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nugget and i are hitting the road saturday for our first major road trip.  is this really a good idea?  do sane people drive long distances, cross many states with a three-year old in tow?  please check “yes” or “no.”

as bad as i am about blogging on a regular basis, i will try really, super hard to post ridiculous photos and updates from our journey.  twitter is likely to be the landing spot for most of these tidbits of humor and despair, and i know you won’t want to miss a single bit.  so be sure to follow me or at least check out my twitter feed on the left-hand sidebar.

oh right, you wanted to know where exactly we’re headed to.  why, central florida, of course.  that’s where i was born and raised.  i spent the majority of my formative years playing with and then working for the mouse.  now i happily haul my daughter there to subject her to the media machine immerse her in the culture i grew up in.

nugget’s aunt jenny is playing her first ever orlando show at backbooth on may 25th.  have you gotten your tickets yet?  check out park ave cds – i heard they’ll give you a ticket when you purchase one of jenny’s records!  so come out and join us as we officially celebrate me kicking cancer’s ass.  it will be quite the party. kinda like this one (but sadly without bess rogers).

as africa hot as it is sure to be in florida right now, we’ll still have an excellent time. i’m a native, a pro at avoiding the scorching death rays with which the sun tortures the tourists.

there will be lots of late afternoon trips to the magic kingdom.  we will watch far too many parades and shows, and spend hours making special trips to visit with her “friends” (disney characters).

there will be long walks around epcot’s world showcase with my friends and their tots.  the mamas will enjoy adult beverages while we drink our way around the world and the kids will craft at each of the kidcot stations.  it’s a win-win.

i will don my new, modest i’mamommynow swimsuit and brave a water park or two.  i will most certainly make other mommies to suffer along with me.

we plan to stay until main street electrical parade makes its return to walt disney world on june 6th as part of summer nightastic! i am giddy with delight at the mere thought of sitting with nugget and watching her hear for the first time:

“ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, walt disney world proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination in thousands of sparkling lights and electrosynthomagnetic musical sounds . . . the main street electrical parade!”

nugget just brought the vhs cassette of elp’s farewell season at disneyland into my office.  she’s ready to do her homework.  i’m ready to teach her baroque hoedown.

i’m ready to go home.

town square, magic kingdom, walt disney world, february 2010

nursing on main street while waiting for parade at disneyland

nugget's first ride on casey jr. at disneyland

nugget and i spent the past three days celebrating the end of a successful round of chemo and our return to nursing.  disney doesn’t have a button for that, but we still had a fantastic experience.

our sincerest thanks and gratitude to the new parade cast and characters at the paradise pier breakfast. you all made our celebration absolutely magical.

pictures soon, i promise!

today, nugget and i are at disneyland, the happiest place on earth, with auntie krista, and it is just indeed that.

stitch, pluto and daisy duck welcomed us to the paradise pier hotel this morning. they asked nugget to have breakfast with them tomorrow morning and she happily agreed.

right now, nugget is enjoying high school marching bands and a mickey mouse ice cream sandwich while we wait on castle hub for the new parade, celebrate! a street party, to start.

we met tinker bell and her fairy friend, fawn after lunch. nugget is really looking forward to seeing her fly during fireworks tonight.

we’ll have lots of photos of our celebration to post when we get home, so be sure to check back soon for those!

 

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.  

  3. did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
    i don’t make them
  4.  

  5. did anyone close to you give birth?
    most recently, the greenes welcomed their twin girls
  6.  

  7. did anyone close to you die?
    i lost an old friend.  he was a great man.
  8.  

  9. what countries did you visit?
    chemoland.  it sucked.
    walt disney world
  10.  

  11. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
    energy and hair
  12.  

  13. what date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
    june 12th, it was the last time i nursed my daughter before i started chemo
  14.  

  15. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
    resuming nursing after battling cancer
  16.  

  17. what was your biggest failure?
    having to stop nursing
    yes,  i realize that was beyond my control, but to me it felt like failure.
  18.  

  19. did you suffer illness or injury?
    yes
  20.  

  21. what was the best thing you bought?
    our new house
  22.  

  23. whose behavior merited celebration?
    my mother’s
    my husband’s
    my daughter’s
  24.  

  25. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    northern virginia’s drivers
  26.  

  27. where did most of your money go?
    our new house
  28.  

  29. what did you get really, really, really excited about?
    taking my daughter to disney for the first time
  30.  

  31. what song will always remind you of 2008?
    the hot dog song
  32.  

  33. compared to this time last year, are you:
    happier or sadder?  happier
    thinner or fatter?  fatter
    richer or poorer?  poorer
  34.  

  35. 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
  36.  

  37. what do you wish you’d done less of?
    had less cancer
    gained less weight
  38.  

  39. 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
  40.  

  41. did you fall in love in 2008?
    every day
  42.  

  43. how many one-night stands?
    (seriously?  this one i have to change to something more mommy blog- friendly)
  44.  
    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
     

  45. what was your favorite tv show?
    lost
  46.  

  47. do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
    hate?  that’s much too strong of a word.
  48.  

  49. 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. 
  50.  

  51. what was your greatest musical discovery?
    steve burns’ and the flaming lips’ steven drozd’s ” i hog the ground”
     
  52.  

  53. what did you want and get?
    to nurse my daughter again
  54.  

  55. what did you want and not get?
    skinnier faster
  56.  

  57. 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.
  58.  

  59. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    went to my birthday party, 35
  60.  

  61. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    having more energy and less nausea after chemo
  62.  

  63. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
    chemo casual
  64.  

  65. what kept you sane?
    prozac and ativan
  66.  

  67. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    oh, how i love me some brit-brit.  girl is a spectacular disaster!
  68.  

  69. what political issue stirred you the most?
    the presidential election, though that was more of a circus then an issue
  70.  

  71. whom did you miss?
    my friends from orlando
  72.  

  73. who was the best new person you met?
    my chemo nurse, danna
  74.  

  75. 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.
  76.  

  77. quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
    “it’s a brand new day,  whatcha  waitin’ for?”
  78.  

  79. 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

 

nugget daddy and her grandmamie brought nugget to my hospital room to get ready for  trick-or-treating.  she was, of course, beyond adorable in her tinker bell dress and wings, sparkly green tinker bell shoes, tinker bell wand and ballet pink tights.  i pulled her tiny tresses up into the best tink-like puff i could manage, fluffed it up with plenty of hairspray and added a clip with tiny white flowers.  she politely shrieked, “dada! dada!” and beamed with pride as she was showered in nugget daddy’s hair product.  what, you didn’t think it was mine, did you?

 

then we selected where she wanted her green star stamps placed and where best the pink star stamps were suited for.  earlier, i ‘d done a sample patch of each color on each of my cheeks so she could see how they both looked. then we applied a very liberal dusing of pixie dust.  i should have gotten her some “pixie dust” glitter of her own to keep in her “berry bucket” for dousing unsuspecting passers-by.  ah well, there’s always next year! 

 

 

 

we made a few rounds though the halls to the different nurses’ stations.  nugget was heartbreakingly cute and insisted on holding my hand, always unsure of how to navigate around all the wires attached to her mama.  i told her it was almost time to go to the mall for more trick-or-treating and that her grandmamie would be getting her the tinker bell movie while they were there.

 

 
 

we said our goodbyes and i swear, i just couldn’t get enough hugs or kisses from my sweet baby girl.  i watched as they made their way down the hall, all the while nugget was cheerfully waving goodbye, happy as a clam, all pixied-up and ready for more candy collecting.

 

i stepped back into my room just as the tears started rolling down my face.  i tried to sob silently for my own selfish sadness.  i hoped she was having the time of her life, holding out her fat little felt flower bag – surely that’s what fairies collect halloween candy in – and squealing with delight with the acquisition of each new piece of candy.  she had oh-so-politely signed “thank you” for each treat she’d collected from the nurses and i hoped that trend was continuing at the mall.  i’m so very proud of my little tinklet.

i hope i can get out of here  this weekend in time for the good post-pumpkin day costume sales at the disney store and old navy.  otherwise, i might have to send someone armed with a fully charged cell phone and a whole lot of patience on my behalf!

 

chemo is kicking my ass this week and i’m still exhausted from traveling.  here’s your first installment of vacation photos, though.  you’ve been waiting so patiently… sort of.  i know it’s been hard.  enjoy!

 

dinner at chef mickey's

our magical moment

 

 

okay, actually eight isn’t enough as i’ve got four more chemo doses to go, but lord in heaven i am soooo over this shit.

i’m fat – newsflash – some people actually gain weight during chemo. thanks for that warning. someone please mail me a mumu because that’s all i’m going to fit in at the end of this.

i’m tired of this nasty taste in my mouth. i mostly drink carbonated beverages now because the bubbles help mask any strange flavors.

i’m exhausted and i can never get a good night’s sleep anymore.  last night nugget slept with her grandmamie though, so i slept with prince lunesta.

my face and neck are now turning a lovely shade of red for the first few days post chemo.  what makes the red man red?  i guess it’s chemo.

the neuropathy is causing me to drop things.  most unappreciated was the bowl of chicken tortilla soup in tiny apartment’s dining room/library/office which is oh so pleasantly carpeted in beige.

 

here’s yesterday’s chemo self-portrait.  i think i like this one best because you can’t see my hair.  when i look at it i just see me. 

you can check out the real world page for the hair update.  i shave it every week or so because while it is still growing, only about half of it is.  so, no, i don’t want to let that half start growing out into a lovely head of string hair.

chemo dose 8

 

here are the latest new house photos.  the fireplace mantle and hearth are in, and the hardwood flooring was going in on my last visit.

living room fireplace

sunroom wood floor installation

 

these two photos are a follow-up to my last post about the shake.  i got a lost of questions about that!

siding

shake

 

tomorrow, nugget and i are off to orlando to visit family and make her first trip to walt disney world.  i am beyond excited.  she just understands that she’ll get to see minnie’s, er, “mimmie’s” house, and girl loves her some mimmie!  mimmie loves you too, nugget!

wdw 25th anniversay train station photo shoot

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