Day 558 - Oh Happy Day!

A rather frustrating day for Jaco & I. His passport still isn't back & he still needs to apply for a Shengen visa. The dreams of Norway are getting a little gritty. Grr... I'm frustrated at the slack SA procedures! 


But... On a high note (pun intended!) we scored tickets to Roxette! Yay! I'm a huge fan & although I'm sure it would've been sweet to see them in their heyday, I'll take what I can get! So, Jaco, Carmen, Charlene & Charlene's other half are joining me for a fabulous night out! I can hardly wait! I'm going to be singing out loud for the next 6 months! Yippee! 





The tickets were hard to get, by the way. All three Cape Town shows were sold out & I basically stalked Gumtree (SA's version of Kijiji) all day to score tickets. I had to buy 5 to get two, but it's working out well! Ha!


And the other high point of the day... very high! I had to stay up until 0200 to get it, but I finally got to see the dogs! Mom picked them up today & took her laptop with her so we could Skype. Oooh! I miss Tweet Pea & Oceana! They look just darling! I miss them so much! It made my day to see their little faces! And Valentina still recognized my voice! All is not lost!


That's it for today... Oh & I made raw tabbouleh & stuffed avocados. Day 3 of detox. 10% down the hatch!


xxxxMama Maria

Day 382 - Jessica, Acupuncture & The Keg

This morning found me back at Jessica's. I haven't seen her for awhile, so it was great to be back. As always, she pegs my issues right from the get go. She gave me a clean billing for my health, I was happy about that. She did tell me, however, that I have some issues regarding patience & control. For those of you who believe that health issues can stem from emotional/psychological issues, you'll agree with me (her). For those of you who don't, well, I guess you won't! But I do. I guess that's my mission for these next 6 weeks of living with my Mom. Implementing patience when she doesn't hear me for the 4th time & letting her drive the way she wants (please Lord, let us arrive safe!).

I'll do my very best to make our LAST 6 weeks of living together as peaceful as possible. Wish me luck! I know I need the patience on my side & letting go of things I can't control is obviously a big help - resistance is futile, isn't that what they say?

After Jessica's appointment, I motored over to Centre St where I met a young man interested in buying my lens. I've had it listed on Kijiji since about May/June, so I was quite pleased when he said he would take it. We visited for awhile & then I had to boogie on over to my next appointment. I was going to see Dr. Zhao for another acupuncture appointment. Last time I had been so worked up about the police stopping us & all the other running around we had to do, I didn't get rid of much anxiety! (To say the least) Luckily, this time, I was able to fall asleep & woke up feeling much better about things! (Ready to take on the patience/control task!)

I stopped at CNF to pick up a few fruits for Jaco & then I boogied home. We were having dinner at the Keg with Mom & Ken & Mom2 & Greg. Initially is was just Jaco, myself, Mom & Ken. But then I thought we should invite Mom2 & Greg, seeing as we were running out of days to see them again. When I got home, Jaco informed me that he had spoken to Lawrence & invited him too. While I was at home waiting for Jaco to finish getting ready, Lawrence called & asked if Neil could come as well. So, we went from 4 to 8 in 24 hours. We had a great meal, but we didn't get a whole lot of visiting in, as it was a long rectangle table. I felt bad that Mom & Ken arrived late & were seated at the opposite end of the table from us. Oh well, it's not like we're never going to be in Canada again!

I had excruciating bone pain tonight. I thought my spine & hips were going to fly out of my body & stick into the walls around me. It was pretty rough. I couldn't get up to hug anyone hello at dinner & in the middle of the night I got up to use the loo & fell onto the bed the pain was so bad! Yuck!

Tomorrow is chemo, so I am assuming my WBC will be sky high from all this bone pain. Here's to a calm & clear round #9. Lekker slaap!

xxxxMJV&O

Mom2 & Greg - What a foxxy lookin' couple, eh? 

Neil, Mom, Ken & Lawrence 

Mrs & Doc

Day 231 - Ultrasound! Finally!

Up & at it early again this morning, I had my first ultrasound & blood test at the fertility clinic. It was finally time to start the meds! We're making progress! I left Jenn at home with her little ones & made my way to the clinic. I arrived shortly after 0800 & took a seat. I had been told previously that ultrasounds would be done on a 'first come, first serve' basis, so I expected a wait, considering I was 5 minutes late & the waiting room was chokka block!


I occupied myself by playing on my iPod, looking through a magazine, napping while sitting, checking my emails on the free computer... Pretty soon it was 1030 & I still hadn't been called in! I looked around the waiting room & didn't recognize anyone! I asked the girl beside me if she was having an ultrasound & she said she was waiting for blood work & her ultrasound had already been done. She asked me what I was there for & I said the same, but I hadn't been called in yet. She looked shocked! She said I should ask, as it doesn't generally take longer than a 1/2 hour to get in. 


Sure enough, there was a malfunction on the computer & they thought I hadn't shown up. They had been frantically calling my house looking for me, meanwhile I was napping in the waiting room! They were very apologetic, but I told them not to worry, it was fine. A parking donation would have been great, but anyways...


It was quite interesting to see the ultrasound. Modern technology is quite fascinating! Normally a woman produces only one follicle per cycle. With the puny little shots I would be doing, say 2 ml/day of drugs, it would stimulate my body to produce 8-20 follicles! Crazy what a little amount of chemical can do to a person! 


All done & dusted with the first ultrasound, I sped home to wait for the phone call from the nurse regarding my blood tests & my drug schedule. Bad news, I have too much estrogen. I'm not 100% sure what that means, but they like quiet ovaries & apparently mine aren't too quiet... Ironic... even my ovaries tend to babble on... 


They decided to start me on treatment anyways, as I don't really have the luxury of humming & hawing around anymore. So, 1 shot of Luveris & 1 shot of Gonal F starting tomorrow at 1300. Tuesday, the 15th, would see me in for my next ultrasound, which they assured me I would be 1st in line for!! :o)


I rounded up the wedding decorations & headed to Cochrane to pick up Valentina. I had left her with Jenn & the kidlets for the morning. Harrison liked to play with 'Tina', as he calls her. I was completely beat, but I didn't have time for a nap. I ate a quite bite & hit the road again. This time I had to drive to Shawnessy & meet my potential Kijiji buyer. 


Thank goodness she bought it all! I was so happy to get rid of the decorations. I loved the lanterns & would love to put them up somewhere permanently, but seeing as I don't have a place to do so right now, they were just taking up space. I could have sold them many times over! No one wanted the other stuff... They only wanted the lanterns. Luckily the gal I met today was willing to take the wanted with the unwanted. I felt like I lost 10 pounds on the spot! Ahhhh! Sigh of relief! One less thing to worry about!


I felt bad for Jenn having to miss a day of work & so I stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart & picked up a couple of tins of baby formula for Heidi. It doesn't make up for a full day's wage, but hopefully it would help! After that, it was home time! I found the kids in bed & Jenn watching the tail end of Precious. Oh my. What a sad & disturbing show. I suppose people need to be aware of things like this that really do exist, but for most of us, it's certainly NOT our reality. I pray for the people who suffer through things like that. If you haven't watched it, well, be brave, but prepare yourself. 


Jenn & I had a wonderful heart-to-heart talk about life & all its crazy twists & turns. I'm so happy that she's close by. Having her in Texas was just not the same. I have no idea where Jaco & I will end up, but it's great to have her near for this year! 


Alas, we were both tired, so we went to bed relatively early - 2300-ish. I think I beat Valentina to the snoring phase! Here's to a good sleep & surviving Day 2 of Supernanny! (I think I've got it under control now!)


Lekker slaap,
Maria & Valentina & Harrison & Heidi & Jenn
xxxxx

Looking at the Foothills Hospital & the Tom Baker Cancer Centre from the Fertility Clinic

Almost ready for the ultrasound

A nice black & white picture.

Like Mama, like Son - they were both playing on iPod/iPhones!

Day 150 - She Cleans & OMGosh - Is She? What the? SHE COOKS?!?!

Yes, call me Domesticated. Well, maybe not. Don't get too excited! It was nothing out of a Martha Stewart magazine. 


I had an email regarding the wedding decorations I'm trying to sell on Kijiji & the potential buyer wanted to know what all I had. I had written in down in last year's day planner, which I couldn't seem to find. I searched all over the house with no luck. Well, I must have packed it down to the bunkhouse last week when I was tidying up some stuff. 


Away I go, with Valentina sniffing along behind me. She is the funniest dog to watch jump a puddle. She leaps so high, rather then making use of her length, and then she falls short & ends up getting wet anyhow. It really is quite priceless! She is also getting very good at coming when I call her off leash. In fact, I've never seen her run so fast. It's really hard no to laugh as I watch her run to me. She looks so hilarious with her ears flopping & slicked back on her head. Her little legs just giving all they've got... I love my dog!


I pilfer through the bunkhouse again & find a few treasures (still no luck on the underwater housing) but I don't find the day planner. I walk back to the house & decide that perhaps it is in the car. Dear ol' Contemplate needs a bit of a clean, so I take the winter boots out, Valentina's toys & bits of toys, oh yeah, the air filter! I can change that too! 


I take the clamps off & take out the old air filter. Eew. There are bits of chips, green things & brown things. I'm not sure what they are or how they got there, but the vacuum is in order. So I decide to do a little Spring cleaning & vacuum the car, top off the windshield fluid, change the air filter, take out all the bits & pieces... There! Just like new! You'd never know she was 20 years old! BTW, still no day planner. But I did find:

• Slave for studio lighting
• Speakers & stereo still waiting to be installed
• Roll of duct tape under the seat
• Pair of socks from the hike Jaco & I did in September (yes, 6 months ago) (Oh my gosh, I know it's gross, but it SO does NOT compare to the stink bugs living under the bike seat that we put in the cab of the car to get to the trail head. THAT IS ONE SMELL I WILL NEVER FORGET!)
• Guide book for Banff
• Keith Urban concert ticket stubs
• The missing hamburger patty! Yay! No stench come July!!!
• Coins in various amounts

I quickly take the vacuum back inside the house before Mom gets home or any passer's -by might see me & think I know what I'm doing... 

I was quite baffled now, as I didn't know where else to look for the day planner. I'll look in the desk one more time. I thought it should have been there, as I usually leave it there, but I'd already looked twice. Maybe it's in the back of this... drawer. Found it!

I emailed the prospective buyer & about that time, Mom arrived home. I had promised I would cook supper. I had picked up a few cookbooks & picked out a recipe from each one. I started to mark the pages in each book when Mom asked me if I'd started the recipe already. No, why? Well, it says you have to dehydrate the squash for 18 hours. Whoopsie! Okay, so no raw dish for tonight. I couldn't do the Indian dish either, because not only did I not know what Bengal gram was, but apparently neither does CNF or Safeway! I was left with an Italian pasta dish & a Russian vegetable dish. 

I THOROUGHLY read each recipe before I began. The Russian one consisted of mushrooms & eggplant in a creamy sauce. Okay, is the cream bad? Should it have chunks in it? MOM! Come smell this... Nope, still good. The dish turned out quite good. But we were too full from eating the pasta, which was ready first, that we didn't have much room for it! Tomorrow!

The pasta dish was another story. I think I would have failed my first day of Italian Culinary school. The recipe called for pasta, pepper & cheese. Pretty easy, no? Well, I couldn't find fresh egg pasta, so I used rice linguini instead. The directions were to keep some of the water from cooking the pasta for the sauce. But since I used hard rice pasta, my water turned all milky & stuff. And I overcooked the pasta. Mushy. Next up was the peppercorns. It said to gently warm them in a frying pan to release the 'aroma & flavour'. Cool, I feel like a real chef! Releasing aroma! Then it said to crush the peppercorns using a mortar & pestle & if you didn't have one of those, then just put the peppercorns in a tea towel & crush them using a frying pan. 

I put the peppercorns in the towel on top of the cutting board & I take my warm-ish frying pan & WHACK, WHACK, WHACK. Crap. I just broke the handle on Mom's frying pan. Hmm. I suppose they probably just meant put pressure on the frying pan to crush the peppercorns, not annihilate them & the frying pan by use of brute force. Thank goodness Winners carries good pans! And thank goodness I just so happened to have a mortar & pestle left behind by a ship mate that she picked up in Costa Rica! I had never used it. Now I know why. The darned peppercorns just kept flying out of the mortar! I think Valentina sniffed more peppercorns than went into the pasta!

So that was supper. I'm feeling a little queasy at the moment. If there aren't any further blog posts after a week, maybe send someone over to check on Mom & I. 

Just let it be said - I did cook. Whether or not it is suitable for humans, well, I'll let you know how we're doing tomorrow! 

Jaco called after dinner - thank goodness he didn't call while I was cooking! I don't need him getting any bright ideas! :o) We discussed our 'Reunion' plans & it looks like I'll be heading to the ship on the 17th of April. Hello Barbados & more importantly, Hello Man of My Dreams!!!! I can't wait to see him! It's been too long! Again! 

Tomorrow I'm off to SK. Again. Bear with me as I try to keep up with the posting!

Love & kitchen kisses,

Maria & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

My sneaky Mom taking a photo of the unsuspected unsuspecting chef.

Doesn't Mom know what happens when people with knives in their hands become upset? They break frying pans!!!