Going back to Bama…

Posted on September 22, 2014 by sghamer

Good Day Readers! How was your weekend? Did you get a lot done, have too much fun, eat too much, watch football, yell at TV every time you saw a certain college football player on the screen? I did ~~all~~ some of that.

Timber Came along for the trip to Bama!

We headed over to Birmingham on Friday to spend the weekend with my parents. Over the past two years it has been the other way around, my parents driving to see me and my family. Yes, it has been about 2 years since I have been back to Bama. Birmingham is only 2 and half hours away, so it is not due to a long drive. As you are all aware, I have been kind of busy the past year and half. I am not sure why it has taken so long for us to get over there. I guess when there was a free weekend where I was feeling half way normal, we just wanted to chill out at home and rest.

Cocktail and snacks on the screened in porch.

We got there in time for cocktail hour! Woot! My mouth sores have settled down so I was actually able to have a cocktail. Don’t worry, there was also snacks. I was actually really hungry which is another thing I jumped onto. I haven’t been hungry all that much so when I am, I eat. So far I have lost 10 pounds and while I am happy about that, my doctors are not.

Pow! Bam!

Nana Pete and Papa had a gift waiting for The Boy when we got there. They weren’t sure if it was too young for The Boy but it turns out that a 4 foot punching bag was just the thing The Boy needed. My Mom thought he could use it whenever he felt upset. The Boy ATTACKED that thing. He wasn’t without it (we named him Hanz) the entire time we were at their house. It is full of two gallons of water so it isn’t light and he would haul that thing in and out of the house, up and down the stars. I had to explain that he would not fit in the car when we went shopping or to dinner and would have to stay at home. he was not happy.

On Saturday we went out and did a little shopping. They had a Athleta store (never been to one, catalog only) at the shopping area we went to called The Summit. I think I could have spent an hour in the store and spend a lot of money. They had super cute jackets that just made me long for Fall. When will it get here!?! In the end I bought a scarf (not for my head) that was super cute. The only sucky part, is that I have to wait to wear it. On Wednesday this week it is supposed to get down in the 50’s in the evening. I just may put it on and sit out on the screened in porch so I can enjoy it! We also went to the bookstore and bought The Boy five books. He has already read two of them. He has turned into a reading machine! I can’t begin to tell you how happy that makes me. After shopping we went back home and watched Alabama play football. RTR.

Yummy!

We went to eat dinner at Hot and Hot Fish Club. We had been there once before and really enjoyed it. It is probably the best restaurant in Birmingham and the chef is a James Beard winner.

So tasty

Best thing I ate all night.

Donuts

So good!

My parents have three guest rooms. One that is my old room which is where My Man and I sleep. So that leaves two beds for The Boy to choose from to sleep in. Instead the chose on the floor in our room.

Snuggle buddies

Overall it was a very nice trip. We laughed, we cried, we talked, we ate good food and drank yummy wine. Good times. I hope you all had just as nice weekend.

I will be going to the doctor tomorrow to find out how my scans went. I am very scared Readers. Very scared. If you pray, please pray for me. If you send good vibes, please send them my way. I know if things don’t go the way we want there is still the chemo I had last summer that worked to fall back on. I really hope we don’t have to go there, the impact on The Boy is something I don’t want to even think about. But if we do, we do. I won’t stop fighting.

No Growth!

Posted on September 17, 2014 by sghamer

I remember what it use to look like.

What a morning Readers! I woke up after a not so great nights sleep and went into The Boy’s room to wake him up and get him ready for school. OMG. What a mess I found!

He sleeps in there

All cabinet doors open, clean/dirty clothes all over the room, books and toys on the floor, closet stuffed with damp towels and dirty clothes. I lost it. Just lost it. How many times this week have I told him to clean his room? How many times have I told him not to put wet towels on the floor? How many times Readers!!?? So mad. So stressed. The words I have read in my new book about talking to your children left my mind and I lost it. The authors of the book would be shaking their heads at me. He told me maybe I shouldn’t come into his room. What?! I informed him that it was not his room. It was his father and I’s room and we let him use it. And since we do that, he is in charge of keeping it clean.

After the yelling some more at him and hitting the Damit Doll, I took a deep breath and informed The Boy that he was not allowed in my room for “snuggle time” unless his room and closet were clean.

Snuggle Time is when he gets to come in with me while I lay down, get under the covers and watch home improvement or cooking shows with me at night. He loves this time. He is always asking me when we can go up to my room for snuggle time. It is good mom and son time.

So when I told him that he was like “WHAT?” He was very upset. There were tears. He asked what he was going to do. Clean the dam room.

My Man thought it was a very good punishment and it might actually work. Cross your fingers Readers. Cross your fingers.

Doctor Visit

New Pain Killers

I was able to meet with Dr. D. yesterday when I went into get my labs drawn. They said she wanted to meet with me and check how I was doing. How cool was that? I didn’t even have to wait. Shocking! We discussed my pain management and some changes in dosage. Next we reviewed my lab report. (FYI at Emory it would have taken an at least an hour to get the report, here it took 10 minutes). Every thing looked good but they are watching my hemoglobin. Mine is a 9.2 and if it drops under 8 they will want to do a blood transfusion. Ok, Readers here is my problem. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help get that number up. I just can not not do something. She told me to eat a steak. A steak? I don’t eat steak. She asked if it was because I didn’t like the taste. No, I like it, I have just stopped eating it. She then mentioned leafy greens, kale, spinach, broccoli. Yeah, I eat a lot of that already. I drank a bottle of that (cold pressed juice) before I had went in to get my blood drawn! Plus I had a spinach salad at dinner the night before. Just how much must I eat for it to actually help?

I had stopped eating red meat because everything I read told me it wasn’t good for you especially when it comes to cancer. However, it is the best (easiest/fastest) way to get iron in your system? We discussed iron pills and those are off the table. Some research shows they had a negative impact on the chemo, so doctors have stopped suggesting them.

From WebMD

To boost the amount of iron in your diet, try these foods:

Red meat
Egg yolks
Dark, leafy greens (spinach, collards)
Dried fruit (prunes, raisins)
Iron-enriched cereals and grains (check the labels)
Mollusks (oysters, clams, scallops)
Turkey or chicken giblets
Beans, lentils, chick peas and soybeans
Liver
Artichokes

And here’s a tip: If you eat iron-rich foods along with foods that provide plenty of vitamin C, your body can better absorb the iron.

So Readers, what do I do? Should I start eating spinach salads every day, juice even more, have steamed broccoli and beans (which I do already) for my side at dinner every night or just eat a steak once a week (wow, that sounds like a lot)? I eat 5 items on the list on a regular basis already. I do not want to have a blood transfusion. Suggestions please.

The shots.

She did say I could stop taking my shots. Woot! Woot! For the past six days my man has been having to give me shots in the evening. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is for him. I can’t do it myself so it fell to him. I get the injections in my stomach where there is extra “cushion” aka my muffin top. My Man was happy to hear we were done for awhile.

I left the meeting with her feeling pretty good. She thinks I am doing well. She feels that my CT scan on Friday will go well. I sure hope she is right because I am scared shitless right now. I can’t stop thinking abut that dam scan. I would be thrilled/over the moon, if there is no change. No f-ing change. They don’t have to shrink yet, just no growth. NO GROWTH! Say it with me Readers!! No Growth!

In the news…

Posted on September 13, 2014 by sghamer

Readers! Below is the link to the article that was written by Jackie Tyson in regards to me and Team Hotel Yorba raising money for the 24 Hours of Booty race in October. How cool is that!?! Pretty cool if you ask me!

Team Hotel Yorba Captain 10-year Survivor, Amputee Pedals to Put Cancer in its Place

There is also a chance it may be printed in a local Sandy Springs newspaper. If so I will make sure to take some pictures and show you guys! Ha! How crazy!

My Man, The Boy and a rabbit.

Last night The Boys and I got all dressed up (nice shirts at least) and went to dinner at The King and Duke. We really needed to get out and have a fun dinner as a family. It had been a rough week for all of us and we need to spend some quality time with each other. We had to drive through terrible rainstorms and flooded streets to get down to Buckhead where the restaurant is located. It is crazy how much those people pay in property taxes (we are taking $10K-20K here people) and their streets flood at a drop of rain. The Boy was freaking out, the flooding was so bad. His class has been learning about floods and scary weather at school and at one point he was like “Turn Around!” We stayed the course and had a yummy dinner. Glad we were not in a tiny sports car.

Turns out The Boy is a big shellfish fan, he ate half of my dinner. Next time we are skipping the fancy burger and he and I will just share. The Boy did not have any iPad or iTouch with him so we all had to talk to each other. NO! Yep, it’s true. We did. And we had fun time too.

Me and The Boy

Working Hard

It was supposed to rain here all day today but the sun came out along with the humidity. Last week when my dad was in town he bought six bags of mulch for me. There is a yet another part of our backyard that the trees have grown over and no grass or moss will grow. the area and trees are really pretty but the dirt pile and trail with all the roots showing is not. So me and The Boy ripped into the six bags and started laying it out.

Does not cover much.

We soon discovered that six bags does not cover much ground. Looks like I will need to get at least another 25 bags to cover the area and small trail. It has been a week since Poopy passed away and Turbo seems to be doing ok. She is getting along with the other two hens and I think they still look at her as the head hen. She has been roosting more on the outside roosting bar which is nice to see.

The Boy and I checked on her last night hoping to find her roosting with Terry Pete and Zazzles for bed but she was in the nesting box. I ended up putting her up on the bar to roost. I am hoping if I do this enough times she will catch on and do it on her own. Since it is so sticky and gross out today I thought they would like some cool watermelon to snack on. They seemed to enjoy it.

Yummy!

Kitty Cam-Petting Panny

The rest of the day was all about watching football and napping. My body is tired and sore and after a big day of racing around Friday I needed the extra sleep. I hope you all have a nice weekend. Be Safe! Be Sassy!

Amelia Island

Posted on July 8, 2014 by sghamer

Readers! Team Hamer was on Vacay! For the 4th of July we decided to head own to Amelia Island, Fl. But we did not go alone! No,The Boy brought a friend, which we will refer to as ZCP. By 9:50am on Tuesday morning we were off our bellys full of bagels, coffee and apple juice and out car pack up with a number of bags, tablets and bikes. The drive took us around 5 hours and 45 minutes. We did not run into too much traffic or construction.

It is very interesting riding in a car with two 9-year-old boys. They were both on their tablets while watching School of Rock on a portable DVD player. The Boy has watched that movie so many times that he was quoting the lines of entire scenes. Pickles! We arrived to the to Ritz Carlton at Amelia Island around 3:30pm with the sun shinning and the temperature around 90 degrees. Hot!

Our Room

We chose a room on the club level of the Ritz Carlton. Why did we pay the extra money for the room and the extras? As you all know, food and drinks at any hotel is $$$$. I mean $20 for a hamburger? Your kidding right? At this point, my appetite has taken a nose dive and I hate paying for food I don’t even finish! We ate lunch and it coast $100.00. Two kids burgers and fries, shrimp tacos, a taco salad (that I thought tasted funny), a beer and a bloody mary. Really? With the club level you get five “meals” and all the drinks, sodas, wine, water, cookies, candies etc you want. We ate breakfast every morning. Two kinds of eggs, oatmeal,bagels, fruit, rolls etc. I can’t begin to think of the $$$ we saved from breakfast alone. Then there is lunch, snacks, appetizers and deserts. If you work it right you can make it work for you. Which is why I am drinking champagne in the club level room as I write this. Waiting for the snacks to come out at 4pm. Ahi Tuna anyone?

We ended up getting a King sized bed room with a chair that folded out into a twin bed for the boys. We also had a roll away bed but in the end chose not to use it. Ok, first thing to say about the room, the outlets! There were so many! Which is good when you have four tablets and three phones. We had a nice balcony with two chairs and a table that over looked two of the three pools and the beach. Wonderful to watch the nightly sunsets from. There was a flat screened tv and the largest closet in a hotel I have ever seen.

I think someone is up.

The boys started out sleeping on the twin pull out but at some point The Boy says he woke up with ZCP on top of him and moved to our bed. ZCP said he was using The Boy as a pillow.

Daily activities

ZCP brought a boogie board so of course we had to find a surf shop so The Boy could get one. It cost a little more than we thought it would but it was a well made one that provided hours of fun for The Boy. The waves were large on Wednesday due tropical storm Arthur but were pretty calm the rest of the week. The boys had a blast. Much more than at the pool, although they did enjoy the indoor hot tub and enjoyed going there at night.

How cool is this? They moved the club level room to the beach! Woot! Woot! My Man was thrilled! We walked up and was shown to a set up chairs, towels and beach umbrellas (a must for me). There were sodas, waters, beer, wine and snacks too much on while hanging out by the water. it was nice to just hang out, watch the boys ride the waves and read my magazine.

The weather was very nice most of the trip but there was some rain. Once while we were visiting downtown. The sky just opened up and the rain poured down. There was thunder and lighting and The Boy kinda freaked out. Not a fan of lighting.

The Boy and ZCP

My new voodoo doll!

Yummy!

Overall we had a great time. The Ritz is known for their service and they did not disappoint. Everyone was so nice, introduced themselves and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed.

And now some food porn….

You cook your meat on a 400 degree block of salt! What? What?

The cutest thing I ever ate.

The Kitchen seat

ZCP and The Boy

Future Chefs?!

By the time this came out I was in a food coma. SO FULL.

Day 4- Quebec City, Quebec

Posted on June 14, 2014 by sghamer

Reader’s, I slept till 9:30am! Wow! I must be on vaycay! Today we decided to get a full breakfast and was able to find a cafe right behind the condo to eat at. I got coffee (no sugar), two friend eggs with homemade bread and jam and potatoes on the side. My Man got a ham and cheese omelet. There were a lot of locals with their dogs out and about and it made me miss my puppy Timber! He would have loved it in Quebec. While my man went on his morning run, I got cleaned up and started a new book called Follys Island. It was a light fun read.

Ecolobus!

Last year we saw the Ecolobus driving throughout the streets of old town. It is a bus run on 100% electricity. Well this year they added to their fleet and that bus was everywhere. We decided to hop on and check out where all it took us.

Now every bus we saw was empty until we wanted to hop on and ride. Locals use the Ecolobus a lot! It was a short route that took all of twenty minutes. I liked the people watching but My Man was not impressed. To hot and to many people on it. Well, it is a bus.

Not impressed.

We hoped off the bus a stop early and decided to check out Cafe du Monde that my man found on one of his runs. It has views of the river and he thought it would be a nice place to have lunch.

I had some oysters for a starter and a wonderful goat cheese and strawberry salad. Those strawberries tasted so good! The weather was so nice and the river was full of people on sail boats.

After we ate I was on the search of Canadian under ware for The Boy. Yes, under ware. We bought him a pair last year and I wanted to find some more. My Man wanted to go walking and take more pictures for his guest blog entry. Yes, My Man will be a guest blogger on My Hotel Yorba! How cool is that?

No olives!

I found some under ware and then went back to one of my favorite stores and bought two more shirts and some pants. After that I was beat. I waked back to the condo and took a much-needed nap!

We went to one of the cafes for a nice dinner and then back to Cafe du Monde for an after dinner drink.

Our trip was coming to an end. Overall it was a wonderful time. The people of Quebec City are so nice and welcoming. We were able to teach them a few new words of English like straw and pier. However, My Man and I’s french did not improve! Pickles. There was no green juice to be found which was a bummer. The closest thing I got to veggie juice was drinking Bloody Marys. Does that count? We are already thinking about our next trip and where we would like to stay. We will go bike riding again for sure and of course more shopping! My Man and I are always looking for our spiritual home and Quebec City is the closest to one we have found so far!

Day 3-Quebec City, Quebec

Posted on June 13, 2014 by sghamer

I was able to sleep till 8:00am! Woot! Woot! My man and I got up and hit another cafe for coffee and a bite to eat. I had another chocolate croissant and he had an apple one. Afterwards he took off running and I took off shopping! Last year we found a shop called Pot en eiel l‘art de la table.

We have this on on a coffee mug.

We found some cute table wear with the art of Albert Dubout on it last year. Cats! Love it. This time I bought three bowls, three small plates, two tea towels and one tea towel with chickens.

As I walked back to the condo with my bags I stopped into a soap shop and met Billy. She was the stores bouncer and weighted all of 2 pounds if that. Such a cute puppy!! Her “leash” was a piece of string tied to the cheek out are desk. She also had a nice place to lay in the store window. The store was full of homemade soaps, lotions and lip balm. I got a some shea butter since I forgot to bring any lotion for my hands. It smells yummy!

While on one of his runs, My Man found a bike shop that rented bikes by the hour and day. I was all in for baking around the city. Our bike ride was great. We went into the city center and found a place to grab a bit to eat.

Guess which one is mine!

We then got on a bike path that runs along the river, through the city and up the coastline.

There are a lot of parks and since it was Sunday, a ton of bikers. My kind of place. We stopped at a park that had a mobile restaurant and had a glass of wine and watched the boats sail by.

In all we bike about 10 miles. According to My Man and the bikers who zoomed by me, I am not a fast biker. I was enjoying the view!

Dinner

Last year we had Sunday brunch at Panache and thought we would give it try for dinner this year. We were able to sit outside, now our favorite place to sit. It was a very nice dinner but My Man and I both agree that next time we are not making any reservations. Some of our best meals where at the little cafés we found while walking around. After dinner we sat in the hotel lounge and had a glass of wine. My Man walked back to the condo and got our tablets so we could catch up on our reading. I was very nice to just chill out, have a glass of wine and read after a nice dinner.

Day 2-Quebec City, Quebec

Posted on June 12, 2014 by sghamer

I woke up around 7:30am and read a bit in bed while My Man snored. I ended up waking The Boy up when I faced timed him. Guess where he slept last night. My bed! I recognized the ceiling and fan! That little bugger. We got up and going around and hour later and walked to a cafe for coffee and a chocolate croissant. We sat facing open floor to ceiling widows that looked onto the farmers market and a beautiful day.

After we ate and got a cup of coffee to go, we walked over to the farmers market it check it out. They had a bit of everything. Some wonderful looking cheese, bread and veggies.

My Man and I talked about going back and getting a little bit of cheese, bread and tomatoes for a nice snack latter. And then we came across the beer. My Man just stood there looking at all of it. “I have never seen any of these beers in my life”. There was drool.

We then went back to the condo and My Man went out for a run. Did I mention that we are on the fourth floor and there is no elevator? Oh my legs and ass! I am getting a good workout just by climbing them! I got cleaned up and sat down on my iPad to write rough drafts of these posts. Please forgive any tense issues I may have since I am writing it while we are here but won’t post till we get back. Got to add the pictures in at home.

Shopping

More shopping today. I was able to get two more cardigans, my favorite, two light sweaters that will be great for Our Florida trip in July and a cami. My man got some pants for dinner tonight and a new swimsuit. We also picked up a t-shirt for The Boy. I think I am all set (clothes wise) unless I see something I must have. I am still wanting to go to this one shop where they sell French dinnerware with cats on it. We got some lat year and I am planning on buying more this trip. It is so nice.

Lunch

We had lunch at . Everything was local and the meats/fish/poultry was organically raised. My kind of place! My Man and I shared a cheese plate and then I had a salad with beat marinated trout and organize egg yolks. It was all so good.

Beer tasting for My Man and Wine for Me!

After lunch we did a little more walking around and then stopped at a cafe, had a glass of wine and people watched. A wonderful time!

After awhile we went back to the condo and got caught up on social media. Our wifi access sucked. There was only one place in the whole condo you could get it and it was very hit and miss. We did some laundry and read a bit. It was much warmer out and the rain pretty much stayed away. We were able to find an adult contemporary French music station on the TV. It was very peaceful to listen to the music with the windows open and read. Just the kind of rest I needed.

Dinner

We ate dinner at Patriarche. We had eaten than last year and really enjoyed our time so we thought we would try it again. Like last year, it did not disappoint.

PS. Today, the 12th, I am going to get my CT scans. If you are into praying please send them you way. If you are into good vibes and or finger and toes crossing please do those too! We are looking for NO Change. NO Change! No Change!

My Hotel Yorba

Take the wife of The Man, mom of The Boy and a H.C.B., a decade with cancer and see what happens.

Tag Archives: Food

Going back to Bama…

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No Growth!

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In the news…

Team Hotel Yorba Captain 10-year Survivor, Amputee Pedals to Put Cancer in its Place

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Amelia Island

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Day 4- Quebec City, Quebec

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Day 3-Quebec City, Quebec

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Day 2-Quebec City, Quebec

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