Just a note to let all know that I am indeed feeling a bit better. At least the pain isn’t as constant, just a flash here and there. I can probably deal with that. Seems as if it gets worse throughout the day for whatever reason.

If you were interested in reading my sister’s screenplay, sorry, she asked that I take it down. Seems that it was highly accessible without even visiting my pages at all, and she of course is concerned that it will fall into the hands of a not so nice person. I don’t blame her at all, so naturally I have taken it down. I am considering making a password protection area for download of it, but it would require emailing me for information. I’m not sure how many people out there would want to go through that much trouble just to read a GREAT screenplay. Yeah, yeah, she IS my sister, but it’s really good! Any takers out there let me know and email me.

Well, I have a lot of ‘online’ stuff to take care of today. I’m trying to update one of my other pages and it’s been quite a chore getting things to work the way I want them too. It’s very frustrating because I’m one of those highly creative people, unfortunately I no very little about coding html. (In comes the frustration.) I’m naïve enough to think if I can envision it to be one way than I should be able to make it that way. It’s not that easy. Needless to say, what I thought would be a relatively easy job has turned out to be a pile of a mess!

I eventually plan on revamping this site also. I used Trelix to create this site, and while I like the functionality and ease of use, I don’t particularly like some of the limitations, or design. Yeah, I’m too creative for my own good, I want my own design!

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. It’s beautiful here in good ol Alabama! I think I will barbeque up some chicken and make some potato salad for good measure. Mmm. J

Yes, I hurt. Sad to say, but somehow I have done something to my back and I’m in so much pain right now, that I don’t think I could fully describe it, even if I wanted too.

I’m only posting in order to let my ‘regulars’ know that I’m about to take a hot bath, take some happy, happy pills, and put myself in a self induced comma until further notice. Rotten deal in all of this is that it’s a beautiful day, and other than the pain, I feel great. Go figure.

When I was growing up I remember watching the original Star Trek series. Then there was the standing in line going around the movie theatre to see the first Star Wars. (Yes, I’m THAT old.) Then there was E.T. I still have a hard time seeing Drew Barrymore as an adult. I’ll always see her in my mind as that cute little girl from E.T. Evidently my father’s affliction with science fiction has passed down to a couple of his children because my sister and I are totally into it to this day. How many out there remember the original Battle Star Gallictica or Buck Roger’s in the 21st Century? I do, watched them both when I was growing up. My how science fiction has evolved. When I was a kid I thought the special effects were phenomenal, but if I were to watch any of those shows now I would find them inane compared to what we are used to seeing from sci-fi now. My opinion is you can never have too much sci-fi. How I miss the sci-fi channel. *sigh*

This afternoon, while I was on my break I read an article about celebrity bloggers. The article talked about how celebrities are now making their way to their own blog pages, so when I got home from work today, I decided to check some out. I didn’t check them all out, although there aren’t really that many to begin with. The few I went too were rather; let’s just say more for publicity than blogging. I imagine there are a great deal of people out there who want to know what it was like to make a movie, I’m not one of them. I want to know what is behind the actor/actress/writer/director. I have to say I didn’t find much substance in what I saw.

I then stumbled onto the Forbes magazine website that listed the best celebrity blogs. The number one rated celebrity blog was Wil Wheaton, so I checked it out. If you don’t know who Wil Wheaton is, you may remember him from the movie “Stand by Me” or Star Trek Next Generation. (He played Wesley Crusher.) I am highly impressed by his blog. It’s very thoughtful, insightful, and he’s pretty funny too. Ok, so I’m not much into the whole poker thing, but I read some of the postings from his archives and I enjoyed reading what he had to say. He updates his blog daily, runs the site himself and is in the process of revamping the website. I highly encourage you to check his blog out here. He certainly doesn’t need me sending any viewers his direction, he evidently gets quite a few hits without any help from anyone, but I found it interesting, and I think other’s will also. I didn’t check out any of the other celeb sites that were listed yet, but if you’d like to check them out you can at the link I provided above.

Ok, so this wasn’t entirely about sci-fi, but I guess you can see where it went. Lol. I have to go the long way around to get to anything sometimes. I’m working on making another link page that I am calling ‘blinks’ that will link to other blog pages that I like. On that same page I will be including a couple of banners that folks out there can add to their blogs, if by chance anyone happens to like what I have to say.

I had a pretty lousy day at work today. Lost my temper with a kid I work with because of his tendency to be a smart mouth. It takes quite a lot to tick me off to the point of no return. I usually let things like that slide off my back, but for whatever reason today it just wasn’t going to happen. Probably due to build up, because this kid is just so disrespectful that he tends to irk me on a daily basis. Not like I’m the only one, it’s only Tuesday and so far he’s had a shouting match with at least two of us so far this week. Ok, I didn’t really shout, I raised my voice a bit to the point that my boss had to come and get me out of the situation before I went back and choked the life out of the little puke. I have only ever lost my temper one other time like that at work in the six years I have worked there. I didn’t get in trouble for it. My boss knows me well enough to know that I don’t just go off like that for no reason at all, weather anything was said to him about it, I don’t know; I was told to take my lunch and cool down. In most cases when I get that mad, I try to calm myself down and then talk to the person about it one on one. Well, he had been nagging at me for the better part of the day, and I just couldn’t take his disrespect for me or my customers any longer. I have asked him for the better part of a month (since he started) to speak to me with respect, because up until today I did the same to him, weather or not he deserved it. (And in most cases he did not.) It just really annoys me that some kids today think its ‘cute’ to be disrespectful. It’s not cute. It’s ugly.
Yeah, I know, I was ugly also, and I shouldn’t have done what I did no matter how much he deserved it. Of course I didn’t start feeling guilty about it until after I cooled off. Bad part is that I don’t think it would have made a difference had I spoken to him one on one rather than airing it in front of other employees and customers. He probably would have made it a point to be even more disrespectful is my guess. I don’t imagine he’ll be around too much longer, so I suppose I shouldn’t worry about it. All I can do is pray that the Lord will lift this burden from me, and I know he will.

Have you ever felt like there just aren't enough hours in the day? Well, I have had one of those days where there just isn't enough time for me to get everything accomplished that I wanted to get done. Don't get me wrong, I have accomplished a great deal today, just not the things I had on my 'to do' list.
This is the first opportunity I have had to sit since I got home from work. Pay day’s are always fun. Grocery shopping, paying bills. By the time I got home it was after 3, then I had to put everything away, change the kitty box, feed the kitties, wash the dishes, fix the stereo, and did this all before I even got out of my work uniform. It took me almost an hour to fix the stereo, so combine all the ‘other’ stuff and by the time I finally changed my clothes it was after five. Time to make dinner. Never ending some days, you know.
Needless to say, all the dishes I dirtied to make dinner are clean and now I’m too tired to do much of anything else. I can’t imagine adding a couple of kids into the mix, but I suppose you make do when you need too. ;)
Unfortunately I had one of those night’s last night were I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed late because I just had too much on my mind and couldn’t stop it from spinning. Even after I went to bed, it was probably an hour before I finally dozed off, only to have to get up to go to the bathroom. I think I did that 4 times between 1am and 5:30am when the alarm went off. I sure didn’t like that noise.
Needless to say, as much as I wanted to write about something else this evening I’m going to cut this one short, take a shower and head for bed early tonight. Thank God tomorrow is Friday.

I had intended on posting to my blog yesterday but got rather distracted and ended up doing lots of research yesterday on a couple different things. One of witch was apple cider vinegar. After I had breakfast yesterday I happened to be watching an infomercial. I don’t have cable so there wasn’t much else on at that hour. I don’t generally take anything to heart about infomercials in general, I know they are just out to make money, and this guy was no different trying to sell his book. HOWEVER, when he mentioned a cure all for acid reflux disease I perked up a bit. Of course this guy wasn’t going to let out too many secrets because then there would be no point to buy his book, but he did mention that vinegar would cure acid reflux/heartburn and went on to explain what the drugs that we are given really do to our stomach. I have suffered from ARD for about 3 years now and been taking prevacid for it for a couple of those years. I suspect some other medications I take are the reason for my stomach problems to begin with, but I imagine that is exactly what the drug companies want so they can make even more money.
I had always thought the reason for my ARD was because my stomach was producing too much acid. Turns out that I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The reason people get heartburn/acid reflux is because there isn’t enough acid in the stomach to digest the food, witch in turns causes the acid to let you know about it and cause you to be miserable until you take a Rolaids, or whatever else you can get your hands on just to make it stop. The ARD prescription drugs that are on the market do stop you from getting heartburn, however they also stop your stomach from producing acid witch is needed for proper digestion. Needless to say, all this time I thought I couldn’t live without prevacid; I’m actually probably doing more damage than I know of by taking it.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m one of those people that are so curious I had to immediately jump on the internet and find out if what this fella on television was saying was true. You know, the old curiosity killed the cat thing. J I immediately came across a site that not only listed heartburn and ARD, but a host of other things as well that ACV will cure or help to relieve. After inspecting the website and going over everything I could find, I searched other pages as well and came up with the same outcome. I’m not generally one of those people who believe that homeopathic remedies work, I’m sure some of them do for certain people. Well, I started taking the ACV in accordance to the instructions on the website and have to say that I had no problems sleeping last night, in fact I slept longer than I have in ages, my headache disappeared within a matter of minuets and I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in quite a while. Trick to this is weather or not it had anything to do with the ACV or if it was just my ‘time’ to have a good day. Lol. Yes, I’m always the skeptic, but I have an open mind that allows me to try new and different things. I figure I will stick with this for awhile and see if will actually do what I would like it too, and if it does, hopefully I can stop taking this prescription and have no need for it ever again. I personally am doing enough for the drug companies; they don’t need any more of my help.
Here’s a brief list of other things that ACV will help out with: relief of allergies, food and pet. Sinus Infections, acne, high cholesterol, Candida, sore throat, ear infections, dermatitis, gout and arthritis to name a few. Be sure to check out the website at the end of my blog as to how you should take it, because this is very important. You don’t want to just go and swig a couple of mouthfuls of ACV, it’s not only gross but it will do some serious damage to your teeth. Basically you are to mix a teaspoon of ACV with 8 ounces of water 2-3 times a day. Personally, I am not a fan of vinegar to begin with (ACV is in pill format also, check your local herb shop) I can’t stand the smell or the taste, but instead of using regular water I used propel lemon flavored fitness water and it actually wasn’t that noticeable until the last couple of sips. I had tried mixing it with tea, but that was a NO GO. J

Earth Clinic (Information on using ACV)

I don’t generally wear make up because quite frankly I didn’t like the ‘feel’ of foundation, and really without the foundation there is no reason to wear make up at all. Trust me, I haven’t worn make up (except on rare occasions) for probably close to ten years. A few months ago, I happened across an infomercial about Bare Essentials. Bare Essentials is an all mineral make up, and according to the commercial had great coverage, didn’t clog your pores, and was actually good for your skin.
Well, being that over the last year and a half I have lost 73 lbs, I kind of felt like a change was in order. When I got my tax refund I purchased a sample pack of Bare Essentials, and I have to say…WOW! I absolutely love this stuff! It takes all of maybe ten minuets to do, and doesn’t feel like you are wearing a mask and it covers a good portion of the hyper pigmentation on my face. Best of all, it looks so natural that if I didn’t want to do the eye make up, I would still look great. I can’t tell you how many women and men have told me how beautiful I look.
A funny story behind it for example: I have been working at my current job for six years now. In those six years the store owner has never seen me in make up, EVER. She happened to come in one day, patted me on the shoulder, said “Hi, Tina” and started down the hall. She stopped half way down the hall, turned around, came back toward me, and said, “You are wearing make up! You look great!” Ok, so I guess you had to be there, but it was funny, all I could do was laugh. She said that she turned around because she wasn’t sure if she really saw me or someone else and wanted to make sure. Lol.
The downfall to this make up is the cost. It’s rather expensive. Fortunately, being the thrifty type that I am living on a limited income; I checked out EBay and was able to find a very similar version of the minerals for a lot cheaper called Everyday Minerals. It works just as well without the cost. You can mix and match to achieve the best color for your skin type, they have eye shadows, lipsticks, you name it. If you have a hard time with the typical foundations, I strongly urge you to check out the minerals. I don’t know how I ever went without this make up, and I have been wearing pretty much every day since I got it. I love that it doesn’t take me an hour to put on make up, just swirl, tap, brush, and I’m done! Ok, I’m done with my commercial now. Lol. NIGHT!

suppose I really shouldn’t let the little things bother me so much, but I do. I’m one of those overly sensitive people depending on the subject matter, anyhow.
I woke up this morning as usual. I didn’t have to be in to work until a little later than I normally go in, so I was able to take my time a little more than I would normally. I was in a pretty good mood for the most part I would say.
Then, while driving to work something happened. I know it wasn’t anything that I could have prevented, and there was nothing I could do to avoid it. A blue jay flew into my windshield as I was driving 55 mph. I guess to most people this would have been no big deal, but it upset me to the point of tears. I’m one of ‘those’ people who would rather wreck my car then hit any animal if I can help it. I realize that there are certain times where it’s just unavoidable and there isn’t much you can do to stop it from happening, but in my mind I had killed the bird and couldn’t get that out of my head. When I was growing up we always had animals in my home, and today I have two cats. I would probably have a couple of dogs if I could afford them, but I can barely afford the kitty’s I have now.
Needless to say, I let this incident ruin my whole day. I got to work and before I went inside, I prayed. I say I let it because as I said before I knew I couldn’t have stopped it from happening. I was snippy to my co-workers and quite impatient with customers. I know, shame on me.
It’s funny how we let such things get in the way and ruin our day. I mean, for someone else it could have been stepping in a muddy puddle while wearing a $500 suit, dropping a toothbrush in the toilet by accident, forgetting important paperwork that is needed for a meeting, whatever. These things happen, we shouldn’t let them bother us, but they do.
It wasn’t until I got home from work I realized that not two days ago I thought about an incident where the same thing occurred to me a few years ago. I had been thinking of writing about some animal issues and for some reason that last incident popped into my head, along with the couple of armadillo’s I have hit in the past. (Come on, those armadillo’s are hard for anyone to miss, especially in a car that is about 2 inches from the road!) Then, the inner voice told me, “It’s not your fault, get over it!”
Happy to say, I’m over it, although I am still sad for the little birdie. I think now that the cold weather is pretty much out of here I’ll put out the bird feeder tomorrow.
RAIN
Here it is, the 7th of April, and already we have received 18 inches of rain this month. Weather forecasters say that we have already exceeded our average monthly amount of rainfall for the month. The river nearby is still fairly high; however it doesn’t seem to be going over its banks. We are expecting more showers this evening. Mostly the hit or miss type, so no worries there. It would be nice if it would dry out enough so I can get out and plant some flower bulbs I bought a few weeks ago, but it looks like we have another rain system headed our way in a couple of days. The rivers go down a bit, then it rains more and back up they go. I’ll keep you updated on the flooding situation if it arises.