The Halls are Decked

What a weekend! Our hall's are decked and the tree is up! The weekend started with Dave winning 2nd place in a fishing derby, that's where they swap dirty jokes, pass gas and win money for the biggest fish. He won $50 bucks which probably covered his entry fee and gas (in his truck that is, LOL). He was a happy dude which makes for a happy wifey!

The start of my weekend was in the gym, after a month long hiatus due to a chest cold. I started with the treadmill right next to a gal running like a banshee. I started slow, got cocky and hit the speed button a little too hard and off it went. The whole scene looked like Lucy Ricardo and the chocolate conveyor belt episode! I yelled "can you turn this thing off, PLEASE!". I managed to finish my workout, but I was sore the rest of the weekend and walked like I had a stick up my back side.

I also got to attend a Christmas house, tour fundraiser with my girlfriend. It's where local merchants decorate a different room in a huge house. You pay $10, buy raffle tickets and drink cider. Beautiful old house and I won the center piece shown. We had a gourmet lunch before we went on the tour and did a little shopping after. I love a good girls day out! Thanks for the treat Lynne, I love you!

Dave and I decorated together, however I can only supervise. This is called by most men as bossy, picky and controlling. My man knows I'm disabled but uses all of the above to discribe my supervision. (ALS took my pinching mechanism away but I have a strong grip. A great example is I can drive a car but I can't zip or button my breeches.) It's just too darn frustrating to watch my man decorate, he's decore challenged. LOL We did it without killing each other and we were happy with HIS work. Nikki got in the spirit by wearing her new Christmas sweater and wishing it had no hat!

I have regressed to my childhood by giving Dave too many hints about what santa is bringing. I always found my parents hiding places and would give my brother hints about what he was getting when we were kids. Surprise, surprise, they both hated and hate it! My bad! I get so excited! I even gave Dave a present already! I made a calendar with pictures of us, his mom in Kauai and his grandson's. He LOVED it!

Miracle # 1

A miracle is "an extraordinary and welcome event." We all have had miracles in our lives, but we just don’t always acknowledge them as miracles. We might say it was a coincidence or good luck. The rest of the definition is "attributed to a divine agency" or what I interpret to mean God. I believe in miracles and have been blessed by many extraordinary events in my life. This time of year there is such joy innertwined with much sorrow. We remember our loved one’s we have lost, but celebrate miracles. I feel now is the time to share our own personal miracles that may give hope and bring back joy to those who need it.

Long ago, before I was diagnosed, I was in charge of Apple Computer’s office supplies for the whole United States. I was a single mom of two babies, had an assistant, wore heels and power suits. I did not go out of town much, kept decent hours and was well compensated. One routine doctor visit and things began to change. It started with a very subtle feeling of being off balance, which turned into a diagnoses of MS. I was told to research chronic MS and call if I had any questions. I did not have any inclination to do that, went back to work and stayed in my world of denial. I did not let my bosses know in case they "changed my position" and my assistant covered for me if I needed to go home due to fatigue. I started falling down, I could tell people were talking, so one day I came in with a cane and I had to spill the news. They were great and said "whatever you need". My MS was no longer a secret, so I finally did a little research and low and behold my advancing MS was, after 3yrs, no longer resembling MS. Over the next year I saw five different doctors, all assuming the other did an EEG (muscle tester), and no one had. When I got an EEG my diagnosis went from MS to ALS, which is a 3-5yr death sentence.

When you hear this sort of news, all you can think about are your babies. I panicked and thought "how will I support my babies", "I can’t leave, their too young". Here is my first miracle! I told my bosses I needed to be with my girls and had to retire. I went to Human Resources to fill out paper work, praying Social Security would be enough to not loose the girls. The gal says "ok, with disability insurance you get 65% of your salary until age 65". I said (like a dummy) " I don’t have disability insurance". When I was hired I was asked if I wanted it and I laughed saying "no way, I’m young and need the money". A "clerical error" was made and I had been paying for it all along. Never could figure out those stupid pay stubs.

This miracle allowed me to buy a little house in the country and raise my girls. They still can’t figure out why I’m still here after 16yrs, but that’s a different miracle.

Help! Need Grandma Name

I just found out my 1st grandbaby is coming earlier than expected...Yikes! I'm one of the coaches in the delivery room and with all the REALLY good drugs I'm on at night, I might miss the big event. This was to happen after Christmas, situated between Christmas and New Years while Dave is on vacation. Sure Tammy, everything revolves around you...not!

Here is my dilema, there are lots of grandmas in this baby's life and I want a special grandma name, so I need suggestions. I don't want to be grandma Tammy! I was thinking of grammy or grams. I know there's got to be one that will fit me. Any suggestions?

We don't know if it's a girl or a boy and when you hear the names you'll hope for a girl, like me. Baby girl name is Biara (made up by Jess) and baby boy name will be Tuni...not tuni fish either, I already asked. LOL My new son in law is 1/8 Mi-Wuk Indian so he's choosing a Mi-Wuk name meaning "young blood". It's actually, Tuni Kokachawoo...Yeowsa! My daughter is even praying for a girl, now the names are chosen. I miss the old days of naming kids after beloved ancestors. I guess this will be close enough.

The most important thing is that the baby and mom come out healthy! I'm so excited to know in two weeks I'll have a new baby to love and spoil. Payback time, watch out Jess!

The Tuesday Two

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: THE FUTUREQUESTION A:You are given the chance to open one of three envelopes. The first, labelled "WHEN," will reveal the exact date and time of your death; the second, labelled "HOW," will reveal the method of your demise, and the third, marked "VALUE," would reveal how much or how little you will be remembered after you're gone. If you had to select and read the contents of one of the envelopes, which would you choose and why?
The "when" is not significant when you have lived 16yrs with a terminal illness that takes you in 3-5yrs. This is all icing on my cake!

The "how" is a good probability of ALS.

I would choose "value" because I have worked very hard to survive and hope that has inspired at least one person to hang in there!

Photo Scavenger Hunt #53

Photo Scavenger Hunt
#53 will be due Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 11:00 P.M. EST.
CATEGORY: Angels or Snowmen

When I first got sick I loved the idea of angels. It felt good to think of angels watching out for me and they were working very hard. When I fall and don't hit my head I always throw out a "thank you". I started receiving angels from friends and family for just about every occasion. Word of caution, be careful in saying you love angels because you may end up with angels everywhere! LOL This is one of my favorites, given to me by a good friend who sends me an angel every Christmas. She lives far away so she sends angels to watch over me in her stead.

Bad Karma

We are home safe and sound from our trip to Dave's mom's house. The trip went well but we had a bit of bad karma before we ever arrived. Thursday it rained all day and night and when Dave was on his awful 2hr commute home, a deer jumped out into traffic, right at Dave's car. He swerved a tad to avoid him, but the deer kept coming and tried to jump over the Ford Escape via the windshield and hood. He hit the front of the roof, flipped in the air, landing on the windshield, rolled down the hood and away he went. Dave actually got off lucky, he had a dent on the front of the roof, bent side mirror, broken head light and very high blood pressure. I'm secretly glad the deer was ok, but Dave could have been really hurt! Dave hates deer because his hobby is gardening and the deer ate all his roses this year.
We had our septic field re-done this summer. They had dug up our beautiful english garden, charged us $5000, put in three new lines and we had to re-landscape(see above)...gulp! gulp! When we got up on Friday morning, our yard had sunk from all the rain, all the way across the yard about 8-10 inches deep. Dave was white, he spent a month of weekends re-landscaping and now it looked like an earthquake hit our yard. Poor baby! We had to leave it and get on the road to see momma Ruth, but he was so deep in thought he never saw the cop. My Dave commutes four hours a day and has not had a ticket in years, he got one that day for doing 46 in a 35. I had said, in my sweetest voice, "if he didn't think he should slow down due to the cop sitting there", but he never saw it until it was too late.
To make him laugh I started flailing my arms about saying "warning...warning Will Robinson danger ahead, bad karma!" I think on top of serving the community Christmas Eve dinner, as we usually do, we need to maybe adopt a family for Christmas too! Yeowsa!

The co-ed shower for Jess was a blast, Jess was there with bells on sucking up the attention like a sponge...funny how that works! lol They had the dreaded "games" but I found that watching the guys made it fun. They melted different candy bars in little diapers and you had to smell or taste to guess what candy bar was in the diapers. (very gross looking!) The guys faces were hyterical and since Dave knows his chocolate he won the prize. All showers should be co-ed, guys are so competitive they will do anything! lol

Over the River and Through...

I just finished reading all my favorite journals and really enjoyed it. I type with one finger so my comments might be short but my right arm is getting quite strong. We are feeling better so we decided to take this Friday thru Sunday to visit Dave's mom for Christmas. I know it's early, but I really need to stick close to home in case that new grandbaby pops out early.

Dave's mom is a neat 82yr old lady living by herself in her own home...you go girlfriend! She raised 6 kids and had never really been on a "real vacation". This year we took her to Kauai and showed her the beach where we were married. It was so brave of her and she loved it! We even got her to take a helicopter tour of the island. The look on her face was priceless. She stayed a week and we stayed two weeks in a little two bedroom house 50ft from the ocean. She never complained, always went with the flow and was never bossy. For Dave it was so special to share paradise with his mom.

The trip to visit his mom is a 4-5 hr. drive...kill me now! I hate long drives!!! So it's over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go...I forgot the rest. I hope it does not rain on the way, Dave hates when I use the passenger side brake peddle and gasp out loud.

FYI,
Jess has been shamed by her mommy dearest into attending her own baby shower tonight...waahoo! Please let there be no games to play, I really hate that at showers! A moms gotta do what a moms gotta do!

Have a great weekend!