finally...almost.

my headlights.
as our best friend, charlie, so diplomatically refers to them.
if you haven’t read any older posts...long story short.
got an implant, didn’t work. who knew?
(I bought a car. It turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?)
problem around the incision > infection > implant out > grotesque hole in my chest
took FOREVER to heal...even a little...because of the radiation i had 6 years ago.
so, fast forward to monday...when i will be having surgery again.
latissimus dorsi tissue flap breast reconstruction.
in other words...they take skin and muscle from my back and somehow move it to my front.
they’ll put an expander in...which will eventually be filled to the point where ill have the next surgery. whew.
but my mantra...it’s not cancer...and it doesn’t hurt...has worked.
bri is, and has been, with me every step of the way...and the kids are totally ready to help out (olivia even went with me to the grocery store this morning to help pick out stuff she wants to make)
ill keep you posted...until then...shine on.
(see what i did there...headlight, shine on. where are you, jenny, when i need you!)

awe

i am in awe by the way the icicles form on the wires.
so even. so perfect.
i am in awe by how beautiful it is.
so destructive, but so beautiful.

we may have lost our beautiful “paper” tree in out front yard.

active time

i heart everyday food.
i really do. i dog-ear at least 10 pages every month...and make most of them.
mushroom and black bean tortilla casserole...yum. mushroom and barley soup, even yummier.
the photo above is bean and cheese enchiladas*. i tasted better than the photo looks**. the thing is...and this is the part where i start complaining...the mag lists it as active time: 20 minutes...total time 30 minutes. really? maybe martha, but not me. for starters, it took me 10 minutes to dig out my food processor and re-clean it since i did such a lousy job the last time i did it. then i had to chase summer down to make sure she didn’t eat the onion i dropped on the floor. (she’s allergic) “use caution when blending hot liquids”...should of used a little more of that. and finally, having to squeeze 4th grade math homework in between steps. this dinner totally took me at least twice marthas’ time. and like i said...it was good, but not THAT good. i’ll have to start marking the recipes i plan to do over with laura-time.

*amy...the cottage cheese wasn’t as gross as we thought
**the best part of the recipe...the homemade enchilada sauce. im glad i had leftovers to freeze.

happy valentines day

not a biggie in the roach household...
but i do appreciate the sentiment...and the prettiness.
LOVE all the ideas here...
i am totally going to copy the yarn-wrapped jars for the next holiday.

xoxo

valentines dance

requesting showers every night of the week +
brushing our teeth and wishing for white strips +
clean jeans and new shirt +
teddy bear = valentines dance.

i escorted sammy and his best friend, jimmy to the elementary dance last night. i was, of course, instructed to stay out of their way...and to not make a fuss. actually, i hardly saw them at all. too busy trolling the school hallways after 4th...and 5th grade girls.

none of them good enough for my sammerjam. :)

(last shot...sam is sitting at a table across from 3 “hot” girls. yes, i was fussing.)

superbowl

not because of any great fandom...but we decided to root for green bay at the house this year. i’ve always been kind of a closet steelers fan, but i was definitely in the minority around the neighborhood. (except for dude, jimmy.) we were the hosts of the kid party...the neighborhood kids came to our house...mom and dad went to the neighbors. just one question, why van’t they have the superbowl on a saturday night?

tgif

i can’t look at this photo without smiling. nobody makes olivia laugh like sam. and vice versa i think.

type nerd

another great tip from all about orange.
gill? who would of thought?
this coming from someone who is now using cooper black in a layout!

last sunday

the first shot looks like jail.
just sayin’.

last sunday was olivia’s first official tournament with GaREAT. (really.)
we left the house at 6:30 and got home at 5 :30.
they did good, especially considering they haven’t been playing as a team very long. although, they do need to work on their team-building skills. :)

i’ll try and take more pictures next tournament of all the thing that go on...like “camping” but the one shot kind of shows just how massive this place was and how many teams there were. and that shot is only about half the facility.

a long day, but as you can see...it ended well.
(and check out olivia’s facebook page for more pics.)

hunter

sammy’s adopted owl.
yes, sammy and i tried to set up a shot where it looked like hunter was sitting on his arm.
fail. epic.
but not the smile on sammy’s face.