Update on Oleander Girl (that would be me)

So when I got up this morning and looked in the mirror, I was shocked to see my boob was red and purple. Not just a little bruise, I am talking monster bruise. In a way I was kind of proud of it. As if it was a battle scar  (Yes, indeed I battled the Oleander bush and it won)


So I went to work and asked my co-workers (only the women) if they wanted to see my boob. hehehe. Of course they did.  Everyone I showed gasped. The bruise is ugly. I boasted how I landed on my feet the first time- like a cat and how the Oleander bush saved me the second time. One of my co-workers said my gig a low must of beat me. Then they started saying it was the biggest hickey ever. I had to tease Malinda and tell her her chest would not of got caught between the break and the handle bars. She's said that is because her girls are perkie. Miss sunshine agreed that she would of ended up like me, battered.

When I was done with work, I met up with Sheryl.She is my mentor in many ways. This time she is my bike mentor.  We went on a 10 mile bike ride. We went on the trail by my old house. I think I have said it before, but I feel safe around Sheryl.. We talked about quilting, men, food and a bunch of other things.

After talking all day to people about bicycle accidents, I am finding out that it is common. I have a very dear friend who was in a very bad bicycle accident. I have not asked her if it is ok to talk about so I will not. Someone else told me they fell off their bike and went down a ravine. She had to drag herself and the bike out of the ravine. I heard all kinds of stories.

When I got home and took my bra off and took a quick glance, it is worse then I thought. You can clearly see the handle bar and the bruise around it. It is about the size of a coffee can lid. I am messed up.  I showed my gig a low my bruise. He said as far as bruises go I win. Oh my. I am tired.

Thank you Phoebe for the name "Oleander Girl". I love it!

I Thought I was a Cat

So it's a beautiful day today, according to my outside thermometer it is 85 (in the sun) The Raider family decided to visit my dad. I thought it would be fun to ride my bike to my dad's, because it's only 2. 5 miles from here. The only problem is to get to my dad's house I have to cross some very busy roads, more like freeways. I tried to take back roads as much as possible.

On my way to my dad's house I was on a back road with no sidewalks. An elderly couple in a car flashed their lights and turned on their signal to communicate they were going to turn the corner I was approaching quickly.  In a split second I thought I should let them go first so I tried to stop. Some how I landed off my bike but I landed on my feet. HA- just like a cat always landing on my feet. I was proud of myself,  So when I got to my dad's house I bragged about being cat like. Maybe I shouldn't of done that or maybe I should of took the first incident as a sign - not a good day to ride your bike.

It was good to see Raider family. Raider baby is 7 months old now and starting to crawl.  She is going to be  cover baby on some children's clothes magazine. Raider baby was dressed in pink today not black and gray.  I said maybe Raider baby was going to be a 49er fan? Raider Mom said not a chance.

I decided it was time to go home, I was not looking forward to crossing the major intersections or going down the busy streets.

I took the back roads with no sidewalks and I was moving along at a good pace. One more intersection and I would be semi - safe for the rest of the way home. I had the intersection in my line of vision when I noticed a sidewalk. I thought oh, ok, I will be safer on the sidewalk. Something happened, I am not sure what, the next thing I knew I was flying over my handle bars, the problem is my big boobs got caught on the gear shift or break or something,  OUCHHHHHH, everything happened in a blink of an eye.  The next thing I knew I was in the middle of an Oleander bush. Thank God for the Oleander bush. It broke my fall. This is a busy street even though it is not a main drag. Cars were zipping by me as I was trying to climb out of the bush as if nothing happed. I had to spit Oleander leafs out of my mouth, and still act cool and composed. That must be why Sheryl told me I had to learn how to spit.

I made it home. Scratched and bruised but not defeated. I will get back on by bike tomorrow if I can get out of bed. So I guess I am not a cat after all.

P.S. The neighborhood hero's wife says I need to invent "breast guards." 

Update 4/20/10

My dad passed out cold yesterday. I guess his blood pressed dropped. Thankfully my big brother was there when my dad landed on the floor. My big brother put a pillow under my dad's head and told him just to stay still for a little bit. He says his shoulder hurt.



My dad said he is tired of all this. Who could blame him?

It is very hard to watch my dad waste way. I am sad tonight.  

17 years

The first thing I did this morning was take a 6 mile bike ride with Imena. We had so much fun. I love being outside. We even saw a deer. The new saddle on my bike was very comfortable. I am getting better with shifting gears. Note to self: write about Imena's life sometime.

This afternoon my gig a low and I went to the sports store. He bought a climbing harness and bought a little gizmo for my bike that holds your keys and cell phone.

Tonight we went to Brookside for dinner. We went to Prime Steak House. we got valet parking, The food was great, the staff was great,  and than there was Huey.

But first let me tell you what I had on. I had a black Alfani cardigan with tan trim.  It has a sleeveless sweater that goes on underneath.  I bought it about 10 years ago. I remember paying about $150.00 for the set. The sells lady said it was a timeless classic and I would not be sorry. She said it would never go out of style. She was right on both accounts. I had my gold 100 wishes necklace on, black slacks and black wedge heals. I must say I clean up well. ( hehe)

Side note: I am still amazed by my friends like Cha-Cha and Brodi who can put on lipstick without looking in a mirror. They put in on by feel. How do they do that? I still get lipstick all over my face every time I try to put it on. Even using a mirror.

Anyways, we get in the restaurant and this man pushes past us saying things like "Son of A *** and SH**" ok, wow. He had a ten gallon straw cowboy hat on and cowboy boots. Now in Brookside most of the men are Metro, so this was unusual.

The restaurant was built in layers just like a cake. First layer is the bar, second layer- booth seating, third layer is tables. We sat in a booth. Primes Steak House was dimly lit. On one side of our booth they had a banister and glass that separated us from the bar, so if we looked up we could see the people in the bar or if they looked down they could see us.

Our waiter was named Brian. Brian had dark circles under his eyes. He asked us if we wanted black napkins instead of white so they would match our clothes. I said yes, of coarse. I would never be caught with a white napkin when I have black pants on. (t-hehe)

Me and my gig a low ordered the same thing.  8 oz  fielt mignon wrapped in apple smoked bacon,  with  Gruyère sauce, protoabella mushroom raviolis, garlic mash potatoes and green beans. Just kidding,  you know me and my gig a low would never eat green beans. So Brian said we could have asparagus instead if we wanted. Yes, indeed we do want asparagus. I had a fancy Italian sparkling water. I was really living it up.

While we waited for our food, me and my gig a low reminisced about the 17 years of joy and pain of life. We both decided that sanity was boring. So maybe being a little crazy is't all that bad. In the mist of our conversation, I see the same man who pushed past us in a ten gallon cowboy hat. He leaned over the glass over into our booth. He was waving is arms like a baseball referee sign for safe. He introduced himself as "Huey"

Huey went on to tell us that he is a cattle rancher in Hawaii. He has 15,000 head of cattle. He explained to me and my gig a low the diffrance between Kobi beef in American and Japan. Huey was telling us that he was a professional "roper" and an all around cowboy. His skin was dryed up like leather. He had a big gold ring on and one of those cowboy style shirt and a bolo tie on. it was apperent Huey had a few to many already. Brian stopped by to see if everything was ok, I think mostly because he was worried that Huey was going to fall into our table. Huey gave us his business card, shook our hands, told Brian to take good care of "his people" (meaning me and my gig a low) and staggered off.

My gig a low says to me, how do you do it? You attract the most unusual people. Yes dear, I have a gift from God. I made no further comments.

Our dinner came.. the beef was tender like butter, it melted in your mouth. I bet I could of cut it with a spoon. The apple bacon added just enough sweet and salty. The sauce was light so you could still taste the meat.  The asparagus was fresh and grilled. The tips were kind of crispy. (I told my gig a low that we are going to have to get GG-GP to grill us dinner this summer. ) Very good!  The portabella mushroom raviolis were fantastic. The garlic mashed potatoes had roasted garlic folded in to them. I can bet those were the best garlic mash potatoes I had ever had. Brian came back to our table and said that they have a special volcano cake that takes 20 minutes to cook. I told Brian it was our 17th wedding anniversary and I wanted a volcano cake with a candle in it. Brian said " I am all over it"...Hummm -ok.

Brian came out with our volcano cake and a lit candle. The cake was accompanied with  two tiny scoops of homemake ice cream in a fancy cookie holder and big bowl of homemade whipped cream. You know I ordered coffee. I love volcano cake because of the ganache inside. I took a bite and it was like liquid chocolate heaven. The homemade ice cream was creamy and fluffy. It had that special texture homemade ice cream has.  This was so good I really didn't care about the whipped cream. I had to take a few bites just to make sure.

Brian came out with our bill and a gold box of truffles! Wow.

I really had a wonderful day. 

Dear Cloie

Dear Cloie,

Thank you for calling me a college graduate and tell me how stupid I am because I can't spell a 3 letter word in one breath. That was uplifting and encouraging. RIGHT.

Do you know how embarrassed I was? Are you happy now? You belittle me and compare me to your 8 year old daughter. You did not stop there, you went on to give me basic spelling pointers and a lesson on spelling. LOOK, I can spell now, thank you so much!

You really do not understand dyslexia do you? You don't understand that I also have an audio processing disorder that makes it impossible for me to hear ANY vowel sounds. Try going through life not hearing oo, a, au, ee, e, so on. You cant even begin to imagine what it takes to get my eyes, ears and brain to spell a simple 3 letter word.

Most likely I am way smarter then you since I have 2 AA's and you have none. I just cant spell.

(Malinda.. I can't spell- its a joke between me and Malinda)

Your Sister In Christ,

RQ

P.S.
Your uninvited to the rest of my life.  

Update on Dad's trip to the Dr.

I had to take my dad to the doctor yesterday. His GI infection is worse. When I got to his house, he was angry and shaking. He was sick of all this medicine and doctors who poke and prod him. He has "singles." He was mad at me because I got to his house 10 minutes early. Anyone who knows my dad, knows that is very unusual. So he took his blood sugar. 375! No wonder he is agitated.  So he stomped into the other room to give himself a shot of insulin to knock his sugar level down.

We got to Kaiser. It was 4:00, his appointment is 4:30. I drove into the parking garage. I have mentioned in past post how much I hate that parking structure. 1 floor no parking, 2 floor no parking, 3 floor no parking, I see my dad looking at his watch. 4 floor no parking. I was thinking, I have no problem climbing 4 flights of stairs, but 5 is a little more challenging, Ugh. My dad looks at his watch again. Roof top no parking. I tell my dad to get out, take the elevator down and head toward his GI doctors office. I can see he is stressed.  In the mean time a line of cars are behind, people are flying around my car as I am trying to convince my dad to get out. He jumps out of the car. I pray that a car does not hit him and he is ok enough to get to the GI section of the hospital. I go to the 5 floor, no parking, 4 floor no parking, 3 floor no parking, 2 floor, I find a place to park! Hallelujah! 

I jump out of my car and meet up with my dad before he gets to the GI registration. We are still 20 minutes early. In the waiting area, there are two men with toupees. I kept staring at them because I wonder what would drive any man to ware a toupee. I guess they don't realize that a toupee is worse then a bald head.

We get called in. We had not seen this doctor for a year. He was the doctor that told us about the cancer and referred my dad to the surgeon. He said my dad's infection was really bad. He said it had been brewing for about 3 months. He said my dad should NOT eat anything fatty, or any dairy product.  He told my dad to lay off any thing that was sugar free, because imitation sugar irritates the GI tract. He said jack up the carbs and protein. He said to drink soy milk. The doctor said to follow this diet for 2 weeks.  Antibiotics caused the infection, now he needed to be on heavy duty Antibiotics to kill it. The doctor said we could pick up the prescription at the pharmacy down the hall. Ok good. It is now 5:30 and I am worried my dad's blood sugar is dropping, his blood sugar bottoms out fast. So we go to the pharmacy down the hall.

My dads name is already on the board when we arrive. We wait in line. The pharmacy tech tells us that we have to go down stairs to the main pharmacy. Crap. Down stairs we go, my dads name is on the board again. We wait in line. (Anyone who goes to Kaiser must realized this IS socialized medicine.) The pharmacy tech tells us that they have to compound this medication, it can take up to 3 days. Oh no you don't. Now it was 6:00 and my dad still has not eaten. I was putting on armor and gearing up for battle. I tell the tech the doctor said he should start taking it tonight. The tech rolls her eyes and says doctors don't know a thing about medicine and how long it takes to make. I am staring her down. I am getting ready to lean over the counter and have a little chat with her when she says " I will check and see if they can do this tonight. Good plan, I said while remaining calm on the exterior. She comes back and tells us it will be about 45 minutes.

I quickly rush dad down to the "wellness cafe."  In the steamed plates they had chicken and mashed potatoes. Perfect I think. I tell my dad, oh look chicken and mashed potatoes, (carbs and protein) he says I don't want chicken and mashed potatoes, I want a cheese burger with French fries and a diet soda. (fat, dairy and sugar free.) My dad tells me he is going to eat what "he dam well pleases." Ok dad, its your body and your life, your still in control of it, so have at it. What am I going to do? He scarfs the hamburger down in no time at all.

Anyways we went back to the pharmacy and got in line because his name was on the board. The tech noticed us and called my dad to the front of the line. I am sure that made about 10 people very unhappy. It made me very happy.

It was a long day.

Dad Update 4/11

Dad has been diagnosed with shingles ( Dad sometimes called them singles) and an intestinal infection. It is really bad when your happy to hear those diagnoses. I should say it was more of a relief.  Poor dad is so skinny now. 

I suggested that he ware loose pants to not inflame the shingles. But he likes to ware his jeans. He says they do not irritate the rash.

Even though he has an intestinal infection he has been eating ham hock and beans for dinner.

My dad is a fighter, a tough guy and pretty amazing.

Update 4/10 bike

As you already know, I love my new bike. So I look at it and study it, and go to the "Marin" website and look at my bike and study it on the website. I look at all the specks. I started to notice that my bike and the bike on the website had a difference. My bike had a different seat then the one on the website.

In the bike world, seats are called saddles. I looked at the saddle on my bike and went back to the website. I compared the two. I was right. They were completely different. How strange. The seat on the website was called "Marin Women’s Comfort", the one on my bike was called "WTB sports saddle". Not only that the Marin saddle had shock absorbers under the seat and the WTB did not. I smell a rat.

So I called the sports store and talked to the manager. I told Patrick the manager that I had the wrong saddle on my bike. He said maybe I had last years model. AH - no. I told him I was looking on the Marin website and could see the saddle I was SUPPOSE to have. Patrick put me on hold. He came back and told me to bring my bike in so they could exchange the saddles.

What kind of game are they playing here. Jeremiaha says it was an accident. Marin only uses their own brand of seat. How could a WTB seat accidentally get on my bike? A cheaper, less comfortable model that does not have shock absorbers? Sorry, Jeremiah I disagree, it was no accident. The sports store was hoping the consumer would not notice. I just happened to be the consumer this time and I did notice. ( I have two more consumer stories to write about some other day- side note to myself : T mobile, Glasses)

So I picked up my dad and we went out to the sports store. The new Marin saddle with shock absorbers was waiting for me. The young kid who sold me the bike in the first place exchanged the saddles. They did not question me, I did not question them.

So now I have a new saddle and I am ready to roll, but it's raining outside.

My First Bike Ride

Here is what I am asking myself right now. Why did I go on my first bike ride with a tri athlete? I met up with Sheryl around 11:00 this morning at The Park. She informed me that I was an athlete now, so it was ok to spit and burp out loud. Sheryl was telling me this with her mushroom helmet, dangley pearl earrings and lipstick. She spits to show me how. I tell her I would spit on myself if I did that. She gave me a quick run down on how to use my gears and breaks. Then we where on our way, right up an incline.

Every now and then she would stop to give me instructions. Like when your peddling on flat ground make your legs go big around like a watermelon, and when you come to a hill change gears and peddle really fast. Lift your butt up when you come to a bump or it needs a rest off the dinky "comfort" seat. She showed me hand signals like turn right, left and bump or stuff in the road.

It was such a beautiful day. It was so much fun going along the trail. The canal was on one side and houses on the other. I loved riding along, looking in peoples back yards, glancing into the canal to see if I could see a fish, the trees and flowers where blooming. The sun was shining.

The trail was busy as if it is its own super highway without cars. There were bikers, skateboarders, joggers, walkers. Even some roller skaters. The trail had all kinds of people, Moms with kids, people with dogs, old people with groceries, men in dockers, many family's out enjoying the day. 99 % of people on bicycles had mushroom heads.

I kept changing my gears to "get to know them" I was shifting up and down, I would start to peddle so fast and go no where, then I would change the gears again and felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest . I asked Sheryl to go in front of me to be my pace person, I could model her speed. I have to say she has some awesome looking calfs.

At one point she pulls over to tell me to get prepared for a "little hill" I look down the path and see a mountain of pavement. While she is telling me this I am trying to catch my breath. We drink some water and I watch Sheryl climb the "little hill" without effort. Sheryl said I could get off my bike and walk the hill if I needed to.

Ok, off I went, I shifted gears, and started making the ascent. Holy no oxogen left batman, what have I got myself into. Just about that time a group of 15 cyclist came roaring down the "little hill" I was climbing. It was almost to much for my brain to handle considering it was getting no blood or air. My eyes became blurry. I had to fight. I could do it. I was not going to get off my bike and walk up the "little hill." I started going slower and slower and my feet where going faster and faster. I made it!!! As it turns out the top of the "little hill" is a over pass of a 6 lane road. I stopped and watched the cars zip by under my feet. Caught my breath mostly, Sheryl and I had a drink of water. She said she was proud of me for making it up the "little hill".

I had forgotten that when you go up, you must come down. I have to say, I loved going down hill, even though it was scary. I didn't have to peddle.

Just about that time I thought, we are going to have to go back some at point and I was going to have to climb the "little hill" again. We made it to the town of snobby Brookside. I could see the upscale stores. I could not believe I had gone that far. We decided it was time to head back. I made it back up the "little hill" and screamed down the opposite side. I had the wind in my face, now that was just good!

Sheryl stops me again and says only one more hill and we will be back at our cars. My heart sank. Ok, I did not think I had anything left in me. But I forced myself to do it. When I got to the top of the hill Sheryl was waiting for me. I got off my bike, barely breathing. My first thought that I was going into cardiac arrest, my next thought was I am going to pass out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Sheryl was talking about going to lunch, I was just trying to regain composure and not fall flat on my face. I kept thinking as Sheryl was talking about eating at this place or that, I need to sit down.

We went out to lunch, I was still feeling a little shaky. I hoped the food would bring my blood sugar up to feel "normal" again. I came home a took a nap.

I am looking forward to bike riding again.

Biker MaMa

Here is my new bike, although I have midnight blue. I am now a biker MaMa. My sweet friend bought a bike also. I am so happy that we are going to be going out into the fresh air and do a little exercise!

I have two friends that are tri - athletes. Sheryl and Piedmont. They both said I MUST have a helmet. So I enthusiastically went down to the sports store to try on helmets. I was mortified. I looked like I had a gigantic mushroom growing out of top of my head. What ever hope I had to getting my swagger back, went riding right out the door. I started whining. This is the most UNcool thing I have ever had on (not that a fat old lady on a bike looks cool)

I had a mini meltdown at the sports store. I told the guy helping me find the right helmet I really did Not want to have a mushroom head. He calmly said everyone with a bike helmet on looks like a mushroom head. So I thought about it. I see bicyclist all the time going by with a helmet and I never think anything about it. So I guess the salesman was right. He also said I should get a light color because cars can see it better and it helps with the heat. He warned me to be prepared for helmet hair. So I got a white mushroom to sit on the top of my head, that will make my hair stick to my skull. Yes indeed, very cool.

So Sheryl email me and says lets go on this great bike ride by the beach to a water fall. Its only 3 miles bike ride and a half a mile hike. Maybe she thought I could not do the math. So I emailed her back and said that is a 6 mile ride and 1 mile hike. Sheryl says on a bike it seems like a much shorter distance. I had to remind her that I have not been on a bike since I was 12 years old. So we are going out for a getting to know your bike ride tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it!

The way me and my sweet friend look at our bikes is if we don't have work, we will have something cheep to do. Today I made my sweet friend go buy a mushroom so we could be mushroom heads together.

Please pray for me and my sweet friend= that we don't fall off the bike and break something.

Praise Report PG13

For the last year the doctors have been concerned about a spot deep inside my breast. You know my imagination, I could just see me and my dad getting chemo on the same day. I haven't said anything to anyone about it. (except God of course) Yesterday I went for my 6 month mammogram and the spot is "almost completely gone" I don't have to go back for 1 year now!

He also said I have "perfect breast" for a mammogram. He says they can see very clearly everything that is going on. There is no place to hide.

My teacher thinks I have a "beautiful cleavage," and my doctor thinks my breast are "perfect,"

heheh.

Anyways praise God that the spot is going away.

If it did not would I still be praising God? I am not sure. Would I still be praying? Yes.

My Dream

Last night I had a dream that I was living in an insane asylum. The funny part about the dream is that it was a suitable place. The asylum was comfortably decorated with my favorite colors, aqua blue, dark cherry, forest green. My room had a sliding glass door leading to the park like setting outside, with green grass and redwood trees. I was content. I did not mind living in the nut house. It is almost as if the dream was saying I am ok with my crazy life.

My X boyfriend showed up at the hospital. In my dreams he represents loss or fear. Maybe in this case both. I am not sure.

I was also looking for something, I don't remember what. It was more like searching. NO, I was not looking for my keys or cell phone. I was looking for something that was really important.

Dream analysis: Ok I get the crazy part. You might be saying, maybe it was the pizza right before bed. It was not, because I did not have pizza last night. I am really not sure what it was all about. In some ways I think this has something to do with my dad's cancer. He has not been feeling well. I am not sure.

This Morning At Church

Well I am still kicked out of the kitchen at my "new" church. It made my day. Today I went to help get ready for Easter and I was told to stay out of the kitchen. YEPPIE. SO I went to the Pastors wife and told her that the PA kicked me out of the kitchen (again.) The pastors wife said how do you feel about that? I said I couldn't be happier. The pastors wife said that I had a good attitude.

So I filled Easter eggs with a group of people then I went with a different group to go clean all the toys for the kids. I had a great time cleaning toys. I let everyone know that I was still kicked out of the kitchen. That made me even more happy.

I suggest that everyone ware their Hawaiian shirts tomorrow. That did not go over so well. So I said ok then why don't we all wear flannel shirts. That idea flopped as too. Oh well.

I think I will wear a short sleeve Hawaiian shirt with a long sleeve flannel shirt over the top.