I tell you what this has been a rough three weeks, it hasn't been a good start to the new year healthwise.  It  started with getting a small cold that knocked me on my butt.  There was one day that I slept off and on for a full day!  The beginning of last week I was feeling pretty good and thought I was to the end of it, then the coughing started.  I decided to give up and get myself into the doctor, so glad I did!  By last night I was into coughing fits and had the worst sinus headache a person can have.  I am on my fourth box of kleenex, seriously that is a lot of snot!!  I know a little gross but I feel icky.  We have started whipping things down with Clorox wipes, one of the best inventions in my book!!   

If you have been following or visiting my blog for any length of time you know that I am in love with Mixed Media art.  I have recently found this wonderful lady Christy Tomlinson and she is doing a special online class called The She Art Workshop.  You can find out about it here and if you go to the Where Women Create blog you can enter yourself into a contest to win a pass to the class.  It is something I am seriously thinking about taking just to learn just a little bit more about what I love.

Can I have a do over?


I would like to start part of this month over! The part where I loose my energy level and then get an infection, which leads me to being on medication for the last 5 days. Add to the fact that a side effect to the medications I'm taking are headaches, well lets just say my body just hasn't been very happy. With a consent headache concentration goes out the window so no more pages have been done for the LOAD challenge. I have had burst of energy so in that time I have been able to sort photos, plan pages, look for sketches and pull out papers. So I guess really that is have the battle right there with 10 pages waiting to be put together, not bad. I'm happy to say that I'm okay with where I'm at and what I've done. So on to the last couple of days I had done for the LOAD challenge.

Day 18.....Prompt: Scrapbook a Holiday page. The picture says it all as my daughter looks on and lets us know what she thinks about having to stick her hand down the turkey to be stuffed.



Day 19.....Prompt: Pat yourself on the back for what you have gotten done so far this month. Celebrate! I celebrated by making two more pages for my daughter's wedding album. I just love how all these papers are flowing together.

Sick and Tired

Yep, that is what life has been about this past week! It started with my youngest daughter getting a cold, then fever for two days, loosing her voice and pain in the ears the next. When her eye turned pick Thursday night I knew it was time to make a doctor appointment. Turns out she just had a very bad ear infection, that was so bad it was causing her eye infection. Thank goodness no pink eye!! I personally have been fighting with this cold off and on also, it is kinda weird that a simple cold just sapps all your energy. Going into the doctor was a good thing, even if it was for my daughter. It allowed me to meet our doctor and make my yearly exam, which I don't like doing but know it is time.

I've been enjoying the creating I did a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of work cutting out all the flowers but turned out so pretty. It is something that just takes my breathe away.

Materials: Stamp set Rustic Flowers from CTMH, Sweetleaf, Creme Brulee and White ink, CTMH Paper from Emporium and Key to my Heart packages, Sweetleaf and White Cardstock, Buttons from my stash, Clear transparency sheet, Prisma glitter, crystal bling, liquid glass, Glue pad and White sharpie

Close up of details on the flowers

Spring has arrived in Spokane or at least I hope it has. They are forcasting snow for sometime this week, oh I hope not! I am ready to see what my garden is going to look like as things start to wake up and hopefully I will find my passion for gardening again. It has been a long time since I have been excited about gardening, to long.

It finally happened

We've lived here now for 4 months. This past Saturday we traveled to Yakima to check on the house, visit family and I got a chance to stop by to see my friend Brenda at Scrapbook Central. I've missed her so much! The reaction from my Grand daughter seeing me was priceless! I so loved every minute of hugging on both my Grand babies.

So driving home from Yakima back to Spokane I realized I was going home. So my new home finally feels like home! I feel like I belong and realized I do a pretty good job of keeping my house running. It just felt so good to feel it.

The only thing bad, is I woke up Sunday morning with the worst head cold. It is one of those that you sneeze, cough for what seems like hours and have so much sinus pressure that you think your head is going to come off. At least today I can take a deep breathe and not cough!!

To add to my week.........

we have my youngest sick home from school for two days, to this we add......Granddaughter coming down with her first case of the flu, her Mommy coming down with it too. Thinking everyone was getting better so bring Granddaughter to my house. Only to have Granddaughter start puking again in the middle of the night, to this we add..........going and picking up her Mommy to take her to the hospital for dehrdraion. Getting her back to my house and settled in 3 hours later because no one needs to be alone, with a 5 week old baby when you have the flu. Then we add to the mix again, cat puking on stairs, and son telling me he doesn't feel so hot.

Sigh.......can I just start my week over???

Updated Sites and Sounds......
So my more later, has turned into MUCH later. Oh well, just enjoying what time I had with my daughter/granddaughter. Soaking up every possible minute and getting in as many hugs and loves as I possibly could from each of them.

A harvest of fruits and vegetables were found everywhere we went in Pike's Place. My family was getting a little irritated at me, as I was taking pictures of things I love about this place. I will share more later as the urge comes over me.

The same weekend that we picked up the girls was my birthday. What a wonderful present.........I really didn't plan the flight that way but it was a bonus! My morning was greeted with a smiling, little blonde headed girl saying 'Hi'. Followed later that day, with lunch/dinner(or lunner, as my children call it) with my Dad and Step-mom. To which I received a beautiful new set of Prismacolored pencils from my parents and flowers from my youngest daughter Michaela. The flowers have faded away but they were just beautiful. The pencils have yet to be sharpened because I just love the newness of them. I'm sure it won't be to long before the day is taken to sharpen each one. I already have my sketch pad ready, just putting a new cover on it this week.

Health.......I had my consultation with my surgeon Dr. Young, very nice man and took the time to explain what he would be doing. What I could expect after surgery and the weeks to follow. After a little bit of a snafu with the insurance company surgery, was scheduled for Monday, September 17. Everything went fine and they only had to take out my left thyroid. I was more sore, I believe from the breathing tube that had to put down my throat durning surgery than the surgery itself. The only thing that was frustrating was that the meds they had me on caused me to get dizzy, which then caused me to have a migraine, to which I would take migraine medication that made me more sleepy. A total double edged sword. I talked to the surgeons office the Thursday after surgery and told them what was happening. They said as long I was not in extreme pain then I could stop taking the pain medication......yippee!! No more migraines after that was done. At the same time they heard back from the pathologist who was doing further tests on the tumor they took out. There is no cancer!

It is interesting how you can pretend that you are okay, on the outside and then you get good news that your fear is not reality. I spent a little time crying and thanking my gracious God before breaking the news to my family. Things like this make you slow down and enjoy what is right in front of you. So that is what I've done the last few weeks, slowed down, enjoyed being alive and healthy. Being able to chase after my Grand-daughter, having her take a few steps to me sharing a cookie that she had had in her mouth(no I didn't eat it, just gave it back) and spending a 'little' more on coffee with my daughter. It was a simply wonderful time.

Well it is done. My thyroid surgery is scheduled for Sept. 17th at 9:30am. I have an awesome doctor, who took the time to explain everything so I had no questions. I go in this upcoming Thursday for all my pre-op stuff.
A week from today I'll be driving over to the airport and picking up Nicole and Piper. So very excited! Michaela will be traveling with me. I have admit that this is something she and I need. Some girl time, being pre-teen is a rough age for her and I right now. We just have to keep the communication flowing and I believe we will make it.
Off to start my Saturday, 'trying to Piper proof my house'. LOL Can't wait to hold her!!

LOTS of stuff happening on the home front.
We are getting the school routine down and it seems to be going easier than I thought it would. The next few weeks will be interesting as we add homework and mid week church into the mix.
My Daughter Nicole and Granddaughter will be coming to visit in 9 days!! Just a little bit excited, it has been almost 8 months since I've seen both of them in person. Nicole will be having another baby in January but she is hoping that "He" will decide to come a little early. Yep, it's a BOY!! A Grandson, Elijah--middle name to be decided at a later time. My son in law will be staying on the home front, working this time. All are hoping to set time aside next Mother's Day to come visit........what a gift. Also hoping to take a trip with my Step mom to see Elijah, shortly after he is born.
On the health side, it has been a waiting game for doctors to get their paper work in order to forward to the surgeon. I have to admit the last couple of weeks have been a blessing to just take the time to breathe and get the kids ready for school. My doctor called yesterday and I have my surgical consult tomorrow 11am. He just 'happened' to have an appointment.........ya, right! Can I tell you how wonderful my God is and how well HE knows me. Knows me enough to NOT give me to much time to think about it. Just like when I have to go to the dentist and they tell me I have to have a filling done. Can you come in the next day.........sure! No time to think about it. It is just better for me that way.

Well my doctor, the sweet one that she, is called me at 7:30pm last night. She asked if I had heard from the oncologist about my biopsy results, 'no, I said'. To which she answered 'I have the results right here. Would you like to know what they are?' Well, duh!! lol You have to understand that my doctor is incredible, she LOVES us and she was soooo excited to see the news, she just couldn't wait to tell me. Nothing like complete service. My 'tumor' is benign!! God is so incredibly wonderful!! I'm happy, relieved and thanking God for His love for me!! Now I wait to hear from the surgeon, to see when we can schedule to have this lump taken out.
I can tell you, in something like this, that your life takes on new meaning. You can get back to life but you aren't the same person, you find yourself changed. You look and think about things differently. You stop making lousy excuses for why you haven't done certain things. You realize time isn't to be waisted. Was this the lesson? To show me how strong my faith is and to see who I really am? Even to help me from making lousy excuses? I think I have only begun to see what this all means.
So here is to precious time and not taking it for granted. To leaving the lousy excuses behind and getting on with life. A life that leaves the bad stuff of the past, behind right where it belongs.

When you are a child you hope and pray you never have to face bad things. You have the attitude that certain things won't happen to you. Then you know what happens? You grow up to realize that everyone faces bad things in their lives. Sometimes you have a measure of control but in most cases there isn't any way to control your given situation.

A few weeks ago I went with my instinct and a light push from Ali Edwards to go in and have my thyroid rechecked. I had, had an ultra sound done on it in the spring and from what I was feeling it seemed to have gotten bigger. My doctor set me up for another ultra sound within a couple of days of seeing her. The imagining office that I went to, was so on top things that they got the results back to my doctor the same day. I loved the fact that she called to talk to me after hours, but not because there was something drastically wrong. I was impressed that she cared enough to take her own time to call me. There are not many doctors in the world these days that would do that.

So I'm glad I went with my instinct. It has grown slightly in width but especially in length. The ultra sound shows that it is one mass, which is good. My doctor forwarded my information to the oncologist so I could have a needle biopsy done. That appointment was yesterday, now we just wait to see how to proceed. My oncologist said that because it is pressing on my larynx that I will want to have it removed. Yes, I have thought about the dreaded 'c' word and even talked with the doctor about it. The oncologist said that with it being solid that in most cases it is benign. With half of my thyroid being removed we will see if the right side will pick up the slack from the left. If not I will have to be on medication.

All in all I'm arming myself with information and making sure I have many prayers going up. I am peaceful, calm and thankful that God has everything under His control. This is something I can't control. I LOVE how God surrounds me with special people in my life that help to raise my faith. They help me to keep my eyes on Him, the one who made me and knowns every step that I am going to take in my life.

So many of us have been touched by Breast cancer in one form or another. Let's not let this be a silent killer anymore. Let's be aware and help each other!! You never know it might just save a life and that life maybe your own.

I may not know you but I am someone who cares about your life. You have so much to offer this world. Take care of yourself!!!