It's All About Life Today...And Books...And A Cool Dress...

I am tired today...my day is literally just about getting dressed and trying to stay pain free. I can't go on the treadmill today...I am not really excited by a walk outside today...but it's ok. I can deal with it all and it will be fine. I can even deal with a neighbor yelling at our lawn crew...they work so hard and I hate for them to get reprimanded. And I thank God for another neighbor who helped me through my tears this morning. Den is out trying to buy yet another refrigerator and I am lounging with the kitties and feeling better already.

I miss my mom...I always think about her strength and whether I have any of it. She would have done anything for me. She was sweet and funny and strong and she always wanted to hold my arm or my hand. When we left after a visit she would stay out on the lawn and wave until we couldn't see her any more. She never wanted me to leave.

This is my favorite picture of us with my Aunt Jenny...my Aunt Jenny is the glam one in the cool sunglasses. I think my entire family were clothes fanatics like me! I am kind of proud of that!

At my brother's wedding...notice the hand holding...if I close my eyes I can still feel her soft hands...I love this photo of all of us! But my mom looks sad? Pensive? My dad looks like he has just imbibed in his fave cocktail...too funny!

Secret...I saved that suit I was wearing...I loved it so much! It's still in a closet! Maybe I won't look so bad in short hair?

Books...

This book just continues to evolve and change...I love the characters and their relationships...or rather their lack of relationships...with their mom and with each other. The question is whether or not any of these relationships can be fixed. This book just gets better with each turning page.

Over the weekend I want to read these...it's supposed to be rainy here all weekend...and since Den and I are both without living mothers...it's a little bit of a sad day for us. It's also just my luck to have to deal with Neulasta pain over this weekend...sigh!

Love these shoes...they are actually a light pink!

Love this dress...

It's on sale at Alternative...it's soft jersey...perfect for summer...I most likely bought it...

Hungry for sushi!

Hungry for seaweed salad!

It must be all the chemicals in my body that make me crave weird things...I crave sushi but I am really afraid to eat anything raw. Sigh!

The ending...

Have a wonderful week end...I will see you on Monday with more books and more book talks!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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Life...And Calming Down!

Den is literally begging me to calm down today...I may have forgotten to mention that the day after Big Chemo and before Neulasta is an off the wall hyper period! Plus I got an extra baggie of an intravenous calming stuff yesterday...apparently a vote was taken and everyone at Oncology thought I needed it! Yahoo! My best Chemo Day ever other than the twitching! Den had fun there, too!

Here is Den having fun at Oncology!

I can't begin to tell you...again...how much I love this book. The mom is outrageous, the sisters challenged by the neediness that their mom caused and even the lovely Jane Green says it's the way she used to write! I have abandoned my other book just to read this one...I have it on my Kindle and in a real book...but the kindle book is so much better...steroids talking!

Ok...so...what's up today? Nuelasta at 3:00!!! Oh boy!

So...I am jumping around the house and whooping it up until then!

Dinner!

Stopping at The Produce Patch to get a few things for this...Den is in charge of the green beans! I love joint food prep!

Speaking of food prep...our lovely brand new refrigerator? Well...it never made it in the house. We gave the salesperson the right specs...he sent a refrigerator with all of the wrong specs. So we have to re buy another one...that actually fits but that's what we thought we already did...so...in lieu of dragging everything back upstairs from the downstairs refrigerator Den is getting tons of steps going up and down lots of times a day!

When you read this post just remember it's a post on steroids!

Hugs,

Patty

 

 

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I'm Home! My Day Away!

I always think that I am going to read so much during Big Chemo but I never do...I am either distracted by TV and Den in close proximity or I am twitching all over from the benedryl infusion. Today it was all three. I can also get distracted by the people getting treatment...you can sort of tell where they are in their treatment by their faces...some have that scared look, others seem resigned...some are just quiet...munching on snacks or reading. It is not a very big room and the individual rooms are nice...they are sweetly private and the Wednesday People have there favorite spots. Den has a fave corner one and he will enter first while I sign in and put our stuff on our chairs until we are officially allowed in. He doesn't push elderly people out of the way...yet...but he does love that corner spot. I am surprised he doesn't bring a Bronco picture to hang on the wall. Sigh!

Today a lady with no hair was sitting waiting for treatment. She looked beautiful and not sad and I thought...I can never do that. How can she show her head to everyone when I can't even go to the store with a hat on? I will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Today we brought everyone yummy pies...apple and cherry. Den and I nibble on popcorn and Kind bars...we watch TV, try to read, and we chat...I get these great little pep talks from my much loved nurses. I am still just a little scared of my oncologist but I know he will never lie to me and will always advise me and help me make the right choices.

The moment we walked in our door I showered, changed, sat up in bed with my Kindle...and fell asleep. I woke up at 6:30PM not knowing where I was or what day it was! Yikes! Of course kitties were all over me...we missed their dinner time by an hour...they were properly upset.

I bought a new top at Big Chemo...well not at Big Chemo...but while I was there...thanks, Den!

I am so unhungry...Cheerios and strawberries will be my dinner!

This book...is so good...it's like reading an old Jane Green...she got her mojo back!

Ok...I am still exhausted...a little hungry...and ready for Survivor!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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Tuesday's Thoughts...

There are some things that I totally get obsessed with...in the winter it's ankle boots but in the summer it's strappy sandals.

I just got these Ugg's from Nordstrom's. I love them...but you need to order an entire size up. They fit small but are so comfortable one size up! No buckles just that grippy hooky closure that is really adjustable. These are keepers!

I loved these, too, from Free People. These shoes are vegan! Good for them but I didn't really care...I just loved that summer scrappiness and comfort. I got the black ones.

We had the best salad for dinner last night...local lettuces...diced the way only Den can dice them...with an avocado half and a tomato on the side...a few slices of local cheese and my peasant bread...so delicious. My Pyrex bowls haven't come yet so I am baking mine in soufflé bowls that I didn't even know I had until Den rearranged the kitchen...sigh! I made these with whole wheat flour and they were amazing.

Our next dinner salad will be this one...Andie Mitchell's Nicoise Salad.

Today's irritating challenge...

The challenge today is getting the new refrigerator in and the old one out. We can't remember how they did it the last time. Den is measuring stuff and going through a multitude of different scenarios but we just can't figure out what will happen! This has got to be the most annoying and irritating project ever! We don't think it will fit through the front door, Den thinks they brought the last one through the deck and into the sunroom and we vaguely remember a refrigerator coming through the garage doors but not without tearing the doors off. Plus the actually emptying of the old refrigerator is incredibly stressful!

 

Books...

I am kind of loving this one...so far...but I have not given it my total support...yet...it's beachy and light...and I am still deciding...

Also reading this in a real book...

So...

This is my day...in addition to stress over my catscan, worry over the 7th Chemo and my reaction to it tomorrow and wondering if my eyelashes will grow back as a full set or one at a time which would be really creepy.

I need hugs!

Patty

Then...

Now...

What a difference a diagnosis of Ovarian cancer makes. I am trying my hardest to be strong but...

Not crying!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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Monday!

We can justify not racing out to the store if we are out of bread, milk, even half and half but...if we are out of paper towels? We are in the car and racing off to get them! That's the way our Monday began.

We need paper towels!

Actually I am sipping tea whilst Den goes out for paper towels and kitty food. We are trying to limit what goes into the refrigerator because the new one is coming tomorrow...this is one of those weeks...Monday...no paper towels...Tuesday...new refrigerator...Wednesday...scan results and Big Chemo...Thursday...Nuelasta...Friday...an ick feeling that will not go away for a few days. Sigh...

Books!

Finished and loved this book...it's really about two separate families living at a country house called Applecote fifty years apart. There is a missing cousin, lots of suspicious behavior and tons of mystery. It's dramatic and complex and lovely all at the same time. I truly loved it. And it is about sisters...dysfunctional ones...at least they are dysfunctional for a while.

Now I am reading this...and it's yet another sister book! Hmmm...

Just a few of my new books! All from Edelweiss! But I think I might have this one in real book format...I must check my piles!

All descriptions are from Amazon.

"In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption."

"New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart."

 

"The word 'masterpiece' has been cheapened by too many blurbs, but My Absolute Darling absolutely is one." —Stephen King

 

"From the instant New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel."

Cookbooks!

So...Den and I are having such fun making this bread! We have made this twice...and again it's too easy for words. So...I bought the cookbook...this one...

The only bowls that I did not own were these...basic Pyrex bowls that I know were in my mom's kitchen but not in mine. They are the bowls this bread gets baked in so I had to buy them from Amazon!

 

Such unexciting bowls and yet I can't wait until they arrive!

Off to walk and bake bread and read and chill!

What is the one item you can't stand running out of? Just curious...

Hugs,

Patty

 

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