Friday, November 30, 2012

Friday Five for November 30, 2012

1. I'm a NaNoWriMo winner! I didn't finish before Thanksgiving, but a virus attacked me. Knocked me out for two days. I still made the goal with time to spare. I haven't managed to find time to get back to the story and finish it yet, though. It's been such a busy week.

2. Most of my Christmas shopping for the family is done. We're on a tight budget this year. I'm doing a photo theme. We had a family portrait done. It's... um, department store quality. Every family needs at least one cheesy department store photo, right? Everyone's going to be looking at my son anyway. That's what I tell myself. I also made up calendars with pictures of my son on Shutterfly. I love their site. It's easy to use and such prices for products people really love.

3. This past month I've been dealing with a health issue that secretly weighed heavy on me. I have no idea why I was quiet about it and brushed it off even with friends and family. During my recent mammogram, they found a lump. I went in for an ultrasound to confirm it and then had a biopsy done. I told myself and everyone else I wasn't worried. Yet when the results came back that it was benign and truly nothing to be concerned about, I felt so light and relieved. I guess I was more worried than I let on even to myself. I believe it's so important for women to do regular self exams and have mammograms starting at the age of 40. If there's history of breast cancer in the family, they should start younger than that. I also learned that finding a lump is more common than I realized. So many of my friends came out and told me the same thing happened with them. I had no idea. Why do women never talk about this amongst ourselves? There's no shame in it and no woman is alone in it. There may be a month dedicated to breast cancer, but talk still isn't happening as it should.

4. My mom is coming for an early Christmas visit next week. We'll be picking her up at the airport on Sunday afternoon and then going to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmm. There will shopping. A lot of shopping. I'm exhausted already!

5. I've been working on posts for my 1301 blog tour. I'm so excited. I have the schedule locked in and I have fantastic hosts. If you'd still like to be part of any of my blog tours for the 13th Floor series, you can click on the tab above to find the dates for each book.

Here is my 1301 blog tour lineup:
Dec. 13 - Cherie Reich and Livia Peterson
Dec. 14 - Nick Wilford

Dec. 15 - Tania Walsh

Dec. 16 - M. Pepper Langlinais

Dec. 17 - Aubrie Dionne

Dec. 18 - Clare Dugmore

Dec. 19 - Kyra Lennon
  and Jackie Felger
Dec. 20 - Shannon Lawrence

Have a great weekend! 

13 comments:

  1. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear you are healthy! You're right, it's not talked about but I think with something that is such a worry, you almost want to be sure about it yourself before you worry everyone else. <3

    Congrats on NaNo and getting your Christmas gifts done. I have almost finished mine, which makes this a brand new record for me! Normally I'm a bit more last minute lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CONGRATS on winning NaNoWriMo! Glad to hear that the lump was benign. CONGRATS on being almost done with your Christmas shopping. Mine is almost done, too. : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank God it was nothing!
    Congratulations on beating NaNo and your upcoming tour.

    ReplyDelete
  4. that's scary about the scare! but i'm glad to hear it was nothing. I hope you have a great time with your mom! get the chocolate mousse cheese cake for me :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on NaNo and I'm so glad to hear everything's okay, health wise.

    I'm envious that your shopping's almost done. I've barely started mine.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow!
    1-congrats! never doubted you!
    2-congrats! i'm almost done too! love precise lists!
    3-ah! i dont understand why they havent found a cure yet! so relieved for you it was benign. how scary!
    4-yay for moms!
    5-yay for christine!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like quite the line-up for the blog tour. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you! I hope those who need to get their shopping done get to it soon before the rush. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats! on Nano and good luck with the blog tour! And my wife was in a similar situation a few weeks ago and test results came back benign. Glad to hear the great news!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad all is OK. Have fun on your blog tour, and with your mom :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. wow, your tour looks killer!! glad you're ok, sister had the same thing. phew... and congrats with nano, that was stellar!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Christine - how lovely to be having your mother to stay - it will be such a good time having her around. Well done on doing so much .. Christmas really should be budgeted ... and congratulations on finishing Nano ..

    Sincerely hope you recover completely and are able to enjoy the next few weeks .. cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.