BRRRRR!

Not only is it a crappy Monday but it's darn right chilly out.  Well, I guess I'm just giving up on this year.  I'm accepting the fact that fall is in the air and I assume it's here to stay.  Summer, although barely over to me, never really got off to a great start and surely didn't have a fabulous ending.  Oh well, better luck next year.

 

Reminiscing

Funny how things bring you back to the past with a blink of an eye.  I have an old shoe box filled with old photos.  I always intended to put them in a photo album but for some reason, they just stayed in that old box.  That box was in my closet for the longest time.  A few weeks ago, I cleaned out the closet and moved my box to the dresser.  Never even looked at the box or the photos.

Today I was chatting on the phone while sitting in my yellow room.  After getting off, I glanced over at the old box.  I pulled a few photos out and it was like I traveled back in time, wondering how in the world did I get here, present day 2013.  I saw photos of me in the 90's, white water rafting, mountain biking, Halloween, Christmas, old friends, Vegas, LA, weddings and races.  I looked so young and I remember all those fun times and outfits.  Some (mom shorts) I'd like to forget and some that were so darn cute.  I was skinny and wow, a flat stomach too?  And all those different hairstyles.  Amazing! I had a great life, I still do but there's something about being young that makes me wish I appreciated it a little more.

Fast forward a few hours later and I'm spending a wonderful day with Ken and Cody.  All the sudden, I'm exhausted.  I have no energy. I took Cody up to bed.  He crashed and I'm getting ready to when I turned on TV.  Nothing is on.  So I scroll through all the channels on Verizon when I came across Beverly Hills 90210 circa 1992.

FLASHBACK!!!

I remember watching this with my girlfriends.  We were addicted.  So 1992 puts me at 21 years old.  Wow, so carefree.  I could have never imagined in a million years what was in store for me.  I remember being in my 20's thinking 30 was ancient and gross.  40 was way off into the future.  No need to think about that.  Fast forward to 2013, here I am 42 and reminiscing in the past.

Where did the time go?  So I'm watching 90210 and somewhere during the show Kelly and Steve (2 characters) were chatting.  Kelly said, "Like they said, life takes weird turns."  I looked at the tv and thought, isn't that the truth.  So it made me think.  Looking at those photos earlier today, the breast cancer survivor Jen is looking at the young, healthy, not a care in the world Jen and the breast cancer survivor Jen seems to be a tad envious of the carefree Jen.  No worries, no restrictions, no real responsibilities and no scary cancer that haunts me daily.  I'm always wondering if it's waiting for the right time to strike again. 

But I look at Cody, sleeping away in his bed and I can't help to feel how lucky I am to have him.  How supportive he is and how he loves me so.  Although I can't help to reminisce, to think back to the past that's seemed so perfect, I am truly blessed to have him and to be alive.

Mammo time

Oh the stress of getting a mammogram.  It's such an emotional time.  I feel no lumps and pray there will be none detected. It's an emotional roller coaster.  My appointment was at 1:30.  I left work at noon and met up with my sister Wendy.  We grabbed lunch nearby and the next thing you know  it was time to go to my appointment.  

I've noticed with most dr. appointments it takes forever to get in.  The primary care, the dermatologist, the peditrician, the allergist, but the darn dentist, radiologist and when I got chemo and radiation were all on time.  So I sign in, and the next thing you know, they are calling me back.  I'm nervous and they are on time so I'll either get good news or bad today.  50/50 shot.  I'll roll the die and here I go.

Mammo, lobby, wait.   Wait, wait, wait.
It felt like forever.
Then she called me back for 2 additional scans.  What???  My heart just dropped.
Mammo, lobby, wait.  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.   Something is wrong.  I must have the dear in headlights look on my face.  I'm freaking out.  Wait, wait, wait.  This is way longer than last year.  Even Wendy is getting nervous.  We are hoping for the best but I can't help that my mind is wondering.  From oh please no to man I'm really going to be pissed to oh, please no.

She called us back and said, "GOOD NEWS"  No signs of cancer.  WOMAN!!!!  You scared the crap out of me. 

We walked out feeling good but both of us were exhausted.  I'm going home and going straight to bed.  My chest hurts, my heart is finally slowing down, and my legs are wobbling.

BUT THANK GOD!!!!   I'm still cancer free.  Well, breast cancer.  I still worry about all the other cancers out there.  But for now, I'm still cancer free.  And I'm thrilled.

Thinking about tomorrow

Tomorrow is my yearly followup mammogram.  I made the appointment a few weeks ago, not really thinking about it but now, 9pm I'm starting to think about it.  How can I not?  Will something be there?  God I hope not.

Before Cody went to bed, we prayed together.  We prayed for me to continue being cancer free.  If it's like last year, I'll know the results immediately. 

Garden therapy

Well, all good things must come to an end.  And my garden is on it's last leg.  Here's my stats:

Cucumbers:  Awesome!  1st time growing cucumbers and I had such a positive experience.  Definitely will be growing them again next year.  Will plant 2 in the ground and 1 in a deep pot.

Tomatoes.  Thrilled.  With the amount of jerry-rigging I had to do to keep my tomato plants upright, I'm surprised they grew tomatoes at all.  With the large amount of rain earlier in the summer my tomato cages came out of the ground.  So the entire summer the tomatoes were leaning to the right and squashed together.  At times, it was hard to find the ripe tomatoes but when I did, they were so yummy.  I had 2 types:  Better Boy and Early Girl.  Although both produced, I have to admit, even though I was rooting for the Early Girl, the Better Boy had bigger and better tomatoes so I'll grow them again next year and try a different brand of tomatoes next year.  I also grew husky cherry tomatoes which when I purchased them, I thought they were cherry tomatoes.  They were good but it was a completely different tomato plant than I'm use to so next year I will focus on grape tomatoes instead.

Beans:  Man, once this plant got started it grew like mad.  Seriously I had a Jack and the Bean Stalk kind of plant.  It took over one side of my deck.  I got a huge amount of beans but unfortunately didn't really know when to pull them off the vine and at times, I left them on to long and they either passed maturity or turned yellow.  I was really bummed but am thinking of growing them again next year.

Radishes:  Perfect.  Easy to grow and quick to mature.  Yummy too.  Will grow again next year.

Turnips:  Bummed.  5 grew and I left them in the ground way to long.  They were huge!  Tasted yucky.  So mad at myself for not pulling them earlier.   I also had 4 that grew in a pot.  They were much smaller but tasted more like what a turnip should taste like.   

Green Peppers:  Epic fail this year.  Originally planted 2.  One next to the cucumber plant and the other by the tomato plant.  The cucumber plant kept strangling one with it's feelers.  The other was overtaken by the tomato plant.  So I pulled them both up and re-planted them.  They never really took to their new location but 1 did bear one green pepper.  I later went out and bought 4 more plants.
I planted 2 in a pot together and 2 in the ground by the bean plant.  Again, the bean plant over took the area and the 2 green pepper plants didn't do as well as they could have.  The 2 in the pot did much better producing about 10 peppers but since I waited a while to plant them they grew much smaller than last year.  So I have a new plan and a new location for my pepper plants.  We'll see how they do next year.

Strawberries:  I have no idea what I did different this year than last year.  Same plant, same store, different pot.  But man, this strawberry plant really produced this year.  Cody got many yummy, big strawberries this summer.  Plan to grow strawberries again next year in the same pot.  Hopefully I'll get a great turn out again.

Brussel sprouts:  This is the slowest plant I've ever grown.  I'm almost getting really bored with it.  I planted 4 total.  Only 2 are hanging in there.  1 in the ground which was between the cucumber and bean plant and the other in a pot.  the one in the ground got picked on by some bug.  It had huge leaves but some bug or critter ate big holes in the leaves which is odd since I grew lettuce too and whatever ate the brussel sprout leaves certainly wasn't interested in the lettuce leaves.  Anyway, still watching it and wondering am I going to get any brussel sprouts?  Not going to plant this next year.

Lettuce:  Loved how it grew.  Waited to long to pull it so it wasn't super yummy.  Might grow it again next year but it's almost easier just to go buy a head or Romaine from the store.

Basil:  Super easy to grow but didn't prune it quickly enough and it got to big and as Ken said, didn't taste as good when you prune it.  will grow it again next year, just in a smaller pot.

Parsley:  Easy to grow, easy to prune, easy to share.  Will continue to grow.  Hopefully in the house like last winter.

Rosemary:  Perfect.  Easy to grow, easy to share with friends, and yummy on fish.  Hoping to grow in the house like last winter.

Yellow Squash:  Beautiful plant, had such potential.  Didn't live long in the pot.  But I was able to grow 1 squash.  Very yummy.  Won't grow Squash again.  Don't have the space.

So that's my stats.  I learned a lot from my garden this year.  I took a lot of photos to chronicle the journey.  I enjoyed it but now, all I have left is the green peppers and tomatoes.  I'm sure in a week or 2 they will be done as well.

Saw my cousin

Today was my cousin Virginia's daughter 1st birthday party.  I was so glad that I made sure my schedule was cleared cause not only did I want to celebrate Lillian's first birthday but I wanted to see Virginia.   Like really actually see her in person.  I know she's cancer free but I just can't believe what she had to go through so I need to see how she looks and that will finally put me at ease.   I really wanted to visit her back in July after her surgery but I knew she wasn't up for visitors.  But she's ready for them now and Virginia.....here I come.

Lillian is such a doll.  It's so hard to believe that's she's "1".   I couldn't help myself.  I found the cutest little girl outfits.  Not that she needs clothes.  I'm sure Virginia has tons for her but baby girl clothes are my weakness.

So Cody and I were off to Richmond and not only did I have a present for Lillian, I had a special gift for Virginia.  She's been telling me how she's really focusing on eating healthy.  So I made a basket full of fruits and veggies to give to her.  Hope she likes it.

My basket included bananas, green leaf lettuce, tomatoes and peppers from my garden, cucumbers, carrots, blueberries, strawberries, and broccoli.

And here is Virginia's family.  Sorry, somehow I didn't get a picture of her hubby Bryen.

 Quinten - Lillian's big and oldest brother

Virginia and the birthday girl "Lillian"

Evan - Lillian's brother