We Still Do - 5 Years Later!

Today we have been married a total of 1,826 days. We have spent the past eighteen hundred days learning constantly from each other. We have been through many trials in our 5 years together, but we have made it through everything together.

I never thought marriage would be hard. I don't know why, but I thought it would be just like dating. HA! Dating is easy in some ways and hard in other ways. Same with marriage. One thing I haven't worried about in the past 1800 days is Art's committment. He has proved over and over how committed he is to our marriage.

One of the few things that hasn't changed in our lives is our vehicles. I still have my mustang and Art still has his truck. I feel like almost everything else has changed in some way. We bought a house, painted all but 2 rooms, we have done many DIY items on the house. Then we decided it was time to add to my family, so we rescued a little dog. Little Sammy has been one of the best things for us. Our little furry baby! If only he could learn to talk it would make things easier. lol

We have tried to start a family, but for some reason that just hasn't worked out yet. Numerous miscarriages later we find out I have medullary thyroid cancer. I honestly believe that this is why I haven't been able to carry a baby to full term. I am hoping after everything is balanced out we will be able to have the family we want.

Amber graduated high school, then college, moved out on her own, had a baby and now is planning her wedding. Watching her grown up into an adult has been amazing over the past 5 years. She was 15 when I met her for the first time in rainy San Francisco. I was scared to death she wasn't going to like me and report back to the future inlaws Art needed to run. lol

I have changed jobs twice and Art has moved to a new location with his job. I spent 3 months unemployed during the start of the possibly the worst financial crisis.  

Our lives around us have been a constant change, but one things hasn't changed and that is our committment to our marriage. There have been times we both have felt we wouldn't make it, but we just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I have thought for a few weeks what would I kind of advice can I give Amber and Lacey as they are about to get married. The only things that come to mind is marriage is hard, it is trying at times, but there is nothing that compares to being committed to that one person. Until you are married you don't understand the bond the 2 of you will have. I remember Cindy telling me about the bond before I got married. She couldn't explain it and I didn't understand what she was talking about until I was married. I called her one day and I said I understand it now because it is just there.

A marriage should come first before EVERYTHING else work, kids, school, house...everything. If you two don't work nothing else will work successfully in your marriage. Put your marriage first and everything else will fall into place.

I think putting my marriage first was a struggled for awhile. I was use to being single and doing what I wanted. I fit Art in when one or two nights a week and then on the weekends. Then I got married and there was this constant person there all the time. He thought I going to cook, clean, laundry and wait on him. I thought he was going to handle all car issues, bills, pamper me and bring me flowers. Well reality set in and it became a compromise that we each have to do things we didn't think we would.

When we got married we said we would be lucky to spend 40 years together. Art would be 80 and I would be 67. We set a goal of 40 years together - 5 down 35 to go!

Bart Happenings

Last Wednesday I was riding Bart on my way to work. My routine in the morning is I listen to music and get caught up on online reading. I was sitting in my seat minding my own business when I see a lady jump up and yell I DO I DO. The lady started running down the crowded aisle pushing people to the side as she went.  I was like what in the world is going on? Why is she saying I DO I DO? Then I hear people talking about someone needing CPR. The intercom in my train car wasn't working. People were running to other cars to call the train operator to get him to call for a medic. 

People were saying the lady had stopped breathing, others were worried she was going into shock and people were jumping up & down trying to see what was going on at the end of the train. We arrived at the next station and medics were waiting. Luckily the lady was awake and alert as we pulled away from the station. I am not sure exactly what happened, but it was super scary. It was nice to see everyone acting quickly and helping the lady out. 

Why is there always one in the group that causes a ruckus though? There was one lady screaming TAKE OFF YOUR COATS, GET A BLANKET, DON'T LET HER GO INTO SHOCK, SOMEONE DO SOMETHING. Now the woman screaming was at the other end of the train, had no idea what action was being taken or what was even going on. I was tempted to call medics to have her taken off the train for losing her mind!

By the time I got to work I didn't need coffee because I was WIDE awake!  Always an adventure on Bart!

Worldess Wednesday

Drastic Hair Cut

I am thinking of cutting my hair and drastic....like a pixie. I don't know why, but I just have the urge to cut my hair really short. I know it will grow out again, but I am worried I will HATE it super short. My face is thinner now, so I think it would look cute. I am ready to try something very different. I was thinking of trying to cut my hair to my shoulders and then shorter and then shorter. 

Cut my hair to my shoulder with some layers

then shorter

and then.....

super short!

I won't be cutting my hair until after Amber wedding in May, so I am thinking of cutting my hair in June. I need to start adding blonde back into my hair, so it will be blonde for my new cut. 

Menu Monday

I am trying 3 new recipes this week and one oldie, but goody. Cast Iron Skillet Pizza, Pizza Casserole, and Tortellini Soup are all new recipes I haven't tried. Tortellini soup I can make in the crock pot. I really like to make things in the crock pot on Mondays. It it easy to come home to a good meal after a long day at work. 

Cast Iron Skillet Pizza
Lasagna Soup
Pizza Casserole - recipe on FB
Tortellini Soup

Art has pretty much stopped drinking Red Bull. He has had a couple of them over the past week. He was drinking 2-3 a day, so he has cut down a TON. I have been making teas and lemonades. I made a mint green tea over the weekend that was really yummy. 

Mint tea
- green tea - 3-4 tea bags
- tangerine - I took one and squeezed all the juice out of it into the tea
- handful mint 

Life After Cancer

Recently I was reading through old blog posts from my surgery and recovery. The old blog posts have been therapeutic in a way. I honestly thought I would bounce back and be back to normal within 2 weeks a month at the max. Someone told me it took her a year to get her thyroid regulated. I thought that is crazy it took her a year to get her thyroid regulate, but I won't take that long. I bet a couple months and I will be just fine. Ha! Boy was I in for a rude awakening. 

The past month has been super tough! Emotionally, physically and everything else in between has been tough. I am tired, cranky, emotional, hungry, shaky, ugh you name it I am that right now. I wonder some days how I am going to make it through a work day. I started working out, eating healthy, but nothing is helping. My thyroid is super out of whack and the doctors are very much aware of it. They are trying to regulate my thyroid meds and finding a balance.

I think the emotional part of cancer has been the toughest part. When I first heard I had cancer I thought it was "just thyroid cancer". Then I found out after surgery it was Medullary Thyroid Cancer which is very rare. The more research I have done the more I am like WHAT!!!! How is this possible I have this rare cancer? I wasn't that worried about going through surgery for papillary thyroid cancer. I thought surgery and radio active iodine would fix everything. Well that is not what I ended up with and I am trying to adjust. 

My surgeon told me at my doctor appointment in March to get back to normal life. What is normal life now? How do I find a new normal? Trying to get back to normal life has been hard because I am not the same person I was physically or emotionally prior to surgery. What is my "normal life" now? How do I manage my health, find the right doctors, do research to find the best care for myself, educate myself and family, work a job, make healthy meals and avoid chocolate? The avoiding chocolate is just a ummm no can't do that at this time. 

I received some great advice through this from fellow MTC and my pastor. One of my fellow MTC friends said I need to stop focusing on trying to lose weight and get back to my old self. I need to give myself time to heal, time for my lymphatic system to get back together, for my hormones to get straightened out and find my new "center".  I text my pastor one day when I felt like I was just falling apart. He called me with his wife and encouraged me. It was a quick phone call, but it was so helpful. He talked to me about Joseph and told me to read Psalms 27:14. I laughed when he said read Psalms 27:14 because my whole family memorized Psalms 27 growing up.

I am not one to ask for help or say I can't do something. I am strong, try to take on the World, don't like to delegate or cry. Welllllll I don't feel very strong right now, I can barely take on my work load, I've been delegating like crazy and I cry almost daily. One thing I still do is I pick up the pieces and get going again. I told one of my friends miscarriages are rough, but they are a piece of cake compared to cancer. After 8 miscarriages I know how to go through them, how to pick up the pieces and move on. Cancer it hard to figure out which pieces to pick up and how do you really move on?

Just because you survive cancer and get a clean bill of health doesn't mean it's all over. I have a whole new understanding for what people go through emotionally. Maybe through all this I am learning how to relate to a whole new group of people.

5 Truths About Me

One of my bloggy fashion friends tagged me in a 5 Trusts About Me post on her blog. You can find her blog post here.

Truth One

I met the original Naked Cowboy in NY last September. 

Truth Two

I became a grandma at 32.....this is what happens when you marry a man a little older. 

Kaleb is just the cutest little guy that brings us so much joy. He thinks his Mimi is a comedian. 

Truth Three

Next week we will celebrate 5 years of marriage. It is hard to believe that 5 years have gone by already. 

I met this amazing group of girls on theknot.com while we were planning our wedding. I am still friends with 50 of the girls and we talk every day. I think it is really cool that planning a wedding has created such a bond between 50 women. Believe it or not there is rarely any fighting amount the group too. 

Truth Four

I could drink Dunkin Donuts coffee every day. I love that stuff! It might be a very good think we don't have Dunkin Donuts in California or I would be fat & broke. lol

Truth Five

I love to find outfit inspirations on Pinterest and recreate them with the items in my closet. 

Below is an inspiration I recreated for my birthday dinner. 

I am not sure that any of the truths were actually new information. I could have wrote the same 5 truths that Sassy in Sequins wrote. lol  Now it is your turn Cara, Gracie, Krystal and Liz. 

Update on Cancer

It has been 11 Fridays or 2 months and 2 weeks since surgery. Every Friday I count as another victory week since surgery. The 18th of each month and every Friday has a whole new meaning since surgery.

I was very concerned after surgery my neck would never return to normal. The size of my neck was awful! I cried because of how awful it looked. I am happy to report it is all back to normal. My neck is actually smaller with a different shape than before surgery. The swollen portion under my chin is pretty much gone too. I don't know if it will go down anymore at this point. 

This picture was taken 2 months after surgery. My scar is actually healing very nice. The scar doesn't look raised anymore, but you can feel a slight raise. I have been putting cream on it twice a day to help it heal. So far so good. 

Top left picture: 1 week after surgery

Top right picture: 2 weeks after surgery

Bottom left picture: 6 weeks after surgery

Bottom right picture: 9 weeks after surgery

Lacey was so sweet and donated money to Relay for Life in my name as a cancer survivor. The bags will line the track where people will walk. I asked her to take a picture of the track lite up in June. When I saw the bag I got all teary eyed. 

Three weeks ago I had my follow up blood work done post surgery. I was so very nervous for this blood work because it would show if my tumor level markers were going down or up. If they were going down that would mean no cancer was growing. If the numbers were going up there could be cancer growing. 

My doctor told me not to expect much until 6 months post surgery. I have really been trying to eat as many raw veggies and praying the numbers would go down. I was hoping all the juicing and eating raw veggies would really help. Well I am happy to report that I believe God answered all our prayers. Both of the levels have gone down significantly!!! One of the levels is back at normal and the other is getting there. I am hoping by the 6 month blood tests everything is back to normal. 

I am now on the search for a doctor that has experience with Medullary Thyroid Cancer. I found a doctor in San Francisco. I called there last week to find out he is retired. I am now talking with a cancer center and other MTC people to see if I can find someone in CA. My goal is to find a MTC doctor within the next 2 years. 

Unfortunately one of the side effects from MTC is memory loss. I noticed about a year ago I couldn't concentrate very well. Other MTC people have confirmed it is a very normal thing. I am working on trying to keep my mind sharp. Instead of forgetting things I write them down the moment I think of them or I have been emailing myself when I think of work stuff from home. Life after cancer can be rough at times. It is a lot to deal with and process. I have to take it one day at a time and even one day at a time is hard. Luckily I am back to work and that is keeping my mind busy most of the day. No one prepares you for the aftermath of cancer and how it will affect you going forward. 

Facebook Fan Page

I created a Facebook Fan Page today. Like Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant!

Bart Happenings

I snapped this picture of a man on his phone with a lonely balloon. It was a little random to see just one lonely yellow balloon sitting beside this guy.  He was waiting for the next Bart train. 

Wordless Wednesday

Crock Pot Potato Soup

I made crock pot potato soup last week. I looked for an easy receipt on Pinterest. Lately I have been looking for recipes and then making up my own. I take ingredients from a couple recipes and make up my own version. Here is my version of crock pot potato soup.

8 small potatoes
4 carrots
1 onion
4 cups chicken broth
1 package of cream cheese
1 cup rice milk
ground pepper

Cook in crock pot on low for 6.5 hours. Mash potatoes and carrots to thicken up the soup. Serve with green onion, cheddar cheese and bacon for garnish. 

This recipe is super easy. I had everything on hand. I cut up all the carrots, onion and potatoes the night before. In the morning I add the liquid ingredients, plug in, run out the door for work and when I come home fresh soup is waiting. 

Menu Monday

I have not grocery shopped in probably 6 weeks. I have bought some veggies and a few items over the past 6 weeks, but I haven't gone into the store with a cart and stocked up. I have actually used up all my freezer meat and a lot of other stuff in the freezer. I think this week we will finish off the freezer. I am hoping to not buy anything else this week at the grocery store.


Monday: Easter Leftovers - ham, potatoes, broccoli salad
Tuesday: shepherds pie
Wednesday: Breakfast
Thursday: cabbage soup
Friday: chili

I made about 5 pounds of mash potatoes on Easter. I decided to make shepherds pie to use a lot of them. 

Happy Easter!

Yummy Dessert

Last week when I was at Krystal's house I ate 2 of her desserts cheesecake and strawberry macaroons. Oh my goodness both things were so amazing! The cheesecake was very creamy, thick and rich. It was perfect plain without any fruit. I could have ate the entire little cheesecake. Luckily I refrained myself from pigging out on cheesecake. 

Now lets talk macaroons.....mmmmmm. Last year Krystal made peanut butter and jelly macaroons which were OUT of this world! This time she made strawberry macaroons. They were filled with nutella and jam. I am not a fan of nutella EXCEPT on strawberry macaroons. I ate 4 of those bad boys! 

I took a bite of the cheesecake and Krystal says you are going to eat your dessert before you take a picture. Picture? Ummm who thinks of pictures when there is delicious dessert in front of my face. 

I took a picture of Krystal's untouched dessert. lol

Pictures from Last Week

Last week one of my employees brought Vietnamese sandwiches in for lunch. These things are AMAZINGLY delicious! Yummy meat on a crunch baquette topped with veggies. Oh these things are one of the best sandwiches ever!

I spent the night at my friend Julie house. Her dog finds my butt a comfy pillow!

I looked outside my window because I heard A LOT of talking below. The entire front of the building had TONS of people. I guess Charles Schwab had a fire drill, so everyone gathers in front of our building. Luckily they made it snappy and got back to work. lol

Lacey bought a Relay for Life bag in my honor. The bag will have a candle in it lighting the trail for the walk. It was so sweet! I feel so honored to have my name on that bag as a cancer survivor!

Easter Menu

I am cooking Easter dinner on Sunday. My father in law recently brought us 50 pounds of potatoes. I have been trying to figure out how to use these potatoes, so they don't go bad. I decided to make a potato bar for Easter. I am going to make bake potatoes and mash potatoes with various toppings. Bacon, cheese, green onions, sour cream, and I am not sure what else yet. 

Our menu will have:
Ham
Potato Bar
Salad
MIL is bringing a salad & deviled eggs

I can't wait for the yummy potatoes! 

Beef Stew

Last week I made stew in the crock pot for dinner. I love coming home any night of the week after work with dinner waiting in the crock pot. I have started to pull out the crock pot to make life easier. I want to eat healthy, but I don't want to spend an hour fixing dinner. I am even more determined to rarely use a box or prepackaged freezer meal. I want to make our meals from ingredients I know exactly what I am adding to our meals. One item that is hard for me to give up is frozen pizzas. I know a lot of people do not like frozen pizza, but I do. I should start making my own and I might challenge myself to do so. 

Back to the stew! I had bought organic stew meat at Fresh & Easy on clearance for about $2 bucks. My father in law brought me 50 pounds of potatoes he got for free. I bought carrots at Costco for $3 for 10 pounds and we received some fennel in our organic veggie box. 

1 pound stew meat
3 carrots - chopped
5 small potatoes
2 whole tomatoes - we had frozen tomatoes from our garden last year in the freezer
2 bulbs of fennel
4 cups of broth

20 minutes before serving I made a flour and broth mix. I cooked this part on the stove, so it would thicken up. I used 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup broth. I brought it to a point, let it get thick and then added it to the stew. I made some garlic bread and served it with the stew. It was really yummy and filling. 

Wordless Wednesday

Mint Jeans

I have really wanted a pair of mint jeans. I tried a pair on recently at Marshall's, but I didn't buy them. I keep seeing mint jeans and want a pair soooo bad. I have stopped shopping because my closet is full. I have plenty of clothes and need to stop spending money. Well I was at Target the other day and I saw mint jeans. I found a pair on clearance, tried them on and loved them. I decided for $20 I could buy a pair. I decided to check out Pinterest to find some mint jean inspiration pictures. Below are the pictures I found. 

I am going to wear my mint jeans with a white tshirt, taupe cardigan and leopard scarf. I love how fresh and springy mint looks.