Kids, Cancer, Chaos

20 things that have happened since my last post (in no particular order) 1. My niece was born - Cambria Anne Torretto 2. I turned 33. 3. My live-in boyfriend asked me to marry him. I guess that makes us engaged. 4. I went roller skating. 5. My doctor informed me that I have 2 herniated disks in my spine and will need surgery to repair them. 6. I got a new computer monitor. 7. I went on vacation to Cabo San Lucas. 8. I spilled soda on my phone and it broke. 9. I got a new phone. 10. I got a hair cut. 11. My fiancee` turned 40! 12. I went to Pismo Beach for a work conference. 13. I got drunk. 14. I bought a wedding dress. 15. Summer came and went. 16. 3 of my friends' parent passed away. 17. I got some new music on iTunes 18. I started a Facebook page. 19. My back gave out on me. 20. I went to a quinceanera.

I am a horrible person. Let me back up a bit. For the past few months, my grandmother has not been doing too great. Twice she was found fast asleep while her dinner burned on the stove. Had my mother not stopped by to check on her, the house would have surely gone up in flames and her along with it. After that, we decided it was not a good idea for her to have to cook dinner for herself. (Breakfast and lunch were ok because they did not require the use of the stove or oven) So, my mother and sister and I started taking turns going over to her house to spend some time with her, cook dinner and get her to bed. This was fine until 2 1/2 weeks ago when she lost her balance and fell down. She wasn't hurt, but she is so frail and weak that she couldn't get herself up off the floor. Then, later that day, I was there to cook dinner and watched her through the window slip off her bed and onto the floor again. She had been struggling to get her shoes off for about 20 minutes before I got...

I had Jury Duty yesterday. For the first time, I have a job that pays me while I am out doing my civic duty. I used to get jury summons all the time and would claim "financial hardship" as an excuse for why I couldn't serve on a jury. This technique has worked for the last 15 years. This time, I figured I would take the day off from work to sit around and fulfill my responsibility to the justice system. It was a long day. I took the train from N. County to downtown SD. Of course, to get there in time I had to take the 6:27am train. This meant getting up at least 90 minutes before I usually do when I drive to work. But, I didn't have to worry about paying for parking and I got a free ride on the Coaster! Getting there early actually was nice, since I got to sit around and read my book for 40 minutes while the room filled with prospective jurors. Finally, at 8:00am, they started the "orientation" that lasted for 45 minutes. A judge came and addressed us and th...

I'm tired today. It would be nice to think that I was tired for some great reason (too much sex, great movie, party-time!), but not so much today. I am tired today because my fucking cat kept me up all night with his meowing and pacing back and forth on the window sill. He used to be an inside cat. In fact, he never went outside until 2 years ago when I moved in with my boyfriend and he found some way to escape from the house. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that hard for him to find a way out since there aren't screens on many of the windows and doors. Anyways, he was fine as an outdoor cat until a few months ago when he started getting his ass kicked by the neighborhood cat-bullies. He got a bad infection in one of the war-wounds and cost me a bunch of money to fix. AND, he had to stay inside until the stiches came out. So, that was 2 weeks of him driving us crazy with the crying and whining about "I wanna go outsiiiiiide". The third week was better, probably ...

My grandfather died on Friday. He was 94. For the past few years his body has steadily been shutting down. He was in a pretty large amount of pain and decided last Sunday that he did not want to continue with the treatment that was sustaining his life. He passed on peacefully at home on Friday evening at about 10:00pm. I was heartbroken to see my grandmother, dad, aunts, uncles and rest of the family so sad. I was happy that he is not in any more pain. He has been wanting to stop the dialysis for the last 6 months. He fell and broke a hip in January. I really want people to know that Hospice is the most amazing organization around. They made all the arrangements to make sure that he was as comfortable as he could be. Everything was taken care of! All it took was a single call to the social worker assigned to his case and she arranged medicine, oxygen, etc. A minister came, people came to take the body to the crematorium and everything was arranged by Hospice. I would encourage anyone w...

Happiness is: Waking up next to the one I love (even though he kept me up all night snoring). When my cat comes when I call him. Spending time with my family. Having friends who have more drama than me. Getting all the work done that needs to be done for today. Getting a new hair cut. Roller skating. NEW SHOES! Planning a vacation. When the dog doesn't knock over the garbage can so I come home to a kitchen floor covered with trash. Going on vacation. A dirty Belvedere on the rocks. Getting a letter in the mail. Hearing from an old friend. New York City. San Francisco. Super nachos from Filiberto's. Snowboarding on freshly fallen snow. Waking up for work on Saturday and realizing I don't have to work on Saturdays. Going out of town for the weekend. Watching TV all day when it is raining outside.

OMG. I saw this video and could not stop laughing.

I had someone disappoint me recently. This disappointer is not someone whom I would consider a friend but the injury to the soul of a person I truly love is where the disappointment starts. I was not the injured one yet the fact that I witnessed the heartbreak - and cried some of my own tears during this weeks long break up - makes me really, really sad . Break-ups are never easy. If they are, you weren't really in love. I don't belive that they should be easy. That being said, you never want to see a great friend in pain. I am not sure why this person did what they did. Honestly, I don't care. When you say, "I love you," you better mean it. I do not believe that this person meant "I love you". I believe they meant that "I really like you a lot and I really like making out with you and the chemicals in my brain are telling me that it must be love". The disappointer is young and inexperienced in life. I am not what some might consider "old...

I knew that a bachelorette party trip to Vegas could possibly end in disaster, but I had absolutely no idea how much could happen in 36 hours. Drove out early Saturday morning with Friend #1, hit a little traffic - but not too much - got to the room to meet up with Friends # 2 & 3, who were already there, about noonish. Made myself a nice mixture of vodka and cran and headed to the Forum shops with Friends #1, 4 & 5 after 3 cocktails. Bought some new jeans, went back to the room to get ready. 6 girls getting ready in one room is a lot, so Friend #4 went back to her room and the rest of us stayed...decorated some plastic cups with jewels and feathers, drank some almond champagne, showered, changed clothes. The bride-to-be wasn't happy with her clothes. She wanted to look prettier. Tears. She apologized for being silly. Nothing silly about it, I said. Fixed her hair and make-up. Everyone's happy. Go to dinner at Social House in Treasure Island, meet some New Yorkers while...

It is quite possible that I have the largest bruise in the history of the world on my left butt-cheek. Mammoth Mountain kicked my ass for trying out my new snowboard. The base there is a mere 36" - 48" and with a storm that brought no more than 6" a few days before we arrived the mountain looked very bare indeed. It was hella cold, though. Lows in the 2-3 degrees range and highs in the 25-30 degree range. Perfect conditions for snowmaking. I was hoping that my first trip to Mammoth for skiing would be a little better, but what can you do?