Demonic Forces

See this face? Don't be fooled by the cuddly sweetness. She is a demonic force wrapped in an adorable warm and fuzzy fur coat. I have never in my life seen a cat who is so hyper and prone to causing trouble. I thought Vixen was a force to be reckoned with when she was a kitten. She wasn't even CLOSE to what Itty Bitty dishes out. Vixen was an immobile cat statue compared to Bitty. We don't know what to do and are resigned to just waiting it out and hope that as she grows up it will get better.

Bitty has these moments where the urge to rampage mindlessly with no direction overwhelms her. She tears through the house at full speed, running and leaping blindly on everything, through everything, knocking things off, turning things over....nothing is safe from a Bitty rampage. I just cleaned up a cup of coffee that got knocked off the table. The drapes in my living room are torn down. Well, one side is on the floor and the other side is hanging precariously. She has torn down the curtains on several occasions. Half of the blinds in the house are damaged....Its insane.

Bitty's latest amusement is to unroll toilet paper until the roll is empty. We don't know how to stop it. I just fold it over and over in a neat little rectangle and place it on the lid of the tank. Its all I can do. Folded toilet paper is not as fascinating as rolled toilet paper. She leaves the folded stuff alone.

We have no idea what having a Christmas tree in the house is going to be like. I can imagine, but then I start to hyperventilate before the entire picture has time to fully form in my brain. We are going to try....it may be a bare-naked tree.....she likes to chew on things, and we are afraid she might electrocute herself on the cords of the Christmas lights. The plan is to put the bare tree up for a few days and see if the thrill wears off. Then we will move forward as the situation allows. I don't expect much. Any thoughts of a glorious tree decked out with my large collection of sparkly glass ornaments and blazing lights has been knocked out of my head....probably by the falling curtain rods.....She is chewing on the blinds behind me even as I type this. Lord help us.

We are back....

We got back from Las Vegas last night. It was a good trip. Not an excellent trip, but we did have a good time. We enjoyed being with Chris and Jessica. There were high points and low ones, too. The lowest of the lows had to be trying to get there. We were scheduled to fly out on the day that the freak storms hit all over the east coast.

Our first flight got cancelled. We got reassigned to another flight, felt positively elated when we finally boarded it only to have it taxi out to the runway, sit for 45 minutes and then taxi us right back to the gate. Because it got cancelled, too. Bummer. We were so exhausted by the end of that day, haggling to get a flight, standing in lines, multiple trips through security because we kept having to go out to the front ticketing counter to try and figure out how we could get the heck out of Raleigh. Ugh. We had to finally get a hotel and stay overnight, taking an early morning flight the next day. The one bright spot was flying first class that day as compensation for all of our trouble. I don't know if it made up for all the hassle completely, but it did help.

I have pictures to share as soon as I can download them. I am in slow gear today having gotten in late last night and then making an early morning Dr. appointment this morning. I can tell you that I am going back to work tomorrow, as my ankle has finally (tentatively) healed. I no longer have to wear the boot, but I have to be very careful for another month. I am supposed to wear an ankle brace, but its much less intrusive than the boot. I can't do yoga, running (as if), or extended walking for at least 30 more days. I assumed yoga would help, but the Doc said that its too soon to do any serious stretching yet. If I feel any pain I have to slap the awful boot back on, and I am still supposed to take anti-inflammatory meds for another month. I go back on Dec. 2nd and hopefully I will be completely cleared to go back to normal life after that....? This has been weird and long and I hope to never have this flare up again.

But anyway, I do want to write more about the trip later. The high points were dinner at Emeril's "Table 10"....so delicious. And Cirque Du Soleil "O". That show was strange and amazing and I would recommend it highly. Its done in a huge pool onstage, and the performers are all multi-talented divers/gymnasts, who are also synchronized swimmers, contortionists, trapeze artists and dancers. It very entertaining. We also saw the comedian/magicians "Penn and Teller" and we all loved that show, too.

Our hotel, the Bellagio, was luxurious. Our rooms were amazing, and the view of the fountains were fantastic. We were on the 20th floor, right in the middle of the building. Beautiful. On the downside, besides being expensive, you were nickel and dimed to death there. The wi-fi was NOT free. I refused to pay for it, too, so we went without it, even though I had dragged my laptop there. A 6 cup pot of coffee delivered to your room in the morning was something like $20. These were small cups, too. And I thought Starbucks was expensive. Geez. Honestly, I half expected to be charged for my wake up call request yesterday morning. And it was so crowded. Apparently, the casino, shows and restaurants are really popular, so in the evenings these areas were claustrophobically packed with people from all over. Most of them were not guests of the hotel. You had to show room keys to get past the elevator Nazis who guarded the guest room towers. In a way that was a good thing. But don't accidentally try to get upstairs if you left your key card with your husband, and he has disappeared into the vast, never-ending casino to entertain himself while you run upstairs for a minute.

The thing that surprised me was that I don't love Vegas anymore. I used to. When we went 10 or so years ago it was so much fun that I couldn't imagine running out of things to do. This time around....eh.....things have changed a whole lot there since we last went. Case in point, the Excaliber has always been advertised as one of the most "family" oriented hotels. We went there because Chris wanted to do the "Tournament of Kings" dinner show (the one in Myrtle Beach was much better, although the principle is the same). Right in the lobby, in front of the entrance to the "Fun Dungeon" arcade for kids, there was a stage out in the open area with a dancer. She wasn't nude, but almost. The dancing was erotic and provocative, and it kind of creeped me out how many people were dragging kids or pushing strollers past it as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. I do NOT have a problem with exotic dancers, strippers or whatever, but those performances should be in an adult-only club. Not out in the open public areas. Oh well....a lot of Vegas had gone much seedier that way. Even the food, and all of those highly advertised buffets were not all that great. They were much more expensive than the last time we went. Expect to pay upwards of $30 per person, but the quality is more like the local Golden Corral. I was a bit disappointed in that.

Anyway, we had fun, didn't win any money (at least we didn't lose too much so at least there's that}. It was entertaining, and I can officially put Las Vegas to rest now. Been there, done that, and now I am over it. I really don't think I will go back. If I feel the overwhelming urge to gamble (unlikely) I will go to Atlantic City or take myself a cruise to someplace warm and friendly in the Caribbean. Seriously.

Lady Luck PLEASE smile on us....

We leave for Vegas tomorrow. It has become increasingly clear over these past few weeks, while I have been out of work to heal up this stubborn achilles tendon, that my job is detrimental to my health in more ways than I can count. Since I have been off, my blood pressure has been LOW. Do you believe that? LOW! I have a wrist cuff and am supposed to take it several times a day due to the fact that medications only seem to control it marginally. Last night it was 105/69. Never in my life do I remember a low reading like that. I have felt so laid back and unstressed. I haven't had a single tension headache, or tension muscle cramps in my neck. My back has stopped hurting.
Its amazing. I was beginning to think that all of my problems and aches and pains were just a part of getting a wee bit older and it was something that I was just going to have to accept.

Oh well, if I don't win enough $$ to be independently wealthy (unlikely given my reluctance to gamble) then I will probably have to return to that God forsaken job in a week. Of course, there is always the possibility that I will run away from home and stay in Vegas.

Paranormal Activity

Bruce spent the weekend with the guys down at the river, and Jessica came up here on Saturday to spend the night. Its funny how we were both "under the weather" a little bit and didn't feel like doing any of the things we had planned. She didn't get here until about 5pm because she was trying to nap and get rid of some kind of queasy-feeling bug. I was nursing a serious sinus headache. What a bunch of whining babies...HA. But I am glad she did make it eventually. We decided to go get take out (Olive Garden,,,yum), and rent a movie. In keeping with the Halloween season, we chose "Paranormal Activity", which I had seen before but she hadn't. I wanted to see it again since the new one has just come out in theaters, and my niece, Sydney reports that it rates right up at the top of movies that will scare the daylights out of you.

So, this movie sounds so bland and so boring if you try to describe it. Its a young couple, in a regular house (not your huge haunted mansion) and they set up a video camera to try and capture footage of some strange things that are going on in their home. Its not bloody, or overly violent throughout the movie. Instead it plays on your sense of vulnerability while you are sleeping and defenseless. It has an astronomically high "CREEP" factor. The one scene that gets to me for some reason is how the camera captures the girl getting out of bed and then just standing by the bedside with this blank, zombie-like expression for several hours. The counter on the video tape shows that it went on for 2 or 3 hours. Just standing there, while her boyfriend is asleep and totally unaware until he watches the play-back. I have NO idea why that scared me so much, but it made me instantly suspicious that Bruce might just be spending hours every night standing by my side of the bed while I am asleep. LOL. And IF I ever woke up to see that......yeah, it would definitely creep me out.

Anyway, I found that movie to be scary and there is NO way I would have watched it by myself, alone in this house. LOL. But now I am caught up on it and ready to go see the second part. Maybe we can catch it while we are in Vegas. Its definitely a good choice for Halloween.

The Fridge

Our new refrigerator was delivered today. Can you say HOORAY! They also hauled the old one away to be recycled, and I am so happy to NOT have a fridge in the dining room. But anyway, its big and pretty and unfortunately quite empty at the moment. I wasn't buying too many groceries with the other one threatening to die at any moment.
One thing that surprised me....magnets don't stick to stainless steel. LOL. I had no idea. I'm not disappointed about that though. It will help keep things neat and tidy without a million little bits and pieces stuck all over the fridge doors. Its funny how your eyes get used to something like that and you don't even "see" the chaos. But when its gone, and things are clean and stream-lined, you wonder how you ever lived with such a mess. I won't miss the clutter stuck to my doors for sure.

So, Bruce's friend Jeff (from Seattle) is here in NC for a visit. The guys are all having a "MAN weekend" down at the river. I probably don't even want to know whats going on down there right now. LOL. Meanwhile, Jessica is coming here tomorrow for a "girl's weekend". I am not sure what we will do. Maybe shopping, maybe a movie, and definitely dinner out somewhere. She is spending the night to get away from the overload of testosterone at their house. Sunday we are all congregating at the river for a seafood feast to say good-bye to Jeff until we see him again. My contribution is going to be twice-baked potatoes. Yum. I love them and yet won't make them very often due to the high butter, sour cream, and cheese content. Haha. Delicious but deadly. I can feel my arteries clogging just thinking about them.

And then....Vegas on Wednesday. Yay! I am getting excited. We have lakeview rooms at the Bellagio, tickets to the big Halloween celebration at Fright Dome, tickets to see "O", and Penn and Teller. And reservations for Emeril's restaurant, Table 10 for one night. I forget which night that is......but I am really looking forward to it.
Now if luck will just smile on me and let me win some huge jackpot so I can retire and spend my time traveling and lavishing gifts on my family. It won't be easy, seeing as how I only tend to play quarter slots and even do that sparingly. I don't mind blowing about 20$ at a sitting. I figure the entertainment and free drinks make it worth at least that. But much beyond that? Probably is not going to happen.

Also, send some good happy vibes to Erica for the first part of this coming week. She is going to spend a couple of days at NIH in DC doing some interviews and a brief presentation of her work (which was so not cooperating when I talked to her earlier this week. She sounded really frustrated because she had a firm deadline for this). I haven't heard an update from the work front. She did send me a brief email just to let me know she was alive but swamped. So.....I wish her luck. She seems to think that working for the NIH after graduation would be something she would like to do. I hope it all goes well for her.

Set to Defrost

I have spent a good portion of my day switching our meager food supplies between fridges. Our new one is set to be here on Friday. We moved the old one into the dining room temporarily so as not to have to slide it across our new flooring. It began to die almost immediately, so I was trying to save as much as I could by stuffing it into that little dorm fridge that we use for drinks. When Bruce got home from work, he managed to track the problem to a stray piece of cardboard that was hanging the fan up. Once he pulled that out from underneath it, it started working again. Still....we lost some food. Its wasteful, but I couldn't help it. I am going to hold off shopping for too much until the new fridge is here. I don't want to go through a day long shuffle-fest again. Our pantry is still not painted, so the shelves are down. All of that food is spread out on the dining table that is sitting in Stephen's room until we are finished enough to put the kitchen back together. I am not shopping for much until I can put it all away in its proper place. We are living in a little slice of chaos right now, but it is slowly coming together. If I wasn't stuck in the darn boot-thing or if Bruce was able to take a couple of days off....we could easily finish this up. Oh well.....it will happen eventually.

So, Bruce just finished watching a Starz original show called "Spartacus". I watch very little of what he orders from Netflix. I am not a real "movie" person for whatever reason. I would rather watch episodes of House Hunters, or Design shows on HGTV than sit through a 2 hour block of fiction. Some movies hold my attention enough to be worth it, but it has to be interesting or I am going to pick up my laptop and see whats going on on Facebook. But Spartacus was actually pretty decent.
It was well done, characters well developed. The plot was engaging through out all of the many episodes that we watched. The one complaint I had was that it was so bloody and gory. What is with that? Every single thing we watch has violence and blood and guts. I have to look away because I feel my flesh crawl with revulsion. And I love horror movies, you know? Like I enjoy being scared, but the best ones have implied violence. Not a bloodbath laid out with no subtlety whatsoever. That part of Spartacus disappointed me. Not only was it one of the bloodiest things I have ever watched, but a lot of the scenes were done in slow motion so the blood splatters could be viewed in graphic detail. Why is that necessary? Oh well, we finished up that season of it. Maybe that was the end of it, I have no idea. I don't access our Netflix account so I don't really know whats on our list, whats coming next or anything else about it.

The boot!

I had another appointment with the podiatrist yesterday. She did an ultrasound and my ankle hasn't healed yet. Apparently thats not unusual as the achilles tendon heals very slowly. Honestly she could have skipped the ultrasound and just let me tell her its not right yet. LOL. She strongly recommended another couple of weeks in the boot. The alternative if I waltz off too quickly is an 8 week minimum stint in a full cast with crutches. She said its sometimes the only way. I am going to cooperate and comply in hopes of avoiding that at all costs.

So, 2 more weeks out of work....but the kicker is that in 1 week we have a trip to Las Vegas planned with our friends Chris and Jessica. This thing has been booked for months, my time off work approved way back in August.....so no matter what I am going to go. I am straining my brain to try and figure out a way to NOT drag the boot with me. I know you can buy these ankle support straps that are supposed to help with this injury. Would that work? Unfortunately its a week of a lot of walking. In the boot, my walking is not restricted. Neither is it painful. I am a bit slow and awkward, but thats it. Out of it....well having a small troll follow behind me and slice into the back of my ankle with a white hot sharp knife is what it feels like. Actually thats what it felt like. It is better now. Not completely but much better than it was. Maybe a troll with a plastic knife. LOL.

I don't know...I am so torn. I am scared to leave the boot home and get there and have this all flare up all over again. I am also scared of having to take this off and on through airport security. I do NOT want to end up in a cast and crutches, but neither do I want to go to shows and restaurants without cute shoes. Such a pain. I wasn't even considering that it would still be ongoing for this trip.