HOPE IS THE DREAM OF THE WORKING MAN.

                                                     French Proverb

And may I add "working woman" to that quote.  Wow. lots of projects have gotten done this week, with Lon off on his fishing trip. Cate and Abby were here (along with Alec)  most of the week, and I put Cate to work. She mowed the corner lot, helped me paint the deck, and spent a lot of time burning more of Dad's paperwork (will it ever end???)  :)Yesterday afternoon, I decided that I was going to power-spray the lower patio. Uh huh, easier said than done. It takes someone with an electrical engineering degree just to figure out how to put the spray handle on the darn thing. Cate came to my rescue and figured it out. We had trouble getting it started until we realized that the power to the electrical outlet should be turned on . . . and  it helps if you turn on the water  to the garden hose. After I took care of the patio, I decided to clean the big yellow tube slide that we have coming off of our upper deck. Lon's mom (Little Ma) got it for the grandkids some years back, but all of them are too big to use it now. However, every little kid that comes over has to try it out. The only problem cleaning a slide of this size, is having to shoot water almost straight up above your head to reach parts of it. When you shoot water straight up in the air --- over your head --- you a'gonna get a little wet. Or maybe ALOT!! I had water running down my arms and under my shirt sleeves and soaking me. EWWWW. The slide came out pretty clean, but I'll make Lon hit the spots I missed. I can't have all the fun.

This morning, I took a few hours to slap some paint on the steps going down to the patio. I only got a portion of them done, 'cause each of the ten steps is about 20 feet long.   (COMMERCIAL ALERT)  I used that new paint that Home Depot advertises - DeckOver - which is really thick and supposedly seals the surface good. I already put it on the picnic table, in Barn Red, and it looks pretty nice.

I am in the middle of baking some banana nut bread mini loaves. I already made a German chocolate cake, because Dan will be here tonight and that's one of his favorites. He just called and said he was on his way from Sleepy Eye (not LAZY Eye, Sister Sandy!!!) and would be here around 8 o'clock. I guess the girls are staying her the next two nights so that he and they can do some stuff together.

Do you know who Dennis Rodman is? He is a tall, black, basketball player who wears his hair cropped short and dyes it pure white. (can you guess what is next?)  Yup, that's who I am beginning to resemble in the latest Janene's Hair Report.  I have the cutest little white stubbles emerging. I guess that answers my question about whether my hair will come in dark and curly.  The answer is No.

When I had my Herceptin session last Wednesday, the doctor who checked me over said my hair would be coming in soon, but he wanted me to hold on to my wig for him, because he was getting pretty thin on top. He was teasing, but then I thought, I'm going to get my hair back, and he . . . well . . . isn't. Who's the lucky one in this scenario?? 

SPECIAL NOTE:  Today is my Alec's birthday.  Happy 13th!!!   When he was born, I was standing at Jenna's side, and this special little guy popped out and looked me right in the eye.  However, the expression on his face definitely spelled out, "WHAT THA'????????  I don't think he appreciated the chilly room he had just entered. But little did he know that he was getting the best mommy in the world.

It's been quite an interesting, challenging, wonderful 13 years so far.


Well, I think I will sit back and relax for a few minutes. When the girls and I were in town earlier, I saw a sign that I feel was meant as a warning, concerning doing too much.                                                                      

  It simply said, "HOUSEWORK MAKES YOU UGLY."      



                                                                         GOD BLESS YOU ALL

SO OFTEN TIMES IT HAPPENS THAT WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS. AND WE NEVER EVEN KNOW WE HAVE THE KEY.

                                         Lyrics from "ALREADY GONE" by the Eagles




It must be the time for Oliphant "near misses". I was getting on I380 today and low and behold, there at the end of the on-ramp and just going onto the interstate, was a bunch of those big orange barrels that indicated that the lane was closed. However, some numbskull had put the barrels so close to the entrance that you immediately were driving into the middle busy lane with no time to transition.Of course, there was a semi right in the next lane and couldn't get over, sooooo it was either get run over by the truck or hit one of the barrels. I  hit a barrel, got stopped and eventually got back into traffic.Cate, who was with me, probably thought that we were goners.


After I picked up Abby from Discovery camp, we were getting back on the interstate by St. Lukes Hospital, and guess what????  There was the same barrel setup closing off the right lane. When you have no where
to go and shoot right into heavy traffic, it ain't pretty.I ended up swerving out of the path of yet another semi, crossed between  2 of the barrels and ended up on the right side of the closed lane.A car right behind us didn't realize that there was no place to go and followed me.  We almost got hit  good in the backside. By then, Cate, who just has her driver's permit, must have thought that she could do a better job driving then old Grandma. So if you are driving the I380, be careful!!!!  Having 2 near-misses in one day was not fun.

Geez, either life is boring as all get-out or else the drama is oozing all over the place.

When Jenna  picked up Alec yesterday I kinda pulled my wig (Roschelle) up to let in a little cool air.Of course, Jenna kept telling me to let her see my baldy head. I finally actually showed her. She remarked that it didn't look bad at all, but I think she got tears in her eyes. It IS an emotional situation when you are talking about a woman losing her hair. But we will get over it - - -  eventually.  :)

I noticed that she liked  running her hand over my head and feeling all the stubbles.    Oy vey.  (I've got to quit saying "oy vey" because people will think that I'm Jewish, and I'm not. I just like saying it). I just don't want to offend anyone.

Sure hope that something interesting - but good - happens tomorrow.   "/  See ya.




                                                                           GOD BLESS YOU ALL

DON'T BUNT.  AIM OUT OF THE BALLPARK.

                                                     David Ogilvy

It is interesting to run my hands over my head and feel the little stubbletts growing. It really does feel like I have sandpaper on my scalp. I sure wish the eyelashes would return. I have to draw eyeliner around the eyelids so you can tell where my eyes are at. And yet, on the other hand,  it IS nice to have super-smooth legs and not have to worry about shaving them.

Wednesday is the third Herceptin infusion. Eleven more after that. Piece of cake. Only 26 days until the reconstructive surgery. Things are moving along at a nice pace. But I sure will be glad when this is over.

Nina stopped up and asked me to go the movies with her. We saw JERSEY BOYS. If you get a chance to go, you will probably really enjoy it. The music is absolutely wonderful.  A few years ago, when we were in New York City,  she and I got to catch that show on Broadway. Fantastic.

Jenna and Alec came by to visit for a while today. Everyone must think I am lonely with Lon off fishin'. After  they went home, I kept busy in the house, painting a side table and a shelf for the "pink" room, since it was raining and I couldn't do anything outside.

It looks like interest in Dad's farm is picking up. Our latest ad in the  paper let people know that we will take bids until June 30th. It will be interesting to see who "buys the farm". We currently have three bidders, which is good news. Shows that there is some competition going on. It really is a good farm. The yard is just beautiful, too.

Sandy R. made a comment on the previous post about that weird little bird dive-bombing my living room window, wanting in. She  said that she also had an odd "animal experience". When she was leaving for work the other day, she saw two squirrels in her yard, and it looked like they were on the ground, wrestling. Then they stood up and starting boxing with each other. She must have laughed so hard that she cried because she said she had to redo her makeup before she went to work. That's a fun way to start your day.

                                                               GOD BLESS YOU ALL

A GOAL IS A DREAM WITH A DEADLINE.

                                       Napoleon Hill

Lon, brother-in-law Larry, and cousin Dave went fishin'!  Yeah. So I spent the day looking for living room furniture. There are certainly very few places to buy furniture around here. Lon said that our current couch, and two recliners, and coffee table do not match, and it makes him feel like we decorated from Goodwill. How dare he insult my beloved Goodwill?! Alec and I are very offended. However, my living room furniture pieces do need to be updated. I tried to go to Smulekoffs this morning, but there was the Bohemia Farmers' Market going on and there wasn't any place to park, so I left.

Talked to Daniel last night and he said that Cate was working some booth at the Hiawatha Hog Wild Days for Kennedy Band. I will have to tell her that friend Sandy R. from Georgia, and I started that years ago.        

 Around l981, Sandy and I decided to open a second-hand clothing shop in Hiawatha, called SECOND HAND ROSE. To generate publicity for our shop, about every six months we started renting out tables and having flea markets in our  parking lot outside our store. We would go around to all the other businesses and get donations (leather wallets from Farmers State Bank) and anything that each store sold, and then we would have drawings for those prizes. After the third flea market, Sandy and her family were moving to Georgia, so we closed our little shop. But the Hiawatha Council asked if they could take over our idea and run with it. They started having Fun Days and it took off from there.

I was just watching a horror movie on TV called LET ME COME IN. Just about that time, some goofy little bird kept pecking at my living room window and sitting on the window sill looking in at a plant I have setting in front of the window. He dive-bombed the window and bounced back off it several times. He seemed determined to get past that darn glass to get in.The bird-brained little guy must have thought he could get to the "greenery" and he stayed by the window for a long time. I finally got my camera and tried to film him trying to "come in". Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to put the video on the blog. I'm lucky to get a couple of pictures put on here.  Hmmmm.

                                                                  GOD BLESS YOU ALL

IN ALL THINGS YOU DO, CONSIDER THE END.

                                                               Solon

I swear, we are the luckiest people around. Yesterday Lon called me and told me that he wanted to let me know that he was okay, but when I did leave town to take Alec to therapy I would probably see his truck by the side of the street outside our shop, and it didn't look pretty.                                                                                 

 He had parked his truck off the road and was going to use his chain saw to cut out sapling trees from the ditch and alongside the bridge. He had been standing by the flipped-down tailgate working on the chain blade, and then stepped under the bridge. He said he heard a vehicle crossing the bridge and then a loud noise. When he stepped out to the street to look, he saw his that his truck had moved several feet forward and that a white car was rammed under the back of it. A lady had been coming into town (evidently speeding) and reached over to the passenger side to get something and swerved off the street and plowed into the back of his parked truck. She had a severe cut to her right wrist where it had hit the windshield and she was bleeding a lot. The impact was so hard, that a heavy log chain that was in the bed of the truck,, flew out and ended up on the ground behind the lady's car. Everything that he had on his dash or in the front seat, flew into the backseat.

JUST  A FEW MINUTES BEFORE, HE HAD BEEN RIGHT WHERE THE CAR SLAMMED INTO THE TRUCK!

I was being silly saying that he was almost road kill, but we are so lucky that he was not there when the crash occurred. He definitely would have been cut in two.

It's a good thing he was okay, because today is our 43rd anniversary. It would have been a real bummer without him. Sigh

We did go out for supper last night at the Texas Roadhouse. As we were eating, a man in a booth to my right kept staring at me. Every time I looked in his direction, he was just watching me like a hawk. I told Lon that it was making me uncomfortable, but maybe he thought he knew me and was  trying to figure out who I was. After a while, it got downright annoying. Of course, my first thought was that he was staring because he was wondering if my hair was real or not. THEN I noticed that two men in another booth were staring in my direction. One of them actually had to turn in his seat to get a good view. Then  Lon noticed that there was a wall television screen just behind me, with a baseball game showing. Whew! See, not everything is about ME!! 

After we ate, we went to the movies to see HEAVEN IS FOR REAL. It was pretty good, but the book was better. I can't remember the last time we went to a theater. It seems to me that it might have been a Star Wars show or The Land Of the Apes(?) marathon - quite a while anyway.

Okay, get out there and enjoy the day. We certainly will - and we plan on enjoying every minute, since we were so blessed yesterday.

                                                                                  GOD BLESS YOU ALL

YOUR WORLD IS AS BIG AS YOU MAKE IT.

                                                  Georgia Douglas Johnson




I was just thinking about an old neighbor I had talked to at Dad's funeral. He was the oldest of five kids, from the next farm up around the corner. We began to talk about our mothers and  I asked him if he knew what an incredible influence his mother had been on Mom . .  and us six kids . . . and my two kids , , , and my three grandkids  plus numerous other members of my family. I told him what she had done for four generations, without even knowing what her generous heart had created.

When Mother and Dad were still quite young, with two and soon after, three little girls (Karen, Sandy, Judy), they lived on a farm near Dad's current farm. Dad would go off to work in Cedar Rapids, and Mother stayed home. But staying home was not all that interesting. There was no TV, no radio, no car to get into and go, and definitely no extra money. Since they lived way out in the country, there wasn't any place Mother could even walk to, and even if there had been, with three little tots to drag along, this was pretty much an impossibility.

But just down the road, lived Nancy Neustel and her little brood - Frank (Butch), Billy and Linda (Bubbles). Later there would be Betty (Buttons) and David (Buster). Nancy had a love of reading and had lots of books and even magazine subscriptions! She was constantly lending Mother something to read, and that, my friends, is what saved a young woman's sanity who lived way out in the boonies. Mother only had a tenth grade education, but she began to read about everything. She educated herself in so many ways, and at the same time, traveled the world and saw so many interesting, new things, even though she never left her own little house. As we got older, we were encouraged to read a lot. Every two weeks, the folks would drive us to the Cedar Rapids library. At that time, each person was allowed to check out a limit of six books. Four little girls always checked out their full quota. After two weeks, back we would go back and get a fresh supply of reading materials.

Mother's answer for the usual whines from us kids went like this: (us) "I'm hungry!" (her) "Get a butter sandwich!"

(us) "I'm bored!"  (her) "Get a book and READ!"

I found that reading to my two kids from the time they were very tiny, created a love of reading. Both Dan and Jenna read from an early age. I remember sitting on the edge of the bed, with a kid on either side of me. I was helping 5 1/2 year-old Dan read a children's book. When he happened to stumble over a word, 3 1/2 year-old Jenna took the book out of my hands and began to read. I remember getting the tape recorder and getting it down on tape. The book was "Cinderella", and it was amazing to hear her correctly pronounce "Anastasia" as one of the ugly step-sisters.

Then there comes the next generation. Granddaughter Cate read very early on, and still devours books like crazy. Abby always has her nose stuck in a book, and recently was tested at reading college level, when she is only going into the sixth grade. A few years back, I took her shopping for her birthday. We went to Barnes and Noble and she picked out a Tween-type science fiction novel that was about 2 1/2 inches thick. She insisted that was the book she had been wanting, and by golly, she read it!

Alec was read to a lot as a tiny guy, and he formed a love for letters quite early on. He would play with those magnetic letters all the time, and would arrange them on a table (or refrigerator) and spell out the alphabet and then later, all kinds of words. We would find him with one of his books, like Sponge Bob, reading it and laughing out loud. What a rush that was to know he could read, understand, and enjoy the written word.

On another note about reading material.  When clearing out Dad's house recently, we found a large stack of unread magazines. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous magazine salesperson must have called Dad and got his credit card number, and stuck him with several subscriptions. I feel that it was a set-up deal, because of the types of magazines that were sent to him - all subscriptions with expensive prices, for multiple years, and stuff he would have never dreamed of ordering such as:

US Magazine (a weekly), Rolling Stone, Forbes, Playboy, etc.

Just a heads up that if you have an elderly parent, keep an eye on little things like that. It can be so easy for someone to take advantage of some of our oldsters (pay attention, Dan and Jenna, your parents are rapidly hitting the "oldster" category!)

Since I always liked to read, I tried my hand at writing as a kid. My first series of books were about Suzy the Do-Bee, who was a little girl bumble-bee that was  always doing things to be nice to others. I wish I could find some of that old material. It would be a hoot to read now.  :)

So remember, if you get bored just GET A BOOK AND READ! - and while you're at it,  fix yourself a butter sandwich.

                                                                   GOD BLESS YOU ALL

SELF-TRUST IS THE FIRST SECRET OF SUCCESS.

                                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson




Thanks, kids, for the comments on the last post. I am really not a Bible-beater, and I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my comments or opinions on different events. But you that spoke up, made my heart sing. Thanks for the support. It's kinda an odd thing to write about, but it is part of my life, and I thought I would finally share it with more people.

It is so true that I have a lot of plants to get in the ground. Little Ma had me come up to her place last night to get three hibiscus bushes that she doesn't want anymore plus some lovely striped hostas that I have been wanting to mix in with my solid ones.. I still have a hydrangea plant, all the hostas, and some small annuals in containers, to deal with. My sweet Tina offered me some sunflowers that were coming up at her place, and that she didn't need. Tina, I'll have to decline even though I love the idea that you thought of me. I am trying very hard to "mother" the ones that I have already planted. Plus, I am trying to figure out where in the yard that  I am going to put some of these other ones. Talk about an over-abundance!  Love it! 

Honestly, there is very little going on in my life. In fact, it is so boring that I am going to comment on tuna fish. Yup, your heard right, tuna fish. A while back, Nina and I were talking about how hard it is to find some good, solid tuna in a can. It seems that the brand  I was buying (for the last 43 years) is always mushy and shredded up. Then I bought a can of Bumble Bee tuna. Eureka! it was very solid and chunky and not smushy at all. So if you are in the mood for tuna fish, try Bumble Bee brand. (You didn't know there would be a commercial in this post, did you?) By the way, I had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, and it was delish!.

I am getting anxious for July 18th to come. I am at the point where I am ready to get the reconstructive surgery over with. Betty C.'s friend, who has gone through all this already, said she didn't realize how uncomfortable the expanders were until she had them removed and got her implants. These babies make me feel like my chest is rock hard. And since all the nerve-endings were cut when the cancer and well . . . the meat of the inside of each breast was removed, there is no feeling on the outside of the skin. So when I touch my chest, it feels like really hard fake breasts have been attached to my body. Weird

Well, have to jet. I think Alec and I will hit some garage sales before I have to get him home in time for his swimming lesson. I'll report any super dooper deals we find. Garage sale-ing is so fun.

                                                                         GOD BLESS YOU ALL

THERE ARE GLIMPSES OF HEAVEN TO US IN EVERY ACT, OR THOUGHT, OR WORD, THAT RAISES US ABOVE OURSELVES.

                                                           A. P. Stanley

Since not much is happening health-wise, or interesting-wise, I've decided now is the time to elaborate on a miracle that happened to me over two years ago. I have told approximately two dozen people this story, so if you've already heard it from me, feel free to stop here. If you haven't heard the it, you may want to read on because it is really a true story.. So many times I have started to share it with someone, and then stopped, thinking that they would consider me a nut job. YOU may think I'm a nut job, but here goes anyway. 

You may not consider this in the miracle category, but if you knew what a chain-smoker I was for 41 years, you might rethink it. Yup, that's correct, 41 years. It all started with innocent puff on my then-boyfriend's cigarette. I smoked one cigarette, turned totally green in the face, and was sicker than a dog.  The next morning I bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked non-stop for years. Evidently I was predisposed to being addicted to nicotine.

I remember times when I would rather spend my time on break at work smoking instead of eating lunch. When the phone rang, I lit a cigarette. When I got in the car, I lit up. Believe it or not, I smoked through both of my pregnancies (which I realize now was  seriously crazy, but back then, it wasn't even considered a dangerous thing!) When I was expecting Dan, I was a secretary at Northwestern Bell, and on my desk sat a bottle of Rolaids and an ashtray. Can you imagine that? We were allowed to smoke at our desks!! When I worked at Sue's Hallmark at Lindale Plaza, the District Manager was a smoker too, and she allowed me to smoke in the back storage room (with all the cards and gift items that we sold). Can you imagine how some of those products smelled after sitting in an area where she and I smoked ALOT.

There were  times when I worried about getting old and perhaps having to go to a care center. I wondered if my kids would find one where I could still smoke. I even dreaded the thought of perhaps having to go to the hospital for a few days for some medical procedure, and wouldn't be able to light up. The first thing I did every morning  was to have a cigarette, and the last thing I did before going to bed was the same thing. There were even times when the urge was so strong, I would get up in the middle of the night and I would have two or three cigarettes. I used to smoke in my house and sometimes I would go to bed and smoke while reading. When Lon would open the door to come to bed, the air was absolutely blue with smoke. Whenever I would wash my walls, the brown tar residue would actually run down in streaks. Then the  last several years, I would go out and sit on the swing on the deck, or go down to the closed-in patio, to smoke because even I was getting sick of  the house smelling so bad.

If I left home to go somewhere, and realized I had left my pack in the house, I would either turn around and go back  to get it, or stop at the first gas station I came to and buy one. If a  snowstorm was predicted, I made sure I scurried into town and bought a carton. I guess you figured out by now that I was severely addicted to nicotine.

Here's where we come to my "miracle". Around midnight on October 25th, 2011, I woke up with a terrible pain in my chest. It felt like my lungs were crushing my heart. I laid there for a minute, considering the fact that perhaps I was having a heart attack (Ya think?) I was 100% sure that my years of smoking had finally caught up with me and I was really going to pay the price, big time. Probably, a rational person would have reached over and woke her husband up and said, "Call 911!" But I laid there quite calmly, and this thought ran through my mind. "Lord, if this is a heart attack, I just want you to know that I am spiritually and emotionally ready to meet you face to face." I  felt this strongly and thought those words with all my heart. I wasn't scared or panicky.

As I laid there, I felt the strangest, light tingle ripple through my body from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet. My NEXT thought was "What the hell was that?" (sorry, God). It took me a minute to realize that the terrible pain in my chest had disappeared. I started to laugh, because it was so cool and so amazing. I tried to lay still because the laughing made the bed shake, and I was afraid I would wake Lon up. Then I thought, "You really can hear me! It is true that you listen to people, and you really did hear me!" I replayed what had happened over and over in my mind until I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I was still amazed and thrilled about what had happened in the night. What an experience. God had heard me.  I sure dodged that bullet, right? But then something really weird happened. I went to have my usual morning cigarette, and the thought that God had stepped in and given me a second chance, kept me from lighting up. In fact, the thought of smoking made me feel ill. I could not believe that something I had done for years was suddenly abhorrent to me and I found that I could not make myself put a cigarette to my lips! It felt like it would be a slap in the face and a major insult to God, to go back to my old ways. So I didn't. I just stopped.

My family was shocked about what had occurred. I was the mother whose children had begged her to quit smoking. I was the grandmother whose grandchildren had begged her to quit smoking. And I couldn't do it, not even for my most loved ones. Then this happened.

I admit that I tried to smoke one more time. About six months later, I found an old pack of cigarettes in a coat pocket. No one was home, so I snuck out behind my house, managed to light up, and took one puff. Talk about choking and coughing, and what a sickening taste. I stubbed it out, broke it in two and buried in the yard. That's all, folks.

Okay, so some of you think I am a crackpot, a dingy, a weird old lady, etc., but I am so grateful that I got to experience that wonderful moment 2 1/2 years ago. It really made such a difference in my outlook on a lot of stuff.  So, take what you want from this post.   But remember, all of this is true.




                                                                               GOD BLESS YOU ALL

DREAMS ARE THE TOUCHSTONES OF OUR CHARACTER.

                                                           Henry David Thoreau

As I said before, I have been sorting through tons of papers and letters and such from Dad's house. It is very interesting to find cards or canceled checks with my parents signatures on them. What is even neater is to find the signatures of my grandparents, all who have passed a very long time ago. There they are, their names written on this thing or that, and at the time the grandparents make their marks, they would have never dreamed that years later one of their granddaughters would be looking at them and knowing that they had held those notes or cards or checks in their hands at one time. It reminds me that they also walked this earth, and were important to their loved ones, and that they left us with memories of them from so long ago.

I went in for my second Herceptin infusion today. After a 30 minute consultation with my nurse practitioner, Mindy, it was on to getting hooked up to the IV machine. After I was hooked up, I had to wait about fifteen minutes while they mixed up my Herceptin concoction. Then I had to sit for 1 1/2 hours while that crap dripped into me. Mindy told me that everyone has HER in their bodies. But when my HER went wild and stimulated some cancer cells, it became HER2 and began to feed the cancer cells like fertilizer works on plants. The Herceptin is supposed to slowly discourage the feeding of any odd cells and to eventually stop the HER from being aggressive in the future.  Uh Huh  . .  or something like that.

Remember when I reported that chemo kills off fast-growing cells? Hair, cells inside the mouth, cancer of course,  and NAILS!?

That is the reason I am losing my toenails. Yuck. No, Betty C., it really doesn't hurt much (did your friend Dorothy lose any of her nails?). But it is going to annoying for a while. I am just lucky that the weather is warm and I will be able to wear sandals .If it were wintertime, walking around in heavy socks and clunky snowboots would not be fun. Mindy told me to wrap surgical tape around the toes to hold on to them for as long as possible, and so they don't start to fall off and catch on something. GROSS!!

I am hoping things slow down a bit soon. I would like to get back to writing another children's book. I have ten stories written in my "THE THOMAS BOOKS" series. I came across some notes I had written  to myself about future story lines, and I'm getting the urge to get back to work on my little guy and his family. Thomas is an eight-year old boy with autism. But what a swell kid he is and so smart! I have integrated some of the things our Alec has done, into some of the stories.  I was getting geared up to start submitting some of my work to a publishing agent, when this health issue came up and kinda side-tracked me big time. Also, the writing instructor from Kirkwood, whom I took a class with, passed away suddenly a few months back. She had agreed to do some editing on my work. I'll have to try and find someone else who is willing to help in this area.       

 Let's hope I can get in gear and maybe make my own mark on the world. Heh?

                                                                             GOD BLESS YOU ALL