Friday, February 25, 2011

Carnival Time!

Do you have your cotton candy? Buckle up and keep your arms inside the car at all times. You know, I can hold that cotton candy for you. I promise I won't eat (all of) it.

Welcome back Mad Kane. We have a post about romance using one of my favorite words in the English Language, "stoic." We also have a brand new holiday coming up, so mark your calendars for March 2nd!

We have the Saddest Weekend Known to Man, in which I'm probably the only one who will wonder how a carmel popcorn puff ended up under the couch, as I personally would have chased any errant kernels, myself. I'm craving chicken wings now, however, but will resist the urge to head over to the concession stand.

While tardy for the holiday, 14 Ways to Enjoy Your Solo Valentine's Day is a great list for any occasion. If you need to enjoy some kids for Number 4, give me a call. I have a couple.

I cannot think of the Trojan Horse without thinking of the Trojan Bunny from Monty Python. And you know you're a mom when a post about school projects does not conjure up any recollections from any projects YOU have done, but instead remind you of the time you made a hat out of recycled objects for your child to take to school.

I just adore Hugh Jackman's Roddy in Flushed Away, not mentioned in this list of Most Surprising Voiceover Cartoon Performances. I can't think of any voiceovers that I've been surprised to hear, but then again, I watch a lot of animated movies. (My favorite: The Incredibles. Although, now that I mention it, Holly Hunter is a bit of a surprise.)

Our family had one of those strange conversations while up at Tahoe where one kid asked if there were any pilgrims left. My husband, thinking of the turkey-eating-corn-sharing pilgrims said no, but I thought about all the pilgrims who make their religious treks to Lourdes and Graceland. And now to see the potato at Craftwhack. Holy Jebus!

Blood really does make the memory over at Chin Musik. I'll bet you didn't know this carnival had a Memory Lane ride. Now you do. Bent fish. Read Randy's bio and that craving for chicken wings gets stronger than ever!

I'd like to thank all of the ride operators for this carnival. I'm going to take my now-hungry chicken-wing-craving self down to sleep now with my lapful of cat and wannabe lap-dog Lab to catch some more z's until the sun rises.

Weathering Storms

I am happy to report that I have not had any itching lately. Perhaps the cure to lice paranoia is a blog post! I have, on the other hand, been living some High Drama at work. I believe I have emerged on the other side a lot wiser and, let me just tell you, grateful that I have a lot of wonderful people around me.

Here in Marin County we have a week off from school that we call Ski Week. I just got back from a very necessary trip with my family up at Lake Tahoe. It's pouring rain here, so it's probably snowing like crazy up there right now. I would love to have been able to play in the fresh powder, but am glad that I drove home before the storm hit.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's The Little Things

I'm sorry to say that I've been writing some pretty funny blogs in my head. Too bad you're not in there.

I've worked a lot this week so I never wrote about the hike with my dog, on which I saw lots of earthworms and a banana slug, four wild tom turkeys then seven more wild jane turkeys.

You haven't heard about how I've been itching my head like I'm practicing for an olympic event. Just mention the word "lice" with the words "spotted" and "in your daughter's class" in the same sentence and I'm going just nuts here. I'm certain I've written about lice before, but in case that was in my head, too, I'll say that I had it twice - way back when - and it's quite icky. I don't see it on my girls and I'm calculating the odds that I have it and they don't. I think the odds are in my favor, but I'm pretty sure that you can't place bets in Vegas for that.

I showed my youngest daughter a website about lice just the other day. They had this video of a person carefully combing a little girl's hair with a lice comb. Metal. The comb just slid through the hair because it had conditioner or something (and the little girl didn't complain or cry once! Which just tells you she's a really good actress!) That, and the advice that I got here, I decided to get me one of them there combs. I've already looked in three stores. Where on earth do you get a metal lice comb? Do you have to buy the lice shampoo to get it. I'm only trying to indulge my hypochondriac-ly tendencies and don't actually think I need the shampoo just yet.

What I really need to do is stop using this stuff that I spray in my hair to make my curls really pretty. It's the only thing different that I've been doing to my hair and I think my scalp is sensitive to it. My scalp is sensitive to a lot of stuff, which is also why I can't use conditioner anymore. I'm just getting used to how cute these curls are and when I'm faced with blah-hair in the morning or cute curls with itchy scalp, I can't help myself and throw caution to the wind.

I have GOT to go to bed. But one last little thing. My husband is immortal. His biopsy was melanoma. Fortunately, the depth was about half what mine was, which means he's in pretty good shape and they got it early. I want to bring cookies to my Dermatologist when I see him in a couple of weeks. I'm so grateful to him for studying in med school, if you know what I mean.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Nothing To Worry About

The pest guy came and checked my traps today. Nothing. While he admired my picture, he wondered if I had actually kept the critter. (Right!) He did tell me what to do should I catch another one. Fold the tail up to see if it is longer than the body and I've got a roof rat. Apparently, the other kind of rat has a shorter tail. This one's tail looked doggone long!

I'm having attention issues these days. I sit at my computer and/or my to-do list and while I know there are a million things that I will wish that I would have done in my spare time, I do nothing. Why is that? I'm busy. Why can't I get busy?

If you didn't catch the comment in the last post, I got an all-clear for my second set of x-rays. (I almost typed x-rat!) Joy!

You know what this means, right? It means I don't have anything to worry about for a while. What will I do with myself? My husband just had a biopsy done for a funky-looking mole, but I can't worry about him. I'm convinced he's immortal anyway. He's got an immune system of steel and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. My next follow-up dermatology appointment isn't until early March, so I'm not going to worry about that for a while - and then not until the biopsies he's sure to take - are sitting in the lab somewhere around day number seven or so.

Where's that list?

Monday, February 07, 2011

More Surprises!

I was going to write about the surprise my cat left for me on our front step. I even have a picture!


It's definitely not a mouse. Look at how long that tail is! We were all very excited to see my cat had gotten one of these rats, as previously we worried they were too big for her.

Of course, the pest control company can't come by until Thursday, so I'm hoping that a picture will be okay for identification. With this weather we're having, who wants to store a dead animal for several days? (Not me.)

The other surprise today came when I (finally!) checked the messages on my phone. Mostly it was to see if the pest guy had left a message to schedule an appointment. What I got was a message on my phone from my oncologist.

Let me back up a bit. Ever since my surgery, the doctors have been satisfied about the cancer being completely gone. Since there was no evidence of the cancer in my lymph nodes, I was given an "all clear" from them and all follow-up is routine. When I found the two new spots right next to my scar, these were assumed to be nothing. Fortunately, after being tested, they actually were nothing.

I was supposed to see my oncologist after three-months and was expecting a call in December or January. I never heard from the doctor's office, so I called at the end of January and got in last week. Included in my follow-up appointment were a blood test and chest x-ray. The blood tests (already!) came back within the normal ranges.

I've been trying to figure out how to get the chest x-ray ever since. I'm so incredibly curious to see if I broke a rib or two from the Dragging Incident. I wasn't worried about not getting an x-ray at the emergency room because I knew this one was coming up.

The message on my phone from my oncologist was to tell me I broke a rib. No, I'm lying. The message was that I needed to get a new set of x-rays because they see some shadows in my lungs and think it might be a technical error but want to be sure.

My x-rays were not clear.

On one hand, I get new x-rays and they are clear and I see him again in another three-months. On the other hand, I have tumors in my lungs. Being a worrier, I would normally obsess over the latter, but I think I'm going to just go with the former this time. I'm going to work under the assumption that I exhaled at the wrong time or moved during the procedure or the earth shook at the precise moment that the rays were flowing through my bones. I don't really know what good this will do me not to worry, but I have things I'd rather be doing today. Then I'll run up to get x-rays when the oven is fixed and we'll all know for certain.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Spring Spider Surprise

We went from having frigid weather to summer weather in just a couple of days. I went from wearing a jacket while inside at work to turning my AC on. With spring comes spiders. I haven't noticed too many new spiders around but I have spotted the first few baby cellar spiders in my upstairs bathroom. 

It's also time to start walking with my arm outstretched because the orb spiders will make webs to cross open spaces - like the walkway to my car - and there isn't a whole lot I hate more than walking into spider webs.

We've also had an explosion in the population of moths. It's very creepy! They are out in horror-movie-quantities. They are especially noticeable at my front door. They gravitate near the porch light and flutter when the door opens. 

Tonight I was taking my reusable shopping bags back to my car when I approached my front door. I spotted one of those orb spiders that I'm always on-guard for and stopped in my tracks. Now these orb spiders are usually about the size of a dime* at the beginning of spring. And it's only February 6th, mind you! This thing was the size of a half-dollar! Clearly, he had been cleaning up on the moths.

Fresh Catch of the Day!
The web had a few holes in it like this guy had been eating non-stop with the bounty flying around the light. And it was very active. I don't know if you've ever had a spider jump at you, but I have and I can get a little twitchy. While it was doubtful that this guy was going to leave the all-you-can-eat buffet, I wasn't going to take my chances. And despite the mid-70-degree temperatures, I got a shiver and went inside. When I went back out to get a picture, he had just caught another moth. 

*When I talk about the size of a spider, I always refer to the size with the legs outstretched. These orb spiders get this big around late summer, early fall, if they've had good hunting.