Heart of Dixie

So Sad

I just got email from my friend in South Africa and learned that her pet piggy Lucy has died. Lucy was well known in the Port Elizabeth area as the swimming piggy. There have been many TV documentaries and magazine articles that have featured Lucy. Those that have been to my house might remember seeing the bronze sculpture I have of Lucy.

I can only hope that maybe Piggy Sue was waiting across the Rainbow Bridge and that they are now friends and happily grazing through fruit orchards.

Rest in peace, sweet Lucy

How Ungrateful Can You Get?

Last Friday morning I left the house going to Atlanta. As I was turning out into the road, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a small, blue, rectangular object lying on the ground in front of my mailbox post, almost in the road. As my vehicle went passed the mailbox, my mind registered the image as a cell phone, although that's not what my eyes actually saw. I stopped, backed up, got out of my car, and lo and behold the object was actually a cell phone. It was scratched on the front as though it had hit road and skidded into the grass.

I opened the phone and scrolled through the contacts list, hoping to find one that would get me through to someone who would know the owner of the phone. I did find one entitled "Central Office" and called the number. I explained to the girl who answered the phone the situation. She said the name "Linda Echols" registered on her caller ID. I asked if she knew Linda Echols and she indicated she did and would let her know about the phone. I told the girl where the phone would be and then left.

When I returned Monday night I saw that the phone was missing but no note of thanks or anything. I think I'm going to track down this Linda Echols and call to see if she got the phone. If so, I'm hoping that she'll be embarrassed that she didn't even bother to leave a note of thanks. If she didn't, at least she'll know that I tried.

well, it's official

I'm boring. Yeah, I've known that for quite some time but now it's been certified. Sorry, but I have to leave it at that for the time being.

The sleep thing still isn't good. I think I had posted that I was doing better, but it was all just a dream, and apparently not a good one. I went for three weeks on the Rozerem and basically got two decent nights of sleep, the two I had right before I posted I was doing better. I talked with my doctor on Tuesday and she gave me something else. I took it last night and have no rave reviews this morning. While I did sleep most of the night, I did wake up a couple of times. The main thing is that it took nearly an hour for it to kick in and I woke up not feeling rested and with a huge headache.

She said she won't prescribe Ambien because it's addictive. I can't sleep without taking something, so what the heck do I care of it's addictive.

I need to get busy but don't have the spirit to get moving.

Not only does my head hurt but my heart a little bit too.

Stop and Smell the Trillium

Last week we spent several days in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area and it was lovely! One day we drove through the national park to the Cades Cove area. Being married to a guy who (1) has a minor in Botany (lacked only one course to have a major); (2) helped guide Botany students on wildflower pilgrimages in the area when he was in college; and (3) collected the first open specimen of Trillium Persistens in Tallulah Gorge, said specimen now in the Smithsonian Museum with his name on it, we, of course, had to stop and check out the trillium and other wildflowers that were just beginning to bloom.

Hoppy Easter!

What a nice weekend! SuperBaby and his family came down. Yesterday, while the big guys were out turkey hunting and Mandy was writing a paper for one of her classes, Donica and I took Kiley and Avery to a local YMCA for an Easter Egg Hunt. The kids turned in their found eggs for a large bag of candy and a nice toy. Kiley's toy was a stuffed bear and Avery got a "carrotball" set - a bat in the shape of a carrot and a green ball. On the way home Avery fell asleep in the car, and I rolled down the windows and let him continue to nap after we got back. He sweated a good bit, so when he woke up, we took his clothes off.

By this time, Daddy and Pop had come back in, and Avery wanted to learn how to play "carrotball." At first he was unsure of what to do, but with a little instruction, he figured out on his own how to stand and hold the bat. With all this natural ability, I figure he's a sure-fire major leaguer. I'm thinking though that the diaper will have to go before the Braves will sign him!

This morning Donica, Shawn, and Kiley arrived at 8:30 for a family breakfast--sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits, grits, and made-from-scratch corned beef hash, which was very good, even if I do say so myself. After breakfast, I hid Easter eggs and Kiley and Avery had a grand time hunting them - four different times! They hid them for the daddies to hunt and then hid them for me to hunt. They definitely had a good time --- and so did I!

Frustrating!

Okay, this is gonna' be kinda' cryptic. If you're wondering if it applies to you, let me say that if you've ever posted a comment here using the name by which I know you, it's NOT about you ;-)

So, you asked me to do something. I say fine but that I couldn't do it the day you asked. I explained that I had other things more pressing over the next few weeks but that I would do it. You say fine. During the ensuring three weeks, you ask again and again. Again I tell you that I haven't completed the higher priority items but the request is definitely on my list.

So there comes a time where I do have time to work on the project. I spend two days preparing details to the nth degree. You get them five days before you need to use them "live." When the time comes for your part, you act as though I'm putting you in a bind and you haven't even glanced at what I gave you.

And you wonder why people get frustrated with you and don't want to be friendly with you.

Scary situation, but ...

it could have definitely been worse.

Last week, a long-time friend of John's came down to visit us and to go turkey hunting. They hadn't seen each other in many, many years so they had a great time catching up with each other and spending some time in the woods hunting for the elusive birds. While Joe was here, he told us that he'd been having trouble with either heartburn or acid reflux or something and was taking Pepcid several times a day but the effectiveness had all but dissapted. We, of course, urged him to see a doctor.

After Joe left, John told me about a couple of times when they were hunting that Joe just acted like he wasn't going to be able to take another step, even though the walk had only been a mile at best.

After the morning hunt on Thursday, he left and drove back home to north Alabama.

We got an email from him today saying that the next day (on Friday), he'd had a heart attack. He'd gone to the local county hospital and they had medi-vacced him by helicopter to Chattanooga. He had 90% blockage and they had done surgery to insert a stint.

John immediately called him after we read the email and found out that he was going to be okay, but he couldn't do much of anything for a while. Thank goodness!

What both of us thought was that we were so glad he hadn't had the heart attack on Wednesday and Thursday while they had been out in the woods. The ending might have been far different.

The cure finally kicking in

For the last two nights, I've slept much better with the new meds. Not totally sound all night as I did wake up several times during the night, but at least I'm sleeping more and waking up feeling more rested.

I submitted three photos to the on-line version of the local newspaper and they accepted all three. cool beans. Currently they are the first three shown.

In the miscellaneous junk corner, one of the first things that goes bad during any dieting period and one of the last things to recover is my fingernails. I'm experiencing that now. They are really short..two have already broken to almost nonexistent and I just noticed that another is heading that way.

We're having ostrich for dinner tonight. We bought a small filet when we visited Harry's Farmer Market in Marietta and haven't tried it yet. Tonight we're making ourselves into the guinea pigs. If we don't like it, maybe Dixie will :D

Thatsa' powerful onion!

Several weeks ago I peeled and sliced this onion that had to be one of the strongest I had ever encountered. Beyond the normal tears, the skin on my face looked like it had been set on fire. I used what I needed and heavily wrapped the rest of the onion. It looked like a plastic mummy!!

So last night I got several rings of the onion out and chopped them to mix for some chicken parmesan patties. Since the patties wouldn't fry long enough to soften the onions, I decided to nuke them for just a minute. I put them in a glass bowl, put the bowl into the microwave, laid a piece of wax paper over the bowl, and pressed start. In literally a second there was a POOF! and the wax paper was on fire!!! I EEEEEEEEEKed loudly and stopped the microwave. The hubs came running in to see what was wrong and pulled the flaming paper out of the microwave and into the sink.

We thought it was something with the bowl or the wax paper, but that didn't make any sense since we'd used that bowl a hundred times in the microwave and used wax paper more times that I could ever count. Well, maybe it was that particular brand of wax paper. I chopped some more onion, put in the the same bowl (after it was cleaned) but this time without the wax paper, and popped it back into the microwave. Within a second, POOF! Small flames were rising from the edge of the bowl!

We came to the conclusion that the gas emitting from the onion was so strong that it was igniting in the air!

Since I stopped the microwave immediately and the onions didn't flambe' themselves, I decided I could still use this batch of onions. But this time I poured the onions into a saute' pan and cooked them on the stove!!

the cure worse than what ails you?

I don't sleep well at night unless I've got potent drugs. When this first started several years ago, cutting out caffeine after lunch did the trick. It wasn't long before that wasn't working so I got more strict. I'd progressed to no caffeine after 10:00 am, little or no sugar during the day and especially none at night, and two Tylenol PM. That worked...for a while. Now even at that stage, my sleep is so-so and the only way I got a good night's worth of sound sleep is if I added a diazapam to the two Tylenol PM. Not a healthy evening cocktail.

I talked about it with my doc and she prescribed Rozerem, a sleep aid that doesn't have the addictiveness and withdrawal symptoms of other drugs. There's little risk of abuse or dependence. No next-day after-effects. No rebound insomnia. Wow - sounds good - bring it on.

The problem is that it takes a week or two before it becomes fully effective. So, since last Thursday, I've gotten only a few hours sleep each night. I can either go to bed around 9:30-10:00, sleep for about 90 minutes, wake up, and not go back to sleep until after 3:00 OR just stay up until 1:00 am and then sorta' kinda' sleep until, ummm, around 5:30.

Tomorrow I'm calling to see if I can take the Tylenol PM for a couple nights along with the Rozerem just to sleep for an entire night. I'm really getting tired (no pun intended) of feeling like a zombie and having these unlovely black circles under my eyes.

Channeling Dan

Last night it was Sugarfused Deb. This morning it's Dan, another favorite photoblogger. I suddenly have this strange desire to go rollerblading and give CPR to someone ;-D

Channeling Sugarfused

Sugarfused Deb always posts the most amazing photos. Today the hubs and I went with some friends to Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, Georgia, and I took some great photos....or at least I like 'em :D here are a few:

Speaking of Sugarfused Deb, several of her photos are featured in the newly released April-May issue of All Things Girl.