Diary of a Metal Mommy

What a fabulous weekend I've just had!  How about you?  Every year I so look forward to the 4th of July, and I have my dear friend Stephanie to thank for that. Celebrating the 4th as a child in Iowa City's City Park is a tough act to follow, but I dare say my now grow-up ritual of spending it at Stephanie's is making it just as special.

Ahhh, City Park.  Every year we'd head down to the park early in the day, armed with our blankets, chairs, snacks, sparklers, and OF COURSE a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, complete with the cole slaw and potato salad that simply MUST accompany.  We'd usually spend the day with friends and neighbors, camped out on the grass playing on the equipment, tossing frisbees, riding rides (they actually had some rides at the park then...ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and the like) and swimming in the city pool for hours.  As it started to get dark we'd pack up and make our way to the field with everyone else to get ready for the fireworks show. Sometimes my sisters would bring their boyfriends. I lit sparklers every year even though they secretly really scared me.  I remember never wanting the fireworks show to end.  I never wanted the DAY to end!  Even the random soul-shaking BOOMS that would erupt out of nowhere throughout the day giving me a small heart attack each time couldn't have kept me away.

Even though Coreman's always been a trooper about doing the whole fireworks thing no matter where we've been over various 4ths, I have to say nothing has ever compared to me to grand ol' City Park.  Not until we started going to Steph's, that is.  It's been about 4 years now, and it's always a blast. The kids swim in the pool, we eat amazing food (MUCH better than KFC, I dare say) enjoy wonderful company and see a great fireworks show. It's cozy, relaxed and fun--and should make my own kids some great memories of their own.  Thank you once again, Stephanie and John!

Today, we needed to work off all of that wonderful 4th of July food.  It was gorgeous outside and the Coreman and I felt like we wanted to explore some new territory.  We ventured out to the Taylors Falls area and found a great trail and oh-so-prehistoric area called the Potholes.  These holes are perfectly round channels into what used to be lava that is now solid rock--pretty darn cool.  In the bottom of most of the holes is standing water...one sign mentioned that they don't even know how deep some of them go.  Oooh, spooky.  How very Journey-to-the-Center-of-the-Earth!  After pondering these we walked a huge circle of a trail--all in all, I think we did about 3.5 miles.  Cool rocky terrain, amazing vista views of the river, Lord of the Rings-type woods.  Fabulous!

I hope you yourself made some new memories this holiday weekend!!!  Now, back to the....grind?!  Yay summer!!

OK, so technically the Celebrex pill I just took isn't red, it's actually white...but taking it I feel like Neo from the Matrix, making the decision to go down into the rabbit hole of the unknown.  The Pity Party is over,  (at least this one is...don't worry, I'll probably invite you to the next...)  and now we're in Action mode. I'm finally talking to a 'real' doctor about my back stuff.  For an odd reason I really don't quite understand, my chiropractor had me see a rheumatologist (verses an orthopedist) to try to get down to the nitty gritty as to why I'm dealing with these debilitating problems.  Honestly I could not repeat what this doctor said --I was completely amazed at his knowledge and it was mostly Greek to me...but the guy seems smart and I'm rolling with it. So as not to bore my two faithful readers with all of the medical mumbo-jumbo, I may just have bad swelling of the muscle that is brought on by degenerative disc disease and loose ligaments.  nice.  So really there is no CURE, but at least this guy is trying to find me some pain relief.  This is where the Celebrex comes in.  

Now you remember me mentioning before that I am allergic to all NSAIDS (ibuprofin, asprin, Alleve...anything that relaxes muscles) but this med is supposedly a different TYPE of NSAID.  Even the pharmacist says to me, "Now you do know this is an NSAID, right?" yeah, right.  But it is my last choice and I guess I'll just go for it.  Because I'm allergic to so many things, taking any medication is almost as anxiety-ridden as the pain or whatever it is I'm going through itself.  I never know how I'll react.  (and typically, it's bad.)  So!  Here it is, about 10 minutes after I've taken the Red Pill, and I'm still here to type about it.  So far, so good...

My dear friend Stephanie has known how frustrated I am with all of this and thought I needed some serious relaxation....so she and I headed over to the Ivy Spa for a massage.  And not just any massage, my friends...a 100 minute hot stone message!  Alas, I can even find anxiety in a relaxing massage...as Stephanie and I sat in the 'relaxation room', robed and in our little plastic spa shoes, I mention to her that I truly hope I'm not going to be worked on by some hot dude.  I've only had one other full body message in my life, and it was from a woman.  That is just something I have to wonder about, what kind of guy would want to message naked ladies with oil all day long??  Exactly...!  I just wanted to relax and not worry that he's getting a peek at my 42 year old boobs, my annoying little muffin top that has a way of turning into a pancake when I lay on my side or my weird little pinky toenail.  Not 5 minutes later, two hot young dudes stop in front of us and say, "Susie?  Stephanie?"  and lead us each into our own rooms.  grief!  I had to be the most high-maintenance client that poor guy had. I couldn't lay on my stomach for long, so he had to work on me whilst I lay on my sides.  (I'm almost sure he must have had a booby shot then.  sigh.)  Then I had to jump up and pee halfway through the thing.  But let me tell you, if you ever have a chance to have a massage with those hot rocks--hot dude or not!--jump at it!  When I finally stopped thinking about my flab or my corn-toe I really enjoyed myself. Those rocks are the perfect temperature--just hot enough that if they were 1 more degree they would be TOO hot.  It was nothing short of amazing.  Which is what I can say about my friend Stephanie, for doing that for me.  Beyond!!!

Well, I'm still breathing--so maybe this will work after all?  Time will tell.  I also had some blood tests taken to rule out any sort of arthritis that could be brewing in there.  Nice.  If I have arthritis that will REALLY make me feel old!  But this Metal Mommy has got to keep rockin' and rollin', even tho someday I'll probably be in one of those mobility scooters.  I'll rig it up so that I've always got music blasting from it, threatening to mow people down in Byerlys, throwing them the heavy metal salute.  Gotta make the best of what you've got, get yourself through The Matrix as best you can.  God Speed!

It's my fabulous friend Stephanie's birthday today and we are celebrating by going out for lunch.  Yipee!  I feel like with the holiday craziness I just haven't been able to see my friend Steph nearly enough and now we actually get to hang on her day!  How do l love my Stephanie?  Let me count the ways....

1. Stephanie is always there for me, for the big stuff or the small.  Who else would read my long rambling emails about things that are irritating me??  

2. Much ado about nothing.  We can gab or email about the most random but oh-so-important-to-us things...and we don't even need a joint to do so.

3. She is my fashion mentor and is as girlie as I am.  Stephanie always looks fabulous, even when she's just hangin' in sweats around her house.  The girl will don her studded Chrisitan Louboutin boots just to meet me for coffee so I can check them out.

4.  Stephanie and I discovered long ago that we have so much in common and we'll often end up doing or saying or buying the same things!!!  We will easily show up somewhere in the same coat or wearing the same jewelry...and we are catty about it?  Hell to the no!  In fact, we revel in it!

5.  The girl can cook. And she cooks for me.  Is there anything else I need to say about that?!

6.  Stephanie is one of the most generous people I know and the most gracious host.  Whenever I am at her house I feel like royalty.  She will give you the shirt off her back or the purse out of her closet--literally.

7.  She has a wicked wit and she's not afraid to use it.  The girl is hilariously funny.  And did I mention smart as a whip??

8.  We can talk for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and....well, you get the idea.

9.  She's a great travel companion.  Our unforgettable trip to NYC proved that!!!

10.  There is no B.S. with Stephanie.  What you see is what you get.  She may be gorgeous, smart, funny and glamorous but she is down-to-earth nice and REAL, baby.

Really the list could go ever on and on, just like the road....:-) (Tolkien reference, to those of you who might have missed that...and shame on you if you did...!) I am oh-so-lucky to have my friend Stephanie in my life!

Happy Birthday Girlie!!!!!!!!

Dang, I hate it when I realize that I really am getting old.  Recently I've switched to decaf coffee because I started to notice that I wasn't feeling oh-so-great soon after my morning cuppa.  This is big news, really, considering coffee is my favorite beverage of all time.  Luckily I'm not too much of a coffee snob to turn my nose up at decaf--you really can find some decent ones out there--so I still partake every morning (and often afternoon) and enjoy every sip.  

The other night I was getting the coffee ready for the next morning and saw that I was just short of what I needed to make my 4 cups (which is actually 1 and a half big cups) to have upon waking.  I threw a little of Coreman's 'real' stuff (he refuses to do the decaf, we have two coffee pots going!)  in there figuring a couple of tablespoons-worth wouldn't be a big deal.  Not so.  I couldn't believe how crappy I felt!  Nauseated, lightheaded, just generally yucky.  I had errands to run, one of which was to use a $15 coupon at Sephora that was soon to be expired and I was not to be denied--hello, $15 whole dollars at one of my favorite stores evar??  Honestly I wasn't sure I would make it.  Walking around the mall I felt short of breath and horrible.  But armed with my coupon I soldiered on and miraculously as I got in there and started poking around I did start to feel a bit better.  Make-up Therapy!!!!  After spending time in there I did just decide to come on home instead of doing my other errands so I could get something in my stomach and try to kick the yucks.  Man, that was weird--and as I said, makes me feel OLD.!

I was actually hopeful to get a nice pleasant little kick from that caffeine, considering the busy weekend I have ahead.  Last night we hosted our gourmet dinner group here--I love it when our turn falls around Christmas-time, which it did last year too. (check out that amazing cake Rosemarie made!!!)  We always do a 'white elephant' gift exchange that totally rocks.  Every year we'll pull something hideous and/or unused out of our closets, dust them off (sometimes we don't even bother doing that) and wrap them up.  They all get put into a pile and we then draw numbers.  The first one gets their first choice of Mystery Gift, then number 2 picks, and so on. After everyone gets their gifts there is some sort of stealing rule--Coreman keeps it all straight, I certainly don't. It's a pretty good time.  I did score myself a pretty dusty candle, some cute Christmas dessert plates and some ADORABLE Christmas dish towels! (hey, one man's junk...) Rosemarie breaks the rules and every year goes out and buys some really cute things.  I think we all know to go for Rosie's gifts first.  It feels a bit funny to steal a gift from the Pastor--our beloved Pastor Tim is part of our gourmet group--but hey, it's all part of the game.  I think poor Tim ended up with some frog magnets.

And tonight, the Hot Mama Christmas party!  I'm so looking forward to hanging out with my fun co-workers.  It's for spouses too, so it will be fun for the Coreman to meet all of the ladies he hears me chat about all the time.  And I'll see them again tomorrow, as I work in the afternoon. Busy Busy!

I have to admit it's been tough for me to feel the Christmas spirit these days.  I feel so rushed and busy lately that it's hard for me to just take it in.  Next week should slow down and hopefully I'll be able to get there.  At least maybe make some Christmas cookies?!  

Check out this new look!  I guess I'm still experimenting with my new apartment here.  I'm not even sure this will be a permanent move, I'm checking out Stephanie's new blog and thinking that's pretty darn cool.  I may have to be a copy-cat and follow her over there.  hmmmm.  Guess I'll play around a bit more and see.  

I'm sitting here typing in my new kick-A Frye boots.  I've never owned a pair in my life and I have to say, I think me likee.  I've been on The Perfect Boot search for a while now...those of you who know me, it's always something.  But I was having the hardest time finding a pair of boots that are in between dressy and casual, not too high and look good on my short little legs.  I originally wanted brown but of course when I finally found the style that I think will work, they only had black left.  Ah well, nothing wrong with rock and roll black, of course!  I'm wearing them around the house to see if they really will move in and not get sent back to the store like the other pair that came along.  I'm sure you're all quite thrilled to know that I may have finally found my Perfect Boot. :-)  It's good to be a working girl!  

And speaking of rock and roll, who emailed me the other day but my old guitar player Rand from The Charm School Dropouts!!!!!  This was the band that I put together after I left Warbride, back in the L.A. days.  After dealing with girls and their catiness (sorry Lori, but I know you would agree that back then we were not on our best behavior!) I was more than ready to front some dudes for a change.  Naive me put an ad in the local Hollywood rag along with a big photo of me....and then wondered why I was getting creepy responses, one from a notorious guy who wanted to give band girls foot rubs. eeeu.  Luckily Rand answered that ad---and he didn't have a foot fetish---and I pretty much knew as soon as we met that he was the guy I wanted in my band.  We were immediately like brother and sister, we definitely shared the same sick sense of humor.  (and in case any of you are wondering, NO, it never went beyond that!)  Rand and I lived in a few different places together, we even had a studio apartment that we shared, our mattresses on the floor across the room from each other.  Crazy times, to say the least.  It has been great fun to be back in touch, catching up and learning what's been going on in his life for all of these years.  I have to admit I'm glad to hear he's not only still alive (!) but doing very well.  Never underestimate the feel-good power of reconnecting with a dear old friend.  (sorry Rand, did I just call you OLD?! ;-))

This morning I went over to Vivian's FACS class to help out.  FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) is the new term for Home Ec.  It sounds much more sophisticated, doesn't it??  hilarious.  My job was to iron the seams on the pillowcases that the kids were working on.  All I can say is, CUTE!  It was such a blast to be a part of 7th grade again for a while.  (and not have to REALLY be a part of 7th grade, mind you!)  Since we are new to the community I really didn't recognize any of these kids.  I was amazed to see how polite and quiet they all were in class, wow.  Of course Vivian would be totally embarrassed with me whenever I'd try to strike up a conversation with anyone, which of course was often.  heh heh.  What fun would there be in life if you couldn't embarrass your kid???  It was pretty funny to have me iron, I have to say, since I barely ever get mine out.  That's the most ironing I'll do all year.  I remember when Vivian was little and in her ECFE class.  They had the room all set up with different activities, one corner all set up like a play-house.  In that area was a kid-sized ironing board and an iron.  I totally remember Vivian picking up the iron with this dazed and confused look on her face...she had never seen one before in her life, since her Mommy never ironed!!  That GOD I didn't have to actually sew on a machine or give any advice about using one.  It's pretty darn cute to see a 7th grade boy work away on a sewing machine.

Another busy week coming with work, a cleaning at the dentist, a meet-and-greet with some lovely-sounding ladies that I'm doing a holiday boutique show with, with my Silpada jewelry.  Before we know it it will be Thanksgiving and we'll be driving back down from Park Rapids with our Christmas tree!!!!  Total craziness.  Are you ready for the holidays??