How to Lose Ten Pounds in Two Days

Step One - Come to my house
Step Two - Breathe deeply of the air
Step Three - Hug all occupants
Step Four - Go home and wait
Step Five - When you feel that little knot in your stomach, remain close to the bathroom
Step Six - After emptying all bodily fluids from every orifice, repeat and repeat and repeat again. When finished, repeat again.
Step Seven - Don't eat or drink for two days.  Don't worry about will power, you won't want to and you can't.
Step Eight - step on the scales and admire your success.

As you probably surmised, we have been victims of a particularly nasty stomach virus.  It started with our one-year-old grandson, Gavin.  He became ill on Saturday.  He got sick in his mom's car as they were coming over to drop Jonathan, Gavin's older brother, off at our house.  Jonathan spends every Saturday night with us when they are in town.  Cindy knew Gavin had not been feeling well for a couple of hours and she was not going to bring him in so I wouldn't get sick.  However, she felt she needed to bring him in and get him cleaned up.  I wore a face mask for a little bit, but that didn't last long - silly me.  Of course he wanted Papa to hold him and I wasn't strong enough to resist.  He got sick again, but fortunately he was with his mom at that point but they both needed a bath this time.  After getting him and herself cleaned up, they went home.  He was sick from both ends all night long and by morning she took him to the ER.  They put him on zofran and also prescribed popsicles for hydration therapy.

Here is a picture of him in the ER in the middle of his "therapy"

Makes you say, "aww," doesn't it?

By Sunday morning Cheryl also wasn't feeling well and stayed home from church.  She wasn't vomiting, but needed to stay close to the bathroom.  By late afternoon she was feeling some better.

When Cindy brought Gavin home from the ER, she needed popsicles, so I told her I would go to the store and get them.  When I brought them to her, I was planning to just drop them off at the door and leave.  However, Gavin saw me and came running up and grabbed my legs and wanted me to pick him up.  What could a Papa do?  Of course I picked him up.  He hugged my neck hard and put his head down on my shoulder.  I knew I shouldn't, but I took him to his room and sat down and rocked him for about ten minutes.  He just stayed very still with his head on my shoulder.  By that point I figured even if I got sick it was worth it to comfort him.

Sunday night I was feeling tired and went to bed at 11, unusually early for me.  At 12:30 I woke up with horrible reflux.  I was awake all night, came out to the living room and reclined on the couch, half sitting up, but the reflux continued.  It felt like my esophagus was on fire.  By early morning I was making frequent trips to the bathroom, but was still fighting the nausea.  Cheryl got up and said she was feeling fine and went to work.  I called and canceled my appointment for my monthly blood test because I didn't want to expose other immune deficient folks.  The lab is right next to the chemo room and I often wait for the blood test results in one of the chemo chairs. 

I was supposed to meet with school administrators concerning problems with Jimmy's schedule (another involved story by itself), but there was no way I was going to make the noon meeting.  Cheryl left work early and met with the school folks. 

After the meeting, she found out that both Cindy and Jonathan (Gavin's older brother) had also become sick in the middle of the night.  All of us were running mild fevers, but Jonathan's was up to 103.  We were all aching, too.

At mid afternoon, I lost the battle and this virus did what eight rounds of chemo therapy failed to do, the vomiting started.  Cindy, who is pregnant, has morning sickness all the time anyway, but this was even worse for her.  She was getting sick constantly.  Later that evening her doctor had her go to the ER because of concern for the baby.  Cheryl went to take care of the kids.  Unfortunately, it came back to her, too.  So there she is at Cindy's house and all of them are sick and I was in bed barely moving.  Cindy was released after several bags of IVs and anti-nausea shots.  They wanted to keep her, but she wanted to get home knowing everyone was sick.

Cheryl stayed home today.  We both had a bowl of soup and toast tonight for supper, the first I had eaten since Sunday afternoon.  We are no longer tied to the bathroom, but we are totally wiped out.  We dozed off and on all day.  Before she went to bed, she said she was going to try to go to work tomorrow. 

I called Cindy and they are all better now.  Jonathan is going to school tomorrow.  It was short lived, thank God!  But very, very nasty.

Yes, I did lose 9 pounds.  Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of the other 40.  All I know is I don't want to do it this way.

Fishing from My Backyard! Or, How I Spent My Summer Vacation

(No leukemia information in this post)

After a total of 4,350 miles up and back to our new (old) cabin in upstate New York with some extra running around visiting, and another 405 miles down and back to MD Anderson for my appointment with a side trip to Katy, TX, to visit a nephew and his family who just moved there a week ago, we are finally back home. Whew, it’s HOT here in Texas, 105 yesterday, 104 today and tomorrow about the same! It is predicted to be at or over 100 for at least the next ten days and we have had 28 days over 100 so far. It is the hottest summer on record thus far, following the hottest on record last year.

I have lots to write about, but I plan to break it down into a couple of somewhat smaller posts instead of one long novel.

We had a range of emotions on our trip and the first couple of days we even felt a little depressed with some buyer’s remorse over our cabin. However, for this post I will write about only positive things.

The weather was mostly fantastic, from our perspective. Here in Texas we have been experiencing a severe two year drought and hotter summers than normal. While we were at our cabin, the highest temperature was 75, some days never reached the 70’s and the nights were in the 40’s and 50’s. The morning we left, it was 45. Our cabin is on a small lake located up in the hills, so it is even cooler up there. We had a fire in the fireplace several mornings and the space heater going each morning. I would dress in warm sweats in the morning, change to short sleeves in the afternoons and back to sweats in the evening. We heard they only had three days in June that hit 80, and those were before we arrived. It rained every day but one, but also saw periods of sunshine most every day. The rain, sogginess and dampness were beginning to bother Cheryl some by the time we left, but it really didn’t bother me that much. I just wore water shoes out on our soggy lawn. We do plan to buy a humidifier for the cabin when we return for the entire summer next year. Most folks were complaining about how cool it was as they wanted summer temperatures in the 80’s, but for us it was a relief from the Texas summer heat.

We spent lots of time with family. We spent one night on the way and one on the way back with my brother Bob and his wife, Priscilla, in West Chester, Ohio. I told him it was the best bed and breakfast around. He fixed dinner and breakfast both times we stopped and we had a really nice visit with them and their daughters. Our first night in New York State we spent with my brother Jim and his wife, Barb. The next morning we visited with my mother in the nursing home before heading for our cabin. At the cabin, Cheryl’s sister, Diane was waiting with two of her grandchildren to help us unload the U-Haul we had towed up.Even though everything was left from the previous owners, we brought an extra sleeper couch and extra mirrored dresser we had here along with some personal items to make it more our place. We brought our grandson, Jimmy with us and that strong young man was a huge help to us the entire trip. He was extremely well behaved the entire time, even when we were running out and visiting more family and he probably would have rather stayed and fished. We got the U-Haul emptied quickly and Cheryl and Diane set about getting things straightened around and beds made.

Other family that visited our cabin at the lake were my Mom; Jim and Barb and one of their grandsons; my youngest brother, Bill and his adopted daughter, Ruthie; Cheryl’s brothers Randy; Larry; Bill and his wife Diane; Rick and his wife, Cheri and their granddaughter; Cheryl’s sisters Diane and two of her grandchildren; Janet; and Mary Jane and her husband, Dave. On the fourth of July we had a cookout with six of Cheryl’s family members and we played cards from 11:30 in the morning until 11 p.m. (I managed to sneak in a two hour nap on the couch right beside the noisy card table.) We watched the fireworks around the lake from our front picture window while we played cards. We also went and visited with lots of other family at a graduation party for a grand niece and a surprise birthday party for Cheryl’s brother, Bill.

When my brother Bill came up from NYC, he and his daughter spent the night with us and the next day he went to the nursing home where my mom is a resident and entertained the residents. He is a singer, dancer, and actor and has been in at least 11 Broadway shows, many more off-Broadway shows, national and international tours, and has even done his own award-winning cabaret act in NYC. His most recent show, Guys and Dolls, closed the week after he was on the Tony Awards show. Hmm, that made it sound like it was his fault the show closed. It wasn’t. He sang ten songs at the nursing home and even danced with one of the residents who pushed her walker aside and did a little jig with him. He obviously sings very, very well, but his interaction with the residents was very special as he bantered with them, answered their questions, hugged, posed for pictures and just brightened their day. Being close to family was a reason for looking to purchase a summer place and we obviously accomplished that goal.

Another goal we had was to purchase a place on a lake so I could fish. All we could afford was an older cabin on a small lake and I was a little concerned the fishing would not be that good. I was very wrong! There are lots of lily pads around the lake which make great fish habitat (but are a detriment when right in front of the cabin). It is a private lake with no public fishing and the lake association stocks it every few years with small and large mouth black bass.

Our first day was very busy setting up the cabin and cleaning (well, Cheryl did most of the cleaning). The second day was busy shopping for supplies we needed and we drove to my brother’s house with the U-Haul we still had and picked up an entertainment center and TV that had belonged to my folks. They came back with us to help us unload and set it up and then had supper with us. Jimmy had been out a couple of times fishing in a paddle boat that came with the cabin and he had caught some fish and even a turtle. But I still hadn’t been out on the lake and I was getting anxious to go. So on the second evening after my brother and his wife left, Jimmy and I finally went out in the small aluminum row boat that came with the cabin. There is a small sign attached to the back of the boat that says, “U.S. COAST GUARD MAXIMUM CAPACITIES 2 PERSONS OR 300 LBS.” Now Jimmy and I are both, umm, large and we are over that maximum. However, in smaller print it says, “445 lbs. persons, motor, gear 7 H.P. motor.” Since we didn’t have a motor – not allowed on that lake – and only two fishing poles and one tackle box, I calculated that we were pretty much OK. Besides, we were not on the coast where the Coast Guard patrols, I was in the Air Force so maybe it didn’t apply to me, and I am pretty sure my scales lie to me about my weight anyway. My first fish was a yellow perch that was about 8 or 9 inches long, not bad for a perch, which is a pan fish. In West Texas they call other fish perch, but here is what a yellow perch looks like: We decided to row to the other side and try our luck there.

When we got to the middle of the lake, I thought it was a good time to teach Jimmy how to row. He came over to the middle seat where I was and sat down to my left. I started to move to the rear seat where he had been. Of course the boat rocked some. Jimmy did the right thing and leaned to the left to balance the boat. However, he immediately thought, “Oh, oh. Grandpa might fall in I better help him.” He half stood up and leaned/moved over to help me. Over 400 pounds on one side of a boat, a very small boat, a very small boat that doesn’t hold that much, a very small boat that says not to exceed two people or 300 pounds, and physics takes over. The boat leaned to the right. Well perhaps leaned is too weak a term. Actually the seats became vertical to the lake and the sky. Well, the entire boat tipped to the side and went vertical. Now when the vertical pitch occurs, everything that used to be comfortably seated in the boat – oars, fishing poles, life jackets, new tackle box…and occupants – are no longer comfortably seated, but are pitched into cold water. Jimmy went in head first and I gracefully slid off the seat into the water. The boat went back upright but now it was half filled with water and with none of the other items. Jimmy started to panic, but he did grab one of the life jackets. I grabbed all of the other important items – oars, fishing poles that were somehow still floating and tackle box – and got them back in the boat. I also got Jimmy calmed down and told him we would be OK. Jimmy wanted to turn the boat over because he had seen that in a movie. I convinced him that was not a good idea. We held onto the side of the boat and decided we could swim it in. We paddled and kicked for about 15 minutes with some rest periods, but I couldn’t see we were making any real progress. It was getting towards dark and there was nobody else on the lake. The evening was too cool for folks to be sitting outside so no one saw us. We had tried to get back in the boat, but of course it tipped up again. Then I realized if I had Jimmy go to the other side and I held my side down, he might be able to get in. He went over and pulled himself right up and in. Now it was my turn. Since I have had several years of a lot of steroids, I don’t have a lot of muscle strength – too bad they don’t use the type that are supposed to build muscles. Between my weak muscles and my bad back, I couldn’t get myself up and in and Jimmy couldn’t come to help because the boat would tip up again. So, I taught him how to row while I hung on to the side. At first there was lots of splashing of the oars but he soon got the hang of it. Obviously while hanging on to the side of a boat and now hoping no one is watching, one doesn’t think too clearly. I thought Jimmy was pulling too much with his stronger right arm and about every fifth pull of the oars I had to tell him to pull only with his left arm to correct our direction. AFTER we got to shore it dawned on me it was because I was hanging on to the side and creating drag. If I had gone to the rear of the boat it would have been easier for him to row and keep on a straight course. We were almost to the shore to the point were I could stand when I moved to the back of the boat as he came closer to the dock. At that point Cheryl came out and said, “John Wagner, you get out of that water right now!!” She said she saw us from the window with Jimmy rowing and me in the water and immediately had figured out what happened and was trying to lighten the moment. Umm, I didn’t find it that funny at that moment and didn’t realize she was kidding.

Because Jimmy had taken us right into a floating bog that occurs when lilies die and decompose, my shoes and pants were a little, well, a lot dirty and smelly. Even the pockets had filled with muck. Cheryl wanted us to strip in the yard and get the clothes off before coming into the cabin she had been cleaning for two days. I didn’t think that was such a great idea since we hadn’t even met all of the neighbors yet and that was not the initial impression I wanted to make. Actually it wouldn’t even be the last impression I would want to make. We compromised and I stood on the little porch by the door and she wrapped a blanket around me as the clothes came off. I then headed for the shower to warm up.

Of course we have laughed a lot about this since then. Before going out on the boat, I had the foresight to take everything out of my pockets before we went out, except for the very special pocket watch my grandson Jonathan had given me. It stopped working after it filled with water and the circuitry short-circuited and fried. Upon our return yesterday, we were able to find a replacement. Jimmy now has a story to tell his grandchildren some day. For some reason whenever we went fishing after that, Jimmy took the paddle boat while I went in the row boat. We would stay fairly close to each other as we fished and talked. He felt much safer that way.

Over the next week and a half we caught lots of fish. When I was using night-crawlers (large worms) I caught a bullhead that was about 13 inches long and many of some of the largest bluegills and sunfish I have ever seen. That day I was brave and took the camera out with me on the boat and got a picture of one of the bluegills. You can see that is almost as long as the boat seat is wide.

Here are a couple of other pictures I took while out on the lake:Looking towards our cabin. Small red spot, second from right.

Our cabin taken from the same spot as the first picture, but using the zoom feature. You can also see the red storage shed to the right of the cabin.

Sunset on the Lake Gerry.

Our last day there, I caught the largest black bass I have ever caught and landed. As soon as it hit the lure and I hooked it, it did the bass-leap into the air to try and shake the hook. It was fun landing him. I lost one larger when my line broke at Lake LBJ in Texas, but that doesn’t count. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me and since I do catch and release, I didn’t have a stringer or any way to keep it alive so I could get a picture. I estimate that it weighed close to eight pounds and was 23 to 25 inches long.

During our stay, we saw other folks catching large bass and very large pickerel. For the 4th of July, the Lake Association held a fishing contest. I didn’t hear the winners for the adult division, but the two largest winners for youth went to a little girl and a little boy, both about 7 years old. One caught a 23 inch black bass and the other caught a 21 inch pickerel. One young man caught a 13 inch crappie. I didn’t enter the contest because of all the company we were having. One night it was a little late to go out in the boat, so I sat in a lawn chair and fished from shore over towards where my neighbor had cleared out his lily pads and right on the edge of ours. I caught a few fish. I came in and said to Cheryl, “How great is this? Fishing from my own back yard!” Obviously my “good fishing goal” was filled at this lake. I can’t wait to get back there next year and do lots more fishing. I will be using an electric trolling motor which is allowed on the lake. I plan to take a tape measure and fish scale, too. Oh, and maybe take a waterproof camera or at least a waterproof bag for my camera.

Later I’ll talk about some of the frustrating things of our money-pit…uh, summer cabin.

Deja Vous All Over Again

Last week, June 2, was Gavin’s first birthday. However, the night before we received a big surprise. I haven’t posted it here because I didn’t know if I had permission yet and I kept forgetting to ask. I got permission earlier this evening.

Cindy, Jonathan and Gavin came over for a surprise visit on Monday evening, June 1st. Jonathan was wearing his special shirt. This is a shirt we saw him wear only once before. In fact, the last time we saw it was about 20 months ago. This time he was wearing a jacket over it, but I noticed it almost immediately. Nanny didn't see it for a long time because she was too busy giving kisses and loving on Gavin. She didn't notice for a while even when Jonathan took his jacket off and was dancing around in front of her. Although Jonathan is taller, the shirt still fits him.

Here is the front of his shirt:

Here is the back of his shirt:

Yep, before Gavin was a year old and before Jonathan is 15, she has another bun in the oven; she’s in a family way; she has a miracle in the making; she’s eating for two; she’s in a delicate condition; she’s on stork watch; she’s with child; she’s up the duff; she’s in a fix; she had a conception malfunction; she’s preggers; she’s crazy! Well you get the picture by now. Even a U.S. congressman could understand that…I think. Actually we are happy for her. She and Corbin are happy too even though this was unplanned and a surprise for them. We know how they feel as our two girls, Cindy and Cheri, are only 15 months apart and Gavin and the new baby will be 20 months apart.

Primarily we are concerned because she had such a difficult time being pregnant with Gavin. Not only was she sick a lot, extremely uncomfortable, contractions for weeks before his birth, but it also was causing her some heart problems. She has already had two heart surgeries and we are praying this won’t cause more strain or damage. We covet your prayers too, if you are so inclined.

Their due date is February 10. They are hoping for a girl this time and have picked out the name, Grace.

Gavin doesn’t know what to think. But grandma assured him that Nanny and Papa have more than enough love for all the grandkids.

My Grandson, Jonathan

One of my other grandsons, 14 year old Jonathan, asked me to write a blog entry about him since I had written about James. So this is my entry. Obviously we love all our grandchildren and Jonathan is no exception.

We have a special bond with him too. When he wasn't quite three years old, he spent the summer with us while his mom finished college. She and his father separated and were divorced only a few months after Jonathan was born, so Cindy was a single mom at that time. That is another sad story in its own right. We enrolled him in daycare and I drove him there every morning and picked him up many nights when his nanny didn't.

One of the main memories I have of that time is how smart he was. I bought a Sesame Street program for the computer and that first afternoon he sat on my lap and watched me work the program for a couple of hours, moving the mouse around to play the game. He was fascinated. He didn't want to stop playing when it was time for supper, but I promised him we would come back after supper. I shut down the program completely and we went to eat.

As soon as we finished eating, he started begging to go back to the computer room. I told him we would after Nanny and I finished talking. This was always our time to decompress from the day's activities as we shared what our day was like and what happened at our jobs. Suddenly I realized he wasn't there and it was way too quiet. I went into the computer room and couldn't believe my eyes! Somehow he had opened the program and was sitting in the computer chair and he was playing the game using the mouse! He wasn't just moving the mouse around, he was actually playing the game and making all the right moves to play the game. I quickly got Cheryl and we stood behind him for about five minutes and just watched in awe. I have no idea how he even got the program open or how he knew how to open it. As far as we know, that was his first, but definitely not last time on the computer.

Well, next week he graduates from 8th grade and next school year he will be a high school freshman. That is so hard to believe as it seems like yesterday he was just a toddler. He is still quite smart. He does particularly well in Language Arts class and he reads on a college level according to achievement tests. His only difficulty is math, but he is passing. He wants to be a pilot and will be enrolled in a special program called Physics through Aviation.

Jonathan likes wearing his hair very long, but today he got it cut short. He looks so different, but tonight he said he is getting used to it and likes it (he didn't at first).

Before: During:He could use your prayers has he has been having some difficulty lately in a few areas. He is also in big trouble with his dad (step dad, but they have a true father/son relationship and Jonathan legally changed his last name to match). Earlier this week he didn't completely follow directions and put a large dent and hole in the side panel of his dad's pickup truck. Jonathan was driving the truck with an attached flatbed trailer in their field, which he has done many times. He was doing this as he was told to go dump a load of rocks. However instead of just going straight like he was supposed to, he tried backing up and really blew it, but kept going. The trailer jackknifed and punched the hole in the truck. Ouch! Hopefully a few years, or decades, from now they will laugh about it.

He really is a good kid. Puberty is just not being kind with his emotions. Remember those days?

Can you tell he takes after his grandpa?

Way to Go James! Thank You, Hopewell Middle School Teachers!

(Note: There is nothing about my leukemia or lymphoma in this entry)

Many folks reading this know that one of our grandsons, Jimmy…oops, JAMES (he is 14 now), came to live with us two school years ago. This move was taken out of frustration with the school district he was attending. He is bi-polar and that school was not working well for him at all. Instead of handling discipline internally, they had the on campus police officer handing out disturbing-the-peace tickets and then the child had to appear in municipal court. Even if the judge threw it out, which he did with James, court costs still had to be paid. He got two such tickets the last month he attended school there. He received one for hollering and slamming his books down on the desk when he was angry and another for slamming the door to his class when he stormed out angry. Both actions certainly warranted disciplinary action, but not the way the school handled it. Those were just the last straw in a long string of things of the school not working with him properly. His mom tried to transfer him to a different school even closer to their home and that principal accepted him but the principal of the school he was in wouldn’t release him. During the summer she appealed to the district, but two days before school was to start, they turned down the appeal for the same reason. We agreed to have him move here with us and she withdrew him from school there and had legal paperwork drawn up for us to become his legal guardians for the school.

The first year he was here things went very well…for the first half of the school year. He even joined the football team. He practiced hard, but didn’t get to play in a single game, which was very disappointing to him. Then over Christmas and into January he had a huge growth spurt and his medications went out of balance and he started having major problems with his anger and his attitude. He would be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; calm and polite and then something would set him off and he would go into rage. He wouldn’t even remember most of what he said or did during those times and it was often very bad. He was losing his temper often both at school and at home. His psychiatrist kept adjusting and adding and subtracting medications, but nothing was working. He was suspended multiple times for fighting, cussing teachers, and various other misbehavior. The school really was trying to work with him and I can’t fault them at all. The assistant principal and I became well acquainted and I hated to get the phone calls from her because I knew James was in trouble again. He was even suspended the last full week of school. Somehow he managed to pass, but it was such a horribly stressful time on all of us. We just didn’t see how we could do it another school year but we were also very afraid he was heading down a path straight into the criminal justice system. His doctor continued adjusting medications and his mom searched and searched for a Boy’s Ranch or some residential program that would take him. She couldn’t find anything because of his diagnosis and history of violence – the fights he had been in. One medical-type program would take him, but it was only for 90 days and it was going to cost over $25,000!

But then we noticed over the summer that he was calming down and not having the anger outbursts. Cheryl and I talked and prayed about it a great deal. We decided we would try for one more year. We drew up a contract for him that listed out all of our responsibilities and what we expected of his behavior. We told him that if he didn’t live up to this agreement he would have to move back home and back to the school he so intensely disliked. He agreed.

This school year has been fantastic! Every meeting I have had with his teachers they have praised him for his behavior, how hard he tries, how polite he is and how he is one of the students they can send on errands because they know they can trust him to go do it and come right back. One teacher said she had read his file and knew of his reputation and was hesitant to have him in her classroom. She said she thought maybe they had the files mixed up because the boy she saw was nothing like the kid she read about.

Last fall he again joined the football team, practiced hard and played on the defensive line in every game for every defensive play. He is now close to six feet and weighs over 200 pounds. James has also worked hard on his academics, especially his reading. Texas has state exams students must pass at certain years in the spring in order to move on to the next grade. This year he had to pass the reading exam and math exam to move into high school. We figured he would pass math, but we were concerned for the reading, even though he would get three tries, including one last try over the summer. At the beginning of the year, he tested at a third grade reading level. He was in remedial reading with a super teacher, Ms. Lisa Smith, who taught him various strategies to use when reading to increase his comprehension. Last month was the reading TAKS test. He came home all excited because he was sure he did well and thought he might have even gotten to the “commended” level on the test. We were hopeful, but also afraid he was going to be hugely disappointed. Actually, Cheryl was more confident than I as she had been working closely with him with reading (I help more with math). She would read his books ahead of him, have him read a couple of chapters and then she would quiz him about what he read. She could see that his comprehension was rapidly improving. A few days after the exam, I had a progress meeting with his teachers and relayed what he said after taking the exam. They were also concerned he was going to be disappointed and wanted me to stress to him that he still had two more chances to pass the test. About a week after that, James called from school. The test results had come in. He had only missed three questions! He was one away from the “Commended” level. We were all so excited. His teachers were excited and I think perhaps shocked. He kept saying he knew he did well and he used all his strategies he had been taught, even though he didn’t have to. He taught me not to doubt him.

We have seen him work hard on his behavior here at home, too. Things that would set him off last year, we see him stop and think things through. A couple of times we have seen him be quiet and just simply withdraw from the situation so he can calm himself. For the entire year there was only one time he became angry here at home and it was one morning with me. He didn’t go into any rage, but did leave angry – like any normal 8th grade student might. That night when he came home he apologized to me.

So why am I telling you all this? Obviously we are very proud of him. Last week we got a letter in the mail that informed us he was going to be getting an award on Friday night, at a ceremony before the school dance. He had already asked if he could go to the dance and we had given him permission. When we asked him what kind of award, he said he had no idea. When he asked his teachers, they told him he had to wait and find out. We were excited but also a little skeptical. We thought it might just be a certificate that all kids would get. James even said he wanted to get a suit to wear. I had a jacket and shirt that fit him and we bought him a pair of matching pants, new tie and dress shoes. We were hoping he wasn’t going to be disappointed.

When we got there we were handed a program and it had a list of honorees. We could tell it was not every student, but the program was “Academic Achievement Awards.” Hmm, we still couldn’t figure it out because we know James’ grades aren’t that high. He is passing, but certainly not all A’s, or even close. As the program progressed they announced what the next awards were and then we pretty much knew that was how he was being honored. He received the “Rock Star/Shooting Star” award. It was for the most improved male student! His team of teachers had voted for him for this award. I thought I would pop my buttons with pride. How wonderful for his teachers to recognize the great effort he has been putting forth this year. I doubt they will read this, but I would like to recognize the team of teachers he had this year who worked so well together to help him.

Reading Title 1 – Lisa Smith
Mathematics – Rose Holly (also his advisory teacher who helped keep him organized)
Language Arts – Heather Byrd
US History – Elizabeth Tagge-Quigg
Science – Debra Manganaro And two teachers not part of the organized team, but who also helped him:
BCIS (computers) – Matthew Perez
Boys Athletics – Joshua Barnes

Also a big thank you to his counselor, Mike Mohr and mentors Steven Gradney and Jami Evans. Mr. Gradney wasn’t even assigned to him and yet he went out of his way to help and encourage James. A very special thank you to assistant principal Cynthia Ottmers, who is the kindest lady I ever met who can hand out sanctions to the kids and have them understand she is really doing them a favor! She really cares for her kids. There are many others who played a role in James’ success including last year’s teachers, the office staff, the school nurse and the attendance lady, Tonie Moya and some I have probably inadvertently omitted. All of these folks are under the very capable leadership of their principal, Mr. Anthony Watson. Thank you, thank you, thank you all!

Of course, James is coming back to live with us again next year as he begins High School. I have to have someone to mow my lawn. Congratulations James, for your great effort and your accomplishments this year.

Happy Mother's Day

(Note: There is nothing about my leukemia or lymphoma in this entry)

There are several special mothers in my life, but four are particularly close to me – my own Mom, my wife, and both my daughters.

I wanted to write something special to honor the mother of my children who taught the girls, through example, how to be great mothers in their own right. And I wanted to honor my own mother who is 94 and just moved into a nursing home this year. I had the brilliant idea of writing an original poem. I figured nine or ten stanzas would be pretty good. I would write one for each of them. Umm, not such a brilliant idea. I now remember why I hated writing poetry back in high school, almost 50 years ago. I can’t do it! After many false starts, here is the miserable result before I finally gave up:

TO MY WIFE, CHERYL
You are the Mother of my children
Who now have children of their own.
So now you are a grandma
From the seeds of which we’ve sown.

You showed them how to do it
How to love without condition.
And now they show that kind of love
To their own with such tradition.

TO MY MOM

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue
Mom you are so great
And that is why I love you!

Umm, can you tell it was late by the time I got to the second one?

However, my feeble attempts did cause me to think about both of these wonderful women and how much they mean to me. I wish I knew how to put those thoughts into meaningful poetry. I decided to see if there was anyplace on the web I could go for inspiration. I figured I couldn’t directly copy something without permission, but perhaps it would get some of my own creative juices flowing. What I found was a site with poetry that actually encouraged you to cut and paste and put into cards for your mom. So here are a couple of the poems I found meaningful.

This first two are for both my wife and my mom:

"Happy Mother's Day"

“Happy Mother’s Day” means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love

By Kay Hunt


*********************************************

No Love like a Mother's Love

There is no love, like a mother's love,
no stronger bond on earth...
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother, when she gives birth.

A mother's love is forever strong,
never changing for all time...
and when her children need her most,
a mother's love will shine.

God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one...
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they've done.

When her days on earth are over,
a mother's love lives on...
through many generations,
with God's blessings on each one.

Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love...
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.

By Jill Lemming

This last one is especially for my Mom and for all Military Moms who may read these words. They are special ladies. Although I returned home safe, many sons and daughters have not. When I joined the Air Force, my Mom cried. When I first went overseas, my Mom cried. Each time after when I left to go overseas, Mom cried. I didn’t understand. That is I didn’t understand until our oldest daughter first moved away to a different state to join her military husband and then I understood just a little. However, when my youngest daughter called me from Dallas and told me she was taking her physical and was enlisting in the Army, I truly understood.

MILITARY MOMS

This year on Mother's Day
We should think of offspring lost
And Mothers of all those Troops
Who paid the ultimate cost.

They've watched Sons and Daughters
Sent off to a foreign land
To fight wars and give their all
In some conflicts so ill planned.

But no matter what the reasons
They've always stepped up to the line
To give their lives for Freedoms
Enjoyed by all of yours and mine.

We must Honor all those Mothers
Of all those who have Served
And Sacrifices that they made
With our, "Thanks!", so well deserved.

It takes a very Special Lady
To let Her Child go off to War
Or just to join the Military
With the pride and fear and more.

There's too many Gold Star Mothers
And if you might know of one
Please send Her a special wish
To praise Her Daughter or Son.

Military Moms are the Greatest
With a strength beyond compare
Who hope and pray their loved one
Comes Home safe, from over there.

So, let's keep them in our thoughts
And hope their prayers come true
All those Moms and all those Troops
Who stand Strong and Proud, and True.

By: Del "Abe" Jones

God bless you Cheryl and Mom and Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you both for being terrific mothers! Happy Mother’s Day to all moms reading this. You have the most important job in the world.

Husbands Say The Darndest Things

In the class I teach on Sunday mornings, we just completed a wonderful, many-month study of Psalms and Proverbs. Two weeks ago we had a discussion about the foolish, purposefully hurtful things we say or even outright lies we sometimes tell and then we try and cover it up by saying, “Only kidding.” This led to talking about the hurtful things we sometimes say but we didn't actually intend them to be hurtful. We say them without malice, but also without thinking and yet those foolish comments can still have long term consequences.

Occasionally … well, actually often … I get myself in trouble by making comments that I mean to be funny, but because I don’t think them through, actually come out as hurtful. Saying, “Only kidding,” even though I was, doesn't help in those situations either.

I related the following true story to my class.

Thirty five years ago, Cheryl and I were a young couple with two small children, only married six years. I was in the military and not making much money. We did a lot of our clothes shopping at yard sales on Saturday mornings, but on occasion we were able to splurge and buy something new. On one of those times Cheryl got a new dress which she wore to church for the first time. It was a very, very bright yellow with black stripes. It really did look nice on her.

After the worship service she went down to the nursery to get the kids while I was delayed talking to some folks. When I came out of the sanctuary, I saw her down at the end of the hallway that ran the length of the church. She was standing by the door talking to someone else and she had the girls with her.

When I got to her, she said, “Oh, good. I didn't know if you knew I was down here, I was worried you wouldn't find me.”

I said, with a smile on my face, “No need to worry. I saw you from all the way at the other end of the hallway. Couldn't miss you. You look like a big ol' bumblebee in your new dress.”

OOPS!

She never wore that dress again!

Fortunately she started talking to me again last week.

Happy Canciversary To Me

I am celebrating my fourth anniversary since diagnosis with CLL/SLL. Now to some folks it may seem strange I would celebrate my Canciversary. However I think every year we survive and can note the date is reason for celebrating. Actually looking forward to celebrating my 20th Canciversary as my Dad did before he died as a result of CLL (and a very bad heart).

To celebrate this anniversary, I have updated the look of my blog. However, in doing so, I lost some links to blogs I was following. Sure hope I can find them again. However, I have added a few new ones I have been reading, but did not have on my list here. You can find them over on the left.

Looking back over the last four years, much has happened since that day in March when Cheryl and I, hand in hand, walked out of Dr. Netaji's office with the confirmed diagnosis. It was a bright sunny day, much like it was here all last week and our heads were spinning, even though we had suspected what the final word would be. It wasn't quite the same suspecting it as actually hearing it. I remember feeling slightly surprised that the world was just going on as normal when ours had been changed forever. I guess I was expecting to walk out to dark storm clouds, flashing lightning and all traffic and movement stopped. That's what it seemed like in my mind. However, that darkness lifted after that first night of prayer. Not to say that the head spinning didn't keep going for a few months as we continued to learn more about the disease.

So what has happened in the last four years?

--I have felt the presence of the Lord with me during this journey
--I experienced the wonderful support and encouragement of family and friends, including friends I hadn't heard from for many years
--I have experienced the power of prayer and intercessory prayer that I had only heard about previously
--I have made many new cyber friends who are surviving CLL and other cancers
--Some of these cyber friends I have since met in person and without exception they were all exceptional people; Dave E, Deb and her mom, Paul, Anita, Tom and JL
--Unfortunately I have lost way too many cyber friends to this disease over these four years; too many and too sad to post all their names, but each had a unique story of courage
--I have had three bone marrow biopsies *** YIKES***
--Numerous infections including lots of sinus infections, teeth, pneumonia several times, E. coli infection in lungs, strange rashes and itching, and other stuff I may have tried to forget
--I have seen my primary care doctor, endocrinologist, hematologist/oncologist, CLL specialist, cardiologist, neurologist, pulmonologist, surgeon, dentist, oral surgeon, endotontist, optometrist and perhaps others
--Chemo port implanted in my chest
--Extensive dental surgery
--Eight rounds of chemotherapy with mustard gas derivative alkylating agent, mouse parts and lots of high dose Prednisone
--Sixteen (I think) day-long IVIg infusions with steroids
--Discovered I have some of the best insurance coverage around for which I am very thankful
--Many steroid induced sleepless nights
--Way too many steroids. Just thinking about it may put me into roid rage :-)
--Bucket list trips to the Grand Canyon and an ocean cruise to Progresso and Cozumel, Mexico; thanks to my daughters!
--I retired from a job I really liked (I have liked all but one of my jobs in my whole working life)
--I was approved for Social Security Disability
--I got handicap plates on my car
--My back continues to deteriorate
--Have gained sixty pounds now since starting chemo a little over three years ago

--Five wonderful annual "John's Not Dead Yet" luncheons with former coworkers from probation training (Well they call it "The Friends of John" luncheon, but I know the truth! LOL!)
--Fishing with my grandsons
--Movie dates with my granddaughter
--Babysitting my youngest grandson
--Middle school grandson living with us during school year (and behaving VERY well now at home and at school)

--Cheryl has survived multiple lay-offs at her work in the housing construction industry. She was told after the last round that they could never afford to lose her when she tried to volunteer to take the place of a young man with small children who was laid off
--Being a house husband but one who HATES to dust for some reason; cooking, laundry, vacuuming no problem but always run out of steam when it comes time to dust (blog post for that solution coming soon - written in my head weeks ago)

I'm sure as soon as I post this I will think of other things, but it is 2:00 a.m. and after day long IVIg infusion today, the old mind isn't too sharp. Of course it isn't all that sharp at 2 p.m., either. I will probably still be awake when Cheryl gets up for work because the steroid infusion that goes along with the IVIg always has me wired all night.

Speaking of the infusion, it was an unusual day in the chemo room. In the main area where I sit, always next to the window, there are six infusion chairs - three on each side of the room. It was a little unusual in the fact that there was a lady who was there when I came in and who was still there when I left. Usually I am the first one to arrive and the last to leave. Secondly, in the remaining four chairs, thirteen people came and went during the day. All but one were women. All were in relapse from their cancer. Two were undergoing chemo and radiation. One had radiation burns after 32 rounds of radiation. All but three of the ladies were bald and each had a wonderful hat, colorful turbin or beautiful scarf wrapped around her head. One lady was in terrible pain. One lady was very sick to her stomach. One lady's treatment isn't working and the tumor is inoperable. One lady's son surprised her last week when he showed up on her doorstep from Japan. He is in the Army and was coming back to the states for a short trip to another state for the military. He is a helicopter gunner and was in Afghanistan and will be going back after his tour in Japan. She cried. All seemed optimistic. I prayed for all of them.

I got home at five.

I just prayed for them again.

Quite a week

First of all, I am a little late, but technically I have 20 minutes left here in Texas, so Happy Valentines Day. I hope you all had a good day. Cheryl and I actually went out for dinner and it was her idea! Those of you who know us know how unusual that is. About the only time we go out to eat is on Sunday after church. Even many of our wedding anniversaries we have stayed home. So when she suggested it, of course we went. Over the years I have pretty much stopped asking because 99% of the time she would rather stay home. Here are a couple more pictures of our grandson, Gavin that have a Valentine theme.

This week was a huge milestone in my Mother's life. She entered a nursing home. She is 94 years old and although she is in overall general good health, she has been getting much weaker and has required more and more care. She reached the point where she couldn't get in the shower and had trouble dressing herself. She lived most of the year with my older brother in upstate NY and it became too much to try to properly meet all her needs. She used to come down here from January to about May and then she would go spend a couple of months with a younger brother in Ohio and then go back to NY which she always considered home. A few years ago we discussed having her move here, but she always wanted to get back "home." She was too weak to come down this year. She is in her wheel chair most of the time and walks very little with her walker. With my lack of strength now, if she had fallen I would have had to call for help to get her up. I think my brother found her a terrific place. She has her own room, and was able to bring all her own furniture. Before she went to look at the place, she told me it was important that she could bring her lift chair, her nightstand, her Bible and Jimmy's picture (our grandson who lives with us. They really bonded last year). Well, she got her wish. She said she really likes her room very much, the entire staff is very nice. The only thing she seemed to be having some trouble with is the food, but then she barely eats anyway and we have had trouble getting her to eat properly for a couple of years. She even attends physical therapy there, so that is good. I pray she continues to adjust well to her new surroundings. I know all the relatives up there will visit regularly and she won't be forgotten.

Sunday afternoon I went to Corpus Christi with Cindy so I could watch Gavin while she presented at a conference. I was able to take him to a beach for the first time and we also spent a lot of time walking around the waterfront sightseeing. I took TONS of pictures with my new camera. Here are just a couple:

When we got back home, I was wiped out, like Gavin was on the waterfront. The day after our return, I wasn't even dressed when Cheryl got home from work. But it really was worth it. Two places I have always loved are the mountains and waterfront - ocean, gulf, or lake.

Health wise I am hanging in there. The IVIg infusion seems to have pretty much cleared up the sinus infection. Last Saturday night/Sunday morning I woke up in the middle of the night with my chest really hurting. I even got up and took an aspirin, just in case it was my heart. Well, as I kind of thought, it was a chest cold starting as I could rapidly feel it getting congested. I started coughing some and coughed into the afternoon. I was afraid it was going to ruin, or cause me to cancel the trip to Corpus Christi. However, by Sunday afternoon it wasn't getting worse and by Monday morning the cough was gone! Every once in a while I can feel it trying to make a comeback as my chest will feel heavy and I feel stuff rattling around, and then it is gone again. Kind of a mystery. But then again, everything with this leukemia/lymphoma seems to be a mystery. My only concern is that twice now I have had lung infections with no real symptoms. Once pneumonia and once E. Coli. that only showed up on staging CT scans. I just don't want to get paranoid about it.

Finally, Cindy found out about a beautiful baby contest on "Live with Regis and Kelly." First prize is $125,000 college scholarship. The only problem was, she read about it late and the deadline was Friday at 5 p.m. eastern time. So she came over and I took over 100 pictures of Gavin. It was difficult trying to choose which one to send in. Some were funny, most were adorable. Here is one fun one, one of the many cute ones, and then the one she submitted.

After we submitted it, I heard that last year there were over 50,000 submissions. Oh well, we had fun. Besides, I already know he is the World's Cutest Baby. I don't need the judges to tell me that.....but, it would be nice if they did.

This and That

And so we begin another year with new hopes and new adventures in a future we can't see. Sometimes that is a very good thing. Will 2009 bring more rounds of chemo for me? If it does, I won't be too surprised. Of course I will be thrilled if I get through another year without more chemotherapy, which certainly could happen. I am already much further ahead than my doctors or I thought and we thank God for that. Cheryl and I went to Houston for another appointment at MD Anderson this past Monday. It had only been four months since my last time there and I was a little shocked with the blood work results. My IgG level was WAY up at 973 and it has been a month since my last infusion. A couple of months ago it was down to 220 four weeks after an infusion, so this is terrific. Dr. Wierda said to skip this month's infusion scheduled for this coming Monday...yea. Now I have to convince my local doctor to go along with that, which I think he will. Once we started these infusions to stop all the infections, the idea was to get the IgG level to over 700 and infuse whenever it drops below 700. I know doctor Hamblin had said that studies showed that the infusions were helpful only when the level was below 300 and the patient had been getting infections, but except for the E. Coli infection in my lungs I had this year, the constant infections have halted, so it is working for me.

Another bright spot, my platelets are continuing to be up very near the normal range. This time at 128...double yea. Normal is 140 to 440. On the not so positive side, my absolute lymphocyte count almost doubled in four months. If that count doubles in six months or less, that is an indication for treatment. However, no decision is made on just one test and the number is still relatively low for someone with CLL so this jump isn't as critical as it might be if the number was higher. However, if it doubles again next time, that very well could be a trigger. That count is 16.24, up from 8.23 four months ago and 6.08 eight months ago. Normal for their lab is 1.00 to 4.80. My white count is up to 19.1 from 12.1 four months ago and 7.6 eight months ago. 4.0 to 11.0 is normal for that lab. Overall 16 things were out of normal range, either too high or too low, of the 45 things they tested for. In the overall scheme of things, not bad. Because I get my blood work monthly here at home, the climb didn't seem quite so dramatic. Except for lack of energy and my bad back, I have been feeling good. I was feeling worse a year ago when my counts were better!

When Dr. Wierda said to come back in four months, I gave him my sad puppy-dog-eyes-look and stuck out my lower lip. Then he said, "OK, come back in six months." First he had confirmed that I see my local doctor for blood work once a month so he knows I am closely monitored.

While still on the topic of health, please keep David E. in your prayers. He is my Internet friend who has the advanced prostate cancer. He has his final rounds of chemo coming up and it is barely keeping the cancer at bay. After he has his final round on the 15th, he, his wife, and his doctor are going to have to decide what the next steps will be. He has a strong faith but of course this is very worrisome. This month he also enters his fifth year since his diagnosis. He was diagnosed just shortly before I was.

We had our usual exciting New Year's Eve last night. Cheryl went to bed early and I watched the ball drop in Time's Square on TV -- twice. They replayed it for our time zone. I had every intention of going to a party/open house a former co-worker was having, but Cheryl had gone in to work at 4:30 a.m. and was too tired to go. By the time evening comes around, I have zero energy, too.

I spent much of the evening comforting my shaking dog. Fireworks send him into panic mode and we have lots of illegal fireworks going off in our neighborhood starting at dark. At 1 a.m., after it was pretty much over, I tried to take him for a walk before we went to bed. I had to force him out the door. We barely got down our walk and one went off in the distance and he tried to run back. I made him go down the block with me, but his tail was always between his legs and he wouldn't get off the sidewalk. Then we came home and I forced him into the back yard. Still no luck. When we got up this morning I took him out on the leash. At first he still refused to go out, but finally realized there were no more big bad booms. I sure am glad I only got him for companionship and not for protection.

It Pays to Advertise

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas is my favorite time of year as we celebrate the most wonderful gift ever given to mankind -- the birth of Jesus Christ. We celebrated twice this year. First with Cindy, Jonathan and Gavin. Corbin, her husband who is an oil driller, was called back into the oil fields two weeks before Christmas. He is in New Mexico and Cindy and the boys flew out to be with him for Christmas. So we exchanged gifts the Sunday before she left. It was such fun watching Gavin open presents. He had fun ripping paper and playing with boxes. He did very well for being only six months old. Here are a couple of the pictures they gave us for Christmas. We actually got a bunch of poses, but I will only post these. I don't want to brag too much on my wonderful grand kids:



Because the desktop computer is about useless and that is the one Cheryl uses mostly, they decided to give Cheryl a laptop, fix that desktop for the grand kids to use, and also got a docking station with a switch so she can still use it in the computer room with her mouse, keyboard, and monitor. She will password protect it so the grand kids can't mess it up. They included a 24 inch monitor, but it doesn't fit on her computer roll-top desk. We haven't quite figured out what we will do with that, yet. Now true, I didn't get my dream desktop, but the actual problem was solved. Hmm, maybe I will buy myself a desktop with blueray player and use the 24 inch monitor. I will have to save my pennies first.

They got me a fantastic, new digital camera. It is a Canon, but even better than the one I had been hinting for, well blatantly writing about. It is a good one! I started taking pictures before reading directions and at first I was disappointed with the results. Then I learned I was doing it all wrong. I am just now figuring it out and it takes TERRIFIC pictures. It has tons of different settings. I use auto setting if I want to make sure I get the picture. I know I will get better with it. Here are a couple of my first attempts that I didn't delete (some were much, much worse) and then one taken later:


On Christmas eve we attended the candlelight service at church as we always do. The service ends with the flame from the Christ Candle being passed throughout the congregation to small candles each of us are holding. It is so neat to watch the flame being passed until the entire sanctuary is aglow from over 900 candles burning. Very impressive and moving. A we pass the love of Christ from one to another, the results are also very impressive.

Then we came home and had our first annual, non-traditional, pizza dinner with Cheri, Marc, Holly and Jimmy.
Usually we have a regular Christmas dinner of turkey or ham on Christmas eve. However, this year Cheryl was turkeyed out from Thanksgiving and then our SS department party at our house where we also fixed a large turkey. She isn't that fond of ham, so we decided to do this. Of course the kids loved it. After dinner I read the Christmas story as I traditionally do each year and the kids opened one gift.

Cheri, Marc, and kids decided to spend the night so they went back and got their dog and brought her here.

In the morning we got up fairly early and started opening gifts. Guess what I got from Cheri and Marc? A Garmin Nuvi GPS - and it speaks street names, just like I wrote about. Now where did they get that idea? HA! We used it to go to MD Anderson and it actually took us on a much faster route in Houston than MapQuest always had us go. And coming back out it was slightly different but still much faster. It was great! We even found a short cut leaving the Austin area that cut out two miles. We still haven't figured out a name for the female voice we are using, but we will. The one we used in New York we named Thelma, so perhaps Louise is appropriate for this one. If I want, I can even have it speak Russian and have all the text in Cyrillic! (I was a Russian linguist in the Air Force.) Of course I would have to call the Russian lady's voice Svetlana, Tatyana or maybe Natasha. No matter what name I use, I can now find my way home from church and don't have to wear the sign around my neck Cindy got me last Christmas. That sign said, "If found, please return me to..." and my address and phone number.

Everyone got wonderful gifts. The kids each got a laptop, too! Black Friday specials from their Mom and Dad. After gift opening we fixed breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and cinnamon buns. It was great. Marc then drove to another town and picked up his other daughter and brought her back here. In the afternoon, we had our first annual non-traditional grilled steak dinner. Normally we have left overs from the night before, but that wasn't going to work this year. So, I grilled steak, we had fries and a traditional fruit salad -- can't throw out all the traditions.

It was a wonderful day!

Oh, I also got my eyes examined and picked up my new glasses this week. So, I got most everything I had posted about under the post "I'm a Gadget Guy." It really does pay to advertise. Now, if I can just convince Cheryl I really do need a flat screen High Definition TV! HA!

41 Years!
On December 23rd we celebrated our 41st Wedding Anniversary. Where does the time go? We actually went out to dinner that evening which doesn't often happen. Usually we are so busy getting ready for Christmas, we are too tired. This year, we were ready the earliest ever. Cheryl said this was the least stressful Christmas she can remember in years and years. I think this picture says it all:

Where Is My Energy?

I think the most frustrating thing about CLL is the fatigue and lack of energy. I have big plans for the day of all the things I am going to accomplish and then little actually happens. Now true, sometimes it is just lack of motivation. But many times I just get started and sputter out. Case in point, it took several weeks to decorate the outside for Christmas and that was even with Jimmy and Jonathan's help. They got up on the ladder for me for the roof lights except for the two tall peaks. That height scared both of them too much so I did that part. I could barely make it up the ladder and that really depressed me. I used to do it all with no problem. Last year I did the front and Jonathan did the side when I tired out. This year I could barely make it up the ladder the second time and I really doubt I could have made it a third time. Grrr!

Later that week, as I was putting rope lights down to outline the sections of the yard, my back was hurting too much with the constant bending putting in the stakes, so I got down and crawled around doing it. Then when it came time to get up, I didn't have the strength and I was outside by myself. I had to crawl over to a tree to help pull myself up. Of course every time a car came down the street I stopped crawling and pretended I was doing something right there.

I was trying to get things done for the annual Sunday School Christmas party we host at our home. I had a lot done but still didn't have the lights around the garage and the three evergreen trees. But I had a week left to do it. Everyday I planned on going out and didn't. Finally on the Saturday of the party I was out there and finished up about 3:30. I didn't even have all the lights out I normally do. Oh well, it still looked nice. Next year I might just put electric candles in the windows. If I can find the energy. And the extension cords.