Alive and Kicking

Well, life has changed! 2009 threw us THROUGH quite a few changes. The adventure in lifestyle went from whisking my husband away to a health conference to dropping him off at home so I could head 2,000 miles away to take care of my mom. She was diagnosed with lung cancer. I spent the summer with her, then when we got an offer on the farm, I packed her up, took her to my brothers' and headed back to close up the house and pick a new one.

The whole time I was battling what would later send me to the hospital with a seizure - a brain tumor. Mostly I just had headaches, but always have. Then, I started to randomly fall down. Meanwhile, though, my focus was on a new house and my mom. My 3rd trip to my home state in 2009 came the first week of December. Mom passed on December 10, and I was hospitalized on December 11, underwent surgery on the 14th, and came home in time to Christmas shop in the blizzard of 2009. In retrospect, that probably wasn't such a good idea since I didn't even think to check the kids' wishlists. But, we had a great Christmas celebration none-the-less.
2010 started with a vengeance. My son-in-law researched all the treatments they wanted to perform on me as well as complimentary supplements that would help. A break in treatment came just long enough in April to plan and attend a memorial service for my mother and close on her house. Then I came back home to an MRI to find out how the treatments worked. They did. I will have to have more MRIs every 2 months to confirm that nothing is growing anymore, and will be on maintenance chemo for at least a year. I am feeling much better now as I approach another birthday, and put the beginning of a tumultuous year to rest. It was just after my birthday 2009 that I started the "rat race."

Our new "Adventure in Lifestyle" is living as a household of 2 cancer survivors, on a city postage stamp lot. We are flipping the current house, and near completion of the cosmetic work that should multiply our investment. Hopefully, by the end of 2010 we will be in another home, doing the same, but this time with chickens and room to run again.
Today, I'm making some more of my laundry detergent. This is the first batch I've been able to make since last June. I'm quite anxious to be back to normal with certain things like that. I also finally have a clothesline again. I sure did miss line dried sheets!!!

As I'm feeling better, I hope to keep more up-to-date with the specifics our our new, temporary lifestyle of real-estate moguls. For now, enjoy the summer my friends.