September 15, 2008

We haven't been up to much lately. Working. Being bored. Playing video games. Not a lot of money to do much since we've had a few computer problems that required buying a new motherboard, though we did have date night several weeks ago. We went to see Tropic Thunder -- very funny!

The last of summer is still hanging on and I feel like everything is just waiting for fall to really begin. I don't want the days to get shorter (though they already are), but I do want the sky to turn that certain lovely shade of fall blue. I love when the trees around here turn brilliant fiery orange and make the sky even more blue. Plus, there are more things to do in the fall. Fairs come to town. The Dixie Classic fair is the first weekend in October. Hopefully I can drag Jamie off to Grandfather Mountain one weekend to take pictures of the fall leaves. I bet our new camera does wonders with the fall colors. Maybe we can go back to the zoo -- fewer people, cooler weather, animals that might be a little more active since it isn't sweltering outside.

Check out the neat shots I got of a flock of geese that grazed in the vacant lot across the street from our place. They let me get pretty close. I had fun traipsing amongst the goose poop. Hehe.

Mom had her first chemo treatment on September 9. Her chest port worked really well for that. The next day she went back to the doctor to have a shot of Nulasta, which ramps up production of white blood cells. She's on several anti-nausea medications (including one that is $100 a pill!) and they seem to be holding off the nausea that usually comes with chemo. She is suffering from the side effects of Nulasta -- pain in the hips and legs where white blood cells are being pumped out from the bone marrow. But other than that she's doing ok. Only five more treatments left! She should be done with chemo by the end of the year and will start radiation at the start of 2009.

Jamie's mom had a heart attack Saturday night. From what he told me, it wasn't a normal heart attack but a spasm. Luckily she lives next door to her local hospital and was able to get there quickly.

Hopefully both of our moms will be better soon!

August 26, 2008

It's finally raining!! We've had rain for the past two days, and we're supposed to have rain for the next three. HOORAH!

I took some flower pictures this afternoon in the rain. Rain always looks nice on petals and leaves. I added this afternoon's rain pictures to our Flickr album, and I added a few pictures from a rainy afternoon several weeks ago including a shot of a rainbow.

Mom is having her chest port implanted on September 3. Yes, we joked about her getting implants. HA! Then she starts chemo on September 9. She will be on a 21-day chemo, meaning that she goes in for chemo one day then goes back for more 21 days later. By her calculations, she should be finished just before Christmas.

[I want to put a picture here....but Jamie's computer crashed and he hasn't re-installed Photoshop, so I can't resize the picture I want to put here!]

August 18, 2008

My grandparents came for a visit this weekend! I like having folks over to entertain. They didn't want to do much while they were here, just hang out at our house for a few days without having to worry about a yard or a doctor's appointment. Mema did water my flowers though. They got in just a little before I got off work on Friday and left around 11am on Sunday. Mema and I did a bit of shopping (Hamricks for clothes and AC Moore for decorations) on Friday and Saturday evening after I dropped Jamie off at work, and Friday after we got back from shopping we played games. I love games! On Saturday they took us out to eat. It was a sweet little visit, but didn't last long enough!

Mom went away for the weekend too, but she didn't come see us. She went to our Aunt Gloria's sister's house and they played card games all weekend. Mom, Aunt Gloria, and I play cards when they come up to Winston. I love cards!

Mom will be starting chemotherapy sometime in the next few months, unfortunately not as soon as she'd like. She went for a CT scan last week that required the injection of some dye with a really big needle. Two nurses (including a Chemo nurse who is used to working with big needles) had a very hard time finding a vein to accept the needle for the dye. So, Mom will have to have a port in her chest for her chemo, which will require another appointment at the surgicenter to be put to sleep. She won't be able to start the chemo until after the port site has healed up completely. The good thing about a port is that medicine can be delivered there and blood can be drawn from there -- she won't have to get stuck every time she goes for treatment.

I bought two yellow mums to replace our dahlias that died. They're kinda small at the moment, not picture worthy yet, and one of them has been almost completely eaten by a squirrel. Mema suggested I put cayenne pepper on it and that seems to have kept the squirrel from doing any more damage. Right before we left to go out to lunch on Saturday we saw the little booger on the porch and shoo'ed him away. He went as far as the tree in the front yard. As we were driving past the house, I watched him sneak back onto the porch. He did MAJOR damage to the plant in the hour that we were at lunch. MEH!

If you want to see a really cute baby, go to theharrisonhome.blogspot.com. That is the blog of my best childhood friend, Angie. She had a precious little baby boy on July 15. Go marvel at his CUTENESS!!!!!!