Busy Day

{My in-laws sent us this ornament in a care package this last week. 

They said we needed some Southern on our tree.  :) 

I am Southern you know... by marriage.}

I actually have a pretty busy week ahead of me (or at least for me).  I have quite a few appointments on my calendar, which I am really thankful for.  Christmas always seems to take forever to get here.  Add to that the fact that I really want to get my surgery over with and I think time has purposefully slowed down.  I am hoping the busy schedule will help distract me for waiting.

Today, I went to a Soils Mechanics and Slope Stability Seminar up in Portland.  It was an entire day of listening to an instructor talk about soil and I had to get up early.  What is it about knowing you have to get up early that makes it almost impossible to get a good night's sleep?  I don't like it.

I had every intention of going to the gym after we got home, but I was pretty tired .  I just wanted to come home, eat, and go to bed.  Since I didn't have the energy to go to the gym, I made a healthy dinner.  I thought it was a good compromise.

I made Cheeseburger Pie Casserole. 

It is made with ground turkey breast, heart healthy Bisquick, and then we used low-fat Sharp Cheddar and Omega-3 eggs.  It was super good.  The recipe says you are supposed to get 8 servings out of it.  Maybe that would be true if you made a ton of other side dishes with it.  I made no other side dishes.  I was going to heat up a can of corn but opening the can was more than I could handle.  Even if you take twice the suggested portion size (like I did), it is still only 422 calories.  Not bad for dinner.

I am amazed with myself that I actually made dinner.

Ok I am going to bed now.  At 8:30.

Ten Little Things

Today I am linking up with E Tells Tales for her Friday Ten Little Ivie Things.  Elizabeth is HILARIOUS (I love someone who narrates their baby's thoughts with almost curse words), so I figured some of the lists other people post should be pretty funny too.

I have decided my list will be made up of random thoughts from throughout this past week.  All of which are too short for a blog post of their own.

{I just like this picture.  Image via my pinterest}

10.  I am in love with Friday Night Lights.  I finially finished the series on Netflix this past week and rather than move on to a new show, I just started it over again.  I love the show so much I had this conversation with Phil:

Me:  I think I thought of another baby name.

[Side note:  I'm not pregnant]

Phil:  Oh yeah?

Me:  Yeah.  I want to name our baby Tim Riggins.

Phil:  {no reaction}

Me:  First name Tim.  Middle name Riggins.  Therefore, Tim Riggins Janney.

Phil:  Sure.  Sounds good!

Me:  Or maybe if I ever get pregnant, we will refer to the unborn baby as "Baby Tim Riggins."  Do you think people will think that is weird.

Phil:  They probably will.

Me:  Whatevs.

I love Tim Riggins.  Not so much the actor though.  I saw him in one of the X-Men movies and it totally shattered the illusion.


9.  I saw a junior-high kid walking to school yesterday.  He was carrying a musical intrument.  While I was waiting for him to cross the street, I figured out what the instrument was... the bassoon.  I am 94% confident about this.  How do I know?  I play the bassoon.  And just in case you were wondering... I am quite good.


8.  I have a mental countdown to my surgery date.  And everything in my mind is relative to when I have my surgery.  Like Christmas?  I know that Christmas is 16 days away.  But the reason I know that is because my surgery is 18 days away.  I am thinking about making a paper chain.  Remember those?  (I am not really making a paper chain.)  I can't wait to get Ned and Noami out of my neck.  How awesome would it be to find out I don't have cancer?  I'd take that over a puppy.


7.  On sunday, I got my flu shot and on tuesday I got my bloodwork done for my surgery.  Both happened in my right arm (because I am left-handed).  I now think my right arm hates me.


6. Tuesday night, I had a meeting in Albany. I know you are jealous. My boss, aka mi pater (that's Latin folks), is on a committee that is working on a comprehensive plan for an undeveloped area in South Albany. He (and I since I keep going to the meetings) represent a client of ours who owns about half of the property in the area. Basically, it is our job to represent his interests in what happens to the area (aka make sure the entire area isn't dedicated to be a natural wildlife reserve which he can never develop).


I've now lost ALL of my readers.

The meeting invited the community to come and voice their opinions about what they envisioned for this area of town. Should their be a coffee shop here? Maybe some duplexes here? Light industrial or commercial development here?

And suddenly I realized...

We were all playing SimCity. Only now in real life.

I loved that game in the 7th grade. It was addicting. No wonder so many people showed up.


5.  Part of my pre-surgery bloodwork was a urine pregnancy test.  When I showed up to the lab, they informed me that my (two forms of) insurance may not cover the costs of the tests, and then I would be billed for costs.  They then told me the costs of the tests.  The urine pregnancy test was something like $26.  I seriously wanted to ask them if I could walk across the street to the Walgreens and buy a First Response Test or something.  It would be cheaper and I would have gotten like 3 of them.

The process of retrieving the urine sample was not super enjoyable either.  The previous patient had left their sample in the bathroom (gross).  There was "water" all over the floor.  At least I hope it was water.  There were liquid rings on the top of the toilet paper dispenser, as in people had put their filled cups there while they finished their business (also gross).  Pretty sure the floor was the cleanest thing in there.

That was probably an overshare.  Sorry people.


4.  Yesterday, I got to the office and realized I was wearing my black coat, navy blue pants, and camel colored Ugg slippers.  Definitely a fashion fail.  Did I mention I was wearing flannel as well?


3.  Last week, my mom told Jeffrey the truth about Santa. 

His friends at school kept telling him there was no Santa, so Jeffrey wanted to borrow my parents video camera to record Santa's antics on Christmas Eve.  That way he would have proof to show his friends.  Personally, I thought it was a genius idea.  My mom decided she couldn't lie to him.  She wanted him to believe her about other things like God and she was worried if she lied to him, he wouldn't believe her about other things.  Makes sense.

He cried.  And then he told her he wished she wouldn't have told him.  And he was mad at her the rest of the night.

Doesn't that break your heart?

At least my mom told him weeks before Christmas.  She told me 4 DAYS before Christmas.  And the only reason they told me is because my parents were going to buy the "Santa Gift" for my brothers and they had to bring me along with them.  I was like 10, so it was probably about time.

When I tell my kids about Santa, I am going to do it THIS way.


2.  I feel like I really belong in the blogging community now... I ordered a print off of etsy.  The artist's shop is called Lady Hue.  I also ordered her Christmas album.  She and her husband recorded the album in their bathroom.  It shipped yesterday!  I am so excited to get it.  The print is going up in my office.


1.  I got some comfy flannel pajamas on Black Friday to wear after my surgery.  They look warm, but not too heavy and have plenty of room around the neck.  Because I bought them for my surgery, I kind of feel like I shouldn't wear them before that.  I think this is proof that my mom was very strict about not wearing school clothes before the first day of school.  It would probably be ok if I wore my pajamas prior to my surgery.


Alright, I did it!  I won't lie... it was hard coming up with 10 things.  Hopefully some of you stuck around to read all 10.  :)

My Christmas List

I let Phil know what I wanted for Christmas this year.

{all images via Pinterest}

An English Bulldog Puppy

I want it with a bow on, under the tree, Christmas morning.


But Phil said no.  :(

They are like $2,000.  And we just bought a new TV.  Plus we might be looking at some medical expenses this next year.  Joy.

Phil said once he gets a big boy job, he will buy me a puppy.

I guess I can wait.

Being a Graduate Wife

I am the wife of a Graduate student.

My husband is getting his PhD in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology.  He is (finger's crossed) almost done.  I am hoping he gets done by June of 2012.  I really want him to walk in the graduation ceremony OSU does every June.

{oregonstate.edu}

Sometimes having a spouse in graduate school is really nice.

PROS:
- He can set his own hours sometimes which means he can help me get ready in the morning, be home about when I am, and go to almost all of my doctor's appointments with me.

But sometimes it really sucks.

CONS:
- Deadlines which HAVE to be met and are usually completely unreasonable so my husband has to leave me and go to campus on a Sunday night until Monday morning.

Oh wait... that JUST HAPPENED!

So even though he didn't want to, Phil had to leave his patheticly tired and neck-cramped wife to fend for herself for the entire night.

Seeing as I was too tired to move, I managed to get the energy to grab my credit card and order pizza.  I am more than amazed that I was able to do that and didn't just eat a bowl of cereal (which I was seriously considering).

In case you were wondering, Phil came home at 2 in the morning just to switch the cars.  He woke me up, gave me a few kisses and left again.  :(  Also sad... I couldn't fall back asleep for an hour and a half, which really didn't help the overwhelming tiredness I have currently been experiencing.

Phil felt really bad.  But I am not even the tiniest bit upset with him.  I remember Graduate School.  It blows.

The life of a Graduate Wife...

I am counting down the days until June.



Tired

Saturday, I had a meeting at the office all morning.  I woke up that morning with my neck and shoulders aching intensely.  Pretty strong pain.  Not turn my head kind of pain.  I spent a good 30 minutes during the meeting trying to stretch out my neck.

While I was stretching out my neck, I thought to myself, "Maybe it is stress.  I mean... it has been a tough week."

A week spent on the phone, contacting this doctor and that doctor.  Updating everyone.  Trying to keep calm and cope with the idea that I may have cancer.  Trying to not think about the fact that I would need surgery and that the cancer may have spread.  Tough week.

Then I thought, "Well the week before that I found out I had cancer.  That was really hard.  So I guess it has been a rough 2 weeks."

Then I realized, "The week before that I was trying to get the biopsy rescheduled and I actually had the biopsy.  It's been a hard 3 weeks."

Finally it dawned on me, "The week before that was when the first biopsy was supposed to happen and got cancelled.  4 weeks.  Basically a month.  It has been a really hard month."

No wonder my neck hurts.

Plus I am not really sleeping well at all.

I am tired.

I am seriously considering getting a massage.

Holiday Spirit

Thanksgiving this year was, understandably so, a little weird.  Phil and I had cancelled our trip to Georgia and decided we would make dinner here for my parents and Jeffrey.  It was the second time I had made Thanksgiving diner myself (the first time was in England with Emory).  It turned out great, if I do say so myself.

After dinner, we all went over to the craft store to pick up a new fake tree for Phil and I as well as some lawn Christmas decorations for my parents.  They were having quite the sale.  I can easily say it was the first time any of us had some any shopping ON Thanksgiving.  Maybe a new interesting tradition?  Who knows.

Then we decorated our Christmas tree... on Thanksgiving night.  The only way I sold this to Phil is that TECHNICALLY we had already eaten dinner and dessert so we could consider Thanksgiving over.  Plus I had just found out I had cancer, so I got a little more leeway to do what I wanted.

I have added a few more things to the tree since I took this picture.  Phil says it looks like a professional tree decorator did our tree.  :)  Smart man. 

I used the banner I had made for Tegan's Bridal Shower, twisted some lights with it and draped it across the curtain rods.  I think it looks really cute.  I think I will finish the other banner like it I had started.

I still have a little more decorating to do, but we will see if I get the motivation to do it.  :)

Here's an update

I have been behind on my posting... bad blogger.  But I kind of think I have a good reason.  I have had things I wanted to write about and then I forgot.  So I guess for now I will give an update.

I feel like I have spent so much time on the phone the last few weeks.  I got lucky and was able to get in to see the surgeon this last Friday instead of next Thursday.  She had the pathologist at OHSU look at the biopsy slides and give his opinion.  He said that he thinks the nodules are benign.  The surgeon said I could just wait and see what happens with the nodules and have more biopsies done to see if things change or I could have half of my thyroid removed, which would confirm whether the nodules are benign or not.

{The flowers my mother-in-law sent me.  It is an ornament... how cute is that?!?  Thank you, Faith!  I meant to tell you how much I liked them today but I forgot}

This is great news.  However, it is also the exact opposite of what my other doctor told me which is super confusing.  The surgeon said that there is probably a 15 to 20% chance that the nodules are cancerous.  Those odds are much better than what the endocrinologist first told me but still higher than I would like.

I have decided that I want to have surgery.  I am not necessarily a wait and see type of person.  Plus the wait and see strategy came with a lot of "buts."  It is scheduled for December 27th.  If it isn't cancer, it would be wonderful to find that out.  If it is cancer, I would rather find out now and take care of it before it has the chance to spread even more.

SO...

Surgery is in a few weeks.  And until then, I have some hope to hold on to.  I REALLY hope the OHSU pathologist is right.

It was kind of weird to hear good news.  I almost didn't know what to do with it.  It had been so long since I had heard anything good, I didn't know what to do with it.  After a few days, it has sunk in a little and I am feeling more hopeful.

How awesome would it be to start 2012 with some benign results?  I'd take it.  :)

In the meantime, I have been surrounded by love and support which I have really appreciated.  You people in my life are awesome.