Monday, February 21, 2011

Slow, Relaxing, Cold Week

Wow, I just saw a shooting star! That was cool :)

Ok, bat problem was never really resolved. He never showed up again and Dad, unfortunately for him, never got to any shooting practice. He just disappeared or escaped. Lucky little guy!

We got a bunch of snow last week and I had to leave my car at the bottom of our extremely steep driveway after a trip into Sacramento & my dad had to rescue me on his Polaris. Luckily my car is all wheel drive cuz I passed several 2-wheel cars that were stuck when on Fiddletown Road.

Yesterday Mom and I had a cooking marathon :) She made a delicious burgundy wine stew and I made butternut squash soup and some super rustic, hardy multigrain rolls. I'm making a double batch of the rolls tomorrow... they went over really well :) I'm not really one to toot my own horn, but I think we could start a restaurant on the reputation of these rolls alone.

Now, on a serious note, I'm scared for my best friend in the whole wide world! Erin and her husband, Tommy, are on a month long trip in New Zealand ( I know, tough life, right?!?). Not sure if you heard, but today they had a big earthquake in the capital of New Zealand, which, from my best estimate, is about 200 miles from where I think they were. I haven't heard from her yet, and I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but still... I'm paranoid. You'd think that I would be used to earthquake stories, living in California, but they're just so far away! They're fine Laurie, they're totally safe and just hiking around in some beautiful scenery... it will all be a funny memory very soon. One thing to make me (us) feel better, Tommy is a paramedic & totally trained to take charge in any situation :) Hugs & kisses E&T!

Hope you all had a nice President's Day :)

xoxo, lg

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I guess this is what you get for living in paradise!

Ok, so it's about 11:30 and I just came downstairs to sleep in our office... the darn bat from the other night started flying around again a few minutes after I turned out the light in my bedroom! This means that it was likely doing the same thing last night and I slept through it. I guess Dad will be getting some target practice in tomorrow ;) Anyone know where I can get a butterfly net???

First Round Was a Breeze :)

Well, I just have a couple nights left on my first round of the new trial drug I'm on and I would never know it if you were slipping it into my food. In fact, I've been feeling great for the last few weeks with literally no side effects :)

A few weeks ago a friend of mine found out about a walk for brain tumors on May 7th in Golden Gate park and we've formed a team that is taking off like wildfire! Team Laurie's Ride is already the #3 fundraising team out of over 100 teams! It's been amazing to see how supportive everyone has been!

You can visit my home page at the link below & make a tax deductible donation if you'd like:

http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/BTW-SF?px=2874742&pg=personal&fr_id=1663

OR, if you'd like to walk with us, you can visit our team's page at the following link:

http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/BTW-SF?pg=team&fr_id=1663&team_id=45281

We have 18 people officially signed up to walk with us and are hoping to get as many as possible. There is only a $25 sign up fee, and then whatever else you can raise, but you are not required to raise any other money. We're working on getting T-shirts made too :)

Mom and I have started training for the walk. It is only a 5K (just over 3 miles), which would have been no sweat for me a few months ago, but since I've got my bumb left leg now, it's a bit more of a challenge. I'm totally committed to walking across the finish line though! Mom and I have done 2, 1 mile walks so far, but keep in mind that those miles were up and down the fairly substantial hills around our house. I'm pretty proud of us. I plan on having the butt I had when I was 17 by the time the walk comes :) If you have seen our driveway that we have to walk up and down, you'd realize that it might just happen!

Speaking of my bumb left leg, I think it's getting a little better! Either that or the stretches and exercises I've been doing are finally paying off because I'm not needing my cane nearly as much as I used to and I feel a lot more stable. I'm not falling anymore and stairs and curbs don't send me into a panic anymore :) I think my blood clot is just about gone and I've been wondering if it contributed to some of the trouble I've been having with moving my leg. It just really feels like I have more control over it, yay!

To end on a bit of a funny note, we woke up to a bat in our house a couple nights ago :) We occasionally have bats sneak in and my dad feels like a real outdoors man by hunting them with his bee bee gun. He's gotten a few so far. Well, the other night, my sister and her daughter were staying over and the three of us were sleeping upstairs in my bedroom. Shortly after turning off the lights, I heard a buzzing around my head. I turned on the light and wouldn't ya know it, there was a bat flying around like crazy! I tried to get it with my cane, without much luck, so we ducked out of the room and called Dad. He didn't have any more luck with his bee bee gun than my feeble cane-wielding attempts. Dena and Harley ended up sleeping on the couch and I crashed in a sleeping bag on the floor. We never did find the little bugger!

Not too much else going on lately. All the permits and inspections are done for my room they're finishing downstairs so they're really getting stuff done now. I'll try to post some pictures soon :)

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!!!!

Heart, Laurie