Melissa's Idea Garden

Well time flies when you are busy...

I have three boxes packed up for a yard sale in May. There are another dozen boxes packed up for moving. And I have solde about three boxes worth of stuff on eBay and Amazon.

Still no one has come to see the house, but the realtor says warmer weather and longer days will bring them out. Meanwhile I am glad to get some of the packing done.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers, messages and kindnesses over the last few weeks regarding Tess. It has been a busy few weeks for them. Hospice nurses came home with Tess for the first week to help with the administering of the antibiotics she needed and to help her get around as she gained strength.

Sharon, Johnny's daughter, found a place near her for Tess and Johnny to move to. Within a week of being in the hospital, they had moved. But as nice as Sharon's area is, it didn't have the friends that Tess and Johnny have spent the last 20 years with. They wanted to be in their own home and with their friends, so back to Bowling Green they went. Their neighbors are keeping an eye on them and helping them out with whatever needs doing. A nurse comes by periodically to check on Tess and her condition. She is having problems with swelling in her legs that the doctors are trying to address.

Daniel and Charles hope to go down and visit her next month.

Well, the first week of the beginning of our new adventure has come and gone. I have packed 3 boxes and have another dozen or so to pack in my spare time. The hard part about packing is that I have no place to put it once packed until we get a storage space. So it's hard to get motivated to do much packing.

We met with Jim and Melanie Dolan last week, they are Century 21 realtors. They are very nice people and understand that we are highly motivated sellers. We have signed the contracts and the signs are up here and across the street. Now the waiting begins...and...maybe some packing...

BTW, wondering what I packed first? My Stephen King Book Collection...my goodness, but that man has written a lot of books!

I got this from my mom in my email today and I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with you! Hope you enjoy!

How God created VIRGINIA -

God was missing for six days. On the seventh day, Michael, the archangel, found him - resting. He inquired, "Where have you been?" God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds. "Look, Michael.. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet" replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance." "Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm confused." God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, he said, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things."

God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel , impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and asked, "What's that one?" "That's VIRGINIA , the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, ocean, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from VIRGINIA are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, God?

You said there would be balance...."

God smiled, "Right next to VIRGINIA is Washington , DC . Wait till you see the idiots I put there."

...but he says they paid him in bananas! Not fair for the best commercial of the evening!

My husband has a thing for monkeys...a few years ago, one mysteriously appeared on his desk at work and ever since then we have added to his interesting monkey collection. He has office monkeys, a monkey in a banana that I won at a carnival, and a set of office monkeys.

This year for Christmas, Katrina and I were wandering around Target and we saw it...the perfect gift for Daniel: Sock Monkey!

Sock Monkey was an instant hit with the family. He is always into some kind of mischief. Sometimes he helps Daniel with his work.

Stay tuned for the Adventures of Sock Monkey... As you can see...he's very photogenic!

First, none of these things have to do with one another, but they are all on my mind. And rather than write three short posts, I thought I would put it all here.

The number one news is that Tess is much improved and will be going home tomorrow with 24/7 care (a combo of hospice and nurses aides). Her brother, Paul, and sister-in-law, Faye, are down visiting right now. Her niece and daugther are trying to work out a visit next week. We are so excited that she gets to go home tomorrow. And so grateful since last week, we didn't think she would be leaving the hospital alive.

The second news story is the incoming storm. The weather people are really uncertain about this one. Predictions for us range from 7" to 18". I predict that on Sunday morning, we will know how much snow we have received!

Lastly, I am not sure if you are aware, but we are experiencing an Eggo Waffle shortage. Flooding at an Atlanta bakery during heavy rains in October forced Kellogg, which makes Eggo products, to shut down production temporarily, said company spokesman Kris Charles. Plus, equipment at Kellogg's largest waffle facility, based in Rossville, Tenn., needs extensive repairs.

Food Lion ran out first, then last month, Sam's ran out of Eggos. This morning, Jack ate the last Eggos in the house. This shortage gives a whole new meaning to the term "Leggo my Eggo!!" What I have read indicates that the shortage may last until mid-2010...I may actually have to ...GASP... invest in a waffle maker!

What I didn't include in my last post (which was supposed to publish yesterday, but I hit the wrong button) was how we got to this spot with Tess.

Dr. Franco is Tess' oncologist. He told her at some time in the past that chemo was not an option for her. Her age, the three major surgeries she has undergone the last two years and the fact that she only has one functioning kidney (and due to her age, it is only functioning at 50% or less). So he sent her to a surgeon who might be able to help. That surgeon, Dr. T, was the one who took care of the previously mentioned surgeries. Dr. T. looked at the CAT scan and told Tess that because the liposarcoma was located on her liver he could not operate.

Dr. T. then made a referral to another surgeon at a cutting edge institute. The referral was to see if there was anything new that he wasn't aware of. The note he put on the file was 'Research.' Well apparently, the surgeon didn't read the file. He walked into the room, asked Tess why she was there. She told him about her tumor (not really understanding the research bit probably) and he told her he couldn't operate on her and sent her to an oncologist. This surgeon dropped the ball as far as we are concerned. She went to this oncologist...no idea whether this person paid any attention to the file and why Tess was there or not. Our feeling is that the oncologist probably thought that Tess, like many, was looking for the glimmer of hope (we were told that chemo had a 15%-20% chance of helping).

So that's how we ended up with Tess in the hospital fighting for her life against infections that she shouldn't have been vulnerable to. We are glad it turned out as well as it did.

Again, this is just a bit more information that may help you in a similar situation.

We got up yesterday morning, got all of our belongings together, checked out and headed to the hospital. Daniel still wasn't sure what he was going to do, but Bruce, Jack, Katrina and I were going to head for home after lunch.

I left the kids and my stuff in the waiting room, then headed towards Tess room and immediately knew something had changed. Her door was closed and the nurse getting ready to go into her room was suited up in a blue gown and gloves. The head nurse approached me and told me that Tess had been diagnosed with MRSA. My heart sank to my toes.

Sharon came out of the room and filled me in. The news was not as bad as my first thoughts. Turns out the ER doctor was on the ball. When he saw the blisters on Tess, he felt MRSA was a very real possibility and put her on triple antibiotics that would help her other infections as well as the MRSA. So, by the time we found out she had MRSA, she was on her way to recovery. I wish we had known that they were thinking MRSA was a possibility. We were all good about washing hands when we entered the room, but didn't know we needed to wash them when we left. None of us have open wounds, so hopefully we will all be okay.

Her doctor came in and was much more positive today. He said she will need another 7 - 10 days of strong antibiotics and she would be receiving 2 pints of blood later in the day. He said her white blood cell count is coming back up, her color is good, her vitals are good. He told us she could go home with hospice (we are also setting up round the clock nursing for when hospice isn't there). Tess applauded when she found out she could go home. We were told that radiation is not an option (Tess wanted to know). The tumor is so deep inside of her that the rads needed to reach it would destroy her bowel in the process. There will be no more CAT scans or horrible gook that she had to drink before them. Dr. Franco told us he didn't do tests for the sake of curiosity. There is nothing else that can be done for the cancer, but we still have time with Tess and for that we are so very grateful. Our goal is for her to be as comfortable as she can be and to have the best quality of life she can during her time remaining.

Tess has survived against amazing odds. She was admitted barely alive. She had a fever of 103, her blood pressure was 220/130, one 50% functioning kidney (she lost one years ago), pneumonia, a urinary tract infection, MRSA and liposarcoma of the liver with no white blood cells or platelets because of recent chemotherapy. We left her with the infections under control and the hope that she will be able to go home with Johnny (their greatest wish) in a week with hospice and 24 hour nurses.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for giving us some more precious time with Tess. Thank you for the possibility that she and Johnny can be at home together as they wish. Thank you for Sharon. If not for her, Tess wouldn't be here today. And we are so grateful that she is on the same page as we are as how we want to see all this played out and that she is so willing to help since she lives here.

The middle of December, Tess called to tell us that they had found another tumor in her body. Over the last three years, Tess has had 4 surgeries to remove tumors that are growing within. She has liposarcoma. She had one 24 years ago that when they removed it was 35 pounds and she lost one kidney. She went another 20 years without problem, but in then there was an 18 pound one and since then they have kept close eye on her so they could perform surgery as soon as possible.

She told us her doctor was going to do another CAT scan in March to see what the growth was before they did another surgery. Then she called back and said that the doctor had called again saying she needed chemo because the tumor was on her liver and couldn't be operated on. And she had an appointment the end of the month. Still, she was saying this was non-cancerous...

Tess does not hear well nor does Johnny. Both come from an age when you didn't ask questions of the physicians and that the physician knew best. We are not sure what when on during an appointment with an oncologist the end of December or how their options were explained to them, but Tess called us and told us they would be installing a port in her chest and that they would be giving her chemotherapy which would involve her being in the hospital for four days at a time and then home between sessions.

DEMOCRAT

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

REPUBLICAN

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST

You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST

You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government
pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pour the milk down
the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts
stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the
size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond,
drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You drink some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You drink some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Russian Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION

You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch
any creature's private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US
government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money
to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION

You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION

You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed tempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION

You have one cow.
The cow has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk..
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy..

FLORIDA CORPORATION

You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state
tell you which one you think is the best looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION

You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

Because I have been reading Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue," I have been thinking and talking about politics. Btw, I finished the book today and I recommend it. Sarah is definitely one of the 'common' people and her story is an interesting. Even more interesting to me was the way the Republican campaign was run.

Now back to Dave Barry. Here is a quote I ran across and thought I would share it for a chuckle!

"The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to trust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy.

The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club."

My daughter is a pack rat. And I say that with deep love, affection and more than a touch of annoyance...She keeps everything! She has toys that belonged to her when she was two that she doesn't want to get rid of (fortunately my mom has storage space for them). She can't pass a yard sale or thrift shop without rescuing some poor stuffed animal from it's unloved, unwanted status. Toy breaks? You would think we could throw it away...only if I can prove the broken bits are dangerous. Otherwise they must be kept in case the parts can at some point be used in some other fashion...say building a clubhouse. I guess I should be glad that my daughter is the consummate recycler! If only we had the space...

She can't keep her room clean. Part of it is her nature...she has a tendency to get stuff out and leave it out when she is done (an ongoing battle as I am the exact opposite - but she gets both the clutter tendency and the pack rat habits from her father). The other reason she can't keep her room clean is there isn't enough for all of her stuff! She finally got tired of the stuffed animals covering her bunk beds, but she wasn't willing to let them go...so, we have two big plastic tubs and three garbage bags in her closet full of stuffed animals. There are two other plastic tubs - one holds dress up items and one holds blankets. Then there is a dresser for clothes, a dresser for hair stuff and other small stuff/souvenirs. She has a book shelf filled with books, a hamster cage, and other odds and ends. She has another book shelf with LPS items and another hamster cage and two jewelry boxes she has been given. And in the middle of the floor, there is a box of more odds and ends...pokemon cards, hairdresser play stuff, papers....so today, we picked up some clear shoeboxes from Walmart for 94 cents each. We will sort the odds and ends and put the boxes neatly on the book shelf. Hoping that for awhile...she will be able to keep her room clean.

However, I am afraid the 9' x 10' room is going to explode!

I love my Dad and have long realized that he is one of the smartest people I know. Over the years, he has come up with many great ideas, some of which have come to pass. For instance, my dad thought of inventing the artifical tree with light bulbs already on the branches long before it ever came to be.

Tonight as we were chatting, he shared with me another great idea and I am going to share it here just in case the power's that be are listening!

My father has worked hard all of his life. When I was growing up, he worked a 9-5 job, then he built houses on the side. Later, he switched to just building houses and even today, with my 64 year old father, often puts in 12 hour or more days. It frustrates him that the government takes part of his hard earned money to pay for people who won't get a job. Now, don't get on your high horse...neither he nor I are talking about the people who have lost job during this current economic situation. But here's Dad's idea.

He periodically has to take a drug test where he works. Many company's do this now as standard procedure. So, if he has to take a drug test to keep his job, why don't welfare recipients have to take a drug test to receive their assistance. If drug use is evident, then no assistance is given.

I wonder if someone in Washington will read this and give this idea a whirl? Or if it would be too politically incorrect because the reason these people are on drugs is because they are down-trodden by society?

I say 'bah' to that possibility! If anyone has an excuse to take drugs to escape, it would be the hard working individuals who keep this country together. They get up 5 days a week and spend most of their day working in one capacity or another and putting up with all of the stresses that entails. Then they come home and sit around the kitchen table with their checkbook in hand and wonder how they are going to pay all of the bills this month because the expenses keep going up and the checks keep shrinking. So if there is someone who has a 'reasonable' excuse to use drugs, it is the hard working middle class, not the ones sitting at home watching television all day after they pick up their government assistance.

I did not vote for President Obama. I did not think he had the experience needed to hold the highest office in the land. He is smart, but his smarts are book smarts. And book smarts are not enough. He makes a pretty speech. He looks good on camera, though like many other presidents before him, the grey in his hair has grown exponentially since he took office a year ago. He is naive. Or at least he was when he took the office of President. He thought he could bring about change just by saying it. He thought that being the first black President of the U.S. would mean change was inevitable. But instead of getting people to work together, he and the Democratic Party have been ramming their agenda down the throats of the rest of the people in the country. And last week, the country fought back with the vote in Massachussetts.

While I did not vote for Obama, I was hoping that the years with him as leader would help to bring our country closer together. I hoped he really could get in there and make a difference.The divide in this country between the conservatives and liberals has grown larger than the Grand Canyon. The urbanites, who lean to the liberal side view the rural inhabitants as stupid, bigoted, and backward. The rurals, who tend to lean towards the conservative end of the spectrum are outraged at the liberals who they see as lazy people who don't know the meaning of hard work and who are trying to undermine the basic principles of our country.

Guess what...it's not black and white and both sides are wrong. We all need one another. Much like the North and South back in the 1800s, we are two sides that make part of a whole. Each side has strengths and weaknesses and if we would stop letting lobbyists and politicians divide us, we could come together and become the better nation for it. Instead we are fighting amongst ourselves like children and we are letting the media drive a wedge between us.

It has become a game of tit for tat. The Republicans mistreated the Democrats when they were in control. When the Democrats came to office, they did the same and said, 'well they did it first.' Come on...are you children or grown men and women?

Someone is going to have to be brave, step up, roll up their sleeves and say 'let's work together'.

And then someone else is going to have to make a stand and say..."Yep! We are here at the request of the public. They voted for us. They pay our salary. We need to find out what it is they want, then we need to figure out how to please the most people. We need to stop making this a peacock show where we all strut around trying to outshine the other. We need to get down to the business of building a government that the people want."

My kids and I have been studying some about the American Revolution lately. I hope that our country doesn't have to resort to another revolution to bring us all together, but things need to change. America stands on the beliefs of the rights of the people. America led the way by creating a government that was formed by the people and was supposed to work for the people. And America led the way by creating a Bill of Rights that said what the government could not to do the people. Yet, instead of continuing to be a beacon of light and leading the way in this world, we have become a country of bickering children who can only see things one way - theirs. I know those who will vote along party lines regardless of the candidates. The politicians and media have done their job well. And we have become lazy. Why try to figure out what the politician stands for? Why try to determine who will make the better leader? Why use our brains at all? Just ask the question...who is from which party, then pick the party that you have become brainwashed to follow.

WAKE UP! We need fresh blood. We need a new strong 3rd party. We need to stop business as usual in Washington! We need people who believe in America. We need people who will listen to their constituents. We need people who spend their time in office concentrating on making our country a better place instead of spending their time if office thinking about how they can position themselves to win the next election. Our country desparately needs term limits! 6 years for the President with no chance at re-election. Then he can spend all of his time working on his job, not worrying about getting re-elected. The same thing for senators and representatives. Think of the money our country would save because these servants, and that is what they are supposed to be, would be spending their time in office actually working, not seeking photo ops and impressive interviews.

I started writing this post with the thought in mind that I am sorry that President Obama's desire for change has hit a brick wall. He, along with others in the past, came into Washington hoping to change things, yet here we are...business as usual. So my post evolved into my rambling thoughts of the changes we need to make if our country is to go forward. Or we can continue to sit and spin our wheels, changing leaders every few years, and having more and more hard feelings rise up among Americans... And while we are bickering among ourselves, other countries will grow and surpass us. And some countries, or the terrorists hiding in them, will take advantage of our division and our business as usual attitude and weaken us even more.