Category Archives: something important, I’m sure

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in cancer, weirder than I thought, something important, I'm sure

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A quick update: so far, the first round of treatment has gone much better than we expected! I went in for the first chemo infusion on Friday, May 29 with Don at my side, feeding me crackers and cracking jokes and fighting his compulsion to test all the buttons and levers on the cool laz-ee-boy recliner/wheelchair where I was parked. (He only released the brake once.) Even with the recliner brakes secure, the whole experience was a TRIP let me tell you, but not painful at all. Just trippy. We remained calm and frankly quite curious when the nurse donned a full body disposable haz-mat suit to administer one of the meds into the IV, especially since Don was sitting right there and Don did not don a suit and had to sit there unprotected while she slowly injected into the IV what looked like a very thick syrup of possibly Red Dye #40, which we all know from the FDA warnings is quite lethal and therefore you should not drink too much red Kool-Aid because you might get cancer.

That kind of trippy.

Anyway, the post-trip med protocol did a fine job of minimizing most of the anticipated side effects, other than my mouth tasting like a coin purse full of dirty nickels. Small price to pay, really. Every day has ups and downs but mostly ups. We are just riding the coaster and figuring out day by day what help we might need. My three men have been taking great care of me.

Thank you everyone for your support. I am buoyed and blessed each day with the positive thoughts and prayers from those close to me and those I’ve never even met.

time

18 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by in something important, I'm sure

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Time goes, you say? Ah, no! alas, time stays, we go.
Henry Austin Dobson

Oh, Henry — I think time does go.  I don’t understand where it goes, but it definitely goes.  I spend an ironic amount of time thinking about time, and all the while its passage carries tasks and jobs and notes and deadlines and memories right down the river with it, and nothing I do will stop it.  The things floating just out of my grasp are the things that are important to me, and they still float away.  This is confounding.

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.
Henry David Thoreau

OK, this seems like a good idea… calming, centered.  The speed feels right.  But oh (another) Henry, this idea vastly underestimates the current’s ability to carry chunks of my life away, the things I try to accomplish.

I submerge myself into one aspect of my life to try to complete something, anything, and in the blink of an eye, months have gone by.  I spend time — no wait, I invest time — in being healthy and happy with my life, my present.  Being present.  And before I know it, I discover something utterly discombobulating, such as my friend is quite pregnant and I did not even know it because even though her blog is on my short list of ones to read regularly, somehow until yesterday I had not read it since the end of August, which is unfathomable.  Where did five months go? She finds time to keep blogging and grow a brand new human.  At the same time.  With four other kids.  I don’t understand it.

Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz

OK, now this one is flippin’ frightening.  It makes me want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head.  For a long time.

NEXT, please.

Time is money.
Benjamin Franklin

I suspect that Mr. Franklin would not get along well with Mr. Thoreau.  Surely they would waste time squabbling; the philosophies are at odds.  My head hurts when I try to think about both of their ideas at once.

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.

Leonard Bernstein

OK, maybe we are on to something here.  Not-quite-enough-time makes the minutes grow three sizes, plus two; somehow the hours can balloon open to hold a week’s worth of effort.

Of course, the theory only applies to the One Thing for which there was not-quite-enough-time, and meanwhile everything else goes to hell-in-a-handbasket and I wake up five weeks later to find the Christmas cards still on the dining room table, complete with 100 stamps and address labels and the address book.  On January 15th.  I don’t understand it.

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln

And with that in mind, I’ll keep riding the tide.  Please catch me if I float by you on my way to somewhere.

reality check on the prairie

17 Tuesday Aug 2010

Posted by in Motherhood, something important, I'm sure

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I am ready to let go of the dream that either of my children will ever read the complete boxed set of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s  Little House on the Prairie — yes, I mean the collection that I purchased before they were born and had planned to read aloud to them while they played quietly with solid wooden toys.

collossal, colossal

11 Thursday Mar 2010

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The Colosseum was, frankly, collossal.  Spellcheck says it was colossal, but I think it was collossal.  The whole concept — the Roman Empire building such amazing structures 2000 years ago, piecing together a thriving civilization that lasted 1000 years itself, that then promptly went to crap —  the scale of it all blew a collossal hole in my mind.  Apparently, an empire built with an unlimited number of slaves can lead to high productivity, but on the flip side, also to one’s eventual demise.

But before that slide down the slippery slope, the Romans built a spectacle on par with today’s new Dallas Cowboys stadium, using the technological equivalent of some chisels and the wheel.  The accomplishment prompts deep thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The day we visited the Colosseum, it was sunny.  We did not see much more sun that week, but considering it had snowed in Rome for the first time in 25 years just the week before our visit?  A little drizzle and clouds posed no significant problem.

Plus, we had not seen the sun in our hometown for many moons.  So, in a way, it felt more like home to have it be a bit dreary.  The sky remained cloudy here for the two weeks following our return.  Then, last week, something happened — the sun came out and remained out for the next seven days.  Someone Somewhere flipped the Spring switch.  And it has been glorious:  that long drink of cold water when you are thirsty, a warm hug from above, insert other soaring metaphors here…  because there is nothing quite like Spring to follow a long winter, including a February that by a bizarre mega-leap year phenomenon ended up being 87 days long.

And along with the sun, finally, came the first blooms of the season for my crocus.

~~~~~~~~~~

OK, spellcheck, I see your point — colossal has nothing to do with size.

the dead language?

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Photography, something important, I'm sure

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I took Latin in high school.  It was part of my master plan to start with Latin, as the basis for learning several of the Romance languages.  You know — Italian, French, Spanish…  because I would use all of those someday.  Because at age 14, everything seemed possible and there was so much time coming down the pike that throwing in a few extra languages should not be a problem as I launched my brilliant career.

It’s only been a little over thirty years, and I have not gotten around to that little romance language project yet, but no worries.  I still have the podcast Italian language course on my ipod, and if I get right on that, I’ll be caught up in no time.

But, back to Latin.  Sure, it was considered a “dead language”.  It did not have any applicability to what would turn out to be a career in marketing management and the food industry, which made Latin a nonsensical curriculum choice in the 1980’s.  But at the time, it represented endless possibilities.

Here we are decades later, and the trip to Rome brought me back to those Latin classes over and over.  Not that I could read most of the Latin inscriptions on the monuments and the art.  My conversational Latin had been limited to phrases such as “The girl is standing by the aqueduct”, which does not come up much.  Because we did not go see the aqueduct.  Otherwise I would have been set.

We did see the Tiber River, and that always figured prominently in the lessons:  “Romulus and Remus sat by the Tiber River…”, that kind of thing.  The Tiber looked just as I had pictured.  A no-nonsense kind of river.  That’s why I took a picture of a bridge instead of the brown water.

And this little guy has been watching over the river since before high school Latin classes were invented.

Romulus and Remus are popular figures in the art and lore of Rome.  Their likenesses grace many postcards and are sold at most souvenir stands, along with their “mother”.  According to Roman mythology, they are the traditional founders of Rome.  In addition, they hold the distinction of being “pre-eminent among the famous feral children in mythology and fiction”, or so says wikipedia.  And that is saying something, because those feral children can get quite famous.  Which all just serves to remind me that when they say truth is stranger than fiction?  Sometimes it is true, but not always.

And the Latin?  It turns out it is not dead yet.  More on that later.

what’s in your in-box?

31 Sunday Jan 2010

Posted by in Photography, something important, I'm sure

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I was cleaning out my in-boxes (the email one and the one with papers overflowing), when I found something I’d like to share.

Wait, that is just a picture of my in-box, along with a reminder to remember the important things in life.  Here is what I really want to share — a video that reminds me of someone special.

Now, there are harmonica players, and then there are harmonica players.  I have my favorite harmonica musician, but this guy isn’t bad either.  Enjoy the music! (Doesn’t it make you want to take a deep breath?)

Kids — you can try this at home.  Grandpas — make sure you have an oxygen tank handy first.

let’s put the fun back in dysfunctional!

30 Friday Oct 2009

Posted by in Motherhood, something important, I'm sure

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It’s Friday, and time to have a little fun.  I found this video on the website karmatube.org.  It demonstrates a nifty concept from TheFunTheory.com, where they experiment to see if adding fun to mundane tasks can change people’s behavior for the better.  Have a look:

That made me smile, because it worked.

I tested a version of this “fun theory” years ago, after reading one of those helpful articles about How To Have A Happy Household.  In this case, the suggestion was to make chores *fun* so the kids would be, if not begging to do the chores, at least not complaining about the tasks.

I was dubious, but gave it an enthusiastic try.

“Hey kids, let’s play Laundry Fold-A-Thon!  It will be fun!”

{… insert sound of crickets here …}

I read this helpful hint in a parenting magazine, back when I used to subscribe to them.  I am pretty sure this particular article was written by someone who did not have any Actual Children.

Now, this new Fun Theory?  This one has potential.  It’s not just the technology, although boy does that help.  It is the cleverness, the innate sense of exploration and wonder that my Chore Cheerleading act did not provide.  In retrospect, I now know that if I had simply constructed a Rube Goldberg-type machine to hand each boy a piece of laundry?  We could have finished our fold-a-thon in record time*

(*NOTE:  chore completion time does not include 187 hour construction time of said machine)

Oct. 23rd? Now that’s scary

23 Friday Oct 2009

Posted by in seasons, something important, I'm sure

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Frequent readers (hi Dad) may recall that December 23rd is a bit of an issue for me.  It is usually the breaking point of the self-induced holiday hoopla, and consequently the single most likely day of the year for my head to fall off.  This year, I have a personal campaign of positive thoughts to make December 23rd a good day, at least a normal day, at best a calm, peaceful, centered day.

Only two months to go.  I have a team of doctors working ’round the clock on this effort, and have enlisted the help of my dog, who is also a helpful sort of gal.

First of all, she has been working on exorcising my inner grinch, which is symbolized by this stuffed grinchy toy.  In his June photo, he still had a mischievous look on his face:

devilish grinch

Kenzie has been working him over, and showing him who is boss.  This must be helpful to me in some subconscious way.  I like how he appears to be waving his little grinchy hand to say “uncle, already!”:

I'm helping!

After many months, he lost his santa hat (but, sure, not his head), and has sustained a small rip in his leg, which he claims is just a flesh wound…

I think he is a goner, and I am going to be just fine.

ouch

search engine funnies 2.0

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by in get along like cats and dogs, something important, I'm sure

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Here it is again:  a quick round-up of search terms that curious people seeking answers to life’s nagging questions typed into their search engine of choice and ended up on my blog instead…

“Jane Killborn”    (hard-core gore thriller author Jack Kilborn‘s eccentric aunt?)

“how to get dogs and cats to get along”    (remains a mystery to all of us….)

“daily mirror cartoon jane”   (can I speak in word bubbles?  That would be fun.)

“guinea hen cooked in pig bladder”   (Cool! I actually talked about that one…)

“something important”   (isn’t that a rather vague search phrase?)

“candid tween”  (I get a lot of visitors with that one)

“find my head”  (if you lose your head, can you find it online?)

“zebra sounds”  (being a fan of blogger/author Judy Clement Wall is lucrative)

And, what remains the most popular random link that googlers follow to reach jane, candid??

“pre-wash cycle”

Yes, where upstanding citizens looking for real advice on how to operate the pre-wash cycle on their dishwasher instead find pictures of my dog licking the plates…

As a writer, one likes to think that people visit said blog on purpose — but if I get a candid tween obsessed, guinea hen cookin’ pet whisperer who lost her head because the dishwasher pre-wash was broken?  I’ll take it.  All are welcome.