Supermarket Madness

I decided to stop by Ralphs on the way home since it seems people are starting to get greedy in the stores and buy up everything. I have my 91 year old mother for the weekend and we need to have something to eat for the wekend. I was just at Ralphs last Saturday morning and no huge crowds of people though parking was tough. Well it starts today of the world going mad.

After 45 minutes trying to find what I needed and 30 minutes longer waiting in line as I am about to come to the counter the checkstand clerk put a sign up saying he was closing. Seriously? There are 10 people beind me with full carts.

I looked at the clerk and told him that was Bull Shit. It's the first word that came to mind, Bull Shit. I told him we needed to see a manager as he could not just close the line in our face. We have no where to go and our carts will just have to leave unpaid. He ended up staying open where I had to apologize to him as he checked me out. Turns out he was already working an extra hour and other employees called in sick.He was a pretty nice guy and I thanked him for taking my order and working so hard.

IT IS WHAT IT IS

When Do You Get Involved?

When should you choose to get involved when you witness something? In today's unhinged world, you have to be extremely careful that someone doesn't pull out a gun and shoot you for not minding your own business.

Normally I find bus drivers to be egotistical and aggressive thinking they own the road and have the right away because they are larger. Not the case today. I'm driving home for my quick 30 minutes of sanity I can only find home for lunch. I'm following the Bee Line City Bus and as he is pulling away from the curb after picking up his fare, I decide to yield to wait behind him at the light instead of trying to squeeze to the front of the line. The light changes and as we begin to move we are only able to get one block before we must stop for a light again. A woman to my left decided that as soon as the light changes, she is going to punch it and turn right onto a street in front of the bus. And try as she might, and I really thought she might make it, she hesitated when the bus driver honked at her causing him to hit her rear right bumper with his right front.This really pissed me off because now no one can get through the intersection and I have to maneuver around an island to turn on my street. I thought to myself what a dumb ass move on the woman's part and I really should have stopped to be a witness but I was hungry to get home.

Had my lunch and wondered if I would see the bus again when I was traveling back to work. Sure enough as I approached the intersection where it happened, the bus was parked to the right of me and the driver was speaking to 4 young men and a cop. To the left of me I saw the woman on the island shaking her fist in the air in her own language to a crowd of about 10 listeners. She acted as if the she was not at fault and the bus just hit her for no reason. Well seeing the bus driver was alone trying to defend himself, I pulled over interrupted everyone and said "I'm sorry to be rude but I cannot stay but I want to let you know I did witness this accident from directly behind the bus and I will be more than happy to give my phone number if needed. I said it looked like a really stupid maneuver and I couldn't understand why the woman would try that. This REALLY made the 4 young men mad with one of them telling me I'd better watch my mouth.  I told them I did not curse at anyone so not sure why he was offended. He told me he was the son of the woman in the car and he would not stand for me to call his mother stupid. Which I explained I said it was a stupid action not calling her anything. He kept screaming at me every time I said stupid until the cop had to step up in his face.  He kept yelling at me so loud that the cop asked him to leave as I gave my name and number. The poor little old bus driver looked thankful I stopped and agreed with my story and I left to return to work. But after work, I told the back streets home as my car is VERY recognizable and looks like not too many others and not sure if the teens will be gunning for me if they see me in that area, Am I safe now driving around my city with 20 angry people knowing I ratted them out?

IT IS WHAT IT IS 

and I gotta hope I did the right thing.

Yes the world revolves around me

Getting a pizza after work to bring home for dinner sounds like an easy chore. Especially when there are places like Little Cesar's if you are just looking for something cheap ready and quick. Perfect, a place to park right in front. Walk into the store order my $5.00 Fresh and Ready Pizza and off I go.

As I am backing out of my space I can go no further because a larger version SUV decided they do not need to park in a space but they are "entitled" to park in front of the store blocking my route to exit. I honk my horn lightly to get the person's attention inside the car who proceeds to ignore me.

After the 4th honk and completely being ignored I went up and knocked on the window. The man looked at me like I was crazy and here comes the woman outside to get in the car with her pizza. I said "you're blocking me from leaving." She just looked at me so I said "I guess you think the world revolves around you." She said I guess it does today and proceeded to take her sweet time getting in and leaving just to annoy me more. All yo can say is...

IT IS WHAT IT IS

But I also feel it's a big problem with why there is so much tension between people these days. Too many people feel they are entitled to just do what they want regardless of other people. Maybe next time she could just run out get in the car saying oopps sorry.

Not Too Old To Make Kids Happy

Going home for lunch the children playing at recess sent their ball over the fence, lodging it underneath a car. Every time a car drove by 10 sets of hands would frantically wave through the bars trying to attract the attention of someone driving by.

I went by but felt this was something I could do to make the kids happy. I decided to turn around and go back. Cheers of joy from 15-20 elementary students as I pulled into the driveway.

But alas, the ball is stuck underneath the back of the car and Iam 60 years old not so bendable which I explained to the children. I reached in my car to see what I could use as a stick and wahlah I had my sun visor for the front window and folding up makes a decent poker.

So with a few tries and the crowd cheering, victory was found and the ball returned to the playground. One young girl said she was really proud of me. hahaha.

Unfriended

For me, this is the true sign of racism and being a hater trying to fuel the fire.

Take your damn blinders off. Second time I've been "un-friended" - maybe I'm on a roll. This was from someone I went to high school with though we were not friends then but why do people put "hater posts" on their page if they don't want responses to it? I normally don't respond to these posts and scroll through them but every now and then one stands out. In the light of the tremendous turnout of woman, families and men who marched yesterday and perhaps the fact I've such a bad cold, and couldn't be there, I feel very proud and passionate about the movement.

A respected realtor, same class of 74 as mine, writes how the woman's movement was nothing more than a pack of whiners and wondered how large the crowd might have been if Republicans marched over Clinton's role with Monica. His response to me was he did similar to the presidents attitude of "hey - look over here" and I was trying to play the victim. When people started to agree with my response, he felt the need to belittle my opinion and unfriend me.

I'm beginning to see there are a lot of these babies out there who can't stand up to any criticism and surround themselves with only people who see the world exactly as they do. It is what it is but for me, this is the true sign of racism.

Gag Me

So we are due this weekend of yet another heat wave in Southern California and for those of us without central air conditioning, it can get quite downright hot in the house. When it's cool in the morning and semi overcast, it is nice to leave you front door open to let the cool air in before you have to lock it up for the day and go to work. Which is exactly what I was doing this morning at 6:30 am.

Now first off, if I was a retired person, I would have been put off just because of the noise of an idling truck engine. Right outside your bedroom window all you can hear is two trucks motors running. I assume they are getting ready to do some work outside and firing up their equipment, it was that loud. But then all of a sudden, I start smelling horrible exhaust fumes. Now mind you, we've already been warned about going outside or spending too much time outdoors because of the wildfires around town and the air quality. And for the last 10-15 minutes not only have i listened to two trucks engines roar, I've also had exhaust fumes sprayed directly into my front door. My entire house smells horrible so I go outside and tell the men that they have just turned my home into a smelling like a car repair station. One man was filling up his truck from the fire hydrant on the corner and the other was just shooting the shit with him. I asked him to please turn off their cars as my sister and I were tired of hearing their engines run and smelling their exhaust. They pretty much looked at me like I'm the crazy person.

People just don't think anymore. it would be one thing if it was really hot outside and their car was running to keep the people inside cool running the air conditioner. If they had a pet in the car, something. But no, that wasn't the case. So instead of allowing it to ruin my day, you just have to laugh it off and say...

IT IS WHAT IT IS

Caucus Makes no Sense - Could this be the reason why people loose interest politics

For the life of me I can't wrap my head around this "caucus" thing.

Wikipedia:
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The Iowa Caucus^[1] is an electoral event in which residents of the U.S. state of Iowa meet in precinct caucuses in all of Iowa's 1,681 precincts and elect delegates to the corresponding county conventions. There are 99 counties in Iowa, and thus there are 99 conventions. These county conventions then select delegates for both Iowa's Congressional District Convention and the State Convention, which eventually choose the delegates for the presidential nominating conventions. About 1% of the nation's delegates are chosen by the Iowa State Convention.


This makes no sense to me at all. When you are voting for the president of the United States, the speaker of the people, one would think he/she would be elected by the people. ALL the people.  I've looked and looked and nothing you can show me out there makes any sense in this modern world.

Why do we not just vote for the president the good old fashion way. Those registered to vote, get out there and vote for the person you think will get the job done. Count the votes and the winner is the one who gets the most votes. NOT! Could this be the reason why people loose interest politics. It is what it is...

When the country knows more about Kardashian's then they who the vice president is. Dont believe? Tune into Jimmy Kimmel one night when he's asking people off the street made up questions and doing interviews of made up stuff on the streets.

You're In My Space

I've been away from my blog far too long for every day it seems I encounter something somewhere that pisses me off or is just uncalled for and I can say is It Is What It Is.

Today on my way to work I was waiting patiently for the signal to change from red to green when a huge express bus pulls up along side of me. Now that in itself would not be the problem BUT I could have rolled down my window and knocked on the front door. He literally left 6"- 8" between us. That's my side mirror on the right.

I really do not see how he did not hit my mirror. When I looked over at him, he sat there with a very casual look on his face and didn't acknowledge my stare. I wanted to knock on the glass but grabbed my camera instead.

I mean seriously look how close he is to my car? There is literally just 6 inches between us. My little car could never win a game of chicken with this huge bus so I have to just let it be and say...

"It Is What It Is"

Why Do We Have To Get Old?

Holy Crap! I haven't truly exercised for almost two years so last night I decided hey, there's a hill right here, why not climb it. I dusted off my stretch pants and work out gear, put fresh batteries in my MP3 player already filled to capacity with catchy fast tunes to motivate my stride, and set out to conquer the hill.

1.4 miles and 25 minutes later, I returned home feeling like I conquered the world. Okay the first step is the hardest right? Made dinner when I got home and really didn't feel like eating much so that's a good first step. Until last night!!!!

I think the worst thing about getting old is your mind says "Yes I Can" and your body says, "Ha Ha you fool!! I swear I was up at least 3 or 4 times in such pain in my shins. The only thing to do is try and stand on it to make the pain go away. But that didn't even work last night. I was have asleep sweeping through the medicine cabinet trying to shove any medication down my throat that I thought would stop the pain. Then, my common sense set in and warned me not to just take something, expired and prescribed a few years back for pain, that's been lingering on the shelf warning me to stay away. So, instead I endured the pain and tears and spent the night hoping in and out of bed. Today, being the first of the month couldn't be busier day for me and I work on the 2nd floor that has 16 stairs to climb up to. Plus the boss has been away so today he decided to see how many times he could send me up and down these stairs. My poor old bones. But.....

IT IS WHAT IT IS

I am grateful for having two legs to make me be able to walk in the first place. I'm grateful for my sporty MP3 player and the computer to connect it to to download music into it and I am grateful I live in a nice home in the hills with a beautiful view. Got home tonight and climbed it again, in pain, not as fast and not as far but still managed to do it. Now I'm on a roll. Just PLEASE let me sleep!!!

How To Survive A Colonoscopy

January 10th, 2011

For the last 4 years my doctor has insisted upon me getting a colonoscopy and for the last 4 years I have put it off. I guess when you turn 50 your body starts falling apart and they need to check every inch of you. Well even though it's not on my "Bucket List," I finally decided to cross this off and made an appointment today. February 4th it is.

January 11th - 20th, 2011

I think I have asked everyone I know if they have had a colonoscopy and everyone says the same thing. It's not the procedure, it's the prep. For almost everyone that has had the procedure, they all remember being somewhat awake and watching the screen. DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS? I have no desire to see the inside of me on a video monitor. The thought gives me the heebie jeebies. Of course I have that great ability of making everything worse in my head by over analyzing it, so now my waking moments are filled with nothing but the crazies. Best way to help - Stay busy!!!

Today at lunch I went to get the prep from my pharmacy. OMG - You've got to be kidding. 4 liters??? Can this be true? Just looking at the bottle is enough to intimidate. Okay you can do this..... Mind over Matter.

January 31, 2011

For some reason I just can't get this procedure out of my mind. I've spent the weekend, on and off, looking on line for more info about colonoscopy. Can you believe YouTube has many videos on it? I even found a "Colonoscopy for Dummies" book on line which I promptly downloaded. I recommend it as it's written nicely. I liked the part about letting your gas go in the recovery room - don't be shy. It says you are put under a "conscious sedation." That will never work on me. I have a high tolerance to drugs, have to have 20-30 shots of Novocaine to work, nitrous sometimes heightens my senses, so no way this can work. I have to call and protest or confirm I will be totally out - wake me up when it's over.

I found a brave sole, news anchor from channel 2 news, having his done live on T.V. Did you know that your lower intestine is 4-6 feet long and they put their little light all the way to the end of your tunnel? Holy Moly. Gotta stop looking at this stuff as I think maybe now I know too much and may be better to go in blindly? I went to bed and tossed and turned a bit and when I opened my eyes, my ceiling fan cast a shadow that looked a lot like the end of the instrument scope when they are cutting off a polyp. GEEZO can I just go to sleep?

February 1st, 2011

Even though the 1st of the month is my busiest day at work, have to put a call into my doctor to ease my mind. Great, only an answering machine. UGH. Wait a few hours and call again stating it is my second call. Waaa Laaa, got a call back in less than 10 minutes. The woman on the other end seemed to be knowledgeable and understand my concerns. She said 90%of the people will fall asleep under what is normally used but I can tell the doctors in advance about my tolerance (or lack of) to drugs and they can make sure I am out. I sure hope she is correct cause that REALLY eased my mind. She also told me if I fast properly on Thursday, I will be okay if I can get 3/4 of the bottle down. My question, was if I can't finish the liquid, do I cancel my appointment? Okay well I'm feeling better now and it's really not as bad of a problem in the back of mind.

February 2nd, 2011

Starting today I can't eat anything red or purple, no seeds, no fruits or vegetables, no beans, no popcorn. I guess it's tuna with my crust cut off bread to avoid the seeds. Oh Joy. But the good thing is, I'm not as nervous today. Yeah it's on my mind but I guess my body is now going through acceptance mode, or IT IS WHAT IT IS mode. As long as I know I will be out, the nurse on the phone promised me, well then I will survive this and be okay. I've got 10 hard butterscotch candies ready to suck on between the gulps of who knows what. Tomorrow is Pre-D-Day and I heard the worst part. Wish me luck. Stripped my body of all my jewelry, anyone who knows me knows what a chore that is alone. Hey I found a funny video about colonoscopies by Bill Connolly. Check it out.

February 3rd, 2011

It's all liquid today, chicken broth it is as I have no idea what else that can be. Oh yeah you can have clear soda. Lucky I had enough to do at work today to make the day go by fairly fast. I just want it to be this time tomorrow and I can get back along with my life. At least, I was not too nervous today, not like I've been for the last week. Oh I tried to take a photo this morning of the colonoscopy scope on my ceiling but it's too dark to come out. Thought it would add a little humor to the blog post.

Home at 5:25 and made my solution and started to drink at 5:30.  Was suppose to start at 6:00 pm drinking my solution (4 liters can you imagine). Figured I could get done earlier maybe. by 6:45, let the games begin. I am on glass #6 of 8 ounces each, every 10 minutes. My stomach feels like it will explode if I drink anymore. Making all kinds of funny sounds and I feel the games might begin pretty soon. Wow right on schedule, I think the first glass I drank just came out exactly as it went in. hahaha Glad I can still laugh about this. The more I drink the worse it tastes.

6:45 Working on glass #7 but I am behind schedule now. My bottle is almost have way done some victory but it's bigger at the bottom than top. False illusion of hope. Ironically, this is the first time I am looking at the glass half empty. :-)

7:00 Starting glass #8 and my body feels sort of light headed. There's a slight ringing or tinny feeling in my ears and head. My body is probably saying, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO ME." Sucking on a butterscotch candy to get the taste out of my mouth. I wonder how they came up with this solution stuff anyway. Did someone drank it by accident?

I'm really having a hard time swallowing anymore. Got to have this mind over matter thing kick in better. Guess I will watch a foreign movie to get my mind off this.  Been to the potty 4 times now and it's feels like I am giving myself a radiator flush. It's not exactly what I was expecting and so far, really, other than the taste of the solution, the diarrhea is not too bad. Only half way through glass number 8 and I'm supposed to start #9 in 4 minutes. SHIT this is challenging.

7:30 Not as fun as it started out but hey I'm still here. Just feel really weak and not laughing and smiling as much as I was. My head is foggy and could not concentrate on the movie went with "Wipe Out," on T.V. My strength feels gone but I am determined to not having to go back because I didn't do a good prep. I just cheated a little and added some ginger ale to it. Just a little but the taste is so salty in my mouth right now, yuck! Ginger ale helps, I would try and stomach as much as you can before adding the Ginger Ale because it will make you drink more liquid if you add it.

Potty break number 6 has me reaching for my special diaper wipes just for this occasion. It's really not like normal diarrhea, I don't have cramping but you can shake my stomach and here all the liquid inside of it. The diarrhea comes on quick so you have to be close to restroom but it's really not bad. Just imagine liquid goes in and comes right back out. HAHA - okay I'm laughing again, that's good. I guess I'm documenting this on my blog as it helps me pass time and for me when I write what I am feeling, it makes it better for me. And I am hoping that when someone else needs one, maybe my blog can help ease their mind a bit?

My body feels completely drained I am not sure what I can compare that to as it's a feeling of it's on. I think I am suppose to be done drinking though and alas, I'm not. But I'm not giving up Damm IT! I can do this. Here goes glass #10

8:00 pm I am definitely over 3/4 finished glass # 11 which the nurse told me was good. I am now determined to finish it though as I see how clean I am getting. Potty trips are frequent but easy, painless and fast. I would say I have about 5 more glass to go to finish. So that will make it about 16 glasses. The end is in sight! Maybe I'll be too weak tomorrow to care what they do.

Just converted that 4 Litre (L) = 135.2560908 Ounce (fl oz) divided by 8 ounces every 10 min. =  16.875 glasses plus at least 2 glasses of Ginger Ale. PHEW!

9:30 pm I DID IT!!! I finished all 4 liters plus at least 16 ounces of Ginger Ale. Really feeling better now too. Not lightheaded and foggy anymore. Weeeeee so they say I have just passed the worst part. Really it's not been that bad, I've certainly done worse things to myself.

11:00 pm I think I can finally go to bed. Still can't believe I drank the whole thing but it just might let me sleep now. Thinking positive thoughts for tomorrow.

February 4th, 2011

Today's the day!!! Wow I was even able to get 5 hours of sleep last night too. Too tired to get too nervous about this morning. 6:15 we are leaving to get there by 6:45. I am so not a morning person but even awoke before my boyfriend.  So we all file in and get checked in and then we all wait. I'm yawning so bad I am hoping it will knock me right out. Randy had to leave me so now sitting all alone and mentally freaking out in my head. As the nurse finally came and got me, all I could say coming out of my mouth was PLEASE MAKE SURE I am sleep. They took all my vitals and as they inserted my IV, I started to instantly get the shakes. My teeth were chattering so bad, I think it was my nerves combined with the cold in the room. I'm such a freaking chicken for this kind of stuff. Once you are naked, you really don't spend too much alone time at this point. They ask you questions about what you ate last, if you finished your prep all the way, allergies and then of course, they have you sign the papers releasing the hospital of any damages they can possibly do to you from the procedure, and since you don't have your purse with you, no glasses to read what you are signing anyway.

So I meet Dr. Teller and ask him if he knows what he is doing. I also explain to him I must be out completely. Most importantly - OUT - NOT AWAKE - OUT. Well Dr. Teller was the chief surgeon of the department until the 3 days ago when a new lady took over. But he explained he has done many many many of these and only 1 out of 5,000 have complications and 20% of people will still be awake during the anesthesia but you will be comfortable. I explained again I do not want to be the 20% and give me the max on the drugs. After that they told me they were injecting something into my IV but I was still pretty conscious, so much so I actually could see the procedure on the screen but I didn't care. I think I just awoke after they had done most of their work as I did feel them take the scope out but again, watching the screen it wasn't bad at all and I didn't care. The whole ordeal was really pretty easy and goes to show you that I imagined so much worse in my head then it really was. I was never so happy as to see my mom in the waiting room thought it was a little hard to walk - felt pretty drunk in a funny way. My dad was waiting right outside in the handicap zone and like I said I was never so glad to see my parents!!! We went straight to Denny's to eat as I was starving. So again goes to show....

IT IS WHAT IT IS.....

I am grateful that the procedure went so smoothly and I that doctor thanked me for doing my prep properly.
I am grateful to have my parents still both with me and picking me up and taking me to eat.
I am grateful that they found nothing wrong with my colon and everything looked normal.
I am grateful I have the day off at work.
AND I am grateful to have my blog to write in to release my some of my apprehensions and tension.

I'm even sharing my most private photographs they gave me to take home.

If it is recommend to any of you that you should have a colonoscopy, do it with out hesitation. It really was no where near as bad as I had worked it up in my mind. Leave your dignity at the door and go do it!!!

Saved By A Shark

Can a Shark save your life?

Well I started the New Year out right by falling down the stairs. Actually not down ALL the stairs but just missed that last one and fell into our new Shark Steamer. We got it for Christmas and it was still sitting there in the entrance way and broke my fall. I could have hit my head on the point of that table that BTW doesn't move very easily. My boyfriend, taking a nap on the couch there in front room, didn't even hear me crash and knock things over.

IT IS WHAT IT IS

I'm greatful I didn't seriously hurt myself or break and bones.
I'm greatful I have a boyfriend
And I am extremly greatful for having a nice house to be able to use our new Shark in.

Hope everyone has a vey prosperous New Year