New Slippers

First I got a new purse, now I went and bought new slippers. I'm so spoiled!

I just got a new pair of slippers in December and I liked them. They were just fine, nice and fuzzy on the inside, black suede on the outside. Very cozy.  I wore them last night to take the trash out to the curb. That's where my Christmas slippers met their demise.

My neighbor was doing the same. Her name is Julie. She got her trash to the curb and walked over to where I was placing mine on the curb and said hello. She thanked me for giving her grandchildren some hand-me-downs and she was commenting about how they loved the little girl clothes, especially the things I made. We were chit chatting like that and along comes my other neighbor from the house on the other side of me.

Jessica came out of her house with her two stupid dogs on a leash. She was obviously going to take them for an evening stroll. She was saying hello to me and Julie. The dogs lead her right up to me and Buddy put his front paws on my knee. I bent down to pat his head and nicely get him off my knee and then it happened.

Buddy peed on my feet.

With his paws up on my knee,  his wiener was poised in just the right position to pee on my feet. That's just what he did. He let loose with his stream and it began on my feet and created a stream that ran down the edge of the driveway to the gutter.

Jessica said, "Oh, Buddy. I thought you were able to control yourself. Sorry!" She flashed a big smile and off she went on her walk.

Seriously? Did that just happen?

Julie was flabbergasted! Her jaw was nearly on the driveway. Good thing it was attached to her face or it would have fallen in the pee puddle. She was completely disgusted. I was too.  I just got peed on by a dog!  I've been peed on many many times, but never by a dog!  So gross!

The pee didn't actually touch me because he peed on the top of my slippers. My feet were inside, but protected by the slipper upper. My bare ankles didn't feel a drop, so I think that I was spared any actual pee to skin contact. But, still, horribly disgusting!

I slid out of my slippers and stooped over and picked them up by the heels.  I placed them right on top of the trash bin and walked inside barefooted. I didn't even say goodnight to the neighbors. I'm sure that type of event trumps any social graces and excuses all manners though.

I came in and washed my hands, then sat on the edge of the tub and scrubbed my feet from my toes to my knees.  I woke up this morning and did it again. I was just feeling yucky from the idea of it!

I was able to sneak in a trip to Target today and I grabbed up a new pair of slippers.  Look, they have no dog pee on them!

New Purse

I got a new purse.

I love to get new purses! That's why I try not to buy expensive purses, because I just can't commit. I like getting a new one and I'm always keeping my eye out.

We were at Costco, of all places to spot an awesome new purse. They had a huge stack of these purses in various colors and designs and they were $15.  That's so cheap! And I liked it right away! It has a zippered closure and a water bottle holder on the side. Score! Those are very cool features!

The zippers on top were secured with a plastic tie, so I couldn't peek inside, but really what more do I need to see. There are two zippers on the top, that means two big sections. And I love the zippers because I tend to tip my purse over in the car. Not sure why that is such a huge problem for me, but it is. I've come to realize it and live with it.

Got the purse home, yanked off the tags and opened it up. Weird. It had a plastic food container inside. Well, whatever.

I took the container out and what is this? It had a really weird looking lining. Like padded foil. Guess I'll be able to find things that get lost in the bottom of my purse, unlike a purse lined in black fabric. That'll work!

I moved everything over from my current purse to the new one. I like it!

Then, I looked at the tags. I've been fooled! It's a lunch box! This purse is a lunch tote! It's for food! Check it out! It's such a pretty purse, darn my luck! Oh, I had a good laugh!  But I still like it. I decided to give it a trial run. Maybe since it's a lunch box it won't really work out, but there's hope, right?  It might be too dorky.  I might be too dorky for thinking it might work out.

I took it out and about.  Nobody commented. Nobody said, "Hey, nice lunch tote! Are you having a picnic?"  Nobody. I took it out for a beer. Seems ok. Not too lunchboxy. I even took it to the park with my kids and my friend said, "I like your new purse." Dude. She called it a purse! Trial is over, it passed the test! I'm rocking the lunch tote purse!

New Year, New Grandson!

We are starting the new  year right!  Welcoming 2015 with a new baby boy! I'm super excited and very very very happy that he was born happy and healthy. My daughter is also well. She had a healthy delivery. Nothing could make me happier than my baby being healthy and my grandson too!

He's adorable!  I'm not just saying that, not all newborns are adorable, some are "adorable" (know what I mean?). But he is, he is perfectly adorable!

I hope I understand the birth story correctly; I will relay what I know. I wasn't there. Gasp! I was peacefully slumbering in my bed at home. oops. I wanted to be there for her and I tried hard to be available, but I still managed to miss the birth. She did well without me though, and honestly, I don't know how much help I could have been if I had been there. I probably would have just brought nervous energy into the room.

Little Martin was born at home. Henry was born in the hospital; Alfred was born at the Birthing Center; Marty was born at home. I told Katie that number 4 will be born while she's camping.

Katie started to have light labor around midnight or shortly after. She took the trash out at midnight, so she was doing fine then. It was the type of early labor that they send you home for if you go to the hospital, so it wasn't anything to get excited about at that point.  The boys were asleep, of course, it was after midnight.

She decided to take a bath, and when she did, she left her phone in her bedroom. In the bath, things kicked into high gear and her labor intensified. She managed to get back to her room to her phone and she called her friend, Stacy. Katie then made it over to her dining room patio door and unlocked it. Her front door is down a long flight of stairs, so she couldn't unlock that one. Stacy would have to come in the back.

Then Katie thought she would go use the bathroom before the baby was born, as it was going to be soon. She could tell. She waddled her way back to the bathroom. Somewhere in there, her husband Andrew called. He's deployed right now and a phone call is an impossible feat! The fact that he called during her intense labor is pretty cool! He was as "there" as he could possibly have been!

Katie gave birth to Marty in the bathroom at 5:05am.  She caught him so he wasn't born in the toilet or on the cold tile floor, but safely into his mother's arms. Her friend had arrived and helped her from that point forward.

Katie called me at 7am.  Actually, she called me a couple of times earlier too, but I totally slept through that. Oops. I gathered up my overnight bag that I've had packed for a while and I also scooped up a bag for Gracie and took her with me. We sped down to San Diego and got there at 10am.  Might need to work on my speeding. It's only an hour from my driveway to Katie's driveway and it took me three. I had to shower, gather stuff, have a piece of toast and some coffee, forget something and turn back, etc. Getting going just took me a bit.

When I got there the midwife was there checking on Katie and Marty. In her professional opinion, all was well. Both mama and baby were fine. She brought black-eyed peas for good luck in the New Year. She weighed and measured Marty and he was 8 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long. Katie's smallest baby of the three, but a very healthy start to his life!

Gracie and I spent the day with Katie and the boys. We played cars, read story books, and ate. I made a couple of meals for Katie and kids and brought her glasses of water.  I changed Alfie's diaper a few times and cleaned up a potty accident of Henry's. Oops. I did dishes and took down her Christmas tree and did a load of laundry. Soon it was bedtime for the boys, then after bedtime, then way after bedtime and I finally got them to bed. I slept with Henry and Gracie slept with Alfred for about a minute. Alfie then migrated to sleep with his mommy and baby brother.

Gracie and I left in the morning before the boys woke up, but we left breakfast on the table for them.

Wishing you a good year, Little Marty.  And wishing you a long healthy life!

2014 Year in Review

Happy Moments of 2014:

January:
We adopted Penny the puppy

February:
Uncle Ed came for a visit and we had lots of fun

March:
We went to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla

April:
My sister came to visit; she went home thoroughly hugged!

May:
My friend, Jamie came to pick blueberries with us.

June:
The kids and I had a fun outing to the San Diego Zoo

July:
We went to Idyllwild and stayed in this wonderful house

August:
Charlie turned 4

September:
We went to Wyoming to visit the Grandmas.

October:
I taught a sewing class to the Camp Fire group.

November:
We visited the Field of Honor in our city

December:
Keith and I went to Palm Springs and I relaxed!

Fry Bread and Wojapi

We made Indian Fry Bread and Wojapi!

The girls monthly project for November/December was to research a culture (not one of your own) and report on a traditional or celebrational food item. The kids needed to then make the food and bring it to a Cultural Exchange Pot Luck, which was also when the kids performed their Winter Concert.

Our children are descendants of  European countries, so they decided to learn about food from a culture they have heard about but they aren't a part of: Lakota.  They chose to make Indian Fry Bread and Wojapi (jelly).

We looked it all up online and found the recipes and historical context in which the fry bread and wojapi are eaten. They were easily able to write out their reports and recipes. Then, we got to work making the treats.

I purchased frozen bread dough and we let it rise. I know, that's sort of cheating, not making the bread dough from scratch, so don't tell anyone! I'm swearing you to secrecy!  After it rose, the kids tore off pieces and made them into flat pancake shaped pieces. 

I fried the pieces of bread dough in hot oil. One recipe said to use Crisco and it really would make a difference, so I bought a fresh jug of Crisco vegetable oil.  Then I wondered if the recipe meant to buy crisco that looks like lard in a can. The vegetable oil seemed to work out just fine. 

I piled them up and layered the rows with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. When they cooled a bit, but were still nice and warm, we dipped them in the wojapi.  So delicious!

We made the Wojapi while the bread dough was rising. You are supposed to make it with chokecherries that you pick yourself.  Well... once again we cheated. I bought a bag of frozen strawberries at the grocery store. That is pretty close to the same thing, right? 

I figured strawberries would be a safe choice for the wojapi. The kids didn't like the sound of the word, and they had already some hesitation about how it would taste. They were concerned about the chokecherries. Would they choke? They didn't really want to try it. They love strawberries, so that would be a safe berry choice. Turned out, that was a good call. The strawberries were great!

First, we dumped about half the bag of strawberries into a soup pot. I think we had about 4 - 6 cups of strawberries. We added 2 cups of water and brought it to a boil, then added a cup of sugar.  The recipe also called for some cornstarch and I'm pretty sure I messed this part up. I think I added too much cornstarch because it seemed thin, but the next day it thickened up to an almost pudding consistency in the fridge, and my husband insisted that it should be more of a sauce texture. The recipes I found online varied. Oh well, the texture isn't nearly as important as the taste and it tasted amazingly good!

The girls put out their fry bread an wojapi on the cultural foods buffet table at school during their winter concert and it all disappeared pretty quickly. That's a good thing! They presented their reports in the classroom earlier in the day.

Got My Ears Pierced

Since I have uber short hair, my ears stick out.  I guess they did before, because I was always a pony tail or bun kind of girl, but now I feel like my hair looks so masculine that some earrings would offset the look and girl it up a bit. Why not!

When I was 12, I was kind of stupid and I got my ears pierced. I remember it well. I was scared but determined! I nearly passed out and had to stand on my head up against the wall after one ear was pierced, and then they did the other one and I had to repeat the headstand. In retrospect, a headstand was a strange thing to have me do, as if a person who is nearly fainting is coordinated enough to stand on their head.

When I was 19, I was taller but still kind of stupid and I got my ears pierced again. Two earrings on each side! So cool. No headstands this time, but I do believe there was some beer involved.

Now, I'm 49.  I'm no longer stupid but I still made the same decision to pierce my ears. Beer was involved. When my first baby learned to reach and grab, she always went for my earrings. No matter what, that kid wanted to pull them out of my ears.  I haven't worn earrings since and my holes closed up long ago.  It's odd that they would heal shut. I had pierced ears for years before I had any babies. Anyway, I had to get them pierced again if I wanted to wear earrings.

I went to Claire's in the mall. I heard "don't go to Claire's" but, they seem just fine. They use a little gun and the part that holds the earrings is disposable and clips into the ear gun, so no part of the gun touches your ear that wasn't sanitized and used only on you. Also, the earrings are sanitized. It's all good. I chose some fake diamond earrings and sat in the piercing stool. The lady attacked me with the gun and now they are pierced! The only downside was that I didn't get a lollipop. I really felt like I deserved one too.

Bad News that's Good to Know

I tested postive for the BRCA2 gene. Crap! and, Good to know.

Since my mother had breast cancer, and now I have it even though neither my mother or myself had a high risk factor (we live simple, clean lives, not the risk taking sort) I qualified for the genetic testing to see if I have the gene that causes breast cancer.

Honestly, I've been trying not to, but I've been wondering how I got breast cancer. Did I do something to cause it? Did I drink too much Coke? Did I not go to the Dr. often enough? Did I use the deoderant with the harsh chemicals? Did I not eat enough vegetables? Was there pesticide sprayed on my produce? Were there hormones in my hamburger? Am I too stressed out? Did I breastfeed too long? Haven't I been getting enough sleep? Maybe it's the second hand smoke from when I was a child and had a parent who smoked? Was it because I had an underwire bra? Is it Karma or Fate? Is God punishing me? Why did I get cancer? What did I do?  Now, I can stop asking myself that question. The answer is here: I was born this way.

According to some googling that I've been doing, the discovery of the breast cancer gene was pretty recent. One scientist found it in 1974 and they studied it until 1990 before coming forth with the information. 1990 wasn't that long ago. I was married and had an active toddler in that year. I worked as a part time bank teller, and had no worries about breast cancer. None.  Lucky for me, someone else was dedicated to breast cancer research! And those efforts are very much appreciated now, even if I didn't give it a thought back then.

Currently, not everyone can be tested for the gene and have it covered by insurance. The insurance companies only pay for it if they deem it necessary. And then they may only pay a portion, it's hard to say. I told my oncologist that I wanted the test, but only if my insurance covered it. Sure hope I don't get a bill for five grand and a note saying that's my co-pay. We shall see. To qualify to be tested, I had a mother with breast cancer and I have breast cancer, and I have six women with my genes, my sisters and daughters. So, I qualified for the test. Now that I've popped up positive, my sisters and daughters should be approved for testing as well.

There are two genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2.  #1 is apparently worse news than #2. But, really, you don't want either one of them. Turns out, I have the second gene. It's bad, but at least I don't have the first one.

According to the stats that Dr. Google has been throwing my way, Brca1 has a much higher percentage of patients with recurring cancer or other cancers popping up.  Brca2 is an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer too, but not the "sure thing" that the #1 looks to be. I guess this means that I got the lesser of the two evils. Oh yay. I'll drink to that!

I have two sisters and four daughters. I am really hoping that this gene is recessive and my daughters didn't get it, but if my husband is a carrier, and we don't know that, well, that slims down their chances of escaping the gene.  I truly hope they do not have this gene! All four can be tested for it, but I am not sure when they would want to do that.  Elizabeth just turned 6 years old a couple of months ago. I honestly think she could wait a few decades. My oncologist recommends that my sisters and daughters go see their doctors and then have prophylactic mastectomies and oophorectomies - lop off their breasts and yank out their ovaries for prevention. Hopefully, by the time my daughters are in their mid-30s, there is a better prevention method than going under the knife.

This gene isn't just a breast cancer gene, it's also an ovarian cancer gene.

As for me, my oncologist wants an ultrasound peek at my overies now.  If they are messed up or showing any abnormal shape, lumps, or whatever, then he wants to yank them out now.  If they look good, then he wants to wait until I'm off the Herceptin and yank them out next summer.  Either way, he wants me to have them out. I'm not so sure about that. I have some questions about removing them and why and how much that stacks the cancer stats in my favor. The last thing I want to do is have another surgery, especially if it isn't necessary. I'll decide after I review more information about this situation and weigh my options.

That's all I really know for now.  I have this Brca 2 gene, and my sisters and daughters risk of breast and ovarian cancer just skyrocketed with this new information. To them, I'm sorry. Hope the stats are wrong!

If you find some useful information about BRCA2, breast cancer, or ovarian cancer, please post the link in the comments.