Let's Go To The Hop! Nancy's Summer Blog Hop Challenge

Time for Nancy's Summer Blog Challenge and this time it's a Blog Hop! What a great idea! Here we go with the 14 Random Questions.

Blog Hop Challenge Questions

1.  Who are you? If applicable, share anything you want about your cancer (type, stage, when diagnosed, whatever.) Share something about yourself such as where you live, the name of your blog and it’s “mission”, a challenge you have faced or are facing now, or whatever you want.

I was diagnosed on June 30, 2009, Stage III, HER2+ at barely 40 years old. I had known about my lump for a couple of months. It did not show up on my mammogram. I got an all clear letter in the mail. I had 2 lumpectomy surgeries, 15 lymph nodes removed - 4 positive and had a mediport placed before beginning chemotherapy. My chemo regimin was 6 rounds of Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin. Herceptin continued every 3 weeks and ended on August 26, 2010. I also had 33 doses of Radiation, including 8 boosts to the tumor site.

I am not a fan of all the pink party like breast cancer awareness bs.

I also love to cook and eat good food. 

 2.  Have you ever participated in a blog hop before?

No. This is really cool though.

 3.  What’s your favorite sort of blog post to write and/or read – personal story, informational, how to, controversial, political, opinion, rant or other?

When I was posting more regularly, I would post about all kinds of things. I would even post about things that have absolutely nothing to do with cancer. Like, how difficult it can be for O and I to grab a bite to eat! I also post some ranty rants from time to time. I love to read a good rant. 

4.  Describe yourself in three words. Yes, just three!

Hmmmmmmmmm.......... Short. Foodie. Empathetic. 

 5.  Name three of your favorite books from your youth (whatever age that means to you.) that had an impact on you.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

 6.  What are you reading right now, or what’s on your to-read list for when you have time?

I prefer to read non-fiction. Biographies in particular. I'd love to have time to read more, from an actual book. I do use the Kindle app too. Right now I'm reading lots of recipes and cooking blogs.

 7.  What’s your favorite dessert of all time?

I'm not a big sweets eater. But I think it's a tie between chocolate mousse and creme brulee. 

8.  Tell us about a special pet you have, had, or would like to have. (Never wanted a pet, that’s okay too.)

I miss my pets. We have none currently. But my black kitty, Spaz, was such a loving kitty with a spunky personality. And our pomeranian, Simba, was just the sweetest dog ever. He knew lots of tricks! We loved them both so much and still miss them.


9.  What’s something people don’t know about you and might be surprised to learn?

I always thought I would work in the music industry. Either in the Recording Studio, or even as a Roadie. 

10.  Do you believe healthcare is a privilege or a right?

Everyone should have access to healthcare without the risk of becoming bankrupt or having to burden or bankrupt their family. Healthcare here in the US is completely effed up.

11.  What’s your favorite thing about blogging and/or reading blogs?

Blogging, for me, has been like therapy.  And I have "met" sooo many wonderful people through blogging. Some of my best friends I most likely will never get to meet in person.  

12.  What’s something you really suck at?

Blogging, lately.  And complicated math.    

13.  What’s something you’re pretty good at?

I think I'm pretty good at cooking. Especially spaghetti sauce lately.

14.  How do you escape from cancer (or life in general) worries?

Now that I am living back in coastal Georgia, I like to take what I call a "Mental Health Day" from time to time. We'll either go to the beach, or to our Historic Downtown district. I am a native tourist. 

 

Well, that was pretty fun! 

I Really Wanna Know....

I'm thinking about my friend Nancy...and I love that she started the blogger challenge to share 15 Random Things about ourselves. So much fun to learn more about our blogger friends.  I had to go back and look at mine from last year to make sure I don't repeat the same stuff...

So here are mine for this year. 

1. I have, at this time, 4 tattoos. I got my first tattoo as soon as I was legally old enough to get one. It is a crescent moon face on the back of my left shoulder. I also have one on my right ankle, lower back tramp stamp, and lastly, a friendship matching foot tattoo my bestie M and I went together and had done.  

I would like to do some cover up work on the ankle, and also a half sleeve, but it's too pricey for me right now. And even if I had the money, not so sure I could tolerate the pain. I mean, that tiny foot tattoo hurt like a mo-fo! A friend told me to ask my oncologist for the numbing cream prescription they give you for the port. I didn't use it for my port, but just might ask for it, if'n I ever win the damn lottery for future bod-mod.

Dec 7, 2010

2. When I got my port out in December 2010, I asked to take it home. Is that weird? Surely others kept their port, right? And the top I'm wearing under my jacket is the same top I was wearing the day I got the phone call that I had breast cancer. Wasn't on purpose though.

 3. I love to watch the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. We DVR it daily, and watch it while we get our cardio exercise done. I'm on an elliptical and he on a treadmill. Distracts us from how boring this type of exercise is. And most of the time, the show is as good, if not better, than most of what is on Prime Time lately.

4. I have, just this actual year, discovered the Beerita. The wonderful libation of a margarita with a beer turned up in it. Yeah. How I've made it to 47 years of age and didn't know about this deliciousness? I dunno, I sure do now....And it's a very bad thing for my South Beach eating lifestyle. Staying away from Fuzzy's Taco Shop for a bit...

5. I can drive a stick shift. In fact, there was a time that I actually preferred it to the automatic. My feeling was that, you are actually driving a manual, while just riding along in an automatic. That was until I moved to the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex and experienced crawling rush hour traffic...and trying to crank down your non automatic window, shift the gear, throw the change in the toll booth (thank you for the new cashless toll booths of today), roll the window back up, all while smoking a cigarette....LOL! Yay for automatic! (And I quit smoking in 2004. Cold Turkey style.)

6. I am absolutely terrified of spiders. I don't care if it's even the teeny tiniest of spiders. Terrified. I have been held captive in a bathroom once by a jumpy spider that seemed to be guarding the doorway...and watching...my...every...move. Omg...I might still be traumatized by that one...lol! And some of them here are so damn huge....like you could throw a saddle on it and ride it....Well, everything IS bigger in Texas....

7. I am a fan of horror movies. I love all things horror and macabre. And I just like to use the word macabre. Macabre macabre macabre. LOL! One of my favorites is the silly and campy "House of 1000 Corpses" by Rob Zombie. It's one of those, like Napoleon Dynamite (a horror in and of itself lol), that you have to give a second look after your first attempt to watch results in you turning it right off in about 15 minutes. My favorite scene is the liquor store scene. Check it out.  

8. The number 11 seems to pop up in my day to day life a LOT. Like, 11:11 on the clock, or just 11s on signs, receipts, or sequences of numbers that add up to 11. Just lots and lots and lots of 11 in my life. The Hotel Room we stayed in when we came to Texas to find a place to move back into...the room number added up to 11. The house we found on that trip, and are currently living is, the street address number ads up to 11. The house we moved out of in Georgia, street address number added up to 11. There are 11 letters in my husband's first and last name. Our anniversary date adds up to 11. But what does it mean?

9. I love seafood. Especially crab legs. And shrimp. And crawfish. Pretty much love any kind of seafood in any way I can have it. Except for weird stuff like octopus or squid or those creepy little baby octopus looking things you see on the Chinese Buffett. 

Yuck!

10. Halloween is my favorite thing ever. O and I will start checking certain stores for Halloween decorations and stuff right after 4th of July. It just makes me happy. And for the last 12 years, we totally deck our halls for Halloween. And sometimes, that happens as early as mid September. I have already seen fun Halloween stuff out this year.

11. I have had the extreme pleasure to work with the great actor, Burton Gilliam. You probably remember him from "Blazing Saddles", or "Back to the Future III", or "Fletch", Pace Picante commercials... O directed him and I ran boom mic for him in a feature film production based on the high school "Shattered Dreams" program. He was in the last one we did, and he was awesome. And a nicer person you will never meet. 

12. I do not have a green thumb. I will even kill silk plants. I have, however, managed to keep this vine looking plant alive that was given to me after my first surgery. I always think I want to grow all my own veggies and herbs, but then I realize that involves getting down in the dirt. Where there are bugs. And spiders...Yeah, see #6 above.

13. I won the big Bride's Magazine Honeymoon Sweepstakes in 2001. I filled out and mailed so many silly little entry forms in the back of several bridal magazines when I was planning our wedding. And actually won the big prize from Bride's Magazine! It included 7 day, 6 night stay in an Ocean View Room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii, Champagne and Bubble Bath Amenity on arrival, free breakfast daily, Seaside Massage for Two, a dinner meal at any of the resort's restaurants, Sunset Catamaran Cruise, a $2500 Zales Gift Card, and an Alfred Angelo Wedding Gown. And the Airfare was also included, which was awesome. When they called to tell me I had won, I missed the call. I was ending my day buying lottery tickets. Seriously. 

14. I have been involved in several alcohol related car accidents. Mostly getting hit by drunk drivers. I used to say there must be some target on my car that only drunks can see. 

15. Although I do love Halloween, horror movies and all that, I do not like to go through haunted houses at Halloween. I just don't. They're icky.

And that's this year's 15 Random Things About Me. Hope it wasn't too much of a snoozer.

************Edited: Originally #13 said I won the sweepstakes and was married in 2009. NO! It was 2001!!!**********

Tell Me, Who Are You?

Who, who...who, who....

15 Random Facts About Me

I'm always late to the party. But better late than never. I so enjoyed learning more about my friends in the bc blogosphere, so here we go with my own 15 Random Facts, as challenged by my blogger friend Nancy in her Blogger Challenge Post. Gonna have to dig deep to find 15 Facts about me. I don't think I'm all that interesting. 

1. I am an only child. And I am therefore, very spoiled. My mother spoiled me growing up, and my husband, O, picked up where she left off. I'm spoiled. And lucky.

2. I have worked as an electrician's assistant. I know how to build, lamp and hang the fluorescent lights that hang in Walmart. And also how to drive an electric scaffold. I also have been a boom mic operator in our video business. I like doing it, but sadly, lymph node surgery has made it kind of difficult to do for very long. 

3. I can sort of play the bass guitar. My technique is awful. I play by ear. I can play along with the entire Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar and also Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses. Yep. And some other various and assorted songs. 

4. I have also sang in a garage metal band. We called ourselves "80 Proof".  We practiced in a daycare after hours. We sucked. 'Nuff said.

5. Before joining my husband in our video production company, I was an Insurance Agent with Dallas County Farm Bureau. It only lasted about a year. I had worked in the insurance biz for many years and thought I would enjoy it more than I did. I was almost a Claims Adjuster. I probably would have enjoyed that more. 

6. I hate liver. Which is unfortunate, because O does love him some liver and onions. Thank goodness for cafeteria restaurants like Luby's who make a damn fine liver and onions I'm told. I also hate beets.

7. I enjoy cooking. I especially like to cook South Beach Diet friendly foods. Except when they don't turn out. Doncha just hate it when you read a recipe, everything sounds wonderful in it. And it is a bit of work to put it together. You spend all this time. And it just sucks. Tastes terrible. Yeah, it happens. Pizza delivery's on me. LOL!

8. I love to listen to the most heavy, hard core (insert proper descriptive here) metal music. And the music of my childhood...70's. And some 80's. And some Punk.

9. I have been to so many concerts, especially as a child. My mother was part of the management of the Savannah Civic Center for a big part of my childhood. I have been fortunate to see some top acts of the 80's like The Go-Go's & Flock of Seagulls, Ratt, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Styx, KISS, Foreigner, and even saw Barry Manilow in the round there. And so many more. I had one hell of a great backstage pass collection. And right about the time I was old enough to appreciate her connections, she left and changed careers. Guess she figured back stage at rock concerts was no place for a 16 year old. Ah well....

10. I do enjoy a nice martini. A nice Vodka martini with Grey Goose and Bleu Cheese Olives to be precise. But I also enjoy good whiskey. I probably enjoy these more than I should. And beer with crab legs. Please don't lecture me about the newest studies on alcohol and cancer. Thank you.

11. I am such a night owl. Who, who...who, who! Sorry...too corny. 

12. I tell corny jokes. They're really bad. *See #11 above.

13. I have more online friends than real world friends. There are people on my Facebook that I consider real and true friends, although we will probably never meet. I have some high powered, super intellectual and even famous friends on there too. I love them all. I believe we connect with certain people in cyberspace and they become part of our lives for a reason. Just like I believe people in the real world come and go from your life for a reason. 

14. I am very short. I was 4'11" for most of my teenage years, and then I grew to 5'1" somewhere along the way. I don't mind being short. Except when I can't reach things. 

15. I love crunchy, salty snacks. Not really into sweets, but chips are my weakness. Especially spicy ones. Like these Ruffles Hot Wing flavored chips. OMG. Or the Flamin Hot Fritos. Oh man I will wipe out a bag of these kinds of chips in a hurry. And popcorn. Love popcorn. Just learned that Orville R has POUR OVER Butter Microwave Popcorn. OMG. Microwave popcorn probably causes cancer. I know. I do not care.

And with that, I'm off to find me some chips. Or pop some corn.

Between Appointments & A Random Tip

Ok, just a quickie here.   I'm enjoying this lull of down time between the flurry of appointments.  Saw the lovely Oncologist, Dr W this week.  Said the chest X-ray looked good, blood work looks great.  Great.  Discussed when he's comfortable with seeing me every 6 months as opposed to the every 3 months we've been doing since this all began in 2009.  He says he likes to keep on the 3 month plan until 2 years have passed since finishing Herceptin.  That will be in a year.  But, he did say that, if I want, if the next 3 month check up is all good, he'd go ahead & start the 6 month thing.  Nice that he's that confident.  But....I think I'd prefer to keep up the 3 month thing for another year.  I mean, there's a REASON that this is his protocol.  Right?  So, yeah....gonna tell him that in November when I see him again.  

I did not yet order the genetic testing.  I had planned to have him include it in his orders for our next visit in November...but decided I don't want the results of that hanging over me during the holidays. And then if the result is positive....well....yeah....not gonna go there right now.

Next up....Mammogram mid September, followed by the appointment with the awesome surgeon, Dr V.  

Meanwhile....as I type, it is sprinkling & temps are in the 70s.  SEVENTIES!  I wish I could say that this is the beginning of a change in our weather pattern, but 'fraid not.  Today is supposed to reach 102, & the rest of the week will see temps reach between 104 - 106.  So....yeah.  Weather wise, this has been a miserable summer.  Hot. Dry. This bit of rain isn't gonna help much.  It's too late for most of the farmers around here.  I drive to work every day through a couple of huge corn fields.  And it never even got far enough to make ears.  And it's all just dead now.  A sad sight really.

And finally...here's a random cool thing I learned last night at a "Last Bash of Summer" party we went to.  When making guacamole....leave the pit in it.  It will keep it from turning brown.  I've always heard the only way to prevent avocado from turning was to squirt lemon juice on it...but this pit thing really works.  Even late in the evening...long after all the guac was gone (it was SO good & disappeared F A S T), what bits of it was on the pits in the bowl was just as fresh & green lookin.  So there's your tip of the day.  Leave the avo pits in the guac.

Ok, gotta go get some cardio in....