Nice Weekend

Well I had the biopsy on Friday but won't have any results till Wednesday. I hate the waiting, so much time for your mind to play games with you. One good thing is you get real clear, real fast, as to what's important. I think I do a pretty good job of living in the moment until something like this, then you see how much work you really have to do on yourself. HA!

We spent the weekend in Vegas at the Orleans. We had a really nice weekend. Our room was beautiful and had a great view of the strip. The lights at night are so impressive. We had a nice dinner at Al's Oyster Bar and then went to the country jam concert. There were 5 bands, Chris Young, Love and Theft, Bombshell, Tracy Bird, and Tracy Lawrence. Chris Young was really good, Love and Theft was a teenybopper boy band masquerading as a country act that I could barely stand. They should go on tour with Taylor Swift and not ruin any other country shows (HA). Bombshell was fabulous. They had a little girl fiddle player and also fronted the band from Sand Point, Idaho that blew the roof off that place. She is really someone to be reckoned with. Can't wait to see where she goes. Tracy Byrd was really good as always. Tracy Lawrence had bad "Vegas Throat" and could hardly sing but we like him so well it was still OK. He really struggles in Vegas. We have seen him 5 times and 1 out of the 5 he was not having troubles with his throat. Anyway it was a real nice relaxing weekend. Just what the doctor ordered. We came home Sunday morning and just laid around the rest of the day. I took a nap and then just fixed us a hamburger for dinner then went to bed about 7 o'clock. Talk about lazy. Cliff stayed up a while playing video games but he came to bed before too late. It was so nice laying by him listening to his little soft snores. God, I love him.

Scary Week

Well it seems like I have been to the doctor every day this week. I have had a lump in my right breast for quite sometime but they told me it was just cystic and not to worry about it. Well it really started to grow so now all of a sudden, worry about it! I had a mammogram and a sonogram this week and they are going to biopsy it tomorrow morning. It is scary to think about so I am trying not to. For one thing I am too busy for this BS. Hope the joke is not on me!!! The worst part is I won't find out the results until next Wednesday. It's funny what the mind will do. It was not bothering me at all, although it was getting big enough to be visible, until they told me to worry about it. Now it seems like I can feel it every minute. Weird. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me and pray. Life can get interesting sometimes.

We are going to Vegas this weekend and we are going to stay at the Orleans. Our favorite country star Tracy Lawrence is headlining a country show at the Orleans Arena and we are going. Cliff's cousin was coming down this weekend but I guess they cancelled. I need a nice relaxing weekend before next week. Most of my family will be down over labor day for my sister's son, Issac's wedding. It will be nice to see everyone but I am sure hectic.

Mom is coming to stay with us and it will be nice to see her. She seems to be doing pretty good since Dad died but I worry with winter coming and everyone being gone from Garden Valley over the winter. That's a long time to be stuck in 8 ft of snow by yourself. Anyway that's another issue to be dealt with.

So here's my thought for the day. I was driving home from the doctor yesterday and was really starting to get scared etc, when this song came on and I had to laugh. So I am telling myself to hold this thought:

Sounds Like Life to Me
It ain't no fantasy
It's just a common case of everyday reality
Man, I know it's tough, but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you're caught up in some tragedy
But it sounds like life to me

Sounds like life to me
It ain't no destiny
Yeah the only thing certain is uncertainty
Ya gotta hold on tight, just enjoy the ride
Get use to all this unpredictability
Cause it sounds like life to me

Nice Weekend Kind Of

Well we spent last weekend in Las Vegas. Friday night we were going to meet Teddi and Martin at the Alliante and go see Yellowbrick Road but on the way down there Teddi called and said that they were taking Marty to the hospital by ambulance. He had been having trouble with a spot in his leg and I was afraid it was a blood clot, sure enough and he also had blood clots around his lungs. He hadn't told anyone he was short of breath. So now they have him on blood thinners and he is off work for a week or so. Teddi stayed with him at the hospital till he was ready to go to sleep and then met us at the Alliante. Yellowbrick Road was great as usual, we also saw the group Third Town from Nashville Star. They were entertaining but left a lot to be desired. It was a fun night none the less.

Saturday morning we met Teddi for breakfast at the Sante Fe Station and then Cha and Leonard and Tony came down and we all went to the hospital to see Marty. He was doing better but they kept him till that night before they let him go home. Then Cha and Leo went grocery shopping and we took Tony with us and went home and watched the race at Bristol. Great race but Jeffery had problems.

Sunday I mowed and trimmed the grass while Cliff changed the brakes on the car. Then we went for a ride to test them out and just relaxed the rest of the day. I made taco salad for dinner but mine was sort of sad due to the HCG diet. (HA) I have lost 13 lbs in 14 days so I can't complain.

Now it's back to work week and I can barely stand it. Trying to remember to be thankful and grateful!!!!!

Silver WIngs Taken You Away

Well we took the kids to the airport last night and sent them winging back to Colorado. It was Cheyenne's first plane trip and she was a little nervous. Charlee Ann had told her it was like riding a roller coaster so she thought that would be fun. We were running late and that coupled with Las Vegas 5:00 traffic put us at the airport just a little later than we would have liked. I dropped Cliff and the kids off at Departing Flights and then went to park. They made it to security pretty fast because they were waiting for me at the entrance to the D gates when I got there.

It was actually better that we were running late because it gave us less time for tearful goodbyes. Traci was fine, just excited to get off to college, but poor Cheyenne cried all the way through security. The poor little thing howls and cries when she has to leave her mother and then repeats it at the end of the summer when she leaves us. It's a hard situation for a little one. Hopefully it will get easier as she gets older. In the end she did fine. Traci said she liked the flight and had fun looking our the window. Now they are all safely deposited back in Colorado and it's back to just us.

We were both tired when we got back home, poor Cliff had had two trips to Vegas yesterday. I made some of my diet soup for dinner and we had that about 8:00. We were in bed watching Diners, Drive In's and Dives on the Food Channel about 10:00 and Cliff decided he was starving and got up and had peanut butter and jelly with a big glass of milk. I was proud of myself cause I didn't even really want any and that's my favorite bed time snack. I told Cliff the only thing I have really craved on this diet is a bowl of beans. He just laughed and said maybe you just need to let a big "Ripper". Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder if that would burn any calories???????

Great Weekend

We went to Vegas on Saturday and had a really fun day. We took the kids to the Venetian and had lunch and rode the Gondola's. Our Gondolier was really cute, from Italy, and sang us 3 songs as we took the ride. We went under the tunnel of love and he told us the tradition was that anyone who kisses under the tunnel, their love will last forever. So my sweetheart said, "Then we have to kiss!" And we did. It was really fun. It would be nice after a romantic dinner to go at night. I bet it's really pretty with the lights of the city.

After our sojourn on the strip, we drove out to the damn to see how far they had gotten on the new road construction over the gorge. If you haven't seen it it is really something. They are building a suspension bridge in front of the damn that will reroute traffic over the bridge. I can't tell you how scary high it is. It just arches up and up and finally over. I told Cliff I will probably pee my pants the first time over. It's a heights thing.

Then we went to the Bullring at the racetrack for the races. It was so fun. Marty Man met us and we watched the mimi's the late models, legends, and my favorite, the modified race. They are having a demolition derby in September that we would love to find an old bomber for a couple hundred bucks and enter. We got done about 9:30 and drove home. It was a really good day.

Now we are getting ready to watch the Nascar race in Michigan, Cha is here and we are fixing breakfast for all the kids. Leo has Tony and some friends up camping at the lake in Gunlock for the weekend. The last hurray before school starts. We take Traci and Cheyenne to the airport to fly home tomorrow. Traci has to be a University of Northern Colorado on Thursday, Cheyenne starts school the end of the week, so I guess that means summer is about over. It has been really a short summer, and not very hot for Nevada. We had a couple hot weeks but nothing over about 115 which is amazingly cool for us in the summer. It has mainly been around 100 to 105 and the nights have been unusually cool. Maybe that forebodes a cold winter

Shoot the Moon

Well, this is my new tattoo and I just love her. I had a ugly tattoo of a crescent moon and an old Texas husbands name that I wanted to get covered. This is what Amber Marie Suicide came up with. An old school cowgirl that shoots the moon. We listened to good old country music while she designed and then put the ink on. It hurt like hell cause she used a very small gauge needle to get the fine lines, but boy was it worth it. So now I have to give her a name but I have to think about it a minute. This girl can do some FINE work. Oh yes, this is a Sailor Jerry design for the 1930's. SWEET.

Cliff has a new tattoo also, a pin up girl. Photo to follow

Mesquite Ink ll

Cha's new girl. Isn't she beautiful. I was against it but now I love it.

Mesquite Ink

Amber Marie Suicide was in town this weekend so it has been tattoo central. Cliff has been wanting a new tattoo and when we were on our trip to Washington DC he saw the statue in front of the Capital building of the Civil War soldiers in a charge and loved the picture so he took the photograph and AMS drew it up for him. He sat for over 8 hours at one setting for the ink. It still needs about 3 hours to finish but they are going to let this much heal and then we will go to San Diego and she will finish the rest. It turned out bitchin. He really likes it.
Amber Marie and Big Daddy in the mist of artistic pain
Big Daddy in the zone. Eight hours is a longgggggggggggggg time to sit for a tattoo. He was the man!!
It was a good night of good friends and good music. We were at Charlee & the Mexicans house. Today I am going to get my tattoo on my chest covered with a heart going up in flames and some tribal detail. Photo's to follow. Here is a snippet of the action

HCG Diet II

Well we went to the seminar and I was very impressed. I have an appointment on Tuesday at 3:30 to start treatment. I am going to do 40 day course of treatment and then start a hormone balancing session with her. Hopefully I will feel better, have more energy, stop the hot flashes, and not have such a fat ass (heavy accent on the skinnier ass). I have read everything I can find on the subject and I can't find one negative aspect of it so I figure the worst thing that can happen is I will waste $300 and Lord knows it won't be the first time.
*Note the woman giving the seminar was funny. She looked like Olive Oil that had had 3 too many face lifts and had Gargantua's boobs. It was so funny. It was hard to listen to her talk cause your eyes kept going to her boobs. Her arms were so skinny that they almost didn't look real they just kind of framed her boobs like little sticks.

The wind is blowing today and it is hot. I am at work and it is just dead. I am bored and tired of reading (Robert Caro's "Master of the Senate", a study on the US senate with a focus on Lyndon Johnson. You know me and my American history. Always trying to figure out how this mess got started in the first place) I went home at lunch and put on some chili verde for dinner, yum. We are such Mexican food lovers, that is what I will miss most on the diet is Mexican food. Oh well I WILL DO IT

HCG Diet

Charlee Ann and I are going to St George tonight to a seminar at our plastic surgeons office about HCG. I am hoping it is something that will help me lose some weight. Ever since I went through menopause I just keep gaining. I hate it. We will see. I have always gained a few pounds but then I lose it when I get too fat, this time it just seems to get worse not better. I want to have my old will power but it seems like I just can't muster it up. Every time I get stressed (like every day) I tend to eat. I know it won't help and will only make me miserable (food is really the Antichrist) but I eat anyway.

It has been a long stressful week at work and still hotter than hell outside. We have really not had a long summer but it has bothered me this year for some reason. Be glad when it cools off, of course ,then I will bitch cause it's cold; women, ya can't please em.

Traci will be here on Friday and Cheyenne is sure looking forward to it. Hope they have fun. Cliff and I are getting tattoos this weekend. Cliff is getting a big one on his arm, I am just getting an old one covered and spruced up a bit. Pictures to follow

Sea World

Saturday morning about 10:00 a.m., I was outside working in the yard when Cliff came out and said, "I want to take Cheyenne to Sea World." I said "Well, just tell me when you want to go and I will make the arrangements." He said, "Right now." So by 10:50. we were in the car and headed for San Diego. We got there about 5:00 p.m. and went right to Sea World. We stayed till about 10:00p.m. and then went and found a room at the Ramada Inn on Hotel Circle. Got up about 8:00 a.m. and had breakfast, then went back to the park and stayed until 3:00 p.m. . We really had fun. Cheyenne just loved it. I think she liked it way better then Disneyland, or maybe it was just that she was a year older, anyway she really had fun. She especially liked all the fish, birds, etc. Anything that is young, small, or helpless. She reminds me of Charlee Ann in her compassion for all vulnerable things.
This was taken in front of the Atlantis water ride, Cheyenne's favorite. We stood in line Saturday night for an hour to get on it only to have it break down just as we got to the front of the line, so we went back Sunday morning and rode it twice to make up for the wait. We got a little bit wet, but nothing like the Shipwreck Rapids where we were literally drenched and had to walk around the rest of the day dripping wet. I mean water running off our hair and clothes. They run you under a waterfall that just drenches you. Luckily we put our camera and loot in a locker. I looked like something that had crawled into town from Beaver Dam. There I was walking around Sea World the rest of the day like I didn't have enough sense to know I looked like something that even the pirates wouldn't have ravished. It was so sad!!!

While we were on the Atlantis ride we met some people who rode with us in the same car. The lady asked me where we were from and I said , just outside of Las Vegas . I told her, we just got up that morning with no idea to go to San Diego, and an hour latter we were in the car headed this way. She laughed and said they were from Long Beach and had planned for three years for their trip. I said well, we have never let Fear or Common Sense stand in our way about anything!!!!And we don't plan to ever change.
One of the many fish tanks that we looked at
The Flamingo's were my favorites. They are so beautifully strange. You can see the mounds behind them, they build these and lay their eggs in the concave space at the top. They were all building and tending the eggs, and feeding the babies. It was so cute. Some of them had the longest legs, I mean much longer than others, I have to google it and find out why.
I need all these in my front yard. I bet Olivia would have a ball chasing them. Maybe then she'd give my "yard chickens" a rest
Big Daddy and his baby girl. He just loves to take her places and see her have fun.
Of course we had to get her face painted like a fairy princess. She liked it but it was a hot day and made her itch. Boy she loved Sea World. We just about couldn't get her to leave. Finally she was bribed with s Sea World Barbie. She played with it all the way home.
This was one of the shows, the Seal & Otter show. I took pictures of the Dolphin show, and Shamu but they were at night and you can't see them that well. I will have to work on them a little bit.
This was Saturday when we first arrived and a nice lady took our picture just outside the gate.
This little Otter was one of our favorites, he was so damn cute. He reminded me of Gabrielle scampering around looking for mischief!

This tells the whole tail. We about died laughing when we saw her face. This was her first pass down the fall at Atlantis.