Travel Often

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” — Rosalia de Castro

Love Deeply, but Laugh Along the Way

"Happiness is only real when shared." - Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

View Marriage as an Adventure

"Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage." ~Finnish Proverb

Fuel your body with GOOD (It's the only one you get)

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. - Arabian Proverb

Open your Soul to Motherhood

A Grand Adventure is About to Begin - Winnie the Pooh

A New Kind of Love is Born

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Skin Cancer Prevention - Mole Removal Take III

Preventing Skin Cancer
Early Detection

Here I am again - a year and five more moles later - and more skin carving. Fun stuff. This is my mole/skin post from last year. This will also link you to my mole/skin post from the year before that!
The moles we don't like this year


This past May, I went to the annual skin clinic sponsored by Park Nicollet with my friend Jenna again. (TOTALLY FREE during skin awareness month!) Thinking I might actually be in the clear this year, I instead left with a sheet that looked more like a PeeWee Herman connect-the-dots game and instructions to get in with a skin doctor as soon as I could to get my moles looked at further and cut off. Shoot!

So here I am about to go in and get sliced and diced. Our poor Health Savings Account. But this is why we have insurance, right? This is what that account is for... That, and the delivery of another baby. It'll be an expensive year for us. New car, house, baby, medical costs. Am I missing anything? Why not throw it all together in a nice neat package?

Yes, I do realize moles do change during pregnancy. However, I also know I am my best advocate and because of my awesome friend Erin who is fighting Stage 4 Melanoma, I don't take my moles or my skin lightly anymore. Not one bit. She if fighting for her life every single day. SHE was the one who saved herself!!

I know all the moles that were marked as suspicious very well. They were the exact moles I'd been watching because each one of them grew in size in a year's time. You know when you get that little voice inside you telling you something isn't right? Yeah. I'd get that voice with all these moles. Is it weird that the volunteer doctor picked them out too?

Mole growth is one of the early signs of skin cancer. They are small now (smaller than a pencil eraser), but are a lot bigger than they were last year. I decided to choose piece of mind over worry. (Come on, like I have time to worry about another thing). Once these are gone, I should have nothing to worry about until the next year when five more moles come off. :)


And for your enjoyment, here are the moles coming off! I couldn't get a photo of the two on my upper back and was going to ask Karl to take the photos but the All-Star game was in Minnesota and his favorite baseball player was involved (Pat Neshek). I knew what that meant!!! DO NOT DISTURB.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the results! Do me a favor though - PLEASE get your skin checked today.

Leg

back of arm

Front of leg

Upper thigh


House Happenings

AWESOME MINNESOTA WEATHER

I know this weather is a little on the chilly side for July (50s and 60s) but I’m not complaining. I love it. Especially when right now the weather seems to have a large part in determining my mood. When it’s hot and sticky, I’m not the greatest person to be around. I’m dragging, tired and crabby. Bloated. 26 weeks preggers now.
LOVING this weather!


But Sunday came and the humidity dropped. I felt like a new person. We spent all day outside! So great! I love weekends like these.
Cute little WELCOME mat:) 

At 26 week’s preggers, I washed my car (with Jackson’s help), cleaned out all the big pots from our town house and got them ready to plant lots of BEAUTIFUL flowers in.  I washed the inside and outside of the first level windows in our house. I realize the screens are the really dirty part of the windows now. What a difference a squeegee makes on windows. Whoa. Jackson and I took all the chairs out from the garage and scrubbed them down. I think Jackson enjoyed controlling the hose.
BEFORE (WTF happened here, people?!?!?! Take care of your stuff!)

AFTER! LOVE IT! THANKS, DAD!

I weeded with Jackson in the backyard and put new mulch down. We caught a ton of frogs too. Big ones and little tiny ones. I cleaned up around Jackson's swing set area and can't wait to put some bricks down so he can enjoy his little picnic area without getting too muddy! I fertilized our hanging baskets. I hit up the grocery store and made some really healthy, good lunches and dinners that we ENJOYED OUTSIDE!!! I love love love this part. I love being able to sit outside. I organized our file cabinets with all the new house bills we’ve been getting and told Karl where I wanted a few more pictures hung in the house.
Weeds be gone! And new mulch!


Karl picked up a couple bird feeders and set them up with Jackson. We’re pretty excited about this because it sounds like a jungle in our backyard already and maybe we’ll bring in even more beautiful music. The yard is looking so great. Karl has been mowing and weed whacking after I pull whatever I can without getting attacked by mosquitoes. Man, the bugs are NASTY this year! Things are really coming together though.
The bird feeder was DUMPED out when we got home from work and all the squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies were fighting over the seeds. Jackson got a kick out of that! He kept saying, "GO AWAY, BUNNY!"

The day before, Karl and I had to run over to the town home to clean up a couple more things and drop off keys and garage door openers. This is getting real! Renter moved TUESDAY! I was so proud of myself. Our association told us if we took initiative we could get some of the windows replaced in the town home that were fogging up. If not, we’d start incurring a $100 monthly charge. I jumped right on this. For $25, I received a new window for our Bay window and installed it ALL BY MYSELF. I know. I know. EASY. But it’s the little things. I like being self-sufficient. I like being able to figure out challenging things and doing them. Makes me feel like I can do just about anything that comes my way. Or at least I can TRY and figure it out.
Put in this window all by myself!!! PROUD!



We tried working on the garage. VERY HARD to do with a toddler getting into EVERYTHING. I have realized I can’t do as much as I used to. The boxes are WAY too heavy now. That part is hard, but I tried to focus on putting things in the right place. Karl didn’t have as much time to go through everything before he packed them up, so I’m doing that for him now. Ufdah. 

I also made my VERY first pie EVER! Rhubarb strawberry. Not bad! Not bad. Never been a pie person but my mom left us with strawberries and rhubarb. What's a girl to do? Karl devoured almost ALL of it! We're in trouble!
My first pie!


Just a quick look at how every cabinet looked like when I opened them. I didn't realize there was this secret drawer until this week. Of course...DIRTY. More cleaning to be had!
 
It's good this is blurry, but do you see the gunk stuck to the wood? UGH! WHY?

And then Mr. Cute Man. Love this dude to pieces. Love his smiles and cuddles in the morning this week. My parents left him with a nice surprise when he got home from daycare. He loved this! A tower topped with a garbage truck! AWESOME.


Having fun at the park! ALWAYS.

Until next time!