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Showing posts with label something completely different. Show all posts
Showing posts with label something completely different. Show all posts
Friday, September 20, 2013
Royal Dog
Friday, September 13, 2013
Ink
LK's son, my dear stepson, is a tattoo artist. While in Pittsburgh, LK and I took an afternoon to get some ink.
Can you tell what this is?
LK and I got matching tattoos. This is something that Princess started when she was really little.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Forever and ever and never stop?"
"Forever and eve and never stop..."
Princess is holding off on her tattoo. ;)
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Forever and ever and never stop?"
"Forever and eve and never stop..."
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Creative Play
A cannon, 4 coasters, a pig with a stack of pancakes, Skylanders, a fairy house with beanbags inside and Tinker Bell. Hmmmm . . . .
I have no idea what happened here, but I'm certain it was a lot of fun.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Tea Time
It totally works!! You see, I got this beautiful teapot a few years ago. It was a wonderful gift and I love it. The thing is, it doesn't stay hot. Disappointing, I know! I would only use it when sharing tea with a friend. I started searching and searching for teapot warmers only to find mixed reviews and then I'd have to keep buying candles for it. I wanted some way to keep my tea hot so that I could make myself a pot of tea and enjoy the whole pot hot.
I got to thinking . . . what if I choose the smallest burner on the stove and put it on the lowest flame possible? It was a risk, but I thought that if I could put it on a candle why not try this?! And it totally worked. Hot tea for me!
Disclaimer: I offer no guarantee that this will work for you. Attempt at your own risk.
I got to thinking . . . what if I choose the smallest burner on the stove and put it on the lowest flame possible? It was a risk, but I thought that if I could put it on a candle why not try this?! And it totally worked. Hot tea for me!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Lucky Me
This is my daughter.
I get to spend everyday with her. I get to hold and hug and kiss and snuggle and tickle and love her. I get to play and laugh and cry and argue and talk and whisper with her. I get to stay home with her. I get to go out with her. I get to take her places. I get to see the world through her eyes. I get to experience her firsts. I get to experience things with her for the first time, again. I get to be her mom everyday.
I am sad that those moms don't get to do that anymore. My heart breaks for them. My soul cries for them. And I wish there was some way to give them back what has been taken away.
I am sad that those moms don't get to do that anymore. My heart breaks for them. My soul cries for them. And I wish there was some way to give them back what has been taken away.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Ho, Ho, Ho?
As we do every year, we went to visit Santa so that Princess could ask him for her Santa gift. This year was just a little bit different than past years. This Santa was rather snarky, rude and grumpy. What ever happened to jolly St. Nick?!
Santa asked Princess if she was "minding her momma" and she said no. She had no idea what he meant, so I explained to her that he was asking if she listened to me. He asked what she should do if I tell her to jump and when she said "Jump?", he said no, you should ask how high. He asked her if she ate her vegetables (she doesn't). He asked her if she cleans up her room when I tell her to (I don't tell her to, although I may ask her to.). He told her that if she wants to be on Santa's "nice list" she needs to do all these things otherwise she'll go on the naughty list . . . or maybe Santa will just come whoop her because he's "old school".
Finally, Princess got to ask Santa for what she wanted from him. We explained that we celebrate Hanukka, but also that LK would be out of town during Hanukka so we were moving Hanukka and would he please bring her present during the time we are celebrating. He then started questioning if we "go to Shabbat" every week. Well, Shabbat is a day, not a place. I didn't bother explaining, I just said yes.
WTH?!?! I jumped in throughout the conversation, trying to move past what he was saying and make light of it. I don't want Princess' memories of Santa to be a bad experience.
Santa obviously had no clue who he was talking to. If I told Princess to jump, I would certainly hope that she would ask me why and not just follow random and ambiguous requests. After all, we are the radical unschoolers. We believe that being a child doesn't mean that she isn't a complete person. If I told LK or a friend to jump, I would certainly expect them to question it. Princess should question these things as well. I certainly don't want her following requests of adults simply because they are adults. Question everything.
And I'm assuming he was asking about going to synagogue every week, well being Humanistic Jews and atheists, no . . . we don't. LK said Santa was lucky he wasn't there. My goal was to keep the whole experience a positive one. I think I did that.
Santa asked Princess if she was "minding her momma" and she said no. She had no idea what he meant, so I explained to her that he was asking if she listened to me. He asked what she should do if I tell her to jump and when she said "Jump?", he said no, you should ask how high. He asked her if she ate her vegetables (she doesn't). He asked her if she cleans up her room when I tell her to (I don't tell her to, although I may ask her to.). He told her that if she wants to be on Santa's "nice list" she needs to do all these things otherwise she'll go on the naughty list . . . or maybe Santa will just come whoop her because he's "old school".
Finally, Princess got to ask Santa for what she wanted from him. We explained that we celebrate Hanukka, but also that LK would be out of town during Hanukka so we were moving Hanukka and would he please bring her present during the time we are celebrating. He then started questioning if we "go to Shabbat" every week. Well, Shabbat is a day, not a place. I didn't bother explaining, I just said yes.
WTH?!?! I jumped in throughout the conversation, trying to move past what he was saying and make light of it. I don't want Princess' memories of Santa to be a bad experience.
Santa obviously had no clue who he was talking to. If I told Princess to jump, I would certainly hope that she would ask me why and not just follow random and ambiguous requests. After all, we are the radical unschoolers. We believe that being a child doesn't mean that she isn't a complete person. If I told LK or a friend to jump, I would certainly expect them to question it. Princess should question these things as well. I certainly don't want her following requests of adults simply because they are adults. Question everything.
And I'm assuming he was asking about going to synagogue every week, well being Humanistic Jews and atheists, no . . . we don't. LK said Santa was lucky he wasn't there. My goal was to keep the whole experience a positive one. I think I did that.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Wakeup Call
I've been holding on to this post for a while now, not sure if I should publish it. I'm still uncertain, but here goes.
For months I had been feeling overwhelmed. Working 30+ hours a week, along with Princess' schedule, running a household and going to crossfit . . . I was going from 6:45am until 10pm (or later) everyday, and still not getting it all done. I was over the top stressed out. I kept talking about cutting back my work hours, but instead I just stayed stressed and kept on going.
Then on September 6th I went for my annual physical, did the fasting blood work and found that the numbers prove that my Paleo lifestyle does indeed keep me healthier than my former way of eating. Cholesterol is looking great! Blood sugar is great! But that mole on the back of the left upper arm, well, it looks a little suspicious. Let's schedule an appointment to have it removed and biopsied.
October 8th the mole was removed. October 10th I got a call that I had to go in to the doctor's office tomorrow for results. Uhm, no. You have to tell me over the phone what exactly is going on or I need to come in to the doctor's office right now. The doctor called within 15 minutes. They don't like to do this over the phone, but . . . "you have a melanoma".
October 11th, on to doctor #2, the dermatologist, who does a mole check. Everything looks good. But when we have a melanoma this size (over 1 millimeter, mine was 1.02) we recommend surgery.
October 16th, on to doctor #3, the surgeon. We're going to go out about 2 centimeters from the location in all directions, draw an ellipse and cut that giant piece out of your arm. But before we do that, we are going to have you go to Nuclear Medicine and have them inject some radioactive dye (seems counterintuitive doesn't it?) around the site. Then they'll spend the next couple of hours tracking where that dye goes, using a gamma ray camera, and taking pictures. Once we see where that tracks to (which lymph nodes) we're going to remove those lymph nodes while we're cutting the giant chunk out of your arm.
October 22nd, to the hospital. Not much to tell. The radioactive dye injections sting like the dickens! Going through the gamma ray camera picture extravaganza was no fun and rather claustrophobic. Then on to surgery. I remember climbing onto the operating table, getting an IV and having something injected into the IV. The next thing I recall is waking up back in the area I started in. As soon as I was able to eat rice crackers (thank goodness they had a gluten free option) and drink water and walk around they let me go home.
October 30th, back to the surgeon for a post operative check and results of the biopsy. The arm looks good. One of the lymph nodes looks good. The other lymph node, well, we're not sure. It seems there's a tiny thing (only a few cells), could be nothing, but after passing it around to all the experts nobody is willing to go out on a limb and say it's nothing based on the fact that you had that melanoma. We're sending it off to some guru to look at and it will likely be 2 more weeks before we hear what he has to say.
November 13th, back to the surgeon again to have the sutures removed and to find out what the guru said. And the answer is . . . melanoma and a referral to an oncologist.
November 19th we got some answers at the oncologist office. It was a lot of information to take in. He gave us a lot of opportunity to ask questions. It wasn't until later that evening that I really began to have more of an understanding of what we had just heard. Bottom line, there is a 3% chance for other melanomas under in other lymph nodes under my arm. So we decide, do more surgery to check some more lymph nodes or not. He suggested that if we will obsess over it and lose sleep over it, have the surgery, but if we feel okay about it we can elect not to. We are electing not to. Chances of melanoma reoccurrence are in the 20% range. I have to go for regular skin/mole checks at least every 6 months for 5 years.
The thing is, the guru's opinion of melanoma was not conclusive, but it's safer for him to say melanoma to cover his butt. The oncologist is on a melanoma board of doctors and he plans to share the slides of my cells with them. Who knew my cells would be so interesting?!
When this all started, somehow I knew that the original mole would come back as a melanoma, but I also knew that everything would be fine.
And now, I've cut back my work hours (I am so grateful that I work for such an amazing company.) and I am consciously taking some down time and taking time to take care of me. I'm taking more time to spend with Princess and LK and with friends. I'm doing things I haven't done in ages. I plan on sticking around for a very long time and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.
For months I had been feeling overwhelmed. Working 30+ hours a week, along with Princess' schedule, running a household and going to crossfit . . . I was going from 6:45am until 10pm (or later) everyday, and still not getting it all done. I was over the top stressed out. I kept talking about cutting back my work hours, but instead I just stayed stressed and kept on going.
Then on September 6th I went for my annual physical, did the fasting blood work and found that the numbers prove that my Paleo lifestyle does indeed keep me healthier than my former way of eating. Cholesterol is looking great! Blood sugar is great! But that mole on the back of the left upper arm, well, it looks a little suspicious. Let's schedule an appointment to have it removed and biopsied.
October 8th the mole was removed. October 10th I got a call that I had to go in to the doctor's office tomorrow for results. Uhm, no. You have to tell me over the phone what exactly is going on or I need to come in to the doctor's office right now. The doctor called within 15 minutes. They don't like to do this over the phone, but . . . "you have a melanoma".
October 11th, on to doctor #2, the dermatologist, who does a mole check. Everything looks good. But when we have a melanoma this size (over 1 millimeter, mine was 1.02) we recommend surgery.
October 16th, on to doctor #3, the surgeon. We're going to go out about 2 centimeters from the location in all directions, draw an ellipse and cut that giant piece out of your arm. But before we do that, we are going to have you go to Nuclear Medicine and have them inject some radioactive dye (seems counterintuitive doesn't it?) around the site. Then they'll spend the next couple of hours tracking where that dye goes, using a gamma ray camera, and taking pictures. Once we see where that tracks to (which lymph nodes) we're going to remove those lymph nodes while we're cutting the giant chunk out of your arm.
October 22nd, to the hospital. Not much to tell. The radioactive dye injections sting like the dickens! Going through the gamma ray camera picture extravaganza was no fun and rather claustrophobic. Then on to surgery. I remember climbing onto the operating table, getting an IV and having something injected into the IV. The next thing I recall is waking up back in the area I started in. As soon as I was able to eat rice crackers (thank goodness they had a gluten free option) and drink water and walk around they let me go home.
November 13th, back to the surgeon again to have the sutures removed and to find out what the guru said. And the answer is . . . melanoma and a referral to an oncologist.
November 19th we got some answers at the oncologist office. It was a lot of information to take in. He gave us a lot of opportunity to ask questions. It wasn't until later that evening that I really began to have more of an understanding of what we had just heard. Bottom line, there is a 3% chance for other melanomas under in other lymph nodes under my arm. So we decide, do more surgery to check some more lymph nodes or not. He suggested that if we will obsess over it and lose sleep over it, have the surgery, but if we feel okay about it we can elect not to. We are electing not to. Chances of melanoma reoccurrence are in the 20% range. I have to go for regular skin/mole checks at least every 6 months for 5 years.
The thing is, the guru's opinion of melanoma was not conclusive, but it's safer for him to say melanoma to cover his butt. The oncologist is on a melanoma board of doctors and he plans to share the slides of my cells with them. Who knew my cells would be so interesting?!
When this all started, somehow I knew that the original mole would come back as a melanoma, but I also knew that everything would be fine.
And now, I've cut back my work hours (I am so grateful that I work for such an amazing company.) and I am consciously taking some down time and taking time to take care of me. I'm taking more time to spend with Princess and LK and with friends. I'm doing things I haven't done in ages. I plan on sticking around for a very long time and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Ransom Note
We had a bit of windy weather a while back and we ended up with the neighbors umbrella in our back yard. We could have just returned it or let them know it was there, but what fun would that have been? Instead, we left a ransom note.
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The umbrella disappeared, so they must have come over to get it. We can only hope they were as amused as we were.
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We have your umbrella.
Place $1.27 in unmarked one dollar bills in an envelope on my porch if you want to see it again.
(or you can come get it out of our back yard) ;-)
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The umbrella disappeared, so they must have come over to get it. We can only hope they were as amused as we were.
Monday, November 19, 2012
At Least 10 Inches
Princess has always had long hair. She was born with a full head of hair and while she's had it cut a few times, it hasn't been significant. The longer it gets, the harder it is to take care of and Princess has never been able to brush her own hair.
After a lot of careful thought and consideration, Princess made the decision to cut her hair . . . a lot. Having made that decision, we talked about cutting enough to be able to donate. We found 4 places to donate. Princess reviewed them all, narrowed down to 2 and finally chose Locks of Love. They require a minimum of 10 inches.
So cute! And she loves it! AND she can brush her own hair now.
After a lot of careful thought and consideration, Princess made the decision to cut her hair . . . a lot. Having made that decision, we talked about cutting enough to be able to donate. We found 4 places to donate. Princess reviewed them all, narrowed down to 2 and finally chose Locks of Love. They require a minimum of 10 inches.
 |
| That's some looooohohohohong hair! |
 |
| Snip, snip, snip! (Eek!) |
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Crossfit Princess
On August 1st I officially signed up at a Crossfit box. No, we don't call them gyms. I drank the Koolaid folks and was totally hooked. I workout 4 times a week and some days, Princess goes with me and hangs out while I do the WOD (workout of the day). She was so inspired by me, she wanted to start working out herself.
There is a workout class at Village Home called Strong, Fit Kids that Princess loves. She wanted more! Hey...maybe she drank the Koolaid, too? ;) She started at my crossfit box doing Crossfit Kids every week. A few weeks ago, I shot some video of her doing her WOD.
Ball slams, burpees, 50 meter run and do it all again!
I have always wanted to be an inspiration for Princess to be healthy and fit. I'm so glad I've found something I am passionate about. It may have taken me a long time to find it, but I learned something. It's never too late.
There is a workout class at Village Home called Strong, Fit Kids that Princess loves. She wanted more! Hey...maybe she drank the Koolaid, too? ;) She started at my crossfit box doing Crossfit Kids every week. A few weeks ago, I shot some video of her doing her WOD.
Ball slams, burpees, 50 meter run and do it all again!
Row, Princess, row!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Slow Cooker Short Ribs
I don't usually post recipes, but these turned out so well, I just had to share. The photo isn't the best, even edited, but these ribs taste AMAZING . . . if I do say so myself.
Ingredients:
· 1 tsp salt
· ½ tsp black pepper
· 2-3 lbs beef short ribs
· 1 Tb bacon grease
· 1 onion, chopped
· ¾ cup red wine
· 1 cup apple cider vinegar
· ⅓ cup honey
· 1 tsp. Tabasco
· 1 jar (7 oz.) tomato paste
· ¾ cup beef stock
· ¼ cup GF Worcestershire sauce
· ¼ cup Coconut Aminos
· 1 tsp chili powder
· 3 cloves of garlic, minced
Season short ribs with s & pBrown in a hot pan w/bacon grease
Remove ribs to slow cooker
sauté 1 chopped onion
add remaining ingredients to pan and bring to a boil
pour over ribs
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or if short on time like I was, on high for 2 hours, then low for 4 hours.
Give them a try and let me know what you think!
Instant Pot modification:
set IP to sauté
brown ribs in IP with bacon grease
remove ribs
sauté onion until soft
add remaining ingredients and bring to a bubble
add ribs back to IP
Turn IP off sauté and set manual for 45 minutes
The sauce thickened so beautifully! We're going to use it to make Sloppy Joes.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Going Batty
We were out on the back deck the other day, something hit the window and fell. It turned out to be a bat! It was a little stunned, so I was able to move in and take some photos.
It started moving around and perking up after a few minutes
and then . . .
. . . it found its intended target. When we first saw this little guy, we thought that perhaps we should put up a bat house. Apparently, he's already found a home in the eaves of the deck roof.
and then . . .
Monday, July 23, 2012
Getting Cozi
No, it's not a spelling mistake or a typo. Cozi is an online family calendar, shopping list, to-do list, journal and more! It's also available as an iPhone and Android app. I am receiving nothing for posting this, we just think it's that awesome.
We have been looking for a family calendar and shopping list, something we can share easily across devices and that updates in "the cloud". We knew it had to exist somewhere, but hadn't been able to find it and gave up looking.
I was at my friend Gypsy Mama's house and she thought of something for her "to-do list" and mentioned Cozi as she typed it in. Intrigued, I asked about it and learned that this was exactly what we were looking for . . . and more!
We can assign calendar items to Princess, LK, me and even the royal dog or any combination of us. We maintain a separate shopping list for each store we frequent and we each have our own to-do list as well as a combined to-do list. There's even a menu planner (online only) and a place to save your favorite recipes (online only). There's a journal that I had no intention of using, but Princess discovered it and has begun posting photos and thoughts to it. Super cool! Best of all, it's all FREE! Of course there's an upgraded ad-free version available for purchase, if you prefer.
Head on over to Cozi and check it out!
We have been looking for a family calendar and shopping list, something we can share easily across devices and that updates in "the cloud". We knew it had to exist somewhere, but hadn't been able to find it and gave up looking.
I was at my friend Gypsy Mama's house and she thought of something for her "to-do list" and mentioned Cozi as she typed it in. Intrigued, I asked about it and learned that this was exactly what we were looking for . . . and more!
We can assign calendar items to Princess, LK, me and even the royal dog or any combination of us. We maintain a separate shopping list for each store we frequent and we each have our own to-do list as well as a combined to-do list. There's even a menu planner (online only) and a place to save your favorite recipes (online only). There's a journal that I had no intention of using, but Princess discovered it and has begun posting photos and thoughts to it. Super cool! Best of all, it's all FREE! Of course there's an upgraded ad-free version available for purchase, if you prefer.
Head on over to Cozi and check it out!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Time to Grow
I didn't write much about the LIFE is Good Conference this year. I didn't go on and on about how awesome it was. I didn't tell you about the amazing connections I made or how energized I felt. I didn't tell you all of these things because none of them happened. What did happen? I felt depressed. I felt anxious. I felt lost. And I wanted to cry.
What was so different about this year from two years ago? Well, for starters I forgot my thyroid med. If you know anything about an under-active thyroid, if you are without meds, it messes with your head. It messed with mine. A lot. Of course, in the throes of it, I didn't realize what it was.
This time I didn't have someone by my side for the whole conference, last time I did. Princess didn't have someone with her to hang out the whole time this time, last time she did. This created anxiety for me.
With all of that, my biggest challenge is that I am shy. Painfully shy. Many people who know me are surprised to find this out, but believe me, it is true. If I'm on my turf, I do just fine. If I'm surrounded by people I know, I do just fine. Put me in a space with a lot of people who I don't know and watch me crawl inside myself. The thing is, I want so much to connect with others I just don't know how to do it.
I saw familiar faces from the unschooling community, people I have on my Facebook friends list, but I couldn't force myself to walk up to them and start talking.
Princess wanted to go off on her own, but she's so little and as my sweet friend "Pink" puts it, Princess is portable and is easily carried off. I would have been fine had she had a friend to hang with, but she didn't. This limited her experience as well. For that I felt horrible. The entire experience was a failure.
You'd think we would never want to go back, right? Wrong. I refuse to live my life this way any longer. I am going to beat this. I am spending my time until Memorial Day weekend (the conference weekend) working on my shyness and my social anxiety. I'm reading books that help with shyness and social anxiety and I'm putting myself out there. I have had several conversations with people, strangers, engaging them in conversation. This is a skill I have never learned . . . until now. I now have a goal for this year and I am going to rock this goal.
We will be back at LIFE is Good and we will have a fabulous experience. My friend Pink has offered to join us next year along with her son who is a very good friend to Princess. Yes, she will be my security blanket but she has offered to help me grow and work this goal. I can do this. I know I can. LIG 2013 is going to be awesome!!!
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