Prayers For Papa! (and Granny!)

My daughter calls my Dad, Papa--(which makes for some confusion because we also call my husband's grandfather Papa but add his last name to cut down on some of the confusion) and has always had a close relationship with him. About three weeks ago, my Dad had a skin cancer removed from his ear, the doctor assured them that it was nothing but sent it off to the lab to be sure. Well, you guessed it turns out to be malignant and the worse kind of skin cancer. Funny but somehow my Mom knew that it was not benign and was worried about it all along.

After waiting forever for an appointment at MD Anderson, they will go tomorrow to see what the treatments will involve. The local doctor did not paint a very rosy picture for them, stating that it would be a long and difficult journey.

So I have some very specific prayer request for my blogging friends--

1. Pray for the cancer to be gone.

2. If it can't be gone, pray that it is contained and treatable. Pray for the doctors involved to make the correct decisions.

3. Pray for safety as we travel, my brother is bringing them from their house and I am driving to Houston from San Antonio.

4. Pray that my Mom will continue to heal and feel strong as she takes care of my Dad. She has been sick for the last few weeks (almost hospitalized last weekend)

5. Pray for my husband and daughter as I will be away for a few days. My daughter does not always handle change very well, so please pray that God blesses her and gives her peace.


UPDATE- My Mom (AKA Granny)had an abdominal ultrasound today that shows she has a pancreatic cyst. The doctor says it does not look like cancer but she will need additional treatment and test to be sure. He agreed that she could wait until the situation with my Dad and MD Anderson is worked out and they have a treatment plan for him in place. But wants to see her as soon as it can be worked out. So looks like both of my parents will be undergoing medical treatment in the very near future.

Thank You In Advance For Your Prayers!

Some Funnies!

I got this off of Heather's blog but don't think she will mind if I borrow it




After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet,” which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS ‘ pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit
S: Something tightened in cockpit

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.


Do you have a favorite? If so leave me a comment and tell me which one!

Castaway Cay

Think I will write about this day later but wanted to go ahead and show you some pictures of this beautiful island.





The first two beach pictures are of the family beach, which was crowded but not unbearably so, you could still find lounge chairs and move around without any problems




The last two pictures are of the adult beach. It was on a different side of the island that you reached by tram or bike. The water was much clearer on the adult beach and it was very open and relaxing. Not crowded at all.

Nassau

The second day of the cruise we were docked at Nassau. We did not plan any excursions that day so we left DD in the Oceaneer's Lab to play with her new friends and we went ashore to walk around a bit. I was a little nervous walking around because there were so many people trying to sell you things, they would reach out to hand you stuff or touch you on the arm to get your attention. It just really made me nervous.

So after a little walking around, we just went back to the ship. Hubby was starting to get a cold or allergies so he took a short nap before we hit the Adult pool. DD beeped us that she was ready to be picked up a little before dinner, so hubby took her to the kids pool and I got ready for dinner. On the Disney cruise you rotate between their three restaurants but keep the same wait staff at all three restaurants. Tritons was the dinning room of our second night and the more formal of the three. So we dressed up a little and when we got there the wait staff immediately tied pirate scarfs on our heads ( well, tried to on me, I opted to wear mine around my neck) as it was Pirate Night on the Disney Wonder. After dinner was another show, this one was called the Golden Mickey's. It was like an awards show with disney movies and characters.


The last activity of the second day was The Pirate Party up on deck. It starts out with Disney Characters dancing and then the Pirates take over the ship. In the end, Mickey flies in on a high wire and saves the day. Then the fireworks go off. It is a lot of fun for all with music and dancing. I think Disney is the only ship that shoots off fireworks.
By this time, DD was getting a little tired and cranky but not ready to give up activities for the night so we had a little melt down but all was made better by the arrival of cookies and hot chocolate delivered by Room Service! And so was the 2nd night of the cruise!

More to Come.....

Cruising with Mickey Mouse!

Since we were unable to really take a vacation this summer, we decided to take advantage of darling daughter having half days (due to teacher conferences) and take a family vacation in October. We started out by flying into Orlando on Southwest Airlines, which worked out great for us because it was a direct, non-stop flight and for the most part cheaper than other airlines. We used on line check in 24 hours before and we able to snag group A 5-7 which meant we boarded in the first group after the wheelchair folks were put on the plane. Trip to Orlando was uneventful, we caught a complimentary shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express spent a comfortable night, got a better than continental breakfast (free) and caught the shuttle back to the airport.

We checked in with Disney and waited maybe 20 minutes before boarding a bus to Cape Canaveral. The trip is about 45 minutes long and they show a video (with captioning) during the trip so you are occupied with seeing the ship and knowing what to expect when you arrive at the port. Going through security at the port was painless, we had about an hour wait before we could board the ship but there were interesting things to see in the terminal. They had a mock up of the ship, they had Character greetings and photo opportunities, so the time went very quickly. You enter the ship in groups, we were in group 3. Once you pass though the giant Mouse Ears, you have your portrait made in front of a giant map with Hidden Mickeys in it. Then as you board the actual ship, they announce your family....Disney Cruiseline is proud to welcome aboard the xxxxxx family and everyone claps. Then you are greeted by another castmember (CM) who gives you information about where they are serving lunch and reminds you that you may not enter your cabin until 1:30.

We went to lunch at Parrot Cay (pronounced KEY), which is a brightly decorated Caribbean themed restaurant. For lunch it was a buffet but there were still waiters to seat you, take your drink order and pick up after you. Disney is big on sanitation, so at every meal you are greeted by CM's who hand you sanitizing wipes for your hands. There are also sanitizing gels available through out the ship. The buffet was good but not exceptional. They had lots of salads, cheese and deli meats, a few main dishes, a kids area with Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, etc...
Then they had two dessert areas, one with cheesecakes, tarts, brownies, etc... and one where you could make your own ice cream sundaes. The food was the only real area that I don't think Disney excels at, it was good but I felt the food on the Royal Carribean Cruiseline was better.

After lunch we looked around the ship awhile before going to our cabin (after 1:30) The cabin was bigger than the one we had on Royal Carribean (RCCL) and had more closet space and drawers. I liked the bathroom set up, there were two rooms, one with a tub and sink and the other with a sink and toilet. The bathtub was small by household standards but huge compared to RCCL.

I unpacked while Darling Husband and Darling Daughter went swimming and then at 4 pm we had the Mandatory Evacuation Drill. All went smoothly, much faster than on RCCL. Then we all headed updeck for the Bon Voyage Party. Lots of music and dancing (and a little rain) We had dinner at 6 pm at Parrot Cay and then a show in the theater- Hurcules- The "Muse"ical. The production was great. Unfortunately, Hubby was suffering from seasickness by this point, so he went to bed, I let DD go to the Oceaneers Lab (Kids program) for a couple of hours and I just roamed around the ship seeing where everything was and getting oriented. So was the first day of our Disney Cruise!

TO BE CONTINUED.....

Bahama Mama...

and Daddy and Baby! Just a short post to say we are back from our cruise to the Bahamas on the beautiful Disney Wonder! Unfortunately, we came back with more than just memories as we are all a bit sick with allergies. I will update about our trip soon.

Disney does themeparks AND cruises very well!

Deaf Humor!

Hello Friends,

I got some really funny deaf cartoons in the mail this week but I am not sure about the copyright laws regarding posting them here, so go to this website and look at the t-shirt section and it if you click on the pictures they will pop up and you can see the cartoons. Funny and so accurate!

Folks, I am not sure this dog is going to live much longer. I just don't know if I am going to be the one to do her in or if she is going to take herself out. I just went to the bathroom and in the 3 minutes I was gone, she jumped up onto the table and was chewing on my brand new watch. (The one I got for my birthday last week) Yes, I know it is my fault for leaving the watch down but it rubs when I use the laptop so I pull it off and then put it back on once I am done with the computer! I could understand if it was a leather band but it is an all metal watch (bracelet type)Do you think she has Pica disorder? She HAS backed off on the power cord habit so that is good. Why can't we ever get a normal dog? Or is that a misnomer?

Hope you all have a great weekend! Blessings!

Can You Believe, She Struck Again!

Yep, we have another item in our house with a decapitated plug. This time she crawled behind the couch to get to it and had it in multiple pieces before I could even get to her. (if you have no clue to what I am referring to, please read my previous post)

So the dog is now in "time out" in her crate! I really don't wish for her to spend her entire life in the crate but am running out of ideas on how to stop her from chewing. She had already had two chew bones this morning!

It's A Good Thing She's Cute

Because if she were not so cute, she'd definitely be dead now! Now before you all go calling the SPCA on me. Let me disclose that no Dogs were harmed in the writing and producing of this blog!


This dog must have 9 lives like a cat because she has developed an unhealthy habit of chewing through power cords. Maggie's first victim was the A/V cable to the Karoke Machine which was plugged into the machine which was plugged into the wall socket when she chose to chew the plugs off.
Then I caught her licking the end of the computer cord while it was plugged into the wall socket. Her second victim was the afore mentioned laptop cord, she managed to completely decapitate the plug in a matter of seconds.
Maggie's third (and we hope final victim is the fan plug which again in mere seconds she managed to almost decapitate. Sorry, victimization number three just occured so I do not have a picture yet.

Now before you all start filling my comment box with all your helpful suggestions on how to stop her there are a few things I wish to remind you of

1. She can do this in a matter of seconds, so it is hard to stop her once she has a cord in her mouth.

2. I have tried Nature's Miracle Best Behavior spray (which is supposed to stop chewing) and Tabasco (this works a little but stains if you get too much on!) We used Bitter Apple with our other Bichon and it did not work so well either.

3. We have given her loads of toys and chews. Bullysticks, rawhides, Kongs, balls, you name it we got it!

Keeping those three thoughts in mind, if you have some ideas on how to stop this irritating and dangerous behavior please feel free to leave me a comment! My Husbands suggestion for a solution is to leave the cords plugged in,,,,he thinks in time that will take care of the problem! But I think that is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Maggie also managed to climb up in a chair and onto a table and snatch a pair of fingernail clippers. When I found her she had dismantled the clippers into three parts but had not actually eaten any of the parts. It really makes me wonder what the dog has eaten that we don't know about. CRAZY DOG!!!!

What Do You Think About The Blue?

Ps. Maybe I should use this as my portrait on the blog.....it looks a lot like me...short, round and with black circles under my eyes!!!!!

Did Ya'll Know There Was a Hurricane?

My Mom got on chat (instant messaging) with me yesterday and was complaining that she was tired. I am like "why are you tired Mom?" and she said "well I did not get much sleep with the Hurricane coming through here and all."

WHAT HURRICANE? Apparently, there was a tropical storm sitting in the Gulf, just offshore of Houston and it became a Hurricane and the eye went right over my parents town! The national weather service did not even call a Hurricane Warning, it happened so fast! Most of the town lost power (but not my parents) and they had some wind damage to the area. My parent's patio cover lifted up and got folded back onto itself, so they are waiting to hear from the insurance people.

Guess my brother is busy again, he is the Fire Chief and has to go around rescuing people and making sure the places are safe. Fortunately, it was just material damage in their main area and no one died. Although in a town nearby they did have a man killed when part of his house collapsed. That area was really hard hit during Katrina two years ago, it is sad that they got hit again.

It is funny, all the years we lived there, I can't remember evacuating (we came close once or twice) and just vaguely remember some wind or water damage once every 10 or 15 years and now twice in two years time, they have had a direct hit! May be time to start thinking about moving farther inland.

I guess I need to check out the Hurricane tracking website more often huh!!!! Oh What a Bad Daughter I am!!!! Just glad they are all safe and sound!

Yes, we are all still alive here!

I haven't been real good about keeping my blog updated but here goes for the couple of you who still read me. School is back in session here, we are getting back into the routine of things. Darling daughter is doing well so far in school. They have already put me to work in the copy room and I will work for darling daughters' teacher on Weds. They strongly believe in volunteers in this school district.

We are still working with the signers at church. Some of the kids are learning a song to perform at a fund raiser for SWCC in a few weeks. We have held this fund raiser at our church for the past few years and it is always a lot of fun with some really good singing. This is the first year that the signers have been asked to perform, it should be a lot of fun for the kids....they range in age from about 7 to 17.

We are taking a trip soon and I will be posting about that later. You know how I like to leave you guys hanging and in suspense! Actually, that is the only way I know of to get people to read my blog. :0)

Stacey is going home!

Hey everyone, I heard from my Aunt today and Stacey is being released from the hospital. Please continue to pray for her, as she has a long way to go on the road to recovery. I thought she was going to rehab but from the email, it does not sound like she is going at least not at this time. Thanks to all of you who prayed for her recovery and posted comments on this blog. It was a great comfort to my family that so many people were praying for her.

No News Is Good News

I guess? I am more of a "needs" to know sort of person, I can deal with anything except "not knowing". But we really don't have any news to share right now, it is totally a waiting game with Stacy. My Mom said she is improving everyday but they still don't know what kind of brain damage was done by the drugs. This will be a long difficult recovery I am sure. Thank you all for your prayers, I think she is out of immediate danger now but still could use your prayers.

School started yesterday, darling daughter has made it to the bus on time both mornings. She seems to like her teacher and may be making some new friends. I wish she would, I am not too crazy about some of the ones she has right now but that is a post for another day!

It is nice to have the house back but a little quiet around here. I am trying to get the laundry and cleaning caught up before I work at the school on Thursday. Hope you all are having a blessed week.

Update on Stacy

My parents went to see Stacy today. This is what I know about the situation, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Stacy had been having major back problems and had back surgery 3 weeks ago. She was seeing Pain Management Doctors and they had her on a "pain cocktail" which I don't know much about but am assuming it is mixture of different pain medications. Apparently, she was taking the medication and either forgetting she had already taken it or doubling up on it. They think the overdose actual occurred over several days time until her body just could not handle it. One of my cousins is a nurse and said they call it "rebounding" or something like that.

Anyway, she is still unconscious and in ICU. They are waiting until the drugs have totally left her system before doing an MRI to see if she has brain damaged. All the functions below the neck are okay but they don't know about the brain yet. The plan is to send her directly to rehab if she comes out of this without major brain damage.

Mom said she saw her briefly and she was showing some eye movement so that in itself is encouraging. So now we wait! Thank you all for your prayers, please continue to pray for Stacy and her family. If she is fortunate enough to come out of this without brain damage, she still has a long hard road ahead

Urgent Prayer Request!

My Mom just called and she got a call from my Aunt and Uncle saying they found my cousin, Stacy (age 41) unconscious. Stacy is in ICU but my Mom said she thought my Aunt said the doctors could not find any brain activity.

Please pray that the information about no brain activity is wrong and that the doctors can help Stacy. My Aunt and Uncle have been through a lot in the last few years, they lost a son to suicide, and now may lose their only daughter as well. My Aunt recently had a stint put in her heart so her health is not real good either.

I know there is power in prayer, so please lift up Stacy and her family.

Thanks

Update- My Mom talked to my Uncle a little while ago and Stacy is still in ICU, she has kidney and liver function but they will not know about her brain until they do an MRI, which may not be done until tomorrow. My parents are going to the hospital tomorrow AM, they are about 2 hours away and will let us know more then. It appears to be a waiting game at this point. Please continue to pray that she can recover from this.

Darling Daughter and one of her friends were playing upstairs a bit ago. HSM2 soundtrack was blaring, the keyboard was turned way up and they were dancing around the gameroom having a grand old time. All the sudden I heard KABOOM and the house literally shook. I made it up the stairs in record time....I thought the loaded bookcase must have fallen on top of them (maybe they had climbed it trying to reach the CD player).

No, Darling Daughter had climbed on top of the desk and turned the whole thing over along with the computer. This is an old old desk and it is huge (and heavy) It is amazing they did not get hurt. The computer is another story, I have not turned it on yet but inspected it as I put it back on the desk. The monitor case is all out of alinement but the glass did not break. Fortunately, it is an old desktop computer that we rarely ever use anymore. As I was cleaning up the mess, darling daughter was trying to be helpful (I guess) suggesting perhaps we should just get rid of the old computer since we never use it anymore anyway. I suggested this might be a good time for her to just be quiet as I was grunting and sweating trying to upright the heavy desk and put the computer back together!

Hubby will have to test it all out when he gets home but I think the computer may not have survived it. The wireless router went down with the ship also but seems to be in working order since I can still use the laptop. I suggested to the girls that they try really hard not to give me anymore surprises today as I just don't think my heart can take it!

She's Back (but she's going again!)

Darling Daughter is back home again. The In Laws brought her back on Weds. (a day early) and I was so glad to see my baby girl! She is leaving again this evening to attend a Birthday/High School Musical 2 party!

Hubby and I were going to rent a movie and have a cuddle up on the couch and watch something other than Disney night but then the doorbell rang. UPS delivered his beloved Wii (it has been at the Nintendo Corp. being repaired!) So I am pretty sure our evening will involve playing Wii games! Oh well, I am sure we will have an enjoyable evening just being together!

Hope you all find something fun and cool to do on this hot August evening!

Road Trip!

That's right I went on a road trip with my girlfriends last week. The 4 of us piled into a Honda Odyssey about 7 am last Wednesday and headed for Cloud croft, NM. It was a 654 mile trip one way. We had a blast! One of the girls' parents have a cabin there and we were able to spend a few days enjoying the beauty of the mountains and getting to know each other even better.

I have some quirky friends, but that is okay because I am pretty quirky myself. We sang songs, played games, watched the hummingbirds fight over the feeder off the back porch, shopped at little mountain hideaways, enjoyed meals together, stayed up entirely too late talking and just recharged our batteries!

The cabin was beautiful with everything we could possibly need and then some. We each had a comfy bed, mine had a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub (which I put to good use the very first night after a 10+ hour car trip) This was no "roughing it" trip, this was camping the only way I like to do it, with a comfy bed, bathroom and heater! It got down into the 40's while we were there.

I had never been to NM before so it was all new to me. Very beautiful place! I will try to collect my thoughts and tell you all more about the trip in a later post but for now I am just enjoying my memories of a great trip with some great ladies!

But glad to be home with my Hubby! I miss Darling daughter but she is having a good time with her grandparents and will be home later this week. Hope you all are having a good Monday, blessings to you all!

Quiet House!

Darling Daughter is spending a week with the grandparents, so it is very quiet here today. Maggie (the dog) keeps looking for her and then she looks at me like "ok, where are you hiding her?" Hubby and I are going to miss her but will enjoy having some couple time together. Tonight we are going to eat some seafood (darling daughter doesn't like seafood) and then go see the Harry Potter movie (it is captioned)

I have some plans for this week and I hope to share some stories and pictures with you all next week. Enjoy your week and I will be sure to enjoy mine also!