It's only a dance step

Monday morning, January 25th, I was at the oncologists office with my mom. She was getting her blood drawn so they could check and see if her numbers were where they needed to be in order to get her chemo treatment. I saw this quote printed on regular old copy paper, taped to the wall of the lab room. "An optimist is someone who views one step back as a dance step." I don't recall who that quote was by or even if it is correct, but it was something to that effect. I loved it and thought of all places, this was an appropriate place for that quote. Many people who go there probably feel like they take many steps back in their recovery. Some never move forward. So far mom has done extremely well with her chemo. She has a pretty positive attitude, support from her family, many prayers offered in her behalf and a few extra therapies to 0ff-set the damaging side effects of chemo. We are hoping and praying that these things will all work to her good and give her an edge over the side effects. Yesterday her white blood cell count was up, but her red blood cell count was down - it seems like there is always a trade-off. She got a shot to raise her red blood cell count and was able to continue with her chemo. She didn't much like the shot, it stung a bit, but the sting left as soon as the shot was over. Dad left to go run errands, I stuck around for a while, but mom looked tired so I left for a while so she could rest. However, that did not happen. When I came back I noticed that mom  had had a nosebleed while I was gone. She was, however, very tidy and didn't get any blood on her clothes. That would be something very important to mom - if you're going to bleed, be tidy about it! I was feeling horribly guilty that I had left her and so was dad, but the nurses were taking good care of her. Of course, the nose bleed lowered her blood sugar levels so she had to have a glass of juice with a granola bar, a rare treat for her as she is also diabetic. She finished up her treatment and we ended up back at my brother's house where mom and dad stay every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It is a very convenient and peaceful place for them to be while we see how mom handles each of those chemo treatments. Three down, 21 to go. Remember mom, it's only a dance step!!!

Check out this blog.

Two posts in one day - woot, woot! Nicki introduced me to this blog, www.bringingladyback.blogspot.com. It is a fun site to visit and has great quotes and thoughts about being "lady-like", a somewhat lost art in our society. Nicki also nominated me for a "sitting pretty session" and the host of the blog interviewed me. Click on the above blog address, scroll down a bit and see the interview. It was fun to think about her questions and what they meant to me. I had to truly think about my answers and even though I fall short on many accounts, I truly believe what I said. Enjoy reading this blog!

Winter sports are not for wimps!

Kent, me and Colt Farmer (could be Cade Farmer)
Colt or Cade, Tucker, Hunter and Lanell, my sis.

Kenna doing her snowboard thing.

I'm in the yellow coat, Hunter is sitting in the snow, and Lanell is in the white coat.

We've had a bit of snow lately and have been promising Kenna and Trevor we would let them take a day off school and we would go skiing. We finally did it yesterday and had a ton of fun. I love that we live so close to a ski resort and can do this. I took up the sport in 2004 or 2005, can't remember for sure. But one thing I do know - I should be way better at it than I am. Every year when we go for the first time I am unbelievably nervous that I will hurt myself, or worse yet, someone else on the slopes. We only did a few runs yesterday as it was blizzardy and kind of hard to see, not to mention the fact that every year our first trip to the mountain is like the first time I have been on skiis - ever! I really wish I would get better at it, but I still do the same three or four runs I always do. They are familiar to me and I am somewhat comfortable on them. Kent keeps telling me to relax and I would ski better, but I don't believe him. These pictures are from a couple of years ago. We invited the Farmer's to go with us (my sister and her family, for those who don't know). We had a blast with them, and I would love it if they would come and ski with us again, but I know it's our turn to go with them and they ski Targee. That is over by West Yellowstone and there is no way I'm doing that. I'll stick to our own little Beaver Mountain, thank you very much. Kenna snowboards and Trevor skiis and they are both pretty good, fearless in fact. Kent has been skiing since he was a teenager and is so patient to just hang out on the easy runs with me. Every now and then he and Trevor like to do a black run while I sit in the lodge and finally relax. Despite the trauma, I truly do love being out in the beautiful winter surroundings (as long as it isn't too cold - very fair weather I am). I even enjoy skiing when I get to the bottom of the hill and realize how much fun I had coming down in one piece.  We never could get Regan and Nicki very interested in coming along and learning with us. They miss out and we miss them because we have so much fun together and I always wish they were with us. So, to end this blog - if anyone out there wants to come to Beaver and ski with us, you are more than welcome to come along - the more the merrier. Just be aware of the fact that I do granny-style skiing!

Best Holiday Ever!

I apologize first off for not having any pictures. Since Nicki was here, I completely let her take over the picture-taking. So for the highlights of the season:

1. Nicki coming home from New York for two weeks. It was so much fun to have her here and the time flew by. It should have been a tad bit longer.

2. Christmas Eve - we always play the "Johnny Wright" game where you sit in a circle and pass gifts to the left and right according to directions given in a silly little story. This year I opted out and was the reader (okay, I'm always the reader, but I usually try to pass and read at the same time). I had made everyone a memory book of our Christmas trip to Mexico a couple of years ago. I was so excited to give this gift as we all loved the vacation. Now the pictures are in a safe place and if they get lost, it's not my fault. 

3. Closing ranks when the family was together. Getting ready for Christmas this year was hectic and once Nicki was home I closed off to everything but my family and had a fabulous time with them.

4. Meeting McKay - Nicki's boy. For pics you'll have to go to her blog, Nicki-tyler.blogspot.com. or just click on the right of my blog on her name. McKay is from Houston, lives in Connecticutt and is a sweetheart. He got here New Year's Eve and stayed through Sunday, they both left Monday morning and it was so quiet when they left. We really enjoyed meeting him and had tons of fun while he was here.

5. Sledding in the snow. This was a fun activity until, one-by-one, we all got hurt. Thankfully, nothing too serious, we stopped before our not-so-great luck ran out. Some of us are still nursing wounds. 

My only 2010 Resolution is to be better organized. Of course, that means lots of little goals to accomplish this big one, it will be a challenge for me. Lots of new changes coming in our family and we are looking forward to that.