130. Fast Forward

Hellooo there! Lol.

I felt like poo all of this morning. That pretty much sums that up. I did med-up and was able to get enough energy to stop by and visit with a dear old friend who recently moved about ten minutes away from my folks! I have known this lady for over a decade. That is a little crazy to think about, ha ha!

The last time I saw her, her firstborn was learning how to roll into the prone position and learning to lift his head up on his own. Um, yeah. Now, he's an enthusiastic two-year-old who show-boated for me during my entire visit. I love that kid! He's also expecting a little sister in the fall and I'm hoping to visit with them a ton more to help out and do one of the only things I do kinda well: craft! Lol, I am such a nerd.

I also watched a hour and a half-long dvd of my dad's recent trip. My mom and I hung out on the couch watching my cousins being total goofs and seeing how everyone has grown! Ahh! I'm sure I'm going to flip out about this for the next couple of years. I haven't seen them in about eight years. Many of them were about five years old back in that day. So yes, I just saw them in the midst of their teens years. What a friggin' change! It's so mind-blowing! There have been so many changes to that country, to the homes of my relatives, and to the kids appearances. It was nice to recognize personalities and hear commentary from my mom. Really helpful and always full of excitement listening to her.

We'll be watching disc two tomorrow and I can't wait. Mom almost got a little carried away and was about to pop that one in the moment we finished the first, but we realized it was pretty darn late already. Lol. I'm also going to our regular church's mass this week, so I'll be seeing a few more familiar faces tomorrow too! It can be really interesting. Or vaguely aggravating. Who knows? XD

I'm totally having one of those "Omg-time-is-flying-by-too-fast" existential moments/ phases/ panics right now so, we'll avoid all of that freaking out. I need to get some sleep tonight! Lol, um...

You know what I haven't missed from Florida? The mosquitoes. Yeah, that's right. I said it, ya little buggers. Get the heck away from me!

:) Mmk, see you tomorrow! And here's hoping that I don't wake up feeling worse than I have the past couple of days! /Sigh. <3

129. Alligators and Chinchillas

Today, I attempted to DO something again on this "vacation" of mine. I really did not plan on spending virtually a week being sick in bed/ moping around the house looking like death. :( Not at all. I coulda done that at home! Lol.

My brother and I met up with one of my wonderful friends at the yummy Panera Bread. I'm going to assume it's yummy since my mom and my brother are mildly obsessed with it. Well, nowadays my brother eats anything and everything. Like a friggin' garbage disposal. Anywho. We got there just in time for breakfast to stop being served. Boo! But I guess that makes sense when it's noon. XD I didn't mean to show up so late, since it was supposed to be a breakfast/ brunch date, but apparently the timing was fine with the lovely Ms. K having to shoo/rescue yet another big ole bird (Was it a pigeon?) out of her screened patio area. Some birds can really be... bird-brained. Lol. Right. Food. As starving as I have become, I just had a Frozen Mango drink (which was delicious) and we chatted. By the time we were about to leave, I caved and asked my brother to grab me a blueberry bagel.

Alright. I have no idea where my common sense goes when I'm sick or just when I'm supposed to be applying it to myself. I have a sore throat and I'm going to get a rough, jagged, and hard bagel? What on earth was I thinking?! :( I crammed down the smaller half and the other half is currently in it's bag in the kitchen. We decided to figure out something else to do with how we were all already out of the house and didn't have much planned otherwise. So... off to the mall! And of course we wouldn't go to the local mall that was, I'm fairly sure, right across the street or one block down. No, no. That was too much hassle. We drove down the expressway to.... *drumroll* Sawgrass Mills! Whoa, I just looked up the link for the mall, no wonder I thought a lot of things were weird. New management and the site is really... not cohesive. Anyways, this sucker is huge. I guess they're trying to call it The Mills now. Also, I don't know why I used an exclamation point because I don't like shopping. Lol.

It was originally sorta shaped like an alligator. No lie. But with huge additions over the past few years... well... that gator has some growth coming off it's side and what could potentially be turds floating by next to it. Sorry. True. I'll try to update this post later this weekend with a good map of the place and point out what I'm talking about. We ended up spending almost five hours there today. I made away with a scrapbooking idea magazine (I'm horrible, I know), my brother got a cd, and Ms. K finally found some new sandals for the summer! Hooray! In my book, that is quite the success. So many other trips and hours spent there with no one walking away with anything. T_T

The girls may have walked 75% of the mall twice, but my poor brother who went off on his own may have walked the entire thing about three and a half times? Gah! We tried to meet up for lunch by calling and telling him we just came out of the one book store (on the other end of the mall from where we originally started and where he currently was) and were headed to the food court nearby. He went to the bookstore, shopped around, and then proceeded to go back the way he came- even further from where he started- to the main food court. Twenty-something minutes of waiting and calling back and forth and we figured out communication had severely broken down due to mall walls vs reception signal and he trekked back to meet up with us again. What a stinkin' trooper! This is the same kid who couldn't stand a 20 min car ride to anywhere or more than seven minutes in a store a few years ago. He was definitely pooped by the time we had reunited.

Oh yes, I forget to mentioned that I had had another brain fart today during lunch. Stupid appetite in me ordered tacos from Taco Bell, took one bite, and had dry coughing fits for 10 min. straight. Brilliant idea, aye? Sigh. I just want real food. *sobs*

So, we trekked back to our respective homes and rested a bit before my dad came in and let us know that the replacement lamp for our projector television set had so sweetly arrived via delivery man punting it into our garage. Okay, slight exaggeration, but dad really did walk out into the garage in time to see the guy drop it on the driveway and kick it over into our garage. That is a somewhat difficult to find and, imo, expensive piece of hardware. So, :O for shame delivery person! We never seem to get the same person often enough to develop a relationship and regular way of getting our stuff. Sometimes it's left, sometimes not. Sometimes at the front door, other the garage. Idk. It's weird. I like getting to know those people. Maybe I'm weird for expecting something friendlier and more considerate between both parties. Anways. Us kids set about installing it and it's done in about two minutes. We left it as a surprise for our folks later. They may have been dying a little inside with no television down stairs over the past week. This is despite the fact that they took the one that was in the bedroom I'm currently staying in. Lol.

Not long after that, we decided on going out to Cracker Barrel for dinner! Exclamation point was totally intended! They are big ole restaurants that are usually found near highways that have a good old country home theme to it. The walls are filled with old treasures and they always are attached to a store full of classic treats, memorabilia, and toys. Love, love, love it. Nice prices too! My folks were starting to give us updates about our cousins that my father recently went out of the country to visit. I can't wait to see the pictures tomorrow! Haven't seen them in about eight years and apparently we have a few new ones that I didn't know about. Lol, good game. Well, we had yummy dinner. Mine was relatively safe but I still could only manage to take in so much. Sigh, more sadness. Of course my brother took care of virtually all of the leftovers on the table. Afterward, I bought my brother a chinchilla! XD

I may have instilled my slight obsession with (I swear I have gotten better since moving since I so desperately want to have space for the ones I already have currently in storage!!) soft and cute stuffed animals into my brother. I'm kinda picky about my stuffed animals. I only get ones that are of creature I like, even (or especially!) if they're a little odd, and feel super soft- almost silky!- to the touch. And that includes petting and hugging. Screw that whole squeeze-a-sack-of-three-cottonballs-crock. I wanna hug them and squeeze them and maybe call them George, dammit. Lol to the Looney Tunes' Abominable Snowman creature thing reference I just made.

Well, he has gotten a few dragons from that new Webkinz thing that kids do nowadays. They are awfully cute. All from Cracker Barrel visits. I think that was his way of picking up my tradition of getting something TY from there almost every time my family ate there. On a few occasions it was a Beanie Baby, but I think usually it was a Beanie Buddy. The bigger version you can hug that is quite soft. Anyways, he liked the goofy and adorable chinchilla (that's right, my brother is not afraid to admit when something is disgustingly cute- one of the joys of having a girly older sister, I'm sure) so I got it for him. He thinks he's going to pay me back, but he is sorely mistaken. Lol. For some reason, the chinchilla is sleeping in my room tonight. I'm not quite sure how that happened, actually. XD I just realized that. Silly habits.

That was my adventure for today. It took me a few tries to finally finish today's post but it's getting easier and easier. Hopefully I'll have enough steam soon to retroactively add all the media I've wanted to include... we'll see. Until tomorrow! <3

128. Summer Spoils

My folks may offer little to no (more like the opposite of) sympathy, but that's fine because when my SO isn't around to nurse me back to health, my brother spoils me. :D It's a really good life. I know I'm not that bad, especially since I'm getting better so fast, but it's still nice not to be grilled just because you walk into the kitchen in your pajamas looking like something chewed you up and spit you back out (then stomped on you and sat on you before asking a few friends to come over and chew you up some more...). :P

The one thing that hasn't seemed to really go away much is the pressure on my chest that feels as if someone punched me in the chest and just left the fist in there for good measure. I don't often have that kind of feeling without having lungs full of phlegm to take care of. Nope, just lots of dry coughing and an invisible rock on my chest that doesn't want to budge.

Have I ever mentioned what wonderful little things icy pops are? Those really thin tubes of colorful semi-flavored ice in the plastic rows that kids fight over during the summer? Yeah. Those were re-discovered by me today thanks to my brother and I think they are Fan-flippin'-tastic. Water for hydration, flavor to cure the boredom of safe sick food, and easy clean up. I haven't coughed once while eating any. Simply heavenly. It also really makes it feel like summer.

What other kinds of yummy summer/ hot weather treats do you remember/ still love having?

Let's put our glutton-pants on and think. (Lol, I was going to say something like thinking-cap, but it doesn't quite seem to cut it!) (Warning: These are images I found at AllRecipes.com because I don't have the energy to see if I have my own archived somewhere and, as we know, they have amazing ideas!)

  Hot dogs: 

Juicy, plump, all-beef. Topped with some cheese and some ketchup! In the grill or over an open fire is amazing.

 

 Hamburgers: 

Homemade patties that are at least three times the size of any you'd find at a fast food joint. Little bit of melted cheese on top- maybe even built in! Grilled on the grill out on the patio. Medium-well or Done for me! 

 Ice cream: 

Enough said. Popsicles, shaved Italian ice, scoops, banana splits, sundaes just the way you like them, root beer floats, cakes with that cookie crumble middle layer, cups, cones, sprinkles, sauces, cherries on top...

Fries: 

Curly, waffle, sweet potato, spicy, well-seasoned, shoestring, with ketchup, with sweet'n'sour sauce, etc.

Fair Grounds Foods:

All of the above but with funnel cakes the size of your face, giant turkey drumsticks also the size of your face, colorful cotton candy that tastes so good when you can get it off your fingers, creamy and cheesy nachos, Coney Island hot dogs (because, as we know, they're a class all their own!), giant pretzels, *cough*candy*coughcough*, roasted peanuts, and deep-fried everything! Just to name a few. P: Mmm...

Quick aside, my bestie and I used to go absolutely stark raving mad when our dining hall would host a carnival theme day. It was a mind blowing and glorious tradition. I may have lost about 2.8 days off of my life expectancy each time... pretty darn tasty way of doing it!

 Gum: 

Lol. Bubblegum you have to hide from the younger kids, sour rolls you have to keep the older kids from swallowing, really unique-tasting gum that lasts a whole ten seconds, or quick little sticks that you chew on to help un-pop your ears while traveling by air. Oh! Can't forget one of the earliest attempts with gumballs that end up in hair that lead to atrocious emergency haircuts that they have to grow into/ out of by the time school starts... XD This is only picture I used Bing Image Search to find. :)

FRUITS!

Just when you think I'm a complete slob that ate my way into a hole of oblivion. :P Strawberries, oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, mangoes, pineapples, kiwis, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, more berries. In a multitude of ways and combinations! Mmm... smoothies, fruit salads, grilled skewers, or all natural. What a wonderful way to get that sweetness without any hassle!

Ugh! Can you tell that I haven't had much in the way of real food in the past few days? /grin. I know I'm forgetting a ton, but that's where you can always chime in! I love hearing about yummy foods, even if they aren't for me.

Okay, I may get yelled at about this shortly, so I'll just address it now: S'mores! I actually never had a real s'more until the SO's family took pity upon my miserable and unfulfilled existence and made some in the backyard! Omg, they are as amazing as I have always dreamed they would be! However, I have an apparent knack/ love for setting marshmallows on fire. Lol! Yes, I know one of the worst things you can do with a flaming ball of sugar is to flail (another one of my favorite past times, XD) it around to put it out because you can end up flinging it at your fellow roasters. I'm actually better than I thought at keeping that to a minimum. :D

Alright, I can't take it anymore! Ha ha, I need to stop myself now before my stomach eats me from the inside out! See you tomorrow! <3

127. Best Friends

If you prepared to read a heartfelt and sap-filled entry about some childhood friendship that I truly value- too bad, that is probably going to happen some other day. :D Today I'm writing about my love of Zyrtec, the allergy medication. No lie.

It started a few years back during my senior year in high school (I'm showing my age, aren't I?) when I suddenly developed allergies to some mysterious entity. I wrote here a while ago how I finally figured out what it was thanks to a fellow blogger writing about her experience about getting to better shape for her wedding. I had undergone many allergy tests and trials to try to figure out the antagonist, but to no avail. So my doctor, family, and I just settled with treating the symptoms so I could get through the school year.

Now, I almost never get the allergic reaction of puffy eyes and non-stop sneezing that many people get due to cats or dry grass. My allergic reactions consist of hives (which are a lot like reacting to mosquito or other bug bites or having chicken pox, actually) all over my body. Nothing is sacred. It is pretty horrible. I can't count how many times I have wished (and started!) to claw at my skin to drain out my blood, and just start over. We could not figure out how I was allergic to pretty much everything but especially apple, pork, and stress. Yes, stress. Me and all my neurotic glory becoming allergic to stress? There was no way I was going to make it to my thirties at this rate. XD

It was a daily occurrence. Once we found out that Zyrtec gave me solace, even if it made me super drowsy, I had to take it every 24 hours. Trying to push it off any longer and I would have a near violent assault of hives. Yes, the itching can become unbearable. The real concern with such a severe reaction is the potential to have something like your windpipe become swollen and cutting off your oxygen or going into anaphalactic shock.

It's gotten a lot better since then, but it has never gone away. With my flu-like-thing this week, I have definitely heated up. Today, I feel a lot less sinus pressure but had a full outbreak that woke me up this morning. Oh Zyrtec, I will never take you for granted. I was thinking about trying to sweat through it all, but when my eyes started swelling and with already feeling a lot of pressure on my chest/ lungs, I decided not to risk it. I think that was a wise decision, no?

:) I am a happier camper today, but I figure I should still keep getting rest. See you later!

126. Nothing Like It

There is nothing like family, aye? Without getting into too much, I've gotten my fair share of lectures and cautionary tales in the few moments I've spent with my folks since arriving here last Tuesday night. It's kind of mind-blowing really. One of the benefits of being away for so long and being sick is that I don't have the energy to really let it get to me as it usually does. I often get so caught up in the delivery that I react very emotionally like some angsty teenager. But I knew that they are concerned in their own way and made many very valid points. There's no avoiding certain types of conflict here, lol.

Thank goodness for my baby brother, he was able to do all the chores around the house and run out and grab some recovery supplies for me. I pretty much stuck to resting as much as possible today. On whatever flat and large enough surface I could find. XD When the bed got too hot, I managed to nap on the carpeted floor for a bit. I eventually made my way downstairs to rest on the couch and eat half of a banana while attempting to watch tv, but the dog was cry and beg-stare at me wanting to join me. I barely had the energy to lift her up, let alone try to figure out how to share a loveseat with her. She loves being up on the couch, especially to cuddle with someone, but the leather gets way too warm too fast. Even then, she's too stubborn to get off on her own. She will just constantly adjust and switch spots instead. Lol, silly thing.

Honestly, today has not been fun for me by any means and I hope it's because whatever this is is on its way out. I have kind of received some good news today. I got an email with my unofficial results from a state-mandated assessment I took a month ago: I passed! Got to love waiting to hear whether you passed or failed a $105 exam. The official results are being mailed out so I'm still waiting on that just to fully breath a sigh of relief. It's one step closer to my career goals! Hooray!

That's all I can muster up today so see you tomorrow and thank you for all the get well wishes! <3

125. Being Sick Sucks

Tad blunt, I realize. I've caught something like a mild flu or head cold that I can't stand. From dry coughing that leaves you feeling so unfulfilled after all that effort- to the warm breath that makes the spot above your upper lip feel like it's melting. I know it could be much much worse, but I think it's ridiculous how something so minor makes you nauseous whenever you involuntarily cough and/or makes your joints ache to the point where you spend two-thirds of your time resting in a fetal position on the bedroom floor because the bed either is just too far away or gets too warm too fast. The good thing about all my griping is, the worse it gets for me- the more I clam up and just muster through. Or, I'm well enough to whine. :P

Despite how I feel when I'm upright and conscious, I am so determined to post the happenings of yesterday. Alright, after a few hours of hanging out with two very good friends, my brother, his friend, his friend's sister, and I played with fire, fireworks, and fire crackers while our folks were at someone else's house having a grand ole time. Lol. We had tons of cookies, pizza, soda, juice, fruit, and crackers to tide us over until the end of the month.

Here are a few highlight pictures! It's kind of weird how flash sometimes make things so much worse...

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" :P

Our main set of fireworks purchased from TNT Fireworks in Dania Beach, FL.

The two biggest pieces are aerials we picked up the other day. The rest are miscellaneous leftovers from holidays past.

Oooh... Sparkly. Yes, this is in our backyard.

A blurry pic of my brother's friend attempting to be a Fire Bender (as in from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The cartoon, not the movie. :D)

A look at our makeshift platform about halfway through our mayhem. 

And here is where I post a collection of clips that I have sifted through, edited, and posted onto YouTube. In theory. You know, if the modern world didn't have such a vendetta against me. It's like it knows that I like to write letters...

Well, about four hours, being in the fetal position on the floor half of the time, blood-sweat-and tears later (no lie) here it is! Man, I need to find a better way of doing all of this. It should not be this hard! Yes, you'll hear my dorky voice again... >_<

Tomorrow should bring a quicker video of a few outtakes that I still wanted to share. If you thought we were dorky in these clips, just you wait! See you then! <3

P.S. Oorah, America!

124. Happy Independence Day!

Okay, here's theoretically the second part to my post about Cape Canaveral from yesterday! My computer is having a bit of conniption as I'm typing this and I'm trying to convert the videos to a format that my editor will accept. It's a wonderfully jolly time. It also rains every Fourth of July here and this year was no exception. I have two lovely friends here now and we're being the amazing nerds that we are and celebrating by playing around on our laptops, lol. We're not even doing the same thing, but we're talking and listening to each other. Then laughter ensues. XD

This is part of their view from the living room!

The other side. More of a wonderful view of the water.

Ta da (again)! Here's Part Two of the kayaking adventure video that I finally managed to make!

Then we paddled all the way to the little island that I showed you yesterday!

Can you spot the Rosetta Spoonbill?

Tons of pelicans and other birds were on it too!

I think that was it from the kayaking adventure. We hung out, had a good time, and then headed out the next morning back home to South Florida. Lol, I almost forgot a whole chunk of the trip (or its pictures). 

 

Cocoa Beach!

Beautiful, isn't it?

This is a quick shot of Sebastian Inlet.

On the way down, we stopped by Vero Beach to have lunch with an old friend of a friend before he left for Chicago. Good times. Oh wait! So, we ate at Bobby's. This is a classy restaurant with $90 bottles of wine and some fish dish that was $30 something. Guess what we all pretty much get?

Bacon Cheeseburger FTW!

After we get back on the road for the last leg of the trip, this is what we see. Another storm. Awesome. Lol.

Have I told you how much technology and I hate-love each other? It's become a ridiculous battle to upload these pictures and editing these videos. Hours upon hours of trying to make everything play nice with each other. This is after almost a week of not sleeping. I feel like someone is following me around and slowly sawing away at my joints. 

Anywho, I didn't want my post on the Fourth of July to be completely unpatriotic, so I found this wonderful video from one of my favorite YouTube R&B groups. Well, they are currently, lol. 

This is AHMIR doing an a capella performance of our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner:

Just beautiful.

That is all that I can stand to work on for tonight. :( Sorry! I shall have pictures and footage of the fireworks and firecrackers that we set aflame today on tomorrow's post! There's is no way I will not scrape my eyes out with a rusty spoon if I try to stay up any longer. I must be getting old. LOL! Ugh. XD See you during that time that isn't now! <3