Happy Hot Flash To Me!

Who needs candles when you can have a hot flash?!

So it's my birthday. Always a happy event in my life. I'm not used to it being so public, though. I'm quite content to walk around all day just smiling and feeling a spring in my step and saying to myself, "it's your birthday".

This cake is the BIG surprise that almost knocked me off my chair at Jim and Lynne's. We finished dinner and Lynne went to the kitchen to bring out a dessert she had made and when everyone started singing, I joined in but was confused and was trying to quickly figure out whose birthday we were celebrating. It took me almost until the "dear Heather" part of the birthday song to figure out that we were celebrating my birthday. It was kind of funny! Would somebody PLEASE remind me to straighten my wig before all photo ops?!! Oh, and the cake was SOOOO good!

And then yesterday Norma took me out for our sister birthdays, hers being yesterday and mine being today. Beside the very cool "rap" she wrote for me, she gave me a stack of bins "for the orna-mental organizer". HAHA. And very useful, too. I already have plans for them.

Today I'm being taken for lunch by Sylvia, Cheryl and Marion.

I never mind birthdays. In fact, I always enjoy mine even if only quietly. I do wish I didn't feel so far removed from the birthday girl I was one year ago (see photo at left), only a few days before the biopsy that would set me on this unwelcome journey. I want to be her again. I'll see if I swing that, but I'm not so sure. This joint issue is getting very old. I've been feeling partially crippled for just shy of four months now. My best birthday present would be total relief of that problem. I'll hope for it yet. Before we go to Kentucky at least. The day my joints are really working for me again will be cause for a real celebration.

Anyway, as Scarlett says, "I'll worry about that tomorrow". Today ... I celebrate another birthday!!

Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes you've been sending my way ... for the calls, the cards, the emails, and the facebook greetings! You make my day, not just today but every day! Let me have a hot flash in your honour. Easy peasy!

Happy Hot Flash To Me!

Rap For The Christmas Ornament Boxes

Today I had birthday tea/coffee and scones with Norma at Tastebuds! It was so nice! She picked me up and insisted on paying for everything and yet, it was HER BIRTHDAY!! What's that about??!! Happy Birthday, Norma, and thanks so much!

Norma claims to be much amused by my ongoing Christmas boxes saga and so, in honour of that, she wrote this hilarious rap (Get it? RAP ... instead of WRAP? Get it?? **yuck yuck**) for me. It's so funny. Click on the photos to see larger, more readable images. Try to read it in "rap mode". I'm not so good at that so I need to listen to some rap so I can pick up on the appropriate rhythm. If you can do it, please rap it to me! Norma's so clever at these (and many other) kinds of things. If you know her, you know what I mean. You've probably seen her in action over the years.

Anyway, we had a great chat and didn't even cover half of the many things we could have talked about. She's such an inspiration with all the things she does and gets involved with. I hope I get to the point where I so actively pursue my interests. I have lots of interests but sometimes find it hard to move past the research and planning stage to the actual "DOING STAGE". That is my personal challenge.

Happy Birthday greetings also go out to Tana for yesterday and Marina today, too.

Rap For The Christmas Ornament Boxes

Super Bowl - Yeah Saints!

It was so nice to see the Saints win the Super Bowl, though I wouldn't have been upset to see it go the other way either. The best part about Super Bowl was spending it at Patty and Ron's. Patty must have been cooking all week! There was so much food, they'll be eating yummy leftovers for a while. Patty and I both made guacamole but we used different recipes so it was fun to do some taste testing. They were both good with different dominant flavours, Patty's being cilantro and mine being lime. It's all good. And the turkey chili was great! Well, so was everything as you can see.

Their tv makes ours look like pipsqueak tv!  Mind you, we're at the point where our tv is pretty old school compared to everyone else's.  We're just holding out for some more technological developments ... uh huh. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Super Bowl - Yeah Saints!

Lightening The Load

I can't resist the occasional peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch!

Today I've been busy in that storage room. I have sorted through a mountain (not much of an exaggeration) of papers and stuff. Much of it will be shredded and thrown away. The innate librarian in me was never able to throw away a good piece of information, a quote, an inspiring image, and so forth and then file it away in an elaborate vertical file system. That was before the internet. Long before. There was a whole lot of that stuff that was just needlessly taking up space. I have to remind myself to be fierce about getting rid of things that really are of no value to us. I'm genetically predisposed to keeping. For example, I KNOW I'm never going to make that item for which I clipped the instructions from a magazine! Pitch it already! I still have piles of stuff to go through. Large piles of the kids' school work ... lots can go, some will be kept. And school supplies! My how they've gathered over the years. I'll have a large box to deliver to the school.

I did come across a bunch of scattered items of sentimental value ... mementos from weddings, births and deaths ... newspaper clippings about people I'm fond of. I found Barb and Kevin's wedding napkins, Elaine's funny pre-wedding photo where it looks like the priest is grabbing her boob, Uncle Keith's eulogy, memories of Auntie Jean, Auntie Elsie, cousin Bob, my Dad, Laurie and Mark's wedding, A newspaper clipping of Cowboy Wade in action, newspaper clippings about Uncle Reg, Hannah's music festival results, Luke's sporting recognitions, ticket stubs from concerts, programs from plays, and so much more. I just kept throwing it into my "sentimental folder", which I will go through more thoroughly later. There was much already in it that I haven't even looked at yet. I want to take some time to enjoy it.

Last night we had a very nice dinner at Jim and Lynne's. Graham and Allan are so interesting as they grow and mature. They're smart as can be! I can't wait to see where their lives take them. They both went out with friends for the evening. For dessert, Lynne made a scrumptiously rich and chocolaty cake decorated so prettily! I tell you, they threw me a surprise that almost knocked me over. I couldn't figure out what was going on until it hit me. I won't elaborate quite yet ... I will later ... but man, I was SURPRISED! It was kind of funny! And very sweet! I'm not just talking about the cake.

I was beat and hit the hay early. It's been a cycle lately of one night of bad sleep followed by a sleepy day and a solid night's sleep and then another night of poor sleep and so forth. Last night I had a relatively good sleep while Kevin met up with the guys for some poker.

Today we'll go to Ron and Patty's to watch the Superbowl game! Go Saints!

Lightening The Load

TA DA!! Christmas Decorations Put Away!

I'll bet you thought it would never happen! Me, too!! And yet, the Christmas boxes are all neatly packed away until another 10 months have passed. Kevin helped. We cleared a lot of junk out of the "junk room" and made some space. I'm very happy.

This doesn't mean we're done though, unfortunately. There is still a lot of progress to be made in the old junk/storage room but now that there's some space to maneuver and some initial progress made, I'm primed for the project. Maybe. I say that now, of course.

I must also thank Lynne and Jim for their help! They don't even know they helped! They've invited us over for dinner tonight so that freed up some time for Kevin and I to focus on that room and not have to fuss over dinner. Thanks, Jim and Lynne!

Now for a breather! That was tiring!

By the way, no pressure Norma and Lou! Can you believe they still don't have their Christmas decorations put away?! Really!!

TA DA!! Christmas Decorations Put Away!

Otto Is Convinced He's a Lap Dog

Otto Is Convinced He's a Lap Dog

Kevin and Otto and The Big Play

Kevin and Otto and The Big Play

The Saturday Hair Report

It IS getting longer. It looked darker last week, though. Now it seems like the cream ... or the silver ... is rising to the top!

I gave myself a little 60s flip, with limited resources mind you, just to give you some idea of the possibilities!

Leg hairs are still peculiar. A couple of little ones starting above the mid-shin line but if you were to examine my leg you would be very puzzled by the oddity of the growth in general. Some amost invisible hairs have appeared on my arms but I could hardly ever find hairs there even before all of this. No arm pit hair yet. No even under my right arm. And, well, just in case you're wondering ... my most private of hairs are returning, too. Again, oddly. A few long stragglers amidst a bit of fuzz is all. I was never RICH in body hair in the first place. I wonder how I ever ended up with so much on my head?

The Saturday Hair Report

Yeah Knights!

Bellarmine won their first official game of the season. Luke got 1 assist for 1 point.

Yeah Knights!

A Little Lacrosse With Our Pancakes

We're in the process of monitoring live stats for Luke's lacrosse game that's taking place right now. They've been neck and neck through the first period and Luke has had an assist. It's 4 to 4 right now.

For the game, I made oatmeal pancakes. I've never made this recipe before. I had to start it last night by soaking the oats in buttermilk in the fridge overnight. I loaded them with blueberries, which are mostly on the underside. I must say they were delicious and I'll make them again. They're a little more delicate than regular pancakes so I had to be careful to not make them too big or they'd have fallen apart when flipped. Here's the recipe. You have to scroll down a bit for the actual recipe.

Again, I didn't sleep great last night. ANNOYING! Sleep disturbance isn't listed as a side effect for Tamoxifen but Cheryl reminded me that it IS a side effect of menopause and since Tamoxifen gives you all the other side effects of menopause, it only makes sense that sleep problems would be part of the package. Funny it's not listed, though, since they do list a lot of the other problems such as hot flashes and the general drying up of one's feminine parts. Great. I've also had a mildly upset stomach a few times since I've started the Tamoxifen. And yesterday I noticed that I feel inappropriately hungry ... hungry when I shouldn't be (like the middle of the night). Maybe that's why women usually gain weight on this drug?

Today I had pomegranate juice for the first time since last Saturday's disgusting incident. So far so good, except for the fact I don't really care for pomegranate juice in the first place. I'd rather be left with the taste of blueberry oatmeal pancakes in my mouth but since you have to take the pills on a full stomach, that sequence just isn't in the cards.

I also had two bad jaw aches lately. One at 6:00 last night and then at 4:00 a.m. I got tylenol more quickly for the one in the middle of the night. I almost passed out from the pain at supper time last night. When I could feel my rapid release tylenol finally kicking it, it was the sweetest relief.

I got over my jaw ache in time to enjoy dinner at Norm's with Kevin, Don and Syl. It was nice to get together and catch up. And Norm was in very good spirits, it being the start of a major Vietnamese holiday.

Arden just picked up a ground ball! They even called him "Brick" in the live stats!! That's SOOOO funny! Arden, if you recall, is Luke's buddy from here who is also on a lacrosse scholarship to Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

GO KNIGHTS!!!

A Little Lacrosse With Our Pancakes

Flowers On Friday

Sylvia dropped by this afternoon with some cheery flowers! Thanks, Syl!

Otto and I went on our walk today. It's mild but is sunshine too much to ask for? Sunshine would have been nice. So far we haven't had any sun on our walks. We did what has become our "usual route". This time I remembered the step counter and we logged about 5100 steps which is about 2.5 miles. or 4 km. Good! We saw the strangest thing today. We saw a young man pulling a big cart of what looked like bunches of broken wood and behind it was tied one of those kidmobiles that pull behind bicycles. It was filled with stuff. There was more stuff attached but I was too stunned to remember and by the time I saw him he was right beside us so I didn't get my camera out in time. He was going down the bridge with a bunch of traffic behind him. What on earth was going on? All I could guess was that it might be a homeless person moving his "stuff" to a new location.

And this. What in the heck is this supposed to be? It's some kind of sculpture made of sweaters, snow and water. I'm not getting it, though. I must not have enough imagination. Is it supposed to look like something?

This morning ... TADA ... Otto and I started working on those dang Christmas decoration boxes! But you know how it goes ... or maybe you don't ... CHAOS BEFORE ORDER! So we went from one tidy pile in Luke's bedroom to a whole big mess in every room upstairs. That's because our upstairs storage room has become such a disaster that it has to be cleared out and organized before the Christmas decorations can be put away. I made good headway this morning, though, and I still have a long way to go. I would love to have it done before Kevin gets home but that's not going to happen. In fact, he's going to have to help me with some of it. In the end, it will be so much better. And those decorations will be tucked away! This is the before photo when the boxes were mostly neatly piled in Luke's room.

I had a bit of trouble sleeping last night. That's unusual for me. Typically I sleep well and so two nights of bad sleep in three days makes me wonder if it isn't the Tamoxifen. I need to read the list of side effects again because I don't remember that being one.

Limbs - same old. Very old. With some doorknobs, I need to use two hands to turn them. I never had to think about it before but I have trouble now opening our front door unless I use two hands.

One more week at home before I head back to the office! As I said, it's both scary and exciting! In fact, I was really dreading it for a while but I realize now that the reason I dreaded it was because my brain was still not functioning very well. I easily became overwhelmed by activity and information while I was going through all of this and it was only a week or so ago, after I almost literally "felt" the air and sun creep back into my brain, that I have felt more confident of being able to manage at work. It was like somebody suddenly swept the cobwebs out of my skull and opened some windows. I didn't even realize how crippled my brain had been until it suddenly felt better. It's hard to explain. I liken it a bit to going through life not knowing you badly need glasses and then getting them and having it open up a whole new world of clarity that you didn't realize you were missing out on. Just because my brain is now a little stronger and capable doesn't mean my memory has returned to before cancer treatment levels. In fact, once I get back to work I think I'll realize even more how bad my memory has become. It really surprises me now the things I will suddenly forget or not quite be able to nail down in my memory ... things that I wouldn't have lost before. My memory wasn't firing on all cylinders before all of this but it's now significantly worse and I can never anticipate what I'll forget because it will be things I can't believe aren't right there which makes it all the more embarrassing. How does one prep for that? You might be offended to know how often I've forgotten your last names and have even hesitated over some first names! It shocks me! I understand that it's part of "chemo brain" and that it should improve over the next year. Let's hope so. It's embarrassing sometimes!

It's the weekend. Time to forget about the things I can't do and focus on the things I can do. Such as deal with that disaster I've created upstairs. YIKES!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! It's SUPERBOWL time if you're looking for an excuse for a party!!

Flowers On Friday

Hilarious - Dead Fly Art

For my amusement, Berny sent me "Dead Fly Art" today! I am TOTALLY amused!

Thinking of all the people I know on beaches right now, I'll feature this one. See more of them here.

I wonder if the artist used tweezers? I'm grossed out at the thought of positioning them by hand.

Hilarious - Dead Fly Art

Real Men Like Quiche

Asparagus Quiche. This is what we're having for supper tonight with a spinach salad.

Here's the new-to-me recipe except that I added 2 extra eggs and made sure I had 2 cups of milk because my pastry shells were bigger. It worked perfectly, though we haven't tasted it yet.

Speaking of taste, Kevin's reggae coffee was good but not GREAT. That's according to Kevin. I don't drink coffee. I don't even know how to make it.

Otto and I only had a short walk today ... around the block and through the alleys. I got groceries, prepped vegetables for the fridge and made quiche. Kevin is home again.

Real Men Like Quiche

More Thanks to More Team

Two more names came to mind. Here's a new Wordle of Thanks! Make sure you're included.

More Thanks to More Team

Updated Thanks!

I thought of a name I neglected to include in my earlier Thanks. So here's a new Wordle Thanks that's more complete. I hesitate to say "complete" because surely some other names will come to me yet.

Sorry if I've missed anyone so far. Let me know if I have.

And know that you've all helped me so much in your own way ... even when you don't know it.

Click on the picture to see a bigger version.

Updated Thanks!

A Peppier Day

Yesterday, aside from my walk and playing with Wordle, the day was pretty much a write off. I think I can attribute that to lack of sleep. I had trouble sleeping two nights ago. I came downstairs and curled up on the sofa at 3:00 and watched a whole movie (The Claim - tragic Thomas Hardy), after which I fell asleep. But I didn't sleep long enough and I was left feeling a little draggy all day even though I made myself go out for a walk. Otto needed it and ... well ... so did I. I had hoped to be refreshed after the walk but between being tired already and my joints protesting and feeling like a slight cold might be getting me, I laid low.

Last night I slept better. Exhaustion will do that, you know. Otto was happy to jump up on the bed and take Kevin's spot except that he insisted on having his nose stuck under my arm pit. Whatever. I slept. And I feel better for it. I slept those cold symptoms away, too, it seems.

I'm squeaky clean and have done my full body exam. A few little hairs are starting on the upper part of my shins. That's progress. The ones on the bottom of my legs are getting longer but are growing very oddly. Patchy. There will be a little clumb (well, not like a hobbit type clump) in one area, then a bare patch, and then a few straggly ones. Weird. You can hardly see where the skin tags had been on the right side of my neck. While the left side certainly looks better than it did, there is some raised red skin where two of them had been. I'm sure it will diminish a bit soon. My head hair is getting thicker. It's getting that "teddy bear" feeling that Berny described. At last! No moustache yet. That's a good thing! HAHA! I

It's time to go for groceries. Big undertaking.

The flowers and plant life above are from the Conservatory.

A Peppier Day

Sponge Bob Sighting

Enough playing with Wordle for today! This is why I didn't get Christmas boxes put away today.

Otto and I did get out for a walk though. We did the same route as yesterday mostly because I knew there was an open area where we could play catch and maybe we would find the ball we lost yesterday. We did play catch. We did not find the lost ball. The thing about NOT losing the ball is that I had to put it somewhere when we were ready to walk again. If I keep it in my hand, Otto is constantly waiting for me to throw it. So I had to put the very slimy thing in my pocket. ICK!!

On the way home we spotted Sponge Bob. He looked desparate. He was either kidnapped or he had cabin fever.

I had a nice, long chat with cousin Lori and we've arranged to go for lunch next week before I start back to work.

I'm pretty hobbly again today. At least I'm not surprised. Fingers and arms stiff. Whatever!

You should have seen Otto last night at bedtime. He came up to our room as always but this time he came to my side of the bed and rested his chin on the bed beside my pillow and stared at me with those sad, lonely eyes. We invited him up and lickity split he was snuggled between us soaking up all the dual attention. He was reluctant to get off the bed and kept burying his nose and eyes under our pillows ... "you can't see me" ... "I can't hear you".

Today. No groceries. No Kevin. He's at an annual board meeting retreat so I don't really need to get groceries until tomorrow. Tomorrow. That's when I'll do more. Yeah! Tomorrow. Sure.

Sponge Bob Sighting

And Again ... In So Many Ways

And Again ... In So Many Ways

Thanks again!

Thanks again!

Look Into My Mirror ...

Hi Team!

You've been Romper-Roomed! I made a list of all of your first names, copied them into Wordle and came out with a whole bunch of different ways to visualize my thanks to all of you. This is just one example.

Please let me know if I've missed a name. There are so many of you, I'm afraid that while I was listing from the top of my head that I might have missed a name or two.

Click on the image to see a much larger and more readable format!

Look Into My Mirror ...