Kelly’s Neighborhood

I just got my tickets to go home over Christmas.

I'm so excited!!!!

I haven't seen some of my immediate family in almost 3 years!!!!!

Yay!  I Leave Chicago and Fly into London, Gatwick on the 16th and get THREE WHOLE WEEKS of family!  WOOHOO!

I'm going home, I'm going home!

(does Numfar's dance of Joy and the Snoopy dance, and some of Elaine Benes' dance from Seinfeld)

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists recently reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma tumors in mice. The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter and made of an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer. Ninety percent air, the disks are highly permeable to immune cells and release cytokines, powerful recruiters of immune-system messengers called dendritic cells.

After a couple of days of feeling out of sorts, it seems that Penny’s puppy pharmaceutical treatment has helped out immensely and that there was a very energetic and eager pointer ready for a big mountain hike this morning.

Local mild Santa Anas brought in warm temperatures and clear skies, so it made for a great morning to bring the camera along.

We took a great long hike down and then up to the top of the mountain The Aerie rests on.  There were great views out to the ocean and even down to Point Loma.

Penny sure did seem Thankful to get a chance to run around!  And we were Thankful to see her feeling more like herself.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

My kid went to his dad's this morning. Flew from Seattle to SanFran at the asscrack of dawn 6am. Since this is one of the busiest travel days of the year, we signed him up for the Unaccompanied Minor service on Virgin America. (That's an additional $160, it ain't free.)  My whole reasoning is that I wanted them to be accountable for him if anything happened on this busy travel day and when he comes back -- reroutes due to weather, bad plane, whatever. They introduced him to the airline attendant, and even made me set up a password for me, the kid, and the exhusband. And hey! He gets free movies, free tv, free food... cool, right?

THEY LOST HIM.

My ex called me after everything was over, and told me what happened. He had spent over an hour with the Virgin America people trying to find out what the hell happened to him, Aside from the fact that THEY DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE HE WAS LOST - no one knew, no one had an answer, no one even instigated any kind of search until he started yelling (and my ex can YELL) and he just happened to see my kid walk by, looking for him as well. Lots more details to the story than that, but basically you get the gist. Their general take on the incident... they can't do anything, you're just SOL if they lose your kid.

FUCKERS. VIRGIN AMERICAN CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES.*

*Bad pun strenuously intended.

I watched Mr "P" plant two tomato plants, two blueberry plants and one tangerine tree today.  Supervising is hard work, it must be because I'm tired.

 

 

 

 

Mom and I made a Sonshine (no its not misspelled, son as in the Son of God) basket for a lady in our neighborhood whom we have never met but her husband stops by our house while walking his dog and talks to Mr "P" .  Mr "P" was telling me the man's wife is very sick with cancer.  I hope the little gifts and the Bible verses bring her some comfort and some happiness.

 

 

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I start my holiday shopping the day after Christmas.  If I see something throughout the year that I know a loved one would want I pick it up and store it in the 'gift closet' until it's time to pull out the Christmas paper and wrap it all up.

That being said.  This year I bought stuff that will just stay in the closet until next year.  I found some puzzles on clearance and picked them up as little 'hey Mom, saw this and was thinking about you' gifts.  But, Mom has decided that we are not buying for anyone other than the great-grandkids this year.  So, Mom doesn't get her puzzles and Jordan gets left out, too.

We may just stay in Tuscaloosa for Christmas this year.  bah humbug!!

So, my sister is coming from Maryland to visit for Thanksgiving.  We did a lot of prep work this weekend to prepare, but I'm always looking for omens as to how the week might go.

Well -- both Penny and my car are sick.  Penny had to take a de-wormer (ick) and my car needs new brake-pads (ka-ching).

At least Penny gets to sleep and I get to drive around in a 1-series loaner.  Now how'd they know I was eyeing up one of those....

Hope everyone has a great week!

clipped from www.cbsatlanta.com ATLANTA -- One celebrity chef is showing what it means lend a hand this holiday season. Savannah's own Paula Deen is helping to deliver more than 25,000 lbs. of protein to Hosea Feed the Hungry. Although the focus was on giving back, things took a quick turn when Deen got a serving of ham in a rather unique way. While tossing hams and turkeys, a misguided thrown ham hit Deen in the face, but that didn’t sideline her from the topic at hand. Related To Story Paula Deen Ham Incident Video: Raw Video: Paula Deen Hit In Face By Ham Video: Deen's Reaction To Ham In Face While Deen managed to escape visible injury, she did say the area around her nose hurt. "I just got hit with a hog so what do I expect said Deen through laughter. "Ran head on to a hog."

I have just not had a very good go of it the last few days.