Books

While my "Sixty Things" has hit a stoppage, things have been accomplished. They just haven't been recorded nor reported on. For instance, let's talk about books. Mainly that I'm supposed to read 60 of them. I've read two. Lucky for me I still have about 17 months left to read some (I'm stretching out this 60 things for two years - my actual 60th year of living, and my official year of being 60). Anyhow, on to the books ...

Life Is Short by Jennifer Arnold and Bill Klein. Yes, it's the "Little Couple" from TLC. I've become less enamored with TLC over the years, but I do like this family. And I do like this book. It's basically a book wherein they talk about difficulties they face in their lives, and how what they learned might help us along the way. It's positive and offers a bright outlook on things that happen in our lives. Every chapter is an easy quick read, and does cause some thinking along the way. I checked it out of the library, but have considered purchasing it for my own library, if for nothing else, to be able to reread it and mark it up with a highlighter and my own notes.

The Whistler by John Grisham. Back in the Dark Ages, John Grisham and I actually attended college at the same time. And we were in the same business fraternity/club/thing. I think I attended two meetings, one of which was the obligatory club photo for the yearbook.So you can see the close relationship I have with the author. That being said, I have read several of his books, and this one did not disappoint. Like many of his other books, Grisham bases this one on the legal profession, although this time in an office of judicial conduct. There are bad guys and good guys and characters to like and those to hate. Grisham does his usual great job of getting you through a chapter, wrapping it up enough to satisfy you, yet keep you wanting to read "just one more chapter." It was a fairly quick read, mainly because I just kept "reading just one more chapter" and the book didn't require me to think very hard (meaning I don't read Tom Clancy). Anyhow, it was a good read.

I have this dream of reading more, which was one of the reasons why I put "reading 60 books" on my 60 list. I've just got to remember to write them down in my 60 book!!

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Blessings today include: finalizing travel plans; quiet day to do nothing

Yowza Irina!!

So today's kinda a health update. Kinda. First of all the staph infection is a done deal. I finished up the medicine and the "angry spot" has diminished considerably. While there is still a "spot" there, it is small and certainly no longer angry. However ...

On debarkation day, I woke up with a small cyst on the back of my head, right about along the hairline close to my left ear. Frankly (and this may be kinda gross for some of you) it felt like a hard pimple under your skin (if you've ever had then, you know what I mean. If you haven't, use your imagination - it's about the size of a pebble, does not have a "head" on it, and hurts like the dickens if you touch it). Anyhow, I awoke with this on the back of my head, and yes, it hurt.

Of course once we were at the airport in Tampa, I contacted my most trusted physician, Dr. Google, to see what course of treatment to follow. We (Dr. Google, my fellow sufferer-posters, and me) decided that it was indeed a cyst. Some suggested mashing on it to make it dissipate. Which I tried a few times and decided the resulting pain was totally not worth it. I could feel the area around it getting tight, so I decided to let it be. I knew I was scheduled for a massage today, so I decided to give the cyst a few days to calm down before I went to see my favorite PA Jasen.

And so today I headed to see Irina, my current fave masseuse. I told her about my cyst spot, so she would be aware when I jumped to the ceiling when she touched it (it wasn't so much better today). Anyhow, she got the message, and then got down to work. And did she get down to work. I know she worked on other parts of my body - it's just the cyst part that will forever be with me.

It was not like that time Masseuse Doofus decided he would "mash out" the globby cyst on my back. Which resulted in that cyst getting bigger before I had my dermatologist cut the dang thing out. No, this cyst had nothing that could get mashed out. Instead, she worked on the "inflammation" that was around my cyst, occasionally pressing on the cyst and remarking that she didn't know what that was. And that I should go to the doctor if it didn't get better. Which I managed to hear in spite of my letting her know that yes, it hurt when she pressed on it. Which was probably the most pain in a massage I ever had since Masseuse Nazi did a "deep tissue" massage while I was on a cruise - and kept telling me to breathe, which would have been easier if he wasn't ripping my muscles apart.

The good news is that she did indeed get the inflammation out. And maybe improved the cyst. While is wasn't gone, it did feel better. Hopefully it will be all gone soon - but especially the next time I see Irina!!

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Today's blessings include: picking up Sam and Lindley at the airport; 90 minutes with Irinia

Girls Saturday

Last night Everley spent the night, and this morning Emmatha came over early to also spend the day. Her mom was working and her dad had a big hike planned. Once everyone was in place, we called Moo to see if she wanted to go for some breakfast. And guess what - she did!

Everley picked the place - The Broken Egg, of course. So we loaded up the car and off we went. Everyone ordered her favorite, along with a piece of toast for Emmatha to gnaw on. And Everley made sure our server knew that orange juice was not on Everley's order (darn that fresh squeezed stuff!). Once everyone was pretty well stuffed, we headed back to the Doik where Molly borrowed Sam's car (he and Lindley are in Orlando so his car is residing at the Doik) for some furniture shopping. Once that was done, she brought some Chicken-Fil for our lunch.

The rest of the day was spent playing and watching tv and napping - not saying exactly who did what. Once Maribeth was done with delivering the mail, she came over to pick the girls up and head home.

All in all, a fairly quiet Saturday!

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Blessings today include: Sleepover with the Es; Broken Egg with the Es and M; Molly bringing lunch: playing the day away

Friday

So I had several things I thought I would accomplish today. And as usual, I really didn't accomplish many of them. My neck is still a bit sore, so I did get a hot shower. And I did manage to eat breakfast and lunch, although the Girl Scout Tagalongs that I inhaled shouldn't have been part of the deal. As should have been the candy bar that we got at Princess Weekend that I decided to eat since I had never had that kind before. In other words, I did not eat all that intelligently.

I did manage to catch up on the bills and such and get schooled on how much money I have spent recently. Maybe that's when the candy bar and Tagalongs came into play. Anyway, it's always good to know how much money one has to manage.

This afternoon the chair repair dude came over. I know - chair repair dude? When I purchased our Lazy-Boy den furniture last year (or whenever) I also purchased the warranty. Since it was our first power reclining sofa/sofa/chair set, I wanted to make sure I had back-up. A couple of weekends ago, the chair decided to go all wonky. That means that while it still reclined, about halfway into reclining, it would decide to jerk and bump. So after a week of calls and reciting contract numbers and taking and sending photos, the warranty people decided that my chair was indeed deserving of a service visit. So the chair fixer dude came by and took a look. First he told me that it was good that I accepted this appointment, because he was super busy all this month. Who knew? Apparently the chair-fixing business is in high demand. Anyhow, he puttered around and discovered a plastic thingy had slipped off. That fixed the biggest problem, and probably would have been fine by me. But he kept turning it to go back and forth, and was not happy with what he was hearing. So he kept investigating and discovered that a different plastic thingy was broken. He ordered whatever thingy it was, and said I would be getting a package either of the little plastic thingy or a whole big thingy that he would replace. No wonder he's so busy - he's good!

He left, and I had time to do nothing for awhile before Everley arrived. She's spending the night, so I'm sure we will be having a night filled with Elena and Sofia and whatever else is needed. Emmatha is coming over early in the morning, so tomorrow will be even more fun! Yay for the weekends!

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Blessings today include; beautiful day; getting bills paid; chair repair dude and his expertise; changing flights and looking at rooms for June trip

Home Again!

Alas, today we had to leave our room and the ship. We packed the few things we needed in our backpacks, headed to Cabanas for breakfast, and then headed off the ship. Once we had checked off the ship (via our key cards), we headed to the Donald section of baggage claim. There we found two of our bags - and kept searching for the third. After careful searching, and not finding it, we went in search of DCL workers for their assistance. After asking us if we had checked in the Donald section (well, yes we have), if we had airline checked our bags (nope, we didn't), and if we had put the Donald tags on it (yup, did that), they sent other workers about the room to search for the bag. Eventually it was found - with a temporary orange tag on it, I guess in the temporary orange tag section. It would seem that between our room and the luggage room, the tag disappeared. We were just glad that it was found in the room, and not in someone's home once they got home and realized they had pulled the wrong bag.

With all three bags in tow, we went through customs, assuring the customs lady that no, we did not purchase anything. We waited for the rental car shuttle with a few others and soon were on our way to the rental car place. We eavesdropped (one of our favorite activities) on one of the families as the lady we assumed was the wife/mother explained to the assumed husband/father that she had five weeks of vacation saved up.

Once at the rental car place, Molly went inside to retrieve the car while I sat with the bags. She came out and we went to our rental SUV (they were out of the little car category that Molly had reserved). She also said that the car had 2/8 of a tank of gas - apparently they don't gas up the returned cars. Nor do the really clean them, since the previous driver left a parking pass, a parking receipt, and a McDonald's toy in the car. Oh, and they also left a few annoying gnats. Anyhow, first we had to gas up the car, which took a few minutes since with was a flex fuel car and we needed to google if we could use regular gas or would need to find flex fuel.

Eventually we were ready to head to Tampa. We decided to fly out of Tampa because (a) renting a car was cheaper than two rides on the DCL bus to Orlando, (b) flights out of Tampa were cheaper than flights out of Orlando, (c) the ride to Tampa isn't that much of a longer drive, and (d) we could get an earlier flight out of Tampa that would get us home before we would even leave Orlando. And soon we were in Tampa, turning in the car. Which caused another kerfluffle because the car check-in lady charged Molly to refuel the car, while the car check-out lady clearly indicated on the receipt that we only had to leave the car 2/8 full. So Molly had to wait to talk to the car desk lady to get it all cleared up.

I left Molly at the desk and headed with two bags to check in. Once that was done, I headed to the gate to wait for her. Unfortunately I woke up today with a sore neck. When I get a massage, the part I don't like is when they push the trigger points on my neck. Today I woke up with a bump on one of those trigger points. Of course, my first concern was that the staph infection had migrated there, but after realizing where it was, I figured that was the problem. I have a massage scheduled for Sunday, so hopefully it will get worked out then and there.

Soon it was time to fly home. For the most part, it was smooth, until landing in Nashville, where it got a bit lumpy. But we landed, grabbed our bags which were already on the baggage belt by the time we got there, found the car Sam and Lindley had left, and were soon headed home. Molly had a test in her accounting class tonight, so she stayed at the Doik studying until her class. Maggie and Minnie Cats were glad to have some company, and pretty soon it was time to snuggle in bed.

Now when is that next trip ...

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Blessings today include: beautiful day for a drive to Tampa with Molly; nice rental car with just a few issues; Molly fixing the car/gas problem/ safe flight home; unpacking before bed