Well, I started out so happy that spring was here... I relished the first warm days and of course, overdid yard work to the point of exhaustion... I have found several ticks already and experienced the joy of 1/2 hour of tick removal from the back of my arm. Now I can see why I am the family member that went into the medical field - it is definitely not Jerry's forte. I sincerely hope that the times I have removed ticks from our dog Pip that it has not been that painful or traumatic.

Do they make "Frontline' for people?

My spring happiness seems to have been short-lived. I think a lot of it has to do with the turmoil at work - it is hard to enjoy the rest of your life when you have such upheaval in other areas... and it is havoc that was not anticipated or welcomed. How can a change in management make a 'living hell' for 40 nurses lives? Well anyway - the asparagus is up - and it just doesn't taste very good... The lilacs are out - but the purple ones are getting old and scraggly - this will probably be their last year; and I just don't feel as excited about the white ones... (Does that make me a lilac racist?). I was able to bring in a sizable bouquet of the purple - and the smell buoyed my spirits for a few days - Those were then replaced by the delicate, lovely scent of a few tiny lily-of-the-valley bouquets... Now if I can just get some peonies to grow in our yard the trifecta of my favorite spring flowers will be complete. No one can say I am a 'high-maintenance' woman - I would have those 3 flowers (or daisies) over roses any day! I really actually dislike the smell of roses...

I have searched high and low the past 4 springs for morels in our yard. I was so certain that our 10 wooded acres would house one little area that those delicate morsels would want to live....No such luck! This year I wasn't going to waste my time or energy looking for that hidden treasure - and low and behold - THE most gigantic morels (almost 2 pounds of them) were growing about 20 feet outside of our back door! After much research - (I didn't want to kill us or inadvertently get us high) - I cooked up about $40.oo worth of the fungi for Jerry and I. Jerry loved them - but again my foul mood appeared - they just didn't taste as good as I remember them. All the anticipation - all of the 5 years of hope - and I really didn't enjoy them... Yes, they were rich and delicate - but nowhere near the orgasmic experience that I had imagined... Oh well - maybe the psychedelic mushrooms would have been better after all.

Get a Mammogram now! It's fun!

I consider myself to have a great sense of humor (I will elaborate more later); but I think we as women do ourselves a great disservice when we kid about the horrors of mammography...
I have a fairly busy life, and must go to the doctor, radiology, etc.. often because of a chronic illness. That was the main reason that I put off having a mammogram - I was just tired of spending so much time in waiting rooms, commuting to appointments and being poked and prodded! But another reason I put off having an annual mammogram (I should have had my first one ten years ago), was that the funny little e-mails and remarks about mammograms made it sound downright barbaric! Especially being a "well-endowed" woman I did not want my breasts flattened out to the size of Rhode Island between two sheets of ice-cold plexi-glas! I also imagined someone who resembled the wicked witch of the east doing the test, and I wasn't quite sure that they didn't hire shady looking men with long leather coats to do the mammography either!!
Well, when I suddenly discovered a rather large, awful breast lump last week - a mammogram seemed like a walk in the park! How could I let the slight awkwardness and discomfort of a test keep me from doing everything I could to detect an early cancer! How uncomfortable and awkward is chemotherapy, radiation, surgery!? How many women are we scaring away from a simple mammogram that could save their life?
I went for my mammogram this morning - the technician was as sweet and cute as could be - she asked if this was my first mammogram - Did she see the abject terror in my eyes? Her voice was slow and kind - her touch firm but tender...she was supportive, empathetic and never once scolded me for my ten years of missed appointments...
She laughed genuinely at my nervous attempt at humor - I had to tell one of my favorite jokes (and she hadn't even heard it before). "What do older women have between their breasts that younger women don't?" Their belly buttons! She listened to my ramblings about all my thoughts since finding the lump - how hard it was to tell my husband because his mom died from breast cancer right after I met him, how I worried about missing out on my new grandson growing up (and how much I loved him and my boys (and their girls), and how I was petting the dog before I left for my appointment, and I thought how lucky I was that I didn't have 8 or 10 breasts that needed compression! Alas, poor dogs and cats do get breast cancer too - as well as men!
The mammogram was finished - and it wasn't that bad! And the best part? I thought I had to wait another week for the results - but my wonderful tech came back grinning ear to ear and said that the radiologist read the results as a cyst from a previous injury! Everything else looked clear, looked great, looked healthy! I can't wait to have my next mammogram- if you have been putting of having one done - do me a personal favor and schedule one now - you won't regret it!

Evan Jameson Myers Arrives!

How ironic that my last post (done while working a long exhausting night shift at the hospital) mentions that no grandbaby had arrived yet. When I went out to my car at a little past 7am - there was a message on my cell phone from my son Eric, saying that Jaimie's water had broken, and they were all checked in at the hospital! It would be an understatement to say that I didn't sleep well that day! Evan Jameson Myers made his appearance at 3:32 that afternoon. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and was 20 inches long. He is the most serene little baby I have been around. From the very start, he had his eyes open and just looked at everything like "So this is what I waited so long for, I think it might be an okay place!" Jaimie had a few minor complications - but did a great job, and she and Eric were immediately in love with their new little man! In fact, I get to see the sensitive side of Eric that I always knew was there, but that he worked so hard to hide...Evan is going to be such a lucky little boy - surrounded by so much love by everyone who is fortunate enough to know him! Again, I am having no end to my problems with posting pictures on the blog, and I don't want to post any until Jaimie gets caught up with her blog. Congratulations little family!

Now that the political conventions are starting I would like to share one of my favorite quotes
"If you are not a democrat when you are young; you have no heart.
If you are not a republican when you are old; you have no head."
Winston Churchill

So much for becoming an expert blogger...The grandson that I am so eager to blog about is stubborn, and has not made his appearance - I have tried to post pictures of the other love of my life - Pip, our Australian Shepherd -and that hasn't worked...
And I am someone who likes to consider themself "computer savvy"! Not much in my life has seemed to go right recently though; so I shouldn't be surprised! My vegtable garden is a complete disaster this year - If I get the photo stuff figured out I have a great picture of my one cherry tomato (next to dime for comparison). Our yard is a mess, I have not had our annual garage sale yet this summer, and my porch painting project is nowhere near finished...
If you enjoy things like watching paint dry - stay tuned to my blog for more exciting adventures!! LOL :)

A Beginning

I am new to blogging - hope that this will turn into a worthwhile adventure! I started reading the blog of my son's girlfriend and then hopped from blog to blog - learning all kinds of things about all kinds of people! From this humble start I plan to learn how to post pictures, offer bits of wisdom and humor, and have a place to share my new life as a Grandma - which is due to start soon! I can only hope that my blog will be half as interesting as some I have read recently!