My day with 3 beauties...

You may remember how I told you all mom wanted for her birthday was to 'spend time with her kids'.  (Sigh.) And you may also remember how since I'm not a selfish, spoiled brat at ALL I'm a giver - I decided for HER birthday to make her go with me to see something I wanted to see - the Princess Diana exhibit.  

It's in the Frazier History Museum & it's there until January if you think you might like to see it.  We walked through the museum for a bit before we entered the exhibit.  That part was boring to me - there were like mid-evil suits of armor there & other American history stuff that I didn't care about.  But mom enjoyed it...& it was HER birthday gift after all...

When you enter the Diana exhibit, once you leave - that's it.  No re-entries.  I was uber pissed to discover you could not take pictures inside.  UBER.  I'm normally a rule follower - but when it comes to Princess Diana all rules are OFF.  I decided right then & there I would just sneak pics with my phone.  Hmph.

As soon as you walk into the exhibit there was one of her tiara's in a glass case.  It was amazing.  I couldn't take a pic of it because the narc ticket lady was right there.   It sparkled & shined like nothing I've seen before.  I would totally wear it...everyday...

You go through a room all about Diana's youth.  There were knick-knacks & toys from her childhood.  Ya'll   have met me - I'm impatient so I would read the little plaques & be ready to move on.  No staring at the display for DAYS.  Mom, well - she's a starer.  Sigh. 

As you walk down another corridor it showed pics of her & Charles together & talked about their engagement.  Then, you turn & THIS is what you are looking at.  The first beauty of my day:

I was in HEAVEN.  There was a video on the wall showing clips from her wedding day & playing music.

There weren't a lot of people in the exhibit so mom watched the door for me to make sure I wouldn't get caught.  They had her shoes, earrings, an umbrella because it was suppose to rain & the bridesmaid dress.

The train was so long...it goes beyond what I could get being all the way backed against the wall.

Again, they had small mementos placed around the room... & it was at this point I saw a security camera in the corner of the wall... uh oh.  (I justified my breaking of the rules decided because I didn't get thrown out that the camera was only there to make sure no one messed with her dress.)

As you walked into the next room you could hear the song Elton John sang at her funeral playing.  Inside that room was a large screen showing clips from her funeral & her brothers eulogy to her on the wall.  There was also a program from her funeral service.  I couldn't get any pics there because there were other people around & some lady from the exhibit walking around.  That's when I thought they had probably seen me on the camera sneaking pics & were trying to have her catch me to throw me out.  Yea, like that was gonna happen...

There were other rooms filled with information about her charitable causes.  She did a lot of good work for a LOT of people.  She was the first public figure to shake the hand of a person with Aids in public.  

One of the last rooms was filled with her dresses.  Her son, Prince William (you know, my boyfriend...), had  convinced her to auction some of her most famous ones off for charity the spring before she died but there were still some left to display.

They had the dress on a mannequin & then some had the picture from where she wore it behind it.  This black dress was the last thing she wore for a public appearance before she died.  Like I said, I was sneaking to take pics...

The last room was for condolence books.  I can't even begin to tell you how many books they had.  One of them they had opened was written in Japanese.

Later that evening, I took my little theater monster to see the 2nd beauty of my day, Beauty & the Beast, at the Kentucky Center for the arts.  It was just 'ok' in my opinion.  It's not a "Wicked" or "Phantom of the Opera" or anything but it was cute.  There were lots of little girls there in the poofy dresses & tiaras.

My third beauty of the day was the theater monster herself, Shauna.  We had a good time (like always, duh) & we've already planned our next adventure!  We're going to take her daughter to see the Nutcracker in December.  I told ya I created a monster... 

Flashback Friday

This edition of Flaaaaashback Friday is courtesy of my mother.  She had some old newspapers she had saved EONS ago at the house for me Monday.  (Yea, I did not get her sentiment gene....I save nothing...) & one of the dates on the papers coincides with right now & voila, a blog post was born.

Today we're gonna talk about Marching Band.  Yea, yea - you can call me a band geek if you want...but if you do - I will totally block your ass from reading ever again...   Banders is what everyone called us to our faces in school.  I was in band from 6th grade until I graduated.  I played the flute mostly & my senior year I got promoted to piccolo.  I can't tell you how AWESOME it was to only carry around the piccolo rather than that big 'ole long flute.

I went to North Harrison High School & graduated in 1994.  Seems like yesterday...NOT eighteen (cough) years ago... wow.

Do ya'll remember how when you got your senior yearbook it was a year behind?  And how you had to go back to school AFTER you graduated to get your book?!  Well, B-rad & I were dating & he was a senior & since I was WAY too cool to go back to school & he was there - he picked it up for me. 

 Imagine my displeaseure when the name I mom paid EXTRA for looked like this:  Agony...

Ok, back to the band.  I LOVED being in band.  It was SO much hard work, but we had SO much fun.  This will really make me sound old, but we had just good 'ole fashion FUN, ya know?  We didn't drink (at least MY friends didn't), we didn't smoke, we didn't do drugs & we didn't get into trouble.  We just loved to hang out & have a great time.  We took trips together too.  My sophomore year we went to the Smoky Mountains.  Of course, we had to perform while we were there.  I am the 2nd flute player from the right.  Check out that my toe is UP & my flute is pretty straight across.  Signs of a good awesome bander!

My junior year was about the time I also came out of that horrible shell I was stuck in most my life.  

  Flirting was my friend...

 No boy was immune...

Even boys that were friends with my brother...

I dated none of these boys...

I'm not sure if that sounds good or bad?  

Eh, who cares?  I was flirty, fun, talkative & HAPPY.

My senior year we took a trip to Florida.  We went to MGM & performed there.  We went to a waterpark one day & these hottie lifeguards were there.  Notice me in the back as close as humanly possible to the hottie on the right?  

I'm proud sad to tell you that if memory serves, it was MY idea to get this pic.  I just made these gals get up there with me, you know - so it didn't look so obvious that I was in love.

I had a LOT of fun with these gals right here.  We were always together.  I was a senior & they were freshman.  I could drive & they could not so that gave me extra cool points.   We went to ball games together & the cool thing to do back then was to go to Pizza Hut after the games to hang out.  (It was the only restaurant in Corydon back then.)

(Marcia you HAVE to remember me calling to beg if Alicia could go too?!  I will never, ever forget doing that nearly every Friday night!)

 So one of the newspapers mom had saved for me was from 1992.  And it was an article about our marching band performing at the state competition.  

 The date was October 28, 1992.  I said, 'Wow - 10 years ago... crazy...'  

Mom said, "UHM - isn't that 20 years ago?"  

No, it surely does not feel like 20 years ago.  Holy crap.

 Let me paint a picture for you - making it to state is the pinnacle of a season for a marching band.  Our band hadn't been there in a LOOOOOONG time.  I will never forget it - we were at regional competition & our band director did NOT allow us to go bat shit crazy when we won stuff.  We were to stand at attention.  (We were a class act, people.)  And stand at attention we did every competition we won.  At regional they announce who qualified for state in order of your performance.  We had performed like 2nd or 3rd so we were gonna know pretty fast what our fate was.  

We were the Marching Cougars & we stood in those bleachers at attention.... & the announcer started reading names...then we heard, 'THE MARCHING COOO" & that was it.  We never even head the 'UGARS'  We knew.  And we went bat.shit.crazy.  

(it brings tears to my eyes remember how excited we were.)

Although it seemed like mere seconds that we were all hugging & crying & being bat shit crazy, when we looked up - we saw other bands charging the field that had made it.  It was over - & we had made it.  

We went to Indianapolis to the RCA Dome to compete.  A funny thing I read in the article was about hash marks.  If you don't know anything about marching band, we use the yard lines & hash marks on the football field to know our positions while we're performing.  On all our fields, they were WHITE.  At the RCA dome - they were yellow.  This is a cute paragraph about our director trying to calm our nerves.

Our theme that year was West Side Story & at the end we made a heart formation.  

Yea, it's not perfect, I know....

(Colts fan - how cool is this?  I.WAS.ON.THAT.FIELD!!)

I'm on the top of the heart on the right around the 40ish yard mark...somewhere...

 We placed 8th in our class that year.  My senior year we really, really hoped we'd make it, but sadly we did not qualify for state.  Tear.  It was truly heartbreaking.  The Marching Cougars did, however, go on to qualify for state 10 times from 1997 to 2006.  And twice, they WON.   What an accomplishment!

Those band uniforms SUCKED OUT LOUD.  Totally uncomfortable AND not flattering at all.  I'm the 4th chick from the right.  Next to the band director.  I promise, I didn't flirt with him...

 

This is why it doesn't pay for me to be nice.

I've told ya'll numerous times of my love for animals - furry, cute ones - not slimy gross ones.  

And surely you remember how that since we live in the country sometimes people either dump their animals because they suck or don't feed & take care of the ones they have because they suck?

Daisy is the neighbors dog at the bottom of the hill.  She's been with us off & on (more on) for years. She's a sweet, sweet dog.  She has trouble walking so I was giving her a baby aspirin everyday.

 I have even converted our front porch into dog central.  She was too big for the little house we bought her so we got her another one.  And these things aren't cheap, people.  I even put old blankets in it to keep her warm.  

Even my fancy wicker furniture has been converted into nothing more than a dog bed.  Yes, the blankets are dirty & gross... I'm not putting them in MY washing machine.  I gotta draw the line somewhere, people.

 

And you may remember back this spring me blogging about the new puppies that came to visit.  ALSO belonging to my piece of shit neighbors.  They were thin & starving... & I fed them...  This guy was so little & cute...

And that cute, little guy has grown into this:

He's so freakin' big I had NO idea he was the puppy from this summer... but B-rad assures me he is.  And lets face it - he's smarter at this kinda thing than I am.  

(And if you're wondering why in every picture you see me petting them - if I didn't, they would be going bat shit crazy & all the pics would be blurry.  They LOVE to be petted.)

 And although I tout myself on being a heartless bitch, I just CANNOT NOT feed them when they look like this:  

 The black puppy (yes, they're both PUPPIES) has been coming around too, I'm sure he's from the same litter - we've just never seen him before.  They eat like there's no tomorrow, but their tails are ALWAYS wagging.  You can see how blurry they are in the pic.  They are VERY good dogs for being starved.  I can take those bowls of food away & they will not try to hurt me.   The food all over the porch is because they get so excited they knock the food bowl out of my hand.

 We are going through a 10lb of dog food a week.  And yes, that sucks... but look.at.that.face.

The only other complaint I have about them is that they bark all.night.long sometimes.  Like they see & hear stuff in the field...& they bark... & they stand at the corner of the house to bark.  And guess whose bed is at the corner of the house?  UHM, yea - this is a problem....  

It's not unlikely to hear me scream, "SHUT UP" at all hours of the night.

But recently there has been another complaint...  these PUPPIES like to chew stuff.  And their items of choice have been the landscaping lights... 

 Yea, they turn up all over the yard.  Sometimes they are salvageable...sometimes they are chewed beyond recognition.  I give them chew bones...but I never see them chew on THEM.

Friday when I came home from work, I was greeted with a food dish in the driveway.  They had been doing that too - taking their food bowls into the yard...

 And then I saw 2 MORE food bowls behind the house PLUS my watering can.  Sigh.

 I wasn't feeling well so I picked up the food bowls (because they were going to be hungry after their big adventure of taking bowls all over the yard...) & when I went out front to feed them I saw this:

 Those little bastards cute, adorable, emaciated puppies had drug the blankets I put out for their warmth into the yard & proceeded to TEAR the stuffing out of them... & the stuffing was spread all over the yard.

Well, I obviously was THRILLED by this, but again - I wasn't feeling well so I just put the blanket back up on the porch & planned to pick up the stuff this weekend.  When I went out Saturday morning to feed them...the blanket was BACK in the yard - torn up even worse than before.  Awesome.

 On Sunday - I walked the yard picking up landscape lights, blankets, stuffing, 20oz plastic bottles & even B-rad's toboggan.  I told him even HE wasn't immune from the reign of terror... I threw away the blankets that had stuffing torn out of them too.

But lets be honest - who ELSE does stuff like this happen too?  I buy them food, try to make sure they're warm & THIS is how they re-pay me.  Hmph.  Truly being a heartless bitch would come in handy right about now...

Flashback Friday

It's been a little over a year since dad got hit by a truck.  Yea, like he really got hit by a truck.  You can read about it here if you have forgotten.  Our plane from Hawaii landed at 11am on Monday, October 10th & he was hit around noon.  Talk about a welcome home....

You may remember the pics from the er....

Yea, he was pretty banged up.  

(by the way my nails were painted black for Halloween by ME.  How much nicer are they now that I pay someone to do it?!)

After he was released from the hospital he spent a couple of weeks in rehab...

One night they let the community bring their kiddos in to trick or treat.  He really acted like he enjoyed that.

Also-loyal stalkers will remember the drama that went down when he came home from rehab.  He was a royal dick to me.  If you've forgotten, you can read it here.  There is a disclaimer at the beginning, but I will give you another one.  It's quite an angry post...I was quite angry.... 

(have ya'll noticed a pattern here?  Most the time I'm a perfectly happy, level headed kinda gal...but when I get pushed to my breaking point & get really pissed...I get REALLY pissed... can you say 'thanks dad, for the temper?'  Hmph.)

If you're wondering how dad is doing after he told me how he should've DIED... He walks around town just like he did before.  However, he does walk with a bit of a limp now.  

His life is worth living again since it's election time.  He thrives on that stuff.  He has been campaigning hot & heavy for Shellie Yoder.  Honestly, I have no clue WHAT she's running for.  Congress, maybe?   He has stickers on his truck & a sign in his yard.  He tells me every.single.day he sees me , "Jaime, honey (that's what he says when he's buttering me up...) be sure & vote for Shellie Yoder'.  

His proudest life achievement (no, having 2 kids is NOT it) was getting his picture taken with her when she came to the range where he shoots skeet.

The pics were on facebook (or spacebook, as he calls it) & he was the happiest I've ever seen him.  He told me 9,000 times that he, "had his picture taken with Shellie Yoder.  AND it's on spacebook!"  

But lets be honest, she's a pretty, pretty gal.  There are LOTS of pics of her on spacebook with all kinds of guys.  She's working the vote, I'll give her that!  I would never have MY pic taken with her though...she would take away from my awesomeness & I just can't have that.

In which I bore you with my blindness

My right eye started hurting Sunday when I put my contacts in.  It wasn't red or pink & it didn't really hurt - it was just annoying.  Which sometimes is worse that hurting.  It kept 'running' (gag) even after I took my lenses out & when I woke up Monday & Tuesday it was matted shut.  (double gag.)  I always remember my mom telling me, "You DON'T want to mess with your eyes!" so I called the doctor Tuesday morning.  

They got me in that day.  I was crossing my fingers & toes that it was pink eye & get me a 'day off work' free card.  Sadly - it was not the elusive pink eye...it was an allergic reaction.  Sigh.  She put the yellow dye in it & looked all around & said I had red, inflamed bumps on the bottom of the inside of my eyelid.  Awesome.   She gave me some steroid & anti-biotic drops so I don't get a bacterial infection.  AND she told me I had to come back Thursday for a check up... & no contacts until then.  Sigh....  

(She did NOT mention no eye liner, mascara or make-up - thank Gawd....)

So, I've told ya'll I'm blind.  Like seriously.  B-rad loves to laugh at me when I don't have my glasses on & have to get right up on something to see it.  They don't even register me on the 20/20 scale.  They rate me by how many feet away I can see fingers.  Nice.  

When I have no assistance from glasses or contacts, this is how close I have to be to the mirror to see clearly.  I put my hand beside my face so you can see JUST how close it is.

 Here I am with my lovely drops...This is how close I have to be to read it.... 

 B-rad also loves to make fun of how thick my glasses are.... he says I could burn bugs in the sun with them.

 If it's not fun enough taking a shower blind, drying my hair blind (I hit my glasses with my brush & it's just not worth it), but it's the MOST fun finding & applying my make-up blind.  I realized how close the damn bag was to my face this morning when I was digging through it for my eyeliner that the Doctor did NOT tell me I couldn't use.   Imagine how fun it is to apply said eyeliner when my face is so close to the mirror. 

 The end of the eyeliner hits the mirror... a lot...

 It never gets old hearing 5,000 times a day, "Why are you wearing your glasses?"  

Some of you (Alicia) may be wondering why I just don't get Lasik?  If only it were that simple...
I went to a consultation for Lasik a few years ago.  One doctor said no problem but the other said that the traditional Lasik wouldn't work for me.  My corneas are not flat & have some high areas so they won't actual cut my cornea & flap it over.  He said they would put a solution on my eyes to dissolve my cornea (gross) & then do the laser procedure.  But since I would have no cornea flap to lay back over, I would have to wear special contacts for a week or so until my cornea re-healed itself.  That procedure is a bit more painful than Lasik AND it could take like up to 6 months for my vision to be the best it will be.  

Sigh, nothing is ever easy.  

I probably need to go get another consultation done since one said yay & one said nay...you know, as a tie breaker...