Wednesday was Sandy's birthday. We celebrated by getting up early to go have bloodwork done (both of us) at Backus and then race down to L&M for my appointment with Dr. McCourt. She checked me out thoroughly and said everything looked good. Good news!

I am all set to go to chemo tomorrow and then leave on Saturday for Tampa. Sunday we CRUISE!

Tuesday night we (Frank, Jean, Ryan, Sandy and I) went to 99 to celebrate Sandy's bday. We had a great meal there and Ryan and I compared my i-phone and his i-thingy...I can't remember the name of it now...it does everything the i-phone does, except it isn't a phone. He was impressed with my phone. He gave me some tips on battery life and told me that he uses his while it's in the docking station and charges it every night. I have to charge mine just about every night too.

Today I spent a few hours ironing clothes for Sandy and me for the cruise. Sandy was going to do hers herself, but I intervened. She has not a clue about how to iron, it's pathetic really. She would go out with wrinkled clothes if I let her, truth be told. Jean admits she never taught her how to iron, I'll bet Jean just did it for her, as I am doing now.

My mother taught me how to iron....I didn't learn willingly, but she made me iron and I had to do it to her specs....or else! As a result I am very skilled at ironing. It came in handy when I was in basic training, I would barter with my platoon mates...they would make my bed and I would iron their uniforms. I was also great at spit polishing shoes/boots and polishing brass too.

But I digress.

Something I wanted to share: a poop chart.

When I was in the exam room at L&M I saw a hand drawn chart on the wall. I couldn't see all of it because a towel dispenser was in the way, but I sent Sandy over to check it out. It was a poop chart. It ranked poops from one to six and had drawings of each one....from "well-formed" through the "loose" to the "liquid" or the equivalent. I got a good laugh at that one. Sandy had to admit that even she had never seen a chart to describe the various poops.

Imagine being the person who drew that one.

"What did you do today Mommy?" "Oh, I had to draw poops for the doctors to use."

I want THAT job!

I may not get to make another entry here until we return on Election Day. I'll be busy getting tanned, swimming, lounging, eating, drinking, laughing, ziplining, kayaking, eating, tanning, reading, RELAXING!

Nighty night.

If there is a God, and that's a BIG IF.....the Yankees will lose tonight.

Went down to Otis Library for the used book sale and went nuts. Bought 22 paperbacks and a few hard covers. If I had known that they were only charging one lousy dime for each paperback I'd have bought a whole lot more! As it was, my order came to $7.25 and I gave them a $20 and told them to keep it. We all know how they need the money!

Then I went to Walmart and bought myself a connecting cord for my i-phone for the car's auxiliary. I listened to my tunes while I drove around.

Then it was off to Kohl's where I got a whole bunch of neat stuff, including slacks, jeans, and some nice tops. Oh, and a cool corduroy jacket. Like a suit jacket. I also splurged on a griddle that they had on sale. I've been looking for one and I supposed I could have asked for one for Christmas (Jean was pissed when she heard I had bought clothes), I went for the "immediate now" and got the griddle.

Now I'll have to have Maria stay over and make pancakes on the griddle. No more making two pancakes for Sandy or whoever and then having them start to eat while I make my pancakes.
As if this happens all the time.

Sandy looked on the NADAC website and found out that Truman took seventh place in both of his Regular runs! That means he was entitled to placement ribbons, but who knew? They never posted the results so you could tell. They finally posted them on line on the 29th, but didn't tell anyone. Sandy found it by accident! We are very proud of him....

Oh, I came home and ordered a new bedspread set for the guest room. It's blue and brown. Very nice. I saw it at Kohl's and wanted to get it, but they only had the display model and no others. So, I got the bright idea of ordering it online. I'm so smart.

Carol and Mark are having a patio built out back of their house. Carol has been fighting with the contractor, who apparently subcontracted the work. Well, they screwed it up big time. They never did the proper prep work and the patio has a 7.5 inch tilt! They had the guy from Geer's come over and look at it. He did it as a courtesy....brought his transit and checked it. He said the patio should have only a 1.5 inch rise. The way they built it, Carol's wine glass will slip right off the patio table! So now they have had to tell the guy that he needs to rip it all out, level it and build it again.

It will look very nice when it's all done and I look forward to many nice evenings out there. But in the meantime.....Carol is NOT in a good mood!

Tomorrow I might go up to Maria's and hook up her VCR or whatever the hell it is that is disconnected! She wasn't feeling good this AM, so I'll see if she's feeling better before I go. Don't want to get sick now!

Yankees and Angels are still tied. I gotta concentrate on the game.

Nighty night!

Friday night....and it's cold!

Guess it was good that I got all that work done the other day. It's been miserable outside ever since. We even had snow flurries here last night!

Today I was supposed to go to Lynne's for lunch, but Sandy wanted me to go to RI to get the dog's dehydrated food as they are running low. She wanted me to go tomorrow, but it's supposed to be raining tomorrow, so I elected to go today. I called Lynne and we will go tomorrow to the used book sale at the Otis Library instead.

The trip to RI was enhanced by music I downloaded onto my i-phone. I finished downloading my CD collection last night. I used the wire Taylor and Ryan left in Sandy's car for their i-pods and I hooked up my phone to my car's auxiliary feature. It was sweet listening first to Anne Murray's Love Songs CD and then to a bunch of songs shuffled. It was a nice mix.

I have downloaded FOUR DAYS worth of music on my phone. It is great...but there is one problem with the i-phone.....the battery isn't worth shit. It drains very quickly and it is a concern. I have done the things they recommend to slow down the draining problem...but some of them are things I'd like to be able to use--like the "locator" feature...which would come in handy if I ever lose the phone...and I just know that I am going to lose it at some point!

Oh...Friday Night Lights is coming back on tv....but only on our satellite company! Wow...we are lucky we chose DirectTV...for some reason they are the only ones to carry the show. We love that show...it is so well done--the characters are very real and the stories are not far-fetched. We're going to be adding that to our recording list.

So tomorrow, it's books, books, books....and maybe on Sunday I'll go to the Flea Market at the Slater Mill. Good rainy day activities. I got some good books the last time I went to the Flea Market, when Maria was with me. I'm reading one of them now: Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. I have another one: John Grisham's The Street Lawyer waiting for me after I finish the first one. I'm getting back into reading and have been reading a lot lately---reading before I go to bed....which has been keeping me up late!

Today is Katie's birthday. She's 31, which doesn't seem possible. I remember the day she was born....just about everything about it. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life. It's good I didn't know then how things would turn out...that I would lose her and then get her back again. That's life though and I'm happy that she is back in my life.

Right now I have two little doggies on my lap. Rocky and Bubby. Bubbles has been really snarling at Rocky lately....but only at night when I am sitting in the recliner. We have to put her gentle leader on most nights and then she calms down. We have to reinforce her position in the "pack," she must be higher than Rocky. But she carries it too far and the other day she turned on me and snapped twice, just missing my face! We're working with her and she is coming around. Most times she loves Rocky, but at night, when she's tired, she says "no way!" I understand, I'm cranky when I'm tired.

Come tomorrow, we'll have one week until we are off on the cruise. I'm getting so excited and so is Sandy. She told me about a friend from work who lost her passport overboard when she was on a cruise. She's all worried we'll lose (read--Ann will lose hers) our passports! I reminded her that we make copies and put them in each piece of luggage and that we carry ours in their holders around our necks, when we need to carry them! After all I did travel around Italy and Sweden without losing my passport!

Anyway, one more week and we are gone baby gone! YAY!

This morning it was 42 degrees in the bedroom....I did have the fan going in the window. It felt nice under the covers, particularly with Truman at my back, Rocky at my hip and Bubbles behind my knees. A three dog night!

Nighty night!

Long time no see

Went out to eat at Go Fish last night with the gang. When I go out to eat I usually order fish, since we don't cook it too often at home. So what do I order last night? A pizza. I did have the clam chowder though.

We had a good time and are looking forward to our next get-together in Dec at Judy's house, which will be our annual Holiday party.

MAFO was there last night in her wheelchair. She hasn't moved into her new condo yet, her house is up for sale and she's staying at her daughter's house in Black Point. She has a line in her so she can get IV antibiotics....looks like she gets it all the time. That's because "somehow" she got an infection when they did her operation to repair her broken femur.

Sandy is still fighting the cold she's had for over a week. She hasn't missed work and I worry about her. She has had the chills off and on, which makes me wonder if she has a touch of the flu. It's okay if she does--it would be a mild case and then she'd be over it.

Today she wanted to pull up the gardens and haul and stack wood. I got her up at 11am and immediately felt bad that I did so. She was dragging.

So, I got busy and went out and pulled up the corn stalks, made two of them, one for our mailbox and one for Carol and Mark. Then I had Sandy show me again how to start up the tractor and I hooked up the cart and got busy hauling stuff. I pulled down the wisteria and whatever the mystery foliage is that grows with the wisteria. I hauled that away. It took two loads but I got the wisteria, mystery foliage and the bad corn stalks all hauled and piled up out back.

Then we loaded up the cart with wood from out back and piled it into the ring on the deck. I went and got another two loads and piled it up outside of the garage. We're all set for wood for the winter. We aren't going to use that much wood anyway....it doesn't heat up the living room like it did in the old house--we don't have a blower unit on this fireplace.

I have been having fun with the i-phone--loading lots of my CDs onto it. I have downloaded some great applications too---and I actually USE them! I even downloaded two new songs...ones I paid for: Kings of Leon--I Could Use Somebody and Black-eyed Peas--"Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night"....those are two current songs I really like. Just when you think that there is no good new music, songs like that come along.

Jeez...Al Martino died. I loved him. He was great in The Godfather too...as Johnny Fontaine. The Godfather "made them an offer they can't refuse" and Johnny got the part in the movie.

Tomorrow we take the dogs to PT...Rocky and Truman. Then the dogs have to go to the vets and get check-ups; nail trims and Rocky is going to have an ID chip implanted. He's the only one of our pets who don't have the ID chip. I think even Mr. Murphy has a chip.

Tonight is "Modern Family" night. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. It is so funny....and so well done. It's about time they come up with a great sit-com...I can't stand the crap they've been showing the past few years. I'm so glad I accidentally caught the pilot of this show when we were coming back from Tennessee....I don't miss the show now.

Oh....about the Sox.....WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!

Nighty night....

Little bit of excitement here this afternoon. I was up in the bathroom and heard a huge crash. I knew immediately it was a tree coming down and I knew immediately which tree it was. The dead tree in the back corner that we were planning to take down this fall.

Rocky and Truman were out in the yard. Rocky started barking, Truman did not. And, he wouldn't answer when Sandy called. So she went running out, with me not far behind.

Truman was safe. The tree broke off half-way up and the top half was neatly deposited on the other side of the fence, landing a mere foot away from the fence. We were planning on taking this tree down because we were afraid if it fell down, it would knock down the fence. That didn't happen. We were very lucky.

Sunday I went up to Uxbridge to visit Shirley and Gus. Gus started chemo yesterday for cancer of the bladder. I brought him some comfort items and gave them some tips based on things I've learned. I hope he does well, he already has other health concerns that will make it harder for him. We're keeping positive thoughts for him.

Lynne and I went shopping today and I bought an i-Phone, finally. I've been preparing for this and today was the day. They will be shipping it to me in a few days. Lynne showed me all the apps she has and gave me some good tips. I can't wait to start playing with it. I'll probably drive everyone nuts with it.

We hit Kohl's and then went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. She had the salad bar and I had the avacado quesidilla, which was delicious! Then she had to go back to work and I went to do more shopping....trying to help the economy!

Sox start their play-off games on Thursday. Here's hoping that Papi can continue his success at the plate, the pitching is solid and the rest of the team just does what they do best. It's going to be exciting.

We haven't turned the heat on yet, but last night I did get out the down blanket and put it on the bed.

OH! I got my hair "highlighted" in blond yesterday. It looks good, if I do say so myself. Once, years ago, I had Lorraine color my hair with a Lady Clairol kit...it was a disaster, it came out BROWN! This time I had it done by a professional and I like it. I know I had said I would go platinum, but my hairdresser talked me into highlighting...this way I don't have to worry about keeping up dark roots.

So, I'm just about all set for that cruise at the end of the month. I have to get my clothes out and see if I need to make any purchases. I'm getting excited and I think Sandy is too.

Nighty night!

We didn't go to VT...the weather was going to be horrid up there. The thunderstorm warning was the last straw. That meant Lily and Bubbles couldn't go. So, we slept in. YAY!

While slicing a roll for lunch yesterday, I sliced my "finger finger"....Sandy had to put a butterfly bandage, a pressure bandage and two bandaids on it to get it to stop bleeding. It doesn't help that my platelets are down now.

We got our "Final Notice" letter from Nancy Wyman, telling us that we have to get our marriage license in to her or Sandy gets dropped from my insurance. Good thing Sandy finally sent it in a couple of days ago!

Now we are going to veg some more by watching the "Family Guy" movie.

see ya!

Sad news from Arizona. Terry and Tom's dog Chloe passed away.

I had called Terry on Monday as we were driving home, to find out how things were going. She told me that Chloe had come up lame and when the vet checked her, they found that she had cancer in her leg--it had almost eaten through the bone. It was also in her lungs. She was still eating and wagging her tail, but they gave her anywhere from three months to two weeks to live.

Chloe was such a sweet dog. We loved her and we know how much the Coney's loved her.

She will be missed.

Not much else going on here. We're resting up and getting ready for our day trip to VT on Saturday for the dogs to run in an agility trial up there. Everyone but Rocky will be in this trial. I may even run Bub or Lily in one or two things. Or, I may leave it for Sandy to do and I'll help with driving. I have chemo Friday morning, so we'll have to see how it goes.

Went to lunch at Harry's with Charmine yesterday and then we went up to the Health Center for our semi-annual Patient Instructor meeting/training. It was fun seeing a lot of my co-workers there yesterday and we got to chat with some of them for awhile, as we got there about an hour and a half early!

I booked our side trips for the cruise today....the zip-line and rappelling tour in Belize (which I have wanted to do for YEARS) and the glass kayak and snorkeling in Cozumel. The kayak is glass..so you can see the coral reefs, etc. below you as you paddle around. I may book trips for Guatemala and Key West, but I want to talk with Charmine and Pat about that. We may want to do things together or stay on board the ship and play there. I had wanted to see Mayan ruins but they want too much for that trip. It would be nice, but if I'm not up to the trip I don't want to lose that much money.