See you next year!

Why does Christmas being over make you feel so depressed? We spread out our festivities so we wouldn't have to leave one place early and be all rushed over 1 or 2 days.
Batman and I both have divorced parents so we have like 4 or more Christmas gatherings to attend.
So on Christmas Eve we went to his stepdad's sisters, then Christmas Day to his dad's sister's. We got friday kind of off. But his mom wanted to come up to our apartment and bring the boys their presents from them. So we had a little present party here friday night that I wasn't really planning on, so I cooked a little cheese dip and vaccumed and that's it. But it turned out fine.
Saturday we were supposed to go to another grandma's house, but freezing rain decided otherwise.
Sunday we went to see my Nana in the hospital. Its sad when she is not able to do Christmas stuff cause she makes the best food and has such pretty decorations. I can't count the nativity scenes she puts out every year.
My dad went to Louisianna to my step-grandparents for the holidays, so we didn't get to see them. I think this is the first Christmas that I haven't seen my dad or mom ON christmas eve or day. We'll see dad when he gets back and we are supposed to gather with my mom and my 3 sisters on the 1st. I guess my mom and sisters got together on christmas eve and were upset that we "ditched" them. There just can't be an occasion in my family where there isn't drama.
I always get in trouble for something.
Well I guess we'll see what happens next year.

Maybe the last Randomness of the year

1. OK well now that everyone in my family has been sicky icky, I think we are finally back to normal. Until the baby gets up this morning and he's all scratchy voiced and coughing and his face is warm and red. Poor guy. Hopefully it won't last long.


2. We were all barfy with gastroenteritis the week of Thanksgiving, so we just had our own Thanksgiving this past Saturday. I made turkey and the usual and we invited one of my sisters and one of Batman's brothers. Usually you have lots of leftovers and you can eat another week off of cooking for one day. That is, if your turkey doesn't suck. Well right after I took it out of the oven, it was soooo yummy. Then it kinda dried up while falling completely off the bones. So it smelled good and looked good but by the end of the night was too dry to save. So I have leftovers of everything but turkey.

3. We have had a couple deaths in our family. I hate when it happens to anyone right before the holidays. My grandma's brother and my Grandpa's sister both passed away. We couldn't travel to the funeral because it would be an unexcused absence for Spiderman, who had to take his Advanced Placement test today anyway. Plus Batman had to go out of town for work this week too. So we are taking care of my grandparents' doggy while they are out of town.
4. Batman and I have discovered our new favorite kind of food and that is Louisianna-ian. LOL We had some Jumbalya and I am so proud of myself for making GUMBO! Yeah me! But then we had lots left and we left the pot out on the stove to cool a little before putting it in the fridge to save. And we fell asleep on the couch and forgot to put it away. So we wasted our leftovers. :(
I feel like such a jerk cause there are starving kids in the world and I can't even finish the food we have and save it to eat another day. New yrs resolution: Be less wasteful!

5. Even though we live in this little apartment right now, I managed to decorate it quite nicely for Christmas. We at least have a fireplace to hang the stockings on and I may have piled too much around it, but hey, its all the room I've got.
So here is my cozy corner.
6. And last but not least, I got a cute haircut. I am coloring it this week while my sister comes to stay with us. What do you think??

Oy

We have to get our vehicle's tagged today. Sucky. We have never lived in this state before so we don't know where to go to get it inspected or get our new state tags. Also we have no idea what paperwork to bring to the place that we don't know. Love to not know. Is there someone that can just do all this for me? Wish I had a husband who knew and just went and did it without appointing me to do these things.

I just joined PaperBack Swap.com and I am going to get to read my Scrapbooking mysteries hopefully. Yay!

My life is full of playdates with Superman, reading time with Spiderman and World of Warcraft with Batman.
Yes I play the WoW. We just got the new expansion so I am leveling my undead mage from level 70 to 80. Love when there are new things on there to do.

Tomorrow is Batman's mom's birthday so we are going to a Japanese Steakhouse. Its better than the Mongolian grills that Batman loves to go to except that the fire on the grill right in front of you scares the living crap out of Superman. Don't know why he is so afraid of it. He has never been burnt or even close to fire. You'd think he would like the warm burst that comes from it, but no, he screams. But we are going anyway.

Well I have to go research where to get my new lisence plate today. Happy Tuesday!

Better late than never

Here's some highlights from our Halloween.
Superman was a sweet little Dragon. At first he was afraid to put the costume on, but after big brother tried it on half way, then he wanted to wear it. He wears the hat for fun outside of trick or treating.
Spiderman was Wolverine and was totally cool all night. These are my grandparents who loved all their Treaters.

I don't have a pic of me looking at the camera in full garb, but I was my own version of a teenage witch. My purple feathery and tulle hat was super cool. But the socks rocked. They lit up on the little pic thing. I've never worn so much black eye makeup.
Batman just dressed up like a college student. He did a great job of taxi-ing his kids around for sugar.All in all, good night and we are still hoarding the candy from the kids cause we need sugar more than they do. We were raised on it, they aren't. HAHAH!

Election Day

Well I tried to get as informed as I could so today would not just be guesses on my ballot. I'd never guess, I did leave a few blank cause I didn't know. But hey I voted!! And as a bonus, I get free Starbucks in the next hour. Woo!!

October fun

Had to make a slideshow cause there are so many good pictures to share with you all.

The most cutest kindergartener EVER!!!

He really is major total adorableness. There isn't a single thing I'd change about him. Maybe I'd just make him let me give him more kisses on his sweet little cheeks.

OMG!! A Disturbing 7, not 13, for Thursday

In honor of October being Halloween month and scary movies on tv, I decided to share some disturbing stuff with you. Probably NWS and not for the weak. If you don't like it, don't look. :)

1.
Ok I think this is just too disturbing. My kids and any kids I know will never have access to this. Ever.

2. Is this seriously being sold?? EW.











3. Why would anyone want to pee on a little girls foot? Or get kicked in the junk by one while they are peeing?



4. Please refrain from making luv to your cat.


5.This one is funny, and true.


6. This one may induce vomiting. Drugs are bad mmmk?

7. This looks painful.

Slump

I need to make batman some cool stuff for his new cubicle. He needs more pictures of Superman. Hopefully I will get that done before Creating Keepsakes Convention next weekend. All my wonderful friends from Illinois are coming to meet me there. Well, not all of them, but most of them. I am going to make my christmas cards there. I probably won't finish the cards though because they'll include a picture of our family and we haven't gotten said picture taken yet.
So I only have a week to organize my scrap stuff for a weekend of classes and creating. Need to get out of my creative slump ASAP.

I have had a sore throat and this icky cough for about a week now. I feel slightly better today than I have, except for the hacking. I was at the bank this morning to get a roll of quarters for laundry and I started choking. The poor teller probably thought I was laced with germs.
I saw a new Endocrinologist on Wednesday. SHE is very nice and actually was interested in my case. She said that since I have gotten 3 good scans, that she would like to not scan me as much anymore. One next April and then maybe one every 2 years as long as my levels are good. She wants to make sure my Thyroglobulin was at 0 at every scan. That's an important number. Plus she thinks that me being on 200mcg of Synthroid is a little high for my height and weight. And the fact that my tumor two years ago got so big so fast could have been because of all the natural growth hormones during my pregnancy and I am probably not as high risk as my previous doctors suspected. Something to chew on I suppose, but I really liked her. She actually had a personality and her nurse was sweet too.
I made this basket for my new Arbonne business. Yes, that's right, I am an Arbonne lady. I think its a good thing because I love the products. You just have to feel the primer. Its the best product I've ever used. It makes my face feel like silk. And the eye creme is making my dark circles go away in just a week. Totally sweet! And I can make great money with this business. Its not like Avon or MK, cause they actually send you paychecks. And its really easy to make bonuses, and I get to use these great products. I'd love to get some new consultants selling with me, but for now I am happy to just share these products and to get out of the house for girly parties.

I suppose I ought to go clean the house up since its been quite neglected during my flu slump. However I could go with the theory that if I save my energy and keep resting, I may get better sooner, and if I clean the house and not rest, then I will just stay sick longer. Whatever shall I do?

A Joust

We took Spiderman to the Renaissance Festival this weekend. I love that place. I'd love it even more if we had money to spend there. I did have a great time jumping on a giant trampoline while hooked up to giant rubber bands. I flied.
Here is video proof of this excitement. My jumping video.


We watched a joust. Our Knight Sir Jeffery was very amusing to watch. The first joust he was somewhat victorious, then we watched the last joust of the day and he died.



You will be missed Sir Jeffery.








I have so many great pictures of our day. Superman got to stay with Grandma and PaPaw since pushing a stroller around there for him would have been exhausting and he would have been bored anyway. Spiderman was excited that he got to dress up like a knight. He got scared on the jumping thing and his ride was short because he wanted to stop. We waited 2 hours to fly and then he chickens out. He was so excited til he actually did it.

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

For the most part I truly love this mothering gig. Sure the pay is dismal and my two clients don't appreciate my efforts, but they love me and most days are extremely rewarding. But I have to draw the line at the terrible two's. How is it that i had forgotten just how terribly long the time between 18 months and three years-old can be? Why is it that these beings are so adorable to look at and yet so difficult?
2 year olds drive me nuts! Superman's little personality is adorable and sweet. But then sometime after he had mastered walking, an irresistible urge to make his own choices began to well up inside him. This is an exciting development, but the difficulty with his making an independent choice is that he must disagree with you in order for the choice to be his own. Now, when you ask him to do something, he refuses. Combine the independence with determination and stubbornness and we get head pounding tantrums.

Just walking thru the store he screams if I don't let him hold and possibly open every item that goes in the cart. Screams, tries to get out of the cart, or won't go in the cart to begin with. How do stay home moms do it? I usually wait til Batman gets home and go after supper just so I don't have to drag a screaming kid thru the store. It takes me three times as long to get groceries when he is with me. I don't yell every time. At home, I put him in a time out chair. The whole way there he kicks and screams. Then he just pops right up and continues the behavior.
He doesn't want to go in the house, he doesn't want to leave the house. I can't get him to take a nap. He does the kicking and screaming then too. He climbs out of his crib and the big boy bed. I can't lock him in his room.
He won't eat at meals. He has to be told 100 times to take a bite. We don't let him out of his high chair until an acceptable amount has made it into his tummy. Taking it away and letting him go without food doesn't work. Next time he still barely eats. I felt like a terrible mom when I didn't give him breakfast to see if he would eat more at lunch. Didn't work anyway.
During TV time, he only wants to watch "BobPants" and will not accept anything but. We have it on our DVR just incase its not on TV at the time.
The worst thing is when we are in the car, and he first off, he won't get in his seat. Then arches his back while we buckle the belts. Then he unbuckles the top part thats on his chest and takes his arms out of the straps. Once he even unbuckled the main car strap that holds the carseat in.
Its like his main goal of every day is to do all the things he knows are bad. He colors on the couch and himself, hides cellphones and remotes, spits out his drink on purpose, steals/spills other people's drinks, undresses in public, demands his choice of drink in his sippy, refuses to share with his brother, hits his brother, pulls hair, turns the TV on and off, has to jump down stairs, and probably a million other things I can't think of.
I don't know how we made it thru this age with Spiderman.
Its all very frustrating. I couldn't imagine all the screaming if I'd had twins. I am sure my neighbors think I am torturing him now because of all the screaming. You'd think the world was ending and he hated everything.
Toddlers hate hearing the word no, but love using it. How can such a short word be such a giant source of parent-child angst? I have no idea. I also have no solution for this toddler truth. However, I figure that any skills I develop in the no-yes debate now will fully transfer to when my boys are teenagers.

He's not a baby anymore.
He walks confidently now. The "drunken walk" is now gone. I miss it :) Though he does walk on his tip toes 90% of the time. I call him "Twinkle toes" sometimes.
He's got 16 teeth now. Eight on top and eight on the bottom. Yay! more teeth to chew on food he won't eat.
He cries if I take him out of the bath.
He has figured out how to open a couple doors with safety devices on them. Apparently you don't have to squeeze the two buttons and turn the knob inside the plastic, you just have to pull down and turn. Perhaps we need a refund on these, or our two year old is a genius.
He can identify almost all of his body parts. I may have to upload a video of this soon, its entertaining how he identifies them.
He loves superheroes and singing the Spongebob song.
He tells me when he has a messy diaper. Yet he still doesn't get the going in the potty chair concept. The potty chair is just a place to sit and laugh at mommy.

Who took my sweet baby away? Where is SuperNanny when you need her? I am grateful that Superman goes to bed at 9 p.m. That is the time when I go to the bathroom, have a good cry and hope for a better tomorrow.

Can't Wait!

Fundraiser and DWTS!

So I had a nice, fun, long holiday weekend visiting my friends in Illinois. We did a bit of scrapping.
This is my favorite layout in this book. I am working on a 12x15 album for baby Superman. He is already two and I am only about to start scrapping his first Christmas. Not even close to his first birthday yet.
Spiderman started his first school fundraiser yesterday. He is selling huge coupon books. They are awesome. He is trying to sell 55 books at $25 each so he can earn a bike. Today is Thursday and I went to order it online and it said I could get the Kansas City book for $20 today. There are several cities that are $20 today and some of the bigger ones are $30 but most are regularly $25. You can visit http://www.entertainment.com to purchase an Entertainment Coupon book. He will definitely Thank you!

Can't wait for Dancing With The Stars to start again. I want to see Cloris Leachman to get to the top at least. And I bet Kim Kardashian will go far just cause of who she is. I'd like to see Rocco the Chef do well. Don't really know who I want to win at this point. It would be funny if the Hannah Montana guy wins though.

New things

Almost a month since the cut, but here it is anyway.

Today was Spiderman's first day of Kindergarten. I, wait I mean, HE survived. I almost cried in the parking lot. Can't believe he is there already. He is definitely ready. He bragged about being the smartest one cause he can read and no one else can yet.
Their teacher expects them to write in journals which will be so fun to read later. I love the way he spells things just the way they sound. That's the way it should be really.

For those without thyroids

Special Considerations For People With No Thyroid

Without a functioning thyroid, you don't need to be particularly concerned about soy or other goitrogenic foods (i.e., brussel sprouts, broccoli, etc.) and their ability to interfere with your thyroid function .

Those without a functioning thyroid are totally dependent on thyroid hormone replacement for all their thyroid hormone. You may find that you have less fluctuation in thyroid function and find it easier to stabilize your dose and maintain an optimal TSH level on a consistent dose, as compared to patients with autoimmune thyroid disease who still have a gland. (This is because when the gland is still present and capable of functioning, it may occasionally sputter to life and produce thyroid hormone, making regulation of thyroid levels more difficult.)

Thyroid cancer patients who have had the thyroid gland removed are in a unique situation in that they are given thyroid hormone replacement drugs at "suppressive" levels. This means that the objective is to give sufficient level of medication so as to test at a nearly undetectable TSH level close to 0. This is considered "hyperthyroid" by most lab standards, but suppression is necessary to prevent cancer recurrence in most patients. So, some thyroid cancer patients refer to themselves as "hyperthyroid," although again, the underlying condition of having no thyroid gland means that the condition is actually hypothyroidism, and so much of the advice about hypothyroidism still applies.

When You Don't Feel Your Best

If you are still experiencing hypothyroidism symptoms, you may not be receiving optimal treatment for your condition. You'll need to proactively work with your practitioner to get better treatment.

This may involve:

• Trying a different brand of levothyroxine
• Increasing the dose, so that the TSH is lower. (Some patients report feeling the best when TSH levels are between 1 and 2.) (Again, remember that thyroid cancer patients often follow a different protocol to prevent recurrence).
• Adding a T3 drug (i.e., Cytomel, or compounded T3), to the levothyroxine
• Switching to a T4/T3 synthetic drug, such as liotrix (Thyrolar)
• Switching to a natural desiccated thyroid drug, such as Armour
• Complementing your treatment with alternative, nutritional and mind-body support to help improve overall health and relieve symptoms.

Help, I'm Hypothyroid and I Still Don't Feel Well

An article to help you determine what your next steps should be

By Mary Shomon, About.com

Updated: August 31, 2005

Despite treatment for hypothyroidism, many of you continue to have symptoms that may be related to your thyroid problem. Even after you've been diagnosed and are on thyroid hormone replacement drugs, you may have persistent symptoms such as continued weight gain or difficulty losing weight, depression, brain fog or difficulty concentrating, hair loss, hand/feet/facial swelling, intolerance to heat and cold, muscle aches and joint pains, constipation, carpal tunnel or tendonitis, high cholesterol levels, difficulty getting pregnant, and more.

By way of overview, the first step for you is knowing your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level, and other key thyroid levels such as T4 and T3. These levels allow you to help gauge where your doctor is in terms of treatment, and give you a common point of discussion.

More innovative doctors are beginning to believe that a TSH of around 1 - 2 --- in the low end of the normal range -- is optimal for most people to feel well and avoid having hypothyroid or hyperthyroid symptoms. I know I feel terrible at 4-5, and at .2, but pretty good at 1 - 2. (NOTE: this TSH is usually kept even lower than 1-2 for thyroid cancer survivors to help prevent recurrence.) Dr. David Derry, for example, is one doctor who believes that TSH levels aren't even relevant to diagnosing or treating hypothyroidism and its symptoms.

For some people, even if the TSH level is normal, or even in some bases, low normal, there may still be a situation where one is hypothyroid at a cellular level, due to conversion problems, inadequate T3 hormone, or other factors. Inability to properly convert T4 to T3 can also result in fluctuating TSH, as the system struggles to keep balancing an out of whack T4 and T3 level, sending TSH levels up and down to compensate.

Some people also seem to need supplemental T3 to feel well. There was published February 11, 1999 in the New England Journal of Medicine a research report that says that many patients feel better on a combination of T4 and T3, not T4 (i.e., Synthroid) alone. Many people have a normal or even LOW-normal TSH level, yet still suffer continuing hypothyroidism symptoms. In these cases, the addition of T3 helped relieve depression, brain fog, fatigue and other symptoms. This information about T3 is groundbreaking and has major implications for people who don't feel well on their current thyroid therapies!!!

An Informative post today

To raise awareness......
The following was written by Andi S Green on Helium.com

Thyroid cancers are quite rare. There are several types of thyroid cancer, papillary, medullar and anaplastic. If you find an abnormal lump in your throat or unusual swelling then it is still best to visit your Dr to have it checked out. You may have other symptoms such as temperature changes, appetite changes or energy level changes.

1) Thyroid cancer is linked to previous problem with the thyroid gland, even if benign.

2) Thyroid cancer is also linked to previous exposure to radiation. In the 1950's and 60's children were often treated with high dose x-rays to treat acne, enlarged tonsils or scalp infections. This deep x-ray treatment is a risk factor. Also people exposed to radioactive particles during atomic tests or nuclear accidents are also at risk.

3) Genetic causes/family history of thyroid cancer is again a risk factor. Medullary thyroid cancer can be caused by an alteration in a gene called RET. This has a strong inherited component. So if there is family history of medullary thyroid cancer then Drs may suggest removing your thyroid to avoid cancer occurring.

4) Certain other inherited conditions are linked with an increased risk from the disease. Gardner's Syndrome or Cowden disease are linked to a higher rate of incidence of thyroid cancer. Also a bowel condition called FAP is linked to the disease.

5) Females are 2.5 times more likely than males to acquire the disease.

6) Apparently white Americans are more likely than black Americans to acquire the disease.

7) Poor diet has been linked to the disease, especially a diet short in iodine.

8) Late pregnancy has been linked to greater susceptibility to the disease.

9) Age is a factor. Papillary and follicular cancers are more common in young adulthood where medullar is more common in adults.

Hopefully this gives a good overview of some of the general causes of thyroid cancer.

***********************************************************************

The following I found on About.com

When cancerous thyroid nodules are discovered during the first or second trimester, surgery should be offered in the second trimester. Well-differentiated thyroid cancers grow slowly, so if the evaluation indicates that the cancer is papillary or follicular, and there is no evidence of advanced disease, a woman may be offered the opportunity to wait until after childbirth for surgery.

A pregnant woman who has previously had thyroid cancer or a woman who has a confirmed thyroid cancer who is waiting until after delivery for thyroid surgery can receive treatment that will allow TSH to remain suppressed but detectable. Ideally, the free T4 or total T4 levels should remain within the normal range for pregnancy.

Radioactive iodine should not be given to women who are breastfeeding.

Women who receive therapeutic doses of radioactive iodine should wait six months to a year to become pregnant, to ensure that thyroid function is stable, and the thyroid cancer is in remission.

Feeling groovy

Well, I didn't get the job I wanted at the scrapbook store. They will be sorry I guess. Don't know what they are missing.

I got rid of my perm and got a fun little chin length cut. The perm just wasn't me. But I kept it for 4 months any way. I will post a pic of the new look sometime when I remember to take a pic of myself.

Here is a peek at the old look. Batman says I go through little cycles of hair styles. I will cut it shorter and then let it grow out a while and then cut it again when I get tired of the ponytail or clippy look. Maybe someday, someone will give me a free makeover (that's the only way I will get one) and then I will look smashing with perfectly styled and colored hair and no noticeable dark under eye circles.

Who has time for looks when you have 2 awesomely fun little boys to play with all day? We are planning on going to a local amusement park one of these weekends soon. Spiderman's first day of Kindergarten is the 15th. I think I am more nervous than he is. He is so excited for school and really wants to learn things and play with new friends. He has a Spiderman backpack that he wanted and super hero themed supplies.

I am sad that our summer is coming to an end. It seems like we didn't get to do all the fun stuff we wanted because of the move and the break-in. I really hope all the drama in our life is in the past and we can move onward and upward. Soon we will be hunting for a new house. I can't wait for my own home to paint and decorate. I am going back to school soon too. I want to major in something art related. Probably leaning towards Graphic Design or Desktop Publishing. Of course Photography is always a very possible choice. I remember when I wanted to be an English teacher, and then a magazine editor, and then a midwife. Now I am being realistic instead of dreamy.

I got a really cool shot of the boys playing in their matching Batman pajamas. Its not often that I can get them both to look at me and smile at the same time and have the camera go off while they are still looking. Yay! If you come to my house in the future, you will see this one in a frame probably. That is the plan.

WANTED: Quiet time

The last month has been a roller coaster and I think we all need our own separate spaces if only for a few moments at a time.

Shall I start at the beginning?
1. Batman got a job that puts us closer to family.
2. Right before he started new job, ENT doc told me she wanted me to have an enlarged lymph node removed from my neck ASAP.
3. Had surgery on June 11th. My sister stayed with me to help me take care of the boys and pack since Batman had to start his new job on the 17th. Results came back negative for having cancer in them. I think I may have posted that update. :)
4. Packed up our 2 bedroom duplex while recovering from surgery. Had a goodbye party with my scrapbook friends. They gave me a cricut for moving away. How awesome are my friends?
5. Found a weekend to search for new place to live. Batman stayed with parents and drove an hour to his new job every day. Sister went back home and Spiderman went to stay with family so it was just me and Superman to finish packing.
6. Movers came to load up moving truck on June 25th. After putting all our stuff in their truck, they demanded a new price of double what we were told it would cost. Batman was 6 hours away working and I had to communicate the ordeal to him over the phone. He called their boss and it ended up that they put all our stuff back into our garage because we weren't going to pay them more than what we were quoted. Stupid scam artists trying to take advantage of a woman, all alone, with a baby. Thinking I will just pay outrageously cause I think I have no choice. I'm not THAT stupid.
7. June 28th, Batman and my dad and my bro in law and a friend of Batman's take a Uhaul up to load all our stuff and bring it to new apartment.
8. Refrigerator in new apartment is broken and will not make food cold. Takes maintenance 4 days to come look at it, then they just decide to bring a new one, two days after that.
9. July 4th we went to a BBQ at Batman's aunt's house and he gets severely sunburnt on his shoulders.
10. July 10th late at night an idiot breaks into our SUV and tries to use a screwdriver to start it and ends up destroying the ignition and steering column. So when I get up and take the boys to the SUV to try to take them to the park for Superman's birthday, I find a huge mess inside, freak out and try to get the boys to go back into the house after they think we are going to the park.
So I call the apartment complex and find out who I need to get ahold of. Complex doesn't care that your property gets damaged on their property. I ask for non emergency police number and he gives me a number but it turns out to just be security for our area. Security gives me number to police to report to. Police dispatch connects me with an officer who takes all my information and tells me here is your case number, call your insurance company. They don't try to find the criminal, don't look at the damage or try to get fingerprints or anything. They say they will post a squad car to patrol that area. !!!!! II have seriously never wanted kick someone in the balls as much as I did then. We had to pay $500 to repair damage to our vehicle that happened because some idiot decided to try and steal our vehicle. I would have no problem paying an insurance deductible if ran into someone while was driving, but i think its reCOCKulous to pay when you did NOTHING wrong. Needless to say, we changed our deductibles to lower ones while we are living here.
11. The 12th was superman birthday party day. It started out raining but stopped while we had the party at park and then went swimming the next day with my nephews.
12. July 14th I come into my living room and find out that there are chimney sweeper birds in my FIREPLACE. Not where you want birds to be. These are not pretty birds, and they don't sound good either. Their only use is to eat mosquitoes. Called maintenance 3 times before someone came to get these critters out of my fireplace.
13. Saturday was Amelia Earhart day and we went to the festival and watched the air show and the amazing fireworks. We don't even watch 4th of July fireworks cause the Earhart fest show is 10 times better.
So there you have my excitement lately. I just want good things to happen while we settle into our new place. I am almost unpacked. I haven't hung any pictures on the wall. The boys are running around the house today in their matching Batman pajamas.
I am going to get Spiderman enrolled in Kindergarten soon.
I have an interview Saturday for a new part time job at a scrapbook store. I am so excited about that.
And I felt it was time to update the look of my blog and make it a motivational aspect to make me blog more often. In the process of doing so, I lost my list of blogs that I read. So if you could leave me a comment if you read me, I will put you on my list if you aren't already there.
Thanks for reading!

Holy No Time to Post Batman

Well, here's a lot of information for you to digest.

I had my thyroid scan. Everything was negative, no spreading of annoying cancer cells.
Since my endo guy doesn't deal with lymph nodes, he sent me to my Ear Nose and Throat doc (Hereafter referred to as ENTdoc).
She felt my node and decided she felt it best if I have an open biopsy. That entails cutting open my neck and removing the enlarged suspicious lymph node.
So I had surgery last Wednesday to get it outta there.
Today I went and had my 6 stitches removed and got the pathology report.
~NEGATIVE for METASTATIC DISEASE!!!!
~BENIGN LYMPH NODE!!!!
So now I have two cool scars on my neck.

Now that we know I am cancer free, we are progressing on our move back toward our families.
Being 6 hours away from my sisters and the boys' grandparents has been un-fun. So when Batman was offered a job that is 45 minutes from family, plus a substantial pay raise, we jumped on that bandwagon. So he gets out of the company that is close to flopping and we get into the big city. We found a new apartment. It is a two bedroom, two bath, but has the same square footage as our current two bedroom, one bath, duplex with a basement and garage. We are going to miss our basement and garage, but we plan to only rent this for a year, maybe two, while we pay off debts and hopefully find a house to buy.

We have scheduled the moving company to move us on the 28th, so I probably won't be back on to post any fun reads til after that. Sorry, I know you will miss me, as I would miss you if you went away.

But feel free to celebrate on my behalf for the cancer free news!!!!

Happy to me

My birthday was yesterday. I am now officially in my late twenties. I felt like I wanted to be 21 again. I just went scrapbooking and I probably annoyed everyone around me cause I felt like singing so I sung/hummed along with every song that came on the radio.

My latest round of scans came to an end yesterday also. I did a thyroid uptake scan with Thyrogen which made me feel terrible the first two days. My birthday started out with a full body scan. Its not a good present from the NucMed tech when he gives you two full glasses of water then tells you to lay perfectly still for over an hour.

Now the weekend wait. We don't know the results until Monday or Tuesday.
Well not much else, need to go make some mother's day cards.

Made a card

I think its my most favoritest that I have ever made. And I just did it in half an hour. It was fun. The challenge was to use black+white+one color. This card is going to my friend's daughter for her wedding.

Had to share it cause I am entering it in a challenge on my friend's blog.
For Caardvarks.

Stupid neck

I think necks are worthless. Mine only has problems. And its not very pretty.
Saw the Endo man on Tuesday and he found an enlarged lymph node. Since I haven't had a cold, this is very unsettling. Endo man thinks thyroid c-bomb may have spread to lymphs. Before he found the lump he said I could have my next scan in November, but then changed his mind so I have to get it ASAP. So its scheduled for me to get thyrogen injections and scan the 5th thru 9th. The 9th just happens to be my birthday. Not only do I get to lay on a cold table, ever so early in the morning that day, but I also get to go see Endo man again and get poked in the arm by bloodninja-nurse!! WOO! (Insert sarcasm) Pending the results of the scan I may have RAI again or get my lymph node popped out. My sonographer says there is only one node thats big which is good because its isolated I guess, but she thinks I should have it removed even if the scan is good or bad.

There are a bajillion other things I would like to do for my birthday. I wish they were having a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. That's where I would be.

Last weekend I helped my little sisters get ready for their prom. Ahhh memories. Batman and I went to 3 proms together.

Ten years ago, Batman and I went to our first prom together. We had tons of fun. I can't imagine how much all that cost us back then. I know my sisters had to spend a ton more than we did though.

Last weekend we also went to a benefit dance for Batman's grandma who is living in an RV outside a hospital waiting for a lung transplant. The silent auction went well.
Then we let Spiderman go camping with his aunt. We joined them for smores but not for the sleeping in tents. Spiderman loved the night in the tent though. Then he went fishing with his grandpa. He also went bowling with his grandma. Busy weekend for a 5 year old.

I suck

I just can't find time to blog much anymore. I am trying to scrapbook more. I am almost finished with my wedding scrapbook, then I want to quickly catch up on the boys albums. HAHAH!! I also want to do a mini album of my sister's wedding. It would be nice if I had her album done by 7/7/08 for her anniversary, but that would be a big stretch.

Batman is being interviewed on Friday for a job in Kansas City. That would move us 6 hours closer to our family. Kind of scary cause we'll have to find a place to live and a place for Aidan to go to school as soon as we find out he gets the job. I really hope he does cause then we don't have to worry about him losing his job at any moment. So we will be in Kansas Thursday thru Sunday.
Speaking of the days....Today is National Stress Awareness Day. I am aware of my stress thank you.
Tomorrow is National Cheese Ball Day-who is bringing me a cheeseball?
Thursday is National Animal Cracker Day- I have a huge jug of Animal Crackers that I can't seem to get rid of.
Friday is Garlic Day so I will have to remember to eat lots of it, yum.
Saturday is Cuckoo Day. It is also the day of the benefit dance for Batman's grandma. She is living in an RV in the parking lot of a hospital in OKC while she waits for a lung transplant. Someone should take her a Cheeseball.
Sunday is Tuna Rights Day so make sure you don't eat any tuna that day.
Monday is Earth Day. Make sure to change your lightbulbs to more energy efficient fluorescent ones, and pick up some trash from your neighborhood and do anything else you can to save energy and love the earth.

Thats my rant for today. Busy busy. Have to change a diaper and pick up a kid from preschool. <3>

I want to....

Well I have been totally neglecting my blogging and I apologize to those that I have bored by not posting the past month. We have been battling that weird flu thing that won't go away, I got my wisdom teeth out so now I am not wise at all, and we are hunting for a new job for Batman in Kansas so we can move back there by August. That's it in a nutshell.
A friend told me to blog about myself a little once in a while for scrapbooking purposes.
Apparently I am to tell you seven things about myself, so I will give it a whirl...don't know if I am that interesting though.

1. I am allergic to peanuts. I have eaten them and they won't kill me, they just make me barf.

2. I love reading books but I never get a chance to sit down and open an actual book.

3. March 10th was the 10 year anniversary of Batman and my first date.

4. I am pretty pathetic that I can't think of seven things to say about myself.

5. I love Starbucks but feel guilty for spending so much for coffee.

6. My second favorite drink is home brewed iced tea with mega amounts of sugar added.

7. I want a puppy SOOOO bad. I think it may counter effect my thinking about having another baby at the moment. I want a tiny tiny Pomeranian girl puppy just for me.

And now, since my brain is fried from thinking up 7 things about myself...I am going to tag anyone who is still reading this...go and post 7 things about yourself in your blog and let me know about it. I like learning things about people.

Here is a few pics too just to make up for my absences.

Wordless Wednesday

My baby boy is 5 now!!