Live It: My Thyroid Journey Part 5

You can read the other parts here.

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.

Started off the week of Thanksgiving by meeting with my surgeon for my post-op visit.  He told me that the pathology results had come back and everything was benign.  Thank the Lord!  He said that the nodules turned out to be adenomas which is the exact same thing I had on my liver.  He could not think there was any relation to the two things though.  I told him I had started feeling faint and hot all the time and I was having trouble sleeping.  I wondered if my Synthroid prescription was too high.  He told me to contact my endo to see if they could move up my appointment but explained that even if they did labs on me right then, it was too soon after surgery to get good readings on my blood work.

Over the next two days things were just BAD.  I felt so weak all the time.  My heart started racing and feeling like it was flopping.  It's a very strange feeling to explain but my skin felt very light but under that feeling was a feeling of fastness.  The day before Thanksgiving, I was standing talking to some ladies at work.  I started feeling faint and my heart started feeling like it was flopping and stuttering in my chest.  I sat down to see if that would help.  Then I became very hot and started sweating.  The next minute I was freezing and shaking, and then very hot again and then felt like I was going to be sick.  These feelings kept cycling over and over - hot, cold, hot, sick.

Thankfully my primary is right next door to our office so I went and told them I thought something was going on with my heart.  Blood pressure was fine, pulse was slightly fast.  They did an EKG and it was normal.  They really had no idea what was going on.  I explained about my surgery and had been told there could be the possibility of something called a "thyroid dump".  The PA I was seeing that day had never heard of that before and consulted with the staff.  They suggested I contact my endo and explain what they had done that day and how I was feeling.  After getting back to the office and leaving voicemail for my endo, her nurse called me back. Yes, I was probably experiencing a thyroid dump which is where some of the remaining thyroid hormone stored in the fatty cells of your body start to release.  That gets mixed with the synthetic thyroid by prescription and it results in your body once again having too much thyroid hormone that it can handle.  Symptoms of hyperthyroidism return and all you can really do is wait it out.

I spent the remaining part of the holiday weekend on the couch thinking I was dying.  That is not an over-exaggeration either.  Several times I thought "here comes that heart attack" or thought I should get my behind to an ER quickly.  I was told to temporarily stop my Synthroid for a few days.

I did that and rested a lot, and just as quickly as those symptoms had come, then they were gone.

I woke up the following Monday morning feeling great and have continued to feel good ever since.

I have my next endo appointment next week and they will check my levels through more blood work.  I hope we can find the right level of Synthroid soon and I can start trying to get back to myself.

This was all shared with you as a release for myself to get it all out and as a warning to all that read this to be vigilant of your health.  Like I said earlier, you have to be your own advocate.  If you feel that something is not right with your health, start asking questions, reading, educating yourself.  I had always been the type to do whatever the doctor said, to follow blindly.  The problem with that is in any given medical practice, there are so many patients to each doctor.  Maybe things get missed.  Maybe the doctor you are seeing is not the right doctor for you.  If I had followed my instincts about the first endo I saw, I might could have moved onto another one sooner and found these nodules sooner too.  You know when your body isn't working like it should.

Once you lose your health, it is so very hard to get it back and most of the time getting it back isn't even an option.  Don't just sit there and wish things away.  Make yourself a priority and take care of yourself so you can take care of the ones that depend on you.

Live It: My Thyroid Journey Part 4

Thanks for sticking it out this long.  You can catch up on the whole story.

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.

As with any surgery, you wonder what it will be like.  I had well over a month to think about life after surgery.  I've had other surgeries in the past - liver and gall bladder in 2006 and C-section in 2008.  I can tell you that 2 days after my liver surgery I was sweeping off my front porch.  Again, probably not one of the best decisions ever but I was.  The only downside I had to that surgery was that the pain medication really messed with my mind.  It put me into such depressive thoughts that I was scared to take them ever again.

But what would life without a thyroid be like?  Consulting Google again is not the best idea when dealing with medical issues but I did it anyways.  All I read were accounts of people having their thyroid removed and how their lives were worse than before.  I almost called and cancelled the surgery.

My husband talked me down off the ledge and on Monday, November 9th my thyroid was removed.  We spent one night in the hospital.  How did I feel?

It looked like I had sustained a throat punch from a prize fighter.  My throat hurt so bad on the inside. They had a hard time intubating me, possibly from the size of the left side of my thyroid.  Every movement you make, you have to use your neck so it was pain all the time.  There was a huge, huge hard lump under the incision.  I looked like I had swallowed a shoe.  So I guess you could say I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck.

Recovery was about a week out of work.  I was weak all the time.  I know it was from about a year of no physical activity before the surgery but it was rough.

Once back at work, I tired out easily.  Everything was slow going.  Until the week of Thanksgiving, that is.  That's when things really went south.

Stayed tuned for the final installment of My Thyroid Journey.

Live It: My Thyroid Journey Pt. 3

You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The two options were ablation or surgery.  My endo suggested we go to meet with the surgeon she recommended just to ask him questions and get a feel of what we could expect.  I was not really taken with the idea of doing the ablation honestly.  It seems to be a very strict protocol before the procedure and then isolation afterwards for a few days. While I was continually moody and cranky and tired and could probably use a few days to myself, that still did not sound enjoyable to me.  Surgery really did not either though.

We met with the surgeon and he recommended that he remove the entire thyroid instead of just the side that most of the nodules were on.  He said he could wait to open me up to make that determination and possibly keep the right side intact.  I would probably still be faced with having hyperthyroidism after the surgery and would have to remain on the methimazole.  He did warn me that if the pathology came back and the suspect cells were something to be worried about, I would still be faced with doing ablation to kill the remainder of the thyroid cells.

I definitely did not want to keep taking that medication.  After Hubz and I talked over everything, I decided to do the surgery.  I did not ask him to try to save the right side of my thyroid either.  These cells and this medication put me in the mindset that I just wanted it all out.

Surgery was set for November and I was completely fine until about two weeks before.

Stayed tuned for Part 4 of My Thyroid Journey.

Live It: My Thyroid Journey Pt. 2

You can read Part 1 here.

My hair stopped falling out.  The weight gain did level off.  But I still felt no better.  My primary care doctor wanted me to just have my thyroid removed totally.  If that happened, I would be placed on synthetic thyroid hormone for the rest of my life.  That’s not a really horrible thing but I know that people on it still have a hard time at first getting their levels regulated and weight gain / inability to lose weight is always an issue.  The thyroid controls so much in your body that I could not imagine not having it even if it wasn’t behaving itself.

All along though I knew my primary and this endo were not on the right track.  You know your own body.  You know when it isn’t working correctly.  The one message I want to share and hope that it gets heard is “you are your own best advocate”.  You know when your body is not working at its maximum potential.  You have to be the one to get this across and try to get heard.

I wasn’t being heard.  It was time for a new doctor.  In August, I met with a new endo and within five minutes of talking to her, she said she did not think I really had Graves.  She took me down the hall and did an ultrasound on my thyroid.  She found nodules.  Nodules can make the body act just like Graves does.  This happened within 5 minutes.  If the first endo had done an ultrasound, I could still have all my hair and not have all of this weight gain to deal with.  This is the number one thing that frustrates me the most.  One test and five minutes could have prevented 8 months of overdosing on potentially harmful medication, hair loss, weight gain, wasted days filled with stress, anxiety and fatigue.

The options for treating these nodules would be to either have radioactive iodine ablation where all thyroid cells are killed off or surgery to remove the nodules or the thyroid.  If I did the ablation I would have to stay away from my daughter for 2-4 days.  And with surgery there are all the regular issues surgery brings.

She sent me for an iodine uptake test where basically you take one radioactive iodine pill and come back the next day for imaging scans.  That test showed that I had multiple nodules on my thyroid and one of them had "suspect cells" that they would need to remove and have pathology run on them.

It was time for me to decide how I wanted to be treated.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of My Thyroid Journey.

Live It: My Thyroid Journey Pt. 1

I have been absent for a while while dealing with health issues but it's been pressing on me to write and share this with you all for a few weeks.

Last November after experiencing some scary heart palpitations, I found out I had hyperthyroidism. My primary care physician first told me I had hyperthyroid and Hashimoto’s Disease which, and I could be wrong, but don’t believe you can be hyper and have Hashi’s.  I have no medical degree but I have never seen that before.  I was sent to an endocrinologist and was then told no Hashi’s but I did have Graves Disease.  Oh yes, Graves.  What a great name for a medical condition, right?

Since my thyroid levels were so high, I was put on twice the manufacturer’s recommended dosage of methimazole, the medication given to treat hyperthyroid issues.  This is not a great medication to be on.  It can affect your liver and having already had liver surgery in the past, I was concerned about staying on this for a long period.  The goal was to try and get my body into remission so the meds could be reduced or dropped completely.  Over the next few months though, I gained back the 20 pounds I had lost before I was diagnosed and then another 20 pounds on top of that.  My hair started falling out in clumps.  It truly looked like I was going through chemo or something.  I lost half of my hair.

The medicine had thrown me into medically-induced hypothyroidism.  I felt so fatigued and moody all the time. I didn’t want to do anything or talk to anyone. Trying to make complete sentences some days was really an effort.

I went back to my endo and she was very wishy-washy about it all.  “Maybe the hair will stop falling out soon.”  “Maybe the weight gain will level off soon.”  “Maybe you should take this much dosage or you might need to take this much.”  I got no real answers and felt no better.

So I did what any medically licensed by Google and WebMD person would do.  I stopped taking the medicine.  Completely.

Read Part 2 of My Thyroid Journey tomorrow.

Live It: But for the grace of God go I.

Last week I went in for my yearly mammogram.  I have reached the age where that is a thing now.  I won’t bore you with all the “ouch that crap hurts” because if you have had it done, you know and if you haven’t, you will know.  The pain is fleeting though so go get yours checked out when you are supposed to.

A couple of days after the exam, I was called and told they had found something.  My boob wasn’t symmetrical.  That’s evidently a thing too.  I said there were a lot of things about me that weren’t symmetrical and no one had ever complained before.  I got no laugh out of that line and was scheduled for more films and possibly an ultrasound. 

Fine.

Panic immediately set in.  All the negative thoughts were there.  I envisioned the worst. 

I reached out to a group of ladies that have, for about the past 10 years, been my sounding board.  You might find it funny that I have only actually met one of these ladies face to face.  Yep, the majority are 100% online friends but I know more about them and they know more about me than people we see every day. 

Immediately, I asked the gals to pray for me.  They did.  Thanks Ladies!  They also told me this was very common and nothing to worry about.  This was great to hear but I really didn’t believe it.  My boobs and I have had a love-hate relationship most of my life. First by just marginally showing up enough so my mortified self had to go with my mother to Sears to buy one of those horrid training bras with the pink and blue tennis rackets on the front.  Why tennis rackets?  Why pink and blue?  Why?  Then they solidified their slacker status by not showing up at all in high school when they could have come in handy but waited until I was 19 to make their appearance.  Then they once again let me down when I had Bean and they decided “no milk for you” was their motto.  So I was a bit leary that they were on the “let’s be okay” bandwagon. 

I went this morning and showed my boobies to one more stranger.  She took two boob-smashing photos and left me in another waiting room.  I stayed there for 30 minutes while watching two clueless 20-somethings on House Hunters complain that they couldn’t find their dream McMansion for $120,000.  Ugh.  Young, dumb idiots, and I bet her boobs will never let her down.

Once I found out which house those dummies picked, I was shuttled off to another room by another stranger for an ultrasound.  I was worried for real then.  She lubed me up and proceeded to take 130 pictures.  (Boob:  Dude, it was like 12.)

Then a lovely soft spoken doctor (with one of the nicest ties I’ve seen) and an eager intern came in for a look.  I was told it was just a pocket of cysts.  Praise God!  The boobs hadn’t let me down!  

Yay! 

While I was getting dressed, I said my thanks to God for a clean bill of health and went to get my car.  I used valet because that’s the treat you give yourself when you have to have your boobs smooshed.  As I waited for my car, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks and put all of this nonsensical worrying in perspective.

A child about the same age as Bean in a wheelchair.  The child was totally bald.  I could not tell if the child was a boy or a girl because cancer had ravaged their little precious body of any distinctive gender features.   The child was wrapped up in a blanket and had the maddest look on their face.  They have every right to be mad really.  They just want to be a kid – to run and play and enjoy summer.  The mother was pushing the wheelchair and waiting for their car too.  She had a smile on her face.  I wondered why she didn’t have the same mad look on her face because I probably would have.  I wouldn’t begrudge her that look if she did have it. 

Her baby is fighting the fight of their lives and all she can do is stand there watching.  I pray that I never know what that feels like.  Their car came and she picked the child up like it was a baby, still bundled up and mad, and placed them in the back seat.  Off they went to face another day. 

Here I am – a grown woman just given a clean bill of health.  I get to leave there and go to work and go home and play with my healthy child.  I don’t have to fight a disease that might get the best of me.  Today I don’t have to help my child through the side effects of chemo or radiation.  Yes, my life might not be what I want it to be.  But I have had one.  I’m not seven and facing death at every turn.  I might not have what I want or not been to the places I want to go but I have had the chance. 

I closed my eyes and prayed.  I prayed for that child.  I prayed for that mother.  I prayed for healing for the child and peace for the mother.  I can’t give them my clean bill of health but I can give them my prayers.

Not sure exactly where I’m going with this piece but I just had to share this.  I was so worried about myself and I’m ok.  But then to be faced with this glimpse into a life I wouldn’t wish on anyone just made me feel like I needed to give praise and thanks and beg for something for someone else.  It is true.  No matter how bad you have it, someone always has it worse. 

But for the grace of God go I.

New Labels! Look for them!

I have decided to streamline my blog labels in an effort to make things easier to sort and find.  You will now see blog titles and labels in some type of "It" category.

Read It - book reviews

Make It - DIY and crafts

Eat It - recipes

Bean It - all about Bean

Pink It - opinion pieces, i.e., my twisted outlook

Live It - family life in general

Review It - reviews (that one was hard to figure out, I know)

Celebrate It - holiday posts

Kid It - kid activiites and Bean's crafts

Picture It - take a guess

Save It - frugal-ish posts

Share It - sharing posts

I hope it helps.

How much should you support them?

Bean loves to paint and do crafts.  Her teacher just raved about one of her paintings last week, posting it on her Instagram.  Bean just knows when she grows up she will be an artist - as much as anyone knows what they will do when they are 7.  

She got an idea from her older cousins about starting her own business.  They've started making painted t-shirts and jewelry.  She thought this was wonderful and of course wanted to be like her cousins so she has now decided to start her own business selling her paintings.  She has enlisted her friends at school to make drawings, too.  She came up with a website name and wants me to take her to arts and crafts fairs to set up a booth.  She thinks this is something akin to Girl Scout cookie booths and believes all you have to do is grab a folding table and set it up outside the local BBQ joint for a couple of hours and people will flock to you with money waving.  Minty chocolate wafers are one thing - elementary school art is another.

But she has really put a lot of time into this whole concept.  

The downside is while I think everything is beautiful and rivals Picasso, I know these are paintings, drawings and artwork put together by a 7 year old.  And not a 7 year old prodigy.  Just MY prodigy.  

I know, aside from family, it will be hard to find customers for this business.  I would be reluctant to believe people are going to spend money on these items.  

Am I being too - I don't know - too something?  How do I explain to her that people probably won't buy?  

How do I let her down easy?  Or should I?  I guess I don't want her to get her feelings hurt or get disappointed in her talent.  I do think she is talented but I know I'm Mom, everything she does is great by me.  

BUT AM I NOT BEING SUPPORTIVE?  

How much should I support this right now?  I've told her she needs to keep practicing and I've bought her books, we've watched videos, I signed her up for classes.  All that.  But should I allow her to find some place to sell?  I think that might be too much.  And Lord help anyone that says anything to hurt her feelings if she ever did set up somewhere.  Mama Bear will come out on anyone that makes any disparaging comment.  

I am afraid my hesitations are just that - mine - and not something that should hold her back from what she believes in.  Sometimes though, it's okay to be hesitant, right?  What if I sign her up for some booth and no one buys anything and she gets discouraged.  I think she is the type of personality that if she does not succeed the first time, she will flounder and give it all up.  It would break my heart if that happened.  

How far do you go to help your child and support their dreams?

Time to put your big girl panties on and get organized.

It might not come as any big surprise to anyone but I am not really a big planner.  It's true.

I usually am a day late and a dollar short for everything.  I have great ideas but I suck at planning them out.  On top of that, I am forgetful.  Both of those are bad alone but together, I'm amazed we ever get anywhere we are ever supposed to be.

With life now getting more and more hectic as Bean gets older and involved in more activities, the time has come for me to pull on my big girl panties and get us organized.

My first step is to get myself a daily planner so that I will have one spot where I can write down everything we have scheduled.  Writing something on a post-it, putting something else on my phone's calendar, or just expecting myself to remember it all no longer works - not that it ever really did.

I started looking around for a planner/calendar that would work for me.  It had to be something that was a) cute and b) something I would continue to carry around.  I've bought tons of calendars before and somehow none of them ever stuck.  I would go back to using my phone or switch purses and not bother to transfer the calendar too. I also really had no idea what I wanted as far as types of calendars, project pages, whatnot.   Pinterest was consulted.  I also joined some Facebook groups and got ideas from other ladies on what they used or looked for in a planner.

There are a lot of cute ones out there.  Unfortunately, it seemed that "cute" usually ran to the cost of about $50 or so.  That ain't that cute really - not in my pocketbook's world.

Then I had a problem with missing a payment on a work invoice.  I handle the bills for three entities at work and juggling all of that is a full time job.  Oh yeah.  That's why I work there.  Anyhoo...I made a mistake and knew that it would probably serve me well to finally institute a full time planner at work, too.

But then do I have one planner for both work and personal, or do I separate it all?  I began with the train of thought that I should separate but now I am thinking

this is my life 

- all of it.  So I might as well put everything together and not stress myself out more with having to juggle two separate calendars for 7 people (work and home life).

I got a ton of great ideas from my Facebook groups so I began my search.  First, let me say that trying to find a planner in September is probably not the best way to start.  There are hardly any left in the stores and it's hard to get a "vibe" from looking online.  I also knew that even with my bosses footing the bill, I could not justify spending $50 or even $80 for some Filofax planner.

"You see, Sir, since I am such an airhead,

I had to charge a $90 calendar to the company card 

in hopes that I won't be late on any more of your payments."

That probably would not fly in this office's airspace, if you get my drift.  I have learned at least one thing in the past 17 years here and that is the less explaining I have to do, the better off I am.  So no.  No Filofax for me.

I found this ARC customizable planner at Staples.

Of course, it's PINK.  What did you think it would be?

There is a group on FB exclusively for ARC users. At first, I was not sure about this system.  You can buy refillable packets of different kinds of paper - calendar (they are out of these right now), planner pages, project pages, etc.  You can "grow" your planner with these different size discs, too.  The drawback is if you want to add your own planner pages you make or find online, you have to buy a special paper punch that will make the right type of notches that will work with the discs.  That thing is huge and costs over $40!  And you don't really have any other use for it.  This is my biggest reservation about this whole system. I don't need one more do-hickey cluttering up my office.

I have "prettied" up some of my pages with highlighters, colorful tabs and washi tape but for the most part, the ARC pages are pretty boring.  That's coming from someone that wants bright colors slapped on everything so if you tend to like more sedated looks, you'll be fine.

This planner system is not too pricey either.  The binder cover was marked down to $11.24, the page refills run in the $4 range, and the discs are in the $3-4 range, too.  Now since my binder was marked down to a final price, that worries me.  Will I be able to find ARC supplies in the future?

Again, the planner pages are pretty bare, not only in color but also in what it gives you as far as recording information.  The calendar I was able to get is blank and only has space for a few lines of daily information.

I also found a Day Timer reversible planner for 2015 that was $15.50 through Capital Office Supplies. Again, it's PINK.  Yes, another pink planner.  Don't be shocked.

I went ahead and ordered this one just to see it in person.  It looks a lot more professional than the ARC, but I do understand that pink patented leather never really looks professional to begin with, or at least not in the profession you want people to talk about.  I also really love the pages of the calendar.  There is a space for appointments, journaling, to-do lists and expenses.  It is a small print space but it's there.  There is also a separate section for monthly priorities like birthdays or projects, and a notes section, an address book and a plastic receipts or paper holder in the back.

 

So it's still undetermined which one will win out but I think I have two very good contenders to try out.

Couch to 5K - *cough *snort *wheeze

I started the Couch to 5K program last night and now today my legs want to fall off.  As I've said to Bean before, people's legs don't just fall off but mine sure feel like it.

I downloaded Active.com's Couch to 5K app to my phone and got started.  Week 1 Workout 1 is comprised of a 5 minute warm up walk, then alternates with walking, brisk walking and jogging.  To be honest, I briskly walked more than I jogged.  Several times I thought I'd never catch my breath again.

Time will tell if I stick with this or not.  I have a very bad habit of starting and then magically forgetting many tasks.

What time is it? It's Tooth Fairy Time!!!

So this happened.

Yes, Bean lost her first tooth!  It had been loose for a while and she took every opportunity to gross me out show me her wiggler.  Sunday, after being shown the tooth along with a mouth full of food, we knew it wouldn't be much longer.  We checked the wallets - I mean - sent the Tooth Fairy a message like ALL parents do you know and started the watch.  That evening I looked in her mouth, got grossed out again by the wiggler, and sent her to her father for further inspection.

Hubz told Bean that if she kept moving it around with her tongue she would eventually work it enough so that she could reach in and pull it out.  "Eventually" was not fast enough for her, I guess.  She went right into her bathroom and climbed up on the footstool and started wiggling it around while looking in the mirror.

I promptly walked away from the bathroom like any good wuss would.  About a minute later, here comes Bean running out of the bathroom holding her hand high up in the air and saying "Daddy!  Daddy!  There's blood!"  Kids.

I kept my distance while Hubz checked it out.  (See the wuss explanation above. Duh.)  Sure enough, she had wiggled it right out.  She was done waiting on the thing to come out on its own and wanted her visit from the Tooth Fairy that night.

So now this is the face that greets us.  Isn't it beautiful?!

Just in time for fall pictures, too.

Update on the charity walk that wasn't.

Last week I shared that I would be participating in a weekend charity walk for breast cancer survivors.  Sadly, our walk did not happen.  I got up Saturday morning to thunder and lightening.  I was hoping that it would blow over by the time the walk started.  It rained on me the whole way there but as soon as I pulled into the parking lot it stopped.

I thought that would be a good sign.  But as soon as my team captain arrived and I met up with her, the bottom dropped out again.  Within 3 minutes we were soaked to the bone.  But walking in cold rain is nothing compared to battling breast cancer so none of us really thought we should complain.

We were still ready and willing to walk...then the lightening started.  It was a little scary to be outside holding umbrellas with lightening all around.  The event coordinators checked the radar and told us that they were calling the walk.  They didn't think it was safe for everyone to be out in the elements like that.

Hopefully it will be rescheduled and we can still participate.  My friend Tracy and I still want to do it so even if it isn't rescheduled, maybe she and I can do it on our own.  That's the plan.

I would like to say thanks and send out big hugs to everyone that donated to the effort.  I was able to reach my goal of raising $400!  Thank you all so much.

And as I promised, here are a couple of pictures taken during heavy rains.

The first one is me waiting to check in at walker registration.

This one is of my good friend Barbie that I haven't seen in forever and a day, me, and then my friend and team captain, Tracy.

Even though it was soggy, freezing and gloomy, we had a great time catching up with each other.  Thanks again to everyone that supported us.  You guys rock!  And thanks Doc for the breakfast!

The Bean Interview - 5th Birthday

I am totally stealing today's blog post from a couple of other blogs but I honestly do not remember who I'm stealing this from.  So if I lifted this idea off of you, let me know and I'll gladly give you credit.  I'm not sure if theft by forgetfulness is an actual acceptable defense but that's what I'm going with.

The general idea is to ask your child the same set of questions on every birthday until they head off to college.  As you can see, since I'm starting this tradition on her 5th birthday, I've been a little slack in my job as an interviewer.  Hey, can I help if I didn't steal someone else's original idea sooner?

So here we go!

The Bean Interview on Her 5th (or a little bit later) Birthday!

1.  What is your name?   Bean.

2.  If you could change your name, what new name would you choose?  Savannah  (her cousin)

3.  How old are you?  5.

4.  When is your birthday?  Sunday.  (Her party was on a Sunday.)

5.  What is your favorite color?  Pink.  

6.  What is your favorite song?  Princess.  (She has princess songs on her LeapPad.)

7.  What is your favorite food?  Carrots and corn.

8.  What food do you dislike the most?  Broccoli

9.  What is your favorite place to eat?  Cracker Bell.  (Cracker Barrel)

10.  Who is your best friend? Xandry.

11.  What is your favorite book?  The bird book.  The princess book.  And the bunny book.

12.  What is your favorite toy?  Snowglobe.  And the Cinderella doll, too.

13. What is your favorite movie?   Brave

14.  How do you like to spend your time?   With Mommy and Daddy.  (Ain't she precious!)

15.  What is your Mommy’s name?   Mommy.

16.  How old is Mommy?  .Too old.   (Precious my butt!)

17.  What does Mommy do during the day?  She works.  And she eats lunch.  And takes phone calls and works on papers.

18.  What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Spending time together.  (Huh?  Whad'ja say?  These "too old" ears can't hear you.)

19.  What is your Daddy’s name?  Daddy.

20.  How old is Daddy?  100.  (Ha!  That's what he gets for snickering at her earlier answer.)

21.  What does Daddy do during the day?  He works, too.  

22.  What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play together.

23.  What is your favorite thing that happened last year?  The park.  (So the bar is set really low for this year!)

24.  What are you looking forward to doing this year?  Well...to play.

25.  Where would you like to go on vacation this year?  Florida.

26.  What will your job be when you grow up? A mermaid.

27.  Where do you want to live when you grow up?  In a house.

28.  Do you want to get married someday?   No.

Bean's Birthday Art

Here are some pictures of Bean creating her birthday masterpiece.









At one point our horse had 5 legs.  I had to do an amputation but everything turned out okay.





We took a break for presents.







Bean took this picture herself:

Picture Book - Set Dressing and Baby Cows

Here are a couple of submissions to our Picture Book posts.  

Bean wanted her picture taken on this stool at Hobby Lobby.

She got to meet Baby Cow at a friend's birthday party.

School Pictures - Christmas Edition

Bean's school is really great about the number of photo ops they have each year.  I say that as I look at the pictures, not as I write the checks.

Today is Christmas picture day at school and here is Bean in her holiday best.  As I look at these, I am shocked at how grown up she looks.  I am not ready for this realization this early in the day.

I will try to upload the finished product once we get them back.

DIY: Redneck Pool

I thought I'd share this extremely helpful tutorial we came up with on beating the summer heat.

We do not have a pool.  We are not encumbered with monetary gains sufficient enough for such a recreational accessory.  (Like that? I used all the big words I could and I hope I used them all correctly.)

Yep, we be broke.

So when it's hot outside and you be broke like us, you have to invent ways to cool off.

Enter my brand new DIY idea - THE REDNECK POOL.

Here's what you need for such an undertaking of these magnanimous proportions.  (I'm going with that but I might not have used all those words correctly.  Such is life.)

1)  Galvanized tub - this one may or may not normally be used to wash our beloved doggies in.  If you don't see any problem with that, then yes, we use it to wash the dogs.  If you think it's gross, we've never washed a single animal in there and we never would.

2)  Water.

3)  Willing test participant.

Throw them all together.  Mix thoroughly.

Voila!

THE REDNECK POOL is born!

Enjoy the remaining days of summer!

Remembering is all I can do.

911blogger.com

I'm sure you will or have already read many blog posts or articles on the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. I'm sure there is nothing here that I can write that will enlighten anyone or relieve anyone else's sadness over the anniversary.

My friend Holly wrote a nice post about her memories of 9/11 here.

I did not know anyone personally that was affected by the World Trade Center or the Pentagon bombings or the crash of Flight 93. The only connection I had was that a New York firefighter that had been on a reality gameshow that I watched a few years before was one of the 343 firefighters that perished that day.

I spent a lot of last week and all day Sunday watching documentaries on 9/11. I've been asked me why I wanted to dwell on it so much. My only connection was the same connection we all had to that horrible day - we witnessed it.

I watched all of this because I just wanted to remember. I wanted to honor by remembering. That's really all I can do now.

I can't imagine what those families went through. I can't imagine what those firefighters and police officers faced every single day. I can only remember.

And for as long as I am able, I will remember. It's the least I can do.

Growing right out of my arms

Life has been moving right along for us. We are all trying to get used to a new schedule. Bean has started a new school and that has caused me to start a new work schedule. It's going okay. I feel though that I'm rushing now more than ever.

I don't feel that I have time to do anything but that's life, right?

I am still working on my Etsy shop. I've tried to teach myself some new designs. As soon as I get those finished up and get some decent pictures, hopefully I'll stop being scared and just post everything. I look at what I make and think "I've seen so much better". I have always second guessed myself and this is no different.

This Sunday we were walking around a home improvement store, or I should say we were following Hubz around praying that he would finally get tired of looking at everything he can't afford to buy so we could go home. At one point, I picked Bean up and started carrying her around. I made a comment to her that she was getting so big. It won't be much longer before it'll be really hard for me to pick her up and carry her like I love to do.

I told her that she was growing right out of my arms.

I got really choked up at that thought.

But it's true. She is.

She is getting so big and so smart. She still whines like a little baby but hey, I guess I do too sometimes.

She's getting to be so independent. She already was but it's reached new levels.

I hate these levels. Don't get me wrong...I'm grateful that she can be independent. I know that there are kids out there that aren't healthy and will always be dependent upon their parents. Thank God she is healthy. I pray every night that she will always be healthy because that's half the battle in this life.

But still, it's happening too fast. She's growing right out of my arms.

But she'll never grow out of my heart.

Meet the new additions.

Last week Bean and I stopped into a local teacher supply store looking for a nap mat blanket thingie for her new school.

Sidebar - I still can't believe the child that fights naps and bedtime at home can take a two hour nap in a room full of other anklebiters every day. How is this possible???

While at this store, something caught Bean's eye...something I tried to direct her AWAY from...to no avail.    She must have spent 10 minutes standing there completely entranced by these...things.

She wanted to bring them home with us right then. Mommy Logic finally kicked in and I came up with a couple of brilliant reasons why we couldn't do that.

But she was still talking about these...things...three days later. I had another brilliant idea, or so I thought, and we took her to a pet store so she could weigh all of her options. I was hoping to entice her towards something cuddlier or at least something with fur. No such luck.

So without further adieu, please meet the newest members of the Bean family...

Introducing Phineas and Ferb!

Phineas and Ferb are African Dwarf frogs.  I don't know much about what that means other than they are not supposed to outgrow this box aquarium.  They are NEVER supposed to come of this box aquarium!

Phineas is lighter than Ferb and more outgoing.  Or as outgoing as a frog can be.  I was holding onto the hope that when Hubz saw these...things...his Daddy Logic would kick in and come up with wonderful, mindbending reasons why these...things...couldn't come home with us.  Nope.  Now he spends as much time frog gazing as Bean does.

As long as they stay inside that box thing, I guess they can stay.