Hospital Vent

Well, for a heart ward, they sure don't seem to be concerned with stressing the Mr. out! The schedule goes like this:

12:00 am vitals/meds
2:-3:00 blood pressure
5:00 vampires draw blood
6:00 vitals
6:30 EKG
7:00-8:00 breakfast
10-11:00 Dr. visit
12:00 lunch
12-1:00 vitals and meds
2:-3:00 blood pressure
5:00-6:00 vitals/meds/dinner
8:00 blood pressure
10:00 meds

Add in the linen fairy, the personal chef, the housekeeper, the financial assessment, the specialist, the HOSPITALIST ( I did not make that up, this person is a Dr. that oversees the whole care plan) and the visitors.

With every person comes a knock of varying degree to the door and I have noticed the following pattern:

Visitors knock softly and lightly, pushing the door open slowly.
Non-medical personnel knock once loudly and announce.
Doctors knock once and come in.
Nurses don't knock.

I try not to intimidate but I am recording every name and event on a laptop that stands open on on of the tables in the room. I have about googled myself to death. Ask me anything about myocardial infarction. I have quizzed the staff to no end.
I have had questions answered such as "Why is there a Mcdonalds IN the hospital?".
Answer: A very extended contract was granted well before the movie 'Fast Food Nation' came out.

I have asked why is there only CRAP in the vending machine on the HEART floor?
Answer: There ARE some Snackwells in there.

I have asked why patients in revealing gowns are allowed to travel outside the hospital to a smoking are and further their suicide ( what with liability being what it is these days) ?
Answer: We cannot stop them.

Means more income for the hospital, i guess.

On a serious note, Mr. is doing better, looking at a long, detailed recovery. Thrice weekly cardiac rehab ( excersize, diet control and support groups since so many people cannot seem to shed their bad habits even after seeing the white light) is on the agenda as well as a steady stream of meds for some time, and at least one med for the rest of his life.

We hope to behome by Wednesday.

Update on the Mr.

We have been moved to a private room. All indications are that he has some damage to lower ventricle and it is only pumping 20% of capacity.

We have been assured that the heart CAN heal itself to some degree so we are now waiting to see how that goes.

Still waiting for Dr. to come by.

Will post more when we know more.

What next?

At our family gathering last night (Christmas Eve), we were happy. Light and breezy, if you will. We laughed, we opened gifts and there was no lamenting over sick family members, everyone was present or at least accounted for.

The Mr. played his guitar in the background while the little ones ate too much candy and danced around amongst the wrappings. Talk of Christmas day plans for the cousins included more in-law gatherings as I professed that I would catch up on sleep. I mean surely I could program myself to sleep past 6:00 if I had no pressures remaining, no children to run around, no more shopping, no more required baking. I bragged that since it was going to rain this mission would be easily accomplished.

Oh how quickly the serene can become nightmarish.

I was awakened by the horrible sound of retching by my wonderful husband at 4:00 am. His major complaint was "acid reflux, vomiting and extreme burning in the chest". I know i was scowling as I scolded his overeating the excellent dinner, or maybe he snuck out one too many times with the guys for a nip. After a few minutes he insisted on a trip to the hospital to which i said , sure, they'll give you a GI cocktail and fix you right up. I really thought he had just overeaten, overstressed, overdone it. On the way to the hospital his demeanor changed as he seemed to get weaker and added a new complaint that he was having trouble talking. I took the crown vic up to 90 MPH on the state route with no resistance at this time on Christmas morn. As we entered the lobby of the E room, he obviously met the requirements to go straight to gurney/EKG. One min on EKG and they were on the phone; while summoning further equipment, he began to sieze. They took off down the hall as he began posturing and soon after he coded. They brought him back with CPR and two bouts of the Defib. He was having an acute heart attack right then and there. Ten minutes sooner and he would have been doing it in the car. Five angels were roused from Christmas slumber to save my husband: a heart cath team and a heart surgeon. They were all incredibly confident and did their best to comfort me. After a heart cath and stint installation in the LAD artery (one of the bigger ones) he was sent to CICU.
No bypass for now. another special person was called from their family to remove the cath which involves 30 minutes of pressure at the site to assure clotting ( what with the gallon of blood thinner he had been given). He was finally stable.


I say that to say this: He never once said his chest was "tight", or that he felt "pressure", words that are normally associated with a heart attack. I have known for some time that persistent heartburn can be a sign of heart problems but his came on suddenly and hard. Looking back he was oblivious to the fact that it could be his heart. One year ago he had an entire workup, cardio and neuro, and was found to be completely healthy.

Seems that, as elusive as cancer can be in detection, heart problems are fairly hard to detect without angioplasty and they need more warning signs to do the aforementioned angioplasty. He may have had several small attacks over the past two years that were just gone undetected because he was otherwise healthy. He even wore the heart monitor for 48 hrs with no problems found.

To say that everyone is shocked is an understatement. I have told the story 20 times today and I thought I would therapeutically tell it one more time to testify that everyone should read up on symptoms of a heart attack.

I ponder if a formula such as

( family history + eating habits) (bad habits - excersize habits)
(awareness of symptoms - level of dr ineptness)(% chance that routine test reveal problem)

= % chance you will have a freakishly surprising massive myocardial infarction


Maybe this will give someone heads up of they fill in just a few of these variables and solve for the rest.

He is in CICU for now and I have been booted until 5:00am visiting hours. We hope for a move to private room on Fri afternoon. After an echocardiogram, we will know more about damage done and possible further blockages.

Posting may be even more sporadic (snicker) than usual or maybe I will take the laptop to the hospital and continue this experience online.

I will include what appears to be the longest list of symptoms from the following link:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/cad/mi_symptoms.aspx

Symptoms of a heart attack include:

Angina: Chest pain or discomfort in the center of the chest; also described as a heaviness, tightness, pressure, aching, burning, numbness, fullness or squeezing feeling that lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to be indigestion or *heartburn.
Pain or discomfort in other areas of the upper body including the arms, left shoulder, back, neck, jaw, or stomach
Difficulty breathing, shortness of breath
Sweating or "cold sweat"
Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like "heartburn")
Nausea or vomiting
Light-headedness, dizziness
Extreme weakness or *anxiety
Rapid or irregular heart beats

Women often have different symptoms of a heart attack than men and may report symptoms before having a heart attack, although the symptoms are not typical "heart" symptoms. In a multi-center study of 515 women who had an acute heart attack (MI), the most frequently reported symptoms were unusual fatigue, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, indigestion and anxiety. The majority of women (78 percent) reported at least one symptom for more than one month before their heart attack. Only 30 percent reported chest discomfort, which was described as an aching, tightness, pressure, sharpness, burning, fullness or tingling.
[Reference: McSweeney J, Cody M, O'Sullivan P, Elberson K, Moser D, Garvin B. Women's Early Warning Symptoms of Acute Myocardial Infarction. Circulation. 2003; 108(21):2619-2623.]

{The items in red are the ONLY signs that this 46 yo man had. He has been diagnosed off and on for unexplained anxiety for 2 yrs, always refusing the meds because he felt it was not anxiety, but rather he thought he had a neuro disorder.}

Please pray for a quick recovery.

Posted at 2:20 am, Gawga time, not sure what is up with post times listed.....

How did i?

How did I become the resident feathered friend expert?

Mini-me calls from the local saturday night auction to ask "Can I get ONE hen chick to raise up for Mama Jan [my mom] ?". After 10 minutes of wrangling I agree to ONE chick ( knowing it's true odds, i was willing to gamble). She came home with this:

Clearly not one chicken in the bunch. She had purchased not 1 but 5 ducklings. I ranted for 30 minutes but was drowned out by their incessant squeaking. We spent the balance of Saturday night cramming on duck care ( as 2 passed into the night) and I watched her eyes grow bigger with each new discovery, such as " They need water ALL the time??!!!". To which i wondered aloud if they would survive in the hawks and coyote to live in the cow pond below the house........ NOT, she said. These are HOUSE DUCKS! So she proceeded to prove her point by finding stories of ducks as family pets with proper care exlained. While she did this I reached deep into my cabinet to find some powdered bird mash that we had used to raise up a baby pigeon ( displaced by some bridge rehab) several years ago. Another experience I should document sometime. The ducks were not interested in this at all. They survived a day on tomatoes, boiled eggs and apples until she found their pellets at the local feed & seed.

I am off to buy the smallest kiddie pool I can find.

I guess it was my grandmother who instilled this love for birds as we sat and watched them through her picture window with binoculars and the books close at hand to identify them quickly. It is not something I have ever professed or even thought to list in my portfolio of things I know something about, but nevertheless it has happened. I have had birds in the house for most of my adult life. Currently house a lonely male cockatiel who lost his mate over a year ago, and I don't think he's over it it yet.

My husband took up this affinity when we moved to the country. We spend hours in the summer and spring watching/identifying the birds in our yard.

My brother is a fountain of information with his wildlife degree, he has studied them throughout Georgia. Luckily he will know what where these ducks might want to live when they become too much for the house!

Thanksgiving shenanigans

Since the maternal grandparents have been gone we have gathered at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and tradition has evolved to include tobboganing on the treacherous leafy slopes in the woods by the house. With a quick change of clothes Minime quickly went from this demure creature ....

to this.....

The middle generation tries to get involved but usually ends up like this:

Did i mention there is a creek at the bottom?

Fun!

Random updates

Was reading my own blog and thought I would update some previous story lines.
The hen I delivered to my parents is surviving and has been named "Cat" or "kitty" for her anti-social behavior.
My mom is gaining hair back at light speed. She wore one of brothers awful wigs to greet thanksgiving guests, only to happily reveal her fuzzy growth! Her spirit is unbeatable!
Mini-me is coming home next semester to trasfer to local state college and commute.
To quote the director of housing when asked 'How does one get out of a housing contract?',

"Unfortunately I hear this a lot and simply put, it takes money to attend college."

Thank you captain obvious. I would not have called except we are middle-middle class and foolishly thought we would qualify for some sort of financial aid. I did submit the form and letter in tripiclate explaining the recent loss of job in the family and even played the cancer card but only get out of housing contract if you trasfer, so here we go. AT LEAST she has decided on a direction: Spanish major. YAY!

After turkey three ways (fried, baked, smoked), i am ready to go back to work and get some exercise.

Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now yeah....

A day in the life....

A day in the life of the job I hate to love includes cold frustration and dirty noise. I offer my first video clip because it demonstrates not only the horrendous sounds but the wicked wind that is twice as blustery in an interstate corridor but thrice as chilling on the hill above same. If you squint at the beginning of the video you might see a UFO, masquerading as a simple plastic bag traveling at light speed in the background. Turn volume down quickly.

The human figure that wanders out of the bottom left of the video is a very beautiful girl -Maria from El Salvador. Her and her husband work together, she is support, he is the foreman jumping while managing the concrete bucket atop the forms. My husband and I have become quite good friends with them over the almost 2 yrs we have been involved with this project. They have shared much of their culture with us and Maria and I spend as much time as possible schooling each other in our second languages. We can be seen on any day scribbling in the dirt trying to get whatever random point across. Others have said it is hilarious to watch us, since she is naturally very expressive and I end up acting things out to get her to understand.

The following is a short clip (not short enough, again turn down speaker volume) of the previously blogged-about AMZING PILE HAMMER. It takes approximately 3o mins to drive one pile, contractor makes about 5 a day. The rest of the day is spent rigging, setting up a template for proper pile location and managing earplugs.

I plan enjoy a quiet Thanksgiving with the 'rents and about 20 other famly members. Best laid plans blah blah blah, Mom and Dad just got a Wii and I kind of look forward to Mario Kart with dad. They heard the Wii was good for exercise and of course purchased the sports package, but showed their age with the statement "Did you know that Mario Kart has nothing to do with F-1 racing?" LOLOLOL

Back to work on Fri but look forward to reading blogs this weekend!

Building bridges.....Literally!

We are in full bridge building mode!! We are replacing a steel girder bridge. The first pic below is THE AMAZING PILE DRIVER. It is a rather nasty diesel hammer that drives piles (precast concrete columns) into the ground at the expense of our ears and lungs. The smoke you see is a plywood "pad" that protects the top of the pile from such massive downforce (anywhere from 80-150 tns) and begins to burn from such friction.

A wider shot including the crane required to manuever sauch a device.

Once the piles are driven, concrete footings encase and tie in certain piles and concrete columns are formed atop these footings, as below.

These are the same columns that certain drivers make contact with when they choose to sleep and drive at the same time.

It has been a better week so far, as I have avoided certain personnel on the project. I now officially miss 100 degree heat as it topped out at 46 today, with about a -10 wind chill from interstate traffic. Inspected/tested concrete most of the day so I was wet/cold most of the day.

Since I actually spend most of my time watching/inspecting work I feel the need to count blessings.....

Thank God I was not the fella on top of the roadway paver waving to me as i drove out of sight at 6:00 pm. He is stuck there all night. Bless the people that REALLY work.

Stress Olympics

So far this week I have had to participate in many categories. There's the "leaving the toilet seat up in unisex restroom of field office" that I am losing since I am outnumbered by boys (clearly not men). Since my loudmouth complaints were waged, there is now a new category of "Seat down and dribble".
Outdoor activities include "writing in dirt on inspectors truck when back is turned" and "who can place paint can under tire when she is not looking". I am losing on all fronts.
In light of the fact that i haven't won a medal yet since we lose every specification battle I wage, I took wednesday off to recharge for an end of the week play-off that i am sure to win. It is called "dropping the H bomb" on certain lowlife individuals. (H= harrassment)

I have NEVER filed a complaint in this field, even turned down a chance to join a class action against a large company years ago because I just wasn't raised that way. I try to follow the 3 rules of my childs former kindergarten:

1. Ask offender to stop.
2. If it continues, move away from offender.
3. If they follow, then and only then do you tattle.

I consider myself thickskinned and wise to the guise of their motives but I have had it. I shall arrive on site today with my head held high, certain trusted individuals on lookout and the goal of lighting up the next person that even looks at me wrong!!!

Can I get a 'Hell yeah' ?

Birthday Rainbow

On Oct 10th, I turned 41. I had to trip to the field office of my project on my day off to have pics taken of my truck that had been damaged by a trackhoe a few nights before. AS we were documenting the damage, we noticed this rainbow and the PM took a few shots of me with my birthday rainbow. A double one, at that! We actually watched it form a half circle across the sky and just as quickly recede. It greatly improved my mood and i felt like it was all mine!!









Another shot with out my mug....

Voting Memories

I remember my parents taking my brother and I with them to vote at the very big church (*gasp* yes the church) that we did not attend. He would take me and Mom would take brother and they would actually take our hands and show us which lever to pull. ( Is that voter fraud? :)
Later in life I was enlisted to work the local polls at a defunct school and It was an experience. Let's just say sitting on 30 year old chairs for 12 hours was not comfortable but the whole day was fun. It was then I realized that traditionally (around here, at least) the elder women of the community were the matriarchs of this event. I was an outsider as i had been asked at the last minute to fill in for a sick regular. This was a day full of gossip and renewing relationships with each and every person that walked through the door.

I also took my children and taught them of this duty. After the first time, I realized that the kids needed a talk about library voices since my at-the-time 8 year old daughter asked loudly "Why are we voting for so-and-so, Mommy?".

For the past 5 yrs we have voted in a 100 yo building that is only 100 yds from my front door. We all walk down and stroll right in, no lines, but we won't be leaving anytime soon, no sir. We will be accosted by the matriarchs and required to update them on all family members health and recent travel.

I look out my front door and see the lights at the "polls" and the big city of Round Oak is already pulsing with activity . I am headed out the door very early not to accomodate lines but to ensure I have the time to "catch up" at the polls.

It was just THAT kind of day.....

It was the kind of day you might find yourself chasing a rooster/chicken between your home office parking lot and a busy interstate. Then agreeing to fowl sit for the day until you can relocate it to the 'Land of Milk 'N Honey' . Or the kind of day, even, follow me here, that you feel the responsibility (read: job requirement) to remove debris from the travel lanes. I mean that's what the flashing strobe is for, right? Todays choice of debris was a 12' 2"x10" that you just KNEW you could move/retrieve quickly and alone.
It also was destined for the land of milk 'n honey.
I am sure that niether of these escapades were pretty to watch.
What a wonderful return to day shift! It took 4 grown DOT men + me to catch chicken/rooster. I learned that 4 grown men think it's a rooster since it has a comb and no amount of me telling them could convince them otherwise.
SHE turned out to be a sweet bird and since mom and dad are settled back at home with NO MORE TREATMENTS, it is the perfect time for Mama to have something to worry about and the hen is an ideal subject. Mom went into overdrive fussing over her. I should explain that these people have had flocks in the past but in light of sickness and travel had let them go 2 yrs ago. I hate to admit that sometimes very weird things happen for a very good reason.
Daddy was equally pleased with the 12' 2x10, even though it wasn't treated lumber and i refered to it as "the first joist in my new house".
I am including a pic of the new family member. ( the feathered one)

Beer in the fridge....?

Mini-me informs me that her college campus is "wet".

We had not discussed this, per se, but have had MANY discussions about alcohol. This child is no angel and I have encouraged her to be the moral compass, babysitter or 'mom' of the group. I have regaled her with stories and never fail to send an article or picture of what could be tragic results.

Luckily she likes to be different and it turns out that "different" is not drinking. I love to live in the fantasy world that she is telling me everything and a few days ago she tells me that she opens the dorm fridge to find beer.
So this is how i find that not only is her campus "wet", but her dorm ( and the fridge, obviously) is also! I insist that this cannot be possible for a freshman dorm, but am reminded that late registration placed her in an uperclassman facility.
So you might be thinking, didn't you research this before you sent her there? Not really. It was a given that she would go to Georgia College. I was way more concerned with financing and grade requirements and even more concerned about room mates. One of her best friends decided to go here as well and they agreed to accept random roommates. Luck was on Carrie's side as on moving day, said friend was not only in the same hall, but two doors down. Thank god she saw a familiar face on move-in day! She kinda wishes they had roomed together now. Roommate is nice but "suitemates" (two others that share their bathroom) are being blamed for the beer i witnessed in the fridge yesterday.
Now, I can accept this, since they all 4 share the fridge. I also might accept it even belonged to a boyfriend since young girls don't usually even like the taste of beer (if it had been Boones Farm or Seagrams coolers, i would have had to sit them all down). But I prefer to live in the fantasy world that she is being the 'wet blanket', designated driver, mom of the group and making the right choices.
I can't sleep well any other way.

Who needs sleep?

Clearly, I do. I am too old for night work as the dreaded "night work psychosis", or NWP, has set in after only 6 weeks of torture. NWP ( who's only advantage is weight loss) is known to magnify PMS and exacerbate existing character flaws.

This is my last week of night work for a while and I relish the idea of waking up with the birds and the sun again!



I have kept awake at night by documenting the demo of the only steel girder bridge on the project. This operation was surprisingly smooth with only 1 traffic mishap involving 2 cars and 7 teens. Six transported to the hospital with no life-threatening injuries. As always i send these pics to my daughter to scare the hell out of her. These kids admitted to shenanigans on the scene: "We were talking to the guys in the car next to us on the cell phone". The following pic is the result.

I offer some grainy pics of the actual demo. Again I state at how smooth the deconstruction went. This is one of the most dangerous aspects of the job for the operators, as they are literally pulling the bridge down around them.

If these are hard on the eyes, fear not, my dad is talking me through some settings changes and hopefully the captures will get better over time.

The beams are removed by the crane:

A different angle:

And finally the bridge is DOWN!

Moving on, my "crack" dealer has said i need to remove all the files that were miraculously saved and format hard drive and start over. He would have done this for me, had i sent him all discs with the computer. Take note.

I shall place this task in my able-bodied husbands hands as he is the one who introduced "crack" into this household. ( I actually went to Clayton state and studied network technology back in ummmmmm... '95, like when ethernet was new word and there were only 500,000 websites and i wanted to see EVERYONE OF THEM.)

So, much like the car, even though I know how to fix it and am totally capable, I will allow him this privilege.

:)

Faces to go with the stories...

Due to a recent hacker episode we had to put "crack" (what we call the Dell comp) in the hospital and $75.00 later we have it back but missing all pics and files from 2008. All i have left from this year i had to recoup from myspace ( go figure, it IS good for something). Hope to find them imbedded somewhere but for now i offer these images. None of them shot with my Nikon D70, just point snd shoot canon ( which is now a bad word in the house). Did not realize that Canon/Nikonians were so polarized til I swapped to the D70......



David and I with his oldest daughter to the left.... we have 5 together!

My beautiful kids...

My wonderful husband....

The job I hate to love

Work. Feels funny to call it that. Shoud call it sit and watch, or better yet, lie in wait for the next stupid move by one of the largest contractors in the east. I cannot count the number of times over the years that individuals have asked me " how do i get a position like yours? " mainly because it looks like I do nothing and, as a consultant for a state agency, am highly overpaid.
Quick rundown: all work for the state must be inspected and approved for payment. Sounds simple. Build it to the plans and specs. That would be great if the same entity that wrote the specs also designed the plans. Not so. This is where a major amount of $$$ is wasted (my money, your money) on redesigns needed that should have been caught by pay grade 16's in the field plan review. Fear not though, we have our own Palinesque commissioner who is trying to straighten out the good old boy network. Loved her til she muddied the waters by dating-firing-marrying a DOT board member. Not a cool way to gain respect of the near dead board members.
Steering away from the politics now....
Working nights for the past month since we cannot close lanes during the day and i am the "bridge lady" so I must oversee certain phases of work whilst my project manager gets his beauty sleep. This week we are installing pipe, grading new roads and ramps and managing the CRAZY traffic during lane closures. Here's a thought: If all the blinking lights are blinding you then SLOW THAT DEATH MACHINE DOWN.
FACT: death benefits are written into the cost of a job. Simple as that. It is akin to playing "THE LOTTERY" to get on the road, only crops don't thrive upon your death.
Current example: last week a 69 yo lady from Tenn traveling to see her boyfriend in Fla late at night rammed the back of a blue light who was running interference (rightfully so it seems) for the men setting out lane closure. She gassed it instead of braking to try to merge wayyyyy too late into only open lane and was forced into the closure to hit a cop. Bad night for her. Upon interviewing her in her tossed about state (no seatbelt. i mean really people) she stated " I was headed to see my boyfriend who called me and asked if I could be there tonight instead of waiting til saturday". Could not help but form the cartoonish thought of a long distance elderly booty call. Of course my dad took offense in hearing this story & her age and thus ensued the only slightly uncomfortably 'old people have sex too' talk. We both noted that he was lucky he didn't have to drive anywhere to have sex unless THEY wanted to. Hilarious!
Closing request: please advise of pitfalls and or unwritten rules of blogging. I already feel as if I run on too long.............

More me... PMS mode

More about me.... I am married to my third and best husband! Too young the first time to make it work (product: daughter & extreme dislike for New Jersey in the winter), almost lost my soul in the second (product: son & extreme understanding of alcoholism) and only after swearing off of men did i finally meet my knight.
My daughter is a anxious freshman at Georgia College and State University, only 30 minutes away ( not far enough). My son is a too handsome fella who needs an ego reduction but knowing his father this will only get worse.
I was raised around construction and in the country. When i DECIDED that college was not for me ( did not change that thinking til age 30) I went to work in a soils lab and have worked in the construction inspection field ever since. Workboots and hardhat, BABY!
The most important realization of this century for me has been that this industry will kill you. If not an errant drunk/drugged driver, silicosis or skin cancer is pretty much assured. For this reason I am not as enthusiastic as i used to be about "changing attitudes towards women" especially at the risk of my health. Sadly I have spent 20 yrs in a highly specialized field that is not really transferable. Dream: to have my own restaurant, and pursue photography.
If this blog takes a depressive tone, fear not the mood changes quickly! :)
My best friend from high school ( an english major, writer and successful business owner) just moved home from California and this is opening a new chapter for me. She is highly encouraging and doesn't allow one to be depressed, even the required 2 days a month.
Both of my vibrant parents have cancer dad-Lymphoma, remission; mom- Myeloma, partial remission. Cancer sucks. Treatments suck worse. Emory University hospital rules! Insurance companies also suck.
k. I will come back when I feel better and so many things don't suck.

Picasa link

www.picasaweb.google.com/misticblu

I decided to just link my picasa page instead of trying to upload pics..... for now anyway..... until i figure out blogspot.

First ever.....

First blog. EVER. Which is amazing since I am frequently told that I talk to much and am full of useless facts. This stems from a childhood without television and a need to consume information like food. Parents are older hippified types who abandoned conventional power 30 years ago for the benefits of solar. I read an entire set of Brittanica (probably dated around 1967) and every book in the house. Favorites included Mark Twain, and Best American Loved Poems. Musical tastes were also skewed to the parents with Harry Chapin, Jimmy Buffett and Pink Floyd topping the lists of preferred listening. I am an information whore. Some call it a control issue. I just feel the need to KNOW everything. I don't read as many books anymore, just find myself scrolling until my hand cramps.
I must give props to Mrs. Lime for inspiring me to start putting it all down in print. Will continue soon with more narcissism and start uploading some pics (amateur at best, dughter of a dark room ghoul). Comments greatly appreciated!!!!