Blogger is Horrible Post

Well, I may be on permanent hiatus. Blogger is getting a new upgrade/look in April and IT IS HORRIBLE! I just took a peek at what's coming and it ate my dashboard. The new layout is totally unfriendly and confusing so I won't be posting for a while after the change hits. Sorry.

Why do companies "fix" things that AREN'T broken?

Going to look into another service for blogging like WordPress, etc.

Stay well and happy.

Crack o' Dawn Post

Really hate it when I can't fall asleep. Especially if I can't figure out why. Started out going to bed just after midnight. There I was, waiting for sleep to come over me. But...nothing. The hours passed. I tried my breathing technique where I focus solely on my breathing which blocks out all the thoughts still racing through my brain, but to no avail.

My feet felt like they were in blocks of ice, yet when I felt them, they were the same temperature as the rest of me. My silk quilt was put to cozy use and held in the body heat beautifully but my feet refused to recognize this. This led to nasty cramping in the tootsies and ankles. I actually got up and took a muscle relaxer to quell them. Fat chance.

This kept up for about four hours till I finally gave up. Thus the crack o' dawn post just to whine about it. What can I say? I get grumpy when I'm tired especially for no reason, don't you?

Listened to five or six podcasts of a Prairie Home Companion (free at iTunes). Garrison Keillor's soothing voice usually has me in a nice place where I start yawning and can easily sleep. Nothing. Read through a bunch of blogs which will usually lull me when it's this late. Again, nothing.

Feeling totally frustrated, I decided to write and so we have this post.

Oh wait, being able to complain about it has really helped, I'm starting to nod off...finally...I hope. Will continue later or tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

Vampire and Baby Post

Almost forgot...midst all these errands, I was scheduled to go in for a blood test. Something I've been putting off. Hate needles! In my thirties, I set down some rules for the phlebotomist when drawing my blood.
     1.) You get one try. No exceptions or second attempts.
     2.) I tell you where the only "good" vein is.
     3.) Do NOT, under any circumstances let me see the needle. You will regret it. Trust me on this.
     3.) Don't tell me that I'll be fine in the special chair. Again, trust me, you want me to lay down.
     4.) Odds are I may faint.
     5.) I will probably hum a non-existent tune out loud, through the process. Just ignore it.
     6.) I then tell the person that I trust their professionalism, appreciate their kindness and know they will be successful.

I've had pretty good luck over the years if my "rules" are followed and not dismissed. My parents grew up in a era where no one ever questioned medical authorities. They did as they were told. I do not subscribe to that belief.

As I said, I usually fair pretty well. Not today. This was a fasting blood draw, late in the day. I wound up passing out. It took an hour for my body to stop feeling like a limp, wet noodle. I felt badly since the phlebotomist isn't allowed to leave your side till you're completely back to normal and can walk without passing out.

When she finally was able to be sure I was stable, she walked with me to a bench in the hall. She still wouldn't let me leave. She insisted that I sit a while longer. She took a little nine month old girl and her mom into the room right by me. Poor little squirming soul...the phlebotomist tried but the baby became hysterical, crying at the top of her lungs. I felt so sorry for both of them.

The mom finally couldn't take it and said she'd come back when little Isabella calmed down. Both tried to soothe the little thing the whole time, but the baby was just beside herself, clueless and in pain. I felt like such a big baby but then forgave myself because I know why I have the fear I do. As I said, I left an hour later, went through a fast food drive through, parked and ate my sandwich and inhaled the whole soda. I felt much better.

Lesson learned:  Don't schedule a fasting blood test so late in the day, especially when it involves four whole vials of blood! Good grief!

Not Snakes on the Plane Post

This is one of the reasons I don't like daytime (like before 5 p.m.) "naps"...nightmares. Doesn't happen too often, but when one hits, it's usually a doozie! I decided while reading an instruction manual online for my old but beloved digital Olympus that I couldn't keep my eyes open one...more....second........zzzz....

I couldn't bring myself to show any slithery closeups so this will have to do.

Do you dream in color? Are you aware of yourself in your dream, can you control things in your dream? I have to say yes to all the above. This time I was a participant and I was transported back in time when my brother and I were young. It was a problematic dream and as it progressed I probably actually screamed out loud. I was left in charge of my bro and a little friend of his. No pets were allowed in the house. (Note:  this is not a memory.)

My brother was being snotty and had a ferret hidden in a shoe box. For whatever reason I went to bed and warned them to behave. While sleeping (in the dream) there was a commotion at the side of my bed. My brother whispered "the ferret got loose". Frankly, I was fine with this, since I thought ferrets were cute.

Well, he lied. What really lived in the box was a snake. It was a very tricky kind of snake because it would twirl back upon itself like a rubber band wound too tight and spring from there. Problem was, you never could tell in what direction due to the way it curled.

Of course, it didn't shoot out it the direction my little brother predicted but rather into bed with me...and so the nightmare begins! I was so "in" the dream, I recall trying to use my arms to roll over or get up so he could grab the snake which was curling around underneath me. My muscles had fallen asleep. So had my facial muscles thus, when I tried to yell at him to roll me over, nothing sensible came out. This feeling of my body being numb continued (this is when I probably began screaming out loud). I could feel the snake crawling the length of my leg.

Rolling my body to and fro, I finally got on my side and there was the snake. It had crawled down my legging and was head-first into my boot. Why on earth I had boots on...in bed?? Anyhow, my brother grabbed it only to have it spring away. Before I could catch my breath, a smaller one jumped onto the bed in it's place. OMG!

Did I mention the color? It had the courtesy to at least be olive green with purple and lime-green stripes. This little one was even harder to locate. At that point I must have hit that point in dreaming where you can make yourself wake up. It was just so gross and slithery!

It was like waking from surgery. All groggy, unstable and exhausted. Have you ever had any experiences like this?

Rent and Drizzle Post

Again, there are days NOT to get out of bed, much less open the mail. The landlord has raised the rent on this little 800 square foot house by $205 per month. Just swell. Now I REALLY have to find a new place/state to live. Good grief, I could easily afford a mortgage on a decent house in almost any other state!

I almost entitled this "Rent Rape Post" but thought it too graphic, though it's how I feel. California is no longer welcoming in any way, shape or form...okay, in weather only. But for the $$$$$ I have to pay for EVERYTHING, it's no longer worth it. I could get the same elsewhere.....maybe with more weather but at least pay less than half! Enough whining for now. It is what it is.

If anyone really loves where they live, please let me know. I'm totally open to ideas!

Remember how I said I had a feeling I'd regret not doing my errands yesterday? Well, I now know why. It's actually raining today. Okay, from a Midwestern standpoint, it's just average drizzle, but for So Cal? My oh my!

Out of curiosity, I checked www.sigalert.com to see how traffic was doing. Here's a link for the history of SigAlerts. The freeway grid looked like a giant red spider or centipede at about 9:30 a.m. It's really pretty funny. Red, in most cases, means, that the speeds are down below 20 mph! It's only drizzle folks!

Though I'm not a native of California, after 30 or so years of living here, I am picking up some of the natives' weather habits which is not a good thing. Like today, I checked the forecast and supposedly no rain is predicted for tomorrow. I may wait and run my errands then...lol!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Added about an hour later...the softly dropping rain (heavy drizzle) is very hypnotic...I'm ready for a nap!

Added about four hours later...why do I feel the sudden urge for a mocha frappuccino when I'm freezing? The sun broke through at about 4 p.m. and now we have dappled white puffs of clouds in the sky. My neighbor P is apparently applying for "sainthood"...he once again brought my two trash cans in for me. What a sweet person.

The day has been spent working on posts and my soon to be etsy store while I've listened and cringed as I've heard many skids from cars whose drivers did not gauge the amount of distance for stopping on a rain covered street before the sign on the corner. Eeek! So far no crashes.

Pin a Note on Me Post

The post below was written on 9/19/11 but I decided to wait and think about it since I try not to be negative or speak of religion and politics on this blog. But, re-reading it two weeks later, I still feel the same, so please accept my apologies in advance for my rant. The rest of today's post, continues below.

9/19/11 While recovering from my assorted injuries, I wrote a number of entries but had not posted them because I wanted to accompany them with pictures. This however, supersedes all of them. Today I received a jury summons. I hate jury summons to begin with so it's bad enough, however, it's not local, it's downtown in the middle of LA.


That means a hideous commute of at least an hour there (for less than a 20 minute drive) and another hour or more back at peak traffic times. Parking is a block away, so it means a walk to the courthouse. This will be a challenge, especially leaving and getting back to the car after all day on my knee which is "good" for only about 3 hours at a time (if I'm lucky) before it swells to the size of a bowling ball. I see a rheumatologist on Oct. 1. I can't wait!


Since I never leave Blue alone in the house for more than 4 hours, it creates another problem. I figure I'll have to kennel him at $30 per day for at least a week. Just swell.


On top of all that, it means I'll have to see lawyers, the absolute scum of the earth. I literally hate them. They are the lowest form of life on this planet, lower than the dirt on my shoes. They have no morals whatsoever. It's no wonder this country is so screwed up...it's governed by lawyers.


After five years of dealing with the scummy slime bags and the "set up" known as the legal system during my divorce I have come to totally question their ethics and morals as well as that of the entire legal system in this country. To top it all off,  it's an "old-boys-club" with all that implies. For example, doltoid's lawyer would play golf with mine. Somehow that just seems wrong on so many levels.


It's a complete racket. Now in these tough economic times, it seems from my experience, the system's goal is to drag out all proceedings to make money. In the end, as always, it's the general public that pays and through the nose. Take all the current machinations going on in Washington with the budget. Look back at the past. The lawyers/politicians spend money like there's no tomorrow and then surprise! "We're" in debt. How did that happen? How will they fix it?

Raise taxes and borrow money of course. It's the answer to everything. Problem is, "they" won't have to pay for it, "we" will.

Edvard Munch's "The Scream"

Continued from above:  After reading the post again, I censored the balance of the rant. It accomplishes nothing and why ruin your day and mine? I'll just leave you with the above work of art as my final comment on what I was quacking about. I think it's a far more creative way to express the last half of my thoughts! :)

Okay, back to the present...the good news is that I saw a rheumatologist on Saturday. He was quite impressed with my balloon knee and even said "wow". Then he aspirated as much liquid as he could, which was a lot...two huge syringes...full. Even the nurses were impressed...lol! It feels soooooooo much better.

The bad news is that I forgot to ask him to sign my jury excuse for a change of venue that would be closer to home. Dang! Hopefully the other Doctor that was watching will be able to do so since the specialist only comes to the clinic once a month! Please cross your fingers.

I swear, I should pin my "to do" list to the front of my blouse when I leave the house, since my memory is off somewhere doing heaven knows what!