Before I begin about today I wanted to make mention about Zachary and Cubs game. Zachary was getting a little bored with the game. He hasn't developed the passion of a ball game yet. I think in time he will. Sally did her best to keep him away from me. I was getting a little perturbed by all of his talking(which had nothing to do with the game) ad his jitterness. Zach my boy is easily entertained by food. I bought him a bag of peanuts. It kept him busy for about 4 innings. I would say quiet but we even with the crowd and Sally between us I could here him crunch away. At one point I looked at him and he was covered in shells. When he got tired of eating, he found entertainment on crushing the shells with his foot. There was a lady next to us , who had her beer on the ground. I was afraid that his shells would end up in her beer. Thank goodness none made into her cup of beer.

Today was a long day. My day began at 6 am because of the garage sale. The day began a little iffy. Sally and I were trying to get everything set up in the drive way. People were stopping by even before we opened.Then the neighborhood kids awoke and of course flocked to our house. They were playing with the things we were trying to sell. I finally shooed them a way for a little bit. Sally set up a table to sell hot dogs, pop, and chips. Before she was able to put the food out the kids surrounded the table. We handed out one bag of chips, a hot dog and a can of pop to each child. They kept coming back trying to sneak more. They took more then we actually sold. We did sell a lot to our 8 year old neighbor Taylor. Every 30 seconds it seemed she felt the urge to come over and buy something. I sold more of my books to her than anyone else. The garage sale went good. We sold mainly a lot of baby clothes. It's a little sad for us to be selling the baby things. It's hard to believe they were once that small yet it only seems like yesterday. We are closing another chapter of our life's and moving on. Unless God hands us yet another surprise.

This evening the kids were out playing and we were talking with the neighbors. Sally's mom stopped by. Kaity ran up to her for a little bit and went back to the next door neighbor's yard. When Mary was leaving Zachary went to give her a hug and kiss. Kaity saw and started to run with her lips all puckered up across the yard to give her "mamma" a nice juicy kiss. She wouldn't let her pucker down until she was able to plant a kiss.

Going to get ready and get to bed. Today because, I spent the whole day in the hot sun really kicked my butt. Thanks for visiting and God Bless. Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.

Thanks kaity!

All day getting ready for the Yard/garage sale. Felt good all day and trying to get my shoulder pain to go away. Every time its on the verge of feeling better I will hit it or bump it some how. This way the pain will linger longer. (Sounds like a title of a Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter and the Dreaded Linger Longer) So again this post will be smaller, so I can get to bed and be up around 6:30am or so.

This morning I fed Kaity and started on my busy day. Before I went outside I gave her a kiss and a hug. So all day I am outside doing what needs to be done. Had to go to the neighbors a few times and talk to them. Later I left and went to the chapel for peace and quite to say my prayers. I went home and continued with the sale stuff and having some conversation with some of the other neighbors about what we are selling. I noticed this one time when I was talking to Ronny A few houses down from me , that he was always looking at my shirt. I have to admit I did have a cool shirt on. Finally I asked him you like my shirt. His response was ," uummmm you have something on your shirt and I have no idea what it is ". I quickly looked at my shirt and noticed a big splotch of Kaity's oatmeal on me. Not just any oatmeal but, blueberry cream oatmeal. So it was this Grey Matter with little blue speckles all over it. I explained to Ronny what it was and how it came to be one with my shirt and he understood. Or at least he said he did.

If you find yourself in Griffith tomorrow or Saturday come to the two house Yard/ Garage Sale and have an all Beef Hot Dog , chips and a pop for only 2$.

Good night, God Bless and thanks for visiting.

This is my little girl on her first date. Be home by 7 and no funny business!

This is going to be another shorter blog. Sally and I have a lot to do for the yard sale we are having. So between getting everything together and trying to keep up with the house and just the two of us doing this is allot to worry about.

As everyone knows we all went to the Cubs game yesterday. It was a good game up til the 8Th inning. I have one thing to vent about and I know Sally and everyone else that's been around me today is probably sick of hearing. It's the 4Th inning the Cubs just made 4-3 still down by one run. Ryan Dempster who I still like is getting hit hard all game and is the batter. The Cubs are having some momentum and the bases are loaded. Lou lets Dempster bat and he strikes out and the next inning gives up three more runs. It would have been different if the bases weren't loaded or even if Dempster was a good hitting pitcher but, he isn't. He is batting .088, so Lou you an idiot. If he insisted on a pitcher batting , he should have sent up Zambrano. I feel better now.

At the game Sally took Zach to walk and get some refreshments. When they came back there was a guy sitting next to wear Zach was sitting.Zach was just standing by me and just staring at this guy. I knew the guy was a seat jumper because our sits were superb. This guy was huge in stature and eating like he hasn't eaten in three days. He had a black eye to boot. I think his name was Vito. Zach would stare at this guy and then turn to me. I am thinking to myself , Zach what you want me to do.I think he read my mind and said Daddy "I will sit on your lap". He after a while had to leave because the real occcupance of the seats came.

This will be it for today. I felt great and my arm soreness is getting better. Thanks for visiting and God Bless you all.

This is going to be a short blog. The Family and I are going to the Cubs game tonight. So we will undoubtedly be home fairly late. It will be the first time for Zachary and Sally to go to Wrigley Field.

My arm is already feeling better, but still a little sore at times. I woke up around nine with Kaity. She had a good nights sleep. Sally and I were up together for a while and got the kids fed. Then being the good parents we our went back to bed for a while. We thought that Kaity and Zach needed some bonding time together. We were laying down for only about an hour and got back up when we heard the two of them fighting over toys. Sally got up and I laid there for awhile. Then I heard Kaity screaming. She usually only screams when she is playing but this was a I am MAD scream. Usually when she is upset she prefers her momma. So I decided to respect her feelings and stay out of it. Plus laying in bed with the fan blowing on me was very comfortable. About 10 minutes go by and Sally climbs into bed and Kaity is still screaming. Now she is knocking on our door while she is upset. Neither Sally or myself knew what to do so we thought it would be best just to lay there and just maybe she would calm down. She didn't. We cracked opened the door and she came in. She wanted me and had nothing to do with Sally. Then she laid in bed and the little traitor cuddled up with Sally. I went to get up but she demanded me to lay in bed with her as well.

After that I went to the chapel and said my prayers. Besides cleaning up that has been my day so far. This will be it. I need to eat and get going. Not sure how traffic will be on the way there. Go Cubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks and God Bless.

HaHa! Look at the crazy guy.

Since everyone thinks I wear the pants, I will enforce it tonight and sneak a couple of pictures of Bill in his glory.

Back to the grind.

Kaity woke up a few times last night and had night terrors. She didn't get her nap yesterday. Without a nap she will have night terrors. Sally left her moms a little earlier than myself and the boys so she can get Kaity to bed. Kaity kept telling Sally she wanted to leave. As soon as they got home she went right to bed. We stayed to clean up our mess. We did most of it and went home at about 9:45pm. I had to go back to my mom in law's to get the cupcakes I forgot to bring home.The cupcakes were the most important thing to me and I left them behind. So I did the noble thing and went and got them without Sally telling me too. They were nothing compared to Jacqueline Wong's cupcakes but cake is cake and I still enjoyed them. Zach stayed behind to take his bath. When I got home Kaity and Zach were clinging to Sally both of them crying. I thought about walking out the door really fast but I knew Sally saw me. I didn't want her to make me cry either seeing how she probably made Zach and Kaity cry. I later found out Kaity was crying from a night terror. Zachary was trying to help calm her down. Sally told Zachary she is having a bad dream. Zachary said "It's Ok Kaity we are not monsters." Zachary tried to get Kaity by him in hopes to calm her down. Kaity wanted nothing to do with him. Zachary was really tired himself and extra sensitive and started to bawl because Kaity didn't want him. It really broke his heart.

Yesterday I promised to write more about the party. I wanted to thank everyone who helped us out. The brownies my mom made were out of this world. My mother in law commented on how well she liked them. One of Sally's sister told her mom they were hash brownies. Mary did not know what hash was and my "Innocent" wife had to tell her what hash was. I was told that my 16 year old niece and my sister in law Stacie was going to show us how to play bags. My brother in law Tom and I stood there and watched them show us how not to play. The "men" slightly beat the "gals" with a close score of 23 to ZIP. I guess I didn't understand what she meant. She must of meant how not to score while playing bags. If you think about it that was a feat that not to many people can brag about. When it was time for Sally's sisters to leave, Stacie found a DVD left in her car. It was "Fire Proof". She started asking and accusing who put the DVD in her truck. It was funny to watch her. I was sort of jealous the only thing that is left on my car is a sales flyer , a parking ticket or a squashed bug.

Today I didn't get out of bed until 12:22 pm I woke up really sore. Everything hurt but my shoulder hurt the most. I am not sure how I hurt my shoulder. I think maybe it was when I fell out of the bouncy yesterday. Sally and I went back to her mom's to finish cleaning up. It was really hot. Sally kept telling me to stop and we could go back tomorrow. I wanted to finish and get it over with. Plus we are going to have a busy week a head of us and wanted to have one less thing to worry about.

Today Kaity had a poopy diaper. I offered to change it while Sally was wrapping up a plate of cupcakes. I went to take off the diaper and it brought me down to my knees and made my eyes water and I couldn't help but gag, Zachary started screaming because of the smell. I looked down at the cause of all the trouble and she was laying there plugging her nose. So even she knew she had stinky diaper. Sally walked in the room and offered to finish when all I had to do was put the new diaper on. Thanks but no thanks.

Today started as a bad day with all the things that had to be done for Michael's Graduation party. It was to start at 2pm, but we ran a little over. After the wounds were licked everything worked out OK. There was plenty of food for everyone and there kids and there kids who aren't even born yet. All the food was simply Divine and diverse. It was quite the smorgasbord of delectable delights. I want to thank my brother in law Tom for taking over the grill duties from Michael and being the Grill Master Flash. I was originally the one to do the grilling but I had other duties to attend with. Other than the great varieties of mouth watering choices of food product. Lets not forget all the desserts at my ( and my niece and god daughters Hollys) Disposal.We had ice cream bars, sandwich's and drum sticks. At one point I seen Holly peeking around the door of the garage to see what her mom was doing as she was holding a ice cream bar. Another time she had an ice cream bar and her mom said Holly what are you doing. She quickly gave it to Kaity, here I got this for you. Kaity was looking at it with a look of what am I suppose to do with this, now that you got every ones attention. She did what any little girl would do, she started to rip that ice cream bar apart. It wasn't a pretty sight. I think she may be part goat. Zach had his share of ice cream too. I was told that he probably had at least 4. If he kept that up he probably would turn into an ice cream bar or sandwich.

We had a bouncy there for every ones enjoyment and I mean everyone. I went in it and it totally freaked Zachary out. I squeezed my way in there and just went crazy jumping around. The thing was bouncing to the right and to the left. At one point I think I actually had it air borne. Zach started to scream DAAADY YOU ARE RIPPING THE BOUNCY APART STOP IT DADDY. So I did what any father would do in a situation that scared his child. I jumped even more and harder. Again Zachary was screaming DAAAAAAAAAD STOP IT , YOU ARE RIPPING THE BOUNCY ALL UP. IT'S GOING TO ROLL AWAY. OK ,Zach I'm done anyway.The bouncy is just fine.I had to explain to him why the bouncy will be fine. After I got him to stop rocking back and forth I got out. I felt like I was trying to squeeze out of the end of a balloon. For all you who may be wondering about Zach, he will be fine. I will have more about the graduation tomorrow.

This is it for tonight, I am very tired and need to go to bed, thanks for visiting and God bless you all. Check out the new polls.

Cubs won again and now are in FIRST Place. The Sox finally won but who really cares.There not in first place.

Today kicked my butt. It seemed that the whole day I was in the car going here or there and again back over there after I been there already. The day was very muggy and hot. My feet felt like they were on fire. Sally all day was trying to get me to take it easy ,because she could see I was having a hard time. I felt so tired and exhausted ,but there was a lot to do for Michael's graduation. We had to get the tables and chairs and some of the food at My mom and laws house. I had to make a couple trips to my moms so she can store some of the food. We actually have food for the graduation stored at 4 different locations in Northwest Indiana. So I know tomorrow will be tuff. I will be going all over and collecting the food and getting the yard ready for the party. So I already know tomorrow will be another hectic day. I really need to get to sleep so I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow. So I am going to end this blog early.

The Sox are on a losing streak after Buehrle's Perfect game. Three games lost in a row. The Cubs have won three in a row. Lets hope that last forever. The bull pen gave up two more runs in the ninth. Lou doesn't believe in having a starter pitch longer than the 6Th inning. No matter how well they are pitching. Heilman gave up two homers in the bottom of the ninth. Again good thing the Cubs had some cushion,won 5-3

But Daaaaaad!!!!

Sally is a little irritated with me. She said because of the stuff I write about her in the blog ,everyone thinks I am whipped. She feels that she has been been per traded wrongly. She also told me if I continue I will not be able to write the blog any more. So I do not want to disappoint anyone. So in order to keep the blog up I will say that I am the one who wears the pants in the family. Even if they do have holes and bleach stains on them. I think most people think that Sally wears the pants because,alot of the time I am an idiot. Read the next story to find out why.

Today has been a little hectic. Trying to help prepare for Michael's party. After the party on Sunday Michael wants to be able to have his friends over here as well. So we are trying to get our house cleaned too. This morning I went to return the wrong car part. On the way home I went to the chapel and said my prayers. I took Kaity outside for a couple of hours. When she took a nap the kids, Sally, and I cleaned the living room. I was breathing a little heavy. It was warm, the dust was bothering me, plus Michael and I were pulling out the furniture so I could vacuum. Sally had some more running to do and asked me to come with. I could tell she was worried about me and knew that would be the easiest way for her to get me to take a break ,so I went. Kaity and Zachary wanted to go with as well.They don't like to be home with Micheal, Michael is meeeeeeeeeeeeean. One of the places on her list was the dollar store. Sally told me to be in charge of the kids so she could get what she needed. Zachary came up to me and said," DAAAAAAAAAAAD I have to go potty noooowwww!" "OK Zach I'll look for the wash room in a minute". "No, Daaaaad nooooooowwww!" "I have to go very baaaaaaad"! I looked at his face and realized that I didn't have much time. The clock was ticking and ,if I didn't act fast, I knew the store will probably have to be evacuated. So I looked frantically for a restroom for Zach. I finally noticed a sign on a door about taking merchandise into the restroom. So I knew this was the golden door. (no pun intended)" Zach this way, go in here". "I will be right out here waiting for you". " OK, Thanks Daddy." As I was looking around I heard a yell coming from where Zach was. "DAD, DAD WHERE ARE YOU." "DADDY I NEED YOU". I go back to where he was and said what Zach what do you want. "Dad, I have no paper towel to wipe my butts ", Oh no. I looked in the room next door hoping it was another restroom, it was . I looked at Zach and noticed his pants were down to his ankles. I realized at the moments I had to go into Starskey and Hutch mode to get Zach in the other restroom without being detected. I had to hide him behind boxes of merchandise and shelving to get him to the safety of the other restroom. We finally got him where he needed to finish his business. When We got back in the car I was telling Sally the story that I can mention in my blog. After I was done she said," Why didn't you get bring him some Toilet tissue from the other restroom. After pondering her response for a few seconds I timidly said,"Because I 'm a idiot. I had to tell her no common sense was a chemo side effect.

The Cubs won 8-5 to Cincy. Cubs closer Gregg gave up two runs in the ninth, nice job. Good thing the Cubs had some cushion.Cubs 1 and a half games out.
Sox lost a twin bill to the Tigers. Sox two games out.

I am keeping the blog short today because of the amount of things we still need to do and because Sally told me to. Thank you and God Bless.

Grateful

I am going back to work on August 5th. It's bitter sweet for me. I will miss being home with my kids but I am grateful to have a job and well enough to work. I was told I will be working straight days for awhile to see how I do. During that time I will not be able to work over time. I am just thankful how understanding the company has been to me. I was even told the weeks of chemo I can come in on Saturday to make up the hours. Once I am back on the 12 hour shifts I am hoping to schedule chemo around my work hours so I won't have to miss work.

I sent the kids out with Sally while she did the running around for the party. I needed to re clean the heating vents out again. I didn't want them to be home inhaling it. When I was finished I had Sally come back in between her errands to get me. While I was driving I noticed the temperature gage in the car going up. I do not know allot about cars but I do know to put the heat on when that happens. The car started to cool off. While Sally went into one of the stores I opened the hood and noticed that one of the radiator fans wasn't working. We only have the one working car so when we have car troubles with the family car it's very inconvenient to say the least. With Michael's graduation party 3 days away it's even worst.

I wanted to save money and was going to attempt to change it myself. I called my dad and he said he would help tomorrow. He is not in the best health and I really do not like to bother him. I went to pick up the fan and the store that told me it was in stock was wrong. So I have to drive to another store. The guy gave me the fan. It looked different then the one in the car and he reassured me it's the right one. When I got home Sally and the kids were outside with the next door neighbors. Ryan knows a little about cars. He never changed a fan but said he could try to help me. I opened the hood and Ryan and I just stood there trying to figure out where the bolts were. Ryan called the neighbor across the street who is a mechanic for help. He came over and right away told me I have the wrong fan. At first he thought I would have to order one from a dealership. He tore apart my car which was a little unnerving for me. It was like what would you see in a commercial. 3 guys under a hood. Two of them just staring while the third one actually does the work. He discovered I would have to change both fans which the auto store carries. So at 8:15 Ryan took me to pick it up. It didn't take Danny very long to put the fan in and the car back together. I am really grateful for his help. It's will be nice going to sleep tonight not having to worry about the car.

While we were in the garage Ryan's wife, Laura, made Better Then Sex cake. She brought over a plate of it for us. Sally hid it so the kids wouldn't see it. The kids are finally in bed and I am stopping here at my blog so I can enjoy my delicious treat.

It's been a very trying day to say the least. I hope tomorrows blog is more uplifting. I am still a little wound up from yesterdays neighbor issues. All the kids came down and played. That is fine with me as long as they don't destroy anything!

Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game today against the Devil rays. His second no hitter.
Cubs were Idle.

God Bless and thanks for visiting.

Neighborhood watch

I woke up and feed Kaity and Zach and went back to sleep. I didn't wake up until it was time to go and get my pump taken out. I had a very restless night and the Benadryl I take didn't help. When I went to get my pump taken out I was the only one there when I walked in. This is the slowest I have seen the nurses since I have been doing chemo. While I was there I had to get my next appointment and my release to come back to work. Shortly after getting my pump out Angela one of the nurses gave me my release with no restrictions except when I have my chemo sessions and appointments when I need the time. I was now waiting for my next appointment for chemo. I was sitting there for 5 min, than 10 mins, than came 15 mins and finally after 20 minutes Goodie one of the other nurses asked me if there was anything else she could do for me. Yes , there is,can you please give me my next appointment time? "OOOOOhhhhh I am so sorry I forgot to give it to you." I had this printed up awhile ago and forgot to give it to you." Goodie is a working machine that is unstoppable. She really seems to like her job. Her pleasant demeanor makes it easier for all of us going through chemo.I wish I had half the energy she has.

When I finally left I had to pick Sally up at Factory Card Outlet. As I was pulling in the parking lot I noticed someone that I knew from work, he was one of the laid off workers and was going into Borders. He was one of my closest friends so I thought I would go and say hi. I thought that I would play around and hide and call him. He was looking at some books with his son and I was by the CDS looking at them hiding behind a shelving unit. When I called him , I saw him go into his pocket and pull out his phone and look at it and then put it away. I was dumbfounded ,and couldn't believe what just happened. This was a guy who once called me his brother and said if I ever needed anything to let him know. We have been good friends for about three years. I was hurt that he did this. I at that point decided to leave and go and get Sally. I thought maybe because he was with his son he didn't want to pick up at that point. So I was hoping he would call later, So far nothing . I have left him a few messages in the past few months with no call backs. I guess since my chips were down, he doesn't want me as a friend anymore. That's OK, I know who my true friends really are. The ones that have been there since the beginning and still with me now with no strings attached. I appreciate everything everyone has done for me and love you all and thank you.

When Sally and I got home we noticed that a tree that was in our neighbors yard had some branches broken and some flowers were picked from it and laying on the ground. The neighbor is elderly and doesn't get out much. The tree is a rose of Sharon. It usually is full of blooms during this time. Now it is bare except for the flowers on the top they couldn't reach. Sally got out of the car and asked all the kids that were there what happened. A few of the kids spoke up and said that two of the other neighbor boys did it. Sally and I both started to tell these kids what they did was wrong. One of the kids dad came over and Sally told him what happened. He told his son to clean up the mess. While he was doing that the other kid started to walk home. Sally told him he needed to come back and help. His mother was at home 3 house down standing in the yard watching. Sally was telling him they need to stay out of that yard. While she was talking to them the other mom from her yard told Sally we are always picking on her son. Sally said she talked to the other kid to and she wasn't singling him out. Then the mom said there was another kid tearing up the tree and that he didn't get in to trouble. Sally was livid. She couldn't believe this woman would let her kid and other kids tear up someone else's things and just watch. So Sally confronted her on that and it turned into a yelling match. I just stood there shocked. Sally is quiet unless you know her then it's another story. I really haven't seen her confrontational unless you are a cashier at Kohl's (that's a story for another blog). Some of the neighbors stept outside their houses to see what was going on. At one point I was wondering if I should get the hose ready just in case I needed to hose them off. It didn't last very long, Sally said what she needed to say and started to walk away. But I was getting more irritated with the woman's uncarringness. So I told her you just watched as these kid were destroying this tree and said nothing. I said I don't care who is doing what but if I see any child doing something wrong I will put a end to it. I told her that she needs to watch her child when he is out because I am not a babysitter. She said I didn't ask you to be a babysitter. I said I have to because you never come out and check on him to see what or where your 5 year old son is. OOOOHHHH SHUT UP she yells back. The exchange of words lasted for only about 5 minutes. This was something that needed to be done because of the frustration that has been going on this summer with two kids on our street. So I actually felt better afterwords. These two kids have been doing things like this all summer. Going into neighbors yards and pulling flowers and branches from trees. At one neighbors house they took his mail from his mailbox and threw it all over his yard. The same kid who his mother claims we are picking on has ran Zachary over with his bike and purposely through Kaity's chalk on the ground to break it. They come to our house always asking for food. They are even in our yard when we are not outside and even when we are not home. This is just some of the things I noticed sitting on my porch trying to mind my own business. At least I have entertainment being at home. I am not sure what is going to happen when I go back to work. With the 2 little hoodlums running around without my presence anything could happen.

Thanks for visiting and I hope to have happier stories soon, so stay tuned. God Bless.

I am watching you!

I woke up today feeling pretty good but, a little on the tired side. I got Kaity some oatmeal and started to clean up the kitchen. Sally was a little perturbed with me,so she told me to go out shopping with her.She would go to Kohls and I would go to Borders and walk around. I like to read and Borders was the perfect place for me to take it a little easy. Sally knew that my pump was causing me some havoc today and wanted me to be careful. The nurse at the clinic didn't tape me up very well and when I got home the tape was coming undone. I think the nurse didn't realize that I was going home with a pump. So Sally re taped it for me . It felt like my needle was coming out.It was actually the tape sticking to my skin. It still made me feel paranoid that the needle may come out. Tomorrow at about 3pm I will get pump taken out. Other than that feeling I have ,no ill effects what so ever.Like I mentioned I was at Borders for awhile walking around. While I was there I felt like I was being followed by the employees. If I was, I think it was because of the pump that was sticking out the side of stomach under my shirt. The t-shirt I was wearing was thin and the pump was easily protruding from my side. I don't know for sure if they were watching me, it just seemed that wherever I was there was a worker. Most of the time it was the same one. I decided to leave and pick Sally up at Kohls.

This reminds me of a time a few years ago when I went to Wal-Mart. I am not sure of the time of year ,but I would sometimes go there and browse and price check items. I would do this for Birthdays or Christmas . I think it was close to Sally's birthday. Well anyway I was minding my business looking at whatever it was I needed information on. I noticed this scraggly looking chap always near me looking stupid. I would constantly move around to see if he would follow me. Sure enough there he was with his head looking at me from under a shelf,I was like," oh please". I decided to go up to him and tell him the he is wasting his time and doesn't need to watch me. So as I was walking up to him he all of a sudden picked up something and started looking at it. I told him that he didn't need to watch me , That I wasn't going to steal anything. He gave me this goofy look and said "You punk. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I said "What did you say".Again he repeated "You punk" I walked away from him and went to customer service and wanted to talk to the manager. I talked to the manager about the guy and said that I come here allot and didn't appreciate being called a punk. She said she would talk to him about it. That's it,you condone someone from your hired security outfit to call a customer a punk. "Actually he is a Wal-Mart employee" , she said. Now I was really getting upset. I wasn't satisfied with the talk she said she was going to have. So I went back home and made a phone call to the District Manager.He said he would tell him to stay away from me if I came in the store. I told him if that was all that was going to happen, I would not be going in that store knowing that it is OK for an employee to call a customer at Wal-Mart a PUNK! I hung up and wouldn't go in there for the longest time. I still have a hard time going in there but, I am very reluctant to do so.

When I worked at Sterks I would like to catch shoplifters as I was working. Sometimes I would just go in when I was off and bored to try and catch some. There was was all kinds of different clientele shoplifters. Some people had pockets sewed into the under part of there skirts. I hate to say some of the customers you had to watch out for were the regulars that liked to chat it up with the employees. Thinking that if they were friendly to us we wouldn't watch them,WRONG ANSWER! One guy would come in every morning at try and take a bottle of MD 20/20. We would say George you aren't going to take anything today without paying for it are you? No, sir I wouldn't do that. That's good cause I am very busy. As soon as I would turn my head he would attempt to take a bottle and high tail it out of the store. We knew he was going to do it so there was always reinforcements to help catch him. It was like a game, we would just shoo him out after the catch. Another guy that would come in that I had suspicions about,so I started to watch him. He moved quickly and one time he got away ,because I couldn't get down from the rafters fast enough. Next time he came in I stayed on the floor and watched as he was moving around the store. I saw him put a prepared meal in his shirt. I hurried up to the front( I had the I am speedy Bill mentality) and caught him. When we started to walk him back to the Managers office he looked at me and said he was going to put a bullet in my head.I asked him to repeat what he said.He said it again in front of everyone there. We called the police and told them what he said to me. They asked what we wanted to do and I said book em Dano.I never saw the guy again. There was a bar behind the store that would send in patrons to steal tylenol. As soon as we had the shelf stocked it would leave the shelf. It happened at different times of the day and night. Finally we got the Tylenol bandit and it was one of our most friendliest customers. He gave up a struggle but we finally got him in the Managers office. We really laid into this guy. We called the police and had him carted off. Sometimes I would see a street person go to the Deli and take some meat. I wouldn't do anything because I felt bad for them. I would only do this if it was something good and not Alcoholic or Tobacco. There was a time when I saw a lady with her daughter stealing together. When we got them upstairs we told the mother what the heck was she doing. Does she realize what would happen if we called the police and they found out that you were teaching your daughter to steal.That they may take her daughter away.The mother and the Daughter started to cry. We really just wanted to scare them because our intent wasn't to get them in trouble and have the daughter taken away, but to stop stealing. We didn't call the police but warned them about doing this again. That there will not be any second chances. They did come in a few times.As far as I know they didn't take anything at least when I was watching. Then there was the Pucket Brothers. They would come in and steal baseball cards. We would let them go. Finally this one time we were tired of catching them and called the police. We didn't want to prosecute but, had them escorted home. We told them to stay out of the store and they did. We always took picture of the perps. One day I was looking at a book that was of a store before it became Sterks, it was called Parkview Foods. The Pucket brothers were in this book crying there eyes out. Allot of these people in this book I recognized some which were ex-employees. We had already caught them doing naughty things and were fired.I have many stories about the different shoplifters I have encounter throughout my ten years at Sterks.I used to get nutty about catching them. One guy I chased all the way to Turner Park housing on Michigan( about two miles away from the store). Once he got there I was like time to go. Allot of Riff Raff lived there. Another time me and the store Manager chased a guy to Angelos restaurant. I fell during the pursuit and received 5 stitches on my one knee. Down the street was the first Baptist Church of Hammond.Every Sunday like clock work a group Of kids would come in and get fried Chicken from the deli. Every time we would have the kids escorted back to the church in a police car. We finally told the police to tell the leaders over there that next time we will keep the kids and have the parents come and pick them up. These kids were bussed in from all other the area including Chicago. After that bust it toned down. I once got hit in the head with a duffle bag( to this day I have nightmares about duffle bags) by a guy that came in from Sawyer Business College that stolen some Deli product. I followed him outside and said "Hey you"! He turned around and biffed me in the head with a duffle bag. I struggled with him over his duffle bag. I finally won the battle and he ran off. I took the bag to the Managers office and knew he will probably be back for his bag. Sure enough he came back with the Police. I thought this guy has guts to bring the Police after hitting me. I told the Police what happened. They wanted to know if I wanted to press charges. The guy was very apologetic and said he was very sorry and wouldn't do it again.I told him that he was lucky I was in a good mood. He better not attempt to steal again. One guy we caught said he will pay for what he took. He had a radio with him. We told him to go and get his dough but, we wanted to hold on to the radio for collateral. He never came back, it was a fairly nice radio too.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless you all.

Everything went almost well.

Today my chemo session went well except for the fact that my Blood Pressure was still high. They gave me a pill and it went down a little. I was still going to get the chemo regardless ,because they think maybe I have white coat syndrome. Although I have gotten BP checks from other doctors with a heck of allot better results. So I am not sold on that prognosis. I did talk to the doctor about coming back and he said yes no problem. I am planning my return on Aug. 5. I am having a chemo that Monday and think it best to get one more out of the way. I am doing great but I want to have a little more time. This is only my 2ND session after the my last surgery. An extra formula was added to this session cause I couldn't have it the last time due to being to close to after my last surgery.So I want to make sure there isn't added issues. I know for sure I could come back at that time. If there are issues though, I may have to have restrictions, which I really don't want. As of now I believe I will be fine with no restrictions. I will find out for sure on Wednesday.

Sally will stay with me awhile during chemo , just to stay and keep me company or talk about me to the other Ladys as I am sitting there listening. She will help me to unhook the machine when I need to go to the bathroom.That is usually at least twice during the session. Well during one of my bathroom trips, Sally came over and unhooked me and put the cord over the machine so I can walk to the bathroom. My tubes that were hooked up to me were just dangling down a little. I did my business and Sally came over to help me to get hooked up again. Actually I just stood there as she was untangling the mess. I knew if I moved I would have fell over cause it was around my legs now."I was like what the heck did you do", "WHAT I DID"!" YEAH,WHAT YOU DID"! " IT WAS FINE WHEN YOU YOU LEFT"! " IT LOOKED TANGLED WHEN I LEFT,BUT I REALLY HAD TO GO , SO I DIDN'T INVESTIGATE FURTHER"! "SALLY YOU HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE AND NOW YOU REALLY MESSED UP GOOD". I don't take blame to well unless I know for sure I did it. Which is usually never. This bickering was going on for what seemed like 20 minutes. When we finally or I should say when Sally fixed her entanglement problem ,I turned to sit back down and noticed all the people in the room had grins on there face like they were trying not to laugh. "I said go ahead we do this all the time". One of the ladies that was there said she likes when we are there , that we are funny. I thought I wasn't trying to be funny. I don't think Sally was either.

Tonight I had some sparklers and decided to let Zack and the two neighbor kids light them off. The simple things that make kids happy. As I was watching them with there sparklers,I started to get mesmerized with the all the smoke and colorful sparks shooting everywhere. (I am easily amused too) This started me thinking about my youth as a pyromaniac. I would go in the backyard of our house on Duluth in Highland. There was a bush in the backyard behind our garage.I would go there and gather up my fire making materials and go to town. I did this when my parents weren't home. So please don't say anything to my parents. They may be very disappointed in me.I am much better now ,though. Some of those fires did get pretty big sometimes. I am very lucky I didn't burn down the garage or maybe even the house. So kids don't try this at home or anywhere else.

I want to mention on Saturday I participated in a car wash for the Youth group at St. James. It was a fund raiser for CYX. All the kids that showed up to help did a great job in getting all the the cars squeaky clean. It was a constant flow of cars that lasted throughout the 9-12 time frame. I don't know of the exact amount( I stopped counting after car 5) but there had to be about 30 cars washed quickly and professionally.Again great job kids you should be proud!

Thanks for visiting and God Bless you all.

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What I am really thinking.

Yesterday, I spoke about the concert. I try to make my post as intriguing as possible. I have a fear if I was more serious people would loose interest and not want to read my blog anymore. What I should have said yesterday was when we were deciding if we should or shouldn't get the tickets. At that time July seemed so far ahead. We didn't know what to expect. Would I still be here, would I be to ill to attend, would I still have my hair (what is left of it), would I be back to work by then? At that point of time I was just living for the moment. When you hear of cancer the first word that came to my mind is death. Then I found out I had stage 4, which meant bleak future. I reexamined my life. It's easy to do when you are put on the spot. I had hours to sit and figure out what was important to me and what I wanted to do to improve my life and the life of those who I love. It's funny when you are feeling better, you forget about some of the important stuff. For example when I was first diagnosed I told everyone around me that I am going to fight and do what ever it takes to beat it. I truly meant it. However, I am having a hard time eating right, exercising and loosing weight. Sally often gets on my case for it. Especially now, since the surgeon told us I needed to loose weight because of my damaged liver. But when I see chocolate cake or a plate of spaghetti I don't think of my health I just think of oh yeah, caaaaaake. It was easy to loose weight when I had the tumor because I never felt hungry. Now I do feel hungry and do not like the feeling of it. Especially when I go to sleep, I can't fall asleep if I am hungry. I also said I wanted to make repairs to the house. I couldn't do much after the surgeries. Plus some days I feel terrible. On the days I do feel good I don't want to be doing repairs. I want to be spending the day outside. Maybe when I win the lottery I can hire someone to do the repairs. Better yet I can just buy a new house.
Going back to yesterday. It was just a concert we went to but it was an achievement for me. Almost 6 months after being diagnose I do not have to live day to day. I am in remission. I feel good. I am at a good place in my life spiritually, emotionally, and physically. There are days when I am feel like crap but it makes the days I feel good all that much better. The little things I use to get upset over they don't bother me like they use to. Like when Zachary kept putting his face against the window to make silly faces until he got snot on it, then I was got kinda mad I had to put an end to it cause ,I was afraid I was going to start hacking(I have a weak stomach sometimes). Six months ago I would have been mad at the beginning. Another mess to clean. Now I say it will wash out but why bother it will get smudged as soon as I am done. I am learning to enjoy the moment. Now I am able to enjoy things around me. I love sitting on the porch watching my kids being silly . I am more observant of them now and notice more of the silly things they do. Before that I never was as observant. I was either to busy working or to tired to enjoy my life or notice them being silly. Now that I am slowed down I am able to see them being silly and able to get good material for my blog. I worked all those hours to provide for my family but we still don't have anything to show for it. Not saying I regret it. It gives me a great sense of pride to be able to provide for family and to be able to have Sally stay at home so our kids won't be in day care. I know if I am able to I will still work overtime if it is available but I will not go back to 70 hours work weeks. I am learning that it's the little things in life that end up being the most important things in life. Even though I am not happy that I have cancer I am glad I was given the opportunity to realize what life is really about. Even in my darkest moments I never was truly alone. During these times it seems someone would call and check up on me and change my whole attitude for the better. I have all you to thank for helping me and being there for me and my family. Which makes me blessed. I do not wish for those who read my blog to get ill but I do wish everyone who reads my blog will take some time to reflect what is really important to them and to learn to live that way. I know I have so much more learning and growing to do and I am lucky that I am given an opportunity to do so. I am not sure if I have a couple of years, a few years, or many years left but I hope what ever time I have is time that is well spent and not wasted on the small stupid stuff.I want my kids to have good memories of me and not ones of Daddy being crabby or not being around.

One last thought. Just because everything is going well at the time does not put me at a peaceful spot. It seems right before a storm it's always peaceful then wham something big happens. It's been like that since Sally and I have been married. Not saying something bad is going to happen but we are much calmer with stress. Hopefully, with time that will change for us as well.

I love you all and thank you for being there when I needed you. God Bless you all!

A night to remember or should I.

Today again I feel really great. I had to go and get my Pre- Chemo blood work done. When I was leaving I saw a fellow employee from Avery. It was nice talking to him. He told me that he has been out of work for about 6 weeks himself . He had surgery and his wife has a lump in her breast. So any prayers that can be thrown his and his wife's way would be appreciated, Thank You.

Sally and I are going to a concert tonight. We purchased the tickets way back in January. We are going to see Cheap Trick, Poison and Def Leppard. This will be the 4Th time I seen Def Leppard and the third for Cheap Trick and the 1st for Poison. Sally and I saw Def Leppard with Journey about 3 years ago. That was a time that I won't forget for a while. Sally and I were having some trouble conceiving and had to go through fertility for Kaity( we did for Zach also). We dropped Michael and Zachary off at her sister's house to spend the night. It was the last night we had alone since. When we went out to dinner the fertility office called. We were told to proceed with the last shot if we wanted. We were told that Sally had 3-4 ripe eggs so the chances of her having more then one was high. Sally was a little nervous but I played cool. I told her God doesn't give more then we can handle. I told her we went this far I didn't want to stop now. Well anyway doing fertility you sometimes are on a time schedule. We were doing shots and you have to do them at a specific time for you to have better results. Sally didn't need the shots until about 11 ,so I figured we had plenty of time to get home. Well the concert lasted a lot later then we thought. They were really good and I didn't want to leave. We left right before the last song. I sped out and rushed onto the express way just to get into slow traffic. At one point it wasn't even moving. We finally made it home but an half hour later then we were suppose to. After a couple of failed attempts, we found out 2 weeks later, the day after Sally's birthday we were expecting.

I started this blog early because I knew we would be home late. As we started out to go to the concert it started to pour. Sally suggested we go to K-Mart and look and see if they may have umbrellas or maybe rain ponchos. We were in the store looking all over for them. I don't know if you noticed but, they wear red vest at K-Mart. So I am walking all over looking for the umbrellas. I see two men walking toward me in red shirts. I decided to do what I rarely do and that is ask for help. I go up to them and ask one of them if they knew were the umbrellas are. He looked at me in a puzzled way and said" NOOOO , I don't sir". " Can you please find out for me"." Sir I don't work here. That is when I noticed on the smallest of patches saying Prompt Ambulance Service on his big red shirt. Sorry, keep up the good work.

That reminded me of the time when we got new uniforms at work.The shirts we got were maroon. During this time Burger King employees had Maroon shirts as part of there uniforms. So everyone at the plant would come up to us and say "I want a burger , fries and a coke. This would go on for weeks. My friend Dan didn't help matters either .He came to work one day wearing a Burger King hat. Being the nice guy he is he made sure everyone in the department had one if they wanted one, of course I did. There shirts are different now.

Now let me tell you about the concert. All the groups were excellent.They sounded great and very clear, but enough of the boring stuff. There was this group of about 10 people in front of us. During the whole concert they were taking pictures of them self on their camera phones, just like Japanese tourist. Every time partially blinding me for a few seconds .I finally was getting a little mad at this. So I decided I would be in there pictures. So I did the goofiest grin I could do and point at them with both hands. So when they get home to really examine some of there pictures they will see a handsome man with a devious look on his face pointing at them. Sleep well my friends.
During one of the groups ,I was singing with one of there songs. When the song ended I was still moving my lips and Sally noticed this. So she was quick to point out that the song was over. Little did she know I wasn't singing anymore. I was having a conversation with the voices in my head.
After each group we would sit down on the blanket to rest. As I was sitting there minding my own business a group of three women came by us.Each of them holding cups of beer. As they were passing me one of them spilt her beverage on me." ( on my Cubs hat worse yet)Thank you very much have a nice day"!Later some guy stepped on one of my fingers. I was like what is going to happen next, it can't get any worse.Boy was I wrong.Again minding my own business talking to Sally and our friends Ron and Lynn. I started to smell a very foul Oder. It wasn't pot, although I did smell plenty of it. I started sniffing, thinking what is that.I stared to look around to see what it was. As I turned westward there at eye level was a very manly looking buttocks staring at me. At that point I was thinking I want to go home. I decided I would stand up for the rest of the show. So to summarize I was blinded, dribbled on, stepped on, a little stoned and farted on and it was awesome.well maybe except for getting farted on that sucked.

The Cubs have a winning streak going(2). Winning again 6-2 to the worst team in baseball the Nationals. The Sox won also to another team that is bad too, Baltimore 10-8

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

Indiana Zach

Today was another very good day. I went to bed late and woke up late since Sally allowed me to, as long as she was in bed with me. When she got up ,it was time for me shoot out of bed and start the day . She told me to take the car to have my brother in law look at it. As soon as I got home she was shoeing me out the door with Michael to do some errands. After that She had me go with Michael to the Kerns. Michael had to get with Mr. Kern , because they are planning CYX. I want to again thank Mrs. Kern for the Healing Charm she gave me. I will carry it everywhere. When we got home Sally told me to go to the store with her and watch Kaity as she shopped.(Sweety could I please have a bread crumb)

We have a new addition to the family. Today born to my cousin Adam and his wife was Aiden George Quinn, who was born 5 weeks early and is breathing fine on his own. He is in Neo Natal ICU unit and may be home Saturday. He was 5 pounds 6oz and is doing fine.He will be monitored the next few days to make sure all is good for the newest Cub Fan. Congratulations to Adam and his wife for there new baby boy

This morning before Sally had me leave and do the running around Zachary came to me and said "Look Daddy I am getting tan. I am now turning into Indiana Jones" I told him sorry Zach you look to much like me , your cursed, but good luck! Later I was outside and monitoring the action outside. I saw Zach with all his Indiana stuff on(a rope for his whip and the brown hat). He goes up to our (Sally's --sorry honey) car and starts to do this dance. It was kinda like the Chicken Dance. I was watching him do this for what seemed like 3 hours. It's like time just stood still. Nothing else around me mattered. I was staring at him thinking what is he doing. I finally asked him what the heck are you doing besides embarrassing me as the neighbors from across the street are staring at us." Dad ,I am doing the Indiana Jones dance. I saw all the Indiana Jones movies and I don't recall any dancing in any of them ex specially the Chicken Dance. He must be more observant than me.

The Cubs started the 2nd half of the season with a win. They beat the worst team in baseball 6-2 so lets hope they sweep them. Sox didn't play.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

A reflection

I finally had a good nights sleep. I woke up at 7:30 so I could take my mother in law to work. She is having some issues with her car , so Sally told me to take her mom to work. When I got to her house she said that she thinks the car will be OK and that she will drive herself. So I thought that since I was up and ready for the day I would go and say my daily prayers and go to mass at St. James. When I left, the song Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin came on the radio. I think that it is one of the best meaningful songs ever. I started to think again about what could have been if I didn't get this misunderstood illness called cancer. The guy in the song wasn't around for his son just like I wasn't there that often for my kids. I was always working and working allot of overtime at the time with the exception I didn't travel. Although I was suppose to go to Italy to see our new machine run before they shipped it back to us., but because the company that was building our machine was having some money issues and we were afraid we may lose the machine , Avery did the smart thing and just had it shipped to us. Well anyway back to my reflection. I call cancer in my case anyway the misunderstood illness cause I believe when I was first diagnose with it I was thinking what did I do , why is this happening to me, I have small kids and one not so small.Yes, I was thinking I have a family that I love. I work my ass off at work, while working allot of overtime to help get these bills paid and be able to have some of the other annuities. It took me almost 2 months to really realize that I am a dumb ass. It was around the time of the benefit when I thought that God has a plan for me and that everything will be just fine( as long as I stop eating garbage).All the people that came out to support myself and my family on that cold rain soaked day in March really told me that I wasn't insignificant. That people really cared and allot of them didn't know me at all.I still think back to that day with total amazement. That is why I know for a fact that you can receive just about anything if your not a knucklehead. God gives everyone life lessons and if you don't learn from them you will get another and another until you fix yourself or die. I think God knew that in me and it definitely changed me forever.If cancer doesn't change you than your gonna die for sure. God won't hand anything to you ,and you will have to believe , have faith and change what needs to change.Don't think because you may say a few prayers and go to church every week that that is all you need to do. Going through the motions won't cut it. That is why when I see people in church talking I get a little flustered.God deserves your undivided attention. I also like to think positive about everything. No matter how gloomy things may look I will still think everything will be OK. I always know that God will not give me more than what I can handle. It may get very hairy at times but, having great family and friends at your side always helps out.Life is a constant learning experience, so learn from it. I am not perfect, not by a long shot. I just know that I needed to change. I still have some things to work on but , I have confidence I will get to were I need to be. If not ooooohhhh boy!

Last night Sally and I watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons. It was a 2.48 hour movie. I think this is why I left good last night. I have no idea what I just missed.That is all I am going to say about that. Tonight the family and I are going to Central park in Griffith for a showing of Hotel for Dogs. We already saw it but this is something nice to do with the kids that they will remember.( my lesson from the above reflection-- it's all about the memories that are kid friendly).Hopefully someone will do something goofy and I will have new story to tell. We are going with our neighbors so it should be fun.

Zach told me yesterday that he is looking for someone to be his female Indiana Jones partner. The neighbor girl didn't want to do it anymore. So if any female out there(preferably about 8-9 years old,if older we can talk) who likes to argue and constantly bicker with men( isn't that usually most women. Just kidding no letters please) please respond to this post stating your interest in the Indiana Jones Female partner search. Zach thanks you in advance.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

Trouble on O Day Drive.

I had another restless night but everything was fine as far as any pain or throat issue was concerned. Two fingers on each hand were and still are numb along with my feet. I got out of bed and watched some TV until the numbness went away. I got back in bed at about 3am and fell asleep after about another hour and was up before 9 so I could make Zach his pancakes. He was happy to see me get up. I went in the living room to watch Elmo with Kaity just to mess with him a little bit. Finally he goes in the kitchen and gets the Dad Pancakes note he made the night before and throws it in my lap.OK Zach I will make your breakfast now since you were waiting so patiently. I started to make the fluffy wonders as only I can make them( following the directions on the box).He sat at the table with joy in his eyes. I gave him three silver dollar plus size pancakes that I think never made it to the table. He ate them so fast I thought that he may have taken a bite out of one of his digits. I gave Kaity one of these delights and she also devoured it. I had to give her another one that also disappeared. Usually she will nibble and not eat much. She knows that Daddy doesn't cook much and thought she didn't want to miss the opportunity to taste something that should be featured on the Food Network. After the three of us were fed the smell obviously woke Sally up. She floated into the kitchen with her mouth open and ready for the round heavenly goodness. She was lucky enough to get the leftover pancakes that were just as good. Michael slept through all of this. He could have a marching band in his room and he still wouldn't wake up.

This evening we had to go to my mother in laws for awhile. as we were going down the street, Sally said " HEY ,there is flashing lights down there lets go take a look. "Sally we are tired and want to get home as soon as we could." "It's not the police cause they are white lights and not red or blue". She said "Aww come on lets be nosy and see whats going on"."Fine,fine I'll see what is going on if it is that important to you. I am traveling down the street which seemed like another mile traveled and getting closer. As I approached the so called trouble that was brewing I noticed something .The white lights that so mesmerized my wife were not flashing but flickering. It was a family of 4 on there bikes and the lights were on there handlebars.I should have asked her if I should have done a citizens arrest since they were causing such a ruckus.

Now here is the boring part of the blog for most of you about our troubled Chicago Teams. The Cubs and the White Sox.
Sox-45-43 3.5 games out are Cubs 43-43 3.5 games out
Sox and Cubs half way mark stats
The Sox have 287 walks 6th The Cubs 333 walks 24th
Sox 619 strike outs 12th The Cubs 662 strike outs 5th
Sox Batting ave.263 12th The Cubs Batting avg. 2.47 27th
Sox Homeruns 103 8th The Cubs Homeruns 93 13th
The SoxRBI'S 392 14TH The Cubs RBI'S 338 26TH The Sox ERA 4.16 9TH The Cubs ERA 3.83 5TH
The Sox in 1-6 INNING AVG. 2.71 The Cubs in 1-6 AVG 2.56
The Sox in 7-9 INNING AVG. 2.47 The Cubs in 7-9 AVG 2.28
Sox with NOBODY ON 2.60 Cubs with NONE ON 2.55
Sox SCORING POS. 2.72 Cubs scoring Pos. 2.18 worst in league INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
BATTING AVG
Konerko-Dye 3.02 18th Theriot 2.99 23th
Homeruns Dye 20 8th Lee 17 13th
RBI'S Konerko 60 7th Lee 57 12th
ERA Buehrle 3.66 16th Lilly 3.18 11th
Wins Buehrle 9 8th Lilly 9 6th
Strikeouts Floyd 92 14th Lilly 101 11th
As I see it both teams are still in striking distance but, have a lot of work to do if they want to be still playing in October.

Thanks for visiting and for baring with me, and God Bless.

Michael's Graduation

Michael's graduation party will be on July 26. It will be an open house. Food will be served from 2-6. We will be having a barbeque, bouncy, and games. It will be at Sally's mom's house in Highland. It's an open invitation to anyone who reads the blog. If you would like to go email us sceiga@att.net and we will
give you the information

Indiana Zach and the Falling Child.

This is Indiana Zach and his lady of the day. He was playing as if he was Indiana Jones all day. If you notice in there hands they are both holding leaves from a Water Lilly plant. Wondering why? they are the whips of course. He was actually playing with the same one all day. I tried many times to have him to throw it away. He said "but Dad' it's Indiana Jone's whip!" I told him even Indiana Jones had to get a new whip once in awhile. He didn't believe me and still didn't throw it away.

Last night I barely slept a wink. My tickle in my throat kept me up because I was coughing constantly and clearing my throat. The coughing didn't help with my stomach.The more I coughed the more pain I would feel. I finally left the bedroom so I wouldn't keep Sally up with coughing and moving around.Yes, we do sleep in the same bed(most of the time).

Zach ,Kaity myself , our neighbor's son Tanner and my friend Hector from work with his daughter Martha went to Central park this evening.Hector brought his new puppy to the park with him. The puppy is a Dachshund (wiener dog ) that is three months old and named Charlie.The dog was an instant hit with aaaaaalllllll the kids. The park had quite a few kids there playing and when Hector showed up with this little puppy the playground emptied and everyone ran up to Hector before he even made it the the playground.I told the kids that were with me to go and play before everyone comes back. When the commotion died down and the kids were back Kaity was just standing in the middle of the playground staring at everyone. She is a very observant little girl and likes to scout the seen before being the rumbustious little girl she is when she is familiar with what is going on. After she was done watching everyone she decided to go on the slide. The slide she went on was a cork screw slide. She was at the top waiting to come down and I was at the bottom waiting for her. As I was standing there waiting patiently for her and minding my own business when all of a sudden this what had to be at least an 8-9 year old kid lands on my head. I guess the kid thought my big sunburned head was a landing target for paratroopers . I said " Dude what are you doing! His response was "I am just playing. My response " I am not your toy. He is lucky I didn't go into Steve Austin mode.

Zach has been wanting pancakes for awhile and I told him that I will try and attempt to make him some in the morning. So that I don't forget he wrote me a note " DAD PANCAKES" I hope the note doesn't blow on the floor.

I have felt allot better today. My pain in my Stomach and my back is allot more tolerable today. The tickle in my throat is gone. I really didn't think that was a laughing matter. I know stupid joke.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

It's guys like you Mickey!

My step Dad came over to help me figure out our vent problem. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I am hoping I just need to clean them out since I didn't have a chance before my surgery. I trenched and put on sealer on the foundation before the surgery and hadn't had a chance to do anything else. I still want to get some dirt to level the area some. After a heavy rain we will have some standing water near the house.My step Dad told me what to do to kill the smell and the bacteria. So I will try and do that tomorrow and have the family leave for a while, so I can do this effectively .

We went to our normal 11am mass at St. James in Highland.We came home and I laid down for what seemed like 4-5 hours or so and it felt good. I didn't want to get up, but I made myself. Sally had dinner ready when I got up. It was one of my favorites. Pepper Steak with the tenderest of meat and the most tangiest sauce just smothered all over bed of white rice served to perfection.Just smelling this made my tongue stand at attention.I know what I will have for lunch tomorrow,LEFTOVERS!!

After the feast I took Micheal somewhere and picked him up about 45 minutes later and took him to his Aunt Stacie's. He is going to Ivie Tech tomorrow with his Aunt to take a test. After I dropped him off and was on 231 heading west the song Mickey by Toni Basil came on. I came very close to pulling over and doing the Toni Basil shimmy. I thought about it for a while and decided that wouldn't be a good idea. Thinking to myself and picturing drivers seeing this 44 year old fat guy with a big head dancing around, that would definitely cause a massive car pile up on 231 and Cline ave. That definitely wouldn't help Indiana tourism when Fat guy dancing in corn field news got out, but than again I would want to check this out if I could.So maybe tourism may actually boom. Getting back to the Toni Basil song. I was in my glory and couldn't help myself. I love to hear the cheesy songs. The more cheese and greasy goo the happier I am. I don't like all cheesy songs though, so don't get me wrong I am not a complete cream puff, only one with a big bite taken out of it. For example about a week ago I heard the song Afternoon Delight on the radio by Starlight Vocal Band. I also was tempted to pull over but not to dance. I wanted to throw up and take my bottom lip and pull it over my head. After analyzing the situation for awhile I just decided to change the radio station.

Like I said earlier I did take it a lot easier. I am felling a little better as far as the stomach pain goes. Now I have a tickle in my throat. All day I been clearing my throat and coughing. My back is better as long as I do my blog in a rocking chair and not on the couch.

The baseball season is at the half way point. I will give my analysis as I see it in the next day or so. Both teams need help.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

If it wasn't for my back.

'

The Ceiga's Neighborhood Park

I had the ct scan this morning for the pain that I have been having with my stomach.It was nice cause since it was a weekend one of the ct operators came in just to give me the scan. It was at Franciscan Hospital in Munster. They felt it was something that needed to be done ASAP.When I got the scan I had to wait until the Radiologist gave the Urgent Care Doctor at the Clinic the results first. If they weren't good I probably could have been admitted,But the test came back normal. Couldn't see any abnormalities.So this is another bullet I dodged. I think I am going to lift some weights now since all is good.

Zach today got to go the Gary air show. Our neighbors asked if Zach could go with them. It was very nice of them to ask, Zach was very excited. The family and I were planning on going too,but Because of my ct scan and my belly hurting we decided not to go. That made it even sweeter that he was still able to go.When he came home he was all excited and was telling me all about it. He was talking so fast I had to tell him to slow down so I can understand. Then he started to make the Jet sounds and telling me how loud they were. I guess now his interest went from trains to planes.

I took it easy for the most part today. There was one point where I was just staring at Zach as he was playing with his Lego Star Wars. He will not leave the house without them, kinda like American Express.Well as I was watching him playing so intently with his Lego Star Wars he would look up at me once in awhile but, wouldn't say anything.This was going on for while and finally he said"whhhaaaaat Daaaaad. I said oh nothing. He went back to playing and I went back to staring. Again he would look up at me and say nothing.This again went on for awhile until he said " Daaaaaad why do you keep looking at meeeeeeeee. I finally told him that I like watching him play and mommy won't let me do anything else.

I am still in some pain and my back is really driving me crazy so I am going to end this now. I hope my back feels better soon so I can write a little longer. Thank you for visiting and as always God Bless.

Come on seriously

Written by Sally. I am certain this will not be approved by Bill Ceiga.

Come on seriously. I am believer that God keeps giving you the same lesson over and over again until you learn what you are suppose to. Bill claims to believe in the same theory. However, I am beginning to think he believes it goes for everyone else except for him. I know it has been mentioned many times but one of the reasons Bill is in the situation that he is in is because he didn't take care of himself. Regardless he would have had cancer. At his age there would have been no reason to screen him for color cancer. However, he wasn't feeling well and had the symptoms for a few months. Didn't tell the doctor because he didn't want to miss work. If he might went in sooner the cancer may not had spread as much as it did. It's a good learning lesson for everyone. He is just lucky that it was found before his colon ruptured.

After his last surgery I complained on the blog about him not taking it easy like he should and not taking his pain meds. Others express their concerns when they found out what was going on. It didn't stop him from doing things he shouldn't but he did start to take more Motrin.

Yesterday he didn't feel very well and for the most part he took it easy. Last night he started to have a lot of pain in the abdomen where the cut was made. This morning he felt worst. I suggested he called the doctor to see if he could be seen. He didn't want to go. He said he felt better when he moved around. The surgery was a month ago. He shouldn't be in pain that much pain but what do I know. This afternoon he took Zach to the library. When he got home he was stumbling. The pain was so great he had trouble breathing. I mentioned going to the urgent care and he said no he just had to rest. I finally told him that he is going. There is no indication that there is an infection by looking at it. He isn't running a fever either. He was given an antibiotic to take. Tomorrow morning he is going to have a CT scan done to see if there is an infection. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with him. Maybe he is just over doing it. I would rather be safe then sorry. He was a little annoyed at me while we were there. I tried to explain if there is an infection it can be very serious. Waiting to see if he gets better is just silly. If it in infected waiting can be dangerous. I was threatened a couple of times about having a sock stuffed in my mouth. That's OK I can take it. It's better to be safe then sorry. Hope someone in my house (the oldest male to be exact) starts to get it.

Crazy Kids

Come on you guys. You're able to answer surveys about everything else but when I have a survey about SBD everyone clams up. Come on everyone does it. Some more then others. It's not like we know who answers what. I am curious and want to see how many people are like me. So indulge me in my curiosity. I am not working and bored so it doesn't take much to entertain me lately.

Last night I still couldn't sleep well. A side effect of the chemo plus being connected to the pump while I am sleeping doesn't help either. I slept a while today before I had the pump removed. I was so tired my eye balls burned. After the doctor's I went to church and prayed. I came home and slept some more. If Sally hadn't woken me I'd probably would still be sleeping.

While I was sleeping my kids and the neighbors were entertaining themselves. Most people have to take their kids to the park, zoo, water park, movies etc... so their kids will be entertained and not be bothering them. I guess my kids and the neighbor's kids are so under privileged they are amused easily or maybe they are just that bored and anything is intriguing to them (sounds like me). Sally had the kids outside so I could sleep. She painted Kaity's nails and then painted her own. Taylor wanted to paint her nails as well. Zachary asked to have his nails painted to. So Taylor painted his nails. He did not want hot pink though because he didn't want to burn his fingers. He just wanted pink polish to be used. From what I was told Zachary started to paint this hand and his nose and Sally told him to quit. Taylor and Zachary decided to get markers instead and used their and the other kids' bodies as canvasses. Between the markers, Popsicle, and the dozen of freezer pops that dripped all over them it would probably be easier to take the power washer out and soap them up and spray them down then it is going to be in the shower. After Zach took his shower he still had marker in his nose.(?) At least Zach wasn't wearing his winter coat outside like he did all day yesterday. He wouldn't take it off because he was "cold".

Like I said earlier I am very tired cause of the lack of sleep the last few days and my stomach from the surgery is giving me a little discomfort today too. So I am going to sign off for now so I can spend some time with Sally before I fall asleep.Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

No way!!!

I bearly slept a wink last night, I think it was the chemo. I ususally have to take something to get me to sleep. My back was killing me too. I got up and took some Motrin. That helped my back, but I still couldn't sleep. I was up pretty much the whole night. I got up around 11 am ate breakfast and took Michael to a friends house. I went to church to say my daily prayers and picked up Michael and went home. I took Kaity outside and Zach soon followed. I decided to empty out the sandbox. It had alot of standing water in there that had to come out. I didn't want to wait until I felt more motivated. I knew I should do this very soon,because of the West Nile scare. I got all the water out and most of the sand out, that I will finish tomorrow.I didn't want my back pain to come back so I just started talking with a few of the neighbors the rest of the evening and came in to watch tv.

I was told that I should talk about some of the things that happened to me when I was working at Sterks Super Foods ( The store were Super Man shops by the way). I started out as a hard working bagger. There was this time when I had a clean up to do in one of the aisles. but unbeknownce to me it was vomit. I have a fairly quemish stomach so I had somewhat of a hard time cleaning this up. Every time I looked at the mess I would gag and gag some more. Who ever did this was an artist. After I got done gagging to the tune of Cyndie Lauper's Girls just want to have fun and finished cleaning up the Picasso I heard in the near distance excuse me sir,excuse me sir. Yes, mame may I help you. Yes, please wait. She preceded to bend over my mop bucket and finish her art work in my bucket. I was saying to myself no way. ( I guess she wanted to do water colors next) I took the bucket to the back room and left it by the sink. Never to look at it again.
This next story I was in the backroom talking to Veronica the magazine girl. I was a stocker at the time. We were just talking about this and that and how good looking I was and that sort of thing. Then this middle aged man comes in the back room and walks to the roll up door where we unload trucks. He unzipped his pants and relieved his self in the corner of the doorway. Veronica and I looked at each other and said in unison NO WAY! I told this animal that he will be cleaning up his mess and that if I ever saw him again that I will tie his manhood into a Fisherman's Knot.
Another time I was stocking in one of the aisles. I was doing my job flawlessly as usually. At one point I looked up and noticed a dark round ball in the main aisle were the meat counter is. I paid no mind to it at first but, kept looking at it wondering what was on the floor that everyone seemed to be side stepping. I decided to take a closer look. As I got closer and looked around some of the other aisles I notice other dark balls. I decided to kick one and found out it was poopies laid by what I thought at the time by a giant rabbit. I went into some other aisles and got to the produce aisle and noticed Stanley,who is a very old sweet man in the aisle. As I was watching him walk away every few steps he would stop and shake a leg and out came the prize. I thought maybe he was afraid that he might get lost and was doing the droppings so he will be able to find his way out of the store. I didn't have the heart to approach Stanley since he was a man who everyone at the store knew and liked and who came in literally every day some times more than once. I was a Frozen Foods and Dairy Manager at the time so I could delegate the work now. So I got on the intercom and said clean up in aisles 1, 4, 6,7 and produce than I went on break.
I will tell more stories of my Sterk days( Hammond Sibley Store mainly) That was a very unique working experience. I have a couple of good stories when I would catch shop lifters, maybe tomorrow.

I got the results back from my Thyroid Biopsy. Everything came back normal with no seen issues. Thank you for the prayers. Now I am starting to feel a little better now. Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

I want my bowl!

My popcorn bowl was left at my sister-in-laws house on the 4th. I will not be the same until I get it back.

I finally got to have my much wanted chemo today. My blood pressure was still a little high but was better. They were going to let me do it even if it was a little high. There would have been a problem if it was decided to wait again, I would have been very upset. After all the talk we had about my pain and some of the stress that I am still feeling, what would you expect.So when I got there they started to get me hooked up immediately. In a warped kind of way I like to go there because of the way they make you feel.They are very upbeat and happy people.Considering all the constant running around they do to keep up to 8 people going on there chemo treatments.With all they do like hook us up, change over our treatment bags( each bag may last anywhere from 15 mins up to 2 hours , depending on what your dosage need is)remove pumps, give shots, do blood work, scheduling appointments, answer questions, answer the phone. make all the concoctions and give us what we need or ask for like a blanket , a piece of candy or beverage, an ear to hear us vent our fears or just listen to us talk and most importantly give us the remote to the tv.So to say the least these three women are definitely Gods children and very much appreciated for all they do with a smile on there face all the time no matter what . If I had to do this work I would have been asked to leave before I got to the door ( I was told many times that I look mean).So the chemo was a breeze with just a little tightness in my legs but I still was walking around to keep them loose.

When Sally and I got home I stayed outside with Kaity and Zach. I enjoy watching them play together. The neighbor kids came out so they started to play with them.They have a trampoline that Kaity loves to play on. The other kids went off and played else where and Kaity was on the trampoline and I was watching her.She was jumping and running all over it. A few times she would be running around to close to the edge and I didn't like that. I would be afraid she would loose her balance and fall off the edge, its about a 4 foot drop.So I would tell her to keep away from the edge. She would look at me and smile and start to run around the dreaded edge again. I would follow that with another threat to quit it. Again the smirk and the run around the edge. I decided I would do what Sally would do, and that would be to embarrass myself. I started to chase her around to get her off the trampoline since she wasn't listening to me. She always managed to stay at the opposite side of the trampoline from me. I was getting mad at her. I was afraid she was going to fall off.I would try to distract her and sneak up on her.That didn't work. All of a sudden I heard this loud uproarious laugh coming from the next door neighbors garage, great. Now I was really getting mad. Taylor the child who the trampoline belongs to came up to the edge of the trampoline and said come on Kaity lets go play. Kaity walked over to Taylor so Taylor could pull her off. That is when the laugh next door got louder. Thanks allot Ronny I'm glad I can make your day.

That was pretty much my day. I will get my pumped removed on Thursday at about noon. I hope that there is no ill effects. It seems the pump removal is when I feel the worst. So I will keep my fingers crossed. Thank you and God Bless.