Monday Madness

This morning seemed like a normal morning, at least since the radiation treatments started. I did my normal 8 - 10 trips to the bathroom and other than a sore bottom I felt pretty good.

Alyssa stopped by for a few minutes and brought over a couple tee shirts for me, she knows how I wear tee shirts all the time. Then a few minutes after she left, my little brother called, and we talked for about forty-five minutes.

We talked about how much things had changed since we were younger and how even then people did not believe how much our family was like Ozzie and Harriet, the Donna Reed Show, or father knows best. I guess we were a pretty unique family even back then, although more families were like that then, then there are now.

Anyway, after talking to Brad, I took my shower and got ready for my radiation appointment. Kathleen came home about 1230 and we left a few minutes after that.

After my appointment, as we were walking down the hallway to leave, we ran into Tami and the two girls. Alexis had been throwing up and Tami was taking her to see the doctor. Both girls had been sick off and on for several weeks. In fact the whole family has been not feeling well for at least a month.

After leaving the hospital, we stopped by the library to drop of some of the books Kathleen and I had checked out. The library was closed, due to it being president's day, so I just dropped the books off at the outside book drop.

We had just gotten home and I changed my clothes when I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom. I had two runny bowel movements in the period of about a half hour and since then I have not had to go.

For me that is pretty good, normally I go about a dozen time between 1500 and midnight, but here it is almost 2230 and I still have only gone those two times. I could live with this.

Anyway that has been my day. Friday I have to go in at 1100 so that they can line me up for my new procedure. This is where they give me the same dose but they do it in a smaller area. I am hoping that when they narrow down the field of radiation that I may not have some of the effects that I have been experiencing for the last several weeks.

Well, that is about it for today, so good night, sleep tight.

Sunny Sunday Continued

Well, I went outside to take the recycling out to the garage and while it was not quite as nice a day as yesterday was, it was still an okay day for Portland in the winter. So I decided to do a little more weeding.

I had been noticing some weeds growing right around the back door, so I got out my mat and started to pick the weeds that I found. There were more than I thought there were, but I got them all done.

Then as I was getting ready to put the mat back into the garage, I decided that I would get the weeds growing by the tree rose that is by one of the back gates. There were not too many weeds there so it only took a few minutes.

Once back in the house I decided to make myself some lunch, so I heated up the left-over spaghetti from last night. Having satisfied my hunger, I thought that I would vacuum the downstairs since I had not done that in a couple days.

I am still amazed at the amount of fur that Reggie deposits every day. Oh well, it gives me something to do a couple times a week.

Kathleen made something out of bacon, rice and Velveeta, it was not too bad. Kathleen did not care for it, but I did not think that it tasted too badly.

Well, I think that is all for tonight, so I will close and say good night.

Sunny Sunday

Well, I thought that I would try to do a quick blog, as I am feeling almost normal right now. I know that if I wait until later today, I will be too tired to think or write anything.

Yesterday was a pretty normal morning for me, normal that is since I started the radiation treatments. I did sleep in until almost 0900 and felt pretty good when I got up. Now if you consider that I went to bed a little less then 12 hours before that you could understand. I do not remember the last time I had that much rest.

Anyway, after reading the paper and the mail, I was noticing how really nice it was outside, so I decided to go out and sit in the sun for a little while and get some vitamin D. So I went into the garage and got one of our canvas deck chairs and set it up in a sunny spot in the back yard.

Well, it was not long before I started looking around and though that I really should take advantage of the nice weather and do something. So I got out my edger and started to edge the big rose garden in the back of the property and then followed the garden around past the back side of the berry patch.

After I had everything edged, I got out my little garden fork and started to loosen up the soil in the area that I just edged, pulling weeds out as I went. While doing that I also dug up a couple butterfly bushes that had started to grow near the stomp of one of our old apple trees. So I dug them up and put them into a couple pots. Did anyone want them, I know that I gave some to Alyssa and Tami last summer, but I do not think that I will be using them and they will just be tossed if no one wants them.

I finally could feel myself getting tired and thirsty, so I gathered up the tools and the chair and put them away in the garage and then went into the house to clean up. Once cleaned up, I realized that I was also getting hungry, so I made myself some English muffin bread pizza.

I am not suppose to be having cheese, so I used Velveeta instead and tomato products are suppose to be good for me, so I have been having that quite frequently lately.

After eating, I filled my weekly vitamin pill tray downstairs and then went upstairs to fill my morning and evening medicine pill tray, when I came back downstairs, Kathleen had called my Mom. She whispered that she was talking to her and so I got on one of the other phones. It was good to talk to her and she sounded like she was feeling good as well.

Kathleen had been watching a cam of Syracuse and saw that it was sunny out so she though that it would be a good time to call. Syracuse and most of the upstate New York near the lakes is been having quite a spell this last week and a half or so.

I made it past 1500, which is the time during the week that I start to feel not so hot. It is two hours after my radiation, and about the time that they tell me is when the radiation starts to do its thing.

In fact it was almost 1700 before I started to feel kind of yucky. The good thing, one of many, about weekends is that, I do not feel quite as bad as during the week, and I go longer in between the cramping.

The children and grandchildren all went bowling and than on to Alyssa and Dan's for a barbecue and cake to celebrate Chucky's birthday. I would have liked to have gone, at least to Alyssa and Dan's, but I am not very good company at the moment. From Alyssa's blog, it sounds like they all had a good time, especially Hayden. By the way, Alyssa, I liked his shirt!

Well, I think that I will close for now; I wrote more than I thought that I would, and probably more than I would have if I had tried to do this last night. I hope that you all have a good day, we missed church again today. It has been a month since I have been there, just a little while after I started my therapy.

Tuesday's Trials

Today really started last night about 2330 when I started to get chilled and shivering uncontrollably. To make matters worse, I still had to use the toilet three or four times during the process. Not much of anything came out, but I needed to go just to be safe.

Somewhere around 0100, I started to warm up and the shivering stopped. By this time I was really exhausted and flat out did not feel good at all. I was finally able to get to sleep and with the exception of getting up about three or four times I slept until about 0700.

When I got up, I was still pretty tired, but I needed to get my day started. Kathleen got up shortly after I did and made eggs and hash browns for breakfast. She had the yokes and I had the whites, with cheese.

Reggie has not been doing too well for a couple months, and Kathleen was finally able to take him to the vet, so now we have a couple different pills to give him each day and some drops to put in his ears. Unfortunately, Reggie does not fall under the classification of dependent so he is not covered under my medical plan.

Kathleen dropped off the valentine goodies to Becca and Alexis; they were both taking a nap when she got there. I did not go as I really was still not feeling really very good.

I finally started to feel better around noon and then it was off for my radiation appointment. We had talked about going out again later in the day, but I started feeling poorly again around 1500, so I sat around most of the afternoon, I even dozed off for a while.

I guess that we will have to take the goodies to Natalie, Zander and Hayden some other time.

Well, that is about all for today, not much here, but then again I am not doing too much either. Well, good night

Feeling better Friday

Well, since it has been almost a week since I blogged and since I am feeling better today I thought that I would do a quick blog.

I had my final radiation treatment for the week today; next week I will be half way through my treatments. I have really been feeling poorly for the last week or so, and just have not had any energy.

For the last couple of days I have spent about an hour out in the yard working, but I have gotten so tired that I just sat around for the rest of the day. Most of the time it was a struggle to just stay awake.

Today, I was feeling bad because it has been relatively nice out the whole week, nice for Oregon in the winter, it has not been raining and the temperature has been in the fifties and low sixties. So I went out side and did some weeding, in the blueberry patch, I also dug up some irises and set them aside.

These are a different variety than the ones that I dug up last fall, so I want to find a place to place them in another area. They were getting too close to the blueberries and making it difficult to keep the area weeded.

We had some left over chicken soup tonight, Kathleen made some for dinner last night and put the bones into the oven to roast them with the intention to make some more soup, but when she took it out of the oven and placed the pan on the stove, it was not on enough and wound up on the floor. So I helped her clean it up and then washed the area rugs and a couple towels that we used to mop the floor with.

Well, I am tired again, so I will say good night and hope to have this much energy again tomorrow.

Sitting Saturday

Well, I think that I am over the hump as I have not had to sit on the toilet for at least four hours now. I just about wore it out yesterday, I think I went almost two dozen times, today was only about half that amount.

I was so worn out yesterday evening that I did not get to do my blog. I almost did not do it tonight, but I feel a little better and almost awake.

Kathleen made some Granny Smith pancakes for breakfast and I think that helped plug things up a little. Then I made myself some peanut butter toast for lunch. Kathleen went to the grocery store and picked up a loaf of English muffin bread, so I made myself a couple pieces of pizza toast mid afternoon.

Tonight Kathleen heated up the roast that she made last night, I did not have any because nothing appealed to me. So far I have been able to keep the dinner down and it has been two and a half hours since I ate.

I have been sitting or laying down most of yesterday and today, except for a little time when I was installing some of the programs back on my computer. We, that is mostly Kathleen, finally got the new hard drive installed, so now it is just the tedious task of installing the programs again.

Well, I do not have a lot of energy, so I think that I will say good night.

Thursday Timings

Pretty normal morning, up through my radiation appointment. After I finished Kathleen wanted to stop off at the Dollar Tree store so we did and then after that we stopped by Office Max as Kathleen wanted to try to find some origami paper. I think that she found a couple pads of it.

Shortly after we got home Alyssa called and wanted to stop by with the grandchildren. So they got her a little after 1600 and we had a good time playing with them. Kathleen feed them some graham cracker "bugs" and Bugles and when they were done with that Natalie came over to me and whispered in my ear asking if they could have some licorice . I did not have any licorice left so I gave them the rest of my "Swedish" fish.

They left around 1730 and were still hungry, Alyssa says that they are always hungry. I remember when we had little one's, it seems that they were always wanting to eat. Those were the days when we could go the grocery store two or three times a week and still never have any food in the house.

Luckily we had picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way home from the store this afternoon, so I put it into the oven and cooked it up. It was done just in time for Kathleen and I to eat a couple pieces and then Kathleen went off to a shower and I took off for the accountability group.

I got home a little after 2200 and here I am writing this. Well, I am tired and it is late, so good night.

Wandering around on Wednesday

Normal morning, after breakfast, paper and mail, I went outside and raked up the rows of raspberries to get rid of the small pieces of raspberry canes that were left over from yesterdays trimming and also moss that seems to grow around the plants.

I did not make the same mistake I made yesterday by not coming in early enough and came inside by noon time. I made myself a protein drink to tide me over until I got home to make some lunch.

My appointment was pretty normal, and afterwards Kathleen stopped by the library to return some books and videos. While we were there I picked up a couple videos that I had on hold and found a couple books I wanted to look at. Kathleen found another bag of books and videos to check out, so we have our reading lined up for the next couple weeks.

After the library, Kathleen had a prescription that she needed to pick up at Fred Meyer's, so we swung by there afterwards. She wanted to walk around after she picked up her prescription, so we did that for another half hour. Then home by 1500.

Tonight I think Kathleen is going to cook the rest of that turkey sausage and some noodles for dinner, we will have to leave for an annual church business meeting tonight so I am doing this a little early. I think that this will be a long meeting, and I am sure that I will not feel like doing it after we get back. So I will just say my good nights now.

Tuesday's Timimg

Well, I thought that I would have a quiet night last night after I did my blog, but after I did the load of towels, I also did the rest of the laundry. As I was folding the towels, I realized that I was feeling better than I had since early in the day, so I decided to go upstairs and bring down the dark clothes and put them into the washer. Then when I was putting them into the dryer, I thought that I could do the light clothes as well.

So even though I felt tired earlier, I must have gotten a second wind, because I seemed to get almost as much done after dinner as I had done the rest of the day. I took the dried light clothes upstairs around 2130 and decided that I would just go to bed after I folded and put the clothes away.

Anyway so much for yesterday! This morning was pretty much the same as yesterday, except this morning around 1130 I decided to go outside and work on cutting the dead wood from the raspberries and tying them up.

When I finished doing two rows, I was going to rake the broken stalks that did not get into the bin. But I thought that I would go inside to see what time it was, I was surprised to find out that it was 1240 already.

I have been leaving for my radiation appointment around 1230, so I rushed upstairs and changed my clothes. Luckily it was cool enough that I had not worked up a sweat and my deodorant was still holding up. I got changed and still beat Kathleen downstairs.

I was only in for my radiation treatment for ten minutes, but we did not get out of the office for about another twenty minutes. Kathleen had been talking to an other couple when I got back to the waiting room and we continued talking to the husband while the wife went in for her treatment.

Well, she finished her treatment and then we talked a while longer and then left together. We wanted to stop by BiMart on the way home because they had a couple toaster ovens on sale. The one was really big, it was actually a counter top convection oven, it was about twice the size of our old one.

The other one is the one we bought it was a little bigger than our old one and had a warming tray on the top of it for keeping some things warm, like buns or rolls. We also picked up a web cam that they had on sale for &15.00.

Kathleen said that we needed to stop by Winco as we needed to pick up some oranges. I also knew that we needed some bread and molasses, so we stopped there and got those things plus some other items that we thought that we would need. We have only been going to the grocery store every other week or so.

When we got home Kathleen opened up the toaster oven and plugged it in. Of course we needed to try it out so we made some toast, of course. That did not really fill me up so I heated up some of the left over jambalaya from last night.

Then I crashed about 1630 again, it was just like yesterday. I dozed a little and I started to feel a little better after dinner. Kathleen had made some shrimp stir fried and I cut up a tomato and had the left over avocado from the other day.

Well that was my day, now it is time to say good night.

Monday Minutes

I got up about the same time today as I did yesterday, so I must be a little tired. I made oatmeal for myself for breakfast, I added some Go-Lean-Crunch wheat germ, raisins, a banana and some Grandmas black strap molasses. Good and healthy as well.

After breakfast I put the dishes into the dishwasher, watered the plants in the kitchen, and changed the water in the betas vase. After that I picked up the throw rugs from the kitchen, shook them out, swept the floor and then mopped it. While the floor was drying I washed down the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

The mail came while I was reading the paper, not much there, either in the paper or the mail, it is a good thing that I recycle, otherwise I would feel really guilty about the waste of all that paper.

By this time it was getting close to the time that I needed to start getting ready for my radiation appointment. so I got cleaned up and changed my clothes. The appointment was a little longer today as they had to take more x-rays to make sure that everything was still in the position that it needed to be in.

They told me that they have to do that once a week just to be safe and sure. I was there about an hour, which is about an half hour longer than I am there most of the time.

When we got home I made myself a sardine sandwich on New York rye bread. The sardines came packed in hot sauce, so I had to sop it up with a little rye bread, just to be sure that I got it all.

This afternoon I was feeling a little tired and even took a couple cat-naps. I am not sure why I was tired this afternoon, I felt good this morning, but this afternoon has been a different story.

I got a little more energy late this afternoon, so I gathered up the towels and washed and dried them. I think I might even start the rest of the laundry, as I sorted them out already, now it is only a matter of bringing them downstairs and loading them into the washer and dryer.

Kathleen made some Zatarain's New Orleans style Jambalaya for dinner tonight, she added half of a turkey sausage to it. We also had a glass of wine with it, strictly for medicinal purposes of course.

Well, I think that is the jest of my day, so I think that I will say good night.

Sleepy Sunday

I got up later than I normally do on a Sunday, I was tired and my throat was bothering me. I knew that before I got up that I would not be going to church or Sunday School, so I was in no rush to get up. Kathleen came downstairs about fifteen minutes after I got there and when I told her that I did not think I would be going to church this morning, she went back upstairs and went to bed.

The spring on our toaster oven door is broken, so I made my toast in the frying pan. It really turned out pretty much like regular toast and only took a littler bit longer to make. I also made a fresh pot of coffee, and shortly after that Kathleen must have smelled the coffee and came downstairs.

I unloaded the dishwasher, took out the kitchen compost and the trash and vacuumed the downstairs carpet. Then I turned off my computer and started to prepare for the new hard drive.

Toni and Chucky came over about 1500 with some lunch that they had made for us, we were going to go over there, but their landlord was doing something there, so they came over here with the food that they had made.

They had barbecued chicken and pork and some fried rice. It was really good, unfortunately it had gotten cool on the trip over here, so I heated it up in the micro wave. Toni was really tired, so they left around 1700.

We are in the process of cloning my new hard drive to my old one. It will probably take most of the night, so I am using our new laptop/notebook. It is really nice, it has a full size keyboard and even a ten key pad. It feels as close to a regular keyboard as any laptop/notebook that I have ever used.

Well, I think that it will be a relatively quiet night tonight, it had been really windy yesterday and this morning, but it seems to have quieted down now. So I will enjoy the rest of tonight and then tomorrow I get to go back on my weekday radiation routine.

I is so nice on the weekends not to have to go there everyday, but it is something that I have to do for now. It does beat the other alternative though. Well, I guess that I will just say good night.

Slow Saturday

Slept in a little longer than usual this morning, probably because I stayed up a little later. Once I did get up I put the hash browns in the frying pan and then put the egg whites that Kathleen had left over from her eggs yesterday, into the pan and added a whole egg and fried it all up.

Then I micro waved a couple sausage links and added some hot salsa to the hash browns. Needless to say I had a plate full, not too much, but enough to satisfy me. After finishing breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

The mail had come so I went out and got it, a couple of bills, but mostly the usual junk. I finally got around to reading the paper after a while, not much there either.

We got a new hard drive and a USB 2.0 card for my old computer so I decided to open up my computer and get everything ready for Kathleen to help me add the hard drive. Once I had it opened and saw how dusty it was, I decided that I had better vacuum it out.

Once I did that I decided to change out the old USB 1.0 port with the new USB 2.0 card. Then I got Kathleen involved, as she has had some experience with changing or adding hard drives. Kathleen did some reading up on it and right now it has gotten too late to start it, so maybe tomorrow.

So right now my computer is blue screening every time I try to boot it up. I think that I will take out the USB 2.0 card and see it that is it or if my hard drive has finally crashed.

That is about all for me tonight, I did not get a lot done today, but I have been a little more tired today. I guess that I will have to get to bed a little earlier tonight. With that said, I think that I will just say good night.

Friday is Five days of Fair Weather

Today is the fifth day of rather nice weather, it has been dry for about a week now and the weather has been in the fifties just about all week. Today was my breakfast day with the accountability group, so this morning I headed to the place where we were going to have breakfast.

I got there a little before 0830, so I went in and took a seat in one of the empty booths, the next guy got there about ten minutes later. We talked for a while and about ten minutes later the other two showed up. We had a good time of fellowship and the breakfast was good as well.

About 1000 the place was full and someone else came, so I suggested that we get up and let someone else sit down. So we went behind my Wrangler, prayed for a bit, and then went our separate ways.

I got home, read the paper and mail, and then waited for Kathleen to get dressed so that we could go to my radiation appointment. WE got there a little later than we normally do, but still before my appointment. I was in and out, and then back in the waiting room we spent about a half hour talking with another couple where the wife was undergoing radiation.

After leaving the doctor's office, we went to CompUSA to pick up our laptop. Kathleen also needed to pick up a couple more items, so we did that first. The computer was not quite ready yet, so we looked around for a little more time.

Kathleen was not feeling too well, so she reheated the steak, microwaved a potato and toasted a slice of Texas toast apiece. Kathleen has gone upstairs now, maybe to work on some of her new printer stuff. I was playing with the new laptop before dinner and probably will play some more on it after I publish this.

I cannot think of anything else to write home about so I will just say good night.

Is it still Thursday?

This morning started out pretty normal. This morning Kathleen decided to make granny Smith pancakes for breakfast. They were good, she also fried up a couple strips of bacon, so we were both full after them.

Then I went into the living room and read the paper and then the mail when it got here. By this time, it was time to start getting ready for my radiation treatment. We got to the office about 1250 and were leaving by 1310, so it does not take too long; it is just going there every day.

I wanted to stop by Circuit City to check on some computer stuff, did not find anything there, so we went to CompUSA and looked. We got there about 1430 and left about 2000. Kathleen found a new printer that she has been wanting to get for a while and the person who had helped us when we were there the last time is a business sales person, so he helped us set up a business account.

Before he came over, we had spent about an hour and a half talking to the Cannon representative about the different printers. Then the sales person came over and was able to get us a discount price and a matching price so that helped us decide to buy it at this time.

Well, he also was able to get us a good price on a 17" HP laptop that I had been looking at. I did not get to bring us home as I was getting a memory upgrade put in and also the techs are going to update all the software for me. I do get to pick it up tomorrow though. It is just as well as I am really too tired to do much with it tonight.

We were able to put it on a six months same as cash account, so that will enable us to spread the payments out over a few months. I also get two years of service, where they will replace the screen or battery if there is a problem in the next couple of years. I can also upgrade the software and hardware for just the price of the product, at a discounted price.

Anyway, we got home about 2045, we made a stop at Burger King, as Kathleen was too tired to do anything at home and I was too hungry to not stop. Anyway, we both had Jr. Whoppers, which more than filled me up and Kathleen could not finish the last bit or two.

Like I said it has been a long day, I am tired and Kathleen has gone upstairs to play with her new printer. Now seems like a good time to say good night!

Wet less Wednesday!

Aside from the fact that it was a little foggy this morning, this has been another really nice day, exceptionally nice when one realizes that this is January in Oregon!

Anyway, this morning after finishing the paper and the mail, I decided that I needed to take myself for a walk. I have not walked by myself in several weeks. When I walk with Reggie, he tends to stop often and I do not really get a good walk in. When I walk with Kathleen, I have to keep catching myself and slow down so that she can keep up.

I enjoy walking with Kathleen and even Reggie for that matter, but I do not do myself as much good as I need to. If I could do both, that would be great, but most of the time that just does not happen.

I got home from my walk in time to clean up, change into dressier shorts, and drink a glass of orange juice. I think that we spend more time in the waiting room than I actually do getting my radiation treatments. Part of that is because I am the first appointment after lunch, which is one reason that I chose that time. The wait probably would be even longer if it were at any other time.

Another motivation for choosing that time was that finding a place to park is a lot easier, because it is the lunch hour, there are not a lot of other patients there ahead of me. That plus the fact that they are doing some construction at the hospital and half the parking lot that use to be for patients is being used by the doctors.

Kathleen did not have any place to go after my appointment, so we just headed home. After changing my clothes again, I made myself a meatloaf sandwich on New York rye bread and had an orange for desert.

Well, we both have a meeting to go to at church tonight so I am doing this early, I just do not think that I will be much in the mood to do this after the meeting. Even if the meeting goes well, it is liable to be getting over late and my mind probably will not be as clear as it is now.

Well, so far this week I have not been feeling as fatigued as I had been, whether it has to do with the weather being nicer than it has been or whatever, I do not know. I am just glad to feel more like my normal self and not being so tired all the time.

I think I will check with Kathleen to see what she is planning for dinner, maybe the steak we bought yesterday. So I will sign off now with a good night!

Terrific Tuesday

Since we got another dozen eggs yesterday, I decided to make myself a couple of them along with some hash brown potatoes and sausages. I try to limit myself to eggs maybe once or twice a week, the rest of the time I usually have oatmeal and once a week or so I have raisin toast.

After finishing eating I did the hand washing, loaded up the dishwasher, and started it up. It is somewhat funny, as I had to wash the frying pan before I cooked my eggs and hash browns, then I washed it after I was done with it, and then since Kathleen made herself some eggs, hash browns and ham, I had to wash it again when she was finished with it.

Anyway, after finishing in the kitchen I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came just after I finished the paper, so I brought it in and opened it up. I think that I had four catalogs and all but my interest statement from the bank the rest was junk. Luckily today was the recycling day so I took it out and put it with the rest of the recycling.

After looking at a couple magazines, I went outside and cut some wood to size for my son, Aaron, so that they will have some real firewood to burn. After finishing what I had on the side of the house, I dug up a laurel bush that Kathleen had pointed out as being too close to the climbing roses that are along the west fence. While I was doing that I also noticed a holy bush that was about three feet tall that was growing in with another rose bush.

Since I had worked up a bit of a sweat, I decided that I had better go inside and get cleaned up for my radiation appointment. It makes it hard when the weather is so nice, to stop and clean up and change clothes in the middle of the day.

My appointment went well; I was only there about fifteen minutes today, which will probably be the norm. I even got to see the doctor. She asked if I was experiencing any problem with diarrhea and if I had to get up more in the middle of the night. Luckily I was able to say no to both of these.

She also asked how I was feeling in general, and I was glad to say that the last two days I have had more energy than I have had in the last couple of weeks. We left the doctor's office by 1311 and on our way home.

Once home, I stayed in my clothes as Kathleen has a doctor's appointment at 1545, so thought that I would just do some inside the house stuff. First I emptied the dishwasher and put things away, and then I made myself some lunch. I made some open-faced melted cheese and ham sandwiches. I used sharp cheddar on one and medium cheddar on the other.

I also had a couple oranges, to round the meal off. I did not want to do what I did yesterday and go too long before I had something to eat.

After Kathleen's doctor's appointment, we stopped by Fred Meyer's to pick up her prescriptions and picked up some grocery items. Kathleen bought a couple steaks; both together weighed less than a pound, which is more than we need for a meal. However, by the time we got home it was 1745, just in time for the "State of the Union" address.

Since Kathleen did not feel cooking like the steaks tonight, she put a couple Mexican frozen dinners, not quite steak, but okay occasionally. Kathleen headed upstairs right after dinner, so here I am listening to the president's speech and blogging.

Well, I know that I will not be doing anything too terribly exciting for the rest of the evening so I will just say good night.

Marvelous Monday

This morning was a pretty typical morning and after reading the paper, I did a load of towels. Then when Kathleen got up, I did a couple loads of laundry. While they were in the washer and dryer, I went outside and worked at pulling up some more of that annoying ivy.

The temperature was in the fifties today, quite a change from last week. Just about all the snow is gone, except for a little bit in some of the really shady areas. So with the nice weather and my feeling pretty good for a change, I though that I would take advantage of something that probably will not be happening too frequently over the next few months.

Anyway, I finished up about noon, so I went inside so that I could get cleaned up for my 1300 radiation appointment. I was only there for about a half hour again, so it does not take up a lot of time; it is just having to do it every day.

After my appointment, Kathleen and I stopped by the credit union to make another deposit. The credit union is only about a half mile from where I have my radiation, so it is pretty convenient.

We also stopped by Winco to do some grocery shopping. We were not out of much of anything, but we were getting low on a few items. I think it took about two hours to get through the store, but about twenty minutes or so of that time was visiting with another couple who happened to be shopping as well.

Since we did not get home until about 1600, I missed lunch, so I grabbed a few baby carrots and cut up some celery and put peanut butter on it. I knew that we would be eating around 1800, so I did not want to eat too much. Maybe if I do this every day I will be able to drop a few pounds.

Kathleen made some "hamburger" soup tonight; she thinks that I need to eat more protein. We did by several containers of soy tofu today, she does not like it, but I do, so maybe we will be adding some new items to our diets.

Well, I still do not feel as tired as I did last Friday or Saturday, which is a good thing. I just hope that I continue to feel as good as I did today, but I am not counting on it. Well, I think I will just say good night, as I do not envision anything exciting happening for the rest of the night.

Sleepy-time Sunday

This was pretty much like any other Sunday morning, church, Sunday School and then back home. I felt really tired by the time we got back home. Kathleen suggested that I take a nap, but I determined to read the paper before taking a nap.

Kathleen went upstairs and took a nap for a couple hours. Not only did I read the paper, but also I took the kitchen recycling out to the tumbler, vacuumed the downstairs, emptied the dishwasher, loaded it back up again and did the hand washing.

I thought about taking a nap, but I decided to read one of the books I checked out of the library the other day. I almost put it down a couple times, but kept at it and even finished reading it.

Then about 1700 I heated up some of the hash browns and ham that I brought home from the men's breakfast yesterday morning. I added about a half of a cup of hot salsa to the potatoes and reheated it.

Well, my mind is not as sharp as I would like it to be, and I cannot think of anything else to write about, so I will just say good night.

Slumbering Saturday

I was up early this morning, as I needed to get to church early to make breakfast for the men this morning. I certainly did not feel life getting up, but I had agreed to do the breakfast before I started this last round of treatment.

Breakfast attendance was down as the snow that had been melting yesterday had turned to black ice and the roads and the parking lot were just one big skating ring. I had not realized that the roads were slick as I had no trouble in the Wrangler, but once I stopped and got out of it in the parking lot, I soon discovered how slippery it was.

When I left the house, my driveway was pretty clear as I pushed the snow off it last Thursday, so that there was not any moisture to freeze. I also did not notice the roads being slick getting to church, but I did notice it in the parking lot, but was too tired to connect it with black ice.

After breakfast, I went home, read the mail and eventually got around to reading the paper. My little brother called and we talked for about an hour, and then I went into the kitchen and cut a piece of the apple crisp that Toni made for us last night and that was my lunch.

After that, I went outside to clean up after Reggie, about five days of not getting out there because of the snow. The back yard was mostly muddy and only a few spots of any snow left. The only place that there was much snow was the sled run that I had added extra snow for the granddaughters to sled down.

When I came back inside, I went back to my chair and sat down, but I could tell that I was struggling to stay awake, so I went upstairs and went to bed for a nap. Kathleen finally woke me up a little after 1800 and it took me about fifteen minutes to wake up and get myself out of bed.

Once awake enough, I made my way downstairs and decided that if I did not writ this now, it probably would not get written, so here I am. When I first got up, Kathleen asked if I wanted to eat anything, at the time, it did not appeal to me, but I must be waking up some more as I am starting to feel hungry.

I am not surprised, as I really only had breakfast today. Well, I think that last nights "orange chicken" that Toni made last night has been heated up and I feel like eating, so I will just say good night.

Friday Fun

Again, I thought that I would copy my CarePage to this so that I do not have to do it twice.

This morning started out pretty normally, although I put on my jeans on instead of shorts. I did it because I was going to my radiation appointment this morning and Kathleen does not like to see me going out in my shorts this time of year.

My appointment was for 1045 and we left the house at 1020 and got there about 1035. I cot called into the office about 1040 and was all finished by 1115.

They took more x-rays, drew more body art on my pelvic area, gave me my tattoos and did the first series or radiation.

They told me that I will start feeling fatigued, which should be interesting as I have felt more fatigued in the last few months than I can ever remember.

So far, this was much easier than what I went through Monday, but from what I understand, the process itself is relatively painless. The problem comes from the accumulation of the radiation.

I guess I can only live one day at a time and deal with whatever comes when it comes.

After my appointment, we stopped by the credit union to deposit a check and then we stopped by the Cingular office so that we could change our phone service. We went from a contract plan to a pay-as-you-go plan where we pay $.10 a minute and a dollar a day for the days that we use the phones. I calculated it out and it looks like we could save over $600.00 a year doing it this way.

We thought that we would give it a try; we can change to something else or another carrier at any time, as we do not have a contract that we have to wait until it expires to change if it does not work out for us.

After we finished up there we went to the library as both Kathleen and I had books on hold, and since the snow hit we had not had a chance to go out and get them. I had planned on going out to eat afterwards, but Kathleen was too tired, so we just went home.

I heated up the rest of the spaghetti from last night for lunch and then went into the living room and read the mail. Toni and Chucky came over tonight and brought us dinner. I am being called for desert, so I think that I will say good night.

Thawing Thursday

Well last night when I went to bed we still had about three inches of snow on the ground, this morning when I got up it was about 33 degrees out and only about two inches of snow. They even got around to putting gravel on the road either late last night or early this morning.

This morning was a pretty typical morning, except that Aaron called a little after 1000 and asked about bringing the girls over so that they could use our sled run, (something I made when our children were young).

I told him that the run was pretty devoid of snow, as Reggie uses it as a way up into the back part of the back yard, but that they were welcome to come on over. They got here about 1045 and the girls played with our "big doll house" for a while and then They both climbed up on my lap and wanted me to read to them, I think it was four books before I got up to stretch my legs, and they still wanted more.

Kathleen took the girls upstairs and they made some things on the sewing machine. Aaron and I talked for a while and went outside to look at some of the wood, (small trees and large branches) that I told him that they could have to burn in their fireplace.

I usually have more lying around than I know what to do with. In fact, most of the apple wood that I had pilled up several years about when I cut down one of our apple trees was pretty soft; the stuff on the bottom was pretty rotten.

Well, when the girls came back downstairs Aaron said that it was time to leave and get something to eat, but they still wanted to try to go sledding. So he got them dressed in their bibs, ski jackets, and got their sled out of their SUV. Just as I expected the snow was pretty thin on the run so I groomed the slop a little.

Actually, I just used the broom to move snow from one area that still had quite a bit of snow. After I did that they were each able to make several successful runs and seemed to enjoy themselves. It saved Aaron from going up to Mt Hood and letting them sled there. They probably go enough sledding in to satisfy their desire for a while.

After they left, I heated up some of the hash that I made for dinner last night and added a half cup of hot salsa to it for my lunch. After eating, I asked Kathleen if she still wanted to go to Costco, remember we were going to do that the other day, and she said that she did. So we took off.

We spent more time there than I had planned on, and spent over $200.00, but that is really easy to do. When we got home, Kathleen made some spaghetti for dinner, something hot and with tomato base is always a "good thing".

Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs and I will probably try to get to bed a little early tonight, as I have a radiation appointment tomorrow morning. With that said, I will say good night.

Wednesday's Winter Wonderland

This morning was pretty much like most mornings, a little colder than most and snow still on the ground, but pretty normal otherwise.

After doing the hand washing posts and pans, I cleaned the stove and made my winter standby oatmeal. Then went into the living room to read the paper, but the mail got here about the time I got into the living room, so I got it and opened it up. Most of it was junk mail, except for one of my Visa bills.

After taking care of the mail, I read the paper. Upon finishing the paper, I loaded the dishwasher and started it up. While working on my computer, it suddenly, went black and had shut itself off. I checked the surge protector and the power strip to make sure that they were functioning okay, and just to be sure I turned each one off and then back on again. Still nothing, so I turned the computer off and went upstairs to bring something to Kathleen.

Then went back downstairs and started to make dinner. Kathleen came downstairs and returned my computer on and it came up, although it did not come up properly, so I restarted it and it came back up the way it is suppose to. Computers...!?!?

Anyway, it seems to be working now, but who knows for how long. Anyway, for dinner I took the leftover ribs and de-boned them, shredded four potatoes, added some onion and garlic and fried everything in olive oil.

Kathleen had originally made the ribs with oregano and she did not like the flavor very much, so I thought that by mixing them with potatoes, onions and garlic, it would take away the strong oregano taste. I liked it, but Kathleen still was not wild about it.

Maybe because I added some hot salsa to mine to give it some extra piazza. Kathleen also heated up some organic roasted red pepper and tomato soup, again I liked it, but she did not. At least I got my daily quota of lycopene.

Kathleen and I went out side for a while today, she got all bundled up and I was in my shorts, tee shirt and garden clogs, she was cold and I was not. I could not have done that yesterday as I had a chill and could not seem to get rid of it.

Well, that is about all for today, so good night!

Tuesday Tundra

I finally got up about 0745, I had been laying there watching the snowfall on the skylight for about forty-five minutes and decided to get up. Once downstairs, I let Reggie out and went out myself. I still had my slippers on and was only dressed in my shorts and a tee shirt. Needless to say, I did not stay out too long.

Upon coming inside, I did my morning computer bonding and by the time I was finished it was about 0915. Kathleen had made it downstairs and asked if I wanted an omelet for breakfast, it sounded good, so that is what she made. I also toasted a couple slices of raisin toast and made a pot of fresh coffee.

Before I had a chance to sit down to eat, the garbage truck came, so I went out to pick up the can and bring it to the back. When I was outside the first time there was only about an inch of snow, but by now, it was closer to two inches. This for a day where on the 5:00 news on Monday night they were predicting a trace to at most a half an inch of snow we sure got a lot of snow, I think that the news tonight they said almost four inches.

After breakfast, I sat down to read the paper, Tuesday is not normally a very large paper, and today was no exception, so it did not take too long to page through it. The mail came shortly after I finished the paper, Kathleen got several things and I got my pension1099-R form and an LL Bean fishing catalog and some junk mail.

I went outside a couple other times this afternoon, again in shorts and a tee shirt, but this time I put on my rubberized garden clogs, as the snow was about three inches deep by now. I really did not do much of anything outside, just kind of walked around in the snow.

I gave some thought to getting either my cross-country skis or my snowshoes out and hiking around the neighborhood, but I really did not feel very good. I think I was still reeling from yesterday. So I wound up sitting most of the rest of the day, spending time between the TV and my computer. I also watched the kids, (twenty or thirty year olds), racing their ATV up and down the street all afternoon and into the night. Also the guy across the street was pulling kids, (teen and twenty year olds), down the road on an old car or truck hood.

Finally, around 1830 I asked Kathleen if she planned to eat tonight, she said yes, so I heated up the scalloped potatoes from last night, another comfort food night. Well, I am sure that I will not be doing much of anything else tonight, so I will just say good night!

Miserable Monday

Well, I think that I will include my CarePage here, just so that I do not have to rethink about it. I will probably add a little as I tried to keep the CarePage a little less personal.

Well, I made it through this morning! I got up a little early, as I knew that I needed to get to my 0900 appointment a little early to finish some paperwork.

When I went upstairs about 0815 to change clothes, Kathleen was still asleep, so I changed clothes and let Reggie out and then took off in my Wrangler. That way if Kathleen did wake up and wanted to she could meet me at the hospital.

Anyway, I got there early and started filling out my paperwork when they bought me my first of three complementary barium shakes. Shortly after I finished my first one and finished my paperwork, they brought me my second, yummy!

Kathleen had called a little after 0900 and said that she would be joining me when she got dressed and ready to go out. Before she arrived, I had the first of the many procedures that they were to perform this morning.

I got to change into a sporty hospital gown and then the doctor, a radiation therapy technologist and an inter from OSHU (all females) got me up on a table and then placed a catheter up into my bladder and then injected a fluid into it as the doctor pulled the tube out and then clamped me to keep the fluid in. Lots of fun!

Next I got to get some x-rays taken, but before I was finished there, they marked three spots on my body, which next Friday they will tattoo, so that they can align the radiation to the same spot each time.

Then I got to slip out of my hospital gown and put on my clothes once again. I got to sit in the inside waiting room and even got another complementary barium shake as a reward for...well, I am not sure what, but when I find out I will do my best not to do it again!

Kathleen arrived shortly after I got back and just before I got my third shake that is 1350ml's. After another wait, they called me to go to get my CT scan. After I arrived, I got to get an IV, no problem, except it took three tries and two people to do it, I felt a little like a pincushion.

Once up on the table and into position, the injected some more fluid into the IV and then proceeded to do the scan. Not nearly as bad as the other things that I had been through this morning. Other than the trouble that they had getting the IV in, the rest was a piece of cake.

They did mention that diarrhea is a side effect of some of what I went through this morning, boy that was an understatement...I am in double digits and it is only 1700, I just barely made it a couple times. I get really bad cramps and then I better start making tracks to the bathroom. This has really been a fun filled day!

I go back Friday for the start of my radiation treatments, and I hope to have a little more information at that time. I got home about noon and Kathleen went to Joann's to do some shopping and got home about 1530. We were going to go to Costco, but I do not think that would have been a wise thing for me to go, there is always tomorrow.

I made myself a meatloaf sandwich and had a can of beets for lunch, which was before all the bathroom fun began. I think I have made a bathroom trip at least once every half hour since about 1400, including a couple times just in the time it took to write this, and it is not from drinking all the water that I have been drinking this afternoon.

Well, Kathleen made some scalloped potatoes tonight, kind of a comfort food, I am not hungry yet, but I will be in a little while. I doubt if I will feel like sitting here after dinner, I have been doing a lot of sitting this afternoon and it actually feels better to stand. I think I will be going to bed really early tonight, today seemed to take quite a bit out of me in more ways than one, so I will say my good nights now.

Sleepy Sunday

This started out to be a rather normal Sunday morning. Although when I went upstairs after eating breakfast, Kathleen was still in bed. When I asked her if she were planning to go this morning, she did not look like she would and she even said that she was still tired.

I changed clothes, interpretation... I put on long pants and a sweater, and went downstairs, loaded the dishwasher and started it up. Then I took off for church, since Kathleen did not look like she would even make it to Sunday School this morning I took her SUV. I was too lazy to go through the hassle of getting my Wrangler out of the garage.

Since the Acura was just about out of gas, after church and Sunday School, I went to the gas station and filled it up. I did not think that it was that long, but it was almost a month since I bought gas for it. The Wrangler, I only get gas about every other month or so.

When I finally got home, Kathleen was still upstairs, so I changed clothes again...shorts and a tee shirt, and came back downstairs and heated up the leftover rice and chili for my lunch. Then I read the paper.

I had forgotten that I had washed the dishes, so when I realized it I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the sink. Then I noticed that the kitchen recycling was getting pretty full again, so I took it out and put it into the compost tumbler.

I was feeling tired, but I decided that I needed to go through the coupons and cut out what I thought we might use. Then I just kind of vegetated and watched a couple football games.

About mid afternoon, Kathleen asked if I wanted some soup, I was still a little hungry, so I said yes. She made some chicken noodle soup and on a cool day like this, it hit the spot. Well, it is getting close to time for supper, I think grilled cheese sandwiches and some more soup sounds good.

Well, I am too tired to think about anything else to write, so I think that I will end this. Oh, one last thing, I do have that appointment tomorrow to be scanned. That is supposed to take a couple three hours, so I probably will not feel like doing too much after that.

I was hoping to go to the credit union to deposit an insurance check and to the library to pick up a fly tying video, but tomorrow being Martin Luther King Day, I think that those places will be closed. Well, good night!

Saturday Soaps

Well, this morning I got off to a rather slow start. When I finally drug myself out of bed and went downstairs to do my morning computer time, I found out that the computer and phone were not working. The cable TV was working but not the cable broadband or computer phone.

I called the cable company on my cell phone around 0845 and after playing the push the buttons game, I finally got to talk to a real live person. They finally were able to let me know that there was a problem in the area and they had no estimated time of completion. So I decided to make myself some breakfast.

I took some of the ribs and took the meat off it, added some chopped onions, added some chopped garlic, shredded a potato and fried them up. When they were done, I fried a couple eggs. It must have smelled pretty good as Kathleen came down shortly afterwards and asked what I had made. I think it was the onion and garlic combination that produced the good aroma. I like using a lot of onion and garlic when I cook.

Kathleen made herself some hash browns and eggs as well. Since we could not do anything on the computer I decided to strip the bed and wash the bed linen, after that I did four loads of regular laundry, washed, dried, folded and put away.

I was getting tired of picking up the phone to see if it was working yet or not, so I called Comcast and took the option to get called when the system was back up. About 1500 I got a phone call from Dan's father so I knew that the lines must be working. I finally got a chance to check my e-mail.

I quartered an orange, an apple and peeled a banana for lunch. I just vacuumed yesterday, but I could see a lot of Reggie fur on the burgundy rug, so I decided that I had better vacuum again. It seems sometimes he just sheds like crazy and other days not so much.

Luckily, it was Saturday, so there was not a lot of e-mail, but since I do my devotions online and also my Bible reading, I could get that done as well. Of course, if worse came to worse, I could always do it the old fashion way and use my Bible and do my devotions with my computer Bible program, but I have gotten so spoiled.

Anyway, for dinner it just felt like a chili night, so we used some of the left over rice and put chili on top. I had one bowl and started to eat another one, but I decided that I was full enough and did not need to stuff myself.

Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs and I will probably finish this up, watch a little TV, then go upstairs, take a shower, and enjoy those nice crisp sheets. So good night!

Friday's Freeze

Well, it never really warmed up today. It only got up to about 35 degrees today, so most of the snow that fell Wednesday night is still on the lawn, at least the front lawn. The back yard only had snow in the areas where there is shade, the rest of the lawn is clear of snow.

When I went out this morning to take the kitchen recycling out to the recycling tumbler the ground was so frozen that I could feel it on the soles of my feet through my sandals. I also picked up after Reggie while I was out there, which was interesting as most of it was frozen to the ground.

It is cold enough that I gave some thought to putting on some long pants and a shirt other than a tee shirt. It quickly passed though, and once back in the house I was fine again. Kathleen on the other hand was wrapped up in a blanket and was still cold.

Oh, I forgot to mention that when I was at my doctor’s appointment yesterday, I had my blood pressure taken, normally when ever I am at a doctor’s office my blood pressure is on the high side. So I was pleased that it was 130/80, not necessarily great, but not bad for me.

Kathleen juiced some carrots, onions, cabbage and apples, and I had that as an afternoon snack. Normally I have some carrot slice, and quarter either an orange or an apple for a mid afternoon snack. The juice was easier to get more fruits and vegetables, but I enjoy chewing the different ones, although I do not usually eat that many different types.

I spent most of the afternoon paying bills online, reconciling the checkbook and trying to figure out a cheaper way to do our cell phones. I think that I can save about $600 a year by going to a pay as you go phone plan.

Kathleen helped sort out the 2006 bill statements so now I can and did put the 2007 bills statements into the file where I keep them. We also separated out the tax deductible items for when I do the taxes. I have the current Turbo Tax, I am just waiting on getting my tax forms from the various places so that I can begin doing the taxes.

Tonight, we had some of the left over ribs and Kathleen made some more rice for dinner. Kathleen just went upstairs so I guess that I will be down here by myself for the rest of the night. That being said, I probably will not be getting into any more trouble, so I will just say good night.

Tracing Thursday

Well to start with, we got a small amount of snow last night around 1830, it did not snow very long, but it made for a bright night. Then when I got up this morning the snow was still there. I needed to eat and get to the radiation oncologist office for a 0930 appointment.

Kathleen came with me, so that she could take notes. The drive there was interesting as there was still a lot of snow and the roads were icy in a few spots. Anyway I went into more detail in my CarePage so I will not repeat it here.

After the doctor's visit, Kathleen wanted to stop by the library to pick up some books she had on hold, so we headed off to the library. While we were there I renewed my library card, but I did not want to take the time to look for any books. I did do a little browsing, but nothing popped out at me, so we took off.

I also needed to pick up a couple of flood lights, as the ones on the garage had burnt out earlier in the week. One burnt out last week and the second one burnt out Tuesday, so it was pretty dark in the driveway and Kathleen likes lots of light.

I got a couple bulbs that were pretty low wattage, but I wanted to try to see if they would produce enough light for Kathleen. I thought that they put off enough light, so it will be interesting to see what Kathleen thinks when she gets home tonight from her meeting.

After stopping off at BiMart for the bulbs Kathleen said that she was hungry, so we stopped at Shari's and had an honored citizens fish and shrimp dinner. Neither one of us could finish our dinners so we brought them home and finished them off for dinner. Kathleen also wanted some Bushes baked beans so we had that as well tonight.

After we finally got back home, I read the mail and then the paper. There really was not much in the mail, a couple bills, and another insurance check. I just put the last couple of checks into the credit union account. It seems like whenever I make a deposit within a couple days, I get another check.

Well, Kathleen had a 1900 meeting tonight, I was also suppose to be at another meeting, but I was too tired and decided not to go to my meeting. So her I sit blogging. Well, I think that is all for tonight, so good night!

Working Wednesday

This morning I got up about 0700 as Kathleen had said that she was setting her alarm at 0700 so that she could get up and go with Andrea to get her ultrasound at 0900. I wanted to make sure that I was not in the way, so I went downstairs, let Reggie out and did my computer stuff.

When I finished that, I went upstairs to make sure Kathleen had gotten up, she had so I went back downstairs and started to do a little kitchen clean up. Kathleen came down and made herself some oatmeal, so I waited until she finished and than made some for myself. Andrea arrived before I finished and she and sat and watched me finish. I had found the cards that I had bought for the December birthdays and so we gave Andrea her card.

After we all were done, I loaded up all the dishes I could into the dishwasher and started it up. Then I did all the hand washing stuff in the sink. Kathleen and Andrea took off about 0830, as they were not quiet sure exactly where the place was.

I went in and read the paper and shortly after I finished the paper, the mail arrived. Kathleen and Andrea got back while I was still reading the paper. Andrea had gotten some mail so I gave it to her.

Andrea left about 1045, as she needed to go home, take a nap, and then leave for work later this afternoon. Kathleen lay down on the couch and took a nap, so I went outside to do some yard work. I was planning to pull up some more ivy, but when I got out there I thought that it might be a better use of my time if I cut the old raspberry canes out.

Well, I got about half way done, I got side tracked a little as I also transplanted several raspberry plants and cut down a small tree and dug the stomp out. So by the time I got my extra curricular work done I was pretty tired.

It was after 1330 by the time I came in and got cleaned up and I was feeling like I needed to eat something. So I made myself some toast pizza, I used a multi grain bread, toasted it, added some ketchup, Italian seasoning and cheddar cheese. Then I melted the cheese in the microwave. Not too bad for a quick meal. I quartered an orange to top the meal off.

After eating I unloaded the dishwasher and put the items that did not make it into the dishwasher before I started it up this morning. Knowing that Kathleen was not feeling too well, I took out some the meatloaf, from a few weeks ago, out of the freezer for dinner tonight.

We are suppose to be going to church at 1900 for a budget meeting tonight, so we will need to eat and leave early and not have to worry about what to make.

I noticed that the area rug was starting to look more like a white Reggie fur rug than a burgundy colored rug, so I vacuumed the downstairs carpeting.

Well, I think that I will just send this off now, as I doubt if I will feel much like it after the budget meeting. So good night!

Tuesday's Tracking

I did not get up until almost 0830, I probably could have slept longer, but I was awake and knew that Reggie needed to get outside. I made some raisin toast, put peanut butter and a banana on it made a cup of tea and was satisfied.

After breakfast, I read the paper and after finishing it, I took it out front to put in the recycling tote. Kathleen came downstairs and was not feeling well. She finished cutting out the coupons that I left for her to look at, as we were going to go to the credit union and grocery store today.

It was getting to be afternoon and I knew that I should eat something before we went shopping, so I quartered an orange and grabbed some carrots and called that lunch. I let Reggie out one more time and we were off to take care of some errands.

First, we stopped at Montivilla Sewing Center, as Kathleen wanted to pick up her monthly disk and whatever else she gets. Then off to the credit union, while I made the deposits, Kathleen went to the Cingular store to check on the different plans available now.

We are paying too much for our service and want to either get the pay as you go phones or get a different play. We did not make any decision, but I picked up some of their brochures so that I could sit down and calculate out which option would be less expensive and meet our needs better.

Next stop was Winco to do our grocery shopping, I had about eight things on our list, but we wound up with a cart full of things. Since Kathleen was not feeling well, I picked up a couple frozen lasagnas, I got her one with meat and I got mine with soy. Then home to unload the SUV and put everything away.

Kathleen had gotten some chocolate, so when we got everything put away she melted the chocolate and finished making the almond roca that she started the other day. I heated up the lasagna and then we had dinner as she was finishing up the roca.

Kathleen has gone upstairs now and here I am doing my blog. Kathleen has to get her annual report done for tomorrow. I am still tired so I imagine that it will be another early night, so I will just say good night now.

Misty Monday

This morning when I woke up as I lay in bed, I could hear kind of a muffled sound on the skylight in our bedroom and I thought, could this possible be snow. So I got up and looked out the window...no snow, but the ground was wet, nothing unusual for this time of year.

When I went downstairs and let Reggie out, I noticed that there was a very light mist and I decided that what I had heard in the bedroom was an occasional dripping off the fir trees and the accumulation of mist got heavy enough on the fir branches to finally fall off. I guess that we will have an opportunity to see some snow later this week.

The temperature was in the high forties early this morning and eventually got into the fifties, so it was too warm to actually snow, but one can dream. Anyway, that was the extent of the excitement for me to day.

I made myself some oatmeal this morning for breakfast, and then emptied the dishwasher and did some more hand washing of the crock-pot and frying pan. Then I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came before I finished the paper, so I went and got it, but there was nothing there of any importance. Both Kathleen and I got credit card applications, which we promptly shredded. The rest went into the recycling bag.

After finishing the mail and the paper, I gathered up all the recycling paper and got it ready to be recycled tomorrow. Then I took the plastic bottles and metal recycling out to the front and also brought up the garbage can.

While I was out there, I decided to rake the front of the driveway because I had noticed that during a couple of the heavy rains over the last couple of weeks that the water was collecting in certain areas. I was trying to remove those areas and keep the water flowing down the street.

About 1300 I decided to make myself some lunch, so I took the hash browns and the egg whites that Kathleen had left over from her breakfast, heated up a couple sausages, and had that for lunch. Afterwards finishing eating, I cleaned up the pots and pans that had gathered and put the dishes into the dishwasher.

Kathleen called the radiation office today to find out about my appointment. I was planning on waiting until Wednesday, but I am glad that she called and we were able to make an appointment for Thursday. So hopefully I will find out more about what is going to happen at that time.

I think that we are going to have the leftover spaghetti squash from the other night for dinner. I am watching the Ohio State championship game tonight so I am writing this a little early.

Sleepy Sunday

This was a pretty typical Sunday morning, with church and Sunday School and that is where it stopped being "normal". I had a meeting after Sunday School with the missions team that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. Then the couple that I worked on their computer last week invited us out to dinner.

We went to Sweet Tomato and had a very nice lunch, and we talked for quite a while afterwards. Then after when we got home, I changed clothes, came back downstairs, and read the paper. After reading the paper and recycling it, I sat back down and Linda, our sister-in-law called.

Well, I had been dozing off and on for most of the call and finally knocked out completely. Kathleen and Linda got a big laugh out of it and I got a little catnap. I am still pretty tired, but I do feel a little more awake than I was.

Kathleen reheated the ribs and rice from the other night for dinner. After dinner, I emptied the dishwasher, loaded it up again, started it up and then did the hand washing. I had not done any hand washing for a couple days and the sink was overflowing.

Kathleen has gone upstairs now and I am on my computer doing my blog. I think that this will be another early night. I have been really tired for the last couple of weeks. I am glad that I was able to postpone my jury duty this next week.

I am not sure how I would be able to get up at 0530 and to be able to make the bus and Max connections to get to the courthouse by 0730. So, I will just say my good night now.

Settling in Saturday

Today started out much the same as any other day, I did have to get ready to go to a Discipleship meeting at church at 0900 this morning, but just about everything else was pretty normal.

The meeting lasted quite a lot longer than they normally do, and after the meeting Pastor Brian wanted me to show him how to do something on the computer so that took a while as well. I finally made it home about noontime.

Some one had thrown a fast food bag and a couple drinks out in the road near our driveway, I tried to pick it up, but the bag was so wet that it just fell apart. So I went into the house, got a plastic bag, went back out, picked it up, and put it into the garbage can.

Shortly after I got home and changed my clothes, my mother called and I talked to her for a while and then my sister got on the phone and we talked a while longer. By the time we finally hung up we had been on the phone for almost an hour and a half.

I fixed myself a sardine sandwich for lunch and heated up a couple cinnamon rolls to top it all off. Then I went into the living room and read the mail. I think most of it wound up in the recycling. Then I tackled the paper and after finishing the paper, I pretty much vegetated in my chair the rest of the afternoon.

Kathleen made some spaghetti squash for dinner, with some spaghetti sauce on it, it really tasted good. I settled for one helping and then had an orange for desert.

Well, I am more tired than I should be tonight, but I am tired nonetheless, so I think that I will just say good night.

Friday’s Fretfulness

This has not been the best day of my life. I got up early as I had my quarterly post surgery appointment this morning. I felt pretty good as I went about my morning, I had oatmeal with raisins, a banana, wheat germ, molasses, maple syrup and "Go Lean Crunch", and I even made a fresh pot of coffee. I left for the doctor's office early as I thought that I might have to fill out new paperwork, I did not, but I got there early, just in case.

I even got into see the nurse about 0900, my appointment time, for a blood draw and urine sample. Then back to the waiting room for another twenty-minute wait. Then I was called again, this time I got to see the doctor's assistant. The nurse hen she brought me into the room said that my urine sample was good.

That made me feel pretty good, but about ten minutes later the doctor's assistant came in and said that my PSA levels were higher than they should have been and that the doctor would be in to see me in a little bit.

Twenty minutes later the doctor, the one who preformed the surgery last June, came in and told me that there could be a couple possibilities as to why it was elevated, one he said was very unlikely and another he said my body could be producing PSA from some other source, again, probably not too likely.

The third possibility was that there is still some cancer there that was not detected last June. Since the last two times that I have had my PSA checked, it has gone up each time by .1. So it is now about three times what it was last June, right after my surgery.

He recommended that I undergo radiation therapy and gave me the name of a radiation oncologist that he recommended., so when I got done seeing him I went down to the first floor and talked to the folks at the radiation oncology office.

I could not set up an appointment at the time, as they wanted to get my files from the hospital, on the surgery, and from my urologist, who did the surgery and has been treating me since. They did give me several forms to fill out and bring back with me when I have my consultation appointment.

After leaving the hospital, I stopped at Fred Meyer to purchase some TriMet/Max tickets, as I was scheduled for jury duty next week. Then I headed home.

The mail was hanging out of the mailbox when I got to the front door, so I picked it up and set it on the piano. Kathleen was in the living room, so I told her about my morning and then I went upstairs and changed clothes.

Once back downstairs, I opened up the mail, most of it this time was something that I wanted to look at. Most of it still wound up in the recycling, but there were a few items, a fly-fishing catalog and a discount Christian book catalog, that I kept.

I spent quite a lot of time this afternoon canceling some obligations that I had made, as once the radiation begins I probably will be pretty limited in what I am able to do. I also decided to see if I would be able to postpone my jury duty, they usually require a weeks notification, but since my circumstances were a little out of the ordinary, they have rescheduled me for June.

Somewhere and sometime this afternoon I decided that I needed to eat something, since we were out of leftovers, I toasted some raisin bread and smeared some limburger cheese on it and poured myself an other cup of coffee.

I finally got to read the paper about 1600, for some reason I just did not feel the need to read it any earlier. Kathleen had slow cooked some ribs today and then made some rice, so that is what we had for dinner tonight.

She is upstairs now and I am pretty tired, mostly emotionally, so I think that I will say good night.

Thursday's Travels

I got up a little early this morning, as I needed to leave a little after 0800 for breakfast with my accountability group. We had a good breakfast and fellowship, there were four of us there for breakfast and the other one joined us afterwards.

After finishing breakfast, three of us headed out to seem one of our friends who is undergoing a gamma knife procedure tomorrow morning. We also visited him last month when he was originally scheduled for this procedure, but had to be canceled due to insurance not okaying the procedure in time.

After our visit, the other two took off in one vehicle and I took off in my Wrangler because I needed to stop by the credit union to deposit a couple checks. So after taking care of the checks I called the folks that I had worked on their computer last week to check to make sure that they would be home.

They were planning to be home, so I stopped by on my way home and fixed their computer again. It only took about five minutes and I was on my way again. When I got home, the mail was there and there were a couple more checks, for some reason as soon as I deposit checks, there almost always seem to be more checks in the mail either that day or the next.

There really was not much else in the mail other than my Visa bill; I think that the rest of it was destined for the recycling. After taking care of the mail, I read the paper, as I did not take time to read it this morning.

I was starting to get a little hungry, so I took the rest of the leftover turkey soup out of the refrigerator, heated it up and added son nutmeg. There was just a soup cup left, but it was all that I needed. Afterwards I washed the pot that Kathleen had used to cook the ham and bean soup the other night. Kathleen had put the remainder into a couple bags and put them into the freezer.

Afterwards while I was sitting in the living room Kathleen mentioned that the bouquets that I had gotten her before Christmas were looking like they needed to be taken out, so I gathered them up and put the flowers and the greenery into the yard debris can. Then I washed out the vases and put them back on the shelf.

Tonight we had some more of the ham and bean soup, I added some hot sauce and it really gave it a good flavor. Well, Kathleen is back upstairs on her computer and I think that I will call it a day and say good night for now.

Wet Wednesday

I got up a little earlier this morning; I think I just was tired of listening to the rain on the sky light. At least on the main floor the rain is not as noisy. I let Reggie out and if he did not have to go so badly, I think that he would have stayed inside.

After my morning computer time, I made some oatmeal; I heated up a couple cinnamon rolls and coffee. After eating and depositing the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, I poured another cup of coffee and went into the living room to read the paper.

The mail came while I was still reading the paper, but I waited until I finished the paper to get the mail. I thin that I had four magazines, three catalogs and four pieces of junk mail. For not having mail service for three days, I was surprised that that is all the mail that there was.

Andrea called and said that she was coming over; she got here about 1130 and stayed until about 1600. Kathleen and I had planned to go to the credit union, as we have several insurance refund checks to deposit. I have had some of those checks for a couple weeks, so I guess that another day or two will not make much difference.

The rain stopped for a little while, so I went outside and transplanted another shrub and pulled some weeds. I am hoping to have the weeding pretty much under control come springtime, but somehow the weeds just seem to come out of nowhere and it takes a couple weeks to get the gardens looking presentable. At least this time of year the weeds pull up easily.

Kathleen soaked some beans last night and this morning she added the leftover Christmas ham, so we had bean and ham soup tonight with a couple cinnamon rolls to top it off. Well Kathleen is reformatting her external hard drive and is slightly bored. I think that I have pretty much covered my day, so I will say good night for now.

Catch-up Tuesday

I got up a little before 0800 this morning and after my normal routine, I went into the kitchen. I emptied the dishwasher, then reloaded it with the pans and cooling racks from the cinnamon rolls, and started it up again. Then I heated up a couple cinnamon rolls and made a pot of coffee for breakfast.

After eating, I gathered up the towels, loaded the washing machine, and started it up. Then I brought the rest of the laundry down and when the towels finished I put them into the dryer and then did two more loads of clothes. When they dried, I folded and put everything away.

Then I went downstairs again and read the paper. It was a pretty slim news day, with yesterday being New Years Day, and then I added the paper to the recycling bag. By this time the second load of dishes was done, so I put them away.

I heated up a cup of the left over turkey soup and some cinnamon rolls for lunch and then loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. I thought about sitting down in the living room for a while, but I just saw too many things that needed doing.

Since it had been a couple days since I vacuumed, I decided to vacuum, the stairs, the upstairs and the downstairs. Then I decided that I would go outside so that I could transplant a couple shrubs that were growing in areas that I did not want them. I took advantage of a few minutes when the rain had slowed down or stopped.

Speaking of weather, the news just said that it was 58 degrees today. Last night the temperature started out in the forties and before morning, it was in the low fifties. It is hard to believe that it is the first part of January.

As I was sitting in the living room, I noticed several "stacks", so I decided to go through them, sort out, and throw away. I managed to throw out quite a lot of "stuff" and put where they belonged most of everything else. There is still a lot to do, but I went through what was mine and what I knew I could do something about.

Kathleen heated up a couple cans of corn beef hash for dinner. I am not sure why, but I can eat hash just about anytime. Well, tonight looks like another quiet night, I probably will be hitting the sack early as I am tired so I will just say good night!

Happy New Year!

Well, this will be a short one today, I got up about the same time as I have been lately and after spending some time on the computer I had a quartered an apple, an orange, a banana and had a couple left over scones that Kathleen made the other day for breakfast.

Then I cleaned up the pans that Kathleen made the cinnamon rolls in last night. Then I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. After reading the paper, I decided to go outside while it was still fairly nice out and cut down a butterfly "tree" and dig out a couple of blackberry bushes that I had noticed the other day.

Before I got finished, it had started to rain, so I finished chopping up the branches that I had fallen and decided to stop for the day. Kathleen was up when I got inside and was putting the finishing touches on the cinnamon rolls and then went upstairs to get ready to go.

So I went upstairs, cleaned up, and even put on some long pants. It is not that it was that cold, but everyone seems to feel cold when I am wearing shorts. We arrived at Aerts a little before noon and were the first ones there; usually we are one of the last ones to get there.

We all had a good time and finally left about 1800, I was more than ready to go, but Kathleen was in the middle of a card game and I guess that it took longer than they thought.

Well, I am too tired to get into any mischief tonight, so I will just say good night for now!

Sunny Sunday

This was a pretty normal Sunday morning, Kathleen's alarm went off at 0700, I got up, and she did not. I made a couple pieces of raisin toast with peanut butter and all fruit on them. I also had a cup of coffee and a half-cup of mango/lime juice. When I finished I cleaned up some of the dishes from last night and put them into the dishwasher.

Then I went upstairs to see if Kathleen was going to make it to Church this morning. She was still in bed and still did not feel too well. So I got dressed and went to church by myself. It was our worship leaders last Sunday, and he spoke as well. After Sunday School, I went home and Kathleen was up and on her computer.

I changed clothes and asked her if she wanted that creamed chipped beef from last night and she said no, so I heated it up and toasted some toast. I had to add a little water to the sauce as there was not a lot left and it was pretty thick. I added some cayenne pepper powder and Tabasco sauce and it tasted as good as it did last night.

Then I went into the living room, read the paper, and turned on a couple football games. About 1400 I decided that I wanted to take a walk, as it was a bright sunny day and I had not done it lately.

I went upstairs and told Kathleen that I was going to take a walk, and she said that I wanted to go as well. So we both go a walk in, we even took Reggie, so the walk was a little slower and a little shorter than I had planned on, but it was good to get out and get some fresh air and move the body.

I could tell afterwards as my hips were really bothering me about two hours afterwards. Shortly after we got back from our walk, Kathleen asked me to bring up a container of Thanksgiving turkey soup, so I did. So that is what we had for dinner, there was about enough left over for another meal out of that container and there is still one more container in the freezer downstairs.

Kathleen has been making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow’s fellowship time with our Sunday School class tomorrow. Our class has been getting together New Years Day for many years and it is always a good time.

Well, I think that is all that I can think of for tonight. I do not think that I will be staying up to see the New Year in, so I will say Happy New Year and good night.

Saturday Shopping... Groceries that is

Well, so much for my experiment of getting up early. This morning I got up shortly after 0800 and slowly made it downstairs. After my usual computer time, I went into the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher, and then made some raisin toast. I reheated the left over coffee from yesterday, cleaned out the coffee carafe and made another pot of coffee.

When the toast finished, I put on some butter, peanut butter and Smucker's all fruit. After I finished breakfast, I put the dishes that were in the sink into the dishwasher and then went into the living room to read the paper.

Just before I sat down the mail came so I got it and all but a check from the medical insurance for Kathleen's medication was junk mail. After finishing the paper, I recycled the mail and the paper and then took the recycling bag out to the garage to go out with the recycling on the next recycling day.

It was a pretty nice day, the sun was shining very brightly, it was chilly, but really nice. So I went outside, picked up after Reggie, and did some weeding. I am trying to make it easier for the spring when the weeds do not need much to overtake the garden.

After cleaning up, I went up stairs to see if Kathleen had planned to go grocery shopping today, and she said that she would. So I went back downstairs and watched one of the bowl games. It was getting past lunch time so I figured that if we were going shopping I did not want to do it on a hungry stomach, I tend to buy a lot of things that we do not really need and often are not too healthy.

I wound up making a ham and toasted grill cheese sandwich, then I went back to watching the game. Kathleen came downstairs a little after 1400; I had just about given up going shopping again today. So I went upstairs and changed my clothes, when I got downstairs, Kathleen was just finishing drying her hair. I mead Reggie a little treat, something I do when we leave him for any length of time, and then brought him in from the back yard.

We finally took off and did our shopping; we even managed not to buy too much that was not on my shopping list of what we needed. We finally got back home about 1630, and put the groceries away. Kathleen asked if I wanted creamed chipped beef on toast for dinner tonight, since we had not had that in a while I said sure!

Neither one of us ate a lot, Kathleen made six pieces of toast and there were two pieces left over when we finished eating. Kathleen has gone upstairs and I am here doing my blog. Since I do not think that I will be doing anything exciting tonight, I will just say good night now.

?Friday?

Well, today was anything but ordinary. I have been waking up about 0330, tossing and turning until about 0600, then falling asleep until about 0800 or 0830. This morning I decided to get up at 0600 and see if that would make much of a difference.

It was much darker outside, and Reggie was not sure what was going on, but he was glad to get to go outside. Anyway, after my morning computer ritual, I went into the kitchen and finished washing a pan that I had left soaking last night to try to get some of the burnt on residue loosened up so that I could get it clean. Then I gathered up all the rest of the things I could find to put into the dishwasher.

I had not had eggs yet this week, so I took out a couple eggs, sliced up some summer sausage and toasted some raisin bread. While that was cooking, I poured myself some coffee. After finishing breakfast, I put the remaining dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on. Since the pan I used to cook the eggs and sausage was cool by now, I washed it as well.

Then I poured myself some more coffee and headed into the living room to read the paper. It did not take too long to read, as there was not a lot of anything interesting. For some strange reason the mail had been getting here around 0930 all week, but today it had not.

I was suppose to be getting together with my accountability group this morning at 1100, so I did not want to get into anything, so I just kind of paced. Kathleen had come downstairs and was making herself breakfast and the mail finally arrived about 1030.

There was not really much of anything there; probably the only thing I kept was my American Express bill. Kathleen did get a few things as well, and I looked over my Arthritis magazine quickly as I need to leave by 1045.

We met this morning for pizza and to watch the Oregon State Beavers beat Missouri in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. It was a good game and we, only three of the five of us were there but those of us there had a good time of fellowship and food.

I got home about 1515 and expected that we would be going grocery shopping. Kathleen was still in her robe and said that she needed to take a shower, but she lay down on the couch and took a nap instead. She has said that she did not feel well, and she certainly does not look like she feels very well.

Anyway, we did not make it grocery shopping another day, maybe tomorrow! Kathleen was going to fix me some clam chowder, but I still did not feel hungry, so I told her not to bother. I probably will pop some pop corn later tonight and call that supper. I can afford to miss a meal every now and again.

Well, this should be another quiet evening, so I will say good night.

Just Thursday

I am not sure why I slept in until about 0830 this morning as I went to bed about 2100, but I did. Anyway, after letting Reggie out and cleaning up the kitchen some more, I made myself some raisin toast with peanut butter and Smucker's all fruit. I used some blackberry and some apricot.

After I finished eating the mail had come so I went and got it. There was a medical insurance statement for Kathleen's doctor's appointment and a new statement from Boeing on my monthly pension amount for next year. The rest of it was junk and was quickly deposited in the recycling bag. While I was in the back porch, I decided to gather up all the plastic bags so that we could take them to the grocery store when we went there today. Most of the grocery stores have a place to recycle used plastic bags.

Then I sat down in the living room and read the paper. When I finished the paper, I recycled it as well. I downloaded a couple of updated programs on my computer which took about an hour and a half, a lot longer than I thought it would and by this time I was thinking about lunch.

I had mixed the baked beans, chili and rice from yesterday last night, so I added some water and microwaved it. There was not a lot, but I decided to just have that as it was after 1400 and I did not want to be stuffed when we went shopping.

Shortly after that, Kathleen came down and said that her stomach was not feeling well and that she was going to take a nap. About 1715, I went upstairs and Kathleen said that she would come up with something for dinner.

At 1800, I decided to make something for myself, since we bought a loaf of bread yesterday, I decided to toast it and add some salsa, summer sausage, Italian seasoning and cheese and then toast it again to melt the cheese. Not bad for making something out of nothing.

Well, it looks to be another quiet night; most of them are nowadays, so I think that I will say my good night now.

Wednesday Wandeings

Today was more or less back to "normal", whatever that really is. After doing my computer thing, I unloaded the dishwasher and scrubbed a couple of pots and pans The mail came as I was finishing up cleaning the kitchen so I went and got it. There was not really anything there and most of it just went to the recycling.

I thought about making some eggs for breakfast again, but decided on the more healthy oatmeal. I also heated up the remainder of the coffee I made yesterday while I made a fresh pot for today.

Since I had the kitchen somewhat clean, I decided that I would shake out the area rugs, sweep the floor and mop it. That made the rest of the downstairs look worse, so I vacuumed the downstairs carpeting.

The garbage truck picked up our trash as I was vacuuming, so I went out to the front to get the empty can and bring it to the back. When I got out there, I noticed that there was a bag of trash, a couple houses down that was in the middle of the street and it was starting to loose its contents, so I went over and gathered up the trash and put it into my empty can. I think that is the fastest that I have ever gotten trash back into our empty can.

Now I could sit down and read the paper. After finishing the paper and recycling it, I took the eggshells from underneath the sink, took them outside, crushed them up, and spread them out among the strawberries. It is my environmentally friendly slug control.


I was starting to get hungry as it was after 1330, so I mixed up the bean and bacon soup that Kathleen had yesterday, the left over Bushes baked beans, and the left over rice from last night and heated it up in the microwave. Before I ate any, I had my Beano, so that the beans would not be quite as potent.

While I was eating the fellow in charge of our men's help group told me of an elderly couple that was having some problems with their computer, so after I finished eating I called them to find out what the problem was.

I though that perhaps I could fix it over the phone, by no such luck, so Kathleen and I went over to their house and I spent about an hour and I think that I got it working properly. I asked them to call tonight or tomorrow if it were not running right.

Kathleen needed to pick up some prescriptions and we were planning to go grocery shopping today anyway. We also needed to take back some Christmas decorations that we got too many of. So we took the decorations back and then only had time to pick up her prescriptions. So I guess we will have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.

Since we did not go grocery shopping, today we did not have a lot to choose from for supper. So Kathleen found a couple cans of chili and we still had some left over rice from last night. She mixed everything together and microwaved it. We added some cheddar cheese to it and again I took my Beano to prevent much bean damage.

Well, Kathleen went upstairs and I think that all the excitement is over for today, so I will just say good night.