YIPPEE!

i am on the summer schedule, which means staying up late and sleeping late, so i was awakened this morning at 830 by Rita, my breast surgeon's nurse to tell me that the MRI was clear!!! yay!! praise God!!!

A Funny Thing

So, it's common for people to attach "aholic" to describe something they're addictied to, such as chocoholic, cokeaholic, etc.
that being said, there was a notice in our church bulletin today, announcing the formation of "Scrap Alcoholics". The pastor had to make sure everyone knew the group was just for people addicted to scrapbooking, not those alcoholics who liked to scrap...

Whoops!

so, MD anderson had a blood drive at our church today, to benefit john, one of our members with leukemia, and i dropped by just to verify when i could give blood again. their answer?
NEVER. MD Anderson will NEVER accept blood donations from me because i've had BC. as a sop, the guy said the Blood Center may accept my blood in a few years...
then, i was talking to a guy at church, who works in rads somehow, and he was talking about how chemo affects the quality of yr blood, and all oncs want to do is presribe chemo because it makes them a lot of money, blablabla. kinda freaked me out, esp when he said john's cancer was a secondary cancer that he got from taking chemo for lung cancer. wow.

worked out on the elliptical machine today at the gym. covered in sweat. forgot my hand towel. wiped my face on my white tshirt and got beige makeup all over it.
went and got a pedicure afterwards, then ate at maui tacos. love that place.

By The Way

Doing laundry today. more than i had expected because Kitty Butthead peed on my bed for the 2nd day in a row, and i didn't get a chance to put my waterproof mattress pad on the mattress. grrr.

Took a vegetarian cooking class last night. that was fun. we made a tomato salad, a salad with a spicy avocado dressing, some quinoa/rice stuff, fresh pasta with fresh pesto, carrot vichyssoise, and fruit salad. Afterward, i went across the street to the tiny movie theater, and watched "Then She Found Me." It was a private showing, as i was the only one who apparently felt the need to see this movie at 9:50 on a Wednesday night.

My New Addiction(z)

my DDs have tons of Webkinz, and so everyday, i log on to their webkinz accounts, play a few games, and earn them some Kinzcash. i do this not merely out of niceness, but because some of those games are seriously fun. not for me the World of Warcraft games that DH is addicted to -- too, too complicated. i like the games where you have to click on the three matching balls, or make words up out of random letters.
my 2nd addiction is Face Book. My sister's SIL asked me to be on it, so we could play Scrabulous. (online Scrabble). then FB went thru my address book and told me which of my friends had a FB page, which led to me finding who THEIR friends were, and finding lots of people i'd lost contact with. i have like 35 friends now on FB. it's fun, because you can see photo albums, see what they've been up to, etc. you can play games, take quizzes, join groups, etc.

Our Weird Pets

We have to keep the cat food up on counters because the dog LOVES it. Recently, I purchased some all-natural, hypoallergenic food for the dog so her food allergies wouldn't act up. And she hated it. Refused to eat it at all. So, I went to Target and bought some IAMS Lamb and Rice food, which she loves, as do the cats.

Nothing Much

Finished VBS yesterday. Jennifer took the girls home to play with Sophie, yay! Did some housework.
Today, we went to Target, and then out to lunch at the new Chuy's that just opened up. The waitress was a bit confused that I wanted a veggie enchilada and a beef taco. "You know there's meat in the taco, right?"

VBS

VBS is this week, and my sole responsibility is to a) rewrite the canned script from the curriculum and gear it toward a preschool audience, b) rehearse it a couple of times with the other two actors, and c) perform it. i get there at 815, and leave by 935, feeling horribly guilty. ever since DD1 was born, i have taught VBS, which at my old church meant hours of preparation and decorating, and buying food and assembling supplies, and leaving the house at 8 to get to church by 8:30, and not leaving the church until 12:30
and yet, there are moms out there who send their kids to VBS, and don't help out, and they don't feel guilty. wow, what is that like?

Pretty Bird

Just Hanging Out, Dude

This picture from our trip to the Fort Worth Zoo cracks me up.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Went to church, where DD1 performed a short sketch of my devising in all three services. She was very happy to Finally Be in One of Mommy's Plays.
We had a great shadow dance to "Cinderella," by Steven Curtis Chapman. Made me tear up, even tho i'd sat thru rehearsals for it and had seen it about 12x.
DH liked the fancy pen, the shirt and the himalayan sea salt sphere we got him. Then! He took the girls to the pool! and the puppy is asleep!
aaaahhhhh, so nice and quiet.

There Are Days....

...when you look and feel fabulous.

And then there are days like today, when someone at the swim meet turned to me and said, "Don't you have grandkids at Cypress Christian School?"

Adding to My Panoply of Acronyms

You may recall that I have had a PET scan and a CAT scan in the past. Yesterday, I had a BSGI, and, based on the results of that BSGI, now I get to have an MRI. Hi, United Healthcare! Remember me?

I was talking to United Healthcare Monday, making sure they would pay for the BSGI, and getting the address to send the letter of medical necessity for the BRCA, and the guy said, "Yeah, and uh, we need to update your records. Are you covered by any other insurance?" Nope! Just y'all!

I was mildly freaking out yesterday when they told me I'd need to have an MRI. Having an active imagination is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, one can create many wonderful things, like plays and partially finished mystery novels. On the other hand, when I received the news yesterday that I'd need more testing,
a.)I immediately assumed the suspicious area they found was cancerous
and b.) started thinking about what clothes I should pick out to wear in my coffin.
The sermon Sunday was about the importance of exercising your faith, so after indulging a bit in morbid thoughts like those above, I started reciting memory verses about peace, and trusting God.

I heard from the surgeon's office today, and the nurse said the area was probably a fibroidenoma (a benign tumor originating from glandular tissue, but given my history, they want to make sure.

I called the scheduling office:
Me: Hi, I need to schedule a bi-liateral breast MRI with contrast.
Scheduling Girl: Ok, the first available is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Me: That's fine.
Scheduling: OK, let's put you down for that. (I write it, in pen, on my calendar.) What part of the body is it for?
Me: The breast.
SG: Oh! We don't do breast MRIs on the weekend.

So we rescheduled for Tuesday the 24th.

Not Much.

I know some of you check this every day (hi, deanna!), and i apologize for not writing anything Sunday or Monday, but nothing really funny or interesting happened those two days.
Today, i had a meeting at church, and then the princesses and i met my BFF Debbie for lunch in the Galleria, and then Deb went back to work, and the princesses and i went to the Galleria to get DH's father's day gift.
Before we got there, they declared that a) they were tired, b) they didn't feel that well, and c) could we just go to the store, get the gift, and leave? All of which I acceded to.
Then they saw the wonders of the Galleria, which they hadn't been to for 3 or 4 years at least. Instead of feeling tired and sick, they declared they wanted to go ice skating. Next time, I said.And we were there for 2 hours.
We wandered around a bit, as I parked in a different parking lot that the previous times I'd been there. We got the gift, then went to the Disney store, and then got a snack and watched the ice skaters.
I looked in at the candy store, and saw a sugar-free candy bar! i took it to the front to guy it, but it turns out they wanted NINE DOLLARS for the blessed thing, so i put it back.
I stopped at sonic for a Diet Dr. Pepper on the way out, where the sign said, "Let the manager know if we "fail" to give you a receipt."
Why did they put "fail" in quotes?

Saturday

Went to a lingerie shower for my friend Amy Ray, who is getting married soon in the Virgin Islands. They had a R.J. Goodies cake. Mmmmmmmmmm. For those of you who don't live in Houston, R.J. Goodies has the Best. Cake. Ever. Ever since Amy and the other hostesses at my baby shower back in 2000 had an R.J. Goodies cake, I have never gone back. I only had 4 bites -- I was good. And I chewed slowly, savoring the frosting.
In the evening, the girls and I went to a party honoring our new associate pastor, Stephanie.

Back Home

Just got back from a few days at Fort Worth. We accompanied DH on a biz trip there. We stayed downtown, in Sundance Square, which is a cool area with lots of shops, theaters, restaurants, etc.
We arrived around noon on Wednesday and dropped DH off at work, then we checked in, and went to eat at one of those restaurants that turned out to be really expensive, and to have about 7 things on their menu. I ended up ordering a $9 appetizer, consisting of peppers, tomatoes and cheese marinated in oil. The princesses shared a meatball pizza. Then we walked to a water garden, and dabbled our feet in the water. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at Barnes and Noble for liquid refreshment and books. DD2 had a gift card that was burning a hole in her pocket, but i told her she couldn't spend the whole $20 on stuffed animals -- she had to spend half on books. So she chose a stuffed octopus, and a set of easy reader books. I bought the second in the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series, and DD1 chose a book of Mad Libs.
We went back to the hotel and changed into our swimming suits and went swimming, tho my "swimming" consisted of sitting in the hot tub for a while, and then lying on a chaise loungs out of the sun to dry off.
We ate Mexican that night.
Yesterday, we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, which was fun, but expensive. $5 to park, $20 total admission. The Houston and Wichita zoos don't charge to park, so that was a surprise. The funnest part was the Parrot Paradise, where you can pay $1 for a stick with some seeds attached, and you hold it out, and parakeets will come and land on your hand and eat the seeds. I'll post pics later.
In the late afternoon and evening, we hung out with the Evanses, and ate at Red, Hot and Blue (of course. every time i go see the Evanses, we eat at Red, Hot and Blue. and i always get the same thing.)
Today, the princesses swam while I worked out in the adjoining room, keeping an eye on them through the glass walls. Then we went shopping a bit, but the only shirt i found i liked was $98 on sale. so, not so much.
we ate at Uno's, and headed home.

Sometimes It Just Pays To Drive Down to the Dang Store

I am a big fan of online shopping. A goodly percentage of my shopping is done that way, and there was a pair of shoes on jcp.com that i was lusting after. however, i got a $10 coupon in the mail from jc penney for in-store only. the web site said the shoes were available in-store as well, so today the princesses and i went down to the store. i circled every shoe display 3x, including the clearance racks, and couldn't see the shoes. i found some similar ones, but none that i loved. so i asked the clerk if they had them -- Mudd Chachi -- and he went back and found them in my size! no surprise there, since i doubt many people are asking for them, SINCE THEY DON'T HAVE A PAIR ON DISPLAY.
anyway.
the price online? $44.99 + 8.75 shipping + 4.43 tax. a whopping $58.17
the price in the store? $24 - $10 off coupon = $14 + $1.15 tax = $15.15
i have no idea why they were priced $20 less in the store than online, but woohoo! i saved $43!
and let me tell you, while i love these shoes, i never would have paid $58 for them....

Monday

swim practice, then we picked up two friends and went bowling to celebrate DD2's bday. We have gone to the every other year plan in regard to big birthday parties. we bowled for a couple of hours and then went swimming at the Y. The DDs had fun, but they were tired by the time we got home. So was I!

DD2's Bday, or Yes, Virginia, There Is Such A Thing As Too Many Sprinkles

declared for her bday this year that she wanted a bunny cake. I looked at Hobby Lobby and Michaels to no avail for a bunny cake pan, so i found a design online. This is the result. DD2 wanted to put sprinkles on it -- apparently all the sprinkles we had.