My journey of life while dying with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer
I'm Angry. Not the red-faced, steam coming from my ears, mushroom cloud over my head, angry. Just a calm realization of anger. Education I'm angry at all those people that told me I had to get a degree to go anywhere or do anything with my life. I didn't know what I wanted to …
Introducing our Guest Blogger I met Jannie (Boulanger) Hanna and her mom, Cindy, while I worked as the Human Resources Representative at N.E.W. Plastics Corp. in Luxemburg, Wisconsin from 2013 to 2015. Jannie graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in December 2018, her major being Elementary Education and Human Development, and a minor in ESL …
Educating Others I've always loved teaching. It started when I was little. I would create math worksheets and spelling/English/reading worksheets for myself, and then I would correct them. I would use the organ bench in our family room as my teacher's desk. I imagined that the family room was full of my students. Of course, …
The Energy Crisis The hardest fight I have while living with cancer is fatigue. This fatigue will make me fall asleep at the kitchen counter while typing on the computer. Or I will fall asleep while scrolling through Facebook. I have learned to never text while I am falling asleep! I sleep at night. Sometimes. …
Financial Troubles I believe that everyone, at some point in their lifetime, have had financial troubles. Unless, of course, you are part of a husband and wife dual-income household, with at most two or no children, and receive ten thousand dollar checks from your parents for Christmas every year. Or even one year. For the …
I always think of things, all kinds of things, as I'm lying in bed just before I fall asleep. Our nighttime routine consists of watching TV for a little while, typically a recorded episode of "The Dead Files", while we both play Solitaire 2048. I shouldn't have introduced Solitaire 2048 to the hubs. He'll be …
Taking you back to a prior post, I mentioned that I am not a political person. I don’t discuss politics. I have told friends that I don’t discuss politics. I also don’t discuss religion. Yes, I agreed to do a political commercial for the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. Recording a commercial is fun, I …
Two weeks ago, I recorded part of a documentary about clean water with Karen Erbach of Schiller Street Media. Karen and her partner, Patrick, both complimented me several times, and told me I should be doing a video blog (a "vlog") within my blog, because I have a "presence". I hate looking at myself in …
I was going to post this yesterday, but I forgot to add it to my post. Here is the Dad of the Bride speech given at Little One's wedding last Friday: Hello! Can you hear me now? Whoops, wrong carrier! Sorry Matt!* I am Rob Balza, Hope’s dad. One of the best days in my …
Last week was a huge and busy week in our lives. Monday, 9/24Monday, September 24th, was my 48th birthday! Considering I was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer when I was 44, and was supposed to be dead within six months after diagnosis, birthdays tend to mean a lot more. Baby Girl and myself …
