Playtime

Byron and I escaped this afternoon to meet up with some friends for lunch.

Kyle and Amy Benson live a few hours away and have a little girl

who is about six months younger than Kean.

And like Kean, she was blessed with that extra chromosome

and cursed with cancer.

 We met at Tucanos Brazilian Steakhouse for the yummiest lunch we've had in a long time.

That meat is incredible!

Last night, we also went out-- for the most relaxing

and loveliest evening on the lake.

 Oh, and side splitting, heavy duty belly laughs--

'cause look who we were with-- our dear friends, Calene and Mark

Borup and Marc and Monique Warner.  

 I was a wuss and didn't even try... but Byron got 

up skiing...

 and criss crossed the lake-- which we almost had to ourselves.

Boy, did we both need those breaks!

Who Gives A Hoot About A Pullitzer

Do you ever have one of those days you can chalk up as just an all around great day?!?

Yesterday was definitely one of them.

I was invited to tag along with the "Almost Famous" book club to go hear

Anthony Doerr speak.

Once upon a time, I was in that book club -- b.k.  (before Kean).

Maybe, just maybe, I can rejoin my friends.

 Tony Doerr is a writer but not just a writer.  He is a writer's writer--

the first few words that describe leaflets floating down from the sky 

in this book- got me.  In fact, got me to the point, I wanted to lock

myself in my room, salivate over every word and not be bothered

until I finished each and every beautiful page.

He won the Pullitzer Prize for fiction in 2015 - deservedly so.

If you haven't read it, you must.

He spent ten years,  yes, that was not a typo, ten years

writing and researching this book.  And I must admit, I was

completely and utterly mesmerized with his remarks.

He was hilarious, humble and very likeable.

It was fascinating to hear his stories-- of what triggered the idea

for the book, how he came up with the characters, their back stories

and the meticulous research he did for even the smallest of details

(such as what a resourceful French cook would be able to make

using war rations in occupied France).  

Fascinating.

And for a guy who is supposedly an introvert, he was

marvelous behind the mic.  He gave us a glimpse into the workings

of his mind by showing a series of slides toward the beginning of his presentation.

This one (sorry for the poor quality) is an extreme close-up of used

dental floss.  Yes, I know, icky.  But he showed all kinds

of these to us because he is clearly fascinated by science and the world.

It helped us to understand why he wanted one of the main themes of All the Light We Cannot See 

to focus on the miracle of light and sound waves in the form of radio waves

in the book.

You will just have to read it.

 Then last night we headed out to the Nampa Civic Center

for opening night of Greer's play:  Seussical the Musical.

 By the way, for me to even put these on my blog-- I'm being a big

time rule breaker.

After I snapped a few pictures, we were told at intermission

photography was prohibited and we needed to delete

any photos from our phones.

 So I'll quit showing cast photos and show cute Greer

after she changed out of many costumes.

Let's see, she played a Who, a glow-in-the-dark fish, the blue bird that

made up a trio of jungle singers, a ballerina at the circus

and a cadet (above).

 She is in heaven, in her element

and oh, let me add, exhausted.

 She has another show tonight and tomorrow night

(both sold out) and a matinee on Saturday.

So Not Dullsville

I don't think we know how to have dull moments around here.

The past few days, we've had the cousins in town from Texas.

So it's been lots of games...

 and giggles crammed into a short amount of time.

 The older girls all got up and went to the temple

early Friday... and did swimming and sliding 

in the afternoon.

Kean has kept us on our toes.

As usual.

He's been on heavy antibiotics for that sore throat

but still won't eat.

And he's got a lovely rash on his face that has kept me worrying.

 Tonight we finally figured out that it looks like he has Thrush in his mouth--

a side effect from the antibiotics.  So now he's on another

new drug to clear up the problem from the old drug.

Can't wait for our home pharmacy to be closed

or at least pared way down!!!

Oh and just to keep things interesting, I got stung by a yellow jacket

on Thursday.  Tonight, Saturday night, the swelling, redness

and heat in my arm is finally settling down.

I guess I can't double for Quasimodo anymore.

As I said, we don't do dull.

The Best Gig Ever

Sixteen years ago, just after Byron and I were married, 

we went back to LA so I could "play" a newscaster

for a Batman cartoon called Batman Beyond.

How in the world did I get this sweet gig you may ask?

The lady I sold my house to in Toluca Lake, California

just so happened to be the head of casting for Warner Brothers animation.

She asked.

I said yes.

It was not a condition of closing, by the way.

It was such a fun day.

And they even paid me over two thousand dollars

to read about four sentences.

As if that wasn't bonus enough, I still get a check

from Warner Brother's for residuals-- about 30 bucks every quarter.

(I totally would have done it for free).

Now for the rest of the story.... (my apologies to Paul Harvey)

I got a message on Facebook last week from a guy asking if he could

send me a picture to get my autograph.

Can you believe that?  All these years later-

and the funny part is he lives on the other side of the Valley.

Instead of giving out my address, I offered to meet him.

He brought two copies of the picture-- one for me to keep

and one for me to autograph.

 It was fascinating to meet James.

He has spent the last 11 years collecting over 400 autographs

from all things Batman (movies, TV shows, cartoons) and he

still has more to get on his quest.

Here's what's wild-- he knew so much more about the episode--

Lost Soul than I did.  And I was in it!!!

A Love Letter

I wish I could reach out of this computer and hug each and everyone of you.

Thank you for the beautiful comments, phone calls and pep talks.

Really, I could never have survived all of this stress over the past several

years without your support

and love.

Thank you again and again.

It has been a good day.

A new day.

And that has made all the difference.

Kean was a dazzler at therapy this morning--

he actually said "I want Mommy"-- which is huge.

I went and had a long scheduled Mammogram-- and told

myself it was just a version of a massage (a very focused massage)-- ha, ha.

And Byron and I escaped tonight for a much needed date.

We went and saw a movie.  

We left the three girls-- doing facials and watching Kean.

A Pap Smear and a Prayer

Today has been all about trying to keep Kean from 

being too miserable and getting him to eat something!!!

Stupid Chemo.

It stresses me out.

He did seem happier to be outside and sitting in the garage

on Byron's old tractor.

 I have purposely never taken Kean for a ride on a tractor,

motorcycle or four wheeler.

Otherwise, I'd be hounded all day every day by you know who.

 When Byron got home from work he took Kean on a real

four wheeler ride-- and look who he let drive part of the time!

Yikes!

 I, by the way, this afternoon had a doctor's appointment

with a new doctor for a physical and annual exam--

yes that female one.

I really, really liked the new doctor and had quite the unusual

experience.

After I got dressed, she came back in and asked if she could

say a prayer for my family.

She then held my hands and said the most beautiful prayer--

petitioning the Lord to bless my marriage, my husband, myself,

the three girls and especially Kean.

It was really sweet and the most unique doctor's visit I think I've 

ever had.

We are feeling the love.

Tonight we came home to a box full of Valentine's treats

from Grandma Kay.

 As I said, feeling the love.

Hollywood Calling

We had a camera crew out to the house the other night

to interview Mr. and Mrs. Barker.

Camp Rainbow Gold is having a new documentary shot.

Christian, the photographer and producer spent a week at

camp with the children with cancer, another week with the teens

and a third week with the siblings (our girls).

I have to tell you... Byron was dazzling in the interview.

I was standing next to him and had to keep pulling up my jaw

after he dished out one stunning sound bite after another.

I told him he has a new career ahead of him as a television commentator.

Christian also took a few shots of the entire fam-a-lee.

Look for the finished product coming to a computer

link near you (in September or October).

This Little Piggy...

I wasn't gonna post tonight... but now with such a hilarious picture

I feel like I should.

We had a women's meeting at my church this evening.

It was quite the affair-- the theme?  

This Little Piggy- certainly you remember the children's rhyme.

For "This Little Piggy Went To Market", my friend Heather

gave a mini class on the secrets to grocery shopping-

what days are best, where to buy what and which items

to never buy at Costco etc.  It was fascinating.

For "This Little Piggy Stayed Home", my friend Amber

spoke on fun activities and ways to find opportunities to teach

our children when we are home together.

For "This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef"... they gave us

some fast, easy and yummy dinner recipes.

And finally, for "This Little Piggy Had None"... they asked

"moi" (sorry, couldn't resist the Miss Piggy reference) to speak

on the spiritual feast we get when we Fast.

It went fine... up until I got to the point where I was telling the story

about how my great grandfather fasted the first Sunday of every month for the nearly

five years he was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese during WWII.

He was starving and yet felt compelled to fast and give his meager, insect infested

rice gruel to another prisoner who needed it more.

As I was telling the part of how he was captured during the battle of

Wake Island-- I referred to Wake as an "A-hole" instead of an "Atoll".

Yikes.  Couldn't have been any more mortified.

At least I was able to provide some comic relief.

p.s.  the final part of the rhyme-- "And this little pig cried wee, wee, wee

all the way home"-- was French desserts. Oui, Oui!

Tree Fort vs. Cougar Fort

I pulled a "I must think I'm younger than I am" stunt Friday night.

My good friend, Mary K and I got VIP passes to the Tree Fort music festival.

Over 360 bands are playing downtown Boise and we tried to hit

as many as we could Friday night.

We started out with this hard core rap band out of the Oakland area--

they had the base so loud-- it wasn't only my feet that were vibrating-- 

but my teeth.

Plus, I have to admit, it's probably since I worked in a newsroom

that I've heard that many expletives in that short of a time!

 Byron teased us that we were going out to "Cougar Fort".

What a meanie!

I'd have to say probably 80 percent of the people there were younger than us...

but we had a grand time:  listening to all kinds of music and people watching 

(I've decided that fur vests are all

the rage for men-- check out the guy below with the red sleeves-- at least he had a shirt on under his vest).

 Since we had passes that got us to the front of the lines

at every venue... we made sure to visit as many venues as we could possibly fit in-

from greasy haired grunge artists where we had a hard time deciding if the drummer

was a man or a woman, to hard core rockers... folk musicians to

Indy rock performers.  

We had a blast

but geez, my body reminded me I'm not in college anymore

and staying up half the night-- then having to get up with Kean

this morning about killed me.

I'll Probably Regret This...

If you had happened to drive by my house at lunchtime today, 

you'd likely swear you were watching the filming of a sitcom.

My cousin offered to take Sadie, our female cow to

his ranch where he has 6 or 7 bulls.

We are hoping this third time will be the charm

and her little romantic vacation will result in a baby calf down the road.

If you remember, we sent her to the neighbors for a long weekend

but it was a big fail.

Sadie is a woman of girth-- and I really think the neighbor's bulls

weren't quite big enough to do the deed.

Anyway, I digress.

Byron was stuck on a job and coached me on how to help

Laren, my cousin load Sadie into his trailer.

The only hitch is, when we went to get her, she had bolted over the fence and

wasn't where she was supposed to be.

Naughty girl.

You should have seen Laren pulling all approximately 1500 pounds by rope...

while I tried to entice her with a bucket of grain.

We finally got her in... not too gracefully-- but in.

And oh, my, did she kick and rebel once locked inside that trailer.

Tonight I made a royal fool of myself at a church function-- on purpose.

They did a spin off on the Hollywood Squares.

I was asked to be one of the celebrities:  "Christina Angelera"

 - notice the big, black feathery wings.

Actually, it was quite a kick.  I was in some pretty darn good company:

Mariah Caring, Beyon-say-your-prayers, Molly Parton,

Cher-Your-Testimony, Marie Osmond (as the center square), Brittany Spiritual,

Shirley-Go-To-The-Temple and Martha Stalwart.

Ellen Be Generous was the emcee.

 It was good to laugh.

Can't do that too often, can we?

Hot and Cold

There's no rhyme or reason to this kid.

For Physical Therapy this morning he was a pill.

Pretty much refused to do much of anything.

I sure hope Andrea doesn't give up on us.

But at lunch time, he put on quite the show for Maureen.

Wanna be thoroughly entertained?

Just listen to this boy!

I almost forgot, when Maureen arrived, he was waiting at the window

for her and said "Mo". 

I hope you realize what a big deal that is.

He's really making progress in certain areas (just not walking).

 I spent the afternoon seeing a back surgeon.  My back pain

from the car accident in October is markedly better-- but I still

have a dull aching pain (much better than the burning, shooting pain I had).

The doc is sending me for an MRI.  He's pretty sure I have a herniated disc.

The good news is-- it will get better.

The bad news is-- I'll be more susceptible to injury in that area.

It's always something, eh?



Back Home and Back to "Normal"?

Things have settled down somewhat.

Kean's fever (whatever caused it...) is gone.

I did end up going to my high school reunion in Vegas,

which means Byron held down the fort for the weekend.

He proudly told me Kean stayed in these pajamas for two whole days.

(Not sure what to think).

But I do think this picture is dang cute!

 I'm so glad I went.  Even though I was terribly sore

from the car accident-- it was sure worth getting away.

Especially since I got to spend two days with two of my favorite people--

Chris and April Morgando.

April and I grew up together as neighbors in Vegas and oh boy, don't

get us started on telling stories.

 April picked me up from the airport and we immediately cruised our

old "hood", which really has become quite the hood.  Sniff, sniff.

This is one of the nicest houses in the area, just down the street from our houses.

We were always fascinated with this home-- the owner was Gianni Russo

who played a pretty significant role in probably one of my all time favorite movies,

The Godfather.

 I'd already heard our house was boarded up and in pretty sad shape

but that still didn't take away any of the sting.

I spent most of my childhood in this house-- we called it the "Taco Bell house"

because of the red tile roof.

Lot's of good memories here!

 We also drove by all of our old schools.  This was my high school which

always looked like a prison.  It is built around a courtyard, so all the

windows are on the inside facing the center.

As if it didn't look like a maximum security facility to begin with,

there are now metal detectors and permanent fencing all around the entrances.

How depressing.

Thankfully, I got to go to my high school reunion and cheer right on up!

It was great, great fun.

Jan in the middle was our student body president, Dawn on the right was

senior class pres and I was one of the student body officers.

Loved these girls.

 Okay, I had to throw this one in here to show Byron.

Keith in the middle is my old boyfriend from when I worked in North Carolina.

He was a great guy back in high school-- another student body officer and our

quarterback-- and yet not stuck on himself.  Loved seeing him.  He's still

a wonderful guy.

 And Lisa... geez, we've known each other for, forever.

 And if I can go back to before forever, it would be with this group.

Sherrill Brown Malo on the left was my bff all through high school.  She was my fabulous

and gorgeous date for the reunion.

I grew up with all of these guys in school and church.

John Henderson is my childhood friend that finds himself (especially his wife)

expecting a surprise baby with Down syndrome.  Perhaps you read the letter

I wrote to him.  He will be the perfect kind of dad for this very special little girl.

And Melanie Coutta' on the right is actually two years younger but crashed our

party so we could see her! 

And that was just Friday night.

We had the big, formal dinner and program Saturday night.

I'm horrible with guesstimates, but I'd say there were about 200 people there,

including a few teachers.  It was quite surreal to attend our 30 year reunion.

It doesn't seem possible to be that old.

I'd have to say the women- overall- looked better than the men.  But the best

thing about the reunion at this age, is that very few people seemed out to impress.

Most everyone was just normal, candid and comfortable with themselves.

How refreshing and how fun.

Curse You Facebook!

So much for sneaking through this birthday with nobody noticing.

Actually, as depressing as it is to inch closer and closer to such an old age,

the gazillion messages all of you sent were wonderful.

And I feel much better about life.

We kept it pretty quiet... going over to my parents' house for our regular dinner.

I forgot my trusty camera... so all these photos are from my phone.

And please notice... this is of the kids before all of the sugar.

 My 15 year old niece, Katie surprised me with a pan full of butterfly cupcakes.

 She got this really cool book on cupcakes for Christmas and these were

her first attempt.  I told her, I'm hiring her to make cupcakes for

all my kids birthday parties.  She's quite the artist.

 Then my dear friend Pam, showed up with a German Chocolate Cheesecake

from the Cheesecake Factory.

Repeat after me... Heaven.

 As if our girls were not sugared up enough at this point, we ran them

over to Ron and Elly Moomey's house.

The Moomey's have their grandchildren in town visiting from the Bay area.

Tonight, also happened to be their grandson Jack's 7th birthday

and they had invited the girls over for... yep, more cake and ice cream.

Hopefully it will all wear off as they sleep and by morning

they will be back to their normal loud and hyper selves.

Again, thank you for making me feel so loved.

I guess birthdays aren't all that bad.