Mel blog

2011-07-29T10:37:00.001-05:00

Sam's best bud's mom and I show up at preschool wearing the same shirt. Go figure. LOL

2011-07-22T09:55:00.001-05:00

Seriously pouring!

2011-07-13T10:29:00.001-05:00

could just cry since I've heard Sam's music teacher is going back to college and won't be teaching anymore starting in the fall.

2011-05-29T14:57:00.001-05:00

What a finish!

2011-05-29T14:55:00.001-05:00

What a finish!

2011-05-29T10:16:00.001-05:00

is at Indy sitting behind TK's pit!!

2011-05-29T01:10:00.001-05:00

survived the annual walk down Georgetown. Seemed a little more tame than in previous years but maybe it's still early!

2011-05-10T12:32:00.001-05:00

You know u live in northern Illinois when it is 87 degrees the second week of May... Yeah...

2011-04-22T13:12:00.001-05:00

is hanging out at Oakbrook Mall waiting for my nephew to get his picture taken and Samantha has been totally adopted by 7 year old twins!

2011-04-10T08:42:00.001-05:00

HoneyJam!!

2011-04-04T09:36:00.001-05:00

is down a big hill in a rather beautiful part of town I have actually never seen before!

2011-04-03T14:15:00.001-05:00

has never seen the nail salon this insanely busy! Not sure how much longer I will wait!

2011-02-25T13:25:00.002-06:00

Dad's homemade strawberry pie

2009-02-18T11:51:00.002-06:00

I'm going to be a little vague with names here because so many people know about this story that I don't want this post accidentally Googled.

Anyway... the 4 year old daughter of my sister's best friend from high school is ... as we speak ... having a heart transplant.

I say my sister's best friend from high school just as a way to describe the mother because she really was a lot more than that. I guess you can say my sis went thru a lot of "best friends" before she got a permanent one back in the day but N and my sis have been friends since before N could really even talk. Seriously... when she was a toddler she couldn't even say my sister's name correctly.

She and her sister, who was in my class and also a very good friend, lived three doors down from us until about junior high when their parents got divorced.

Its so weird to think of now ... the little girl who couldn't say my sister's name, who played slip and slide in our front yard, who went to Disney with us on spring break, who hung out at our house constantly when her parents got divorced, who ate strawberry Blizzards with my sister, who made fun of me and my boyfriends... she grew up to be the mother of a little girl who needed a heart transplant. All of those memories are so clear in my mind as if they happened yesterday. N was as much in my life as in anyone else's in my family. For some reason my mind goes back to that and then thinks ahead and what ended up happening. Wow ... I guess you really just never know what is going to happen in life.

Could have happened to anyone if it happened to N. And you shouldn't think like that but you do... kind of like, if it happened to her, it could happen to me. The one big thing I've learned as a mother is that it is so easy to put yourself "there". Know what I mean? I've really sort of had a hard time with it thinking about her situation in the last month and a half. I mean, what if. You shouldn't relate it to your kids, but you do. I hear or read of something bad or sad happening to a child and I feel it like I never knew I could feel it.

I think I just realize, I love my baby so much and this is the same feeling that everyone has (or is supposed to have) for their children and if my heart breaks for them just by hearing their sad story... imagine how they must feel to actually have to go thru some sort of tragedy.

Since I've had my baby there have been two families and two situations that I have thought so much about. One of my dear friends here had premie triplets a few years ago and lost two of them within weeks of their births. One of the babies lived, has had her problems, but is doing great. I think the only way they were able to survive that situation was by concentrating on their daughter who lived. I think that may also be how us, some of her friends, dealt with it too because now going back and thinking about it... it makes me beyond sad. Now that her daughter is doing well ... she's 2 ... I think my friend may be going back to some of that too. She has mentioned the other two a lot more in recent months than she had.

The other situation I keep thinking about is my cousins who lost their son to leukemia when he was around 20 years old. This happened when I was about 8 years old or so and I understood death at the time - he was the first young person I knew who died - but I obviously didn't understand their pain. They are some of the best people that you would want to know and I think of them so much now. I mean, that had to be 25 years ago at this point.

It can be a lot more simple than that too. I just think of all of the broken hearts I endured and all of the tears over some damn guy and all of the times I cried to my mom over stuff like that and other things and I guess I know that no matter how old that baby gets, when you see those tears and unhappiness... that is your baby who is crying and unhappy.

Just things I never thought of until I became a mother. I guess its a kind of pain that you get to bear but its a good thing. I'm looking at her sleeping in her swing right now and I know that I know her better than anyone else and it will always be that way and that is something amazing and special that can never be taken away, no matter what.

So anyway, I don't mean to come back to blogging with something so freaking sad. Its just sort of an interesting nervous day and I've always sort of wanting to write these thoughts down since I began having them.

So if you pray, pray for N and her family and her baby. She is the whole world to N which I definitely understand.

Happy impeachment day!

2009-01-09T12:35:00.001-06:00

As if anyone needed a scientific explanation that the weather here SUCKS right now!

2008-12-24T09:35:00.002-06:00

Look at those two LOWS! What the hell!! At least it looks like this will be over soon. I just want to get home for Christmas!

This is a test

2008-06-25T21:08:00.001-05:00

I am doing a test post for emailing from ping.fm to blogger to email... Whew!!!!

2008-06-25T21:01:00.001-05:00

is hanging out and geeking out....

2008-06-25T21:00:00.001-05:00

testing Ping.fm

My blog

2008-04-18T14:48:00.001-05:00

I'm still around... sort of...

Super lazy, super busy...

Still posting on Myspace and Flickr but I haven't gotten around to blogging much lately. I want to - I had actually PLANNED to!!!

I don't think this blog is completely dead...

I'll be working on it!

2008-04-08T21:15:00.001-05:00

Testing

2008-04-08T21:01:00.001-05:00

Is this as cool as I think it is?

Sigh...

2008-01-23T12:52:00.000-06:00

I'm completely stressed out. I think work is really starting to get the better of me and I do not like that. I'm thinking about taking off for a few days to go to Texas to hang at my uncle's ranch. I really do need to get away I think. Doesn't look like my hubby would be able to go, but thats OK. I need to be somewhere warm I think. All of this negative weather and snow are not helping matters.

Very sad to hear about Heath Ledger. I was shocked. I really liked him. I love that teeny bopper movie - Ten Things I Hate About You. Its so cute! Its weird you know. When you hear about some celebrities dying or whatever and then you think about their history and who they were and stuff, you aren't shocked. Brad Renfro? That wasn't shocking. I do think its shocking about Heath though. So sad....

Maybe have some news to post here in the next couple of weeks. We shall see...

Jamie Lynn

2007-12-21T08:43:00.000-06:00

Ok ... whatever ... but...

The thing that is driving me crazy about this whole thing is all of these news stories about "How are you going to talk to your child about this?" And then they give examples of would this be something you want to discuss with your 8, 9 or 10 year old...

OF COURSE IT WOULD! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Its more than 20 years ago since I was a 10 year old and I remember all of the "talk" about "stuff" amongst the kids already starting in school then (kids get a lot of stuff wrong, by the way!). And, like I said, that was 20 years ago!

Kids know way way WAY more than their parents would like to think they do.

The whole Jamie Lynn thing is the perfect opportunity to discuss these issues with younger children.

Let me give you a personal example ...

When I was 6 years old a close relative of mine, who was 17 and still in high school, became pregnant. My mom was extremely honest with me about it and her views on it (nor did she hide this from my 4 year old sister). When I was 8 years old a close family friend who was 18 and still in high school became pregnant. So we had the talk again.

My mom didn't talk about "sex" but in generalities that we could understand as children - and we did.

And in my whole growing up life and talking about "stuff" my mom was able to give me these examples time and again. I knew what my parents expected out of me and what they believed. I would like to think that these conversations would have occurred anyway, but I'm not sure.

This is a teaching opportunity, people! Use it!! 8-10 years old is not too young (nor is 6 for that matter) to discuss these things. There are junior high (and younger) students having sex. How old is junior high?? 12, 13, 14?? So, if you're only starting to discuss these things at 10 ... you may have a little catching up to do!! Believe me, some of them are already hearing rumors about their classmates ... Sad, but true!

I think I should start a running comentary on country music ...

2007-12-06T18:36:00.001-06:00

GREAT nominations for this Grammy category:

Best Female Country Vocal Performance
(For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.)

Simple Love
Alison Krauss
Track from: A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection
[Rounder]
Famous In A Small Town
Miranda Lambert
Track from: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
[Columbia Nashville]
Nothin' Better To Do
LeAnn Rimes
[Curb Records]
Before He Cheats
Carrie Underwood
Track from: Some Hearts
[19 Recordings/Arista Nashville]
Heaven, Heartache And The Power Of Love
Trisha Yearwood
[Big Machine Records]

I love this for some reason...

2007-12-06T16:42:00.000-06:00

Gennifer is a better woman than me!

If any of my exes wives ever runs for president, I ain't voting for her, no matter how happy I am now- ha ha!

And if any of my exes ever run for anything, they better watch out! I could use some extra pocket cash!

LOL!

Ick!

2007-12-04T13:55:00.001-06:00

Its getting closer!

Oh yeah...

2007-12-03T21:26:00.001-06:00

So this missing woman Stacy Petersen and her husband who probably killed her... they live like 2 miles from me.

I haven't been over there to witness all of the chaos with the media but a friend was over there visiting a friend who lives down the block the other night and he says its just nuts!

Sad...

2007-11-20T14:24:00.001-06:00

I'm not a big fan of the Dr. Phil show... but a few years ago I was randomly watching and saw this episode and could never really forget about it:

http://www.kmbc.com/news/4247004/detail.html

Now we find out their father did kill them (it was pretty evident I thought, anyway):

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/20/dad.charged.ap/index.html

Very very sad....

CMAs

2007-11-07T21:57:00.001-06:00

Brad Paisley - Rocks!
Sugarland - Jennifer and the creepy cowboy ROCK!
Kelly Pickler - she's growing on me. Crying during that song - wow!
Taylor Swift - the first two songs were mush; this new one ... yeah, she might be the real deal.
Kenny Chesney - used to like him before - I like his old stuff. The new stuff: Jimmy Buffett wanna-be hack. Sorry, thats what I think. All of these awards? Come on - he ain't Garth!!

I really think Brad Paisley should have gotten entertainer of the year! Bummer...

Flower

2007-10-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

So sad ...

You know, our kitty's unofficial "middle name" is Flower after this Flower.

Random story

2007-10-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

So... maybe I'll try to start blogging some more here.

Anyway, my hubby is on a business trip (poor lonely me!)... He is in hotel management and the town where he is working has two hotels next door to each other that his company manages. Anyway, he heard yesterday that Ziggy Marley was staying at the "other" hotel - not the one he is at - and checked it out and yes, his tour bus is there. Supposedly he is opening for Van Halen? Odd, but whatever.

So he's in the hotel lobby or whatever and not really paying attention to what he is doing and sort of backs up near the elevator as it is letting off and who does he bump into? Ziggy Marley! Just bumps right into him. He said something to him, "Oh, excuse me, mon" or whatever - something like that. LOL! Than he forgets for about half a day to tell me this story. I was dying.

Hubby has met several famous people thru the years in the hotels.

Because this may never happen again...

2007-10-01T07:54:00.001-05:00

Its Tropical Depression Melissa!

Yes, I'm still alive!

Quote of the Day

2007-02-21T16:50:00.000-06:00

"Boredom due to excessive "fundage" will never send us into rehab."

- as said by MELISSA to her husband when commenting on Ms. Spears' situation

You HAVE to be kidding me!

2007-02-14T14:31:00.000-06:00

Another reason - as if you needed another one - to be happy you don't live in Tennessee. Gotta love that RED STATE HATE!

CLASSIC!

2007-02-14T10:47:00.001-06:00

DEAR ABBY: Please help me. My lover and I have been disagreeing lately and are considering couples counseling. However, he keeps insisting that we see the marriage counselor he and his wife are currently seeing. I want to make this relationship work, but I think it's inappropriate to receive counseling from the same one that they are currently seeing. What do you think? -- NEEDS THERAPY IN TEXAS

DEAR NEEDS THERAPY: I think you should definitely have some sessions with the therapist who is counseling your lover and his wife. They could prove enlightening. I'm willing to bet the farm that the same issues that have caused him to cheat on her are the ones at the root of your problems with him. And I'm not at all sure that "making this relationship work" would ultimately be in your best interests.

Another...

2007-02-07T13:32:00.000-06:00

19-year-old Iraq war widow

Anastacia 'Stacey' Fuller, 19, of Centerville, Mass., wife of fallen U.S. Army Sgt. Alexander Fuller, 21, holds the U.S. Flag presented to her during burial services for her husband at Massachusetts Cemetery in Bourne, Mass., on a frigid Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. Fuller was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 25, 2007. Anastacia is expecting the couple's first child in April. (AP Photo/Vincent DeWitt)

Weather

2007-02-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

I have always said that once its below 30, it doesn't matter, it all feels the same.

I was soooooo wrong about this!

The 3 above of this morning is way way warmer than the 9 below of yesterday morning. A huge difference!

It must be getting warmer now though cause we have about 2 inches of snow that has fallen in the last 4 hours or so. Before it was just too damn cold to snow!

Here's to hoping you are reading this from a warmer climate!

Yep...

2007-02-05T13:17:00.000-06:00

That IS some cold shit!

When I left my place this morning it was -9 degrees. That was the REAL temperature without the windchill. Windchill around -35 or so.

Google has this new tracker thing where you can track the stories you read and stuff and post to your blog. I think its kind of cool so I'm going to try and maybe do some clicking on that. So far I've just posted some weather updates!

Check it!

2007-02-03T21:10:00.000-06:00

A sad day...

2007-01-29T15:15:00.001-06:00

Barbaro Obituary

Still alive!

2007-01-18T13:55:00.000-06:00

Just for the record - I AM still alive. I just have a whole lot going on right now. I do hope to be back blogging sometime in the somewhat near future.

So bored ... again....

2006-12-19T14:34:00.000-06:00

And, again, I shouldn't be complaining. Its dead here as I think most students have gone home for the semester so we're getting very few of those calls and emails. My email shift this morning was pretty dead. Yaawwwn... I think I'm all caught up on everything barring any surprises.

We had a "carry-in" today so I feel like all I have done today is eat. It was so yummy though. Definitely need to workout tonight although I'm not sure what the point is; I mean tomorrow night we're having Mexican!

So... I don't know. Ummm... I'm thinking about starting do some blogging on Myspace or even moving everything over there but I don't know.

I'm still looking for something fun and cool to do on the web!

Long day...

2006-12-15T12:38:00.000-06:00

Long boring morning... don't know what the afternoon call shift will be like. Its not like I want it to be busy - far from that - but I just hate it when I feel like I'm just sitting here all day. Its normal this time of the year for this though I guess. I'm guessing most universities are finishing up their finals this week (or maybe next week?) so its not like we're getting all of the student calls we normally get.

Anyway...

I think my hubby may finally be getting back to normal. His wacky sense of humor is back anyway. He lasted a whole work day yesterday and I'm sure he will today as well. He also usually works a few hours on Saturday. This should hopefully help me finish up my Christmas shopping tomorrow while he's gone.

Umm... I still can't stop eating. Finally getting healthy and then this time of the year with all of the food. Oh well... I think I might try to go back on the South Beach Diet the first of the year. We shall see. I loved it when I was on it before and it really works! Working on planning a trip next spring so maybe I should jump start my bathing suit preparation. HA HA HA!

Thats about it for now. If its totally dead, I may be back with more later.

Health update

2006-12-14T14:30:00.000-06:00

So hubby ended up making it at work yesterday until 2-ish and then went home and got sick again. I don't get it. No idea why it has been so much worse for him than it was for me. But anyway, at least he got in a partial work day. By the time I got home he was doing better and we even went on a Target run together. He still ate little to nothing yesterday.

Today he's still blah but went to work. Its 2:30 now and despite some general ickiness following lunch - where he actually ate a chicken sandwich - he seems to be doing much much better. So hopefully we're at the end of this whole mess.

Me, on the other hand, cannot stop eating everything in sight. I don't know what my deal is and on top of that I have cravings. Ummm... lets not go there, I'm sure its just part of the recuperation from being ill.

Anyway, now I'm probably seriously going to have to go on a diet. Lost almost six pounds and have probably gained it back by now. Hubby actually lost eight pounds. Eight pounds in four days is not good.

The sickness

2006-12-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

So yeah... its been a long few days. Thursday afternoon and night I am going about my business when all of a sudden my stomach started to feel a bit icky. Anyway, I just thought it was your run of the mill no big deal blahness and didn't pay too much attention. Then it got ickier and then I'm puking. Uggh... I hate it when it hits you like that! So I felt better, thought it might be one of those things... and went to bed. Woke up about 2am and puked again. I'm sure you're loving reading this. So now I realize I am sick and there is no way I'm going to work on Friday. So call in on Friday when hubby gets up to leave. Right as hubby is leaving ... me running back into the bathroom for puke #3. Blah... OK, fortunately that was all as far as that part of the bathroom fun was concerned. Of course, there was all kinds of other bathroom fun to be had, but I'll take that a million times over puking my guts out any day.

So Friday and Saturday I was pretty laid up. I mean really really bad - completely out of it. Sunday morning I felt a little better, but Sunday afternoon, oddly, it was coming back. I have learned now that that apparently is the cycle for this little illness cause Sunday afternoon hubby comes down with it but it has been much much worse for him. He has lost six pounds!

So anyway, Sunday and Monday were just hellish for him. Monday he called off work which sucks because he loses a vacation day for it cause all he has is PTO. I'm lucky, I actually have a breakdown of sick and vacation days. And I'm really lucky on that too cause I actually have four weeks of vacation and two weeks of sick. Nice!

Tuesday he went into work and lasted an hour and a half. I told him that this was a 3 day illness and not a 2 1/2 day illness. He went in today and I thought he would make it thru but he only made it til like 2pm. Better than nothing I guess. I hope they're nice to him and don't dock him anymore cause we have trips planned and he doesn't get more time added until like July of next year. Oh well, I know the important thing is that he is healthy.

So yeah, that has been our life since last Thursday. And let me tell you, its boring as hell. He was bored from Friday thru Sunday and I've been bored from Sunday thru now. Trying to take as good of care of him as I can, but you know guys. I have a few things around the apartment that I know he needs and he can just help himself to the stuff. The one thing about me when I was sick, even though I felt like crap, I was in a pretty good mood and had a good attitude about it. I guess he could be worse - he's not nearly as bad as my dad when he's sick. I just want him to get better so we can get back to normal!

Wow!

2006-12-01T15:36:00.000-06:00

If all of the owners of those "hot clubs" hadn't let her in the door ILLEGALLY in the first place, maybe this 20-year-old might not be in this position. Oh don't get my wrong... when I was under 21 we went to frat parties and got seniors to buy us beer but she goes just a wee bit beyond that ...

http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1565040,00.html

Uggghh...

2006-12-01T15:18:00.000-06:00

The thought of having to trudge a whole mile back home thru all of that snow - in the dark - is not making me happy. Plus, its only 25 degrees right now. Errr... Oh well.. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. At least most of the sidewalks - I'm hoping - will be cleared on the way home. That was definitely not the case, of course, this morning on the walk to the train.

This morning before I headed in I tried to clear all of the snow off of my car. Well, I only got as far as the trunk and back window before I realized it was pointless and gave up. So I need to do that sometime as I'm going to have to move my car for the plows. Right now I'm parked on the side they do not plow on Fridays so either tonight or early tomorrow morning I need to move it.

Hmm... better check on those hours for plowing so I don't end up with a ticket.

Maybe...

2006-12-01T15:11:00.000-06:00

Maybe I'll finally blog my wedding like I said I was going to months ago... relive all of the details. LOL! I want to write it all down somewhere anyway... I don't know where to start though. I should probably find my wedding book and look at the categories there. Lets see... do I have any of my old magazines around or not anymore ...?? Hmmm.... Ah hah - here is one! I thought I threw them all away ...

Ugghh... no... thats not what I want to do. What is a good site to hang at anymore? I mean, I love the Web 2.0 stuff like Flickr and things like that. MySpace is OK but I think I'm a bit too old for it. Blogger is still cool especially when you can link a bunch of stuff to it. YouTube ... its OK too but as far as I'm concerned, post your videos - I have a few simple ones up there - share with whomever and then walk away. All of this video sharing and stuff is not exciting to me.

Anyway ... still bored. I thought about leaving earlier but I decided I would stick around and leave around my regular time so I think I'll be here another hour.

No idea when hubby will be home tonight!

Save me!!

2006-12-01T15:09:00.000-06:00

Someone save me! Isn't there anything interesting to do on the internet anymore? You know, I used to IM all freaking day long but that just isn't really an option anymore ...

Bored beyond belief!

2006-12-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

I wish I had brought the connector thingy so I could upload the pictures I took this morning and work on them. It is DEAD here! I cleaned out the email inbox on my shift and I'm all caught up with my cases - so far - and there is like nothing going on here.

On top of this I am still not feeling well ... I think its gotten worse ... and I am just plain exhausted.

I technically have another 15 minutes left on my lunch break here. Maybe I should run to Walgreens and pick up the rest of those Xmas cards that I needed to buy. Hmmm... that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Too bad I didn't bring the rest of my list for the people I need to finish up. I'm doing a lot this year and throwing in a copy of one of our wedding pictures. Yeah, its an illegal copy of one of my professional ones and in a billfold size. I knew I wanted to include something from the wedding but I wasn't sure how to do it. I thought about getting those Xmas photo cards made or buying cards where you insert a picture or something but oh well.. just a copy. Actually I didn't even make enough copies and my printer ink is out and who knows when I will make it back over to OfficeMax to buy more. So... some of my people might not be getting a picture. Although ... I do have a bunch of engagement picture copies still left. The photog made a bunch with the URL of our proofs in case anyone wanted to buy. The intent was for me to stick them in my Thank You notes. Well... that only happened with the very last Thank You notes I sent because I was so on the ball with them and he hadn't given me these pictures yet. Our wedding was August 26, it was followed by a weeklong honeymoon. With the exception of some people who sent some gifts later, I had all of my Thank You notes mailed by September 21. My aunt was impressed. She said that was the fastest she had ever received a Thank You note after a wedding. Thats sort of what I was going for ; ) I'm so freaking competitive! LOL!

The cutest thing on the net today!

2006-12-01T11:24:00.000-06:00

Two-month-old North American puma cub Baron (top) vies for a plush tiger with coeval puppy dog Basya in a zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk November 24, 2006. Baron was breastfed by Basya's mother, because its own mother refused to feed it. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin (RUSSIA)

Weather Update #5

2006-12-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

Downtown Chicago, 10:58am -- It seems to have finally tapered off but I think a bit more may still be coming. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as they predicted - not that it was all that good though.

A few thoughts...

There was a 7 car pileup at I-55 and 1st Avenue which is pretty much our exit - nice...

Hubby is in the hotel management but he doesn't manage a particular hotel. Its sort of a regional thing. So anyway, he got home late last night. We had dinner together and watched Survivor and ER on the DVR. I wasn't actually expecting him to even come home because he said he was just going to stay at the hotel overnight so he didn't have to mess with the commute. But then it wasn't so bad last night so he had come home but by 10:15 or so and watching all of that Weather Channel stuff he decided it was best to go back so he drove back around 10:30 and stayed out there which was a pretty smart move. That was when he told me how bad Ogden Avenue was.

Ummm... right now he is at an airport hotel and he says its a ghost town out there because so many flights are canceled. He says the airport is totally clear but Higgins is a mess and it took him over an hour to go somewhere earlier.

I'm still not feeling all that well but much better than last night. So I decided to come in - I pretty much was set on it anyway. So since I don't drive in this stuff, I walked. Its a mile to the train station. It was snowing hard the whole way with the wind right IN my face. By the time I got there, I was soaked and tired and grumpy. I mean its only a mile but thru the snow which is several inches deep in boots with the wind in your face and its freaking cold outside. Its not fun. Its a workout too! But somehow I made it there. Walked into the train station to buy my December monthly ticket and ewww... At some point before I got there someone must have thought it was cool to bring their wet stinky dog into the the station (Ok... if it was a service dog, fine, but those don't usually stink!) The place wreaked to the point where I did not want to stay so I went back outside and decided to wait under the roof. Yes, this was better than enduring that place. Blah...

During the train ride in it was probably snowing harder than I saw it during my walk. You could barely see some of the buildings. It was really blowing.

Anyway, because I'm always on the lookout for a good picture these days, I took my digital camera with me on the walk and I did take several pictures so maybe I'll post some. We really lucked out on not getting what was predicted.

And oh yeah and then I get here and so many people called off today. I'm not even going to get into this but ... not cool.

Anyway, that is about it for now!

Weather Update #4

2006-11-30T22:42:00.000-06:00

Brookfield, Ill., 10:42pm - Hubby just called in; he says Ogden Avenue heading towards 294 (in LaGrange) is literally a skating rink and he is driving 5 mph. Says all of the sleet is just sticking to the local roads.

I hear the sleet hitting the windows.

Weather Update #3

2006-11-30T22:34:00.000-06:00

Brookfield, Ill., 10:35pm - it is sleeting like a bitch!

On top of everything I have been pretty sick all evening. I don't know what it is. It just sort of hit me. So what sucks about this is that if I really AM sick tomorrow and need to call in, its going to look like I'm just not coming in because of the weather!

Blah... at the very least, if I'm still sick, I'll go in but just stay a half day.

Weather Update #2

2006-11-30T15:39:00.000-06:00

Downtown Chicago, 3:40pm - It has stopped snowing. It must have been a momentary blurp.

I'm hoping it holds off til I get home. I'm bailing around 4:15 and my train leaves at 4:36. I then have a 10 minute walk to my car and about a 5 minute drive home.

Weather Update #1

2006-11-30T15:15:00.000-06:00

Downtown Chicago, 3:15pm - It has just started snowing here. It is flaking just a bit.

Wanna see something funny?

2006-11-30T12:39:00.000-06:00

Go to weather.com and type in 60513 for the zip code. Then click on the Hour-by-Hour forecast. This will be my life for the next day and a half. Its not looking good. Actually its looking much worse than it did last night.

The sad thing is that I will be able to make it to work tomorrow - no doubt. I'll put on my wittle boots and trudge the one mile to my train stop and take the train in. It will probably only take 10 more minutes than it normally does (assuming the train is running). So I'll be at work - yeah, it sucks! LOL!

The thing is ... perhaps the trains won't run? I guess there is a possibility for that. I don't live on an electric line though. Hmm... I wonder how a foot of ice/snow mix effects the Metra. It probably doesn't, I'm just guessing. If it does, screw it! I'm calling in sick because I refuse to drive in the stuff. Nothing I can do about it!

Bored...

2006-11-29T15:38:00.000-06:00

So yeah, I'm pretty much done for the day here. Have all of my cases wrapped up unless someone decides to call in on their own. Umm... lets see... The cat seems to be doing better but she has some fairly serious medical issues. She has stones in her bladder and there is no way to get them out other than operating. So.... Sean is thinking about if he wants to do that or not. She's old so if we don't do it... I mean, I guess you never know. The problem with this is that she could have a blockage today, tomorrow, two months from now or two years from now. There is nothing to say that it will ever cause a problem. Or I guess that sadly, she may be too old before it becomes a problem. Anyway, the vet says that cats usually come out of these surgeries pretty good. Her age concerns me though so... like I said, he's thinking about it. Its totally his decision cause she is his cat and I'll back him up on it either way. In addition, she could also have stomach issues and he needs to decide if he wants additional tests on her to determine if these issues are there or not. Those could be the major issue so... yeah, you understand. If she was young, maybe we'd just go for it and have the surgery and see how it went. However, I'm not sure its fair to stick it to her like that in her old age -even if she doesn't act old, which she really doesn't. Anyway... we have her on medication for now, which should hopefully get rid of any infection so they can potentially operate. In the meantime she is her regular loving wonderful purry sweet little self. You really wouldn't know anything was wrong.

More...

2006-11-27T10:59:00.000-06:00

So remember this past spring when I wrote about our kitty being sick with a urinary tract infection? Well, she seems to have it again. I just don't know. My husband isn't sure how old the cat is - he guesses somewhere between 14-15 years old. She was his dad's cat and when his dad passed away, he told him he would keep her. Anyway, so its all of the same symptoms as before. We really need to get her to the vet and get her a shot or something. I need to bug him about that. The thing is, she doesn't act sick, its just her many many many trips to the litter box that are even letting us know she is sick. He just loves the kitty so much and so do I. I hate to think of the worst but you sort of have to when they're this age. If anyone has any advice on any home remedies with cats and this sort of thing, let me know. Assuming we get this cleared up with medicine again, I'm guessing she's going to have to be on some kind of pill for keeps now or something. I read somewhere that once they get one of these - especially an older cat - they're pretty much prone to continue to get them.

Bloggage

2006-11-27T09:53:00.000-06:00

Yeah, its me!

Let me just tell you - it is going to be a super long boring day here at work today as it is completely dead. I guess I should thank my lucky stars but as it is, I am just sitting here! Blahhh...

So lets see... Thanksgiving weekend was pretty good. Wednesday night me and hubby drove to my parents' place. Didn't get in until 11:30pm since we lost an hour with the time change. Decided to hang out in my parents' new hot tub which is super nice and I miss already. We did a lot of that over the weekend.

Slept in some Thursday morning. Dad is always big with breakfasts so we did that. Then pretty much just hung out waiting for my sister and other relatives to arrive. My aunt and uncle had actually arrived Wednesday night as well.

So everyone eventually showed up. It turned out to be us, my parents, my grandparents, my sister, my aunt and uncle, two cousins and a girlfriend of one of my cousins. Big crew for our house. We don't usually host Thanksgiving at my parents' house so this was a first. Sort of a long story.

So... what else? Yeah so, super good food as my dad is an awesome cook. Then just sort of hung out.

Went on a long walk around my parents' property - they have close to 30 acres including a big pond. Walked back there. They get the hay baled and the guys were playing with one of the bales - they are those super huge round ones. Anyway, they tried to roll it pretty much without success. But after they did this, they were covered in hay and my husband was trying to wipe it off of his shirt when his wedding ring went flying off. Ummm... yeah. Anyway, so he says something like, "Don't panic but my ring just fell off." So I'm thinking we're going to look down and its just going to be there but no such luck. So now we are "literally" looking for a ring in a haystack. Not good. I was pretty good about keeping my cool and trying to keep things in perspective but I think deep down I was about ready to kill him - LOL! So my mom brought out scissors - yeah, scissors - to try and cut down around some of the grass and placed a phone call to a neighbor who had a metal detector. My cousin Adam was all like, "I'm going to be the one to find it." Anyway, so he was down on the ground just pulling up hand fulls of grass and believe it or not, he was the one who found it. Thank God!!! So I had told hubby that I thought he needed to get it resized before and reminded him again but I still don't think he's going to. He says it fits perfectly in the summer and its just when its cold that its loose. So... he says he will be more careful in the future but... I don't know. It had already fallen off of him once in the apartment... I'm not sure we'd get so lucky to find it a third time. Have I ever mentioned that my husband is really skinny?? ; )

So there was that excitement (remind me to tell you how my husband also lost my car keys - LOL!)... and then lots of lounging around and such.

Friday night we had our traditional pizza party. My dad makes awesome pizza. And somewhere in there we played a lot of Trivial Pursuit and CatchPhrase - it was fun!

My husband had to go back Friday evening because he had to work Saturday - bummer. Oh well... at least I got him for most of Friday too so I can't complain. Saturday the rest of the relatives left and so we were left with my four original family members and my grandparents. Its getting very difficult with my grandfather now as the whole Alzheimer thing has pretty much taken over and he doesn't know where he is or who we are, or anything like that. It can be very trying at times. Its tough on all of us - especially my grandmother - and I try to be understanding when I'm around him but sometimes... its next to impossible. Oh well.

Sunday was church and then we immediately headed back to Chicago. I don't know how we managed it but we ended up beating back most of the traffic and our drive was pretty much smooth sailing. My sister told me all kinds of interesting and funny stories on the way back. I swear, she and her friends still live that soap opera lifestyle. Right now my sister is dating FOUR guys! Crazy!!!

So that is about it for now. I may be back with more later or maybe not. Like I said, it is DEAD around here.

Oh ... those who are wondering ... things seem to be looking way up for my friend's baby - the one triplet who has survived - she is now off of the machines and breathing on her own and taking some milk from time to time. They have been able to hold her and I just think its looking way up. So hopefully we will have nothing but good news from now on about all of that.

And ... OH YEAH... about my missing keys. So this morning my husband says he needs to grab a few things out of my car that he had left in there (we took my car over the holiday and he drove it back). So he says he would grab my spare keys - its only my car key on the keychain thankfully - and he would just bring it back when he got home. He was on his way to work and didn't want to run back inside. I said that was fine. So anyway, about an hour later he calls me and says he cannot find my key anywhere. So I'm like it probably fell out in your car or maybe its in one of your pockets or something. He says he'll look later and I'm like fine thinking no big deal, he'll find it. I tell him that I will look in my car and around the area when I leave to see if maybe he just left it there. So I go to leave and I look all over the inside of my car, under my car, near where he was parked and nothing. So I call and let him know this. So now he's freaked out so he says he will go back out to his car and look. He does and calls me back and says he can't find it. So bummer ... no idea where it is. I'm hoping its just buried in his car somewhere. The paranoid side of me worries that he left it in my car door and someone drove by and took it planning to steal my car later - ha ha! I don't know. So weird. I hope it turns up.

Later!

More sad news...

2006-11-09T07:43:00.000-06:00

It goes beyond saying that I have no idea how it feels and I especially can't even do it justice when writing about it in here. Anyway...

My friend Amanda's second baby son, Gus, has passed away - also due to complications of being premature.

Its beyond sad, and how they are able to handle this ... I have no idea.

The baby girl, Charlotte, still seems to be doing well and in Amanda's blog (she is blogging all of this so she doesn't have to make calls or mass emails - she started with mass emails) she says something about when the little girl comes home so I see that as promising.

Anyway, again, I don't know what to say. I have my Firefox set up so I see my friends blogs in the menu and can just click on them to automatically go to the latest posts. Last night I logged in and saw she had a post - my husband and I had been checking every day, several times a day - and I saw it and... I just looked at him and told him Amanda had blogged and he just looked at me and knew what I was going to say. I started to read it to him and he stopped me.

I would like to go on about this some more but I really ... don't... know... what... to... say...

Keep them in your prayers.

Britney and K-Fed to divorce???

2006-11-07T15:38:00.001-06:00

If they can't make it, what hope is there for the rest of us!?

Auuugghhhh!!!!!!!

Don't forget to vote!

2006-11-07T12:01:00.000-06:00

So my first time voting out in my "new" burb today. For the first time ever, I voted a straight Democratic ticket - sort of. I didn't care who it was ... Congress, dog catcher, etc!

My "sort of" comes in when I say that I did actually not vote for an actual Democrat on one race and that was for Illinois governor. In this race I voted for the Green Party candidate. Now... I have no flipping idea who this guy even is but he can't be as bad as the two jerks running as the Democrat and the Republican. So... it was a protest vote of sorts.

There is also another race, Cook County Board or something like that, where I didn't vote for either the Democrat or the Republican. That race is pissing me off as well so I just left it blank and there was no other choice.

And, then there was this weirdo ballot question on there about if the United States needed to immediately pull out of Iraq. Who got that one on the ballot? Anyway, I left that blank too. I thought it was stupid. Yeah... I don't think my vote really matters on that one.

Normally I'm not such a militant D. I have a voting philosophy in that I usually always vote for the person whether they are a Democrat or a Republican. I have voted for many Republicans over the years with no problem. So I start with 1) the person; 2) if I don't know the person then I vote for the woman if there is one (I'm so not kidding); 3) if I don't know the person and there is no woman running, then I vote for the Democrat. So you see... this straight ticket isn't my typical voting behavior. But I'm so sick of everything now. Anything and everything and anyone and everyone associated with George W. Bush! I don't care if its the freaking water district this time - the D's are getting all of my votes!

A sad update

2006-11-03T13:47:00.000-06:00

My friend emailed me today to say that one of her triplets - Jake - passed away yesterday. I gather he was not doing well from the start. I'm so very sad and especially sad for all of them. I can't imagine what it must feel like. It sounds like the girl is doing well and the other boy had a minor heart surgery but is doing well. So I'm hopeful we'll hear nothing but good news from this point on.

Anyway....

Don'tcha just love it up north??

2006-11-02T10:50:00.000-06:00

Its 29 degrees today! Whoo-frickin'-hoo!

Babies X 3

2006-10-30T15:25:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I posted a story about a friend of mine being pregnant with triplets. Anyway... the babies arrived on Monday a few months early - two boys and a girl. She was only 6 1/2 months along. The only update that I have so far is that the girl is in stable condition and the boys have a struggle ahead. The girl was actually the smallest of the three. Their names are Gus, Jake and Charlotte. Keep them in your prayers!

More wedding bloggage

2006-10-12T10:14:00.000-05:00

OK so its slow and I had promised more stuff about the wedding and such but never got around to it.

OK - The Planning

The planning was not the nightmare everyone told me it would be. People had told me planning a wedding was like a full time job and how it was horrible and stressful and how you would constantly be fighting with your mother. Despite maybe 2 minor bridezilla moments on my behalf ... I experienced NONE of this. In my world, planning a wedding is easy. You just have to be cool and have a laid back attitude and try not to sweat the small stuff. You have to accept from the beginning that NOTHING is perfect that its just not possible and something will go wrong. The thing is though... I can't think of much in mine that did go wrong. There were a couple of minor snafus but they were corrected and ... yeah... no harm, no fowl.

So we got engaged and maybe two weeks later I went home for a visit and OH MY GOD... was it not non-stop from my mom?! As excited as I was about it, she was even more so. We went here, there and everywhere! I couldn't believe it. I mean, I guess I couldn't believe that you get engaged and BAM! just start planning. A part of me really just wanted to sit around and relish just being happy about being engaged for a bit but my husband and I had decided that we really weren't going to do that, we wanted to be married and we were going to get to that as soon as possible.

Well, as soon as possible pretty much meant deciding on the where... we didn't have our hearts set on any particular "when". All of the important dates or annivesaries or whatever in our relationship are in the winter and we knew we didn't want to get married in the winter and I really didn't want to get married in the spring (plus that probably would have meant waiting a year or more to do) and I knew I didn't want to be a JUNE bride so... it was going to have to be summer or early fall. Either one of those I was more than happy with. So then it was like where where WHERE?!

Well, I had originally imagined that we would somehow get married in the Chicago area although I wasn't quite sure how we were going to do it. The thing was, I like really wanted to get married in a church and if not a church, then probably outdoors but outdoors weddings are tricky and I wasn't sure I wanted to risk the weather. And, we technically aren't really members of any church up here (yet) and lots of churches are sort of particular about who can and can't have weddings in them - usually they only allow member weddings. So we probably could have pulled it off finding a church but it would have been a challenge. Of course you have all of the other Chicago type options - hotels, banquet halls, museums, restaurants, etc. etc. but none of that would have meant diddly squat to me (this is just my personal opinion). I thought outdoors could have been cool cause I could have made it churchy or whatever but ... well, you know. The reception wouldn't have been that difficult to figure out - just the timing - but up here it would have meant major buckage. Sean was against a Chicago wedding or at least a big Chicago wedding because of the major buckage. And ... well... I wanted a big wedding - or at least what I considered a big wedding.

I started thinking about it though and decided that maybe Chicago wasn't a good idea after all cause I wasn't sure how many of my friends and family who live elsewhere would have been able to make it. At this point, I was willing to compromise.

So I went to college at IU in Bloomington, IN, and on campus is a cute little church that holds maybe 50 people. One of my sister's "friends" had recently been married there and I had seen it advertised in the alumni magazine so I got to thinking about that because IU means so much to me, and it was close to where I grew up, and a smaller wedding might have made Sean happy and I thought... OK, so small wedding at the little church and bigger reception at the Union in one of the nice rooms. The idea was actually starting to grow on me.

But then, out of the blue, he comes home one day and says basically anything I want- a huge wedding and anywhere was fine with him - he just didn't want anyone spending some major $$$ on it. This was like a big turn around for him. What I figure is he went to work and was talking to some of the girls he worked with and they probably scolded him about how I had probably been planning my wedding my whole life and he couldn't tell me now what I could or could not have - ha ha ha! (Thanks girls!)

So this, of course, puts a whole new spin on it. Although I wasn't too concerned about the $$$ issues, I had decided that a wedding in the Chicago area - at least for us - was too complicated - and that I wanted the people who mean the most to me to be able to attend and I just wasn't sure if they could in Chicago so...

My parents had recently attended a wedding in a town nearby where I grew up and they had gone to a reception at a pretty much brand new reception hall that I wasn't aware existed and I had no idea about. My mom was raving about the place and how she believed it was exactly the setup that I wanted. What did I want? Well, I have pretty much measured every wedding I have ever been to since like college against one of my cousins weddings which was everything I ever wanted. I knew regardless our ceremony would be nice but I really really wanted a nice reception and I had been to nice receptions in my hometown but not what I would have wanted.

Perhaps the things I wanted were silly but I wanted them - sit down served meal, seating chart, actual dance floor, nice bar, something newer with a bit of elegance.

So this place had all of that. So we talked about it and agreed. We were going to get married in my hometown - in the church that I grew up in and the same church my parents were married in; and have the reception at this place in a town about 30 miles away. I called my mom and told her to get a list of available dates for the place. We picked a date and booked it sight unseen just trusting my mom's judgment.

So when I went to visit my parents a couple of weeks later, that was like the first place we went and I loved it. Way way classy for southern Indiana country folk. I would have picked it out myself if I would have seen it. It was just as nice as anything in the Chicago area.

You know, I can't even think of what all we did that day but she drug me all over the place - to the florist in my hometown who we knew was the only person who we would ever want doing the flowers - he's amazing! He has clients all over the state and is not your typical small-town florist. Honestly, I probably couldn't have found anything as nice in the Chicago area and I am not overstating that. Where else, where else? We went into one bridal shop but I knew it was sort of pointless for me to get a dress down there with the fittings and all. Man, I just can't think of everything now. We even got a cake baker - although we cancelled her later. Oh yeah, we got the photographer too! Yikes - Mom was dragging me all over the place. I felt like I couldn't keep my head on straight.

It was so funny cause other than this day and the dress search (which was nothing) and the bridesmaid dress search (which was a little more dramatic)... we felt like we did so little planning and work the entire time. Maybe its cause mom really was on the ball and knew just to get it done so we wouldn't have to worry about it. LOL! I don't know.

Anyway.... that was the whole start of the plans. I'm going to go over it bit by bit as I get to it. I'm not writing this to be all like look at me, this is what I did for my wedding! I am more writing it for myself so I have something to keep about it and just the details and my thoughts and such.

I may be back with more later.

I am frickin' freezing!

2006-10-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

I asked my husband this morning if he thought I needed a coat for today and the response was something like...

"YOU THINK?"

Yeah, he was right!

My friend Dawn was at the train stop and she was all bundled up like it was 30 below or something. I told her this and she was like, "Oh no, this is not 30 below. When its 30 below, you won't even recognize me!"

Me - I was just in a sweatshirt and light jacket. I seriously could have used some gloves though.

I swear, fall *fell* around 1:25pm yesterday afternoon!

ITS SNOWING!!!

2006-10-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

Fall photo of the day!

2006-10-11T12:44:00.000-05:00

Just playing...

2006-10-10T14:26:00.001-05:00

Well I lost a lot of stuff when I upgraded but thats cool. Maybe it will motivate me to start making some changes and creating some posts around here!

New Blogger!

2006-10-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

As I haven't logged in here for a million and 50 years, I didn't realize that there were all kinds of new options. Just playing with it now to see some of the changes!

What I need

2006-10-10T14:10:00.000-05:00

A real blog
A real website
A way to import my old posts from my old blogs into one brand new blog
Time
Organization
Ability to do all of the above
A "web presence" - LOL!

How random...

I wish I had my old site back.

Maybe it will be a little winter project, when I'm home and can't go outside to play cause its 30 below and on days when hubby is working some odd hours ... maybe it would give me something to do.

Hmmm....

Still kicking...

2006-09-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

But lacking serious bloggage motivation. I may be back...

Bored...

2006-09-15T14:55:00.000-05:00

So I realize I haven't written about my wedding or anything yet. You know, I'm still off in la la land. I'm still daydreaming about it either it just happened or I'm thinking its still going to happen. Its funny. Anyway, the way I figure that I'll really tell everyone about it is when I get all of my pcitures up. But that is going to be a huge undertaking. I promise a link here in the future though. I'm not sure there will ever be a point where its all "completed" but I would like more stuff up than I have now.

So... Lets see... I never remember how much I have written about everything in this blog. I have never really mentioned Sean much in the past as I really just wanted to watch our privacy and just not babble a lot about it. Anyway... here are a few tidbits ...

When we met - Labor Day weekend 2004
Where we met - Summerfest 2 in Milwaukee
Why we met - I was DATING HIS FRIEND!

When we actually got together - December 3, 2004 - after I had already broken up with his friend. In all fairness I had only dated his friend for three months so its not like it was super serious. Still, I had met all of his family and even gone to Florida with him. Right when Sean and I did get together things were sort of bad with the friend. I mean, he went a little psycho but ... whatever. They still aren't friends now like they were but they are sort of back to hanging out or whatever but I doubt it will ever be the same with them. Neither of us feels bad about this though. Yeah, I dated this guy, but he isn't much of a loss.

In my old blog I wrote a post about how we hooked up or whatever that first night. Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll paste it in here sometime.

How he proposed - I'll keep the details private but lets just say he proposed beneath a monument or sorts.

Was I surprised by the proposal? No. I knew it was coming as I had picked out the ring. We went ring shopping together ... or shall we say diamond shopping ... at the jewelry wholesalers building at 5 S. Wabash. If you know Chicago, you know everyone goes there to get their diamond as you can get something big and for a good quality at a fraction of the cost. So we went, took a quick "how to pick a diamond" class and then looked at about 10 different stones under the loop and picked the diamond and setting separately.

My ring - It rocks, its big. Its a solitaire set in white gold. Its BEAUTIFUL!

He asked my mom and dad for permission! So we had the ring but I didn't know when he was actually going to pop the question. He had told me repeatedly that he wanted to ask permission from my dad (even though we already lived together). He was afraid of my mom at the time. He's not now and I never understood why he was. My mom is like the sweatest person in the world. She just retired from teaching pre-school for 30+ years. Anyway... so we were visting some relatives and all the fam was there and my dad is sort of an early riser. So Sean knew this so he got up super early and asked him and of course my dad said yes and that Sean should also talk to my mom. Heh-Heh! So he actually caught her coming in from outside thru my relative's garage. So there is my mom crying in the garage. Of course I didn't know when all of this was happening. These are all things he told me later.

So he had the ring for close to two months before he proposed. He had told my parents when he was actually going to do it and told them that we would call immediately to tell them. That was kind of funny because I was always annoyed hearing the stories of the girls who got the ring and the next thing they did was call their mommy. I swore I wasn't going to be one of those but I was sort of forced to be. Oh well... So called my parents and my sister right after - laughed, cried and all of the above. It was great.

So yeah, in the next months it was all about planning the wedding and I'll try and go over some of that in my next post!

A few more...

2006-09-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

Thats it for now ... ; )

OK ... I'll post some pictures!

2006-09-05T15:19:00.000-05:00

Here are just the few that I have so far that some friends and family have emailed. I'm going to have thousands probably not even counting the professional ones. My uncle alone took 1 GB worth!

Mrs. Honeybee!

2006-09-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

Well well well... I guess I now DO have something to write about. This is going to be a many parter as I think of everything I want to write about - no more odd vague posts here!!

Honeybee, Mel, Melissa... whatever you want to call me ... married the man of her dreams on August 26, 2006! So that is what I've been up to and where I've been and all of that. We followed that up with a dream honeymoon to Jamaica for a week - just back yesterday. The whole entire past two weeks could not have been more perfect.

I was kind of worried that I had the whole wedding thing and all of that built up in my mind more than it actually would be in reality - heck, I had 32 years to think about it. I was wrong. It was better than I could have imagined, better than any dream I ever had about it. And Sean is the most incredible amazing person I have known in my entire life. I didn't know that I was going to have to wait until I was 30 years old to meet "the one", but he was worth the wait.

(And, oh yeah... to those doubters out there - cause believe me I had been thru enough to be one of them - I am now more certain than ever that "the one" ... its true, its real.)

I think I'm going to have to do this in several posts. I wanna tell the whole story.

Enjoy!

Still alive...

2006-08-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

Hey all, I'm still alive! Just super busy these days. I may have a few posts in the next few days but other than that I'm going to be taking a break for a little bit. I PROMISE to be back in a more regular blogging role in the next few weeks! ; )

OH MY GOSH!

2006-08-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Man being held in JonBenet Ramsey slaying

The Associated Press
Published August 16, 2006, 3:36 PM CDT

WASHINGTON -- A man arrested in Thailand is being held in connection with the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, U.S. law enforcement officials say.

Federal officials familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges.

And...

2006-08-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot where I was going with yesterday's post. It was going to be a long one but oh well. There was some drama but a good time was had by all.

I can't believe everything that is going on with me lately. I can't keep anything straight anymore.

I hope to write more when I have a chance. Right now I just need to take a nap!

Craziness...

2006-08-09T14:52:00.000-05:00

Its just been a little bit of everything going on with me lately, I'm trying to decide where to even start...

Well... OK, last Saturday night was the Jimmy Buffett concert. Same drunken bru-ha-ha as it normally is. Anyway, stocked up on booze and other supplies and headed to a friend's place early in the day for a pre-party. Hung there for a while. Then, the friend had rented a charter bus for all of us (of course we did pay somewhat of a fee) and there ended up being only 8 of us on this bus that was meant for like 40 people. Anyway... So partied all the way there too. Get to the parking lot and proceed to party for like 3 more hours before the concert.

All kinds of drama going on at the place. It was such a riot as usual. One group of people had the back of a truck equipped as their own personal dance studio and there were tons of people dancing in the truck and on top of the truck. They played the best music too. Some Buffett and lots of country. Really good music! Most of the guys got involved play "bean bags" ... I think the technical term for it is "Corn Hole". Seriously, what adults find in this game in the last five or so years that I maybe last played at my 10-year-old birthday party is beyond me. I guess it can get a little addictive though. I played a couple of games myself. Then there was just the general rowdiness and craziness of the crowd - people doing keg stands, shots, anything and everything you can imagine. Its like a frat party for people 21(and under) through 60. And I don't know, I'm not sure I'm cut out for it anymore. It makes for a long day of drinking and I swear I can't remember much about 3 of the last 4 Buffett concerts I went to. Oh well... I'm guessing it was a good time.

No no no... it wasn't so bad this year. I was pretty well trashed but in control (unlike 2 years ago but thats a whole other horrible story). So anywhoo... All the typical funness was going on with the drama of certain situations.

Ummm ... lets see... Oh yeah, well, Psycho Boy was not invited to ride the bus cause the guy who chartered it can't stand him. So anyway he was going to the concert and he actually sought us out and found us in the lot....

TO BE CONTINUED... I HAVE SOME STUFF I NEED TO TAKE CARE OF ...

Too funny!

2006-08-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

Men are like Snowstorms .... You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get or how long it will last.

Here... if you're bored...

2006-08-03T12:49:00.000-05:00

Want to know what various elements of your dreams mean? Check this out! Its pretty interesting!

Bored out of my mind!!!!!

2006-08-02T15:49:00.000-05:00

Blahh.... Will this day never end?

Here I am trying to eat all healthy and stuff and I end up having a huge snack this PM. Not good. Oh well... I'll just go home tonight and sweat to death and that will probably get rid of it.

Actually what I am going to do tonight as soon as I get home is start cleaning like a maniac. I have a friend bringing over a few things tonight and the place is an utter disaster. I mean... the living room... I don't want to even tell you. Its so hot and horrible even with the air conditioner, the cat is shedding like a maniac and there's nothing I can do about it. Its pointless to try and even keep up with it.

Cleaned the kitchen last night for the most part. Just a few things I need to move around and it should be fine. Need to take out the trash still. I even cleaned out and scrubbed and bleached the kitty's litter box last night so hopefully won't have to deal with that for a while.

Ugghh... I just feel such blahness about that snack... it is that time of the month though so maybe its excusable. I don't know.

So one thing from last weekend I forgot to mention was that I got the first pedicure of my life on Saturday. Yep - me who is totally freaked out by another human being touching her feet. I totally have issues about it which is why I had never done it before. But anyway, a group of friends were going so I was like OK, I'll do it. Did a normal manicure, not a full set. I'm planning o a full set in another couple of weeks. I took a break from that this summer too. Another money saver! Then I did the pedicure and you know, it wasn't too bad. There were points of it that I didn't like but I survived and I would do it again and probably will. I was a little bit stressed out and watching everything so I didn't turn the vibrating thing on the chair which I guess is supposed to be a great part of it or whatever and I had done some walking and felt like I had a little blister on one foot so that kind of bothered me but ... I guess what you could say is that I am looking forward to doing it again under ideal conditions - not freaked out, stressed out, and with unhealthy feet. LOL! I'm a freak I know.

Anyway, thats about it for now. Gonna try sneaking out of here in 20-25 minutes or so. Just want this day to end. Why do I feel so guilty about that damn snack??

As we speak at 4:38 in the afternoon...

2006-08-01T16:42:00.000-05:00

Chicago, IL
99°FPartly Cloudy
Wind: S at 14 mph
Humidity: 42%

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????????

2006-07-27T09:57:00.000-05:00

-- Tour de France winner Floyd Landis fails drug test, his Phonak team says, according to media reports.

Yeah, but Sam Hornish didn't need the U.S. Supreme Court to get him that Indy win ...

2006-07-26T14:07:00.000-05:00

After the formal photo, Bush spoke to Hornish about the thrilling finish of this year's Indy 500, where Hornish made a last-lap push to pass rookie Marco Andretti.

"You had a close one there. How close was it?" Bush asked.

"A little too close for me," Hornish replied.

"I've had a few close races before, too," Bush said. "And my attitude is first is first."

I'm still here!!

2006-07-21T11:41:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm still here... things have just been nuts or I've been too bored to write.

Lets see... where were we?

Anyway, last weekend I went back to Toledo but this time I chose different transportation. What I ended up doing is taking the Megabus (check out megabus.com if you're in the midwest - it ROCKS!) to Detroit and was picked up in Detroit and then we drove back to Toledo. The early train to Toledo was booked and there was no way I was taking that late train again. The Megabus dropped me off right downtown Detroit near Comerica Park (or is it Field?) and there was a Tigers game going on at the time. I worked in Detroit on an election for like three weeks back in 1998 and... I don't know if Detroit has improved since then or if there actually IS a nice part of town but I was really impressed by what I saw. The field is beautiful. I love it actually. Too bad "the Cell" ain't that nice. There are tons of bars and clubs nearby and some super nice housing developments going up all around there. I'm guessing these are serious improvements for this area. That part of town made me see Detroit in a whole other light. Where I had worked before I was instructed not to go outside by myself and that there were even certain parts INSIDE the building where I was working that I should not go by myself. Ummm yeah...

So at least this time I made it to Toledo at more midnightish than 5am which is acceptable!

Saturday spent some time at the Toledo Zoo and played mini-golf that evening. Sunday spent pretty much the entire day at Cedar Point. Now let me just tell you that I am a complete amusement park flunky. I am not the most fun - I won't go on the super scary rides and thats pretty much all Cedar Point is. It was super hot that day - like 100 degrees - so the place was fairly dead with only like 10-15 minute waits for some of the most popular coasters. So its not like I had to stand around waiting because "others" were in line. So it really worked out. I went on like four of the smaller coasters but just wasn't going on the others. I'm getting better with this stuff though so maybe someday I can go on the mid-sized ones there - ha ha! Did go on all of the water rides which just rock though. I LOVE water rides - especially on a day like that. I could seriously go to an amusement park and spend the entire time on the water rides. Back in the days when there was still and Opryland in Nashville my family went with another family and we spent the whole freaking day on their rapids ride. We went on it nine times in a row. It was the best time. I really liked that place. The new mall in Nashville is super cool but too bad they got rid of that place too.

Monday morning I did Amtrak it back to Chicago but thats no big deal other than having to get up at 4am. I even slept some on the train back.

But its been sort of an odd week. Really tired to start things out and then I worked some odd shifts that threw things off even more. Went out with one of my friends the other night and stayed out much MUCH later than planned. Somehow we got into "girl talk" and I swear I cannot think of the last time I had girl talk with anyone. Its just not really me - well, at least not anymore. I think I have trouble sometimes being friends with females. Chalk that up to four years of living in a sorority house (that'll do it to anyone). But anyway, I've become pretty good friends with this person here in the last year. I honestly don't think that I have made a new consistent female friend in almost ten years; several guy friends, but not girls.

So anyway, thats where things are now. I have a million things to do this weekend but it should end up being a good weekend so I'm sort of looking forward to that. I'll try and write more next week.

Every name in the book for you today, Mr. President...

2006-07-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

-- President Bush issues the first veto of his presidency, rejecting a bill to expand federal research on stem cells obtained from embryos.

Another smart kid!

2006-07-14T13:52:00.000-05:00

Here's a good one!

2006-07-13T13:11:00.000-05:00

How do you say "Ya'all" in French??

2006-07-11T19:43:00.000-05:00

http://www.autonet.ca/Motorsports/Story.cfm?Story=/Motorsports/NASCAR/2006/07/11/1679149-sun.html

Yikes - I heard about Montoya to Nascar for sure and maybe Danica and now they're saying possibly Jacques too???????

Geez... I think I'll go ahead and book my Brickyard 400 tickets for next year right now and anything else available!

Daytona in February anyone??

Love, Melissa - Future Nascar Groupie

P.S. Despite popular perception I am not - at this time - a Nascar Groupie. I am just a fan of both Nascar and IRL. My race fan "roots" are in open-wheel racing being originally from Indiana. Nevermind that odd thing I have for Tony Stewart - short, a little pudgy, yes; but oddly enough, I love his attitude, he's a bad ass, he can drive for real and of course, he's a Hoosier boy!

For some reason...

2006-07-06T12:49:00.000-05:00

.... this is just awesome! : )

A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city Lucknow June 30, 2006. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar (INDIA)

Melissa's Oscar analysis... months after the fact

2006-07-05T10:44:00.000-05:00

OK ... now remember the big controversy or the made up controversy of Crash vs. Brokeback Mountain?

Well... I have now seen both movies and I'm sorry but Crash is a MUCH better movie. I was bored to death during Brokeback... it just seemed to go on and on and on ... I found nothing anymore compelling about their love story than anyone else's. It was a big ol' yawn in my book - not even close to being one of the better movies I have ever seen.

Crash, on the other hand, gripped me and I swear I thought I couldn't breathe during certain scenes in that movie.

If you had to choose between the two of them, Crash was definitely better!

Have I mentioned that I'm on a licorice kick?

2006-06-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

Well... strawberry Twizzlers anyway...

So I still haven't told you about my trip to Toledo/Detroit area last weekend.

So yeah, this was kind of a last minute trip in that Friday morning I decided that I was going to go that night and I was going to Amtrak it there. Mistake #1... Anyway... so get to work, ask off two hours early and thats no problem. So go back home, pack my bag and head back to Chicago to catch the train out. I had bought my tickets Friday morning when I arrived on the commuter train for work.

Have you noticed that trains seem to be my life? Well, you spend a good deal of time on them when you live in the Chicago area. I actually love trains and think they're one of the most convenient things in the world. With the exception of the larger cities in the U.S. though, they are a bit of a joke. Amtrak is pointless... very unreliable... and possibly unsafe ... who knows. Very sad from the country who invented rail traffic. They have it right in Europe and Asia. I could walk into the train station in Rome right now and catch a train to probably anywhere I wanted to go on that continent probably within an hour. That ain't no exaggeration. I've done it.

So yeah ... my train to Toledo was to leave at 8pm so I was told to be there for boarding at 7:30. So 7:30 rolls around and we are delayed. In the meantime I had heard from people in Toledo that the 8pm was very unreliable. There was a 5:30 too but it was sold out. So wait and wait and wait and anyway, the delay ended up being a little over two hours long.

When the "boarding" did actually begin they allowed pre-boarding for people 62 years old and over. Well, as you look around at most of the people who ride the train, more than 50% are travelling with someone 62 years and older. So all this "pre-boarding" consisted of (you would have thought it was like pre-boarding a plane in that you could go ahead and get on but no...) was simply those people got to walk into a room and sit closer to the track. What the hell ever. So then they called for pre-boarding of families with children. So they all got to walk into the room. So now the rest of us childless youngsters get to stay in the other room which is maybe ... I don't know 5 feet from the other.

They eventually began the boarding which was also sort of a joke. Because this train was making many stops before it got to New York City (god... can you imagine that ride? catch a plane!) they divided up the cars by stop so all of us in Ohio and eastern Indiana were generally on 1-2 cars, etc. Of course there is nothing labeled and nothing on your ticket about where you sit so you basically had to go up to each car where there was boarding and ask the official standing there what car it was for. Blah... So then you get on the train and most of the seats are labeled "party of two". So not only am I young and childless ... I'm also traveling alone ... what a LOSER! LOL! So anyway, finally found one that was not labeled "party of two" and got a window seat. Not that the window seat mattered so much cause it was dark by this time and the only thing we were going to see on the way was Indiana corn fields anyway. I can go out in my parents' backyard and see that.

So I ended up sitting with a girl who was maybe 11-12 years old and she sat across the aisle from her mom and younger brother. So this girl must be a seasoned train traveller cause she could sleep. She like passed out in the seat, kept flipping over, kicking me in the butt. At one point she like rolled over on me and put her head on my shoulder. I tried shaking her a bit and talking to her but she would not wake up. She had a very heavy head. She was completely out of it. So I let it go and just let her sleep like that although I felt weird about it. Finally I got a call on my cell which allowed me to sit up and grab my phone and it woke her up and I think she realized what she had done and was embarrassed and rolled the other way. That girl slept the whole freaking way there. If only I could have.

So... that was one good thing in that I could talk on my phone on the train. The other thing was the huge amount of leg room - you don't get that on a plane. But why even ride the train in the U.S.? These are the only things I can think of 1) And I would say this is probably the #1 reason - you are AFRAID TO FLY; 2) all other possible options sold out or too expensive last minute and for whatever reason you ain't driving; 3) you have some kind of physical problem where you need more legroom and first class on a plane is too expensive; 4) you are just looking for something different to do; 5) then there are those people called "train enthusiasts" who are just into it or whatever - Amtrak would kill that spirit for me. 6) oh yeah, how can I forget this! This only applies to certain parts of the country - Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania especially - YOU'RE AMISH!! There were all kinds of Amish on the train to/from Toledo and I had seen them when I Amtrak'ed it once from Fort Wayne. I guess that makes sense. OK so those are the only reasons and I guess they're six good reasons. One reason would NOT be "its cheaper than flying" because it ISN'T! At least not by much! I think I saved maybe $25 by taking the train than if I had booked a ticket in advance and flew into Detroit or something. (Side note ... I never realized Detroit was so close to Toledo).

So after the slowest freaking ride ever... it seemed like the train was constantly stopping and starting or just moving very slowly... and despite only having left 2 hours late, I arrived in Toledo 4 HOURS LATE!! And by this time, 4 hours late meant 5AM IN THE MORNING! I was supposed to be there at 1am which was completely do-able to me especially since that is only midnight Chicago time. Can you believe it? Now ... as far as that stopping and starting were concerned, I'm not sure what that was all about. I have heard contradictory things about who has the right-of-way on the rails. I heard from someone that passenger trains always *should* have the right-of-way but they are never granted it cause the freightlines own the tracks and switches and - especially in the middle of the night when they can - they screw the passenger trains out of the right-of-way and just let them sit so they can move their stuff. Another person told me that that wasn't correct and that the freight trains have the right-of-way. I don't know which it is but let me just tell you that it sucks!

So I get in at 5am and go to sleep at the hotel. Wake up at 9:45am just in time for the free breakfast to be ending at 10am. Go down for breakfast and its slim pickings by this time so I give up and go back and go to sleep til noon. Saturday afternoon took a drive to Windsor, Ontario, by way of Detroit. I guess Windsor is a real party town but didn't stick around long enough really to see it. Just did some exploring, walking along the river, checked out a festival and went to dinner. Oh yeah... also did some brief gambling at the casino where I sat down at a 5 cent slot for 5 minutes and won $120. Believe me, I know when to quit soI was done.

It was easy enough to get into Canada - although they did ask some weird questions about having ever been arrested or if I had mace in my possession, but whatever. Getting back into the U.S. there was less quizzing (way to go Department of Homeland Security!) but the line was a lot longer and took forever!! Windsor seemed fun and it might be fun to go back there sometime. Its a real bachelor party town I think. Left right after dinner but the cops were starting to make their presence known.

Sunday was more of a relaxing day and sort of explored around Toledo which I come to find out, there ain't much to explore. Spent some time swimming and laying out at the hotel pool.

Monday morning tried to catch the 5am train back to Chicago. It was only delayed a half hour so that was OK. I ended up getting into work an hour late but no problem. I was exhausted though. I was supposed to go to the Cubs game with my sister but there was no way. And, the Cubs suck so much lately I couldn't even sell my tickets - not even for 2 for the price of 1. I didn't care though, I just wanted to go home and go to bed and not be stuck on that 10:30pm train back to the burbs again.

Anyway, thats my ever-so-long story. I think about ready to call it a day here.

Later!!

Heh Heh... this IS the memory I have of one of my friend's weddings....

2006-06-28T12:20:00.000-05:00

Q:
Dear Mindy - Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to throwing weddings?
A:
Yes, I think when there is not enough food or help it's just bad planning! You don't want guests' last memory of your wedding to be the drive thru at McDonalds.

So went to a wedding in my hometown where they were having a buffet dinner. The thing just was not organized well. I mean it was not organized to the point where the bride and groom didn't even get to go thru their own buffet first before the guests started diving in. That was horrible. I'm not even sure when the bride and groom got to eat cause by that time the ridiculously long line of 200+ guests was out the door. Could have taken hours to get food for all I know. The place was just too small to accomodate that many guests on a buffet set up like it was. Unfortunately they didn't think to have people go to each table to invite each table individually to the buffet.

So my friends and I bailed for McDonald's, ate there, and then came back for the booze. I'm so not kidding about this. Most of us were like 22-23 at the time so probably not too surprising for our ages at that point. I don't think my friend ever realized that is what we did. At least I hope not!

Incredible news yesterday!

2006-06-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

So yeah, yesterday I gave my friend a call who has been in the hospital recently. She had been having a reaction to some medication she had been on and I thought her hospital stay was related to that but it turned out to be a bit more serious than that - more on that later.

I gather she needed more time in the hospital because ... as she told me for the first time yesterday ...

She's pregnant!

So she tells me this and I'm all like... oh thats so wonderful, congratulations, blah blah blah... She and her husband have been trying for like three years. The next thing she says is...

"Yeah ... with TRIPLETS!"

So the next thing I say is...

"OH MY GOD!"

And she goes on to say, "Yeah well there were SIX to begin with but my body naturally got rid of three of them."

Me again ... even louder: "OH MY GOD!"

Yeah so as you can guess this is a case of being on fertility drugs. I'm still freaking, I cannot IMAGINE. The whole thing blows my mind actually! She is an only child and for years had told me she didn't even want kids. Think this will be a bit of a change? Ummm... yeah.

Three at once? I can't even comprehend that. Twins, maybe? But not triplets. Wow!!!

So she's only nine weeks along. And they put her in the hospital because of mucho side effects she was having from the drugs. I knew about the first part of it but I guess she has developed some blood clots or something and that is what put her in the hospital. So now she's going to have to take a shot like every 12 hours from now until months after the babies are born. She is on bedrest now because of this and may be on bedrest for the entire pregnancy. She doesn't know when or if she will ever be going back to work. Plus, these are the friends of mine who were planning on moving far far away (mentioned in a previous post) ... so now that is delayed and they have taken their house off of the market.

Talk about changes.

I still can't believe it!!!!

18 year old Iraq war widow

2006-06-27T15:31:00.000-05:00

Under honor guard escort, the remains of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca are unloaded off an airplane at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, June 26, 2006. Menchaca was killed in Iraq. Menchaca's wife, Christina, 18, second from left, is comforted. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)