Packy is Cancer Free!!!!

On the boat 2013

Chris's birthday at hockey game and then
Jump Jam 2014

Our good friend Packy (he was Chris's best man at our wedding) has been going through chemo for cancer for sometime. Pat had surgery last week to remove all left over cancer following chemo.  So Packy is now totally cancer free!!!!  And home!  Such wonderful news!!!  Now time to recover, get strong and get ready for boating.  One of Pat's favorite things to do.

We love you Packy!!

Boating 2013

Packy's sister's wedding. 2012 I believe?

Me and Packy 2007

Stone is rolled away...

My sister's.  I love it!  I want her to make me one. Love the "cave" as she said her grandson Jack, who is 3, called it.  Notice the stone?  It's rolled away.....

It's Tuesday but Sunday's coming...

Cousins at the Lake

My cousin Jeremiah's wife Sarah. She is beautiful, fearless and of amazing Faith. I admire and love her very much. Those you surround yourself with influence much about who you are.  To be successful in life and happiness you must surround yourself with people who have the qualities you would like to possess.  The marriage and life Jeremiah and Sarah live have aspects I'd like in mine.  Not to be an exact copy! My own identity of course. But to maintain the goals I've set in my life they are a fine couple of folks to learn a few things from. 

We spent a lot of time with Jeremiah and Sarah since they began dating and married in 2010. However, when we bought the boat they became as hooked as Chris on wake boarding and just being on the lake.  I'm okay with the lake.  Enjoy it most of the time.  The best part is growing even closer and spending time with our cousins. They are special. The boat is worth family and friend time it's created. Much more than I ever dreamed it would.

Prettiest day so far in 2014...

Today was just a most gorgeous day.  The best weather so far in 2014.  Chris and I both worked this Saturday morn.  After work I had lunch at The Lamp Post with Chris's mom.  We had our favorite - cheeseburgers!  (I'm blessed with my mother-in-law and enjoy our time together.)

Afterwards I drove around Corntassel to put out a few election yard signs.  I stopped and chatted with my cousin Ricky for a little bit and then met Sarah, Chris and our wake boarding friend Todd, who has become a type of lake/wake boarding mentor for Chris, for some boating at Rasar Landing.  (Jeremiah joined Chris, Sarah and I after he got off from work and as we dropped Todd off at the boat dock.)

I feel like I'm in the middle of filming an episode of the Xgames when watching Todd ride. Only there are no cameras.  It's pretty amazing!  I've always enjoyed watching sports.  Especially extreme sports.  Perhaps because it's something exciting but also something I'll never try.  One doesn't have to be in the middle of participating in order to love something.  I fear Todd believes I do not enjoy myself on the days I'm along for the ride. It's hard to be my dingy, sarcastic, silly, clumsy self sitting next to an Xgames star!  

Our time with sharing boat rides with Todd is fading fast as the weather is improving more and more every day.  Soon he'll have his boat back on the water along with friends and family to ride with in the summer.  God willing in the fall we'll maybe all meet up again. When no one wants to ride in either his or Chris's boat because it will be too cold.  Too cold for everyone except Todd and Chris.  Maybe then I'll ask Todd if I can bring my good camera on a trip. Out to snap some pics I can share on this blog of the only X games I'll probably ever see in person.  Of Todd jumping and flipping and flying through the air. Perhaps Chris will have learned some of the tricks. Or a few and I can take photos of him as well. I hope Chris improves as he wishes.  For some reason he loves that crazy stuff.  And that's okay. Okay as long as he doesn't break something!

Meanwhile I'll be along for the ride.  And to be the occasional boat driver when Chris and I are alone.  In the cold.  Thank goodness for the heater hoses Chris had built into the boat.  And warm blankets.  I think he knows installing those was the only way he could convince me I needed to tag along when it's cold outside.  Well, not tag along.  He needs me during the cold.  No one else would "tag" along as he says.  Tagging along with Chris Hull when it's freezing cold gives one the title of "boat driver" not "companion".  

So anyways, welcome spring!  And soon welcome summer!  But not too soon please.  I do love the temperatures and beauty of spring.  I hate when winter jumps into a quick summer.  I hate to sweat.  And most probably there will be no jumping into the lake water to cool off for this ole girl this year.  Not unless this horrible hole in my chest heals sooner than believed......

Me on the Autobahn

Local Government

At supper at Local Government Resource training with Ashley and Courtney. 

Duct Tape

Only around here.   And we call it Duck Tape.  Or at least I do...

Dauntless

Believe it or not I've now watched "Divergent" three times at the movies.  I've helped the box office! And the popcorn stand!

Chris and I went to see the movie the first week. My niece, two great nieces and one of their friends went this week during the kid's spring break.  Tonight my sister Lynette and I watched in Cleveland.

My great niece Chelsea

It's a good movie.  Not the greatest ever.  But the kind I can watch over and over.  More than that I enjoy sharing things I like with the people I care about.  Pretty much the best thing in life for me is to do so. Whether it be music or movies or sight seeing.

"Divergent" was especially interesting as the main heroine Beatrice reminds me a bit of myself.  Until she gets brave that is.  I was eager to have my sister watch.  To see what she thought of the Factions.  When we got back to her house after the movie we were talking about it.  I asked her what Faction our family would belong to had we lived in times as those.  She said she wasn't sure.  I said Beatrice's Faction of birth-Abnegation.

Lynette asked because we are selfless or some words to that affect.  I said yeah kinda.  We are a public service kinda family.  And could never be Dauntless.

I told my sister I felt like Beatrice a lot of the time.  However, I said I'd be Factionless when the first initiation sort of thing that happened--climbing the train track braces!  Lynette said she could never jump out of the train.  Then I told her I would actually be Factionless when they started running after the Choosing Ceremony because I'd never keep up.  Lynette said she would never had made it through cutting her hand for the Choosing Ceremony.  Ummmm... well, come to think of it, me neither.

Yes, our family could never be Dauntless.  But some have to be as we are and I'm happy with that.  Although it would be nice to throw my hands in the air, laugh and jump, free falling, not knowing there was a net to catch me.  Maybe?  Maybe not......

Doorway

Pretty much every time I walk through a doorway as I'm trying to get something done I forget what I was doing....

Baseball Buddy

My best friend from high school and I had dinner tonight.   For the first time in probably 15 years.  We went to our favorite restaurant from way back in the 80's.   Chili's.   We didn't talk about old times but things of today.  Things we have both been up to and talked about for the past year of reconnecting in life.  My baseball buddy and I.  We never missed a Madisonville high school baseball game.  Thus called ourselves "baseball buddies".   Wow.  How I've missed her.

I need a vacation.....

But can't seem to get one planned....

Barn Fire

Coming home from watching "Divergent" Tuesday night about 12:30 am we saw a fire. The fire was so large we could see it and it was at least five miles away.  Obviously it was a home. Or in our community could be a barn fire.

Chris and I were sick all of sudden.  The fire was in the area we live.  Chris drove so fast toward home.  I said someone would have called us if it was our place.

Finally we got to our road and thank the Good Lord it wasn't on our farm.  But it was just over the hill.

We drove on.  There was a large old barn in total blaze.  No one was there.  No one had called 911. And there were neighbors to the barn I'd have thought the fire would've awakened.  So much for feeling secure someone would see our place if it caught on fire.  We have no neighbors who can see our land from their homes like those near the barn.

We sat there after calling the fire in.  A car came by.  They had seen the fire from highway 411-about four miles away.  Another came who had seen the fire from highway 68.  The direction we came from.

it was so sad watching the old hay barn go up in n flames.  Thankfully no one was hurt and the fire didn't spread.

The barn burned fast.  

It was full of hay.

Print Photos

As we were visiting tonight with the family of our friend who died this week they were going through boxes of old photos.  Print photos.  Paper photos.  There are generations of people who no longer know what those really mean.  And the generation I'm from seem to forget.  Until it's time for remembrance and passing the box of photos around.  Sharing.  Laughing.  Remembering.  Grieving.  You just can't get those kinds of connections from a computer chip or Smartphone loaded full of selfies.

Vacation???? Ugh....

Before Chris's busy season of horse showing begins I'd like to go on a short three or four day vacation.   Planning is proving next to impossible.

Chris and I started dating in 1990 or married in 1996.  Our honeymoon was a horse show and those have prevented many of a getting away trips.  It's hard to find people willing and capable of taking care of our farm.  And knowing how to tell when things are going wrong, such as being able to tell when a horse is sick.  Owning a farming/horse training business is a huge responsibility.  Horses are placed in our care.  And both Chris and I care deeply about that trust owners put into us.

Oh, we've been on one night trips in and around Sevier County.  We travel a lot for horse shows. But when at horse shows sight seeing is next to none.  That's not why Chris is out of town.  He is very busy with horses and customers.   All night. All day.  I've known many times he's slept in a chair next to stalls.  No time for sleep at a hotel. Or to weary to go.  It's trying work physically.   But he loves it.  That's all that matters.

Outer Banks 2009

Outer Banks-Chris went parasailing.  Me, um, no. They
offered to let me go free just to get me to try. hmmm...they
had no idea who I was.....Free or not. No way.

In 2009 we went to The Outer Banks.  It was the first time Chris had ever seen the ocean.  We had a great time.  We had a week's reservation.   There on Sunday, leave Saturday.  I had everything ready for our hotel.  My sister's family vacation is to the Outer Banks since 1997.  I have been with them twice.

I made reservations at little hotel they had used those two times.  It was old and a historical land mark.  When we pulled in and parked in front of the checkin Chris stared straight ahead.  He finally said, "Marna, this is the type of hotel people live in."  I said no, it's a historical landmark.  It's a bit old but right on the beach.  Wonderful history.  Chris said, "No...this is the kinda place people LIVE in."

We had a good week but on Wednesday night Chris said in a quite tone, "I'm kinda ready to go home."
I looked at him and said, "Me too."
So we checked out on Thursday and headed home.

Outer Banks 2009

Cruising-first stop-Key West

The next time we tried a vacation in December 2010.  I'd been through six rounds of chemo and would be finishing up my last radiation the week of the trip.  Our friends from Ohio really wanted us to go.  So we did.  And we enjoyed somewhat.  I was just growing my hair out.  It was a mess.  But I didn't wear a scarf.  I was on vacation and didn't want a old hot scarf on my head.  I was also very tired from the radiation treatments and also because of them couldn't be in full sun.  Or swim.



Chris and I will probably never go on another cruise.  We didn't enjoy it enough to.  However, had I not been sick and tired the outcome may have been more positive.

Friends in Bahamas 

Last night on ship with friends

So back to now.  Beach, no.  Chris didn't care for the beach.  He would if I wanted but really he doesn't.  I tried to find a cabin on a lake somewhere that we could rent and take our boat.  He could wakeboard and then we can eat and see the sights.  I've called some at Nantahala Lake but haven't heard back.  They may not allow wakeboarding.

Chris said he wouldn't mind going to Vegas.  We aren't big on gambling.  But Chris only wants to see a
magic show.  (I hate magic)  If we go there I'd want to see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.  I just don't know if we have time to do all that.

My dream is Africa.  That isn't going to happened.  Chris said NO he will never go.  He doesn't care about seeing tigers.  I told him the tigers are in India and places.  Not on the plains of Africa.

I need ideas.  We have tons.  I'm afraid we'll go somewhere and it will turn out bad.  Then we have wasted three days.  Plus I cannot get in water with my wound which is still healing.  And physically can't do a lot because of that as well.  Cuts down on the possibilities of fun.

Chris said New Orleans.  I'm not feeling that.  I'd love to go to Niagra Falls.  But not really feeling like that either.

Decisions...Not being able to decide.  Does that mean I really don't want to go?

Our Friend

One of friend's, Larry, passed away about 3:30 am today.  Hearts are heavy in Monroe County.  Larry was a great guy, much loved and a great family.

Some very old photos.  I can't find many-more recent.

My First Throwback Thursday

My first Throwback Thursday.  I'm not sure why I chose this event.  A friend's wedding 2008.  I think 2008.

Maybe it's a combination of the two surgeries since Christmas, the hope of one to become more "normal" which resulted to a second surgery and the loss of that dream forever.  Maybe the four or five in office procedures since then, and more to come, maybe it's the trauma so many friends and family have had recently that make me feel guilty for being vain.  I dunno.  I just know all of a sudden I remembered this wedding.  I remember this was the FIRST time in all of my 37 years at the time that I'd ever worn a strapless anything.  And I was so nervous during the fittings.  I really did not want to wear that dress.  I'd also never had that much make up on.  It took a day to remove!

The wedding was such fun.  Looking at the photos remind me of my breasts before cancer.  I kinda liked them.  Even though I hid them behind turtlenecks.  The photos also remind me of my skin.  My skin before chemo.  Skin that didn't have horrible chemo spots.  The hair.  Thick. Natural.  Teeth.  Unharmed by chemicals.  Eyes of brown.  Now turned a sort of greenish brown.

These photos are silly.  But it's fun to be silly from time to time.  Perhaps the reason my mind brought these pics to mind is the fact that it was such a fun, carefree time.  A time that has been lacking in the past four years.  A time which in a hurry to heal this last bump in my road will be back again.

When I really think of it this Throwback Thursday it's one of memory of before cancer.  But also the dreams of what life will be like after cancer-after the after affects are forever gone.  It will be such.  I'll make it such.

Silly boy!

Peanut taught me to sign.  Not sure what it's called.

She had to TEACH me.  I kept "throwing"

a peace sign.  Not sure what the new sign and face

are called.  But pretty sure it's not a peace sign.

I CANNOT dance.  But tried.

Me and three of the other bridesmaids.  We 

had a great time getting ready.  There was

a woman putting our make up on professionally

(I'd never be able to get so perfectly like she did!)

And also our hair fixed by a hairstylist.  Felt

as though we were pampered and it was our special 

day.  I think our friend who was the bride wanted it

that way.  I did do one thing for myself.  Well two.

I did my own nails in a french manicure (gasp!)

And I ate a Bert's pizza.  :)

Good Saturday

What do I call a good Saturday? Worked the morning then lunch with three nieces and the future nephew in law. Home to work on flowers. My cousin Jeremiah came by to fix my headlight and help with hay and feed. He and Sarah had a surprise gift for me: my favorite dress and scarf from The Lily Pad after my attempt at modeling at "Step into Spring"!!  My niece Bella came over and fixed my hair. My brother in law dropped my nephew Tanner at the house and Tanner and I went by the Republican BBQ then off to the last regular season Knoxville Ice Bears game we went. After Krystal of course. I dropped Tanner off his house when game was over.  Then my niece Chelsea came over and spent the night. That's what I call a good Saturday. 

My Nephew Colton's Senior Prom

My nephew Colton and his sister, my

niece Amber

My nephew Colton Senior Prom

She's soooo funny and cute.

Ready for the limo ride

Chris's sister Bridget

Niece Amber

Bella's Soccer Game March 20, 2014

Great niece Bella's soccer team The McMinn Central Knights won their game against Lakeforrest.  7-0.  Bella scored once!  Yea!

Bella is going to spend the night with me tonight.  Without her sister Chelsea.  They refuse to stay the same night.  Tomorrow will be Chelsea's night.

My nephew Jamey and his wife, who was my best friend

siince 7th grade.  Bella's mom and dad.

My nephew Jamey, Bella's dad.  Yes, he is older than me.

Wow....2011 post....

Wow....reading a blog post from 2011 is something to revisit in a future post....Considering fears of vanity and of being worse off after reconstruction than before. What a totally crazy, unbelievable journey I've been on....it's unending.


2011 post:
You'll Never be the Same...

Voyage

Movie Chris will definitely want to see: "Voyage".  I'll look forward to it because it's filmed on the Tennessee River.  Chris will look forward to the wake boarding scenes.

Website with movie trailer:
Voyage movie

Beards

The man with the best NHL playoff beard has stopped shaving.  I'm afraid dear Shea Weber, that unfortunately may be a bit shortsighted this year for the Predators...disappointed.......

Survivors Opting for Reconstruction

Good article USA Today:

Survivors Opting for Reconstruction