Sunday night of an eventful weekend...

Tif and Mr Tif took me over to Mom & Dad's house this afternoon, basically so I could take a last look and make sure that I got everything I was supposed to, since the house is just getting ready to go on the market (& I think Bro wanted to make sure I got all my stuff before G ended up with it. This picture is the dining room, and the middle is the fireplace in the family room, and the top one is the other side of the family room, looking out on the backyard and their screened-in porch that Tif & Mom used to sleep in when it was warm in the summer. I'm sure I'll have more pictures up in the future, I took 30 today!

I was just watching the TLC show about tall people...one said he was sick of everyone asking "How's the weather up there?" Well, tell ya what. Good thing I'm not tall, cuz the first thing I'd do is spit on them, and say "It's raining." I know, I know, I'm just sick & wrong...

Kim called last night, that's just different! She didn't know Kev moved out 2 years ago, and moved in with his girlfriend & her 3 kids. She could hardly believe I still had that scrapbook from French class! Today I also found the report card from 8th grade that I got my first C on! I also found a box of old glasses from McDonald's...each one has a McDonald's character on it...Grimace, Ronald, The Hamburglar...lol!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Friday night after my first physical therapy...

This is a picture of me, Kim, & my oldest niece(Bro's first), in about 1979-80! (yes, it was from Olan Mills!)...And keep in mind, I didn't have my nose job until 1985, so, no smart-ass comments, thankyouverymuch!! We were in the ninth grade here, and she and her family had just moved out in the county, so she went to a different school...and that's leading up to the whole reason for this post and the pictures...

All the pictures in here are of my (well,our!)French scrapbook. We both took
French in ninth grade, and both our teachers assigned for us to do a notebook on anything French we could find. So, me being me, you know, all studious and everything, I got right to work on it *giggle* , I even have a couple of envelopes from my pen pal in France! HowEVer...if you look at the last picture, you'll notice the name on this scrapbook...and it's not mine!! *deep dark confession here*

My French classes' scrapbooks were due about 2 weeks before Kim's, so we figured she had helped put this together, well, you know...the true meaning of 'duplicity', if you will. Big difference...you see she only got an A-, & I got an A+...but you can't see my name & grade, that article on the right page is glued over it!! I was a horrible child...but I had more fun than most! I'm sitting here laughing my ass off right now!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

hmmmph...50's again...it's JUNE??

Well, I'm glad I closed the window last night! It was 52 when I got up today! It's June, for heaven's sake!!

Anyway...I have been SO friggin' busy for the last 2 days, I can't believe it!Yesterday I took the bus out to the clinic for a dr appt. While I was there, I went down and met the girl that's going to be in charge of my infusion, and we set up a date & time for me to get it. Since we had to pick a time that she, the biogen rep (who's coming from another state), and I can all be there for my first one...(wow...I never imagined having an audience for 'my first time'...I should charge !)!...and I had to make sure I could reserve the bus to pick me up at home and take me out there and take me home 3 hours later...but now I have a certain date, anyway!! June 24!! Woohoo! So I was there for about 2 hours yesterday, appt with one dr, then went to the infusion room for all that stuff, then back to the other building to see my ms dr's assistant & find out about physical therapy I'll be getting, ran into the dr in the hallway & we talked for a minute...then over to the other side of the clinic where the bus would pick me up...ran into a nurse that used to do my avonex shots years ago (no, I never ever 'self-injected'! if I was the type of person who could inject myself, I'dve probably o.d.'d years ago! I am FAR too much of a pussy to inject myself with anything, good for me or not! lol! I caught up on all the gossip at the nurses station...etc......then I got home around 4! Just in time to take a nap for a while, then wake up & do some Glenn Beck worship! HA! Then today at around 2, the head of home health at the hospital showed up with all the papers to go over for the physical therapy. He's nice, we sat here and talked for a while, he had to admire Truman...right after he left, the phone rang, and it was the guy who was gonna do my pt! I was surprised, said I wasn't supposed to start til tomorrow, but all he needed to do was evaluate what I can & can't do...so I said, yeah, come on over, we can get that done now. He did, and that took about an hour, and Bro showed up right then and brought some things over from Mom & Dad's house...like my safety patrol badge up at the top, from 4th & 5th grade!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Rabbit, rabbit!!

Happy June!! It rained last night, and now it's kinda like the world is clean...smells like it anyway!
I'm still waiting for the tysabri! Now it's starting to be a little ridiculous, you know? When I was at the dr's last week, I went down to the lab to get (a lot) of blood taken to check everything, liver function and all, and my Biogen rep called me Friday

afternoon and said that they had been in town training the iv nurses Wednesday, only they had all decided with my dr to train the nurses at the clinic where my dr is, not over at the hospital...which is fine, the hospital is only like 4 blocks from the clinic, which is where most drs offices are, and there's an outpatient hospital there too...confusing, I know, but

honestly, I don't give a shit where I get this iv, for heaven's sake! For all I care, I could just go over to the other side of town, and find a friendly neighborhood junkie to do this!! This drug better be worth it! Sheesh!

I must have heard something on tv about modeling while I was asleep, cuz I woke up thinking about when Tif was asked by Barbizon to go there when she was in beauty school doing hair. She'd gotten an 'invitation' to go to a modeling interview there one Sunday. It was exciting that she'd gotten asked to go by a 'scout' who saw her doing hair, so we went down to Cincinnati that day. There were about 300 people there, trying to get in this school, so, hell yes, it was exciting! It was an all day thing, with a bunch of Barbizon people doing interviews with each person, and they had a 'catwalk' for each person to walk down before their interview, so they could be 'evaluated'. Shit, I was excited, and it wasn't even me! I couldn't even imagine how exciting it would be to be 20 years old, and asked to be there by them! When it was her turn, before she got up to walk, I made sure to give her big big ol' hug and I love you, and I reminded her to not be nervous (which, I don't really think she was anyway), and "Remember...act like Paris Hilton...". So that went really well, then we had an interview with 2 people, and that lasted for probably 2 hours! And they called her the next day, and said that she had passed, and they wanted her to go there! HowEVer...it was expensive...it's a college, and there is tuition and all...suffice it to say, we couldn't even think about sending her there, and, after she thought about it, and after all the disappointment and stuff, she understood that we just didn't have that kind of money, and she said anyway, she'd really rather stay in the State Beauty Academy, and finish her hair license, she didn't want to leave town (yay! but I wouldn't have stopped her). And, looking back, now, this is the right thing for her...see, she met her husband when she was at a salon doing hair (Fantastic Sam's)...and he happened to come in there and she cut his hair! She thought he was all cute and all, then the next day, his friend who had been with him when she did his hair came in, and he said that his friend had a big crush on her, would she give him her phone number so he could give it to his friend? So...that's just neat, how I can look back at something we had wanted really bad briefly, and see how it went just perfect the way it turned out!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

my kind of "brainless" tv!

I got my ms bear today that I ordered Tuesday from http://www.themsshoppe.com/ , it is SO soft & cuddly, I'm keeping it away from Truman, or I'll never see it again! Oh, wait...he has no thumbs...and the bear is exactly the color of my print today!
I'm watching a show that I totally love, the spelling championship! Yeah, I know, I'm secretly a geek, okay? But don't tell anyone. Let's just keep it to ourselves...
I have so much shit going on in my life right now that I just want to crawl in a hole and bury myself...but I'll get back to normal soon...lots of appointments...lots of figuring out where and how I want my life to go...nothing that much different than everybody else has, I just have to do it without driving or walking, but my head works...if I can focus. And I just found out yesterday that I'm back down to 88 lbs, and I'm totally pissed off at that! My ms dr seems to think I'm not eating, and I'm doing not much else! And I'm making sure to go to the JerZee and get a big chocolate milkshake and a few chicken sandwiches every few days, + I still get Mobile Meals!...pheeww......the ms dr said maybe I shouldn't take ritalin now, cuz that might be a reason I'm not gaining...well, okay...that will just make it harder to 'focus' too!! Shit!!
Oh, a girl from Kansas just won the spelling bee!! She did great!!
All right, I'm outta here...not much else to say...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Memorial Day...

I am totally in love with this house at the top, as far as a one-story house, it's neat! I love houses of stone like that. And the next picture down is just 'cozy-looking house. It looks even cozier in the winter...but I don't even want to think about cold weather now! Forget I said anything!

And this is the most amazing rhododendron I think I've ever seen, and it's next door!

I don't usually talk about religion on here, that's pretty much a separate part of me...separate, but strong...I have to ask, though..has anyone ever seen Joel Osteen, the tv preacher? Well, I watch his show every Sunday night at midnight. I watched it for the first time a few months ago, and got hooked, because he's just not like any preacher I've ever seen. He doesn't tell you about how scary life is without religion, he talks about how great life can be with it. And his whole sermon is a bunch of short stories...and the reason I still watch it is because every single week, he's talking about something that has to do with my life specifically right at that moment! This week it hit home even more than usual, because he was saying that people are in & out of your life, mostly they're there just when you need them, but when the time comes that they walk out of your life, and no matter what you try, they go anyway, well, that's maybe you getting a divine push to go ahead on your own, they've served the purpose in your life, and now it's time for you to pick up, dust yourself off, and go, and be even better than you were with that other person. Anyone who knows what i've been dealing with for the last 2.5 years will know why he seems like he's talking to me personally! Kinda gives me a little chill, just writing it out! But a good, safe feeling, too.

Today, Bro's youngest daughter had her graduation party out at his house. It was a great time! It's always so much fun out there. She's going to Arizona State for college next year. That's different...his older two girls stayed in Ohio and went to Heidelberg in Tiffin, which is neat...that's where Mom graduated from...no, she graduated from Tiffin University. Boo went to Heidelberg to be a teacher. And Bro's oldest daughter went there, in, like, early 90's. And that was the funniest...she looks so much like me, that people in the bars in Tiffin used to go up to her and ask how she was related to me!! Actually, it's funny in a sad kind of way, that the owners of the bars in Tiffin knew what I looked like? lol! I think a lot of bartenders knew me because I was famous for getting the tequila worm...and then auctioning it!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Harshin' my mellow, man!

OMG!! When is the last time you ever heard anybody use that phrase seriously?? I know I was probably 8 or so, and I heard Bro tell one of his friends over at our house, "Hey, man, don't harsh my mellow!" I was going out to the kitchen today when Glenn Beck was on, and I heard the phrase "cap & trade", then I heard Glenn say "Don't harsh my mellow"...I just about died laughing right then!! Seriously, I just gave up & sat down in the middle of the hallway and laughed for about 5 minutes!
I had one of my favorite dreams last night. Is everybody like me in this regard?...You know, most of the time my dreams are just regular, mundane things (well, except for that one...)lol! And sometimes I have a dream about the same places, over & over, on & off, for years!
Last night I dreamed I was driving my car (yeah, my old one, the 1980 Honda Civic...I loved that car!!) and I remember driving up to the town up north that I used to work at...then I was driving over about 20 miles west to the place we all used to get drunk at, & I went in a bar & had a beer, Then I came out & drove around town, marveling at all the changes there...then I went further west, and ended up in Fort Wayne, cruising all over there. I even remember which highways and streets I was on! And I could walk (I always can in my dreams...isn't that funny?), so I remember stopping and going into a mall, getting some clothes, and then a huge milkshake, and going back out to the car & leaving. And the same billboard was there on the way out of town that had a picture of a beautiful black baby girl, about 3 years old, that said "Who killed my baby???" That billboard was there the last time I was over there for real. I remember it most because Tif pointed at it & asked me what it said...she was about 5 then...I think she could read it, but couldn't understand it...so how do you explain that when YOU don't understand it?
So that was pretty much one of the best dreams...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Your rainbow is strongly shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Okay, I lied...I got a picture of Truman being very un-dignified, so here he is, in all his glory!

There's not much I like better than vines growing on the side of buildings! Especially these old brick buildings in downtown! I was down there the other day, and I need to get further to the west end...there's some beautiful old houses down there.
And by the time I got home with my chicken sammitches & milkshake, obviously, Truman was all tuckered out from running around the house looking for me, and all. Doesn't he look like the tiredest & most cuddly kitty in the world?

If he was a real baby, I'd be down there blowing a big ol' razzberry on his stomach! I used to do that to Tif all the time when she was a baby!

Somebody asked me the other day if I was seeing anybody, and I said, NO, I actually don't have the spare time in my head, you know?? I'm still trying to get my meds, and figure out where my life is going, and after all that, there's college to think of...when I told my cousin, Boo that, she said, "Libby...a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle!" ahahahahahahaha!! I agree with her on that, but I had to say, "Boo...just quit getting all your sayings from your lesbian friends!" That's a total joke, you know...actually, her mom says it all the time! Actually, no, I don't need one, they're nice to have around sometimes, but not all the time! I don't think I was ever meant to be a wife. Sheesh...would've saved a lot of trouble if I'd known that before my first marriage, when I was 18! or my 2nd, when I was 25...
It used to be fun when Tif was about 1 & 1/2, 2...we were moving from our first apartment to our 2nd, and I was running up and down the stairs with my friends, moving all my stuff up there...Tif was getting bored, so I got a big piece of tape, and made a loop out of it and gave it to Tif, and she was busy with that for HOURS!! I think she actually fell asleep with trying to get it off her hands!! She got me back a few years later though, when she was playing with my Rubik's cube (everybody had one of those, didn't they??), and she brought it to me with all the colors right...then I found out she'd taken all the color stickers off and put them on the sides right!!
Well, I'm gettin' ready to eat my leftover pizza & crawl in bed with a book, one I got from Glenn Beck's program, "The Great Depression Ahead"...followed by Ann Rule's "A Rage To Kill".
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

M&M's & pound cake & Fritos, oh my!

Okay, that title of this post is my three-course dinner I'm having tonight...actually, I guess that would be my 3 course dessert I'm having now...huh...and I'm still fighting to break 100 lbs!

I have been wanting that "cute but psycho" sweatshirt for a few years! Someday I'll break down and buy it. And, I admit it...when I'm a grandma, if Tif has boys, I'll be that cat!! I may say I'm fearless, but...little boys...*shudder*.

I hafta admit it...yeah, I'm a bit of a "fluff"...Tif gave me a gift card to a tanning salon for Mother's Day, and since heat just makes all ms symptoms worse by about 100..she knows that and picked this place specifically because they have a booth where you can get a 'spray-on' tan! That tanning place is right next door to H's salon, so I went in to check it out after she cut my hair. I talked to the girl that runs the place, and it turns out that I really can't do the spray-on thing because there's nothing for me to hang on to, you just have to stand in the middle of the room...and I do NOT have the balance to do that! Well, that girl takes care of a woman with ms too, so she knows exactly how disappointed I was, so she stood by the counter with me and we talked about all the options I have, and I bought some things of sunless tanner & some moisturizer...the sunless tanner is the same stuff that's used by the spray-on thing, and I used it today, and OMG, I love it!! I've used sunless tanning lotion before, but this is SO much better than anything I've used before! Everything I've used before was a lotion, and runny, but this stuff is the consistency of toothpaste, almost! I love it...it's mystic sun (& it's expensive as hell, but...it was a PERFECT mother's day present!). Sheesh, it feels good to be 'tan' again! Seriously, when I worked at the grocery store here in town, it was in the WalMart plaza, and I used to walk a few doors down and go tanning 3 times a week after work! *sigh*...those were the days...that was the best part of the day, after being at work and running around all day, then go get in a tanning bed and sleep for 20 minutes!

I called Biogen again yesterday, to see how soon I can get started on tysabri...she said about a month, and I told her the reason I'm getting really impatient is because I've talked to someone there once a week for a month, and every week they've given me the same answer, why? (not rude, just impatient, you know?). She looked it all up on her computer, and they're still getting the nurses here trained, and everything & trying to figure out a schedule for me to do this...errggghhh...she said if I want to start earlier, they can fix it so I can get my first one at the other hospital, but I said no, thanks again, but now I want to be here to get it, not a half hour or hour away. So, obviously...if you have to be stubborn, you also have to have patience and be nice...

Oh! The girl that runs the tanning place took my name and address for the gift card redemption. When I said Libby B----, she said, "You're Tiffany's mom?" See? She's almost famous! I love living here. Now if she does anything bad, I'm pretty sure I'll be one of the first to hear about it! As a matter of fact, that's how she always got busted when she was a teenager...somebody would see her doing something she shouldn't, and call us, and when she got home...'course, she never really did anything really bad, just tried to smoke a cigarette or something. She told me forever ago that when she was in 6th grade and stayed overnite with a friend, they sneaked out of her house in the middle of the night. They walked around the block a few times, and then went back & crawled back in the window, because it was "boring, Mom!" I thank God for her every day! Cuz if she was like I was, holy shit!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

hairs cut...again!

Yay!! It's getting warm & colorful here!! I took all these pictures last Tuesday, when I actually did go vote, believe it or not. Only one thing to vote on, and it failed miserably...but I did my part.

And just look and admire my beautiful wise and dignified cat looking out the window! I don't get pictures of him when he's looking "un-dignified" and silly, you know...that'd just be wrong to post those!

I went to my friend's "chop shop" (hair salon, lol!) yesterday, and she trimmed my hair back the way it was. I also took the picture of me, Mom, Dad, & my 2 brothers in...she just stood still & kept saying oh my God, Libby, this is when we started running around together! I thought she was gonna cry. But Mom & Dad were a big part of her life too, cuz she said she never would've ever had a vacation, especially out of Ohio, if she didn't go with us! We started going over our memories together, and I had only remembered her flying to the condo in Naples with us (not our condo, one of Dad's business friends'!). And not only did we get to use their condo, we also got to drive their big white convertible! I had forgotten about that! And I'd forgotten the time she got up early one morning, and was trying to help Mom, cuz she's always been nice like that, you know...anyway, she unloaded the dishwasher and put all the dishes away...then we all got up, and Mom had to tell H "Thanks..but, those dishes were dirty...I didn't run the dishwasher yet..." hahahaha! Y'know what, though? Mom was always one of those people that pretty much washed the dishes before they went in the dishwasher, anyway!
And I forgot that she went up to Dad's friend & his wife's house up on Lake St Clair with us! They had a huge house on the lake next door to the yacht club/country club, on the other side was a family whose back yard from house to lake was a huge "bird aviary"...and that was LOUD!! And I used to stand in the yard with binoculars & just stare out at all the big ships going by...and it was around that time that "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" was popular. Still to this day, that song makes me cry when it comes on in November. I always wonder if I might've seen that ship at some point...
H also went on vacation over to the lodge in Pennsylvania with us. It was called 'Bass Rock' (odd that I still remember that, isn't it?). I guess it was leased from Seven Springs by the company that used to let us use it (Dad was a buyer, not a salesman...buyers get more 'favors' than sellers...lol). Anyway, she jogged my memory on that, because that was a huge, sprawling cabin, with about 5 or 6 bedrooms, besides the main master bedroom, and the whole thing was, well it was a log cabin, but not the size you think of when you think that phrase! It had a huge pond out back with a dock, which is where I learned that fish like 'Chicken In A Biskit' crackers! And a big walk-out basement with a couple Jeeps & a couple of snowmobiles, and an enormous freezer down there that was always stuffed with steaks & hamburgers, and everything else! She remembered that somebody had super-glued a quarter to the floor, and Dad already knew about it (we all did), and told H "Hey, there's a quarter! Will you get that for me, it must've fallen out of my pocket!" And she tried, but, of course...If I didn't know better, I'd say Dad glued it there, cuz he was always a guy that liked stuff like that!
And I confessed to her that I'd always had a HY-UGE crush on her older brother! He never got married, doesn't have kids (that she knows of??), and lives in Florida, and he's 4 years older than us, but H says he looks 30! And always introduces her as his big sister! (well, he used to be cute & nice...)
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

more neat stuff from "long ago & far away"...

Wow...I never saw these pictures before the other day, when I was looking through the big bin of pictures Bro brought over on Easter! That's Mom with, I think, my oldest uncle, in the top picture, and maybe my youngest uncle in the bottom picture. The youngest uncle is Boo's dad! Obviously, Mom was the oldest...she has one younger sister too. But, honestly, I never realized

how exactly much I looked like Mom...especially my chin! And the bottom picture is Grandpa & Grandma...and I can see my face in Grandma's face, too! So, happy mother's day to all!!

Has anyone ever done something to you that you thought, at the time, was incredibly rude and "they'll regret doing this!" Well, maybe it was for the best in the long run, and you just didn't know it then. Lemme explain...

One Monday, when I worked an hour north, I was out doing my normal Monday price checks around town. I came walking out of one store, and a really HOT guy was standing in the parking lot, leaning against my car. I recognized him, of course, he shopped at my store all the time, but I'd never had the guts to really talk to him, I just silently stared and drooled after my routine "hi"...you see, if you look back at old pictures of George Michael in the 80's, that was the exact duplicate of this guy! Super-white teeth & all! And perfect butt, too...anyway...we talked in the parking lot for awhile, then he said he lived in the apartments by the reservoir, and we decided to go over there and talk, cuz it wasn't really comfortable to me to be standing in the parking lot of one of 'my' competitors' stores, having a lot of 'my' customers walking past me & talking to me! So we ended up going to his place, and just hanging out there for a couple hours (yes, we did kiss...how could I say no to those perfect white teeth? c'mon!!). We decided to go out that Saturday night to Lima. And I was like a celebrity to the co-workers I hung out with all week! lol! Saturday morning I was unloading my produce truck. It wasn't like I had any automatic stuff, it was all hand-unload, and the drivers' job was to get the product to the back of the truck, my job to get the case/bale/whatever it was off the back and to my cooler, or wherever it was going. (cold job in the winter!). About halfway through, Mr White Teeth's head popped up between the truck & the doorway, and he said he was really sorry to have to do this, but...(I ALWAYS hate it when there's a big ol' but at the end...), and he explained how he & his ex-girlfriend had gotten back together, then he gave me a dozen roses (I think they were yellow, which is great, that means friends)...disappointment, hello! That really did suck, but, in retrospect, didn't he do it in the kindest way possible? Really, I haven't met many men who can do something like that to this day, and look you in the eye and tell you the truth!! Honestly, I think a guy's relationship to the truth is a negative part of having a penis! Okay, can any other woman say they had a guy break a date in such a classy way?

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

tagged!

Spring is finally here...I hope!!

And this is Tif & my grand-dog, Lily! And just so nobody gets a weird-ass idea here, this is NOT Tif's tongue here, she's just babying Lily "Give Mommy a kiss, honey" It's always been fine with her if her dog licks her mouth...don't look at me, I didn't teach her that! Lily's always done everything Tif tells her to...Tiff even tells her "Get your tail, Lily, come on, bring it to Mommy!", & Lily will chase her tail around, and she'll finally grab it, and, OMG, you oughtta see her trying to take it to Tif!

I was tagged by Ricardo , the prolific author & actor, to do a "ten true things about me"...well, if you read this blog much, you probably'll already know them, but I'll try for ten new & improved things...

1. I was the youngest and the only girl, so, yes, I was a Godawful spoiled child. The last Thanksgiving dinner that Bro & G & I were all at together with Mom, we were talking about how much trouble each of us was, but I had TWO trump cards...not only was I more trouble by myself than the two of them together, I was the only one who got pregnant before I graduated! :-/

2. I've only had one car accident in my life that was my fault. And, really, I don't think that was MY fault at all, it was the Jeep Cherokee's that I was driving...I had my foot completely off the gas, on the way to the brake, but the truck kept accelerating, and slammed into the line of cars that was at the light to turn into the WalMart plaza...which actually meant that it turned out to be a 6 car accident! :-/ again.

3. All of the years I worked, they were all an hour north of this town, but I always lived in this town. Up until I worked at GTE in this town (a desk job...bleeaahhhh!), I was a produce manager in different towns north of here, and those were the best years of my life! And an hour drive north on rt 23 was way different than driving south to Columbus! There were days that it was so quiet & peaceful on the drive up, I used to see quail flying over the road, one time I saw a little red fox trotting alongside the road in a ditch beside me! No such things as traffic jams going north!

4. The most I ever weighed in my life was...138...the Friday before I had Tif. Which actually was a 40 lb weight gain from when I got pregnant as a senior in high school.

5. I've never ever lived in the country. Never ever wanted to. Never ever will! Even before I had ms, and needed to be in town where there are sidewalks to ride my scooter on (even though I'm usually on side streets, & I'm in the street anyway). I always liked living on one of the major streets in town, even when I was little. I liked going up to my grandma's farm on Sunday afternoons, after Sunday dinner, but I liked knowing that I was coming home that night too! I used to stay overnight with my cousin, Boo, sometimes, but I could never get to sleep because it was too quiet! Boo lived about 1/4 mile from Grandma's, just up the road and around the corner. And I remember the time her mom brought her down here to stay overnight with me, she couldn't sleep cuz it was too loud!

6. And one of the first guys I ever met at the first store I transferred up there to work at was a guy that Boo knew!! This town was about 20 miles from where she lived, and I couldn't believe she knew him. Okay, here's how our conversation went...

me: You know Pee-Pee?? (that was his nickname)!

Boo: Are you kidding?? I almost killed him once with my car!

me: On purpose?

Boo: Don't be goofy! I was coming home from a bar in Tiffin, and I was turning onto my road, and he was standing in the middle of the road...peeing! I had to stop and wait for him to finish, and 'shake off'!!

*pause for appropriate laughter*

See why those years were the most fun of my life?

7. I've always been a person that loved working Mondays & Saturdays when I ran a produce department. Mondays were the days to go to the other stores in town & do price checks, so I could lower my prices under everyone else's by a penny. (cheap mental trick, but it worked!) Saturdays were nothing but fun! I loved working when so many people were in shopping!

8. My alarm used to go off at 5:30 am every morning, and I was able to take a shower & blow-dry my hair & wake Tif up & feed her a bowl of cereal & take her to her babysitter's every morning, and be on my way up rt 23 by 7:00 am, and be clocking in at work at 8 am.

9. One of the funniest things we did was went to a company picnic at a park up by Tiffin. All of my friends & I got together and 'ganged up' on the company president's son (yeah, he was WAY hot...oh, & rich too!), and we silly stringed him so much he couldn't walk!!

10. Another time, we all went to a company day at Cedar Point. The hottie was there too with a date (of course!), and she ended up being a total bitch to all of us, because we were all referring to her as Barbie...in relation to the fact that we all said he was 'a Ken doll'...needless to say, that relationship sank like a rock.

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

burning bridges...

This is a VERY old picture of the front of the house Mom grew up in. That's my Grandma & Grandpa's farm up around Tiffin. We always went up every Sunday afternoon, & I got to see my cousins, and play outside on the farm all afternoon!

This is the only formal family picture we ever had done...top left is Bro, top right is G, in the front is me, & "Mommie & Daddie".& look at what a hippie Bro was!! lol! And now he owns a super-successful construction company! So see, parents, don't EVER give up & say your kids are hopeless!

Burning bridges...that is the worst thing you will ever do in your life, you know? And if you were at all like me, you thought that was just the stupidest thing you ever heard a parent say "don't burn bridges...you may want to go back & use them again.". Well, you know what? I was fortunate enough not to burn my old bridges...they've always been there for me when I've come back to them. Which I, like everybody else, swore I'd NEVER have to do! But the older I get, the more people I run into from my past, and I'm pretty happy that I never have to wonder "did we fight the last time I saw him/her?" But I know an awful lot of people that do have that problem...there's two ways to avoid that. Either be nice to everyone...or just be a total bitch to everyone all the time. Hmmmmmm....kinda like "tell the truth all the time...that way you don't have to have such a good memory"

I'm just hearing all kinds of shit on the news lately...I'm staying away from the politics of certain people here, just the major parties. I have totally decided that I do not want to be affiliated with either one. Republican-you say you're a Republican, everybody thinks you're a totally uptight, stick-in-the-ass, stuffy, no sense of humor asshole, unless it's a racist joke. Okay, that's not me...Democrat, you want big government to take care of you, because you're too totally imbecile to take care of yourself...as a matter of fact, put that soda down, & put out that cigarette, whatsamatter with you? And the Democrats are supposed to be the party of tolerance? I beg to differ...did anyone see Perez Hilton going off on the beauty queen contestant who said in her opinion, marriage should be between a man & a woman? Perez Hilton is the epitome of a lot of the Democrats you see & hear from...and in my opinion, that is anything BUT tolerant!! Republicans haven't done anything lately to 'write home about'...but, in my opinion, Democrats haven't either. Well, they're spending money faster than they can print it, but ANYBODY could do that! Just look back a few years, Bush did a good part of it too. Tolerant is supposed to mean you don't judge people for their opinions, if they don't hurt you, why the hell is it your business what they believe? You know? I try really hard not to be judgmental about stuff that people do or believe if it's not the way I think or believe...but it's not all THAT hard...sheesh! That must be why my mom & dad instilled in me first thing "You never talk about politics, or religion, or how much money anybody makes". I was taught that probably from before I could talk coherently!! You know, now that I think about it, maybe those are just basic 'niceties' & politeness that kids aren't taught anymore, because they're "old-fashioned". Ya know what? Gimme some old-fashioned manners, cuz maybe the reason kids are so "godawful" today, is that they're not taught any manners when they're growing up!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

It's COLD again!!

Oh, I forgot how much it sucked to have to get up when your alarm went off in the morning! (hey, gimme a break, I'm looking at a positive part of having ms...). I had to get up at 9 this morning, to get the bus to my dr appt. She & I talked, I got weighed again (93 lbs today, 90 lbs last week...but it's progress....). So...I turned on the Weather

Channel just in time to catch the local temperature...forty-eight degrees!! Holy mother of God, man! It's almost MAY!! Oh, right...global warming...forgot about that...

Dr S's assistant came in, and we were all talking about where I'm going to get my infusions of tysabri at, because Dr S has no priveleges at Galion's hospital, but they both told me that if I give them 2 weeks/a month, they'll have it fixed so I can just get it here in town, not even have to go to Galion for the first one...I'm okay with that...after all...it's moving!!

So after my appointment, I went outside to have a smoke (I hid behind a post, because the ashtray/trashcan is right under the NO SMOKING ON HOSPITAL GROUNDS sign!) lol! Anyway, a woman came out of the hospital and walked up to me and said "You're Tiffany's mom, right?" I said yes, and was trying really hard to figure out who she was. Then she said she's XXXX's mom! Oh my God!! That was Tif's best friend in like the third grade, and all through school....well, they 'grew apart' in high school, but still! So she showed me pictures of her granddaughter, and told me where XXXX's little brothers are, and I showed her 2 pix of Tif at her wedding, and we gave each other the obligatory compliments (just kidding...they were sincere.). We kinda had a rough patch at the beginning, where she was married to a super uptight guy, and since we didn't go to church, therefore, I wasn't the type of mother she wanted her daughter to hang out at my house...that was ok with me, but don't pull my 9 year old into it! Anyway, she & her husband split up a couple years later, and, voila! She got neater and not so uptight! When I told her that Kev left me a couple years ago, she said, "That's too bad, that he wasn't strong enough to face this with you." OMG! I never really looked at it like that...but, yeah, she has a point! The psychologist said last week, "Just think, you wouldn't be you if he wasn't gone, now." See? That's why I want to be a psychologist! Always knowing what to say will be a valuable thing! (a lot of the time I can do that anyway!)

Lunch today was a slice of turkey & homemade mashed potatoes with gravy over it all...and asparagus...yuk...but I ate it & the peaches. And, yes, I know they were homemade mashed potatoes...cuz they were lumpy! The cold dinner was some kind of kidney bean salad with diced tomatoes & diced green peppers...kinda not my type of thing...but I ate it. I have a question, please tell me...dessert was tapioca....what ARE those little bubble thingys? I used to love tapioca when I was little...till Dad told me those were fish eyes...today's the first time I've eaten it since!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

thinking about old fun stuff...

...since Biogen hasn't called me yet about getting set up on tysabri...but I have an appointment with my ms dr Wednesday, and if I haven't heard anything by then, I'll sic her on 'em!

I'm sitting here watching 'The Amityville Horror'. The Oxygen Channel always has good stuff...ever seen 'Snapped'? Guys...here's a hint, if you're ever in another room and your wife/girlfriend has that show on, and is laughing uproariously...do NOT go to sleep that night!! Sorry, Christine, I just ratted you out. Woops!

Anyway, I was just thinking back to when the Amityville Horror book was out, and I think I was in 7th or 8th grade. I had a group of 5 or 6 girls I hung out with then. One weekend we all got together and stayed over at Kris's house, cuz, of course, her mom & dad were so much cooler than anyone else's! So we were in Kris's room up on the third floor talking about the stuff that really cool 8th graders do, and I was leafing through Kris's copy of that book, and all of a sudden pointed out to everybody that, "Hey you guys! This is the same house as Kris's!!" and it was, only not on the outside, but the floor plan was exactly the same, even down to the basement!! It actually looked scarier on the outside, because it was dark brick! That was also the year that I stayed home from school once with the flu, and Mom brought me home a book. Uh, yeah...'The Stand". That book scared me well!! Mom wasn't a Stephen King fan, she mostly read stuff like James Herriot, tame, happy stuff like that...I must've been a cabbage patch baby!

Also, I was remembering back when I worked an hour north of here, in the mid-80's, at the Peyton Place of grocery stores...naaahhh...I'll talk about that more later...it was a whole helluva lot of fun up there, though...I had the highest highs & the lowest lows up there! I remember some of the customers we had were, well, different...little did we realize that they would be us in a few years! I DO remember my supervisor stopping in from the main office about 15 miles away, and I was telling him about an "older man" that had been in asking about a produce thing...he said, "An elderly man?" And, I stupidly said yes, since I was about 21. He said how old? I said, wow, maybe 30?...He just looked at the store manager, & all of a sudden I got it! "You're not 30, are you, Craig?" I'm lucky I still had a job after that...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...four seasons in one day...

Yes, it's a true "earth day" celebration by nature, I guess. Hail around 1 pm today, with thunder & lightning. And now, at 6 pm, it's sunny & 48. And tomorrow it'll be 62, and the rest of the week, 75 and sunny! Goofy....
I have so much good stuff going on right now, I can't believe it! I went to the dr's office yesterday and her assistant and I sat down with all the papers they got from Biogen about this

tysabri, and we went over it all together, and I signed all the stuff I had to sign, and I made sure I told them I haven't taken any injectable ms meds since the beginning of 2009, and I haven't had any steroids (iv or prednisone!) since last October, before Tif got married. So, I got done, and Kim said all she needed

to do was to get all that stuff faxed to them and they'd call me in a week or so to set up my treatments! She said that when they went to lunch, they got a lot of info, and Dr S is excited about this, because I've tried 2 of the other 3 injectables for ms, and neither one was agreeing with me lately, and since this isn't another interferon, it's an antibody, and that's exciting to me, just because it's something different! And in my life, at this point, different is good! Jeez...do I win the competition for the most awkward run-on sentence? :-) The only other problem I was going to have was that the closest center that was able to give me this iv was in a town 25 miles away, but I already had that figured out, there are so many good people out there to help get me there...anyway, the doctor got it set up so they'll do it here in town at our hospital! I can take the city bus to it, that's, like a 5 minute drive!! And if it's nice out, I'll just ride my scooter. Now all I have to wait for is for Biogen to call. I've already looked up the medicine on my link to the insurance on here, and, well, thank God I still am on Kev's insurance. If I wasn't, the cost would be $7,000.00 for three months of iv's. As it is, I only have to pay $150.00 for 3 months. Yeah, I know the prices for meds are ridiculous, but a lot of the money they make is put into developing new drugs...scientists don't work for free, remember...

And one more really neat thing happened to me this week! I won the drawing at JavaJune's blog, where she's giving a Bohemian blend gift thingie of bath salts, etc...no, Ric, no alcohol! :-D She just got back from an awesome week away on a beach...in some undisclosed location...heehee...I WILL buy a lottery ticket this week...everything else is coming out perfect!

I am becoming SO hooked on some of the new shows on tv lately...there's Lie To Me (my favorite!), Fringe, The Mentalist, Eleventh Hour, House (of course) & Bones...good thing I have a windows tv thing that I can set to record everything!

Geez, I watched the news today for the first time since this weekend, and I really can't believe what kind of shit is going on now, what with Obama saying one day that he's not going after anyone for interrogation techniques in the past, the past is the past, let's go forward...blah, blah, blah. Two days later, it's a complete 180, and he can't rule anything out, we have to wait and see what Eric Holder has to say. Hmph....I trust Eric Holder as much as I trust Tim Geithner...and you all know how much I respect (kaff, kaff) him. You know what? We've not had an attack here since 9/11, but, for some reason, the Democrats refuse to believe it was because of anything George W did! I guess it just must have been that the terrorist fucktards had a sudden change of heart after that attack, and decided to rest on their laurels. As much as I'd love to believe that, I'm sorry...they're sitting in their groups in Afghanistan/Pakistan, doing all kinds of heavy-duty planning for the next one, which will be 'bigger & better', likely to involve a mini-nuke or bio-weapon. And we won't be able to find out anything about it in advance, because all of our CIA people will be scared as shit to press on anyone to get anything out of them, because of what happened to the people after 9/11! Am I the only one that's worried about this?? They say that nothing's happened since then...do they think that's just because they didn't feel like doing anything?? Where's the logic in that thinking? That just proves to me that Democrats see the world as they wish it was, Republicans see the world as it really is, warts and all, not just flowers, rainbows, sunshine. And, anyone who still believes that their taxes won't go up because the God-like Obama promised them they won't...they're still living in fairyland too. Just look at how much higher stuff like cigarette taxes are...those ARE taxes, ya know? Just because it's not taken out of your paycheck every week doesn't mean it's not a tax. Man, I need to make a different entry for this...or maybe resurrect my other blog...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

sunny again!!

I can hardly wait til there's leaves on all these trees!! But at least there's a blue sky and sun!! And that's good enough for me in April!!

Well, things are finally starting to move with the tysabri! I called my neuro's assistant this morning to ask how it was going, and if they'd had a chance to talk to Biogen about the drug, and side effects, etc. And, holy crap, they've been running with it! A Biogen rep is coming to take the dr and her assistant to lunch Tuesday to go over all of this with them because I'm this doctor's first patient on this drug...a veritable guinea pig, if you will! Lol!! So I have to go to her office that afternoon and fill out the papers and stuff, and after that, I'm not sure...but at least it's getting started! How in the world do timid people deal with health problems? I mean, I'm not mean or demanding, but I follow up on things that I need them to do. And on stuff I want to try! Because if I hadn't done all the research on this, I'd have no choice but to get a shot every day! Seriously, you just have no choice but to be pro-active about this kind of stuff...but, the big thing you also have to do is always be nice! Because I know every time I talked to a customer that called in to GTE to make billing arrangements, well, if they treated me nice, they were usually surprised at how helpful I was! (and the reverse is also true...).

I was thinking back about the Easter times I was a produce manager...this was always a fun time of year in my department! Big fresh asparagus displays, huge sweet potato & yam displays...the year in Fostoria when I was about 21, and I was a big flirt (yes, yes, I was...). There was a really cute guy that was in a lot, & I was stocking the potato display...as soon as his cart got within a few feet of me, I tossed a sweet potato in it. He jumped kinda and said "Hey! What was that for?" I just smiled and told him that was a 'yambush'...and be careful when you get back toward the meat department, I'm hearing they're planning a 'hambush'...;-D

Then there was the year at a different store where I got to be the Easter bunny! Now THAT was fun! They had a big bunny costume that I got to wear and kids came in & sat on my lap & told me what they wanted in their Easter baskets (besides grass & eggs), and I gave each kid a chocolate bunny & the cashier would take a Kodak picture for them! And the best part of that day was when Mom & Dad had brought Tif up to the store to see the Easter bunny...and she had NO IDEA it was me! She was in the fifth grade, so she was kinda old for that & didn't 'believe in' the EB anymore, but Mom made her sit on my lap anyway, cuz "Just one more year, Tiffany, just do it for Grandma?" That did turn out to be a great picture! And luckily, there wasn't one kid that peed on me!! Tif found out it was me when she went running back to my department to find me, and when she stuck her head in my back room, just saw the black stockboy back there doing my job.

Later that year, I had ordered bedding plants to sell. I built a big display outside to put them on, out of skids & milk crates...very complicated :-) . But anyway, I had about 300 flats out there, and they looked awesome. About an hour before I was gonna leave, I connected the hose outside to water them...I was in the middle of watering them when the store manager (jerkhead!) came flying out the door and said "Libby, you're spraying water all over the windows!" Oh my God! I just looked at him and said, "Jeff...it's just..water...not sure if you've ever noticed, but, the windows get rained on sometimes, too...they've never melted or anything..." A couple months after that, we got a different manager because all of us department heads had gotten together & gone to the head office in Lima and threatened a 'mutiny' if they didn't replace Jeff!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Yeah, it's rainy and cold...but you don't have to shovel rain!

These are the 2 baskets I made for my 2 grand-dogs...










And these are mine & Truman's baskets (his is the one with the mouse...)

...and these are Tif's & Mr Tif's! Yeah...I had fun doing this...

So did everybody have a great Easter/Passover? I hope you all did! Bro sent 2 of his daughters over to pick me up Sun afternoon for dinner, & we had fun there, Mrs Bro's mom was there too, and an aunt...yeah, Bro's house is where everybody hangs out...

then when Bro brought me home, I called Tif & asked her & Mr Tif to come over, and Tif & I sat here & looked through the great big box of old pictures that Doug brought over for me to look through from Mom & Dad's from way back, like when I was little & before I was born, for 2 or 3 hours! Lotsa fun!

Joe was here tonight...we haven't had much time to just sit around and catch up on stuff at all...his divorce was just final last week...after 3 years...wow. We were just talking about where our lives are going from here...I just said, "Well, Joe...I don't know what I want...but I DO know what I don't want...does that make any sense?" So, did we come up with any answers? Naahhh...but we had fun anyway. Joe said that's the longest he's gotten to talk to an adult in forever...he teaches 6th, 7th, & 8th grade science.

So, is anybody getting to go to a 'tax day tea party' tomorrow? Man, if I had any clue of anybody around here going, I'd beg to go! I love it that it's not a bash Obama thing, because Obama isn't doing this on his own, he's got plenty of help in Congress.

And, yeah, finally Casey Anthony is up for the death penalty! Naahh...I could never be a defense lawyer...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Oh, yeah...don't forget, tomorrow night at 10 pm on TV Land the Cougar will be on!!

Thursday before Good Friday

Yes, everyone, I go around with my head in the clouds 24/7...should anybody be surprised at that????? Lol!

And, keep in mind, these two pictures were taken on the same day, within maybe a quarter-mile between the places, and maybe 20 minutes!

And I just like the rocks at the corner!!

I'm gonna have to be brutally honest here (like I never am????)
I've had to break down and admit that, no, I really can't do it all myself. Ironic that that's one of the first phrases I learned as a baby..."NO!! Do it MYSELF!!" That's in my baby book, along with when I told G when he was babysitting me once, "You're not the boss of ME!!" lol...since G was probably 16, & I was 3, he did the tactful big brother thing, nodded & smiled, and found me something else to do! Yeah...did I mention that I was the youngest & the only girl? :-D
So, with major encouragement from a health pro (ok, ok, a psychologist that I've seen for the last couple years!), I called and now I get the Mobile Meals 4 days a week, so I actually eat real food, vegetables & fruit, and their volunteers make everything homemade, do ya believe that? And I'm actually gaining weight, and feeling better & happier...'course, it's sunny & warmer too...
And when I saw her today, I was telling her about the tysabri, and having to go to Galion hospital (when it gets set up), she said if I need rides there ever, call Love, INC here in town (which is love in the name of Christ!), and they have volunteers that take people to doctors' appts, etc, even if they're down in Columbus! I am just blown away by all the people that volunteer quietly, and you never knew it before. I'm kicking myself for not doing any of it when I could. It's one thing to give an automatic payroll donation to United Way, which I did when I worked at GTE, but quite a bigger thing to give of yourself.
I even admitted to myself that I needed to get someone here to clean the house downstairs, and to take all my Christmas stuff upstairs again, scrub the bathtub, all that.She's not coming regularly or anything, but I know who she is, at least.
The day she was here, the volunteer that delivered the lunch & dinner for that day, came to the door and looked in, and said "Libby!"...it was the first librarian at our old library downtown, and she and Mom and I were always big "book fans"...she and I met when I was 4 years old! This has just been a magical time for me...I'm not sure why, but I love it that there are so many good people out there! And, of course, I'm including all of you who've been here for me listening to me when I've been at my lowest low!
So, since it was relatively warm out today (60-ish) and sunny, I left here at 12:30, and got the bus to my appt, then came home, and went right back out to the Dollar Store, and got stuff to make Easter baskets for Tif & her husband...and their two dogs. And for me & Truman too. And, as cheap as the stuff is there, the Easter stuff was already 50% off!! So I had to buy a cute yellow bunny for my basket, and a blue one for Tif, & a yellow duck for Mr Tif!
Then, carrying that load on my scooter, I also stopped at the bank & Certified...cuz it's gonna rain tomorrow & be chillier Saturday, so this was THE day to do everything! And I had a blast! Didn't get back here til 6! So, speaking of that, I'm tired, and I want to crawl in bed with a big fat book! Goodnight!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!