Springfield Rescue Mission

Tags

donations, postaday2015, poverty

   
 
I am so happy, we went to the Springfield Rescue Mission today to drop off a ton of sweaters, jeans, pajamas and warm coats for the poor in preparation for this coming winter. I prefer to drive the extra miles to personally drop off our clothing donations because I know the homeless and poor will get them directly, I used to take advantage of the numerous donations bins stationed around Westfield sponsored by The Salvation Army, but I stopped doing that because in spite of its convenience, I was put off by the fact that those who are most in need don’t even get the clothes, the Salvation Army puts out the donations in their stores to be sold, granted at discounted prices, but still when you are struggling, every single penny is precious. I want my donations to be free and available for those in need.

I know that what I did today is not even a drop in the bucket, in terms of the severity of our poverty problem, homelessness problem and food insecurity problems, but if we all came together and did what we could, while also demanding our government to proactively find solutions to these issues, we could go a long way to eradicate, or at the very least, greatly diminish these problems.

Oh Christmas Tree

Tags

Christmas tree, postaday2015

  
There is just something about a decorated Christmas tree that brings joy and light to the home. I noticed the lower branches were a little light on ornaments since the last time we were home, only two days ago. I purposely put the oldest and saddest wooden ornaments on the bottom branches just in case our oversized puppy decided to do some serious teething on our tree and I was right to heed my instincts.

Jack is off the hook because he has been here for five years and our ornaments were never touched. Lulu isn’t the chewing type so that leaves only Stanley as a viable suspect. I won’t sit him down in interrogation, but I will be spending my time this weekend doing anything to distract him away from the tree.

  

  

A beautiful bloom to lift my spirits

Tags

blooms, postaday2015

  
My spirits aren’t low, but I’m a little frustrated because I am in a holding pattern, waiting for a treatment plan, and my imagination is whirling around. I am focused on the idea that I will only need surgery, but the odds of that aren’t too high, according to my oncologist it is only 10% of early stage cancer patients that get by with only surgery. The other 90% of early detection cases still have to follow the chemotherapy and radiation protocol before surgery, a little daunting to contemplate.

I was thinking about my hair, if my hair falls out, it will grow back more white than brown, lol. I have had short hair a few times over the years, so it doesn’t frighten me, I’m more nervous about eyebrows and eyelashes, that would be tough.

I like to pride myself on my lack of vanity, but I am vain when the it really comes down to it. 

Now I have Carly Simon’s song “You’re so Vain” stuck in my head, lol.

  
 

Our pastry chef in residence

Tags

baking, chef, pastry, postaday2015

   
 
Our daughter spent yesterday afternoon making cheese Danishes, her first time and they were delicious! She made them because she had promised her very good friend two years ago that she would make him cheese Danishes, well yesterday he got his wish. Trust me when I say that they were more then worth the wait, I had made cheese Danishes myself some time ago, my source of inspiration was my mother, mine weren’t as delicious as our daughter’s. Our daughter’s friend made out better than my mother did. 😀

   
 
She not only made tasty Danishes, but she remains the queen of chocolate chip cookies. Her cookies are to die for and I make sure that when she is preparing to make them, she has people lined up to eat those cookies, she can’t leave me alone with her cookies because once I have one, I can’t stop, I haven’t the proper discipline necessary to stop at one.

There I admitted it, I am powerless over my daughter’s cookies and her baking powers in general. LOL

She has talent, that one.

Santa’s little helpers

Tags

pets, postaday2015, Santa

   
 
It is so much fun dressing up your pets, I never knew that growing up, my mother wouldn’t let us have a dog and in France, our family never thought to dress up their dogs.  I wonder if way back when, if my family had access to cute outfits for Prince the German Shepard and Whinney the Black Lab, if they would have tortured them the way I am doing with Jack, Lulu and Stanley. Somehow I doubt it. lol

They are so cute with their festive head gear aren’t they?!

Poor Jack, Lulu and Stanley, they must be asking “Mommy Daddy where is the dignity? Really, pictures to make it even worse”

Today has been a great day all around

Tags

good news, postaday2015

   
   
Today has been a wonderful day, we took our Stanley to the vet’s for his rabies and parvo vaccines and the vet told us that Stanely rates an A+ in overall health and temperament, we left beaming like the proud puppy parents that we are, softly telling Stanley that he’s the man. lol

We then headed over to my Gastroenterologist and he told us that the CAT scan with contrast revealed nothing spreading out of the esophagus, it seems to be all localized within the esophagus which is fantastic news, the cancer was caught early, a huge deal. I am really pleased with that development. He scheduled my first visit to the oncologist for tomorrow at 1:15 which is even more good news, my doctor is being very proactive and getting me seen as soon as possible, I feel very good about my doctor and his approach, I’m sure I’ll be just as comfortable with the oncologist when I meet him tomorrow.

And as if this day couldn’t get any better, the kids surprised us with the tree up and ready to be trimmed. I’m pretty sure that our Christmas tree will be all decorated by the end of this evening. 

I tried to take some fun selfies with Stanley and Jack, Lulu wanted to stay outside, but it is a lot harder than it looks, Stanley and Jack were very squirrelly so the pictures look really loopy lol.

   

  

 I took one crazy picture of Jack and Stanley playfighting and it is a doozy of a picture. You see teeth in movement, I liked its ferocity.

   

In the search for Mexican

Tags

city, nightime, postaday2015

   
 
I speedily took these pictures Thursday night when I was in the city with my mother and her best friend. We were searching for a quiet Mexican restaurant, something not as easy as one would think to find, most Mexican restaurants in the area were packed and blasting music, two things that made those restaurants off limits for us, loud music is a mood killer not just for my mother but for me as well. I am a stick in the mud for certain things, loud music in a restaurant is a concrete deal breaker for me.

  
We eventually found a quiet Mexican place, it primarily served as a takeout place, but it had tables and chairs and a menu so we gave it a shot. We were pleasantly surprised, I had a fajitta quesadilla, it was excellent, the tortillas were perfectly grilled and it was chock full of onions, peppers, shredded cheese and chorizos, I shared it with my mother and her friend, they had tacos, and we devoured everything we had ordered.

We may not have eaten where we had initially planned, but we kept our minds open to other posssibilities and we found something really great.

Tags

city, nightime, postaday2015

   
 
I speedily took these pictures Thursday night when I was in the city with my mother and her best friend. We were searching for a quiet Mexican restaurant, something not as easy as one would think to find, most Mexican restaurants in the area were packed and blasting music, two things that made those restaurants off limits for us, loud music is a mood killer not just for my mother but for me as well. I am a stick in the mud for certain things, loud music in a restaurant is a concrete deal breaker for me.

  
We eventually found a quiet Mexican place, it primarily served as a takeout place, but it had tables and chairs and a menu so we gave it a shot. We were pleasantly surprised, I had a fajitta quesadilla, it was excellent, the tortillas were perfectly grilled and it was chock full of onions, peppers, shredded cheese and chorizos, I shared it with my mother and her friend, they had tacos, and we devoured everything we had ordered.

We may not have eaten where we had initially planned, but we kept our minds open to other posssibilities and we found something really great.

Creed : a movie review

Tags

Creed, postaday2015

   
 
What a fantastic movie from start to finish! My husband, our daughter and I went to see it and it was amazing. We cried, shadow boxed, yelped, dodged and weaved, the boxing sequences were brilliantly shot and choreographed. Jordan Knight, who played Adonis Johnson aka Creed, was so believable in this movie as was Phylicia Rashad who played his surrogate mother, I loved their relationship, always beneath the surface yet never lacking in importance.

What can I say about Rocky himself, first an important thing to remember is this is not another Rocky movie or a Rocky movie by proxy, this is very much a young Creed movie, but having said that, Rocky reminded us why we love him so and  why he is the true fighter with a heart of a champion.

My favorite Rocky movies are the first of course and the last Rocky Balboa, these two are for me the quintessential movies that show Rocky’s heart, soul and character and why he is the champion. 

We cried over the poignancy and the heart of the movie, pride was also the source of our tears. This is a movie that grabs you and doesn’t let you go until the last possible second.

A little shellshocked by some news

Tags

postaday2015, treatment

  I am still in shock I suppose, but I received some bad news from the doctor today, definitive news really, my tumor that was discovered in my esophagus, during Monday’s  endoscopy, is cancer, a squamous cell carcinoma to be precise. I had a Cat Scan this afternoon, the proper type complete with a Barium drink and contrast dye, we’ll learn the extent of the cancer on Monday along with a course of action depending on what stage this cancer presents itself.

I am feeling positive, though I have to confess that I am going to indulge in chocolate, cookie dough and whatever else tickles my tastebuds, I am throwing caution to the wind this weekend.

I have been complaining about my irritated throat and spastic esophagus for so long, it is almost a relief to finally have an answer. I know surgery is definitely an option and just the idea of getting this growth out of my throat/esophagus gives me hope, because I was getting sick and tired of constantly feeling something and it has become painful after all this time.

I have been sitting on this news for days, the gastroenterologist wrote down his findings after the endoscopy Monday, “likely malignant tumor”, we had to wait until today to find out the biopsy results, but the gastroenterologist was right on the money when he diagnosed what he had seen, so come Monday we are going to have a treatment plan and hopefully it will be short and sweet. I am keeping my fingers crossed.