Alaska

We made our reservations for our trip to visit my brother!

We are staying here:

http://www.atasteofalaska.com/log-house/

Which has great reviews on Trip Advisor.

I can't wait!

To Hell You Say!

If you look at the news it looks like the fricken' world has gone CRAZY.


Japan is suffering a horrible double tragedy - the Tsunami and Reactor failures.


The Middle East is...well...the Middle East.


And Obama is...well Obama.  Which is not a good thing.


I had a bit of a problem with the fact that he went to South America


http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/23/2129527/analysis-obama-earns-high-marks.html


Yes, I know it was most probably needed - but really with the crisis in Japan and the unrest in the Middle East he had to take what looked like a spring break trip with his kids to South America?!


And as for his "conciliatory tone" what the hell do we have to be conciliatory for?

Being successful?

Not having civil unrest?

Capitalism?

I really hate that we have a president who apologizes for who and what we are.

All I have to say is get over it, and is it November 2012 yet?

Elizabeth Taylor

She passed away today and I don't know why, but I was shocked.

I guess since she was larger than life I didn't expect it to happen anytime soon.

I was reading her obituary and it had a lot of really nice things to say about her.

Especailly regarding all she did for AIDS research.

She will be missed.

Dream a Little Dream...

I had a very freaky dream last night.

My husband and I were driving in a car / van (it switched between the two during the dream).

He was driving.

And we were going down a mountain, I think we were in Switzerland. Or Alaska. It felt like both.

What can I say, it was a dream...

Anyway, we're driving down and in my dream my husband didn't know how to drive in snow and ice, so he was going too fast.

And I told him to pump the breaks to slow down.

He did but it was too late. We were going too fast and we missed the switchback and went flying off the mountain.

Guess what - there wasn't even any snow or ice on the ground, but we slipped on the ice.

Go figure.

So we're flying through the air, I'm about to have a heart attack, and he does something mid-air.

I'm not sure what but it allowed us to land at the very bottom of the mountain without even getting hurt.

But the car/van was totaled.

And we needed to call some lady to come get us.

Then I woke up.

I was so glad that was a dream!

I'm not sure why I had it, maybe because he was playing video games before bed and I was watching?

A Gracie Jane Update

This is little miss Gracie Jane:

At seven months old.  Yes I said it. SEVEN months old.

Let's revisit the past shall we, the recent past.

Here's Gracie at nine weeks.  Look how little she is!  It doesn't seem possible that she grew so much in such a short amount of time.

This is only a five month span of time.  It's amazing.

I Love America...but....

have to say that I am glad I did live overseas if for no other reason than this one...

Work. Life. Balance.

Before living in London there is no way I would have considered it normal or desirable to take six or more weeks off a year.

Now...

Now it is MANDATORY!

Of course I could only negotiate four weeks from work...but I'll stretch that out. I mean really?! I can't imagine only having two weeks off a year.

And guess where we are going the end of April....FRANCE!

Yes I know the frogs are shits.

But the country is beautiful.

And we have been to Italy many times.

Anyway we're going back to Italy next year. Fun, Fun, Fun!

So I'm looking at our schedule and deciding what to do.

We want to go to Paris, then to the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Toulouse (because my husband HAS to see the boeing plant), Avignon, Ax-en-Provence, Marseilles, Cannes, Nice, then Monaco.

We have 11 days.

So I believe that we may have to cut some of this out. Because I am not super traveller.

I do want to spend two nights in Paris because we are meeting friends.

Two nights in the Loire Valley because I love Chateau and I found this place: http://www.chateauchallain.com/luxurious-suites/empress-suite

I either want to stay in the Empress Suite or the Tower because I LOVE canopy beds.

I would stay in the Royal suite but in the photo the canopy doesn't have a top.

And any room under which I have to call for price...please you might as well say YOU cannot afford this...

After the Loire Valley I figure one day in Bordeaux, because usually those world heritage sites are pretty nice but easy to get through.

Then on to Toulouse - I don't think there is much there but the Boeing plant so we won't even spend the night.

After Toulouse Avignon and Ax-en-Provence. I've looked at Ax and know there is a ton to see, but Avignon - not really sure so that may fall off the list.

Of course Marseilles, Cannes, Nice, and Monaco I cannot miss.

But they are all within an hour or so of each other (meaning from Marseilles to Monaco is about an hour) so I just need to pick a base and stay for a few days.

Then Sunday back to Paris, and home. According to Google maps all of that will take only 24hrs driving time....who knew France was so small!

Did you know it's only 166,757,337 Acres?

Did you know that Texas is 172,044,800 Acres?

And the UK (which is Briton, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) is 59,698,189.11.

Texas is bigger than France, and the UK.

Can I hear a whoop, whoop! AMERICA!

I can't wait for our holiday!

It'll be so fun!

And I have a surprise....but I can't share it right now in case it doesn't work out...but I'll give you an hint...

Expansion.

Au Revoir!

Update on the Gel Manicure...

It lasted about 24 hours before it started cracking and chipping off in big chunks.

That's not even as long as the regular manicure lasts on me.

Those last at least 2 days.

Maybe I have mutant finger nails...

Anyway I went back and had them take the rest of the polish off and buff my nails.

Too bad because I do like having color on my nails.

eh whatcha going to do?

No, Crazy Doesn't Live Here Anymore!

Well, I got some results back from the Doctor on Friday.

Guess what?!

I have no vitamin D in my system.

The nurse told me that and I was like - How is THAT possible...

Well apparently you get down to a certain level and they consider it so low that it might as well be none.

And having no vitamin D can cause a myriad of problems.

Heart problems
Diabetes
Muscle fatigue (which is what I was feeling in my arms and legs)
Depression
Anxiety

Basically it covers everything I've been freaking out about.

Who knew that being such a freak about wearing sun block could back fire?!

I mean I just spent three years in the desert, and I have like NO VITAMIN D in my system.  You'd think I'd have at least 50% of what I need.

I guess I'm just too effective with regards to keeping the UV and UVB rays away from me.

Anyway the one thing the Vit D doesn't cover is me having a fit about my husband's medical issues.

But it has impeded my ability to handle it well, you know the extra anxiety basically translates into - OMG don't put that garlic bread in you mouth it's going to kill you!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAD A GRANOLA BAR WITH CHOCOLATE IN IT?!  ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME A WIDOW?!  I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE A WIDOW!  I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO BE A WIDOW!!! WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO IF YOU'RE GONE????  I WON'T BE ABLE TO FUNCTION!  PUT DOWN THE FUCKING GRANOLA BAR!

Hmmm a little overboard do ya think?

Good thing he loves me so much, he looks at me and goes "Really Judith?, A granola bar is going to kill me?  You need to calm down, I'm not going anywhere".

I guess he's right - it's not like the doctor has put him on lock down in the hospital or something. 

So I'm going in tomorrow to get the down low on what to do next for the Vit D - hopefully just pop some pills.  Maybe she'll give me some to bring me down off the ledge...but then I don't think I'd be as fun...and what would my husband do then?  He's been with crazy town for 10 years - I think he likes me as is.

Anyway I like to do things as natural as I can, when I can.  After all I had a stroke 10 years ago and my stroke was attributed to Vioxx per my neurologist.  So to say that I have a bit of an aversion to taking any drugs is an understatement.
 
So I took a break this weekend from my neurotic application of sunscreen and I went outside without slathering copious amounts of sunscreen on my arms.

Yeah, that's right I only skipped my arms.  My face, neck, shoulders, etc... are just too sensitive to risk with the sunlight.

Lord you'd think I was a vampire!  Look out Bella...Edward is mine! 

Of course I wouldn't have a chance; I'm not an underage girl with the shape of a boy.  I don't think I've ever had the shape of a boy...

he he he!

I AM CRAZY TOWN....Shhhhh Don't Tell My Husband

Just in case he hasn't figured it out yet.

I mean we've only been married 8 years, 9 this May, and together 10 years this month.

It's possible he doesn't know yet.

We at least the extent of it.

Anyway - I've gone crazy because the past 7 months have been a roller coaster.

I lost Gabi.

We moved back to the US.

I had surgery.

Started a new job.

Was told that the tests back from surgery had "abnormal pathology".

Had to go to MD Anderson to get it checked out.

Found out everything was O.K.

Then I think life is getting back to normal when about 2 weeks ago....

My husband has a medical scare.

The doctor doesn't seem super concerned, but thinks it's serious, and in the middle of testing to figure out exactly what's going on so they can figure out what to do...

My husband goes out of town on business, with his doctor's permission, but still....

I'm now in freak-out mode.

Since he's been gone I've thought:

I'm having a heart attack...

My legs are going numb...

My arms are numb...alternating sides...

I can't breathe...

I feel sick to my stomach....

And I'm having morbid thoughts like;

What if I die and nobody knows for like, three or more days?! What's going to happen to Gracie and Cranky?!

I mean I'm totally freaking out about the animals being stuck in the house with a dead body and only access to water (the toilets...well at least they wouldn't die of thirst).

How traumatic for them, it was really distressing me.

So I, of course, call my husband - never mind it's like 4am in London.

And I ask him - how long would you wait until you called someone to check on me if you couldn't get ahold of me?

Like a day, two days?

He's like 10am.

I was like oh, O.K.

...So basically you'd only wait 3 hours past the time we usually talk to call someone...that's good.

That makes me feel TONS better.

Then I'm like, OMG!  NO ONE HAS A KEY TO OUR HOUSE!!! HOW ARE THEY GOING TO GET IN TO SAVE ME?!

He's like, yeesss someone does, JR has a key to our house, he lives right down the street he'd be there in like 10 minutes to make sure you're O.K.

And he has medical training - so he can do first aid.

I'm like, oh.  OK.  Good.

Then he's like, what in the hell's got you thinking morbid thoughts like that?

I'm like, I don't know....  But I love and miss you.

So we hang up.

And about 5 minutes later he calls back.

He's like crap you got me thinking morbid thoughts now and I just wanted to tell you I love you and you're going to be fine.

I'm like oh great!  Now I've got you thinking I'm going to die with the animals in the house...

Wonderful.

That was about 3 days ago.

He's not back until Sunday and I'm still freaking out.

So I figured I'd write about it, maybe then I'd stop freaking out so much.

And it helps that Gracie is on my right and Cranky is on my left.

It's kind hard to freak when you're typing and petting your furbabies at the same time.

Thank God for my furbabies.

It's a good thing they don't judge.

Maybe I should have a drink - but that freaks me out too...

Go figure.

I'm going to sleep - now I have heart burn.

I think I've gone straight past Crazy Town and went right into the Looney Bin!