Yesterday's info

Maybe this is a temporary thing but I'm digging this Fitbit.

Steps:  10,942*
Miles:  4.56 miles
Calories:  1928
Steps:  18 floors
Sleep:  7 hours 8 min and an additional 1 hour 15 min with some restlessness involved. 

*Not my total steps.  I showed my watch to Cody and he wanted to try it out.  So for about 10 min he ran around the room like a madman testing out the steps.  He did get me over the 10,000 mark and then some.  So once I realized that it would mess up my tracking, I got the Fitbit back.

I may get him one like grammy's in the near future but he's a kid and I don't really think he needs to track his steps yet.

Fitbit

Got a Fitbit for Christmas.  Not sure if I would like it or not, but turns out I do.  It's actually more interesting than I expected. 

After getting past the initial set up I was a little skeptical.  I have to wear this all day?  My mother in law got a Fitbit too but her's was just a small one that she attached to the waist of her pants.  So at first I was a bit envious.  Thinking that hers was way easier than mine to understand but it turns out after wearing mine I had just a tad more options than she had.  And it was neat to see the steps add up to miles.  It was also neat to see my heart rate and how many stairs I climbed. 

So for example, I walked 3,405 steps yesterday and burned 1,460 calories.

My Fitbit also monitors my sleep patterns.  So I'm really interested in seeing how well I sleep at night.  Sometimes I wake up so tired in the morning and I wonder how well I slept that night.  So hopefully it will give me some insight.

So let's see how this goes.  I'll keep you posted.

70 is perfect!

I can't believe how awesome today is....70 degrees in December....in VIRGINIA??  Simply AMAZING and I'm thrilled about it.  In fact, here's a little secret...Virginia is actually warmer than Arizona right now which hardly ever happens.   NO complaining here, I'll take it for as long as I can get it.

Of course people are saying, "It doesn't feel like Christmas.  It's too warm."   I don't think about it that way.  Yes it's a tad warm out but when I'm in the house and the Christmas trees are up.  Do you really know what the temps are outside? No, not really.  So just enjoy the warmth while we have it.

My Underarm

Thanksgiving is over and the fun begins.  This Saturday and Sunday I dedicated myself to putting up all the Christmas decorations which includes putting up 3 trees.  Yes, 3.  Luckily Cody and I already put up one tree (his tree) so I only have two to go.  Of course those are the two big trees - 9 feet tall each.  My favorite one is the skinny tree and the other one is a regular sized tree and let me tell you, the regular sized tree is super heavy and a tad hard to decorate.  It has that authentic look so when I put bulbs on the tree I have to make sure the hook is tightened around the branches otherwise pop goes the bulb right back on the ground.  Luckily I mostly have plastic bulbs but there are a few glass ones that proved they break very easily when dropped several feet.

So I was determined to get the job done.  My original plan was to put the trees up Saturday and work on my Christmas cards on Sunday.  But....I forgot how tiring it is to put the trees up, garland, stockings, decorate the mantle and the entertainment center.  It's EXHAUSTING!

I probably should have asked Ken for help but I didn't until I just couldn't get the big tree put together.  I just didn't have enough strength in my arms. I really didn't notice it at first.  I was so busy decorating but this morning when I got up to finish decorating I noticed I couldn't really lift my arm up that well.  And now it's tender in my arm pit.  Could it have truly been from lifting that tree?

I admit that I'm a little nervous about the tenderness.  I don't like anything abnormal feeling on my body.  I'm going to continue to monitor it so I can talk to the doctor if it doesn't go away. Just not sure if this is something I need to be concerned about.

Thinking about Virginia

I think of Virginia every single day.  I can hear her voice and it always puts a smile on my face.  I can't help but look up to the sky on a beautiful sunny day and wonder if she's looking down.  Her children are growing so fast and changing every time I see them.  Her husband posted a sweet comment from the other day:  Mommy went "to the clouds with the Angels" as Evan says.   Isn't that amazing?  My heart goes out to her kids and I just want to hug them all the time.

So I got an email invite for Quinten's birthday party and I so want to go.  I missed Evan's earlier this spring but did get a chance to visit once over the summer and once for Lilly's party. And now I'm hoping to make it to Quinten's party.  I always wanted Virginia and I to celebrate the boy's birthdays together since of course we have the same family members but we never had a chance to set something up.  And that's okay.

Epic fail

Epic fail as Cody would say it.  The weekend totally screwed up my Activia challenge.  I completely forgot all about it and work has been busy so I completely forgot about it on Monday and Tuesday too.  So, lets get this challenge restarted!

The Activia challenge

So lately I've been feeling bloated.  Well actually it's been a while now.  My stomach just feels like it's out there.  I'm sure it doesn't help that I slouch all day or sit all day or don't exercise or maybe not even eating as well as I could but...it just feels like something is a tad off.  Like bloat and gas.  Gross huh?

So I was at the store the other day and I saw Activia.  I remember seeing commercials about woman with expanding stomachs or maybe feeling bloughty.  So I thought, why not try the Activia challenge.  What do I have to loose?

I didn't really read up on it that much but from what I quickly glanced through was:  eat two yogurts once a day for a month and you should feel better.  So lets just see if that works.  I'm open to giving something a month and eating yogurt doesn't seem like that would be to hard to do.

Monday - forgot
Tuesday - forgot
Wednesday - lunch time - oh crud, I forgot about my morning yogurt snack so I ate one around 2pm.
Whoops, I forgot to eat the 2nd one.  Man this is harder than I thought.  Now that's its night time and I'm ready for bed, I'll just try this all over tomorrow.

My goal:  One Activia around 10am and one Activia around 2pm daily for 1 month.
Can I do it?  YES
Do I want to do it?  YES
Am I going to do?  Man I really hope so
Will the results be worth it?  YES!!!  Well, I hope.

By the way, I was all gun ho to jump on the treadmill tonight to walk 3 miles.  I couldn't get the tv to work so there was no way I could actually walk on a treadmill for 30 min or more starring at a blank wall.  I'm sure in that time I would have thought about a million ways to decorate my work out room but in the same time, I'd be thinking about a million reasons why I'm not in bed relaxing.  Since, this is actually almost the 1st time this evening that I've finally sat down.  I'm just so tired of go, go, go, I might as well just go to bed!  :)

Alright. My goals for the week:  The Activia challenge and walking on the treadmill at least 2 times this week.

GAME ON 

  

jamboree/scrimage

EXTENDED FORCAST

So my girlfriend IM'd me the other day telling me that PX was going to be 111 - 113 degrees.  Lucky DUCK! 

So this morning I had time to watch a little tv as I was folding clothes.  The weather forecast came on and the weatherman showed the 7 day forecast. 

90's ALL WEEK!!!  7 days in a ROW!!!  Can you believe it????  Now this is real summer weather!!
I'm seriously 100% thrilled!!!

4 years ago

Four years ago today I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.  Even though 4 years have past, I can remember the day like it was yesterday.  I was expecting a call, but really wasn't expecting it at work, especially at the end of the day.  I was completely shocked, numb, speechless.  I remember crying as I drove home.  I kept trying to process what was going on.  When was I going to talk to a doctor, what were they going to say and was I going to die? 

To this day, I'm still in shock that I actually had cancer.  I fought it with everything I had and I hope it never ever comes back!!! 

Number 6 outta here!

Another tooth gone!!  Last night Cody went to bed with a loose tooth.  And he woke up this morning with no tooth.   SURPRISE!!!  We really didn't think anything of it when he went to bed.  He's had a few teeth dangling by a thread in his mouth before, this one was no different.  But when he woke up and came into our room this morning, he started talking to Ken and Ken suddenly said, Cody where's your tooth???  It's missing!!!!  He was so excited. 

I hope he didn't swallow it so I went to his room to see if I could find it.  I search high and low and finally I found his tooth right in the middle of the bed, not on his pillow.  So I grabbed it and put it in a plastic bag.  Then I grabbed $5.00 quickly and put it under his pillow.

As I was doing this, Ken convinced Cody to go check to see if the tooth fairy came last night.  Low and behold, when Cody looked under his pillow......she did!  The tooth fairy came last night and left me $5.00. 

Side note:  $5.00 you say???  If was his front tooth, that's why he got a little more plus he thinks the tooth fairy pulled it out while he was sleeping.  LOL.

So now Cody is officially missing his 2 front teeth, 2 bottom teeth and has 2 grown up teeth growing in as well.  Fun times! 

Rain, Rain go away!!!

I love thunderstorms but all day rain is for the birds.  This morning I woke up to hearing the rain just coming down.  Ughhh....it's SUMMER!!!  We only get so many days of warm weather over the summer in Virginia so a rainy day just puts a damper on things.  I know rain is good for the environment and lord knows we aren't lacking for it this year since our grass is super dooper green.

Reasons why I don't like rain:
Causes bad traffic (usually not on Saturday and Sundays)
Roads flood at times (depending on the serverity and longivity of the rain)
The grass is saturated (makes it hard to play outside)
Can't go to the pool in rain
People can't drive in rain
Tomato and cucumber plants aren't doing so well.  (I read somewhere that they don't like constant rain, they like hot/sunny weather)
For me, I can't grill outside in the rain

Reasons I like rain:
Thunderstorms (as long as they are not destructive or violent - they are neat to watch and usually come and go very quickly.
Warm rain is better than cold rain (hands down!)

So I turned on TV to watch the weather and the weatherman said all the rain should be outta here by noon. Apparently the warm sunny weather is suppose to roll in and actually be a nice day so I'm ready for this day to turnaround!

But for some reason, I'm not sure I 100% believe it. 

Emotional Day

First of all, today is the day, 11 months ago that my cousin Virginia passed away.  I say it over and over again but I just can't believe it.  I think about her constantly, especially when it's a sunny day out and the sky is so blue and the clouds are so white.  I look up to the sky and wonder if she is looking down. 

Already in a somber mood, I was sitting at my desk minding my own business when I overheard someone talking about how much vacation time they have.  So much in fact that they usually loose hours at the end of the year cause they never have time to take off.  Then he said, so I normally donate it to some poor sap that has cancer or something.

My mouth dropped behind the computer and I was so offended.  Poor sap?  I just can't believe he said that.  I got up and left the office, taking a walk around the parking lot.  I just needed to cool down. 

On my drive home from work, I got a call from the Oncologist office.  Earlier in the day as I was sitting there trying to concentrate.  The office is freezing cold and the words, poor sap kept replaying in my head over and over again that I decided to call the doctor.  I had my bone scan on July 1st and today is 9th.  I know it takes time to get the results for tests but I was trying to figure out if no news was good news?  So, when I called the receptionist took my info and said it's looks like your results are in but haven't been reviewed yet.  Oh geez...was this a mistake to call them.  And if they have my results, why didn't they read them yet?  But then again, I'm not a current cancer patient so I understand I'm not a priority but these tests were completely unexpected so I'm a little nervous.  I just don't want the cancer to come back.

So as I'm driving home, I pull over into a parking lot and one of the nurses said: 

Nurse:  Jennifer, I have good news for you.  Your bone scan is all clear.  There is no signs of cancer.  Jen:  SHREW!!!  and what about my blood tests. 
Nurse:  Blood test, all clear. 
Jen:  So what exactly was the blood test for? 
Nurse:  To check for cancer cells in your blood.
Jen:  Ok - so it's good, all clear right?
Nurse:  yes.  You are all good.
Jen:  thanks, I was so worried.  So what if my ribs bother me again.  Could it be something under my ribs?  Can I call you?
Nurse:  You can call us anytime for any issues.
Jen:  Good thanks so much.

So even though the day has been up, down, up, down....hearing that via recent tests, I am still cancer free and that just can't take away the smile off my face and a reason to celebrate.

Number 5 is outta here!!

We were all surprised, Cody included when he lost his 5th tooth today.  When he got home from summer camp I asked him how his day was.  Then I asked him if he ate all his lunch today. He said yes and I said even the apples? He said apples, what apples?  I told him in his backpack so he grabs his backpack and found some cut up apples.  He took a few bites and said ouch!  No way am I eating anymore apples today. I looked at his mouth and one of his lower bottom teeth was loose.  I didn't expect that at all.

So at dinner tonight, I made lasagna with some toasted butter bread.  Cody's weakness is butter bread and pasta.  He grabs the bread takes a big bite and pop, out goes the tooth.  He spits it out in his hand and says mom, my tooth. 

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  Guess the tooth fairy is coming to our house tonight. 

It's Dinner time!

Marinated pork tenderloin, potatoes and grilled veggies with feta cheese.  YUMMO !!!

Bone Scan

My nerves are sky high today.  My appointment was at 8:30am.  Luckily Cody is with his grandma is PA so Ken and I got up early and headed out toward my appointment.  Shocked that traffic was so good, we got there early.  I signed in and it didn't long for them to call me back.  I had Ken come back with me.  I always need support when I go to any kind of these appointments.  These are the same locations I went to 4 years ago when all of this drama started.  It brings back horrific memories.  The nurse saw that I was nervous and she did a great job of entertaining me.  Super friendly and lots of jokes.  Kuddos to her!

She took some blood and of course I wasn't looking but Ken said she mixed it with something and injected me with it.  She told us to come back at 11:30 for the test.  What to do in 3 hours.

Luckily we had to run some errands.  So off to Alexandria we went.  We got breakfast, stopped by Ken's Dr's office to get an order from the doc and ran over to the townhouse to check on a few things with the tenant.  Time just flew by.  Before I knew it we were heading back to the doctor's office for my test but we got a ton of stuff done and felt really accomplished.

When we got to the office, I signed in and they called me back immediately.  She took Ken and I back to a room and gave me the run down on my test.  This year I'm only getting a bone scan done which is actually the easier test of the two.  Last year I had a CAT scan too and they had to inject some contrast in me which made my leg tingly for several months afterward.  I laid down on the table and she put a warm blanket over me.  The machine came down and was really close to my face but I just closed my eyes and didn't think twice about it.  The machine that is.  I thought constantly about what the machine would find and how I was going to accept my fate.

Tears rolled out the corner of my eyes and landed in my ears.  Then all I could think about was the pooling of water in my ears and how much it was starting to annoy me.   Then my nose started itching and I couldn't itch it cause my arms were tied with a rubber band plus the machine was so close to my face I couldn't itch it if I wanted too.  Then my brain went wild and I thought if the cancer does come back, where is it and how bad did it spread.  Then I thought about Virginia and how her cancer spread.  Then I thought will it be caught in time and will the doctors be able to save me.  My thoughts just spiraled out of control from there and more tears flowed.

I would say overall the entire test, coming in and leaving was 30 min.  I was exhausted and hungry.
I just wear myself out so much when it comes to these appointments.  I have my mammo in a few months and although I'm so tired of these tests, it's better to be safe than sorry.  I want to live a very long and cancer free life.

My first green bell pepper of the season!!!

So excited to pull off my first green bell pepper and it's a pretty decent size for being planted in a pot.  I've actually got 4 pepper plants in one big pot.  2 green, 1 red and 1 yellow.  I'm dying to get a taste of each one to see how fresh they are compared to the store of course.

Tonight for dinner we are having stuffed bell peppers so I'm anxious to not have to buy them from the store either.  Just pick them off the vine and viola!  Instant gratification.

I took a quick peek at my cucumber plant as well and I think I'm just about to get my first cucumber plant too.  I absolutely love cucumbers and I hope with the last season that they give me a good amount of cucumbers to last me the rest of the summer!  YUMMO!

pictures are coming....

Feeling a little odd

I was in such a good mood today.  Wore a cute outfit to work, had a few good laughs with my co-workers and even got to leave work early to go to the doctor.  At first when I made the appointment 6 months ago, I thought getting out of work early for a 2pm appointment works for me.  But today was a little busy and leaving at 1:30 was a little earlier than I wanted but then I re-analyzed and thought, early out, early home and I can chill for a bit before the boys get home.

So I made it to my appointment by the skin of my teeth.  Not that I was really that worried.  They called me back rather quickly and the nurse started with telling me how great my hair looked and how long it was.   I KNOW!!!  SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT!  I remember a few years ago one of my pink sisters mentioning that in year 3 her hair just went crazy....like from short to long. So I thought, oh if that would ever happen to me.  But guess what.....it did.  I'll post a photo soon.

Anyway, she went over what's going on with me for the last 6 months. 
Nurse:  How do you feel?
Jen:  I feel great.  Knock on wood (laugh)
Nurse:  You look great!
Jen:  Thanks
We discussed vitamins/fruits/veggies, mammogram and MRI history, my bee/wasp sting and the tenderness under my ribs.  She took notes as I chatted away and then said the dr. will be in shortly.

Turns out I was seeing Dr. Wilkinson's physician's assistant, Claudia.   Which maybe I knew that when I made the appointment 6 months ago but I had no idea nor do I know if I really care as long as I'm looked at.

So we had a quick chat about the stuff that the nurse wrote in the computer.  I showed her my bug bite just to make sure it wasn't something I needed to be concerned about.  She mentioned that it was good that it was on the right side vs the left side because sometimes after radiation treatment bites can cause issues so of course worse case scenario would be to get antibiotics.   So that's good to know.  Never would have thought about the radiation issue.

She then asked me about blood work.  I told her to my knowledge, I haven't gotten my blood drawn in quite a bit of time.  I've been meaning to go to the primary care physician to get a physical to make sure all my numbers are good but I can't seem to ever get around to it.  So I guess just to check my baselines and make sure everything is good, I'm getting my blood drawn today.  Wasn't really expecting that but it's better to be safe than sorry.

We also chatted about my rib cage.  I've been so busy the last few months that I haven't really noticed it as much as I did last year.  There are times when I get the irritation in the left rib cage that re-reminds me but it's not as bad.  So Claudia mentioned the MRI, bone scan and CT scan that I had last year and said that sometimes with pain that doesn't go away, due to me having Triple Negative Breast cancer, they just want to keep an eye on me.  She rubbed my ribs all over and I pointed her to the area that's tender.  I told her I often compare the ribs to make sure nothing hard or mass like it sitting on my rib cage.  After she felt it for a bit, it started to irritate me more.  Now, I started second guessing myself.  Has the soreness been there and I just didn't notice it because other things were on my mind?  Claudia mentioned re-reading my scans with Dr. Wilkinson.  Last January 2014 I had a MRI that found a lesion on my spine which lead to a Bone scan and a CT scan.  Luckily all came back negative but boy did it really make me nervous.  When Claudia came back in she said her and Dr. Wilkinson decided that I should get a bone scan this time to make sure all is ok, since I still have the irritation.  Sometimes, pain is a sign for Bone Cancer she said.  Bone cancer?  I wasn't thinking bone cancer.  I was thinking of a lump on my ribs like a tumor.  Not cancer inside the bone.  She said with Triple Negative, cancer can come back in any form including traveling to the bones.  Okay, now I would like to throw up.  And the stress started.  Just like that.

So as I left I stopped by the office near the check out desk to get my blood drawn.  Didn't look so I have no idea what she did and how much she took.  The nurse didn't really have much of a personality but it was quick and somewhat painless. Then I stopped by to get my orders.  1 order for the bone scan and 1 order for my mammogram. 

Leaving put me in a sober mood.  All I wanted to do was go home and lay down.  I feel like my normal quick 15 min visit turned into a big deal and now I'm leaving feeling down in the dumps.  I admit, I'll take whatever test I have to to not die.  I'm a survivor and I want to live and watch Cody grow up to be a grown man.  I can't imagine leaving him now.  So...even though I'm super bummed, I'm glad I have doctors that want to take care of me and make sure I keep my survivor title.

As I drove home I couldn't help but to smell the leftovers from the office.  The smell brought me right back to my chemo days and it just made me ill.  When I got home, I laid down and rested.  Gotta make my appointments tomorrow and hope for the best.

It was definitely an early to bed night tonight.
Goodnight.

Whoo-hoo!

Today on the news the weatherman said the three hottest cities in America are:
Phoenix - 99 degrees
Washington, DC - 95 degrees
Miami - 90 degrees

WHOO-HOO!!!  95 degrees!  This is awesome! 

So of course in the next breath, the weatherman said with the humidity it would feel closer to 100 but really...I don't care.  I'm just happy it's hot.

Hello Pool this weekend.  I'm one happy girl!

Thinking about you

You are always on my mind and I miss you so much!

Aphids!

 I love my hibiscus and so do the aphids! 

I am battling these pests with everything I got!  I will not let them kill my hibiscus!!!

THIS MEANS WAR!!!

From Smoothies to HOT TEA!

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?  

For the last week, I've been making strawberry/banana smoothies in the morning for Cody and I.  I'm really trying to get more fruits and veggies in to our system and I figured a smoothie would fill Cody's  little belly longer which would help him not be so antsy during school.  But no....the weather once again shifted and we literally went from 90 degrees to 60 in a matter of a day.  So for the last few days, I've been taking hot tea to work to keep me warm.  The office apparently hasn't gotten the memo that it's cold out and the air conditioning is on full blast.

Come back summer!!!  I want my smoothies back!

Garden

 GARDEN TIME!!!

I'm so excited.  My garden is coming right along.  Take a look....

Cucumber, Tomato, Cucumber and many little radishes

Hello little radishes.

Grow cucumbers Grow!

Grape tomato plant

Strawberry plant

Strawberries growing

90 70 50

90 on Tuesday
70 on Wednesday
50 on Thursday

Is this world coming to an end?  How can the state of Virginia go from 90 degrees on Tuesday, to the point where Cody is drinking gallons of water to stay cool at his soccer practice to....today wearing sweatpants and long sleeves and FREEZING! 

HOT TO COLD IN 2 DAYS!!!  So frustrating.  Come on summer...stay with me!

Time to EXERCISE!

Unfortunately I got up early this morning.  I try my hardest to sleep in but once I'm up, I'm up.  So I put on the DVR and finished watching the season finale of Once Upon A Time.  I just love that show.  Around 7am Cody wakes up and finds me in the guest room.  He crawls in bed and decides to watch the last few minutes of the show.  I may have to replay it since he was kind of talking through the end of it.  But that's okay.  I'd rather talk to him than watch a show any day.

So it ended and Cody looked at me and said, now I get to watch my show right mommy?  OH NO!
Cody hasn't been the best little boy in school lately so unfortunately we had to take away tv for a few days. So I bounced out of bed and said let's go.  He said where and I said, you'll see.

I got us ready in athletic apparel and grabbed my phone and keys.  We're going out for some exercise today.  And I think we should do this every Saturday and Sunday.  So since I'm completely out of shape we did the run/jog/power walk/walk routine.  Run a little, power walk, job a little, walk, run, job, walk, walk, swing on the swings, job, play on the jungle gym, run, etc.  Yes, we ran in the direction of the park and I don't know if that was a good idea or not. 

As we were doing this Cody stopped and told me that this was a great idea and that he was really having a nice time with me.  I told him that it's important to exercise and stay healthy.

When we were walking away from the park a little girl and her mom noticed my t-shirt.  I was wearing the Step Sisters Breast Cancer shirt that I got from the race.  Why I didn't put Cody in his is beyond me.  But the little girl said, "my mommy ran the race too" and I said, that is great.  Then I told her that my son Cody did it with me.  Her eyes got big and she said, "he did?"  Cody said yep and then dragged me away.  I was going to continue talking to them but we were on our mission and our mission was to run around the park and up the small hill to the road and back around the park again.  Two laps was our goal.  Before we got to the hill there was a pond on a a big rock on the side of the pond was a bull frog sitting out and enjoying the sun.

I told Cody I was going to take a photo of him.  Cody said of what?  I said the frog.  So Cody tried to get a better look and as I was taking out my phone to take a photo Cody got a bit to close and he jumped off the rock.  Well darn!  So we'll just have to make another loop around the pond and come back to see if he gets back out on the rock.

I'll have to clock the distance with my car but I would say we only did a mile if that.  Along our jog, walk, run, power walk adventure we saw squirels playing, birds looking for worms, a lady bug, and a fuzzy caterpillar.  When we finally got back around to the pond again the frog wasn't there. I noticed that there was an area around to the side that might have some frogs.  Sure enough, as I was walking up to the edge two jumped into the water.  Scared me to death since right before they jump they make this weird screeching noise.  So I called Cody over to see if we could find more.

Sure enough, little eyes were watching us.  And we even saw a few turtles too.  What an adventure this little morning exercise routine turned in to.  And what fun I had with Cody so early in the morning.

So my goal is to start exercising and stick with it.  Tomorrow our community is having the Loudoun Lyme 5K.  I didn't sign us up but if Cody wants to I'll get up with him in the morning and we can walk over to see if we want to register at the last min.  If not, we'll root the runners on!

Either way it will be a great day!

WOW! It's darn CHILLY out!

This is the one thing I absolutely love about the state of Virginia.  One day its hot and one day its cold.  It can never make up it's mind and it drives me CRAZY!!!

In a matter of 2 days we will have reached the 1/2 way mark through the month and although I would love to see 80's for the entire month, it's just not going to happen.  The average temps for this area in May is low to mid 70's which I will gladly take but for the last few days, we've enjoyed 80 degree temps, in fact yesterday hit 90 degrees in some areas.  I was so happy.  I'm envisioning daily trips to the pool, dresses, open toed shoes all on the horizon.  But with the recent spike in temperatures, I've got to sport those adorable summer dresses, those sexy open toed shoes and believe it or not (well since I already wrote about it, you have to believe it) Cody and I have gone to the pool!  The heated pool!  And it was awesome!!!

So today rolls around and some cold front does too.  I think it's a combination on what the west coast is sending us and the hurricane Anna that's coming up from the Carolina's that brought this dreadfully cold weather.  I'd be shocked if we made it to 65 degrees and it was windy and very overcast.  So one with the pants and the mid length shirt I wear.  But next week I have hopes that the 80's will return and my summer wardrobe will indeed return with it.

Flower time!

Tropical Oasis

Hybiscus

Finally got the garden started

So the temperature has finally gotten a little warmer in the mornings so I finally got a chance to plant my garden.  Here's the low down:

2 Tomato plants (1 grape and 1 better boy)
2 cucumber plants
4 pepper plants (2 green, 1 yellow and 1 red)
radishes
1 basil plant
1 parsley plant
4 strawberry plants

So lets see who the winners are this summer.  I hope they all produce a good amount of food.

Peppers

Strawberries

Basil

Rosemary

Parsley

Tomato

Grape Tomato

Cucumber

Blogging

I have no brain and if it wasn't for this blog, I would not remember a thing. 

It's funny but as every year goes by I can hardly remember what happened.  Especially during winter.  (Not my favorite time of year so why would I put a ton of brain energy in it, right?)  So as each season goes by I can barely remember what kind of weather we had during the previous season.  So by blogging, it's helps me keep up with all that stuff. 

So let's take winter for example.  Did you know last year there was snow in Northern Virginia on March 17th?  Nope, I surely wouldn't but since I blogged it I now remember. And if you want my 2 cents, I really don't want a repeat of that.  The forecasters are teasing us with potential 50's this week and I really want it.

As for the snow we currently have, although pretty to look at, I'm ready for it to go.  The roads are clear and the chances of having off from work are ZERO so, bring on the sun and fun!!!

SNOW????

Alright, I know that the majority of my posts revolve around snow this time of year but with it being so cold out, what else is there to write about?

So, here I am, minding my own business watching the news of course when the weatherman comes on and mentions earlier in the week that there is a chance for *SNOW* Monday morning, sleet on Tuesday and *SNOW* on Thursday.  WHAT?  So I have to watch it again just to make sure I heard it correctly.  And of course they mentioned the snow, sleet and snow combination again.  So an evil grin comes upon me.  It's like a new person appears in the room.  Now, had I not turned on the tv, I would have never known but since the tv was on, I couldn't help but here those "S" words grinning from ear to ear.  

Can it be possible?  Can the weather be so bad that it cancels lots of fun stuff for the week?  Fun, what fun stuff?  Girl it's winter, nothing fun happens in winter.

So here's how it pans out:
Monday - freezing rain/snow.  Nothing major - Schools are delay *Ahem* canceled at 6am and work is delayed 2 hours.  I can deal with that.

Tuesday - prediction: Sleet
                 Actual: Nothing
So off to the dermatologist for some wart freezing

Wednesday - Hyping up the storm pretty well.  The anticipation is killing me.  Will we get snow or not?  Today's temps were pretty warm.  Kind of hard to believe since it's not even raining like they predicted as well.

Wednesday night - IT's Raining!!!  Getting a little windy too.

EARLY Thursday Morning - 4:45am - nothing!!!  Sure the roads are wet but I see no snow or rain.  I don't even hear any sleet.  This is not good.

5am - turn on the tv and everything is CLOSED!!!  Schools, government, day cares, etc.  ALL CLOSED!  Okay, the day may be a bust but at least things are closed so let me just go back to sleep

5:45am - I can hear the sleet coming down.  Tink, tink, tink
6am - no sleep but it's definitely sleeting out.  And getting windy
6:45am - Snowing!!!!

9:30am - Still snowing.  Coming down pretty good.  Slow plows are trying to keep up with salting and clearing the roads. 

Noon - Snow still coming down.  The snowplow comes down my road but quickly thereafter, the snow covers the road.  I'm really liking this day.

2pm - still snowing and I measured about 5 inches now.

3pm - Ken is going to attempt to drive home from work. (I think he's crazy since the roads are completely covered and all day on the news they said, if you don't have to go out, DON'T) but he's going to try anyway.  Guess I better get out and get working on the driveway.  Thanks to my awesome new love of my life, we're going to get it done!

4pm - Helping thy neighbors.  The plows came through and pushed a ton of snow in front of everyone's driveways.  So with my big guy (haven't named him yet) we rolled on over across the street.  Man, this snow is heavy.  My big guy had a hard time in certain spots.  Can I tell you how surprised I was?  But since this was our first time together trying to tackle the end of the driveway mounds of snow, I took it slow and we got it done!

By then, Ken made it home from work and drove in to the nicely cleaned out driveway.  What a lucky man to have such a wonderful wife.  I could have stayed in my PJ's all day which I pretty much did.  But I chose to get the snow gear on and rock and role!

Cody was having fun playing and once Ken came home, he took my "big guy" and rolled over to the neighbors house since her hubby was home and I'd say by then we had about 7-9 inches of snow.  It was really hard to tell since there was a base of snow already on the ground when this snowfall started today.

I got the camera out and started taking photos. 

Good Morning America

The one thing I miss about working part time was being able to watch certain tv shows.  One that I enjoyed was Good Morning America.  Of course there are others shows too but raising a little one, I rarely watched the entire program just bits and pieces here and there.

Since we had a snow day today I had a chance to watch a mini segment.  Cody wanted to watch cartoons but I said not right now, I'd like to watch this for a bit.  I don't know exactly what the segment was about since we were talking but it had something to do with the anchors and their past.  Like if they could go back in time what words of advice would they tell their younger self that they know now.

Robin Roberts said the best.  She said a lot of stuff by what I remembered was the phrase:  When fear knocks let faith answer the door.  WOW!

I'm not an overly faithful person.  I believe in God and I believe in the power of prayers.  But I don't go to church every single weekend and I don't preach to people or try to change their beliefs.

Not one day goes by that I don't think about cancer.  All the commercials and special events bring awareness which is good but for a person who had cancer the constant reminders give me hope for a cure as well as a fear that it will return.  A constant fear that I live with daily.  And even though I had a MRI recently and even though it was cancer free, I just can't help to be scared that it will return one day.  But as Robin said, when fear knocks, let faith answer the door.  And I will try follow her words of wisdom. 

As for what would I tell the younger version of myself if I could go back in time.  I would tell her to just simply enjoy life and enjoy what you have at that moment.  Life is just so short so appreciate that you are happy, healthy and don't let the little things get you down.  I use to dwell on things when I was younger.  Like, my job wasn't good enough or I wasn't making enough money.  Now, I don't care about my job or how much I make.  All I care about is my life and living for many more years to come.

Let's chant PEOPLE!!!!

snow, Snow, SNow, SNOw, SNOW

SNOW!!!!

OKAY, I HAVE MADE MYSELF LOUD AND CLEAR?

There are officially 3 days left in February and that means that there is officially 3 more days of winter so....if mother nature wants snow....then LET THERE BE SNOW!!!!! (and a day off from work of course) but once March 1st gets here, I want to hear the joyful sounds of chirping birds, the vibrant colors of newly bloomed flowers and the sun shinning brightly, bringing a little bit of vitamin D to my skin.

So do you understand???

I accept whatever snow you give us tomorrow morning but as of Sunday, March 1st - NO MORE!

XOXO

Shall I dare??

Shall I dare get my hopes up?  Should I actually believe that the weatherman is correct with his 5-8 inches of snow forecast?  He said the heaviest of the snowfall will fall between midnight and 6am.  So will we wake up with a butt load of snow or just a dusting.  I'm already banking on the butt load so I better not be disappointed.

Cody's school has already closed for tomorrow.  So now it's just a waiting game for daycare and work.  So fingers crossed!

Why oh why did I schedule a MRI

Why oh why did I schedule my MRI....on my Birthday?

Was it because I was trying to ignore the fact that I'm turning a year older?  Cause seriously who schedules that kind of appointment on their special day?

Was it because I've had the order for a month and I got nervous about waiting for so long and made the appointment?

Was it all of the above plus when I made the appointment, the 12th was the only day available therefore I took it?

Yup, all of the above.  And to make my birthday even more fun, I scheduled Cody's dental appointment too so I get to spend the majority of my Birthday in doctors offices.

Sound like fun?  Not really.  Excited about missing most of the work day? Nope.  I'm too stressed to be excited. 

Red Band Society

I know it's just a tv show but boy watching it tonight just brought tears to my eyes, knots in my stomach and my heart is heavy. 

I actually watched it during the fall and I guess over the holidays it must have went on a holiday break and as we celebrated Christmas and New Years, I kind of forgot about it.  Then mom came over to the house for a visit.  I was looking through the channels trying to find something of interest for her to watch when I came across it.  Oh my gosh, how did I forget about this show?  So I taped it.  And of course forgot about it again.

Then this Saturday, I was surfing through the channels and what do you know, it was on again.  So I taped it again.  Now it's Sunday and although the weekend was full and productive I was tired and ready for bed.  But at 8:00pm all I could think about was why am I going to bed so early?

So I decided to go downstairs and what do you know, I remembered that I taped my show and thought, lets watch it and clear out the DVR.  I didn't know what to expect.  I haven't seen the show in weeks.  Where did I leave off.  Would I even be interested?

Of course it sucked me in and although I do really like the show, last weeks episode 1/31/15 was especially hard to watch.  The patient got a transplant and his body rejected it therefore causing him to die on the show.  Which to me wasn't shocking to kill off the character but it really tugged at my heart strings.  At the same time, another character's cancer came back.  Which seriously made me think about life, my cousin, and myself.  Cody and I just had a conversation the other night about me having cancer and how lucky I was to survive.  I can't help but to be so happy that I lived.  But I also can't help to think about how and why?  I don't want to question it but why was I lucky?  Is there something else I'm meant to do in the future?  Or will it come back and I have to live this nightmare over again? 

Anyway, good show, lots of tears and tough to watch tonight.

Why must I always be cranky?

Jen's excitement meter: 1 - Dud, 5 - now we're talking, 10 - AWESOME!!!

Let's rewind the clock to Thursday night....

Weather forecasters:  Blahh, blahh, blahh....snow, mixed with rain, sleet, blaahhh, blahh
Jen's excitement meter: 3 - Peaked my interest a bit

Friday:  Nothing!
Drive home from work: tink, tink, tink.  Oh great is that sleet?  Hope the temps don't drop. GRRR!
This could be an ugly commute.

Saturday
Weather Forecasters:  Blahh, blahh, blahh snow
Jen's excitement meter:  4 - what?  SNOW? 

Weather Forecasters:  Blahh, blahh, no snow today but watch out for Sunday night to Monday morning.  This could be the one.
Jen's excitement meter:  5 - now we're talking.  Did someone say snow, possibly by Monday morning? 

Weather Forecasters:  Monday morning Commute can be bad, 3-6 inches possible.
Jen's excitement meter:  6 - I'm seeing at least a 2 hour delay 
 
Fast forward to Sunday morning:
Weather forecasters:  This is a good clipper, will bring us snow.  Not sure in the amounts yet.
Jen's excitement meter:  8 - Could we get a day off???  3 day weekend,  3 day weekend, come on everyone chant with me....3 day weekend

So I run my errands with the family of course.  Do several loads of laundry, made a home made pizza with the codster, put some ribs in the oven - baking slowly of course, go outside in the unusually warm 50 degree day to prune back my crepe myrtle - spending a hour to do that, come inside, and fold laundry.  I decided to turn tv on a 5pm to get a quick look at the weather update and wouldn't you know it. Drum roll please.......

Weather forecasters:  Well, we're not sure what this clipper is doing.  We had really warm air today and it looks like it will be fine in the morning, possibly rain changing to snow and possibly end on Tuesday morning.
Jen's excitement meter:  0 - now you are really pissing me off.  I did  all this crap all day long thinking tomorrow would be a fun day in the snow with Cody and now you are talking rain?  Maybe snow?  What happened to the 3-6 inches?  Oh my goodness, why do I fall for this every single year?
So, I'm going to watch tv one more time tonight.  I'm going to give them one more chance.

But right now, I'm a steaming.  So we'll see how this all turns out in the morning. 
Goodnight!

Come on Snow!

I'm going to admit it but I'm really ready for one good snow storm.  With the tease of snow yesterday driving home the snow turned to sleet at times during my drive.  I kind of thought, what a waste to see it snow but yet be to warm to stick.

I know, sounds crazy coming out of my mouth, the sun goddess, but...today Cody and I went grocery shopping and my pantry is stocked.  Well maybe its still missing a few items from Costco but all and all, it's stocked.  I got out the crock pot and found a new recipe I thought I would try.   It's suppose to be chicken stroganoff and its just about done.  I put some croissants in the oven and I even made chocolate chip cookies so to me, with all this cooking and baking, the snow has got to come.

A few years back, we had a snow mageddon.   I don't remember all the details but we were off almost a week, snowed in and I loved it.  Every single minute.  Cody was just a little toddler and Ken went out and shoveled all the snow from the driveway and sidewalk.  Nothing major, we had a townhouse at the time so it was so much easier than now but I swear there must have been 20 inches or so.  So to him, it must have practically killed him to shovel that much snow.  I should post a photo.

Anyway, it was nice cause we had our food and best of all we had each other to spend time with and it was so much fun.  Since Cody was a toddler, he took naps so I got some R & R too.  Ahh the memories.

So if I could just get one blizzard this winter, I'd be happy.  To  just shut everything down, slow down and relax, that would be such a dream.

P.S.  My boys didn't like the chicken strganoff.  They liked the concept but didn't like the taste of the cream sauce.  So I'm a little bummed.  Even though the crockpot did all the work, I still had to mix the ingredients, time it, cook the noodles and broccoli and put it all together in the end.  Don't plan to use this recipe again but it was worth a try.

Are you kidding?

Cody's school - 2 hour delay
My work - 2 hour delay
and a few minutes later...
Cody's school - closed

Oh brother, are you kidding me?  It's just raining out.  Ughh!
So that's the verdict from all the weather drama the forecasters were hyping up.  Yes, we got some freezing rain but by the time it was 8 am, the temps started to rise and the freezing rain turned to plain old rain.  It was nice to get a 2 hour delay for work.  But the 2 hour delay for Cody's elementary school turned to a school closing kind of frustrated me.  Not that I want children's safety put at risk but our county is very large.  I say the more populated areas can open school and the more rural areas can miss school.  But the problem is that the teachers don't all necessarily live near the schools so how do you account for that?

Well, just 2 more months and winter (cross my fingers) will be over!

Freezing rain or just plain rain?

That is the question that faces me tonight.

What do I want you ask?  No rain at all, in fact I would love to have it be 80 degrees and sunny.  But nope, it's winter here in Virginia and the weather is so unpredictable.  This morning I watched the news and guess what, yup you did, a potential wintery mix is in store for the Northern Va commuting area and yup, you guessed it again, during rush hour.  What we're going to get is as good as a guess as mine.  It will either be rain or freezing rain depending on the temps.  I of course am rooting for rain since last weeks drama had me take a day off from work and I seriously just don't feel like slipping and sliding all over the roads tomorrow and I certainly don't want to get in a car accident.

So, I guess we'll see how things go in the morning but I can almost guarantee that if there is freezing rain, the schools won't open due to the madness and the uproar from parents last week.

So shall we flip a coin?  Heads it's rain, tails its freezing rain.
FLIP
Turn, turn, turn up in the air
Hit the ground and roll
Landing on......

TAILS

Oh crap! 

SNOW!!!

Normally I would be jumping for joy with the possibility of a snow day.  But, since I just got back from taking off a few days from work during the holidays I thought, lets wait awhile to take leave again.  But of course, mother nature had other ideas in mind.

So here we were on a Monday night, going into Tuesday.  The forecasters called for a dusting to maybe 3 inches and those 3 inches of course would be to the north and west of DC.  In this particular snow fall, west meant west of I-81 and north meant Northern Maryland/Pennsylvania.  So I wasn't even getting the least bit excited.  And even though the forecasters said the weather would start around rush hour, I didn't pay it no mind.

Fast forward to 5am.  I get up and yup, there's a dusting.  But no schools are closed and work is open so I proceed to get ready.
6 am, I get Cody up.  Our school is still open, work is still open yet I'm starting to see some sort of accumulations.
6:30 ish, Ken calls me and tells me the roads are really slippery and to be careful.  Humm....
7:00 am, Schools still open, work still open...guess we are going to head out soon.
7:30 am, Heading out the door.  Wow, this stuff is really coming down and geez, there is a lot on the ground.  I slowly drive down the road toward the school and Belmont Ridge is packed and the turn lane to Cody's school is filled with no one going no where.  Since we were stuck, I took a photo with my phone.

7:45 am,  I see an entire group of people with children cross the road toward the elementary school.  A bunch of cars including me had the chance to turn left toward the school.  We're actually going to be late today.  I can see the school but I can't pull over.  All I can do is wait in the line of cars and eventually get him there.  I called work and told them I was on my way in.  My co-worker laughed and said see you in 1 1/2 hours.  Is he crazy?

I finally dropped Cody off and headed toward work.  My car started to fish tail a little.  I was only going about 5 mph if that.  What's going on?  I came to the end of the street and had to stop.  Unfortunately, my street had a slight incline and my car got stuck.  It wouldn't go up the teeny tiny hill.  Don't tell me I'm going to get stuck here.  Oh crap, I don't have my shovel in my car with me.  Well, thank goodness I'm dressed for the snow.  Boots, hat, gloves and snow jacket.  Finally after reversing and forward, reversing and forward, my car got unstuck and I was able to make a right turn.  Yup a right turn straight into traffic.  Well, I've gotten myself in a dilemma right now.  I can't turn left cause the snow plows didn't plow the very small intersections so I know if I make a left where no one has driven yet,  I'll get stuck.  And I can't make a right because that will take me through a housing development that's not connected to my development and with it not being plowed yet again puts me in a pickle.  So I decided to stay put in my lane till I got to the traffic light and then instead of making a left turn, I will just make a U-turn, heading back to the house.  There is no way, I'm driving to work in this crap. 

So that's what I did.  It took me approximately 1/2 hour to drive maybe a mile.  And then I turned around and it probably only took about 15 min to get home and that was still driving around 5-10 mph.  Of course as I'm driving home, there is a car stuck in my lane on a hill so I had to change lanes maintaining my speed to go around and make it up the hill myself which I really didn't think I would be able to do it.  Funny how you never notice these little hills until snow and ice come in to play.

As I made it pass the car and onto my street, I was just about home.  The teenagers were outside at the bus stop waiting for their  bus.  Suddenly, 3 of them decide they want to cross the street right when I'm driving by.  I honked on my horn so loud.  It was like they had no clue what was wrong.
HELLO IDIOTS!!!  I CAN NOT STOP MY CAR!!!

Oh I was so pissed.

So when I finally got home I had to let out a huge sigh of relief.  I just couldn't believe how poorly the Camry handled in this weather.  I was also shocked at how bad the weather was.  Visibility was poor and it was accumulating much quicker thank anticipated.  So I jumped on FB and I turned on TV and it was utter madness.  Parents were pissed that schools weren't canceled.  Weather forecasters were saying they warned us this would occur during rush hour, accidents were all over the place, including school buses and it was taking people 1 1/2 - 3 hours to get to work.  Wow, by my car sliding all over the place, maybe it was a good thing that I turned around and went home when I did.
Ken made it to work with no issues since he did leave early.  But those who left after 7:30am were doomed to have a long commute today.

So, as the day went on, I was frustrated.  I had to take off from work, not because I wanted to but because I had to and the fact that Cody wasn't home to enjoy his 1st official snow of 2015 was a little annoying too.  I didn't rest today because I had to shovel the snow so Ken could get in the driveway when he got home.  I guess the one thing good about today was I did take some photos to chronicle the event and I did end up walking over to Cody's school to pick him up (there was no way I was driving today) and in fact, he thought it was cool that we were walking home too. 

The walk home was very nice.  The cold air and snow brought back the kid in me.  Cody had to throw snow balls of course.  When we got home, our neighbor June and daughter Natalie came outside which made Cody thrilled!  The kids played while us moms chatted about what a crazy day it was.

So, lets see how the day will play out tomorrow since the temps are suppose to really drop to all time lows.