playing on the
grass with other kids.


I love spring time with the green grass, flowers blooming, and gardens ripe with fruit and vegetables. I love all of these things but it comes at a price with my darned nose. I smell it and know what is coming next. Non-stop sneezing til my meds kick in. But at a certain point even those don't work anymore and I have to just live with it and look funny with a sore and red nose.

Growing up with allergies was hard because there were only a couple of medicines that you could take, not like today with an over abundance. In those days, after an attack, you would get an oil based Epinephrine shot to help with keeping the symptoms at bay for several hours. Only side effect was that you felt like a jittery puppet. Think of what you would feel like after drinking 12 Espresso's at once. Your mind races a hundred miles an hour and your body is shaky and jittery. Plus the shot was given in your butt cheek and felt like a walnut.


While we were on a trip around the United States I had an especially bad attack and ended up in the ER again. Here we are at 3 am, in the middle of Virginia, and doing the same old stuff again. Nebulizers, meds, and that dang shot. But my parents were cool as cucumbers. They were used to it and figured it would happen sometime during the trip. They could always count on me being the predictable one with either an allergy attack, broken hearing aid, or sick.


I can't count how many times I was in the ER for allergic reactions and asthma attacks. Between my hearing aids and medical stuff, I was the kid that my parents got maximum itemized deduction on their taxes. They actually celebrated with some fancy champagne the year that they didn't qualify and had to take the standard deduction. Today I have outgrown the asthma attacks and just have to deal with the seasonal allergy attacks.

So I look forward to the coming spring knowing it comes with a double edged sword. Fresh fruit and veggies and non-stop sneezing.

Dancing to the music.

I can't believe it was 80 degrees today. Hopefully it means that summer is right around the corner because I am looking forward to the summer. I hate the cold and winter blahs. When it is summer time I have fun traveling, running with my friends, BBQ parties, swimming, and just having a great time.

I have many fond memories of previous summers. Not a single bad summer that I can recall, well with the exception of my Ex-husband. Met him one ill-fated summer after too many Long Island Iced Teas. Six if my blurry recollection is right along with several Kamikaze shooters. I figure I was brain damaged from that stuff and that is why I had a shotgun wedding. To this day I will not drink a Long Island Iced Tea. Never had a problem with Kamikaze shooters and still love them now.

Back in the old days I spent many summers on the beach having fun and nights at the base club dancing the night away. I don't know if I am a good or bad dancer. I don't care anyway. I love to dance. I may need a bit of liquid courage at times to start but then I am fine after that. We would spend hours dancing to the beat of 70's and 80's music. To this day I just want to boogie when a favorite song from the old days plays on the radio.

When I hear a song from the old days it would trigger a memory. A song that would remind me of a night on the beach dancing with a huge bonfire or one that brings me back to my first rock concert and dancing with the crush of bodies around me. Some of the songs that bring up old memories are:


"Shout" from Animal House
"I feel for you" Chaka Khan
"Funky Town" Lipps, Inc.
"Open Arms" Journey
"Everybody have fun tonight" Wang Chung
"Love Shack" B52
"YMCA" Village People

One day a song that I hadn't heard in ages came on and I was going nuts. I was rocking away and dancing as much as I could while driving. Max was in the car with me and he was looking at me like I had lost my mind. I told him "You know how I hate rap. Well your Mama used to listen to the grandaddy of rap." He didn't believe me until he saw some show on MTV and they listed the group as one of the original rap bands. It was Whodini and the song "Friends". He actually likes that song and has it on his Ipod.

Another song that goes waaaaayyyyy back is from when I was in middle school. Every morning our bus driver would play this song on the way to the school after the last stop. It was Queen's song "We will rock you." That bus was rockin' with all of us kids stomping our feet and clapping to the song. Our bus driver never had a bit of trouble from any of us because she threatend that if we misbehaved she wouldn't play the song. Smart Gal.



What are your favorite songs that you just gotta boogie to whenever you hear it?