Cancer and Cuopons

Dad is not getting better as fast as I would like. Worry about mom and her chemo? She starts tomorrow. Hard to know the right advise to give. Chemo is poison. She has no detect cancer at the moment (the surgury got it all). But those who do the chemo reduce the occurance of cancer over tens years from 26 to 15.

Or lets put the numbers how the doctor did:

• Out of 100 women with mom's demographics and type of cancer over a ten year period of tie, 15 died of causes not related to cancer (busses, heart attack, etc.)
• With radiation but no chemo 57 remained cancer free.
• 26 contracted some type of cancer.

When chemo was added that last group was reduced by 11.

Dad couldn't do service or preach yesterday, he felt so bad:-( Mom took him home early.
Andy, on the other hand, appeared quite ready, took charge of the service, preached about Palm Sunday, even wore a tie! (Oh my!) Is God changing his calling? Or is he just doing what he always has- whatever needs to be done. Time will tell, I guess.

Johnny will be here next week. He has been asking questions about what happens to the church if dad can't pastor anymore. Interesting.

They are moving Danny to a facility that is usually used as a last stage before release. Interesting.

Leigh stayed with Jady. She isn't doing good.

And I have been studying coupons. My research says you can't get the 90% savings they do on TV, but 30-50% is possible. With our grocery budget, 50% would pay the mortgage! So I am putting some effort into setting it up to really figure out the cupons. We will do more shopping at CVS and the Dollar Tree (which takes manufactures cuopons!) as well as pay more attention to the sales papers. This will affect our menu too.

I will end up with about three months worth of food/supplies to do this. Since sales run on a 6-8 week cycle, usually, this is necessary. And since it is something I have felt I needed to do for some time anyway, well, now I have an excuse.

The basic philosophy of "cuopning" is:

1. Never pay more than 50% for anything (but fresh Produce and maybe milk) after the 3-6 month set up time.
2. Never buy anything (except the above mentioned produce and maybe milk) because you need it. You buy things when they are on sale and always have enough on hand to last until the next sale.

Cupouns

Do you all coupon? Since we spend twice on groceries every month what we spend on rent, I have decided I need to do some clipping. I won't spend the time for the "extreme" stuff, but would like to save some money. I have little kids who can do the cutting and filing, but I just need to know how to get started.

So what advice do you have?

Why do I have to carry a Drivers Licence?

We have the technology now to identify anyone with a thumbprint through a cell phone of tablet, so why don't we just buy every policeman a tablet? When he stops us, we press our thumb on the tablet and it tells him whether we are licensed, have tickets out, have our car registered, etc. This would be so much more reliable and convineint.

Could work for bank cards too. Instead of "swipe and pin" you just push your thumb and select which car you want to use. And since no one can steal your thumb (at least not and use it in wal-mart) it would be more secure.

some Christian would, of course, be concerned with the whole "Mark of the Beast" thing, but since I believe Nero/ancient Rome was the Beast, I don't have a problem on that front.

Others would be concerned with "Big Brother." I can see the point, but I have had enough dealing with the government to believe they simply aren't smart or efficient enough to abuse this type of system.

It wouldn't take much to switch over to such a system, either. DMV already has my thumbprint. They took it when I got my license. The FBI is already assembling an electronic database of prints. Just expand it. Use the money we would save by not having to store all the paper prints and make and issue the plastic licenses.

Of course the change over would be a bear, but I think it would be worth it.

I woke up sick during the night and am not doing much better today. But life goes on, so we did school anyway (well, I still have a couple of kids to check off.)

The first year we owned our dog, Jiffy, he only lef the yard if we left teh gate open. Then the pretty little boxer next door taught him to go through our fence, between the livestock wire and the barbed wire, no less!

Out of sheer frustration, I finally went around the whole yard stringing yarn or string from teh top of the livestock wire over the top of the barbed wire to make it look like the fence was solid for another foot and a half. ! worked! He again stayed in the yard as long as the gate was closed.

That was a couple of years ago. Since then Hubby has run into the gate post a couple of times (ice, snow, a slipped approach to the drive, and a large van don't mix well. He has hit it far less than the rest of us would have).

We have begun to have a problem with El'doggo again, coming home to find him outside the gate or looking dirty and exhausted, which he never does when he stays home.

A quick look tells me three things:

1. 1/3 of the string has rotted and needs replacing. No big deal. been working on it for 20 minutes a day or so and almost have it done.
2. the north side of the approach has a sagging fence due to a broken post. It is possible he could simply be going over that. I doubt it, but it's possible. I wedged a piece of wood under it today which lifted up to its original height.
3. The South corner is shot. This is the most likely exit point.Kind of surprised he hasn't left before. I have no idea how I will fix this, but I have to figure something out.

You know, all decisions are not equal. Some are good and some are bad. Some even hurt other people.

What is our responsibility to others to share what we have learned (through experience or study)? Am I really supposed to just sit back and watch other moms make BIG mistakes and not say anything? Really?

How is that in any way "Loving my neighbor as myself"?

Studying introverts vs extroverts. Quite fascinating. seems introverts take in more stimulation from their environment, so they have a lower tolerance for the amount of stimulation they feel comfortable with. In other words, if a party is providing 10 pts of stimulation, an introvert takes in 8-9 while an extrovert only perceives 4-5. Thus an extrovert enjoys more noise, sights, smells, etc simply because they perceive less of what is there.

The population is half and half, as are SAT scores and CEOs of fortune 500 companies. Yet for some reason Americans think extroverts are smarter and nicer. 'taint true.

Trying to get someone to work on the bathroom. Toilet has leaked since we bought the place:-(

Dog was gone for many hours Sunday. He has basically done nothing but sleep since and he limps now.

should be..

should be exercising instead of writing:-P

Dad was too sick to come to church:-( Getting worried.
worried about mom too. She just doesn't seem to be picking back up. I hope it's just worry about the upcoming chemo.

Reading Sproul's book on abortion. VERY good. very logical. Got it from Amazon but can't find it now.

Have talked to my neighbor several times this last week. Her life is an advertisement for why we need to do things God's way. So sad.

Showing signs of diabetes. Guess I had better behave myself.

abortin

Reading "abortion" by rc sproul.

Interesting question: If a person without a heartbeat or brainwaves is dead then is a person WITH heartbeat and brainwaves alive? That's, what?, less than 8 weeks after conception?

Differences are not the same.

It is a common ploy for people to try to count everyone they possibly can as part of their victim group to try to make it bigger. For example, a woman who telecommutes, works at Walmart for the month December so she can buy Christmas presents, or writes articles for a magazine during her children's naps are all snagged by the feminists as "working moms" while those who promote mommy care would call them all SAHMs. We need to recognize that not all who CAN come under the same label should.

The above women have nothing at all in common with a high powered lawyer who works 60 hours a week and only sees her kids on weekends, for example.

So here's some clarification:

A woman who works outside the home so her children won't starve is a brave hero.
A woman who works outside the home so she can have a bigger house, fancier cars or vacations or clothes is selfish.

A woman who bottle feeds because she had a mastectomy, adopted the baby, or had another serious condition that simply couldn't be overcome is doing the best thing for herself and her family. (and praise God we now have the option of formula!)
A woman who bottle feeds because she wants to be able to leave the baby for long periods of time, wants to make hubby get up and feed in the middle of the night, or just doesn't want to bother is selfish.

A mom who has her baby circumsized because she did the research an decided it would be better to do this minor operation now than put her son at risk for cancer later is a thoughtful, intelligent woman.
A mom who has her baby circumcised because, well, that's just what you do, is an idiot.

A mom who spanks because she has researched and feels that is the best method of discipline is a good mom.
A mom who spanks because she is too mad to control herself is evil.

You get the point.

I jsut get so fe up with people using red herrings!

"Well my hubby left me for another woman so I had no choice but to put my children in daycare so you should never say anything bad about daycare."

Well, honey, you are brave and strong and have been handed a hard lot. You are doing the best you can.

That doesn't change the fact that children do better with mommy than with paid strangers. It just doesn't.

My neighbor who absolutely had to have that fancy house and new car was downright evil for putting her baby in daycare instead of making do and raising her own child on her hubby's income.

Let's be reasonable, people!

Alarming early mornings

My hubby is a morning person an rarely needs an alarm to get up. With the time change, though, he has been setting his just to make sure he doesn't oversleep. He was up at 4 like normal this am, but forgot to turn his alarm off.

This explains why I got up at 5:30.

Actually, that's the time I aim for anyway. It allows me to have some quiet prayer time before the kids get up (they aren't allowed to get up until 6). But I figure if I sleep in I must need the rest so I don't set any alarms or anything.

Talked to the neighbor a couple of days ago. She keeps making references to "you Christians" with comments about candles and praying to all those people (saints). She was raised Catholic and I guess doesn't realize that non-Catholic Christians dispensed with all those pagan rituals. She said she has been hanging out with some southern baptists. I hope she learns the truth from them:-)

Our new Grammar program, Analytical grammar, is working great. I have three children in it and they are getting the hang of finding all the nouns, pronouns, adjectives and articles.

My two younger ones who are old enough to begin grammar are doing a mad lib book. One of the best grammars we have ever done! The whole family gathers together for their lesson:-D

I am watching the sunrise as I type. When we first bought the house I said "My chair goes THERE!" Though I haave moved much of the rest of the furniture around over the 13 years we have been here, the big computer, book shelves, horses and my chair have stayed put. I can see almost the whole house and hear what I can't see from here and, best of all, I can see across the valley (still with their lights on right now) to the mountains with the sun coming up behind them. In the evening, the light plays on the mountains and it is just beautiful.

So how do you get rid of mice? We are having a plague of them (one is staring at me right now!) They have about ruined our piano. We have tried both live and kill traps. We used glue traps once and won't again. Can't use poison because of the mouser dog, cat and chickens besides, of course, the toddler. So what do I do??? Hate the things. (wouldn't mind pretty little white ones in a habitrail, but crawling around on my floor and in my piano has to end!)

Mom start chemo in a week and a half. Her cancer turned out to not be the garden variety of breast cancer which is estrogen sensitive. That is treated by you taking a pill every day for 5 years that keeps your cells from absorbing estrogen. Hers is much more agressive. They got the whole tumor, but taking chem will lower the risk of cancer reaccurance by more than 11%.

The acutal numbers the doctor told us:
Out of 100 women with her demographics over the next ten years,

• 15 died of things that had nothing to do with cancer (heart disease, busses, etc.)
• 58 with radiation treatment alone had no cancer of any kind.
• 27 had some sort of cancer return.

Adding chemo reduced that last number to 16.

So she has decided it will be worth the three months of chemo followed by 6 weeks of radiation.

Unfortunatly, this will put her very close to (and possibly past) my brother's wedding date.

My brother was married for 13 years to Cathy. 4 years ago she passed away from liver disease.

He is now engaged to a woman who lost her husband 5 years ago to a blood infection. They will be marrying this summer, giving him 7 children (the three he and Cathy adopted plus Mari's 4) I think he is cheating. I had to get my 9 one at a time! :-D

My dog snores. How weird is that?

I guess it's time to get to work now. I am writing a new believers course for our church. It's almost done. yeah!

Actually, my dad wrote the core of it decades ago. I remember going through it every couple of years all my growing up. The last time we went through it in our church, I put it together in a book and sent it to Lulu.com for publishing. We now have several copies available at the church for anyone who wants them.

My recent research says we need a new members class, and we do have some newbies coming that I believe this would be essintial for. My parents went to a newbie class at another church that is being quite successful and brought home their curriculum. I have read it through and realized my dad's workbook covers almost the same stuff, worded differently, with less harping (lol). I just need to flesh a few places out a bit.

So, with that, off to write about prayer!

Have a great day:-)