Family Reunion-2009

Well, another family reunion is in the books for those on my mothers side. Although, before attending this annual event, I had my doubts on arriving in a timely fashion. It goes something like this:
I was awoken this morning around 0400 hours by a God-awful odor; in the beginning, the smell had some similarities to when my sewer backed up 2 years ago (to the day!). I spent most of the morning fiddling around, trying to figure out where the stench was coming from; for the most part, it appeared to me it was indeed coming from the hole I have in the basement floor. I tried to go back to bed; however, I felt myself getting lightheaded, almost to the point of experiencing a syncopal episode. Thankfully, my cat was in the bed with me, misbehaving as he always does, keeping me awake. I laid back down for an hour or so, and decided that perhaps maybe I should get up while I am still able to. I took a shower; after the shower, the sulfurous odor noted to dissisipate. "Ok, fine. Thats all taken care of," I muttered to myself as I armed the house and left. Of course, as I went down my street, I sensed I had forgotten something, so, going against my grandma's saying "Its bad luck to turn around," I made a u turn at the car wash at the end of Francis and went back home to gather my things. As I opened the door, the odor had returned, only this time, it was more potent so to say, once again almost causing me to pass out. I hurriedly got my things and once again left. As I turned unto 496 to pick up 127 south, my mind was racing back and forth, thinking horrible thoughts, including the notion that I could very well come home and find my house imploded because of some unknown reason. I drive over to the Okemos Road exit, purchase my daily Starbucks and head back in the direction towards home; and instead of picking up 127 south, I thought perhaps I might want to go back home and call Consumers Energy just to be on the safe side. The gas company was called; they told me to have myself and anyone else (including the cat) wait outdoors until they arrived to assess for any indication of a gas leak. I run back into the house (yes RUN) pick up Brock, run downstairs and stuff him in his cat carrier, run back outside and sit on the tailgate of the truck. After about, oh, 15", Consumers arrives and checks everything out-thankfully, no natural gas leaks were found; only sewer gas from a dried up hole in the bottom of the basement floor. The service tech was very nice, he even suggested I add some water to the hole and kindly reminded me it should probably have water in it to prevent future occurences; I felt silly, yet at the same time, one can never be too safe or sorry for that matter. After all of this, I was on my merry way to my sister katy's house-my mom, my brother, my sister and I rode in her Mustang with the flap down. It was great, however, it would have been a little more enjoyable if the weather were warmer. Unfortunately, we could not ride with it down on the way back home as it was storming:(
Of course, my other sister and her husband got into an argument about piddly little things-I seriously thought a fist fight was going to break out; on that same note, my sister just needs not to laugh when her husband is pissed-I think she enjoys watching him throw a temper tantrum. I am still trying to figure out what it is they see in each other; they have 2 kids whom I dearly love, but aside from that, eh, who really knows.

R Hip pain, hopefully resolved.....

For those who may not know this, I have been battling some R hip pain for the last 3 months. I really dont recall doing anything to injure it, so I figured I would just sorta let it be. Well, the let it be eventually evolved into a trip to the orthopeadic surgeon over at MSU sports med. Come to find out, I have a severe R greater trocanter bursitis. I had a cortisone injection today; immediately, it began to feel more like normal again-I could flex/extend pronate/supinate my hip without wincing in pain (lidocaine, gotta love it.) Of course, now that the anesthesia is wearing off, I am starting to experience pain yet again, only this time, its not so much the hip, rather its were the needle was placed for the injection. As much as I hate to say this, I am going to try and take it easy this weekend. That means that the lawn will not get mowed and a few other things will not get done, however, my body needs rest-(as I choke to get that out; hell I dont ever rest and for those who know me, it will more than likely destroy me somehow). What to do what to do-quite honestly, I feel myself getting bored already. This is going to be a loooonnnngg and painful weekend. And, if the cortisone does not work, I need to follow up and go from there; which in my book, typically involves some sort of treaded surgical procedure. I can hope and pray this works. If I werent so damn stubborn, I would not have gotten to this point. Its the Irish blood in me, that is for sure.....

3 day holiday weekend

I never thought I would ever see this day come! I have a 3 day holiday weekend on the account that the branch of our office is closed for the 4th of July. Needless to say, today can be categorized in "just another lazy day." I, myself, did not get up until a little before 0900; had the "I-slept-too-long-headache" to prove it for most of the day. I made my usual coffee run and came back home and mowed the grass considering it was getting to be rather thick and weedy. After that, I will admit, I did mostly nothing. The weather is a mix between clouds and sun and the temps are a wee bit milder than what they should be this time of year. Right now, I am just killing time, piddling around on the computer. Oh, I did shell out $149 to have an animal control person come out to the house to set up a live trap seems how, once again, I have large woodchuck camping out underneath the cement slab out back. I seriously thought the damn thing up and died; well eh, not the case. I was fiddling around in the kitchen last week, when I happened to look out the window; there set this overgrown woodchuck. If I had a rifle, I'd kill the thing myself. But, seems how I live in the city, I dont imagine they would appreciate that too much; hence the reasoning for bringing in the pros.
I am glad the weekend came early; this work week has been very bizarre. I am still trying to figure out why all of the sudden some of my employees are taking it upon themselves to begin to defy authority and/or miss pertinent information about a particular case. My favorite is when they decide to work on their days off and not let anyone know. Talk about screwing up schedules! The last thing I want is a bunch of overworked and burned out nurses. I as well as anyone, know that does not help our patients any.
I have decided to stay home for the 4th. A little unusual for me, but it would be nice to just stay home for once. I may meander down to the capitol for this so called tea party and join the rest of my protesting friends. The tenative plan at this juncture in time is to come home from my appts later on this afternoon, fire up the grill and cook my pork tenderloin; the best part about this is I can nuke it in the microwave tomorrow and not have to worry about taking an extended amount of time out of my day to cook. My sister really wanted me to go to the 4th of July parade with her down in Gregory, but, I had to decline this offer. I am staying home this year; if that makes me a party pooper so be it.
For all the rest of you, have a safe and happy 4th of July.

No happy medium...

Well, I think I can offically state that summer in the Midwest has arrived. We have had 3-4 days in a row where the temp has peaked well past the 80F mark. Factor that in with the humidity and you literally get one hot mess. I was pretty fortunate up until about 2 days ago as I have 2 very large trees that extend well beyond the roof top. Then, yesterday, after I returned home from work, the house was noted to be a sweltering 90F. Sleeping at night was no picnic so to speak; I had to dig out the little fan and set it beside my bed just to comfortably get to sleep. Yesterday, in an effort to attempt to cool the house down, I brought it out in the living room. Needless to say, it really did not help much; I might as well have been lying outdoors. So, at the last minute, I decided to purchase an oscillating fan from Wally world today. I think my cat has finallygot settled down and I think I figured out why he was meowing all this while; his poor little body cannot tolerate the heat. At this juncture in time, he is sound asleep in his fave chair all sprawled out (yes, I made sure he was still breathing; I can see his ribs expand and collapse with each breath). So, I vainly put yet another $50 dollars on my credit card that I am trying to pay off just so the 2 of us can rest without having to soak the bed in sweat. I am amazed at how much it feels better in here! Ironically, its too damn cold in the winter and too damn hot in the summer; we have no happy medium here!
And stupid me, I go for yet another bike ride around the block in this heat. My goal is to gradually increase this distance once I get attuned to that routine (which, if my calculations are correct, it should not be too much longer). Then, I can bike over to East Lansing and who knows, maybe one of these days I could ride my bike into work (oh, hmmm....that may not work too well seems how I go for a Starbucks run each morning over at Meijer; I am sure with my strategic little mind, I could devise a plan to make that work; my God, I am a nurse, I should be able to figure something out:)
Glad tomorrow is Friday; ready for the weekend already. Have an open house to go to in Adrian; really worried my mom is going to start a fight with my grandma and cousin about her moving into my grandma's house and my grandma moving into her house. As I have said before, I understand why she did it, but I dont neccesarily agree with it.
Until next time....

Just another tequila Tuesday

well, not really. But I do have to admit, it sounded pretty good. Today was a rather fun filled day for me, the cat and the house. The house should be thankful seems how I had the electrical system upgraded, a task I have been meaning to do the last 4 years I have lived in this house. I went from a piddly 60 amp box to an official code box of 100 amp. I should rest a little easier knowing that this was done; I won't rest completely though, until the bare wires that hang overhead are taken down and new, insulated ones are put up. The electrician states that in order for the new wires to be replaced, the meter box and the service I had done today have to pass an inspection with the city. At first, (and who knows what I was thinking; perhaps I had too little caffeine in my system) I thought he was going to take care of the whole kit and caboodle. Then he mentioned something along the lines of "oh it has to be inspected, then they will take care of the outside wires." Which, I guess, in my mind does make sense.....why hang new wires on something that failed to pass inspection?
As for the cat, well, about all I have to say is he really did not like having a stranger in the house. Nor did he like having my grandparents come to visit (odd, seems how that is where he came from). Brock spent the entire day, get this, underneath the bathtub. I just about panicked when I could not find him, thinking that the back door was left open and he made his getaway. Come to find out, he came out from under the tub while my grandma was getting her clothes changed. I think he may have startled her a little bit; the only thing she said was, "I'll be damned, I think I found the cat!" After the grandparents left, all he did was meow a panicked meow, like when i load him up and take him to the vet. The only thing I can think of is he remembers the scent of their farm and smells them literally on the furniture and the carpet (assuming that is possible)
And, last but not least, ME. Spent the entire afternoon and evening with the g-parents. They can make anyone's bad day turn into a good day with the little things they say and do. Needless to say, after spending a nice chunk of change to get the electric fixed, we all needed it. Like the chiropractor said in that dinner we went to, laughter is indeed the best medicine:)

I come from a long line of hunters, deal with it

I just spent the last 45 minutes sparring back and forth with a girl I graduated HS school with about the right to keep and bear arms on FB. Appearently, she thinks we need to have an overabundance of Bambi and that we should not kill these "poor helpless little animals because if you do that, you will separate them from their family." Oh please! hunting is essence to the food chain-its been that way for the last 1000 years. Believe me, when that dirty little bastard of a deer totaled out my car (which was paid off four months prior), I was out for blood. What about the crops of the farmers in this neck of the woods? I know a good many people who have lost a pretty penny because of crop damage secondary to deer and/or other wildlife destroying their crops. Oh but God forbid we do anything to control this population. Lets just let them mate and mate until the entire planet is covered with and overran by animals. Sure, but not in this chicks family...
She was also pissing and moaning about how I need to "be more feminine." Oh puke-this is the 21st century-once a tomboy always a tomboy. You dont like it,too bad. Remove me from your FB friends, but remember this, you exacerbated the entire situation. All I said was how it would be nice to go hunting and camping and you slandered me, by calling me a crazy wildwoman. I asked her pointblank what would she have to say if I told her I was a transgender; ironically, that question was evaded. She was more consumed with going to the supermarket to buy meat. Um hello! Those animals live in substandard conditions, conditions that go far beyond inhumane. They eat their own feces and participate in cannibalism. Its called MEGAFARMS and believe me, we have our fair share over this way. I can say this much, you would never survive in this house. I am who I am, like it or not. I got so aggrevated, I think my blood pressure skyrocketed to the point of being dangerous. If you cant take the heat, then get out of the kitchen so they say. Just remember this, YOU started it and exacerbated it to the point of being ridiculous. You will never step on my toes, not in this house-remember that too

The Weekend

Well, another Father's Day is in the books. For the most part, things went very smoothly on the McGauley side of the family tree, although this morning, I thought for sure we would be contending with WW III. Thankfully, every one was on their best behavior and no disputes broke out. I am still disappointed that Ingham County decided to pave the road I grew up on. I drove down Baseline Road yesterday and today and found myself to be very appalled at the notion they would even consider removing all but a handful of trees. Seriously, trees are good for us; they have chlorophyl and if my memory serves me correctly, they also have a function in the oxygen/carbon dioxide chain. As I was driving yesterday, I felt as though I was making a trek out in a foriegn land; the trees by my great grandmothers house are gone as are the trees we used to have in our own front yard. For a moment, I had to ask myself if I were literally on the right road to make it back to my destination. Those trees have a lot of good memories wrapped up in their history; not just my own, but my family. All I can say is, my dad should be all set with firewood for quite a long time......