Scars....

Why are all my scars just weird?  My stoma scar was a small hole that was less than quarter sized when it started...it spread!  Now it’s silver dollar size... 

my port removal started out smooth then pulled up in a knot on one side. What the heck?  Why can’t they stay nice and small and “normal”. Sigh. I know, I know. It’s character and I’m alive...I get it, I really do. But it would be nice to just have a small flat line of a scar on my chest...the belly?  Meh. I don’t care as much on that one. 

One of these days I’ll have a scar that doesn’t go all weird.
Better yet, no more scars....how about that?

Excerpts from life.

SO this story came out today...

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) — A school district has apologized to parents, after hosting a drag queen as part of a career day. A spokesperson for Adams 12 Five Star schools said Rocky Top Middle School staff should have notified parents a drag queen would be speaking to their children, before allowing the speech to happen.

 

Students at Rocky Top range from 6th to 8th grade. The drag queen, identified as a woman who goes by “Jessica L’Whor,” is a relative of one student. The district confirmed she was invited to attend career day….. (with more discussions… )

 

L’Whor did not perform for the students, rather electing to read a book which addressed bullying.

(with more discussions… this is just an excerpt )

 

What are your thoughts on this?  I think I'm on the rare side who thinks it would be fine as my kids at that age had already been exposed (introduced?) to those who have a different lifestyle than they, themselves would choose.

 

They have a relative who is gay.  They have relatives who have had children without marriage.  They have relatives who are religious and religious in what some consider non-main stream religion as they are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormons).  They even had friends who self-identified as a different gender than what society deemed them as based on their biological make up.  I'm sure they had already seen cross dressing in the media and on TV.  So, why NOT start a discussion about it?  I don't see this as being any different than the sex talks at school... or the discussions about religions they had already had with friends and us.

 

What are YOUR thoughts on this?

What have I done????

Butch has never been home prior to a move and honestly I wish he weren’t now. Good lord his “packing” method is going to drive me to drink. Why? He has pulled EVERYTHING out. And it’s everywhere. Am I kidding? NO! There is not a single place in this house not in total upheaval. Well maybe not the potty rooms. I can not live like this!!!!

Want to see??
Brace yourself!




Living room. Yes. Shoot me now!!


Wide angle so you really get to feel the claustrophobia!!


Breakfast table


Kitchen. OK. I take blame for kitchen as those ARE my pots.


Dining room table is mostly mine too as there are kids mementos and thrift store staging. The computer is his. The rest is sales stuff and memorabilia boxes.


Angela’s room. Aka Butches office.


I’ll claim the seasonal boxes as well as Liz and I were culling. And this is what would go with us to Germany.


The back bedroom. Storage staging and odds and ends that are to be sold.


More storage and such.


Even my room is not safe.

Sigh. Shoot me now as this was my decision.

Social Media Fast

Although I'm not really a practicing Mormon at this point of my life, I was raised as such and have seen all my relatives doing the whole 7 day social media fast. I got curious as to what was said about it and why the push, so I went out and read up on it. It makes sense. It made me evaluate my use of social media... but here's the thing. In April I moved to a new job. A job where my phone is locked in a cubby outside of my actual work area... it sits all day in a cubby in the atrium of my building. EEEEKKKK, right?

What I learned from that move was that, yes, the first day or two I missed the ease of grabbing my phone and zipping a text to a kid. What I also learned is that there are MANY more ways to work this. I learned to forward my phone to my office number so that if calls came to my cell during the day I wouldn't miss them. I would just get them in my office where I could address whatever it was - be it a medical reminder or a pest control re-scheduling. Problem 1 solved.

Problem 2 was contact with kids... although my kids are older and sort of self-sufficient, I did find that I missed some of the contact I would have with them on occasions during the day. At first I would log into Facebook at work and NOT surf it, but open the Instant Message option so I could Text to Angela as needed during the day. This only lasted about the first month, then I discovered that she wasn't in need of constant contact and was just fine out there on her own... yay for adulting!! AND if she really needed me she would call my phone and wala, it would transfer to my work phone and as long as I wasn't in a meeting, I was getting her calls as they came in - case in point, she called yesterday, so I chatted with her for a bit and we solved the problems of the day and went on.

The OTHER way I can cheat on that is that Liz works on base and I can IM her any time I want... not that she responds as much as she has a much more stressful job than I do working in finance... and she's a decidcated little worker! BUT if we need to chat, we have that option.

So, did I go on a total fast? Nope, but I did learn that I can function just fine with just checking things at night and doing a quick run down on the world. Do I find I compare myself to others on social media? I don't really think so. I use it as a tool... when I had questions about health things and issues with cancer, stomas, reversals, and the like I would reach out to my communities on facebook (for those of you who every have to face colon/rectal cancer "ColonTown" is the BEST resource for ANY question you may have - not kidding ANY question). I don't know that I would compare myself to those in there and feel like I wasn't where I needed to be, but rather I would take comfort from knowing that I wasn't alone in feeling what I was feeling or experiencing what I was experiencing, and in a weird way I was happy to give others hope when I was having an easier time with one area or the other... to let others know that although, yeah, this experience sucks, not all outcomes are horrible, and there is hope that things can work out OK. I guess I have turned into (always been?) a glass half full gal. I have seen silver linings in most of the things that have happened to date in my life.

Anyway... are there times I look at other things out there and think ... "oh, how I wish I could do/experience/have that?" Sure. Is it short lived? Yeah... with exception of Gails tallent with scrapbooking and cards - ha! Love you Gail!!

So, that's my 2 cents on the whole thoughts of life lately...

Colonoscopy 1year followup

First colonoscopy after cancer/LAR/reversal. Are they always like this? Good heavens! I thought I was done at midnight. Nope. 2am accident. Clean up (wearing pad always) wear Depends a climb back into bed.

Up at 5. And it’s now no longer clear!!! WTF??? I go in anyway as they are removing the port. I have an accident on the way to hospital. Shoot over the back of the Depends. Ruin pants. Have spare and undies/pads in car. No biggie. Change. Do it again in a run to the potty. Ruin everything AGAIN. Yeah. No more spares. Good news I sits clear again!

Head to floor. Get gown asked for an adult diaper. They have none. Really? A hospital without Depends?? OK. They’re aware of my “issue”. They give me pads for the chair.


Still smiling after the issues. Shit happens more that typical my my life - ha!

I make it to the potty a few times until they give me a bag of liquids. Yeah. Activated everything AGAIN. I go to stand to get on gurney and KNOW I’ll never make it to the potty. So I sit in the pad and just do what I’m going to. Sigh. Need a new gown now too!! BUT it was better than leaving a trail to the potty.


Say bye bye port!!

I make it all the way through surgery and colonoscopy and wear a lovely hospital gown home. Yep. I’m out of clothing at this point.


Don’t I look thrilled to be riding in the car in a gown? LOL. Guess I should have smiled, eh?


Not that you can see the port is gone but it is!!

At home I climb into bed to nap as it was not enough sleep last night. Wake up to a HUGE accident. Through a Depends sheets comforter everything. Good grief!!! Is it always like this now?? I have never had these issues before. Am I doomed to have these types of issues forever on these?? Here’s hoping not!!

Scrapbook retreat

And I was OFF to SLC to join Janet and Gail for another fun weekend of scrapping!!


The flight was the roughest I have been on in a while! They sat the crew down for most of the flight it was so rough!

Later that evening!


This retreat was very different than any other we have been to. Very un structured and free for all and I LOVED it!


The first night was mini cards. They gave you the pack and instructions and turned you lose. We were free to chat and visit and just enjoy our time. We worked on the cards and if we had questions there was a sample set on a easel in the front of the room or the gals would come by and help you. Very stress free. We could then work on anything you wanted to that you brought. Well, I brought NOTHING. Yep. Well to my defense I have been culling and working on the house to downsize so I really didn’t have scrapbooking on my mind. Heck I didn’t pack until the night before. Really. Even supplies. Yeah. Not a good planner - ha!!


BUT Gail to the rescue with her cute Kiwi Lane card packs she had with her!! I had a GREAT time using the templates and enjoyed scrapping with them.





One of the cute projects we had was a set of pumpkins. I only put one together as I was going to have to fly home with this stuff and didn’t want to try and figure out how to mush them all down and Un-mush them when I got home! They’re cute!!


More cards!!





Two page layout that was super cute!


I got to see Tiffany and Noah on Friday night. With NO pictures on my phone dang it! I did get pictures but none are on here. I’ll have to get them from Janet!!

We had a nice dinner and got to visit a bit.



Saturday a dear friend from Georgia came down from Ogden to see me. She had transferred to the Pentagon some years back and we kept in touch through her moves. She had just recently moved to a new job in Ogden and it was the perfect time to meet up and chat for a bit. I really enjoyed the short time we had together and our visit!

Next up was Britnee and Eric and the kids. They came down. No pictures. It was a GREAT but short visit with them. Got hugs and off we went again!!

Gail and I drove over to see Nick and Kaylee and family. It was Logan’s 2nd birthday party! Cute! He is such a happy boy.


We also got to see Mike, Linda, Bernice and Gayla while we popped in for a short visit. Then off again to SLC to meet back up with Robert and his crew!

Jessica and Scarlett came out.


Mandy, Kolton and Onyx came out as well. They were sure cute babies.


Sarah was also there. It was a great time visiting with family!!

Again there ARE pictures. Just not on my phone!! I was busy hugging on babies and visiting!

And with that another great scrapbooking retreat and whirlwind visit back to de family was done!


I’m excited to go back in December to see everyone again for Christmas!!

Catching up. Pottery

About 9 weeks ago I started a NEW pottery class. This time it was hand building. It was not quite as fun as the wheel class, but very informative in different techniques.

Here is some of the work.


This was actually one of the later pieces as it took a full two weeks to complete. I joke that this is “fat bastard” as it started out so much smaller on the base but because I have a horrible tendency to go WAY too thin on my walls (both in wheel and hand building) it collapsed on itself and widened quite a bit. Like double the width it was to be originally! Oh well it turned out well. The technique is sgraffito. You underglaze with black then remove what you want to make the pattern.


I added flowers to the ends and sides as well.





This is the 2nd thing we made. Not sure I’m happy with this one but it is what it is.


Took a few minutes to make this for giggles.


Here is a collection of pots from wheel and hand making. I took the time to glaze my pieces from wheel as I wasn’t too thrilled with the unglazed pieces. They felt chalky to me. So they all stuck around for some glaze :)


My first works. Poppies that are incense holders.


A mug. With stamped designs.


Another that was done with a literal stamp after. We shall see how this one turns out. Not sure I’m thrilled with it.

Ok here are the ones from wheel after the firing.



The crew!


My two favorites!


This was done by rolling the pot in paint chips they had laying around. LOVED it!!


Love my eyeball. ;)

Wildlife...

One of these things is not like the other
One of these things doesn’t belong

Damn wasp got me good right on the pinky knuckle at work.

Labor Day Weekend 2018

 Heading into the storm!  I even turned to Butch and asked if we should just turn around and go home!  Scary looking clouds with LOTS of rain!

We made it through the other side to a beautiful sunset!

Then, no rest for the wicked...Butch wanted to work. I have got to train him on what a vacation means!  Sigh. 

 Sweeping off the roof.

 Smile!

Sunday we went to walk the beach at sunset. The sunset was short lived due to the clouds, but pretty while it lasted!

Lots of waves coming in thanks to the tropical storm coming in!

 Love be the waves on my legs and had it not been a holiday weekend I would have insisted we go for the afternoon to swim and relax on the beach.