"Prep"ping for Vegas

So I leave for Las Vegas tomorrow around noon. By some miracle the whole family seems to have been able to get it together in time to head to Vegas for Mom's 65th birthday. It all started with my brother being asked to present at a conference in Vegas this coming week. Mom had previously asked us to go there for her birthday, and we had all said NOPE! But once my brother found himself going, I capitulated and told mom we should go, then my sister and her husband miraculously worked out their schedules, followed by my aunt Shara from Toronto and my aunt Kavita from Florida. So there ya have it, by this time tomorrow I will be throwing cash into some sort of slot machine praying for the big win.

Now some of you are aware of my love of gambling, but do not fear, I'm leaving my cards with my mother and just taking a set amount of cash with me each day. Of course mom has a bit of a rubber arm, but I think she will keep me in check. Besides, the slots are not my goal. That's right, I've decided I should play cards. I am a wanna be high roller. Okay, that's not really my goal either. I actually want to slip while entering the hotel pool and have George Clooney save me. Of course, my chances of hitting the jackpot on some machine are slightly higher than that one, but oh well.

Anyway, I don't have Vegas stories for you....yet....but I can always talk about the packing frenzy once again. First off let me state for the record that I learn from my mistakes. (Are you reading this Carla and Anita?) Okay this time the house was well in order more than a week ago, and all cat food, cat litter, etc has been rounded up and appropriately stowed away. More importantly I found myself a decent pair of walking shoes, so hopefully I won't be limping around trying to pretend I'm fine. And finally, I planned my wardrobe down to the last accessory. That's right, I have a list of every single item of clothing I plan on wearing, as well as what earrings, rings, bracelets, shoes and hairdo go with each outfit, AND the weather is going to cooperate so I am not forced to bring clothing that will work in snow or a heat wave.

Sadly, the one thing I did not foresee was falling sick last week. So basically all week I've been a snot factory. My sinuses were exploding with green gunk and my ears hurt, but I'm on the mend! The downside of the illness was an unexpected brush with what I think is acne and ...........
a COLD SORE!! I've never had a cold sore before, but I'm pretty darned sure that's what is threatening to explode on the edge of my lip. I was desperate, so I broke into my secret stash of medicinal ingredients. Basically, when dad was still alive, he would always get samples of some sort of antibiotics, or creams, or whatever and I would steal them and stash them away. Not only that, but when a family member was given a prescription for some sort of medicine and didn't use it all, I would steal that too and stash it.

Yeah I know it's dangerous...but, but, it was necessary! You have no idea how many times some outdated antibiotic has saved me the trouble of visiting a doctor. Of course there have been times when the packages were so outdated they didn't quite do the trick. But hey, a girl's gotta try. Anyway, my point is that I have a vast, though mostly outdated, pharmacy in my downstairs bathroom. So now we get to the impending cold sore, and some horrible bags under my eyes from lack of sleep and sinus congestion. And we all know those bags and congestion are just going to get worse once I'm on that plane breathing in all that recirculated, infected airplane air. So I did what any nutcase would do, I went through my home pharmacy and settled on a huge plastic bag filled with these tiny tubes of cream. They are a very mild corticosteroid cream to help reduce inflammation, so I figured they should cure the bags under my eyes, and one can pray they will fend off the impending cold sore. So I've slathered my face in the stuff and hope that it works. Oh wait, did I mention that I'm pretty sure the stuff is actually hemmorhoid cream? Yes that's right...I've slathered my face with hemmorhoid cream.

If you hear a blood curdling scream tomorrow morning, put it down to my scientific experiment going horribly awry.

Now everyone cross your fingers and pray for me...not so much for the bags under my eyes or the cold sore, not even for me to win a huge jackpot...pray I don't go the way of so many others and find myself hungover and married to some jackass that loves wearing Elvis pants.
On second thoughts, with the way my love life has been going, that might not be so bad.

Ciao for now, and I shall return with Vegas stories next weekend!
Love ya all,
Swapna