September 28th ~ Barf-O-Rama

Come one! Come all! To the newest West Coast Sensation! The event that eclipses the sun peeking through the windows of our home!

Of what, dear people, do I speak of?

Why it's Barf-O-Rama 2005!!! Don't miss it! Front row seats still available! Bring towels! Bring Lysol! Bring me plane tickets out of this hell hole! (please)

So...it began with Lil Miss M. last Thursday....a flu that topped all flus. It lasted 6 days. (Only 12 hours of throwing up...but days and days and days of the rest of the symptoms and fever and pain. )

I sterilized, I sprayed, I mopped, I prayed, "Please God, Let it be only one who suffers from this germ plague."

Well, my prayers were answered in mysterious ways. Yesterday afternoon Lil Miss M was finally starting to feel better...and my oldest son slams his body, faster than the speed of light, through the front door, after school, whimper/yelling at me, "Mom! Move! I'm sick!" (Bathroom door slam....)

Uh oh. (grimace) As my sweet A Man is doubled over, trying desperately to live until the next minute, I look over at Z Man. He looks pale. But maybe it's because he has too much homework. That's possible, right? 6th Grade = Homework, right? But I kind of think to myself, "Please God, if Z Man is going to get this too.....please let it be tonight so that I can get them both through it at once...."

My prayers were answered almost instantaneously! Z Man double over a couple of hours later and earned the honor of having his picture listed in Webster's next to the word "Projectile". It made me sort of miss the days of infant spit-up. I guess even vomit grows up.

(sigh) Crap!
No, wait....that's another story!

September 26th ~ A yuck yick yuck yuck

(This one's for you Gina...lol)

What's the difference between Roast Beef and Pea Soup?

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Anyone can roast beef. :)

September 20th ~ Refrigerator Stew

You've all made refrigerator stew right? That creation you whip up when there is no food in the house..but lots of random ingredients?

So....that's what this post is:
random ingredients + no recipe = outcome of hmmm .... (shrug) ...something FANTASTIC and seemingly-well-thought-out, obviously! lol

If not, nothing was wasted anyway....lol

Refrigerator Stew

1 cup of Rita....simmered down to nothing ...let us pray. Maybe if we all focus our thoughts, Rita will fall apart in the Gulf. I'm focusing hard. How about you?

2 Tablespoons of my part-time job. Do not melt ....Do not sift.....Keep whole. Do not allow distractions like posting on your blog while you are supposed to be working ,you foolish woman, you! (Sorry...had to spank myself. Hmm maybe I should videotape that for hubby. No! No! No more distractions....finish this and back to work, wench! ~sigh~ )

1 quart of health conscious behavior poured in slowly. Yeah, like that needs explanation. Arrrrrgh. Maybe I'll make that a gallon.

Coat pan with melted Medusa... No....I don't need to comb the snakes outta my hair. (Well, I should probably do that too...but it wasn't what I meant.) I was thinking of the look of pure glee on the faces of my sons when they got off of their very first, very big-time, roller coaster ride a couple of weeks ago. They were sooooo worried about getting on.... By the time the ride was over, a whole new world had opened up for them both. They then dragged us to every MAJOR rollercoaster in the park. Yes, EVEN the ones that there is NO WAY you would go on! It was really fun watching them evolve before out eyes. :)

Bake at slightly breezy/ slightly cloudly/very pleasant until everything smells deliciously right. :)

September 18th ~ Doing The Uterus Boogey

Mom got back the results from her CT-Scan yesterday and was told that the cancer hasn't spread past her uterus!

Yippeeeeeee!

She still has to meet with the oncologist on the 23rd and they'll schedule the surgery shortly after that..but what good news, huh?

Thanks to all of you blog readers for all of your prayers and good thoughts. :)

September 14th ~ Thrown a Curve

My daughter came into my room this morning to give me some morning cuddles.

She's 6.

We played our usual "How much do you love me" game...where we take turns thinking of crazy amounts of love for each other. Like, "I love you all the way to Jupiter, around the sun 3 times and back." "Well, I love YOU around the world forwards and backwards 5 gazillion times and back!" This goes on and on for about 5 minutes...

Her final one to me this morning was, "Well, I love YOU to God and back! You can't go farther than that, Mom."

She had me there. :)

And so with a tender smile I watched her skip away down the hallway in her underwear ~

and noticed that her little body is changing too.

She has a waist....and her legs have feminine curves.....

Dear God, where are the breaks? Time is traveling too fast again.

September 9th ~ Uncertainty

I got a call from Mom today around noon....

She sounded afraid. She was.

She'd seen her doc this morning and after not good results from a new blood test they have canceled, Monday's surgery, scheduled a C-T scan for Wed, and have set her up with an oncology surgeon.

The blood test results indicate that it MAY have spread. It may not have. I hope it hasn't.

I asked if she wanted me to come over until Dad got home. She said she was fine and that I didn't need to do that....until I asked her if she'd had any lunch and she burst into tears. My Mom isn't normally emotional in that way. I got there as fast as I could. She lives about an hour away. One of my brothers and my sister showed up too. We talked, listened, prayed, laughed, and generally calmed her down. I think we all felt better about it, especially Mom, by the time we left.

The white noise is back in my head.

September 8th ~

My mom has cancer.

She just called me.

It is in her uterine lining. Surgery is scheduled for Monday.

All I can hear is white noise.

September 5 ~ Impressions Count

Its a good thing we have blogs.... really.....

because all of this anger we feel would probably be venting in worse ways if we didn't have an outlet.

Don't the "powers that be" know that "impressions count"?

* Why did it take Bush until Wednesday to "cut his vacation short by a couple of days"? (I don't care if it was a working vacation.....he has taken more time than any other President on our history...and IMPRESSIONS COUNT!)
* How can Condi Rice attend social gatherings and Broadways Plays and be seen shopping for shoes?

The powers that be....regardless of party affiliation....should be at their desks.....behind closed doors......working 20 hour days when a disaster of this magnitude is approaching....and moreso when it arrives.

And there very well may not have been a lack of regard for the poor and the African-American communities in this disaster.....but don't the powers that be realize that IMPRESSIONS COUNT?

And to be honest, if those states affected were high income, high voter population states, I DO think the pre-planning would have been better....and the response would have been faster. If you don't agree with me, it's ok. But I believe that.

Then again, it may have become my opinion simply because IMPRESSIONS COUNT.

My heart broke and I was moved to tears as I watched the reaction of Senator Mary Landrieu when speaking to the press. Here is a copy of an article describing it:

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005 10:06 a.m. EDT
Mary Landrieu: I'll Punch Bush, 'Literally'
Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened the president of the United States with physical violence on Sunday, saying that if he or any other government official criticizes New Orleans police for failing to keep civil order in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - "I might likely have to punch him - literally.""If one person criticizes [our sheriffs], or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," Landrieu railed on "ABC's "This Week."

IMPRESSIONS COUNT. I will never forget this Senator...the lioness. (Perhaps I'll hold him for her as she does it.)

My prayers and support remain with the victims, regardless of why they became victims. They have to be helped. The "why" can be figured out later....and by God this had better never happen again. Maybe we can't plan for everything....but this disaster was known about....models had been tested....response SHOULD have been quicker.....prevention measures should have been taken. Blame is everywhere....but compassion must overtake everything else for now.

September 4th ~ A hero

I have been unable to post since Katrina. I can't seem to do anything but watch the news...and wish I lived closer so I could help.

Sending money just doesn't feel like enough.

All of those people.... it just breaks my heart. I wish I could scoop up a family and take them into our home or something.....but Calif is so far from the disaster.

I decided to read a few of my favorite blogs today......and I came across a hero. I'm not asking him if I can post this link to his blog ..... hopefully he'll tell me if I shouldn't have.

Read his post of a couple of days ago called "Briefing for Decent into Hell" http://sttropezbutlersays.blogspot.com/

Thank you STB. And thank you Houston.
"Houston we have a problem" ~ Historically the land of heros.