it's the weekend update -- ughhhh :))

hello peeps --- i hope y'all are havin fabulous days ---
mine isn't bad - so far.  these days , i do have more good days than bad ... so i like it.

so -- i hope you have some coffee -- or somethin... if not, i'll wait.  this could get long.  :))

where should i begin?  i really don't know where anyone started here - since i started writing again, so i will back up just a little....  it isn't good , but it is where i really need to begin... so you know why everything happened --

so .... a couple weeks ago .. on 10-28, we had TWO of our beloved pets died . yes ! on the same damn day !  yup.  one of those -- cuz i am me type things.
   i am kinda getting out of that phase. that and 'the curse'.  i have decided not 'to claim' that.  i choose better for myself and my life today.  and choose to live one day at a time.  take things as they come.  life really seems to be easier this way.  and i do get 'depressed' less.  i have emotions, and feelings... and i am so much better off dealing in the moment with life on life's terms that way. rather than thinking or believing that i am doomed or cursed or hated ... etc.

anyhow -- back to my story -- 10-28-----
hubby and i were 'out of town' .. maybe an hour or so away.  this was my first sons' birthday anniversay date -- he was born 10-25-88 - died 3-19-89.  i decided that i wasn't gonna sit at home and 'think' about it.  so we went to the casino hotel for an overnight thing.  for the 27-28.  so the morning of the 28th , soulkid calls and says Sushi is sick.. very sick... takes her to the vet .. later she calls says the same about Jitterbug.  long story short... within two or three hours BOTH animals are 'gone'.  just like that !  it was terrible.  i sobbed like i haven't sobbed in many many years.  when i cry , i usually just leak.  this time i sobbed like a kid who'd been beat.

so -- this is what prompted our trip out to Arkansas.  that is where (most of you know this - if ya don't - don't say i'm sorry please )  it's ok these days, it's been a very long time.
but that is where my son .. Patrick is buried , and also a baby boy - that Stacey and i lost -- that's a whole nother story i won't get into -- right now...
also my mom, gramma, great grand parents... uncles, brother... and more are too...
it has been several years since i  or Danielle have been out there... and many more since Stace has been there .  but anyhow we decided that we would cremate and bury our pets there .
my dog Midnight , i buried (part of) out there like -- wow - 6? years ago?
and EEvee died last October, so we still had her ashes here ...

while stace was digging 'the hole' ... guess what?  i already warned him, but yup --- guess who showed up?  yeh, Midnight !  so , we were ok with that, because i took her ashes out , and added her into the box that we had the others in.  and in that box we added a toy for jitty, Sushis BEE suit, and a ball on a rope for EEvee, now all 4 are together for eternity.  and in Heaven with our babies.  i did feel better that we 'found' Midnight and were able to let them be together like that.

(Midnight n Sushi)


we also left toys, like usual, in lieu of flowers - for the boys, (a ninja turtle Leonardo, his childhood favorite -- - from Stace -- a BATMAN, from me -- a dinosaur from Danielle ----we cleaned up around the headstones,  stacey cleaned off some algae, or mold or whatever that had been growing on Patricks headstone for years.  i really appreciated that. it needed it , and i kept forgetting to bring something to clean it with every time i would go.  he had a pocket knife.

we made our rounds,  i saw my mom.. and all my peeps ... stace was thoughtful enough to buy little flags for my VET uncles -- and we also put one on my brothers grave -- he wanted nothing more than to join the service -- but was too severely epileptic.  he was very patriotic.  we put the fourth flag on our babies stone -- i guess if i woulda thought of it , we coulda put it on my moms ... she was a vet too.  i just didn;t think of that til just now.  oh well.


 anyhow ---  that was not an easy thing to do by any means.  but we all managed it well.  individually , and as a family.  we haven't been there as a family , since Danielle was maybe 7 years old.  that is way too long.

Chewie enjoyed herself ---  she got to be off leash for a while -- mostly outside the gate.  around the headstones i kept her on leash ... but she had fun runnin around .  she really needed that.  she found a cow patty -- had no idea what it was ... but it was no easy task to keep her away from it.  bah .

speaking of The Chew .. she is in full blown heat.  as is Aza .  this is not fun at all... with a male dog around.  i swear he is gonna stroke out at times.  poor thing. :))  we have to keep him separated from the girls... but in the few moments he does have around them -- especially Chewie -- i think he may explode ! he pants, he runs in circles ... and he  -- well... he attempts to find it at the wrong end.  it is pretty funny sometimes.  :))

alrighty then .. here comes the really really fun part of our trip.  this has never happened to any of us in our lives !  and to my knowledge -- no one that i know.  of course -- maybe it has , and they were just too mortified to admit it.  but y'all know me.. i have now shame :))

are you ready for this?   if you read further -- you are giving you WORD that you won't tell a soul.. and if you post this ANYWHERE -- i will make you a very sorry soul sister or brother.  i promise .  :)  this is just for your eyes only :))  top secret

ok, so -- we arrive in a little town in Arkansas.. yeh that's the first clue :))
LOL
don't take that wrong .. i love it there.  i'm just still mad that the motel that i used to go to shut down.  i went there for 24 years , and now it's gone.  i never woulda had THIS issue there.

ok.. so .. yeh, we get to the motel..the ONLY room left in town.  and it isn't a place we would normally stay.  like a well known chain place... at least 3 plus star rating , right.  this is like a little , unknown, "why are you stopping HERE" motel.    this was one of those  "can i look at the room first" motels.  NO, i am not kidding !!!  i looked at the room before i paid !  it LOOKED clean.  we were all tired and hungry.  we needed a place to stay and this was IT.  it smelled like an ashtray -- i don't smoke ,and am sensitive to the smell these days.  but noooo-- we were kinda stuck with it.  so i go tell the guy we will take it.   numero uno mistake !

we let Chewie pee, we unload the car, we rest a while, we go out to eat, we go to wal mart to get stuff we need for the cemetery, and some snacks and water etc.....  we come back,  we chill.  i fell asleep for a while, maybe a couple hours.  i wake up at maybe 10-1030 pm.  as i get a little more alert -- i look over to the other bed , where stace is kinda half sitting up , on his IPAD... i didn't have my glasses on but i think i see - something... i put my glasses on.. and OMG -- i see a bug crawling across the edge of his pillow !   i know bugs geek him out ... so i attempt to find the correct tone to speak in.  i say -- stacey, there's a bug on your pillow.  he about flew out of his bed !  he isn't the kinda person who just immediate squishes a big.  no.  he examines it.  no matter where , when or what the circumstance -- he just has to know WTF it IS.  then he will squish, kill , mame , set fire to , or whatever .  so he takes a full three minutes to examine this mystery bug on his pillow! in the meantime -- i just want it dead and gone.  eeeewwweeee. even tho i was three or four feet away.

he kills it.. then takes a pic, then gets on google.....  guess what folks ?  it was a F'N bed bug !!!  yup.  a bed bug !  i thought all my life that bed bugs were microscopic. unseen by the nekkid eye.  but nooooo.  this f'er was big as a dog tick !!!  in fact that's what soulkid thought it was.  i thought maybe a beetle?   nope. a bedbug !!!!!
to make it worse?   can it get worse?  oh yeh.  it got worse.  much worse.  we immediately start freakin out ! all of us!  stace googles motels, i call motels, danielle starts flippin over pillows and sheets ... and WHILE i'm on a four minute phone call to a booked up motel .. telling him of our horror story of being trapped in bed bug motel with no where to go --- i see, not one, not two, not even three -- but i shit you not , as danielle is moving pillows and sheets , i SAW with my own two eyes -- at LEAST 5-6 of those things !!! --- my head is itching right now just telling you this !!!

i said to him, 'i thought you can't see bed bugs !????  he says 'these are arkansas bed bugs' !
OMGGGGGGG

when we left - i went to the front desk and demanded my money back !  he said no -- at first.   i told him, if he didn't refund my money - i would call the health department, then i would knock on every door in that place and tell them they had bed bugs !  he kept trying to argue.  i told him 'you don't know who you're talking to!'  i swear i WILL knock on every single door in this place - and i will call the health department -- i have you shut down !
guess what?  i got my money back ... and about a minute and a half later?  i noticed i was wearing my Batman hat !  LOL
(it's been a long time since i had to Gran Gran someone that bad... but i still got it)  :))

 we loaded our stuff and drove 100 miles right then, to the next big toen and stayed in a friggin hilton!  

he (the guy on the phone) - told us how to NOT take ANYTHING in our house when we get home.. was all our clothes .. uuuuuggghhhhhhhh.  when we got home .. we all stripped nekkid at the front door and left our clothes outside !

we all took showers .. even chewie got a shower -- i even changed our sheets at home before goin to bed.

it was a trip to end all trips.

but omg... 

it is sooooo goood to be home !

ok folks -- write it in blood -- post a comment -- promise - this does NOT EVER get repeated

have a happy day in your world ...

oh, and just so ya know -- a critter -- can not live on a host -- but they do live on 'stuff .... we threw away a lot -- and EVERYTHING got washed !!!!

is it cuz i'm me ?  nah.  i know this happens --  i also know -- we will be buying a camper soon... cuz our hotel days are OVAH !