What Would I Do

I like the idea of having a group of mentors in your own personal What Would _____ Do group. Kind of like phone-a-friends. Now, next time I find myself in the potato chip aisle, I will try to ask myself, What Would Kathy Do?

My trip to Niagara Falls was wonderful. This group I travel with are all a little older and slower (I might still be the slowest one getting off the bus though), but we do know how to have fun.

Jan shared Gene's grade-school knickname with us and that preoccupied the whole ride back. His knickname in grade school (because he was always so helpful to the nuns) was Suchy Sister Super Suck. Well the fact that Jan was an x nun got that twisted every way but loose.

The gambling was fun and my losses didn't exceed the Van Houten Recommended Daily Allowance. Lots of new kinds of machines (I can't think of any now except the Garfield ones) at the Seneca casino. It also turned out that the Seneca one was on the New York side of the Falls. I think that was my first time over the Rainbow Bridge. My first two times actually.

After stopping at the duty free Monday morning and loading up the overheads with bottles of liquor (that rolled around a lot by the way), when we returned to the hotel Monday night the hostess said "Oh, yeah - you will have to put your liquor in your suitcases because we have to go through customs a couple more times today. I guess it was ok to bring it back into the states but then we were coming back through Canada to drive home and we weren't supposed to bring it back into Canada again.

The Fallsview Casino in Niagara (Canada) was also the new one. I don't know why people always think bigger is better. Both casinos were huge, with hallways full of shopping and restaurants to walk through before you get to the gaming area.On Monday I ran out of energy before I reached my RDA and found a nice comfy seat in the food court and before long half of our group was congregated there to wait for the bus.

On Tuesday I reached my RDA by noon and the bus didn't leave till 2:30, but they had some very comfy wooden benches along the shopping corridor and I had a great people watching seat.I think Jeannette came out ahead and Jan and Gene hit $150.00 on the Texas Tea machine and he quit while he was ahead.Now, I'm looking forward to Kewadin on the 23rd.

California Visit

From Adrienne's and Marisa's comments on my last post it looks like they would like me to come out to visit during the time that Ris' baby is due. Don't you people understand that I am not a person that can come out to help? I am another person that gets in the way and needs to be taken care of. I was laughing about it with some friends at dominos today and one of them said "Tell them to call you when he's big enough to push your wheelchair."

I won't wait that long, but I don't want to be underfoot when all the excitement is happening either.

I just saw a cool Judge Mathis. I guy was suing for his engagement ring back because his fiance had a baby by somebody else. Judge said "Was your engagement already off when she got pregnant?" and he said "No, I never called the engagement off, I just wanted a break, but I never called it off." Judge said, you never called it off, and he said no. Good, says Judge, so you're still engaged and don't need the ring back. Case dismissed.

Longboat

Its official. Rita and I are flying to Tampa on Tuesday May 31st. We will be staying at Monica's at both ends of our week at Longboat Key which is June 4 thru 11 this year. We return to Detroit on Tuesday June 14th. Other planned trips are April 25th, an overnight to Niagara Falls and May 23rd, an overnight to Kewadin. So don't say you never know where I am.

The baby finger of my left hand is swollen like a sausage with what I suppose in arthritis. Its been about 4 days now tho and if it doesn't go away soon I may see a doctor. I went to Windsor yesterday and (apart from the pain which won't be mentioned here) the doggone finger made it very difficult to collect the coins when cashing out a slot machine. Aarrgh It never ends with old people.

Baptism

I know there are way more important things going on right now, but I think its interesting to note that while he was here last weekend, Jackson baptised my living room carpet. He is very fond of naked-baby play time and although Sandra kept thinking of more and more clever games to get him to come to her for diapering, he kept thinking of more and more clever ways to get away.

Full Mouth

I just picked up my new store-bought tooth. They connected it to all my other store-bought teeth. I still have some pain from the extraction that has settled into a quasi sinus headache behind my right eye and since my gums were still a bit swollen from the extraction I'm not sure if the pretend teeth are adjusted properly and may have to go back next week. Aarrgh

Congratulations to you Marisa as you enter this new and exciting chapter of your life.

And to end with a prayer May God grant the citizens of Glendale the wisdom to vote for Kathy.

The sound of frustration

It sounds like Aarrgh.

I saw my doctor yesterday and he wrote on his pad that the problem "has resolved, recurrance will require excision." Only he didn't say "the problem". He named the problem and he called in "cellulitis". That's a scarry word cause I have that stuff all over my body. aarrgh

Last October I had a root canal on my upper front tooth. Sunday it started to hurt. Monday I noticed that it was loose. So yesterday (it was Tuesday, right) I called the dentist to have it checked out. She said, "Can you come tomorrow at 3 pm?" I said I could and have been living my morning with that feeling of quivering anxiety that I was going to the dentist this afternoon. At about 11 am I got a call from the dentist's office confirming my appointment for tomorrow at 3. "No," I said, "its today at 3." "Oh no," says the girl, "doctor is not even in today, we have you down for tomorrow at 3". Aarrgh.

When I left the doctor yesterday, there was a light on my dashboard that didn't go out. I had no idea what the little symbol on the light meant so when I got home I dug out my owner's manual and found out that the symbol stands for emmision system. I planned to call the dealer tomorrow and get that checked out but now I have the dentist tomorrow. Aarrgh.

No News

I was reminded this morning why I hate to watch the news. I left the TV on all night and woke up to the news this morning and they were discussing the Michael Jackson case. Evidently the Judge is going to make a ruling soon about whether or not the "prior bad acts" can be introduced as evidence to this jury. One of the bases for the decision is whether or not the facts of the prior acts are more compelling than the facts from this act. My interpretation of this is that the more likely it is that he did the prior acts, the less likely it is that this jury will be able to hear about them. How does that make sense.

Adding insult

Lately my knees and ankles have been competing for my attention pain-wise. Not in pairs mind you but individually. Now my left elbow has added itself to the mix. As if all these aches and pains were not enough to remind me of my age, I suffered the following insult.

You know how when you have something in your eye, like an eyelash etc. One of the defense mechanisms is to hold your upper eyelashes and pull the upper eyelid over the lower eyelid and the invading particle is removed. Last night I felt something in my left eye. Nothing dangerous, just irritable. So I tried the above maneuver and found out I can no longer do that. I have so much loose skin on my eyelid; I can’t get hold of my upper eyelash without a mirror. Aarrgh

two more days

Only two more days of winter and it looks like we are going to get snow for both of them. We got snow last night but only on the grassy parts. Our sidewalks and pavement have declared themselves a no snow zone from now on (I hope). Gretchen's temp job ends today and I miss her already.

The hole in my belly has dried up and scabbed over and I have stopped covering it with a band aid. But I haven't started wearing clothes all day yet. I haven't worn anything but a nightgown since last Sunday when we had our Show-and-Tell party up at the clubhouse. La Dolce Vita.

I have been checking airfares for my upcoming trips but I'm not ready to purchase yet. I hate the thought of going to Florida this year with only Monica and Rita. I keep hoping that by some miracle, after Kathy wins her election, her first order of business can be to take a vacation and come to Florida with me.

When I am watching a sporting event and the action gets very frantic, I sometimes have to change the channel for a few seconds and then come back to see how it played out. That's how I feel about Kathy's election. As soon as I think about it I try to put it out of my mind because I want it so badly for her that I can't stand to think of it going any other way.

Medical update

Erika was a year old when my Gall Bladder was removed. That was way before they could do that with a couple of pinpricks. So I have had this six inch long raised scar on my stomach for 40 odd years. I started to get sharp "surface" pains when I was pregnant with Adrienne and have been getting them on and off ever since. Mostly off.

The difference this time is that the scar tissue started to rupture and I went to the doctor about it. I went to Dr. Rosario who did my surgery two years ago. The first thing he did was probe the opening with a Q-tip (ouch) and determine that the fissure did not go all the way through. That was a good thing.

He predicted a couple of outcomes. A) It would heal by itself or B) the area would have to be excised. Since A was my personal preference, I did not delve further into B. I have filled a couple of prescriptions for anti-biotics (pills and cream) and Dr. Rosario will determine on 3/29 whether we have achieved A or should proceed to B.

More

When the ship docked in Valpariaso they put our luggage on a truck and delivered it to the airport. They put our bodies on tour busses for a city tour of Valpariaso and Santiago. The tour started at about 8:30 AM on Sunday morning. We drove up and down the downtown streets of Valpariaso and saw all the official and important buildings including the Parliament building. Valpariaso is not the capitol of the country but that's where they hold Parliament. Our guide said its because it works better that way. The president and upper house members live in Santiago.

We followed the road to Santiago passing through a very nice resort town which has new high-rise condominiums that sell for between 20,000 and 40,000 US dollars. I learned on this tour why Chili is such a long skinny country. The guide described Chili as an island with water on one side and the Andes Mountain range on the other. He said they have closer ties to the far east than they do with Argentina. He said Argentinians are snooty because their economy is very good right now. Every time Chili's economy starts going OK, they have a flood, fire or earthquake or military coup.

The tour included a ride up San Cristobal Hill. (Looked like a mountain to me.) The guide said, "The Hill has something for everyone. When you are a child you come with your grandparents. Its a place for family picnics and having fun. When you are a little older and you don't want to go to school, you come to the hill and try to hide so the police won't take you back home. And you have some fun. Then when you are a little older, you come with your sweetheart and you have some fun. When you get older yet, you come with your secretary and you have some fun. Then when you get older, you bring your grandchildren and the whole family can have some fun."

The tour ended about 5:00 PM at the airport where we claimed our luggage and got in line at the Delta check in counter. Unfortunately there was a sign on the counter that they would open at 7:30 PM (Our flight didn't leave until 10:40 PM) The Delta counter did open at about 7 and took care of a lot of disgruntled passengers.

My suitcase is open and I have put away about 6 things. Maybe not so much put away and brought to the rooms in which they live (or on the stairway up which they will go) I have unpacked the house and bell I bought in Argentina. The house is on the kitchen table until it decided to jump onto the wall. The suitcase is still pretty full. I intent to take out any dirty clothes and throw them downstairs today, that should make a dent.

I don't want to overextend myself. I have tapes to watch.

Campaign upside

I wore my campaign button the whole cruise. Anytime anybody asked me about it I said if you know anybody in Glendale California, call them up and tell them to vote for Kathy. One person actually had parents that lived in Pasadena and promised to tell them to call their friends. Another on the last airplane said her cousin lived in Glendale. Then later when I saw her at the baggage pickup she said "There's the lady I have to call Ruth for and tell her to vote for Kathy."

Gene Suchy is excited that Kathy is running for office. He dropped a hint while we were with Monica and Rita about her aunts contributing to her campaign but they didn't bite.

Home really is Sweet

Now that everyone has seen my butt....

You probably noticed that I didn't get around to using my sisters' free minutes. There is so much that I saw and did. I did take notes, but my suitcase is still standing my the door and I can't refer to them right now.

After Puerto Madryn, we rounded Cape Horn and it was very exciting. I mean it just looked like mountains and landscape but it was exciting all the same. We saw beautiful glaciers. There were five major ones all named after the countries of the five men that explored them. The first one, Italia, was the most beautiful and went from way up, all the way down to the waters edge. What I didn't know previously is that a glacier is not an iceberg. Glaciers form between mountains, in the cleft sort of and down the sides. So that's the icy part. The rest of it just looks like a mountain with snow (ice) on top.

At our Ushuaia stop, we (Les MaTantes) took a cab to the Marshall Glacier and took a ride up the glacier on a ski lift. For your chuckle of the day, picture me and Rita trying to jump onto a ski lift that doesn't stop. Many people on the ship paid big bucks for excursions. Our cost was $10.00, US for the cab and $11.00 US for three lift tickets. About $7.00 per person. Everyone was so jealous.

The next day, we took a cab ride for $20.00 US per person to the penguinarium. After a 1 1/2 hour ride (one way) we found out that we still had to walk over a mile on a gravel path in order to actually see the penguins. I asked someone on his way back if it was worth the walk and he said it was a long way to go to see 4 penguins. So we didn't walk the extra mile. The poor cab driver tried to get us to go see the museum and/or the palace or cemetery (highlights of the city) but we declined. We did manage to see the whole city and lots of pretty countryside with ocean views on the long ride.

Two days were spent at sea going through the Straights of Magellan. Many people spent much of the day sitting on the decks outside but it was really cold and I spent more time in the Constellation Room which was right in the front of the ship on deck 11 and had floor to ceiling windows on three sides. There was a guide-type person who gave lectures (which I did not attend) and gave a running commentary over the PA when we passed anything pertinent.

One of the main speakers and personages on the ship was Patch Adams. If any of you saw the movie, I understand that he comes off as some kind of magnificent healer when played by Robin Williams. Well, in real life, he is a major jerk. I believe that he has done good deeds, and believes in healing through laughter or something, by being a clown. But it seems that he has accomplished nothing. He lost me when he told about the making of the movie. He said that he agreed to let them make the movie and they agreed in turn to build his "Hospital," where he would promote his healing ideas. He is something of a flower child (in his 60s at least) and doesn't believe in lawyers. Well, guess what. Not only did the hospital not get built but he said he never got $10.00 from anyone involved with that movie. I was not one of the people standing in line to buy his book to help contribute to the building of his hospital. If he couldn't be bothered to get a decent written contract regarding building the hospital in return for making the movie, he doesn't strike me as a good risk.

After I open my suitcase, if I think of more stuff I will blog again.

Butt Shot

Lyle doesn't like it when I take naked pictures of Jackson, but goddamn he is the cutest little naked thing in the whole world and I can't help myself. I decided I could post it over here since no one could track this by searching for his name or anything. If they think they are getting a butt shot of mom, well their loss. You have to admit, of all the butts in all the world...

Purety Madryna

I am in Purety Madryna or something like that [ez note: I looked it up, it is Puerto Madryn, Argentina--the title of the post is linked to an itenerary of her cruise]. We went into town this morning and it was very fun.

When I left home, my back was in spasm. I could not move side to side or forward and back in any direction from the waist. I had wheenchairs at every airport. Once I was seated on the plane (I had window seats for both legs) I didn't have to move or get up for anyone. When the planes landed I had quite a bit of pain on the touchdown because of all the shaking.

After we arrived in Buenes Aires, Gene gave me some magic muscle relaxer pills. He gave me four of them and said they could be taken every 4 or 6 hours. I took one then.

The Hotel rooms were ready when we got there at about 11:am so we got a little rest before the city tour at 2:30. That took about 4 hours and when we got back to the hotel I took another pill. I could now move forward and back from the waist.

We (me and Wanda and Sara and Eda) booked a prepaid dinner from the hotel which was for a restaurant names Guardelitos. An authentic Argentinian restaurant. We got there about 7:45 and were too early they didn't start seating people until 8. They let us sit down tho and then came to the table at 8. We showed them the vouchers from the hotel and they didn't seem to know anything about it. Sara had brought the information letters that the hotel had given us describing what was included. It included an appetizer, salad, entree, desert and 1/2 bottle of wine. We couldn't make out the Spanish menu. Sara went and talked to the (I assume) manager and worked out a menu with him. She ordered burritos for our appetizer, garden salad, and beef for the entree. I was skeptical. Beef covers a lot of territory. It turned out to be some of the best steaks I had ever seen or eaten. At desert time I told them it was my birthday so my piece of desert came with a candle and everyone sang happy birthday to me. 8 other people from our group had gone there.

I took another one of Gene's pills before bed and I woke up completely cured. Now I just have normal back pain from walking etc., Boy this is a big ship and there is a lot of walking. I brought my cane with a seat and it has been very handy. I bring it every time I go off the ship. There are at least 4 other people here that have the same cane. I only get 10 free minutes so goodby.

I will try to use Rita's and Monica's 10 minutes another time

Ready

I am so ready I could sit the rest of the time at the airport gate. Anything not packed now will be done without. Passport, tickets, money those are the important things that I'm carrying with me.

I thought that I would leave some of the clothes I used in California right in their laundry bag and have them laundered on the ship but it turns out I am constitutionally incapable to packing dirty clothes. Fortunately, there is nothing in my constitutional makeup that will keep me from weating said clean clothes even tho they will not have been ironed.

I am carrying my Handy Seat Cane to take along on excursions. I don't have a book to read on the trip, everything I have here is hardcover. I may need to make a trip to the 25 cent used book store. Good thing I'm not at the airport gate.

whirlwind

My whirlwind home visit is well under way. I have gotten through my mail. Taken care of my bills and I think I have everything I need to file my taxes. I went out this morning and purchased the Tax Cut programs and am downloading updates now. It took longer to figure out and prepare the rebate forms (4 different rebates) than I plan to spend filing the taxes. I have watched 2/3 of my tapes and only have 8 hours to go. I was able to fast-forward several hours because I watched the shows with Adrienne.

I dozed about 15 minutes out of every hour yesterday. Even through the Super Bowl. I managed to miss all of the touchdowns except the last Eagles one. I didn't like any monkey commercials but I did like the clydesdales wanna-be's.

I have unpacked my California suitcase and brought (thrown) it down the basement and am well under way to packing my cruise suitcase.

Tomorrow is haircut and Windsor casino. Wednesday is laundry. Thursday is finish packing and Friday I leave at 11:30 am via Ken's Airport Shuttle arranged by Jan.

Under the B's

I needed B-15. The game was the checkmark. Three bottom Bs and the diagnal I-G and O. The prize was $3,000.00. Within about 8 numbers I was waiting. Only 2 Bs had been called. My chances were excellent. She called another number, and another. As long as she didn't call a B I was safe. She called another number and another. As more numbers were called my chances of winning by myself went down considerably. She called another number. Sure enough Ted units started to jingle. Another number, more Teds jingling. Another number. Finally a B. There were 8 winners. I wasn't one of them. Sigh.

Reality

I started watching a few new reality shows that I didn't hate. They are, Wickedly Perfect, Runway Project, The Will, and American Dream Derby.

The reality is that nobody promises to keep these shows on the air. After one episode of The Will (although it is listed in the TV Guide) there are no future episodes scheduled to air in my area, according to the Yahoo TV listings. It was replaced last night by a Cold Case episode.

Runway Project is on Bravo and they run it so often that I have lost track of the ones I have seen and the ones I have not seen. American Dream Derby is on the Games Show Channel and now there is another Apprentice starting.

I have been juggling my VCR programs all over the place but even if I record 8 hours on each VCR there is no way I can watch them all before I leave for the cruise and then re-juggle for the next 17 days after that.

Alas, I am going to have to let go of reality and settle for just taping the fiction of Coronation Street because that one is never repeated in re-runs.

Dirty Harry

Can you believe that dirty little prince. I am not of an ethnicity to be absolutely enraged but I am of a generation to be absolutely appalled and I can certainly understand the rage. When William abdicates those pictures of Harry with the swastika are going to come back and keep him from being king. Why are kids so stupid?