A tragic bean pie-related injury

Yes, the rumors are true: navy bean pie can be hazardous to your health.

This morning, having awoken before the family, I made a pot of coffee and settled down with a book to read in blessed silence. Hmmm....what's missing? Ah, yes. That last piece of navy bean pie from Thanksgiving at the Kaegis. I thought I'd just put that on a plate and my morning would be perfect.

That was not to be.

The pretty ceramic pie plate had a hairline crack which, when I applied pressure to get the last piece of pie out, burst into pieces, one of which ate part of my left thumb.

I put my coffee in a travel mug, the pie on a plate and my thumb in a towel and headed for the hospital. It was only 2 hours, but I barely got any reading done since there's not much business in the ER on a Sunday morning early.

In other news, my own El F has come to the grudging conclusion that my advanced water class is, in point of fact, hard. I subbed on Saturday and he took the class. He is walking with some difficulty today. I try to seem sympathetic, but he insists I don't look sorry!

Hegemom de Sade

Is it twisted that I love overhearing stuff my classes say about me?

Today I heard one of the guys say, "wow, [she's] strong" and the other agree, "very strong."

Last week, one of the longtime students told another that I was "the meanest teacher." The response was that I was the meanest right after Cindy (Cindy being the one who induced major leg cramps in me when I took her class a year ago.)

Never mind that I have to ice my knees when I get home from class-- it's so worth it!

What's new

Let's see...

Thanksgiving was fabulous. We joined the family of an old, dear friend of mine and had an absolute blast. Brother Brad plunked himself down on a stool in front of me and played guitar until I got a bit misty. Probably the bourbon aided in that endeavor, but it was a wonderful evening. His wife, Ave, is adorable.

Seeing the Kaegi family was wonderful. I used to love going to their house when I was a kid. It was always such a cheerful place to be. Except, of course, when Marlene threatened to rip the boys' lips off! hah! I didn't doubt for one second that tiny thing could beat down her enormous boys if she put her mind to it, either.

I got my home diva on: made a bean pie (it's a Southern thing), pumpkin soup and green salad with pecans and cranberries. This is what happens when I'm left with a day to myself to cook and no directives-- I'll just cook until I feel like stopping.

In other news: Liv's kindergarten class won the canned food drive competition thanks, in part, to my totally inappropriately competitive nature. I sent around an email to the other parents urging them to kick the 5th graders' butts, in essence.

Anyway, my image has now been broadcast on Fox news; I may never live down the shame! The good news is that the local food bank has a lot to feed the people in their care, and that's what is important. That, and winning the right to hit the principal with a pie.

Should be having surgery within a few weeks to remove my ovaries. Big fun. I'm not planning on missing many of my classes so this recovery thing better go quick. My classes will be delighted if I can't make them do my usual abdominal routine, though.

Friday slideshow

Usually I don't go in for the gimmicky slide shows, but this was so perfect for the little divas, I had to:

Friday - meh.

I had the daughter of an old friend over for a playdate today. C is a year younger than Liv and they're fast friends. It's so odd that someone who knew me in the wilder days of my 20's now lives practically across the street and we're raising our kids together. Same bus stop even.

I baked cupcakes for the kids and gave them tons of stuff to decorate. Then they put on makeup and costumes and had a fashion show. Turned out to be a blast. I'll post photos.

I got kudos from the boss about my abdominals class: apparently she's hearing a lot of good things from my class. It's kinda great.

Otherwise, not much to report. My old friend (see tiff) is still pissed with me (I'm quite disillusioned-- remind me never to put anyone on a pedestal ever again) and my knee is still wicked sore. I have yet to track down an orthopod. I also have yet to determine whether surgery is in my immediate future and I'm still trying to unravel my insurance paperwork.

Also, Liv's really petitioning hard for a sister. Given the reason that we can't adopt, it's really tough on El Freddo and me. And Liv just doesn't understand.

So, I say again: Meh.

Stupid, annoying day

This has been a craptacular day. I spent a significant portion of it talking to doctors about possibly going under the knife again. Maybe. I'm still having nightmares from having gone to the breast cancer symposium and now I'm talking about further surgery. Bleh.

My knees hurt, my house is a disaster, I had yet another tiff with the only friend I ever have tiffs with, I was horrified at the state of Liv's room (which we just cleaned-- why, why do they hoard stuff under their beds?), my freaking insurance companied denied my claim for a pap smear (hello?), and I got a nasty letter from a medical provider about $7 I neglected to pay them.

Craptastic.

Breast Cancer Symposium

My survivors' group, YWBCP, had its annual symposium yesterday-- truly a mixed blessing. Powerful tool for learning, wonderful to commune with my warrior sisters, absolutely terrifying to hear the tales of recurrence and metastasis and to realize the many things that I should be doing to increase my own chance of survival.

The fact that I am becoming extremely fit is a great advantage, true. But limiting alcohol consumption is hugely important. And, frighteningly, NO level of consumption of polyunsaturated fats is safe for a survivor. None.

There are issues as to soy and as to processed products-- white sugar and white flour should be no-nos. Insulin spikes (after, say, Halloween candy) are now thought to be extremely dangerous for survivors. And yet, have you ever tried to purchase a diet of whole wheat products with no white sugar and organic fruits and vegetables? There's a reason "Whole Foods" is often called "Whole Paycheck." So the chances of my survival hinge, at least partially, on my income. Sickening.

Nonetheless, it is a powerful thing to be with my sisters. And I am grateful to only be wearing the pink scarf of a one-year survivor, as opposed to the white scarf of a woman with metastasis.

Above are a few photos I took of Beth and Marsha, two of my favorites. Beth is the one in single photo with me. She's got the same amount of hair I had the last time I saw her: she had "hair envy" back then. We're hoping to get picked for the trout fishing retreat together.

Beth and I are really bonded in many ways, not least of which is our shared mania about the gym. Survivors sometimes fixate of some aspect of post-treatment life. We have both grasped fitness as something we can control about our bodies. There are, as I'm sure you understand, so many things which we cannot control about our bodies and their propensity to become cancer-ridden again. But fitness? that we can control. So we are warriors in the gym, hoping to stave off the weakness of our bodies with respect to cancer.

The trout fishing retreat is just another of the "goodies" we survivors often get. Recently we got a fistful of concert tickets. (Sadly it was Neil Diamond, but I guess I could've heard "Sweet Caroline" live, so that's something.) But they're always doing something nice for us, particularly last month, which was BC month.

Anyway, everyone's amused by my abruptly blonde head. I told them: "I've been bald; what do I have to be afraid of?" Perhaps unnecessary to say, but they all "got" that.

So now I plan to eat a little better and go back to forgetting, as much as possible, that my life expectancy is different from last year. In my future? More genetic testing, more check-ups and possibly the removal of all my internal girlie bits. With a family history like mine, I would probably take them out, myself, if I could. But stay tuned. The good news? I understand my stuff can be taken out laproscopically, so less time out off from teaching and the gym. Yippee.

Oh and I must mention that Christy is on the 3-Day Komen walk next week. Think the good thought for her, would you?

Election, cartouche, and school pix

Worked as "security" for Liv's grade school which was on lock down since it was a polling place. Yep, orange vests and walkie talkies. I kid you not.















Darling Miss Jane sent me a cartouche necklace from her trip to Egypt. Very cool.














And here is the adorable Miss Liv's school picture.