The Gang's All Here!

The Gang's All Here!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Spring Fever

I have spring fever. It's really bad and I'm worried that it's only going to get worse. It started with replacing our sunroom windows. Now that I've had a taste of "renewing" I can't get enough. Steve and I were really into fixing up the house before we had kids. We both still have project lists a mile long (ironically what tops his list is on the bottom of my list...) but having kids definitely slowed our roll as far as getting things done. However, yesterday I decided that I wanted to rearrange bedrooms and paint. Yes, I know that I am straight up cray cray, but momma needed a fix. Paint is a quick fix, in case you didn't already know that. Here's another reason why you probably think I should be assigned to the looney bin: I LOVE painting. Yup, totally just said that. Why? Painting relaxes me, maybe because you get immediate results? I don't know, but I always enjoy painting a room. Got edging to do? I'm your girl, it's my favorite part AND, I'm excellent at it!

So, you might be wondering, when on earth is she going to paint with two toddlers, a mischievious puppy and one OCD chocolate lab running around? Oh, well, if you can't beat them, join them right? The man at the paint store gave Stella a paintbrush (a nice one, I might add!) and she was beyond ecstatic. I set Stella up with a bucket of water and her paintbrush and let her go to town painting the windows. I was actually able to edge most of the room while Stella "painted" and Simon destroyed things, but at least he was happy. I couldn't find Murphy at one point. I finally found her asleep in her crate. I guess she's had enough of all of us! It's been a bit of a circus, but when is our house not a circus?

If I haven't been painting, I have been madly researching for our trip to Ireland. It's tough because there are so many places I want to see and experience. Steve found a very helpful travel guide for me, so I've been using that quite a bit along with the interwebz... I have a Herceptin treatment this week, yeehaw! Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and that the weather is beautiful!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Steve and I have news! We booked our tickets to Ireland for June! We're both so excited and have been talking about travelling to Ireland for years. When I was first diagnosed, we decided that we would make an effort to make this trip happen once I finished treatment. Well, I'm not officially finished treatment since I'm still on Hercpetin but it's close enough. Our 7th (wait, what???) wedding anniversary will be in June (June 17th) and what better way to celebrate than a trip from our bucket list. Before you ask, I will obviously be staying in a castle at LEAST one night, more if I can swing it. We're doing this trip "Hinman Style" which means we're renting a car and doing the touring on our own. So excited about that! Steve is excited because he got a ridiculous deal on our rental car ~ $95 for the week. What's the catch? Come on, a deal that good must have some sort of catch, right? Well, the car is manual. Not a huge deal until you remember that the Irish drive on the left. Damn. Oh well, nothing like a few near death experiences to pump up the volume on vacation. At least Steve will be driving, I plan to take my job as CNO (that's cheif navigation officer) very seriously. He's put me in charge of planning the trip (weeee, the planner in me is BEYOND ecstatic at this opportunity!) and I'm in the process of planning out our route. We're flying into and out of Shannon and plan on focusing most of our trip off the beaten path. Eat your heart out Anthony Bourdain! Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be lots more discussion about this trip in the weeks to come.

We had a nice little round of severe weather here on Monday night. Not all that shocking for the south this time of year, but normally that type of weather is predicted and it wasn't for Monday. So, for the 5th time I ran upstairs to turn off the alarm on the weather radio (we keep it in our bedroom, mainly because if there's an alert in the middle of the night, we'll actually hear it). They kept adding new severe thunderstorm warnings for us but nothing was happening (famous last words, I know). I was feeding the kids dinner when I thought I heard the tornado sirens going off outside (such a creepy sound if you don't live in an area that has them). I poked my head outside and sure enough, they were blasting! Naturally, I decided to bide my time and gamble a bit with the storm. I should also mention it wasn't actually doing anything at the time. Plus, who wants to take food away from hungry toddlers? As the kids were finishing up dinner I noticed that the sky was growing dark very quickly. I ran into the den and turned on the TV. Within 5 seconds of the TV being on, the satelite cut off. My cue it's about to get ugly. As I walk back into the kitchen, I notice the sky is now a wicked shade of green. And, I'm done - I grabbed the kids (with Stella still eating) and rushed them into the basrment. Then, ran back upstairs to get the dogs who are beyond confused. Just as I shut the basement doors, the hail began. It was quite a storm. We probably had an inch of hail in under 10 minutes. Wouldn't  you know that within 5 minutes of being in the basement, Stella announced she had to poop. GREAT, honey! I should add that we don't have a bathroom in the basement as it's unfinished. So, juding the worst part of the storm to be over, the kids and I trudged back up the stairs for the bathroom extravaganza. Happy to report all systems go in that arena.

Stella loved the "snow"! Luckily, our property seemed to escape damage but I do think we'll need to have our roof checked. Never a dull moment here, that's for sure!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Sh!tstorm

Given the title of this post, you can probably guess where this conversation is headed. It's been an interesting week. We spent a nice weekend with my parents here and the weather was kind enough to cooperate and be quite warm. Steve and I had "date night" on Friday evening and probably ate the best meal we've ever had out in Atlanta. I also had treatment on Friday afternoon which was mostly uneventful. Now that I'm past my one year of Herceptin, it seems like the staff isn't quiet sure what to do with me. Luckily my favorite nurse was working (she's now in charge of the chemo lounge - props to her!) and we got things figured out. Still feeling a little frustrated that I have to continue on with the Herceptin, but I guess being alive is a pretty good perk :). My friend Kate was there so we had a chance to catch up. She's doing great, just a few Herceptin treatments left for her and then she starts the dreaded Tamoxifen (a maintenence drug for ER/ PR + breast cancer).

I am happy to announce that Stella is potty trained - finally! I know I'm seriously late to that little party, but well, you know, that whole cancer thing sort of put a dent in my regularly scheduled life. I was actually quite surprised at how quickly she got the hang of things. I used the "Oh Crap Potty Training" book which I highly recommend if you're shopping for potty training methods. It's sort of the same idea as the "3Day Method" but not as harsh. And honestly, it took Stella less than two days to go from accidents, to really, perfection. And, that my friends, is where our story really begins...

Last week Stella had to use the potty, so she took herself to the bathroom (little miss independent). At that exact moment, Murphy needed to go out, so assuming (really dumb, I am aware of this) all was in control in the house, I ran the puppy outside really quick to pee. I was outside no more than 60 seconds. In that minute amount of time, Simon stole Stella's pants (she left the bathroom door open) and threw them into the toilet as she was washing her hands. He also threw his blanket in the toilet and was sucking the water out of it when I walked in. Stella was trying to clean up the flooded floor with an entire roll of toilet paper (yes, it was sweet of her to try and clean up the mess). I completely FREAKED OUT! So GROSS!!! Luckily she had already flushed the toilet but still, O.M.G, toilet water blanket in the mouth.!!! I grabbed the blanket from Simon (and Stella's pants out of the toilet) and threw it into the washer, gagging as I went. He thought it was hilarious, typical male. GAH! I'm still skeeved out by that. Lesson leanred there. Oh, I should also mention that while I was cleaning up from Hurricane Simon, Murphy decided to uproot and dig out my 10 + foot tall plant in the sunroom. Dirt was everywhere. At that point I was so fed up and frustrated, I just swept the dirt up next to the plant. Vaccuuming would have required WAY too much effort. Just go ahead and call me 2013's mother of the year, I know I've earned it!

Yesterday I was finishing up unloading the dishwasher when I noticed that the house was entirely too quiet. That can only mean that Simon is up to something and it's never a good something, I started my patrol around the downstairs and then I heard a wail coming from the office followed by an "EWWW" from Stella. As I rounded the corner, there was Simon, ankle deep in dog poop. AWESOME. Murphy has dubbed the office her "dumping ground" and I guess she had just pooped and Simon stepped in it (shocking). The worst part was that I think he had tried to wipe it off, slipped and fell, got it on his hands and then of course, put his hands in his mouth. HOLY SH!T!! Gagging again, I ran him to the sink and tried to get off all of the poop. Stella kept shouting, "Simon pooped on the floor!!!" and I kept trying to explain to her that Simon didn't poop on the floor, Murphy did. I'm honestly not sure why that point was so important for me to emphasize.

So, there you have it, my so called life all wrapped up in one glorious, disgusting pile of poop. You're welcome :)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Reasons You're Proud to Know Me

Stories to make you feel better about your life compared to mine. The one day that Steve and I switch cars and I get to drive the "race car" (as the kids refer to it. I may drive a little more aggessively in his car, but it's so much fun to drive...). Wouldn't you know I blew (and I mean blew up!) a tire?! With the kids in the car after dark. Yup, nothing but good times when I'm around! Luckily we were close to home. I pulled over into the Publix parking lot hoping that I was wrong, but of course that didn't happen. So, what to do, what to do. The tire wasn't completely flat so I decided (read: prayed, hoped) that I could make it home. It's not that I can't change a tire, but honestly with it being dark and two small children in the car I wasn't really looking to add to my already joyful experience. So, I drove the car home, s l o w l y. I was absolutely terrified of damaging the rim, but we made it. Ironically, even though the flat tire was obviously not my fault, I still felt like a sneaky, pain in the ass teenager when I called Steve to tell him the good news about his car. You secretly wish you were me, I know...

Here's another reason you should be proud to know me. While my hair is growing in quite well, it's not what I'd consider an ideal color - super dark with lots of gray. That's just obnoxious. I decided to take matters into my own hands last week and color it myself. You totally know where this is going right? Before cancer, my hair was dark but had some red in it (it may or may not have had assistance in obtaining this shade). I really was just trying to achieve that approximate color. Yeah, not really so much. My hair is an unnatural shade of red and not, let me repeat NOT "Luscious Auburn" as advertised. You'd think that I would have learned my lesson after several disasterous attempts with coloring my hair in my 20's (despite my hopes, I will never, ever be a blonde). So, I'm rocking my Sharon Osbourne hair (it's sort of wild looking like hers too) and trying to own it. Sigh...

So really, good effort at life right over here. We're looking forward to having my parents in town this weekend if the weather cooperates. While it's already 60 degrees and sunny here this morning, rumor has it that VA and the DC area are going to be clobbered by "Snowquester 2013". Only when we have plans does the weather decide it's going to have a little fun. Keep your fingers crossed that my parents can come and enjoy our balmy weather and good luck to all of you battling the elements!