Grasshopper Chariots & Other Randomness

I guess I could post a big, fat "I told you so," only the surgeon wants to wait 6 months, not 6 weeks. He says that if he had to decide what to do next, he'd forego any further chemotherapy. And he feels that there just isn't the evidence that it's effective against this type of tumor.

Since the tumor is no longer impacting any of his bodily functions (knock on wood), and his blood pressure has normalized; we are most likely going to take the wait-and-see approach. We have also started the process of scheduling Ty's scoliosis surgery. We have to start now to get him on the schedule for November.

I have measured the tumor so we have a baseline - it is 14cm x 19cm. Huge, I know - but smaller than it was in March. I'll post updates measurements each Thursday. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will be smaller again. We're also going to consider whatever the Tumor Board suggests on Monday.

There was family "weeding therapy" tonight as we all worked together to clear our small (make that tiny) garden patch. Even Ellie got in on the action. Unfortunately, this led to the discovery of a rather large baby grasshopper colony in our garden space. Some of these babies landed in my hair as I was busily wrangling weeds. I think I had just finished telling Sierra that they were just babies and not to get so freaked out, and then I was wearing a few of them. Talk about your freaked-outness!

I have these soundtrack moments where my brain starts hearing the music that would go with a certain event occuring in my life. For some reason this popped into my head to accompany the grasshoppers. Don't you think something like this would've been more appropriate for acting as a mode of transportation for grasshoppers? What are your soundtrack moments?

My latest library checkouts:
Punished by Rewards - The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (a recommended read from the Lazy Organizer)
Bringing the Story Home - The Complete Guide to Storytelling for Parents
The Natural Home - Living the Simple Life
The Smoothies Bible
Clean, Naturally - recipes for body, home and spirit
The Best Time to Do Everything
Organize Your Mind to Organize Your Life
A Gentle Plea for Chaos

I know those last two look like complete opposites, but the first is about organizing your mind and the second is about unorganizing (or rather, naturalizing) your yard. More of the romantic approach to gardening.

Which reminds me of this family from our neighborhood when we were in our first house. Their eldest daughter is doing a series of paintings on women in scripture. She is an amazing artist and very kind-hearted, too. She gave us some thornless blackberry bush cuttings that she's been nursing since last season. I encourage you to check out their site. They have a publication called The Storybook Home Journal. In each issue, they gear everything towards their latest read - which is very family-friendly. This issue's focus has been on Pollyanna. Let me know what you think.

I fell off the soda wagon today. Did you miss that? I just confessed. I have done very well until today and then my beverage ox got stuck in the proverbial mire. Well, it came at the price of a killer headache and it didn't even taste that good.

When Ellie asks for "Poppy" she wants applesauce. "Hot" means she'd like some oatmeal. Tonight she brought me Mr. Triumph's Blackberry and said, "Ohh break" she had pulled it out of its case and thought she'd broken it. It's funny the words kids say that you didn't know they've learned yet. (Note to self: very poorly written sentence that last one is).

Happy Friday!