Saturday, November 28, 2009

Its that time of year...


And now we move on to the main event. Christmas is coming, as the sound goes and the decorations are up in the neighborhood. Charlie Brown rises up out of the chimney to be greated by Snoopy. I am not sure that I like all these lawn ornaments. Just like the lights and holly on the house. Everything else gets gaudy.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

THERE'S NO NEED TO FEAR ...


UNDERDOG IS HERE! ... And let the parade begin, along with the season presents and decorations and presents... for prettttty girrrls.
We are all looking forward to a delicious dinner tomorrow at Fred's... and then at 8 o'clock, Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Countdown Has Started... One...two...


and in three short days, it will be Thanksgiving... with delicious turkey.... pumpkin pies... Lions football....

And we will all have to wait for Thursday to see the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special... It'll be on at 8 pm then. Although it is not the best of the specials, (The Great Pumpkin and Christmas are much better) it is always a treat to see Snoopy wrestle with the lawn chair.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Hair-Raising!

I tried emailing these, but most of the emails came bouncing back because of maximum size being exceeded. Wussy little email servers of yours!

Anyway, here are the latest hair pix compared with the ones taken 5 weeks ago (obviously the ones where I am wearing the yellow tee shirt is from today). It is nice and thick now and, altho not as long as I'd like yet, definitely more tolerable.





























Friday, November 20, 2009

Be Somebody!!!


I know this is not from one of dad's favorite movies, but I thought it appropriate. I am finally working towards a place to sit, write, surf, whatever, without kids being allowed. I know the boys have their own computer, but you know kids..."Well, who's using that one right now?" Thanks to donations from Adam, and dad and mom, and mom and dad getting new computers, I have yet another computer in my home, but this one is off limits to children. Temporarily on my glass outdoor table, which is indoors for the Winter, I have started my private office. Taking a page out of Les Nesman's book, I think I will put tape on the floor, and require others to knock before entering. At least that way, I can lock the door, and pretend I don't hear anybody, if my door is closed. Like my umbrella in my orange juice?

Remembering what is really important...


...I give you the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, which a friend of mine bought at CVS and has sitting on the corner of her desk. It is helping to make me smile on a morning where I am feeling a little sucker-punched at work. Last week I had to lay off 2 of my 3 employees. It was a horrible, horrible week (obviously more so for them than for me). So I took the weekend to recover, tried to think things through, and came into work this week with an "okay, moving forward!" attitude. Only to be pulled into my boss' office this morning (my first question when she requested an 8am meeting was "um..am I being laid off?") to find out she will not be my boss anymore and they are moving me BACK to reporting to my old boss, whom no one (including myself) has any respect for and whom I never felt fought for any of us in terms of raises/promotions, etc. Of course, it's all cushioned in a "this will be better for you, more room for growth, yadda yadda" but I have a hard time believing that right now.
But you know what? It's just a job, and I am VERY grateful to still be employed and still have health insurance. And this is the time of year to be SO GRATEFUL for SO MANY things I have. My health (knock on wood), time with all of YOU coming up, a wonderful boyfriend who has stood by me through cancer and baldness and pissy moods that come and go...and this morning as I was coming into work my phone rang and there was little Edmund, wanting to know if I'd be in town to come to his Santa Breakfast at school. It broke my heart to have to say "no" (and man, those are the times I wish I could live in Michigan, or at least closer so I could get there!), but the fact that I have these wonderful, beautiful, precious nieces and nephews who tell me they love me and want to have me around at things like Santa Breakfasts...THAT is the important stuff. A job is just a job. My family and loved ones are EVERYTHING. And I can look at the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and remember things like that.
To quote Linus (and the Bible) - "For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."
That's what Christmas is all about...Charlie Brown.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Tis the season....

and I should be given kudos by all, because I actually did get a xmas list of sorts out there this year. Some of the stuff is a bit on the high side, however this gives my children the opportunity to get together for a joint effort.
Busy shopping on line for a new health care provider. Seems Blue Cross is trying to discontinue the program we had in the past, and their way of doing that is by tripling the rates... We are considering the Henry Ford HAP plan for Seniors, of which we are two of... Looks kind of inviting so we will attend a seminar for it in a couple of weeks.
New computers are working fine so far. WIndows 7 appears to be working very nicely.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Another Day, Another...

You guessed it...Another doughnut! Yes, this being one of the favorites of my boys when we go to coffee and doughnuts, immediately following church, but of course they would want it to be a chocolate doughnut. All is well here. The boys are slowly getting used to their new sleeping arrangements. After a scary scene of James climbing down from the top side of Billy's bunk, slipping and falling to the beds of Tom and Edmund, the bunkbeds are dismantled and stored in the local Sheen storage cellar...dad's basement. Bill and Tom remain in their room but both on regular twins, and Ed and Jim are now in a room together, and I believe will become even more attached. Actually, the greatest difficulty so far has been with, you guessed it, Tom. Even though he has slept in the same room with Bill since Billy has been around two, going from crib and bed, to bunk beds, to twins, to bunks to, twins...blah blah blah, Tom has had such a difficult time sleeping since Billy came down this time. "He's too close to me!"..."He's breathing loudly!", "He's talking too much!", He's breathing too loudly in his sleep!" However, life goes on, and kids will adjust, and hopefully the parents survive. Saw a tribute to Bill Cosby last night, which had a lot of reverences to kids and parenting. Glad to know we are not alone. So, in an half hour, we'll begin the church dressing ordeal. Then there's mass, doughnuts, Grammy's, nap, Nana's, home, bed...ahhh, what an exciting life we lead:) Now, where's that chocolate cake?!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The long and short of it...


...well...it's mostly the SHORT of it at the moment.

Altho I would trade it in a heartbeat to have my long hair back, I will admit that it is very interesting watching my hair grow back in. I finally shed the wig for good (the Good Lord willing) a few weeks ago, transitioned to wearing hats to work for a couple of weeks...had a few people say "hey! You cut your hair!" To which I would mumble something like "um...not exactly" but didn't really feel like going into it for the most part. Then, starting this Monday, I finally felt brave enough to shed the hats and just wear it short. For now, I have to wear it with headbands, because the front is too short to style and is VERY BUSHY! In fact, my hair when I get out of the shower and in the hour or so following that while it dries is one of the most hysterical things I have seen. Still very Heat Miser-ish when it's wet, and Afro-y when it dries.

But it is nice when I put on a baseball cap to do my workouts and there is hair sticking out the back and sides like crazy! What a nice change from when I had to wear bandanas underneath those same caps to try and hide the baldness. I am also finding that I have "growth spurts" with the hair....it sits at one length for awhile and then all of a sudden BAM! It has obviously grown and is sticking out in new places. It curls up at the ends and waves all over in other places...right now I can't tell if this is due to "new wave" from the chemo in my previously poker-straight hair or if this is how my hair would have been regardless had I ever cut it this short, because of the cowlicks. I guess only time will tell.

So I'll be without the wig at Thanksgiving. Poor Jimmy...he won't know WHAT is going on.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Veteran's Day


Let's all quaff a few root beers for Bill Mauldin and the other veteran's who served our country so well. And the Mariner's Church bell tolls 29 times for the poor souls who went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald 34 years ago today. "The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound..."

Monday, November 9, 2009

JOE BTFSPLK




Al Capp had it right with Joe Btfsplk, but now Eric has taken over that role with the dark cloud constantly over his head... especially with cars. Most people would consider if bad luck to have to ever put a head gasket on a car.... Eric is putting on a second one within what.... 3 years. GET A HONDA!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Over the River and Through the Woods...


....to Meems' and Daddo's house we will go...in just 18 short days!!! Brendan and I arrive in Michigan for Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November 24th, and cannot wait! I am always sad to see Halloween go, but I did get good enjoyment out of the month of October, some good scares and lots of decorations and treats...so now it's time to hurtle ourselves into the rest of the holiday season. I am dreaming of turkey and mashed taters and gravy and PUMPKIN PIE and, most of all, being with my family (at least most of them) and NOT being in the hospital (the Good Lord willin')!


And p.s. the glut of holiday commercials has begun, and yesterday I saw a promo for the TBS (or is it TNT) "25 Days of Christmas" campaign...which apparently begins this coming Tuesday...which makes no sense to me but...ah well. When is "CB Christmas" and "Rudolph" on????


Monday, November 2, 2009

It Has Begun!!!

Jim's looks says it all. We wish for it to come, then it hits us and we dumbfounded how early they start each year. So, let it be known, I have just witnessed my first Christmas commercial of this holiday season. It was a Walmart commercial, playing to the carol of "We Need A Little Christmas." True, some of you may have witnessed one already, but I thought Nov. 2nd was a bit early. Have yet to check and see if WNIC is playing their carols yet. Hopefully they'll wait til it gets a bit closer to Thanksgiving. Anyway, I guess we're into it now. God bless us...Everyone!

Ah....welcome back, Standard Time!


Because it is not quite 6am here in Las Vegas and it is already getting light out. I SO dislike having to be up and about during the work week when it is still dark out. I think it's unnatural for it to be dark at 7am when I am leaving the house. And since I will be shooting outside tomorrow and Wednesday, the end of Daylite Savings Time could not have come at a better time. I have seen the light! And I love it!


p.s. Will be home for Thanksgiving in just 22 short days, 3 weeks from tomorrow!! Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!! Miss everyone SO much!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

THE FULL MOON



And you know what that means.


"Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms and the moon is full and bright." At least, that is what Maria Ouspenskaya playing the old gypsy told Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) in the old Wolf Man movies.

Do You Know?

Is there anyone who reads this beautiful column who might know how to transfer a video clip from Youtube or the like to this blog. I was going to transfer what I thought had some appropriateness to this blog and write a stint about it, but once I found said clip, was stumped. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree. Maybe I'd be better off to pee on the tree...or maybe just call the tree service and cut down the tree.

Nonetheless, Halloween is over!...Clocks are set back. There is more candy in this house than there is room for. Last night I said to Kate, as kids were crying and fussing about how this costume itches here, and hurts there, and these shoes aren't right...blah blah blah..., "Can't we just go from Eddie's birthday right to Thanksgiving?" Katie's response was, "How about from Eddie's birthday right to Janurary 3rd.

Happy All Saints Day:)