Chronic Ama

About an hour and a half drive from midtown Tucson is indeed a summer haven for those brutal Tucson summer temps. At the top of Mount Lemmon lies the town of Summerhaven. With temperatures at least 20 degrees cooler, hiking trails and restaurants, it's the perfect summer day trip for locals and visitors. We had the perfect day trip in July, during monsoon season. We got to Summerhaven early enough to enjoy a short hike on the trail at the end of Turkey Run, aptly named for the wild turkeys roaming around in the early morning and calling out through the day. We stopped to photograph a fairy garden and leave our own momentos for other passerbys to enjoy. It was at least 25 degrees cooler than down in Tucson, which was a nice break from the dry heat. After building up an appetite, we walked to the Cookie Cabin for a carb fuelled lunch of giant pizzas, decadent oversized cookies and calzones that took an extra while longer to arrive. Waiting outside at a picnic tabl

The unbearably hard pull out bed was my constant reminder of all the times he did this for me. The lack of sleep I was already familiar with. My son said it smelled too much like hospital. I guess that's the only way yo describe this place.  We officially started Mark's Bionic Back Journey on the morning of June 3rd. It was a Monday. The Monday-est Monday that ever Monday-ed. No, really. Who the hell wants to start off their week with a large incision into their lower back to fuse to vertebrae together? I sure as shit don't wanna. I think two C-sections, a hysterectomy and a plethora of other surgeries have been a sufficient quota.  How did we get here? Well, around January 2018, Mark threw his back out (my husband, for those of you not totally in the know). It was actually a normal occurrence in his life (and mine too, I guess). I can recall plenty of times I've had to help him into the tub or out of a chair because said back was thrown out. This time was

"Love is in, hate is out" My daughter wrote that on our to-do white board. I told her we're adopting that as our mantra this week. We will choose love and will do things with love in mind. We had an amazing spring break. We didn't travel or really do too much, but we were together, which was what we needed. We got to be outside a lot, which was amazing. I grew to love morning coffee on the patio with all my plants and the company of the birds and hummingbirds that came to the feeder we put up. We also have plans to spruce up the patio a bit more by adding curtains to block the summer sun and a rug to make it a little more cozy. We are also just counting down until we can put the pool up, but I think we can wait til May.  This week has already been busy and will keep being busy, but we have all been ready for it. Yesterday was errand day to get things ready for our Coffee with the PTO event that was this morning. It was an easy event to put on and I

Last weekend we kicked off Spring Break with a trip to the Asian Lantern Festival at Reid Park Zoo. I had been wanting to go since hearing about it just after Christmas. It was the second to last weekend of the event, so we decided to give it a shot. Tickets were a little on the pricey side, but we found the admission was well worth it! We were greeted by a dragon when we got to the ticket line, just after 6pm. It was starting to get crowded, but the line moved fast and we got a taste of the lanterns while waiting outside. This dragon arch was huge and looked awesome! Once inside, we walked between rows of the Chinese zodiac. I am a Monkey, my daughter a Pig, my son a Rabbit and my husband a Dragon. Those born in the year of the Monkey are highly intelligent, creative and driven by emotions. Kinda seems to fit me to a tee! While we waited for it to get dark, we enjoyed the lion dancers and stood beside this huge dragon! Loki got a handful of fortune cookies that the

Today was shit from the start, no matter how hard I tried. My doctor appointment was rushed, so I didn't get my B12 shot, nor did I get to ask many questions. Silver lining... I got leave of absence paperwork completed and got my handicap placard paperwork sent in. Yeah, I dislike driving lately and have a hard time walking around when I'm running errands. Not sure if it'll help, but I'll take closer parking. Leave of absence company called me after receiving paperwork so quickly and my case manager was an ass. Condescending wanker. Basically told me they needed to call my doctor for medical evidence that I needed to be on leave. And now I have to see if my specialist is going to recommend surgery, which will ultimately push my leave through. It's safe to say that id put money on going under the knife soon. Midday goes fine. I'm over the morning. Then, I pick my kids up and the fun begins. I'm heading toward an intersection to turn right, going to another

Today I think about all the awesome stuff mom's teach us. And it's a smack down to reality when, even at 37, I am still learning from my mom. This last month, she has told me all the things I needed to hear. Things that force me to look at my life from a different perspective because I needed to be reminded that my life is always going to be bigger than me. My mom has given me so much strength through all my life and she continues to do that, without skipping a beat. My mom believes in all the things I can do and pushes me to do them, even when I think I can't. I know we don't always see eye to eye, but if we did, I wouldn't gain that other perspective that I need. (And I hope when my daughter gets older, she realizes this too!) Today we are celebrating my mom's birthday. No, I'll leave her age out of it. It's just a number, right? And does it matter? Birthdays aren't about getting older. Birthdays are about celebrating the day the universe brea

Yesterday was a long day. I had a bunch of errands to run after seeing my new dentist. But, much to my surprise, dentists have this amazing new tech that enables them to replace a crown in one afternoon. My dentist appointment ended up being over 4 hours with no time for anything else. I also learned that sitting in a dentist chair for that long brings in hellacious spasms in my right leg. I can't help but feel my body is just done with everything. Every step forward these last few weeks still sends me into some kind of flare up. I just can't win, no matter how much I try. And I feel stuck because I still have a lot to do and less and less time to do it. Hell, it's almost noon time and I'm back in bed nursing a headache so it doesn't turn I to a migraine. I'm almost wondering if I should try my new medicine to see if it helps..... I just don't want to be comatose all afternoon. I want to proceed with the day's plans. I'll let you know what h

61 days until Halloween, even thought it's basically Halloween year round in my house. More importantly, there's only two hours until the other half of my heart gets back from his work trip. I'm so excited! I have been trying to keep busy around the house all morning. I even got crafty for about an hour and then made sure everything around the house was perfect. I even waited to put on my lipstick so it was carefully applied and had no chances of smudging. If you don't know already, I'm totally a type-A perfectionist.  I have been thinking a lot these last few days about all the aspects of having endometriosis. A lot of the message boards and groups I am part of have posted interview type questions lately and I wonder what any of you would ask me about having endometriosis. I'm curious if anyone is reading this and for those that do, would you take the time to post a question. Not only will it help me put the noise in my head into words, but it will help

No, I didn't forget about you. I was busy enjoying my weekend with my family. We went on a mini adventure on Saturday to the Arizona State Museum and then to lunch at The Fix. I highly recommend The Fix for your mac 'n cheese fix. It wasn't crowded and the food was yummy. Perfect for a cheat day! Haha! I've almost survived the first day of my husband being away for work. I don't know if I'll survive the night. I don't sleep well alone. I think maybe Azra will have to snuggle with me tonight. Or, maybe I'll just pass out watching Netflix at some ungodly hour. I'll let you know what happens. My leave of absence was approved! I'm just waiting on seeing my primary doctor next week to have paperwork finalized. I indeed feel like a weight was lifted. Now I have time to focus on getting better (again) and going on to the next step in this plan of mine. You're going to have to wait for it, though. It's a lengthy process. I'm making toda

I'm laughing pretty hard to myself right now. Not only because it's 8:15pm and I'm finally getting a break today after hitting the ground running at 5:30 this morning, but because of something odd that my son encountered at school. He was wearing a baseball cap with a skull on it and got stopped in the hall at school to be reminded to remove his hat indoors AND to be told he wasn't allowed to wear anything with skulls on it. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Wrong kid to tell that to! If only the knew my affection for skulls. My kitchen in covered in them. My bathroom too. My bedroom and my living room. And I have one tattooed on me. My daughter has name stickers with skulls on her school supplies. My son also has a Misfits button on his bag... WITH SKULLS! Why no skulls? Oh, don't worry, I emailed the assistant principal my inquiry. I anxiously await his answer. Maybe I should invite him over for tea... served in my skull cups and stirred with my skull spoon. And serve crudité on my s

"I was kinda getting sick of dreaming." Is a direct quote from Loki this morning as he got out of bed to get ready for his first day of second grade far earlier than he should have. Both kids were so excited for their first day of school. New school for Loki, new campus for Bellini. And when we picked them up this evening, they both said replied in unison, "AWESOME!" when asked how their day was. Made me so happy, that we needed to celebrate with burgers.  Yeah, I know, burgers really aren't on this diet plan unless they're wrapped in lettuce. It was technically the only meal I had time for today. I am NOT a breakfast person. My breakfast is usually coffee, water and my daily pill regime. Lunch is usually pretty light, but today lunch consisted of cold brew coffee with almond milk and all the pecans out of a bad of trail mix I ate while working my ass off. (Yes, most definitely busy season at work.) The point is, I refuse to get down on myself for enjoy