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.

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!

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. 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

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 dusting 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!

Posted in disney, hodgkin's lymphoma, holidays, meme, mothering, movies, signing Tagged: baby sign language, bleomycin toxicity, cancer, chemo, chemotherapy, disney, halloween, hodgkin's lymphoma, meme, mothering, tinker bell, tinker bell movie, toddler signing ]]> http://bitsofmyself.com/2008/11/01/how-to-believe/feed/ 9 bits of myself pink night stars face and body stamp green night stars face and body stamp fairy puff shimmer powder tinker bell dvd pottery barn kids' green fairy flower bag http://bitsofmyself.com/2008/10/16/i-want-to-thank-you/ http://bitsofmyself.com/2008/10/16/i-want-to-thank-you/#comments Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:12:58 +0000 bits of myself http://bitsofmyself.wordpress.com/?p=636 ]]> a woman i used to work with messaged me on myspace this week.  i read it yesterday and it absolutely made my day, which i might add was spectacularly craptastic up until then.

“i started working at magic kingdom back in 1997 and only partially knew who you were. you were always cool to me at town square and spectromagic and stuff, but we were only acquaintances.

i happened upon your page through mikki and started reading your blog, “bits of myself,” and i cannot help being taken by how fucking amazing you are.   sorry for the language from someone you do not know, but i can’t think of any other words.   i don’t even remember where i started the “bits,” but i backed up to where you found out you had cancer. by the time i got to your final breastfeeding with nugget, there were uncontrollable tears streaming down my face at how you kept apologizing to her, for something that you did not ask for.

i don’t know how much all of this means coming from someone you don’t know, but i just had to get this out.  i was driving day parade floats when you were at mk with your baby girl, and i saw you two days in a row.   knowing how painful it must be, there you stood in the sun, in a tank top, bald… smiling and waving.

i hope i didn’t weird you out with all this, but know that you have touched one more individual’s life.  you are the strongest woman that i don’t know.”

i just needed to thank you for that and let you know that your kind words have touched my heart.  thank you for reading my blog.  and thank you to all of you who continue to do so.  i hope you’ll all stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this chapter of my life.

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!