The Boot

So sneaky Steve came over with his fancy camera which I'm insanely jealous of...and somehow there was some sneaking around and tonight in my email inbox I get this picture! Seems Steve and a cohort snuck into my bedroom when I wasn't looking and "posed" my new boot on my bed and took a picture of it! HA! But it looks totally awesome, man. Not only am I posting this on here because #1 I want to show off my bed yet again...#2 I want to show off my new boots, but #3 I WANT YOUR CAMERA STEVE!!! I LOVE YOU!!! You know how you always have to have seconds on the hugs and kisses?? Well I'll give you HUNDREDS if you give me the camera!! I know, I know...keep dreaming! : ) Anyway, this post is dedicated to you!

Pics of the New House!!!!

Here are some pics of the new house!! YAY! Keep in mind, we just moved in a week ago, and haven't even come CLOSE to finishing everything, but I couldn't WAIT to post some of these shots, so here ya go!! :)




Here's the new kitchen with stainless appliances and flat top glass stove with slate countertops!! WOO WOO! It's the best part of the house according to Mom!









Here's another view of the fabulous kitchen where you can see the matching fridge that dispenses crushed OR cubed ice! (We're living rich now!) When you stand at the sink you can look out the back windows into the backyard and you can also see the big TV in the family room...niiiiiceeee! : )








This is our dining/breakfast area right off the kitchen. Mom made the flower arrangement herself! ;)
















HERE is the focus of the family room...the 42" LCD HDTV!!! Oh yeah, and the gas fireplace. And Mom's pretty plants and candles. : )



























These 3 pics above are pics of our FLOOR!!! It's totally awesome. It's scored and stained concrete. For those who have never heard of that being done before, and trust me, before moving here, I had never heard of it either...it's the coolest thing ever. D, the floor guy, who should be called a floor ARTIST, takes a concrete floor and makes cool designs on them with a saw, then stains them certain colors and seals them and they come out to be gorgeous. These pics actually don't do these floors justice. You'll just have to all come down and see them for yourselves!! : )

Here is my bathroom which isn't a very good representation of it, but you get the drift.....purple. And you can't really see it, but that's a picture of Mom and Dad on their wedding day in the window!! HA! So I can see them everytime I'm on the toilet!

NOW!!! For the BEST part of the ENTIRE house!!!

Here is my BEAUTIFUL bedspread!!!! And yes, so far, I make my bed every single morning as soon as I wake up because it's so gorgeous! And everyone that has come in the house has oohed and aahed appropriately just as I expect the same out of all of you since it took me forever to find exactly the perfect one I was looking for and I finally found it and I am madly in love with it! : )

I am decorating my room in Paris decor...so, needless to say, it's going to be tres magnific! I don't even think I spelled that right...anyway...So here are just a few pics of the things I have in my room that have Paris things on them...there are more things in there, but I won't put you through the suffering of having to look at all of it. Once I get my room totally done, I will take pics of the ENTIRE room so you can see the finished product!!

Anyway, kids...that's about it for now...there's lots more to see, but gosh it took me half the day just to get these on here. SO...I will try my best to keep you guys posted...pun totally intended...on what's going on around here. Love and hugs and kisses and all that other stuff to everyone!!!

~*MareBear*~

Coming Home

Well well...It's been a while since I've posted and it's not because I haven't wanted to or because I've been lazy, though that's been my excuse before. But this time I actually haven't been ABLE to. I was in the Big Ham over the Christmas holidays visiting with friends and family and taking care of some things. I won't be going back there for a while. Well, that may be a little hasty. Let's catch everyone up first.

After I returned to J, I didn't drive home like I normally do...I got to drive across the BEAUTIFUL reservoir (picture below) and turn right and go a little bit further and turn left and lo and behold I was FINALLY, after ALL THIS TIME turning into the driveway of our NEW HOUSE!!!!! And THIS TIME I wasn't just pulling into the beat up driveway filled with trash just to check on the progress of the house. I was coming HOME. I hadn't even seen the finished result yet. The house is absolultely GORGEOUS! And actually, it wasn't even totally finished yet, and as I'm writing STILL isn't, although it is just minor things. That's the fun thing about your dad working for the builder...they think they can take their sweet ass time building your house for you. But the main thing is that we are IN the house and we love it and it's beautiful. And you're all invited to come stay! HA! One at a time, please. So, getting back to why I haven't been online...we didn't have internet service for several days when we first got in the new house. And once we did it took a while for us to get everything organized enough to get it all hooked up.

As for me not going back to B anytime soon. As I've already written, I now have AVN in my right hip and yesterday was my MRI. I go and see the surgeon on the 17th. They will let me know just how bad the right hip is and also how we are going to proceed with the left hip. To be honest, I'm scared out of my MIND. If he says, HEY...Let's do this thing TOMORROW! I think I'll just puke on his shoes. Intellectually I am totally prepared for all of this. I've done all the research, I know what to expect...yada yada. But emotionally and physically, I am a wreck. I've never had major surgery before. Hell, I've only stayed overnight in the hospital ONCE. Granted, it was for a week, but there was NO cutting involved and I got all the ice cream I wanted. Anyway, IF they decide to do something about this soon...and that's a BIG if...I won't be going back to B for a long time. And even if they DON'T decide to do something about this soon, I've decided not to go back as much. Driving back and forth there is starting to take a major toll on me. Physically and emotionally. Now that my right hip is involved it HURTS to sit in that car for 3 1/2 hours and drive. So...I've made a decision to start taking care of ME first and to not feel guilty about it. Because right now, I have to come first.

So...that's what's going on with me so far. I am going to TRY to get some of these pictures that I took of the house posted on here sometime this weekend or early next week. Posting will be sporadic probably what with all the unpacking and everything! And even though this is a little late, I hope everyone had a GLORIOUS holiday season! : )

Love to all always!!

MareBear

Medical Update

Just an update on my medical issues. The ortho doc called today with fantastic news and not-so-fantastic news. He took my case to the orthopedic surgeon and they think I'm a good candidate for the ceramic on ceramic total hip replacement!!! For those of you who don't know, ceramic hip replacements are relatively new, are believed to last up to 25 years in some cases, and are MUCH more durable than metal. SO! That means that in the VERY near future I will have a $50,000 wiggle!!! YAY! Now for the not-so-fantastic news which pushes the THR out of the spotlight for a little while in the doc's eyes. MY RIGHT HIP NOW HAS AVN!!!!!!! When the docs viewed my pelvic x-rays the right hip had significant AVN when just 6 months ago, IT DID NOT. Once it shows up on plain x-ray, AVN is pretty far advanced, but the doc still wants to get an MRI done on it to see how far along it actually is. There is a surgery that they can do called a core decompression IF it's caught early enough to try to give me more time until I need a THR on that hip as well. Core decompressions (CDs) are NOT always successful...in fact, MOST are not. And it of course is another surgery I will have to go through. My right hip is the docs' #1 priority at this point because if there is a way they can stave off a THR on that one, they will do it. So the THR on the left hip is going to be the last thing on their minds at this point! HA! Round and round we go! My fantasy of this being all over with after one surgery to my femur and one THR to my left hip and a couple of months recovery is blown to smithereens...and the doc pretty much set me straight on that the last time I was in the office. Even if the only surgery I had WAS the THR on my left hip, recovery could take up to a year. THR's on a person with AVN and THR's on a person with arthritis are totally different. I have a long way to go with this disease. And now it's in my right hip and there is a very good possibility that it could eventually be in my knees or shoulders or ankles down the road. But the good thing is that I have HELP NOW!! YAY! That's what is keeping me from tearing my hair out or telling them just to amputate already! : ) I'm so thankful that I have my family and friends around me for support. AND that I have plenty of pain meds to get me through the day! : ) Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this out! It's going to be tough, and I will have days where I will scream and cry and say it's not fair and want to go jump off a cliff. But those days are luckily few and far between. I just gotta keep on going one day at a time! Love to all!

MareBear

Passion

What is it exactly that makes us fall in love, in passion, in infatuation...with a hobby, person, song, sight, smell? And I'm not talking about when we fall in love with our spouses or lovers or whatever you may have, although that fits into this as well...but I am talking about other people and things. When we meet a new friend or group of friends for instance. And you find that you talk like teenagers all night long and you just met. It's like falling in love. You get the excited feeling of wanting to talk to that person or those people every second of every day because you want to find out what else you can share with them. Or when you find out that you have the talent of playing the guitar by ear. You play every spare second you get until your fingers are raw and hurting but you keep playing. Eventually, those fingers are callused and you're writing your own songs. What happens when a certain song comes on the radio that you've never heard before and the words or the sound of the artist strikes a chord in you and your heart just wants to scream because it reminds you of a time in your life or someone who also made your heart want to scream or melt or burst? You go out and buy the CD and play the song over and over and over again until the emotion starts to fade. After a while, you stop playing it. But one day, months down the road, you'll turn on the radio and that song will come on, and you'll FEEL that song in the pit of your stomach just one more time. What IS that? And smell...what makes us remember the scent of someone that was so familiar to you over 10 years ago? A cologne of a man walking through a grocery store now could bring us to our knees. So we drink it in and try to hold it in our senses as long as we can and brreeeaaathhheee and just....remember. And there's sight. The other day I went out to an empty lot out in the country where they will be building a house eventually and it was dead silent. It was late afternoon and the sky was such a brilliant blue that there shouldn't even be a name for the color. The sky was so clear that you could see the moon. I stood in the middle of the clearing and turned in a full circle and looked at the tall trees towering around me. The sun was in the earliest stages of setting so the limbs of the trees took on a brilliant red color. And every part of my being wanted to stay there for the night...just so I could lay on a blanket in that clearing and look at the millions of stars that I knew would show up that night. My body SCREAMED to just snuggle up and take it all in.

My point to this is that why do we stop? What makes the passion fade? I'm sure...no, I KNOW that there are hundreds of books written on the subject. But I'm here to say, that I don't want mine to stop anymore. I don't want to stop getting the lurch in my stomach when my phone rings or my computer says one of my friends is online. I want to pick the guitar back up and never stop singing. I want to hear that song every day and not say, "OK, I'm getting tired of it now" when it used to make my heart skip a beat. I want to be able to recognize that cologne 20 years from now and still remember. I want to spend the night under the stars snuggled up and who gives a damn what I was supposed to be doing. I want to live for right now. I don't want to get used to it or bored with it...I want to live it, love it, and be passionately IN it right this very moment!

Since I didn't stay out in that beautiful place that day, I thought I'd share the pictures I took with you guys! And in case you didn't know this already, on most of the pictures on this blog, you can click on them and view them bigger on a separate page! Love to all!

Progress On New House

Here's the progress on the new house!

Here's ME outside the front of the house leaning on a sawhorse hoping I don't get splinters in my butt!! : ) What you don't see to my left is the HUGE dumpster that the workers are "supposed" to throw all their trash in. Unfortunately, most of it ends up all over our house and yard. Of course, until the house closes, it's technically not our house yet! ; )













Here is the front of the house. You can see how close the houses are together, but the backyards are far apart. Kind of like triangle lots. You can see the dumpster in this pic.










This is our cute kitchen...they just got done with the first coat of white paint on the cabinets. We will have stainless steel appliances. SWEET! Also, the countertops will be textured slate looking which will all look awesome!










This is just one angle of our backyard and as you can see it's a mess, and you can't really tell in this picture where our yard ends, but it's a pretty big yard, so the dogs are going to have a field day running around and playing! And Mom is going to LOVE pulling weeds all day. I just hope we'll be able to make her come inside when it gets dark every night!









Well, that's the house so far! We hope it will be done in the next 2 or 3 weeks!! YAY! We are all very excited about it. We HATE the apartment. ICK. And the dogs will have so much fun in the yard! Anyway, just wanted to give everyone the update!! Love to all always!

MareBear

Hair Fiasco

A while back...Mom and I had a girl's weekend when Dad went down to the coast. And me being the crazy hair dying woman that I am, I convinced mom to dye her hair red since I was going to do mine red. Well...Mom's hair was blonde at the time...as was mine. We got different shades of red and this is what the result was...

This is my orange hair which I could have gotten away with since it was Halloween coming up! Sexy, I think.






And THIS, would be Mom's hair....Purple or magenta...we couldn't quite decide. Needless to say, Halloween or no Halloween, I was the one who had talked her into dying her hair, and I was the one who was ordered out of the house to get cover up dye!






So, we got our hair fixed and we did it on our own without professional help! My once blonde mom now has UBER sexy dark hair! Everyone that sees her takes a minute to adjust and then LOVES it. And I have mahogany red hair that I love and hope to keep for a while. So, in the end it all worked out. But it was a TRUE Kodak moment watching Mom walk out of the bathroom with this haircolor...so I thought I'd share with everyone! Love to all!!

MareBear

Random Pictures

Here's me and Mom when I went to see her in NC. This was taken in one of those cute litte photo booths in the mall! Aren't we the cutest!

This is me and Dad again in NC. I'm totally diggin my red hair! That's why my hair is red, yet again! ; ) I love my daddy!

This is my fav pic of me and my parents. It was at my cousin's wedding a few years ago and I was a bridesmaid. I think we all look fabulous! : )

This is my Mom's dog Annie...or as I call her Fannie. She has cancer just like mom. : ( But she's doing well just like Mom too! : ) She's the cutest dog in the world but wow can she be a hell raiser!

This is Mom's dog Whitney. And guess what?! She has breast cancer TOO! But she's doing just fine as well. I took this picture while Mom was giving her a bath and it came out just like this. Pretty freaky I must say, but she really is the sweetest dog on the planet despite the devil's face! : )

This would be my dog, Sammy. He lives in B'ham with G. I'm not exactly sure what he was trying to do at the moment I took this picture but it makes me crack up every time I look at it so I thought I'd pass it on to all of you! He's a good pup!

Well, I just wanted to share a few pics with you guys. I don't incorporate them too much into my blog entries, so I figured I'd just make a whole entry of just pics! Peace out!

MareBear

Venting on Docs

Think for a moment if you would, that you were involved in the following scenario, and please give me feedback on how you would handle it.

I'm a 23 yr old girl that trusts doctors and naively believes that they all are going to do the best they can to help me, and inform me of everything I need to know. One day, I go to the doctor for a seemingly moderate but relentless upper respiratory infection. It WILL NOT go away. So I keep going back to this doctor. And every time I go, he gives me a little shot with a big dose of steroids in it. Little naive me has no idea the repercussions of that little shot every time I go in to see this doctor and this doctor fails to share them with me. So I just go along with it and go about my merry little way.

Fast forward to a year and a half and 80 pounds later. I have a MINOR fall at work and start having some MAJOR pain in my left knee and hip. I go to the worker's comp (WC) doctor to figure out what the heck is going on since I figured that I must have landed on my leg "just right." X-rays show nothing. But the WC doc feels around my knee he says, "I think you just have some tendonitis, let's give you a shot of steroids.........in your kneecap." OH BOY! Please?! Well, isn't this just the cat's ass. So, he gives me the most painful injection I've ever had in my entire life...yeppers...right into the hard bone of my knee cap. Well, that didn't fix the problem. SO, over the next 3 months and 2 more awful steriod injections in my knee cap, the brilliant doc decided to do an MRI. The MRI not only covered my knee but got just a tiny bit of my femur connected to my knee and thank GOODNESS for that. I waited all day long for the radiologist to read the results and when the WC doc came back in the room, he sat down in front of me. In all the visits that I had with him, this man NEVER sat down. I knew something was wrong. He stumbled over his words and told me something that for the rest of my life I will never forget. "You have a disease of the bone called Avascular Necrosis. It's when your bones literally die because of lack of blood supply. It's extremely rare. We saw holes in your femur right above your knee and it's probably affecting your entire femur, which is why you are having knee pain. It usually affects people's hips which is probably why you are having hip pain, but we didn't do a hip x-ray. Have you had any large doses of steroids recently as far back as two years?" Hmmmm. As I contemplated punching him, I said, "Why yes, yes I have." And I told him of the doc that had given me all the steroids that had not worked and had made me gain a crapload of weight and that I had later discovered was a quack. He says, "Well, there you go." He gives me a referral to an orthopedic doc and LOTS of pain medication while telling me that this disease is second in pain only to BONE CANCER and sends me home telling me that there isn't anything more he can do for me since this obviously wasn't work related anymore. Well, then.

So, I go to the first orthopedic doc who DOES do the first x-ray of my left hip which is BAD. It's already starting to show some collapse...that's right party people, in October of 2004, my hip was "starting" to collapse. Do the math. Anyway, he says that I have stage 3 AVN and that I should go home and pray about it because God heals. Well. I truly believe that God heals. I do. But I also believe that God put people on this Earth to become doctors and that they took a Hipocratic Oath to help me in my time of need. So, I took my crutches and x-rays, told that man he better not charge me for my visit (which he didn't) and went home to cry.

My job "asked me to resign" because it was a job at a hospital that required a lot of walking and it was a new job. I wasn't even done with my probation period and didn't even have my insurance yet, so I had to leave. I was in so much pain every day and the only "cure" for my disease was surgery so I couldn't find a full time job. And any insurance I could get on would consider my AVN a pre-existing condition and it would be a year before they would cover it. So, I go see a few more docs who all say that the only thing that will help me is a Total Hip Replacement because my hip is too far gone to do anything else. And they prescribed every medicine known to man and only ONE doctor prescribed Lortab (Hydrocodone). All the others were crap. There is a REASON that they make narcotics, people. Yes, they are strong. Yes, they can be addictive to SOME PEOPLE. I am not one of them. But it is the ONLY medicine that helps with my pain. And let me tell you, the pain is HORRIBLE. But yet, everytime I tell a doc that that's the only med that will help me, they look at me like I'm a drug seeker. They say they won't give it to me because they won't be responsible for a young girl getting addicted to pain meds. But yet, they've seen the x-rays. They've all oohed and aahed over them. They won't give me my surgery because I'm too young for that too! They say that if they replaced my hip now, then they'd have to replace it again in probably 20 years...and then again by the time I'm 60 or 65. And then, there might not be enough bone to work with, and I'd be in a wheelchair. Well, excuse the hell out of me, but what if I get hit by a bus in 10 years?!? I'd like to have 10 years of walking and running and working and playing and making love and bending over without wanting to cry and getting down on the floor and playing with the animals, and not worrying if my crutches or a motorized wheelchair is accessible if I get tired, and shopping till I DON'T drop and dancing the night away, and walking up stairs without using the railing, and taking a shower without using a shower stool, and putting on my pants without having to sit down to do it, and get in my car with out having to physically pick up my leg and put it in the car, and cancel plans with people because it's raining outside and I know if I go out I'll be hurting in an hour, or not making plans in advance because I don't know what my pain level will be that day.

So, these "doctors" are the ones telling ME that I can't do these things. Because they don't want to get sued when I'm 65. And they don't want me to have pain medication because they don't want me to sue them for being addicted to it. So, they say they want to do everything they can to help me, and instead, they've told me that not only are they going to not do the surgery, but they are not going to give me the only pain medication that will keep me out of pain. Does this make sense to anyone?

And this isn't just ONE doctor. And this hasn't just happened to ME alone. But it mostly happens to young people. And young people with a disease like mine. People with cancer can say, give me morphine...they get it. Or people with a broken hip can say give me surgery and they'll get it because it's an "emergency". But the docs don't seem to think that me walking around every day in horrible pain qualifies as poor quality of life. It sucks.

Now, in December of 2005, my left hip is considered totally collapsed and yet they still do nothing because I still "get around okay." But now that the cold weather has moved in, my pain is almost unbearable. But I deal with it. Every day. Every minute. Every second. Stop to think about that for just ONE second. If you've broken something. If you've burned yourself. If you've pulled a muscle or sprained an ankle. You know REAL pain. Try having that pain all the time...and there is NO getting away from it and NO ONE wants to help you and there was nothing you could do about it. Now try putting a smile on your face every single day. Now try not complaining about your pain. I do it every single damn day. EVERY DAY PEOPLE. I'm not talking about once a week I have a twinge of pain in my hip. Every day, every second, every single MOVE I MAKE. Try it...and then try to tell me everything's gonna be okay. I'm trying to get across to everyone how REAL this is. I don't have a visible disease except for a little limping. I don't have a disease with a well-known name like CANCER. I don't have a disease that will kill me. So my disease gets ignored by these doctors who don't want to get sued because they don't know enough about this disease. Even though my disease is one of the most painful ones out there. And they don't live inside my body every second feeling my pain and my muscles atrophy and my back spasms and my hip popping and my femur giving out from under me. So I have to be quiet?

So, the reason for this rant is because I woke up this morning with really bad pain. And tomorrow I am supposed to go back to see the ortho doc. I have no idea what he wants to see me about. Maybe they've all talked it over and are sick of hearing me kvetch about it and will give me the surgery or a lifetime supply of pain pills. I will keep you all informed. Feel free to comment. But whatever you do, BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTHCARE! These doctors DO NOT know everything. DO RESEARCH. Lots of orthos didn't even know what my disease WAS when I first got this because it was so rare. Just keep your eyes open!

Peace and love always!

Mare Bear

MMMmmmm Steak

So, I am back in The Big Ham tonight. I'll be here till after Thanksgiving. And G took me out to eat at my new fav spot. It's the Original Steakhouse and Sports (get this) THEATER. The bar area is a separate room altogether and they call it a theater I suppose because the whole thing is surrounded by big screen tvs. Kinda like Damon's if you've ever been there. With the boxes on your table to listen to whatever TV you want and everything. Anyway. I ordered my 10 oz ribeye medium rare and oh my. Can we please have a moment of silence? Seriously. That was the best thing ever. It was one of those moments where I wanted to put away every bit of manners I was ever taught and just pick the dang thing up in my hands and chew every piece of meat off of the fat. To some of you, that may sound like the most disgusting thing you've ever heard in your life. But for those of you, like me, who are big time red meat lovers, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. It wasn't until after the steak was gone that I realized I actually had fries on my plate. So...I just wanted to share with everyone my wondrous experience with red meat tonight. Thank you and goodnight!

Burned Cabbage...or Dead Body?

Woke up early this morning ready to face the world and Git R Done. About an hour after I ate breakfast, Mom and I were getting ready to run errands and we noticed a rather rank smell coming from our kitchen/laundry room area. At this point I must mention that we live in an apartment complex, if you haven't guessed that already, and our kitchen is "connected" to another person's kitchen. These people also happen to be from another country and happen to like cooking exotic food. Sometimes smelly food. With lots of cabbage in it. So anyway. We figure that one of the neighbors is cooking up a batch of mean home cooking and tried to ignore the stench. But then it continued to get worse...seemingly VERY fast. SO...Mom and I escape out to run our errands leaving the poor dogs and cat to breathe the toxic fumes. On our way past Exotic Neighbor's front door, we notice that there appears to be a swarm of flies gathering...and a few of them are attempting to burrow their way in to the dryer vent. So on our way out we stop by the office and inform the oh-so-polite manager that there might possibly be a dead body in the apartment next to us and we just figured she might like to know since the smell was permeating every nook and cranny of our home. This was at approximately 11 AM. She oh-so-politely said that she would be inspecting some apartments later on and would be oh-so-happy to drop by and find out the source of the impending armageddon. We ventured on to the Y which we ended up joining! **YAY** And after I was all suited up and ready to jump in the pool, I emerge from the shower area, (since I am way too mortified to strip nude in front of total strangers even in a nude-approved locker room), and Mom is dismayed to discover that she has left her bathing suit bottoms at home. (Apparantly, the pool portion of the Y is NOT nude-approved.) So, after donning normal clothing again, and reassuring the membership guru that we did, in fact, adore the Y and we were not disgusted by it and therefore bailing on it after being a member for only a half a second, we made our way home to get her missing bottoms and return to swim. Only...that's not exactly what happened. When we got home, we got out of the car, walked into the breezeway and were literally surrounded by flies! I honestly believe they were trying to form into a battering ram to knock down Exotic Neighbor's door. The smell was almost unbearable. And when we entered our house...well...both dogs and cat were dead...no...just kidding. They were weeping hysterically and begging for gas masks...well, they weren't doing that either, but I bet if they could talk that's what they would've been saying for sure. My gag reflex was in overdrive the smell was so unbelievable. Mom immediately called Miss-Oh-So-Polite-And-Accommodating. (It's 1:30 at this point.) She says, "Oh my, I just got done with my reports. I'll be down there within the hour." Well, the smell was so bad that we were ALMOST positive that she would walk in on a dead body, especially the way those flies were chomping at the bit to get in that apartment...but thanks to years of watching CSI, I knew better. There's no way that smell could have escalated to that point so quickly. Thanks, Gil Grissom. So, I'm guessing Miss Thang was either curious or bored because she was down here in 15 minutes flat with the maintenance guy. I was standing outside when they walked around the corner. HA! That was a Kodak moment! She's like, "What is that AWFUL smell!?! And what are all these flies doing here?!?" Hmmm, Sherlock...that's what we've been trying to figure out all day. Why don't you take your manicured ass in there and find out? So, they barge in there and the next thing I hear is a sizzle and WWWHHHHOOOOSSSHHHH sound. And if I thought the stench was bad before, I was REALLY in for it now...oh dear...the smell that came pouring out of that apartment repulsed me as much as it delighted those flies. I can't even describe the fumes that entered my nostrils. The dogs came running outside at that point. As did my mom who HAD to see what was happening for the good of the apartment complex. I took the dogs behind the apartment building around to the front where Missy Miss had put a thoroughly charred pan on Exotic Neighbor's patio. When I passed by, she was walking back towards the office cursing about how she'd smell like that crap all day. I'm thinking, WOW...how bout all your crap in your HOUSE smelling like that all day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, thank goodness Mom forgot her bottoms because Exotic Neighbor decided to leave some home cooking still cooking while he went to work all day. And it was well on it's way to burning and could have burned the apartment building down if Mom hadn't called and they hadn't extinguished it. I say "it", because we still have no idea what "it" is. I'm 99% sure "it" has cabbage in it. And the smoke alarms decided to be lazy today. And now I have a raging headache from smelling whatever "it" was all day long. But a few good things came out of all this. Miss-Oh-So-Polite probably ruined her nails and smelled like burnt ass and cabbage all day. Not to mention she had to say thank you to my mom for calling her which I know irked her to no end. Exotic Neighbor will have stench and ravenous flies in his apartment for a month. AND...I have an uber exciting post today! Stay tuned! We will be moving into the new house in the next month so there might not be as much drama to report! Drink it in while you can.

Moral for today...spare your friends and family...never cook cabbage.

Been SO Long!

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. Blame it on depression, laziness, being busy...who knows. But alas...here I am. As of now, I am sitting at my computer in J. Watching the Tigers play the Bulldogs...so far, not so good, but it's still the first half. We still may have a miracle on our hands. I hate not having a job...correction. I hate not having money. I LOVE not working. Who wouldn't. I mean, I don't like the fact that I don't have a purpose...a career that I'm proud of, or something that I'm good at, but I do not miss working the same old same old jobs at a desk for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Granted, I miss the people at certain jobs...you know who you are! ; ) I want to do something that I am good at but also that I can be proud of and make money doing. But isn't that everyone's dream? Maybe it's that I think I'm not good enough to achieve that. Who knows. I think I've been over this before. I know I have in my head almost everyday. Which is why it's such an important thing to get it out I suppose. I keep thinking maybe I should do the medical transcription and coding certification school. But I have to wait and see if Voc Rehab will take me. It seems as if my life right now is waiting on other people. But I digress. Even if I do the medical stuff, will I like it? I know if it takes off it will make me more money than I was making, but will it give me the fulfillment I've been longing for? Everyone keeps telling me that I should become a writer. Well, I am a writer. Always have been. I just don't actually write and publish things. And this goes back to not thinking I'm good enough. There's something in my mind that tells me that there isn't any way that I can be one of "those" people. They are in a different league. They are on another PLANET as far as I'm concerned. I'm not like them. I don't have what it takes. Again. Who knows.

As for me and G, we're great. His mom had surgery on her foot and got that straightened out...literally. She's been in a cast for the past 6 weeks. And when she gets out of it, she will be able to walk a lot better. I've been going back and forth between here and there to help care for her since she couldn't do ANYTHING for herself with that thing on her foot. I'm so happy for her that she'll get some of her independence back. A lot of things will be changing around there once she does.

Mom and I are trying to join the Y. They just built a brand new one right up the road from the new house. Which would ROCK. We have to fill out the financial assistance forms for it though since neither one of us has a job! But we went and toured it the other day and it's super nice and they have 2 indoor pools that look totally delicious. I can't wait to go and start losing weight. Mom's already lost 20 pounds in just a month or so from being on her meds. I recently started on Topomax...and WOWZA! It totally curbs my appetite which is one of the reasons the docs prescribed it to me. So I'm totally pumped about that. I have to ramp up the dosages though because it has to build up in your blood stream, and last night was the first night that I took 2 tablets. And I woke up this morning and WASN'T in a whole lot of pain! I couldn't believe it! I actually pinched myself a few times just to make sure I was still alive! This could be good.

Let's just say that I was cured from this horrid disease tomorrow. That actually scares me because I would have no earthly idea what to do with myself. I don't want to go back to the same old jobs and the same old life. I just have no idea what I would do with myself. So, I guess I need to do what my mom suggested and brainstorm some ideas as to how I can move forward with my life NOW. And how I can better myself NOW. Good plan. Maybe I will do that and then post it on here for the whole world to read.

My life in print. Maybe that will be the title to the novel that will change my life.

Peace out home chili fries! I plan to continue updating a little more frequently this time! Hopefully with a little more interesting content than this one!

Love to all, always!

~*MareBear*~

BIGGGGGGGGGG News!!!

Cuz A is PREGNANT!!!! Yay! Our first baby in the family! I should just say baby GIRL...cause we KNOW that's what it's going to be! A found out this morning that it's official...she's 4 to 5 weeks prego! Her unofficial due date is May 29th. I am a little concerned about her physical and mental health, but I think she will do just fine! Now, I kind of DO wish that I lived here so I could go through it with her, but I'm not even entertaining that idea, and she won't let me entertain that idea either. So, we've decided that we will talk on the phone every single day and if the baby kicks then I will drive all night long if I have to to her house so I can feel HER kick! : ) She took UJ to lunch today and broke the news to him. We all thought he would NOT be happy about it, but lo and behold he seemed genuinely happy for her! Which is GREAT! She's going to tell Dadoo tonight, so we will see how that goes too. Anyway! I am so excited for her! WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long Time No Post

Here are just some random updates since I've posted last. Haven't had much to write about, but I want to keep this thing current so here I go!

G left to go to Florida last night. He made it there safely! YAY! His mom and I are just here hanging out. Things are going just fine.

We FINALLY did the yard work the other day. YIPPEE! It's so nice not to walk into a jungle every time we step foot out of the house. I did a lot of work, and my hip told me so later that night, but GOSH it felt good to get out and do something physical.

The house in Jackson is coming right along. Here are the newest pics of it.





















Yippee! Can't WAIT until it's done!

I went to the vet the other day to get all the animals flea stuff...$104 later, they are feeling better. UGH!

Well, I don't know much else, but I'm sure I will come up with something soon! Love you all!

~*MareBear*~

New Biloxi Pics

I said I was going to put up a new before and after pic of Sharkheads so here ya go! The after one is one my dad took of the FRONT of Sharkheads. Notice the sharkhead is no more.





















If you click on the after picture you can see the surfer guy is still there. He was right above the shark...in the before pic, the shark is blocking his view.

Here is one of a sign that Dad found lying on the beach, or somewhere that used to be the beach, or somewhere that used to be a business that is NOW the beach...who knows.

And this is Grandma L in a field behind her house. Her house is in the background. It's the one with the boards holding up the fence. You can see that her house fared well. Anyway, all the shoes that are in the field are from a shoe store that was next door to Sharkheads. Pretty insane when you think about how far they traveled to get there!

So, there you have it. Hopefully I will have more pictures to come! Love you all!

~*MareBear*~

Shark Tale

This is the best animated movie I've ever seen. Ok, Shrek was the bomb diggity too, but this one was oh so awesome. Maybe it's because I have this freakish talent of identifying voices in animated films and voice overs. And in Shark Tale it's blantantly obvious who the characters are. They even LOOK like the real people. So, I don't have to spend my time thinking of who the people are. I get to enjoy the movie. And I LOVE that Robert DeNiro is doing all this comedy now! And, as in everything Will Smith does, the dance scene at the end is awesome! I love the little shrimp! HA! Funny that I'm allergic to them in real life. But I digress. Anyway...this is an awesome movie. If you hadn't guessed I just got done watching it. I'd seen it before at Mom's, but I just watched it again and it renewed the excitement for me! GO BUY IT!

As for other stuff, today is the 'rents 7th wedding anniversary! WOO HOO! Bow chicka wow wow! Dad was the best thing that ever happened in either mine or Mom's lives. Seriously.

I had the talk with KB today. I hope it helped, but she's gonna have to do this on her own. But I will be there for her!

Love you all!!

~*MareBear*~

Al the Rat (late 2004-September 7, 2005)

Al the Albino rat died this morning between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Funeral services commenced at 12:05 PM. He was laid to rest in the backyard. Pallbearers were Mare, G and Lucky the cat (although I think Lucky was there for an entirely different reason.) A brick from the patio serves as his headstone. Al originally was born to be food for our snake, Tiny. At the pet store, they told us that he was a small mouse. Well, obviously Tiny knew the difference between a rat and a mouse and refused to eat him. I was overjoyed that we had a new cute little white furry rat, named Al since he was Albino. Al was very sick after his roommate Whiskers the Hairless Rat died a couple of months ago. He stopped eating and drinking over 2 weeks ago, but held on until he was sure that we'd all be okay with his passing. Al the rat is survived by his neighbors Frita the Rat and Hunny Bunny the Bunny Rabbit. Friends who were in attendance when he passed were: Dixie, Kada, and Sammy the dogs; Isabella, Nermil, Spunky and Angel the cats; and of course, Frita and Hunny Bunny. In lieu of flowers please send a donation to the ASPCA to help the furry victims of hurricane Katrina in Al the Rat's name. We will all miss Al very much and know that we will one day see him at rainbow bridge. May he rest in peace!

Update

Dad made it home safely today. I was able to speak with him breifly, but GOSH, he was so tired. I don't think I've ever heard a human being that tired! Also, Grandma L's POWER was turned on yesterday!!! Can you even BELIEVE IT?!?!? Praise God for that.

The drama rama with Jewel and BK continues...Mom said that she had to call the coppers on them tonight. She didn't give me too many details (those to follow) but it turns out that Jewel DID ask BK to come back...surprise, surprise! And supposedly when he did, a fight ensued. IN THE PARKING LOT! According to my sources, there was a lot of shoving and screaming...fighting over their little girl. Mom called the cops and then Jewel knocked on her door to ask her to call the cops. Mom said, "I already did!" and then slammed and locked the door. No one was arrested that we know of, and I am sure I will get more details tomorrow. Mom didn't feel like reliving it tonight and I don't blame her, but GOSH I wanna KNOW!

Nephew Na was taken to the ER tonight. According to S, he was jumping on one of those moonwalk thingys and SOMEHOW...I have NO IDEA how this kid managed this one...got his two front teeth, which are permanent now, stuck in the net that surrounds it. Well, then he fell. HARD. One of the permanent teeth is literally sticking at a 90 degree angle into his lip! Poor baby. That child has seen the inside of an ER more times than I can count! S said that he was asleep, I'm guessing from pain medicine they gave him. And that they were calling in the emergency dentist. So far, they haven't returned home yet. So, there is no telling how long they will be there.

The season finale of The Closer aired tonight. WAH! What will we do until the next season begins?!? I assume we will go into a long mourning period.

G and I are both sick. G got sick a few days ago and I was SHOCKED that I didn't get it. Then lo and behold, I wake up this morning with a headache and sore throat. UGH. Hopefully it will just move along after a couple of days.

KB is back home with her kids and Style after a short stint away. We are going to have a long talk next time I see her. So, if you read this, you better get yourself ready girl! Best friend, Marebear must speak her mind! Don't worry, you're not in TOO much trouble, but I reserve the right as the best friend in this family to have a word with you! LOVE YOU!

Anyway, that's the extent of the update so far. I think I'm going to hit the hay a little early tonight in order to ward off this cold!

I would just like to say at this point that I really do love all my friends and family with the deepest part of my heart. I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for you guys. If I was one of the ones who lost my home and everything in it, I know that I would still have my heart and soul because I have you guys! I thank God for you every single day and I want everyone of you to know how much I love you guys!

~*MareBear*~

Booooooo

OK, so Auburn kicked the bucket on this one. It doesn't help that we have a 10 year old as a QB...but oh well. I really really really hate it that we lost our first game of the season, but hopefully, we are in a "rebuilding" stage and we'll move right along. Final score 23-14 GA Tech. UGH. But just so you know Big Blue...I still love ya! I won't ever stray! : )

Mare Bear a.k.a. The Faithful Tiger

War Eagle

WARRRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!

Well, ladies and gents! The first Auburn game of the season is on TONIGHT at 7:45 PM on ESPN!!!! They play Georgia Tech and hopefully will whoop their butts. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am that college football has officially begun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAR DAMN EAGLE BABY!