February 8, 2013

  • So Far, So Good....

    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    The good news is......tada!.....Chewlee has gotten four smiley faces so far this week.  If she makes five...and that's a big IF....she gets a special treat from the teacher (the wonderful Treasure Chest), a special ice cream treat with her mother and a friend that Chewlee loves, PLUS she gets to take her fish home!!  Chewlee said she would get a smiley face like it was not a problem.  I especially loved the pixie grin she got when she told me that. 

    She's also done her special homework every day and gotten a signature on each days homework so she gets a special Dougie Dollar tomorrow, too.  It will be a great day for her...IF she makes it and I pray she does.

    Tomorrow starts the epic journey of Buttmunch and her hubby to the Amish village where her hubby has been hired to assist with the animals.  Buttmunch will have to wait to find out where they will assign her to work until she gets there.  Hopefully, they will give her a few choices so she will feel like she has some kind of control over what she will be doing.  The only real information we have is that it's located near Boonesville, KY.  I'm going to be praying for them until they get where they are going since they are bicycling there and there are crazy drivers on the roads.  She's going to call her brother, Mustachio, when she gets there and he will let me know.

    The Beast's surgery is scheduled for next week, Wednesday around 11am.  They are also going to remove his prostate since it's the source of all the blood he's had due to it's enlarging and causing surface veins to burst like varicose veins can.  In case I didn't mention it, his blood test for free cancer cells has dropped one point.  The cancer in his bladder is just two small spots so it's been caught early this time.  All-in-all, hopeful signs there.  He's taking some kind of medication to help shrink the prostate to make removal easier.  I imagine he will have to take some kind of testosterone medication afterward since the prostate is responsible for that.  I would hate to have him suddenly acquire a high voice at this stage of his life.  He will be 70 this July.    I know!!!  I can't believe I'm married to such an old man. 

    The weather was nice today although the sun was short-lived.  The Beast's best friend (a darn near fully-tattooed former drug user turned minister) was having what he thought was heart pains.  Turns out that many years back, when he was a drug user, he was actually shot by another druggie who was out to steal his drugs.  The guy used a rifle with bad ammunition so it really spread out buckshot around and into his chest muscles.  A few of those pellets were not removable without causing serious injury to important nerves so the doctors left them in.  Turns out, they have been moving around and, when the doctors went in surgically to remove some of them, they found infection that needed to be treated before any more could be removed.  That sounded kind of weird to me but, hey!  Life is strange, don't you think?  So, the Beast's friend is on some strong antibiotics and they will finish removing the pellets after the infection is gone.  Turns out some of those pellets moved from the front chest around to the back. 

    I didn't have any idea about the tattoos until he was showing them to the Beast and I walked into the kitchen and saw them.  I was surprised that black men get tattoos, too.  I thought they would be hard to see but they aren't.  It explained to me why he always wears long sleeved shirts, winter AND summer.  His arms are covered as well as his chest and back.  With his shirt collar open, you can see some of them on his neck, too.  He showed us his ear lobes.  They used to hold those big rings like some of those Africans you see on TV.  They've gotten smaller now but I'll bet they looked weird when he found God and removed those since HE wasn't an African.  He just didn't feel that it celebrated God in HIS ministry.  It surprised me because he is one of the nicest men I have ever met.  He has a lovely wife and several adorable kids that seem truly unspoiled and very sweet.  Not your typical druggie type (and I've known a few over the years).

    Love you all.  Gotta get this posted.  I'm late.....AGAIN.  Sorry.