Trimming the Parrot's Toenails

Well, it wasn't an easy task but I finally found the opportunity and was finally able to trim Tito's toenails.

He is pretty good about it, once he gets the idea that that's all I want to do. But if for some reason, he decides he doesn't want it done, you might as well forget it. With a razor sharp beak like that you do NOT want to mess with him.

But we were sitting quietly watching TV and I had the nail clipper in my hand and I just matter-of-factly reached over and picked up his foot. He let me clip his nails. Yay!

I've been wanting to do that for ages. I just needed the perfect moment.

Today was okay.

We went to lunch and to the range.

Hubby had to drop his truck off at the mechanic's on the way in. He took it in last week for a $30 oil change and the mechanic (who we trust) discovered a $500 repair that needed to be done. Yippee.

So we dropped the truck off and headed into town for lunch.

Lunch was okay...not as good as usual or maybe I just wasn't that hungry.

We had Bento boxes at a little Japanese place.

They are usually yummy but I think I was feeling very cranky.

When we got to the range, one of our friends who I usually like a lot just annoyed the crap out of me. I was actually getting a little angry with him. He was just bugging me and I wasn't in the mood. I get very tired of guys and their clever remarks ( I KNOW it's a guy thing because hubby does it all the time). They think they are being cute. I just think they are being annoying and it wasn't making me happy.

I shot my gun a little and listened to our state trooper friend tell us a couple of stories and then we just came on home. We didn't stop to wander around or buy stuff or anything. We picked Cookie up from day care, stopped back at the mechanic (hubby needed to talk to him) and then we came home.

It was an okay day but I think I just wasn't feeling it today.

I was going to call CrazyFriend and ask her to go to lunch tomorrow, but frankly, I just can't bring myself to do that right now. I like having friends and I like having company.......sometimes.

But as I discovered this weekend, I am quite happy doing things on my own. I took a 200 mile road trip on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed myself. And Sunday, I took a long walk in the park by myself and I was fine and happy. Sometimes dragging people (especially annoying people ) along can just be a pain.

That's it. We had dinner ( hubby had the last of his 3 day roast_ I had a cheese omelet with grits and I am done for the evening. I guess I just not feeling 100% today. Cranky, irritable, I don't know. But we are here and it is getting towards evening. At least I am not ready to go to bed at 7:00 like I did the last 3 nights.

Oh well.......Maybe tomorrow will be better.

As long as I don't break down and call CrazyFriend.

I don't think I'm up to that.

Hey, I look pretty good...

Well, I was quite surprised yesterday.
CrazyFriend brought over the pictures that she took on our recent trip to Florida.
(Yes the trip where Suzie and I nearly killed her because she was being such a total pain...)
But the pictures were very nice and I was pleased because I actually look pretty darn good.
I HATE having my picture taken but I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised.
I guess my signature butch lesbian duck hunter look works for me.
I didn't look fat.
My jeans fit.
And my Missy Good hat looks great.
Now I really like the hat.
And I am very happy with the way I look in the pictures.
Dang.

I don't have to talk to that bitch....

Okay.......
It looks like CrazyFriend's "relationship" with her "boyfriend" (insert: con man, freeloader, sleazebag creep and generally scary guy) has taken a bit of a dark turn.
We've always known that he is greedy, exploitive and manipulative. The only reason that he has anything to do with her is because she is providing him with a very nice place to live in one of the most expensive subdivisions in town, a very nice car and money whenever he needs it. He is no longer even bothering with the facade of going out to eat with her or going to church with her. He comes and goes, brings strangers to the house and is just doing whatever he damn well pleases.
And he is becoming evem more manipulative and controlling.

Last week when we went to Florida, he told her "I don't understand why you want to hang around with that butch lesbian.." That would be me. (Hey, I didn't think I was that butch. Damn.) And he turns everything around to make it someone else's fault. It's never anything he does that's wrong.

And this week was even MORE interesting.

.
On Saturday, I told CrazyFriend I just needed a break from her and her constant discussion of her "boyfriend and 'the guys' " (Don't ask. It gets entirely too complicated. I was exhausted and I just couldn't take it anymore. She got VERY upset with me and slammed the phone down. wouldn't talk to me. Okay....No biggie. That's all happened before. She'd get over it.

But I did e-mail another mutual friend and told her what happened. I explained everything and asked her to give CrazyFriend a call just to talk to her and try and get her to talk me.

So the mutual friend did call her. This morning at her house.
Well......The "boyfriend" (you know what to insert here.) answered the phone.
When he heard our friend's voise asking for CrazyFriend....he said nothing and HUNG UP THE PHONE>
When she called back, he would not answer.
Eventually, we got a hold of CrazyFriend and she was her usual bubbly self (Insert DENIAL ain't just a river in Egypt).
And here is what she told me he said when she asked him WHY he hung up the phone.
He told her "I DON'T HAVE TO TALK TO THAT BITCH....."

Now, I am sorry but if that isn't abusive, isolating, manipulative, and controlling I don't know what is. AND SHE CONTINUES TO TAKE IT.

So I am now the butch lesbian.
And our mutual friend is the nosy bitch.
It is getting honestly scary.
I don't think CrazyFriend will EVER get out of this mess unscathed.

A Little Benign Neglect Goes A Long Way..

Amazingly enough, a little benign neglect goes a long way.

What a surprise.

I went to my doctor for my annual physical yesterday.

Did I mention I HATE going to the doctor?

I don't like to go. I don't want a bunch of referrals I don't want to open a can of worms but I had questions about a few issues.

I would prefer to ignore something and not do anything.

I just want him to know about stuff so if something bad happens, he can't say "You never mentioned that..."

But I went for my annual physical yesterday.

I'd been dreading it for weeks because I just can't talk to my doctor.

He's very nice but he always seems so busy.

So....I had a bunch of questions and concerns.

I wrote them down and was very patient.

I explained to my doctor that it was difficult to ask him questions while i was sitting there naked in nothing but a flimsy paper gown.

He was very kind.

He was very patient.

He took a long time and listened to all my questions and concerns.

He gave me stuff that I wanted and didn't push me into doing stuff I didn't want.

But here is the interesting part.

For someone who does not want to go to the doctor unless I am dying or mortally injured, I am remarkably healthy.

My labs were great.

My EKG was excellent.

My weight was okay.

Everything was on the up side of very good.

I was pleased and I am glad I don't have to go back for another year.

And I am a FIRM believer in the concept of benign neglect.

It works.

Hit a Pothole and the Radio Comes On!

Well, I went to the university last night for a meeting of the Columbia Gem and Mineral Society. Fortunately, my membership was still good. It expires at the end of this month.
They had a woman speaking about meteorites and I thought it would be interesting.
I enjoy that new show "Meteorite Men" and this seemed like a good opportunity to learn something about "Rocks From Space".
The talk was interesting enough.
She is the president of the Georgia Meteorite Association (I didn't even know there was a Georgia Meteorite Association). And she seemed pleasant, funny and knowledgeable. She is apparently a collector rather than a hunter and she said she had purchased most of the 200 meteorites in her collection.
She did pass around a real kind of generic meteorite for us to look at and feel.
That was the best part of the whole evening.
I finally got to feel one and see what one actually looks like.
That made the whole trip worth it.
The business part of the meeting was totally boring/
I had no interest in any of that and it took forever.
And I didn't even win one of their stupid door prizes that they give you for sitting through the business part of the meeting.
But all in all I am glad I went.
Right now, I do not plan on renewing my membership.
It's interesting but it's one of those subcultures that it is hard to become a part of.

AND on the way home, I was getting increasing frustrated with my car stereo.
It has a short in it and kind of goes on and off on its own.
Well, yesterday it was in one of its dead modes and I could not get it to come back around.
It was dark when I was driving home, and I hit a BIG pothole.
Rattled the crap out of the car but guess what?
The stereo came back on!
Usually it takes a little bump.
But this was a biggie and now I have music again.

Meteorites AND music.
Who could ask for anything ,ore?

Five Days in Hell or......

Spending a week in Florida with CrazyFriend

Oh boy......what a week. I went to Florida last week to visit my Golf Buddy. Cousin Suzie and CrazyFriend came along and to say the least, it was in interesting week, in very much of a Harriet Peterson sort of way.

Now, I was ready to have a good time because my Golf Buddy finally got some good news, in the wake of many disappointments and I just really enjoy going to Florida. I really like Florida. And Cousin Suzie just wanted a fun relaxing trip, away from everything for a few days. Not an unreasonable expectation on a trip to Florida, right? Right.

Well, CrazyFriend was at the top of her craziness and her malignant passive-aggressiveness. She made all of us miserable, including herself. There were some pretty awful moments. What a fiasco.

It started out okay but CrazyFriend was edgy from the very beginning. She had to board her cats for the week we were going to be gone. She didn't want to "inconvenience" her "boyfriend" (insert: con man, freeloader, sleazy, scary guy) so he would not have to worry about looking after her cats. So she was worried about her cats.

We left here at 6:00 in the morning on Monday in Cousin Suzie's big truck. The weather looked goo and we were on our way. I like Cousin Suzie a lot. She is fun, smart, talented sensible, she's a good driver and she knows how to relax and have fun. She is everything CrazyFriend is not.

We had the week pretty well planned out. We figured we'd stop at the same Cracker Barrels that we'd stopped at on our last trip (they are timed just right along the way) and I had our itinerary planned for once we got to Florida. CrazyFriend wanted to climb the Ponce Inlet light house this time and she also wanted to visit the Marine Science Center where the rehabilitate sea turtles, sea birds and raptors. This is not something I would have done myself, but we went out of our way to accomodate what CrazyFriend wanted to do so she would enjoy herself. No problem.

Well, let's just say that Crazyfrined was at the top of her game. I won't say that she completely ruined the trip but she sure made for some utterly miserable moments and some fights that should only take place if you are traveling with a cranky 7 year old. She just gets obnoxious and she gets into everyone's face as if we are retarded little children (telling two grown women that we HAVE to eat dinner even when we say "We dont want to eat dinner) and not allowing us our privacy and a few quiet moments alone if we need it. Let me put it simply: SHE IS ANNOYING AS HELL AND YOU JUST WANT TO SLAP HER>>

It was not totally a bust but it could have been a lot more fun if she hadn't gotten into her passive-aggressive mode that she does so well. My Golf Buddy never knew that anything was going on because when CrazyFriend chooses to, she can be a sweet and "normal" as can be. But we were all seething underneath.

And poor Cousin Suzie was miserable because she had to share a hotel room with CrazyFriend. That alone is enough to make you want to kill yourself. At least I had my own room and I could have some peace and quiet. Thank goodness for that small favor.

After Daytona, we drove up to Saint Augustine. That was when the REAL fiasco started, The weather sucked. It rained and turned colder. But Suzie and I wanted to make the best of it. CraztFriend wanted to skip Saint Augustine and just drive on back (400 miles and SHE was not doing any of the driving). I said NO...we already and the hotel reservations and it was NOT fair to ask Cousin Suzie to drive 300+ miles in a driving rainstorm just because CrazyFriend wanted to go home.

So, in a feeble effort to make the best of it, we stayed in Saint Augustine, in the pouring rain. We had lunch at a seafood place and Suzie had a couple of beers and we decided to go to the Ripleys' Believe It Or Not Museum which was just down the block. The place was amazing, But in her own fashion CrazyFriend ruined the experience. She wouldn't stay with us, she had to take off and look at everything on her own. We just gave up and lost track of her. And Suzie was getting sick to her stomach fro the beer and the heavy lunch. At the end of the two hour museum tour, all she wanted to do was go back to the hotel and lie down for a couple of hours. Now, I can understand that, no problem because if I get a migraine, all I want to do is lie down for a while and I'll be fine.

Well, after the 40 minutes it took us to finally find Crazyfriend, (she wanted to stay and take pictures) Suzie was at the end of her rope. She was white as a sheet and all she wanted to do was go back to the hotel. Which we did. I had to wrangle CrazyFriend and keep her from bothering Suzie. That in itself was exhausting. But I did the best I could.

Suzie recovered from her upset stomach (that's all it was)...CrazyFriend wanted me to start looking for an emergency room and we had a relatively quiet evening.

The next morning, we left Saint Augustine with much better weather and Suzie feeling better after a good night's sleep.

Note to self: The next trip to Florida will NOT include CrazyFriend.

I will go with Cousin Suzie, no problem but CrazyFriend is staying home.

The details of how miserable she made us are just too numerous to list but I will admit, she outdid herself.

What was supposed to be a fun trip to Florida turned out to be a week in HELL and guess what?

It ain't over yet.

I am having lunch with Crazyfriend in about an hour.

It never seems to end.

Why don't we care about Chile?

I don't understand why no one seems to care about Chile.
They had one of the strongest earthquakes ever (8.8!!!)
There was major devastation and destruction.
There was looting and a period of chaos.
But it doesn't seem that anyone cares about Chile.
No one is singing "We Are The World".
There are no massive airlifts.
No troops, no hospital ships.
There's no Anderson Cooper rescuing children from unruly street gangs.
There's no Sanjay Gupta doing brain surgery on televisi0n.
There are no celebrities having telethons.
No one is saying "Just Text CHILE and you can make a $10 donation"
What is wrong with Chile?
Doesn't any one care or are we only allowed one major catastrophic earthquake a year?
What's the deal?
Who cares about Chile?

Finally, some GOOD news!

Well, I am soooo happy for my Golf Buddy in Florida. She called me last night, all excited and happy. After nearly 18 months of being on a waiting list, she had FINALLY gotten her senior's low income apartment in Daytona Beach. Wooo hooo. I am so glad she finally got it. As you can imagine, waiting for a low income, senior citizens' apartment in FLORIDA involves a VERY long wait. It's one of those places where someone has to die or be transferred to a nursing home before you move up on the waiting list.

We are going to visit her for a couple of days next week. I wasn't quite sure of what we were going to do because she's been so down lately. But now we actially have something to celebrate.

I told her a long time ago that when she finally got her apartment that we'd have a party. Well, our timing could not have been better, We can go down there for a couple of days and really have a good time. Yay. I am glad for her. I hope everything works out. She is so sweet and deserves a break after all the bad luck she's had.

Cowboy boots and western shirts.

I went to Rock Hill yesterday with CrazyFriend so we could meet with Cousin Suzie and firm up the plans for our Florida trip next week. We had a very nice lunch at Olive Garden. We usually eat at Cracker Barrel but since we are going to be eating there all next week, we decided to do something different. It was a very nice lunch. The soup was okay (a little thin I thought for a "cream" soup) but tasty nonetheless and the salad was well....salad.

We really didn't accomplish much of anything about our trip. Crazyfriend was in her usual form talking about her boyfriend (inser: manipulative freeloading con man) and the other homeless and unemplyed "guys" who seem to be suddenly appearing at her house. And the fact that she is doing their laundry and cooking meals for them....(sorry I digress.) We did not make any firm decisions about the trip. I wanted to have some structure but CrazyFriend was not helping. So I guess we'll just be winging it to Daytona Beach. Oh well. If we're lucky, CrazyFriend will wind up paying for 60% of the trip and happy to do it.

But after lunch, I did get to go to theTractor Supply Store. What a NEAT place. I could have spent all day and all my money there. They had everything you could imagine. I had been trying to find a western shirt and some cowboy boots. They had plenty. I found a pair of boots that I fell in love with but unfortunately, I could NOT get them on over my right ankle. So I didn't get them. But I WANTED them soooooooo bad. I did find a western shirt (on sale for $5) and I LOVE it. I cannot wait to go back to that place.

Today is messy, messy, messy. I would actually be just as happy to stay home, but we've already made plans to meet a frined for lunch and hubby wants to go to the range. I am going to shoot too. I always feel I should shoot at least a couple of times a month and this is a good a time as any. We are going to have lunch at the Japanese place. I like their Bento boxes. Yum.

That is about it....Tito and I are engaged in the great food dish wars. But that is a whole other entry. He started unscrewing his food dish about a week ago and throwing it on the floor. I got him a different dish a couple of days ago just to distract him. And now he is so pissed at me, it's not even funny. Having a parrot pissed at you is NOT fun.

Oh well...we'll work it out.

Off to have Japanese lunch and to shoot at small pieces of paper.