Sunday, December 19, 2010

Praying for a Christmas miracle

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Rebecca and her hubs"][/caption]

Tonight I was deep into my Twitter conversations, when all of a sudden I saw the following tweet:
@bitofmomsense Twas the night before last Treatment...;) http://plixi.com/p/64112528

I stopped completely. It was such a simple and sweet photo of Rebecca and her bald husband looking happy and at peace. I had seen many tweets from her over the past few months about her husband's treatments, and several times I've replied saying something like "hope everything turns out OK!" or "praying for you and hubs!" Do people actually pray when they say that?

But tonight, for some reason, it made me stop. If you look at that photo out of context, all you see is a very happy couple in a very intimate cuddle. And you know what? THAT'S HOW IT SHOULD BE!! It breaks my heart when there's a stupid disease that changes the way you look at everything, including a simple photo. I'm pretty sure that they both look at everything differently now. Maybe not better, maybe not worse. Just different.

You see, I kinda know what Rebecca is going through. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, when I was 19 years old. FREAKING 19!! I didn't know what cancer was, or that it was so dangerous. I wasn't prepared to deal with such a serious situation. All I saw was my mom's courage through it all. Through the surgery, the treatments, the baldness, the throwing up, and eventually, the recovery. It changed her, somehow. Made her stronger, if that's even possible.

So when I saw that tweet from Rebecca, I felt compelled to finish her thought. I looked at the original poem, and looked at the photo, and came up with this:
'Twas the night before last Treatment
and everyone's at peace
not a single sign of sickness
not even a cyst.

I hope that's what's going through their minds right now, the confidence that everything will be OK, and they can put all this behind them. They can say it's simply something that happened. In the past.

Also? It's freaking Christmas, for chrissakes! No one should feel sad this time of year. I know what that's like, because exactly two years ago, I miscarried my second pregnancy, two weeks before Christmas, and had to have the baby surgically removed. ONE week before Christmas! Let's just say I'm a sucker for people who go through tough situations during the holidays.

So to Rebecca and her husband, I know it may not be a literary masterpiece, but I'm glad it made you smile. Here's to a very healthy 2011!!

-----

While on the subject, won't you consider being a part of @Frosting4Cause? If you have a blog, and love to bake, just visit http://frostingforthecause.com/ to see how you can help. It's very easy and fun! You don't have to be a professional baker. You can even use cake mix and canned frosting! The point is to help, get involved, and "bake" a difference!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wordless Wednesday 12: Fake Snow

This is what Puertorricans have to settle for: watching fake snow falling at the mall.

The trick? It was soap suds! What a scam!


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Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Walt Disney World - Day 5: Hollywood Studios and Departure

*** Join me as I blog my way through Walt Disney World with Hubs and Lil man. Go to my home page to find more posts of my journey. Enjoy!

6:30am - Stupid alarm clock goes off. Worst morning of the trip, packing the bags to go home. Of course, the bags won't close because I'm carrying twice the shit I brought in. I don't need another reminder for hubs that we spent too much.

[caption id="attachment_661" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Late, sleepy, and all bundled up"][/caption]

8:50am - Ya, so our breakfast reservation is RIGHT NOW and we're just getting off the bus at Hollywood Studios. When we get to the main street, it's packed full and we can't get through to the restaurant! Turns out they're doing the park opening so there's no way through until they "open". Drats!

On a related note, I wasn't able to see but was able to listen to the "ceremony" that they do to open the park and it sounded fun! Will try to make it next time we're here.

[caption id="attachment_662" align="alignright" width="225" caption="He loves Handy Manny"][/caption]

Hollywood & Vine - We're finally at our table. This is my fave character breakfast, mostly because it's the one lil man enjoys the most. The characters don't just go around the tables saying hello and posing for pictures, but they also put on a dancing show every few minutes, and all the kids join in, so fun! This part we haven't been able to participate in yet because lil man is so shy that he doesn't want to go up with the other kids to dance with the characters. All he does is sit in the sidelines and watch. The second time around he took our camera and started taking pictures of everyone. He felt much more at ease. Still, no dancing.

[caption id="attachment_663" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Waiting in line for Toy Story Mania"][/caption]

Toy Story - So we get to the FastPass distribution kiosk at 10:30am and it's for 6pm... 6 freaking PM?!?! Oh, and the stand-by line is 70 minutes, lovely. Since we have a feeling the line will get worse as the day progresses, we risk it and go in. Spend about 35 minutes in line. Someone should really check those timers more often.

Shops - Hubs wanted to take lil man to the Muppet show, so I decided to do some shopping. Told hubs that I was going to buy one or two things, and ended up with $57 worth of merchandise. Does that count as a big purchase or a small one? Don't ask hubs, I already know his answer to that one.

Pizza Planet - We have been asking lil man all day if he wants to go to the Tower of Terror, seeing as he loved it so much last time, but every time, he says no. Me: "so what do you want to do?" Lil man: "Nothing, I want to go home because the vacation is over." OK then. Well, as we're leaving Pizza Planet with no time to spare, he decides he wants to play more video games at the restaurant. We say no, because we have to leave for the airport, and he loses it. Starts crying and screaming that he doesn't want to go. Dude, you've been saying all morning that you want to go home, what the eff? We strap him to the stroller - against his will - at this moment he's on full meltdown mode. First one of the trip! Safe to say that our ride back to the hotel was not a happy one.

Hotel - We're waiting for the Magical Express bus to take us to the airport, and I'm making some last-minute purchases at the hotel shop. Lil man already had his time-out, but he looked so sad that I decide to buy him a tiny "2010" airplane that he had liked before. I melt every time his mood lifts and he's happy again. What can I say? I'm a Mom.

Magical Express - The bus ride to the airport was much smoother. He's happy again, playing with his airplane.

In Flight - Tried the stupid free Wi-Fi again, and this time it worked! Started tweeting from my phone, and everything's great... until we leave Florida. As soon as we're flying over water, the Wi-Fi drops. Are you freaking kidding me? I say a few choice words under my breath, and turn off my phone.

We had bought a sandwich on the airport for lil man to eat on the plane. He started eating, and halfway through we see him closing his eyes... while chewing! With the sandwich in his hand! It was sooo funny. After a few more bites, hubs took the sandwich from his hand, and he just collapsed. This has been a short, but very intense trip. I'm glad we did it, but we're all exhausted. Now to plan the next one!

Oh, shut up, hubs!

-- Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

P.S. - This post was originally published remotely from my BlackBerry. Upon returning home, I added pics and links. Hope you enjoy reading!

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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Walt Disney World - Day 4: Animal Kingdom

*** Join me as I blog my way through Walt Disney World with Hubs and Lil man. Go to my home page to find more posts of my journey. Enjoy!

9:30am - Even later for breakfast than yesterday. This is not good.

[caption id="attachment_655" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Happy to go to the bug show"][/caption]

It's Tough to be a Bug - Here we go again. Lil man doesn't want to put on the glasses because he's scared. we finally convinced him to put them on, but he saw the entire show on his dad's lap. Good thing too, because he would've been super scared of the poking and tingling things that the chairs do.

Kilimanjaro Safari - LIl man loved this one! Every time we saw an animal, he would check the sign on the roof where it has a picture of all the species, and ask us where that animal was on the pictures.

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - I didn't think lil man would be excited about this one, but he was. The most exciting part was the gorillas. One of them was a supermodel wanna-be, posing for pictures, and the other one was busy with a large sheet, like a throw, tossing it over his head to cover himself, or pulling it around. Finally he sat against a wall and covered himself with it. It was hilarious, and all the kids were screaming with excitement.

Expedition Everest - Very dissappointed with the rider swap, or lack thereof. They wouldn't let lil man go inside at all. I had to stand outside while hubs went in, and when he came out, then I went in. I don't get it.

[caption id="attachment_656" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I took this pic of the monitor... shh, don't tell Disney!"][/caption]

Dinosaur - OK, so seeing as lil man has been scared of every single ride after Tower of Terror, I wasn't too excited to come here. Turns out, he loved it! He laughed when the car started going fast, and also when the dinosaurs appeared. It's a very rough ride with a lot of darkness, but he was FINE! Laughing all the time. "Mama, this is very cool!" I give up.

Finding Nemo: The Musical - We had priority seating because we had lunch at Tusker House (which by the way, YUM!) I loved the fact that I was super close and I was able to appreciate the actors more, but missed the entire scope of the show, with all the stuff that happens on the aisles. It was good for one time, but next time, I'll sit in the back.

Downtown Disney - I can't go to Walt Disney World and not go to Downtown Disney. However, we only have a few hours to spare, so we can only go to the Marketplace. Gotta get my shopping on!

Mickey's Days of Christmas - Gotta find a 2010 ornament (I always buy one for each year) but man, they're pricey! Finally find a cute one for $10.95, score!

Mickey's Pantry - I'm in heaven! THIS is why I come here, to get my kitchen fix. But I just noticed that they don't sell a lot of stuff that they used to here, like the Mickey waffle maker. Drats, just when I was convincing myself to get it!

World of Disney - I have a love/hate relationship with this store. It has pretty much everything that's available, but since I'm retail-challenged, I can never get through the entire store without getting tired, overwhelmed, or both!

Pollo Campero - We met hubs' cousin who lives here and she told us about this place that just opened up where the McDonald's used to be. Gotta say, it's pretty darn good! The food is very authentic, tastes just like home.

-- Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

P.S. - This post was originally published remotely from my BlackBerry. Upon returning home, I added pics and links. Hope you enjoy reading!

Check out my other posts here:

Friday, December 3, 2010

Walt Disney World - Day 3: Magic Kingdom

*** Join me as I blog my way through Walt Disney World with Hubs and Lil man. Go to my home page to find more posts of my journey. Enjoy!

9:00am - Late for breakfast, but recharged and ready for the day. Also? It's about 60 degrees, I love it! Hubs already put on his sweater. Wimp.

Jungle Cruise - I don't get lil man. He absolutely loved Tower of Terror, and right now he's scared of the animals! Dude, they're fake! "Mama, I don't wanna watch anymore." He's weird.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Same thing happened here. There's something wrong with this kid!

[caption id="attachment_649" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The scene of the crime"][/caption]

Mickey's Toontown Fair - Lil man loves this area! We're at the park, and lil man is inside the small house when all of a sudden he starts screaming and crying. I went up to him as he came out, tears flowing, and still crying extremely loudly. Another small girl came out the same way. Her mom and I start asking them what happened. Lil man: "He won't let me play!" When I peeked inside, I saw a small boy standing against the back wall, furious look in his eyes. Apparently he was screaming at them to get out. His mom got him out and made him apologize. It was all very loud and dramatic, pretty much all the parents at the park noticed. 2 minutes later? Everyone is running around, screaming and laughing again. Ah, to be a kid.

Donald's Boat - It's amazing how cautious lil man is. He's running around in the water squirts by Donald's boat, but he manages to stay dry. All the rest of the kids are soaked! Good thing too, because I'm not in the mood for him to get sick.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Lil man can't stop laughing nervously. "This is so fun!"

[caption id="attachment_650" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Marching with Pooh"][/caption]

Crystal Palace - For an extremely shy kid, it was a huge deal when we got lil man to march in the Pooh parade through the restaurant. All the kids look adorable.

Haunted Mansion - Since the moment lil man saw the walls of the library stretch up, he got scared. When we got in line to board the ride, he started to cry and hid his face on hubs' neck the entire time. But apparently he managed to see everything, because as soon as we were out, he started to talk about everything that happened. Me: "so you liked it?" Lil man: "sure." Me: "were you scared?" Lil man: "a little bit, but it was OK, nothing happened." His face was hilarious!

Philharmagic - Same thing here. He spent the entire show on hubs' lap, and wanted to take the glasses off, but we convinced him to keep them on. Shame that I couldn't take a pic of him, he had one hand covering half of one eye the entire time, and the other grabbing on to his dad. Also? He kept laughing nervously the entire time.

Space Mountain - We used the Rider Swap here. Pretty cool because lil man got to go on the stand-by line with us. Once we got to the end, hubs got on the ride, and lil man and I exited through a side door and went back down to meet him. Then I went up again through the same side door, and they let me in.

Astro Orbiter - Are you kidding me? It's like 45 degrees, and you want me to ride in circles up there? Should have put on my scarf and gloves, I'm effing freezing!

*** As soon as I got back down, I put on my scarf and gloves. I don't care if the rest of the people are in shorts and flip flops, it's effing freezing! (Did I mention that already?)

[caption id="attachment_651" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="My two boys watching the fireworks"][/caption]

Wishes - There are no words. In my opinion, Illuminations is far more complex and grand, but what gets you here is the music. I had a lump in my throat the entire time. Also? Watching lil man ooh-ing and aah-ing? Swoon.

Bus stop - Holy crap, there are seriously like 200 people waiting in line for the bus! All of a sudden, a big-ass motorcoach comes by, and parks in our lane. Everyone starts cheering and screaming and whistling at the driver! If I wasn't freezing, I could've sworn we were in Puerto Rico.

[caption id="attachment_652" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The window display, starring his very own friends"][/caption]

Hotel room - I have noticed that when we're walking past the rooms in the hotel, you can see little animals made from towels displayed on the windowsill. They're too cute, these cleaning ladies are super talented. Tonight, when we got to our room, there was a huge display! They had taken one of the chairs in the room, covered it with a white towel, and displayed 2 little towel animals, plus 2 of lil man's stuffed animals! One of them was dressed like Santa, and another had a Christmas tree outfit. It looked like a store window display. Lil man was beyond excited, he couldn't stop screaming! Seriously? This is what the Disney experience is all about.

-- Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

P.S. - This post was originally published remotely from my BlackBerry. Upon returning home, I added pics and links. Hope you enjoy reading!

Check out my other posts here:

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Walt Disney World - Day 2: Hollywood Studios

*** Join me as I blog my way through Walt Disney World with Hubs and Lil man. Go to my home page to find more posts of my journey. Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_641" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The upside-down sleeper"][/caption]

8:30am - My alarm clock went off an hour and a half ago, and I've been hitting the snooze button. Hubs is snoring and lil man did a 180 in bed, with his feet on the pillow. It's a safe bet that we're not getting to the park early today.

10:00am - Went to the Concierge desk and showed them a picture of my "beautiful" balloon bouquet, and they called the Disney Gift Shop, who assured me that lil man will have his balloons tonight. Even the hotel manager sat down with me and told me how shocked he was about what had happened. We'll see.

*** The line at the Concierge was so long that I kept myself busy trying to decipher if the notes that appear on the bottom part of the front desk were part of an actual song or just random notes. After a while I figured out that even though the tempo and punctuation are off, the notes are actually from "When You Wish Upon A Star". Cool!

[caption id="attachment_642" align="alignright" width="300" caption="His fave channel"][/caption]

Playhouse Disney - We came here last summer when lil man was 2 and a half years old, and he had a good time, but this time? O. M. G. Now that he knows all the songs and the shows, he was singing and dancing along, even though it was in English, and he only understood a word here and there and what I translated for him. Swoon!

Toy Story Mania - Stand-by line said 70 minutes. We risked it and spent only 25 minutes in line. Score!

Stores - Hubs wanted to go to the Tower of Terror but I don't like it, so I decided to go shopping with lil man while hubs went there. I left the stores the same way I went in: empty-handed. Something is seriously wrong with me.

Beauty and the Beast - I feel like I'm watching the movie in fast-forward.

[caption id="attachment_643" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Apparently his new fave ride, go figure"][/caption]

Tower of Terror - Hubs has been telling lil man all day that this is his favorite ride, giving him all the details of what happens trying to make it look less scary. He even told him that when the elevator falls, you HAVE to scream, because that's part of the ride. Well, when we left Beauty and the Beast, first thing that lil man says is: "Tower of Terror is my favorite ride!" Hubs: "You want to go?" Lil man: "Sure!" Hubs and I looked at each other in shock - this is the guy that doesn't want to go to the Haunted Mansion because he's scared of the ghosts! So we decided to go - he even convinced ME to go too. "Come on, Mama, it's not scary, you just have to scream when you drop!" Holy shit, my husband just created a monster! We could tell he was nervous once inside, because he wouldn't stop talking about how it *wasn't* scary. But he did it! His face was of pure panic, and when it was over, he was still grabbing at my sleeve. Me: "Did you like it?" Lil man: "Yeah!" Me: "Did you scream?" Lil man: "Yeah, it was very cool!" Me: "Wanna go again?" Lil man: "No."

9:00pm - On the bus ride back to the hotel, lil man told me that Pepo (one of his stuffed animals) was crying back in the hotel room, and asked if he could call him. I gave him my cell phone (locked) and he proceeded to have a long conversation with him. I think he was able to calm him. :)

[caption id="attachment_644" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Balloon fiasco resolved!"][/caption]

9:30pm - We get to our hotel room, and sure enough, there's a Mickey balloon bouquet on the table. Lil man's face when he saw them was priceless! He played with them for a long time. My faith in the Disney customer service is restored. Not that it was ever gone,,,ahem.

-- Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

P.S. - This post was originally published remotely from my BlackBerry. Upon returning home, I added pics and links. Hope you enjoy reading!

Check out my other posts here: