Casino!

Well, we went to the casino and got there early enough to play a little, see a lot (and I mean A LOT) of hooker clothes, and lose a little money (very little!!!)  Every skank in Tampa was out and showing IT ALL!!  Lord have mercy!!  They weren't even wearing pretty slutty clothes.  When we left the entrances were blocked (I assume for fire code limits.)  It was fun and good to be able to go out together.  Well, everyone have a wonderful weekend!!!  Love, Shannon

I forgot to add one other thing:  I don't understand why some women feel the need to wear heels so high that they can't walk in them, or that make them walk like they have 2 peg legs!!!  Some of us (and I am including myself in this) WERE NOT MADE WITH BARBIE FEET THAT MAKE US WALK ON OUR TIPTOES OUR ENTIRE LIFE!!   Agony and sexy don't mix!!  My suggestion is slightly lower heel and more swagger!!    

I may have lost my mind.

Last night I had the sudden desire to go to the Hard Rock Casino.  Since Robert had to be at work at 4am, we sidelined it until today.  It hit me this morning that this is going to be a crazy night to go since the SuperBowl is in town, and it is probably going to be packed!!!  We are going to play "big" tonight if we can get in (ie. nickle slots, Larry the Lobster.)  We haven't been in a long time and I love to walk around with all the lights and sounds.  I'll let y'all know how it goes.  Shannon  

Christmas is over.

The tree is down.  Once again it's hot outside.  I can't fool myself any longer.  Now the house seems so empty and much less "Martha Stewart-ish!"  I will survive though.  Robert sent me a link for a toy that he found that we need for meetings and such.  It is called the screaming monkey slingshot.  It is a monkey slingshot and would come in handy at our meetings when people are talking, not paying attention, or get long-winded.  Love, Shannon

PS- I guess Pippin found her hidden cornbread because it wasn't there when I moved the tree. Thank Goodness!!!  

I think today is the day!!

Today, January 25th MAY very well be the day that we take down the Christmas tree.  It's not a definite yet, but it is a possibility!  I've made the first step in getting the ornament boxes out.  I'm not exactly excited about it, but Robert made a remark about it being time.  He is right.  

We had a birthday party for my crazy friend KC last night at her house.  It was a lot of fun.  One of our co-worker's daughters brought her massage table and chair and did massages.  It was wonderful.  Traci hid bottles like Easter eggs all over the house.  It was good to get together again.   This weekend was way too short.  Tomorrow is time to get back to work.  Everybody have a great week!!  Love, Shannon 

Tomorrow.

I generally avoid talking about politics.  I am middle of the road politically, so it is best for me to stay away from this subject BUT I can't help but reflect on people I have met in my life and how they would feel about the historic significance of tomorrow's inauguration.  I met a man in Indianola at a nursing home who was somewhere in the age range of 120ish, but he couldn't be the oldest American because he didn't have a birth certificate.  You see, he was born of slaves, so he wasn't "counted".   He was amazingly sharp, could tell us in great detail about growing up and loved sharing his story.  He was blind and a diabetic, but he had a memory that amazed me.  I sat by him, as a young nursing student, listening to him for as long as our schedule would allow.  I can imagine that he is smiling and so proud of the significance of tomorrow.  I think of a former patient of mine who recently passed away.  He was one of the youngest Tuskegee airmen.  He lied at 14 saying he was 18 years old to fight for a country that didn't think of him as an equal, but he put his life on the line for our country.  I can imagine that he is very proud of this country.  I think of Philip (the one armed janitor from our school) who was so sweet to us, and how it would break my heart when he would say "Yes,sir or mam" to all the kids at our school.   He always smiled, so I'm sure he is really smiling right now.  We live in the most wonderful country in the world and I am hopeful that it will continue to get better.  God bless everyone.  Love, 
Shannon

It's cold!!

It's REALLY cold!!!  It is going to be below freezing tonight!!  That is just one more reason to leave our Christmas tree up!!  Yeah!!  It is way colder now than it was Christmas.  We were  sweating and in shorts Christmas day.  I can't imagine being in Minnesota where it is below zero!!  

Well, it looks like the Bucs are in for a new coach.  It is time!  Maybe Coach Dungy will come back! He just retired from the Colts to move back to Tampa!  He was a great guy.

I'm watching the news, so I'm not having flight of ideas!  

The lingerie bowl is going to be held at a "nudist resort" not far from me,( Calliente) during the Super Bowl.  It's gonna be bad if it is cold as crap!  

 I can't imagine running around in panties when it is this cold!!  

Everyone stay warm this weekend!!  Love, Shannon

Today is January 13th.

Tomorrow is Mama's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Mama!! We can't wait to see you in February!!!  Now, to the OTHER reason for my post.  It is January 13th, and I can't seem to bring myself to take down our Christmas tree.  There are several reasons that it is still up, among these: it is too pretty to take down, it is too depressing to take it down, I like it, I'm too lazy to take it down, I don't know where I'm going to put it with all my stuff and Robert's stuff in the garage, It's going to look empty without it, and lastly: I think Pippin "buried" a cornbread muffin behind it and I'm not sure if she ever went to retrieve it.  This is by far the latest I've ever left any tree up.  Usually I wait until Jan 6th-ish.  I think I'm going to make it a "multi-holiday/multi-season" tree.  I'm not 100% on that decision.  I'm hoping I'll get a burst of energy and enthusiasm and decide to take it down, OR maybe I'll come home one day and it will be in it's box!!  (I'm just joking!!  I have very old and fragile ornaments and I'm a control freak about them!!  I'm having flashbacks of Dana and Clint's Christmas/housewarming party where Clint tried to straighten the tree and ended up breaking all but 4 of Dana's old ornaments!  Dana was pregnant and I thought all three of us were going to have heart attacks!!  That doesn't need to be repeated!  I hope someone else still has their tree up!!  Love, Shannon

Tampa: Center of the world!

Well, Tampa is about to be in the spotlight with the Superbowl coming soon.  We also have Gasparilla going on the weekend before and after.  I can remember the day when I would have been right up in the middle of all the festivities.  Parties, beads, pirates, and fun, fun, FUN!!!  And CROWDS!!!  Stinky, drunk, puking, obnoxious mobs of gropey people!  I'm not up for it right now.  I'm not sure if it is a phase, or if I have, I dare say, grown out of this type of stuff!!!  I love to have fun, but I like to have fun with people I know in wide open areas, on my terms.  Yes, we grope each other, but I know these people!  If you doubt it, see bachelorette pics from earlier post.  

It's no longer fun to be packed elbow to elbow with strangers and wondering "who just grabbed my ass/chest/monkey???"   It's not a "old married woman" thing either.  I haven't been to Gasparilla in 4 years since my friend Johnny came down.  I had fun.  We put beads all over cars and had a blast.  The older I get the more I hate driving around drunk people.  Anyway, I will be enjoying the festivities from my home, with my cloud pj's on and not crowded!!!  Maybe someday I will get back in the party mode, but not this Gasparilla!!  Love, Shannon

Gators win.

Let me start by saying I am NOT a Gator fan, as a matter of fact I am a Mississippi State Bulldog and secondly a Seminole fan, but I am a Tim Tebow fan.  How can you not pull for a young guy with such character, who spends the off season doing mission work?  He is a good man and an excellent role model for young athletes and young people in general.  We need more people like him.  I'm so glad for him that the Gators won.  This young man shows such promise in so many areas.  I can't believe I'm happy for the Gators, but that is the effect this guy has on people.  When he graduates, I probably won't be so happy for them again.  Have a great weekend!!  Love, Shannon

Great Movies!!

We watched "The Bucket List" last night and it was wonderful!  I love Morgan Freeman not only because he is a Mississippi guy, but also because I remember him from Electric Company and he makes me want to hug him.  He reminds me of my Mama's stories about her Uncle Allen and Aunt Rosie, an elderly black couple who lived in front of my grandparents house and let my Mama get away with murder.  They loved her so much and let her bring sick baby chicks into their house (much like I did at my Papaw's house) and let her brush their hair, even though she pulled their hair in attempts to comb it.  Anyway, "The Bucket List" was an excellent movie for anyone who wonders what they would do if given a terminal diagnosis.  I know because of my work I am drawn to these types of movies, but Robert agreed.  We also loved "The Notebook" which is an excellent look into dementia.  Since Mamaw Outlaw had dementia for many years (around 20 years) it really stuck a nerve with me.  I've heard people say that it is unrealistic because of the ending, but that type of ending does happen on occasion.  It's happened once with my patients, and 3 times that I know of during my 7 years in hospice.  I don't want to give it away.  

I'm usually very anti-Hollywood's version of the elderly, the dying process, and death itself because of the way it leads to unrealistic expectations that people grasp as "the truth."   Any movie that makes us want to live every day as the gift it is has my vote as a good movie.  On the flip side, I'm not so sure I will be able to see "Marley and Me" because I hear it is a real bawlin' and squallin' movie.  I miss my labs Sandy, Babe, and Booboo.  Love, Shannon and Robert

PS- I forgot the last movie we saw in the theater Australia!  It was amazing!!  The child in it was such an amazing actor and was adorable!!!  It is a "must see."

I Love Mail!!

Today was an especially rough day at work.  I got yelled at by 2 different patients about issues I had no controll over.  I was expecting it to be rough.  Greg (my office manager) lets us wear blue jeans only around the holidays (just before or just after a holiday) so I asked Wednesday if today (Friday) was going to be a  blue jeans day.  He said I could come to work naked if I wanted to as long as I came to work since it was going to be "really bad" today.  I showed up in my cloud pj's instead.  Everybody thought I had lost it, and that was BEFORE the Sh** hit the fan!!  Anyway, when I got home I had 2 wonderful things in the mail.  The first was our photo book from Walgreens that has some of our favorite wedding/honeymoon pics in it.  If you have never done this,  I suggest you go to Walgreens.com and make a book of favorite pictures.  It is VERY reasonable and so much fun!!!  The second thing I got in the mail was an RSVP for the wedding from Robert's cousin Brian and his wife Lori.  Now I'm not sure if it has been lost for the last 4ish months, or if Brian and Lori are playing a prank on us (they are very fun people) but I can only imagine where that card has been in the last several months if it's been "floating around."   Those 2 things made me smile and made my day so much better!!!  I hope 2009 is treating everyone well!!!  Love, Shannon and Robert

Happy New Year!!

Well, 2009 has arrived and I managed to sleep right through it!!!  Yesterday was super busy as usual for the day before a holiday.  Tomorrow promises to be more of the same.  The beginning of the year also promises to be busy with management courses, projects for work and face to face interviews with every patient.  Because of this, we decided to get a laptop, which has become my new best friend!!  I love it and can't imagine what I did before we got it.  Robert loves it too!!  It's awesome to lay in bed and type, or play games, or sit on the couch and do work.  This thing ROCKS!!  It is so fast and easy to work on!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and healthy 2009!!!  Love, Shannon and Robert