Boredom Busters

What does one do to bide the time in a hospital waiting room?  

Play Rummy!

Or War!

My very best friend sent me a care package a number of months ago. In it, she included all kinds of things. Each item had a special, handwritten note. This deck of cards was had a label that said, "Boredom Buster #1". 

I now keep this deck of cards in my purse. It comes in handy on days like today. Days when we arrive at Smilow at 8:45am and sit in the waiting room forever. Seriously -- Gordon was called back sometime after 9:30am to have his blood drawn, and then we continued to wait for an open chair in the infusion pods until almost 11am. Now, at almost 12noon, we're still waiting for his meds to come up from the pharmacy. At this rate, I don't expect we'll be out of here much before 1:30pm. IF we're lucky. 

Summer is over?!

Welp, we're just about at the end if August already. This is only my second blog post for the month. Wish I could fill you full of our fun adventures. Wish I could regale you with hilarious antics. Wish I could tell you exactly what we've done with all this time. I can't, really. 

We DID go to Stephen and Kim's housewarming party.  We had Dave, Heather, Wayne, Rob, and Stephanie over for a small BBQ (or, as Larissa would put it, a grilling party). We went to dinner with Laurie, Kevin, Kathy, Donna, and (the other) Laurie. Gordon and I attended his HS class reunion. I took the three girls to our town's annual fair. 

We did NOT go to the beach. We didn't go hiking. We didn't visit Gillette Castle or the Mark Twain House. We didn't sneak up to VT for a quick visit with Mom and Bert. We didn't spend the day in Newport. We didn't go camping at the beach. We didn't go camping at all. 

Two days from today, the kiddos will all be back at school. I have no idea where the summer went, but it's winding down rapidly. 

What happened to July?!? and other randomness

Holy cow!  I completely lost July.  We were busy, but not so much that I could fill you with details of all that we did.  Mostly, we just lived and enjoyed the every day.

Eleanor spent two weeks in Vermont with Nana, Bert, and cousin Alyssa.  She had a blast.  Amanda, Will, and I drove up for the weekend in between so that we could celebrate Nora's 6th birthday with her.  Couldn't NOT celebrate with my girl, now could I?

I ran a 5K.  The first one I have run in four years.  I did rather well, considering how UN-athletic I truly am.  Of course, I trained for it using a Couch to 5K running app on my iPhone.  In the couple of weeks since my run, I feel like I haven't put as much effort into running as I had.  Time to find another 5K or two to register for to keep myself focused!

Along with my running again, I am proud to say that I have been working towards getting back to my goal weight.  I've been actually WORKING towards it these last few weeks, rather than 'trying' in a half-hearted manner, which is what I'd been doing for the last three years.  I haven't been more than 15ish pounds from goal, but haven't been successful in making the scale budge until recently.  It's amazing what a focused, mini-goal will do for a gal.

The summer is half over and I think I could probably count on my two hands the number of times the kiddos have gone swimming in the pool.  The summer has been warm, but we haven't had record-making heat waves.  Plus, the lure of hanging out in the cool, air-conditioned house must be too tempting for them.  Perhaps I should switch off a few breakers one morning, just to see if the kiddos decide to swim when there is nothing else to do.

We FINALLY have scheduled a couple of camping weekends.  Of course, they won't be until September.  That's what happens when you wait too long to book a weekend of camping -- the campgrounds get all filled up and don't have room for new reservations!

The kids will be getting ready to go back to school before we know it.  This means that I'm going to need to figure out time to go back-to-school shopping in the near future.  Thankfully, I've never been one of those moms who purchases a whole new wardrobe for Sally and John to start the school year.  I usually get the kids a new outfit to wear on the first day of school, new sneakers and shoes, and school supplies like paper, pens, and pencils.  It can all be done in one afternoon, if I'm totally focused and have enough cash.

I bet a lot of you are looking for an update on Gordon.  Well, there isn't much to say.  He's been plugging along, getting his monthly vaccine that is part of the clinical study, and doing 5 days of chemo every 28 days.  His last MRI wasn't the most encouraging, but it doesn't necessarily mean the absolute worst either.  We're trying to remain cautiously optimistic while also taking one day at a time and focusing on what we can do -- which is enjoy every moment for what it is.