Happy Holidays!

I wanted to post about my holidays.  They have been fantastic and I've enjoyed myself a ton.  Alas, why I have not posted for awhile.

I can't ever ignore how fun it is getting ready for Christmas.  As you know, I started planning early this year.  Really in September.  I was crafting in October.  So it made the prep really so much easier.  Mom helped with the tree the week before Thanksgiving.  Even Trudy (my housecleaner) came and made everything spanky and clean.  So we wrapped and shopped and were ready and waiting. 

My Tree 2013

At my house

Nola came into town on Christmas day.  It was hard to believe how early she got started to make it here by 10:00 am.  We came home and Philip had made us some White Chicken Chili.  Then we went to DeOna's for Christmas dinner with the family.  We had a great dinner at DeOna's house.  We were pleasantly surprised when Jennie was able to join us.  She is usually really busy with her Dad's side of the family but they were between parties.

 

 

Mom and Chuck came into town on Friday for a post Christmas celebration.  We pulled out a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the evening visiting.  Luckily Mom's cold and cough were much better so she was able to make it up.  It is always nice to see them.

While Nola is here, we've been going to eat and visit places she loves and remembers.  We've also been scrapbook shopping.  It is really fun to shop with Nola and see what catches her eye.  She has a great eye for paper and getting stuff that she can actually use.  I tend to focus on embellishments and stickers and some paper to go with them.  Such a different style.  I am going to try to be more creative and I'm also going to try to stop buying paper and such as I think I have enough for now.  We also went up the canyon yesterday to look at the snow.  It was great fun.



Litza's Pizza

The Soup Kitchen

Litza's Pizza

Two of my favorite people

  

Downtown fun

 

Snow fun in Millcreek canyon

So New Years is just peeking around the corner.  I've been invited to a party but I am not sure what Philip's plans are so I will wait to finalize mine until we can touch base.

I hope everyone had a great holiday too.  Now onto 2014!!

Come on Betsy

So I am slowly making progress with Betsy (the black cow laptop).  The battery didn't help her fire up.  Believe me I tried.  I've come to terms with the cost of the new laptop.  So today I took Betsy into the repair shop to have her memory copied.  Sounds space aged eh?  The guy didn't seem concerned at all about being able to get my info off.  He said they will basically take the hard drive out and put it  in another computer and copy it off.  He said my external hard drive was probably big enough to make a complete copy of the data.  I  told him I don't need diagnostics done and I decided to wait to clean off the hard drive until I can confirm I have all my files.  I was also able to return the battery for a full refund.

Now I need to learn to be okay without a computer until my new one comes.  I was secretly hoping it would come today.  I was assured it would not however,  I got my camera. It is pretty cool.  Philip is luckily going to D and D tomorrow until Sunday so I can use his during that time.

I felt very relieved the guy thought he could get all my files.  He said it should be ready after Christmas.  That works for me!  I'll still have time to get the files for Philip's Eagle program.  Still sucks but I feel a sense of relief for sure!

Technology let down

Wednesday, I went to log into my personal laptop.  Completely dead.  Won't fire up.  No lights.  No sound.  I cannot even express the amount of distress this caused me.  I got a warning for a year that the battery needed replaced.  So I just used it plugged in.  That should work right?  Tuesday night, it needed coaxing to turn on.  I told Philip we should back it up over the weekend.  In hindsight, we are both kicking ourselves that we didn't back it up that night because it is now DOA.

I did some internet search and found Battery + had a battery I could go pick up so I bit the bullet and bought the $110 battery yesterday.  The guy said he wasn't sure it would do the trick and I agree but I have to try right?  Well I plugged it and I did get lights but it would not turn on.  So I let it charge for a few hour.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure it charged.  I highly suspect it drained the reserve in the battery because there were no lights as of last night.

What really surprised me is the amount of inertia this ordeal caused.  I got to the point I couldn't make one decision and my thinking was clouded.  It was finally at 8:00 pm I decided we should go take my laptop (calling her Betsy now because she is now like a big black cow....grazing in the fields without a care in the world) to the repair shop to try to get the gems of files, photos, and music I have on my computer.  Alas, their internet page lied because they closed at 8:00, not 9:00.  I can't tell you how that pissed me off I was there at 8:05.  The employees were in there but never looked up...even with the persistent knocking on the door.  I swear I was going to just drop to my knees and cry.  I just wanted to make some progress on the issue.

Philip helped me look at new laptops online.  Did you know there are about 10,000 choices?  Operating system, screen size, hybrid, memory, DVD/no DVD, touch screen, 10 key pad, etc, etc, etc.  I find this overwhelming.  To the point I just couldn't decide.  Part of the inertia was that by the time we added in what I wanted, it was over $800.  So we comparison shopped.  Dell, HP, Microsoft, Acer, Lenovo.... I narrowed it down to the Dell or Lenovo.  But how do you pick.  Sleek and stylish or memory and DVD drive?  4 USB ports or 3?  So I did what any girl would do with a broken heart and a huge headache.  I took 600 mg Ibuprofen and went to bed.  Surprisingly, I didn't dream about it all.

This morning, I realized yesterday was free shipping day and I missed it.  So got started with work and then went out to the Dell site and ordered it up.  I went for sleek and sexy.  I'm going to be learning Windows 8.  Philip promised to help me.  Then I searched for coupons online.  I did find one more I hadn't found in my frustration stupor from the day before.  Saved $50 more.  And they still had free shipping!  So it is on it's way.

Shhhhh...don't tell anyone but one of my secrets is that Dell is a great resource for cameras.  If you buy one while buying your computer, you get a screaming deal.  My camera sucks.  So I've been using my phone but my phone runs out of memory.  So I found another deal on a camera and got the spanking new Canon point and shoot for $70!

The bonus of it all?  My work offers a 20% rebate on all computer purchases every 2 years.  Since I bought it in 2013, it will count this year.  Which is perfect because Philip is dreaming of a new computer when he goes to college.

Sucks to have to buy a new computer unexpectedly.  But I am very happy with the choice.  Hopefully they can get my files off my old computer and I can bury Betsy in the back yard corner where the retaining wall is falling over because I just blew my budget to fix it on a new computer.  Haha.

I guess I can consider it a Merry Christmas to me!

Holiday crafting

Last Tuesday evening, I went to a make up crafting class at my blogger friend's Mom's house.  Kaylyn used to own a craft store, been a home stager, and even sold real estate for awhile.  She has a real flair for decorating and crafting.  You might recall, I went to the class in June and enjoyed myself so I decided to sign up for the December class.  Truth be told, I was suppose to go to the class in November.  It was the day before my surgery.  I would have gone but it was so windy, they were advising no one drive.  I didn't want to drive to Lehi and it was probably a good idea to hold off.  So she had a make up class last week and I was excited to go.

First let me say, she collects vintage holiday stuff.  She had cute stuff all over.  She had vintage stockings, Santa face cocoa sets, and oh my gosh....SANTAS!  I love Santas and I admit I was jealous.  Here is just a portion of her buffet.



She made the best soup....had crusty warm garlic bread, and even cucumber water for dinner.  It was so delicious.  I must make this soup again...and by the way...it  had Kale in it...and I ate it!  She also gave us a bag of caramel corn drizzled with melted chocolate.

There were only 3 of us there so we got going on our crafts after we finished our soup.  I'm telling you, this woman has everything you could ever want to craft with.  Ink pads...check.  30 colors of glitter...check.  5 kinds of glue....check.  10 different options for vintage style patterned papers.....check.  Mica flakes....check.  All we brought is a glue gun and scissors. 

We made a cone tree, paper covered boxes complete with bottle brush trees and mica snow flakes, and a Joy banner.  She has everything ready for you and in kit in the metal tone you requested.  The other 2 people that came left early.  They crafted like they were on speed.  They had their tree done before I was even done covering it with paper.  They ended up taking their boxes undone.  I felt a little uncomfortable staying super late by myself so I finished my tree and boxes but brought my Joy banner home to finish.  It was 10:30 pm after all.  I admit, I cheated.  This is a photo of her banner so I can copy it.  I hope to work on it either this weekend or next week.

Although I felt hectic that day, I really enjoyed being creative and am so happy with my end products.  I bought an extra kit so I can do more.  I can't wait.

It was nice to visit with Kaylyn and learn more about her and her family.  She has such a "can do" attitude and faces challenges and barriers with optimism and determination.  She is having surgery in January but if she feels okay, she is having a Valentine's class.  I just might have to check it out.

Hope you are finding your holiday spirit in things you enjoy.

What's up buttercup?

Has it really been over a week since I posted?  Why  yes....yes it has.  So I wanted to post an update.  Mainly everything is going good.  I've been busy with general life stuff which isn't always very exciting to blog about.  But let me try.

I've been busy planning Philip's Eagle ceremony in January.  I designed some easy invitations and had them printed through Walgreens.  We also went and got a new uniform for Philip since his old one didn't fit.  Much to our surprise, the guy let us buy the badges Philip has lost without proof he earned them.  Now I would never get badges Philip didn't earn but it was nice to know we have it set now. 

I've been crafting.  I got a wild idea to make felt owl ornaments.  It was something I've had on my mind for a few years but Nola's Pintrest sparked me to jump forward.  Those were some time consuming owls but they came out so cute.  I'm noodling on adapting the pattern to make kitties out of them.  I've also been doing another online scrapbooking crop that has kept me busy.

 

Have I been doing much for Christmas?  Not since Thanksgiving as far as decorating and such.  I did get some new Polonaise ornaments on Ebay.  I'm anxious to put them on the tree.  I also got my Christmas cards out.  I decided not to do a letter because the people I would normally want to tell what we did over the year read my blog. 

Last week, Mars and John came and scooped me up and treated me to dinner and took me to see the Tech Night production of "Elf, the Musical" at Pioneer Theater.  It was excellent and I really enjoyed it.  I'm so happy we enjoy doing things together.  Plus I love to see a picture into their world at the theater.  I'm honestly fascinated by the behind the scenes of the arts.

My eye is doing pretty good.  It has healed quite well.  To the point you wouldn't really  know I had surgery if you didn't know.  The incision is healing nicely.  The bruising is gone.  But the dent remains.  I see Dr. S for a follow up on Thursday.  I'll ask him about it again then.  I'm still not wearing makeup...hopefully for another week.  I want to be sure the incision is good and healed before I pull on it getting makeup on and off.  Honestly, I like not having to fuss with makeup but I'm not sure it is acceptable in Salt Lake society.

 

Philip is finished with his ACT prep class. His big test is this Saturday.  It makes me nervous because I know how important it is he does his very best.  He is plugging away at school.  I think we are both looking forward to Christmas break.

We've been absolutely freezing cold.  Like single digits cold.  And we get snow periodically.  Philip has been a trooper and has been shoveling for me.  Today he didn't have time before school so I did some.  The driveway will be waiting for him to get home from school.  :-)  Luckily we are suppose to warm up by next weekend but they say the inversion is coming about Wednesday.  That is always so depressing

And really, that is it.  So all is good.  I can't believe Christmas is 2.5 weeks away!

Happy Black Friday!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I cooked for Dad.  We had a great meal and it was delicious if I say so myself.  I think those few weeks of pre-Thanksgiving cooking shows on TV helped me prepare a turkey breast that was not only flavorful but....ummmm....moist.  I know people don't like the word moist but I do think it is the only word that fits for a turkey breast is that word.  Please forgive me. It made a delicious left over turkey sandwich too!

I don't take the newspaper anymore and I was too busy in the morning yesterday to even think of getting a paper.  So when Dad left last night at 7:15, I thought....hey...just in time to start shopping!!!  But I had no idea where to go or what I should be getting.  So I watched a Christmas movie I had recorded.  I thought about calling Nola because I know she loves the Black Friday sales and I was sure she was out and about but I resisted the urge just in case she was sleeping.  I set my alarm for 9:00 am this morning to head over to Dr. S office but woke up at 8:00 thinking I missed the sales.  Luckily Nola texted me and shared her shopping adventures.  I couldn't help feeling I was missing out.

So I headed to Dr. S office to get my stitches out (more on that in a minute), and there it was, the 50 lb paper from yesterday by his office door outside!  As I left, I picked it up and went through the ads (I put it back when I was done).  There were so many ads....and fun deals to be had but it was already almost 11:00 so I missed most the sales.  As I read through it, there were a few things I would have liked to get like an outdoor firepit (wanted one for a few years) and some remote control battery candles for my fireplace (so I don't have to bend over to light then and blow them out).  Oh and Lowe's Hardware had a platform ladder for $17!!!  Looked so fun but realistically, I probably wouldn't use it.  Since I wasn't going out, I decided knowing I didn't miss anything much was good to know.

At Dr. S office, his nurse Tammy (who is the one the helped orchestrate my quick surgery schedule) was there.  She removed most my stitches.  She said my swelling wouldn't be so bad if I slept elevated and on my back.  Yeah.  I knew that but I can't sleep like that.  Dr. S came in and took some of the last difficult stitches out.  When he walked in, he said "Wow, I bet that was swollen shut".  Yeah...pretty close.  He said the pathology came back as Lymphoma but slow growing...as I knew.  He will send the report to Dr. L (my oncologist).  He said I can't tug on my incision for at least another week and the swelling should go down over the next month.  I asked him about the dent.  He said he was pretty aggressive removing the lump and the dent should level out some over time.  He didn't seem worried about it at all...but then again, he is a plastic surgeon.  I'm sure if it doesn't fill in, he will have some cosmetic solution if I want.  I think the swelling is still significant and when that goes down, it should look better.  And I would guess the fat will sort of moosh out and be more smooth.  So sad I have a fat eyebrow!

Here is a photo from today after the stitches came out.  I still have the dark line.  Honestly, it is dried blood.  I will start using Neosporin and that should help get that off.  He is sure it will heal fine and not show.  I am happy the bruising has gone down even more.  You can imagine I'll be happy as it gets even better.  It is still tough to go around without sunglasses on.  And I am a little tired of the eye droop from the swelling.  I know...such a whiner.

Today I am going to putter around the house.  It is all clean still from yesterday so I get to play!  I have a strong urge to clean and organize but I don't  know that I have the stamina for that.  I think I have a turkey hangover!  Haha.  I hope everyone is enjoying the day and starting to feel the holiday spirit.  It is time you know!

High Yellow

Well I snooped.  You knew I would.  I checked my online medical records and read the path report.  I'm no doctor so I will wait for the official notice but the pathology report basically said the lump was cancerous (we knew that already) but that there were no "large" cells which is a good thing.  It was diagnosed as Low Grade Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  To me, that means it is back to the non-aggressive type which is a very good thing. 

What doesn't make sense to me is how I can go from Low Grade to Grade 3 back to Low Grade.  It is a great question for Dr. L.  I don't have an appointment with him until January.  I don't know that I need to rush in to hear the lab results from him.  Dr. S will give them to me when I get my stitches out Friday.  But if Dr. L wants to see me, they will call me and get me scheduled.  While I am not excited to keep growing lumps, I find a sense of relief that it wasn't aggressive again but I am curious what that means and how that can happen.

As far as healing, I'm doing good.  The last several days have been pretty ugly.  I did have my Mammogram on Monday.  I decided to wear my big sunglasses to keep the stares to a minimum.  Once I was taken back to the procedure area, I did take them off.  Then I decided to go to the grocery store and I wore them the whole time.  That worked okay.  So much so, I went back to the store yesterday with the glasses again.  What is really funny is for some reason, I can't see as well with sunglasses on but I'm making it work.  It felt good to leave the house.

Here is what it looks like  now.  I am calling it "High Yellow" because some of the bruising has turned yellow which is part of healing.  Hopefully the photo doesn't cross the "gross" line for you.  Just be glad I didn't share the last several days photos.  Just know if this looks better, it was way worse before.  I am still swollen and numb around my eyebrow.  I have a funny dent where the lump was (where my eyebrow looks darker...is really the dent).  I sure hope that fixes itself.

Still no pain....well except when I touch it....so I don't touch it at all.

I'm getting ready to cook Thanksgiving for Dad and me.  I am planning to cook just a breast and a leg so it should be very easy but hopefully delicious.  We are having all our favorite sides.  I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving.  It is kind of corny but I'll take advantage of this opportunity to thank each of you for your love and support.  I really do appreciate you and thank you for being so special to  me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Surgery went well

I know many of you are wondering how I am doing and the details of my surgical adventure yesterday.  First off, all is really good.  visibly ugly but good.

Loretta the Lump.  See the droop right above my pupil?

Yesterday my report time to the hospital was 8:15.  Mom came into town the  night before and we were ready to go in the morning.  We got there just in time.  It was really nice to not be super early.  As you know, I am not a morning person.  Let me stop for a moment and express how much I love the newer Intermountain Medical Center  hospital.  And on the way in, we just so happened to run into Dr. C, my radiologist.  He knew who I was and felt the lump.  He said he would have radiated without concern but I told him Dr. L wanted pathology to know what my lymphoma is doing.  One thing he did confirm for me that was concerning me is I shouldn't have any issues with the suture and wound healing with the recent radiation.  That was good to know and answered a big question.

So at IMC, you get your own private room as you wait for surgery.  They do it all in there.  There are lockers to put your stuff.  A comfy recliner (chemo) chair and even a TV.  We were scheduled to go into the operating room at 9:35 but I guess the prior surgery took longer and we didn't go in until 11:00!!  I admit, I was starving and getting tired of waiting.

Dr. S, my surgeon, came in to see me about 9:45 and marked my lump.  As you might recall, I hadn't seen him since I had pneumonia in September but we did discuss the lump when it was much smaller.  He was fine with it all and was ready to go.  He felt he could use my eyelid crease to avoid a scar.  Still safe from a new visible scar!  Then we waited...and waited...and waited.  I always worry I will have to go to the bathroom during surgery.  So I went about 5000 times.  LOL.   Finally at 11:00, the anesthesiologist came in.  He was very nice and we all agreed MAC sedation (conscious sedation where you aren't really put out) was the best choice....especially since my recent pneumonia.  And back I went.

The lump marked by Dr. S.  Looks big once outlined!

 I think it is interesting they have you walk into the operating room yourself.  I guess there is no reason why you couldn't.  I had given Dr. S some Cowboy Cookies I got at Cowboy Grub the night before for the OR team.  When I got in the operating room, they were sitting here and 1/2 were gone.  I made a comment that I am glad they got the cookies.  They said they were fabulous and I was officially their favorite patient of the day!  I've learned through all my treatments and such, bringing treats is a good thing and often gives the medical team the "umph" to provide excellent care.  It still hasn't let me down.

The Anesthesiologist, Dr. Pace, did a fabulous job.  I believe I slept through the entire surgery.  I didn't even see Dr. S at all although I heard his voice.  When I started waking up, I could tell they were sewing my incision shut and they were all commenting how beautiful his work was.  Then they washed my face with a cold wet cloth.  It felt soooooo good.  I asked if they were cleaning the drool off my chin because I was sleeping so well and they laughed and assured me there was no drool but I would definitely want the "stuff" off my face.  No idea what it was but I guess I am glad it is gone.  Then they wheeled me into the recovery area.

Mom met me there and assured me my eye looked.....surgicated (a new word).  I started eating soda crackers and had some apple juice.  I think it was just noon.  Because I had MAC sedation, I wasn't really sick or groggy.  I did have a headache and when I ate, feel queezy but that was probably because I was starving.  They brought out a ice mask to put over my eyes so Mom was so sweet and blindly fed me.  I also got a Diet Coke to see if that would help my headache.  I didn't want to take anything on an empty stomach.  The Diet Coke did the trick.  I rested a bit and eventually got my clothes on to leave.

After surgery.  The incision is much bigger than
 I expected but should heal well.

When I got to the car, I realized my right side of my head was quite numb.  Like dead to the world numb.  It covered the bridge of my nose, to the back of my head, around my ear and to my cheek.  Probably a good thing because it didn't hurt.  On the ride home, I ate my peanut butter sandwich I always take with me when I have surgery or procedures that require I don't eat before.  I really appreciate the crackers but I am STARVING.

Dad and Cindy came to visit.  I know I look bad because they winced but honestly, I feel pretty good.  It was nice to visit and catch up and they brought me some beautiful flowers!  They are very cheery on my table.  I rested most the evening, ate dinner, and watched some TV.  It is a little tricky because I am suppose to keep ice on my eye with this ice pack thing.  I've already figured out a way to have it just cover my right eye so I can see with my left.  It is quite the get up! 

I won't share a photo of what my eye looks like today.  It's pretty ugly.  But I feel good and believe it or not, I've not been in pain at all.  I haven't had to take any pain pills!!  I think it will take several days to see the Path report.  Maybe even a week with the holiday.  I see Dr. S to get my stitches out next Friday.

My Ice mask get up.  Looks serious eh?  But it works.


Just an update

I thought I would give you all an update today....

First, I was able to get my eyebrow mass surgery scheduled for next Friday, November 22.  My insurance requires a consultation so I am going to go have one with Tammy at Dr. S office.  He is out of the office until Friday.  She will document my lump and meet with Dr. S Thursday night so he is ready for surgery on Friday.  I won't know what time my surgery will be until Thursday evening.  I don't expect it to be a huge deal.  I am planning conscious sedation again so I breath on my own and don't get intubated....and it doesn't mess with my medications as much.  I suspect he will use the old incision again so there won't be visible scars once healed...but honestly, he can cut wherever he needs.  I know he will make it pretty.  If it is like last time, it will discolor by Saturday and look pretty nasty.  Mom is planning to come up and help me to the hospital and back and over the weekend.  I'll make sure I have everything I need (groceries, etc) before she leaves as I doubt I will want to show off that beauty of an eye for about a week or two.  I do have a mammogram scheduled on Monday so I will model it then but I'm not too worried about that since it is at the hospital.  I also plan to be back to work on Monday.  It will be very interesting to see if the lump is the same as the last one.  I don't feel any BBs in this one.  Just mooshy mass stuff.  This one is more moundy than the last one that was kind of flat and garden slug shape.  This one is like a knob sticking up.  I don't know that it is as big as the other one was so maybe BBs would come if I let it go and get bigger.

I'm not quite sure what has come over me but I've been working on cleaning out drawers and cupboards.  Last weekend I did my pantry.  A very sad state of old expired food.  I took 5 grocery sacks stuffed with expired stuff.  The oldest item dated was Jello from 2009!  So gross.  Today I did my Tupperware drawer.  It looks so good now.  I probably tossed 15 lids that had no bowl.  I also did my utensil drawer and bucket by my stove and the round shelves in the kitchen.  And my spice cabinet.  I can't really brag about my spice cabinet because it is still stuffed full and it is tough to find the spice I want but I did get rid of some of the stuff we won't/haven't used.

What I haven't done is work in my scrap room.  I bought some organizers last week.  I have grand visions of cleaning up the mess and becoming more organized.  I also want to finish my pages I made in North Carolina.  I just have some photos to put on the page and journaling but I can't seem to get to it.  I did sign up for another online crop the first weekend of December so I really want to get it done by then.  I'm going to invite Mom to bring up her photos she wants to scrapbook to see if we can get them done next weekend while I am recovering.  It would be nice to have them tidy for then too.

While I was in North Carolina, they had a "free" table in the scrap room.  I picked up some of that curly scarf yarn.  I didn't know how to  make them but I watched a few You Tube videos and got out my crochet hook.  Boy howdy they go together fast.  About an hour total.  I chose to do the "no crochet crochet" method so it was pretty simple...and luckily didn't hurt my wrist again.  I liked it so much, I bought some more yarn and made those too.  I think I am done now though.  I don't want to go overboard...if I haven't already.

Today, it was suppose to snow so I asked Philip to stay in.  He helped me with some of my cleaning and organizing but we also spent some time watching TV.  We watched "Tangled" by Disney.  I've always been a little enamored with Disney movies but I've not seen any of the new ones over the last several years.  It was a cute movie and it reminded me what a great job Disney does with their animation.  I also decided to make my homemade spaghetti sauce.  I made it up years and years ago but haven't made it in years....probably 10 years at least.  I tried really hard to remember what spices I put in it.  I think I got pretty close.  I really prefer it to the bottled sauce which often is too sweet for me.  And it never snowed although it was rainy.

Philip is going on a date tomorrow so I plan to spend the day getting over my Metho and maybe taking a nap!  Sounds divine to me about now.

I hope you are all doing well and having a great weekend.

Here we go again...

I admit, my lump is bugging me.  It itches and sometimes I feel like I can feel it growing.  I started to wonder if it gets bigger if it is going to start impacting nerves and certainly curious if it will be harder to remove, the bigger it gets.  So I called Dr. Litton's nurse.  I was honestly trying to avoid having to go see him to have him tell me to go see Dr. S.  It is a $40 co pay each time I go to the doctor and it really does add up.  Getting through what I need from Dr. L's nurse is like pulling teeth.  No...I don't need to see the PA to have her make sure the lump is real.  We've already decided it was.  No...I don't need to have Dr. L see it again.  He already has.  Yes...he already told me to call if it is growing because he wanted it removed and have pathology done.  After 5 days, the nurse finally told me to call Dr. S and make an appointment.

Since I am vain and know it takes several weeks to heal from this surgery, I would rather get it removed sooner than later so I don't have Quasimodo eye for Christmas.  Unfortunately, Dr. S can't get me in to look at it until 12/2!!  Give a week or two to get on the surgery schedule and that puts me having surgery right before Christmas!  So I've called my friendly nurse, Tammy at Dr. S's office to see if he does want to see me before we schedule or if he is comfortable moving right to surgery schedule since he has seen the lump already....albeit it was smaller when he saw it.

I don't have a response yet but the wheels are moving.  I feel good and I feel good about having it removed.

My eyebrow lump today 11/13/13

Carolina kind of weekend

Last weekend, I went off to Nola and Gregg's house for a visit.  Well honestly, it was just a day at their house and then Nola and I went to the beach to a scrapbook retreat.  I did the same retreat last year so I've become pretty proficient about flying on Halloween.  Honestly, if I didn't know it was Halloween, I would not have known.  Well except one gate agent dressed as Freddy Krugger.  I'm wondering how she got that knife glove through security when I can barely carry nail clippers (exaggeration but you get the point).

When I got to Raleigh, Nola was waiting for me and swept me off for a fun long weekend.  She took me to Archivers which is a very nice scrapbook store.  We also went to a really great pizza place, The Mellow Mushroom.  All the workers were dressed up.  It is sort of close to the college campus so there were lots of fun people there dressed up too.  The best was the Mutant Ninja Turtles (turtle shells make out of baking pans).  We had the best pizza  I've ever had.  It was the freshie pizza with fresh tomatoes and cheese.

The Mellow Mushroom

 

Friday, I slept in like a lazy bum.  Nola had to work 1/2 day.  After she was done, we got our stuff together and headed for the beach.  It is about a 2 hours drive to Carolina Beach.  We stay at a really nice Courtyard Marriott that is right on the beach.  Each room has a balcony that faces the ocean.  Mom and Marsha came to meet us for the weekend as well.  We were very lucky and had adjoining rooms which was very nice.  Nola and I scrapbooked Friday night with the group.

The view from our balcony looking up the beach and over the hotel pool.

The group is a large group of women from the Raleigh area.  There were 48 of us there this time.  We were very lucky that the hotel gave the group and extra conference room so we had lots of space.  It is fun because I've gone out enough that I have met several of the ladies and they remembered me.  Nola is highly respected in the scrapbook world and is very well liked.  The lady that organized the retreat has just the right level of neurosis to plan and organize the whole event like a pro.  I really appreciated that.

Looking across the scrap retreat room

Our selfie in our spot at the retreat

We requested a table closer to the door this time.  We were sat at a table of 8 women.  Across the table was Yvonne and Carol.  These women are every bit hillbilly southern you can imagine.  They had the drawl and the speech patterns that made them so genuine.  They were the most fun and had us giggling much of the time.  They were highly religious but not in a "Utah Religion" sort of way.  I had to really watch my swearing.  I wish I could remember all their funny sayings.  But I was in 7th heaven with the southern culture and flare.  I was very happy with our table partners.  The other end of the table....well they might as well have not been there.  We really didn't interact.  In fact, Nola sat by a woman that historically wasn't very friendly.  So we just had our party on our end of the table.

We went to lunch and dinner with Mom and Marsha on Saturday between scrapbooking.  We ate lunch at the bistro at the hotel.  But dinner, we used Yelp to find a fun restaurant in the area.  We went to the Surf House.  It was described as a local fresh sourced restaurant decorated in early Salvation Army.  When we got there, we were so surprised and though it was nicely decorated and very beachy.  The smells coming from the kitchen were unbelievably delicious.  Since I don't eat much seafood besides shrimp, I decided to try the shrimp and grits.  I was a little nervous as I am not a big grits person but this was absolutely delicious.  The flavors were fantastic and pretty complex.  It included 2 pieces of "sopping bread" for me to get each and every last succulent bite.  It was certainly a highlight of the foodie journey.

 

My shrimp and grits with sopping bread.  I can't tell you how delicious this was.

After dinner, we went back to scrapbook.  We know from experience, Sunday is hectic so my goal was to get all my pages done Saturday.  I was working like a frantic woman cutting and gluing and planning and creating.  At 11:30 pm, I was happy to stack up my pages and announce they were mostly done except titles and journaling.  I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.  I had a ton of pages to do this year and had both cruises to scrapbook which is a huge task. 

 

Sunday we had brunch in the hotel bistro.  We also had to check out at 11:00 so we packed up our stuff out of the room.  But then we went down to the scrap room.  Nola was so nice and helped me cut titles for my pages on the Cricut.  I think she knows I get pretty frustrated with the Cricut and did a great job cutting for me.  After that, we packed up and bid everyone farewell.  We loaded up the car and decided to go for a short walk down the boardwalk.  We had fun talking and taking photos.  We laughed and spent time catching up.  Then we loaded in the car and made the long drive back to Raleigh.

 

Check out this sky!

 

Beach traffic is heavier than you can imagine.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Part way through the drive, Nola wanted to stop for gas.  We got off on the next exit that advertised a gas station.  I believe the town was call Faison.  We had to drive 3 miles off the freeway.  It was like turning back time to the time of Andy Griffin.  It was the cutest little town.  I saw my first cotton field up close.  Nola picked a branch for me to bring home which was fun.  They also had a huge strawberry processing plant.  We thought it was funny that there was a town that appeared to be built around the strawberry plant.  We guessed it smells wonderful during strawberry season.  We both agreed that was a fun stop and we were glad we were taken off the beaten path.

 

 

Nola dropped me off at the airport with time to spare which was good because security was busy.  I had a 6:30 flight home with a layover in Atlanta.  I got home at 1:00 am.  It felt like the longest flight ever.  But it was well worth it to get to spend a weekend with Nola.  We had so much fun.  I always hate coming home and feel sad to be back home and so far away from Nola.  Insult to injury is that it snowed the next day.  I can't wait until next November so we can go to the retreat again!

 

Thanks Nola!  I had the best time!

 

 

Rest in peace Jared

Many of you know I follow a few other bloggers.  I've searched them out for several reasons but all of them are to help me keep perspective on my trials and tribulations as a sick single Mom.  One person I was following was a cancer patient named Jared.  He was in his 30s had a brain tumor, a wife, and 4 little little kids.  He was diagnosed 10/15/11.

A brain tumor is not good news and I don't know Jared or his family personally but I have followed their story since last year. This guy works in the financial field, lives in Lehi, and approached cancer much like I do...with significant desire to kick it's ass while living life.  He had had numerous brain surgeries and set backs.  He was in the hospital and then rehab through most of September but had gone home to recover.

I'm sorry to say, I've not checked his blog for about 2 weeks.  The wife is the one that blogs and she only blogs in spurts.  Much to my surprise, I learned today he died 10 days ago.  Looking back, I guess it wasn't a huge surprise and as a blog stalker, I really don't know the whole story of  his day to day trials but now I can see the writing was on the wall.

Boy his wife handled the whole thing like a pro.  She met with each child individually and explained what was going on a few days in advance.  Then she kept Jared's body home after he passed until the kids came home from school.  She told the kids he was dying so they could say goodbye.  She was so concerned about reducing the trauma to her kids as much as possible.  What a woman.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=jared-carl-olson&pid=167658049

I think of us battling cancer as warriors.  We are fighting each and every day for our lives.  Each cancer buddy I follow or get to know feels like a pending feeling of sadness knowing we don't always make it.  I always hold out hope until the bitter end.  Jared is the second this year for me.  I don't like it one bit.  But it is a reminder that cancer is a son of a bitch and doesn't care who it takes.  Fight with passion and conviction and know when it is time, to give in...because you really have absolutely no control.  I hope I can be as courageous as Jared and his family were.

Halloween party

So last night was the HUGE Halloween party.  This is a party that my friends plan a year in advance.  We aren't talking rookie parties.  This is the full blown P A R T Y.  This year, I finally pulled off the Statue of Liberty costume.  I found a funny green dress online at Target.  I got a torch and crown online too.  I made a sashy drape thing out of netting from the fabric store.  I think it worked out okay.  I also brought my cousin Ryan with me.  He came as a missionary which was a huge hit.

 

 

 

I admit, against my doctor's orders, I did enjoy some adult beverage.  Actually lots of adult beverage.  Unfortunately, I realized too late that not only was I drinking more than I probably should, I mixed my alcohol which always doesn't work for me the next day.  But boy I had a great time.  Jello shots flow freely.  One of them tasted just like a watermelon jolly rancher (yummy).  I also finally tried the "shotski" with an apple cider/Everclear thing.  It was delicious but one was absolutely enough.  I am not sure Everclear is meant for people over 40.

They use black plastic to black out their entire garage and put in black lights.  That is the party room where they have a bar and lots of dancing.  Cousin Ryan fit right in with the group.  They welcomed him in with open arms....literally.  He is now part of the group.  I hope he doesn't mind.

Words don't really express this party but there were lots of photos.  I thought I would share some with you to show the extent of the awesomeness of this group of friends.  There were probably 75-100 people at the party.  It was amazing.

Erik as Goldmember

Stacy as Foxy Cleopatra

 Mike and Kim (the hosts) as Orange is the new Black lesbians.  Mike has on fishnet nylons and black sparkly shorts under his dress.

Koli as Betty Boop.  She glued her real eyebrows down.  I am not sure how her eyebrows made out this morning.

My friend Kimberlee and her hubby Aki as Robin Thick and twerking Miley Cyrus. My cousin Ryan the Missionary too. She is the only woman I know that could pull off that skimpy outfit.

Goldmember and Foxy

These are my girls.  Left to Right, Koli, Stacy, Kimberlee, Kim, Christine, and me.

 

Orange is the New Black lesbians.  Clearly the men that marry into this family must be comfortable with their sexuality.

The hot couple - Lesley and Jason

Goldmember and Little Red Riding hood Grandma

Brook as Little Red and the wolf

The Tooth Fairy (Amy) twirling

More garage dancing

I have no idea who this guy is but I loved his costume.  We had to promise we wouldn't post it on Facebook.  He is the crazy cat lady.  Such a clever idea.

 

Now my Halloween is over for me which is fine by me.  I had a great time but now I can start getting ready for my trip to Nola's house next weekend.