#GBE2: First Steps

It's not a first step for me, or for anyone I know, but it is for a stranger with Myelodysplastic Disorder. This means the cells in her bone marrow are damaged and cannot produce new blood cells. Some of the cells that are produced are not normal, so the body destroys these. This disease often leads to leukemia and can be fatal; however, with a matching donor, stem cells may be added to her blood stream thus allowing her doctors and God to repair her body, so she may produce new blood cells on her own.

The first steps started with my husband who underwent an extensive physical and then took two shots a day, every day for five days. The shots filtered stem cells from his bone marrow to his blood stream. He could actually feel the stem cells moving and developed aches in his back which led to trouble sleeping. 

Today was the big day. Mitchell spent four hours hooked up to a machine that removed stem cells from his blood and then placed the blood back into his body with an added saline solution. 

The procedure was a success with the collection removing double the stem cells needed. This means that they might be able to freeze the stem cells for later use.

Mitchell is already feeling a little better and will be home tomorrow. Thank goodness my husband was willing to take the first steps to help a stranger fight cancer.

Wordless Wednesday: The Little Monster Under The Bed

Musical Monday: Hero

As mentioned last week, Thursday is the day of my husband's stem cell donation, where he will be saving a stranger's life. Here's a song dedicated to him.

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A Night at the Ballpark

Last night, we took in a Red Birds game. There's nothing like sitting in the comfortable night air, listening to the crack of bat against ball. At one point, I ducked a rogue ball that slammed

the awning above me instead of striking my head. This one was not as close as the bullet (fast ball) that tore in between a friend and me while having a conversation in a party room years ago. Baseball games are dangerous.

The highlight of the evening took place at the food court. A stranger chased after a man, grabbed his arm, and said, "They'll let anyone in here."

After receiving a mortified look, the man said, "Oops. I thought you were Steve." Steve, I didn't know your reputation follows you all the way to the states.

#WW: The Gift of Life

A sixty-five year old stranger awaits stem cells to save her from cancer. Luckily, she's a match to my husband who will be undergoing a procedure next week to remove cells from his bone marrow. Leading up to the donation, he has undergone an extensive physical and will receive daily shots. Due to his courageous gift, she should recover.

http://www.giftoflife.org/default.aspx

Musical Monday: The Allman Brothers

Last week, we took a road trip to move our daughter to Michigan. When I think of car trips, Jessica by the Allan Brothers comes to mind, and we even heard it on the radio.

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Writer's Post: The Kitchen Table

In the 1960s, six of us crowded around our kitchen table for our nightly family dinner. As the youngest, I sat plastered against the wall but have come to like those wall seats. Mom cooked well done meat and soft vegetables, which were good until I tasted a rarer version of meat and greens that crunch.

Surrounded by bigger people, I learned to interrupt and speak loudly, two habits I've spent my lifetime trying to break. Talk usually focused around what the older kids were doing or something that didn't concern me, yet I liked being with my family.

I hated the milk Mom forced me to drink and am, no doubt, guilty of not pushing it on my kids. It never occurred to us to complain about the small table, our tiny shared room, or sitting shoulder to shoulder in the Chevrolet. Nor did I notice that my mother used half the required amount of sugar in her chocolate chip cookies. This made the chips especially good when we chewed them while sitting at the kitchen table. 

Wordless Wednesday: Fine Print

This sign hangs in Ikea.

Note message in lower right corner.

Dang! I was looking forward to a room-sized hot dog for 50¢.

Theme Thursday: Heat

After moving to Memphis, several flocks of birds settled on the lawns around me. Why are all these birds here? I thought. Birds are supposed to fly south for the winter. Then it dawned on me, this is the south, and we're stuck with birds pooping on cars all year long. So much for mild winters. They wouldn't be bad except I love snow, and we don't see much.

Summer is another issue. Come July in Memphis, it's hot! Not upper seventies or eighties but hot. Luckily we've only hit the triple digits a few weeks this summer, so it's been a cool year; however, come August, we'll probably be there. Last school year, the kids suffered through indoor recess throughout August because it was too hot to play outside.

None-the-less, I still go for runs but leave the fur faces behind. One can get used to heat, which will be good for me in the after life. ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Huey's

No it's not raining inside. Those are toothpicks stuck in the ceiling.

Musical Monday: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Many spend their days dieting to fit into that skimpy bikini. It would be great to be thin, but I just gotta have that cheeseburger. I love Jimmy Buffett!

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Ghost Stories: The Plaid Shirt

This week's theme for The Writer's Post Thursday Blog Hop #85 is Ghost Stories. You may post about any weird or fun adventure that you or a friend experienced. Or if you'd like, make one up. When finished, please link your post back here at Catch My Words and link up on the Writer's Post Facebook page. Happy haunting! 

After back surgery, the simple act of rolling over was a painful feat. However a ghostly friend chose to help. As I faced sideways, an image

of an almost bald man, with a pleasant smile and a red plaid shirt, floated next to my bed. Without moving his lips, he asked me if I wanted to roll over. I telepathically told him, "Yes." He then floated downward until he disappeared. Once he was gone, I easily rolled to my other side.

The next day, I told my sister about my ghostly visitor. She too had seen this dude in her room one night. Doo doo doo. Was I dreaming? Maybe, but how did I easily turn over? Why had my sister seen the same man? Perhaps he was a ghost from a past life we shared or maybe I'm just crazy.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Puppy Problems

 Last night, I reached for my foot cream, but someone had gotten a hold of it first.

When I squeezed it . . . 

Cuteness is still a safety feature!

Musical Monday Laughs, Soitenly!

When we saw the new Three Stooges movie on TV, I was reminded of the Curly Shuffle. "Oh, wise guy. Nyuk! Nyuk!" Enjoy this tune by Jump N the Saddle, but also, don't try this at home. When my friend was a toddler learning to walk, he had the rug ripped out from under him-literally–after his brothers watched The Three Stooges. Time out for Mom? Not this way.

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Maxine

Gotta love this lady!

#GBE2: New Chapter (The Founding Fathers)

People love to mess with history for their own political agenda, but the fact remains, the people who started a new chapter for our country were a bunch of radicals, who did not stand behind Jesus in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"One Nation Under God," by Jon McNaughton

Here's a bit of conservative propaganda painted by Jon McNaughton. Isn't it a bit ironic to see Jesus holding the document that gives us freedom of religion? Never did our constitution call us a "Christian nation." Instead our constitution stated, "Legislature" should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Looking deeper, is that Thomas Jefferson standing behind Jesus?  Here's two of his quotes.

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820

Glenn Beck, Mr. Tea Bagger himself, likes to dress up as Thomas Paine. Now that's funny! Paine was the atheist who said, "Churches were human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind."

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]

How about Adams who said, "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." 

I shall have liberty to think for myself without molesting others or being molested myself.
-- John Adams, letter to his brother-in-law, Richard Cranch, August 29, 1756, explaining how his independent opinions would create much difficulty in the ministry, in Edwin S Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation (1987) p. 88, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church" 

And this, Dear Readers, is all I ever ask for. Quit trying to push your faith on me or change the history of our founding fathers when they began a new chapter. I have nothing against religion. I just don't want to be pressured to practice yours, nor lied to about who are founding fathers truly were.

I leave you with a Bill Maher clip that you'll either love or loathe. Either way, have a wonderful Independence Day!

 

Wordless Wednesday: What Happens When Big Kids Bounce?

Did you hear it? Josh said, "Let's all bounce at once!"  

Famous last words. Hee hee.

Musical Monday: If I had $1,000,000

Emu? Crazy elephant bones? Dijon ketchup? The Bare Naked Ladies provide some great ideas for when you win the lottery!

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Meme Express: Nonsense or Pat A Cake

This is an anniversary/going away cake!

Meme Express's word of the week is "Nonsense," and nothing is more nonsensical than the nursery rhyme Pat A Cake.

Pat a cake, Pat a cake, baker's man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Pat it and prick it and mark it with a 'B',
And put it in the oven for Baby and me.

*First off, who pats cakes? The last thing I'd want to do is put my hands in gooey cake batter and pat it. I might pat sugar cookie batter, but not sticky cake.

*Secondly, if you bake a cake as fast as you can, it's not going to taste good. Cake takes time to rise. Haste makes waste, right? I sure don't want my baker rushing the job. 

*Finally, how are you going to mark it with a 'B' before you put it in the oven? Why mark it when babies can't even read? I don't know about you, but I use icing to label my cakes. 

 

If you ask me, this chant is 

NONSENSE.

Wordless Wednesday: Teachers Pay Teachers

I've often made my own teaching items. Now, some of these gems are for sale at Teachers Pay Teachers. I placed thirty-seven items in my store and have already made $8.25. Not bad for the summer. I hope I can find customers who use Promethean Boards because that's my best stuff.

Will you be my customer? Pleeeease.

PS. If you'd like to set up your own store, 
link here: Teachers Pay Teachers Sign Up

Musical Monday: Don't You Want Me

Fourteen-year-old Scotty couldn't speak, was blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, needed a daily enema to move his bowels, was severely mentally challenged, and basically couldn't do much but sit in his wheel chair waiting for a fresh diaper and a spoon full of soft food that he would spill out of his mouth as he tried to chew; however, when Don't You Want Me by The Human League sang over the radio, he'd light up like a glow worm. Not only will I forever remember Scotty's bright smile and gurgling sounds over this song, but I still think of him whenever I hear it. Here's to a special boy, hopefully turned man, Scotty.

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Happy Birthday, Judy!

Today, June 21st is the longest day of the year, and in 1990, it most certainly was. The result of my labors was a beautiful seven pound, ten ounce baby girl.

Judith Miriam

She was always a precious little girl.

 

and she made us proud at her Bat Mitzvah.

Twenty-three years have passed and my little girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. 

Happy Birthday, Judy!
May age 23 be the best year ever! 

#GBE2: Siblings

I was told I was part of the family because of a trade with the Indians. The tribe received beads, while my family got a little papoose with a red spot on her forehead. That birthmark was the true coloring of an Indian girl, me. It might have been okay if my brother and sisters had told me they were teasing; however, this stunt continued for years with little me believing it all. Okay, so I was gullible, but isn't that part of being tiny among the mighty sibs? 

They had an 8½, 6½, and 4 year jump on me, and they used it to their advantage. I was their trained mouthpiece in acquiring what Mom and Dad would have never agreed to. As the Chevrolet ventured down the road, with the three of them shoulder-to-shoulder in the backseat while I sat wedged between the adults in the front, he-who-must-not-be-named would point out the window and say, "Look, Joycie. What do you see?"

Next came my hopping dance, "McDonalds! McDonalds! Let's go to McDonalds!" Sure enough the car would slide into the lot for hamburgers, fries, and chocolate shakes, which no one would have gotten if one who wasn't so stinkin' cute had asked.

I was also subjected to constant bouts of tickling from He-who-must-not-be-named and TV high jacking, too. I don't know which was worse: being held by the arms and tortured or forced to watch Bonanza. Tickling is a definite form of abuse, especially when Gilligan's Island is on, but I was too little to stop it. 

Then there were the other set ups. 

"If you tear your blanket, 

you'll have many." 

"Why don't you go ask Mr. Slatkin,

the famous conductor neighbor, 

for his autograph early in the morning?"

Laughter as a piece of liver is shoved in my mouth 

or 

hearing fart sounds as I bite into a chicken butt.

He-who-must-not-be-named gets angry when I write about him, but he was by far the most lethal sibling. I wonder if he would have subjected me to constant torture if he knew that one day I'd have a blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Haircuts

My daughter and I decided to give each other haircuts. Although neither one of us has had any training in this nor have we done it before, it looks easy enough. 

First, Erica cut my hair.

     Before

After

Next I cut hers.

Before

After 

So, what do you think? 

 

Musical Monday: Biff is Back

We know him as Biff from Back to the Future, but did you know he's also a funny musician? Check this out.

And this.

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#GBE2: What if?

What if after your neighbor had trouble budgeting his household and his kids earned failing grades in school, he filed bankruptcy and moved in with you?

What if having a much larger family, he used a majority rules system?

What if he fired your wonderful maid and hired his person?

What if although your son is an A student, he kicked him out of the house and moved his five son's into his old room?

What if he made so many demands that the head of the family, who had received awards for his skills, got fed up and left?

What if many other family members, including Aunt Martha who worked to make the neighbors feel at home, got kicked out of the household, too?

What if they prevented you from getting your August 2 paycheck?

Sounds unbelievable?

What if Memphis City Schools, a failing district, gave up their charter and forced Shelby County Schools to consolidate with them.

It's not as unbelievable as one thinks.

Theme Thursday: Destinations

Mowgli's destination 

was clearly with us. 

A lady waited for suckers at the entrance to the dog park with her cage full of five week old black lab/blue heeler puppies.

"Free puppies," she said. 

My daughter has wanted a puppy for a long time, so we sent her the following text messages. The rest is history.

 

My youngest called the puppy lady. She had just left the park but was already turning around to come back. Her daughter got out of the truck, handed Erica the dog of choice, and drove off before we could change our minds.

Judy is moving to Michigan and has not yet found a place to live. Several places do not allow animals, but that's a minor detail, isn't it?

I admit, getting her this dog was a cruel stunt. At seven weeks, he's only about 90% house broken. He just knows how to sit and shake on command, although he's almost mastered the stay and come here commands.

Plus, he's not even cute.