Healthy New Year

Forget about the Happy part, let's just make it Healthy. I won't feel bad about being mad at something as long as Brian is cured.

I was with Brian, Robbie, Vicki and David from Christmas Eve through Saturday the 27th. When Brian is not having any side effects, you would think he was ready to run a marathon or climb a mountain. However, when he is fighting the side effects, for a mother it is scary. I saw my father suffer with congestive heart failure when I was Vicki and David's age. And, then my mother with emphysema when I was in my 40's. It is very scary to see someone obviously not feeling well and you are unable to do anything about it or even understand what is going on.

I can tell you praying is about all one can do. Hopefully God or some Saint is listening. I have to confess that when he got sick, I told everyone to pray for him.
Surprisingly I have had a great response - around the world! All the relatives in Australia, Ireland and the UK have him on prayer lists in churches in the Barrier Reef, Belfast, Knock Shrine in Ireland, my mother's church -St Brigid's Killeshandra, Cavan,Ireland, my grandparents church,Kilronan parish, Roscommon, Ireland. The friends and relatives in the US are also getting him on prayer lists in Pearl River, NY, Nashville, TN, State College, PA,Morristown, NJ, Freehold, NJ. I don't care what denomination prayer list he's on. God listens to other religions also. In fact, my dentist who is a very religious Coptic Christian is praying for him. The surgeon who operated on my arm last year is Korean, He too is praying for Brian. So if you are so inclined, please add him to your personal or church, synagogue, or mosque prayer list.

It won't have to be a miracle if he is cured with the prayers of people around the world.

To all Have a Safe and Healthy 2009.

Santa's on his way

According to the TV Santa is in the Figi Islands right now. Been there once on a layover coming from Australia. Too hot for me. Quantas stopped to pick up some people who were being kicked out of the country. We never got off the plane due to the armed guards on the runway.

I'll be in your house before Santa. But I would expect that since my little Toyota does 32 miles to the gallon and I am not sure of the MPG's of Santa's sled.

I think it will be an interesting visit. You wrapped in fleece and me hooked up to a heating pad. Fortunately we won't starve. Not only is the soup on, it is frozen and loaded into the freezer.

My stiff neck is a pulled muscle from trying to unscrew my blender after cooking soup. That,plus trying to move a radiator in order to replace an air valve. Stubborn as I am, I tried to replace an old air valve with a brand new one. Guess what, the new ones are 1/8 inch taller and thus will not clear the wall behind the radiator. I tried to move the radiator out from the wall a little and added to the blender mishap. What a pain in the neck! Then to add to the matter, as I was doing this I clenched my teeth and aggravated the arthritis in my jaw - of course on the side opposite the stiff neck. Now I can't open my mouth fully. Thus an opportunity to sip soup. I knew there must have been a method to my madness in making 18 quarts of soup! I hope I don't have to drink all the soup before I get cured. The soup is for the chemo star not the reckless old lady.

I liked your Santa hat. What kind of a bonnet will you get for after the holidays. I have an authentic Russian soldier's hat - with insignia - from the trip GE and I took to East Germany in 1989. It has earflaps - good for wintery walks. See you later. Love M

Traditional Irish Blessing

To Brian and all the bloggers on his blog, this Irish Blessing is for all with heartfelt love.

http://www.e-water.net/viewflash.php?flash=irishblessing_en .

It originally appeared on the New York History Roundtable.

Round 2 sounds good to me

Loved your Round 2 descriptions.

Is Robbie as good with the needles as she was with the baster on the turkey last week? Maybe next year she can needle the turkey and baste you.

You must be more relaxed today since you notice how your nurse looks. I think Robbie needs to go with you each time or you will be taking the nurse out to lunch. If you do, she pays for her own turkey sandwich!

Now I know why you looked so fit on Thanksgiving - you're on steroids! Sorry, you are not eligible for the Olympics for a while. You wouldn't pass the drug test.

My last comment is about your lesions. I had this idea that if you could get a print of your scan, you could name each lesion. Then treat them like voodoo dolls and zap them off. You're already getting the pin sticks so just re-direct them to your voodoo dolls. Yes, your mother is crazy.

Glad you are thinking straight.

Secret Messages

I had no idea that some of my comments were actually being read. Accidentally, I hit on the comments link and low and behold there were a few comments from some loyal readers.

From Ginger Snaps I learned that our friends in the animal kingdom do get the same medications. We are even treating cancers with similar protocols, as well as heart disease, diabetes, and constipation. You might not like the size of some of our pills, though.

From Sara Bean: I, for one, would not like to take a gorilla pill.

So you lucky bloggers, there is hope for your pet gorilla. Any one like to share their favorite gorilla pill story!

To my sister inlaw, Fran who wrote: You have me making turnips now! I can't even stand the smell but once a year, regular as clockwork, I make a dish of mashed turnips, yellow potatoes - Nose clips work. The "regular as clockwork" is that a result of colace or dulcolax.

And also to Fran: The soup from a coffee maker is made without coffee grinds. Use a new filter!

To Sara,Robbie and Fran: I left the fingertips in the turnip water for flavor. You will get to taste that in the next batch of soup I made - Pea(sic)soup. Sara you should know that editing word.

Well, Thanksgiving was great. The company was good, the food delicious and Brian stayed awake throughout despite the glass of wine.

Five pots on four burners

Hey Brian and gang

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I hope your commute was pleasant this week. Have to say, I am pretty much cooked out.

Knowing I would need all my burners I tried doubling the recipe for cranberry sauce. Guess what, it turned into Cranberry soup. The pot didn't know I had changed the menu. Well, I tried re-doing the soup into sauce. I am hoping it will jell. In any case, I have a back-up supply of cranberries to start over.

Next, I decided to cook chicken soup from scratch. The cooking process of converting chicken necks and backs into soup took 2 hours. Not bad!! Now I had twice as much chicken broth than I needed. Then came the actual recipe. Not wanting to repeat the cranberry disaster, I set up 2 batches to use up the double portion of broth. This required chopping, mixing and stirring with both hands while watching NCIS. I know you liked the chicken and rice soup I made for you. But I didn't think you wanted a gallon of chicken rice. So to half of the brew, I added barley instead of rice. Now you are required to drink literally a gallon of chicken soup, with a fiber choice!

Of course, all this is taking time away from the chocolate pudding and the turnips. Feeling in need of some consolation I decided on the pudding first. Reasoning: I could either drink the results or lick the pot if I succeeded in getting pudding instead of soup. Hurray, it turned into pudding.

Now today I am in a rush. Six pounds of turnips await. Will they be soup? pudding? or vegetable side dish!! Since I've done this forever, I am not so much afraid the recipe will fail. However, did you ever try to cut up a wax turnip. You need a chain saw. I've got 3 two-pound cannonballs to deal with. What will happen? Will I cut up my countertop? cut off a finger? or savagely demolish and eventually mash the turnips in butter. I better get started and stop this procrastination! See you tomorrow. Love and kisses to you all and a Happy Thanksgiving to all your bloggers.

SaraBean the Sage

Uncle Brian

You don't need a doctor, just call Sara. If she had a prescription pad she could take over Dr S's job. Thanks Sara, I left my Merck Manual in PA.

Maybe we can get Ginger Snap's in on the medical side of blogs also. Hey Ginger, do your friends in the animal kingdom get the same drugs for the same reasons. If not, why not? In other words, how do you treat a gorilla with constipation?

Brian to get the correct combo of symptom relievers, just mix 1 pill with a cup of chicken soup. More is on the way. By the way, some ethnic groups want to take full credit for chicken soup cures. I know for a fact that it was invented by the Irish.

My travelling companion, a first generation Sicilian-American raised on the lower east side, has provided a true Italian dish of meatballs and sauce. At this point frozen. She send her love and best wishes.

Now for some humor - first about the cook:"Everything she cooks turns out tough. Can anyone lend me a soup knife?" and • He found a great way to eat his wife's soup. He pretends it's mud.


then about the train commuter:• A SOUPerstition is the place where the platform is where one waits to catch the Soup of the Day and "We were eating in this open-air café when it started raining. It took us an hour and a half to finish our soup."

And the Monday special questions:How do you feel about being SOUPervised?
What does a marSOUPial do?

Enough already!! Love, to all the bloggers and especially to you Brian XOXOXO M