Summa Time

As some of you know, John and I have social engagements planned for every weekend until the middle of September…and this has been going on since the middle of June. All of our plans are very exciting, but it’s just a lot to deal with all at once. I have been thankful that during the week things have been somewhat calm. That is until 2 weeks ago. Since the week before my sister’s shower these last few weeks have been just as busy as the weekends! This week John and I are killing ourselves in trying to get ready for our garage sale on Sat. We have not done a massive clean out since we moved into the house… and that has been 2 years!

Unfortunately next week is going to be just as busy. We are planning on painting our living room and getting the majority of it done before the weekend. That way John will be able to slave, I mean work, on the floorboards while I am off winning big bucks in Vegas. NO WHAMMY’S!

This past weekend was eventful as always. John’s college friend Tony rode into town and we meet the bikers at our favorite breakfast restaurant in Morro Bay, Blue Sky. With Tony was his girlfriend and two of her friends from Berkley. It was a tad uncomfortable since we didn’t know anything about the three other bikers, and I’m sure they felt the same way towards us. We did our best with small talk, and it was great to see Tony. The last time we saw him was at our wedding! He is working on his PhD in Austin and seems to be doing really well.

After breakfast we went home and then had to wait for them to bike back to our house. Since we had time to kill we decided to read HP. I felt SO bad for John because all day he was reading the end battle and kept having to put the book down. It was killing him! I on the other hand finally got to make some headway in my book. I’m almost half way through. :-(

Once the bikers showed up they washed off their camping grim and had to go get some boxes for their bikes. The Berkeley couple were taking a train and bus back home, so they needed to disassemble and box up their bikes. They took off and once again John and I were left with time to kill before heading to Atascapalooza. After they returned it was then our turn to leave and head up to the furnace, I mean Atascadero. It wasn’t a killer heat I think because it was later in the afternoon. Hans and Steph did a great job hosting the party once again! Everything was set up so nice, and this year they had hired a band! It was a three-man polka band that played many cover songs, (including The Humpty Dance). They were really great! There was also some great food including some watermelon/apricot salsa, and some peach salsa! Right up my alley!

John and I hung out under one of the tents with some of my old co-workers. We had a great view of this cooler sitting on the ground that had sliced watermelon in it. It was the perfect placement for the kids to get to it as well. After watching a few different kids pick out a piece, bite it and put it back, we quickly deemed it the Kid’s Watermelon Cooler, AKA The Sess Pool of Germs. After about three or four kids did the same thing one of the ladies we were sitting with got up and removed all of the half eaten rhines. We all gave her a cheer.

A little while later one of the same watermelon sampler kids came back and did the SAME THING! We were all watching really close to see what he was going to do, and to no surprise he took a bite and put the piece back in the cooler and grabbed another one! However this time right when he put the piece back we all yelled ‘EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!’ Totally unplanned, but we all did it in unison! The dad who was sitting near by jumped up and said ‘oh what piece is it?’ and we said the one w/ the bite out of it. DUH! The best part is that the dad did not tell the son to stop sampling the watermelon. I know I’m not a parent, but geesh!

After a LONG game of Uno, (which I won), John and I had to depart early to meet the bikers downtown at Firestone. Once we got there they told us how one of our neighbors helped them take off their wheels on their bike. John and I just looked at each other, and then asked if it was the neighbor right across the street. They said they thought so, and he had a small little dog! We totally knew it was Brad! John and I could not believe it. Well actually we could. Brad seems to be the neighborhood hero...always crusin’ around checking things out…coming to the rescue wherever needed. One of the bikers even said, ‘Right when I thought man I wish I had a screwdriver, he appeared out of no where and asked if we needed help!’ He did first ask if they were friends of ours since we were nowhere to be seen. We have yet seen him to thank him, but I may bring them a zucchini tonight. (John has just grown the hugest one I’ve ever seen!)

The bikers left really early the next morning, which allowed us to have a productive Sunday. We first went and saw The Simpson’s movie, which was not that impressive… however the dorks in front of me to me thought it was the funniest movie EVER! I swear they laughed at every little thing… like Homer’s cell phone went off and they were cracking up. (And it wasn’t even ‘My Humps’ like Michael Scott’s ringer). I thought that they might have been stoned or drunk, but it was 11am! I guess that didn’t matter because I think the dudes next to me were drinking something out of a bottle, and they were nice enough to bring in some quiet tortilla chips. At least they weren’t smacking.

After the movie we were able to read some more HP and John was finally able to finish his book. He was quite sad though, because HP and The Tour De France both ended on the same day. How horrible!

Homes & Hot Dogs

After my sister’s shower this past weekend my parents drove down to SLO to visit with John and I. They just left last night… hence the lack in posts!

The main MO for my parents was to look for a ‘winter’ home here in SLO County. On the first day they spent it up in North County and looked at a variety of homes, however they did not find one they really liked. John was able to go with them as they were ‘possible loan clients, ’ and he took the following photos:

Check out this sweet kitchen!

This one house they went in was just built and being sold by a building company. It definitely was not kept up well!

On day two they headed to South County and actually found a home they wanted to put an offer on! It was in Arroyo Grande and it looked really nice. However the next morning my dad realized (at 4am) that financing their winter home maybe more difficult than planned.

So now they are on to plan B. They will see how things look in 6 months to a year and in the mean time they’ll come down here and maybe rent a house. I think this is a great idea because it will give them time to explore the area and find out what city they would really like to live in.

Other than the house hunting we were also able to take them to some of our favorite restaurants… and to a Blues baseball game! A few summers ago John and I would try to go to as many games as we could. However we haven’t had much free time to go to the games. I don’t think we made it to one all year last year. Kind of sad… especially w/ the season ending in 2 weeks.

Now with our house free for a few nights we are now preparing for the next way of guests. We have John’s college buddy Tony coming into town w/ three friends. They are biking from SF to SLO and will be arriving on Saturday. We also have Atascapalooza to attend to, which is a party that my friend Steph has every year. So it will definitely be a busy weekend. I’m also hoping to have some time to read HP, (as I’m on chapter 2), and I need to start cleaning out our closets for our garage sale next weekend.

**Note: My friend Molly was supposed to come visit this weekend for the party, but we just found out today that her dad had a stroke. Her parents were vacationing in Montana when it happened. She will be flying out this weekend to be with them. Please say a prayer for her and her family. Thanks!

Bridal Shower #3 of 2007

This weekend I headed up to SF to throw my sister her bridal shower (with the help of my fellow bridesmaids of course).

On Friday night John and I stayed with his friend Scotty in the city. He had just bought a condo a few months ago and it was so nice!! Everything was so new, and there was great paint selections as well as very modern hardware. Scotty and John were meeting my dad and Dave early on Sat. morning, so I asked Scotty if he had a spare key for me. I needed to head to Safeway to get some last minute items before I left for the shower. Scotty said that a friend of his had a key, but he showed me how to leave his door unlocked while I went to the store. He also had to give me the code to get into his building. In addition to that I was parked in someone else's spot, so I was worried all night and morning that the owner might have blocked me in. So needless to stay I had quite a bit of stress before I even left for the shower! Luckily everything worked out and I did not lock my self out of the building, or his condo.

Amy's friend Corinne, who also lives in the city, was nice enough to let us use her home for the shower. I met Rebekkah and Shannon there and we all cranked out all the preparations with about 10 minutes to spare!

We got a little bit of a late start, but once everyone arrived we first played the Photo Age Game. Each guest is supposed to list the photos from youngest to oldest.

Here is Rebekkah and Erin trying very hard to figure out the ages.

After that game we went around the room and each guest told a small story about my sister. My highlight was Erin's story. Well it wasn't really a story, but a letter my sister wrote to her 21 years ago! The best part was on the envelope it said 'DO NOT LET ANYONE READ THIS!' The letter started off with some generic stuff about how she got straight A's, but then it got juicy. Come to find out Amy had been totally making out with her first boyfriend, (who recently got released from jail on a rape charge)!

After that we played a few more games and then my sister started on the gifts. The gift theme was 'Mood of the Bride.'

Here is a pair of dessert underwear that Rebekkah got her for when she is in the mood to 'heat things up.' (Also notice the BBQ).

Here is a gift she got from Gina for when she's in the mood 'to clean.'

Rebekkah made a great bouquet out of the ribbons and bows.

Here are the bridesmaids... Shannon, the bride, myself and Rebekkah. (One bridesmaid is missing, she lives in AZ).

Here is my sister, myself and my mom.

I was also very excited to get my first photo of 'Lil S'more!

After that people said their good byes and then we were off! Even though I think it may have been one of the LONGEST showers of all time (4.5 hours), it still seemed to go by fast. Next it's on to Vegas in a few weeks for the bachelorette party!

Lil' S'more

So the kid I ‘Nanny’ for every once in awhile, Sydney, called me yesterday to tell me that she’s going to be a big sister!!!!!!!! That is right folks! Rebekkah is preggers with baby number two! I knew there was a chance of getting this call later on in the year, so it was a total shock to get it yesterday! She is 7 weeks and is due on March 5^th. I couldn’t believe she didn’t tell me earlier, because I think I knew at like week 2 when she was preggers with Syd. I guess that’s good, because it just makes the waiting time shorter!

It is so exciting that she is bringing a new person into this world. I can’t wait to meet him or her. I remember having the same feeling when we found out John’s sister was preggers w/ the twins. It’s so cool.

I can’t wait to go up there and help her after the birth as well. I got to spend a long weekend with her and Syd after she was born and I will never forget it. At first it was so weird… after 18 years of it just being the two of us hanging out, there was now a baby! One of my favorite memories of that time was when Syd cuddled up and took a nap on my chest. It was so great. Here are a few photos from that visit, as I don’t think I ever uploaded them on ofoto.

That's right! Besides just holding the baby I did cook them dinner one night! I covered all of the Nanny bases!

Note: Syd had a nickname that was given to her because of the place she was conceived.... Little French Fry. I have given the new baby the nickname of Lil' S'more. Is that TMI?

The Joys of Cancer

Above is my first official 'Joy of Cancer.' I highlighted the key line in the document. Granted I don't need an access of life insurance, but that is not the point. I am SO mad that my cancer is the reason for their denial... do they even know anything about thyroid cancer? Do they think that I live at the base of a radiation plant just hoping to get cancer? I don't like to be discriminated again for something that I had NO control over... especially when I am most likely cancer free now. I have the feeling that this is only the beginning. Isn't that so exciting?

I am tempted to call their customer service line and tell them thanks for denying my coverage, and that I tried really hard not to get cancer, but I didn't have the best of luck. I may also wish that they, and their family, will hopefully go through something just as traumatic. Ok... so maybe I won't say that... depends on how sympathetic I'm feeling.

In lighter news... when I got back to work after my radiation treatment I was presented w/ the image below:
One of my co-workers was one of the first people to who called me Radioactive Girl, and had the ex-graphics person at work create this image. I thought she did a great job.

John's comment: Now I know what you would look like with a boob job.

It is quite sad, as that is the closest I will ever get to having a boob job... remember... no more surgeries for me!

Harry Potter and The Order of Awesomeness

As you can tell John and I did go and see the new HP movie.... and I must say to all of the fellow HP fans, you MUST go see it! It was definitely the best of all the of the films. The kid actors get better and better with each movie. Yeah, it's dark... but the book was dark. My only complaint is that it was NOT long enough! I could have watched at least another 2 hours. The end fight seen with the kids was great, and I also thought he actress that played Luna Lovegood was perfect!

On our way to the movie, we were at a stoplight and there was a group of young girls trying to recruit cars to their car wash. Since John had his window down one girl started talking to him. The first thing John said was 'sorry... not today.' However we continued to sit at the light, so she continued to talk to him. The chick totally thought she was talking him into getting it washed, but when the light turned green, we turned away from the car wash we heard her yell 'That was mean!" She must have thought she was doing some real smooth talking.

After the movie we ordered some breadsticks from Woodstock's Pizza and to kill time we decided to head into Banana Republic to check out their sales rack. As I'm looking at the women's sales racks John comes over with this sweet linen 'island wear' shirt. (For those of you who do not know... John became a huge fan of linen once he bought his first pair of linen pants.) He then puts it on and it looks great... although it was still a bit pricey.

As I continue to look through the clothes I hear John's voice in the men's department. Who the heck is he talking to, I think. Then he comes over and has this huge grin on his face. He tells me that as he went over to put the shirt back on the rack there is a young guy, (shopping with his mom), looking at the same shirts.

John said, "That's a pretty sweet vacation shirt."

"Yeah I'd only wear that if I was hella cut," says scrawny boy.

"Dude, you're on vacation, it doesn't matter. Go to an island where you won't know anyone."

What the heck has gotten into John? It's like he thinks he's my dad, just talking to anyone he wants! We had a pretty good laugh about it.

Today I attended my friend Davette's bridal shower in Avila, and it was SO much fun! Her bridesmaids did a great job in hosting it. I felt very fortunate to have attended it because my summer schedule is so busy, but the ladies were nice enough to schedule it at a time I could go!

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or what, but I get very sentimental about attending pre-wedding and weddings of my close friends. It means so much more to me then it did 10 years ago.

This year has been so special to me with having so many good friends tying the knot, that I am really sad that next year I will (most likely) not have any weddings to go to. I still have some single friends (thank goodness!) so I can look forward to attending their big days!

Here are the ladies from FzioMed:
Sam, Jen, Davette, myself, and Isabel (Davette's Aunt)

Gripe Session

Hey party peeps! Sorry I've been such a blog slacker! Things have been really mellow and not much has been going on. I know it's a sad...sad...sad day.

This past weekend John and I were total lazy butts... we watched the women's and men's Wimbledon finals... then played some tennis ourselves... and then went over to my friend Sam's for a BBQ.

Sam is a really great hostess. You should have seen how nicely she set everything out. She even created bundles of silverware and tied them together with ribbon! I really don't think I can host a shin dig now that she has. My hosting skills would totally be put to shame! Sam's parents live in Hawaii and her mom was in town visiting. It was really great to meet her and she had some really classic stories from teaching high school over the years. She also made living in Hawaii sound very tempting!

I've also finished up my sister's wedding website, as her invites went out this week. Hopefully there will be minimal changes from here on out since I think I"m about to get some more freelance work this week.

I've also been working on stuff for her bridal shower which is in two weeks. I'm very excited for it, as I think it's going to be one of the best showers I've ever been too! Well it HAS to be right? I mean I am helping throw it! The shower is going to be in S.F. which causes a bit of a challenge... planning long distance and in someone elses house... but we will manage!

I did have a good Tuesday due to the fact that Interpol's third album was released. It's pretty good... but I've got to listen to it a few more times. I became a huge fan after the release of their last album a few years ago. I wanted toe see them in concert SO bad, but I had missed all of their US tour dates. But NOW... they are coming to SF in October. Unfortunately it is on the same day we were planning on coming back from Belize... but we could always fly into SF and catch the show, right? It is on a Saturday which is totally lucky too. (The show in LA is on a weekday). Well the Internet pre-sale tickets went on sale today, however I did not have the password to purchase any! So I will attempt to buy some on Sat. when they go on sale, but I'm sure they will be sold out.

In other depressing concert news... we also just found out that Velvet Revolver will be coming to the Santa Barbara bowl! Yeah! We saw them there on their last tour, and I thought for sure they would not play the venue again, because it's so small. So when the chance came to join their fan club to have access to pre-sale tickets, I passed. Then what do you know... I need to buy tickets, and now cannot until Sunday. (Pre-sale starts tomorrow). The last time we saw them in SB we got our tickets right when they went on sale and we were seated in the second to last row. We may have to pursue eBay, so hopefully they won't be marked up too much.

Well I really hope your eyes aren't falling out of their sockets due to boredom... but I know I must write at least once a week! I don't want to lose my dedicated readers! Until next time...

It Smell Like Rat

As most of you probably figured… I’m FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Hence the lack of posts since I’m not sitting in front of my computer 24/7.

My body scan went fine and I was ‘cleaned out’ enough to where I didn’t have to take any more meds while at the hospital. Let me tell you those two days were miserable! They told me to take the second laxative, which were pills, at 7pm… so I took them earlier hoping to avoid being woken up I the middle of the night, but it didn’t work. I guess it was better than being 100% awake. At least I was kind of sleeping through the pain.

I still feel like I can’t do ANYTHING I want since I need to be cautious when I’m around kids and pregnant women. We did go and see two movies over the last two days. First we saw Pixar’s Ratatouille. It was good, but definitely not one of Pixar’s greatest. John found a great seat w/ no kids near by. However halfway through the movie a father… who decided to set a great example for his kids… and his two sons snuck into our movie. And where did they sit? Right next to me. I wanted to sit next to the kid for the remainder of the movie and then at the end tell his father that his kid was just exposed to an enormous amount of radiation and maybe next time he should think twice before sneaking into a movie he didn’t pay for.

But instead I got up and moved on the other side of john. I hate being a goodie two shoes.

In celebration of it being the 4^th of July, we saw Sicko.

Ok that really wasn’t the reason, but it sounded good. I really liked it even though it TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT! John and I are ready to move to England. I know editing is key in Michael Moore’s films, but one can see through to the facts.

In France they have an on call doctor who makes house calls no matter what time of day. How sweet is that? He’s got a little car w/ a radio where the operators tell him where his next stop is...just like a cop car.

In London, ALL prescriptions, (no matter what quantity), are all 6.50 pounds. UNLESS you are over 60 or under 10 (I think), then they are FREE. Can you believe that one? I knew I loved London for another reason other than their cider.

I’m praying that our insurance won’t find a reason to not pay for my surgery. Guess how much it cost? $42k! Can you believe that? The total of my medical bills since I first started getting tested is now at $55k. Isn’t that crazy? The only thing I am thankful for is that we have definitely earned back our insurance money over the years.

My next doctors appointment is in a week and a half where he will go over the results of my scan. I’m sure I won’t find out anything revolutionary. Then next month I will get blood work done to test my hormone levels for my meds. I thought they would do I this visit, but maybe it’s still too close from when I got the hormone shots.

Our 4^th was very uneventful in that we didn’t go anywhere since I needed to avoid the little people. Well we weren’t home that much… ever since being released I have not wanted to be at home. I had enough of that place!

Going back to work today was tough. Having that week off really gave me the feeling of how it would be if I didn’t have to work. Maybe John and I will move sooner than later!

Jeff Probst Here I Come!

Saturday I was released from my bedroom. John still made me wait an extra 4 hours before he let me out. The dude was totally paranoid. Being able to leave my room has not made this situation ANY better. What more can I do now? Watch TV in a different room? At least in my bedroom I can work on the computer AND watch TV. At least that way I feel somewhat productive.

I did scrapbook a little and worked on one of my puzzles. However the table I'm using is smaller than my puzzle, which has made it very difficult to assemble the pieces. I worked on those projects as John and I cleared some room on our DVR. We watched:

Junebug - Pretty good. I wanted to see it because I knew Amy Adams got nominated for a Golden Globe or Oscar for her role. She was really good in it, but it's still a bit depressing.

Flight Plan - Pretty good. It's like Panic Room, but on a plane. Is Jodi Foster totally type casted now?

Constant Gardener - I wanted to see this one because Rachel Wesis won an Oscar for her role. It was good, but depressing once again. She was hardly in the movie as well. I think Amy Adams did a better job.

Croupier - I remember when this movie came out my parents wanted to see it, and I never made it to the Palm. I guess it came out in 1998 but I think it got released here around 2000. It was ok... nothing to write home about.

The Squid and the Whale - I think this movie was my fave. It was really NOT uplifting, but it was well written, and the actors were good.

We did venture outside a bit as well. John worked on digging holes to plant new shrubs in front of our new fence. I sat on my lawn chair an read my book. Most of the neighbors stopped to say that I had the right idea. Had they only known I didn't have a choice!

I also finished the Kite Runner. I really liked it, however about 5 different people told me that it was such a sad book. So the whole time I'm reading it I keep waiting for something really awful to happen and nothing did! Well I know a lot of terrible things happen throughout the whole book, but I didn't think i twas quite as sad as The Sister's Keeper.

I decided to read a fru-fru book next until Harry Potter comes out. I chose The Shop-o-holic and Baby. It is quite an enjoyable series however the main character's stupidity drives me nuts sometimes. When I was complaining to John about it, he told me not everyone handles situation like I do...but still... opening 15 foreign bank accounts and not telling your husband about it? Come on!

I also had time to work on my sister's wedding website. I was a little worried I wouldn't have time to create it because I asked them to give me the design specifications by the end of April and I didn't get them until the middle of June. However I was able to post their 'under construction' page. Check it out here.

Sorry, (Sarah), that this entry is not the most humorous. I think I've reached the low point with this quarantine. To top it off, as of 6pm tonight my liquid diet started. Not that I was really able to eat much earlier today. I think I had 6 bites of chicken and about 7 pieces of bread... plain. You know I have NEVER eaten plain bread before? And it wasn't that bad! I think if I can do that, then I could totally go on Survivor!

My meals for the next day and a half: