HAPPINESS and stuff

How the hell do you work an iPod??? Mike got me the Nano one for my birthday. I went to the gym yesterday and sat in the locker room FOREVER trying to figure out how to turn the volume up! When I had downloaded music from my iTunes, I let the little thing pick the songs for me...I'm huffing and puffing to Nine Inch Nails when all of these OLDIES start popping up. WTF? I forgot I had uploaded some of my grandmother's cds on my computer...oh well!

NEWSFLASH:

We are leaving for my cousins in Florida today or tomorrow! I FINALLY get to go to DISNEYWORLD!!! WOOHOO! Mike had promised to take me last year for my birthday and KATRINA (that bitch) ruined my plans! So I get to see my COUSIN and go to DISNEY! Double-whammy! Oh! AND THE LEAK IN MY CEILING IS FINALLY FIXED! My "planning your wedding class" was cancelled due to low enrollment (bitches) BUT my work is sending me to Baton Rouge Community College to prepare for the Notary Exam. Cool.

I can't get that song out of my head..."I'm going to Disneyland" (and I can't find the stupid lyrics or I'd definitely post them).

Happenings and Remembrances

One year ago today...I watched the news like an eagle...tracking Katrina until the power went out. We wanted to see it up close and personal so we went to the levy and saw short little Anderson Cooper and his CNN crew. They interviewed us and I ripped my favorite pants hopping the fence to leave...got home and the roof was leaking...we climbed up in the attic to investigate, next thing I knew my leg had gone through the ceiling...there's still a "patch" there today where we never fully repaired it and the roof still leaks.

This weekend was cool. Saw my grandparents. Rode on the golf cart...A LOT. It's amazing how FUN those things can be. It was good "family" time. We camped out in grandpa's back yard with a huge campfire. I awoke to Woody Woodpecker pecking away above my head on one of grandpa's 20-foot pines. I never saw the long-anticipated Ivory Bill I hoped for. I think it was probably the Pilleated one anyway...what would be the odds...you know?

Going to Texas

It's official. We are taking another trip to Texas to visit my grandparents. My step-grandmother is very sick and I'm afraid that she won't be around very much longer. She has Emphysema (I'm sure it's spelled some other way) and my grandfather has colon cancer. He decided to stop getting treatment and to let it take its course. It's all so very sad. We take our family for granted...it's hard to imagine life without the people who passed their genes to you. I was thinking that I want to order a couple of those DNA kits and swab my grandma and grandpa while they are still breathing. I want to capture what I can to discover where we came from. When I dated my two Arabic boyfriends, I was so impressed with how well their families were documented. They had so much pride in knowing where they came from. I was a "bastard" child. I never met my father and my mom was mostly absent, if not physically then emotionally and mentally. She's trapped inside her own head therefore cutting her children off from the family they could have known. I have cousins, aunts, uncles on my mother's side that I don't know. It's a crying shame. I want my children to know their family. It's hard if I don't know them first! Everyone is so distant. We don't have family reunions. If we did, I have never heard of them. I hear years later that so and so got married...never got an invitation. I hate it. It's like being an orphan really. I wish I could meet my dad's side to see if they are different...but they never wanted me in the first place. According to my mom, his parents picked up and moved away to protect him...from what? From his responsibilities from fathering a child. I think that he was convinced I wasn't his. He's probably living his life guilt-free. I really want him to know me...all that I've suffered through without a proper father. If I don't find him in this life, I'll just have to haunt him (hehehe).

Anyway...yup, going to Texas this weekend with my sweetheart, my sis and her sweetie and her two devil children, my brother, maybe my mom and "stepdad". What fun it will be. We will be camping by the lake...ok, the ones of us who aren't pansies, the others will be staying with my grandparents. I'm going to investigate this woodpecker...could it be an Ivory Bill...we shall see, I'll have my cameras aimed and ready to document!!!