A Little Loopy

But I'm back.

Surgery was nerve wracking.

I arrived at about 5.15am got checked in and changed (I hate those hospital gowns) and they took my vitals.

Then the nurse dropped the bomb.

I had to have a shot of Heparin.

In my stomach.

Yep I said it.

IN.

MY.

STOMACH.

So of course I freaked out.

So they gave me the happy medicine sooner rather than later and all was good.

Then they rolled me down to the surgery room - which they said I wouldn't remember - but I do.

And gave me more happy medicine.

Then the next thing I knew I was in recovery.  It's like magic.

Then they told me I had to stay overnight.  Which freaked me out a little because I wasn't expecting that.

But I'm glad they kept me because I was able to get the good pain killers and it really helped to have a bed that you could put at a incline.

Lying flat hurts.

So right now I'm propped up on a ton of pillows.

The staff at St Luke's was really nice - they made the stay pleasant.

Even though I was awakened every 2 hours so they could take my vitals.  Of course they also asked if I was in any pain and when I said yes they would give me something for it.

Gotta love pain meds.

Seriously.

I got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon and my husband booked us into a hotel.

Why you ask?

Well because our furniture still hasn't arrived!

So we're chillin' at the hotel and this morning I felt good enough to want to go to Le Peep for breakfast.

I had a bit of spinach omelette and 1/2 a biscuit.  That was the first food I'd had since Tuesday other than crackers and popsicles.

Then we went to the house to get more pillows for me.

Then for some reason I thought I'd be o.k. to go to the mall.

Big mistake.

All I can say to you is OWEEE.

So my husband brought me back to the hotel where I quickly took my meds, laid down and took a nap.

And I've stayed in bed for the rest of the day.

Lesson learned.

Just because you think you feel good doesn't mean you do, it just means your pain medication is working.

Anyway - I just took more pain medication and now I'm starting to feel it...

Bye bye!

Date Night

We had a date Thursday night.

It was a lot of fun.

We went to the Bayou Gardens and did the sip and walk.

That's where you walk through the gardens while sipping on a glass of wine.

Nice.

The hubby - he was carrying the wine while I carried the eats...

 I think the owners of the house were going for a European garden feel.

I liked it, it was a nice garden and a nice walk.

 There were also fountains.  I like this photo - it looks like a fake background.  But it was real...

My artistic photo.

And cupid.

A bridge - I liked it in black and white better than color.

It was a really nice evening out - we're doing more of this than we ever had before.  There are so many more choices in America.  What to do, what to be.

You just can't beat it.

More Americans should have to live out of the country so they can see how great our country is compared to the rest of the world.

I love being home.

And We're Back...

I have internet again so I'm up and running...

Kinda.

Who knew moving back would make me so busy?  When I moved to Dubai I can remember being bored out of my mind getting depressed and having problems getting out of bed.

Literally.

Now I'm up at 5am and I'm going all day long.

I'm exhausted by the end of the day!

Between setting up the house, taking care of the puppy and looking for a job AND getting back in touch with friends I'm booked solid.

And I still need to re-connect with my friends in the UAE and UK.

I suck at keeping in touch when I'm in flux.

So I'm going to be putting up multiple posts regarding what has been going on....

Get ready...

Here it comes....

Oh and will you look at that location?  It's HOUSTON baby!

Updates

I haven't been keeping in touch very well, neither on my blog or in my life personally.

I need to update my blog to reflect the fact that I'm BACK!

I'm going to keep updating this one until I'm move into our new apartment and our stuff has been delivered by the movers.

I think that's a good demarkation point.  I was there and now I'm here.

Then I'm going to start a new blog and link this one to it.

I've been busy getting things together and living with my bf SP has kept me busy.

Chatting

Shopping

Cooking

Hanging

And who knew kids were so time consuming?!

It's been fun, but I've been shit at calling my friends here and reconnecting, or keeping connected to my friends in the UK and the UAE.

It'll get better once I'm in my own place and have some sort of routine.  But right now I'm just trying to get settled in.

Yesterday we bought a new bed - since ours will not arrive until after the 30th and,

I've started the great job hunt -met with a recruiter and now need to get on the stick to apply and call etc...

Hopefully I'll be employed soon.

If not full time I'm going to go for a part-time job.  Maybe at Starbucks...

Anyway I'm going to make an effort to update more often, call my friends, and get my fricken Skype sorted out.  It keeps freezing up and not allowing me to chat or make phone calls.

Later!

What a Bum!

I thought I'd be:

Writing prolifically in my Blog.

Organizing my Kindle books in an excel spreadsheet jotting down the summary so I could tell what the books were about without opening them up.

That's the downside to an electronic book - if you forget the order they should be read in, forget what they are about, etc... it's a pain to open it up in the kindle to try and figure it out.


Madly looking for a job.

Calling all my friends and having lunch / dinner / drinks / coffee.

I can't figure out what I've been doing instead.

What have I been doing for the past week (can you believe I'll be home for a week this Wednesday?!)?

Well I did get some things done - I found an apartment, we bought a car, I set up the electricity for the apartment, arranged to pick up Gracie Jane, and I have an appointment on Thursday with a recruiter.

I also took AW to the doctor, and I'm running errands and going grocery shopping today.

Huh...I guess I've done a bit more than I thought.

But still nothing I thought I'd be doing.  I need to write a list.

Then I can mark things off.

Be productive.

I love being in America!

Foul Play

I just want to say I really like the movie Foul Play.

I'm watching it for like the 10 millionth time!

What can I say - I'm unemployed...for now.

Another Great Day

In the 'hood!

Ha Ha Ha!

I had an interesting experience today - I took my best friend SP's son to the doctor.

I've never taken a child to the doctor before (not really a child he's 13 soon to be 14).

Thank goodness he knew where he was going - I wouldn't have gotten him there in time if I had been navigating.

I'm directionally challenged - I admit it.

Anyway, they ask A LOT of questions.  Questions that I didn't know - questions that the answers, I would have thought, would have been in the computer.

 Like - are you allergic to anything, how tall are you, etc...

After all he'd been there before.

Good thing he knew the answers.  I sure as hell didn't.

So basically I was the chauffeur - he did all the talking.  I'm really glad it wasn't the 3 year old I was taking to the Dr.

I would have really sucked at that, and most likely they would have called CPS on me for not knowing the basics.  You know questions like, what's his birthday?

Anyway - it was a good time, he's a good kid and very capable.  Who knew kids were so very time consuming and costly.  That 3 hour visit cost about 250 in co-pays.  But it turned out he did fracture his thumb.

So the visit did last longer and cost more than anticipated.

New topic....

I still don't know what I'm going to rename the blog.  Maybe I'll have this as one page and my American experiences as another....

I'm thinking, I'm thinking....

I am soooo Not Feelin' Groovy

I went out last night with a friend and my husband.

I had 3 glasses of red wine.

I may as well had 2 bottles.

I feel like shit.

How can one have a hangover like this off two small glasses of wine and one large one?

Thank goodness I didn't do this tomorrow night - I sure as hell don't want to take a 17 hour flight feeling like this.

Of course, feeling miserable might actually take my mind off the fact I'm flying.

I won't have to chant to myself that the air sucks up the wings and that's what's keeping the stupid thing in the air.

I took 3 Advil - why the hell haven't they kicked in yet?!

Only in Dubai

My husband and I went out to dinner on Friday night.

We went to PF Chang's - where they have imported American Chef's and American management.

Go America.

So it's a slice of the US in the Middle East.

So tastee!

Anyway - we pop into Crate and Barrel (yes the mall we went to is US focused - they also have a Pottery Barn!).

And guess what we see.

Parents checking their bags in with the security guard.

Oh, and their children!

Ha ha ha ha!

The kids were left in the carts, with the bags, with the security guard!

Who was playing with the kids while the parents shopped!

Only in Dubai would it be normal and acceptable to leave your kids with a stranger!

Of course in Denmark they leave the kids in their strollers outside the shops, in the streets, by themselves.

No kidding.  In the street.

It's a pedestrian street, but still...

I guess people don't take kids over there, or over here.

Or it's so rare parents don't even think about it.

Good Golly Molly!

My husband's boss decided today that he should concentrate solely on North America, with an eye to Europe for opportunities. 

What does that mean you ask?

It means he will be based in HOUSTON!  And he won't have to visit the ME monthly!

Does it get any better than this?!

I don't think so!

Well, maybe if Gabi were still around to enjoy it...

Oh, I just thought of something - since he's going to be based in Houston it may mean that I won't be staying with my BBF SP for a the few months that we had planned. 

Hmmm - I was looking forward to hanging with her and the family for a few months.

Oh well - I'll still be A LOT closer to her than I am now!

Caio!

I can't believe I use to be so small!

I'm going through my clothes - ones that I've had in my cedar chest for the past 5+ years.

Do you know that I use to wear a petite small in my dress shirts?

That I'm looking at a size five sun dress that I use to wear all the time?!  Yes the sun dress I use to wear when I was 28 - but still...

I am getting rid of all my size 8 suits that I use to wear in Houston.  Not only do they not fit - they're out of style.  About 7 - 9 years out of style.  So even if I lost my voluptuous curves - I still wouldn't wear them.

So out the door they go.

Who knows what else I'll find - considering that I haven't shifted through these things since London.  I don't think I even looked at this stuff when we moved from London to Dubai - I think the last time I actually looked at this stuff was when we moved to London.

Like in Feb / March 2005.

Treasures to uncover....

Lady Gaga - Alejandro

Have you seen this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA

When I first saw it I thought Lady Gaga was making fun of video ho's by having man ho's in her video.

Then my husband looked it up on Google and he saw this:  http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=3979

Which is very interesting - a lot of conjecture about the illuminati, God, and homosexual undertones.

I looked it up and got this:  http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1641136/20100609/lady_gaga.jhtml

Apparently the director was thinking about a woman's lost love.

Interesting how people assign their own weird meanings to things.

When I was at University I took an English class, the teacher had us read Cinderella and then wanted us to write about the feminist undertones of the story.  How it highlighted the oppression of women.

I wrote that there were no feminist undertones to the story, that people just assigned their own meanings to it, ones the author never intended.  I wrote that Cinderella was just a story written by some guy trying to shut his kids up, put them to bed, and teach them a lesson at the same time.  The moral of Cinderella - be nice to people or it just may bite you in the ass, aka what goes around comes around.

The teacher was a bit pissed at me at going "off topic" but at least she gave me a C instead of an F.

Productivity

Can you believe it - I was actually a bit productive this weekend.

I cooked food for the first part of the week.

I sorted through some boxes and tossed out a lot of stuff!

But, I didn't do an inventory of what needs to be insured.

My goal tonight is to start sorting through my clothes.  I have way too many that I don't wear. 

Well actually, can't wear.

It's the F.A.T.

My bootie is too big for a lot of my clothes. 

I have a hard time letting go.  Especially when I really like something.

I keep thinking - I just need to loose xx pounds.  Then It'll fit.

I don't think those size 4's are going to ever fit again.

EVER. 

So it should be safe to let them go, hmmmm?

Where is my money "They" keep promising me?!

When is my 400 million US Dollars going to show up in my account?

I'm tired of working everyday.

I mean "They" said all I had to do was give out my account information and my magically inherited / won / found money was going to be transferred into my account.

Maybe I need to pay a "handling fee"?

I guess I'll just have to work until it shows up.

Just think what you could do with that kind of money.  Even if you were taxed at 50% you would still end up with 200 million.

If you invest it conservatively at 4% that's 8 million a year, less tax say 35%, it leaves you with 5.2 million.

Which is roughly 430 thousand dollars a month.

I can live on that.  Easily.

I'm waiting...

Feelin' Groovy

This entire week I've had this overwhelming feeling of dread.

A constant sick feeling in my stomach.

Waking up in the middle of the night trying to figure out what was wrong, what was missing.

Half asleep asking myself, "Where is Gabi?".

Then remembering.

Oh.

Yeah.

She's at the vet.

Crap.

So everyday I visit.

I call two, three times a day.

Everyone knows me by sight now.

"Oh it's Gabi's Mom, go get the Doctor" (I have no name at the vet).

Well, today the Doctor called me at work to give me an update on her condition.

Good news - her blood count is up from 16 to 23, it's suppose to be around 45, but it's increasing rapidly so he's not worried.

Her kidney function is in normal range - which he said was surprising considering she's had two major surgeries in the past 6 days which left her with one kidney.

The best news of all... she can come home!

But we still don't have the biopsy results from her spleen and kidney.  They had to send that off to South Africa.

Third world country you know.

And people here don't really give a crap about animals, so off to SA pet testing goes.

Anyway, on my way to pick her up I was thinking about how sad I felt and how I missed my husband and I figured I'd spend the evening wallow in the bed or sitting on the couch staring into space.

Because, well, I've got this overwhelming feeling of doom hanging over me.

And that's what you do when you have doom.

I walk in to the vet - and I get the regular shout out... "Hi Gabi's Mom!" (I'm resigned to the fact they will never know MY name).

I collect my little dog with all her medicine and instructions on how "calm" I have to keep her for the next two weeks.

And I can't believe how much more alert and happy she is.  She even sat up for the whole car ride home looking out the window like she usually does.  And she was wiggling in joy around me.

The last time I took her to the vet she didn't even raise her head from the car seat, much less sit up.

My mood starts improving.

Then we get home, I change then sit in "our" chair.  It's the chair Gabi and I hang out in during the evenings.  I'm scratching her back, rubbing her belly, massaging her feet...AAANNNDD

I realize that I'm happy.

All the way to the bone happy.

No doom and gloom, no sick feeling.

Just happy.

All is right in my world.

Tonight at least.

It doesn't get any better than this...

Well without my husband home it doesn't get any better than this.

With him home it would be perfect.

O.K. I'm a little D.R.U.N.K.

I'm a little drunk tonight.

Maybe not a little - maybe a lot.

My little love Gabi, my little dog that I've had for the last 10 years is ill.

Very ill.

Like they've taken her spleen and one of her kidney's ill.

And they still don't know what exactly is wrong with her ill.

I've had her since I was single and she landed on my door step.  Someone had starved her and dumped her in the park across the street from where I lived to die.  And of course she found her way to my front door and I had to keep her.

She was in my bed before my husband (he has her side of the bed now).

She keeps me company when he's out of town.

She's the reason why I don't freak out at every little sound in the house.

She's the reason why my blood pressure isn't sky high.

Even the cat misses her (she's in the hospital right now and the cat is freaked out).

I love this little dog (maybe not so little - she weighs 40+ pounds and has pitbull in her).

I rub her belly and everything is o.k. in her world and in mine.

She's so sweet.

Look at that face.  How can you deny it?

I'm shattered.

I don't know if I've done the right thing in having the vet take her spleen on Tuesday and her kidney today.

Am I prolonging her life because I'm being selfish and I need her in my life?

They don't know if it's cancer and if it's not they think she can have a full recovery.

But I'm putting her through so much.  She's had 2 major surgeries in the 6 days.  I don't want her to be in pain, but I want to give her every opportunity.

For her sake and mine.

I love this little dog.  She's been with me through so much - being married, living in the hell that's known as London, living in Dubai - which while it's not hell but it's half way there.

I know that she's "just a dog" but anyone who's had a dog as a part of the family knows they worm their way into your heart and it's like losing a member of the family.

And I worry that I'm trying to extend her life past what is good for her, just because I need her so much.

I'm so sad.

I wish we were in the US where she would have better care.

The great house hunt...

We're going to start looking for a new place to live...

Here in Dubai.

For about 6 months.

Hopefully we can find a 2 bedroom with maid's quarters for a low price.

I'll start on Sunday.

Right now I'm enjoying my Ben Nevis, watching movies, while the hubby is napping.

Life is good.

It happened again!!!!

I must really be looking young!

I was carded AGAIN last night at the Wheelhouse here in Valdez!

Apparently I really don't look my age here in Alaska.  Which is weird because in previous years I wasn't carded.

But, hey I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.  If people think I look like I'm young enough to question whether or not I'm legal who am I to argue?!

I'm just going to bask.

I'm basking!

Oh my Gosh! I'm 20 again!

The most amazing thing happened to me on Saturday, my husband, my brother and I were in Anchorage, getting ready to start our drive to Valdez.

We went to Gwennies to have breakfast (we always go there to have breakfast when we're in town), my husband parked the car, and I ran in to put our name on the list.

While I was waiting for him and my brother to come in I had a seat at the bar.

It was 10 o'clock in the morning (yes we got a late start) and I decided to have a soda - I'd get my coffee with breakfast.

The bartender walked behind the bar and I ask her if I can have a drink...I wasn't sure if the bar was open in the morning.

Apparently it is - and not just for soda.

She took a look at me and said, yes but I need your ID before I can serve you.

I was taken aback.  I'm 40.  I haven't been carded in 10 years and who drinks alcohol at 10am?

Well apparently vacationers do...

So I looked at her and said, really?

She said yes, with a serious look on her face.

I then said, oh, I just wanted a diet coke - but you really want to card me? You don't think I look older than 21?  Oh my God!  I think I love you!

I know I could kiss you!

She smiled and gave me my diet coke.

This woman looked like she was in her mid 50's and was the type of women who didn't take any crap.

She made my day.

Now my husband is trying to sniff the youth out of me because he says I apparently have youth to spare.  I'm chasing him off because really, I'm not giving any of this up!

Who knows how long this mini sprint back in time will last!

Jet lag is not my friend

I'm sitting here in my friend's house, updating my blog.

At TWO O'CLOCK in the MORNING!

Do you want to know why?!

Cause even though I stayed up until 9pm yesterday and slept until 6am this morning, I feel asleep at 4pm today.

And kept on sleeping until midnight.  At which point I woke up.

All the way up.

Wide awake up.

So now I'm on facebook, my blog, and I'm watching really bad Sci Fi.

The velociraptors are trying to kill the paramilitary group.  On a deserted, volcanic island.

So far the velociraptors are winning.

I had my left over pad thai for dinner / breakfast?  Not sure what you would call it at this point.

I also had a little debbie oatmeal snack cake.

I'd been dreaming about those for a while.

yum.

I have to say - there are really bad commercials on at this time of night.

I guess I'll read for awhile...

Ciao Ciao