DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION
...or stormy waters over Texas

Since I'm dispondent over my printer issues, here's a little joke my daughter or SIL sent me (yeah, the one who gave me the printer).

My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the
other day so he would be able to monitor my moods.

We've discovered that when I'm in a good mood, it turns green. When I'm
in a bad mood, it leaves a big frickin red mark on his forehead.

Maybe next time he'll buy me a diamond. Dumb ass!

Today has been one of those days. We all have them. Yeah, even I have them on a daily regular basis. First of all, I decide to download some family photos from the 4Th of July....no camera. I look in my purse everywhere...no camera. I text my daughter to see if it's at her house...she's at work and doesn't think so. I call my grandson at their house to see if my camera's laying around....NO. I drive over there....no camera to be found. So I take JJ for a ride in the car, then go home.

I decide to check out some blogs to see if there's any new contests to enter. Nothing!

Someone pounds on my front door! Here in the Compound they assume we're all hard of hearing. It's the mailman bringing a huge envelope to my door, because it won't fit in my mailbox...it's from Princess Cruise Lines. I anxiously go through all the nice colored pages of a very thick tour book. One reminder was to be sure and book all my shore excursion ASAP. After all, my friends in CA already booked theirs eons ago. Yep, I've been procrastinating BIG TIME! I decide that today is a good day to get my shore excursions squared away once and for all. After signing up for a few, I go to print out the confirmations and my printer is on the fritz....I try everything, even un-install, reinstall. I finally give up....so that's the end of that project!

So then, I have a couple of new prescriptions for Methadone cholesterol drugs. I get my stuff through the mail because it's cheaper and because my insurance says so. Now, my doctor is supposed to fax the script to the mail order pharmacy using a form that's all filled out with my personal info and insurance info....just fill in the RX and fax to an 800 number PRESTO. But no, he writes the script and hand it to me and tell me to fax it. Well, it has to be faxed from the medical facility. OK, it's a waste of time trying to explain it to the doctor again, so I go home and log on to the mail order pharmacy's website to see what it takes to mail the hard copy, because I do have their official envelopes! The website says to print out the new RX form and mail it with the script. I call to see if I can just include a hand written note because...can you say it all together Peanut Gallery? "My printer is on the fritz."

Next, I go back to checking on some of my favorite blogs that give away away absolutely nothing....then all of a sudden I check in at Foolery and decide to join this....
And then become this.....

All of a sudden my luck starts to change! My son-in-law, Master Sergeant John, tells me he has a near new 3-in-1 printer I can have! I head on over to their house to get it....my daughter invites insists that I stay for dinner, and my grandson finds my camera in my daughter's van! The world is right!

OK, so things didn't happen exactly in that order...but they all happened so nothing else matters. Nothing except my love for my readers.

Can I get an Amen?

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS...
..is no secret

Because, when Grandma J steps into the world of gambling, corruption and brothels, she shares it all with her peeps! As my oldest daughter alerted you to on my last post, my flight out of the local regional airport, who's slogan is "We'll Take You There" was canceled, as were all flights to Houston, where I was supposed to connect to Vegas. The weather was fine, so why were all flights cancelled? Let me tell you...it's because it's the same friggin plane that travels to and from this local regional airport and Houston all day, and the next day. And because this condition is permanent and terminal (as in airport terminal), Grandma J wasn't happy with rescheduling for the next possible flight...the next day! So she walked all the way over to the only other airlines and got booked on their next flight which connects out of Dallas to Vegas.

Because this other airline is located about ten feet away, they arranged the change with the original airlines electronically. So, off we go, and because of the changes, Grandma J arrived in Las Vegas five hours late, but at least it was the same day.

I met Tabatha's Mommy, Marianne, who is also my son-in-law, Sgt. John's Mommy too...and my friend.
We stayed at the Four Queens downtown....
which isn't ritzy like The Strip with all the panhandlers and prostitutes. It's where the whole Vegas thing started way back when. It's also where the fabulous Fremont Experience is. Several years ago Fremont street was closed off for two blocks of hotels, that were renovated and covered to create a plaza with kiosks and a great laser show several times a night with great music.
Our room was on the fifth floor, and this is the view. This is what the covered Fremont Plaza looks like during the day from the street level.

These next pictures are from our room for the light show...which moves too fast for Grandma J's cheap camera.

And lookie who Grandma J found in the casino?

We had a blast, meeting old friends.

And getting chummy with people with familiar names, like John Wayne.
And maybe inhaling too much laughing gas...or developing a food allergy or something that might affect our small motor skills....just saying.

But two days later, the fun came to an end... or did it?

The final chapter of this junket is still raw and painful. Spending 22 hours to get home, with eight of them hanging with my new roomie was not the icing on the cake, just saying! The icing, if you want to call it that, was the fact that out of the zillions of others who attended our sleepover in the Houston airport, my new roomie and I were the ones who found the only four comfy chairs to make matching beds.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
especially if you thought it was Mother's Day or my birthday, so you pampered the living daylights out of me...

Really and truly, that's how I felt today.

My Father passed away thirty five years ago, so I usually celebrate with whomever I live near. Like my son or one of my sons-in-law.

This year it was my Texas daughter, her husband and my grandkids. I baked a chocolate bundt cake with almond flavored glaze for my son-in-law, and brought it over with a small gift from his "other son", JJ, accompanied by this picture for his "Dad".

We all headed out to the movies to see something guys like. But really, it was not too bad, I was surprised that I liked it, but I did.
After the movie, we went out for a bite to eat. Some of us were hungry, some weren't really, so we decided to go to our favorite deli, Jason's. I had a fruit platter, my grandson had a baked potato and my daughter and her husband had sandwiches. My granddaughter picked a bit off each plate. It worked out great.

So while we're chit chatting, I happen to ask if my granddaughter, who has humongous bigger feet than I do, might have some hiking boots or cold weather shoes I could borrow for my cruise because I live in flip flops or my New Balance walking shoes that are too light weight for traipsing around the Alaskan Tundra.. I don't even know if there is such a place as the Alaskan Tundra but it sounded like a good place to visit. It turns out her boots are size 10...yeah, well unless I wear six pairs of socks, that won't work.

My darling son-in-law, Master Sergeant John,says "let's go to the mall and look around for some hiking boots". Off we go, and we look in several stores. He like totally waits on me hand and foot, bringing me stuff to try on.
I finally decide on these.
Nice and versatile. The kicker? Before I can get my Sunday best flip flops on, my daughter is paying for my new shoes! So you see why I figured they had their holidays mixed up...or else, as I asked on the way home, "did my doctor call and say be extra nice because I was terminal or something"?

So now, I'll quit bragging about how blessed I am, and how fortunate I am to have such great kids and grandkids..and Sons-in-law.