A Post...can you believe it?

Ahhhhh, feeling much better. The "make ya feel better" meds have kicked in and I'm wearing a pain patch to help with the post surgery/detox headaches. And lastly, I have a wonderful RX that makes me sleep like a baby. It doesn't sound like it, but yes, I'm still doing my detox and taking some holistic supplements. Eventually, I will be off the "hard" stuff, but I had to pick my battles and not try to concur them all at once, because it was driving me and everyone around me crazy.

I know I'm feeling better when the retail therapy bug hits me. I've been shopping on-line for two days.......Halloween costumes, kids fall clothes, bedding etc.

I have a lot of hard speech therapy ahead of me, but my spirits are up and I'm functioning again....hallelujah!

Here are some Tropical Storm Fay pictures and a little visitor we had at the back steps for a few days.

Weekend Pics

Yesterday Nathan was trying to get Reese to swim with him, Reese said no. Nathan turns to me and says, " I wish Reese would swim with me, it's one of the only times I like him." Ha Ha.....brotherly love.

We have such great wild life in our neighborhood. Just this weekend we had two snakes, bunnies and a turtle in our yard. The shot of the deer is from our backyard looking into our next door neighbors backyard. So cool!

Wednesday

Dr. M from Tampa called just minutes after I walked in from dropping off the kids at school. I'm so grateful I didn't have to sit around a wait for the phone to ring. Jake just happened to be home (he is usually out the door by 5am), but had slept in a little bit due to a sore throat and hadn't left yet, so we spoke to the doctor together.

The plan, surgery mid June to take more tongue tissue and replace it with soft tissue from my arm. Even though the recent pathology and scans look reassuringly good they want to be as safe as possible and make sure ALL the "bad cells" (I hate the c word) are gone. And although I really don't want more surgery I know this is the best route and will give me the peace of mind I need to move past this. It's a big surgery, a week in the hospital, but Dr. M says I should have a good recover and full function/speech after healing. No chemo, no radiation! Just surgery, recovery and an awesome summer of fun with my boys! Yippee!

I'm planning on having a lap top with me during my mute days in the hospital so I can email, blog etc. I'm counting on all of you to entertain me!

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The crossing guard at Nathan's school got hit by a car this morning. She was taken away by ambulance as I left the school. I hope she is OK.

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I saw the baby deer this morning. Alone, without it's mommy....for the second time. I watch too much Animal Planet because I called the wildlife hospital for them to check on it.

Update and on to other things

Preliminary results of the PET and CT scans look clear! Now I wait until Wednesday to find out what the plan of action is. Nervous, but enjoying the glimmer of hope Friday brought. Thank you Dr. C for giving me my results right away! Waiting is agony. Keep thinking good thoughts for me!



Good things happening that are keeping me UP.....

1. Reese didn't pick his nose at school Friday.
2. We had the house pressure cleaned and it looks so sparkly white and clean!
3. Nathan finished up soccer and t-ball this weekend. He's awesome at both and it was such a joy to watch him play. He is very proud of his cool trophies.
4. We spent the better part of the day Saturday in the pool, doing yard work and an impromptu splash in our neighbors pool. It felt soooooooo good to hang out without anxiety tugging at me.
5. There has been a baby deer sighting in the neighborhood (we have lots of wooded areas). We went looking for it last night....we just saw 4 adults, but can't wait to see it.
6. Yesterday when we were getting our suits on to swim, Reese was holding my bathing suit top and when I told him I needed it, he looked at me, pointed to my (rock star, $42,000, reconstructed...there are some perks to illness) breasts and said, "To cover those up?"

Happy Earth Day

For two years this bird house in our yard has shown no signs of life until today, Happy Earth Day!

Porch Pics

Inspired by Cooper's Cabana we did some back porch improvements of our own. The steps have finally been added at our new screen door. Poor kids had to make a 2 foot leap for a few weeks. Mocha is now sporting "real" steps out her doggy door instead of the stacked up pavers and bricks she's been used to these last 2 years. And we finally found "that table" we've wanted by the grill and new porch fans. I think it's time for a BBQ.

Did anyone else see Oprah's show about being wasteful? I was so happy she did this show. I think we do pretty good, but I did invest in a water filter dispenser to keep in our garage frig so we can cut down on bottled water. And I vow to only use juice boxes/bottled drinks for school lunches!

Congrats to Jen on her new job!

Bikes and Cranes

I realized something this week. Reese isn't a baby anymore. I mean, I've known he's not a baby anymore, but strangely, this week I've realized he is this little boy doing wonderful little boy things, no longer just along for the ride in whatever it is the rest of us have going on. We went out shopping for a "soccer shirt" (any shirt with a soccer ball on it, preferably in green) yesterday and out to lunch just the two of us. Today, I went to his school to cheer him on in his Trike-a-thon. I'm so proud of the little man he has become and vow to do a better job cheering him on in his little..make that... BIG adventures.






We always know when Spring is around the corner here. Check out these brand new baby cranes we found on a walk through our yard with Mommy and Daddy Crane.

A Recycling First

I feel like a bit of a hypocrite because as much as I think/talk about "saving the earth" I find I'm just beginning to do my part. I had to buy more printer ink because my little computer wizard, Nate, has Googled and printed too many space related images for his collection. He cuts out his images and keeps them in a gallon baggy for a project TBD. We have to ration the paper so we have paper when we need it!

I noticed when I got the ink cartridges home that HP had included a postage paid envelop to send my old cartridges back to them for recycling. How cool is that? I cringe at the number of cartridges I've thrown out. However, I guess I'm like most and unless it's easy we just don't take the time to recycle. I'm getting better at it.

Corn = Plastic

Nathan has started watching "Reading Rainbow" and while I should have been working out I started watching it with him. It was about making plastic from corn. Facinating.

The resin, known as polylactic acid (PLA), will be formed into containers and packaging for food and consumer goods. The trendy plastic has several things going for it. It’s made from a renewable resource, which means it has a big leg up—both politically and environmentally—on conventional plastic packaging, which uses an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the United States. Also, PLA is in principle compostable, meaning that it will break down under certain conditions into harmless natural compounds. That could take pressure off the nation’s mounting landfills, since plastics already take up 25 percent of dumps by volume. And corn-based plastics are starting to look cheap, now that oil prices are so high.
Corn Plastic to the Rescue to read more

Compact Fluorescent Lights

I think most people have heard of the energy saving benefits of using compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's), but did you know the mercury in them is highly toxic. Mercury is the second most toxic naturally occurring substance on earth (Plutonium is the most toxic). If you break a CFL bulb here is what to do:

* Open a window and leave the room for at least 15 minutes
* Remove as much as you can without using the vacuum, wear rubber gloves, scoop up what you can with stiff paper or cardboard, use sticky tape to pick up the remaining small pieces and powder, wipe area clean with damp paper towel and seal all the cleanup materials in a plastic bag.
* Dispose of the bag in your outdoor trash receptacle (unless your state doesn't allow you to put CFL's in the trash...CA, WI, OH, MN, IL, IN, MI).
* Vacuum the area and dispose of the vacuum bag.
- EPA Guidelines

I have to say that when I read this it freaked me out. Thank goodness I've never broken a CFL bulb. We currently have about 30 CFL bulbs in our house so at some point we're likely to break one. I'm still in favor of the energy saving benefits of the CFL's, but I think it's a shame this information about cleaning up from a broken CFL isn't widely known. As for what the bulbs can do to the environment once placed in your outdoor trash barrel....I don't know what to say about that. I checked into recycling these bulbs, but it's pricey and only makes sense if you go through a large number of bulbs within a year....not the case for the average household. I'm guessing it's geared towards businesses.

Recommended by Nate

50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth
by The Earthworks Group

Confessions of a Recycler

I cleaned out the frig this morning. You know, looking for expired salad dressing, ketchup etc. The kind of clean out the frig you know you should do more often. After collecting all the expired stuff, I opened up the trash can and then paused. I knew I should rinse them all out and recycle the containers, but I REALLY didn't want to. Since Nate's interest in the environment we've had to get a second recycle bin to hold all of our recycle loot. Because of his passion and because I knew it was the right thing to do I held my nose, dumped dressing, sour cream, salsa and relish down the disposal, rinsed and then planted every last container in the recycle bin.