JAMs Jams. Pure. Real. Fresh.

Gosh do I have a lot to live for this birthday. It's good to be 42! Sure is a hell of a lot better than how I felt when I turned 41. Now that a year has passed since starting chemo (I finished the first full round a year ago!), I find my memories framed in a context of where I was in my treatment. Further reinforcement that this will always be part of me. The girls & I are on our way to Florida to spend spring break with my dad & Maryann. We ran into our good friends in the airport so I got a treat to spend a couple hours with Mindy & the girls get to sit with Kyra on the plane. Aren't they cute! My brother is brave enough to leave his girls with me for the week so I know we will have a wild & crazy time together. Things are good, been traveling a lot which makes the gym tough. I gave myself a couple days break from "no sugar" for my birthday but back at it Monday! Leg swelling is there for sure but I'm managing it thru diet, exercise, ther...

Oh yes I did, get my hair highlighted PINK this weekend.  I love it - its so fun.  I think my stylist thought I was maybe off my rocker but she had a blast doing it. Emilia also got her hair colored for the first time.  Gulp.  She got an auburn color in the front which fades to a rich dark brown in the back.  And about 4" cut off.  Not blonde anymore....

This weekend Emilia & I got our cake making skills back out to make a baby shower cake.  What do you think? Other than that, life is pretty good.  Its great not to be a cancer patient anymore.  Traveling a lot this week & next then headed to Papa & Mimis for Spring Break on the 23rd.  Can't wait to spend the week with the girls, their grandparents & their cousins.  Should be a lot of fun. We are about ready to start the laundry room!  Will sign the contract this week with demolition slated for May 6th!  Woohoo.

The best four words a cancer survivor can hear! I heard them twice today - on my chest X-ray report and my pelvis MRI report. Three more months til I go back thru the emotional wringer! Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts. Clearly they work!!

Seems like I'm long overdue from a nice newsy update, doesn't it?  Or maybe folks are happy I'm writing so infrequently now.  I am not really sure.  Regardless, here goes. The last week was a whirlwind, spent in the cold upper Midwest. Amber, Lorraine & I took 2 groups of customers snowmobiling in the U.P. of Michigan last week.  It was a wild travel week with delays, lost luggage, long van rides, changing airlines mid-stream, flight cancellations, etc.  I was pretty happy to be home on Friday night, albeit 5 hours later than I expected!  I missed my little girls and Kendall but it was an exhilarating, fun, challenging week.  On Tuesday we snowmobiled for about 9 or 10 hours - over 125 miles on the beautiful trails in Michigan.  I had no idea it was such a huge hobby up there.  I can see why - its thrilling, challenging, a great workout, a great way to explore.  The group of customers we took were all from the Southeast so for...

The girls are off school tomorrow so I took the day off to spend a long weekend with them. We decided to journey to Chattanooga, spend a night in a hotel & go to the aquarium tomorrow. We took our time driving down today, stopped in Monteagle on the way. Before we left Nashville we had to take a trip to Build a Bear workshop for Eri to spend her gift card. She got a new white kitty. Because we have a shortage of stuffed animals in our house (not!). She also spontaneously decided to get her ears pierced again. She had it done when she was 4 but let them more or less close up because they kept getting infected. So she's back in business! We are staying at The Chattanoogan - it's pretty nice & has an indoor pool so we went there when we arrived. Then we ordered Chinese & had a little picnic. Eri thinks we are in another country. How awesome is that - kid thinks every trip is to a new country. I love it! we have a "kingdom" bed in our room. That's Eri...

I feel compelled to share a story of one morning last week - it was Tuesday morning I believe. I have to start by setting the scene - our house is usually pretty chaotic, stressful, tense, loud, etc. in the mornings before school. The routine is pretty standard and the timeline each morning is well known, but somehow just doesn't always get followed... Typically Kendall has to go in each girl's room at least once & often more than that each morning to be sure they are getting dressed, brushing hair & teeth, etc. Well Tuesday he went to prod them & came back to get me, saying I needed to "see this". He & I peered from the hallway into the kitchen where we saw Eri, fully dressed sitting at the kitchen table. She was reading to herself. It was one of the sweetest moments. One of those snapshots in time when you feel like you're doing everything right. Magical. Last week Kendall was in Seattle for much of the week, work was frenzied & the week ...