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.