I love my husband

MrPea loves to upgrade our electronics. We have houseful of gadgets that he loves. He recently bought a new laptop. I could never get as excited about a wireless this or that, no matter what the hell it can do, as much as I can get excited over a hot pair of shoes. I'm always complaining about the wires and get irritated when I have a hard time figuring out to use something.("Why doesn't anyone ever invent a gadget that you don't have to 'learn'?!? Why can't we just press the on button?!? I feel like I've just bought a new problem not a new tv! How many wires does a person need??!! " can be heard at any time of the day in our house)

Now having said that, MrPea, the technology addict also just bought himself a new BluRay Dvd thing that I'll admit is wonderful. It connects with the Netflix website and we can watch some of the movies immediately(using the new laptop). Oh the joy that is Netflix! We've been watching French movies all weekend which is good for both of us because he can watch all the stuff he's missed out on in his first language and Ican learn new words.

We go through the same routine when it comes to buying new stuff, and I've posted about this before but not in detail. Take the new laptop for example-- Since we've moved, our computer is downstairs. Our old place was much smaller and all one floor so the only room for a computer desk was in our bedroom. This worked out well because I go to sleep earlier than he does so we were still "together" even if I was sleeping and he was staying up watching tv, doing work or whatever. He wanted a laptop to bring upstairs so we could still be "together". But this is how he'll tell me he wants one:

Him: "Don't you think we should get you a laptop? It would be a good idea because then you could use it upstairs whenever you wanted."

~It always starts out being for ME even though he knows I have ZERO desire to add another electronic device to this house.~

I'll say: "Not really, what do I need one for when we already have one. It's just the 2 of us."

Him: "Well you know, it would be more convenient for you. What if I'm using this one and you need it?"

Me: "um..I could just wait."

Him: "Well, you wanted a Kindle I thought. It's almost the same thing."

Me: "Not really. And I don't really want a Kindle. OMIGOSH more wires? Are you kidding me, I'm already sick of all the wires around here. Like I want more."


Him: "So...you wouldn't love to have a nice new laptop? WIRELESS?"

Me:----- smiling in silence -----

Him: "I'm sure I heard you say you wanted one. I've been looking on Amazon so I could find one for you. I found a couple of nice ones. Let's go to Best Buy and check it out in person."

Me: " I don't want to go to Best Buy. I hate Best Buy."

Him: "I really think it would be good for you. And so convenient. You really don't want one? I think you do want one. I can get you one if you show me which one you like."

Me: "No. I promise I don't want a new one. But if you wanted one for yourself, just get one. Go for it, make yourself happy."

Him: "Maybe I should get you one anyway. Yeah, I might as well just go ahead and get one for you. You'll love it. You'll see."




So he bought one and he's as happy as happy can be with it while I have yet to touch it. It always goes this way. It always starts out being FOR ME when he knows I'd rather pull out all my hair than shop for any of that stuff. He's like a 3 year old who wants ice cream but won't just come out and say he wants ice cream. I'm not controlling, he doesn't need to come to me for permission to buy things and vice versa.

But if I don't go a long with it, I'll be in that same conversation at least twice a week. I think it's easier for him to justify spending the money if it's for me because in his mind, he would never deny me anything, I'm his wife. Buying something for himself is hard though. When I need a new pair of suede boots, if I have the money, I just go get them-- I don't pretend he needs them.... can you imagine that conversation?


Omigosh-NO joke, just now, from the kitchen he said, "Do you want a scooter? It would be so fun for you this summer."

MrPea and I went out for dinner tonight. We looked around and realized we were the only ones in the restaurant without white hair. (Welcome to Florida!) There was a table of women sitting near us and they were celebrating a birthday. She was 100.


The other night at my Book Club meeting, the conversation turned political. I got a little tense because there were about 15-20 people in the room so I was imagining the night would probably not end well. Luckily I was wrong. It was the first time I was ever in a room of people discussing politics with voices of disagreement that things didn't get ugly. There were very strong opinions and emotions but no disrespect. There was even a little teasing and giggling when the topic changed. (I realize this is a very boring paragraph but I had to write about it because) I was really shocked when it didn't turn into an "I hate you Festival." It was a conversation I wish we could all be having wherein each party had something intelligent and thoughtful to say instead of the name calling, finger pointing and accusations that seem to be popular(from both sides) right now. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the fact that I was automatically expecting a huge fire.


Now I have to do a complete turn around and do the exact opposite of what I was so happy about the other night. I know I know I can't help it I just have to. So speaking of finger pointing I have to say something about Facebook. I was probably the last person on Earth to get a Facebook page. I never did Myspace for reasons that another post would explain. And so far I'm not too eager to get a Twitter account just yet because I'm not so sure that the every 5 minute details of my life are exciting enough. Nor do I feel the need to know what everyone else on the internets are doing every 5 minutes of their lives. (I'm open to the possibility though, just not right now.) However, last year my sister got on Facebook and after months of convincing, I finally broke down and got on myself. I don't really post very often. Mostly I like to see what everyone else is posting and I like looking at pictures of long lost friends and their kids. But lately I've been avoiding it because of how angry and puritanical certain old friends seem to be. I didn't get on so I could have someone else's politics and religion shoved in my face every 5 minutes. Tell me about your life, your kids, your accomplishments. If I want to know your beliefs, chances are I've already asked you. I had to hide a good friend's updates because it was so full of "Repent now- all you sinners will go to hell" posts, I felt like I was in a fire and brimstone, burn all the witches flashback. I love a good scripture verse or a thought provoking theological news article. But if I have memories AND pictures of you in a skimpy bikini shaking your ass at a Holiday Inn Spring Break "Shake What Your Momma Gave You" contest, I really don't want to hear how much better and holier you are than the rest of us heathens just because you go to church now. If you feel guilty about something, work it out on your own. I'm sure it's all part of the repenting and the posts about the devil but using the "devil took over and made me do it but now I'm a REAL Christian as apposed to you fake ones " is no excuse for thinking now it's ok judge everyone else. Think I'm being judgemental? Maybe I am, I'm not perfect. But I'd rather study and share my bible than shove it in some one's face. (Cue me stepping off my soapbox and kicking it)

Mr.Pea

I don't mention him much because, and this is a good thing but, I'm still one of those wives who, after 12+ years can still gush like an obnoxious teenager in love and it probably comes off as sappy if I really get started. I would just get on your nerves, trust me. But since I never post about him and I feel like posting a few things, so dammit I'm going to. In list form.

~Even though we got engaged in December and married in March, in my true heart I consider November 5th our real anniversary. Here's why-- he told me on November 5, 1996 to remember that day for the rest of my life even if I never saw him again and to remember this advice: "never let anyone take advantage, treat you badly, or take you for granted, even me- especially me, because you deserve happiness." You can imagine the kind of jerks I had dated up to that point because that was the first time a man other than my father had ever said that to me. I knew he was the one.

~ The summer before I met him I was severely under weight and constantly sick with sinus infections, brochitus, flus stuff like that. My doctor was concerned that I had an eating disorder and told me to gain 15 pounds and start eliminating whatever stress was in my life that was causing me to lose so much weight. So I did and I really did get better. Fast forward a few months of me being healthy again and in a serious relationship with my then future husband. I confided in him about how self conscience I was about my very necessary weight gain and he said(with his French accent mind you),"What are you talking about? I don't like a too skinny girrrl. I like belly on girrrl. Gain more weight then. Let's go eat right now." Why am giggling writing this? See I told you...sapsapsap (By the way I don't truly know if what I was going through was a "textbook" eating disorder because I did research and none of the symptoms really fit me except for the fact that I was severely underweight. To this day I don't know what that was. Stress maybe? Who knows! Once I gained the weight, I stopped getting all those sinus infections so I kept the weight on and decided to just be healthy.)

~ For about a year and half he worked in California during the week and flew home for the weekends. One day he called and pretended that, for some reason, just realised he didn't remember how small my feet were and was "just wondering what size they were" for no specific reason. You get where this is going? That's how bad of a liar he is. He brought home two pairs of shoes for me as a "just cuz" gift. This was almost 10 years ago and I still have them. His taste is that good. I mean he bought me these last Christmas. And you see, it's not like the gifts were just because we were still newlyweds, he's still like that.

~ When I was "fresh out of surgery" I was having a really hard time. I won't go into the details since over the past couple years I've talked about all the complications so blahblah I had a really horrible surgery to remove cancer with horrible complications blahblahblah. My heart rate was too high and I was in and out of conscience. The thing I remember the most was him holding on to one of my fingers. I was somewhat aware of it and in my drugged state, I felt that his holding onto my finger was the only thing that was keeping me from falling off the Earth. Obviously he didn't know it at the time but he told me later that he held on to my finger for so long because every time he let go, my heart rate would go back up.

~ He never acts jealous. PERIOD. This is such a PLUS because I hate people who act jealous and I would not be in a relationship with someone who didn't allow me to breathe. PERIOD. I could come home and say, "I'm sorry I'm so late but there was this monkey in the road who needed my help so I had to drive him to the store and buy him some Hershey's kisses for his friend the sea lion who lives in that purple shack downtown and we had to go pick him up too because the fish from Utah were in jail so naturally we had to go bail them out before we headed to the strawberry parade. " And he would say,"Omigosh are you ok? Sit down a bit then, you're probably tired."

~ This is going to sound silly for a second but go with me on this one. There's this line in a Al Pacino movie from a while back ago. It's a football movie, I think by Oliver Stone. It's not my favorite movie AT ALL, I'm not really a "football girl." But it's my favorite line because in the movie Al Pacino plays a football coach and he's trying to convince his quarterback, who's been injured and is now ok to play but is really scared to play again. The player says to him,"I'm scared coach." And Al Pacino says something like,"You can do it. Come on we can do it. Me and you. ME. AND. YOU." Anytime there's an uncertainty be it sickness, economic, anything, everything,whatever---that's what I think about when something comes up. That line.
ME. AND. YOU. And that's they way it will always be. Or I think it's You and me, but you get the point......

So I finally figured out how to upload pix from my new camera

Sorry I've been away so long. It took me a while to readjust after coming home. Peanut had an eye infection so I had to take him to the doctor. I was also trying to learn how to use my camera a bit more. Anyway, here are a few pix:


This was the view from our balcony. Not bad huh? See how there was a waterway between us and the beach? The coolest thing about it was this was all protected so you have to walk through all that via a half mile long walk way. Or you could take the golf cart shuttle the hotel provided but I prefered to walk...more on that later.

This is what it looks like when you actually get there. What I like best about this beach is that there were only a few people there! If you look closely you'll see where sea turtle nests have been marked for protection and you know I was happy about that. This was the view looking north.

Just cuz I like things nicely balanced, this was the view looking to the south. And again my favorite thing about this beach was that it was empty. Some people don't mind crowds and noise on the beach but I like the quiet.

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This is the walkway I mentioned. It was aproximatly 3/5ths of a mile or .6mile through a mangrove forest and over a bridge but I'll have to show you that later. The bottom is made of recycled material. It was slippery that day because there was a storm the night we arrived.

Mr.Pea prefered the golf cart shuttle but I made him walk that time because I wanted to take it all in. Does he look sad and pitiful to have such a bossy wife? Actually in the mornings, he slept in and I would wake up early and go walking. There were more than a few people jogging and power walking. To me this is even better than jogging on the beach. I find it absolutely impossible to jog on the beach. I just can't. I can't imagine walking around on a beach without looking for shark teeth, it would be a complete waste of time. Ok honestly, it would be torture.

I spotted this White Heron fishing when we got to the bridge so it was a good oppurtunity to practice my 'skills' with my new camera. I just realised I probably should taken a picture of the bridge to give ya'll a better idea but I wasn't thinking about this blog at the time....

This was the view(north) as we crossed the bridge and you can see someone had a good idea and brought a kayak. I would be too scared since I am absolutely certain there are sharks in that waterway and very possibly alligators. This is usually where young sharks live since it's safe. Actually we called waterways like this "shark nurseries" in my Marine Biology class. And if there are baby sharks in there, it mean Momma sharks are in there birthing them or whatever they call it. You know what I mean. I don't remember what time of year they do this but still, I know they're there. Waiting for my leg. I imagine I'm missing out on a lot of good teeth but I'll stay alive a little while longer thank you very much.

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Oh! And I almost forgot. If you click on this pic and look really close at the pink thing on the right, it's a flamingo! It was the only one I saw. I have more pix but I'll post them tomorow.

Again I have no title for this post but does it really need one? Does everything in the world need a title? I think not.

I finally got over what was the worst sinus infection I ever had. There's nothing worse than being sick when it's over 90 degrees outside. Normally I grin and bear it through something like that but this was really a nasty one. One day during the peak of the worst, I was in the middle of merely making a sandwich and got exhausted just from that. I won't go anywhere near anyone who even has barely a sniffle right now. MrPea's and my trip is coming up in a few days and it's been so long since we went away together, I don't want anything to ruin it.

I thought about posting a few more pix from my trip but I'm sure ya'll aren't interested as you can pretty much guess from my last post what my trip consisted of:two silly sisters and three little boys under their sometimes questionable influence. I'm hoping to try to get back up there around Halloween.

In the mean time, my birthday present(!) arrived early(Thank you MrPea, I couldn't be happier!) so I've been trying to learn all the bells and whistles. Eventually I'll get a strong zoom lens when I begin to figure out how it all works. The basic auto stuff was pretty self explanatory but I didn't know what the hell an aperture was or what a macro lens was for and what ISO stood for but I'm having fun with it. Peanut has been my study subject matter and I'm sure he'll be happy when I start pointing that camera towards something else.

Speaking of Peanut, he has an appointment tomorrow morning at a Pet Day Care since I have no one to take care of him while we're gone. We need to take a look at the place he'll be staying and I want to make sure that he'll be comfortable and well taken care of there. It will also be a good time for them to observe his behavior around other dogs so they'll know what to expect and what kind of dogs he's compatible with during playtime. He's not a fighter but sometimes a humper so hopefully they won't hold that against him. Our ex roommates had a Yorkie who easily put him in his place when he tried to put the moves on her so I'm sure he'll behave once he figures out that the ladies don't like to be treated the way he treats his 'bear'. My standard reply to people who get surprised over the fact that he is actually neutered is usually,"Well he is a man."

Just a few things before I leave on Sat

-I found a Power Ranger Tshirt size 5T. It's a size too big but I had to go on a damn oddessy to find it so that baby is going to have to just wear it anyway. I got souvenir tees for the older two but the little one said he likes Power Rangers so I had no choice. I went everywhere. Two different Targets-no Power Rangers. Walmart-nothing. Bealls-nope. Kohl's-uh uh. Kmart-nyet. Finally I broke down and went to the mall. Luckily, I found a Disney store and they had some. Crisis avoided. Go Power Rangers!

-The Disney Store. Um. Yeah. If you haven't had kids yet and were even contemplating the idea of pushing one out, don't go there. And for the record I feel sorry for/hold the utmost admiration for anyone who is so cursed as to have to bring a child there and doesn't end up in a straight jacket. The employees seem to know the inner demons that will be unleashed in kids upon stepping foot into that store and take advantage of it. I saw one following a poor mother around making all kinds of suggestions while the woman, who BTW was clearly on the verge of some kind of emotional breakdown, just said, "yes yes we'll get those honey," just so her kid would calm down. Yep. It's not going to be a destination for the Pea Family when I push one out. I said it. Write it down.

-The baby birds are gone. Should I be worried about that? I mean they were getting bigger and all but I can't believe they would be big enough to just fly away. Is it possible that the mother moved them to a different nest? Does that happen? Please don't say a cat got them. I mean I know it's a possibility but it would be hard for me to believe since no one in my building owns a cat and I doubt any stray would have found them. Plus I'll be heartbroken so I'll have to pretend they didn't like the noise and just moved. The nest is still there in perfect condition. I'm going to have to investigate. Their location was at the LadyNextDoorWhoHatesMe's front doorway so it's going to be hard for me to get some answers from her. I better not find out that she did something like complain about them living in her wreath.

-My trip(s)! My trip(s)! My nephews don't even know I'm coming. I don't know how my sister and I kept this secret for 3 weeks without slipping, but we have. I think she's planning to load them into the car by saying, it's a nice day, let's go for a drive. Oh man, they're all going to get pinched on the belly. One by one. MrPea's and my trip South was postponed until my birthday so I'll be home Wednesday instead of next Monday. I was dying to look for shark teeth down there, but I guess I can wait. I'll try to post while I'm gone but if I don't I hope everyone has a Great Independence day and a safe week.

Random Pix I forgot to show ya'll

Actually I did already post my cellcam version of this one a while back ago but I'm thinking about making a drawing of it to go with my shell in the hand drawing.

It was alive so of course I put it back in the water that day. I even stayed watching it for a long to time to make sure it didn't get pushed back onto the sand by the tide. I couldn't let it go without pausing to snap a picture of it's blue and peach side. I'm sure I've looked up the name in my field guide and forgot it's name but my field guide happens to be in the other room and I happen to be too lazy to get it.

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Look close.

Closer....see him now.

Yes it's a him, I checked. Unfortunately for him something had already made a meal out of his belly. His color pattern is really pretty and this will definitely make for a good drawing. I haven't decided to use pencils or watercolors for this one.

This is a Southern Toad that Peanut got into a fight with. I freaked out because he's ended up in the animal emergency hospital for getting into a fight with a poisonous toad in the past. So I took a picture of this one so I could identify it and make sure Peanut was not in any danger. He must have tasted really badly because Peanut spit him out right away and started shaking his mouth. Luckily for Peanut that was the only discomfort. MrPea was to blame since he was the one holding the leash(for both times.) His pattern is really pretty too but I'm not a big fan of bumps.

And, as promised here are the baby birds I have been admiring. As you can see the mother bird made a safe nest on a shell "welcome" wreathe. She was there all the time when the eggs were not hatched yet but now I never see her. I was beginning to worry but the chicks are getting bigger everyday so she must just be busy. Click for a closer look.

They are even bigger than this now- I checked on them this morning. I only counted 2 but I'm never close enough to really see because I don't want to scare them.

Last week while using a restaurant bathroom I noticed a very important communication. Take note of it peeps, you might need this information some day:"James is hot." "I agree." I'm not quite sure who this James is but if I find out, I'll let you guys know.

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And last but not least this was taken last night at 8:30. This is not my beach, it's been too HOTDAMN for me because the wind is still coming from the west. I wanted to look for shark teeth over here but for some reason, there aren't really any here. If the wind doesn't change before I leave on Saturday then I won't be able to look for any shark teeth until next week when low tide is in the evening so it won't be any fun. But the midsummer evening sky is pretty don't you think?

My Husband Meme

Someone sent this to me on Facebook a couple weeks ago and I figured I would do it now since my anniversary is on Saturday.


1.He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen?
Depends on what time of the day it is. Regular day hours during the week usually the news, sports, or shows we watch together-war,history documentaries, HBO series, stuff like that. Nightowl time, usually CNBC or real estate shows.

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
He never orders a salad but I would say vinaigrette depending on the restaurant on the rare occasion he gets one.

3. What is one food he doesn’t like?
Fish

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?
We don't really go to bars so I don't know um, Jack and coke?

5. Where did he go to high school?
in Quebec, Canada

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10 I think. I've never bought him shoes

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Does money count? He's not really a 'hobby' kind of guy. OH! I know electronic stuff.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
He's not really a sandwich kind of guy either. Maybe a French Dip, I guess.

9. What would your Husband eat every day if he could?
Pasta or Pizza, actually he does.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Honey nut Cheerios or Honeycombs

11. What would he never wear?
Oh he's picky about clothes like I am. When we go to the beach he's barefoot. I've never seen him wear flipflops, as much as he surfs-go figure. I'm pretty sure spandex goes without saying but I'll just put that out there too. He dresses good, I'll just leave it at that.

12. What is his favorite sports team?
College teams-Miami Hurricanes, Florida Gators

13. Who is his best friend?
That's such a highschool question! So I'll answer it with his Highschool
best friend: his name was Roger and he was troublemaker. Pronounced Ro-jay in French. Just say that name around my mother-in-law and she'll start rolling her eyes and thanking the Virgin Mary that they are no longer hanging out.

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
He says all the time that I'm too smiley and that's why I attract so many weirdoes but I don't think he would want me to stop being smiley. He thinks I'm too nice to people.

15. How many states has he lived in?
5-Florida, California, Louisiana, Colorado and Hawaii but he didn't grow up in the US obviously

16. What is his heritage?
French and his family name means "strong as a Turk" because his ancestors were crusade era warriors...I don't remember how I found this out but his dad was pretty pleased when I told them this.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind?
I'd rather bake him a pie. His mother's Brown Sugar Pie recipe is usually my go to for special occasions.

18. Did he play sports in high school?
No, he went to an all boys Catholic school and there were no sports in this school. But I think outside of school he played basketball and baseball...I think.

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Surfing.

This didn't ask me what my favorite thing about my husband was. One of my favorite things about him is the fact that he is secure in his masculinity. He's not concerned about whether certain things make him seem "manly enough" or not "manly enough". He's also not one of those types of guys who are embarrassed in front of his friends when it comes to his feelings for me. I can't stand guys who act one way in front of his friends and another alone because he doesn't want to be accused of being "whipped". Sounds highschool don't it? That's because it is, but there a lot of people out there who still behave that way and I'm glad I'm not married to one of them. I also appreciate the fact that he cares about his appearance even though I tease him about his vanity.


Feel free to tag yourself. Add Boyfriend if you're not married, no one will punish you :O)

My nook

I am not an organised person. MrPea is an organization freak. I'm a creative dreamer. He's an analytical thinker. Most creatives are kind of on the messy side. And most engineer types are pretty OCD when it comes to organizing. Do opposites really attract? In this marriage, yes.

It has taken me a long time to get my little work corner nice enough to actually do some work in. It started out like this when we first moved in:





Then somehow I figured out that I needed to clear some things away. As if this looks any better. Obviously this was still not a space conducive to creativity. Who in the world would want to sit there and work? Not I.

Finally, I have just the way it needs to be. MrPea bought me this on Valentine's day. Are you imagining all the masterpieces that will be created in this space? Eventually I will get a new desk but until then, I feel like I can sit there all day without getting irritated at the way everything is falling all over the place.

If only I could get him to clean up after me everyday. Is there a button for that?

Friday Round Up

I haven't been feeling well lately. I haven't been sleeping enough that's for sure. I'm sure that's why. But, even so, it's that time of year again. Well actually that time of year has past because for the millionth time, my doctor's office screwed up with my schedule and again my appointments are later than they were supposed to be. I'm not going to get into it because, it will put me in a bad mood so let's just stay on a positive note and I'll tell you guys that I was not a door mat about it this time. I was a squeaky wheel! So be proud of me, peeps. On the first week of February all my routine follow up cancer 'stuff' starts. I have to get these weird thyrogen injections to get me ready for a low dose radioactive iodine pill that will get me ready for a full body scan(sounds pretty sexy don't it?....it's not). The body scan day is a day of starvation again. It'll suck and I'll probably complain a lot so if you need to check out for that week, it won't hurt my feelings. I always do this stuff in the winter because I'm miserable in the winter anyway, so if I'm sick too then for some reason it's easier for me. I'd rather be sick and miserable in the winter than sick and stuck in the house in the spring and summer. Plus it makes the the winter time go faster for some reason because I have a goal. Are you laughing? I thought so. Welcome to my logic!

Last year's scan showed that there was still some bad tissues left over from the first time I had radiation so, as some of you may be loathe to remember(as I am), I ended up having to have radio-iodine treatment in the hospital again so I'm hoping this time will be a clean scan. My doctor says I should wait for two years of clean scans before I try to have a baby so I was hoping this year would count as year one.....But I won't cry this time around. What can I do, you know? Life isn't so bad for me as it is without a mini-me so I shouldn't get all depressed about it. It's not like being sad would speed up the process anyway. There was so much cancer the first time, I wouldn't be surprised if there was any left over. Or scared. Well maybe a little scared but not like before. And again, there's nothing to be afraid of, this is not the kind of cancer that is incurable, it's just a matter of not wanting to turn into a nuclear bomb because they can only give me so much radiation at a time and then wait for the tissues to disappear before checking to see if they got it all. I may be small but I've always been a scrappy little smurf. I'm not saying I don't complain like a pansy the whole time, but the gloves are always off when it comes to this stuff....

So that's that. On a more random note, ya'll, get this. I met a girl named Nefertiti yesterday. She was as beautiful as her name beholds. I said,"wow, is your mom into Egyptian history?" Her: "I don't know, do you know my mom?" I said," Well, because your name, you know." Her:"No, what about my name?" I said," You didn't know that you have the same name of an Egyptian queen? Are you joking with me?" Her,"I am? For real? How do you know this?" I said,"Doesn't everyone?" Her,"No, honestly I don't know what you're talking about, my grandma has the same name, we both call ourselves Neffie." I told her to look it up. She wasn't kidding, she didn't know and got really excited about it. I wasn't sure if I should be pissed off at how bad the schools are or surprised that i was the first one who noticed and said something. How in the world can you go 22 years with a name like that without *A*anyone telling you or *B* not learning that in basic highschool history?




AND! Check out one of my drawings I did with my new colored pencil that my MrPea gave me for Christmas. Not bad for not having used them in 15 years. I have to admit, I sort of cheated and used an art book to help me, but I didn't outline it and it wasn't a colored drawing, I just used the design as a guide. I bought the book to help me reaquaint myself with simple drawing because I've been painting and doing pottery but not so much drawing for so long and I missed the sign up deadline for classes. I took this with my cell phone so it's bad quality photo. Anyway, this is a little cutesy in comparison with what I like to do but it's not bad for a start. It's not finished here, obviously but I'll show you how it looks in it's frame when I get to it.

Joy to the world!

I know-I know ya'll. Christmas is over. But that's what I feel like every time I put my new favorite shoes on! I even wore them to church yesterday.(yes I occasionally go to church internets...)They don't look very churchy but ask me if I care. And yes they are hard to walk in but I do fine in high heels anyway. I've been wearing them since I was 4and got caught walking around in my mom's shoes. Officially though she started letting me wear heels when I was in the fifth grade. It was probably a mistake. We had a talent show at school and my friend Ann and I were dancing in it. Because the size of the cafeteria was not large enough to accommodate the whole school, there were 3 shows. The first and second show went off without a hitch. The third show however, is filed in the mortification section of my brain. So there I was in my silver miniskirt that my mom had sewn for me. It was actually a leftover part of my Halloween Costume that I was recycling as my talent show costume since the song we were dancing to had sort of a space-like sound, as so many really bad 80s pop songs did. My little partner had borrowed my sister's exact match silver mini so we were thinking we looked so damn cute. I had on some suede pale grey kitten heel pumps lined with rhinestones that I swore I saw Madonna wearing. By the middle of the song, everything was going great. I look over at Ann and she nods at me because we are ready to do our jumps in unison. First jump I heard a rip. No it was not me, it was Ann. She ripped the silver mini! Not enough to really get embarrassed over but 5th grade girls get embarrassed easily. She had a frozen look on her face and I realized she's about to bail so I felt like I had to save the day. I did my jump by myself and to my horror, my shoe flies off my right foot. Suddenly Ann starts laughing really hard(when she's supposed to be dancing not laughing at me!!) and sort of pretends to move towards me so that I can pretend I need to move towards her but really it's because I need to dance to where my shoe landed so I can put it back on. No one laughed at us, it's likely they thought it was part of the show but I was mortified.....

These shoes definitely make up for any embarrassing moment I ever had. And by the way don't make fun of my second toe, I'm sensitive about it. Really. And don't start with me animal people-it's faux snake skin ok. I don't have a problem wearing the skins of animals that I eat but I don't eat snakes so I won't wear them.

And since I'm on the topic of Christmas gifts I thought I would share with ya'll the fruit of another gift from MrPea. I had to take it with my cell cam because I'm still having a problem uploading with my regular cam. It's been a long time since I've used colored pencils, 14 years to be exact, so I'm pretty much learning from scratch all over again. I used a book to help me with this one. I'm still painting here and there but not as much as before because my easel is in storage until we move and my desk is too small.....at least with colored pencils, the supplies are more portable and I can work anywhere.

I'm finally over my nasty Christmas cold and was able to go the beach yesterday. I really shouldn't be out there in that cold, wet ,sea air but I can't help it. My find was nothing to brag about so I didn't even bother to take a picture. I did see what I'm pretty sure were Right Whales. This would be the time of year for them show up. I know I didn't mistake them for dolphins because there were dolphins too. The Right Whales were further off shore than the dolphins. I could see black tail fins and V-shaped blows. It was the first time I ever saw whales before so I was really happy. The dolphins were grey and playing really close to the shore, I'm guessing because the water was calm and it's too cold for anyone to swim so they had the water all to themselves. Who the hell needs Sea World?(Sea World still makes me cry anyway)

Random is as Random does

-I got an email inviting me to a high school reunion. My 15th year high school reunion. Well, well, well. It's pretty odd to get an invitation in October for an event that is going to happen in June but I suppose it;s like a wedding invite where you need to plan around. I'm feeling pretty indifferent about it since I already keep in touch with the people I had wanted to and frankly don't care one way or another to hear about the rest. High school was for me as with anyone, shitty most of the time with a few really great memories. I probably can't fit back into my cheerleader uniform but I was never a huge fan of the school colors anyway. I'm not going to go and I'm not exactly sure why I should feel bad about it since everyone I've told about it says,"No! No! You should really go." It's not so much that I'm LOATHE to go, it's just I don't see the point, there's not going to be anyone there I'm dying to see and since I moved back here, I run into just about everybody anyway. Do you disagree?



-Confession: I accidentally ran over some one's newly paved driveway the other day on my bicycle. Really though, not much harm done because the pave guy(I don't know what the job title was but he was nice to me) was able to fix it since it wasn't completely dry. Still though, I felt bad about it. Absolve me Internets.


-Um. Last week while I was looking for shark teeth, this guy came up to me bragging about his find. That was fine. But when he started with his lectures and instructions about how wrong I'm going about it I had to shut him down by reaching into my pouch pocket. My smallest one was bigger than his biggest one. Does size matter? Absolutely when you've got some jerk in your face telling you what to do and talking out of his ass. I hate when men do that to me, actually everyone does this to me. Just because I'm small and smiley, I must be stupid and in need of guidance. I wrote about this before, small people of the world, you know what I'm talking about. You guys know my shark teeth prowess, I don't need to tell you guys about it.

-Speaking of shark teeth hunting, I wonder how I must look to people who may happen to look out the window and spot me. Big floppy hat, green bathing suit, pink flip flops. Yellow pouch worn sideways that my husband makes fun and says makes me look like a crossing guard. Eyes furtively looking around, head down, shoulders crunched, staggering like a drunk person, gleefully giggling with every find and quickly putting in my bag before anyone sees because I'm stingy like that. Oh and don't forget my pepper spray conspicuously clipped to my bag so as to warn Psychoman if he decides to try it. Or do I look like Psychoman?


-The other day my sister said this to me:

Her: My gawd! You went to the beach again? What the hell, Angel how many shark teeth do you need?

Me: Wellll, it's just that.....low tide was at 1.... and ...and... and the North wind is picking up so I thought...

~~~pause~~~~(defiantly) well guess what?! I'm going again tomorrow!

Her: You're going to drive yourself blind girl. You need to calm down.

Me: SO?!

Her: Didn't you just go Monday? What do you do with all those shark teeth- put them in a damn bowl and sit there whispering,"mine mine all mine?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LONG PAUSE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Me: SO!!!!?


Yeah. It's that important to me.

Losing it at the hospital is apparently my thing warning-to-easily-grossed-out-by-girly-things-men, this post contains the words 'tampon' and 'period'

-I almost slapped someone at the hospital where MrPea had his surgery the other day. Mind you, if you had been told to arrive at 7:30AM only to wait 7 hours before your husband's procedure started, forced to sit in the Cardio-Vascular waiting room full of right wing crazy people peeing in their pants watching Faux News crying out "sexist" every five minutes for another 7 hours, been the last person in the waiting room with no one giving any information as to where your husband is and if he's even still alive at this point, gone on a damn Odyssey just to get coffee because the right wing crazy family HOGGED ALL THE DAMN COFFEE(!), only to go on another damn Odessy looking for tampons when you're finally reunited with your LaLaLand drugged up(but doing ok) husband you might just feel like slapping someone too. Oh but that's not the whole story regarding the tampons. Yes my friends, I had to go look for tampons. Not before hand feeding my poor husband who wasn't suppossed to get out of bed or sit up the rest of the night some hospital food chicken and Mac and cheese, going up and down to the first floor(we were originally on the 2nd, then they moved him to the 4th to recover)to give my brother the keys to our place so that he could take care of Peanut. It had been over 9 hours since he'd been out and it didn't look like MrPea was going to be able to go home. Oh but that's not just it. This hospital is a friggin Labrynth ok. On my Tampon trip, I got on the elevator and pushed 1, to go down to the main lobby where I saw a gift shop and pharmacy on my search for coffee. Did this elevator go to the first floor? NO. It went to 5th floor. I wasn't paying attention since at this point I was half zombied with the stress of the day. I got off and started wandering around. I wandered for about ten minutes in this hospital from hell before a nurse told me I was on the wrong floor. Fine. I get to the first damn floor. Guess what. Everything is closed. I went up to the information desk and asked if there were any vending machines that sold toiletries. The two women working there gave me a blank stare. Forget it. I went to a receiving area and asked the same question. The two women there were apparently in the middle of an inside joke. Giggling, they could not even get an answer out. Finally after about half a minute one of them said no. I said is there anywhere I can go to get a few things for my husband and also feminine things. Laughing again. One of them spit out in a really smartassed voice,"You can go to Walgreens....."bursting out in another round of laughter. OK Time stopped for just a second and I envisioned myself jumping over the counter panther style and slapping this women and her little hyena laughing friend. Of course they both outweighed me by at least 30 pounds and being taller than me, would definitely have a longer reach so it's a good thing I did not. I'm pretty sure they assumed the evil look on my face was attributed to my being on my period and not how irritated I was being laughed at and how early a damn hospital pharmacy closed.


-Oh but that's not the end of it. Giving up, I finally went back to my husband's floor stopping first in the ladies room to see if they had a vending machine. Bingo! They did. But quickly my relief turned into full fledged maniac fury when the machine stole my last two quarters and gave me zero tampons. I cannot confirm or deny beating the machine with my elbow or kicking it Karate style, even though I've never had Karate lessons....

-Back in my husband's hospital room I calmed down, put on a smiling face for him and asked his nurse how to get to my car. I remembered I always keep a few extras in the glove box. (There are 3 parking lots and I was confused about which elevator to use and which walkway) He took about ten minutes and gave me 3 different maze scenarios before seeing the confusion on my face and said,"Or you could just go to the first floor and walk outside to the next building behind the second garage." I said,"Well, it's dark outside right now, we're in (name of scary downtown neighborhood) and I'd like to not get murdered on the way to my car...." (I just wanted to get some freakin tampons ok?! )

-In the end I figured the way out by myself and was able to retrieve the damn tampons. Did I learn any lessons? NO. Know why? BECAUSE MAYBE I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT EXTRA DAMN TAMPONS IF I HADN'T BEEN TOLD TO COME IN AT 7 DAMN 30 IN THE MORNING FOR A 2 HOUR PROCEDURE WITH A HIGH POSSIBILITY OF MY HUSBAND GOING HOME.... That's why. Or you can just blame my bad temper on my period, whatevs.

My Sweetheart's Heart

No news is NOT good news but at least I have some news. After all the tests my husband has what appears to be a healthy heart. But while he was in the hospital a dangerously low resting heart rate was detected which may explain what happened. Hopefully a good cardiologist and who ever else we need to see can answer the hows, whys, and what do we need to dos. For the sake of Mr.Pea's privacy and my anxiety, I won't talk about it too much after today. Normalcy is what we both want so I have promised him and myself that I will keep my dark fears to a minimum and return to my sunny side up self.

(But can I just tell you guys, that I feel even more anxiety now that he's home than I did while he was in the hospital. I didn't think a higher level than what I was experiencing was even possible but apparently my anxiety knows no bounds when I'm worried about someone. I'm sure that it's a release of some kind because the whole time I was trying to stay calm and hold it all together which is what I tend to do during a crisis. Now that he's home, the rest of my repressed nerves picked up some hammers and started banging my system. I think I have a healthy attitude about it though, I'm sort of just letting it happen because I know it will abate after a little while. Exercise helps a lot and today we got in some good beach time. Luckily MrPea is on vacation this week so we'll spend some good time together. Ok I won't say anymore about it...)

I want to say thanks to everyone who left a kind word for me and private emails. You internets are so nice...I luveth ya'll...expect some more vis'tin from me soon.


Oh and on another upbeat note. Peanut(canine member of the "Sick" family) had his follow up appointment today and Doc says he gets a clean bill of health. Finally!

When the table turns

I've had the most exhausting two days. My Mr.Pea may or may not have had a heart attack Saturday. We went to the hospital at 3AM yesterday when he woke me up because he was feeling chest pressure,pain in his left arm, and couldn't breathe. He's been there ever since and as anyone can imagine, I haven't had much sleep. They've been performing several tests and hopefully, we'll get some answers this evening. Actually every test they've given him has turned up healthy but with his family history and the symptoms, all arrows point in a direction I don't even want to think about. The words to describe how I feel right now don't exist.

I can handle and kick my cancer's ass. I can go to the hospital and put up with radiation, all those f-ing pills,and being poked and examined. But it's different when it's someone close to me with a possibility of having a worse condition. My husband. Who never gets sick. Who always has a better heart rate than me and I exercise everyday! Who surfs 7 hours straight no problem. Who never even sweats when it's 97 degrees outside. Never goes to the doctor, never even gets a damn stomach ache. Seeing him in a hospital gown and all those wires....I can't even finish that sentence.

He says he's ok and doesn't even feel bad anymore. Laughs at me when I start crying. Wants to come home. He's not even acting sick. Still though, it's been hard and I'm just trying to keep it together and stay positive.

I'm ok with the Random

*That new med made me nauseous last week. Everything was gross. Food was gross. Trees were gross. The sun was gross. Rain, also gross. Watching tv, gross. The vultures outside, gross. The car, gross. Even Peanut was gross. But this week is better. Peanut is off the gross list. Actually he has a doctor appointment today and I'll be feeling sorry for him because of the invasive things they'll be doing to his derrière. But he doesn't want me to talk about that.

*A lot of people made fun of me in high school for taking French not Spanish. "When the hell are you ever gonna need that? People here speak Spanish, dumbass!" They said. Well jackasses, if you read here, and I know a few of you are, I use it all the damn time and none of ya'll even remember one friggin Spanish word. So sit down!

*Sometimes my husband will do something and I'll think to myself, I have the best damn husband on Earth. Like lately he's been turning on the heating pad my Grandma bought me and putting it on my side of the bed under the blankets. He knows how sensitive I am to temperatures now. So when I go to bed, my side of the bed is warm. It's these little things that keep me from screaming at him when he splashes water all over the sink and 'forgets' to clean it up.

*Speaking of sinks, we have separate bathrooms. This is the key to a healthy marriage, I am convinced of this. I use the master bath because it has a bigger closet. We don't use the master bedroom connected to the master bath because I hated the tiny window in that room when we moved in. So we sleep in the smaller room with the big eastern window and I trod, or I should say stagger every morning across the living room to my bathroom and closet to wash up and get dressed. And since I'm on the topic of closets and healthy marriages, I have to say that separate closets are also essential. At least, in my marriage they are. He can splash to his heart's content all over his bathroom and I don't have to look at it. And I can fill my closet with all kinds of shoes and be as disorganized as I like and we don't have to argue over closet space. We're closing in on our 11th anniversary(in March)so I think I may be onto something....

*And since I'm also on the topic of my upcoming anniversary, a snowbird lady I talk to sometimes who didn't know I was married said to me when I told her about my anniversary ,"Damn girl, you musta' been born married! Girls in the south still get married too damn young? You southerners, I swear!" I was 20, not 12. 20 is a bit young but still though there's a difference. And anyway, I'm not from the south. I just grew up here so I'm a southerner by preference. He's not my cousin for crying out loud. So I don't know what all the shock was about.

Sweet Nothing

It's ass freezing cold out and the wind is making all those cool scary noises that I love so much. There's a fire in the fireplace, home-made soup heating on the oven, fresh coffee(pinch of sugar lots of cream!) and a sleeping dog warming my feet. I have so much leftover food from yesterday's feast, I don't have to do anything for dinner. In fact everything I wanted to do today is done, so I don't have to do anything at all. Life is goooood....According to the label on the candle, my home is supposed to smell like The Sea of Amalphi but I've never been there so how the hell would I know?

Remember this guy? He must have told all his friends about our hospitality because we had a Christmas visitor.


I haven't heard from my doctor about my scan results. I'll call around Friday if I haven't heard from her yet. But I imagine if there was something urgent to tell, they would have told me by now. Actually on my last day, the tech who was in charge of my scan was nice enough to show me my scans and(knocking on wood) it looked fine.

But I have to brag about my husband for just a second!! Oh gush! Oh swoon! On the first day of my scan I walked out of the hospital after lying still for three and half hours. I was feeling a little stiff from not being allowed to move, not even to itch my own damn nose- and boy was that mind over matter. Little did I know that someone went shopping for me. Look what my Mr.Pea had waiting for me. Joy! Joy!

My husband married a woman who is not impressed nor desires jewelry, perfume or flowers and prefers books as gifts instead. It must be confusing for him because it's taken almost 11 years to figure that out....better late than never. And what better way to spend a cold day inside relaxing by the fire than with some new books? I'm so loving that field guide...and I'm sure I've seen him taking a peek or two at some photos of beautiful Egyptian queen carvings. Should I be jealous?

Happy Thanksgiving!

And anyone who doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday.

I haven't been around much. It's not that I've been busy. It's that SOMEONE who lives here, not Peanut, has been working from home and is hogging the computer.....

It's the simple things I love so much LIST

I'm feeling a little like a spending machine since I've been shopping so much for badly needed winter clothes(I'm pretty much done except I need some warm shoes, in case anyone who loves clothes wanted to know:O) ). I wanted to write down some things I love more than 'stuff' and don't cost a fortune. In no particular order:


-Ice cold Chocolate Milk

-Wind

-Feet buried in the sand

-Freshly changed linens and shaved legs

-Clean hair. It is the solution to every problem. Depressed? Wash the hair. Feel sick? Wash the hair, and so on and so on. I'm not sure how it works but for me it does work. sort of.

-Sound of rain and (eek, sorry Peanut) THUNDER

-Homemade Mac-and-cheese. Yes, I cook. dammit

-The smell of coffee. Need I even go on?

-Used book stores(ok I spend money in these places but never more than a few dollars so it doesn't count....plus it's recycling...well it's my damn list and I say it stays)

-The crunch-crunch-crunch sound snow makes under rubber boots(I won't be getting any of that since the last time I saw snow in Florida was when I was 16)...(I am 31, in case anyone wanted to know)

-The deep breathe I take when I finish a painting

-The sound of my MIL laughing at my jokes because it means my French made sense

-Pinching earlobes. Mostly Mr.Pea's but whoever's available. I've been known to sneak up on a nephew or two and pinch their earlobes as well.

-The song a white-throated sparrow makes. I only ever heard them in Canada and I didn't know what they were called so I called them,"Les oiseaux qui chantent la chanson triste" which means,"The birds who sing a sad song." It didn't make me sad though, it made me happy. I must be missing Quebec.

-The blue color of the sky when the sun has gone down, no matter how many times I try, I can never capture it on canvass. Never.

-A book/movie that's so good, I'm still wondering about the characters after it's over.

-The 'stampede' noise from Peanut's feet when he's happy about something

-A handkerchief my beloved Grandpa gave me when I started crying at my sister's wedding. It still smells like him.

-A blue clay owl I made in kindergarten. It is one thing I would grab if my home were on fire.(besides my husband and my dog of course....you knew that right?)

-Cherry flavored Jolly Ranchers


That's enough for now. What do you treasure, dear readers?

Saturday Random

-I saw that documentary everyone (on both sides) was freaking out about a few months ago, Jesus Camp last night. It didn't creep me out as much as I was told it would but I have to admit, I was pretty disturbed. And I was raised in a strict, religious home. I'd like to see the makers of this film catch up with these kids in 10 or 15 years and see if they still feel the way they do.

-Mr.Pea and I sometimes fight over who loves Peanut more, me or him. He lets Peanut walk all over him, gives him food from his plate, warms up his blanket in the dryer, and pretty much gives Peanut whatever he wants so he thinks he loves Peanut more. I'm the one who (badly)trained him, takes him to the doctor, makes sure he takes his meds and gets plenty of exercise, plus I'm the one who gives him his bath so it has to be me. But the real argument is, who does Peanut love more?

-Speaking of Peanut, sometimes if he asks for a treat, the one I give him isn't good enough for him. Like he wanted the chicken treat and I gave him a milkbone. He'll turn his face away as if disgusted and shocked I would even think of giving him such an inferior snack. So I'll just say," Oh you don't want it? OK I'll give it to [Mr.Pea] then. Here [Mr.Pea], Peanut hates this so you can have it." Suddenly Peanut wants it.

-I used to think I would do really well on Survivor. I figure because of my size and the fact that I smile all the time, people always think I'm harmless. So no one would find me a threat and vote me off and I would run away with the million dollars. But since I've never even been camping before nor have I ever felt the desire to do so, made me think, hmm maybe not. I'm also a picky eater who thinks everything is gross so I would probably end up passing out from malnutrition after the first day. Plus besides cheerleading, I was never that good of an athlete. Since I've never seen them have any cheer challenges, I don't think any of my skills would come in handy. I noticed on the scenes for next week's show, they had some kind of 'wrestling each other' challenge. Nope, don't wrestle either. So it's just not going to happen. I'll have to make my million dollars another way.


-I'm starting to get my balcony "coffee ready." I'm still off the crack, I mean coffee, since it's still too hot for warm drinks but it's good to be prepared. There was a big, ugly satellite dish out there that drove me completely insane every time I looked at it, which was everyday since it was right in front of the sliding glass door. The guy that installed it did the most redneck job I've ever seen but that's another story. The point is, I moved it and put a hibiscus plant there instead. And since I've been bitching about the fact that winter is coming to doom us all, at least I have something to look forward to: coffee on the balcony in my favorite chair wrapped in a blanket....Hopefully the jerk downstairs won't be revving his loud obnoxious motorcycle for hours like he did last year always at the very time I'm out there.

-I ran into Humongous Toad again yesterday. This time he was hiding behind a wooden post. I feel bad, I probably scared him, taking all these pictures of, but I can't help it. I wonder what he's been eating or if he comes from a nuclear facility.