Not sure how to start this, so I just will. Obviously I haven't posted for awhile, but I know I have blogger friends out there that would care about what I'm about to say, so I'll just jump in...

Last Friday my oldest daughter had a surgical biopsy for what her doctors are assuming is Hodgkins Lymphoma. It's been going on for about four months now, leading to the biopsy on Friday. The good news is that it's highly curable, as her oncologist confirmed last week. The bad news is that it is a form of cancer and treatment for it would very traumatic, even though the prognosis for this type is very good. After four months of doctors, tests, CT Scans, etc., I feel like we're finally in capable hands. The first time we met her oncologist, he hugged her and kissed her forehead and said, "Don't worry sweetie. I'll treat you as if you were my own little girl." He's my new hero.

When we went for her pre-op appointment last week, I took this picture with her holding her urine sample in her lap. Yeah, I know it's gross. And the look on her face indicates that she thinks she's surrounded by idiots! :)



Then we went to the biopsy at 6 AM Friday morning. Here she is in her little purple hospital gown. The picture isn't very clear - I took it on my cellphone.



The doctor removed three lymph nodes. One to send for cultures, two to send to pathology, looking for Hodgkins and other types of lymphoma. We won't get the results for about a week. At times I have so much to say about this, and normally I would give a lot more details. Now I'm just really tired. I'll try to write more about it later. For now I would appreciate your prayers.

Thanks.

Get The H&%# Away From My Daughter!

My daughter turned 16 a couple of weeks ago. Last Saturday, we had a Sweet 16 Party for her at a local Italian restaurant. Too late to lock her up isn't it?
We rented out half of a restaurant, hired a DJ and invited 100 of her closest friends(!). Thankfully, only about 60 showed up, but she had a great time! She wanted a Tiffany's themed party, so we threw a bunch of fake pearls and diamonds on the tables and I made a couple of cakes in the shape of Tiffany boxes. Here they are...


I was stoked - everyone thought they were presents! I took a picture of what my kitchen looked like after I finished with the cakes - I'll post that soon. It's hilarious! By the time I was done, I was covered in powdered sugar from my hair down the front of my jeans.

I could not believe the way teenagers dance these days. I was totally shocked, and my ex-husband wasn't exactly happy about it either. He spent most of the night getting between our daughter and some gropey little hormonal teenagers. One of them even tried coming up behind me and getting way too close. Little horndogs. In spite of all that, we had so much fun! But by far, the highlight of the night was that I got asked out by the way hot owner of the restaurant. This guy......



Uh-huh. This picture is from when the restaurant was written up in a local magazine. I played hard to get for about a minute and a half.

I'll keep you posted. Or maybe not... ;)

Why Do I Love This One So Much?

Because of text conversations like this...
(By the way, she's "BOO")

BOO: just wanted to let you know I ditched 7th. I'm going to in n out. Love you. See u later tonight!

ME: Better be kidding.

BOO: I am. I'm in spanish right now. I just wanted u to think I was a bad kid :)

ME: No chance of that.

BOO: hahaha gracias :)

Me: I love you.

BOO: love you too. Can I be home at 1130 if I'm not too tired? PLEASE!!!Pretty please with cherries on top my most prettyful mommy dearest!!

ME: Tell me I'm the best mommy in the whole world and you want to grow up to be just like me. Oh yeah, and I'm a really good dancer!

BOO: duh, I was already saying those things to my teacher I just didn't want to over-do it. I was totally saying it tho!! Haha :)

ME: That's a good girl. ;-) Ok, you can stay 'til 1130.

BOO: Yayaya! Thank you mommy I love.

ME: You're welcome, baby doll that I love back.

YES!! I know it's enough to give you a cavity, but she's going to be 16 in one week!!! I have to hang on to this AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!!!! I have to hang on to the sickeningly sweet stuff while she's still not embarrassed that she has a mom.

Why, God?

Why does she have to get so big? She's my baby, the one who is supposed to stay little forever. Why does she have to be so pretty? Why does she have to have those amazing blue eyes that are just going to make boys want her when she older? What am I saying - she already has boys asking her to be their girlfriend. And she said yes to one of them! That's not okay.

And she's such a stud. She's wearing motocross gear in this picture because she rides her own motorcycle! In fact, two weeks ago (at the end of this particular trip) she broke her nose. And it still didn't make her ugly. Why?

Her older sister is already a knock out. I don't like it, but I've accepted it. This little cutie was always my baby - the one who still holds my hand every time we ride in the car. The one who can't go to sleep if I don't tuck her in at night. The one who, before I close her door at night, says, "Goodnight, Best Friend."

But now she has movie nights with her friends. She wants to be dropped off at the mall (thankfully, not two blocks away yet). This morning on the way to school she informed me that she and her "boyfriend" have been going out for a month. What?! I don't like it.

So God, if you're listening...and I know you are...please keep her little just a while longer. Let her keep calling me Mommy, even between motocross races. Keep that sincere joy that she exudes every day intact. And please keep those blue eyes shining with love and innocence.

Thank You.

They Say I'll Laugh About This One Day...

I haven't been around for awhile. I've been too busy getting my sorry ass fired from the most lucrative position I've ever had. It was the proverbial "perfect storm" of the workplace. Everything coming together at all the right times, from all the right angles to create total destruction. Yeah, kind of a bummer. But hey, everyone keeps telling me to consider it a learning experience. And I must say that the biggest lesson I learned is as follows...

1. Never tell your boss to fuck off.

Apparently I learned lesson #1 a little too late, which led to the following lessons...

2. If you must tell your boss to fuck off, be sure to send out the blanket "I have a new e-mail address..." e-mail to your address book before uttering the previously mentioned offensive phrase.

3. Clean out all personal folders on your hard drive, so the next person who ends up in your little cube doesn't get to read all of your personal letters. Not to mention that resumé you've been updating in preparation of the offensive phrase.

4. If given the chance to apologize, you should probably take it, instead of uttering the next offensive phrase, "HELL NO!"

5. Be sure to have a Plan B - a bigger, better, more lucrative job which you get to start even sooner, considering your recent unemployed status. Ahhhhhh........at least I did that part right! ;)

Most importantly...

6. There's nothing that riding around with the top down on an 85 degree southern California day won't fix.