Archive for the ‘Club 17’ Category

It’s that time again. If you’ll kindly go do a BSE and return right here and leave a comment that you did, you will be fantastically health conscious and eligible for a wonderful prize.

We meet here each month, holding one another to a highly informal level of accountability for doing those all important self breast exams. For all of you who start googling ‘ HolyMama’s Club 17′ on the 14th and 15th of each month, you might want to take a second to bookmark this page. Another option is to consider subscribing, either with Bloglines or just by clicking that option over there to your right. Then you’ll know you won’t forget next month.

If you’re wondering why I do this, it’s a long and painful and lovely story dating back to a very dark period in my life in which I was sure death beckoned. You can read it here, if you’re really interested.

If you would like, please help yourself to this button for your own blog.

If you’ve BSE’d 6 times or more, take the one with the tiara, because that’s awesome of you. (Isn’t she cute?)

If blog buttons confuse you as much as they do me, head over to this post at Desert Diva’s. She created them, and explains how to make them work.

In the past, I’ve never publicized what the prizes were. There were two reasons for this. One, I rarely had them ahead of time. Two, it just didn’t occur to me that if I told you it was something great, more of you might feel yourselves up.

I’m rethinking that after participating in Shannon’s last Bloggy Giveaway. The power of the prize is now crystal clear. Got it.

So.

I need to make some more truffles since I promised some to Shalee. This month the winner will receive truffles and….? And something truly weird that I got for free from Sephora. Free, meaning, they sent me an email telling me that shipping was free during the Superbowl and so I fell for it and spent way too much and ended up with this *free* thing.

But I like it. It’s a lip gloss ring. Not a ring made of lip gloss, that would be dumb. This is like the sort of ring you lift up the plastic ’stone’ and inside - where you could also store poison if you were starring in that sort of play - is a pretty pink lip gloss. Fun! Click here to see it. It’s still in the box, since somehow I have resisted the urge to wear it.

If you win and you are on a diet and do not want a huge caloric load landing in your mailbox, then by all means please tell me. I will gladly come up with something else that is fabulous that can accompany the lip gloss cocktail ring all your friends will be fawning over.

So. In review. Get a blog button if you’d like. Do a BSE. Leave a comment. Possibly have truffles and jewelry sent your way. Go, team!

I’ll draw a winner in 4 or 5 or 6 days, because precision is everything.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. I make resolutions all year long, constantly, so I intentionally avoid the whole build up that accompanies the January 1st variety. But! If I could make one this year for Club 17, it would be to figure out the Mr.Linky thing, and manage to include that with each Club 17 post. I think it would hep, but it is far beyond my limited technical skills.

Anyway! Club 17 simply means that we all have crucial, but laidback framework for accountability in doing those monthly self breast exams. I find that without sucha system, lots of us forget. Or just won’t.

Got questions? Click here. (It’s also where you can find out how to get a cute little Club 17 ‘button’ for your sidebar.)

Basically, you do your BSE, leave a comment on THIS post right here, and then in a few days I announce a winner and send a prize.

I’m in San Diego for a few days. The strangest thing happened ont he way out here. I really, really think Tim Gunn was on one of my flights. Which makes no sense whatsoever, since why would Tim Gunn be on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to San Diego? Not likely.

Also, my mother and sister read this magazine article about people who can’t recognize faces and it’s entirely possible I have a mild form of that and could therefore never be a reputable source of Tim Gunn sightings anyway. If he’d only spoken i would have known instantly. Or if he’d said to the pilot, “Make it work!” Yeah, that would have been a total giveaway, no facial recognition necessary. So I discreetly studied him, and his nose turned up at the end just a tiny bit, which I’m now thinking is less Tim Gunnish than I first thought. And a gold wedding band. That was surprising. Oh, now I don’t even believe it.

There was the one time a few years ago I went to meet my dad for breakfast. I was supposed to pick him up at his hotel. I arrived early and when a man with dark hair came into the lobby I ran at him and came INCHES from throwing my arms around his neck. The only thing that stopped me was the petrified look on the guy’s face. That look was NOT saying, “Oh, here comes my excited daughter. Yea. Hug her.” Did I mention it was 6:30 a.m.? He was probably afraid it was a bad dream. Anyway, I managed to slam the brakes on in time, and said (oh so wisely) “Oh! I thought you were someone else!” To which he said, “Yeah. I… got… that.” And then I noticed the man looked NOTHING like my father. It was slightly easier to notice this since i was ALL UP IN HIS FACE and all. Oops.

Okay. New policy. If I ever think I saw someone exciting, let’s just agree that we don’t believe me. Not even if I think it was my own dad, unless I’ve seen a photo id.

Go do that BSE! And spread the word!

I’m back! Did you worry, or were you all so busy yourselves you barely noticed? Yeah. That’s what I thought.

So! The winner for Club 17, December is…. Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer! YEA!!!! Cuteness to be mailed your way soon, Shannon!

If you didn’t BSE, what with holiday chaos, do it now anyway, ‘kay?

Did you think I’d forget? Soooo busy with J-Mom and LaLa visiting, that I wouldn’t remember…? Of course not.

The 17th of each month is special here, because y’all faithfully do your BSE’s and say you did in the comments. THen one of you who did just that receives a fantastical prize in the mail from me. And all of you who did feel wonderfully proactive and health conscious for remembering to do the monthly self breast exam that really everyone should do and so very few remember. (Except you!)

Got questions? Answers here.

Everyone is waaaay busy this time of year, so would you do me a favor and spread the word on your own blog, if you have one? It would be especially appreciated this month even more than usual. Thanks!

Please go say hi to Candice! She’s the lucky winner this month for doing her BSE! Yea, Candice!

I couldn’t find any biscochitos (and didn’t realize that Mike had tried 6 grocery stores already in his quest to get them for me), so it will have to be a prize without cinnamon-y goodness. It will, of course, have tons of non cinnamon-y goodness.

In response to a few comments on the Club 17 post:

Grim Reality GIrl, will you keep us updated on your best friend?

Tinkerkaye, a crown surely awaits.

Everyone stop just a minute and clap your hands 5 times please. Thank you. Merci, that round of applause was all for you, girl!

Elena, I did know someone once who that happened to. She swore off underwire forever, if I remember correctly. And she said it was AWFUL.

Millicent, it TOTALLY counts!

Don’t forget that if you want a cute lady for your blog sidebar (that Julie at Desert Diva created) you can get it here!

In response to all the comments on the ’soooo not festive’ post, thank you. No knives were present at the table, as all turkey arrived ‘magically’ in perfect, bite sized pieces. It didn’t go well, but it could have been much worse.

Hello, from the Land of Biscochitos. Or not, since we can’t find them ANYWHERE, even though Maria Rosa’s Traditional Biscochitos seem to be manufactured right here in Albuquerque. Note to Maria Rosa: WHERE ARE THEY?!

Keep it up on the BSE’s y’all! I’ll give you a couple more days before drawing a winner, so be sure to read the post below, do that BSE, and leave a comment very soon. YOu might be rewarded with a super-rare biscochito delivery if I can ever find them.

So we’re here for therapy and for a visit with Kim-13yr. Mixed feelings. Stress. TMJ acting up. (Which means that my jaw will be so sore on Thanksgiving there will be no massive pigging out for me, which is not necessarily a bad thing.)

Just a couple months ago we were here and Kim-13yr’s therapist had her draw a picture of the scene where she kills me. Nice. Stick figures. She with a grin, me with tears, in the kitchen. Big Freaking Knife. Lovely.

Now there’s an exercise in empathy for ya. Have your kid draw THAT, and then your job is to totally focus on how difficult and painful and scary that must be for her.

That was two months ago, but just this week she’s been deemed as ‘backsliding’ in her progress. Backsliding? From the knife in the kitchen scene? Great. It was hardly a great place to be, with very little room behind to slide, you’d think. But no.

On Thanksgiving, we’re having our first Day Pass in almost a year with Kim-13yr. Perhaps the timing of this could be better. Perhaps the knives in the kitchen will be removed. Perhaps the TMJ won’t matter at all, because would you really feel like eating?

And yep. This is why I usually don’t talk about this.

On the bright side, if your relatives are really driving you nuts on THanksgiving, you will so easily be able to think, “Well…. it could definitely be worse… At least Uncle Bob is just annoying with that crazy laugh and I THINK I could just die if he touches me again, but at least he doesn’t have a Big Freaking Knife.”

I don’t mean to seem ungrateful for all of life’s blessings. I’m just really not looking forward to the holiday where we express such thankfulness, gather around with the kids, and wield a big turkey carving knife.

This will be brief since I am sooo tired and need to sleep and there will be a completely fantastic baby shower happening here tomorrow. Yea!

So. Quickly. Every month on the 17th y’all come and say “YES, I did my self breast exam for the month like a good girl, and YEA for me!!” Y’all do this in the comment section, but only if you really DID do that exam because y’all are not liars. For you honest and health conscious types there is always at least one prize to be given to one of you. (And I already said that if I can find them, this month it’s biscochitos. YUM.)

All questions can be answered here. I hope.

And one last thing. If you look to the right you see a ’subscribe’ option. Did you know that if you do that, all updates just get emailed to you. You can even specifically say that you ONLY want the Club 17 related ones. Or the Total Transformation ones. You’d miss out on a whole lotta good poop stories, but I’d understand. And you’d never forget to do that BSE again!

And 2 winners among you fantastically grown up health conscious Club 17ers!  LaLa and Emily!!! No, not my sister, LaLa, a different LaLa - who is a master recycler in the making, and who is having a rough week. Emily is of Sassy Lime fame, and was one of the first blogs I ever read.

And pfft. Of course there was no random drawing for a winner this month, you know me too well. If there is a one of you out there who is having that sort of ‘oh no, i might have found something’ sort of thing, then you are automatically the winner and receive my heartfelt prayers and whatever prize i can send. So, Emily and LaLa, if you will be so brave, please email me your addresses. I will destroy them immediately upon sending you something cute, because that’s what I do.

(That sound you hear is the faint laughter of my sister, who knows how impossible I am at keeping track of any addresses for any length of time at all.)

And 2 winners among you fantastically grown up health conscious Club 17ers!  LaLa and Emily!!! No, not my sister, LaLa, a different LaLa - who is a master recycler in the making, and who is having a rough week. Emily is of Sassy Lime fame, and was one of the first blogs I ever read.

And pfft. Of course there was no random drawing for a winner this month, you know me too well. If there is a one of you out there who is having that sort of ‘oh no, i might have found something’ sort of thing, then you are automatically the winner and receive my heartfelt prayers and whatever prize i can send. So, Emily and LaLa, if you will be so brave, please email me your addresses. I will destroy them immediately upon sending you something cute, because that’s what I do.

(That sound you hear is the faint laughter of my sister, who knows how impossible I am at keeping track of any addresses for any length of time at all.)

It’s already been a month since we did this, ladies! Lots of cities are hosting Race for the Cure - are any of you involved?  I haven’t signed us up yet, since I was trying to decide on a weekend trip to stalk a friend’s booksigning.

It’s the 17th, and that means that we all do those beloved self breast exams and then come back here and leave a comment saying yes! did it!  yea me! 

For more information on how or why we do this, click here.

And because y’all ask occasionally, I’m including this (previously posted) explanation of why this matters so much to me personally:

Q: Why do I do these monthly reminder/nag sessions? I mean, why is it SUCH a big deal? Well. I’ll tell you.

A: When Caden-3yr was a tiny little 3 month old, I found a lump. I never did self breast exams, and so i had no idea how long it had been there. That one thought nagged at me in the night for weeks afterwards. It was about pea sized, hard, and the edges of it were rough. None of those things were good. There are a lot of lumps and bumps and cysts and things that can be quite harmless - especially for a nursing mom. But rough edges were notably bad.

I had so many doctor’s appts over the next weeks. It just dragged on and on. The surgeon I saw knew immediately it wasn’t good. After a long conversation, we decided the next step would be an ‘ultrasound guided biopsy.’ There was already one ultrasound of it, but it had been lost somehow between doctor’s offices.

I was a wreck. I remember trying to live minute to minute. Constant prayer over the next minute. And I was too scared to really ask God to just fix it. I couldn’t even pray that. I focused on what would happen, and the things i should do in case i died and left my daughter and two sons without a mother. I had no peace whatsoever that everything would work out. None. I was numb.

Mike did pray, though. He prayed a lot. And one day he said something that really, really made me angry. He said that he’d prayed and God had answered him that ‘it would be good.’ GOOD? Excuse me?  HOW? That really ticked me off, and anytime I worried and Mike tried to reassure me with that particular answered prayer, I got even more mad and worried.

Life was so hard those 6 or 8 weeks. Then we went in for that ultrasound guided biopsy.

And it was gone. Magically, completely, utterly… gone.

They had all said it wasn’t the sort of lump that would disappear. Certainly not like it did.It hadn’t changed at all in any way since it was first detected. And that wasn’t good either.

But it did disappear. The doctors were in shock. My surgeon, when she heard about it, was in total disbelief and had her office call me so that she could look for it herself. After all, it just wasn’t the sort that would go away. And she would know.

Mike and I cried in the waiting room, hugged, and walked out into the parking lot of the hospital, stunned. And then Mike, with tears streaming down his face, said "Kels, what did God say?"

"That it would be good?"

"Yeah."

And I agreed. It was good. But I was missing something.

Mike laughed and said, "But what is today?"

"Friday." I wasn’t getting whatever it was he wanted me to see.

"No. It’s Good Friday."

And it was. The Friday before Easter, Good Friday, of 2004 was especially good.

(Thank You, God for that answer to Mike’s prayer - I didn’t understand or appreciate it at all then, but it’s pretty special to me now.)

After that I resolved to do those monthly self breast exams. If I ever had to go through that again, i wanted to KNOW how long it had been there. That piece of information would have set my mind at ease. It would have been so much better to be able to think, ‘huh. there’s a lump. scary, but it’s at least i know it is new. let’s call a doctor.’  i hope none of you ever find a lump. But more than that, i hope that if you do, you can say, ‘at least I know it is very new. I caught this - whatever it is - as early as I possibly could.’ 

I know what some of you are thinking. It’s the reason I haven’t written this before now, to be honest. Compared to so many other stories that end tragically, or involve an actual drawn out fight with cancer, my story might not sound like much. And maybe it isn’t. But my point is that it was pretty horrific anyway, and if I can be more proactive, and bug you to be - then i will.

Thanks for letting me. I know I can be obnoxious about it.