Ikea, Marches & Surgery.

Hello all. It's blog time again! Let's start with last Tuesday, otherwise known as "My Ikea Adventure".

The day started out well enough. Dad's back surgery has been rescheduled for the following Tuesday. I had finished re-doing the big room and had moved everything in. Mom and I decided to make an Ikea run for some bookcases. I needed three, but there was no way we were going to fit them all into Mom's car. As it was, Mom didn't think we'd get two in there. Once we found our way there on Delaware Ave, we made our way to the second floor and found the bookcases I wanted just as we walked in. They were nice, tall, deep shelved and not too wide. Good stuff. Then we spent a half hour trying to find the other end of the floor to get the ones I wanted. Finally after much going round and round (which was starting to throw my head off), we made our way to the collection area. I had decided to get black since my options were limited (the card only had black, white and a blonde wood). As we found our cubbyhole, the black was out of stock. Argh! As we stood staring at the empty space, my Mom happened to look to the side and found the exact same model in a dark wood that almost exactly matches my furniture. Yipee! I would have picked this out right off, but the color wasn't on the card. So we grabbed a box and made our way to the door. Mom was still yet to be convinced that two boxes would fit, so she told me to buy one, then if we had the room I could slip in the exit door and buy another. That's what we wound up doing. After a nice lunch, we hit Delaware Ave. again, only this time quite literally. We made our way around a curve and hit a set of trolley tracks that led right into a pot hole. The effect went something like this, "bang BANG, pssssss, flop, flop, flop, tilt, flop, flop, are we making that noise, flop, flop, tilt, FUCK!" We pulled over across from the AMC Theater and stared at each other for a minute. Mom asked if I knew how to change a tire, I said yeah, then we realized that the spare, jack and wrench were underneath 170lbs. of bookcases. We popped the trunk and then a car pulled up and offered help. His name was Eli, a college kid. Very sweet. We pulled everything out and he grabbed the spare, which was flat. I jumped in his car (my Mom later told me she wrote down his license plate number incase I didn't come back) and off we went a half block away to the gas station. When we got back, Mom told us that three more people stopped to see if she needed help. And they say Philly people are mean. After about a half hour of fighting, Eli got the hub cap off. Then a cab driver pulled up with a better jack and offered to help. Then they realized that they couldn't get two of the nuts off. They waved the white flag and pointed us to Pep Boys. (Mom slipped Eli a twenty before he left; the cabbie drove away before we could even say thanks.) After a two hour wait, we were re-tired and back on the road. I got home just in time to pull the cases upstairs and go to CCD. So much drama for a couple of bookcases.

Onto Monday, the March For Life in Washington. Dree had decided to join me on the trek as she had never been before. We made a Wawa run for breakfast and a bagged lunch and headed for St. Anselm's. Dree then shared the present Erin got her from Italy, a 12 month calendar of priests and seminarians. We have decided the old adage needs to be revised: All the good ones are either married, gay or seminarians. It's not fair. And the cover man looked exactly like Ricky Martin. Could you imagine going to confession with him? "Bless me Father Ricky Martin, for I have sinned. I have lived La Vida Loca, I have shaken by bon bon and drank from the cup of life… ole, ole, ole." (This was added to all day.) We got on the bus and made ourselves comfy and I introduced Dree to Father David, who later came to be known as Father Loves & Fishes. There was more food than there needed to be. Everytime he opened an overhead compartment, more food just appeared. We then stopped at Our Lady of Calvary and picked up more people and Father Quan. For being such a somber occasion, we laughed like nuts. Between Father Ricky Martin, the stand-up comedy of Father's Quan and Loves & Fishes, Dree's creation of a cold feet song (please see my comments page for the lyrics), random Musical cues (Hey look, there's people from Iowa. "You've got to give Iowa a try!") and running into TON of good looking priests and seminarians (and one that looked exactly like Rowan Atkinson- Father Mr. Bean), we made our way along the march to Union Station. We had our Wawa lunch and then headed off to the bus. The stand-up picked up where it left off and we stopped for a rest in Delaware where we talked to Karen (Hi. We're in Delaware.) We had to get Cinnabon's, they were calling to us. (Bless me father, for I have Cinnabon-d.) And then we were home. A somber cause, but a good time.

And finally, an update on Dad. He went in for his back surgery yesterday morning around six. It took about two hours, which is what they estimated. The doctor found exactly what he expected to and everything went well. We saw him around four, looking sleepy, drugged and in a bit of pain. He's staying overnight and will be home later on today. He'll be out of work for a month, but he doesn't need to have any stitches removed. They're all internal. All he has on the outside is one big bandage covering some butterfly's which can be removed on Sunday. He has to get up and walk around every half hour, but he'll be much better off.

I've babbled long enough. Till later!

Updates & Labyrinthitis.

Hey there gang. Long silence = big blog.

Christmas has come and gone (finally). Fun was had at the Annual Christmas Party, many odd pictures taken, many dirty text messages sent. Ah, good times. It was then decided to have a Girls Night Out (the following night) at a dive bar that wasn't actually too much of a dive, more a hole in the wall. We were joined by Joe (and another of his glorious hats) later in the evening after much persuasion. Mary Kate and Inara took turns dancing dirty with Kim in order to shoo away unwanted men. And the best drink ever invented was discovered: The Chocolate Peppermint Martini. YYUUUMMMM!!!!

Work, work, the Special Christmas Episode of "Doctor Who" (Yikes. What were you thinking, Russell?), work, and some more work, then it was New Years Eve and my dumb ass thought it would be good to do something fun for the guys here and have a Dance. Needless to say, not good. After all was said and done, I was so exhausted and aggravated that I seriously considered not going out at all and just crawling into bed. Then I got an image of Dree beating me up for not coming, so I jumped in the shower and off I went. Drinks were had, pictures taken, drunks tripped over, people made fun of and then the ball dropped. Hurrah! After that, I slipped into a hazy, half asleep cloud till MK said, "I'm leaving. Want a ride?" Bless you, sweet lady. Yes I do.
I awoke the next day to find rain and no Mummers Parade (sorry Jimmy!), and to find out that Nat and Jay had gotten the duplex (Yeah! Congrats!)… and they were moving Saturday (Whoa. So soon?). Work, work, the season finale of Torchwood (Jack & Jack & Ianto. Thank you BBC!), work and some more work, then it was moving day. I had to work a half day for Art Classes and then I went home to help the kids move… only to find that they were already there and unpacking. Dad's back was bothering him a lot, so I helped him to put away Christmas Tree Ornaments (the very definition of tedious) and then headed over to the duplex. It's a cute little place. I got there just in time to leave. Nat, Jay, Mom and her friends had it 90% done and it was getting to the point where everyone was in the way. So off we went.

The next day I spent cleaning Nat's old room (which was also my old room) and cleaning & re-polishing the old furniture so it can be used in the baby's room at our house for when we baby-sit. I figured out a new décor for the room and where I can move everything to and went shopping. Some spackling, edging and such, then I was ready to re-do. Then on Tuesday, while I was having lunch at my desk, the room tipped left. Then an hour or so later, it did it again. After the third time, I made some arrangements and went home. It happened again the next morning so I called my doctor… only to find out that they're closed on Wednesday's. I stayed home from work and made an appointment for Thursday. Dad spent the day getting all of his tests and results done for his back surgery (which will be on the 23rd). I got a bit of painting done (careful not to move my head too much) and made dinner for the folks. I was off the next day and went to the doctor where I was told I have Labyrinthitis, which is just a fancy way of saying my inner ear near my equilibrium center is inflamed which is throwing off my balance. I called Karen to tell her about it and to discuss Sarah Jane's new show and she made fun of me for getting illnesses no one else gets (Grrrrr). It's nothing big, just annoying. It comes on for no reason and lasts a week to ten days and they gave me a prescription for Anti-Vert (which is a vertigo medication) to take as needed. I went back to work on Friday which was interesting since I was still a bit dizzy and had lots to catch up on. I missed the Blarney (sorry gang!) due to a misunderstanding between me and my body. I said "short nap". It disagreed. All in all, it's been an interesting few weeks. Coming up in the future: an end to dizziness, more work, a new bedroom, book club meeting, (hopefully) another Girls Night, and other fun times. Yipee!