EASY COME, EASY GO……

Ok ! We know,,   No Posts in a While
Holidays.    Come and Gone
Sons , Come and Gone
Presidents old and new, Come and gone.
Penny has grown, six mos old, puppy yet a little woman, has to be spayed,

puppyhood come and gone
As  many of my friends face the unfortunate  loss of their jobs or the outlook of possibly losing their jobs in this recession,
It is not so EASY to Come and Go.
I thank God each day for my job and pray that it is stable and will remain so, as health care appears to be on NOT so shaky ground.
We shall see as we come and go in 2009………………….

HOWEVER

In the meantime

We are preparing for what we love best,

another CARNIVAL cruise,

soon to be here,

Next Week

,   one whole week  

  SO NEW ORLEANS  HERE WE COME

FANTASY HERE WE COME

EVIL KREWE LOOK OUT. HERE WE COME  TO MEET YOU!

 Then we will have come and gone….

MESSAGE FROM MAC

 

I was the “BABY CAT”, I am BIG MAC!

Sure I bite them Occasionally, Sure I was a cat, I didn’t come when they wanted me to, I’m a Cat. I slept in the bed when I wanted to. I bit DAD when I WANTED his attention!

Boy oh Boy…. I dunno what got in to my parents…

They bring in this little pistol of black & brown fur, they call it “baby Girl”, “Penny”, she runs to me with that pointed cold nose of hers barreling toward me like a freight train. What the mell does she think I am? 18 lbs of concrete? A ram rod? Then she stops short and starts barking at me in a high pitched

Sound, arf arf? What is that? I’m a cat darn it! I don’t want to play with you, you young whimper snapper. You come in here you take my snake! Ah yes! You didn’t think I saw you take MY snake in between your teeth and run down beside the sofa as if you were running that last touchdown for the Bucs! NOT! Thank Goodness Mom saw you and took it away from you. That’s MY toy and speaking of Toys1 what is that mess you left on the floor? Not the wet puddle,, NO that was MY Mouse my mouse that I toss up in the air and play with , you took it and slobbered all over it , its green and white and spit all over, and the eye is missing!  IS that all? Oh NO! My Cat food is missing. It gets moved to the top of the kitchen table, then when I cannot find it I meow and raise a fuss, so I eat the BABY”S FOOD,, HA ha ha! Big Deal I get in T- R- O- U- B- L- E! So Dad decides to place my feeder on top of a box on the floor, yeah right so I get to stand on my tip toes to eat. Ever seen an 18# cat stands up to eat? Is that good for digestion? Good for dieting? Well I’ll shows them I’ve got into Ms Prissy’ puppy foods, not too bad. It’s for puppies and lactating dogs.. wonder if I’ll produce milk. LOL  MEOW!

All I wanted to do is lay around and go out once in awhile, Now every time she wakes up she’s going out and I’m trying to sneak out with her…Well why not?

Well I am trying to get along with this Ms Thang. When she goes to her sock I go to make sure it’s hers and NOT Mine.  I’m letting her come closer before I slap her, just to show her I’m still the Alpha cat around here.  Sure I’ll let her walk under my belly, Ill even let her sniff my as*. I even get on the same lap with her, not too close, just to show her, to make sure she knows… I ALWAYS have the upper Paw if you know what I mean…

Oh OH, She just got my nip, Oh no she didnn’t,

CATS RULE ! DOGS DROOL

Gotta Go  Here comes Trouble CYA

Penny is a Pistol

Penny

Penny came home yesterday.

She is spoiled. We didn’t do it!

she is a pistol and she has a temper, she backs Mac into a corner and all he does is back up and hiss at her until he can jump up into a space, when Big Kahuna  holds her, MAC jumps up into the lap as well, when she took MAC’s toy snake I though the look alone from him could have killed her, its like watching a toddler, I just placed her in her cage and she’s in there whining and crying, she did this at 6 am and 9 am Every3 hr round the clock, she will tire and finally sleep, but boy has she got vim and vinegar and TEETH! She already knows when she wants UP in the Chair to sit.! We didn’t train her THAT either. She’s 8 weeks old!

AND MAC? HE’s whining and voicing his discontent as well..

Welcome to the Zoo!

New star in heaven tonight

There is a new star in heaven tonight

Arnold’s niece Deborah passed away this morning from Cancer,

she was either 50 or 51.

We saw her last Tuesday.

Thank God we did..

 

She had cancer of the tongue and she was in remission this time last year. It started out a year ago because she thought she had canker sores in her mouth.

when we came back from our trip in October we found out she had been in the hospital where they had taken out more of her mouth & neck where it had progressively & agressively spread.Then last month her husband called and said it spread from her neck to her shoulder into her bones and into her lungs. In May when I got back from Ca she had been in Moffitt She was at home under hospice care and on a pain pump. She had a trach and a feeding  tube into her stomach because most of her mouth and neck were taken out and she had a metal plate in there because of the last surgery in May because she could not eat or talk normally with most of her mouth missing. We often wonder if she had of gone to Moffitt initially instead of Lakeland Cancer Center in the Beginning as Arnold had of suggested if maybe things might of come out better. She didn’t get to Moffitt until Lakeland Cancer Center couldn’t do anything else for her.

I am sorry for her father, he has lost his 2nd wife and a daughter in less than 1 year. I am sorry for her husband because he has no one else left in his family to turn to and I hope the Tuckers don’t turn away from him , because this in one Tucker who will NOT turn away from him.

I fell sorry for Deb’s grandbabies, those pretty little girls who will grow up not knowing ther gramma. one will remeber her, Shiloh is 4, but the others are too young and they won’t remember her. Her father lost his wife 9 mos ago and now he lost his daughter.

WE have lost Deb to this Disease. Three weeks ago my Godmother, My Maternal Aunt lost her left Breast to this Disease, Stage 1 Breast Cancer. She hada hematoma and almost died 1 week later, had to have 4 units of blood transfusions, and now is on the road to recovery. We lost my uncle Gene 2 years ago to this disease, to stomach & pancreatic Cancer, My Dad’s “BABY Brother, he shouldn’t have had to go. My Aunt Nancy, we lost her 5 years ago, my Dad’s sister to bone cancer, Oh yes, My Aunt Julie, we lost her 9 months ago to Pancreatic Cancer & Colon Cancer, again my Dad’s Baby Sister….

Yes ther is a new star in heaven tonight, may she be pain free, cancer free, happy and shine on us brightly as we miss her smile, her laugh. her heart, and her smile and  her love….. Especially the void in her husband’s heart.

There’s times I really hate this disease and we really need to find a cure!

Vacation Blues

Here it is June 2007 going toward July 4th and everyone is either planning on vacation or going on vacation and I am waiting for February, DARN its a long time till February,2009. I’ve got no place to go! Thanks to the economic stature or our accountant, or President Bush or Mother Nature, (I’ve got to blame itt on somebody! ) I know I know. complain complain…. I have 95 PTO hours saved up. I have to use them somewhere somehow. TOO MANY GRANDKIDS (others) in the community pool. I have to find something to do. economical yet close to home.I could catch up on my reading, do some scrapbooking? sewing? that all sounds boring.watch Big Kahuna Snore? NOW THAT”S BORING! Blogging. hmmmm.Listen to my EyePod!.hmmmm. Racking my brain here/ My next work adventure is a weekend to Denver in Sept. other than that I’m open… What to do. What to do, cheap, economical and fun, no sunburns and no gardening Please. I’m open to suggestions.

Take Care

Betty Bo0p.

Cruising Capabilities Again

Well Thanks to my hard work, President Bush and his stimulus pkg . We have plunked down half our IRS payment on the Bloggers Cruise for next February out of New Orleans. The cruise will be a 5 day and we have a cabin on the VERANDAH DECK. I’ve never been up that high and always wanted to be. I also have never been to New Orleans. ALL of my immediate family including my ex husband have been to New Orleans and I have nevah been and always wanted to go. Im not complaining, its just somewhere I never got to go yet and  now I will hopefully make it, sight and catastrophes unseen. We didn’t toally blow the IRS funds, we paid some bills and got myself a new cell phone, mine went kaputzkie since the Mr dropped a coke into my purse 3 weeks ago. He didn’t do it alone my mom’s golden retriever helped, She jumped into his lap. Well that;s all for today. Now I have something to save my pennies for, New Orleans here we come!

Decorations for Memorial Day

Memorial Day started out May 30,1868 as Decorations Day inspired by local and regional ceremonies to honor Union War dead. It wasn’t;t till 1882 that it became known as Memorial Day. In 1968 It was moved from May 30 to the last Monday in May. The 30th of May in 1968 was designated for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who dies in defense of their country. When I lived in Alabama in the 1980’s I first heard of Decoration Day from my friend Jane who said they were going to a family picnic after all the family got together to decorate all the family graves in the region of Birmingham. What A nice thought & idea that was, she told me it was a “southern thing”.

Well let us unite on this day, put aside the BBQ, put aside the FOOD for the picnics, put aside the GREED, for the stores and the automobile dealerships to have their INFAMOUS 3 DAY MEMORIAL DAY SALES for the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, and think for one moment what the day was meant  for, Let us then at the appointed time gather and reflect around their sacred remains and if we cannot gather, at least close our eyes, clear our minds to reflect, and gather the flowers and the garland like they did on Decoration day in 1868 and decorate the mounds of clay of earth , the mossy blades of grass, the wispy wheat amongst them, with the choicest brightest flowers of springtime, AND LET US RAISE ABOVE THEM the dear old flag they saved from dishonor,let us renew our pledge of allegiance, vow those soldiers they have left to aid and assist among us whether they are veteran’s now or veterans they will become.We give to them A sacred charge of Thanks of a nation’s gratitude to the soldier’s, the sailor’s, the widow’s,mothers’,and orphan’s.Let them see that as their light has dimmed and the heart has grown cold their solemn trust ,ours shall keep it well as long as the warmth and spirit of light shins within us and remains alive within our spirit of freedom.

Lets Go Racing Boys!

Here it is Memorial Day Weekend

WE give thanks to all the servicemen and woman who gave their lives and their service to our country. This includes my uncles and my father, my husband(Big Kahuna)My friends and thier sons. We do not forget them. I have sold the poppies. I have seen the flags, I have carries the flag, I have marched, I have sold the poppies at the stores.  God bless them

Now in the Twilight of these years the weekend has not become the weekend of travels, not all those BBQ picknics in the park with children, aunts , uncles & cousins, not going to the beach for fear of skin cancer. It has become the weekend of RACING!

It starts our with the Qualifying on Thursday afernoon into evening. Then on Friday we have Indy qualifying. Then Friday night we have the CRaftsman Truck Race.

Saturday afternoon we have Nationwide Qualifying, NASCAR practice and Nationwide Serries Race.SUNDAY we have INDY 500, the COCA COLA 600 and The REcaps.

At least on Monday we have Memorial Day to rethink the actual reason for the weekend which was not “Let’s go racing boys” because I am sure the boys at Normandy beach did NOT hear those words before hiting the beach……………

DIETS and ALL THINGS NEW AGAIN

Been keeping up with John’s Blog and he has said that he has to go on a diet. Well I have lived life on a diet. Big Kahuna needs to diet. I have to maintain a diet.Some of you may say I took the easy way out some of you may say good for you..,,,,Here’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 I am 54 year old old and with the exception at birth I have been overweight my whole life. I remember every meal having bread and butter, meat & potatoes veggie & fruit. I also remember all the scrapings being placed upon my plate, or here “eat this so I do not have to throw it out:, OR”there isn’t enough to put away here , finish this”. Being the obliging daughter that I was I did. Not till I was older and getting heavier did I realize who my enemy was. I went from a size 16 girls chubby to a size 16 Woman’s and at that time the fashions for us looked like the old dresses house wives would wear on TV.! I remember my mother making some of my clothes and I had a pink & blue dress that I loved and I wore it school twice. both times kids pointed at me and snickered” look at her she’s pregnant!” I was mortified, I cried & cried and never wore the dress again. I went thru high school looking down to the floor as I walked the corridors because I was ashamed and embarrassed for anyone to look at me.I felt like they were talking about that “fat girl” By Senior year I went to a Dr. and he put me on my first set of diet pills:Tenuate Dospan” They worked I lost 45 pounds with a 600 cal a day diet and pills that I didn’t know where the energy was coming from. I did look good for Graduation….. I was ALWAYS told by my mother to watch what I eat so I wouldn’t look like”the slob next door” My mother didn’t get overweight till her 50’s. BUT the ultimate happened several years ago when she introduced me to a friend of hers whom I had never met and said” this is my oldest daughter, she used to be our human garbage disposable when she lived at home, she ate all the leftovers.” Well when I told my mother that was hurtful she said I took it all wrong and she was joking yeah right! sabotaged all my life.

Well I escaped from my mom at age 23 by marrying a fellow who I met thru a dating service , we hit it off right away, he was a little heavy and I was too; we were smitten after the 2nd date.married the next year. I was in an RN program and we planned to be married in March during spring break, we were, but alas I blew my exams and :was asked” to leave school after failing an exam by 5 points not once but twice. Another blow to my self esteem, added to that was we moved a lot and I never had true friends just acquaintances….To top that Off I spent all of my years since age 9 with IBS as a child accidents from that does NOT help the self esteem either. I admit I ate for comfort. Food was my best friend. It didn’t yell at me it made me feel good for a few fleeting moments.It got worse as I got stressed I started to closet eat. especially after marriage kids. my children were the glue that held me together sooo many times. My husband was gone from 6 am till 8 pm @ night, ate, watched TV & was in bed by 9. I was working nights so I was with the kids during the day after my naps. I guess that is why we stayed together for 20 years. I had Depression & therapy for many years. In between the diets, OH Yeah Like everyone ELSE All the diets & books I could get my hands on, I did Dr. Stillman, Weight watchers. with everyone in there “skinny” that didn’t last long. I did Optifast before Oprah but when you get ill and have to quit & revert back to food, the OLD Sponge effect whips in and Poof suddenly you are 200+ pounds again with an additional 5 for good measure! Overeaters Anonymous, TOPS(take off pounds sensibly) I had the 1000 cal diets, Nutritionist Reg Dietician visit MD Order Diets, I tried Phen Phen from a Quack who didn’t even take my B/P when I had the visit with him, Weigh no More with rubber bands to snap your wrists with when you thought of food, there was aerobics, health spa memberships x 2 tallying $1200.00 a piece, Dr Atkins, Dr. Phil, The Carbohydrates Addicts diet, Vegetarianism, Diabetic Diet, American Heart Association Diet, Miami 3 day diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, which is similar to the “Dolly Parton Diet”, Slim Fast, Metabolic Capsules,another Diet Dr. who put me on pills again. Balance 30-30-40 by my Physician.

With finally finding some guts and self esteem I left my hubby and went out on my own. I kissed a few frogs and a gigolo made some mistakes along the way and then for some strange reason when I wasn’t really looking I found my prince on a white horse. I fell for him when after 2 weeks of dating he drove 30 miles to my home at the time, hauled me off to the ER with a fever of 105. Having been burned twice before he was also being very cautious, We moved in together 6 months later and then 15 months later he proposed during a hurricane with all my parents to see on bended knee and asked my dad for my hand in marriage even though I was “used Goods” LOL. We married 2 months later I am proud to say in 2 months time we made all the wedding arrangements, invitations, decorations, flowers ourselves,(almost broke up over a glue gun) but that cooled down Our theme was “ALL THINGS NEW AGAIN”

We have been on the ride of our lives ever since. When with my prince I have not been happy with my slowly increasing size. I have reached the point of 250 which I swore my 5′3″ frame would never reach. I had at one time decided no more diets for me, I have now changed my mind. I had looked at Gastric bypass before but my other insurance would not cover it. I heard the stories of the “old ” ways and the dangers involved, I also saw others have it and be successful. I thought If I only could, then I found out my ins would cover it if I met certain co-morbidities. Well Hells Bells, I have high B/P. Asthma(never smoked), Arthritis in my back & r knee started acting up, Id walk across the street or go up the stairs and I am breathless, Then the Diabetes Diagnosis got worse, or I should say reared its ugly presence again.I started reviewing the surgery, saw the ads and really started investigating the OH website. I found out when the “presentation about the surgery was being held and announced to my hubby that I wanted to go with or without him. He was TOTALLY against it, I persuaded him to come with me and listen, even though he kept at the back of the room, he listened. WE went home and he had a better frame of mind about it. His worst fear is” I’m not ready to give you up , to lose you” WELL I am not ready to give up either, I want to live to see grandkids, I want us to grow old together, do the traveling we want to do before we cannot,I have finally found some peace and contentment except for my weight and I don’t want to be the Morbidly obese lady who has the stroke or heart attack or gets stuck in chairs. I want to live life to the fullest. My prince has decided that the risk doesn’t seem so great as when we first started discussing this journey and if this is successful for me, he hopes to either lose weight as a result of my WLS or might even consider the WLS for himself. Time will tell.My only regret is that this didn’t happen sooner. So on dec 5 2005 I HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY. i LOST 130 POUNDS.  I went from size 24 to a size 8.    I hope that in either case I can help you  understand where I have been and where I am going.  i have had my ups and downs in this struggle. I have had buyers remorse even 2 years out and I still look back and say it is the right thing I did to lose weight and I would do it again. I just wish I had the oppourtunity to have done it as a younger person. AND after ALL of that DIET is still a 4 letter word. I have to watch what I eat. I have to watch what I say to the Big kahuna or I am a hypocrite on the defense.To be All things new again.

Mourning without a wedding

Here we are without a wedding. Yesterday should have been kays and R’s wedding day. How do I know? my cell phone went off last night and told me so! How ironic! But that wasn’t the only alarm. I have known for a month the wedding is off. The bride was found getting physical with her physical therapist you know what I mean really physical. She was given an chance to redeem herself and that didn’t happen so the wedding is off. The wedding rings were returned , the caterer cancelled. the money’s retuned, relatives notified. The bride tried to committ suicide over her guilt & grief, unsucessfully thank god but theres a long road of recovery to go for all of us. I find myself mourning, mourning th loss for my son. mourning the loss of 6 years of a relationship for both of them. mourning the loss of a daughter for me. This has become a time of recovery for all of us . The bright light out of all of is has been the planned honeymoon. it has been paid for. some of it is un refundable and both my sons are going on the honeymoon. It will be the rfirst time they will be out of the country. That is a cool thing. They will have some wonderful brotherly bonding time and have a great time seeing some eourpean countryside.

Yes life will go on. Relationships will die like seasonal flowers, some will die and others will begin and fourish while others struggle to survive. But in the end tomorrow will be another day. Another morning….