Last one before Disney

I am not sure if I will be updating while we are away or not...
I am going to finish the last post of the year off with highlights again.
We went to see the Zoolights at Lincoln Park Zoo tonight. It wasn't too cold but it was oh so crowded. They do an awesome job though.
We had a successful shoe shopping adventure to find Ellie shoes for the trip.
The kids finally finished decorating the gingerbread house at Mom and Dad's today.
Ellie and I went for a market research discussion on lockers yesterday - not bad, just over an hour - $50 for me and $25 in product for Ellie.
We stopped into the service station in Palatine that has this huge multi-level train layout for the holidays.
Ellie has discovered face time on her itouch which kind of makes it into a phone.
We went to see Chip wrecked with the kids and T on Tuesday morning. The movie was slow to begin because they were having trouble so we got a free movie coupon on our way out. Cute movie.
Haven't been too into after Christmas shopping this year - I guess partially because we need nothing. We did do some shopping at Dominick's and Jo and I made a run to Target.
Hope everyone has a splendid new years. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

We are going to chocolate pretzels?

Maybe we were dealing with too little sleep or maybe we need more practice on the riddle/clue thing...
Christmas morning we told the kids we couldn't go downstairs until 8AM. We made coffee and we were about to let the kids start opening but the video camera was left on and had no battery charge. We told the kids to patiently watch Frosty the Snowman while the battery charged. I think the kids pretty much got all the higher up wish list items.
We waited for Mom and Dad and Dean to come over before we found the hidden clue box. Ellie said it looked like Kitty had gotten into it - I guess I need to be more Martha Stewart next time with my wrapping. They got most of the clues but when they went to read them back and pull the pretzels they just kept saying, In 6 days we are going to chocolate pretzels? Ok, who is on the bag of pretzels, where are they from? Screaming commenced.
We had a nice breakfast together and then dad helped Nick set up his new Polar Express train set and Dean played some new games with Ellie. We started a fire and it was just a laid back kind of day. We lounged about and charged up presents that needed to be charged to be able to be played with or used.
I got the best gift ever - gift card to the car wash. Mom, Dad and Dean left and we continued of laziness. Ellie and I tried out some new wii games. Ellie really likes the Disney All Star game. Our neighbors brought over homemade egg rolls just as our stomachs were starting to talk to us. We pulled out the sofa bed and all cuddled together to watch Polar Express.
This morning was another lounge about. We eventually got dressed and I talked with Rob about the cabinet I wanted him to build at the top of the stairs. I took the kids to the library to pick up Disney books and Ellie got a couple to read over break. We stopped in at Salvation to see if we could find any cheap Disney shirts for the trip. Amazingly, the cabinet was built by the time we got home. Needs to be leveled out (our floor is unlevel at the top of the stairs) and trim work done - I need to decide what color to paint it.
Ellie and I did some Just Dance while Nick and Rob cleaned out the garage. We went to pick Tony up for a sleepover. Dad was nice enough to try to find the suitcase I wanted to borrow for our trip. We picked T up and were on our way. We went up to Vernon Hills to the Cuneo Museum to drive through the Winter Wonderland. It is about an hour drive through Christmas lights - very entertaining for the kids because they have just about all the Disney and cartoon characters. We had a quick dinner and gelato at Marianos and then drove through. The kids asked if we could do it again when we finished.
On the way home we stopped at Goodwill. My proudest moment of the year...Ellie had Tony in a cart and I had Nick. We were both looking through racks. I come over to where she is and she pulls out of her cart a North Face fleece and says - it is only $6 that will be great to flip! I don't think I have stopped smiling since. She also had Hanna pulled - I love that girl. It was a great stop. I picked up Mini Boden shirts for Ellie to wear and then we will flip, the North Face jacket, a Disney t-shirt and sweatshirt for her and a few t-shirts for Nick.
We stopped in at Dominick's to see if anyone wanted anything special for breakfast tomorrow. Instead of food shopping we clearance shopped. The boys each got a car and Ellie got a craft kit. I picked up a couple pairs of holiday replacement socks and coffee creamer. We came home and got PJs on and pulled the sofa bed out. The kids played for a bit before we got ready for bed. Polar Express was on again so we watched the first 20 minutes of that to settle down and then off to sleepy land.
I cannot believe we pulled the Disney secret off, thanks to all of you for not telling. Ellie is still amazed that we knew this long and didn't tell. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Merry Christmas

Whirlwind few days here. Again, just a spewing of highlights because Santa still has some work to do. Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Mom, Dad, the GGs, Jo, Ole, T & M. Mom had a supreme spread of food...something for everyone. There were some very awesome presents and some definite checks off of Santa's list.
Jo and the boys came over yesterday to help bake cookies for tonight. The kids mostly played while I mixed and baked the cookies. Jo made a batch of sugar cookies and frosted and decorated them with the kids. We had lunch and it was a fun time. After all was said and done... 7 different types of cookies, 2 bar cookies & 2 chocolate barks.
I took Ellie shopping last night to get her present to Nick. It was nice to have some time with just the two of us. Ellie was very careful about her choices for Nick. Nick and Rob wrapped gifts while we were out.
It was party central on Thursday. It was both the kids last day of school before break. I dropped Nick off and came home and wrapped the kids presents...it was my last chance to be alone. Ellie's school party was chaotic but very nice. I really felt our efforts were appreciated. The kids loved the crafts we decided on and they really liked making their snow globe cards with tons of glitter.
We rode the CTA holiday train on Thursday night. We picked up Dad and then Tony and went for our ride to Howard and then back. On the first train the elf led a sing-a-long and we sang all the favorite Christmas tunes. The kids even got buttons. The return ride was way crowded and we were just lucky to get seats. We stopped at Starbucks and had a warm treat.
Cannot wait for Christmas morning and the big reveal of the Disney plans. I made a box that the kids will pull numbered clues/riddles from. The clues/riddles will end up spelling out - In 6 days we are going to Disney. The Disney part is official Disney chocolate covered pretzels. I cannot wait for the reaction.
I hope all my family and friends have a wonderful Christmas (Hanukkah) with their loved ones. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Where is the pause button?

Everyone knows Christmas is December 25th...every year but the clock seems to have sped up. I am highlighting again because I cannot re-tell 3 days. I majorly worked on projects today. I got 3 almost done - they just need finishing touches. I tried to felt soap this afternoon. This will not be a new hobby. Didn't turn out very pretty.
Have I mentioned how much I love Kohls? I love Kohls! Besides the 30% off coupon I had, they sent me a coupon via email this morning for an extra $10.00 to spend for Christmas. I went shopping while Nick was at school. I replaced out knives. Once again, a set that has been around a number of years. I found a real nice set with the knives I prefer and it ended up being $85.00 cheaper with my coupons.
I was able to finish up shopping (I hope) for Christmas with Nick this morning. We were at VonMaur and I looked through my felting inspiration table (this is where I found my scarf idea last year). They had adorable buttons...for $20.00. I heard Mom's voice in my head say, "you could make that."
Skokie Salvation totally remodeled and I am in love. It was a pleasure shopping there yesterday. I found some very cute sweater vests to felt. I scored big at Morton Grove yesterday. I found these Fisher Price smart cycle cartridges on a key chain without a price and when I got to the register the lady threw them in the bag because I am there all the time...turns out they are about $7-$10 a piece on ebay (I have 6).
Rob came home from work on Monday and was home yesterday too. Don't know what he has but I hope none of us get it.
Christi came over Monday and we worked for the majority of the morning and afternoon on the holiday party. We painted the snowmen heads and glued on ribbons. We assembled candy bags to decorate the snowman sundaes. We got together all the ingredients for snowman soup. We got to catch up and visit.
I was able to get all Ellie's and Nick's school gifts off and out of the living room. Now I just need Rob to get his co-worker gifts out of there.
We had cooking club on Monday night. We chocolate and caramel dipped pretzel rods. We made alfredo sauce for noodles. The girls played for a bit, we had dinner and they did homework. We finished with cake in a mug...recipes needs some tweaking.
I have two days left and I have about 10 cookie recipes to make and a few more things to bake. I have my projects to finish. I have all my wrapping to do still. I guess instead of sitting on the computer at 2AM I should be doing some of these things.
Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Busy Weekend

This will be a mosaic post...I am not going to try to re-create each of the past couple days.
I got our Christmas cards addressed, stamped and mailed today.
We went to our church Tableaux service tonight and then to dinner afterwards.
We baked cookies yesterday for a cookie exchange. The kids and I went and got to visit with old friends we don't see nearly enough.
Rob took care of our shoe storage issue. When I went nuts cleaning the floors awhile ago we started taking shoes off at the front door. Problem is there isn't room for more than 4 pairs of shoes in the tiny hallway. I drew a rough sketch of what I wanted and when we came home from the cookie exchange I had shoe storage. It is seriously awesome - 3 shelves and a top that I was able to relocate our key basket to and will also serve nicely for mail and purses. I painted it this morning and picked up a carpet at Menards to line the shelves for wet shoes.
Bargain shopped with Mom, Dad and Nick on Friday. We took care of a Groupon coupon Mom had. We had lunch at Caputo's and did some shopping. We hit a candy store.
Ellie and Rob had a date night on Friday. They had dinner, did some shopping and went to the Niles North basketball game. Nick and I also had a date night - we went out for dinner and back here to watch Beauty and the Beast.
I've been able to work on my craft projects a bit. I found that a rotary cutter works fabulous for cutting felted wool...I also found that a rotary cutter is extremely sharp. Lets just say I have a few bandages on my fingers.
We stopped by Mom and Dad's last night for the kids to catch up on the advent calendar clue hunt.
I got all the teacher presents (40) for Nick's preschool packaged up. Ellie's (7) and Rob's co-worker (6) gifts packaged. I still have a couple more things to finish up for the week.
Christi is coming over tomorrow so we can work on Ellie's holiday class party prep.
After seeing how quickly my rough drawing turned into the best thing ever - I started thinking of the possibilities. Next, I want Rob to make a shelving unit for the top of the stairs. I am not sure what I would use it for yet but it is un-taped space. Possibly for shoes upstairs or books. I also am looking at a built in seating couch in the back room. Running along the entire wall with storage under - this will replace our crappy couch and seriously give us about 5 more feet of seating.
I am feeling most excellent. A little back pain but I think that was all related to holding Nick through the service tonight. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Just the important stuff

I didn't want to blog last night because I wanted to be able to blog tonight with doctor news.
I went for my visit this morning with Dr. Marsh. I am now a hand draw for blood because my veins are too tiny on the inside of my arm, fun, fun, fun! I have to tell you, it took about 2 minutes to fill one vial of blood. Squeezing and releasing to pump the blood through faster. I had a 9:40 appointment...labs not done until after 10:00 and not in to see the doctor until 10:45.
Margaret met me and told me the good news that my white blood count had rebounded slightly, putting me into normal range. Woohoo. All my vitals were perfect, too. Dr. Marsh came in and went through everything again. Basically, my red blood cells must be gelatinous and cause the white blood cells to stick to them causing an inaccurate white blood count on my labs. I took a steroid on Wednesday night to shake the red blood cells up and thus shake the white blood cells free for an accurate reading. He did his examination and then gave me the most excellent news that I have been promoted to 6 month recall. I don't have to go back for blood or scans until June.
Everything else in the past couple days seems very trivial now except Ellie's concert last night. Ellie preformed with the Panther band for the first time. They played a few songs. She also got to preform a dance they learned in gym class. It was nice to see her so excited about this.
Other than that...lots of thrift shopping in the past couple days. I am trying to re-build my inventory but have managed to fill our closets instead. I guess that eventually trickles down to inventory. Major finds - I scored a North Face jacket, a Columbia jacket, some sweaters for felting and some things for the kids.
Trying to finish up holiday gifts for both the kids to take to school next week. Need to finish working on my craft projects. I am feeling greatly relieved about the news I got today. Google bone marrow biopsy and you will know why. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Crazy cooking club

I should have posted last night because my brain is hitting major speed bumps right now. We will work totally backwards tonight.
I just got finished boxing and bagging up about 30 items to ship out tomorrow. Grand total for my 1 week of sales...almost $900.00. If only I could keep a great stock of clothes - I would never have to do anything but shop again. I had a couple very nice people who purchase quite a few things from me. It was neat to hear their stories. One lady has 7 grandchildren she was buying for.
Best news of the night...I put batteries in my Speak and Spell and it powers up. I bought it about 2 years ago at Salvation for $5.00. It was pretty awesome - mint in box with manuals. Looks like I can flip that for between $60-$80.
We had cooking club tonight and I found a couple recipes on different websites to try. We made s'mores cups, cinnamon bun cake and baked zucchini and squash sticks. Christi and Su'nana came to drop Catherine off and stayed a bit to visit. Su'nana and Nick were playing well and Rob asked her to stay. The s'mores cups are a definite keeper. The cake was okay -the picture looked way better. Rob and I liked the baked zucchini sticks but the girls not so much.
This afternoon, Nick and I joined Mom and Dad for a Costco run. I was able to pick up some fruit for dinner and I bought a new camera. I have had a couple people question my pictures on my auctions and I figure it might be the camera. This morning Nick and I did a Target run. I picked up my prescription and we did shopping for cooking club.
Yesterday we were on for Sunday school at church. It was an ambitious project for 4 and 5 year olds. They needed to design and make the 3 wise men as ornaments for the big tree. Ellie's group made felt wreaths. She was so inspired she has started making a couple more at home.
We went over to Mom and Dad's house early to try to get a family picture for their cards. It is now secret, we are a bit nuts. Mom has these Shriner hats that we have been wearing for her pictures for the past 5 years. The sun was shining so brightly it made pictures very difficult in their sun room. We managed to get 3 cameras going and find an array of good shots.
We stayed for dinner and the kids got to catch up on a week worth of advent clues and goodies. I was able to get a bit more cutting done for my project. I hung the garland on the tree for Mom and then we came home.
Saturday was another day of shuffling. We started out at the log cabin church. They were having their holiday fair. It has become a special stop each year. The kids got to visit with Santa and make their lists known, again. They had 3 rooms of crafts for the kids to make. We looked through the craft/vendor fair before coming home.
Ellie had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon. We dropped her off and then Nick and I went over to Mom and Dad's house. I worked on my project while Mom worked on hers. Dad and Nick played trains and watched holiday movies. We went to pick Ellie up in the evening. I dropped the kids at home and ran to Michaels for some supplies and picked up dinner on the way home.
Gotta love the month of December - always something to do. Oh, I have to share...I found my new favorite website. It is called pinterest.com and it is a virtual bulletin board that people have pined ideas to. This is where I found all my recipes for cooking club from. I had sleep issues last night. Around 2:30AM when I was thinking about going up to bed, I heard huge falling things upstairs. I raced up the stairs and the kids were both in bed. Rob had tripped over the broom that was by our bedroom door and had plunged forward and knocked over our garbage can. Needless to say, it took me about another 3 hours to calm down enough to even try to go up to bed. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

Baby it's cold outside

I am going to work backwards because I doubt I will be able to remember Wednesday.
We had a very laid back morning here. We stayed in our PJs until about 1:00PM. Nick was watching a Christmas video and I was working on a craft project. I got all my prep done and was able to assemble one but I am not fond of the end product and will need to do some tweaking.
We ventured out this afternoon to run into the post office to pick up mailing envelopes and boxes. We had lunch and braved Walmart to look for cookie mix for Mom. We came home and I was able to pack up about a dozen envelopes to ship out and complete another craft project.
Rob had to work a game in Highland Park tonight and he asked Ellie to come with him. It left a date night for Nick and me. Rob and Ellie had dinner at Walker Brothers and then had the added luck of it being winter fest in town. There were ice sculptures and carving, live reindeer, face painting and more. Nick and I went to see Muppets. It was cute. There were some adults with some very hearty laughs. We all had a good night. We came home and I got Nick to sleep and then Rob and Ellie came home.
Yesterday we were over at Mom's house to play with Tony. Both Nick and Tony were acting like they needed naps. I got a Matteo fix while Jo was at her doctor appointment. We had lunch and the kids played with legos, trains, cars and more.
I packed up about a dozen ebay things to be shipped. I love having the postage scale at home. I love, love, love it. I cleared the counter off downstairs and have a great system down now. I can print postage right off ebay and it comes right out of my paypal account. I just need to get it to the post office to mail - awesome.
We had breakfast for dinner and the kids both helped me cook. We made eggnog french toast, sausages and fruit. It was very good and it is always a plus when we don't have leftovers to put away. The kids had their showers and then we got them into bed.
I was supposed to have a coffee date with Christi on Wednesday but she wasn't feeling well and we postponed. I dropped Nick at school and did some produce shopping. I returned something to OfficeMax and then came home. I was able to get about 40 more things listed on ebay.
I picked Nick up from school and we headed out to do some thrifting. I was looking for a couple more wool sweater to felt. We ran into Tuesday Morning to look at a comforter set they had in their ad but it felt gross so we didn't get it. I was able to score in the thrifting department - many things to flip and even some for the kids. I also found a couple sweaters.
Mom and Dad came over for dinner - we made tacos. Ellie shared her breads with Mom and Dad. We watched the Middle - pretty funny. Nick is still singing, "on the first day on Christmas my true love gave to me...nothing." Mom and Dad left and we got the kids to bed.
After confirming my doctor appointment for Tuesday, I was called a few hours later to have my appointment changed. I think I need to dig in the closet and find a coat warmer than the fleece coat I am wearing because it got cold overnight. I am feeling pretty good - feet are still tingling but I don't think they will ever not be. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

Bread, bread and more Bread

Yesterday, we had our normal morning here. Ellie got off on the bus and then I took Nick to school. I came back home to clean up a bit for cooking club in the afternoon. I picked Nick up from school and Jo and Matteo met us here. We were off for an adventure. Matteo slept almost the entire time. Nick was a peach and was patient as could be.
We hit Whole Foods around lunchtime and picked up what we needed and got lunch. We did a Trader Joe stop and I was able to pick up the remaining ingredients for cooking club. Jo and Matteo dropped up off and I finished cleaning.
Ellie came home from school and started her homework. Rob came home to entertain Nick while I cooked. Christi dropped Catherine off and the girls finished their homework while the oven pre-heated and I got everything ready. We were making zucchini chip muffins, pumpkin cherry bread and banana chocolate chip bread. I grated the zucchini as the girls finished up.
It was very nice to work with the girls this week. We used some of the math skills they have been working on in school and they just worked so well together.
We ended up with 12 muffins and 7 loaves of bread. The kids all played together as I got everything into the oven and baked. We made pizza for dinner and I cooked some broccoli while the girls cut a few oranges to go with blackberries. We had dinner and then we taste tested each of the breads. Not bad - 7/10 stars was the bottom rating. We now know how to tweak the recipes for next time.
Christi came and we had a couple minutes to visit while the girls finished playing their board game. When they left, we got the kids in bed. Ellie and I started a new book and Rob read Dr. Seuss to Nick.
This morning was the same old stuff. Ellie got off to the bus and then I got Nick ready for school. I spent my free hour or so at Salvation. I picked up a couple wool sweaters for a project and was able to find Matteo a shirt, Ellie a couple dresses and a few things to flip.
I picked Nick up and we headed over to Mom and Dad's. Jo called and was going to join us over there too. We had lunch and I got my Matteo fix. He had a shot today at his doctor visit. I helped Mom go through her tupperware and rubbermaid containers and weed out lids with no bottoms and vice versa. We watched Nutcracker before heading home. Tony came home with us for a little bit.
Nick and Tony played legos Thomas and built trains and cars. Jo was here to pick him up about 45 minutes later. Ellie came home from school and we did homework. The first batch of my auctions ended this afternoon - not bad - 11 items for $98.00. Rob stopped home for a couple minutes before he went to the basketball game.
I got laundry in and flipped. The kids played and then we had dinner. Ellie took a shower while I worked with bleach to clean Nick's hands. They painted with colored shaving paint at school and his hands were still green. We went up and got ready for bed. Nick did not want to go to sleep tonight.
I was able to list a couple more thing s after the kids went to bed - free listings today and tomorrow. I got the kitchen curtains washed and rehung today. All the blankets in the back room were washed. Christi is coming over for coffee tomorrow morning while Nick is at school. I don't know if it is the weather or what but my feet and my knees are not happy. Feet are just super sensitive. Knees feel like something is rubbing and are out of alignment. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

All my Boxes came

Coming home from grocery shopping with Mom and Dad on Friday - I found a huge stack of boxes were delivered. Such fun! Nick helped me move them all in and un-pack them. We put the mattress topper onto his bed and we watched it magically grow until it was ready and then we did Ellie's bed. Highly suggest the Sleep Innovations foam toppers from Kohl's to anyone wanting to extend the life of their mattress. It is like sleeping on a cloud.
Nick helped me un-wrap and wash all our new pots and pans. Love my new pans. Only thing I don't love it is lids. They are glass with a knob top so I cannot hang them from my rack like my old ones. We packed up our old set to drop off at Salvation. Nick played for a while with his trains while I got the final items listed on ebay.
Ellie had a rec night (afternoon) at school so we picked her up a bit later than usual and we were off to see Arthur Christmas. We were able to get there in time to see a couple previews. The movie was super cute - very entertaining for parents. We came home and I got the kids to bed. Rob had a basketball game that evening.
Saturday was full of wonderful things. It began with a new creation...banana chocolate chip monkey bread. It was so yummy. The bananas caramelized and it was ooey, gooey deliciousness. It was Mom's annual ladies luncheon. Ellie helped me make crostini in the morning and then we all showered and got dressed. We went over a bit early to help out. We were delighted when Kate called to say Adie would be able to join us and the delight continued when Mrs. B walked in with Kelly and Molly.
Kelly and Molly are staying here instead of going back to California. They will be moving downstate Illinois - so exciting. Adie and I had a bunch of fun sitting next to each other and coming up with some marketing ideas for future projects. I got some Matteo love. Dad was a sport and took Nick and Tony for a boys lunch date. Nice hanging out with the ladies...Mom, Jo, Ellie, Kate, Adie, Mrs. B, Kelly, Katherine and Jamee.
We ended up staying because Rob had a couple work parties to attend. We ordered pizza for dinner and the kids played. I found a new free app for the ipad - can't recall the name exactly but you cut and style Santa and a Christmas tree - great fun. We came home and I got the kids to sleep.
This morning we all just hung out. The kids awoke to our Elf finally doing something fun. Elfie had pulled up the dollhouse Christmas tree, the fireplace and a tv (airing an Elf movie) and some friends in a sleigh and were all visiting. We eventually got dressed and ate lunch. We went over to Mom and Dad's to do our annual visit to St. Nick's. Ellie was so excited to get to the fair that she slammed my foot in the car door. Luckily, Danskos are pretty brick like and heavily cushioned the injury. The kids got to visit with Santa and get their wishes in. We walked around the craft fair and then left.
We had an early dinner - Rob came over to join us. The kids did a couple crafts while we waited for dinner. Sometimes, food is better the next day - reheats tonight were great. We came home and the kids played for a bit. We started bedtime a bit earlier to see if it might not take as long...I think it cut 15 minutes off. Rob and I got to watch our Sunday shows - they haven't been on in a couple weeks.
Feeling pretty good - not much to complain about. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

The cold has moved in

On Wednesday, I got Ellie off to the bus stop and then got Nick to school. We hit every light on the way to school. I visited one of my favorite thrift stores and found a bag of Wilton tips for cake decorating and it also had a cookie press and tips in it. I found a new (used) light up snowman to complete our outdoor decorations. I stopped off at Panera to pick up a loaf of bread for dinner.
I picked Nick up from school and we came home and had a snack. I was able to get a workout in while he was engrossed in an episode of Thomas. Mom and Dad came and picked us up and we went to Meijer's to grocery shop. We found some treats on sale - Oberweiss egg nog, new mascara and yogurts. We made it home just in time to get Ellie from the bus.
Ellie and I did her homework and she practiced her clarinet. I was able to finish up our outdoor lights. I added about 1,000 twinkle lights and the new snowman - looks nice. Mom and Dad were over for Wednesday night dinner. I made my leftover roasted veggies in soup - so delicious. I made a pot of noodles, a salad, pineapple and blackberries and applesauce to go with it. We had a blast from the past for dessert - frosty, minty ice cream trees. My sister and I grew up on these but we got them in January when they were on clearance. The kids took their showers/baths and we were off to bed.
Thursday was a busy day here. Ellie had her Battle of the Books competition. This was the culmination of the 20+ books she had to read this past summer and a fall of reviewing them. I packed some candy canes for her to take with for energy and she was off to the bus. I took Nick to school and then really didn't have a plan for my free 1.5 hours.
I headed to HomeGood and was able to pick up a couple kitchen items on clearance. I broke my spatula/flipper thing last month. I found a new one. I was waiting for Waxberg shoes to open but I guess they don't open until later - they had a sale sign up and I wanted to see if they had any Dansko's. I hit Salvation for lack of anything else I could do for 30 minutes. Just so happened it was a good time to hit it because all their kids clothes were 50% off.
I got a couple sweaters for Nick and a few other things that I have looked at before but didn't buy because they weren't on sale. I picked Nick up from school and we came home. I got some laundry in and got him lunch. He was super hungry and would finish one thing and move onto the next.
It was the 1st of the month - ebay listing day. I spent much of the afternoon listing and was able to get 40 things up and listed by the time Rob got home from work. Rob went to the doctor for his persistent cough and is on a steroid again. He got a referral to the allergist too. He made some tea and we were on our way to watch Ellie's battle.
It was interesting...the hostess would read a passage from one of the books and the children had to say the name of the book and the author. There were over 75 books on the list. I don't know that I would be able to recall a random line in a book that I had read 6 months ago. Ellie was able to successfully help answer a couple for her team but in the end, they didn't win. The library treated us to dinner and then we left. Rob had taken Nick home and Ellie and I drove and picked up Rob's prescription at Target.
Our Elf on the Shelf, the traveling messenger between our house and Santa, made his appearance yesterday morning. The kids are very excited. I don't know if it my body finally creating those much needed white blood cells but I am sleeping way too well (and long). I have been able to be in bed (yes, in bed) by 1AM and sleep until the kids get up at 7:30AM. Nick, on the other hand, is having the most difficult time actually falling asleep at night. I switched shoes and my feet feel far better than they did last week. Danskos really help out with the neuropathy.
I am still having a bit of lower back pain. I am hoping that getting into bed at night will slowly help with this. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, my white blood cells increasing and the new normal, Tree

Happy Tuesday

I have to say that I don't really care for the cold weather and gloomy clouds that have shown up. Yesterday, Nick and I had a huge shopping adventure. We got Ellie on the bus and got dressed and left the house. We started at Kohl's to spend our Kohl's cash. Funny, when you have money you need to spend...everything is a hard choice. I used it partially for Christmas presents and the other half for miscellaneous stuff. I replaced a few cake pans, new socks, couple pairs of jeans, pillow and PJs for Nick. I love it when the receipt prints out and I have saved $397.00 and my out of pocket spending was $16.93.
We picked up lunch and then did some grocery shopping. I am holding a cooking class for Ellie and her friend, Catherine, once a week. We were making applesauce and monkey bread. We are doing a holiday theme until Christmas. We did a quick Big Lots run and I was able to find exactly what I have been looking on ebay for Christmas. We came home and put everything away and cleaned up a bit.
Ellie came home and pretty soon after, Catherine came over. The girls did their homework together and then we started on our applesauce. They got to pick their toss ins (cranberries, cherries, pears or plums) and then their spices. We assembled and the monkey bread - a cheesy-herb version. The girls went downstairs to play while everything was baking/cooking. I started dinner - broccoli, pineapple, noodles, faux chicken, applesauce and monkey bread.
We had dinner and we went and played wii for a bit. I drove Catherine home and came back and we got the kids ready for bed. I helped Ellie study for her science test and then she went to sleep.
It was so nice to have Nick back in school today. However, I had a mini panic attack when I was getting his bag ready and found that he had a project due today. Nick and I quickly made his turkey and mounted it on construction paper and printed out a picture of our family. I dropped Nick off and did a thrift run. I was able to get Nick PJs and a holiday shirt. I found a couple holiday shirts/vests for me.
I picked Nick up from school and we went over to Mom and Dad's house. We had lunch and then we helped get some of their holiday decor up. We had to leave early to deliver some papers to Rob. Our insurance wants proof we are married and that our children are ours. We have sent them these papers about 3 times now and they keep saying they haven't received them. Rob faxed them on Saturday and they didn't get them again.
We came home and just had a sedate afternoon. I did my workout before Ellie got home and got laundry done and put away. Ellie came home and she and Nick played together. We had an early dinner and watched Rudolph. I got the kids up to bed but Nick would not go to sleep. Rob got home a bit after 9PM and I asked him to relieve me because I couldn't understand why both kids were still awake.
I am having some lower back pain again. Not sure if it is the weather, the couch or what. Ellie has her battle of the Books competition this Thursday - she is pretty excited. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood cell count and the new normal, Tree

Made it Through Break

We made it through Thanksgiving break without injury. On Friday when everyone was out buying Black Friday things, I was at Salvation Army for the 50% off sale. I started at Morton Grove and found a couple things but did much better at Skokie. I came home and Rob and the kids had brought up all the Christmas boxes. We started off setting up the peripheral Christmas decorations. We got the fireplace decorated and the tables done. I got the tree out and the kids separated the branches out but when we tested the lights we had 4 strands that were either dead or only half lit.
We stopped the tree until we were able to buy some new lights. The kids packed their overnight bags - they were spending the night at Mom and Dad's house. Mom and Dad came to pick us up and we went on a shopping adventure. We stopped off at Trader Joe's on the way home to do a grocery shop. They dropped me at home and were off on their adventure.
Rob and I had dinner and then went out shipping sans kids. We went to Costco and I was able to pick up Ellie's Christmas present. I was also able to find new lights for the tree. We went to Target and I picked up a dvd and ink for the printer. We stopped off at Menards and picked up a couple things. We came home and we tried to stream a movie from apple but didn't realize it takes the equal time in minutes to play as it does to download.
Saturday, Rob and I enjoyed a bagel and coffee together before he went to work in the garage and I finished setting up the tree. The lights are very different than what I am used to - I think they will grow on me. I went to see the kids. Mom had promised them a gingerbread house adventure but the gingerbread wasn't exactly plumb. They made gingerbread men instead. We had lunch and then we came back home.
We trimmed the tree. It was exhausting. I have ornaments that are delicate and two over-ambitious children. I was able to hang the glass ornaments while the kids put their ornaments on their trees. We had a little fire while we were finishing up the decorating. Ellie made hot cocoa. We watched Charlie Brown and then got the kids to bed.
I slept in this morning. We had breakfast and lounged around. I got the kids dressed in some festive clothes and tried to get Christmas pictures. It was comical and a hair pulling experience all in one. I ran out to Target to pick up Nick's Christmas present. I was also able to pickup some stocking stuffers on clearance.
We met Mom, Dad, Jo, Ole, T and Matteo over at Mrs. B's house. Kelly, Dave and their daughter, Molly, are in town. We got to meet Molly for the first time and it was surreal to see how much bigger she is than Matteo for only being 5 months older. Just shows you how fast they grow up. We visited for a bit and then went to have dinner at Mom's.
Mom made a wonderful chili meal - which was nice and warming for the cool, rainy day. We ate dinner and had dessert and then came home to get the kids to bed. It has been nice to be able to be off this past week but I am ready to send the kids back to school. My feet are bothering me today. I don't know if it is the cold, the wet atmosphere or a combo but they are really quite irritating. They haven't been this tingly in months. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood cell production and the new normal, Tree

Happy Day After

So, I got too involved in cyber shopping last night and trying to find a store that all the items I wanted were available. Then around 2:30AM, Nick came down to find me and have me come up. I had thought about blogging around 1:30AM after I had finished my last shopping but I started watching Gabriel Inglesias on Comedy Central.
For Thanksgiving we had a casual morning around here. The newspaper, with all our ads, wasn't delivered so we called for a re-delivery. I made a monkey bread for breakfast. I did a quick workout and ironed our clothes for the day. We watched some of the parade before heading off to church. We sat in a row with a window and got to have the sun shine on us through the service.
We went to the GGs for our annual Thanksgiving dinner. Uncle Bry came down from Baraboo for the day. We had quite the spread for dinner: turkey, spicy turkey, steak, tortellini, mashed and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, roasted veggies, vegan casserole, corn pudding, salad and bread. We had a wonderful meal and the kids finished off with their chocolate turkeys. We had cannoli cake for dessert and pumpkin pie for the purists.
The kids entertained, as always. We had a dance party in the living room. Each had their own signature moves. Nick had brought trains and he and T played for a bit. We all got our fix of Matteo. I had entire conversations with that boy with just our eyes. We packed up and came home a bit after 4PM.
We changed into more comfortable clothes and we found some holiday movies on tv. I eventually made a small fire. We had some re-heats for dinner and then watched Charlie Brown together before bed. I had planned on going out at midnight to Macy's. I have discovered that since we are going on 13 years, next year, of marriage...all our wedding gifts are also that old. My circulon set needs replacing, some bake ware needs replacement, sheets, towels. Macy's had a good sale and I thought they might not be too crowded.
While looking online I found that many of the black Friday items were availabel online and I might not need to venture out. I shopped on macys.com and got all the way through the checkout before they told me the circulon set wasn't available. I went onto kohls.com and found a similar set and filled my cart. I got the kids memory foam mattress toppers for their beds, new pillows, new flannel sheet set, my circulon set and $150 in Kohl's cash to spend next week.
I tried to find more online bargains but sites were so slow and I was running into a bunch of not availables. I started watching Gabriel Inglesias and that was my night.
Highlights from the beginning of the week because I honestly can't remember all the details. The kids both went for haircuts. Nick's hair had chia pet qualities over the last month. I can usually take him every other month for a haircut but it just over-grew this past 4 weeks. Mom took Ellie to her gal for a haircut. Ellie is perpetually trying to grow her hair out and hasn't went for a haircut in about a year. The problem is, her hair is so thick it weighs a ton when it gets long. Anyhow, she went to Jeannie for a trim and it looks great and healthy.
I took Ellie for her first acupuncture appointment on Tuesday. I wanted to see how it would impact her headache situation. Ellie refused to really, truly, relax for the session. The needles didn't bother her but she wouldn't close her eyes and try to relax. So far, knock on wood, no headache this week. Patricia suggested we talk to our dentist about TMJ because sometimes that is also a culprit in headaches.
Ellie helped me roast vegetables Wednesday morning. We did a little bit of everything and it smelled so good. We delivered them over to the GGs late int he afternoon. It is so nice to have a couple more days off. The kids are going for an overnight at Mom and Dad's tonight. Feeling pretty good this week. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increase in the white blood cell action and the new normal, Tree

Happy Thanksgiving

I am going to post tomorrow but wanted to wish all my family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving. Catch up tomorrow...go spend some time with the people you love.
Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increase in white blood cells and the new normal, Tree

Lalalala

Can't come up with a better title.
Tonight I had Ellie's parent-teacher conference. I was delighted to hear how Ellie is a pleasure to have in class. Dean came over to have dinner and play with the kids. They played board games, showed off their new rooms and a bunch of other things. I spent the morning cleaning the dining room floor. This all goes back to the pumpkin issue. It irritates me that the stain is the first thing you see as you walk in. I did some reading online about how to clean a mold stain and tea was suggested. I tried it out yesterday on the stain and I really liked what it did to the floor.
This morning, I did the dining room. It took about 5 washes to get all the dirt off. The tea strips away the wax build-up from all the cleaners and sealers. It is simple - a pot of water (similar to a pasta pot) and about 12 tea bags. Boil and let cool and then use the tea to wash floor. Looks beautiful. Nick and I ran to the post office to mail the last ebay item off and then we went over to Mom and Dad's for a little bit.
I'm jumping around...Saturday the kids and I went on a thrift adventure but it was once again, slim pickings. I did find Ellie a couple holiday shirts to replace the ones she has grown out of. I got Nick a sweater for Christmas. I dropped them off at Mom and Dad's late in the afternoon. Rob and I went grocery shopping and had some quality time. Dad brought the kids home a bit before bedtime.
Yesterday, I worked on the living room floor. In a way, I am ahead of the game in the cleaning department because this is the normal cleaning I would need to do to get the holiday stuff up. I got a bunch of laundry done. I had all Rob's clothes to wash from his trip and then all the bedding from upstairs. We spent about an hour up in the kids rooms cleaning up. Ellie's room was the land of the lost socks. Nick's room had snakes, frogs and spiders (all fake) hiding everywhere.
We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Mom had made a Thanksgiving feast. We were trying the field roast - a vegan alternative. Mom had mashed and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, spinach, brussel sprouts, salad, turkey, corn tamales - delish. I think Thanksgiving might just be Nick's holiday - he had 3 slices of turkey and a few helpings of cranberry sauce.
I am feeling pretty good. My sore throat never turned into anything more and has pretty much subsided. I have a bit of lower back pain but I am stacking that up to the floor washing the last two days. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, higher white blood counts and the new normal, Tree

Catch up

I know it is the 3 day mark on posts but I am not motivated. I guess it might have to do with nothing terribly fun or great to discuss. Today, Mom and Dad helped me mail off the last (well, almost last) of my eBay auctions. We took a trip down to Oak Park to get this gourmet vegan cheese but when we looked closely, it was all out of date. We did find some vegan things we haven't ever seen at our local Whole Foods.
We stopped into Penzys Spice shop to pick up some holiday gifts and replenish our diminished spices. We found our Maurice Lennell still has a cookie shop of Harlem. While not an outlet, it is still a place to find the good old cookies.
We had a much needed family night tonight. We had dinner at Red Robin and then went to see Happy Feet 2. I have never been in a theatre and had so much kid talking going on. It was distracting and yet, it is a kids film and we could have equally been in the same position. The movie was cute. We came home and got the kids to sleep.
Other highlights...Rob got home from Springfield last night. We were able to have dinner together and a bit of family time before bedtime. I had a much needed coffee date with Christi. She came over on Wednesday and we spent hours catching up. We had out first outing with Jo, Matteo and Tony. Nothing too special...mostly a car trip but we were all out together.
Mom and Dad came over for dinner on Wednesday night. We had a nice dinner together and the kids got some time with Mom and Dad.
I have a sore throat...trying some hot tea with honey and lemon. Hopefully, I will have a more entertaining weekend to write about. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, a higher white blood count and the new normal, Tree

NED

No Evidence of Disease!
Monday morning we did our usual morning stuff. Ellie got off to school and I dropped Nick off at school. I went to Kellogg for my blood work and CT scan at the hospital. My labs weren't released so I had to wait. I ended up telling them I would come back because I was going to be late for my CT.
Must have been a busy day at the hospital because I had to wait for my scan. I was brought back to a chair so the tech could start my IV. After checking various veins she went with left inside elbow. She was nice enough to call Kellogg and find out if they could use her tubing but they said no.
I was finally taken into the room and I am a pro at jumping up on the machine now. Reminders of what to expect and then we started. Breathe in, hold breath, breathe. Did that a few times and that was that. I had to fill out a survey form which no where discussed wait time for actual procedure. I returned the survey and was then informed that I should drink water but they are out of their supply. I felt like asking for the survey back.
I went back to Kellogg and my labs still hadn't been released. Finally they were and the phlebotomist got my other side. Not too bad though. I went to Mom and Dad's house. They picked Nick up from school. I hadn't eaten since dinner on Sunday and was hungry. I had a cup of coffee and a roll and then we cruised off to Hobby Lobby.
We picked up lunch on the way at Culver's. Mom had specific things she was looking for at the store and I think we were able to fins most of them. We left and decided to try Aunt Millie's bakery warehouse. We have driven past about a dozen times and we've never been able to stop. It is on Touhy between Wolf and Elmhurst. They carry bread, English muffins, rolls. Everything was still in date and the most expensive bread item was $.99.
We came home and Ellie got home from school. It was so nice outside. Ellie finished homework and then she and Nick went outside. When they came in Ellie and I did wii. We had breakfast for dinner. Rob called to talk to the kids before bedtime.
Today started like our normal mornings. Ellie got off to school, dropped Nick off at school and then I was off to Kellogg. I guess it is kind of like Groundhog Day. Margaret took me back to the exam room and we went over tests. CT scan was great - no evidence of disease. My bloodwork for the most part was great. My white blood count has been trending downward since May. It could be just slow to re-bound, it could be a side effect of the radiation treatments, it could be from one of the supplements I was taking.
I was told to drop the supplements and vitamins for the next month. I will take a steroid the night before I get my next blood draw - I guess it shakes the red and white cells apart. Hopefully, that will show an increase. if not I will need to get a bone marrow test. Otherwise, the visit was good.
Mom had picked Nick up from school and they were pulling in just before me. We had lunch and just hung out this afternoon. Nick and I came home and Ellie got off the bus soon after. The kids went to play outside and enjoy the weather. When they came in they played downstairs while I worked out. Rob called to check in and talk to the kids.
We had dinner and then it was bath time and bedtime. I just got off the phone with Rob. He won a printer in some drawing...I can flip it on ebay for $100. Most of my auctions ended today - not too shabby. I averaged $10 a piece. I did just find another box that was hiding downstairs so I probably have another 50-75 items to list.
I am very relieved to have heard the news I heard today. I don't think I can really adequately put into words the anxiety a person who is cancer free feels when they have to go for these follow-up tests. I will sleep well tonight. I will ask for some collective positive thoughts from you for a couple things: increased white blood count and continual healing. Also, please keep my Uncle Joe in your positive thoughts the next couple days, especially Thursday. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Aye, aye, aye

This was the crowning moment!
On Friday, we went downtown with Mom, Dad and Tony. Ellie and Nick were both off of school. We had our annual lunch at the Walnut Room and viewing of the windows. Even though we got there just a bit after opening, we were quoted a 90 minute wait. We took a pager and went walking around the store.
Santa had arrived and we strolled through the North Pole workshop for a visit with him. It was very nice...the kids had a personal visit with Santa. The elves escort the kids to Santa and the line waits behind a curtain down the hall.
We were seated at the same table we were at last year - near the tree. I think because of school being off they were very busy. Our server was just okay. Not many menu options for the non-meat eaters. It was still nice and festive and the fairy came to hear the kids wishes and sprinkle them with super dine, never coming out of their hair, glitter.
We went back to Mom and Dad's house for a while so the kids could play. We went home and Ellie helped me pack up my eBay auctions to ship out. We ate dinner and go the kids into bed. Saturday, we started the day at the Deerfield rummage sale. We scored there last year...not so much this year. The kids found a couple games and craft kits. We stopped in at a few thrift stores - nothing there either.
We ate lunch at Mariano's and then we were off to the library. They were having a Just Dance 3 competition. Ellie saw the poster while we were there the other day and asked if we could attend. We got there and there were about 2 dozen teens there. Ellie sized up the competition and decided to register, then she turned to me and said I had to register too. I knew we were in trouble when the guy asked our dance name. We did a practice run and I was feeling good.
We had 3 rounds that points were kept and then the dance-off began. Going into the dance-off, Ellie was in 9th place and I was in 2nd. Ellie made it through to the top 8 seats...I made it to 1st place! My crowning moment that I am sure will be on youtube someday. At last it will just be from the back. I won a gift card to Gamestop.
We went over to Mom and Dad's house. Jo, T and Matteo were there. We were taking Tony for an overnight. The kids played for a little bit, we all got our Matteo fix and then we went home. We watched Tangled in the basement and had popcorn, noodles, fruit and veggies. We had ice cream sandwiches for dessert. The kids slept on the sofa bed in the back room. Tony was asleep when his head hit the pillow, Ellie next and Nick was my hold out.
Rob and I watched some tv in the basement and then he went up around the time the news came on. I stayed down there until my computer battery died. I slept in the living room so I could hear if anyone woke up during the night.
This morning we made donuts for breakfast. I packed Rob up because he is in Springfield until Thursday taping a conference. He said goodbye and was on his way. The kids played legos, trains and many other things this morning. We all got clean in bath/shower and got dressed. We had lunch and then headed outside to enjoy this beautiful November day.
We played with bikes, soccer and chalk. We were out for hours and it was gorgeous. We packed up and went to Mom's for dinner. Jo and Matteo were there and the kids each got a couple turns holding him. Mom had dinner going - roasted beets, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and squash, noodles and a salad. Everything tasted wonderful and smelled great. We ended the evening with a Christmas movie and came home. I got the kids to sleep and talked to Rob for a bit.
I have my CT and blood work tomorrow morning and then my doctor visit Tuesday. I had 25 auctions end today - I will be shipping for the next week. Feeling pretty good - just some foot tinglies. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Snowflakes falling

I guess it had to happen eventually...snow is here. Sort of funny how we hit every weather icon today - sun, rain, hail, snow and clouds.
Yesterday I got the kids off to school and then I went thrifting. Now that I have most of my clothing listed on ebay I feel the need to re-acquire supply. Didn't end up with anything - I have a very limited range of items I am looking for.
I picked Nick up and we went over to Mom and Dad's house. Mom and I continued to work in the kitchen. Dad played trains with Nick. Dad and I listed some more items on ebay. We came home and Ellie walked in right after us.
I made pasta and "meatballs" for dinner and we had the roasted veggies and strawberries. Rob gave Nick a bath while Ellie and I did wii. Ellie and I finished the book we've been reading.
Today was so cold when we woke up. I looked out the window and the trees have finally lost their leaves. Ellie got off to the the bus and I got Nick off to school. Rob's car needed some repairs so we switched cars so I could drop it off at the shop. Dad picked me up and we went back to their house until it was time to pick Nick up from school.
I called a couple Whole Foods to see which one might have gotten their shipment of Stuffed "Turkey" in - that took almost 30 minutes. Mom, Dad and I went to pick Nick up from school and then we went to Whole Foods to pick up a Turkey. As we were walking into Whole Foods, Nick said his tummy hurt. I found an apple sample and gave it to him. He said he was thirsty and I got him a sample of cider. He turned and vomited all over - yuck! I found cart wipes and cleaned up the floor and took him to the washroom to clean up. He said his tummy felt better. We did our shopping and headed back to Mom's.
We had lunch and then we finished up the kitchen. Nick played with trains and his leap pad. Rob came to pick us up and then we dropped him at the auto shop. Ellie got home and her and Nick played for a bit. We ended up going to the library to return books and for Ellie to check out some more. We picked Rob up from home and went for dinner at Red Robin to celebrate Ellie's report card. We came home and did wii while Rob gave Nick a bath. We got the kids to sleep and relaxed on the couch.
I have been doing wii barefoot and I think it might be helping my feet out. I only get tinglies when I really curl my foot. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Fall is here

So, today only, eBay had a deal that I could list up to 1,000 items for free. Sounds great in theory, doesn't it? Nick was up early so I got him breakfast and got him set up watching Arthur. Ellie was still sleeping so I decided to get my exercise out of the way. I got the kids clothes out and ready and brushed Ellie's hair. She left with her umbrella to wait for the bus.
I was able to get photos taken of almost a box of clothes to list before I needed to take Nick to school. While he was at school I was able to finish taking pictures and list about 20 items. I went and picked Nick up and we went over to Mom and Dad's. We are taking a break this week from Grandma Chocolate's house and working at Mom's.
We worked on kitchen related projects today. We organized the spice cabinet and then the pantry. It expanded to the pantry in the basement, too. Dad brought us back Chinese food after he got a haircut. Nick was having a sort of weird day - he was quiet and really into spelling.
We came home and I continued working on listing items on ebay. I got almost 70 items listed now. Rob came home and worked with the kids so I could finish up. Ellie practiced her clarinet for a bit - sounding better. The kids had their bathes. Ellie helped me roast veggies. The wonderful part of cooking something yourself is that you will usually want to try the end product. Today Ellie tried mushrooms and onions and she liked them. She really liked the cauliflower - my personal favorite, too.
We did some reading at bedtime - almost finished with the book we have been reading. Nick worked on his Christmas list. Rob and I watched Parenthood and had some down time.
Yesterday, after Ellie left for school, Nick and I went to the post office to mail the last of my packages. We went grocery shopping at Meijer's and a produce run to Tony's. We came home and put all our food away. I fixed lunch for us and Nick was a big helper. Mom called and wanted to know if we wanted to go shopping - so we joined them for their grocery run and a CVS run.
We picked Tony us from school and then they dropped me and Nick back at home. Ellie got home and did her homework. I made a batch of muffins to take over to Jo. The kids and I went over to Jo and Ole's house for dinner. Ellie and Nick were so excited to finally get to meet Matteo. They both held him and cheesed over how cute he is. Mom and Dad came over and Aunt Carrie joined us too. We had dinner and the kids played. I got my Matteo fix - cuter everyday. I love that baby smell - which I am pretty sure is spit up. We came home and got the kids to bed.
Sunday morning we went to church. We were on for Ellie's Sunday school group. Ellie's group made butterflies with oil pastels while Nick's group painted them. We came home and had a kicked back day. We raked some more leaves, the kids played outside for a bit but it was starting to get cool. We went over to Mom and Dad's a bit earlier so the kids could play with Tony. We had dinner together. Ole came to take Tony for the night. They were going to go to Chuck E Cheese and then T was going to have a sleep over at Tio's house. Jo was discharged on Sunday - major screw-up at the hospital. Discharged less than 48 hours after delivery?
Feeling pretty good these days. Not really anything to complain about. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Pooka is here

I totally meant to blog last night and then I forgot. I am going to jump around because there is so important stuff and some mundane.

Friday morning Mom called me early to let me know that Jo and Ole were at the hospital. Jo was having regular contractions. I took a shower and woke Nick up. We got dressed and went to Mom and Dad's. I dropped Nick off and then went to join Jo and Ole. Jo was scheduled to have Pooka next Friday but he must have heard me the other night saying it was ok to come out and play.

I got to spend about an hour with Jo before she went to the OR. I went and told our friend, Kate, about Jo. Kate works at the hospital and is like our second mom. Ole's parents were waiting in the lobby so I joined them. It only took about 40 minutes before I received 2 texts. The first of Pooka and the second of the three of them. The magic age of technology. I was able to text back for details. Matteo Mecias, 8# 2oz was born at 10:50AM.

Ole wasn't able to come out to talk to us for about another hour or so. I was the first to be able to go back. Matteo is gorgeous. Nice round cheeks and so soft. Jo was having trouble with shaking and couldn't stop it enough to hold Matteo yet. I went to Mom and Dad's house to pick Nick up.

I helped Mom with a print project and then we came home. Nick and I went to pick Tony up from school and then hurried home to get Ellie from the bus. Ellie said she knew Pooka had arrived when she saw Tony at our house.

When Rob got home from work, I took Tony up to the hospital to meet Matteo. Rob took the kids to go get a scoop of ice cream from the ice cream shop. Tony is in the question stage of being 3. Every questions is followed immediately by another why question. We got the hospital and walked to Jo's room. Mom and dad were there and Tony got to meet his brother. I got to visit with Matteo a bit more, he was awake. Tony got to hold Matteo for a bit.

We left and were going to meet up with Rob and the kids for dinner out but Tony decided he would rather have noodles at my house. I called Rob and had him start dinner and we stopped off to pick up some milk and fruit. We ate dinner and watched a movie. The kids played for a bit before we got PJs on and made our beach in the living room. We took the pillows off the couch and lots of blankets from upstairs and made a beach on the living room floor. With all the excitement it didn't take long before all the kids were asleep.

Nick made it until about 4:45AM on the floor before going up to bed. Tony came to find me about 30 minutes after Nick left. Tony made a request for pancakes for breakfast. I made them the way I always make them - chocolate chip banana. Tony is a purist and only likes plain pancakes. The kids had a bath and we got dressed - the advantage on having boys a year apart - we always have hand me downs available. They played with play-doh, legos and trains. When Rob got home we all ate lunch together. I made a batch of cookies to take up to Jo.

Tony and I left to go to the hospital and Rob and the kids started working on leaves outside. Jo had showered and was sitting on the glider when we arrived. I stole Matteo right away. He was ever more perfect the second day - beautiful color to his skin and ever so smooth. I got to take the first walk with the Flores family. They walked me to the elevator and then I said goodbye.

I came home and Rob and the kids had been working on leaves. Most of our trees have finally dropped their leaves. They did the grass in the backyard and had brought all the leaves up to the front. I asked Rob to take down the fencing around my garden beds and that led to me raking. I raked out all the garden beds and we did the patio. I got the fire pit out and we started a fire with all the left over wood from the garage. I brought out s'mores making stuff and we make s'mores for the kids and all their friends. I trimmed all the tree branches that rub against the windows in the back room. We have some incredibly huge piles of leaves in front of our house now. We ended the day outside playing with the grand kids from 2 doors down.

We came in and I went to exercise while Rob got the kids into a bath. I tried to make dinner easy by mentioning it was Grecian Kitchen's customer appreciation day and that there were cheap eats. Rob went to go pick up food and called me 45 minutes later saying he was still waiting. Dinner was good and we all enjoyed it. We watched Beauty and the Beast and ate our dinner. I ended up going upstairs with Ellie to read and Rob and Nick finished watching the movie. The kids were out to sleepyland pretty quickly after a day outside.

Back in time....Thursday. Nick went to school and I came home and did some cleaning. I got some packages ready to ship out. I picked Nick up from school and we went to the post office to mail the packages. We came home and had lunch and then Mom and Dad picked us up to head out to Grandma Chocolate's. Dad and I worked in the garage while Mom worked in the kitchen. We were able to make some significant progress before coming home.

When Ellie and Rob got home we were off to the circus. We went to Culver's for dinner and then over to Allstate to see the show. We got there ahead of time and were able to go down onto the floor and visit with the performers. We had great seats and Rob was chosen by a clown to throw a frisbee down to the floor from our seats. This was the first year that Nick actually laughed out loud when he saw things he thought were funny. The family in front of us were extremely cool and bought the kids clown noses. It was a great show, highly entertaining, we recommend it. We came home and the kids fell asleep quickly.

It has been a very adventurous start to my 36th year - non stop action. I read my detailed numerology report for this upcoming year and I think this will be the year to really start the ball rolling for my play cafe. I know where I want to open up and I can visualize how I want it to look - just need to get a business plan together. I am feeling pretty good. What is bothersome is directly related to something I have down - raking, exercising - that sort of thing. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

36 years

Halloween was lovely. Nick helped me ship off my last round of ebay auctions. I would get the postage label on the package and Nick would put it in the box. We went to Mom's house for lunch and just hung out there during the afternoon. We had a great day - a bit on the cool side but no rain or snow. Dean came over and we took the kids out trick or treating. Nick was a chicken and Ellie was Supergirl. I put on Grandma Chocolate's Pan Am hat and we dug a pilot hat out of the costume box for Dean.
We did maybe 4 blocks of trick or treating before Nick began falling on the ground exclaiming hie was out of gas and wanted to go home. The kids both had a bag full of candy and treats. Local trick or treat hours were insane this year - 3PM - 8PM. Rob agreed to stay home and wait out trick or treating while I took the kids to trick or treat in Mom's neighborhood. We always hit the neighbors and show off costumes. We had dinner and came home.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day for November 1st. Ellie had the day off school but Nick had school. We dropped him off at school and stopped by Target. We picked up a steamed milk and coffee at Starbucks and cruised through the store. I thought Halloween would have been more discounted but it was only 30% - so we skipped it. We came home and studied for Ellie's test on the solar system.
We picked Nick up from school and headed to pick Mom and Dad up. We were heading down to Navy Pier to visit the children's museum. The pier was amazingly empty. It was wonderful - no waiting for exhibits. We did all the exhibits and then the kids were the first to try out the new art for November. It was making something from a box. Ellie made a shoebox into a treasure box and Nick made a box into a car garage with a tire holder on the top. We stopped and picked up Garrett's popcorn and had a snack.
We took pictures in all the cut outs that were still up from Halloween and walked out on the pier for a bit. We came home and the kids finished watching Kiki's Delivery Service. We stopped off at Ayutla Panaderia to pick up some pan de muertos for day of the dead. We came home and the kids went outside to enjoy the afternoon.
I took down our outdoor Halloween decorations. Looks naked out there now. The squirrels have started to really eat our pumpkins. I said goodnight to the kids and Rob and I went back downtown. It was the Chicago chapter of Stupid Cancer happy hour. I met a delightful couple from Milwaukee. I got to meet Jonny Imerman and talk with him for a bit. We closed the happy hour down - not too hard when you aren't drinking. I think I need to find something non alcoholic to drink. I don't like pop and water gets boring - maybe juice.
I came home and was sort of charged up and could not wind down enough to sleep. I played games and watched tv. Today I am officially 36 years old - feels no different than 35.
I dropped Nick off at school and came home. I spent about 35 minutes on the phone with ebay because my auctions are having a check out problem. I picked Nick up and we went over to Mom and Dad's for lunch. Food has never really been more than a thing you need to eat to survive. When asked what I want to eat - well, it is not really a big thing. We had Chinese for lunch and then we went to Whole Foods to pick up Birthday dessert. Jo invited us over to her house tonight to celebrate. I am not a cake person, we picked up gelato and cookies.
Mom and Dad dropped us back at home. The kids played for a bit and I got laundry flipped. We put away all out indoor Halloween decorations - house looks naked. We went over to Jo's for dinner - ordered El Famous. We had a nice dinner and the kids got to play with Tony. I tried persuading Pooka to come out and play so we could share a Birthday but Jo is pretty content with 11/11.
We came home and got the kids to sleep and watched some tv. Not really sure why but I have noticed a slight balance issue in the last few days. It is all foot related and just looks like I am clumsy. I am still having shoulder pain but not nearly as bad as it was. Thankfully my chest pain has gone away. Hard to believe a year ago tomorrow, I was having my port surgically placed. Many friends have said what a difference a year makes and I couldn't agree more. I go for my 3 month work up in 2 weeks - CT, blood work and exam/visit. Thank you for the birthday wishes and sentiments - I fell very loved. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was a Halloween adventure. We began at the bank. The kids got to trade their colored in postcards for a pumpkin. We came back and said goodbye to Rob - he was off to tape a wedding all day and night. We stopped off at the police department to drop off a bag of expired drugs.
We went to Toys r Us to meet Spiderman, Barbie and Geoffrey. I was able to pick up Halloween treats at 50% off, too. We went to Meijer's for their Halloween Carnival - a bit disappointing. They are usually very together but were extremely disorganized on Saturday. Eventually the kids got a glow stick and a few pieces of candy.
We picked Tony up and we came home for lunch and to assemble Ellie's treats for school. We started our afternoon at Presbyterian Home. The kids had a ball and they really get kudos for the best free Halloween activity. They played games, trick or treated, decorate a pumpkin, had snacks, heard stories, got tattoos, went to a petting zoo, got their photo taken and saw the n gauge railway. This was very cool.
We ended our adventure at St. Paul's Trunk or Treat. The kids got to play games and trick or treat through many decorated trunks. We came home and the kids played very nicely together - we ended up outside on bikes and playing soccer. Jo and Ole came to pick T up and we went to pick up dinner.
We had movie night - we were going to watch Hocus Pocus but about 45 minutes into it Nick said he was scared so we switched to Halloween Wars on Food Network. I got the kids to sleep and then watched some TV. Rob got home around 1AM.
Today we started the day with a trip to Mariano's. The kids got a free pumpkin and got to trick or treat around the store. We came home and decorated and carved our pumpkins. I found sidewalk paint in the Halloween box so we went outside and decorated the front walk. It is supposed to glow in the dark - I just hope it survives the rain.
We went to Mom and Dad's for family Sunday. I helped Mom assemble the cannelloni and got the salad ready. We plated up and were ready for dinner. Mom named all the items for the festivities - witch's fingers, hearts and blood, blood and bones...
Everything was delicious. The kids were a bit nuts but that does happen with sugar. We got to share our pictures from the weekend with the GGs. We came home and Ellie did her homework and I gave Nick a bath. I put away a couple baskets of laundry and finally swapped out Ellie's drawers so that Summer clothes are away in the closet and Fall in her drawers.
My body isn't feeling so good the last couple days. I have had some chest pain - started with my phantom Plum pain and has traveled a bit lower today. My ankles hurt - not sure what that is about. My shoulders were feeling better but started a dull pain again tonight. Hoping everyone has a fun Halloween. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Seems like a long week

I thought about blogging last night and now regret that I didn't because I don't think I will recall the last 3 days accurately.
Wednesday morning I got Ellie off to the bus and then Nick off to school. I ran to Target and picked up cleaning supplies and paper products. I still had an hour so I ran into Farm Fresh and did some shopping for dinner. I really liked the roasted veggie so I picked up more peppers, asparagus, cauliflower, zucchini and squash. I picked up the makings for tacos for dinner. I still had 30 minutes so I ran into Tuesday Morning but found nothing we needed.
I picked Nick up from school and we came home and I roasted the veggies. We had lunch and then Mom and Dad picked us up for an afternoon adventure. We went to Whole Foods and Target. Nick double fisted samples and then we came home.
Ellie came home from school and we did her homework. Mom and Dad came for dinner and we had tacos and the roasted veggies - cauliflower was super delicious. We watched the Middle and then got the kids to bed.
Thursday was Nick's Halloween parade at school. For the past 2 months his answer to what are you going to be for Halloween has been a chicken. It was 3 minutes before we needed to leave for school and Nick said it wasn't Halloween and only school and he didn't want to be a chicken. We raced downstairs and raided the costume bin and found his train costume. I dropped him at school and then went home to work on the tub. I was able to get all the caulk removed from the tub and around it and prepared for caulk.
Mom and Dad came to pick me up and we went to get Nick. We went up to Grandma Chocolate's house and got a ton accomplished. Ellie had her last cooking class - they made apple crisp. When I went to pick her up she asked if we could make it for dessert. We stopped at the store for the ingredients. We had homemade pizzas for dinner and Ellie's apple crisp for dessert. The kids watched Charlie Brown and then we got them into bed.
Today was sort of a laid back morning. Nick and I went to eat lunch with Rob at work. Nick got to trick or treat around the school and show off his pirate costume (not Halloween couldn't wear the chicken). Rob was a pirate too - it was cute. We stopped off at Mom's and we watched Kiki's Delivery Service - a new movie from the makers of Ponyo.
We came home just in time for Ellie. We ran to BigLots for some things we needed and talked about having a family movie night. We made popcorn and had sundaes and watched Addams Family int he basement. Busy weekend ahead - lots of Halloween activities and events tomorrow. Rob is filming a wedding tomorrow. Family Sunday on Sunday. Should be fun but I think the sugar high will be immense. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree