Gracie Loses a Tooth

Gracie lost a tooth this evening.
She's so proud.
I tried to pull out last night, but it just wasn't ready. She pushed it out tonight with her tongue and spit it in Vic's hand. Gotta love her!!!

Test Results

We got Vic's test results back today. The mass was benign.
Thanks to everyone for thier thoughts and prayers!!!

Unlikely Hero

I’m writing this story tonight about a man I knew when we were both young. We weren’t friends. I honestly don’t recall every speaking to him. We went to school together, graduated in 1981 and never saw each other again.

He wasn’t a jock with a body of muscle and cheerleaders in tow. He wasn’t a nerd, with an IQ of 150. From what I remember he was just your average, ordinary, young man. For the past 27 years the only time I every thought about him was when I’d go through the yearbook and see his picture.

This all changed recently when he made the news in my hometown for an act of bravery, which I just learned about yesterday. Although I have very few details I feel compelled to write something about him. For personal reasons, I won’t reveal his full name, but he was known to everyone as Acey.

I don’t have all the details, but I do know this. A tree started to fall on a 3-year-old little boy. Acey ran towards the boy and pushed him out of the way and in doing so was caught in the path of the tree.

Following multiple surgeries, Acey sits now in a hospital facing months of therapy to deal with two broken shoulders, a broken neck and a broken leg. The little boy, by the way, is fine.

This type of gallantry is something you only hear about when reading of Marines, Navy Seals and Medal of Honor winners. Men, who without hesitation, were willing to sacrifice themselves for another.

So here’s to Acey. A man who faced a horrible situation, took action without thought for his personal safety and saved the life of a small child.

Tonight, raise your glass for another American Hero.

Weekend Wrapup

Just a few notes to wrap up the week.

Vic is doing good. Still very sore, very bruised, but that is to be expected. Now it’s just waiting for the test results.

Gracie is still our general source of entertainment as evidenced here:

We asked there girls what they wanted for dinner tonight and Alyssa said “Moose of the Cow”. We asked her what that was and she said Burger King. Not sure where she got that from. Oh yea, she’s started meditating. Not sure where she got that from either.

We have another school project for Hailey. Another ‘diorama’, which is a 3 dimensional representation of something in a shoe box. Someone getting millions of government dollars in grants had to have come up with that one. I’m trying to talk Hailey into doing Paul Revere’s ride.

Alyssa has a project this week. She has to bring in a snack for the whole class that begins with the letter ‘P’. It’s like Sesame Street on steroids I guess. So Vic and the girls made popcorn and put into individual bags for each of the kids in Alyssa’s class, along with some pretzels as well.

Been on Facebook for a few months now. Not many friends, but it’s starting to grow. Ran across some really old friends in the last few days which is kind of cool. Vic has her own page now as well.

All for now, here’s hoping the gas holds out so I can get to work this week.

Another Doc Visit

I haven’t mentioned before, but last Friday Vic had a mammogram/ultrasound and they found something. Nothing huge, nothing the radiologist said to be worried about, but they said the doc would want to do a biopsy anyway. So this morning we went to the doctor's office and met with the doctor. We reviewed the film and he was very confident it was benign, but since it was obviously a solid mass he had to do a biopsy and they were going to do it now.

The nurse came for Vic and started taking her back to the room for the procedure. I followed of course, since I’d already gotten Vic’s approval to take pics of the procedure, just like she did of me while having my nose sliced and diced. The nurse said no!!. Can you believe it? She said there wasn’t enough room in there for me to be running around taking pics. Bummer! As they walked away and I could over hear Vic telling her about me and Reger putting pics of just about anything on our websites. Although to be honest, Reger’s put a lot more disgusting things on his site than I have.

Anyway, while they were in there the doc removed the entire mass from her breast. Got all of it. We're expecting the test results back in a couple of weeks. So now Vic is resting at home, very, very sore and uncomfortable. They have her chest wrapped up tight as a drum. I'm going to have a hard time keeping the girls off of her this evening.

So the news is good for now. Sis, folks don't know about this and you're not to tell them yet.

And since I couldn’t get a pic of the procedure, Vic let me get a pic of the incision when we got home. Note: This is a pic of the upper left side in case you're thinking I'm posting pics of my wifes boobs on line. That's my other site. :)

Anythings Possible

Once again Gracie has center stage in family news.

Background: Gracie and Alyssa love to play our Nintendo Gamecube. One of their favorite games is Mario Kart where they race these wild cars around different courses.

Today: After dropping Hailey and Alyssa off at their school, I was taking Gracie to hers. There was a lot of traffic and Gracie got impatient.

Gracie: "Go on Dad! What are you waiting on?"
Joe: "There's traffic honey, cars are in front of me and I can't go anywhere."
Gracie: "Well hit the 'A' button and jump over these guys!!!"

Got Gas?

For those of you not in the metro Atlanta area, especially the northern suburbs, allow me to fill you in on the local news. WE GOTS NO GAS!!!!

All the stations around here are dry as a bone. I got out Sunday morning and found a station and filled mine up, so I'm good for a few days. Other people are not so lucky.

So, time to eat some beans and franks.

In other news, Gracie has been at it yet again. Our little mouth of the south.

1. She was in the local pop stop getting pepsi and peanuts with Vic. As they were checking out, 2 young men got in line behind them. Gracie turned around and the following conversation ensued:

Gracie: "Are you strangers?"
Man: "Huh?"
Gracie: "Are you strangers?"
Man: "Well yes, I guess we're strangers."
Gracie: "You're not supposed to be talking to me then."
Man: "Yes, you are right, YOU are not supposed to be talking to me."

As they walked out the door Gracie looked at Vic and said: "Those strangers were nice."

2. On the way to pick up Alyssa and Hailey at the bus stop, Vic and Gracie saw the mail man driving down the street. Vic decided to wait until he got there so Grace could get the mail from him. The following conversation ensued:

Gracie: "Hi. My names Gracie, but you can call me Gracelyn."
Mailman: "So you're name's Gracie?"
Gracie: "No, I'm Gracelyn 'The Hope' Elswick."

After the mailman drove away she looked up at Vic and said: "Mommy, he was a nice stranger too."

And if I haven't mentioned before, for the last 6 months or so, Gracie refers to herself as Gracelyn 'The Hope' Elswick. Like she's some sort of prize fighter or something. She came up with it on her own. Not sure what inspired her.

3. Sitting on the couch in the family room, Grace crawls up into Vic's lap, where she posed the following question/answer session:

Gracie: "Mommy, why are there bad words."
Vic: "There just are honey. Some words are just not nice or polite."
Gracie: "Like poop, pee and what the hec?"
Vic: "Yep, those are bad words. Don't say them."

Internet Savy

Most of you may be familiar with those pop-up ads on the Internet where it tells you "You've just won this or that" or "click here for a free laptop". Well my girls frequently visit Disney, NickJr, Barbie and a few other sites to play games. Gracie clicked on an ad within one of those site the other day and a pop-up appeared. A voice said: "You are eligible for a new Apple iPhone. Click here for details". Gracie sat there a second. Then said to the computer. "Aaaaaa,,,,,,No." And closed the little window.

Trip to the Orthodontist

Well it’s confirmed. Our little Hailey has to have braces. Not only that, she has to have expanders, then braces, then who knows how many years worth of dental work done. Doctor said yesterday she was missing several permanent teeth, some are sideways etc. So our babe has a lot ahead of her. They put in spacers yesterday.

Price tag you may ask? Well,,,,,unless you’re going to contribute to the “Feed Joe So He can Stay Fat” campaign don’t ask. I’ve made down payments on cars less than yesterdays’ bill, and that was just the first 18 months worth of work. Doc said we’re looking at several years here. Too bad they’re cracking down on panhandlers downtown. I work down there so it could be a second source of income for me.

Next up will be Alyssa. For those of you who didn’t know, she was born with a tooth. It was very loose and had to be pulled when she was just a few days old, but sure enough she had one. Well now she’s missing one and we’re just hoping the same problem doesn’t develop with her. Then I will be panhandling down town for sure.

All for now.

Birthday Song

The girls usually call immediate family members and sing to them on their birthday. The song is one we write and practice before making the call. (Have to do it by phone since all our family lives far away.)

Yesterday was my sister MeMe’s FIFTIETH Birthday. That’s 50. Half a century. So we wrote a special song for her and sang it to her last night.

MeMe ain’t it Nifty,
You turned Fifty,
MeMe ain’t it Nifty,
You turned Fifty,

We just called to say,
Happy Birthdaaaaaaaaay!!!!

MeMe ain’t it Nifty,
You turned Fifty.

Latest Update - Catching up for a Week

Ok. I promised more, so today’s a huge update.

1. I’m just about done with this dang cold/sinus infection. It’s been over 3 weeks now and 20 horse pill anti-biotics, so it’s about time. There’s not much more irritating, more disappointing than to be experiencing a beautiful summer day with clogged sinuses, headache, coughing, sneezing, snotting etc.

2. Gracie, our Social Butterfly:
I mentioned previously that Gracie had a urinary infection. Here’s the rest of the story. Last Monday evening she complained that it burned really badly when she pee’d. Several times this occurred and she wasn’t very happy about it. She still wears nighttime panties (pull-ups) and in the middle of the night when she pee’d she cried out for me. I of course went in and comforted her, but it was obvious she needed to see a doctor. On Tuesday morning I called the pediatrician and got an appointment. We got dressed and headed out.

Now, if anything can be said about Gracie it’s that she’s not shy. Not in the least. She’s a talker, which makes any trip to the doc fun. We were called back to the room and Gracie took her place on the examination table. The doctor came in and she started.

“Doctor, are you gonna put that stick in my mouth this time?”
“Doctor, are you gonna look in my ear?”
“Doctor, do I have to pee in a cup?”
“Doctor, what’s that thing around your neck?”
“Doctor, am I gonna get a shot?”
“Doctor, it hurts when I pee are you gonna fix that?”
And on, and on, and on. It was difficult to speak with the doc cause she never stopped talking.

We had told Gracie she may have to pee in a cup and she was very worried about this. Not sure why, but it scared her. The doc told her she needed to do this and walked us down the hallway to the restroom. Gracie challenged the doctor the entire trip about the need to pee in a cup.

“Pee’s dirty. It goes in the toilet not in a cup.”
"You're supposed to drink out of a cup, not pee in it."
“You’re not supposed to touch pee.”
“I’m not burning now, I must be all better, I don’t need to pee in a cup.”
“What are you going to do with the pee?”

We entered the restroom and Gracie assumed her rightful spot on the throne. I got the cup, swabbed as instructed, told her to start and she did. The doc wanted her to pee a little bit before I started collecting, so I let Gracie start then asked her to stop. She couldn’t, so I had to insert the cup into the stream as quickly as possible. Although there was no alternative, this was not a good move.

Pee got all over my hand, my wrist, the cup and the toilet. Gracie saw this and started laughing out loud causing her to pee harder and for the pee to start going everywhere, which caused her to laugh even harder, making it even worse. Fortunately, I did get some in the cup. I don’t think Gracie will be shy about peeing in a cup ever again.

I washed up, cleaned up Gracie, cleaned the cup, cleaned the toilet seat and we went back to the exam room. Of course Gracie had to tell everyone along the way that she pee’d on me in the restroom. Oh the joys of parenthood!!!

The doc said they saw blood in her urine and she had a high white count so she prescribed antibiotics and sent us on our way. Another successful visit and another $300 or more.

Now last Tuesday was also Vickie’s Birthday so I took the family out for dinner at Longhorns. As soon as the waitress arrived at the table, Gracie started. Loud and clear so no one could mistake she had something to say:

“Hi, my name’s Gracie!”
“Today’s my Mommy’s birthday. You have to bring out a cake and sing to her.”
“It burns when I pee cause I’m sick. I got an imfection”
“Daddy took me to the doctor this morning and I had to pee in a cup. I pee’d all over Daddy too, he wasn’t very happy about it.”

The waitress was laughing, Hailey about pee’d herself, I was laughing, Vic was laughing, I think everyone within hearing distance was laughing.

Gotta love her!!!

3. School: When I was in 8 years old, school started at the end of August or early September. Then we had off until Christmas Break, usually 2 weeks. After this we were in school until mid-May when we took off for summer.

Here, they start school first week of August and guess what? THEY ARE ALREADY OFF FOR A WEEK!! Goodness gracious. So all the brood are at the house now. Screaming, yelling, making messes, fighting, playing,,,,the usual.


All for now. Later.

More to Come

Ok. Gracie developed a urinary infection.
Had to take her to the doctor.
She had to pee in a cup.

That was just the beginning.

Will write more on this tomorrow.

In the meantime, today is my lovely wife's Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIC!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Curahee

Ok. I may as well post it.
My goal to run Curahee this year is over. Too many negative things over the past 4 months getting in the way. Too much weight to lose in such a short amount of time, surgery, work, family commitments. I've known this for over a month now, just not been able to actually make the post. Now I am.

So where to from here? On the year, I'm still down almost 20 lbs since Jan 1st. Still have my gym and entertainment set up. Still have the desire to lose all my excess weight. I just have to turn that desire into discipline and action.

Curahee will have to happen next year. Gives me over a year to lose the weight I want to lose and to train better and longer. So I hope anyone intent in joining me this year, will be willing to do so next year.

I'm going to start back again. Perhaps smarter this time. Definitely slower this time. Will try to set more realistic expectations. This is something I have to do for myself and my family.

All for now. G'nite.