I get to meet her!

Lisa Williams is coming to Salt Lake on Feb. 7 and I have tickets to see her AND a backstage meet and greet VIP card. Woo hoo. I'm excited. I think she is very entertaining and a real down-to-earth person. I love her show.

The botox ($2000 worth of injections) have done absolutely NOTHING. If anything, they made it worse. I am back to my 2 Lortab a day habit because I can't handle the pain. I am frustrated beyond belief.

My neck MRI -- according to the nurse -- looks "essentially normal." HOW IN THE HELL can it look NORMAL??? I KNOW my neck is messed up!

I am so depressed. So sick of the pain. So tired.

Not sure how much more of this I can deal with without needing a padded room.

I have a funeral to go to tomorrow. My friend's daughter who was dying from ALS (Lou Gerig's disease) pulled the plug last Monday. She was 29. She touched a lot of lives.

well, gotta run.

8 1/2 months pregnant looks good on her!

My friend Tiff and her hubby and daughter await the birth of a baby boy in February.

They got these cute photos taken.

Wish I looked this good!

Botox for Pain

Friday I received my first 10 Botox injections in my shoulders. The injections themselves were not that bad despite the fact that I am sure that needle was 5 inches long. But the injections actually make you hurt MORE for about 5 days before they make you feel better. I'm still tender there.

Dr. Byrd sprayed a topical anesthetic on the skin to the injections would not hurt as much. He told me to avoid breathing it in as I might "lose a few brain cells". But I couldn't help but inhale some of it (I had to breathe!) and whew! I was flying high let me tell ya! I don't know what it was called but a person could get addicted to huffing that stuff real fast.

It's good that I am not into that sort of thing.

Tomorrow morning I get my cervical MRI. Tomorrow night I might go to a temple session with Karin and Brett.

Friday night my gal pals and I went to see "Gran Torino". Despite the fact that it employs every racist word known to man (and several I DIDN'T KNOW) it was one of the BEST movies I have ever seen. I laughed and laughed. And I cried and cried. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. I want it.

It was REALLY excellent and I hope Clint Eastwood gets an award.

Well, I came in to work early today to actually WORK. So I better get busy before all the rest of the gang comes in.

Ciao.

Don't judge a gal by her name.....

In the course of my work, I have to correspond with another office located in Germany. The secretary there is named Ilona and I always pictured her as an old woman.

So I asked her for a picture of herself (I sent her one of me) so that I could have a face to put with the name.

That is Ilona on the left. The gal in the middle is another secretary named Dagmar and the girl on the far right is a trainee.

They were at Oktoberfest and were dressed in traditional Bavarian garb. I told Ilona she is NOT at all what I pictured. LOL. I guess I ought not let a name fool me.

I see the pain management doctor tomorrow. Good thing. I am hurting a lot more lately because I am back at work. Sitting at the desk strains my neck and shoulders a lot.

I love the exercise bike. It is whisper quiet. I look forward to getting fit on it.

And I'm OFF!

My exercise bike has arrived and Bri will be bringing it by tonight and putting it together for me. I can hardly wait to start EXERCISING on it.

This week at work has been BUSY! I had 3 weeks off in December and just did 3 weeks worth of work in one. Whew!

Nothing else going on really. My life has become booooooooring right? No more A equals no more excitement.

Well, that's fine with me!

Check this out!

That was my car buried in Vermont over the Christmas holiday. The picture doesn't do it justice. There was so MUCH snow EVERYWHERE. I shoveled for HOURS. I don't know how my dad, who is 77 and in poor health, manages to survive there.

Back to work today. Sort of. I had to come in late because I was STILL waiting for the oven repairman to come fix my oven. I have not been able to bake since BEFORE Thanksgiving! For me, a person who bakes 4 times a week or more... it's been horrible. Anyhow they gave me a window of coming between 9am and Noon. He showed up at ten minutes to noon. So... I got to work about 12:45 and planned to work late but it just started snowing here and the roads are looking bad. Everybody at work bugged out early (including all the management). There are about 4 of us left here right now. I am going to leave soon though.

So, I have had only 3 pain pills in 3 weeks. Since I was taking 2 per day, that means that I have had 3 pills instead of 42! Wow! Woo hoo for me.

Now don't get me wrong.... I still hurt. But I am trying to live with the pain as best as I can. It just REALLY bothered me that my doc treated me like an addict. I guess I needed to prove to her and to myself that I am NOT. I have not had any type of withdrawal symptoms at all. I do take Advil, but that's non narcotic so I am fine taking that.

I went to Church yesterday for the whole 3 hours and did not even have any Advil. That's amazing.

Well, I am heading out. So I will discuss the impending death of my neighbor's daughter that is coming up another day. It's a long story, but a touching one.