Happy Friday! Okay let’s jump right into 5 random things about my Friday, and then you can tell me your 5 things.

1. Last weekend at the shower, my youngest son’s fiance’s mom came (the shower was for middle son’s fiance. Having two sons engaged is very confusing!) She’s a lot of fun and easy to be around. But she was telling me that she had been under the impression that I was “sweet and cute” until she had a pool party at her house. That’s when she saw me jump into the pool, and as she said, “Take the boys down.” By boys, she meant my three sons, and I cracked up. Yeah…I’m not exactly known for being timid. Also the pool has been the only place I can dominate the boys in the last decade
2. Maggie really needs a bath and I didn’t get her in this week. Now it’s a holiday weekend, so we’ll have to wait until next week.
3. I’m making broccoli beef for dinner (actually when you read this, it will be last night’s dinner since I wrote this Thursday afternoon).
4. I had my second opinion on my neck. It was a bit of an ordeal as they sent me to the wrong office. Eventually we were rerouted to the correct office, but it turned into a long day. However, this was the most thorough exam I’ve had. He covered my history, my current symptoms in excruciating detail, did a physical exam, and meticulously went over the MRIs. And the result–he’s making the same recommendation for a two level ACDF (disc removal and fusion) as the first surgeon. He answered every question Wizard and I had. I’ve scheduled some more x-rays, and a follow-up appointment, at which time I’ll make a decision on whether to do the surgery. I’m finally getting over the shock and facing reality. The good news is that we’re getting very consistent advice and recommendations. There’s no perfect answer, all I can do is measure the risks of doing nothing vs doing surgery, and decide what I think has the best chance of allowing me to live the life I want to.
5. It looks like Baby Slayer and his parents will come out Sunday afternoon or evening and spend the night! I think this might be a little grandparenting test. Do you think Wizard and I will pass?

That’s my Friday 5, not it’s your turn!

**Programming Note: I don’t think I’m going to post on Monday, so I’ll see you all again on Wednesday!

This might not be the sexiest candidate, but I admire his strength! And he’s making me jealous since I have very little upper body strength these days with my neck problems

So what do you think, is he worthy?

We had my middle son’s fiancée bridal shower brunch yesterday (Sunday). We chose Sunday to make it easier for youngest son’s fiance who often works Saturdays as a vet tech, and because traffic is better on Sundays. The shower turned out lovely, and my soon to be daughter in law was beautiful and gracious. The two other girls took pictures–I haven’t rounded those up yet or I’d share one, but it was a good day. The wedding is about five weeks away now and then two of my sons will be married, and one more to go in November of next year!

This week Wizard and I will get the second opinion on my neck and see what we want to do there.

And the book…well I keep trying??? Even though the advice to hold off until I get my neck fixed is good advice, I can’t just leave it alone. I love Justice and Liza and very much want to finish their story. So I keep trying, and I guess, right now, trying is the best I can do. I’m not happy about it, and it bugs me enough to keep me up at nights, but it is what it is.

FYI I noticed my middle son uses the phrase “It is what it is,” like I do. He’s a driven perfectionist and says that when he can’t control a situation too

So that was my weekend, now I’d truly love to hear about your weekend!

Friday??? Are you sure? Okay, I’ll believe you, but I sear it was Monday, like, five minutes ago. Anyhow, it’s time for Friday Five! Here’s mine!

1. My dream is to be finished with this book.  But every time I get far enough back into the book to get traction, the neck pain comes back, or life drops a load of manure (that’s a much nice way of saying what I was REALLY thinking) on us.
2. Speaking of pain, I have my second opinion schedule for next Wednesday. Well I had it all set up for Monday, and Wizard moved his Physical Therapy around so he could be there, and THEN the doctor’s office called and changed the appointment of my second opinion. Poor Wizard is not happy. He wants to be there, even though I’m fine either way. I can handle this second opinion fine on my own.
3. We saw Baby Slayer on Wednesday. He was asleep when we first got there, then woke up and played with us for two hours. He was smiled and laughed with us both, but when we left, he reached for me…I swear my heart quadrupled in my chest. It was soooo hard to get in the car!
4. Sunday is the Bridal Shower Brunch for my almost daughter-in-law! We’ve been working on this shower for weeks and I can’t wait. We love Middle Son’s finance, and are very much looking forward to the wedding in October.
5. And for the shower, I have only one more easy thing to do that I decided to do at the last-minute–because it’s easy. Are you laughing yet? No really, it should be easy. See it all started when I was trying to think of something cute to go around on the topper I’m using for the top-tier of the cupcake stand. And I thought…oh seashells would be cute. But then I thought, oh wait, what if people think they’re edible? I mean they are on a cupcake display (okay cut me some slack, I raised three boys, and boys do some really questionable things!). So then I decided to look for pretty chocolate seashells. I found beautiful ones for over $50.00. I thought I can make those! So I found a video on making chocolate swirled shells (picture white chocolate with blue swirls)…and then I bought all the stuff, only they didn’t have the right kind of molds, so I had to buy fondant molds…anyway, I spent a little less than $50.00 and I don’t even know if I can pull this off. LOLOL!! We’ll see! If they don’t turn out, I suspect the shower will turn out find without chocolate seashells.

Now it’s your turn to share five things about your week! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

So I went blond today. Okay **I** didn’t go blonde, I choose a blond hunk. But see here’s the problem for me. This guy? He looks a bit like one of my nephews.  Yes, my nephew is an adult, but I never look at any of my nephews as hunk material, because…Ewww. That would be like looking at my sons as hunks and Double Yuck Ewww…

So I don’t know…. But here he is for all you to evaluate with your Hunk Meters since mine is malfunctioning with the whole nephew resemblance thing.

What do you think, is he worthy?

This weekend had a plot twist So far,  it looks like this will end well, but a family member got suddenly ill and ended up in the emergency room on Sunday. Wizard and I went, dreading bad news, but by the time we left, things looking positive.  Fingers crossed it stayed that way!

Honestly, it become a running joke, all I have to do is open my book file to work, and life starts pitching curveballs.

I’m still trying to convince the red, raw spots in my mouth/throat to heal. It’s just plain weird, but I believe the doctor that it’s very likely from inhaling smoke, heat and stress, along with the fact that I tend to have dry mouth from meds. Even Maggie was off for a while, and just started eating normally a few days ago.

I’m not even going to test fate and vow to work today, I’m just going to see how it goes, and work if I can

So how was your weekend?

This week is definitely better than last! Here’s here’s five random things about my week:

1. A few weeks ago I ordered a dress from Dressbarn for my niece’s shower. It arrived crumpled and with a button loose. I washed it according to manufacturer’s directions to get some of the wrinkles out, and the hem fell out during the wash. I took it to the cleaners, and they fixed it. I contacted Dressbarn, described what happened, gave them my order number and attached a copy of the cleaner’s receipt for the repair. They refunded my purchase price! I am so pleased with their customer service!
2. I saw my GP doctor. First, I have raw spots in my mouth and throat. He took a look, and there’s no infection yet. He thinks the smoke from the fire aggravated my mouth and throat. He gave me an antibiotic prescription to only fill if I get worse. I’m all for avoiding antibiotics until I absolutely need them.
3. Then we talked about my neck. Okay it’s not pretty. Well what he actually said, “It’s pretty bad”, and “this is pretty serious.” Um…duh? LOL! He’s arranging a second opinion, which he said he always highly recommends for major cervical (neck) surgery. I’m looking at a possible double discectomy with fusion in my neck. My GP spent a lot of time with me, both answering questions, and asking his own questions which helped me get my head around this a little more. Right now, my plan is get the second opinion from the spine surgeon (so that we have both a neurosurgeon and spine surgeon looking at same set of facts), and if they concur, then I’ll consider it. If they disagree, I’ll resort to an alternative therapy: 
4. My poor book got pushed aside again this week with fire cleanup (ash is still falling) and various things. Today should be better. But I hunted down and ordered two gifts that I’d have done last week if not for broken A/C, fires, etc, and I found the last thing I desperately needed for my almost daughter-in-law’s bridal shower coming up in just over a week. Now I’m crossing my fingers that everything is delivered on time. I’m finally feeling more in control of that part of my life.
5. And guess who is five months old today?? 

I love this little guy so much!!!

So that’s my Friday Five. Now it’s time for you to share yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!