manicdote

I’m so excited! We’re either driving tonight to Orlando or leaving first thing in the morning. Mostly it depends on how we feel this evening. But that specifically  means that this is my LAST DAY at work for like…two weeks. It’s not that I don’t love my job, because I do, it’s more like I haven’t had a vacation in over a year and I need some time off! And…Disneyworld? Talk about fun!

I will miss the puggies, but they’re going to be having a blast at our Vet, Dr. Jere’s place - they will actually be staying at his house with his dogs sleeping on his couch. So they will probally not want to leave and come back home.

Terry has set up four timers for various lights and radios to come on at random times during the day for security. Not that we really have anything to steal. We just don’t want it looking like no ones home…you know?

We’re mostly packed, just a few last minute things to pack tonight before we go. I’m so excited! Oh, and don’t despair, we’ll probally post more  on vacation than we’ve been doing in a while because we’re taking the laptop and I also have the ability to post from my cell phone…so check back frequently for amusing posts and pictures of us on vacation at Disneyworld.

Happy Saturday, folks. I feel compelled to write a quick post because I haven’t posted very much this week. See, they found a small tumor in my mouth and it was removed on Thursday morning. I’ve been pretty much completely stressing out about it since I found out and I won’t have the results of the biopsy back until Monday, June 16th. So, everyone please keep me in your thoughts/prayers. Right now I’m pretty high on pain pills and I’ve got a ragged hole in the roof of my mouth…it was “cauterized” closed, so no stitches to remove later, which is nice. However Terry tells me he can see the roots of some of my teeth on the inside…kinda freaky, huh? No, I will spare you those pictures. My mouth was even charred black in a few places where they’d burned it (on purpose). Most of the char is gone now, which, the surgery nurses assured me is normal.

Right now Terry is nursing me back to health with soup, cream of wheat, and lots of ice cream.

I’ve never smoked a day in my life so the chances of it being malignant are pretty slim, but obviously I’m frightened. Also, we’ve got a two week trip to Disneyworld (planned & paid for) in less than a month, so I really hope this gaping hole in my mouth is healed up.

Hugs to all. Will try and post more tomorrow…definatly some cute pug pictures to come. Please pray for me and keep me in your thoughts.

So we drove up to Atlanta on Saturday to go to IKEA. I’ve been there a million times but Terry had never been. Well, we had a blast. If you’ve ever been, you know it’s like…a whole day thing because that place really sucks you in. Especially if you’re going with an Ikea virgin. There are all the cool rooms to oooh-and-ahhh over in the showroom, then the vast marketplace below it, and finally the warehouse to pick up any large items that you need to get.

We actually stayed there so long that we had to stop at the food court to eat lunch. Surprisingly tasty, too. And for some reason, I took pictures of this. And now you get to look at them. Please, contain your enthusiasm.

Here is a close up of our lunch, a buffalo chicken wrap. Yum!

And then afterwards we attacked some Swedish chocolate. Well, Terry attacked it.

I ate it daintily. See? Dainty.

Then I was amazed by the cool art by the bathroom wall. Yes, I took pictures in front of the bathroom. Don’t judge me!

And, of couse, here is Terry enjoying a Mt. Dew after all that shopping. And yes, we had two carts worth. Ikea sucks you in with it’s cheap prices because everything is like $1.99…so you keep picking up things thinking, ‘Wow, this is so cheap!’ and by the time you get to the register you’ve bought $200 worth of stuff.

And of course, here are some gratuitous pug shots:

Okay, so last week I was in Tampa, Florida for most of the week on business. It was such a beautiful city and warm (80 degrees) - I really loved the city, although I did miss Terry and the puggies terribly. Here are some great pictures I took of the city and my time there. Here’s the skyline right by my hotel. My hotel is the building on the bottow left of the picture…right on the canal! There are these cool river/canals all through the city and the schools are frequently practicing rowing in them, and there will be fancy yachts in them. Very cool! It reminded me a lot of Seville, Spain.

This shot is of WFLA-TV NBC in Tampa. This is where I was training. I am training to be the backup for the “Traffic” manager. You can see the station is merely across the canal from my hotel and it’s also in a beautiful location.

Here’s a picture of me walking down the street looking happy in the big city (despite missing my family):

And then finally here’s a shot of what I loved most about Tampa - Deep Fried Cheesecake with cinnamon ice cream. Need I say more?

Oh, and here’s a shot of some cute puggies because it’s nearly impossible to have a post without putting up a picture of them. This is a rare shot of them behaving and sleeping peacefully together.

Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama 

These states (Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) all looked rather much the same. I know that sounds terrible, but they were all green, lush and humid. I do think things were more wooded close to the Mississippi River; which was huge - that was the first time I’d seen the river and I was amazed! I expected it to be wide, but it was bigger than I had anticipated.

These southern states were so much smaller than Texas, that we were able to travel through three states in just one day. At around 6:30pm, I arrived in Auburn and met up with Van…held him in my arms for the first time in over two months! It was wonderful.  

We ended up going to dinner at Waffle House, which was meaningful because we ate at Waffle House tons of times when I was out in Alabama last time I visited. Actually, don’t tell Terry – but I’m actually moving out to Alabama for the waffles! Ha ha ha! Just kidding, honey. But honestly. That’s some good eats.

Texas 

The miles speed by with indecent slowness. It’s hard to sit still; I want to just be there, be with Terry. As I gaze outside the window, I’m alternately surprised and not-surprised. People always say that things in Texas always come “Texas-Sized”…but I never really knew what that meant until I spent 1 ½ days driving through the state.  

One thing that impressed me about Texas is actually the varied terrain outside the window of my speeding Honda Element. In El Paso, where we entered the state on it’s western border, it is barren and dry. As the miles pass by, we passed honky-tonk after cattle ranches. Western Texas is exactly how I pictured it. But as we made it to the Dallas / Ft. Worth area, and beyond towards the Eastern border, the landscape starts to get greener; trees thrusting upwards full of vigor and leafy green happiness. I am getting excited because it is starting to look more like the south.  

I wouldn’t have believed if asked that I was still in Texas. It just didn’t look like what you’d expect…although I’m not sure what I was expecting. I can’t wait until I see Terry – hopefully it’s tomorrow!

California, Arizona & New Mexico 

Today I woke up at 7am, finished loading up my Honda Element and headed out. Traffic was really light – actually I don’t think we had any traffic except possibly around Tucson where there was some road construction going on. We drove about 750 miles today; our journey began in San Marcos, California and we ended up stopping tonight in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  

We rolled into town a little late, so we weren’t able to eat at any cool local dives – ended up having to eat at a Dairy Queen, but that was still kind of cool for me, since I’ve never been to one. Has anyone ever had one of these “Blizzard” things? That was awesome!  

The day went quickly; we are listening to Deathly Hollows on CD and that really helps the time pass quickly – you don’t even notice the time. You’re listening to the story, caught up in the lives of Harry, Ron and Hermione – and you’re watching the terrain go by. I’ve never traveled cross country via a car and it’s very interesting to watch the differences in the states.  

Well, I have to report - so far I haven’t noticed TOO much difference. Southern California, Arizona & New Mexico all look very similar. I admit I’m slightly disappointed, but I did somewhat expect it.  

I miss my Xbox! Oh, Master Chief, what will I do without you?