I'm a Winner!

That's right...I'm a winner! I, who never wins ANYTHING, actually won something online! Every once in a while, I visit a little blog called "Giveaway A Day". I actually heard about it on MckMama's site (which I love). Anyway, this site gives out different gifts each day. You simply leave a comment about which item you like & they randomly choose a number. If that number matches your comment, you are the winner. Earlier this week, they were giving away a Venus Necklace made by Loverly Things, and I actually won it! I got to choose between these two necklaces... I chose the blue one...I seem to wear blue pretty often. I'm so excited! I am going to put the site's button on the sidebar of this blog...check it out sometime. You just might be her next winner!

Checked Inside & Out!

I was checked from the inside-out yesterday...literally! During my lunch hour, I had a dental checkup to get my teeth cleaned...I hate going to the dentist! I had a new hygienist yesterday and it took my entire lunch hour just to get my teeth cleaned! And, yesterday afternoon, it was off to see Allen again at Dr. Sharkey's office. They took all of my stitches out from 2 weeks ago & I had good reports from all of those biopsies...woo-hoo! Then, they biopsied 4 new spots...ouch! So, it will be another 2 weeks of waiting to get those biopsy results back...waiting is always the worst! Moma had cooked my favorite (spaghetti) for supper last night when I got there to pick up Molly. So, we enjoyed having supper with my parents and Braylon! And, we really enjoyed ice cream cones after supper!

New pics of Mo

Here are a couple of new pictures I took recently of Molly...she's such a big girl now!

This one, I snapped in the yard last Friday...

We were on our way to Drake's 18th birthday party here. She's wearing the coat & hat that Santa brought her and the "boots with the fur" that Meme gave her for Christmas. She looks so "growny" here striking her model pose...

We are animal people...

We are animal people. We cannot deny it. We have animals inside and outside. And every stray that happens to stop by our house usually stays...simply because we don't have the heart to not feed them. Right now, we only have 3 pets. And, here they are making their blog debut... First, there's Triton. I need to first point out that he prefers not to be called a dog or a pet or an animal or anything like that. He is our first born child & he simply allows us to live in his house. He is happiest when he is hunting with Eric or chasing Jimmy (we'll get to him in a minute) around the yard. And, he hates Christmas pictures. We make him pose with Molly every year for a picture at Christmas & it only takes me about 50 shots to get one of him actually looking partially at the camera. See what I mean... Here's Molly's 1st Christmas. Triton just looks so thrilled... The next year, he refused to look even in the direction of the camera...And the same, goes for the next year...This picture looks like Molly is saying, "Please, just look towards the camera & I'll do the rest. The sooner you look moma's way, the sooner we'll be done here!" But, he still refuses...

Next, there's our cat, Bandit. Bandit was dropped off at our house (nudge, nudge, Mrs. Lisa) with his 4 siblings about 7 years ago. They were all so tiny & right away, I fell in love with all of them. There were 3 bobtailed kittens (which I loved & wanted to keep) and 2 with tails (which were not my favorites). They were all such a variety of colors, and honestly, Bandit was my least favorite because he was just a plain-old tabby kitten. But, quickly, Eric & I began to notice that Bandit had so much more personality than the others. One by one, the others left us & within just a few months we were down to just Bandit. And, he's been here ever since.

Bandit loves lounging in the sun, usually on his back. Here's a picture of him doing just that in the back of Molly's gator. And, yes, Bandit is a really BIG cat!

And, last but not least, there's Jimmy. Oh, Jimmy. Where do I start?

As Molly would tell you, Jimmy was dropped off by Santa Claus on Christmas morning of 2007. As most of you know, we moved in our new house just a couple of days before Christmas that year. And, on our front porch, we still had a couple of old quilts that the furniture movers left. So, Christmas morning, we found a skinny, scared, shivering little dog bedded down on those quilts. And of course, we fed him & of course, he decided he'd stay awhile. He's fattened up a bit since then...

Jimmy loves lounging on the porch on Triton's old bed & hates the moment that we let Triton out of our house each day. Because, after Triton finishes his business, he starts chasing poor old Jimmy around the yard. Jimmy runs for his life, because he knows if he gets caught, Triton will violate him!

The only problem with Jimmy is that he really likes to chew...on everything! He has chewed up tiki torches, bags of charcoal (yes, he ate the entire bag of charcoal), shoes, tires, pretty much everything. His most costly chew toy, however, was our new drip-system. It was demolished within a couple of weeks of our yard being landscaped. And, anytime you try to scold Jimmy, he falls over. All you have to do is point your finger at him & say his name and he immediately falls down, rolls over onto his back in slow motion & sticks all 4 feet straight up into the air...it is hilarious!

Here is a picture of him in mid roll-over after chewing up Eric's work gloves...

It's so hard to get on to him when he does that!

What can I say? We're animal people!

"Good Gracious, That's A Big Ol' Dog!"

Saturday morning, I woke up to the familiar sound of Jimmy barking. Assuming it was just the neighbor's dogs in our yard again, I tried to ignore it & hoped it wouldn't wake Molly. However, Jimmy was persistent and his barks started to sound a little panickey, so I figured I better get up to see what was going on. When I looked out the window, I had to do a double take....there was a shetland pony running around in our front yard. Yes, a horse of all things! I woke Molly up & toted her to the window so she could see it. She said "Good gracious, that's a big ol' dog!" I tried to convince her it was a horse, but she wouldn't believe me until it started running again & she could see it's mane & long tail. Then she said, "Good gracious, we got a horse in our yard!" He gallopped around our yard & the fields in front of and beside our house, before he vanished. The last time I heard, the police were trying to catch him in Lake Luck subdivision! Saturday night, we went to Drake's 18th birthday supper. It was a lot of fun & Molly enjoyed helping Drake open his presents. When we got home that night, we pulled up in the yard & caught a couple of our friends toilet-papering our house! There was nowhere to run...they were caught with paper in hand! So, we stood there and made them take it all down, before we let them come inside from the cold. We have great friends! Sunday, it was back to Supper Club which was held at the Wiggins' this week. Supper Club is a group of friends that get together every Sunday & take turns cooking for the rest of the group. We've been doing it for about 3 years now & it's always a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. You can always read about our Supper Club adventures by clicking the link on the right side of the page!

From the mouth of "Mo"...

I had a good appointment yesterday with Allen. I only had 2 biopsies come back from my last visit as "moderately" displastic & one of those had clear margins. So, we only had to go back in on one and do stitches. It is on my left side, kind of under my arm, in a really tender area. He also cut out a couple of new biopsies on my right leg and hip. They're not bothering me too much today, though...nothing Tylenol can't handle. We have officially crossed the 1,000 stitches mark...woo-hoo! When I looked in the mirror last night at what my body had endured over the last few years, I just cried. There are so many scars...well over 100 now. Eric says they just add character. And, honestly, he's right. Each scar tells a story. Some are older and more faded, representing the beginning of this almost 5-year journey. They represent when my life was turned upside down with the news of having cancer. The really big ones reflect my trips to Texas and the major surgeries. The newer ones are a lot darker and some are still tender. But, I can probably tell you what the biopsy results said on each and everyone of them. And, as much as I wish I didn't have such a scarred-up body, I am proud of all of them. Because, they show how much fight I have in me to beat this and to stay here to watch my little girl grow up. Molly is always so great when I come back from the doctor. Since I've been going every other week for the last year or so, she's gotten used to my being a little sore sometimes & having "boo-boos". Last night when we were laying in bed, she said "Mommy, I don't want you to go to the doctor anymore." I could hear the worry in her voice and tried to explain to her that it's just something Mommy has to do so that I can stay healthy & be here with her. She just calmly said, "Well, from now on, you just tell me & my daddy and we will look at you and find your boo-boos and me and my daddy will kiss it and put a band-aid on it and you will be all better and you won't have to go to the doctor and get shots any more!" (3-year olds use a lot of "ands") If only it was that simple!

We're healthy again!

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent our family well-wishes last week. Quick update: Molly is much better. Her "stomatitis" seems to be gone...no more fever or blistered throat. She's back to eating us out of house & home! The doctor said not to get too optimistic yet, though. This nasty little illness usually knocks the immune system down to the point that it cannot fight off other infections. And, more times than not, pneumonia or bronchitis will jump on you pretty quick. So, we're keeping our fingers crossed that she's well for good now! Thursday night, I start losing my eyesight again & I knew what that meant. There was another migraine coming on. I had not had a really bad one since Molly was about 6 months old, so I took a couple of tylenol & went on to bed figuring it would be rough, but not too bad. Boy, was I wrong! At 6 am Friday morning, I was waking Eric up. It was one of the worst ones I'd had in a really long time & we headed towards the hospital (having to stop 3 times because I was nauseated) to get a shot of demerol & phenergen. Within 30 minutes of getting the shot, I was feeling tons of relief! It took most of the weekend for me to get over it, but I'm all better now! No, we still do not have a washing machine. It's driving me nuts! However, I am getting pretty spoiled with dropping my dirty laundry off with moma each morning & then picking up our clean, folded laundry each afternoon! I think I could get used to this!

What the heck is "Stomatitis"?

Whew! I never thought I'd say this, but it's nice to be back at work! It has been an exhausting week thus far, but hopefully we're on the upswing now. I had planned on having the house completely spick & span by the time Eric got home from his hunting trip Tuesday night. But, that all went out the window Monday night. Monday night, Molly started running a 103 degree fever & screaming with a sore throat. Those of you that know Molly knows that she has an extremely high pain tolerance...so when she complains of pain, you know she's hurting! I was never able to get her fever below 101 the entire night, so we headed to the doctor the next morning. I was able to see spots on the back of her throat & was thinking she had strep. Boy, was I wrong! She has stomatitis...I know, I'd never heard of it either. It's actually open fever blisters on the back of throat & there is really no medicine to cure it. It just has to run it's course. I was devastated to hear that there was no immediate cure to help my baby feel better...she was just devastated that they stuck her finger & she had to wear a band-aid. On the way home, she threw up all over me, herself, her carseat & the pharmacy parking lot. Once we finally get home, I get our vomit-covered clothes off of both us & throw them into the washer. I press the power button...dead! My 1-year old washer has completely died on us! And, it looks like it's going to be at least 10 days to 2 weeks before it can be fixed. I'm used to washing clothes everyday...I'm going to be lost without my washer for 2 weeks! So, needless to say, it has been a rough few days with her not being able to eat anything, and of course, no sleep! But, her fever broke yesterday & she was able to go back to moma's today so that I could work. Hopefully, her throat will get better soon...she is hungry, but it just hurts her so bad to eat! Anyway, Eric came home to a messy house with a sick child & dirty clothes that cannot be washed. But, at least he's home (even though, he didn't take any pictures for me to post of his trip! Oh, well, I guess I'll keep him anyway!)

Arkansas-Bound

Eric left Saturday for a duck-hunting trip to Arkansas. Growers Supply offered to take him & pay for all of his shells and beverages, so he couldn't turn down the opportunity. It wasn't quite so easy for him to leave, though. Molly is now at the age where she knows what's going on & boy, did she get upset Friday night when he started packing. She finally settled down about bedtime, though & packed a little stuffed dog inside Eric's suitcase so that he'd have something to sleep with! He should be home tomorrow & I'll be sure to post his pics (if he takes any)! Saturday night, Molly & I went over to the Mason's & played their Wii. I'm in love! I absolutely would love to have one! But, I don't know if my body can take it. We bowled, played tennis, baseball, golf, boxed and lots more. I could barely walk yesterday after playing that thing the night before...it was lots of fun, though! It's going to be so hard getting back into the routine of a 5-day work week this week. Friday seems like forever away! And, my calendar looks so bare! We've had something going on every single night since Halloween & now, I have a blank week....nothing! And, I am SO looking forward to it!

Welcome 2009!

I'd like to start off by saying a huge "Thank You" to everyone for all of the wonderful birthday wishes. I really enjoyed my birthday celebration at Mexico with my family & friends. It was so much fun! I have some of the greatest friends in the world...thank ya'll so much! We rang in 2009 at our house Wednesday night with lots of family & friends. Good grief at the food we had...and, boy was it all delicious! 2008 has been a good (and sometimes not-so-good) year. We have welcomed new friends into our homes & hearts, and we have lost loved ones that will remain in our hearts. We now welcome 2009. May it be a wonderful, prosperous new year for us all & may it be filled with happiness & health.