Tiiiiired Thursday

Sleep may be for amateurs, as I quoted below, but dammit I'm totally feeling like participating in a little amateur hour myself. I am tiiiired. Jon and I have been staying up way too late this whole week, just hanging on the couch and watching tv and then getting into bed and veg'ing there and then of course last night was the blues jam and we were up late for that and blah blah blahhhh... I also had rehearsal last night and that went well. We even have 2 new songs, Roxy Music's "Slave to Love" done slow blues style and then I showed the boys how to play "But I Rode Some" by Taj and sung by me. They picked it right up and Leo really liked it... awesome.

Tonight Jon is playing w/our harmonica playing frenemy and the big monthly blues society jam is tonight (the one we hosted back in November) but I don't really wanna go. I do b/c it's gonna be huge and it's the HBS president's bday and there will be cake. On the other hand there's been cake all week at Job #2, so much so that I've had to take lots of it home and then at a work meeting yesterday at Job #1 there was cake for someone's bday there and frankly, I'm a little caked-out believe it or don't. Plus Leo will be going so he can be my representative as far as I'm concerned. Plus I really gotta finish this latest sheriff file and I just want to go home, grab a snack, work on my file, shower/change and get to Jon's house and get into bed and wait for him to come home.

Long ass day tomorrow: Job #1 followed immediately by a groovy documentary about Sly Stone's crazy ass that's supposed to be showing at a local music club/restaurant and that Jon and I want to see bad. But we'll have to skip out before it's over as The Leo Trio has the opening gig at another music club/restaurant from 9-10p. Then Jon and I may want to go to Anderson Fair to see this guitarist/singer/songwriter guy; Jon's mandolin musician partner will be there and I never need convincing to go to the Fair!

CD Release Party!

Ok, so I managed to finally get well enough where I wasn't hacking and coughing and mucus-ing and was able to mostly enjoy my weekend except for some of Sunday, but more on that in a minute. Jon and I stayed at my house all weekend long and he chose my outfit for his CD Release party: one of my new sexy sweaters from Victoria's Secretions, black leggings, and my thigh-high leather/suede boots. We had to get to the Big Easy waaaaay early, like 8:15pm so he could set up and when we got there the parking lot was already packed. He had wondered if the BE would be a big enough venue and now we weren't so sure!

Ma and Fred were already there and so was Jon's ex-GF and her parents. They were all sitting at the same table so that was a nice coincidence! Unfortunately my li'l bro couldn't make it after all as he was feeling sickly, and my dad never showed up but that's not a total surprise. Everyone kept asking me if I was going to get up and play and I said that I hadn't planned on it, that it would be up to the bass player if he wanted to take a break or not. Anyway, it was good times, although that damn Leo never showed up either, nor Phillipo but who cares b/c eventually the venue was as packed as I'd ever seen it--literally elbow to elbow. Jon's parents got to meet my mom finally and they joined them at their table. It got to be so packed that I realized that the most room would be on the dance floor so that's where me and Jon's ex-GF and her mom and Jon's cousin and his mom ended up spending most of our time. In fact, that's where I spent ALL my time!

It really was a fun night and a veritable who's who of the Houston blues community. My mom joined the Houston Blues Society so she could get the t-shirt and she ended up winning one of Jon's CD's in the raffle! (She'd already bought 4; I got her a discount on them.) Later on my Aunt P and Uncle J showed up, plus a filmmaker friend of mine and my dad's that I hadn't seen in forever! However this really sweet guy who I met at one of Jon's gigs showed up and he knew I liked white wine (he had bought me some at the gig I met him at) and he took it upon himself to bring me 2 glasses of wine throughout the duration of the night. I drank them on top of my 2 drinks for my 2-drink maximum, which was this delicious Deep Eddy's Sweet Tea Flavoured Vodka! So not only did I irresponsibly double my drink maximum, I mixed drinks on top of that. On top of THAT Jon and I barely had time to eat any dinner before the show and I had run out to grab us a couple of sandwiches but I only had time to eat 1/2 of mine, so my stomach was definitely not full and then I danced most of it off anyway.

Finally, it was all over and Jon and Rich had a truly successful event. I lost an earring and my dogs were barking from dancing in my 3-inch heels. When we got home I ate the rest of my sandwich but I was pretty drunk. I demonstrated the 3 Standard Field Sobriety Tests to Jon and I failed all 3 of them, yuk yuk! The next morning Jon wanted to get up and go eat around 10am. I had a splitting headache and couldn't move. Around noon he tried to rouse me again. I begged him to get me a pain pill. He said "You are a pain pill!" which was hilarious. Finally around 2pm I managed to drag myself out of bed b/c he suggested Chinese buffet which I actually did not think was a bad idea. Grease always does my hangovers good, and lo mein, mmmmm!

I couldn't believe mixing 4 drinks was hurting me so bad; then again I've been on the 2-drink maximum since Thanksgiving so I supposed my tolerance has meandered down. The buffet was good but I had a rough time at first and had to scope out a clear path to the bathroom just in case; fortunately it all stayed down. Then we went to get cinnamon buns at IKEA, then we went to the grocery store to get banana pudding and other snacks for the football game that evening. Back at home we totally chilled out; Jon watched the game and I sat next to him on the couch and worked on my latest sheriff file and vegged. It was a great ending to a fun weekend.

In other news, I got some mindblowing news from Mudflap yesterday: He's going to be a daddy!!! He broke up w/Isa last fall and reconnected w/his 1st girlfriend from junior high. They started dating in October and now she's 6 weeks pregnant! Also, the friend of Jon's whose Christmas party we went to is also pregnant. With my girlfriends L and JFu also knocked up, it kinda makes me want to be as well. But I won't just yet! Jon and I still have some fun we need to have. However, I did take my OB/GYN's advice and have started taking a multivitamin w/lots o' Folic Acid.

Finally, I did my taxes yesterday. I done good this year, which almost but not quite makes up for the painful hurt of that $3000+ tax bill of last year. Now I'll be getting over $1K back, which I'm not totally happy about (I don't believe in tax refunds) but which will come in handy fo' sho'! Now I just need to adjust my withholding at Job #2 so I don't get such a big refund next year, or break even if at all possible.

Still Recuperating

At least less drugs are needed as the days progress. Less Benadryl and less Hydrocodone. Still running with mucus like a mad dog though. The cough at night is totally annoying. Jon is a world-class snorer though and can sleep though anything. Fortunately, so can I!

I wanted to go out last night to the jam and see him but I looked like hell--nose totally chapped from the cold and constant Kleenex rubbing--and realized it would behoove me to make sure I get well for the long day on Saturday. I had to go do a Sheriff app interview anyway and didn't get home til after 9pm. I did some pampering at home: hot shower, facial, etc. for my poor skin. Jon came over of course when he was done around 2am and we were up til about 4am. Then I was at work by 9-ish this morning! Sleep is for amateurs.

TGIF tomorrow. Tomorrow night Jon and I are just gonna take it easy. I need to do some serious sleeping in on Sat. Today Jon said he is absolutely sick of the phone and people bugging him and so we want to get away as soon as we both have a 100% free weekend; that won't be until the President's day holiday in Feb. though. One of his awesome millionaire friends has a cabin in Wimberley TX that he has offered to us anytime we want to use it (he told me "We need someone to go check on it!"), so that's what we're tentatively planning to do that weekend! Man, oh man... I would SO LOVE THAT. Just me and Jon and some library books and TV and turning off the damn cell phones and just... VEG'ING.

Sick, Sick, Sick, Sick... Sick!

Oh lord. What a past week. I was sick as the proverbial pooch. I hadn't been that sick in years. Turns out it was some kinda bad cold/sore throat virus thing. Damn, I was down for the count for days. It started, I guess, last Sunday night when I developed a minor dry cough. Went to work on Monday just fine. Then that night at Jon's he made picadillo for dinner and I had some--no problem--but soon my throat started to hurt. We went to bed and on Tuesday morning when I woke up my throat was SORE. BAD sore. AWFUL sore. I had to have him call into work for me so that I wouldn't have to open my mouth or move my vocal cords in any way. I spent Tuesday in Jon's bed, all day, dude.

Wednesday was no better. Still a nasty sore throat. My mom made me make a doctor's appointment so I made one for that morning and they did a throat strep culture and sent me home with a prescrip for a nasal spray for the nasal congestion and a heavy strength Ibuprofin for the throat pain. (They'd also done a urine pregnancy test which came up negative.) I went to my house to spent the day on the couch and Jon came over that night.

Thursday the sore throat was better but now I was doing some very serious running with mucus and now my voice was almost gone. Jon said I sounded like Peter Brady going through puberty. Still, I went to my OB/GYN appt. and Jon came with me. She hooked me up to the ultrasound machine and we all got to see inside my uterus only to see... nothing. There's no one in there! She instructed us on the best days to try getting pregnant when we are ready and sent me home with a prescrip for Provera so my Process will finally start. Actually, I decided not to fill it just yet and my mom and Jon agreed. The Process will start when it's good and ready.

Thursday night I went back to stay at Jon's house. Friday I was still not ready to go back to work and still barely had a voice. I was going through Kleenex like it was Kleenex and was swallowing as much Dayquil and Nyquil as allowed by law and common sense. Same with my nasal spray. I had been drinking hot tea by the gallon all week, so much so that I got bored and switched to hot chocolate. I was taking 2 hot showers/day. Jon was so sweet and took good care of me. I was so sick I couldn't even go work at Job #2 and you know that means I'm SICK. Friday afternoon we went to Rich's house (Rich is our blues mandolinist friend) to stuff envelopes w/their new CD to ship all over and Rich bought us lunch, which was nice. His big yellow lab, "Buddy Guy" would not leave me alone but he was so cute I didn't mind. Friday night back at Jon's we went through some of the songs for the gig on Saturday but I couldn't sing much, although I was enjoying the heavy raspy throaty thing my voice was doing.

Saturday we slept real late and ran by Jon's friend's house to set up the PA and get our gear into place. His friend has a huge beautiful manse and it was a cool place to play a gig. Then we went home to get ready and get back to the gig by 7pm. My voice was doing slightly better and actually I ended up only singing 2 of my 4 songs which was fine. Our gig got kind of cut short anyway, although we had fun playing "Bust a Move" for their 10-yr old daughter. The girl even got out her violin and played "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "Iko Iko" with us, which was so cute! Everyone was so tickled and so nice and friendly. And of course the food was killer: meat empanadas, gumbo, bacon-wrapped shrimp, huge jumbo peel and eat shrimp, crab ceviche, hot wings, and King's Cakes! I drank 2 glasses of white wine, my 1st time drinking in a few days. And I got paid handsomely for my work and they had so much food leftover they sent everyone home with pans of the stuff.

Sunday we had to go to the radio station (the same one that I've been playing live on all last year, KPFT) so that Jon and Rich could do a live radio interview about their CD. They did a great job and then Jon and I went to Baytown to see his mom. She made us a nice dinner of chicken, baked potatoes, salad, bread and banana pudding. Jon's ex-GF and her family came over to say hi (his ex-GF is so cool and in fact it's her mom and dad that we sometimes spend time with, at Big Easy, dinner, etc.). They all go way back w/Jon and his entire family and the GF and her husband/kids still live in Baytown. Jon's dad came over later, plus his sister. They're all coming to the CD release party on Saturday and I'm looking forward to everyone meeting my mom, dad, brother, etc!

Yesterday was the MLK Holiday--thank God!--and Jon had to go to work at the guitar store. I went home in the early afternoon and did stuff around my house--laundry, going through the mail, etc. I also recycled/trashed tons of my ex-husb's legal papers that were still there, the custody battle stuff. I was looking through a lot of it and it seems like a lifetime ago. It used to be the most important thing in my life. Ain't it funny how time slips away.

Today I'm back at work. My voice is mostly back and I just have the remnants of an annoying dry cough (taking Hydrocone's cut in 1/2 for that) and still plenty of mucus (Benadryl for that) but there was really no more reason to stay at home in bed. Tonight I'll even go by Job #2. Jon has rehearsal for the CD release party so we're back at my house tonight and tomorrow night. Leo is coming back from London this week and wants to rehearse at some point but I'm not going to kill myself trying to do that. I am taking it EASY for now and for awhile.

Too Cold to Mambo

Damn, it's unreasonably cold here this week. It's hibernation weather. Even Jon is reduced to turning his heat on, which he never uses (though mostly he turns it on b/c of me and my TBS [Thin Blood Syndrome] and b/c he loooooooves me!).

So we had a pretty damn awesome weekend. Jon's gig on Friday night w/Earl's band turned out to be Something Else, man. I was drinking this yummy sweet tea flavoured vodka called Deep Eddy's. I was relaxing, having a good ol' time, and the Big Easy had a very respectable crowd there! Jon asked me to get up the 2nd set, so I did, and that is when the man of honor, Earl, decided to get up and play a tune on the keys! The whole crowd surged forward w/all kinds of cameras to capture the magical moment--and I was part of it! I was also playing a damn 6-string bass, as that's what Earl's bassist had brought. I had to play it sitting down (which is how he was playing it too) b/c the strap was too long and incidentally, that bass was damn heavy. People later were saying the thing was bigger than me! So we played a real fun set and everyone got a kick out of it and we also played w/the mandolin player that just put out a CD w/Jon. It was so fucking awesome.

At the beginning of the 3rd set Jon sent me to the bar to get him a drink and when I was waiting there he called me back to the stage. Turns out Earl's bassist wasn't feeling well and they asked if I'd spell him for the 3rd and last set. Sure! Why not! It was so fun and I was actually starting to get the hang of the 6-string although later I compared it to the gymnast on the balance beam and how I had to really concentrate on my left fingers landing on the correct string, as well as the right hand fingers plucking the correct string! And uh, maybe I didn't land correctly 100% of the time--I probably landed correctly 95% of the time! But damn, I was having a real good time and I was pleased with myself at even having the balls to attempt that bass, much less play it for 2 whole sets!!!

When Jon and I left after the end of a long night he told me he had some $ for me--even awesomer! He shared some of the tip jar $ with me, and frankly, that was the right thing to do. The bar owner (who is a friend of ours but is also a curmudgeon) apparently protested a little (saying that Jon paying me--his girlfriend--was favoritism! As if!!!) but Jon was not to be deterred and like I said, I played 2 out of 3 fucking sets on a 6-string bass so yes, giving me a taste of the gig was the absolute, ethical, right thing to do! Then Jon and I went to the grocery store so I could get cake, since we'd missed out on Earl's b-day cake as we were onstage all night. Man--what a groovy night! (The rest of the weekend I had a sore lump/bruise on the top of my right thigh and it wasn't until Sunday that I realized that's where that bass had been resting. Told y'all it was heavy!)

Saturday we slept in and had a relaxing day and that evening we went to see the documentary Marwencol which was really amazing and beautiful. Li'l bro and his friends joined us. Then Jon and I repaired down the street to my high school classmate's new restaurant. Classmate spotted me a free margarita, though it was tiny and the food was just ok. Hmph. Sunday we slept in and I had to go to Job #1 for the short Sunday shift. While I was at work Jon was busy cleaning out his garage, getting rid of stuff. We went to dinner after I got off work w/a friend of his and then back at Jon's house I pulled out Big Red to work on some songs in preparation for our gig this upcoming Saturday. I still need lots of work though and yes, playing w/Jon is sometimes intimidating for me. After awhile I wasn't feeling very fearless anymore and just felt like a shitty player, but hopefully I was just tired b/c it was getting late.

Today I made an appt. to go see my female doctor--as in that kind of female doctor. I still don't know what's going on w/my Process not showing up but I think it's time to get a definitive answer once and for all. I have one more pregnancy test that I might take in the morning. I keep drinking hard liquor and having a good old time and I've decided that maybe I might want to cease irresponsible behavior for the time being, JUST IN CASE. However, I feel exactly the same as ever, fine and healthy. However, I see all kinds of message sites on women's health sites and pregnancy sites of all these women who didn't have a single symptom until 6 weeks pregnant, and got negative home pregnancy test results all the way up to 2 months pregnant. Anyway, it's just time I found out what's going on here. I'll see the Dr. on Thursday morning.

Merry New Year! - As I Likes to Say

So the absolutely best damn thing about these past few days was that I had Friday-Monday COMPLETELY 100% OFF!!! FREE! Spending time at NONE of my 4 jobs! Job free. Sheriff stuff free. Gig free. Ohhhhh bliss. Just hanging and relaxing with my baby daddy. We ran around a little, sure. After sleeping really damn late on Sat. we went to Jon's friend's house for a nice little afternoon party/dinner thing, then we went to his mom's house in Baytown for dinner w/the family, then we ended the night swinging by my mom's house to bring her a plate and say hi.

So Jon's NYE gig was a total bust, but we knew it would be. It was so lame it's not even worth mentioning. We did get to eat some yummy meatballs and other Italian food and I did get to take a bottle of champagne home, but I also earned it by helping them stack tables and chairs at the end of the damn night! I also got up and played 3 songs, 2 w/Jon and 1 w/his bassist who switched to guitar. After it was all over, 2am found us hunting desperately for cake as there was no dessert w/the catered meal, to my outrage! I had to settle for plastic-wrapped coffee cake found at the convenience store, bleh! But we bought good cake on Saturday afternoon when the grocery stores reopened, thank God!

The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging 'round my house. Jon and I took care of some much-needed minor repairs, such as replacing the downstairs toilet. Whooo, I could spend my whole life and never do that again! But we did it and now I got a nice new toilet in there. He also showed me how to use my iPod on these cool speakers I have (that my ex-husb left) and now I have iPod music upstairs or wherever I want--no need to buy an expensive iPod speaker tower now!!! I also bagged up more and more of ex-husb's stuff and trashed it. The rest will also be gotten rid of so I can start 2011 with a complete blank slate, house-wise.

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around on the couch, in bed, going out to eat, etc. On Monday I did actually try to come into Job #2 but Jon called me and wanted to meet me after his rehearsal so we did that and ended up spending the afternoon at my house and then going to poke around some pawn shops and then going to the mall that evening to look for workout shoes for him. It was sooooo hard to get up early and out of bed on Tuesday morning!

So how I am gwine mold 2011? Well, my #1 big thing is to be more patient, generally speaking. I also want this to be the year I break out, music-wise and as a bassist, both w/The Leo Trio and w/Jon once we get our act up and running. Otherwise all other things are going to continue as usual, such as continuing to chip heavily away at my (ex-husb's inherited) debt, continuing to try to exercise/eat healthy, etc. Health note: my Process still hasn't started and is now almost 3 weeks late, but I took another pregnancy test on Monday (a digital one this time) and it came up negative. I think I might just ignore this strange delayed-Process thing, though there's plenty of testimonials on women's health websites out there from plenty of women who tested negative on those tests when they were 2-3 months pregnant, so I might switch back to drinking wine just in case. However--I still don't feel any different AT ALL so maybe this is just a weirdo thing going on with me, for the first time ever! Finally, 2011 will also be the year that Jon and I will start to try working on this pregnancy thing--for real!

No rehearsal after all this week, for which I am grateful. I cancelled on Monday night b/c I'm still feeling lazy after the holidays and Jon and I were finishing up some little things around my house. Leo is gwine to London for 10 days on the 10th so we might skip our live radio performance which was supposed to be this Sunday. Fine with me, we can always reschedule it. Tonight I'm gwine to the blues jam to see Jon play and get turned on by him and hang w/my blues buddies, and we're back at the Big Easy again on Fri. night for Earl's bday party gig (Jon'll play that too). Saturday fun includes going to see this fascinating documentary Marwencol at a local indie-theater and then going to a high school classmate of mine's new restaurant, both events which are located right by Jon's house. Sunday I do have to work the short shift at Job #1 but hopefully that'll be cake. Mmmmm... cake!