Watching the clock...

I'm waiting for time to head to the theater to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Well, I still need to make supper. Just for me, tonight, though, since Gran is at my older brother's house, and Paul and Ian are hanging out with Paul's half-brother, Chris.

I'm getting caught up on a few online tasks before I change. I'm not taking a robe or a wand, just wearing this t-shirt -



- and possibly the cap that goes with it.

I used Fandango to try to get 11:59 PM tickets for tonight, but they goofed, and so I goofed. Now I have 11:59 PM tickets for the regular showing. Since IMAX's showing at that time is now sold out, I'll be changing the tickets for the 3:00 AM showing. The IMAX tickets cost a little more, but I know it will be worth it.

Some critics have said the yelling and angst in OotP are a little over the top, but I say you just can't expect to get everything in a movie that you do in a book. Make no mistake, I love movies. It's just that they and books are apples and oranges.

I am terrible about watching the Harry Potter movies and saying, "But in the book, this happened..." or "But they left this out! And it's important!" I recently made myself watch the earlier movies on DVD again, trying to free myself of expectations. They are still far and away better than most fanfics I've read! They are abbreviated versions of the books, with illustrations. Moving illustrations, like the paintings and photographs in the wizarding world. Yes, a few things annoy me, and a few things amuse me, about changes that are made. I am still saddened by Richard Harris' passing, because he will always be my Dumbledore. My Dumbledore is gentle, even though he is a force to be reckoned with. My Dumbledore would never shake Harry or any other student to get the truth. Dumbledore does not resort to violence to learn facts. He is the epitome of wisdom.

Hermione is brilliant, but earnest, not snug. Ron doesn't realize that he is smart. He has a wealth of knowledge about the wizarding world. He's just been in the shadow of five uniquely resourceful brothers all his life. And Harry? He is no slouch. Almost everything we know comes through him. He is our eyes, our mind, and our heart.

Sorry. I'm getting too caught up in this again. I can't help it. I so love a good story.

The bees' knees

Actually, I'm not sure bees have knees. But whatever they have, I'd appreciate them keeping them away from my family.

As I've said, Cathie married her childhood sweetheart last week. She's back at Fort Bragg, NC, now, until October. She will get to take leave again before then. In October, she gets reassigned to Fort Campbell. In the meantime, her husband is here in town.

Cathie left on Sunday. The hubby was checking out a bees nest that evening when he was struck by the irate inhabitants. He had stings from at least six or seven yellow jackets. One of them left a nasty trail down his arm as he tried to brush it from his skin. He thought he needed to rest afterward, and then he changed clothes for work. He spoke to Cathie on the phone, and she urged him to go have his injuries checked by a doctor. She's a medic, and his symptoms worried her more than they did him.

I had gone to sleep early after work, and I was a little slow on the uptake when Paul tried to wake me sometime after ten. He told me he'd talked to Cathie, and that we needed to go help Cathie's hubby, who had been stung by bees.

For some reason, my groggy brain "remembered" the fact that he was allergic to bee stings -- although in reality, I had never been told anything of the sort. It got my adreniline pumping, however, and I took Paul over to his house.
He wasn't there.
We drove to the ER, where we saw his car. We confirmed the fact that he was inside, and they were treating him. The clerk in reception told us they were running a few more tests on him.

We saw a couple of city police officers leave, but I didn't know them personally, and I suspected they wouldn't know me. It's been too long since my brother was on the local police force, and my ex-husband is retired from the state police, now.

We spoke with Cathie again. I agreed to stay, since Paul would have to work at 8:00 in the morning. One of the nurses came to get me a few minutes later. Since the waiting room temperature felt like it was just above freezing, I was even happier to leave it.

My guess is that Cathie's husband is unaccustomed to drugs. He says he doesn't even use Tylenol on a regular basis. The drugs he had been given to treat his condition had made him extremely groggy and disoriented. I wasn't even sure he recognized me.

Sometime between midnight and one, they moved him to a room. They asked him a lot of questions, checked his blood pressure, and did an EKG. His heart rate and blood pressure had been doing some odd things. And although he had never been allergic to bees, as far as he knew, he is now.

Once he was settled and asleep, I put the footrest out on the padded chair and read. I tried to stay awake for the doctor, but I found I'd drifted off sometime around five or six. The doctor's movement in the room startled me shortly before 7:00. I do remember speaking to him, at least, although he didn't.

It was a long day. My son-in-law did eat breakfast, and a little lunch. I left for a short time to eat and to change clothes. I was wearing capri pants with a short sleeved shirt and sandals, and I had resorted to retrieving two hooded jackets from my car. It was too cool in there for me.

He was still having pain in his arms and in his chest, and I was concerned about what he would do when he was discharged ... as well as when he would be discharged, since the doctor had said he would be.

We finally left. We went to the doctor's office to pick up his prescriptions and ask a few more questions, then took his off-work note to the police department before getting his prescriptions filled. He stayed at our house to eat with us before Paul took him home. Cathie had asked Paul to stay with him for a while.

Meanwhile, I crashed. I slept from about 6:30 or 7:00 PM until 2:00 AM. Then I couldn't get back to sleep. Urgh! I felt like the Incredible Grouch.
That was this morning. I'm more fully rested now. I have taken a lovely bath, and I feel pretty much like a human being. Great, because I'll be up all night, watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the IMAX theater at Opry Mills.

Just no more bees, please.

You are invited to a wedding

Welcome to a wedding!
It's an odd story -- sweet and romantic, though.

Cathie is my army daughter. Though she is from a small town in southern Kentucky, she has been around the world and met many people, in her nine years of army life.
She has considered marriage in the past, but had trouble finding the right guy.

One guy was from a military family, and it looked like things would be great for them... for a while. But then they weren't. He was manipulative and controlling. I was happy when she finally said it was over.
The next man in her life was a little hard for me to warm up to. He was different, but he still seemed a little aloof.

Then they split up, but she hesitated to tell anyone. So we really didn't know what was going on. And when she ran into an old neighborhood buddy from back in the day, we were kind of confused.

So Cathie finally came clean that, yes, she and the other guy were history. And, yes, she was dating someone else. Who had lived across the street back, when, sixth grade? He's a police officer now. He still has the polite manners I remember from way back, but he's taller, now, and he wears a badge. It says, "to protect and to serve."

Cathie came home from Iraq a few months ago, only to find out she had to go right back. She tried to be optimistic about it, but she was really sad. She was also told that when she returned to the US, she'd be headed for a post in Washington state. (That's all the way over on the other side of the country, boys and girls.)The guy she was dating said not to worry. He said he could get a job there so they could still be together.

Then Cathie found out she could come home early, although she'll need to be in North Carolina for two more months. And instead of Washington, she'll be able to transfer to Fort Campbell again. Yay!

When Cathie got back to the US, she came home on a short leave.
"Mom, we're getting married. On Thursday," she announced.

No time for bridesmaids, rose petals, candles, and lace. Those will have to wait a few months. The couple chose rings from the jeweler's shop on the square. They were married in the judge's chambers in the historical courthouse, next to an American flag. Cathie had to be back in NC by Monday.

I took some pictures, some of which I posted on Flickr.
I also took my first ever video. 

(It used to be here, but it's moved, so I've deleted it, as of 01-01-2013.
Well, I tried. Blogger has done some remodeling, so it may take a while for me to figure it out. Or maybe this will work....)

Getting CREATIVE for the holidays

I have had an ongoing grumble about shipping. I know any kind of shipping (any kind of **delivery** for that matter) is generally a pain in the tooshie, but UPS and I have this love-hate thing going on.
http://www.squidoo.com/road2CP/

As it happens, this year, July 4th falls on a Wednesday. Even if it didn't, Kentucky Downs Race Course would still be open. I work there as a parimutuels teller.

We asked Ryan, our GM, if we're allowed to wear patriotic t-shirts that day, and he said yes, that would be fine. This weekend, we found out they'd decided to have an actual contest.
Since I'm considered the creative, artistic one, there's pressure on me to do this.

I looked up costumes. Pfft. Not really my cup of tea. (Sorry, Adam -- I had to say that.) I made wisecracks about perhaps showing up as a 1776-era Quidditch player. I don't think everyone got that. **sigh**

I looked up dresses online (pre-Regency era, with fitted waistlines and 3/4 length sleeves) and fabric types, but I don't really have the time to create my own dress. I even thought of dressing as a Native American, but I do really want to do the red-white-and-blue thing.

My original intention was to wear this t-shirt:
http://www.cafepress.com/americolors.85242846




It really does look cuter in person. I need to take a photo of it, too.

But I uploaded a new design using an older drawing of mine, last week, and I find that it has shipped. It was in Lexington (Lexington??), and it was due to arrive tomorrow. Maybe it will actually arrive in time for me to wear it Wednesday.
http://www.cafepress.com/lorilei.134173546





I wanted to get the red one, but I think I'd better go with black. I'm not sure how vivid a white Lady Liberty would be on the red shirt, honestly. I may experiment and try making her grey or a pale copper-green.

I also considered doing this shirt ~ http://www.cafepress.com/lorilei.145764524 ~


and using iron-on rhinestones and t-shirt paint to jazz it up. But I'll do that later. I'd never finish that by Wednesday.

Anyway, is that going to be creative enough? I'm afraid it pales in comparison to Kayla's appearance as the actual Statue of Liberty last July 4th. She's a statuesque young lady of 19 with long, wavy auburn hair, and her costume just really suited her.
This year Ryan suggested someone could come as Betsy Ross (which had also occurred to me, obviously!), but Kayla confessed that she doesn't remember who Betsy Ross was. It pains me to think how many things kids are not taught (or do not remember) from 12 years of school. :(

Anyway, presuming the new t-shirt does arrive and is in good shape, I think I'll wear it with white slacks and red/white/blue shoes I usually wear only on patriotic holidays. I also have star-shaped red and blue clippies I'll wear in my hair. They're great for keeping the hair out of my eyes when I'm punching tickets.

So, even if I'm not Betsy Ross or Lady Liberty, or Paul Revere... do you think that will be acceptable, taking into consideration the time restraints? Or is my reputation as the creative teller doomed?

Lorilei
http://americolors.us