When It Rains, It Pours

Really this has not been a fun week.

After kicking it off with Brenna in the hospital (she’s doing fine by the way) the week was moving like normal. Once night I was finishing up some work at the table when Garrett came in to hang out with Kortney. Nothing new there.

Yeah right.

I honestly think they forgot I was there as they started talking. I started hearing words like “treatment,” “last time,” and “leaving.” After nearly 2 hours of this I figured out that Garrett had bin told he has cancer and was to go to an appointment the next day to discuss treatment. 

The argument for the first 2 hours was if he should get it or not. He said he should just die and Kortney wanted him to live. It then became another 2 hours argument about touching and what they are to each other.

Seriously, I think they forgot I was there.

Millie, my other roommate, was absent for most of it. But around midnight when the 2 of us were in bed they were still going at it. I think they argued until around 2 or something.

I later found out that he was told he has ‘Hodgkin Lymphoma.’

Next was something we were expecting. 

My family raises puppies for the Seeing Eye and Wednesday was the day that Kramer, our first Golden Retriever, left. It’s sad but I honestly don’t think that he isn’t going to pass. 

Then something really bad happened.

My youngest sister got home from school yesterday. Mom was at work, Dad had been out all day. She went to use the water and nothing happened. When she went downstairs she was meet with nearly 4 feet of water.

It's so deep that the chairs float.

Somehow the main water heater broke and was leaking for who knows how long. It wouldn’t be too bad if the basement wasn’t finished. Now everything is ruined. The carpet, walls, furniture, piano, DVDs, game consoles, photo albums, family games, Dad’s set designs, Mom’s fashion show materials, Michael’s bed set. The list goes on for ages.

Things really aren’t looking good for this new year. Hopefully this is the last of the bad karma for the year.

Christmas Week

Sorry for the lack of photos, my sister has yet to get them to me.

Anyway, Christmas with our families is crazy to say the least. 

The 23rd we did our normal Christmas Eve traditions at home which meant watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and doing gift exchange between siblings.

The 24th we woke up early to go up to my Mama-Lou’s house (Dad’s side of the family). With my Papa Tom not doing great anymore we went up early to help cook. We left to attend 4:30 mass at the church my parents got married in, then returned for dinner at 6 o’clock.

Being that this family is all Italian we had lots of sea food. Clams, muscles, oysters, scallop, shrimp, lobster, and cod. My one cousin is allergic to shell fish though so he had chicken made special for him and promised to eat it all - of course he didn’t realize that there was a second platter not on the table.

There was too much food in general, as normal, considering the 10 lobster. We only had 3 courses this year as opposed to the usual 4 and by the time everything was cleared and all the gifts opened it was around 11:15.

The next day was Christmas at my Grandma’s house (Mom’s family) and there started off on a not so good note as the power to the kitchen went off for nearly 2 hours early that morning after the turkey went in. Thankfully my dad was able to fix it and we all went down stairs to open the presents. (It’s very different in this family since here all our 1st cousins are much younger and on the other side we are all around the same age.)

Dinner was set to start at 12, but with the power problems earlier it was pushed back to 1. We then faced the question of seating. Originally we were only having about 25 people for dinner. Then the phones started ringing and by the time everything was said and done we had 43 people siting there (though those 16 and under were set up in the kitchen’s breakfast nook.) 

It was crazy let me tell you.

We left that night to go home and the next morning we had our Christmas Day at our house and sent the afternoon with each other.

Over the following week I meet up with my high school friend, my brother had lots of people over, we saw Les Miserables (was good), saw The Hobbit in 48 frames 3D (awesome), played lots of games and just had fun being together.

I hope everyone’s holidays were joyful and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Good News and Bad News

Right. So the good news is that we finished the house. We now have new carpet, new hardwood floors, new painted walls, newly cleaned rooms, and new carpet.

Of course this means that we can on longer be on the carpet with food or drink which is annoying, but by the time summer rolls around Dad should be fine again.

He also hadn’t wanted to put up a tree this year. 1) We got rid of our 15ft fake tree last year. 2) We haven’t found a new on that fits the new requirements. 3) Dad didn’t want a mess in the newly made room.

However, my sisters and I were adamant on getting one so decided that we would look for a real one and put it all up ourselves. All the boys would have to do is be quiet.

So we got our mom and set out. Of course though it was the 22nd and the roads were packed. First we stopped and got lights, a tree carpet, and water collector. We then set out to the garden shop we know still had some trees before trying the farms. We never actually got there though.

On the way we were passing by the old church were the Boy Scouts sell trees every year. They had just finished the day before, but 2 trees were still there. So we checked it out. Turned out that one of them was great - about 6.5 ft tall with no major holes. There was no sign, no rope, no nothing that indicated you couldn’t just take it - so we did and decorated it that night as a family. It has a few issues, but for a free tree it is great.

On to the bad news.

On Thursday the 20th I let out cat Minnie outside as normal. She is an indoor/outdoor cat and enjoys hunting so I thought nothing of it. That night she didn’t come back before dark (which she normally does in the winter) and we had a rain storm that night. We honestly haven’t seen her since that Thursday afternoon.

We have looked everywhere around the house, but with 55 acres in the back - about 50 of them being woods - it is really hard to even look. I’ve put up notices on Facebook, have the shelters on alert, sent out flyers to our neighbors, but we’re really worried. I honestly think she got hurt in the storm and is unable to get to us. Hopefully she can get to someone’s house and they take her to the vet (which we are contacting the day after Christmas).

All we can do is hope.

I'm Alive

Yeah, it’s been a while. Sorry.

Anyway, getting home was...fine, it just seems like I can’t travel without something happening. I had to fly out of Tampa and leave my car at school so as not to pay for a month of parking. So I scheduled a pickup from a shuttle service I used last year. They comforted it - 10:30 am at Publix - my reservation. My roommate give me a ride and we get there at 10:32. No shuttle. We waited, called dad, waited, and waited until 11 and gave up. Thankfully my fight wasn’t actually until 5 so my dad was able to go on a different shuttle at 2. Fun.

But I got home in one piece. Made my parents see Wreck it Ralph with my youngest sister and I, went out to eat, did some Christmas shopping, had a lazy day, and scheduled a time to see my girls at Moore College.

And that was what I did Tuesday. I took a train a bit before noon and got to the school by 1 and walked around waiting for someone to get out of class. I was very upset to see Moe Brooker’s name not on his door anymore (my Design teacher and the one responsible for me liking design) but he is only teaching Graduate classes from what I hear.

It was a great time. I got to see my old roommate and catch up with most of my friends I left (they were in the middle of finals so were a bit busy), toured the LOVE park with it’s Christmas fair with my old roommate, went out to dinner with some people, and just had a good time.

Originally I was going to stay in Philly, but with my one Grandfather not doing great I decided to take the train to his house instead. Meaning I had to take a train from Philly to Trenton, change trains then go from Trenton to Metro-park. Simple, I’ve done it tons of times when I actually went to Moore, but traveling is impossible for me this year.

It wasn’t big, just that the ticket machine wouldn’t take the debit card, or the credit card, so I finally used cash and got to the platform - only to see the train pulling away. Had to wait another half hour but oh well.

I only stayed at my grandparents house for little over a day but I still managed to help make several hundred cookies, decorate the tree, see my Aunt and Uncle in a small quartet recital, nearly finish a puzzle we have been doing for over a year, and help with Christmas shopping. What can I say, I love my grandparents.

The rest of the week was okay. My sister and brother came home from college on the weekend, we’ve been finishing up the house so all the walls just got painted, carpet is going in today, new furniture comes on Saturday, my youngest sister is starting to learn how to drive (scary), trying to find a tree before Christmas, doing some last minute wrapping...the usual holiday crazies.

For those who care, I really am working on getting online this set up for my work, just half of my work is on the external drive I left in Florida - so it will be a while. And incase I don’t update in time - Merry Christmas!