BIG TIME UPDATE. GRAB SOME COFFEE AND HAVE A SEAT.

I can't believe I've been away from my blog for nearly a month. I hope I haven't lost all my cyber friends in my absence. I'll do my best to not let it happen again.

Here we go!

Thursday, April 6th – Went to Payless to buy some new shoes for K. He now officially has bigger feet than I do. He’s twelve years old, for goodness sake. That depresses me.

On the way home from the shoe store, I heard a weird banging sound, which was followed shortly thereafter by a very loud hum. Turns out I’d blown a tire without even running over anything. Leave it to me. Heh.

Morning of Friday, April 7th – Went to Discount Tire to have the tire replaced. I was so happy that I had full replacement coverage on that tire. But upon closer inspection, it turned out that what I really needed were four new tires. Thankfully, the one that had blown out, and its twin on the other side, both had replacement coverage, and thus cost me $14 each. Then I had to buy two new ones for the front. How on earth two $90 tires plus two $14 tires ended up costing $300 is beyond me…fuzzy math, that.

While at Discount Tire, I heard someone call my name. I looked up to see my old (like, since-first-grade old) friend G standing there. We spent the next hour catching up on recent events. During our chat, she invited me to go scrapbooking with her that night, and of course I jumped at the chance.

Evening of Friday, April 7th – G picked me up and drove us to the place where we’d spend the next few hours scrapping. For some reason, I was unhappy with every page I worked on, so I eventually gave up and spent the last hour or so just organizing my stuff. We left the crop at 12:30 a.m. and were driving home when BANG! We were hit by a drunk driver. A 17-year-old drunk driver. Thank God no one was seriously injured – although I did later call my EMTsis and tell her to watch out, because that made two of us three sisters who’d been hit by drunks within a month!

Saturday, April 8th – Hubby, the kids, and I went to watch Houston’s new Major League Soccer team, the Dynamo, play the Kansas City Wizards. In a stunning loss, the Dynamo folded to the Wiz 2-1. But on a high note, we met some really cool ladies who had flown in from San Jose (from whence the Dynamo came) just to watch the game. Ry was wearing a San Jose t-shirt, so we joked that we were going to send him back to California with them.

Sunday, April 9th – Tired from the week’s activity, I stayed in bed until nearly noon. When I did get up, I spent the day doing a little laundry and a lot of grocery shopping (wow, exciting...wonder why I stayed in bed so long?). By evening, I was very grateful for our new tradition of having dinner at the in-laws every Sunday night.

Monday, April 10th – Six more hours of laundry; five hours of ironing; NO sleep last night.

Morning of Tuesday, April 11th – Today I checked out a new dollar store. It had a lot of stuff, but was not as “cool” as Dollar Tree. (Dollar Tree has cheap scrapbooking supplies, so yes, they are cool.) Anyway, while I was at this other store, I picked up a bottle of Lysol and accidentally knocked an openbottle of ammonia on the floor and all over myself. I was soaked from my knees down. I sloshed up to the register and told the cashier what had happened. In spite of the fact that someone had left an open bottle of disinfectant on a shelf, and in spite of my discomfort and the disinfectant-y smell permeating from my jeans and shoes, I was actually pleasant to her. In response, she grunted and turned her back on me. Guess you get what you pay for.

Afternoon of Tuesday, April 11th – Took the canine for her first official vet visit since we adopted her. She was a barking, growling, straining-at-the-leash pain in the rear, even though she didn’t need shots or anything. Goofy dog. Fortunately, she’s perfectly healthy. Yay.

Also today: Happy birthday, J! I hope you had a great day. Love ya!

Wednesday, April 12th – Took Bailey to the groomer for a much-needed bath and haircut. She loved it last time; hated it this time. I reiterate: goofy dog.

Tonight was P’s Seussical Musical performance at school. She had a small singing and dancing part, which was terribly cute. Elementary school shows can be so entertaining.

Thursday, April 13th – Spent the day packing for Florida. The excitement is about to kill me.

Friday, April 14th – Got on a plane for the first time in 5 1/2 years. I wasn't drinking or anything, and I actually boarded willingly! The flight couldn’t have gone more smoothly. If all flights were like that, I’d become a flight attendant.

Yeah right.

Morning and afternoon of Saturday, April 15th – Hubby and I drove two hours south of Ft. Lauderdale to Homestead, where we’d been rudely kicked out by Hurricane Andrew 14 years prior. What we saw there was almost indescribable. Heartbreaking. Emptiness. I couldn’t stop the tears for what was, what is, and what could have been…

Evening of Saturday, April 15th – The reason for our trip to Florida in the first place: Alan Parsons concert. For the record, “Silence and I” – best live song EVER. After the show, we got to go backstage to meet the band and Alan (again). It was great to see them, but we also met some goofy-ass fan club members...geez, people; get a life.

Sunday, April 16th – Celebrated Easter with lunch at Bennigan’s. Later that day I had a backache for no apparent reason, but overall it was a great day. We also went to the beach – Florida has the BEST beaches, by the way - then later went out to dinner. Hubby got lit. He never gets drunk anymore, so it was quite funny to see. He tried to get me to buy a Corona bikini. Yes, the actual beer Corona. Fortunately, *I* was not lit.

Monday, April 17th – Sad to leave Florida, but couldn’t wait to see the kids. Flight back was as nice as the flight out, so apparently I had good flight juju this weekend.

Tuesday, April 18th – Back to the grind. Whee.

Rest of this week – Fairly uneventful. At least, I don’t remember much about it. Same old, same old.

Monday, April 24th – Kids out of school. Agreed to take them down to daddy’s office so they could see it, then we’d all go out to lunch together. But before we left, I took them to the local Donuts and Burgers (yes, that’s the name of it) for breakfast. As I was reaching for my Diet Coke (no donuts for me; good little me), my back spasmed so hard I could not breathe nor speak. Scary, that. We did end up going to lunch with hubby, but it was a long drive for me to make with a pained back. By the time we got back home, I was in misery. Every time I’d try to move, get up, turn around, reach, whatever, I felt what could only be described as a full-blown labor pain contraction. Only I’m not pregnant. I don't think I’ve ever hurt that much.

Tuesday, April 25th – Went to the doctor about my back pain. She did not listen to me at all – told me I had no tolerance for strenuous activities; that the last time I was in their office, it was also for pain (see blog entry “Tennis, Anyone?” – from months and months ago); that she once had muscle spasms when she reached up to get a dish from her cabinet (I was not reaching up – see, she didn’t listen to me). I was ready to read her the riot act, but I was already in tears from the pain. Then she said she was going to prescribe Vicodin and a muscle relaxant, which sounded good to me. So I just waited for the scrips and got out of there. Oh, I also had to have eight X-rays, which was misery in and of itself. But the sweet X-ray tech felt sorry for me because I couldn’t stop crying, and her concern did redeem the medical office somewhat. But I’ll never go back to that doctor again. How hard is it to listen to a patient? I couldn’t fit a word in edgewise over all her "uh huh, uh huhs" and nonsensical chatter.

Wednesday and Thursday, April 26th and 27th – Still in pain, but it’s definitely abating. I even did some grocery shopping on Thursday.

Friday, April 28th – Spent all day doing laundry. All.Day. Of course, I have more to do now, but it was nice while it lasted. And hopefully all that activity won’t re-injure my back.

Saturday, April 29th – Hubby and the boys went camping, so P and I spent the day scrapbooking with hubby’s sister and mother. It was a very good day, and I was exhausted by the end of it. Who knew scrapbooking was so labor intensive?

Sunday, April 30th – P and I went to the dollar store to buy some more scrapbooking supplies (to all scrappers out there: check out your local Dollar Tree. They’ve got great stuff!), then we picked up Sonic for lunch and ate it here at home. Hubby and the boys got home around 3:00, then hubby and I mowed and edged the front lawn. Then we all went to the in-law’s house for dinner. We even watched “Shane,” the old Alan Ladd movie. Got home around 9:30 and put the kids straight to bed.

Monday, May 1st – Played a serious catch-up game with my blog. Even hubby has been nagging me to update it. I hope you’ve all been doing well. As soon as I get a minute, I’m going to catch up on reading your blogs, too!

Tuesday, May 2nd – Had lunch with sisters today. It was nice to see them. Just got back from lunch (Tnk paid the bill, but I said I'd leave the tip). It was really good to sit and visit for awhile. Tnk is doing well - she's healing nicely, although her hands are going to have some serious scarring. But her demeanor was good, and she's motivated to get back to 100%, so I'm optimistic about her recovery. I still get sad, though, when I realize how close we came to losing her. I can't even think about that - it makes me cry every time. In spite of everything, they're my family and I love them.

Good news: The drunk who hit her still sits in jail, and it's been about 50 days since the wreck. Thank God for small favors. Or big ones. This might qualify as a big one.

And Pezzie – I’ve missed you guys, too. :)