Life as a Lewis

I know, I know. I was going to stay away this week. But a few memorable things happened over the weekend, and I need to write it down so I don't forget. (Forgetting is totally a possibility with my current lack of brain power.) Hello, Thanksgiving miracle. I woke up Saturday to these two playing together. Camden was (serious miracle) helping Rory out with a crossword puzzle. And even bigger miracle? She was letting him. I've been really wanting to redecorate the house much to Brian's chagrin. It's not really in the budget right now, but I did manage to come up with this idea of a mason jar filled with northern beans. Cute, right? Saturday was date day, which was a long time coming and much needed. We ate lunch, went to Jeni's (for the first time since last November, which is a tragedy), did some window shopping, then saw Catching Fire. It was amazing. Both the date and the movie. Brian chose sweet potato with toasted marshmallows and T...

I'm taking a break from the multiple errands and FOUR grocery store visits I'm making today to let you know I'm signing off for a couple of days.  Or possibly not signing off because I never seem to stay away quite as long as I think. I'll have family in town to chat with next week so maybe I won't need to write down my words. ;) After my full day of Thanksgiving prep today, we have a crazy weekend scheduled. Some work, some fun. The kids are off school all next week, and my parents arrive Monday evening. Brian, unfortunately, has to work Monday/Tuesday. I have managed to put off all organizing and cleaning until Monday, which seemed like a good idea earlier this week but maybe not such a great idea as the clutter has increased every day. The good news is that I have reserved Monday for cleaning and I'm fairly certain my family will not hold it against me if everything doesn't get finished. These two have both lost teeth (2 apiece) in the last c...

These two posts about Christmas: When You're Tired and Ready for a Christmas Revolution by Ann Voskamp and The Christmas Conundrum by Jen Hatmaker. I fully realize this train of thought regarding Christmas is not particularly popular, but I'm a believer. The Real Truth about Boring Men and the Women Who Live With Them , also by Ann Voskamp. This one has gone viral and for good reason. Ironically enough, I read this as I sat in my quiet house on Saturday while Brian was off at school and had taken both kids with him. Not because he needed two extra kids while he worked but because he knew I needed a little breather and because he hadn't seem them all week because of his schedule. I spent the last 3 weeks reading the Divergent trilogy , and as seems to be normal with a YA trilogy . . . book 3 was pretty disappointing. Doesn't mean I won't wait for the movie with great anticipation, but they're not going on a favorite book list anytime soon. Still wo...

Just a few pages from the last couple of weeks. Little Butterfly Wings: Autumn Happiness, full credits here Paislee Press Outdoorsy kit, full credits here November BYOC, full credits here

While talking about her new haircut (any haircut is usually the talk of our week with her), Rory informed me that Ms. D was super pretty. Not princess pretty, but almost. Thanks to mild temperatures our electric bill was HALF of what is typical this past month. Brian developed tennis elbow over the last couple of months and was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Do you know it takes 6-8 months for tennis elbow to correct itself? That's a long time! I spent Sunday and Monday quarantined in my room with one of the worst stomach bugs I've ever had. Fun times. And speaking of my stomach, as soon as it's 100% better, I'm going to have to head on over to Chick-Fil-A because they announced yesterday their peppermint chocolate chip shake is back. We shopped around for lower cable/internet and found something almost half of what we're currently paying. The internet is slightly less speedy than what we have now so I'm hoping it's still good enough...

Friday was storybook character day at school (a Christian school's version of Halloween?) and I knew immediately that Rory was going to choose Fancy Nancy. She has loved this series of books since she was about 3 and routinely uses words/phrases like ooh la la, darling, tiara, posh, bonjour, merci, and eats with her pinky up. Not kidding. We threw whatever we had in the house to make her fancy, and I think her costume was a smashing success! (Fancy Nancy might use the term smashing so I thought I'd throw it in.) (check out all those adult teeth coming in) If she only had a personality to go along with the fancy duds. Sigh.

You can tell I'm far behind in photo posting by the fact that there's actually green grass and leaves on the trees.  And no bangs on Rory, of course.  We had such a good time at this park, and I have lots more pictures that I have barely uploaded much less looked at. I had every intention of taking the kids back dressed in their finest for "real" pictures, but we were out of town multiple weekends in October, then the crazy knee problem happened, then all the leaves fell off the trees and those "real" pictures never came to be. I really wanted hazy pictures. Not sure I really perfected the art of haze yet, but it's an attempt anyway. Today's agenda includes lots of errand-running, a parade at Rory's school (wait until you see who she dressed up as), grocery shopping, and then dinner in Nashville (sans kids or husband) with friends.

I've only recently felt up to joining cancer forums, and they have been both helpful and not helpful. Helpful in the sense that I no longer feel crazy for my continuing aches and pains/various chemo side effects because everyone else seems to have them too (despite how the doctors might make me feel). Helpful in that I realize there are many other women living a long time with ovarian cancer, maybe more than the stats led me to believe. Not helpful because I see just how many people are affected by this disease. Not helpful because I see cancer recurrences many times over. Not helpful because sometimes people die. Not a day goes by that I don't have to stifle the feeling of panic and push back the knowledge that there is a monster living inside my body just biding its time. It is certainly easier to do now than it was 3 months ago or 6 months ago, but those feelings are never far from the surface. Yesterday, two of the friends I follow (ironically enough, not from the ...

I don't think she liked this one bit, do you? (Side note: see all those wispy hairs on Rory's forehead? Reason #1 I chose bangs for Rory.) I did not let a leg brace stop me from taking pictures. Can't imagine why it's still sore.

So today is my 38th birthday, and a couple of years ago I would have considered that OLD, but this morning I'm happy to be 38. Mostly because I had myself convinced the last couple of months that I was already 38 and that I was turning 39. Can I still keep blaming my dumbness on chemo brain? Much to Brian's chagrin (and my own, frankly), I chose to stick to our budget and skip celebrating although the Starbucks barista did convince me to live it up and order a venti peppermint mocha this morning for my free birthday drink. I'm hoping to celebrate in a couple of weeks with a date night that includes Catching Fire, which opens in 10 days. Not that I'm counting or anything. The kids made cute cards for me (which Rory could not keep a secret last night) and I'm planning to spend this very chilly rainy day curled up on the couch either catching up on my Hulu queue or maybe pulling out the EHD to do some scrapping.  And did you know today is 11-12-13? That almos...

We had our first hard frost of the season this morning. My husband, who never fails to be chivalrous and take extra good care of us, scraped my car off and left this little sign for us. See it? (those are not scratches on the van, btw, just leftover frost) I started to tell you how our weekend schedule is blissfully open, but we're meeting friends from out of town tomorrow morning, and I have a long "honey-do" list (check your email, Brian) in addition to a full day of services Sunday. I am looking forward to every bit of it. Two funny stories from last night. 1. We had "the talk" (or at least an abbreviated version of it) with Camden and Rory last night. Brian giggled his way through it, which in turn made me lose all control. I'm fairly certain we have scarred our children for life. 2. Camden is surprisingly good at charades. Well, he's detailed anyway. For instance, his phrase last night was jack-o-lantern. His way of acting this ...