John Cusack

Ok. This link was sent to me and now I'm sharing it. It may be dorky for the guys, but I'm sure the girls will dig it.

My Life is Like:

What John Cusack movie are you?

Susan G. Komen

Hello All!

I survived March so far and the sky hasn't fallen, although it's supposed to rain all week but that's ok. We need it!!! Wanted to update you a little bit. Mom's had four of six chemo treatments and is doing well. Sometime in May will be her surgery.

Coming up in April I will be participating in the Race for the Cure. If you would like to support me or support the cure, please click here!

That's all for now, folks. Oh! I have heard some good news about the China trip. There has been talk of us possibly going to the western part of China. Details when I get them!

Later taters!!

Chicken Little

Well the sky isn't falling...yet! March is CRAZY!!! A new major exhibit is being installed, my office is a mess, I'm procrastinating (as you can tell with this posting), I'm helping overseeing graduate students who are installing two exhibits here at the museum and the 10-2-4 Club Convention is almost upon us (check out their website here). I was also sick most of last week. I think it was a major sinus infection in conjunction with the changing weather. Ugh!! Last week I just wanted to go home and be with my family. :( I miss them. However, they seem to be doing all right without me. :( :(

Oh get this! Got an email last week saying the whole reason for going to China (the English Camp for kids) has been cancelled!!! YIKES! I have already purchased my tickets, so it looks like I will still be going to China but I just don't know what I'll be doing. Our fearless leaders for this trip are busy looking into other options for us. Keep the trip in your prayers!

Did I tell you that I am participating in Lent this year? I have decided to give up movies, ie, going to the movies, renting movies or watching movies on TV. The last one was decided on Saturday after debating whether or not I should have watched A Beautiful Mind on TV. If you want to know the history behind Lent and its intended significance, click here.

If I don't have another posting in March, you'll know why. I going crazy!!!

Ah yes, Valentine's Day!

What can I say about Valentine's Day? It's a cute holiday. Cute cuddly bears holding hearts and such... (Don't get me started on the commercialism for the day. See the Halloween post if you want to know how I feel about it). ANYWAY do you know the history behind Valetine's Day? Not as cute and cuddly as you might think... Check it out on the History channel link here. Did You Know?- 192 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion (Christmas being the first.) (This total excludes packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.) (Source: Hallmark research) Well there ya go. I got four Valentines today: three from female coworkers and one from my brother. (Oh and I got socks from my Dad and Alison). I've just been handing out dark chocolate. Yum. I am neither for or against Valentine's Day. Every day is what you make of it. So if you love someone, love them everyday!

Shaved Heads

...well just one really. Mom started losing her hair and before it fell out completely, she had Drew come over and shave it off. I talked to her before it happened and she said that her natural hair just looked so gross. Aunt Paula sent one of her wigs to mom and so she wore it to church yesterday. Drew said she looks good for a bald lady! Keep her in your prayers; pray she doesn't get too distracted by the latest "adventure." This Friday marks her second treatment. Four more after this!

CHINA

Well, it's official. I'm going to Hong Kong and China. It's official because I purchased my tickets on Monday. Whew! It was a huge relief! Now I gotta save the moola for hotel, food, souvenirs and other expenses such as my Visa and new tennis shoes for the walking! I'm too exctied! Here is one of my favorite paintings from China:

Poet on A Mountain by Shen Chou

Chemotherapy

I'm not sure what I expected, but chemotherapy is a long wait. Mom's appointment was at 1:30 where she was checked by the doctor first and then chemo. Since it was the first time, it took a little longer. We didn't get back to the 'therapy' room until 2:30. We were prepared though. Drew and I brought cards, dominos, books and my iPod. We ended up just talking and playing cards and if Mom would have let us we would have raced each other on the stools with wheels, but she said no. :( When we walked in there were about 15 recliners with more than half filled with people receiving treatment. The drugs are given through IV. Mom has a port in her chest so she doesn't have to be stuck each time with a needle. To see what this looks like click here. First given is her pre-meds which include an anti-nausea drug and antihistamine and some others I can't remember. There is also a bag of saline solution that helps flush everything through the blood stream. The pre-meds take about 10 minutes to go through. The next to drugs take about an hour each to drip in. I think they were called tamoxifen and taxotere. The last drug is a combo of Cytoxan and adriamycin. It's a red color and some people call it the Red Devil or the Scarlet Angel. It's pushed in by the nurse over a ten minute time period through a big syringe. We left the dr's at 6pm. The nurse, Linda, by the way she was awesome!!!, said oh yeah, go out and eat something you'll be fine tonight! So we did. We went for Chinese. Yummy.

Saturday we sorta slept in and laid around a little bit. We also did a couple of exercises to get the blood pumping. I also made chicken and rice for lunch. I thought it was pretty good. Later I went and visited Grandma, who is in the hospital for pneumonia. She's better but still weak. She'll need to be moved to physical therapy to regain her strength. Then I went and saw Dad for a bit. I was coming back into town and there was a huge traffic jam. I forgot that there was a Razorback basketball game and so I turned around and headed back to Farmington and took the back roads around all the traffic. I stopped at Ozark Natural Food store to pick up some L-Glutamine for mom. Sheesh, that's expensive!! $28 for about 3/4 cup of powder. It's supposed to help achy joints; a side effect from the chemo. That night Roger came over for lasanga and a movie. I Captured the Castle is a strange movie. I'm not sure I would recommend it.

Sunday we cleaned up a little and hung out until I left. I'm just saying that traveling at night is the way to go. NO TRAFFIC!! Dallas was a breeze to get around. It helped too that it was a Sunday.

I called Mom on Monday to see how it went and she said she finally threw up but it made her feel a lot better. So there ya go! I tried on the wig Aunt Paula sent for Mom. I definitely look different as a short haired brunette. Patrick tried it on too. Maybe I can weasel the pictures from Mom and post them here. Good for blackmail. :)

At first I thought the first chemo treament would be the worst, but I was informed I was wrong. Keep Mom in your prayers. We are waiting for the results of a PET scan to see if the cancer is anywhere else in her body. The waiting is the worst!!

Her friends are so incredible! Drew (oldest younger brother) is awesome too. It's like he's a totally different person. He has bent over backwards to be there for Mom. Wow!

Mom Update

Everything is going so fast but probably not fast enough for my Mom. Monday Mom gets a port where the chemo goes and Friday she starts chemo. She will get it every three weeks six times. I'm coming down for the first the first one to see how she does. I can't even remember the names of the drugs she'll be getting...three kinds. Aunt Paula (Mom's sister) said she would loan Mom her turbans and wigs. Aunt Paula is finishing up her rounds of chemo for her second bout with breast cancer. Pray for my Mom and family!! Updates as I get them.

Christmas has come and gone...

...but I did have an excellent time. There were a few pitfalls but nothing we can't recover from! I got enough Christmas money to purchase an iPod and got a really nice leather purse. Saw a several friends, Roger, Cara and Chris; and saw family as well. The bummer of the trip was that Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Please keep her in your prayers!!! The treatment will be chemo first and lumpectomy second (cross your fingers). Updates later on...

The nieces were in good form as always!

Ridiculous lights....but cool!

This Christmas light show is ridiculously long yet somehow very mesmerizing. Check it out!

X-Men 3

Can not wait for this one to come out!!! Click here to watch the trailer!!!

Christmas Decorations Finale

Ok, I got the apartment decorated...check it out (Be sure to watch the Christmas Decorations Part 1 first!!):



Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidilife.com

Christmas Decorations Part 1

Hey!!! I found a way to post videos on my blog. I wanted ya'll to see what my apartment looks like after the decorating since ya'll won't be able to come see it.



Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidilife.com

Thanksgiving 2005

Yeah! It was great to see family and friends again! I had a great time. Watched movies and ate good food and of course the nieces! My favorite time was jumping on the trampoline with Alex! She loves that!

Emma

Great Grandma and Alex


Drew and Alex touching the sky


Jessica and Alex on trampoline; Roger holding Alex holding Emma


The trip back was almost uneventful. I was a little sick (scratchy throat...) and only one place was there traffic stopped.

THANKSGIVING

Hmmmm....looking forward to this year's Thanksgiving. This is probably my favorite holiday. I love the cooler weather (except when in Texas where it was 89 degrees yesterday!!!). I also love the trees turning different colors. What I think I will enjoy is the drive home. This drive I plan to take my time and am in no rush. I usually leave right after work and that is just too stressful and I arrive at night. I plan on leaving early in the morning the day before Thanksgiving and arriving during the day. I like to travel to places because I have a destination to get to. Something good is at the end of my trip. The something good this time is my family and friends. Especially Alex and Emma (and if you don't know who they are yet, you're missing out! Check out my other postings). I'm looking forward to it! Now the bad thing about going home for Thanksgiving is coming back. The traffic will be terrible and I am always depressed when I get back to Texas (just for a little while). WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS THANKSGIVING?

Never Ending....

There seems to be a never ending stream of work, which, by the way, I don't mind. But what I absolutely hate is paper work! It just seems to pile up, up and away! (I wish it would go away). I'd rather be doing one task at a time instead of multi tasking. It would be a lot simpiler and the quality of the work would be better. I just finished putting up an exhibit for the museum. It makes me happy and it turned out better than I expected. I'll show you a preview in a moment. I'm lethargic today, but glad tomorrow's Wednesday. Wednesday's I don't swim and I can sleep in a little. It makes me happy. This week is gonna be good. I get paid, tomorrow is Wednesday, and my apartment is getting cleaned from top to bottom AND it's finally fall. I love the fall season because I get to go home and see my family. I got a picture of my nieces dressed up for Halloween. They are tooo tooo cute!!!

Here is a tangent:

I hate Halloween. Well, hate is a strong word but rather I hate the economics of the seasons/holidays. It is utterly ridiculous. Our economic culture has dictated which holidays are important and which aren't and really what the holiday is about. What is Halloween? Anybody know anymore? I checked around on the Internet and found at least what I would consider a reputable source...the History Channel. Here is what they say about the orgins of Halloween. What's even more interesting is that they have a link to the evolution of holidays...check it out too. Here is a quote from the link: "Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday. " So that brings me to a philosphical question. Is Halloween a valid holiday today? I checked my Franklin Covey calendar and indeed All Saint's Day is listed, but looking at my wall calendar, it is not, but Halloween is on both. Very interesting... I guess I can't say too much on the subject. I did put out my glass jack-o-lantern last night and I did run to Target last night to get a mask for "Fall Festival" at church. But that was all I promise!! Today I feel utter remorse for contributing to the $6.9 billion dollar industry. Baah Humbug!!! Don't get me started on Christmas; that post will come later.

OK...

So here a picture of Alex (ladybug) and Emma (flower) and a picture of the title of the new exhibit:

Friends

This past weekend I had a friend come down for a visit. We had a great time! Some adventures, like getting pulled over for speeding, late for the wedding and eating wonderful weird food. We ate dim sum at Kirin Court in Dallas. There are a couple of words that I know in Cantonese (mainly food words) so I got excited when I heard the servers say cha siu bow (bread with pork) and gai lan (Chinese broccoli). It was great. We also got to see a friend of Roger's who just had a baby, literally. Everyone was speaking Cantonese but me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. That also brings me to the point that I am going to China next summer to do a kids English camp for a week. I'm sooo excited. Then I'm gonna go to Hong Kong and visit Roger's sister. Can't wait!!

Roger and me at the Zoo

Maui

I made it back from Maui. Let's think about Maui. Hmmmmm.

It was great and beautiful. I had to come back because I started running out of money. Everything is expensive, however, the tax is great! 4% I did get a little tan and the snorkeling was great. I have to develop those pictures soon.

The Delta

I went to my cousin's wedding a couple of weekends ago in Memphis. Both sets of grandparents used to live in a town about an hour from Memphis in the east Arkansas Delta in the middle of cotton, rice, wheat and soybeans. We stayed with my other cousin before we went to the wedding. Before I left I took a couple of pictures of the cotton fields ready to be picked:

Maui & a New Do

Well a week from now I will be on my way to Maui...yes you read right, I'm going to Maui. I'm pretty excited. I've made my reservations for the spa and to go snorkeling. Why am I going to Maui you ask? For work of course! I know it doesn't sound like it, but I have to write the more important details first. I am actually going for work. It is the annual Dr Pepper Bottler's Meeting. The Museum is going to promote itself with the merchandising and licensing booth. It's gonna be good. We're going a couple of days early to check the island out. Make sure it's cool. It better be! Anyway...I will give a full report when I get back. In the meantime I got a hair cut that 's a little different from my normal coiffure.