Today I am beat. I woke up and took Zachary to school and went back to bed shortly after. I slept until 2. I am still tired. Even though I am tired, I can't sit still and do nothing. My brother gave me a child's bicycle seat and I installed it on my bike. Thanks Mike , it will get a lot of use this summer. It was such a nice day, I didn't want to stay in the house. I tested Kaity on the seat and she loved it. So Zachary and I with Kaity rode our bikes to the park. Zachary had fun playing with the other kids. Kaity had fun going on the slide. As was watching Kaity going down the slide constantly there was one little boy there that would not leave me alone. I would talk to him cause I don't won't to be rude to him , but like I said I was keeping an eye on Kaity and she would was always be on the move. The little kid was like a booger that was on your finger that you just couldn't get rid of, no matter how much you tried to flick it off. ( not that I have had that problem before just what other people have mentioned to me) Finally one time he came up to me and said Hey Man, I am big and I could cuss. I said you better not cuss around me and my kids. and than I walked away from him and he didn't come by me anymore. than other little Kids showed up and they were all coming to me and jumping off of stuff and saying look at me, look me. That was when I decided we needed to go far away, so we went home.
The Cubs won today 8-7. That always makes me feel better. Sox are playing later so I have no score. I believe there going to lose.
I wanted to suggest a couple of movies I had recently watched. The first one is "Fire Proof". Every married couple should watch it in my opinion. Kirk Cameron was a lead actor in it. Not a very good actor in my opinion. I would even suggest buying a copy to watch on occasion. The second movie I strongly suggest is "Faith Like Potatoes". It's based on a true story. A very up lifting movie. Both movies are not the typical movies I normally watch but I thought they were very good and taught good lessons. I give both movies two thumbs up.

I will ask Sally to post a picture of Zachary and his new glasses tomorrow. People have been asking about him and the glasses.

4th time

Today I had my 4th Chemo session. It went well, I had no ill effects during the session. I went and relieved Michael and his girlfriend from watching Zachary during his soccer practice. During this time I said the Rosary, a Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet, a prayer to Mother Theresa and A Prayer to our Lady of Lourdes to occupy my time as not to think to much. After practice I took Zachary to the park. I was sitting on a bench and it was getting chilly so I decided to zip up my hood. As I was doing this the zipper grazed my cheek ( on my face) and I had the feeling of needles piercing my cheek. Later both of my hands were cramping up. I started to play with Zachary and a friend of his and I was climbing the stairs to the slide and my hands were electrified. This seems to be the quickest reaction times I've had since starting the chemo sessions. I will not be able to really enjoy anything cold until about next Friday. That is when most of the effects start to wear off. Considering I like ice cream that really sucks. ( rocky road is my favorite) When I start to eat something after not eating something for a while my jaws will hurt really bad but, it goes away quickly.

Today my dinner menu was Beef Fajitas made with Flank Steak. The Flank Steak was cut up into thinly sliced strips as to be able to see through each slice. The Steak was joined with Green and Red Peppers that were cut into evenly sliced strips and Onions that were cut Julienned style. They all were put in a crock pot to slow cook. Just the right amount of Cumin, Coriander and Chili Powder were added to the mingling morsels of meat strips and vegetables. All were cooked perfectly til the meat was tender to the touch. ( I used a fork not my fingers, you think I'm goofy)but, if I did touch then with my fingers they would of been tender to the touch. We also had the best tasting Refried beans made Taco Bell style. ( refried beans mixed together just perfectly with cheese and Taco sauce) With all this we also had Spanish rice . I like to mix the rice with the Refried beans simply delish.

I will cut this off for now. I am really kind of tired and going to try and go to sleep a little earlier today. God Bless you all and remember 7 days without prayer makes one weak.

Not much to say today so I will begin by telling about one of my favorite childhood memories. Which is going to the Little Calumet river and pounds in the area catching turtles with my big brother Mike. I was about 7ish when he started taking me. We would be gone for hours. We had a wadding pool we would put turtles, fish, crawdads, and tadpoles. I would go outside for hours and watch them in the pool. One time when I was littler I gave them cement because, I thought they were hungry. I thought the cement was food.( I mentioned the story in a earlier blog) The turtles were my favorite. When I was a little older I would go out with my friend Paul. We would be gone sometimes at least half of the day. It was a lot of fun. We would be in the river up to our belly buttons. When he got home we would have to spray ourselves off because we would be covered with mud and duckweed. It was worth it. In the winter I would keep the turtles in a 40 gallon fish tank in the house. I miss those days. This summer I would like to take Zachary looking for turtles. To this day when I pass the river or see a creek or pound I will stop to look for turtles.
Today, I spent most of my day in Zachary's room. It's cleaned for the most part. I still have things that I still needed to do from when he painted his room. Plus I need to find someone to fix an outlet that shorted out when the ceiling fan was installed. Zachary was happy to see his room. He wanted to have a bunch of his friends over today. We have been telling him for the past couple of months no friends until his room gets cleaned. Now the living room is a mess because Sally is washing and sorting through Zachary's and Kaity's clothes.
I went today for my blood work. I go for chemo tomorrow. I hope and pray it's not as bad as last time. I was miserable. Zachary and Sally picked up their new glasses today. Zachary looks really cute in them. I guess mine are taking longer because I ordered bi-focals. My distance is fine, I told them I needed glasses for reading. So instead of me taking my glasses on and off I ordered bi-bifocals. Sally has been working on her mom's taxes and has been occupying the computer today.
Cubs and Sox both loss today. Makes me feel better that the Cubs didn't get their a$$ kicked as bad as the Sox did. CUBS Lost 5-2 sox lost 9-0
Goodnight and God Bless everyone.

Today, I spent most of my day in Zachary's room. I am 63.596% done. Talk about a job. There are game pieces, legos, pencils, crayons, etc... all over which I am sorting through. The drawers on his dressers I needed to fix again. I discovered Kaity's toy box mysteriously came a part. That was a pain to put together. Zachary keeps telling me he wants a yard sale so he can sell some of his toys. When it warms up I hope we can. We have all the baby items we need to get rid of as well. We thought we would hang on the baby things just in case maybe we wanted to try for one more. With the cancer we have no other choice except to be done. I feel blessed and lucky with what we have.

No games for tonight. The Cubs were off and the Sox were rained out. They will both play tomorrow. Tonight Sally and I may rent a movie. We played the Wii last night so we might just spend the evening playing games. Hopefully tomorrow I will finish Zach's room since Thursday I have chemo. so wish me luck so that I git ur done. So this Is another short blog cause I am tired and sneezy. I will try and add another tidbit tomorrow. God Bless you all.

Today, Sally planned on taking the kids to mall while I cleaned Zach's room. I stood in the room for 15 minutes not knowing where to begin. So I decided to go with them to the mall. The kids received Build a Bear gift cards for their birthdays. Zachary picked out a dog and Kaity was more interested in running around then anything else. So she ended up with nothing. Kaity insisted on bringing her purse (which she got from the Easter bunny) in the mall. She lost it at the mall somewhere. So tomorrow her and Sally will have to go back and see if it was returned at the lost and found. Maybe she will be more interested in Build a Bear tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to tackle Zach's room. No one can walk in there. It is so bad that we can't even find their clothes. Usually we don't let his room get that bad. We were in the middle of sorting through and things right before I ended up in the surgery. So it was a little messy but we were still able to walk around in it. By the time I came home from the hospital it looked like it was destroyed by a tornado. Now it is even worst and looks like it was hit by a hurricane , typhoon and tidal wave( Zachary drools) as well. If I don't blog tomorrow it's because I wasn't able to find my way out of his room.

I was told yesterday by my brother Mike, I should blog about our Wii. December was a bad month for us. Everyone was getting sick, and one of the tires on the car blew out while I was on the way to work (we only have one car which is running). January didn't get better. Sally lost her debit card( but she knew it was in the house), the Wii broke, lay offs at work, the car needed new brakes, and I ended up with colon cancer. Zachary was more upset about the Wii then anything else. We bought the protection plan for the Wii but we couldn't find the receipt. We called Toys R Us where we purchased it from and they gave us the number to the warranty company. Sally called the company and they didn't have a record because we didn't register it. However, they said they would fix it one time for free. With everything going on with me, it took us a few weeks to send it in. One day Sally gets a phone call from the repair center. The technician informed her, he had found her debit card in the Wii. Who would have thought to check the Wii for the debit card. I guess we should have asked Kaitlyn if she knew where the card was.

In case you thought I was over exaggerating about Zach's room. I took a picture.

Today the CUBS took care of business. Ted Lilly pitched A one hitter. That hit came with two outs in the 7th inning. That's how it ended with only that one hit but, lou took him out that inning after he walked a batter. So Lilly combined with Guzman,Hellman and Gregg there was only the one hit for Colorado, the final being 4-0. Oh, and I heard something about the Sox may have won also. So for the Year the CUBS have 12 HRS ,batting avg of .256 scored 34 runs and have so far 54 hits. The Sox have 6 HRS, are batting.232 scored 24 runs and have 44 hits. Just for those who want to know.

Easter

Sally is still trying to work on this blog to make it more efficient. She added a guest book tonight. It ables guest to leave messages instead of leaving comments after the blogs. The comments can be made public or private. Feel free to check it out and leave a message. I would love to hear feedback about your likes and dislikes with my blog. Anything that can help to improve this will be appreciated .

We went last night to the Easter Vigil. We have never been to one and heard nice things about it. So we decided to go. It was at 8 O'clock at night. Plus we thought it would be nice to enjoy Easter morning without trying to rush the kids for mass. Kaity was all dressed up in her fancy sandals, hat, and what ever else Sally had on her. She looked like a southern bell. I Was waiting for Sally to pull out a parasol for her to carry. Well, Kaity had problems walking in her new sandals and kept falling. She fell twice during mass both times she hit her head and started crying loudly. We sat near the front and there were very few children so everyone kept looking at us. It was very nice. During the first half it was dark. During part of the darkness we had candles lit. The darkness, helped me from being distracted from looking around. The service was over 2 hours long. We left near the end because Kaity and Zach had enough. We didn't get a chance to take pictures of the kids dressed up but will be doing that soon to post on the blog.

This morning Zachary was the first one up. He left us alone while he found his basket and looked through it. Kaity was interested in Zachary's basket at first until she realized she had her own. She sat down on the floor and started to devour the candy. The morning was nice and relaxing. The first holiday in awhile we didn't have to rush around. My brother Mike and his family and my sister Dawn and her husband Dave came over and visited. It was nice seeing them. Dave I hope you don't mind the earlier post but the people must know. After everyone left, we took the kids to Olive Garden for dinner. The manager of Olive Garden in Merriville, Rob, has been generous. He donated a $50 gift card and bread sticks for the benefit. In addition to that he had invited my family to have dinner there. We were allowed to order anything we wanted on a condition that we didn't tip. They would tip the waitress for us. We were told that the more we ordered the larger the tip the waitress would get. The kids and I were on line looking at the menu. Planing our plan of attack. It was a huge treat for the kids since they are rarely allowed to order pop and we never order appetizers or desserts. Everyone left beyond full. I had to pull over to unbutton my pants on the way home. We have always liked Olive Garden but really like them even more. From what I have heard Rob, has done this to many unfortunate people. I don't think this will be an Easter the kids will forget. Here is something that happened when we left. While we were pulling out the of parking lot there was a man on the corner asking for help. Sally and I have tried to teach our kids to help out others with out judgement. When we see a situation we try to use it as a lesson. I did good this time. This is a lesson of all lessons. So we are sitting at the traffic light which has 2 turning lanes. There was no one behind me and no one in the other lane. I am trying to pull my wallet out of my overstuffed jeans ( It took a few mins or so). I finally got the wallet out and I was just about to roll down the window and get the guy's attention, when I heard a car honking at me when the light turned green. I looked behind me and there was a car behind me that didn't even stop yet. It irked me so I rolled down the window and called the man over to get the money. I had time to leave on the yellow light but the car behind me got stuck by the light. Teaches him to be impatient. Ok maybe my good deed was over turned by my vindictiveness but my intent was honorable. It was worth a good laugh and another memory made that my kids won't forget.

I discovered someone's secret!

Looks like we have a secret Cub's fan in the house. He claims he doesn't like the Cubs but of all the places he could have sat, he decided to sit on the couch with the Cubs blanket.

Happy Easter

Hope you have a Blessed Easter!

SPANKED!!!

See all the eggs Zachary got. He got three eggs the same Kaity got. Usually he will be mad if he doesn't do good but, this time he didn't care. Zach and Kaity really enjoyed it. I think Griffith has the best Easter egg hunt in the area. Some towns you have to live there,Griffith you don't.

Today the blog was posted early cause we have a lot to do to prepare for the coming of the Easter Bunny. We will be coloring eggs later and Sally has some running around to do. We are planning on going to the 8pm mass service at St James which is the church we belong to. Today is another day that I feel really good and motivated. I really hope this continues cause next week I am planning on going in Zach's room to clean it up. You literally can't see the floor. He has so many toys he plays with and doesn't put away. In a few months or so we our planning on having a yard sale to get rid of some of the toys amongst other things. He is actually excited to do this because, than he knows he will get money to buy more toys. ( mainly Star Wars stuff)

I think some of you need to change your survey answers to your Sox questions to no way no how. Again losing to teams in there own division. These are games they must win to win the central division. At least they got a couple of Home runs.( Konerko-Quentin)( three for the team for the year in 4 games) I will say one thing the Cubs aren't exactly tearing up the league either. They are hitting the homers( 7 for the team in 4 games) but, need to work on getting the little hits also. What made Lou put this Kevin Gregg as a closer. He has a 13.50 era. For a closer this is definitely baaaaaaaaad. I hope he gets better as the Year progresses or the Cubs will have a long year as well as the 1-3 team on the South side. There is a opening in Griffith's T-Ball league for another team. I think the Sox may be more competitive there.

If I could be any spider I would want to be a Brown Recluse Spider. They are loners rebels so to speak just like me. They keep to themselves but, will bite if threatened. I thought of being a Black Widow Spider instead , but it is only the female Spider that is poisonous. The males are wusses and get eaten up by there female counterparts . The Brown Recluse Spider bite isn't as bad as a Black Widow bite but, it still can cause itchiness,chills,fever, nausea and vomiting. Kinda like the way I feel when I think about the White Sox.

I hope everyone is enjoying the blog as much as I am writing it. I hope you like the If I could be any (?) segments cause I like to do different things to keep it a little more interesting. I hope you all have a Great Easter and remember why we all celebrate it. Jesus is the reason for the Season so God Bless and love you all!!!!

Good Friday

Today I woke up really good and felt motivated around the house. I cleaned out the fridge and took apart the vacuum and cleaned that out as well. I have been tweeting today also. We just figured out how to add twitter to the blog. So look for it. I am also going to try to keep 2 surveys up at a time.

Dinner was early today. It consisted of Greek Avgolemono soup made vegetarian style. For those who may not know it's Greek style lemon rice soup. Made with vegetable stock, chopped celery and onions, orzo made by Italy's #1 brand of pasta, freshly squeezed lemon juice and eggs. Which blended together makes the creamiest soup to end all soups. Served with a hearty portion of mixed greens with home made poppy seed dressing.

This evening Zachary and I went to a Tenebrae service. I wanted to do something special today to reflect on Good Friday. I thought about going to the stations of the cross. However, Sally mentioned to me about a Tenebrae service at St. Thomas Moore in Munster. I never heard of one . I looked it up and found out it's suppose to be like a funeral service for Jesus. When I got to church there were lots of candles on the alter. I counted 68. When the service started there were a series of psalms and passages being read throughout the service. During this service periodically a bell would ring, and an alter boy would put out a flame on one of the candles. During the service the church continued to get darker until there was no more light. During the service I couldn't help but reflect what Jesus and the people in that time experienced. Even when we said the Lord's Prayer we had to whisper. At the end of the service we heard the sound of a boulder rolling over the tomb and all of a sudden there was a huge "BOOM". That was it. The priest and his helpers left the alter and everyone else got up and walked out. Zachary and me just followed. On the way out Zachary asked if he was good enough to get ice cream. It was really nice. I did get a lot out of it. I would like to go again next year.

My friend Al came over with home made tamales and chili rellenos. I can't wait to try Al said that his wife still owes me rice,so I don't know if I'm suppose to wait until I get the rice or not to eat it, but I have to wait until tomorrow since today is a day of fast. Have to go and help get the kids ready for bed. I rented "Yes Man" for Sally and I to watch tonight. God Bless you all!