Busy Thursday

Well I slept on the couch again last night - not on purpose I just fell asleep and by the time I woke up it was close to 6 so there was no use in going up to bed. Rob and Ellie came down around 7 and Rob made us some coffee and Ellie went downstairs to play. Nick didn't take long to yell to us that he was up and ready to come downstairs. I fixed some waffles and Nick asked for some - Ellie had some cereal. I took advantage of Rob being home and took a nice long shower and tried to loosen more of the liquid bandage.
I went out to get the morning paper and it was beautiful out so I urged the kids to come outside and play - I don't recall a November being so nice. Christi came by with the kids - Rob agreed to watch all the kids so Christi and I could go and pick up our running packs in the city. When we left the kids were all playing outside and we were on our way. We found a parking spot not too far from the store and had a lovely walk looking at windows as we went. The bags were ready for us when we got there - a cute long sleeve t-shirt and water bottle for the race. Christi tried on some shoes while we were there and found a pair she liked.
We walked and browsed the small old fashioned toy store and then went to a cafe Christi used to work at for lunch. It was wonderful to have so much time for adult chat - uncensored for small ears and un-interrupted. I had the most delicious marinated goat cheese with artisan bread. It was lovely to be able to spend quality time with Christi - it might be the first time we were sans kids and not at a school related event. We browsed through the apothecary store - it smelled so nice inside with all their lotions and potions. We had a nice drive back home and we arrived just in time to feed the starving lunch bunch. I think the kids had an awesome time with Rob - I know I appreciated the time he spent with the kiddos.
We did a quick re-group and decided to pick up lunch and head to a new park for a picnic. The park I chose to go to I thought would be perfect but ended up not having Ellie sized equipment. The kids played for a little bit before we decided to head to a different park so Ellie could play without getting hurt. We went to one of the favorite parks in Glenview and the kids played real well together until the school nearby let out for the day and the "big" kids started invading the playground. I didn't want Nick picking up any bad habits so we decided to call it a day and get some gelato. The kids had their standard choices - Ellie switched it up slightly by having half biscotti today, Rob and I both had apple pie with vanilla bean - it was like having apple pie a la mode - tasty. We walked around the Glen to further enjoy the day and browsed through the toy store - apparently the kids want everything for Christmas so therefore they won't be disappointed with anything they get. I did find one of the things I have been looking at for Ellie and it was cheaper at the toy store than online - I will have to make a separate trip back alone.
We went to VonMaur, Ulta and Dick's before driving back home - Ellie and I got some new nail polish colors at Ulta on clearance. We were just about to pass Menards when I decided to pull in - our kitchen light (which was I am pretty sure $9.00 when we bought it originally) finally has begun to break - one of the three lights doesn't work any longer so I wanted to pick up a replacement and our shower head has some clogged jets and CLR didn't help it. We found the exact same light as a replacement - it did us good the last 12 years and I was afraid a different light would make it look like we needed to paint and would evoke an entirely different project. We found a shower head and looked through Christmas lights - I was hoping to find some snowflakes similar to the bats we had for Halloween but they might not exist outside of my head.
We came home and Ellie finished her homework and Nick watched a dvd. We had a left over night and no one was really hungry because no one really ate. I painted Ellie's nails with one of our new colors and then took Nick up for a bath - he was one stinky boy and then Ellie jumped in.
Rob started Nick on story time and Ellie I watched Man vs Food - he was doing an insane challenge with a 72 ounce steak plus sides in less than an hour - he did it in under 30 minutes. Rob got Ellie to bed and we are watching our regular Thursday night tv. I am feeling pretty good today - I have a bit of a different view - I stayed up reading the stories of other colo-rectal cancer winners last night. I found this article that a local woman who was a colon cancer winner had posed for the 2011 colonder (the colon club's calendar). Anyhow - I ended up reading most of the models stories and I was struck by the positive tone of these fellow winners (I don't like survivor - I think both of the Beyonce song - which I hated and plane crash survivors all in one - I like winner). All the models were between 17 and 44 and none were Debbie Downers and all shared their stories gracefully. I am grateful I live where I live and have the most excellent doctors available because a number of these people were mis-diagnosed for months and sometimes years because of their age, their lack of a family history and their own health histories. It was interesting that almost all admitted to a healthy diet - some vegetarians. It was also interesting that few were laproscopic surgery and most had the breast to belly scars but it was so nice to read about positive people - I guess they are out there. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal me - whomever that shall be, Tree
*Let's all do the collective blow again to blow the rain from Saturday morning - it looks like the temperature has been predicted about 10 degrees warmer than originally posted - just need to work on the rain.