Buddy update

We spent some time at the cancer clinic with Buddy on Saturday. It was time for his remission progress exam, bloodwork, and some other tests. I'm excited to report that everything came back FINE and he's doing well !!! Here he is, minus his whiskers, which have fallen out because of the cancer meds:

His blood cell counts were within the normal range, which is always a GREAT sign when on chemotherapy! But now, since Buddy has been on chemo for a year, his oncologist suggested taking him off to avoid damage to his kidneys, liver, stomach, bone marrow, etc. We discussed with her how we're uncomfortable with him having no protection from cancer cells ... that we'd like to keep him on some form of chemo, all the while monitoring for any organ damage, rather than risk the growth of an inoperable malignant tumor. So Buddy will begin a "less toxic" course of chemo treatment this week, a different drug, one that's better for the long-term.

I tried doing some reading online about this other drug, but kept coming upon stories of how long dogs DON'T survive cancer. I refuse to focus on that, and stopped reading! As sad as the cancer clinic can be, they try to make it a positive environment ... for instance, this plaque was in our exam room:

Overall, Buddy is doing so well and we're incredibly thankful !!! We cherish each day with him !!!

welcome summer!

Ah, a long holiday weekend is upon us (here in the U.S.). Hope you have something fun planned? Aruba's ready for the holiday! (as usual, she wouldn't look at the camera, waaahhh!)

And of course we're all remembering our troops, past and present, on the solemn Memorial Day holiday. Their sacrifices deserve special tribute.

Sal and I have had a long week, so we look forward to some relaxation. But ... we have a couple of less pleasant things to do too. Buddy has a remission progress exam at the cancer clinic tomorrow. As you know, these visits make me so nervous, always wondering what his bloodwork and tests will reveal. Cancer is a horrible dark cloud, hovering! And the clinic isn't the most pleasant place to be. Every animal there has cancer.

Plus ... it's that time for us again. Car shopping. Yuck! I hate doing it ... so much haggling with the dealers, I think I'd rather get a root canal, seriously. But, Sal's car has nearly 150,000 miles on it, so he's due for a new one. Time to spend money on perhaps the worst "investment" on the planet!

On Sunday, we'll be watching the Indy 500 race ... as former Hoosiers, it's a special tradition for us! The racetrack was only 20 minutes from where we lived in Indianapolis, so we went to the race one year. Loved taking in the action live from our seats at Turn 4 !!

So I'll catch you back here next week, if not before. I'll be sharing details about something NEW that I'm starting on June 1. Stay tuned!

Wishing you a holiday weekend full of sunshine, picnics, good times. Bring on summer! :-)

it's Marisa's special day!

Happy 10th birthday today to our niece, Marisa! She lives in Gulfport, Florida.

We wish you a FUN & SUPER day, Marisa! :-)

Gosh, Uncle Sal and I remember meeting you when you were just 2 days old! We were moving back to Florida from Indiana, and on the drive down we stopped in Georgia to visit your family. You and your Mom came home from the hospital that same day, and we met you for the first time! Can't believe that was 10 years ago!

Love,

Aunt Susan, Uncle Sal, Buddy & Aruba

all done!

Today I finished my work as a Census Enumerator! It was a unique experience, but after visiting nearly 80 residences, I can say that I've had my fill of it. But I was thankful to be assigned to 3 nice neighborhoods, all within 2 miles of my home. And my Crew Leader was professional and competent, really fab to work with. It was great $$$ for Buddy's cancer treatments, and I met mostly pleasant people. Lots of positives! :-)

But of course not all residents were happy that I was at their door ... some ranted about their views of the Census, the government, the perceived invasion of their privacy, etc. But I expected this, and it wasn't anything I couldn't handle ... it was certainly nothing compared to how badly I was often treated as an engineer! :-(

Overall it was an interesting experience, but not something that I'd like to do more than once every 10 years, LOL. So, until the 2020 Census .... {smirk}

it's Jonathan's special day!

Happy 19th birthday today to our nephew, Jonathan! He lives in Gulfport, Florida.

We hope you have a day full of FUN & happy memories, Jonathan! :-)

Love,

Aunt Susan, Uncle Sal, Buddy & Aruba

The Note

Yesterday was a special day for me and Sal !! It was the 22nd anniversary of the day we began dating. We celebrated the beginning of "us" by taking the entire day off and spending it together at the beach. So apropos, after all, since our first kiss was at the beach. As you can see, it was a beautiful day, but
w-i-n-d-y!


And every May 12, we pull out The Note that started it all. Sal and I had been studying together in the library, and he passed me a note, written on the back of an engineering problem we were working (geeks!), that said that he was in love with me! And the rest, as they say, is history ... because I was in love with him too! :-)

So yesterday I went to my keepsake box to have a look at The Note. And my heart sank when it wasn't there, OMG !!! I went into PANIC mode! That Note is as precious to me as my wedding ring ... how could I have misplaced it?!?!? I looked everywhere ... frantically. Nothing. I was trying to think back to last May 12, what did I do with it? I recalled that at this time last year, I was emotionally distraught over Buddy's health, so maybe I inadvertently just left it somewhere? And although we have a scanned copy of it, that's just not the same. I went to bed heartbroken.

Woke up this morning, thought I'd give it a fresh look. And there it was ... where it always is ... in my keepsake box! Except I had put it in an unlabeled, nondescript envelope ... in an effort to protect it from ripping apart. Oh, the RELIEF !!! Buddy & Aruba & I were jubilant (they were upset, too), and I called my "boyfriend" Sal with the good news.

And this time, before putting The Note back, I labeled the envelope.

radio show!

In my March 19 post, I (excitedly) mentioned how I got to participate in a taping of the "Travel With Rick Steves" Radio Show. Well, the show finally aired over the weekend on National Public Radio stations nationwide!! I think I sounded OK, but we all know how weird it is to hear our own voices on a recording, right? I was stunned that none of my comments were edited out! Rick and the producer kept everything I said!

The show was about Tuscany, Italy ... namely, the quaint Tuscan town of Cortona and the Under The Tuscan Sun memoir that made it famous. The author, Frances Mayes, was Rick's guest for the show, so I got to chat with both her and Rick. Speaking as a travel buff, and as a fan of both Italy and the book, it was such a THRILL for me!

If you're interested, click HERE to listen to the show. It's also available as a (free) podcast ... download it HERE. If you don't want to listen to the entire one-hour program, most media players let you jump ahead ... Rick introduces me about 38 minutes into the show, and my conversation lasts for 7 minutes. I had no idea how long I had been speaking with them, I was star-stuck! Hope you enjoy it!

And speaking of Rick ... if you're a fan, you'll want to own this! ... last week, Smithsonian Magazine published Travels With Rick Steves, a special issue dedicated to Rick's favorite things to see & do in Europe. Great writing, and the photos are pure travel eye candy! I already picked up my copy at Barnes & Noble over the weekend, lol.

Thanks for sharing in the fun of my radio debut! :-)

Ciao,

my Mother's Day

Apparently even us "Dog Moms" get special treatment on Mother's Day! Buddy & Aruba gave me a sweet card (with a little help from Sal, of course!). And I got special hugs and "paws" all day long! So wonderful to celebrate the day with my little family! :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the Moms out there ... especially my Mom & my Grandma & Sal's Mom ... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!!

Enjoy a day of relaxation and fun, you deserve it! :-)

Thanks for all you do!

Love,

"Hello, I'm Susan, with the Census Bureau"

Whew, I've been non-stop busy!


I spent all of last week in intensive Census training sessions. So now it's official, I was sworn in as a Census Enumerator! I began my work on Sunday. It's going well, so far so good! It's already hot here in SoFla ... 87 degrees most days, with a "feels like" temp of 93! ... so I'll admit that that's part of the challenge of the job, but it's all worth it to have $$$ for Buddy's continued cancer care. I just slather on the sunscreen, bring cold water, and wear cool & comfy shoes. I love Florida, so it's all good! And so far, I'm finding residents to be pleasant, courteous, and cooperative. Hope that continues!

I took Saturday off to enjoy a full day of fun to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day at Cherry Blossom Studio. There were 40 of us, the event sold out!

If I look tired, I was! And of course, I wore my favorite scrapbooking shirt, which always gets tons of laughs! ("My husband lets me buy all the scrapbooking supplies I can HIDE")

I had a blast ... met some great gals {waving hello to my new friend Suzanne!} and got some scrapbook pages done (here are a few ... and, as usual, I haven't added photos to them yet):

Actually, this page does have a photo because the store took group photos of the gals at our tables, and printed them for us as a NSD keepsake. I just happened to be making a "bliss" themed page, and the photo seemed a perfect fit to remember our spa/scrapping day!

We also ate yummy junk food all day ... ok, I tried to be good and eat some fruit too, but only because I love pineapple! The food kept coming all day long, including a delicious lunch and dinner. The store's NSD festivities revolved around a "spa" theme, in keeping with the day of relaxation. They teamed-up with a local spa to provide us each a 15-minute spa mini-treatment. I opted for the shoulder/neck/scalp massage, which was heavenly after a long week! The spa gave us $25 giftcards toward a future visit, so I'll definitely have to look into that, lol.

More later,

an oily mess!

Whew, what a busy week! I finished my Census training (more about that in an upcoming post) and will begin work on Sunday. I'm taking today off to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day at a local scrapbook store (more about that in an upcoming post, too). Happy NSD to my fellow scrappers!

Right now though I wanted to address something more urgent. No doubt that you've seen the news story about the oil rig explosion and subsequent massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's tragic on so many levels, but most urgent at this moment is the imminent threat to wildlife, their habitats, and the ecosystem. It is predicted that the environmental impact of this spill could be even worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster many years ago in Alaska. That's AWFUL !!!

Many species of animals are threatened, including manatees, who live along the Gulf shores and rely on the fragile seagrass beds for food. The Save The Manatee Club has issued a plea to sign a petition that will help protect Florida's shores, and all its creatures, from needless additional oil drilling in the future.

I just hope that they can get the spill contained quickly and minimize the damage. All week I've been thinking about that Dawn dishwashing soap commercial, have you seen it?

More later....