We are here in Vegas and let’s just say it has been an eventful trip so far.
We packed up the van for it’s first road trip and the amount of room available in this thing is just amazing compared to the old PT.  In the PT we would have to remove one of the back seats completely and then it would be jam packed to the ceiling with all of our gear.  In the van we stuffed 3 suitcases, 2 guitars, a case of water bottles, a giant bag that Paula gave us to transport, and my toiletry case without even having to remove Shilo’s dog crate AND still had the whole backseat empty AND room for groceries we bought in Bakersfield!
Bakersfield…
This is where our story goes awry dear readers.
We stopped at an Albertson’s in Bakersfield to get some supplies for the trip.  While shopping, Rob noticed that one of the screws in his glasses was loose.  He told me to remind him to get his leatherman out and tighten them.  We finished shopping and stopped down the street for some gas.  I reminded him about his glasses and went into the Subway attached to the gas station to get us some dinner.
When I emerged with the food I found Rob messing with his glasses outside the gas pump.  I got in the car and had a couple bites of the sandwich when I realized all was not well.
Apparently while tightening one of the screws Rob had inadvertently stripped the opening, popping them open and resulting in one of the lenses falling out.  Because it was stripped he couldn’t get the screw to go back in.
Rob has REALLY bad eyesight so without his glasses he is pretty much blind.  He ALWAYS brings a back up pair of glasses for that very reason but last week his main pair had the same thing happen to him so he was in fact, wearing his back up glasses on this trip.  He had no other options.
I had thrown an eyeglasses repair kit that I had at work in my purse while cleaning out my desk that day so I gave it to him and he began the very painful and frustrating process of trying to fix the problem.  Unfortunately it wasn’t going to happen.
I have 20/20 vision(knock wood) so I can’t even imagine the level of frustration that he was feeling.  To basically be rendered helpless when something like this happens.  I just can’t fathom it.
Finally he sent me into the minimart(because he couldn’t see to go in himself) to get some superglue and in a last ditch effort we were able to temporarily fix the situation.
The second really big problem happened after we finally got to Vegas.
We booked downtown because we wanted to go cheap…we decided on the El Cortez because we had stayed here a number of years ago when we came on my birthday with my friend Renee.  The room was pretty nice and cheap.  While looking at their website we saw that it wasn’t THAT much more expensive to stay in their new “Cabana Suites”.  The pictures on the website looked nice so we got excited and booked it.
When we finally got checked in and went to our room at four in the morning we discovered a TINY little cracker box of a hotel room.  And to make matters worse they had filled the room with GIANT furniture to try and make the decor look more chic.  We were shocked.  Also, there were no dressers or anywhere to put your clothing.  So in a room that small you would have to keep your suitcase out to get your stuff out.

In addition to the incident earlier and the sheer exhaustion, this room just took the cake.  We milled around and discussed the logistics of it.  It just didn’t work for us.  If I were sleeping and Rob wanted to play guitar he would basically have to do it either in the bathroom or at the foot of the bed I was sleeping in.
Finally I called the front desk and asked if we could be moved to one of the rooms we had been in all those years ago with Renee for the duration of our stay.  She said yes, I asked if we could see the room first and she said to come on down she would give us a key.

When we got up to the room it was like a breath of fresh air.  It was so much bigger with a giant dresser, a desk, a chair, a sofa and a coffee table.  Perfect!  We switched immediately and it was like a weight was lifted off our shoulders.
We finally got to sleep around six in the morning.

Woke up the next morning with two things on the agenda.  We had to hit the marathon expo to get my bib number and also hit a LensCrafters to get Rob some new glasses.  The superglue was not going to last the whole week and Rob had a prescription in his wallet for his glasses even though it was over a year old.
Last year we hit the Expo on a Saturday and it was a MADHOUSE.  I’m really claustrophobic and it was a nightmare for me.  This year we got there on a Friday afternoon and while it was still packed it was soo much better.  We were able to actually partake in some of the games and merriment of the affair.  There was some contest where you fill out a form and give it to the Prize Center and you can win something.  It looked like you could only win things like a beanie, a handkerchief, wristbands….things like that.  Well you could have knocked us over with a feather when Rob won us a pair of Brooks running shoes!  Over 100.00 value!  And just in time for me to replace my shoes!  Ha!  Things were indeed looking up.
We left the Expo loaded with freebies and headed over to the mall for Rob’s glasses.
The thing with Rob having such bad vision, is that his glasses get really expensive.  However, he has some vision insurance so we were relying on that.  Yeah, you can guess where this is going…
They didn’t take our insurance and they couldn’t honor Rob’s old prescription so that meant we would also have to pay for an eye exam.  We couldn’t afford it.  We explained our problem to the woman and she looked at his glasses.  She declared that she could just replace the screw.  Rob advised that it was stripped and a screw wouldn’t work.  She countered that they could rethread it with a bigger screw and off she went.  Ten minutes later Rob’s glasses were saved and it was FREE!!!  We tipped her a twenty because she basically saved our trip.
Finally it felt like the dark cloud of this trip had been completely lifted and we headed back to the hotel.
As we arrived in the parking garage, I got a text from my BFF Paula that she had landed and was in Vegas.  Hooray!!!  🙂
While she waited on her bag and the taxi, Rob and I headed of to Mamita’s.  We had discovered this gem of a local Mexican/Cuban restaurant when we stayed at this hotel with Renee.  In fact if you happen to be the proud owner of one of my husband’s “Bubble Bath” CD’s, flip it over and look at the cute picture of us on the back.  That was taken in the back booth of Mamita’s.
We were waiting on our takeout when Paula called us.  She was in the lobby of the hotel, she was checked in but was having a hard time finding her room.  I beat feet over to the lobby to rescue her.  🙂
She was in a Pavilion room so it wasn’t in the same tower as us.  It was one of the weirdest set ups I have ever seen.  Basically it was on floor of outside hotel rooms on top of a parking garage.  Not exactly safe looking but I was encouraged that you at least had to have a room key to get up to that floor.
We dropped off her bags in her room and chatted for a bit before heading over to my room to eat some yummy tortas and hang out.  After we ate we headed downstairs to get our players cards and play gamble.  Got a quick drink at the bar and settled in at a set of slot machines that hated us so we quickly moved on.  The machines we picked were pretty good to us.  We played for a couple of hours on 20 bucks and Paula was actually winning.
Finally, only getting five hours of sleep the night before hit me hard and I had to retire to my room.  I think at that point I was down fifteen bucks and Paula was up by 90 or so.
Saturday morning Paula made me wake up earlier than I would have liked so we could all go to breakfast.  Rob got an omelet while Paula and I got what we called the Lumberjack’s Special.

Two eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and a short stack with coffee and juice and a side of biscuits and gravy.  We made a pretty good dent in it too!  I only had enough left of the pancakes to take back to the room with us.
We parted ways with Paula and headed up to our respective rooms for a small nap before reuniting and heading out to the Meadow’s Shopping Mall.  Rob had gotten a Salvation Army contact here in Vegas and got a gig outside Macy’s playing Christmas songs on his guitar for donations.

While he got set up Paula and I did what any self respecting woman would do if faced with two hours to kill in a mall.  We shopped and ate.  Because our lumberjack breakfast apparently wasn’t enough for us we had to stop at Hot Dog On A Stick and get some lunch and Johnny Rockets to get me a chocolate peanut butter milkshake    …yeah, it was as good as it sounds.  🙂
Two hours later we were shopped out so we waited for Rob in the car because it was FREEZING outside and then finally we headed back to the hotel where another nap was had.
Around seven thirty I got up and started getting ready.  We were meeting our friend Aimee at the Excalibur to go see Thunder From Down Under.  We hadn’t seen Aimee in a long time and the irony was not lost on us that we lived very close together and it took a trip to Vegas to have a get together.  Aimee was also running the half marathon with me the next day.
How do you prepare for the night before a marathon?  We had cocktails and watched a bunch of oiled up half naked men dance.  Seemed like the right choice at the time.  😉
We took a cab to the Excalibur.  I closed my eyes the entire time because the cab driver was apparently a retired nascar driver or something.  At one point I heard Paula gasp and I looked up.  She just patted me on the arm and said: “Keep ’em closed honey, keep ’em closed.”
We survived and managed to meet up with Aimee at the bar outside the Thunder theater where there was drinking and laughter.

There were a couple of bachelorette parties in the bar and so this cute bartender jumped up on the bar and announced a free shot for the bride to be.  He took a bottle and poured a shot of red liquid into the bride’s mouth and then proceeded to do the same to her entire party.  Us girls just watched and laughed until he saw us and walked over to us, still on the bar and demanded we do the shots too.  We all said no, no, no…we couldn’t and then of course we did.  Heh.  I asked him what was in it and he just winked and said he made it himself.  He placed a towel under my chin and it was down the hatch!  It tasted very fruity and I suspect there wasn’t much alcohol in it since they weren’t charging for it.  🙂  Then it was Paula and Aimee’s turn.  The only one that actually got caught on camera was Aimee.  Priceless!

The show was to start at eleven and the doors were supposed to open at 10:30 but apparently there were some really horny women from the earlier show still inside refusing to leave.  Finally we were able to get in and get our seats.
This would be Paula and I’s third Thunder show.  The first one we went to we fell in love with a hottie dancer named Donovan.  Planned the second trip and show around seeing him dance again and much to our disappointment he had been on vacation.  We were SURE he had to be there this time…Yeah, not so much.
It was still a great show and since it was Aimee’s first time seeing it, her reactions were worth the ticket price alone!!  She had so much fun.  She had told us earlier that she hadn’t had a girls night out since her oldest daughter was born…and she’s in kindergarten now!  I was so glad we were able to provide her with such a fun night!!

To be continued

Tonight started much like any Friday night.

I arrived at the theater, put on my make up and hung out for a while. I had been in a bad mood and as usual the humor of my cast mates cheered me up.

Nothing seemed out of place. We headed out to the stage for our vocal warm ups and our stretches. There was a mic check. All seemed to be going according to plan.

We were waiting for our director to come out and give us our usual pow wow(pep talk) before we opened the doors for the audience when all of a sudden the power flashed off. It came right back on so we all laughed about how that would have sucked to have the power go out when it flashed off again.

Our director Koly appeared and let us know she was going to call the electric company but that should that happen again during the show we would have to have some flashlights handy so we can escort the audience out in a safe environment.

Aaaaaaand that is when the power went out for good.

Turns out the power blew out on the whole block.

There was some talk of ghost stories and campfires and that sort of thing but it soon became apparent the power wasn’t coming back on anytime soon.

With a line of people already waiting outside to come in and enjoy the show, I don’t think there was ever a doubt in Koly’s mind that she wasn’t going to be able to give these people the show they wanted to see. She went into damage control mode. People were dispatched to find a generator and she went out to let the crowd know the show would go on it would just be a little late.

There were some snags in getting the generator but eventually it was procured and brought to the theater. After much hard work from the cast and crew it was up and running and the show went up an hour later than normal with full sound on the band, a spotlight and the microphones. That was it.

And the crowd loved it!!!

Backstage, we managed with flashlights and laughter. It’s not easy to change into your costume and do your make up in the dark but our cast managed not only with minimal complaints but an overall great attitude about being involved in such an epic experience.

At the end of the night everyone had given it their all and it paid off “in abundance”! The audience was happy, the cast and crew were exhausted but proud of what had been accomplished and the night was over.

As was quoted by a member of the cast, Lucas: “Where there is a Wing, there is a way.”

I am soooooo blessed to be a part of this production.

So I started the HCG diet.
If you feel the need to leave a comment and tell me dangerous that is or how no one can possibly live of 500 calories a day, please move your cursor 0ver to the google search bar, type in “Judgmental Asshole” and press the search button to kindly leave my page.  Ktnxbye!
I did three loading days instead of two and didn’t gain so that was pretty cool.
I started the VLCD(very low calorie diet) on Monday and have been doing okay.  A little cranky the first day but not really hungry. Yesterday I the mistake from upping my drops so I could only take them twice a day instead of three times a day and I was starving most of the afternoon. I switched back to three times a day today and it s been much better.
As of this morning and two days on the program, I nave lost 3.6 lbs.
What I have discovered most of all in starting this diet is how many people love to tell you how you are going to fail And if you don’t fail, how you are going to kill yourself trying.
I’ve been told repeatedly how no one can possibly live on such a small amount of food without that person knowing anything about the diet itself.  What they really mean is that THEY couldn’t bring THEMSELVES to sacrifice their burgers and fries to follow a low calorie diet.
And let’s not forget how DANGEROUS it is to eat so little.  To which I want to point out that I’ve been sticking my finger down my throat a lot again lately…should I go back to that?  Is that better for me?  But I can’t say that.   I can only admit that to the anonymity of the internet and a small and close group of friends.
Of course if I really want to admit to myself the truth, it isn’t all about the diet.   More about how people are proving to me that there is a reason I tend to distance myself from others. You open up to people and you get let down. You let people into your world and realize that people in general are just self centered jerks that don’t really care about what is happening in your life.  They just want to know so they can spread some gossip or laugh about your predicament behind your back.  Either that or they only contact you when they want something.  Be it a favor, something of material value or simply just supplying information that you have or can obtain for them.
I am aware that that statement is a huge generalization but it’s been proven to be true more often than not lately so take that any way you would like to.
Anyhoo, I’m gong to start updating my diet blog with my observations on the HCG diet so if you are interested or curious you can hop over there and check it out.
The rest of this was just pretty much a rant but hey. its my blog and I’m allowed to rant here if I want right??

I’ve felt really ugly and unattractive the last few weeks.   I know I keep gaining and losing the same five to ten pounds and I’m sure a lot of it rides on that.  Or maybe it’s just that I’m getting older and I don’t look the same to myself as I used to.  In the mirror where I used to see clear skin and bright eyes, I now see wrinkles, enlarged pores and bags under my eyes looking back at me.

I realize aging happens to all of us and most of us don’t want it to happen.  While I am not fond of the idea, I guess I’m pleased that as I near the age of forty(less than three more years!) my face hasn’t taken as bad of a nose dive as it could have.  I’m just starting to get a hint of crows feet and a slight set of laugh lines.  My forehead has always been my worst problem area.  As a sarcastic teen/adult it was always cool to raise my eyebrows and furrow my brow and I am now paying the price.  I guess if it gets to me too bad I just give myself bangs, problem solved.

No, this hasn’t been as much about what I see in the mirror, it is more about how I feel in my own skin.  I had stopped working out and was eating poorly.  That always makes an impact on so much more than my clothing size, it makes me feel yucky in general.  It breeds depression and anxiety for me and I always forget that until I change my habits and start feeling good again

This past week I have stepped up my game.  The 1/2 marathon is just three months away and I have been doing nothing in the way of training.  That has changed.  Not only have I been walking two miles on my lunch break almost every day, I have decided to start eating better as well.  I may not always succeed in it but I AM making better choices most of the time and it is making a difference.

I feel my body shrinking but more important, I feel my head clearing.  It is amazing how taking a half an hour out of my day to work out and not being a slave to food makes such a huge impact on your mind and body.

Today I woke up, showered and pulled a dress I have never worn out of my closet.  I had bought it a few months ago on Ebay and it is a size 16.  I never tried it on because, I wasn’t a size 16.

Not only did it fit, but it looked GOOD!  I dressed it up with a belt and shoes and even put some make up on.

I got a lot of compliments on how I looked today and while I appreciated them, I didn’t need them.  I FELT good. I felt pretty and attractive and I hadn’t felt that way in a while.

Sometimes we all need those days.  I sure did.

A month or so ago Rob and I got hit with the flu.  It was an annoying little bug that hit him harder than it did me but was out of system within two days each.

Sunday night Rob started to get a headache that just wouldn’t quit.  On Wednesday he started to develop other flu like symptoms such as vomiting and due to the vomiting, body aches.  He said it felt like the same thing he had before so we just sort of sat back and waited for it to go away.

He stayed home from work on Thursday and did a half day on Friday.  He had a gig that he had already committed to for a friend so he followed through with that on Friday night and came home just dead on his feet.

Saturday he said he was just getting worse but told me to go to rehearsal and if he still felt crummy when I got home he would let me take him to Urgent Care.  I reluctantly went to rehearsal, and when I got home he was still sick but said he would wait until tomorrow.  If he wasn’t any better he promised we would go to Urgent Care.

Over the course of the night he appeared better.  He was able to hold down two pieces of bread with some peanut butter on them.  I was so relieved!  He was on the mend, and everything was going to be okay.

This morning we woke around six and he mumbled that he felt even worse than he had been feeling, threw up and went back to bed.  I googled Urgent Care and none of them opened til eight.  I went back to bed and Rob said he wanted to sleep as long as he could before we went.  I know he was hoping that it would just start getting better.  The last time we went to the emergency room for something like this he ended up staying there for several days and I know he didn’t want that to happen again.

We finally got up and showered around ten and after a small discussion decided to head to the CHOMP emergency room in lue of Urgent Care.  There was a serious chance he could be admitted and we didn’t want to have to travel to two different places and do paperwork twice.

I have to say I am pretty impressed with the CHOMP ER.  His info was already on file from some blood work he had done years ago and instead of making you stand there in pain to register they get you into a room and have the registration people come to you with a laptop.

After we were in the room a few nurses came in and said someone would be with us.  Rob had a bout of throwing up that brought in a nurse with an anti-nausea tablet to put under his tongue and set up an IV for him.  He took down all the info he needed and then told us the doctor would be in soon.

The nurse had taken some blood when putting in the IV so when the doc came in we explained everything again and he said he was going to run some labs on the blood and make sure there were no infections or anything.  We said fine and he was off.

At that point there wasn’t much to do so with Rob’s encouragement I headed down to the gift shop to get some magazines and stopped off at the cafe to get a bite to eat.

When I got back to the room Rob was in pain.  The headache was back in full force and after a little coaxing I managed to get him to admit he wanted me to find a nurse to get some pain meds.

I informed the nurse that had initially gotten us into the room and she said she would check it with the doctor and find out.  About a half an hour later Rob was just miserable and had another bout of vomiting.

Now just a word on this…there was nothing left for Rob to puke up.  He hadn’t held anything solid down in five days except for the bread and that was long gone.  The dry heaves that he had were so powerful his entire face, upper body and back turned tomato red and he couldn’t breathe.

As he was retching into the bucket they thoughtfully provided the nurse rushed in with a shot of narcotic pain medicine.  (Boy, loud retching sounds of death really bring the nurses coming in this place…good to know!)  He was bent over unable to breathe when she put the shot in his IV.

She walked away and all of a sudden Rob’s motor skills slowed down to a crawl.  He looked at me to say something and all that came out was a jumbled slur.  I could tell he wanted to to convey to me that he couldn’t talk but his mouth no longer worked.  I managed to hear “talk.” in the slurs that were falling out of his lips but that was all I could understand.  He then tried to sign to me but even that was slow and unsuccessful.  The next thing I know he fell back on the bed passed out and his heart monitor alarm started going off.  I looked up and his heart rate had dipped below 35 BPM and the red lights were flashing.

I ran out into the hallway and found a nurse, she told me that someone was monitoring the heart rate machines and would be right in.  She then came in followed by the nurse that gave him the pain meds and they got him to wake up but he still couldn’t really speak.  One nurse put him on some oxygen while the other one gave him a shot of anti-nausea meds.  They got him to take some deep breathes and then he drifted off into sleep as his pulse stabilized.

This is where I had to step out into the hallway and bawl.  I literally felt like I had been watching him die in front of me. I had never been so scared in my whole life.

Okay that is all I can write about that now because I’m crying again….moving on!

The nurse told me that she thought it was the combo of him not getting enough air as she gave him the narcotic and that caused him to pass out.  She didn’t seem the least bit worried that my husband seemed to be having stroke like symptoms and left the room.

The doctor came in shortly after and woke Rob to tell him that the labs came back normal, he was telling us he was ready to release us when I told him about what had happened.  Rob spoke up and seemed to have all of his speaking skills restored thank God.  The doctor appeared to know about the pain meds because he had to approve them but didn’t get informed about Rob’s reaction to them.  He ordered a CT scan just to make sure Rob’s head was okay.

The scan came back normal and Rob was released.  We made it to Safeway just in time to get his prescriptions filled.  He has two pain meds and one anti-nausea one.  He’s been resting comfortably since we got back.

The doctor said that it was just a really nasty flu virus that had to run it’s course.  He said antibiotics don’t work on viruses, so he gave Rob a note to be out of work for the next two days but basically said there was nothing more he could do.  Nothing but clear fluids until tomorrow and come back if things get worse.

Total time in the ER was about five hours.  Just an exhausting day.

I would do it all over again though just to have this piece of mind that there is no brain tumor/stroke/organ failure happening and it’s just the flu.

Dear Everyone That I Encountered On The Road Today,

I realize that it is Saturday and you may have no place that you need to go, but you need to know that is not always the case with everyone else. Some of us actually have to be places on time.

I’m just wondering how it could possibly be that EVERY SINGLE CAR I got behind today drove like grandpa or grandma moses.  At first it was mildy amusing in a weird way, but then it got downright annoying!

I also realize that last weekend you all were driving like assholes instead of Grandma’s but I’m not sure how much of an improvement today actually was.  At least last weekend I was able to swerve to avoid you cutting me off and still manage to get places when I was supposed to.

In conclusion I would just like to point out that if you want me to hold on to any shred of sanity I have left, please for the love of God, IT’S THE PEDAL ON THE RIGHT!  Use it!

Love and Kisses,

Kelly