Early Saturday Morning and Saturday…Hope every one is having a great day!
Early morning Saturday…1am
Hanging out late night.
Meeeow!
Who is that?
Hello
Andy hard at work
Oh Yeahh!
Yummy
I have people in Detroit!
Taken by The Boy
Timber chillin’ by the pool.
Dee
It’s Friday! Woot! Woot! It is my favorite day of the week. I am feeling much better this morning. All day yesterday I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I guess I had, the chemo truck. All I wanted to do was go to sleep, so when it was lights out for The Boy at 8pm it was lights out fe me too. I bet I was asleep by 8:30pm. Getting up was still a pain but once up, I felt good. I am going to the gym later to workout with SK and still have some cleaning to do to get ready for our friends, so I hope the feeling sticks.
Last week Hotel Yorba was invaded by gnats! Damn little things were everywhere! In the kitchen, in the pantry, in the laundry room! They have been driving us crazy by flying into our faces or landing in our drinks, including my glass of wine! We searched, cleaned and couldn’t get rid of them. So yesterday I went on-line and searched on how to get rid of them. People stated that putting a little dish soap and apple cider vinegar into a bowl and putting it out wherever you saw the gnats would work. So I mixed up the solution and put bowls of it in the pantry, laundry room and by our kitchen sink and waited. I went to check on them about an hour later and sure enough all three bowls had at least two gnats in them! When I woke up there were at least 10 in each bowl. I have refreshed each bowl this morning and hope to catch-all the little buggers before our friends get here.
My Mess
My desk is a mess 90% of the time. It is. I admit it. I only have two drawers and too much crap. So I brought up of drawers that use to be in my “work office”. It had been in storage and full of all kinds of stuff. I was cleaning it out and found of our old Palm Pilots! I remember when these first came out. My Man just had to have one and even bought me one. I wasn’t as excited as him but if he was buying I wasn’t going to say no.
Retro Technology
I don’t remember using it all that much but I did go all out with my Coach carrying case! It is crazy how far we have come in such a short time. No color screen and I had to use a little stylus pen and not my finger!
Hotel Yorba Landscape Project
We have picked our landscaper for the Hotel Yorba project. It is Molly from WDesign. She came in with a good bid and I really like her. She is also excited about doing the coop/run project. I look forward to see what she comes up with. We are going to meet on Wednesday to go over a few things and then they should start. I am going to assign my dad the task of watching over things while I am in the hospital. I hope all goes well. I have been in charge of this whole project and I want My Man to be happy with the end result!
Reader’s! Have a wonderful day and long weekend! I am heading out to pick up the foot stool cushion we ordered for the screened in porch and then the gym. Be good to yourself and each other!!
The Boy hard at work @school
Good Morning!
Love is in the air!
I hope everyone is doing well on this Thursday morning . Things are good here but I am little tired. Yesterday I went into the office to do some work. I have been working from home and it has been working out pretty well. Except for one thing. My printer at home will not talk to my laptop, so I can’t print anything. I had applications I needed to print out and send to clients, so Timber and I headed off to work. Have I every mentioned how much Timber likes to ride in the car? He loves it! We were at the office for about 3 hours. We took one break for a walk around the office complex. I think that was his favorite part. A little after noon we headed back home. I needed to eat something and I could tell I was getting tired.
The tired feeling lasted for a few hours. Luckily I got a boost of energy and got a few chores done but I was asleep by 9:30pm. Waking up this morning was hard and when the boys left at 7am, I crawled back in bed for 30 min. Don’t know what’s up with me. I haven’t felt this way in the past 2 weeks.
Sick Mac
We heard that the Mac we brought in to get looked at, is pretty much dead. Poor thing was struck by lighting and it fried the logic board. Thankfully the hard drive is ok and all my pictures and music is safe! Timber and I are going to head over there today and pick it up.
Labor Day
Reader’s! What are your Labor Day plans? Day at the beach? Lake? A cookout? Our friends, Andy and Dee, who are also The Boy’s Godparents, are coming down from Kentucky for the long weekend. We will be hanging out by the pool (I hope), eating food, listening to music (Andy has already requested a playlist), laughing and having a great time. It will be a nice end to a crazy summer. That being said, there is a lot of cleaning to be done. My Man took care of some of it yesterday but we have a lot more to do. Going to have to get out my vacuum!
One More Week
I have one more week before I head back into the hospital for round 3 of chemo. Each time I think of what I can do to make my visit better. Last time we found out about a refrigerator that they have on the floor that I can use to store food. Also, there is a microwave in the waiting area I can use. So, this time I have going to have food brought in for me to eat. I can’t take much more hospital food and this will healthier.
Shout Outs!
Sandy F.- Thank you for the yummy preserves!
Tara E.- Thank you for the gift card! My Man and I can’t wait to use it!
Tell me your plans for the long weekend. Making anything special?
Readers!!! We are our Winners! The Boy got up early today to pick them before school. Here they are:
Day 1: Trent G.
Day 2: Tammy Jack
Day 3: Katie C.
Congrats Everyone! Please e-mail your address to myhotelyorba@gmail.com
I will mail them out to you this week. Thanks to everyone who entered. We will do it again soon!!!
Yesterday I got a diaper box in the mail that was so heavy, I knew it couldn’t be full of diapers. Plus, who would send me diapers? I looked at the return address and saw it was from NJ and knew it was from my friend Jill G. I have known Jill since I was born. Her mom and my mom have been friends since like the 1st grade and we would see each other every Christmas. Me and The Boy brought the box in the kitchen to open it up. Let me first say, that The Boy is more excited than I am (and I am pretty excited) whenever we get a package in the mail. He can’t wait to rip into them. He thinks that what ever is in them, we all get to share it. The first thing he saw was all retro candies Jill sent. He loved those!
A sample of candies
Candy cigarettes, got them. Pop Rocks? Got them. Black Jack Gum? Got them. She also sent me three bottles of wine (god knows I need those), two cute t-shirts, hand lotion, bath items, lot of scarves and more. One of the coolest things she sent me were scarf hangers! Who knew they had such a thing!
Scarf Hanger
I can’t begin to tell you how much these help me out! You should have seen my closet. I had scarves everywhere and now they are all in one place nice and neat. Thank You Jill!!! You Rock!
Bodyguard
This past weekend I planted some daffodil bulbs. My bodyguard came out with me and I took this picture of him. Of course he brought his partner, Piggy.
Timber
Update
The third landscape company is coming to check out the yard this morning. We got two quotes back and are going back to each company with some changes we would like. We are also having a fence company come out on Friday to give us a quote on a new fence.
People have asked for an interview with Timber. He has agreed and we are working on it! Don’t forget to leave comments on Saturday, Sunday and Monday’s posts. The boy will pick the winners of the Hotel Yorba Key Chains Wednesday morning.
I hate my pee.
For ten days, my pee stunk so bad. I mean STUNK. I have talked to about this before but I am going to address it once more. Why? Because, it’s my blog. While in the hospital, my dual port is hooked up to two (most of the time) IV bags.
My Port
I had Thiamine being pumped in me pretty much the whole time I was there. The other port would have the chemo, pre-meds, potassium, you name it, was being pumped into me. Because of this, the RN’s wanted to make sure I am peeing enough. It’s a pretty big deal.
They set up the bucket in my toilet to catch it and measure how much I go, when I go. Gross right? Bleech! Well, I pee ALL THE TIME and the thought of calling the tech or RN every time I go, to tell them how much and then they can dump it…ugh. Not going to happen.
So I kept track of it myself. Each time I went to the bathroom I wrote the amount, the time and the date down in a little notebook I had with me. The RN or Tech would check and cross off the amounts. This worked out great especially during the middle of the night. They didn’t have wake me up to ask, they would just check my little notebook. However, all this peeing, monitoring and the smell really made me hate my pee. I know, who loves their pee? But I really can’t stand mine. Coming home meant no more tracking but for the first four days I could still smell that chemo every time.
My Pee Log
What’s hair today can be gone tomorrow.
The hair on my head is gone. The hair on my right leg is gone. Armpit hair= gone. Hair done there, also gone. However, my arm hair is not. The hair on lower left leg is still there too. Still have some of my eyebrows and eyelashes. I wonder why I lose the hair on my head but not the hair on my arms. How does the chemo know what hair to kill off?
Can’t I lose at least 10 pounds?
When you think of chemo patients, you think of bald, pale skinny people right? Yeah, no. Not me. I am bald. I am paler then usual. What I am not, is skinny. I mean, I thought I was going to lose some weight here! I had a friend who lost over 30 pounds! Me, I have lost 4. I am not saying I want to be weak or nauseous or have no appetite but COME ON! Give me 10 pounds! Guess I will have to lose it the old fashion way. 
Feeling Good Louis!
I know a lot of people are surprised by how I have been feeling, the energy I have, the appetite I have etc. I was talking to my friend Gerri who has had both chemo and two thoracotomies, like me, and she asked which I though was worse. The thoracotomies or chemo.
Thoracotomy
A thoracotomy or thoracostomy is an incision into the pleural space of the chest.[1] It is performed by surgeons (or emergency physicians under certain circumstances) to gain access to the thoracic organs, most commonly the heart, the lungs, or the esophagus, or for access to the thoracic aorta or the anterior spine (the latter may be necessary to access tumors in the spine).
Thoracotomy is a major surgical maneuver—it is the first step in many thoracic surgeries including lobectomy or pneumonectomy for lung cancer—and as such requires general anesthesiawith endotracheal tube insertion and mechanical ventilation.
Thoracotomies are thought to be one of the most difficult surgical incisions to deal with post-operatively, because they are extremely painful and the pain can prevent the patient from breathing effectively, leading to atelectasis or pneumonia.–From Wikipedia
Hands down the thoracotomies were worse. Now I am not saying chemo is easy, cause it isn’t. I think one of the reasons why I am doing so well, is because I am admitted into the hospital for five days and do receive all the different medications and Thiamine. Then I come home and get injections of neupogen for five days. I also try to keep ahead of the nausea as best as I can, so that when it does hit, I am only in pain for about twenty minutes. But who knows, every cycle of chemo has been a little bit different. I wonder how cycle three will affect me.
My Head is Cold
My Brother asked me to talk about being bald. He thinks it is great I am bald, since he is bald too. We probably look the most alike then we ever have. Here are some random thoughts on being bald:
-Taking a shower takes all of 5 minutes if that. All I really have to do is wash my body. I really have no idea what bald men do that keeps them in there so long.
-If my head is not under the water while in the shower, it gets really cold.
-My head sweats a lot.
-I sleep in a beanie or my winter hat with a ball on top.
-I still shampoo my head out of habit.
-Sometimes I forget I am bald and when I see myself in the mirror I am like “what the hell happened to you!”
-I never go out in public without a head covering. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
-I am not sure what it feels like to swim bald but should find out this weekend.
-I have a small red birthmark on the back on my head.
Give Away!
Reader’s! My Hotel Yorba and doing its first ever giveaway! Woot! Woot! Over the next three days, three people (total) will have a chance to win their own Hotel Yorba key chain. I know right!?!
Here is what you need to do:
1. Comment on the Saturday, Sunday or Monday’s posts. You can comment as often as you want. Tell me what you like. Don’t like. What you want to see more of on the Blog. Do want to see an interview with Timber or Turbo? You tell me…as many times as you want.
2. The contest will end Tuesday night @ midnight. On Wednesday morning, The Boy will randomly choose one person from each day’s comments as the winner. To make it fair and scientific, he will have his eyes closed.
Go make a comment!!!
Morning Readers!
I hope you are all having a nice weekend so far. I have been working on cleaning up around My Hotel Yorba. My first project is making the screened in porch more pleasant now that it is cooling off at night and we can enjoy being out there. We have had our cushions for over 9 years and really needed to up date them.
Old Sofa Cushions
Stains
I couldn’t believe that Peri 1 still sold cushions to fit our furniture, plus they were all on sale and I got an extra 20% off at check out. It was meant to be!
So red and fresh!
I was not able to find cushion for the foot stool on-line. However, I was able to go to my local store and they were able to order it for me. I have my fingers crossed that it gets here before Labor Day weekend.
Waiting for replacement
I know she is thinking about it.
Another project that I have been wanting to do for way to long, is to clean up the mess in the corner of our porch. All the pool toys and supplies have been piling up and it became a huge mess. Total eyesore.
A mess
Last week I went online and found a well reviewed, decent size and price storage container via Amazon. There are some very nice containers out there but I was not going to pay $800+ for one!
Guess who is putting it together?
The Boy “helping” me.
If you read the directions correctly the first, it is pretty quick and easy to put together. I may or may not have read them correctly the first or second or third time but I got it done!
This is what I woke up to this morning. How much longer will it take….
My Hotel Yorba Give Away!
Room 206
Reader’s! My Hotel Yorba and doing its first ever giveaway! Woot! Woot! You have a chance two more days for a chance to win. Just comment on today’s or yesterday’s post as many times as you want. The Boy will be picking the three winner’s Wednesday Morning.
I am hoping to plant some bulbs today and do a little yoga (on my new mat) and get ready for Monday. Go out and have a wonderful day Readers! Be Good to each other!