Have a seat.....

well hello there!!

so i finally have some things to talk about so here i am.

first my vegas/alburquerque (alb) trip. what a blast!!

(you can see all the pics on my flickr. link over there on the right)

(not the best pics, had to use my phone)

when i got to Vegas i was just amazed. right out of the gate at the airport i walked into a casino!! AT THE AIRPORT!! i so wanted to just jump right in but i had to go get my bag. the airport was really crowded (in IL too) and i thought that was strange for a thursday but hey...i was in vegas what did i know. so i got to baggage claim and met my friend Maggie and we headed over to the car rental place to get the car we needed for our road trip.

i need to give you a little background so you'll understand a bit why i made this trip. my friend of 23 years that i love and adore had some.....to put it nicely....issues. shes had it really rough for the last 5 years and has gone a little mental since. just so you know, im not making fun or being harsh...she'll tell you herself shes crazy. i was being nice.....LOL ok so anyway....with help from me and other organizations she was able to get some help to move on with her life. so she decided that she needed to be with family and was going to move to Alb. she gave up her license and she can't take a plane cuz she has a 200 lb st benard and well.....that just wasn't happening. so the plan was i fly to vegas and drive her to Alb. (8 hours, no biggie) were renting a car because her car needed some work and she didn't feel good about taking it for a long trip so the movers are going to tow the car. sounded like a plan to me and off i go.

i haven't seen maggie in a few years so it was great to see her. we get to the car rental place and they pull up her reservation and he takes my information since im driving.....and then the problems start. now ive rented cars before and i guess ive never really ran into this problem before but apparently the driver has to be the one with the credit card. which i don't have. i have a debit card which they don't take. and they won't take my friends credit card cuz shes not the driver. ok....so we went home.

i get to her house and its completly empty. the movers came the day before and took her stuff minus a few odd and ends and i see two set ups on the floor which i found out were dog beds covered in sheets for us to sleep on. we were leaving first thing friday morning. so that was fine....we got some dinner and watch Grays Anatomy which she taped for me and went to sleep.

Hagar (dog) had a 730 am appt at the groomers. maggie left me sleeping and came back with coffee and muffins and we proceeded to make phone calls. apparently everyone does this. so i had the brilliant idea of renting a uhaul. now i know that it doesn't matter who pays cuz ive done that lots of times. so we figured all we would need is a van, hagar would be set and we can put the rest of the stuff in there and be on our way. problem #1...vans don't go out of state and the trucks don't have cabs for a 200 lb dog.....

so maggie makes a phone call, tells me to get directions and find a hotel halfway (it was around noon and we still had a few things to do) and that she would be right back. ok.......

so she came back. with the money she had to rent a car...she got her car fixed instead.

problem solved. EXCEPT.......she gave up her license therefore had to give up her plates so were now driving a car with 3 year old expired IL plates (she used to leave here) on it.

ALRIGHTY THEN!!

so its about 3pm now and were loading the truck getting the last of her stuff and finally around 6'ish....were heading out the driveway to comence operation road trip!

of course doing a few hail mary's and praying praying praying.........we don't get pulled over.

so maggie (my friend with no license) is driving us out of vegas. she doesn't think i can handle the moutains and windy roads. ok fine. i didn't mind since i got to check out views and scenery for about an hour till it got dark. my job was to read signs and directions, check speed and look for cops. im a damn good sign reader too. even ones that say....."security check point ahead"....as we approach Hoover Dam.

me:

um...."what does that mean?.....maggie.....security checkpoint??.....maggie.....what does that mean maggie.......omg.......omg.....oh god.....maggie???

maggie:

S.H.U.T. U.P!!!

me:

ok....im not going to panic....were not going to jail........

maggie:

biting her nails.......

so my thoughts were as i processed this sign was that that was for hoover dam visitors and they would most likely check durning the day.

there was a rv camper thing in front of us that got pulled over to get checked....

at this point im about ready to pass out im so freaked

the guy in the little house saluted us and maggie as like....."what does that mean??? can i go??" he saluted again and we were OUTTA THERE!!!!

i haven't thanked God so much in all my life. and then i saw little mountain goats on the side of the road that i thought were deer!! very cool

then a mountain lion crossed the road in front of us like he owned the road....that was cool too. the animal crossing signs cracked me up. we have deer crossing here....they have Elk Crossing and the sign looks like hes showing you his ass, so of course i had to say "Elk Butt Crossing" cuz im a dork like that and you love it! im going to see if i can find that sign....its hysterical!

you know the best part about the trip. we packed a bunch of carefully selected CD's.....janis joplin, the best of the 80's, and i few others i can't remember since those are the only two we listened too.....but we were like 4 hours into the drive, almost at the hotel when we realized that we didn't even put the radio on we were talking so much! it was a nice drive.

we decided to cut the trip into 2 days (which i was grateful for since i slept on dog beds the night before and now sitting in a car for 5 hours) and stopped at Flaggstaff, AZ to spend the night at a hotel in a bed....a real bed!! LOL we then proceeded to order just about everything from Pizza Hut since all we ate was a muffin and coffee at 9am and it was not somewhere between 10 and midnight. i can't tell you exactly what time it was cuz everyone had a different time so i seriously had no clue. mountain time sucks.

the next day i drove and it was a nice easy 5 hour drive to Alb, NM and i met her cousins and we had a fantastic weekend. they are very christian and so i learned a lot about Jesus...which was nice. i had several amazing moments one being blessed by this woman preacher at church who heard our story and wanted to say a prayer for us which was also very nice and the proceed to sit down and then handed me a $100 bill from her purse and said "i am told you are to recieve this" and handed me this money. i was floored and was taken back by it and she wouldn't let me refuse it. i was truly amazed. and very emotional on top of being overwhelmed with emotion already by something i will get into later.......it was a very hard day.

we went home and ate and i went to lay down and slept the entire day. i woke up to a house full of people and we had a bbq and a really nice night. i loved looking out and seeing mountains. we sat outside a lot. a few houses down they had roosters that crowed all day. you just don't see that stuff around here. the one that that floored me was there was no grass. hardly any green. i kept looking for it. it was weird not to see. lawns were made of stone or dirt. strange.

so i came home that monday and the roomie picked me up and we got some ihop on the way home...i took an early flight and i went home and layed in my bed till sarah came by after work.

are you sitting??

so sunday while im sitting outside enjoying the mountain view, listening to roosters drinking my coffee waiting to go to church i get a call from sarah.

its official...

she's pregnant.

soooooo...now you understand why church was just WAY OVER THE TOP full of emotion. im gonna be a GRANDMA!!!! lol

at first i was freaked and so was she obviously but after long talks and more long talks they are going to make this work and were all very happy now. im really excited, worried, happy and scared especially now that i find out that twins run in both familes and that she would be the one to have them. so the next 7 months will be pretty interesting and ill be sure to have updates.

other than that, work is great. they have been giving me me so much work and responibilty and access to stuff i have no business having...LOL.....its pretty funny.

well grays is on...ill be back!!!

ok im back. seriously love that show!!!

so not only is she pregnant but she also moved....far away. so if anything should happen i can't get to her right away. even her boyfriend is too far to get her. he'll be moving in in a few months, then i won't worry so much about her being alone...but now....at the most critical time.....i worry. but we also work together so i see her everyday and am able to check on her. im also going with her to her doctor appts. to make sure everything is going good and because ive never had this opportunity and i want to be involved. and she wants me to be involved...i asked.....so im happy about that. but yes.....were having a baby!!

So...um....i think thats about it for now. ill be updated my other site too as i have made some major health changes......and life changes......but im not doing that tonight. if your on my notify over there......you'll know when i do.

much love, jeannine