Favorite Designers ...Things I Love

"I takes courage to mix things up and conviction to push a look to its limit, when you do, the reward is rooms that exude passion, personality and flair"
                                                                                                                                      Mary McDonald

Mary McDonald is the...let's say a little snobby designer that was on the show "Million Dollar Decorators" a few years back. On one episode she turned down a million dollar job because she just didn't feel like dealing with it.  She at least past it on to a designer friend that was more than happy to take the job.  I've done the same thing more than once,  just not on the same scale.  That being said, I really do love her. She has a great sense of pattern for floors, fabric and of course black and white. She as a good designer does, has a incredible capability to accessorize and use color that is bounced around the room to balance and make it pleasant to the eye.  Hope you enjoy...

Texture, texture, texture.

Love the pop of orange!

Tough to pull off orange walls, but love this room.

Black walls duh!

So this is a little of Mary McDonald. Hope you enjoyed!

Design on.....

Sue "CiCi" Cook

Mr. Sunshine...Things l Hate

"Everything I like is either illegal, immoral, fattening, expensive or impossible"
                                                                                                              Unknown

My attempt at drawing on the computer with crab claw hand.

OK, I know this is titled Mr. Sunshine, but I want to start off by talking about pours!  There are good pours and bad pours.  Now when you go to a restaurant and they bring you a baby glass half full, bad pour.  When you go to a restaurant and they bring you a nice glass one quarter full, bad pour. When I do go out which is rare, give the poor girl a decent glass with a decent pour!  Now my daughter and sometimes my husband give me a good pour. My daughter because she loves me, my husband because he doesn't want hear me bitch.  I just felt the need to share.

My attempt at Mr, Sunshine.

Now for Mr. Sunshine.  I had the pleasure (that's me being totally sarcastic) of meeting my Respiratory Therapist for the first time.  Let me see how to describe him.  If the Joker and Jim Carey from Mask had a child it would be this guy. He all but spun into the room and with his Joker smile, and eyes popping out of his head aaaaaaa ooooooooooooo gaaaaaaaaaaaa!  That's where the nice guy ended. First he scanned my room with those beady eyes, about as subtle as a flying brick.  Then he proceeded to tell me my breathing apparatus my neurologist suggested I buy was worthless.  Really Mr. Sunshine when did you get your degree in neurology?  Then he started on my bi-pap machine and how it really is OK,  but not strengthening my lungs.  OK then, he really is a neurologist!

Then Mr, Sunshine starts in on have I thought about a trecheotomy?  He say's "Oh you are not to that point yet, but have you thought about it?" Well of course I have thought about it jack ass, everyone that has had the Shit Ass Disease has "thought about it".  Then he tells me 90% of people can still talk and eat. Well I don't know if you know my odds, but I have the Shit Ass Disease, 2 in 100,000 get it, now talk to me about 99% !

So much for Mr. Sunshine, what the fuck does he know anyway?


Now let's get back to pours...

Pour on...Sue "CiCi" Cook

Shit Ass Disease #4,321...Things I Hate

IF YOU HAVE BRAINS IN YOUR HEAD

YOU HAVE FEET IN YOUR SHOES

YOU CAN STEER YOURSELF ANY

DIRECTION YOU CHOOSE.

Dr. Seuss

My new Physical Therapist started last week. Besides he is... shall we say the equivalent to a medieval torturer, I really like him. I mean get this, he's on time! No shit, every Tuesday and Thursday he is here at 8:30!!  He comes in, starts the torture, 45 minutes later he's gone! I hadn't cried until today when he pulled out the Hoyer Lift.  Guess every time a new contraption comes along I have to cry like a big fat titty baby.  Every time,  just about the time you think you have everything figured out, you don't. This Shit Ass Disease just loves to get you comfortable than bitch slap you right across the face!  Ahh you poor thing, I'll be gentle (laughing under its ugly breath) then here is a Hoyer Lift...ha ha ha ha suuuccccker!

I also went to see a Rheumatologist for my crab claw.  What a fuck fest that was from the start.  40 minutes of paperwork (already emailed them all 17 pages of doctor reports) but who knows where they are?  Silly little people. This particular doctor is in with three general practitioners, uh first mistake!  Sitting in a room full of sick people, by the way they have a sign at check in that says  "If you have a sneeze or cough please put mask on" and you look around the room full of 50 people and not one has a mask on, but plenty of sneezing and coughs.  I finally got called back to the room where we answered the same questions for another 40 minutes before, oh wait... just a minute,  after the last question was answered the silly little people found the 17 pages!!  So we waited another 20 minutes for Dr. Boobalishous.  I am not kidding all but the nips were flowing like two watermelons ready to pop, and no guys I am not giving you her name, she was not hot.  My husband didn't seem to mind at all though?  She asked me three or four questions, said she wanted blood work, which they would take there and x rays I could get next door.  If the test did not show anything, she would see me in two weeks. You heard me right, two weeks. So this crab claw that feels broken, I'll just wait a couple more weeks. NO BIG DEAL!


Oh it doesn't end there. We waited for the blood sucker nurse for 40 minutes, when she finally came to the door and said , "Are you waiting on blood"? At this point I wanted  to get up and slap her but, a. I can't get up and, b. she was really big.  She proceeds to tell us we have to come to the nurses station to get blood work. Someone forgot to share that little tidbit 40 minutes ago or leave a crystal ball in the room!  So we go to the nurses station and she is getting her 1,000 vials out, I look down and there is a vial with blood in it on the floor.  Well I wasn't about to  say a word, this pissy amazon was getting ready to stick a needle in my arm, sooooooo I waited until she had ever so gently stabbed my arm, let her fill a few of the vials then ever so nicely pointed out there was a vile of blood on the floor.  Her response kind of, well rather took me a back, "Yes I know, there's no blood in it".  Well I looking right at it and there sure the hell was blood in it.   First of all if  "she knew"  why the hell didn't she pick it up! So by the time I got the x rays I was there 4 1/2 hours.

You thought this story was over?  Oh no, no, remember the sign at the check in desk, the one about the mask?  Well apparently that sign should have said, "If you don't want to get a sneeze or a cough, wear mask"  Yes I am on week three of the worst bug I have had in a long time!  I will spare you the snotty details but it isn't pretty.  That's another gift from the Shit Ass Disease when you get sick it likes to cuddle up, tell you stories, give you back rubs so it hangs around a week or two longer.

So after not receiving a call from Dr. Boobalishous,  I went to my appointment two weeks later. They tell you to be there 15 minutes early, which I did. 1 hour and 15 minutes later I am still sitting there (with a mask on this time),  in a room full of snotty sick people.  I know you all feel the same way I do.  Why do doctors feel there time is more valuable than yours.  Then the people that were in front of us,  and three people behind in line said they had been there an hour and half.  Stick a fucking fork in me I am done!  So my husband goes to the window and tells them were done and leaving.  The sweet little receptionist, OK Mr. Cook just let us know where you want your records sent.

So here I am, crab claw in all its glory.  I called two other Rheumatologist and there first appointments are three month out, wa- wah :-(

And please remember to join or donate to this walk I realize we already pay a gazillion dollars on other stupid stuff but this one is really important to me.

Dear Friends and Family, I am participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS® to do my part in the fight against Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Why don't you join my team? The more Walkers we have, the merrier, and the better for the mission of The ALS Association. We need people like you on my team. Your participation in the Walk will make a difference in the lives of those affected by ALS. Think about the ways that The ALS Association has impacted those around you. The money we raise will help The ALS Association support global research, assist people with ALS, fund multidisciplinary certified clinical care centers, and foster government partnerships. Each dollar we contribute will make a difference! The ALS Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. We need your support, so please do anything you can! If you can't join my team, please consider making a donation to support my efforts. Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you at the Walk! http://webtx.alsa.org/site/TR?team_id=338770&pg=team&fr_id=11041&s_tafId=266999 Crab claw on.... Sue "CiCi" Cook

Don't Understand... Things I Hate

I don't mean to sound like Coldplay, or maybe I do but there are "Things I Don't Understand".  I mean, I try, I really do try, but there are things that just make me crazy!  Like how is it possible in 76 years they have not even come up even a determinative test to diagnose the Shit Ass Disease, let alone find a cure? I mean it's not just the Shit Ass Disease, it's a lot of different diseases but since I have the Shit Ass Disease I will stick to that one.  However here are some of the important things they have come up with to improve our state of being and fund:



PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Government Funded                       $528.4      million annually
42% for STIs/STD's                        $221.928  million annually
Source Planned Parenthood


Are you kidding me???  Our Government spends $221.928 MILLION dollars, annually on STIs/STD's! If you are a victim of rape I understand, if not shame on you and shame on our Government.


OBESITY

$190.2 BILLION per year, or 20.6% of national heath care.
Source US/WORLD

$190 billion -- That's the amount of added medical costs every year that are estimated to stem from obesity-related problems. It’s nearly 21% of total U.S. health care costs.
- See more at: http://www.phitamerica.org/News_Archive/10_Flaggergasting_Costs.htm#sthash.9MeysuWp.dpuf

U.S. Health care is spending twice as much on obesity than previously believed, reports a new Cornell University study.  Obesity now for almost 21% of the U.S. healthcare cost.


I mean I get it losing weight is hard, but it's achievable. Anyone and I mean anyone can eat healthy, exercise and quit drinking sugar filled drinks. My point is all the dieting in the world won't stop the Shit Ass Disease!

Now for my favorite...

SMOKING

In 2004 smoking cost the united states more than $193 BILLION.
Source American Lung Association

Yes thats BILLION people.  I can stat this one to death, literally!  Now I am going to be honest, I started smoking at a very young age and smoked a lot of years.  I also quit over 20 years ago. Was it hard? Yes.  Was it impossible?  Hell no! Here is the reality:  In 1965, Congress required all cigarette packages distributed in the United States to carry a health warning, and since 1970 this warning is made in the name of the Surgeon General. In 1969, cigarette advertising on television and radio was banned, effective September 1970. So if you started smoking past 1969 you're a fucking dumb ass, I was a dumb ass You still are.


There are drugs for just about everything from a hard on (apparently male and now female), separation anxiety, damaged nails, inadequate eyelashes, drugs to get off drugs  Then there are the 2 million antidepressant drugs.  Dont get me wrong I take antidepressants but I also have the Shit Ass Disease, does there really need to be 2 million options??

However... in 1995 (56 years after Lou Gehrig died) they approved a drug called Riluzole. It's "supposed" to increase your life capacity up to 09%.  The average life expectancy is 2 to 5 years, so in my horrible math that means 2 to 5 months.  Oh and there are commonly  48 side effects.  All  this for $1,200 per month uninsured, $300 per month insured.  I mean don't get me wrong I would pay whatever absurd price for a drug with a thousand side effects if it would cure this Shit Ass Disease.   I just don't understand. 

On a lighter note...

I mean the backpack is bigger than she is:-(

Here is something else I don't understand...how is it possible my Emerson started kindergarten??  I know, only I can go from a soap box to kindergarten.  It's my prerogative, I can do what I want to do. Why do I have a memories of driving my 240Z and listening to Bobby Brown on my 8 track...uhm? I was so cool!  Anyway back to little E. I remember wearing sunglasses the first day of school with both my kids because I knew I would ball my eyes out.  Kindergarten is such a milestone.  It's forever losing control of your baby.  She will start making lifelong friends, learning all their bad habits (she has none) we call her Sybill for fun. She will be around yucky boys, snotty girls, and in all she is starting her life and I don't like it, I don't like it at all!

Sass!

And please remember to join or donate to this walk I realize we already pay a gazillion dollars on other stupid stuff but this one is really important to me.

Dear Friends and Family, I am participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS® to do my part in the fight against Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Why don't you join my team? The more Walkers we have, the merrier, and the better for the mission of The ALS Association. We need people like you on my team. Your participation in the Walk will make a difference in the lives of those affected by ALS. Think about the ways that The ALS Association has impacted those around you. The money we raise will help The ALS Association support global research, assist people with ALS, fund multidisciplinary certified clinical care centers, and foster government partnerships. Each dollar we contribute will make a difference! The ALS Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. We need your support, so please do anything you can! If you can't join my team, please consider making a donation to support my efforts. Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you at the Walk! http://webtx.alsa.org/site/TR?team_id=338770&pg=team&fr_id=11041&s_tafId=266999

Don't forget the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Just don't  understand on...

Sue "CiCi" Cook