If there were no calendars would we notice?...

Or would we use each day to start over, remember, reflect,
forgive, rejoice, learn, move ahead, appreciate ...?

                       Happy New Year

It's been a while...

Doing holiday only posts is pretty lame.
Even though I still visit your blogs and sometimes
comment, I just haven't found any interest in posting
here. Guess I need a kick in the ass. Volunteers?  

Carol has been doing fairly well. They told us a
few months ago that the cancer was spreading again.
They originally diagnosed her with inflammatory
breast cancer. Now they call it metastatic.
The new chemo is Tykerb. It's a pill and she takes
five once a day. 

It took a while to get her started on the new meds.
The hospital knew it was expensive, so they did a
search for the cheapest pharmacy and found it in
Flint, Michigan. Even so, the co-pay is over $1000.
Fortunately, the pharmacy hooked her up  with a
grant that will help for about a year. 
Wash, rinse, repeat.

This is what she has to look forward to and it's beginning
to wear her out mentally. I headed to the grocery store
and asked her if she needed anything and she said,
"Yeah, a new body."  She's been cooped up for two
weeks, trying to get over a cold and that's adding to
her worrying. I should've asked Santa for a magic
lamp with a genie to grant wishes. 

As far as my diabetes, I finally got to see an 
endocrinologist back in September. I want him to take
me off insulin completely. I asked for metformin instead.
He won't do cold turkey, so we're lowering the dosage
gradually and added metformin. I hate insulin.

I understand insulin can be a life-saver in many cases but
what they don't tell you is that it makes you gain weight.
And then they tell you how bad it is to be overweight. 
My first year on insulin I gained 65 pounds.
I've been trying to lose weight for a year and a half.
I've lost about 7 pounds. Seriously. Insulin has to go.

I have one cup of coffee with half and half for breakfast.
I don't eat lunch or limit it to eggs.
Dinner is protein, veggies, limited carbs.
I drink water all day. A diet soda once every week or two. 
Can't remember the last time I had a cookie or a donut.

I will say that taking metformin and reducing insulin has
kept my glucose level in a very good range. 80 to 115 unless
I cheat on the carbs, which is rare.
And my A1c has gone from 6.7 a year ago to 5.7 when it
was tested this week.  I'm happy about that.
I see the endo-guy again in January. 
The man better make some serious changes this time because
if he doesn't I will continue to make the changes my damn self.

In the mean time, I'll be glad when the holidays are over.
Bah-humbug.

 

Reach out...

I am grateful for all of you every day.
Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

"We must be willing to get rid of
the life we've planned, so as to have
the life that is waiting for us."

-Joseph Campbell

Never too much...

Put a fork in 'em, they're done...

damn Yankees 5, Indians 2.

Friday 55...

untitled...

I'm not much for
conscious prayer
but I do some
silent thinking
that could be
construed as such
I guess.
Some days sling
challenges
that make me duck
for cover
as I stumble
grasping, angry
and frightened
Searching for
the right thing
to do again.
Always the awkward
dance.
Knocked to my knees.
Sometimes screaming.

( a weekend 55 word challenge found here)
Thank you, Walking Man.
 

Wanna see what Cleveland's pitchers do when they're not pitching?...

Probably not, but I'll show you anyway...

 They (Cookie Carrasco and Trevor Bauer, mostly) make mini-balls 
representing all the players on the roster.

Yan Gomes, Brandon Guyer, Andrew Miller.

Jose Ramirez

  

Josh Tomlin, Cody Allen

 

Trevor Bauer with a drone on his head.
 

and of course, Manager Terry Francona. 

If you're familiar with the team, you'll recognize some of the
personality details of individuals. If not, maybe just appreciate
the creativity of a bunch of jocks. 

Class acts all around...

Mutual admiration society.
(click above for full article.)

"CLEVELAND -- When it was over, Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas turned and tipped his cap to the Tribe dugout, the 34,025 in attendance at Progressive Field rose to their feet and applauded the home club and the members of said club strolled out of the dugout, turned to the audience and applauded them right back."

Makes me proud to be a fan.

AL Record...21 Wins in a Row...

This is almost too much fun! Almost.

15 in a Row...

Cleveland Indians are on a roll. click here

  










Klubot. 
The Klubinator. 
Baseball Master Pitcher. 

Irma...

Unless Hurricane Irma takes a sharp right turn
very soon, all of Florida will be hit hard this weekend.
I'm worried for my friends.

In 2004, I huddled in my home for 24 hours after
Hurricane Charlie crossed the state and hovered over
Daytona. The winds had dropped to 100 mph by then
but I'd never been so scared.

May all the folks stay safe. 

Now there are three ...Kattia, Irma, Jose.

Lost inside...

Follow me inside

my heart, my head, my eyes and

tell me what you find. 

All-American Soap Box Derby...

Indeed we do know how to party in Akron.
Go ahead, click the link for some juicy history
that includes John DeLorean.

Baseball pondering...

click on pic for better reading.

What ??...

SiteMeter is disappearing. Today is its last day.

Damn. One of the funnest things about blogging
was looking to see how many people didn't show 
up to read my (lately very rare) words of wisdom. 

Any recommendations for a replacement tracker? 

Are comics supposed to make you cry?...

Motivate me...

Thanks to The Hammock Papers.
 

It's no picnic...

Folks in NE Ohio will need to get creative this weekend.
It's been raining off and on for days... and days... and days.
They (the weather people) aren't predicting much of a
break until maybe the middle of next week.

Still, we should be grateful for what we don't have:
no snow, no floods, no tornadoes, no mudslides, no fires. 
Plus, good weather isn't required to keep the holiday
what it is meant to be.

Have a safe and peaceful weekend, my friends.

Boneman is gone...

He deleted his blogs several months ago, so there isn't
anything to link to any more.
One of his last posts alerted me to his battle with 
liver cancer.
I just found out he lost the battle last month. 

Rest in peace, Berry.

I was gonna title this 'Poop' but changed my mind...

So, all day Thursday (today) I will be cleansing
my bowels in preparation for my first ever colonoscopy on Friday.

Virgin no more.

After more than a month without a new post, you're
probably a little disappointed with this tidbit of info. 

Could be worse.
 

Field of Dreams...

I love baseball.

Pre-season check-up...

Stay outta my car, dammit...

I didn't know my 1999 Jeep had an alarm until recently.
Now, when I unlock and open the door, the alarm goes off.
The only way I can turn it off is to start the engine.
My mechanic says they stopped making fix-it parts
or replacement alarms in '09. There are none to be had
anywhere. He also says it cannot be disconnected or
removed or else the alarm will always be on (?).
Something to do with the way it's wired into the car.

So.

I started leaving it unlocked.

Until.

I opened the door and saw the driver's seat was reclined.
Like someone had been sleeping in it.

Then.

About a week later, I opened the door and the glove box
was open and papers from the glove box were scattered
on the front passenger seat and the storage compartment
between the front seats was open. Nothing stolen but obviously
someone was looking. 

First incident, the car was parked in front of the house.
Second time, it was parked in the driveway.
There is no garage.

This gave me a bad case of the creeps, so I started locking 
the car again.  

Maybe I should find out if they can make a key fob with
the alarm buttons? (Whatta pain in the ass.)

In other news, there isn't any.
We all are otherwise well. Thank goodness.

There will be baseball...

Home boy makes it big...

Larry Kehres graduated from my Ohio high school two years
ahead of me.
He's being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. 
Peyton Manning is being inducted, also.

Deep breath aaaannnd relax...

We made it, friends. 

Happy New Year.