Spanky

We lost a friend and family member this week. One of the strongest and gentlest men I have ever known. Brave and so proud of who and what he was. A man I was proud to call a brother, or a sister, depending on what shoes he was wearing at any given moment. In boots or in heels, Spanky was the very definition of a beautiful spirit.

Obituary from the Asbury Park Press.
Mark F. Bialous

AGE: 44 • Neptune

Mark F. Bialous, 44, of Neptune, passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2011, at his home of complications due to esophageal cancer. He was surrounded by his family and friends. Affectionately known as "Spanky", Mark was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and has resided in the Asbury Park area for many years. A licensed practical nurse, Mark had worked in the Monmouth County Correctional Facility and was Pharmaceutical Manager for the last three years. In 2008, he earned the title of Mr. NJ Leather. He was also a friend of Bill W.

Mark was predeceased by his mother, Viola; and his father, Henry. He is survived by his brother, Henry "Hank" Bialous of Lindenwold; his sister-in-law, Linda (Mini Mom) Bialous; and his external family of choice.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 9 in Buckley Funeral Home, 509 Second Ave., Asbury Park. A Memorial Celebration will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mark's name may be made to the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties or a charity of your choice.

kinda gross but......

On my way home, i spotted something along the side of the road. Luckily i had my camera with me, so i turned around and got some amazing photos! i am so pleased with these. Red tail hawk is special to me, near and dear to my heart.

closing down the OTHER blog

We're pulling the plug on the internationamasterandslave2007.com website, so that blog will be going away also. i've been mirroring that one here, so if you're still interested in following along, this is were i will do any M/s related updates.

If you're interested in following along with our workouts and my healthy journey, please check out the other blogs we have:
http://raisetheiron.blogspot.com
http://girlsraiseirontoo.blogspot.com/

We've not abandoned M/s, in fact, we just renewed our contract for another year. However, getting a handle on my health has taken priority, as well as Master's new position and me taking (another) huge pay cut.....funds have been scarce for any extra traveling.

We're still here, still getting in to trouble, still making noise and rocking out, still crazy, still M/s. Taybor is fine, Lilu remains cancer free. If you drop by the other blogs, please say HI, we'd love to know you stopped by!
Peace,
barb

The Melissa Etheridge show....

OK, so people who know Master and i well know that someone near and very dear to us came out a few months ago (at the age of 80, i might add!) In the weeks and months in between she's been just an absolute pleasure to be around, no more fighting, no weird uber-conservative comments, no snarky remarks about hair or tattoos....just pleasant. Also, a huge thirst for music. She asked us to get tickets for Melissa Etheridge. Really? Hmmm.... i think the last concert she went to was Frank Sinatra back in the late 40's or 50's. Master hustled up some dynamite tickets and then the anticipation began to build. She was so excited!

To be honest, Master and i were a bit apprehensive. Melissa's not exactly the music we usually listen to. Her concerts last for 3 hours. Could we stand it? Could she? (i mean, she's 80. It's a long concert. She hates loud music....) Friday night, we picked her up and drove in to New Brunswick. One comment was made about what i was wearing "It's nice that you wore something low cut, you look nice. And your tattoos are showing, great!" (what? really?)

Well, we got in to our seats. The lights went down. Tribal drumming music starts. A few band members walked slowly thought the audience burning sage and cedar, blessing the room. i thought "very cool, but what's she going to think" She's looking a bit uncomfortable. But, ok, she also looks determined. Then there's this rumble coming from the crowd in the back of the auditorium. Flashlights waving around in the aisle....You hear a woman's voice on a microphone "we are all here to celebrate!" The crowd was moving like a wave....excitement! Yup, Melissa's coming through the crowd and walking right down the aisle we're in. Our newly out "friend" steps out in to the aisle and is dancing around like a 5 year old. Master and i are grinning. Melissa walks right towards her and put her hands on her shoulders in an embrace "we are all here to celebrate!" We're all crying like a bunch of fools. *grin* Melissa takes the stage, our "friend" turns to us and says "Frank Sinatra never walked through the crowd like that" i told her Lesbians are made of stronger stuff and Frank was a wimp. :-)

The show was spectacular. 3 hours of amazing music. She won me over with the first blues riff and blew me away. She's an under rated guitar talent. Truly in the top 5 concerts i've ever seen and i've been to hundreds, if not thousand of shows. Our friend made it through the entire show, occasionally breaking out of her seat to run up front and snap some photos like a teen age fan girl. What a blast. i think i just might have to take her to K.D. Lang (my favorite) or maybe the Indigo Girls... or the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.....

Apparently....

No matter what century - someone, somewhere, somehow....has been carting LiLu to the vet. :-)

Today we got to decrease her prednisone, so hopefully she'll sleep thru the night and i won't have to wake up every 45 minutes to let her out to pee. This coming Saturday she'll be getting chemo #5.

Manhattenhenge

For those of you lucky enough to be in the NYC area tonight, please enjoy this!
Manhattenhenge.

4th of July

After a brutal and distressing Friday, in which i got another pay cut at
work - it was time for a blessed and much needed 3 day weekend.
Friday
night was spent at home and was quiet and full of hot sexy fun. (This
might be too much information, but i've been having a serious issue with
a total cessation of my sex drive. Be it from the "Peri-menopause" or
whatever. It was just gone, bye-bye sex drive. However, i believe that
due to the changes in diet and supplements i've been taking, it's back.
In force. Like i was when i was 20. No kidding!)

Saturday we headed off to the gym. i was determined to set some PB's
(personal bests) since it was the 8th anniversary of my ITP diagnosis.
:-)
So, the PB's that i set on Saturday were as follows:
Overhead
shoulder press machine - 50 lbs (up 5 lbs from last week) (up 25 lbs
since Jan 2010) (plus i do these one arm at a time, because Master says
it's more difficult that way and He wants me to be tough.)

Decline bench press - 100 lbs!!! (up 20 lbs since last week) (up 35 lbs
since Jan 2010) (can you tell i've been dicking around with this
exercise? yeah....)
There were of course, many, many more exercises -
these are just the 2 that i felt were note worthy. i'll leave out the
description of me trying to do an 35 lb incline dumb bell shoulder press
and having an epic fail on that one - laid there like a bug under a
rock, struggling... Master had to rescue me. Damn. And i did that weight
a few times before!

Post gym, we swung home and picked up the Queen for chemo #3. At the
hospital, her blood tested so amazingly great that they actually
increased her chemo dose to fight those bastard cells extra hard! i was
super pleased that her tests came back so well, the supplements and food
changes are working for her too!

Home, rest, eat and eat and eat! and sex, sex and more sex. A good Saturday! Very good.

Sunday,
up early, home made bread toasted on the grill outside....off to the
gym for Leg Day. i started off with a PB on the Leg Press - 798 lbs (up
45 lbs from last week) (up 195 lbs since Jan 2010)

We also tried out some Diamond Bar Dead Lifts. Not huge weight for me,
but i've been scared to try dead lifts and it was time to get over that.
:-) Now i like them!
Hack squats, i left the weight the same as
last week, since last Sunday i smashed the weight i was doing by 90 lbs.
Yup, another exercise that i was underestimating myself in. i went from
180 lbs to 270.

Home, food, rest, food, food, food and then... you guessed it: lots of
sex. And cooking. The funny thing is, with the changes that both Master
and i have made in our food intake, we're both always cooking.
Sunday
afternoon i realized that something was seriously amiss with my right
wrist. i believe it's a combination of the weight lifting and the sex
(there was some contortions going on). Master thinks it's funny to just
blame all the sex.

Monday was just a day of blissful rest, icing my wrist, eating and
sleeping. i'm now eating more food that i ever did and my weight is
steadily albeit slowly dropping. This was a long post with my banged up
wrist, so i am signing off now. Peace!