The C word

So last week, Lanny had to go in and get an ultrasound done because he had a lump under his arm.

Yeah, it's lymphoma. 

We don't even know what kind of lymphoma yet.  I'm guessing it's the non-hodgkins, but i'm not sure.  We won't really know anything until Thursday.  I've had so many crazy thoughts running through my head.  I don't know just how to feel yet.  I'm terrified, I'm hopeful, I'm MAD.  I just don't know how to feel yet I guess.  On the upside... 1) this is a very treatable cancer, according to our family doc and 2) Lanny will probably end up retiring, which is great for him and me :D

But there's a little part of me that cries, "yeah, but you weren't scared when teresa got it, cuz it was so early and look how THAT turned out"  and there's another part, the martyr part that's devastated, asking "WHY??? Am I being punished?  Am I not supposed to be happy???   I JUST found him and now he's going to be taken from me???"  That part I kick into a corner though :)  Because I just don't believe that will happen.  He's my other half, so he can't be taken :D

But yeah, life moves on.  We're making plans, because we're heading to KY next week for Thanksgiving, which we've been looking forward to for months.    

Tell you what though, I'm lucky.  I have such a caring family.  I've talked about this quite a bit with Sherri, Heather's called, talked to Angelia, and my "other" sister Kathy.  It's great to have loved ones you can talk to :D

New Home!!!

I'm so excited about our new home.  We've gotten started on some of the projects already.

The wallpaper is down in the kitchen, and it's almost ready to be painted.  I still need to take down the glass-doors from the cabinets.  They currently  have brass hinges, and I want to change to the brushed nickel.  We're looking at putting in the marble tile in the kitchen.  It's been sitting waiting to be used for years.  We may just have to wait on that though, as there are other more pressing needs. This is the tile->

I have 3 colors of grays in mind. Using Behr Paints, the walls and cabinets will be Silver Screen, the doors will be Quietude, and the faceplate above the cabinets will be Pewter Mug.  I will also be using the Pewter Mug in the dining area, and using Quietude on the doors to the pantry in the dining room as well, to help both seperate and tie the rooms together, since that part is an open floor plan.

In the Living room, and down the hallway, I want to use French Castle, which is a warm, almost rosy tan/taupe.  (hard to describe, but it's beautiful).  One of the walls in the living room is covered floor to ceiling with mirrors, and you can see the hallway from almost anywhere in there, so thought it would be best to continue with the same color there.  We have a sage green couch that will go in there, along with a nice curio cabinet.  It will be the more formal livingroom.  Since the mirrors already have the brass around them,

The Bathroom has a large countertop with beiges and browns, so in there I will paint the walls with Classic.  Another warm brown, but one not so dark that it will turn the room into a cave.  I think I'd like to get the accesorries in an aqua/light blue... we'll see.

In our Bedroom, we will be using Wine Frost, a gorgeous purple, on the walls.  We'll be keeping our tan bedspread and some greens to keep it from being TOO girly for Lanny ;)

Cody's wanting a black room, so we've compromised with grey (he hasn't picked out which gray yet), and one black wall, that I can't see from the hallway :P

Amber, on the opposite end of things, has picked out Limeade and Songbird... a Very vibrant green and blue.  But again with the compromise, we're going with white walls, accenting with these colors.  Angelia gave me the idea of using the colors to put heart-beat striping with these around the walls, and Amber loved the idea.  She'll have a loft bed, with bean bag chairs beneath.  We already have a white dresser, so I'm thinking we'll continue the heartbeat pattern on the drawers of the dresser to jazz it up a bit.

I'm way excited about all of this, so happy to finally be able to make a home.  I'm making my paint shopping list today, and I'll have Lanny pick up the paints tomorrow while I'm at work, so we can get started when I get home.  We bought a paint sprayer, and have coated the basement in white already.

Parent Teacher Conferences

So we had parent teacher conferences this week.  They way the do them here in their high-school is SO different from when we were growing up.  They have all the teachers set up in the cafeteria and the gym at tables, with a few chairs lined up by each for the waiting area.  PTCs run from 5:30-7:30... you pick up your child's report card, then wander to each teacher they have, and wait your turn to talk.

It was very.... enlightening?  Now, Cody's teacher's are awesome, seriously.  I don't remember our teachers being cool, but a lot of these are.  I walk up to his science teacher and get "Cody Lance? OH! I love him :)"
Course, there was a HUGE range of opinions, but most are just frustrated by his lack of real effort.  His grades are overall pretty good, but they know he's capable of so much more.  His Algebra teacher seemed more concerned about him leaning on or sitting on desks than anything else, oddly enough.  Apparently this was a HUGE issue with her :P  But okay, I can see that.

I guess what I thought was the funniest, was, his English teacher talked about him having a rough transition from middle school to high school (he has a C+ in there, grrrr).  Asked if these were typical grades for Cody? Kinda confused.  Apparently, his problem is the essays, like, turning them in on time.. grrr. 

What kind of disturbed me (and amused me) was while talking to his science teacher, he came up while she was talking about his effort (they did a self-assessment in each class) and she pointed out that his effort on most things, he only rated himself at about 2-3 out of 5.  She says, "and you have an A- with this little effort... if you put more into it, imagine what you could do"  To which he responds, "eh, I'm too much like my dad for that"   Grr... the amusing part was the look the teacher shared with me... I could only imagine that she has one of those ex's too :P  However, I was Not thrilled with the apparently lack of respect for the teacher, or the mindset that he's following in his dad's footsteps by not putting any effort into anything.  So I need to have a talk with Jer, and those are Always so fun.

Oh, and speaking of my #1 P.I.T.A... I get a text earlier this week, "Hypothetically, can you see yourself moving to CA under any circumstances. If you were paid?"  Boils down to, he's gotten an amazing job offer from Google, but he'd have to move to CA.  Now, I get what a tough decision that is.  BUT what about the kids?  I can't see them (either of them) living across the freaking country from me.  And I can't see me going to CA to live, ever, under any circumstances.  And I can't see him being satisfied with only seeing them on holidays or summer break.    Does this mean I'm going to be facing an ugly court battle soon?  Is he just going to pass up this great job? or Will I have both kids full time from now on?
So much food for thought...

Scattered

Got so much nothing going on :)  Becoming more active on Ravelry... at least as a lurker!  I'm relearning how to play piano, trying to get into shape, needle working where i can, be it cross-stitch or crotchet. Also put in a very small garden this year.  Planted some Better Boy tomatoes, which everyone has been raving about :D and a few cucumbers (which are about the size of my fingers right now) and a few green beans, which are giving me about a serving size at a time ;) Been spending weekends with my sister-in-law's at their place in the country, which is just heaven to me!
Getting geared up for my son to start high school this year.  yikes.  Yeah, that's about it for now :)  More later, need to get some sleep before work in the morning

Weeks 3 and 4.....Tango Mango and Oreo Cream

So week 3 we had tango mango or mango tango (I keep confusing the name) Either way, I wouldn't want this one again.... I give it a 2.... it didn't make me puke, but if that was the only ice cream in the fridge, or at a party, i'd take a pass on ice cream.  Cody was kinder and gave it a 3.  He would eat it again if it was free, but wouldn't pay even $1.00 for a scoop again!!!

(* * * _ _ _ _ _ _) 
{i've decided to overlap the star and the blank when we disagree, to show both ratings}

Week 4 was MUCH better!  This week we had Oreo and Cream (or Oreo IceCream, again we have a bit of a name discrepancy)  We both LOVED this one!  We're going so far as to give this one a 10 out of 10... Meaning, we could eat this flavor everyday for the rest of our lives, and be okay with it!  I mean, come on... it's oreos and ice cream... what's not to love???

(* * * * * * * * * *)

Week 2... Cherry Cheesecake

So, it's week 2 of our Baskin Robbins tour... and this week we had Strawberry Cheesecake.  Okay, okay, so we were supposed to have rainbow sherbert, but we both voted that one down :D

Yeah, please ignore the wording there, this was the first picture i found of it, and i'm feeling kinda lazy tonight.

So, for this one, we had a minor difference in opinions... although we both liked it.

Cody gave it a 9 outta 10 stars... I only gave it 7 outta 10 (wasn't so crazy about the cheesecake chunks)

So overall, it gets (********_ _ )  8 outta 10 stars... not too shabby :D


Now dessert time is over, it's time for us to get busy on this house, trying to get it company ready.  Wait til he finds out that tomorrow he has to clean up the back yard!  A whole winter's worth of german shepherd... Poor kid  :D

Tax Crunch

So the first cone of our taste journey was "Tax Crunch"... a coffee flavored ice cream.   Too bad neither of us like coffee :P  Kona coffee icecream with rice crisps and chocolate chunks

We rate this one a 3 out of 10 *'s... it kinda grew on us, but initial reacction was UGGH.

"Tax Crunch" = (***_______)

 

Tax Crunch Ice Cream