MADCAP MUSINGS

My Star Wars Identity

wanaki8@aol.com — Fri, 18 Jul 08 17:05:00 UT

Your STAR WARS Identity
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Chewbacca

YOU ARE CHEWBACCA!
You are the best friend anyone could ask for: you give great advice, help people attain their goals, AND you are a furry ball of fun! Who could want anyone else as a friend? But watch out for the occasional temper tantrum!

Chewbacca

90%

Princess Leia

90%

R2-D2

80%

Han Solo

70%

Luke Skywalker

60%

Jabba the Hutt

50%

Yoda

50%

Darth Vader

50%

Boba Fett

40%

C-3PO

30%

A birthday 'shout out'

wanaki8@aol.com — Wed, 16 Jul 08 17:40:00 UT

My baby boy's 5 years old today!

Couldn't Resist

wanaki8@aol.com — Thu, 5 Jun 08 11:27:00 UT

I love the 30 second commercial, but I found this full length version and had to post it.

We've all been there. Right? Right?

Don't scare me like that

wanaki8@aol.com — Fri, 9 May 08 17:09:00 UT

Last night I had a work meeting / dinner with the 2 owners of the store. I kept my phone on vibrate throughout the dinner. As we were getting ready to leave, I was checking my phone for missed calls and Matt was calling at the same time. He asked me if I had talked to my brother (who was still staying at the house. He had been trying to call me all night and ended up calling Matt about five times because he thought something was wrong with Heap.

He said while he was feeding him a bone, he seemed like he was starting to choke on it and started gagging and coughing. My brother got really worried because he kept gagging for the next hour and a half.

When I got home Heap seemed to be just fine. Every once in a while he would cough, as he had started doing just a bit the night before. My brother said it was like that but worse and swore in the last 6 days he had been at our house he never heard Heap make those kinds of sounds.

I told him I didn't think anything was too wrong because he was walking around, wagging his little nub and eating and drinking normally.

Well, about 4:30 in the morning, right around the time it started POURING (with a little lightning and thunder thrown in, which always makes Heap jump into bed with us), he started the coughing and hacking again. It lasted from about 4:30 til about 7:30 when he finally fell asleep. Of course I had to get up shortly thereafter, but isn't that the way it goes?

The whole time I was getting ready for work, Heap just laid in bed with Matt. But just as I was getting ready to leave, he got up and started coughing again.

Trying to tell myself and everyone else it was probably just allergies (the windows have been open in the house and pollen is on EVERYTHING), my brother wasn't convinced. Matt thought he was ok, but I couldn't tell how worried he was.

I went to work after telling Matt I would call the vet, which I did. I described to her what the symptoms were (really just the cough because everything else seemed normal) and just as I feared, she said it was probably one of two things - allergies (best case) or heartworms (worst case).

I, being the monumental worrier that I am, proceeded to get myself so worked up through out the day I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

I called Matt every thirty minutes or so and decided he should definitely take Heap to the vet ( the vet said we could watch him and see if anything changed or we could bring him in this afternoon and have him tested and checked out).

And wouldn't you know I read every website with any kind of heartworm info on it, getting myself so upset that my boss finally sent me home. (Jokingly, he told me I could be a shitbag at work or I could be a shitbag at home, and home would be much more conducive. He also told me not everyone could be on their A-game all the time like him. All this was said to try to make me laugh and feel a little better)

Within thirty minutes of Matt and Heap being at the vet's, I was in a complete panic. I blamed Matt and I for being terrible pet parents and letting Heap's heartworm medicine lapse. I just knew that it was taking them as long as it did because Matt was being told the procedure for removing the heartworms, how it was going to make us go bankrupt and lose the house because it's so expensive, Heap was going to die and it was going to be on my conscience, etc. You get the idea.

So I did the only thing I could stand doing at that particular moment - I began sweeping the floors.

FINALLY Matt and Heap show back up to the house ( I really wish Matt would have called the instant he walked out of the vet's office instead of waiting the 8 minutes it takes to drive home, but whatever).

I ran out to the truck where Matt proceeded to tell me Heap is 100% healthy. Blood work good, heart and lungs good, weight good. He has kennel cough. The vet gave him some antibiotics and sent him home.

I began bawling. I had been so scared that the flood gates opened up when I heard the good news. Matt had stopped on the way home and bought me a bottle of wine because when he called the shop to tell me the deal, my boss told him how upset I had been. He figured I could use something to calm myself a little.

So, Heap's downstairs resting and I'm up here writing, and Matt stopped over our neighbor's house for a few minutes. I've heard Heap bark a few times when someone walked by and he sounds like he's losing his voice.

I guess he's a dog that's a little ho(a)rse.

Lift with your knees

wanaki8@aol.com — Thu, 1 May 08 16:31:00 UT

Ok, so more than likely lifting was not what caused my brother's hernia. It was probably the crazy yoga he does. And he's been suffering with it for the past four years. The docs told him it was a pulled muscle, then it was a torn muscle, then the other day realized that, yes, he was 99% sure it was a hernia.

And it was. And I have the pictures to prove it. Yep, the doc came out while my brother was in outpatient recovery and showed me the pictures.

EEEWWWW! TMI!!

But he came through with flying colors and is resting on my sofa. He's going to stay here with us for a few days, so we can keep an eye on him.

He's already had his legs give out three times on him so far - once in the hospital (right before they got him in the wheel chair), once getting out of the car walking to the house, and once coming out of the bathroom.

The nurse said it would take 24 hours for the anesthesia to wear off. My favorite part of the speech was when she told him not to drive or operate heavy machinery or, "make any judgment decisions". Like he was contemplating getting married or maybe joining the army? I think the most pressing issue he's dealing with right now is when to take the next pain pill.

So, we both made it through the hospital experience just fine and we're home safe and sound.

No Iatrophobia today!

Help

wanaki8@aol.com — Wed, 30 Apr 08 11:10:00 UT

Anyone receiving alerts?

"My Lame Weekend"

wanaki8@aol.com — Tue, 29 Apr 08 19:52:00 UT

- or "How To Have a Really Shitty Time Without Even Trying".

Yeah, so Friday morning Matt, Heap and I piled into the car and headed to Annapolis. We were staying with C and K, the couple we usually go to all the Ravens games with.

Just as we were pulling onto their street, we heard an awful grinding noise.

"That wasn't our car?" I asked as we rolled down all the windows. "Yeah, it is," Matt told me.

This, as were turning onto C and K's street, right before we turned onto their semi-long driveway.

My stomach dropped. We were 2 1/2 hours from home and in possible dire need of a mechanical miracle.

C came home and he and Matt pulled one of the tires off, took a look at the brakes, and didn't seem to find anything amiss.

We decided to call the shop down the street, that Matt's parents used to take their cars to (before moving to Florida), to find out if they could squeeze us in (we explained we were only here for the weekend and needed to leave on Sunday).

The guy was very nice, told us to bring it in and if he couldn't get to it by Friday, he'd get to it on Saturday.

So, we did, and he did, and $220, that we really couldn't spare, later I had my car back with brand new brake pads.

Saturday afternoon K had a birthday / draft day party planned for C. The group of people that Matt, C and K grew up with is still very close (which amazes me still, to this day) and so the usual crowd was invited.

Everyone proceeded to eat and drink all day long, bicker about who was drafting the better players and what those teams were going to do with said players, and bitch and moan about the dumbest shit in the world.

By 4 pm (the party started around 12:30, 1:00), I was thoroughly bored. I managed to find one of the guy's girlfriends, who was still semi-new to the group and whom I had not previously hung out with before, and she and I stuck together the rest of the day.

By 9 pm only a small group of the guys were still there, leaving K, B and I as the only girls (which was fine by me).

K and I had made cupcakes (boxed cake mix, pre-made icing) earlier that day, so the girls and I decided to indulge.

No more than 5 minutes later I could feel my air ways beginning to constrict and my face begin to heat up.

*As a side note: back in October, I had a pretty bad reaction to something I ate, after having had a few beers (we ate spaghetti) and ended up in the emergency room. My heart was pounding out of my chest, I was short of breath, my face was bright red and felt like I was running a fever, and I had white and red blotches all over my shoulders, chest and back. They gave me an IV with Benadryl and something else in it and gave me an Epi-pen to carry with me. They couldn't figure out what had caused the reaction, but said the next time it happens it might be worse. I had never had any type of food allergy in my life, other than being lactose intolerant.

Sitting in a darkened kitchen, I asked the girls if it looked like my face was turning red and they both freaked out. Obviously they could see it.

I drank some milk and water (sometimes when I have alcohol in my system and I drink soda, what I can only figure as the citric acid in it, burns my stomach and gives me similar symptoms, hence the milk as a neutralizer).

Of course, the Epi-pen was sitting in my utensil drawer at home.

Within a few minutes, my breathing became slightly easier and K informed me she had some Benadryl, which I took right away.

I called Matt in to tell him what was happening, just in case, and that's when I saw the red blotches on my shoulders, chest and back.

I stayed calm, drank more water, and passed out in bed, just as the chills were setting in.

The next morning I woke up groggy as hell and feeling kinda rough. Thank god I wasn't hung over. I don't think I would have been able to handle that on top of everything else.

So, we made it home on a rainy Sunday, which turned into a rainy Monday.

As if the weekend didn't get me down enough as it was (being $220 poorer when we couldn't really afford to be left me in a bitter mood), and the rain didn't fill my heart with laughter, I found out my poor brother (who is 26) has to have surgery on Thursday for what they believe is a hernia.

Just the icing on the poop-flavored cake, I tell ya.

I told him I'll take him to the hospital for the outpatient "procedure" - they're doing it laproscopically (sp?) and said he'll only be there for a few hours. Then I'm going to bring him back to my house so he doesn't have to be alone for a few days. None of us know what kind of shape he's going to be in, so I said I'd take care of him.

Yep, it's been a fan-fucking-tastic couple of days for me and mine. I can't wait to find out what the future holds!

Strange

wanaki8@aol.com — Tue, 29 Apr 08 19:49:00 UT

Just realized for some reason all of my subscriptions got changed to "block alerts" instead of "allow alerts". Anyone else had that happen to them?

Bloggy Carnival Giveaway

wanaki8@aol.com — Thu, 24 Apr 08 15:16:00 UT

Go to Don't Try It and take a look see at all of the fantastic things that are being given away. Your chances of getting something are pretty good, so do it!

Watchoo Reading Meme

wanaki8@aol.com — Thu, 24 Apr 08 13:33:00 UT

I stole this from kblincoln's journalscape page

Here are your rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences here.
5. Put the meme and answer in your journal, tag five people and the madness continues

I'm actually reading two books at the moment, one light, one not, so I'm posting both.

The only way my father could think to instill in me a sense of my heritage was to take me to dubbed Italian versions of the ancient Greek myths. And so, every week, we saw Hercules slaying the Nemean lion, or stealing the girdle of the Amazons ("That's some girdle, eh, Callie?"), or being thrown gratuitously into the snake pits without textual support. But our favorite was the Minotaur. . .

From Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

"I don't have a drop of emotional empathy." Riley leaned forward and touched her hand. "But you are a witch, Erin," she said patiently.

From Atlantis Awakening by Alyssa Day

Now, if you've read this you MUST post this on your page! I mean it!

What a crock

wanaki8@aol.com — Tue, 22 Apr 08 22:32:00 UT

As if the mood I was in today wasn't bad enough (which I'll expound on in a minute), I had to watch the Capitals lose in overtime in game 7.

Let me give you a little background on all of this. Matt had season tickets for several years when he still lived in Annapolis (DC isn't that far away) and he used to play a little hockey. He's a huge fan. I've always watched a little hockey here and there. I LOVE the fights. I love the fact that the refs don't call a penalty every time two players from opposing teams have a little run in with one another. There are a ton of games in a season, and I don't watch them all by any means, but I watch enough to know what's going on and to know a fair amount of the players.

The first half of this season the Caps were sucking a big fat one, and I'll admit Matt and I were fair weather fans this year. We watched the all - star stuff in the middle of the season; the Caps fire their head coach and get a new one. Suddenly, they're winning. A lot. Alex Ovechkin is the lead goal scorer in the league and they just might be able to get to the play offs. We start watching every game for the last couple of months. They go from 14th place to 3.

I'm invested without even thinking about it. Before I know it the season is nearing its end and with 2 games left, they have a shot of making the playoffs.

The tension headaches, adrenaline rushes, hand-wringing, nail-biting and flipping out begin. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I stress out enough during football season. Don't need this at all.

So, they make the play offs against the Philly Flyers. Win game 1. Lose games 2, 3, 4. Win games 5 and 6. Once again they've made a come back. Not only is the series tied, but then the game is tied and has to go to overtime. I'm headed for a heartbreak I just know it.

My heart races, my blood pressure rises. The dog hides in the bedroom because I'm yelling at the tv so much, I guess he thinks I'm yelling at him. (Matt watched the game over our friends house. I was supposed to go as well, but seeing as how R and I drank 3 bottles of red wine while watching the game last night, I wasn't feeling quite up to it. Not to mention the MOOD I was in that I'll get to later).

As soon as overtime started I had a bad feeling. They were poised to win one of the other games when the Flyers tied it, it went into overtime and they lost. I knew this game was too freakin good to be true.

So that's where I am now.

Here's where I was earlier:

Since the end of January my boss has been out of town. In the store it goes from god to B to me. Since the end of January it was going from god to me. Granted, we haven't been at the height of our season or anything, but I've been gettin it done. I've had to write ALL the orders (men's and women's clothing and accessories), work the floor when busy, schedule help on the weekends, do some bill writing, check in a little merchandise, do reorders when needed, merchandise the store with the new stuff, clean and rearrange, etc. I usually do all this stuff normally, but when B is around, I have a little back up. He does all the surfboard ordering and repairing and I pawn off the nightmare old guy customers on him. Half the time they just want to shoot the shit anyway.

So, I've been the boss. Like I said in my previous post about the kid going and coming home from college, once you've been on your own and you know you can do it and your parents know you can do it, it's almost impossible to go back to the way things were before.

The weird thing is that I feel like I'm in limbo; like I don't know where I belong. At the same time I feel really insecure and insignificant and I'm trying to figure out why.

I think one reason is because of all the stories B has been telling me about his trip. I know it sounds silly, but I think part of it is envy, among other things.

B was in Cali, with his best friend, who just so happens to be a pretty big deal surfboard and clothing designer in the surf industry. The name might not mean much to some, but if you know anything about my business, the guy is halfway akin to a god. And here I am, hearing all these tales of famous people, hip stores, expensive clothing, fashion supplier meetings, etc. and I think to myself, "Self, you are a freakin minnow in the ocean compared to everything you've just heard about".

Where I live and what I do, it's easy to get the big fish in the little sea syndrome. I don't really think that way, but hearing everything I heard today reminds me of my place in the food chain. It's a little disheartening.

Where do I go from here?

You're not the boss of me!

wanaki8@aol.com — Tue, 22 Apr 08 11:22:00 UT

So, after three months of no owner, he's back. He's been in California since the end of January.

While he was gone I was in charge. I made the rules; I ran the shop; No one told me what to do.

I liken it to being a kid who's gone away to college, being on her own and not having any parental guidelines to follow. She comes home from school and all of a sudden her parents want to give her curfews and chores and restrictions.

It ain't happenin!

I hope he realizes things aren't going to be the same.

I'm the H.M.F.I.C. now, beotch!! (sorta)

Color Wars 2008

wanaki8@aol.com — Fri, 18 Apr 08 16:35:00 UT

I'm trying to put a team together for Color Wars 2008. I need volunteers to join the team.

This is good wholesome, time-wasting fun.

Check out the website Color Wars 2008. And let me know what you think.

I can always join another team, where I'll just be some unknown member, but would much rather do it with those I hold near and dear.

This is not something you have to be doing 24/7. read a challenge, submit an quick entry. Some are more intricate than others, but they're all a riot!

And I know some of you are already on Twitter, and that's how your team gets identified.

So, come on, just give me a yes and we can come up with a team name (some sort of color, duh!) and then the fun can begin!

PLEASE?! PLEASE?! PLEASE?! PLEASE?!

*Don't make a grown woman beg ;~)

Me, I want a hula hoop!

wanaki8@aol.com — Fri, 18 Apr 08 11:58:00 UT

Psycho Babble

wanaki8@aol.com — Fri, 18 Apr 08 10:38:00 UT

I'm in a mood today, mainly caused by a few of the things I'm going to list here today.

THINGS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ME

1.) I have ants in my house. Little black kitchen ants (not pussy (hehe) ants - those are the REALLY tiny little suckers). They started out all over my sink and stove. I pulled out the stove, cleaned underneath, sprayed ant spray, placed 4 traps under the stove, sink, fridge, and one right on top of the counter. I think I actually saw ants having a party on top of the one trap. I then went out and bought another 4 traps, different brand, and did the same thing. Within a day there seemed to be less and less. For a few days I didn't see any. Then I started seeing them in the bathroom (not as bad as the kitchen, but they were there), a few in the bedroom -YUCK!- and even some in the living room.

Before, when they were all over the sink and stove, there were none on the l-shaped side of the counter.

Guess what? NOW THEY ARE!!! I have cloroxed, windexed and napalmed and they keep coming back!!!!! I clean the counters and kitchen ten times a day so there are no crumbs or anything for them to eat, BUT THEY"RE STILL THERE!!!!

And they're in the surf shop too! We don't even have food in there. What could possibly be drawing them? I even found some in my car the other day. WTF!!!!!??????

My only hope is that once the weather really warms up, they'll move outside. My theory is that it's warm enough and that time of year, for them to come up out of the ground, but not to be outside. I guess we'll see.

2.) My employees SUCK! Yeah, you heard me. Even if they knew about this site, I wouldn't care. I've told them and I'm going to tell them again! I'm REALLY easy going when it comes to scheduling and needing days off, but this is getting REALLY ridiculous! Whenever I need someone to work (most weekdays are still quiet enough for me to be here by myself) they can't, yet when I don't need anyone, they're all here, boo-hooing b/c they need to work to make money.

Well, DUH!

I have to hire a bunch of new people this year, since several past employees are either not coming back or only doing part time, and when I do things are going to be different!

3.) I'm disgusted with myself. Yep, you heard me - I make myself sick!

Of course, seeing as the weather is warming up and I'm going to have to start scaling down on the clothing, I'm thinking about my state of disgrace more and more.

Since when did I have this giant spare tire? I used to scoff at those commercials and ads about 'belly fat', but not no more,hon!

If I could just get rid of that, I'd be fine. I understand I'm not 21 anymore and that I'm going to gain some weight the older I get, but I CANNOT STAND THIS RING OF BLUBBER AROUND MY MIDDLE!

So, what am I doing about it, you might ask? Hmm... well, I lay and bed at night making all these grandiose exercise plans that are always going to start on MONDAY.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that's worked well, so far.

I used to run 3 - yes 3!!!- miles a day. I'm lucky if I walk half a mile these days. And I like to run. I really do, but I always seem to have an excuse - the weather, I'm sick, allergies are really bad, didn't get enough sleep the night before, have to many things to do after work.

It's all a crock o' poo!

I VOW TO LOSE 10 POUNDS BY JUNE 1!! That's right - I'm throwin' it down. You all heard me. Now I just need to follow through.

4.) I'm pissed that the Capitals lost in second overtime last night. They are losing the series to the Flyers 1-3. They looked good last night too. Next game is tomorrow back in DC and if they lose, it's OVA!

I don't need this. I have enough sports stress to deal with during football season, and even a little during college basketball. I like hockey, but I can't invest too much heartache into it if they lose. I hate being bummed out over a sports team that I like!

*BIG SIDE NOTE TO THE LADIES - I'm diggin' the team this year - we've got some major hotties! VICTOR KOZLOV? SWOON. MIKE GREEN - CUTAY!, DAVE STECKEL -YUM! Even roughed up Alexander Ovechkin has something about him (besides being the top goal scorer in the league this year and top choice for MVP) Just go here and see for yourself.

And while we're on the subject of hottie athletes, if you don't watch the UFC and don't know about Michael Bisping then you really need to check this guy out. I *heart* him!

Ok, enough for now. I'm sure I'll be ready to rant and rage about some other stuff in a little while!

HAPPY FRIDAY!