The Gang's All Here!

The Gang's All Here!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Doggie Drama

It's no secret that Murphy (our sweet, innocent, 9 month old yellow lab puppy...) may be the reason I am finally admitted to the loony bin. That dog is literally driving me insane. There isn't much she hasn't chewed up in our house at this point. She's eaten all of my kitchen chairs (and by eaten, I mean she's gnawed them into toothpicks basically), my fabulous bar stools (I'm still pissed about those), all of my wicker furniture in the sunroom - and I truly mean eaten and unraveled. Last week I caught her eating the drywall in the kitchen. Seriously. And not a corner (which would have made sense, I guess, if you were into eating drywall) but the middle of the damn wall. Yeah, she ate a nice little hole right in the middle of the wall. I threw her outside after that where she proceeded to dig up three of my potted plants. By the way, this was all in a span of about 15 minutes... Let's see, Murphy has also stolen diapers off of Simon's dresser (not an easy feat) and shredded them into 15 million pieces, stripped the kids of any food they might be holding/ eating (she's obsessed with bananas) and she also ate a wire coat hanger earlier this week. You might be wondering if we feed her and I can promise you that we most certainly do. She's so huge (not fat, just gigantic) that the vet had us take her off puppy chow at 7 months. She's 9 months old and weighs near 70 lbs. Sweet Jesus say a prayer for me that I survive puppyhood...

I had to take Willie (our almost 8 year old imitation chocolate lab) in today for his annual check-up. for once I was smart and took him on a day when both kids were at school. Two toddlers and a dog in the vet's office is just really not my idea of a good time. Anyway, after Willie marked four out of the six chairs in the waiting room (mortifying, in every sense of the word), the floor was mopped and the caution: wet floor sign was propped up (LOVE that we were the reason for that...) we were taken back to the scale. Willie has managed to gain five pounds over the past year and has now reached chunky, fat dog status. He was put on a weight management plan (it runs in the family). I learned lots of interesting tidbits today at the vet's office. For example, did you know that chocolate labs are notoriously OCD and high strung? Well, we've certainly learned that the hard way. Willie often maniacally licks the floor while Steve and I are trying to watch TV. It is the most frustrating thing and then he gets a hairball - not normal. So, today the vet described Prozac. Yup, my dog is now on meds for his anxiety. That's a whole lot of awesome rolled into one outrageous vet bill. So, fingers crossed that this helps him relax a little bit and not take life so seriously?!?!

So, that's been my exciting week so far in a nutshell. The rain has finally (FINALLY) stopped so I'm looking forward to getting the circus outside for some fresh air and exercise. Somehow, next week brings October... bring on the pumpkin patch and fall foliage!!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Herding Cats

I am "slightly" out of control this week. Notice a recurring theme here? But, I suppose the good news is that I am super busy because I'm feeling great! Seriously, this is the best I've felt since before I was pregnant with Stella. So, yes, I'm running hither and yon, but it's fabulous having the energy to actually enjoy it - well, as much as anyone enjoys running around like a chicken with no head ;)

I had treatment today and a check-up with my oncologist (who, by the way, I've determined sees at LEAST half of Atlanta in her office. That's a good thing though). All is going very well for me. My counts are perfect and she's happy. So, obviously, if she's happy, so am I! No scanning needed at this time, which is always a nice bonus. I had an uneventful Herceptin infusion, and other than forgetting my iPad, which annoyed me to no end, it was unremarkable. I had planned on updating the blog from my treatment recliner (just like the old days!) but apparently multitasking just isn't my forte these days. I did update my iPhone with the new IOS7 software while I was there - it's going to take some getting used to - it's so different! I'm also hoping to upgrade my phone in the next few weeks, after all of the initial "new iPhone release" insanity dies down.

Stella had her first soccer game last Saturday. Talk about herding cats - wow!! But, the girls seemed to have fun and that's the whole point anyway. Our team was completely clueless (but, please remember, these are 3 year old girls...). At one point, we had to ask Stella to stop holding hands with her BFF while "running" (I use that term very loosely) down the field. Stella and her teammates were quite frustrated that the other team "wasn't sharing" and "kept taking the ball away". Damn preschool and all those manners ;). Stella did score a goal which she was very excited about! I will somewhat willingly admit that it was a bit challenging for me to watch the utter chaos and not be able to scream, "TAKE THE BALL AND KICK IT IN THE GOAL". I know they're just learning and I'm way (WAY) too competitive. In everything. It makes Steve crazy, but I just really hate to loose. I'm going to do my very best to not be one of "those" parents. So, if you see me biting my fist or spinning wild circles during an athletic event that my children are participating in, just look away. I'm trying to channel my inner competitive insanity!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

It's Fall, Y'all!

Today is September 11. Can you believe it's been twelve years since we were attacked? My mind goes back and forth between feeling like it was just yesterday and it seems like it was so long ago. I wouldn't say that time has dulled the shock and anger it caused me, but time has given me the gift of perspective and healing. Instead of feeling sadness or anger on this day, I now take the time to be grateful to live in this incredible country and have the opportunities to live each day how I choose. Today, I celebrated our freedom by taking a long walk with a good friend and our sons. I will never take for granted the sweet freedom we experience everyday in this country. Today serves as a valuable reminder of what our country stands for.

Speaking of walking, I've started doing this thing called exercise - you may have heard of it. I'm hilarious, I know ;). All joking aside though, I made a promise to myself that after this surgery and the kids being in school I would exercise. So, I've been making good on that promise and I have the aching muscles to prove it! So far I'm mainly  just doing cardio stuff as I haven't been cleared to do any kind of lifting. As it is, I will never have 100% of my upper body strength due to having both latissimus dorsi muscles relocated for my surgeries. But, I'll take a little strength loss in order to enjoy the perks of the new twins ;)

I love that it's hotter and dryer now than it was all summer here in Atlanta (note the sarcasm here). Not sure what's up with the weather this year but it's making me a little nervous for this winter. Weather Gods, surely you remember that Atlanta has only one (1) snowplow and we are CLEARLY not able to handle the white stuff. Just keep that in your back pocket. A nice, slow roll into fall would be lovely and a mild winter would be appreciated. I'm not ready for jackets and ski hats, but I would love to put on a pair of jeans and not feel like I'm slowly roasting to death.

I wish that I had something really interesting to talk about, but I don't! Life is good and very busy. I had to buy a new family planning calendar (yes, I'm old school and I'm not looking to change, so don't judge me!) last week. I'm really upset because I guess the calendar I typically buy (it hangs on the fridge and is done by the week) is no longer being carried at Target (FOR SHAME!). I had to buy a new one. While it's been a rough transition to the new calendar, I think we're finally making some progress! I keep our calendar on the "desk" (I use that term very loosely) in the kitchen so I can update it regularly. I seem to spend the majority of my day in the kitchen (how nice). Here's to hoping I can keep up with this fall!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Dumb Things I Do

Dumb things I do could be discussed extensively. In fact, all of those things could be compiled to create quite a large book. I thought I'd enhance your day by sharing some of the dumb things I've done, just this week. You're welcome in advance ;)

Epic Mommy Fail #1: Always put the correct lunch in the correct lunch box. Yeah, definitely screwed this one up today and Stella is NEVER going to let me forget it. After listening to wild accusations of me not packing her a juice box (which I knew I did because it was the last apple) and how she didn't want to eat her raisins (and I was like, I didn't give you raisins, I gave you grapes!)I shrugged it off to her not remembering what she had for lunch. Until I was unpacking their school bags and realized that I had give Stella Simon's lunch and vice versa. Well damn, the three year old was right. She's not likely to forget that little incident anytime soon and I clearly need to have at least one more cup of coffee in the morning before attempting to do something as complicated as packing lunches...

Epic Mommy Fail #2: Always give your children snacks in containers that have lids while in the car. Right, I hear you on this, and really, I try to not let them snack in the car period. But, on a 7 hour car trip, that's just mean. So, I had the best intentions, packed cheerios and goldfish in those clever containers that the kids just reach their hands in. It only took Simon 5 minutes before he wrangled the top off of that bad boy and TA-DA - Cheerio shower for everyone!! Ugh, is there anything worse than Cheerios in every nook and crevice of the car? I swear they multiply every third day or something.

Epic Mommy Fail #3: The baby gate is to be closed and locked at all times. Really? Hmmm, well I guess closed but not locked doesn't really count then... I'll admit, I've gotten lazy since Simon does fine going up the stairs. Apparently, this rule might also be applied to dogs too. If the gate is not locked, Murphy can open it with her big old block head. Off she goes, charging up the stairs to commit her latest act of terrorism. So, I started locking the gate which really threw Simon for a loop. He got upset that he couldn't get the gate open, she he just pulled hard enough until it broke into 6 pieces. How's that for awesome. I should be really upset, but I'm actually more awed by his strength and I'm already hoping for a football scholarship! Anyway, point being, now that the gate is deader than a doornail, Murphy has really expanded her terror campaign. Trying to give the kids a bath last night with a 60+ plus pound lab trying to dive in is a real treat.

I could share many, many more with you, but we'll just stick with the highlights this week. In other news, my recovery is going just fine. I had my drains taken out last Thursday (angels were singing it was so fabulous). We spent a wonderful Labor Day weekend in South Carolina with the family and now it's back to the real world. If only I could remember the 85 other things I was supposed to be doing today...