Finally! A new post! Not that any of my posts are all that gripping. I just haven't called my "far away family" in a dogs age and am feeling pretty darn guilty. I assuage that guilt by writing this. See what I did there? Guilt done away with AND caught everyone up to date. I would pat myself on the back but it is still too prickly from the post-guilt-recovery thing I got goin' on...

OK so a quick run down. My tummy hurts for about 2 hours after I eat, no matter WHAT I eat, - oh and have I mentioned I need to eat every two hours in the Valient yet vain effort to maintain my weight.  Yeeaaahh... not so successful on that.  Still Twilight Zoning here people...

*looking back, reminiscing on the post baby trying-my-darnest-to-get-the-ol'-hips-back-into-a-decent-pair-o'-jeans... deep nostalgic sigh*

All my favorite clothes have once again met with the Good-will pile, leaving me to ponder yet again the very real  possibility getting all sorts of wild wide eyed looks as I meander into the next parent teacher conference in my skivvies.

OK I was gonna go with my Big Girl Panties, but as the author of Wild Wacky Wonderful Woman said, "I am wearing 'em but they are starting to bunch, OK!".

I am going through a battery of tests to ferret out the cause of all this mayhem, and quite frankly no matter what it is , I can tackle it. ( FAST! SOMEBODY KNOCK ON WOOD! THROW SALT OVER YOUR SHOULDER, GET A BLACK CAT TO WALK IN REVERSE ! ANNNYYYTHING!!!)

I should rephrase that before the Universe decided to whack me a good one - yet again. I can tackle it ~ if it is the ulcers or speed of digestion thing the doctor suspects.  Just because of who I am and my history, cancerous re-occurrence is always a slight chance.

For now I am doing my best to eat and not fall flat, AND I have been banned from driving all by my lonesome until we can figure this out. Which is the biggest "suck-age" factor in all this. Not too bad considering what the original, back in January of 2010, suck-age was!

Well, here we are in the wilds of New Mexico. And you know what? I really like it! The kids all love their new schools, the hubby is loving his new job and I like how slow paced life is here.

I just didn't expect to be so cold. Who knew that Albuquerque in being called "HIGH" desert meant it would be  I would have to read all those fine print messages referring to "higher elevations" on cake mix boxes. Its all good though. I bought a coat for the first time in 6 years, make my kids wear 2 shirts to school, have stocked up on hats, gloves and scarves, and make the boys wear coats to school EVERY day. My kids are very annoyed. They'll live.

I'm just glad to have the family all in one state. Even for six weeks,the husband working in New Mexico and the rest of us in California sucked eggs royally. I know I am a wuss. I fully admit it. Military wives, single moms and even moms whose husbands just aren't there for them are all kinds of super-women to me.   I stand in awe of these amazing ladies. And the single dads who really support their kids, and not just with a check each month, and the care givers to the really ill, and the caregivers to kids whose parents are really ill. I am convinced it is easier to be the sicko in the relationship than the caregiver. They are heroes to me.

And I would know.

With hubby around, I have finally stopped loosing weight because he is constantly feeding me. I have only passed out once since I've been here. In one of those huge warehouse style grocery stores. At the front entrance. On a Saturday. In front of about a thousand people. And a squad of Albuquerque fire fighters. And a very sweet old lady whose pronounced extremely loudly that if I haven't had my period, I must start thinking about the fact that I could be pregnant. I wasn't embarrassed. Not. At. All.

Since then I can't sneeze without my guy handing me a piece of fruit or a plate of spaghetti. He worries. If I get any smaller than the smallish size six I am at now, we might have to revisit the issue in all seriousness, but for now its all good. I know hubby isn't into skinny chicks. :)

OKaaay ...
I got one more question for that Universe thing.

Why oh why could I never loose weight when I was trying so hard post babies, and now, when my health is depending on me NOT loosing weight, I am shedding "fluff" faster than a Persian kitty at the groomers?!
Apparently all this packing and hefting and dragging stuff causes me to use more calories than I can take in. Again with the Twilight Zone crap! Who in the world has this problem?! I mean I am trying my danged-est (and yes I hear by christen that a word to keep me from launching into major swear-age) to get as many calories as I can, but it is harder than it looks believe me!
Just you try to get enough calories in you when you have a tummy that can hold 6 oz at a time (up from 2 thank you very much), but nothing you eat can be high in refined sugars, fats, or be too terribly hard to digest. No red meat, no broccoli, cabbage, beans or other gassy foods, no overly stringy foods like celery, no ice creams, or gummy products, no soda or carbonated beverages, and no chocolate. (sob) Don't some cultures survive on chocolate alone? Well if they don't - they should.
See normally I really wouldn't care about getting " too skinny" other than my Hubby worries, but the thing is, my head decides to go all swimmy and smack itself into the floor at all odd times and places and i do a rely good imitation of those cute little goats Carrie flashed on Mythbusters.

I tried those little glucose drinks diabetics use to try to head these things off, but I doubled over almost immediately with really bad tummy owies (as Ben would say) - and I STILL fell flat.
I guess the good thing is that the kids aren't scared of it anymore. The first few times were bad for them, but now they very casually yell from the foot of the stairs, "Daaad, Moms on the floor again".
Ah but in retrospect, I'm here to belly ache, so it can't be all bad.

School is starting!!! I have spent my week (trying to) gather moving estimates, getting kids backpacks and school supplies ready, and doing the annual "pass down". That is where we go through all kids clothes and determine if that favorite T shirt is ok to pass down (hence the name) to the younger brother or if it is just plain dead on arrival. This year there seems to be lots of DOA clothes. Or maybe I am just too lazy/tired/overwhelmed to try to refurbish them enough to make it one more year. Eh, right now I am OK with that.

Lunches are another big thing to prepare, so for those of you who have too many kids to buy lunches for without going to that really nice place where loan sharks live, this is for you. But I do warn you it is heading into the kinda weird, OCD territory that many moms/dads of Jedi kids become so immersed in.

Some busy moms/dads just choose to have their kids buy hot lunch. And that is OK if you can afford it. If you can't, look into free or reduced cost lunches. If you you don't qualify for that, read on and I will try not to bore you out of your skull...

As a mom who has her good days and her bad days (that's universal by the way, not just confined to moms fighting the "c" word.) I have found out a few things that have really helped me. First and foremost, conserve every bit of energy you can. I am not saying be a lump, that leads to depression and really flabby butts. But when you do have energy, make it count in all the right ways for when you don't. And do it in ways that won't break your bank account.

OK so you have decided to make your kids lunches. Great. You run into pitfalls almost immediately.

Those little individual sized servings of chips and puddings and crap are also about three times the cost of big family size bags and quite frankly if you add it all up, if you go that route, you are spending ALMOST as much as you would just sending the kid with hot lunches!

So get the big ol' Costco sized bags.  I am not advocating sending a big family size bag of chips with your kid as lunch. Although they might find it really cool.

What I do is  get a whole passel of sandwich bags and divvy that sucker up when the kids are at school, or in bed or when I have a few minutes on a slow Sunday afternoon. It is something I can do while I am sitting. I then put all these little bags into a zip loc or grocery bag or whatever. I do that with goldfish crackers, cookies, fruit roll ups - what ever. Then I put all the big bags into a big bin and stick it into the top of the pantry. Come time to make the lunch, I grab 4 of everything (remember 4 boys) and throw together 4 sandwiches, toss in a piece o' fruit and a bottle o' water and voila, 4 lunches in 5 minutes or less. Whatever comes back home goes into a separate basket, and that is the kids "snack basket"  they can peice out of whenever they get the munchies.

When I want to take even more shortcuts I skip the sandwiches, and put 4 or 5 chicken nuggets per bunch, wrapped in aluminum foil and all stuck in a bag in the freezer. Pizza rolls, corn dogs, pumpkin muffins, whatever makes it so I don't have to go the sandwich route. On the morning of, I  shove the aluminum foil packets in the oven or toaster oven while I am getting them breakfast or making sure they don't have seaweed growing in their teeth. Then when the timer dings stating to the world said nuggets are done, I start making lunches. My record is 4 lunches in 2 minutes. Not too shabby.

With packing, getting IEPs ready for the out of state transfer, as well as all the nice doctor letters proving to the school system that my kids need services, plus all the normal stuff of running a household ,  AND the fact that my energy is somewhat limited, I am gonna take short cuts where I can.

Hey, I know what you are thinking. Either, "wow, what a weirdo" - or   " OCD isn't so bad, maybe I'll try it.". If you have more than 3 kids, special needs or not, I'd definitely recommend the latter.

I am a sick sick person . Let's Just get that out of the way early ok? Ok.

Well with all the moving and meeting new people it becomes inevitable they become curious about the large scar running vertically down my neck. I have stopped trying to cover it. Most people who know me totally forget it is there and act a bit confused at first as to why the odd stranger would be trying really hard not to stare so obviously at the general vicinity of my chin. I will let those of you who may not know me as well in on a secret. I have not forgotten it is there and I don't mind a bit if you ask. I might be different from others with a big honkin scar someplace glaringly obvious, but really I don't care. It gives me a a chance to mess with you. Ok let's try this out. Ready?

You: oh my gosh what happened!
Me: (one of the following at random)

1. Wicked bad bar fight. You should see the other guy! ( gotta credit my neighbor coming up with this one)
2. Rodeo clown accident. Had to change careers after that one.
3. Terrible harpsichord incident. (holding up hand, closing eyes and turning face away) toopainful. can't. talk. about it.
4. Lantern shark attack. I was the only survivor.
5. I ran into a door.
6. I got ran over by a rickshaw in L.A. Dang crazy California drivers
7. yo! 65 points street cred ma brotha!
8.(very emphatically)NEVER get between a moose and her calf.
9. Quilting accident. Those needles are MUCH sharper than they look.
10. I fell on a really pokey cactus

Eh I think those'll do for now. If you think of more let me know , I'll add 'em to the collection.

In the meantime, I will continue to giggle evilly at Others expense.

Hey we have already established that I am a sick sick person! Don't act so shocked ! Gheesh.

In the grand scheme of things life is great. In the short term, I have debated bout changing our names to distinctively Romainian sounding ones and purchasing a wagon with lots of tassels. That IS what gypsies do right?

Well long story short, Carys work was being a butthead about the time he took off to take care of me last year. "But legally they can't do that under the Family Medical Leave Act." you say. Ah yes but they weren't being too very "legal" when they made some very dumb decisions. Hubby opted to go to a different company. One located in the far off wilds of New Mexico.

We are still undecided about whether to pursue legal options. We hate the sue happy culture that has been so fostered in this country but we also worry that if it happened to us, could it happen to someone else not in such a good position? Cary is extremely good at what he does (long story short - he fixes robots - as my 6 year old would say) and can find work because of his vast and unique skills. What if this had happened to a less skilled worker?

But on the other side of things, we have a very different view of just how precious life is now and wasted moments are almost a sin to us. Priorities are such that family, kids and home are what matter. Not court cases.

Oh yeah and as of last PET scan, I am still N.E.D. (No Evidence of Disease)

click on the kitty for the all important happy dance

See, I am  NOT dead. Just in the midst of a move. 

Which is very similar to death. 


 Can you tell I hate moving? I had a ton of help though so the packing and the actual hauling of the household crap wasn't too bad. I did get kinda worn out the actual move day and had to hang out in a friends car while the last of the heavy stuff got hauled away. But hey, I figured it would be better to be thought of as lazy than to fall down and embarrass myself again.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the apartment we moved into. It is actually more like a condo cause of the attached garage as well as the upstairs and downstairs thing going on, but more importantly, I can actually handle keeping this clean, we don't have to worry about maintenance or yard work, we have a POOL, and Oh Thank The LORD Above, we don't have to worry about landlords going bankrupt or the big bad banks coming to tell us the house is in foreclosure even though we have been paying our rent religiously, and we gotta get our booties out. ( *happy little sigh)

And the icing on the cake is that the neighbors are WONDERFUL!  All of them seem to be, but imagine this--- we live 3 doors down from a mom with 2 Jedi kids (Translation: autistic, for those of you unfamiliar with my side bar favs) So hopefully we won't have the nice policey mans call on us when a child goes giggling into the night clad only in underwear and a batman cape... And yes that has happened. (In all fairness to us as parents, that was before we discovered those little alarm thingys you can tape on your doors to screech at little wanna be escape artists and thereby preventing the neighborhood from thinking that you are the worlds worst guardians - bar none).

So here I am struggling to get everything organized and unpacked - but not doing too bad actually. Yes I get worn out,and yes I am slower than molasses in January and yes, I sure do wish for that super speed bit, but slowly and steadily we are getting thing together. And if I have to move again in the next ten years I swear I might just... welllll lets not temp fate shall we?

Well first off let me start by saying I am doing great. Sure I have unforeseen health issues mainly involving those pesky calories and passing out and such but I don't hurt (except when I do something stupid) and I feel really grateful to be here to complain about the small stuff, hug my kids, and enjoy life.

OK, now the news.

Daniel won first place in the science fair! He did his project on the effects of electromagnetic waves on plant life, specifically Venus Flytraps. He used a function generator to force the plants into being receptors!
I am always proud of that boy, but I think I kinda embarrassed myself(OK and him too) whooping it up for him during the award ceremony.

Nathan is still working getting parts for his robot, and the amazing thing is be hasn't gotten distracted! Saving 300 bucks is a tough thing to do for a nine year old. Also the poor kid broke his arm - again. We now have a new rule at our house.

Because it HURTS to set broken arms!!!

And Believe You Me, getting an arm set with a neuro-typical kid is hard enough,My poor baby was more worried about the beeping monitors than anything else. The staff was amazing though and they soon discovered a TV with Sponge Bob on it was the perfect anesthesia for him.

Jonah and Ben are doing wonderfully. They find stuff to do and explore no matter what is going on! Their favorite thing is playing in the sprinklers. They have discovered that the old irrigation syringes from Dolores' days are killer squirt guns!

The last day of school came and went and the kids have totally enjoyed having sleep overs, brownies and pop corn pretty much every single night!

I just passed my year mark anniversary of being cancer free! I celebrated by getting a PET scan done and attending a cancer survivors luncheon Cedars sponsored.

Oh and one of the coolest things I have discovered is that I don't have to sleep in an upright position as much! That is a direct result of Dr Soukiasian injecting Botox into my stomach sphincter instead of cutting it like most surgeons do. I will most likely have no more lasting side effects from that and no dumping!!!! ( for those of you just joining us, that means I will not be tossing my cookies or passing my food too quickly every time I eat and the part about being able to sleep laying down means that I will not have the stuff I ate come back to haunt me no matter what the stage of digestion!)

All good stuff.

I will let you all know when I get the the PET scan results back, but I am feeling so good I can't help but venture to guess that all will be well.

Huh, who would guessed? I found out I am not lactose intolerant. I am actually anything-that-is-hard-to-digest intolerant. I popped a jelly bean in my mouth right after Easter and apparently those things are made from plaster, small rocks and glue because I was in pain for 2 days. Things really high in fats, heavy meats, high sugar items and anything with the word gummy in it are no-nos for me now. Believe it or not one thing I found that really helps me is that Activia yogurt stuff. You know, the stuff that you can't help but sing their little jingle every time you says its name. Try it, it's kinda fun.  "Ac ti vee aaahhhh"   OK so maybe its just me. Just stop snickering OK?

I had a lovely mothers day weekend complete with the requisite homemade tissue flowers and other such wonderful treasures mommies love.  Cary gave me moola to go clothes shopping (I am pretty much swimming in my clothes now) and took me to see the new movie Thor with the boys on Saturday.

I even splurged and ate a piece of chocolate even after hubby reminded me I would be hurting later if I did. I am such a rebel. And yes, my tummy did later object strenuously to that bit of Mothers Day defiance. Oh but  it was worth it. 

I am just so happy to be here to enjoy that decadent no-no, drool over pretty fine eye candy at the movies while holding my hubby's hand, and snuggle with my boys. I wouldn't want to make this journey through the wilds of cancer again mind you, but these moments make everything I fought so hard for so worth it.