Journal Entry

I've updated the writing blog with a journal entry about our most recent D&D session.

After Only One Day...

of amusement parks and excitement, the kids were already beat. But we had a 7 a.m. appointment with early admission to FantasyLand and 8 a.m. early admission to Toon Town.

In FantasyLand, we were able to ride Peter Pan and Dumbo before the lines got too bad. Those rides usually have an almost 2 hour wait. Then we rode the Matterhorn and the Teacups. With a trip to Small World behind us, we went into Town Town.



The taxi cab ride was a lot of fun and just enough to occupy us until the Toon Town show began. We were all made honorary Toon Town citizens. Then we were able to get pictures with the characters without waiting for hours. We were able to get Micaela to ride Gadget's Rollercoaster, which is still pretty cool, even for a small coaster, designed for the kids.





We spent the rest of the day with a ride on Autopia. Micaela got to drive her car by herself for the first time. Space Mountain was awesome. The new design and music was great and a definite improvement from before. Buzz Lightyear's ride was lots of fun and everyone enjoyed competing with each other for the highest score.

We bought lots of pins (we love to do the pin trading thing). Nick even got involved with it. Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, the pirate ship, Big Thunder Mountain, everything was fun.

After a break in the afternoon, we closed the park. Dinner wasn't the best. We ate at a place we love to eat at, but the food wasn't the best that night. Pirates was closed because they were revamping the ride for the new movie premiere and Fantasia didn't show the entire time we were there because of the big premiere they had planned. My feet were killing me. I had developed blisters the first day and could barely walk, but Terry helped with new shoes and lots of band-aids and love.

For our first full day, it was pretty eventful.

Derek and Nick

Derek and Nick in the old West town of Knott's Berry Farm.

From a Friend

Happiness keeps You Sweet,

Trials keep You Strong,

Sorrows keep You Human,

Failures keep You Humble,

Success keeps You Glowing,

But Only God keeps You Going!

Oysters are YUCK!

Micaela wanted to try an oyster. Terry and I tried to explain to her that oysters were kinda yucky and that she was not to chew them, but she insisted she wanted to try.



We tried to tell her to just let it slip down her throat, again telling her not to chew. I even made sure the oyster was clear of the muscle holding it to the shell.



But despite her best efforts, she couldn't swallow it. She even spit it out! It was the funniest thing I ever saw.

Too True

I received this from the woman who lost her son-in-law as mentioned previously in the post about the motorcycle.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it' s harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute
of happiness you'll never get back.

Only My Daughter

She went outside to play at school and fell because a boy pushed her down. She smacked her mouth on the ground. When she came home, Dad and I made her wash her mouth, because it looked like dirt. Upon further inspection, we found it was a bruise and she had lots of little burst blood vessels on her top lip and inside her mouth. She says the boy did it because he's a "big, fat, stupid, ugly dork."



Then, when we were in San Francisco, she was wrestling with her brother on the bed and fell and smacked her eye on the nightstand. The next day, she had a beautiful black and blue mark on her cheek and her eye hurt.

Only my daughter could hurt herself in these ways. And now she's mad at me because I'm posting these pictures.

San Francisco Ghost Hunt Guide

This was our guide for the Ghost Hunt. To verify his stories, he spent quite a few years doing research on the houses, the stories, verifying his facts, talking to people who experienced events in the buildings, etc. He was very informative, very nice and very entertaining.

If you're going to San Francisco and don't mind an almost 3 hour walk around a very beautiful part of town, look this hunt up. The site address is www.sfghosthunt.com

Ghost Hunt San Francisco Style

Will O'Wisp, also known as J.D., joined us for the Ghost Hunt. He's such a sweet person and we had loads of fun on the walk.

We heard several of the more well known stories of ghosts in San Francisco and even a few things that could not be easily explained. A key connected to a murder flipped in the hand of the host as well as a guest. And, after listening to the story of a voodoo priestess, we each made a wish on a wishing doll and watched it stand up in our host's hand.

It was a really fun night.

Alcatraz From The Ferry

We made a visit to Alcatraz. Terry and I had visited it on our honeymoon, and we wanted the kids to see it. Story has it the government has decided it costs too much, so the National Park Service is doing everything they can to keep it open.

San Francisco Sea Lions

These are some of the seals that like to call San Francisco home. They have the life: Sit around all day and sun themselves. Jump into the water every so often, catch a fish, get back to the sunning.

Brookdale Lodge - Brook Room

These pictures are out of order. I still need to get the rest from hubby's computer.

However, this is the dining room for the Brookdale Lodge. In the middle of this room is a brook. The sound outside of the restaurant doors was really loud, so I could only imagine how loud it is inside.

It is said this is a haunted room because of a child that is said to have drowned in the brook. People have seen the little girl in a white dress playing on the second floor and in the main hall where the reception desk is.

There is also a mermaid room where it is said people hear the sounds of a big band and a large party late in the evening.

We didn't hear or see any of that, but the place does give a spooky feeling at times. Terry laughed at me because I got shivers down my back while reading the newspaper articles and said we needed to leave.

Family

This is part of the family.

Vinnie is no longer with us. He's moved back to Florida to be with his family and go to school.

Everyone else is Micaela (daughter), Derek (son), Terry {hubby(behind the plant)} Nick aka Nebin (brother), Crystal (middle brother's girlfriend) and in the back is my step-mother, Diane.

Out of Town

Hubby is out of town again. Second time this week. I don't like it when he's gone, especially when I can't sleep in the same room. Hate the snoring, love the company.

Dog is whining still. Now she is suffering from more severe emotional distress than normal. She's always had anxiety. Now it's worse.

I have no desire to play CoH while he's gone. I don't have much of a desire to do anything. I haven't touched a pen for writing and can't even do the simple thing of reviewing an outline.

Basically, this week sucks.

Puppy Update

Coco is home and doing good. She has to have pain medicine on a regular basis and has two antibiotics to take. One to make sure she doesn't have an infection from the surgery and the other is to get rid of the urinary tract infection that is part of what caused the pyometria.

A bit of advice, if you have an animal, be it dog or cat, get them fixed as soon as possible. We delayed spaying Coco, it wasn't foremost on our minds unless she was in heat. This would have saved us a lot of money and Coco a lot of pain.

Amira is scheduled for a spaying on August 2nd and we are going to get pet insurance before we do it.

17th Anniversary

Today is our 17th anniversary. Seventeen years of marital bliss as he says.

Not sure what we're doing today. We don't usually plan things. Right now I'm watching him play CoV, two missions after he said he was going to log and run to the store. Once again, he forgot to get the card. He's so inconsistent.

This past year has been better than previous ones. Money isn't a constant worry for us anymore, which helps relieve a lot of stress. We're both happy with our jobs, to a point. The kids are healthy. The house is still standing. Things are good.

For two kids who got married right out of high school and weren't supposed to make it 2 years, we've done pretty good.

We love each other, show more passion in public than some people and a lot less than others. But we don't have to prove it to others for each of us to know. As long as he knows I love him and I know he loves me, that's all that matters.

Puppy Problems

My dog, Coco, had to go to the hospital last night. She's 3-1/2 years old and has an infected uterus. When they spay females, they usually only remove the ovaries. Coco has to have a dog hysterectomy because of the infection.

So, $2000 later and we hope we have a healthy dog, because there are no guarantees they can remove the uterus without losing some of the infection (this infection is in liquid form) in her abdominal cavity.

The other two dogs are not happy. They love Coco and Amira misses her alot. The kids are worried. Hubby and I are worried and a little unhappy with the amount of money.

Motorcycle vs Brick Wall

I found out Monday afternoon that I'm receiving the rest of the Las Vegas hospitals as my customers effective August 1. That's nice for me, because it helps the bonus and such. That's bad for the person who currently has them, though he was going to be transferring them to me anyway, just not all at one time.

It's bad because, instead of it being he transfers to me and picks up some other hospitals, it is actually he transfers to me, or more accurately, his manager transfers them to me the last week of July. Why? Saturday night, he rode a friend's motorcycle and must have lost control, driving it into a brick wall. I'm hoping it was instant, instead of a prolonged, painful wait for an ambulance. I was stunned to hear that he had died this weekend. He was only 30, has three small children (younger than my daugher) and was also the son-in-law to my VP.

It's very tragic. Any life cut short, so instantly, leaves everyone who has had contact with them in a state of shock and with many unanswered questions.

The Woes of Other People

I don't know what's more amazing... the fact that people act like complete idiots, or the fact that when they do, they blame it on someone else.

My daughter has a girl in her class she was friends with. This girl would call constantly to speak to my daughter. She would call, get the answering machine and then call back without leaving a message. She would call up to 10 times a day until I told her to stop doing that. I never went to her mother about it. Then, she started taking money from other kids to be their friends. Let me say that again. The other kids would pay her to be their friends! My daughter doesn't believe in that, one thing I'm proud to say I've taught her. If someone wants money to be your friend, they aren't worth the time of day, let alone the air they waste.

So, my daughter loaned this girl a book. Now, see, my daughter has an excellent memory. If we lose something in the house, if she doesn't know where it is, it's lost. She knows where the most obscure things are. If she says this girl has the book, she has it. My daughter left a message on the girl's answering machine, asking for her book back now. Granted, "now" may not have been the more appropriate word to use, but she's 9. The girl's mother called me and began telling me about how it was a family answering machine and her daughter was at church. I told her, if she wants to talk about kids, let's talk about her daughter. She immediately began yelling at me about how dare I mention her daughter when she was calling about mine. So, I sat in silence while she proceeded to harp on my daughter leaving ONE message. When she finally let me speak, I told her about how her daughter would call so much, and called my girl stupid, and would start arguments. She didn't want to hear that. She hung up on me. SEVERAL TIMES!

So, I called her again from my cell and told her we were on the way to get the book. She met me at the door, after I left two messages telling her to just put the book outside. Her daughter lied (remember my daughter's memory?) and said she didn't have the book.

Let me side track... the book is a signed book from the author. I paid for an entire series and had them signed by the author with my daughter's name put in each one. So, either her daughter lied or she destroyed the book to keep me from having it.

Back to the story... I try to explain to the woman how she can't ask me to listen to her complaints without listening to mine. She began flinging her arms in my face, yelling at me, calling me bitch, telling me to kiss her ass, said I was a white bitch. I responded in kind and suddenly, I was the racist. She said it FIRST! I was finally able to get off her property (she wouldn't let me move) and she then blocks my path to my van. So I point out to her, I'm not on her propery, pointed out the property line and she continues to fling her arms in my face and call me all sorts of words.

Then she gets her husband outside. When he tries to talk to me, she steps between us and tells me "he ain't talking to you bitch". I'm like, excuse me, but he was. She wouldn't let me talk to him. But he kept asking me questions and she wouldn't let me get to my van! Finally, her husband says to me, just leave, and literally had to pick her up and carry her away from me because she followed me to the car door!

I swear, she wouldn't let me leave. I almost called 9-1-1, and I cried about it for an hour afterward because she scared me so much.

Lunatics shouldn't breed.

Bonus!

After much speculation and promises, work finally handed out bonuses to the managers. Yeah! Very nice surprise! My boss IM'd to ask me if I had received my bonus, which I wasn't expecting. Upon checking the bank account, not only did I find the bonus, but it makes all the stress I went through trying to catch up after vacation worth it. Even talking to the one person at one of my customer facilities that I would rather avoid didn't bother me and I had to laugh at her attempt to insult me (something she frequently does).

So, here's a big "THANK YOU" to work.

This is for me and mine

This blog isn't for someone else. It's for me. This is for me to share pictures with friends and maybe a little extra here and there.

If something I say offends you or if just reading about me or thinking about me upsets you, there's one good thing you can do. STAY AWAY! If you're going to post a comment, be adult enough (for those who can) to sign it. Can't sign it, don't post it.

Now, let's get down to business.