No thanks....

Sunday afternoon we had an appointment to see a condo for rent. Condo is just a glorified word for apartment, I'm not quite sure why people still get all excited over those kinds of words but, ok. Anyway, the lady showing it to us described it over the phone as spacious, immaculate, gourmet kitchen, sunny and honestly she used the word beachy at least 4 times. So she opens the door and the first thing I noticed was a smell. No it did not smell like dog, I have a dog. It smelled like spoilt milk. The "spacious" rooms could all fit into my living room and the "gourmet kitchen" was well.....let me put it this way. If you're reading this, stand up right now. Put both your arms out all the way. Spin around. That's how small it was. Yeah, it was beachy. Meaning you would want to spend all your time at the beach and not in this tiny, dirty, smallest kitchen in the world, overpriced condo.


Oh and by the way, she said it was on the first floor. It was not on the first floor, it was on the second floor.

I'm pretty sure I've already done this

But someone sent me these questions and told me to answer them. I'm in a 'follow the directions' type of mood so.....




1. Do you like blue cheese? hell no

2. Have you ever smoked? Yes what a junior high question! But not since I was 20, now I think it's disgusting.

3. Do you own a gun? This is a trick question....if I say no, all the psychos out there will know I don't have one....if I say yes, all the psychos out there will know I have one. That's about as much answer as I'll give.

4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Purplesaurus Rex but they stopped making it so then it was cherry.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? That they are disgusting.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Charlie Brown but it's not really a movie.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee in the winter, orange juice in the summer.

9. Can you do push ups? Yes but not that many.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I don't really care about jewelry that much but I guess it would be my pearl earrings my husband bought for me in Hawaii. They are kind of heavy and make my ears bleed sometimes because the posts are too big and I hardly ever wear earrings anymore. But they came in a red Cartier box with some official looking paper and I know big names appeal to his elitist tendencies so he was pretty happy to buy them for me.

11. Favorite hobby? reading, looking for shark teeth, still art....Hobby is such a weird word you know? I like doing stuff but I feel like an 92 year old using the word "hobby" for some reason. Let's just say I like doing "stuff" then.

12. Do you have A. D. D.? No....why am I giggling?

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? No

14. Middle name? Marie


15.. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? My feet are effing freezing. I don't feel like doing dishes. I need to exercise today.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water water water

17. Current worry? Economic meltdown banking crisis. Seriously. The fact that my husband works for a major bank should be all the reason I need to be in a state of worry.

18. Current hate right now? I already told you guys this but :The guy who lives downstairs is always revving his loud, obnoxious motorcycle all the damn time and especially every single time I decide to have a nice peaceful cup of coffee on my patio. And for reasons only known to him this noise needs last 20 minutes thus ruining my peaceful patio fun time. But hate is a strong word. I don't hate him, he just gets on my nerves. Hate...hate who/what do I hate? I hate carpet, there you go.

19. Favorite place to be? Looking for shark teeth. Canada's nice too. Miami's kind of fun.... now see this isn't good question for someone like me because I don't really have many favorites. If I like something, I just like it. And I don't put things in order of how much I like or don't like.

20. How did you bring in the new year? Kissing my husband.

21. Where would you like to go? Anywhere. Back to Hawaii I guess. OH I know. Remember when I told you guys about my Grandpa's plane being shot down in WW2 and he and his mates survived on an island for a long time with the help of the native people? I don't really have a desire to GO there but it would be nice to maybe say thank you for taking care of my good Papa to someone-anyone who may be old enough to remember. Yeah that would be pretty cool.

22. Name three people who will complete this: Whoever. Wants. To.


23. Do you own slippers? Yes but they have holes so I have to buy new ones.


22. What color shirt are you wearing? Cream

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Um. I don't know. Probably not, that sounds too 70s tacky for me. Do they still make those?

26. Can you whistle? Yes and when I first learned how I used to get on everyone in my family's nerves because I would just whistle all the time. I was 5 so....

27. Where are you now? In front of a computer of course!

28. Would you be a pirate? Well being as I'm not a big fan of pillaging and plundering, maybe not. The clothes and boots are kind of cute though.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Marvin Gaye is fun to sing in there but pretty much anything.

30. Favorite Girl's Name? I don't know yet

31. Favorite boy's name? I'm superstitious about names, I just am so I'll just say I don't know yet for this one too. Again with the favorites thing...

32. What is in your pocket right now? phone number for a real estate agent

33. Last thing that made you laugh? don't remember but it happens all the time Oh wait I remember but you guys are going to think I'm mean. Ok I'll tell you anyway: Last night me and Mr.Pea were watching House Hunters and we started making fun of the houses they were "hunting" for and the way one of the guys on the show was swinging his arms around. It's dumb I know but that's what I was laughing at. My husband has a smartass sense of humor that sometime rubs off on me.

34. What vehicle do you drive? SUV


35. Worst injury you've ever had? pulled leg muscle(knock on wood) oh yeah, does spider bite count?

36. Do you love where you live? Yes but there are different ways that answer can go like- do I like this area/town/state , yes. Do I like where I live as in structurally? That would be a not really.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2


No one is tagged and I feel lame for even doing this because I'm positive I did this before.

Who's laughing now?!!

I never leave home without a camera. This is something I get teased about a lot because I like taking pictures and I guess it gets pretty old hanging out with someone whose either constantly pausing to take a snap at any little silly thing or constantly in your face to take a snap of you. But I'm glad I do because:

Look who decided to grace my church parking lot with his presence this morning....

Can't see him? Click on this one. It's almost the time of year when I start seeing them here and there. Although it's a couple weeks early, I've read that they scout around this area for nesting during the month of March...or is it they start hatching in March? Ok I forgot. But it's usually the month of March I see them around, so this one's early for me. But my hospitality knows no bounds when it comes to critters such as these so I'm glad he's early, I hope he stays a long time, and I hope he told all of his Bald Eagle friends about how nice family friendly it is here and they all come and have lots of baby Bald Eagle chicks so I can have more sightings to brag about. Or at least have more chances to get a better shot once I get a better camera. I'm pleased to say that this is the third or fourth Bald Eagle I've seen so far this year and it's only February.

Oh I can't tell you how much I was wishing for a better camera with a good zoom when I saw him. But now no one can say how silly it is to need a camera 24/7. He was so beautiful. See!? I told ya'll Spring was knocking on my door. It's officially Spring for me when I start seeing them, no matter how cold it feels.

<

HA!

I got a call on Tuesday about my scan results and....drum roll please...it came out clean!! No cancer tumors, no funny tissues, nothing around my liver, nothing in my uterus. It's about damn time! This was my first clean scan since my surgery two years ago and I can't even express how happy I am not to have to do radiation again. Last year was the sickest I had ever been and I didn't want to do it again. So for this year at least, I can consider myself cancer-free. So you know what that means peeps.....if next year's scan is clean(and statistically, I have every reason to believe that it will be), I can have a baby. A fat bellied, bald headed, chubby cheeks baby. Ok but I'm not going to get all excited just yet. I'm just celebrating my very first clean cancer free scan and the fact that I don't have to have to take the scary radiation pill. I love good news. HAHA!

Anyway, moving on, the stress of it all has really sucked out all my creative energy as I'm sure ya'll understand. But Spring, merciful and beautiful Spring is knocking on my door. Actually it's not, really, but I'm so over Winter and so happy it's almost over, I'm already in a Spring/Summer state of mind. I would have bitched and complained last year but this year just feels different. The fact that it's almost over and I can smell it in the air and the birds are singing a little louder gives me an excuse to just pretend that the lingering cold is merely a fluke in my perpetual Summer. And although I can honestly say this was one of the coldest winters I ever spent in my part of Florida, strangely I can also say it was the easiest. Because in between the below freezing at night/scarves and gloves during the day days, there were a few 70-75 degree days that I was able to go look for shark teeth. And you guys already know that is my raison d'etre. Sort of. Winter did not yield me much in the way of teeth to be honest but that's ok. Who gets to do that in December and January? Me, so ya think I'm going to complain? No thanks.


We have renewed our efforts to find a new place. I'm already having nightmares about it because I hate moving. Last night I dreamt that our new place was actually the lair of a serial killing dentist. I won't go into details lest ya'll begin to wonder things about me but just remember this and you'll understand my anxiety: My 12th anniversary is in a couple weeks. And in these 12 years we have moved...pausing to count on fingers.....ok I stopped counting at 14 times. Um, yeah. But I can't take going up and down three flights of stairs all day anymore. I'm sure when this move happens the posts here will get rather interesting.

Oh my star

I wish I had all kinds of scandalous gossip to report but all I have for ya'll this week are dead things. Enjoy...

Walking on the beach this Monday I found this starfish that appeared to have lost it's arm and was in the process of growing another one before it met it's demise on my shore. Alive, it's color would have been a more purpley-bluish.

Yesterday I nearly stepped on this poor puffer fish. He was not as lucky as me apparently....

I wouldn't be smiling if I were him.


I've always thought these guys were cute, spikes and all so I was kinda sad to run into a dead one. He was bigger than any I'd ever seen before, of course the only ones I've ever seen alive were in salt water fish tanks.

Of course I could not end this post without showing off my finds. However I really don't have much to show off. Low tide is just right but maybe the ocean hasn't been rough enough. Because all I found this week were small teeth and sand tiger shark teeth.


I did find that pretty snail shell. I've mentioned before, I don't usually take those home because once my friend's little daughter took one home and noticed the next day there was a hermit crab living inside. I made sure that one was empty so rest assured ya'll. Yesterday was the first time I was able to wear shorts on the beach without freezing so I'm really not going to mope over how lame my finds this week were. BTW for anyone wondering and didn't see that particular post, we did return that hermit crab back to it's home....

Monday Blah(g)

Finished. I'm so loving that word right now. My day of starvation turned into 2 days of starvation. That did not go down so well. Friday I woke up prepared to not eat until about 8:30 because my body scan was scheduled at 5:30 and I was supposed to fast. Luckily(or so I thought) they asked me if I'd like to come in earlier so I went in at 3:30 and by that time my hands were shaking because I'm guessing my blood sugar was really low. About 20 minutes into the scan I asked if they thought I would need to come in on Saturday for more images and the tech said probably yes because there doesn't seem to be enough 'action' in my intestines. I said," That's because there's nothing in there ok!" I couldn't imagine not being able to eat for another day but she said I could have a light dinner and to come back at 11 the next day. That night, even though I had been able to eat a little, I was still so effing hungry. I couldn't sleep because I was imagining all the food I wished for. For some reason I was craving a really buttery baked potato or mashed potatoes, I was actually rehearsing in my brain what I would tell MrPea I wanted to eat as soon as I came out of the hospital. I was so bitchy the next morning. I mean, I know that there are starving people out there, I know this. So how is it that I could not manage a few hours without food? But let me tell you, I was in such a bad mood. To be honest, I was not only touchy, I was downright depressed. It's really strange to me now that it's over the kind of mood I was in. I almost went off on the poor receptionist who told me that the nuclear med department just called her and said they wouldnot be ready for me for 30 minutes. I sort of yelled at her and told her everyone in that hospital is crazy and stormed out. After sitting in the car with MrPea for 20 minutes, I felt bad so when I went back in I told her I was sorry for being so mean . But honestly, guys, imagine not having a decent meal in two days. A half hour schedule delay would seem like an eternity, especially since that would mean a half hour delay in your getting your damn potato you've been dreaming about all night. I had even snapped at the tech person the day before because she asked me to move my head so that they could get a side view image. So I moved. She said," Can you turn just a tiny but more?" I said," If I turn my head any further I'd have to be Linda Blair- Exorcist so can you just take the damn images already?" Ouch- feel bad about that too.....

Anyway, it was over quickly and they were nice enough to show me my images, although they couldn't make any official comments on them since I would have to wait for word from my doctor. I'm hoping that will be by the end of this week. I'm tentatively relieved because there didn't look like there was any tissues in my neck area compared to last year's images so I'll be crossing my fingers until I hear from doc. But I've always celebrated too early only to be kicked in the arse later so I'll just say that I'm glad, at least for now, to be FINISHED with all that crap for another year. AND yes I did order a big heaping plate of mashed potatoes with my tall club sandwich for lunch. I was able to catch up with my sleep this weekend so The Pea you heart is back to 100%.

AND the most beautiful thing to be able to say? I'm going to the beach today. Low tide hits just at the right hour. I don't even care that it's cold out. It's sunny and that's all I need right now.

So far so good this week

This is the week all my medical "stuff" is going down. I had my thyrogen injections on Monday and Tuesday. Both went well without any freakouts or major side effects. I did get head aches but it was probably more due to the lack of sleep I've been getting. Then yesterday morning I went in for my radio-iodine pill. This one has a low amount of radiation for tomorow's full body scan. I sort of have to starve myself tomorow since my appointment is at 5:30. But I made sure that I could use my ipod again this year otherwise I'll just go nuts laying there for three hours. Have you ever noticed you never feel itchy or fidgety until someone tells you not to itch or fidget? The second it starts my nose starts to run or get tickly and my back starts to itch and all I can do is think, mind over matter....mind over matter.....
Hopefully everything will come out clean and cancer free. If so it will be a real first since my surgery two years ago.

I'm too exhausted to be interesting right now. Tell me something funny.....