Things are moving along....

This round went better than the rest. Yes, I still puked, but only once. Yes, I still have my issues, but they seemed better. I "appear" to be getting the recipe for the new cocktail down. In fact, outside of the temperature sensitivity, I am doing well. That one was the tough one this time. I didn't make it to the game on Saturday. The air was so cold and I couldn't risk getting stuck in it. I watched in on TV at home. The ticket went to our neighbor's son who, very nicely, listened to my Dad talk about his glory days playing basketball in Spokane the entire time. What a sweetheart. Closer to home, I found that playing the snow and not breathing is also a challenge. Luckily, because I lived in Spokane for college and learned to ski there, I had a face mask which came in REALLY handy. We played like a normal family and Nolan even kinda liked it. I took lots of pictures, we threw snowballs against the shed, they played on their swing set - slides are a lot of fun in the snow - and we seemed normal. Well, that was until yesterday, when Grant took the train to work for the first time (his office moved this past weekend to Pioneer Square area) and the boys and I were on our own. I usually have Mom or Karissa with me, but because of the holidays and, obviously, the weather, they stayed put. Mason, Nolan and I got on all our snow gear and headed outside. No one wanted to sled, so we went for an adventure Diego style. I have never seen Diego in the snow since he is from the jungle, but I guess that is a minor detail we can overlook. Everything was going great until, "Up Mommy." whine whine whine. "Mommy, the 'now is too deep for me. I am too 'ittle. 'elp me." and "I want to go in - I got 'now in my face." Whine, moan, moan, whine, moan, moan whine. Nolan was no better. That is when I lost it. We were undressing on the porch and they just kept at it despite my best attempts to change their perspective. I just thought, "I am raising a couple of whiners. How did that happen????" And then, my less desirable self came out, and I just said, "Here is the deal. If you two are going to me moaning and whining that is fine, but I am going to do what I want to do and you can moan and whine to yourselves." Then, the best part, "You know, people who moan and whine don't have any friends and die really lonely." Yeah, I guess the last part was pretty over the top, but my cancer came out and I thought, "Dudes, I am four days out from my 24th round of full chemotherapy and you want to moan?????" That is when I started the hard line of our golden rule, "If you are up you are happy." I LOVE THAT RULE. I don't know how I lost it, but I found it again, and I am much happier today. Couple funny stories.....I drove to Safeway yesterday after Grant got home. We needed a couple things and I really needed to get out. The Explorer did well, but there was one area where it was melting, but not draining. NICE. So, I am dancing around compact ice in a 5000 pound vehicle. It was a bit like a Disneyland ride without all the safety stuff. I got there and back fine, but while I was in the store and, all of the sudden had to go......yeah, GO. So, I went back to the grossest bathrooms in the world. The women's single bathroom was busy, so without hesitation I went into the men's. I exhaled and said to myself, "The faster you do this, the faster it is over." So, with all my potions and lotions, I was able to get through it AND discover why these bathrooms always looked dirty. It was the tile pattern. What lunatic chose that tile??? Happy with my tile discovery and happy with the fact that I was able to poop in a public restroom and still stand up, I left finished my shopping and went home. Here is the funny part.....my doctors are really impressed with my bowel control - I know, I am thinking, if this is good, what the heck is bad????? Second thing, this morning, Mason had to go poop. I don't know why four year olds need to completely disrobe from the waist down to do this, but he did and then he was in a frenzy to said good bye to Daddy, so I was helping him get his clothes back on. Somehow, he pulled up his underwear yet his "package" was totally hanging out. I said, "Mason, put yourself in your underwear." He looked down and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh Mommy, that is dangerous!" I laughed under my breath and said, "You're telling me..." Happy Tuesday, Ang