My Itinerary for the UAE!

Did I mention I LOVE my friends????

Your Vacation Itinerary – so far…

15 March

2000 – Arrive in Abu Dhabi

16 March

0800 – Depart for Dubai

Dubai: Day 1:

Ibn Battuta Mall (I have to shop for a phone for the girls!)

Burj Al Arab

Atlantis

Hotel Check-In – (reservation made)

Dubai Mall for dinner

17 March

Dubai: Day 2:

Dubai Mall

“The Top” (Burj Khalifa Tour & Observation Deck)

Dhow Cruise Dinner on Dubai Creek (?)

18 March

Dubai: Day 3:

1000 – Jumeirah Mosque Tour (tour time set)

Al Fahidi Fort (Dubai Museum)

Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum House (Museum)

Gold Souk (Market)

Spice Souk (Market)

Vegetable Market

The HQ

Return to Abu Dhabi

19 March

Abu Dhabi: Day 1:

Emirates Palace

The ADNEC

Yaz Island

1630 – Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Tour

Laundry

20 March

Abu Dhabi: Day 2:

City Drive

Coriche

Vegetable Market

Grocery Shopping for Liwa

1200 – Depart for Liwa

1500 – Hotel Check-In – (reservation made)

Rest on the Patio with picnic dinner

21 March

Liwa: Day 1:

Rest, relax, and catch up

Dune Bashing Tour – (booked)

22 March

Liwa: Day 2:

Breakfast Buffet

Rest, relax, and catch up

Spa (?)

Sunset Camel Trekking – (booked)

23 March

Liwa: Day 3:

Mimosa’s on the patio

Breakfast Buffet

1200 – Depart for Abu Dhabi

Laundry/Pack

2200 – Airport for Departure at 0120

You may need a vacation from your vacation =0)

Goodness, I have found a travel planner for the middle east that’s for sure!  WOW Leslie – you have outdone yourself!!

I was excited for my trip even before hearing just how much fun I’m going to have!  I am so looking forward to seeing all these new places, trying new foods and seeing new sights!  Thanks for setting all this fun stuff up for me – what would I do without you? 

BBBBBbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssssss

Hu?

Saturday is the first my many count down items to come to fruition.

What are my count down items? 

2 days – Run for your lives (http://runforyourlives.com)

13 days – UAE trip!

100 days – Europe trip with Lizzie

 

So – first up, something that is a bit silly to be this excited about.  Run For Your Lives….  If you watch the TV Show Walking Dead (www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead) you will be able to relate.  This show is shot in lovely Atlanta area.  Fun to see something you can recognize in the distance and places they reference you actually KNOW.. and the scenery is quite familiar as well.  It looks like your backyard when it’s filmed close to home J  Anyway, we have been watching it since the first show and get a kick out of it.  We look up places we see on line and we reference the web page to see where the towns are.  Who knows, maybe we’ll drive through some of them in the future.  Right now I’m sure they’re pretty flooded with others with the same though process.  ANYWAY.  There is a 5K obstacle race with zombies that Liz saw (Run For Your Lives) and I noted you could be a zombie as well… I so I signed up to be a zombie and Liz and a friend signed up to be runners. 

Too fun!  I’m a stumbler zombie – as opposed to a runner zombie.  I will not be running after folks on the course, I imagine I’ll be in the obstacle areas grabbing.  What will I be grabbing?  BRAINS.  No, kidding, every runner is given what equates to flag football flags.  That is what I’m aiming for .. flags.  Doesn’t sound nearly as tempting as brains, now does it?  Ha!

I am still working out some details in my pea brain as well.  Whatever I wear must be able to be trashed/stained/destroyed, so I’m having to choose wisely.  I will be on the course from 11:30 to 1:30 grabbing at flags… Liz and her buddy will be running the course at 1pm, so I hope to see them pass me by.  By the time they get done I will be done with my shift and will collect my t-shirt, change/clean up and they should be doing similar.  Clean up you ask?  Well, it’s supposed to RAIN this weekend.  UGH.  The good news?  The high should be 69 degrees.  I guess I need to find a light coat to wear that I wouldn’t mind just tossing when it’s all said and done.

Once this effort is done… I concentrate a bit more on the UAE Trip – although I really am already well into the planning for it as well.  I have thought about packing, what I’m wearing and general planning…. Still need to pick up some acceptable shoes for walking/touring.  I think I’m going white tennies even though you are tagged as a tourist with white tennies… well, DER, tall blonde chick in the UAE it’s a given that I’m a tourist.  I’m surely not a local.

Leap Year - Happy Anniversary to Me!

Today is the 5th anniversary of meeting Butch. What? I just had my
18th wedding anniversary and my children are to be 17 and 13 this year?
Hum... weird... oh, yeah - look at the DAY that today is. Happy Leap
Year Day. Today is the 5th anniversary of me meeting Butch, way back in
the days of yore in Las Vegas.
Now, on to topics from what has been going on my so called busy life and
all that has been getting done (read into this adventures of a manic
person)
Saturday started slow.. I had been working on some of the taskings from
the decluttering group that a friend from work had started - and truth
is that the tasks were from the week or so prior, but they were getting
done today. I cleaned out my undies drawer. Sure you wanted to hear
about that, hu? This meant pulling most of the stuff that is a bit
"older" out and sorting into donate, trash, sell @ thrift store (bra's
only - don't freak!). That took place while watching shows on TV and
bumming around. All the while Lizzie is chomping at the bit to go
somewhere, anywhere so she can drive, so we headed to Mom's house to
drop off the sewing machine (perfect excuse, only she really didn't want
it back - ha!) I fixed something on her computer, talked about her
family history book I'm doing, then we did a mad dash back to town. Liz
wanted to see a movie and I was game (we did ask Butch and Angela -
neither of them were interested). We went to the $2 theater (1.99, but
who's counting?) and enjoyed a nice movie (Sherlock Holmes 2) then
headed home stopping by Red Box to see if we could find "In Time" -
another movie that has been on the list a while. We went home and
watched that on pay per view - movie watching fools!
Sunday. I got up got my coffee, read the paper. I had been reminded by
dad to PLANT the hydrangea plant he had left at my house on Friday in a
bucket... so I walked out grabbed the plant and potting soil and headed
to the back of the yard. I put the plant in pre-dug hole (Thanks dad!!)
and put in some potting soil. I then headed back to house adding soil to
pre-planted wisteria (daddy loves me) along the way. I noted that I
needed to put in the arbor/trellis for the wisteria to get a grip on to
make it to the top of the pergola. I had also walked past my broke
fence one MORE time. Got mad. went outside the fence, got the trellis
from beside pool equip drag it back to the wisteria. Pushed it into
place (small metal one) weaved wisteria onto it... Walked back to garage
tossing left over potting soil in corner and grabbed the hammer. I
walked the outside of the fence, found the fallen fence slat and took my
anger out on slat. That felt good so I walked the fence line hammering
popped nails as I went. I knew of ONE more loose spot so made my way
over there pounded on it for a while. I took the hammer back and looked
at lockers (lovingly), then looked outside - no rain. So I decided to
paint. I painted the interior of the lockers - one coat. Then I went in
for food. I put some potatoes and eggs in one big pot cooked while
eating lunch. I then went back out and did one more coat of paint... At
some point I did take the potatoes and such off the heat and did a cool
rinse on them and then actually made potato salad and put it in the
fridge. We had that with Philly cheese steak sandwiches for dinner
(Walmart frozen parties that break apart)... Then I went to bed! I
probably played in the computer from bed as well - iPad.
I didn't get my typical nap :( Bummer!
Monday - I stayed at work with a project that took WAY too long. We had
scheduled down time from 4:30 - 6:30 and everything took twice as long
as we thought it would. We ended up not leaving until 8:30pm Ooops!
Ah, well, some days are better than others!
Tuesday, I left work hour and a half early so I could get my permanent
crown :( I went home and cut some vinyl for BFK and said hi to kids over
my shoulder as they came in and offered them shopping if they went with
me to deliver the vinyl delivery. I finish up with the vinyl and got in
the car and had Liz Drive us to drop vinyl and Target (it's right next
door). After Target, she drove us to Walmart. Got what I needed There,
then I drove the car over to Staples (same parking lot, so that seems
lazy, but I was looking for a book shelf... that I never did find/buy!)
I went to staples dropped into TJMaxx and Payless shoe store while Liz
and Angela shopped Rue21 and Payless. I only popped into Rue21 in the
end to get Liz. After that, we were off to dinner.
Now most days I go home from work and cut some vinyl, or deliver vinyl
from the day prior. I try to only make ONE trip there per day - and do
it on the way home. Tuesday was an exception as I had to order some
license plates and waited for them to get there to finish this job AND I
was home early due to the crown - it went faster than anticipated as
well, so I was home by 2:45 - score! So - a typical day would be - drop
by BFK on the way home from work, drop an order, come home, cut some
vinyl, park in front of a TV and catch up on taped shows and surf on the
computer :o) this is NOT typical... typical would be BORING!!

Technology dependence

I’m a techno junkie… it’s official.  If I leave my phone at home, I feel naked.  What’s up with that?

It wasn’t THAT long ago that we had just came back from overseas and I didn’t have a clue about cell phones.  While cell phones were gaining in popularity over here, and well established, however expensive in Europe, we were blissfully unencumbered by cell phones.  We didn’t feel the need to be constantly in touch with the world.  We would go to the beach and only talk to those around us… shocking!  Then came the cell phones… we were constantly in touch with the folks in our lives, if even for a brief minute to call and say “hi, how’s your day going?”

Next came day planners, everyone LOVED day planners… then they moved electronic.  Oh, the horror of it.  I moved from Franklin planner purse – it was my life – to carrying a phone AND an electronic planner.  That got old in a hurry, so I relented and moved my planner to my phone.  GREAT.  Life now in ONE spot.  Phone, planner, everything in ONE spot…. Then the advent of “smart” phones with internet… now we carry not only our whole life, but our communications with the world via email right there with us every day.  There isn’t a day that you’re not in contact in some form of fashion. 

Face Book brought us to a newer level of watching others lives unfold.  Sharing our own as well as we have bigger events.  Blogging has added to this as well.  This is great – really.  I have been in pseudo contact with folks I haven’t talked to or really related to on a one on one level in years, decades even.  Those that really DO want to know what I’m doing, can see what I’m doing on a monthly basis via the blog (or I guess I should say epiphany moments and/or life changing events I want to document, as I use this blog as a journal of sorts).  They can also follow me daily, hourly, secondly (ha!) if they so choose on Face Book – however, I just don’t post that much on there.   I’m a stalker.  I go, I read, I catch up on peoples lives, I laugh, I look at pictures and I move on.  I check blogs all the time to see if anything momentous has happened… I comment, I LOVE seeing all the blogs and the news.  I have had the joy of watching little nieces and nephews having babies, raising babies, watching those babies grow.  It’s FUN.  It’s a great time.  No more waiting around for snail mail to get there.  No more printing pictures to send copies to all the mother’s, fathers, grandmothers of the world…. But it’s also sad too.  There aren’t a lot of printed pictures anymore.  Not a lot of photo albums, unless you enjoy scrapbooking – and sometimes even if you DO enjoy scrapbooking as you don’t “get” to all the pictures….

My goal on that level last year was to print out all my pictures anytime there was a special on the photo printing sights…. I now have almost updated albums in my house… my NEXT goal is to get a bookshelf to have them in my living room so EVERYONE knows where they are and what year they contain… so they can enjoy the pictures too.  So they don’t sit in my craft room WAITING for me to finish an album to go to someone… or finish a page that is in my head, but not in reality…

Maybe my NEXT goal would be to start WRITING letters again too … sending printed pictures… going back to the basics.

So, what brought this on?  Oh, yeah, I left my phone at home!

A Lump Head No More

Yesterday was Angela’s surgery to have her lump on her forehead removed.  She has had this lump for a few years now, but as she ages, and as we notice it and rub it to check it, she has become more sensitive about it.  So, about 3 months ago, I decided to have it looked at for removal.  We went through the lovely HMO hoops of being military care provided folks.  We went to the clinic to have the Dr. look at it there, to confirm that yes, she does have a lump on her head.  Then get a referral out to a local dermatologist to have it looked at.  We get to hear again, yes, she has a lump on her head.  Yes, it looks to be benign, but we can remove it.  Submit more paperwork to get the approval to HAVE it removed.  Wouldn’t you think that would have been done when the Dr. on base looked at it the first time as that was what we were there for in the first place?  Hum… stupidity, thy name is government red tape.  Ok, so we were in the 2^nd Dr’s around Christmas and I opted to go ahead and schedule to have this done during winter break as their time lines for scheduling was a month out at that time already.  By then, I knew I would have the approval, and I was right.  So, all things considered, it took time, but it was approved and in place. 

By this time, however, the child is now rattled by the idea of having this done and does not WANT it done.  She was working herself into a tizzy days before the event.  So, I took time off work and we headed over.  Tears started to flow long before we even got out of the neighborhood.  She really did NOT want to go.  We arrived at the office and it was hard to even get her out of the car.  By now, she’s trying to convince me that it’s not necessary; that she’s fine with it; she’ll not be bugged when we look at it over and over again in the summer when her tan really brings it into focus.  Sigh.  So, after a bit of coaxing and just plain grabbing of hands and pulling her (gently) of the car, we were in the office.

MORE tears and a nice older couple trying to tell her all would be ok, it wasn’t like they were cutting anything off – hahaha – fail.  Yes, they ARE cutting something off.  I keep telling her over and over that it’s OK to be freaked, it’s OK for her to worry about what they are going to do.  I was freaked when they cut on my ear.  She’ll be fine.  I would NEVER let them do anything that would put her in danger.

NOTHING is getting through.  They even put some Lidocaine stuff on her forehead to numb the area so she wouldn’t feel the needle prick.  THEN when we get into the actual room for the 2^nd time (Lidocaine was applied and we were sent back out to the waiting room), she really lost it and started sobbing.  Sigh.  I kept repeating all would be fine…. Here have another tissue.  Up onto the table and fresh tears and more sobbing.  (poor Angie)… holding her hands talking her down.  They then put the drape over her face – oh, joy.  MORE sobbing, shaking and rattling of teeth.  They taped back her hair, all the while EVERYONE in the room is talking her off of the full hysterics that are seconds away.  They did put the drape where she could breathe and look out the bottom of it… to reach in and dry tears as necessary for me.  They sprayed some freeze stuff on her skin as well to distract from the needle and the stretching of skin with the numbing shot… it didn’t really help, she was still feeling all the tugging and weird sensations that come with something like this.  

It wasn’t until they were cutting and she could feel the tugging and such without pain that she finally relaxed a bit.  She stopped shaking and just laid there and let it all happen.  I did tell her they had already started, and she stopped my blow by blow reports when I said that she wasn’t even bleeding that much.  Ha!  She is not the gore person that Lizzie and I are.  I had mentioned pictures – she nixed pictures.  L  SAD face!!!  So, there is no documentation of this event for the records.  Drat.  She wouldn’t even look at the cyst in the jar afterwards.  It was a good sized ones, but not huge, looked like a little pickled onion – about that size too.  Not too big, not too small.  It was deep and took 4 internal stitches and 8 external to close it all up.  She didn’t get the pretty blue stitches that I got when I had my cancers removed.  Hers is a black thread and looped rather than individually tied… so it should be fairly inconspicuous when all is said and done.

We then went out and grabbed some lunch and headed on home.  I tried to take a picture of her with her bandage and snuck one in on her way out of the offices… but she’s really photo shy about all this.  I’m hoping she’ll let me take a shot of her stitches when I re-bandage her this afternoon.... and I did!!

War Wounds! The changing of the bandage!!

Funny - loved the Band Aids I picked out for her, but hated the sight of the actual stitches!

Wednesday wanderings

On our way to Atlanta last Wednesday (15^th) for Mom’s dermatologist appointment at Emory she read me a number of articles.  One was in regards to IKEA:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700220506/Trapped-by-IKEA-How-retail-space-makes-you-buy-more.html?s_cid=s10

The author likens going to IKEA to “…hunting in a jungle.”  They designed the store to keep you “lost” and disoriented and forced to focus on the actual content of the store.  It’s so true.  If you have never been in an IKEA, it’s like being continually  lost looking for your way out.  It’s a maze of stuff, stuff and more stuff.  There is a lot of talk about how retail stores will place things in certain areas of the store most designed to snare the customers; with IKEA:  “They snare you by losing you,” he said.  “So you are lost and you can’t get away except by walking through the whole thing, by which time you’ve picked up all these impulse purchases.”

So, I took that challenge!  Not because I really wanted the challenge, I enjoy “submitting” to the experience, however, we arrived at IKEA at 9:30 to find the store would not open until 10:00 and Mom’s appointment was at 11:20.  Our time was limited.  I gave us ½ hour to get in and out – scary time limit if you know IKEA.  I was up for it!  I wanted to look at book shelves.  Mom wanted chair pads.  And off we went!  We were successful on all accounts.  I looked at the bookshelves.  Nothing that impressive, so we passed on those and went in search of the chair pads.  We stopped and drooled over the carpets and made our way down to the chair pads.  We escaped with two chair pads and NO chocolate… and well within our ½ hour time frame – yeah us!!  Now I have to admit I did go and look at the scratch and dent section as well, to which nothing tempted me. Too awfully much J

Then off to Mom’s appointment for her finger and a biopsy.  Poor mom bled and bled.  To her defense she did warn them about her baby aspirin a day – they went ahead with the biopsy.  So, now she waits for the results.  We opted for lunch and went to the Vortex.  They are famous for their hamburgers: http://www.thevortexbarandgrill.com/   Had I been to that website before going there I would have been a bit more prepared for the crazy décor and very interesting place that it was.  It was surprisingly tiny inside.  I don’t think on a good night it could hold more than 100 if that… very small.  The burgers however were very good.  Now the sad thing?  They compare to our hometown burger from Mike’s Burgers and Dogs.  Yep, it’s true.  Now we didn’t get anything special, just a plain old burger.  I’m sure the more exotic burgers could put ours to shame, but for a normal every day burger… this was good. 

I got to go to the Junkman’s Daughter which was to be a second hand store, but turned out to be a freak show as well.  Yes, we were in Bohemia central.  So – we left.  Mom wasn’t up to much after that, so we made our way home stopping off at AAA, Dollar Tree and Kroger on the way home.  Not too much adventure for a day, but still a great trip – sans the hole in mom’s finger L

Momma Brag!

The pictures are in from the Miss HOCO pagent!  They turned out rather well, and because I'm a proud mom, I'm going to sare just about every one I have!!

 Interview

 Interview - full body

 Opening number.

She was told all black glittery with a POP of color.

 Casual wear.  Now I really with the photographer would have done as he first indicated and included EVERYONEs pictures on the disk because there were some if they were wearing casual wear, I'm VERY scared what their "hoochie mama" going to the bar outfits will look like in the future!  Scary!

 Formal wear pictures (before the show, I assume)

 Formal wear duing the show... look at that confidence - where DOES she get it?

 Doesn't she look happy and confortable up there?

 Optional talent portion.  She did so well!

The routine was from sleeping beauty.

 With the appropriate "sleeping" close - yeah Lizzie!!!

 The Band director presenting her with the award of "Peoples Choice" 

She is our choice, that's for sure!!

Photo's from the weekend.

 Angie Thrilled with her 2nd Place

Liz on her way to the interview for Miss HOCO.

January Wrap-up

Although part of this wrap up will go through this weekend, and yes, this weekend WAS Feb (but just barely), I’m going to tell you about our busy, busy month!

Silly me, I had NO idea that Liz would take on the HUGE project of trying out for Miss HOCO this year, so I scheduled her for Drivers Education for the month of January.  She had 30 hours of classroom training, to include one weekend and weekday afternoons from 4:30 to 7:30pm for almost a full two weeks.  Then she started doing the in car practice to include parallel parking – yeah – I don’t have to try to teach her that one!  6 hours of behind the wheel training and she’s officially done with Drivers Ed!  That add s up to a lot of running to classrooms and although she was getting 1.5 hours per shot at behind the wheel training, it was done in three hour blocks as it was split between two drivers at a time.  So – it added up to some serious time input on her part.  Her last night driving they drove all over the place and drove themselves home – how convenient was that?  I didn’t even have to go get her!! 

Add to this a few evenings of practice for Miss HOCO as well and it added up to a VERY full month of running here there and everywhere.  According to my calendar I had 6 whole days without ANYTHING on the appointment schedule – now keep in mind some of that stuff was my appointments and Angela’s stuff as well, so it wasn’t ALL Liz, but a major portion was J

This all culminated this weekend with the pageant this weekend!

Lizzie did BEAUTIFULLY.  She was poised and beautiful on stage and did a great job.  Her talent (optional performance) had a slight glitch or two, but she recovered well on both accounts.  She did a flag routine to sleeping beauty with flag and saber.  Only one near drop when her flag hit the overhead curtain – oops – she was too far back on the stage! 

I’ll post a video of her during her evening wear when I get home – it just won’t post from cell phone or via email.  Drat it!  I ordered the CD from the professional photographer as well, knowing we would NOT have good lighting and no flashes were allowed.

Not to be outdone, Angela was wrapping up her Science Fair project about
the end of January too. The good news on this one is that she had
finished up the actual project and had done her presentation at school
at the beginning of the month, so on a day to day business issue - hers
was a wash.
The culmination of her 7th grade Science Fair was - drum roll please -
the 1nd of February with the presentation of the project to the judges.
Friday evening was the presentations to which Grandma Sally was able to
attend as well. Angela received a 2nd place for her presentation -
photo to follow shortly from Sally!
She was quite happy with her award and the board was nicely done.

Whew - talk about a busy, busy week...
And me with NO pictures to post to the blog yet!!

Expressions and sayings...

Here is one that will be new to you…

“..wouldn’t know you from who shot John”…

Now what on earth is this in reference to?  Well, I went and looked it up – I had to – it’s something MY father and mother used to say and guess what?  It is VERY southern expression and according to the wikitonary – and shockingly – even attributed to a very specific town of Texarkana(close to where I grew up): http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk:who_shot_John

 

“Bread and Butter” when on a walk and having to split up (release hands to go around an object) during a walk…  This was used to ward off bad luck.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bread-and-butter

 

Funny world out there, isn’t it?

Are you feeling lucky?.... Well, are ya?

I was just talking with a friend at work and I realized I’m truly lucky, blessed and living the good life.

I’m lucky that I have a husband who works at a job that provides legal services (not to mention a killer salary).  It’s those legal services that got me out of a potential ticket lately.  To which I feel very lucky and blessed that I don’t have to go to court again regarding it and that I don’t have to pay a huge ticket fee.  That would have hurt financially!

I’m lucky that I have a side business that is doing fairly well, even with the transition of the business to another owner.  I just got my first order after the change over.  I’m so lucky that they kept me on and business will continue as normal, even if it has slowed considerably, that business has blessed me with a VERY good income for the last few years.  With enough income I was able to purchase a computer and an iPad and can now travel where I want to go without worrying too much how I will pay for it!

I’m lucky that I can travel… lucky that I have a friend who travels for her job for years at a time and goes to FUN places.  I’m lucky  that she welcomes me with open arms to come and stay with her for a week to go and play in her part of the world.

I’m lucky that I have a job… which if things go as bad as I think they could… may be a short lived blessing.. but I’m also lucky that if it came down to it, we would just pick up and move to the next place and follow the jobs where ever they may lead.  It could be that we end up with a vacation home in Georgia out of it… but we really could move and follow the job(s) if it came down to it.  I’m lucky that my house – if jobs did stay local, but paid less – would make a KILLER “stay”cation place to play for an entire summer, just having friends up and over to play with us!

I’m lucky that I have healthy and happy kids – even if they do drive me buggy by not doing homework and fully applying themselves at all times.  I’m lucky that for the most part they are happy well adjusted kiddo’s with a lot of friends.  I’m lucky that my kids are not afraid to try new things, go new places and expand their horizons.

I’m lucky that I have parents who live close by that are willing to help me out when needed and are flexible when life hands them changes.  I’m blessed that they are still in good health and very easy to live with (just in case), and are very self sufficient.  I’m lucky and blessed to have a great Mother-in-law who loves her grandkids and comes to see their big events – even if it means driving 5 to 6 hours to do it!  I’m blessed to have a home that will support many, many people in it at the same time in comfort and warmth.  I’m blessed to have a hunter husband who has filled the freezer with LOTS of fish…. Now we need to EAT it all!!

I’m just very, very, very lucky and blessed in general…

Organization update

So this week was shelves...I didn't really do shelves, I did desks, under desks and on top of desks - to my defense, part of the task this week was simply "storage" and towards the end it DID move to piles and piles, I have a LOT of.  I have shelves, however, they are down to a dull roar for now... so I chose to concentrate on the desk(s).  I have a LONG way to go, but I can now get to the closet (and even shut it!!) so that's a major plus.  Next up in this room will be actually cull out some of the items I will NEVER use...

Now the question comes, can I be that brutally honest with myself? 

Probably not, however, we'll try!! 

Bench done!

AND let it be known I will NOT do any more upholstery in the future - near or far. 

TOOO much a pain in the butt!! 

Fear of disposing medicines - vindicated

The following is an excerpt from: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159

First, the expiration date, required by law in the United States, beginning in 1979, specifies only the date the manufacturer guarantees the full potency and safety of the drug -- it does not mean how long the drug is actually "good" or safe to use. Second, medical authorities uniformly say it is safe to take drugs past their expiration date -- no matter how "expired" the drugs purportedly are. Except for possibly the rarest of exceptions, you won't get hurt and you certainly won't get killed. A contested example of a rare exception is a case of renal tubular damage purportedly caused by expired tetracycline (reported by G. W. Frimpter and colleagues in JAMA, 1963;184:111). This outcome (disputed by other scientists) was supposedly caused by a chemical transformation of the active ingredient. Third, studies show that expired drugs may lose some of their potency over time, from as little as 5% or less to 50% or more (though usually much less than the latter). Even 10 years after the "expiration date," most drugs have a good deal of their original potency. So wisdom dictates that if your life does depend on an expired drug, and you must have 100% or so of its original strength, you should probably toss it and get a refill, in accordance with the cliché, "better safe than sorry." If your life does not depend on an expired drug -- such as that for headache, hay fever, or menstrual cramps -- take it and see what happens.

One of the largest studies ever conducted that supports the above points about "expired drug" labeling was done by the US military 15 years ago, according to a feature story in the Wall Street Journal (March 29, 2000), reported by Laurie P. Cohen. The military was sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every 2 to 3 years, so it began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The testing, conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter. The results showed that about 90% of them were safe and effective as far as 15 years past their original expiration date.

I feel so vindicated in NOT tossing medications for all these years… I guess I will chuck them when they get close to 15 years old… nawh –maybe not.  Never know when the end of the world will happen, right?  Isn’t it supposed to end this December??  (http://www.december212012.com/) hahahahaha!

Update on Organization efforts and discussion on FEAR

First the fun (?) one… organization…

I’m doing well this week – well, not really, but I’m going to lie to myself and say I am.

Monday – Hair do-dads, sort, cull, get rid of any that you no longer use.  That one worked well for me, I was in my bottom drawer digging for something… and I started chucking hair things out.  I got to the bottom then moved onto the pull out rack under my sink and did the same thing.  Then I moved to the tilt out drawer in front of my sink and did the same thing.  I had a PILE of headbands and pony tail holders.  Why do I have them?  Eventually I get sick of going to the hair dressers and stop doing my hair and revert to letting it grow.  It gets to 12+ inches, just enough to donate and WHACK, it gets cut off again.  I’m going to fight that urge and get rid of all my hair “junk” and see if I can maintain the short do longer this time before apathy strikes and I let it go again!

Tuesday – Clean face products – cull expired items.  Bottom line?  I don’t USE face products.  Well, I do, I use Oil of Oley and have since I was something like 15.  I guess the last few days of this cull will tell all if I’m chucking things I didn’t know I had at the bottom of all the drawers J

Wednesday – Clean out medications – my downfall.  I don’t know what is with me, but I have an apocalyptic view of the world.  Could it be that mom would ALWAYS say “We’re living in the last days”?   (love you mom!)  Could be.  I just have a VERY hard time letting go of meds.  Why?  Well, you never know when the end of the world will come and you’re either very happy you have all those pain meds and antibiotics, or you use them to go out “happy” – ha!  Ok, really.  Yes, I know meds loose their potency with age, but at what point are they of NO use what-so-ever?  I guess I need a book that tells me the half life of the drugs in question – then I can decide if having 5 year old antibiotics will do ANY good when the zombie apocalypse happens.  I didn’t grow up in the depression, but I have a waste not – want not mentality when it comes to meds.  I did toss one thing – have not tackled the meds bin in the cupboard yet, this was from the drawer that had all the hair do-dads in it… it was Pepto that expired in 2006.  Would it still work?  I’m sure if you took two it would make a dent… it’s just not full strength.  I had a hard time releasing my grip over the garbage however!

Thursday – Saturday – clean out a drawer a day.  I guess that has been dented a bit by the bottom drawer and the hair stuff, however there is more to be gone through in that area – matching up razor fillers to razor bodies.  I’m sure they have a mate in there somewhere, just finding them could be a challenge as they could be in different areas of storage.  So, sometime this week/weekend I have to tackle the medicine bin and the drawers – can I count my bin as a drawer?  Ha!  I did the bin a while back in another de-clutter/organize effort.  It works better than the shoebox of the past…. Now take it a step further and get rid of meds that are outdated.  I have a feeling I won’t need a bin after that effort!

 

So maybe fear is really addressed in both of these subjects – fear of letting meds go and fear of going outside of my comfort zone.

 

I have never been shake in your shoes afraid of change.  I have been uncomfortable and a little afraid, but total fear to the point of vapor lock and not being able to DO what you want to do, what you need to do to make something happen?  Not typical for me.  What is my fear factor right now?  Travel.  Did I hear a collective gasp out there?  Yes, I said it, fear of travel.  I jumped on a plane with NO plans and “stopped off” in New Zealand on my way to Australia the first time I stepped foot outside of US Soil.  Yes, you’re reading correctly, not even a trip to Mexico or Canada.  I went to Australia, by myself and without a care in the world.  A few years later, I was off to Europe with my (lovely) cousin Suzanne – with very few plans and NO reservations.  We  just stopped in at youth hostels along the way and went where we wanted to go.  I jumped on weekend flights to Korea.  I even moved overseas without a care if the world too…. Now?  I’m freaked about committing to going to UAE, to going to Europe without plans.  I don’t know if this is just age, or the fact that I have not traveled in 15 years.  Yes, you read that correctly – no overseas trips since we moved back from Europe.  Sad but true.  I have done small trips with kids, with my folks and our biggest adventure in a long time – Alaska.  So, what is with the fear of going to a place I have ALWAYS wanted to go (Dubai – well, I’ll be close – in Abu Dhabi) ???  AND we’ve always said we would take Liz back to her birthplace.  Sigh.  What is WITH me?  Why so much fear over this?  Why so much trepidation?  Today I am facing this fear – fear of choosing incorrectly on mode of travel, fear of the SUPER long flight, fear of going somewhere I have never been, fear of getting off my butt and going.  Today, I’m booking my flight!

 

I’m going to look fear in the face and give it a friendly nod… and move ON…

And I have…. My flight is booked (breathe!!)

This flight arrives the next day
Wed 14 Mar	Departs: 3:28pm from Atlanta, GA(ATL)	DL 1195
	Arrives: 5:20pm in Washington-Dulles, DC(IAD)	1h 52m
Layover in Washington-Dulles, DC(IAD)1h 50m
Wed 14 Mar	Departs: 7:10pm from Washington-Dulles, DC(IAD)	DL 93851
Thu 15 Mar	Arrives: 7:45am in Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)	7h 35m
Layover in Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)2h 50m
Thu 15 Mar	Departs: 10:35am from Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)	KL 449
	Arrives: 8:05pm in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates(AUH)	6h 30m
Sat 24 Mar	Departs: 1:20am from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates(AUH)	DL 94021
	Arrives: 5:45am in Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)	7h 25m
Layover in Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)5h 15m
Sat 24 Mar	Departs: 11:00am from Amsterdam, Netherlands(AMS)	DL 71
	Arrives: 2:30pm in New York-Kennedy, NY(JFK)	8h 30m
Layover in New York-Kennedy, NY(JFK)2h 20m
Sat 24 Mar	Departs: 4:50pm from New York-Kennedy, NY(JFK)
	Arrives: 7:35pm in Atlanta, GA(ATL)

 

Total flight time: 15 hours and 57 minutes – making this a 20 hour plus day to get there with layovers

I gave up calculating times coming back.. it’s too scary!

Weekly organization tasks

no picturesa this week. we had to do the following:
Clean night stand drawer - done
top of night stand - done
one bedroom self. I don't really have one. I have the TV console.. but that's alredy done I counted one of my closet shelves instead.
clean out your junk drawer. Ok, done
orgnize your junk drawer - also done..
So there you have it - all done for this week and movingo on to next week as of today

Freezer organization

What I would have liked in the ideal shot is one my most prized things... my candy stash.  I pick up Halloween candy at 75% and 90% off at the end of the season and deposit it in the freezer for the following year... it's a huge money saver for Halloween, and mom tested to know that the candy is just as fresh as the day it went in the freezer ;o)  You KNOW I have to test... I LIKE to keep them in Target bags to keep prying munchies out of them.. so that there IS a stash at the appropriate season... but this is not to be in the new freezer setup.  Sad.

What I also didn't show was the sadly full trash can of freezer burned fish and odds and ends meats that had died a painful death from NOT being identified by date in this freezer!!

So - next up - some dates will be tagged on each of these bins to indicate the year contained... now to get everyone to ONLY get the oldest fish out first... that will be the trick!!

AND we will not even discuss the indoor freezer just yet.. I'm still debating if I'm up for that one.  So far the headache/earache that has been plaguing me for the last few days seems to be at bay... so maybe it will happen today to get the indoor freezer done as well.  Maybe!

It's a few days into the new year and what have *I* been up to?

Lot's - I joined a de-cluttering group and started on the "to do" list for this week.  All in the kitchen.  I skipped around a bit, but the list was:
Sunday, 1 January: Think about who you want to be in this coming year. 

• how about just sane??

Monday, 2 January: Set up a donation station.

• it's called my garage and I tote it to the thrift store when I can!)

Tuesday, 3 January: De-clutter the top of your kitchen cabinets and dust.

• I don't have this - they go to the ceiling

Wednesday, 4 January: Declutter the top shelf of ONE of your kitchen cabinets.

• OK, I started here - in my spice cabinet... so I went ahead with tomorrows goal too!

Thursday, 5 January: Go through your spices and discard expired and old ones.

• Done - oldest one found was 2001 - not bad since McCormick came out with a website a few years back to tell you the age of your spices based on the address... some of mine were 10 years - yes, YEARS old at that time.  Not much better this time, but in my defense they were just peppercorns!

Friday, 6 January: Put all of your canned goods together in one place.

• wouldn't you know it I just bought a can organizer just before Christmas, so this is done too :)  Yeah me!!

Saturday, 7 January: Go through your freezer to let go of old, freezer burned food.

this one will be my challenge, I have already gone to WalMart and picked up freezer baskets to assist in this effort... I'm going to need all the help I can get to put the BIG freezer in order!!  It will have to be by year of fish, then type of fish... fun, fun, fun.  NOT!  Wish me luck!!

So instead of doing THAT tonight, what am I doing?  Playing on the computer, surfing sights and finding cute vinyl to cut for the house...

should have done this one on a MUCH bigger scale, but I did plan it for a different wall, but was shot down :o(