Yesterday, after a massively needed grocery run, David, Jackson and I crashed the Sam Bass Theatre's Membership BBQ. We aren't currently members, shame on us, but we decided to show up anyway. I knew there would be a few people there we hadn't seen in a while and that Sam Bass was collecting for Ronni, Jim's widow, and I figured that would be the easiest way to get something to her. So we headed on up for an hour or so. Saw some old friends and caught up and had some cake. Jackson loved the cake with the choo choo on it. Sam Bass Theatre is an old train depot so there are always train themes there. Jackson enjoyed scarfing the cake as well as looking at it.



We didn't stay for the meeting, though. August is the big membership meeting where they elect the board of directors. We figured we'd better scoot outta there, to be sure we didn't somehow get elected again. Heh, just kidding. I may want to be on the board again someday. Not any time soon. But maybe someday. It is a lot of work, and it is really easy to get burned out. But I do miss Sam Bass and hope to do a show there again in the next year or so, after I am all clear of the cancer.

Last night we had a small Willow viewing on the new TV. Elaine got Willow on Netflix and brought it over and Cliff, Mary Ellen and their daughter, Jen, came for dinner and we watched the movie. It is still a good movie, almost 20 years later. Sigh. Makes me feel old to think this movie is almost 20 years old. Watching it with a 16-year-old who had never seen it was fun. And it was good to see Val Kilmer in a movie again. What's he been doing lately? Anything? I understand he is difficult to work with, so is that why he doesn't have a big career anymore? Hmm.

Today had a few issues. Jackson had a few inconsolable fits throughout the day. The first one was solved by a mid-morning bath. He was upset about not being allowed to write with a pen on the new TV. I was proud that when David caught him about to do so, he didn't yell as if the sky was falling. He simply reacted quickly, removed the sharp writing implement from the vicinity of the perfect, shiny, gorgeous, new consumer product in our living room.

Poor Jackson couldn't deal with the pen's removal and began crying as if his broken heart would never mend. I picked him up to console him after it was clear he wasn't just gonna get over it and move on and he told me 'get in tub with me.' Which is his thing lately. He doesn't want to bathe in his own tub anymore, he wants in 'mama's tub'. The deep one. I guess I don't blame him. Faced with the option of his standard small tub or my nice garden tub, I'd choose mine too. Except, my tub is supposed to come with me in it.



Since I have been sick and taking baths for comfort sometimes in the daytime, he discovered that he loves to get in the tub with me. And nearly every time he is in our bathroom, he is begging to 'get in tub with mama.' He goes so far as to start tugging at my clothes telling me to 'take off shirt, mama.' I do get in with him sometimes, but I can usually just hang out with him and put him in alone. Which is what I did this morning. He wanted in the tub with his toys and his balloon. He was so cute, I had to get a picture and I even managed to get one with all his bitsy parts covered so I don't get arrested for posting it. Um, can I get arrested for posting this pic do you think? Hmm. Hope not.

Jackson's other major fit of the day had no reason. He woke up from his nap crying and didn't want David to take him out of his crib. He just sat in his room in his crib crying for about 45 minutes. I was attempting to nap at the time, but I heard David offer him toys, juice, snack, everything he could think of. But the boy just wanted to cry in his crib. Don't know why. He finally decided to come out. He needed to choose a complete new set of clothes than what he was wearing. David said the clothing change was part of his healing process. OK.

He also needed about an hour or more of Choo Choo Soul to recover. Ah, Choo Choo Soul. I love you and curse you at the same time. For those of you who are not frequent Playhouse Disney watchers, Choo Choo Soul is a mini show that comes on in the mornings. It is a train-themed music video. Different child-centered songs sung in a funky, urban, hip-hoppy style. It is pretty good stuff if you don't have to hear it five hundred times.

See, I made the mistake of finding it online and playing a few of the videos for Jackson on my computer. I only did it because he was forcing me to sing the song. Jackson brought me his toy train the other day and said 'choo choo' like they say in the opening of Choo Choo Soul. So I sang a few bars of the opening and he laughed and when I stopped singing it he got mad and whined until I sang it again. And after ten minutes of being forced to sing 'All aboard the choo choo train, all aboard the choo choo train', I grew weary and figured there had to be something online.

And there is. And Jackson is hooked. He wants to sit in my computer chair and watch the choo choo videos over and over and over and over. I can't even check my email anymore without him standing next to me calling for 'choo choo'. So for those of you who babysit Jackson, you are going to need this link. We are trying to teach him to use the mouse so we don't have to keep starting the videos for him. It will be much easier when he can click on the video himself.

David's folks came for dinner tonight and we had a good visit as usual. They were in town shopping and wanted to do dinner with us, so they went to HEB and bought one of their rotisserie chickens and stuff to go with it and brought it over. Jackson enjoyed the attention and even got a new shirt- which he insisted on wearing right away. "Take tag off, mama." He said as he tried tugging the price tag off. My son is a clothes horse. What can I say?

He was up a little late tonight and discovered the moon. We were all sitting out on the back porch and the moon is particularly bright and visible tonight. He thought it was pretty and even said 'night night' to it before heading to bed. I should get a copy of that book. Goodnight Moon, is it? I think it is a staple of children's libraries and we should have a copy. Especially since he likes the moon.

**Warning, the following paragraph contains TMI regarding my scalp sores**

So my head sores are not getting better. In fact they are very angry and red and throbby and oozy. And now I have soreness that runs from one of them all the way down the side of my head behind my ear and into my neck. Which kind of freaked me out. Probably because traveling soreness generally equals infection. And apparently my system has little defense and infection, even of the equivalent of infected pimples, is a big deal. I was worried, so I called Mom who agreed yes, this is bad.

So I called the cancer center and had the doctor on call paged to call me back. Luckily, it was my own Oncologist who was on call for the weekend and he called me back right away. I explained about the scalp sores and the nastiness and pain and he called in an antibiotic to the pharmacy for me. He said that this stuff can get out of hand and make a cancer patient sick pretty easily and if it doesn't improve in the next day or so, he wants to see me. If the oral antibiotics don't work, I might have to get IV antibiotics.

After I talked to him, I noticed that one of the scars on my chest from getting my port was pretty sore too. I poked at it a little and damned if it isn't a little oozy too. Man, that scar is a month old it should be healed by now. That is pretty scary. Makes me think the infection in my scalp is traveling down my neck and now is in my higher port scar. I hope these antibiotics knock it out pretty quickly. I'd rather not have to go in for IV drugs. Course, I'd rather not end up sick with a systemic infection either, so I'll do what I have to do. Sigh. This is supposed to be my feel-good week. WTF?