Mom had her Parasentesis today….she and Husband went it alone, as Brother and I were working, and Sister had stuff on her plate as well. We talked to her about it, and she said she was good, she’s done it so many times….she did call a friend to take her and Husband to the hospital, and the friend stayed with Husband while Mom was getting the procedure done. They took 5 liters. They just took 6 out two weeks ago, so that was not what we wanted to hear, it seems there is becoming more and more fluid to drain.
When I spoke to her, she sounded bad…tired, raspy, she kept coughing…I was like “Mom , what are you doing? are you in pain? Go sit down!”….But, she had just gotten home, and was attempting to give herself a sponge bath - she’s kind of anal about showering every day at the same time! So, I told her to sit and ask Husband to help her. She called me back a little while ago and sounded much better….whew! She freaked me out there for a minute.

I just paid $2.99/Gal for gas! And I was HAPPY to do so, since every other station between my house and work was anywhere from $3.05-$3.17…! How can they get away with that? If one station is selling it for $2.99/gal, you know others can. Bunch of Greedy Gus’!

Today is my Boy’s 8th birthday!!! He’ll be getting extra hugs and kisses , and some turkey gravy on his dinner !!!

I’m not big on buying fancy artwork, most of my stuff came from family members or yard sales. I do, however have a few treasured pieces from Park West Art Gallery. One of my Brother-in-Laws is big into the art auctions when they go on cruises, he loved them and they always come off the boat with a few new paintings. He’s even on their mailing list and has gone to a fwe of the locally held auctions. They got me a Snoopy & Charlie Brown drawing one year, and surprised me with a Thomas Kinkade Lighthouse print for Christmas 2 years ago….both were numbered limited editions. I don’t know what they paid, but they look great in my house!

Spoke to Mom today, she sounded good…upbeat even. She had a great time this past Saturday at the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights with Sister and Niece…and raved about the Rainforest Cafe where they had lunch.
She had her first Chemo yesterday on this, her second 6 week round. This time she is doing the “once a week, 45 min hookup at the office” version. She said it went fine, they hooked it into the port in her chest, sat her in a recliner and she looked at magazines and watched TV, with Husband next to her. She was not tired, she did not feel drained or sick. These are very small things that we are eternally thankful for. We do not want their to be any pain.
She goes back in on Friday for another stomach drain….only 2 weeks this time since the last one, that kind of scares me.
It’s getting harder and harder to write these posts and not get emotional….it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that someone who is with you right now, may be gone soon….I cannot explain it, it is difficult to put into words the range of emotion I go through every day…. and not just me, but anyone who is involved in the battle against cancer. I can tell you that I never dreamed this would be happening to my family.
Not like this.
Not this close.
Not my Mother.

Mom and Husband are back home, Sister took them back yesterday, with a pit stop at Disney MGM so they could see the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights. She starts her next round of chemo tomorrow, once a week this time - hooked up to the IV at the doctor’s office for 45 mins. I hope she does okay with it.

Went to the Bucs game today……and got hassled…TWICE.
Rent a cop chickie at the gate D checkpoint confiscated my ziploc of pistachios on the way in! I had them in my pocket, but I do not wear big shorts with big pockets, so they were kind of half in and half out. She made me discard them, I was pissed. I’m trying to bring in a snack because A) Your food is way overpriced, and B) It’s NOT healthy, and C) I’m going to be drinking beer and need something to absorb the alcohol! No dice….I had to chunk them. $7.50 for a salt free hot pretzel and bottle of water! I did not pay for my beer, the advantage of being a woman and knowing how to work your green eyes!
Trying to leave the stadium, and some random guy holds up his arm like he wants the “high five”…hey, we’re at the game, we won, everyone high fives a stranger….so I do, and he grabs my hand and pulls me to him!?! WTF? As I am frantically looking around for my friends, he says “I don’t want you to leave yet”…Dude, I don’t KNOW you……I squirmed out of his drunken grip and skeedaddled the heck out of there! Of course, my friends did not come rescue me because they thought I was trying to let him pick me up! NICE.

I am off to the Buc’s game in a few hours! So, today we have a guest post, written by my friend Lee - who needs no more introduction than that since he plugged himself quite frequently in the actual post, I keep telling him to get his own blog!
For as along as I’ve known him, some 10 years, Lee has only eaten ONE kind of cereal, a regular cereal for a regular guy..trying to stay regular…. cereal blasphemy to a woman of my colorful cereal background…but, it is what it is. I think you will find him both amusing and disturbing.

Hi, I’m Leebo. Or Leeboski, The Big Leeboski, The Leebinator, Los Leebos Magnifico, Leebo Mysterio… if you’re not into the whole brevity thing. I’ve been asked by Cheryl to sub for Cereal Sunday, and I am very happy to do so. For now is my chance!I shall enlighten others on a cereal that, if not for me, would never grace the hallowed halls and walls of The Great Hall of Cereal Sunday. This is about a real cereal. A cereal for the ages. My favorite cereal.This is about a cereal that, if it could talk, would win a Nobel Peace Prize, an Academy Award AND the Super Bowl. I speak not of Al Gore’s Freedom Flakes, nor shall not keep my love for this particular cereal placed away carefully in a small lockbox. NO!

I proudly advocate, and speak freely of my own free will, to all of the masses who will heed my words! Friends, Romans, Countrymen, gather round, a middle aged man is talking!

I speak of the glory and the majestic splendor that is… Product 19.

Yes, I said Product 19.

Now, dear reader, if you have not clicked off of this missive by now in search of porn, then rejoice! For I shall spin a tale of a cereal so exciting that when you read it, I guarantee your next trip to the grocery store will either be solely for this incredible product, or at the very least, something else. Like real food. Come with me on a journey, O’ Achiever, as I relay to you, in the parlance of our times, why Product 19 is the greatest cereal ever, and the wave of the future, Dude.
#1 – It represents America, before everyone hated us.

(Figure 1-A – The unassuming box of Product 19 hides tasty goodness)

The deception of this cereal is easy to fall prey to, its hidden treasures easy to miss. Look at the ordinary box this cereal comes in. Unassuming. Bland. Uninteresting. In other word, it’s you. The typical American shlub.
Don’t try to deny it, embrace it, its part of being American. And by either fate, design or some small co-inky-dink, it’s also part of being a shlub as well. Product 19 is YOUR CEREAL REPRESENTATIVE. Product 19 is the blue collar, hard working, 4 beers at Moe’s after work kinda cereal. You know what you’re getting with Product 19. Product 19 is the cereal for people who haven’t had an original thought in years. Product 19 is STRESS-FREE. Truly, Product 19 is the “regular guy” cereal, a cereal that gets along with everybody, a great equalizer, a cereal for longshoremen and lesbians alike. Product 19 is you, dear reader. Oh it’s you. It’s you. It’s America’s Cereal. It’s true. It’s true.

#2 – It’s safe.

Product 19 will not destroy you, nor will it enhance you. Before and after eating Product 19, you will pretty much be the same as you are right now. Sad, but true. And may I add, very, very safe. At the end of your Product 19 experience, you will be somewhat full and nothing bad will have happened. You will be in no danger, unless, of course, you’re a pervert eating it in prison. Who needs sugary, gooey choco-flakes when one can have bland, flaky goodness? Who needs the risk? Not you, dear reader. That’s what your taxes pay cops for.

#3 – It took 19 tries to get it right.

How many cereals are out there that they just make and stuff in a box? Who knows?
But with Product 19, you know exactly what you are getting: a cereal that had been scientifically tested at least 18 times before they got it right. You see, products 1 through 18 were necessary evils, for they spawned the glory that is Product 19.

• Products 1 through 7 were deemed failures after it was determined that they contained lead paint. It was then when we Americans banned Chinese-produced cereal and it was then that Product 19 started to take on its true identity as America’s Cereal.

• Product 8 disappeared through a cosmic time rift and never was seen again. It is suspected by many that Product 8 actually went back in time and built the pyramids.

• Product 9 was scrapped when it was discovered that metal shavings really should not be consumed by anybody. At the time, it was thought they could be a good source of iron.

• Products 10 through 15 were tested and thought to be the crappiest thing ever produced. They were scrapped, and their crappiness actually became a benefit to them, as they became the boy-band “N Sync”.

• Product 16 became an actor in New York, and had a few bit parts but wound up being a bartender. Product 16’s range was limited.

• Product 17 was made from reefer and hemp, and thought to be quite excellent, but after the one time they