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

Update by Sally (his wife)

Bill had to work tonight and the following 3 nights. So this is the reason I am posting for him. Today, we went to UIC to meet with the radiologist. It's didn't go as we expected. Not that it's a bad thing we were caught off guard a little. We were under the assumption Bill was going to have the tumor ablation. It would be a simple out patient procedure and he would be able to resume normal activities the following day. We found out today the radiologist wants to do a different procedure. He recommends selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT). Instead of using radio frequency energy(which is the RFA procedure) to attack the tumor, tiny radioactive beads are inserted directly in the tumor/tumors.

The reason for the SIRT is because there are two cancerous tumors on the liver. One is about the size of a quarter and the other one is about the size of a pea. The smaller one is near the wall of the liver which can't be treated by the RFA procedure.SIRT will be able to treat both tumors in the liver. SIRT is not as simple to perform as the RFA though. SIRT requires two procedures. The week prior to the SIRT an angiogram is done to map out the vessels. If everything looks good then the SIRT procedure will be performed 7-10 days later. The angiogram would require Bill to be in the hospital for at least 12 hours. He will have to be off work for 48 hours and on light duty until a week after the SIRT is done. He will have to be off work for another 48 hours for SIRT procedure itself but the hospital stay would be much shorter as long as there are no complications. In order for the SIRT to be performed, chemo has to be stopped 2 weeks prior to the angiogram.

A concern which we have about the SIRT is the stopping of chemotherapy. Even though the tumors in the liver will be treated, he still has the cancerous lymph node by the heart. Since September, when chemotherapy was resumed, he still has not had a full dose of the chemotherapy. Which is concerning. Could delaying treatment longer increase the chances of the tumor from spreading or growing? Which is one of our major concerns. The oncologist seems confident the chemo will attack the lymph-node so we don't see why it wouldn't attack the tiny spot on the liver as well. Plus the RFA procedure seems a lot less complicated and a shorter recovery time.

If Bill had to pick of course he would pick the RFA procedure. Spending 6 plus hours flat on the back without moving after the angiogram wouldn't be fun. However, Bil wants what is best to fight the war with in his body. Tuesday, we are going to talk to the oncologist. Hopefully he will be able to answer our questions and give us his honest expert opinion on which one he thinks is best.

Please pray that he is guided to the right procedure for him. Thanks you.

Another visit to UIC and than again.

It's been a busy week to say the least. Went to UIC on Monday and spoke with Dr. Warso, the cancer surgeon. He discussed treatment options and what he felt was best for me. He didn't recommend surgery. He thought right now surgery isn't the best option. The location of the lymphnode will pose a great risk to remove. Right now my oncologist feels the best option is the chemotherapy. If the chemo doesn't work then radiation will be the next option and surgery will remain the last option.

As for the cancerous tumor , the surgeon recommended radio frequency ablation (RFA). Tomorrow I will be going back to UIC to speak with an radiologist and to make an appointment for that. It's an out patient procedure and I should be able to return to work the next day.

As for me, I am feeling well. Tired goes with out staying but I am still able to keep up with life's demands. I still haven't had a full dose of chemo therapy yet which might be one of the reasons I am feeling good. The first round of chemo pills there was a misunderstanding I was only taking half of the dosage. Second round of the chemo pills were cut short because my liver wasn't tolerating it. Today I went into start my third round. There was an error with the infusion medicine and treatment was stopped. I go back in Tuesday and start all over again. Stinks I have to have it on Thanksgiving week but mistakes happen especially to me and I make a couple every now and then.Just a couple mind you,But than again It's usually Sally's fault I make them,I think.

A good thing came out of today though. I had to go into work for a couple of hours this morning.We had a fire drill and I was a auditor, but anyways. When Sally picked me up we went to have lunch which is something we normally do before chemo. It's the only time we really get to spend time alone with each other. Sad but true. We have my mother in law watch the kids for my treatments, appointments and when ever we need a sitter so we feel guilty to have her watch them so we can have a night out. Like I was saying we went out for lunch, there is a new Italian restaurant across the street I have been wanting to try. It's called Ciao Bella Ristorante. I was told this is as authentic to Italian cuisine as it gets.That was told to me by the Italian workers that are working on our new Metallizer machine and they should know. I will say it was very good. I highly recommend it if you want a true Italian meal.

I know I said I was going to write part two of my Halloween adventures but with everything going on I haven't had a chance. I was going to write it today but Sally demanded I write about me. I am sure though the Halloween blog would be more entertaining. The real reason she wanted me to write about me is because she still does not have the Halloween pictures ready for the blog. Bad wife. A punishment is forthcoming.

Will try to write again as soon as possible. Take care and God Bless.

The turtle and the butterfly Part 1, and No, I don't mean the Turtle and the Hare

My favorite time of the year has always been and still is Halloween. If I were a wealthy man I would have a huge display of grimace decorations illuminating the neighborhood( I don't mean that McDonald's character either). Unfortunately my fortune doesn't even come close to being wealthy or even poor, it's closer to destitute. Which makes me have to decorate on a budget. However, this year I am ashamed to say I didn't decorate at all. Not one solitaire decoration was up. Not even a Halloween cling on the window, but there was a plastic spider in one of Sally's flower pots left from last year. The time had gotten away from me and going back on chemo didn't help matters.

However, the kids were in the Halloween spirit. Or should I say Zach was in the spirit to dress up and get candy. He doesn't fair well with scary things. Kaity on the other hand, loves everything that comes with Halloween. In September Sally asked the kids what they wanted to be. Right off Zachary's tongue, without any hesitation, rolled out "a turtle". Not just any turtle but he wanted to be a Mary river turtle. Kaity blurted out she wanted to be a witch again( I guess dressing up like mommy once wasn't enough). Through out the weeks, Kaity was a typical female and kept changing her mind. From witch it turned into a ballroom dancer, super girl. Zachary's response to that was , Kaity could protect him since he will be a lonely old turtle. She finally decided she was going to be a butterfly and stuck to that. Zachary was determined to be a turtle. I laughed every time Sally asked Zachary if he was sure. Sally kept trying to get him to change his mind but he wouldn't budge. Devilish me was glad he didn't. I just wanted to see how Sally was going to pull this one off. Zachary had high hopes he would turn in to an exact replica of a turtle. That Sally was the Betsy Ross in costume turtle making. I expected it to look more like something Charlie Brown would wear.

What was also funny about costume situation is that for years Sally has been wanting to sew a costume. Every year Zachary has insisted he would rather have a costume bought from the store. This year though, now that she is going to school full time, he wanted her to make his costume. As Halloween approached, Zachary continued to talk about what he wanted his costume to look like. He even took out the turtle book to look through and show Sally which turtle he wanted to be specifically.I had to tell poor Zach that there wasn't any Merry river turtle in my book(obviously a over site). He should think of another turtle. Ok, Dad I will be A Mississippi Map turtle. I thought that Zach and I may have gone through the turtle book one to many times. Most kids who wanted to be made up after some sort of wild life animal would be happy just looking like a turtle ,bear,lion ect. Not Zach he wanted to be a specific turtle,a Mississippi Map Turtle. I was enjoying his persistence to be as close to looking like a turtle as he possible could be and the fear Sally had on her face every time Zach would discuss his costume with her. I looked in the book with Zach at the Map turtle he wanted to be. I mentioned to him that this turtle has a lot of intricacies in the face. Dad, what is intricacies,never mind, the face would be to hard. Do you have another turtle you want to be, Red Eared Slider Dad!!!! Ok Sally get to work , you heard the boy. I must admit when Sally showed me the costume I was impressed except she left out an important part of the costume, I had to rescue her. I was delegated to make the Plastron(turtles under shell). Sally did the Carapace(the turtles top shell) and it looked very close to a Red Eared Sliders carapace. Of course it's nothing near what you would see on tv but it did look like a turtle. Everyone could tell he was a turtle but they kept asking him if was a teenage mutant ninja turtle which annoyed him. Which really got me going after the hard work that was done making it. One time I had to say something. "Look lady it's obviously a Red Eared Slider costume. I guess you don't know your turtles. "She was just staring at us with her mouth wide open. That is probably when she realized yeahhhh, I see it now, A Red Eared Slider.

When it came to Kaity's costume, Sally had started making it this summer without ever realizing it. My wife through the years has bought many craft projects which she barely started and never finished. She has a sewing machine which has been rarely used. She did have a brain storm this past summer. She was going to start making and selling tutus and hair bows. They are in great demand along with all the beanie babies that are shoved away in totes throughout America and taking up my garage space. She did finish making one. Kaity was so proud of it. I told Sally she shouldn't bother going back to school because she can make millions if not billions selling tutus. I could just see all the Ballerinas lining up at our door, I want a red one, I want a blue, will you autograph mine? Sally just gave me the look and never made a tutu after that. The tutu did manage to reappear for Halloween. Kaity did have one demand for her attire. She wanted a butterfly on her face as well. For all the painting and house projects Sally has made me do over the years, I just felt the kids costumes this year was a tiny payback for all the grueling things she had made me do. When Sally showed me the butterfly wing and said she was going to pair it up with the tutu, I couldn't picture it working. However, Kaity looked really cute and she was proud of the way she looked. Her preschool teachers mentioned a couple of times how they loved her costumes.

Having home made costumes for my kids this year brought back a lot of memories from my youth. I took a lot of pride in my kids this year. Even though I was getting annoyed when Kaity was continually being asked if she was a princess or a fairy godmother. When I was a lad, it was rare to see someone wearing a store bought costume. Now it's rare to see a child in a home made costume. I think kids today's are missing out on a lot of fun. Part of the Halloween fun was making your costume. Now it seems like all the kids are wearing the same costumes. Kids have lost their individuality except for my kids. They didn't mind being unique and for that I loved that about them.

As for trick or treating there is a lot more to write about that. My fingers are getting tired and I am sure your eye balls are getting tired from reading my ramblings. So I will give us both a break and continue tomorrow.

Another Bump

I am doing well. So far the major side effect I am experiencing is being tired all the time. I am sleeping more which helps. If I could I would sleep all day. I am trying to live my life like I did before "D" day or should I say "C" day. I want life to go on as normal as possible. We elected not to tell Zachary about what is going on. If he catches on and ask we will be honest. When I was initially diagnosed we told Zachary but it's been a lot for him to handle. Even though it's been over a year that we told him the cancer went away; he still worries. So much there are times he breaks down and cries. He had an anxiety attack not so long ago.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I found it's back. I said it was a set back and medically speaking it is. However, it's not a set back for me in how I live my life. It woke me up again and once again I had to reevaluate my life and the important things. Since the last time I posted I joined Omni. I am making better food choices and Sally went and bought a bunch of healthy food. A friend I use to work with at Sterks mentioned to me about vitamin D and sent me a link to read. I found out in a study colon cancer patients who took vitamin D supplements during treatment up their chances of survival 48%. Even though I am not suppose to take any vitamins I started to take vitamin D. It's worth a shot.

I had the PETscan last Tuesday and finally received the results today. Sally talked with the doctor this morning over the phone. He said the scan showed 1 and not 3 cancerous spots on the liver. It also showed some positive lymph nodes around the liver. Not great news but he didn't make it sound like a major set back either. He feels the chemo therapy will take care of the lymph nodes and his main concern is still the liver. I go see the surgeon at UIC in November. He might want to remove the tumor in the liver and the effected lymph nodes. I am praying chemo will take care of everything and no surgery is needed. I found out today that the human body has between 500-600 lymph nodes. Over 20 of mine have already been removed. If I continue to get cancerous lymph nodes and I have to have surgery every time, I am going to look like Frankenstein. Not that there is anything wrong with Frankenstein. I find that he is a handsome fellow.

Honestly, I don't feel defeated since hearing this. Of course I am not happy more cancer was found. However, I feel thankful and blessed it hasn't spread to any other organ or bones at this time and praying it won't. I was looking at a cancer support group site that had other blogs from cancer patients posted. I saw the title "Every Problem Has A Gift For You In It's Hands". Without a question I know this is true. I was a blessed pre-cancerous man and now I am an abundantly blessed man who has cancer. On one hand it's sad to have to experience a life changing event to learn some of life's greatest lessons. On the other hand, most likely, I would have missed out on some of life's greatest lessons if it wasn't for cancer.

God Bless

Forge ahead

Today has been a very long day. Actually the week has been a long week. Not one of the best weeks I have had. The call on Monday from the doctor's office helped set the mood. Then there was a couple off rough days at work. During the quiet times my mind wondered about the impending CT scan results. I tried to convince myself the reason I was called was to come in for an appointment was just to let me know everything was fine. Deep down I knew something was up though. Sally thought maybe the tumor in the spine.I was having some back pains.

Then today came. It was a torture. Waiting and waiting for the results. Not that I want to hear bad news but the news that is given is always easier to deal with then what is playing in your mind. In the waiting room I had a hard time breathing. I am sure it was a near encounter with a panic attack. Then I was called into the doctor's office and that's when the real fear took place. After the nurse took my vitals and information we sat there and waited and waited and waited some more. We had to wait over an hour. In the mean time Sally and I try to keep our minds occupied. We watched the people walking in the parking lot making comments(making fun,old habits are hard break). about them. Finally the oncologist walked in and as soon as I seen his face I knew it wasn't good news. This is the part where I was hoping to write everything is fine and we were worried for nothing. Unfortunately, I am not able to say that. I knew the chances of cancer coming back was great. I knew that the doctor wanted to see me wasn't a good sign. Yes the cancer is back. It's back in the liver. The same spot where it was before but there are two more smaller tumors next to it.

What does this mean? Obviously it's a set back but that's all it is a set back. I have all the faith and hope everything will be fine. My prognosis hasn't changed. It's the same as the first day I walked in to the oncologist office. All the options I had then I still have now. The obvious I am going back on chemotherapy. I began treatment today. I am receiving bi-weekly infusion treatments of Avastin (which isn't a chemo drug), followed by infusion treatments of Oxaliplantin every 3 weeks, and I am taking an oral chemo drug called Exeloda. I go in every week for blood work. Also, I am going to be seeing the cancer surgeon at UIC. The tumors are all on the same lobe in the liver which means he might be able to remove them. He also mentioned last time about zapping them out with a laser type thingy. Tuesday I am going in for a PET scan to see if the cancer has travel else where. Which means more fun in waiting for test results.

The waiting for the results is actually worse then getting bad news. Once the news is out in the open it is easier to deal with. The not knowing is what takes years off your life. I am not looking forward to dealing with the side effects from chemo. But dealing with the side effects is a lot better then not having the option of having treatment. As long as there is treatment available there is hope. I have this thing about people having to blame someone or something for their misfortunes. I do not blame God, or evil, or fate. I blame Sally my wife. It's her fault. She jinxed me when she went back to school.So there I said it,I feel better now.

As I am writing this, I am reluctant to post this. It's not that I am ashamed , embarrassed, or want to be secretive. It's the fear of being pitied. I don't want people to feel sorry for me or treat me with kid gloves. Even though I know people have good intentions and mean well I just want to live my life like I did before the "C" word was mentioned. I am a guy who happens to have cancer, cancer does not have me.I may have lost this battle ,but I will win the war. I am confident of that.

Thank you all for your prayers,but we still have work. Lets get it done.

Feel like I am being discriminated

Update

A brief update. Kaitlyn's appointment at Riley's went well. The doctors still feel her pains are more or less "growing" pains. Sally and I are not so convinced but respect their expert opinion. Right now they are going to watch and wait. Which I agree, is better then putting her through more blood work and test. She did test positive for a marker that is linked to lupus and arthritis. However, she doesn't have enough symptoms to make the doctors believe something else is going on. She goes back in March for a follow up visit.

We had a nice day when we went to Riley's. We took the kids to the zoo. Kaitlyn really enjoyed looking at all the animals. Zachary had a good time as well but was disappointed because he didn't see many turtles. Also, he wondered why zoos don't have turtle shows. More about that in another blog.

Today was the day for my colonoscopy. It was the best one so far. It was the best one so far because we canceled it. More insurance woes. I really miss having HMO. I didn't have to go through all the hassles that we are dealing with now. Routine colonoscopys are covered 100% by my insurance. Mine isn't considered routine since I had a tumor. Even if they found a polp it wouldn't be considered routine any longer. Now it's considered a procedure. Procedures have a $250 co-payment. I feel like I am being punished by my insurance company for having cancer. First it was the pump not being covered and now this. I will have the colonoscopy done but I am going wait until January. In November, my work has open enrollment for insurance and we can switch insurance plans. Hopefully, there will be one that will be more accommodating for me. Right now it feels my insurance company would rather have me die from cancer instead of helping me with my care. Now I am wondering if I am going to be charged $250 for having the wax taken out of my ears. I was told to go to the ENT Doctor before I got retested at work( I failed miserably the first time).

I had my cat scan over a week ago. It left me a little nervous because the tech needed to take some more pictures after viewing the X-rays. I found out later that is very normal which eased my mind. I go Thursday for the bi-weekly Avastin treatment and received a phone call that my doctor wants to discuss the results of the cat scan with me that day to.I am nervous about this one. I will keep everyone posted on the results. In the meantime, I will be a cooking up another post and praying a lot.

Ozz Fest

Yep that's right. I went to the Ozz Fest. Not the Wizard of Oz fest but the Ozzie Osborne one. I have always been curious to go but I have never seen Ozzy perform live. Michael was given tickets (Thank you Ron) for the concert. Poor kid couldn't find anyone to go with (at least that is what I think even though he said that's not true) and asked me to go with. Motley Crue as well was playing too so I was excited to go. There were a lot of other bands with strange names. Which will remain nameless.

When we first got there we pulled up next to a car that had two stuffed animal in the Driver and passenger seats. I thought that to be quite odd. Michael and I just sat there staring.(I know its not polite to stare, but you had to see this). All of a sudden they started to move about. I was thinking man this is crazy. I could only imagine what must be going through Michael's teenage head. Then I saw his face,with the look of I think we need to go NOW! They started to remove themselves from the car. " No way," I thought. Then they started to what looked like talk to each other. They looked like a Care Bear experiment that went terribly wrong. There hair was very tall and red. They were both wearing hairy looking shoes/boots, that went up to there knees. A rubber band for shorts and a plastic grocery bag for a shirt. That is when they noticed us staring. I quickly picked up something that can posed as a cell phone,acting like I was talking on it. Little did I know it was one of Kaitlyn's dollies. So who is the goof here. Michael and I slithered out of the car hoping not to encounter them again unless we went to the zoo.

We finally went inside and walked around to gawk at the scenery. Surprisingly the crowd looked half and half, half drunk or half high. All ages ,shapes and sizes were there. There people there almost twice my age, at least that's how they looked (hard life I guess). Oh and the sweet smell of ,that smell.I can't quite figure out what it is, but I smelled it before. It seems it always at these musical get togethers with a lot of people. The more people the stronger that sweet smell. I'm thinking its a reaction to all the different perfumes and colognes in the air floating around. I then noticed this crowd forming just to the side of us and people snapping pictures, not sure of what at this point. I moved closer to the location of the commotion, thinking Ozzy came out to say hi to everyone. I got closer and people started parting the way for me (they must know who I am). I made to the destination and I immediately said "OH HEEEEEEEL NO". Needless to say it wasn't Ozzy or anyone else performing. It was the Care Bears and people were taking there picture like they were the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. I quickly put my arm over my face because I didn't want them to recognize me and run after me.

Michael and I then went somewhere else to check things out. We saw a circus tent and decided to check it out. It was human oddities and we had to check this out. They had a guy who swallowed swords and he also let you staple money to his body. Depending on the denomination you can put it on different parts of his body. I thought of a spot but, didn't have that kind of money. There a midget lady who danced on glass, no comment, another guy who was able to put his body through a tennis racket. I could barely remember when I was able to do that. I think I was about 6 months old. The highlight of the show was a scantily clad lady who danced around. I think her special talent was she was a scantily clad lady who danced around. I paid 5 bucks to see that, I could have gone to parts of Gary to see the same thing for free. I got to see the most famous oddity of them all, the Cat man. Cat man was featured in a lot of shows including Ripley's. His face is totally tattooed looking like a cat and his teeth were grinded down to be pointy like a cats. I like turtles but, your not going to see me shaving my head,wearing a turtle shell from a hapless turtle, laying on a log naked and eating raw fish.

This blog is getting long so I am going to end it soon.The main acts like Ozzy and Motley Crue did a good show. Ozzy actually did better than expected. I thought he would be stumbling around the stage. He did not fall off the stage not once or forget his words. Thanks for reading and Bless you all.

A Tale Between Two Families

This summer we went to two family reunions. As I sat at the latter one I pondered the similarities and differences between the two families. I will never say which family is better. That is just down right mean. I will share my observations so you as a reader can make in informed decision on which one you think is better.

The first one we attended was for my mother's side at my brother Mike and his family's house. He and his wife have been gracious enough on many summers to host the family reunion. So the setting is in their air conditioned house with a huge display of delicious food set up in a bug free home (for the most part). The outside has a little lake for those who want to go fishing or turtle hunting, a pool, a swing set, bag game or as they call it corn hole. There is also clean bathrooms and a pool table and air hockey game in the basement. Along with nice comfy couches and a large TV. Not that it really matters because we are outside for the most part. Mainly in the pool.

Sally's family reunion is on her mom's side. It is a yearly thing. Done on her grandmother's birthday no matter what the day falls on. It is held at a park. It's under a pavilion.It always begins at 3pm but we never get their until after 5ish. Usually the kids are in school at that time so we make sure their homework is done first. There is a huge set up with what appears to be delicious looking food. We don't eat because it's usually hot out and the food has been sitting out for awhile when we get there. Plus Sally does not eat outdoors because of the bugs and there is often times we see flies on the food. There is lake for fishing but you have to pay for fishing. We have to pay to get into the park as well. At least it is only 5 minutes away from home as for my brother it's a 45 minute drive. At the park there are 2 play areas which is away from the food. One of us has to go and watch the kids (it's usually me).

I will admit I don't spend a lot of time with Sally at my family reunion. I am busy playing corn holes, talking among relatives, sneaking food when Sally isn't looking and trying to avoid the look.When she turns and is talking to someone, I will cleverly make two plates. One is healthy food the other is sweets. I will put the plate of sweets by someone,so she will think its their's.The perfect plan, it works every time. Hey,what a minute, never mind. I was just kidding. Every time I do see Sally she is always talking to someone so I am not worried about her feeling uncomfortable. My family is very out going and easy to talk with.

Sally's family reunion always involves her Aunt Barbara and her children and grandchildren. I think she said her aunt had 10 kids. There might be a cousin or two from the other families thrown in there somewhere. When Sally's sisters go they usually sit and talk among themselves. This year the sisters were not there. Which made it for no one except for me for Sally to talk with. At least that is what I thought. I wondered off with Zach for a bit to look for turtles and Sally was at the play area with Kaity. When I went to the play area Sally was a little peeved at me because she couldn't mingle with her cousins because she was watching Kaity. So I stayed and she walked back to the pavilion. I was bored and I went to spy on her. I saw her in the pavilion. Sitting at a picnic table and talking with NO one. Yes you heard me nobody. The pavilion was filled with her cousins but she was talking with NO one. Just sitting at a picnic table all by herself,talking to no one! She got irritated with me because she wanted to sit alone and talk to NO one???? As for my family reunion we are there for several hours but for Sally's we stayed there maybe 2 hours.

Like said I would never judge the two families. Just stating the facts.
Thank you for reading and God Bless.