Friday, Fritz and Savannah Rose

Fritz was off to the Vet on Thursday for his shots. I decided to try a new Vet. A real country doc. who works out of her house. We really liked her and so did Fritz. Best of all, she realizes that people love their animals but shouldn’t have to chose between caring for their pets or buying food. He had his exam done and his shots, and the total was $77.00!

Right now New Hampshire is in full bloom. Going over to the new Vets office afforded us the opportunity to enjoy the forsythia, the dogwood, and all the fruit trees as well.What a splendid ride!

Usually Autumn is my favorite time of year, but for some reason, this spring has been wonderful!

Perhaps it is because in just a couple of weeks Miss Savannah Rose will be a year old!

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What a joy she is in my life. A real blessing!

By The Numbers

  1. I returned to Weight Watchers today. I have not been since this whole cancer problem started. The weigh in was not as bad as it could have been.
  2. I came home and Hubby and I talked and I’ve decided to get another opinion on my face. I do not like how my nose is healing. The graft looks like someone stuck a chicklet (candy) under the skin on my nose!)
  3. I have a good friend who has had plastic work done on her face after cancer removal and she looks beautiful!
  4. So we will drive to Boston and see her doctor, and get another opinion.
  5. If I like this doctor and feel confident then I will have him finish the surgeries.
  6. I went out today for a girlie luncheon! I had a wonderful mushroom quiche and salad. It was perfect and I did not break my WW eating plan.
  7. I came home and watched the end of the Jodie Arias murder trial. Thank goodness she was found guilty. I watched quite a bit of the trial, and it really sickened me.
  8. I stopped at our local farm stand. Can we say “Asparagus Season”? Yay!!!
  9. The friend who gave me the Boston Plastic Surgeon’s name and phone asked me to lunch next week. I’m excited because we are taking a road trip to the King Arthur Flour Museum and Cafe in Vermont!
  10. We take Mr. Fritz in to the Vet today. I hope it will all be good news.
  11. I’ll be going to see Mandy, Matt and Savannah on Saturday to celebrate Mother’s Day a little early. Matt’s parent’s will be there and it will be great to see them.
  12. Do you all realize that Savannah will be one year old in two weeks?
  13. I still have hope!

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!

Friends?

Recently I heard from an old friend. They said they were coming to see me. Since they live a considerable distance, they wanted to know if they could stay here with us for a week.

I was thrilled! I hadn’t seen this person in a few years and I have missed them a lot. So, naturally I was excited.

Here I am, a mere four days from their arrival date and I sent an email asking about the final arrival plans.

That’s when I learned that this person, 1. has no plane ticket, (and worst of all, never did) 2. has no firm plan to arrive in four days, and 3. lied to me about this made up vacation, which hurt most of all.

My feelings were really hurt. Right now a visit from this person would have picked up my spirits! However, I have decided that in the future, if this person would like to come, they will need to prove to me that they are actually coming.

Why do people do stuff like this? I never would. If I ask to come to someone’s house to visit, I would never just not show up or if my plans changed, not let them know.

I guess in some ways it’s better. I’m still recovering, and I would find it hard to have a guest. Still, it would have been great, and perhaps helped me to feel better.

What I Did This Past Weekend

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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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Spring Is Here!

Saturday dawned with a return from the cable company. They decided that it was time to run a new cable from the pole, underground, and up to our house. Pole work needed to be done, and at the end, we have a beautiful picture on the TV, and my Internet service is fantastic! I baked my first ever sugarless chocolate cake for Hubby’s birthday, and frosted it with sugarless frosting. All in all, it was great!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to cook. Usually I have a couple of lobsters, corn and potatoes, but right now Lobster has skyrocketed to $10.99 a pound, so that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I bought shrimp and made Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo! That was also great!

I was walking in our yard today and I walked by one of the cherry trees and the scent of the blossoms was so sweet! Ah, I love the smell of cherry blossoms in the spring!

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I love springtime and I truly adore it when our fruit trees blossom!!! Aren’t the blossoms beautiful?

Happy Sunday!

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!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. This week’s Hodgepodge is Volume 123. What’s something you’ve done recently that was as easy as 1-2-3?

It seems that lately, nothing has been as easy as 1,2,3. Maybe it’s the ability to look at my daughter and granddaughter and feel such incredible love. That is so easy that I don’t think about it, it just is.

2. The Wednesday Hodgepodge also happens to fall on the first day of May …what is something you may do this month?

The first day of May is my busy day. I have three doctor’s appointments that day, and get my stitches out. This requires a 45 mile drive each way. I’m glad Hubby will be with me.

3. The Englishman Horace Walpole is credited as saying, “The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think” How do you see it?

If I didn’t laugh at most of what happens in my life, I would be crying! Mostly, I try to laugh and not let thin gs get me down too much.

4. May is National Hamburger Month…how often do you eat a burger? What are your must-haves when it comes to burgers? I assume you vegetarians won’t be celebrating so tell us what you’d like instead?

I love hamburgers. I’d say I have one every couple of weeks. I love hamburgers with tomato, lettuce, ketchup, and cheese. Occasionally bacon slips in there too.

5. Pansies, petunias, geraniums, impatiens…of the four mentioned, which is your favorite in a patio pot? Will there be pots on your patio this spring? (Or whenever spring comes to your part of the globe?) Who does the gardening at your house?

I’m the gardener. Although, I am not much into flowers. I suppose impatiens.

6. When did you last (literally or figuratively) shout “Mayday, Mayday!”

My ex-husband’s birthday is on May 1st and I used to joke with his mother that I was just sure that she cried “Mayday” when in labor with him.

7. Say farewell to your April in ten words or less.

Good bye surgery. Let’s hope there is no more!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

The seeds are planted and the sun is shining. Soon I will have little baby plants. I feel such excitement that it’s another year and another garden!