Pams Party & Practical Tips

Friday, April 18, 2025

It's Party TIme! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday! This week flew by for me. We had a grand daughter over three times this week, and today I had my first check up with my regular Dr since my surgery. She had me do some bloodwork to check several things. While I am feeling much better with my thyroid nodule out, it seems my body has not adjusted to having only a half of thyroid yet. I went from being almost hyperthyroid to definitely hypothyroid. We are changing my thyroid meds to see if that helps. Last summer I had lost 10+ pounds only to have it all come back and more because of my thyroid issue. She was encouraging overall and told me to give myself some grace since I am doing really well only being one month out from surgery.

Today I went shopping at a brand new Dollar Tree with a friend of mine and found a lot of fun finds. I love it when I find interesting cookbooks like this one for only $1.25. The list price is $21.00! If you shop at DT and find it at your store it is definitely interesting. There are a lot of great party recipes inside.

I received some exciting news this week. If you are a long time reader, you may remember when my son did a cooking series called Cooking with Kyle. For a few years in middle school he made healthy recipes, and shared them on the blog. Well that boy is going to be graduating from college in just a few weeks. He also just found out that he earned his honors cord! I am so proud of this kid. He had gone a long way from the kid who used to hate to do homework. While he is not graduating from my alma mater, he is graduating from Michigan State, which to me is better than the other big Michigan school LOL! I have no problems temporarily rooting for the Spartans except for when they play Ohio State.

Well it is getting to be that time, so let's get this party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!

It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday! We made it through another work week. This weekend is our Michigan weekend, and we just got back from dancing the night away with some of our friends. This was my first time back at the dance since my surgery. Things are still going well, and feel mostly back to normal. You can still see my surgery scar, but it has really healed a lot this week.

Are you ready for Easter? I have to be honest, I have not really done much yet this year. I might put together an Easter basket for my grand daughter. She is still not quite old enough to understand what Easter is yet. It will be her first Easter, so if I am going to do something, it will have to be done this week. We bought the Easter ham already. Meijer was having a special sale, so we got a great deal. One of the things I look forward to after Easter is Leftover Ham Casserole. I make it every time we have ham for a holiday meal. What is nice about this recipe is you can use either broccoli or frozen peas. Both taste great in the casserole, and you probably have one or the other on hand. I plan on making it again this year after the holiday.

Well since it is late, let's get this party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!

Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday! This was my first week back at work, and it went pretty well. I had really missed the kids, and they were excited to see me back. I thought they might have questions about my scar on my neck, but it turns out they didn't even notice it. I am healing pretty well, which I am happy about. My incision line is still pink, but it seems to be getting lighter every day.

The picture I posted above is the appetizer D and I had at dinner tonight. It is from a restaurant in Miamisburg, Ohio called Bullwinkles. The potato skins are called Moosetaters, and are really good! They look like they would be pretty easy to replicate at home, but I haven't tried it yet. Sometimes it is just nice to go and buy food you don't have to make yourself. :)

I hope everyone is staying safe with this crazy weather we are having this week. On Wednesday night we were up until 2 am with tornado and thunderstorm warnings, and now we are under a flood watch for the next several days. We are expecting to have more than 6 inches of rain this week.

I still have not made any new crafts for Easter this year. I might this weekend though, since we are expecting rain on both Saturday and Sunday.

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to hear that you have been doing. Let's get this party started! Link up and HAVE FUN!

It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what thatme

It is Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

I made it through another week of recovering from surgery, and remembered today was Friday before the party! :) This week was easier than last week. I had my appointment early Monday morning to get my drain line taken out. My drain line was the worst part of the entire surgery. The NP that took out my drain mentioned that my line was longer than usual drains, which is probably why I had such a hard time with it. (I almost accidentally pulled it out a handful of times) It started to come on it's own the night before my appointment, so it was not hard to remove at the Dr's office. About five minutes after it was out, I started to feel like I was going to faint. I was talking to the NP at the time, and since I told her immediately that I did not feel right, they were able to help me before I passed out. They gave me some cold compresses, smelling salts, juice and peanut butter crackers so I was back to normal pretty quickly. My BP had dropped again, like it did when I was in the recovery room. I was instructed to take it easy for the next day or two, so it did not happen again. We think it was because I had not had anything to eat or drink that morning since I had an early appointment and just taken my thyroid meds. Once you take thyroid meds, you are supposed to wait about 45 minutes before eating. Now that I have had several more days of rest, I am feeling almost back to normal. My incision line is a little bit tender, but other than that I have no real pain. I got the okay to go back to work next week, and will be checked one more time in about a month.

While home this week I was able to work on my Etsy shop . I add some new Easter listings, and I am currently working on adding some new birthday listings.

I have not really started making any Easter decor or crafts since I was having a lot of rest these past couple of weeks. I have a few items that I hope to complete soon. Do you decorate for Easter?

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to hear what you have been doing. Link up and HAVE FUN!

It's Party Time and an Update!!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share!

I'm sorry I missed the party last week. Since my surgery was changed from Thursday to Monday, at the last minute we decided to go visit my kids and friends in Michigan. With everything going on with my visit and my Monday surgery, I did not post the party. I took this picture of me earlier in March. I like this picture but you can actually see the nodule in the picture. Eek! Thankfully it is no longer there, and I got the news today that the final check was all clear. Whew! There were not spots of concern. My surgery on Monday went pretty well with just a few minor complications in recovery. (my BP and oxygen levels were too low) Once I was back to good levels, I was released to go home. I have been feeling pretty good considering, and have had minimal pain because my neck still has some numbness. The hardest part of the recovery is having a drain line in my neck. I have almost accidently pulled it out a couple of times. Ouch! The good news is that the fluids levels have gone significantly, and it will be coming out in just a few days. I am looking forward to getting back to my regular schedule again.

One thing I have missed this week is going to the Dollar Tree to post about new finds and hauls. If you are on social media and would like to follow along you can find me on Instagram at mydollartreelife. (If you used to follow me before on my old account, unfortunately I had to start a new account not that long ago.) I am also on TikTok at Pamspartyplanning.

I have been working online a bit this week, since I am off work from the daycare/preschool for a week and a half. I have been working on some new treasure hunts for my Etsy Shop. While recovery time has not be that fun, I do like that I have forced down time to do things that I don't usually have a lot of time to work on. My busy self is not used to sitting still this long. :)

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to hear that you have been to. Link up and HAVE FUN!

Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a good week. It was Spring Break for me at the the daycare. We did not go on vacation, but we did take a day trip to Indiana to turn in paperwork from when we hit that pothole a few months ago. (You can read more about it here.)

We saw some fun sights along the way like the Eureka Fudge Factory in Richmond, Indiana. If you have ever seen the original Fudge Factory in Eureka Missouri, the factory in Indiana is a new smaller location. They are in the process of some adding some outside attractions, but you can still find a lot of great goodies inside.

During the party last week, I asked if you were able to see the planets align. While I was not able to on Friday night, we did see them on Saturday night. It was definitely cool to see especially with the app that shows you where all the planets are.

My thyroid surgery is coming up next week. I am so ready to have this nodule removed. It is definitely pushing on my vocal cords now, and my voice is very raspy. While I am not thrilled to have surgery, I know I will feel so much better afterwards. I will be nice to have my energy back.

Are you doing anything for St. Patrick's Day? I would be celebrating with our friends in Michigan, if it was not right after my surgery. If you are looking for something to do with your kids, I have a fun St. Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt in my Etsy shop.

Well now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been doing so let's get this party started! Link up and HAVE FUN!

It's TIme to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Life has been back to normal for me this week. I worked a full week at the daycare. I have been feeling pretty good, and my thyroid has been acting normally. (maybe my nodule knows it's not going to be there much longer! LOL) This upcoming week the daycare will be closed for Spring Break, since we follow the local school schedule. D and I hope to maybe go somewhere for a few days, but we do not know where yet.

Were you able to see the planets in a line tonight? I wish we were able to. It is completely clouded over where we live, so we are not able see any of it.

We still have a few weeks until St. Patrick's Day, but with March beginning this weekend, Spring is also right around the corner. Several years back I made this easy bunny cake. It was not that hard to make, and would be cute to serve for a variety of occasions. You can see how to make it here on my post, How to Make a Bunny Cake. I have not yet made any Easter crafts or treats for this year, but hope too while off work in the next few weeks.

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would like to see what things you have been up to as well, so let's get this party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!

It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday! I hope your week went well. I have been back at work this entire week, and feeling pretty good. I'm not sure if there is something to it, but ever since I had my biopsy a couple of weeks ago, my thyroid symptoms have been better. I hope that continues for a few more weeks because I now have the date scheduled to remove the nodule. My surgery will be in mid March. I was told it will be outpatient unless there are some complications, and that I should be able to go back to work about a week after the surgery. I'm not feeling nervous yet, but that could possibly change as the time gets closer.

If you are a long time follower, you may remember Kyle. Back when he was a teenager he created recipes for a series on the blog called Cooking with Kyle. He will be graduating from college with his second degree this Spring. We are very proud of him. These days he does not do too much cooking for himself, but he does enjoy going out to eat when I visit.

Are you starting to think about St. Patrick's Day? Can you believe it is only about three weeks away? If you are looking for some ideas on what to do, a few years back I made these cute Leprechaun treat boxes and shared some games in my post Leprechaun Treat Boxes and Games.

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? I will be attending the 1st birthday party of one of my students. 💗 I met her when she was only 2 months old. I have loved watching her grow and change over these past several months.

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to. Link up and HAVE FUN!

Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

I remembered it was Friday night this time! I have some updates from my last post. In my post on Monday, I shared I had a thyroid biopsy last week, and I was waiting for the results. Since I was out of my routine for several days, I totally forgot last week's party. This week I am beginning to get back to normal. I am back at work, and I am also visiting my family and friends in Michigan this weekend. On Tuesday I found out my biopsy is benign. Then on Wednesday, I saw the ENT oncologist. As I predicted in my last post, they are going to remove the part of my thyroid with the nodule, due to it's large size. If we don't remove it, it will continue to grow. It is already beginning to push on my vocal chords. Another issue is that even though it is benign now, there is a higher chance it could turn cancerous at a later time. My surgery will be sometime in March, the date to be determined soon. I have been feeling pretty good now that I know what my next steps will be.

I feel like I dropped the ball on Valentine's Day, but now it's onto St. Patrick's Day. Even though the year seems like it is already flying by, I am ready for winter to be over.

Well it is getting late, so let's get this party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!!

Out of My Routine

As you may have noticed I missed posting the Dare to Share Party this week. It was not intentional, but because of my biopsy this week, I was out of my usual routine. When I am out of my routine, it is easier for me to things like when it is Friday night. 😲 I had my biopsy early Thursday morning. It seemed to go well, and they got six good samples. I had a great team doing the biopsy, which made the experience easier. I was extremely tired afterwards from not sleeping much the night before, and my neck was a bit sore. I ended up sleeping most of the day on Thursday. On Friday I scheduled to work. I was feeling pretty good, so I got ready for work. When I got there, I found out my boss took me off the schedule, so I could have another day of rest. While not working Thursday or Friday was good for resting, it was not good for my normal routine and muscle memory. D and I went to dinner Friday night, watched some TV, and then went to sleep. On Saturday, I had plans with a good friend of mine to visit a Galentine's Day market, and get some dinner. (you can see what I ate in the photo above, it was really good!) It was not until the middle of the night last night that I realized I totally forgot to do the Dare to Share Party post on Friday. In this case, I am going to blame my thyroid brain. It really does exist. I did not have the results of my biopsy yet. I will find out Monday or Tuesday. I am a little nervous, but overall calm about what the results will be. The Dr who did the biopsy did say most nodules are benign, so the odds are in my favor. On Wednesday, I have an appointment to see the oncologist ENT. Even if we get a good report about the biopsy, there is a very high chance we are removing the nodule due to its extremely large size. I will keep you posted.

It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday, night and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share!

As you can see I was quiet on the blog this week. I had my ultrasound early Monday morning, and did not get great news. They found two nodules on my left lobe. I had only one on that lobe several years ago. It is still there, and looks like it did not change too much in size, but there is also now a much larger nodule to be concerned about. That second nodule is almost the same size as the lobe itself. The rest of my thyroid looks okay, but it is recommended I get a needle biopsy on the large nodule very soon. After my results, I was called on Wednesday by a head and neck oncology Dr to come in the office to determine next steps. Having a nodule as large of mine is at higher risk for cancer. It also grew pretty quickly, and is starting to push on my vocal chords. While there is a chance it is not cancerous, there is an extremely high chance they will take out that nodule due to it's large size. My appointment is next Wednesday, so I will know more then.

I wrote a post about this when I was first diagnosed with my thyroid issues years ago. I am going to reshare that post here.

Thyroid issues and autoimmune diseases are becoming more common especially in women. While my thyroid stabilized for quite awhile, changes in my hormones, age and a change of meds could have contributed to the growth of the nodules. I have a list of facts about thyroid cancer on my linked post that I had forgotten I posted until now. If you have any questions about your own thyroid health, be sure to ask/see your Dr. While the thyroid is not that large, it has a very big affect to your body.

Now that I bummed everybody out, let's turn the mood around and start the Dare to Share party. Link up and HAVE FUN! I tell you to have fun at every party, so why stop doing it now. :)

It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Well as you know, Monday was the National Championship game, and it went my team's way. Yea! It was quite an interesting night. We had to go out to watch the game since we do not have ESPN, but it was extremely cold that night. (-10) We started at one restaurant where we had dinner. We found out while we were eating that it was going to close at 9 pm. They turned out to be okay, because we were able to stay until halftime. We ended up at a 2nd restaurant to watch the 2nd half, but we were still full from the first restaurant. We did end up getting two appetizers and waters. (I had three glasses of pop at the first one!) The second half of the game was fun to watch, and worth eating way too much food that night.

Wednesday was so cold where I live that all the schools in the area closed, because morning temps were in the dangerous range. I wish I could say I used my day off to create fun projects, but instead I was doing online training most of the day. When you are in education you have to do a certain number of training hours every year or so. I have procrastinated on completing my hours, so now I need to get all my training done this next week. I am also going through some health tests this week. I have had thyroid problems for years, and lately my thyroid has become swollen. I can tell by how I feel that it something is not right. I am tired a lot of the time. I had my blood levels checked today, and will have an ultrasound early Monday morning. Hopefully I will know what is going on quickly.

Can you believe Valentine's Day will be in just a few weeks?! I have quite a few classroom valentines and other Valentine printables in my Etsy shop. Soon I complete my training I will be adding a few more listings.

Once you have your class Valentines ready, you will need a Valentine box to put them in. A few years back and I shared how to make an Unicorn Valentine Box using Dollar Tree items. I still have that box somewhere around here. :)

Speaking of Dollar Tree, I have been posting my Dollar Tree finds, hauls and DIYs on my Instagram (Mydollartreelife) and Tik Tok (Pamspartyplanning). I would love to see you over there!

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to. Link up and HAVE FUN!!

Let's Dare to Share!!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

Happy Friday! This week was the first week that we started to have a regular routine. Last week we had a few snow days and then more snow over the weekend. That snow is finally starting to melt only to have the the blast of arctic temps starting later this weekend.. Brrr! I will be off of work on Monday for MLK day but we may be off on Tuesday depending on how cold it gets. I posted a picture of my dogs because it is very rare to sit together like this for a picture.

With all the snow we had last week, I shared my Snow Day party with fun activities to do and snacks to make with your kids when you are stuck inside.

Do you plan on watching the National Championship game on Monday? I am! If you have followed me for awhile you know I am a huge Buckeye fan. I set us this this football table while ago. I am thinking about setting another one up this year for the game but since we do not have ESPN we might have to go out to watch it. GO BUCKS!

I have a few new things I am working on that I hope to post soon. With Valentine's Day coming up and our annual work Candyland party, I have some new candy themed projects to watch for.

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to. Link up and HAVE FUN!!

It's a Snow Day!

Are you in the part of the country that is affected by the large storm crossing the US today? I am. It started yesterday, and it has been snowing for the last 24 for hours. I am not sure of the total accumulation where I live, but I think it's around 10 inches or so. We were lucky enough that the ice/freezing rain portion of the storm went to the south of where we live. Almost all of the schools and daycares, and many businesses are closed today. It's possible that we will have another day off tomorrow as many of the roads are still covered with snow. The plows have come through, but the continued snowfall and blowing snow have covered them back up.

Some of you may have noticed that there was no Dare to Share party this past Friday. That was not intentional. Have you heard of the saying that the week between Christmas and New Years Day you lose track of time, and eat a lot of cheese. Well that kind of happened to me just in the few days after New Years. I spent New Year's Eve with my friends at the dance in Michigan. On New Year's Day we visited some family and friends, and then headed back to Ohio to watch the Rose Bowl. (Go Bucks!) In the days after New Years Day, we rested, babysat our grandbaby and lost track of time. It was easy to do since we were both off of work, and not in our usual routine. Early Sunday morning, D asked me if I had done my Friday night blog post. It was then that I realized that I TOTALLY FORGOT to post the party. Oops! The party will be back this upcoming Friday, as I will be spending this week getting back into my routine, and going back to work.

Now that you know where I have been lately, I thought I would share some of my favorite snow day activities in case you are having the same weather I am.