Wordless Wednesday: Mammogram

It’s been a year and a half since my last mammogram. I just recently found a doctor…a nurse practitioner…and we got my other yearly appts set up.

I went for my mammogram, and when I got a call a few days later to get a second one done because of “dense tissue”. Well, ok. Knowing my other mammograms have been ok, I was a wee bit nervous.

Went in for my 2nd mammogram and let me say, the location of the “density” was to my far left side. In a way, where they had to pull my side into the mammogram, it was more painful than a normal mammogram. Entirely worth it because it’s really quick, but wowza! The only thing I could do at that moment was say, “God, your will be done,” and attempt to NOT burst into tears.

I could tell something was up with the way the tech was talking. I had to go to a different waiting room. The next thing I heard was that I was going to need an ultrasound. Talk about fear creeping in.

I went into the ultrasound and the tech there was so super nice. Everyone at this clinic was wonderful. She started the ultrasound and you could tell something was there, but she didn’t seem worried about it. She was going to have the radiologist look at it and then they’d come in and talk to me.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a cyst and she wasn’t concerned about it. The only thing she asked me was if I was in pain because of it and since I wasn’t she didn’t want to do anything about it. I’m all for not aspirating. lol

What I came away with was this, please take care of yourself. Get a mammogram and take preventative measures whenever possible.

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Playing SCRABBLE With The Boys #sp #Giveaway

With the boredom of winter filtering through our home, we have been playing a bunch of board games. We’ve actually had to replenish our supply with all new games. When we were packing to move, we went through a lot of our games and Scrabble was missing a ton of letters. That and several other games didn’t come with us.

My youngest loves to spell whereas my oldest son really hates it. If you remember my recent post about spelling, you know how I think it’s an important skill and Scrabble definitely reinforces it! We are, however, far from being pros and our words tend to be 4 letters or shorter. That’s ok, we’re beginners.

With TWO more snow days this week, giving us yet another 4 day weekend, we got a great game of Scrabble in. We pulled up the dictionary online and had that at the ready. I had a feeling the boys were going to try and get some “words” put together just to see if they would work. Yea, it was a nice effort. HA!

The game went pretty well until Buddy started gettig some pretty bad letters. I tried not to do many big words, but I got the crazy letters like Z and X, which when I used them were on a colored tile and gave me extra points. He on the other hand had to keep putting letters back and exchanging them (poor kid). I’m actually hoping this will strengthen his spelling skills.

We got through almost ever Scrabble tile and the boys did a great job! We’ve had fun figuring out if words are “real” and spelled correctly! Hey, it’s a learning game as much as it’s been a fun game!

Now,  your kids can join in the fun: Teams (between grades 4-8) from the USA and Canada are invited to participate in the multi-day event that includes 8 rounds of competition and fun on-site events. School Scrabble Tournament registration is open. It happens April 26-27 so start forming those teams now!

Here’s your chance to win the game! Woo Hoo! a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Boss’s “Gift” For Delivering The News

So, I’ve got this boss…let’s call her Sandy Jenney. She has an interesting way of delivering news to her team…well, me at least. Let me share a couple of my experiences.

Last year, I got on a call at the end of my contract. She and my other boss, Alicia, were ready to do my review and see about renewing my contract. I wasn’t too worried about renewing, but you know, it’s a contract. At any point they can say, “Contract’s over.”

They start talking about getting a raise! Oooooo How about that. Sandy, straight faced tells me we’re going to give you .50 (made up amount) and I was like, “Ok, sounds good.” I wasn’t really expecting anything. The next minute she says, “Just kidding we’re giving you $20(totally made up amount).” I was like, “Are you KIDDING me?”

Flash forward to the beginning of this year. I see a lot of things going on with our company. Collective Bias is doing really awesome! I was thinking, I would reeeeally love to be an employee. So, I inquired about what might be a possibility. Meanwhile, my team is growing, we’re very fluid, getting so much done! We really were rocking it!

There we changes happening above our team and I have to say, it made me a little nervous. I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. I mean, I was ok, my job was just fine, just people above me were shifting. All was good…right? RIGHT?!

Well, a couple of weeks ago, our team was called into a meeting all of a sudden. I think we were all unsure what was going on. We get into the meeting and listen to what’s up. Turned out there we changes going on…with out team!! What the…? Here’s the message Sandy delivered (not verbatim), “So, you know there have been some changes happening and we’re here to let you know that your team will be no longer at the end of the month.” Ho-ly CRAP! Ummmmm

Oh, yea, I forgot for a second, this is SANDY delivering the news. I’m going to catch on one of these days. She continues to say, “That’s why Collective Bias wants to hire you as employees!” Are you KIDDING me?! If we had been in the same room I probably would’ve wrestled her to the ground. hahahahahaha

Needless to say, my boss has quite the gift for delivering the news. Maybe one day the shoe will be on the other foot and I’ll be able to deliver HER good news. HA!

Bring On Spring With P.S. from Aeropostale @psfromaero #PSMoms

It’s felt like an endless fall here in Maryland. Occasionally we got a dusting of snow, but now everyone seems to be ready for spring. I’m still waiting for winter to show up. =) The other week the boys and I road tripped it to VA to spend the weekend with my parents, and found out there is a new brick and mortar P.S. Aeropostale on the way to her house!

I figured we’d stop in for a few minutes, but ended up spending over an hour in there. What do you do when you have a son that WANTS to try on a lot of the clothing? hahahaha You let him.

Buddy has outgrown p.s. from Aero and has moved over to the Guys store. How has he gotten that big (insert sobbing). Doodle on the other hand, I let him walk around the boys department to get an idea of what he might like. Oh that boy…he’s got a leeeetle ways to go before he understands how to coordinate his clothing. So, mom jumped in to help. I couldn’t help myself.

I have to say, it was pretty nice to be shopping for shorts. I’ve heard that it gets warm around here rather early. He was pulled in by all of the new t-shirts. I think if he could, he’d have 2 pairs of pants/shorts and 20 t-shirts. Right now, anything with a mustache grabs his attention! He came home with the shark t-shirt in the picture below.

Thankfully I was on hand to direct him to the new shorts. After he started seeing outfits together he asked if he could start trying them on. Woot! My boys is ok with actually trying clothing on, not just picking things out and hoping it all works together once he gets home!

heh heh heh Can you tell her likes modeling his clothing? He kept showing me poses with each thing he tried on. That was probably the best part of the shopping trip!

The employees at the new store were so fun to work with! I actually found them because of Instagram! I had been having to shop online and having a store the boys I can stop at on the way to mom’s is perfect! I was so excited as we were leaving, one of the guys came up and told us that Marvel apparel would be coming out a week after we were there! With Captain America coming out soon, both of my boys wanted in on that action. After we get a couple of those, we’ll have to get in on some of the Bullpen apparel now that spring training has started and baseball is about to start!

To top off Doodle’s shopping trip for the warm weather that’s around the corner, he grabbed a pair of shark flip flops and the white hat you see in the top photo. This boy can’t ever have too many pairs of boxing shorts so we snagged a couple of those, too. lol No, I didn’t grab photos of them.

If you haven’t heard yet, be sure to enter your kid to be a p.s. Epic Kid! At the stores you can see the walls decorated with some Epic Kids, as well as on their site. If p.s. from Aero thinks your kid is Epic, you can win $100 and your kid would be featured on their homepage. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and use the #psEPICkids. Tell them why your kid is Epic and you might win!

Have you started shopping for spring clothes yet?

My Daughter: The WorldRacer #11n11

My 2nd daughter never ceases to amaze me. When she was 16, she went to India and spent a month at an orphanage with Royal Servants. She had a blast during an incredible flooding season! Of course, when she first got there she was really sick and THAT scared the stink out of me! I felt amazingly helpless! I think that trip solidified in her what she wanted to do with her life.

Last summer she went to Iraq…yes IRAQ…for two weeks to work with widows and orphans. Of course, when I heard where she was going, my heart was coming out of my chest. Yes, I knew God was with her and was in control, but it was IRAQ!

Cool story about her Iraq trip…I was on Twitter asking for prayer for her. A small convo started with a few people when this woman I didn’t know chimed in. She asked me a couple of questions and it turned out my daughter was going to be a HER sister’s ministry IN Iraq! How crazy, cool is that?! Is God awesome or WHAT?!

This May she’ll be graduating from college with a degree in Linguistics. I’m incredibly proud of her! She did it all on her own, put herself through a private Christian school while working!
After graduating she’ll go straight to preparing for the Worldrace. The Worldrace has racers going to 11 countries in 11 months. She and her team will be sleeping on the streets, reaching out to the “least of these”. What countries will she be journeying to?

• Albania
• Turkey
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• South Africa
• Swaziland
• Botswana
• India
• Nepal
• Mongolia
• China

She has to raise over $16,000 by the time she’s hit the 6 month mark of her trip. She has financial goals that have to be reach at various increments before that as well! There will be 6-8 racers on her team. During the first few months, the squads will have a few alumni on the trip finding team leaders who will lead for the rest of the trip.

Each country will have it’s own set of missionary work. They might assist at an orphanage, mentor street kids, teach English, manual labor etc. Whatever the need might be, they’ll be there for it.

As a mom, there’s the human fear of not knowing everything about this trip. Yes, she’s a young lady who has been self-sufficient for years. She has taken care of herself, on her own, for longer than she should have. The organization wants to make sure the kids racers are fully immersed in the experience. That means we don’t have any details about exact locations or dates. Yes, it freaks me out that for an entire year we’ll be without very much contact. On the flip side, I know she’ll be in God’s hands, in God’s will.

If you are looking to support a missionary this year, I would love for you to consider my daughter! You can click the button on the top right side of my blog or go straight to the site to donate!

Wordless Wednesday: Facetime Siblings

On Monday night, my Doodle decided to Facetime his big sister on his iPod. I think they must’ve talked for about an hour. She and I talked a couple of times, too. It was so awesome. That girl…I can’t tell you how much I love her.

Well, at one point, they started making faces at each other. (I have Noooo idea where they’d get that from) I grabbed a photo of them making faces at each other.


And we’ve had 2 snow days this week. My friends and family back in MN will laugh at the “amount” of snow here, but this stuff shuts counties down. The snow “plow” (a suped up truck) managed to take out my new mailbox. That’s fine. I’m going to “fix” it tomorrow by duct taping it back onto the post! Take that dumb truck!

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A Visit To Dollies Tea Room

When my mom first mentioned to me that she wanted me to go with her to the birthday party of someone who knew me when I was a baby, I figured it would be interesting to catch up with someone who knew me way back when. When she told me we were going to a tea room, I was mildly intrigued. I’d never been to one before.

We went to Dollies Tea Room. It was a neat little setting. The other three ladies were already there. We had a beautiful place setting and as soon as we got there, we were offered the house tea. Our server said that it had a floral taste, and it did, but it wasn’t overpowering.

Now, I should state for the record that I don’t drink tea. There’s just something about it. I’ve never cared for it. My mom LOVES tea. I’m sure she got that from my grandma. I, on the other hand, love coffee. I was there for the time spent with the ladies and the atmosphere.

Our first course was a tomato bisque soup that was really good. I ate all of it. Next came a pear cranberry salad. They were perfectly portioned. We were given a menu of tea selections and when I told a different server that I was more of a coffee drinker, she gasped out loud. Literally. lol I laughed and asked her which tea would get me the closest to coffee. Her recommendation was the white chocolate raspberry. I figured I liked those flavors so what could it hurt.

Yea, even with sugar and cream I couldn’t drink a full glass. I tried, really. It smelled heavenly. I felt terrible, being we were in a tea room, but I ended up just drinking water. It was for the best. =)
One of the gals, Reba, was spectacular. I was fascinated by her. I’m thinking she was close to her 80s and a very proper southern woman with an extremely quick whit who absolutely beamed the love of Christ. Well, when we all started drinking our teas she made sure we knew that the aroma was part of the experience and I had to agree.

Reba also prayed for our lunch which was sweet and heartfelt. When she finished she said to my mom, “Jane, be happy, that was one of my shorter ones.” It wasn’t short, but perfect in length in my opinion. Not sure why she said that to my mom. hahahahaha I wish I could’ve written down every quip she said. She is a woman whom I wish I could be like.

After we finished our salads, we were brought our tiered lunch. Ok, I have to say, I was surprised at how much finger foods can fill a person! Reba and I shared a 3 tiered server and my mom, Lana, and Linda shared one. Well, Reba and I were down to our last tier while the other three ladies had plenty of food on each tier still. We weren’t going to let anything go to waste.

With our scones, we had lemon curd, which I’d never had before, but this was amazing! There was also something called clotted cream and while it doesn’t sound appetizing, it tasted like whipped cream. The cucumber sandwich was small and light, and had a pink ribbon wrapped around it. By the time the last plate was cleared off, I was full! On finger food!

While we waited for our food to settle, I walked around the store looking at the handmade jewelry being sold as well as the kitschy tea items. I loved that there were various devotionals available for sale, too! I found a gorgeous red, glass tear drop necklace for only $9.99. I wasn’t going to get it right at that moment, and the ladies really liked it. I put it back and planned on getting it when we left. I mean, there were only 3 tables of ladies there. Well, after I went to the bathroom, the necklace was gone! GONE! Ugh, I scanned all of the tables, but didn’t see it. I think the ladies at the table behind us grabbed it because they were the ones who saw me trying it on. Must’ve modeled it well. (sad panda)

Our last item was a small scoop of sorbet to cleanse the palette. It was very icy, where I was thinking a sherbet, but it was really delightful. The servers were fun and helpful. One of the gals, Mary, began sparring with Reba with their antics and we were all laughing pretty hard by the time our meal was finished.

No, we weren’t the quiet and demure table that you’d expect in a tea room. Heavens, with my laugh nothing is ever quiet. 

Once we finished our main course, we had a bit of free time. I strolled around and took pictures of the tea room. It really was delightful. They’ve been in business for three years and in this economy, they’ve done really well. They’re ranked #6 in Maryland!

Not only do they have lunches, they host fun events like a Ladies Night Out and May Day in Annapolis. Every month their menu changes so it’s a treat every month!
Mom and I have already decided we’ll be doing a tea room again when my oldest daughter comes out next time. My 2nd daughter won’t be able to make it out here for quite a while, but I hope she can go with us one of these times, too because she loves tea!

Have you ever been to a tea room? What was your favorite part?