A Big(ish) Outing

Last October for Pastor’s Appreciation Day, our church gave Steve and me a gift certificate to Owens, a local restaurant. Sadly though, just when we got ready to put the certificate to use, the restaurant closed for the winter and so we had to cool our heels (along with our taste buds) for five months--all the while continuing to hear rave reviews about the place from various local folks.

Well last Friday night, our Big Moment finally arrived and Steve and I were more than ready to go out and do it up big; in fact, we were ready to par-TAY! (Or at least go forth to eat a fine meal in a generally enthusiastic and energetic fashion.)

And oh, what a meal!

May I just say that if you ever come to the Outer Banks on vacation, you must stop by Owens Restaurant for a meal; it is a drop dead gorgeous restaurant (owned by the same family for 65 years) and the food is amazing. I will warn you, though, that it’s a bit spendy; we probably won’t be going there a whole lot unless we’re accompanied by a gift certificate or unless it’s for a special occasion--like possibly our 85th wedding anniversary.

(Or actually, come to think of it, the portions are plenty big enough to split if you and your Officially Accompanying Person are not big eaters.)

But anyway, here we are, getting ready to delightedly delve (not to mention dive) into our delectable desserts. Steve had coconut pie on a chocolate base and I had pecan pie, warmed, with a scoop of ice cream. (And please do your best to not be jealous of our Unique Hand Holding Technique. When you've been married 29 years, you find out there is more than one correct way to hold a hand!)

May I just say that we were not, repeat not, counting calories on this particular evening. Life is too short to count calories all the time, and one of those decidedly non-counting times is most definitely when one is dining at Owens.

And even though the meal was expensive, my thrift-lovin’ soul was happy that the leftover filet mignon we took home with us was more than enough to feed all three of us for dinner the following night. I added baked potatoes, a veggie, and some rolls and we got to eat expensive food two nights in a row. How fun is that?

A Few Comments

Kim said, “What beautiful pictures. I'm sure you've told us...but can you tell me again..what kind of camera you have?”

Thanks for the compliment, Kim! I do love taking pictures!

I have two cameras:

• A “purse camera” which goes with me everywhere. It’s a Canon Power Shot A620 that I’ve had about three or four years; I feel like it’s my best friend. (Well, apart from Steve that is, who is my absolute, very best friend.)
  
• I also have a Nikon D5000 which is my “it makes me feel like I’m a real photographer even though I’m not” camera. I’ve only had it a couple months so I’m still finding my way around it but I absolutely love it and am being constantly inspired by all the potential it offers.

My H said, “Is Sarah feeling better now? She was under the weather a few days ago.”

Mary, thanks for your concern about Sarah. Obviously whenever Sarah gets a fever of any variety, we tend to worry a tad because unexplained fevers were one of her original cancer systems. So whenever she does run a temp I say, “Do you have a cough? Runny nose? Sore throat? You do? Oh good!”

I realize it’s a bit odd to do happy dances when one’s daughter has a sore throat but we cancer moms are funny like that.

Anyway, this last fever was (thankfully) accompanied by all the “regular symptoms” so she just stayed home a couple days from school, bounced right back and is currently feeling great!

Anonymous said, “What you had was EXACTLY like the sleep study I just had and waiting for results. What were the results of yours?”

It’s been so long since I had that study that I really don’t remember exactly what the final report was; obviously it wasn’t anything too alarming because no one told me to change anything or do anything different. Good luck on getting your results! There’s nothing quite like going through a sleep study, is there?

Debbie asked, “Beautiful pictures Becky. Out of curiosity, did you find anything at the consignment shop?”

Debbie, actually I did find a treasure. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been on the lookout for summer shoes with toes in them (due to my recent traumatic toenail removal) and I snagged a pair of gold/tannish, leather casual shoes that had some hoity-toity designer’s name in them. (Although hoity toity-ness doesn’t matter in the least to me.)

I looked them up online when I got home and found that they sell new for about $60-80. I got them for $20, which is still a little expensive to me, but hey, I’m a desperate woman! And sometimes a desperate woman just has to shell out $20 for shoes!

But any rate, I just love the whole treasure-hunting vibe of thrift stores and consignment stores because you honestly never know what will be around each corner. The shopping is so much more interesting than at a mall.

And all the thrift store lovers said? Amen!

The Smithellaneous Life.

I did manage to drag my draggy behiney out of bed at about 8:00 this morning although my poor, sick self was begging my frantic, busy self to stay in bed all day. But my busy self said “no” to the sick self and so both selves eventually got a reluctant start on the day.

(Is it just me or did that paragraph make absolutely no sense?)

Steve and I are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning for an overnight marriage retreat that our church has put together; it’s being held in a 23-bedroom house (with two elevators) in the four-wheel drive area of the beach. (That means it’s an area where the houses are only accessible by four-wheel drive vehicles. Which you probably guessed. But which I thought I should explain anyway.)

Unfortunately, Sarah has developed a bad headache, has been kind of shaky and has been running a fever for the past several hours so I’m not not quite sure how that’s all going to pan out. If she isn’t feeling a whole lot better by morning, I will end up having to stay home and Steve will be the only “single guy” at the marriage retreat.

Some pastor friends of ours are leading the retreat; I’m hosting them for dinner Saturday night and then they’ll speak at the church on Sunday morning. It’s shaping up to be a wonderful weekend but I’ll just have to see how Princess Groovy Chick feels; as I told her a few minutes ago, she is way more important to me than any other plans we could possibly make.

In other news, the work on the bathroom has been continuing, which means the chaos level in that particular room has continued to escalate. And you have not truly lived on the wild side until you have dealt with a steadily escalating chaos level in your bathroom. Trust me on that.

Here are a few pictures:

And may I just say that I usually fold my towels and washcloths nicely before putting them on the wrought iron stand thingie. However, with a chaotic bathroom? I must admit that I have lost my vim (not to mention my vigor) for the Art of Neat Towel Folding.

Also, please note in this picture that Steve is a staunch member of the group which believes that one must stick one’s tongue out when one is fervently concentrating on something. In fact, the members of this particular group actually believe that difficult jobs cannot adequately be accomplished without that particular facial protrusion. (Do you know anyone like that?)

It appears as though the bathroom is not capable of handling all the chaos that has been foisted upon it because recently said chaos has inexplicably burst forth from the bathroom out into the bedroom. Well, actually I guess it’s not all that inexplicable. Steve had to cut a hole through the closet wall in order to do something with some pipe thingie (that was the technical explanation) so he had to move a whole bunch of his clothes in order to gain access to the pipe. But the hole is still not completely re-done so the clothes are still bursting forth. Inexplicably or not.

I just love me some chaos.

I posted this picture just because I thought it was fun to come up with a dramatic picture of a guy fixing a bathroom.

So there you have it.

A hard working hubby. A marriage retreat in a big house on the ocean. A chaotic bathroom—and bedroom. Out of town dinner guests. Packing (or not packing) a suitcase for a trip. A daughter with a fever.

It’s all just part of the Smithellaneous Life!

Does This Look Like Love To You?

Yes, this.

This little switch on this little cable. Does it look anything like love to you?

To me? It looks like love.

Because to me, the longer I’m married, the more I discover that Love shows up in many forms and permutations and disguises. And this little ol’ switch is one of them.

Because when you have a bedside lamp that is this tall . . .

. . .and you’re lying on your bed waaaay down below. And you’re reading. And you have new stitches and new surgical owies. And you can’t reach up high enough to get to the switch on the very tall lamp beside your bed. And you get frustrated because it’s hard to nap with the lamp on. But it’s also hard to read with the lamp off.

Well, that’s when you need Love to show up.

In my particular case, Love took the form of my hubby going to Ace Hardware and purchasing the switch to install on the lamp cord so that I could control the lamp by simply reaching over. And not stretching at all.

And every time I’ve turned the lamp on or off over the course of this week of recovery, I’ve been reminded again of what Love looks like.

Thanks, Honey, for all the big and small ways you show me love.

____________________________

Today, I’ll be on the road to my plastic surgeon for my post-op visit. I’m hoping that he will clear me to take a shower and at least give me a little bit of a break from the horrible girdle bra I’ve been wearing
24-hours a day. Ug.

I’ll let you know how things go!

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

I'm here. Finally.

It's been a long day.

I was originally planning on writing a longer, newsier post, but for now a few bullet points and a summary or two will have to suffice.

I slept very poorly last night and was up at 5:30 for the visit to the two surgeons. I haven't had a nap yet plus, I actually drove an hour on the way home which, while very exciting (I haven't driven in ten days), was sort of tiring.

Here is the day in a nutshell:

They did remove two of the four drains. I was told that they don't usually remove all four at the same time because when they take out two, the other two usually drain extra for a few days, just to "finish the job." (Or something like that.)

If my drains don't fill up a lot this week, I can go back on Friday to have the remaining two removed.

Four and a half hours on the road. $30 for gas and food. All for a 2 1/2 minute, drain-removing procedure. Sigh.

So while I was thrilled to be rid of two of the drains, it's a bit disheartening to still be haulin' the remaining two of them around. I'm trying to experiment with different ways to hide them and tuck them away but I've basically come to the realization that as fashion accessories, drains are pretty much non-starters.

We left the plastic surgeon and drove over to the cancer surgeon where we got the pathology report from the surgery. And here is the news from that report:

• Four lymph nodes were removed during surgery; all are clear.
• There is no need for chemo.
• There is no need for radiation
• There is no need to take Tamoxifen
• I don't need to see a medical oncologist (in addition to the surgical oncologist)
• My prognosis is excellent

So hooray for that fabulous report!

In an interesting bit of news, they did pathology on the right breast tissue as well, and found quite a few atypical cells. Even though atypical doesn't always equal cancer, atypical is still not a good thing. So I'm glad I went ahead and did the bilateral mastectomy and just got everything done with. For good.

The plastic surgeon will give me a couple weeks to heal up and then I will go back for the first saline filling. (There's probably a medical name for that procedure but at this juncture, "saline filling" is the best I can do.)

We'll continue the "saline filling procedure" for several months and then at some point (probably late summer) I'll have another surgery to remove the saline filled expanders and have them replaced them with permanent implants.

Doesn't that sound like such a fun time? (How I spent my summer vacation.)

In closing, last Thursday night, I really hit rock bottom. Physically and emotionally, I'd just had it. I cried all the way through dinner (Sarah was at a friend's house so she didn't have to witness my emotional crumbles) and by the end of the evening, this is what I looked like.

I felt ugly, and depressed and non feminine and unlovable. I dragged myself off to bed early and wished that I could just disappear. For a very long time.

Friday when I finally took my weary self downstairs for breakfast, this is what I saw at my place at the table.

I'm so grateful for a 28-year marriage that isn't based on appearance and perfection and non-stop wonderfulness. I'm thankful that after a cancer diagnosis, and a mastectomy, and all the complexities of emotional and physical changes that have to be grappled with, I am married to a man who still loves me just the way I am.

Imperfect. Flat chested. Weary. Disheartened. Expensive. (In medical terms.)

And yet, in his eyes, still lovely.

I am blessed.

Chilly Air. Messy Hair. A Happy Pair.

Happy 28th anniversary to Steve and me! Here are some pictures from yesterday’s anniversary outing.

As were pulling out of the drive way, we were treated to the sight of this happy foursome bidding us adieu. (Nathan is still dressed in the stuff he slept in which is why he looks so “coldly clad.”

Although my dear husband thought of everything to make this day special, it appears as though he forgot to write on his to-do list, “Order sunny, balmy weather.”

Oops.

It was about 45 degrees all day with some pretty good wind whipping around. We dressed in layers, put on hats and scarves, cranked up the heater and the seat warmers and did pretty well. Not for the whole trip, mind you, but at least for an hour when I told Steve through chattering teeth that it just might be time to put the top back up!

I must say that I don't know all those lovely stars in movies manage to drive around in a convertible all day and then pop out of the car for dinner with unmussed hair. I guess it would help to have a hairdresser riding in the car behind me, like they do. Ya think?

Here’s the famous Rodanthe house. (Which by the way, a realtor in our church is in the process of selling.) I know there are many other pictures of it on the Internet but I just snapped this one in a hurry while we were driving by.

We eventually made it to our destination—the lovely Cape Hatteras lighthouse. From what we understood, it’s the most widely recognized lighthouse in the country. Steve and I both loved that the base is painted red. Such a zippy color combination.

Steve makes friends where ever he goes, and the lighthouse was no exception.

Another view . . .

From the lighthouse, we took a toasty, sun splashed walk on the beach. (Or not.)

I must say that it was marvelously invigorating to be buffeted by such a chilly wind! Happily, the fresh air and exercise served to whet our appetites for our evening repast, eaten by a roaring fire . . .

. . . .starting with this crab dip appetizer.

And moving on to this delectable delight.

Our marvelous repast was followed by chocolate chip pie warmed and topped with ice cream (for me) and a coconut chocolate pie for Steve.

We had thought about going to a movie after dinner, but by the time we finished eating, we were both ready to just waddle on home and go straight to our pajamas.

Which we did. Which was a wonderful way to end a wonderful day.

Happy anniversary to a godly, loyal, loving, fun, patient, wacky, handsome husband!

A Knight on a White Horse, er, Car

Half an hour ago, a white, BMW, Z-3, two seat roadster wheeled into our driveway. Which I might add, is a bit of a departure from the two "oldish" vehicles--each of which have more than 100,000 miles--that usually hang out there.

I stared in some puzzlement at the BMW, wondering who had come to call in such a spiffy car.

Well, as it turns out, it was the pastor of a local church in Manteo who had come to call. And as it also turns out, that pastor had come to call on me! It appears that he and I are going on an anniversary date in ye olde BMW convertible. (Which he borrowed from a kind soul in Manteo.)

So! The plan is to drive in the convertible down to Cape Hatteras, which is known to be a beautiful, winding seashore drive. We'll look at the lighthouse and also drive by the house in Rodanthe where "Nights at Rodanthe" was filmed.

Then we'll make our leisurely way one and a half hours back up the seashore to Colington Cafe, a restaurant that local gossip (and Southern Living magazine) says is the best restaurant on the Outer Banks. After that, we may or may not see a movie.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Nathan, Meagan and Sarah are going to go an afternoon matinee of the Princess and the Frog and Snowy will spend the day snoozing.

So that's the Smith Line up for today. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures on our fabulous outing!

Happy New Year to all of my delightsome blog friends.

A Paw Creek Wedding

Twenty-eight years ago this Saturday, Steve and I were married at Paw Creek Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, the church that Steve's family has attended for many years.





And in a nicely-timed turn of events, Paw Creek Presbyterian just happened to be where our family attended service yesterday.




We thought it would be nice to take a picture with the kids too, since they both sort of got their start at that church. (Um. Figuratively of course. Not literally.)




And to make the morning all the more meaningful, this fella also happened to be in town (and at church) at the same time we were. Kris was the soloist for our wedding.


Kris' family has lived next door to Steve's parents for over thirty-five years and have also attended the same church throughout those years. Kris and his charming wife live in Singapore so we don't get to see him very often.

And I thought I'd also include this picture of my hubby, although I'm not entirely sure what he's doing.



It was not only a special Sunday but also a memorable Christmas visit, made all the more lovely by this sight as we pulled away from Steve's parent's house yesterday to head home.

And just one more picture . . .

This is Nathan and his girlfriend Meagan at her college graduation two weeks ago. The reason I'm posting a picture of Meagan sort of "out of the blue" is that tomorrow, she will be coming to Manteo and staying until Sunday. Hooray!

From the Comments Section

Q. Have you read any books by Richard Paul Evans? --Krista

A. Unfortunately, I haven't but I'm always on the lookout for new authors. Thanks for the recommendation!

Q. Just curious....does Steve's church not have a Christmas day service? I think it's great that he and your family were able to travel for the holidays!!!! We're Catholic so Christmas eve and Christmas day are very important holidays. We celebrate with our pastor. I am not familiar with the Christian traditions. Merry Christmas!!!"

A. At our church, we had a candlelight communion service on Wednesday night and then yesterday (Sunday) our regular regular morning service was held, which our church's youth pastor preached at since Steve was out of town.

But no, we really don't have any tradition of having services right on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It sounds like a lovely thing to do, though!

Q. What did you get for Christmas? --Anonymous

A. I got a lovely pocketbook!

And thanks to all of you who shared some of your favorite Christmas gifts; it was so much fun to read about them all.

The Weird Date

Well. Here I am.

Overdue for a post. Under due for a comforting Little Debbie cake.

Overdue for a nap. Under due for some (thrift) shopping therapy.

Overdue for filling some boxes with stuff. Under due for a day just to stare at the ceiling and be in My Happy Place.

Under. Over. Whatever. I'm here. That's what counts.

You're here. And I'm so glad!

If you weren't here, I'd be writing endless blog posts to myself and that would be so boring since I already know what I'm going to write about and therefore I already know what I'm going to read about. (yawn) So thanks for being here!

We got an email from the realtor who showed the house this morning but there was no comment made so we have no idea how that showing went. We're hoping to hear this week from the people who were interested last week.

Wednesday, our house in Manteo will undergo a major inspection so that any red flags can be uncovered before Moving Day. Hopefully that will turn out with well without too many alarming finds.

And speaking of Manteo, we were there part of the weekend without Sarah so we decided to go on an exciting date. Would you like to hear the details?

No? Yes? Well then, here we go!

First we went to the church to do a little work. (I told you this was going to be exciting.) Part of the work included putting the letters on the sign out in front of the church.

I felt for all the world like I was on a TV quiz show and was about to say, "Vanna, I would like to buy a vowel." (And by the way, I hadn't washed my hair or done much to my face, so I apologize in advance for any "scaryness" involved in this photo.)



I was working on one side of the sign and Steve was working on the other side. It was soooo romantic to peak around the sign occasionally and catch a glimpse of my consonant-placing date.





Here is our finished product. (Steve's sermon was based on the Scripture, "Blessed are the peacemakers.")



From there, it was off to Ace Hardware to purchase a few church supplies. We hadn't yet been to Manteo's hardware store so it was quite a big moment for us. (Steve is as much a connoisseur of hardware/home supply stores as I am of thrift stores. If you can, indeed even be a connoisseur of a thrift store. Sounds oxymoronic, somehow.)

Anyway. . .

We walked into the hardware store and I immediately fell in love with their little Ace Hardware baskets. I was pushing mine all around cooing, "Oh, how cute is this?"

Steve decided to take a picture of my "walking, pushing, cooing" self. Unfortunately, he was laughing so loudly at my antics that in the first picture he caught me in the middle of saying, "Shhhhhh!"

Here is the unattractive shape of my mouth when I am caught in the midst of a "shhhh" moment.

And here is my "unshhhhh" moment.


As I said, the little baskets were so darling, the way they sat on the carts. You could either pick up the basket and carry it on its own or leave it on the cart. But I was so in love with the cart, there was no way I would have left it behind and just carried the basket.

Just. Way. Too. Cute. (And my two male readers are now rolling their eyes.)

From that exciting moment, we drove back to the church to "install" a few of the things we bought. And then it was on to a romantic walk on the beach.

Under a gray, overcast sky. Bundled up in coats. Surrounded by flooding, and broken buildings, and erosion.

Not exactly the picture for the front of tourism brochure but still, it had its own beauty.














Next on the agenda was a drive down to the harbor front downtown area of Manteo where we ate at this wonderful restaurant.






Their tortilla chips were homemade and incredibly delicious. If you ever go to Manteo, go order their chips. If fact, even you're not even planning on going to Manteo, go anyway just so you can eat those chips. You will not be sorry.



We split an entree and got out for a very reasonable price which made our bargain lovin' hearts very happy.

And then? Then it was on to the local coffee shop so that I could get Internet access to post a pre-written blog entry.





I must say that this little spot is one of my favorite places in all of Manteo. We met the owner when we went in Saturday night and introduced ourselves. She was getting the place ready to host a trio of musicians who were coming in a little later to do a concert. What a lovely, quaint and creative part of our new town!

From there, it was back to our borrowed cottage where we spent about 45 minutes working on a chord chart for the Sunday morning rehearsal.



And that was it. The weird date. The fun date. The memorable date. The Steve and Becky Smith-style date.

DO try this at home.