Happy New Year!

I know I haven't posted in a while. Been pretty busy. I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. I enjoyed both holidays with friends this year, as I was unable to return to Ohio for either. Tonight is New Year's Eve and I will be celebrating with a great group of friends.

The holidays have been hard in some ways. Of course, it was my first Thanksgiving and Christmas without my mom. It was also my first time to spend the holidays without any of my family. I'm so lucky to have the friends I do here.

My mom's birthday would have been Dec. 29. In some ways that day was harder than the others. That was her day - not a holiday celebrated by all. I had some pretty hard times that day.

Today is the one year anniversary of my grandfather's death, and tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of my mom's death. It is in some ways so hard to believe it has been a year, but in other ways, it seems like an eternity. Not a day goes by where I don't want to just pick up the phone and talk to her or give her a big hug. One day!

Happy New Year to you all and all my best for a great 2012!

- C

End of the Year Update

Hello all. I hope this update finds you all doing well and finished with your Christmas shopping so you have some time to enjoy the season!

Sorry for the lack of updates - I know it seems like I start each of my blog postings with that apology. Hopefully I'll do better updating throughout 2009.

My mom is still going through her chemo treatments. We're hoping that she'll be done with those before too long. I'll update again once we know more.

My job search is not going too well. It is not a great time to be job hunting when the world economy is in the toilet. I'm trying to keep my chin up however. Hopefully the first of the year will bring more opportunities.

I wish you all the very best holiday season and a most prosperous new year. Hope to hear from you all soon!

- C

Don't call it a comeback ...

... I've been here for years!

Well, I've been here in Ohio for about seven months now, but I had to lay out a little respect to my man LL Cool J (do you know how difficult it is to find a picture of this man with a shirt on?).

First off, I'd like to apologize to my faithful readers for the lack of updates since November. There have been many instances where I planned to write a little something, but it always seemed trivial or self-serving to do so.

So, some updates are in order. No Virginia, I do not have a J-O-B yet, but I've been working hard on it (especially this month - there weren't very many things to apply for during late November and all of December). I've been sending out the resume, but I haven't had any bites yet. I'm going to keep on keepin on though and eventually, I'll land a job that I like - bank on it!

Second update, my mom's doing fine. She's due for another three-month CT scan next month, so we're hoping for some more good news.

Third update, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My mom had just gotten out of the hospital at Christmastime last year, so it was wonderful having her here with us and healthy this year. My brother was here from Texas during Christmas, so it was nice that we could all be together during that time.

Last update, and a not so good one. A couple of weeks ago, my grandmother went to the hospital to have an operation to remove her spleen, gall bladder and part of her pancreas due to a cyst on her pancreas. The surgery went fine (which was a blessing in itself, considering she's 75), but they determined that the cyst was cancerous and she starts chemo in a couple of weeks, to be followed up by radiation treatments. If you could, please keep her (and my mom) in your thoughts and prayers.

So, that is about it. I plan on updating more often and hopefully soon with a job update. Thanks for all of your understanding and best wishes and a belated happy New Year to you and yours! Peace out yo!