JustLisa

Another year gone and I start the new one with a cold from Hell. It started as a sore throat for days and days and now has blossomed into an ass kicking machine thus my kicked ass was in bed by 9:30 last night.

First song of the new year was a Justin Timberlake number. I do not like his music. I hope these things are not a sign of how the year will go.

In other news, I now possess a blackberry.

I wish I could tell you I was at the caucus last night, wearing my Obama t-shirt and my "I'm an Obama Precinct Captain" badge. It was the night I've been working so hard towards and I was so excited by the momentum going into it.

The truth is that I was home on the couch, loaded up on Vicodin and lying perfectly still. The cold I wrote about earlier turned into bronchitis which left me physically spent and short of breath. I got up in the night two nights ago, felt the ground falling away from me and was able to grab the dishwasher and go down gracefully. Sat on the floor for a bit then went into the bathroom where it happened again with no warning. Fell backwards into the shower doors and apparently slid down them into the little metal trash can that sits in the corner. I could hear the noise of things falling and smashing but I couldn't see or react. Came to in a heap with the trash can under me and the cat standing on me. I had no voice so no one could hear me call for help. I crawled back to bed and told Todd later that I had fallen.

The next morning I had some scrapes and bruise and it hurt like hell to breathe. It got worse as the morning went on so I went back to the doctor for xrays. I broke my rib in three places on the trash can. The doc said it was not a good thing as I was having trouble breathing already which was a pneumonia risk and with the broken rib, it would be instinctive to not take deep breaths at all. She said nothing could be done about the ribs other than more pain meds and that it was of absolute importance that I force myself to breathe deep. Oh yay!

So I missed my big night but my man Obama did great and I'm happy to have been a part of it. I'm bummed that I missed the big show but we deal with what life gives us and I'm just concerning myself with breathing right now. Thanks to everyone who supported Barack last night. A big thanks to the youth in Iowa for getting off your butts and being part of the process. Youths came out in record numbers and that is a really great thing! Thanks to all my friends for encouraging me through my first attempt at being politcal and a huge thanks to my Republican friends for swallowing your own B.S. (for the most part)

This post brought to you by the letter V (vicodin. lots of it.)

As always I am out of time and have lots to say. Short version is Eva and I went to Texas for a week and just got back last night. The first night we drove from here to Wichita, Kansas and stayed in a craptastic Motel 6. Literally opened the door into the bed. Got up the next morning and headed towards Amarillo. Got too bored driving that way so turned back around and went to Wichita Falls where she will go to tech school.

Once there we checked into Howard Johnsons and proceeded to have an awesome time. (as awesome as one can have with broken ribs and bronchitis) The hotel was so nice. I could live there and never leave the premises. Pools, hot tub, sauna, fitness center, mini golf, restaurant, lounge, shuffleboard and more. Ironically, this was our cheapest hotel as they give one heckuva military discount.

My friend got us on base one day and gave us a general tour and the next day we took a tour of Eva's specific program and met some very nice people. It amazed me that the higher ranked people were so nice and accomodating.

The best part for me was seeing all the jets. It's a training base so there are always jets flying around - like drivers ed for pilots. I have such a love affair with jets that I kept running to windows to watch them go overhead.

We checked out of the hotel Friday and I drove as far as Newton, Kansas and ran out of steam about 2 in the morning. Got up Saturday morning and drove to Manhattan, Kansas to meet my friend who lives there now. He showed us around town and then out to his place to hang out for about an hour. Left there and headed it on home.

It was a much needed trip despite all the driving in incredible pain. I couldn't take any of my pain pills because I was the only authorized driver on the rental car. BTW, Nissan Altimas are pretty zippy little cars for road trippin'. Get good gas mileage too!

Time for bed but as the week goes on I will try to share more details and maybe some pics.

I am so tired. Some of it is leftover from being so sick and still trying to recover from the rib thing. Some of it is the winter blahs. We've had snow on the ground pretty much all winter. I love snow but after the ice storm, I was ready for winter to be over. I think most of it is a depression creeping up on me.

The day after tomorrow Eva goes to the Air Force. I know it's the best decision for her but every time I think about it, I cry. Emily keeps texting me that she's crying too. This makes me cry more. You have to know Eva to understand what a brilliant ray of sunshine she is. I was so sick when we were in Texas. Had I been that sick at home, I'd have just stayed in bed but she gave me the inspiration to get my dead ass up and go see new things every day. She's just so much fun. I will miss her more than I've missed anyone I think.

I miss Texas. I hated most of it but it was the best vacation I have ever had. Without the kids I was able to leave everything behind and totally relax. I suppose being half dead helped with that too but Texas will forever be known as the place I let it all go for a few days. Let my money go too.

Our first night there and we were trying to find the exit for the AFB and my friend's house and I got a speeding ticket. $172. I want to fight it because I know I was not speeding but I'd have to go back down there and appear in court and I can't afford another trip back so soon. I can have it deferred for an extra $50 and then it will disappear off my record if I don't have another Texas violation in the next 180 days. Wichita Falls is rough on the fines and they don't make deals. Go 10mph there. Trust me.

Their roads are the biggest hodge podge mess I've ever seen. I don't know how many times we tried to go to a Walmart and couldn't get there. We could see it but every road seemed to lead almost to it, but not quite. I told Eva I was about ready to launch our rented Nissan thru the median to get to it. Our last day there we finally figured out the magic path to get there and then neither of us could remember why we wanted there to begin with. The whole trip was full of moments like that.

Funny thing is that Batty grew up in the places we visited in Kansas. Small world! I did take some pics of the Kansas flint hills but not as many as I should have.

I have so many little regrets like not taking a pic of this time warp motel along the road that looked like it fell out of the sky from the 50s. The sign out front said "Refrigerated Air". I didn't take a pic because I felt like crap and the thought of taking a pic was too much work. I also wanted to take pics of cotton harvest in Oklahoma and pick up some cotton along the road where it had blown out of the fields. Same as above.. not enough energy to get past the thought.

I am worn out from writing this and need to get back to cheering on my Packers.

GO PACK!!!

When I was sick I had Todd go get me a 5th of Jack Daniels so I could make a hot toddy. It didn't work and now I have a big bottle of whiskey to get rid of. Tonight I decided to try my hand at drinking again. Oh boy.

Before Christopher, I drank a lot of Lynchburg Lemonade which is Jack and lemonade. I might add that this concoction causes very irrational thinking and stupid behavior which is why I gave it up some 15 years ago. So tonight I decide I'm gonna start working my way through that bottle. Hey! It cost $30! Can't just have it go to waste.... or can we? I made one drink and ew. Big EW! Maybe tomorrow I will try Jack and Coke.

On the Eva front, she called her mom Sunday but her mom had just left for work. She left her address on the answering machine so I've been putting something in the mail for her every day since. I hope she gets lots of mail as I understand that is a big morale boost when they are far from home and being broken in by the military. If any of you want to drop her a note, hit me up for the address.