We will miss him so much. Now we pick up the pieces, support my mom and live life to the fullest as he would want us to (oh and eat a lot of chocolate because according to him, life is chocolate).
Deep breath, life goes on, live it well......
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The end of a journey.....
As some of you know, I have cut my teaching schedule way back this year so I could spend as much time as possible with my Step Father who was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last May. Last night he passed away with 5 of us kids, his wife and his mother in law holding each other and holding him. We were there for 4 days with him as his body slowed down. Being there and watching him take his last breaths was the hardest and most powerful thing I have ever been a part of. He was my step father for 29 years. He raised me, guided me, loved me unconditionally, coached my first volleyball team, bought me my first (of many) pandas and loved my daughters as if they were the most valuable things on this planet.
We will miss him so much. Now we pick up the pieces, support my mom and live life to the fullest as he would want us to (oh and eat a lot of chocolate because according to him, life is chocolate).
Deep breath, life goes on, live it well......
We will miss him so much. Now we pick up the pieces, support my mom and live life to the fullest as he would want us to (oh and eat a lot of chocolate because according to him, life is chocolate).
Deep breath, life goes on, live it well......
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hummingbird Girl
I am hiding in my moms house right now because I just took the test dose of Radioactive Iodine and need to be away from people (especially small blonde girls with blue eyes) for the afternoon and evening. After I took the pill, I got in my car to drive home and as I turned on the radio the very first words that came out were the Police singing "don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me". I laughed until I almost cried. Yep, don't stand close to me!
My friend Mary, who is one of the funniest people I know, wrote to me this afternoon and here is what she said
"I think the fact that you're "RADIOACTIVE" is WAY cool. You're like a superhero--radioactive then bitten by hummingbird or something--to become HummingbirdGirl! You can have a cute little superhero outfit--with tights and wings and a big HG on the chest of your leotard. (Make sure your outfit includes some glitter, too). Children beaten up by bullies will cry, "Save me, Hummingbird Girl!!" And you will swoop down and flutter violently. Store clerks will yell for you and you'll fly in the face of robbers, confusing them with your rapid wings and making them drop their booty of cash and condoms. And, like Superman, you have a weakness. You are strong and brave--but must avoid clean glass windows and doors, for fear that you may hurl yourself into them unknowingly. "
My friend Mary, who is one of the funniest people I know, wrote to me this afternoon and here is what she said
"I think the fact that you're "RADIOACTIVE" is WAY cool. You're like a superhero--radioactive then bitten by hummingbird or something--to become HummingbirdGirl! You can have a cute little superhero outfit--with tights and wings and a big HG on the chest of your leotard. (Make sure your outfit includes some glitter, too). Children beaten up by bullies will cry, "Save me, Hummingbird Girl!!" And you will swoop down and flutter violently. Store clerks will yell for you and you'll fly in the face of robbers, confusing them with your rapid wings and making them drop their booty of cash and condoms. And, like Superman, you have a weakness. You are strong and brave--but must avoid clean glass windows and doors, for fear that you may hurl yourself into them unknowingly. "
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Drip drop.....
It is rainin' but good up here! That is a good thing because boy do we need some water. And our lovely grapes down in San Luis Obispo need some H2O! I remember one drought-ey year my dad gave us all raisins for Christmas because our crop wasn't' so good. So we have been doing a rain dance and now it is comin' down :)
My office is buzzin' with preparations for Bead Fest Sante Fe and the Bead&Button Show. I am a total last minute person so we are all pretending that the Bead&Button Show is in April this year (which it isn't but don't tell me that!). The class registration for B&B is opened....it's not too late to squeeze in a few classes. I know things are tight this year, but this show is a blast. Well all the shows are a blast. If you can sneak out to a bead show, you won't regret it.
I am feeling really good these days. We found out that I am anemic (joy) and the addition of Iron to my many daily pills, has made a HUGE difference....woohoo. In a week I will get my Radioactive Iodine treatment. As my doctor says, surgery is the cure/treatement for Thyroid Cancer but this Iodine treatment is just a little extra "kick it while it's down". Thyroid cells are very unique in that they live off of iodine. So I have been on a low iodine diet (no dairy, nothing from the sea, no resturauts, no store bought bread, no fun!) to starve my body of iodine. Then in a week, I will take a pill of radioactive iodine. All the remaining Thyroid cells in my body will be like "oh, Iodine, gimme gimme!" and they will suck it up and get zapped....pretty cool huh? But I can't be around any people for 3 days, because I will be totally radioactive. Yikes, if it will harm them, imagine what it is going to do to me, swimming around in my body. I will power through and this will give me 3 quite days (hauled up in one of my mom's extra bedrooms) to finally get cranking on my book.
Yes I AM WRITING A BOOK...woohoo. It will be published by Interweave and is about Making Stamped Metal jewelry. The book will cover stamping, sawing, riveting, dapping and more. It's gonna be a good one.....
Happy rainy day to you.....
My office is buzzin' with preparations for Bead Fest Sante Fe and the Bead&Button Show. I am a total last minute person so we are all pretending that the Bead&Button Show is in April this year (which it isn't but don't tell me that!). The class registration for B&B is opened....it's not too late to squeeze in a few classes. I know things are tight this year, but this show is a blast. Well all the shows are a blast. If you can sneak out to a bead show, you won't regret it.
I am feeling really good these days. We found out that I am anemic (joy) and the addition of Iron to my many daily pills, has made a HUGE difference....woohoo. In a week I will get my Radioactive Iodine treatment. As my doctor says, surgery is the cure/treatement for Thyroid Cancer but this Iodine treatment is just a little extra "kick it while it's down". Thyroid cells are very unique in that they live off of iodine. So I have been on a low iodine diet (no dairy, nothing from the sea, no resturauts, no store bought bread, no fun!) to starve my body of iodine. Then in a week, I will take a pill of radioactive iodine. All the remaining Thyroid cells in my body will be like "oh, Iodine, gimme gimme!" and they will suck it up and get zapped....pretty cool huh? But I can't be around any people for 3 days, because I will be totally radioactive. Yikes, if it will harm them, imagine what it is going to do to me, swimming around in my body. I will power through and this will give me 3 quite days (hauled up in one of my mom's extra bedrooms) to finally get cranking on my book.
Yes I AM WRITING A BOOK...woohoo. It will be published by Interweave and is about Making Stamped Metal jewelry. The book will cover stamping, sawing, riveting, dapping and more. It's gonna be a good one.....
Happy rainy day to you.....
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Next batch of Lower Case Letter Stamps
Greetings all,
Well, it looks like we won't be getting another batch of stamps for a week or so, and we are closed until Jan 5. Hopefully we will get some stamps in before them and I will be able to post them on the 5th....stay tuned.
Happy Holidays to you all....wishing loads of joy, beads and warm fuzzies in 2009!
from all of us here at Beaducation!
Well, it looks like we won't be getting another batch of stamps for a week or so, and we are closed until Jan 5. Hopefully we will get some stamps in before them and I will be able to post them on the 5th....stay tuned.
Happy Holidays to you all....wishing loads of joy, beads and warm fuzzies in 2009!
from all of us here at Beaducation!
...and a Happy New Year
Humm, seems I only have time to write in this blog on Holidays. Today is Christmas Eve Day and I have hauled my kids to work for a few hours. They didn't want to come and now that we are here, they don't want to leave so I find myself with a little bit of time.
So here are a few things to report:
So here are a few things to report:
- Workshops and classes are up for browsing at Bead&ButtonShow.com . Remember this is a very popular show and the classes fill up fast. Click here to see my classes :)
- This past month we have launched a bunch of classes at Beaducation.com. Our new Director of Education, Kate Richbourg has been working overtime getting these classes shot and up for viewing. We are SO lucky to have her!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thankfulness
Today is the day to give thanks, and dive head first into a food comma (in that order). I am thankful that it is 9:37 and I just woke up! I am thankful that my husband slept on the couch because he was snoring. I am thankful that when he left to go sleep on the couch, he carried Izzy to my bed to sleep with me, because he knows I love that (it was Izzy's turn, Lucy will come next time). I am thankful that my kids are old enough to get up early and make themselves something to eat and go watch TV for a bit while mommy and daddy sleep. I am thankful that I am OK with the fact that my kids are watching TV while I sleep. Now that I am up and eating breakfast, I am thankful for cornflakes.....I really love cornflakes.
As the day goes on, I will check in on my website and make sure everything is running smoothly. I am especially thankful that my business is doing so well in such a time of financial unrest.
Further on in the day we will go eat at my moms house and my thankfulness will turn to the really really really important things in life. I am thankful that I will be surrounded by all my siblings and their families. I am thankful that my step father will be feeling well enough to be sitting at the dinner table with us.
This morning, Izzy woke up and went to get her journal because she remembered it was Thanksgiving and she wanted to write down 10 things she was thankful for. All 10, actually it came out to 12, involved family, friends, playing the piano, and learning. As I listened to her with tears in my eyes, I felt an overwhelming sense of thanks.
As the day goes on, I will check in on my website and make sure everything is running smoothly. I am especially thankful that my business is doing so well in such a time of financial unrest.
Further on in the day we will go eat at my moms house and my thankfulness will turn to the really really really important things in life. I am thankful that I will be surrounded by all my siblings and their families. I am thankful that my step father will be feeling well enough to be sitting at the dinner table with us.
This morning, Izzy woke up and went to get her journal because she remembered it was Thanksgiving and she wanted to write down 10 things she was thankful for. All 10, actually it came out to 12, involved family, friends, playing the piano, and learning. As I listened to her with tears in my eyes, I felt an overwhelming sense of thanks.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Latest and hopefully last health report....
Sorry I have been neglecting this blog. I have so much going on, but I will save most of that for future blogs :)
So here is the latest on my health. I finally, literally in the past few days, feel normal. Since my first surgery on August 7th I have been up and down and mostly down. I am not whining, just trying to make it clear how PSYCHED I am to feel normal again. Ya know, when you feel weird and jittery and anxious and panicky and spinny and nauseous and generally yucky for 3 months, you start to feel like this is your new normal. But as of this week, I truly feel better. I even went to a party and danced! I thought I would be in the corner popping my Ativan but I was up and celebrating my friend Dave's 40th birthday watching my husband rock out with his band. It felt SOOOOOO good!
I started feeling better the day after my 3rd Acupuncture appointment last week. I really feel that acupuncture works but I just don't like it. I wish I liked it, but I just don't.....I don't think I will be going back. Too bad too because I am all into holistic medicine and again, I feel like it is helping me (my Acupuncturist is a true healer!) but it just creeps me out. The occasional painful needle just ruins the whole thing for me and I am not afraid of a little pain (2 births with no drugs for goodness sakes). Oh well, maybe it is tied into my anxiety and I will try it again when I feel more at ease.
From my last doctors appointment, all my blood levels are up and good but my Parathyroids are still "asleep". I won't bore you with the details of what Parathyroids are....in short, they control your Calcium absorption and mine ain't working (hence the really scary trip to the ER with dangerously low Calcium). There is some question as to whether I still have Parathyroids??? They are tiny and can sometime accidentally come out during a Thyroidectomy. So, I continue to take 2.5 calcium horse pills 3 times a day with 2 vitamin D's twice a day. Here is the deal though.....life is good, I will gladly take a parcel of pills for the rest of my life. I had Cancer and now it is almost gone and if one of the side effects of that is poppin pills everyday, I am a-ok with that!!!!!!!!
Oooops, I just realized that no where in this blog have I mentioned that I had/have Cancer. Well that is why my good for nothin' Thyroid had to be removed (twice...one side each surgery). I had a 3 centimeter nodule on my Thyroid and 95% of the time they are nothin' but lucky me, I fell into the 5%. I haven't really written about that in this blog because I tend to not get too personal here but what the heck, now that I feel better I feel like spilling my guts :) I really don't like to mention that this Thyroid issue was/is Cancer because, of all the Cancers this is the one of the few that is completely curable. With surgery and one treatment with a radioactive iodine pill (which I will do next month) most folks are cured....when I say most, I mean like really most, like 99%. Personally, I think they should rename it. I mean if it is curable, can we call it something other than Cancer? That word is so scary and it freaks people out....with good reason.
So there ya go....I am feeling well, I hope you are too!!!! :)
So here is the latest on my health. I finally, literally in the past few days, feel normal. Since my first surgery on August 7th I have been up and down and mostly down. I am not whining, just trying to make it clear how PSYCHED I am to feel normal again. Ya know, when you feel weird and jittery and anxious and panicky and spinny and nauseous and generally yucky for 3 months, you start to feel like this is your new normal. But as of this week, I truly feel better. I even went to a party and danced! I thought I would be in the corner popping my Ativan but I was up and celebrating my friend Dave's 40th birthday watching my husband rock out with his band. It felt SOOOOOO good!
I started feeling better the day after my 3rd Acupuncture appointment last week. I really feel that acupuncture works but I just don't like it. I wish I liked it, but I just don't.....I don't think I will be going back. Too bad too because I am all into holistic medicine and again, I feel like it is helping me (my Acupuncturist is a true healer!) but it just creeps me out. The occasional painful needle just ruins the whole thing for me and I am not afraid of a little pain (2 births with no drugs for goodness sakes). Oh well, maybe it is tied into my anxiety and I will try it again when I feel more at ease.
From my last doctors appointment, all my blood levels are up and good but my Parathyroids are still "asleep". I won't bore you with the details of what Parathyroids are....in short, they control your Calcium absorption and mine ain't working (hence the really scary trip to the ER with dangerously low Calcium). There is some question as to whether I still have Parathyroids??? They are tiny and can sometime accidentally come out during a Thyroidectomy. So, I continue to take 2.5 calcium horse pills 3 times a day with 2 vitamin D's twice a day. Here is the deal though.....life is good, I will gladly take a parcel of pills for the rest of my life. I had Cancer and now it is almost gone and if one of the side effects of that is poppin pills everyday, I am a-ok with that!!!!!!!!
Oooops, I just realized that no where in this blog have I mentioned that I had/have Cancer. Well that is why my good for nothin' Thyroid had to be removed (twice...one side each surgery). I had a 3 centimeter nodule on my Thyroid and 95% of the time they are nothin' but lucky me, I fell into the 5%. I haven't really written about that in this blog because I tend to not get too personal here but what the heck, now that I feel better I feel like spilling my guts :) I really don't like to mention that this Thyroid issue was/is Cancer because, of all the Cancers this is the one of the few that is completely curable. With surgery and one treatment with a radioactive iodine pill (which I will do next month) most folks are cured....when I say most, I mean like really most, like 99%. Personally, I think they should rename it. I mean if it is curable, can we call it something other than Cancer? That word is so scary and it freaks people out....with good reason.
So there ya go....I am feeling well, I hope you are too!!!! :)
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