Goody Bag

While I was at Melrose Wakefield Hospital, I got moved from the ER to the Observation Unit. I was already familiar with this floor as its where Jeff was moved to right before he got his gallbladder out. But I did get something that he did not, a goody bag! Take a look at what was waiting for me:

Inside my little goody bag were the following items: lip balm, hand lotion, a toothbrush, bar of soap, comb, tissues, antibacterial gel, and socks with little grips on the bottom.

I especially appreciated the lip balm as the air in the hospital was realy dry and I felt like my lips were just insanely chapped. I haven't really used any of the other items, but I brought the whole thing home with me just the same. It was like they were trying to trick me into thinking I was staying in a 5 star hotel instead of a hospital. No such luck as I was acutely aware of just where I was and why, never mind that the woman next to me was insanely obnoxious. She was so demanding and I swear she rang that bell for a nurse every hour on the hour. Her two teenage daughters even visited her and proceeded to start a burbing contest. Classy. These girls spent the 2 hours they were there to see their mother by burping, constantly. Every other minute one of them would burb, and then giggle hysterically that they couldn't help it.

Anyway, after 12 days of almost constant pain I am finally feeling better. Fingers crossed that I'm at the end of whatever this was because I am so bored I am actually looking forward to going back to work!

New Best Friends!

They would be:
Vicodin
Flexiril
and Naprosyn

These fabulous friends have been instrumental in helping me through the worst pain of my life. In case anyone didn't know, I was in and out of the hospital this past week with the world's worst headache/neck pain. They still aren't really sure what caused this lovely experience, but they are guessing it was a muscle spasm of sorts. How ironic is that? I work as a Massage Therapist and I had a muscle spasm.

I do however want to thank Jeff for being the best husband in the world. During the course of my week he did the following:
*Took me to the ER not once, but twice
*Spoke to the nurses and doctors about my pain, and basically acted as my advocate since I was either crying, or knocked out from the Demerol shots
*Cleaned up the bathroom after I, how shall I say this delcately, lost my breakfast
*Kept up a steady stream of ice packs to wrap around my poor head
*Stayed with me in the hospital almost the entire time, leaving only to take Monty out and to sleep. Lets keep in mind I was not exactly stimulating conversation at this point, I was mostly sleeping the sleep of the drug induced.
*Got me ice cream, more than once
*Cleaned our house AND scooped the kitty litter, a chore he detests more than anything else in the world

Basically Jeff was fabulous and I am so thoroughly spoiled I doubt I'll ever recover.

Oh, and if you want attention when waiting in the Emergecny Room, just lie down on the floor while crying. It seems to get you QUITE a bit of attention, and other patients will actually allow you to go ahead of them. :-) Just a little tip from me to you!

Experience in Mexico and the movie "Borderland"

Yet another one of the "8 Films to Die For", Borderland is described like this:

Inspired by true events of a kidnapping by a cult which practices human sacrifice, Borderland spirals into the black terrifying world of predators hunting the dimly lit streets and dark alleys of Manzinita, Mexico in search of their next prey. The Mexican locals recently tortured and killed were strong and silent and did not cry out in pain. Instead, they need loud, terrified cries of an American to make the ritual stronger; one who will howl in agony as he looks into the face of death. They set their sites on the three American amigos, and the vacation across the border quickly becomes the trip from hell.

Yet again, so much promise, so little plot to enjoy. BUT, the whole "inspired true events" thing is highly suspect. I mean, what was inspired? That some kids went to Mexico? That while there one of the kids fell in love with a Mexican prostitute who kept her baby in the room with her? I suppose that could have happened, but I doubt it. OR that while on vacation the three kids piss off a bad ass cult leader and killed in gruesome horrible ways?

Now I went to Mexico when I was a senior in High School, and can I just say I'm still amazed that my parents let me go. I went with my good friend Nancy and we spent the week shopping, walking on the beach, and our nights going out to clubs such as "Senior Frogs". Not once while we were there did we meet up with a prostitute, a cult leader, or start fights with any of the locals. Granted, we were in Cancun, Mexico which is a huge tourist trap, but Nancy and I were such good girls that we didn't even drink while we were there. In fact, the scariest thing that happened was when I tried to leave a club one night and one of the "policemen" tried to get in the cab with me. I flipped out completely and actually braced myself against the opposite end of the cab and kicked him out of my cab. Literally. I mean, foot to stomach, foot to chest, I don't even remember how many times I kicked him but I eventually managed to get him out of my cab where I promptly slammed the door shut and went back to my hotel. What can I say? I was incredbly naieve and it didn't really occur to me at the time that I could get into trouble for using physical force to hit a member of the police in a strange country, all I knew was that there were no way in hell that man was coming back to my hotel with me. If I remember correctly Nancy and I went home the night after that and I completely forgot about the incident.

Where was I? Ah yes, Borderland the movie. This movie was bad. Really bad. I mean incredibly bad with no real plot, no logic, and characters that were so stupid that they pretty much did everything but ask to get killed. Thumbs down all around! And now that I'm thinking about it again, thumbs down to that policeman in Mexcio for trying to take advantage of a 17 year old girl!

Secret Single Girl Behavior

When I was single, I had a whole list of secret single behaviors that I indulged in. Now that I'm married and live with someone, I try not to indulge these secret vices. Mainly because they are things that would drive Jeff completely insane if he had to participate in or even be in the same room while they were taking place. So you can only imagine just how excited I get when Jeff goes out for a night. I LOVE it when he goes out, and the later he's out, the better for me.

That night means that I get to take a long, long bubble bath. Once there I'll break out all the girly products that I love and I hate for Jeff to see me us.

First off, is Clinique's Deep Cleansing Emergency Mask. For some reason, thanks Mom and Dad, I have insanely sensitive skin and even at the age of 33, pimples. Not fair. This mask rocks my socks and cleans out my pores and gives me fabulous skin.

And for my bath, I love Philosophy products. The names of the products are hysterical and the bath scents are YUMMY! This one is my current favorite and smells sooo good!

Next up, I found this wonderful product for making your feet all smooth and soft, it's by Oil of Olay and what with sandal season coming up, this stuff is the best! Oil of Olay Thermal Pedicure Treatment, I scrub my feet while in the tub and then slather them with lotion. VOILA! Pretty feet!

Now if I have have a chance beforehand, I'll run to the Cheesecake Factory and get a nice slice of Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake which is so incredibly good and I can sit on the sofa in my soft robe and eat it.

There is nothing better than indulging in all my favorite girly behavior and also eating cheesecake. I mean, life simply does not get better than that. My next post I will let you all in on my favorite movies to watch when Jeff is out. Mainly because I watch my movies by fast forwarding through the parts of the movie that I hate to get to the parts I like. A behavior that drives Jeff absolutely up the wall!

So what's YOUR secret single behavior??

Movie Review

Jeff and I had some friends over last week to watch movies. We had gotten the "8 Films to Die For" and we decided to watch "Mulberry Street", a brief synopsis is below:

The city that never sleeps may shut its eyes for good when a deadly infection turns its residents to savage creatures. There is only hope for a small few, including six recently evicted tenants who must protect their crumbling apartment complex as the city around them is thrown into chaos...

Sounds decent right? Well, the infection turns people into RATS. You know, weird rat people, like werewolves but with rats and not wolves. Never mind the fact that it takes people a REALLY long time to figure out about this infection, and when they DO figure it out they actually leave the safety of their apartment and venture out into the streets. This strikes me as counter-productive. If there are crazy rat people running around outside Jeff and I are grabbing the animals and holing up in our house. I'm talking boarding up windows and doors and stockpiling food. And if crazed, rabid rat people start breaking in, I'm going out to the safety of the roof. I will NOT go wandering around the streets to try and see what's going on, I will NOT open the front door just to take a quick peak, and I will NOT go to work that day. That's just common sense you know? Anyway, I give this movie two thumbs down, the acting was laughable and the only good thing about watching it was the laughs we had as we mocked it.

Cat

I got Princess Lily almost 14 years ago. A friend of mine found her, abandoned, and couldn't keep her as she had two cats already. As a self-confessed sucker and animal nut, I took her in. My friend was devastated to give her away, and so I let my friend name her. BIG mistake. The name chosen was, you guessed it, Princess Lily. Now, my cat does not look like a Princess Lily. She's always been a little scruffy, a little matted, and she hates just about everyone and everything but me. When Jeff and I first started dating she took a big ol' number two in his bag. Endearing, no?

Regardless, she's my baby and I can't imagine life without her. So maybe that's why I like to sing to my cat, and I sing to her just about every day. I'll pick her up and carry her around the house on my shoulder as I sing one of the following:
Sung to the tune of "Little Willy" by Sweet
'Cause little Lily, Lily won't go home
But you can't push Lily round Lily won't go,
try tellin' everybody but, oh no
Little Lily, Lily won't go home"

The other song I sing Jeff says is morbid, and I didn't quite understand just how depressing it was until I found the lyrics. Still, I modify this song for her too.
Sung to the tune of "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam
"Oh, where oh where can my Lily be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my Lily when I leave this world"

Then I heard that this whole singing to cats things is not as uncommen as I thought and I found this translation for "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child
"All my kitties!
Livin’ with me!
Throw your paws up at me!"

How cute is that? So 'fess up, who else sings to their pets?

Barbies!

I got my very first Barbie Doll from my Grandmother. If I remember correctly she got my sister and I each an identical Barbie, I think the "Pretty in Pink" Barbie and my siter and I promptly fell in love. We LOVED Barbie dolls, loved them. We had about 15 Barbies between the two of us and one Ken doll. Well, we had two Ken dolls originally but we destroyed one. The other Ken doll had only one outfit. Didn't matter if our Barbie was going to the beach or getting married, Ken had one outfit. And he apparently also had multiple personalities as he was "married" to each of our Barbies, but in our head he was a different person for each of them. My mother though, hated Barbie. Hated her. And in an attempt to get us a doll that was NOT BARBIE, she got us a a "Jordache Doll". Basically a lame copy of Barbie that wore a pair of then-popular Jordache brand jeans. We loathed that doll. Jordache Doll was immediately stripped naked and forced to play the "bad Barbie" role or villain in any of our on-going and ever more elaborate stories. Anyway, I was remembering my childhood of playing with various dolls when I came across this site, and thought it was really cool!
http://www.sophiadolls.com/index.html

Sophia dolls are dolls made to look like the various greek goddesses, and you can even take a quiz to match the perfect doll/goddess to your personality.

Personally I am all about the Persephone doll as I LOVED the myth of Hades taking her away to hell. For some reason my prepubescent brain found the idea of the King of Hell falling in love with the beautiful girl incredibly romantic. Loved it. And I was mad at her for not being nicer to him. Anyway, I'm including a picture of her here for all to see!

But the coolest thing about these dolls are that they come in all sizes, from a size 4 to a size 16 depending on the goddess they are modeled after. I'm not going to rant about how Barbie is bad for body image because I still love her after all these years, and lets' face it she's a DOLL! But I do like the idea of having dolls come in a variety of sizes and shapes.

So take the quiz and let me know just which Greek Goddess is for you!