Just the Details

Everyone had a good first day back at school. A little hungry, a little tired, but bubbling with details about their respective days. And the cookies were a huge hit.

We've got a plague of grasshoppers on the farm. Now I appreciate the beauty of nature and I'll sometimes go out of my way to help a creature in distress, but these guys? They're just plain ugly. When I look at them I think of the movie "A Bug's Life", where the grasshopper leader is an evil guy named Hopper and he's a beer-drinking, motorcycle-riding asshole (not that I'm against beer-drinking or motorcycle-riding, just the asshole part). And they make me so mad, leaving their huge bug guts all over my car when I hit them on the highway and literally stripping my plants to nothing. I'm almost ashamed to say that we have great fun using them for target practice with our BB guns, but just almost.

Now who doesn't love a little light saber battle on a beautiful summer evening?

A layout of my sis and me at Mt. Rainier last summer.

Yesterday I signed up for this class with Cathy Zielske.

It's based on the book "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" by Amy Krause Rosenthal, which I read and enjoyed a few years ago. I think it will translate nicely into a scrapbook.

And I am hooked on this show. Thanks Dad.

Mark's mom and grandma are coming for a visit this afternoon. I love an opportunity to get some good pictures of the generations.

Have a great weekend!

There They Go

Does everyone have one of these pictures about now?
The first day back to school.


My crew heading out this morning.

The fifth grader.
Mark hung out with her on the playground until the bell rang.
New school and all.
We met her teacher yesterday and she is fantastic.
Claire will shine.

The first grader.
Mark said this guy jumped out of the truck at drop-off this morning and never looked back.
His "real" teacher is still on maternity leave, so he's got a Mister Teacher for now.

Waving goodbye to the mama standing on the porch.
It was a little too quiet for me after that so I turned the music way up.
The parakeet and me did a little dancing.
Then I grocery shopped and kitchen mopped and it's almost time for them to come home.
They will be warmly welcomed with gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

Art For Your Wednesday

Finishing up with photos that have been waiting patiently in my files.
I'm anticipating the 408 pictures on their way to me from shutterfly.
If I get my hands on some glue tomorrow, you might not see me for awhile.

Happy Wednesday!

Connection Made

This is my little girl, who is a whopping 10 and entering 5th grade. She is growing up so fast. Last week, in preparation for school shopping, she humored me and tried on ALL of her clothes. While we were at it I brought up the subject of girls wearing bras and asked her if she was interested in doing that this year. She said yes. Okay then.

Yesterday we bribed the kids with ice cream if they would accompany us to the dump, and then decided to do our school shopping while we were in town. Claire raised her eyebrows at me and mouthed "bra" and I nodded yes, and then to her chagrin I told Mark out loud and in front of her that we needed to go bra shopping. At the store we found a couple of sizes of a design that Claire liked and she and I headed to the dressing room while the boys wandered to the school supplies. When I got inside Claire would not join me but instead stood outside the door looking at me. "Come on" I said. To which she replied "I want to do it alone."

The girl who hasn't wanted to do one thing alone in ten years is kicking me out of the dressing room. Huh. So I did what any good mom would do; I said "Okay, let me know if you need help" and moved into the hallway. She shut the door and left me standing there, feeling a little sorry for myself and thinking things like how am I going to know if she's smoking crack or pledging sororities if she won't let me in now?

Then when we were walking out together and down the aisle, I had a flashback of being in the same place at a different time, of my mom carrying bras willy nilly through the department store, not even hiding them in any way, while I was mortified and staying five steps behind her. I discreetly rolled the bras around their hangers and crossed my arms over them, and when I found the boys with the cart I nonchalantly slid them in under my purse and started helping Ben pick out markers.

Cancer-free for Another Six Months

Can I get a really loud WOOHOO?

The radiologist has not reviewed my scan yet, but the technician and I were both optimistic about the films. There are some normal congregations of iodine as it passes from my body in the sinuses, bowels, and bladder, but nothing in the neck area or anywhere else. And I'm officially off my diet; I stopped at A&W on the way home and had a cheeseburger, onion rings, and a root beer. It tasted really, really good.

Have a great weekend!

Good News, She's Not Pregnant

On Monday the kids and I had a little get-together with our local phlebotomist. The kids were to be tested for Celiac's and I was to receive a pregnancy test so that I could take my radioactive iodine today. Only the hospital couldn't find the orders that were faxed to them for my pregnancy test and they couldn't reach my doctor, so they drew two vials of my blood anyway and assured me that this would cover any tests my doctor ordered and they would work it out.

I arrived in Spokane this morning to take my pill, but there was a holdup because the nuclear medicine lab could not find my pregnancy test results. We called my doctor, who called the hospital, who didn't know anything about it and said they hadn't seen me since July. It turned into a ridiculous cluster f#$% and in the end I signed a release stating I refused a pregnancy test so I could take the medicine.

When I got home there was a message on the answering machine from the kids' doctor saying the tests looked good, but she needed to speak with me. When we spoke she said "Both the kids are negative on the Celiac's, and you'll laugh when I tell you this, but Claire is not pregnant." Of course, the lab ran the pregnancy test on 10-year-old Claire instead of me, even though her birthdate, which they make you verbally verify before allowing you to leave the lab, was printed clearly on her vial of blood. You really gotta be your own advocate out here!

So I'm radioactive and nauseous and a little on the PMS side of things. Mark took the kids to the woods and out to dinner and I watched Milk, which was sad and made me cry. I wiped my tears and snot with kleenex that I deposited directly into the garbage can and then immediately washed my hands. I think it's going to be a long couple of days.

Your Call Cannot Be Completed As Dialed

First things first: if you're trying to reach us by telephone, give up, it's not working. We're waiting as the phone company "repairs a cable in our area". I'll be checking my email more frequently until it's fixed, so if you need us, type away.

This is my big week of six-month testing for my thyroid cancer. Yesterday and today I received a shot of thyrogen in the ass (ouch, I forgot how much ass shots hurt) and tomorrow I travel to Spokane to swallow some radioactive iodine. My dose is 4mc this time instead of the 100mc I ate in December. I still can't sleep with Mark or cuddle with the kids until Friday, when I again drive to Spokane and have a body scan. Do I even need to say that I hope it's clean?

Last week Mark and the kids attended the Jones Family Campout and left me at home all alone for six days. I did end up missing them while they were gone, but being home alone for that long was so very restorative. I hunkered down and did lots of cleaning and organizing, a bunch of little projects it seems haven't been done since I became a mother of two. And I listened to so much music. And I watched some movies. And I did a little scrapbooking.

I just sent a CD full of european pics to Shutterfly, so I hope there will be lots of new material being created soon.

And since Claire got her ears pierced recently, I bought her some earrings while I was out one day and then made this little frame for keeping them.

Otherwise, we're chugging along at the summer pace. Two weeks until school and then the four of us are traveling with Mark's sister and her family to the Gorge to see Nickelback in concert. First concert for the kids; earplugs?