That's Snake Eyes My Friends

It's true, my calcitonin levels were 2pg/ml, way under the fear level of 13pg/ml ! Love those funny little coincidences. So, hooray for Obama, hooray for regular old papillary carcinoma,
IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE AN AMERICAN!!

Go Blue

Lots of anticipation around our house today. Claire's school did a mock election at school yesterday and she was pleased to report that Barack Obama won by a landslide. And Ben was happy to hear that Obama also secured a victory at Nickelodeon Kids Vote. And yes, you can bet I totally encouraged them to see things my way; it's one of the perks of childbirth!

Got this little gem in my inbox a while back, courtesy of a colleague of Mark's. Enjoy. And yes we're still waiting on the results of my blood work.

Subject: The People's Republic of Nuevo California

Dear Red States, We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, New York, and all of the Northeastern states. After this election, we'll be adding Colorado and New Mexico. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, especially to the people of our new country - Nuevo California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states; we get stem cell research, the best beaches, and the best ski resorts. We get Elliot Spitzer; you get Ken Lay. We get the Statue of Liberty; you get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft; you get WorldCom. We get Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cal Tech, MIT and Columbia; you get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs; you get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than that of the Christian Coalition, we get a bunch of happy families and you get a bunch of under-educated single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we'll need all of our citizens back from Iraq at once.

If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They apparently have kids they're willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't mind if you don't televise their kid's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq and hope that those Weapons of Mass Destruction turn up for you, but we're not willing to spend any more of our money in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States, we will control 80 percent of the country's fresh water, 90 percent of pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 97 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at your state dinners), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, and all the Ivy League and Seven Sister schools. We also get New England, the Great Lakes and Yosemite, thank you very much. In the Red States, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, 100 percent of tornadoes, 94 percent of hurricanes, 99 percent of Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, and Clemson.

Additionally, in the Red States, 38 percent actually believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale; 62 percent believe life is sacred unless it involves the death penalty or gun ownership; 44 percent claim that evolution is only a theory; 53 percent insist that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11; and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you have higher moral standards than those of us on the left.

By the way, we're taking all the good pot, too. You get that dirt weed from Mexico and Kansas ditches.

Peace out,

The Blue States

Let's Focus on Art: Part 2

And there you have it, the rest of my mini winter book. Next I'll be working on a December Daily album; feeling like I really need to get a jump start on it. I made one last year and it's such a great way to document the holiday season. And this year should be especially interesting, don't you think?

Waiting on my blood test results. The lower the number, the better, so I'm hoping for some snake eyes when I roll the dice today! Happy Monday.

Trick or Treat

Our little goblins. Ben was gung-ho for trick or treating this year, ran and led the pack for about 45 minutes, then he was DONE and went to pass out candy at one of our friend's house in the neighborhood where we were begging. Claire and the girls lasted about twice as long. She was so very sweet; at each house that provided a choice of candy, she always chose a peanut butter cup for me if it was available.

I'll finish posting my winter album tomorrow. Happy Sunday!

Boo

Our traditional pumpkin carving went down last night on these beauties from our garden. Claire carved her own jack-o-lantern this year and even took extra time to add a tiny bat on the back of her pumpkin, while Ben was pretty much just interested in using the knife to hack the guts apart.

Here's the finished product. Blurry photo, but you get the drift. The picture was taken in complete darkness with my camera set to the action mode; I wasn't trying to be artsy, I just didn't feel like getting the tripod.

Hope your day is super spooky. We're taking our witch and our skeleton out on the town tonight and I've already been thinking of ways to scam their peanut butter cups.
Happy Halloween!

Let's Focus on Art: Part 1

Let's take a break from the cancer thing and the waiting for the blood test results that will determine my fate and concentrate on a mini book I recently completed. It's all about our experiences last winter with the amazing amounts of snowfall and winter storms. I was able to go back on this blog and use my entries from those cold days for my journaling. The pictures really don't do it justice, but I'm sharing anyway because it turned out to be quite beautiful.

Stay tuned for the rest tomorrow. Hope your week is treating you well. Thanks to all our friends and family for the amazing support and love, and thanks to Mark for that funny post yesterday. We're really trying to keep it light and embrace the humor. But don't worry, I've been doing plenty of falling apart too, lest you think I'm in denial!!

Mark posts while Kristi rests

Ahhh a new demotivator,, just in time! These always cheer me up.

This one kinda sums up our day yesterday. Kristi’s endocrinologist wants to run some more tests before the surgery. She thinks the pathology suggests that this may not be a “run of the mill” papillary carcinoma and wants the surgeon to be more aggressive if needed. Even if it is just a papillary carcinoma, the whole deal sounds more unpleasant than we thought as well. After the Sweeney Todd surgery they want her to spend a few weeks getting way hypothyroid (which doesn’t sound fun at all, but the body makes a bunch of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone in response and that is good) and be iodine restricted before radiation. The nuclear medicine will be administered in the hospital in Spokane where she will be sequestered away from us living things that matter for a couple days. You are welcome to send any big assholes you can find to visit her; I suspect she'll be feeling more than a tad testy and might enjoy nukin' 'em. Five days later we are back up in Spokane for a whole body scan, but at least she will be starting to get thyroid hormone back in her system by then.

But the potential alternatives are way worse,, so lets all chant in unison: "GO papillary carcinoma GO!"