(I apologize for the lame formatting of this post. WordPress is not cooperating with me right now!)

I wasn’t surprised. It was all making sense to me now. I have been feeling under the weather for about a week now, I was pretty sure I was close to death…a few times. You see, I had this mysterious, even gigantic bite on my hand. I was sure whatever had bit me was poisonous. I lay dying a slow death. After about the sixth day I was determined to determine my fate one way or another. I stagger out of bed whoa-is-me and begin the search for this deadly monster. I had already determined, through my research this was not just a bug, not just a spider. It was a brown recluse spider. It’s just a matter of time, bless my soul. I walked (staggered) out back to retrace my daily routine. Hammer in one hand. Perfume in the other (I had no bug spray). That’s when I saw it, it was bigger than life and he was staring right at me. Being the photo bug (no pun intended) I am, I decide I should take a picture of this monster, perhaps it would be beneficial for my autopsy. I must hurry and do this before I smash it to smithereens and spray it with my good perfume I just got at Big Lots!!! I put my super duper lens on my camera so there would be no need for me to get too close, one more bite I could be gone within hours…maybe minutes. Be brave Heidi, be brave. Got it!! Yahoo, perhaps if they get me and the monster to the venom E.R. show guy, I would have a chance. I see no other spiders around so I know….I know this was the one.
I decide to take a quick glance at the monster on my big screen (laptop) I guess I needed closure. Well wasn’t I surprised to find, “the monster” was nothing more than a dead spider carcass! To be completely honest with you I was a bit upset. Where did this this mysterious, even gigantic bite on my hand come from and why the slow, agonizing death? Time to reevaluate the situation. Could the bite be from, say….a mosquito or something. It could. Could I just have a tad of the flu and I am not really dying. I could. I guess only time will tell, but I have to tell ya, I am ‘almost’ miraculously feeling better.

So I decide to push my luck a little and go for an evening stroll. (Honey, if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna have camera in hand!) Now I’m a bit confused…again. The skies were just beautiful. Were the Heavens rejoicing my speedy recovery, or was the the light you see at the end? I decide, for the moment, to stop over analyzing the situation and enjoy it.
I mean you can’t really die from a half-way decomposed spider bite, right? Well, you know me…..I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

A very good friend of mine is releasing his 8th Solo C.D. If you don’t know Phil Perry, you have never heard Phil Perry!!!

Get more information at philperry.net (Hurry!)

One of my all time favorites….a must for the Holidays!

…and had a fab-o time!
My oldest son, Rocky and I had a wonderful reunion this past week-end with some dear old, young friends, ‘the girls next door!’ Or so they used to be. We met Ollie and Roxy in 1985, when the kids were just 2 1/2 years old! As our families grew, so did our friendship(s). Rocky and Roxy started their first day of school together, learned to ride bikes together, did homework together, toilet papered friends homes together, played matchmaker for each other, etc… Although they now have their own families (Roxy is 7 months preggos!) and live hundred miles apart, they have remained in contact. Because we rarely (very rarely!!) see each other anymore, it was a huge treat to have lunched with them…as well as Ollie’s youngest, Karlee who just turned 13, and whom I only have memories as a toddler! Here is a quick picture I took as we said our goodbyes and swore we would never wait so long for another reunion! I would post pictures of them growing up but they are all in storage….it’s just a matter of time kiddo’s! *wink*

Via text message:
D- “I have cramps so bad, I feel like I’m gonna die.”
H- “Put some frozen ground beef on your tummy.”
D- “Nobody should go through life without a friend like you.”

Perhaps she is relieved we can laugh about it now, and we are both alive to do so.
She is one of the best friends I have ever had and I absolutely love my mini-vacations to visit her in Ventura. My last visit was memorable in more ways than one.
We had spent the evening doing ‘girl’ things…painting our nails, eating, talking, laughing, crying, etc… We eventually fell asleep, safely watching t.v.
She awoke a few hours later with a toothache…
“Anbesol, use some Anbesol” I mumbled between snores.
After fumbling around for a few minutes, she informed me she couldn’t find anything she thought would work. Afraid of missing anymore ZZZZ’s I told her to get an ice pack, (2 ice packs…just let me sleep)
“It always works for me” I lied.
Evidently the coldness was adequate, at least long enough for her to fall back asleep.
What seemed like just a few hours later, the sun began piercing through her bedroom window just enough to slightly bring me out of the coma I had fallen back in to. I lay there with my eyes closed anticipating my morning walk to the beach. I had dolphins to see and couldn’t think of a better way to start my day. I decide if I got up sooner than later, I would make it back in time to see her off to work. I slowly open one eyeball at a time and roll over to take a quick glance at the clock. Beside me lies a puddle of blood. Oh dear God, what have I done now? I remember the fine print on my Ambien, the warning. I remember the stories I had heard of people sleep walking, driving, etc…
Had I unconsciously killed my best friend? I am now in panic mode.
“D” I asked, “you alive?”
After opening her eyes, we both lay there in shock.
“Uh-huh, you?”
“Yep”
Her t-shirt was soaked, as were the sheets and her pillow case.
“You o.k?” I ask
“I think so, you?”
Now I am wondering, am I o.k? Perhaps one of us was bleeding to death and were too numb from the loss of blood to realize it. It had to be her, after all, it was her pillow and t-shirt that were soiled.
“Don’t move” I warn her, “I am going to stand up”
Left leg, check.
Right leg, check.
I am now in an upright position and I’m o.k., Hallelujah!
(*note to self: reconsider the Ambien thing)
Not to get too excited, my friend after all is laying next to a puddle of blood. I bravely walk around to her side of the bed. Not too sure what to do next, we decide she should try to get up as well.
Left leg, check.
Right leg, check.
She is now in an upright position and she’s o.k., Hallelujah!
So no we both stand, upright, alive and confused. We decide to slowly disassemble the bedding, one piece at a time….th, th, that’s when we saw it. Imagine the horror/relief we felt when we discovered the “ice pack” she had grabbed in the middle of the night turned out to be a pound of frozen ground beef that had now thawed out.
As disgusting as it was, we laughed so hard we nearly peed our pants. We might have! She made me promise I would never tell anyone, I’m her best friend I wouldn’t do that! I have a feeling we’ll be friends forever, after all, we have been through so much together. If we could survive a ‘bloody toothache’ together, we can get through anything! Love you D!

I played around today a little more with my new gadget, my camera….My son has taken up a new hobby, photography. He already speaks depth-of-field-camera language and it’s got me worried, that and the fact his pictures are superb. I have some serious reading/learning to do.

This is my view from my thinking chair, my Papasan chair…so I took a picture while I was thinking of what to take a picture of!

As I posted a month or so back, I got a new camera. So, today I decide to pick up the ‘owners manuel’ and try and learn how to actually use it. That lasted about 5 minutes which is really unusual for me as I generally love learning the ins and out of gadgets and how each and every function works. I suppose I was a bit overwhelmed with all the information I don’t know! Tomorrows a new day and I’ll be darned if I don’t learn something!!! By the end of the week, I do hope to be a pro. So please, I invite you to see a few of my “before” I learned how to use my camera and became a pro…pictures! I took most of them yesterday.

Now I must get to reading…the pressure is on! *wink*