We are still here, just got a little busy with hurricanes, cancer and more hurricanes and school. The girls are all good and loving school. Lizzie has sassy new glasses to go with her sassy attitude and Mary and Kate are doing great in school- Francie is still wide eyed and floating through life.

My Dad is finally done with his treatments. Now he has to wait a few weeks and be rechecked before they decide if he needs more chemo. I don't think any more radiation is in the cards for now-

He still can't really talk but says he feels stronger every day- I guess it all takes a while to get out of your system otherwise it wouldn't do much good- and yesterday got out and worked in the yard. That's what I like to call "ants in the pants" and that is a very good thing. Up to now he's been drugged to china and back and acting like you do on heavy meds. It'd be funny if it weren't so damn not funny.

It's weird though, the thought of losing someone you love so much makes you start to miss them even though they aren't gone which in turn messes with your head- I keep having the same dream about Daddy where he's all healthy and fat and for some reason he never has a shirt on in it. It's kindof funny actually and we decided that it's probably because he was always shirtless on the boat growing up and that's how I always think of him. Chuck's not a shirtless guy, but ol vic always was! It's so annoying to keep having that dream and then have to wake up and be sad about it again but I have to keep telling myself that he's going to get better- even if he isn't cured, he'll get better for sometime and that is something to look forward to. He's missing good food and talking and seeing people and we all miss him too- we are keeping the kids (and ourselves away for the most part) and their kid germs away from him because something like staph can be good for noone at this point. Thank God for email-

Mom and I were spending a lot of time shopping and trying to get her out to do something normal, but we had to stop because it just wasn't a good idea for him to be alone there for a while. Now he's coming out of it and we are going to try and go to hollydays tomorrow.

The house is coming along, new roof is about done and then they will move inside. We're going ahead with the fireplace and builtins in the living room so that will be nice to have done.

We have a major gnat problem though thats about to push me over the edge and i have no idea where they are coming from. I've thrown away everything that could possibly cause them and they're still buzzing around taunting me. Short of fogging out the house I don't know what to do....hmmm...And with that very interesting tidbit I will sign off! Talking about gnats is where I draw the line!