Beware: More Info. Than You May Really Care to Read

So yeah, I've been busy lately. That being said, here's a Top Twenty listing of some of the latest abridged potential posts, including titles, that I've meant to share over the last couple months, many from just the last 2 weeks:

1. "Mah Flash Drive Woes & Regrets" - On May 6th, my mostest favoritest, most frequently relied upon flash drive inexplicably quit, and it was confirmed today by a reputable 3rd party recovery co. (the one and the same co. that had saved our pictures of our honeymoon in Ireland), that I have, indeed, lost 30 hrs of work-related work, and everything else that was on it. My last backup was March 30th, but apparently, that's not recent enough. The next couple weeks will now be a repeat of the last couple weeks. [insert gurgling inner rumbling noises of deep sadness]. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: I don't think I ever posted any pics here from our honeymoon, did I? Well dang! I should do that! END OF TANGENT.]

2. "Movie Time with Mah Honey-Man" - We have at least 4 borrowed DVDs (well, like, 8 if you count all the included discs for the extended version of Two Towers), some we've had for months now, all from the angel boy-O's mom, Wendy. In the last 2 weeks, we've been trying to make sure we watch them all by June 4th, so they can all be returned to her. Some of them, we've stayed up until 1am to get 'er done [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: I may still be a night owl, but my honey-man, he is not]. The other night, we watched Once (I so loved it!), and have some thoughts to share on it, but I'll reduce 'em to this: I so thought this movie was a documentary! I bought the whole thing, hook line and sinker = yes, because I'm a gullible sap, I know. And now, I intend to buy the movie soundtrack!

3. "Gone With the Wind" (referring to our Vegas weather) - I finally bought some flowers for potting (half-price at Target! - which is good since about half of 'em will be dead by summer's end), and I set them out around our home's outside entry door. When planting them, the wind was so nutso-strong, I wound up with about half the potting soil up my noise, in my hair, down my shirt, and plastered in a thin, clearly visible layer over every inch of exposed skin. It's been INSANELY windy here for the last week. Oh, and we went from 105 degrees on Sunday to a balmy 74, today...

4. "Losing One's Great Elders of the Family" - The husband of my Grandpa Farrell's only surviving sibling, his sister, Ramona, he died of a heart attack this past weekend. He has an enormous family (a very active, prominent Mormon family with gobs of grandchildren and great grandchildren)! There's a lot to be said about this uncle's life - - what a very good life, he had. I've only focused though upon what I know my mum would have said about him: She always knew he loved her very much.

5. "No more Pink, Gone is the Orange" (referring to my hair color) - The short of this one is I'm now a dark brunette once again, despite all the positive feedback I'd received. Oh, and while we're on the subject: I haven't let a professional stylist cut my hair since my last haircut in December. I've been on my own - - however, I may soon have to give in and let a professional take over. My weekly maintenance (read here, 'obsessive') trimmings have become tedious in the last couple weeks!

6. "The Real Reality of Postpartum Depression" - I have a dear sweetheart in my family who had been struggling with untreated postpartum, and although she's on the mend finally, I'm afraid she hasn't been given the full range of empathetic understanding she deserves. I simply wanted to write here about my own understanding of such situations and the power of hormones and chemical imbalance, and how the whole "buck it up and tough it out honey" approach is the last thing a mother with postpartum needs to be given.

7. "A New Kind of Chicken Pot Pie" or "Not To Be Repeated" - Round this time of year, there's party that I have a major hand in planning every time, and this year (it was last Friday), we had resurrected an old favorite: The Iron Chef Competition. The key ingredient this year was peanuts. [SIDE NOTE: Last time we had the Iron Chef Competition, the key ingredient had been graham crackers, and the submissions that year were truly inspired.] Anyhow, I created a Thai-inspired, peanut based roue for a baked chicken pot pie. I had slow-cooked the chicken with ginger, garlic and white pepper... and the roue, well, I used peanut butter. Now, it did NOT win as an entree entry, but no one tossed their cookies either; it was remarkably good. It was, really! Nonetheless, it was also a one-time thing, not to be repeated.

8."Green Light Giv'n to Hire Me a New 'Sistant" - K, yer not supposed tah blog about work, I know - - HOWEVAH - - I was given clearance last week to hire a new assistant, and this news almost makes up for the last year's worth of daily torture!!! Hallelujah and Amen. Praise all that is good and precious.

9. "Oh Zee Folly of Youth" - There's a possibility that one of my younger cousins, my mum's own namesake, may be moving to Vegas in the fall. She was here over the weekend of my MS Walk, and I spent some time with her - - and I am admittedly envious. When I was her age, I was a mess (she'll be 20 in July). The short of it: She's so darling and super sassy, in a relaxed, down to earth, easy, confident, uber-cashe, very comfortable kind of way, I could eat her whole. I hope she moves here.

10."MS Fundraising Shortfall" - Our Nevada Chapter of the Nat'l MS Society hasn't met our minimum fund-raising target --- I helped count the final donations brought in on walk day, and we knew then that we don't have enough. This makes my stomach feel ill and knotted - - and it's hard to continue pleading for more support, but man, we need it. The minimum amount that's needed to provide minimum services to those in Nevada living with MS, we just don't have it. Consequently, although the event was May 10th, our MS Walk fund-raising deadline has been extended until June 1st. I intend to post more on this before the week's end, but I've felt too nauseous about it to do so just yet.

11. "My Final Tally for Zee 2008 MS Walk" - see #9 above... or for now, go visit HERE

12. "Gargantuan Public THANK YOU to all my MS Sponsors" - This will come soon, but also see above, #9...

13. "I Love My FURminator" - Blatant product plug for The FURminator, which I'd read about on Dooce.com and bought that very same day, no joke. Both Otis & Owen have never been fans of brushing = Despite four different cat brushes over the last 5 years, they always have hated it until now! This is from Oatie's first 5 minutes of time with the FURminator.

14. "Are you Preggers?" - This post, if written at greater length, I would offer multiple, extensive observations made in the last year regarding today's latest fashion trends for the ladies, plus the simple fact that it's no secret that I'm jones'n to be pregnant, and it's in the not-so-distant plans, but not yet in the works, but I digress. I've acquired a good handful of new tops in the last few months, and I'm absolutely certain that for any observant bystander, each one I wear begs the question... "Is she pregnant?" For future reference until further notice: No, not yet, but my wardrobe is sure ready for it, yes.

15. "White & Nerdy" - Because I do so love and ahhdore our delightful angel boy-O (plus I'm a relatively decent, semi-cool step-mommie), I got us tickets to see Weird Al Yankovic in June. Yup, and since the purchase of these aforementioned tickets, all four of us devoted parents will now be escorting the boy-O, all of us together - - and I fully intend to learn all the lyrics to "White & Nerdy" by then, among other Weird Al favorites... Various random lines from "Eat It" have plagued a number of private moments in our home as of late...

16. "Summahtime Plans" - For the first month of summer with the angel boy-O here in Vegas (yay!!!), we have two out-of-state weddings to attend, plans to camp in Zion Nat'l Park over Father's Day, and Weird Al that last weekend of June... and for the month of July? The summer hasn't even begun, I know, but I fear it may be over in no time! We've got LOADS of stuff planned already. The short of it: For the last month, I've been trying to mentally prepare myself, to savor this time we'll have with the angel boy-O, and not think about how soon he'll be gone. [CLARIFICATION: Although we've reached 3-digit temps already, summer doesn't officially begin for me until after the Memorial Day weekend.]

17. "My Heathen State" - This is something I've long wanted to address, but haven't ever... and this will certainly be nothing more than a touch 'n go, oversimplified treatment of the subject: A dear college friend of mine from my days at Ricks College (blak!), now known as BYU Idaho, she gave me a surprise phone call. It'd been a while since we last talked and I was so flippin' excited to simply hear and instantly recognize her voice, I was squealing and giggling for the call's duration... and once I got off the phone, and my honey-man and I had sat down outside for dinner together, he asked me what the...? and I promptly burst into tears. See, I'm a heathen... Not many of my college friends from my days at either Ricks or BYU [double 'blak' - involuntary gagging - - Choking now! - - Pardon me, clearing my throat... No offense is meant by this, but ewww! (hee, hee = I do this to aggravate the very person I'm about to name)] have kept up with me for this fact. Of course, as Mikie stated later -but in my own words- "Screw 'em!" Anyhow... Mikie has always been a friend I can trust, and I have always had such profound respect for her. I hadn't realized until this most recent call from her, that I had begun over the last couple years to unconsciously fear she would soon decide like others had, that I was too lost by Mormon standards to warrant any continued contact with me. But I know better than this... I love you, Mikal!

18. "Happy 5th to Mah Fuzzy Babies" - Their actual birth date is an unknown, however, when I'd adopted these two lil' bros, the vet said they'd been born around end of April, early May, so we celebrate their birthdays on May Day, the 1st.

19. "How 'Bout a New Rotation?" - I've had the same CDs stashed in my car's sun visor's CD holder for the last two years with the exception of two additions over last summer: 1) Wicked, the Soundtrack, after I'd seen the real thing in London (and don't you dare dis Wicked, cuz I'm a enormous sap and I shamelessly love it, and I KNOW ALL OF THE WORDS), and the other [deep inhalation], 2) Fergie, The Dutchess (or whatever it's called). Yes, Fergie - - and I am so ashamed. It was sent to me via an unwanted BMG auto-mailing! I both emailed and called BMG to complain, and I supplied the proof of my online-submitted decline for that month's Featured Selection! The unwanted charges were credited back to my bank account... but I was told to keep the CD - - and not only did I do so, it's been in rotation for nearly a year now. *sniff, sniff* I need serious help, I do. I know. Oh, so what's been in the rotation, you ask? 1) Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits, 2) Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man," [SIDE NOTE: To the angel boy-O's dear mommy's horror, I got the angel boy-O into "Uptown Girl" a few years ago, and he and I sing it in the car together, so it will stay in rotation until the day he tires of it.], 3) the red one is Fergie, 4) the orange is the Garden State Soundtrack, then 5) Putumayo's Brazillian Lounge compilation CD, 6) John Mayer's Continuum, 7) Ferry Corsten's L.E.F. and lastly, 8) "French Behind the Wheel," Disc #6... oh, and I'm certain that Wicked was in the car CD player at the time this photo was taken.

20. "Health Matters: An Update" - Long since the imaginary femoral hernia and the supposed spastic colon, plus a multitude of ridiculous, worthless prescriptions, followed by my personal favorite, the colonoscopy scare, the latest and ahhlmost final verdict is this: I've just got nothing but bad ovarian cyst issues. I do have another scan scheduled on May 28th to rule out one last theory, but we're pretty sure I just have a dreadful cycle is all. I've been charting all sorts of things on the calendar in our bathroom (and we'll leave it at 'all sorts of things'), and I've determined that on average each month, I have about 5 pain-free days is all. Yup. And the proposed solution to this? Either get back on The Pill or get pregnant. So unless we discover something new next week, that's where we are.

P.S. There are more than twenty other potential posts, yet to be posted, but twenty is a nice, clean number for now.