Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stay Tuned

Hopefully lots of good news will be coming our way this weekend.

I meet with the dermatologist, radiation oncologist and surgeon today for a more or less definitive answer as to what may be going on with me. I keep hoping that things have improved and I'm still just an anomaly (I really don't want to think about the alternative).

We will hear this weekend about Tiger Lily as well. I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed that she gets a part in the play. She loved being on stage. If not, well try, try, and try again. I am just happy that she is enjoying herself.

Of course, we will be rooting for Arizona this weekend. NASCAR starts up soon and I can hardly wait to watch Denny make a run for the Cup this year!

Have a great weekend.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Auditions!!!

Tiger Lily had her audition last night and she did amazing! She sang the song Tomorrow from Annie (can't remember the grammar rules so I'll just leave it all out...). Since we didn't bring the sheet music with us she sang without accompaniment and did great--she has a good voice. They learned a short dance which she put all of her usual enthusiasm into and did a short "cold reading". Her acting teacher was there and he agreed with me.

We'll know something this weekend. Rehearsals start next week and the play runs for three weekends in late April and early May. It is a musical called Honk and is a play on the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling. We learned something and she had fun so it was worth it.

For those of you who noticed once again that I'm off on the dates--I know I seem to have lost my ability to remember times, places and dates in the past year. It'll come back some day--I hope.

Keep your fingers crossed everybody!!!!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

I can't think of a title for this posting so I'm keeping it blank. We stay busy as always.

Tiger Lily just finished her second grading period and is close to getting all A's again. She had a rough teacher last year and I'm happy to see her enjoying school again. She amazes me sometime when she comes home and gets her homework done right away. She is also practicing her song for her audition on Tuesday and I'll make sure to post whether or not she gets a part. I have my fingers crossed (and my toes too!!)

There is some improvement for me and I have more doctor's appointments on Friday so I will know better then. I continue to hope that we have made the right decision as the alternative really stinks....

We enjoyed our company over the inauguration and were happy to host family that could experience such a historic event. Tiger Lily's brother has become a man and I am proud to see that he has become what I always saw underneath the layers. His wife is a welcome addition to our family.

As always, hugs and kisses.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

It keeps going

Perhaps a better title for this posting should have been "Breast cancer, the disease that keeps on giving". I've had a couple of worrisome weeks due to a new complication and am finally, I think, okay. In December we noticed an abnormality in my nipple and my radiation oncologists were so nice about following up and kept asking me to come back to check on it. Well, after Christmas they informed me that they were concerned I had Padget's disease. Padget's disease is traditionally considered a hallmark sign of breast cancer--ductal carcinoma cells slough off and travel along the ducts to the nipple. If you have Padget's disease you will have crusting of the nipple--which is why all the breast exam pamphlets tell you to look for it. Basically, they were concerned that I had cancer again. Because the treatment for Padget's is radiation and I had finished my radiation 6 weeks earlier they were very perplexed as to what was going on. We decided to be conservative since a biopsy of my nipple was not something I really wanted.

They are treating it as a rare but reported delayed side effect of the radiation and keeping a close eye on me. I joked with the surgeon the other day that I figure I'll be some interesting case study and my breast will end up in the literature and she laughed (I'm not sharing any information on that so don't ask) but didn't rule it out....

So stay tuned...

Friday, January 16, 2009

My Divorce

I know that there are some questions surrounding my divorce and I figured I’d take some time to clarify a few things.

The nuts and bolts details are as follows: in Maryland, you can only get an immediate divorce on the grounds of adultery, desertion, or physical and mental cruelty. Otherwise you must voluntarily separate for one year before you can file. I chose not to pursue an immediate divorce for reasons I will keep to myself. In August of this year I can file for my divorce and will then simply have to wait for a court date. We have already separated all our property, decided on the custody arrangement for Tiger Lily which is the only thing that was important to me and finalized all the details. Ted has moved on and will not contest anything so it will be a quick divorce. I refer to Ted as my daughter’s father, even when we finally do divorce I will probably continue to refer to him this way.

Some of you have questions about the circumstances and details that led to my divorce. Given many of the articles etc. in the media lately I have every legal right to put everything out there in the blogsphere and there are those who would say I have a moral right to do so as well. If you are continuing to read my blog simply waiting for me to spill all the sordid details then please stop wasting your time. Tiger Lily still occasionally reads this, she doesn't need to know the details so I will not share here. It is enough to know that he left things behind in his rush to get out in August so that I know when plans were made, lines were crossed and kisses were asked for. Ted knows what I know and the discussions between us about the details ended months ago.

I have learned a lot about myself in the past 8 months and will probably never be the same person but I need to move on and now I need to begin to heal my soul. We can never forget the betrayal of a loved one or those who were, in truth, never our friends but in time the bitterness and pain fades and I hope to reach that point in the near future. Rehashing all that happened does not set me free, although I will admit there are days when a good “dish” about it all helps!

Moving forward with baby steps every day!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

January is begining to get busy

Our quiet time is gone and we are beginning to get busy again.

Tiger Lily is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and I lost a bet last weekend so I'm now feeding the dog every night this week. I'm happy to see her finally enjoying football, I remember watching the Dallas Cowboys with my father when I was her age and she was lucky enough to have the time last weekend to do the same with her father. We will be watching the game this weekend, please don't call if they lose I will be consoling a devastated 10 year old. Of course, then she has to do the dishes for a week....

Tiger Lily has been asked by her acting class teacher to audition for a play at the Montgomery Playhouse and she is over the moon. Although I do not see a future Hannah Montana here (please no, I would never wish such a life on a child) I know of several people who truly enjoy acting and it is something she can do for the rest of her life. I hope she gets a part for all the obvious reasons and if she doesn't we will consider trying again. For those of you that know her, she is not afraid of failure which is an important trait for anyone to be successful.

My life, well, my goals for the month of January are funny, work related and simple. I want to learn how to walk gracefully in 4 inch stilettos (Tiger Lily suggested the shoes when we were shopping and I never realized how hard they are to walk in)--that's my funny one. I also want to finish up at least one manuscript at work--I have 3 on my desk and am getting nowhere so I'm going to focus on one and leave the other 2. My simple one is to sign up for a yoga class. At the end of the month I'll let you know whether I actually accomplished the walking part. I guess if I don't have any trips to the emergency room I'll be successful...

We have a busy weekend ahead of us and I will enjoy having Monday and Tuesday off to finish up all the things around the house that I have been putting off. As I said before, we have company coming and will have a good time as well.

Pink

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Here comes the new Pink Tulip

I left my post up saying Happy New Year for a little while to give everyone who reads Pink Tulip at work at chance to catch up and now it’s time for this to become my blog.

Tiger Lily and I are settling back into our routines after our long warm vacation. We had an absolute blast in AZ even after the adventure that we started with. One thing I have to say about my Tiger Lily, she is always up for something new and is an amazing travel companion. She spent most of the time playing on the tramp, selling lemonade and basically playing with all the cousins. The weather was warm and she blended right in with my sister’s very large family. We also spent a day at the Desert Museum where she saw a Harris Hawk up close and talked a lot about the area. I miss home and if I could find a job out there I would probably go back.

We are in a lull right now with activities so our evenings have been quiet. Acting class starts up again in Feb, she is taking a break from cooking classes to attend a Math Academy but will start those up again soon and she really wants to play touch football so I’m trying to find a league for that (if all else fails she said she’d play softball). She goes to her father’s this weekend so I will probably rattle around the house all weekend missing her.

We had originally thought about driving to Florida for inauguration weekend to escape the crowds but will be hosting several out of town guests and displaced DC residents instead. If anyone needs a place to stay that weekend I have tons of room still. I have to admit I would love to go just to see the events but am not sure I want to deal with all the extra security and crowds. We all know I never supported the previous president and missed Bill Clinton’s second inauguration for some reason which I can’t even remember now. I am excited about the prospect of change and hope that the new president can accomplish some of the things he promised. Since I’m taking baby steps and getting used to blogging I’ll wait awhile before I start to expound on my political leanings. Everyone is welcome to comment if they want to start a debate....

Like I’ve said several times before my life isn’t exciting, I’m a single parent with an amazing child but it’s my life and I’m starting to rebuild it to be what I want. Since I’ve held back so many of my dreams etc for 4 ½ years while my husband pursued his it’ll take me awhile to remember but I will and I promise to share.