Versatile Blogger Award

Toad Mama at Toad Mama's Interstitial Space gave me an award.....for blogging.....me!? 

I should have known better than to expect a reaction out of Wayne.  After explaining to him what a blog is, (kidding, kind of) I told him that it basically means that someone besides my Mom reads and enjoys my blog.  Which is pretty stinkin' cool if you ask me. 

Toad Mama primarily lives in Maryland but also has a place in West Virginia.  I like reading about her adventures with her husband, grandkids and her three dogs and she takes amazing pictures.  I still can't figure out how she manages such great pictures on a bike ride, I would surely be taking photos of the inside of an ER if I tried that.  Please check her out and say hello.  She's friendly, I promise.

So there are three rules to this award.

1.  You must thank the person who gave it to you. 

2.  Tell seven things about yourself.

3.  Pass the award on to those who you find to be versatile. 

It's hard to come up with seven things that I haven't told you before, but I'll give it a shot.

1.  I had LASIK surgery almost 10 years ago.  Before the surgery, the vision in my left eye was 20/700 and my right eye was 20/500.  That means that I could see at 20 feet what those with perfect vision could see at 700 feet (a big blur).  Now my vision is 20/40 and I do have glasses that I wear to drive at night.  Not quite perfect, but I can see my toes!

2.  I'm kind of clumsy.  Right this very second I have a blood blister on my big toe from taking Lincoln outside at 4am, the top of my foot still hurts from my migraine related injury over a month ago, I have a small bruise on my nose from hitting myself with the cabinet door this morning (praying I don't get a black eye) and I am nursing an injury that makes it difficult to sit (I'll tell you all about it in a few days....lucky you!).  I haven't been sleeping well lately so I'm going to blame it on that.  Of course that only explains the last month, not the last 30 years.  Oh well.

3.  I am deaf in my left ear.  Sure, it has its inconveniences like when I'm in the car with Wayne driving and he gets irritated because I can't hear a thing he's saying.  But it actually works out okay for me.  At night I sleep on my right side with my left ear up and I can't hear a thing!  They say that over time your body compensates for the loss of hearing and it shouldn't affect your balance, but I don't think my body got that memo (see above).

4.  I am a TV junkie.  I just about went into withdrawals Sunday night because there was no Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters or Army Wives.  DH and B&S are over for the season, but would someone please tell me why AW was not on last night.  I know it's a holiday weekend and all but I would think a show about Army wives would be perfect on Memorial Day weekend.  Don't even get me started about the Grey's Anatomy finale.  There might be a whole post about that if I can sit long enough to type it.

5.  I love planning parties.  My dream is to start a party planning/catering business.  I still get comments on the baby shower I threw for my cousin nearly three years ago.  The only problem is that I don't care for working nights and weekends.  But if you're planning a party on a Tuesday afternoon, I'm your girl!

6.  I love everything about Christmas.  I like buying and wrapping gifts, baking Christmas cookies, but I especially like decorating.  I usually start in early to mid-November and it stays up until about the second week in January.  I'm already planning my trees for this year.  I will have 4 full size trees (6 ft or larger) and at least 6 smaller trees.  I bought a 9 foot tree and a bunch of new ornaments at the end of the season last year that I can't wait to put up.  And I'm planning to make a wreath in the shape of a cancer awareness ribbon for the front door.  I haven't quite figured out how to do it yet, but I will.

7.  I am really nosy.  My parents have open shelving in their kitchen.  Every time we go over there, I dig through all their food to see what they have (and to see how many things are expired).  One time my Mom called me a few days later, she was at the store and couldn't remember if she had something.  I was able to tell her that I thought she did.  There are times in restaurants when Wayne is trying to talk to me and I shh him or wave him off because I'm trying to listen to the conversation behind me.

I chose to give this award to two people.

Katherine at The Katherine Wheel is in her intern year of her Anesthesiology residency.  She and her family moved to Iowa about a year ago.  I always learn something new when I read her account of places Wayne and I have been dozens of times.  I can't remember how I found her blog but I'm glad I did.  

Elaine at The Miss Elaine-ous Life has three young children and a husband.  She blows me away with her honesty about everything from the highs and lows of raising three kids to her image of herself.  I met her through You Capture and she had me at the title of her blog....so clever!

Please go check them when you get a chance.

**Edited to add--After posting this and catching up on my Google Reader I noticed that Katherine gave me this award as well.  Thank you Katherine!  OMG!  There's two people (besides my Mom) that read and enjoy my blog, Wayne's going to have to grease my head to get me out of the house in the morning!!

You Capture--Sky

This weeks challenge is sky.

We had a pretty big storm Tuesday.  I got these photos on my way home that day.  It was kind of tricky because I had to clean off the windshield, turn the wipers off and just aim the camera and hope for the best.  I actually managed to get some pretty decent photos. 

 

Then finally yesterday I was able to grab my camera and take a few photos.

 

I think this one is my favorite.  I just love the sharpness and the contrast between the leaves and the sky. 

 

Then as I was laying on the sofa, I noticed the sky as the sun was setting.  I like how the light is reflecting off the front of the barn.

I can't wait to see what everyone else captured this week.  Check it out here.

Good News and Bad News

I know I've been rather quiet on here lately.  I did have a headache for 4 weeks and we've been pretty busy.
But the truth is, I've been anxious.  I've been nervous.  I've been worried.


For those of you who don't know, Wayne was diagnosed with kidney cancer in March 2009 and subsequently had half of his left kidney removed last April.  Wayne had never had any major illness or ailment, to say the diagnosis caught us by surprise is an understatement of colossal proportions. 


It rocked our worlds.  It pulled the rug out from underneath us.  It has changed our lives.


We try to stay positive, but it's really hard.  Every ache or pain sends us running to the phone.  Wayne has been to the doctor more in the last year than in the last ten years.  Our primary care physician has been incredibly gracious and attentive.  She listens and tries to calm our fears.  She doesn't make us feel like we're being silly or unreasonable.


Wayne's one year cancer check up was yesterday.  We chose not to tell anyone about it this time.  We appreciate everyone's prayers and well wishes, but we wanted to be able to process the news we received privately before having to make a bazillion phone calls and sharing the news with all of you.


So yesterday we did just that.  We spent about five hours at the hospital, then ran some errands while we were in Iowa City, did some shopping and grabbed something to eat.  We didn't make one phone call, not one text, not one email.  It was nice.  It was great, actually.  Have I built up the suspense long enough?


We got good news on the cancer front.  NO CANCER!!  Wayne is officially one year cancer free!!


His kidneys look good, just a little scar tissue.  His chest X-Ray was clear, his blood work was good, everything is going well.  I remember taking a deep breath and feeling relieved.  Then came the bad news.


This post is so long, you probably forgot that I titled it "Good News and Bad News". 


Dr. Joudi told us he is leaving.  He got married and is moving to Wichita, Kansas.  If you have read any of my previous cancer posts, you know I have professed my love for Dr. Joudi on several occasions.  Don't get your panties in a bunch, it's not an "Oh My God I love you" love.  It's a "you saved my husband's life and will forever be at the top of my list" kind of love. 


Dr. Joudi convinced us to save his kidney when the previous Dr. convinced us to remove the whole thing.  He told us he would do everything he could to preserve as much kidney function possible.  And he did.  He saw Wayne every day in the hospital, even Easter Sunday.  Every nurse we saw willingly commented on how conscientious and attentive he is.  From what I understand, that never happens.  Dr. Joudi called us at home the day after Wayne went home to check on him.  Every time we called his office with a question or concern he called us back himself, usually within minutes.


I'm not going to lie.  When he walked out of the room, I had to wipe away a few tears.  When we decided to get a second opinion, Dr. Joudi came highly recommended to us.  We didn't know what to expect.  Often times, great doctors do not have the best bedside manners.  We were pleasantly surprised the first time we met him.  He put us at ease.  He gave us hope.  And although we're saddened that he's leaving, we're hopeful that we will be assigned to an equally great doctor.


That being said, as soon as Dr. Joudi left the room Wayne said "If the cancer comes back, we'll be going to Wichita.  He'll be our second opinion....again."


If you're still reading this record long post, thank you.  We appreciate your thoughts, prayers and well wishes more than you'll ever know.  This is something I don't wish on any of you.  But if you do have to endure something like this, I hope you're blessed with great friends and family like we are.


And just because it's important....ONE YEAR CANCER FREE!!

10 on the 10th-The Mom Edition

Meredith over at Life at 7000 feet hosts a blog carnival where you post a list of 10 things on the 10th of each month.


In honor of this being Mother's Day, I decided this month would be all about my Mom!

1.  First let me explain the above picture. I will be probably written out of the will for posting that picture (Darn, I really wanted those 3,287 seashells.). This photo was taken at my house shortly before last Christmas. My Dad opened his gift but instead of smiling, he gave me a dirty look (which I got a picture of) because he thought we spent too much. My Mom was determined not to give me a dirty look and this is the result. No she's not a flapper from the '20's, that's the ribbon from the package which she promptly fashioned into a headband.

2.  I often call her by her name, Jolene or Jo. This absolutely drives my brother CRAZY. That absolutely may be the reason I do it. ;-)

3. She used to make baskets. You may remember this one that I showed you a couple months ago.

4. She has a terrible memory.  I remember her, my uncles and my aunt talking about their childhood and my Mom didn't remember a thing. It was like they were from different families.

5. She is a very nervous passenger.  I remember several road trips that Mom spent nearly the entire trip on the floorboard of the car.  And if we're driving through the mountains...forget it...you won't see her for hours.  The day before my wedding we were driving across the bridge, there was a lot of traffic and construction and Mom was losing. her. marbles.  Wayne called and he asked where I was and what that high-pitched squealing noise was.  I said "Oh my Mom thinks we're gonna die on the bridge".  Let's just say that we were both glad when we got to the hotel, right at the foot of the bridge.

6. My Grama Mary (my Dad's Mom) used to make a red velvet cake for my birthday every year. After Grama passed away, my Mom used Grama's recipe to surprise me with a cake for my next birthday. She still makes that and Grama's spice cake on demand!

7. She does a lot of secretarial/accounting work for my brother's business. Because of this, she spends a lot of time on the phone with him and running errands for it.  I tease her about it....a lot.  Just this morning I called her cell phone and left a message, then called her back a couple hours later and got voice mail again.  Because I refuse to be ignored, I called the house phone.  She answered and quickly told me she was on the other line and she would call me back.  I told Wayne and he said "yeah, with Jacob probably".  She called back a few minutes later, I asked her how Jacob was doing this morning.  She said "well, I can't lie to you it was Jake on the phone.  I wasn't going to tell you and I made him promise not to tell you."

Jake will of course bring this up several times over the next year that he was the first one to talk to Mom on Mother's Day.

I will of course harass my Mom about ignoring my calls on Mother's Day so she could be free to answer Jake's call.  :-)

8.  Days before my cousin Brandi's wedding my Mom fell and landed squarely on her face.  The day after the wedding she woke up with a giant bruise on her face.  The day of my cousin Vickie's wedding she fell so hard on her backside that she limped the rest of the day.  Every time she sees the picture of my aunt, my uncle and her at Vic's wedding she tells us about the story and the ginormous bruise she ended up with on her butt.  Some people might find that annoying, but we enjoy laughing at her so we don't mind.  Unfortunately, I inherited her um...grace.

9.  Mom and my Great-Grandma went to Hawaii a long time ago ('75 I think).  As they were getting ready for bed on their last night on the island, there was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.  They had to pack up their stuff and walk a couple miles to higher ground in their rollers and nightgowns because of a threat of a tidal wave.  I still picture Grandma Wells in her rollers hanging onto the four poster bed.

10.  She is the bestest!  Seriously.  She would do anything for us and we're very lucky to have her as our Mommy. 

Jake's usually luckier than me, but whatever.  :-) 

Happy Mother's Day to all the ladies today!

Head on over to Meredith's to check out more 10 on the 10th  lists!