This new school year begins a new season of sorts. Gone are the lazy days of summer; the long daylight hours and the unstructured scheduled days. I’ll miss it. I had a really nice summer with my girls. Alyssa was working most of the time, Daniella kept herself busy with her friends for the most part and I managed to keep Samantha entertained with trips here and there to Chuckie Cheese and the new trampoline park that opened.

We’ve sort of eased into our new schedule. My kids haven’t had a full week of a school yet due to the observance of the Jewish holidays. I’m not complaining I’ve enjoyed the extra time off and continuing our unstructured days. I do wish however that the days stayed long. I’m worried about the depression rearing its ugly head due to the days being shorter. Seasonal affective disorder it’s called and its real.

So I’ve made an appointment with my physician to discuss and see what he says. He has a new office on 14th st at Union Square. Coincidentally there is a Nordstrom Rack store at Union square. Very cool, IMO anyway.

I’ve found another good thrift store in Manhattan. On 23rd st not far from where I work. I went yesterday after I finished with my one client of the day. It felt good to be wandering around the city with a cool destination in mind. I love Manhattan and all the crowds. Yesterday in the middle of the afternoon there were a ton of people bustling to various places they had to be. I love to people watch so it was nice to take note of what people were wearing, what’s now and “in”.

I found a couple of things at the thrift. A nice t shirt and a straw Michael Kors bag. A nice score and worth the walk.

Recently I had a routine screening mammogram done. It was supposed to be uneventful. Instead, two days later I received a phone call from the imagining center telling me I needed to make another appointment because, “The radiologist needs further images.” Great. Just what one wants to hear while watching one’s 9 year old daughter jump around at one of those indoor trampoline parks. I listened to the woman on the other end of the phone, made the new appointment and wrote down exactly what needed to be written on the new prescription for the follow up mammogram.

I then went home and hunted down the report that was sent to my midwife. I use a midwife for well woman care. She wasn’t in the office but thankfully the physician she works with was. He must have took pity on me because he got on the phone right away to tell me what the report said. It said I had “multiple masses”. The doctor was very kind and encouraged me to not worry too much due to the vagueness of the report. But of course to follow up and have the second mammogram. I thanked him and promptly told my husband what was up.

I then did what I do during times of great stress:  I went on my computer and looked up designer handbags. For me there is no other way to deal.  I stumbled upon this bag by Dooney and Bourke that I’d been eyeing for a couple of years now but just never pulled the trigger. http://www.dooney.com/florentine-small-satchel/8L980.html this is the bag. Not wanting to pay retail of course I then scoured the internet for a less expensive seller of said bag. I struck gold on ebay and found a seller with this bag for sale for a substantial amount lower than retail. After consulting with my soul sister Jackie it was decided that I needed to buy this bag. So one evening I did it, I hit the “buy it now” button and completed the transaction.

Now I had something else to obsess about other than this follow up mammogram. The seller sent me tracking info and I stalked the Fed ex website looking for updates. I was informed that the bag was to arrive on Saturday (today), perfect! The seller was requesting signature confirmation~no problem!  Tommy was supposed to be home Saturday as was Alyssa in case the bag arrived while I was at work.

All I had to do then was have the second mammogram Friday morning. I arrived and was taken pretty quickly. While I was there my husband texted me that our air conditioning compressor had broken down, we needed a new one. This information didn’t scare me as my husband is an air conditioning mechanic, it’s what he does for a living among other things. So on to the mammogram. The first screening mammogram was nothing, it didn’t hurt but was merely uncomfortable. The technician was very nice. This second mammogram hurt! I had a wonderful technician who tried to be as gentle as possible but comfort and “diagnostic mammogram” are two words that do not belong in the same sentence. After the mammogram I had to have a sonogram which was fine not uncomfortable at all. After all was said and done the radiologist came to speak to me. Turns out I have a bunch of cysts which is not uncommon and is not dangerous or cancerous. Bottom line: I’m fine.  Who hoo!!   I almost skipped to my car and quickly texted my husband and Jackie that I am fine.

Fast forward to this morning (Saturday) as my husband is replacing our a/c compressor Fed Ex shows up!  Happy day! The bag arrived before I left for work so I was promptly able to move right in and enjoy her right away. My moral of the story? Buy a new bag to keep your mind occupied 😉