Top O' the Marnin' to Ye, Lassie!

Happy St. Patty's Day to all and to all a good night...or something like that.

I'm not the biggest St. Pat's fan alive. I have a real aversion for pinching (let's not go into THAT childhood memory, k?) and so I am always on a mission to splatter green on every forgetful soul to spare them the pinch that would otherwise come.

But today we had us some goooood fun in kindergarten. My neighboring teacher told the kids how every year a leprechaun comes and messes up her classroom. I told my kids he had never found my room yet. Then while they were at lunch, I overturned chairs, threw papers up in the air, rolled approximately a zillion glue sticks across the floor, and dumped rubber bugs all over the tables, etc., etc., ending with a litte note from the leprechaun.

The kids went berserk! They were SO loud, going on and on about the crazy leprechaun (with the occasional coming grinning to me to ask if I'd really done it.) I wouldn't fess up. After we pitched in and cleaned we headed out to the soccer field behind the school to see if we could find the leprechaun. But first we glued some gold glitter on our hands to try to tempt him out of hiding. We ran all over the place, following footprints the kids claimed to see and yelling, "GET HIM!!!!!" It was hilarious good fun. At one point we plopped down in a patch of clover and hunted some more. A few seconds into the clover a little girl pulled out a little army man and yelled, "THE LEPRECHAUN!!!" lol

They were so much fun.

Here are just a couple pics of all the naughtiness the leprechaun caused..and a bit of our glittery bait.

Not "Blogging" per se...just an update to my gals...

Hi girls...this isn't really bloggy, but wanted to let you all know that I had the ultrasound today and they said that I have a cyst, but that it's normal and may grow or shrink with hormone levels but is not a concern at all.

Thanks for all your support while I was waiting between doctors visits, "the mamm," and the ultrasound. :)

Destroying the Myth

'Tis I, Hill the MythBuster! (I thought I'd go a little 80s on ya and go with "buster" instead of "destroyer," because it sooooooooooooo matters.

Men...if there are any of you out there...this one probably isn't one for you. If you proceed, it's your own fault. I'm going a bit TMI again, because mainly my friends read here and y'all need to be unscaredy-cat of mammograms if you've never had one. So really, guys, I'd appreciate if you'd just skip over this one. K?

Today I'm going to share my experience of "the mammogram" with y'all, because, quite frankly, the unknown freaked me out unnecessarily. So now, without further adieu...

I was nervous about the mammogram. I've never heard much beyond negatives and no one had ever told me much about what goes on...at least not enough to have an accurate picture so there was an unknown. For example I had this idea they smashed your boob against your chest. I worried about a fractured rib. lol Ok, probably not so much but I know that even when I do a self check I feel every rib...and that's at the fullest portion. (And I DO use "fullest" a bit freely) I was nervous although making myself just chill.

However, I sat in the tiny changing room with nothing but a full length mirror to look at (while sporting such a snazzy "hospital" cape. Yep, CAPE, not gown, so they can flip that baby out of the way. I nearly felt like a superhero. A superhero facing her kryptonite, but a superhero none the less.) and I noticed my face was really red. I rarely get much color in my face. Not that I'm a ghost (BOO!), but I just don't get too rosy. I was pretty red. Two days before I'd been at the doc and my blood pressure was 119 over 90-something. The 90-something was not good. My bottom number is ALWAYS in the 60s so obviously there was some real stress happening. I figured as I watched my flushed face that my blood pressure was up again. Although, the day in between appointments I got it checked and it was back down to 119/65. That's about my norm. So I know it's circumstantial.

Anyway. They told me that if you feel a lump, they automatically send you to get a mammogram AND an ultrasound. My script was just for a mammogram. So they said that I'd get the results from the mammogram by the following Wed. and I should call my doc, ask if he had the results, and tell him I need the script for an ultrasound. It's automatic BUT you have to have written doctor's orders. She (the mammo-girl) told me my results would say I needed an ultrasound and not to freak out, because it was standard protocol since I'd felt a lump.

As for the mammogram itself, for those of you who are dreading getting your first someday... It was not painful at all for me. It was a tad uncomfortable...plenty of pressure...but they add the pressure gradually until it's to the appropriate compression, then you hold your breath and hold still while they duck for cover from the radiation, I guess, and they snap the photo. I THINK it's actually a porn lab, but we won't tell them until they do the ultrasound.

In my mind it was supposed to be pretty painful and something that happened fast and hard, but it was not that way at all. All-in-all I'd describe it as pretty gentle. Firm, absolutely, but it was gentle and not like some awful attack, lol. So if you haven't had one yet, don't go in with your blood pressure soaring over the unknown. Just be weirded out that you're going to put your boob on a table and let them start squeezing it like an orange they're trying to juice with a vice...from top to bottom and then again from both sides. That's just not right. Necessary maybe, but not right.

After I left the place I went home, cleaned out my car, including vacuuming for the first time in months (literally)...and that was a big job. You'd be appalled at my car if you ever saw it. And then I went and took almost all the toys out of Megan and Alli's room (they're sharing one now to make room for my mom who is coming to live with us) and then I took apart Megan's bed and moved it, put it back together and moved other furniture. I haven't done that much work on one day in months. And I went to the store! lol Apparently the blood pressure and relief from boob anxiety makes a bit of a housekeeper out of me. There is hope!

Now see? Does that sound all that bad? lol I'd been led to believe it felt like an automatic garage door shutting on you. In comparison it was really quite a treat. ;)

So what are you waiting for? Go get yours today! lol

Well, well, well

It is high time I got myself back over here. I don't know WHY I stay away from a place I enjoy so much. It's that blasted facebook and my lack of discipline. I just love the instant connection of facebook. And here, it is delayed connection. But I love blogland. I do. So here I sit.

Lots and lots going on in my head and in my life right now, although I don't think a lot of it is blog-worthy...or maybe just not blog-ready. One day soon I'll get back in here and get some fun blogging going. I could grace you with stories of my first date ever. Or how about a little story about a guy named George. Believe me, dangling these topics is probably more interesting than the actual incidents but I'll try to spruce them up a bit in the telling.

Things are looking good for Meg to go to the little Christian Academy I went and visited. In fact it's looking like it MIGHT be possible to put Allison in there, too. I really like the idea. Would love it even more if I could actually be home with them on Tuesday and Thursdays if they get into the school. But Mom says she's going to come live with us and that will provide someone to be with them those two days each week...if I can work that out with their dad...which quite frankly stresses me. I've got some ideas that I think will be absolutely THE BEST for the girls but I worry that he might not see things the way I do. I'm hoping though...and praying.

Oh did I mention I get to have "The Talk" with my eldest soon. This is the year that they give TMI to children in school, so I'd like to go ahead and gross her out in the privacy of our home where she can hurl and spew if she so desires without her peers watching. I hate that my child is 10 and yet will have the info sprung on her, so I think I'll take the sting out the best I can. My 8 year old is begging that I fill her in on everything too. Of course I will...3 years from now...or later if I get them both into the little school I'm hoping to. Maybe they'll let them live in wonder a little longer than public school.

Hmmm...Tuesday is ultrasound day..which reminds me that I TOTALLY need to blog about mammogram day because quite frankly, there are some myths that need to be destroyed. And I, Hill the Myth Destroyer, plan to do it. Besides, mammograms are just downright funny...in a way that gave me temporary high blood pressure. But I'll save that for tomorrow when I'm trying to avoid folding laundry and cleaning my kitchen and writing lesson plans.

Sorry I've been laying low so long. I'm coming to hit your blogs SOOOOON. And I'm SO getting back to FX4. Fun like that should not be skipped.

Until tomorrow.......hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......