Haaaappy Friday, everyone!

Well, the Internet is working again here at the Pete Gross House, and we’re all very excited about it. I mean, the Internet is like electricity now, don’t you agree?

OK, now it’s mannnnny hours later…it’s almost midnight! My eyes are glazing over, so I gotta get to bed. But I added a LOT of photos to this blog, and I can guarantee it will be a long one. My eyes just can’t take trying to organize the photos anymore!!!! So you’ll just have to wait.

OK, now it’s about 7:30 Friday night, and let me just tell you how long I’ve been working on this post….I had so many pictures and it took me hours to upload them, describe them and put them in order…so you better click on each picture and appreciate it, damnit!!

Of course, it’s been several days because our Internet was down, so that’s my excuse for all the pictures! All is well here. Katie arrived today, and she, my mom and Laura are all sitting on the couch watching “Jeopardy” and making moaning noises or saying “Oh”, “Oh yah”, after each answer, as if it were just on the tip of their tongues. Does everyone do that?! Because I think it just comes naturally, whether you ever heard of the category/answer or not!

So my schedule starts getting busier next week…I’ll put it on my schedule section of the blog, so you can know what’s going on. This was a wonderful week. I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful holiday and spent time with your family and friends. For Christmas, my mom, Laura and I went to “China Harbor”, a Chinese restaurant recommended to us by Anitra, my scheduler at SCCA….good recommendation, Anitra!! We went early in the afternoon and there were only about four other people in our room, with a gorgeous view of Lake Union. Inspired by “A Christmas Story”, we thought it would be fun to go out to a Chinese restaurant, but we just couldn’t order the full duck, and unfortunately, they didn’t sing to us! Oh well….next time! I admit, I’ve always been a person of tradition, but this year everything feels like an adventure, and Christmas dinner was no different.

I’m feeling well, although I do notice that I feel a little more tired at night (which is a good thing), so maybe that’s from the tapering of the steroids. I still don’t sleep well, but I’m taking so many medications, who knows what to blame it on!

Speaking of side effects, I hate to harp (or do I love it cause I keep doing it?!!!) on my puffy cheeks and hairiness, but they do still bug me. I’m trying to think of it in a different way: my body is strong enough to take all these meds and heal itself (well, obviously, with the help of my “gift of life”!!!), so hair and fat cheeks (and a little bit of a growing belly which I also blame on the steroids…I mean, when else have I eaten everything on my plate and then had cookies and doritoes, a piece of pie AND hot cocoa all in one evening?!!)….anyway, what was I saying?…oh yah, so the steroids are helping me healthwise, but still, when I look in the mirror, I see a patient and that feels weird to me. I feel healthy, but in the mirror I see tired eyes with a ridge on my nose where my eyeglasses rest, chubby cheeks, and hair where it shouldn’t be (cheeks, lip, eyebrows…on my nose!). I look for a while, and then I just get going with my day. They don’t want me to pluck or anything for a while.

I’ve been looking at old pictures a lot, I guess just awaiting the day I will look and feel totally like myself again. It sounds pretty narcissistic, considering the pain and side effects other patients go through, but this is the honest blog, so of course I wanted to share it with you! I know I will look like myself soon, and I guess I’m proud of the fact that I honestly don’t worry too much about it. It may seem like I do, but I don’t. I look in the mirror each day, and sometimes I feel disappointed, but mostly proud of what I’ve accomplished out here in Seattle, so I go out, hairy and cheeky (or does that word just refer to the British word meaning “offensively bold”, according to dictionary.com? ), and I do what I need to do.

Anywayyyyyy, enough of that!!! Speaking of what we’ve been doing, the snow has paralyzed lots of the Seattle area (outside the city, some people got three feet!), but my mom has been driving around like the expert Pittsburgh driver she is! Although…a couple nights ago, Gobind and Kamal were stuck in the car (as were Laura and I) when we were driving home after dinner. My mom got into opposing traffic at one point (it was hard to tell where the line was) and then she decided to turn where she knew she shouldn’t…luckily, no one was on the road!! BUT, another driver pulled up beside us, a very nice man, and said “You know you can’t turn there…they will ticket you”. Mom didn’t say much except for “Oh, thanks for telling us”. Then he asked “Are you still ‘gonna do it?” and for a moment, I thought she was going to answer “yes”, but she decided against it. The funny part was how much my mom hesitated at his question. We’re all convinced he was an off-duty officer, just being nice (and probably wondering if we were drunk considering the fact we drove on the wrong side of the road for a while!). Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny. Apparently the last time all this snow happened was in 1990….everyone gives us different stories, but I trust Eddie, the source of this info. He drives the shuttle that runs from the Pete Gross House to SCCA and the grocery store.

From the apartment window, you could see people cross-country skiing, walking, dogs running and playing in the middle of the road, cars getting stuck. I also saw someone crossing the street in snowshoes!! We were going to rent them from REI when Gobind was here, but by then it looked like there might not be enough snow on the ground to actually use them…still, it looks like fun! I’d love to try it someday!

Hey, remember when I accidentally made a fool of myself in front of the housekeeper when she delivered a package to the apartment? Just to refresh your memory, she kept knocking on the door, and I thought it was Laura and my mom…I kept yelling “I’M COMINGGGGGGGG!!!!!”, and when I got to the door, I said sweetly, “Whooooo issssss ittt?”, and it was the housekeeper. She got over that quickly, but I felt dumb!

The other day, another employee came up with a package and I yelled “I’m coming!” a couple times, and when I got to the door, I said it again, but not as nicely, again thinking it was my mom (who didn’t want to use her keys), and there he stood. I apologized, but I think the whole staff here must agree that I treat my family poorly, according, at least, to the way I answer doors.

Well, there are lots of pictures today (since the Internet was out!). I told myself I’d put my camera up for a couple days considering the Internet problem, but I just couldn’t do it!! I hope you enjoy them (and don’t forget to appreciate each one for at least five minutes, since this blog took extra long). hahahahaha

Lots of love to everyone,

Julie

PS Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday!!!