Sunday, June 21, 2009

The joys of life

We have heard from a wise philosopher today that "Once you get old and married and have a job and kids, coffee is one of the few joys of life." So says that great guru, my 8.5 yo son! Now do you see what I didn't cut out coffee too when I decided to cut back on the Cokes!

There are days that the boy can really crack us up!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Second time around

I had posted a blog early this morning that I think only Jeanne had the misfortune to read. (Thanks for the comment though, my friend!)

This has been a tumultuous week and I was definitely sliding into woe is me mode earlier today. I discovered that it's true the person who "fights back" is the one who gets into "trouble". I spoke to someone online in the same tone they've been using towards me for some time and got my fingers smacked for it by more than just the person to whom I "spoke". At first it did hurt because it feels I've discovered people I thought were my friends are not, but truth be told that feeling has been hovering around for awhile now. And sometimes that's just how life is, things and people change. True, the timing stinks with other things going on right now but like REO sings sometimes you have to roll with the changes. (Had to keep some musical reference in there somewhere!)

I'll try not to go too TMI in regards to the problems leading to my needing the biopsy Monday morning but cramping ALL month long is part of it and those have intensified over the past few days. It's become standard for me to have cramps at any time that can have me either doubling over in pain or grabbing onto something to keep myself up. I hope and pray the "unusual lining" isn't due to cancer but I hope and pray just as much they discover what's causing it and can make it go away. But the thought of the big C does flit in and out of my thoughts. Ooooooooohmmmmmmmmmm, that's me putting that back into the box and hoping the doctor doesn't tell me we need to open it!

Robbie had a rough appointment this week. I struggle with how much to share. Part of me thinks if I can help somebody else who stumbles upon this and is dealing with the same issues to not feel so alone then it's a good thing. But the protective mama lion in me has seen first hand this week the stigma is still applied to people who may have certain "issues" and that makes me want to shield him for as long as I can. I can't always do that in real life since some things our kids just have to go through on their own but I can do it here for now.

And I leave you with this quote for now. It's one I put in Samantha's high school graduation album and one I've been reading a lot this week....."Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. "
Eleanor Roosevelt

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I'm a rambling mom

Sorry, butchering song lyrics to make them fit my life seems to be a habit I just can't break! The other day I had "Where, oh where, has my lil scrappin' mojo gone? Where, oh where, can it beeeeeeeeeeeeee?" going through my head. I can't help it, it's a sickness! Ask my family, my friends, anyone who has ever worked with me, I just CAN'T HELP IT!!! ;-)

And my thoughts are in a rambling mood today so don't say you weren't warned! Lately I've been wanting to scrap but unable to for some reason. I'd sit down and have a fuzzy idea in my head but couldn't seem to recreate it with the cardstock and pictures. And what I did mangle together just seemed like "ICK" to me. I tried looking at some idea books, magazines and at 2 Peas but nothing was working for me. I had a layout that I had started using one of BH's sketch books but wanted a title for it. They're pictures from our hiking through Turkey Run last summer and I had two rows. The top one being pictures where we were above ground and the bottom where we were in a canyon and sort of "below ground". Not in a cave but we were eye level with tree roots. I googled scrapbooking titles and that took me to scrapbooks.com. In the hiking titles they had "Can't see the forest for the trees" (although they spelled forest wrong with two r's, another thing I can't help noticing!) and a light bulb went off. And I came up with "Can't see the forest for the roots?!" No, it won't win me any originality or scrapbooking awards but it seemed to be just the thing to break up the creative logjam going on in my brain and I finished that layout and started another!

I'm on a mission to use my scrapping stash and not go shopping for awhile. My shopping has already cut waaaaaaaaaaaaay back since I left my old job (tough to figure that one out! LOL) but in the past year when I have bought it's more because of "Ooooooooh look at the pretties!" than because I needed it for a layout. So now I'm trying to whittle down my stash and make myself get creative with the stuff I bought for some particular reason but now have no idea what it was! Anybody want to join me and start a SSA support group? You know, Scrapbooking Shopping Addict!

There's also a teeny tiny thought in my head that I need to be cranking out pages "just in case" right now but I'm surprisingly shutting that voice down for the most part. I had an ultrasound a week and a half ago to see what Mr. Golfball aka the fibroid had been up to in the past year. When I heard from my family doctor's nurse last week she didn't mention the fibroid but there are some other new surprises. I have two small cysts on my right ovary but they appear to be fluid filled and I'm told that's a good thing! But the endomietrial lining "looks unusual" so I'm scheduled for a biopsy this Monday. That looks to be not a big deal, just in the doctor's office and then home again, which is good! The nurse did say there could be some discomfort for the day but taking Aleve or something like that should keep it under control. Of course, I hit WebMD and Google and then promptly turned away from those sites and didn't go back! A lot of the issues I've been having and blaming on the fibroid also fit other ailments. I'm not going to freak out about any of it at this point. Surprisingly I even manage to go hours at a time without even thinking about it! Highly unusual for me! It is what it is and worrying about it will not change it. I just pray that it's NOT certain things but if it is then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I wouldn't object to any prayers you wanted to include me in, either! ;-)

They also put me on iron because I'm anemic, I knew that was coming. I started those lovely iron pills and I do think they're already starting to help. My glucose also came back a tad high so I've cut back on Cokes. I was drinking one a day, with the occassional skipping of a day, but thought if I could even cut that back it would probably help! I did ok the first four days and then I was craving a Coke badly! And so we had McDonald's last night and I had a Coke.....I know, I know, the shame of it all! Both the food and the drink! @@ I'm only human, people! lol

And I don't know who even reads this anymore, I see places on the viewer list from where I don't think I know anybody but the more prayers the better right? I have a dear friend whose life has been turned upside down. I'm not going to tell their name or their situation because that's their place to do so if they choose but if you could just say a prayer for them to find strength and peace to help them through all this I'd be grateful!

I think I'm finished rambling for now!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

how about you, you, you? Thanks to Samantha's young infactuation with Sharon, Lois and Bram I hear that song in my head anytime we go to a zoo! Which of course leads to "One elephant came out to play upon a spider's web one day........." when we're by the elephant exhibit! My kids have just added to my life's soundtrack over the years!

Last Saturday we all (minus Samantha since she's still in KS) went to the zoo. We went first into the aquarium since we hadn't ever made it into there in previous visits. Pretty cool place! I just wish I had realized my camera has an aquarium setting WHILE we were in there and not awhile later when we were over at the dolphin show! There's a shark pool where you can reach in and touch the sharks so we all did that. Robbie was the first one brave enough to try and he kept trying to touch them as they swam by, of course we HAD to find a place for him to wash off afterwards before he could fully relax. He did pretty well but we could tell he was feeling a little tense about the "shark smell getting on everything" until he could wash his hands. There's also a neat penguin exhibit inside there too. They can swim under the floor from one viewing area to another and if it's not packed with people (and it was!) then you can look through areas of the floor and watch them. I put some of the pictures over on Facebook so you can view them over there, and if you aren't on Facebook and feel the need to view someone else's zoo pictures (because you know we all have them! lol) then let me know.

I still think I like the Sedgwick County Zoo better than this one and primarily because of the layout. The Indy Zoo is downtown so they're limited on space while the SCZ has some room to spread its wings if needed. But I did come away last Saturday liking this zoo more than before. We saw more exhibits than before so it didn't feel quite as small as the other two times we've been there. But I still have to vote for the Memphis Zoo as having the best polar bear exhibit!

Yes, I'm putting off being productive around here by ranking zoos now! lol

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Life in the "wild"

We've had quite a bit of "wildlife" visiting us lately. The word, wildlife, makes me think of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" even though I know the true definition works for what we saw too!
Thursday afternoon when I went to meet Robbie's bus for the last time this school year I found this little guy sitting on the driveway behind my van.
He wasn't trying to fly or walk. He looked like he was just trying to balance while squawking every once in a while. Katie said he was there when she came home 45 minutes earlier and he stayed there for quite awhile after Robbie got home. I looked outside later and saw he was on the sidewalk and an older kid and his dog were standing there staring at it. I don't think they had harmed it (the dog was just sitting looking around like he was bored) but something was wrong with the little guy. Robbie came in later saying the bird's eyes were closed and he was "sleeping". Mark later went outside to check it out when the kids were getting ready for bed. All I'm saying is that the bird was gone when the kids checked Friday morning and they think his mama came back for him.

Saturday afternoon I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard some rustling noises and then Daisy was at the window trying to stalk something through the screen.
This little one was jumping around inside the bush and when I took his picture then this one jumped out of the flower bed underneath the window.




This is the look I was getting from Daisy after I told her to be quiet and sit down and that no, she couldn't go chase our guests! I hope I don't fall down a well anytime soon because from that expression I think she'd leave me there!

About an hour later the tornado sirens went off startling everybody. It was still partly sunny near our house when they went off but from the looks on the tv it was all around us and one possible tornado was heading our way. I, of course, went outside to take pictures and watched the clouds move in like a scene from a ghostly movie. I thought of Ghostbusters. I watched one area get a little rotation off and on but thankfully nothing came of it in our neighborhood other than a freaked out 12 yo and an interrupted Penguin game on television!
This was the view out our back door as the different cloud banks were converging.

I need a tripod so the shots using the nighttime setting aren't blurry but this was the view down the street. This is the view that had me thinking of the giant Sta-Puff Marshamallow Man!