So long 2012

With the end of the year approaching, everywhere you turn you see recaps. I did a medical recap not too long ago and quit honestly am not too interested in reliving this year. Instead I am looking fully forward to what I hope will be a better year.

Making a statement like that always makes me pause for a second because of how close I was to cancer (according to the pathology reports). I had the bilateral prophylactic mastectomy to prevent cancer since I was high risk but until we received those results showing cancer markers, well we had no clue just how close I was. So, with that said the end results made 2012 a good year I suppose and I guess I should recognize that good.

The hope for 2013, well they are filled with no surgery, no medical scares and good times with my family. I do need to get through the follow-up Ultrasound next week to check on the complex cyst. Hopefully that shows that it took care of itself and onward we will move.

One super bright spot that we have all been looking forward to for some time is our trip to Disney World! We are in the home stretch and can begin an official countdown in the next week or so. My girls do love official countdowns :-). We are all really looking forward to this trip! We are staying at The Animal Kingdom Villas-Kidani, right over the Savannah. How thrilled with the girls be seeing the animals come close to the balcony.

Since we are staying in Disney we also did the meal package. It is nice going and knowing that almost everything is prepaid. We will be dinning with the Princesses, Mickey and crew, Chip and Dale and at the new Be Our Guest Restaurant. Planning this trip, making the dinning reservations were a nice distraction while I was recovering from surgery. Finally coming close to the actual experience knowing how much we are all looking forward to it, well what can I say that Disney does not? It is the happiest place on earth!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone is asleep, well except me of course which is about the norm. I find myself not sleeping much again these days. Two minutes past midnight so it is official..Merry Christmas!

The gifts are under the tree, stockings full and coffee pot set up ready for what I know will be the extra early wake up call by two overly excited little girls and I would have it no other way! Both of my girls still fully belive in Santa and I want to enjoy every minute. Who knows what next year will bring. The joy on those little faces is just priceless. They tracked his movements all day with the NORAD Santa tracker. AT bed time I almost needed to strap them down they were bouncing off the walls so badly.

We will have my brother’s family and my sister for dinner. My niece and nephew are 7 and 3 so having the four kids for Christmas is great! We do an all out beef feast…probably not very traditional for some but it has become tradition for us. Homemade onion soup, steak and mushrooms….YUMMY!

After all of the preparations, the shopping, the cleaning, cooking, wrapping what I love most is spending time with those I love. Some people around me are never satisfied and to be honest I think I used to be part of that group. Since the Mastectomy I really have settled into a more peaceful place. I can not control most things that happen. You can not get “those” moments back. The ones where your children are filled with wonder and awe or the ones where you have an opportunity to spend time with those important to you. Life is just too short.

In the morning, I will watch A Christmas story at least twice. I will eat way to much. I will take a moment to think about the cruelties in the world and thank god for my healthy girls. I will take every opportunity to create a memory.

The morning will be here in the blink of an eye! I wish you all a joyous Christmas.

Craft time with mints

If you are on Facebook I am sure you are aware of Pinterest. I resisted for a long time. I do not spend that much time on Facebook and figured the last thing I needed was one more thing in my life to take up time. While recovering from my mastectomy I gave in and conformed.

Randomly I will jump in and find a chuckle at some things, roll my eyes at others and “pin” things that I find very interesting even though in my heart I know I will never, ever do anything with them. Many of the things I look at are either food items that I think would be very tasty or craft item. Madison is a very creative child whose mind is always going. I try to find things that we could do together.

With the holidays upon us, the other day I saw something that I thought was perfect. The DIY peppermint candy serving tray. The instructions seemed easy enough. After the holiday show at Madison’s school on Tuesday I took her home with me. On the way we stopped for the main, and only ingredient, starbright mints. At home we preheated the oven, laid out the waxed paper on a cookie sheet and crafted our design. About 8 minutes in the oven and our serving dishes were ready!

Work of Art…no. Fun time with my baby, most defiantly!