Dancing Queen

Darby had a dance recital in December. How do you think it went?

You are right.

She ran off the stage the whole time and the crowd was laughing so much at my darling little girl just hamming it up. She totally stole the show! I don’t know why I was surprised that it was Darby who ran off the stage the whole time. Man, isn’t she beautiful? She chose that pose all by herself; nobody was coaching her or anything. She is just so precious.

I have to give credit for the photo to Kristi Ellingson. I have to because I said I would. I encountered a heck of an ordeal trying to print this photo for my family. I don’t have a copy right, I just bought the digital file. Apparently the woman at Wal-Mart used to be some sort of law enforcement official because she gave me some trouble because I didn’t have proof that I bought the copy right. Anyway, it was lame but it worked out.

Let’s not forget the issue at hand: Darby is so precious. This was her costume for “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Next recital, her class is going to be dancing with their daddies to “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Now THAT is going to be so, so sweet!

Sneaky-Sneaky

I don't know what to tell you. She gets it from her father.

I was writing an e-mail to my sister and when I was done, I found Darby at the kitchen table eating the last piece of ice-cream cake (from my birthday). She sneaked it out of the freezer whilst I was out of the room. Can't you just imagine her thought process? She saw her chance and she took it! I wonder how long she had been waiting for me to turn my back. You'll notice an apple, the snack she was supposed to be eating, looking on in jealousy.

She was very proud of her successful endeavor. I was pretty impressed myself!

Darby, Darby, Darby. How boring my life would be without you! I love her sneaking little face!

Transgression

Today, Darby gave the Article of Faith during the opening exercises in primary. Why would someone call on a 3 year old to give the second A of F? Some adults have a hard time with the word "transgression"! Anyway, Darby did great. Especially with the words "punished" and "transgression."

Go figure.

Aside from her devious tendencies, isn't she so adorable?

The Hand of God

I know, I know. You are so sick of reading about MS that you could barf. Hang in there; I’m almost done. I have a really cool story for you. We all know that I like to joke and tease, but this is serious for real. The orchestration of this series of fortunate events leaves no room for questioning the hand of the Lord in our lives.

So, I was starting my new ms therapy, but the company had yet to send me the injections or the special injecting tool (which is so cool, by the way). They are sent separately for some reason, so I had to wait for the arrival of both before I could schedule an injection training. I’ve injected myself with my other meds before, but it is a totally different type of injection. Anyway, upon speaking with someone from the specialty pharmacy, I learned that they sent the injecting tool to our old apartment, so they just sent me a new one. The following day, someone from the pharmacy called me, telling me that they had a woman (Aisha) on the phone and she had received the first tool they sent. It was a conference call, so I could hear both the pharmacy woman and the woman from the apartments. The pharmacy woman said, “Aisha, Hillary has already received a new one, so you can just throw that one away.” I felt bad; I didn’t want her to feel dumb for doing a good thing by calling the company. So, I said, “I’d actually like to come and pick that up, Aisha, if we could set up a time.” So, we set up a time for me to stop by and pick it up at her apartment. A weird thing was that the company put my phone number as the apartment number, so while all the apartment numbers (in that complex) are 3 digits, they put “1634” on the package. Then, the brilliant man at fed-ex delivered it to apartment # 264. Anyway, I wanted to give her a little treat for being so courteous, so I brought her some cookies. When Darby and I arrived at her apartment, I took one look at her and said, “Well, I brought you some cookies, but I can tell by looking at you that you don’t eat cookies.” She smiled and said, “No, I don’t eat sugar; I have MS.” I was like, “Shut up! That’s why I’m here; this is my autoject!” Anyway, we started talking and I asked her what therapies she’s been on and she said that she hasn’t been on any. She has only done natural things and that she has had NO disease progression (she was diagnosed the same summer I was). I was on meds for 10 of the 20 months that I’ve had MS and I have had mild to moderate progression (which is better than it could be, of course). So, I asked her what she is doing to remain so well and she wrote down books for me to read and homeopathic doctors for me to see and it was so awesome! So, I went home and researched a little about what she does and learned that the diet she follows (not for weight loss, just for health benefits) has been studied for over 30 years and that those who followed the diet showed no significant deterioration in all that time. Is that amazing, or what?

I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us. More and more I recognize those “tender mercies” we hear so much about. I usually feel so insignificant in the grand scheme of things and then I am shown the hand of God in my life and I am so amazed and thankful that He knows I am here and that I am made aware that I matter to Him. I know we all do.

Hey, Hey, Hey; Goodbye.

Dear Avonex,

This is the hardest letter I’ve ever had to write.

So, today I started my new MS therapy and it was awesome! With Avonex (my previous med) the needle was crazy big and painful and I was so sick after and blah blah. Well, today I started Copaxone and it was love at first stick! First off, there is an injector so that all you do is press a button and the medicine delivers itself! The needle is so, so small that I didn’t even feel the injection and the only side effect was a little stinging and a small welt. It was so awesome! So, I’m breaking up with Avonex for forever. It’s over, please try to understand.

On another happy note, today is Frankie’s and my 6 year anniversary. Can you believe that an amazing guy like Frank would put up with me for this long? I am so thankful that he has disregarded the truth that he is way out of my league. He is wonderful; I’ve never known anyone like him. I love him so much.

What is something that you like about Frankie?

Awkward!

So, people are too tactful to ask me sometimes about my health. I don’t blog about it too much because that’s lame. So, here is some clarification. And remember that my life is an open book and no question is too personal or off limits with me, so don’t feel uncomfortable about this stuff. I’ve had my MS meds on the brain lately because I will be starting (next week) a new MS med. We all know that I was off my meds for a while, and in the meantime, we had an insurance change. Because of this change, I can now get the MS therapy (injection) we’ve wanted to try from the very beginning. I was on Avonex, the really long needle you see pictured above. It is a once a week injection which must go into the muscle (thigh or upper arm---I only did thigh after we hit bone in my arm. Yeah, makes you shudder, doesn’t it!) and it makes you tremendously ill for the next 24 hours. That was lame. The shorter of the two needles is the size of the new medicine I will begin. It will be a daily injection, but I think it will be better. The side effects are not so severe and I’m really optimistic. It costs $2,900 a month without insurance. Thanks to Heavenly Father and Frankie, we have insurance and it will only cost us about $20 a month. Much better! If you have questions about Multiple Sclerosis, you can ask me or you can go to my favorite MS site, called MS Sucks. It is written by someone with MS about his experience and he lists a lot of facts that are hard to find. The address is multiplesclerosissucks.com and I think he is hilarious! I really don’t know a ton about the disease, to be honest. I figure I’d better not look it up because I’ll freak myself out and I’m already doing all I can do to stay healthy, so what’s the point? And I am healthy, just for the record. I sprint after Darby all day long and do everything I’ve always done, so don’t worry about me. I just wanted to show off my needles so you’d think I’m tough and I thought you might want an update.

On a sad note, my favorite author, J.D. Salinger, died yesterday. I mean, he was wicked old, like 90 or something, so I guess it’s not all that sad. He lived a long, weird life. Look him up sometime; you will not be bored, that’s for sure. He drank his own pee because of his religious beliefs. I will not be converting anytime soon. Who is your favorite author?

Looking Cheap

I am very lucky. I have some really awesome friends. And my awesome friends have awesome ideas. This is one of them that I stole from Alisha. You should see her playroom; it is amazing. Mine is less impressive, but I’m working on it. This shelf of books you see is 7 feet of rain gutter. We got 10 feet of it for $7 at Home Depot. We screwed it into some studs and voila! It is a great bookshelf because the books are at eye-level for Darby and her friends AND they are all facing forward so that the kids aren’t just pulling out books because they can’t see the covers. And it is simple, cheap, and space-saving; three of my favorite things!

What are some of your really great and cheap ideas?