What? It's only been a month!

Ok, a friend of mine just mentioned my blog on his and said people should read it so I figured I better get on here and write something. I was surprised to see it has been a month since I had something to share. Surely, I have had something interesting happen since February!

I did the television interview. That turned out ok. I saw myself and thought "Hey, I don't look that bad!". Then a few days later I was invited to speak on camera yet again, for another story. I declined, I don't want to steal anyone's thunder with my striking beauty and sharp wit! Yeah, anyway.... I was asked to speak about a story I myself had created. I found out that a group of convicted sex offenders were living within close proximity of a high school, which is of course illegal. Or so I thought. The reporter I contacted did some research and found that they were all, in fact, living there legally based on the year they were convicted (the laws change from time to time, however they are still convicted sex offenders!). However, the story created enough of a buzz and many parents were upset enough to raise a stink and they have all been moved.

And that, my friends, is how you take out the trash.

I have been feeling pretty good, overall. I had a colonoscopy a few weeks ago, everything looks good. I had some lab work recently that had me concerned. I was tested for two liver disorders, Auto-immune hepatitis and Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. Both were negative! My symptoms from weaning off of prednisone apparently mimic the symptoms of both of these illnesses so my doctor wanted to rule them out. I was ready for either diagnosis though. Already planning my course of action at home and looking into what I may be dealing with medically. It would have been manageable, but I was certainly relieved to learn I didn't need to worry about them. I am (re)losing the weight I lost before I got sick in January and went on prednisone. I am hoping to look a lot more trim by the time my son gets married next month.

Oh yeah, my baby is getting married! My baby. Married. I could not be happier about it! We are planning a full week out in Arizona. Actually, the kids and I are. Pat can not take that much time off of work so it will be a long weekend for him. I am not happy about taking the kids to the Grand Canyon and sightseeing without him with us, but it's better that they go without him than not at all. I have some slight trepidation about being around my former in-laws though. The last time I saw them was at my ex-husband's funeral, and because of the nature of that visit we were all civil, even supportive of each other. This time, things could be different. I am fully prepared to ignore any unkind words and enjoy the celebration, but YOU may be hearing all about it when I get back. For now, I am just so excited to be planning the trip, our vacation, and to be going "home" for a while. God, I love the desert! And I can not wait to see my little granddaughter, Kali! What a rascal that child is. If she were my child we may have some issues but when it is your grandchild, the antics are precious. I am expecting another grandchild in August, too!

I am a granny. Fix me a cuppa tea?

So here is a really wild and cool thing! Working at Starbucks, I get full time benefits for part time work. It's a sweet deal. The only requirement is that I work 240 hours per quarter. I was so relieved to be insured again March 1, after going without coverage since last August. Our quarter ended on March 20, however I thought it ended on March 25. I was horrified to realize I did not have enough hours, and probably could not work enough hours before the deadline. My manager even tried to get me a retroactive leave of absence, dating back to January when I was hospitalized. I grabbed some extra hours, but without the LOA I was not expecting to make it to the 240 hour mark. So I was preparing to be uninsured, yet again, for three months. Yesterday I called the corporate office to check on the status of the LOA, and was told they could not approve it because it had been over 60 days since I was absent. However, I was floored to learn that I had made my hours by, get this, 6 minutes! Yep, I had 240.10 hours! If I had put in 239.90 hours, I would have been denied.

Is that not something?

There it is. Inspiration and such.

Or not. I am feeling grateful and blessed, as always. With everything going on in the world these last few weeks, writing about myself feels small and unnecessary. With so many of my friends suffering from depression and illness and broken families, I felt silly talking about the trivial events of my life. I am so full of good wishes for those I love and care about, you all know who you are. ♥