Vacation Friday

Woohoo! It's vacation Friday. The Friday before vacation begins. We've got a busy weekend ahead of us prepping and packing for our trip. We'll be leaving about 3:00 am Monday morning. While I'm super excited about the trip, I'm bummed that I didn't get my Durango back in time.

I called the dealership yesterday to find out if by some miracle I'd have my car today. I was informed that they had gotten the instrument cluster panel in, however the part was bad. So now they are waiting on a new part to come in. Hopefully one that works! I have no clue as to when they might receive the part, because once again the payment for the part must be approved for by the government.

Another vacation bummer - I didn't lose the 10 pounds I had hoped for. I did however lose enough weight to be back where I was before Ruben's mom came, so that's the bright side of it all. In truth it's all my own fault. My friend Arlene, whom I was walking regularly with had surgery on the 10th and has been on rest orders. I should have pushed myself to go alone, but it's just not the same. Hopefully when I return on the 8th we will begin our walks again. God knows that after Disney I will need to do something, cause they just have way too many yummy treats there to be good and stick to a "diet".

Was yesterday not a completely devastating day? The mass coverage of Michael Jackson's death practically took down the web. The whole ordeal completely overshadowed the death of Farrah Faucet! It was madness. I was waiting at the pharmacy when I read reports of his cardiac arrest on Twitter. Before TMZ confirmed his death, I was on the phone telling Ruben I thought he was dead. The fact that he wasn't breathing when the ambulance was called, and that a photog was threatened when trying to get a picture of him being rolled into the hospital, told me that things were real bad.
If you're on Twitter, did you catch all the RT's of the shameful post Perez Hilton made about Jackson before he found out the entertainer had died? Once it was official, Perez had removed the post. You can see a screen shot of it here. I swear Perez is a douce bag. There is a petition going around to remove Perez Hilton as Teen Choice 2009 Nominee. You can sign it here. Nobody who posts the content he does, nor uses the hateful words he spews, should be considered for an award at a show aimed at kids. HE IS NOT A ROLE MODEL! There are a few other petitions going around calling for his site to be shut down and such. Check out the article from Hollyscoop.

Right now I'm waiting for the press conference from the coroner's office to begin. E! News has a live feed going, but it looks like it might be awhile before we get the results of his autopsy, as the conference has been delayed again for another 2 hours.
I've been paying bills and taking care of other business online while I waited. While on vacation, I don't want to have to get online cause I have to. I'll only do it if I want to, and have the down time to do so. Likely, I will be posting pictures from my phone - maybe making a blog entry or two, as well. I love having a phone that is capable of doing so much! Sometimes I wonder how I ever lived without it. LOL.

It looks like Ruben may be returning to school this fall. That is IF everything works out. He's gotten some info, applied to a couple schools, and submitted his app for a Federal student loan. We gotta wait and see if his loan is approved. Otherwise he'll have to take one class at a time, as money permits. Right now the loan isn't even our biggest concern, it's the fact that ITT cannot locate his transcripts. The campus he attended in Vegas closed awhile back, and for some reason ITT cannot locate the transcripts in their system. He has a copy somewhere around here, but the transcripts must come directly from the school in order to be accepted. So it doesn't much matter that we can't find his copy. We did find his actual degree, which he is going to have to fax over to ITT as proof. We'll just have to see whether it helps any or not. Cross your fingers!

Only a few more days!!!!

It's finally here, the weekend we leave for our much anticipated vacation to Disney World. As much as I am excited about going, I'm just not very motivated about packing. It's not about the last minute laundry I 'm wanting to get done in order to do the actual packing. It's not even really the act itself as pretty much most of of the stuff we're taking is sitting in a big pile next to the suitcases.

I guess what it boils down to is that over the last few days I have had some serious family issues weighing heavily on my mind, heart, and wallet. I've managed to keep the majority of this under wraps for the last 6 months, but in that time keeping it all bottled up has done nothing but build anger. It's gotten to the point where I'm so pissed off I can't see straight. I finally managed to vent some of the anger, but it seems that all that has done is cause me more. I'm pissed off and frustrated and I don't know what to do anymore. I knew that these issues would one day be a problem. When my Mom first became ill last February, I had begged her to revert her will to her previous wishes, and to give me some sort of legal power. Of course she dismissed it all, saying everything will be fine. Yet everything is not fine. Here I am the ugly-red-headed step-child I always knew I was. In all actuality, I'm fine with having no dad or step-dad. The others came and went and life went on just fine without them. The only difference is that this time there is a child involved. One who loves her grandpa, and likes to talk to him - yet he's never home when she calls, and hardly ever calls her. This is one of the many things that pisses me off cause no one fucks with my daughter. The pain it brings me to see her cry cause grandpa's not home to answer the phone. Ruben's mom calls her every Sunday, and has since October. The other problem is my disabled brother Bill who lives in Vegas. He was just left on his own to fend for himself, and now that Social Security has cut off his disability he has been having financial problems. And just who do you think has been taking the responsibility for him and paying his bills? Yup, me. Thankfully my sister has offered to help as well, so I wouldn't have to bear the burden of all the costs alone - but still even at half, it adds up over months and months. Our step-dad, well let me say that he hasn't taken the initiative to help - he hasn't offered to help, nor given us any money for the thousands already shelled out. I really hope wherever my mom is she is kicking herself for not listening to me, and can hear me say I TOLD YOU SO!

Now hopefully since I have gotten this off my chest and vented, I will be able to actually enjoy the vacation that we have saved for over the last 9 months!

Oh, and when I come back, guess what I have to look forward to???? I'm finally going to undergo the first stage of reconstruction again. June 1st I will be admitted overnight after they implant a tissue expander. After the weekly saline injections for it to stretch to size, it will be replaced with a regular breast implant, and during that time is when they will remove my other breast and also replace it with an implant. Let's just hope that I have better results this time than with my last expander surgery which was unsuccessful!

Back to School!

Ugh! Today spring vacay is over, and it was back to waking up at 6:30 for Nat and I. Oh how we loved sleeping in late - or at least I did. She loved running around in her swim suit playing with her friends all day. It is so nice to see her this happy, and to know our community is so safe. We have some really terrific neighbors. The kind I wish we would have found years ago. Arleen and her husband Renee are awesome. It seems their house is one of the regular hang outs for the kids, and it's no surprise. Mr. Renee makes the kids burgers and real french fries to eat. I also like the fact that when Natalie is done playing with Abby, and it's dark, that they will have their oldest son Jacob walk her home (even though we're right around the corner - you never can be too safe!) Natalie has managed to find lots of kids her age to play with, and I'm finally learning to let go. I mean really, how far can she go with the street behind ours being a dead end in both directions? This being where most of her friends live - she knows Jason, Abby, Bo, Nick, Heather, Paige, Reagan, Drew, Brennan and Colin. Everyday as soon as she walks in from school she is already asking to go out and play. I can just imagine what summer will be like. Heck, just from this past week, she has gotten such a tan! She practically makes me glow in the dark. And while Natalie knows all these kids, we have managed to meet a few parents. Mainly just the ones living closest to us - Tony & Tammy, Craig & Nina, and Arleen & Renee, but so far we've only really talked to Arleen & Renee, mostly because we went to their daughter Abby's birthday party.
So we're down to only 12 more days till we leave for Disney World. I can't believe just how fast time has flown by! I haven't managed to lose anymore than the 14 lbs. Damn menopause! Actually I've been eating more than usual and not taking the diet pills the last week while on spring break. Oh well! So now I just have to see what all I can get accomplished in 12 days. Lexie goes to the vet tomorrow for shots so she can go into the kennel on the 28th. It's going to break my heart to leave her, but I know the place we are taking her to will take real good care of her and she will be kept indoors. Somehow I need to find the time to get my license renewed before we leave. I have been driving around on an expired license since January. I couldn't renew it because I couldn't find my birth certificate, and I couldn't order a new one without it being a pain in my ass cause I needed my marriage licences and divorce decree, and I couldn't find those either. But now I have everything I need. Ruben thinks that they are going to make me take tests all over again (which has been years since I've done) because I let it lapse, but there's nothing I can do about it. Let's just hope I pass, if they do!
Oh, yeah, and I didn't forget about answering the question......
There's a lot of stuff I've done when I was young and stupid, I'm not proud of it, nor ashamed of it. It's part of who I am. But eventually I grew up, got wise and stopped fooling around with drugs. Honestly, when I think about it, I'm surprised I wasn't chunkier then for all the pot I smoked - because this is really backwards. I was skinny then, and I'm fat now. Sometimes, Life is just not fair. But anyway, no there is no drug I would ever go back to doing. My family, my daughter, means too much to me to lose them, and that is exactly what would happen if I were to ever touch drugs again, and it's just not worth it.

Weekend Update & a look ahead

Well I'm happy to say that after the unfortunate flooding incident that our downstairs bathroom has finally seemed to dry out and the good news is the ceiling didn't collapse! Like I said, we will have to repaint it though. And much to our dismay, Ruben was unable to replace the upstairs toilet yet. The $250 toilet he bought didn't come with a toilet seat, and he has to make some kind of adjustments as this one is taller than the previous one. He should get his needed parts today and hopefully wrap it up. Looking ahead at the calendar, I see this month will be a crazy one. Lexie goes to the Groomer's on the 4th, I have a Dr. appointment on the 5th, Natalie starts Spring Break on the 6th and is off school through the following 13th. We still need to get an appointment to have our taxes done, Lexie needs a vet appointment for shots. I need to find a boarding facility for her that I like. And we still have more stuff we need to buy before leaving for Disney on the 28th. This month is going to fly right buy. In a blink of an eye Disney will have come and gone, Natalie will be out of school (May 23rd), and summer will be here.
I have a feeling that it will be so hot here this summer, I will have to sell my blood to afford my A/C bills. Maybe we'll get lucky and the neighbor who is installing a pool will let us use it too. Just wishful thinking. = )