Can I Just Have 4 Pumps of Cinnamon Dolce Syrup?

When the cat is away, the mice will play! Not that we don't enjoy time with Dave, but a girls night is always an added bonus. Dave is out of town this week so Kristen, Katelyn and I experienced a night of homemade pizza rolls, drama on the Biggest Loser, a rude interruption for some "Presidential Address to Congress", and chai tea lattes with cinnamon dolce! Katelyn was only able to participate in the first event, but we're hoping for a 7:30 pm bed time in a couple of years.

My favorite drink at Starbuck's is a Chai Tea Latte, and recently it's turned into a Chai Tea Latte with 2 pumps of cinnamon dolce syrup. After questioning my baristas on multiple occasions, I discovered that I can save a lot of money by making my own drink at home, without sacrificing the flavor! I can spend $4 on 16 oz. of pure goodness, or I can buy four 32 oz. boxes of chai concentrate for $16 and a gallon of milk for $2. For those of you who don't care for word problems, this means I can make sixteen 16 oz. chai tea lattes for $1.125 each from the comfort of my own home! Now, you might be thinking, "Sure, you are saving money, but you are sacrificing your time." WRONG. It actually takes less time for me to make my drink at home than it does for me to drive to the nearest Starbuck's, walk in (no drive thru), order, wait for my drink, and drive to work. "That's a lie." I am not a liar. More on this later...

My friend Andrea, who recently became a Starbuck's barista, came over on Saturday and gave me a bottle of cinnamon dolce syrup with a pump! OMG! I seriously almost peed in my pants due to the rush of excitement streaming through my body. So I brought the chai concentrate over to Kristen's, but I forgot my syrup at home. Crap. So the only catch for Kristen was that she had to drive to Starbuck's and ask for 4 pumps of cinnamon dolce syrup so we could put it in our drinks. Sucker. The Starbuck's run was a success and $0.32 well spent. Here are some pictures from our evening as well as the recipe for the drinks (unless you have vision like no other, you'll have to enlarge the picture).



Back to time vs. money in regards to my chai tea lattes. Here is my morning routine (Steps 3-11 take a total of 10 minutes):
1. Get out of bed.
2. Straighten my hair (only if I didn't do it the previous morning because I only wash my hair every other day).
3. Put small pot on stove.
4. Turn stove on level 4 (low-medium heat).
5. Pour drink contents (equal parts) into pot.
6. Squirt two pumps of cinnamon dolce in travel mug.
7. Walk back to the bathroom.
8. Put on makeup.
9. Get dressed.
10. Turn stove off.
11. Pour drink contents in travel mug.
12. Walk out to car and drive to work.

BAM! Saving time and money, there really is nothing I love more!

P.S. The Biggest Loser continues tomorrow night. Thank you Mr. President.

A Note From My Dad...

This week was a full one with progress in Nikki's (Anita's) healing and recovery. Monday she got her last drain out. It just all of a sudden decreased output over the weekend. By Monday it was well within the range where the surgeon would take it out. She called for an appointment and got right in. She still has a little hole in her side but can cover it with a bandaid and shower. She did come home and take a long HOT shower. After nothing but sink baths since Jan 9 she enjoyed standing under running hot water and washing her hair and body. Everything got steamed and cleaned. Tuesday she had a chest xray and a bone density test as part of a screening for a clinical trial she will be participating in. After her tests (screenings) we went to Chemotherapy 101 - Yes, it's a real class. They tell you everything you needed to know and some more. We got a tour of the infusion room. It's a big room like an open emergency room but no dividers - just sections with 4 recliners with IV poles beside them. They are all about patient comfort. They have a TV in the center of these chairs and whoever starts first, or isn't sick chooses the station to watch. You get sick, fall asleep, you lose control of the remote. They have baskets of gloves and foot warmers. A refreshment bar has broth packets, teas, hard candy, water, juices and the like. Patients bring their own comfortable clothes, blankets, pillows, books, work, music, computers, TV, or radios. There must be about 6 - 7 such areas in this room. And of course, there is a long counter with the staff behind it who produce the stuff you take. . Wednesday morning we got up at 5 and to the hospital by 6 for the surgery to have the portacath put in. Instead of having to get stuck each time with an IV and hoping they find a vein, she now as a port in her upper chest. No worry they can't find the vein. It's a round receiver device just under the skin that runs a tube directly in to a major vein. In preparing her for surgery they missed 2 times to find a vein. She came out looking like she had been beaten with a stick all up and down her arm. I think they do that on purpose to reinforce your decision to get the portacath. She requested no narcotics for surgery but rather the same drug they used for the original surgery in January so didn't have any worry on being dull headed or groggy all day. She was discharged and home by 10 AM. I went to work and so did she. That afternoon she got fitted for new bras and a prosthesis, and is glad she is looking normal in her clothes now. She is scheduled for a MUGA (a heart scan) on Monday and if she is within guidelines, we'll start chemo Wednesday or Thursday. Then it's every 3 weeks for 18 weeks. She'll be bald headed soon, and will have an array of several wigs to choose from - no caps or scarfs for her. If all goes according to plan, she should be finished by the end of June. She has talked to other women just ahead of her in the process and picked up some tips about what to expect. One thing she has learned from Louise Gray, the mother of Kristen's roommate from Baylor, Bethany, is plan a soup week after each treatment. If you have a winner of a soup recipe please send it on. I'll proabaly fix two or three different recipes that week and freeze some for the next soup week. Everybody doesn't react the same way but generally soup is a comfort food so it'd be good to eat anyway. It's hydrating, a good way to get vegetables, a one pot meal, and I like it too. Thursday we accepted a perk of her job. The Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a dinner at an Austin icon restaurant - Green Pastures. It was a nice dinner and we won a gift basket with beach type stuff plus a gift certificate for a two night stay at The Holiday Inn Emerald Beach in Corpus. She has received another offer from a resort on Lake Whitney for an overnight stay for 2, meals, spa and golf package,etc. which we will try to squeeze in for March or April. These getaways will be a welcome break for relaxation. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We can feel the outpouring of your love and it is truly amazing. Nikki's goal is to see this as a journey and an opportunity to grow closer to God, and seeks to handle it all with grace through Christ.

Live to Love Another Day

So, as of 9:53 am on February 1st, I've been around for 23 years. Obviously I have no idea what the Lord has planned for me, but I'm eager for the plan to unfold. For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to have a birthday dinner with some of my best friends at Cheesecake Factory. Brittany was in charge of logistics and she even picked up the tab for my fish tacos and lemon raspberry cheesecake, does it get any better? Rachel, Brittany and Asilyn (below) are a couple of my friends who were in attendance and it was a good time had by all! Apparently, Rachel did not get the memo about wearing purple.

I went home this weekend for a benefit concert that a good friend of mine, Sarajane, was hosting. The girl can sing any genre, but she prefers opera! The concert benefited a non-profit called House of Friends. The organization is offered free of charge to individuals with dementia who are being cared for at home by family members. It is a weekly program designed to give the family caregiver a four-hour respite. Participants interact socially with others in a highly structured but caring mode. The goal is to support the family so that institutionalization can be postponed. Check it out at http://www.bethanyhof.org/. Sarajane (below) also has a website. Check it out: http://www.meladailey.com/.

While at home, I was also able to spend quality time with my mom and dad and 3 of my friends from high school. On Saturday, my mom needed to run some errands and I needed to get my car inspected. While my car was being inspected, my mom, dad and I went to Academy and the post office - my dad drove. So we go to the post office and my mom is in line and my dad and I are sitting on a bench inside people watching. It's time to go and this is how the situation plays out, inside the post office, in front of spectators:

Dad: Nikki, do you have the keys?

Mom: No, you have the keys.

Dad: No, I don't have the keys...

(Dad checks his pockets and I can hear the keys, but he can't find them)

Me: Dad, you drove and you have the keys.

Dad: No, I don't have them! Nikki check your purse.

Mom: I don't have them.

Me: Dad, maybe you locked them in the car...

(Dad walks out of the post office first)

Me: DAD! They are in your pants! You tucked the keys in your pants!

(Dad reaches towards his lower back and grabs the keys that are dangling from his pants)
Me: Why would you put them there?!

Dad: I put them there so I wouldn't forget them...

It was so funny, and my mom and I were both laughing so hard! I tried to get him to re-enact the situation so I could take a picture and post it, but he refused.

Another highlight of the weekend was the return of the pine cone. You might recall that I put a pine cone at the bottom of my dad's stocking at Christmas. To my surprise, the pine cone returned to a place I least expected to see it. So, I'm sleeping in one of the most comfortable beds and as I roll over, I kick something. My first thought was some animal with teeth is in my bed. Startled, I wake up and debate on whether or not I should look to see what it is. I think about what I felt a little bit more and thought Eddie (the dog) might have snuck a treat and left it in the bed. I decide to face my fears and pull back the covers to reveal what's in my bed. What do I find? A pinecone. My dad put the pine cone in my bed. Oh, this is funny...

I was breathing heavier than normal and my heart was beating pretty fast, so I decided to walk to the kitchen to get some water. On the way back to my room, I dropped the pine cone in my dad's chair.

I wake up the next morning and run to the living room to find my dad in his chair.

Me: Dad, did you find something in your chair this morning?

Dad (with a confused look on his face): No, but I think my underwear got bunched up because I am a little uncomfortable.

Most Saturday mornings, my parents meet Jessica & Evan and Evan's family at a hole in the wall in Round Rock, formerly known as the Breakfast Taco House. This Saturday was no different than most so I needed to get dressed so we could be there on time. I was going to grab a pair of jeans from my bag, but I decided to wear the jeans that I had worn the day before. I find that it's difficult to pull my pants all the way up because there is a freakin' pine cone in my pocket!

My dad had the weekend off and was scheduled to go back to work on Monday. I thought, "Perfect! I'll shove the pine cone in his work boot!" Well, I told my mom about how I shoved the pine cone to the tip of his work boot and she got a little worked up thinking about his reaction at 4:30 am on Monday morning. She said passionately, "Do not put that pine cone all the way in his boot! Do you hear me?! He's going to be upset and late for work if you do that. Do not make it hard for him to get that pine cone out!" "Ugh! Fine! Mom, he better not find it before Monday morning or I'm going to be upset." "Honey, he won't see it. He gets ready in the dark so he won't wake me up. He won't see it." Well, to my frustration, my dad decided to take Monday and Tuesday off. He already had Wednesday and Thursday off so that meant he wasn't going to find the pine cone until Friday. So I called my dad today and he picks up the phone and starts screaming:

Dad: No doc, no!! Wait for the anesthesia to kick in!!! No!!!!

(I'm freaking out because I don't know what's going on)

Me: Dad! What's going on? Where are you?!

Dad (Panicked): I'm in the minor emergency room!

(Immediately, I think something is wrong with my mom.

Me: Why? What's wrong?!

Dad: I got a pine cone stuck in my foot!

Me: What?! You found it? How did you find it?!

Dad: Are you kidding me? I found it the afternoon you left for Dallas.

Me: Ugh!!! Dad that was going to be so good!

Dad, be on guard...