Trunk or Treat with Grandkids!

They all went on the cupcake walk and received a cupcake which they scarfed down and then it was down the hall for a drink.
Colin was Robin Hood, Ady, Maid Marion, and Owen Spider Man complete with leather gloves. We did take his leather gloves off to eat, of course!


For putting the bean bag through the mouth of the ghost Ady received a necklace which we gracefully added to her beautiful dress. By the end of the night she had two necklace adorning her outfit.
Owen and Colin waiting in line for the bean bag toss with grandpa. There was also eating a donut on a string and a fishing pond and cake walk. Grandma was on her scooter taking pictures! After the carnival in the gym, all of us went outside to "Trunk or Treat." The kids saw a scary witch, Abe Lincoln, a crazy crayon lad. cheerleaders, flapper ladies, punk rockers and some draculas and other odd assortments of costumed people having lots of fun. For some unexplained reason a whole cow costume family showed up. Grandma dressed in a orange polo shirt and went as a handicapped person! Ha, ha. We all had a lot of fun and "tired out" was the game we played as we headed home!

My New Scooter

My scooter frees my hands so I can do more things and gets me places faster. The chair next to me with the pillows was where I spent my day cropping pictures for scrap booking.
Ben loved my scooter and pushed it around the condo. He liked to tip it over so he could play with the wheels. He also has another strange habit of carrying around one shoe by the shoelace.

As you can see the cast is almost up to my knee. I've pretty much gotten used to sleeping with it. The first few days my foot had panic attacks because it couldn't get out of the cast. The hard part is no baths or showers except sponge baths. I only have two more weeks to go until this comes off. I'm gaining a lot of upper body strength from lifting myself up both sets of stairs. I only use the crutches upstairs now. When we go anywhere I use the scooter.

Last Friday we went to the music store in Burlington, WalMart, and the dollar store for cards. By the time I arrived home I was spent! I didn't realize what a big store WalMart was until I had to do to on a scooter! Relief Society sisters are just bringing in one meal a week now. It has been nice. I did manage to fix a chicken, stuffing caserole. I just can't get it out of the fridge by myself so I go to the fridge with my dish and ladle out what I need right at the fridge without having to remove the caserole.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION!!!

Yahoo and Whoops

Tuesday was a banner day. I went to visit the oncologist and he decided my counts were low enough to take me off chemo. Frank came with me to the appointment but had to leave to Tacoma for a Support Enforcement Convention. It's a once a year thing. He was gone Tues, Wed and back Thurs night.

Since Sunday I had been having pain in my right foot. I stepped into a Suburban for a ride to church and turned my foot towards the little toes and felt extreme pain. I thought it would go away by the time I got to church, but had to limp around for the next 4 hours. (Choir practice was before church and choir was singing)

Sunday night Eric brought Adyson. She stayed the night and I spent the day on the couch with my right foot elevated and watched Disney movies. Her favorite is Alice in Wonderland. When the pain hadn't abated by Tuesday morning, I made an appointment to see my regular doctor at 4 pm, after I saw the Oncologist.

They took ex-rays and determined that my 5th metatarsal bone in my foot was broken, not a hairline fracture, but broke clear through. They fitted me with a boot and went to get crutches to fit, but had none. (Efficiency in that clinic, not) I promised I would have someone take me the next morning to pick some up. Driving home with my left foot was an adventure. I think people thought I was a beginning driver because I punched the brake way too hard at first. Then I'm thinking as I drive home,"how am I going to get into my house without crutches?" So I drove by 3 different friends, all of which were not home. One house I could see movement inside so I honked the horn a few times, waited, still no one came out so I left. Could you see me crawling to the front door. That would been a comedic sketch. On the way home a brother in our ward was OUTSIDE and I stopped the car and explained my situation. He followed me over and helped me hop inside through our garage.

So, now I'm home and no husband coming home for two days. I called some friends who brought me dinner, did some vacuuming and filled my water bottles. For those who know my house I have a split level entry with living room on that level, stairs going up to the kitchen or down to the family room. I was fine for that night.

Wednesday morning my friend came back and washed some dishes, made me a sandwich for lunch, and put her homemade chicken soup in a bowl in the microwave. Crawling up the stairs at lunch, eating the sandwich on the counter (I couldn't carry it anywhere), then at dinner heating up the soup, sitting in a chair and eating it at the oven. (Couldn't carry that anywhere either)

Another friend dropped off perfectly fitting crutches and I proceeded to look on you tube on how to use crutches properly. I have to be on crutches for 3 weeks and in the boot for 3-4 more weeks. My birthday is November 3 so I think I'll still be stylin' wearing my boot on my b-day! Yippee! (Not)

My good friend had bunion surgery a few years ago and told me I needed to get a stool for the kitchen (to do minimal cooking) and for showering. She also has the same kind of floor plan as I do. After 3 - 4 days of crawling up and down stairs she bought knee pads.

My friend Yolanda brought me knee pads which help a lot. She also brought me a much needed remedy, Dove chocolate!

I'm trying to look at this as another BIG bump in the road and staying positive about being off chemo. I'm beginning to think my life is one big adventure after another! I've had enough adventures thank you very much!

Ladies Night Out

We had Relief Society meeting which I think should be called "Ladies Night Out." It was potluck most people brought main dishes or desserts. There was one salad and not very good. We had an interesting quinoa, black beans and corn that was great. Teriyaki meatballs were a hit. I did take tuna caserole, but, at the last minute added fresh mushrooms. One of the sisters there said her favorite meal is tuna caserole but her family doesn't like it. I must have been inspired. Adyson and I had leftovers for lunch and I took the rest to feed Benjamin and I for dinner. It's all gone now.

We had a clothing exchange and I took a lot of clothes. Someone had given me a two expensive women's suits which were both too short for my tastes. Both of those went to the same woman which made me happy. I found some girl clothes for Adyson, my grandaughter and for myself.

We played a game called Apples and Apples that was pretty fun. There were only 12 of us there at first and then three more people arrived bringing more desserts so, of course we had to go try their additions.

I'm kinda bummed cause my walking partner tweeked her knee somehow. So I haven't walked since last Thursday. Shame on me.

Good news though; Frank is now walking a couple of times around the development. He comes home at night and before he even comes in the house so I know he's home he's out walking. I'm so proud of him. He is getting ready and fit for when we hopefully go to China.

Bountiful Beautiful Foods

Color in nature is so dramatic. These pears look like giant lemons they are so yellow.
This was a pork chow mein that I enhanced by adding Kale, Swiss Chard, and Parsley. I steamed the three greens for 7 minutes and added to the leftover chow mein. It has given me two meals and I still have more left!
Kale is a super vegetable with many more nutrients than even spinach. For breakfast I also stir fry these three greens and onion, then add scrambled eggs and a sprinkling of grated cheese. Yesterday I wrapped the scrambled egg mixture and had a breakfast burrito. It was yummy.

When we went to Wenatchee, my Uncle Rex gave us a whole box of free pears. They are ripening fast so every day I have to eat at least one. I have given 3/4 of the box away since I am not doing any canning this year.
Melt in your mouth goodness and so little calories! If only I could eat natural sugar ALL the time!

Tomorrow is our Relief Society meeting. We are having a pot-luck dinner and game night. I plan on going - what to make though. I'm leaning toward a tuna noodle caserole; simple and quick. I bought some whole wheat pasta noodles at QFC tonight so I think I'll try them.

Benjamin's B-Day Celebration

Benjamin had 13 other family members at his party. It was a bit overwhelming for him to say the least.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and he started crying. We all felt so bad. Everyone was shsshing and telling everyone to be quiet. It was totally quiet; he stopped crying and looked around wondering where all the sound went. We all couldn't help but laugh at the futility of it all!

My two darling grandaughters, Jennifer and Adyson.

Camron interestingly enough was curious about his littlest cousin Ben and sat and watched him play with his new basketball hoop toy.
Eric, Ethan and Terrin getting ready to leave
Colin, 7 years old.

Trip to Wenatchee with Adyson

Adyson and I both wore pink on purpose so we could match! So of course we had to take a picture. Dear sweet Ady. We love her so much.
Adyson is with us for daycare on Mondays and Fridays starting with the Friday because her brothers all are in school. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday she is in a daycare/preschool for the social benefit of being with other children.

It was cloudy when we left Stanwood and rained a little bit on Stevens Pass.
I now know why I love the NW so much. The beauty of the mountains and the evergreens is phenomenal.
Pine trees growing right up the side of the mountain. They don't care as long as Mother Nature gives them plenty of water.

I wanted to get these line of trees on the very top of the mountain, but what I got was an awesome view of the change from overcast to sunny. It was very sudden. All at once the sun was upon us.
My uncle Rex is my real Mom's half brother. He and his wife Ella (as in Enchanted?) welcomed us and we had a nice visit. They even had great grandkids for Ady to play with so she disappeared for nice little while to have some kid's fun.
Their grandson, Lance Larson went to Taiwan, China on his mission and then went back to teach in a private high school while at BYU. So we had plenty of questions for him.

Ella is 81 and Rex is turning 84 in Dec. She had a reoccurence of breast cancer from 25 years ago and just had a mastecomy in May. Rex has congestive heart disease. He recently spent a few days in the hospital in Wenatchee so they could drain the excess fluid from his body that had accumlated. He was on water pills, but even then his legs were very, very swollen. He is also on oxygen. When we came in there were 25 foot long tubes for his oxygen canister so he could travel around his big rambler at will even with the oxygen hooked up. He now is on two water pills a day. Ella says they are both slowing down a lot. Still they manage to do the peach orchard (a small one). They are amazing people and I am proud to be related. He is also the Patriarch in their stake.
Leavenworth is a resort town where most of the buildings are built like an old German town. This is one example.
We had to make the token stop at McDonalds so Adyson could have a Happy Meal. The Heltons kept telling me she looks so much like me.

Anyway, the long and short of it is we got 4 boxes of peaches, two of which are going to my friend Cindy. I've decided to take it easier this year and not can. So we will eat them. They pick them ripe off the tree and they are huge. Guess what we will be eating and sharing with our friends for the next two weeks. I may freeze some to have in cobblers.