Friday, April 30, 2010

Not A Kid Anymore


Somewhere around 9:00 AM Central this morning, Taylor turned 18. Technically, according to the law, he's now an adult. He can vote, he can join the military, he can go to an X-rated movie, he can buy cigars... all because he's 18.



Well Law, I hate to break it to you, but he's still my little boy. Always will be. Makes no never mind that he's taller and stronger than I am.



So Happy Birthday, my handsome little man. I love you.



*Addendum - Taylor did, in fact, buy a cigar this evening and was not happy the clerk didn't card him. He went out back to smoke it and I followed with my camera. We sat in the Adirondack chairs and he gave me a hit of the stogie. Yup. Me and my boy sharing a cigar. Strange...

Labels: birthdays, love

Mused by Jenster :: 3:36 PM :: 8 People musing:

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Hidey Ho, There!

Let me reintroduce myself since it's been so long. My name is Jenster and I write this blog about nothing. Nice to be reconnected. So much for the old, "I'm going to write a post at least once a week", blabber. I knew I should have said once a month.

I have so much to write about. So much nothing, but so much nonetheless. I mean a lot of life-altering things, but I'm not going to go there today. Nope. I'm going to do what I do best. Whine! So grab the cheese and crackers and join me, won't you?

Let me give you a quick Jenster history since it's been so long. Five years ago I went through six months of chemotherapy for breast cancer. I had a minimum of side effects from the treatment, but my last three treatments were each delayed a week due to extremely low white blood counts. Those extremely low white blood counts gave me thrush every single time. I'd get a wicked case of the nasties, take oral medication along with a disgusting "swish and swallow" which would give me some relief, only to take another treatment and get another flare up. I never really got rid of the swelling before it would hit again. No big deal as far as side effects go, but icky.

Fast forward four-and-a-half years. I still get thrush. Or at least thrush-like symptoms. Swelling of the insides of my cheeks and lips and a swollen tongue with a lovely coating that reminds me of an old (and I mean old) Shelley Berman comedy routine about a hangover where his "tongue is hairy and his teeth itch".

Friday evening I noticed some funny looking bumps on the insides of my lips and cheeks. *sigh* I knew what was next. Sure enough, yesterday morning I woke up with the hairy tongue, but thankfully my teeth didn't itch. I told the family I wasn't going to church and proceeded to climb back into bed where I fell back into unconscious bliss and stayed there until 12:30 or so. The whole day, or what was left of it, was a big blob of absolutely nothing. Jammies all day long. Nice.

The homemade remedy for this current yuckiness? Swishing one part Maalox and one part Benadryl. Doesn't that sound appetizing? I have to be careful not to swallow it because the Benadryl puts me to sleep, though I'm definitely drinking that stuff down tonight so I can get a good night's sleep. Besides, it's now traveling down my throat. Lovely, isn't it??

On another, but similar note, I found out at my last oncology check-up that some of my bones have lost 13% density in the last two years. That does not make me happy. Not one little bit. So now I'm eating Viactin like it's candy (because that's what they want you to think) and I really, really need to start doing some strength training. Does sitting on the love seat and lifting my computer off of the floor and onto my lap count?

As "inconvenient" as these things are, though, I am richly blessed. In one week I will be celebrating my five year cancerversary - a milestone I've been looking forward to acknowledging. Some of my Mothers With Cancer have not been quite so blessed. There have been two new cases of mets in the last month or so and I just hurt for them. But these women are total rock stars! Not happy about it, of course, but their attitudes are stellar. Truly amazing.

When I think of these brave warriors I know I don't have anything to whine about. And yet... I do. 'Cause that's how I roll.

Labels: breast cancer

Mused by Jenster :: 3:28 PM :: 4 People musing:

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Sunday, April 04, 2010

Busy Easter Weekend

I haven't been able to post much because I've been having too much fun, but I thought I'd take a few minutes now and catch you up.

FRIDAY

Mom and Dad and I drove to Weehawken, New Jersey, and took the ferry over to the Mid-Town pier in New York City. It was sunny and warm and the perfect day for a ride on the Hudson. So after we landed in Manhattan we walked to the building next door and took a 90-minute harbor cruise. The cruise was great. The tour guide was not. He spent more time telling us how he knew how to grab people's attention in the first two seconds than he did telling us the interesting stuff we were seeing.

The interesting stuff we were seeing:

The Brooklyn Bridge -
It took 13 years to build and was completed in 1883




Governor's Island -
Walt Disney was an AWOL prisoner on Governor's Island with a view of the Hudson and this is where he came up with the idea for Steamboat Willie




Helicopters -
A twenty minute tour of Manhattan is $200.00 per person




The Statue of Liberty -
An amazing thing to see in real life and something pictures don't quite capture




Ellis Island -
I sure would like to know which of my ancestors came through here



The Manhattan Skyline-
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down




And that concluded our tour. After that it was back to the cross-river ferry and then a pretty drive home. I had thought to go to our Good Friday service that night, but I was too pooped! Who knew sitting on a ferry could be so exhausting?

SATURDAY

I had to pick up a few groceries and thought that Mom should have the Wegman's experience.



For those of you who are not in the know, Wegman's is the Disneyland of grocery stores. I think Mom might have been more impressed by the market than the Statue of Liberty.

SUNDAY

This morning was a lovely, relaxing Easter morning. Todd and Taylor were working in the Valley Kids tech booth for all four services and Katie was helping with one of the kids' classes at the 11:00 service (we thought) so Mom and Dad and I went to the 12:30 service. After that we came home for a few minutes and then went to Washington House in Sellersville for Easter dinner.


<-Today (side view)


Late 19th-> Century (front view)



It's a 30-minute ride through bucolic rolling hills and the warm weather the past few days has caused the flowers and trees to blossom. If I hadn't been so hungry on the way there and so full and tired on the way home I would have wished it was more like an hour and 30 minutes away.

Yesterday Katie made a chocolate pudding pie and this morning I made a French apple pie. Our thought was that we would be too stuffed to eat dessert at the restaurant so we'd have dessert when we got home. Except I forgot that the Prefix dinner included dessert. The kids and I are off tomorrow so guess what we're having for breakfast. Apple pie!!! Guess what we're having for second breakfast. Chocolate pudding pie!!

Tomorrow is also my Weight Watchers weigh in day. I'm totally not feeling it.

Labels: holidays, weekend plans

Mused by Jenster :: 8:13 PM :: 7 People musing:

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Thursday, April 01, 2010

OMG I'M PREGNANT!!!

Oh, how I love April Fools' Day. At least when others are the recipient. The old "I'm pregnant" was always my favorite fool. Considering I have no baby-making parts left in my body this joke has probably run it's course. Still, it makes for an eye-grabbing title, don't you think?

We finally have some beautiful spring weather. After the winter we had, this warm, sunny weather is most welcome. I can't wait to get out in it today, even if it's just walking Sookie around the block. The big block, of course.

We're enjoying the visit with my folks. The kids are typical teenagers so they're not always around. In fact I think we've only had one dinner with both kids in the last week. That was the night Todd and I were going to take my parents to Fellini's - the Italian restaurant where the waiters and waitresses sing opera. The kids had band practice so they weren't able to go with us. But the weather turned out kind of bad and we decided just to stay home and have Italian here. That way the kids could eat with us. The only problem with this plan, though, was that I wouldn't get the cannoli I'd been thinking about for days. Band practice got cancelled so Katie and I drove down to the Collegeville Diner and picked up all manner of gooey confections, including my cannoli. So far it's been my favorite night of the whole week. Is that because I got cannoli or because both kids were here? You decide.

And that's all I've got. I'm off to enjoy our weather!

Labels: family, food, holidays

Mused by Jenster :: 9:07 AM :: 6 People musing:

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