Drug Holiday is Over

When I was 33, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I will be 36 on Thursday. I started out taking several different drugs with no real relief, each flare coming on worse than the last one until finally, I was unable to get out of bed. That was when I started taking Arava about 2 years ago. I started out with 20mg per day dose and did well for a year. Side effects are not severe other than some intestinal stuff that I won't mention and my hair falling out but I take Folic Acid to counteract that. Since I was doing so well, my rheumotoligist and I decided to lower my does to 10mg that lasted for about a year. That was when I decided I was in remission and did not need meds anymore. I decided this without talking to my rheumatologist of course. That was the beginning of April.

After I made this decision I had a regular follow up appointment with my doctor and told her the news. She was not pleased but asked that I promise to call her when (yes she said when) I had a flare and not let it go untreated as this can cause permanent damage to my joints. She understood my need to prove something to myself I am sure she sees patients like me all the time. My reasons were pretty simple, how would I know if I was in remission if I was on medication? I also am not supposed to drink while taking Arava so I enjoy a glass of wine here and there guilt free, and last but not least I hate needles and when on this drug I have to have my blood checked every 6 weeks. I was tired of all that and wanted to see if it was necessary.

Evidently they taught my rheumatologist a thing or two in medical school and it was necessary. This past Saturday night Brent and I cleaned my car. While he did the outside I did the inside. You would not believe how gross it was but the bottom line was it took a large amount of scrubbing (manual dexterity) on my part. Sunday morning I was in pain and could not open my left hand. It has continued and my left foot among other joints are now bothering me.

I started back on the meds last night. Unfortunately, it takes 6 to 12 weeks for them to kick in....it is going to be a long summer with my old friend RA.

Earth Day 2007

Yesterday, April 22, was the global celebration of Earth Day. As you may have read in my previous post we were very awakened after watching the film An Inconvenient Truth. Then this past Friday Oprah did a show on how each one of us can make little changes in our daily lives that can make a big impact on our planet.

As a family, we already live fairly green. I think one of the guests on Oprah said she was "mint green". We recycle, we ride our bikes as much as possible to work, camp, and school, we use compact fluorescent light bulbs, grow some of our own food. We are aware of our environment and try to make good choices.

After having seen Oprah, Brent and I decided that in honor of Earth Day we would make some of these simple changes in our family's life we encourage you to do the same:

1. Switching from paper to cloth napkins. On average people use 2,200 napkins per person per year. If we all gave up only one napkin a day, we could save a billion pounds of paper waste. Cloth napkins are much nicer to use anyway and can be used multiple times between washings.

2. Not taking a receipt at the ATM. According to the author on the show, if everyone left their receipts in the machine, it would save a roll of paper more than 2 billion feet long—enough to circle the equator more than 15 times.

3. No more bottled water. We buy cases of the stuff for soccer and things of that nature thinking that as long as we recycle the bottles we are not harming anything not stopping to think of the resources required to fill that bottle with basically tap water. From now on we will use our filtered refrigerator water in sports bottles that can be used over and over again.

4. Re-usable grocery bags. Our first stop on Earth Day was to our local Trader Joe's. We were low on wine if you want to know the truth. Anyway, we picked up 5 of these re-usable grocery bags for only .99 cents each!


5. Re-fillable coffee cups for Starbucks runs. Rumor has it they will even give you a .10 cent credit on your drink if you bring your own vessel to drink it from.

6. Ecofriendly cleaning products. As we run out of our toxic cleaning supplies we will replace them with more earth friendly versions.

These are just the things we are going to start right now, I am sure more will follow but for now it is pretty easy to implement these changes. When I told Madison about the changes we were making she said "we are only 4 people Mommie, how can it make a difference at all?" Good question indeed, I simply said that we needed to do our part to save the planet for her children. She just smiled.

My New Road Bike

After many months of waiting, my new road bike is finally here. She is the Terry Isis, named after the Egyptian goddess which is translated to mean queen of the throne.

You can read more about her here at The Facility Bike Club blog.

Eggs with Legs

This past weekend was Easter and our girls were with their other parents, the exes. We assumed that they would be doing the Easter activities while with them on the weekend so we did not plan or prepare for it. Somehow, they did not have the time and both our girls were disappointed.

Since it is spring break I took a couple of days off work to spend with Madison. Monday I headed to Alberstson's to get some eggs and dye kits.

The day after Easter is a great time to buy such things. I got several kits for $1.00 each! I bought each girl and 18 pack of eggs and their own decorating kit.

Last night we finally had the time to decorate and had a blast. Madison's were called Eggs with Legs, Shayna's were princesses, and well mine were Hello Kitty of course. Coloring Easter eggs is a peculiar tradition but does bring joy to our kids and lets them tap into their creative side. And we get egg salad for days to come.

South Park did an episode that you can watch a clip of here last week about the Easter bunny that was quite hilarious. Evidently St. Peter was a rabbit and there was a secret club of men who dress as the Easter bunny of course they were called the Hare Club for Men.

WNCC Soccer Tournament

This past weekend Shayna and I played in a one day soccer tournament that was a fund raiser for the local community college soccer program.

Last November I was playing on a Futsol team when I broke my ankle mountainbiking. I only got to practice for about a month and then play in one scrimmage before my MTB accident. Besides watching my girls, and coaching that is the extent of my soccer experience.

When this tournament came up Coach John asked if Shayna and I wanted to play. I had not run since my accident so last Wednesday I went and got new running shoes and then went for a one hour run to see how my ankle would hold up. It was fine (my muscles were not) so I decided to do the tournament.

Our first game was at 9:00 in the morning followed by one at 10:50, 12:30, and 2:10. Our team was basically the Futsol team with some additions. The ages on our team vary from as old as 40 (not me) to as young as 14. Some of our ladies played in college and one just got a free ride scolorship to college. What we did not know was we would be playing againt all college teams.

In our last game one of the cute little college girls asked if we had won our last game. I just started laughing and said "no sweetie, we are just a bunch of old ladies out here trying to have some fun". After that the word spread and they took it easy on us and started laughing with us when we would miss the shot or fall down.

Needless to say, we lost every single game and I am not sure we even managed to score a goal all day. Our oldest player tried so hard that she had a bruise on her ankle the next day!

Shayna and I had a great time together at the tournament and shared the pain the next day not being able to walk, stand, or climb stairs due to the pain.


We have both decided to play Futsol next season together I am very excited. I am going to get us some Futsol balls so we can practice in the cul-de-sac all summer cos mamma has no foot skills.

Madison's 2nd MTB Ride

Sunday Madison and I went on her second mountain bike ride. This time I took her on another of my lunch rides the V&T or railroad grade. This trail has options to either do technical stuff or not so it was good practice for her and she did not have to do the hard stuff if she did not want to.

Here she is going down the first set of little hills. They seem little to us but to her, it was huge. She was pretty tired from the weekend (basketball and soccer games) and a late night the night before (see previous post) so she was not to hip on the climbing this time. She would hessitate for a few minutes at the top and have this scared look on her face but she would do the downhill.

Here she is at the turn around point of the trail. Taking a breather and being all proud of herself. She is still learning all the technical stuff so I warn her in advance of any obsticles and tell her how to menuver or how to avoid that section. There is one point in the trail that is real narrow and goes around a corner and on the one side is a steep hill. Here is a picture of my buddy Todd falling at that very spot. Ok, there was some snow involved, whatever. So I tell Madison about the turn and that if she gets scared she can just walk that section. I go first and stop to turn and watch her and she practically ran me over she was behind me the whole time and said that it was no big deal.

The other fear that she concured was a steep little hill with lots of loose sand on it. We walked up the hill on the way in and now it was time to go down that hill. She hesitated for quite a while on this one and was truly scared. She would not let me take her bike and have her walk she wanted to do the hill. She finally let it rip and almost lost it in the sand but recovered and made it down. Her poor little face had a look of terror on it as she was coming down but she was so happy afterwards.

She said she prefers the other trail we did but this one was ok and she would do it with me again. She also mentioned more than once that she had fun biking with me so I know it was a good experience for her. We also saw lots of butterflies and a rabbit! She loved that part as well.

St. Patricks Day Party

In celebration of my heritage, we hosted our second annual St. Patrick's Day party. My dad's mom was Irish, her name was Viola May Gallagher. I never had the chance to meet her since she passed away when my dad was only 15 years old. Dad came to the party and brought an old photo of him, his parents, and my aunts.

It was an intimate gathering this year filled with family, friends, bikes, love, laughter, food and drink. We started the evening with a short cruise around the neighborhood to work up our appetites.


After the cruise, we returned to the house for the Ruybalid family tradition of the Irish Car Bomb. Brent was the first to indulge...


Followed by my dad - it was his first one. That is our cousin Robin encouraging him.


Robin and I split one cos they are pretty filling. The Mosers, being purists, just had the straight Guiness in a frosted pint glass.


Brent made his famous corned beef and cabbage and I made Irish Bread Pudding with a Caramel Whiskey Sauce.


The wee ones (Madison & Charlie) had lime aide that Madison made and dyed green. Charlie's parents, The Mosers, are flexitarians so when the meat was brougt out he wispered to his mom that he didn't eat meat. Madison's parents, are also flexitarians, but she proceeded to eat three servings of the beef.

Everyone left at about 9:00 or so but Brent, Madison, and I stayed up until midnight eventually dancing in the living room to Rapper's Delight - the long (and not at all Irish) version. Next year, mommie will have less green wine....

Madison's 1st Mountain Bike Ride

Let me start by saying Madison (9) is a triathlete, soccer and basketball player - she is an athlete and avid bike rider. However, she (until yesterday) would not ride in the dirt. "Too scary" she would say. Being an avid mountain biker myself, this brought me much sadness.

In an effort to get her on the dirt last summer I purchased a used mountain bike from my friend Kathy.
It is a Specialized hard tail that is just her size and her first bike with actual gears and a front suspension. Brent and I took her out about a week after we bought it to the bike path that leads to our lunchtime dirt trails. In all fairness, she was still learning to shift but did try the dirt without much luck. We used the bike all summer to commute to summer camp and work respectively.

A couple of weeks ago Brent ordered her some new tires with better traction thinking that might help her concur her fear of riding in the dirt. Yesterday when she got home from her weekend with her dad I took her over to the bike path after I had already done my 9 mile solo ride so I was in post ride Zen mode - perfect for teaching.

We parked at the entrance to what I call the WNCC Marina and rode to the bike path. She was a bit nervous but excited to be out with me on bikes. She is still at the age where I know more than she does and I don't completely suck to be around. We headed north on the bike path til it ends and then made a left up the Observatory loop. She actually had a great pace going but did want to stop for water breaks. There were options to bail out but she did not take them she wanted to go all the way to the top. The downhill was a bit intimidating for her at first but she was ready to go once I told her I could take a video on my cell phone of her coming down.

My baby girl did the entire loop and did not fall once! She did better than I did the first time I rode that trail and her bike weighs more than mine does. I could not have been more proud of her than I was yesterday. We had a blast and she wants to go again next weekend. I think we will try the V&T.

I am counting the days....

Andy Warhol's Dream Amercia

My dad gave us some free passes to the Nevada Museum of Art. After both girls soccer practices and dropping Shayna at a birthday party/sleepover Brent, Madison, and I headed to the big city to go to the museum.

We really enjoy the museum and love art we just never find the time to drive up to Reno to enjoy it. I especially love the cafe but it was already closed by the time we got up there Saturday night.

The last time we went was on a Sunday in 2003! It was the grand opening of the new building and we saw the works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The Warhol exhibit was interesting, you always learn so much about the artist by seeing an exhibition of their work. I learned that he sprinkled real diamond dust in his prints before the paint dried. There were also high school artists on display so that was pretty neat. Madison really enjoyed all of the art, it was really cute.

After the museum we decided we needed nourishment and ended up at the El Pollo Loco cos that brings back fond memories of Huntington Beach and we don't have one in our town yet. Another favorite thing to do when we are in the big city is to look for the "hot" sign at the Krispy Kreme. As if the sign being on is a sign that you have to stop. Needless to say, we got a dozen of the originals oh and our free samples of course. We ended the evening at home where we watched The Benchwarmers which Madison and Brent thoroughly enjoyed.

Another well spent Saturday night if you ask me...

Happy Valentines Day

Once again, Valentines day was wonderful for us. The day started out like any other with the exception of a gift left for me in my car. A (PRODUCT) RED 8G iPod Nano loaded with a Valentines playlist of 140 songs lovingly placed in the iPod by Brent. My single cynical office mate Jared especially appreciated the playlist filled with sappy love songs. Knowing that part of my gift was a gift to somebody else made it that much more special. I encourage you to check out the other (PRODUCT) RED products and support this important cause.

When we got home from work there was a gift on the counter from Shayna that said "por mi familia". It was all wrapped in tissue paper and covered with rose petals. Inside was an assortment of heart-shaped chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate peanut clusters. Awwwww.

Brent got each of the girls a cute little heart shaped pillow, a chocolate rose, a peanut butter cup heart and a card.

Brent then opened his gift from me, a Playstation 2 and two games NHL Hockey and Grand Terismo 4. His face lit up like a small child it was classic. You see I get super annoyed with video games mostly because I suck at them but there are always other things that need to get done. It took a lot for me to get him this gift, but I wanted to see that look on his face. His first question was "so you aren't going to yell at me when I play this are you". I laughed and said "just because I bought it for you does not mean I don't get to yell at you" (silly boy). It will be fun for he and the kids to play together once we get some family games.

Brent had also arranged for us and the girls to dine at our favorite restaurant in Virginia City called the Cafe del Rio. (These pictures are just some I found on the internet posted by a random stranger, good shots though.) I can not say enough about this place it is just incredible. Brent had two chicken tacos, I had the blue corn chicken salad, Madison had the fried chicken special, and Shayna had a dang bbq chicken case-a-dilla. Wednesday is fried chicken night and it is so wonderful. They give you three pieces of breaded, seasoned, and fried boneless chicken, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and corn on the cob for $9.50! I think our favorite part of the place is that they remember us when we get there. They always put us at the same table, and know what we want to drink. The service is what some in this day and age of fast food think is slow but it really gives you the time to talk and relax before your meal. They bring your drinks and chips & salsa so it is not like you are going to die before your dinner arrives. Believe me when you taste the food, it is well worth the wait.

After dinner we headed home to put on our PJ's and play some PS2 while we sipped on our favorite Chocolate Amore port while the girls enjoyed some chocolate of tbe non-alcohol variety.

Valentines for us has not so much been about romantic love but has been about spending time as a family and expressing how much we love each other. One of my most favorite days of the year!

She Blinded me with Science

Last week Madison had her 4th grade science fair. She was so excited that day when I picked her up from school as soon as she got into the car she told me she was one of the 3 kids in her entire class to be picked to be judged. Evidently, they take the good projects to the Library for judging and leave the crap in the cafeteria. I wonder who decided what gets to be judged and what does not, is that not a form of judging?

Madison's project was called "Pop Bubbles Pop". She filled three containers with water and then each container with a different additive before adding the foaming soap. She then measured the depth of the foam. She thought of the question herself, and did almost all the work herself. I helped with some of the cutting, and typing but not much really and only helped because she enjoys doing it together.

The judge noted that it was a good project but was lacking a journal. We got the scoring sheet last night and she got 100% - an A!!! Funny thing is that she got 5 points for the journal that she did not have...

Next year, we will invite Kevin over to help - he is an actual real life scientist.

Maggie is a Lover not a Fighter....

Our cousin Robin somehow ended up with a standard poodle. The poodle's owner had died and she was being bounced from house to house so Robin took her in. Her name is Maggie but we call her Magnadoodle.

This is a picture of Robin I just found while looking for a pic of Maggie, I posted this because the have the same look on their face! OMG that is just funny!

Chili dog is a lover, he just wants to make friends where ever he goes. Maggie is a sweet dog, but is super protective of her toys. When she and Chili met for the first time they did fine as long as they were in the back yard far far away from Maggie's HUGE box of toys.

About a week or so ago Chili-dog got a package in the mail from his friend Maggie. Maggie only lives in Reno but with all of our schedules, Robin mails stuff to us.

Here is Chili getting the present out of the box...

And here is what it was, a super cool skull and cross bone toy for him to carry around. It also squeaks. He tried so hard to take it outside but we would not let him.

Here is what the card said on the inside. How freaking cute is that?

Head over Heels

Once again, I have crashed my bike. This time, I am physically in one piece but the bike is not! You can read all about my crash at my lunchtime bike club blog.

Last night I had Brent rub me down with Tiger Balm and I feel a bit better today, my left shoulder is still pretty sore. I felt the best yesterday after my noon ride though so I will be doing that again today - for pain relief of course.

And the Winner Is.....

So last Thursday I get an e-mail from our friend Kevin who needs some pointers on how to make Brent's salsa. I ask him where he is going to get the chili's since that is the key ingredient. His response, Raley's. I say oh no, you should just come for dinner, it's taco night. Then after dinner, you and Brent can make some salsa together.

Kev shows up with some beer and ice tea, always nice. We eat some tacos, have some laughs and then Brent makes him some salsa. Kev has me take some photos of him making the salsa for "evidence" at work.

Here is the e-mail he received at work announcing the winner of the salsa contest:

The Dip Maker Extraordinaire title
and the winner of the $40 is…

(drum roll please)

Mr. Kevin O’Donnell

This is Kevin’s second winning salsa that he has been gracious enough to share with us! Congrats Kevin! Come to the front desk to get your prize money!


The second time????

I Heart Kimchi

Last summer while visiting Uncle Vic & Aunt Sharon Uncle Vic had me try something he likes to snack on called kimchi. It is a traditional Korean dish of fermented vegetables (in this case napa cabbage) and spices.

I recently found some at my local grocer made by King's Asian Gourmet out of San Francisco that is wonderful. I am not sure if it is the same brand that Uncle Vic likes or had us try at his house.

If you like cabbage and spicy food, you will love kimchi. According to King's website, there are some amazing health benefits to eating this delicious side dish. It has even been speculated to cure the Asian bird flu!

Madison and I have taken to having some after we get home from school/work everyday. Madison says it makes her tongue tingle she also chants "this is not rotten" as she eats it.

Uncle Vic would be so proud...

Can Women Have it All?

I know it sounds silly but I record Oprah everyday and watch it when I get home. If the show is about a topic I am not so interested in, I just don't bother watching it but that almost never happens. Yesterday it was about news anchor Elizabeth Vargas' decision to step down from her position at ABC News because she was pregnant with her second child. This apparently caused an uproar with the women viewers and sparked a debate between working moms and stay-at-home moms.

First let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for mom's (and dad's) who make the choice for their family to stay home and raise their children rather than working a formal 9-5 job outside the home. I have a couple of very good friends who are "stay-at-home moms" one of them even home schools her kids. As far as I know, neither of them eat bon-bons all day. I truly believe it is the hardest and most important job on earth.

That being said, I must say that watching the show from my perspective (a working mom) the stay-at-home moms on the show seemed to be attacking and judging the working moms for not raising their kids. Almost as if to say we just drop them off and have no concern for what they are doing all day while we are at work, and are letting "other people" raise our kids for us. Like we love our kids less because we choose to work outside the home. In my experience, that could not be further from the truth. Do I feel passionate about this subject? Of course, because I am passionate about my kids.

As it was said on the show by Dr. Robin, you can be a stay-at-home mom and be exhausted and checked-out and not be doing your children any good at all. The mere fact that you stay at home does not make you a better parent than one that chooses to work outside the home. The important thing is that you are emotionally connected to your kids when you are with them. In my opinion that does not necessarily need to happen between the hours that a working mom is away from the home. If you really think about it, small children nap several hours of the day and then school aged children are away from home several hours of the day. That does not mean working moms do not miss important moments with their children, but they do not miss everything.

My own experience was that I worked several hours of overtime while pregnant, some times 10 hour days so that I could stay at home for 12 weeks after my daughter was born. I then had my mother watch her for the first 8 months of her life. I realize that was not working out when she had every commercial on the TV memorized and knew all the characters names on All My Children. It was at that point that I made the decision to place her in daycare to interact with other children and have some healthy stimulation. I also made a choice when she started school to change jobs to one that was more flexible and closer to my daughter's school to allow me to volunteer in her classroom and not miss any of her school activities. She is 9 now and seems to be a pretty healthy, happy, independent, and well adjusted kid.

While watching the show Brent asked me if it was making me feel guilty. My answer was absolutely not. Staying at home was not an option for me. I was the breadwinner and financially we could not afford to live on one income. Bottom line, you can not be a stay-at-home mom if you are homeless. But I must admit that if it were an option, I think I would still choose to work outside the home. It is what works for me, my daughter, and my family.

It struck me that one of the stay-at-home moms was claiming to be a feminist yet she was being so judgemental toward the working moms on the show. That is not feminism to me. Women need to realize that they need to support each other and the decisions that they make and not judge each other.

Can women have it all? I think the perception of having it all is a bit skewed. I did have to sacrifice my career because I wanted to only work 40 hours a week with no commute. I would have had a higher paying job with more responsibility but that is not my priority at this time in my life. My family is my priority. I work to live not live to work.

I believe that I do have it all. I have a good paying job, a beautiful daughter, a beautiful stepdaughter, a husband who loves and respects me, a great circle of friends, a wonderful extended family, my health (for the most part), a nice home, a bunch of bikes, and a dog.

Who could want any more than that?

Our 1st Win!

Madison and Nut had their second league game yesterday against the Lady Senators.

Neither Madison or Nut had much action in the game other than some great passes for Madison. I think Nut was nervous because her brothers were all there to watch her play.

In comparison to last year, the Bobcats are on fire!

Final score (not that we are keeping track) was 18-2

Bailey the Lap Dog

This is Bailey, a greyhound and great dane mix. She belongs to Brent's sister Tracy who rescued her from a shelter. Tracy is a school teacher and had to attend a smart board conference in Texas so we got to Bailey sit this past week.

Bailey has many quirks, probably too many to list. One of them is that she is camera shy. If you take her picture she will run and hide for several hours. In fact, one time we Bailey sat around Christmas time and took her picture and then found her hiding in our shower!

We have wooden floors in our house and another of her new quirks is that she does not like to lay on them. She is not allowed on the furniture at home so we did not allow her on our furniture (so Tracy would not be mad at us for teaching her a new trick).

So when you would pet her, she would inch up onto your lap!

Bowling for Soup

Brent and I have really been enjoying the band Bowling for Soup lately. You might have heard their popular song 1985. They are incredible songwriters with a great sense of humor. Fun songs.

Here is a video that just cracks me up. It is their version of the ever popular song by Fergie London Bridge.



We think they pretty much nailed it. What do you think?

You have got to check these guys out, you won't be dissapointed. Warning though, their lyrics are not always appropriate for little ears - like those attached to little children.

Manic(ure) Monday

Brent had to work today but the girls and I were off due to the holiday. They both had some gift cards left from Christmas so we headed to the Douglas shopping center and had some fun. We found some great deals and had a really nice time together. On the way to shopping Shayna said "how bout we all get manicures today, my treat". Very cool idea if I do say so myself.

Shayna started working about a week before Christmas for the City's latch key program. She just got her first check on Friday and insisted that we deposit 100% of it into her bank account. We tried to talk her into spending some of it but she would not do it. Evidently over the weekend, she changed her mind and decided to spend it on the three of us. She got hers done in a hot pink with really pretty airbrushed hearts. Madison and I went for the French manicure with a flower and jewel in the center.

I talked to her about how she works hard for her money and she should treat herself and she agrees. She has decided that she will get a manicure once a month from here on out. Madison got very excited and said "me too?", Shayna said "maybe sometimes but not ALL the time".

Today was a great day, thanks Shayna you are the best!