This makes my heart all warm and smiley

I apologize for the fact that I am not sharp enough to figure out how to steal a video from YouTube and post it on the blog. You'll just have to deal with good ol' fashion links.

I found this video the other day and I love it. It's a group of Marines having a little fun at work in Iraq. These men are someones kids, husbands, brothers, etc. They are in some really sucky conditions over there, to say the least, and making a huge sacrifice for us. (Thank you!) Still, they manage to keep their sense of humor and wit in tact, which makes me feel silly for letting anything get me bent out of shape. It truly is heartwarming. I hope that the guys in this video are still safe, wherever they may be now. Most of all, I hope they are home.

See if you can guess which one is my fave :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX5ZVC1YY1k

Celebrations

The past few weeks have been scattered with a lot of celebrations and not a lot of blog posts. Forgive me as I try to catch up :)

We'll start with Memorial Day.


The Memorial Day celebration at Heather and John's
house (thanks for hosting us, guys!!)was really a celebration
of many, many things. Here, Kasey listens patiently as Connie
reads the list of things that we were celebrating (in no particular order).

• Memorial Day
• Connie's Birthday
• Kasey's birthday (early)
• My birthday (late)
• Mother's Day (late)
• Heather getting the breathalyzer taken out of her car
• Kasey successfully completing his DUI classes
• Me, Connie, Heather and Erin all getting new cars
• The death of Matt's cancer

We'll use just about any excuse to fire up the grill :)


Matt's cancer free gift :)


Erin and me. Had to get a picture together
while she still has her hair dark :p


Random Memorial Day ducks in our front yard

Dad's birthday was right after Memorial Day, and we did celebrate, but believe it or not, I didn't get any pictures!! So here is a nice retro shot of dad for you to enjoy.


Dear ol' dad, 1975. Happy Birthday again, daddy. Love you :)

Saturday was Waylon's Birthday. My fur baby is 4!! I can't believe it. Seems like the past four years have flown past. Who knew what a ride I was in for when I brought this dog into my home? He has been a wonderful companion, despite his quirks and less-than-perfect behavior. Marley has nothing on this dog. Seriously. Regardless, I love him to pieces.

Yes, I throw birthday parties for my dog :)


This is NOT how I envisioned the cake in my head, but this
IS how it turned out in reality. I'm gonna have to become
less creative or better skilled at cake decorating (mom, help me!!)
before I have a real child. A human 4 year old would be
ridiculed through high school after their friends saw this cake.
Waylon's friends didn't seem to mind.


My baby brother is not a baby anymore :(
He has grown up into a great guy though,
nice enough to humor me by coming to my
dog's birthday party :)



Waylon is thinking "Want cake NOW!!" Elena is patiently
waiting for us to stop singing, so she can make a wish for
Waylon and blow out the candle.


Look close enough and you can see an entire cupcake in
his mouth. (Spare me the comments about how unhealthy
this is, please. You only turn 4 once.)


Waylon's buddy Winnie.

And finally, here are some pics of the weenie roast at Matt's parent's house today. No specific reason to celebrate but it is not that often that we are able to get so many members of the clan together at once. And if you think about it, there is a lot to celebrate in that neck of the woods. Several cancer survivors, a new grandbaby for Ellen (Elizabeth and Andrew's son, James, who would have been more appropriately named "Absolutely Adorable"), John's birthday was last week and it's almost time for the younguns to be free from school for the summer.


We hadn't seen Katie in ages :)


So peaceful


Evidently it's damn near impossible for me
to do a blog post with this many pictures without
including a gratuitous self-portrait of myself
with Matt. I just love him so :)


Should we really allow this kid to have a stick
with not one, but two, sharp, metal prongs on
the end? Eh, why not?

I promise, one of these days I am gonna get off my lazy ass and actually write a blog entry instead of just flooding you guys with pics. Maybe. :p

Future Candy Stripers of America

Don't worry, Matt is fine. These pictures are from a few weeks ago, when Matt was getting a blood transfusion before he was finished with chemo. Elena and I decided it would be fun to go get Happy Meals and take them to the hospital. Elena was hellbent on the idea that a toy, along with the sight of her, would make Matt all better. Maybe she was right :)


Anticipation


The Happy Meal toys sucked, so we had to improvise :)


Wasting medical supplies in the name of fun.


Matt and Elena, and the tattoos they gave each other.


Sleepy? Elena had a nap that day. I did not :p

Sippin' & Dippin'

North Carolina passed a law last week prohibiting smoking in public places. I am not sure whether the law applies to ALL public places, or just indoors. Either way, the law states that it is unfair to force a restaurant worker to participate in "passive smoking" (formerly known as "being exposed to second-hand smoke").

Erin is not ready to make nice on this one yet. So like a true tobacco addict, she's found a way to skirt the law. It's probably not a coincidence that she got the idea to start dipping about two days after she attended her first NASCAR race. Dippin' ain't easy. There are all kinds of issues, other than the obvious ones, like the fact that tobacco doesn't stick together that well, so the dip falls out, and if you forget to spit, you'll barf. Regardless, I have a feeling she'll be a skilled pro by the time the new law takes effect next January, and ready to spit some Skoal in Bev Perdue's eye if given the chance.

Whether you agree or disagree, I still think she should get an A for dedication. Know your rights, ya'll. :)

No Mo Chemo

Collective sigh of relief

It's official!!!! We got Matt's CT results today and his cancer is in remission :)

I'm sure I will end up writing more about this later, getting into more details and reflecting/rambling on some things. Not today.

Today's word of the day is "gratitude".

Songs that remind me of you

It's late. I'm bored.

I've been sitting here listening to my Pandora station. Being able to hear is a wonderful thing, you know? There are so many songs that take me back so a certain place or time or remind me of someone. So I thought it would be kinda fun to share a few songs that remind me of people. I don't wanna hear any bitching from anyone who doesn't like "their" song. I'm 28. I can't change these memory associations, or control what they developed in the first place. The song just reminds me of you for some reason. I'll try to add some sidenotes about where I think the association between person and song developed (but with this mind of mine, who the hell knows?). For some of you, it will be hard/inaccurate to name just one song, but I don't have all night. Also, there is no way that I could list everyone in one post. So if you aren't listed, don't be offended. I'll have to continue in another post later. Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you have a song that reminds you of me. I think it would be neat :)

Mom: Mariah Carey, I'll be there. Reminds me of Mom because when I was a child she told me to think of her when I heard this song. Pretty simple :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52d20PK_Kyk

Dad always sang a lot when I was a kid. Mostly songs to make me laugh or embarass me, but this one was my favorite :) The Hollies, The Air That I Breathe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7S8-Iewi0&feature=related

Joe: The Beatles, In My Life. I apologize for the horrible spelling at the beginning of this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI0Q8ytD44Y

Gina: Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want. But if you try sometimes, you might just find, I love you enough not to tell the world why this is your song, because I know that you already know why :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0jyKabLHVc

Brandon: Elton John, I Wan't Love. Robert Downey, Jr. kinda looks like Brandon in the video. And I just LOVE Elton :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_u6l7EsQMc

Matt: Here is one you wouldn't expect, since you and I have had this talk before. This one reminds me of some damn good times :). Toby Keith(sorry, Gina), I Love This Bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q85rPq1u9sc

Erin: Duh. Janis Joplin, Me and Bobby McGee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FMhnl0__Vo . Good audio, nothing like how we do it, but at least the Janis video montage is cool.

Lex: Two days past 18, baby. Two fuckin days. It's a shame. I'm not kidding. Bring our troops home ASAP, please?. Sorry, you know I can't pass up a chance to give an unsolicited opinion :P Dixie Chicks, Travelin' Soldier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLBgmbXBOb8

Elena: The Beatles, Get Back. Honey, you loved it when I sang this song when you were a baby. Always got a giggle with this one. Not sure if she was laughing at my singing or dancing?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlWFpdPX45g

I've saved the best for last. :) World's Cheesiest Song

Steven Corn: You already know, don't you? Celine Dion, Because You Loved Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji-GONSfwnE . You gotta see it, Steven. Celine is so full of her own shit in this video.

Alright, that's all I've got in me tonight. G'night.

A promise is a promise

So, most of you probably already know that I promised Matt back in March (when we thought that the surgery would most likely catch all the cancer) that if he had to have chemo, then I would let him do whatever he wanted with my hair. For the past few years, I have been repeating a cycle of growing my hair long enough to donate to Locks of Love, and then having it chopped off. For the past few years, Matt has begged me to try different things with my hair, but I don't really care that much about my hair, and don't like to spend time or money on it. So I thought that if Matt had to do chemo (and lose his eyebrows and eyelashes, his biggest fear) then it would be proper to do my own little "Locks of Love" project a bit closer to home. Instead of donating my hair, I promised to get it cut, colored, permed, whatever Matt wanted, at the hands of a well trained professional.

That's not exactly how it worked out. First, Matt still has not lost his eyebrows OR eyelashes. But, like the title says, a promise is a promise. I have learned my lesson. I should have been more specific. "If your eyebrows fall out, you can have total reign over my hair" would have been better. Second, we have NOT had the time to find a well trained professional, and I started getting really sick of my hair as it started getting hotter outside. Third, it's been kinda boring around here lately.

So the other night, we decided to throw caution to the wind, and I let Matt take a pair of scissors to my locks*. My lovely lady locks. I have to say it was fun. At first Matt was scared, but after a few times of me repeating "I don't care if you screw it up, I'll just shave it off, I've done it before, and you may never cut hair again, so enjoy yourself" he loosened up and we had a blast, along with just a few scary moments when Matt went hog-wild and almost stabbed me with the scissors. Ok, he did stab me with the scissors*, but he didn't draw blood, so we're cool. And of course we got some funny pics :)

*I know you are wondering. We were totally sober. I swear. :)


The look in my eyes makes me pretty
sure that this pic was shot after the
accidental stabbing.



But it didn't turn out half bad. I like it a lot :) It's very
layery and and it looks quite nice when rockin' the dogwood
blossom, which just happens to be the state flower (or is
it tree?) for NC. My 4th grade teacher would be ashamed.