Casual Friday
Posted on December 20, 2011 by Ching under Outfits.
I love Fridays because it’s usually the only day we can wear jeans at work. Unless we’re doing fundraising. Until recently I only had one or two pairs of jeans that fit me properly. Now I have a few so I’m starting to really enjoy jeans days. It’s so much easier to throw on a nice blouse and pair of black jeans. Last Friday I paired a shimmery Ann Taylor shell with my freshly tailored dark Express jeans and wore a black blazer. It was casual, but still suitable for work. What do you guys think?
I thought it transitioned from daytime to evening well, which was something that I had to consider as we had dinner plans with Carla and Paul that night. Brian and I were both busy and didn’t really have time to change after work. I think the outfit was versatile enough for both work and dinner. I was pleased with the outcome.
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Good Friday was a Great Friday
Posted on April 24, 2011 by Ching under Life, Zumba.
Brian was worn out from the hectic week he had last week. The week of the National Sales Meeting always drains him. While it’s fun and exciting, the long days are exhausting. We talked about taking last Friday or Monday off, but we both had stuff going on and couldn’t miss work. The first day that we both could feasibly take off was Friday, April 22 (which happens to be Good Friday).
Since we were both off work, we figured we could clean house and do some chores. The house specially needed attention because Brian and I have been so busy the last few weeks that it’s been messier than usual. Brian had invited his ex-girlfriend (from almost 15 years ago; the one he was with right before we got together) over for dinner so we really needed to tidy up the place.
Anyway, something came up and she couldn’t make it. Other than making too much spaghetti (and having to eat the leftovers the next day), things turned out okay. Brian and I actually work better on a time crunch. I didn’t want dirty clothes all over the laundry room when we had guests over so I didn’t do laundry in my usual leisurely way, which usually takes all weekend and sometimes carries over into Monday night. I got all the laundry done (all four loads) before 5 PM. It was quite a productive day overall.
Brian and I ended the evening at Lizards Lounge. We were mostly there to see Skrapyard, but the first two acts (Kingshifter and Death Valley Wolfriders) actually weren’t bad. Brian really liked Kingshifter. I appreciated Death Valley Wolfriders for their Black Sabbath cover. Both bands had some good original songs, but not having seen or heard of these guys before, it was nice to hear a familiar song.
Skrapyard was amazing. This was Brian’s first time watching them perform live. I’d played some of their songs for him before and he really liked it. “Deeds of Man” was the highlight of the evening for me. I love the mellow part of the song toward the end.
Charlie Withers is awesome! I told Brian that we’ll have to drive to the West side Granite City to watch him perform solo one day.
Since Danielle bailed on us, I falsely assumed it was going to be just the two of us (Brian and me) all night. We were just lounging around the house (killing time before the show, letting our spaghetti dinner digest), when I got a call from Doug. He and Tammy were already at Lizards Lounge. Brian and I were both like, “Crap!” And then we scrambled to get cash (it’s a “cash only” bar) and head out there. It’s a good thing that the bar is pretty close by. I think we were there in less than ten minutes.
I’m not sure if the bands were too loud for them, but they were both really good sports and seemed to have a good time. I feel awkward inviting people to Lizards Lounge because of its bad rap. I’d never been there before until Jenni invited us to see Surphace there a few weeks ago. I had heard so many bad things about the place before, I was totally surprised that I liked it. I think it was really bad before when people smoked inside. I had such low expectations of the place that they were quite easy to exceed. Then again, I’m pretty easy to please. I’m not a “bar snob” like Misty. =P Give me cheap drinks and good music and I’m all set. LOL. I could totally add LL to our regular rotation.
Brian said he figured out why I liked their fuzzy navels there. He watched the bar tender make my drink and he said they put some vodka in it. Instead of just using peach schnapps and orange juice, they do peach schnapps and orange juice and vodka. So it’s like a cross between a screwdriver and a fuzzy navel. I’ve decided to call it a fuzzy screwdriver. LOL.
The two glasses of coconut rum and pineapple juice that I had at home after dinner and the fuzzy screwdrivers I had at the bar made me feel quite fuzzy the next day. I never really get hung over, but I wobbled to the restroom when I got up the next morning. I still made it to step class, though. I even had enough energy to spare for Zumba, but decided to skip it (since Gina is out of town). I’ll tell you more about Saturday later today. Check back in a few hours.
Anyway, we had a really great Friday. I love, love, love Skrapyard!
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Brian’s Health Journey
Posted on December 4, 2024 by Ching under Health.
Where to begin? I guess let’s start from the very beginning. Earlier this year Brian was having some dental issues. These issues were partly because of poor dental hygiene and taking things for granted. After at least three root canals, the endodontist decided Brian needed to see an oral surgeon to get a cyst removed from the front of his mouth. He originally had oral surgery scheduled shortly after our Colorado trip but the week that he was to have surgery he was suffering sore throat due to some kind of tonsil infection.
Brian’s oral surgeon, Dr. Christopher Harris, determined that the oral surgery should be postponed until Brian had his throat and tonsil issues looked at. The concern was that if they were to proceed with surgery the infection from the tonsil could infect the surgery area. So then Brian went to see Dr. Aaron Thiessen, an ear, nose, and throat specialist, about his issues. Brian ended up taking antibiotics which didn’t really do much so he and Dr. Thiessen agreed that the best course of action would be to simply remove his tonsils. Brian’s tonsillectomy was then scheduled for Thursday, October 3. However, the doctor noticed that Brian’s lymph node was swollen so, as a precautionary measure, he also scheduled a lymph node biopsy on September 30. This was the Monday before the tonsil surgery.
Brian’s lymph node biopsy revealed cancer. The ENT doc theorized that the cancer in Brian’s lymph node probably came from his infected tonsil but needed to confirm this. Instead of doing a tonsillectomy that following Thursday, Dr. Thiessen changed the procedure to a laryngoscopy and tonsil biopsy.
The biggest reason for not moving forward with the tonsillectomy being that, if the cancer needed to be treated, the doctor did not want treatment to be delayed by the post-tonsillectomy recovery. At the point, the greater priority would be to treat the cancer as quickly as possible.
Here are some pics of Brian I took during surgery day — actually it was laryngoscopy and tonsil biopsy day.
The following week it was confirmed that Brian did in fact have cancer in his tonsil which has spread to his lymph node. The next step was to complete a PET scan to find if the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. In the meantime, there was the matter of the cyst in his mouth that still needed to be removed. There was a delay in PET scans and he couldn’t get an appointment until October 24 and he couldn’t start any cancer treatments until the PET scan was done so we figured that he would have enough time to go through the oral surgery and recover from it before cancer treatments would begin. Otherwise, then he would have to wait until sometime the following year to do oral surgery because it wouldn’t be idea to do it in the middle of cancer treatments. It basically had to be done now or it would have to wait until the following year.
We chose the NOW option and, thankfully, one of our friends just happens to be the godmother of Brian’s oral surgeon. She pulled some strings and they were able to get him in right away. Speaking of which, what we thought was a cyst was actually not a cyst. It turned out to be a massive dental infection that had gotten so bad that it started to form a cyst-like substance in Brian’s mouth.
Because of Brian’s cancer diagnosis, we thought he would be in the middle cancer treatments (radiation and chemo) during the Mexico trip so we ended up canceling his flight (more on this later). However, due to delays with insurance approvals, Brian’s cancer treatments actually didn’t begin until a couple of week ago — after I got back from Mexico — so he totally could have gone on the trip.
Brian’s treatment consists of 35 days of daily (Monday through Friday) radiation treatments spread over 8 weeks and weekly chemotherapy over 6 weeks. Radiation would only have been 7 weeks but due to skipping treatments on the holidays — Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s Day — it comes out to 8 weeks total. His last radiation treatment is on January 9 and his last chemo treatment is on January 2.
I went with Brian to his first radiation appointment and got this video:
So far, to date, Brian has completed two chemo treatments (just four left to go) and is two and a half weeks into radiation. He is doing well so far but the radiation is definitely starting to take a toll. We have been posting updates on our Flip + Ching Facebook page so feel free to follow us there if you want to keep up with his progess.
In the meantime, we are super grateful for everyone’s support and prayers. Brian is lucky to have such wonderful people who care about him wishing him well and praying for his recovery. Thank you all!
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Thanksgiving Weekend
Posted on December 9, 2022 by Ching under Family.
David and Donna were in town over Thanksgiving and so, along with mom and dad and grandma, we all got together at YaYa’s for Thanksgiving brunch.
We like going to YaYa’s because then no none has to spend several hours preparing and cooking our meal, there’s no clean up after, and we aren’t stuck with a ton of leftovers that we have to eventually throw out. Also, the food selection at their brunch buffet is quite extensive. They have ham, turkey, beef, pork, seafood, a wide variety of sides and desserts — there’s something for everyone.
Brian always fixes grandma’s plate for her and then tells her what all he got since she can’t see very well these days.
Brian and I don’t really do the whole Black Friday thing anymore but we did swing by Bradley Fair on Friday morning to deliver a cup of hot chocolate to our friend DJ Carbon. He was spinning tunes outside Lululemon to keep the shoppers waiting in line to get into Lululemon entertained.
Brian actually had to work on Black Friday so my time with him was very limited. Also, I left for Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon to play pickleball that evening with some OKC friends. More on this in the next post.
Until next time, GNG.
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Post Pickleball Chow Down
Posted on November 29, 2019 by Ching under Hobbies.
A few weeks ago, before we left for vacation, my friend Amy and I decided we wanted to check out the open plan at Nahola. Nahola is where all of the really good pickleball players play and Friday night is 3.5 and above night. I know some of the better players might not like playing with less skilled players so I had the brilliant idea to invite a bunch of pickleball friends so, even if we did get snubbed, we for sure would have people to play with. LOL.
The players, those who stayed (some people left and went to the single court inside) and played with us, were actually pretty nice. The drop in fee of $7 is a bit steep (compared to the $2 and $3 that we normally pay at the rec centers and local churches) but I wouldn’t mind playing over there again. At the time, Immanuel Baptist Church Family Life Center (FLC) had 4.0 and above listed for Friday night so if you’re under 4.0 you really didn’t have any options. FLC has since opened up Friday nights to lower rated players. It is cheaper ($3 drop in) and actually closer to our house. Nahola is all the way out West. I’ve yet to play on Friday night since returning from vacation because we’ve always had stuff going on and FLC isn’t playing tonight due to the Thanksgiving holiday but I’m super glad that we now have a couple of really good options for Friday night play.
We worked up an appetite playing pickleball that night so afterwards a bunch of us went to Old Chicago for dinner. It (clockwise from left in the below pic) was Cody, Matt, Michael, Eric, Kimberly, me and Brian. I invited Brian because I figured he would want to eat dinner too. Except that was an expensive night because his Lyft ride cost $30 (going from almost Andover to the West side of town during prime time on Friday night). The price you pay for convenience.
Oh, well. I think at some point I’m going to have to get over the not wanting to drive two cars thing because this aversion is costing us money. Speaking of money, we’re actually saving quite a bit by opting out of the whole Black Friday insanity. LOL.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy the weekend!
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