Friday, August 31, 2007

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

Guess what I’m doing! Go ahead. Guess.

If you said “laundry” you are correct. That Sherry Lewis classic, “this is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends,” is playing through my head. Because laundry is the chore that never ends. NEVER!

I need an Alice. You know, an older, unattractive, goofy woman to do the laundry, dust, vacuum, pick up, clean the kitchen, cook dinner and watch the kids. OH MY GOSH!! I AM an Alice!!

***

I have a list as long as my short arm to blog about. Not my short arm as in I have one long arm and one short one. Just that both my arms are short.

So anyway, I have all these things to blog about, but not enough time. Todd and I are leaving in the morning for Rhode Island and I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready. Like laundry. And I don't know if it's from the most recent surgery or if it's because I'm just plain out of shape or if it's residual from chemo TWO YEARS AGO - but I'm so tired in the afternoons I want to cry.

And speaking of crying - does anyone else do this? I'm feeling a bit low right now for a bunch of different reasons, most of which I'm sure I'll end up blogging about. Anyway, I haven't really examined these reasons in depth because I know I'll end up crying and I don't have time for that. So I'm going to wait until I get back from our little vacation and the kids are in school and Todd's at work and I'll think about why I'm feeling a little on the sad side and I'll cry and be cleansed and feel great! It's like I have to schedule time for my breakdown.

The reason for our little get away is a very happy one, though. Some friends of ours are getting married Monday and they asked us to come be their witnesses. So that's going to be cool. And it will be nice to get away from everything for a few days. Heck, I'm just looking forward to having Todd all to myself in a car for six hours or so. He'll have to talk to me then! Okay. That's not really a problem. We just travel really well together and I find it very enjoyable. Comfortable silence for a while, good conversation for a while. The only complaint is that he may make me listen to John Denver because, you know, he's essential.

I won't be posting until next Wednesday (sorry Mom and Aunt Thea) and then I hope to have beautiful pictures of the New England coast for you. After that I'll get my whine on.

And here's a little teaser. Just some of the topics I'll be blogging about:

Todd's blog

Hot flashes/Night Sweats

Unveiling

Blisters

40+ models on Rachel Ray

Sunburn stripe on leg

Labels: blog, friends, vacation, whiney

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Where's The Sand??

I'd like to bury my head now, please.

I read this yesterday: Early ovarian surgery linked to dementia.

Further research is still needed, but this is kind of scary. The study suggests the sudden drop in estrogen for premenopausal women who have their ovaries removed can lead to dementia and that taking hormone supplements (estrogen) until the age of 50 can help.

Let's break this down.

* Sudden loss of estrogen at age 39 due to chemotherapy.

* Resurgence of estrogen.

* Sudden loss of estrogen at age 41 due to total hysterectomy.

* Estrogen/hormone replacements of the devil.

* Already thought to be nuts by an overwhelming majority.

At least this little gem was in the article: The study did not include women who had ovaries removed as part of cancer treatment, and Rocca said the results do not apply to such women. Huh? Okay. I'll take it, though it doesn't make any sense to me.

Ya know, if it's not one thing, it's another.

Labels: breast cancer, medical

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TERRI!!

My sister's birthday is today. Correct me if I'm wrong, Terri, but by your math are you 37? I never fully grasped your aging method, but I know I like it.

Anyway, she and her husband live in Fort Worth as does her oldest son (Ben) and his family. Her two younger sons (Jarred and Joseph) live in San Diego. Ben showed up for lunch today with Jarred and Joseph in tow. Their dad, David, is a truck driver and was getting ready to make his run when they called him to let him know the two boys were in town. So he cancelled his run. The boys are there until Sunday.

How's that for the best birthday present ever??

Labels: birthdays, family

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---------------oOo--------------- The Post That's Not A Post

There are oodles of things going through my head to blog about, but the majority of them are whiney. And I don't feel like doing whiney today. I'll save that for another day. Though if I did whine today I could start something new - Whiney Wednesdays. What do you think??

I've been watching HGTV for the last two hours while I fold laundry (my own - not the kids') and I have gobs of ideas for the house. Scads of gobs. I want to go furniture shopping, fabric shopping, paint shopping, antique/flea market shopping, craft store shopping and hardware store shopping. I want to paint, stain, build, arrange and create. Todd has a couple of business trips coming up...

Labels: blog, home improvement, random

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Monday, August 27, 2007

Can You Hear the Hallelulia Chorus??

No?? It's very loud where I'm sitting and the glare from the host of angels singing is nearly blinding.

The kids went back to school today.

Taylor was up and finished in the shower before either Todd or I woke up. I went to wake Katie at 6:30 expecting much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but instead she rose and called me blessed. Well, she didn't exactly call me blessed, but she didn't call me anything bad and I figure that's nearly the same thing.

If I hadn't lost my chance at Mother of the Year the first week of January I'd have lost it for sure this morning. According to the kids there was nothing for breakfast. We had the wrong cereal, it's not cold enough for instant oatmeal, nobody wants toast or frozen waffles. If I was a good mom I would have baked a chocolate cake last night so they'd have something decent to eat this morning.

I checked and double checked and triple checked the bus schedules yesterday. Taylor's bus was listed as being here at 7:14. He was getting ready to leave, Todd asked if he had his house key, he didn't have it, ran upstairs to get it and I saw the bus. It was 7:07. So Todd had to drive him to school.

Katie called her friend to see what time she was walking up to the bus stop - we learned from Taylor's mistake in not asking his friends. A few minutes later Shelby and her mom showed up to walk with Katie to the corner. I was still in my jammies and waved to every single mom and half the fathers in the neighborhood as they walked their kids up to the bus stop for the very first day of school. With cameras.

***

I have to fess up. I'm not the best housekeeper in the world. Or in the country, state, city, neighborhood or even this particular house. I'm not horrendous and things are usually fairly clean, but I'm not so good about clutter. I maintain, however, it's more a lack of appropriate storage apparatuses than an actual reflection of my laziness. Anyone want to argue with me?? Huh??

I avoid my daughter's room as much as possible because, well, it's a dangerous place and I'm a coward. I'm obviously going to have to "man-up". Last night I told her to set out her outfit for today and when I went in to tell her goodnight she had a really cute shirt out with these horrible jeans that she cut off into Bermudas a while ago because of all the holes and stains. After informing her there was no way she was leaving this house in that atrocity she told me she didn't have any clean clothes.

She just did a load of laundry on Saturday so that didn't make a lot of sense. Turns out she only washed two outfits - one to go to the movie in Saturday evening and one for yesterday. Oh. And she had no socks. She thought she might have lost them at camp. So I washed an outfit for her last night along with some of my clothes and decided I'd be a nice mom and do her laundry for her today.

Oh. My. Gosh. I found duffel bags and grocery bags and beach bags with dirty clothes in them. I found a huge load of towels - beach towels, bath towels, freakin' kitchen towels - tucked into a basket in her room. I found scads of socks, cute clothes we haven't seen in ages, and underwear coming out the wazoo. It's probably going to take me the entire day to wash all her clothes. Which means I'm going to have to wash Taylor's clothes as well because I'm just fair that way.

So now you know how I will be spending my kids' first day of school. But at least I get to do it ALONE!

Labels: domestic failure, food, kids, school

Mused by Jenster :: 9:34 AM :: 27 People musing:

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

Woo Hoo!!

Labels: family, medical

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Blogiversary, Update and Announcement

BLOGIVERSARY

A year ago today I published my first post. I can't believe I've been doing this for 365 days. Tara Marie and Amanda inspired me to start it and my purpose was mainly to keep family and friends who are scattered across the country updated on our happenings here in Pennsylvania. It's turned into so much more, though.

So happy blogiversary to me!! Where's my cake??

UPDATE

My new additions have yet to make their debut. Friday I'll be able to take the tape and dressings off and get some idea of what I may eventually look like. And Susan, they are supposedly permanently semi-erect. I guess I'll always be sort of cold but not really cold for the rest of my life.

I believe I've taken yet another step in permanently scarring my children. Monday night we were gathering around the table for dinner and everyone was talking about their day when I said, "Mom got new nipples today. Taylor, would you please pray?"

ANNOUNCEMENT

Last, and maybe least, but probably not to most of you, though others of you will be indifferent, is this big news.

It is with great hesitation and not just a little trepidation I announce that Todd has started his own blog today. Jenni & Me, based on the book Marley and Me - you know, about a dog. Hmm...

So if you have a chance, go over and say hello, but don't believe everything you read. M'kay??

Labels: anniversaries, blog, family, reconstruction

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Still Under Construction

I’ve been trying to think of a delicate way to say this, but I’m not having much luck. So I’m just going to say it. I drove into Philadelphia this afternoon for nipples. Yep. You read that right. I saw my plastic surgeon and he somehow fashioned nipples for me. It was a very strange experience.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but Dr. Serletti is one of the best breast reconstruction surgeons in the country, one of several handfuls who do the particular surgery I had in December. He’s the head of his department at the University of Pennsylvania – a teaching hospital, which means very rarely do I ever get to see just him and a nurse.

When I had my surgery there would be flocks of student plastic surgeons coming in my room to essentially feel me up and make sure I had good blood flow to my breasts. Modesty is not something a person can afford in a teaching hospital. Besides, when I reminded myself it was actually my displaced tummy they were poking and prodding it wasn’t so humiliating.

Today, however, was just the doctor, the nurse and a fellow surgeon. Apparently my doctor was showing the other doctor how HE does nipples and I’m a great candidate because I have two different examples for him to work with. The left breast had been removed by a radical modified mastectomy a year and a half before reconstruction, while the right breast was a skin sparing mastectomy done at the time of reconstruction. This probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to most of you, but trust me. There’s a fairly significant difference.

I’ve decided the ability to draw with a felt tip pen is a prerequisite to being a plastic surgeon. It seems like every time I go in there he’s leaving little drawings on me. Today I had to stand there with my ridiculous gown around my waist while he drew X’s on my chest, stood back to eyeball his artwork, and then drew tiny spokes out of the X’s, all the while Dr. McSomething-or-other looked on approvingly.

After that it was up on the table where he shot my feeling-less boobs with lidocaine “just in case”. That was a breeze because I couldn’t feel the needles. Just the way I like it. Then he draped a pad over my chest that had a three inch-hole for him to work through.

So I’m laying there, trying to figure out where I should look because I’ve got three people standing over me and if I’m not looking at one of them then I’m staring into the bright light, when the doctor makes his first incision. That was freaky because, while I may not have any feeling in that area, I could feel the pressure and the “pop” when he made it through the skin. Even now I’m shuddering just thinking about it.

I’m not complaining, though. The way they usually do nipple reconstruction any more is to pull up some of the fat and fashion it with the tissue and skin. In six weeks or so I’ll go back and get everything tattooed. But the way they USED to do it was a skin graft from either the inside of the upper thigh or… or… oh, I can’t say it. It’s much too painful to even voice out loud. Just think of the MOST delicate area of the female anatomy and you get the picture. If they still did it that way I would be using Todd’s idea of gum drops because there’s no way. NO WAY!

Dr. Serletti is as professional as they come. He’s very nice, but he’s all business. In a bizarre chain of conversations, however, he started talking about Caddy Shack as the funniest movie of all time. In fact he hikes up to a cabin in the Adirondacks with a friend of his and they take a VHS of that movie every time. It was shocking to learn he has a sense of humor.

I don’t think I can impress upon you enough how strange it is to be laying on a table with three people hovering over you: one of them sewing a nipple; one of them snipping the sutures and blotting the blood; and one of them watching the happenings with clinical interest; all the while talking about movies and books and generally chatting about things you would otherwise discuss over coffee.

After everything was plumped up and sewn into place, the doctors left and the nurse dressed me so I still have no idea what they look like. It will be another four days before I get to see the handy work. I have no doubt things will look a bit weird, but probably no weirder than they’ve looked for the last two years.

I go back in three weeks and at that time we’ll discuss the tattooing and also more revisions to the left breast. Because it was a delayed reconstruction Dr. Serletti had to use an approximately 3” by 6” scrap of belly skin to make the breast mound and the incisions are a bit jagged. So instead of a round breast I have sort of a trapezoid. At least I’m unique! But he’ll smooth those edges out to make things look a bit more normal.

Foolishly I always thought – if I ever really thought about it – that reconstruction was a surgery and then you were done. Boy was I wrong! Which makes me all the more glad that we put off Hawaii until next year. I should be completely finished with all this by then.

This morning I started back into my “healthy” mode, drinking a lot of water, walking two+ miles on the treadmill, counting my points, etc. But, as I’ve said before, any type of medical procedure induces a craving for something of the java variety – hot, cold, whatever. The best I could do was a cold bottle of Starbuck’s Mocha Frappuccino for the ride home. I should have known I’d need at least two, but I only bought one.

Probably better that I only bought one since they’re more points than I should have had. **sigh** Thankfully, tomorrow is another day…

Labels: reconstruction, weight management

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Sunday, August 19, 2007

Apple Core!! Baltimore!! Who's Your Friend??

After Todd's dentist appointment Friday morning we left for Baltimore. Before we'd gotten too far I complained that the spring mechanism in the little storage bin on the dashboard was stuck. Todd said, "you mean this?", as he opened and closed the compartment repeatedly.



Y'all do know why they don't send donkeys to school, don't you? Because nobody likes a smart ass.


We got to the hotel around 11:00 and were gratefully able to check in early. When I had told Todd the hotel was near Camden Yards I didn't realize this would be our view:



And here's a little peak of 1st base:



The Orioles were in Toronto so no game for us. But we've decided to go back in the spring when they're in town and stay at the same place. This hotel is all about baseball:

This picture of Babe Ruth was in our room. He may have played for the Yankees, but he was from Baltimore and is quite the hero there.





This cool glove chair was in the lobby.





And it was adjacent to what I refer to as "Pub Row", so named for obvious reasons.




After a short rest we set off for the Inner Harbor and had to get even more photos of Camden Yards:







It's one of the prettiest ball parks I've ever seen.





And finally, proof that baseball is a sport for the righteous:



The Inner Harbor was less than a mile away, but it took us a while to get there because I had to keep taking pictures. Todd grabbed his jimmies and shuddered when he saw the paddle boats, momentarily caught in a bad memory.

We had a little over an hour before we could get in the aquarium so we ate lunch at ESPNZone.
<--I took a picture of this because the date is a combination of Todd's birthday and my birthday. The sentiment was lost on him, however. He looked at the photo and said, "Sweet! Sandy Koufax's 7th perfect game!"




I had to take a picture of the TV in the bathroom. Guys seem to love watching sports while they're doing their business. I personally found it a little disconcerting to have people bowling over my head.-->




<--Right above our table were "Stadium Dogs" - Acrylic Hot Dogs with dirt from various sports stadiums. The Phillies' Veterans Stadium just happened to be right above us. It seemed Providence had placed us in the perfect spot.





After lunch we walked across the bridge to the National Aquarium. This place is incredible and I highly suggest a visit if you're ever in the Baltimore area.

Here are just some of the pictures I took:





As you look up to the top of the atrium when first walking into the aquarium.






A Cowfish. (I need more cow bell!)






Pretty little tropical fish like we saw scuba diving in Cozumel several years ago.







Blurry puffins. Or a blurry picture of puffins. Not sure which.







Turtle, Turtle








Porcupine Fish







Candy gram. Land shark.








Stingray




Australian Fruit Bats. These bats don't eat bugs or drink blood. They only eat fruit. Regardless, I prefer viewing them from a distance.








Long Necked Turtle from Australia. This thing is just weird.






It's Flipper!!





















After we'd seen everything there was to see at the aquarium we decided to just hang out until we were hungry enough for dinner. Looky what was just across the bridge.


This had to be one of the coolest Barnes and Nobles I've ever seen. It's part of the Power Plant, a trendy area of the Inner Harbor that also houses a Hard Rock Cafe, ESPNZone and several other restaurants.





Katie and I hung out in the book store for a bit while Todd and Taylor went back to the ESPNZone to play games. Katie's smart that way. She knew I would have to buy myself a book or two and if I made a purchase for myself I would be inclined to make a purchase for her as well. She was right.

It's always the same with me in a book store. First it's the sense of belonging, of coming home, of deep peace as I take my initial steps into the store. Next it's the feeling of being a kid in a candy store - all that literary yumminess surrounding me. Then it's having to make decisions because I simply can't buy everything I want to. And finally it's a desperation to get out as fast as I possibly can because I can feel myself losing control.

So when we got to the losing control portion we quickly checked out and went in search of the boys. After finding them Todd and I sat and rested our weary feet while the kids ran around playing more games.

It was amazing how they weren't hungry until their game tokens were gone. On the other side of the harbor, in the direction of the hotel, was a restaurant called Big Kahuna Cantina.

Taylor ordered his new favorite - BBQ Wings - off the appetizer menu. When I took this picture I thought the entire bucket was full of wings, but it wasn't. The bottom half had chips. Even still he wasn't able to finish them.




Katie had talked about ribs all day. These little beauties are glazed with Plum BBQ sauce and were quite delicious.





This would be my dinner. General Juan’s Chipotle and Honey Glazed Cashew Chicken with cilantro and mango sticky rice. It was scrumptious and spicy in a sinus-cleansing sort of way.





Todd had the coconut shrimp po'boy.




After stuffing ourselves silly we slowly schlepped back to the hotel on our sore feet, got comfy and watched TV until we all fell asleep. Without traffic it's less than a two hour drive from the house, but I'm so glad we decided to stay the night there. We were so exhausted after our busy day and it was nice to just kick back.

Saturday morning we woke up when we woke up and Todd and I made it downstairs for breakfast while the kids lazed in bed and watched more TV. I know we only scratched the surface of Baltimore wonders and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

Labels: family, food, fun, humor, touristy, vacation

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Still Driving By

We're back from Baltimore. What a fun place that is!! We're going to have to go back when we have more time. I'll post pictures later.

Thank you for the prayers. Dad's tests went well. What we know at this moment is that he has a bleeding ulcer and a large colon polyp. The doctor tried to get the whole polyp but was unsuccesful. What we don't know yet is if he will require further surgery and if the polyp is benign or malignant. We should find out more this next week.

I'm so tired my head is numb. Seriously. My face is numb and my brain is numb. (No jokes, please.) So I'm going to go take a nap and sleep some feeling back into my noggin.

Labels: family, medical, touristy

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Friday, August 17, 2007

Drive By Post

We're getting ready to leave for Maryland where we'll see sharks and eat crab. Or maybe see crabs and eat shark. Or maybe both.

If you guys could spare a prayer or two, my dad is having some diagnostic testing this morning. His symptoms could be caused by something that's no big deal to something that's a huge deal to anything in between. Thanks.

And I'll see ya on the flip side! (Did I get this from Happy Days?)

Labels: family, food, medical, touristy

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Frisk the 15th

Maybe it's because I don't actually have any breast tissue to frisk anymore, but I had forgotten Frisk the 15th until I started seeing the banner around. So here ya go, ladies - and just a couple of gentlemen. Frisk away!!

Labels: breast cancer

Mused by Jenster :: 6:08 PM :: 9 People musing:

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---------------oOo--------------- Summer Fun

My fan (Mailyn) wants more from me so she’s going to get it in the form of a lengthy post. If you have a short attention span you may want to just give up here, though there are pictures for you, too.

I took the kids and a friend each to CamelBeach in the Poconos yesterday. The weather was perfect. High 70’s, low 80’s with low humidity. The ride up was pleasant, though they didn’t particularly care to listen to my play list all the way there. I don’t know why not. It totally rocks. At least it rocks if you’re 40-ish.

On Monday I went in search of a new bathing suit – as if Mondays aren’t bad enough. Out of the six or seven swimsuits in my drawer only one actually fit me and that was my mastectomy suit. The neckline is so high and I don’t need the worthless “special” pockets anymore. I knew it was kind of silly to buy a new swimsuit when school starts in two weeks, but I couldn’t help myself. And I hit the jackpot! Sears has LandsEnd bathing suits and they were on clearance. I found a top that went well with the bottoms I already have and made off with it for $10.00! And look at it!! It’s better than a Miracle Suit. If you go here you can see how it makes me look tall and thin and young and, dare I say it, “hot”? Okay. You’re right. This isn’t me. And while I don’t look anything like her, I didn’t end up crying in the dressing room – a very shocking and pleasant experience for me.

We got to CamelBeach and instead of renting a locker I told the kids I would just keep their stuff with me. I may be feeling great since the surgery, but I’m not up to walking all over heck and gone and riding waterslides. They threw their stuff on beach chairs and promised to come check on me every couple of hours so I could take potty breaks.

This is my beach chair. This is the first beach chair I’ve sat in since probably August – maybe early September – of 2004. I thought it was worthy of a photo. I started off in the shade and knew I would eventually end up in the sun. Being a former hedonist, the glaring white of my legs is rather depressing. So my thought was I’d begin my day in the shade and work my way slowly into a little tanning. I didn’t start off with sunscreen because, well, I was in the shade.

I was also reading. And as so often happens with me, I kept thinking, “I’ll put the sunscreen on after this chapter.” But by the end of the chapter I had to see what was going to happen next. So then I thought, “I’ll put the sunscreen on after this chapter.” I’m sure you intelligent people that are still with me can see where this is going. I burned my leg. Actually, I only burned a strip of my leg. Just one. I do have a little strip of pink on my other leg, too, but not as bright as the red on my other. I look ridiculous. Pasty is much preferred to striped.

As much as I adore sitting and reading I had to get up and walk around a bit. So I took pictures. In the winter CamelBeach is CamelBack Mountain – a premier ski area in this vicinity. I’m curious to know what happens with the wave pool and kiddy pools and water slides in the winter. But in the summer it is totally incongruous to have ski lifts, snow makers and pine trees right next to beach chairs, fake palm trees and surf huts.







On our way out the kids stopped for some airbrushed tattoos.



Aren’t they cool?? Especially because they didn’t hurt and they’ll eventually go away.



I sat at a table with whoever wasn’t being tattooed and waited. Across the eating area was a shack with the name “Kahuna Cheese Steaks.” Something I don’t think you’d ever see in Philly. I asked Taylor, “Is it just me, or does that make you think of Kahlua Mudslides?” It was just me.

We finally made it home last night and all were exhausted. I can see why the kids were so tired. They ran all over the place. I, on the other hand, sat most of the day. Still, I soaked in a glorious bubble bath, drank a bottle of water and read the rest of my book. It was all going along so nicely until I decided to turn on the jets.

First of all the jets frothed up the bubbles to an alarming height. And since I was reading this was not good. Secondly, the last few times I took a bath I had to use the Aveeno Oatmeal soak. Apparently the stuff got into the jets because when I turned them on there was oatmeal crap EVERYWHERE! So that ended my delicious soak in the tub.

I crawled into bed and slept the sleep of the dead – though what does that really mean? How does anyone truly know how the dead sleep? But I digress. I got up this morning and had to wake both the kids as Katie had to baby sit and Taylor had a 9:00 meeting at church for Youth Leadership.

That less than delightful chore done, I got my clothes out of the closet and set about getting dressed, the whole time thinking about the last Starbuck’s Vanilla Frappuccino in the fridge. I’m pretty sure I was smiling dreamily while pulling my capris on, even though the blasted sunburned stripe was paining me. Then I picked up the hooded t-shirt and yanked it on over my head, succeeding in bruising the bridge of my nose with the hanger I forgot to remove!

Though my leg and my nose hurt, I staved off the woe-is-me drama with the thought of cold liquid happiness waiting for me downstairs. You know what’s next, don’t you? You can see it coming, can’t you?

I was totally blindsided.

TAYLOR DRANK MY FRAPPUCCINO!!!

I should have had a Kahlua Mudslide. That’s coffee, after all.

As you know, this summer has been pretty lame for me. Hawaii – cancelled. Arkansas – cancelled. No day trips to the shore, no bike riding, no much of anything fun. Katie and I did have a blast in NYC, but I put that in a different category.

So yesterday was my first “official” summer outing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our summers used to consist of spending the majority of our time at the local pool. I loved it as much as the kids. If none of my friends were there I would just read while the kids swam. More often than not, however, my very best friends were there as well. I ask you what’s better than being lazy on a summer day in the company of good friends.

Those days came to a screeching halt for me when I was diagnosed. That summer (2005) I was in the middle of chemo and couldn’t be outside in the sun for any length of time. And most of the time my white count was so low that it was dangerous for me to be in public places.

Last summer I did manage two trips to the shore with the kids and driving trips to “learn the lay of the land”. It was our first summer in Pennsylvania and so most of our summer fun was just the three of us.

And you all know about this summer. Rashes, blisters, bumps, female troubles and finally a hysterectomy brought 2007 in a close second as the worst summer ever. As much as it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. To everything there is a season and this was just another summer of healing for me.

***

Side note - "Praise you in This Storm" by Casting Crowns is playing on the iPod right now. Appropriate, I think.

***

Todd is taking Friday off and we’re driving down to Baltimore to take in the National Aquarium and the Inner Harbor and I’m quite excited about that. Our one day/one night family summer vacation. And I know that next summer is going to be among the best ever. As long as I remember the sunscreen BEFORE I start reading.

Labels: breast cancer, friends, fun, God, kids, reading

Mused by Jenster :: 2:24 PM :: 21 People musing:

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