Miss Monique had a bizzay day … work was a whirlwind. It was one thing after another today. I finally scooted out about 5:15 p.m., none too soon, as far as I was concerned! At least there’s just two more days and then a three-day weekend …
There’s a special on PBS right now about depression. It’s been on for 17 minutes and I’ve already been teary-eyed once. I can relate all too well. My depression seems to be back, not as bad as it’s been at its worst, but still bad. I can have fun, I can laugh and mean it, but I feel empty. Not like me. It’s frustrating. Some days I can accept that depression is going to be part of my life, in some form or another, for the rest of my life, and other days I can barely stand to get out of bed.
Despite gas being $3.99/gallon, I may have to make a trip up to Michigan soon. Being with my family does me good. This weekend, Miss Lucy told me that I act like an only child … i.e. spoiled and self-centered like her and Miss Laci LOL. In my defense, I was an only child for 7 years. The extent to which I am protective of my brother, however, sometimes surprises me. As a child, I couldn’t wait to ditch him but now I’d beat down anyone who crossed him. And I’m sure that’s what my parents were dreaming of all those years ago when my brother and I fought like cats and dogs. LOL
My whirlwind trip to/from Michigan with Miss Sodapop and her girls is ovah. Here’s a recap.
Thursday
Yay, the Red Wings kicked the Dallas Stars’ asses! Miss Sodapop, Josie and Chloe arrived during the game. While we were eating chili dip, Josie hopped up on the couch, with a hairball covered in cat yak that she had found somewhere. Sufficiently disgusted, dinner was over.
Friday
After a sleepless night, thanks to the effervescent Chloe (she ran from the living room, where Sodapop was “sleeping” to the bedroom where I was “sleeping” CONSTANTLY. Good thing she’s adorable), we crabbily hit the road. An on-the-go breakfast from Panera did wonders. We made it to MI about 3:30 p.m. and soon were on our way to dinner at the yummalicious Chinese place and then on to IKEA.
We also drove up and down a street about a mile from my parents’ house, because the guy that does their house painting said that the Red Wings goalie bought a Victorian that was purple. Well, there are about 5 houses with some purple on them … and come to find out, my dad thought it was closer to one street, where there are no Victorians at all. So the stalking trip was fruitless but fun.
That night, I think Sodapop and I went to bed about 10 p.m. TIRED! And thanks to many walks that day, Chloe and Josie slept too! Yay! Sodapop remarked that she really liked my parents. I told her they were being especially nice to each other because she was there. LOL
Saturday
After some running around in the a.m., Sodapop and I went over to my friend Jennifer’s house and then it was on to Comerica Park (I still want to call it Tiger Stadium). We got a sweet parking place, only a block from the stadium. That was good because the long walk was still to come — about 5 1/2 flights in all up to our seats. That fucking sucked. Four flights up to the 300 level then another flight and a half to our row. Bite me, Comerica Park! Our seats were a bit higher up than anticipated (four rows from the very top) and directly in the sun. Despite putting on sunscreen, we all ended up with light sunburns. The people around us were more entertaining than the game (at least for Jen and me) and there were some yummy, albeit married, men in front of us. I ate a kielbasa and some peanuts, drank a beer and two bottles of water, and did not argue when Sodapop was ready to leave in the sixth inning.
If you have ever been to downtown Detroit, you know that going home is never the same is getting there. Getting there is a breeze. Going home is FUCKED UP. Construction did not help matters. We ended up switching expressways about 5 times and drove through the ghetto (my dad called it the ghetto-lite, I guess that wasn’t even the really bad part of the city) before Jen cut across four lanes of traffic to get on 94W so we could get the fuck back to the suburbs.
The fresh air was exhausting, and after leftover Chinese food and brownies, we watched 2 periods of the Wings game (they fucking KICKED ASS again), an awesome Sci-Fi Channel movie with Ian Ziering as Hernando Cortes then went to bed. Despite going on many walks, Chloe was NOT tired. Ugh. Her jingling-jangling jumpiness kept waking me up. Good thing she’s cute.
Sunday
My mom wanted to go out for breakfast so we went to a family-owned place nearby. It was crowded and we had to wait forever, but the pancakes I had were fucking amazing. They even came with a pitcher of melted butter! OMG. Sodapop licked her plate clean while I was a lady and left some of my breakfast untouched. ;-D
The drive home was a bitch. It fucking poured for about 120 miles and then rained pretty much the rest of the way (290 miles in all). We got back to my place about 3:30; transferred stuff to my car to hers; then Miss Sodapop hit the road back to the Ville and I hit the hay for a nap.
Wheeee … what a whirlwind trip. I’m pooped. Sodapop took 177 pictures. I’m sure she’ll post some of them on her site …
I was supposed to be in Michigan this weekend … but a fucking snowstorm ruined it all for me. I haven’t seen my family since Xmas but decided this morning that dealing with ice and several inches of snow just wasn’t worth it, especially when my drive is 300 miles. So, I’m now driving up there Thursday. I’ve had a few offers for Easter dinner but I think I will just stay home … I will get my heathen behind to church tomorrow evening though.
I picked up a few movies from Blockbuster (Why Did I Get Married?, some straight-to-video Jean Claude van Damme movie and No Country for Old Men), went to Books a Million but they didn’t have the book I wanted, went to Bed Bath and Beyond for some coffee for my Tassimo, then gave in and stopped at the grocery on the way home. I had basically zero food since I planned to eat on my parents’ dime this weekend. My clothing supply is extremely limited as well; I’ll be going to the laundromat Monday after work. Le sigh.
One of the things that I’ll have to do as a result of the bariatric surgery is give up carbonated beverage. Sweet, beautiful, bubbly drinks. Le sigh. I get the reason why — those beautiful bubbles will stretch out my teensy tummy — but ugh … I love them so. Caffeine also will have to go bye-bye. I am going to finish up the pop that I have at home and then not buy anymore. I’m doing ok with that, I’m drinking a lot less pop already. Caffeine is another story. That will have to be a gradual process … I did buy some decaf coffee. It’s a start. 
I talk to my parents every Sunday night at 7 p.m. They usually call me. I talk to my mom first, then my dad. It’s a routine.
Tonight I ask my mom how she is. She sighs. “Well, we just got home from the emergency room …”
OMFG do NOT use the words “emergency room” and then stop talking. I was srsly running down a list in my mind. Dad? David? Aunt Nancy? Uncle Dean? (short list, I don’t have many relatives LOL). After my panicked, “Oh my God!,” my mom sighed again and said, “It was your father.” “WHAT IS WRONG?” “Well, he had a bladder infection …”
What. The. Fuck?
You panic me over a motherfucking BLADDER INFECTION????
As far as poorly delivering news, my dad still outranks my mom (the VM where I thought he was telling me that my mother was dead is one example and e-mailing me that my grandmother was in the final stages of dying and would be gone that afternoon is still the most heinous), but come on. Le sigh.
My thoughts have been with a colleague of mine in Arizona. I think I mentioned her before; she has three small children and her breast cancer had returned and spread. As of Friday, she was expected to live only for a few more days. Her photo is on our corporate web site, as part of a rotating series, and every time her face pops up I just wonder, why? How? It’s a terrible, terrible loss.
I have been so domestic today, I want to explode … and it’s not even 1 p.m.! Who knows what else I will be up to today! In 4 hours, I have cross-stitched, made a lemon meringue pie, made sweet rolls, gone to Michaels …. ummm I think that’s it. Certainly more home-y stuff than I normally do in a month!
I ended up getting my brother a gift card for Christmas which I know is the easy way out. But really, what the hell do you buy a 26-year-old man? I normally like to buy actual presents but with him, it’s just too tough. He does drive a pick-up truck so I suppose I could have ordered a truck bed liner, but it’s easier just to slap down $25 at Barnes and Noble lol.
I have been making an effort to pray/meditate daily and I feel like it’s really made a difference in my demeanor. Like when I was on that flight the other day with the screaming infant five feet from me, I felt sorry for the mom, who was traveling alone with the baby, and just wanted the little girl to be comfortable and not scared. Today my mom and I were in the car and this old jokey Christmas song came on, the one where people are bitching about 12 different things about Christmas. I mean, Christmas comes every year, why not just prepare for it? Gah. Stuff like that drives me crazy.
So I’m at my parents. My brother still lives with them. He walked in the door at 9:52 this morning, apparently after spending the night with his girlfriend. We thought he was home. Apparently he thought he could sneak in. He’ll be 26 tomorrow. Time to grow up? Me thinkey so.
So yeah, as you can probably guess, the renaissance festival was a bust. I mean, it’s nice, it just hasn’t changed in 25 damn years. Seriously. Same food, same vendors, same entertainment. The people may come and go but it’s all the same shit, ya know? It was so crowded we had to park about a 15-minute walk from the entrance; inside, it was shoulder to shoulder throughout most of the area. Ugh. We met two friends of my brother’s gf, and the girl totally reminded me of a bossy-ass girl I knew in h.s. Before I knew what was going on, this girl had her map and schedule out and was deciding which “shows” we should see. My brother and I just looked dumbly at each other. Fortunately, thanks to some tricky wandering, we managed to avoid watching ANY shows! Heh.
It wasn’t a hot day, just warm in the sun, but all three of us were pooped from all the fresh air and walking about. They finally decided to go watch UFC but despite my interest, I just couldn’t bring myself to sit in a smokey bar. Ugh. So now it’s 10:30 p.m. and I’m on my laptop and watching Food TV in the family room at my parents’ house. Whee! What a life.
Tomorrow may be tricky as my brother has plans to watch soccer and then get Chinese for dinner … he doesn’t know about the surprise party (duh) and I’m not sure how we’re going to get him there. That’s up to his gf to figure out. LOL
A note to my Jewish readers — I hope you’ve been able to eat something by now! 
I drove up to Michigan this evening. 275 miles is a boring-ass trip. I finished up a Jackie Collins audiobook I started oh, two months ago, and then listened to music the rest of the way. Met my brother’s girlfriend tonight. I PPH her. She, my brother and I are going to the big-ass renaissance festival tomorrow; last year he and I went with his then-girlfriend who was scared of pirates and it was coincidentally pirate day. LOL Now THAT was a good time! 
Limo Guy is getting on my nerves. Okay, it’s partially my fault, because I haven’t been totally discouraging him. Miss Monique doesn’t want to burn any bridges, ya know? Last night he sent me a text graphically detailing what he would like to do to me (in the back of the limo bus? I don’t know); I ignored it and then this morning replied with text stating I had a migraine last night. Heh. Today he e-mailed me through the site we first connected on — apparently dissatisfied with his efforts via txt and regular e-mail — and addressed it to “Ms. Sexy Lady.” I’m starting to think he’s not used to being brushed off or he’s mentally deficient. Jury’s still out.
Y’all know what tomorrow night is, right? UFC NIGHT! WOOOOOOO! Hopefully I will learn from past mistakes and not mix Coors Light and tequila again. Blech. Chuck Liddell is fighting too. WOOOOOOO!
I called my mother tonight.
Me: “Hey, I’m coming up there this weekend.”
Mummy, sounding panicked: “Why?”
Me: “What do you mean ‘why’????”
Mummy: “Did you have another traumatic experience?!”
Me: “No! God, Mom. It’s David’s [my brother] birthday!”
Mummy: “Oh. I was going to leave town if you had another break-up. That shit is too tiring to deal with.”
Me: Silence.
Mummy: “But Mummy loves you anyway!!!!”
Me: Silence.
Ok, just because every time I’ve gone up there I’ve been recovering from a break-up or some sort of emotional upset … well, yeah, I can see her point. 
My brother’s girlfriend, Jess, txted me tonight. I’m not even sure why. I like her even though our interaction has been limited to e-mail and txt message. She seems like a smart girl and is actually going to get her master’s degree. Add that to her giant tattoo and she is the best of the bunch so far. Anyway, she sends me a message asking if I know what “city club” is. I had no idea if she was talking about a place, a band, a restaurant or what. She replied that it was a bar and I said that I was old and unhip … but I guess it’s been around for over 30 years LOL. Detroit was about the last place my friends and I would have gone drinking. But it’s nice that Jess has this awesome image of me as a hipster, even if it is becoming painfully clear I am far from it!
I called my doctor’s office today about a bill I received. Sigh. I got a denial letter from the insurer — the insurer I fucking had THREE YEARS AGO. They also submitted the charges under my married name, a name which has not been legally mine for more than two years. Mind you, I’ve been going to this practice for more than seven years. The gist of it was that whomever billed my last two office visits to my ex-husband’s insurance LOL. The woman I talked to must have been divorced, too, because when I said we hadn’t been married for more than two years, she said, “Huh. You think he would have noticed by now.” She “hid” the relationship between me and Josh in the system so hopefully that should be that. At the beginning of the year, when I reviewed my info, they had my mailing address as the apartment he lived in after we divorced. WTF? If someone at the doctor’s office is trying to play cupid, it ain’t gonna work!
