Daily Ponderings

Today is another gorgeous day! This is a day I like to call a teaser day. Teaser days occur in the spring and the fall. They are days that are nice and warm, most of the time sunny, sometimes not. They come once in a while, sometimes in pairs, and if we're in luck, they might come three days in a row! They are days that say, "It's spring, it's nice, but not all spring days are nice like this!" And then the next day, the temperature is much cooler, and we need to break out the sweaters again. Well, most of us have to anyway! The same thing happens in the fall. No matter which season it is, we always long for more teaser days!! I have a couple of windows open, one on each side of the house. I opened the bathroom window, which enticed the cat to sit there for a few hours! He misses the windows being open just as much as I do! I also opened a kitchen window, which inspired me to clean! The dishes are done, and I took apart the burners on top of the stove and clea...

It's gorgeous out today! I thought yesterday was so nice, but today has been even better. The wonderfully warm sunshine has felt so good, and made me happy! I exercised this morning, and then made a quick decision to go visit my dad since it was almost his lunch time. I brought him some banana chocolate chip cake that I made the other morning, so he had that with lunch, too! We sat outside the pipe shop in the sun, and chatted while he ate. It was rather nice! Too bad he only had half an hour! Afterward, I went to my mom's house. We chatted, and had lunch. It was nice! Then I decided to go back home and try cleaning up some crap on my lawn. Having a house on the corner isn't always fun. It sort of becomes a dumping ground, with newspapers, bottles, cigarette packs, and a variety of other things left throughout the year! I walked around with a garbage bag, picking up various items on the lawn and hiding in the bushes. Bending over constantly is not a good thing for me, so ...

Due to the fact that I keep getting unsolicited comments about loans in my journal (which I keep deleting!!), I guess I'm going to have to put controls on the comments I get. I'll have to proof them first. Not that I get all that many, but still, what a pain!! I hate it when people try to advertise, though! Hopefully it'll stop!

Today is a stark contrast to the day 12 years ago when I learned that my Grandpa passed away. It was a beautiful sunny day, much warmer than it is today. My Grandpa had been in the hospital for almost a month, fighting every moment of being there. He constantly pulled out his IVs, or tried to, until they finally put them down near his ankle. He always wanted to go home. Little did he know that if he ever left the hospital, he wasn't going back to the home he loved. My parents had been trying to find the right nursing home for him, which my grandpa would have absolutely hated. In a way, I think it was a blessing that he passed away in the hospital, for he would have been miserable if he couldn't go back to his home. In the 12 years since my Grandpa has gone home to God, I've gone through alot of emotions. The first few years were hard for me. I cried every year on the anniversary of his death, because it still seemed like it just happened. Over the years, it's gotten bet...

Well, after my morning rant, I feel better than I did when I woke up. That's because I slept most of the day. After I got up from my second nap, I didn't feel so fatigued as I did from my first nap and when I woke up this morning. So hopefully, I'll be doing better tomorrow, too! I changed my answering machine message today, also. It now sounds like this: You have reached (phone number). Please leave a message at the beep. If you are looking for Darlene or Dana Destino, they no longer use this number, and I have no idea who they are. Thanks. I don't know if this will help me out at all, but I figured, what the heck?? It can't hurt! Not many people use my house number anyway. Except the people looking for the Destinos. lol

I'm in a pissy, foul mood this morning. I lost an hour of sleep because my house phone rang at 4:40 this morning. The phone is in my bedroom, which I really must reconsider. I let the machine pick it up, and I listened to some woman asking Darlene if she wanted to work the morning shift at S2 today, and to call her as soon as she could. The first thought that came across me after the woman hung up was, "What the fuck??" Darlene Destino is really beginning to piss me off. She gets rid of her phone number, and since I got it in June, I've gotten calls from obviously good friends, her doctor's office, the WIC program, her pharmacy, her child's school, and her work. Why on earth wouldn't you give your new number to these places??? Wouldn't you consider them important?? I am waiting for the new phone books to come out next month. If Darlene's phone number is still listed as mine, I'm calling the phone company and asking for a new number. This is jus...

Last week I received an email from Euan, and then I talked to him online later that evening. He had written to tell me that he was feeling a bit better lately, but that his grandmother's death made him evaluate his own life and where he's at right now. He told me that he sees all his friends and family members getting married, having children, owning a house, living a normal life. And he feels like he's being left behind. He wonders if he'll ever find that special someone to spend the rest of his life with, if he'll be a father, if he'll be able to make enough money to buy a house of his own. Then he asked me how I feel knowing I'll never live a normal kind of life like everyone else I know. Since we both are in situations where our health is a huge influence in what happens with our lives, he wanted to know how I deal with the fact that I may never have what I've always wanted in life. The first thing I asked Euan when I wrote him back was "What is...

Welcome Spring!! It officially arrives at 6pm today, at least that's what I heard someone say on the radio. Whatever the case, the calendar has officially ended the winter. I wish Mother Nature worked that way, though. Too bad the weather doesn't automatically switch to what it says on the calendar! Today's temperatures don't sound spring-ish at all, and it won't feel that way for most of the week! Oh well, I guess what I should be thankful for is that another winter has gone by, leading to hopefully another great summer weather-wise! Yes, I like the heat!! Spring seems to bring with it so many promises and newness. I love seeing things start coming back to life after a long nap in the cold. I saw my first robin on the golf course the other day, and I was elated! I was always excited to see robins when I was little, because I knew that meant spring was coming. Another sign of spring that I truly love are the tulips. The are my absolute favorite flower! I have...

Well, it's almost 10:30pm, and I'm sooooo ready for bed. Yes, I was supposed to be going out tonight, but we decided not to go. Erin was exhausted from being out all day, and I was rather tired myself. I went down to my parents' house for dinner, which was quite tasty! But when I went back home, I had a hard time walking from the garage to my house because the temperatures were so darn cold! Very cold air hurts my poor little lungs! As I was catching my breath in the hallway, I decided right then that I wasn't going to try walking from the parking lot to the bar. Oh well, there's always a next time!!

Not only is it St. Patrick's Day today, it is also my half birthday! LOL I am supposed to be going out tonight to celebrate my friend, Erin's, birthday (which was yesterday). Plus it's St. Patty's Day, so we'll be celebrating that, too! And why not celebrate the fact that today is also the halfway mark until my next birthday?? More reason to go out and have some fun!! Whoooo hoooo! Hopefully I can find something green to wear! Even if it's just jewelry!

I've been trying in the past few months to keep up with some healthier habits that I started for several reasons. High cholesterol and diabetes run in my family. I have high cholesterol, which seems unreal to some people since I don't even weigh 100lbs soaking wet (I'm almost there, though!). I didn't think I could get diabetes because of my weight, but apparently, the possibility is there. This scares me, because living with pulmonary hypertension is bad enough. I do NOT want to add diabetes to the list! For that reason, and several others, I've been keeping up with some healthy habits, or at least, I think they are healthy! They include: **Since a couple weeks before Christmas, I decided to start eating an apple every morning as part of my breakfast. I thought it would get to be a boring routine after a couple weeks, but I actually miss my apple when I run out of them! **I just recently decided to have some sort of cereal for breakfast with my apple and orange ...

I realized I haven't posted in like 2 weeks. Geesh, how time flies! I've been keeping busy, though. So I guess that's a good thing! I went to my friend, Monique's, bridal shower last weekend. It was nice, and one of the biggest showers I've ever been to! Of course, her wedding will be one of the biggest ones I've ever been to, with over 300 guests invited. The shower had about 120 women there! We all received nice gifts, and we each got prizes when our name was pulled out of a basket. The only glitch during the event was when one of her aunts got really sick suddenly, and an ambulance was called. She was brought to the hospital after a while, and Mo told me that she was home by last Tuesday. But I just felt terrible when it happened. She was so upset, and no one seemed to know what to do. But anyhow, it turned out to be ok, which is nice! And the rest of the shower went well. Last week I spent making some jewelry, exercising, reading, and some cleaning. I ...

Apparently, I have black lab puppies to give away. I've gotten three phone calls today, asking if I'm the one who was advertising the puppies. One person asked me if I was Dino Destino, and when I said no, proceeded to ask me about the black bundles of fur. When I said I didn't have any puppies, nor did I advertise any, the person just paused, and then said "oh." As if I was joking. Geesh! Oh well, hopefully that will be it with the calls!! I haven't exercised in two days, mainly because my left knee has been hurting. I don't know what I did to it! I don't rememeber straining it, bending it the wrong way, or banging it on anything. It's rather frustrating not exercising! Now that I haven't, I have been more prone to wanting a nap! Every day I have exercised, I usually don't end up taking one since I have more energy. So hopefully my knee will feel better tomorrow, and I can exercise again! I have to tutor tonight. Here's h...

Ralphie and Randy's father died today. Ok, so actually it was Darren McGavin, but I will forever remember him as the foul-mouthed father in A Christmas Story. That movie is one of my all-time favorites! I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who love it, too. And also ones who despise it! LOL Anyway, Darren was 83 years old, and he died of natural causes. He was in many other movies besides A Christmas Story, but he'll probably be remembered most for the role he played in this film. Mainly because it will forever be played for 24 hours on TNT on Christmas!!

I had a dream last night that I can't quite explain. It was one of those very vivid ones, and I almost felt like I was actually right there as it was happening. Like I was actually awake and feeling the events taking place. I dreamed that my family and my dad's family were in Horseheads, NY, in the front yard of my grandma's house. This doesn't really make sense, since my dad's family lives in Michigan. Anyway, we were all trying to take pictures before saying goodbye. Why we were gathered together, I don't really know. While taking pictures, I spotted a little baby fawn in the grass, and it was very friendly. It let me come over to it, and I was talking to it quietly. It had such soft brown fur, and white little markings all over. It's eyes were wide and the deepest black. It was the cutest thing, and when I pet it, I actually felt like I could feel it's soft fur. Suddenly out of nowhere comes this huge gigantic weird plane, which then turned into a bi...

In my old AOL journal, I posted after almost every American Idol show last season. I love this show, and have been a fan since the first season. That being said, I won't be posting about all the episodes. I think I might have bored some readers, even though this is my journal, and it shouldn't matter what I post. Actually, after going through all my old posts when I was copying and pasting them over to this journal, I bored myself. lol The only comment I have to make is that from the first performance of Paris Bennett, which was her audition, I knew right away I wanted her to be the American Idol! She's only 17, and she acts much older than that. She is a cute, tiny thing, with a lot of spunk when she sings. There is something about her voice that I absolutely lvoe. Her performance tonight reminded me a lot of Fantasia, another contestant I knew from the beginning I wanted to win, and she did. So, we'll see if Paris can make it all the way to the end. I certainly hope s...

I haven't heard from Euan in a couple weeks. Maybe it's been more than that, I can't remember exactly. And it's frustrating. I really thought maybe something could work out between the two of us, but I'm now realizing that it must not have been meant to be. But at the same time, I still want to be a friend. I know he has been going through a very rough time with his grandmother dying in January. He was extremely close to her. So close that he was asked to write and give her eulogy at her funeral. I totally understand that he really needs and wants some time right now. But not to communicate in any way is something I just don't understand. And it leads me to worry that something else might be wrong. Maybe he's sick? That could always be a possibility, since his health can be as fragile as mine. Or maybe his big project that he's been working on for months now is finally at the finishing point? That would be very exciting! But to not email me ...

I was just reading an article about a 24yr old lawyer who decided to decline a job offer through email. The supposed-employer emailed her back his disappointment, which led to another email from her, another from him, and finally a rather childish email from her saying "blah blah blah." While this doesn't make me mad (I feel bad for her, actually, how stupid can you be??), what makes me mad is a comment later on in the article referring to email gaffes. It gives several examples of stupidity in what was said in emails by "high officials." One of them was from the executive of the drug company that made the banned weight-loss treatment Phen-Fen e-mailing, "Do I have to look forward to spending my waning years writing checks to fat people worried about a silly lung problem?" While the average person reading the article probably doesn't have a clue what that "silly lung problem" is, I do. That "silly lung problem" is pulmonary hyp...

My father has prostate cancer. Now while this isn't the best news, it's not devastating, either. He had 6 biopsies done yesterday, and out of the 6, only one came back with cancerous cells. Which, to me, isn't so bad. He is supposed to go to his doctor on Friday to go over the results, and to find out what the next step will be. As far as I know, he'll probably have surgery. But I can't exactly say for sure. All I know is that it isn't as bad as it could be. And prostate cancer is very curable when it is detected early, so I have high hopes that my father will be ok.

Geesh, how time does fly! I thought I had posted a lot sooner than last week, but I guess not. So, here are some updates! *Friday: I spent a lot of the day sleeping and relaxing because I thought I was getting sick. But I guess I wasn't! My best friend, Eve, came home last weekend for her son's birthday. So we went to dinner on Friday night, and hung out at my house until my other best friend, Erin, called to see if we still wanted to go out. Of course we did! So we went to Shadow, the martini bar that we love. And it was a lot of fun! Erin had to go home about an hour and a half after we got there, but Eve and I stayed until closing. Which was at 3am. We didn't get back to my house until almost 3:30, and then I didn't go to bed until almost 5. I haven't done that in a looooooong time. However, with all the sleep I got Friday, I woke up around 10am on Saturday, and wasn't at all tired! Go figure! *Saturday: As much as I wasn't tired, I spent the d...