Falling Hair and Lifting Spirits

So, one of the main reasons that I started this blog was to keep myself focused and looking upward.  I was in a pretty positive state of mind when I began, and days like today make me oh-so-thankful about that!  I'm struggling lately, ya'll. I tend to struggle with anxiety in general, although a lot of that has been remarkably tame until recently.  I'm like this black hole of worries with a ball of dread in the pit of my stomach.  It's pretty lame.

Therefore, my objective today is to put as many things that I find to be hilarious into this blog post as I can muster.  Because I have GOT to turn this frown upside down!

First things first: animals.  I love them.  The fur.  The paws.  The unconditional love.  So, it should come as no surprise that videos and pictures of them can ALWAYS evoke a laugh (or more accurately, a squeal of delight) out of me.  While cats are my first true love, this video of a fluffy puppy stuck in a bowl is one of the best things I've ever seen.

                   

But back to cats, though.  Recently, I can't get enough of this picture.  It's like EXACTLY what a German kitty with slanty eyes would say!!  AM I RIGHT?!?!  The more I look at it and read it in different accents, the funnier it gets, and the more gleeful I become.

Kitty + Watermelon = JOY!!

Oftentimes when I've felt gloomy or low, husband sends me this video because, well, he knows that it always makes me laugh.  And I appreciate the sentiment.

Speaking of husband making me laugh a lot....  Unfortunately for my sad little soul, he's been in FRESNO all week.  Which, apparently is somewhat of a dump?  I don't know, I mean, if I'm gonna get on a plane for as long as he had to, I better end up somewhere way cooler than Fresno.  Poor guy.  But back to him making me laugh....a couple of weeks ago, we were staying with Mom and eating lunch.  He decided to see how many giant black grapes he could fit in his mouth.  A prize for the first person who correctly guesses how many he shoved into that pie hole!!

This is how engineers behave on the weekends. (Don't deny it, Ross).

Know what else tickles me?  Crap I hear my Dad say in the workplace.  Most of you know that I work for him now, and I honestly really love it.  Lots of people spend their lives trying to get away from their parents, but I invite mine over for sleepovers on the regular and go to work for them because they are fantastic.  Also, I hope that someday I am able to rear children that end up being as awesome as my brother and I are.  Anyway, so just the other day, I was wishing that I kept like, a LOG of stuff I hear my Dad say whilst I'm toiling away in my office.  But I remember a couple of the recent ones, so that's what you're getting.  Plus one picture, taken circa 2005.  (Don't be mad at me, Dad!)

1. Today--I don't even know what he was working on or looking at, but I just heard him yell out (in like an Irish/Scottish accent), "SAINTS BE PRAISED!!  WE'VE GOT THE RIGHT NUMBER!!"

2. Last week--he got a phone call from someone, and the next thing he said after hello was, "Wow, you sound like you're full of piss and vinegar this morning!"

I can neither confirm nor deny that he is wearing an authentic Middle Eastern headdress in this photo.  The crazy eyes are definitely authentic.

Ok, this is getting REALLY long.  Plus, the longer I consider what funny things to include, the harder it becomes to keep this rated PG.  But you know what...posting all these funny things was incredibly therapeutic!  Thank you, self, for knowing that a blog might be just what I need in times of crap-tasticness.

Quick update on Mom, too, because I promised there would be one when I linked you here from Facebook--she had a follow up Dr. Appointment yesterday that went great!  Her blood cell counts are way up from last week; in fact, the doctor said she was healthy enough yesterday to get a chemo treatment, and her next one is a whole week away!  She has started to lose her hair, though.  A lot of it has come out this week, and she's thinking about shaving it this Saturday.  I think the hair loss might be affecting ALL of us more than we thought--I mean, look at her!  Her hair is borderline iconic!  But hair is just hair...it will grow back, and losing it will be well worth the reward of kicking this cancer back from whence it came.

We all love you hair, but you will come back.

Our biggest concern at the moment is getting her off all the steroids she's been on--they don't do good things to people when used long-term and in high doses.  She's slowly going down in dosage every few days, so she'll be done with them soon, praise the lord!  Thanks for the millionth time for keeping us all in your prayers.

Until next time, I leave you (and me, really, because not all of you adore cats) with this:

Hugs,

S

I Hope You're Not too Hungry...

I am dedicating today's post to my obsession with baking things in Muffin Pans.  Which is funny because I used to HATE baking.  Oh, how things change.  Where to begin?  Well, first, let me just say, if you are AT ALL interested in baking OR cooking, stop reading this blog immediately, and join Pinterest.   I got ALMOST all of my recipes and muffin-pan inspiration from things I found there.

First things first--something that has changed my life.  Yes, it involves a muffin pan.  So like, I'm PRETTY terrible at making pancakes.  (Husband is PHENOMENAL at it, one of his many, many talents).  But even when I stay away from pancake-making, there is still the issue of all different sizes, and the FIRST one that is always cold by the time you are ready to chow down.  So I'm on Pinterest one day, and I spy...what we've dubbed...PUFFINS!!  YA'LL.  You mix up your pancake mix, and you put whatever you want in it (think vanilla extract, fruit, chocolate chips, bacon, ANYTHING) and then you put the batter in a lightly greased muffin pan.  Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.  VIOLA!  Perfectly portioned, STEAMING hot, delicious pancake muffins (thus, puffins).  Drown those suckers in syrup and oh sweet little tiny baby Jesus, YUM.

Behold, the Blueberry Puffin Goodness

Then of course, there are more traditional items, like CUPCAKES.  The only cupcakes I've ventured to bake thus-far have happened to involve alcohol, and a special, special man.  Husband's favorite beer is Blue Moon, so it obviously follows that when I saw a recipe for Blue Moon cupcakes, I had to make them for him.  For Valentine's Day.  I was skeptical, but ya'll, these suckers were SO tasty.  As my wise, baking sage of a friend Andrea said, the carbonation in the beer made for a VERY fluffy cake.

Orange-y, Blue Moon-y, Cream Cheesy-ness

But wait, there is another special man I baked alcoholic cupcakes for!  My brother.  His birthday is St. Patrick's Day, so I made Bailey's cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream.  Ho-lee crapppp.  They were so good.  And I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I might have a future in food photography.

Sprinkles make everything better.  Am I right?!

But alas, I've PROBABLY spent most of my time with my muffin pans making actual muffins.  (I know...boring, right?)  But I just love them!  Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins, Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal Muffins, Pistachio Chai Muffins...I just can't stop.  My biggest regret in life is that I didn't snap a picture of the Pistachio Chai.  

Strawberry Chocolate Chip

Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal

Ok, and here's the last little bit of this muffin pan madness...EGG MUFFINS!  It's like a bunch of mini omelettes baked in the oven.  These were only OK.  I might give them another go (and only if bacon is involved), but out of all the things I've made in a muffin pan--this was so not my favorite.  Plus, they looked So fluffy and glorious in the oven, but imploded the minute I took them out.

YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT, EGG MUFFINS!!!!

I shall leave you with my deepest muffin pan desires--mini chicken pot pies, and mini CHERRY pies.  Because what's life without pie?  (Especially pies of the tiny variety??)  These two are happening.  Eventually.

HUGS!

S

Dumb Things I Do

Ya'll.  I do lots of really dumb things.  But some of them are things that lots of people probably mindlessly do--like search for your sunglasses when they are on your head, or throw your keys in your purse when you in fact need them in your hands to start your car.

And then, there are the other things.  Things that result from my being extremely clumsy.  Things I do over and over again and never learn from.  One of the latter things happened yesterday, for the 4th time.  I ruined another Nalgene bottle in the dishwasher.  I just can't seem to comprehend that it would be OK to put it at an angle on the top rack.  Or that although I carefully place the lid away from the heat on the bottom rack, things still shift during the wash.  So I end up with lids that look like this:

Along with this comes a house that smells like delicious burnt plastic

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I've had a back up bottle for quite some time now.  I wonder how long it will be till I ruin that one?

A few weeks ago, I knocked a bottle of maple syrup off the top shelf of the pantry, and it.  went.  everywhere.  Did I mention I'm prone to stupid explosions of stuff because I'm clumsy?  Have you ever tried to wipe syrup off of matte-painted walls?  I have.  It doesn't really come off.  Here is a portion of wall that still has long drip-shaped stains of syrup on it.

I think I see the Virgin Mary in these syrup stains...

I should mention that the top rack of our pantry is filled with all my baking items.  It is largely an unorganized mess, and things are shoved on there in such a way that one false move will send SOMETHING tumbling to the floor.  And yet, I haven't organized it.  Even after Syrup Explosion 2013.

And last (but certainly not least, OR last, even, if I'm being honest) there is this.

What are those pink dots on your ceiling?!

It's a wine explosion.  On our kitchen ceiling.  Ya'll, I don't remember how this got here.  But it (obviously) happened after drinking lots of wine and, naturally, not too long after we paid some nice fellows several hundred dollars to put a fresh coat of white paint on our ceilings downstairs.   Have you ever tried to get red wine stains off of a white ceiling?  I haven't, because I'm too short and because I'm about 99% sure they won't come off.  The other 1% of me is planning to get out my magic eraser and a ladder and try anyways.  That will probably happen the same day I organize the top shelf of the pantry.

These take paint off of walls--maybe they will take wine off of paint off of ceilings!  

 
That's it for today, friends.  Just keeping it real over here.

Hugs,
S

Lung Draining and Chemo and Colds, Oh My!

This wins for worst titled (and probably least inspired) blog I may ever compose.  Forgive me, for I have a cold.  Apparently, I can't hang out in hospitals without getting sick.  Who knew?

Anyway...here's the quick update on Mom...she had an appointment with her Pulmonologist this past Tuesday, but was having a lot of trouble breathing.  I almost had to beat a lady up to give me a wheelchair so I could even get her TO the appointment (true story--and I would have done it if she didn't give up the chair).

So, after the doctor sees her and gives her an x-ray, we learn that MORE gross fluid goop had built up under her left lung, and, surprise surprise, it needed to be drained.  Nothing is ever easy, huh?

Well, it ended up being for the best...because she was admitted to the hospital and got the procedure done that afternoon.  Her breathing was better almost instantly, even though it's a really crappy painful procedure.

The other good thing that came out of this was her getting her first chemo treatment at the hospital.  Her oncologist *assured* us it would be like "Staying at the Ritz."  THAT wasn't entirely true, BUT, it brought me lots of comfort and peace of mind knowing she'd be so closely monitored for her first treatment.  She was also able to do it all in one day, instead of having it spread over two days as originally planned.  And you know what, ya'll?  She was a champ!  She did so good.  She was worn out afterwards, of course, but she has handled it really well.  This is a good sign, considering everyone says the first treatment is the one your body reacts to the most!

They decided to monitor her all day/night yesterday, and after walking a lap with a nurse this morning, she was released.  She's at home as I type this, likely still snuggled up with her kitties that don't even know that there is a life to be lived when she's not around.

Fia is in the box, and her brother Fritz does in fact, have two different colored eyes.
Although one is not usually bionic red.

Anyway--those are the updates for now; we will be heading to Mom's tomorrow to spend the day/night with her since pops is leaving for a trip to California early in the morning.  The doctors have told her to make sure she gets up and does things, but doesn't over do it.  So...husband and I will be there to take care of anything that would be considered over-doing!

Oh, one more thing!  In case you missed my Facebook post, my Dad designed a shirt that folks can buy in support of Mom.  It's not a fundraiser or anything, just something fun to show support.  Click this link to check it out!  Go Team Cynthia!!!

Ok--back to the couch for me.  Fluids, rest and over the counter medications are the magic formula for this cold, so I'm told.

Hugs,
S

Stuff You Learn in Marriage

For all intents and purposes, I'm still very very new at this whole marriage business.  But man, do you learn A LOT about yourself (and your significant other) in the first couple of years.

It's common sense, of course, but oftentimes, exposure to certain behaviors during childhood can explain some of your spouse's most frustrating behavior!  And I'm not talking about MY spouses frustrating behavior (because he's a perfect male specimen), I'm talking about my spouses spouses frustrating behavior.  (Errr...mine).

Apparently, I (and my brother) tend to speak in absolutes.  Something is THE BEST.  Something is THE WORST.  That's DISGUSTING.  It's the TASTIEST THING EVER (think pie, people!)  Mind you, we are entitled to our opinions.  But I guess we state opinions as facts, which is supposedly pretty annoying.

I honestly didn't realize I do this until a conversation with my husband, brother and sister-in-law.  Funny how siblings pick up some of the same darling qualities, and both their spouses guffaw loudly once it's mentioned and proceed to rifle off no less than 10 excellent examples of the aforementioned behavior.  Whatever, we all have things to work on, YES?  This is one of my MANY things to work on.

In other news, my husband has recently become fascinated with abandoned amusement parks.  It's weird and I'm starting to wonder if I should be concerned.  In any case, I chose to take him in sickness and in health and thus, I remain proud that he is mine.  Anyway, for your nightmarish pleasure, here are the creepiest ones I was able to locate:

What the hell is this even?  A clown train?

I admit, I mostly find this one creepy because of the girl.

This one MIGHT not be real.

I'm pretty sure both of these things are going to come to life and stalk me.

SWEET DREAMS, MY DARLINGS!!

And on a more serious note....keep those prayers coming for my Mom and our family as she begins Chemo treatments this Wednesday, 4/10 at 8am.  I'll also be updating everyone shortly about the possibility of the creation of "TEAM CYNTHIA" t-shirts!!

Hugs,
S

Cuteness and Chemo

Hello, friends.

So, Mom got to go home from the hospital yesterday.  Horay!  We've had a few bumps in the road today, but she is doing better now.  I mean, the woman has been beat to hell with procedures in the hospital and stuck in a bed for the past 5 days and she still managed to get multiple enthusiastic "WOW!"s out of my Dad about how foxy she looked when she got ready for her appointment with the Oncologist today.  She can't get her chemo port wet yet, and she thinks she looks like a troll since she can't wash her hair normally, but really, she's adorable with her french braid and her scrunchie!

Remember scrunchies?  She has a whole plastic storage container of them, and today we carefully chose which one best matched her scarf and her cardigan.  Her collection kind of looks like this, but she is SLIGHTLY less dramatic about HER scrunchies:

Ok, so our appointment today was an informational/educational session about her chemo treatments.  Basically, they just tell you about the combination of drugs, what they do, potential side effects, and what it will be like when she goes to get her treatments.

We got to walk around where she'll get it done, and it's like, she'll be sitting in a big kind of recliner/armchair, and they will just hook up bags of each of the individual drugs to her chemo port and pump them in one right after the other.  It looks very similar to this, and it looks like this nice lady has a port also:

The first treatment will take the longest--they will drip the drugs into her slowly and closely monitor how her body reacts to them.  She's starting next Wednesday, and we've been told to expect that they will actually administer her first treatment over two days.  It will be a one-day thing, once every 21 days, after that.  She'll have between 6 and 8 treatments, and they will do some scans after the 6th to see if the others are necessary.

Since folks are there for a long time (on Wednesday, she will definitely be there all day), they are allowed to bring whatever they want to keep them occupied.  Computers, portable DVD players with headphones, iPads, books, snacks--you name it.  Whatever she needs to be entertained and comfortable, she will be able to bring.  She can also have 1-2 guests sit with her while she has it done, depending on how busy it is that day.

I know that she and I will be able to use treatment time to spend even more quality time with each other which I will treasure!  Because, after all....

I'm so thankful that she's got a little break from procedures to reset her batteries, rest, and be lifted up!  We so appreciate all the thoughts and prayers we've been getting, and soon, we'll be ready to kick this thing's ass!

Here We Go!

Overall, yesterday was a much better day for us!  Mom had the procedure done to drain her lungs (I will not tell you what she said the stuff looked like that came out), and as promised, she was breathing better almost instantly.  Her eyes looked so much clearer and she sounded so much more normal!  It was such a relief to see her feeling relieved.  She also got SIX WHOLE HOURS of sleep the night before!

While Dad and I were sitting around there with her yesterday, we did learn that her biopsy Friday gives us a 100% definitive diagnosis--it is indeed "Diffuse B-Cell Lymphoma" like the Oncologist originally thought.  It sounds weird to say this in a way, but I think we all breathed ANOTHER sigh of relief--not because it's cancer, of course, but because we know we are finally done with this horrid diagnosis phase.

So what's next?  Well, the doctors wanted to keep her in the hospital to do all of the "pre-chemo" things that must be done.  One is a blood test for Hepatitis.  They took her blood yesterday for that.  She needs to have an EKG (which I understood would be happening this morning--she might be doing that right now).  Finally, they have to put in her "chemo port."  This is a little thingy with a tube that is installed just under the skin.  All her chemo will be administered through the port so that she doesn't have to go through the whole IV thing every time she goes for treatment.

We don't know a WHOLE lot of details about chemo except what we read online yesterday.  We read that most doctors want the port installed about a week before chemo begins.  The treatment she's having is called R-CHOP and it's a 4-drug combo.  It's administered once every 21 days.  We've heard that most people on it lose their hair before the second treatment, so it may be fast.  Of course, everyone responds differently, but I've already got plans in the works for a fun WIG SHOPPING DAY!

Support will be key for her--no negativity, people!!

Anyway...that's the quick update for now.  I'll be heading back to the hospital to see her before too long here this morning.  Keep those prayers coming....HE is faithful!