She Remembered...

Every two weeks I frequent a certain facility which has a security guard out in the front lobby. There are two guards that work at this place.

One is a 60ish white man with white hair, just shorter than I am. I always flash him a smile and say hello. The other is a 50ish black woman, about 5'7", a little heavier set who always has a very kind expression on her face. She brings her lunch everyday to work in a Walmart bag. You usually find her sitting just inside the door or standing in the doorway holding the door open for people as they walk in.

Having observed her for the last 10 months, she does not look or really act the part of a security guard at all. Quite soft-spoken, but comfortable talking with most people. And yet she is dressed in her black uniform. Still, I think it odd to see her belt holding a pistol on one side, a walkie-talkie that I never hear go off and the other normal things you see guards wearing. I was surprised one day as I was walking in, she firmly asked me to remove my sunglasses before I made my way into the facility...

She, along with a number of the employees in the facility, has come to recognize me quite easily and we talk about any number of topics. Last time I was so excited about the upcoming beach trip I had planned, and talked it up with her. Two weeks went by, and I went back into this facility. I was pleased to see she was working when I walked in. She took me by surprise almost immediately after I came through the door by asking me how my trip was.

Why surprised? Well...I don't remember ANYTHING. K, let me rephrase: I remember some things, but I quite often forget important things along with the unimportant things.

So when she asked about my trip, I was really shocked. My beach trip was my favorite subject for at least a week...until it didn't happen of course...thus it was a fairly safe assumption that I 'talked it up'. I have absolutely no memory of our conversation at our previous meeting. In fact, I had to clarify that it was the beach trip she was talking about.

I was remembered. It was a good feeling. Actually...it was a great feeling. :)

Allergies!!!

Dear All Sources of Pollen here in the Lovely South,

I am grateful for the natural process of life in plantlife. You are, with the help of the wind, rain, bees, etc., able to grow and make tons of kids...you create food, lovely things to look at, paper, certain medications, herbs, etc. etc. For all of this I am grateful.

However: I am not amused by the fact that the pollen counts are still so incredibly high. It's been 2 straight months I do believe, and it is still quite apparent when my allergy medication is no longer functioning. This is somewhat annoying, irritating, and I have had enough.

I am getting a refill of my Allegra-D (works like a charm, I only take it every other day, it works for 38 hours to the dot, supposed to work for 24, but I discovered it works longer). It is VERY expensive. Unfortunately, it's the only allergy medication that has any sort of effect on me.

I ask of you this one request: please hurry and finish your pollinating so that I may yet again breath without the assistance of rather expensive drugs.

Regards,

Elizabeth

Crooked Fingers...curly

Homework assignment:

What really caused my crooked fingers?

Right Hand palm down

Left Hand palm down

Left Hand from the side


Right Hand from the side
(the left hand middle finger and the right hand ring finger do not lay flat at all...and I can't get any of my fingers to lay flat all at once...either one joint or the other is crooked)

From what I have read so far online, I have boutonniere deformity...in nearly ALL of my fingers. The causes of this deformity (ha, this is the first time I have referred to my crooked fingers as a deformity and not joking about it) are by injury or by rheumatoid arthritis.

I believe neither is the case.

IF I had rheumatoid arthritis, I think I would've noticed by now.
My parents love me. They did not beat my hands to a pulp when I was a little girl. In fact, I hardly ever was spanked. Nobody else injured me. Yes, I was a klutz, but the first time I had a finger in a splint was in junior high and it was one of my pinky fingers, not the extremely crooked middle fingers. And I vividly remember the first time one of my classmates screamed in horror because of my fingers...I was very young at the time...:)

My aunt and my Mom both have crooked fingers as well...mine are just MUCH more obvious.

Is it genetic? There has GOT to be a better explanation than rheumatoid arthritis...

One of these days when I am rich I will see a hand surgeon about them...they are getting worse with age, unfortunately...it used to be just the left middle finger wouldn't go flat, but other fingers are stiffening...yes, old woman that I am...I still don't believe it is arthritis...

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One of the young women in the stake went to town on my hair last week...I LOVED it...

Movie Reviews...

Star Trek: Loved it...go see it, including all you Star Trek nutso's out there. It really doesn't effect the original story...I mean, it does, but it really doesn't...uh, just go see it, you will enjoy it, I promise. And it's worth the ticket.

Angels and Demons: Well, they changed some of the story for obvious reasons if you read the book (this book actually occurs BEFORE The Da Vinci Code, for example), and then some of it they changed because...actually, not sure why they changed some of it...anyways, I thought it was better than the Da Vinci Code...it just seemed rushed, but I suppose that was on purpose, because they are in a rush as well...anyways, it was alright. I will probably buy the box set when they come out with it...

X-Men Origins Wolverine: Loved parts of it, didn't love parts of it...FAR better in most parts than the other X-Men movies...was really hoping they were going to tie him into the Avengers Movie that will come out sometime in the future (Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, etc...). They still could bring him in, but...eh, we'll see. Hugh Jackman is lovely, though.

Night at the Museum: Loved it. Thought it was hilarious. There were a lot of underlying/obvious underlying jokes, just like in the first one...a number of them involving Amelia Earhart. I enjoyed it a LOT. (FYI, for all you Office fans who are in mourning because the season is over, go watch this movie...you will enjoy it just because of who shows up...and not the obvious Office link that was in the last movie, the original Michael Scott from the British version of the TV show). Very entertaining.

Good movie month, overall. Haven't had the desire to go for a long time, it seems...and it's about time. Maybe we should go into a recession more often, it produces much better movies...I believe the next movie I am excited about seeing is 'Up'. Still need to go see the Soloist...

:(

Saturday: Rain all day
Sunday: Thunderstorms all day
Monday: Thunderstorms all day

PLUS: 2nd friend bailed out on me for the weekend...both for good reasons...

I give up. No beach. I really can't afford it by my lonesome...plus, it kinda stinks to go to the beach all by yourself...I mean, who is going to keep an eye on my keys while I am out in the ocean swimming with the sharks and avoiding lightning strikes??? exactly...

What am I going to do? Wallow in self pity all weekend long? Oh, I hope not! I really don't know what to do with myself...

:( The Elizabeth is majorly bummed out...

FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!!

Hmmm...what shall Elizabeth do?

Get a nice second degree sunburn? Well, not on the 'want to do' list, but it is on the 'likely to happen' list...

FOUR whole days...

MIGHT go into work in the morning to finish clearing up what I didn't finish clearing up today as I stayed at work really late...just so that I don't have it waiting for me Tuesday morning...cause I am pretty sure it's going to be a Monday, even thought it really is a Tuesday...

Other than that, the plans are:

Saturday: Go to the beach.
Sunday: Go to Church at a convenient ward near the coast...and then go to the beach.
Monday: Go back to the beach yet again.

Somewhere in there we might hit up the outlets...:) to window shop mostly...

:) Slightly excited about how my weekend is looking...not so excited about the strong chance of thunderstorms the entire weekend, but that just means the likelyhood of a really bad sunburn drops slightly...not much, because in my large amount of experience the sun is extremely powerful, even through dark clouds...

Photo Shoot Contest...

Meant to post something on this a while ago...

My friend Michael is giving away 50 free photo shoots across the country...he is traveling to every single state in the United States this summer, so yes, even your state will be covered. He is a great photographer, and can make this:


Look like this:


Check it out here: LINK!

To check out far better selections of his work, go here: LINK!