Nah, not the food kind of leftovers....I really can't stand them, but leftovers meaning photos that I still need to post from Easter at my sis Debbie's house. 

My niece Brianna surprised everyone with a TATTOO.  Yep, she got a tattoo to memorialize her brother Christopher. 

The tattoo reprents a song that reminds Brianna of Christopher.  The original little girl was drawn by a "street artist" named Banksy.  Check out his artwork here.  Here is the original drawing of the little girl:

Random photos from Debbie's backyard:

Here is Christopher's Corner:

You all have a Happy Hump Day.  Time to go hug the furry children.

Good Evening Folks - It was a very quiet weekend for me and my furry children.  We basically just chilled all weekend. 

My little girl Mandy is doing pretty good considering she had major surgery less then 1 week ago.  We went back to the doctor today and he checked out her incision.  I told him that I wanted to see her after he took her bandage off.  I could not believe how huge her incision was.  It's at least 8" long.  Poor little girl.

SO, after the doctor checked out her incision and said it looked good, he told me the bad news.  He had the pathology report from the tumors.   This is exactly what it says: 

• Microscopic Findings:  Mixed mammary carcinoma with lymphatic invasion.


• Prognosis:  Guarded


• Comments:  The masses are discrete, multinodular, well circumscribed, encapsulated, and appear completely excised.  However, a solitary lymphatic contained neoplastic cells.  The regional lymph node should be examined for any evidence of metastasis.  Mammary tumors tend to be multicentric.  Therefore, the mammary chain should be closely monitored for development of new tumors.

It doesn't sound too good, does it?  The doctor suggested getting in touch with an oncologist but I'm not going to make Mandy go through chemotherapy.  Poor little girl.  I've just got to keep an eye on her to watch for tumors in the lymph node area:

There ya go folks.  That is what is happening with my little girl.  The above picture and more information about Mandy's cancer is on this website.

Mandy is doing well, getting back to her spunky self.  She is eating good too, thankfully.  Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my furry little daughter.

Good Morning Folks - My little girl is doing really well.  I didn't hear her cry at all during the night.  I kept the TV on all night long just so I would have light in the room to see where she was at.  At one point in the evening she moved right next to me so she was pretty much plastered onto the side of my body.

The Dr. said that he got all of the cancer.  He is sending the mass to the lab to check it out and to see if it's spread to her muscle?  Don't know how they do that but OK, do what you've got to do.  She isn't going to receive chemo or radiation, I just don't want to put her through that.  Poor baby.

SO, now we just take things one day at a time and give thanks for each day that I have my furry children in my life.  I guess we should do that with everyone, shouldn't we?  Not just furry babies......<sigh>

Here is Mandy at work today:

I will only be at work for 4 hours today.  My bosses are VERY understanding thankfully.  I am really blessed in THAT department. 

Time to give Mandy her meds for the morning.  Thanks again for all of your support (again) and have a wonderful weekend!!!  Be sure to hug your families - furry and human!

EDIT:  1:57pm - I just heard from the Vet and the surgery went "Very well".  I can pick up my little pooch after 4:00pm. 

THANK YOU ALL for your sweet, loving and heartfelt comments regarding my little girl Mandy.  You guys have such a way with words, it blows me away.

I just dropped off Mandy at the vet so they could do the surgery to remove the tumors.  The doctor that is going to do the surgery did see her on Monday aferall so he knew how big the tumors were.  The good news is that the cancer has not spread to her chest so I feel better about them doing the surgery.  I had to wait until 8:00am to find out if she was going to have surgery or not depending on how her blood test results came back.

GOTTA love the furry children.  There is a cat that lives at the vet's office that is VERY friendly.  I was in the room all by myself (Mandy was being x-rayed) when I had a little visitor walk into my room:

The furry creatures name was Stormy and he was so sweet, visiting me twice while I was waiting for Mandy.

I brought Mandy into work with me this morning so I could take her right to the vet when he gave me the green light that all was well with her bloodwork.

Here she is sitting on the chair next to me in my office (she was SO happy being right with me).  One of my guys said it looked like she belonged there:

OK, back to work.  Now I must wait for a phone call from the vet.  This is the hardest part.  <sigh>

THANKS again for your love and support during this horrible time.

     Good Morning Family & Friends - If you have been reading me for a while, you know that I do not have human children of my own.  My furry children Chili and Mandy are the loves of my life.  I even have a personalized license plate that has to do with poodles.

     Some of you already know this as I e-mailed you on Tuesday morning.  After getting home from work on Monday I found that my little furry daughter Mandy had a lump on her chest.  It was pretty large so it really scared me.  I got right on the phone and called my vet.  They gave me an appointment for Tuesday morning at 10:30am.  I immediately called Denise and asked her if I could bring Mandy over so she could check her out too.  On the way to Denise's I was talking to Sue and she convinced me to call the vet back to see if I could bring in Mandy sooner.  Thankfully they said to bring her right in.  Denise didn't think that I was able to drive as I was visibly upset so we got into her van and went to the vet.

     You are all not going to believe this.  Denise and I arrived at the vet's office and one of the clerks asked if we had been helped yet.  I told her that I called earlier a couple of times and was told to bring Mandy right in.  The clerk then said, "Oh, you have lumpy Mandy".  Yep, that was what she said.  I looked at Denise and said, "WTF"??? 

     Anyway, once we got into a room Mandy was weighed.  She weighed in at 5.11 pounds.  Down 1 pound since the last time she was there.  The Dr. checked her out and said that she might have mammary cancer.  The Dr. took a needle biopsy of the lump and told me that he would have the results on Tuesday evening.

     Before I left the office I asked who the clerk was that made the "lumpy Mandy" comment was.  I had never seen her before.  I told the gal what she said and she told me that she would talk to her.  I know she didn't mean any harm in what she said, but sometimes you have to really think before you speak.  I was quite upset when I walked into that office not knowing what was happening to my little girl.

     Tuesday afternoon after work I took my children to the photo studio around the corner from my house.  Some of you might remember that my little man Chili has a mass surrounding his liver that is noncancerous but if it grows too large it can stop the functioning of his liver.  Thankfully he has been doing ok.  BUT, I know in the back of my mind that I won't have my children forever and Chili is 15 1/2 years old.  I've been wanting to get their photo taken professionally for a while now so I decided that it would be a good day for that.

     After our photo session I called the vet and got the news.  Mandy does indeed have cancer.  It is soft tissue sarcoma.  The vet wants to do blood tests to see if she is able to have surgery and also a chest x-ray to see if the cancer has spread.  The Dr. that I spoke to was not the Dr. that Mandy saw on Monday so he has NO idea how large this tumor is.  It is REALLY big and there are four smaller ones surrounding it.

     I adopted Mandy in August of 2001 so I have NO idea how old she really is.  At the time of her adoption I was told she was 5-7 years old.  At this time she is quite spunky, has a great appetite and is eating and taking care of her business without any problems.

     Mandy has an appointment for her blood work this morning at 11:30am.  I will be speaking with the Dr. at that time to see what her options are.  Oh yes, she also has a heart murmur.  I forgot about that.  <sigh>

     Here are the photos that we took today:

     Thank you all for your support, love and prayers.  I truly appreciate it.  I am doing ok as I write this but I know there will be tough times ahead.  Mandy and Chili are the first pets that I have had.  Most people that know me well, know that I treat these two furry babies as if I gave birth to them.  I love them with all of my heart.  They both have been through some good times and bad times with me.  

     On a happier note.........If you can, please go visit my Xanga friend Emme402 and wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I was able to meet her last year when I went to Oklahoma City.  She is a very sweet, loving person that I am glad I was able to meet.  I hope to visit with her again this July when we are on our way to the Compassionate Friends conference in Nashville!

 A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
-- Josh Billings

 HOWDY HO FOLKS!  GUESS WHAT?!

 We have another birthday in our family today. 
 It's my oldest brother Richard's 50th Birthday!!!

 We got together on Saturday night to celebrate Richard's birthday.  Richard is NOT fond of surprise  parties OR in being the center of attention.  I told him that we would just have a family gathering, nothing big at all.  SO, that was what we did.  We had Taco Night at Donald's house.  Richard wanted 2 tacos for every year, so we made 100 tacos.

 Richard wanted strawberry shortcake so I ordered it from the bakery that Denise works at and had her decorate it.  She didn't know what theme to go with but then came up with the TNT theme because Richard likes "explosives" - Firecrackers, smoke bombs, etc. 

 Here are Debbie and I making tacos:

 Sue is enjoying the guacamole while Richard's girlfriend Vickie and her daughter Maryssa help make tacos in this pic:

 The girls were all outside playing - I call this pic, "Tickled Pink" - Emily, Maryssa, Jessica & Abbie:

 Here is my bro Donald showing Matthew how to put bubbles in the bubble machine:

 PURE JOY - Matthew enjoying the bubbles:

 Cousins Nick, Peyton & Matthew: 

 Pierce and moi:

 Richard and his son Nick (my other nephew Jon couldn't be at the party as he is in Mexico with his church, building homes):

 Jessica and Matthew ready to sing Happy Birthday to Uncle Richard:

 Super Nino with Pierce and Peyton:

 We celebrated Sue & Debbie's birthdays too - They got a chocolate eclair cake for their birthday (Looks like Jessica snuck in on the pic too!):

 Richard modeling his new Stanford sweat jacket that I bought him for his birthday.  I got it at Kohl's at a KICKA$$ bargain!  He loved it:

 Jenny and Denise:

 On Sunday after church and breakfast I picked up Pierce from catechism and then we hit up a garage sale.  He got some new toys (yeah!) and we just hung out at my house, played, took a nap and then Pierce went home.  It was a pretty relaxing day. 

 That is it for today's entry.  I hope you are all well, had a wonderful weekend and have an even better week!  Be sure to hug your families!

 Sing a song of Birthdays
 Full of fun and cheer
 And may you keep on having them
 For many a happy year.
- Anonymous

Dejavu anyone?!

HAPPPY HAPPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!!

Sue claims to be the white daughter that my mother always wanted but never had AND she also claims that she was my mother's favorite child too.  Everyone knows that I was mom's favorite!  HELLLOOOOOO!  Actually, I care for Sue like I did/do for my mother.  I worry about her like I did my mother.  No, she isn't quite OLD enough to be my Mom but she is my "partner in crime", my shopping buddy and as I told her the other day - my OLDEST friend that I have!

Now onto more photos from Easter:

Peyton, Matthew, Jessica, Pierce and family friend Ashley lined up ready to go on the Easter egg hunt:

Peyton looking for eggs:

Brianna is 21 years old but it is still weird to see her with an alcoholic beverage:

Brianna with Ashely's mother Leslie:

My brother David (left). nephew Nick, brother's Daniel and Richard:

David's dog Johnny Rotten (YES, he is still rotten):

Wendy's hubby Jose and Jessica:

Cousins Matthew and Peyton:

Pierce and Peyton:

Cousins Nick and Brianna:

Nick's brother Jon and Brianna:

There ya go folks, you won't believe this but I still have MORE photos from Easter.  I'll post them later!! 

You all have a wonderful day, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Sue and be sure to hug your families!

"What is a friend?  I will tell you...it is someone with whom
you dare to be yourself."
- Frank Crane

Today is my sister Debbie's birthday!

HAPPPPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE!!

The pic below was taken on Saturday evening at my niece Wendy's house.  Brianna surprised everyone and drove home for the weekend. 

Debbie and Jessica are doing their "Hollywood" smiles below:

I think my sis looks SO pretty in the photo below.  Taylor helped Debbie take curlers out of her hair and then she sprayed  hair spray in her hair.  For some reason after Taylor sprayed Debbie's hair, she would blow on it.

Now then, here is Jessica playing on Friday afternoon at the playground across the street from Max's house:

Here is my shadow Max - A BIG difference from my little shadow at home, Mandy.  Like about FORTY pounds difference!

My babysitting job is over.  Max is such a sweetheart.  I miss that little man!

Now for photos from Saturday night at Wendy's house coloring eggs....

Matthew and the egg holders:

Matthew, Pierce & Peyton:

Pierce

Pey-Pey:

Debbie, Brianna and Wendy:

Cousins Peyton, Pierce, Jessica and Matthew:

More photos later......I just got into work.  =(  I have a flat tire and my coworker had to pick me up.  This is the SAME tire that my brother-in-law Robin and Pierce changed in November.  I bought a new tire at that time, so I need to call Sears to see if I have a warranty on it. 

I shared this with my family and thought it should be shared with all of you too.

This is a from a Positive Thoughts/Attitude newsletter that I receive daily:

One of the most wonderful things about having a positive attitude
is the number of people it touches, many times in ways you'll
never know.

Not long ago I was in Nashville, Tennessee and I went into a
convenience store to get a newspaper and a pack a gum.
The young women at the check-out counter said, "That 'll be
five dollars please," and as I reached into my wallet, the thought
occurred to me that a newspaper and gum didn't quite make it
to five dollars.

When I looked up to get a "re-quote", she had a big smile on
her face and said, "Gotcha!  I got to get my tip in there somehow!"
I laughed when I knew I'd been had.  She then glanced down at
the paper I was buying and said, "I'm sick and tired of all this
negative stuff on the front pages.  I want to read some good
news for a change."

She then said, "In fact, I think someone should just publish a
Good News newspaper - a paper with wonderful, inspiring
stories about people overcoming adversity and doing good things
for others.  I'd buy one everyday!"

She then thanked me for coming in and said, "Maybe we'll get
lucky tomorrow; maybe we'll get some good news," and she
laughed.  She made my day.

The following day, after my business appointments, I dropped
by the same store again to pick up a bottled water, but a
different young lady was behind the counter.

As I checked out I said, "Good afternoon," and handed her my
money for the water.  She said nothing - not a word, not a smile...
nothing.  She just handed me my change and in a negative tone
ordered...."Next!"

It hit me right between the eyes:  Two people, same age; one
made me feel great, and the other, well, made me feel that I had
inconvenienced her by showing up.

By the choices we make, by the attitudes we exhibit, we are
influencing lives every day in positive or negative ways...our family,
our peers, our friends, and even strangers we've never met before
and will never meet again.

So when you brush your teeth every morning, look in the mirror
and ask yourself..."Are there things I'd like to change?" How will
you choose to live your Dash...as "the grouch" or as "the good
news girl?"

Your answer will go a long way toward determining the joy and
happiness that you will experience in your life.
_____________________________________________________________

OK, so it is OFFICIALLY spring now and besides having the beautiful flowers blooming, we've also got allergies going on.  AAHHCHOOOOOOOOOO...........Love spring but can't stand it all at the same time.

But in the meantime, I bring you more photos that I took last weekend:

Here are the beautiful East Foothills of San Jose:

Tomorrow Jessica and I are going to hang out and shop til' we drop!  In the evening I'll be going with Denise to a Multi Cultural evening at our alma mater (her children's high school too). Saturday I'll be at my niece's house coloring eggs with Jessica and Matthew.  Sunday will be our annual Easter egg hunt and then dinner following the hunt.

THOSE would be my weekend plans.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday.  I KNOW there will be lots of hugging going on this weekend, so do I even need to say it?!

Hello All!  I've been babysitting my friend Dora's pooch since Friday afternoon.  Dora and her family decided to go to New Mexico to visit her family before her hubby Paul starts his radiation/chemo treatments.

I've been staying with Max at his house, spending the night with him.  I believe he is about 4 months old and he is so doggone goofy.  Here is the little man:

This is what I came home to today:

The little monster chewed up his bed.  Dora JUST bought it for him.  I guess he wasn't too happy being confined to the laundry room. 

I had to get Max on video chasing not his tail, but his back paw.  Silly man:

That's it for the pooch pics!  You might wonder who is taking care of my babies?  My brother David and I live together so it's nice whenever I go away (and vice versa), he takes care of my babies.  I had to get a report from him today and he said that they are doing well.  I'm going to see them on Friday as I'm on vacation because I'll be taking care of Jessica.  She is out of school this week and I volunteered to watch her on Friday to have a 3 day weekend.  To tell you the truth, I was off sick yesterday and came home from work early today with stomach problems.  SO, it is a VERY short work week for me.  I just hope my stomach calms down tomorrow.  This stuff sure isn't fun.

You all have a Happy Hump Day and be sure to hug your families! 

Dogs are not our whole life,
but they make our lives whole.
~Roger Caras