Ladybug Studio

Home Wrecker

Tom is home now, so the house is a cluttered mess. But I'm willing to put up with it, if that's what it takes. Of course, he wasn't home for long, Wednesday being his baseball game night. I saw him for about 30 minutes before he had to leave yesterday afternoon and was pretty much asleep by the time he came home. I tried to straighten the house back up and helped with his laundry. Which I had said I wouldn't do, but how could I leave clothes to wrinkle in the dryer? Sometimes being anal can really backfire on you.

Celebrities

On Saturday Tom and I went to Debary to visit Jenn and Mark. We saw, with our very own eyes, the Famous Kitchen Makeover! It's even more beautiful in person. I had to open cabinets and drawers, run my fingers along smooth granite countertops, slide the pantry doors open and shut. Everything is just too pretty. I can't imagine cooking in there - something might get dirty!

Unfortunately, some thunderstorms followed us over from the coast and settled in for the night. It started raining about 15 minutes after we arrived and never let up. So we didn't get to play tennis or drive around in the roadster with the top down. Bummer. We'll have to save that for the next visit.

Mark got a kick out of my iPhone. One of his friends has one so it wasn't completely new to him, but enjoyed playing with it all the same. I'm still loving the little phone myself. Too bad no one ever calls me. (hint?)

Tom and I managed a bike ride Saturday morning, so I wasn't entirely without exercise. In fact, we did a nice hour and a half ride, making up our route as we went along. Because we create our own wind as we bike, we didn't even notice the oppressing heat until we were stopped at a traffic light. Wow. It was good to get moving again. I hadn't ridden my road bike in many weeks and it felt really great to be back in the saddle.

Tom is attending a conference in Orlando for the next couple of days. I had been thinking how nice it would be to have the house to myself for a couple of days. But really, it's just quiet and lonely.

But clean. Very clean and uncluttered.

Note: Chris and Heather - there's a comment for each of you in the Pump Up the Volume entry comments.

Day Off

I didn't end up playing tennis yesterday, for which I was grateful. In addition to dreading the unbearable heat, I just didn't want to, which is pretty odd for me. My opponent had to work late so we bagged it.

I went home and read for a bit, gave in to my closing eyelids and took a tiny nap. Afterward (feeling not the slightest bit refreshed) I folded the laundry that's been hanging on the backs of the dining room chairs for a week and puttered around a little bit inside. Then I headed outside, hoping that it had cooled off some. (it had, but only a little) I finally finished de-shagging the topiaries, then pulled weeds out of the east flower beds. That was enough for one night though. I'll get to the rest some other time.

Tom was supposed to have had a baseball game, but it was canceled because the other team didn't have enough players. Despite his unexpected presence, I continued with my original plans and cooked some spaghetti for myself (he doesn't like spaghetti), took it into the spare room and watched the latest episode of The Closer. After my dinner and a show, I joined Tom in the living room for a little Tour watching. I haven't been as avid a watcher as in the past, but Tom is still very much interested.

I headed to bed a little earlier than usual - about 10:00. I've been really dragging during the day and feeling sort of depressed. I know it's due to lack of sleep, but it's so hard for me to end my day any earlier than that. Naturally, I'm dragging again today.

Having a Heat Wave

We are experiencing the part of the year that I truly hate: Summer. Which is relative, because in Florida it's some degree of summer all year round. But right now, naming it Don't Step Outside or You Might Spontaneously Combust would be entirely appropriate.

It's close to impossible to do anything outside. So my chores of that nature are piling up as they slide by the wayside. For instance, the landscaping is looking terribly shaggy and unkempt. The grass is fine, as we have a service to take care of that. Thank goodness, because with the rain we've been having, the grass is growing like… well, like a weed. (quite appropriate if you've had the chance for a close inspection of our lawn) I tried trimming the topiaries last weekend, but only got about one fourth of the way done. I waited until around 7:00, after the daily rain, when it was not quite so scorching hot. But the mosquitoes, who are certainly enjoy the daily dousing, were doing their vampire act and I had to flee back into the cool safely of the house.

Getting my car washed has been a challenge too. It's either too hot or it's raining or it's the middle of the night. I had a window of opportunity yesterday afternoon, so I took it. Though I sure didn't want to. This was after I had spent a full day at work, followed by running around on the tennis court for an hour during my lesson. I got started around 7:00 (the magic number, apparently) and didn't finish until close to 9:00. Yeah, I'm kind of slow at car washing, even with my new, smaller car. I had finally gotten to the drying point, which I loathe, when I heard a mosquito spray truck cruising our neighborhood. I jumped into the car and zoomed into the garage before its freshly cleaned exterior could be coated in a layer of Bug Kill. For the sake of my pulmonary system and my sinuses, I completed the dreadful drying process inside the garage, which was lovely as I had very little room to navigate around the car. Plus it was even hotter in there, with no benefit of a breeze. Tom helped, which was a blessing, as I was getting just a tiny bit frazzled by that point.

Now the car looks so spiffy and shiny, I'm afraid to drive it anywhere.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a photo of Denise and I, taken at our recent high school reunion. Doesn't Denise look so gorgeous and fashionable? (if you don't focus on the cheesy stickers)

Pump Up the Volume

Dad gets to go home on Monday and he's pretty excited about it. I don't blame him. I know from experience that it's rather boring in the rehab facility. About 10 minutes into my visit yesterday I was desperate to leave. There was nothing new to talk about so he ended up turning on his TV. Which wouldn't be too bad, except that he's hard of hearing. So the volume was at ear piercing level. He doesn't have a roommate, so other than me, no one else was disturbed by it. Actually I noticed that the resident across the hall from him had a TV going pretty loudly too.

If he would just pick a program and stick with it, that would have been better. But after a couple of minutes, just when I was getting interested, he changed the channel. He spent a scary amount of time watching a Bowflex commercial on the Spanish Channel. In his slightly altered mental state, maybe it made sense to him… Finally, after I thought I'd spent an appropriate amount of time with him, I left him to watch Jeopardy and took myself on home.

Tom had a baseball game so I was on my own for dinner. I boiled some spaghetti noodles, toasted some garlic bread and had a hefty serving of Ann's Famous Spaghetti Sauce. Absolutely yummy. She says it's Mom's recipe, but I think it's better, personally. I had difficulty figuring out how many noodles to cook so I ended up with too much. And because the sauce is so good, I ate more than I should have. (I can blame that on Ann, right?)

After my scrumptious dinner, I settled down to watch the Tour while updating my photo collection in iPhoto, then syncing some photos and my contacts to my iPhone. Which is such a marvelous little delight. I am really loving that phone. The only thing I miss about my old phone is the ring tone. I had the Austin Powers theme music (Soul Bassa Nova by Quincy Jones) and every time my phone rang, I couldn't help but dance a little. (Really just in my mind, because I don't dance)

At 10:30 I changed the channel to HGTV so I could see my good friend Jennifer and her husband Mark starring in an episode of What's My House Worth? She was so calm and composed, really awesome. I'm going to get her autograph and sell it on eBay because she's going to be a Star!

Rats

One thing I did over the long holiday weekend was see the movie Ratatouille. I loved it and thought it was adorable. Definitely one I will buy when it comes out on DVD. Which I predict will happen around Christmas time. Ann, Joy and I went to see the movie last Friday. Since it was playing at the theater in Merritt Square Mall, we got there a little early and shopped at Books-A-Million. I really intended to just look and maybe buy one book. I ended up buying three. I cannot control myself in a book store! Candy for the mind. Before entering the theater we stopped at the cookie store for movie treats, which were smuggled into the theater in Ann's purse. (Snickerdoodles rock!)

After the show the three of us went to TGI Friday's. We decided to get soup and appetizers. I also got a marvelous drink - Raspberry Cherry 'rita. I rarely drink anything alcoholic and when I do, it's always a girly drink. The food was excellent and I highly recommend that you give the fried green beans a try. They are lightly battered and are served with wasabi ranch for dipping. Yummy!

* * * * * * *

Well, my inner Gear Girl couldn't stand it any longer. I am now the owner of an 8GB iPhone. I know, I am the most spoiled girl ever. (But since I bought it for myself, does that still count?) I ordered it on Saturday from an At&t store in Merritt Island and it arrived yesterday. I had it shipped to the store, for security, and picked it up last night.

Despite the rumors I have heard of people waiting hours and hours to activate their iPhones, it took mine less than three minutes. Could be because I already had an iTunes account and I was already an At&t customer. I haven't been able to spend much time with it, but I did play with most of the features and can tell you that it is a totally awesome, beautiful device.

So if you have my cell phone number, call me!

* * * * * * *

I have a request to talk about the reunion. Well, there isn't a lot to tell, really. I think I mentioned that the committee contacted everyone by email only, so at least half of the class was on the Missing Persons list. I definitely had my doubts about going, but decided that even if I only connected with one or two people that I cared about, it would be worth it. And of course, that was true.

Friday night there was a get-together at the Clarion Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn). Just drinks, hors d'oeuvres and chatting. (OMG - I have to stop and congratulate myself on spelling hors d'oeuvres without spellcheck correcting me!) Tom came with me and what a trooper! I know he was bored beyond belief, but I was too nervous to walk in alone. (I can't explain it) (Denise was attending a family barbecue and couldn't be there)

I have to say that I'm a little bit worried about my memory. There were so many people I didn't remember. I don't mean that I didn't recognize them - we were all having that problem - but I didn't remember their existence at all. Wow. I feel kind of bad about that. But anyway, I did see lots of old friends and had a pretty good time. I was glad, though, that Tom had come with me because it gave me an easy excuse for leaving relatively early.

Saturday night there was a get-together and dinner at Royal Oak Country Club. Denise and her husband Chris were there. Which was great, because Tom and Chris were able to keep each other company. There were a few others classmates who didn't attend the Friday night event, but for the most part I had already spent five minutes or less with everyone I wanted to talk to. Poor Denise, I stuck to her like a barnacle for a good portion of the evening. The one time I tried to branch out and speak to someone on my own I felt completely uncomfortable and awkward. I only tried that once. I have never been a social butterfly and I'm not very good at small talk. I am happiest with a small group of close friends and/or family.

In general, I noticed that the guys seemed to have changed more than the girls. Less hair and more around the midsection. Everyone said that I looked the same. Which is odd, because I had very short hair in my senior photo and even though I was growing it out my senior year, it never came close to my shoulders. Plus, I had a perm and bangs!

He's Back

I don't have time for a proper update with details and such, but I did want to share the wonderful news that my father is back with us in the year 2007. What a wild couple of weeks this was! They will definitely be remembered as two of the worst weeks of my life. I'm still exhausted and hardly feel that I had a vacation. (I took last Thursday and Friday off). Mentally, I'm still a bit frazzled.

There were some happy spots - spending time with Ann and Joy, seeing Denise and her family, going to my reunion and reconnecting with some classmates.

But a lot of time was spent at the hospital and at the rehab center. I have a feeling there's plenty more of that coming up. (sigh)

My Calvary Has Arrived

Joy is back from California and Ann has arrived from North Carolina. It is a huge relief to have someone to share this with. I have, of course, been getting lots of support from Tom, from friends, from coworkers. But having someone else who will actually go to the hospital and share in that responsibility with me is a Godsend.

I didn't go to the hospital at all yesterday, because I knew that Joy would be visiting. I spent the day at work, trying to catch up on my projects. Tennis was rained out, but I went home anyway and hung out until Ann showed up. It was somewhat weird to not go see Dad and I did feel a bit guilty. It's almost physical, this urge, this need to go see him.

On Saturday he was pretty spry, sitting up in a recliner, chatting away. I stayed at the hospital for quite a long time, because he was doing well and seemed to enjoy having me there. He was still living in the past, but was reasonably coherent. On Sunday he wasn't quite as peaceful and didn't always make sense. We were watching tennis on TV and Dad told some family friends who had stopped by that we were watching, "some new form of hockey"… Yesterday he seemed to be going downhill, according to the report I had from Joy. He was grouchy and fussy, giving the nurses a difficult time and not making much sense at all.

Yet today, he is quite improved. Ann tells me that when she greeted him he was happy to see her and asked when she had arrived. He told the nurse, when she asked, "This is my daughter Ann from North Carolina." He's not completely back yet. Told the doctor it was 1992. But these little sparks of reality are very hopeful. With any luck (and a prayer) they will keep happening with more frequency.

I'm really looking forward to seeing him this afternoon.

* * * * * * * * *

I did some research on concussions at the Mayo Clinic website. Under Signs and Symptoms it states that the two most common concussion symptoms are confusion and amnesia. There was a lot of other good info there and I am in agreement with the neurologist. I do think Dad has a concussion from his accident last week.