I think I mentioned that our eggplant plants were HUGE....they look like big bushes and they are close together so the Beast has to dive into them to check out what eggplants are on them.  I told him he needed to do some bush diving (his eyebrow went up at that) and really check them out so he knew for sure he got all the eggplants off.  Well, he did it and found two more about double the size of the ones he took off them yesterday.  He says there aren't any small ones but I know him.  He would only notice the big ones.  Kind of like all guys who notice the girls with big boobs.

He also got serious and started working on the tangle of melon vines and guess what he found?  A watermelon about the size of a cantaloupe.  He got a huge grin on his face and went to get a piece of wood to put underneath it.  He worked on the watermelon vines for a while and is going to work on the cantaloupe ones tomorrow.  He had to pull out some pretty big weeds that were nestled amongst the vines but it seems he also has some sweet potato vines mixed in and is afraid he really won't be able to tell which is which.  Oh well.  Next year, he might actually take my advice and not just start cramming plants in every free space....or so he thinks.  This year he's getting an idea of how much room they actually need to develop right.  Only time will tell.  I have a feeling that next year will see more of the yard devoted to crop foods.  Especially if we continue to have fruit tree problems.  At least the pears are all right....so far.  I would check out the cherries if my foot were better but, as it is, the whole baby toe on the right foot has peeled off a thick layer of skin and I also lost the nail on it.  Looks weird with no nail but I assume it will grow back.  That poor toe really took a whacking. 

I'm pretty sure I must have broken a bone or two in that foot.  It doesn't seem to be in the toe area but I could be wrong.  I wish the doctors weren't so worried about medicare requirements or sending you to *specialists* for certain problems that used to be able to be taken care of by your family doctor.  Mine wouldn't take an x-ray because he didn't think it necessary and I would be forced to pay for it if they denied the billing of it, I guess.  He worries about us *poor folk* that live on our social security.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.  I just know that, without broken bones, this foot should be healed by now.  It's been almost a month.  I'm finding I have to keep the ace bandage on it more for the support now.  I take it off to put salve on the open wounds from the blood blisters (they are almost healed now) and then wrap it up again.

I really am trying to stay off it as much as possible to allow it to heal.  Only time will tell if it's working.

It was kind of funny to watch the Beast rooting around in the garden and harvesting.  The eggplant plants are HUGE and he kind of looked lost while he was checking them out.  He pulled off two fairly big ones but said he thought the others were too small yet.  I tried to show him how big I wanted them to be  but I don't know if he *got it* or not.  I'll have to wait and see.  We got a few more crooked neck squash, more green beans, more lettuce and a shitload of tomatoes.  Looks like I will be making up some tomato sauce or some freezer spaghetti sauce.  He says another day or two and we will have more green peppers.  He checked the onions, turnips and beets but they aren't even close he said.  The big disappointment is the strawberries.  The plants look wonderful and are large but there are almost no strawberries, not even a lot of blossoms.  We know the peas aren't ready because those are easy to just look at because they are climbers and we have little trellises for those.

Tara decided she wanted a couple pictures of Chance taken so she brought him over.  He's such a cutie!  He's got a cute personality, too.  The Beast took a bunch of pictures of him using his new settings and they came out just wonderful.  Clear, sharp and the colors are vibrant.  Plus some of his poses are so cute.  I told the Beast I wanted them and if he remembers, I will post them here within the next couple of days.

Poor Tara was feeling bad because he oldest boy, who just finished Marine boot camp, has written only one letter to her and is now on leave but he never told her nor has he called.  I told her that if she did her job right, and I think she has, he KNOWS she loves him but right now he's on a quest to find out who HE is.  It's a whole new world for him and he has to find his place in it.  It may take him some time but he will remember who loves him and who HE loves, too.  ALL kids love their mothers but they also take our love for granted.  But, even terrible mothers have kids that love them.  You WANT and NEED your mother's love to make your world *right*.  She felt better after we talked for a bit.  She knows I'm right but her mothers heart is tender and she loves and misses him.  But, right now, he's his father's son.  She just has to wait it out.  Besides, right now she still has three sons at home that need her attention.  She knew what I was saying was right; she just needed to hear someone say it in the right words.  I guess I had them.

Today was the Grand Opening of Mrs. B's Bake Shop and I gather it was successful.  The Beast wasn't there when it opened at 6:30am but it was about 3 hours later.  When he got there, you could see a lot had been sold and he missed out on a few things he would have liked to try.  He'll go back, however, because what he did get is wonderful. 

He bought a loaf of white bread that's about half the size of a loaf you buy at the store.  It's aimed at people like us that just don't use a lot of bread and you hate to throw out half a loaf because it's gotten stale.  He also picked up some sour dough, which he likes but I am not a fan of at all.  It leaves a lasting bad taste in my mouth.  He bought some donuts that are really great.  She actually had some cake-like ones that aren't just air.  I did tell him though that I would kill for just a plain cake donut. 

We ate some cold ham sandwiches on the white bread and I have to tell you that the bread was much more filling than regular bread from the stores is like.  We just sliced up a tomato from the garden, added the ham and some mayonnaise.  I used a little mustard because that is what I really had a taste for.  I debated opening up some pineapple to put on the sandwich but decided against it.  It grosses out the Beast when I eat that and I just wasn't feeling mean enough to do it to him today.

I found out that keeping the fluid out of my foot actually helps it be less painful for me to walk on.  I probably should have realized that a lot earlier but I think it had to hit a certain point in healing before it was really noticeable.  So today I spent half the day with that foot up and the rest of the day hobbling around, trying to make some food and doing some chores.

Yesterday I made the ham, steamed up some crooked neck squash with thinly sliced onions and boiled up some cabbage and that became our dinner.  It might sound weird but it was delicious.  If there had been one more veggie, I could have eaten just veggies and been happy.  I love fresh cooked veggies.  After we had eaten, I had one of those *duh* moments when I looked at the tomatoes on our windowsill.  I could have sliced those up and eaten some with our dinner but it never occurred to me.  Oh well.

Tomorrow, I plan on dicing up some ham and making some split pea with ham soup.  I'll chop up the onion and celery for it today and have it ready.  It doesn't take all that long to make and I can just cook up some corn muffins and it will be pure heaven.

The Beast is fine today and no longer peeing blood or clots.  That seems to be what happens each week so I told him we just have to expect it and learn to go with the flow and accept it.  It doesn't make him happy but he is glad that he only has three more times to go through it.  Then, hopefully, it will be six months or longer before the next surgery.  Only time will tell.

.......I really don't like that gal!  That was a quote from the Beast when he got home from the hospital today.  He said she tries but she always manages to hurt him trying to get the line into his bladder so she can add the fluid for his treatment.  I know what that means.  He is already bracing himself for pain in a couple hours and for most of the night.  Today is not going to be fun for either of us.

He had said he was going to Walmart after the hospital to pick up a couple items we need for dinner tonight.  He decided he wanted Italian sausage sandwiches on nice crusty rolls with spaghetti sauce.  I will make up some green pepper to add to mine.  That is IF he makes it.  With the way he's acting, I just might have to rethink dinner.  He may not be up to something so hearty and need some soup instead.  I can make up some ramen soup that I add some goodies to (carrot slices, celery, onion, mushrooms....).  It makes me wish I had some bok choy in the house because I suddenly got this taste for Chinese cabbage soup.  Ahh well, nothing to be done about that until I can drive and that won't be for a few more days, I'm sure.

We did harvest some tomatoes off our tomato plants and more green beans.  I got my microwave steamer/roaster yesterday so I am going to plan something special for us this weekend.  We have more squash that can be picked and brought in plus it looks like some of the peas are doing well.  I'm going to grab up some of the green onions but I know the carrots aren't ready.  I told the Beast he should be thinking about checking the sweet potatoes this weekend because I think some of those might actually be ready.  I would love to see the beets and turnips be ready too but it's too early on those.  Besides, the tops of those would be showing.  I could make a really nice vegetable soup within a couple weeks with just our own veggies.

The Beast needs to wade into his melon patch and check out all those vines in there.  He's been reluctant because he didn't pay attention to it like I told him he needed to and some of them have intertwined.  I told him if he doesn't, he might just as well plow them all under now because it will be a big mess if he doesn't take control of it NOW.  As it is, he might actually be too late for the early melons.  These are all things he seems to need to learn the hard way because he just refuses to listen to me.  Yet, for many years, I was the one that had a garden and kept us in at least fresh salad ingredients and scores of tomatoes that I made into spaghetti sauce and froze or canned.  Yep.  I'm a dummy.  NOT!!!!

Well, I have to go try to hobble around a bit and get a few things done.  The rocks feel MUCH bigger in my feet today and I am going to have to prop the one foot up after being on my feet for a while.  It's swelling up quickly but I do need to get some things done.  It's critical now.  The Beast will be out of underwear within a week or so and that means I have at least three weeks of underwear and socks waiting to be washed, dried and folded.  **Sigh** A woman's work is never done, is it? 

I have no idea if it's good news or not but the rocks I feel I am  walking on seem to be much larger today.    Again, I spent the day off my feet as much as possible.  It's probably a good thing since I had such an awful time sleeping.  Not that I did any better with any of my naps that I attempted but I did try to relax, at least.

Tomorrow is Week #3 of the Beast's *treatments*.  When he realized that today was Wednesday and that meant he needed to be at the hospital at 8am tomorrow morning, a lot of bounce went out of his step.  I suppose the worst of all this is that it isn't going to prevent the growth of new tumors in the bladder, they just hope to postpone them for a while.  A friend said her husband received the same chemo and still had to have new growths surgically removed every six months.    Does that mean without these, he would need it more often?

I discovered the Beast has acquired some religious literature (and a Bible) from one of our neighbors.  I found him reading it and I just rolled my eyes.  Bratfink thinks he is just thinking about the afterlife suddenly since he has been forced to confront his own mortality.  I suppose that could be so.  It's just the literature is from a religious group we were once involved with and left for many varied reasons, including the fact that their doctrine became much too much like living under a cult leadership without totally withdrawing from the world at large.  I want nothing to do with it but I think it left far deeper marks on him than I had believed.  If it gives him some comfort, I suppose I can ignore it as long as he doesn't try to draw me into that crap once more.  He swore for many years that he no longer believed in God.  I told him that a bad experience didn't make me believe less in God.  I just was wary of organized religions because they all seem to draw you away from family and friends that don't believe as they do.  I have always believed in a God of love that has room in his arms for us all, regardless of race.  The Beast said if there was life on other planets, it would prove to him there was no God.  I was astonished and said it would make me believe more firmly in God because why should there be so many *wasted* planets?  He rolled his eyes at me and said it would mean that man (meaning us here) was not *special*.  I told him every single life is special, regardless of it's possible form.  We were made for our planet.  Others could be very different from us but be suited for THEIR planet, couldn't they?  He just told me I was nuts.  I don't think so.  But that's how different we can be, even here on this planet.

Today was torturous for me.  My ankle was only feeling a bit tight but the bottoms of my feet were a whole different story.  When I got to me feet, I felt like the floor was made from rocks and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about THAT.  I'm hoping this is a good sign since there is definitely FEELING there but....not exactly a pleasant feeling.

I kept my feet up as much as possible.  Sitting here at my computer, they are in neutral, so-to-speak.  But, when I need to get up to go to the bathroom, get a drink or something to eat, I suffer.  The doctor gave me a stronger dosage on my neuropathy medication and I am hoping it is going to help out here.

I told the Beast that I never wanted to walk like I have seen old people do but I was horrified to realize that it was the way I am walking right now.  Lord but I hope it doesn't last.  I have accepted the fact that I won't be able to make my annual trip to Chicago and I am really upset over that.  It would have been wonderful to be able to see sister Cee and Baby Brat and spend the time with the rest of the family.  But, between my feet, my ankle and the fact that the Beast has four more chemo sessions, it just won't work out this year.

My worst problem is letting my girlfriends in Chicago know this.  I know it won't change their plans but it will upset a couple of them that I can't make it.  There are fewer of us every year and it's not because of vacation plans.  It's facing our mortality that's so tough but we always celebrate life when we are together and have a lot of laughs.  I'll miss that.

The Beast has kept busy on his darn camera.  Between making adjustments and reading the book thoroughly, he's also doing a lot of research on the internet.  I'm glad he's keeping occupied because he would want my company otherwise and that's tough when I need to keep my feet up.  Besides that, he can be extremely boring to talk to since he's so into politics and this survival stuff.  He really expects me to be interested in it, too.  What fascinates me is HIS interest in it all and the reasons behind it.  He has a buddy that feels the same way and they spend a lot of time exchanging emails and talking on the telephone about it all.  In the meantime, I have boxes of MRE's in my garage and two huge sets of survival seeds for an acre of land.   It also includes instructions on how to collect the seeds from the plants so that it is self-sustaining.  Amazing, no?  I figure it's a harmless obsession and it may come in handy if we are hit with another prolonged time without electricity due to tornadoes or other natural disaster.

If you aren't sure what an MRE is, it means *meals, ready to eat*.  If you are a fan of the movie, Tremors, than you have heard that phrase before since Bert Gummer, the survival and gun nut, has cases of them in his safe room he built into his home.  He's a colorful character.

Well, time to get this posted even if it IS boring.  Love you all and thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day and remember to smile and the world smiles back. 

The Princess, poor thing, has been in a frantic semi-panic trying to get packed up for the trip to Colorado tomorrow AND get all the housework completed, too.  She promised the Beast she would come by in the late afternoon so he could take a few pictures but I am wondering if she will make it or not.  The Beast assumes she will be bringing along Chewlee but she might actually just come by herself before she goes to pick her up from preschool.  I know she wouldn't keep her home when she has so much to do.  She will probably be going nuts trying to do wash and pack both. 

I'm starting this early and I will add to it as the day progresses.  I decided to punish myself once more and start working on various things around here that need doing.  I still have two loads of wash to do, a bed to put fresh linens on, a floor that needed attention (which I have already taken care of except for the damp mopping).  It really was a mess.  The Beast and Baron drag more darn stuff into the house on their shoes/feet with the constant in-and-out they do.  And every single blade of grass dragged in shows up on a wood floor.  **Sigh**  My next project will be dusting.  I"m hoping it will be easier on my feet than cleaning the floor was....less walking around.

The Beast cleaned the refrigerator for me yesterday and did an amazing job.  He was bored stiff so he decided to do that and I was really amazed.  He usually wants to just throw everything out without even asking about it if he's not sure what something is or what I might use it for.  This time, he figured if it wasn't a science project, he would just keep it.    I don't save anything I don't use.

I had more of his spaghetti for my breakfast and it's still delicious.  If he keeps this up, I might just let him do ALL the cooking (yeah, right....as IF....).  He will cook only when it pleases him and that's about it.  Lately, he's done more than normal because of my being less than mobile but, hey, call it payback for all I did when he was recovering from his strokes.....and it was a full year before he got out of the wheelchair.  Yeah, that was a fun time.....NOT!

I think what really ticks me off about that time was that not once did he ever really appreciate anything I did for him.  To him, that was my job.  He refused to have any assistance of any sort (and we could have had some that would have made MY life a bit easier).  It wasn't easy trying to juggle his needs with trying to keep a normal life for a pre-teen who had soccer practice and band practice.  Oh, and let us not forget the huge house that needed taking care of, too.  I finally hired a gal to come in twice a week to give me a hand while the Beast was at physical therapy.  Our house was so amazing and comfortable that, when we put it on the market, it sold the first week.  THAT was a shock to us because we had made no arrangements even to rent a place on the other coast.  I had to make a trip over there and find something in one day. 

That whole scenario of moving was almost like a disaster movie.  I was giving away furniture, dishes, linens and I couldn't do it fast enough.  I had the gal that cleaned for me come in after we had left to do the final cleaning and gave her a game table set she had always admired as her fee.  I really feel like I spent the last several years doing nothing but giving away furniture.  Mainly because I have.  Our house in Florida, the one we had built, was twice the size of this house we are in and it also had a big screened patio.  I had more furniture than I could ever need for this house.  As it was, we changed furniture in this house several times, trying to find a comfortable fit, so-to-speak.  My niece, Tara and the Princess both were the happy recipients of our discards, most of which were just a few months old.  I'm not kidding.  Tara got most of it since her move from Ohio was not done at a leisurely pace and much of what she really needed, she didn't have.  My sister, Cee, who is Tara's mother, was here when they decided to stay here instead of continuing on to Florida.  She bought Tara her refrigerator, washer and dryer.  The Beast and I supplied her patio set, two couches, two or three comfortable chairs and several end tables and at least two coffee tables that I remember.  Tara started joking about having so much furniture that they could barely turn around (not true but she did end up in a nice, big house so it worked out).

I know I didn't start talking about this and it was never my intention.  The Princess never made it over for pictures; she just had too much to do and no time to do it in.  Chewlee was still telling her mother that she didn't want to get on an airplane, that she was afraid.  None of us know why she feels like that or what made her afraid.  I'm hoping she gets excited about it tomorrow so the Princess won't have to deal with a crying, scared kid plus two pieces of carry-on luggage.  I'm not sure what she's going to do about a booster chair besides but I'm sure I'll hear all about that when they return.  Chewlee wanted me to go with her and didn't really understand why I couldn't.  But, when I hurt my foot, she DID accept the fact that it would be very, very hard for me to go anywhere.

The Beast was outside checking on the trees as is his wont each day and he came in just sick at heart.  We had one peach tree in the corner of the yard that had quite a few nice looking peaches on it.  Today, he found the tree full of stink bugs and they all had their injectors in the fruit.  It wasn't one or two or three, he said there were a couple hundred of them. 

Then, in checking on the pears out front, he found a kind of *nest* of caterpillars about an inch long or so.  It looked like they were spinning a huge cocoon and the area of the tree it was in was not just pretty much eaten away but it looked like they had damaged the branches even.  He was out there spraying away to kill them off as soon as he discovered them.  When you consider that he goes over the trees every two or three days, that means those little beggars are fast workers.  The stink bugs have no spray that will kill them, at least not yet.  According to the information on the internet, scientists believe they will have an effective spray available for them next year.  It must be that malathion was the only thing that worked on them but it's been banned now for years.  I agree with the ban since that stuff doesn't break down, is highly toxic and gets into the water table.  But no one has been able to find anything even half as effective on many insect pests.

Ever since the first day the Beast turned on the air conditioning, it has not been shut off.  He has to have his comforts but he's going to hate the electric bill at the end of the month.  I will be forced to listen to his rantings even though it was his choice.

Got to go.  Love you all and I hope your week started off well and continues to be good.  Keep cool, drive carefully and don't forget to smile. 

I spent Saturday determined to get some things done and not let my foot/feet prevent it.  The idea was that it might actually help speed up the healing process.  Well, I did get a lot done and I had fun with my Chewlee.  I needed that *fix* since she will be gone from my daily routine for well over a week.  That's why I kept her overnight and we watched Madagascar (both of them) together with her on my good leg for a lot of it.  She finally fell asleep around 12:30am and I tucked her in for the night and went to bed myself.

I had to put both my legs up because they were swollen but, after only about an hour or so, I managed to take a more normal sleep position because the excess fluid was gone.  However......when you are nursing a hurt area on your body, you put a strain on other areas.  Those areas started giving me hell.  My calves, my thighs became screaming nightmares.  I had to use the heating pad and stay off my feet most of the day but it was almost full dark before I could finally manage to get to my feet without screaming.  The bottom of my feet are still super-sensitive and I really hope that goes away eventually.  Tomorrow would be acceptable. 

I've been keeping my feet covered with socks.  It helps not to see the way the one foot looks and it helps the bottom of both feet.  I try to avoid looking at them except for the brief time I wash them while showering.  Can you blame me?  It's not pretty.

The Beast made spaghetti for dinner tonight and some cheesy garlic bread.  The spaghetti was different from his normal fare since he obviously didn't dump any Ragu in it.  All I found was some chopped tomatoes but it was very, very tasty.  The dog loved the cheesy garlic bread; I didn't.  I prefer my garlic bread normal.

Today was supposed to be my last day watching Chewlee until after she and the Princess get back from vacation in Colorado.  However, it ended up a friend watched Chewlee until 5pm and then I got her to spend the night.  The Princess will pick her up around 10am tomorrow morning and we will say our goodbyes then.

When she got here at 5pm, the first thing she wanted was one of the popsicles.  The Beast wanted to test out the new settings on his camera so he asked her to pose for a couple pictures for him.  She agreed but I could tell her heart wasn't really in it.  The reason?  Judge for yourself:

She then was asked to give him a different pose and he tried to cajole her into smiling and this is what he got:  ---> 

Can you dig that hand on the hip look? 

Can you see that attitude?  Then he tried for a candid look.

I thought that cam out at least cute.  She had unbraided her hair and just shook it out.  She really doesn't like it any way except down.  **Sigh**

I told the Princess that, the last few days at least, Chewlee was dressed the way poor kids looked when I was a kid and she said it was because she had all her good stuff put aside to be packed.  They will be gone for a week but she has to pack two weeks worth of clothes for Chewlee since she gets dirty playing.  I just thought about packing a weeks worth of clothes for the Beast, four kids and myself in one large suitcase when we went camping and shook my head.  It's all in knowing both how to pack and what to pack, I guess. 

I yelled at Chewlee two or three times for screaming when she was told *no* and I finally gave her mouth a very light smack the last time she did it (and, trust me, it WAS the last time she did it....at least the last time TODAY ... LOL).  I NEVER do that to her and she burst out crying.  I told her to take it in her room for a time out.  I saw her with her back against the dresser, crouched on the floor, crying.  I left her there.  A bit later, the Beast went in and asked her if she wanted to see her pictures so she got up and went to look at them.  She was so excited, she came into my room and told me I HAD to come see them.

After I laughed at some of them (but thought they were really cute although unflattering...you know...ugly/cute), she came into my computer room to watch TV.  She sat quietly in my recliner for about a half hour then came over to me, stood by my side, put her arm around my back and laid her head on my arm and said, *I'm sorry I wasn't being good, Grandma.  I will be good now.*  I leaned over, kissed the top of her head and said, *Okay, I forgive you.*  She then looked into my face and said, *You aren't mad at me now?*  I told her no, she had apologized and I forgave her so why should I be mad now?  She just grinned and then went and grabbed her Dora chair, put it next to my chair and sat down to watch TV, happy once again.

The Beast had a good night.  He slept soundly and, when he woke up, he was not in pain and there was no blood in his urine.  It had to be that the nurse caused a wound in his penile area when she administered the chemo.  With taking aspirin regularly to help prevent blood clots since his strokes, I'm sure that's what prompted so much blood.

I say it's *sort-of* only because it doesn't mean my life is going to be any easier because the Beast now has a problem....a real one...with not a good outlook ahead for either of us.  Me because I am the one that will be here with him 24/7 while he is literally building up cancerous tumors that cannot be prevented.  The only way to stop it, if it's done early enough, is to completely remove the bladder.  If that would happen, the Beast would probably blow his own brains out.  I know the man.  He would not be able to live with having to have a bag for his urine that was on his body.  It just would never do for him.  He sees himself a certain way and that way includes him having all his bits and pieces and they all work.  Anything less and he would no longer consider himself a *whole* man.

But, that's only a possible future scenario that will be dealt with when and if....

The Beast has been working on his extremely expensive digital camera because he's been having a problem with it.  He finally emailed Canon about it and they sent him their suggestion back.  He did as they suggested but it took him two days to reset his own personal specifications on it afterward.  So, today he asked Chewlee to let him take pictures of her.  She could hardly wait to get her shoes on and was out the door.  He took a bunch of pictures mainly to check on the clarity, not worrying about her dirty face or messy hair.  I thought a couple of the pictures were really cute and candid looking but he hadn't color corrected them or I would put them here.

Chewlee is getting a bit weary of my bad foot because she likes me to accompany her to see different things or look for things.  When I told her that I couldn't keep doing that because it hurt my foot, she grabbed my *stick* and said, *Yes, you can, Grandma.  See?  This is how you do it....* and she proceeded to demonstrate how I could hold onto the stick and take small steps to follow her.  It was so damned funny to watch her and see how serious she was about showing me how to do it.

Her mother told her tonight that tomorrow is the last day she will get to see me for over a week since they fly out to Colorado on Tuesday and will be gone a week.  Chewlee got a horrified look on her face and said, *I'm going to stay with Grandma, right?*  When the Princess said no, she wasn't going to stay with me if she wouldn't be able to see me.  Before Chewlee could get more upset, the Princess told her that when they came back, she could come and see me.  At that, Chewlee said, *Promise?* and she was told yes, it was a promise.  She was much happier after that and gave me a hug and a kiss before they left for home.

Chewlee had told me she was afraid of going on an airplane and, when I asked her why she was afraid, she said, *I just AM!*  I assured her there was no reason to be afraid and she would be with her mommy.  I also told her she was going to see more of her cousins and she would see Hunter, whom she vaguely remembers from going to the birthday party celebration in North Carolina.  He was enthralled with her and she loved the attention.  She just sat in my lap and held my arms close to her for a while before she relaxed.  I think she will be fine.  The Princess is bringing some gum for her to chew (which will thrill Chewlee no end since her mother NEVER gives her gum).  I also reminded the Princess about the hot, damp rags in cups that can be held over the ears if the gum doesn't work and Chewlee starts crying.  I would hope the attendants would still be using that and be trained in getting those ready for young children.

I will miss Chewlee after only a couple days, I know.  She's so much a part of my life and we have a lot of fun together.  But I hope she has a great time while she's gone because I know she will tell me all about it for days after they get back.