Sammy's Patio Set

A couple months ago my inlaws bought a patio set with a little couch, 2 chairs and table for their back yard. It's really cute. Well Sammy loves to lay on the couch every day at their house.

Today Sammy is the proud owned of his very own patio set for our house. MIL thought Sammy needed one for the back yard on the weekends. Bahahaha she said this is his birthday present this year.

I really like it so I'm not complaining the dog swindled this out if her. Seriously though who buys an entire patio set for a dog? I can't stop laughing about it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to the most fabulous mom ever!!! I hope your day is just as fabulous as you are!

One of the hardest thing about living so far away is missing all the holidays and birthdays. I hate missing out on birthdays. Mom has ALWAYS made my birthday special even when I am hundreds of miles away. I didn't realize that everyone didn't make a big deal of birthdays until I had moved away.  Enjoy your birthday and make sure dad treats you like a princess! =)

Wordless Wednesday

Coconut Oil

I LOVE LOVE LOVE coconut oil! I use it for so many things cooking, hair, and skin. It is my go to stuff!

A couple weeks ago I did a coconut oil mask on my hair. I watched a youtube video on it and decided to try it now months later. I heated up some coconut oil in a microwave safe container. I then took a pastry brush and started brushing it on my hair. I brushed it on the ends of my hair first and then brushed it all over my roots once I was completely finished with the ends. My roots get greasy fast, so I thought my ends could use a good soak in oil. I left it in my hair for about 30-45 minutes. I then washed it out with shampoo and then conditioned it like normal. My hair has been very dry lately possibly due to all my thyroid issues. My hair has been super soft since I did the hair mask. I will probably do it once a month. 

I use coconut oil each morning on my hair. I melt a pea size piece of coconut oil in between my fingers each morning and then run it through the ends of my hair. This really helps with keeping all the frizz gone. If I use coconut oil before styling I do not have to worry with frizz. 

I use coconut oil after I have washed my hair and before I blow it dry. Same process as before I start styling it. I take a pea size piece of coconut oil, melt it between my fingers, and run it through the ends of my hair. This helps protect my hair from heat damage. I also add additional coconut oil to the ends of my hair after I have blown my hair dry to help reduce any frizziness. 

I also use coconut oil on my skin and as an eye make up remover. I woke up after surgery to find a blister on my arm. I started putting coconut oil on my arm and a couple months alter the scar is almost done. 
I also use coconut oil to remove my eye make sometimes. If you have pesky eye make that will not come off rub a little coconut oil over your eyes and it will come right off. I also will put coconut oil on my face to help avoid wrinkles! I try to really moisturize at night to keep my skin young looking :)
I have put coconut oil on my scar where I had my thyroid removed. I use a lot of different things on my neck, so I am not sure if it is helping heal the scar or if the magic bee stuff I am use is working wonders. 

Coconut oil is my very favorite natural product for anything and everything. I have been threatening Sammy I am going to start putting it on his hair/skin if he doesn't stop itching himself. 

Homemade Pizza

I like to make pizza on Sunday or Friday nights because it is something easy to throw into the oven.  Well frozen pizza is not fitting into eating non-processed food. I want to know what is in our food. I am REALLY working hard on eating healthier food and know what we are actually eating. 

I found an easy pizza dough recipe by Pioneer Woman. Throw everything into the Kitchen Aid and mix it all up. Let it sit for a couple hours or over night. I actually put saran wrap over the stainless steel bowl and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days. It worked out great. 

I pulled it out, cut the lump of dough in half and stretched it out to fit the pan. The sauce was from tomatoes I canned last summer, threw a little tomato paste and let it thicken up.  I cooked up some sausage and sprinkled it on the pizza. I also added spinach to the pizza and topped it with cheese. Baked it for around 20 minutes an wa-la. It really was great pizza. Art told me I can't buy pizza ever again. =)

I had half the dough left, so I decided to make some sound stuffed bread balls. I stuffed the bread balls with the leftover sausage and topped it with garlic butter. They turned out super yummy!

Homemade Pizza Crust Recipe

2013 Vacation Schedule

Cancer has nothing on me! I just booked our vacations for the year.

May - Tahoe for Amber wedding

June - North Dakota for Lacey wedding

August - Alaskan Cruise

November - Hawaii

Holy bazooka I'm excited! Lots of wonderful places to see for the very first time. I can't wait!

New Must Haves

I have been gathering my new must haves for the Spring/Summer. I am on the hunt for a striped maxi, pink blazer and a slouchy bag. I have been scouring TJ  Max, Ross and Marshall's looking for a good deal. Right now I haven't been able to find my new must haves, but I will be patient to find a good deal. 

1. Striped Maxi

source: here

2. Pink Blazer

source: here

3. Cross over bag

source: here

source: here

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.