My little blue belt

His blue belt fell off, but here he is, throwing the big kids around. :-)

Joking

My son is working on his sense of humor. Truth be told, he's stealing jokes from Webkinz.

I'm working on a new magic trick.

You are?

Yeah! Throw a pumpkin in the air, comes down squash!

I can't wait until he gets funnier. :D

The Egg Artist

Happy Easter!

Michael is Home!

All is well. I've got about a million questions to ask him...what are his limitations? Does he have to change his diet? What did the pathology reports on the kidney and mass have to say? How's the other kidney? and Most Importantly - how does he feel?

I think right now the most important thing for him is to let him rest - after all, who can rest in a hospital? I told Jeff I'll wait a week or two before I call him. Give the poor man a break. :D

Michael

My brother had surgery yesterday - a nephrectomy. Here is a link to his blog for more details.

I didn't realize how anxious I was about the whole thing until Jeff called to let me know he was okay. And then I realized I had been subconsciously holding my breath the entire day.

Oh, I tried not to worry. I got up at 5 and thought, "Heck. It's only 2 am there. They're not even up yet." Got to work at 8 and thought, "Let's see. Surgery is at 7:30 HIS time, 10:30 mine, so there's no point in worrying yet." And at 10:30, "They just started. I'm not going to know anything for at least a couple hours." And at 11:30, "It's too soon to start worrying...I'll take my lunch at noon like normal." And at 1:30, "Hmm. It's been two hours, but if they had to take the whole kidney, it'll take longer, so there's no point in worrying yet." And at 2:30, "Jeez. I wonder why he didn't ask the doctor how long this stupid surgery would take." At 3:30, I left my desk to make a copy, jammed the copier, fixed it, came back to my desk and got Jeff's message. And promptly burst into tears.

God I'm glad that's over. Who, me? Worry?

Anyway, the good doctors removed the mass that was growing inside him along with his entire right kidney. They believe it was cancerous, and are running tests. Mike is doing well, and will be hospitalized for three to five days. Further bulletins as events warrant...

Hockey

For the first time in four years, we were able to attend a Sabres game. (The cost of the tickets is ridiculous, and I cannot afford to take us.) We received tickets to suite seats as a gift. It was a great game - Sabres won, and Ian was practically walking on the ceiling he was so happy. And it wore him out.

Conjunction Function

Soooo, I went to the Math Lab at ECC for another session with Kate the Math Goddess.

"What are we working on today?" she asks.

"Well. We have functions that are inside functions and outside functions combined, and the outside functions with the inside functions are multiplied by the first derivative of the inside function, BUT, if the inside function or the outside function is a product of two functions or a quotient of two functions, the product rule for functions or the quotient rule for functions has to be used before the outside and inside functions can be multiplied by the derivative of the inside function, AND if any of the functions are raised to a power, the power rule for functions has to be applied."

She didn't even blink! "Oh," says she, "You are differentiating composite functions."

Now why isn't as easy as she makes it sound?

JT said...
Memmmoorrrriiessss!

Serena said...
An Elvis tune!

Memories...pressed between the pages of my mind....Memories....sweetened thru the ages just like wine...

Nah. He couldn't have been thinking about Calculus. :D

Colon Issues

Today I am prepping for my first colonoscopy, which takes place first thing 7 a.m. tomorrow. I think that's a great time slot for something like this - nothing worse will happen to me the rest of the day! And I'm making this entry before the meds kick in...

Anyway, Ian's grandfather called and mentioned he is having one tomorrow, and my neighbor called and asked me to get her mail because she is having one tomorrow, and two friends of mine just had theirs last week... I feel almost like I'm joining a club.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Dolores said...
Hi Kelly, I have just been reading your blog. I am so glad everyone is or had a colonoscopy. I have a very dear friend she is 46 with three children and a husband, who is I hate to admit very very sick and in the hospital heavily sedated. She had her first colonoscopy in Aug 06, had surgery and found it metastasized to her liver and pelvic area.

Serena said...
I'm so sorry to hear that! As tests go, the prep is murder, but in the long run, the knowledge gained is worth it. Your friend and her family have some tough times ahead. I will keep them, and you, in my thoughts.

It's Still Winter.

Here he is, making snow angels, rolling around in it like it is money or something...


I am the King of the Mountain!

He began shoveling the yard. I'm not sure why.

Here he is, 'helping' Steven:

Steven (one of the boys Ian takes Aikido with) asked if Ian could join him and his buddy for a walk around the neighborhood to see if they could make some money. Ian made $2. (Only two people hired them - everybody has snowblowers these days!)

Space Food

We were sitting in the Olympic Restaurant having breakfast. I had my usual corn beef hash and eggs, and Ian had pancakes and sausage. (Yes! Breakfast sausage! He has decided now that this is the only meat he likes, so I'm going to make sure he gets it. Makes a change in the protein choices from peanut butter and cheese.)

Mommy! I have a great idea for what we can do when we are home on the weekends!

You do?

Yeah! We can make space food like the astronauts have!

Why?

Well, it's cool! You have to eat it like Go-Gurts.

But how would we eat sausage?

Like this!

(He picks up a sausage link gently with both hands and demonstrates a peeling motion like he is holding a banana.)

It would be really hard to eat, though.

Why?

Well, there's no gravity in space!

Yeah, but why would that make your sausage hard to eat?

He delivers the next statement like, 'Duh, Mom':

There's no gravity in your mouth, either!

JT said...
and I guess this would also mean no gravity in his little head too...LOL

Serena said...

I think you're right! :D

I have to be so careful when I laugh... I don't ever want him to think I'm laughing AT him, but sometimes he's just so funny!

The BOSS

Our seats were behind the stage, which I really wasn't sure of, but turned out GREAT. My seat was at the top of the stairs, so there was no one behind me, and plenty of leg room. I stood the entire concert - It was great! Practically everyone did. And at our seats, it wasn't obnoxiously loud, either. You could hear fine, and you could hear the crowd singing along, too. So many people in the same room who knew every single word to every single song... It was incredible. I took a picture of the video screen that was close to where we were sitting. The set up was very well-thought out, so even if you didn't have a good seat, you could still see.

The concert was AMAZING. He started at 8:30 and they played until 10 to 11. Not a lot of chitchat - just song after song after song after song. I swear he did something off of every single one of his albums. Absolutely AMAZING. Worth every penny of the $100 ticket.

Here is one of my favorites off of the new album, Magic:



After the concert, I dumped Chris. Another story for another day.

Michael said...
>So many people in the same room who knew every single word to every single song... It was incredible.
Yeah - it is a really cool feeling to be in a large crowd all moving in the same direction.
One of my favorite memories is being at a Judas Priest concert, surrounded by all that testosterone rage roaring "HEY! HEY! HEY!" in unison, right on the cusp of exploding into violence... Whoa, wotta rush!

Serena said...
Yes! I'd never felt that before at a concert. It was incredible, just amazing...

Bowling with Jeff

JT said...
hhmmm.. now I wonder would bowling with the "cooler" Jeff be better?

Serena said...

Absolutely! He would love it!

JT said...
I know!! How 'bout... IRONING WITH JEFF!! :D

Serena said...

He's not tall enough! :D

Miserable People

How do you handle miserable people? That one person who is in your life, not by your choice but by circumstance, that is always complaining, dissatisfied, rude, sarcastic, and never has anything good to say?

Using the 'killing them with kindness' theory doesn't seem to work. Slapping the person would be grounds for assault charges and immediate termination of employment, no matter how much it is deserved. Ignoring the person completely is impossible, because that person is where I need to be. And I can rarely think of the perfect comeback at the moment I need it. I usually end up shaking my head and silently walking away, thinking about how absolutely pathetic people are who just can't be content.

Maybe that's the best answer...

Michael said...
Two words.

Cosa Nostra.

Serena said...

I like your answer better! :D

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

My nephew, Jeff, turns 30 today.

Where does the time go?

JT said...
WOW! Good looking kid!... :D

Serena said...

And a great smile!

Michael said...
There he is. The original "Mister Squishy Pants."

Serena said...

A new one for Calvin to use on him!

JT said...
Thanks.....DDDAAAAADDDD! It's ok.. I am putting these caring words in MY "later" column! Mwah ha ha!

Happy Spring Training Day!

Pitchers and Catchers report today!

Just in case you are curious, here is the Baseball Calendar for 2008:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-baseballcalendar&prov=ap&type=lgns

Summer is practically here!

(Photo from http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/spring_training/index.jsp Isn't it beautiful?)

P.S. It's Valentine's Day, too.

Showering

Did you take a shower?

Yes.

Did you wash your hair?

Yes.

Lemme smell.....You did not! You did NOT wash your hair!

Yes I did! Smell the back of my head!

Are all boys like this? EEEUUU!

JT said...
Refer back to your Zit Post for comment! LMAO!
BUT it is not cool to stink! This will come to light when "the ladies" come on the scene!

Serena said...
Fortunately, for now, girls have cooties.

Still alive...

I have just one word to say...

Derivatives.

See you in April! LOL!

P.S. My favorite course this semester actually isn't Calculus...It's Statistics! Whoda thunk it?

JT said...
Just wait til.... you guessed it.... ANTI-DERIVATIVES! and you're just working in 2D!

Serena said...

Good heavens. You're not kidding, are you? Sounds like almost as much fun as the set of imaginary numbers!

JT said...
LOL - You just may wish the class was imaginary.

And the Winner Is...

Anthony! Here he is proudly displaying his car and trophy. Congratulations!

Spaghetti Sandwich

At our Blue and Gold Dinner, Ian couldn't find anything he wanted to eat. So he made himself a spaghetti sandwich. Yes, folks, spaghetti on a bun.

Life Lessons

I don't often pass on chain-like emails that I receive, but I really liked the message this one contained:

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - and told them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

"The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hotchocolate. In most cases, it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life.

"The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate.

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate!"

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful

Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory



NORTHERN ERIE-GENESEE- WYOMING-SOUTHERN ERIE- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BUFFALO...BATAVIA... WARSAW... ORCHARD PARK...SPRINGVILLE 658 PM EST WED JAN 30 2008

...LAKE EFFECT SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM EST THIS EVENING...

LAKE EFFECT SNOW SQUALLS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING OVER ERIE AND GENESEE COUNTIES...AS WELL AS OVER THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF WYOMING COUNTY. EXPECT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 4 INCHES WITH WIDELY VARYING CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE EVENING. THE BIGGEST CONCERN WILL BE FOR WHITEOUT CONDITIONS DUE TO STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW. THE PRIMARY AREA OF CONCERN IS FROM ABOUT SILVER CREEK NORTH TO THE NORTHTOWNS...INCLUDING A STRETCH OF THE THRUWAY EAST TO ABOUT BATAVIA.

Photo posted at http://www.buffaloweatherblog.com/

Michael said...
Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Serena said...

Smarta**. Someday I'm gonna move south. (I say that every winter.)

Jeff

Ian received a Webkinz for Christmas, and promptly named it after his favorite person on the planet, the man who can play guitar AND baseball, Jeff. Today he asks me:

Mommy, is Jeff's real name Jeff or Jeffrey?

It's Jeffrey, but Jeff is his nickname.

Okay. Then my Jeff will be Jeffrey, too, but his nickname will be Jeff.

Aaawwww...

JT said...
So does this mean I can lick Calvin in the face? ya know wet, drooling, and slobbering "doggie kisses"? OH BOY!!!!!

Serena said...

That's great! Wait til I tell him! ROTF!

Thomas the Tank Engine

Ian has strep again. It's funny how, when he's sick, the trains have to come out. It's a wonderful thing; it keeps his mind occupied while keeping him calm and relatively inactive. He's had his first two doses of antibiotics, so he'll be returning to school (and me to work) tomorrow.

Scrapbooking

Some people have Tupperware parties, some have jewelry parties, and some have scrapbooking parties. I had the opportunity to go to a scrapbooking party, so I decided to get a start on my scrap book for our trip to Seattle in 2004. Ian also decided he wanted to do a book, too, so his theme was our trip to Seattle in 2007.

The gathering was from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., everyone brought a dish for potluck lunch, dinner was provided. Throughout the course of the day, little mini seminars were given to show us how to use various products available for purchase, like cutting systems, hole punches, etc.:


Ian worked on his scrapbook on and off all day, not wanting to leave, alternating scrapping with playing with silly putty:

And I think he spent most of the day talking:

He lasted the entire day! I actually completed 17 pages of my scrapbook, four days' worth of the trip. Hopefully I'll finish the scrapbook this year!

2008 Derby Race - Part 2

It's Pinewood Derby Day here in Tonawanda, and all the Cub Scouts are anxiously awaiting the start of the races. There are about 5 rounds, and for round 1, each car is raced three times in different lanes to give everyone equal opportunity to win. After each car is raced three times in round one, the software used to record the races reassigns the cars to their tracks and eliminates the lowest-placing cars. So, here we are.

Here are Bill Rapp and "Anthony's Dad", who are the Judges for the evening:



A view down Lane 3 of the track:

Ian's car in the "lot":

The racers:

Let the races begin! Jim, the Pack Leader, first discusses the importance of "having fun":

My eager Scout:

Tragedy strikes! Ian's car FLEW down the track, a hair's breadth behind the car in first. It bounced off the foam at the bottom, went backwards up the track about two feet, skipped the track it was in and fell off the track altogether. The car actually cracked at the wheel, making it impossible for the car to hold the wheel in on its own. It still took second place, though, so I kept sticking the wheel back on, and we kept racing the car for as long as it would go.

The poor little car took second place twice more and entered round two. In round two, she took first place (!), so she progressed to round three. And then the wheel fell off for good. Here she is, lagging in fourth place in lane 3, her final race of the evening:

By the end of the fifth race she ran, the crack in the wood had widened sufficiently so that the wheel was no longer stable.

That's quite okay, though. A good time was had by all!

Congratulations to little Anthony, who took first place this year. He was running around hugging everybody he could reach, and I didn't get his picture. Hopefully I will get his picture at the Blue & Gold Dinner when he gets his trophy.

Storm

This picture was taken at about 7:30 a.m. Fortunately, most of the snowfall was

south of the City, so we weren't too affected by it.

Reading

He has taken an interest in historical biographies. Here, he is reading about George Washington Carver. We went to Barnes & Noble earlier this month, and he chose books for purchase about Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. That little brain is just soaking up knowledge like crazy!

JT said...
Cool! Although in this shot Mr. Pumpkin Man seems to be practicing braille with his nose!

Serena said...

It does! He needs glasses for distance, but he's due for his annual check-up in April. If he keeps this up, I'll back up the appointment a bit.

Ian's First Sleepover

Justin came over and spent the night with Ian for his very first sleepover. The kids were moving so fast playing Hungry Hippos that I couldn't get a good picture! I think this one looks cool, though:

Video games were played. Seven-year-old boys like to see things crash and burn, a concept I just don't understand, but will live with. The best parenting advice I ever received came from my Dad, who said, "Pick your issues."

Seven-year-old boys also never get tired. Or so they say...

They had a great time, and Justin didn't want to leave, which makes me think the evening was a success!

2008 Derby Race - Part 1

Welcome to the preparations for this year's Pinewood Derby Race!

First, we offer you a picture of the completed car, painted with a really cool paint that changes color depending on the how you hold it in the light:

Underneath the car, Michael and Ian mounted the set of weights. Under the weights, Michael drilled a hole big enough to hold up to four quarters so the car would make weight, which is up to, but no more than, 5 ounces. Ian needed two quarters to make weight, and I stabilized the quarters with two cotton balls:

One week before the Big Race, the cars are impounded. First, the car is weighed to make sure it is not over 5 ounces. Ian's car weighed in at 4.9 oz:

Then the car is placed in a specially-made box to make sure the width and length are well within regulations:

The car is then placed on a specially-made board to make sure the car will clear the track:

Then the cars are assigned their racing numbers:

Dry graphite (whatever That is) is applied to the wheels by the Pack Leader, Jim:

Finally, the car is impounded until Race Day:

It's all up to the car now!

School Tax Dollars at Work

So, honey, what did you learn today?

I know how to pop a zit!

God help me. He's 7. How does he even know what a zit IS?

JT said...
Not yet and it will get even better!

Serena said...
In the words of Obiwan, spoken long ago but never forgotten, "Oh joy, oh rapture, oh melody divine..."

Mark Richmond said...
:). Nice blog. Talk later, Bye.

Serena said...
Perfect timing! I welcome a recently found, long-lost relative, and the first entry he sees is about Ian and zits! Ah, well.

Mark Richmond, it was great to hear from you. I hope you and your family are doing well!

Math is Beautiful

I'm trying out a fractal program:

I wonder what normal people do during their semester breaks...

Michael said...

Looks like a julia set from UF4.

Serena said...

It is!

Michael said...

If you send me the formula, I'll send you back a copy that doesn't have that stupid "evaluation copy" stamped all over it.

Serena said...

I would love to, but I waited too long, and my evaluation period is up. I don't want to buy the program, so I will experiment with other programs I find on-line.

Dieting

I've decided I can't go back on my diet until I finish all the wine I got for Christmas. :D

Michael said...
Excellent priorities!

Serena said...
You bet!

Happy New Year!

Ian and I had a "jammie day". We didn't get out of bed until 10, stayed in our jammies, played computer games, ate junk food and watched the "Ice Bowl". It was a wonderful, relaxing, stress-free day. I hope everyone had such a wonderful day, too. Happy New Year!

BTW, the game was great. The Sabres hosted the Penguins outdoors at the stadium where the Bills play. They practically had to shovel the snow off the ice every few minutes. It was very, very cool to watch. I would never want to actually GO to one of these games (It's cold outside!), seeing it on TV was fine for me. :-)