An Omission of Guilt

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my wife's face book stunt she had done to me on my birthday.  The one that involved the hideous picture of me being posted every where.  She still has of yet changed it on the blog either.  I might of sounded as if I was undeserving of the prank which I still think it was uncalled for.  It has been on my mind why would my wife do such a thing to me?  Almost 2 weeks later, it finally dawned on me why.  I will swear right now before I go any further it was an accident, or was it?

It all began on Super Bowl Sunday.  Our friends had invited us over to their home to watch the game.  Sally had made a couple of snacks to take with.  One of the snacks were meatballs in a sauce. There was snow drifts all over so I was trying to be considerate and I dropped Sally and the kids off in the drive way.  They grabbed the food out of the trunk and I went to park the car on the street.  As I was walking towards the drive way, I looked at my family from a distance.  There was my family with there hands  filled with food.  I felt a little guilty walking up empty handed.  Sally had the container of meat balls and I spotted a trail of sauce leading from the drive way going towards the porch just in case we may forget our way back to the car.  I knew she must have had sauce all over her too.  Which is funny because I am the one that usually ends up with food all but over himself and then everyone laughs at me.  I didn't yet make it to the drive way when Sally yelled from the distance "Are you sure this is the right house?".  I of course said "Yep!" I looked at the house again and thought oooooh wait a minute, but decided not to say a word in case I was wrong (wink wink). I decided it was best for me to stay put so I stopped and watched the plot unfold from a far. I saw Sally knock on the door.  The door opens and I see Zach walk inside and  started to wipe his feet on a  the floor mat.  I then look at the guy who opened the door and I didn't recognize him. I heard him  say everybody is downstairs. I then heard my wife  apologize to him and she and the kids walked away with all the food and another trail of sauce. The whole time staring at me. "What I do?"  is all I  could say (if looks could kill I would have been a corps right then and there).  I was more concerned about getting everyone back in the car as quickly as possible.  With the trail of sauce and the mud Zachary left behind I knew the evidence of us being there was compelling so I quickly sped away from the scene.

 I drove 5 houses further down the street to Ron and Lynn's house. During the short trip I could not help but laugh at her.  She did mumble something like "I am going to get you for this". I am glad it was only a five house drive because it didn't give her anytime to say any more to me. When we got to the "right"  house I knew because their 3 kids were hanging out the door waiting for us. Next time I told her we will have to make up a checklist of their outside contents to make sure she won't do this again. Most importantly their house address.  I wouldn't want to see her embarrass herself again..  Periodically, throughout the game, I would peer out the window  to make sure we weren't being followed by angry neighbors with blazing torches.

After the incident, my wife did not mention it again to me.  So I thought maybe she had forgotten it.  But that was foolish of me, because Sally never forgets things like that.She stills brings up things that happened 12 years ago.  She may pretend to forget but she doesn't.  If she tells you she will get you back she will but she will wait until you least suspect it.  I know I shouldn't do this but Sandy (Sally's sister) you better beware.  Sally will get you back.  I am not sure and I don't know when but I can promise you she is planning something in that evil mind of hers.  There is something about Sally and her sisters.  When they get together they usually don't act their age.  Sandy thought it would be funny to stick on a maxi pad on Sally's car as she was driving away.  Sally knew nothing about it and it fell off the car between  their mom's house and the grocery store.  It amused Sandy and their mom very much.  I still haven't yet to find the humor in it but maybe it was because they littered the street with a maxi pad. Sally swore on that day there will be war.  So I thought it is best to warn my sister in law.

I'm scheduled for a CT scan on March 7th so prayers will be very much appreciated. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed it, God Bless!!

This isn't goodbye.

Why are we so gloomy?  Today we celebrated my mom's 73rd Birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!  That wasn't the reason for the blues.  The reason for the sadness, is that today will be the last time I will see my big sister, Dawn for a very long time.  Well I hope it's for a very long time.  If I see her sooner than a long time , it would mean something bad has happened or  is happening.  So in that aspect, Dawn I hope I don't see you for a very long time.  Dawn and her husband Dave have bought a house in Alabama. Since they are able to receive senior citizen's discounts they feel they are now to old to endure the long Chicago winters.  


It's been along time since we actually cohabited together during our childhood.  It's been a very long time since she had snatched all my chocolate candy in my Christmas Stocking, shared her  bag of Doritos by giving me about 3 after I walked 2 miles in blistering heat in the summer and 5 ft of snow in the winter, bare footed and holes in my coat, when I was able to wear my coat because she would wear it around the house to keep herself warm,( and our furnace worked fine) to buy them for her, I had to endure her singing in the car(that was the worse of the worse), and it's been a very long time since I pulled her hair.  Even though it's been a long time and she lives one state over and 40 plus miles away from me now, I am really going to miss her when she moves 15 hours away from me.


 Thanks Dawn and Dave for being there for me when I was at my worse.  I am not going to say good bye it seems so final.  So I am going to say have a safe move.  
Love,
Bill

It's All About Me.

There was another item of importance I wanted to add to the post about my birthday. However, I decided this needed to be a posting on it's own. With all the birthday wishes, cards, food, money, and gifts, Did I say food, specifically cake, fudge and the candy Zach got me, along with the beef sticks Michael got me. I would have to say I was most impressed and humbled by an article written by a friend, Ann Marie Walker. She had written about my wife and myself as a tribute to my birthday. Let me tell you a little about Ann Marie. I do mean a little cause this is my blog and it is still my birthday month, so the spotlight stays on me lol. Sally asked me to put the lol part in so people will think I am kidding around lol. Well I'm not, like I said its my birthday month and I am still celebrating it lol(?). Sorry Ann, I am trying to be honest here.  Ann is a mother of 4,well  5 if you include her husband. She takes care of her elderly mother, a free lance writer for an on line publication called Examiner. She is the author of the Chicago Psychic Examiner as well as the NWI Frugal Family Examiner. She also decided to venture into college with my wife and drives my wife crazy because she pushes her way through school at a much faster rate then what Sally is doing. She makes Sally look like a slacker.  Sorry honey but it's true.

http://www.examiner.com/psychic-in-chicago/happy-birthday-bill-the-most-spiritual-man-and-family-i-know#comments is the article in which I feel resembles us very little but I am flattered for her thinking of us that way. We are just ordinary people facing an obstacle in life. I don't think we are different than most people because everyone has an obstacle or obstacles they are facing in their every day life. Whether if it's an addiction, a job you don't like, a problem child, a troubled marriage, loneliness, an illness,  financial trouble or like to watch people and make fun of them. That really isn't an issue except I really do like to to do that. That is more of an issue for the other person than for me. Unless you are not human everyone is going through something. I have a head that is bigger than most, but I deal with it.

Like I mentioned before, the main purpose of the blog was to update family and friends on my condition, then it turned into writings for my children to have in case something were to happen to and some how for the most part the blog has turn into amusing tales about my family's misadventures and attempts through life. I never had the intent to be the poster child for stage four colon cancer. Which is good because I am the furthest thing from it. As for many of you who follow my blog, I use a lot of humor. It's not an attempt to trivialize the seriousness of my condition or my feelings minus my bouts of rage. Instead, I approach the blog the way I approach life. Basically, what your read is what I really am like. I approach life in humor. I try to find the good and humor in everything. I learned and realize even in darkness there is always good or good that results from our darkest moments. I could never imagine going through life without laughter and having a wife who doesn't find humor the same way as I do. The day we got married I knew than she has a sense of humor.  I think that is one of the main reasons Sally and I get along well is because of our ability to laugh our way through life and at each other as well as the kids. 


I live life to the fullest based on my ability.  Of course if I had money, I would be doing many things that I am not able to do now.  However,  I would still live life the same.  Spending it with my family and enjoying the time I have with them.  There is saying "live life as if it's your last". I do not agree with that.  If you live today as if it were your last then what do you have to look forward to for tomorrow.  Eventually,  you would be exhausted trying to live every day as if it's your last. Rest is very important to my healing process, so that wouldn't be good. My advice is to do something you love each day.  It doesn't have to be something earth shattering.  For I find that often the simplest things in life are the most satisfying and most meaningful to me.  Whether it's sitting on the couch watching a tv show with Sally or cuddling up with the kids reading them a book, those are the times that mean the most to me and hopefully it's the things my family will remember.  I try as much as possible to create memories.  The memories aren't for me but  for my family.  They are something for them to hold on to in case I am no longer around.


One more quick note to Ann. I am proud to consider you a friend and have to say that this article was in my humble opinion your best effort to date. So good luck trying to top it.  What is better subject matter than me?


Here are the links to Ann's writings.  I encourage you to take the time to check them out.


http://www.examiner.com/frugal-family-in-chicago/ann-marie-walker

http://www.examiner.com/psychic-in-chicago/ann-marie-walker

http://livingafrugalfamilylife.blogspot.com/

It's my birthday and I'll brag if I want to.

As many of you know yesterday I celebrated my 46 birthday. When I was about to turn 40, I dreaded it. 40 seemed so old. Days before turning 44 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I wondered then if I would see 45. Now I am looking forward to 47,48... and I can't wait to turn the big 5-0. It's funny how a little word like "cancer" changes ones' perspective on everything. Sally recently asked me what my wildest dream was. My reply to her "I want to grow old". I want to be that old man who walks around with suspenders,chewing on his gums, smells like soup, repeats himself, the one who drives 20 mph in a 45 mph speed zone, I'm doing about 30 now. I want to be the old man who sits in the park and feeds the birds with his grand kids. I want to be the old man who is holding his old wife's hand as they walk around the beach. "Remember when dad/Bill ....." I want to be able to correct them and tell the "true" version of the story.

I must admit I was amused by my own pictures from the previous blog. Not sure about you but they made me laugh. Sally teased me because she found me on a couple of occasions laughing at my own pictures. If you didn't know by now you should realized by my confession I am an honest man. Who else would admit this? My wife who many of you think is a victim to my comic material and grand schemes began showing off her devilish trait many of you have failed to notice the existence in her. I woke up the other day to kind Sally and the kids looking at something at the computer and laughing hysterically. I walked over and found that Sally had altered a picture of us. She had altered the picture that caused me to laugh many times. She ommited herself out of the picture and left me alone with my silliness. Not only did she have it on face book but the picture was changed on the blog as well. If that wasn't bad enough. I woke up on my Birthday day to hear some more giggling. My wife had done the worse betrayal to me ever. She changed my profile picture on face book to the one of me looking as if I may had some brain trauma. Not only did she change the picture she change my pass word so I couldn't change it. I know, isn't that bad of her? If that wasn't to be enough she changed her profile picture to me as well. The she schemed with her sisters and a few friends to change their profile to me as well. Then they were encouraging others to do the same with this posting "This is Bill. Today is Bill's birthday. He is happier than ever to be celebrating another birthday. For Bill and all other cancer patients Birthdays are great celebrations for them. Lets celebrate Bill's birthday and birthdays of all cancer patients today by changing your profile picture to Bill's (tag his picture with your name) for the day.". At one point it was confusing on face book seeing my picture on every one's post. I must admit in spite of Sally's evilness it was clever. So please don't ever feels sorry for her when I writer about her clownish dressings in the mornings or poke fun of her. She deserves every bit of it! In fact she is already scheming for next year and makes it well known to me that because of my lack of computer skills she knows I can't get her back.

I had to work last night on my birthday night. I could have taken the day off but I am trying to save my days since I had to use a lot of vacation days when the plant was shut down for 2 weeks during the holidays. I did go into work 4 hours later though. My sister, Carolyn, visited me in the morning. She brought over donut holes and a gift from my mom. My mom gave me bath towels. Sally and Carolyn laughed at them but it was what I told her I wanted. I decided I should be practical and I told my mom what we needed. Our bath towels are almost 13 years old and they are in bad shape. After my sister left I went back to bed because Sally and I were going to go out for dinner before I had to go in for work.

Sally and I went to Giovani's for my birthday dinner. It's my favorite spaghetti place in case you didn't know. I think we went there last year for my birthday as well. It was busy so service was slow which wasn't a bad thing. It gave us a chance to talk. We started talking about when I was first diagnosed and about what's important life. It was a deep conversation but not depressing in the very least. As we talked I was thinking I can't wait to have this conversation when the kids are all grown. When we talk about the past when I had cancer, the kids were little, and Sally was in school full time and not sure how but we made it. I am looking forward to that day. After dinner we went to a couple of stores and picked up the two little one's from my mother in law's house. (Not sure what we would do with out my mother in law, Mary. She is the reason Sally and I can go out sometimes and the reason I don't have to go to the doctor appointments and infusion treatments alone.) Came home and had chocolate cake and banana split ice cream. Sally gave me a single serve coffee pot, Zachary gave me a heart shape box of chocolate, Michael gave me a bag of beef jerky and a gun shaped lighter, Kaity made me a card and Zachary made me a card as well.

I have to say this was one of my best birthdays and I will remember it well. I had over 40 people who sent me birthday wishes on face book and it meant a lot to me. I never realized there are so many people who would take the time to think of me enough to tell me "Happy Birthday". As for my wife's little stunt well... I was a little embarrassed of it but I have to admit I thought it was funny. I know I am blessed but yesterday just reminded me of how blessed I really am.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Happy Birthday!

May this be the year in which many of your hopes and dreams come true.

You are very much loved and admired.

Sally

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.

December Blog

Since I have been a very naughty boy and haven't kept up with the blog, I figure I will do a December blog. Sally thinks it will take hours for me to write and another hour or two for my fans to try to understand what I have written. Honestly, my wife over estimates the excitement in my life. Really my life isn't that interesting and there really isn't a lot of blog moments in my life. It just seems a lot with the condense version of my life written on the blog. I know everyone doesn't want to read about an ordinary dull life.

So I will begin the blog the same way we began the Christmas season with a parade. To be exact it was the Santa March. It wasn't very crowded like the typical 4th of July parade. In fact it was only about 15 minutes long versus the hour plus long 4th of July parade. Which is good because by the time the parade finally arrived it left my fingers and toes numb. There were some bands, candy thrown and yes my girl friends, the clown posse(not to be confused with the insane ones), had a float as well. My kids gathered a fair amount of candy(as in not enough candy bars). Zachary was in charged of holding the bag. They gathered the candy and waited with anticipation for the very last float which of course was the big man himself. Near the end Zach got a little bored and started to swing the bag of candy around.I had told him a few times,"Zack your going to loose the candy".I turned around to check on him a few minutes later, and he we bending over picking up all of the candy which he accidentally scattered all over Highway Ave, while swinging the bag. He continued to pick up the candy as Sally, Kaity, and I stood there waving at Santa as he passed by and laughing at Zach. When Zachary realized he missed Santa, tears started to flow. Sally and I being the compassionate parents we our could not help but laugh even harder. I finally walked over to help him while his dear mom stood there still laughing. When all the candy was gathered up, Sally told Zach that if he ran he could catch up with Santa. So Zachary started running at full throttle to catch up with Santa. Sally and I were still able to keep up with Zachary's fast speed, by walking a brisk walk.

Speaking of Santa, I was able to full fill my life dream of playing Santa. The family and myself will give our time to help out the Missionary's of Charity. This is a charity that Mother Theresa founded. Well this year after wanting to play Santa for a few years, I got my chance this year to do so for there Christmas party for families with hardships.I got to the party, went next door to the church got dressed up in the room were the priest get ready for mass and fixed myself up to look at act like the best Santa I can be.I looked in the mirror and did my hearty HO HO HO. Did the "Are you talking to me" line. After I was satisfied with the way I looked and sounded I left. As I was leaving the room, there at a pew was a lady kneeling and praying, staring at me and trying not to laugh.I was thinking to myself, this is a great start to a otherwise special day. I got to the secret location and waited for the Ok to come and greet the kids.Finally came the word to release the Santa. I walked out and there was a loud sounds of hysteria. Now I know how Justin Bieber must feel. I walked and waved at all the little kids. You can see the looks of awe in there little eyes. I got to my Santa throne, which was just a...........chair, I peerd at the table I was sitting by and saw the kids knowing all the question that they would ask. Asking what they wanted and that there brother or sister was bad and didn't deserve any thing and what was I going to do about it. Then came the question that most Santa's fear throughout the world. What are the names of your Reindeers. I looked at little Jimmy and said " now lets see, there is Dancer, Prancer( now a lady walks in front of me and obscures my view of him, now here's my chance.So I go into charlie Brown's teacher mode) whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa and Rudolph. The kid just stared at me in amazement. I knew he was trying to stump me and I passed, sort of. Then a sister whisked me away to the kitchen. She said that Santa must eat. I looked at the cookies and pizza and then I looked down at the full beard hanging on my face. I struggled thinking how it is, eating without fronting a beard. I pictured myself walking back out with pizza sauce and punch stains on beard and cookie crumbs hanging on the beard and costume. So I decided to pass and returned to the kids. Then the families wanted pictures with Santa. I can be outgoing with people I know especially after a couple of drinks but people I do not know I tend to be introvert with. There was one family in particular that took at least 10 pictures with me. Then the mom hugged me while pictures were taken. I got a lot of hugs from the kids which made me feel good. I felt like a rock star that day.

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season with your family and friends.

God Bless,

Bill

Who likes Garlic raise your hands and an update.

Sorry it's been awhile. I have been busy working and attending to life's demands(aka Sally's). I am doing well. I have decided to wait until February (after another cat scan) to make a decision on how Sally wants me to have the cancer tumors treated. Hopefully, by the grace of God, there will be no cancer come February.

I am receiving an infusion at this very second. I go to work tonight, then I will be off for the next two weeks. I am looking forward to spending time with my family. Hopefully, I can catch up on the blog as well. I still haven't finished about Halloween. Zachary and I are planning on baking some cookies. I am still trying to lose weight and working out at Omni so I am only making calorie free cookies.

Zachary has taken a liking to cooking. I am sure he will add his special touches to the cookies, like garlic cookies. Which is a scary thought. It's not surprising he tries to make things because he loves food. We never have to worry about him starving. His inventions though, are less to be desired. His latest invention was mac & cheese in a hot dog bun. Pepper and garlic is his condiment of choice. Last week we have left over potato soup. Zachary decided to have it for breakfast. He also decided it needed a little something extra .One of his down falls in cooking is he has NO concept of what is a small amount and what is a lot. He found a jar of freeze dried minced garlic and thought why not. The next sentence will explain the why not. Because he smelled for the next four days is a reason to not. He smelled bad. Not little bad but really bad.I don't think a Vampire would come within three states of him. It was like an old man who spends his days bathing in and eating garlic instead of grapes. It was so bad that we couldn't take it while he was in the car and I stopped the car and made him run home. I thought the 4 blocks left to the house would be long enough for him to run and sweat the garlic out. WRONG He smelled even worse. I don't think the neighbors that were left with dying trees and bushes appreciated it either. I'll tell you though if you have a weed infestation, I got the cure. Luckily, for his class mates, the school was closed for 2 days due to a water main break. Heeyyy, wait a minute. By the time school was back in session the stench was tamed. Honestly, if school was in session, Zachary would have been sent home from school. He has promised from that day forth (after using a tube of tooth paste, a liter of mouth wash, 3 showers, running home naked, just kidding about the naked part and still smelling) he will be sticking to garlic powder. Sally has not yet to cook with garlic since. She made garlic free garlic bread the other day. The thought of garlic still makes our eyes water.

Chemo is almost done and the battery in the lap top is almost out of power so it's a good time to end. Stay tune. I came up with a brilliant the most brilliant pole ever. I have to get a picture posted for it but I am sure you will love to post your opinion in the next pole.

I want to mention something quickly before I go. I hope no one is offended about how I tend to make Sally look like a Battle axe, power angry, do what I say, I am always right, War monger and you talking to me type person. I only say the things I do to add a little a very little in some cases humor to the blog. It is all done in fun and Sally does read the blogs before I post them. I sure hope I wrote this the way she told me too.

Take care and God Bless,

Bill