Open 24 hours...
What a difference 24 hours can make in a person’s life, as you know if you were with us here for the daily dose yesterday, my Tuesday just flat sucked. From the minute I woke up until the very end of my day; if it could go wrong it damn sure did. So if you weren’t here then, you now know it anyway and I will spare you all the details. Also, if you want the details you can read about them using this link.
No longer pond scum...
I am happy to report that Wednesday was a good day, not one problem that I couldn’t overcome and there was even very many of those. I also got some good news to report on the state of the sultnpapper, I am officially now no longer pond scum. That’s right; I finally have reached the status of “minnow III”, a real teeny tiny minnow, which probably wouldn’t make an appetizer for a dolphin or a whale. But hey, if small steps are what it takes sometimes and if that is how I am supposed to do it, I will.
Decision time is now...
So, I have some decisions to make and time is running out, the girls of the sultnpapper family have some real good friends who are going to Orlando in November and they have been invited to go. When I say “friends” you could really substitute “family” in its place because these people we think more highly of than some of our actual family members. I have been holding off as long as I can but in life, just like in poker, you can’t always wait until you have a pair of aces in the pocket to play the hand.
No aces, but all in...
I recently got dealt a pair of jacks if you will; I picked up some additional project work for an engineering firm that will cover the cost of the trip and it wasn’t money that I had any plans for; so in that regard it isn’t hard to commit the money for the trip.
Life's lesson # 1...
The hard part is that it is a girl’s only trip and so the two boys will be left out. I try to be fair and this time though I have decided it is time for another one of those “life’s lessons” for the boys. You all know that lesson I am talking about, right? Sure you do, and as much as I have told them in the past, the kids just can’t seem to comprehend it. Life isn’t fair, let me repeat that again for the kids, life isn’t fair.
Meet Patty, a friend of the Papper's...
This time the lucky ones are the females in the family because I have decided that it is a trip that they need to make with one of Mrs. Papper’s dearest and oldest friends, Patty. She and the wife have been friends since the wife was about 5 years old. Patty raised four daughters and one son and has a whole bunch of grandkids, more than I even care to try and count right now, but anyway, Patty and one of her daughters and her granddaughter are going. So if they boys start squawking about unfair I can easily point out that there is a bunch of Patty’s kids and grand kids that aren’t going so they can go over and cries with them about life being unfair.
Now I will mention...
I don’t know just how long Patty has left her in her lifetime, well none of us do know either, but in Patty’s case we have some real concern since she was diagnosed and operated on for stomach cancer a few years ago.
I think there are also some things that she just might not be telling us about the cancer too. The wife would go with her to all of her cancer doctor’s appointments up until about six months ago and then Patty stopped asking her to go with her. She would always have some excuse or reason but we think she might be keeping something from us and her family; so this type of trip may not be available for my wife and her best friend in the future.
All they do is cut and treat......
I am not going to get into all the cancer stuff right now, but I will just say that in Houston we have some of the most world renown cancer hospitals and doctors that have been “treating” cancer patients for far too long. I know damn well there are plenty of cures that are available as I type this daily dose that are being kept from people here in the USA all because big pharma can’t make a dime on those cures, they are natural plants and common things that can cure cancer.
Doctors and hospitals don’t make any money curing people they make money treating people and they will treat them all the way to the grave in order to get every last dime out of them they can.
" Cancer history", my ass...
So M.D. Anderson Cancer Center you can quit with the slogan you use, “making cancer history”, because you damn sure know that isn’t the truth. The only truth in that slogan might be for the amount of money the hospital is making, that I’m sure is “cancer history” as people from all over the world come to that hospital. When those patients are done there, most don’t survive but only three to five years from what I have seen, the chemo that they talk people into having is probably worse than the actual cancer, and a lot of people don’t even survive the chemo treatments.
Patty is in that three year...
Luckily for Patty she decided not to do the chemo, even if her cancer is back she is still lucky since her outcome would end up probably the same, 3 to 5 years. I am just speculating though right now, we don’t know if her cancer is back or not, but she has really been pushing to get the Papper girls to be able to go on this trip.
Another good decison made...
Speaking of decisions let me tell and show you one that I know the Mrs. and I got right last December when we got Shortie a nice sewing machine for a Christmas present. This is one of Shortie’s dolls she likes to play with. That fancy dress and the bracelet that doll is wearing are both original creations made by the youngest little Papper in the clan, Shortie.Yea, just a little proud...
She also did the hair and took the photograph too. I might just be sounding like a proud daddy right now that is because I am. This girl makes her own patterns, cuts her own material and stitches it altogether herself. Not too damn bad for just turning eleven last week don’t you think?
She has a whole bunch of doll clothes designs she has sketched in a note book and when she finds just the right material for one of her designs she will buy a little of it and make an outfit for one of her dolls.
Grandma Papper would be too...
I think her grandmother Papper would really be proud if she were alive today too, my mother really was a good seamstress and she made a whole bunch of her own clothes. She also made some really fancy dresses for bride’s maids and proms when she was alive, one thing she loved to do was sew, and I think the genes have been passed on to Shortie.
i've stitched some things...
I used to do some sewing myself, but all of my stuff was leather goods. I still have my old leather sewing machine in the garage and someday I might just get a new belt for it and let Shortie try it. It is a real old non-electric treadle machine made by Singer back in late 1800’s, I bought it from an estate sale of the local shoe repair shop back when I was a teenager to make bridles and halters for the horses. I can’t remember exactly what I paid for it but I know that it wasn’t a whole bunch, less than $100 for sure.
One last decision...
All right one last decision to tell you about and I will wrap this up, this decision is also running out of time. I will be closing in a my one year here on steemit next month. I have been trying to decide just what I want that final post to be for my first year and I think I have settled on it.
A book review by Sultnpapper...
I am going to do a book review, I haven’t done a book review yet and I have just the right book picked out. I read it several years ago and I have been picking it up from time to time and re-reading certain chapters that really interested me. I won’t tell you much about it right now, but I can assure you this is one book you probably have never read, so you will hopefully want to get my take on it before you decide to read it. I hope you like fiction.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
The photo associated with this post is the property of Shortie Papper, used by the author with permission.
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I feel the same about the cancer treatments. The chemo and radiation seems to cause more pain and discomfort to the patient.
Lovely sewing by your youngest papper.
Congrats on your upcoming year. Book review sounds good. 😊
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Thanks Red for stopping by. I guess we are on the same page about all of today's topic's and that makes me feel good about the decisions. Shortie is becoming quite the little doll seamstress, I might just have to do a full feature on her and her other designs, the wife sent me that picture last night right before I started writing so I decided to throw it in as last minute thing.
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Oh, man. I hate to hear about Mrs. P's friend. Once the medical world hears the words 'cancer' and 'insurance' in the same sentence you can start thinking maximum billing.
I've researched some of the 'alternate cures', and I have a couple of friends that stay right on it. I don't know for a fact that the % is better but I do know that some are at least as good as.
Disclosure: My best ex died in the care and feeding of MD Anderson in Houston. She did what she thought to be best and it's not exactly like we were married or anything at the time, but I lost one of the best friends I've ever had.
Looking back, I should have known something was up. She quit calling and I accepted the fact that it was "the new boyfriend". Today I don't think so at all, I think she just couldn't or wouldn't tell me she was dying.
And on a much better front... WoooooHoooo Shortie. That looks terrific to me, and I am seriously impressed. I really like that she has grabbed on and does it herself. That's learning. That's a really great life lesson, to be sure.
So the girls are going to take a trip and the boys are going to learn that fair is in September and at a specific place that isn't here. I suspect that is probably net good for all concerned.
Looking forward to the book. I AM a reader if nothing else.
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I think there is a point, strictly a guess, that some people reach where the decide that they don't want others to go through the pain that they will be losing a friend soon and so they clam up on just what is really going on with them when it comes to cancer or any other condition that is known to be acutely terminal. So I suspect that was what your ex was doing, trying to save you some pain and suffering.
There a plenty of stories on cures that have been found and quickly squashed out of site by the government. There is a doctor in Stafford, Texas that used to work in the Houston Medical center that has a cure and the State of Texas medical licensing board has done all they can to ruin him and force him to close, look up Stanislaw Burzynski and the Burzynski Clinic if you ever get bored and want to read his story about how they have set about to get him out of the picture.
Shortie is exhibiting signs of real talent in the doll clothes arena and the post you did even strengthened her commitment to designing doll clothing that is just like the fashions of grown up runway models. She really liked that story of yours.
I think I will end up taking a few days off or least be in town the week the girls are gone so that the boys don't kill each other in case they are still feeling cheated. I agree that it is probably a net good for all, otherwise I wouldn't have decided in favor of the trip.
Thanks for the continued support and great comment.
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Cancer is a terrible scourge. It has hit my family many times and I have watched the treatments to see the suffering with these so-called chances at a cure if we get it early enough. My husband had cancer and refused to have the chemo and probably lived two years longer without that intervention. Do send the girls on the trip. I too think that she knows something she is not saying. It could be the last trip together for Mrs. Papper and her friend.
You should be a proud pappy since she is showing a lot of talent for an 11-year-old. Perhaps she will become a famous fashion designer one day.
I will look forward to the book review. I love to read and fiction is one genre that I do enjoy. BTW What the heck is a minnow III and how do you find out? I have been here a year and have no idea...
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Sorry to hear the cancer got your husband. I think he made a good decision foregoing the chemo and radiation. Even if it didn't add any extra time from not doing it, I am pretty certain that it saved him a lot of unneeded pain and additional suffering.
Shortie might just become a famous fashion designer in the future, knowing her though it will be for doll clothing.
You would have to ask about the minnow III and I am probably the least qualified person around here to answer it correctly but I'll try and people can correct me if I am wrong.
When the developers of steemit.com set up this platform they did it using a hierarchy of levels naming them from what you would find looking at an ocean Eco-system.
So it stares out the lowest on the totem pole is the crap on the bottom of the ocean floor, Plankton or as I call it , pond scum. And there are three levels of plankton.
To make it from plankton up to minnow, which also has three levels, a person needs to accumulate 1,000,000 vests. Vests I have been told are like little shares of stock in steemit.com and are earned when you earn you increase your steem power in your wallet. The steem power level of 500 is the point you reach going from plankton I to minnow III and it is the point that you also now have the 1,000,000 vests.
Once you reach minnow status it also has three levels, level III , being the smallest minnow and you continue to add vests and work your way up in the system. I don't know the different thresholds for the levels in terms of vests, some else would have to help out here with that.
But any of these levels could be reached by just buying steem and powering up I suppose because life in this ecosystem is just like life in the real world , money = power. The more money you have the more power you can buy.
I found out from listening to others as they reached or were approaching minnow status, I never went and researched it but I am sure it is explained in the white paper or in the steemit FAQ's would be my guess. I hope this helps you, and like I said, I am probably the least qualified to answer it so if I got it wrong or left out something important someone will jump in here and straighten it up for us so we can both learn a little more about it.
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I am not really paying much attention to those numbers because I like what I am doing and enjoy the friendships I have made here. It doesn't matter to me if someone is a plankton or an Orca, if they have good content and like to engage then I am in. Thanks for the explanation. I guess that makes sense.
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I agree, the size of the wallet doesn't matter and if I never got past pond scum I would still be the same old man doing my same old daily dose. The people are what makes this place enjoyable and the friendships are where the real value is on here in my opinion.
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Well done to Shortie!
I hope Patty is going to be ok, I feel the same about chemo & even radiation - hubby's going to have to make a decision soon as they've found a small malignant tumor in his prostrate so the options he's been given are either prostrate removal or brachytherapy but our guest from New Jersey told us about steriotactic radiation which her husband had so we want to ask about that. Good health is something to be treasured & nurtured!
Well done on becoming a minnow!
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I will pass that along to Shortie. I am also saddened to hear about your husband and his cancer. I am not familiar with the steriotactic radiation treatment your guest told you about but it sounds like another option that he needs to look into for sure. I will keep him in my prayers.
Making it to minnow status was something I have had my eye on and I was hoping that I would make it there by the end of my first year through earning it rather than purchasing it and I have managed to do that with all of the support of good people like you and the others that engage here regularly, so thanks to all of you folks.
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Thank you mr Papper!
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I'm just catching up as I was out doing crazy climbing stuff earlier in the week. Sorry to hear about your friends Gene and Patty being ill. That kind of news can really knock you for six.
I just love Shortie's doll outfit! She has talent. My mum taught me to use a sewing machine when I was a little girl, and I used to love making outfits for my Sindy doll! (Sindy was the UK's answer to Barbie.) Eventually I started to sew clothes for myself. It's a great skill to learn.
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It is funny that they had to have a separate named doll for the UK. Shortie and Blondie took lessons at the library last summer on sewing and Shortie has really grabbed on to it, she made herself a full size skirt today for her to wear.
Yes, the friends with their cancers are really a sad situation. Hopeful they have some remission from it.
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