10 second update

I really will blog again someday.  I have so much to say, so many thoughts swirling around in my head, but as usual, now is not the time for them.  In the meantime...

I spend last Tuesday-Saturday in CT with Rob and his family.  He is in pretty bad shape, but there is still reason to be hopeful, and prayers are very much appreciated.

Madi got her license last Monday and with me gone and my car here, she had the opportunity to drive all over creation.

Jonathan had his last dual enrollment exam today.  He is essentially read to graduate.

He also got his dream job at the happiest place on earth where is works on space mountain.

Jake is winding down his school year and breezed through the FCAT.

Happy Easter!!

Cry cry again

I have cried three times today and it isn't even 10:30 (AM) yet.  I was first going to say all of the times were about Rob.  Then I was going to say none of the times were about Rob.  It's all jumbled up together.  I am thinking about him and praying for him all day every day, the tears are right at the surface.  The catalyst that brings the tears out is always something little though.  The first time today was from frustration over dirty laundry, things that needed to be turned in at school, and lack of communication.  The second time was about a baby, who I don't know, who spent his first days in ICU and is now a happy healthy one year old.  The third time was from the video below.  There's another book that I need to buy!

Surprised By Motherhood -cause every day is Mother's Day

A Lenten Daybook

Outside my window...We finally have nice green grass in the back yard.  The pool needs to be brushed down, but it's filled with clean (ish) chlorinated water and will be put to good use very soon.

I am thinking...Daybook style might be the best way to get this blog on track.  I am also thinking about my brother Rob constantly.  I keep basic updates on fb fairly regularly because I feel like the more people praying the better, but sometimes it feels like too much to share.  I may share more detail here sometimes because of the obvious smaller following.  I guess it will depend on my feelings at the time etc.


I am thankful... for my children's health.  This is something I never take for granted because of our history, but times like this put it in the forefront of my mind.

Learning all the time...Jonathan is applying for as many scholarships as we can find.  This has involved hand delivery (once by him and once by me) to get these into the right hands by the application dates. 

...Madi is plugging along with virtual school.  She is taking off her first young people's theatre play in a very very long time so she can do the behind the wheel portion of drivers' ed as well as work more so that she can pay for the insurance that will come with her license.

...Jake is making good strides in his goal to read all 15 sunshine state books for his grade.  We finished one on audio this weekend (Our Cat Zook) and started reading another aloud (Melonhead), he is currently finishing Glory Be.    Jake may or may not have started the FCAT testing today.  I'm not really sure how one can be a sometimes overly involved homeschooling mom and a fairly clueless public school mom, but I am proof of it.

Celebrating the liturgical year...Our parish mission is this week with talks in the morning after Mass and again in the evenings M-W, I am planning to go to all of it because I need all of the church I can get right now.


From the kitchen...Salad salad salad.  Mike make a raised bed garden in the corner of our yard and we can't seem to eat the lettuce fast enough.  Sadly soon it'll be gone until fall (I think we can grow more in the fall).  The lettuce and broccoli will be done just as the tomatoes and peppers need harvesting.



 I am praying...constantly!

I copied and pasted the prompts from another blog and then somehow lost some of them.  I also have a smaller font going now and I'm not about to figure out how to fix that.  Let's just finish up with bullet points.

* Mike and I saw Son of God yesterday...awesome movie!  We saw it in the local retirement community and now we are ready to retire!

*UCONN men and women are both in their championship games!!  They are the only school to every have won both championships at the same time (10 years ago)

* The boys and I have dentist appointments this afternoon.

*I'm not sure why I'm telling you that.

*I love satellite radio in my car and while I usually stick with the 80s or the Catholic Channel, I am very excited about this new Billy Joel station and have been sticking with that for the last week because it may only be temporary.  They play the same songs over and over again, but I don't mind yet.

*Billy Joel songs definitely stick in your head.  For some reason I have not heard Piano Man or We Didn't Start the Fire, but I hear Moving Out almost every day and I love that song!

*Right now I'm singing a cross between Moving out and Big Shot.

*My blog is doing that weird thing where if I go back and add words it deletes what was already typed, I'm not sure why.

*My car smells like mold right now, I'm not sure why.

*We got Direct TV a few months ago and I was very excited to get TVLand because of Three's Company.  For some reason TVLand stopped showing Three's Company right after we switched.  Apparently there was a Three's Company marathon this weekend so now I have a bunch of episodes on my DVR.

*I still love American Idol even though most people have given up.  To them I say "You are missing out!"

*I also still enjoy Dancing with the Stars even though I am a week behind (and after tonight I will be two weeks behind...basketball takes precedence.)

*I talk about TV a lot more than I watch it (most of the time).

* I have to go pick up Jake so we can get to the dentist (he has to be considered a "walker" today so we can avoid the marathon that is the school pick up line.  Almost all of the kids at Jake's school get picked up, there is only one bus.  Crazy huh?)  Also he had to get someone to cover his safety patrol shift today because of this appointment and I had to make sure that Mary gets a ride home with someone else and Madi will have to go to her student driver thing early, and so many other insignificant factors are affected by a mere dental check up (or three) that was scheduled 6 months ago.  (actually 4 were scheduled, but we had to change Madi's because of her driving thing.  By the time she actually has her appointment, she will probably be driving there herself. 

Ok sorry about all those details....

Leaving now...

Really...

 

   

Pray pray pray!!

The wireless connection on my laptop wasn't working for about two weeks.  After a little while of being annoyed by that I basically let my computer sit for a few days.  Eventually (actually when Madi needed something off of my computer for her virtual school), Jonathan and Madi figured out that I could connect to the internet the old fashioned way...with a cord.  The cord and router are in the messiest room in the house, Jake's makeshift room in the loft.  This is really not Jake's fault, it is just circumstance that comes with having an extra person live in your house.  Yes, we have an exchange student remember?  Don't worry, sometimes we forget too.  Her solo trip to Boston was successful, and she came home with delicious chocolates for me, Mike, Madi, and Jake, and a stuffed animal for Jonathan.  Anyway, I've basically done all my computing on my phone for the last few weeks, but today after really needing the real computer, I decided to unhook the unsightly blue cord, flip the wireless switch on my laptop a few times, and voila...I'm back in business.  Interestingly I am still typing this in the messy room.  Sometimes I have trouble with transitions.

I'm not really here to blog this kind of small talk though.  Actually we are in desperate need of prayers.  My brother Rob, 40 years old, has stage IV melanoma.  It is a horrific disease, but as Rob has said, there is reason to be hopeful.  Still it is going to be a long hard road.  Tomorrow morning he'll actually have brain surgery.  Besides the disease being in his bones and lymph nodes, he has some tiny lesions on his brain.  The surgery is apparently low risk as far as brain surgery goes and after one night in ICU, he should be able to go home on Thursday.  My understanding is once they take care of these brain lesions, they can start the next form of treatment which is not actually chemo or radiation, but an immune booster called PD1.  More news to come.  In the meantime please keep Rob, his wife Kim, their sons Zack and John, my parents, the doctors, and everyone involved in your prayers.