A New Normal Christmas

I believe we're going to have a somewhat normal Christmas this year.

It won't be like the Christmases we had when Jim was alive, so I guess we'll have to consider it our new normal Christmas.  Last year was the first Christmas without him, but Reid was in the hospital and we were all focused on getting him well. 

Tomorrow we'll make meatballs and cook the spaghetti sauce for Christmas dinner.  Keith and Reid have been baking cookies and on Christmas Day Troy and his family will join us.  I bought a bunch of prizes and we'll play Bingo after dinner.  The prizes are wrapped and the winner of each game will  be able to pick one.  Some are good prizes, some are just OK, and some are from Dollar Tree.  I think we'll have a good time.

Saturday, December 21st was the one year anniversary of Reid's stem cell transplant.  We all went out to our favorite German restaurant to celebrate his new birthday...the day he received a new lease on life thanks to Keith's stem cells.

I know we're going to have a good Christmas this year and I hope all of you do too.

Merry Christmas!

A Very Merry Christmas To Us!

Yesterday was the day.  Reid was scheduled for his one year follow up visit at MD Anderson.  We left home at 6:45 AM and didn't get home until almost 7 at night.  It was a long day, but the news was good.  His PET scan was clear.  There was no cancer!!!

On December 21st it will be exactly one year since Reid received Keith's stem cells in a stem cell transplant.  He has gone one year without cancer!  After three rounds of chemo and two stem cell transplants no cancer could be detected.

 He's been through hell and back the last four years, but he's never given up and he's never stopped smiling.

Today he's tired and sore.  He received 6 injections yesterday.  A flu shot and more childhood immunizations.  After a stem cell transplant all the childhood immunizations have to be given again.  I guess he wasn't really smiling then, but he does smile most of the time.

So, I guess you could say our Christmas present came early this year.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.

Now I'm going to go ahead and breathe.  I've been holding my breath for weeks.

Do you have pets?

I buy 40 pound bags of Dr. Elsy's Kitty Litter at a time. I had been buying them at Petsmart, but a couple of months ago they put the bags on sale for $14.99 a bag (normally $17.99 a bag).  I would go and they'd be sold out.  I like this particular brand so I decided to Google and find out where else I could buy it locally.  Well, my Google search also pulled up Chewy.

I love Chewy!  It's an online pet supply store.

Other than being a satisfied customer I am in no way connected to Chewy.  This is not a paid advertisement.  I'm just thrilled that I found this company.

I now pay $14.99 a bag and if I spend at least $49 the shipping is free.  There is no sales tax.  I order five bags at a time.  On Black Friday the bags were $12.99 each!  It's delivered right to my front door.  I now have it set up for automatic delivery and they send me an E-mail whenever the order is ready to ship and then again when it is shipped.

They sell all sorts of pet supplies...food, flea products, toys, beds, etc.

If you call them you actually get to speak with a human being.  How's that for service?

You can read more about the company here.

I just wanted to pass my accidental find on to you.  I don't think they've been in business all that long.  Maybe a year or so?  I had never heard of them until I stumbled upon their site in the Google search.

This Crazy Cat Lady and her brood are satisfied customers.