I just talked to a woman who has lost 38 pounds using the Wii Fit. Her doctor hugged her. I haven’t been working out on the Wii as regularly as I have wanted to, but one of the promises I made to myself when I dropped my classes was that I would dedicate an hour every evening after work. And I have no problem booting those damn kids off of Rock Band so I can get my Mii time.

Did I mention Rock Band? Wow, that was an impulse purchase, but one that generated 6.5 hours of family togetherness with no bickering, fighting or even annoyance with each other. JL played guitar, JM played bass and I played drums. It was awesome.

I am loving fantasy football. Hopelessly addicted. Told my mom last night that was the reason I dropped both of my classes - I needed more time to manage all three of my teams. Yeah, that’s a lie.

We all know the real reason I dropped my classes. It’s because the Cubs are in the playoffs and there’s no way in hell I’d be able to concentrate on silly little things like homework. Please.

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1. Went to a Tigers game and watched a slugfest. And rightly predicted that they would sweep the AL East division champs, the Tampa Bay Rays.
2. Got a tad bit sunburned while engaging in #1.
3. Fixed French toast and sausage for my boys. Twice.
4. Made chili. Once.
5. Dropped both of my classes this semester.
6. Started making a list of all the many projects that need completing in my house.
7. Determined my preferred decorating style is “eclectic.”
8. Went to watch football.
9. Finally had a day (first in two weeks) without any intestinal issues. Probably won’t call the doctor tomorrow as planned.
10. Purged and reorganized my linen/bathroom storage closet.

Seems like there was more, but honestly, the biggest thing was dropping the classes. Best. Decision. Ever. I just couldn’t get excited about this semester at all and it was causing some serious resentment issues. Just knowing that I can come home and not have to deal with homework is an incredible relief.

The Boyfriend and I are still planning on taking a drive in southern/central/eastern Ohio to see covered bridges and leaves changing. Any suggestions on when a good time to go would be, keeping in mind that I’m in NOLA the weekend of 10/24?

I’m off to watch more football and convince The Boyfriend that he needs to wake up from his early evening nap.

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I was walking out to my car the other day when I heard a text message come in on my phone. The number was one I didn’t recognize, from a different area code even. The message read, “Hey, this is Chris. We are going to Kilkennys in Clayton after classes for happy hour tomorrow. Are you in?”

I kind of laughed when it came in, knowing it wasn’t meant for me and wondering where they were going. I briefly toyed with the idea of messaging Chris back and telling him, “Sure! How far is that from Toledo?”

But I didn’t. And then late on Thursday night, I received another message from Chris: “You cool back there?” Not sure what that one meant, but clearly happy hour was still going on.

Just now, the same number came up, only this time Chris was actually calling me. So, I answered. He asked for Brian. I said, “No, I think you have the wrong number. Are you the one who’s been texting me for the past couple days?”

He laughed, said yes, and apologized. Said he wondered why he never got replies. And then told me that he wouldn’t bother me again.

I wasn’t bothered, though. I thought it was funny. However, given the events of today, and the fact that I Googled Kilkenny’s in Clayton and learned it was just outside of St. Louis… Chris might be happy that he couldn’t hear my current ringtone….

It’s a little snippet of Steve Goodman’s “Go Cubs Go.”

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Great job, Cubbies!

I’m listening to Lou Pinella’s post-game interview in the clubhouse and you can hear the fans screaming at Wrigley. How awesome that they were able to do it at home in front of the locals. I wish I was there!

GO CUBS GO!

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Last Friday, thanks to the server migration and subsequent temporary meltdown of my blog, I was unable to recognize a date that is particularly significant to me: September 12th.

My late husband, were he still with us, would have turned 46. His 30th was the last milestone birthday we celebrated together and I can still vividly recall planning that surprise party. And I planned it for two years.

It doesn’t matter that I’ve been in a stable relationship for the past seven years. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Mike. One of the things that I love about The Boyfriend is that he understands about Mike. He’s not threatened by a ghost. There’d be no need. The two of them would have gotten along great, had they ever had the opportunity to meet.

Happy Belated Birthday, Mike. I think of you every day, I miss you terribly, and I love you always.

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Maybe I’ve mentioned before that I live with a bunch of boys. As in my two sons, JM and JL and The Boyfriend. And it matters not that JM and JL are 23 years old now, nor does it make a difference that The Boyfriend is pushing 39. They’re still a bunch of boys.

Hell, even the one of the cats is a boy.

I used to have a lot more female friends than I do now. But the majority of them moved on or moved away (across the country or across the ocean) and the gist of it all is that our lives are now in different places. Which is great, because I think they’re all happy and I wouldn’t want anything less for them. None of us have the kind of time we used to have.

But there are moments when I miss them. When I miss being able to meet Kimmer up at Dale’s on a Friday night, sitting at the bar, eating peanuts and throwing shells (”Ow, my eye! My EYE!!!) and making up dialog to muted movies on the TV above the bar.

I miss going out dancing with Peg and giggling uncontrollably at our friend Wally’s horrible dance moves (behind his back, of course - we weren’t totally mean). Or the silly pranks I’d try to get her to do (”I’ll give you $5.”) like when she pretended she knew a guy who went to my high school and acted all offended when he was struggling to remember who she was. Good times.

I have female friends now, but it’s not quite the same. For starters, most of them are people I know because of The Boyfriend. If The Boyfriend and I break up, it’s possible that these friendships will fade away. There won’t be animosity; it’s just that he knew them first and he knows them better. These friends don’t know me the way that Kimmer and Peg do. They haven’t been a part of my life as long as Kat has (33 years, Katheriney Lynney… 33 years). Through the good, the bad and the ugly.

I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I haven’t kept very well. I vowed that I would make time to spend time with my friends, without The Boyfriend around. I’ve spent some time with Kat when she’s been in town with the baby. I’ve been out to dinner with Peg and I’ve been over to visit her. But it really hasn’t been enough of an effort.

I was supposed to go to BlogHer in New Orleans next month with Kimmer. I started having second thoughts, because of the money involved, but I already had the plane tickets to meet her in Alabama. Yesterday afternoon, BlogHer cancelled all but the Boston and DC events.

When I called Kimmer to tell her, she was giggling. She’d just emailed me to tell me that regardless of whether or not we registered to attend BlogHer, we were - correction: we ARE - going to NOLA. And we ARE going to have a fabulous time.

I love my friends. And I’m recommitting to that vow I made earlier this year. So, get ready, Peg! We might just have to go out dancing. (Ok, not likely, but I’m definitely up for dinner again.) Kat, you come too! Bring the baby. It’s not too early for her to learn how absolutely important it is to keep your friendships close.

And Kimmer? See you next month, missy! Woohoo!

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This probably won’t post. But I’m going to try anyway. My hosting company isn’t giving me answers that make sense. I don’t understand why I need to change file permissions that were apparently set just fine before this server migration.

But I tried what they said to do, so we’ll see what happens next.

ETA: I can post, but comments are still not working. I guess I’ll have to play with the settings a little more. Hopefully, I won’t break anything else in the process. I sure wish things wouldn’t load so slooooowly, either.

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I’ve known about this for more than 24 hours and I am STILL furious with the ER nurse practioner at Toledo Hospital.

Two weeks ago, I took JL in because the left side of his face had suddenly become paralyzed. After talking to us for a few minutes, getting the family history and all, he said he thought it was Bell’s Palsy, but that they’d do a CT scan to rule out a stroke. It was at that point that I mentioned JL had just returned from the YMCA camp in northeast Pennsylvania where he’d worked all summer long.

The NP’s response, “Are you thinking Lyme disease?” I said yes. He looked at JL and asked him, “Have you been bitten by any ticks?” JL said none that he knew of.

So, they skipped the blood test and just did the CT scan to rule out the stroke that JL has no family history of. He put JL on prednisone and sent us on our way.

One thing didn’t make sense to me right away. Every time anyone in this house (*cough* JM *cough*) has been on prednisone over the past 23 years, it’s always been the same situation: start with a strong burst and then taper off. The NP didn’t do that for JL. He put him on five days worth, same dosage from start to finish.

A week later, we went to our local urgent care facility because we are still having a hard time finding him a new family doctor who can get him in. The urgent care doc thought it was Bell’s Palsy, too, but she didn’t understand the prednisone regimen. For starters, most Bell’s Palsy cases are treated with two weeks of prednisone, and guess what? They start it strong and taper off. She put JL back on the prednisone for another 10 days. And then, she decided to go ahead and rule out Lyme disease once and for all with a blood test.

JL got the results yesterday. Guess what the diagnosis is?

If that damn NP had actually listened to us, and ordered the damn blood test, we would have known what we were dealing with more than two weeks ago, instead of just 24 hours. JL has been taken off the prednisone and prescribed antibiotics. And now, I see that every little thing he complained about was also a symptom of Lyme disease. Go freaking figure.

Never again. Never again will I let someone talk me out of what my gut feelings tell me. I had been looking stuff up on the Internet prior to that NP coming in, and when I brought it up, I felt like one of those crazy hypochondriac type characters on TV - like I was making something out of nothing.

I don’t know what the policy is on NPs treating ER patients… perhaps it was because JL wasn’t a life threatening case. All I know is that this guy missed the boat, then mistreated what he thought was the boat. And I’m pissed.

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I have oodles of things I want write about, everything from the Republican pick of VP to how Cincinnati poisoned me this weekend, but those things will have to wait until I can get a grip on the upcoming week.

But I didn’t want today to escape without noting that The Boyfriend and I have officially been a couple for seven years.

Happy anniversary, baby!

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