And we're off!!

Bags are packed...one child is in bed, one is on the way...

We'll be gone until next Wednesday enjoying San Fran!

I'll be sure to drink some wine for you all and eat some oysters...yum!

Don't miss me too much and I have pictures when we get back!!

Just breathe!

I know I've mentioned this before...(just click here). I really---really--really love going on vacation but I really---really---really hate the couple of days leading up to it.

I want to seriously snap my fingers and be in San Francisco right now. I do not want to finish my laundry, pack or fly there thankyou.very.much...

Although traveling is one of my very favorite things to do...I hate flying and I hate that stressed out feeling of am I packing enough stuff? Are we going to lose our luggage? Are we going to be delayed??

Aargh...Friday cannot come soon enough! Anybody want to come over and pack for me??

Murphy's Law and the Migraine Mom Household

Why is it that my two darling children can go an entire winter without so much as a cold but yet exactly 3 days before we are scheduled to leave on a plane for a much needed vacation to San Francisco, they both wake up coughing and sneezing???

There must be something with my family and vacations.

5 down...

3 to go!! My mom had her 4th dose of chemotherapy today and it was the long one. Today's treatment and the remaining 3 all average about 4 hours worth of "drip time"...this doesn't include the benedryl that they gave her first or the anti-nausea medicine. In all she was at the doctor's office for 6 hours today.

We are more then half-way there!

The Luck of the Irish!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! We are not Irish in the "migrainemom" household but rather Italian. However, today we pretended we were Irish! We all wore green and I made a delicious dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage. Since I am the only vegetarian in the household I cooked a separate pot of just cabbage and potatoes for me. #1 and #2 enjoyed delicious glasses of "green" milk and hubby and I enjoyed some "green" beer. For dessert they all enjoyed some pistachio pudding! Yum! I am truly blessed and feel incredibly lucky to have a loving family that has fun together. I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the "Luck of the Irish" today!

Gardens of Happiness

"He who plants a garden plants happiness"--Chinese Proverb

Every year at this time I get the gardening itch. Growing up I remember fondly sitting in my mother's garden in between the plants eating tomatoes off of the vine. Pure bliss!

Problem is, we no longer live in the Long Island, New York of my childhood...we live in Florida. Florida has many things...sunshine, beaches, boating year round but it lacks in one very important thing needed for gardening....soil. Florida is full of sand and sand is not conducive to gardening. Not to mention the lovely deer, rabbits and raccoons that we have in our nature preserve backyard that love to eat any of the flowers or bushes I do actually grow.

So what is a girl to do? I do have a screened in back porch that I could possibly grow a container garden on...but I think I forgot to mention that I also really lack a green thumb. So all you gardeners out there, any tips?? How do I get the garden of my dreams? How do I grow those lovely tomatoes, lettuce and beautiful flowers that I remember? How do I grow things in Florida with the sand and the deer? Is it possible??

Oh...I'm in trouble!

I think I have become a ~~~gasp~~ jewelry whore!

It started with my Tiffany's obsession. I kept spotting pieces that I loved. Then hubby started me on Pandora, when he bought me my beautiful bracelet for Christmas.

Well, today I attended my friends Lia Sophia jewelry party. I normally hate "home parties" and avoid them at all costs. I've avoided many Lia Sophia parties at work...the PTA ladies seem to love having Lia Sophia parties...I never could understand why. Then, my dear friend who I don't see enough of invited me to her party today. Her mom happens to be really good friends with my mom, so my mom was invited too. I knew getting my mom out and visiting with these friends would be good for her and like I said...I love this friend and don't see her nearly enough. So, we went just to "socialize". Hubby even bribed me and said if I didn't buy anything he would buy me a Pandora bead for my bracelet.

Well, needless to say...I'm not getting that Pandora bead! I ended up buying a really pretty necklace and a set of earrings ( the necklace is the first picture above and the earrings are the third picture) and get this! I can't believe it but.....I signed up to host a party! ( Because I really---really---really want the second necklace pictured!!) Am I sucker or what???? I loved a lot of the necklaces though and this is another way to get to see my friend because her and her mom and my mom all promised they would come! I know I can get the PTA ladies to attend too...at least I hope so! Yikes...just what I need....a new obsession to spend money on!

I'm back...

among the land of the living...yee haw!!

To answer a couple of questions from the comments. I take Compazine because the "normal" migraine medications like Imitrex or Maxalt tear up my stomach. They usually do nothing for the migraine except dull it slightly but leave me feeling much worse then when I started. I tried a medication called MigraTen that worked for awhile but in the end did the same thing. I would end up dry heaving over the toilet feeling like I was dying. My doctor said that Compazine (yes, it is a nausea medicine) seems to work with migraines. It makes you really tired and you "sleep the migraine off". Usually, I take it and sleep for 3 hours and wake up feeling as good as new. The weird thing is that if you do not have a migraine but just are nauseous or whatever it doesn't knock you out and it doesn't work on normal pain. My mom takes it to counteract the nausea from the chemotherapy and it doesn't make her tired at all. Me...it knocks me on my butt when I have a migraine. Difference this time was I slept but woke up feeling worse then before.

I don't have any real migraine triggers other then my menstrual cycle. I get them like clockwork...monthly on the third day of my period. I've tried diet, exercise, yoga, meditation...nothing seems to work. Last night I ended up popping a Percocet and that ended up doing the trick. I slept until about 2:30am and woke up at that time noticing that I had no more migraine. I almost cried I was so relieved. I fell back asleep and woke up this morning like me again. Hubby said he knew I was fine the minute I opened my eyes.

Now, I am just glad the weekend is here...#2 has a sleepover party to attend tonight. I'm a little nervous because she has never slept at this friends house before. She is very excited though and is counting down until I drop her off at 6:15pm. Hubby, #1 and I are going to chill tonight and maybe do some dinner and a movie. We shall see. I hope you all enjoy your weekends....I know I will!

I think I'm sensing a pattern again..

with my migraines...
I find a medication that works and it works well for six months or so and then nothing.

I started yesterday morning with a migraine...I tried to ignore it but it got worse as the day went on. I came home after work and just relaxed. I skipped running and went right to bed after I put #2 to bed around 8:00. I took my Compazine and hoped for the best. At 2am I woke up in pain so I took another Compazine. This morning I woke up groggy, tired and I still had the migraine.

As the day went on, it got progressively worse. I ended up leaving work around 12:30 and my lovely friend agreed to take the children home for me. I felt like I was dying. I came home, took a Compazine at 1:00 and crawled into bed. I woke up at 3:15 still with the migraine.

The children got home around 3:30 and hubby came home around 6:00. I'm counting the hours until I can go to bed. Hubby told me to go to bed now...but I'm not tired and I'm feeling so frustrated. I'm not even sure what to take now because obviously the Compazine is not working. I feel helpless and I absolutely do not want to go through another day of this.

I'm going to try to take a run...maybe I can sweat it out. I'm so tired of this...

Maybe I'm stressed and I don't know it....maybe the Compazine isn't working because I need to relax. I wish I could figure it out.

I truly think I'm nuts....

Why is it that I get fixated on certain things? Why do I want certain things so badly I can almost taste them? Why can't I just focus on what I do have instead of what I don't have???

Ugh!

I want a puppy.

I don't know what it is about wanting a puppy. I know our lives are already chaotic. I know a puppy chews. I know a puppy requires you to get up early and walk them ( and I also know I am so not a morning person). I know that a puppy doesn't sleep very well in the beginning and I know having a puppy is just like having a newborn all over again. Rationally in my mind I know all of these things. I'm also really good at convincing myself that I need to be rational and realize that we don't need to add chaos to our lives. But then the reality of it is...I really want a puppy.

The problem you ask?

My husband does not want a puppy at all. The thought of getting a puppy actually causes my anal retentive husband to break out into sweats. My husband grew up with animals..his father is a veterinarian...but something about us getting a puppy causes him to freak out. He also rationally knows that having a puppy could be really fun but then all the responsibility and chaos brings him back down to reality.

I feel like puppies are everywhere lately and I know I need to get over it. Getting a puppy is a huge decision that we both need to agree on. I would never get a puppy without him whole heartedly agreeing to it. I know that isn't going to happen...I need to just let go. I need to get over it and stop acting like a child. You can't guilt someone into wanting something they don't want. I also don't want to guilt him into getting one either because then he is going to resent the dog and that is the last thing I want. I want a happy family...not a stressed one.

Not really sure the point of this post....maybe I am truly nuts or maybe I'm just PMSing...or maybe I just really want a puppy.

Why oh why...

can't I learn to say no???

I am blogging about this today so when the time comes around again and I am asked to head a committee I am going to remember how I feel right now and Just Say No!!

I love being involved with this specific volunteer organization and being on a committee here or there is fine but somehow I always get roped into being the chairperson and then I feel stressed and do not enjoy the experience. I belong to a volunteer organization (that shall remain nameless because I don't want to offend anyone from that organizaiton in case they are reading this) that does great things. We are holding an event this year and I am in charge of soliciting donations of alcohol. I hate calling people first of all and to make matters worse, I hate asking people for things! Can you see the problem with this situation?

So, note to self....do not volunteer to be in charge any longer!!!

Run...run...run!!!!

It has been beautiful all week long. Mid 70's, sunshine. Yesterday we went boating with friends and hubby even went swimming. Day's like this past week make living in Florida so worthwhile.

This morning I woke up at the God-awful hour of 4am. It was very windy out, cloudy and chilly. Why was I up at 4am, you ask?? Today the Gasparilla half-marathon began at 6am. That's right my friends. It's been beautiful all week long and the day I have a half-marathon to run it decides to be windy and rainy and cold. But I am not a quitter!!!

The run started out great. I stuck close to the pacer who was running about a 10 minute mile. Going through the first part of the course we were shielded from the wind because we were on Davis Island. I felt good and the excitement in the air was palpable. Tons of people were out to cheer the runners on, music was played signs were held up. Since it was so early and cold, I told my family that I wanted to run this one on my own but it was fun to see other people there cheering and it didn't matter that they didn't know you, they cheered just the same! I had my I-pod on and I was cruising along. As we crossed over the bridge at about mile 7 the wind picked up and the rain started. It was cold!

At one point I was running down Bayshore which parallels the water. The wind was so hard and the rain so cold that I actually felt like I was running in place. I wasn't getting anywhere! Things got better when I came to the turn at about mile 10 and the wind was at my back. As I saw the finish line ahead of me I heard two voices screaming.."Go Mommy Go!" I look to my left and there are hubby, #1 and #2 huddled under an umbrella screaming and cheering me on! I crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 22 minutes. My goal was 2 hours and 15 minutes but overall I feel like I did well. I could blame it on the wind and I could blame it on the rain, but I won't. I'm pleased that I did it. It would have been a lot more fun with my mom running with me but when I spoke to her on the phone she admitted that she would not have been happy running in the rain! Nothing beats having your children give you a high five and tell you they are proud!

So, now I lay on the couch and listen to the wind and rain outside. I'm tired and contemplating taking a nap. I'm beat!