Will Miss You, Janii

My friend, Janii, passed away today. She had only been retired for a short time from the Hillsboro School District. She worked in the business office. She was diagnosed with lung cancer (less than two years ago) and then it metastasized. She was such a fighter and always had a positive attitude. I feel so lucky to have been her friend and to have been there for her during her highs and lows. After one of her chemo breaks, I can remember meeting her and Kay J. for happy hour. She looked wonderful and I wished I looked as good as she did. I didn't have any hair at that time and her's was growing back and really looked cute. I remember her being in the hospital and going to visit her and wondering if she would make it out of there. She did and had some good times after that. I don't think I ever talked to her when she didn't mention her wonderful family. She loved being involved in their grandkid's activities. She was going to be a great-grandma soon and was really looking forward to that since the baby is going to be named after her. I am sorry that she had to pass away so close to Mother's Day. I am going to miss Janii and am so blessed to have had her as a friend. This is the picture she sent out at Christmas time showing her and Jerry with their grandkids. She looks like one of the kids..............she is the second one from the right.Love to you all,

JO

Rain, Rain, Go Away

On Friday, I had my car's oil changed in Beaverton, so I met my good friend, Kay, at the Muffin Store (great place). That night, Jan and I went to the art show in Richfield. Our friend, Susan, had a display with her beautiful pictures. She won a first place blue ribbon for her Venice Canal photo. All of her photos are amazing. She takes pictures while she and her husband travel to different places. Good job, Susan.

On Saturday, I drove to Newberg for Tori's and Kyle's baseball games but they both ended up being cancelled because of the rain. Here are a couple of pictures I took last week.

Yesterday we went to Denny's uncle Tony's funeral. He was such a terrific guy. We enjoyed getting together with all his family after the service.

I went to my support group meeting today. It was such a treat to see Shauna because she is taking off tomorrow for the Galapagos Islands. It is a dream come true for her. Have fun, Shauna, I will miss you.

I want to wish a late Happy Birthday to Madeline and Kay C.

My friend, Lois, is having surgery today. I stopped by to see her but I wasn't allowed to go into the surgery unit. She will be in the hospital for two days. Good luck, Lois. I am thinking about you.

I hope all of you are having a great week. I will be so glad when it stops raining!

Love to you all,

JO

"Girl's Day"

We had a busy week. I went to my support group meeting on Wednesday. Thursday, we went to Kyle's baseball game in St. Paul and then left it early to attend Tori's music program at her school. It was real cute. Both kids had games on Saturday. Tori's was at the Dundee Elementary School. We arrived a few minutes early so we drove around the neighborhood and saw these deer in some one's yard!

Here is a picture of Kyle batting. He is a great hitter and an even better base runner. You can always count on him getting home if he gets on base.

I thought this picture of Tori on third base was cute. Julie is third base coach. Look how "ready" the third baseman is!

Now look to see where this third baseman stands! Guess Tori ran "around" him! It is so much fun to watch these kids play T-ball. After the team had batted, the coach was looking for his kid to go out into the field and he was over at the play ground playing on the equipment!

We brought Tori home with us so she and I could have a "Girl's Day." Denny had taken Kyle skiing and snowboarding the week before so I wanted to do something special with Tori.

First I painted her fingernails and toenails.

The next morning, she read a story to Denny and I as we all laid in bed.

Then we played on the Wii. She beats Denny and I every time when we bowl. Then she and I went to the Hannah Montana movie. It was really good and she was up dancing in the row of seats.Then we rode Max into Portland and walked around.

She was interested in the dirty people sitting on the sidewalks singing or playing instruments. But her favorite was a guy that had a long beard that came to a point and had TWO mohawks, one on each side of his head! Here she is sitting by one of the water features on one of the sidewalks.

She had to throw money into the fountain while making a wish.It was in the courtyard where the KGW broadcasts from.Then we went to Pioneer Place for some lunch and shopping. Here she is standing in the walkway between the two sides of Pioneer Place. She is going to have her ears pierced soon and watched a young gal having it done. Boy, she sure turned away quickly as she saw the "piercing guns." She bought some earrings that look like she has pierced ears.When we got home, we rode our bikes to the school so she could play on the playground equipment.

We both had such a great time. I will have to admit that we should have ridden our bikes and gone to the playground first and then gone to the movie last because I did get tired towards the end of the day. Great memories. I know how blessed I am to have enough energy to be able to do this.Hope all of you had a great week.

Love to you all,

JO

Harley Ridin'

OMG. It has only been two days and I am already blogging! Can you tell that I am feeling better?! I stayed home yesterday and organized my pictures and worked in the yard a tiny bit. It was so nice I couldn't stand not going outside for a little while.

Today, Denny and I rode our Harley up towards Mount St. Helens. It was so awesome. The weather was perfect. We saw several other riders. We couldn't get all the way to the mountain because there was too much snow and the roads were not open. But we stopped at Lake Merwin and the water was crystal clear. We plan on going there this summer with our boat. I wish I would have taken my camera because the view was awesome. Snow on the side of the road with the sun beaming down. Beautiful day for a ride. I am so glad we were able to do that. I definitely feel better. Ear isn't completely healed but it is getting there.

Hope all of you had a wonderful day, also.

Love to you all,

JO

Nice Weather........

The sun is shining. We are going to have nice weather for the next several days. My white body isn't ready for the sunshine ........gotta check out some of the self tanners. Hey, those people on Dancing With The Stars always look great!

I went to my support group meeting on Wednesday and it was so nice to see the gals since it had been 6 weeks! We all loved Sara so it was special to pass the candle as we all said nice things about her. I hadn't seen Shauna for a long time and she is feeling good now so I loved being able to sit and visit with her. She brought me a very nice birthday card, gift and coffee drink since she didn't see my around the time of my birthday. Thank you, Shauna!

On Thursday, Amy, Carolyn and I met at Marshall's for our monthly shopping trip. Amy bought a darling blouse with ruffles on it, a pair of carpi's and a purse to match. She looks good in everything she puts on! She needs lots of clothes to keep up with her busy life style! Carolyn bought a cute purse. Guess she needed it for all her money she has! Me.............I didn't buy a thing. Poor me........... Then we went to Helvetia Tavern and had a cheese burger and home made greasy french fries. Fantastic!! Later, Denny and I went to Kyle's game and he played awesome. He came home with us and stayed all night.

Friday, I went to Sara's service that was in Lake Oswego. I picked up Judy, who is in a wheel chair, so we were able to park close to the church door. There were seven of us gals from the support group there. The service was very nice. Sara's best friend, brother, brother-in-law and grandson all spoke. She was so loved by so many. I wore a hat that belonged to Kathy M. She was in our support group and passed away about a year ago. I also wore a scarf that was Etta's. She passed away a few months ago.

Denny took Kyle up to Mt. Hood Meadows on Friday. Denny skied and Kyle snow boarded. Kyle was so excited to use the half pipe. You snow board up one side and then across and up the other side. Denny said he did awesome.

Yesterday, we took Kyle home and watched his game. He played good. Perfect weather for a baseball game. Tori went to two birthday parties, so we didn't get to see her.

I got the results of my blood tests back. My oncologist sent me a message that read, "no significant change." My platelets and neutrophils were down but my white cell count was up a tiny bit. I will have an appointment with her next month. I will probably be having another bone marrow biopsy. My inner ear is a little better (from the cold/flu) so I am hoping to get a bit more energy soon.

I want to send out good thoughts to one of Denny's and my friends that had a lung biopsy on Friday. And good thoughts to my good friend that will have a breast biopsy on Monday. And good thoughts to another friend that is preparing for her mastectomy. Damn cancer!

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the nice weather.

Love to you all,

JO

Easter

Hope all of you had a nice Easter. Kyle had a baseball game on Saturday so we went to that and then stayed all night at Julie's. Kyle played great. He hit every time he was up to bat and did an awesome job of pitching and playing first base. He is playing on a St. Paul team with some of his friends.

On Easter morning, the kids had fun finding the eggs we hid. Each egg had a saying in it describing something that they had to do.

Kyle had to dampen his hair, part it down the middle and then put on a head band. Tori had to comb all her hair forward and then put on a head band.Kyle had to clean up Sara's dog poop, using a plastic bag and then put it in the garbage can. He doesn't particularly like dogs!

Tori had to chew a piece of gum and then put it on her nose.Kyle had to eat a piece of cheese, which he absolutely hates. He had to plug his nose while he ate it!Tori had to put her finger in the toilet and then touch her nose (and yes, she did wash her hands after that!).Kyle had to put on lip stick.

Tori had to paint Kyle's thumb nail with bright nail polish. Kyle had to kiss Sara on the nose. (Remember, he is not a dog lover!)It was a fun morning. We had fruit and Cinnabons for breakfast and we going to go out to eat later. But we loved just "lazing" around and watching the golf tournament on TV so we ate left over lasagna from the night before. It was even better that day. I didn't get out of my pajamas until almost 2:00! A very relaxing and enjoyable Easter. Thanks, Julie and Scott, for such a nice time.

Tomorrow I am going to my support group meeting that I have missed the last 6 weeks. We will be passing the candle for Sara, a dear lady that just passed away. I hope to go to her service in Lake Oswego on Friday. I also have to have my blood tested tomorrow and get my port flushed. I am not looking forward to getting the results of my blood draw since I haven't been feeling super duper. I don't know if it is from my blood counts being low or the flu/cold is just hanging on. I have heard people complaining that this flu/cold does last a long time. My ear is still plugged (filled with fluid) and my doctor said it could take 1 -3 months for that to go away. It doesn't hurt, it just annoying.

On Thursday, I am meeting Amy and Carolyn for shopping and them we are meeting Julie D. and Eileen at the Helvetia Tavern for a humongous hamburger and home made greasy fries. I haven't eaten there in years and am really looking forward to it.

Our weather is supposed to be very nice this weekend. Hope all of you get out and enjoy it.

Love to you all,

JO

Spring Break AND The Flu!

It is nice to be back to blogging. It has been over two weeks. We were on spring break last week and this week I came down with the flu. I know some of you have been worried about me because it is not like me to not be on my computer!

Spring break was great. We drove to Hermiston and picked up Dakota, our 11 year old grandson. He, along with Kyle (also 11) and Tori (7) spent the first three days with us. We did fun things each day, including going to a couple of parks that we don't usually go to.

On Wednesday, Julie, the three grandkids, Denny and I, drove 5 hours to Baker City, OR . We were going to stay two nights but the kids loved swimming in the pool so we stayed a third night. We changed motels the last night because it had a better pool and breakfast. Plus, we stayed in a room that had three beds! So all of us slept together.......great fun! We celebrated Dakota's birthday (actually, it is today). So he is now 12. Oh, boy....teenager next year! On Thursday and Friday, we drove up to Anthony Lakes Ski Resort (about 35 miles from Baker City) and had fun in the snow.

Kyle and Dakota had a snowboarding lesson and they were on the CHAIR LIFT.

Then they went down the FACE of the mountain! You can see how steep it is because it runs under the chairlift.Here is a picture of Dakota on his snowboard.

Here is Kyle on his snowboard.Tori had never skied. She took a one hour lesson and did great. She is so athletic and has such good balance. Here she is practicing her "snow plow."On the second day, she was even going up the rope tow all by herself! Now that isn't the easiest thing to do because the cable is hard to hang on to and you really have to use a lot of strength to get yourself pulled up the hill. Plus, you have to keep your skies parallel and in the tracks. Julie hadn't skied in many years and she was a natural on her skies. Plus, she looked beautiful in all her ski wear.

Here she is with all the kids right before their snowboarding and skiing lessons.

I took pictures the first day and helped the kids get their gear on, etc. The grandkids really wanted me to ski. It had been over 30 years since I had skied. Tori said, "Grandma, I will teach you!" So I skied. I also accomplished the rope tow.............like I said, it isn't that easy! But the boys wanted me to go on the chair lift with them. So I did. We took some awesome pictures on the top of the mountain and I just took my time, practicing my turns as we came down the mountain. I didn't fall once. (Hey, Kay and Rod. Can you believe I skied!)We had such a super week. We were glad that we got to have Dakota with us.

Unfortunately, on Sunday night, I started developing flu like symptoms. I stayed in bed for three days and kept on eye on my temperature. I went to the doctor yesterday just to be sure I didn't have an ear infection (not good with my low blood counts). I have some fluid in my ear because of my flu/cold. I feel about 90% today and was able to buy groceries and get back to doing normal everyday things.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. We are suppose to have 70 degree weather! Yippee!

Love to you all,

JO