As seen on shellefly:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice.

For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

• I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!


• What I create will be just for you.


• It'll be done this calendar year.


• I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.


• You have no clue what it's going to be.

The catch: you have to put this in your journal as well. Spread the creativity around!

I've found myself with some down time, due to the fact that I can't go back to work yet, following my brain surgery. I have a lot of projects I'm working on. I always have better follow-through when I am organized. Here's the list, in no particular order:

1. I'm learning Italian. I am trying to do one lesson each morning. So far, I've covered Basics, Basic Phrases, and Transportation Nouns. The problem with learning a language from a CD is that I have no idea how any of these words are spelled, so I may have trouble reading and writing them. I need to remedy that...
   
   
2. Finish cleaning my house. I've made very little progress on this since I got back from my parents' house. I haven't even finished unpacking yet.
   
   
3. Become a smoothie making expert. I love smoothies, and I have been making them most days for breakfast. And I'm making them in a healthy way, not in a calorie-laden way.
   
   
4. Get back on track with eating right and exercising. I've lost 16 pounds since I went to the hospital, and I intend to keep it up. I've been cooking at home much more than I used to (which is much easier when I have a clean and organized kitchen), and I have been trying to do some walking every day. I am not yet allowed to exercise fully.
   
   
5. I've been reading a lot of books. I love to read, and I think I have spent more time reading than anything else. If you have the time, check out The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. It's a great story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Plus, I went to high school with them, so that's kind of cool.
   
   
6. Finish my cork board. Those of you who have ever been around me when a bottle of wine or champagne is opened know that I always keep the corks. This is because I have this vision of making a cork board out of them. I finally started putting that together today, and if I don't finish it tomorrow, I will have no where to eat dinner because it is spread out all over my kitchen table.
   
   
7. Finish various crochet projects. While I was at my parents' house, I made three baby blankets and a very cool scarf for my mom for Mother's Day. I am more than halfway through the blanket I am making for Rob, and then the line for blankets is long: Dave, my mom, my brother, and probably others that I have forgotten by now. Plus, I bought yarn for all kinds of scarves for myself and for gifts. In a similar vein, I have a needlepoint piece I have been working on for the Albans for a long time, and it would be good to make some progress on that.
   
   
8. Write an inspirational book about my experiences with facing adversity. Perhaps I should join shellefly's Sunday morning write-ins. I don't generally use that time for anything more productive. I think I even have a title: All My Light Bulbs. See if you can figure out why...
   
   
9. Start volunteering again. I don't know if I will have too much time to devote to the shelter once I go back to work, but I know they could use my help now at the height of kitten season.
   
   
10. Maintain a regular sleep schedule. Ever since my surgery, I haven't been sleeping 100% well. I tried taking some sleeping pills a few nights, but they left me needing naps the next day, and I never take naps. I didn't even do it when I was a kid. But keeping to a normal schedule is what will let me have productive days. I'm not doing well with this one tonight.
    
    
11. Do some gardening. For each of the weeds that alannariva and I pulled from my flower beds before my surgery, two more have grown in their place. I need to take care of them, and plant some flowers that are sitting on my porch.
    

I know there are more things on my list, but this will do for now.

Good night!

I have to eat steak tonight. I need to give blood for myself tomorrow. And I didn't think about eating iron rich foods until just now. My mother, who is slightly anemic like I am, has been eating steak and other iron rich foods for the last week, despite her fear of mad cow disease and dislike of red meat, because she is giving blood for me tomorrow also and she wants to give me good blood. Why didn't I think of that? I always remember when I am giving blood to the Red Cross. How did I forget about it for myself? What if I can't give blood for myself tomorrow? What if it doesn't have enough hemoglobin? I hope this is my mental breakdown, because I am ready to cry, and I cannot spend the next two and an half weeks freaking out like this.

Friday night, Rob and I went to see a play by Charles Mee called Wintertime at the Wilma Theater with Liz and Steve. We had seen another play by Charles Mee there last year, called Big Love. They were both definitely Mee works. He is a very modern playwright, and I have found both of the plays we have seen by him to be quite influenced by the surreal. The themes he addresses are universal (love, human nature, etc.), and I've never found his messages to be very deep, but he does present them in an entertaining, if not bizarre, manner. Wintertime is about a young couple in love. The boy takes his girlfriend to his parents summer home for New Year's where he is planning to propose. But when he gets there, he finds that both his parents have chosen to go there as well, independently of one another, with their respective lovers. Comedy, of course, ensues. All in all, I enjoyed the play, though I didn't find the "twist" all that surprising. There is a quite a bit of physicality to the play, and the choreography of it is enjoyable to watch. I do think that I would get more out of it if I were to see it again.

Saturday, I did a little bit of cleaning, though not nearly enough, and then we went to shellefly and J's birthday party. It was great fun, and I finally got to meet traceyleabeezus, elissa_carey, and Amanda, who's LJ name I can't remember, but might be smittywing. Lots of other folks were there, too, and we had a good time playing Scattegories and Chrononauts, and Shelle really liked her raspberry cheesecake!

Today, alannariva came over and we did some gardening. It was hard work, but my flower beds are now nice and clean and weeded, and the mulch is refreshed and new looking. We will plant some flowers next weekend. We were too tired to do it today. I hope the weather is as nice again. Today was beautiful. alannariva has said that she is trying to take a page from my book when it comes to her illnesses. She says that she admires how I don't let it take over my life, and I must say, I have really noticed her change in attitude over the last few weeks. I've seen her lots, which is great, and she seemed much happier today than she sometimes does. It was great to hang out with her and just talk about stuff. She even offered to come mow my lawn while I am recuperating, and that is a wonderful offer.

I still have some more cleaning I would like to get done tonight, and I also intend to finish filling out my Advanced Directives. That will put me pretty close to accomplishing all the things I wanted to this weekend. Hooray!

Right now, Abby Cat is staring out the window, chittering at a red-breasted robin that I am sure she would love to chase. I love the springtime! :)

The One and Only Replace Beth's Tumor Party was yesterday and I am a very fortunate girl. It was wonderful, and marvelous, and I was so happy to be surrounded by my friends and family, celebrating me. (Yes, perhaps the whole thing is a little egotistical, but I think I deserve that... I am going to have brain surgery, after all!) Apparently, there were a few people who could not see the humor and benefit of having a party like this. They thought I was saying goodbye to everyone I love, or something morbid like that. But in fact, the complete opposite is true. That party yesterday really was a celebration of me. Everyone showed me how special I really am, how creative, how much love I give to them. It touched me very deeply to have all of that love showered back upon me all at once. It's funny; I knew I would cry, but it never occurred to me to bring some tissues. (Liz and Steve of course had some, but that's not the point!) That is probably the only detail I didn't think about! Every other detail of that party was meticulously thought out. And it was perfect.

( Don't you want to know more? )

All-in-all, I am so glad I had this party. Brain surgery is the kind of thing that is so serious that you must laugh at it to keep things in perspective. It would be very easy to let it take over my life, but I refuse to do that. In fact, J. K. Rowling teaches this lesson very well in the Harry Potter books. Harry and the gang are facing a boggart in their Defense Against the Dark Arts Class. The boggart is a creature that takes the shape of whatever you most fear. To conquer it, you must picture this fearsome thing in a rediculous situation so that you can laught at it. Coming up with things to replace my tumor with is just like Neville picturing Professor Snape in his grandmother's clothes. "Ridiculous!"

It was so busy, and I found no time to write. This last week has been a crazy whirlwind.

( The details )

Shelle told me that traceyleabeezus wanted to meet me after reading my LiveJournal, so I'm adding her to my friend list. Hi!