my sister’s one-day sister-in-law (i just know it!) tagged me in a facebook note, “end of year meme.”  it would have been sooo easy to use the majority of her answers because, dude, it’s like she wrote them just for me!  but, alas, she did not, so i’ve crafted my own responses just for you.

1. what did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
   was diagnosed with and treated for cancer

 

2. did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
   i don’t make them

 

3. did anyone close to you give birth?
   most recently, the greenes welcomed their twin girls

 

4. did anyone close to you die?
   i lost an old friend.  he was a great man.

 

5. what countries did you visit?
   chemoland.  it sucked.
   walt disney world

 

6. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
   energy and hair

 

7. what date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
   june 12^th, it was the last time i nursed my daughter before i started chemo

 

8. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
   resuming nursing after battling cancer

 

9. what was your biggest failure?
   having to stop nursing
   yes,  i realize that was beyond my control, but to me it felt like failure.

 

10. did you suffer illness or injury?
    yes

 

11. what was the best thing you bought?
    our new house

 

12. whose behavior merited celebration?
    my mother’s
    my husband’s
    my daughter’s

 

13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    northern virginia’s drivers

 

14. where did most of your money go?
    our new house

 

15. what did you get really, really, really excited about?
    taking my daughter to disney for the first time

 

16. what song will always remind you of 2008?
    the hot dog song

 

17. compared to this time last year, are you:
    happier or sadder?  happier
    thinner or fatter?  fatter
    richer or poorer?  poorer

 

18. what do you wish you’d done more of?
    crafted more homemade gifts
    visited more friends
    blogged more
    taken more photos and video of my family and friends

 

19. what do you wish you’d done less of?
    had less cancer
    gained less weight

 

20. how did you spend christmas?
    at our new house with my husband’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and my parents, grandparents, aunt & her family and her godparents & their family

 

21. did you fall in love in 2008?
    every day

 

22. how many one-night stands?
    (seriously?  this one i have to change to something more mommy blog- friendly)

 
what changes did you make to “green up” your lifestyle?
collected more reusable shopping bags and got my mom in the habit of using them, too
started a compost pile
chose a tankless hot water heater for the new house
 

23. what was your favorite tv show?
    lost

 

24. do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
    hate?  that’s much too strong of a word.

 

25. what was the best book you read?
    did i read any books?  i know i started reading anthony bourdain’s the nasty bits, but i can’t even remember if i’ve finished it. 

 

26. what was your greatest musical discovery?
    steve burns’ and the flaming lips’ steven drozd’s ” i hog the ground”
     

 

27. what did you want and get?
    to nurse my daughter again

 

28. what did you want and not get?
    skinnier faster

 

29. what was your favorite film of this year?
    this is the last question i answered because, honestly, i can’t remember watching any movie in its entirety aside from charlie wilson’s war. so i guess that’s it.  though if i’d had opportunity to watch the x-files: i want to believe, i’m sure that would have beat out charlie wilson.

 

30. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    went to my birthday party, 35

 

31. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    having more energy and less nausea after chemo

 

32. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
    chemo casual

 

33. what kept you sane?
    prozac and ativan

 

34. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    oh, how i love me some brit-brit.  girl is a spectacular disaster!

 

35. what political issue stirred you the most?
    the presidential election, though that was more of a circus then an issue

 

36. whom did you miss?
    my friends from orlando

 

37. who was the best new person you met?
    my chemo nurse, danna

 

38. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
    this is your life, right now.  this is what you get.  stop preparing for “someday” and start living it the way you want to now.

 

39. quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
    “it’s a brand new day,  whatcha  waitin’ for?”

 

40. tag five people to post their answers to this 2008 wrap-up meme. please link back to this blog from yours.
    non-lucid drivel
    the twinkies
    motherhood and cancer
    life with the moonhils
    returnjourney

well, it’s either stage 2 or stage 2a.  the a or b is determined by the presence of systemic symptoms like fever, nightsweats, etc.  the majority of the nodes involved are in the left side of my neck and in my chest, nothing beow the diapragm.  the marrow biopsy was negative but the pet scan shows that the spinal section near the affected area of my chest might also be involved.

i’m tentatively scheduled to start treatment on thursday.  i don’t have to.  my doctor said if i wanted more time with nugget i could have it because this type of cancer isn’t going to change in just a few days.

i have an appointment today with the oncology nurse practitioner to go over a bunch of things, kind of like the way they do it at the reproductive endocrinologist (ivf clinic).  my mom is going with me this time because she hasn’t met the oncologist yet.  i’ll decide when i’m going to start treatment after discussing our schedules with the nurse.

the first treatment will take the longest because they have to go slowly to check for any allergic reactions.  after that each session will take around three hours.

i’ve ordered two books, anthony bourdain’s the nasty bits and lewis black’s me of little faith, but i’ll definitely be needing to download a bounty of new podcasts to help pass the time.  i’ve been in the treatment room once before, but it was mostly filled with older people who all seemed very into their various magazines and healthy snacks from home.  somehow i don’t see them providing me with hours of entertainment.

congratulations to jenn who will soon be reading all about coco!  thanks to everyone who entered.  check back soon for my next bloggy giveaway.

i heart sloane tanen. if you haven’t read bitter with baggage seeks same, you really must. girl is f-u-n-n-y and her chicks are hysterical. go on and check it out. i’ll wait.

see how hilarious that was? now you can imagine my delight over her foray into children’s books.

naturally, nugget’s library is stocked with the requisite copies of where is coco going, coco counts and c is for coco. lucky for you an extra copy of c is for coco was sent our way, and now it could be on its way to you!

to enter just post a comment and link back to this post on your blog. easy peasy! nugget will draw the winning name out of a hat on march 31st.

that’s right, i’m willing to rot my child’s brain with television.  i know, i know, so not crunchy-ap-hippie-earth-mama-y.  i’m sure i just lost ten granola points.

nugget would much prefer i vod her some jack’s big music show.  smartly, noggin added an additional show to their daily lineup.  but since it’s only twenty minutes long, and sometimes mommy needs more than forty minutes a day of semi-quiet, i’m most grateful that it’s also available on demand.

our local toy store called this morning to ask if we were done with la nug’s birthday basket in their birthday vault.  nuggetdaddy said we’d come by today or tomorrow to pick out a few things from it.  well, okay, he said we’d come by but i don’t think he meant that we’d necessarily be purchasing anything.  silly nuggetdaddy!  despite it being unpleasantly cold this afternoon, i decided we’d go ahead and stroll over there.  nugget made out like a bandit.  she got three books, a maraca, a ladybug ball and a froggy nailbrush for bathroom.  fine, the nailbrush is for me.

we also grabbed a few items from from the clearance table.  a set of boikido musical blocks that were in her birthday basket were actually on the sale table too, so those came home with us along with two small gifts for her tantie and auntie.  they’ll be stocking stuffers.  nooo, it’s not too early to be christmas shopping.  oompa stopped carrying boikido products, citing inferior qualtiy and customer dissatisfaction.  i’ll be keeping the receipt handy just in case.  they look very similar to the haba fantasy blocks tantie gave her and she loves those.  we’ll have to see how these hold up.

after the toy store we strolled across the plaza to the grocery store.  of course the one prescription i needed refilled was the only one i hadn’t gotten from the allergy/asthma specialist.  whatever.  breathing is so overrated.  as i browsed the aisles for dinner ideas while waiting for the pharmacy, nugget decided to sack out in her stroller, ladybug ball clutched firmly to her chest.  hilarious!  no wonder so many people had been looking at her.  i thought they were just admiring her regular everyday cuteness, but this was quite the spectacle.  she’s still asleep in her stroller and snowsuit, parked next to nuggetdaddy’s home office desk.  i can only hope that this becomes a new habit for her!

i settled on ground beef and fingerling potatoes at the market.  i have serrano ham left over from the birthday party that i’m going to wrap beef patties in and i’ll sprinkle the potatoes with pecorino before roasting them.