Happiest place on earth..???

I'm back. From the "Happiest Place on Earth"....or so they say. I beg to differ that comment. ESPECIALLY during Spring Break.

Got down there Sunday late afternoon, checked into the Grand Californian, and strolled around the park a bit. Did the same thing Monday - Thursday....came home Thursday night. LOTS of people. Met a terribly rude and unhappy female "cast" member at Big Thunder Mountain. Am wondering what pissed HER off so miserably.

Unfortunately, I lost my iPod in the hotel room. Am hoping, but not holding my breath, that it is recovered. Just not my year.

Didn't get the chance to meet up with JoAnn and Kohl...missed them terribly. Kept mom about as sane as I possibly could with Heather there. Had my share of favorite foods...including a nice glass of white wine at (what USED to be) the Mondavi restaurant. Ended up in a friggin' wheelchair by Tuesday night. I was very disappointed in myself...but, today my trainer and masseuse cheered me on, saying that it was quite the accomplishment that I got THAT far without one. I guess it's just easier to kick myself in the butt than it is to praise myself. Thank God for Steve my masseuse. Took good care of me...always does.

The girls just called, and are in Redlands...on their way back from Mexico. Dayna vomited the second night (in her tent...yuck)....and the dust was SSSOOO bad down there his year, that Alyssa had to have 7 nebulizer treatments, and is still struggling breathing on the way home.

Got a refrigerator on Saturday before I left. I impressed Dean. Got a new stainless steel french-door, 3-door that retailed for $2400....for......$600. (It pays to have been doing all of my remodeling through them. I've befriended a manager...) Should be delivered sometime tomorrow...although I have not yet been given a time...nor have I HAD the time to clear out the spot in the garage that it will be going in. Such a procrastinator!!

Dean and I will be traveling to Las Vegas soon. Staying at the Wynn. Should be enjoyable. Looking forward to that trip.

I have quite a few places/trips planned within the next few months...before the girls go back to school next year. Busy, busy.

Gave out lots and LOTS of pins to little kids for their lanyards during my Disneyland stay. That was the high point. For many of them, it was their first trip. I had two little boys that got lanyards...both named "Luke". They both picked Star Wars pins. Very appropriate. I was given an "Honorary Citizen" pin from a cast member. He found out that I enjoy handing out free pins to little ones who are just starting their lanyards...now it's official. Oh, if I could just set up a homestead there on the property, I'd be set. Just wait...some day, I will be one of those little old people you see working there and just loving life....

Well, that's my update for the evening. Been too many days without the laptop. Hopefully your week went well, and I am hoping that you have a FABULOUS Easter!

The Little Purse That Thought It Could Swim

Alright.....some of you already know this story. But, I think it bares repeating for those who haven't heard it yet.


Many of you know I have lived a rather interesting life, with many fascinating aspects....ups and downs.....highs and lows. Many of you have said I should write a book. Well....no book (yet)....but, I will continue to blog some points of interest.



Before I start in on this story, lemme update you from yesterday. Got my staples out today. All 12 of them. Doc says everything looks "right on track". It's really a good thing that I love my doctor so....or, I would have smacked him upside the head and asked him, "WHICH TRACK IS THAT?!?!?"

All kidding aside, he said everything looked great (funny thing to say while you are looking down at someone's hooha...), and that my "issue" was normal and to be expected for the next few days, that I can start driving, gave me an Rx for a hormone (I keep wanting to spell that HOR-MOAN...lol) patch, and he'd see me in a week. So, there ya go. My little "Update".


(No...I'm not telling you if I have POOPED or not!!!)



Back to the story at hand....

Most of you know that we took a 10-day "vacation" (there IS a reason for those parenthesis) to San Juan and the Caribbean the day after Christmas. It started out with a flight from FAT (yes...that IS our sorry-ass airport code here), heading to San Juan...with two stops. Before we could even get checked in, I had TWO ladies who's suitcases fell over on me, causing damage to the back of one of my knees....and a bruise on the other thigh. I should have known from the get-go, this was going to be a wild and crazy trip!

Well, good 'ole US Airways (note to all: AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!) had us standing out on the tarmac, waiting for my wheelchair.....and, you guessed it.....we missed our connecting flight. So, a little over two hours later, we ended up with a COMPLETELY new flight schedule.....for the next day. Oh! They were gracious enough to put us up at the Hampton Inn for 1.5 hours. Side note: Hampton Inn in Las Vegas was surprisingly WONDERFUL!! Anyways....flights here, flights there...we are finally about 2 hours away from landing in San Juan, 12 hours later than scheduled. About that time, I see Briana (our eldest), asking the steward....sorry..... ATTENDANT....for some salt, while she is peeking out of the restroom. After she is out, she comes to me crying, saying she is not feeling well. She sits on my lap, and I touch her skin. She's BURNING up. MASSIVE fever.

We land in San Juan, and get to our hotel at 2:30am. I immediately inquire about a doctor on call, and they give me the info for the hotel operator. Once in our room, I call for a doctor. This operator was not thrilled about calling the doctor at this time of the night, but I insisted.

10:30am.....no doctor. She DIDN'T call the doctor. So, I make another urgent plea to the new operator on duty, who promptly gets a doctor to the room and diagnosis Bri with strep throat. Now, comes the fun part: learning about getting Rx's in Puerto Rico from Walgreen's. You would think a Walgreen's is a Walgreen's....right? NOPE! You drop off your prescription, and are told it will be about 45 minutes. So, we carry on with some sightseeing and come back later in a taxi. I walk in to pick up the prescription...5 people ahead of me....little did I know I would be spending almost an HOUR waiting in line! WITH, of course, a taxi running with our kids in it. Ok...so, now, drugs in hand, we get Briana doped up and feeling better almost instantly. Let's head to the Caribbean on a 7 day cruise!!!

Here we are, out at sea, and getting ready to dock in Antigua, where we have a fun-filled day ahead of us!! We're going ATV'ing!! We have 3 quads set up for the 6 of us, and we are ALL looking forward to going. One problem: Lee (Briana's boyfriend...who we took with us) has spiked a high fever. So....he insists we go on without him, but we all walk down and make sure he gets in to see the doctor on board. When we came back from our excursion, we find that Lee has 105' temp., due to a viral infection. No antibiotics....just heavy duty Tylenol. (Dear God....PLEASE don't let us all get sick RIGHT before my surgery!!)

We struggled with insect bites and low grade temps. and not feeling up-to-par for the remainder of the cruise. This is where the vacation gets REALLY exciting.

Disembarkation: January 5th, 09:52:17 (according to records).



That's when I slid my cruise card through for the last time, and was wheeled off the ship in my wheelchair. My lovely middle daughter, Alyssa, was my driver. I must say, through the whole trip, the cruise staff was nearly ANAL about not allowing anyone to push my wheelchair on the gangway. Until disembarkation. Poor Alyssa wheels me off of the ship, only to get a wheel stuck in the gangway. She pushes, and pushes....while the cruise employees stand and watch. Please keep in mind, we are holding up a huge line of passengers wanting to get off the ship...and no one is assisting us. So, Lys gives me one more shove.....and something unforgettable happens. My little purse, that I had JUST purchased at our last port, JUMPS up in the air....lands on the gangway (6 stories above the water), and rolls off the side (note: no nets....no guards).....plunging into the ocean. I remember screaming at this point....and wanting to vomit. I look around me. I see panicked faces across the dock screaming "NO!" in unison. I think Alyssa almost jumped overboard. My purse......was gone.

Inside that purse:




5 passports (everyone in my family)
2 CA Driver's License's (mine and Bri's)
2 ATM cards
2 credit cards
2 gas cards
1 insurance card
$800 in cash (I won a jackpot in the casino the first night)
My cell phone with all of my numbers and datebook



and most importantly.....


My digital camera with all of my Christmas an vacation photos on it.








All gone. In the blink of an eye.






I have to pause here, and ask you: Have you EVER had a moment in time where you solidly wished and wondered to God WHY you couldn't rewind?





Never before had I felt this feeling. Always talked about "going back and changing things"....never felt something so sickening. It was all about the camera. With my Fibromyalgia, I have lost most of my short-term memory. My girlfriends at church had prayed over me before I left, that I would get LOTS of pictures so that I could remember my trip. And that's what I did.....took LOTS of pictures. I knew that I had JUST gotten through Dean's surgery with him and was getting ready the following week to go under, myself. What I WASN'T thinking about, was how drastically this was going to impact our travels home. Basically, Briana and I didn't exist. TSA is no pretty picture to go through nowadays.


Well, they eventually escorted us away (after allowing me to sit in my wheelchair...staring at the ocean where my purse was, for what seemed like an hour), straight into Homeland Security. There we sat, waiting for some sort of ID for Bri and myself. For over an hour we were there. I just wanted to close my eyes and make this all go away. I wanted to be home, in my bed, with the covers pulled up over my head.

After leaving Homeland Security, we were escorted out to our waiting driver (been waiting for us since 8am...only number he had was my cell phone). The police explained to him what had happened, and that we needed to be taken to the San Juan Police Headquarters to file a report. Here, they guaranteed us that a case number would get us through airport security. We did this...but, it did not help.

I vaguely remember explaining our peril to the first TSA official, telling him that we had the SJ Police case number and phone number, and having him say directly to me,"Lady, that doesn't mean a THING to us." My heart sank. Millions of problems came drifting into my head. All of these caused because I hadn't secured my purse.

Bri and I had to go through extra security, had all of our carry-on's rummaged through, had high dollar facial care thrown away, got airport "blowjobs" at each security stop. Our main goal was to get IN an airport, and keep flowing through without missing a connection. Forgetting, of course, who we were flying on.

Yup, we missed our connecting flight...again....in Las Vegas. We were sent down to the ticket counter for hotel vouchers......we were only 6 of the approx. 300 stranded travellers that night at 2am. Once again, we waited for over 2 hours to get hotel vouchers. We were shuffled off to a "local" establishment....20 minutes OFF of the strip......only to be greeted by a 2 hour wait to get a room. We got 4 hours of sleep and a buffet the next morning, and ran as fast as we could to get to the airport.....only to have to go through security all over again.


Well, we got home Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, I immediately started putting our lives together again....replacing cards, filling out passport info (the kids need theirs IMMEDIATELY to go on a mission trip to Mexico in less than 6 weeks), going to the DMV to get a temp. license, etc. (Another side note: Bri went in a day later than me to get her license....she's already received it in the mail. Guess who hasn't? Guess who has a sneaking suspicion that her identity has ONCE AGAIN been stolen? Another story for another time....) Started filling in all of the holes so that I would be ready for surgery come Monday.









End of the story?









C'mon. You should know my luck better than that.....









January 9th, 9pm, I get a call from Alyssa (daughter #2) who is at church with Bri (daughter #1). Briana decided to leave her purse in her car while they were at church, and someone was (what we believe) waiting in the parking lot, and did a smash-and-grab. Smashed out the smallest (yet, most expensive to replace) window in her 2006 Mustang. I get to go through the motions of getting that all replaced and repaired for her.....with 5 days and counting before my surgery. They stole her designer purse, sunglasses, 60G video iPod with designer case. Thank GOD she didn't have her wallet in her purse!! Well....I got it all squared away for her. She's at a loss for the purse, case and sunglasses....but, we can replace the iPod. Some lessons come with a price.








I didn't even MENTION the story about how someone did a hit-and-run to my Denali while on vacation during Thanksgiving, did I????








Wow......so much to tell.........so little time.................









Wonder what I will share with you tomorrow???