The fresh air is blowing in…

Last night was a chill night at the Hotel Yorba. We stayed in, we relaxed, The Boys played Xbox, while drinking beer/soda and eating pizza out of the box. I was playing Words w/friends & Scrabble, ordered some new cushions to replace the 9+ years old ones on the screened in porch, ordered a patio storage container (been wanting to do that for three years), had a little wine and a wonderful night. My Man later joined me and we were out there till about 10:40pm. The weather was cool and perfect.

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Early on in the night.

Panny on table

Panny on table

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In the left corner, a stare down.

In the left corner, a stare down.

The Boys rockin' the Xbox

The Boys rockin’ the Xbox

Timber

Timber

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Getting darker.

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Panny to the left

Panny to the left

The Boy has been saying he wants to grow his hair out and we gave in, as long has he gets it trimmed up every so often. So we took him to his first grown-up salon experience at Van Micheal’s Salon. A little $$$ for a kids haircut you might say? Look at this way, it will be at least a year + till I drop any cash on a hair cut and six months till My Man does. So what the hell! My Boy IS NOT going to have mullet. When we got there the place was packed with Sandy Springs Mom’s getting their hair done. The Boy was offered a drink and I had force him to ask for a soda. I told him this one of the few times I would allow it so go for it!

The Boy with his new stylist Sal.

The Boy with his new stylist Sal.

The Boy’s stylist was Sal and we were very happy with him. He talked to The Boy like he was his client but knowing he had to make Mom and Dad happy. Plus he washed The Boy’s hair, which is his favorite part.

Two bald people at a hair salon.

Two bald people at a hair salon; sounds like the start of a joke.

New Do!

New Do!

His hair looks MUCH better (not the best picture) and smells minty fresh!

While waiting for The Boy I went to Breadwinner and got three of their salads and a pint of turkey chili. I ate part of the salads for lunch and will eat the rest and some chili for dinner tonight. Soon we are dropping The Boy off at his BFF’s, Corey, house for a spend the night. Awesome Mom Rebecca is taking them bowling later today. Tomorrow he will head to Saint Anne’s for church with them. This will be is second time to their church. Last time Summer (little sister) said The Boy did the best when asking for the blessing. Welcome home…. :)

I am going to be THE GYM later today. Oh YEAH! I told SK to plan my workout as if I was a 300+ pound, 80-year-old woman, who had never worked out before. Yep…Stretching, I see lots of stretching in my future. I am planning on posting about it tomorrow.

Readers! The window’s have been opened here at Hotel Yorba. The fresh air is blowing in. I hope where ever you are, you are having your best day!

I’ve Got Friends…

Hey Y’all!

I hope you have been having a great day. Here in the ATL is feels like an overcast October day and I love it! The temp is in the low 70’s and it is not that muggy. It would have been nice for some sun but who cares. I woke up bright and early to get The Boy ready for school. After he and My Man left, I did not have to lay in the fetal position due to the nausea for to long today. Woot! Making progress! I was able to come down around 7:30am and do a little work. I wanted to get an early start since I had a “date” with some ladies for lunch. Rebecca was kind enough to come pick me up and we meet Amy and Devra for a quick-lunch at Mirko. It was very yummy and I ate too much. Towards the end I was getting kinda tired and I am very happy Rebecca drove me home (as is everyone driving on Riverside Drive). I was pretty tired afterwards but it was really nice to get out and feel normal. Thanks Ladies!!!!

Ealier this week I think I mentioned a soup my mom had made for me that I loved. It was a Cold Cucumber and Avocado soup from the cookbook I got from my friends Chad & Kristen.

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Well, I ate that up in a day and a half and have been wanting to make some more ever since. We still had some of the avocados that my FIL had sent us and they were going bad fast. I decided to go all though them and pick out the good parts to see if I have enough to make the soup. I have enclosed the ingredients and directions for anyone who loves cold soup. I kinda went off the reservation when I made my batch. I didn’t make enough for six (or maybe I did) but I added more avocados, salt, lime, cayenne pepper, etc. to mine. I blended and tasted as I went. I plan on having it for lunch tomorrow!

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What am I listening to?

Manchester Orchestra

Manchester Orchestra

I am listening to the Feb Rock Mix I made The Boy

The Boys “Rock” playlist

Forest Whitaker-Bad Books
Back Against The Wall-Cage The Elephant
Virgin-Manchester Orchestra
Crawling-Linkin Park
Ball & Biscuit-The White Stripes
I’ve Got Friends-Manchester Orchestra
Son’s Gonna Rise-Citizen Cope & Santana
April Fool- Manchester Orchestra
Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground-The White Stripes
Gigantic-Pixies
Hotel Yorba-The White Stripes
Shake It Out-Manchester Orchestra
The Hardest Button to Button-The White Stripes

I have listened to it two or three times, while making my soup and writing this post. Gets me   in a rockin’ mood.

Shout Outs-

Jennifer S.- I LOVED the veggie lasagna and salad! That dressing was very yummy and even The Boy ate the lasagna!

Gerri T.- Love me that soup! Going to have some for dinner tonight. Thanks for hanging out a bit. Someday you will have to come to my house when it is clean!

The ‘Rents Rock!

The ‘Rents Rocks!

Some of you have met my dad and know he is an active guy. I know he like likes to come visit but if he didn’t have his bike or computer, the man would go insane. So when he does come visit I always try to plan on having something for him to help me out with. A win win, right? He has helped me paint The Baby aka The Boy’s room, an office, a few walls, put a chicken coop together, re-do a bath room, the list goes on. Well, during his most recent visits, I am no help but I still wanted him to have a few projects to he would stay sane. We have a screen in porch and the door to the outside has been needing fixing/replacing for a while now. Plus, Simon, the wonder cat, has been able to get out of it, even though it was “locked”. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened. So, when my parents came in town this visit, I told my dad I wanted a Red Door. Why red? Hotel Yorba= Red, White and Black. It’s true, look it up.

Bad Door

Bad Door

The bad icky, non Simon proof door. To the trash!!

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I won’t tell you how long we lived with it like this…sad

Red Door!

Red Door!

My Red Door!! Isn’t awesome??? I love it! It screams Hotel Yorba!

Top Lock

Top Lock

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Simon Lock!

Simon Lock!

And the locks! Ha Simon! Try to get through that you little awesome, scare me to death, fuzzy escape artist! Not only did my Dad rock the red door, he fixed three “running” toilettes and replaced two old gross (embarrassed to admit) moldy registers in our bathroom. Those look so nice. Next time, I might have him replace a few more!

Now, don’t go thinking I forgot my mom. She was playing ball with Timber, keeping the three fur kids fed, keeping The Girl’s fed, cleaning my bathroom, cleaning the fur off the floors (!), cleaning the rec room (next time we both hit the storage containers), washing dishes, keeping the boy dressed and feed and don’t forget the laundry! So much laundry!

I like to think I was a pretty easy kid growing up. Never got into drugs or drinking, didn’t stay out late or dated too big of assholes. I did have a mouth on me but really that was my mom’s own fault. :)  Over the past ten years though, I have put my parents through a lot of shit and I can’t say enough to express how much what they do and have done for me and my family means to me. So I will just say this… Thank You.

Back in Business!

I rested up most of the today, took a shower and picked up The Boy from the bus. How cool was that? Kinda cool. Our school system is having issues with the buses and we found out during the day that they were adding another bus to our afternoon route. The Boy had said at one point they were sitting 4 to a seat. So he is now on the “gray” bus and only 2 to a seat. They are still running behind. His drop off time is supposed to be around 2:35ish but he didn’t get dropped off till a bit after 3:00pm.  Hopefully they get it all worked out soon.

When we got back rested and then went to get me a new baby! We went and got a new computer! Woot! Pictures are back people! We discussed dropping off the old one to see if we could fix it. The least we want is all the info on it. If they can fix it, we will see how much it will cost. We have come up with a price we would be willing to pay to have it fixed. If we do, we will put it in the kitchen and it will become The Boy’s computer. I am so happy to have a Mac again. So easy to set up. So pretty! Ok, here are some pictures from my last hospital visit.

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Made my bed as comfy has I could. Brought Chillie, Blind Monkey and Blue Bunny with me this time.L1030033 L1030038

My Workstation.

L1030041Theo!! Theo is the man! Theo a great RN. He has admitted me both times now and works during the day shift. I was totally bummed when I found out he wasn’t going to be there Monday and Tuesday. But RN Helen did a great job filling in for him.L1030043

This was taken around 6:30am. Poor guy, so glad he is mine.L1030047

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Rebecca brought us Dunkin Donuts on Saturday morning! LOVE YOU! The coffee is so Yummy and were tasty! Then Elley’s came and brought me lunch. Have a mentioned how bad the food is at the hospital? So good to see them with their back from the beach tans!

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Time for to change the dressing, put on your mask!

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My man’s mini bar.

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This one of my night RN’s, Tiffany. She rocks! SHe got me through some rough nights. SHe has the calmest sweetest voices ever. Was so quiet when she would come in at 1am or 3am or 4am…whenever that dam monitor beeped! She also made sure I got out of there as early as possible on Tuesday morning. This picture was taken at 4am and she was on it!

Two posts today Readers! Time for me to get some rest!

Fur Kids Watching Over Me

Hey Y’all!

Sorry for the delay. The last two days have been long and hard ones. I will say it feels so good to be home. I can’t begin to say that enough. Monday was a very stressful and emotional day for me. I don’t even know why I thought I would be able to come then but somehow I got it stuck in my head.So when I realized I had another day of medicine ahead of me, it hit me hard. I was done. I was ready to get out. I was tired of being hooked up to beeping monitors, having my vitals checked, having to monitor how much I pee! Oh don’t get me started on that! My pee smelled so f-ing bad due to all the crap being pumped into to me! Ugh! It still kinds of smell, not all the medicine is out of me yet I guess. There were tears over stupid things (Terry Balfour’s funeral on True Blood! Dam thing lasted the whole show and guess who cried?), not going home, My Boy not acting like the boy I know, the crap they feed you at the hosptial….You name it, I cried.

As I said, I am home and happy to be here. How am I? I am tired. I am nauseated. The dreams/hallucinations are intense, and mentally and physically exhausting. I wake up tired and covered in sweat. But right now, I am ok. My assistant, Kathryn, is coming over to review some work and @ 10am I finally ate something. Plans for the day: take a shower and pick The Boy up from the bus stop.

I do have bad news. My Mac seems to be dead. I am not that surprised but still upset. A few weeks ago it had issues but it seemed to fix it self then. Well, I was wrong. In a perfect world I would go get a new one today but no sure that will happen. That being said…No pictures untill I get a new one. The laptop I am working on is a work laptop and I do not want any personal pictures on it.

Shout Outs:

Dona C.– Thank you for Dinner!

My Mom- The soup was sooo good! I will make it myself soon.

Pat- I LOVE the scarf! It is perfect for me! Thank you!

My Fur Kids- All three have been by my side since I got home. Simon and Panny helped me through my crazy dreams, letting me know that I am up and not still dreaming! Timber as always watching over me.

 

Well, Pickles! I spoke to soon…

Well, Pickles! I spoke to soon…

Guess where I am? If you guessed in my bed with a soft furry cat on me, one at my feet and a dog on the floor, well your wrong. Booo! I am still here at the hospital. I am done with the chemo but I have to get Mesna for 24 hours after the last dose of Ifos. Lots of people only have to get 12 hours and the attending thought that would be the same for me. But NOOOOO. SInce I am having such a heavy-duty dose of Isfos, I need to 24 hours. I will then get 4 hours of post hydration. This all being said, I won’t make it home till tomorrow.

Today I have been feeling pretty tired. This feels weird because I haven’t done anything! I know it is due to all the medication, but it is hard to deal with. I have no appetite but I now I need to eat something. They really need to work on the food here. Thankfully, My Man had been bringing me dinner. Ok, I will stop complaining now…

I spoke to my parents and The Boy made it to the bus and off to school.They said he was ready to see all his friends. I hope he is having a wonderful time and behaving. I look forward to hearing all about it however knowing him, he will have forgotten all of that. What is up with that?

Sorry for the short update. I think I will take a nap now.

Day 4 (maybe my last!) of the chemo Tour

Good day! How are you guys? I am doing ok. My Man and I had a good nights sleep thanks to RN Maggie. She was great! Very quiet. Justin said he even sleep pretty well. I have requested Maggie for tonight too. At the moment, I have having my 5th cycle of chemo. Only one more to go! That means, if all goes well, I will be going home sometime tomorrow! WOOT! WOOT! People!

We got up around 7:30am and kinda laid around. What else do you do? Around 8am I got cleaned up and into today’s PJ’s. My Man went to find a good cup of coffee and some yummy treats to share. Which was a good thing. The bagel I ordered was stale. Ick! I then got tired and slept on and off till about noon. Crazy how tired the meds they give you can make you. It’s not like I do much while I am here!

After I woke up, I talked to my Dad, who is installing a new screened in door on our screened in porch. He is also painting it red! (Thanks Dad!). The Boy was in the background giving him tips and making sure he was doing it right. Nice to know things haven’t change since I am gone. Talked to my Mom and she had been cleaning (THANK YOU) the house. She said all the kids are good but that Turbo my be going broody. She has never done this before. It is usually Poppy. It could be that they are both just hot, the weather has been crazy hot and humid here.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for The Boy. I am sad that I will miss it but happy I should be home when he gets home. I am afraid he is going to have a rude awaking when Nana Pete comes and wakes him up at 6am!

My Man and The Boy have come down for a visit. My Boy and I went for a walk around the floor and met some of the RN’s and staff. Now he is watching a movie on my iPad and My Man is on the computer. House Hunters International is on the TV. All we are missing is Panny, Simon and Timber!! I miss them all. I know that Panny would love sleeping on the bed with me. She would like it when I moved the bed up and down.

Reader’s! I hope you are havig a great day and living life large!!!