Wren's Roller Coaster

Enjoying the moment through life's ups and downs

Enjoying the ride through life’s ups and downs

Family Life

Word of the Year – Sticktoitiveness

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Picking a word of the year seems to be all the rage, right? Well, I’m certainly going to jump on that bandwagon! Basically, you choose a meaningful word, you write that shit everywhere, and you live by it for a whole year. You in? Good! This year my word is sticktoitiveness.

What Sticktoitiveness Means To Me

I love to say the word. Go ahead, say it out loud. Stick-to-it-tive-ness. Fun, yeah? I don’t know if you’ve seen the Madagascar movies 14 thousand times, but some of us have. It’s a quote made by Alex the Lion, they are going to fix the plane with “spit, and grit and sticktoitiveness.” This quote is stuck in my psyche. I love it! So I thought I’d be cute and pick an animated themed word of the year. Aren’t I the just the cutest?? Turns out though, according to dictionary.com the word has been around since 1909.

Sticktoitiveness also makes me squirm, which is a most excellent trait when you are working with your word of the year. It makes me just a little uncomfortable, thinking about seeing things all the way through. It’s so not me. It’s so boring. The idea of starting something and actually finishing it. I’m the queen of starting one thing, thinking of something else, setting it down and moving on. I’m the queen of fantastic plans, like writing out this fantastic home care system, giving it full steam for a second and dropping it like it’s hot. Can you relate to that?

What Sticktoitiveness Means to Work Life

I feel like I am constantly in rescue mode. This is true in work life, and in home life. I am just trying to stay afloat amidst the crazy. The word of the year is intended to help me stay focused on what is in front of me. To see it all the way through. To start a project, like sitting down to order all the fabulous fall sweaters for next year, and actually ordering them. And inputting the orders. And so on.

What Sticktoitiveness Means to Life At Large

I can apply the word of the year to all aspects of my life. From cleaning the kitchen after dinner to helping my kids get accustomed to a wonderful morning routine. From starting the laundry to folding the laundry…fine and to putting it away.

Did you choose a word of the year? It’s never too late! I didn’t choose my 2017 word until December 1st or so. Come on over to facebook and share your word with me and my crew!

When mom has the common cold part 2

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If you’re lucky enough to come down with your cold on the weekend or a day off, sleep. I know, I know, sometimes this is impossible for busy moms. I hear you. My last cold started on a Saturday night. I took a hot detox bath and drank my magic elixir, which you can read about HERE. Sunday was full of baths and Netflix. No joke, I was pretty much cured on Monday morning.

Steam for the common cold

So besides rest, how can you get though your day? Follow these tips!

Start your morning with a hot, steamy shower. If you have some tea tree or eucalyptus essential oil, toss that on the shower floor. *Please make sure it’s not where you step, it could make it slippery and we don’t need a bonked noggin in addition to a head cold* The shower loosens up all the crud (technical term) in your head and lungs that the common cols blesses us with, and gets things moving around so you can breathe. Breathing is one of those things that is NOT overrated.

Morning Nosh

Next serve yourself a nice cuppa hot lemon water with honey. Honey and lemon are magical when you have a cold. If you are a coffee drinker, like me, now is the time to have a cup. Some people say to stay away from it when you’re sick. If I stay away from it those nearest and dearest to me will want to kill me.

Eat something delish for breakfast. Like Grandma used to say, you are going to need your strength to fight the bug! Plus your next move is large amounts of vitamin C. I took vitamin C once on an empty stomach. I didn’t know how sick it would make me feel. Learn from my mistake.

Supplements for the common cold

Take a boatload of vitamin C. I aim for 1,000 mg after breakfast, 1,000 at lunch, 1,000 at dinner. I’ve read research that supports the vitamin C theory healing a cold faster and I’ve read research that says it’s total bologna. I don’t really care if it scientifically works or not because I swear makes me feel better faster. If it’s the sugar-pill effect or if it’s boosting my immune system…it works and that’s all I care about.

Drink your water! And your tea! Eat your soup! Fluids help your beautiful body to flush out toxins. Bye-bye bugs!

If you really need it, please don’t hesitate to try some ibuprofen, or even a cold med. Just be sure to pay attention how dosing and mixing. You could hurt yourself!

Try heading out for work but promise me that you will get home as soon as you can, order take out and get yourself to sleep. You need it.

Pregnant with Cancer Part 1

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mri image of fetusThe Call – Pregnant with Cancer

“It looks like it’s some type of lymphoma,” the surgeon says on the phone on a Thursday at 5:00 PM. Cancer. Pregnant with cancer.

Um, say what now? So many thoughts flash through  my mind as she handed me over the oncologist’s reception desk to schedule my appointment with him on MONDAY. Four freaking days away, which feels like forever. Those would turn our to be the worst four days of my life. I call my husband first, sobbing. “It’s cancer,” I say. He doesn’t believe me. It’s actually quite unbelievable. The news is numbing. It feels surreal. I am so sickeningly frightened I can’t even deal with it. I would soon hear the term Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma for the first time.

Did I mention that I have a 4 and 6 year old? Oh, and I’m nearly 4 months pregnant. Pregnant with cancer. This is my crisis. We all have them. They come in different forms. Life changing circumstances. Mine comes in the form of cancer. Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma cancer.

The weekend is so dang long. Monday afternoon seems eons away. Hot Hubs and I go for a walk on the beach. We cry. He says things like, “I can remember my mom at five year old,” in order to make me realize that should I die my boys won’t forget me. We google. Please, if you are going to a cancer diagnosis but are still unclear on the details, stay away from Dr. Google. Google says breast lymphoma patients have a poor 5 year prognosis. I am certain I am going to die. I just hope I live long enough to have this baby.

The Diagnosis Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Monday arrives. Finally! I feel dread and hope as I sit in the waiting room with my mom and Hot Hubs. We all go in and the oncologist, MY oncologist because now I have an oncologist, tells me that the preliminary report from my biopsy states that I have Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. He quickly goes on to say that it has a high cure rate, especially among the young, which feels well, nice. I felt some hope, though I was also quick to think that some people aren’t cured. Some people don’t get better.

I will need to get some imaging done, and will need a bone marrow biopsy. The doctor uses a hand drill and drills into your hip bone from the back side. Sometimes they will sedate you for this procedure, but not if you’re pregnant. Doesn’t that just sound like a super fun day in the park? Oh, and guess what? When you’re pregnant they don’t recommend being shot with radiation, therefore traditional (and quick) CT and PET scans are a no-no. When you’re pregnant you get a full body MRI. That takes approximately one single lifetime. But…it yields a really cool shot of the baby, as you can see.

My oncologist is amazing, like super smart but still nice amazing. He is a small town doc, and he really knows his stuff. He calls at 7:00 in the evening to say that he’s gone over the report with the radiologist and that the cancer has not spread. Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Stage 1AE. Stage 1 meaning it’s only in one quadrant of my body, A meaning I had no symptoms, and E meaning it is extranodal, or not in my lymph nodes.

Are you do you know someone who is pregnant with cancer?

Please Contact Me You do not have to go it alone.

When Mom has the Common Cold Part 1

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I always think of that commercial, is it DayQuil? The one where the dad walks into the baby’s room and asks for a sick day. There is no such thing as a sick day when you are a momprenuer or working mom. Kids still need breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not to mention the zillions of snacks.

When symptoms first show up, you know the moment when you ask yourself are my allergies bad or is it a cold? It’s probably a cold, so I suggest hitting the vitamin C hardcore. Do your stomach a favor and don’t hit the vit C on an empty stomach. Been there, done that, puked.

Common Cold Evening Treatment

First of all, you are going to need to sleep. Sometimes, as a mom the idea of getting enough sleep is a not-so-funny joke. Please, please do what you can to catch some serious zzzz’s. I understand if you have to get up to feed a baby, but you don’t need to stay up to check facebook one more time. It will be there in the morning, I promise! So get your cute little booty to bed nice and early. Before bed, I do 2 things:

detox bath for common cold

Detox Bath

Getting toxins, like gross viral germs and such, out of your body faster can help you heal from the common cold quickly. Here’s my favorite:

  1. Draw a bath. Make it pretty hot and pretty deep. Your goal is to sweat it all out, sister!
  2. Add about  a cup of epsom salt
  3. Put in about 3 TBS of ginger
  4. Add your favorite essential oils (lavender & rose are my faves)
  5. Soak yourself for at least 20 mins, but go as long as you feel fine.
  6. Get out and pat dry. You are going to be tired and sweaty. That’s good stuff.

Magic Elixir for the Common Cold

Lemon & honey is a seriously delicious and powerful combo when you’ve got the sniffles. Sometimes I sip this while I’m in the bath, or immediately after. Here’s how:

  1. Boil some water
  2. Juice 1/2 lemon into your cup
  3. Add 1 TBS of honey
  4. Pour boiling water over the honey/lemon.
  5. Sip and enjoy!
  6. Extra step for common cold induced insomnia: I will sometimes add a half shot of brandy to my magic elixir. It helps me sleep through the night, and I’m pretty sure it’s better than all that chemical junk in over the counter nighttime cold medicines.

Do you have a favorite detox bath recipe? Come over to facebook and tell me all about it!

Click here for daytime tips

Family Bug Out Bag Supplies

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Family bug out bag supply listThe fires in Northern California have been absolutely horrific. Working in my menswear shop this week has been eye opening. We have had A LOT of evacuees come to Fort Bragg to escape fire threat. Not to mention the many folks I’ve met who have lost everything. Everything. Naturally this makes me think about my own family’s safety in an emergency. Are we prepared? We weren’t last week. So the hubs and I are spending some time gathering things we think we would need in case of a car evacuation, thus begins our bug out bag supply list. For our family we have decided on the following:

Family Bug Out Items

We put the following in totes, clearly labeled:
3 gallons of water per person
25 pound bag of rice
25 pound bag of beans
Canned Food
Granola Bars
Camp Kitchen Supplies
Tent
Tarp
Blanket
Pillows
Cash — ATM’s were down during the fires around here
Copies of Birth Certificates & Insurance Cards
Lighting– crank and battery operated
Sterilization agent
First Aid Kit including OTC medications for adults and kids
Duct Tape
Knife
Radio
Compass
Plastic garbage bags

Toddler Bug Out Bag Supplies

Sterile bottle & Formula if needed
Diapers
Wipes
Extra Clothing
Jacket
Blanket
Pacifier
Backpack or Wrap the child can fit in
A comfort item
A toy
toothbrush
Hat

School Age Bug Out Supplies

Extra Clothing–don’t forget socks and underwear!
Jacket
Favorite Toy
Favorite Snack
Clear Backpack
Flashlight
Toothbrush
Hat

 

Adult Personal Bug Out Bag Supplies

Extra Clothing
Jacket
Hat
Toothbrush
Tampons
Playing cards

Obviously, we hope and pray that we will never need these bug out bag supplies, but we are feeling much better knowing that they will be there if we gotta run! As time goes on, there is no doubt that this bug out bag will evolve.  Do you have some ideas that I missed? Contact Me!