Head Shaving Party

Please, please, please do not be offended if I did not invite you to my Head Shaving Party!  I asked my Book Club if they would like to come and help me with this "project" and then added a few school friends, and of course family, and that was 19 people!  I am sorry that I could not have more of you there, but I hope you will still be in Kelly's Army!

So....yeah...the chemo people told me Day 14 was when my hair would start to come out.  That would've been Monday evening.  So, it was actually a relief to me when I pulled out quite a bit of hair on Tuesday morning, because I had planned a Head Shaving Party for that evening.  I am not the kind of person to mourn over each strand of hair pulled out and decided to take control and just get it all over with at once.  Of course, when the time came, I wasn't quite ready for them to take the shaving cream and Bic to my head, but we did shave off my hair as low as you can go with the clippers.

Get ready for lots of photos.

Linda had t-shirts made for the occasion!

 Jen Stilling gave me some pink Mommy wine.  I am not allowed to have alcohol, but am glad the others could enjoy this!

 

J.J. was given the t-shirt she is wearing, so we are showing we can fight like girls.

 

 Sue Brandel, who has been so wonderful to us!

 My sister-in-law, Carrie Kons.  Her husband (Matt's brother, Mark) shaved his head, too!

Jenny R., Matt, and I.  Jenny R. is the source of "Suck it up, Buttercup!"  Love it!

Most of the Kons girls (Nora is missing)

 

 One of the coolest things about the party was that I had asked if anyone wanted a pink streak in their hair.  Almost everyone said "Yes!"  So, there was lots of hair dyeing going on throughout the evening.  Here Kyrie is with a streak bleached first.

Then, pinked up and washed out.

 

And, the end result!  Cute!

 

 Right before we did the deed, we took a group photo.

 Declan took the first snip out of my hair.

 Lari was next.  Did Kyrie not cut my hair???

 Here I am with really short, badly cut hair.

 Matt "getting after it" with the clippers

 Lari's turn.

 Kyrie with the clippers!

 Looking tough with this interesting haircut.

 Jessi adds the final touches.

Matt's turn!

 

 Uhhh...yuck?!

 Half a head of hair.

 Kyrie takes a turn.

Daddy as an ice cream sunday.

 Jenny R. did the final touches for Matt.  I wasn't comfortable with the Bic razor.

 Finished!

 The after photos.

 

Here is Miss Jessi VanHaren, who worked so hard dyeing 15 people's worth of hair.  Sadly, she said I was the eighth person whose head she has helped to shave due to breast cancer.  But, happily, all seven are cancer-free.  I can't wait to be a part of her perfect track record!  I was not thrilled that she would not accept any money from me for all of the work she did, but I really appreciate what a wonderful gift she gave me and my friends!

 

Some Awesomeness

I received this poem in a card today from Keith and Dede Marty and thought it was a good one:

"The Oak Tree"

A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree's leaves away,
Then snapped it boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
"How can you still be standing, Oak?"
The oak tree said, "I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
Shake my limbs, and make me sway,
But I have roots stretched in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.
You'll never touch them, for you see,
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn't sure
Of just how much I could endure.
But now I've found, thanks to you,
I'm stronger than I ever knew."

I kind of feel bad for the person who wrote that poem - they receive no credit on the card for it. But, I liked it a lot and will be reaching out to my inner-oak tree.  Thank you, Martys!

Irony in a Bottle

The last time I went in for a haircut (I cancelled my last appt. which was supposed to be two weeks ago now), I purchased this large bottle of shampoo.  They were having a sale and a large bottle was less expensive than the equivalent small bottles.  Hmmm...saving money seems to have cost me money, since the next time I will be using this shampoo is likely to be May...or June...or July.  I believe this is the definition of irony.  Well, only because I can laugh about it, I guess.  Ridiculous.

Some Awesomeness

Oh my gosh, can you believe this?

 

The Brandel Family has been so good to ours - the most important thing they do is include Kyrie in lots of activities with their family, but they have also made us a meal, brought me soup, a wonderful handmade shawl, ice cream and sorbet for the boys...  Oh my goodness I can't even recount the number of things they have done!  So, I cannot believe they did more.  This is so beautiful, though.  We almost can't bring ourselves to eat it.  Almost.  (The girls had "Faith" as an afterschool snack on Friday.)  Thank you so much, Sue, Bob, and Amy.  You are so good to us!  Thank you.

Some Awesomeness

This soup appeared in my fridge last Saturday while I was taking a much-needed afternoon nap.  This is the second batch of soup Cathy has made for me, and let me tell you, she is an excellent soup-maker.  Thank you, Cathy!

 

 

The Burleigh Elementary School Secretary, Missy Petersdorf, made me Matzo Ball Soup!  My favorite thing about it - she said it was made with "Lots of love and Jewish penicillin."  SO cool!  It was delicious!  And exactly what I needed that day!

 



Some Awesomeness

Matt's good friend and exercise buddy, Jim Heberer, recently had surgery on his ankle.  After receiving his cast, he had another friend (a tattoo artist, I believe) create this on his cast.  Wow!  That's dedication!!!!

 

Some Awesomeness

 Lariska and Grandma painted pumpkins.  Lari's has an especial artistic touch.

Jenny Wilde baked an apple pie that I fear Matt stole from their house.  Matt raved about this pie so much, that despite an unhappy tummy I had to try it.  Ummm...he was not joking.  It was incredibly delicious.  My tummy had no problems with it whatsoever.