The Fray!!!

Hi y’all!  Hope everyone has been having a great week.  Our link-up party is going very well.  Thank you to all who have linked up!  If you haven’t linked up yet, please come link up!  It is a great way to meet new friends and read new blogs.  I love co-hosting with Iveth.  She is an awesome friend!  Check our her blog too!  The link-up party information can be found at https://pootsnotes.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/a-little-bit-of-everything-link-up-3/.

The walking is still going well.  This week has been kind of strange as far as walking goes.  I know we walked around 2 miles or so at the Illinois State Fair yesterday.  I worked Tuesday and I know I walked a bunch then.  Of course I can’t get my minutes and time because Facebook has decided to puke but rest assured I am still walking and doing everything that I need to.  Monday I did do right at 4 miles after all the errands were run and with the walking later in the day.  Tuesday I worked and walked constantly all day and yesterday was the Illinois State Fair.  Today I am beat and am just taking it easy.  Wednesday for whatever reason I decided it was time to have some doughnuts.  So I did.  I didn’t feel any better.  In fact I could tell I had too much sugar.  I took it easy yesterday and cut a lot of calories out.  Today I am very tired since we got home at 430 in the morning.  It was a long day.  But it was awesome!

We just saw The Fray last month in Indy and met them there.  And we wanted to see them again.  They were going to be at the Illinois State Fair.  We started out really early heading to Springfield because I hadn’t been there on my own and I wasn’t sure how the fair parking and all worked.  Once we got into Illinois I noticed a few things.  There was a cemetery that had a few stones but mostly all flower bouquets sticking up out of the ground.  The stones could haven been flat on the ground but it was just odd.  Another thing-all the roads to Springfield from here were two lane and at one time I was backroading it.  Well nothing new that doesn’t happen here since we live on the back roads.  I believe that the town/city signs in Illinois mention the population underneath the name.  I kept trying to figure out why we didn’t see any big buildings in Springfield.  The population was in the 117,000s.  I had Annie look up the population of Indy.  It was over 800,000.  That could explain it or we just didn’t get into that part of town.  Even Indy has a few huge buildings.  Illinois though was way easy to navigate.  It takes some time to get there and it looks like I never left Indiana, but it was an easy drive.

Once we got to Springfield I pulled over and called the fair people to find out what we needed to do.  We needed to go in gate 6 and park in lot 18 for the show.  Ok.  That was the easy part.  Next, what about these VIPIT things we have here?  They will be giving out bands prior to the show.  Ok.  So we get parked and head on in and run into a security guard to ask what the deal was and to find out when and where this will be.  He said 5 PM, and The Fray had just pulled up.  Awesome!  He was a really nice guy and we chatted with him a while (yes it is true, I never know a stranger).  On the way in we came by a helicopter ride place.  Nope, not for me.  I was going to go up in one in Branson Missouri with my uncle but I was so car sick from the ride there that I passed.  Now I don’t think I could deal with it either.  But Annie wanted to.  She went up and had a great time!  She showed me the video she took and all.  The guy there told me that he got car sick too but there is nothing like that in a chopper.  Nah.  Just still not for me.  Don’t think The Fray would fancy my lunch on my shirt should I get into close proximity to them.  Here are a few pics, and I have a video that I will eventually post.  She is in the back in the gray shirt.

We go back in and start trying to find someone to ask about the passes and such.  There is a line already forming and after we ask someone we decide to jump in there.  Glad we did.  They were all waiting for The Fray too all with VIP passes like us.  So we sat and waited.  About an hour after we had been there someone said they were over by where we were sitting at.  Annie and I debated whether to go or not but the people we were with held our place for us.  We walked on over and saw a couple of the other guys but no Isaac.  We rounded the corner and oh my!  There he was!  He was chatting with some of the other people from the line.  He was done talking to them and started talking to us.  At this point I think we both were about to have a spasm.  I told him that we had just met them last month in Indy and showed him the pic on my phone.  He said he was glad he was wearing a different shirt and asked if I would like another pic with him! Well yeah!  So I turn my camera on, hands shaking like crazy and I swear I am brain-dead.  I cannot figure out why the selfie function was not functioning.  He reached over and flipped it to the right setting.  I took 3 pics, in case one of them didn’t take right–shaky hands you know.  I thanked him and Annie got one with him too.  That was just awesome! We got one with one of the other guys too and by that time their security had caught up to them.  They weren’t running people off but they were just moving on down the line of the food places in front of the grandstand.  I am just still in shock!  I am just absolutely thrilled to death to get to meet them again!  And Isaac Slade again!  How awesome is that????  He is a really nice guy.  🙂

We go back to our line and the security people were making sure that only the people who were there first didn’t get cut in front of.  At around 5 they got our bands for us and we still had to wait longer.  Around 630 they let us start going in and told everyone not to run.  Well that didn’t work well since it was general admission for the pit.  We got in good and on the right side of the stage, first in line at the fence.  Yeah!  It was pretty awesome.  Here is one of our views.

Andy Grammer opened for The Fray.  He was pretty awesome too.  I got a few good pics.

Then The Fray came out.  Oh.  My.  They are just as awesome as they were in Indy.  About three or four songs in he goes out in the crowd.  He is climbing up the grandstand and seeing the people up in the top.  He climbed back down and came back on the side of the fence where we were standing.  At the end of the song he hops up on the fence, right over Annie!  Now I am standing beside her, and fumbling with the phone to get the pics.  I got them!  So not only did we get to meet him but we got to see him hop up right there at us!  In the first one of him close up you can see Annie’s hand reaching out to touch his arm.  🙂  I was too bumfuzzled to reach out….I was trying to take pics.

I took all sorts of great pics here.  I will post several.  We had such a good time!  The Fray will never disappoint.  I also have a video of them singing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.”  I will try to get it out there and posted.  If any of you guys happen to read this, thank you.  You have made our year, twice in a row.  🙂

This has been an awesome week!  Keep linking up and have a great weekend!

–S

Rob Thomas-Dreams Do Come True!

Hi ya’ll!  We didn’t walk today because we got in really late last night or this morning rather and not only were we tired but we walked for around 2 hours yesterday and did 4 plus miles in downtown Indy in 80 some degree weather.  It was really awesome walking around downtown.

Just a few catch ups here–I gained another Bloglovin’ follower so thank you for that!  I also gained a few more blog followers so thank you for that!  We stopped at Starbucks and I had to have a frappuccino.  It tasted like pure sugar.  But never fear, the 4 miles walked it off.  I also was in a position to drink a Diet Coke for lunch although I have put the pop down and I needed one later for a flappy gut.  I am right back on it today though.  I don’t consider the Subway bread anything wrong.  I had to have something to eat.  I can eat a bit like that but not often.

The Old National Centre was in a part of Indy that I hadn’t been in and it looked really different from some of the other parts.  Also they had their own parking which was a great thing.  Anyway, we ate lunch at Subway and walked around downtown and went to the mall.  The buildings are huge and Indy is just beautiful.  I am getting ahead of myself so more on that in a bit.  I have heard it called the Murat Theatre and the room inside was the Egyptian Room.

As y’all know, yesterday was the Rob Thomas concert in Indy.  We got the VIP package which included some other merchandise that should be here this week.  I have been a huge fan of Rob Thomas for years, like 15, 20 or so. He is the lead singer for matchbox twenty and they have so many hits.  He won 2 Grammys for “Smooth” with Carlos Santana and he also has a very awesome solo career.  I have seen matchbox twenty at Conseco before, and that was when Maroon 5 and Sugar Ray was touring with them.  That was pretty awesome too. I have since been to see Maroon 5 again, in February of this year.  I have just loved Rob’s music for years.  It isn’t all about what he looks like either.  He isn’t hard on the eyes but I think I am more starstruck than anything.  You know how it is, someone you have followed for years and listened to everything they have put out and listened to or read every possible interview you can get a hold of because you just absorb everything you can about them because you are a fan? You follow some of the things they stand for and you really appreciate them using their celebrity for something good?  You may pass out if you get to meet them?  Someone that for no reason at all you are just a fan and feel drawn to them?  You get it.  That is Rob Thomas to me.  I would be willing to say that no one has a clue what getting to see someone like this that you have admired for years, up close, means.  And the fact that my daughter knew how much I groove on him and she made it happen without any hesitation or reserve.  Lots of things there that made this an awesome show.  We had to wait two months after purchasing the tickets.  Seems like it took forever to get here.  We had no idea then just how awesome this night was going to be.

We had second row seats.  That was fabulous enough in itself.  There was a pit which was way too close to the stage.  The pics we took were fabulous.  A day or two before our show we got to reading on Twitter and Facebook that he was signing autographs for people after the show.  Well we decided that we were going to wait and see if that would happen in Indy.  Was a little disappointed because at the show the night before he posted that he wasn’t going to sign them so everyone would know not to wait on him.  We started tweeting him about an hour before the show so that he knows we wanted him to stay.  I tweeted that I had been a fan and have waited for 15 plus years to meet him and Annie told him that this was for my birthday and I would probably pass out if I got to meet him.  Well we will see how that turned out here in a bit.  Did he stay or not?  The suspense last night almost done us in.

I had called the venue ahead of time to check on parking and to reserve some but they were all reserved so in order to get parked in their lot we needed to get there early.  So I guess that the rest of the lot is first come first served.  I didn’t want to stomp around a part of Indy that I am not familiar with after dark so we left at 11AM yesterday.  I wanted to be up there in plenty of time to get a space, to stalk his bus since he was supposedly signing pics there and to eat.  I had no doubts that we would be able to amuse ourselves for hours.  We roll into the parking lot around 1:30 or so, after Siri took me around the loop AKA 465 and then onto 65.  It wasn’t the least bit hard to get to for those people who dread Indy driving.  Then again, I love driving and live for days when I can go places like that.  All in the perspective I guess.  We get parked and I call again to confirm we can park there and their only advice is to pay the attendant for parking anytime before the show.  It was a lot cheaper too than the rest of the places up there.  After we figured all that out we started walking and of course we found his bus, about three rows over from us.  That was awesome!  We took pics and things and I will post some throughout my blog.  His is the black one.

We went across the street to Subway to eat lunch.  After that we went and took care of the parking fee and decided how to kill a couple of hours.  We decided to go downtown to the mall.  It was only about a mile away and we walk two miles a day. It was hot, in the mid 80s, but I still didn’t huff and puff. Yay!  Exercise is paying off!  So off we took to downtown.  We didn’t get hollered at by too many people but enough. We walked along checking everything out and I have to tell you that looking up at the skyscrapers is nerve-wracking to me.  I can lose my balance so easily.  But Indy itself is beautiful.  We ended up walking around the circle in our trek to the mall.  After we got there, we had to ride this huge escalator to the top.  That about threw my balance off too!  I just could not get on another escalator.  I took the elevator.  We didn’t spend too much time there because we had to hoof it to the show.  We got back about 530 or so.  Thank goodness the water I took in my cooler was still cold.  We were hot and very sweaty.  We saw people going on in so we freshened up and went on in.  We had to wait for about an hour but the cool thing here was we were first in line to get in the door and first in line for the t-shirt table.  That was awesome!  I do say after the show I love the smaller venue and the benefits that come with it.

We still had 15 minutes to wait for the doors to open inside after we got in there and did all we needed to do.  Once we got in, we were absolutely shocked by our seats. I know that standing in there waiting my guts were flip-flopping and I was getting so nervous that I had to look me up a Sprite when we got in.  Yes yes, it had sugar but I needed it.  Here is a pic after we got seated.

Holy smokes!  We really were close enough to Rob to see his eyes! That staff guy standing there, he had to come over and harass us too while we waited.  Wanted to know if we were going to give him any problems.  He was a hoot!  Glad to know that they hire people who have good personalities for stuff like that.

The first band that came on was Vinyl Station.  They did pretty good.

The Plain White T’s were next.  They were awesome!!   I loved all they did.  I am sure y’all remember “Hey There Delilah”?  They sang it last.  Awesome times there!

Then it was time for Rob!  I wasn’t too wound up because he had already been on the side of the stage Periscoping the bands and us.  He came out and I took a video first.  But wait until you see these pics!  Close enough to see his eyes!  For whatever reason, me and Annie seemed to be the only two in the front putting our hands up and clapping and stuff while he sang.  Rob’s guitar player kept looking at us and nodding and at one point, Rob came over and waved and smiled at us!  That was awesome!  I know it was us because I could see him looking at us and we were the only ones with our hands up.  Good times! The crowd was a relatively calm bunch.  Odd too that I didn’t notice too many people singing along with him other than me.  That was very strange. Hey I went to sing and hoop and holler, have a good time and see Rob up close.  I accomplished all of that.  He did several of his songs, three of his new ones, a couple of matchbox twenty–“3AM” and “Disease”– and “Smooth!”  Oh my goodness!  He said he was going to play for two hours and he did!  He has never disappointed me!  I have as I said earlier been a fan for years and will continue to be.  The next time though, will be a picture-taking moment with him.  🙂  Here are just a few of my Rob pics.   I can’t upload them all, since I took like 300 or so.  And a couple of these Annie took.  He was such a wiggle worm that it was hard to get clear pics but we did.  And the lighting in there clashed with my phone.  By the way, all these are pretty clear pics and all of them were taken with an iPhone.

After the show we ran to the bathroom and tried to figure out what was going on.  With his message on Twitter the day before we kept checking it to see if he said anything about signing autographs in Indy.  That was interesting too.  Not too many people other than the ones who live here know Indy is called Indy instead of Indianapolis.  Correct me if I am wrong but the nickname isn’t as well-known as the Big Apple or Motor City or the Windy City, right?  Anyway, he referred to there as Indy and that was cool. Another thing we couldn’t figure out was the way he said the Twitter message the day before.  Did that mean he would stop in the venue and sign or off the bus or what?  We sat down and collected our thoughts and decided to go outside and see if anything was happening.  Oh wow.  There had to be about 500 people there.  The place held 2500 so that was quite a few still waiting.  Little by little they kept leaving until there was maybe 150 there.   The show was over and we were outside about 1045 maybe and we decided to wait to see what would happen.  They kept shifting us on different areas and finally, about 2 1/2 hours later, they moved us over so his bus could pull up.  About 5 minutes later here he came!  He walked to the bus, dodged the door, and came directly to where we were gathered with the crowd.  Oh  My  Goodness.  He did say he didn’t have time for pics.  Looking at the back of my shirt it is a rough travel schedule.  My brain went on overload, Annie is handing me my paper for him to sign, and she is away from me trying to get hers signed.  I was trying to be polite with everyone else and so I could turn my recorder on.  I stuck my paper up there, he grabbed my hand to hold the paper steady and signed it.  Oh  My  Goodness.  ……..it took me a minute to really figure out what happened but as I did I snapped some more pics.  I of course thanked him, which not many people were doing but Annie did too.  My dream came true.  I always wanted to clamp hands on Rob, shake his hand and tell him how awesome he is, but apparently that worked the other way around and he clamped hands on me.  I still just get completely flabbergasted when I think about it.  I hollered at Annie, made sure she had hers, and I ran us both off so those behind us could get to him.  When we came out, people were lined up to his bus and I figured we would be last.  Nope.  Glad we stayed where we were and didn’t leave.  My feet and legs were killing me after the 4 mile plus day.  But I stuck with it.  Glad I did!  I was also hot and sweaty from hollering, jumping and stuff.   He does treat his fans well, makes no judgment on things or etc.  Now someone may argue with me that he didn’t even stay long enough for that but you can just tell when someone is sincere in their actions and stuff.  He was.  He didn’t have to stay but he did and I thank him so much for that.  So yeah,  I finally got to meet him even it was only for an autograph.

I have a video of it and I think I may upload it to YouTube and link it in a minute.  You can see him take my paper because of my nails and my ring and sign it.  Oh my goodness.

Needless to say, dreams do come true.  This has to be one of the best birthdays ever!  Everyone who knows me knows what a fan of his I have been and I am sure they think this was mind-blowing for me.  Now y’all do too. 🙂

Have a great day and I will have a regular blog tomorrow.  I am worn out and need to get ready for church in a bit.

–S

Friday Ramblings, Walking and second Liebster Award! Woo hoo!

Hi ya’ll! Hope everyone had a great Friday.  First of all I have been nominated for a second Liebster Award, which I will work on tomorrow.  I do thank my daughter for that!  We did 54 minutes and 2.1 miles and later in the day when I went out I did an additional 1.18 miles.  It was hot and muggy again and buggy still.  I also used my hand weights but Annie chose not to so she could swat at the bugs.  This morning when I got up and put my walking clothes on, I could really tell that I have lost.  I also noticed this afternoon that my gut is becoming smaller and baggier, if you will.  It is like it is getting dimples because it isn’t so tight anymore.  I am liking all of that.  Keeps me motivated to keep going.  I do say that I do look like I have a huge booty because I have to keep my phone in my pocket so it will record my miles, and it is an iPhone 6 plus so it is a larger phone.  But  I can deal with that.

Before I leave on our walk every day I make a pot of hot tea, and take my meds.  I had bought a box of regular tea bags that had tags and such.  Before I had tagless tea bags.  I must tell you that the ones with tags, annoying.  I do not want to have to buy those anymore.  Takes too much time when you are running on a schedule in the morning.  I went through and untagged and unbagged all of them.  I showed them!  Ha!

On our walk today we discussed a variety of things, and we talked about night noises.  Annie said and I knew from past night shift experience that everything looks sounds and feels different at night.  I posed the question that are all night noises normal, or do they just not seem normal to us because the majority of us sleep at night?  She thought that some of the noises she hears at night are not normal and should not be happening.  These noises being stuff close to footsteps when alone and they aren’t yours noises of stuff being moved or dropped–basically noises that require another human on that end to be making, but should be impossible when there is only one there, like her.  It is an interesting thing to ponder on regardless.  Could be kind of creepy too.  But with me and her both, we are intrigued by creepy.  We have a concert in Lexington in September and when we come home, we are going to schedule a tour of Waverly Hills, so yeah, we groove on creepy.

The main topic today was discussing our upcoming Rob Thomas show.  I am sooo beyond excited that if I think about it too much I would absolutely flip out.  So we decided to make a list of concerts that we would be interested in seeing, meaning that if the band or person was the only one touring, we would go see them.  We had several that if they toured with someone else that we wanted to see, that would be cool. Here is our list, with some notes too.

People/Bands Annie and I would go see:

Aloe Blacc

Before You Exit–this is Annie’s

Bruno Mars–we both agree that Bruno would rock

Daughtry—-we both would groove on him too

Ed Sheeran–we both want to see him

Foster the People–mostly me but she would probably go

The Fray—GOING TO MEET AND SEE THEM IN JULY!  MEET THEM!!! WOO HOO!

Gavin DeGraw–we both would see him I believe

Hunter Hayes—front row seats in September—one of Annie’s favorites

Imagine Dragons–funny story there.  She had tried to get us tickets to see them June 16 in Louisville.  She couldn’t find any.  The next week Rob Thomas tickets went on sale for what date?  June 16.  Interesting huh?  We were meant to see Rob.  Anyway, we both want to see them too eventually.

John Newman–mostly me but she would go too.

Josh Turner–I have seen and met Josh Turner and he is awesome.  She wants to see him too.

Katy Perry—one of 3 women singers I would actually go see.  All may be shocked at the second.  She is coming up on the list soon.

Lady Antebellum–front row seats in September.

Lady Gaga—love love love Lady Gaga!  I would go without a doubt.  Annie would too.

Lifehouse—we both would see them.

Luke Bryan–Annie’s idea but I would go too.

Macklemore–we both would see him.

Maroon 5–Annie saw them this year for the first time, and it was my second time.  Maybe third time I will get to meet them.

Matchbox Twenty–saw them once, and now I get to see Rob next week!!!  I am BEYOND excited!!!!

Nickelback–we both want to see them and she tried to get tickets but was the day before another show we are already going to

OneRepublic—we both would see them

Parachute–Annie’s—she wants to see them as bad as I do Rob Thomas

Paramore–Annie’s again and the same thing there too.

Pitbull–I would not object if he was touring with someone I was going to see.  Not sure if I would go if headlining.

Sam Hunt–Annie’s reason for seeing Lady A.  Hunter Hayes too.  I got roped into that one.  But I will go.  Ha!

Sam Smith–this is all on her.  I will have to sit through this because of what she is going to surprise me with one of these days.  I will survive.

Taylor Swift–I think we both could sit through her show.

Thomas Rhett–this one is all her.  I don’t know.

Train–they are touring with The Fray.  Will be an awesome show!

Nico and Vinz—they would be awesome!

I am waiting though, waiting and waiting, for Impractical Jokers.  I keep telling her that if she wants to see me have a panic attack it will be when I get to meet them.  Notice I didn’t say if I said when.  She will have the camera ready she said.  Stay tuned for that.

Derek and I had to go out this afternoon.  We flea doped the dogs before we left and they were not happy campers.  We ate lunch at a local buffet.  I ate what I normally would get but just less of it.  A few carbs here and there won’t’ hurt.  I did eat more mushrooms and ranch than anything else I think.

We had an interesting discussion on the way home.  He was catching his stuff falling off the dash as we were going up a hill and he decided that was due to my driving.  Gravity?  Ok anyway, I was talking to him that I am either on or off.  I have no in between.  I guess that really is how everything affects me.  I was telling him when I drive I drive like I am going to a fire (funny reference considering he is a fire fighter) or like Grandma.  Even when I am in the sun, I either fry like bacon or nothing happens.  My body even reacts in such a manner.  Cleaning is the same way. I want to do it all now, or not at all.  This could explain why I want to see more results with my weight loss.  I am putting all the time and effort into it now and want to see more now.  FYI next week starts week 8 of diet and 7 of exercise.

Going back to the driving thing, I four-wheeled over a tree once to get to Walmart.  Yup, it had stormed and I needed to go to the grocery store.  When the storm was over, I loaded everyone up in the Jeep and took off.  Down the road there was a moderately large-sized tree in the road and I didn’t have time to backtrack.  I put it in low 4×4 and drove right over it.  I thought of that when he told me today to watch out for tress in the road.  I put the car right between them and told him I avoided those like a boss.  Ha!  When I refer to car I mean my SUV.  We don’t own cars here.  Little redneck?  Maybe.  But it sure can be fun!

I called the boss at my old workplace today.  I need to work a bit for a while.  She thinks I will be able to come back to work.  Ever since I left the place I have been called back to it.  Well I had to–I lost my job when Jeffrey was sick so I needed to be with him.  I have had dreams of the place and something just feels like I am being pulled there.  I have often wondered if that is what I am actually called to do as far as a career goes and I have to say I hope that isn’t all.  I feel like  I am needed to do other things as well.  I guess we shall see.  It may be that  I am just supposed to work there, and not always in the same capacity as before.

I think I am going to stop here.  I will work on my Liebster Award tomorrow when I get back from taking my Mom to the store.  Have a great night!

Lit My Fire

Well here it is Friday.  I guess everyone is getting geared up for Memorial Day weekend.  We are going to grill out and my brother is coming down tomorrow so it should be a good day.  I make hot dogs, burgers and potatoes on the grill.  Oh those potatoes are something else!  Slap some butter on them and yummy.  I cut down today and yesterday and even though I wanted potatoes I decided to wait until tomorrow so I can enjoy them with everyone. Church on Sunday and Derek works on Monday I think so it will just be a normal day.

This morning again I cut it down by about a little on the time and stuff just to get myself straightened up.  42 minutes and 1.43 miles I believe.  Not too shabby even for cutting down!  My bp didn’t raise this morning and I felt a little woozy when we got back but the bp actually fell from the reading I took before I left.  Maybe I need to get up earlier and take my meds earlier or something.  I will get the key to this figured out.  I am open to any suggestions too.  Maybe the order of things is out-of-order or something.

This afternoon waiting for Jeffrey to get home I finally got the shake weight out.  I had been wanting to get it out and do it in the evening as a supplement to work parts of me that the walk may not exactly hit on, like my arms and hopefully I can jiggle some more of my chin off.  I have been doing chin exercises a few times a day, and my son told me today that made me look like “I was calling whales in.”  Nice.  As long as it takes that infernal chin off, I will call in every last cow or whatever if necessary. Anyway the shake weight is one of the funniest crafted things I think I have seen in a long time.  But I tell you I can feel it working when I was shaking it.  I did some research because the one I bought I bought at St Vincent’s and it had no video or anything else with it.  I discovered that of course, there was a video that came with it.  There were also other places that explained what do to with it.  While I was doing this I hit on a link that asked if the shake weight actually worked?  I read two different articles.  One was a lady who was used to lifting weights stopped her normal routine and did the shake weight for a month.  She lost a little flab on her arms and all but she had some problems exercising normally when it was over.  She thought it wasn’t a good thing and recommended it for people who are not exercise savvy.  Another one I read said that the shake weight does work those muscles when you use it and works them well.  The whole idea I got out of both of those was this:  for someone like me who is not exactly lifting 200 pounds in the gym twice a day, the shake weight will give me some decent results.  Even if it don’t tone me up like a regular weight room, it has to be better than nothing.

Next Monday will start week 5 of my diet and week 4 of our exercise.  I can’t say this is the longest I ever dieted because I remember back in high school I stuck with it one whole summer.  Not sure what fell off there but oh well.  I have never been able to stick with anything very long but this time I think I will be able too.  Not just because of my weight and all and my need to lose it, but because of my health.  I have to do this.  One of my main motivations?  I want to look as beautiful on the outside as I feel on the inside and they don’t match.  The exercise comes into play here too.  I have issues with my back and my foot but I am pressing on anyway with the idea that once I get some weight off maybe, possibly, HOPEFULLY some of that will stop.  Everyone says it will.  I plan on finding out.  I bet one thing:  when we go to our rescheduled Reds game in July I bet I won’t huff and puff into the ball park.  And I figure i will have to have my Reds shirt altered because it will be TOO big.  Almost too big before but now it will be.  I can tell my arms are losing and my gut is too.  I feel like I need to do some more to my gut in the afternoon but I am not going to rush it.  It is coming along nicely.  I know on low carb you are supposed to lose faster but I know everyone is different and if I can just lose period I am happy.  Speaking of low carb I got an Atkins carb counter book and another book in the mail today.  That will make eating a bit easier.  I looked at it and it has restaurants in there too so hopefully that will help when we go out to eat.  I am still struggling with side dishes but I think for me I need to have one day with potatoes as a side and limit myself the rest of the week.  I need to keep it as low carb as possible and I am.  I also had Annie pick up some sugar-free cookies today, the Murray brand.  Of course she gave me that look over Murray and I had to explain to her that Murr did not own a cookie company.  🙂

So after the shake weight and that paragraph just went all over the place up there, when Jeffrey got home we mowed.  I have been complaining about needing a mower because the side yard is all inclined and I do not want to tackle that on a push mower.  Well we did the front yard today with the push mower.  That got me an additional 53 minutes and 1.4 miles onto my count for today.  I do have to say I am beat.  It was all on the flat but one part is a bit inclined and I have to swing it up and down the edge of a bank a bit. . Jeffrey only did a few minutes but I did get a small break in there.  I also discovered that I am now apparently allergic to grasses.  A few years ago I figured out I was allergic to thistles because when I chopped one of those up with a weed eater it flung juice all up in my face and I broke out.  I ran into one of those but it didn’t get one me.  So now I am worn out and all sneezy too.  But part of the jungle is gone!  Yay! So I had my iPod going while I mowed,  I have to say I Maroon 5’ved, lit my fire, Rob Thomased, and held on loosely all through the yard. I hope everyone understands those references.  But it sure did help mowing!

I know some people may read this and think all this trouble I am going through is just that: trouble.  I can’t look at it like that.  I again try to see the positive in everything even in the darkest of times.  We all have something to learn from our experiences, whether the experiences are good or bad.  I have learned that I do need to take care of myself inside and out better than I ever had before.  No one pays attention when they are younger.  But I have been hearing a lot of people say lately that their mind and body and soul seem to line up at 40.  I am almost there, so maybe it is just time it all came together for me.  Hopefully that will be how it goes.  My next part of life I am going to be rocking healthy and dadgum cute!

Ok, I have rambled enough.  May or may not get another posted tomorrow.  Have a good weekend!

–S

Sunday

Hi y’all!  We didn’t walk today, mostly because we need a day to recover and it is church today.  I teach Sunday school in the morning and church starts about the time we would be walking.  We also start another Bible study this week so that should be interesting.

Back to walking tomorrow and the hope to get a bunch of stuff around the house done.  Being in school I tend to let things get behind.  It seems worse working on a Master’s degree.  I have no time but to work on that and to do the necessary stuff like pay bills and laundry and grocery shop.  But I plan on catching everything up this week and in the following weeks.

Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and I had to go ahead and buy some new plates and forks.  They tend to disappear to my daughter’s room.  I am not sure what she does with them.  They are there, then gone, and then gone from her room.  I think we have a plate monster or she is eating them.  Either way I bought some new ones.  I like the Corelle lighter weight plates.  I also have a thing about matching stuff. I prefer it mismatched.  It matches my life and personality that way.  Or maybe it just expresses what a goof I am.

I do have one complete set of Corelle still in the box.  It has the plates, salad plates, cups and saucers. I just don’t have the desire to open it and lose pieces of it.  (You reading this Annie?)  Now I am not as bad as those people with the Christmas presents.  You know those people–everyone has one or two in the family.  They keep wearing the same jacket, or shoes or whatever and it is falling apart or has holes in it.  You know they have a new one because you see it when you pass their room. And you also know they have a new coat or whatever from 1973, 1958, and almost each successive year since, still new and packaged up and in the same condition it was in as the day they got it.  You also know they won’t wear it.  The excuse is they are saving it for a special occasion or for when what they have is worn out.  Hello-the stuff you have has holes or worse!  You know who I mean here!   I told my uncle that once not too long ago and he went digging for something and came and told me later that he believed I was right because he found undershirts from the 80s still in the packaging.  The point is, I am not trying to gift-horde them but I just don’t want to lose the only complete set I have.  Corelle dishes are expensive!  The set I have I found at a store closing sale but they still weren’t cheap.

With summer coming and school out,  I have several things to look forward to.  The highlight coming quick is the Rob Thomas concert next month.  My daughter scored 2nd row seats!  I cannot wait!  Rob is one of my favorites.  I have loved matchbox twenty since they came out and that of course means I love him as a solo artist as well. I am still in shock and I get a little more excited every day because it is getting closer and closer.  I have always been a huge fan.  My brother says that if I ever got to meet him I would get to keep his shoes as a souvenir because I would puke on them.  Well, maybe.  I have determined 2nd row back will be bad enough and for Annie to tape my reaction when he comes out.  I am sure it will be Comedy Channel worthy.  I of course love Maroon 5.  I have seen matchbox twenty before and when they were touring Maroon 5 was touring with them so I have seen them twice now.  That was my Christmas present this year.  I have determined that I love Adam Levine as much as I do Rob so getting to see them again was awesome.  Maroon 5 just has good music.  I love to listen to them a lot when we walk and Rob and matchbox twenty too.  We had pretty good seats for Maroon 5.  We hope to catch them again too when they come around again.  We may get lucky with a meet and greet too.  Pretty good seats but the camera I had didn’t do the view justice.  We were way closer than the camera shows.  Awesome show regardless!

As I have been doing all week, here is another post or a few from the blog I wrote when Jeffrey was sick.
There aren’t too many more left.  The last one in the line here, and you can see where they stop and start because I believe at the end I thank everyone for their love and support, it was one of the most important and revealing ones I have written.  I hope it helps to make sense as far as how parents see these things.

Hello all!  Sorry I haven’t updated in a while.  There has been nothing much to speak of because he had been doing well and we had gone home.  Didn’t think anyone wanted to read about 10 days of scratching the dog and cat!  Ha! 

On Monday we had an appointment for a bone marrow aspirate at 11AM.  We show up on time, and find out that our appointment was scheduled at 8AM and for some reason there was a scheduling mix up.  We waited and got the test done around 2PM.  We were allowed this time to go in the room with him.  It was interesting to see what they were doing, and the vials of bone marrow look like vials of blood.  We were to be admitted since his ANC had climbed up to 2800, and it needed to be at 750 minimum to start chemo again.  Disappointing because we really REALLY wanted to spend some more time at home, but good because his body was rebuilding well after the chemo!  Had we been able to go home it would have meant his body hadn’t recovered as fast from the last round of chemo.  Talk about a catch 22!  But on a happy note, we are all glad we are getting the chemo started, because the faster we get it done, the faster we can be on the road to living a normal life again!  I have been told life will never be “normal” again, but as long as we can have something that resembles what we had before the diagnosis, that would be great.   

OK, anyway we were supposed to be readmitted on Monday so we could start chemo.  There was for some reason no way there were any beds open.  So we stayed in the Methodist Tower and that was an interesting evening!  We ate pizza, slept well, and came back over the next morning to the outpatient center and went ahead and got his chemo going.  We had a bed that evening.  We changed rooms the next day but that is ok.  We are in 5120. 

Now for the other information.  Jeffrey’s bone marrow tests show him to be in REMISSION!  Yes that is correct!  That is the best news I have ever received!  We have to keep up with the next treatments of chemo, in order to get rid of the leukemia cells that may be there that cannot be seen and are hidden for some reason. 

I am going to post more information about his treatments and things later.  But I wanted to convey the most important information of all and that is he is in remission!

Hello I am back!  His chemo this time runs for 8 days instead of 10.  He will have Cytarabine every day for the 8 days.  He will have Daunorubicin for 3 of these days, and the etopiside as well for 5 days I believe.  The Daunorubicin is the hardest.  It tends to make him sicker than the rest of it.  It seems though this time he was sick from the beginning unlike the first time, when it took a few days for it to hit him.  He is still eating though, and hitting the Playstation hard!  He weighed approximately 92 pounds when we got here in December, and now he weights around 90 pounds so he hasn’t lost too much.  We will keep the snacks coming, if that is what it takes to get him to eat!  He has been eating cheesesticks and pizza, and some Long John Silver’s.  His ANC has fell from 2800 when we came in to 1995 today, which that is the number that tells us what his immune system is doing and how the chemo is affecting him.  Now don’t everyone panic!  The numbers MUST go to 0 and fluctuate up and down, and this is normal!  If it would not, then there may be something wrong, and we want the chemo to work as it should, and the fluctuation shows that the chemo is working as it should.    Otherwise it will take about the same amount of time for his immune system to build up and we don’t want him to walk out of here without that building.  He would be more susceptible to getting a serious illness, and that would not be good!   As much as he and I and Derek want to be home, we are here to be sure he is well, and when he is well, we will be home for a period of time again!  After this time there are 3 more rounds of chemo.  The days on them may change but if I have understood correctly the amount and types of the chemo should remain about the same, until the very last dose.  It will be 2 days of chemo, skip 2 days, then 2 more days of chemo, and it will be stronger than the rest.  

We haven’t received the results yet of our DNA typing.  Derek and I had blood drawn the day we came home to see if in the future, if there was a need for a bone marrow transplant, if either him or myself would be a match for Jeffrey.  The results of that aren’t back yet, but  I will let everyone know when they are.  If we aren’t a match, then we would type his sister, and if she wasn’t a match, if a transplant was needed, then we would have to go to the national registry.  But we are going to hope that we will not need a transplant at any point in time! 

As everyone knows, these last few weeks/month have been very stressful on all of us, in more ways than anyone would ever be able to imagine.  We appreciate so much all the love, support and prayers, more than anyone will ever know.  We thank you all from our hearts!

Hello again!  It is snowy here today!  But hopefully that will clear up by the time we get ready to come home. 

Last week Jeffrey passed out Valentines and candy to all the nurses and patients on the floor.  In face we ran out and had to get more!  He finally did get one to everyone.  Last week was an ok week.  We knew his numbers were falling and was fighting being tired every step of the way.  This only created some issues that we worked out as far as behaving goes.  Sunday he finally admitted to us that he was tired. 

This morning about 1:30AM he sprouted a fever.  We knew he would get one eventually, and figured his numbers had finally fell to 0 or he is fighting a bug.  He had a lab drawn and they started him on antibiotics.  We will know his lab results in a day or so as far as what may be there today.  His blood pressure was monitored as well as all his vitals.  We had a DR or nurse in the room with us until early morning, monitoring all of his vitals, answering my incessant questions, and trying to convince me to go back to bed for a while! ( I don’t mean that the way it sounds.  They have all been wonderful answering everything no matter what it is I asked.  But they did determine we both needed to sleep, and tried to get me to do such after he went to sleep!)  His blood pressure dropped, and the DR ordered an EKG due to an irregularity seen that was connected with his heart rhythm.  He also has to have Tylenol and Benadryl started before the antibiotic, because it tends to break him out.  He slept well all morning.  The results came back from EKG.  They believe his blood pressure is ok, because after reviewing his regular night time blood pressures, it tends to run a little lower.  The rhythm on his heart is ok at this point.  They said other people have these types of things and are generally ok with them, but to let them know if he had any issues or wasn’t feeling well with anything connected with his heart.  His fever hit 104 around 11AM, but he ate lunch and is now sleeping, and will get more antibiotics around 2-3PM. 

Don’t anyone panic here!  We knew he was going to have a fever, they knew the antibiotic has a tendency to drop blood pressures when given.  The fever is a good sign though.  The best way I can explain that is that once your immune system is down to 0, your body will get a fever trying to rebuild itself.  This is normal!!  This also means the chemo is doing exactly what it is supposed to, and that is what we want to hear!  Again, don’t anyone have a spazz over what I have typed!  I haven’t informed many yet as to what is going on today, because I wanted to be sure all was well, as I have been reassured of many many times today, and I wanted to be able to convey the correct information when I shared it.   

Otherwise, all is well.  There are plenty of activities for him to participate in, his schooling is going well here, and he is starting to make friends with some of the other kids on the floor.  We are surrounded with some of the best nurses and DRs anywhere, and we know things are going as well as can be expected! 

Hope everyone has a great day playing out in the snow!  Be careful if you are out and about!

Hello everyone!  We are loving these warmer days and even the rain!  Amazing Indy smells so clean after the rain but it does.  I don’t update this as frequently as I probably should, but sometimes I don’t have much to report, other than numbers dropping or blood being given, and I figured making one big entry may be the way to go for now. 

 

As most of you know we only had 2 days home between round 2 and 3.  This has caused many issues as far as how Jeffrey has been acting, and I can’t say I blame him!  But there comes a time when we need to do as instructed as far as taking our daily medications.  He has finally come around and has begun taking it as he had been doing.  One is the Strattera, and he needs that daily.  The other is fluconazole, which is supposed to help him in case he eats something that may have bacteria in it.  We figure he is trying to control what he can, since we are sure he feels like he has no control over anything else. 

 

When we got back the first thing that happened was the bone marrow test, which still shows him in remission!  Thank God!  That result keeps the doctors from being terribly concerned with how fast he rebuilt after round 2.  If he wasn’t showing in remission, they would be more concerned and who knows what that would entail.  I am not sure if there is even a level of remission that can be seen from the tests, but I don’t want to open that can of worms.  Anyway we got to go in again when they did the bone marrow test.  The test itself didn’t bother me, what bothered me was when he sat up mid-test crying for me and asking for him Mommy.  That about tore me up.  They all told him I was there, I told him I was there, but there was nothing I could do, which has brought me to how I feel, or partially how I feel about his leukemia diagnosis. 

 

A lot of people have asked me how do I feel, what do I think.  I can’t tell anyone.  I never will be able to formulate into words the feelings I have, nor would I want to if I could.  But for those who are curious, I can give a close description.  I wish I could do it for him.  All his life, I, Dad, Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, or someone, has always helped him.  I have helped him with schoolwork, picking things out, putting things together, etc.  This isn’t as simple as that.  I sure wish it was.  I should be the one taking the chemo for him, so I can ensure the leukemia goes away and never comes back, but I can’t.  I am totally helpless as far as doing it to help him or for him.  It isn’t as easy this time as going to the store to pick up some sinus medication, or rubbing his leg because it hurts, or going to the school to see if I can find out what is causing issues and working on a solution.  It is so not as easy as picking up the phone and making a phone call and to help with whatever issue he may have.  It isn’t that easy, and it is very frustrating.  We have done the only thing we can do as parents in this case and that is getting him to one of the best facilities in the world to take care of the leukemia.  Some days I get up here at the hospital and I am fine, things are looking good.  Midway through I have noticed that the fear of what could be tends to creep up on you because in my case, I have tried so hard to concentrate on the positive and to shut out the fear of the unknown.  Now, I have been swirling in nightmares and having days where I just feel off.  Some days I wake up sad, in fear, and I have to go on.  I try not to let him know all that, because he can feel it.  Other days I wake up happy, knowing that the doctors are quite happy with how things are going, and when we get close to going home, I start getting all giddy with that prospect, as does he!  It is a constant swirl of emotions.  I don’t think it is necessarily the fear of the unknown as much as the realization at times of the facts.  But as long as I stay focused on the positive, or at least keep heading myself in that direction, most of the days here are ok.  Other times I wonder where in the world did this come from?  THAT is the thing that I will never, ever get over.  I carried him for 9 months, was it something that came from me or his Dad?  Was something defective somewhere that no one knew about until now?  Why why and WHY?  I keep asking these things and I have no answers.  In order for me to be able to proceed, I have to keep looking to the positive, the day we can go home CANCER FREE!  Otherwise I would be an emotional mess, as I tend to slip into every so often.  I am sorry if I have rambled on and on about things.  He will overcome this!  I won’t settle for anything less and neither will he!

 

He finally opened up to me a little last week about how he feels about things.  He is just like his Dad and I, not wanting to really talk about things and basically just trying to deal with the issues within on his own.  He says he has not been scared at all during this, just a little worried at times.  He told me how it felt to get chemo as well.  He said that sometimes it made him light headed, and so did the blood transfusions.  He said the chemo does the same thing to him that eating foods that give him a “high”, if you will, like sugar or something, and that in general it just “feels funny.”  I was so glad he opened up and talked to me about this a little!  I/we had been trying for a long time to get him to share how he feels about it.  He knows he has cancer, and says he does, but with no hesitation, as if he has always had it and has dealt with it for years.  He has never cursed it (he isn’t bad about talking like that anyway), and he has never said things that would make someone think that he thought was doomed or anything.  He seems to be dealing with it well so far, or as well as a 10 year old can be dealing with having leukemia anyway.  I am so thankful he has a positive attitude, as this has helped him so much!  He has gone to school every day, and attends all the activities and play times with the child life crew.  He got to host bingo again last week, and boy does he love that!  I have pictures I will post as soon as I get them on the computer.  

 

Back to the update from this admission–after the bone marrow test we were readmitted, got back into our very first room we had when we got here in December.  Thank goodness, as it appears to be one of the biggest on the floor.  Seems like the 5 days of chemo flew by, but they also seem to have been rougher.  I think I have talked about this before but as time goes on, his bone marrow will wear down and get tired.   And when it gets tired, the chemo is harder on him because it takes his system longer to rebuild and be healthy enough again to deal with the chemo.  He was violently ill most days with the chemo.  But on the good side, his numbers are taking longer to fall.  We are in the 190s today, and last week we were still hovering in the 2000s.  Again, they weren’t too concerned at this time, because at first the numbers were in the 1000s and rose up in the 2000s right after chemo was done this time before finally dropping, but since he is in remission they weren’t too fired up over it.  I hope they take a while to climb back up, since none of us had the chance to wind down at home between rounds, and I think as I said above that it has affected him badly.  He had to have platelets last week, and he had 2 bags of blood today.  He seems to be feeling good, no puking for around 7 days now and running all over the hospital with me!  Now we just wait. 

 

There have been so many people from home who have gone out of their way to help us during this difficult time!  I want to thank everyone for all they have done for us!  You all have no idea how good it feels to know that people from home are showing their love and support in any way they can!  THANK YOU ALL! 

That is all I have for now.  I always have something to talk about but this change in diet and apparently what has caused the lifestyle changes have made me go from feeling like I am seriously tired to feeling seriously starving.  I am going to have to sort these things through.  I hope everyone has a good night and great dreams, or at least ones that can take one’s mind off the humdrum of everyday mundane things.  🙂