Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas Every One!

Are you tracking Santa's where-a-bouts? Here's the site we're checking often. Enjoy your night, folks!

Monday, December 22, 2008

All I Needed For Christmas. . .


My girl received this lovely gift from friends at our Girl Scout meeting last Tuesday. She promptly came home and hung it on her wall. Last night before bed, I came in to find a message for me.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Lovey. . .

Friday, December 19, 2008

My Girl. . .



I was fooling around with this picture of SuperGirl on the PhotoShop website, and ended up with this. I love it!

I can't wait to get PhotoShop Elements. :)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me. . .

It was a pretty uneventful birthday for me around here. I actually had to remind my husband it was my day today. I've been needing a new driver's side headlight for about a week now, o.k.? Well, when SuperDad returned home from work at 11 a.m., I couldn't stand it anymore. I was going to go all day if I had to, to see who would remember my birthday without my prompting. I couldn't do it, so I asked him if he got me a new headlight for my birthday. He had the look in his eyes husbands on tv so often do, when they've been caught forgetting something very important. Know what he says? "Is that today?" Lucky for him, I had already received my camera for my birthday and Christmas present. It could have been so much worse. :)

A friend of mine teaches SuperGirl dance and offered to keep both kiddos for a couple of hours for me this evening as a birthday present. Boy, was that overdue. I don't believe we've had a "date" since late April of 04, shortly before SuperBoy's arrival. This hardly wualified as a date, but, hey! I'll take what quiet time I can get.

Hope you've had a blessed day where you are!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Orange Cat. . .What Orange Cat?




The Nutcracker. . .

Here are two pics of SuperGirl from the local Nutcracker Ballet she was in last night and tonight.
As a Spanish Chocolate. . .

As a flower in the Waltz of the Flowers. . .

Receiveing flowers from Daddy after the show. I needed to get a better shot, but it was so busy. He's not able to come to tonight's show, so I had him give them to her last night. I wanted her to (hopefully) remember that her first flowers came from Daddy.

Side note: That would be SuperBoy's jaguar SuperDad is holding. SuperDad doesn't usually carry it around, lol.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Our Christmas Parade. . .

It was a freezing 34 degrees, but it was still so fun! Here are a few of our pictures!

















The kids were on the Dance Barn vehicle, so they missed many of the sites. Hopefully, they'll like these. I know SuperBoy will like the last one, a tow truck with Mater from the Cars movie on the side.

Some of the buildings were fuzzy, but I think they were my favorite. I'll try to get daylight pics of them some time. It was so cold, cameras were freezing up. Enjoy and have some hot chocolate for me!

My Little Man. . .

 
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Friday, December 5, 2008

Playing With Our New Camera. . .



It's funnier when you drag the little dot a little faster. It's really funny if you know the kids. They're total hams. Looks like Christmas pictures will be interesting this year. Forgive the house. I hadn't planned on publishing this. :)

Brain Surgery. . .

This is what I look like with long hair.


Alrighty. Where do we start?

Let's start in 7th grade, shall we? I was a whiz in math. I wasn't a prodigy by any means, but I really enjoyed math. I made straight As. In 8th grade I believe I made As and Bs. In 9th grade geometry, I started having terrible headaches. Very painful and only in math class. I think I was getting Bs and Cs as far as grades went. I'm guessing we attributed it to sinus issues, which we had enough of. In 10th grade Algebra II, I kept having headaches. I eventually started seeing double. Not fun when your lockers are 8" wide. Steps were interesting, too, lol. After telling one of my teachers I couldn't do the homework the night before because I was seeing double, he made fun and said he's seen every color in the rainbow and he was colorblind. Smartass, butI can see where he was coming from. It was a pretty original excuse for not doing homework. :)

I started throwing up shortly after and was treated for the flu. My mom and step-dad plied me with water to "flush" the germs out. Water was not my friend. :)

On December 2nd, 1987, I went back to my former pediatrician and he immediately ordered a CT scan. It came back showing a tumor the size of a tennis ball. We drove the 2.5 hours to the University of Virginia hospital and I was admitted through the ER. It was just my Mom and I and we sat there for HOURS.

Long story shorter, I had most of that tumor removed and it was found to be benign. Just after graduation from high school in 1990, I had surgery June 29th for the removal of a golf-ball size tumor in the same spot. I'm assuming it sprouted from the original.

I was then off to college at Wheeling Jesuit in the fall of 1990. Shortly after arriving, I discovered my forehead/temple area was a little squishy. After checking in with my aunt's neurosurgeon, we discovered I had an infection from the previous surgery in June. I immediately (same day) traveled back to UVA from Wheeling, WV to have surgery again. The docs cleaned me out and left a 3x3" or so piece of bone out and I had to wear a helmet. College kids aren't near as kind as I'd assumed they would be, so I had to write "SURGERY VICTIM" across the front to keep from getting odd looks. I think they all thought I was missing my bike or something. :) It made for fun tricks with my brain though. I could put my hand over my softspot and hang my head upside down. This created a sinking of my brain into that spot, which grossed out many a fellows. In early January of 1991, I returned to have the bone put back in place.

Fast forward 7 years and a new surgeon in Roanoke, VA, 3 hours away. I was sick of seeing residents at UVA and getting rude remarks as far as radiation exposure. My now-husband and I were moving in to this house and I had called my doc to let him know I'd been feeling this needle-like sensation in the top of my head. He tells me to get down to Roanoke ASAP. I was in the-hold-your-horses-doc mode, but relented and headed to Roanoke anyway.

This would now be surgery number 5. Turns out UVA must have wired me back together with twisty ties when they put my bone flap back in. Bone flap. Doesn't that sound awful? Seems like there should be a hinge or something on there. Seems a twisty tie was poking through my scalp, creating the needle-like sensation and poking into the top layer of my brain. Anywho, my new doc took the bone flap out again and left another sink hole for a few months. Again. I went back and he put in a piece of methomethacrolate (sp?), which he said could survive an atom bomb. Which does me how much good? Here's another possible spelling and definition. After inserting my new jack-o-lantern (to prevent shifting) shaped faux bone flap in out-patient surgery, he tied it and my skull back together with silk, to prevent it from poking into my brain/scalp again.

After the last one was an out-patient surgery, I asked him to just install a zipper for office visits. He wasn't going for it.

I still have MRIs every 2-3 years as a precaution in case anything decides to turn malignant. I've been very blessed so far, and not had anything more than surgery. As much as I would love to grow my hair out, I keep it short. I'm sort of superstitious about it, since it seems like I get it all shaved off if I try to grow it out, lol.

I hope this explains some of what you may have been wondering. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'm an open book.

As for the math mentionings earlier, it turns out that was a sign. I wasn't able to process the math problems as I had before with a tennis-ball size tumor taking up residence. Who knew?

Hard to believe it's been 21 years and a day.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

21 Years Today Since My First (of 6) Brain Surgeries!



Totally unrelated, but I thought I'd give you a picture. :)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Today's Garfield. . .


click to enlarge

Friday, November 28, 2008

My Boy. . .

Tutu Mock-Up. . .


I'm working on some tutus for the Nutcracker that SuperGirl is in in mid-December. Here's the test run. Actually, it's test number 2. :) Only 8 more to go!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

New Scarf!



I finished it this morning and may put it into the etsy shop. Do you like it? I feel like it would get too hairy from our pets if I kept it. Either that, or SuperGirl would steal it. :)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Rachel's Apron!

Here's Rachel's apron done in Heather Bailey's Pop Garden fabric. I would love to decorate my home with all of her fabric. It's wonderful!






Friday, November 14, 2008

Introducing.......Aspen Simone. . . .

Meet Aspen the cast-iron pig. She'll be going with her knew owner in just a few hours over a couple of mountains to her new home. I bought her for my friend because she LOVES all things when-pigs-fly related.



My idea, goofy as it maybe, is to make a photocopy of one of these Aspen shots and send her to folks willing to show her their area/town. It would be much like Flat Betty or Flat Stanley. I guess that would make her Flat Aspen. LOL! Sorry, mind-in-the-gutter moment. Speaing of which, her name sounds like a pole dancer, which is why I couldn't name my daughter this. So yes, I'm now living vicariously through a cast-iron pig.




Which picture would you choose? Please let me know if you would like to show Aspen around and I'll get her ready!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tap, tap, tap, anyone out there?

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofn8-3SWd8M"
O.k., so the last couple of posts haven't been really busy with comments. So today I thought I'd throw you a curveball. It wasn't my intention, really, but my husband received this and I thought I would do my duty and pass it on. :) It may be offensive to some, but please know I don't mean it to be. I do guarantee you will laugh.

Sorry Mom, I know you raised me better than this. If it makes you feel better, child number one hasn't seen it. :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Once Upon A Drive. . .

Random shots from our drive this afternoon trying to get SuperBoy to nap (no success).
From this morning. Fletch is still suffering with his neurosis. He says he can quit anytime he wants.


A pretty farm I came across on our drive. Love it! The trees were so pretty.


A calf that wasn't so pleased to see us. For this I got to see both ends of the animal at the same time. :)


Guido the Cat. I stopped to ask someone where they purchased their curtains and discovered this guy off of the drive-way near their back door. I learned his name is Guido because the older owners have two cats with long names and the husband said if they ever got another cat it would have to be a male named Guido. There you go. This cat is 6 feet tall and weighs 800 lbs. She said if we came back in a few days, she'd have a pilgrim hat on him for the holidays. Who can resist that!?!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Magical Apple Pie Filling. . .

We made Brin's Magical Apple Pie Filling earlier today. It says it's good for a beginner. I beg to differ. Maybe she meant "Good for a beginner with no children". It also doesn't help that I'm a canning virgin. Well. Not really. I watched Herbalina can some yesterday. Here are some shots of our afternoon. I plan to do another batch tomorrow.

SuperGirl, helping me stir.

Peelings from the first 20 apples. . .

Kitchen table, plus a Toys'R'Us gift mag, confiscated from the mail by the wee people.

Apple yumminess. That's a word, right?

How not to make the sauce. This is my second batch. The first batch, I heated while I finished cutting the apples. By the time I got back to the pot, it was already sticking to the bottom and no fun to stir. So this batch above, I poured everything into the hot water, corn starch included. Yeah. I forgot it helps to stir the cornstarch into some warm water to dissolve it before I cook with it. These were popcorn-size pieces that refused to dissolve.

They look so good before they go into the canning pot. The third batch of sauce worked like a charm.

After I removed them from their 20minute water bath, 4 of the 5 oozed their innards out. Not a delightful sight. Not on my first ever batch. Anywho, at Herbalina's recommendation, I put the ones that didn't seal back in for another round. That ended up being 4 of the 6. After I pulled those out, I had to give the last 2 a third bath. After they were all squeaky clean, only one didn't seal. Good golly, was that a LOT of work for 6 quarts. Let's say a prayer that the last 6 go much more smoothly. . .

More pictures to come. . .