It is 20 minutes after midnite. I just got out of the shower because I needed the refresher. That, and I needed to condition and treat my hair - - cold weather is NOT nice to my hair, especially when we turn on the furnace and the air in this house turns as dry as the desert! I know I know — we have a humidifier - it’s just a matter of setting it up, which we haven’t done yet.

Oh! Oh! Speaking of winter weather . . . our local downhill ski spot has been making snow this week!! At least that is the rumor that I heard during my last stop at our local Starbucks this week. See, there is this cute, young strappin’ lad who outwardly flirts with me anytime I go in - - he’s about 25 and thinks we have SO much in common because I once came through the drive-thru with our snowboards and ski’s on the rack. We held up the line behind me for 20 minutes talking about skiing and great spots to go, locally. If you were behind me in the line that day - I offer my heartfelt apologies! He was flirting! He’s 25! Gimme a break here! Even my 13 year old daughter noticed one day . . . “Mom - that guy is flirting with you! GROSS!” Kids. Someday, she’ll understand.

I digress - point is - - SNOW! On MY ski hill! Oh I can’t wait!

Anyways, it’s now 30 minutes after midnite and I think I can actually relax after setting up and designing Patti’s new domain - /hosting/blog/forum; setting up and troubleshooting Tom/Skerdog’s new domain - hosting/blog and converting Beth off BlogSpot - onto her shiny new domain - set up her hosting account/blog. (Want off Blogspot? Out Damn Spot, anyone? It’s running through the end of the year)

Hmm… is that all? Well, I went grocery shopping, too. Oh! And stopped at the local Walgreen’s and picked up some new lipgloss - - don’t judge, it’s a stress reliever. Caught up with my mother, Reilly and my friend Carol on the phone.

Am I done? I think so - - at 12:30 am, I’m done. Now I’m going to search through my archives to where I posted about how being self-employed was a GOOD idea! lol

Just kidding - - all of the above, with the exception of the grocery shopping, lip gloss and shower - was done in my PJ’s! Gotta take the good with the bad, right?

Before I sign off to tuck myself into bed for the night - - I must give some thanks to Jeanette for the lovely poem she penned. Who new she was a poet? Thanks, girl!

They are gone!

Don’t get me wrong - - we had a great weekend and it was good to see them again.

However……

There is NOTHING like that feeling of when everyone leaves…the house is quiet….and you know that you have NO MORE entertaining to do.

Our 4th of July BBQ/Party went well yesterday - - even the weather cooperated, seeing as how it rained all night Saturday and most of the morning on Sunday. The skies cleared around noon and stayed that way well into the evening.

Things I learned giving my first part for 25+ people:

–> I need to learn how to anticipate food intake.
–> What to do with all the leftovers? (Dinner, anyone?)
–> Diet A&W RootBeer is totally awesome!
–> Chris’s Fireworks show rivaled our local city show.
–> Illegal fireworks displays only rate a $50 fine from the local cops.
–> $400 worth of fireworks last about an hour.
–> $400 worth of fireworks is worth the $50 fine.
–> My sister and her family CAN behave themselves on MY turf.
–> Next year - - buy MORE booze. (buncha drunks they are)

Everything went off without a hitch. I made way too much food - - and with Chris gone for the week, it’s going ot be a challenge to eat it all before it goes bad - - and with me and my diet, the kids are going to have to do some MAJOR chowing down.

My sister brought an apple pie made by the Elegant Farmer It’s their Apple Pie in a Bag - - and it’s the best thing you’ll ever hang your lips on, trust me. You can order one from the website I listed…they ship in two days - - it is SO worth it.

Back to my diet tomorrow. I was doing really great over the last 2 1/2 weeks - - except for this weekend when I totally fell off of it…so far, my scale tells me I haven’t gained anything back, which is good. Tonight it’s definately time for a 2 mile walk on the treadmill.

Busy day that is almost ending…believe it or not.

I think I’m going to have to pick and post the top three captions to my Captions, Please? post that I made earlier - - you guys have some funny shit, I’m tellin’ ya. I already have my top caption in mind - - but I’ll keep it going for another day and post my absolute top three favorites tomorrow evening…maybe someone will outdo my current fav?

Spent the evening glued to my computer — doing some upgrades for some folks, and setting up services for a new hosting client.

Let’s see…what else is new around here….?

My daughter auditioned for (and was picked!) for a local talent show being held at her school next week. She is quite a singer, that girl. When she told me the song that she had chosen to do - - I was skeptical. See, I’m a singer, too — I spent a good part of my young adult life making a living as lead singer in an R&B band, regionally…that was inbetween going to college with a major in music (vocal performance and education). When she told me the tune she was going to do - - I said, “Honey - that’s a really tough song, actually.”

She’s doing “My Immortal” by Evenescence. It’s not difficult in that there are a lot of high notes - although, the song does cover a dynamic range - but that, I know she could handle. It’s the breathing. There are some pretty long phrases in that song that require a good deal of breath control. She assured me that she could do it.

It’s been a year since I’ve heard her sing.

She came bouncing home on Monday and told me that she made the cut! So, I had her bring out her CD (it has the song without the vocals) and let me hear her masterpiece.

I can’t describe it any better than this - - the girl had me in tears. I’m no stage mom - - but I can see how some people come to be that way. I was bursting with pride as my 12 year old daughter stood in the kitchen with her hair up in braids belting out that song like it meant the world to her.

I was worried about her breath control? Pfft! No worries here

*click*

*click*

*click*

There’s no place like home!

Seriously, I’m such a home body that I actually get home sick. Pathetic, huh? I know, I know - you all think I’m this worldly and wise woman of the 21st century - - but, quite honestly, I get homesick, I’m a creature of habit and I don’t take well to change.

I don’t like sleeping in a hotel bed. I don’t like hotel rooms that only offer CNN and not FoxNews! I don’t like being bored in a hotel room with nothing to do. I like my own espresso machine and making my own coffee. I don’t like waking up to a cold, computerized wake up phone call. And I don’t like being without my computer, dammit!

The program I went for, however, was informative and I learned a lot. Picked up many little details and somehow I haven’t picked up along the way. Like, did you know that if a patient, who is receiving morphine (or any other form of opioid narcotic), stops peeing - you should stop giving him/her the morphine because it is metabolized in the kidneys - and if they aren’t excreting it, they’ll go into severe opioid toxicity which isn’t a pretty thing. Interesting stuff like that.

I still have lots of stuff to blog about regarding my trip to NYC - which I’ll eventually get to this weekend. For now I just wanted to say “Hey!” to those of you that missed me while I was gone (I think Cam was the only one - - well, maybe Pinky missed me too. )

I’m off now to make a cup of coffee in my own damn kitchen and cuddle up on my bed with my pillows and watch my TV with the channel tuned into FoxNews! Later, gators!

Well, the doc didn’t do the IUD thing. My normal doc referred me to an OB/GYN who told me that I could take the mini pill without the risk associated with the regular pill. Difference is — one has estrogen, and one does not. The mini pill doesn’t have estrogen - - so the risks associated with smoking aren’t there.

Thank goodness — because I wasn’t looking forward to the whole IUD procedure!