Shame on me the second time...

Okay, this time I knew I was putting too many bubbles in. Add a raucous boy. And stir.

What a mess!! But so much fun!

xoxo

Bubbles...

After 7 months I finally figured out how to operate the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom. What I have not figured out yet is the correct amount of bubbles to put it.
:-)
xoxo

Patsy

Rest in peace, Patsy. You are in our hearts always.

xoxo

Couldn't wait to get my hands in the dirt...

We woke up this morning to the sound of many geese flying over our house.....coming home after the long winter. It was like a band of trumpets welcoming the morning. I loved it.

I am going crazy in my garden. I hoped outta bed, fed the kids and then got my hands in the dirt for about 6 hours. I may be too sore to brush my teeth tonight but it is wonderful therapy.

I feel so alive, so deeply grateful and so inexpressibly content. Thank you, God!

xoxo

And again...

Oscar told me this morning that a zillion things in our house are made out of china. All his toys and his Star Wars guys and the kitty's food bowl.....all "made outta China". I thought he meant glass china...not the large nation in East Asia.

He suggested we should send some things their way from Michigan. Amazing that a 7-year old can recognize the U.S. trade deficit with China.

xoxo

funny...

Here is our conversation from the other morning...

Angelica: Mommy, I have good news!
Me: Oh yeah, what is it?
Angelica: I am not allergic to butterflies any more!

Me thinking....????????????????????????????????

Me (trying not to laugh): That is awesome, Angelica. I am so glad!
Angelica: Yeah, but Oscar is still allergic to pickles.


She seriously makes me laugh out loud several times a day!



Our weather has been beautiful. So on Monday night after dinner, Oscar was out riding his bike. Angelica decided she wanted to ride a 2 wheeler. So I got the tools out and took her training wheels off. I told her to hang on a second and I would help her. I turned around and she was gone. Unbelievable! She got on that bike and rode away. She crashed into a mailbox and I ran to help her...but then she was off again.

Oscar is equally spectacular! We all had a blast on our little holiday. The kids swam and we all relaxed.




Hope you are all well and enjoying Spring!

xoxo

oh, the horror...

Nouns and proper names now allowed in Scrabble....tsk!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/08/a-proper-fuss/

Happy birthday, Reid

We had a very nice time last week celebrating my nephew Reid's birthday. These kids are so precious!!! I love them so much it hurts! :-)

Megan, the artiste, made his castle birthday cake. The photo doesn't do it justice...it was darling!

Other news. I am so happy to tell you guys that they found a 100% match donor for my neighbor!!!!! They are thinking about starting a blog: Craig's Lift. Isn't this a great name!?!?!?

xoxo

Identity crisis

I was born Maureen. But, from what I understand, my nickname "Mimi" came along almost immediately. Story has it that my mom didn't love the nickname "Mo". And, as I am the 5th daughter, my mom declared "No Mo"....as in, no mo' kids and no Mo as a nickname. Funny. Anyway, Mimi stuck for 24 years. Then I moved to Texas and became, for this first time in my life, Maureen...or Mo (which I like, especially if I am fond of the person calling me by that moniker).

So for nearly 20 years, in Texas, I was Maureen - or Mo. Sometimes also Moonpie or Maureenie or Coo Coo. Seriously. But mostly Maureen.

Now I am back in Michigan. Without skipping a beat, I am back to Mimi. People I meet at the kid's school say "Hi Mimi" to me in the halls (thanks to my sister). People I do not remember meeting call me Mimi. Of course, being back in town I see aquaintances from long, long ago and they all call me Mimi.

I like it. It feels welcoming and familiar and comfortable.

Problem is...I can't remember my own name. I automatically say Maureen.

Then the confusion starts all over again...

This doesn't really pass the "so what" test. But I love having such inconsequential things on my mind. :-)

xoxo

Shameless....

...using my blog to reach the tens of you reading. tee hee Sorry....I can't help it.....it is a great cause.

Will you sponsor me?

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR?px=4693263&fr_id=1467&pg=personal

xoxo

count down......for sure this time!

I am so excited to say that I only have 3 more infusions to go...for real this time. I do not see my oncologist extending them again or changing them or adding new ones. I am doing fantastic! The only slightly distressing thing was when I told her how excited I was to get my port out...and that I wanted to get the procedure scheduled. Her response was "No". She told me that she wants me to wait until all my scans are done in August before I get the port out. Okey-dokey. lol I do understand. And I can certainly wait three more months for the port removal. No biggie. I am still on cloud 9 that the end of the treatments is near and I can get back to normal as much as possible!

As I have said many times before, I wish I could reach out and touch each of you the way you have me. You, my dear friends and family, have carried me for so long now. I look forward to a nice rest for all of us. Thank you for your unwavering love and support. You are all my heroes!

xoxo

evening prayers

Angelica's evening prayers last night...

Thank you Jesus for our dogs...
...and for my mom
....and for our mailbox
Amen

So glad I made the cut.

xoxo

craft time

Oscar had a friend over last night for a sleep over. So Angelica and I had some special girl time. As we were trying to think of something fun to do, she asked if we could paint. Sure, I said. In fact, I told her we could paint some rocks (something I loved to do as a kid). I went out to dig through what is left of the snow to find some rocks for us to paint. When I came back inside I found Angelica painting like crazy with brown paint on a piece of paper....she was goin' to town! I looked at at her "masterpiece" to find a bunch of brown circles. I asked her what she was doing...and she said "Painting rocks!!". Hilarious!!!

Love this girl!!



xoxo

Lent

Oddie gave up chewing up our house for Lent. One more reason I will cherish these 40 days.

xoxo

It's all a blur

Driving the kids to school this morning all I could think about was...."Oh my gosh, I live in Michigan now. I am cancer free. I had cancer???...seriously??? When did that happen? How did I get to this point in my life?" It was surreal. Really. I just kept thinking about the last couple years in utter amazement.

The point is: I am really happy. Most days I am so so so very happy. Other days I am just content...such a lovely place to be. And EVERY day I am grateful. Not forced grateful but truly grateful...right down to my very core. It is just a pure state of mind for me. Is this one of the enigmatic "gifts" that are so often talked about by survivors? I guess it is part of that secret handshake. :) I read about the "gifts" and listened to people talk about the "gifts". And, truth be told, sometimes I would get annoyed by the "gifts" talk. But now I get it. Like a light bulb going off. Trying to describe it is like trying to explain the color blue to a person blind since birth. It is so esoteric but oh so very good.

Of course I still get crabby with the kids or irritated by the painfully slow waitress or irked by the rude store clerk. Even that makes me happy because it is just so damn normal. lol

One of the best parts of life these days is work. I realize now what a significant part of my life my work is. I love my job. I adore the people I work for and with. I would love it all more if I could get my foot in the door at ArvinMeritor or Lear or BorgWarner or Visteon. :-) I may not have a nobel profession like being a teacher or doctor or firefighter...but I do help companies and I do good consulting work....and I love my job. It is another......ut oh.......oh no............don't say it.........aughhhhhhhh.....I can't help it.............It is another GIFT!!

xoxo

Aspirin

This study is from reputable institutions. No need to read the whole article unless you are an insomniac. Suffice to say ... I have to go now. Running to the drugstore. :-)

Aspirin Benefit Seen in Established Breast Cancer

Chalk up another use for aspirin: The drug appears to substantially reduce breast cancer survivors' risk of metastasis and death, researchers found. An aspirin at least two days a week significantly reduced breast cancer death risk by 64% to 71%, Michelle D. Holmes, MD, DrPH, of the Channing Laboratory at Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The risk reduction for distant metastasis in breast cancer survivors taking aspirin at least two days a week was a significant 43% to 60% in the analysis of the Nurses' Health Study data through 2006.This cut the risk of death from any cause nearly in half, Holmes' group noted.These results could have "considerable clinical importance," they wrote, given the drug's relatively benign adverse effects compared with cancer chemotherapy agents as well as its other benefits in preventing colon cancer, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. These findings were "all the more notable because the Nurses' Health Study did not find an association between aspirin use and breast cancer incidence," Holmes' group wrote.Prevention of metastasis may be different, they said. Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) nonselectively block Cox-2 overexpression, which has been linked to metastasis of breast cancer, and also lower serum estradiol. The anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin might itself hold benefits against cancer, added Lori Pierce, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who commented on behalf of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. However, she cautioned that aspirin isn't risk-free, noting it can cause GI bleeding. Nevertheless, "these are promising findings, and if they are confirmed in additional clinical trials, physicians may be able to regularly recommend aspirin to their breast cancer patients to reduce risk of cancer spread and mortality," she wrote in a prepared statement.Further study is needed to determine the mechanism and also to prospectively confirm the benefit, the investigators agreed.

The analysis included responses from 4,164 female registered nurses diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between 1976 and 2002 with follow-up through death or June 2006.Aspirin use assessments in the first year after diagnosis were excluded since the drug is discouraged during chemotherapy.Among these women who survived for more than a year after diagnosis, those who used aspirin more were less likely to subsequently die from breast cancer (P<0.001 for trend).Compared with women who never used aspirin, the multivariate adjusted relative risk of breast cancer death was:Similar for past users (RR 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 1.22)Similar for those with current use one day a week (RR 1.07, 95% CI 0.70 to 1.63)Significantly lower for current two to five days-a week use (RR 0.29, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.52)Significantly lower for current use six or seven days a week (RR 0.36, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.54)For distant recurrence risk, the results were much the same (P=0.03 for trend).The multivariate adjusted metastasis risks compared with women who never used aspirin was not reduced significantly with past (RR 1.03) or current one day a week use (RR 0.91) but was with two to five (RR 0.40, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.65) and six to seven days a week use (RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.82).For overall mortality, the results were just as good (P=0.004 for trend), with multivariate-adjusted risk reductions of 47% for two to five day a week use (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.76) and 46% for daily or nearly daily use (RR 0.54, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.70).However, this appeared to be accounted for by the reductions in breast cancer-related deaths, the researchers noted.Despite low statistical power, they found a suggestion of a breast cancer survival advantage with other NSAIDs but not with acetaminophen (Tylenol)."The lack of association with acetaminophen suggests that the associations seen with aspirin and NSAIDs may represent biologically plausible effects and not just confounding by indication," Holmes and colleagues wrote in the JCO paper.They cautioned, though, that the study was limited by use of self-reporting for aspirin intake, treatment, and distant recurrence.Nor did the study have any information on aspirin dose, although most regular use was likely for heart disease prevention at the 81 mg/day level, they suggested.And, although most breast cancer patients live at least five years, the results may be generalizable only to longer-term breast cancer survivors, they added.

Please consider helping

When we moved into this neighborhood, we were instantly and warmly welcomed by the people across the street. They are great people...really great. Their whole family is so kind. I soon found out that this lovely new neighbor, Dr. Craig Bowman, had just undergone 9 months of chemotherapy only to be told that the cancer cells have multiplied and a bone marrow transplant is urgently needed.

But he needs a bone marrow donor.

What I have since learned about this process is that finding a match is a bit of a numbers game, hence the more that register, the better the chances that a match will be found for Craig.

Please consider becoming a donor...please.

If you are interested in becoming a bone marrow donor, please go to marrow.org. Click on the "Join" button to the far left inside the navy blue box. It's a simple 3 step process to register.

Should you be a match, it's a quick painless procedure much like donating blood.

Please prayerfully consider becoming a donor.

You could be the one!

xoxo

p.s. Post if you would like to get a message to Craig and I will make that happen.

Bunch of damn turkeys!

No, seriously, a bunch of turkeys! lol
(bet you thought I was talking about the IRS)




Here they are running from me. Who looked like the turkey?

xoxo

Calling all you creative minds!

Megan and I are starting to plan the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. We have to think of a team name.

Any suggestions? Keep it clean. Or not. :-)


xoxo

My new men

I am meeting lots of great guys here in Michigan. Not sure yet which one I will pick for my beau.

Actually, as I strive to catch up on my posting, I wanted to share some pictures of the Rochester Christmas Parade, the largest parade in Michigan... thank you very much!! lol

It was a blast!!! We saw....

Synchronized wheels chairs from the local hospital ...

Gorgeous HUGE draft horse teams...

Thousands of people...as far as the eye could see...

And Santa...the REAL one...

Thanks for letting me share.

xoxo

p.s. Place your vote....beau # 1 or beau # 2. lol

Living a charmed life!

Happy Saturday morning! Sorry I don't post as much.

Honestly, I am so damn boring these days ... and profoundly grateful for it! I am healthy and happy and living an eventless existence. other than those astonishing little miracles I am privileged to experience multiple times each day. Like Angelica having a giggle fit as she puts glitter on her new little friend's face. And Oscar sitting here next to me perfecting his wink at me - with BOTH eyes! Or the deer that were munching our shrubs as we watched and whispered at our window last night....thrilling! Or watching the kitten take Oddie down as they wrestle...hilarious.

Or this upside down rainbow we saw in the sky on a perfectly sunny day not too long ago! Stunning!

This is one of my favorite, breathtaking sights since living here in Michigan. It was morning and the moon was SETTING. Of course this photo doesn't come close to capturing how incredible it was but it will remind me of what I saw. The full moon was HUGE as it sunk down. So cool to see.

My heart is really full. I praise God and am so grateful. Thank you for letting me share.

xoxo

Mambo dog!

In case you missed it on Telemundo, here it is for your enjoyment. LOL Actually, this has gone viral so it may be old news by now but it made me really laugh! LOVE how happy this dog is!!!



xoxo

On this Lord's day...

...continued prayers for the people of Haiti and people all over the earth that are suffering. I get so worked up, as do all of you I am sure. Hitting the "Donate" key felt good but it is TOO easy. Oh how I wish I could do something to make a difference.

xoxo

~A beautiful message about growing old~

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CRAP! I forgot what it was...
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Crosses

Megan sent me this along with the text below. I really like it!

We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.

Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,

there will always be sunshine after the rain...

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;

But God's always ready, to answer your call....

He knows every heartache, sees every tear,

a word from His lips, can calm every fear...

Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,

But suddenly vanish, by dawn's early light...

The Savior is waiting, somewhere above, to give you His grace,

and send you His love.

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle!

xoxo