Twice Blessed & Thankful!

My cell phone rings and I don't recognize the number, but decide that I should probably answer it since it looks like a Los Gatos number and that's where my surgeons office is. Good thing I did. It was my doctor calling to give me my biopsy results from my colonoscopy I had had two days prior. He says, "The good news is that the smaller polyp was not cancer. The larger one was tested and the results were benign, however, definitely pre-cancerous. So you will need to return in one year for another colonoscopy. A thank you to your general practitioner is in order too. If this hadn't been detected, you wouldn't have had your normally scheduled colonoscopy until age 50 - which is three years from now and that polyp would have been cancerous by then".

I listened to the rest of what he had to say about contacting my siblings and my children to let them know that, lucky them, they will need to start having their colonoscopy's ten years prior to my "diagnosis", - at the ripe young age of 37! I am the youngest of my six siblings, so I let them all know that they need to schedule one now if they haven't already! My children were both very thankful that my results were benign and didn't hold it against me that they will have to endure the lovely "prep process" thirteen years prior to the norm. Love my kids!

This was the second phone call in less than three months where the doctor was calling me with good news - not cancer. It's hard to explain the stress and feelings and thoughts that ran through my head both times during the waiting process. "Will I be really sick"? "Will I see my kids get married"? "Will I live to see my grandchildren"? "Am I truly strong enough to fight this"? And on and on and on. My mind is really good at jumping forward in time to the worst case scenario. My faith is my rock. Seriously. I don't know how non believers deal with these types of situations. I do, truly, count my many blessings. These two phone calls are way high up on my list! My husband, my children, my family and my friends are on my list as well. I'm thankful and happy that I have many people in my life that bring me happiness, joy and love on a daily basis. I hope that I too give it right back to them!

I have to admit, I am not looking forward to the "prep process" again in a year, but if it means getting another good news phone call, then it's all worth it. And to my family and friends that have gotten the phone calls with bad news, I admire you for your strength and courage in fighting the battle against cancer. You are all warriors in my world!

For now, I am going to go enjoy some great music, amazing food and a nice glass of wine - all fantastic perks to being a Domestic Goddess - Cheers!

Still flossing bacon out of my teeth, and removing waterproof mascara - Thoughts on Codemash from a Domestic Goddess

Seriously. I'm still finding bits of bacon in my teeth, and trying to get the last remnants of waterproof mascara off of my eyelashes. Both of these chores are well worth it considering the great time I had at Codemash held in Sandusky, Ohio, at the Kalahari Resort. I have been to a number of these types of conferences with my husband, but this one definitely takes the King of Bacon award. The food prepared by the Kalahari was really really good! The Bacon Bar on the final afternoon was lots of fun - just one more serving of bacon topped with chocolate sauce and sprinkles. What's not to love about that?

There are a few things that stand out in my mind from the week. One is the number of families mingling with the attendees - smiles and fun galore. Especially fun was the night that the waterpark was closed to just Codemash attendees and their families. I enjoyed meeting some of the kids and spouses of those I had met throughout the day, and seeing them interact as a family. Gives me a fun and different perspective on some of these people - which I loved. Another thing that stood out for me was just how nice everyone was! I was lucky enough to be asked to help out at the registration booth for a couple of days, and about half way through the 2nd day, I turned to one of the other volunteers/attendees and said, "Wow. Everyone is so nice! I haven't had a bad interaction yet with anyone". This made me stop and wonder if I were to be helping out in a reg booth back home, if this would be the case. Not to badtalk my home town, but people seem to be a bit more rushed, a bit more self centered, a bit less smiley. One thing I will definitely remember about my week at Codemash will be the conversations i had with various people during breaks from the talks, and in the evenings. Some shared while enjoying a nice glass of wine and snacks from our speakers bag, others shared in just the few minutes while eating bacon over breakfast.

I walked away from Codemash knowing that I will probably be remembered as the woman wearing the Tesla jacket (which was a great conversation starter, for sure!), but I hope I will also be remembered as the woman who greeted people with a smile and hopefully helped them out when they needed directions, or help choosing the right tshirt size. Either way, I will look forward to attending Codemash 2013!

This is my first blog post, so please be kind when commenting. I look forward to writing more posts as my life returns to normal. Normal = what to cook for dinner, and big life choices like "should I go back to school? and if so, what should I study? Culinary? ". "Now that both kids are away at college, what do I want to do with my time"?

On a closing note, I'll leave you with some funny things I overheard while at Codemash:

"I want a full rack".

"I got a haircut and now my phone doesn't recognize me".

"Wait, how complicated are your pants"?

"I'm getting carded! Anybody else getting carded"?

"I don't want the whole factory. Just give me the sausage".

"(____) is beaver friendly".

"(____) is starting the sausage fest".


Cheers!