HNY

Happy New Year!!!

May 2007 be good to you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and enjoy!!! :-)

Well, That Was An Adventure...

What with all the Christmas rush, and my brother being in the hospital, I had forgotten to blog about our little Walmart adventure a couple of weeks ago...

The girls and I went grocery shopping that Saturday morning, as we usually do (though most times it's just me). The store was crazy busy, due to the holiday shopping, I guess - it's not usually that bad when I do my food shopping.

We were just about done, getting the last couple of things from the frozen aisles, when we smelled something that smelled just like burning hair. Eww. We looked around, but didn't see anyone looking too panicked about it, and couldn't see any smoke or anything, so we finished shopping & walked over to the registers. We usually use the Self-checkout lines, but when we got to those, there were 4 or 5 Walmart employees standing near them, looking at the top area of one of them. Still no smoke, but the smell was stronger there, so we weren't about to risk trying to use one.

We went to the other end of the registers, to one of the regular ones, & got in line. Right when we got up to where we could unload the cart & pay for our stuff, they started evacuating the store.
Damn. Soooo close. We had to leave the cart there while they cleared the store, so we went outside and waited. If it wasn't too long, I wasn't leaving without going back in for my stuff - after I had spent 2 hours shopping, because some of what we had gotten was Christmas presents.

They had us get all the way away from the building, so we sat in our car and waited, while the 3 firetrucks sat at the entrances to the store, and we watched the firefighters look for something to fight. They walked around on the roof, and looked into some areas that must have been access doors or something, and I'm sure some of them were inside the regular part of the store, checking it out.

After about 30 minutes, those of us who hadn't left were able to go back in & get our stuff. The cold food was still cold, so I didn't end up needing to swap anything out like I thought I might have to. The employees had to do a sweep of the store, and bring all the abandoned carts up to customer service. I bet they spent the rest of that day putting stuff back, too.

I have to say, as much as people rag on Walmart, the people working there handled the evacuation very well - they got it done quickly and safely once they knew it had to be done, and then got right back to work as soon as we were all allowed back in, and kept a decent attitude, even though they knew they were going to have a shitty afternoon picking up after all the people who had just left the carts full of stuff everywhere.

So that's our little adventure. I think I like regular boring days better. ;-p

Update - It Worked!!! Joey's Home!!!

A big thanks to all of you who sent good thoughts! It worked very well - not only did they move my brother out of ICU, but they released him! He is covered in aches & pains, and he has a lot of physical therapy stuff to do, but he's home. Yay!!!!!!!

They said that he's out of danger, and will heal over time. Now that the big (scary) injuries are out of the way, and he's off the heavy painkillers, he's finding that other stuff hurts, like his shoulder, which may have a torn muscle (I think he's going to a doc today to check that out).

So now he's got some work & some healing to do, but all in all, he's going to be okay. :-)

Prayers & Good Thoughts Requested

My brother Joey was in an accident last weekend. He's going to be okay, eventually, but right now he's in ICU, and could use a little good energy sent his way. He's not responding to treatment as quickly as they had hoped, apparently, and has only just been able to be taken off the respirator.

He bruised his lung, and may have pneumonia after being on the respirator for so long, but they can treat that. He also has a head injury. Not as bad as the one he had several years ago, but still a head injury. So right now he's on lots of pain medicine, and is of course being watched closely & having lots of tests and all. They're hoping to move him out of ICU soon, though, to a room, and then it's a day by day thing regarding when he can be released. After that, he'll be having a lot of outpatient treatment. Physical therapy, etc. Apparently it will be a long recovery.

So any good thoughts, prayers, vibes you can send his way will be appreciated! Thanks!

Is This a Meme?

I've been tagged!

Survivin tagged me with orders to post six weird things about myself. So here goes:

1. I have the Gemini twins thing in spades; a lot of personality traits that I have, I also have the exact opposite ones. Not multiple personality or anything, just an odd mix of traits.

2. I love to sing (but not in public). Not saying I can, exactly, but I really love to. My kids and I constantly sing in the car, and I even have a little karaoke machine at home.

3. I am more comfortable around animals than I am around most people...

4. When I eat a plate of different foods, I can't "mix & match". I have to eat all of one food (all of it that I'm going to eat, anyway) before I can move on to the next. (Unless it's already mixed, like in a salad).

5. I fall in love very easily - fast and hard.

6. I fall out of love just as quickly...

So that's me. Okay, I think I'm supposed to tag 6 people now, so I'll tag:
Mr. Fabulous, CP, Janet, Guyk, Mike, and NML. :-)

39 Degrees! Eep!

39 Degrees.

It's not supposed to be that cold here, dammit - this is Florida!!!

Okay, that does it. I need to find a place where the temperature stays somewhere between, say, 70 and 75 degrees, but where I don't have to live in a hut & carry a machete, or have a guard lion because a guard dog would get eaten...

Oh, and it must have internet! ;-p

HOW MANY Shopping Days left?!

Holy Cricket! Christmas is just around the corner, isn't it? Sorta snuck up on me this year. (Pfft - like they moved it or something, right?) Jeez, usually by this time, I've sent the cards, done the shopping, put up the tree & let the kids decorate it, and have shipped packages or am getting them ready to ship. Then comes the wrapping of the stuff that doesn't have to be shipped.

This year? Not so much. I have the cards, the labels are printed & the stamps ordered (cute snowflake ones), but not a one of 'em is sent yet. I only have about half of the shopping done, the tree is in the living room, still in its box, and I'm just now getting ready to find the boxes to fit what I need to ship, and I still have to finish shopping, too. Guess I'd better get crackin', huh?

But I love Christmastime, so it's cool. :-)

I Miss...Kissing

I've been thinking about this lately, for some reason, and I've decided that of all the things involved in having a relationship - a good one, I mean - the only thing I really miss is kissing. Kissing that starts off sweet & gentle, then slowly becomes more fiery & passionate. Now, I realize that there's a lot more to a good relationship, and maybe one day I'll want to try to have one, but not yet. I'm still happy being single, thanks.

The other things, there's a way to get around.
Companionship? I have kids, I have pets, I have friends.
Sex? Use your imagination. ;-p
Help around the house? I've always done most things for myself anyway, or I can pay a professional, or there again - I have kids, & friends.

But I do miss kissing...