Bad Fortune Cookie: June 2007

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Question for You Atlanta Folks In the Audience....

Who in the name of Sam Hill am I supposed to call if I find a possum in the basement???

Opossum.
OH! Possum!

I wish I were kidding about this - but, sadly, no.

Riding the new found wave of perkiness, I not only sorted the laundry (a Herculean chore to be sure!) but even went down in the basement and got the laundry party started.

All was well and good until I went down to check on the status of the dryer...
I open the door to the basement, get halfway down the stairs, and BLAM! there it was at the bottom of the steps.

Needless to say, I screamed like the big goosey girl that I am, and broke all landspeed records hightailing it back up the steps.
I then slammed the door shut ('cause I'm sure that possums can eat through wood, you know!) and heaved a sigh of relief.

Until I realized that I probably had to deal with it.

Ugh.

So back down the stairs I go. Long story longer - it's totally a possum.* And honestly, it's a little baby one. If I saw him out somewhere, I'd totally think he's cute. But as it is? In *my* basement? Not so much. He's wedged up under the crawlspace of the porch, under the house.

And you know what - I'm not up to dealing with it tonight. I'm totally pulling a Scarlett on this one: Tomorrow is another day....
('Cause the only thing I'm doing tonight is making a date with the cute Toms: Tommy Gavin and Tom Colicchio.** Hee!)

So I'm going to board up the kitty door to the basement, and I'm keeping the Things up here with me, and we'll just let LilMr.PossumBaby have the basement tonight.

But, tell me all you wiser-than-me-Atlanta folk - what do I do tomorrow????

Updated to add: Seems like in theory that the Things might be able to help. But ThingOne isn't right in the head, and ThingTwo is scared of everything. So I'm probably in the market for a PlanB.

This is actually the second time that a possum's gotten in the basement - but the first time was years ago... The Pre-Schecky era. And that situation was easily rectified by Hobbes, Best Cat There Ever Was. I'm not quite sure how Hobbes killed that possum, but he did. Bubba says that the poor possum probably saw all 21 pounds of Hobbes waddling at him and died of fright. Either that, or Hobbes sat on it and crushed the breath out of it. I'm not dignifying either of speculations with a reply. All I know is that Hobbes, Best Cat There Ever Was, handled it...

And does anyone besides me think that it's a wee bit odd, that although I'm a little old hillbilly girl through and through, I never *once* had possum problems 'til I moved to the big city? There's irony in there somewhere, for those of you what enjoy that kind of thing...

*and Thank God for that. I mean, Remy was tres cute in Ratatouille and all. Doesn't mean I want him in the house. Unless he wanted to take over cooking duties. I need a break from the all-MoonPie, all-the-time diet...
(And did you see what I did there? I threw in some gratutitous French. 'Cause the rats in Ratatouille are all from Paris!)

**I talk the big talk. Trust me, I'll be asleep 15 minutes into the first show! Thank goodness for TiVo...

I Just Now Decided...

...that I am tired of beating myself up about all the things that I am not doing*.
Seriously.
So tired of it.

Yes - it seems like I've got a bazillion things that I want to do/need to do/feel like I should be doing. But beating myself up over the lack of "get-it-done-edness" isn't helping me to get any of it done.

And I realized that it's affecting my enjoyment of the things that I am doing.

And that's just crazy.

Besides, it's SUMMER!
I need to "lighten up, Francis."
Stuff will happen when it happens.

And so, in this new, most "Summer of George" spirit - I present you with a short list** of what I have done in the last week:

saw an advanced showing of the new Pixar movie Ratatouille
Words escape me when I try to describe how awesome it is. Suffice to say that Pixar has, against all odds, done it again. This movie is just yummy. The characters are great, the story is involving, and it is just gorgeously, gorgeously done! Go see it.
got tickets to see the Police in November!
'Nuff said.
went to a family reunion (Bubba's family) in Norris, TN
made a Coca-Cola cake for the aforementioned family reunion
yum!
attended the opening night for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Fabulous Fox Theatre
A good friend of ours is in the cast, and so he got us fabulous comped seats! WooHoo! ('Cause y'all know just how much I love 'free.')
I'd never seen this show (or the movie) and I really enjoyed it. There was some amazing dancing... Plus the Fox is just the most ornate, amazing space - it's always fun to get to go to an event there...
entertained an old college friend
the aforementioned 7B47B cast member...
We did some fun things that I never think to do, unless someone is visiting from out of town. I've got to stop forgetting how much fun it is to be a tourist in your own town.
ate some chicken and waffles at Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles
All I'm saying is if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. I know it sounds weird beyond all reason, but damn it's a great combination of tastes...
Why do I only ever think of it when someone's visiting from out of town???

Seems like there's been even more than that going on, but that's all I'm coming up with at the moment. But you know what? - There's plenty on that list that I should be excited about. Much better to focus on the positives, rather than the negatives... I need to work on that.

Wow.
Just typing this made me feel perkier already... I might even go sort the laundry. Which, sadly, is a whole different thing than actually doing the laundry. But at least it sounds like a step in the right direction...

Wonder where the hell my tiara is???

*A partial list of which includes:

getting caught up around the house
staying on top of blogs and email the way that I want to
getting something (anything!) crafty done
taking pictures (pretty ironic, since I've been researching new camera options like mad...)
exercising, or at the very least getting moving again.
I pudged up while lolling on the couch earlier this month - and I'm finding it hard to get my energy and my groove back...

**A list with no pictures...
(see footnote above)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da... Part Trois!

They're coming!

They're coming!

I knew they couldn't just skip me like that...

They're coming!
November 17th!

And I. am. so. there.
(Bubba, are you reading this????)

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da WOO HOO!!!!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Sweet Cracker Sandwich!

Sigh.

They say that one of the first things you have to do is admit that there is a problem...

I might have reached that point...

Top of the Fridge... originally uploaded by lla.

Brief addendum: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave comments and send emails sending me well-wishes and "glad you're betters" and the like. I really do appreciate each and every one like you wouldn't believe...

Although, it's easy to understand why you might not believe how much I appreciate it - since I've replied to shockingly few of your lovely, thoughtful emails. Much to my dismay, I'm not bouncing back as quickly as I wanted to. I still have woozy spells and I get exhausted really easily. Apparently, that's just part of the fun, a general sense of "ill-feeling" that lingers and lingers.

Peh. I'm tired of whinging about it, you must be tired of reading about it...

But I did want you to know that I have such good intentions (and now that road to Hell is looking mighty prettily paved!) but my follow-through is suffering and I haven't been able reply to everyone in the way that I wanted to. So, even though I might not have sent you an email telling you how much I appreciate it - I really, really do. And I just wanted y'all know that...

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I'm Back! (Or at least I'm on my way...)

Hey all - for the first time in 14 days I am starting to feel like me again!

Yay!

I'm off the sleepy-happy pills - which is good. As much fun as it was to love everyone, there were things that I missed...
Like staying awake.
Being able to drive a car, so that I wasn't dependent upon other people for every little thing.
Like staying awake... (or did I already say that one?)

So that's the good news.

The bad news - turns out that my nasty viral inner ear infection was indeed contagious. And Bubba's got it now. Just call me Typhoid Mary. And I feel guilty, guilty, guilty - since I now know just how much labyrinthitis sucks. (Just thought I'd throw in the technical term, just for funsies...)
I am more than ready for the dizziness to leave the building....

Even though I'm off the dreamy meds, I still feel a little off kilter. It's like the last 7 days didn't happen. I mean, obviously they did for everyone else, but it was like being in a state of suspended animation or something. Nothing got done around the house. Not. One. Single. Thing.
YIKES!

Also - I've not checked email, or read a blog, or anything in that long either... I plan on rectifying that today. I see that I've got a bulging email in-box, which I suspect is full of sweet thoughts (thank you!) and spam (no, thank you...)
I can't wait to get caught up on what y'all are up to, as well. I've missed everyone (if that makes any sense at all? To miss a friend you've not necessarily had a chance to meet yet???)

In addition to needing to get caught up around the house (oh! the laundry! I think the poor Scheckster has been wearing the same bathing suit - around the clock - for the last 5 days. Got to love summer...) and wanting to get caught up with all my lovely, lovely blog friends, I am itchy to do something crafty. It's been a long time since I actually made anything... A really, really, really long ass time... I think I'll use that as the "carrot at the end of the stick" for getting some of the stuff that needs to get tackled, tackled...

Oh - and look what Publix started carrying!!! Bubba found these for me, before I gave him the ear plague... (I really need to work on my "thank yous")

You know how I love them so... And the Minis may be my favorite yet - they are practically perfect in every way...

Thursday, June 07, 2007

I'm Loopy*! Who are You?

Are you loopy, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring blog!

(With many, many, many apologies to Emily Dickinson)

OK - all silliness aside here...

I've had a bit of a medical scare this week, and now I've got nothing but time to dwell upon it for the next couple of days. I thought that maybe getting some of this out on paper might help me to get it not-so-much in my head, if that makes any sense.

However - if you stopped by hoping the knitting, or the cooking, or the Schecky's poeming was going to be featured - well, you might want to check back another day. Today's prospects are not so good.

The important stuff. I'm going to be fine. I should be fine. This is probably not going to turn out to be much of anything... Just wanted to get that out of the way for those of you sweet peas who worry.

Long story short - I've had crushing headaches and vertigo for a week now. Not fun. It started off mild, but persistent, but by the weekend it was on and off. So I chose to ignore it. Anyhow, I'd decided that it was probably something sinus-y, and that if I ignored it, or willed it to get better, it would go away.

But then it started being more on than off. And when the dizziness struck, it struck hard. And personally, if I'm going to be stuck with a terrible case of the room spins? I'd like to have earned it the fun way - too many margaritas! Not just getting hit with it out of the blue...

It reached a point yesterday where the headache and nausea were persistent and bad. And I was driving - WITH SCHECKY IN THE CAR - and all of a sudden, the world turned absolutely upside down. It scared me silly. I didn't lose control of the car, but I realized that it could have just as easily gone the other way. I headed immediately to a doctor's office.

Oh yeah - side note? I'm a freak. I don't like to go to the doctor. I'm not anti-doctor, by any means. At the slightest sign of sniffle, I take Schecky. I am religious about going to the dentist, the dermatologist, the OB/GYN as many times as year as you're supposed to go. It's just the plain old regular doctor that I'm not a fan of. Don't know why, I just don't. I seem to have this misguided notion that I can cure anything that's wrong with me by sheer. force. of. will!

Anyhow - this doctor was wonderful - explained to me all the possible causes of vertigo, etc. - while reassuring me that I probably didn't have any of the scary ones. Until he started ruling out the not-scary ones. No sinus infection, no middle ear infection, etc.

So we moved on the the scary causes - like tumors. Or metabolic disorders (never have I had to give so many tubes of blood) So there was some scary waiting time as test results trickled back in. Then, the nurse noticed that by blood pressure and heart rate were all wonky. When I laid down it was normal. Like textbook normal. Ditto if I sat up. But when I stood up? It plummeted. Apparently a small drop is normal, but they were really worried about mine. Enough so that I got hooked up to an EKG machine, and that tests were immediately run to determine that I wasn't having a stroke, or a heart attack. (Or that I hadn't already had one, and just didn't know it!)

I was trying to be all brave - but on the inside I was really scared. Holy crap! I'm 38 years old. I know, I know - bad things happen to 38 year-olds. Even heart attacks and strokes. But I'm not supposed to be one of those 38 year-olds, you know???

This is getting too long, so let me wind it up. I've not had a heart attack, or a stroke. YAY! They are baffled as to what is causing my heart rate and blood pressure to drop - and it's something I've got to keep an eye on. Best guess? That the wicked-ass inner ear infection they suspect is causing the vertigo has really done a number on me, and that my whole system is stressed. Hopefully, when the inner ear infection gets cleared up - the rest should follow. Frustratingly, though - the inner ear infection is a virus, so it has just got to finish running its course.

In the meantime, though, I have some very, very, very sweet anti-vertigo medicine. It basically deals with the vertigo by knocking you out. Which isn't bad. And, before the knocking out occurs - I feel very dreamy, very floaty. I love everybody. Which is definitely not bad. I'm kind of loving my meds...

I'm forbidden from driving a car. For the next few days - I am not supposed to do anything except lie around and sleep. My doctor even ordered Bubba to wait on me hand and foot. And, as embarrassing as it is to have to call your husband in the middle of the day and say "Can you come get me?", like you're some 13 year old calling Mom after you got stuck at the mall - let me just say that when your husband comes into the doctor's office and sees you hooked up to an EKG machine??? He'll pretty much agree to do anything the doctor says!

(And poor Bubba was already freaked out before he saw that. He found out that I had gone to the doctor's only when he called my cell to ask a question about "when's dinner" and Schecky answered it and informed him that "Mommy can't come to the phone right now because we're at the doctor's office and they're taking all her blood!" He absolutely freaked, because he KNOWS I never go to the doctor. Poor Bubba, that call aged him 5 years...)

So - good drugs and bed rest are all that's on my plate for the upcoming few days. I like it when the meds make me floaty (and not care that the room is going round and round and round) but I like it better when they knock me out.
Because then I stop thinking about all the scary stuff.

Like having to think about your own mortality.
And how healthy you really are.
And how things can turn out so differently...

Anyhow - the siren song of the little yellow pill is calling, and I am going to succumb to it. And if you've made it this far - my apologies for all teh rambling...

Did I mention that one of the major side effects of my medicine is "inability to think clearly"???? It's listed right on the patient info insert...

*I started to use a word that don't mean nothin', like looptid.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

In Keeping with the Recent Themes...

Since I seem to be a big fan of both being a tourist in your own town and the pursuit of the free thing lately - this weekend I managed to combine the two with a trip to the High Museum.
Admission is free the first Saturday of the month if you live in Fulton County - a very cool perk that not many people seem to know about (and one, I'll admit, that I usually forget about...until the second Saturday - at which time I hit my head and say "doh!")

I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss the Leibovitz exhibit (which is here until early September) and I was also particularly interested in Ghiberti gates from the Florentine Bapistery (which are only here until mid-July.)

Both exhibits were phenomenal, and exceeded my expectations... If you can, I'd say get over here and see 'em before they're gone. Either one is well worth the price of admission on its own - but together? Amazing.
The Louvre exhibit is still going on as well, but we chose to save that for another day...

Here are some of the high points* of the trip...

For starters, I think that the actual buildings of the museum are gorgeous.
Truly works of art in their own right...

Then, of course, there were the exhibits themselves. I had high hopes for both, and was still amazed beyond my expectations.

Perhaps the best part for me though, was getting to spend a leisurely day with my boys - and to see them get to enjoy the museum as much as I did. I am often dragging them both to see things that I think we should see; to do things I think that we should do. They're always good sports about it, but I am often aware that they're really only doing it out of a sense of duty. But I think that everyone had a good day at the museum...