Wordless Wednesday, err Thursday

Hey guys!  My apologies for the lag in my posts, I've been blog-procrastinating.  No, for real, I've been super uber busy.  Work is kicking my ass, plus I'm planning this event that finally takes place on this Saturday and as it has been getting closer and closer to D-day, there has been more and more to do.  It's been pretty stressful, but it will be a totally fun day.  After I get past it, I should be a little better off but there's always shit to do, right?
Anyway, I thought I'd give you guys something, and I love doing Wordless Wednesdays.  I love finding crazy shit to post to make you laugh, think about, or to make fun of you with (I'm looking at you Lady E).  Hell, I can't even get a Wordless Wednesday posted on the right day!  So, how about Thursday instead?

So, without further ado.....

I heart The Big Bang Theory so much

New Fiona Apple CD coming out!  So excited!!!!!!

 

I'm trying this out today, will let you know if I fuck it up too bad

2 of my favorite things: Hello Kitty and Zombies!

I'm looking at you Lady E!!!!!



This is SOOOO me at work!!!!  (no, not really...I wish!)

My entry in Lady E's hand sanitizer contest

Red Velvet Cheesecake.....really......*drool*

I am SO making this stuff

Van-trooper - so f'ing awesomesauce!

Hehe....Walken....Dead....

I heart Beaker!!!!

If you're at least as old as me, you remember these.

 

Oh how I miss you already!!!!  *sniff, sniff*

Cheesy Amusing Athletics Bloggertime

I'm hooking up with my lactose-enriched blogging friends over at Cheesy Bloggers for their topic for the week.  This time, they're looking for our gym or athletics stories - were you a star athlete or a complete entertaining failure?  Well, I decided to change back into my gym clothes from school, dig through my memories so you can find out my story.

Mine is not a story of triumphant athletics - you know, perserverance and hard work paying off in me becoming a championship star.  I was not the basketball, soccer, softball, or any kind of sports star whatsoever.  For any of you that know me in real life, I am probably the clumsiest person you will ever meet.

Part 1:
My earliest memory of any organized sport was at the age of 7 when I was made to join the community girls soccer team, the McLeansville Muppets (yes, this was in the 70's and yes we were really called the Muppets). 

My abilities included running up the field and down the field, avoiding the ball at all costs.  I got kicked in the shins enough during my first few games that I knew I did not want to participate in any action, so that was my M.O.   My teammates were none too pleased at my lack of athletic ability - some of them were totally competitive and resented my avoidance of the battle at hand, but when I did have the ball I didn't know what to do with it.  I'd kick it the wrong way by accident, or miss altogether, or kick it to the opposite team by mistake. 

This went on for 3 painful seasons - after each year of my begging them not to make me play, finally they relented and gave up on me ever becoming a soccer star.  I did get trophies every year, everyone got one for participating which made me feel a little guilty since I didn't really do anything to earn it. 

Part 2:

In Middle School began the painfully embarrassing trauma that was Physical Education. 

We giggly girls were mixed in with the boys, which made it extra super-humiliating for me due to my overwhelming lack of athletic prowess. 

Every sport that we played:  softball, basketball, racquetball, lacrosse, volleyball, it did not matter what we did - I was either hit in the face, I swung and missed the ball, fell on my ass, you name it....it happened to me in P.E.....in front of boys. 

At this age you do not want to be humiliated in front of boys, so I faked my period as much as possible starting at age 12 to get out of having to dress out.  I was one menstruating, cramping machine.  I belonged in the drama department (if we had one out in the sticks) from all the over-acting I did.  Luckily, high school saved me and I was free from P.E. FOREVER!!!!!!!

Part 3:

Today, I stick with safe activities.  Walking is good, I can do walking mostly without getting hurt or falling down.  (I did say mostly didn't I?)  I do trip over my own feet at times.

My Wii Fit at home is fairly safe, although I fall off that little pedestal thingie constantly since I have no sense at all of balance. 

Yoga is good, but that balance thing comes into play again, but at least it's not a competitive thing.  I just try again and hope I get better at it.

Wordless Wednesday

Time for another edition of......WORDLESS WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!  Most of these came from Pinterest, my new addiction!  Come follow me if you are on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/karenappy

On to the fun!

My new favorite cookie!  Kinda glad they're limited edition.  Try them out, they're awesome!

Yeah, pretty much me all day long!

True Dat!  Even zombies can't kill Chuck Norris!

Yeah, pretty much me again.....

Need me a mockingjay pin before the Hunger Games comes out!

Been like this since I was 5....speed reader Karen!

I love Snuffalupagus!!!! :)

I'm looking at you Lady E!!!  LMFAO!!!!!

One more for Chuck.....bad ass mother fucker!

Happy Belated Blogoversary to ME!!!

Holy grilled cheesus, Batman!  I have forgotten my own Blogoversary!  My brain has officially shifted over to man-brain - I can't remember birthdays, and now....blogoversaries.  Oh woest me!!!  Help me, I don't want stupid man-brain!!!  Ewwwwww!  Cooties live there!

Anyway, have some cake....

And some champagne.....

Help me celebrate!  Woohoo!!!!
In all seriousness, I totally had planned to blog on my 1 year blogoversary and now here it is.....2 weeks late.  I suck....totally suck.  Of course, if you read my blog, you know this already right?  LOL!

My first blog post was on February 18, 2011.  It was very short, I did not know what to write about quite yet and I had the movie "Joe vs The Volcano" on the brain.  Me versus the Blog-cano

I only posted a few times in February, guess I was getting my feet wet.  I did post my first edition of Fibro Friday.  It's Fibro Friday!

March through about September I posted pretty regularly, some of it crap of course and some of it I still love to go back and read.  Here are some of my favorites:

I Freakin Love Star Wars!

Love is a Battlefield

My New Favorite Insult

Fibro Friday - Making Others Understand Fibromyalgia

Bra, How I Hate You!

FibroDuck and Introducing Duffy the Fibro Slayer!

War of the Squirrels

Fibro Friday - Sleep Study Fun

An Open Letter to Fibromyalgia

Happy Birthday Laura Jo, We still miss you

Hope you enjoyed the cake and booze, and the trip down memory lane.  Hopefully things are starting to return to normal for me and I can start blogging more often, entertaining you of the insane things that seem to happen to me.  I appreciate all of my loyal readers and love to you all.

The ax has fallen...right on my head

This year isn't starting out too well for me you guys.  I must have really pissed somebody off to get this karma coming back to bite me in the ass.

As you all know, back in December I became very ill and spent 6 days in the hospital.  I then was out of work another 4 weeks or so recuperating until the doctor released me on Monday, January 16th to come back to work.

I started back on Tuesday, January 17th and it has been balls-to-the-wall busy since I got back.  Thursday the 19th we had a big meeting with management.  See, I work in a manufacturing facility and slowly our business has been going outside the US - just like all other manufacturing jobs in this country.  It was announced that a large part of our business was being moved out of the country and that a large portion of the jobs at my facility would be affected.  I was called into my manager's office and, surprise surprise.....my job is being eliminated.  My last day is September 28th. 

To be honest, I wasn't all that surprised or upset really.  I will have been here over 10 years when I leave so I will be sad to go, but I'm looking at it as an opportunity instead of a setback.  Of course it's scary...I hate job hunting and interviewing, and updating my resume but the last time I was laid off I found this job - and it lasted this past 10 years where I learned a lot!

Believe it or not, I am looking forward to the next chapter.  I do hope I can find a new job quickly, of course but more importantly the right one for me.  Change is a terrifying thing, I'm not going to lie to you.   I can't control that this change is coming, however and I have no choice but to face it - head on.

Songbird silenced

I have been pondering for the last day and a half how to write about the death of Whitney Houston.  I wasn't sure how to approach the subject at first.  I could write the addiction blog - some of you know I have first-hand experience with both drug addiction and alcoholism, having an ex-husband who was an addict and having worked on a behavioral health ward in a hospital with addicts and alcoholics coming in and out regularly.  I'm not going to do that, however.  Maybe another installment, I'll come back to this topic but for now I really want to honor Whitney Houston.

To be honest, I haven't thought about her much lately.  Her "so called comeback" flopped, I figured that she was back with her family and had no idea if she was sober or not.  The shocking news of her death however, has gotten me thinking back to when I first heard her music.

I was 13 years old, and the year was 1985.  Her first album, "Whitney Houston" was one of the first I ever bought and it was a cassette tape.  When I heard it, her voice blew me away.  I immediately began singing along with the tape, her voice was truly different and beautiful.  I slowly discovered that I wasn't a bad singer!  I decided to join the chorus at school, and the teacher thought I was actually good!  It was at that point that I knew that I had something that I loved to do and that I wanted to get better at it.  I played that tape and sang along to it over and over again. 

It was at that age that I fell in love for the first time, and found my very first boyfriend.  He was a couple of years older than I was but the songs on that album about love said exactly what I felt for this boy and inspired my love for music even more.  Songs like "Saving all My Love for You," "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do," and "You Give Good Love" all said everything for me. 

When he broke my heart, it was my first heartbreak, and of course I thought the world was going to end.  The song "All At Once" said everything I felt and I played that song over and over and over again until I thought the tape would wear out! 

"All at once, I finally took a moment and I'm realizing that you're not coming back.  And it finally hit me all at once.  All at once, I started counting teardrops and at least a million fell, my eyes began to swell, and all my dreams were shattered all at once....." 

So beautiful and sad all in one song.

The songs on her first album are still my favorites with a few others that she did over the years.

I didn't really realize how much she had inspired both my love of music and how it affected me emotionally, but also how she really got me singing until this past weekend and I started thinking about her death.  My love of music grew from there, and became a great way for me to express myself emotionally.

Yes she made some mistakes in her life, who hasn't?  She crossed boundaries, crossed over from R&B to mainstream pop music.  She caught a lot of flack for it at first, but she gained the respect of the world.  She's the most awarded female artist of all time, I didn't know that until I started researching for this post.  Over 400 awards!  That's remarkable!

I just want to thank you Whitney, for giving me the inspiration and the love of music I have today.  It is my outlet and my therapy and sometimes the only thing that keeps me sane.  I hope you have found peace where you are now, I will always think of you fondly.

Some of my faves:

Saving All My Love

Run to You

I Have Nothing

Didn't We Almost Have It All

I Will Always Love You

What are your favorite songs by Whitney?

My Hospital Saga

Cheesy Bloggers - Getting Sick Can Be Funny, Right?

I don't just have a story about my latest medical escapades....I have an epic drama.
Our story begins the first weekend of December.  I started feeling tired, achy and just generally not too hot.  I powered through a few days of it, worked a couple of days the following week but then Thursday knew that I was really coming down with something.  I called the doctor, made an appointment for Monday and stayed home from work Thursday and Friday. 

Friday, the weirdest thing happened - the most bizarre symptom ever.  It literally felt like my entire left butt-cheek was on fire, it was bizarre and it hurt!  By Sunday, I knew something was definitely wrong.  I seemed to have some sort of open wound happening (yes, on my heiney) and it HURT LIKE HELL!

Monday, December 12th arrived, and by this time I could not sit up.  I had to lie on my side and absolutely could not drive.  Since my sweet hubs had to work, my Mom was kind enough to drive me to my appointment as I was laid out in the back seat.

I went in and saw the PA. She took one look at my wound, and immediately went out and got a posse of doctors to come in and check out my ass.  I was joking around with them, "geez how many docs do we need in here to see my ass?"  Turns out I had a very serious bacterial abcess and they all said, "You're going to the hospital......NOW." 

Well, the ass show was funny but now it all had turned very serious.  The doctors were very concerned, and as soon as they said "hospital," I immediately had a panic attack.  You see, I have never been hospitalized before, even though I've worked in hospitals for years.  I've never been on that side of things.  It really scared the everliving shit out of me.   They had me a room ready within 10 minutes, and I was shuffled out the door and across the street to the hospital. 

I got into my room, and got settled but was starving by this time.  I had a small breakfast but had no lunch.  This was about 2 or 3pm and I was famished.  Lucky me, I had to be put on a clear liquid diet just in case I had to have surgery....I was NOT HAPPY.  I kept begging my visitors to slip me in a Big Mac or something but they suck and wouldn't do it.  Hubby did bring me some hard candy, which is better than nothing.  LIQUID DIETS SUCK SUCK SUCK!  I had to do that for 3 days before they ruled out surgery and I actually got real food.
The next wonderful hurdle after I arrived was the saga of....STARTING KAREN'S IV!  I am a hard stick at times, with me not feeling well for over a week, I was dehydrated as it was making my veins go bye bye!  I have small veins that are really deep, so I had nurse after nurse coming in there sticking me.  One nurse even tried my bicep and left a nice black knotted bruise. (thanks a lot u biotch)   FINALLY about midnight, the IV team showed up and put a butterfly IV in after the 3rd try.  In case you don't know, the butterfly is like the smallest you can use and she got it in the top of my hand (ouch!)   Now that I had an IV, they could start pumping me full of antibiotics and they had me doing sitz baths (if you don't know about those, google it.) 
I didn't sleep much at night during my stay because the night shift was so fucking noisy, and during the day was tough because of all the visitors: family, friends, nurses, doctors, techs, phlebotomists, etc.  It was a steady parade all morning.  I got a bit of peace in the afternoons so I could sleep a little then. 

I was there for 6 days, and every medical person that came in had to see the booty.  My Dad made a joke that there was a marquee at the end of the hall with showtimes of when the "Booty Show" was starting.  I believe he said they were selling popcorn too, but I didn't believe him of course.

Finally on Saturday they declared me well enough to go home on oral antibiotics so I went home on December 17th.  I was still very weak but luckily had gotten most of my Christmas shopping done before I got sick.  I sent my very helpful hubby out to finish it up for me but it did make me sad to not have any decorations up. 

After the holidays, I was still healing up but everyone else in the free world went back to work.  For a couple more weeks I was still weak and not myself but by the first week of January, I was starting to go a little nuts.  Cabin fever was definitely setting in people.  My husband kept asking, "Now, when can you go back to work?"  I know I was driving him insane.  I had nothing to do but heal and talk to the dog all day while he was gone, then I pounced on him for human contact when he arrived at the end of the day.

Now, I am finally back to work.....still crazy but just my normal crazy.  Sigh.....