Day 542 - My Mom.

Bless her heart. 


This morning I did yoga. Jaco roared around on his Dad's motorized scooter & terrorized his Mother & I in the process. He left for a dental appointment & I stayed on the patio & read in the sun. Hennie, his Dad, came out & sat with me for a while. We visited about this, that & the other.


Jaco returned from his dental appointment & we made a quick trip to Checkers before returning for supper & the tail end of the Amazing Race. I don't watch TV on a regular basis, so it doesn't really bother me that SA is a few seasons behind. I wouldn't know the difference! 


I phoned my Mom on skype this evening. She is cross with me for posting some photos on Facebook that were previously on the blog. If you read the blog regularly, you'll remember the post when she attempted making popcorn a new way. She nearly burned the house down! I thought it was funny, once we'd extinguished the flames & the smoke had cleared. Apparently she doesn't think so yet. 


While she was on the Facebook topic, I went ahead & created a Kim Taylor Fine Art Photography page for her. Go ahead & like it! I'm hoping she'll bite the social networking bullet & keep up with it. She's an amazing Photographer & deserves every ounce of success that comes her way!


Tomorrow we're back in Cape Town for an appointment with a Doctor. Wish us luck! I'll keep you posted!


xxxxMaria

My Mom & I

 It goes much faster than it looks!

I feel the need for speed!

Day 538 - Hangin' Out In Hermanus

Today was a lovely day. We woke up late, as usual. Our alarms had rang at 0430, 0930 & 1030 unexpectedly. We eventually woke up at - well, you get the picture. Jaco went to the bank to sort out a few things & I did yoga on the deck in the sunshine. When he returned from the bank, we went downtown to check out the health shop.


They carry Bragg's, but they were out of it. The lady took my name & number & is going to call me when the order comes in. I also contacted the Get Grounded guy & asked him if he would make an extension for my grounding mat & adapt it for North America so I can still use it when I go home. Yes! Yay!


After the health shop, we wandered around downtown Hermanus, but the shops were busy closing, so we didn't get a whole lot accomplished. We did see 2 adorable labs sitting in an old Mercedes & they made for a cute photo. See below!


Jaco drove us around town for a bit & we checked out the new buildings, construction & changes that have occurred since my last visit. It's incredible how the town has grown & evolved! We stopped at a little pool where Jaco used to swim when he was a boy. The tides fill the pool as they come in & out, but the water is very cold. Not my idea of a fun swim spot! We drove past the township & I am amazed at how these people live. Tin shacks, rags for clothes, but still smiling! It's such a different world from what I know!


We returned to the house & Jaco wasted some time on Facebook, while I wasted some time playing Angry Birds Rio. I think I'm behind in the scheme of things, but it's a fun little game! We had dinner - a traditional South African dish that combines bananas & ground beef. I didn't eat the beef. Oops. It's called 'bobotie' & pleases the carnivorous palate!


I spoke with my Mother this evening & tried to understand her plans for Norway. We're trying to get organized & sort out where/when we're going to go when we're there.


And now, here I sit. Trying to catch up on the blog. G'nite all... xxxxMaria

 Hermanus

 Jaco strikes a pose

 My baby & me

 low-tide - apparently you never see the sand!

 waves

 downtown

 LOVE this dog

 the pool Jaco used to swim in

 old house

Day 313 - Saskatoon via Black Diamond

I finally finished the Stirr edits at 0300. I was beat. I crashed, knowing full well that my plans to leave for Saskatoon by 1000 would NOT be happening. My revised plans to leave for Saskatoon at 1200 didn't even happen. Nope. We left around 1400. For Black Diamond.


We had to drop off the edits & Yay! Clayton liked them! I am very happy that he is happy & I am excited to take my cooking class in trade somewhere down the line! One step closer to domestication. No wonder I like boots so much. They allow me to dig my heels in when I want to resist something. Like domestication! :o)


We stopped at Chinook Windz to pick up some food for Valentina & a hot chocolate for Jaco & I. And we were off. At the wonderful hour of 1630. Oh dear. 


Jaco drove the entire way. I kept him company by nagging at him about his driving, reading a book to him, pointing out the Northern Lights (sweet!), giving directions, & steering so he could give Tweet Pea the odd cuddle now & then. 


We managed to get 2 stone chips in the windshield just before Hanna. There was a stretch of highway that seemed to last FOREVER & lo & behold, we each got a chip at about eye level. Hopefully we can get them fixed before they spread right across the line of view!


We talked about politics, childhood memories - when is your earliest memory? - dreams, buffalo, where to live & where NOT to live... Before we knew it, we were in Saskatoon. We found the LAST room at the Super 8... It's now 0130 & I'm beat... Tomorrow we surprise Granny... I brought a wig so she won't be horrified to see my bald, tattoo'd head. Here's hoping the red pixie cut isn't too much for her either! ;o)


Oh yes, Mom took a few snaps of the Henna Do while it's still dark & before I have to attempt at tracing over it. Thanks Mom! She's redoing the office while Jaco & I are away, so here's hoping she manages well on her own! She's always got Oceana for a 'little' support! 


xxxxx
Maria, Jaco & Valentina

Photos by Kim Taylor; Henna Artistry by Larissa of Dragon Fly Designs

Thank you to Larissa of Dragon Fly Designs for her incredible talents!

Thank you to Mom for her fabulous photography skills!

Day 292 - Round 3 of AVD

Well today was certainly a mish-mash of positives & negatives. Mom2 came with me & was by my side the entire day. Right up until we dropped her off & she sent me home with a turkey bun. (+) We scooted over to HomeSense while we waited for my drugs & she found some pots & woks she had been on the hunt for. (+) She kept me preoccupied & laughing when the treatment got crazy. (+) And she got to meet her new Doctor - my Doctor - Dr. Daly. (+)


And there was the treatment. Blood work was quick & relatively painless. (+) There was no fishing in my arm for a vein. (+) When it came time for chemo, they found a good vein (+) or did they? (-) By the third drug, Dacarbazine, my veins had had enough. My arm was cold to the touch, but the sensation was that of fire. (-) They slowed the drip rate down 3x, but it still hurt. (-) To make matters worse, I had to have an anti-emetic after the chemo. (-) They are out of the pill form of the usual anti-emetic I take, but they have the syrup. I took the syrup the last time & it was brutal on my teeth. Needless to say, I was tired & grumpy by the end of the session. 


Thankfully the Nurses were AWESOME as usual. Mom2 & I had been talking about the hospital a few days before & she thought I was absolutely mental when I said I looked forward to visiting with the Nurses & how friendly & nice everyone was. Only now did she understand my thoughts! We enjoyed visiting with the girls & I even showed them Jaco & I's wedding photos from Namibia (which Mario just won another award with us in his portfolio!). It was priceless, as one of the Nurses was convinced that Jaco's profile looks exactly like Dr. Lategan & she found it her sole purpose that day to convince all the other Nurses to come & have a look at the profile. Her enthusiasm was infectious. (About the only infectious thing you'd want to pick up in a treatment room!) :o) We were all in stitches every time she would call another Nurse over to have a look.


I was excited to see that the Beautiful Sam was in the treatment room again. She makes my day. We enjoyed visiting about our dogs & I'm hoping she'll bring them out for a run on the ranch before the snow falls! 


Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that I would meet so many wonderful people while taking chemo treatments. I was the girl who was strictly opposed to any sort of Western Medicine intervention. I thought it was all one big pharmaceutical push & the Doctors were pretty much robots who were trained to have textbook answers for all the questions. Who would have thought I would ever meet Doctors & Nurses with *GASP* personalities!? I feel like I have another family & I still have 9 more rounds to go! I realize they see a lot of people come & go, but they have made this part of my journey absolutely enjoyable & I can't say enough how much I appreciate that. Hmm, they did mention something about coffee & chocolate... :o)


Of course, Mom had to stop at Costco. I shouldn't have gone in, but I did. Just stay in the car, Jill! But no. I was hungry & enjoyed the Caesar salad sample, so at least that made it worthwhile! Mom2 found another wok & Mom picked up her fruit fix for the week. 


We drove to Mom2's where she made me a delish turkey bun & then it was home time. I crashed on the way home (as in sleep - Mom was driving) & did my best to sleep off the effects of the drugs. 


Tonight was Valentina's last night in the big bed. Tomorrow she graduates to the Big Girl Bed when Papa gets here... Not long to go now! Can't wait!


xxxxx
Maria & Valentina

Oh where oh where is my Mexican Hot Pack?

Heating my veins for the poison

Iny saying, 'There, there! You see! It's Dr. Lategan!'

'Don't you think so!? It's him!'

'Her husband looks just like Dr. Lategan!'

Mom2 & I

Mom & I

A Rose between 2 Tulips (Dr. Daly & his two 'Favourite' patients - I'm recruiting to make it a family affair!) :o)

Day 281 - Nothin' Like A Good Ol' Thunderstorm!

Another relatively uneventful day... Wake up, check messages, have breakfast, sit outside & read for a bit... Not too enthralling.

I had been up late last night helping Mom rescue one of her hard drives & this morning I took it to her first thing. She seemed quite ungrateful that I'd helped her out - not sure where her head space was at. But then later, all was revealed. She wants to give away Oceana. 

Yeah, I'm pretty much devastated. She hasn't even had her for 3 months & she's already trying to pawn her off. Worst of all on some fellow from her past that treated her like junk... What's he going to do to the dog??? Over my dead body will she give poor Oceana to him!

So, now it looks like I've got 2 dogs. I haven't done any training with Oceana because she's Mom's dog & I didn't want to interfere. I dug out my 51 Puppy Tricks book & the training will commence tomorrow. I get so frustrated with my Mother sometimes. I feel like she tries to 'fix' an area of her life, but gets confused at which one is the most important! The saddest part of all is poor Oceana! She is very submissive & has latched onto Mom like no dog I've ever seen. Mom can't go anywhere without Oceana hot on her heels. 

I'll start taking a list of anyone who wants to dog sit while I'm visiting Jaco this winter! :o) 

I joked with a friend of mine today that I'm sure Mom would have pawned my brother & I off had she been given the chance... Now that I think of it, I do have that one girlfriend who looks A LOT like Mom & she's a few years older... Hmm...

Needless to say, I wanted out of the house, so I put the girls' matching raincoats on & went down to EVIC. The thunder started to roll half way there & we arrived just in time for it to start pouring. We sat inside & observed the flashes while Joe counted the time between lightning & thunder. Some of them were pretty close!

I waited awhile before I walked back home in the rain. The girls didn't really like their raincoats. At one point, I felt like I was dragging both of them, instead of them walking on their own. I turned around & sure enough, I was dragging them! Their hoods had fallen down over their eyes & they couldn't see a thing! All I could see was a red or pink coat with a little black nose poking out the front end & a tail out the back! 

They were both caked in mud & dirt by the time we arrived home, so I carried them straight to the tub. A quick rinse & towel dry & they were good as new. They had a blast ripping around the house playing & drying off. One excited wiener dog is fun, never mind two of them!

I decided to bake something this evening. I found a recipe for banana bread in my Caribbean cookbook (Thanks Winners!) that sounded good. Of course, I don't use the regular ingredients & well, I think I'll have to bake it a few times to perfect it. I used raw sugar instead of light brown sugar, coconut flour instead of self-rising flour, almond milk instead of milk... The flour made things pretty dry. I added more milk & an extra egg. Additionally, it said to grease the tin, so I put olive oil on it. Then added the parchment paper. I'm not sure how it happened, but the bottom of the bread is oily & there was a bunch of water & oil in the bottom of the tin. Let's just say it's edible, but heavy. Next time, I'll cut out some flour & perhaps use butter instead of olive oil?

Seriously, someone needs to invent Culinary Bootcamp for people like me. I could be a Fruigivore like my husband. He'll eat oranges, I'll eat cherries & berries. Lord help us come winter! :o)

In any case, I decided to make myself a routine last night. It works for kids & dogs, so why not me? As I type this entry, I'm about 2 hours behind schedule, but I'll see what I can do to catch up! :o) Part of my schedule includes meal planning for the following day. I liked the look of a lot of the recipes in the Caribbean cookbook, so I'll see what I can find that's yummy! (& healthy!)

I finally hooked up my Magic Jack, after giving my husband grief about not having his set up! :o) I'm pretty excited about it! If you leave me a message, it emails me the message & I can listen to it in my email program! How cool is that? I love Magic Jack! (Did I mention you pay $20/yr for long distance anywhere in Canada & the USA?) And you can take it anywhere in the world & call Canada/USA for that same $20/yr??? What a great invention! **It costs $40 for the Jack, $20/yr or $70 for 5 yrs, plus $10 for a Canadian number** See website for details. Okay, my infomercial is done! :o)

I caught up with a girlfriend from Saskatchewan last night. I haven't spoken to her in awhile & it was great to hear her voice. She has two adorable boys, Buster & Huxley. She has caught a lot of flack for naming her first son, Buster. Agreed, it's not a common name, but it TOTALLY suits him! Last night we Wikipedia'd 'Buster' & there are a lot of famous 'Buster's' out there. Even I was impressed! One from South Africa & one from the UK who was involved in the early developments in IVF! Crazy! I hope her mind is at ease, knowing her son has a unique & meaningful name.

Our conversation was cut short when the lightning returned & every flash I saw made a click on the phone! Okay! Time to go! I fell asleep to the sound of the rain hammering down outside my window.

Have a great Sunday everyone! xxxx

Maria, Valentina & Oceana

Matching jackets for the sisters.

Please, Mama, play with me?

Tangled up!

I've got it!

Tug o' war!