February 22, 2012 — Over the President’s Day long weekend, we snuck off to Disney World and Harry Potter World/Universal in Florida. We managed to keep it a surprise from the kids. In fact, Greg and I were amazed at how trusting the kids were. They didn’t seem to suspect a thing, even when we boarded our puppy at a great Dog Ranch for our trip to “Houston,” which was unusual. We got the kids up at 5 a.m. for our “long drive.” We never get up that early for a three hour road trip. So it was a great moment telling the kids on the road as we turned into the airport drive. Nana met us in Florida and we went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom as well as Harry Potter/Universal. I rode the scariest, most intense ride of my life at Universal — the Hogwart’s Magical ride. In the midst of that terrifying experience, all the adults were worried how our least adventurous Valentine (Daniel) would be handling the ride. He loved it although has since decided he doesn’t ever want to ride it again! Mom on the other hand got off the ride shaking and stayed that way for an hour or so. Be prepared for intensity if you go! I’ve said I would ride it again so I could keep my eyes open for more than 25 or 30 percent of it.

February 14, 2012 — Happy Valentine’s Day! Yes, it’s our own special holiday and the Valentine family is celebrating … by not throwing up. The rotavirus intestinal bug hit every member of our household over the last week and a half bringing with it vomiting, severe intestinal cramping, explosive diarrhea and fever. I didn’t think anything would compare to the first 24 hours after a chemo infusion, but the stabbing pains associated with this virus did. Daniel got off easiest with a 24 hour bout which was mainly a one-time vomiting at school, which was cool because he is in First Grade after all and had eaten strawberries for breakfast. The throw up looked “like blood” and freaked everyone out. Then, he had some diarrhea and after that was fine. Sara went down next and was sick for six days. The doc we took her to on Saturday after 48 hours of not eating advised rest and lots of fluids. Have to let it run its course. Really? My internist friend gave me better medical advice and it was free. Greg got the bug for about 48 hours too and was a trooper. Then, I got sick. I was a complete and total wimp, moaning and complaining from my bed. Sara’s fever finally broke after six days of barely eating anything. I’m pumping into her any food she can keep down right now. At one point in my intestinal misery witty Greg said, “well, you’d pay good money for this in a fancy spa — call it a colon cleanse.” Ha ha. I’m so glad I can laugh about it all now. Don’t come near our house without a haz-mat suit and Clorox wipes.

Due to widespread demand, here are some pics from Sara’s Barbie Doll hair dying science fair project. We haven’t stapled the end result heads to the experiment board yet since Sara’s been sick and the heads are still at school. I think this project is a riot!

February 5, 2012 — Sara’s science fair project, Dye Hair Dye, has been selected as one of the ones to represent her elementary school at the regional competition! She came up with the idea of dying Barbie doll hair with food coloring. She hypothesized that the blonde hair would turn green and the red hair would turn purple since she was using blue food coloring. She took one cup of water and added either one, two, three, four or five drops of food coloring, then dipped the doll’s hair in the blue water for one minute. The doll’s hair turned slightly darker after about four drops, the blonde having a better result than the red. It seemed like a quirky scientific experiment to me, but the judges like the experiments that they know the kids came up with on their own. Sara was even going to staple the end result Barbie doll heads to her display board, but her teacher didn’t want any 3D items. And she still advanced, even without that funny and informative bit. I think we’ll do it for Regional. Congratulations Sara!

February 2, 2012 — At one of my cooking classes, several children told me that a 3-year-old had a sister named Hannukah. I repeated it several times and thought they must have gotten the name wrong so asked the parents at the end of class. Two moms were picking up their children and said, “no, it’s not Kate who has a little sister named Hannukah, it’s Berit.” Oh. I wasn’t quite sure what to say but felt some comment was in order since I had asked about the name. “Was she born during Hannukah?” The mothers were busy collecting their children’s belongings so didn’t reply but another mother stepped up and said, “I’m not sure why no one is correcting you, but it’s Annika, not Hannukah.” We both got a good laugh out of that. However, now I’m not sure if it’s more funny that I mixed up the names or that the first moms weren’t correcting me!

February 1, 2012 — Last week my arthritis side effects from the Tamoxifen returned. I called my oncologist and went in to discuss this development today. Sigh. I remember how I learned how cancer would kill me when I was first diagnosed: it would bore me to death. I was at the cancer center for 2 hours for a 10 minute office visit and a 5 minute Zoladex shot. Dr. K and I discussed other options and how long he would like me to take the various medications that seem to be causing my symptoms. Basically, he’d like me to stay on Tamoxifen for 3 more years and Zoladex for one more year. If I can tolerate the side effects with the addition of Advil or Celebrex, that would be the best. I’d hate to get off the drugs and then have my cancer recur. My infusion nurse who administered my shot after my visit said since I’ll be taking the anti-inflammatory medicines, I’ll have less chance of having bone deformation due to the arthritis. Bone deformation? Uh..can I revisit this arthritis vs. cancer decision?