Ladybug Studio

Not cool…

If I knew then, what I know now, I wouldn't have been so lazy on Friday. But I didn't know, so there's nothing I can do now. Enough with the riddles, here's what happened…

On Friday I had planned to do a workout on the spinning bike. But first, I wanted to relax for a bit. It had been a busy week and I felt that I deserved some down time. So I watched something I had recorded (I have a huge backlog!) and became one with the couch in the spare room. I figured that at 6:00 I would get on that bike. But at 5:40, I was so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and ended up napping through my workout.

But that was okay, really. I must have needed the sleep and there were still two more days to get in a workout. Plus, Tom and I were planning on taking a road bike ride on Saturday.

But Saturday morning the wind was gusting and it wasn't looking very much like a bicycling day. Okay, back to the spinning bike plan. Then Tom noticed that the AC wasn't cooling the house to the temperature he had set and the air coming from the vents felt lukewarm. We ended up calling for service, which delayed all possible plans for the day.

Fast forward about two hours to the results of the service call: the Brand New Expensive State of the Art Compressor that was installed just 1.5 weeks ago was declared dead.

It's Hard to Stop a Trane.®  Yeah, right.

Of course the AC company owner was very apologetic, this has never happened before, etc. We're just the lucky 1 in 1000, I guess. Trouble seems to happen most often on the weekends and a replacement compressor would not be available until Monday morning. Let me mention, before I forget, that Saturday was the warmest day we've had so far this season. Naturally.

The company did bring us a portable AC unit, so we weren't completely miserable, but it could only do so much. Therefore, on Saturday, we decided that our best bet was to get the heck out of Dodge. We had planned to run an errand in Orlando anyway, so we just turned it into an all day affair.

Sunday was much more tolerable because it had rained Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Still too warm to work up a sweat on the spinning bike though. It must have been a cold front of sorts because in the afternoon, once the clouds had cleared, it was quite pleasant outside. More pleasant than it was inside.

A meme about high school…

1. Did you date someone from your school? During high school? No. I didn't really date until the end of my junior year. Mostly I just hung out with a group of friends.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Yes I did. Tom graduated three years ahead of me and I didn't actually meet him until my senior year. But I knew who he was because one of my friends (Alaina) had a crush on him.

3. Did you car pool to school? For the first two years, Mom drove me to school. For a while we picked up a friend (Karl) and gave him a ride. Then for a short while a friend (Kevin) and his brother gave me a ride and eventually I was able to drive myself.

4. What kind of car did you have? A two-tone brown Chevrolet Malibu, which was owned by my grandparents. Right before I graduated I got a dark silver Chevrolet Corsica. (not a graduation present) That car was a piece of crap.

5. What kind of car do you have now? A Mercedes-Benz SLK350. Slight upgrade.

6. It's Friday night…where are you now? Watching TV or a movie with Tom while eating pizza.

7. It's Friday night…where were you then? If it was during the fall, I was at a football game.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? My first job, I worked at Captain D's. My sister was working there and got me a job. Then that job fizzled away and I eventually worked at Eckerd Drugs as a pharmacy clerk.

9. What kind of job do you do now? I am a graphic artist.

10. Were you a party animal? Definitely not.

11. Were you considered a flirt? Nope.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Yes, I was in band and I still play my french horn.

13. Were you a nerd? No, I wasn't smart enough to be considered a nerd.

14. Did you ever get suspended from school? Never. I was a good girl.

15. Can you sing the fight song? I can hum it and I can probably still play my part, but I don't know the words.

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher? Mr. Youmans (band), Mrs. Miller (english or speech?) and Mr. Scardo (french). Also Mr. Davis (Algebra), though I didn't do very well in his class.

17. Where did you sit during lunch? For the first three years I generally at lunch in or near the band room. My senior year I ate in the senior cafeteria.

18. What was your school’s full name? Titusville High School.

19. Where did you party the most? After football games we usually went to Howard Johnson's (Ho Jo's) or Village Inn. They were open late and were apparently extremely tolerant when it came to teenagers.

20. What was your school mascot? The terrier. Yes, a small yippy little dog.

21. Would you do it again? Go through high school again? Oh hell no!

22. Did you have fun at Prom? Not really. But my dress was very pretty.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? No. I don't have a clue where he is and I honestly don't want to know.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Definitely not. I went to my 20 year and while it was nice to see some people that I hadn't seen since graduation, overall it wasn't worth it. I'm not comfortable in social situations involving lots of people or people I don't know very well. Most of the time I didn't know what to say and I just felt very stupid and uncomfortable.

25. Do you still talk to people from school? Only a few. Actually, just Denise.

26. What are/were your school’s colors? Blue and Gold.

Cool…

The other Big Thing going on 'round here is our new air conditioning system. It was installed last week and so far is doing a great job. I don't know all the ins and outs, as that falls into Tom's realm and is too technical for me anyway. But it's a much more efficient system than our old one and I will reap the benefits once the new electric bills start coming in.

The system has a touch screen programmable thermostat. Tom had it all figured out the first day. On weekdays, he has it set to warm up a bit after we leave for work, start cooling down so that it will be comfortable when we come home and cool off a bit more when it's time for bed. Another good feature is the ability to control the humidity. That's pretty important here in wet, sticky Florida.

The company we chose appears to be top notch. We've been happy with them every step of the way. Yesterday, the owner and his wife came by to do a final walk through. It's their policy to always visit each homeowner and inspect the work that was done. They were impressed that Tom had the thermostat under control. Apparently, they usually spend a good bit of time going over how it works. That sort of thing is just second nature to Tom.

A stitch in time…

The stitches in my hand were removed yesterday. Hurray! Now I can wash my hand! It was getting very tiresome, working around the band-aid, trying to keep the stitches clean and dry. My hand is a little ouchy though. And I'm going to have to work on getting full range of motion. Curling my fingers down is working very well, but bending them back will take some concentrated effort. I also need to massage vitamin E oil into the scar, to keep the skin soft and pliable. It feels a bit tough right now.

Getting the stitches out wasn't exactly pleasant; a tug and a sting. Tom had warned me about that. He also offered to take them out for me as well. Uh, no thank you.

Tom's birthday weekend…

Tom's birthday weekend wasn't exactly an extravaganza. For one thing, he turned boring old 43. This was not a banner year, so less fanfare of course. But mostly because he made absolutely no plans. I couldn't even get him to choose a day or a restaurant for dinner with his family. We almost had to beat it out of him.

It's not that the weekend was bad, it just wasn't very special. Particularly yesterday. His birthday was yesterday, and he even got up early for baseball practice. I would have skipped that for sure.

* * *

Friday afternoon we met Alex and Jeanene for exercise along River Road. The guys rode their bikes while Jeanene and I walked. We kept up a brisk pace while chatting away and had quite a nice time. For once, I was glad to not be riding. It was super windy and who needs that kind of trouble? Tom, of course, loved it as he relishes the challenge. I swear there's something wrong with that boy.

We finished up at Riverfront Park, where Jeanene's parents, Clyde and Ann, were playing with Akiva. Then our whole group went to Dog's Family Sports Bar & Grill (just east of Walmart, in Merritt Island). Clyde wanted to watch the Miami/Florida basketball game. (He works at U of Miami and is a very avid watcher of their sports teams. They lost, by the way.) We all enjoyed typical sports bar food and Clyde arranged with the waitress to bring out a cake and embarrass Tom with singing and other hoopla. I know Tom's not at all into that sort of thing, but I think it was sweet of Clyde to think of it.

On Saturday, Tom and I spent the day together, just driving around and running various errands. The plan was to go to Longhorn for Tom's birthday dinner #1, but we were both tired from the driving and decided that pizza at home sounded much better.

While Tom was at baseball practice Sunday morning, I got to work on moving into the closet. My hand was doing really well and I had a surprising amount of energy. The project is still not complete, but I expect to have it all squared away by this weekend. I hope.

Tom's such a copycat, I swear. We met his family at Cracker Barrel for his official birthday dinner. He and I both had breakfast (surprise!). Then everyone came back to our house for spice cake cupcakes, Tom's favorite. Usually I make them to take somewhere and Tom is lucky if he gets two. This time, he can have as many as he wants. That makes for a happy birthday!

Catching up, part III…

My 40th Birthday Weekend Extravaganza turned out to be a lot of fun. And there was a surprise, too. No, not a party, but a surprise nonetheless.

Let me start with Friday afternoon. I had a pedicure right after work, and on my way home from the salon I was heading to Target when my cell rang. It was my sister, Ann, wanting to see how my weekend was shaping up. We chatted for a bit, until I had arrived at Target and was ready to head into the store.

Once home from Target, I was sifting through the mail (gift from Chris!) and the doorbell rang. When I opened the front door, Joy was standing there. As I opened the door to invite her in she said that she needed to get something from her car. She was back in seconds with Ann! She'd flown down from North Carolina for my birthday weekend!

The little tricksters had been sitting in Joy's car in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street, waiting and watching for my arrival. Ann's phone call had completely fooled me. I never would have guessed that she was just feet from my front door.

We ordered our favorite pizza and afterward had leftover Raspberry Elegance cake. So, while I didn't think there were any birthday related plans made for Friday, it turns out there were some after all.

* * *

Saturday morning I arose bright and early for the tennis tournament. I arrived at the park around 8:30 and though it was several hours before the picnic was to start, there was already quite a bit of activity. There were tents everywhere with people getting all sorts of things ready for guests. I wasn't able to have a look around though, because it was time to start warming up.

Our first match was against my original partner, Diane, and her son, Andrew. Well, my partner Miguel is an awesome player and we had them beat 8-0 (8 game pro set) in less than 30 minutes. I did contribute some, but the win was primarily due to Miguel. It happened so quickly, Tom missed the entire match. He and I sat together watching other matches for a few minutes, then decided to explore the park.

There were two large entertainment pavilions and a huge tent where the Sonny's Barbeque lunch would be set up. Numerous booths offered cotton candy (grabbed a bag of pink for myself), ice cream sandwiches, popcorn, hotdogs, snow cones, roasted corn, and more. There was a special area for the Chili Cook Off and an area for the Dessert Contest. We wandered over to the car show grounds, but Tom's dad hadn't yet arrived with his 1949 Plymouth.

Eventually we returned to the tennis courts and while we were watching a few of my friends play, Ann and Joy arrived, bringing Tom's dad with them. My personal cheering section was complete.

Then it was time for our second match. We were scheduled to play Billy and Jennifer, but Jennifer couldn't be there (I never found out why) and a stand-in had been found. She turned out to be a fairly strong player and despite Miguel's talent and skill, we were no match for them and ended up losing 8-4. That knocked us out of the finals.

So, tennis over for the day, my cheering section and I went in search of lunch. We loaded up plates with barbeque, found a beverage booth, selected a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our meal.

I went to the tennis tournament tent to find out who would be playing in the finals. Billy's team made it, of course and someone suggested that instead of the stand-in player, I should play as Billy's partner since I had been involved in the tournament from the start. Billy agreed sincerely, so I went back to inform my fans that I would indeed be playing in the finals after all.

I let Tom off the hook and told him he could go on home if he wanted. Naturally, he was relieved and left soon after. Ann, Joy and I wandered for a bit, checking out the scene and getting ice cream sandwiches for dessert. (the line for cotton candy was about a mile long, so I was glad I got mine that morning)

At last, it was time for finals. Billy and I were to play Walt and his teenage daughter, Elizabeth. They are both on the doubles league and play at Singleton on Saturdays too. I know and like them both very much. And Billy turned out to be a super guy so the finals were fun and much more relaxed than the earlier two matches. Billy and I fought hard and came back from a few early losses, but we couldn't quite come up with the goods. Walt and Elizabeth won 8-6.

As much as I'd rather have won, after seeing how proud young Elizabeth was with her trophy, I think it turned out for the best.

Billy, Amy, Miguel, Elizabeth and Walt.

* * *

Joy, Dean, Ann, Tom and I went out for my official birthday dinner that evening. We went to Shells, one of my absolute favorite restaurants, and I had my usual shrimp and pasta dish. It's always wonderful. After dinner we all went back to Joy's house for cake and presents. The girls had gotten me a chocolate version of the raspberry cake. Also delicious.

* * *

Sunday morning came much too soon. Tom and I had gotten home so late Saturday night, then lost an hour due to the time change. Getting up early to go mountain biking at Santos didn't sound like a great idea any more. But we already had arranged to meet friends at the trail, so we drug ourselves ourselves out of bed and got ourselves ready and packed for the road trip. It takes about two hours to get to the Santos Trailhead in Belleview (near Ocala) and we ended up being about 30 minutes late.

We rode for a few hours, but I have to admit, I wasn't having a very good day. Perhaps the Birthday Curse got in my head. Or it could have been the lack of sleep and too much excitement on Saturday. At any rate, I simply didn't have the energy for it. I wasn't riding well and I wasn't riding fast. It was a bit of a bummer after driving so far.

On the way home, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and had breakfast for my real birthday dinner. Not that I'm complaining - I love breakfast at Cracker Barrel and generally order the same thing every time I'm at the restaurant. Oh, I also got a cute brown shirt that says: Forget Love, I'd Rather Fall in Chocolate.

* * *

I got to sleep in on Monday as I had already scheduled a vacation day. My big plans were to take everything out of the master closet and then paint the walls a medium gray. This turned out to be a bit more of a chore than I had counted on. It took me forever just to remove all of the contents. I called Tom and cried to him about the problem and he promised to help me when he got home from work.

I went to Lowe's and bought paint and other supplies. Once Tom got home he removed the leftover shelving from the walls for me. I patched holes and taped and prepped the area. Tom rolled the walls while I did the edges and corners. The work was finally done around 9:30 that night. (this included a break to eat dinner and watch Chuck)

And thus concludes the 40th Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

Catching up, part II…

Since the closet installation happened immediately after the hand surgery, and is being greatly affected by said surgery, I will chat about that next. (Birthday Weekend Extravaganza coming soon)

I was told that the installer would arrive between 9:00 and 11:00. He arrived at 10:59. But since I was home recuperating anyway, it didn't make any difference to me. It was a one-man show, which surprised me a little, but he was so capable and energetic, any worry was instantly laid to rest.

Having worked as a Closet Factory installer for over five years, he assured me that it wouldn't bother him if I watched him work. I've been rather enthralled with the whole closet design business and this was just another interesting part of the process.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch much. The Darvocet reaction started up and I found myself too nauseated to hang around for long. Sadly, I moved to the couch in the spare bedroom and lay there feeling horrible. After about an hour I started to feel like I could move around again so I went back to see what progress had been made.

All the wall panels were up and attached. It was really beginning to look like something. While I watched, the hamper and drawers were installed on my side. He had just started to work on Tom's wire baskets when the Darvocet struck again and I had to go lay down. Needless to say, I really didn't enjoy my stay at home day recuperating.

It was nearly 4:00 when the closet installation was completed. And I have to say, I think it's beautiful.

Unfortunately, with my hand sore and bandaged up, I haven't been able to fully move into the closet. Most of my hanging clothes have been brought in and some shoes have been placed, but that's about all. Maybe this weekend my hand will be up to the task.

Left is Tom's side and right is mine. We will be sharing some of the shelves on the back diagonal wall. The really large bottom drawer is actually a hamper. The drawer tilts down and there's a removable wire basket to collect the dirty clothes. Notice how the painted walls look more blue than gray. That was not the intention. But I'd better decide to like it, because it's not going to change now.

Catching up, part I…

So much has happened since my last post. Well actually, just three major things, now that I think about it:

1. Birthday
2. Surgery
3. Closet

Because the surgery has kept me from posting, I'll write about that first.

I was told not to eat or drink anything after 12:00 the night before my procedure. Ack! I was to arrive at the surgery center at 2:30 pm, so that was a long wait. No coffee, no breakfast, no lunch. Did I mention no coffee? So I slept late that morning and tried to keep busy, cleaning the bathroom and stuff so that I wouldn't think so much about food. And coffee.

Finally! Arrived at the surgery center to be told that the doctor was running a bit behind. About an hour behind. Oh well. My stomach had given up long ago so I settled in to wait. I was called to the pre-op area fairly quickly though. Tom opted to stay in the lobby as he doesn't relish watching anyone else having procedures done. Despite the fact that he pretty much does his own procedures on a regular basis. He once drilled a hole in his own toenail to relieve the pressure after smashing it.

In the pre-op area I was told to strip down to my undies and was given a lovely blue and white checked hospital gown to wear. All this for my pinky finger? So, I did and was soon chatting with a nurse while having my vitals taken. This is when the sad truth came out. Because I was only electing local anesthesia, the No Food No Drink rule didn't apply. How sad is that? She felt really bad for me and gave me an apple juice to sip on. At this point, Tom was brought back to join me. Since it was going to be at least another hour, he might as well hang out with me than sit alone in the lobby.

Finally! It was time, and I was wheeled back to an operating room. The whole scenario was a lot more serious and real than I had expected. Somehow I was imagining an examination style room and sitting in a chair watching my hand get cut open. This was not how it turned out.

I was told to lay on a table with a pillow for my head and another for my legs. There was a perpendicular table on the right for my arm to stretch out on. A gloved and masked nurse painted my entire arm with a terribly sticky yellow substance, electrodes were stuck to my chest and side, then a huge blue tent was placed over me so I couldn't see a thing that the doctor did to my hand. Perhaps that was a good thing.

Overall, I'm glad I chose the local anesthesia, but when the doctor gave me a shot to numb my hand, I almost came off the table. It was, without a doubt, the worst pain I have ever experienced. But soon the shot had done its job and I couldn't really feel anything. Some tugging and pulling sensations, but no pain. The procedure didn't take long, maybe ten minutes. Then the electrodes were removed, the tent was taken down, and I was helped to a sitting position. My well wrapped hand greatly resembled a paw and would turn out to be about as useful.

Immediately after leaving the surgery center, Tom took me to mall so that I could get my free birthday ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. I got my usual: chocolate and cake batter ice cream with caramel and strawberries in a waffle cone.

So what has transpired since the surgery? Well, turns out I have reactions to Darvocet. First it nauseated me, then it caused me to break out in a rash. My right arm and my neck are itchy and bumpy. I quit taking the pain meds, but the rash hasn't quite left.

Speaking of left, my left hand got sick of doing everything and was planning a mutiny, but the huge bandage was removed on Monday and now the right hand is starting to pitch in again. Slowly and painfully, but it gets better each day. The left hand has decided to stay.

I get the stitches out on Monday, so I still have to keep the surgical site clean and dry. But I can get a rubber glove on now so showering and washing my hair is so much better. Now if I could just get that yellow sticky stuff off!

Next up: The Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

For your viewing pleasure, my hand after the bandage was removed:

Checking in…

My trigger finger surgery went well, but typing is still difficult. I'll try and catch up on everything when my hand is feeling better.

Still celebrating…

Day 2 isn't really about my birthday. But I'm wearing the new earrings and partaking of celebratory leftovers, so it's not exactly an average day. I also spent part of the morning picking up shiny bits of confetti piece by piece so they wouldn't kill Rosemary's vacuum cleaner.

There's nothing particularly "birthday-ish" going on tonight either. I'm having a pedicure right after work, now that warmer weather is arriving and sandal season is upon us. On the way home I'll stop by Target to get a few necessary items. And likely a few unnecessary ones as well. Tom and I will have our usual pizza, though I think I'm going to continue throwing the diet to the wind and order it with sausage and dip the crusts in ranch dressing.

Then early to bed so I will be bright and alert and ready for tomorrow's tennis tournament.

To tell you the truth, I'm nervous about the tournament. I'm afraid I'm going to make a fool of myself and embarrass Tom. I've always been sort of awkward and goofy. And the last time I attended the Saturday round robin one of the men asked me how long I had studied ballet.

Uh, never. Seriously?

He said that I did little moves and made little gestures on court… Just what that means, I really don't know but how embarrassing! Naturally, I've been a bit self-conscious lately. Tuesday night I noticed that I fumbled the ball a lot while trying to pick it up and I do kind of skip around a bit. Bah.

Then again, other than family and friends of the players, I doubt anyone else is going to be paying any attention to the tennis matches. So maybe it won't be so bad.

* * *

Joy and I had a good time last night, going to retrieve my earrings. We really didn't do much shopping, but we had dinner in the food court and got Dark Chocolate Raspberry Chocolixirs from Godiva. On our way out through Nordstrom, we stopped in the makeup department and that ended up being fun. My quest for a good lip conditioner turned into a makeover at the Mac counter.

Actually, Joy might not have had fun, but I had fun. I adore makeovers of any kind and I'm such a sucker for new makeup. I kept the spending down to a minimum and only purchased the lip conditioner, a blush, an eye shadow and an eye shadow brush.

It has just occurred to me that being such a Mac Girl, I should be wearing Mac makeup!