Friday, April 28, 2006

Okay, just because so many people have both asked AND assumed they knew what I was talking about in another post I made (the one about being addicted to someone) let me clear this up. I am sorry if in that particular post I didn't specify.

That was a random thought. It didn't mean anyone or anything specific. I am not saying that I, Kelly, am in any way addicted to nor wonder if I could be addicted to another person. Is this clear to everyone? Good.

I've also wondered if you went back in time and payed Van Gogh to paint a picture, could you bring it back and sell it, an unknown painting by an otherwise well known artist, without anyone accusing you of fencing art that had been stolen by Nazis at some point. I also haven't done this.

Please don't take everything I write on here seriously, especially if it doesn't seem to make sense. Sometimes I'm just writing to stay awake or because I have weird thoughts.

That is all. : )
9:15 a.m.

A large piece of sticky vinyl just detached itself from something I was cutting out and slapped me in the face. It has stuck to my afore mentioned face and pulled my glasses off. I have carefully unstuck them from the vinyl and they are now safely on my desk. I can't see more than two feet in front of me.
So THAT'S how it's going to be today...

7:53 a.m.

Walking into the cafeteria is like wandering into the internal workings of an ant hill. Kid are freaking everywhere. This shouldn't surprise me, I do, afterall, work at a camp. After carefully picking my way through small, bewildered groups carrying precariously balanced trays loaded with french toast sticks and hash browns (we love our carbs here) I make it to the hot water tank and get my morning cup of water for tea. After once again weaving my way through the forest of children (and wondering if it would really be a bad thing to carry a Nerf bat with me to whack people out of my way), I climb the stairs to find that I'm the first if my office to arrive, and therefore will have to unlock the door. While searching for my keys, my cup of hot water crashes to the floor, drenching everything within a three foot radius. I was seriously unknowledgable about the fact that an 8 ounce cup of water would cover so much floor space. I rush up the stairs only to find that the only available paper towels are the brown rolls in the bathroom, and they have no absorptive powers at all. After running up and down the stairs several times, alternately holding wads of dry and sopping, brown paper towels, I realize that all I'm succeeding in doing is spreading the moisture to an even larger area. I search for and locate a broken folding chair, which I sit squarely in the middle of the spot in hopes that none of my immediate co-workers slip and break a leg in the mess. I finally make it to my office where I realize the heater is on, and therefore I must take off my shoes and sit very still in the stream of my fan so that I don't get ill from the opressive humidity which has already begin to accumulate within.

I hear a noise, I will write again soon.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

FINALLY! An online quiz that got it right! It's amazing! How did they know! Heeheehee!

Your Celebrity Match is: Johnny Depp

That's what I'm talkin' about.

Another Hazard of my Job

I'm sure there's a good "blue hand" joke out there, but I've just inhaled a lot of spray paint and my brain isn't processing stuff as efficently as it should be, so I can't think of it!

I also managed to spray paint my wedding band, but with the help of currosive sticky-stuff remover, I got that cleaned off. I am not going to spary that on my hands, though.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Mamma Mia, Here we go again...

I have a new found fascination for the movie Mommie Dearest. I just recently finished reading the book for the second time and I was a little appalled that the movie was almost completely fiction. In reality (or at least according to the book) Joan Crawford was actually worse than she was portrayed by Faye Dunaway.

Of course, we all know that the movie was WAY over the top. Even that crazy heifer probably didn't walk around with that "I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr. Deville" look on her face all of the time. At any rate, for your viewing pleasure, I shall link to something called "Mommie Dearest Remix" or "ABBA vs. Mommie Dearest". If nothin else, it's pretty darned funny.

NO WIRE HANGERS, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Weekend Update!

You'll have to excuse my day-lateness on my weekend update here, folks. I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I did. You know, I would imagine most people think I have some kind of severe chemical dependancy because of the way I forget stuff. However, I assure you that I am just forgetful! When I was in high school, I dated a guy for two years and couldn't ever think of his name. I ended up just calling him Punkins so as to not offend him. So be assured that this forgetting thing isn't a new thing for me. : )

FRIDAY

Friday evening Steve and I went to the home of a couple we go to church with. I stopped by Coldstone and bought another cake to take over there (this time it was the strawberry one: to DIE for) and we played a card game called Phase Ten. I realize that the game is not new, but I had never played it before. I'm not a big card player because I forget rules too quickly (see above paragraph) and can never remember what the symbols of the cards are. Luckily these cards just had big numbers on them, so I didn't get incredibly confused. Actually, I won the game! Go me *spirit fingers*! It was kind of late when we left, and I felt bad we had stayed so long, but we were having too much fun to leave!

Saturday was supposed to be a full day for me, but it went all haywire. Here was my plan: Get up, print the pictures of the Ordination service and print some lables, pack some books, run to Target and a couple of other places, visit a friend, go to a class reunion committee meeting, go home. I had it all very planned out and organized. Did it work that way? Not so much. I did get up...that part went as planned. As I sat down at my computer and started making prints of the pictures, I realized that for some reason the paper I was using wasn't working. It was as if the surface was cracking every time the ink would dry. So I tried some more things to make it work...only to make it worse. I still don't know what was going on, but I did find ONE sheet of photo paper that acted like it was supposed to. Printing lables on my Mac is impossible because no program I own has the software to do it. Not only that, but when I finally figured out how to format a spreadsheet to print the darned things, I found out that my PRINTER isn't formatted to print lables. I could have just spit! Steve and his dad were outside doing some yard work, and I think knowing that they would see me was the one thing that kept me from flinging the computer, printer, photo paper and everything else in arms reach, out of the window. I was two tents. ; ) At any rate, the computer problems kept me busy all morning. So I had to rush to Target to pick up the prescriptions I was there to get and rush home to drop them off before I went to Athens. Actually my trip out there was the one thing that went right that day! I went to visit Sara (hey!) and take her some books. I know I looked like I was moving in when I dragged that bag of books into her house, but I wanted to give her a selection. There is very little worse than books that you try to read and find nothing interesting. We also sat around and talked of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. As I was leaving, the class reunion meeting was canceled, so I just went home. Well, I got lunch and went home. Steve had planned to go to dinner with Anthony, and since I had JUST eaten, I went to the coffee place to hear Pete's Corner play. That's my friend, Jason's (Punkins), band. I learned something important that night. If you ever want to find out what a goober you were in high school, talk to an old boyfriend/girlfriend! : ) We had such a good time talking about all of the stupid stuff we did back then. I never realized how completely embarrassing I was back then. I suppose when you're 14, you don't realize how over-reactive and dramatic you behave, but it is surely obvious when you look back on it from someone elses point of view! I'm lucky that he will still associate with me. Heeheehee. Anyways, that was fun.

Sunday was church and we had a special service of music and baby dedications in the morning. Once again, I was called upon to take pictures, but I didn't feel quite as bad for snapping during the baby dedications because it wasn't as serious. I'm also hoping the pictures turned out better than last time! : ) I used the mom's camera this time and I didn't mess with any of the settings, so we should be okay. After church we went to my parent's house to celebrate Logan's birthday. He's 12 now, so that makes me old. I kept thinking of when he was born and I had thought to myself "Well, when he's my age (16) I'll be 32." Of course, back then 32 seemed a hundred years away. Now it's only 4 years away. I'm going to have to have an early-to-mid-life crisis to get over this. You guys pick it: A tattoo, a sports car, or run away to New Orleans and become a tour guide at the cemetaries? Anyways, at night I had to stay home and work on my presentation for history class and that was the end of my weekend!

Very excitng, no?

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF THIS WEEKEND

1) I can tear up a piece of ice cream cake.

2) No matter how young I feel on the inside normally, my nephews can still make me feel OLD.

3) Also, they (my nephews) think I'm weird. I realize I'm okay with that. : )

4) Card games can be fun as long as you don't have to remember the differences between the suits.

5) I could live to be 105 with no major disasters and there will still be someone who thinks I'm capable of being manipulated by the passing words of a stranger.

6) I'm not allowed to have harmless, Non-Sequitar (?) thoughts without someone thinking they have some hidden and serious meaning behind them.

7) I hate computers. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Well, unless they are working the way I want them to.

8) I am more ready to graduate than I thought.

9) Weird things can make me feel incredibly self-concious and ill at ease, but the things that SHOULD probably bother me just don't.

10) I used to be incredibly thoughtless.

AND THIS ONE JUST CAME TO ME:

11) I should be working! I'm signing off!

Friday, April 21, 2006

OK, who is going to buy me this?

Come on. I totally deserve it.

Let's face it, sometimes saying "I Love You" is expensive. : )

Thursday, April 20, 2006

...and so I said to myself, why not?

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:Sheena, Queen of the Dwarf People...my friends call me Kelly.
Birthday:I don't have one
Birthplace:Huntsville, Alabama
Current Location:Huntsville, Alabama
Eye Color:Dark Brown
Hair Color:Dark Brown
Height:5'3" or so
Right Handed or Left Handed:Right
Your Heritage:Swedish/Native American. Just call me Stands with Heidi.
The Shoes You Wore Today:Black Cowboy Boots
Your Weakness:Chocolate and Puppies, but not at the same time.
Your Fears:Bugs, Heights, Dark, Smothering, and Bananas.
Your Perfect Pizza:I don't really care for pizza, thanks.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:Pay off some bills
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:"Leave me alone" or am I the only one who gets that?
Thoughts First Waking Up:Bears!!!! Wait...what time is it?
Your Best Physical Feature:My mom says my eyes, Steve says my hair. I don't really see one.
Your Bedtime:11:30 pm or so
Your Most Missed Memory:?
Pepsi or Coke:Either, I'm not picky.
MacDonalds or Burger King:Burger King
Single or Group Dates:Steve doesn't like it when I date, but I'll go with single.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:Red Diamond
Chocolate or Vanilla:CHOCOLATE
Cappuccino or Coffee:both, at the same time, with a little more caffine added in.
Do you Smoke:yuck, no
Do you Swear:like a sailor, unless my mom is around, then no.
Do you Sing:All of the time!
Do you Shower Daily:Usually
Have you Been in Love:Yes
Do you want to go to College:I want to graduate college...badly...soon.
Do you want to get Married:Again? Maybe. Depends on what happens to Steve.
Do you belive in yourself:Yes. I can touch me, so I know I'm real. Right?
Do you get Motion Sickness:Easily
Do you think you are Attractive:Not really. I have a great personality!
Are you a Health Freak:Heh...not so much.
Do you get along with your Parents:Very well.
Do you like Thunderstorms:Obsessively, as long as they don't turn into Tornados.
Do you play an Instrument:Sort of. Clarinet, Piano, Xylophone.
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:No
In the past month have you Smoked:No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:I'm on drugs every month.
In the past month have you gone on a Date:
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:Yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:I don't care for Oreos much, but I think I've had some.
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:*gag* no
In the past month have you been on Stage:Yes
In the past month have you been Dumped:I don't think so.
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:It's not possible for me to go skinny dipping!
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:No
Ever been Drunk:I plead the 5th
Ever been called a Tease:I don't think so
Ever been Beaten up:Just by my sister.
Ever Shoplifted:No
How do you want to Die:Saving the world from a flaming comet...when I'm 105.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:Happy
What country would you most like to Visit:Greece or Italy
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:Blue
Favourite Hair Color:Brown or black...
Short or Long Hair:either
Height:tall
Weight:eh, don't care.
Best Clothing Style:I don't know! I'm hopless!
Number of Drugs I have taken:Legal, a lot. Illegal, none.
Number of CDs I own:maybe 10? I don't know.
Number of Piercings:5
Number of Tattoos:None yet, but only because I'm a coward. Don't judge me.
Number of things in my Past I Regret:2, but I'm sure there is more if I think about it!

CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!
I had to take a few moments away from the vinyl cutter before I threw it out of the window!



I'm helping to refurbish the OUTSIDE of the SR-71 Blackbird that sits outside of the SpRocket. You know, the big, black plane right outside of the lobby? Apparently sitting outside for 15 or so years with little to no maintenance has taken its toll and now it's been decided to make it pretty again. I've been cutting out the vinyl graphics, and the cutter went haywire and ruined about 5 or more feet of white vinyl, which we just got in yesterday. It's frustrating. I also wish I knew Korean so that I could read the digital display and be able to tell what is wrong with it! FLARN!

OK, enough of that!

I have some very exciting news! A very good friend of mine just completed all of his Masters Degree work and will be graduating soon! Yay, Kenny! *spirit fingers!* Normally, I would secretly lothe him for achieving this while I am still yet an undergrad, but he's worked hard and I'm very proud!

Steve and I went bike riding on Tuesday and I remembered why I both love to ride and also why I hate it. Mainly it's the bugs. The Greenway is located along side a creek that seems to always be covered with swarms of stuff. If you talk, you eat a bug. Very nice!

Yesterday was a critique in my Flash class and I am so mad at myself! Our assignment this last time was a choice between an "art animation" or a "moving ad" for the business of out choice. I had to originally ask for an extension because of everything that had happened, and I received one (along with the rest of the class), but I was having trouble thinking of anything to do. I came up with a couple of ideas for the art animation, but I was afraid that it wouldn't be what the teacher wanted. Finally, the day before class, I worked out an ad that was passible and thought I put everything together. Alas, although I remembered almost everything, I forgot to put in a copy of my thumbnails with my disk. SIGH. That's an automatic lots of points off! Anyways, we sat and watched the submissions, and all of the stuff I thought would be too lame to submit was exactly like most of the things everyone else turned in! Not that their stuff was lame or anything, but I just had a different idea of what I thought the teacher was asking for. I could have been done with the stupid assignment SUNDAY!

I hope it rains.

Back to work with me!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

This has nothing to do with anything, but here is a gratuitus dog shot!




This will probably sound a little bizarre, but do you think it's possible to get addicted to another person?

I don't mean that in a porny way and I also don't mean being dependent on someone, but more of like addicted to them like some people are addicted to cigarettes or booze.

I think it's possible.

I wonder if you could get a patch to help get over it? : )

Monday, April 17, 2006

WEEKEND UPDATE!

Well, I passed yet another non-impressive weekend, but I still had a good time doing it.

Friday after work we went to dinner with some friends of ours. It's the first time we'd really been out with everyone for a few weeks, so we went to Chili's and had dinner. Shannon and I spent most of the meal acting like lunatics, but at least we weren't asked to leave! : ) After dinner we decided to walk over to *dramatic pause* Coldstone! It had been so long since we had gone over there, and Greg and I were in severe withdrawl for some good ice cream, so we made the trek. Apparently everyone in Jones Valley had the same idea because it was packed to the door. Since we were stuck next to the cooler with all of the cakes, Greg decided that it would be smarter to just buy one and take it home to share with everyone. An exellent idea, as it turned out! We got something chocolate-chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake-more chocolate. It was sooooooooooooo wonderful. So we all sat around the table and joked and ate ice cream cake. I was a little embarrassed because I kept smelling something bad in my kitchen and I didn't want it to gross anyone out. However, I couldn't ever find out what the smell was! I think it was something in the sink, but I was never sure. I lit one of those oil burner things to make myself feel better, and that seemed to work just fine. I hate having to play "Find the Bad Smell"!

Saturday we spent the day with Steve's dad. The funeral director came by to do some final details, and he was annoyingly smarmy. He was so smarmy that I could feel the smarm oozing around the house. I was in the kitchen doing some things for Mr. Lee while he talked with the guy, and I suppose since I wasn't involved in the conversation directly that I was able to hear that guy being kind of manipulative. Granted, I know he's a salesman and his job is to sell, but geez. He was using stories of his own "past losses" to push stuff off on us. I'm glad Mr. Lee was anticipating this because he didn't get talked into anything he didn't want, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I've always heard that death is a good business, but I don't think I'd ever understood why until that day! I had to catch up on some homework (I'm still about 2 weeks behind) while Steve and his dad ran some errands and then we had lunch together. I fell asleep pretty hard once we got back to Mr. Lee's house. I just sort of narcolepted out in the chair! Steve had to wake me up when it was time to go and I staggered around for a while before I was fully aware of where I was and what was going on. After that we ran some errands of our own and went home.

Sunday was, of course, a beautiful Easter day! We had church in the morning, along with a whole lot of people I didn't know. As the preacher started giving his sermon, I started to read ahead a little bit in the scriptures, and before I knew it, I totally missed half of the sermon! I don't know what happened! I don't think I'd ever read about the crucifixion in the book of Mark before, so I was engrossed. I knew I could get into a book, but good greif. That afternoon we went to my parent's house. My mom had invited Mr. Lee, so he got to expirence the nephews first hand. Thank goodness they behaved themselves! My mom always has an easter egg hunt for the boys, but Seth got sneaky. He went outside and found where they all were so that when the hunt started, he would be able to find most of them. Of course, then he told us since he knew where they were, he had to hide them again. He hid them from himself! That's quite a feat! Mom let them look for the eggs she had hidden, and since there was a fair amount of cheating going on, she asked Steve and I to hide them again in the back yard. We hid 55 eggs, and hid them fairly well. Well, that's a lie. We kind of ran out of hiding places and just started tossing them into bushes and everything, but the boys still had a time finding them all. Steve was kind of mean at one point because he put an egg in the fork of a tree as high as he could reach. Seth saw it, and started to cry because he couldn't reach it. Mean or not, that was funny! At the end of it all, there was still one egg missing and as far as we know, it's still missing. Neither Steve nor I could remember where we hid everything! Mom said the lawnmower would probably find it later! : ) At the evening church service, we were going to be having a ordination service for the new associate pastor. It had been a while since I had seen one of those, and since Josh is always interested in seeing new and exciting Baptist events, he came along. Since I'm the church historian, I was armed with my camera and took pictures all during the service. I felt as if I was being rude, but everyone assured me that it was fine to take the pictures. I got some really great shots, but it didn't make me feel any less like holy paparazzi! The new associate pastor also got to baptize his own little boy after his service, so that was sweet. I had thought Josh had seen a full immersion baptism before, but afterwards he asked "What was up with him holding his hand up? Is that normal?" I told him it was, but he just said that he thought that maybe Bro. Ken got confused and held his hand up in the classic "I Don't Know" pose. Silly Catholic! ; ) There were still a billion flower arrangements left over from Ms. Rhonda's funeral service, so I had to bring them home with me. I had a giant peace lily, a giant something called a Chavallier (or at least sounds close to that), an azaelia bush, one basket with an arrangement of various green things growing in it and another giant basket with a calla lily, another unidentifiable green plant and a pot of ivy. These are just the ones we took home that night. We still gave some away before I loaded Rudolph. Driving home with a whole ecosystem of plants in my car was an expirence. The azelia kept falling off of the seat and I was all but choking on the pollen flying around. My head is STILL stopped up from that ride home. Allergies aside, I think it's beautiful that so many people loved Ms. Rhonda so much and wanted to give plants in her honor. I hope that when it's my time to go, my family gets a garden half as big! Now I just have to figure out how to plant these things and keep them alive. We all know how inept I am with plants, but I'm going to try hard to keep these kicking as long as I can.

That's about it!

Friday, April 14, 2006

MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

*I read an interesting article this morning about a man who is being sent to prison for extorting money from an elderly Amish man. Apparently, this man knew that the Amish man had once solicited a prostitute and had convinced him that if he didn't give him money, pictures of both of them would appear on the internet. So Mr. Amish man payed him the hush money. You know, I'm sure I'm not the only one to think this, but why was the Amish man worried? It's not like anyone in his community would see them. They're AMISH!

*The weather radar lied to me yesterday. I checked the weather online and it said "partly cloudy", so I decided to go outside and apply the decals to the nurse's van (like I should have done weeks ago). Apparently, their idea of partly cloudy means no clouds in the sky and pounding sunlight and heat. Granted, it was only 80 degrees or so, but still! I can't help it. I'm a weenie when it comes to being hot. I can't stand it.

*Today is Jason's (the Office Sniper) last day with us here at the SpRocket. He is moving on to another graphics job somewhere in Decatur that pays him more and where he won't have to deal with everyone second guessing what he designs because it "Doesn't fit in with the market research we payed someone way too much to conduct." I've seen many of his very, very nice designs go to waste because VP didn't think it was cheesy enough (That's the only reason I can think of anyways). So, good luck, Jason! I'll miss having to dodge imaginary bullets!

*When I worked in the call center, I had brought in a microwave for the office to use. Two days ago, the call center staff was movied into a new area which didn't have the space for the microwave anymore, so I moved it up to my office. It doesn't look it, but that mother is HEAVY. I had to carry it across the parking lot and up two flights of stairs. I ended up with cuts on my forearms and sore muscles. I seriously need to go back to the gym! Of course, while I was carrying it up to the office, I came microwave-to-face with about a thousand camp kids. Honestly, it was the first time that the counselors asked them to move out of my way! I'm beginning to think I should carry heavy appliances more often, if to only get to my office a little easier. : )

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Just a small bit of advice...

Let's pretend you are going to make, say, a smoothie. You grab your blender, look around for the top, and proceed to cut up all of the yummy fruits that you plan to smooth (or whatever the proper smoothie verb is). After the said smoothie is made and you begin to drink it, if you have a straw obstruction, please see what causes it right away.

I did not look to see what it was until I was almost done with my drink. Apparently, a piece of plastic shrink wrap had fallen into my blender while it was in the cabinet. I didn't ever notice it, even when I started putting things into the pitcher. I unknowingly proceeded to drink little pieces of plastic along with my smoothie this morning. It wasn't until I was almost done that I noticed something that looked decidedly unlike a strawberry. When I pulled it out, it was a crumpled up piece of partially shredded plasic wrap. Granted it could have been something much worse, like a roach, but still.

Yuck.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Well, things are starting to get back to normal or at least as normal as they are ever going to be. Everything went well this weekend,and most of you were there, so if you don't mind, I won't rehash.

There is one thing that I actually expirenced last week that I do want to share. For the first time in my life, I actually stood outside during a tornado! When I lived with my parents, I was basically slung into a bath tub and covered with pillows until the weatherman gave an all-clear. Now really, covered with pillows? As if a throw pillow is going to do much good when the very forces of God are swirling about you. I never understood it, I never questioned it, and I refuse to begin now.

Anyways. My dad was always the one standing outside watching the storms, sometimes accompanied by my big sister, and I always heard about how awesome it was after it was all over. So this time I went outside with the men-folk and we watched the storm. It was amazing! I mean, it wasn't as if a tornado was right over us or anything, but the sirens were going off, it actually hailed (first time to see that, too) and we all stood outside and watched it. Now I understand why people are storm chasers! Okay, I take that back. I don't understand why people actually get into cars and drive after the tornados, but I do understand the fascination with them.

However, I did have one moment of shame that I feel is only fair to tell you about. All of my life, I've heard that a tornado "Sounds juss like a freight train." Since I have always been cowered underneath something when any of them had been near our house, I just took that little fact for granted, or at least I understood that a tornado had a rushing, loud sound. So as we were all standing out under the church porch-thingie, I was watching the southern area of sky. All at once I heard this rushing sound coming from behind that I couldn't identify. Immediately, adrenaline surged through me. Steve's cousin, Greg, just happened to be standing next to me, and I honestly almost jumped onto him like Scooby-Doo jumps into Shaggy's arms when he is scared. Had I not turned around at that moment before I jumped, Thanksgiving would never again have been the same. Apparently it wasn't the murderous, funnel of death that I heard coming straight towards the church. It was a Domino's delivery van.

Yes, I almost clobbered Greg because a delivery van passed by. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to take my uncomfortable moment into another room.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

We are all back home and it's still very difficult, but we are working on trying to get everything taken care of. Steve has been really great with his dad, even though it's obviously very hard on him too. They are away right now, speaking with the funeral director about the last minute stuff. In case you don't already know, Ms. Rhonda's funeral will be on Saturday at Valhalla Memorial Garden. Visitation will be at noon until 2 and her funeral service will follow directly after that. Mr. Lee didn't want to have a graveside service, so I don't know what will happen after the funeral service, but once again I just ask for prayers for us all. Poor Mr. Lee is taking this so hard. It's totally understandable, but it's a terrible thing to have to see. He just wanders around picking things up and putting them down again. He'll be fine and then he'll be in tears. I'm not altogether certain that he even slept last night. He is going to need a lot of support from us and everyone who knows him. He and Ms. Rhonda were best friends as well as being married, so he's lost a lot more than just a spouse. Steve is also walking around in a daze. He just keeps thinking about everything his mom will not be here for, and it's almost like it's too much for him to process.

Grief is a very weird thing. It's one thing to see if from the outside, but completely another thing to expirence it. It's like time has no meaning and you find yourself staring at the wall for a long time without knowing why. All kinds of little things make you cry and then you're laughing about something you've remembered the next minute. It's a little like being bi-polar, I would imagine.

At any rate, we are working through it. It will be a long road, but one I know will eventually be a little easier to travel on.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Ms. Rhonda has passed away. She died this morning at 1:25 am. She was fighting it the whole way, but right up at the end she finally just let go. Although we will miss her, all of us are convinced she's in a much better place and finally feeling better. Thank you so much for the prayers and well wishes. The whole family appreciates it. We will be helping Mr. Lee with the funeral arrangements and we hope to have some information for everyone soon.

Thank you again.

Monday, April 03, 2006

An Update.

I got a call from Steve about half an hour ago. The medical staff feels it's best not to do anything more for Rhonda and to let her pass peacefully. They will no longer be giving her any of the liquid nutrients and it was decided not to put her on life support to prolong her suffering. We don't know how much longer she will be with us. It could be hours or days.

I don't think I have to elaborate on how this makes us feel, but I did want to ask for prayers for our family from those of you who pray and for those of you who don't keep us in your thoughts.

I'm going to be with Steve and Mr. Lee soon, so please pray that I can get there safely and give them whatever comfort I can. I don't know how much good I will be able to do.

This is very hard, but we've all prayed that God's will would be done. We may not understand why things worked out this way, but it isn't always our place to understand. Personally I think that part sucks, but then again, sometimes it's best if we don't understand everything in life.

Thank you for all of the prayers and good wishes. Please just extend them a little further to get us through this rough time.
Not such a good day yesterday. Mr. Lee called us early (about 9:00 am) and told us that Ms. Rhonda had gotten sicker in the night and that they might have to consider the possibility of putting her on a breathing machine. Steve and I both knew that she wasn't well, but we didn't realize that it had gotten that bad. We went down there to be with them for a while. Ms. Rhonda really doesn't look good. She labors to breathe, but she can still breathe on her own and she is still alert enough to know what we are all saying. However, she's incredibly weak and with all of the medications she's on, you can't understand what she says when she talks. Poor Mr. Lee and Steve. Lee can't really talk about any of this without choking up and it's hard to see Steve, who doesn't exactly express emotions freely, cry. I think they are preparing for the worst at this point.

I just feel so helpless. I want to be strong for both of them, but I'm a basket case. I'm always trying to cheer people up and make things better, but there is nothing I can do in this case. There is nothing that I can do to make this better. There is nothing I can do.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Pratt, Kelly. "SOMETHING THAT IRRITATES ME." Blogger. Volume 1. PP: 1. 2006.

I know I don't have very much room to gripe about unimportant things. What with war, poverty and illness going on. I'm not being held captive like Patty Hurst...uh, I mean, Jill Carroll. I'm not jobless or homeless and I own the two cutest dogs in the world. I'm blessed. I'm blessed way more than most people and I know it. No one needs to remind me that things could be worse. I know this. I see this every day in many, many ways. Maybe that's why the things that irritate me aren't serious things. I like it like that. I truly hope that doesn't ever change.

All that being said, I still have human emotions that get the best of me sometimes. Sometimes people do things that get under my skin and I can't help what ultimately is a knee-jerk reaction to ignorance. Therefore, I am going to gripe about something that bothers me. It's a small thing, granted, but I'm still going to complain. You have been warned.

I have noticed a new trend that makes no sense at all to me. My job takes me to many different parts of the SpRocket where most employees don't go. I sometimes have to go into Hab 1 & Hab 2, I'm on the MCC, I'm upstairs in the admin. offices and all through the museum. My point is that I'm eventually going to run into a counselor at some point. We have a whole new crop of councelors, both chicks and dudes. I don't normally interact with them other than a smile or a wave because they have a wall of loud, running, children that they are trying to herd together to get from one place to another. However, there are times when I'm working somewhere and one of the guy councelors will come up to me and say something, usually, "So...having fun?" I always try and be nice, because you never know when you will make a friend, you know? It's usually at this point that they look to see what I'm doing and notice the *Horrifying Scream* wedding band I wear. They don't think I notice, but I do. When I turn around to say something, they are gone. Is it just me or is that kind of insulting? Yes, I'm married. Yes, that means if you were going to sleaze on me I have a viable excuse to rebuff your sleaze. However, just because I'm married, it doesn't mean you can't still talk to me or be nice. I AM allowed to have friends who are men, you know. Steve has given me permission. : ) I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday, and it wasn't long after that that it happened to me again. So, they can't ask me out...they don't talk to me. Nice. Real nice. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and this is completely off topic. The word "Chaperon" wasn't mispelled. Also, you don't capitalize every word in a sentence. I know this, yet, I still have to make the sign that way because you think it looks better. No, that's fine. I don't mind having 8 people tell me it's wrong. I got the memo...my TPS reports will be fine after this, I SWEAR. Sigh. Look how shouty that made me!

Whew...I feel better now. : )