Happy Mother’s Day

My favorite picture of Mandy and Me. Yesterday she made a beautiful meal to celebrate Mother’s Day.

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And here are some new ones of our darling Savannah!
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She will be a year old in just a couple of weeks!

My daughter is the best mother. Savannah is sweet and happy and I know it is because she has such a wonderful mother.

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She is taking her first few steps and eating everything. She loves angel cake and whipped cream!


I got right down there on the floor and had a blast playing with her!

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Best of all, she loves me so matter what I look like. That is such a wonderful feeling!

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This was the best Mother’s Day ever!

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Happy 8th Blogaversary To Me!

Here we are eight years down the road and I am still writing Dackel Princess. I started writing back then, thinking no one would read me, and that blogging would be something I didn’t do for very long.

I’d promised myself that if I was paying to blog, I would blog each day. It was incentive for me. So despite surgeries, vacations and births and deaths, I have written every day for the last eight years.

Oh sometimes it was fluff, you know question and answer stuff, but many times I actually sat down and poured my heart out to you all. I’ve shared my happiness and sadness, and my fear. And you have been so wonderfully supportive of me.

I have no idea how long I will blog, but I would like to think that I will be sharing myself with my little part of the world for a long time.

So, Happy Blogaversary to me!

It’s Late

We just got in from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Concert, and it was fantastic, but it is late and we have to be up early in the morning, so I am going to say good night for now and I promise I will write all about this event tomorrow.

I will say that I spent an entire evening smiling and just feeling good! It’s been a while! Oh how very nice that was!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. When the children of today grow up, what do you think they’ll say about this period in time? What do you most hope they remember?

I hope that like all children in time they will remember the love of their families. I was just thinking about Savannah and how she is such a happy child.

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My daughter is a fantastic mother, and Savannah is one of the happiest children that I know.

2. National Teacher’s Day is celebrated in the US of A on the first Tuesday in May, this year May 7th…share how a particular teacher positively impacted you.

Miss Norris, my second grade teacher. She was wonderful and warm, and made me want to learn.

3. What’s a dish your mama made, that if set in front of you today would whisk you right back to childhood?

My mom’s Sauerbraten. I make a fair Sauerbraten myself, but I always think of her when I make it.

4. Mother May I was a game we played when I was growing up…no pieces, parts, or plugs required. What games from childhood do you remember loving that were also pieces, parts, and plug-free?

I loved my Barbie dolls, and made clothes for them out of scrap material. But if we are taking about games, we did used to ride our bikes pretending they were horses, and climb trees, and doing flips and cartwheels and splits on the lawn.

5. Besides your own mother, tell us about a woman who influenced you as a child?

My Grandmother, Mary Francis Daniel Prussman.

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She was a ladies, lady and taught me so much.

6. Mamma Mia! What’s the best play or musical you’ve ever seen?

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Probably not THE best, but I loved it nonetheless! I love the ABBA music and I thought Meryl Streep was awesome! I also love The Sound of Music! Probably because I played Gretel in our community theater when I was a child!

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Yes, that is me age 8 years old playing Gretel.

7. What are three smells that make you feel nostalgic?

Bread baking in the oven, lilacs and baking chocolate chip cookies. As you can see, food smells really dominate my pleasure centers.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m still struggling with my face.
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I’ve never been a patient person, and yet it appears I will have to be. Meanwhile, I am returning to Weight Watchers today and plan to get myself physically back in shape!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Miss Marple 2

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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The fourth of May was Hubby’s 75th birthday. So on Saturday I baked a nice sugar free cake and even popped a bottle of champagne for the big day!

The rest of the weekend was spent tending my seedlings, doing laundry and taking care of Mr. Fritz again. I really think he has doggy dementia, as he had another episode of confusion again.

We watched some wonderful old movies too. “The Taking of the Shrew” with a young, beautiful Elizabeth Taylor (what a perfect nose she had! Yes, I now tend to look at people’s noses all the time! lol!) and Richard Burton. Great movie!

My friend returned home with her husband after a vacation in Florida! I stopped on my way home today when I saw them in their yard. It was their first view of my face since this past surgery.

Here is my face this weekend. It is still bright red, and very sore, but I decided to just keep on going and not let it get me down.

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This & That Friday

On Thursday my Internet Connection was mostly down. We’ve been having problems with the connection for a few weeks. We’ve had two house calls now and hopefully this time they have it. If not, they will have to dig up the line and replace it. A really big deal!

Today I decided it was time for me to go out alone. Just a quick trip to the town hall to register cars, and the grocery. Two things became abundantly clear to me during my trip.

  1. I need to work harder each day to present myself. I have really not spent the time I should doing my hair or dressing or anything. No, I have not become a Walmart dresser wearing pajama bottoms and hoodies that say “Whose Ya Baby” on the back, but I can do better.
  2. I need to find a good, pretty, sunhat that will protect my face from the sun. Today when the sun hit my face when I went from my car to the store, I was amazed at how much the sun bothered my face. But then, that is how I got into this mess isn’t it?

Fritz is doing better and we will bring him in for his doctor’s appointment in a few days. I didn’t feel the need to rush after he literally woke up and was back to normal. I’m still watching him like a hawk, but he does seem to have recovered.

The News

The news, my dear friends, is very good. I will not need radiation on my nose! It is something I’d worried about since this all started, but today I learned that all is well.

I also had my head to toe check, and there are no other lesions at this time. Good, good, news!

Then I went to get my stitches out, and that was when I got the bad news.

I suppose it is not completely bad news, I mean the stitches are out, and the cancer is gone.

The bad news is that they want to wait several months before they finish my face. It means I will walk around looking like this:

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for quite a while. I have never thought much about my face, but today, when a four year old little girl was frightened by my face, I admit, to dissolving into tears.

I got no good answers from the plastic surgeons, nurse practitioner. She was the one who took out my stitches. She was rather curt with me, which only made it all worse.

I wonder how long it will be, or if I will ever be able to look in the mirror and see my familiar face.

I am trying hard not to be too worried, but I am. This time I am worried for the one part of this whole process that I hadn’t considered.

My self esteem.

Right now it is in the basement!

Plastics

It has been a hard recovery for me this time. I’ve had more pain than the last time and quite honestly, this makes me pretty hesitant about the next surgery.

Yes, there will be another one in the next few weeks. It seems, things did not come out quite right.

So on May 1st I go back to see the plastic surgeon, my dermatologist and gynecologist. All at this one medical center an hour and fifteen minutes away. With that, I am actually happy. At least I got all three appointments on one day!

My face looks so much better than it did before the surgery, but under the graft on my nose it too much flesh and blood. Also on the forehead, that also needs to be cleaned up as it also did not come through the way the doctor wanted.

One thing I have come to learn is that plastic surgery, after this type of damage, often goes in stages.

So I was exhausted last night and fell asleep long before I wrote Dackel Princess.

I’m hoping to get back to my usual self soon, and get writing more often.

Have a great Thursday Everyone!!!

Twas The Day Before Surgery…

My Monday began much like any other day. Walking the dogs, making the coffee…and then my day turned upside down.

I had no Internet connection! I went and rebooted my router as I’ve been having a lot of trouble with that, but no, it didn’t work. So, as I got my second cup of coffee, I called my Internet Service Provider.

She tested the modem and it was determined that the modem was indeed dead.

So after breakfast, off Hubby and I went to exchange the modem, get the light bulb I talked about yesterday and food for our picky eater, Fritz.

As we roamed the isles of Walmart a little girl took one look at me and then followed me for several isles. Her eyes were wide with wonder and her mouth agape! Oh yes, I can hardly wait for my surgery!

Upon our arrival home, I hooked up the new modem and after another round with tech support, we got the modem running.

But then the router up and completely died! I sat down thinking. We already have our new, replacement router, but I was a little afraid to get it online.

I opened the box, read the almost non-existent instructions, where they actually said, “If you have any questions see us at www://……….

Now how the heck can you go online if the router isn’t working?

After several hours (I kid you not!) I finally got the router up and running. There are still tweaks to be done, but we can at least access the Internet! Yay!

I got the call for my surgery today. I must be at the hospital by 11:30 for a 1:00 pm surgery.

Folks, this nightmare is nearly over, and soon I will have my face back!

Savannah took her first steps!
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I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how happy I am about that! Oh, how I can hardly wait to see her in person!!!

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So off to bed I go and I’ll report in on Wednesday and let you know how it all went!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Miss Marple 2

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Well this past weekend was the weekend I prepared in earnest for all that is to come. The really weird part is, I’m actually ready both here at home and in my head.

I look around my home and I see a certain amount of organization. Why I even cleaned my refrigerator today and discovered a burned out light bulb in the bottom, so we’ll take care of that on Monday.

There are several things I am looking forward to after the surgery!

  1. I’m looking forward to being able to sleep freely. Right now I have to sleep on my back and after a night of sleeping like this, I wake up so stiff and achy.
  2. I’m looking forward to showers where I can allow the water to splash in my face! Currently I can only shower with my nose covered and with my back to the water!
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  4. I’m looking forward to being able to go outside and feel the wind on my face without pain, much like a cavitie, on my poor raw nose!
  5. I’m looking forward to being able to go out and not have people stare at me and wonder…
  6. I’m looking forward to going for a nice walk in the sunshine!
  7. I am looking forward to wearing my glasses again! I never thought I would say that, after complaining about wearing them for years! Just call me vain!!!
  8. I am looking forward to living life to the fullest! Spending time with Hubby, Mandy and Savannah! I haven’t seen my girls in a few weeks now and I sure miss them!

So you see, I have so much life to live and things to be grateful for. Right now it is just getting through the next week and I bet I will be good as new!