My best girlfriend since the 4th grade is battling colon cancer that has metastisized to her liver.  She is now embarking on a new treatment called TheraSphere.  Apparently it consists of radiated glass beads that are threaded through directly to the tumors. I'm hoping someone out there knows something about this treatment.  The more I read about her kind of cancer, the more scared I am.  It is considered stage 4 colon cancer and the current survival stats say that only ab...

I've gotten many requests for pictures of Ashley.  I love this picture so thought it would be a good one to share.

Ashley was afraid of Santa this year.  He gave her a treat right after they took the picture and she liked him again.  Ryan said the same thing I thought, "He should have given her the treat first!" And here she is having more fun playing with decorations for our tree at our cottage

I have a theory about why people use drugs:  They are trying to return to their days of childhood TV shows.  Have you ever seen the show "Yo Yo Gabba Gabba"?  What a trip!  It looks like something right out of the late 60s or early 70s.  It totally reminded me of how "groovy" some of the shows I watched as a small child were (like the Electric Company). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is it just m...

I know there are plenty of Harvard and Yale experts out there saying that their analysis says that raising the minimum wage causes no harm to anyone, but real life experience says otherwise.  I was just at my local Lowe's and when it came time to check out I discovered that my only option was self serve.  There was one attendant and this was on a Saturday! I asked if self serve was my only option as it appeared to be and the lone attendant said that since they cut back on the minimu...

It's official, I now have no respect what so ever for the Nobel Prize.  It was bad enough that they gave one to Jimmy Carter.  Now they've given one to Al Gore for Global Warming....what the hell?! Forget the fact that Global Warming, despite popular belief, is still a theory,  (there has been nothing proven in regards to "Global Warming") all Al Gore has done is use his celebrity as ex vice president to spread the word about this theory.  What about all of these scientist...

Here I am in my new outfit at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.  Brad and I are attending a medieval themed wedding at the end of the month so I figured a new outfit was in order.  It was a chilly day so the cloak was a nice thing to have. Michigan doesn't take it's festival as seriously as other places.  Most people don't dress up and not many at all play along with the language and character.  I know other places won't allow vendors to stray out of period and atten...

I remember watching SNL and they would often spoof the evening news with stories like: "A common household cleaner that might be in your home right now might be killing you!...Find out which one at 11!" Well, our local news had something so similar I laughed out loud.  It was something like "Two common brands being recalled from store shelves.  Find out which ones and what danger they present at 11!" Come on!  If something is common and dangerous, just tell me!  Should ...

Our ten yr old son often cracks me up and makes me think.  We were talking about The Deathly Hollows the other day when he came up with this gem: "Mom, Voldemort is a lot like Michael Jackson...they both have no real nose, they are both seriously creepy and they are both obsessed with a little boy." Clever boy.

Here is Ashley Grace enjoying the beach at our cottage.  I can't believe she will be a year old in just a couple of weeks!  Time flies when you're having fun and she sure has provided us with a lot of fun. She makes us all smile every day.

Ryan turned 7 on 7/12 and Star Wars Legos were at the top of his wish list.  My hubby & I got him this Sand Crawler set.  What was I thinking?!  This thing had over 1600 pieces!  Big brother Alex got most of it together in a day but I had to step in and help out when the floor kept falling apart.  To anyone out there who works at Lego....design a sturdier base for these stupid Star Wars sets!!

I am looking forward to reading the final installment of the Harry Potter series.  I didn't preorder the book and I don't plan to be going to any of the late night parties to buy it either.  My husband plans to buy it and read it at our cottage next week. I don't know when I will get the chance to read it since I'll A) have to wait until Brad is done reading it and will have to wait until the baby allows me time to get some reading in. So, in the meantime, any suggestions on av...

I have been sick for a while with a kidney infection and was pleasantly surprised when I checked out JU today and saw that my blog is back in the top 10!  I'm very flattered.  I hope to have more time to write and post pictures soon. We are going on vacation to set up our cottage for the next week but maybe some time this summer I'll find some time to talk about all of the craziness that my silly, normal little life generates.  I'm even considering writing a book some day in th...

I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened sooner judging by the kind of attention people are given in ERs.  This poor woman went to the ER at a California hospital, was writhing on the floor in agony, vomitting blood, and got totally ignored.  Her boyfriend and other people waiting in the ER got so desparate for help they called 911 from the ER.  They were told it was not an emergency and to talk to the people there at the hospital. I bet that hospital is in for some major la...

I have recently had the daunting task of shopping for a formal outfit.  I am a full figured gal but have usually had good success in finding things that fit nicely off the rack.  I think perhaps having that third baby rectified that for the moment. I found a beautiful black skirt that I loved so I bought that figuring I could find a top in pretty much any style to go with it.  Since dragging the baby store to store to try stuff on hasn't been all that much fun, I figured I woul...