New Friends

The girls had their eyes checked this year.  We used a new eye doctor because he accepted our insurance.   He is a very nice person and we were talking during one of the exams and he mentioned that his family has a friend who they met through Washburn's Friendship Program.  She is from China and even though she has spent her time here in Topeka and has returned to China, they are keeping in contact with her.  COOL!

So I asked him how could we sign up for this?  He gave me the name of the person who is in charge of the program.  Mark sit down that night and emailed him.   Next thing we know there are three Chinese students arriving in Topeka January 10th.  They wanted to stick together, would we be interested?   YES!

Emails were exchanged and last Saturday we picked them up at the college and brought them out to our house.   They are Ava, 21 from the Shandong province.  Iris and Yoyo from Shanghai.  They all know each other because they have been attending the same University in Shanghai.

We got to know each other and then the kids took them to the basement to play on the Wii, board games, puzzles, Uno and watch a movie.  The girls are so excited to have three "big" sisters!   They said that they were really into Cheeseburgers and French Fries.  So we took the to Conrad's in Overbrook cause we love their FF's there.  

When Mark was taking them back to the dorms Saturday night they decided that they wanted to come out Monday morning and cook for us.   And WOW did they cook!  They brought chicken, all kinds of vegies, egg noodles and they stirred up a lot of good food.   It was kind of a soup with the noodles and vegetables all cooked into it.  Y.U.M.M.Y!

They are only going to be here for one semester and will go back to college in Shanghai in May.  So we hope to keep them busy getting good grades and learning about Kansas and the USA!

Cookie makers

The girls love to bake cookies.   I bought several different kinds of the pre-mixed kind at the store because they were on sale and for the price they are really economical and super easy!

Of course, we were baking some for Santa.   We had enough for an army.   But you would have never know it because the next morning they were all gone!!

Nothing like a sugar high on Christmas morning!!

Mom is a total klutz

The day after Christmas we were going to have surprise guests.   Surprise for the girls that is.  Uncle Colin and Aunt Melissa were coming up from Lexington to see Dad for his birthday and to deliver a present to Nick's girlfriend.   So I needed to get some long awaited painting done.  And I do mean L.O.N.G. awaited.   I started painting RaeAnne's room soon after we moved in.   Then the girls started playing musical beds/rooms.   It was quite a while before they finally decided who slept in which bed in which room.   And sometimes that is subject to change.  Once we were pretty much done with musical beds I had Rae pick out the colors she wanted her room painted.  Her comforter is orange, pink and yellow.   So she picked a bright yellow and orange.   Paint was purchased and then chemo started and my energy level dropped to nil.   So I decided to get it painted once and for all.

Then she decided she wanted to paint it different colors...Really?   She picked a bright pink called "Hot".   She wanted to paint the whole room that color.  Nope, can't do it I have other paints and I had already painted one wall the bright yellow.   So Christmas day I was painting like crazy.   We had "Hot" all over two walls.   Really it is not that bad of color for a 15 year olds wall.   Then we finished with the yellow.   Now it is time to put the orange called "Carnival" up.  I didn't sleep last night and I drank two glasses of "Spark" which has caffeine and vitamins in it.  I was buzzing right along.  Had a half gallon of Carnival in my paint pan.   I am up on the ladder carefully painting along the ceiling.  Time to get down and move the ladder a bit more.  And I moved my left foot.   I immediately felt the ladder shift and the WHAM, BOOM, SPLAT!   I started yelling for help!  The orange paint is dripping off the mattress, the headboard and all over the floor.  I am almost screaming, I am tangled up in the ladder and both legs feel like they are broken.  I can't move because I am afraid too.   Finally Zora came in and I said get your Dad NOW!  Kendalan walked in the room and started crying and wanted to know if I was going to die.  

Okay the room wasn't quite ready for company, but they were great about it.  Colin even offered to finish the painting for me!  I am going to get back up on that ladder, I will not let it scare me I may have someone holding it very tightly as I stand on it this time.  Unless they make it wiggle and then my life will flash in front of my eyes again.

Santa had treats at our house this year!

Kendalan was not going to stop until I caved and we baked cookies for Santa.   I think the girls also were full of cookie dough before we were done.   Then I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.   We also left a glass of chocolate milk.   I had to drink the milk down soon after the girls went to bed because we have a couple of cats that would have their noses in it if I didn't.

Yummy, cookies for breakfast.  Isn't that what the champions eat?

Happy Birthday RaeAnne

Our baby turned 15 years old today!  I can not believe how time has flown by.   It seems just the other day that she was toddling around the house.   Usually the birthday person gets to choose where they eat on their birthday, but Mom was feeling a little under the weather.   Daddy took RaeAnne, Tessa and Kendalan to Subway.

She will be getting her birthday present along with her Christmas gift this year.  We have usually made sure that she had a separate birthday present, but this year I think she will be very happy with what she gets!

Happy Birthday RaeAnne!  We love you to the moon and back!!

End of the year approaches.

So hard to believe that 2014 is almost a thing of the past.   It has been a busy year and a much better year than 2013.   2013 found me with Triple Negative Breast Cancer.  A very fast Lumpectomy and then I started right into chemotherapy.  After the chemo was done I started radiation which I did not understand was going to be an accelerated process.  Each time I went in they would give me the same amount I had before and then tack on some more.  It was kind of like getting a sunburn on the inside of your body and it worked it's way to the outside.  Right now, today, my left breast (the one that had cancer) is a cup size smaller than the other one, or as Mark says "The twins aren't identical anymore!"

My swimsuit days are past.  I will be happy to sit on the side of the pool and keep my feet wet.   The girls had a wonderful summer swimming in Overbrook.  Jordis once again swam for the Overbrook swim team and she improved her numbers from last year!   Tessa and Kendalan are possibly going to join the team next year.  It makes sense for them too as we have to go for one child, can be three instead and the exercise that they get will be fantastic for them!

I started working PRN June 2nd at Stormont Vail Periop Services.  I love the people I work with and it is very interesting to learn about surgeries that I have never taken care of.   I oriented for a couple of weeks and then they decided that I was going to do okay.   For the next 6 weeks I didn't get any phone calls!   Finally while we were in Kentucky they called and asked me to work.   Then the shifts started coming fast and furious.   It was great to start getting a paycheck again!   Then out of the blue one lady who was working part time evenings found another job and turned in her resignation.  I was the first person they called to ask if I was interested.   Was I ever!!  So now I work 3-11pm three nights one week and two nights the next week alternating back and forth.  This event also put us in the position to go back on health insurance through the hospital again!  Boy did we need that!!

I am still suffering from neuropathy in my feet and hands.  I am seeing the neurologists APRN who has been fantastic about trying new meds to help.  It seems like the new meds have made a small difference, but not out of the woods yet.

RaeAnne has been having a fairly good year as a freshman.   She has a public speaking class that has been really hard on her.   She practiced her speech on me tonight and I think she does a great job.  She does need to slow down, pronounce her words more clearly and just chill more!   She is so shy, I hope that these kind of classes will help.  She chose to stay home from the Winter Formal Dance last weekend as she did not want to buy a dress to wear.   My toyboy will eventually have to dress up and I am sure she will be a gorgeous girl!  This was the 8th grade graduation dress I forced her to wear!

ZoraLin was busy the first part of school playing volley ball.  Her 7th grade team was new, but they were learning and getting better by the end of the season.  I hope she plays in 8th grade as I saw a real change in her.   She was eating better, taking more time to get her homework done correctly and she really toned up.  Since she is not in band I think that this is a good extracurricular thing for her to do.

Tessa and Kendalan were pretty lazy this summer.   Other than going swimming just about every day, they would spend their evenings watching TV or playing on their electronic devices.  Everyone was assigned chores to do weekly and I changed the chore chart around each week so they wouldn't get bored with the same thing each time.  I also assigned them 20 minutes of reading daily.  I think they
were a little lax on the reading.   But at least we worked on it!   I will make a new chore chart soon
and change things up a little.

The big exciting thing in Kansas this summer was that the K.C. Royals were in the playoffs.  And they took it right down to the wire.  Losing in the last game.   We were rooting for them.  We decided to take a photo that we hoped would be for the celebrating team.  Oh well, it was something to get excited about.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our house to yours!!

Happy Birthday to Mom!

I am the Queen Kitty for my birthday!!

I knew it had to come around eventually.    I am glad it did!   Getting a year old doesn't seem so bad after the year I went through...last year.    I am still having effects of the chemo and radiation.   I saw my oncologist a couple of weeks ago and asked him about some of the things that are still hanging around.   The overall feeling of being simply exhausted some days.   He said that lingers on for a couple of years.   Well I guess it is good that I have some days of so much energy that I get things accomplished.  Of course, after knocking myself out one day it takes me two or three to get my wind back.   Kind of the same way with work.  I can work for my shift but when I get a day or two off, I spend a lot of time in bed sleeping.

The biggest thing that bothers me is the neuropathy in my feet.   They absolutely throb some days to the point that I am ready to chop them off.   I really feel that it would hurt less to take an ax and chop my feet off at the ankles.   I have tried so many things for them.   The doctor has me on Neurontin and Cymbalta for them.   The thing that works the best is hydrocodone.   They have had me try to massage Emla cream on them to make them numb.   It helps the skin but the throbbing is inside.  I truly never knew that chemotherapy would cause neuropathy.   The doctor said that because I had one of the worst kinds of cancer, triple negative, that he wanted to really hit it hard so it would not come back.   We were blessed to have caught it at stage one.   Neuropathy...something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

The other thing was/is the radiation.   I was given it at increased levels over a shorter amount of time. The results...my skin was burned.   Now almost a year after I finished with radiation.  My breast is a smaller size than the other one.   I know that the lumpectomy took a very small piece of the breast, but radiation has taken quite a bit more.  Plus it has a tan where it was radiated.   I haven't asked how long it will stay dark.  They actually look like I have the boobs of two different women.  It is a good thing that I am not a fan of swimsuits.   I really don't think that I will get in one again.

But with all that, I am thankful for my birthday this year.   It was a very low key day.   I actually spent the whole day in my jammies!   Once the girls came home from school we ordered pizza.   My wonderful cousin in California sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a Happy Birthday balloon!   And I had to attend a class at school about benefits and I won a jar full of Jolly Ranchers because my birthday was the next day!   Can't wait until next year!!