Multiple Monday

My friend does a similar thing on Mondays, so I figured it would be fun to try it on this blog.

Multiple Question Monday

What did you do last night?
I went to an amazing restaurant to celebrate my brother's last night in Portland. It's downtown, the food and atmosphere are excellent and they even created some dishes for my kids (seasoned popcorn to tide them over until dinner, pasta, bread and salad). It's called Clyde Common. It's an upscale European Tavern. Here is the website in case you want to check it out. http://www.clydecommon.com/

What’s your favorite time of day?

It's a toss up. Either the mornings (from 7-11:45) when the two older kids are in school and it's just me and Ash. Often we meet my hubby for lunch or I do fun stuff with friends. Or, at night once the kids go to bed and my husband and I have alone time, or he goes to bed and I get to read, watch senseless TV or play around on the computer.


What was your New Year’s resolution this year? How long did it take you to break it?

I actually just made a monthly goal for January which was to not eat sugar the whole month. I did it and lost 14 lbs. Obviously I eat WAY too much sugar :) I have kept the weight off, but am back to eating sugar. LOL!

What is your biggest regret?

This one is easy. I wish I would have dated in high school instead of having steady boyfriends. From the time I was 15 until 22 I always had a boyfriend. I would break-up with one and have another immediately. The first time I was alone was when I was 22. I went nine months not dating anyone and then I met my husband. It was good for me to reflect on my values, goals and what I wanted in a partner without being tied down to someone. I am going to encourage both my daughters to hold off on having a steady boyfriend-if that's possible :)

What’s the last thing you ate?

A Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie. Darn you Michelle for making me buy them!


What’s the last impulse buy you made?

Three novels at Costco. I have been devouring books lately! The one I am currently starting is Jacquelyn Mitchard's A Theory of Relativity.


What was the last thing that made you feel like an idiot?

I have been looking at wood floors lately and went to a place called Lumber Liquidators. The problem is, for some reason that day my words were getting jumbled and I said to a salesman at another store that we had got a quote from Liquid Lumbergators. It was so embarrassing!

Have you ever been in a car accident?

No. I have been in two fender benders, but nothing major.

When and where was your best vacation?

My best vacation was a few years ago (our tenth anniversary) when we finally left our kids over night for the first time and went to the coast. We stayed at the Stephanie Inn. http://stephanie-inn.com/ 

I LOVE that place and we plan on returning each year. We walk around the beach, nap, relax and dine. It made me realize how important it is to get away from the kids and spend alone time with your spouse. I felt so refreshed after. I would highly recommend it to anyone who visits the Oregon Coast. It is pricey, but well worth the money. -S

Reality Check

Hopefully as you read and view this, the reality and daily struggles of my disease will not shock you. In the past, I have called these fissures. Today, I am feeling more like they should be called massive fault lines, ravines, lacerations or a barbaric episiotomy by a blind doctor who used dull scissors. Regardless, they suck!

I'm going out on a limb showing you this...however, out of all the pictures I have seen on the internet about LS..none of them represent me-so I will show you this once, so you know what LS does to me. I always have at least one of these and it is not common to have five at one time. The skin is white from scar tissue.

This is what I am currently dealing with. Think of a paper cut, but on your private and as wide as a pencil. There are two and they are huge, covering the length of the Perineum. On a scale of 1-10, my pain level is an 8. It's not the most painful ones I've had, but close. It hurts when I sit, walk, use the bathroom, stings and itches all day. I am in chronic pay All.Day.Long.

Combined with my cold/sinus infection, I am very uncomfortable this week. It's taking all my energy to meet the basic needs of the kids and function as a human being. Once again, this is a pain day (weeks) for me until they heal. It's in the raw stage right now, which is always the worst part. Keep me in your thoughts, on days like this, it is hard to even get out of bed :)  -S

Interesting & Embarrassing Facts

When I was little I...was jealous my little brother had an eye infection, so I stuck my finger in the goop and rubbed it in my eye (gross, I know).

...would sneak a jar of Tang out of the kitchen pantry at night (with my little brother) and we would lay belly down on the stairs (while my parents were watching a movie) and secretly watch TV and dip our fingers in the Tang.

...would sneak out at night at my grandmother's house (with my little brother) on our hands and knees once everyone was asleep and quietly crawl to her glass candy dish in the dining room and take candy back to our beds. 

As a kid I always wanted to be...a doctor that would discover the cure for Parkinson's disease, a teacher, a singer (I would lay in bed singing at the top of my lungs all the primary songs from church), a dermatologist and a writer. I had big ambitions :)

My favorite shows when I was little were...The Polka Dot Door, Today's Special, Little House on the Prairie and later, the Wonder Years and Growing Pains. Yes, I had a crush on Fred Savage and Kirk Cameron.

 Do you remember this show? The Mannequin would come alive? LOL.



One of the coolest things my parents ever did was...Let my friends and I take permanent marker to my walls in my bedroom and draw and write messages. My mom was in the process of transitioning my room from a little girls to a teenagers, so before she repainted, she let me have some fun with it for a couple of months :)


The most fun I ever had as a kid with a friend was...with JoAnn. Memories include: her making cake and us eating it plain with no frosting, swimming at Alta Canyon Pool, riding our bikes, the book mobile, jumping on the trampoline, her mom french braiding my hair, falling asleep to music in a comfy bed in the basement, bottles of pickles and doing pull-ups on her dad's exercise bar in the basement, eating candy in her dad's huge car in the garage, going on a vacation, playing cards and her wearing her Georgia Peach jammy shirt, talking about falling in love, school and our dreams for the future :)

The first time I was French kissed was...either at Park City from a guy much older than me, who was not aware that I had braces (Shannon you will remember this) or a boy named Fred at Lagoon Amusement Park (behind a food stand) and he gave me the most horrid canker sore infection. Is that bad that I can't remember?

My first kiss on the lips was with a boy named Jeremy Johnson after school one day in junior high in front of the LDS seminary building. I remember I was with my friend Deanne and I was so elated that he had kissed me :)   My friend Deanne died years ago from brain cancer..but I am so grateful to have such meaningful memories with her. -S

Valentines Day

Why I Love my Husband:

• He cooks more than I do (I always tell him he should have been a chef!)
• He spray painted games on our sub floor (after we ripped out the carpet to prep for wood floors) and cut wood blocks for the kids to play games
• He cleans and helps out with the kids without asking
• He supported me through six years of school
• He works hard (he is working from 4am-6pm today..poor guy)
• He is furthering his education which makes me very proud of him
• He is a playful dad-my favorite activity is our lantern walks with the kids
• He makes me laugh and has a great sense of humor
• He tells me often that I am beautiful
• He sees me and not my disease
• He surprises me with gifts often
• He is sensitive, kind and thoughtful
• He makes me want to be a better person
• He is romantic, passionate and loving
• He puts up with how high strung and anal I can be
• He worked hard so I could stay home and raise our kids the last nine years
• ....the list goes on and on :)

As of this July, we will be married 12 years. I am so blessed to have found such a wonderful husband and I cannot imagine my life without him. I am so grateful that almost twelve years ago I walked into a grocery store, handed him a piece of paper with my phone number and took a risk :) Although my husband cannot spend Valentines with me because he has work, overtime and school...I am excited to see him when he gets home and make the most of the rest of our night.

I hope you all reflect today on the loved ones in your life whether it be friends, family or lovers. I am grateful for each of you. -S

The Definition Of Love by Andrew Marvell

My love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis for object strange and high:
It was begotten by Despair
Upon Impossibility.

Magnanimous Despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing,
Where feeble Hope could ne'er have flown
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.

And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt.

For Fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close:
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrranic power depose.

And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant Poles have placed
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embraced,

Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear;
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.

As lines (so loves) oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet:
But ours so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.

Therefore the love which us doth bind,
But Fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.

Thank You!

I have been thinking about doing this blog for many years now, but was always afraid of what people would think, act and say. However, after the realization that my husband alone could not give me the support I need, I reached out and took a chance on all of you. Let me say that I am so touched by all the emails and personal stories of struggle that you have all shared. I am so blessed to have you all in my life and am touched by your support and compassion. Thank You. -S