Welp....October is here and I have yet to get going on things. Not my fault. Just a lot of things came up during the month of September. It happens.

I'm not going to lie. I have taken the kids to Six Flags at least once a week pretty much the entire summer, and the tradition is continuing now. For me it is well worth it. I bought the dining pass in the spring and I want to user that sucker up until the very last minute....so through December this year. The kids are usually quite antsy when there is no one around to play with and, for me, a walk around the park is good exercise after sitting on my butt for most of the week. Now I need to find an adult friend or two who has the same amount of flexibility to join me on my coaster trips. ;)

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I did get myself a pants job that keeps me in front of my computer a lot. That is a part of the problem. (not really a problem) It's a work from home job that offers a steady paycheck as well as the freedom to work whenever I want. I try to max out my hours and use the remained free time to work on my 3D projects which is usually 2 days a week. Well, the entire month of September my 2 free days a week have been filled with family emergencies and other obligations. Not mad about it, just more determined to get going on it now. Halloween is on the way and Christmas is not far around the corner and my catalogue needs to be beefed up. This week the boys have an extra day off of school and I have a scan in Madison so again I am booked up, so hopefully next week I can begin work. (fingers crossed)

Here is a video of our trip to opening day of Fright Fest. It was warm and busy and still a blast. The boys were so brave. Enjoy!
 

Bad luck had struck us again. We had been without running water for about a month. Our water is supplied by a well. Suddenly the well pump refused turn off and water started gushing from underneath the garage. At first Brian thought the pipe for the outside faucet had broke because that is approximately where the water was flowing from. We turned off the well and disconnected the faucet. After the simple repair, we turned the well back on only to have the water flow again. I knew we had to start digging. My only hope was that the hole in the pipe was not too deep. Honestly if we had rented an excavator we probably could have had the job done in a week or less, but with the other expenses that we have accrued the last couple months, any additional expenses was not an option, so digging we did. We were only really able to work on it during the weekends as the weekdays were just to busy. We were still able to turn on the water when we needed to cook or wash our hands, but showers and clothes washing was done elsewhere.

The toughest part was getting through the concrete in the garage. It is where the pipe emerged from underground and connected to the tank which then supplied the rest of the house. Brian first tried drilling into it, but because it is a couple inches thick, he was able to get one hole done an hour. We ended up getting a diamond blade for his saw and cut out chunks of the cement. That worked much faster. After finally getting the pipe loose from the concrete and digging out the entire length underneath, we were able to find the offending leak. It was just at the elbow where the pipe turned towards the well. A big hole had rusted in it. I assume it was leaking a little bit for quite a while, but it finally gave out. So now we knew where the problem was and headed to the store for supplies. Twenty dollars and several hours later and we were ready to turn the water back on. Was it still going to leak? That was the big question. Moment of truth. I flipped the switch and we crossed our fingers. The pump turned on and ran for a few seconds then turned off again. No leaks! Finally I can do some laundry!

We filled in the hole and decorated it just in time for trick-or-treating. :)

broken well

broken well

broken well

broken well

broken well

broken well

Shapeways is where I first got into 3D printing. It's high quality 3D printing for anyone who doesn't have a 3D printer. There is also large selection of materials to choose from including stainless steal and platinum. It's crazy to think that anything that pops into my head can be made into a physical object. I have gone as so far as printing some of the things I have made for IMVU just to see how they would look in real life. It's also pretty cool that they have a marketplace where I can sell my 3D prints to other people without having to do any of the work of selling. I just have to imagine it and add it to my catalog. Doing a test print is also a good idea as some things print better than others.    My full catalog

Here are a couple of my best selling products:

IMVU to 3D printed

   ---------->   

I suppose I should give an update on how my latest scans went. I had and MRI on the 17th of October and a follow-up CT scan on the 20th. The MRI came up crystal clear. Absolutly wonderful news. The CT scan came up as stable. Still good news, but not the news I wanted to hear. 

Here is the CT results from my scan back in Sept:

IMPRESSION:
1. Slight interval enlargement of a hypermetabolic right level IIb lymph node --
concerning for residual nodal metastasis.
2. Other subcentimeter lymph nodes within the right level 2A, 2B, and 5A nodal
stations (as detailed in the report) are indeterminate but given contacts also
potentially concerning for additional areas of residual nodal disease.
3. Status post surgical removal of the previously identified right preauricular
metastatic implant, without evidence of local residual disease.
4. Persistent asymmetric prominence and hypermetabolic uptake of the sublingual
glands and palatine tonsils, currently favored represent reactive inflammatory
changes.