a potpourri catchup…

• thursday hubby was still in a good bit of pain because of the stent that was connecting his kidney to his bladder.  we decided to go to the bridge run but just to walk a bit and hang out.  you know my husband is feeling bad when he says things like, “you’re walking too fast” and “slow down.”  my poor guy.  we ended up doing a slow walk to the bridge and back, approximately a mile round trip.  after hanging around to talk to everyone for a bit, hubby was very much ready to get home and rest.  my poor boy.
• some wildlife shots from the bridge run walk.

• friday night, we went to our favorite plaza’s amphitheatre area for shakespeare in the park.  the show was a midsummer night’s dream and it was directed by mello and nightingale’s oldest son.  he was also the musician.  we sat with mello, faith, and younger son, chatting before the show and during intermission.  the play was very well done, with some very entertaining actors - especially puck!  it was an excellent low-key evening out. 
• saturday and sunday were wonderfully restful days.
• yesterday, hubby finally got his stent removed.  it was both horrifying and fascinating to watch.  one of those things where i hated to look but i just couldn’t turn away.  all in all, though, it was a joyous occasion.  he had instant relief in his kidney.  he was left with… other pain… but that dissipated as the night wore on and i think he’s almost back to normal today.  here’s hoping that we never have to go through that kind of ordeal again.  it has been terrible watching my hubby in so much pain and not being able to take it away for him. 
• last night we met up with scooter, sunny, cargo, and his new chick for cheap movie night.  how did we not know before that tuesdays were $6 movies all night?  we went to see the sequel to a movie we never saw.  we went to be part of the group, not because either of us wanted to see it.  it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be and i was relieved that there was so much humor in it.

how do you roll a cooler on water?

hubby's extremely brief attempt at snorkeling

since pain spasms and underwater don’t mix well, hubby went back to the sun tent to take another pain pill while we three snorkeled a bit.  sadly, no dolphins flocked to us.

sylvis-fish

tiny shark-looking-guy

peach-fish

my poor hubby spent the whole time missing me like crazy.  or not… 

this is how hubby spent our snorkel time

we spent much longer out there than i expected.  i think we all spent some time napping in the tent.  it was wonderfully relaxing.   when we finally packed up and walked back to the ferry landing, we had a bit of a wait.  peach found a nice cool seat while we were waiting.  shortly thereafter, he had to give it up to hubby so that he could lay down and writhe in pain a bit. 

peach was very fond of his new raft

much like the dolphins, the gators were also a no-show.  however, the stop at alligator lake did give me the opportunity to try out the cool face detection self-portrait feature on cobalt.  i turned it on, pressed the button, and took my time getting in place.   when i turned my head and looked at the camera, it recognized the new face and took three consecutive shots.  what a cool frikkin feature!!!

testing out the face-detection timer

i’m glad that we were able to get out and have a few good hours with our guests.  by the time we got back home, hubby was feeling terrible again.  a few hours ago, he spiked a fever.  a few minutes ago, i came into the room to find him asking for a scale.  i brought the scale into the bathroom and when he got out of bed i noticed that his torso and face were swollen, his stomach distended.  he stepped on the scale and was eight pounds heavier than normal.  that’s eight pounds of water bloating that came out of nowhere.  i’m very concerned and will be watching him carefully throughout the night.

last night was my favorite bridge yet!  why?  because i didn’t run and i wasn’t alone.  it rawked!  since i had just stopped limping from the twisted knee last weekend, i was planning on taking it pretty slow anyhow.  and then, just before we left, my belly got very upset making me even more apprehensive about putting too much effort into it.  luckily, when we got there, nightingale mentioned that she was considering walking because her stomach was hurting.  and then tat got there and said the same thing.  and then yoda showed up with her little ankle-biter and said she would be walking since the dog couldn’t keep up with a run.  so i got to be part of a comfortably walking foursome.  having conversation was such a refreshing change for the bridge!  we only walked half of it, turning around shortly before reaching the top because the dog was having a tough time climbing the hill. 

after a little of the parking lot hangout, we headed to our plaza for their summer concert in the park series.  we set up our lawn chairs and grabbed a bag of five guys and had a nice picnic while listening to good music in the park with thousands of our closest neighbors.  it was a good night.

i saw my first SHARK today! i was very excited when i looked down from my balcony and saw the large, dark, angular sea creature swimming in that very defining zigzag pattern. i wish my hubby had seen it too but he was down at the pool swimming (i had just gotten out of bed). unfortunately, i was so enthralled with watching it for the short time i was able to that i did not run back in to find my camera and shoot it. you can, however, take my word that it was SO COOL! happily, my wii hubby did come home to me late yesterday afternoon. we mostly relaxed last night and not much on the schedule for today. i think we’re going to walk to some stores to see if we can find my boy a new kite. the wind broke his last time he was flying. i should do some masking and painting but i’ve been cooped up all week so i’m ready to get out a little. the paint will still be there tomorrow, right? and maybe we’ll get around to building our mii’s sometime too.

wow, been a while, eh? alright, some bits of randomness then, shall we?

• we did make our tv purchases. we ended up choosing a 50″ plasma for the living room which would not fit in the car. of course, we did not do enough up front research to know that we also could not lay it down in the car and, therefore, would have been better off with a smaller lcd for ease of transport. luckily, my hubby is a social person and when he went back into the store to re-measure the display model to see if it would fit in the car out of the box he met a man buying the same tv who happened to live a couple miles from us and had a truck but no straps. well, it just so happens that we never are without straps in our vehicle. so a deal was struck for this very kind gentleman to follow us home with our tv. we also got a 26″ lcd for our bedroom. we don’t much watch tv in our bedroom but i prefer to have a tv in there when my boy is out of town because i watch tv until i can’t keep my eyes open when i’m alone and being in bed is more conducive to that sleep behavior than having to get up from the couch and walk to bed by which time i’m awake again. insomnia sucks, ya’ll.
• i love my tvs. they are so shiny and pretty and clear. the living room requires a sound system though as the tv’s sound is insufficient and very directional.
• we had company part of last weekend. our great friends b&t and family came to visit again. they are doing vacation two beaches over this week so they came down a couple days early to stay with us. they enjoyed the entertainment system upgrades since their last visit. next time we’ll even have beds for the chilluns to sleep on. we went to play and have dinner at their rental wednesday night. tonight, we are giving them their anniversary gift by letting them drop the chilluns off for the night and then tomorrow they are headed home.
• we spent ten or eleven hours glued to the couch last sunday watching the lotr trilogy on our pretty, new tv. the rest was much needed but that is a long flippin’ trilogy.
• i got a call from my sissy last saturday letting me know that the man-child went and got himself broken at the very end of spring break. they were at the beach (apparently our beach is too far, how rude!) and the boys had just gotten a skim board and poor man-child wiped out and broke both bones in his arm and had to have surgery to pin him back together. they were on the way back from the beach hospital when she called and he was in the back of the van half asleep and drooling from the pain meds. my poor nephew. it’s been a rough and painful week for him with no guitar hero. i just want to hug him and squeeze him and take away his pain.
• we’re trying really hard to get down to orlando before the end of the month because it’s been like forever since we visited and i miss my friends and family and need to hug my little man-child ferociously. unfortunately, one of us has been working rediculously crazy hours lately and has to go out of town on a moments’ notice so it’s really hard to schedule a non-work trip.
• we got a wii! well, my mil got it for us because we have had no luck finding any. we got close the other day when we saw a man purchasing one in a store and he informed us there was another one back there but by the time we made it to the electronics department, it was gone. so next time we go to al, we’ll have a wii. in case we find one before then, in which case we’ll have a wii for sale!

what a frikkin week. after a very long week, we went to our favorite night spot last night but the band wasn’t our gig and the night ended with a very nasty scene. we went back to the dance floor for “sweet home alabama” - you know, with it being the national anthom and all… and there was this blond frikkin %(&#@)%* using her straw to spit her drink all over me and this chick next to me. and we’re looking at each other like wtf?! but i’m willing to shrug it off because apparently this chick has had too much and is easily amused. whatever, i’m having a good time. and then i’m dancing with my wonderful alabaman hubby and suddenly this chick poors her drink all over my #$)%&#%@ head! see you next tuesday!!! i really wish that i had jumped up on the #(%&#@!! rail and punched her in the #(%&(#% face! instead, i stood there in shock until the song was over. i was cold, wet, and angry and i just wanted to go home. we came home, showered all the nastiness off, and went to bed. today, i tried to be positive. i slept in, went to the gym for a really long, great workout, came back to make breakfast (so what if it’s the afternoon!), layed around, went to the pool, and now we’re getting ready to go hang out again. maybe that’ll make this week a better week. other than my hubby’s abandoning me again this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS-N-LAW!!! if i recall correctly, they should have had a great weekend at a music festival in ft lauderdale over the weekend. we, too, had a great weekend. our spring breaking on friday was a great success. it was the most fun i’ve had at our favorite little club yet. we managed to stay out until 0300 and never sat down the whole night. yep, that’s right folks, i danced the night away. inexplicable, i know. alright, so it wasn’t so much dancing as jumping and head-banging and shouting along with the music. it was an awesome time. i even got hit on (and my husband got congratulated - yay self-esteem boost!!!). there was, of course, a price to be paid for all of that being young and partying. saturday was very much a hold down the couch kind of day. although we did drag ourselves out long enough to sit in the hot tub a bit. we had actually planned on going back for a second night but we were just too wiped (alright, we’re old but at least we can muster up the strength to play young once in a while!) sunday was slightly more productive with grocerying and hot tubbing. it was really just a great weekend!

have i mentioned how nice it is to be home? last night, we went to the gym for a while and then we took some wine to the hottub and soaked a bit. tonight, my hubby took me to a movie and yummy dinner. it was wonderful. i’ve also managed to tame the laundry which has been piling up for a month with no w/d and unpack several boxes. who knows, maybe one of these days we’ll be moved in. here’s hoping since i think we’ve got company coming in two weeks. and yes, SEARS, YOU STILL SUCK!!!