WanderingAmylessly 2.0

Tim and I have both declared our June vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to be the best vacation we'd ever been on. We loved the ocean. We adored our little cottage, Sea Spray Cottage #3, with its pink adirondack chairs, pink and green trim, and two-block distance from the Atlantic. A mere 2 months later, and we're waiting to hear word as to whether Hurricane Irene will rip our vacay destination to shreds, chew it up, and spit it out, then cover it in a 30-foot storm surge. Nags Head, NC, is expected to take a direct hit by the massive storm, which is due to make landfall there sometime tomorrow. Tim and I recall several conversations we had while on our trip, commenting on the designated "Hurricane Evacuation Route" signs posted all up and down the ONE WAY OUT of the barrier islands by car. The traffic was hideous on a normal day. I cannot imagine what it might be like during a real evac. The Sea Spray Cottages were built in the 1940s or '50s...

The Lucy Jane Roth Medical Fund has been established today (8/19/11) with Bank of the West. Stop by your local branch or send checks to help with Lucy's medical expenses. If you do not have a Bank of the West near you, you can still donate by doing the following: Make check payable to: Lucy Jane Roth Medical Fund Endorse the back of the check with: For Deposit Only Lucy Jane Roth Medical Fund NOTE: It is important to endorse the back of the check if you are mailing! Mail check to: Bank of the West 301 South Clinton St. Iowa City, IA 52240 319-338-9751

Yo-yo dieting is that all-too-familiar phenomenon of losing weight on a diet, going off the diet, gaining the weight back, going on another diet, and so on. Been there, done that, ate the doughnut. But what does it say about me that I was on a diet the past few months and did one helluva yo-yo while I was still on the diet the entire time . It was getting slightly ridiculous. I couldn't string two consecutive successful weeks together -- after having lost more than 30 pounds from December to May. Up 2, down 1, up .5, stay the same, E.T.C. I credit my med changes and my mood for part of the problem. Mostly, I missed my Jenny Craig consultant, Amberly, who took a leave of absence around the same time my weight loss efforts skipped town. However, she's back now, and today was the end of week 2 back on the wagon! I lost 1.2 last week and 2.6 this week. I'm less than 7 pounds from my halfway goal. She made a deal with me: when I hit halfway, we go for manicures!! Woo...

Little Lucy from yesterday's post survived 12+ hours of brain surgery and most of the tumor was removed. She's still in a critical time, but her mom says the love and support they received yesterday meant so much to them. We continue to hold them in our hearts and minds.

Everyone in our house started the day excited: first day of second grade for Henry! We had delivered his supplies to his room on Tuesday night at the annual back-to-school ice cream social. He met his teacher. We visited his classroom. He slung on his new big-kid backpack (sleek black and red with NO cartoons), grabbed his Super Mario lunch pail, and walked to school with Dad with a spring in his size-1 step. I couldn't wait to see pictures, since I had to zip off to work early. Then I arrived to work to learn simply horrible news. A former coworker's 2ish-year-old daughter, Lucy, has been diagnosed with a massive malignant brain tumor. She went in at 7 a.m. today for a 12-hour surgery to remove as much as they can of the tumor. Once recovered from surgery, she will undergo chemo treatments. I don't know much more than that, except that I haven't been able to think of anything else since. I cannot begin to imagine what they must be going through or what they wil...

I arrived at work Monday morning to find the following in my e-mail inbox. From Facilities: The birds were all dead by the time the pest control company arrived. There was no chirping. They were not able to determine how the birds were getting in, but they will be back over the weekend to follow up on the issue. So let's break this down sentence by sentence. The birds were all dead. That is, birds, plural, and all, indicating quite a few (more than just two or three). So we had a mass grave up there above the ceiling tiles. Lovely. There was no chirping. Not to be picky, but this is a bit of redundant information. Since ALL the BIRDS were DEAD. They were not able to determine how the birds were getting in. Yeah, here's how that went: Thing 1 on a ladder: How do you suppose they're getting in? Thing 2 looking up at Thing 1: Dunno. Can you see anything up there? Thing 1 on a ladder: Nope. Don't see holes or nuthin'. Thing 2 looking up a...

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. All day at work, I hear it. You'd think a melodic tune from a songbird would be a welcome diversion from the work day. Think again, when it is the final tweettweets of a bird trapped in the duct work of my office building. It can't get out. It hasn't eaten for days. There it is, just chirp chirping away. Help me, help me, help me... I brought it to the attention of the office manager, who called the facilities folks. Yesterday, a guy with a ladder came around, lifting the ceiling tiles and poking around, looking for the critter. He found it. But he couldn't reach it. So he said he'd be back again today. I thought, "Ah, he'll figure out a way to rescue the birdy and let it loose outside to fly away home to its friends." Again, think again. His solution? "I think I'll spray it with wasp pesticide. That'll kill it." Whoawhoawhoa! If I'd wanted it dead, I would've kept my mouth shut and let it go into the peac...

Henry made a discovery on his recent trip to Colorado. Mountains? Hiking? S'mores by the campfire? Been there, done that. No, his discovery was made in the car on the way to and way back from his destination. License plate game, you ask? The Alphabet game, maybe? Guess again. He fell in love...with The Lion King. This movie we'd tried several times to watch with him when he was younger yet failed to finish because, let's face it, that Scar is SCARy. Totally freaked him out before. Not this time. Tim said he watched it over. And over. And over. And that is evident by the sheer amount of dialogue he can recite, complete with Nathan Lane's and Ernie Sabella's East Coast accents, only to be outdone by the fits of singing he bursts into in the shower, in bed, on the toilet, while eating dinner. Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there? Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know. Pumbaa: Oh. What are they? Timon: They're fireflies. Firef...

Geez-o-pete. The heat index is an unbearably sweltering 116. Not a typo. 1-1-6. It's physically impossible to breathe air that thick. We're going to drown in the atmosphere. Honestly. There's slight hope on the horizon. I hear we may get a thunderstorm tonight, during which time the temps will lower a bit, but the humidity will soar from 55 percent (now) to 88 percent (9 p.m.). Six/half dozen. Yes. I'm moaning about the weather. It seems Congress got their act in gear regarding the debt crisis so I have nothing else of interest to moan about. If you have suggestions, feel free to throw 'em out here. Here, I'll give YOU something to moan about. Knock Knock Who's there? Doris. Doris who? Doris locked, that's why I'm knocking.

I just discovered a rather horrible web site. So horrible I couldn't look away. I had to search. I couldn't help myself. www.famoushookups.com In case you ever wondered, Jennifer Aniston has been in 14 celebrity relationships averaging approximately 1.3 years each. At least according to this web site. Exactly what this site bases its information on is a bit suspect. One of her "hookups," it claims, is David Spade. When you were married for five years to BRAD, you'd think you could do better than David Spade, sarcastic SNL has been and real-star hanger-on-er. Really. I spent more time than I'd ever care to admit thinking up my favorite stars and searching for their tawdry tidbits. I'm fairly disgusted by the fact that two of my favorite leading men, Gerard Butler and Colin Farrell, have both been linked romantically, er, horizontally, with Lindsey Lohan. Colin also has Paris Hilton, Denise Richards, and Carmen Electra as notches on his cyberspace bedpost. G...