Emily M. DeArdo's Blog, page 20

SUMMER SALE at Ave Maria Press!

Want to get your own copy of Living Memento Mori?

(Of course you do. There’s no other answer here.)

Or maybe you’re like my mom and you want to start your Christmas shopping early?

Ave Maria Press will help you out!

There is a SUMMER SALE going on right now.

Get 25% off EVERYTHING with the code SUMMER21

Here’s the link to get my book at the site!

The sale runs through 7/18, so hop to it! :)

And if you have read the book (and you have, right?) please leave a review on Amazon! It’s so helpful for sales!

Sixteen

I have now had my new lungs for sixteen years. They are old enough to drive. :-P (Actually, my donor was a 50 year old woman named Suzanne. So these lungs are now 66 and still kicking!)

The 16th year was hard. We had COVID. We had my transfer to a new center, which….to be honest is still sort of irritating, because adult hospitals just really do not care about their patients’ time in the same way a children’s hospital does. Kinks are being worked out. The diabetes stuff was….rough, not gonna lie. But also, huge strides have been made which is great.

AND there was Patty!!!!!!

And getting to meet Patty!

Even in the midst of worldwide pandemic, there is still joy. There is joy everywhere. Not every day, maybe. I’ve had days that were definitely not joy filled. I’m not a perpetual ball of sunshine. I know that there are days, weeks, months, years, even, that are hard sledding.

But the key is to find the moments that are good (or, less bad).

There isn’t a whole lot of data for post-lung transplant folk like me. the data sets I’ve seen go to 10 years, and there aren’t enough patients to talk about 15 year, or 20 year, data. I’m making data.

I love turning the pages on the calendar. I love having birthdays. I love getting older because I wasn’t supposed to get older. But because of Suzanne, my donor, I did.

And I am grateful and incredibly happy about that.

Day 7: So Long, Farewell

Oh, gosh, how can I leave these people? :(

But I did.

There were last minute snuggles and kisses and stories.

And then we were at the airport and I said goodbye and flew home.

I am really hoping I’ll see them all at Christmas this year because I need a regular dose of these folks.

But it was a wonderful trip.

If you’ve missed the other posts in the series:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

(Also, SIGNED BOOK SALE! Ends today! Email me at hello (at) emilymdeardo (dot) com to get yours! This is the ONLY sale I run on signed books all year!)

Day 6: O Beautiful For Spacious Skies

Day 6—Fourth of July! And Sunday Mass!

(Previous installments: Day one, day two, day three, day four, day five) (and, signed books. On sale!)

Seeing Patty in the morning is a great way to wake up, guys. It is.

As per usual, getting everyone ready for church was wild (I mean, is it ever NOT wild in a house with more than two people?). But everyone looked nice!

Johnny is ready

Frankie with Amanda the Panda

Red, White, and Blue Patty!

Diane’s church is amazing. Seriously. On all levels. I could understand everything! WOW! Go church sound system! And there was a great choir and an excellent cantor, and a fabulous homily….it was great. Di had to take the littles to the cry room so it was mostly Susie, Bridget, and I in the pew, but that’s no biggie. It as a great Mass. And it ended with singing “America”, which I love to do. Some parishes do patriotic hymns and some don't, and I was glad we did this one as the recessional because it’s FUN TO SING, dang it.

After that, we went to Pecan Creek Grille, where I had….an English breakfast? :) (Minus the black pudding)

Yes, it was proper American bacon. :) Also, GRILLED TOMATO IS YUM.

We had a nice, leisurely brunch and were surrounded by other families, which as nice. Lots of kids! I talked a little bit about the homily, which had talked about gratitude and our blessings. I didn’t want to be that person who quizzes the kids on the homily, but I did want them to sort of think about it, if that makes sense. We should be grateful for our blessings!

After this we headed home and Di and I put on The Sandlot for the kids, which they enjoyed. Susie came in at the end and Di said she’d have to watch it start to finish because she’d probably like it (she would), and it’s just such a Fourth of July movie (especially with a scene that takes place on the Fourth.).

Then we decided to play Settlers of Catan—well, Susie, Frankie, Di, and I. Bridget was playing with her dolls, Johnny was chilling, and Patty was napping. So we figured we could play. None of us had ever really played before—my cousin Kelly tried to teach me one Christmas, but I hadn't retained any of it—so that was good because we were all starting from scratch.

It took a long time, but it was fun. Di won. Afterwards we had pizza and—you guessed it!—ice cream! We didn’t go to see the fireworks, and the kids couldn’t really see them from the house, but that’s OK. Matt had bought some little ones for the kids on Friday night and they’d played with those in the driveway for awhile (always under supervision!)

It was my last night (sigh) so I had to do things like pack, but I did still get to have some downtime with Susie, Patty, and Di once the other kids were in bed. I love how Patty is still cuddly. She loved being read to and sung to, which also made me happy.

In our Fourth of July best.

I took a bath in the awesome tub one more time (want to be clean for travel, right?). And I definitely wasn’t ready to leave these people that I love so much.

Day 5: An American Girl Doll Is Purchased, and We Get Yarn!

We love Buc-ee’s!

(Previous installments: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four) (And SIGNED BOOK SALE!)

On Saturday morning, Diane decided to make banana pancakes for breakfast, and lo, they were delicious. :)

So Patty took her morning nap, I had art time with Bridget (I taught her about wet-in-wet watercolor, which she immediately proclaimed perfect for her drawing) and then Patty got clean!

All the girls—Bridget wanted she and Patty to “match”, so they wore the tops their grandmother (my aunt Sue) had made them!

Patty loves being wrapped up in her towel, but hates being unwrapped to get dressed, so…..she was unhappy, briefly. But then looked so pretty, and made dinosaur face for us!

After everyone was ready, we headed for Nimblefingers. Apple Maps got us a it lost but we figured it out. (Darn you, Apple Maps!)

The store is really cute—it’s knitting/crochet on one side and needlepoint on the other. I have been known to do cross stitch in my time, so that side was also appealing to me, but I didn’t want to keep Di and the kids in the car all day (Susie, Bridget, and Frankie came in with me). So we stuck to knitting. Susie got some lovely yarns, including a baby alpaca in a bright green that Frankie wanted made into a scarf, and I got her a ball of cashmere blend yarn, because it was an OBSCENELY good price (FIFTEEN BUCKS, PEOPLE) and who doesn’t want to knit or crochet with cashmere?!

I fell into the Madelinetosh wormhole and came out with three items:

(They got bounced around a bit in my luggage—they were wound very neatly by the store ladies. More on that in a second)

The top two are Tosh DK in Texas Tulip, because….I was in Texas. :) I’m going to use them for a honey cowl. The bottom one is Tosh Mo Light in matcha. Normally this isn't the sort of color way I’d pick but I was drawn to the name (it’s named for Japanese green tea), and also the subtle, neutral colors. I think this will make a nice lightweight shawl. I also got some notions.

I asked the women to wind my yarn. Normally I don’t do this but I wanted it to be nice and solid for the trip home. Frankie was entranced by the winding—the swift and the ball maker working together was just too cool. So he watched and then made sure that the ends were tucked in neatly! He loves any sort of engineering so this counted as engineering and coolness.

After we were done, we headed for the big mall (Memorial City) to visit the AG store. Bridget and I had been planning this trip for months—not kidding. We’d discussed which doll she would get when we went. We had it all planned out. She had saved money so this was HER doll and we were proud of her for that amount of savings. So, money in hand, we were ready to shop.

First, though, we had to have lunch. Chik-Fil-A for all!

Patty likes nuggets, yes she does.

After we had lunch, we headed for the AG store. I’ve been to three AG stores (NYC, Chicago, and Columbus) and this is a nice sized store. Bridget had decided to get Kira, the girl of the year, and Susie had thrown in some of her money so that Bridget could get Kira’s pajamas as well. I also got Bridget a doll hairbrush, to hopefully save her dolls from the hair tragedy that mine so often endured. :)

So we got in line and Bridget counted out all her money, very seriously. The woman behind the counter was so nice here. BUT—we were short! The girls had forgotten about tax. So I threw in a $20 to more than make up for it (when I was a kid, I saved my money for AG catalog items and mom threw in shipping, so I felt like I was participating in the AG Circle of Life here.) Then Bridget and Susie continued to explore the store while Di had the littles at the play area. (Which was right by an ICE RINK. I told you this mall was huge.)

After this, we went to ride the carousel. I don’t have photos of me and Patty doing it, but we did, and it made me so happy. I took my godson, Ryan, on his first carousel ride at Kennywood (the amusement park in Pittsburgh), so this was a rite of passage I enjoyed and wanted to do again. This wasn’t Patty’s first ride—she’d done that with her mom. But she still had a bit of the “what is this, will I like this” look on her face.

We chose a horse that didn’t go up and down, and eventually she remembered that she liked this and patted the horse’s mane, and also loved the red and white “jewels” on the bridle. It’s just so cute watching her little face light up and enjoy the ride. There were feels, let me tell ya. (And gosh, it’s just so fun to hold a baby.)

After that it was raining hard, so Di went to get the van and we waited for her, watching the carousel go around and people smiling at Patty (happened a lot).

We got home, and it rained the rest of the day, so no swimming. We had dinner and Bridget and Susie went upstairs to introduce Kira to the rest of the doll family (they have Mary Ellen, Courtney, and a Truly Me doll named Catherine, whom you met in an earlier post, as well as lots of other dolls that are not AG).

We also played Clue!

Frankie is READY.

Diane had to run to the store for a few things, so I watched the house while the kids were sleeping. However, Patty woke up SCREAMING, so I ran in and tried to comfort her. I was running through all the scenarios: Diaper? Nightmare? Too hot/cold? But nothing doing until Mama came home and fed her. It’s just so sad seeing her cry her heart out and nothing I did was working, because I wasn’t mom. But once Mama was back, she was happy and she joined Di and I for some adult talking time in the family room.

The next day was the Fourth and it was also Sunday, so we made plans to go to the 11:00 Mass at their parish and then go out for brunch afterwards, which sounded great to me!

Houston Day 4: Kolaches and a bookstore

In case you need to catch up: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (also my signed book sale is on!)

The day got off to a great start because Di brought us kolaches for breakfast!

Kolaches (pronounced Ko-LACH-ees) were new to me, but they are a Big Thing in Houston, and Di had promised me we’d have them—and she delivered. They’re sort of like danishes, in that it’s sweet pastry that holds fruit surrounded by puffy dough. Above we had raspberry, cherry, apple, lemon, and a frittata sort of one, so they can be sweet or savory. There were also sausage rolls!

Patty enjoys National Review with her breakfast. Yes, she is my godchild.

We hung around for a bit while Patty took her morning nap—I read Johnny more books, including Eat Pete! , which I love now. We also read Corduroy’s Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham, and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.

Patty also enjoyed her birthday books!

The Daffodil page is her favorite for some reason.

Wizard of Oz!

Then we headed to Blue Willow Bookshop. Di had to get some books for the kids’ summer reading, and I….just wanted to visit a local bookstore. :)

I had actually browsed their site the day before and had ordered some books for pick up, being I’m insane like that. :) So not only did I have a bag waiting for me, but I bought more books. Because, that’s what I do. One of them was Llama Llama Loose Tooth Drama for Johnny and Patty.

The store was so kid-friendly, which was great—there was a kids’ sized table and chairs for the kids to sit at and the staff didn’t seem to mind the kids being there (which, some places do.) The women who worked there were very friendly and accommodating when I couldn’t understand them! (The store had a mask policy in place) So that’s always a plus for me.

We went back to the house and then Di went to the old house to do some cleaning. Patty was definitely in “I am tired but I WILL NOT SURRENDER TO A NAP” mode, so Susie and I had to deploy emergency measures (as in, lay her down in her parents’ room, singing, patting, and closing the blinds) until she finally dropped off.

VICTORY!!!!!!!

before nap, though, she watched Susie play Minecraft.

we had a visitor from space….

This was the day I had one of my “susie please get me a glass of juice because I do not trust my hands” moments. Fortunately Di came home soon and we went to the local Cracker Barrel because I needed to stuff a lot of carbs into my body immediately! So we all went out to eat.

Patty: There is WINE at Cracker Barrel?!?!?!

Everyone was happy post-dinner and the kids got ready for bed.

Matt was called to do some state guard duty over the weekend and he would leave early Saturday morning, So it was really good I was with Di so we could tag-team on the kids. :) There was going to be a trip to the mall, after all, AND Mass, so tag-teaming would be a good idea!

Oh also, note: Patty understands what “no” means. Which I think is great, because she’ll stop doing things when you say “no”. I discovered this telling her “NO!” (As in, do NOT put that in your mouth!) She dropped the item, and then sort of cried a little bit, but she knew what it meant, and I appreciated that she obeyed the no. Good work, Patticake!

The SIGNED BOOK SALE is on!!!

I put signed copies of Living Memento Mori on sale once a year—during my transplant anniversary! So starting TODAY and going through July 12 (Monday at midnight EST), you can get FIFTEEN PERCENT OFF my signed book package!

Here’s what’s included:

signed copy of Living Memento Mori

a specially designed bookmark and prayer card

shipping!

If you’d like a copy, please email me and I’ll get you set up! This is also a great time to buy signed copies for gift giving!

Houston Day 3: Four Kids & Emily

Birthday cupcakes for breakfast! (With a sippy cup that DOES NOT SPILL, it’s amazing folks.)

Day Three!

If you’ve missed the other installments—Day 1, Day 2

So today was sort of like “Adventures in Baby-Sitting”.

Diane and Matt had recently moved to a new house. They wanted to get their old house on the market quickly (because, hot market, also, long weekend for house browsing!), and the last things standing in the way of that were installing new carpet and Di doing a final clean of the house.

The carpet guys had failed to show THREE TIMES. So today, they were coming and Di was gonna make them work! So she took Patty to the old house around 9 and it was me and the kids.

We started with breakfast, and the had art time.

My sketch page, based on Lupe Tortilla. Big fan of the border.

There was lunch—sandwiches for all!—and snacks (popsicles and ice cream.)

There were YouTube videos.

There was King Domino.

There was Luca.

And yeah, there was some squabbling, but that’s OK, we didn’t burn down the house and no one died.

Di came home with Patty with COMPLETED CARPET YAY! (well except for the stairs, which would be done the next day, Friday) We had a really good dinner of chicken and fettuccine Alfredo. (And ice cream).

Patty loves ice cream.

She is BITING the spoon here. She will not let me take it away.

ICE CREAM ICE CREAMMMM

So, it was a successful day because we had carpet, no one burned down the house or died, and Patty had ice cream. :)

Also, I promised a cat photo, and I think this is the only one I took!

This is Beppo! He is the “guard cat” who watches over Patty while she sleeps. He has a friend, Wilma (who is beautiful). They are quite old but very nice cats.

Happy birthday, Patty!! (Houston Day 2)

Patty, about to try her birthday cupcake.

The 30th was my first full day in Houston and was also Patty’s first birthday!!

Our day started with this…

Yes, Patty is very mobile—she can stand, crawl, go up and down the stairs, and walk while holding on to things, so walking is probably not far off! This was a great way to start the day.

I also read Johnny The Monster at the End of This Book, which is one fo my favorite things to read to kids.

We had breakfast…

and art time (I had brought my sketching supplies and the kids had a lot of fun with my watercolors and water brushes!)

Patty wore one of the dresses I’d gotten her for her birthday….

After her morning nap, with Frankie :)

After everyone was dressed and Patty had had her power nap, we went to Lupe Tortilla for lunch. It as raining but that did not deter the boys from playing in the play area!

The dress I got Patty is an 18M, so it’s big on her, but Diane put her in it anyway, which I appreciated :)

Outside Lupe: L-R Bridget, Frankie (green shirt), Johnny, Susie

Lupe was really delicious—I had the cheese enchiladas which were amazing.

We had planned on doing the yarn store after lunch. Susie crochets and wanted some more yarn (she wanted to build a stash, which made my yarn loving heart flutter). So after Diane did some banking things, we went to the store, only to find that it had moved! ARGH! Sadness! No new yarn! But it probably was for the best, since we had to go home and make birthday cupcakes for Miss Patty and get ready for family to come over to celebrate.

Diane made these amazing chocolate cupcakes, which I need the recipe for, and vanilla buttercream frosting (HOMEMADE VANILLA, people—we’re talking a big old mason jar worth. Massive props to Di.) If I get the recipe, I’ll share it here. But folks, these were goooood cupcakes.

For the party, some of Matt’s siblings came over—one of his sisters, her husband, and their four kids (she’s pregnant with their fifth), and also Bart, Matt’s youngest brother and Patty’s godfather.

Patty and Bart

Di took Patty out of her birthday dress, in preparation for messiness…..

we sang, and then….we ate!

“What is this thing.”

“I think I might like this….”

Going whole hog…..

“I think it’s good.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

For her birthday I got her clothes, and also two Baby Lit books: The Secret Garden and The Wizard of Oz., because I have to get Patty books, it’s the law. Her aunt and uncle got her a pop cupcake (sort of like this one—I had never seen these until I got to Houston!) an a book with the same pop-up thing in the pictures. The popping is quite satisfying, I have to say. (Her older siblings also enjoyed the pop cupcake!)

After the party we cleaned up the bebe….

And then relaxed the rest of the night. Di and Matt started watching a Three Stooges movie, which I had never seen, but it was funny—but I was TIRED. So I went to bed while they kept watching it, because I am an hour ahead of them and also my body was like, SLEEP NOOWWWW.

(Blood glucose does not like really hot or cold conditions, and Houston is warmer than I am used to. I knew that, going in, but I wasn’t sure how it would affect my BGLs. It turned out that I need a lot less insulin than I thought I would and there were times I had to ask Susie or Di to get me a cup of juice because my hands would have dropped it to the ground because my BGLs were low. But hey, learning experiences!)

So that was Miss Patty’s first birthday party!

Trip to Houston: Day 1, Meeting Patty

I’m going to give you a recap of my Houston trip—not exactly a blow-by-blow, but a sort of recap, since I like to read people’s travel recaps and I figure other people do too. And of course this is the best way to share photos. :)

So I got to Houston on the 29th, the day before Patty’s first birthday! Fortunately my flight was on time for takeoff, but we did have to go around Houston to avoid some rain and ended up flying over the Gulf Coast and then back up

Everyone was on hand to meet me at Carousel 12 and I was excited—and so were they!

Patty, fortunately, did not cry when she met me (great relief). Instead she studied me very intently. You could see the wheels turning in her little head, but then it clicked (Oh wait, I’ve seen this person on the phone….I know this voice….) and she smiled and giggled for me.

Dinner was at Matt (Patty’s dad)’s parents house that night—pizza and garlic knots for all!

Susie, with Patty and Frankie, in their grandparents’ kitchen.

Here’s a cast of characters for the trip:

Diane—my cousin, who is 6 months younger than me and shares a birthday with my sister and one other cousin of ours, Jill. Her father (John) is my mom’s older brother. (he’s number 2 out of the 8 kids).

Matt—her husband, whom she met at Notre Dame. He’s a CPA and a member of the Texas National Guard.

Susie—oldest of the 5 kids. She’s 11.

Bridget—second kid, age 9

Bridget and her AG doll, Catherine, in matching PJs.

Frankie—third kid, age 6 (he’ll be 7 next month)

Johnny—fourth kid, age 3

Patty—fifth kid, just turned one (we know Patty, right?)

Beppo and Wilma—the cats