Tuesday December 16th

I haven't been out much lately, except to the chiropractor on Monday morning. I refilled my prescriptions at the same time and my mom went grocery shopping for me. It has been fun to have her do the cooking because she has more time and energy to create delicious meals, even ones that the children have rarely had because I don't cook them. One example was last night. We had pork chops with abples on top and sweet potatoes with a orange sauce. That was a little overwhelming for Nathan, as it was 2 new foods to try. I convinced him to eat the pork by taking off the apples and having him use barbecue sauce, but I didn't have much luck with the yams. Even David hasn't liked yams for years, but when he tried my mom's he actually liked them. How nice it is that we are having pleasant new food experiences in contrast to this show I like on the Travel Channel called Bizarre Foods. I get a big kick out of how many strange things this guy is willing to try in countries and cultures all over the world. Can you tell I've been watching a little too much tv?

I'm hoping to feel better by the weekend, as David and I celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday. How convenient that we have my mom here to babysit! Many times we'll go out without a sitter, but it is comforting to know that mom is there to watch over everything. I'm still looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping, as soon as I can go out. Right now, I've been doing a few small things, such as paying bills and writing cards and if I do any walking around, my stomach hurts and I have to lie down again. I guess the positive side of being sick after chemotherapy is the surety that just as I felt worse in the middle of the cycle, now I should continue getting a little better near the end of the 3 weeks (which is actually a week from tomorrow)

I asked Brenton last night to bring me the paper describing his musical composition project in his choir class. Not only had he missed turning in the rough draft, but he was already late on the final draft (which I found out later that the date had been postponed and now it's not late.) Still I was pretty mad at Brenton because he hasn't been writing his homework in his planner and he needs to take more accountability to do his homework or ask us for help, if necessary. I had the school counselor talk to him, but hopefully he'll turn around and start caring more about school. I always wonder how much my illness affects my children. Sometimes I blame myself for not teaching them to organize their homework or for not keeping track each day what needs to be done. Jonny is also learning the need for his planner, since he went from 6th grade into 7th which is now middle school and he has many classes and many different teachers.

Today has been pretty typical in which I take my pills in the morning and generally feel well, but my stomach gets worse at lunch and all the way into the evening, so I never feel like eating much dinner. Taking a nap in the afternoon also helps my stomach because I wake up feeling better.

That's about all I have to say today!
Emilee