Two Special Request

Surprise! Two blogs in one week. Shocking isn't it? For once this post is not about me. Well it mostly isn't about me. The purpose of tonight's writing is to pay tribute to two special people.

The first person is Daria. She was a blogger like me. I met her when she became a follower of my blog. She was first diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in 2000. Last week she rapidly started to deteriorate and went home to be with her maker on Saturday. I am asking for you to keep her family in your prayers.

The second person is Maxine. She was the aunt to our friend Ron. Three years ago she was murdered while working at KFC. Her children started a blog to help keep her memory alive. Actually, it's an incredible tribute they have done in their mother's honor which has benefited many people. I have recently learned about her blog. I have not yet participated in SMILE-In memory of Maxine but I am looking forward to doing so. Hopefully, I can think of same way that will involve including my kids. I have attached the link to Maxine's blog(actually Sally has, since I am still not computer savvy). I encourage you to read her blog and hopefully you will join SMILE-In Memory of Maxine. It would be awesome if we can get a big following for her cause. http://memoryofmaxine.blogspot.com/

Well that's it for tonight. I went to Omni after work so it's been a long day. Going to spend sometime with my wife.

Good night & God Bless, Bill

Our year end festivities.

Happy New Year! Yes, I am behind, but it still the first of the year so it counts. I hope 2011 brings peace, love, and happiness to all my friends, family, and blog readers.

I could get sappy and write a blog about the great and not so great memories of 2010 but then I thought it's all in the previous postings in the blog (so if that is what floats your boat then go back reread the post). Plus, I am saving the sappy part for the bad parts in life. Hopefully, in 2011 there will not be any. I could also write about the list of appliances that failed,( thanks to Sally) all of Michael's mishaps with his car(none of it his fault, according to him), all the times Sally made me mad(all the time, like now), my award from work(well deserved and about time), more of Zachary's questions about turtles and life(my head hurts just thinking about it), Kaity's fashion or lack of fashion sense(I'm going to be in a lot of trouble in a few years), etc.... I could go on and on but why? We want to enjoy 2011 and not still be focusing on 2010. Time to move on.

I ended 2010 the way we normally end the year. We had a lot of snack/junk food and went to Main Square to watch the fireworks. We did it a little different then normally though. We decided not to end the year on a bad foot and made the junk/snack food healthier then usual in hopes the healthier food continues in 2011. We went to Costco to purchase our feast. Kaity wanted to try a sample of sushi. Of all things there were to sample she was the most eager to try it.She said they looked pretty. So she took a small bite and liked it. She really liked it. She encouraged Sally to take a bite (Sally isn't not much of a fish person). Sally wouldn't until Kaity eyes began to tear up. She took a bite and liked it(Hey Mikey). She encouragement me to take a sample and I was surprised I liked it to. So we bought a tray of sushi, a platter of shrimp cocktails, pita chips, and Kashi frozen pizza (not very tasty in my meek opinion). Besides did I mentioned we had veggies with yogurt dip, humus, seasoned oyster crackers, roasted chick peas, water chestnuts and pineapple bacon wraps, and jalapeno popper dip served with thin slices of bread. I will admit I enjoyed this better this year or I should say last years' snacks better then I have in the past. Except for the chick peas and the Kashi pizza, everything else was really satisfying to my taste buds. In fact they are doing a little jig while I am thinking about the food.

After we ate and cleaned up a bit, Sally and I took Zachary and Kaitlyn to see the fireworks. Yes, there is no mention of Michael. He abandoned us this year. I did call him like every 30 minutes to try to make him feel guilty. It didn't work though, because he didn't come home until his curfew. Yes, he is 20 and has a curfew. What weird parents are we. I bet you are feeling sorry for him as you read this. Don't worry, he feels sorry for himself (regarding the curfew issue) so you don't have to worry since it's covered. Back to the fireworks festivities. Sorry, sometimes I am just scattered minded. Actually, I am more scattered minded than not. Please that is a little secret just between you and me.Now what was I trying to say.OK fireworks and the count down. We arrive with just a couple of minutes to spare. The weather was perfect. It was in the 50's which is unseasonably warm for us. The square was all lit from the Christmas light displays, love was in the air while couples anxiously waited for the stroke of midnight to kiss their loved one or maybe for some lucky people love ones. I guess I was lucky because there were 3 love ones for me to kiss. Zachary's focus was on getting a noise maker. Not that he needed one since he does a good job making noise on his own.I have not a clue where he gets that from but may need to see a doctor about that. Sally took the kids where the crowd was to wait for the count down and I looked for the noise maker. I didn't find them. Not like that was what I was actually looking for. There it was free hot chocolate. I made a dash for my hot cocoa.I can only concentrate on one thing at a time. By the time I got the hot chocolate (which by the way was awful) and found my lovely family and it was after midnight. I really didn't think much about it since we were still in the same place, the fireworks were still going off and so what if the kiss took place a couple minutes later. Sally didn't agree with my thinking. She was a little perturbed with me. I tried comforting her by telling her my hot chocolate was terrible( I thought that would have brought her to tears) but that only made her more peeved at me. I still don't really get what the big deal was. She had the kids to kiss and all I had at the stroke of midnight was a lousy cup of hot chocolate and it wasn't even hot. Zachary was disappointed with me too since I did not find a noise maker for him. We told him when we got home he can hit some pot and pans together.I could just imagine what the neighbors were thinking when we did get home. Your a little late pal, I'm calling the police! The only one that wasn't cross with me was Kaity. So, her and I paled off and I let her sit on my shoulders to watch the spectacular firework display.

So that is how I began my New Year. I should make a quiz to see if anyone paid attention. On that note it would be fun if I made a quiz about me and see how much you really know about me. As for a New Year's resolution, mine is to participate more on my blog. I have been slacking on my writing last year. I hope this year to blog more and have some more surveys, and maybe some other creative things I am pondering in my narrow minded brain. I also am trying to eat healthier, work out routinely and hoping to lose some more weight.

The next Chemo appointment, I will see the Doctor and should have a scheduled CT Scan.Now I am at the point whenever I some a test like this I get very nervous.I still think positive.I still have lots to talk about.Thank you all for visiting and thanks for all the prayers.

A Christmas Story, Done ourway.

Ooops I did it again. I never intend to have so much time laps between post. I always have so much to say but time hasn't been much on my side. Last weekend I was off but unfortunately for me, I was under the weather for most of it. I laid in bed most of Sunday. Zachary had the stomach bug on Saturday and I think I caught a minor version of it. Plus I had a bad sinus headache and the combination of the two left me powerless, weak, and vulnerable.

I feel weird still talking about Christmas in the middle of January but dammit I still have a lot to say and I am going to say it. OK I know you don't have to read it but I am saying it and it will be out there for all who choose to read For those who decide not to, will never know the fun us Ceiga's experienced during Christmas 2010.

I will begin by talking more about the big guy. No not me! In fact I am working out and getting my body into shape. In no time I am going to be one buff dude with a nice tight buttocks. Sally needs to start playing her cards carefully then because someone might snatch the new me resembling Bradly Cooper. In real life I will most likely resemble Lyle Lovett Minus the hair.

Going back to the big guy that isn't me. Although my daughter will remind me " YOU FAT, HAHAHAHA". The one that lives off of milk and cookies (Oh wait that is me) the one that all the kids know, that one. There is a house in Highland that has the best decorations in our area. Last year I posted pictures of it in one of the postings. Santa is often spotted in front of the house. Every year we drive past several times in hopes of seeing Santa. This year was no different. Except for the fact it didn't seem Santa was out as often. Also, this was the first time we didn't see Santa. Well... on one occasion we did drive past and he was outside talking with a family. I turned the corner and parked the car. The kids literally jumped out of the car and started running towards the house. We walked around the corner to see Santa and like magic he was gone. He must of known who was approaching, the guy I mean kids who took all my chocolate candy last year. Needless to say, I was disappointed I mean the kids were disappointed. We walked around looking at the decorations in hopes he would reappear but no such luck. It was a bummer to say the least. Sally found humor in all of this. It only proves she is one sick person.

I tried to redeem the Santa disappointment and took the kids to see Santa in St. John. Every year they have a nice set up with Santa, popcorn and hot chocolate. This year included cookies and a train ride for the kids as well. The kids saw Santa. It always amazes me that when my kids tell me what they want from Santa the list goes on and on. But once they were on his lap they become silent and with some coaxing they manage to stutter a thing or two. After Santa they road the train and then we got hot chocolate and popcorn. Zachary (being my boy) went to take the bag with the most popcorn and dropped it. Then he cried and we all laughed. We told him to get another one and to stop his crying. It was cold and I had lost all feeling to my fingers and tootsies so we went to the car to wait for him. Zachary thought we were going to leave and burst into tears while running to the car. Sally and I burst out into laughter and told him to go get his popcorn. All ended well. He got his popcorn and my fingers and toes thawed out.

My mom had her Christmas the Sunday before Christmas. Someone came up with the clever idea of having the ugliest Christmas sweatshirt contest. It stemmed from all the sweatshirts that she has hidden away in her closest given to her by a certain somebody. We all have sweatshirts taken up space in our closets that were gifts given to us by a certain someone. I didn't want to offend a certain someone (in fear I might not receive another awesome sweatshirt) so I decided to play it safe and create a one of a kind master piece. I will proudly say it was a work of art. I am certain Zachary got his creative drawing talent from his dear old dad. Anyways, those who wore their ugliest shirts had to stand up to be judged. It included me of course, my brother Mike and his wife Leanne and my sister Lisa. The judging took place and while the votes were be tallied we went to have our picture taken. Right before everyone was able to take pictures, Zachary sneaked into our group. We looked and no he wasn't wearing an ugly shirt but he had an ugly Christmas rug covering up his front. Come to think about it, the rug belonged to the same person who is responsible for buying all the ugly shirts. Once the pictures were taken the votes were read. Sally managed to get a vote even though she didn't think her shirt was ugly. I did notice a food stain on it though. Leanne won but I think a recount should have been done since I was only one vote less than hers. To bad I don't live in Florida. Zachary was upset cause he got no votes.I had to explain to him it was a ugly shirt contest and he was holding a rug. So he was disqualified. What will that kid think of next? Read the next blog and you will find out.

Christmas Eve we attended mass because we knew Christmas morning would be hectic. Sally and I went to bed at 2am on Christmas. I was hoping the kids would let us sleep until 6. At 8 Sally was nudging me and the kids were still asleep. I got up to set up the camcorder as Sally got the kids awake. As I sat in the living room waiting, I notice there was one stocking that was missing which meant one of the kids was up earlier snooping. My guess it was Zachary. However, after the investigation I realized it wasn't Zach nor Kaity but Michael. After all he is only 20 and still believes in Santa which allows him to continue to get stockings year after year.

After opening gifts and breakfast the five of us went to help out at a soup kitchen before going to my brother Mike's house. Every year Mike and his wife has a pot luck at their house on Christmas afternoon. To say it nicely, he has Christmas at his house for us schmucks. I guess you can say it was dinner for schmucks, (That was a good movie by the way) who have no where else to go. I use to go there a lot for Christmas in my younger days but since I have been married this is probably the 3rd or 4th time we went. Not only do they have delicious food(cookies and cakes) but they have lively entertainment which consist of bunco. We all concentrate and take the game seriously so we can choose a wrapped gift on a table that if filled with mysterious gifts. I managed to win a bottle of soap gel and a body sponge, perfect. It made me wonder if someone is trying to tell me something. After my mom, dad, sister and brother in law left we played one more game of bunco. I was all for it knowing my chances of winning would be greater. Sally ruined it for all of us. She played lousy all day and then all of a sudden she got on a role and scored 36 points in one round. It was all the cheering and yelping that allowed her to score so high. Her face was as red as Santa's suit by the time her turn was over with.

I will try and write another blog in a week or so. I need to get some of these other nuggets told. Thanks for visiting and God Bless.