Family

Level 38

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IMG_20150902_182425_editWoo hoo, I made it to level 38. For the past number of years I didn’t celebrate my birthday. I was aging and apparently that was a problem. Since my run in with Timmy the brain tumour I am overjoyed to be a little older than I was yesterday. So today and everyday I am celebrating life.

On the aging front the little old lady that lives in my hairline will still be having her 6 week visit with my hair dresser. Even though I maybe 38 I don’t want the flowing grey locks of someone twice my age.

Last year after I blew out my candles my oldest said “I know what your wish was.” He told me that he though I wished that my husband and I didn’t get a divorce. It broke my heart and surprised me too. I am not sure where he came up with that one as there were no signs that it was going to happen. I didn’t wish for a happy marriage, I actually wished for good health. Isn’t that a kick in the you now what. I did get finally get my wish but only after some trauma in the health department.

So this year I learned my lesson and I am not wishing for health. This year I am wishing to win the lottery, we will see how I make out with that one ;).

 

 

Frightful Tricks and Treats

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Halloween is one of my favourite days of the year. With little ones it’s easy to get caught up in all of the excitement. Here are a couple of projects that we made for the holiday.

Mummy Cupcakes

We went to a Halloween party and brought these mummy cupcakes as dessert. They are chocolate cupcakes with white icing, and red M&M’s for eyes.

Pumpkin Rice Crispies

These treats went to one of my boys classes for a Halloween party. I found the instructions here. I took some liberties with the recipe and added pretzels for stems and green frosting leaves.

Pumpkins

Halloween Wreath

I copied my own idea from last years Christmas wreath and made a similar wreath for Halloween with orange and black washi tape.

wreath

As a pretty passionate maker you might think that I would be making the kids halloween costumes but I don’t. The reason why is that it’s just too expensive. I do however make my own costume every year. This year I was little red riding hood. I didn’t make it into any of the photos this year 😦

Happy 5th Anniversary

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pics109Yesterday marked our fifth wedding anniversary. We were married on the beach in Mexico which is where I would like to be right now. It’s grey and rainy and it will be for the next few months. An escape to some where hot and sunny would be very welcome.

This was a rather tough year for us. I  became unemployed, went back to school as a graduate student, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had a craniotomy. That is a lot of changes for a marriage to endure in a short period of time. Throw two little kids into the mix and it could have been a recipe for marriage disaster. BUT it wasn’t. Thankfully we figured out how to hold it all together and end up in a better spot than we were a year ago.

The “in sickness and in health” part of our marriage vows were really tested this year. A test that I ignorantly thought wouldn’t happen until we were much older. My husband was amazing throughout the brain tumour process. He remained calm and when I though my world was going to crumble. He held it all together, he never wavered, and most importantly he never lost faith that everything would be OK. I asked him often if he was scared and all he would ever say was “not yet”. His strength gave me tremendous strength which I am very grateful for. I understand now when someone makes reference to another person “as their rock”. I get it, I have one. This year was a big test and I am proud to report that we passed.

To celebrate five years of marriage we managed to escape overnight without the kids. We have the most amazing babysitter/friend on the planet who came and stayed with the kids. We spent the day at the spa and then ate the most amazing dinner, and enjoyed the quiet of the oceanview suite. The fifth anniversary is wood, and we were staying in a log cabin, sleeping in a bed carved from tree branches. If that isn’t enough wood I made this Christmas tree decoration as a present for my husband. Confused he asked if he was supposed to wear it around his neck and I was like “who do you think you are Mr.Tee?” It is made from a tree branch from our yard with string that was used on our wedding invitations. It isn’t the most glamorous gift I have ever given but it’s the thought that counts.

Happy Thanksgiving

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18-thanksgiving-cartoonI picked my three year old up from preschool last week and they had just finished a thanksgiving project about what they are thankful for. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read his response. He is thankful for the snacks in the snack box. I supposed that I am thankful for the snacks in the snack box too, especially around 3 in the afternoon. But I wouldn’t say that the snacks in the snack box are at the top of my list.

I can’t help think how different my “Thanksgiving List” is this year. Last year at this time I didn’t even know I had a brain tumour. Now here I am 9 weeks post surgery. Here is my top ten things I am thankful for this year.

I am thankful:

  1. to be alive and healthy without a brain tumour
  2. that it was me with the brain tumour and not my kids or my husband
  3. that my husband took the “in sickness and in health” part of our marriage vows to heart. We pulled each other through this brain tumour fiasco together.
  4. for my kids because even on the bad days they gave me a reason to get my crap together
  5. brain surgeonmy neurosurgeon’s steady hands
  6. that neither Timmy or the neurosurgeon did any permanent damage to my brain
  7. for my parents who took care of the kids and the house so that all I had to do was get better, and all my husband had to do was take care of me
  8. for my family, friends and blog readers for the guidance, free childcare, meal-train meals, cards, gifts, flowers, prayers and support you all rock
  9. that a brain tumour cost me a grand total of $33.00 ($8.00 for the drugs my drug plan didn’t cover and $25.00 in parking at the hospital for the week so my family could come and visit me)
  10. plus all of the things that I am thankful for every year

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, I am thankful for you.

Happy 3rd Birthday

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At the end of August my youngest turned three just a couple of weeks after I had surgery. We still managed to celebrate multiple times. When my parents were here we had a little family celebration complete with store-bought cupcakes. On his actual birthday we had a store-bought cake. There isn’t anything wrong with buying cakes from the store but I use every occasion as a reason to bake.

The baker in me was having a really hard time but I was not in any state to be baking. I was still recovering from brain surgery. But that didn’t go on forever and when I was feeling better we threw a birthday party/Timmy the tumour eviction party. We asked friends for donations to the Brain Tumour Foundation instead of birthday gifts. That might seem mean but we have so many toys he really doesn’t need anything else. Can you find him in toy mountain?

The theme for the party was robots because now that I have a titanium plate in my head I am part robot. But really it’s what my little boy asked for. In keeping with the theme we made a robot pinata. Unfortunately when I took the robot outside for a photo-shoot one of my assistants closed the front door which locked behind us. Even more unfortunate I had to call my husband at work 45 minutes away to come and let us in the house. It was just before lunch and the kiddies were hungry thankfully my husband rescued us before we needed to smash the robot for lunch.

By the time the party happened I was four weeks post surgery and I figured that I was fine to start baking. Which I would have been if I chose to make a less detailed cake. After completing the robot cake I needed a nap.

The birthday boy said that it was the best day of his life and of course that makes all of the effort worthwhile.

The first week back

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It’s been 5 weeks since my craniotomy to remove Timmy the tumour. This past week was also the first week back to school. My oldest started grade 1 without any tears, which was a very big deal. I started back to school pursuing a MBA online for my third semester. My youngest starts preschool next week which we are both looking forward to. My husband was at a conference all week and basically came home to change and sleep. On Thursday he flew to Ontario for the weekend to spend much needed time with his family.

For the transition back to school I was pretty much flying solo and by Friday I was so proud of myself. I had S to school everyday on time with a healthy lunch and clean clothes. I managed to complete the course work for the first module in two of my classes. I finished an art piece for a juried Brain Tumour exhibition. The kids had an after school play date three of four school days. I hit my fitness goals twice in the week by walking S home from school. I even managed to bake a cake for my cake decorating class. My house was moderately clean which is about as clean as it ever gets. I felt like I was on top of the world. After four weeks of resting it was a busy week.

I had registered for a cake decorating class in June and after the first class the instructor had to cancel because he had to have surgery. Then I had to have surgery so we coordinated schedules and I am back to class in September. This class requires that I bake something every week so that I have something to decorate. Which also means that I have way too much baking in the house thankfully our babysitter accepts payment in cupcakes!!

Saturday morning my youngest had a runny nose which isn’t such a huge deal, but then my oldest started throwing up. He had a fever and it was probably the sickest he has ever been. He slept with me so I could keep an eye on him and we have an en-suite. I knew that the kids would be fine they bounce back from being sick so quickly. But I have been afraid of getting sick since I had surgery. I am not interested in a head cold because my head is still healing. I am really not interested in throwing up for many reasons but primarily because I am supposed to stay away from jarring activities. Plus does anyone ever want to get sick.

The chances of making it through the weekend without getting sick were not in my favour. Saturday night I got a sore throat and was congested. But on the bright side I can now sleep on the left side of my head! After 5 weeks of only sleeping on my right side it a welcome change to sleep on my left. It was pretty much a necessity to be able to switch sides so that I could breathe. Perhaps this cold is my body’s way of telling me to slow down and rest again, or it’s those germy kids either way I am going to have an afternoon nap. If I have learned anything from this brain tumour it’s that we should listen to our bodies, we only get one and it’s a gift that needs to be taken care of.

Bumping Along…..It’s nearing the end of July and I still have a brain tumour

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Brain surgeryIt’s been a while since I wrote specifically about Timmy. He seems to make his way into almost every one of my posts recently and that’s because it’s pretty hard to separate myself from him. As it’s almost the end of July and he and I are still stuck together you might have been wondering what’s up. Or most likely you are having a great summer and not thinking at all about me or my brain tumour, and if that’s the case, fantastic, good for you, I am jealous.

Timmy and I were originally scheduled to be separated on July 31 the Friday before the August long weekend. The neurosurgeon, my husband, and my parents were all on board with the plan (Timmy doesn’t get a vote) but unfortunately the hospital wasn’t very keen. About a week ago I got a call to say that I was being bumped to Friday August 7th because there was an urgent case that needed my date. I find it a little hard to believe that someone more urgent than me was still going to wait 2+ weeks for surgery. I think it was code for it’s the Friday before the long weekend and there isn’t the staff for your elective surgery. If the latter is the case than I am happy to move to a date that can accommodate the operating room staff, I wouldn’t want anyone rushing to get out of MY surgery to get to the cabin on the lake with a two four.

Couple of notes here:

  • in BC cottages are called cabins
  • beer is not commonly sold in two fours in BC, so it would be more like 4 six packs

RubesEarwormAt first I was a little upset by the change in date but that lasted for about 10 minutes, and then I was relieved. My parents were able to switch their flights by a week and were assisted by a lovely customer service person at Westjest that waived the flight change fee after my mom explained why they needed to change flights. Props to Westjet for being human. My surgery was planned for the end of July so that I could write exams, and still be able to go back to school in September. I will now have 4 weeks of recovery time and hopefully that will be enough. The surgeon said that I should be back to my regular routine in 6 weeks, so I am hoping that I am an extra fast healer. All that I have to compare this surgery to is giving birth and the removal of wisdom teeth, both of which took me way too long to get over.

Things are moving forward though I am spending the morning today at the hospital meeting with a pharmacist (my new BFF), an anesthesiologist (makes me think of LL Cool J and the song “momma gonna knock you out”), and a nurse (who will also be in the running for the position of new BFF). I am also having bloodwork, an ECG, and a chest x-ray. Sounds like a super fun way to spend a Friday morning, but I am going to do it without the kids and with my husband so it’s sort of like a date.

As of right now Timmy will be evicted on August 7th but you better believe that I will keep you posted if something changes.

BBQ Cupcakes Hot off the Grill

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BBQ Cupcake detail 2We headed to a potluck BBQ on the weekend and wait for it, we brought cupcakes. If you have been following my blog for a little while you might have noticed that every other post is about cupcakes. I have been altering the posts between brain tumours and cupcakes just to keep the content light and fluffy.

I started taking a cake decorating class and I was quite bummed when it got postponed because the instructor had to go in for surgery, the class will resume some time in August and I am hoping to be healed from my surgery in time to participate. During the last class the young girl beside me managed to get frosting in her hair. I will have to remember to keep my distance from her as frosting in my healing skull probably wouldn’t be “just what the doctor ordered”.

In keeping with the BBQ theme I stole this idea from my favourite site. In case you want to copy from me copying from Pinterest here are the instructions:

Instructions

BBQ Cupcakes steps

  1. Bake chocolate cupcakes (just follow the instructions on a boxed cake mix) or get really wild and bake them from scratch
  2. Frost the cupcakes once they are cooled with chocolate frosting, they don’t have to be perfect because you are going to cover them in sprinkles (aka fire)
  3. Dip, roll or sprinkle the cupcakes with any combination of red, orange or yellow sprinkles (I used red and clear sugar sprinkles because that’s what they sell at the dollarstore and I am cheap)
  4. Draw on a BBQ grill with black frosting
  5. Add on a few “Hot Tamales” or red Mike&Ike candies (aka Hot dogs)
  6. Draw grill marks on the candy

P.S. if you decide to send your husband to the store for hot tamales and he happens to have been born in another country where he wouldn’t have had access to these treats explain to him exactly what you want or you might end up with hot peppers.

Eating Beavers

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For our Canada day celebrations I made beaver cupcakes for the little cannucks, or at least that is what they are supposed to look like. For some reason when I made them they did actually resemble the animal, now looking at the pictures I wonder how much wine I consumed while baking. Either way the kiddies ate them up.

If you want to take a run at them this is what I did, perhaps you can improve on it.

  1. baked and iced cupcakes with chocolate frosting
  2. for the tails I used lady finger type cookies cut in half
  3. the flag is helping the tail stand up
  4. ears are M&M’s
  5. eyes are fondant with brown food colouring dots
  6. teeth are white fondant
  7. the nose is the last step and it a red M&M

Canada Day Cake

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canada day shirtI haven’t posted anything in a little while because I have been on a baking frenzy and I am supposed to be studying for exams. I write the first exam of three on Wednesday of next week. I just can’t let a holiday pass by without some sort of festive treat. We had a party on Canada Day to celebrate the birthday of our fantastic country and I made a cake, no real surprise there. I also made some festive cupcakes for the kiddies, I will reveal those tomorrow. We had a great time and the kids had a blast with water guns, and water balloons. Here is little L sporting his new Canada Day shirt for the occasion.

Historically I have made a sheet cake frosted with white icing, and decorated with strawberries in the shape of a Canadian flag. I thought that I would mix things up a bit this year. I have wanted to try making a cake with more than 2 layers. So I made a red, white, red layered cake to resemble the colours and pattern of the Canadian flag. It was more like pink than red but after a few drinks who could tell the difference. I did my best free hand maple leaf on the top. My free hand technique could use some work, but the taste is the same regardless of drawing ability.