Weekend Update

Friday: Mom and I went to Hutch. We went to Target to look for shower-type necessities since the new bathroom is finished. I also looked for extra-long twin sheets. Found some that were the same colors as the ones I'd seen at JCPenney the weekend before, but the Target ones were $5 more. Wouldn't've cared about the price (they were still just $20), but if I didn't want blue or red LAST weekend, I didn't want them THIS weekend, either. So all I came out with was a new purple V-neck T-shirt and a housewarming gift for Anita that I am SOOOOOOO excited to give her. Then we went to Home Depot where Mom got some metal electrical conduit pipe so Dad could make a shower rod. Have to make one since the new shower is six inches wider than any ready-made shower rod we could find. She also bought a shower curtain, a hang-over-the-shower-head caddy for soap and stuff, and a soap dish for the tub. Lastly we went to Health E-quip so I could see if they have a certain type of shower chair I want to get for bathing in NOLA. They didn't, but the rehab guy tried to describe a cheaper alternative that he had seen somewhere. I couldn't picture it, so he's going to try to find it again to show it to me when I go in tomorrow for the service guys to look at my batteries and tires so they can order in the correct ones.

Saturday: Got up at 4:30 so the parentals and I could go to El Dorado Lake for the Kansas Vietnam Veterans and Families Reunion. I haven't been in several years, but back when I was still going to MD camp, I went every year because it was held the weekend we came home from camp. My folks and a bunch of Hutch area vets would go over on Thursday night and camp all weekend. On Saturday afternoon, my mom would drive in to Wichita and pick up Stacy, Paul, and me from the bus, then it was out to the lake with everyone else. We'd eat, BS, dance, and enjoy the Saturday night fireworks. The guys would get drunk and pull all kinds of stupid stuff -- like the year they got in trouble for shooting water balloons at the helicopter with a water balloon sling-shot from several hundred yards away. No, not while the copter was flying. They'd yell "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" and launch. They got so good (despite their high blood alcohol content) that they actually shot a couple of them right through the open bay doors to the other side of the copter. I say good because they did it two or three times IN A ROW.

This year, we didn't plan to stay very long because that was the first day it was supposed to get to 100 degrees. We got our T-shirts (now the only one I have since I my other ones were in NOLA), Dad got a funnel cake, we browsed the few vendors that were there (I bought a leather fanny pack for the side of my chair for $10 and a necklace of carved unakite that to me looks like a thunderbird), and we watched the helicopter and then the skydivers land. One diver carried nothing, one carried a POW/MIA flag, and the last carried a huge American flag. It was very groovy.



On the way home, we stopped at Wal-mart in Newton because Mom and Dad needed dog and cat food. Dad and I went to check out the movies -- he got a Robert Redford movie named "Jeremiah Johnson," and I got two Jim Hensons ("Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth"). I also got a Scottish drums and pipes CD.

Sunday: The McClaflin Family Rebellion (a.k.a. reunion) for my paternal grandmother's family. I hardly know any of those people, mainly because Dad doesn't get along with very many of them. He has one aunt that he loves dearly, and the rest of the family talks about her constantly. Kinda the black sheep, I guess. I made a point of talking to two great-aunts (LaDene, a.k.a. Deenie, and Carol) in particular because they gave me money after I got back from NOLA to the tune of at least $100 each. Talking to Aunt Deenie can be a chore, and sometimes you have to be extremely careful so you don't offend her (you know how some older ladies can be), but it wasn't bad -- at least for me. She made a special point of asking me about school and when I would be going back. She also said a lot of encouraging things to me concerning school, and they even seemed genuine and heart-felt. I think some of it's due to the fact that we have at least one severe mental-deficient in each of the last couple of generations who just can't seem to keep his/her fanny on the right side of the law, so it makes people like my brother (who was asked after by many) and me look like we're saints because we're going to school. Talking to Aunt Carol was great -- we talked herb-growing. I didn't even know she liked to grow herbs. Neither of us has much of a growing touch, apparently, but we try. I also talked a bit with my Great-aunt Thelma (my grandma's sister-in-law), who was SO HAPPY to see me, and my Great-aunt Lila, who remembers me when I was "so little" in Topeka (my dad was stationed at the AFB there when I was about a year old). Both sweet as they can be. Aunt Thelma and my Great-uncle Clyde were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary complete with BIG cake. Sixty years. Wow. I just can't imagine it.

Monday: Spent $125.73 at the vet on six months each of Frontline (flea preventative -- I hate fleas with a passion, and Reba seems to be allergic to their bites) and Tri-Heart (heartworm preventative). Had three calls with my GP about a second UA I had done last week. The GP got the results on Friday and tried to call me, but I was in Hutch and they didn't try my cell. Called them in the morning, but the chart had been reshelved so the nurse didn't know why they had called me. She'd find out and call me back. I called a second time because if they were going to call me in antibiotics, I wanted them to do it while I was still in town. The receptionist said she'd tell the nurse to call me PDQ. Two minutes later the receptionist called back and told me the nurse had said they'd faxed everything to the nephrologist and HIS office was probably the one that called. No, I said, it was the GP's office. Well, receptionist said, the nurse said the nephrologist will handle it. No, I said, because the nephrologist is releasing me back to the GP since my blood sodium bicarbonate levels are "fantastic." OK, receptionist said, I'll tell the nurse. The nurse eventually ended up informing me that I need to get a THIRD UA. ::sigh::

In the afternoon, I started on the review of the hoping-to-be-published FA article. The basis is sound, I think, but there are a few more things I'd like to see them address for publishing. I also made a flyer advertising my need for PCAs and emailed it to one of my friends asking her to put them up on campus. She emailed me today asking if she could take off the wage announcement part in an attempt to get me more inquiries. Seems no one may be interested in my $8.00 per hour when there's such a labor shortage that even McDonald's is paying $10.00 per hour. I may have to work at McDonald's myself to help pay for my attendants. So I told her to take off the wage part and add a part that emphasizes more than I already had that this is for EXTRA, supplemental cash. Unless the BoR wants to give me a couple hundred dollars more a month, I can't afford more than $8.00 an hour if I plan on paying for my credit card, my phone, my internet, Moby's insurance, my gas, and Reba's and my food. ::sigh again:: I'm trying not to stress over this, but my PMS is not helping that.

OK, I need to go do something academic and productive so I can lie around in the hospital Thursday night and Friday and whenever else and only concentrate on how crappy I feel and not all the academic things I need to do. Later, lovelies!