Sometimes it’s hard to focus on the positives.

In January I had a breast cancer scare.  Found a lump in my breast.  Mammogram and ultrasound was inconclusive.  I had to have a biopsy.  It turned out to be a benign cyst.  I dodged a bullet and swore never to miss another annual mammogram.  (I have an extensive family history!)

In February and March I threw out my back 6 TIMES!  In bed recovering 3-4 days each time.  Never found out what was wrong.  I’m just thankful that physical therapy fixed it.

In April Scott had changes in his eye exam that the sarcoidosis doctors thought needed to be looked at a little more closely.  He still hasn’t gotten to see the special neuro-ophthamologist.  Coincidentally, his appointment was today and he couldn’t get there because there’s a fucking flood!

In June, Will started getting dizzy spells.  Took him to the doctor, thinking he had an ear infection and they’d give him antibiotics.  They ended up doing an MRI and finding something suspicious on his brain that should be looked at by a specialist.  After many scary tests at Children’s Hospital, they determined that it was damage done at birth and that he’s been thriving for 12 years, they expect him to continue to do so.  The dizzy spells are most likely related to hormones and changes and puberty.

In July Scotty started having stomach aches so bad that he wakes up in the middle of the night vomiting.  He has an appointment to see a specialist at Children’s at the end of the month.  They’ve already ruled out gallstones.

In September we lost the house.

Sometimes it’s hard to focus on the positives.  Sometimes it takes a lot of effort.  But…  my God, I’m so thankful for what you’ve given me.  I love my husband more than anything.  I love these boys so much.  I’m so, so thankful my parents weren’t at the house when the landslide happened.  I love this life.  It could be a little less eventful…

End of Summer 2013

I’m a little sad to be thinking about the end of summer already.  My garden was very disappointing this year.  (homegrown tomatoes are the main reason I love summertime…)  But I can’t help but be excited about getting back into the school routine!  (I wish I could figure out how to make the boys half as excited as I am…)

So these images are from the last few days:  harvesting what little there is from our garden, a trip to the hospital for Bee, lots of knitting and our annual Labor Day shopping trip with my sister and niece! 

The leaves are beginning to change and I usually put up our Fall décor on September first NO MATTER WHAT…  But, for some reason, this year, I’m just not in the mood yet – it’s supposed to be close to 100 degrees every day this week – maybe that has something to do with it…  First cool day, though and you know what I’ll be doing!

I’ve got lots of Christmas knitting going right now (I’m able to better tolerate All-Geek-Television-All-the-Time in the evenings when my hands are busy.  So that must make my geek happy.)  And I’m reading this book:

The boys showed some interest in this book series, so I’m reading the first one to see if I think it’s appropriate.  Also thinking about taking them to the movie to get them excited about reading it.  (I think there are 3 books in the series and I’ve heard they’re really good.)  It’s young adult fiction, but you never really know until you read it…  I’m enjoying it.

And here’s school this year:

This is everything but math.  When the boys saw it, they both pretended to drop dead from a heart attack…  WHATEVER!

This new curriculum looks fun to me!  It even includes projects, art, field trips, cooking.  It seems like a lot of reading but I guess we’ll see when we get into it. 

It all starts on Monday.  Wish us luck!