Top Thrill Dragster...

This is a roller coaster at Cedar Point - the best amusement park in the USA at least - with 13 roller coasters and a great many more THRILL rides. I spent the day there yesterday with two of my long time friends and my husband. The Top Thrill Dragster is a "strata coaster" this thing shoots you out at 120 mph in 4 seconds, then you go straight up (90 degree angle) for 400 feet and over the top and twist back down. The entire ride is over in 17 seconds. I said "NO WAY IN HELL AM I RIDING THAT THING" in fact I've been saying that for weeks. My husband echoed my sentiments - just too much. So spending the day with my best friend Jackie we somehow decide sure we are going to ride this. Jackie and I often do things together that neither of us would do alone.

So we got in line and talked for the 45 minutes we had to wait, me with my back to the actual ride and trying to ignore it. I didn't want to think about what I was about to do. YIKES. We got up close and I started getting nervous. We got in the car and I was really nervous. Pete and my other friend Crystal who were too chicken (or too smart maybe?) to ride were watching from the sidelines and laughing at me as I closed my eyes and held on for dear life.

It shot us out of there and in 4 seconds we reached 120 miles per fucking hour! I clenched my jaw and thought about opening my eyes and suddenly I was coming back down the other side - STRAIGHT down and my eyes opened just as we leveled out and came to a stop. Yep I rode it - maybe next time I'll keep my eyes open? :)It was a hell of a ride.

Monday...

So today begins my 3rd full week not working. The first week I relaxed, took the dog for walks, watched TV, slept a lot. The 2nd week I babysat for my nephews - more work than work ever was and they wore me out but I had a great time too and how could I not when seeing this face every day:So this week will be a busy one - today I have a list of chores to accomplish:

1. Clean the cat litter boxes
2. Take out the trash
3. Do 4-5 loads of laundry
4. Clean the kitchen
5. Clean the living room (including behind and under the sofa where one of my cats found a mouse yesterday! EEEEEK)
6. Vacuum the entire house

Tomorrow I have more chores:

1. Get the tires rotated on my SUV
2. Get the oil changed on my SUV
3. Go to petsmart for more cat food and cat litter
4. Take hubby for his Tysabri infusion at 1pm
5. Pack up everything needed for trip to Ohio on Wednesday

Then Wednesday we will be up early, driving to Ohio. It's about 8 hours to where we are going. Thursday will be spent with two of my best friends and my hubby and we will be pretending to be young and adventurous at Cedar Point. Friday starts my husband's 25th class reunion - there will be drinking on Friday night. Saturday is my mother-in-law's 70th birthday party during the afternoon and then the big event for hubby's reunion in the evening. Sunday is recovery day. Monday we drive home.

So I'm going to be working hard this week too - but in preparation for some fun times.

Not cut out for the mommy gig...

I spent today with my nephews - the oldest is nearly 6, the younger is 21 months. To say these boys wore me out today would be an understatement!

We started out with breakfast - Cheerios EVERYWHERE is a good description. Then we got dressed and watched some Baby Einstein. Then outside we went for some good yard play and swinging. Back in to pack a lunch and take the oldest to swimming lessons, then an hour and a half in the play park trying to get them to eat lunch. 1pm open swim at the pool and I FROZE while they played in the water. The older had a few whiney fits - the younger learned how to say whiney - love the way he copies everything I say! LOL Luckily I didn't say something I wouldn't want his mom to know I said! LOL

To prove how bad I am at the mommy gig - I forgot to bring a clean diaper for the younger one so we had to drive home with his wet swim diaper still on. Then I also forgot the older one's dry shorts and undies so he also drove home in wet shorts. Yep I am the model aunt, but not such a good mommy.

Baby took a nice nap but then woke up screaming. He was super snuggly and clingy for the next hour which was actually pretty nice - nothing sweeter than a baby snuggling up to you.

So I'll be trying to do this again tomorrow, and Thursday, and Friday.

Considering Work from Home Opportunities...

It seems that many of the "work from home" opportunities you see on the internet these days are scams through and through - some require an initial investment and that makes me think that the only person making money are the people who get the initial investment! So buyer beware in these type of schemes.

But it seems there are many legitimate work from home jobs as well. Customer Service seems to be one area that will allow work from home with calls routed to your home. Other opportunities include sales, data entry, medical transcription, and of course blogging.

I have added some google ad's to the sidebar to the right - if anything looks interesting please click! :)

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be exploring more and more of these type of opportunities and hope to share with you.

Finally a Glorious Summer Day!

It's been far to cold, wet, raining, etc here for it to really feel like summer but finally today it was mid 70's, sunny, slight breeze, just beautiful!

I have the doors and windows open to let in fresh air and bird chirping noises (not the actual chirping birds thankfully) and spent 3 hours mowing the lawn getting some sun on my shoulders and wind in my hair!

Now I've got the smell of Manicotti baking in the oven tempting me with delicious fragrances! I finally made the homemade shells in this recipe: Truly Homemade Manicotti and the cheese mixture from my mom's lasagna recipe that I really need to put up.

Hope everyone is enjoying their July 4th weekend! We spent the day yesterday with my sister and her family and the evening with them and some of their friends who graciously invited us to join their family celebration. They had lots of really big fireworks and put on a better show than most villages around here. Truly spectacular and we had a very nice time.

Gonna be laying low for a bit...

Let's just say I've been "dooced" if you don't know what that means google it!

So I have a lot of loose ends to tie up and a lot of desperate plans to make.

Hopeful in some ways - but SAD overall...

The VA Disability Application is proceeding - I have spent the last few weeks gathering medical records from the far corners of the earth it seems. The VA could make a decision within the next 30-60 days, hopefully that decision will be one that makes us happy.

I'm sad though because reading through the records we've received is disheartening. Pete's MRI's show extensive scar tissue, lots of lesions, black holes in his brain (sounds super scary) and brain atrophy. The doctor's comments say that he does not believe that he is showing signs of dementia but holy jesus I sure do.

"Dementia is characterized by a progressive impairment of memory and intellectual function that is severe enough to interfere with social and work skills. Memory, orientation, abstraction, ability to learn, visual-spatial perception, and higher executive functions such as planning, organizing, and sequencing may also be impaired."
(Source)

This describes EXACTLY what is happening from my point of view: "progressive impairment of memory and intellectual function that is severe enough to interfere with social and work skills" and it makes my heart hurt to think about it too much.

The good news - the doctor's reports should concur with our opinion that Pete is no longer employable.
The bad news - my husband is slowly slipping away from me and it looks like he's not coming back. :(

If the eyes are the window of the soul...

Vacation Tales... (with photos)

This is the beach house we were renting, it was very, very nice!


This is as close a shot as you are going to get of me in my bathing suit:




The famous corona shot:



Me sneaking a kiss between shots while playing pool on Friday night:


The annoying friends:


So there you have it - my vacation in pictures!

Vacation Tales...

Still haven't gotten the pictures sorted out but here are a few things that really made me smile at the time.

1. Old dude in bar telling me I was gorgeous and my husband acting a tiny bit possessive and letting old dude know I was with him. :-)

2. Visiting the house of a good friend of the people we were there with - their flamboyant gay friend told me I was too cute to be with my husband! LMAO - he was mostly kidding about the hub's as he is a fairly handsome dude but was complimenting me.

Vacation ego boost - check! Hubby realizing that other men find me attractive and feeling a tiny bit insecure for a change - check! LOL