Granny & Kaleb Time

I have watched Kaleb a couple Saturday's while Amber & Marcus are working. Each time we have a photo shoot. He has a good routine and I squeeze picture taking in during the happy times. This past Saturday was my favorite. He is laughing and talking a lot more. Plus he is at a good age where he doesn't grab things off his head or face and lets me snap pictures like a mad woman. 

Mommy's Little Monster

Well Hello! 

Nap Time!

I told Kaleb smile for Grandma and he cracked up laughing. It was so funny! I guess he found it very funny to call me Grandma. When I ask him to smile for Mimi I don't get a response at all. 

I was mixing his bottle & snapping a picture of him at the time same. He was NOT happy the bottle was not ready STAT when he first made a squeak!!! 

Grandpa even took a turn! 

SUPER MARIO! 

Mimi I am exhausted after all those pictures - Thanks Kaleb!

Mother of the Bride Dresses

I went to David's Bridal last week to try on some bridesmaid dresses for Lacey's wedding. Lacey gave me 2 options to pick from and luckily one of them was amazing! I was pleasantly surprised to find out I needed a smaller size than I thought.  The dress is soooo comfortable and I know I will wear it again. I can't wait to get my dress!

While I was there I decided to look for some dresses for my mom. I am sorry, but the mother of the bride/groom dresses are HORRIFIC!!!! Who designs these things? Some of them were so awful no one would ever leave the house in them. I tried to grab some pictures from David's Bridal website, but they have the stealing picture option blocked. Hey people I would have linked back to you. :)

Here are the dresses I did find and send to my mom. I also took pictures of the tags, so she can easily find them in the store. One thing I really like at DB is the fact they have the style # on hanging tags, so it is easy to find the dress. I think these dresses would be very flattering on her. Hopefully she will go try them on soon =)

Bart Happenings

Please take a look at the lady on the left. She had 2 flowers in her hair and it made it look like horns coming out of her head. 

This guy was not on Bart, but I did a double take of his outfit. It would be SUPER cute on a girl, but it just looked funny to me on a guy. I could never imagine my dad or husband wearing something like this. He looked like he was going to Easter dinner. 

The chick above had a HUGE suitcase. You can't even see how huge the suitcase is from this picture. She kept moving it to the wrong side of the train and had to keep moving. I was sure the stroller was going to bust in half. Then she started SCREAMING on her phone - she did NOT have enough money to be eating at Golden Corral every night. She wanted to go to her friends house to eat and save her cash. Why EVERYONE on the train needed to hear this I have NO idea! 

Wordless Wednesday

The prankster is BACK!

On Saturday evening I came running in the door & ran to the bathroom. I sat on the seat & I hear a BAM. I thought oh crap I broke the seat. I'm hovering over the seat because I don't want my butt pinched. I get up look - nothing. Seat is perfectly fine. I thought one of our sky light poles must have fell - nope. Hmmm I no idea what the noise was, so I forgot about it.

We come home later that night from running errands. Art runs to the front bathroom. He never uses that one. I was super cranky & yell why would you run in there when I said I have to pee super bad.

I went to the back bathroom & very quickly he is standing in the bathroom door laughing. I asked what is so funny. He asked if I heard a big pop. Nope. Then I remembered early.  Evidently he put one of those poppers you throw on the ground under the toilet seat. When I sat down that was the BAM.

We both cracked up when I told him about the earlier incident. I need to keep a list of these to pull on my parents when we visit.

Menu Monday

Monday - Gouda Risotto with roasted veggies

Tuesday - crock pot stew 
I am going to make my own stew recipe based on what I have on hand. Stew meat, carrots, fennel, potatoes, frozen tomatoes from our garden, broth - cook for 7.5 hours. Then add 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup broth and bag of frozen peas and cook on high in the crock pot for 20-30 minutes. Hopefully it will turn out good. Hopefully there is enough left over for Art to eat while I am gone.

Wednesday - Turkey chops and mac & cheese

Thursday - Krystal's House - I can't wait to taste what she whips up!!!!

Friday - Julie House!

Happy St. Patrick Day

Check out our little Leprechaun! I took a bunch of pictures yesterday again. I told Kaleb smile for Grandma & he cracked up laughing. I guess he found it funny to call me Grandma. He doesn't laugh or smile when I ask him to smile for Mimi.

Wordless Wednesday

Mary Kay

One of my friends Maria told me she wanted to send me a Mary Kay lipstick. I was having a hard time figuring out which color I wanted based on pictures online. She offered to send me samples of lipsticks in order to figure out which one I wanted. I have tried 4 out of the numerous colors she went. I am LOVING rich fig lipstick. I forgot the awesomeness of Mary Kay lipstick. It is so creamy, moisturizing, pigment is awesome and it lasts for hours. I can put lipstick on before I leave the house in the morning around 6:30am and I will have to wipe it off at lunch. 

I ordered one of my favorite masks. Another oldie but goody. I grew up using Mary Kay products. My mom sold Mary Kay and that is what I started using first. My favorite mask is the clarifying mask which is a mint green color. It can be used as a mask after washing your face or you can use it as a scrub. I love that stuff! 

I have been using Mary Kay products for the past 20 years. The products are just as amazing now as they were when I first started using them. I didn't realize back when I first started wearing make up that there would be such a difference. Now that I am an old granny I realize the importance of great products!

Here is a picture of me wearing the rich fig lipstick. 

If you need any Mary Kay products you can contact my friend Maria. Here is her Mary Kay website. All her contact information is on her website. 

Menu Monday

I do not have a menu really put together for this week. I have some ideas and will probably wing it. I am trying to eat all raw food for breakfast & lunch. I plan to have fruit juice for breakfast, a piece of fruit for a snack, big salad for lunch and a green juice for a snack.  I told Art tonight I had no idea what I would be making. As I started to write this post I was grabbing food ideas. lol We shall see what I come up with for dinner. 

Monday - sweet potato & squash soup
I am making the soup from scratch. I baked the squash and sweet potatoes. I just have to cook some carrots in broth & blend it all. Mmmm super creamy and delish! I made something similar the week before last. It was very filling and also good for a quick snack. 

Other ideas for the week:
Breakfast - french toast, turkey bacon and eggs
Chili
Beet Risotto
Lasagna soup - I have been really hungry for this. I don't have cheese, so I am not sure. 

What is on your menu?

My Yoke is Easy

There are days when I feel like someone has pushed me into a pool. I am shocked, drenched and ready to punch the person who pushed me. Sometimes I feel like my problems are over the top. My pastor told a story the other day about a guy getting pushed into a pool full of piranhas. 


Once there was a billionaire who collected live piranha. He kept them in the pool at the back of his mansion. The billionaire also had a beautiful daughter who was single.
One day, the billionaire decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces, “My dear guests, I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars, or my daughter, to the man who can swim across this pool full of piranhas and emerge unharmed!”
As soon as he finished his last word, there was the sound of a large splash in the pool. The guy in the pool was swimming with all his might, and the crowd began to cheer him on. Finally, he made it to the other side of the pool unharmed.
The billionaire was impressed. He said, “That was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well, I must keep my end of the bargain. Do you want my daughter or the one million dollars?” The guy catches his breath, then says, “Listen, I don’t want your money! And I don’t want your daughter! I want to know who pushed me in the pool!”


Do you ever feel like this guy? You miss the blessing around you because you are too focused on the bad things. Like the person who pushed you into the water instead of the million dollars someone is trying to hand you. What do you do when you feel over the top with your problems? I read Matthew 11:28-30 on Sunday and it brought me so much comfort.

Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Growing up I thought verse 30 was a little crazy. My yoke - what is Jesus talking about? The egg yoke on his plate or an oxen yoke to pull a wagon? On Sunday it just clicked. Everyone goes through rough times in life. We have burdens we are carrying around and often times feel like no one understands. Or we feel all alone in this crazy world we live in. How often we forget to turn our burdens over to the Lord instead of trying to carry everything. 

Jesus knows what it is like to be all alone. In Mark14:50 - "And they all forsook him, and fled". Jesus was all alone. At first the disciples were all arguing about who would sit on Jesus left or right hand side in heaven. When times got tough they ran away. 

During all the difficult times over the past few months sometimes the only thing that would bring me peace was prayer. I remember laying in bed a week after surgery just crying because of all the blessings I had received. Instead of thinking of all the horrible things that had just happened I would lay there thanking God for all the blessings. I will blog about all the blessing I received very soon. Recently I was at work and I felt so overwhelmed with all the cancer talk. I had to shut my door and just cry. I have really had to lay my burdens on the Lord to get through this difficult time. 

Cancer is one of the ugliest 6 letter words out there. The fear of it coming back is something that can just consume you and eat you alive. A piranha you could see it coming at you or you could see it taking a bite out of your leg. I feel I could defend myself against a piranha a lot better than that ugly 6 letter word. It is the things you are can't see or the unknown that are the roughest in life at times. 

There have been some rough parts lately. I feel it all hit 2 months after it all happened. When I was going through the tests and surgery I felt as strong as a horse. I wasn't worried or scared. I also didn't know exactly what I was dealing with until weeks after surgery. I didn't know how awful Medullary Thyroid Cancer actually is until now.

I have turned off all notifications of the MTC message boards I am part of and stopped reading stuff online. I just need to back away from cancer information for a little while. I can't consume myself with the "what ifs". I am giving my egg yoke to God to handle. He will have to hook up his oxen to the yoke and pull my big wagon full of cancer. I am going off to rest in the sunshine!

DIY Headboard Idea

I have been wanting a headboard for our bed, since we bought it in November 2011. Art and I do not agree on what to get. I like the upholstered headboards and Art hates them. I don't want to pay a lot of money and think we should be able to make one. Well I found the perfect one for Art to make!!!! Like how I said for ART to make. lol Vintage Revivals redid a mantel headboard and IT IS IT!!! I want it! I think we can actually make it without buying an actual mantel. 

How adorable is that headboard?  So now I need to get started on making it! It is going to have to be massive to fit our California king bed. lol I don't want the arrows and I would rather have the background the same color as the sides. I am thinking of doing the whole thing in gray. We will need to buy it all and paint it a light gray. 2013 is the year of finishing, so I think we need to finish decorating our bedroom. 

source: vintage revivals

15 Minutes of Fame

Doesn't everyone get their 15 minutes of fame sometime in their lifetime? Well mine is coming all in 2013. First my friend T.J. mentioned me in his national blog got Philly.com Patient #1. I felt so honored when he asked if he could mention me.

Last year I had lunch with a coworker. I told her a crazy story about my sister Lacey dying Art beard. She found the story so funny & asked if she could use it in her book. Of course I said yes. Well guess what that book has been published. I just got my grubby hands on my very own copy!!!! Sue was kind enough to give me a copy of the book as a thank you.

I'm so proud of Sue. She put all her spare time into her book. Not only do I work with an author but she mentioned me in the book. How exciting is that? You can order your very own copy of the book here. 

Sue and me

Here is me holding my book! 

OOTD

Last week Thursday I finally took a walk to Gap. Gap is my go to shop almost every 2-3 days when I am at work. It is about a 10 minute walk from work. I love going to check out the newest styles and SALES! I love me some bargains! Siri doesn't call me Queen of Bargains for nothing. lol

I picked up this blue & white striped shirt with a hot pink trim around the color. It was on sale for $14.99. I put it back and left the store. I got about a block away and thought hey that shirt would look super cute with my green capris. I went to Anne Taylor Loft, looked around and headed back to Gap. 

top: Gap (similar)

skirt: Jcpennys

shoes: Sears

top: Gap

capris: Old Navy

flip flops: gift from my mother in law

I scored the green capris on clearance for $3 last year at Old Navy.  I try to avoid buying the same color pants or skirts if I have something in the same color. How could you pass up $3 capris though?  

Wordless Wednesday

Nerve Damage

Prior to surgery my surgeon told me I could have problems with my lower lip, tongue, and shoulders because of nerve damage. There were a lot of other risks from nerve damage but the ones listed are what come to mind. I wasn't too concerned with nerve damage. I really thought those would be a rare case. Well turns out I have nerve damage to my left shoulder. 

Right after surgery I was really sore. I went for a massage and that helped my shoulder a little. My left side was horrible. Two weeks after surgery it was AWFUL. I was in tears it hurt so bad. I tried to stretch and it made things worse. I emailed my surgeon and she sent me for physical therapy. I met with the PT and it turns out I had damage to nerve C3 & C4. When the PT was talking about specific nerves I felt REALLY great full she did well in school memorizing the nerves. lol

I have to do stretches at home for 2 weeks and then back to PT. I might have to do PT for awhile. I learned today nerves heal one milometer a day. The PT told me I need to be patient because it could take awhile to heal. The PT was wondering why it took 2 weeks for me to have pain. I was sitting there thinking hmmmm I wonder why. Then the light bulb went off. I had been taking pain pills for 2 weeks. Both of us cracked up laughing. Of course that is why I didn't feel the pain. 

Well the 90 year old woman has to start her PT! Toodles

Raw Diet

I have been doing research on food for about the past 1.5 years. I have done a lot more recently since I have been diagnosed with cancer. I decided to try eating all raw food. Holy cow is that rough! Last week Monday we headed to Costco to stock up! Check out my cart below!

Spinach: 14 pounds

Carrots: 20 pounds

Kale: 7 pounds

2 Pineapples

Case of strawberries, blueberries, oranges, blackberries, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes

1 bag of lettuce

I think that covers our cart! 20 pounds of carrots will last you a lifetime!

 WAY tooooo many carrots!

On the way out of Costco I grabbed a churro! It was going to be my last bit of chocolate for 2 weeks.  I did really well for 4.5 days. I ate all raw food except one night I made some veggie soup. I would drink a juice for breakfast along with a piece of fruit. Lunch I would eat a big salad. Afternoon snack carrot sticks and another juice. Dinner more salad and either veggies or fruit. 

Day 4.5 came around and I was starving. I couldn't get full at all. Art kept talking about Mexican food and I caved! I told him that is it I am NOT eating raw on the weekends. I just can't do it. I did really bad over on Sunday. My stomach was KILLING me last night. I need to find a good balance. This week I am going to try to eat raw food 75% of the time during the week. 

Raw food is really suppose to help fight cancer. I really want my tumor level markings to come way down by the time I have my tests run on the 18th. There is a chance the tumor level markings won't come down until 6 months post surgery. Hopefully all the additional raw food will help fight off any cancer left in my body. For the most part I felt really good eating raw. My stomach felt great! I would just get a little shaky if I didn't eat every 2-3 hours. I did like the fact I could eat as many fruits and veggies as I wanted. I was losing weight even eating a lot of stuff. 

Above are 2 salads I made. I got sick of spinach, so I bought some lettuce later in the week. I can't eat the same thing over and over. I also need some warm food. I made some delicious soup with carrots, potato and broccoli. I boiled the carrots and potato in broth for about 10 minutes and then added in the broccoli for 5 minutes. I blended everything in the food processor. It was a delicious soup and very filling. 

I really enjoy drinking juices for breakfast. It is a great way to start the day with lots of vitamins. I don't think carbs are the way for me to start the day. A lighter healthy breakfast really keeps me going all morning. 

I recently hung this in my office!