Bracing For The First Winter Storm.

The news of the day is wait until tomorrow. The weatherman is saying that we could see severe thunderstorms this afternoon with changing over to ice this evening. The forecast is for up to two inches of ice tonight changing over to snow in the morning with a total accumulation of three to six inches by tomorrow afternoon. You gotta love that.

I only hope that the snow is the nice fluffy stuff like the picture. It sounds as if Old Man Winter is going to throw a temper tantrum over the entire mid-west.

I'm going to have to start making arrangements in case the kids are out of school tomorrow. Hopefully I won't ruffle to many feathers. I'll try to post again later.

Warmth and Good Cheers,
Marty

P.S. I'm seeking input about the Memorial Fund for those who are interested.

Thanksgiving Is Over, Bring On Christmas.

For those who didn't know, my parents were in town over the Thanksgiving Holiday. They got here Tuesday evening and stayed until today.

While they were here they painted and decorated Rowen's bedroom. His room is now painted a light gray and he has two large framed superhero posters, Batman and Spiderman, hanging on the wall. We also hung a small rack on the wall and then hung his various "super suits" on it. No longer will we hear "where's my super suit?" It is the perfect room for the superhero in training.

My mom also helped me reorganize the kitchen. She painted some of the shelves and helped me go through cabinets to decide what should stay and what should go. It looks a lot better and is much better organized.

On Friday evening we put up our Christmas Tree. Christa and I had purchased a new tree last year so it was a little bitter-sweet putting it up without her. The kids had a good time decorating the tree and putting some of the other decorations out.

Thanks mom and dad for all your help this past week. Your probably going to need a vacation to recover from your holiday visit.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Thinking on Thanksgiving Eve.

So I'm setting here, on the eve of Thanksgiving, trying to decide what I'm thankful for. After all this has been such a "wonderful" year so far. I think there are a few things I can say that I'm thankful for but probably not what you would expect.

I'm thankful that, because of circumstances, I had to drop to a Supervisor position at work. Why am I thankful for that. Simple. I get to enjoy my time with the children. I get to have movie night with them. I get to see their expressions when they "get" the math problem they have been working on. I get to see their most resent masterpiece before anyone else. Yes, we are still working on some of patience issues, actually my patience issues, but we are doing well.

I'm also thankful for my muse showing me that it may be time for a career change. Don't panic, I'm not going to leave my job without having some sort of safety net. I am, however, going to move forward with The Arts Care. I have told a few people of my idea and have received some very positive feed back. Over the next couple of months I'm going to be filling out the paperwork to get this project started. I feel that this is a project that I will enjoy and that Christa would approve of.

I'm thankful that I can fill tears want to fall when I think about Christa. They remind me that my better half is no longer in pain and is at peace. And, on occasion, she stops to check in on us and if necessary points me toward new directions.

Now it is your turn. What are you thankful for? Before you post a comment take a minute and really examine what has occurred in your life this year. What has made the most positive impact on you?

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Progress Report for Eilish and Elora.

So yesterday I had my parent/teacher meetings with both Eilish's and Elora's teachers. Both teachers said that the girls were doing very well in school. Especially given the circumstances.

Eilish's teacher said that she was doing well in all her subjects and that she was one of the few students in the class who can do the work without "hand holding". She can tell her,"the answer you have is incorrect". "Can you go back to your seat and think about it and try again?" She will and usually come up with the correct answer. She said that Eilish really had not said much about Christa.

Elora's teacher said that she was right on track with where she needed to be. She did mention that Elora's homework had been spotty and I told her we would be making a better effort of getting it done on time. She also mentioned that Elora could be a "chatterbox" but for the most part was a pleasant and helpful student. Her teacher said that Elora has talked about Christa on occasion and has written stories and drawn pictures about her.

One more thing that Eilish's teacher mentioned to me was that another one of her student's parents had terminal cancer. That was rather shocking. Her teacher has not told the class. I wonder how this will effect Eilish if at all.

Well, I'm calling it a night as I have to work tomorrow.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Good News About I.B.C.

I read an article this evening that that said that M.D.Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston Texas, has opened the world's first Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic. It will be devoted solely to the study of I.B.C. They will be looking at ways of improving both diagnosis and treatment. Here is the link for anyone interested.

Finally, there is hope in the battle against Inflammatory Breast Cancer

It's a good story. Sad, but good.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Miles And Miles To Go Before I Get There or No Rest For The Wicked.

Every feel like your spring is wound a little to tight? Let me tell you about my day. It started with the usual morning routine. Get up. Take a shower. Get dressed. Wake the girls up. Get them moving with as few threats about canceling Christmas as possible. Wake Rowen. Have Eilish get Rowen dressed. Make some kind of breakfast and make Rowen's lunch. Herd the trio, and usually one cat, out the door.

Now we are just getting started. Drive into town and depending on how the traffic is flowing drop either Rowen or the Girls off first and then head to the second location. Drop the second package off and head to work. Relax.

I then got off work at 5 pm. Picked up Rowen, and headed over to Lee School to pick up Elora. I got Elora and made way across town to take her to gymnastics slowing down just enough to grab some food at Ronald's place. I dropped off Elora and picked up Eilish. We headed back across town to Lee where Eilish participated in a presentation before the PTA meeting. We got done at the school at 7:25, headed back across town to the gym to pick up Elora by 8 pm. Then we all came home.

Any Questions? How was your day?

Peace and Good Cheer,
Marty

Elora's 7

Elora's Birthday was today. I think we mad a pretty good day of it. We went to breakfast at Panera after having slept in until 8:30 or so. She has been wanting some with high heels. So we went to Kohls and found some, about one inch high and more appropriate for winter. We then went and saw the movie Flushed Away and after that we bought her a pumpkin birthday cake at Wally World.

I have to get them up in the morning so that they can get ready for school pictures. This ought to be fairly traumatic. Poor Rowen didn't fall asleep until around 10:30 so he will probably be a bear waking up. O joy O joy.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

P.S. I posted an idea for The Memorial Fund on the fund page.

Two Days Until Elora's Birthday.

Doesn't Elora take a great picture? Her friend's name is Kira. Her dad sent these to me the other day after they took the girls to Bonkers where proceded to go bonkers. She has had a couple of play dates with her.

Elora finally got around to cleaning her room. I'm not going to say that I held her birthday presents hostage or anything like that, but when a box arrived with her name on it, she decided that it might be time to do a little house work.

We went out afterwards and I let her pick out an outfit at Target for her birthday. I'll try to get her to model them so I can get some pictures to post.

I just went in to check on the gang and they are all passed out in the girls room. They were watching Cars for the third time in as many days. Now I have to extricate Rowen from the top bunk and tuck him into his bed on the couch. The couch is the only place that he will sleep through the night and who am I to say no to not getting kicked in the stomach, or worse, after he climbs into my bed at 3 a.m.

Speaking of passing out, I think I'm headed that way. We have to get up in the morning and take Eilish to gymnastics. Blog you later.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Half A Retraction.

Well I only need to publish half a retraction. The people of Missouri did pass the stem cell issue. Yeah. However, they did not pass the higher tax on cigarette which would have been partially applied toward non-smoking campaigns. The rest would have gone toward other medical expenditures in the state.

Now let me see if I can sum this up correctly. The people of Missouri are against supporting an issue to help prevent smoking and all the bad stuff that goes with it, i.e. cancer. But, if you do get cancer from smoking, at least you will be able to use any stem cell therepy, developed in the future, allowed by the federal government, to treat that cancer that could have been avoidable if you were not a smoker.

OK.... I get it.... Not.

Good Coffee and Good Cheer,
Marty

I Hope To Retract This In The Morning.

I have to say that the people of Missouri don't seem to think things through. It looks as if the people of Missouri have voted not to amend the constitution to insure that all federally allowed stem cell research and treatments will not automatically be allowed in Missouri. It also looks as if the tax increase on cigarettes has failed even though it only effects people who smoke.

If there is any doubt on how I voted on these two issues let me tell you. I voted yes on both. First, why would the people of Missouri want any less choices in treatment, for some of the worse diseases, than what is available under Federal Law? Second, what is wrong with asking smokers to pick up a larger percentage of the state medical cost when they choose to partake in an activity that is dangerous to their health?

I am not trying to offend anyone and I know the controversy over the stem cells but live my life over the last two years and then see how you vote.

In Sports and Health News.

Well the first gymnastics meet is over. ShowMe Gymnastics did very well taking first place in team competition for levels 6-9. The level 5 team took 5th. I am sure that Kathy and Wendy will be using the insight gained from this meet to help all the girls achieve their goals.

Eilish and I spent most of the weekend at the meet. She was either competing or cheering the other girls on. They were definitely the loudest group in the house.

When Eilish and I arrived at Saint Shelly's (bestowed sainthood for services above and beyond the call of duty) we found Elora, Rowen, and Amber burying each other in fallen leaves. Then they started throwing bushels of leaves at each other. It was pretty funny.

So far no one else has been infected with the plague that Rowen brought home. We may get lucky, knock on particle board, and dodge a bullet this time. Yes, I know that because I said that someone will wake up puking. I better have another beer. Just kidding.

I hope everyone is doing well. Blog with you soon.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Rowen's Birthday Gift.

I got my first birthday gift at 3:30 am. Rowen came into my room and announced that he had thrown-up. Oh joy. He was then up at 5:00 and 7:00 doing the same thing. Luckily his stomach was pretty empty.

We spent the rest of the early morning trying to minimize Rowens contact with the girls. If they did have to get close then they were told to at least use the bottle of Purell. Hopefully they won’t get sick. Eilish’s first meet of the season is Sunday and she will be bent out of shape if she has to miss it.

Rowen and I took the girls to school and now we are just hanging out. I called over to Rowen’s school to let them know that he would not be there today. The secretary said that half the class and the teacher were sick. Every ten minutes he asks if he can have a drink or something to eat and I tell him no trying to buy ten more minutes of him not throwing-up. Actually he has gone about two hours now without getting sick so maybe we’ve turned the corner and the plague will curse us no more. Until next week.

Rowen just fell asleep so I think I will try to take a short nap to. After all he wasn’t the only one who was up every other hour of the morning. I’ll blog more later.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Early Birthday Wishes.

I want to thank everyone for the early birthday wishes. It is nice to know that others are thinking about you.

My mother sent me one of those coffee makers (left) that uses the pre-measured pouches. I tried it out this morning and it worked like a charm. All you have to do is put the pouch in, push the button, and two minutes later you have hot coffee. How much easier could it be?

Hey, if anyone can tell me how to bake this cake in under two minutes, then we'll really have something.

Christa’s mom called last night to wish me Happy Birthday. She sent me some money and made me promise to spend it on myself. It was nice to talk to Gary and Sue. It had been several days since we had spoken.

I'm beginning to get sleepy so I think I will call it a night. Talk to you soon.

Peace and Good Cheer,
Marty

Please Read and Act! Mastectomy Hospital Bill in Congress

I was going to post this on the Memorial Fund blogsite, after having thought about, I decided it needed to be here. The following was an email I received:


Please take the time to do this. This is not a rumor - it is true!

Mastectomy Hospital Bill in Congress

If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

Mastectomy Bill in Congress

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important...please take the time and do it really quick!

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, i t's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.

PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/brea! st_mastectomy_pledge.html

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women

Coffee truly is the nectar of the gods, or at least the Flash.

For those who haven’t heard, I’m now an hourly employee again. Today I don’t have to be into work until 10 am. So, what better thing to do than go to Coffee Zone, set down, and enjoy a cup of coffee. Coffee Zone also has free wireless internet (WiFi) which means I can use this time to surf the web or post on my blog. I could get into this lifestyle

Last night we went trick-or-treating downtown in The District. Eilish, Elora, and Rowen transformed into their alter-egos with an extra layer of clothes under their costumes to ward off the cold. We then set off, going store to store, filling their candy bags. We actually ran into Dr. Vandover, the principal at Lee, at the new tea house. She told the kids how nice they looked. The cold started nipping at the kids noses and ears so we called it a successful night after about an hour. Eilish counted her haul at about 100 pieces. I wonder how many I can throw away at a time without her noticing?

Well, the coffee is gone and I have a few things to do before I head into work. I will post again soon.

Good Day and Good Cheer,
Marty