I now paws for a Cat's tail that's Purrfect

Here is a friend of Steve, Peter, or Turbo. If I was to guess, it would be Steve’s friend.
Megan has Rusty over all the time to the house, Jessica has Cody over all the time to the house, and Connor has Oliver over all the time…Steve was just a lonely and wanted someone to play with.
Rusty was going upstairs and when he made it to the top step he stepped back a bit. I looked up and could see the snake's head poking out from the stairs.
Neither Rusty nor I are all to fond of snakes. I ran out to get garden gloves on while Rusty kept an eye on Mr. Slithers. We caught the snake (catching them make the women in the house a little less nervous) and we let him go outside.
A few days later Peter and Steve were stairing down a towel that was sitting on Jessica's bedroom floor. That means there is something alive lurking under the towel. Step one - remove cats. Step two - place garden glove on hand. Step three - clear a big area and postion ones self in blocking position (keeping all new hiding spaces from being accessed. Step four - lift towel. Step five - hope the living creature is slow enough to catch and small enough not to freak me out.
Success - it has been a few weeks since that cats have had friends over. That means one thing - get ready for friends

June 4 - Happy Birthday to me

* Warning - these are older posts that we never posted...I have some catching up to do

Above are the logos of all the corporations that wished me a Happy Birthday via email. And now a couple of favorite Birthday stories...

This year's birthday was great! It was better than both the ‘forgotten’ birthday and when my birthday landed on a Sunday…my family would be telling me right now "to just give it a rest".

The forgotten birthday was a while back and everyone…and I mean everyone forgot until about 6pm. It started (and almost ended) when Jen said, “Oh, it’s your birthday today isn’t it?” The kids latter (after a 'mom prompting' came and said Happy Birthday.

The "Sunday birthday"... I was asked what I wanted to eat for my birthday dinner. I said chicken enchilada casserole. After a long day at church, I strolled in about 3:00-3:30. Megan and Rusty were eating some of the casserole on the couch. I went to the kitchen and searched everywhere for my dinner. I looked in the oven…no. I looked in the refrigerator…no. I then asked Megan, “Where is my dinner hiding?” Silence… I walked in and saw two surprised looks on both their faces - they were holding plates with 1-2 bits of casserole left on each of their plates…The family (including Megan and Rusty) had the casserole for lunch. Then at 3:30p, they thought that I had come home, eaten, and was taking a nap. They were having what they thought were everyones leftovers. Yes, that is a Mitch Taylor family favorite – It will be an often told story.

Shoot, I wood pun but I am stumped...I'll just leaf....KNOT

Connor, Jessica, and I help a couple of sisters in the ward. Connor and I hometeach these two sisters.

We went on a saturday and moved bark from the front driveway and spred it in the back yard. We used a wheelbarrow and two recycle bins.

The bishop's 12 year old son helped too - the two women are his grandma and great grandma.

They had a chia cat. It used to be covered with greenery and she said it looked pretty cool.

I thought it looked like a mummy cat. I wanted to take it and put it in front of the house to show our cats what could happen it they didn't listen.

Words to the world - cat's don't listen - unless there is food or strings attached...kind of like teenage boys too.

June is challenge month

The Family has made June challenge month. Last week during family home evening we had a discussion of what would be best for our family. We also talked about what we each needed to do for the month and also our personal challange week. Below is the form we all had, filled out and signed.

JUNE IS --- CHALLENGE MONTH
Every Monday is FAMILY HOME EVENING
Every night is family scripture @ 9_pm
Every night is family prayer @ 9_pm

Week 1 – (June 1-6) - Happy Words - Happy Voices
Week 2 – (June 7-13) - No Soda - eat better
Week 3 – (June 14-20)- Personal - choice your own challenge
Week 4 – (June 21-27)- Service Week
Week 5 (June 28-30)- No screens - TV / Computer / Cell Phone etc - unless job requires
Week 5+ (July 1-July 4) Game week


I Mitch Taylor promise to participate in CHALLENGE MONTH!

I have chosen updating my blog every day as ONE of my personal challenges for the month.

I have chosen ______________________ as my personal challenge for the personal challenge week.

__________________________
Signed

Should be an exciting week and month.

The YM are going to Jail

We took the Teacher's Quorum (14-15 year old boys from church). to the County Prison. One of the TQ advisers works at the prison (that would be Corrections Officer Darling).

HIGHLIGHTS...

• We went to the 'padded' room. This is for the 'out of control' people that are brought in. The floor, walls, door and ceiling are all a rubber coated kind of thing. The tour guide also told us that those put in these kinds of rooms (there were four) that they were a little crazy in the head. He said that they like to 'paint' and were called Poop-casos. They have had inmates 'paint' so much that a bio team has had to come and clean up the room. Just two minutes after he told us that, one of the youth, with is hand full flushed on the wall, said, "Why are the walls squishy again." I said, "Dylan, remind me not to shake your hand on Sunday".
• We got to visit the various wings of the Jail - min, mid, and max security. While in Max security for the men - one of the inmates just happened to be looking out of his cell. He started hooting and hollering at the group. The tour guide said that they all do that, because they don't every see anything but guards and other inmates. The max-security inmates get out of their mini cell to a larger room (about the size of an oversize class room) for one hour each day. 23 hours in the little cell, one hour in the group cell.
• We went through the women's wing. No one from max-security of the women's section saw us. All the others just kind of stared at us with blank looks on their faces.
• Some of the inmates worked at the jail. They did janitorial, laundry, and other minor duties. They would get paid for their services - in either reduced time or phone privileges. We say maybe 15-20 workers the whole night. We even passed some in the hallways of the prison. When we near the end of the tour, someone asked why some workers were in blue while others where in orange. The guide told us that the orange suits were people who had done something bad - attacked a guard or inmate, or something like that. He said that the guards never turn their back on an orange. What about a Pear - two inmates...After I heard that, I noticed that C/O Darling became more attentive every time we passed working inmates...great! It's not that he started doing it...he was being overly attentive all night when we were around the inmates. I just noticed it at the end.
• We also got to see the psych ward. They get to were heavy denim 'gowns' so they can tear them or use them as a hanging device. They are under 24-7 watch. they were happy to see us too and let us know.
• It was a good night - it helped those who were interested in law enforcement and helped those who needed to see what happens to those who don't make wise choices.

On a funny note...the next day, I was at the Chevron that I go to every morning. The clerk there is Tammy. I told her about our tour of the prison. She asked if we visted the C or D wing. I said yes. She said that is where she used to live. She said she has changed her life around. Last week she told me that her Dad and Step mom (converts of one year) just went to the temple to be sealed. One of the other customers at Cheveron asked what that meant and she proceeded to tell the customer exactly what that meant...and yes, I have invited her to church. Our mission has what's called invitation Sunday...but that's a different story.

Long lost friend...

I had my laptop stolen from my car last month. I was coming home from work and stopped off at Fred Meyer's to pick up 3 things. I got out of my car, opened the back door and put my laptop on the floor in the back, locked both door and went into the store. Five minutes later I came back to the car to find two doors unlocked and one missing laptop bag. I called the police and waited on now, an even cloudier afternoon. The officer showed up and it began to rain and then hail. I think the rainstorm was only a three foot radius around me. I lost my laptop, bag, Megan's CT scan disk, a few music cds, two spare batteries (one for my phone and one for my laptop), my sd card reader, and some misc office supplies (leather binder and the coolest pen known to mankind (it had Jacobsen construction printed on the side). It took 10 days to get a replacement from work. That was very frustrating. Most of my day is spent connecting to client's systems across the USA...I had all my short cuts and links all set up. The temp laptop was slow and old and not worth setting up any short cuts until the newer computer was secured. I've had my 'new' laptop for a couple weeks now - I think that everything is set up again.

Toys will be Toys

These are items from my desk at work... First is the sheriff badge that Lori bought for me at DIA after a Fourth of July week at Mom's in Colorado. I had a plastic badge when I was in Ft Collins and was flashing saying I was the Sheriff and in charge. The funniest look I got was when Mom, John, Lori and I were getting food at Sam Club.

This is the HITACHI the Sumo wrestler - he is a stress ball. He is part of my collection of 20+ stress balls. They just sit there - not much stress relief there. Maybe I should start using a couple. Yes, he is wearing Bronco helmet.

Nappy D is a talking statue - He says things like "Get me my chapstick, my lips are real dry" and "Tina you big fat lard come get some dinner" and "Go with your heart, that's what I do". The person I sit next to has one also...sometimes that talk back and forth.

This is my talking Hulk - Connor gave him to me for Christmas. I get a new desk item from someone in my family every Christmas. Hulk talk. Hulk say 'Arrrrrrrrgh' and 'Hulk Smash' and Hulk favorite - "You're making me angry...you won't like me when I'm angry" He hold conversation with Nappy D. Yes, I put a candy heart in his mouth. (for the curious - it says "Yes Dear"

And this is Darth. He too is a talking statue. He too likes to join everyone else in conversation. He says things like "Most impressive" and "Never under estimate the power of the dark side. When we get all 4 talking (2 Napoleons, hulk, and Darth there can be some great conversations.

**** All my picutres are taken with my cell phone...that's kind of my personal touch on my blog. It really doesn't like close ups, but did a great job on Connor's birthday pics.

Spring Has Sprung...

Above are the rouge flowers that jumped over to the grass...rebels.

There were white ones

Yellow ones....

And purple ones... this is what they look like on a cool afternoon

And this is what they look like on a warmer afternoon.

They are gone now - short lived, but let us know that warm weather is just around the corner

Too Cute to Kill...

Cats have time clocks in them...The cats (Steve [above], Peter, and Turbo get feed every morning aroung 4:30a - that's the time I get up to work out (or Sunday it's the time I leave for my first Sunday meeting). On Saturday, they have little or no patience. The jump on the bed, meow or fight amongst themselves UNTIL they get feed. Jen and I both pretend that neither of us hear them until it gets sooo bad that one of us gives a heavy sigh and gets up and feeds them. After they are feed they all come up on the bed and sleep around Jen.

Here is Turbo passed out from sheer exhastion...

Peter, curious who told him to cut it out

Hey, let's go to the Doctor's office...it's been so long

After Megan's doctor appointment we picked up and Connor and headed out to the Sushi Factory for a Post Valentine's Day Lunch. Connor spit only one of his sushi pieces in a napkin (raw salmon roll).
From there we went to Connor's doctor appointment. Not really an appointment, but his weekly allergy shot. He gets his shot and then we wait twenty minutes in the lobby making sure he doesn't over react to the allergy shot.

Megan is a knitting machine...she completed a beautiful mohair shawl today. It's pretty impressive. She has completed a handful of scarves and now a triangle shaped shawl. Aren't all shawls triangle shaped?

Doctors...Doctors and MORE Doctors...

Megan Rusty and I went to OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University) to meet with a MF specialist recommended by the dermatologist. Well, we found out that Megan has MF and that the patches need to be dealt with. The specialist said he was just asked to be consultant and so he recommended that we go BACK to the dermatologist. The good news was 1. the dermatologist is in Vancouver so we don't have to go to Portland for every treatment. 2. OHSU is covered with insurance 70/30 Dermatologist is 90/10. Bad news - 1. Another doctor/specialist visit telling us everything we already knew and 2. Another doctors bill to pay...
Today we went to the Dermatologist...


Here is a picture of Megan in a hospital gown laying on the doctor table. We got to the appointment at 9am and sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes. They took us back to her room...three magazines and a couple of cell phone games later (over an hour) we met with the dermatologist. He looked at her her new spots. He told her that they want to make sure the new spots are MF and not eczema - so they will know how to treat each of them. Megan has been taking anti-histamine for the itch - it makes her really drowsy. She asked if they is something different she can take. He said her dose was 10mg and a normal adult dose is 100mg. She said she would fight it out. Also, the doctor is going to get insurance approval for UV-B treatment...if approved, treatment will start in 3 weeks...and now a word from our UVB sponsor -
Broadband UVB has been used for treatment of MF for several decades. A new form of UVB called narrowband UVB uses only a few selected UVB wavelengths. Narrowband UVB is generally more effective than broadband UVB; however, narrowband UVB phototherapy has only been available in the U.S.A. since 1997, but is gradually becoming more accessible. UVB penetrates the skin less than UVA; therefore, it is used primarily for patch stage mycosis fungoides.
Phototherapy is initially administered three times a week. It typically takes 20-30 treatments for a response to become apparent. If no response is seen at that time, an alternate light source (phototherapy) or medication should be considered. If improvement occurs with phototherapy, the frequency of treatments will be reduced and eventually discontinued.
The side effects of phototherapy differ with each light source, but early side effects include: skin redness or sunburn, blistering, itchiness and tanning. Premature aging and wrinkling of the skin is increased with phototherapy, but is more common with PUVA than UVB. Damage to the cornea can occur with all types of phototherapy.
Meet Happy the encouraging Trash Can...

While we were waiting I found Happy the encouraging trash can. The said part was, he wasn't very positive. It took me a while to figure out why...

• He eats garbage all day.
• He is always in the dumps
• He is always trashed
• Everyone bags on him
• Everyone says he stinks
• Everyone wants him to shut up.
• No one will play with him and adults say he is full of germs.

Megan Inside and Out

I asked for a copy of Megan's CT scan pictures...they said no problem and told me when and where to pick them up. They gave me a CD of what I thought were going to be random pictures of Megan from the inside. What I got was AWESOME...they gave me the whole enchilada - I got the program the doctors use along with every picture of the scan (over 300 pictures slices). The program is split into two screens - 1. the one on the left is above and has a yellow line marking where the slice or marking of the picture is - think of it as if they sliced Megan as the yellow line and then took a picture of it. I tried counting her rings to see how old she was, but I think that's an old wives tale.

She does have a heart.

This is a picture of her lungs and heart. See the small insert picture and the line - that is where the slice is. You can see the backbone, the back ribs, muscles, lungs and heart...this is so cool.

I hate Megan's guts...

This is one of my favorites...it shows kidneys, stomach (on the left side), back muscles and core stomach muscles...I have spent hours playing with this program.


The Better To See You With My Dear...Megan hates this photo

This is a head shot that shows eyes and yes she does have a brain.
If you click on the picture, you can see a larger picture of each.

Announcing - I am a gymnast...

Last Saturday I was asked to announce a District Gymnastics meet. I had never done that before. After I accepted I was told I would be paid...I guess I am no longer an amateur announcer. What I did learn was that I COULD HAVE BEEN A HIGH SCHOOL GYMNAST...really. I watched the vault...Half the girls hit the spring board and did a leapfrog over the vault and then put their hand in the air - TA DA...I could do that. The first first floor exercise that I saw was girl that did a little dance routine and then went to the corner of the mat to do her passes...she ran, stopped, did a forward roll on mat, stood up and did a bent leg cartwheel....twice...TA DA...I could do that. Every girl on the balance beam fell at least once. TA DA...I could do that.
I was there for about 3 hours. I spent 40 minutes of that announcing.
I just finished my last basketball announcing game for the year... my announcing year is over - for another year.

The chapel repented - it is now clean

Twice a year we do a 'deep cleaning' of the church. There are three wards that meet in the stake center. One ward cleans the north section, another ward cleans the south section, and our ward cleans the center section. The center section included the chapel, the cultural hall, and the stage.

I wasn't a visitin' mood and last time our PFR called last minute and said he couldn't be there (that meant that Brother Taylor got the assignment of coordinating the whole thing). This time Brother Taylor hid up in the choir seats and vacuumed the floor and all the choir seats...I wasn't a very good hider...1/2 the people came up and asked me what their assignments were. I sent them to the janitors closet where the PFR was waiting. We had great participation - 73 people 23 families. Church is good but busy...Why

Sundays

• 5a-9a - Bishopric, PEC, ward council
• 9a-12p - Block
• 12p - 1:30p - Misc church business (setting aparts, callings, temple recommends etc)
• Home Teaching - Home Teachers - Eating etc
• 7p-8:30p - Great to 8, PH preview, Firesides etc

Weekday -

• Mutuals
• Presidency meetings / Scout Committee meetings
• Bishopric visits
  

It's all good just busy...just extra hours...I have a lot of those just sitting around.

I owe I owe...so of to work I go...and stay late

Candid picture from my monthly business unit meeting. Work is good. The economy crunch hasn't hit us too hard at work yet. We have wage and hiring freezes - but no layoffs or unpaid days off. Work has been a little more stressful than normal...

• One employee missed 10 days - 3 days sick and 2 days on the weekend and 5 days training clients in California...That means extra hours.
• The state changed the file layout for one of our modules and we are in test mode right now. That means extra hours.
• Some of our clients are clueless...the means extra hours.

I am grateful for my job...I like the people I work with, it's a good job, and I still enjoying going to work.

Where's Waldo???

Connor came downstairs wearing this outfit - minus the glass. I asked him where Waldo was...and gave him a pair of glasses. What a goof!
My blog pictures are mostly cell phone pictures...that going to be my niche. They may be a lower quality - but they will be candid. Most of the time people won't even know - like Gill the fish - he didn't have a clue.

Ding Ding - Round Two - The score card gives that round to MEGAN!!

We had our second and final (hopefully for ever) visit to the oncologist. Here are some points of the day...

• The CT Scan was very positive. Nasopharynx, tongue base, oropharynx, epiglottis, trachea, salivary glands, thyroid, larynx, soft tissue, and sinuses ALL NORMAL
• No suspicious adenopathy in the chest, abdomen and pelvis
• BLAH, BLAH, BLAH - interpretation - Megan is all good on the inside.

We are ecstatic and celebrated with a great sushi lunch (for those who don't like sushi - great sushi lunch is a oxymoron).

other points of interest:

• The doctor told Megan that she didn't need the Barrium drink. He forgot to tell the nurses not to give it to her. It worked out for the best -he said by drinking the "elixir from heck" (Megan's name for barrium) that she is now completely clean on the inside. They wouldn't have been able to verify the bowel area if she hadn't drank the juice - he said it is rare that the cancer would wind up there (or down there in Megan's case).
• I get a CD of the CT scan results next week. Pictures to come later next week - COOL
• No more oncologists!

What is next - Feb 10th Megan has an appointment at OHSU to start her treatments. We don't know what that means yet...it most likely be a cream. Every treatment has a side effect. There are also over a dozen treatments for the skin - which one is better? The one that works of course. Trial and error (from what I have read). We are keeping our fingers crossed for treatment type one!

Thank you for everyone's concern, thoughts, and prayers... We are truely blessed!

In her blessing Megan was told that there is reason she is going through this. Why? Right now we are not sure. She was told that she will know why someday - it may be tomorrow it may be years down the road, but that she would know. She was also told she may be going through this for someone else's purpose too and to be attentive to everyone she is around - friends, doctors nurses, church members, etc.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Sunday morning greeted us with a brief snow storm...from 3:45am (the time I have to get up on Sundays until church starts (9am) we got a couple of inches. The funny comment of the morning was...In the foyer 10 minutes before church started, someone heard that the Battle Ground Ward (we're in Maple Grove ward) cancelled church. One of the members came up to me and said, "Are we canceling church?" I'm like -"You're already here, were the roads that bad?
A nasty virus and a little snow - attendance went from 185 average down to 132.

Happy Birthday Sweet 16...um...well...ok...Connor

Connor's birthday is Jan 25th (Sunday) and Jen wanted to do something special for his 16th birthday. It was a 1/2 day at school...so she rented a limo to pick up him and 6 of his friends (2 girls and 4 guys). She first was looking for a pink limo of some sort...not a very popular limo choice. She then found this 'gangsta' style limo and new that Connor would love that even more. The limo was parked out in front of the high school. When school let out there were a lot of students that just stood and stared wonder who the celebrity was that was being dropped off at the school. I told the kids to act Jen's age and not their own. I also told the limo driver that they are mostly good kids. She said she has teenagers also - her comment was - "There are all good kids, until you get a group of good kids together. They behaved well.

The limo took the kids to BIG AL's. It is huge bowling alley fun center - 42 bowling lanes - 4,000 sq. ft. arcade - 7,000 sq. ft. Sports Bar & Grill with One Gigantic Jumbo-Tron (8 ft. tall x 36 ft. wide) - 17 projection screens - 76 High Definition Plasma Screens...it's quite the place. Jen and I drove a car and Megan met us there. We rented 2 lanes for 90 minutes, ordered 3 pizza and large drinks. Can you have much more fun than that...I would say NO you can't.

This is what our area looked like. All the scoring was automated. You put your name the system and the upper screen will display up to the first three characters. Connor enters every one's name in the system so the upper screen displays THE FAT MAN CAN RUN...thank you Connor.
Jen tried her hardest to keep this a surprise...does it ever work - not in the Taylor house. Tuesday I sent Jen and email telling her of my schedule for the week and I cc'd Megan (she says she never knows my schedule and if I am going to be home for dinner etc). That night Megan says from downstairs, "So Connor gets a limo?" Connor, who is upstairs on the computer says, "So I get a limo, sweet." Then on Wednesday, Jen asks Connor what kind of cake he wants -he say "Me likey the ice cream cake, okay? Fudgey the Whale." (The Office tv show reference). After Connor explained it to Jen she said, "Not only do I have to make I have to take it to Big Al's." Connor says, "So we're going bowling, sweet."
On a side note - Jen made an ice cream chocolate fudge cake shaped like a whale. This is what she patterned the whale fudge cake after....

Something is FISHy...and I think his name is Gill

This was a fish in the tank at Megan's doctor appointment...I think he was finnish. He was alone - he must have graduated because he had no school. Scale of 1 to 10 most fish are ate. He was having a whale of a time, mostly because he wasn't blubbering. Eel be happy as long as he is in water. He was a real angel.

Here I sit at the NW Cancel Specialist office waiting and wondering…I have read many documents about mycosis fungoides, CTCL, cancer treatments, cancer treatment side effects, and still I sit waiting and wondering. I think I will be doing a lot of that these next few months. I read today that, as far as treatments go, there are many different options and that you can really compare one with another. Why? Because the rarity of the disease and lack of studies on all the various treatments. That sounds encouraging. They say to track your treatments and results so you can find out what works best for you and your body. So, there are about a dozen different treatments for this type of cancer and we aren’t sure which will work best. Looking forward to that game.

Meetings is over - Now we know a couple of things…not much more that what I read…We are 80% through the diagnosis stage. Megan has a CT Scan scheduled.

Here is where we are at and what we do know…

• There is only a 10% chance that this will develop any further than the stage she is currently at. She is at the patches of skin (the appearance of dry flaky skin or psoriasis) stage.

• CTLC –MF (Mycosis Fungoides) is mostly a benign cancer and slow developing type of cancer. If Megan’s CT Scan is clear, than she does not have to do another scan ever (unless she develops symptoms of enlarges lymph nodes – which he said is rare).

• We will meet with a specialist who works at the University Hospital in Portland. He comes highly recommended from our dermatologist. The first meeting with him will be somewhere around the 10th of February. He will help her get rid of (or minimize) her skin patches.

Eye think eye see what you are trying to say - A view from my cell phone camera*

After... It's what's for dinner
After watching a herd of dinners walk down the street of Denver, there was no doubt what are evening plans would include.
1/4 rack of ribs, a 12 oz Rib-eye steak, two side (garlic mashed & broccoli) and a soda - all for under $21.00 - I love Texas Roadhouse.

* The parade pic was from the Denver Post website. Most of my pictures will be from my Treo cell phone camera.

Herd it through the bo-vine

I spent a couple of days last week working in Colorado. I went to visit the State of Colorado financial department and Arapahoe County. We arrive downtown at the state building about 90 minutes early and noticed a lot of people lining up on the streets, mostly in the sunshine (it was 50 degrees that day). My co-worker, Jerry Anderson (a Burley ID son – born and raised) asked a bystander what was going on. He was told that because it was the first day of the National Western Stock show in Denver they run a herd of cows down through the middle of downtown Denver.
Following the herd was the rodeo queens (America, Colorado, and NW Stock show), a group of antique tractors, various horse drawn wagons (anywhere from 2 to 8 horses), high school bands playing TV western theme songs , and the horse riding teams (all dressed up in their performance costumes). About 30 entries in total. It almost filled the void...