Am I really going to blog?: January 2014

Friday, January 17, 2014

It's been a while.....

It's been a while since I got to clean vomit out of the carpet at 2 am.
You know what? I didn't miss it! At all.

So, you've probably guessed that Sami got the stomach bug. As usual, she passed by a bathroom to descend a flight of stairs to appear by the side of my bed. She woke me, then ran back up the stairs only hitting a few of them. Then, she vomited all over the foyer. Including my new boots that I should have put away but didn't. Including a basket of clean laundry that also did not get put away before bed. Including the tile floor in the bathroom. Not including? The toilet. It has been a long day. Fortunately, she seems fine now. I hope to be lights out by 8:00.

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Updates:

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. Current status: 45.26.

2. Read 100 books. Current status: 5/100!

Memoir of Mourning: Journey through Grief and Loss to Renewal by Claudia Chowaniec; Going Home by Jamie Yeager; 20 Quick Exercises to a Toned Body by Adam Eastman; Sycamore Row by John Grisham; & Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees by Grace Mattioli.

3. Lose 25 pounds.

4. Get more organized.

5. Make one new recipe per week. Current status: 2/52

6. Donate blood 4 times.

7. Try one new sport/physical activity.

8. No soft drinks so far & not really tempted. Got a fancy new naturally fruit infusing water bottle & loving it!

9. Charitable activities.

Until next time,
Lori

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!!!!

& so it is time to set some 2014 goals. These may look familiar as they are mostly a repeat of last year. I didn't actually meet any of my goals; however, as my recent fortune cookie revealed it is better to set a goal and not reach it then to not set a goal at all! (wonder if that Chinese food had anything to do with me not reaching my weight loss goal??? :) )

Anyway.... here are my 2013 failures:

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. End of the year result: 914

2. Read 100 books. End of the year result:82

3. Lose 25 pounds. End of the year result:No comment. I guess the good news is that I didn't gain any weight!

4. Get more organized. End of the year result: Closet/dresser are organized, make-up cleaned out & organized, couple of closets done. Still lots more to do!

5. Make one new recipe per week. End of the year result: 38

So, I am keeping all 5 of these for 2014 & adding a few more to it.

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles.

2. Read 100 books.

3. Lose 25 pounds.

4. Get more organized.

5. Make one new recipe per week.
6. Donate blood 4 times.
7. Try one new sport/physical activity.

A couple of difficult to measure goals include giving up soft drinks (this means more wine right????) & increasing charitable activites (not just donations!).

Until next time,
Lori

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not."

I HOPE....

I hope you never have to hear the words, 'Your child has cancer.'

I hope you never have to hear, 'The prognosis is not good.'

I hope you never have to prepare to undergo radiation or chemotherapy, have a port surgically inserted into their chest, be connected to IV poles. Look at you with fear in their eyes and say, 'Don't worry Mommy, everything will be okay.'

I hope you never have to hold your child as they vomit green bile.

I hope you never have to feed them ice chips for lunch.

I hope you never have to watch the 'cure' you pray for slowly take away their identity, as they lose their hair, become skeletal, swell up from steroids, develop severe acne, become barely or unable to walk or move, and look at you with hope in their eyes and say,'It's going to be okay, Mommy.'

I hope that you never have to stay in the hospital for weeks, months, or years at a time, where there is no privacy, sleeping on a slab, with your face to the wall, where you cry in muffled silence.

I hope you never have to see a mother, alone, huddled, in a dark hospital corridor...crying quietly, after just being told, 'There is nothing more we can do.'

I hope you never have to watch a family wander aimlessly, minutes after their child's body has been removed.

I hope you never have to use every bit of energy you have left, with all of this going on around you to remain positive, and the feelings of guilt, sorrow, hope and fear, overwhelm you.

I hope you never have to see a child's head bolted to the table as they receive radiation.

I hope you never have to take your child home (grateful but so afraid) in a wheelchair because the chemo and radiation has damaged their muscles, 35 pounds lighter, pale, bald, and scarred. And they look at you with faith in their eyes and say, 'It's going to be okay Mommy.'

I hope you never have to face the few friends that have stuck beside you and hear them say, 'Thank God that is over with,'...because you know it never will be. Your life becomes a whirl of doctors, blood tests and MRI's and you try to get your life back to 'normal'. While living in mind-numbing fear that any one of those tests could result in hearing the dreaded words...'The cancer has returned' or 'The tumor is growing.' And your friends become even fewer.

I hope you never have to experience any of these things... Because...only then...Will you understand...

(author unknown)