Friends – Page 2 – xangelle.com

United Together – Day 4 Summary

It was a Sunday and normally on Sunday’s we are up and moving at the crack of dawn or depending on the time of the year….even before then. But yesterday, we slept in.

It didn’t help that we stayed up too late the night before watching a movie; but, it was a nice evening for Gelica, Jon and I.

We finally did get up and moving and while Geli ate some breakfast we watched another movie. Sometimes you just gotta do something to pass the time. And then at other times….you blink and you’ve lost the past 4 hours and it felt like 15 minutes.

Here is a picture of Angelica’s Room.

It’s tiny and the cot (for me to sleep on) doesn’t help with the squishy feeling). What you can’t see from this position is that there is a sink directly to the left straight ahead of my cot and a TV/DVD player hung up on the wall above the sink.

Nana Karen brought Xandra and Siah in for Father’s Day and it was nice to see them. Siah’s been aware of the change of routine and not having Mommy, Daddy or Geli around. He was very happy to see Geli today.

Angelica was allowed to be unhooked from her IV pole for 2 hours today and actually has a standing order for 2 hours a day unhooked….WooHoo! We decided to get off our ward and head on out exploring.

Well, We made it to the Lobby of the Hospital where we found the gift shop and Siah found a tiny toy station……. So we waited for him for a bit…..

It was SOOOOOO Exciting….NOT!

But, that is life with a little brother…..they like to play and explore and RUN REALLY FAST!!!!! Even in Hospital Hallway’s when Mommy and Daddy are yelling as quietly as possible for him to SLOW DOWN!!!!!

We made it over to the Starbucks and along the travels we managed to scratch Angelica’s left foot and run over the two smallest toes on her right foot. Seeing as her platelets were so low….that scored us a free bag of platelets once we made it back to the ward.

But, before our 2 hours of free, untethered time was up we made it down to the cafeteria for some fries and a Cheeseburger…..On our way back up to the room, we met up with Aunty Sherry. She popped by for a visit before she had to be at work at the hospital down the road….

After Aunty Sherri left Mommy and Daddy watched Siah in the playroom and Gelica and Xandra stayed in the room and played on the computer…..

And Colored…….

Geli looks so pretty doesn’t she?

Later in the Afternoon, Nana Cully came by with Geli’s Grade 7 Grad Dress. They are working on the last minute fittings…..it’s pretty cute isn’t it? Geli’s pretty excited.

She rested for about an hour before the time of the day that she had been looking forward to all day long…………Her school friends came to visit…but I think I’ll post about that adventure separately….

We’re all doing well. I’m feeling huge and although I’m okay with our little man staying inside a it longer….I’m also aware that every day we pass means that he gets a little bit bigger and if I’m being totally honest….I’m a little concerned about popping out a 10 pound baby. But……ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

We’re up and at ’em this morning (Monday morning) and we’ve (Me and Geli) already brushed our teeth and eaten some cereal. Fruit Loops for Geli and I had a bowl of Frosted Flakes – definitely the breakfast of champions…I might add some strawberries just to round it all out health wise, eh?

Jon stayed over night at the Easter Seals house which is about 3 blocks away. He was finding the teeny, tiny scrawny, short couch in the playroom to be a bit uncomfortable. Hopefully, he got a god sleep last night….it’s just 9am here and we haven’t heard from him yet.

Alright, gotta ditch the jammies and possibly put on some make up…..don’t wanna scare the residents away….

Thanks so much for praying for us. Geli is not feeling sick to her stomach or having any pain. So please continue to pray that her body responds to the Chemo by killing the Leukemia Cells and that there would be no negative side effects to go along with it. We believe that God can work miracles….and we believe that we are seeing those miracles every day. Thank you so much.

Also, you could pray for Jon and I that we would get good rest, be at peace always, and have wisdom and grace in dealing with every facet of this situation. And for the other kids and our family and friends that are helping us out that everyone would also be at peace and that everything would work together and that no one would feel tired or stressed or worn out or nervous or any of those other things that a situation like this could possibly carry with it….

Geli loves reading the comments from you all. It’s so nice to hear who’s praying for us and to hear how Geli’s Story has spread around around the world and is uniting so many people together in faith and hope…….

We love you all.

Day 3 Wrap Up

If yesterday were to be considered a terrible, horrible, no good day….then today could be considered GLORIOUS!

It started off a bit rough, but by 10 or 11am it had picked up and now we are getting ready to settle down for the night.

Geli felt quite nauseous this morning and had a fair amount of pain. She got her morning meds and while we waited for her body to settle out she sat in the rocking chair in her room. She said that it was more comfortable than feeling slouched on bed.

She read through a whole ton of comments from you all on my Blackberry……

And in the middle of that got a call from one of her closest friends at school….

She was still feeling pretty icky at this point, but chatting with a friend definitely made her day a bit better.

Her other closest friend called her not too long after and that was pretty awesome, as well.

Aunty Debbie and Jack and Nana Karen and Siah showed up right round 10:30am – 11am and it was so nice to see them.

Snuggles with Jack can make anyone feel better.

She also played some card games with Nana Karen while mommy and daddy spent a little bit of time with Siah.

Soon after, we headed down to the playroom and then her cousins showed up. We got to play some air hockey and that was so much fun. Lots of laughter and smiles and teasing….

And then Uncle Eddy showed up with presents. It was so nice to see him.

Siah found some dress up clothes and dressed up like a princess. Momma looks like a blimp.

Before everyone took off, we had some snuggles with Baby Zacharias. Baby snuggles are the best EVER! But he wasn’t really that upset….this is just a cranky looking picture.

Angelica got to take a shower today and change into her very own clothes and that was SOOOOOOOO NICE. To be able to get all nice and clean and she even got her bed changed out. There is nothing like being all clean and sliding into clean sheets….mmmmmmmm!

We’ve just been watching a movie and eating dinner in bed and relaxing after a busy but fun day. This is the best day that Angelica has had in over a week and a half. No fever! Smiles! Color in her face! An appetite! Presents! Family and Friends! Air Hockey!

It was awesome.

It was so nice to have an almost seemingly normal day in the middle of all this craziness.

She is still a little bit sore from the surgery, but it’s only been almost 48 hours since her surgery and so really a little bit of pain is not bad.

We’re feeling pretty good about things and are just taking things one day at a time. We’ve talked about good times and bad times and about how life come with good and bad times and how we don’t get to choose to only have good times, but that when a bad time comes you can just ride it out the best that you can and if you have a terrible, no good horrible bad day, then you cry and wait it out and if you have a good day, then just enjoy it for what it is…..This is life. This is our new normal! This is our reality! And we’re gonna be okay. All of us!

I might come back and post about how tomorrow sucks or about how it’s amazing too. We’re just real people with real issues and real emotions and we’re just gonna take all of this one step at a time.

If you’d like, we’d love if you could pray that Geli wouldn’t feel sick and nauseated tomorrow morning and that she’d have a great night of sleep and that the VAD site would heal up quickly. Also, that all her blood counts would do what they are supposed to do. Some need to go up and some need to go down.

Again, we feel so cared for and loved. You are an amazing community of people and we THANK YOU with everything in us.

Fresh Start

I can’t believe it’s already September.

Where did this summer go?

It seems completely eaten up with the house purchase. That is how I will remember the summer of 2009. It was the summer we bought our first home.

I’m thrilled that we were able to buy and that we are getting settled in. It’s not been a fun, go-a-lot-of-places and have-a-lot-of-adventures kind of summer, but it HAS been a good summer. Tough, but good!

Friends of ours are also starting another leg of their life journey and are in the process of buying a new place. We went over to check out their place last night. We LOVE these guys and are so thrilled for them.

We had some great food and some even better conversation.

It used to seem like we lived so far away from these guys, but then we moved closer to them and now they have moved closer to us and now we are considerably closer than we were before. (Okay, that’s a completely lame sentence, but it is what it is…..and I’ll just throw it out there and slowly walk away from it.)

I managed to snap a bunch of pics of the kids while they were swimming. (yes, this new place of theirs has a pool – how wicked amazing is that?) and what’s even better…..after it got dark, we sent the kids to watch a movie and we adults headed down to the pool. Can we sigh a HUGE SIGH of HEAVENLY-NESS?!? I felt so relaxed last night.

Relaxed! Ha! There is a loaded word. Yesterday was Jon’s first day back at work and today is my first day back at work and well……I was mentioning to Jon yesterday how I was already feeling the pressure of “the Fall” starting to weigh in on me. It’s good…..Sorta! This is going to be a GREAT fall with exciting and amazing things, BUT….it’s going to require a significant amount of work and well………that work will require effort and…..well…..when I think of the sheer volume of work it’s all gonna require……then I just want to run and stick my head in the sand and head back to vacation.

Ahhh! It’ll all be good. I’m just looking at the volume of everything all at once and I know that if I just focus on what is in front of me (today) then it will all work out.

That is a very short snippet of a very big “AH HA” moment that I’ve had very recently and one that I’ll be talking more about as I think it’s HUGELY relevant to me right here and right now.

Well, gotta get started on my day. Click here to see the WHOLE set of pics from last night.

Just trying to Breathe

OH TODAY………..

Well, if you follow me on Twitter, then you would have had first hand witness to the colossal train wreck that was me on my way into the Vancouver Blogher Meet Up. It was AMAZING….seriously! Even if you don’t follow me, just go ahead and click on that link and have a good laugh.

You might have to go back a page (click on “more”) and it starts with the “Headed into Vancouver….running a bit late” post.

My stress level started out fairly manageable, and honestly – I was doing so well (in my head – HA!) and then the closer we got the more I started freaking out and honestly….if I hadn’t put it out here that I was going to this and if I hadn’t had a bit of encouragement then I probably wouldn’t have gone.

AWESOME!!!! Isn’t it?

Alright, well! As you could see – all tweets stopped after I left the car. What you can’t see is that Jon dropped me off at the WRONG Cafe Artigiano. I seriously just about chewed my left arm off trying to convince myself to walk down the road and into the place and when I got in there….it was empty…..lemme back up a moment…..

See, I had asked Jon to find the address and he went online looking to look it up. He is typically very competent and so I figured that all was good. We drove to the original location and in my stress and panic I had totally forgot that the location had changed.

So, here I am in an almost empty Coffee Shop and am absolutely lost for what to do. I stand there for a moment trying to come up with something and then I leave. I walk down the road and remember that the location had changed and that Jon must not have seen that post……LOVELY! So, I’m frantically typing into my blackberry trying to figure out the other location or to pull up the Blogher Post where it’s mentioned……So I call Jon…..and he’s circling the block until he figures that I’m not going to freak…..

Awesome! If that doesn’t make me feel stupid, I don’t know what does.

So he picks me up and we head to the right place.

See haven’t even walked in the “correct” door and already I have a “story” about today. So all that original stress of having to walk into the place…..and I have to go and do it all again. GGGGGAAAAWWWWKKK!

So, I walk in……..see all these beautiful women……..and although I’m feeling TOTALLY out of my element….it’s all okay.

Well, that’s a load of crap. It was not “all okay.” It was good. It was great. It was also VERY stressful for me.

I’m at home and it’s 2+ hours since I left and only now am I starting to be able to breathe again.

I know how stupid this is. Believe me. Anxiety is not a fun thing. I HATE that this “thing” has had such a control on my life and I’m doing everything in my power to face my demons head on.

I am thrilled that I went. I know that given a day or 10, that I’ll look back on this and be all, “That was the best time EVER! I’m so glad that I went. It was NOTHING. I could TOTALLY do that again.”

And the thing is, now that I’ve done it. I totally could. Does it mean that I won’t spazz out the next time that I do something like this. Nope! Probably still will, BUT….I’m not letting this thing rule my life.

I was thrilled to practice my small talk (NOT) annd I’m so blessed to have met all these amazing women, and hopefully we’ll get to meet again and maybe I’ll say more than 2 words.

Honestly guys, I’m not so quiet when I’m not freaking out. I’m not the worlds hugest extrovert, but I’m not quite so quiet.

Regardless of what comes of today…..I know that I did something that was HUGE for me. And…..I did manage to meet some real life people, and…. I feel like I’m a bit more a part of this local blogging community.

And all of “that” makes me very, very happy.

The Comfort of Family

We went and visited some friends on Friday. I’ve known her since we were teeny, tiny wee ones.

She is my longest and closest friend.

We are not the kind of friends that are always up in each others spaces – 24/7, BUT……every, and I do mean EVERY time we get together it feels like we were just together yesterday. We might have more to talk about if some time has passed since we were last together, but the honesty and trust that is there……it just can’t be beat.

So we finally managed to hook up and when we were talking we realized that it’s been over 2 months since we sat down and relaxed together. I’ve seen her briefly in between that time and we’ve talked on the phone, but we hadn’t actually spent an evening together.

Her husband is literally one of the biggest and yet most gentle spirited people I know.

This picture does him absolutely no justice, and yet it does capture something of that gentleness that I see and feel every time we get together.

Our kids are the most amazing friends……

and even though we both have once child who struggles a little more than some of the others….they are still AMAZING kids…

Her littlest darling is an absolute monkey. She had me shoot a freak load of pics of her. She has such a personality. You’d NEVER be able to tell that from the pics would you. (click through to see a ton more of her looking SO cute)

My littlest monkey serenaded us on a miniature guitar and improvised his lack of a guitar pick by using a bread tag….

Jon – the most amazing husband ever….

…..grabbed the camera and took a few pictures of me – see I really was there….

There is a MUCH nicer picture of me if you click through to the whole set…..

It is so nice to be able to go and hang out somewhere with people that you know and love and to feel like you are just chillin’ in your own house.

These guys are so much more than friends….they are family! I hope that you all have or find friends like this in your lives…at least once.

Feeling HUGELY Under Pressure

I feel like I’m under pressure to make EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT. COUNT.

I feel like ifÂ I take some time as down time, then I’m not going to be able to get everything done and if I get behind on stuff then how will I ever manage to stay on top of it all….laundry, cleaning, organizing, planning….so much stuff to do….

See, today is my home day.Â Right now I have 2 days during the week that I am fully at home and while I realize that this would be a HUGE luxury for some, this is a HUGE change for me.Â I am used to every day being a home day and there is aÂ HUGE part of me that liked the slower pace of being at home.Â

To be completely honest, there was also aonther part of me that was completely bored…and so it’s a good thing that I am now able to be busy, but I am still in the whole “adjustment period” of things.Â If you’ve had a child go from being at home every day to going to pre-school or kindergarten and they come home and are so over-tired from the overstimulation of the day…..that’s where I’m about right now.

I come home absolutely exhausted whenever I’ve been working.Â I don’t know how all you “working mom’s” do it.Â I am finding that as with just about everything in life that I see both the positives and the negatives in our situation.Â I do trust that it will eventually work it’s way out to a great routine, but this sorting things out and figuring out the new “normal” is a bit taxing – on me.Â The kids seem to be doing good…Sunday’s are probably our hardest days just because of the length of the day, but again…we’ll work it all out soon enough.

I know that I need to add some sort of an exercise routine into my schedule life as it would probably help me out too.Â Still working on a “schedule” – I hope I can figure one out soon.Â I do so much better when I “know” what to expect, as opposed to just flailing around spontaneously…..although I recognie that a certain amount of spontanaiety can be a good thing especially if you tend to be a bit too controlled..not that I’m anything but completely balanced in that aspect…Ha Ha HA HA HA HA HA!

Oh well……Today I’ve managed toÂ made a big pot of chicken veggie soup from the roast chicken that we had for dinner last night and that should last us for dinner tonight as well as for a couple of lunches.Â

The kids have tomorrow as a ProD day and we are just going to take them into work with us.Â It should be interesting!Â They can play and watch videos and I just have to figure out what to take for us all for lunches tomorrow….fun!

And then…..Then we are going to hang out with our friends tomorrow night.Â It’s been far too long since we have spent any time with them and it will be fun to just hang out and relax.Â We can always use a little bit of downtime, and this is some of our most favorite ways to relax….hanging out with our friends…no agenda, just chillin’…

What are some of your favorite things to do to relax…either personally or as a family?

ps.Â I added some of our pictures up over at Flickr so you can either click over HERE to check it out or click on the “Photos” button in the menu at the top.Â There are about 6 new albums that you can click through – if you’re interested??

Not “THE” list, but I’m making one nonetheless..

First of all, I’m thrilled that some of you are delurking and entering for the giveaway.

I just wanted to say that if I “know” you in real life, and you feel like you’ve stumbled across this little secret thing, and you’re feeling like you aren’t sure if it’s okay…..

I’m writing about my life in the internet. It really can’t get much more open than that. I’m really okay with “you” – whoever you are – reading about me and whatever I choose to blather on and on about, and the only reason that I’m not passing out cards saying “READ ME” is because I like to pretend that I’m even a little bit classy, eh?

So, go ahead…out yourself. Sign up for the chance to win a free piece of jewelry. I’d love to give it to you…yah, YOU! I’m talking to you. So head on over and leave a comment and then we’ll cross our fingers and toes and legs (ya know…….if we’re laughing too hard) and hope that it’s you that wins.

And, if you entered the last contest and didn’t win….please enter again….You might win too, and I’d be more than thrilled to give the prize to you.

And moving on, today is my list making day.

Yesterday was my “OH MY GOSH, I CAN BREATHE AGAIN BECAUSE I HAVE NO STRESS OR PRESSURE TO GET THINGS DONE” day. I’ve been a bit busy, recently, and had a few deadlines, and really…it was all sitting quite heavy on me. And when I woke up yesterday, I actually felt like I had NOTHING…NOT. ONE. SINGLE. WEIGHT. resting on my shoulders.

Which of course is crap because I got tons to do, and if I don’t got tons to do, then I should really be decluttering my house….cause it really needs a thorough scraping.

So today, I’m making a list of the things that I need to get done before I have my annual Ladies Christmas Party, next Thursday. I’m planning on spreading everything out so that I can accomplish everything that I want and need to do without SPAZZING out on Thursday day trying to round up every last little thing for the evening.

I’m good at leaving things late and then getting it all done, but the stress of doing that…..yah, it’s getting old.

I’m also thinking about something and for those of you who are local – lemme know what you think?

I’m thinking of having an open house for a couple of hours in either an evening or on a Saturday morning and having my jewelry laid out to look at, and we could chat and have a coffee and Eggnog or some Cider, and maybe you could do some Christmas Shopping, if you were interested……

So, let me know what you think?

But, Now….now I gotta go and actually MAKE my list instead of just thinking and talking about making the list.

Did Ya Miss Me?

I’M BACK!

I don’t know that I post frequently enough for anyone to “miss” me, but regardless…..I’m back, and I’m hoping that things will be a bit more “normal” aorund here.

I had a GREAT weekend away. I was at a women’s retreat. It was amazing. 30 women gathered together to love on each other, to share with each other, to bond, to get refreshed, to get in touch with some of the dreams that we’ve had, and to re-ignight the passion to see those dreams fulfilled, to laugh, to feel restored, to remember how important that “we” are and that we need to take care of ourselves, to eat AMAZING food – that we didn’t have to prepare or clean up from…..the list just keeps on going and going and going.

It was an awesome time away.

I was even privileged to be one of the 3 FABULOUS speakers…the other two women who shared are some SERIOUSLY AMAZING women….with so much insight, and I was completely honored to be asked to share on BOUNDARIES.

It’s something that I am passionate about and to be able to share some of what I know in the hopes of it empowering others….it was AWESOME!

I actually walked away from this weekend feeling better than I have leaving any other ladies retreat that I’ve been involved in. It was a weird feeling. I was tired, but not overwhelmingly so.

I did come home exhausted, and I went to bed fairly early last night after sitting around the house and not doing too much, and then Jon – the wonderful, WONDERFUL man that he is let me sleep in this morning, and I actually feel ready to hit this week.

Usually it takes me a couple of days to feel ready to hit the ground running, but not this time…YAH!

I feel like I’m in a transitional time. It’s like I’m changing from a caterpiller to a butterfly and I’m right in the middle of the change.

Insecurities and worries that would have plauged me and tormented me until I felt crushed by them are not weighing that heavy on me, and I feel like I have to confidence to take the next steps in my life that I’m supposed to.

I did really good ALL weekend. Just a few little teeny, tiny, insecure thoughts that were “Oh so easy to banish”, but mostly it all felt “right”…..it’s not been until I got home and my mind started wondering and replaying the weekend that I started to feel a little “off”. I am okay. It’s just like I’m in that change state…..recognizing that the “old, insecure” me is slowing giving way to the “new, strong” me and like any negative behaviour…..it’s not going to give up it’s control easily.

I’m excited to see what the future holds for me.

I love to see women empowered and loved on and to see them feel “safe” especially with other women…..I LOVE IT.

I think I might post a little about what I talked about. Would you be interested in reading a bit about what I was able to share this past weekend?

How are you with personal boundaries?

So, About that vacation…

We had the most wonderful week away with the most amazing friends.

We laughed, and chatted, and fished, and swam, and eat and didn’t sleep very much (that was us, not them – and not for all the good reasons *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* – nope, Siah decided to wake up once an hour every hour, and we were in a cabin with Jeremy, and I just wanted him to sleep, so I nursed him in bed with us, and well….that was the closest to just wanting to let him cry it out that I’ve got in a long time. I know that I could do that, but really, I’m not just ready yet, mmmkay….moving on!)

So, like I was saying, there was lots of fishing….

And lots of Rope Swinging….

And we did a little Canoeing….

Lots of happy smiling children….

Snuggling….

A little bit of…..well, I don’t know what to call this, but ihe’s just so cute!

I have lots of pictures up and you can just click here to see them all.

Our time away was wonderful on so many levels, but it really made me aware of the need for “community”.

That is the “something really cool that I want to share”. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s just really been somthing that I’ve been thinking about and mulling over and it’s been stirring inside of me for a while and well…..I’m still trying to work it all out.

But…….I have some little monkeys that are pulling on my pants legs, which makes me think that I’ve been on my computer long enough, so I’ll be back to share my “musings” a bit later.

How About Some Potato Salad?

So today i whipped up some potato salad for dinner.

I had boiled some potatoes last night and hucked them in the fridge to cool. So, making up the salad was super easy.

This is not your typical potato salad. I didn’t use any egg….I know….horror, how can you possibly have a potato salad without egg in it…well, I did, and it still tastes delicious, sans egg.

Here is the picture that I took of the fabulous salad.

The ingredients for this salad are:

6-8 Red Potatoes
6 inches of a Daikon
1 Zuchinni
4-6 Green Onions
Dairy Free Mayo (approx 1/2 cup or so)
2 Tbsp or so of Dijon Mustard (heavy on the or so)
TONS of DILL (maybe 2 Tbsp or more)
2 Tbsp Relish

I woulda used plain pickles instead of relish, but I didn’t have any and so I used crappy not-health-food green sweet relish.

I didn’t have any celery on hand, and figured that the daikon would add the right amount of crunch as well as some tangy flavor. The zuchinni was for filler and I figured that it was healthy and once covered with mayo and dill would be unrecognizable. The Green Onions were a familiar flavor, and well…it wouldn’t be potato sald with out the potatoes.

I dumped everything into a bowl and once it was all stirred together, I used my potatoe masher to smoosh it together (I just mashed it a few times, just to moosh some of the potatoes) so it was a tad bit creamy.

Even Geli, liked it…Jeremy was my one hold out….he licked his finger that he touched to one potato, but oh well. For an eggless, celery less potato salad it was really delicious. Actually, it was just really delicious….I think that the only thing I might do differently next time is to actully use pickles, and to use a touch less mayo, but still…another big hit at our house.

So, next time you are wanting to make something…think outside the “normal box” and see what substitutes that you can use and still retain the idea of it all.

I did make a TON of crackers today, and they are also delicious. I should go and take a picture so i can share them with you as well.

Not that this is a food blog or anything.

Jon and I are headed into Vancouver tomorrow to spend the weekend at my In-Laws, and I’m looking forward to the change of pace that staying there brings…

I’m not at all packed or ready to go and so that chould make tomorrow morning a bit stressfull, but I’m jst gonna try to “flooooooow” with it. The kids are already packed and so that makes it a teeny tiny bit easier, because I just have to do Siah and myself, and all the food.

On that note, I think I’m gonna go and talk about our food for the weekend with Jon.

Talk to you soon.

Oh, do you have a favorite Potato Salad recipe that you could share? Or one that I could adapt to being dairy free….lemme know…or heck, even just any fun salad recipe….I’ve got a spicy peanut with rice noodle one that is AMAZING and the kids are asking for it so I will be making it sometimes soon…are you interested in the recipe for that one?

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