well, i tried to find a picture of both my hands wrapped up after the surgery but to no avail.  anyhow, i had double carpal tunnel release release done in december 2006.  i will never regret that decision because both hands had reached the point that i was crying almost every night from the pain.  now, the pain is only fleeting.  just here long enough on some winter days to remind me how lucky i am not to hurt that much every day.

i've got my wrist brace on, and i am typing this with mostly my left hand, and tears aren't very far from my cheeks.  i am hoping the gin & tonic i'm downing will ease the pain

i earned the carpal tunnel when i was in my twenties working at sewing factories making t-shirts and paying for health insurance.  that was pretty much all my pay covered - family plan, with dental and enough life insurance to bury hubby or me.  or both.  should the absolute worst ever happen.  we're both in our forties now, kids are almost all grown up, and i make more than enough to pay for the family plan insurance, with dental & vision.

i lived with the carpal tunnel for over 15 years.  it wasn't fun and i will never regret having the surgery done on both hands at the same time.  and on nights like this i am reminded how lucky i am.

        

When do you take down your Christmas Tree? Usually we take ours down the day after Christmas cuz I've had enough of pine needles and to be honest, I am tired of looking at it.

This year I am waiting until January 1 because Mama always said it was bad luck to take it down before the first of the New Year. I need all the good luck I can get this coming year

 

        

Ok, so maybe I'm not the patient type and i refuse to wait for anything that I can control   I haven't been around much lately cuz I've had some virus that has taken it's rounds around the locals.  It last little over a month so I have to say I have been sick for quite awhile.  Even antibiotics didn't make me better - this one just takes it's sweet, miserable time.

Whatever Holiday you may celebrate this time of year I truly hope your day was filled with peace and joy!  Me?  I got peace and it was wonderful.  My only regret is I didn't take more advantage of hubby! LOL!  We have spent the day watching movies and handing the birds a popsicle stick to chew each time they got too vocal.

www.tripthelady.com turned one year old today and it's still amazes me I found an outlet for my life and finally, I found one here my my feelings.  I am happy today.  It feels really good to feel happy!  I am SMILING right now while I type these words and I can honestly say that was not my frame of mind last year.  Last year I was desperate to quit my job and find a new life and while searching "how to make money online" I came across John Chow's site - "I make money online telling others how to make money online" or something like that.  I downloaded his E-Book and read every page.  Oh yeah, I could see myself making 60k+ in one year so I wrote every day, then everyother day and finally when the mood struck.  I went to www.izeafest.com to learn to be a better blogger.  I learned so much and plan to attend the next one!

I can say I have went from nothing to about $80 a month.  yeah, I know, nothing to quit my day job for.  YET!  This is now my fourth blog and until I got sick about 1 month ago I updated frequently.  My blogs offer a side of me I used to keep to myself - if you read often you get to see the "private" side I rarely share with others.  I am an introvert.  Oddly enough, I am also quite good at sales and being a people person.  I am good at changing "hats" so to speak.  I am adaptable to any situation.  Now, i am rambling.  I am still amazed the Lady just turned a year old and I question why she was born on Christmas Day, and at the same time I know she was born Christmas because it is truly my most relaxed day of the year.  I had time to create the Lady. 

I am feeling better now and even while I was sick I have been taking so many pics and I have so many stories to share amongst each of my blogs.  Wait til you see how many new feathers Tweak has!  Hubby still won't share his sausage recipe but I have wonderful pics of him and the boys making presents for their families.

It has been a wonderful year, and now I am ready for a Wonderful Life!!!  This is going to be my year to grow into something special and beautiful!!!

        

Yep, I checked the date since my last post and it's been too long.  What's worse is I've been sick (and could feel better tonight) the entire time.  I even ventured to the doctor and about $300 later I've still had this crud for three weeks.  Yeah, the $300 was after insurance saved me....  I'm not sure what it saved me but it would've cost me more without it.  Sucks.

So, Saturday I decided I was going to feel better regardless of how I really felt.  We went out and got a tree, some new lights, and made the kids stand it and add lights.  The ornaments probably won't make it on until this coming weekend but I finally got the presents off my dining table and under a lighted tree.  I look at it and smile.  Then another coughing fit will strike and I feel like crap again.  The docs prognosis was the flu and bronchitis.  They both seem to linger on forever.

This really is my favorite holiday.  I love the sharing and giving spirit that comes to most people this time of year.  It makes me smile to see happy people.  I still don't want to be close to them - people give me panic attacks - but I like imagining they all have happy lives.  I want to forget that factories are closing and the lady in front of me at the Dollar Tree who spent $68 on toys did so cuz they were stocking stuffers and not everything she could afford.  Want to know the strangest part of this being my favorite holiday?  I'm atheist. LOL!  I love the tree, the cold, the smiles on my kids faces when they open their gifts.  I don't celebrate the birth of Christ (and I will capitalize that out of respect for those of you who do), I celebrate giving and caring and sharing with loved ones and friends.

I am hoping to blog more than I have lately.  I have so much to share from my vacation and just life in general!  I have missed the words and the release they give my soul.

        

I hate being sick.  About 2 days after we got home from Myrtle Beach hubby came down with a cold.  Three days later I got it and have felt like crap ever since.  I haven't been blogging, only twittering a little bit, and even called in sick to work one day.  I hate calling in to work.  I hate being sick. 

 

        

Fuel is now $1.759 per gallon here in Georgia.  Just a week ago I paid the above price of $2.089.  I'm not complaining; by NO MEANS,  do I dare complain.  I am wondering how low it will go.  I also wonder wtf is driving the price so low.  What has changed in the last year to drive regular gasoline to it's lowest price in years?  Better yet, why is diesel, a by-product of producing regular gasoline, still more than $1 more per gallon???  Grocery prices haven't dropped.  They won't drop until diesel drops.  Don't for one minute think that because it costs you less to fill your tank that it is costing trucking companies less to deliver groceries to wherever it is you shop.  Diesel has ALWAYS been lower than regular fuel for our cars.  I can only surmise that the price of fuel has been a great conspiracy and a damn good one at that.  We must have fuel to get to work, to get to wherever we need to go and we WILL pay whatever price is demanded.  We might reduce unnecessary trips and other expenses as we force our lifestyle to fit into this new economy.  Then again, maybe there isn't unnecessary travel we can cut from our daily lives.

What if?  What if we must run away on vacation to escape our real world.  What if?  What if the price of fuel doesn't drop and we don't buy anything for Christmas?  What if?  What if we have maxed out our credit cards (I don't have any; but, I'm sure some of you do) paying for fuel over the last year we can't afford Thanksgiving dinner?  Christmas dinner?  Let alone Christmas gifts?

I have never been one to believe in government conspiracies but I have to say the fuel prices have me wondering WAY too many what ifs in my future.  I can tell you my what ifs.  If fuel doubles in price tomorrow, being what it was most of the summer, I won't be buying anything.  The economy will fail.  Not because I can't buy anything - because none of us who work can afford to buy anything.  We have to work to pay the bills and feed our families.  There is no "high cost of gasoline" bailout in our future.  Likewise, no "you've worked your ass off and paid taxes to support the world so let me give you a monetary kick back" bailout.  There is no bailout for us, the suffering desperately from the economic failure.  We just get to pick up the pieces of our lives we have left and make the best of it.  All the while hoping fuel doesn't rise so high we can't afford to go to work to bail out all the companies who needed us at the helm to make sensible decisions to avoid this crises.  JMHO.  Nothing like the price of fuel to humble the working person.

        

Facial hair is now a fact of life and not one I am very happy about either.  So, since I am on vacation, I decided to try Veet on my, (i can't believe i am admitting this), on my ever sprouting moustache, chin hair and stray neck hairs.  Seems I left it on my moustache area just a little too long and now it's a wee bit tender.  Oh, don't get me wrong, it worked like a charm, but once you dunk your head into a pool filled with chlorine - OUCH!!!  And of course, that wasn't sadist enough for me, nope, let's go sit in sun for a bit.  Yeah, I won't be doing that again and I really don't advise you do either

        

T'was The Night Before Election

T'was the night before elections
and all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down
 
I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.
 
When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys
 
They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!
 
He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink
 
He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!
 
On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi'
He screamed at the pairs!
 
They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!
 
So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

~~~author unknown


I voted McCain and I will stand by that decision.  I have no care to spread my wealth - I worked for it and dammit, it's mine.  I'm tired of being taxed to death and I'm tired of everybody wanting a piece of what I work my ass off for.  I worked for it and it's mine, mine I tell you!  Mine!

OK, I feel better now

        

        

Why is it that some people feel the need to display their affection in public?  While dining?  We're sitting at a table, in a brightly lit restaurant, and the couple across the room were rubbing each on the back and legs and I felt like saying "Get a ROOM!".  

Maybe I would've felt slightly different if it was a romantic restaurant, with dim lighting, the kind of place people propose marriage because it is so romantic.  No, this was a sports bar!

My husband and I have been married for 22 years and we don't feel the need to have foreplay in public places.  If we're celebrating an anniversary or something special we might go out to a romantic place for dinner where the lights are dim and children aren't typically around.  Even then we aren't making out with each other; or, feeling each other up (over and under the table) like this couple was.

This wasn't a teenage couple either.  It was two women in their mid fifties.  They were definitely old enough to know better than to act like a couple of horny teenage kids in public.  Anyhow, that's my two cents for today.