What a week!!

Something went wrong with my computer last Saturday, so I've been without a computer for a week!! I am trying to talk Damon into letting me buy another one, but he seems to think we can get this one fixed. I'm sure he is right, but patience is NOT my middle name. So I've kept up on things with his I-phone, but haven't been able to do any updating myself. I'm currently borrowing his parents laptop to post.

For the most part the week was rather uneventful. It was spent mostly preparing for my big trip to Dallas for the CVS conference. I wasn't sure I was still going since my patient called me last week and said that his trip had been cancelled. I had received no information either way and my only contact person was out on Friday and Monday for the Labor Day holiday. I finally reached her on Tuesday and she confirmed that I was still going. I got my itinerary Wednesday (1 day before leaving). They were only flying me out for about 24 hours...but still exciting. So I left at about 4:30 on Thursday and everything seemed to be going well until we attempted to land in Dallas. The weather was apparently bad and the plane circled for about an hour. Then the pilot said he didn't have enough gas to keep circling so we were going to Shreveport to get some gas and then head back to Dallas. Needless to say we were about 3 hours delayed getting into Dallas. We got there safe and sound, though, and that is what is important. I was apprehensive about traveling by myself and getting in so late didn't help. They had arranged a driver to pick me up, so as I'm exiting the plane, there is a man holding a sign with my name on it to take me to the airport. It was a bit scary to get in a car with a stranger at 11 o'clock at night!! When I got to the hotel there was only 1 restaurant still open and it was a bar/restaurant. It was hopping with LOUD and I imagine drunk people, so I chose to do room service. WOW!! That is expensive!! I feel bad, because CVS is reimbursing me, but I ordered a nice dinner. I hadn't eaten in like 6 hours, so I was starving. 6 hours is a long time for a pregnant woman!! The food was GREAT, but I was overly hungry and wound up feeling yucky while eating it. On a side note, I love watching those reality cooking shows and they always make risotto, so I ordered some to try. It is delicious...not sure if 'rice' is worth $7, but since I wasn't paying I got to enjoy the food without the guilt of the price! LOL!! I didn't have to be anywhere with the conference until 11:15am, so I relaxed for the morning and ordered room service for breakfast. My conscience got the best of me this go around and I ordered light. It was still expensive though!!

Now starts the excitement!! As I'm starting to get ready for my 'video debut' I realized that I had forgotten to pack my tank top that goes under my shirt to cover my ever growing pregnancy cleavage! I called Damon in a panic to ask what to do. He told me to take a picture with my phone and send it to him and he'd tell me his opinion. (I think he just wanted some boob pictures! And, NO, I won't be posting them!) Anyway...it wasn't pretty. He was basically speechless. All maternity shirts are RIDICULOUSLY low cut. He had picked out the shirt for me to wear and now I know why. The shirt I was planning to wear would have worked out fine! Since I was only staying for 1 day, I only carried a carry-on bag and only packed one outfit. I had worn a khaki skirt and t-shirt the previous day on the plane and that wasn't business casual for the ceremony! I must say that I represented CVS in a BIG way! It was so embarrassing. My boss...and his boss...and HIS boss...and HIS BOSS were all coming up to me to talk and here I am boobs and all!! It was just too much....I must say I left an impression. I was eyeing every girl that walked by the conference searching for someone that was showing more boobs than me. I didn't see anyone. I saw a few with shirts cut as low or lower than mine, but they had mini-boobs, so it wasn't quite the same as my gargantuan 'mommy-to-be boobs'. I'm sure the women thought I was checking them out... I literally prayed for God to let more fabric grow, so that it would cover me up! Let me say it again...it was soooooo embarrassing.

Anyway...enough about that. CVS is made up of 3 parts...retail pharmacy, Caremark, and MinuteClinics. Caremark is an insurance company that we own and MinuteClinic is a walk in clinic located in a lot of stores with a practitioner that can see patients and write prescriptions. There were actually 3 of us that had made videos (1 from each part) and had been flown in for the conference. Apparently, most of the conference was talking about how CVS can make a difference in the lives of each person. So Mr. CVS (Tom Ryan, CEO) gave a final speech and said that he would like to bring a bit of reality to what the conference has been focused on. He said that he wanted to show some videos that reflect the potential impact we can have on each patient. The videos began to roll! I was all nerves! My video was the last and it was not as bad as I was expecting. I got the feeling that someone else did the other 2 girls videos because they had more of a performance feel. Mine was more like a Rescue 911 reenactment. It wasn't bad, though and that is what counts. I actually feel like watching it was a blur, so I'll be glad when they send me the actual video next week so I can watch it for real. (I think I might actually post it once I get it) After the videos played, we were called up on stage to shake Tom Ryan's hand and were presented to the 2000 conference attendees!! WOW! That is intimidating to look out on all those faces! Afterward they took pictures and many, many people came up to shake our hands! They then fed us lunch and we were off to the airport. It was so strange because all through lunch and at the airport people kept stopping me to tell me how wonderful the video/story was...It was so humbling!! (In the back of my mind I kept thinking they just wanted to check out the boobs! Ha!) The plane rides home were mostly uneventful. I was nervous about flying on Sept. 11th, but all went well. I got home about 11:15 pm. Rylee had managed to convince Damon to let her stay up until I got home, so that was special! I haven't been away from her for that long EVER!

Wayne (my partner pharmacist) said that Dean Riffee, from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy is trying to get in touch with me to present the video to the current students. Crazy that this thing continues to snowball! We'll see where that leads.

So it is back to reality. I pull up in the sand pit yard with no permits. Yes...another week has passed and no permits. On the positive note, though there has been MAJOR progress. The permit department has a website that you can check on the status of your permit and there have been daily posts on the progress. The latest thing is that they don't show a permit for a shed on the property or one for the above ground pool. The shed was on the property when I bought it, so I don't know if the previous owners got a permit to build it. Luckily since they 'grandfathered' us in on the house permits since they had lost the records, they just bypassed that for us! Damon might have made some improvements on the shed without a permit...but my memory is a bit fuzzy... As for the pool...are you kidding me?!? It is a WalMart special! I can't believe that would require a permit. Luckily we were planning to tear it down because it is starting to break down...so that isn't a big deal either. We'll put up another one after all the permitting and inspections are done! We are still waiting on the health department to finish their septic tank inspection and have been told we will have the permit by Monday or Tuesday...of course they said that 2 weeks ago, but it never hurts to have hope, right!?! The current plan is for Toney (the builder) to come out and FINALLY finishing blading up the grass on Monday and then Tuesday he'll put the forms up for the foundation. So...that is EXCITING!! Hopefully it won't go south again, but only time will tell. I've been much less anxious about it because we have seen actual progress with the online reports. Don't get me wrong, I wish it was going faster, but the silence is what gets to me.

Sorry for the long post, but being without a computer for a week left me with a lot to say!