Friday, July 25, 2008

exhausted

Last night was just a terrible night at work. We had a call in and not much coverage for the sick person, which meant I had to literally do the work of two people. Throw in the hospital computers going down for three hours for scheduled maintenance, and it being the end of the week so I was worn out anyway...and it was just a terrible night.

I am paying the price today with stress diarrhea.

I had been planning on going to the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens today to experiment with the macro setting of my digital camera, but I do not want to get far away from a bathroom. Which is really too bad, as wandering amongst the flower gardens and greenhouses would have been really relaxing (which is exactly what I need today).

Hopefully  I will feel better tomorrow for the Tigers game...

 

Monday, July 21, 2008

a bit under the weather

Dan, Bill, and I have all been a bit under the weather the last few days. Steven has thankfully been spared.

Given the turmoil in my guts I will let you imagine why I was running into the bathroom at work about every 15-20 minutes for awhile at work last night. YUCK!

Well, maybe the butt scope and finding out what is wrong might not be so bad after all? As long as they find something that is easily treatable?

It is supposed to storm all afternoon, but at least that should break the heat. We should go from the nineties to the much more normal and pleasant seventies once the storms come through.


Tags:

Friday, July 18, 2008

losing weight

When I had my checkup last month, they told me I had lost over thirty pounds since my checkup the year before. In fact, I think I have lost some more weight since then.

I think it is because of the problems with my guts.

Nevertheless, yesterday I wore a shirt I have not been able to wear since before I got pregnant with my younger son - who will be 16 this coming fall.

One good thing about bad guts, I guess!

Monday, July 14, 2008

the dreaded butt scope! oh no!

I had to go to the ER with bloody diarrhea back in March; my butt has bled on a near daily basis since. When I went to the doctor for my yearly GYN exam in June I brought up the continuing butt issues. They cannot tell why my butt has been bleeding, and decided that I need an endoscopy.

Now I dread this thing. Dan hates tattoos, but if I were to ever get one, it would be of an "Exit Only" sign on my butt!

When I dropped Mr. Grinch as a friend a couple of years ago, I got stress diarrhea almost every day between February and December. I did not go to the doctor about it because I did not want a butt scope.

But it is time. Time to put on my big girl panties - er  make that- time to take off my big girl panties - and have this done. My guts - and butt - have not been right for far too long and it is time to find out what is wrong.

The butt scope is scheduled for the first week in August. I will get a four day weekend out of it, but I sincerely doubt I will enjoy and part of it.

 

Amazon Vine

I got an email asking me to join the Amazon Vine program.

Apparently, it is a program where they give you an occasional free book or the like (it looks like the limit is one per month) as long as you agree to review it.

They give you a list of things to choose from, then mail you the item for free.

I do not think that you have to pick an item in months that you are busy or where nothing looks appealing to you.

I decided to give it a try and chose a book about a town in New Jersey that has a lot of championship Little League baseball teams. Since one of my own children does one of his sports on an elite national level (or at least he did as a middle schooler) I thought it would be interesting to see if other families/children in other sports would compare to some of the things we have done/seen over the years. I also thought that Dan would read that particular book.

So we will see how this goes...

the death of Sparty

When my father died, four years ago in January, we got his truck keys (and his truck). He had a little plastic Sparty (Michigan State mascot) doll on the key ring. The kids decided then and there to destroy the little thing.

On the return trip from Arkansas when we cleaned out his little house, we stopped at a ginormous fireworks place called Boomland to the south of greater St. Louis. We normally do not stop at places like that, but a friend begged me to pick up some fireworks for him that are illegal here in Michigan.

We picked up some small fireworks for ourselves.

The kids lost Sparty, and I have not felt up to having fireworks - until this year.

And I found Sparty in the bottom of the fireworks bag!

So we taped Sparty to the top of a stack of magic ropes, and lit them all at once.

Can you say toasted marshmallow????

Hilarious!

 

Fourth of July weekend

The Fourth of July was on a Friday this year, which gave most people a three day weekend, though I only had my usual Friday and Saturday off. I am not complaining, though, as I got holiday pay (double time) for working Sunday!

We had had bad storms on a nearly daily basis working up to the holiday weekend, so it was a huge relief to have beautiful sunny weather for the weekend!

So we did yard work for three days!

Yes, I know - we are remarkably boring people!

We weeded and thinned out flower beds, and Dan built some stone retaining walls across a flower bed on a hill.

The work needed doing...but...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Road Trip of Your Life

The Road Trip of Your Life
You see life as precious and special. Heritage and family are very important to you.

You live a life of leisure. You take your time in every aspect of life and enjoy it to the fullest.

You're willing to take a few risks in life. You may not take the road no one travels, but you're happy to take the road less traveled.

You are able to find a fairly healthy balance between work and play. You work when you need to, but you never let yourself burn out.

You could have owned an indie bookstore or boutique in another life.


Or share this Blogthing with a direct link:

http://www.blogthings.com/theroadtriptest/

Tigers vs. Rockies

A couple of weeks ago we went to Comerica Park on a rainy Saturday night to watch our beloved sucky team, the Detroit Tigers, play the defending national League champion Colorado Rockies. Well, they suck against AL teams, which is unfortunate as we belong to the AL, but usually rock against NL teams!

After a great meal at Cheli's Chili Bar, we found our infield box seats, and hoped like heck it would not storm! We were under a severe thunderstorm watch the entire night...

Justin Verlander was the starting pitcher that night. Something is going on with him this season, and no one seems to quite know what it is. The kid is still pitching well enough to win most of his starts - many of his losses have come when the team did not give him any run support, and he cannot be blamed for them. His record is much worse than his actual performance says it should be. All that said, something is still off with him. While he is letting very few runs score in the games he pitches, he is throwing way too many pitches, and usually cannot get beyond the sixth or at most seventh inning. The game we saw was one of those games. He did a good job in letting few runs in, but threw a ton of pitches.

And he should have been the winning pitcher - except that out closer, Todd Jones, blew the save.

Luckily, Cabrera actually earned some of his huge salary that night, and won it in the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk off hit for the Tigers.

Some highlights and lowlights:

Our former Dark Lord of the Sith, Jason Grilli, pitched for the Rockies for one lights out inning. He rarely pitched like that for our team - he was a terrible pitcher for us - and was roundly booed for his effort.

One of the people sitting in front of us works for the Rockies, and was wearing his NL championship ring. I have never seen such a huge hunk of precious metals and diamonds on a human hand in my life! LOL!!!!

The rain held off until the ninth inning, and the heavy rain held off until we were driving home on the freeway.

One of the fireworks misfired and slammed into the windows of the high cost luxury restaurant in the stadium!

 

cheli's chili bar

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica park.

We went to a restaurant we've been wanting to go to for quite a long time - Cheli's Chili Bar - which is right across a side street from the stadium.

http://www.chelischili.com

The restaurant is owned by Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings, and is a sports bar as well as a restaurant. Jerseys and banners of teams Chelios has played for hang from the walls and ceiling, including NHL All Star teams.

Now then, there is something very special about a great sports bar next to a great stadium. As an example of this, you can look at the Cubby Bear Lounge, right across the street from Wrigley Field in Chicago. I love the Cubby Bear! A simple menu of basic food, very well prepared, and it is wonderful to sit up on the second floor and watch the crowds gather at the stadium before the baseball game.

I was hoping Cheli's Chili Bar would be just such a place, and I was not disappointed. Great sports bar, with a menu of well prepared and simple bar food such as sandwiches and the like (the waffle fries might well be the best french fries I have ever had in my life), with a great view of Comerica Park and the gathering crowds near the stadium from the windows on the second floor.

Like the Cubby Bear, there can be quite a wait for a table before game time, so you want to get there early! We got to Cheli's about two hours before game time, and found an hour wait for a table. they took our cell phone number, and called us when the table was ready, so we could wander freely about the area of the stadium. We were finished eating and in our seats at Comerica just before the opening pitch of the game.

I highly recommend Cheli's Chili Bar before a baseball game at Comerica!

Tigers woes against non-NL teams continue

I wonder how many quality starts which should have been wins will be destroyed single handedly by Tigers relief pitcher Fernando Rodney before they actually do something about it. If there was a projectile vomiting smilie, I would be using it right now, after last night's game with the Mariners. :gag: :box:

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

what sort of weather are you?

You Are Lightning
Beautiful yet dangerous
People will stop and watch you when you appear
Even though you're capable of random violence

You are best known for: your power

Your dominant state: performing

http://www.blogthings.com/whattypeofweatherareyouquiz/

 

I actually cannot imagine anything more opposite than what I am! LOL!!!!!!!!!!