Raffle time

Ok, so Marielle is just the sweetest kid around. Seriously. Considering all she went through with 2+ years of chemo, all the pokes and prods, all the side effects, well, you would understand if she were bitter or had a negative outlook on life. Not Marielle.

Here's an example. A couple of weeks ago, the kids went to a carnival. At the carnival, you could play games for tickets and then trade the tickets in for prizes. Ha! No trading in of tickets for my girl. She came home, pleased as punch, with a bag full of tickets.

You see, in our house, tickets mean one thing...have a raffle. So, lately, it's been raffle time in our house.

Marielle selects some of her little trinkets and toys and makes a prize box. Then she distributes tickets and holds a raffle. Last night we had a raffle. When someone wins, she is so happy for them and she helps pick out a prize. So when I won, she came over with the prize box, then whispered, "Mom, I put some cool erasers in because you like to write". When Daddy won a prize, she said, "Dad, I put some boy things in, too, like here's a dinosaur". Then she looked at Rico's tickets and tried to pick one of his as a winner. (She likes to spread the joy around.) We had to play until at least everyone won once.

Now, isn't that just the sweetest thing?!

Clinic Day

So we are still going every other month, but this month I was really crossing my fingers, after 2 weeks ago, when Marielle was sick. If something were going to show up, now would be the time....

We got to clinic and the blood work shows her numbers are PERFECT!!!! The Oncologist said the spike in her white count could have been due to a virus, allergies or both. Marielle is back on claritin, which has helped her allergies in the past.

We also talked about Neuropsych testing, which the oncologist will refer Marielle for, but now it's up to the insurance to see if they'll cover the testing. Wish us luck!

It's Springtime!

I mean really springtime! As in warm weather (in the 70's), sunshine and our first BBQ of the year! Nothing like a dinner of BBQ tri-tip, corn on the cob, watermelon and pasta salad to welcome spring.

Ah, I missed the BBQ! So glad it's back!

Bingo Night

It's bingo night...a night when some friends and I get together to play bingo and eat pot luck. Ok, maybe I have that backwards, we get together and eat a lot and then play some bingo. And it's fun. Everyone brings a wrapped prize and when you bingo you get a prize. Then after all the prizes are won, you open the prize and the stealing begins! It is fun, but honestly, this week, I'd go to "watch the sun set and do nothing night" because I really just need a night off. Of course, I'm not going to whine if I win a bunch of prizes or anything.

Tough Times

So, Ralph hasn't worked since Sept 30th last year. He had a lead on a short term job that was for 3 months, it was supposed to start Jan 1. Then, about 2 weeks before the start date, he found out it wasn't going to happen. Ok, he's continued to apply for jobs. BUT, there was another job that had been promised him.

Just so you know, Ralph's a licensed contractor, who worked for the last 8 years as an inspector for the Coast Guard on construction projects. Now big construction projects don't happen overnight...there are contracts and stipulations, changes to original drawings, etc. If you've ever done a remodel on your house, you have a rough idea of what it's like, only when you are dealing with 30 million dollar projects, it's even more complex.

In February, 2008, when Ralph retired from the Coast Guard, well, there weren't a lot of construction projects going on. Which is why, when he had the chance to go up to Alaska for 5 months of work, we all bit the bullet and off he went, leaving me and the kids on our own for 5 months. Now, my hat is tipped to all you single parents, especially single parents by choice, because it's a lot of work and I know it. But, it wasn't what I was used to and the kids missed Ralph terribly. When you are 4 and 5 years old, 5 months away is a long time.

Anyway, there was a local job, an 18 month long job, that was supposed to begin May 1. The company basically promised Ralph the job..."You are the man we want" were the kind of words we kept hearing as Ralph would check in every month or so. Of course, in the meantime, he's still been applying for other jobs. But again, in case you haven't seen the news lately, there's just not a lot of construction going on, especially big construction. Yeah, the stimulus money is supposed to help....sometime....down the line....in the future....I guess.

Well, today, the company that promised him the job that was supposed to start May 1st called and told him that they changed their mind and instead of a contractor acting as inspector, they wanted an electrical engineer. Great. Thanks. Just what we needed to hear.

I keep telling myself that we can ride this out, that we will make it through, after all, we've been through worse, with Marielle's cancer treatment. But honestly, I'm scared. Very scared. We won't run out of money tomorrow, we've lived below our means for many years and we have no debt, other than our mortgage, but still....I keep thinking, how long can we go on, with nothing but unemployment coming in? When, when will Ralph get a job?

I would go out tomorrow and work if I could. I have an upcoming surgery...I don't have a date scheduled yet but it should be next month. So, I guess I'll make it through that and then go temp, at least until Ralph gets a job.

I just hate this.....

We went anyway!

Oh, so that's how snow tastes!

So I figured either one of 2 things was happening....either it was a virus and she was over it or it was the beginning of a relapse. If it was a relapse, well, this might be the only time she'd see snow. If it was a virus, then she was past it. So we loaded up the Honda and took off for the mountains.




It was a glorious day! The weather was warm, around 65 degrees and it was crystal clear and sunny. We stopped at a snow park up by Donner Summit. The kids had a blast....well, Rico was pretty whiny, somehow he didn't realize that snow was cold! So he kept complaining about the snow making him cold.

Marielle hiked back quite a ways with Daddy, while I took Rico back to the car to warm up.

Then, we went up to Reno and spent the night at Circus Circus....the kids won a ton of stuffed animals playing at the midway (yeah, and we need stuffed animals 'cuz we only have about, uh, 200 or so left).

Then we raced home ahead of the storm! It was a fun trip!

Rico

Poor Rico, he's the unsung hero of our family. You see, we were supposed to go up to the snow this weekend. He's wanted to go up for a long time. Both the kids only experienced snow once before and Rico is too young to remember it. He'd been looking forward to our trip for a long time, counting down the days. We were going to pull the kids out of school on Friday and do an overnight turn around.

With Marielle sick, our trip has been canceled. So many times, his fun, his wishes, have had to be put aside over the past 3+ years...that's just how it goes when you have a sibling fighting cancer. Now, once more, Marielle being sick means Rico's fun is not going to happen.

We will go up to the snow...just not sure when.