Cake Wrecks!

I took a break from my sleeping/resting/sleeping schedule that NAET has so kindly required of me to do something super fun! The people behind the hilarious Cake Wrecks blog came to our town and my sister Suzanne, her friends and I love the blog, so we signed up to go! John and Jen are the married couple behind the blog and are both so funny. They shared a slideshow of some really crazy (and some creepy) cakes and then we stood in a long line so that Suz, Kara and Jana could get their books signed. John came around and talked to us in line so that was cool. He took this picture of the crowd while they were doing the slideshow. (This picture is from their blog - I just cropped it so you could see us a little bit.)

See those faintly circled partial heads? From left to right, the circles show me, my sister Suz, Kara's forehead and Jana. It only looks like there are people sitting in between us because there were a ton of people there. We are straining to see the screen because it was kind of low and the place was packed to the gills. We had so much fun!

Updates

Thanks SO much for all the kind words and prayers for my dad.

He is in the hospital with shingles. He is in a lot of pain. But anti-viral and fluid IVs are helping him get better. Ironically, the cancer drugs didn't make him sick (yet... crossing fingers) but the anti-viral pills he was on sure did. He is off the cancer meds for now so his immune system can fight the shingles.

Just so you know, if you ever get shingles (and now that I have seen pictures of my poor dad, I sincerely hope you don't), apple cider vinegar can really reduce the pain, and possibly even shorten the time you have the virus. I found this link and my dad said that before the acv, his pain level was very literally at an 11 on a scale of 1-10. And he has a high threshold for pain. After a few treatments of letting gauze soaked in acv sit on his face, the pain went down to a 5. I am so glad he had some relief and that he is now getting good care at the hospital. (He was too sick to even make it up there the first couple of days.)

I am finding things to eat again and am not quite as frustrated. That's good. Because I need to eat.

I have a tiny bit of energy back, and am not in bed 24/7. Yay.

Jake is enjoying Summer!!! I LOVE how relaxed and happy he is during the Summer. We are friends, instead of me having to drive him all the time to finish homework, etc. etc. He does chores with hardly any complaints because he wants to earn allowance.

I loved the Little Dorrit series that just played on PBS. SO GOOD. Did anyone else catch it? Their Oliver Twist was amazing last year too. I'm so mad I missed the airing of Emma earlier this year!

My Dad

I wanted to share a little about my wonderful dad. First, some awesome pictures.

My mom and dad in 1965. Aren't they hot stuff?! My mom has had some seriously wicked hairstyles in her lifetime, but that is another post entirely.

Holding my older brother Jeff. Good looking much?

In a kiss sandwich with me and Suz

Being silly with Sam. He has to be the funnest grandpa out there.

My dad has showed Jake support many, many times by coming to school concerts, church talks, and by helping him build the winning Rain Gutter Regatta boat and an unbelievably sleek Pinewood Derby car for Scouts. (Where are those pictures?) I can't honestly be more grateful for how he has been there for him.

Always doing fun things with the family. He LOVES those grandkids.

It is such a privilege to have my dad as my father. He has a beautiful testimony of our Savior and shares it. He is brilliant. He has such a generous heart and he has blessed so many in so many ways. He loves his family and is committed to his family. He always wanted to give his family the very best and has. He has taught me about integrity and that living a righteous life is what brings the greatest joy possible. He has loved my son like he was his father and was a constant companion for him for so many years. He bonded with him in a way that even his own father didn't. He gave him so many hours of his time, of his life. He taught him about science, math, life, being a strong person, and being there for those you love.

I am so thankful for a dad who blessed me with so many amazing opportunities in my life that have broadened me so much, and that he saw the importance of family vacations. We have made some amazing memories that way. A dad like this is priceless and precious beyond words. A dad like this is loved beyond words to describe. Thank you Dad, for everything.

It is hard to post about this, but if you would say a prayer for my dad, I would really appreciate it. He starts two medications tomorrow for the multiple myeloma he was diagnosed with this fall. One of the drugs he will be taking is a chemo drug, and one is a very high dose steroid. We are very worried about how the side effects will affect him. I am grateful for the advancements in medicine that will hopefully help him fight this thing hard and have many good years left.

What I've Done This Weekend

First of all Happy Memorial Day. Are you having a nice long weekend? I hope so. I was so excited to have a long weekend all to myself to get some stuff done. Jake is at his dad's house, and I wanted to clean and sew and finish up some things on my very long to do list.

But nope. This is what I have done almost the entire weekend.

Sleep, sleep, sleep, get up, eat, read, rest, rest, sleep, sleep, sleep, and over again.

But I didn't look this pretty.

More like this:

Among other things, I'm doing a treatment called NAET to see if it helps me, and it has wiped me out. Not to mention, I am having extreme bladder issues. The good thing is that I CAN sleep and don't have to worry about getting Jake places or homework, etc!

I hope you're able to relax this weekend.

Some Fun

It's no secret that my favorite times are when my family all gets together, and the more in town the better. My sister came with her kids last week, including my new PRECIOUS niece Gracie. That girl is a charmer! She smiles and goos constantly.

We had sooo much fun! The kids always have a blast together and I adore playing with them.

This little girl is growing up! She loved feeling like she was one of the big kids and "drawing" with them.

My favorite time bar none with the kids, is lying down with them when they are going to sleep. They snuggle right in to me, and they aren't going anywhere, they're stuck with me. We tell or read stories and talk about stuff, and it seriously doesn't get much better than that. I think it is heaven. Jo doesn't, because I am not good about making them go to sleep and after playing hard all day long and waking up early, they need to. (Sorry Jo. Sometimes I can be good, I promise.) But seriously, I don't get to have this much fun very often!

Jake is proving to be a great cousin to all these little ones. He made lots of grilled cheeses and made Gracie smile by kissing her tummy, even when she wasn't in the mood to smile. Having little brothers (his dad's) has been so good for him! Here's his hand holding little Gracie's.

Jo is moving to Pennsylvania, so we had the best time picking out decor for her new place.

On a completely unrelated note, I loved American Idol this season and don't want to see its demise. I loved Lee all throughout, liked Casey a lot and then fell head over heels for Casey about a week before he went off, and now I can't get enough of him. He is such a good guy! AGH those long legs. That ready smile. Those eyes. That voice. Swoon. (Oh, and the AI judges? I've grown to really like and value Simon, but now that he is going, can he just take the others with him?)

Mad

I have to admit, I'm mad. I don't eat any grains. Zip, zilch, nada, not even a grain of rice. (I did cheat for my book club and Mother's Day, but that is very rare.) I don't drink milk, can't use buttermilk, cream or sour cream in recipes. Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese (am I making you hungry?) are all no nos for me due to allergies. No refined sugar, I stay away from most anything sweet, except to use a low glycemic natural sweetener for certain recipes in small amounts. I found I could live with this. It was hard but with a lot of searching the internet, low carb books, etc. I have found a good bunch of recipes I can live on quite well when I have the energy to cook them.

Enter extreme and constant bladder pressure, sometimes excruciating pain. This has been going on for years, and is really, really bad at times, and others it is bearable but always uncomfortable. Nope, no infection. Yep, I've had it checked and even x-rayed by doctors. Another super fun mystery in my life. I've been told this may be caused or exacerbated by a food allergy. According to a natural doctor, I am allergic to hot peppers, as well as grapes, olives and a couple other things. No olive oil? Fine. Grapes are too sweet for me right now anyway. But these babies?

I am not huge on really spicy food, but I had no idea how much this little fruit/vegetable/spice was used in things, including my own cooking. I didn't realize how much I relied on it and loved it.... from the scrambled eggs my dad taught me to make with a couple dashes of hot sauce for flavor, (it doesn't make them spicy!) barbecue sauce, worcestershire sauce, or the delicious pork made so easily in the crockpot with salsa and enchilada sauce... (OK I did realize that had it in there, but seriously? That is one of our most favorite and easiest dinners.) I would not have guessed that 8 out of 10 dinners I am drawn to has some kind of hot pepper ingredient in it. I wasn't mad about grains. I coped. I wasn't mad about getting rid of most dairy. I coped. But this, I can't seem to live with.

Silly, huh?

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I just love the book I found for the book club at my house this month. William Kamkwamba is a humble African with such an inspiring story. In his home in Malawi, his family went from being poor, to suffering through a terrible famine. He wanted so badly to attend school so that he would have a chance to make something of himself, but they couldn't afford the $80 per year it would take and he had to drop out. Only about 2% of people where he lives have electricity and even that is spotty. William is resourceful though, and well, he and Jon Stewart will do a better job telling his story than I could, so I'll let them tell you. He has a sense of humor and enjoys Jon.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Here is William's website. This is a MUST read book in my opinion! If you want to watch more, there are a few good videos linked on his website. Here are two more of my favorite videos: 1. Soon after people found out about his windmill and was just learning to speak English 2. His own presentation 2 years later