Life Update...

It's been a little quiet around here... thought I might let you all know what going on in "Tristan's World".

My dad passed away one week ago, January 21st.

He was at home with my mom and I, snuggled up in his room. We are pretty sure he was in no pain and that he was fairly comfortable. He was asleep all day and night for the last three days of his life, so there was very little communication from him.

We talked to him.

We told him it was okay.

We held his hand.

We were there.

I'll be back soon.

Hello Holidays!

Source: my-blueberry-jam.blogspot.com via sharon on Pinterest

Is anyone else under an extreme amount of stress right now?

No?

Just me?

Okay...

I haven't blogged in 10 days and as I look back, I have no idea what I have done in the last 10 days. Thank goodness I keep notes for that stuff!

Looks like I bought some goodies at Ulta.

I baked some cookies.

Oh and I have a question... How does one (me) find a Kitchenaid Mixer in her (my) boyfriend's house? This thing works wonders on my dough.

Don't worry... they weren't good. I am an awful baker.

I drove from Joplin to the Lake to pick my dad up from the hospital.

Then the next day I had to take him back to the hospital. He was only home for about 14 hours. Ugh.

trying to stay positive!

I made some peppermint bark.

I visited Dixie, Caity, and the Babies... and I found these SWEET baby glasses!

I did some "personal shopping" for Tyson's business partner, Tim. This guy never never knows what to get his wife for holidays!

every lady (with four children) deserves a nice (waterproof), black (stain resistant) purse, right?

Then I drove back to Joplin and met Tyson for dinner right before he left for St. Petersburg with this gorgeous beast.

got to see him for a whole hour!

Then it "snowed".

I got my Urban Decay order.

And yesterday I ran errands and wrapped a bunch of presents.

and now my back is killing me

So looking back on the last 10 days, I am glad I take photos because my brain is SHOT! Between driving 2.5 hours back and fourth, Christmas shopping, CLEANING, hospitals, a sick dad, bills, crappy weather, laundry, and trying to wrap "inconspicuous" Christmas presents so that people won't know which ones are theirs, I am exhausted!

Today it is almost noon and I am still in my pajamas. I have this strange urge to bake things (even though I suck at it) with this sweet mixer I found.

I wanna bake this:

Source: justbakedbyme.wordpress.com via Tristan on Pinterest

And these:

Source: sallysbakingaddiction.com via Tristan on Pinterest

I don't know... we'll see how much energy I can muster up.

Tomorrow I will drive back to the Lake, have dinner with my lovely Mallory and Seth, and then relax at home.

Christmas Eve I will visit my dad...

and Christmas Day I will go pick up my dad, bring him home, open our gifts, eat some food, then I will drive to Joplin, try to be at Neely's by 5pm for chili, and then I will open gifts with Tyson's family.

jam packed day!

So everyone just pray that my next blog post won't be from a nut house because I keep trying to fit 30 hours into a 24 hour day.

Merry Christmas, my lovelies!

Dear Santa...

21 Days Till Christmas!!

Have you started shopping?

I have... I'm nowhere near done yet, though!

I love, love, love giving gifts.

Probably one of my Top 5 Favorite Things To Do.

I love seeing the look on peoples' faces when they receive gifts. And it's even better when I give someone a gift that they actually like/will use. So obviously I feel the same when someone gifts me something I actually like/will use.

This brings me to one of my other Top 5 Favorite Things To Do...

Make Lists

So here is my Christmas Wishlist!

1. Victoria's Secret Tunic Hoodie in Soft Pink

2. Tiffany & Co Return to Tiffany Mini Heart Tag Earrings

3. Converse All-Star Slip On in Charcoal

4. Wenger Neo Lite Luggage Set from TJ Maxx

5. Sephora Living Proof Prime Style Extender

6. Terry Cloth Towel Wrap

7. Solia Tourmaline Ceramic Ion Flat Iron in PINK

8. Lorac Pro Palette

9. Black Ugg Mini Bailey Button size 9

and just for fun...

1. David Yurman Pearl Bracelet

2. 15" MacBook Pro

3. Tiffany & Co Elsa Peretti Open Heart Ring

4. Louis Vuitton Figheri PM

5. Sherri Hill Cocktail Dress

6. Tory Burch 'Caroline' Elastic Trim Ballerina Flat

7. White Yukon Denali

Maybe those peeps who won the lottery will see my wishlist! haha

All the "wishing" is fun and stuff but mostly what I want for Christmas is for my dad to be happy. Asking for him to get "better" is a long shot... but asking for him to be at peace is not. I pray for him to release any fear, worries, and stress so that he can rest and heal. It just doesn't feel like Christmas when my dad isn't in the spirit.

So what is on your Christmas Wishlist? Please share!

Semi-Back to Normal...

I'm going to try to get semi-back to normal today. You know, with my rambling and random posts?

Yep.

Here we go.

Earlier this month I completed my Eos collection. My favorite one is Honeysuckle Honeydew and Medicated Tangerine is just plain nasty.

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I got some sweet low-lights. This is strange for me. I usually go straight-bleach-on-the-scalp-Playboy-bunny-blonde.

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Tyson, Tim and I drove to Chicago on the 10th for a huge machine show. (We are in the machining biz.) It was nice to get away for a few days to a big city.

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I have been staying at my parents house at the Lake to help take care of my dad, and Tyson has been in Joplin working so he came to the Lake last weekend. Saturday we moved a bunch of furniture and then went to dinner at Bandana's Bar-Be-Que where I discovered this delicious beer. Try it. NOW.

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Digging my lipgloss in this pic!

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If you read my last two posts you would know that my dad has cancer.

No-good-nasty-ass-cancer.

He had surgery on the 14th and I brought him home from the hospital yesterday. He is recovering from the surgery pretty well. He still can't eat or drink anything so he has a feeding tube. He also has this "drain" in his stomach but, trust me, you don't want details.

Right now our goal is to get his weight back up and re-gain all of the strength he lost. His muscles atrophied while he was sick. Today he walked pretty well with his walker so he is making progress.

After he gains weight and is strong enough, we will start chemotherapy treatments.

Please keep him in your prayers!

Ugh...

Actually, double ugh.

My dad had surgery yesterday. They rerouted his intestines to a new spot in his stomach, put in a feeding tube, a drain, and a port for chemotherapy. Unfortunately, they could not remove the tumor. I'm at the hospital with him now. He looks so weak and he can barely talk. His throat is very sore and has has a nasogastric tube. He's soooo sleepy from the morphine. Today his nurse is Amanda. She's going to try to get him out of bed and give him a bath. He needs to get up and build some strength but he's just so tired.

I'm trying to stay positive throughout all of this. I get teary-eyed a lot but mostly I just want to do whatever I can to help. I hate seeing him like this and I know he doesn't like me to see him so weak, but I also know he likes to have me and mom here with him.

The surgeon said he has stage four cancer. I've been reading online about other people who have gone through this and there is not a lot of information. The cancer is very rare.

Please keep him in your prayers!!

Not fun stuff...

I couldn't decide whether to write about this or not. I like to keep things fun and cheery around these parts, but sometimes life throws you some down right crappy stuff.

For the past two and a half weeks my dad has been sick. He couldn't keep food or liquids down and was violently vomiting at night. My mom got him in to the doctor the last week of August and got him some medicine to help keep food down. The doctor diagnosed him with GIRD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and sent him home.

The medicine didn't work so my mom took him to the emergency room because he was getting weak and dehydrated. They gave him some fluids and started running some tests. They did an endoscopy and found some irregular tissue/tumor-like/weird stuff in his duodenum (the part of your intestines that is right after your stomach). This was what was causing him to vomit... this thing was blocking food from passing. They also did a CT scan and found some mets on his liver.

Now we are waiting to see how severe this is. As much as I hate the word, it's most likely cancer. A tumor similar to what my dad has, typically doesn't show any symptoms until it is mature, and mature cancers often metastasize. Which would explain the mets on his liver.

He is at Lake Regional Hospital now and will be released today or tomorrow to come home for a day or two. Then we will take him to Columbia, where another doctor will take a more in-depth look at the issue.

And to top it all off, our water pressure pump switch quit working so we have no water at home. Can't get that fixed unless someone is at the house.

And to top it off SOME MORE, my mom's dog Halo, has severe anxiety and we can't leave her at home alone... so she has to be boarded and given Xanax so she doesn't claw her way out of the kennels.

Awesome stuff, right?

Please pray for my dad.

He is 68 years old, strong as a horse, and stubborn as hell. We are going to fight this just like any other issue we have faced. We always make it through so I don't have any doubt that we can't make it through this, too.