Back Story Radio

Have you ever heard of this? http://www.backstoryradio.org/

It is a group of three history guys/buffs/professors/experts who discuss how the history of this country affected or created topics of today. It is so interesting.

Today I listened to the podcast of the their episode of "Mothering in America". Very fascinating! I think I found a new aural obsession. Just another reason to love my iPod.

Time Warp

Do you ever look at the calendar and think "Where has the time gone?" even before the time IS gone?! I am looking at the calendar and marking things that are coming up throughout the summer, and I am quickly sliding to school starting already. How does that happen?

I know that being busy is better for me than being lazy. Lazy is my natural state and I am trying to conquer my natural self. But it feels like an uphill fight every day. When I lay out my plans, schedules and obligations for the summer I realize that being busy is a way of life for me. I hope it isn't always that way, but for this season in my life, it is. And usually, I like it like that.

But I'll let you know how it is going in, say, 10 weeks.

Back in the Water Again!

I love the pool. I love the way I feel like I am much thinner and less jiggly than I am on dry land. I love that my thighs can slip past each other without the regular dry-land scrape.

Today I got to get back in the water for some water aerobics. They are great. I get the feeling of being 10 years old and playing in the water while at the same time, telling myself that I am working out so that is a very grown up, very responsible thing to do.

It just feels so much better to be in the water. I wish I had learned to swim better as a kid--"had I learnt I would have been a great proficient", as Lady Catherine would say. I learned to swim just fine, but never learned the real methods or stroke patterns to do it right as an adult.

I admire the stroke of people who can do the proper form. I love to watch the "big kids" on the swim team when they are practicing their butterfly strokes. So smooth and so easy. When I have tried it, I look like the demonstration dummy for a lifesaving class--like I am having a seizure of some kind in the water. I don't do it much at our pool for fear the lifeguards will blow their whistles and come in after me.

I love that my kids will swim each day and that I can play, I mean, work out with them too. Now if we could just get a year round pool option...then my marine life would be possible.

Kerfuffled!

Something is not quite right this week. Can you tell? My schedule is all shuffled and I have not gotten into a groove yet. I fear it may be a few weeks before the groove appears. I hope my groove comes back at all.

I spent four hours at the hospital yesterday for what should have been a second mammogram. It was that, plus a little more. I ended up with curious spots in the original mammogram a few week ago and they had me back in to do another.

Yesterday the radiology department was hopping with crazy people who also were very demanding and high maintenance. They were driving me nuts, and I was just visiting! I can't imagine what the office gals were thinking.

I finally got in to the mammogram again and they did four more different angles then she ran back to have the radiologist read the film. I waited. And waited.

When she came back in, the radiology tech told me the radiologist working today was very good and very careful. He would like me to have an ultrasound on the left breast. He was seeing some inconsistencies.

Why not just tell me that I have cancer right out? Then you can go back later and say, "Boy, I guess it wasn't. Aren't you glad for that?" I was already thinking cancer before they even got me to the ultrasound.

In the ultrasound I got the left boob gooed and examined a few times by the ultrasound tech, who then asked her supervisor to come in an take a look, who then (after a couple times) left me literally hanging there to check the films with the radiologist.

By now, the details on my funeral arrangements were made in my head and I had a summer chemo schedules brewing so the kids could still swim and play soccer.

Finally the pair of radiology techs came in and told me that the dense tissue I have is just that: dense tissue. The doctor looking at it wanted to be very sure that all was well, and apparently it was. They sent me home and all I was missing was four hours of my day.

I was exhausted by the possibilities and the worst case scenarios that played in my head yesterday. I was embarrassed for the people who were so obnoxious to the office ladies. I was a little sorry the office ladies have to deal with cranky people every day. But really, a hospital testing lab--especially one that does mammos, ultrasounds, CAT scans and MRIs--is probably not the low stress office you might hope for when you are looking for a job. People are stressed when they come in. As a staff member, you ought to expect that.

So, today I venture forth again, with that semiannual experience over and done with. I still feel like I am dragging, but at least it is my energy level and not my boobage.

I'm Too Sexy For This Trek!

I'm shaped a lot like an Oompa Loompa, right? I know you wish you were as stylish in your pioneer clothes as me. It is hard to compete with this kind of fashion. Actually I look like I could be in the running for Miss Colorado City, if only I had long hair and puffy french braid. Oh well. Let me know if you have to dress like a pioneer for anything. I have these fabulous four outfits now. I'm happy to share!