Simple Things – Mom's Brown Thumb

My Bullet Journal

August 5, 2019 momsbrownthumb

Scrolling through Pinterest seems to be my electronic pastime while relaxing in the evening and watching TV. Last year I came across Bullet Journals. or BUJO for short, and thought WOW this is a great idea!

(I know….I know….get with the times! BUJOs are nothing new. Ha!)

This year a major goal for me is to become more organized and to develop better time management skills. Over the years I have “used” planners, calendars, notebooks, and the like to try to keep myself organized. “Used” is a loose term because I would start using these tools for a very brief time and then never open them again.

I saved soooo many pins to use as a reference when creating my own BUJO. I am learning that you do not have to be an artist nor do you need to have endless supplies of special markers, highlighters, pens, stencils, washi tape and more. All you need is a notebook you like and whatever writing and coloring utensils you have on have on hand. For me, I had pens and colored pencils. I just needed a notebook and I did want to buy highlighters.

I wanted to have my BUJO be more than a planner/calendar. I wanted my BUJO to include other unique things not found in a typical store bought planner. Things like habit trackers for exercise, mood, sleep, self care, spending/no spending, budget/savings, etc. I could create an individualized layout to my calendar section, as well as, get my artsy on. The margins need some fun art…..ideas?

My plan was to start my BUJO last year, but I did not stick to my plan. I bought a hardback lined notebook because I loved the cover design. My eye kept being drawn to the lined pages instead of the meaningful information I was putting on the page. Needless to say, my motivation dissipated quickly.

Even though my first attempt at a BUJO did not go as planned, I kept searching for a cost-effective notebook. Every time I was in Walmart, Target, or wherever I could find office supplies I would look at the available notebook and art supply options. It took awhile before I found a notebook and I love it! My notebook is from Walmart. The other item I did buy was Zebra Mildliner markers. At my local store, I found one color pallet.

My BUJO is in its infancy and hope to use it as an organization tool. Have you tried creating your own bullet journal?

Talk to you soon!

Blog, Simple Things

My Beauty and The Beast

July 26, 2019 momsbrownthumb

Missy
Spanky

If you saw my Instagram post yesterday I mentioned that I took my cats, The Beast Spanky and The Beauty Missy to the veterinarian for a wellness check. Both hadn’t been to the vet in a few years and I thought it was time to see if both were healthy, especially after events over the last couple years. And if you feel the same way about your pets as I feel about mine, they are part of the family and you want them healthy and happy.

Missy was my mom’s cat and she has had some behavioral issues since my mom passed away. The worst behavior is not always using the litter box. Sometimes she will go on the basement floor….thank goodness it isn’t finished! I’m working on correcting this behavior and I use an enzymatic cleaner to remove her messes. She does eat, but I noticed she was showing weight loss. She had a poochy belly before, so no harm in losing a little weight. However, she was looking thinner along the spine and I hoped nothing serious was wrong.

Spanky has been with me since he was 3 months old and has grown into a very large-build cat. Back in 2011, he had become very ill. He had been vomiting for a couple days and not eating, not even tuna. Off to the vet we went. Many tests were done, blood work, x-rays, and x-rays with contrast to see if he had string or something lodged in his digestive tract. The only thing noted was his blood work showed liver enzyme issues. Luckily, he improved and was fine afterward.

Then it all happened again in 2013! The same symptoms, blood work, and test results. His veterinarian noted it was probably pancreatitis and he would deal with this the remainder of his life. He may get better at times, then have a relapse. The recurrences would more than likely be unpredictable. I felt so bad for Spanky and thought I would lose him at a young age. Good news isS that he has not had any episodes since 2013! He does leave me lovely hairballs from time to time, but he doesn’t get sick like he had in the past.

Needless to say, I was nervous about Spanky going to the vet even though he wasn’t behaving differently. Roonie, another cat I had, got sick late last year and passed away after a couple months of medical intervention. Spanky and Roonie were related….uncle/nephew. I was nervous about Missy too because of her weight loss.

Well, both Spanky and Missy survived the trip to the veterinarian! Spanky was not happy and it was nice that he didn’t put up too much of a fuss. Missy on the other hand……WOW…she was not a happy camper!!! For them to draw blood, they had to muzzle her because of how much she was fighting. So next time she will need to have something to relax her.

Spanky is 20 lbs and his blood work was perfect!!!!! He is a VERY large cat and I think he has Maine Coon characteristics. Although, he could stand to lose a little weight. Missy is 6.9 lbs and her blood work was perfect too!!!!! She just needs to gain some weight. I’m increasing the amount of wet food both receive, while reducing the amount of dry food I give them. This gives them more hydration and aids with their digestive systems. Both are in their elder years and hoping to keep my beauty and my beast healthy and happy for many years to come!

My Beauty and The Beast….I just took this picture and Spanky looks like he wants to scream “HEY, QUIT DISTURBING MY NAP!!!!” LOL

Do you have pets? Please tell me about them!

Blog, Simple Things

Writer’s Block

March 18, 2018September 12, 2018 momsbrownthumb

I can’t believe March is halfway over! Spring cleaning is in high gear in my house. It isn’t a chore I love to do, but I want to get it done before the weather gets REALLY nice and I lose all ambition for heavy duty inside housework.

I’ve come to find that blogging isn’t an easy task. During the evenings when I sit down to write a blog post or focus on topic of the day, my mind is BLANK. Even if I think of something to chat with you about, I have trouble crafting a post. So to get out of my writer’s block, starting with this week, I will go ahead and post regardless of word count.

I pulled out a textbook used in my first meteorology course and it is full of discussion topics I can share with you. In my next post, I’ll talk about this book and show you where you can find it if you would like to purchase it. I hope you continue to follow along and look forward to hearing from you!

Blog, Simple Things

What Will 2018 Bring?

January 7, 2018June 27, 2018 momsbrownthumb

Happy New Year from the Midwest! Just like you, my facebook feed was filled with pictures and well-wishes from friends welcoming in the new year. So, where have I been during most of 2017 you may wonder?

Over the past several days, I have been thinking about how to write this post and have it well written. Words and sentences were coming to mind and then finally I just deleted everything because I felt it wasn’t good enough. Then I decided that I should just simply write this post as if we were having a conversation.

I started this blog a year ago with full intention of posting several times a week discussing daily life, gardening, climate, and weather forecasting. I was working on my final semester at The Ohio State University and I had this detailed routine set up on an Excel spreadsheet about school, work, blog, study, homework, life, job searching, etc. It looked terrific and everything fit neatly into pockets of time…..well you know how that goes…..it only works if you stick to it for every accountable minute. Of course that didn’t work for me because there were times I needed extra sleep or more time for school or work asked for more hours.

Before I continue let me provide some context….I sold my home a couple years ago partly because I had no idea where I would find employment after college and partly out of financial hardship. Luckily for me my mom welcomed me back home while I finished my degree.

Now back to what I was saying…..My final semester was underway, I was job searching, and even took a trip to where I wanted to live and previewed apartments. Then it was March. Mom had recovered from pneumonia the month before, but she had to go through additional testing because something was seen on her x-ray. Her doctor initially thought she may have an aneurysm on her aorta so he sent her to the emergency room and ordered a CT scan. Good news was she didn’t have an aneurysm. Unnerving news was she had enlarged lymph nodes in her chest. The doctor explained that there were many medical reasons why lymph nodes become enlarged. In mom’s case, even her Rheumatoid Arthritis could cause this to happen. However, the doctor referred mom to a pulmonary doctor and even an oncologist. Now things are sounding scary. Mom underwent a biopsy and then we heard it. News you never want to hear. Mom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. So, what did that mean?

In mom’s case, her oncologist started her on an immunotherapy treatment near the end of March. You’ve probably seen the television commercial for Keytruda. Mom tolerated this treatment very well with almost no side effects. Mom continued to encourage me with school and job searching because she felt good about how her treatment was going and she felt she would have good results with this treatment.

So, I continued with school and actually had to work with my instructors because I fell behind in my coursework (I was fortunate that my last semester was all online courses). Only one instructor out of the three forced me to go through all of the red-tape-hoops-and-jumps-that-he-could-think-of before he would “help” me. Honestly, I became so disgusted with the process for a class that I didn’t even need to graduate but had to keep student health insurance that I decided not to stress myself further….I didn’t finish the class. I took the E. True, it may not look the greatest on my transcript but I hit my breaking point. Even with all this, I graduated in May with my bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science. After graduation, I was searching for a new job to begin my career as a meteorologist…….(you know there is a BUT coming)…BUT my plans were put on hold.

In mid-June, mom’s cancer moved to her brain. She was hospitalized for a week plus started a series of 10 whole-brain radiation treatments along with high doses of steroids. Unfortunately, this was the only option because there were a large number of lesions (tumors) on her brain. These treatments were difficult for mom because she was off-balance most of the time. She needed guidance or use a walker to get around the house and to her doctor appointments. Also, this caused issues with her swallowing and she was restricted to nectar-thick liquids. Have you ever seen nectar-thick liquids? Ugh, blahk, gross…you name it. She tried coffee in the hospital. It looked like gravy….YUCK!!! Once she came home, we had her do speech therapy through home health care. The therapist was awesome and in under three weeks mom was back to drinking regular fluids. Amazing how a few simple stretches and exercises can improve your swallowing control!

As mom recovered after her hospital stay and radiation treatments, she regained her strength. She was doing better and she was looking forward to her sister visiting from California. It was a fabulous week in late-July of weather, porch sitting, conversation, and doing a whole-lotta (yeah, that’s a word) absolutely nothing. I’m so thankful my aunt was able to visit because she only gets back this way about every 3-5 years. After my aunt headed back to California, mom started having pain that didn’t make much sense. She had pain radiating through her arm like she had a pinched nerve, but when she didn’t get better, her oncologist ordered a CT scan. Sigh, sniff, I wanted to scream…..the cancer had progressed to her liver. Well, that meant goodbye Keytruda and hello to strong chemotherapy.

I was devastated with the news. Mom didn’t seem too worried still and had the best outlook with this line of treatment. I think she underestimated how she would feel with this treatment because the side effects are debilitating. The first chemo treatment was late-August and knocked her down so bad that she had ZERO appetite. I couldn’t get her to eat more than two bites of food or drink more water than needed to take her medicines. She got so bad so quickly that I had to call the squad and have her transported to the hospital. She was severely dehydrated and it took the doctors about five days to hydrate her and get her electrolytes balanced again. Home health care was needed again upon discharge, but it was physical therapy and a nurse to check in on her a couple times per week. Physical therapy was to help her regain strength and the nurse was to make sure she stayed on track with hydration and nutrition…..not that I wasn’t giving her these things but having an outside professional watching her helped her stay more focused. I have to say that my mom was very strong-willed through all this and was released from home health care in one month.

The chemotherapy continued and mom was able to work through many of the side effects and keep hydrated and continued to eat, with the help of appetite stimulation medicine. Chemotherapy is extremely difficult on the human body…..it destroys any type of cell, not just cancer cells. Mom had to have weekly bloodwork checks and usually needed some type of transfusion. Sometimes it was just some fluids to help with hydration, while other times it was blood or platelet transfusion, and other times it was both blood and platelet transfusions. After four chemotherapy treatments, weekly bloodwork checks, and many, many, many transfusions, the follow up CT scan showed promise in her chest but progression in her liver. Now, third line treatment starts the following week in early-December.

This new treatment was another immunotherapy called Opdivo (there is a television commercial for this drug too) and was similar to Keytruda. The difference was that Opdivo was found to work best after these other two treatment lines were attempted first. Mom and I were relieved to find out the side effects were similar to Keytruda and that she probably wouldn’t feel as bad as she had been with the chemotherapy. I figured she would need about a month to recover and regain some strength after finishing chemotherapy. BUT the day following her Opdivo treatment, mom was struggling with short-term memory and was sometimes confused. I called her doctor and was told it could be the Opdivo or even effects from chemotherapy. I was to call back if mom didn’t improve or if she worsened over the next day or so. That being said, I called back because mom was having more trouble with memory and her oncologist scheduled an MRI of her brain for that day.

I fully prepared myself to hear that the brain cancer had returned. We had gotten the news in October that her brain scan was clear…..the whole-brain radiation and steroids worked!!! The radiation oncologist just said to follow up in the event that her symptoms recurred…..which is why the MRI was ordered. BUT it wasn’t brain cancer this time….the MRI showed she had suffered several mini strokes. Mom was hospitalized right away. BUT the doctors were forced to wait because mom’s platelets were extremely low and she couldn’t be given blood thinners for the mini strokes. After a few days, mom’s oncologist gave us the news that the platelets were low because the cancer was now in her bone marrow. The pathologist could see the blasts in a blood swab (not completely technical but it’s what I recall of the conversation). Hospice became involved that evening and mom lost her battle with cancer the following morning.

I know there are things I’ve omitted whether it was because of intimate details or I felt it wasn’t necessary. I was fortunate to spend the last 10 months helping my mom, whether it was just being here to chat, take her to appointments, fix her meals, give her medicine, or help her bathe and dress. There are things that I think to myself that maybe I should’ve done things this way or maybe I should’ve done this not that, but I’m working hard not to drift into the realm of what-ifs. I remind myself that God had a purpose for me to have to sell my home (even though I was very angry) and move back home with mom. I didn’t see it at the time, but I’m forever grateful that it happened.

So, what will 2018 bring? This year will definitely be a time to grieve and will probably be very busy, but I will continue Mom’s Brown Thumb as originally planned. I have to laugh because I’m now responsible for the cacti……let’s hope I can keep them going and keep Spanky away. I hope you follow along and enjoy. I love you Mom!!! Happy New Year and to New Beginnings!!!

Blog, Simple Things

My Dream Came True

May 15, 2017March 8, 2018 momsbrownthumb

Sunday, May 7, 2017

On this day, I graduated from The Ohio State University with my bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science. It was an exciting, yet emotionally overwhelming, day for me because I accomplished a goal that I wasn’t sure would come true. I was a non-traditional student pursuing a career along with high school graduates and young twenty-somethings working on their master’s degrees in the field. Why did I put myself through all this?

Before returning to college, I worked in various Accounting jobs. My last one was processing payroll for a large local bank and I began to realize that my career was at a standstill. I certainly looked at internal job postings and other prospective employers, but was denied because I didn’t have the paper management wanted to see……….. The Bachelor’s Degree. Even though I had an associate’s degree in Accounting with 25+ years of Accounting experience, including 9 years of payroll experience……well, that didn’t matter much. So, after a lot of thought and prayer, I went back to college. But I decided it was time to pursue my passion…..weather.

After taking grueling courses of Physics, Calculus, Differential Equations, and many others……..

I walked into Ohio Stadium as a member of the 2017 graduating class! As you can see, I wasn’t the only one trying to capture the moment. Emerging from the tunnel onto the field and being led to our seats was awe inspiring. Most graduates were seated with students that were in other majors because only a few majors were considered tagged, meaning our major was printed on our degrees. So, I got to line up and sit with my fellow classmates. Unfortunately, there were three who were unable to attend.

Now that I have graduated, my path is new and fresh. I’m still in the job hunting process and will continue working on my blog. Now, I can’t close without giving the most thanks to my biggest supporter…..my mom.

Without her support and encouragement, this day would never have come. (That’s mom on the right and my brother on the left.)

Good things shall come and each day is a blessing!