Happy First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of Fall! Anyone that knows me well, knows that this is my favorite day of the year. It is the start of the most wonderful season of the year. Some may say that I am a little over obsessive about this time of year, but I just can't help it. Everything about this season just makes me smile and feel all warm inside. I think that if there were a place where it stayed Autumn all year around, I would move there in a heartbeat. Anyone know of such a place? In the meantime I am just hoping to fulfill my dream of going to Vermont for the Fall some year. Actually since my birthday is the first week of October, I always thought that it could be a good birthday present someday since foliage is at it's peak then. I just

know that if I go though I may never want to leave. Who knows maybe life's adventures may take me there someday to live for a while. Now wouldn't my parents love that, even further away than Montana is. (:

I am a little bit sad knowing that my Fall 2008 season is going to be spent indoors avoiding all the little nasties out there in the world. Even so Southern California isn't known best for it's Fall foliage. Palm trees don't change colors I guess. I will just have to purchase many many happy smelling candles to fill my room while I am recovering I guess. Maybe make an apple pie or two, so the house could be filled with a wonderful aroma. Yeah, I think my Dad would appreciate the latter.

As I have been thinking of this time of year and what I would normally be doing I can't help but think of MWSB and the memories that I have there. Being a cook there I would always express my love for this day through my food. My favorite thing to do was to make fall pancakes for breakfast. They would be normal round pancakes but I would dye them with all the fall colors. So it looked like a wonderful array of leaves. I would then either make fall sugar cookie cutouts or fall cupcakes with leaf sprinkles. Believe it or not I
own more fall cookie cutters than Christmas cookie cutters. Last year at the school this day landed on a Sunday. We have this thing where we have our "big meal" for Sunday lunch after church. I remember I made a turkey dinner and apple pies with little fall cutouts in them, just thinking about it makes me happy. Now I am just going to tell of one more of my fond memories that just goes to show how much of a wierdo I am about all of this. At MWSB we have staff meetings every Wednesday afternoon before lunch. They are held at John and Terry's (the director and his wife) home. They had this pumpkin spice candle that I would always want to smell and lite during our staff meetings. The only thing is that it made me laugh and giggle uncontrollably at times because the smell made me so happy. I know what you are thinking, "are you sure there is nothing else in that candle?" I will assure you it was a normal candle, it is just now referred to by many as Lyndsay's "happy candle".

So thanks for bearing with my little blog here about the Fall Season that I love and hold dear to. I know many are probably wondering how I am doing since my last post wasn't such a pleasant one. I am pleased to report that I am feeling better than I was feeling a few days ago. My counts are now down to zero and everything else in my chemistry's looks good. My stomach issue is still there but a lot more bearable. The nausea meds they have me on have been working for the past 2 days and I have been able to get some food down with no vomiting. I still feel far from "normal" but I know that I wont for a while. In the meantime I am watching those plus days go by slowly but surely; today is +4. Now we just have to wait for my white count to start going up, meaning my new cells are engrafting. They say we should expect that sometime between day +14 and day+21.

So Happy First Day of Fall Everyone! Go enjoy it and buy some yummy smelling candles or bake a heavenly apple pie. I will sit here and partake in spirit in my hospital room.