Living with Whimsy: 2022

Friday, October 14, 2022

Miles at Age 13

To read about Miles at age 12, click here.

He's officially a teenager (!), which means he gets a new set of questions this year!

1. Describe yourself. "Funny. And quirky."

2. What are you thankful for? "I'm thankful for my family, shelter, food that we have, education that we can get..."

3. What makes you happy? "Cats, Rubik's cubes, Breath of the Wild {Zelda game}, taekwondo, percussion, and my friends."

4. What makes you sad or angry? "Probably when I'm focused on one task and someone else tries to get me to do something, and it frustrates me that I can't focus on the task that I'm doing at the moment. It's annoying."

5. What do you want to be when you grow up? "Most likely a percussionist."

6. What's important to you? "Friendship, music, video games, family."

7. What do you love most about yourself? "That I'm not afraid to be myself. And that I'm more responsible than most kids."

8. What do you love most about your mom? "She's very tough, and she can survive anything."

9. What do you love most about your dad? "Hes very funny and he's always comforting. And he makes really good dinner."

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go? "Probably Universal Studios cause I want to see the Hagrid's bike ride."

11. Who do you admire, and why? "I admire you {Mom} because you're very tough, I admire Dad because he's a good role model and a good cooker, and I admire my sister cause she's a good role model."

12. What do you want to learn more about? "I wanna learn more percussion. I wanna learn more glitches in Breath of the Wild."

13. What's something you'd like to do to help someone else? "Small things like opening the door for someone, start with that..."

14. What are you afraid of? "Hmm. Small spaces, falling from heights, drowning, stuff like that."

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep? "Family."

16. What's your favorite memory? "Probably either Orlando while we there or when we were at the breakfast place getting something and you told us about the trip and we started getting excited. Also, when you come out of the hospital that's always nice."

17. What are you proud of yourself for? "For having discipline, being respectful of people, good citizenship, yeah."

18. What are you looking forward to? "Percussion in high school, percussion next year, going to taekwondo."

19. What do you dream about? "I don't remember what I dream about."

20. What else do you want to say? "Uh, I'm excited for my possible 13 gifts!"

You are one incredible kid. The world isn't prepared for what they have coming at them when you're let loose, bud. You are so, so smart, so kind and thoughtful, and I thank God for you every day. Happy birthday, Miles!

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Gisèle, age 15

(wearing one of her late grandpa's flannels)

To see Gisèle at age 14, click here.

1. Describe yourself. "Umm... I'm quirky. And I'm pretty much mature and serious, especially for my age. But every now and then I'll get really punchy and I'll act like a 7 year old."

2. What are you thankful for? "Family. Umm... we've been blessed a lot with health, so I'm very thankful for that. And I'm very thankful for my friends and Mustang Playhouse and the outlet I have with that."

3. What makes you happy? "I like books. I haven't been reading a ton lately because our {school} library is closed and I don't think our librarian is there anymore. I've also been getting more into painting. I like shoes. And hanging out with Miles, 'cause Miles is weird, and Miles knows I'm weird. So hanging out with Miles makes me happy. For the most part."

4. What makes you sad or angry? "Feeling confined. Like I don't have a choice in a situation. Or a say. Feeling silent in that aspect."

5. What do you want to be when you grow up? "Guess. {laughs}" {The answer is actor/director/producer.}

6. What's important to you? "Family."

7. What do you love most about yourself? "I guess my compassion for others."

8. What do you love most about your mom? "I guess that you're stubborn. You know what you want and you do whatever is in your power to get it, and you don't stop until you get it."

9. What do you love most about your dad? "I think it's going to be pretty much the same answer I did last year, but he always makes me smile, and he's always funny and stuff, and he makes an effort to be a decent person even if he had a bad day, he'll try to be in a good mood for you."

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go? "Well, I'm going to New York next year, so that's very exciting, but if it wasn't New York, it would be somewhere in Europe, maybe Italy or Ireland because of the landscapes and scenery there, and the culture and food in Italy."

11. Who do you admire, and why? "{long pause} There's no one person for this question for me. Because I admire everyone around me for different reasons. Like I said, Mom, you're super stubborn but I admire you for that and your bravery. And I admire Dad for his responsibility that he takes, and his ability to always brighten your day. I admire everyone around me for so many different reasons that it's impossible for me to choose just one."

12. What do you want to learn more about? "I guess I want to learn more about myself, and how my goals align with God's goals for me, because that's a very confusing thing to think about, about how God's plans for my future are like/not like MY plans for my future."

13. What's something you'd like to do to help someone else? "Well, I want to volunteer more. I feel if I contribute to society in some way that's helpful, that could help lots of people and I'd love to do that. Also, I'd love to be part of a missionary trip; that would be very cool."

14. What are you afraid of? "Are you ready for the list? Okay, so number 1 is being underwater in, like, deep water, and being trapped. So something is blocking me from breaking through the surface. Okay, so I'm trying to sum up my list here. It's mainly things where I'm not in control, and I have absolutely no way of getting out of the situation I'm in, I just have to accept it and just be at peace. That's hard for me if I'm not able to save myself."

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep? "I would either keep a hoodie or a book."

16. What's your favorite memory? "I like the memory of us at Snooze. When we were at Snooze last, we were talking about baby stuff, and hearing about Miles sticking a green bean up his nose, while we were eating pineapple upside-down pancakes, was a really great experience."

17. What are you proud of yourself for? "These are all so deep! Why couldn't they be 'my favorite toy?' I want to do well. So my drive to do well and excel in anything I do... so it's definitely my drive, my determination to move forward no matter what. It's an important characteristic of me, so I think it defines a lot of who I am and my choices."

18. What are you looking forward to? "One act season."

19. What do you dream about? "Box trolls doing gymnastics. It was a really weird dream."

20. What else do you want to say? "Well, I'm excited to be turning 15. I feel like 15 and on, it's very much like... you have to learn how to be independent and confident, and you have to know things. All of these different responsibilities, like I'm going to learn how to drive... and then there's the whole thing about voting, and graduating... I'm excited to see where my life takes me."

Gisèle, you constantly amaze me. I will forever feel blessed to be your mom, and to get to watch you grow, explore, tackle, and conquer everything.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Hi There!

Hi!

It's been a while.

A long while.

I've completely fallen out of the habit of blogging. There have been a few changes in my life, and overall things are good.

Both of my sisters have moved to Texas with their families. (Yay!) Andrea is about 3 hours away, and Brandi is 10 minutes down the road from me. With Brandi being so close, we finally started the bakery that we've been dreaming about for so long. We're baking out of my house and delivering goodies locally. (Check out thesweetcreambakery.com!) We bake 5-6 days a week, and we're loving it.

Jamie got a promotion, and now has the title to go along with what he's been doing at Halliburton for quite some time now. He's been working at home since the start of the pandemic, and it has been wonderful to have him so close.

Gisèle is a freshman in high school now and doing amazingly well. She's taking advanced classes, maintaining an A average, and is a full-blown drama queen - meaning a theatre kid. She wants to be a director/actor when she grows up, and will be competing at the National Thespian Festival in Solo Acting in June.

Miles is a 6th grader and loves his percussion class. He's doing well in school, and takes an 8th grade Critical Thinking class once a week along with some other advanced students. He's also still loving taekwondo. He's a senior purple belt and on the JV team. We're at taekwondo with him 4 times a week, and there's no sign of him slowing down.

I've been doing okay, health-wise. I'm still NED (No Evidence of Disease), which I am incredibly thankful for. Treatment has caused a host of side effects, so that has been difficult. After chemo, surgery, and radiation, I can say that I'm out of "active treatment," but I still take daily pills to try to prevent a recurrence or metastasis, and get injections to shock my body into menopause every month. All the treatment has caused hypothyroidism, so I'm now taking Synthroid daily. I also have rheumatoid arthritis, and have gained about 55 pounds. I don't feel like myself anymore. It's hard to look in the mirror and see someone else, and it's hard to get out of a chair and feel like an elderly woman. I have to constantly remind myself that any extra time I have is a blessing, and the side effects are worth it.

Some pictures to catch you up since October: