A Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

Today sucked.  But, I came home to this!

Dr’s Visit

Today Dan had his 9 month oncologist appointment. Well, this appointment was similar to his last, where it was just a blood draw and a face to face with the oncologist. Dr. H wasn’t going to have the results, so Dan saw no reason for the face to face meeting. He went in early for his blood draw, and went on into work. We should get his CEA results this evening.

Dan went by himself. We didn’t have any odd symptoms pop up in the past 2 weeks, which was a huge improvement over his last appointment. So, he wasn’t nervous at all. I am still nervous, but I’m much more patient this time. I wish I knew his results already, but I’m sure it will be normal. I’m actually more nervous about my presentation tomorrow.

Dan also scheduled his 1 year appointment for May 31st. He will have a full body scan, a colonoscopy and a full blood workup. That will be the big one. I’m certain I will be nervous for that appointment. But, I’m confident Dan will get a clean bill of health right before we head off to the Warrior Dash.

Too Much Fun

I have to say, this weekend started out pretty terrible.

Friday morning I woke up with a jolt at 6am (which is waaayyy before I get up) due to left eye pain.  At first I thought I was finally getting sick with that horrible virus that has been going around, so I took some meds and went back to sleep.  I thought about getting up, but if I was sick, I'd just have to call in.  So, I wanted to see if I'd get worse.  The eye pain got worse, but it wasn't sinus pain.  It was surface pain.  I think Dan smacked my eye in the middle of the night in his sleep.  There was no bruise, but it took 2 days to heal, and there was a little swelling.  Needless to say, I was in a bad mood Friday night.  It hurt to chew, talk, blink, anything that involved in left eye.

Saturday morning, I woke up, and still had pain.  I was so frustrated.  Plus, I had to work this weekend.  Sucks.  Plus, as I'm walking out the door, Dan cancels going to the hash.  I was not happy.  So, I went to work, came home, and cleaned.  Whenever I get frustrated, I either clean, or I cook.  Saturday, I cleaned for 4 hours.  I cleaned floors, dusted, cleaned air vents, washed walls, cleaned bathrooms, started laundry, and even shampooed Daisy's room.  I was so exhausted when  I finished.  All I wanted was to relax and take a hot bath.

Just as I was getting the motivation to walk back upstairs, Dan came home from his meeting with a bottle of wine and potted calla lillies.  What a good man.  Immediately I felt better.  Not only did he apoligize and promised to take me and the dogs to Brown County Saturday, but he remembered that calla lillies were my flowers when we got married.  And, they are potted, which means I get to try my hand at keeping yet a 5th house plant alive.  So far, the 3 from the hospital stay are still going strong, as well as my Aloe plant from Megan.

After a nice relaxing hot bath, we both were ready to restart the weekend.  We headed out to BW's in Broadripple for dinner and the UFC with Clint.  We were able to spend about an hour together before Clint came, which helped refocus the weekend.  We had a great time hanging out with Clint, having a couple drinks, and enjoying the fights.  Afterwards, Dan and I went home to watch some tv, and we ended up staying up past 3am!  We haven't done that since Dan worked evenings!

Sunday we woke up early so we could catch the noon Pacers game with my good friend Angela and her husband Basili.  Running on little sleep, I started to feel like I was in college again.  We had a great time watching the Pacers vs. Suns.  Unfortunately the Pacers lost in overtime.  We then headed over to Scotty's for "linner" full of great conversation and good food.  We just made it before the game crowd.  Dan and I tried to grab me a Pacers shirt before we went back home, but the shop had closed.  So, we spent the rest of the night playing with the dogs, watching bad movies, and the Oscars.

Tax Check

We received our tax refund check today!  Silly me forgot to change my W-4 at work when Dan and I got married, so they were taking way too much out for taxes.  I'm torn as to whether I would've rather had the extra money each check, or if I prefer having a large tax refund.  Last year, we weren't able to save any money, so as my Dad put it, this was our savings account.  But, at the same time, it would've been nice to have that extra income while Dan wasn't working.  Either way, my W-4 is now changed.

This morning we paid off 2 Dr Bills and 2 Credit Cards (Christmas and Dan's).  Phew feels good.  We also bought our Bonnaroo tickets (I cannot explain how exciting this is), and Dan opened a new savings account for our vacation fund.  Everyday our trip to Europe gets closer and closer!  I tried to pay off my car, but I forgot to update my address when we moved (a year and a half ago, seeing a trend??), so I'm waiting for that to be processed. 

But, the most exciting part for me, is that today, I get to take out my "allowance" for spending money.  I just realized that I can finally afford to go see a hair stylist that all of my girl friends keep raving about, Cortland at Ciao Bella Salon.  Come Monday, I am calling and scheduling an appointment.  It has been YEARS that I have been able to go to a real hair stylist.  And now, I can go and not feel guilty.  I can even get pedicures, and buy new clothes!  Oh to be girly and waste money on things that don't matter.  I have a wonderful husband who puts up with these usless wishes, and actually enjoys seeing me endulge in them.

Thursday Morning Thoughts

The first real rain of the year always makes me think of Spring.  I don’t know if I’m more excited because it’s not snow coming down, or if it’s because I know soon, my flowers will be sprouting.  Soon, I will see people seeding my back yard, and my husband, dad, FIL, and brothers putting up a fence.  And soon, I will be planting trees, flowers, and vegetables.

This morning, on my rainy drive into work, I didn’t think about all the above fun, exciting, Spring things to look forward to.  Today, instead, my non-caffeinated brain thought it would be better to think about Relay for Life.  Sure, this is the time of the year to start planning for it, but this year it will be different.

Last year my mom walked as a survivor, as I’m hoping she will again this year.  This year, my husband will join her.  To me, this morning, this brought on a wave of confusing emotions that I have not been able to shake.  I am very concerned at the alarming rate of increase in the number of people I know walking as survivors, but I am also very proud and excited to see them walk together.  “Survivor” is so much better than “Patient”.  I’m not sure how I will feel watching 2 people I love among the crowd of strangers brought together by such an ugly thing.

Dan and I don’t refer to him as a survivor.  I actually spend most of my time ignoring the elephant in the room.  I will refer to his cancer as “before you were sick,” or “before the surgery”.  I don’t know if I have properly dealt with things, or if this is my way of dealing with it.  This, in turn makes me wonder, if I’m not dealing with it, how am I helping my husband?  Am I being as supportive as he needs? 

All I know is that these thought processes should not be done before work, on a Thursday when I have to be here for 11hrs, especially before coffee, 5 days before his next Oncologist appointment.  But, I do know that we are going to have one hell of a 1 year cancer-free party this summer.  And, I would love it if every one of my readers could join us for Relay for Life this year in May. 

Maybe that is my way of coping. 

Budget

I've always thought I've been good with money.  Before I met Dan, I had minimal student loans, no other debt other than my car, and a savings account.  I had even started saving for my wedding, if I ever found Mr. Right.  Then, I met Mr. Right, and we moved in together, and went on vacations, bought furniture, moved a couple more times, and got married, bought a house, and have had horrible luck with cat/husband health.  Here we are 5 years later (on St Patty's Day), and we have minimal savings left, and we constantly overdraw our account (ok, usually by just a couple bucks, but the fees!).  Granted, Dan was unemployed for 17 out of the last 24 months, and we had to pay for his hospital bills.  But these are all excuses.

We have been paying of debt very slowly for a while, and on Friday we will be paying off my car, Dan's credit card, and the last 2 small doctors bills.  But, we still have a long way to go.  We both have student loans (we've paid one off, and have 3 to go), Dan's car, my credit card, and the large hospital bill (that we have on a payment plan with no interest).

So today, we put out a budget together post-payoffs this week.  Its actually really exciting to see it on paper.  After paying bills, we will each get some free to spend, carrying around money!  I can go out to lunch, go shopping, save for a vacation...anything.

Now that, is true freedom.

Cake Pops

Note: You can make your own cake and frosting recipe, but to be sure these turned out as promised, I used the store bought. Some people have claimed success using donut holes which would save a lot of time.

What you’ll need:

18.25-ounce box cake mix

9-by-13 inch cake pan

Large mixing bowl

16-ounce container ready-made frosting

Large spoon
Wax paper
2 baking sheets
Plastic wrap
Lolly Pop Sticks
32 ounce (2 pounds) candy coating
Deep,microwave-safe plastic bowl
Resealable plastic bag or squeeze bottle (optional)

Directions:

Bake cake according to box, and let cool for at least one hour. I let mine cool ON, because I didn’t have time to finish it all in one day.

Crumble cake into a large bowl and slowly add frosting. You want to add just enough to have the cake come together. I think I added just a little too much frosting in mine. Stick in fridge. I let mine stay in for about an hour.

Form cake into balls. Mine were a little large. I used a melon scoop and my balls ended up being about 1” in diameter. I ended up with about 25 balls, so I may half the size to get around 40 (which is what people online are saying this makes). Stick in fridge.

Melt chocolate candy according to the bag (1/2 power for 1min, then stirring adding an additional 30sec until completely melted). Take one Lolly Pop stick and dip into the candy. Then place ¾ of the way into the cake balls. Let set. (I let mine set in the freezer overnight, but Bakerella said this can cause your candy to crack, which mine did. I tried 15min in the fridge, but the cake balls fell off. I also don’t think I got ¾ of the way into the cake balls. So, maybe 20-35min in the fridge?)

Once the sticks have set, dip into melted chocolate candy to cover. Don’t twirl the balls too much, but try and dip straight down to cover the entire ball. Mine didn’t cover all the way and the cake balls started to come out the bottom. After dipping, tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Set in Styrofoam and let set. (mine set in about 10 min).

I decorated mine with white chocolate candy melted, and mixed with red food coloring, but this was added after the cake pops had set. As a result, the pink décor fell off some of them.

So, I had some issues with mine, but they tasted fantastic, and I think they turned out pretty good for a first run. I might make some for St. Patrick’s Day just so I can try and perfect the process.

Good luck with yours!