Holiday Recap

This year we attempted to have a low key Christmas - though we promise to scale things down each and every year and it never ever happens. We're at the point where Ruben and I no longer really buy gifts for one another. I mean seriously, we are adults and we pretty much just buy anything and everything we want within reason. Sure I want a new camera, I want the big Cricut, I want larger diamond earrings - but I know I don't really need them. This year Ruben and I bought a new mattress and box spring...that was our gift for each other. My guess is when you really have everything you really want or need, then you start buying the practical stuff as gifts instead. Since we don't really buy gifts for each other anymore, we allot an amount to be used for Natalie to buy us gifts. We don't allot much money, cause really Christmas is for kids and she's all that matters - though we do buy gifts for our family.
So this year I got the usual - lots and lots of perfume. His mom, 2 brothers, & my sister in law bought me huge bottles of CK Eternity and CK Obsession. These are yearly necessities for me. I'm a perfume addict and will go through a 3.4 oz bottle of Obsession in a year. His mom always keeps me stocked and I wouldn't have it any other way! Ruben used the allotted money to buy me 2 different large bottles of Gucci perfume, and a large bottle of Christina Aguilera Inspiration perfume. This made me very happy - I love having a dozen bottles or more of perfume to chose from! I took his allotted money and bought him a new PSP that came with a memory card, a game, a movie and a voucher to download a game. He needed a new PSP since his brother accidentally ran off with his after his summer visit here. His family sent him some gift cards to buy games or movies. My sister had sent us some Hawaiian shirts and stuff earlier in the year - so we only bought for the kids.
Natalie cleaned up with all kinds of toys, games, and books. My sister sent Natalie a $50 "credit card" for Build-a-Bear - which served as both a Christmas and birthday gift for her. She got lots of Indiana Jones figures, Clone Wars figures, a Ben 10 omni watch and figures, Bakagan figures, Pokemon Trainers, HSM & HM dolls. She got a Camp Rock keyboard, Nerf Dart Tag playset, Littlest Pet Shop Bratz Doctor playset, Bratz perfume, HSM make-up kit and case. I'm not even sure if I can tell you all the games she got, but here are the ones I do know - Nerf N-Strike w/guns, Wii Outdoor Challenge w/mat, Clone Wars w/sabers, Boom Blox, Viva Pinata, plus about 6 more. She got a Clone Wars build your own lightsaber kit, and a RC helicopter....the 2nd one she's had cause the last got run over by a neighbor. She also got these really awesome books on the human body, the frog body, and outer space.....they all had either pop out pages with sound, and the frog one was detailed layer by layer of the frog's body - the pages had little plastic parts of the legs, insides, skin, etc. The books were a huge hit - she's really into science or biology type stuff. I think one of the coolest gifts she got was an EyeClops BioniCam. It's like a microscope. You can take it anywhere and use it to look at all kinds of stuff. you can save the images on a thumb drive, it has a screen but also plugs into a TV for a bigger picture. I used it to look at my diamonds - wow, what you see is amazing compared to the naked eye. And to top things off, she also got a Razor E125 Electric Scooter. I didn't plan on buying her an electric scooter cause I had heard all the neighborhood kids were getting some kind electric bikes, but we had been out shopping and she saw it and called me on an unfulfilled promise I had made. I didn't want to get her one cause I thought she was too young - as most are for 12 and up, but this particular model was for 8 and up...so I couldn't argue she wasn't old enough - plus I knew I couldn't really put it off any longer as we intend to let her chose her own presents for her birthday and I really don't want her to waste it all on just a few gifts. So I figured why not - it was on sale, she wanted it, and she was old enough for it - but instead of letting her have it then when we bought it, I made her wait another week cause I knew it had potential for creating a commotion around the neighborhood with all the other kids. But looking back I see now it was kinda crappy to make it part of her Christmas gifts. It wasn't our original intention, but the gift we planned on buying her - D-Rex was sold out EVERYWHERE and couldn't be found at it's original price anywhere. The only places that did have it online had jacked up the price to some insanely high price, so we said screw it. So that's the just of our Christmas. There's lots of present I left out cause I honestly can't remember all the crap she got!
For Christmas Eve we had leftover spaghetti from the night before - I always make too much! Christmas Day I made a spiral glazed ham, candied yams, green bean casserole, rolls, and then we had a red velvet cake to top things off. We had hopes of going to see Marley & Me over the weekend, but I've been feeling kinda crappy with a head cold for the last week, so we just stayed home and watched some of the many new movies we have....we watched Step Brothers and it was AWESOME - but the good news is that the lump on my jawbone went away......so yay, I was right it likely was just a lymph node - and though it was just the 3 of us, we had an wonderful Christmas together anyway.

The Pictures Are Up

I posted nearly all the pix from Christmas on Flickr for all to see.....160+ pix. I planned on writing a post about all the gifts to go along with them, but the jacuzzi tub is calling my name right now, and my back hurts a bit - so needless to say the post will have to wait one more day!

Happy Holidays

I took lots of pix but they'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Ruben and his new PSP.

Lots 'o Presents

All of these except about 6 are for Natalie and trust me when I say
there's lots you can't see. Spoiled brat.

The Wrap Up

Here's what's been going on around here this past weekend.

Friday Natalie had half day of school to kick off her holiday school vacation that lasts till January 5th. She came home and immediately began playing with her friend that lives around the corner. It wasn't long before the girls asked for a sleepover. They played for a bit, then watched some movies - so the evening was pretty low-key.

Saturday was another chill day spent at home. This time of year we absolutely do not go anywhere unless it's a necessity - we HATE holiday traffic. We always have all our Christmas shopping done by mid November. We watched the Cowboys choke away another game. Then sometime after Natalie went to bed, Ruben pulled out all the gifts and we began the dreaded deed. I despise bulk gift wrapping! It's tedious and when done in bulk, it takes all the fun out of it! Ruben ended up wrapping the majority - I ended up doing all the boxes and bags. Once again it appears we over-bought for Natalie - and what makes it worse is that her birthday is just 10 days after Christmas, so she'll be getting even more stuff come the 4th! So we badly need to go through all her old toys - and clothes too, gather it all together and make a donation before the years end.
While wrapping gifts we caught The Bucket List while it was playing on HBO. Have you seen this movie? It is so good, yet incredibly sad! Of course you know the premise of it is about two men who are told they only have so long to live - so they make a list of things they would like to accomplish before they kick the bucket. What you probably don't know is that the two main characters (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) are dying from different types of cancer. After all this time I still cannot bear to watch movies about cancer and death. It just hits too close to home! At the end of the movie Ruben asked me what I thought and I was too choked up, with tears streaming down my face to even answer him. It took me several minutes before I could compose myself and speak. But despite the storyline/ending it was still an awesome movie - I would recommend watching it!
Also on Saturday, I found a lump on my face. Not a lump like the cystic acne I get, because of where it is located. It's right in front of my left ear, on my face where your cheek bone meets your ear. It's a good 1/4 inch in size - semi-hard (not too squishy), protrudes a bit, kinda wiggles though it seems like it's attached at one point - as I cannot pull and lift it off my face, only move it back and forth. It was quite scary to find - but from all my research online it seems like it may possibly be a lymph node or either a saliva or nasal gland. It seems reasonable to me - lymph nodes swell for various reason, and I have a bit of a head cold right now plus I've broke out with a rash and acne above my left eyebrow - it happened soon after Natalie and I went to the salon. My skin is uber sensitive, and I always break out following waxing or tweezing of my eyebrows. The rash resembled razor burn, and just got worse from there. My nervous, unconscious scratching habit probably caused it to get infected. I'm trying not to freak out about it, as stress always makes my acne worse! Aside from viewing the anatomy of the face, which shows 3 lymph nodes and a gland in that area - I think what is also helping me is that I read several questions from people who have found the same thing, and the answer that was posted to the questions was: as a general rule as far as lumps go - if it moves it's likely nothing, but if it doesn't then it should be checked out as it could be something, although I think generally speaking all lumps that stay longer than 2 weeks should be checked out by a doctor. I am tentatively scheduled to get a PET scan done on the 30th, so I will bring it up to the doctor then if I still have it. So I'm not worrying about it till someone tells me I should be - that's the plan!

Sunday was the usual - did some laundry, watched some football, relaxed at home. Nothing special, but it's just the way we like it!

Ruben's planned some time off for this week, but had to go to the office today to take care of a few things. We're hoping he won't have to go back till next week, but we'll play it by ear. It all depends what comes up at work. He'll have to take off for the 30th cause Natalie will still be on break and I'm supposed to have the PET scan done. I'm a big baby when it comes to these types of tests, so Ruben will have to go to hold my hand. It's just that I am an extremely hard stick and the test will require an IV so they can inject some radioactive glucose or something into my veins. With only having one usable arm for needle sticks, veins that collapse on a whim, and growing anxiety each time a stick fails. Yeah, these tests really aren't any fun - cause even after it's done, I still have the anxiety as I wait for the results and with the test being right before New Years, you know I won't get back any results till next year! Please cross your fingers and think positive thoughts for me. I really need this test to show no potential cancer clusters in my body so I won't have to do chemo. Other than that we don't really have much planned for the holiday - I plan on making dinner on Christmas Eve, a ham with all the sides. It's only right as we had turkey for Thanksgiving, and with it being just the 3 of us we really don't need both a bird and a ham! Besides, we don't want another possum in our back yard eating the oil from deep frying the bird!
After Thanksgiving Ruben drained the pot but left the container outside. the next day he noticed that half the oil was gone. Every day it disappeared even more. then one night we go to let Lexie outside before bed and here's this possum licking the bottom of the pot. At first we didn't see it till it raised it's paw to attack Lexie. I grabbed the broom and chased it out of the backyard.....there's a sizable gap under our fence so that's how it got in. Imagine that thing drinking oil for a week....ewww!
So other than a lonely holiday with just the 3 of us, our only other plans will be for Natalie's birthday. We plan on spending Saturday the 3rd at the Children's Museum and the Insectarium - then on the 4th we'll have a nice dinner out and will spend the day shopping. We don't plan on buying her anything in advance. We're going to let her pick all of her own gifts. So both days will be exhausting walking all over the place. She's not having a birthday party next year cause frankly the majority of the kids around here are treating her poorly. Besides it's not like anyone really buys her anything nice. We've spent some bucks on gifts for some kids, $80 on one....hell I've even gone as far as to buy things like shirts for the kids just cause I was getting Natalie one and I knew the other kids would like them......and what does she get in return? Re-gifted items, really cheap toys, and not even a second thought from the parents. So why bother, right?

Another Meme I got from Lora

I got this meme over at Lora’s place last week. I haven't done something like this in awhile, and thought it was cool that this one involved music! Though I've decided to do it, I am not tagging anyone else to do it.....but take it if you like.

RULES:1. Put your music player on shuffle (ALL MUSIC).
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 8 friends who might enjoy doing it or just post it on your blog for all to see.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OK" YOU SAY? Trip at the Brain – Suicidal Tendencies

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Ride the Lightning - Metallica

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? All For You – Sister Hazel

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Saturday Night’s Alright - Nickelback

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Thanks Fr Th Mmrs – Fall Out Boy

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? The Outsider – A Perfect Circle

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? My Hero - Paramore

WHAT IS 2 + 2? Don’t Let Me Get Me - Pink

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? How You Remind Me - Nickelback

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Photograph - Nickelback

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Dyers Eve - Metallica

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Rich Girl – Gwen Stephani

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? I’m Yours – Jason Mraz

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Somewhere I belong – Linkin Park

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Already had the wedding... but the iPod says I want Action - Poison

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? She Talks To Angels – The Black Crowes

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Complicated – Avril Lavigne

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Figured You Out - Nickelback

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Stone Cold Crazy - Metallica

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Welcome To My Life – Simple Plan

HOW WILL YOU DIE? Voodoo - Godsmack

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? Wrong Way - Sublime

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Stink Finger – Limp Bizkit

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? To Live is to Die - Metallica

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Already married, but the iPod says Someone That You’re With – Nickelback

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? With Arms Wide Open - Creed

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Gimme More – Britney Spears

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Faith – Limp Bizkit

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? Crazy Bitch – Buckcherry

A Blog Award From Lora

I was awarded by a fellow blogger with the Honest Scrap award!

Lora, an old friend and one of my favorite bloggers, was kind enough to send this my way.

So here are the rules:

1. List 10 honest things about yourself (TRUE and interesting things - not just the color of yours socks!)

2. Pass the award on to 7 bloggers.

Both lists are in no particular order. :)

10. When I was like 10 or so I shoplifted some silly little lip gloss necklace thing that my mom busted me with. She grounded me, took it away and told me that she was going to return it to the store. Years later I found it hiding in this ceramic egg thing she had. All those years she had kept it like it was some kind of keepsake. In fact she never got rid of it until it came time for her to downsize and move to Mexico fall of 2005. I never told her that I knew about her keeping it and I never knew why she had.

9. I've had to learn the hard way on multiple occasions that no one other than yourself or your immediate family can ever be fully trusted. There's always going to be one person that will sell you out, stab you in the back, or wreak some kind of havoc on your life if given the chance.....and sometimes it's your own brother that does it to you. I co-signed on a house for him back in 1996, he lapsed on payments, they foreclosed on the house and he ruined my credit.

8. I know, accept and totally embrace the fact that I am a royal bitch - and if you want to be my friend then you need to accept me for who I am.....I *think* this is why I don't really have any friends. LOL.

7. When I first moved to Hawaii, I was so mad for having to finish my senior year at a new school. I was miserable and hated school so much that I often wrote excuses, signing my mom's name so I could cut class. I never got caught.

6. Even though I used to work as an Accountant, I never actually had my degree. I worked in AR for 4 years, working my way up the ladder when one day I was promoted to fill an opening we had. Though I had taken all of my core classes, and had completed my certification in bookkeeping, once I was promoted I never bothered to go back to complete my remaining credits and get my degree.

5. Every since I saw The Blair Witch Project when I was pregnant with Natalie, I have been too freaked out to watch another scary movie - really. I know, I'm sure I've missed out on some really good ones - and I know Blair Witch wasn't even true or even that scary - but the scene at the end with all the little hand prints freaked me out and scared the shit out of me!

4. I'm a very aggressive, determined person. I always get what I want. It's one of the many traits I received from my mom - and it's not always a good thing!

3. Ruben never actually proposed to me. We found out I was pregnant and went to the store to look at rings. After picking one out and paying for it, I had it on my finger before we even made it to the door. He never got the chance to get down on one knee and ask.

2. Ruben and I had originally started off as friends, we met in an AOL chat room for Vegas locals that would meet twice a week. We had been friends for nearly a year and we had both been dating someone else, when one night in a drunken, jealous, rage I pulled some stupid bimbo I disliked off of him by her hair when she dared to kissed him in front of me. It was in that second that I realized I was in love with him, so I planted a big kiss on him. After that we both knew that things had forever changed. We left the bar and went to the neighboring IHOP where we ate breakfast, and talked about the future of our relationship. Upon leaving, I missed the step of the curb and ate it big time. I had fallen to my knees, ripped my jeans, and was bleeding. I felt like such a dumb ass!

1. When I was about 15, I had a key to my sister's place cause I used to stay over on the weekends and I had spent time there helping her after she had some surgical procedure done. When my sister decided to move in with her boyfriend she forgot to get the key back from me. One Friday night a couple friends and I were bored so we decided to drive out there. I knew she wouldn't be home. We found a bottle of Vodka and nearly drank it all. To make up the difference for what we drank I added water to the bottle. Upon leaving we took the back roads and my friend became car sick. We pulled over so she could throw up, but when we left we came across an icy patch at a stop sign and the car slid through the T intersection landing in a deep, deep ditch. We were miles away from anywhere so we had to walk to the main road, freezing our butts off the whole way. Once we got to the highway, we caught a cab and barely made it back to the mall before my friend's mom arrived to pick us up. No one ever knew what happened that night. I finally fessed up and told my sister about it last year. To this day I have no idea what happened to the car or the guy driving it, but I'm pretty sure his girlfriend broke up with him for wrecking her car!

I know I'm supposed to tag 7 fellow bloggers, but I'm only going to name the few listed below - but feel free to participate if you so desire!

Cynthia - i am a coconut

Heather - MMD

Deb - Perfection is Boring

Sonia's Place

Finally! The 3rd Time's a Charm...

I spent most of last night and all of my waiting time at the oncologists this morning sorting through medical records from multiple doctors. I finally weeded through them, sorted them, put them in order and destroyed the many, many dupes. My files ended up being reduced to nearly half of the original size - which made it way more easier to discuss the files with my new oncologist. I went in there with an open mind, hoping for reasonable treatment options. After all this was actually the 3rd oncologist I've seen, though I must say I had no issues with the original doctor - I was just told they had an office closer to my house so I switched offices. It was the doctor in that office that told me 6 months.

We reviewed my cancer history, pathology, and treatments. I explained to him what my last oncologist recommended, and why I disagreed. I told him what I was hoping to achieve and that I had no issues with doing chemo if it was really necessary - but that I could not see any reason why it would be. After listening and looking through my records he performed an exam, during which he asked me if I happened to be a nurse. I said no and asked why. He told me that I was very knowledgeable on the subject and asked how I came to be so. I explained to him how I work with some breast cancer communities writing, answering questions, and helping women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. He applauded my efforts for educating myself and helping others. I guess he doesn't get a lot of patients like me. I know all the ins and outs of my disease, but I tried real hard to make sure I didn't come off too strong. I didn't want him to think I was hard headed or would only do things my way. When I pointed out how Femara failed to do it's job of preventing my estrogen from binding with my cancer cells, he pointed out that it wasn't just the hormone therapy that failed me - chemo failed me as well. He told me that since chemo failed me and because I've already had a recurrence I am at a higher risk for it to return elsewhere in my body, but he agreed that doing chemo at this point is not the answer. Before he puts me on Tamoxifen he wants me to get another PET scan, which will show if I have any suspicious activity going on anywhere in my body. My last PET scan was clear but it had taken place back in April - a lot could have happened since then as I have not been on any AI meds. So providing that this next scan they are scheduling for the end of the month is clean and that my blood test is ok, he's totally in agreement with skipping chemo and going straight to hormone therapy. He even said that even if I hadn't requested this course of treatment, he still would have recommended it for me. If this scan comes back clean - and lets hope it does - all I would need to do is start a daily regimen of Tamoxifen, have my blood drawn quarterly to check the cancer markers, and get scans done every 6 months....and by scans I mean PET, Chest, Bone and/or Dexa scans. It looks like I just may have finally found the right doctor - how about that?

Coming Jan. 20th - My Life with Laura: A love Story blog book tour

On January 20th I will be participating in a blog book tour with Chad Moutray, the author of My Life with Laura: A Love Story.

The book can be downloaded from Lulu (linked above) for $5.00 or ordered as a paperback. It is described as a love story, albeit a tragic one. Chad and Laura dated and married. Shortly thereafter, they gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Charlotte. Life was perfect...until they learned that Laura had breast cancer. This book describes the exciting experiences of courtship, the beauty of their wedding, the joy of family, and the struggles of dealing with illness. Laura remained a beacon of strength to many throughout her battle with breast cancer. She was strongly rooted in her faith. This memoir tells an inspirational story, even for those who did not know her. It is dedicated to Charlotte, so that she will better know her mother.

On January 20th I will be featuring a review of this tragic love story on my blog, Cancer is NOT a DEATH sentence, though such was the case in Laura's battle with triple negative breast cancer. My review will include favorite passages of the book as well as Q&A's with Chad about the book, and Laura's battle with breast cancer. Please help show your support and order your copy today!

Prepping for another opinion

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with a new oncologist to get another opinion regarding chemotherapy. I'm really opposed to doing chemo and could not agree with the 6 month treatment recommended by my prior doctor. I see no medical reason for 6 months. Hopefully he will agree with me. As I see it chemo only rids my body of any cancer cells that are growing or have spread - which had been ruled out by my previous PET scan. If there is no trace of cancer anywhere within your body, why would 6 months of hell be needed? my cancer is estrogen receptor positive - chemo cannot stop it indefinitely. Even though my ovaries have been removed, my body still produces bits of estrogen - and without some type of medicine like Tamoxifen, there's nothing to stop my estrogen from binding with cancer cells, allowing it to grow. I think it's reasonable to skip chemo and go straight to the hormone therapy or at the very least do only a minimal bit of chemo, like 2 - 4 sessions. I'm not even sure yet if this will be "the" doctor, as I am still awaiting appointments with 2 other practices. Also in the meantime of trying to acquire another opinion I am seeing my plastic surgeon to see if we can move forward with my breast reconstruction. The discomfort is killing me! When I first made a follow up appointment with my PS I wasn't expecting to get in to see another oncologist for at least a month, but this place could schedule me the very next day proving I had my records. I put off the appointment for a week just to make certain I got everything I needed. Now looking at this huge stack of files, I see I have more than I need and I now must find a way to weed through it all and remove the many duplicates and somehow organize it all by tomorrow morning! I wanted to make the doctor copies, but there is just way too much paperwork here - I would need my own actual copier in order to do it and there is no Kinko's around - and I fear what it would cost to do such!

So wish me luck that all goes well! I'll keep you posted!

Winter School Pix

The finished product

I'll post more pix on Flickr later.

Waxing's not so bad

Natalie got her unibrow waxed for the first time. She was nervous but
agreed it wasn't that bad.

A Day at the Salon

Natalie's ready to be rinsed. I'm still under the dryer waiting. I
can't wait to see the finished hair. I'll post more later.

The Last of the Snow

The snow's all but gone. All that remains are a few melted, ice
packed, balls of snow. This snowman is a testament of how deep our
fans go. We bleed black and gold regardless of last nights loss
against the Bears.

Cheap Gas

Prices finally hit the $1.40s. I can't recall the last time gas was
this low!

Today it Snowed!

This morning was routine as always. Ruben listened to the news while he got ready for work. I helped Natalie get ready for the bus - then suddenly the phone rang. It was the emergency office for our parish, saying there was a winter weather advisory in effect till noon. I told Ruben that and he just laughed. Sure it got cold last night - and it was cold this morning, but this is Southern Louisiana it doesn't snow here. But sure enough shortly after hearing the advisory it began to snow. At first it was more like a sleet - more rain than snow. It didn't take long for it to become full on snow. Big, white, fluffy snow flakes coming down hard and fast. The grass, roofs, and cars all got a nice little blanket of fluff, however the roads just remained wet and slick looking. Sure the snow is melting from the grass - after all it did stop snowing 2 hours ago, but the roofs are still coated. I tried to get some good pictures, but it's almost impossible to get a perfect picture of snow flurries. I posted all the pictures on Flickr if you want to see them all.

I think it's quite funny considering how much I hate snow. It's not supposed to snow here and it's been 4 years since it has. Just like it never snows in Vegas but I can recall at least 2 times of it happening. I'm not saying a want warmer weather back, but I really do hate snow and living in Elko for 2 years only made my hatred for it worse.

Tomorrow is Natalie's meeting with the school board for talented and gifted children regarding her art. According to the request I received I'm not even allowed to go in with her. It says to either wait or to return after an hour. I think participating in this program would be a good outlet for her. Some of the kids around here haven't been too nice to her and it's total BS. So since none of them are genuinely her friend (expect a rare few) we won't even be holding a birthday party for her in January. Instead the two of us will be going to a salon on Saturday for cuts, color, highlights & waxing. She wants both blonde and red chunks in her hair - I'd do it, but I can only do the blonde ones as that's what I did to her hair last year. Besides it will be a bonding day for us. Then for her actual birthday, which is on the 4th, we will spend the weekend celebrating. We're going to go to the Insectarium, Children's Museum, and shopping wherever she wants. I think she'd have more fun picking out her own things to buy, then us getting her gifts. Originally I thought about maybe giving her one of those $500 pre-paid visa cards, but Ruben doesn't want to really put a limit on it - he just wants to buy her what she wants. We'll deal with the money part as we shop. Obviously we won't let her get too overboard, but we do want her to think that she can get anything her heart desires.....and unless it's something extremely ridiculous, too mature or immature for her or way over priced, we will get her whatever she wants. She's had a rough year so she deserves to be spoiled!

Tuesday I am meeting with a new oncologist out in Houma. It's about 35 miles away, but they could schedule me right away.....unlike Ochsner or Tulane who are booked solid for months! I'm still trying to get in to see them cause I figure it won't hurt to get more than one 2nd opinion. I'll let you know how that goes. As a back up plan, I scheduled an appointment with my plastic surgeon for the 22nd cause I'm hoping we can finish my reconstruction surgery before I start chemo. My one expander is so uncomfortably painful. I want it out, but we've come so far for me to just give up. We'll see how things pan out. Cross your fingers for me!

Lexie likes corn

Stopped to get some crab boil for dinner - crabs, potatoes, and corn
coblets. Lexie loves anything I am eating. Who knew dogs like corn?

Recent Ramblings

So much to share I don't know where to start.....

• First off it appears my holidays are safe from the awful chemo treatment. My search for a new doctor will take a while as for one place I am on a waiting list to be called and assigned an appointment - and the other place needs my medical records first which I am trying to gather from the many doctors who have been involved on this case. So a big sigh of releif there!
• We are done with all our Christmas shopping - however it all still needs to be wrapped, packages sent and of course I still need to stuff the envelopes so that I can get the cards out this week. Blah! But at least all the rope light wrapping is soon to be done for this year at least. Yay!
• Friday Natalie has an appointment to meet with a board from the Arts Program for Gifted and Talented Children. I've had a few request to post her work, but I have yet to get her drawings back that were used in their decision. I swear though, I will post some work just as soon as I can!
• In case you were wondering - yes we still have major drama issue going around over here. We are totally fed up with the situation and say to hell with them all cause it's not just the kids saying mean things to Natalie like "all of you are fat, stupid and ugly", or one coming to our house though he's not allowed by his parents to come play here, he still comes just to ask her friend that is over playing to come play with him and not invite Natalie. It's become such a rude, ridiculous intrusion that we no longer allow it to happen after the 3 attempts he made this weekend. Oh and then after a whole day and a half, when it came time to go home - these so called friends gave Natalie's friend a hard time for staying the night and didn't want to play with her anymore. It's ridiculous and I'm tired of it. The parents are just as bad as their rotten kids are. They gossip and cause drama just as much as any high school student does. We were labeled as outcasts before anyone ever even attempted to get to know us - that's how small minded and immature these people are. They're all trying to one up the others, they all act like best friends yet the second one of them walks away the other is all bad mouthing them. It's insane. But you know what? I don't give a fuck what these morons think of me or my family. They don't know us in even the slightest bit - but whatever. Ruben and I will just stick to the general pleasantries if we must, and remain friends with the few who truly deserve it. We've learned to keep our mouths shut cause each time we say something, someone twists our words and tells all the neighbors some screwed up version of what used to be the truth! Neither of us will waste one more second dealing with their hypocritical double standard bullshit.....ya know what really ticks me off? I expected this kind of crap in Vegas, but not here. What the hell happened to southern hospitality and charm? I expected them all to have manners, not act like some hillbilly white trash inbreeds. Yeah, see, I can be judgemental too.....ok, time for a new subject.
• I finished reading the 4th and final novel in the Twilight Series. I really liked the series, though it got a bit strange in some parts. For the most part though, it did stay true to the whole forbidden love story that drew you in in the first place. Oh I think I forgot to mention that I also saw the movie on opening night at twilight amidst a bunch of oohing and aahing tween girls. The movie stuck mostly to the book, though I did find some areas particularly cheesy. You can tell they did it on a low budget. Speaking of low budget movies - I caught The Lost Boys The Tribe on TNT last week. Oh man, straight to DVD then it's shown on cable in the middle of the night. Ugh. Let me just say it deserved it too cause it was pretty crappy. Shoulda just been a made for TV piece. They tried to keep Corey Feldman looking young and playing the same role he did in the first 20 years ago. However Corey Haim outgrew his baby face and ability to look so young. I think they cut all his scenes but the last one which made you wonder what the hell has happened in the last 20 years. The original was such a cult classic and the 2nd was just a piece of crap that should never have been made. I'm glad Ruben talked me out of buying the DVD when it came out - but I'm sure a bunch of Corey fans bought it.

Choo-choo

Our five piece train that took for.e.ver. to wrap in lights. We still
have 4 deers left to wrap in rope lights and lots more lights to hang
up till we're done for this year.

Even though this was a huge pain I think we may buy more frames and
rope lights next year now that I have sources to buy discounted
supplies myself. We just need to decide what other kinds of décor that
we want.

Toy Soldier

The trumpet boy.

Lil Drummer Boy

One of the two toy soldiers.

Frosty says hi

Our big snowman and the two lamp posts in the background.

Harley Santa

The completed lit piece.

Greetings

Here's a peek at my rope light wrapping handiwork. Notice the mis-
spelling of the wire frame.

Time Flies By

I can't believe that the last week went right by in the blink of an eye! So much for a Thanksgiving vacation. Ruben and I spent about 90% of last weeks waking hours wrapping rope lights on all of our wire frame Christmas decorations. We finished a 5 pc. 3D train, one large 3D Frosty, two 3D lampposts, two 3D toy soldiers, one Santa on a motorcycle, and wording that says Season Greetings - which contains a typo....notice I said Season instead of Seasons. Wrapping all of those pieces using zip ties was tedious and sucked ass each time the ties would break and you'd end up scraping your knuckles. I have scrapes and bruises up and down my arms and hands.....and the fun's not yet over. Today I got 3 more rolls of 150' clear rope lights in so we can also wrap the 4 animated deers we have. Next year we'll probably add more wired decor but after wrapping the deer we will be done for this year. Ruben will likely be putting out the decorations this weekend. I will surely take pictures and post them just as soon as he's done. Usually he has everything done the day after Thanksgiving, but we weren't done yet......and because we had so many items to wrap I had no time to blog or finish reading the 4th book in the Twilight series - Breaking Dawn. I've slowed down a bit on the reading mostly because of the decorations - also because I have nothing to read once I'm finished. I've begun searching for a new oncologist. It may take me over a month to get an appointment, but I'd rather not go through treatment during the holidays anyway. I hope everyone else enjoyed their Thanksgiving vacation. Before you know it Christmas will be here!