Poolie Sent Me

Yes she did, indeed.  I'd pretty much given up on this whole blog thing, but it does still haunt me  I mean, the urge is still there.......is there a Viagra for blogging???  Hahahaha  Maybe now that I'm getting close to the end of some rough times, I can find more upbeat things to write about.  I felt that all my posts have become negative, but my life has been pretty damn negative for quite some time.  That is simply the way of it!

I do have some upcoming events that will certainly put a positive spin on things and I do need to write about them, right??

First up is my trip to San Diego next month, to spend a week with Poolie and Terri T.  It's been 2 years since we were last together and it's high time to meet up again! 

After that, I will be going to Alaska for a month. Leaving April 20th and returning May 23rd.  I totally can't wait for that!!!  There will be love and hugs and roller derby and fun and movies and fun food and roller derby and hugs and more love and more roller derby and exciting stuff!!!!!!!!


And THEN, on June 11th, I will have my long awaited surgery.  Bionic hip #2 and after my recovery from that, I am hoping and praying and wishing for a far better quality of life than I have had in 3 years!  Or has it been 4???  Too freakin long, that's for damn sure!

So, this is a start.......I will elaborate more on those things and other stuff as well, in the days to come.  I have lots of Roller Derby news and pictures to share.....and I'm sure I'll come up with other things.....I just know it.  And I need to do some new pictures and some tidying up around this here blog page, too.  See ya soon!

Bless Me Blog-Father...

for I have sinned.  It has been 2 months and one week since my last confession blog entry.  I haven't even been reading any!  Just an occasional peek at a few.  Blogging just doesn't hold my interest like it once did.  I try really, REALLY hard and I do think about it a great deal, but never quite make it here.  So many of my old blog buddies don't write any more and some of them are on FaceBook, so we keep in touch there.  That's not the same.  FB is a whole different ball of wax and shouldn't replace blogging, by any means. 

So, I'm here today but might not be here again for quite awhile.  Who knows.My life is so helter skelter.  I have no real (or reasonable) routine and it's hard for me to function and accomplish much of anything this way.  But I can't seem to find my groove.  And every time I try to establish some sort of routine to my days, if it gets interrupted, I get all flustered or even resentful of the intrusion.  Like....what the hell does it matter?!?  I'm hopeless. LOL

I do have some amazingly good news to share! Which is one reason I have been drawn to my blog. I am getting together with  2 of my bestest buddies in the whole wide world in March!!  My Senior Moments, Terri T and I will be flying to San Diego to spend a week with Poolie!  We met in the World of Blog and have had several get-togethers.  Always an adventure and always great fun.  I can't wait to spend time with them and I can't wait to just get away from it all for a few days! 

I will also be heading to Alaska for a month at the end of April or first part of May.  Haven't got that pin pointed yet, as it is pending pinning down the dates of a trip Chuck will be taking in the spring.  He'll be going to Wyoming with Dixie.  A guy he knows has a cattle ranch there and he wants to be in on Spring Round-up and Branding.  If he had a bucket list, I guess doing something like this would be right at the top, so good for him :).  I'm just enjoying a peaceful easy feeling of knowing that he doesn't mind my month long trip to Alaska again.  Last year was so awesome and this year will be even better! 

I think for now, I need to get off of here and go to some X-Mas decorating and stuff.  Chuck has been busy all week getting ready to have Dixie and her buggy in a local Christmas parade and so he only got all my decorations out today.  Puts me a bit behind schedule for trying to get my X-Mas spirit mustered up, but better late than never!  TTFN, if anyone is out there!  LOL

Election Day in Alaska

Today is a big day for my family.  My awesome SIL, Michael is running for a second term for Borough Assembly.  Here's one of his ads.  I love that he is so well spoken, but then he wouldn't have been so successful in the radio industry if he wasn't, and certainly wouldn't have his own radio talk shows!  And that lovely voice at the end of the ad?  Yep.  My lovely daughter, Terri, who also has a great radio voice and used to do a lot of ads :)
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2257025436426

Hope that link works okay so you can see/listen.  His opponent is  a lawyer that is a serious snark.  He even had a newspaper ad that stated one of the reasons to vote for him is because 'he is NOT Michael Dukes'.  He has taken pot shots at Michael because of his size as well as his adamant support of the 2nd Amendment.  Like either one of those things has anything to do with the local Borough government.  He's a low life scum.  Michael will win by a landslide.  Heh.

At 6:30 AM Alaska time, I sent Michael a text to wish him luck and let me know how many points he wins by.  LOL  He texted me back and said he & his supporters were already on downtown street corners waving signs.  Gonna be along day.....for all of us.  Sure wish I was there to help!  I would keep the donuts and muffins coming and the Lattes and Sludge Cups flowing. 

There is always something exciting going on with my wonderful Alaskan family.  Riley got herself new skates.  Custom ordered.

I am LOVIN the green wheels, but the main 'custom' part is the pink leather.  Pink and black are the team colors.  She saved her tips for EVer so she could order these, bless her heart!  Some of her team mates have this brand and others are drooling :).  Regardless, she got them on Friday and has been counting the minutes until derby practice Tuesday PM so she can seriously get her skate on with these new babies!!  Like her Mama said.....it must be as exciting as waiting to drive ones new car.  Hee hee.

I've had a couple people mention problems with my comments.  I wonder what's up with that?? Let me know if it continues to be an issue {via FB or email.  Time to run errands so I can get home and knit :)

Why Do I Need a Title???

It's so friggin' hot here. Still. And more triple digits predicted for next week.  We need rain SO bad!  Our lawn and the pasture is so dead and dry that even Gus, our Cocker Spaniel, leaves a little cloud of dust behind him when he trots across the pasture!  You should see the cloud of dust the horses raise!!

In this shot, you can see how badly poor Gus needs a hair cut, and I took this a couple weeks ago, so you can imagine his hairy curly self now.  Also alot less green on the ground than that now, as well.

He does get to go to the groomers tomorrow, now that I can get out and about, so he'll be all sleek and fast and COOLER!

I'm happy to say that my hip is feeling great, most of the time.  It even feels normal.  Sure wish I could act and move like it's normal.  sigh..... It's really hard to keep myself from just 'doing things' when it feels normal.  But I'm not all healed yet and it's not ready to have me do all this normal stuff like bending or sitting comfortably or dancing thru the living room to the Boondock Saints theme song.  Sucks, I tell ya'!  But I try to stay focused and I improvise a LOT.  I just wish I had longer toes so it would be easier to pick up stuff that I drop.  hee hee

We've got 2 birthdays coming up this week.  My 2 baby boys, Tim and Xander!  Tim will be 11 on the 3rd and Xander will be 6 on the 5th!

Here's a great shot Terri got of them yesterday with a couple of Storm Troopers at AlaskaLand.  Pretty awesome huh?

So funny....Terri said to Xander "they look pretty scary....what if Darth Vader is near by".  Xander replied, "Mom, they're just guys in suits."  He's just so damn logical all the time, I told her she mayhaps should have named him "Spock".  LOL

Oh, yeah....an update on our toilet disaster the other day......they are fixed and all is well, however we now need to replace the ceiling in the Living Room.  I am so thankful I am married to a Contractor that has spent his whole life doing such things!  I figure it will only take him 2 or 3 years to get around to it. :-p

Time in a Bubble

Well, the time has come for Chuck to either put me in a bubble or lock me in my room.  My COBRA health insurance expired on July 21st and I am not eligible for any other health insurance coverage until April 2012.  8 or 9 months with NO coverage.  Pretty scary.  Especially since the 4 prescriptions that I take tally up to about $900 a month without insurance.  That alone is enough to make me need to double up on 2 or 3 of them!  LOL  God forbid that I have any illness or injury that requires much medical attention.  That's a long time to hold my breath and keep my fingers crossed.

Oh, yeah.....and the new deal about how insurance companies can't deny you because of "pre-existing conditions"?  Well guess what?  They have a way around that.  Surprised?  Not me.  I was denied by several companies because of "height, weight, blood pressure and age".  I know that it's pretty sad that I didn't lose 10 or 20 pounds for each of the 4" in height that I lost because of my back issues and subsequent surgery.  It's also sad that I have had high blood pressure forEVer, but it is perfectly controlled by one itty bitty pill I take every day, and I am certainly not clear on why it's not okay to be my height and weight with controlled blood pressure at age 59....but hey, what do I know?!

One insurance agent told me about something Arkansas has called State Pool Insurance and they will provide medical insurance to anyone that has been denied insurance coverage for any reason.  It's great......but the premiums are out of this world, with astronomical deductibles etc..  So we've decided to wing it and hope for the best!  Then in April I will be eligible for Medicare through my Social Security.....BUT, I won't be able to get any supplemental insurance to go with my Medicare until I'm 65!  What a mess.

This also means that my left hip better hold up better than my right one did, for another year!  I won't even be able to get injections in my left hip to carry me over, cuz I believe they are about $1,000 plus a pop.  Ah, well......hopefully it won't be an issue.  This is something I must maintain positive thoughts on!!

Yesterday was the Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks and my girls, The Midnight Sun Roller Girlz, were in the parade!  They all looked awesome (from the photos I have seen), but my Riley (Boom-Dot Saint) was looking especially SaSSy!  And it was reported that she was SUPER sassy and showing off some trick skating for the crowd.  How I wish I coulda been there!

Golden Days is a really big deal in Fairbanks that entails a week long celebration of the discovery of gold by Felix Pedro in 1902.  Everyone gets involved one way or another and it's great fun for all!  I'm so glad that they had such great weather and a nice sunny beautiful day for the parade this year! :).  I was trying to find a good link to the parade so you could see some of what it's like, but didn't have much luck.  I'll wait and post some pictures that the girlz took, I guess!  They should be good, good stuff!