Family Night: 12-16

The last few weeks have been really crazy - and I'm trying to catch up! So - rewind to the 16th. We had a family night after my grandparents got in for my brother's wedding - and here are my pictures!

It was supposed to be game night but we ended up just talking the whole night. It was a lot of fun! Oh, and I know the picture at the end of Gordon's soup is a little weird - but I was amused by how many crackers he put in. :) And this is my blog - so you can deal with it :P

My Baby Brother is Engaged!

You read that right - Peter is engaged! Her name is Tanya, and she's really sweet. They have a lot in common and the more I get to know her, the more excited I am that he's found her. It's wonderful to see my little brother so happy and animated (he tends to be very reserved).

Tanya is Russian and comes from a huge family. We're getting together with her family for dinner in a couple of weeks, and it should be interesting! Coming from a Cuban background I'm used to large families, but I don't deal with crowds as well as I used to because of my migraines. The mix of cultures should be really interesting too. Mom and Dad had dinner with her parents the other day and got a good taste of Russian food. So when they all come over Mom's going to make some good, traditional, Cuban food!

The wedding is going to be December 18th and I know they are trying not to let the wedding get to big, which might be a bit challenging. It will be 3 days after my 3rd anniversary. I think that's pretty funny. We keep joking that now all we need to do is have Gordon find a girl and get married in December as well!

My Precious Little Girl

I wish I had a picture to show you so you could see for yourself just how adorable my precious little niece is! My brother was going to take a picture of the two of us yesterday, but the lighting was bad and we were trying to let her sleep, and the only other pictures I have of her are old.

I should back up and explain briefly that little Alex is my niece by choice and love, not by blood. Her Daddy (John) and I have been best friends for a decade, and we decided a long time ago that we might as well be brother and sister, because we're close enough :)

So why am I talking about my precious niece this morning? I spent most of yesterday at the hospital with little Alex, John, and Becca (her Mommy). Alex was running a high fever, not eating, not drinking, and really lethargic. So night before last they took her into ER, and the hospital admitted her to get her re-hydrated and run a bunch of tests.

When I got to see her, yesterday, she was already doing some better. She still looked so sick though! It was heart breaking. She was pale, barely eating, and you could tell she was miserable. Her poor Mommy and Daddy were exhausted too. I put a mask on and held her for awhile to give Mommy a break. The two of us sat and talked for a long time, and that was good for both of us.

They ran a million tests on Alex, the poor thing, they even did a spinal tap! They told me that when she came out from under the anethesia she put her hand in front of her and said "whoa," like she was totally tripping. The good news is that all the tests came back negative, so "all" she had was a really nasty virus. They pumped her full of antibiotics anyway, just to be careful, and sent everyone home so baby and parents could rest.

It's so hard seeing someone so small and tiny looking so miserable! And John, Becca, and I have all agreed that we've spent way too much time in hospitals lately. First Becca's Mom went into the hospital, then my Granny got sick, then her Mom died, then my Granny died, then John's Dad was hospitalized for a night, and now little Alex! We're all very ready for it to be done. Of course, having said that, Becca is having twins in May, so no matter what they will be back there before too long! At least that's happier circumstances :)

Time Much Needed

I got to spend several hours with Mom today - and it was SO needed! We have always been really close, and these last few months we haven't had much time to spend together, and what time we have spent together has been rather intense because of all of the family stuff that's been going on.

Today we got to mostly just BE together. Oh we still had stuff we were doing, and we are still both processing through the grief of losing Granny, but it was much more relaxed than any time we've spent in a long time! She drove me to a doc appointment, we went to a craft store, and we did a bunch of crafty stuff together. It was really nice. I think we both feel a lot better having spent that time together!

A Christmas Miracle :D

Miracles do happen! Kat went to the neurologist yesterday (on a random note, it's MY neurologist, which we think is awesome) and the did a bunch more scans on her brain. Guess what? Her tumor is GONE. They can see where the tumor was, there's an indent on the artery and everything, but the tumor itself is gone! We're all in shock again - but this time its good shock!

They are going to do more scans in about a week just to make sure everything is healing fine, but that's mostly to make sure that the swelling goes down. They'll continue to monitor her for awhile to make sure that nothing comes back. Yippee!!!

We don't have much more news on my Granny. They did move her to Seattle yesterday instead of having her go home for a few days, but that's probably good because we'll get answers quicker ya know? I know they did a bunch of tests yesterday - but we're still waiting for results.

On the home front....did I mention I hurt my ribs? Well, I had a really severe asthma attack on Friday and I thought that I had just coughed a few things out of place, that happens from time to time, it hurts, but I go to see the chiropractor and it gets better in a day or two.

Well, it was hurting pretty bad, but I was trying not to let that worry me. What did worry me was that when I roll over at night or when I stretch I can feel it popping. That's NOT normal. So I made to an appointment to see my chiropractor as soon as possible - that meant yesterday afternoon.

The good news is she's pretty positive I didn't break anything - but I DID manage to sprain my rib. By coughing! Isn't that impressive and crazy all at the same time? She said the popping means I strained and/or tore the ligaments around the rib, and there's a chance I tore the cartilage as well. She said its not really worth going in and getting an x-ray because the treatment is exactly the same either way - wrap my ribs and try not to cough for the next 6 weeks. Yah - that'll be interesting with my asthma.... Oh well - I'll get through this just like everything else. And besides, I have the news that Kat's tumor is GONE to keep me going!

Wow - Trying to Process

I don't know if you saw my post earlier this week about "If it's Not One Thing..." Well..

It seems my week of bad news was no where near an end. My Granny (Dad's Mom) is in the hospital. My Aunt got worried when she couldn't get ahold of her and sent my Uncle who leaves near her to check on her. He found her in bed - she'd fallen and hurt her back, not told anyone, and had been in bed for two days with out getting herself any food or water. Well of course my Uncle made her go to the hospital.

Well she compressed vertabrae - and as far as she knows right now that's all. She's so drugged up whe's not questioning that they are keeping her in the hospital. But that's not all that's wrong...

The reason she fell in the first place? She was dizzy because she has a brain tumor. We don't know much yet about prognosis or anything. We'll probably learn more tomorrow. We just know its a fairly large tumor.

Meet baby Annika

My cousin had her baby today! Meet Annika Andersen :)

Tacos, Butts, and the Corpse Bride

Last night I had a fantastic girls night with some of my SISTAH's! Well...and we let Gordon come along for awhile... The only proof that Gordon was there...is that he took the only two pictures that I have! There are two more blurry pictures on facebook, but they are just of Bethie's new hair do. Anyway....

Kat, our beloved sister of the heart (and my super-secret girlfriend, don't try to figure it out, you'll get a headache) moved this fall to live at the beach and go to Bible college. I haven't gotten to see her since! We've chatted (mostly via facebook and texts) but I hadn't SEEN her! Well...she came into town AND I was feeling good so we had a girls night! And since we are super nice we let Gordon come for dinner cuz he luvs her to death as a sister too.

Here we ladies are hard at work.

Kat's on the left de-tailing shrimp.

I'm in the middle, I think I'm grating cheese at the point.

Bethie's on the right making the Lime sauce :)

Once the prep work was done and it was down to cooking up the shrimp, Kat curled up on the floor. We never did figure out why she had a sudden desire to snuggle Bethie's leg, but it was adorable so Gordon took a picture! We also never figured out why he only took butt shots (not normal) last night. I WAS planning on having him take a pic of us three girls smiling for the camera but some how it never happened...

We kicked Gordon out after dinner so we could just be girls...and we ended up curling up to watch the Corpse Bride! Love that movie :) Bethie dressed up at the Corpse Bride for Halloween this year and was absolutely loverly!

Good times we're had by all - although I think we may have traumatized Gordon just a wee bit...

And the best part? I'm a wee bit tired today...but I'm still feeling good and I was out all evening after a long day of working around the house, on business stuff, and running errands! *happy dance* I'm getting stronger and healthier!

The Princess Bride

"As you wish."

Last night I curled up on my couch with a cup of French Vanilla Coffee, my lap board with a bead weaving project, and the classic movie The Princess Bride. Now, generally, my attention is pretty divided when I'm watching things. I have a hard time sitting still and doing one thing at a time so when I'm watching tv or a movie I'm usually answering e-mail, chatting, posting to forums, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and/or who knows what else! But last night, with Jack (my lap top) out of commission I simply had my weaving as a distraction, no e-mails or forums to pull at my attention. Plus, the necklace I was working on was an extremely simple (yet beautiful) pattern so it didn't take much of my attention.

"No more rhyming now, I mean it!" "Anybody want a peanut?"

The Princess Bride has been one of my favorites for years, but my first memories of it actually are those of fear. You see, I first saw the movie when I was pretty little. I was at my cousins house. My cousins are all older than me, the youngest is only 4 months older, but her brothers range up to 5 years older than we are. I know there were movies that were "Ruthie approved," but I don't think they ever actually played them. I don't think this one was on that list, at least not at that age! Most of the movie is wonderful, but the torture scenes? It left me with nightmares for years!

"He didn't fall? Inconceivable!"
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I don't remember when I first saw the movie again as I grew older...but I do know that I fell in love with it! There are so many incredible lines in the movie, so many corny moments, so many reasons to laugh, so much adrenaline, it's so classic! No, I'm not a crazed fan. I don't know what your talking about.

"Have fun storming da castle!"

I have some bittersweet memories with this movie as well. When my Great-Grandmother slipped into a coma, and my brother had a doctors appointment that he couldn't miss, my Mom took my over to my best friend / sorta boy friend's house. We watched this movie. I took it home afterward. I watched it at least 3 times that week. We lost her that week, and I'll never forget laughing through the tears.

"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Some movies, no matter how corny they are, will be favorites for ever. This is one of mine, just as I know it is for many others. What are you favorite movies?

Shopping Spree!

Have I mentioned that my Grandparents are in town? They live in southern California and it's been a little over a year since I last saw them. They've always tried to come up and visit about once a year, but last year we went and visited them mid-summer for their 50th wedding anniversary. Well, Mom, Dad, Gordon, and I did. Moses didn't get to go on that trip, so this is the first time they've seen Moses since we got married almost two years ago.

It's been good to spend time with them! This morning we went out shopping and Nana bought me some new clothes! Free clothes are always nice :D I got 3 shirts at Sears...

And two pairs of jeans at JC Penny...

I'm really excited about the belt that came with the first one - because my belt is wearing out! And the best part? They were all on sale or clearance! We also went to Walmart and picked up a few small things, no clothes though so I didnt show them off :P

Nana and Grandpa will be here for just over another week. Wednesday night we'll be joining them, my parents, and Gordon for dinner. Friday morning Nana and Mom are going to come over so she can see our apartment, and Nana wants to look over my earrings again. She said she might even buy some more! Woohoo!

If I get a chance I'll have my brother get a shot of me and my grandparents - I plan on wearing my new clothes on Wednesday :D

The Splenda Adventure

Tonight Moses and I joined my brother, parents, and Grandparents at Red Robin for dinner. I went over a little bit early to spend time talking with my Nana and Moses joined me at my parents house after he got out of school. It was a lot of fun talking, and then piling us all into the 7 passenger van they rented for their visit added it's own entertainments!

I was in a bratty mood tonight. If you know me well, you know that's not unusual, but tonight I was in an especially bratty mood! I've been trying to be a good girl and not order sugar laden items because I need to watch both my blood sugar and weight. So I steal a taste of whatever my brother and hubby get. Or at least I try to.

Gordon, my brother, ordered an Orange Dreamsicle Smoothie. I did manage to talk him into letting me take a drink, but then later on my Dad gave me a few of his fries (I had ordered pasta), and I waited until Gordon wasn't looking and dipped my fry in his smoothie! Ooo...was I in trouble!

He got me back though. He got me back good!

A little while later he started teasing me about putting pepper in my water glass. Then he decided to tear open a splenda packet and pour THAT into my glass! I watched him do it, laughing, and called him a brat. So you would think I'd know better right? Wrong!

Not long after that I was distracted by the conversation (they had actually gotten my hubby talking) and I absent-mindedly reached for my water glass and took a sip - which promptly lead to a conniption fit!

I can handle splenda in cooking, or even in coffee, but NOT in water!

I tried grabbing my hubbies soda to get rid of the taste, but it wasn't a strong enough flavor. I was about to try to find another fry to steal when Gordon finally took pity (through his laughter) and offered me a sip of his smoothie as a peace offering. That finally got rid of the taste, but it took a lot longer for us to all stop laughing!

The Dreaded "C" Word.

No, don't freak out, I don't have cancer, but my cousin does. We've known for about a week and a half now and it's rocked the entire family. How could it not? Cancer always rocks the boat.

Mark is 5 years older than I am, and we've never been really close, but his sister and I do have a bond, we're only 4 months apart.

Anyway, Mark found out a week and a half ago when he went in for some dentist work and they found lumps. They did some blood work, discovered the cancer, and he's been in the hospital since last Thursday receiving his first chemo treatments. He has blastic Mantle-cell Lymphoma. Don't know what that means to much, but there are VERY few people in the country who has it, and it's extremely rare for anyone under the age of 50 to get it.

Right now it's hard to say what's going to happen. The cancer is advanced...its in all his lymph nodes and probably his GI Tract. He may end up needing surgery. He is getting 6 rounds of chemo (week in the hospital, two weeks out), and then he'll need a bone marrow transplant. Because of the type he needs that's going to have to come from one of his siblings. Fortunately there are 4 of them :D

The good news is that he looks like he's doing great! He said it's kinda hard for him to wrap his head around because right now he feels fine, except for being bored out if his mind, and it's all happened so fast that it's been hard for it to feel real. I think all of us feel that way right now. Trying to wrap our minds around it. Obviously its way worse for him though!

How am I doing with all this? Meh. It comes and goes. Kinda in shock and there are rough moments, but like I said I'm not super close to him so it could be a lot worse to deal with. It's still hard though, no matter how close or distant we are, he's still family ya know? It was good to get to see him today though :)

Happy Birthday Peter

You've heard me talk about my brother Gordon the most, and that's because as much as I love our younger brother, he doesn't live in the country any more! He's also a little sporadic with communication. He left for Nepal in January, 2008, and won't be back until sometime in January next year. I miss him all the time, but today is extra hard because it's his 21st birthday! The only good thing is that he sent us a whole bunch of pictures, for the first time since he's been gone, and so we get to "see" him! Woohoo! I thought I'd share a few with you :)

And yes, the clean-shaven boy and the boy with the big beard are the same guy! The big hat he's wearing is from Australia, he bought it years ago when he stopped over there on a mission trip and it's become one of his trade marks. The crochet'd hats he's wearing in some of these are hats Mom made him. 

Did I mention I miss him? *tear*

It's Photo Time!

Ok, so these are from our Phoenix trip two weeks ago, but I never got them up last week and I didn't really take any photos this week! (bad me) So here's a montage from our trip to visit my hubbies family in Phoenix. Enjoy!

Go Here to find out more info about each photo.

Don't worry - Aria's Quest will be published this week! I'm working on it right now so it can go up tomorrow :)

Thankful for Family :)

It's Thanksgiving - and that's the time to sit back, take stock of your surroundings, and count your many blessings.  I've had a wild ride this last year, sometimes it's felt like a roller coaster that never was going to stop!  But even through the rough times, I've had a lot to be thankful for.  The biggest thing I'm thankful for is my family.  I love my family! And in the last year it's just gotten bigger.  So here's my wonderful family :)

1. Moses - my beloved husband, we'll celebrate our first anniversary next month!

2. My parents - a girl couldn't ask for more supportive and loving parents! As Moses and I have struggled through my health problems and everything that's resulted because of it, they've been there for us every step of the way, supporting our decisions, and helping us out in anyway they could!

3. My brothers - I have two younger brothers and they are incredible! Right now I'm missing Peter something fierce, because he's living over seas as a missionary, but we still get to e-mail back and forth, and that helps a lot! Gordon is here, and he's been an incredible support as we chat on-line, he lets me vent, and we spend time watching crazy tv programs and making fun of life!

4. My in-laws - I love Mo's family! They are very different from my family, but they have been incredibly supportive, and I've loved getting to be a part of their family!

5. Melissa - She's my sister of the heart, and we've been through so much together! I don't know what I'd do without our daily phone calls...

6. John - Brother of my heart, and incredibly supportive through the good and the bad!

7. Alanna - My pudding sister! Long story behind that nickname, but we've had long hours of chatting, jewelry making, and fun!

8. Bethie - My evil-twin! Neither of us is good enough to be the good twin, so I'm her evil twin. Love her to death :)

I love my family! And I'm very thankful for everything they've done in the last year to support me as I've gone through this wild year.

Want to know what else I'm thankful for? Check out what I said on my other blogs!

Thankful for Etsy
Thankful for Friends