rehearsal was tonight...

...well, it's actually gonna happen...rehearsal was tonight at 7, followed by a dinner at a big like bowling alley/game room/catering hall/everything! Kevin had made an hour/hour and a half slideshow on the computer of pictures of Tiffany all through her life, and a bunch of her and her fiance, so they had that playing on a big screen at one end of the room the whole time we were doing the buffet thingy, then on the other side of the room they had for us were about 2 or 3 bowling lanes, so, it was a big party! And, yeah, it all went very smoothly...Kev's picking me up to take me to the church Saturday by 12.30, cuz the photographers are going to be there at 1:15 to start the family's pictures...phew...for the love of poodles, it's even bigger than I thought!! And they're going to Aspen for their honeymoon...his mom & dad got them a big suite in a resort there for a week. Again...phew...tomorrow I get to hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters, and that'll be a relaxing time!! So, now I'm taking my mental checkout time...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

i got nothin'...

...here...
Not much goin on, nuthin to write about...

Tuesday Oct 21...

....and the countdown continues to the wedding...

Holy helll! I am so 'stressin' out' over this wedding, I feel like a 'mother-of-the-bridezilla' myself! I guess maybe because I've never even known anyone in "real life" who had a wedding this big!! I think it's just too much...but, I know, it's not my wedding...however, I am paying for half...it's my girl and I want her to have the perfect wedding that she's always wanted...hmmmm...when I married her dad, he proposed on Wed, we bought the rings on Thurs, got married at City Hall Friday!! Simple...straightforward...to the point...no, different circumstances (no, I was NOT pregnant, contrary to popular belief!), but in the end, the result was the same as what she'll get!!...breathe, Libby, breathe...

These are more pictures of Rogues Hollow. The big historical society building is, well, a wealth of antiques on the main floor, like a coal stove for cooking & heat, old pictures on the walls, etc. The coolest thing is that Tom knew the guy that lives there on the 2nd floor, as a caretaker! Because he's the local 'county sheriff', or whatever (retired), and he remembers Tom as having started the whole "Crybaby Bridge" campout that the boy scouts from all over Ohio do every October! I don't remember his name, but he was really nice. I sat there beside the steps, while he smoked and we talked for a long time about the history of the place, and how popular it is, especially in October!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

POLITICAL OPINION ALERT!!!

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All right...I know a lot of my friends here won't agree with me, but I hafta...I can't keep my mouth shut anymore..

Obama & a lot of the other Democrats are starting to scare the shit out of me. First thing is when Obama said "I want to share the wealth". That's all very well & good, but...WHOSE wealth are you proposing we share? Mine? heheheheh...I don't think so! If I fucking worked hard enough to be wealthy, why do I not deserve to keep it? Yeah, there are other people in this country poorer than me...THATS LIFE!!! The first thing you should have been taught as a child should have been LIFE'S NOT FAIR! Or, well, I guess Obama also means "share the poverty"? Because if he raises taxes on some, to 'even things out' per se, that means "take from the rich & give to the poor". Wow...is this the land of opportunity, or what? "Woohoo, I'm free to slack off as much as I want, and someone that's worked their ass off all their life will just pay more in taxes. And that's alright, because all the taxes everybody pays gets scooped together and the government splits it up evenly, so everyone gets the same amount, so it doesn't really matter if I do my part...someone else picks up the slack." Thus...the reason socialism has failed miserably in every society it's ever been tried in...

And they talk about making college more affordable...WTF???? Why the hell would anybody want to go to college if they're only going to make the same amount of money as someone that didn't, and just lived the life everybody wished they had after high school..you know, sit around getting high, sleeping all day...who the hell would be stupid enough to WANT to work?? Even if you did, do you really think the good virtuous feeling you get from hard work is enough to keep you at it year after year??

Some high-level Democrats have done more for Senator McCain's cause than ANY advertisements could do...There's, ummmm, VP candidate Joe Biden, who announced to the world that we can expect a terrorist crisis (yes, he said "crisis"!) within 6 months of electing Barack president, because the world will be looking to "test" Obama! Hmmmm...all that does is make me want a president that knows what they're doing, not a person in training.

And there's brilliant John Murtha from Pennsylvania, who yesterday said the citizens in his state are racists. When pushed to correct that statement today, he said that it goes back to the people in the western parts of PA just have some redneck in them. Holy shit! Does ANYONE even think that Republicans would still be allowed to hold public office if they even THOUGHT that??

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POLITICAL RANT OVER!!!!

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Okay..I'm done...I feel better...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Crybaby Bridge...

Yes, it really does exist!
This is Halloween on a farm...
This is Rogues Hollow...very cool!

Me, on Crybaby Bridge....

Me, getting ready to go across the bridge after dark...

Great weekend...gorgeous warm weather all day, but I was damn glad I had my jacket with me!
Ended up, I wasn't on the antibiotics long enough, and ended up calling & begging for more Wednesday, so now I have 10 days of them! Extra-strong! Phew...
Okay, I have to see my new neurologist Monday. That'll be good, cuz I had an mri a couple weeks ago, and an eeg this week...and she'll have all the results when I see her. Plus, I've been doing the Rebif shots 3X a week for a month now, & they seem to be better for me than Avonex...so much better that I actually ordered 3 more months worth of them yesterday. I dunno...I guess no matter which way you go in life, somebody's telling you to make a commitment!!! Holy Mother of God!! Yes, I guess I AM commit-phobic. It's been a lifetime in getting here...So back off & let me enjoy it!! I've worked hard to get here!

I got my invitation to the wedding today...and, yes, even though Tif knows I'll be there, yes, I'll send back the rsvp, for heaven's sake! She's got 200 people invited to this...I dunno...I still have to get a dress...I WILL!! Don't hurry me!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...Rogues Hollow revisited...

What an awesome weekend it was! If I would've ordered the weather, it couldn't have been any better!! These are pictures I took on the way up there...we took his son and a friend just cuz he's starting them off right, ya know? But we had it planned the right way, to get over there in the daytime, and mess around in the hollow all day, then go get dinner, then go back after it got dark!


Can anyone really believe how blue the sky is? I got tons of cool pictures all day, of the clouds, and everything. Because, of course, it was more of the two 'grownups' *said with a giggle*, deciding, "Hey, that looks neat! Let's stop here and poke around!" These few pictures were taken in, I think, Smithville, Ohio? That makes sense, anyway, since this whole thing is a big display of life around a village blacksmith..there's an outhouse with 2 seats side-by-side in it! WTF?? Don't know about you, but, personally, I wouldn't think that would be a big hot date place...


Actually, we got gas in Smithville on the way home after our 23rd anniversary visit to Crybaby Bridge in Rogues Hollow. And we paid $2.59 a gallon!! This year!! But when we got back here, an hour & a half southwest, the prices here were like 2.89 a gallon!! Wow, guess who said, "Nahh, you don't hafta stop here, just get it when we get back to town." Yup...me...I was wrong...just don't tell anyone, okay?



Yeah, we had a really good time this weekend...Unfortunately, I'm not going into the whole thing of crybaby bridge now...I'll get there, but I'm thinking about other stuff today. I got up around 8:30 today, and was watching the M & J show on ABC, and they had lots of women on there that were overweight. They also had doctors & a psychiatrist/psychologist on, and they were talking about how overeating is an addiction, and to beat one addiction, you need to replace it with another. Hmmmm...What before overeating was the biggest 'social gaffe' in public? All together everyone...SMOKING! So the general population turned away from cigarettes to food? Well, look around. That's kinda what it looks like. I know there are truly people who can't physically lose weight for one reason or another, no matter how little they eat. That's NOT who I'm talking about here! I'm talking about the people who just eat as a habit...or addiction. Nope, don't take up smoking to lose weight! Just take up the good habit of exercising to replace the bad one of overeating or smoking. Sure, it's hard. But it's really worth it. Anything worth doing is hard, LIFE is hard! Deal with it!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...or, to quote Kid Rock..."Life's a bitch, but I deal with it!"

Thursday night..

...okay, I went out this morning and went with Tom to one of his friend's houses while they were having a guy with a backhoe (not a front-ho, mind you...lol) get rid of the rest of a huge tree stump.
Then we went inside and looked at his workshop, where he fixes old clocks...and, wow, I can't even begin to imagine where those clocks have been, some of them are from the early nineteen-hundreds! And then they started discussing things about each one, and I was like, "Huh??" In their world there is no such thing as a battery-powered or electric clock....which really is awfully neat to me...only cuz I don't have to depend on an alarm clock to get me up for work! However, it makes you think about how things used to be, all the clocks needed to be wound, and most had keys, which if you lost them, where would ya be?? Luckily, this guy had hundreds of 'spare' keys..
Then we went to the antique store, and spent til 1 pm looking at stuff, well, I was just looking, they were doing the ebay stuff! I could browse around in there for days!
So, that was kinda my weekend preview...we're talking about maybe doing the Rogues Hollow thing Saturday, the weather is gonna be awesome for it!
When I got back here, I sat around reading the book I borrowed from the antique store, Heidi. That was one of the first 'big person' books I ever read! And I have/had the same exact book at Mom & Dad's house! You know what? I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but when I started looking through that, it was like hugging an old friend I hadn't seen in years, and looking them over to make sure the years hadn't hurt them...God, did that sound as sappy to you as it FELT to me??
All right, that's it! Here's what I was watching/drooling over after that! Mmmmm...Bret Michaels...how could I have ever forgotten him? Oh, and then there's this...of course, I know it's Warrant, I just never cared enough about them to find out their names...geez...kinda makes me sound just like a guy, doesn't it? Hmmm...turnabout is fair play...but I think I'm a year or 20 late...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

weird..it's Tuesday...yet here I am writing...

I've just been listening to music again...

~Marcy Playground
~Aldo Nova (betcha don't remember them, do ya?)
~.38 Special

...and the best video I've seen in forever, Metallica, 'Nothing Else Matters' with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra! 'Enter Sandman' is there too, I just haven't gotten to it yet...
Well, I had to cancel my appointment for tomorrow for my hair, cuz it's supposed to rain all day, but I hafta get there soon!
'House' is on now...I figured that I didn't have any tv that I wanted to watch til 9, when the debate is on, but House is a bonus...(yeah, I got a crush on him too...but in his case, it truly IS for his mind..unlike James Hetfield, or Joe Elliot, or Scott Stapp!...them, it's purely heat!!).
God! That was horrible!! Excuse me!
Got another shot tonight. It's amazing how I can get the shot, and it doesn't hurt, and I have no side effects! It's also amazing how much difference there is between an intramuscular shot and one that only goes under the skin, as far as pain goes! I always figured that a needle going into your skin is gonna hurt, and it doesn't matter how deep it goes. But it really does matter...not to mention that this needle is SO MUCH SMALLER!!
I called Tif today to find out if she wanted to go with me to get me a dress or something for her wedding, and she's really not gonna have time, with all the last minute things for her to do, and her new job, where she works 10 hours a day...so I guess I'm on my own!...huh...time to get moving, I guess...

Since I won't be around doing much shopping for Christmas, I have some catalogues here...I get at least 2 or 3 a week in the mail...

Collections, etc

What On Earth

Betty's Attic

The Lighter Side

These catalogues have some of the best stuff I ever saw!! And the best part is that they're really cheap! That actually says a lot to me and lots of other people this year!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Monday night...

...this is about the saddest thing I ever saw...

...luckily, this farm is right down the road...

It was one more great weekend...and...I'm now at 94 lbs...yippee~!

However, last night before I fell asleep, I realized I had a kidney infection....I was wondering why my back hurt yesterday, now I know...and, yes, I know what it is, ms patients get them quite regularly! Luckily, my family dr is really great, and I called his office at 9:01 this morning, and described my symptoms, and asked if he'd call in an rx for me...he did and I got started on it by 11 am! Cool! A lot of dr's would make you come in & pee in a cup, but, thank goodness, he's been my dr since way before I had ms. He's just cool like that! Actually, Tom stopped at the pharmacy to get it for me...it only cost 59 cents! 'Course, there are only 6 pills, but still!! It's Septra DS (double-strength), and I know after I've taken the first 3, I'll feel back to normal (yeah, me).

When he brought them in, I said thanks (of course), then told him I was all worried all weekend that he was only with me cuz he felt sorry for me. ..he just looked at me and laughed, and said "ME feel sorry for YOU? Don't worry, sweetheart...I don't feel sorry for you AT ALL!" heheheh...I think that may mean he feels sorry for himself? Seriously, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in the last couple years...hmmm...does that mean I'm easy to please? Or just easy? never mind...that was just a rhetorical question, anyway.

I got a quart of honey from one of the farmers out that way, that also keeps bees...amazing that I could love something that's made by my personal enemy (bees!). I shelled corn yesterday off the cob for the corn burner this winter...and every cob I got done with, Luke, the amazing wonder mutt was there to run and fetch it when I'd throw it! It was field corn, as opposed to popcorn or sweet corn...(?) fine farmer I'd make, huh? Seriously, does anyone else know the difference between hay & straw?? Because, no matter how much it's explained to me, I'll NEVER understand! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!

I'm gonna get my hair cut again Wednesday...by my best friend from third grade!! She even went to Florida with Mom & Dad & me when we went on vacation to Marco Island. I had her cut my hair a couple weeks ago, but, it's already bushy again!! She remembers how much I liked Barry Manilow when I was a kid, and wasn't surprised that I went to see his concert in '94! Hell, even I was surprised!!

Okay...gotta go...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Friday afternoon...

...don't feel like putting pictures up today...dunno...just don't feel like much...just ready for the 'weekend in the country'...we decided today that this kinda sounds like a weekend in a sanitarium. (lol...not too far off!).
There's just been too much stuff going on in my life right now, and, yeah, I wanna get away from most of it...
......too much to think about right now......

I found the very best radio station to listen to on here awhile ago, KHPT-FM, out of Houston, the best of the 80's & more...kinda fits my mood today...thinkin' what I maybe did right & wrong...doesn't really matter, what's done is done & can't be undone...and most people I care about are still alive...God, how morbid do I sound?? I think it's the song "Bringin On The Heartache" by Def Leppard, that song always does this shit to me! I was probably one of the only people in the audience crying in 1988 when they were playing it!...at least I wasn't drunk & passed out, which many other people were...what a waste of money THAT was, huh?
The only bad thing about listening to this station online is the buffering...it's cut out now, in the middle of 'I Wear My Sunglasses At Night"...oh, oh, oh! I remember! That's Corey Hart!!
I know there are other ways to listen to these songs, but I just like this radio station...makes me think of Houston/Galveston...a fun 2-week vacation there when I was 14, and I stayed with my friends whose dad just got transferred there from here...before they left that year, we were all singing the Pointer Sisters "We Are Family"...
Okay...I give up on radio for now...I'll listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall"! ...hmmm....same time frame...Houston's the first place I ever saw MTV, too! ..."We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control..." Now THIS is a freakin' attitude song! In 9th grade, we, errrr, somebody wrote that on the blackboard of my favorite teacher's room!
I gotta go get some clothes packed...see ya Monday!

Rabbit, rabbit!!

Rabbit, rabbit!!! ...and rabbit, and rabbit, and rabbit...

Who besides me is all pukey sick of hearing about the mess BOTH MAJOR PARTIES have caused and expect us to be good 'sheeple', and let them take billions of our tax dollars and "fix" it (AS IF!). Quit the fucking finger-pointing, and get busy fixing it! That is why we elect people to be congressmen & senators...and if you can't do the job, get outta the way, so we can elect other people to do it!! Okay, okay, George W is at the wheel now...but, everybody who says he's a ***&*&****, well, if he's that fucking stupid, are you saying that he was brilliant enough to get these bowling pins in the air and juggle them all by himself for a few years?? Or did other people, Republicans and Democrats help out just a little too? Be a little bit honest here, and admit it...nobody wants to be included in the broad brush-stroke of "oh, those Republicans" or "oh, those Democrats", when one or the other parties does something really damn stupid...which happens about every 37 seconds, is my closest estimate...

All righty then...that's my rant (so far...I'm sure I won't be able to stay shut up about it for long...).

I don't know who this guy is. But it kind of makes you think......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Birk Economic Recovery Plan Hi Pals, I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a 'We Deserve It Dividend'. To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bon-a-fide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a 'We Deserve It Dividend'. Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family? Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved. Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads Put away money for college - it'll be there Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs. Buy a new car - create jobs Invest in the market - capital drives growth Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+! As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't. Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion 'We Deserve It Dividend' more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC. And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam. Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest. Kindest personal regards, Birk T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

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Well, I did change neurologists last month, to the new one here in town that is more into ms and other movement disorders...she is really good! She's more proactive with this crap than my other local neuro was, which is okay, there's lots of stuff included in the title "neurologist" than just ms studies! The other one was more into sleep disorders, etc. Along with a new neuro, I got another mri done last week, some physical therapy, when they get it scheduled, an eeg, and...I finally have hopeful optimism that I'll be done with the once a week avonex, which is an intramuscular shot (you know...deep, with a BIG (well, maybe not that big) needle). She got me switched over to Rebif, which, yeah, it's 3 shots a week, but they really don't hurt that bad, they're just subcutaneous, like diabetics always have to do...my question is...why the hell don't the researchers find a frigging way for the beta-seron to get to us instead of by a needle?? So far, it's all had to be by injection, because stomach acid would eat it...kinda scary to think that you're walking around with this bag full of something that strong inside of you!! Like a lethal weapon. Question..if you stabbed someone in the stomach, and the stomach acid splashed all over you, would it burn? Must look into that...Anyway, I got my first Rebif shot yesterday, and had no side effects at all that I noticed! With this stuff, the amount is started at a low dose for the first month, gradually increasing it. And it's neat, the company called me the day after I was at the dr's, went over everything with me, and set me up with my first shipment of it, along with an auto-injector! That's good, since my hands are so shaky, I wouldn't WANT to do it without that!

I didn't do it yesterday, Tom did, but we went over the whole auto-inject thingy, so I'm pretty much up on it......do what ya gotta do...AGAIN!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!