Popeye is not the only Spinach eater!

Spinach is one of those things that is really only good if it's cooked fresh. Or in my case, Fresh Express. My kids love when I cook spinach, to my surprise. My husband... Not so much.

When I was a kid our spinach, like almost of our vegetables, came out of a can. The one with Popeye on the front with his squinty eye, wooden pipe and big muscles. Popeye was a Sailor, so I'm sure with months at a time out on the water, just about anything tasted good... Even a can of cold spinach!

Popeye was pretty impressive on tv. The way he would squeeze open that can of spinach when he was just at the point of being clobbered by Bruno, then BAM!!! He was a Fightin' Machine, kicking Bruno's butt up and down our floor model TV screen!

Even with all his sudden strength, he didn't have me fooled! Oh no! Spinach was my least favorite vegetable! Really, they all were, as I didn't like vegetables at all, but spinach was outright YUCKY!!

I can't say the same for my little brother. He loved his spinach! He'd run around the house thinking he had the strength of 10 lions after dinner, while I sat, after being told to finish my plate, stuffing small pieces in my napkin, under the bones left on my plate, or held tightly in my hand until my mom felt I'd "eaten" enough to get up from the table.

Boy did I wish we'd had a dog!

What a day!

My Annihilation exercise class was probably the easiest thing I've done today!

It's been one of those days where my brain was on non-stop and I went from one conversation to another some within minutes of each other, some overlapping.

Oh what a tense family I have right now.  Things have been crazy lately as my dad's health deteriorates by the day now.  Knowing this, everyone is concerned, and rightfully so.  As we have been working to get him to Michigan to our hometown to stay with his family during this trying time, everyone is becoming tense and even sensitive towards one another, towards words that are spoken.  Assumptions are being made without speaking to others.  There has been tons of he-say-she-say and I'm becoming more and more stressed with every call from the east coast.

So, I called a meeting.  A conference call to include my dad's closest relatives, his brothers and sisters, his kids, his mother and his girlfriend.

I sent a mass text to everyone I wanted involved asking everyone to please be on the call and letting them know that I want to talk about everyone's opinions, concerns, and expectations, as well as discuss his financials and medical issues.  I made sure to include his girlfriend because much of the confusion had to do with her and it needed to be talked about.  Also, she is his caregiver, the one he has been with for 15 years, the one who knows everything about him, his well-being, his finances...

Boy!  You woulda thought I'd just declared war on China!  
I got several phone calls throughout the day prior to the scheduled call asking why I am having this call and did I think it would be a good idea.  Everyone was afraid of the turn out, afraid of what others might say, afraid of what they themselves might say that might offend someone. A few told me that they would NOT be on the call at all.  Truth be told, I was quite afraid that there would be some fireworks going off myself!  After all, tensions these last few days have been pretty high.  I told everyone that we needed to get everything out in the open, speak honestly about everything and ask the questions we wanted to know about my dad.  We needed solutions and not go by here-say.  I assured them that it would not get out of hand.  (... while secretly praying to my God that things didnt!)

The conference call was possibly the best thing we could have done as a family in this situation.

I have to thank my husband for stepping in and moderating the conference for me, reminding me what subjects I wanted to discuss and taking notes for me.  I have been under a lot of stress and he was there for me.

We talked about the issues and were able to ask the questions necessary to really achieve the goal of coming together for my dad.  Everyone is very concerned.  Everyone is very hurt.  Everyone wants what's best for my dad.  And by the end of the chat, tears were flowing.  I could hear the sniffles, there was a lot of grieving.  Me, I couldn't hold back the tears.  I'm normally not the one to cry, but this is my father we are talking about.  Even I have a heart. 

This worked well.  I think doing a conference more often rather than allowing things to get so confusing might help keep the stress levels down. 

After the conference call, my phone still rang, but a little less and I was able to answer it without feeling afraid of what was going to be said next.  One thing about my family is that although we might not always agree, we can eventually talk things over and get through the tough times.  Family is forever.

Strong President Endures So Many Thrown Stones

It bewilders me how much hate is thrown at President Obama.  If you know me, then you know that I am a hugs Obama supporter.  It's sad how he continues to get blamed for everything that is wrong with America.  

If you stop and think, we were in a huge debt prior to him being elected, one that was said would take more than one presidential term to fix.  

If you recall, it is the Republicans that have pushed back every effort that has been taken to try to improve anything about the situation he inherited.

Why?  Not because these weren't proposals that might help get the CHANGE that he campaigned on, but because by blocking every proposal and every attempt for change, the President would never be able to accomplish anything, and would look like a failure.  They counted on this to assure that President Obama would not be re-elected.  Silly thing is, with all of the blame being thrown in his direction, who holds the Senate?




Chew on that....

With a country divided by it's government, CHANGE will never come.  It seems that if there wasn't so much bitterness and spite, the Reps could accept that President Obama is the President of the United States, the man in change, the country's leader.  He won the country's vote fair and square.  Regardless of the differences of opinions, he deserves the support of his country.  Other countries are sitting back looking at us like fools as we can't hold our own democracy together, but want to be considered leaders of the free world.  Other countries are laughing at America's inability to come together and be what our forefathers intended us to be.   

What brought this thought process on, you ask?  It has been quite a while since I have spoke on politics.  Well, it was this picture posted to the White House FB page and some of the comments made underneath.  This is suppose to be a positive image of the President doing something great.  Speaking with Prime Minister of India to express condolences for recent shootings is something that shows humility and concern.  The thing is, those who are negative have no idea how many leaders of other countries call our President when things happen.  This is something you'd think Presidents are suppose to do.

The comments are always so hateful and bitter.  So bitter sometimes that they are downright scary.  Sometimes I wonder how the First Family endures such hatred in the media.  How do words and comments like these make Michelle and Barrack feel at the end of the day.  No one's heart is made of stone.  I would image that all these thrown stones have to cause lots of cracks in a person.

So Ends the 104 Days of Summer Vacation

It's already 7:30 in the morning.  My intentions have been to wake up earlier because the kids are starting school in 2 days, but the earliest I have managed to get out of the bed is 7am.  I need at least another 30 minutes to be on their school time.  It's times like these when I wish I was in one of those regions of the world where school didn't start until the end of Augusta, or even early September like it use to when I was a kids.  

Are there still places where school starts after Labor Day?


I remember when I was a kid how excited I was to start school.  The new clothes, the new shoes, the new back pack with the most popular cartoon character on it.  Remember when pencil boxes where actually boxes?  I'd take mine to school, always something colorful, filled with a pack of pencils, a box of crayons, a pencil sharpener...  I'd leave for school decked out in my new gear, with a fresh new hair-do and my shiny new Cabbage Patch lunch box! 

Those were the days!  The days when summer seemed to last forever, but we were never ready for it to me over.  The days when the days didn't end until the sun set at 9:30 at night and we were allowed to stay out an soak up every minute of it. 

Here in AZ, the sun never stays out past 7:30, but man does it Good Morning way too early!

Contrary to the fact that the summer seems to be ending quite early, the kids are excited about going back.  Apparently taking our vacation to the Grand Canyon days after the last day of school made the summer "BOOOOOORING"!  Apparently there's simply "nothing to doooo" all day long and "it's too hooooooot" to play outside  (It is Arizona, so I'd have to agree).  I've got three kiddos who would rather be in a classroom all day learning something, but who am I to complain!

Gettin in some much needed _____!

One of these I SHOULD BE doing. The other is what I'm ACTUALLY doing.

Things I've Seen on This Trip...

Things I've seen on this trip.

~ Don Juan Tacos in New Mexico.

~ 2 cars back to back in El paso with wobbly back tires.

~ The miles-to-empty get down to 12 in the middle of nowhere.

~ The sunset at 9pm! That doesn't happen in AZ!

~ An industrial city.

~ Miles of red lights blinking on and off simultaneously. Later found out it was Horse Hollow Wind Farm, 600 turbines generating power.

~ A billboard for FRIED PIES, reminding me that we are definitely back in the south!

Vacation Bible School

Anything where missy can express her personal style and creativity, she's all in! VBS this year on Fort Huachuca was very colorful. Missy was the only one who went this year. The boys stayed home or went to the gym with me. She has come home every day pretty excited to share what she has learned.

An Unexpected Cross Country Road Trip

I just looked out the window about an hour ago and said to myself how pretty the day was.  Blue skies and white clouds.  Hmph!  The Arizona monsoon season sure knows how to change a forecast quickly!

It has been a busy, trying  few weeks.  Just after our Grand Canyon vacation, I received a call saying that my dad had had a minor stroke.  He was in the hospital.  I knew immediately it was time for me to go home.

We took two weeks off to go to see my dad.  It was bittersweet.

Being home with him and the family and my friends was fab-tabulous.  Leaving him with the news that he may not have long to live, well, not so fab-tabulous.

It seems that the doctors believe that there is nothing else they can do.  He switched to a cancer center, something I wish he had done before now.  

I met Dr. Negrea of Low Country Cancer Care and Associates when I went to my dad's follow up appointment after his MRI.  

Let me start by saying how UN-impressed I was with the service and the fact that the wait time after his scheduled appointment was two and a half hours behind.  A lady in the waiting room, who had checked in after us and was obviously a seasoned patient, leaned over and told my husband, "Be prepared to wait 2 or 3 hours," she laughed.  "We've learned to bring a lunch."

The time ticked on and I continued to get more and more frustrated.  When we were finally seen by Dr. Negrea, I felt totally dismissed as he read the results of the MRI gave a brief explanation and stood to leave the room.  I wanted answers to the questions I'd had and I began to fire questions at him before he could leave.  He tried to answer them quickly, but never sat back down or tried to make sure all of my questions were answered.  He rushed us through, which, to me, was total disrespect considering the fact we'd waited two and a half hours behind the appointment to see him.  A little more courtesy would have been great. He quickly moved on to his next patient, but I had more questions and asked the nurse to call him back into the room to help me wrap my head around what the MRI meant.

The MRI revealed that the entire left side of his brain showed radiation narcosis.  What this means is that the radiation has burned and damaged the entire left hemisphere of his brain.  There was also 2 maybe 3 spots revealed, which were assumed to be tumors.  He said that the VA clinics were possible giving too much radiation.  Said that they're procedures were not following the protocol that would have normally been followed by cancer centers.  I asked if he thought they were experimenting on my dad and he said yes, but could only speculate until her received the records from the VA hospital.  

The illustration looked something like this:

Once they received the records from VA the news wasn't anything good.  They won't be continuing chemo is what my dad told me.  I gathered from that bit of info that there is nothing else that can be done.  

What do you say when that kind of information is given to someone?

How do you respond, when you know this person still has so much life in them?  I'm too young to lose a parent, aren't I?  He's only 51.  He's too young to receive this kind of diagnosis.  When we first came into this almost 5 years ago, we were told he would live 5 years at best.  It went from years to months. Where did those years go?   

The Grand Canyon!

Preparing for another cross-country trip.

Honestly, I didn't expect to be taking another trip so soon, but you know the old saying, "You wanna make God laugh, MAKE PLANS!"


So, after going to the Grand Canyon just last week, it's time to take a 2000 mile drive from Arizona to Georgia!  And this time, we don't have 6 days to do it! 

We're doing it in three instead.  2 hotel nights and 3 days of driving.  While I'm not looking forward to it, it's another adventure to be added to our family's list.

Speaking of trips, I MUST share our Grand Canyon pictures!  For those who are friends with me on Facebook, you may have already seen these.  But for those who are not, know that the pictures do the Grand Canyon no justice!  I use to say, "Why would I want to see a big hole in the ground?? How exciting could that possibly be?"  

 Well it was certainly breath taking!  One because you just can't imagine something like that.  And two because it took my breath away every time I got close to the edge to take a picture because I'm really not fond of heights!

We started our vacation spending a night in the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams, AZ.

The next morning we saw a gun fight!

We rode a train to the Grand Canyon.  It was the first time the kids had been on a train!

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, a bus tour was waiting for us to take us around the GC.

This is a picture of the BOTTOM of the GC.  This was taken with my long 300mm lens.  That's a road on the bottom and those black dots are people!

These mules ride people to the bottom.  Not us!  But People!

The Grand Canyon Sunset is a must see.

Summer Vacation Post #1: Hot and Ugly

I had all intentions of starting my 100 days of summer blogging on the 1st of June.  Here it is the 5th and I'm just now sitting down to get one in.


The kids are home.  ...yay...


Cam and Miss Missy are already at each others' throats.  For me, this means waking Miss Missy up in the mornings to go to the gym with me in the mornings.  They can't stay together for fear they may kill each other!  


This morning, some of the girls and I took a walk up to Reservoir Hill.  It's a nice hike up a hill to a lookout of the city.  We jogged back down.  Here, I can do that.  It's one of the perks of living in Sunny Arizona.  I never would have understood what "dry heat" meant until I moved here.  You really don't sweat, you just cook.  In GA, the humidity will instantly chase you back into the house.  Here, there's no humidity which means you're outside cooking in the sun without really realizing how hot it is! 

Guess that would explain why AZ has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world!


Cancer.  


I don't love that word.  It quite honestly has to be one of the most horrible words in the English dictionary. 


On my run this morning.  I got a call.  I ignored it.  I got another.  It was my mother.  I ignored it.  I got another and again I ignored it but by this time, I knew there was a reason for the calls.  I knew there was something wrong, but didn't want to hear it.  I don't like bad news. I just wanted to make it home and finish my run first.

One more call and it was my sister.  I knew I needed to answer. 

More bad new.  The MRI results.  Not good news at all.


So, here I am, planning my trip back to GA.  I think we're all going to go.  We had the hospital in GA put in a Red Cross call to Chris's Command.  It's time for me to go home.


Talk about a Monkey Wrench.


6 months.  How can you give a human being a six month expiration date?  No Man knows the day nor the hour.  


Still... it's time for me to go home.  With the memory loss, the constant visits in the hospital, I need to be there, even if it's just for a little while.


Cancer is an ugly word.  You know how your mama use to get your butt for saying words like stupid, shut up, or funky (only one person I know can relate to that one)?  Cancer is that kind of ugly word.  How I wish it didn't have to be spoken in my home.