My little place on the world wide web to speak my mind or vent about my day....or whatever...Please feel free to leave comments when you come by...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
My Pontiac Finally Bit The Dust...
If you are a regular reader of my blog....or if you know me personally you know that I have been driving a Pontiac Montana for the last 6 years. When I first bought the vehicle it was beautiful, and I loved it..it was the best of the best as far as minivans went at that time..power sliding doors, drop down TV for the kids the whole nine yards....
Well...after the fiasco that happened on the way to Austin this past weekend with the power steering pully and assembly falling off the vehicle and losing the serpentine belt we got it fixed....then the very next day the engine nearly caught on fire taking the kids to school...the repair place said it would cost a small fortune to repair so we decided to plug up the holes that were leaking and take it to trade it in....
Today I am the proud owner of a 2004 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer Edition. It is white with tan running boards, and tan leather interior. Heated and cooled leather driver and passenger seats. Power brake and gas pedals(adjustable). 6 disc in dash CD player with Sirius Sattelite radio and premium sound system. DVD player in the back for the kids, power folding third row seat, and a sunroof. Oh and this neat reverse sensing system that tells you if you are about to back into something...it's really cool. I am quite possibly in heaven. It has to be one of the most beautiful vehicles I have driven. And I got a GREAT deal on it...
The only major drawback is the gas mileage...but since I hardly go anywhere anyways except to take the kids to and from school and to the store I won't be using that much gas anyways...I rarely even leave conroe to run errands.
Sure...there were other vehicles on the lot....that had less bells and whistles and were cheaper...but...I figured I deserved to drive something that I would actually like since I would be making payments on it...made sense to me...
So...Rest in peace old pontiac...I will not miss you...
We decided at about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon to go to Austin.....so at about 5pm we left headed to Austin to go and see Split Lip Rayfield play their last show in Austin ever for their farewell tour since one of the members has terminal cancer...we had to pick up R's Hubby and Jade on the way and take them with us since R had decided that if nobody else could make up their mind on whether they were going or not she would leave us all behind and go on her own...I don't wanna go into it here except to say...hmm that's weird..
So we were on the road headed to Austin when this really awful storm came upon us...high winds, lightning, the whole nine yards...I even think I heard some hail hitting the car but I can't be sure...
So we get an hour from the house in a town called Steadham outside of Navasota TX.....when the entire powersteering assembly and pully falls off of the van...yes you read that right...FALLS OFF!!!!(Oh and we lost the entire serpentine belt too) which means that we are driving in the dark..in a storm..with no power steering on a curvy ass country road in the middle of nowhere....and since there was no belt the alternator was not charging the battery so we nearly lost the headlights before we found a gas station to pull into...it was really terrifying...
So we are stuck in the middle of nowhere.....and Bart remembers that one of his good friends has a large flatbed truck(big flatbed heavy duty towtruck that is) so he calls him in on a favor....this amazing friend goes to our house, picks up my husband's huge Dodge Hemi truck on his flatbed....brings it to us and switches it out for the broke down van and drops the broke down van off at the repair shop for us...
We made it to Austin at 11:45pm right as Split Lip Rayfield was about to go on stage....
It was an awesome show...I only wish I had gotten there earlier so I could have seen the White Ghost Shivers..
All in all it was a good night...we got to the hotel at about 4am..slept until 7:30 and hauled ass back home to get the kids....
As a matter of fact the van has already been repaired and I have it back...and it was under 300 bucks to fix...
The repair man did tell me however that he had never seen anything like that happen...to a minivan and suggested that I take it to the nearest dealership and trade it in before something else more important falls off going down the road..LOL..
Maybe I will take his advice on that..maybe I will..
I just got home from picking Max up from the vet...
Did I ever tell you Max's full name?
Maximus Decimus Meridius....The Gladiator Kitty...
He has truly lived up to his name...and by now he is certainly down to like two or three lives left....
I have to have SEVERAL litterboxes around the house now due to the fact that his bladder is weak now from all of the procedures he has had done to his little body over the past couple of days...and now he is on this expensive ass cat food that you can only get by prescription(which he doesn't like)...and I have to give him two pills a day probably for the rest of his life...and everyone knows how fun it is to get a pill down a cat's throat...
And let's not even discuss how much I have spent at the vet this month between him and the other mama cat that got kittens stuck giving birth....let's just say...it was well over a grand...yep a thousand dollars for some damn cats...but they were so worth it..
But the important thing is that he is alive and well...and he is home...and I am sooo happy..
I have been on Wellbutrin for close to 3 weeks now...
I thought this stuff was supposed to be an anti depressant.....if it is working...then why am I so depressed today??
Hmm, Let me see.....I got a call from my stepfather this morning at 7:15 from Rome, Italy that he couldn't find my mother and she had not arrived on the shuttle to the hotel from the airport....so naturally I panicked and started trying to find out about her flight and if she had been on it....so for like 2 hours I thought my mother was missing in another country....not good..but she is fine..I called him and he said she had just gotten there..WHEW!!
And then there is my poor kitty cat Max, who is in the kitty hospital....yesterday he was crying a lot and having problems with urination...and the small amount he could go had blood in it...so I rushed him to the vet who told me that he was very sick, had high fever, and a bad infection...and he had a 30% chance of survival...*sigh*
What else could go wrong??
I swear I cannot take one more tradgedy...if my cat doesn't make it they might as well bury me right with him...
I just talked to Bart and he said he would be open to going to Burning Man...but he wants me to get a few camping trips under my belt first..(I have NEVER been camping for real before..so that might be a good idea before I take on several days in a desert..)
It might not be next september that we get to go...but it is within my 5 year plan....plus I have to come up with some type of artform to contribute to the burningman community...
The 2007 theme is The Green Man....obviously an environmental theme...which totally excites me...I would love to build some type of art car thingy that is solar powered to take out there to ride around on...or some type of piece of art with lots of flashing lights on it that are all solar powered....more to come on that...I am still brainstorming it...
I have been doing some research on where I want Bart and I to go on our next road trip that is just the two of us...I want it to be somewhere where anything goes, there is no judgement, there is art, passion, happiness, excitement, and just awesomeness....
I finally found the place....Burning Man...
This is a festival that takes place in September every year in the desert of Nevada...from what I understand people who go and survive it come away from it awakened in their souls and spirits....that is exactly what I need...
It is definitely not a journey for the faint of heart....conditions in the desert are extreme...sometimes dipping below freezing at night, and temps over 100 degrees during the day...with high winds and sandstorms popping up out of nowhere with winds in excess of 40 miles an hour....
You HAVE to bring EVERYTHING you may need to survive with you to the camp.food, water, clothing, first aid supplies, etc. ...RV's are allowed..which is the only way I could do it..but the idea of it sounds amazing....dancing all night....art..fire...it's all there...
I am off to do more research and try to find a way to make it happen...I hope Bart will go for it cause this is totally NOT his thing....maybe he will do it just for me...LOL
So today is my Dad's Birthday....He would have been 58 today if he were still with us..Sadly though he passed away two years ago. I have never felt whole again since that day..
For those of you who are lucky enough to have both of your parents still with you PLEASE treasure them as long as you have them...because once they are gone you will never have the chance again to tell them how much you love them...or what they meant to you...
So last night I was invited to a birthday party at a friends house....her kid was turning 8 and our kids are friends so I figured I would go...
Let me fill in with a little background on this story so you will understand where I am coming from:
R: This is a girl I have known for about 4 years...In the beginning we were inseperable friends...but then she became a raging alcoholic, and her marriage started to fall apart...and she stopped giving a shit about anyone but herself...so naturally we grew apart because I am the complete opposite of that...I am very focused when it comes to my kids, and marriage...and as of lately I don't drink at all..so every conversation we have had over the last year has centered around her getting her "freedom" so that she can "follow her dreams" since she has been caged and held back for so long by her kids and family....(sounds like a fucking nut doesn't she??)
Rose: This is a girl I just met for the first time last night who as far as I can tell is a cleaner(Read: showers every day) version of R. Still an alcoholic due to the large amounts of Jagerbombs(A shot of Jager with a small cup of red bull, and positively nasty if you ask me)that she did last night..but let me get to the story now that you have all of that..
SO....I arrived at R's house last night at around I would say 5pm...the kids started to play and everything was groovy...then this girl Rose comes out and starts talking to me...I had dressed for comfort in my favorite black stretch gauchos and a tye dye shirt so I thought I was relatively cute...my hair was in a ponytail but I had no makeup...I knew it was going to be hot so what was the point?? So about an hour into our conversation Rose looks at me and starts telling me about how I should go lay in a tanning bed and tan since "she could tell I didn't feel beautiful"......
WHAT THE FUCK??? What did she say??
I don't feel beautiful?
How could you tell that just by looking?? And by the way....I don't need to fake bake and wear padded push up bras to feel beautiful...beauty comes from within....at least that's what I always thought...
So needless to say I avoided miss Rose the cunt the rest of the evening...
And as soon as we went home I cried in the bathroom for an hour...
Bart..My husband says it's silly that I let that bitch get to me....but let's face it..I do not have the greatest self esteeem...and it took a serious blow last night...
Why would a complete stranger say something like that to me??
Anyways....I think I am pretty well done with R too...her and Rose did about 12 Jagerbombs and dumped all the kids on me to watch while they went down to the garage to smoke....I guess I got singled out to be the responsible one since I was sober...
Oh well...story of my life I guess...the ugly responsible girl...*sigh*
When did I become the frumpy, serious, sensitive girl...?
Last night around 9pm my cat Prissy went into labor. She insisted on being on top of me through most of the first kitten's birth...almost like she was afraid of what was happening to her body or something...it's ok...it was fine with me...she got into her birthing basket right before the first kitten was born..a solid white kitten with no tail..so adorable..but the strange part is that when it was out the cat didn't do ANYTHING....she didn't go to try to break the sack, or do anything with it at all. Thank God I had read and printed all of the information I did online over the last couple of weeks to prepare for this event. I instantly knew what to do...I gently broke open the sack....wiped the kitten with a damp warm rag, to stimulate it's breathing reflex until it made it's first cry..then...after the placenta was delivered I tied off the cord, and clipped it, dried it some more and handed it over to mama cat.
Kittens two through four were delivered mostly the same exact way, I had to clean them and clip the cords before she would have anything to do with them.
Kitten number 5 was not so lucky...he was obviously larger than the other 4, and he was back legs first(breech I think) and by the time his entire hindquarters were out his bag had been busted for more than 10 minutes, not good..I pulled gently to try to help her but it was no use...so then I made a call to the local Animal Emergency Clinic to see what they thought I should do...naturally they wanted me to bring her in to see what was going on...
So I loaded her up in the van and hauled ass to the clinic...at 3:15 in the morning...They instantly told me that she was in grave danger....so they took her in the back and removed the kitten....it had not survived...then they did an Xray to see how many more there were and we discovered there were two more but the doppler that they used to check for heartbeats only found one so we knew one of the other kittens was already gone too.
Next they gave her a shot of OXYTOCIN...to stimulate her labor because she was not doing like she was supposed to..and within an hour she had delivered the other two kittens...which one of them didn't make it...and the other had to be cleaned before she would have anything to do with it...
We got home at 6:30 this morning...I still have not been to bed...I am sooo exhausted...
The vet told me that the mother and all of the kittens would have died if I had not stayed with her through her labor...she simply would have let them suffocate in their sacks after birth...so sad...but apparently common with first time mommies..If I had not taken her in to the vet when I did she would have ruptured her uterus trying to deliver that kitten..and would have bled to death internally and I would have been left with 4 kittens to bottlefeed...and a broken heart...Damn...I'm so glad I was here for her...
Anyways...I am slightly delirious right now due to lack of sleep...so I am going to post a pic of mom and babies and go on my merry way to rest for awhile... Cat
So I decided yesterday I had had quite enough of laying around being unproductive and decided it was time to take this freakin cast off and get back to life.....I mean really...my foot didn't hurt that badly anymore and the cast was actually causing me more discomfort than not having it at all...So my girlfriend took me to CVS(pharmacy) and I got three different ankle support braces to try out at home....then we came home and I braced up...I have a brace with metal suports in the sides with a lighter support brace under it.with a thin ace bandage under that around the center of my foot.....seems to work just fine and I can fit a tennis shoe over it..(YAY!!)
So today I am cruisin around the house catching up on Laundry and housework and I feel SO MUCH BETTER!! I HATE laying around...I would be really screwed if I ever really injured myself and HAD to lay around..I would lose my mind...
I do however have a slight limp, but I can manage to sweep and vacuum and do general cleaning and laundry and cooking just fine..(which I am sure Bart is thankful for)....
I am going to give it another week before I attempt to get on the treadmill again...and I certainly won't be up to running again for awhile...but I am hoping to be able to at least power-walk....
Today I am going to bust out the dumbells and do some upperbody lifting...and abdominal work...I just wish I could do cardio...maybe I could go to the gym and ride the recumbent bike?? We'll see..
So yesterday Bart and I went to the new Quiznos by our house...
On the way out I managed to trip on an uneven piece of the pavement and fall on my shoulder, face, and palms of my hands...my palms are now black and blue, my top lip is split(thank God my teeth are ok)..I have a skinned up right knee, and I managed to tear all of the ligaments and tendons in my left ankle and foot....VERY PAINFUL...
So I am in a removable Cast now...Who knows how long I will be down with this...doctor says no weight on it for two weeks...stay on the crutches..HA!! Does he not know I have 3 little boys?? I already got up last night and made dinner...How's that for Supermom??
Here's my Cast..
So basically I am supposed to lay around for a few weeks...Today was the first day and it's already old... Obviously I won't be blogging much because there won't be much to blog about..LOL So...Just wanted to let ya know.. Cat
I had family in town this weekend....It was good to see everyone..
Saturday night we all went out to dinner and had mexican food, Sunday morning we went swimming at the hotel and then to lunch....it was a really good visit..
Today is day 4 on the Wellbutrin XL. For some reason today it didn't feel the same as the other days I have been on it...I do know that I am now an EXTREME LIGHTWEIGHT when it comets to Alcohol. I had 1 rum and coke last night and was pretty toasty....and today I actually had a hangover..from ONE DRINK!! So...Maybe that's the reason it didn't feel the same today as it has the past few days...
I think next time I get a script I am going to ask for the Wellbutrin XL 300Mg. I am taking the 150 right now and if they make me feel this great....I can only imagine what it will be like on 300....at least that's my opinion...
It was a good weekend...but I am glad tomorrow the kids go back to school and I am going to the Gym as soon as they are gone...I figure it's a good day to get started back on all of that again...
So today I took the wellbutrin with some food as usual....
Within 30 minutes I felt like I had done a BIG hit of speed....it was kinda awesome actually...now I feel good, and there is no nausea today...no dizziness, and no vision disturbance either...just this good energized feeling....
The other thing I noticed is that nothing tastes like it used to...my coffee this morning was fine but the cigarettes, and everything else taste like crap...even minty gum tastes bad....but....maybe this will curb my eating some...makes no sense to eat chocolate and ice cream if it tates like ass...right??
I have gotten so much done today....I told Bart these were my Superwoman pills...as long as this keeps up I won't have any trouble working out or getting things done because it is hard to sit still for long...
So...Off I go again like a blur to get some more stuff done..
So I started my first dose of Wellbutrin XL today....I did like it said and took with with some food so it wouldn't upset my stomach....well it did fine...that is...until I ate lunch..
Now I am teetering between nausea and this weird crampy feeling in my stomach....the nausea is never bad enough that I actually feel like I am going to ralph but it's there nonetheless...
I also have the other weird side effect of slight dizziness everyonce in a while and a little vision disturbance...weird but not bad enough to make me not take the stuff...
You see...I REALLY wanna quit smoking for good this time...so my doc told me to take this stuff for two weeks to let it build up it's levels in my system and then go on the patch....and most people I have talked to say this stuff has the added benefit of helping you lose weight(mainly because everything you put in your mouth tastes like ass..including cigarettes)....and supposedly it can make you REALLY HORNY!! Now that' wouldn't be a bad side effect would it?? I guess unless you were a monk or priest..LOL
So...I am almost at the end of day one and other than the slight twinges of nausea and dizziness so far so good....
So I am off in a few to go and get the boys and then I am home to clean some more since I am having company tomorrow afternoon...Peace Out..
Cat
Here is a really good site about Wellbutrin that I found...Click Here
