(no subject)
I've gotten slack about this journaling thing.
I made my first king cake! It had cream cheese and berry filling. It pissed me off a lot because it didn't come out like I was expecting it to, but everyone seems to agree that it was yummy. So I believe I'll attempt it again for Lety's Mardi Gras party.
Yay! Lety's coming back into town next week. I haven't seen her since she left for Mexico in August. It'll be good to see her again. She, Athena, and I need to get some sushi before Lent. :P I'm also going to make jambalaya for the party.
Michelle is back in town! Geez, that was quick, it totally seems like a God thing. Okay, it started with Christine wanting to talk to me about 2 or 3 weeks ago. She said she was going to need a teacher for her pre-K class soon and she had been praying about what to do about it and she'd just been sensing that she needed to talk to me and I don't have a job, so would I want to work at the Learning Center?
Ummm, no. LOL. The mere idea of working with preschoolers was simply exhausting. There's a reason I never did much babysitting growing up. It stressed me out to babysit other people's kids. Like, I never had a problem watching Eleesha, but when you get other people and other kids and customs involved, it's pretty overwhelming for me.
BUT, as Christine was talking, I kept thinking about Michelle and how her job was getting increasingly ridiculous and she had been thinking about getting a new job anyway. So I mentioned that to Christine and I called Michelle. She was interested. They communicated, and they both continued to be interested. Michelle found someone on Craigslist looking for a roommate, close to the Learning Center. Everything just fell into place. Michelle moved back into town last week and begins working this week. So that's cool, it'll be good to have her around more.
On that end, I'M still looking for a job. :P Sigh. I figured it up... I'm getting by pretty comfortably with what I'm getting for unemployment. But I'm getting less than HALF of what I was getting paid when I HAD a job. What the heck was I doing with all that money? I mean, I have cut back on eating out a lot and spending in general, my student loam payments are deferred, I'm not paying off my credit card as aggressively, and I'm giving less to the church because I figure that's not REALLY my money to give, charity or not. But it just doesn't seem like it adds up. It's weird. But I'm doing good and I'm continuing to look for work, so I'm not complaining.
On the up and up -- I did my taxes. I'm getting like $2200 back! HOT DOG. I'm pondering what to do with it. Like I said, I'm doing okay financially. I'm thinking about investing it somehow. But I have no idea about any of that stuff. I guess I need to do some research. Or maybe I SHOULD just put it in my savings account until I do get a job. Thoughts? Advice?
I have determined that I lost my effing camera. AGAIN. @#()$@(*$&#@ I just don't have any idea where it could be. I guess it fell out of my purse at some point and I just wasn't aware of it. My MP3 player too, but that's not as depressing to me as not having a camera. SO. I looked for an Olympus SP-320 on Ebay, the camera I had before last. Yes, It's a bit technologically outdated now... It's only 7 Megapixels as opposed to the currently popular 12 Megapixels. :P But, I LOVED that camera. My pictures came out great!
examples:
http://plexplex.deviantart.com/art/Dogwood-II-51930946
http://plexplex.deviantart.com/art/Bug-57985960
For some reason, I never got the same quality out of my Canon (the LAST camera that has escaped from me. :P). So... I bought an SP-320 from Ebay for $68! I haven't gotten it yet... I hope it actually works and whatnot. :P I'm still a bit leery about buying used non-book stuff off the internet. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited about it, though. :) So that's one thing that my tax refund is going to.
Hmm... what else? OH! My dad's doing better! In his own words:
~~~
To all my prayer warriors,
I wanted to give you all some encouraging news regarding my cancer treatments.
Before I started with my treatment today (Tuesday, Jan.12th) I met with the doctor and his nurse practitioner. They said all my vital signs were looking real good. It basically saying my body is holding up well with all the chemo treatments. Today was my 9th treatment. Today the markers which they look at for the cancer status went down to 673. Two weeks ago it was at 801. So these markers show that the cancer is starting to shrink. Two weeks ago the 801 mark was a turning point that showed for the first time that there was no sign of growth. It had stop advancing. Now it is shrinking. Great news! I was real encouraged to see these new marker numbers. The doctor wants me to get another chest x-ray before my next appointment. They want see the differences between the x-ray I took about 2 months ago and this new one.
I will let you know the results after my next appointment. Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and encouragement.
By Gods Word, By Jesus' Blood, By My faith, By all your prayers - I am healed.
May God Bless you all with Heavens Best,
Ray Lapino
~~~
Apparently, the x-rays didn't look much different. However, after all this talk about markers, I googled it because I really didn't know anything about what was being tested or tracked. This was a helpful webpage:
Tumor Markers
Especially the section on "Determining how well treatment is working".
~~~
One of the most important uses for tumor markers is to watch patients being treated for cancer, especially advanced cancer. If a tumor marker is available for a certain type of cancer, the level of the marker can be used to see if the treatment is working instead of doing other tests, like chest x-rays, CT scans, bone scans, or other tests. It also tends to cost less.
If the tumor marker level in the blood goes down, it is almost always a sign that the treatment is working. On the other hand, if the marker level goes up, then the cancer is not responding and the treatment may need to be changed. (One exception is if the cancer is very sensitive to a certain chemotherapy treatment. In this case, the chemo can cause many cancer cells to die and release large amounts of the marker into the blood, which will cause the level of the tumor marker to rise for a short time.)
~~~
I think the last sentence is also significant because Jackie said that his markers seemed to spike when he first started chemo and that that was a little alarming for them. But maybe the chemo was just blasting cancer cells away right from the get-go and what the tests were detecting was dead cancer cells getting flushed out of his system!
Anyway, Daddy's still doing really well, he's not been having any serious/debilitating side effects. His body is doing exactly what it should be doing. Using the chemo to get rid of the cancer and keeping the healthy cells from being destroyed by the chemo in the process. Praise God! And thank you guys for your prayers and love! It is GREATLY appreciated.
Hmmm... what else?
OH. THE SAINTS WON THE SUPERBOWL. I typically don't give a flip about football but I feel the need to be excited about this, if for no other reason than my Cajun heritage.
The Saints have a long standing tradition of sucking. LOL, sad but true. Some traditional jokes in that vein:
~~~
Q: Why doesn't Baton Rogue have a professional football team?
A: Because then New Orleans would want one.
~~~
One day Boudreaux died and went to hell. Satan went to check up on him and found Boudreaux sitting on a rock, grinning and looking content. Satan says, "Boudreaux, what you so happy about? You in HELL!" Boudreaux says, "Man, it aint so bad. It's just like Louisiana in June."
Well, Satan hadn't considered that. So he went to the furnace and turned it up a bit. He goes back and finds Boudreaux sitting, grinning, although starting to sweat a bit. Satan says, "Boudreaux! You still smiling! Whatsamatta you!" Boudreaux says, "Hey man, it's just like Louisiana in July."
Satan grumbles and turns the heat up as high as it will go. It is HOT. Even Satan's starting to feel it. Satan goes back to Boudreaux and finds him sweating and fanning himself, but still smiling. Satan says, "Boudreaux! It can't get any hotter!" Boudreaux says, "Man that's alright. But if I had a beer, this would remind me of Louisiana in August. You got a beer?"
Well, Satan is pissed. He cusses up a storm and goes back to the furnace and kicks it out of frustration. The furnace breaks and hell freezes over. Satan returns to Boudreaux, who is sitting there, shivering, teeth clacking, but has a huge grin on his face. Satan says, "Boudreaux man, what? This can't be anything like Louisiana."
Boudreaux says, "No, but the Saints just won the Superbowl."
~~~
LOL. So if you see people's status saying stuff like, "Woohoo! Hell just froze over! The Saints won the Superbowl!" That's probably what they're referring to. ^_^
So, I guess those jokes no longer apply. The Saints really have pulled it together over the past few years, and it paid off. First time to the Superbowl and they take home a trophy. Good for them! :)
I've done a lot of typing and can't think of much more to type about. So I guess I'll stop now. There are dishes and laundry to be done. :P
I made my first king cake! It had cream cheese and berry filling. It pissed me off a lot because it didn't come out like I was expecting it to, but everyone seems to agree that it was yummy. So I believe I'll attempt it again for Lety's Mardi Gras party.
Yay! Lety's coming back into town next week. I haven't seen her since she left for Mexico in August. It'll be good to see her again. She, Athena, and I need to get some sushi before Lent. :P I'm also going to make jambalaya for the party.
Michelle is back in town! Geez, that was quick, it totally seems like a God thing. Okay, it started with Christine wanting to talk to me about 2 or 3 weeks ago. She said she was going to need a teacher for her pre-K class soon and she had been praying about what to do about it and she'd just been sensing that she needed to talk to me and I don't have a job, so would I want to work at the Learning Center?
Ummm, no. LOL. The mere idea of working with preschoolers was simply exhausting. There's a reason I never did much babysitting growing up. It stressed me out to babysit other people's kids. Like, I never had a problem watching Eleesha, but when you get other people and other kids and customs involved, it's pretty overwhelming for me.
BUT, as Christine was talking, I kept thinking about Michelle and how her job was getting increasingly ridiculous and she had been thinking about getting a new job anyway. So I mentioned that to Christine and I called Michelle. She was interested. They communicated, and they both continued to be interested. Michelle found someone on Craigslist looking for a roommate, close to the Learning Center. Everything just fell into place. Michelle moved back into town last week and begins working this week. So that's cool, it'll be good to have her around more.
On that end, I'M still looking for a job. :P Sigh. I figured it up... I'm getting by pretty comfortably with what I'm getting for unemployment. But I'm getting less than HALF of what I was getting paid when I HAD a job. What the heck was I doing with all that money? I mean, I have cut back on eating out a lot and spending in general, my student loam payments are deferred, I'm not paying off my credit card as aggressively, and I'm giving less to the church because I figure that's not REALLY my money to give, charity or not. But it just doesn't seem like it adds up. It's weird. But I'm doing good and I'm continuing to look for work, so I'm not complaining.
On the up and up -- I did my taxes. I'm getting like $2200 back! HOT DOG. I'm pondering what to do with it. Like I said, I'm doing okay financially. I'm thinking about investing it somehow. But I have no idea about any of that stuff. I guess I need to do some research. Or maybe I SHOULD just put it in my savings account until I do get a job. Thoughts? Advice?
I have determined that I lost my effing camera. AGAIN. @#()$@(*$&#@ I just don't have any idea where it could be. I guess it fell out of my purse at some point and I just wasn't aware of it. My MP3 player too, but that's not as depressing to me as not having a camera. SO. I looked for an Olympus SP-320 on Ebay, the camera I had before last. Yes, It's a bit technologically outdated now... It's only 7 Megapixels as opposed to the currently popular 12 Megapixels. :P But, I LOVED that camera. My pictures came out great!
examples:
http://plexplex.deviantart.com/art/Dogwood-II-51930946
http://plexplex.deviantart.com/art/Bug-57985960
For some reason, I never got the same quality out of my Canon (the LAST camera that has escaped from me. :P). So... I bought an SP-320 from Ebay for $68! I haven't gotten it yet... I hope it actually works and whatnot. :P I'm still a bit leery about buying used non-book stuff off the internet. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited about it, though. :) So that's one thing that my tax refund is going to.
Hmm... what else? OH! My dad's doing better! In his own words:
~~~
To all my prayer warriors,
I wanted to give you all some encouraging news regarding my cancer treatments.
Before I started with my treatment today (Tuesday, Jan.12th) I met with the doctor and his nurse practitioner. They said all my vital signs were looking real good. It basically saying my body is holding up well with all the chemo treatments. Today was my 9th treatment. Today the markers which they look at for the cancer status went down to 673. Two weeks ago it was at 801. So these markers show that the cancer is starting to shrink. Two weeks ago the 801 mark was a turning point that showed for the first time that there was no sign of growth. It had stop advancing. Now it is shrinking. Great news! I was real encouraged to see these new marker numbers. The doctor wants me to get another chest x-ray before my next appointment. They want see the differences between the x-ray I took about 2 months ago and this new one.
I will let you know the results after my next appointment. Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and encouragement.
By Gods Word, By Jesus' Blood, By My faith, By all your prayers - I am healed.
May God Bless you all with Heavens Best,
Ray Lapino
~~~
Apparently, the x-rays didn't look much different. However, after all this talk about markers, I googled it because I really didn't know anything about what was being tested or tracked. This was a helpful webpage:
Tumor Markers
Especially the section on "Determining how well treatment is working".
~~~
One of the most important uses for tumor markers is to watch patients being treated for cancer, especially advanced cancer. If a tumor marker is available for a certain type of cancer, the level of the marker can be used to see if the treatment is working instead of doing other tests, like chest x-rays, CT scans, bone scans, or other tests. It also tends to cost less.
If the tumor marker level in the blood goes down, it is almost always a sign that the treatment is working. On the other hand, if the marker level goes up, then the cancer is not responding and the treatment may need to be changed. (One exception is if the cancer is very sensitive to a certain chemotherapy treatment. In this case, the chemo can cause many cancer cells to die and release large amounts of the marker into the blood, which will cause the level of the tumor marker to rise for a short time.)
~~~
I think the last sentence is also significant because Jackie said that his markers seemed to spike when he first started chemo and that that was a little alarming for them. But maybe the chemo was just blasting cancer cells away right from the get-go and what the tests were detecting was dead cancer cells getting flushed out of his system!
Anyway, Daddy's still doing really well, he's not been having any serious/debilitating side effects. His body is doing exactly what it should be doing. Using the chemo to get rid of the cancer and keeping the healthy cells from being destroyed by the chemo in the process. Praise God! And thank you guys for your prayers and love! It is GREATLY appreciated.
Hmmm... what else?
OH. THE SAINTS WON THE SUPERBOWL. I typically don't give a flip about football but I feel the need to be excited about this, if for no other reason than my Cajun heritage.
The Saints have a long standing tradition of sucking. LOL, sad but true. Some traditional jokes in that vein:
~~~
Q: Why doesn't Baton Rogue have a professional football team?
A: Because then New Orleans would want one.
~~~
One day Boudreaux died and went to hell. Satan went to check up on him and found Boudreaux sitting on a rock, grinning and looking content. Satan says, "Boudreaux, what you so happy about? You in HELL!" Boudreaux says, "Man, it aint so bad. It's just like Louisiana in June."
Well, Satan hadn't considered that. So he went to the furnace and turned it up a bit. He goes back and finds Boudreaux sitting, grinning, although starting to sweat a bit. Satan says, "Boudreaux! You still smiling! Whatsamatta you!" Boudreaux says, "Hey man, it's just like Louisiana in July."
Satan grumbles and turns the heat up as high as it will go. It is HOT. Even Satan's starting to feel it. Satan goes back to Boudreaux and finds him sweating and fanning himself, but still smiling. Satan says, "Boudreaux! It can't get any hotter!" Boudreaux says, "Man that's alright. But if I had a beer, this would remind me of Louisiana in August. You got a beer?"
Well, Satan is pissed. He cusses up a storm and goes back to the furnace and kicks it out of frustration. The furnace breaks and hell freezes over. Satan returns to Boudreaux, who is sitting there, shivering, teeth clacking, but has a huge grin on his face. Satan says, "Boudreaux man, what? This can't be anything like Louisiana."
Boudreaux says, "No, but the Saints just won the Superbowl."
~~~
LOL. So if you see people's status saying stuff like, "Woohoo! Hell just froze over! The Saints won the Superbowl!" That's probably what they're referring to. ^_^
So, I guess those jokes no longer apply. The Saints really have pulled it together over the past few years, and it paid off. First time to the Superbowl and they take home a trophy. Good for them! :)
I've done a lot of typing and can't think of much more to type about. So I guess I'll stop now. There are dishes and laundry to be done. :P