Flyball Retirement

Dually's retirement gift from flyball. Amazing framed photo.

Dually was once a guest star on "The Walking Dead".  He also starred in the movie "That Evening Sun" with Hal Holbrook.

What a great life Dually and Connie have had together.

Chasing Life and Chemo Brain

Love the fact that the television show, "Chasing Life", addresses "chemo brain".

Like

Does anyone, these days, know how and when to properly use the word like in a grammatically correct way in conversation?   (This sentence probably isn't written in a grammatically correct way, but you get my gist.)

Starbucks

On a bad date and forget their name? Go to Starbucks. They'll write their name on the cup so you can say bye.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez is gorgeous with makeup and fancy clothes.  But she's beautiful with little makeup and dressed casual.  Beautiful is better than gorgeous.

Cancer is too romanticized.

But only a few kinds.

ER at 3:00 am

The exact reason you shouldn't think you can beat a GI virus.  Dehydration will put you in ER.  I've never been this sick.      

         Well.....this can't compare to chemo...

Opposites

Life is about opposites. People who have curly hair want straight, people who are married want to be single, people who want kids can't....

Sorry about videos

The videos I post are unable to open.  I'm unsure the reason.

NHL All Star Game 2015

Wow. Pekka, Weber, Forsberg, and coach voted to All Stars!!!  Think Nashville Predators will get some press love-finally?

Amazing doctor dancing before bilateral mastectomy

Wonder how hard it was to her co-workers to operate?  Especially after this. Very moving.

Angry Shea

I love when Angry Shea shows up.  Shea Weber is a boss.

Sometimes he can make me feel exceptional

Sometimes he can make me feel exceptional.  For instance Wednesday night. Chris and I met our friend Wes at the Smokey Mountain Brewery for dinner. Wednesday nights are trivia night and although we don't play it's fun to watch and listen.

We were sitting at the last red light and Chris was looking through his Facebook on his tablet.  (Yes!  He still has a flip phone but has the tablet.)  Chris said something about me switching my profile picture often.  I told him that was the fun of Facebook.  And silliness.  He hit the "like" button.  I said, "oh, you liked my profile picture. I kinda look pretty behind sunglasses."  Chris said I was beautiful, sunglasses or not.  I told him I didn't know about that, it was the sunglasses.  Chris said, "You're the prettiest girl on Facebook."

Sometimes he can make me feel exceptional.....









I don't feel comfortable without my sunglasses.......

But if I can't have them over my eyes I'll have have them on my head. 

Channel 13 Warning

One of the funniest friends, and breast cancer survivor, had this comment on her Facebook page after the Channel 13 hoax about Facebook privacy.

Oh how I wish she lived closer to Tennessee.   Texas is too far to visit for a dinner.   Though we've discussed my five year mark.


Note: Snopes is your friend people.

Relay for Life 2015

May 1, 2015 is the date "Relay for Life" is scheduled.  The event is once again at Hiwassee College.  Maybe I'll go.....I don't know.  I've been to two.  I'm just so uncomfortable at them.  I don't understand why......

Blogging

Blogging has been a great experience. Except when nothing comes to mind other than short posts of topics generally added to Facebook or Twitter, which has been me for weeks.  I realize more and more that I'm not a very good writer.  Well, not that I haven't know for a while.  I used to be more careful in my stories and posts.  Agonizing over grammar and points I was trying to make, often returning to a published post making changes/updates that were worthless because those few who read have already done so and do not know of my new ideas for the subject.  Now I've become lazy, like most things in my life.

I almost never read or follow blogs.  Blogging is hard for a lot of people, the writer and the reader.  There is no instant gratification with "likes" or "comments" on Social Media.  Most want those and therefore stick to Social Media for glory.  (I don't consider blogging Social Media.) I don't claim not to enjoy instant gratification or the feeling that someone actually cares what I think and that I'm special/original in my writing.

This week I spent some time reading a blog I've not read before. I didn't agree with all the viewpoints presented but the blog was well written and interesting.  The blog hit me with something I've known for years:  I'm a middle of the road, mediocre writer, very much unlike the one I read.

I touch on subjects I know keep me safe, such as cancer.  I know a lot about it.  I know I have the right to be at least some level of expert on breast cancer.  I know that no one will challenge me on the opinions I have on the subject because I have the "C" card.  I belong to a certain group.  A small group.  A group no one can argue or judge you about what you have put to paper.  You've had cancer and survived it and have the risk of reoccurrence.  Whose going to challenge that and besides what would they challenge?

After working in the social worker field for around 15 years, specializing in working with domestic violence and their children, I feel passionate, but not an expert, about the subject even though many will and do argue about the causes and whose at fault, etc.  I can take it and will fight with my opinion.  However, still middle of the road.

Christianity, I'm very devote on my beliefs and faith.  I had no fear of death during cancer-chemo, radiation, all the surgery.  The experience was very surreal.  Looking back it feels like I never had cancer.  Strange.....  My faith in a future following death was strengthened by the lose of a brother, mother and father.  Loss of my own life was ok.  We all have to die.  I'm okay with that.  Not that I'm actually ready, want to die.  Sometimes I fear how I will die.  However, the actual part of death and life thereafter are what is okay with me.  I don't believe in pushing my beliefs onto others.  I love talking about my faith and sharing my faith but I don't impose.  I can write about it.  Middle of the road.

There are two other subjects, well three, where I have enough experience with to be considered okay to know enough to write on.  However, I doubt those will be put to paper.  They are outside my box. I'm a middle of the road writer.  It's safe there.  Those books I've alluded to happening throughout my blog?  They'll never, ever happen.  I'm a mediocre person living a mediocre life who will never take chances.  I'm Beatrice from "Dauntless" only the Beatrice who will never cut her hand, never drip her blood into another bowl, never become "Tris".

I'm just Marna.  I'm okay with that.

Ahhh great nieces........

Took all of an hour till Bella called and asked if she and I could do something today since her sister is sick and cannot go to movies.  They kill me with the comedy of their personalities.  The sisters refuse to spend time together with me and when one cancels on me for a trip the other pounces.

What will I do when the great's grow up and don't want to hang out with their old aunt?  Well, Chels is almost twenty-one and she still loves me.  I guess when they have their own families Mallie Belle, two, and Jack, three, will be old enough to want to spend time with a great aunt who at that time will be much older.....Or maybe Amber and Colton will have kids someday.  But I'm beginning to doubt it....

What's an aunt, who loves all of her 13 nieces, nephews, and greats and has no children of her own, to do?  The situation is one of the only ones in my life which sadden me.

Hobbit vs Purge Anarchy

Today was to be movie day with my great niece, Chelsea, and I.  No one will go to movies to see the "Hobbit".  I've refused to watch "Purge Anarchy" with Chelsea for months.  So I struck a deal with her-she was to watch the "Hobbit" today and I'd watch "Purge Anarchy" when she spends the night in a couple of weeks while Chris is out of town.  Well.  She has the flu.  I'm disappointed about the "Hobbit" but will continue to harass her about "Purge" with the peskiness I love to use.

Wonder when Bella will text........ahhh the greats.

I hate makeup and rarely buy it but I'm fairly certain that this is not how a new tube of lipstick should look.

Wrist Tattoo

I told Tennie I've had worse when she gave me a flu shot at the Health Department today and said "I'm sorry".  But, wow, my arm is really sore.

Tennie knows all about my breast cancer battle a few years ago as she shared an office at the Health Department with my sister for many years.

Tennie asked which arm she could use. Most nurses and doctors I see know to ask. I've had lymph nodes removed from my right arm so no sticks or blood pressure.

Healthcare workers not familiar with former cancer patients do not know or either do not think to ask.  Of course now I don't look like a cancer patient so I'm quick to say no to my right arm and offer my left.

Soooo...all that to say I've decided to get a tattoo on the underside of my wrist that says "No BP.  No Sticks".  I bet Ami James could create something cool.  Maybe I'll head to Miami.

Oh.  And I'm only kidding.  Well.  Half way...

Okay.  Horrible pre-design. I was writing with my left hand onto my right wrist.  But you get the idea.  

Ami James will make it right.

Knoxville Ice Bears night

Great night for the Nashville Predators moving into #1 spot in NHL.  On the other hand the Knoxville Ice Bears were beaten by the last place team in the SPHL who were 0-11-2 on the road.  Waste of trip to Knoxville.

Standings

Top 10 of 30

Predators #1

With the win tonight the Preds are THE #1 team in the NHL!  Worst odds this past off season to win the Stanley Cup.   This little "out of market " team is quietly making a mark.

Flu Shot

My arm is so sore!  After lunch I went to the Health Department and had a flu shot.  The only thing good about the visit was talking with all my old friends who work there.  I think they enjoyed chastising me for not having the flu shot earlier.  Yes, y'all.  I know.  Every year for the rest of my life. Yeah, yeah.

Number 1 cause of injury every year.

Opening things in hard plastic containers.

On a friend from Italy's social media

Ex husband in hell

Taxpayer called today to check on taxes in Tennessee as he and his wife own land in Monroe County. I asked the name of the property which he gave me and then ask what the name was on the statement.   The man said that his wife's name was on the statement and she was divorced but her ex was also listed.  Then the man said "And he's in Hell!".  As he continued talking about the divorced dead husband he stated, "yeah I feel sorry for everyone who is in Hell and has to put up with him.  I laughed a little more and he kept talking about the guy being in hell.  It was quite comical although a very serious matter to this man. Then he said the man was a son of a b*tch.  "Have you ever met a sin of a b*tch?" he asked me.  I said yes I have and they really ruin your day. Laughing he thanked me for my help and we hung up.

Need help from a cousin.....

Jeremiah Millsaps.....

Fort Benning

I've not read "The Walking Dead" comics and don't plan to but have been told the TV show is following along closely.  I'm wondering about Morgan and Fort Benning.

At the beginning of Season 2 Rick tried to radio Morgan one last time.  Rick ended by saying maybe they'd see him in Fort Benning someday.  Foreshadowing.....?

Sons of Anarchy

The last season of one of my favorite shows came alongside the new season of "The Walking Dead".   Being preoccupied with TWD new season, plus other things in my life, put thought of the end of "Sons of Anarchy" in the back of my mind.

The show held my attention for three, maybe four seasons.  It's rare for a TV show to draw me in for longer.  Even "The Walking Dead" had disappointed me for the past two seasons.  The only exception: "Game of Thrones" has not lost me for one second.

The Irish story lines began in the 3rd year (I believe) and slowly SOA strayed from what was so great about the beginning.  However I was dedicated and stayed with the show, mostly to see if the creator's vision of "Hamlet" in leather clad, Harley riding gang members would play out.  But also, as morbid as it was, to see Clay and Gemma meet karma in a backalley in Charming.  (Though I don't believe in karma that's the only word which comes to mind.)

SOA's final season had some great writing.  Probably the best of the entire series.  Wow.  Back to the roots of the show.  Not only was the writing good the guest stars were brilliant.  Courtney Love as a preschool teacher?  Brilliant.  Marlyn Manson as a leader in prison.  Pretty much right on.  Even the guy who starred in "The Shield" show portraying the truck driver was intriguing from meeting Gemma to becoming the catalyst for the end of Jax.  Then there was Juice and Jax.  The interactions between those were some of the most profound I've watched on a TV series.

Like "The Walking Dead's", "The Talking Dead", SOA created a talk show which interviewed major characters each week.  I don't like discussion type shows.  It's one thing to talk about what happened the night before on Social Media or with friends but quite another to listen to the "experts".  Coming up with my own theories and discussing those in person with people I know is my preference.  But I thought to myself, this is the last year, ever, of SOA so I'd give a follow up talk show a chance.  It. Was. Horrible.

The little bit of "The Talking Dead" I'd watched to that point had been ok: good hosting, interesting guests with skill at carrying on conversation.  The SOA show?  Non-talented host, boring and flat, Kurt Sutter pretty much took over discussions and the stars sat with each other and answered questions about each other in ways which made it look as though they'd never met-on screen or off.  I should have never watched as listening to the dullness may have affected my view of the final season.

So with that here are a few things which were disappointing or just plain out confusing to the closure of SOA:

• Knowing that Kurt Sutter based the character and show upon "Hamlet" it was pretty clear how the show would end.  Though a large part of me desperately wanted Jax to walk off into the sunset with his two sons the other part knew that couldn't be.  After all he had done during his life he could not be absolved of his sin.  A day of reckoning had to come.  Jax should have died at the hands of his club, the hands of his enemies or behind bars.
• Jax spent the last episode finalizing his life from seeing to the future of his boys to securing a future for the club--his two passions. When Jax passed the gavel to Chibs my mind screamed: Chibs as president?!  No!  I was shocked and disappointed.  For one, Chibs always had been a follower and did not show leadership skills.  Two, I really wanted to club charter to die with Jax's death, to end with his bloodline.  No Teller blood-no club blood.
• The homeless woman and child.  The religious signs, symbols, what have you's, did not fit.  Gemma had glimpses of internal struggles of faith but Jax had never shown an ounce.  None that I noticed.  Was she the angel of death?  Seems when she appeared in SOA a character died.  But what was the meaning of the bread and wine?  How did they relate to Jax?  What was their significance in relating to Teller lives?  To Jax's death?  I'm still lost on that one.....
• The year was a bit predictable.  When something happened I'd think, oh year, saw that coming. Except for the death of Chief Unser.  I thought he would be the one to survive to tell the story of Jax, never die at Jax's hands.
• Jax's son Able driving off in the car foreshadows (I hate foreshadowing) the possibility of a spin off show.  Which if Kurt Sutter writes would probably be a very good show.  I'll watch. 
• Jax's end.  Holding his hands out to his sides on his Harley, closing his eyes, appearing to be making some kind of sacrifice with his life.....well that was pretty stupid.  He was no innocent lamb offering himself, and once again we saw bread and wine.
• Jax's end - killing himself by driving into a transfer truck on his Dad's bike.  Yep, saw that coming for weeks.  Jax was never an innocent.  However, the truck driver was.  Jax involved an innocent person in his ending his life.  One last selfish act of what was mostly a selfish life.

Wow, reading this makes me sound as if I hated SOA with not much positive to write of.  Though I was disappointed with a few elements of the ending, the show is on the list of my favorites.  The internal struggle of Jax from the pilot being pulled toward questioning his life and father's life.  His struggle every year within himself to change and become something else-to become what his father wrote of in the journals-to his realization that he wasn't something else nor ever would be after Tara died.  She had been his one link to the possibility of another life.  With her death Jax didn't try to fight who he really was, what he had always been, which leaked through at every corner of his life.  Jax finally knew who he was and that was clear when he told Wendy that he wanted his boys to hate him.  He was an outlaw....

High School Pizza

I loved this pizza in high school!   I made sure I was at the back of the line so I could buy another for $1.

Trivia Night

Word of advice.   When eating at The Brewery on Wednesday Trivia Night and you're not playing don't say answer out loud, even if it's just among your table. 

They don't like that.....

Broken Tooth

The ole man broke another tooth.  I thought he'd die last summer with the other.  This one was worse but seems he's handling it better.

What will we do when he's gone....

The Bachelor. .. again. Again?

I'm watching the premier of "The Bachelor " alone.  Chris is not here to force me and I'm missing someone to make catty comments to.  I hate this show.  Why am I watching these perfect women.  Perfect women having meltdowns (cattiness).

Below is the link to a post I'd written about being the best contestant ever after Chris told me I'd be the worst.  And I do mean "contestant ".  Well.  They are.  (No cattiness.  Only truth in that statement. )

The Bachelor. Again.

Chris's Birthday 2015

I think Chris had a good 42nd birthday.   We had lunch at Rafferty's in Knoxville with best buddy Packy and his girlfriend April.   Afterwards we went to the new outdoor store REI.  Very nice store.

Nicely designed building. 

Love the door handles. 

"Frozen" bike helmet.  Awww Mallie

Chris did have one disappointment.  After a trip to the Apple store we still cannot upload his horses for sale videos from our camera to the Mac.  He's very discouraged.

Barn Chore Help

The "kids" and I did all the barn chores this morning so Chris could sleep in on his birthday.

Book

I'm thinking of writing a book of memories from my husband and his buddy Packy's youth antics.   The things they did.....wish there had been Go-Pros.....

40,000

Nearly 40,000 views!!  That's a lot I reckon. Although no telling if anyone is enjoying their visit.  No one leaves comments....

Chris's sister's birthday

Family 

Chris and sister Bridget 

Our niece Amber and nephew Colton 

Our nephew Colton 

Bald

I've never brought up the fact I have many bald spots from the chemo over four years ago to Chris. I just keep them covered.

I was taking my hair down tonight & in the middle of a pity moment pointed to a spot and said "You know. I still have a lot of bald I have to hide".

Chris said, "yeah. I know. But oh well. I'm bald too".  I said it wasn't quite the same because he's man.

His response, always in a type of thankful tone, during down times- "at least you're alive Marna".   Love him <3

For the New Year. For Life.

New Year's 2014

UFC 182

New Year's Eve