Seven Quick Takes: Links! Health! Patty!

I know that’s not a sexy title, but….

I’ve been writing about COVID related stuff a bit in the past year. And as we start to talk about masks and lockdowns again, I thought it would make sense to have an index post about COVID-related things.

The reason I feel this way is because I have, not to brag, a lot of hospital experience. I’ve been a patient in a hospital for many years. I know hospitals. I know lung stuff. I know about risk assessment and personal health.

So I feel like I should share my insights with you, for whatever you think they’re worth.

-1-

COVID, antibodies, and transplant life: posted 5/24/21

This one is a bit of an outlier because it deals with transplant a little more specifically, but it also talks about acceptable risk a bit as well.

-2-

Prudence, Acceptable Risk, and Medicine: posted 5/10/21

This was originally going to be a two-parter, but I haven’t written the second part (yet). The first part deals with exactly what the title says—the fact that every medical “intervention” (including taking Tylenol) has risks associated with it, and it’s our job to assess risks for ourselves.

It also talks about how people are in hospitals every single day, in ICUs every single day, and on ventilators every.single.day, because this is totally forgotten in reporting.

-3-

Hospital 101: posted 11/23/20

Basically: “yes you can be in the hospital and not feel terribly crappy.” And, “No, being in the hospital does not mean that you’re going to die.”

-4-

COVID and lung function: posted 7/7/20

Yes, you can recover lung function after being really, really, REALLY sick! If my crappy old CF lungs could do it, yours can too!

-5-

So that’s the listing of the “big” COVID posts. I have some other things scattered in Quick Takes and various places, but these are the long forms, so to speak. I hope you find them helpful.

Here is Patty as reward! :)

She has EIGHT teeth! And can say cheese!"

-6-

I went swimming for the first time in two years! YAY! It felt so great to be back in the water!

-7-

And finally I wrote two posts this week! ICYM them:

An awesome clinic visit

The state of the Writing Wicket

Writing: The State of the Wicket

“Woman Reading”, Edouard Manet

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about a second book. (Including from my doctor!)

“Are you writing one?”

“What are you writing about now?”

“So you’re writing a second book, right?”

Welllllllllllllll.

(It’s not bad news, don't worry.)

Here’s the deal.

For someone to get to write a second book, the first book has to sell.

Yes, it’s true. It all comes down to money. A publisher has to see sales to think, “Oh, OK, this person has an audience, so it’s worth our outlay of cash to support this person’s writing and give them a book contract.”

So, yes, if you want another book, you have to buy the current book.

I know so many of you have, and I am incredibly, stupendously grateful for your support. Everyone who has left reviews, or written blog posts, or bought copies for friends—I love you. I am so grateful to you.

If you would like to buy a copy, her are all the places you can get it:

Amazon

Ave Maria Press (they often run sales, and I always post about these on the blog and on my social media accounts)

Barnes and Noble

As a NOOK book and on Kindle

Books a Million

Indiebound (you can also order it through your local indy bookstore!)

Wal-mart

Also your local Catholic bookstore or indie bookstore can order it for you. Just ask them! They will do it!

I hate, hate, hate selling things. I hated selling candy bars for school, cookies for Girl Scouts, and cheese and sausage for choir. I HATE it.

But I know that if I want to earn any money writing, I have to ask people to support my writing. Which….I hate doing!

But it’s necessary.

If you already have Living Memento Mori, you can also get Catholic 101, my ebook about the basics of Catholicism, inspired by the years I taught first grade CCD. You can download it, read it on iPad or Kindle, or even print it out! You can gift it!

AND newsletter subscribers get 15% off the $5 price!

Another way is to support my Patreon. It’s more behind the scenes notes on creativity and what I’m working on than here, and it’s somewhat sporadic in posting, but there re goodies you can get and things that I only post there. So if you’re really interested in my inner workings, or just want to support my writing, that’s the way to go. Memberships start a dollar. You can become a patron here!

OK after all that, Patty cleanser!

She has EIGHT teeth now!

OK so on to fun things: projects!

There are a few projects I’m working on.

The first one is Catholicism and Outlander, and I talk a lot more about that over on Patreon. I’m in the research phase of that one right now! (Which means reading and watching TV, POOR ME!)

The other one is a really, really basic knitting series. As in, yes, needles come in packs of two (I seriously did not know this). I know that I wanted something like that when I was starting, and it didn’t exist, and even “beginner” books were not really for beginners! So I’m working on that as well.

And that, my friends, is the state of the wicket!

Yearly Testing Wrap-Up!

Yesterday was a very, very good—albeit hot—day at the New Resort, where I had my annual testing—the sixteenth edition!

Yay!

In short, everyone is very happy, and things are GOOD!

So, if you’re new here, let me give you an overview.

“Yearly Testing” is exactly what it sounds like—in-depth testing that I have done every year (duh) to see how my body and my lungs are working post-transplant. This is a great way to update baselines, to get a full picture of my body, and see how things are going. The “menu” changes from year to year. In the first five years, I got a CT scan every year, and a bone density test, and an ECHO and EKG. (I dislike ECHOs muchly, because I hate being touched around the breastbone area, and where do ECHOS take place? RIGHT THERE.)

This year, I had: lab work, full PFTs (I’ll explain that in a second), a chest x-ray, a treadmill test, and a bone density test, in addition to a visit with my doctor (Dr. K, whom I love. He’s from my hometown!)

My bone density test was a few weeks ago and it was fine. I am actually very proud of my bones. Prednisone can affect bone density, leading to early osteoporosis and other unfun things (and CF can do this too, since we can have poor absorption of nutrients—I don’t have this problem). So, my bones are excellent. Yay!!!! (I do take Vitamin D and Calcium supplements in addition to my love of eating dairy. :))

Testing day (Monday) kicked off with a visit to the lab. I have to say it’s much nicer now than when all the COVID things were in place, like temperature testing and all that. You can actually move through the lobby and hear people! (You still have to wear a mask in the hospital.) A very nice nurse accessed my port after we called clinic to get my blood orders because they were not in the computer. (This was repeated throughout the day, and I think it was tech gremlins, as opposed to the nurses not putting them in, because my nurses are conscientious like that.)

After that I had my “lunch break”, where I went to the local French cafe.

I mean, don’t you feel like you’re in France?

Here’s a tip for when you have to do things you don’t want to do, or are less than enthused about, or if you’re having a long day: plan good points in your day. For me, it’s stopping at this cafe and having delicious lunch. It’s a nice way to recharge and layer not-fun things with fun things.

(It’s not that I mind all the doctor appointments. I’m used to them. But it is a long day, with a lot of driving and meandering through medical halls in a place I’m still acclimating to [so I don’t always know where things are!]).

After this I headed to the main hospital for my chest x-ray (which, really, I could do in my sleep by now, just give me the button, folks) and “full” PFTs.

Generally PFTs involve something called “spirometry”—and that’s all I do at a regular appointment. This measures lung capacity (I’m massively simplifying here, if you want more, here you go) by having you take in a deep breath and then pushing it out hard and fast. So when I say I have X lung function, that’s how I know. I usually hang out in the 50s, which is good for me. This is because when I had my transplant, my donor was taller than I was, so my lungs had to be trimmed, so that lessened capacity, as it were, and my surgeon also nicked my diaphragm, which also affects function. But I mean, 50 something is a hell of a lot better than nineteen percent function, which is what I had pre-transplant. But it does mean that I don’t have “normal” capacity, and this is why I dislike wearing a mask so much—it feels like someone has clamped their hand over my mouth. And I did notice yesterday that I lost about 4% oxygen saturation when I had a mask on. So. Take that as you will.)

Anyway, for yearly, we do all the tests, which also measure exchange of gasses in your lungs and other things like “tidal volume” and diffusing and all sorts of things. I just look at the numbers. Unlike at the First Resort, the screen here is turned away from me, so I can’t see the numbers on the screen and have to check them out using MyChart or asking my nurses! But my doctor said they were good, so I’ll take that as they went up, or they’re the same.

After all this, I made a trip to the local yarn store, because I MUST GET YARN, and that was fun. I will discuss all this in a massive yarn along that I owe you and which will come in August. :)

And then it was back to the hospital for my visit with my nurse, Kim, and my doctor. We talked about results and basically everything is great—I killed it on the treadmill test and was super happy.

(Oh, sorry, treadmill test—basically you walk on a treadmill for 6 minutes while the machine increases speed and incline. I did much better than in February, probably because I’m back to living my life again, YAY!, and I feel much stronger. My oxygen saturation was 98-100%! Which is EPIC! YAY!!!!!! And my heart is doing its thing! Yay heart!)

As one doctor told me last year, “We just have to not break you.” At 16 years, that’s really the goal.

But the other thing? I don’t have to go back to see my doctor for a YEARRRRRRR.

via GIPHY

Now, some centers have their patients hit this milestone after, say, 10 years. Or even five. I have been going every three months because, back in Ye Olden Times, my doctor’s office was on my way to work, and do to PFTs, which I need to do every 3 months, I had to actually go to the doctors’ office, because that’s where the PFTs lab was. So it made no sense to go in and not see my people!

However, now, the Resort is on the other side of town, and it makes less sense. So this is a GREAT thing! I can do labs and PFTs at a building off campus and just having those done is easy-peasy and takes less than an hour. So I can still have my fun French lunches and get my tests done so everyone is happy.

Obviously if something goes south, I will report it ASAP and then I might have to come in, but that’s how life is all the time and I’m used to that.

But this is a great thing and I’m really happy that one, my doctors are happy, and two, that I feel so much stronger and more fit. A lot of this is from, like I said before, just getting back to living my life, and also seeing Patty and Di and their family and going on vacation, but all of this is, again, LIFE. As in, not sitting at home not doing things! YAYYYYY!

So that’s how that went, I am very happy and thrilled that I had a good appointment and can now relax for a good long while! (Yes, I do get nervous about finding all these places and paring and all that stuff. It’s just part of the transition—going from a place where I had gone for thirty-six years and that I could walk in my sleep, to something big and new. It’ll get better.)

A Wedding (with a special guest)

After two tries—thank you, COVID!—my cousin Kelly finally married her fiancé, Vladimir (or Vlad, as we call him) in a lovely ceremony in the ‘Burgh.

It was a beautiful ceremony. I knew it would be, because Kelly and Vlad have great taste, but Kelly is also the principal flute for the Toronto Symphony (yes, I like to brag on my family when I can), so the music was exquisite, with some special touches. The first one was that some of the music was in Croatian, because Vlad’s family is from Croatia.

The second was, well, this:

This requires some explanation.

Kelly’s mom and my mom are sisters—my mom is number 3 out of 8, and her mom, Patty, is 6 our of 8. This piece of music was written by their father, our grandfather, Francis. He was a trumpeter, composer, arranger, and elementary school music teacher. He had a “side gig”, I guess we’d call it, called “Orchestra for Little Fingers”, where he arranged and composed music for young players. He used to put on classical music in the family room and then have my brother and I name what instruments were playing.

He met my grandma at Duquesne University, where they were both studying music. They both sang in their church choir. So, music is important to our family, and almost everyone plays or sings, or does both.

My grandparents on their wedding day.

He died 11 years ago. Of course we think about him often, but especially in moments where there are big milestones, like births or marriages. So I was thinking about him anyway.

And then as I was flipping through the program, I saw this.

I didn’t even know he’d written this. I have no idea if he’d written more parts of a Mass setting or not. It’s a piece of music I’d never seen and none of us had ever heard performed—this was the premier.

It was gorgeous. Of course Kelly’s friend, who was the vocalist, sang it beautifully. But it, itself, was gorgeous. To see his writing brought back memories of seeing his pens and watching him write out manuscripts.

There may have been tears. Maybe. :)

OF COURSE I enjoyed getting to see Patty! (more on that in another post) This was her first time meeting the extended family and of course everyone wanted to see her and her siblings.

And since the wedding fell on Kelly’s birthday, there was also some “Happy Birthday.”

(Also do I even need to tell you that hugging my grandma felt amazing?)

Weddings are always special, but this one in particular? Yeah. It was darn special.

Congratulations, Kelly and Vlad!

SUMMER SALE at Ave Maria Press!

Want to get your own copy of Living Memento Mori?

(Of course you do. There’s no other answer here.)

Or maybe you’re like my mom and you want to start your Christmas shopping early?

Ave Maria Press will help you out!

There is a SUMMER SALE going on right now.

Get 25% off EVERYTHING with the code SUMMER21

Here’s the link to get my book at the site!

The sale runs through 7/18, so hop to it! :)

And if you have read the book (and you have, right?) please leave a review on Amazon! It’s so helpful for sales!

Sixteen

I have now had my new lungs for sixteen years. They are old enough to drive. :-P (Actually, my donor was a 50 year old woman named Suzanne. So these lungs are now 66 and still kicking!)

The 16th year was hard. We had COVID. We had my transfer to a new center, which….to be honest is still sort of irritating, because adult hospitals just really do not care about their patients’ time in the same way a children’s hospital does. Kinks are being worked out. The diabetes stuff was….rough, not gonna lie. But also, huge strides have been made which is great.

AND there was Patty!!!!!!

And getting to meet Patty!

Even in the midst of worldwide pandemic, there is still joy. There is joy everywhere. Not every day, maybe. I’ve had days that were definitely not joy filled. I’m not a perpetual ball of sunshine. I know that there are days, weeks, months, years, even, that are hard sledding.

But the key is to find the moments that are good (or, less bad).

There isn’t a whole lot of data for post-lung transplant folk like me. the data sets I’ve seen go to 10 years, and there aren’t enough patients to talk about 15 year, or 20 year, data. I’m making data.

I love turning the pages on the calendar. I love having birthdays. I love getting older because I wasn’t supposed to get older. But because of Suzanne, my donor, I did.

And I am grateful and incredibly happy about that.

Day 7: So Long, Farewell

Oh, gosh, how can I leave these people? :(

But I did.

There were last minute snuggles and kisses and stories.

And then we were at the airport and I said goodbye and flew home.

I am really hoping I’ll see them all at Christmas this year because I need a regular dose of these folks.

But it was a wonderful trip.

If you’ve missed the other posts in the series:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

(Also, SIGNED BOOK SALE! Ends today! Email me at hello (at) emilymdeardo (dot) com to get yours! This is the ONLY sale I run on signed books all year!)

Day 6: O Beautiful For Spacious Skies

Day 6—Fourth of July! And Sunday Mass!

(Previous installments: Day one, day two, day three, day four, day five) (and, signed books. On sale!)

Seeing Patty in the morning is a great way to wake up, guys. It is.

As per usual, getting everyone ready for church was wild (I mean, is it ever NOT wild in a house with more than two people?). But everyone looked nice!

Johnny is ready

Frankie with Amanda the Panda

Red, White, and Blue Patty!

Diane’s church is amazing. Seriously. On all levels. I could understand everything! WOW! Go church sound system! And there was a great choir and an excellent cantor, and a fabulous homily….it was great. Di had to take the littles to the cry room so it was mostly Susie, Bridget, and I in the pew, but that’s no biggie. It as a great Mass. And it ended with singing “America”, which I love to do. Some parishes do patriotic hymns and some don't, and I was glad we did this one as the recessional because it’s FUN TO SING, dang it.

After that, we went to Pecan Creek Grille, where I had….an English breakfast? :) (Minus the black pudding)

Yes, it was proper American bacon. :) Also, GRILLED TOMATO IS YUM.

We had a nice, leisurely brunch and were surrounded by other families, which as nice. Lots of kids! I talked a little bit about the homily, which had talked about gratitude and our blessings. I didn’t want to be that person who quizzes the kids on the homily, but I did want them to sort of think about it, if that makes sense. We should be grateful for our blessings!

After this we headed home and Di and I put on The Sandlot for the kids, which they enjoyed. Susie came in at the end and Di said she’d have to watch it start to finish because she’d probably like it (she would), and it’s just such a Fourth of July movie (especially with a scene that takes place on the Fourth.).

Then we decided to play Settlers of Catan—well, Susie, Frankie, Di, and I. Bridget was playing with her dolls, Johnny was chilling, and Patty was napping. So we figured we could play. None of us had ever really played before—my cousin Kelly tried to teach me one Christmas, but I hadn't retained any of it—so that was good because we were all starting from scratch.

It took a long time, but it was fun. Di won. Afterwards we had pizza and—you guessed it!—ice cream! We didn’t go to see the fireworks, and the kids couldn’t really see them from the house, but that’s OK. Matt had bought some little ones for the kids on Friday night and they’d played with those in the driveway for awhile (always under supervision!)

It was my last night (sigh) so I had to do things like pack, but I did still get to have some downtime with Susie, Patty, and Di once the other kids were in bed. I love how Patty is still cuddly. She loved being read to and sung to, which also made me happy.

In our Fourth of July best.

I took a bath in the awesome tub one more time (want to be clean for travel, right?). And I definitely wasn’t ready to leave these people that I love so much.

Day 5: An American Girl Doll Is Purchased, and We Get Yarn!

We love Buc-ee’s!

(Previous installments: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four) (And SIGNED BOOK SALE!)

On Saturday morning, Diane decided to make banana pancakes for breakfast, and lo, they were delicious. :)

So Patty took her morning nap, I had art time with Bridget (I taught her about wet-in-wet watercolor, which she immediately proclaimed perfect for her drawing) and then Patty got clean!

All the girls—Bridget wanted she and Patty to “match”, so they wore the tops their grandmother (my aunt Sue) had made them!

Patty loves being wrapped up in her towel, but hates being unwrapped to get dressed, so…..she was unhappy, briefly. But then looked so pretty, and made dinosaur face for us!

After everyone was ready, we headed for Nimblefingers. Apple Maps got us a it lost but we figured it out. (Darn you, Apple Maps!)

The store is really cute—it’s knitting/crochet on one side and needlepoint on the other. I have been known to do cross stitch in my time, so that side was also appealing to me, but I didn’t want to keep Di and the kids in the car all day (Susie, Bridget, and Frankie came in with me). So we stuck to knitting. Susie got some lovely yarns, including a baby alpaca in a bright green that Frankie wanted made into a scarf, and I got her a ball of cashmere blend yarn, because it was an OBSCENELY good price (FIFTEEN BUCKS, PEOPLE) and who doesn’t want to knit or crochet with cashmere?!

I fell into the Madelinetosh wormhole and came out with three items:

(They got bounced around a bit in my luggage—they were wound very neatly by the store ladies. More on that in a second)

The top two are Tosh DK in Texas Tulip, because….I was in Texas. :) I’m going to use them for a honey cowl. The bottom one is Tosh Mo Light in matcha. Normally this isn't the sort of color way I’d pick but I was drawn to the name (it’s named for Japanese green tea), and also the subtle, neutral colors. I think this will make a nice lightweight shawl. I also got some notions.

I asked the women to wind my yarn. Normally I don’t do this but I wanted it to be nice and solid for the trip home. Frankie was entranced by the winding—the swift and the ball maker working together was just too cool. So he watched and then made sure that the ends were tucked in neatly! He loves any sort of engineering so this counted as engineering and coolness.

After we were done, we headed for the big mall (Memorial City) to visit the AG store. Bridget and I had been planning this trip for months—not kidding. We’d discussed which doll she would get when we went. We had it all planned out. She had saved money so this was HER doll and we were proud of her for that amount of savings. So, money in hand, we were ready to shop.

First, though, we had to have lunch. Chik-Fil-A for all!

Patty likes nuggets, yes she does.

After we had lunch, we headed for the AG store. I’ve been to three AG stores (NYC, Chicago, and Columbus) and this is a nice sized store. Bridget had decided to get Kira, the girl of the year, and Susie had thrown in some of her money so that Bridget could get Kira’s pajamas as well. I also got Bridget a doll hairbrush, to hopefully save her dolls from the hair tragedy that mine so often endured. :)

So we got in line and Bridget counted out all her money, very seriously. The woman behind the counter was so nice here. BUT—we were short! The girls had forgotten about tax. So I threw in a $20 to more than make up for it (when I was a kid, I saved my money for AG catalog items and mom threw in shipping, so I felt like I was participating in the AG Circle of Life here.) Then Bridget and Susie continued to explore the store while Di had the littles at the play area. (Which was right by an ICE RINK. I told you this mall was huge.)

After this, we went to ride the carousel. I don’t have photos of me and Patty doing it, but we did, and it made me so happy. I took my godson, Ryan, on his first carousel ride at Kennywood (the amusement park in Pittsburgh), so this was a rite of passage I enjoyed and wanted to do again. This wasn’t Patty’s first ride—she’d done that with her mom. But she still had a bit of the “what is this, will I like this” look on her face.

We chose a horse that didn’t go up and down, and eventually she remembered that she liked this and patted the horse’s mane, and also loved the red and white “jewels” on the bridle. It’s just so cute watching her little face light up and enjoy the ride. There were feels, let me tell ya. (And gosh, it’s just so fun to hold a baby.)

After that it was raining hard, so Di went to get the van and we waited for her, watching the carousel go around and people smiling at Patty (happened a lot).

We got home, and it rained the rest of the day, so no swimming. We had dinner and Bridget and Susie went upstairs to introduce Kira to the rest of the doll family (they have Mary Ellen, Courtney, and a Truly Me doll named Catherine, whom you met in an earlier post, as well as lots of other dolls that are not AG).

We also played Clue!

Frankie is READY.

Diane had to run to the store for a few things, so I watched the house while the kids were sleeping. However, Patty woke up SCREAMING, so I ran in and tried to comfort her. I was running through all the scenarios: Diaper? Nightmare? Too hot/cold? But nothing doing until Mama came home and fed her. It’s just so sad seeing her cry her heart out and nothing I did was working, because I wasn’t mom. But once Mama was back, she was happy and she joined Di and I for some adult talking time in the family room.

The next day was the Fourth and it was also Sunday, so we made plans to go to the 11:00 Mass at their parish and then go out for brunch afterwards, which sounded great to me!

Houston Day 4: Kolaches and a bookstore

In case you need to catch up: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (also my signed book sale is on!)

The day got off to a great start because Di brought us kolaches for breakfast!

Kolaches (pronounced Ko-LACH-ees) were new to me, but they are a Big Thing in Houston, and Di had promised me we’d have them—and she delivered. They’re sort of like danishes, in that it’s sweet pastry that holds fruit surrounded by puffy dough. Above we had raspberry, cherry, apple, lemon, and a frittata sort of one, so they can be sweet or savory. There were also sausage rolls!

Patty enjoys National Review with her breakfast. Yes, she is my godchild.

We hung around for a bit while Patty took her morning nap—I read Johnny more books, including Eat Pete! , which I love now. We also read Corduroy’s Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham, and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.

Patty also enjoyed her birthday books!

The Daffodil page is her favorite for some reason.

Wizard of Oz!

Then we headed to Blue Willow Bookshop. Di had to get some books for the kids’ summer reading, and I….just wanted to visit a local bookstore. :)

I had actually browsed their site the day before and had ordered some books for pick up, being I’m insane like that. :) So not only did I have a bag waiting for me, but I bought more books. Because, that’s what I do. One of them was Llama Llama Loose Tooth Drama for Johnny and Patty.

The store was so kid-friendly, which was great—there was a kids’ sized table and chairs for the kids to sit at and the staff didn’t seem to mind the kids being there (which, some places do.) The women who worked there were very friendly and accommodating when I couldn’t understand them! (The store had a mask policy in place) So that’s always a plus for me.

We went back to the house and then Di went to the old house to do some cleaning. Patty was definitely in “I am tired but I WILL NOT SURRENDER TO A NAP” mode, so Susie and I had to deploy emergency measures (as in, lay her down in her parents’ room, singing, patting, and closing the blinds) until she finally dropped off.

VICTORY!!!!!!!

before nap, though, she watched Susie play Minecraft.

we had a visitor from space….

This was the day I had one of my “susie please get me a glass of juice because I do not trust my hands” moments. Fortunately Di came home soon and we went to the local Cracker Barrel because I needed to stuff a lot of carbs into my body immediately! So we all went out to eat.

Patty: There is WINE at Cracker Barrel?!?!?!

Everyone was happy post-dinner and the kids got ready for bed.

Matt was called to do some state guard duty over the weekend and he would leave early Saturday morning, So it was really good I was with Di so we could tag-team on the kids. :) There was going to be a trip to the mall, after all, AND Mass, so tag-teaming would be a good idea!

Oh also, note: Patty understands what “no” means. Which I think is great, because she’ll stop doing things when you say “no”. I discovered this telling her “NO!” (As in, do NOT put that in your mouth!) She dropped the item, and then sort of cried a little bit, but she knew what it meant, and I appreciated that she obeyed the no. Good work, Patticake!

The SIGNED BOOK SALE is on!!!

I put signed copies of Living Memento Mori on sale once a year—during my transplant anniversary! So starting TODAY and going through July 12 (Monday at midnight EST), you can get FIFTEEN PERCENT OFF my signed book package!

Here’s what’s included:

• signed copy of Living Memento Mori

• a specially designed bookmark and prayer card

• shipping!

If you’d like a copy, please email me and I’ll get you set up! This is also a great time to buy signed copies for gift giving!

Houston Day 3: Four Kids & Emily

Birthday cupcakes for breakfast! (With a sippy cup that DOES NOT SPILL, it’s amazing folks.)

Day Three!

If you’ve missed the other installments—Day 1, Day 2

So today was sort of like “Adventures in Baby-Sitting”.

Diane and Matt had recently moved to a new house. They wanted to get their old house on the market quickly (because, hot market, also, long weekend for house browsing!), and the last things standing in the way of that were installing new carpet and Di doing a final clean of the house.

The carpet guys had failed to show THREE TIMES. So today, they were coming and Di was gonna make them work! So she took Patty to the old house around 9 and it was me and the kids.

We started with breakfast, and the had art time.

My sketch page, based on Lupe Tortilla. Big fan of the border.

There was lunch—sandwiches for all!—and snacks (popsicles and ice cream.)

There were YouTube videos.

There was King Domino.

There was Luca.

And yeah, there was some squabbling, but that’s OK, we didn’t burn down the house and no one died.

Di came home with Patty with COMPLETED CARPET YAY! (well except for the stairs, which would be done the next day, Friday) We had a really good dinner of chicken and fettuccine Alfredo. (And ice cream).

Patty loves ice cream.

She is BITING the spoon here. She will not let me take it away.

ICE CREAM ICE CREAMMMM

So, it was a successful day because we had carpet, no one burned down the house or died, and Patty had ice cream. :)

Also, I promised a cat photo, and I think this is the only one I took!

This is Beppo! He is the “guard cat” who watches over Patty while she sleeps. He has a friend, Wilma (who is beautiful). They are quite old but very nice cats.

Happy birthday, Patty!! (Houston Day 2)

Patty, about to try her birthday cupcake.

The 30th was my first full day in Houston and was also Patty’s first birthday!!

Our day started with this…

Yes, Patty is very mobile—she can stand, crawl, go up and down the stairs, and walk while holding on to things, so walking is probably not far off! This was a great way to start the day.

I also read Johnny The Monster at the End of This Book, which is one fo my favorite things to read to kids.

We had breakfast…

and art time (I had brought my sketching supplies and the kids had a lot of fun with my watercolors and water brushes!)

Patty wore one of the dresses I’d gotten her for her birthday….

After her morning nap, with Frankie :)

After everyone was dressed and Patty had had her power nap, we went to Lupe Tortilla for lunch. It as raining but that did not deter the boys from playing in the play area!

The dress I got Patty is an 18M, so it’s big on her, but Diane put her in it anyway, which I appreciated :)

Outside Lupe: L-R Bridget, Frankie (green shirt), Johnny, Susie

Lupe was really delicious—I had the cheese enchiladas which were amazing.

We had planned on doing the yarn store after lunch. Susie crochets and wanted some more yarn (she wanted to build a stash, which made my yarn loving heart flutter). So after Diane did some banking things, we went to the store, only to find that it had moved! ARGH! Sadness! No new yarn! But it probably was for the best, since we had to go home and make birthday cupcakes for Miss Patty and get ready for family to come over to celebrate.

Diane made these amazing chocolate cupcakes, which I need the recipe for, and vanilla buttercream frosting (HOMEMADE VANILLA, people—we’re talking a big old mason jar worth. Massive props to Di.) If I get the recipe, I’ll share it here. But folks, these were goooood cupcakes.

For the party, some of Matt’s siblings came over—one of his sisters, her husband, and their four kids (she’s pregnant with their fifth), and also Bart, Matt’s youngest brother and Patty’s godfather.

Patty and Bart

Di took Patty out of her birthday dress, in preparation for messiness…..

we sang, and then….we ate!

“What is this thing.”

“I think I might like this….”

Going whole hog…..

“I think it’s good.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

For her birthday I got her clothes, and also two Baby Lit books: The Secret Garden and The Wizard of Oz., because I have to get Patty books, it’s the law. Her aunt and uncle got her a pop cupcake (sort of like this one—I had never seen these until I got to Houston!) an a book with the same pop-up thing in the pictures. The popping is quite satisfying, I have to say. (Her older siblings also enjoyed the pop cupcake!)

After the party we cleaned up the bebe….

And then relaxed the rest of the night. Di and Matt started watching a Three Stooges movie, which I had never seen, but it was funny—but I was TIRED. So I went to bed while they kept watching it, because I am an hour ahead of them and also my body was like, SLEEP NOOWWWW.

(Blood glucose does not like really hot or cold conditions, and Houston is warmer than I am used to. I knew that, going in, but I wasn’t sure how it would affect my BGLs. It turned out that I need a lot less insulin than I thought I would and there were times I had to ask Susie or Di to get me a cup of juice because my hands would have dropped it to the ground because my BGLs were low. But hey, learning experiences!)

So that was Miss Patty’s first birthday party!

Trip to Houston: Day 1, Meeting Patty

I’m going to give you a recap of my Houston trip—not exactly a blow-by-blow, but a sort of recap, since I like to read people’s travel recaps and I figure other people do too. And of course this is the best way to share photos. :)

So I got to Houston on the 29th, the day before Patty’s first birthday! Fortunately my flight was on time for takeoff, but we did have to go around Houston to avoid some rain and ended up flying over the Gulf Coast and then back up

Everyone was on hand to meet me at Carousel 12 and I was excited—and so were they!

Patty, fortunately, did not cry when she met me (great relief). Instead she studied me very intently. You could see the wheels turning in her little head, but then it clicked (Oh wait, I’ve seen this person on the phone….I know this voice….) and she smiled and giggled for me.

Dinner was at Matt (Patty’s dad)’s parents house that night—pizza and garlic knots for all!

Susie, with Patty and Frankie, in their grandparents’ kitchen.

Here’s a cast of characters for the trip:

Diane—my cousin, who is 6 months younger than me and shares a birthday with my sister and one other cousin of ours, Jill. Her father (John) is my mom’s older brother. (he’s number 2 out of the 8 kids).

Matt—her husband, whom she met at Notre Dame. He’s a CPA and a member of the Texas State Guard.

Susie—oldest of the 5 kids. She’s 12.

Bridget—second kid, age 9

Bridget and her AG doll, Catherine, in matching PJs.

Frankie—third kid, age 6 (he’ll be 7 next month)

Johnny—fourth kid, age 3

Patty—fifth kid, just turned one (we know Patty, right?)

Beppo and Wilma—the cats

Friday with one quick take

I have one quick take this Friday. There are no pictures. But right now, there’s a sleeping Patty in her crib and I’m sitting next to her writing this. I have also read Green Eggs and Ham twice to a captivated audience.

So, yes, this is a pretty good Friday. :)

Have a great Fourth of July!