I hate cancer

On Christmas Eve, a friend, of our's, Bill, that we know from the VFW wasn't feeling well. Over the course of the next week, he was sent from hospital to hospital. He eventually found out that he had cancer. It had started in his lungs and spread to his brain. He was only in his 50's.

He was put on steroids and went through some radiation. He came into the V twice since then when I was working. Instead of a Miller Lite he drank a Mt. Dew. He seemed to be doing relatively ok.

Last night, another guy, Lynn, that comes into the V called me and said he passed away. Yesterday he wasn't feeling well so Lynn took him to the doctor, as he has been since they found out he had cancer. The doctor sent him to the ER.

Lynn stayed with him until late in the afternoon. He told Bill he needed to go home to feed his dog and such and he'd be back between 6 and 7. As soon as Lynn got home, the hospital called and said he needed to come back. When he got back, he wasn't allowed to go in the room. About 5:30 the doctor came out and said Bill had passed away.

Bill didn't really suffer and he wasn't in a lot of pain over the last month. Bill was retired from the Army and a veteran of Desert Storm. Please keep him, his family, and friends in your thoughts.

Grumpy McGrumperson

Quitting smoking sucks!!! Not just a little but a whole lot. I'm doing fairly well. I have been rationing myself cigerettes. 9 Tuesday. 8 Wednesday. 7 Thursday. And 6 today. 5 Tomorrow. 4 Sunday. 3 Monday.... Yeah you get the picture.

The only problem is I am grouchy as hell. Even little things make me mad. I wish I could bitch about work on here but I'm just not that stupid. I'm afraid someone from here would stumble across it and I would get it trouble. If you would like to know how it is pissing me off, email me. I would love to vent.

Ozzy is getting his balls cut off on Tuesday. I feel horrible about that but he is not adjusting well to the move. He is 7 and I think its cruel as hell to do this but if it will help it will be worth it. Its either that or he will be living in the garage.

So... I'm just gonna sit here and chew gum and be grouchy.

Bye bye summer school

I had my final last night. I got a 98% on it. I needed a 58% to keep my A in the class. My teacher asked me after I was done if I had even learned anything in the class. I did, a little.

In the fall I am taking Comp II and Sociology. I'm trying to take everything I can at night and at the off-campus facility that is close to where we live. I don't think I'm interested or motivated enough to take online classes.

At the rate I'm going I will be done smoking by next weekend. I'm chewing a lot of gum. I don't even really like gum because I have had a reoccuring dream for at least a year that I'm chewing a mouthful of gum and its stuck all over my teeth and gums and I can't get it off.

What's your favorite gum?

Having Matt home is great!!!

Yesterday I had to go back to work and Matt was home with Ozzy. He's not going back to work for about three weeks. He has to go back to Ft. Lewis on the 15th to sign out or in or something and finish his paperwork. While I was at work he put the rest of his stuff away, dealt with the Direct TV installer, cleaned my car inside and out, vacuumed the carpets, swept, and swifered the hardwood and watered my plants. Oh and cleaned the gutters out.

I had school last night and while I was there he cooked dinner. Today he is going to Wal-Mart. I made him a list. I asked if I needed to write "cheap" in front of everything. I don't believe he is a very good bargain shopper.

I could get used to not having to do everything. He even took the trash out this morning without having to be told to do so.

Last night at school we got our grades and reviewed for the final. My final is Wednesday and as long as I get a 60% on it I will get an A in the class. I'll probably study a little but not too much. After tomorrow I will be done with school for almost 3 weeks so that will be nice. Next summer I don't think I'll be taking any classes. Summer school is not cool.

I am also quitting smoking. Not trying. I'm doing it. I have never tried before because I never wanted to quit. We wanna have a baby and I'm not gonna be smoking when I'm prego. I'm not trying to judge just saying its not for me.

I tried just quitting cold turkey yesterday but that didn't work out so well. But I believe soon (like a week or two), I'll be done. I really want to quit. Its harder than I thought though. I might try the acupuncture thing. I'll keep you all posted and if I start bitching more, that may be why.

Our trip

Thursday morning Matt had to sign out of the barracks at 9:00. I stayed at the hotel and showered and packed all of our things into our bags. He got back to the room about 9:15 and took a quick shower and we were on our way. We stopped at the Haji mart (won’t miss that place) and fueled up and hit the trip set on the car. I started out driving and drove and drove and drove. We stopped in Wallace Idaho at some point and got some ice cream. This is one of the most beautiful places I have every seen. I love this area of Idaho and if we were rich I would build a cabin on top of a big mountain and live there in the summer.

Matt drove for a bit while I took a nap. We planned on stopping in Missoula, Montana because Matt’s friend from the Army is living there now. We could have drove farther than there but oh well. We ate dinner with him and his girlfriend at Hooters. He’s kind of a well how do I put this nicely…. well an idiot basically. Nice guy but not the sharpest tool in the shed. He was ignorant to the waitress. He wanted to buy our dinner but when it was tip time I made sure to let him know that I would be doing the tipping. At one point we went outside to smoke a cig with them and he pulls a revolver out of his car to show Matt. Um hello… can you just be whipping out guns in the middle of a city. Maybe in Montana. I don’t know but it scared the shit out of me so I went back inside. I have a record. I’m not going to be getting into trouble for stupid crap.

So we said good-bye and went to the hotel and I looked up when Sturgis bike weekend was because we had been seeing a bunch of motorcycles. It started Sunday. This was Thursday night. We figured we could make it through Sturgis tomorrow and it would be ok. On Friday morning we were on the road by 7:45 a.m. and didn’t get out of Montana until around 5. Let me tell you, that state is freaking huge. Not just a little big. Enormous. Gigantic. Looonnnnggg. We took a 2 lane highway “shortcut” towards the end of Montana and were in Wyoming for like 10 minutes and then crossed into South Dakota. We got to Sturgis around 6. We stopped there and got some gas and munchies and kept driving. About 9:30 we decided we were ready to stop. So we were 3.5 hours from Sturgis. We stopped at a town called Chamberlain or something and every hotel was full except one and they wanted $180. No thanks. Garmin referred us to a hotel that about 25 miles south of the interstate. Called there and they had a room. So we took another 2-lane highway south to this hotel. We got there about 11:00 because we messed around trying to find a hotel for so long.

The hotel was ok. Nothing to brag about. At least they had a bed for us. Saturday morning we were on the road by 7:30. We were bound and determined to make it home Saturday night. Since we were south of the interstate we took another 2-lane highway to the I-29, which we needed to get to anyways. On these 2-lane highways the speed limit is 65 and there was no construction, unlike the interstate. So it probably actually saved us a little time to go off our route. Still seeing lots of motorcycles. Iowa is boring. I think I slept a little. Missouri took forever too. And Kansas City does suck. Lots of construction and crazy drivers. We must have saw 25 cops in Missouri. I didn’t slow down though. Whatever. Crossing into Illinois was awesome. Best trip across the Mississippi River ever.

When we were within 15 miles from our house we saw a rainbow, which to me, was a very symbolic thing. I had a little tear in my eye. Matt loved the house.

Things to note about our journey

· It is 2260 miles from Seattle to where we live.
· Matt drove 6 or 7 hours out of 33.
· Matt gets nervous driving through bigger cities.
· I pee a lot
· Garmin doesn’t like bathroom breaks.
· Garmin doesn’t always know the quickest route.
· Maps are a good back up
· Truckers will let you know if there is a cop ahead.
· I would rather drive through the mountains than cornfields.

So glad to be home!!!

Home at last

We made it home. We don't have the Internet yet. I'll be able to write about our adventure tomorrow at work but for now here are a few more pictures.

Montana...




Wyoming


South Dakota


Iowa


Missouri


Illinois... this was about 15 miles from our house.

All gone

I took my last birth control pill today. Its kind of scary but we are ready. I think. Matt is ready. We will be together, forever, in 35 days. Matt says he won't make fun of me if I get real fat and waddle.

Now I just have to quit smoking these damn cigarettes. I'm thinking about getting acupuncture done as soon as he gets home. My sister got it done and it helped her.

I worked 19 and a half hours at my shit job last week on top of the forty I worked at my real job. I made descent money and I didn't go on any shopping excurtions. It makes me feel good to know that I am doing everything I possibly can to stay busy and help us out while he is gone.