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Things I .....

Right now, in no particular order, I am Loving:

• Finding a non-stop flight for our return from Vegas.
• Summer weather (thunderstorms and all.)
• Our flowers blooming
• Farm Strawberries
• My new CROCS!
• Katy Perry kissing a girl and liking it
• Lime green Vespa's
• Floppy shorts
• Iced Coffee
• The Girl (Let's play....STATING THE OBVIOUS!)
• A clean pool with no dead animals floating around
• Getting ready for vacation
• Fast Verdict for Neil Entwistle
• Big Brother starting soon!
• Buying locally grown veggies
• Dana-Farber Hospital
• Watching The Girl cut the lawn
• Iced Tea/Lemonade
• Grilling
• Mondays off
• Monday, coincidentally, is The Girl's day off!
• Vacation next week!

NOT LOVING:

• The Gloucester Pregnancy Pact...ENOUGH ALREADY!
• Figuring our how much liquid you can carry on a plane
• All Dunkin Donuts employee's
• Clumps of cat hair
• Elliot Weinstein
• Flying next week
• Summer re-runs
• Dead animals floating in pool
• Waiting for my requests to come in to the library
• Red Tide, I want my bivalves!

Alan Update

Alan has finished his first round of chemo. Now it's very important that he stay well hydrated and take the myriad of meds he's been prescribed. Brenda has been extremely positive and a great support for him. Lucas and Ella really don't get what's going on but Alex sure does. He's a sensitive kid generally and this has turned his world a bit off its axis, I think.

There are 2 more rounds of chemo Alan has to go through but the really good news is after just the first round the swelling in his neck has gone down a LOT and the pressure in his head has been alleviated. The nausea is starting to get the best of him and this morning Breda said the mouth-sores and throat-sores are making it increasingly difficult for him to eat/drink. If he's unable to drink the fluids required he'll have to go in for IV fluids. All the fluid is very important to keep his kidney's flushed. That chemo...it will either kill ya or cure ya.

The pic is from November 07, when we were all in Florida and out to dinner at Shrimpers. The Girl is sitting next to Alan.
This couldn't be ONLY about Alan, could it??

A Little Meandering.....

It's late and I'm tired. We had the whole clan over for dinner....still cleaning the kitchen! But it seemed like everyone had a good time, good conversation and the kids were very well behaved (as usual!!) I have some pics from the kids swimming during the short lived heat-wave we had last week. Last week I went to Lucas' second grade science fair. He built a wheel of fortune type thing. You spin and he asked a question regarding great white whales. If you got it correct, you won a tattoo! It was very cute and he was excited to show off his work. Unfortunately Brenda was with Alan while he had his surgery that morning so they couldn't attend. My father, Ella and I went and Lucas seemed happy about that.

Cat TV.....

Now that we have the doors open to enjoy the spring air, Sammy and Charlie love to look out and enjoy the view. The Girl calls it "Cat TV"....It could be the chipmunks or birds or squirrels. We're not sure. But they DO love it. And it apparently puts them in the mood to show a little love to each other. I'm a tried and true dog person but even I have to admit it's pretty cute.

Want To Take a Dip??

We had the pool opened this week and this is the result of heavy shocking, algaecide, back-washing and the filter running 24/7. This is about 75% better than it did look, so there's that. We bought new chair cushions and arranged the table/chairs a little differently this year. The girl is very fengISH...it's a word! Or a concept, not sure.

We also bought a new car this week, a 2009 Toyora Corolla. Hopefully, The Girl will save some $$ on gas. Now we are going to concentrate on selling the Mini....

It's Been a Week....

So last week was my birthday, I think I've mentioned that. On Saturday afternoon I went to my sisters house and she made lunch, we had a key lime pie, they sang...candles...the whole magilla. My parents were there, Brenda, the kids and Alan. The Girl was working so her and I had plans to celebrate that evening. It was all great fun, nice weather, good food. Everyone seemed to enjoy the afternoon, lots of laughing and some crying (Ella got stung on the chin, see pic of her with ice-pack)

Saturday nite The Girl and I started out at Kowloon (I wanted a Blue Hawaiian), we had some thai apps and played some keno. Then we went to have a real dinner at Carrabbas (Sangria this time!) We had a great nite and I remember thinking how much better this birthday was than my last(had to put Harriet to sleep)


Sunday morning we get up and start to make breakfast. I see I have a voice-mail so I listen to it while still in my happy birthday to me place. VM from my Dad...he took my mother to the hospital late Saturday nite with bad pain in her stomach. Turns out she has gall stones and pancreatitis! She was admitted to the hospital and heavily drugged. I call my sister to see when she's going to se my mother, I thought we could arrange to go at different times. She tells me she's taking her huzzband to the ER, he's having pressure/pain in his head. (He has a lump on his neck that he was supposed to get removed last week)...So, off they go to the hospital and they bring the 3 kids to us. I have to go the bakery because my family was supposed to come to our house for my birthday party Sunday nite. The cake is lovely. Oh, wait...that's not how you spell my name!!


As it turns out, my mother had her gall bladder removed. She'll be fine. Alan (The Huzzband) is the one we're worried about. He had a cat scan that showed a mass in his head/neck that they found suspicious. Then this week he had 3 biopsies that came back cancerous. He's scheduled for an MRI tomorrow (Saturday) and surgery June 10th. The silver lining is the Dr said this type of cancer is "highly treatable." We are all very worried about him but he has a great attitude and we are all there to help them in any/every way.
It's just so weird that last Saturday we were all having lunch, everything was so...NORMAL (as normal as it gets in my family!) and the next day, BOOM...