JAMs Jams. Pure. Real. Fresh.

Well a good week ended on a great note today when my friends at the world's best advertising agency, GS&F in Nashville, surprised me with cupcakes for my birthday.  What a treat! Today was a fun day - I went with Eriana on her field trip to The Clay Lady where she & her classmates made & decorated a picture frame out of clay, then we watched one of the artists throw a pot on the wheel.  Really made me miss my pottery throwing days so I think I will take a class this summer.  I love how they make it look so easy.  Eriana was very affectionate during the field trip, wanting to sit by me, hold my hand - very unlike her!  Guess she needed some Mommy time because she asked if she could go to work with me from there.  So she did - and she got to partake in the cupcakes this afternoon at GS&F.  I'm sure she thinks that Mommy has cupcakes every afternoon at work.  May as well think that, huh!  Whats the harm. My back has been hurt...

Yes some of the seeds we planted are sprouting, both in the garage & in the garden. And the veggie plants we started are doing well. I will post some pics this weekend. It's so fun to go out there & see what's happening. They are installing the irrigation tomorrow so that will be good. Doing okay this week. Today I was very tired so I worked at home this afternoon. Going to bed early & hoping to feel great in the morning. Kendall is going to South Carolina tomorrow; his great Aunt Bert passed away last night so he will be going to her funeral Friday & be back late Saturday afternoon. The girls & I are planning a pizza, movie & slumber party night Friday. Thanks again for all the emails, cards & texts. Love, appreciate & treasure each & every word!

Sorry I didn't get to post this over the weekend, but Friday night we had a big treat.  My "work husband" Bob & his wife Nadia came over with Gigi's Cupcakes.  Nadia just finished her CPA & is working as basically the CFO at Gigi's.  Proud of her!  And Bob wanted to shave his head.  So we did!  Here are the pictures. "Before".  Me, Bob, Kendall & Nadia. During.  Eri is supervising of course. Emilia takes her turn. And "snorkelly" had to have a turn too. After.  Hah, mine is shorter!! The other exciting thing this weekend is Payton, Emilia, Eriana & I went to see Mary Poppins at TPAC.  I have to say it was an excellent production.  The girls & I had a blast.  Here is a picture of us before we went.  I'm feeling good this week - in the office today which again is wonderful!  I get tired pretty fast but other than that, doing wonderfully!  And yes, I am tending to opt f...

If I knew how to play a song on my blog I would treat you all to one, but I don't.  Today is my 41st birthday & Lisa's 3?th birthday.  I'm so glad we are spending it together even if it is in a treatment room. We had visitors today - bearing gifts!  Makes the day much more exciting.  Julie B & Amber brought beautiful scarves & caramel puff corn & lunch!  And Pam brought gorgeous flowers & gift cards & spent a long time chatting with us.  Definitely brightened the day here. I woke up this morning to Emilia wanting me to open her gift immediately.  She & Lisa went shopping Monday & she did great - I have some really great earrings on & she got me some nice lip balm as well as a beautiful rock that says I Believe in You & a very cool little thing of nail polish remover.  Kendall gave me a gift card to Nordstrom which Emilia & I will tear up tomorrow!  Little one is withholding her gift until ...

You know you've been waiting for it.  So here it is.  Any & all comments welcome - I will just put the derogatory ones off on Lisa & EB who helped select it!  It was a really fun process & Kim, the program coordinator here who helps, was wonderful.  She also gave me a list of all kinds of other resources so we will be busy little bees taking advantage of Pilates at Gilda's Club & Makeup seminars & who knows what else! Guess what - some of our seeds are sprouting.  Its raining today & supposed to get rain for the next couple days so that will really get them going.  The ones we are starting indoors haven't sprouted yet - but we got a grow light on them yesterday so we're expecting big things.  The ones that sprouted outdoors are the sunflowers that Dad gave EB & Eri last summer.  Eri is going to be pretty excited about that if/when she comes home!  Soon we should see some of the peas & other things we have pl...

Another day, another dollar - or some semblance there of.  Day 3 of 5 almost complete.  Whew this is a long haul week.  Got a surprise visit from my friend Mindy.  That was nice! Really don't have anything else to report but wanted to post this picture of Kendall & I last night.  I'm going to blame the fact that I look like two ten tessie on the steroids they're giving me!

Well I still have a tiny bit - we did the shave but not all the way down to the scalp.  It was quite the adventure last night with cutting hair, shaving heads, etc.  Yesterday's treatment was long and I was pretty sick at the end, but the great nurses took care of me and gave me some IV phenergan so I actually felt decent the rest of the night.  Had some jello for dinner (I know, right?).  The day was mostly enjoyable yesterday, though, because Lisa & Emilia were here with me.  We watched The Help, gossiped & chatted and of course giggled. We are back here today for more treatment, followed by the CT scan so it will be another long day.  The girls are having an adventure today - swimming with Payton, getting their hair cut & then spending the night with "Minnie" and her family.  Makes me happy that they are out galavanting in our amazing spring weather.  Having Lisa here this week has been a godsend, I may start a permanent gu...

Partway thru the first chemo session of the 5 I have this week... We had a wonderful weekend & found ourselves wishing we could freeze time. we had a delicious dinner yesterday brought by some friends from work - truly outstanding! And Lisa arrived which was wonderful. Eriana insisted on sleeping with her last night. All looked good with my blood work ths morning. I do have to have my left leg ultrasounded Wednesday as it is swelling & hurting quite a bit. Tomorrow after chemo I have the simulation to get ready or radiation. Not sure what that consists of, something with a CT scanner. My hair is starting to fall out so tonight is official head shaving night! Am I nuts that I'm looking forward to that? I am anxious to get it over with I think. I'm really hoping the nausea from this treatment isn't as bad as the CAV. Cross your fingers for me! I had a great treat today when my friend Karla & her mom came to see me during chemo. Looks for pics tomorrow of...

I'm sad that its Friday - never thought I would say that.  I wish Monday would never get here but alas it will.  Lets hope the ifosfamide & etopocide five days next week isn't as debilitating as the drugs I got last week. Its rainy here today & my thoughts are all over the place.  Its good to be in the office still - I can't wait to get up in the morning & come to work.  Of course by 3 pm I'm worthless & exhausted but its still a good day's work.  I've been so productive - gotta love that.  And I continue to be so moved by people who stop to see how I'm doing, who seem genuinely happy to see me here (fakers!), and who not only offer to help but actually do help us with so many things.  We are one lucky family.  Yesterday I got a very sweet letter from one of my friends in Hendersonville; it truly touched me that she took the time to write me a letter. I also had lunch yesterday with one of my very dear friends who I haven'...

Well, despite all the abnormal activity around our house, I was able (with the help of many friends and neighbors) to hold a small surprise party for Kendall last night at The Yellow Porch.  It was a beautiful evening, we were on the covered patio with delightful service and excellent food, and he was in fact surprised.  Success all around - thanks to those who helped pull it off - especially Katie Nelson who owns TYP & lives across the street from us.  I couldn't have done it without Katie making it easy for me.  Yet another of the lessons I have learned in this journey - everything does NOT have to be done by me in order for it to be right, good, and timely! I got quite a few notes on the wig question & was inspired last night by my friend Ana to order some gorgeous silk scarves.  Will be fun to try them on.  The most common answer wasn't really an answer - it was do all of the above.  Monday Emilia & Lisa will be going to chemo with me...

I realized something random today - everybody knows pink ribbons are for breast cancer.  What a wonderful cause - there are races, walks, kitchen appliances, shoes, apparel, etc. to support breast cancer research.  But what is out there for other cancers?  Not a whole heck of a lot.  Don't get me wrong, with my family experience, I 100% support all the breast cancer causes - just makes me a little curious as to why there aren't causes for other cancers. The question of the week is - wig, hat, scarf, doo rag or bald?  Wrestling around these options in my mind - while I wait for the inevitable hair fall out to begin.  I'll probably lean towards bald - especially when its hot out - but a cool black long wig with some colorful streaks might just suit me!  If you have a view or an opinion, let me know. I told you I would post the link to all the pictures from the weekend.  Here they are - if you want any of the original files (they are about 7 MB e...

All the work that could've been done this weekend has been done.  Stunning, amazing, unbelievable, you get the pictures.  Thank you to everybody who came!  I cannot even believe how many people were here this weekend.  I won't write much because I'm pretty much past the point of exhaustion (in a good way, don't worry Dad).  But before I post the pictures, I felt like sharing this email I got this morning from my Dad.  You probably recall the earlier posts about how close my Dad & I have always been.  This email made me smile all day - so much pride in here!  I don't think he will mind me sharing it. Congratulations on organizing such a feat!!!!  Looks like you had lots of willing and ambitious volunteers (somewhere I heard that Tennessee is a Volunteer state)..  Kendall.....looks like your thoughts and design work are coming to fruition....according to plan I hope (an old saying "plan your work and work your plan").  Holds ...

One word sums up today.  Humbled.  We are so humbled that so many people would take their own time and energy and money to help us when we really need it.  We are so humbled that people genuinely enjoyed helping us.  We are humbled that those who couldn't or didn't want to help physically did so much other stuff like watching our kid or bringing amazing food or sending items to help out.  We are so humbled to look at the pictures from today & see the love & support in people's faces.  We are humbled to look out our bedroom window & see what will soon be a thriving garden.  We'll never enter that garden without thinking about each and every person who participated in making it a reality.  It is and will always be the most basic and pure kind of therapy. Feels like today was a 56 hour day.  We went & watched Kendall finish his Tom King Half Marathon in under 1:30 this morning.  Takes my breath away to watch him run - it...