It's All Good

The big mammogram was this morning and I am relieved to report that they found nothing wrong. I had to get up at 5am to make the crazy early appointment so I have been loopy most of the day. It was mostly a lot of waiting around. I think I read every People and In Style magazine in the place. I will always associate my first mammogram with Marcia Brady's cocaine addiction and Angelina's postpartum depression. I had one set of scans and then they looked at the films and made me have another and then they looked at the films and made me have an ultrasound. None of this was reassuring me because I figured this meant that they had found something bad and were getting a better look at it. But then at the end they said what the doctor must have felt was just a lymph node which occurs naturally in the body and goes away on their own. I'm glad to say it didn't hurt at all. I guess if you're flat chested it might but it wasn't any worse than getting x rays at the dentist. I'm obviously relieved but I had been trying not to think about it because I didn't want to freak out until I knew there was something specific to freak out about. Its hard to avoid it though when its breast cancer awareness month. Everywhere I turned there were pink ribbons and bald women sharing their stories. I wasn't ready to join their club.

Facebook Stalking

Facebook has become a new obsession at work for everyone. I've been on it for a while because I have found that I am too old for My Space. Now, most of the people I work with are on it and we find we are cyber stalking each other without even knowing it. Yesterday I said that I wrenched my neck over the weekend and someone automatically asked if it was from painting my living room. The only place I had mentioned painting was on Facebook. I have discovered many old friends along with my current ones. Its even easier to keep up with people than emailing. I know I'm old because my new favorite thing to do on it is play Scrabble with people even though I haven't won a game yet. They redesigned it a few months ago and I didn't like it but have gotten used to it. I check it about 10 times a day but since I have no life I'm not going to be ashamed of it.

Santa, I Need A New Camera

See, this post started out as "look at all the earrings I made tonight while watching Grays Anatomy!" Instead I'm just ending up frustrated with the digital camera. I believe I have mentioned this before but I believe our camera is the suckiest ever made. I'm not sure what Canon thought it would be good for but any sort of close up is out of the question. Its full of buttons that pretend to do things to improve your photos but actually don't do anything. I know Tim must have done research before he bought it because he's male and they do those things. I just want my own camera for Xmas and I want it to be red. You probably can't search "best red camera" under Consumer Reports but they need to consider adding something like that because that is how women shop. I'm kicking myself because I saw a $150 camera for sale for $75 and it was red but I told myself I didn't really need it. I see all these blogs and Etsy and they have such fantastic photos. Its like when you look through the Pottery Barn catalog and you end up hating everything you own and wanting to order one of everything. So anyway, look at all the earrings I made tonight while watching Grays Anatomy. They look like cute little flowers but clearly you can't see that. You'll probably have to come over to my house if you actually want to see them.

80's Flashbacks

I think I am one of the few people that actually develop their digital pictures. I am a hold out for the days of getting the pictures developed, writing the dates and names on the back and putting them in a photo album. I was upset when my film camera finally died last year and I found that you can't buy them anymore. I was putting my latest batch of pictures away and I noticed my really old albums that I never look in anymore. I discovered some big hair and crazy clothes. Some of my readers might want to sit down because you are in some of these.

That's me in the pink in 1981. I was a prize winning baton twirler in the 3rd grade. My mother would sew sequins onto leotards and we would drive to Massachusetts I think and compete for medals. Also pictured is my baton teacher Kim and my best friend at the time, Kellie Pelletier. Once I hit 4th grade I gave it up but I still have the baton down in the basement and still take it out occasionally and throw it around for the kids.

A very rare picture of me once I hit adolescence. This is 1985 at my friend Ellas house and I brought my cat Chelsea over to visit for some reason. Note the swinging saloon doors into the kitchen and the flowered wallpaper. Nothing in the picture is as bad as my glasses though.

Here is my dog Tara in 1989. She was the biggest stupidest Golden Retriever that ever lived but we loved her. She would steal whole sticks of butter off the kitchen counter and pace and pant for hours if a thunderstorm was coming. That was always fun in the middle of the night. I haven't had a dog since her.

Now we have made it to Senior year in high school. This is Terri and Heather during English class I think. Love those acid washed tapered jeans. I had several pairs of them.

Senior year again-Heather, Julie, and Sara. The hair back then was so high it was practically touching the ceiling. I can say for myself that while I did have feathered layers and bangs, I never sprayed them high and people thought my hair was very flat. I disagreed.

My AP U.S. History class in the Home Ec kitchens for some reason I don't remember. The avocado green and yellow color scheme was already outdated back then. I hope someone has made this place over-if they still offer home ec that is.


Lisa and Ed at the lockers-still together 20 years later! The lockers also were a bunch of awful colors and every year I slammed my finger in the door of mine. What did the inside of your locker look like? Mine had the magnetic mirror to check your hair in between classes and many pictures of Andre Agassi.
Finally graduated and ended high school hell. Note my flat hair-I was just ahead of my time. Can't make any excuse for my red Sally Jessy Rapheal glasses though.

So then we move into the 90's and my college dorm room. I still have that comforter and that basket along with a bunch of things on that bookshelf. Still doing my locker decorations though-notice the Agassi posters on the wall. I also still have those although they are down in the basement with my Duran Duran posters.

A Letter To Her Brother

How nice to find this after a long boring day at work filling in and then coming home to a frazzled tired husband and 2 over excited kids that have been driving him crazy all day. I finally got everyone in bed and asleep and was starting to tackle the 10 loads of laundry when I noticed a note to Declan that Grace had written before she went up to bed. I'll translate:
Dear Declan,
How are you? I think you are cool and cute. Don't tell Avery...Tell Avery.
Your friend,
Grace K. McMahon
P.S. I love you.

Avery is one of Graces friends and is not used to little brothers so she thinks he is a brat and Grace tends to pull the same attitude when she is around.
There is also a sealed envelope with Declans name on it to go along with this and I think its a picture she was drawing of her and Declan going out to dinner at a restaurant. They have always been close since the day we brought him home and I hope it continues as they get older. Other people tell us they are amazed at how well they get along and play together. The other day I woke up and found them together on Grace's bed looking at her yearbooks and she was telling him stories about their school. They get into about 10 fights a day but its good to know at the end of the day that they still love each other.

Must Find Some Time

I am told that one day I will have the time to do the things I want to do instead of things I have to do like dishes and laundry that other people created. I'm not sure when that will be but I will have many things lined up. This pile of beads below will one day be a necklace and several pairs of earrings. I bought them more than 2 months ago and I know I have had the free time since then to start them but probably ended up on the couch unable to move. Maybe I should get my thyroid checked or start chugging Red Bull. I also have a scrabble tile necklace kit to make. They are another part of my plan to sell things on Etsy. Again, that is something I need to find the time to do.
My children have all the time in the world to create things. I came home today to their super secret spy satellites. This is Grace's.
And this is Declan's-he had less time to work on his. I wonder if I will ever get these cereal bowls back?

Maybe we should send them to Alaska and Sarah Palin can use them to spy on Russia from her backyard.

Scary Stuff

How ironic it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I am being sent to my first mammogram. I'm not one to usually talk about these things to many people or put it out into cyberspace,if that's what it's still called. You see, I had my annual exam yesterday which is always dreaded but usually over quickly and forgotten. Except this time the doctor felt a lump in my breast and wants it to be checked out. Of course time stops as soon as she says she feels something. She repeatedly said to me that it doesn't feel like it is cancer-she thinks its a fibroadenama which is benign and easily dealt with. She even had one this year. I have decided to believe her and so far I am not freaking out although I easily could. They haven't scheduled me for it yet so I have no idea how quickly I can get in. I'm not used to dealing with illness. I come from freakishly healthy stock but when we do get sick, we do it big time. Remind me to tell you about my fathers artificial aorta sometime. When I told Tim he said he figured something like this would come up at some point and I would be fine. Sort of a weird reaction but he clearly has decided not to freak out yet either. So that's mostly what I have been thinking about since yesterday and I wish I could just get a definite answer.

This Old House

I don't know how a week goes by so quickly. How do those people who post every day do it? I am involved in the longest paint job ever right now. Our living room and dining room were in dire need of new paint. It's hard to believe but its been 10 years since we first painted them. You never realize how dirty your walls are until you put fresh paint up. We started it on my vacation 3 weeks ago and are still only halfway through. We have the ceilings painted and the colors on the walls but now we are left with the trim work and its not fun. What I would love to do is strip the moldings back to the original wood but who has the time for that? They were painted long ago by some long ago homeowner so I'm just going with what we have. The trim is 80 years old and thick and detailed and full of grooves and it is not fun to paint. So that explains why we are not done.


I decided not to pick new colors since I liked what we already had. This yellow is in the living room-its called Cornflower. It looks very bright to me in this picture but its more muted in real life. You can also the molding I am avoiding although this window trim is painted.
This is the dining room and this green is called Smokey Slate. This room had so many cracks down the wall I think there are unrecorded earthquakes in Portland. If we ever finish and I get curtains up and pictures back on the walls maybe I'll post full room pictures. I bought new curtains but I'm not sure about them. Might have to return them and hope for something better. I could figure out how to make them but as a beginner I'm worried I will make too many mistakes and ending up with the worlds most expensive crooked curtains.
In other news, I am trying to work through our pile of apples before they go bad. Declan helped me make an apple pie this week. He loves to be in charge of mixing.
The pie is long eaten. After all his help, Declan tried a piece and decided he didn't like it. I have to get going on some apple crisp and apple bread.
I'm still working on my winter blanket but I also started a scarf with the same yarn from the blanket. Its going along quickly enough when I sit down with it. I don't really need another scarf but I think I just like the way the cream colored yarn looks with the wooden needles.