More recollection of last weeks events....

I forgot to mention that Miss K and her momma brought me the 2nd book in the Twilight series last Friday and a lovely little gift from Starbucks.....one of my many addictions! EW-lala....thank you chickies - I know Miss K was on her way to get a new pair of shoes - you know a woman can NEVER have to many shoes! heehee! She has 2 top teeth coming in and boy are they cute! I just love baby teeth and how they look coming in - so cute - though I feel for the pain they endure to get those teeth in - OUCH!

Over the past couple of weeks my SIL had shared with me that she was coming to town with her sister from the Seattle area to surprise their parents. They came on Sunday and I guess the surprise was a hit and they had a great time! I am so glad all went as planned. I had been SWORN to secrecy which I took care of very well. My SIL wanted to know if my mom needed a bag of Parrot food for her parrots and so I had to skirt around that issue with my mom - trying to figure out if she needed some or not - she said no but my SIL brought a 20 lb bag in her suitcase. She surprised my parents yesterday showing up by having her sister drop her off down the road and walking in to the driveway rolling a suitcase behind her. I guess my mom was freaking out because she thought it was some kind of sales person - my SIL even peaked in their front window and my mom still didn't recognize her and was freaking out still. She was lucky she didn't get shot by my mom - you know she tends to get a little carried away when she is pissed off - vulgarities flying freely! Anyhow, my SIL finally made it to the door and surprised them. It was a good thing and funny!

Last night I got to go out and hoot it up with her too. Ya, the big L-town on a Monday night at 7:30 - we started to go to Arby's because we were just going to grab a drink and visit and she was going to show me pics on her computer. Well about the time we hit the parking lot there it started downpouring....now she is not afraid of the rain because she is a Portlandite and they get plenty of the wet stuff, I on the other hand was afraid to step out in the torrential rain and end up soaked. So I had a grand idea to hit the 4-10 and sit in the car and visit while we sipped on a drink - even though I have got spiders in my drinks from there before....I was willing to eat another spider for her. Guess what people - they were closed already - what is that all about? She saw A&W on the way and said a rootbeer float sounded good so I went to A&W and guess what people...A&W in Clarkston is no more - it is apparently going to be a Taco Johns....gut bombs - ugghhh! 3-strikes we were out - so I headed to DQ and we got pops and sat in the parking lot until 10:00 while we visited about everything under the sun and then I had to take her home where we ended up visiting some more. It was good to just be away for a little bit and visit 1 on 1 - it has been sooo long for us to be able to do that....when I am there we are busy running and when she is here her family is usually with her! It was good! Heck we used to have some marathon shopping trips in Portland - up at the break of dawn and hit the malls and were gone until they closed.....we have some great memories of that....the clerk barking at me "WHAT SIZE ARE YOU?" from the back of the store while I was standing at the front of the store - um ya.....let me yell that back at you - NOT! Eating Chinese in the mall and then going to the pet shop and me saying "I gotta go" and WHOOSH I was gone! The Toys R Us incident and the Ross store - I could still almost make myself sick about that - I will never understand how someone can leave their gifts in the toilet and not flush - PUKE! All the trouble we would get in after it was agreed upon we were shopping all day and then we would get home and no one would talk to us because they were all pissed off at us...um ya - memories - like the corner of my mind, misty water colored memories......Oh ya! Just think of the places we could find soo much easier with the GPS systems now.....no shop would ever be unfindable.

So I came home after that and watched True Beauty.....I haven't been a die hard fan but watch it only because Billy was on it. It actually makes me kind of sick the attitudes and insides of these beautiful people and how they truly interact with others. Sometimes that is not so good.

I ended the perfectly good day by reading a few pages in the Twilight series book....I am still trying to figure out what all the hoopla is about - it is okay but I am not HOH (head over heels) on this book - it is a love story, not true and I am having a hard time in this fantasy love thing! I like true grit, true stories, local history.....whatever that means! The book I bought even has the poster in the back of it - I will sell it to the highest bidder - I can part with it....

OP Challenge 2009......

I decided it would be fun to be a part of an on-line challenge this weekend - the requirement was to use your OP (orange pile) stash of fabric. I started dicing & splicing last night about 7:30 p.m.

I made 3 of each of these blocks for a total of 9.....

I finished ironing the last one at 8:00 tonight! I am excited to see how this will all come together....

I did do other tasks today....did some errands, weeded through some papers on my desk and spent a couple hours this afternoon visiting with a friend from California who I was in church youth group with about 30 years ago! It was nice to touch base with her. Her mother died of cancer about 20 years ago - she was a great lady & friend of mine! It was so heartbreaking for me to be with her the last few weeks of her life - she knew it was only a matter of time and so did I ~ it was so hard for me to watch such a wonderful lady die so young and miss out on her kids lives as they grew up! Joyce you were a wonderful woman and I was blessed and am honored to have had y0u in my life!

Woe - didn't know that was coming! Maybe I should name this quilt "My Joyce Quilt"!

He graduated.....

I had to make the trek out last night for new shoes for Ang. What we thought would be a task of simplicity turned out to take much longer. We started at Tri-State Outfitters and they had 2 pairs of shoes that were his "new" size as we were informed that when you go from a 6 to a 7 that most shoes go in to men's sizes. Nike does have 7 youth but of course, they don't order very many of them in because they aren't big sellers. Off we went to Famous Footwear. No luck there either - they could order them in but that would take a week and we waited too long as it was to get new shoes for him. I won't even tell you when he got his last pair of shoes but it was a trip we took last spring to Portland. Joe was getting frustrated by the time we hit Famous Footwear. The two workers were visiting and I thought he was going to blow a cork as he wanted service - funny thing! So, once I asked him not to be a smart A&* to the workers and to please be calm because that would set the whole mood for encounter there. Anyhow, the sweetest girl helped us and spent way tooo much time and energy trying to fit him with a man's shoe. I think we tried EVERY shoe they had in a men's size 7. Ang finally found a pair that he liked - they were bad....solid white...thick soled.....not to cool in my eyes and I was thinking if the kids saw him with these on he would be targeted for harassing. I whispered "NO" to the worker and she steered him on to something else. They were bad - like something an older person would wear - I mean older when I say older! Solid WHITE....SOLID WHITE! Anyhow, we finally ended at 7:30 with a pair of Nikes.....I won't even give you the price on those puppies! Hopefully they will last a long time though like the last pair! They look so BIG on my baby. His pants are shrinking too - they are getting too short so that will be our next adventure!

So this weekend I am planning on taking part in an online quilt challenge, it is easy and you are challenged to use your stockpile of ORANGE fabric. I only had a few pieces of orange and I was saving them for a Halloween project. So I ventured out and bought a few slices of orange fabric that is so way cool. The lady who owns the store I went to was helping me out and showing me this fabric and it is like a kaleidoscope if you cut it and put it together a certain way - but that ain't happening so don't expect that from me. It reminded me of some kind of trip you would take on drugs - not that I have ever experienced that but it was really cool looking and exciting to see the effects. She had a double mirror she was showing me with - all I can say is WOW!

That was my THURSDAY night adventure.....my baby graduated to men size shoes.....another step in his little life. It will certainly be interesting to watch him grow and see where those feet and size 7 shoes will take him over the next little bit....prayers that God will keep him protected and safe and help him make wise decisions!

Valentines day.....

As a special request....some want to know WHAT it was I did on Valentine's Day. I had a secret place I went to early Saturday morning and then at 9:00 I hit the quilt store to start my project, I signed up for it months ago and was so looking forward to it. I worked diligently until about 1:00 when suddenly my brain was so boggled with the bazillions of pieces I had to sew back together in a special order that it went on strike. Piecing, pinning, sewing, ironing, sewing, ironing, pinning, piecing.....yadayadayada....it was fun but WOWZER. I got all my blocks done and ready to sew together which is quite the accomplishment considering that some of these pieces were 1.5 x 1.5 inches....uh-ya - that ain't big in case you are wondering! I started questioning as to WHY it was I took perfectly good (expensive too) fabric and diced it all up and was sewing it back together......especially after I had to take one piece off after I sewed the wrong piece on....that is where I was frazzled to the end! It was fun though.....trust me really it was!

I left the quilt store with my creation in hand and headed home where I found a nicely wrapped packages and 2 beautiful cards - one from Ang and one from Joe. I got a Starbucks mug which I love and 2 more pieces of Brighton jewelry - it has bling and is a heart locket - love it! I then got myself beautified for dinner - Joe had made plans for us and another couple to go to the Red Lion Buffet and reserved our table. I had a clam digger to start the night off right - the Red Lion makes awesome clam diggers - just an FYI. It was a very lovely evening and the prime rib was to die for, it was a tie for me between the prime rib and the strawberry/bacon/spinach salad - YUMMMO! At one point we got so tickled in a conversation that we nearly laughed ourselves silly, it is good to laugh like that once in awhile. We topped off the meal with a piece of red velvet cake that we shared. We ran in to another couple at dinner who was seating nearby so we visited with them off and on through the meal. After dinner we decided the evening was still young so we went to dance. It was fun to watch and enjoy all the dancers of all ages, it is nice to run in to friends and acquaintances too. It is so enjoyable just to relax once in awhile.

So there you have it - probably not that wondiferous to some but it was to me and that is all that counts right.....

Sunday I picked up my new glasses and can actually see - SHEESH maybe that would have helped at the quilting??? We did some Costco shopping and of course a quick trip to Joannes to see what I had to see. I ended up running into my aunt and 2nd cousin who is 4 - she is quite the little chicka - she had me cracking up - nothing like having a conversation with a 4-year-old in a fabric store and not knowing what is going to come out of her little mouth - she is adorable. She kept saying "Nana, she is funny!", oh ya....it was great! She had a hot pair of Batman sunglasses that I tried to talk her out of but she would have nothing to do with that business! I mean what better for a wardrobe completer for me than a purple pair of Batman sunglasses. What a cute little bug she is!

After that adventure I came home and crashed for a few hours only to wake up to watch.....yep, you got it.....Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

So here we are Thursday of the following week - what has been going on in the home office....welllll Daisy has eaten a No2 Pencil - black and orange....I think she was over stressed about all those figures of dog treats in her mind and how she could obtain more for doing less things the proper way. Speaking of which things are a little quiet - she is either ZONKED at her desk or off in lala land extending her 15 minute break beyond the allotted 15 minutes.....I am so going to BUST her in the act of pushing the limits!

Daisy has been at it again.....

This morning I hopped in the shower to take a quick shower before work and when I got out to my desk Daisy (NOSEY ROSIE) had gotten in to some low cal candies I had on my desk....they have been on my desk for a week now, why today....I do not know.....my only concern for her safety is the warning on the label "EXCESS CONSUMPTION MAY HAVE A MILD LAXATIVE EFFECT"....ummm, ya! Would 12 candies for a 12 pound dog be "excess"? Hmmm...... This whole entire week she has had her HUNTING NOSE on....I don't know what is up but WOW....have nose will travel!

Tomorrow is my first day at quilting class. I am so excited. It is a 5 hour class and hopefully with "any" luck I will come out with a finished quilt top. I made a quilt about five years ago and promised myself I would do it again because I had so much fun but then "life happened", you know gallbladder removal, kid activities, motherly duties and here we are 5 years later. WOW!

Then my husband divulged his plans for Valentine's Day and I am looking forward to the plan too! He was so cute trying to not tell me!

Well this is a short post but I need to get myself organized and ready to go in the a.m. and check on Ms. Daisy's rumbling tummy! Lord help me!

I've been thinking......

I have been on a vacation from blogging - long story but I am back!

The weekend was a hoot - I got to play with some friends Saturday morning and then Saturday night we had a Valentine Party to go to. I almost won the Bunco games but was tied with another glamorous gal so we had a roll off and she got a 10 and I got a 9 - so goes the way the dice falls! I was happy for her though! Had a good time laughing with friends and harassing the people I knew at the party....so good to let myself out once in awhile! I even managed a trip to Joanne Fabrics on Saturday too.

I have been visiting the past a lot the last month, thinking and remembering and trying to reason why I am the way I am......

On February 11th it will be 11 years since I had to have emergency surgery. I was hemorrhaging and was told by the "practicing" surgeon who did my surgery I had had a miscarriage only to find out 10 days later I had cancer and then about a week after that to have a total hysterectomy and removal of my tubes/ovaries thus axing the chance at ever bearing my own child. The bottom had fell out of my world that day when I was told I had cancer. Actually I read it off the path report myself and handled it okay for about 10 minutes and then I ended up spending 1.5 hours in the assistant administrator's office (which she gladly entitled me to) with my girlfriend....sobbing, cussing, crying, wondering why, if I would die. You see my whole life, like almost every girl, I wanted babies....babies to raise and care for and love on and laugh with. It was my dream, to marry, have children and grow old together! How could this happen? It hurt like hell and still does....not every second, minute & hour like it used to but it still hurts! That was my initial hurt & worry and then I had to face the cancer and realizing that I could die....people DIE from cancer...I laid awake in bed night after night pleading for my life to God, hoping that I would not die. Panic set in then....I couldn't breath from crying so much, why me? The day arrived for the big surgery....I still remember the details, walking into the hospital that cold morning and finding my hospital room decorated with things from my friends. Getting ready for the surgery - people who were there were worried and hurting for me and I was trying to be the upbeat one even though I was scared shitless.....how could this be happening to me at 32 years of age? How? Why me? Being wheeled back to surgery and lying on the gurney in line for the anesthetist to place the IV and get me relaxed....I remember the nurses in the hall talking about being pregnant and I was okay with that but I was thinking that they really should be more sensitive to what their patients may be going through. It was comforting to have people working on me that I knew - most people would be freaked but I was comfortable knowing that I personally knew the anesthetist and he truly was there for me, the surgeon was rooting for me, the nurses were rooting for me. that was good - that is what a friend is. They touched my life just knowing they cared. After surgery I remember not wanting to be told how advanced the surgery was - I was so scared. what if it had metastasized to other parts of my body? The doctor told us that the cancer was further along than he expected and I remember wondering what that meant? I remember my mom coming with my dog and sneaking her through the window of my room - that meant so much to me just to see and hold my Penny dog and love on her and she was so excited to see me, that helped my hurting heart. I remember how scared I was because friends would come and just stand in my room with no words and I thought for sure I was on my way out and dying by the way they just stood in the room nervously not knowing WHAT exactly to say. My room was lined from wall to wall with flowers....it meant so much but again I knew it must be bad if all these people sent flowers and cards - I must be dying. I remember a friend who is a nurse coming to my room because I was unable to sleep no matter how much sleeping medication they gave me I laid awake all night, all day, freaked out - not crying, not talking, just spaced...anyhow, my friend the nurse did Reiki with me and it was the most relaxation I had had in weeks....it was an awesome feeling....God was there and I knew it.

It took me a week to look at my discharge papers to see how advanced my cancer was. The plan was, after consultation with physicians out of this area and in much larger institutions, for 5.5 weeks of radiation treatment. That was a very draining experience also. It left lifelong reminders of my cancer war and my treatment. I can laugh and joke about it now but going through the radiation was very tiring and draining. I spent my time in the lead room on the lead table with the radiation praying a lot, trying to let my anger go. I wasn't freaked at being in the room alone. I just tried to pray a lot and pray that the treatment would do what it needed to do to save my life!

I just felt like I needed to write this out for my own self....it may be all nothingness to everyone else but I had to celebrate an almost 11 year victory over cancer. It was the worst time in my life truly. There are not many things that can drag you that low, I realize there are a few other things that can take you down but that has to be one of them.

This post isn't meant to be depressing - I just wanted to revisit and express my feelings on my blog.

It is just so many little things trip me up sometimes and I want to be sooo done with that stuff - life is just to damn short to cry over the crap that gets thrown at you for whatever reason. I love the people in my life who can forgive me for my shortcomings and not hold on to my failures and point fingers....that is what makes a family & friends true.

I am happy and very excited about life - I am ready to turn on my life and start living it for real! I am upbeat, have some exciting things going on with me personally.

Soooo....what do ya know?.............

So things have been a little quiet here on the blogosphere....what is up with that? Oh well, my blog started out as a way to have a little fun and keep track of my life for me.


Isn't the sunshine great today - what a way to wake up - no gray skies and opening the blinds and having blue skies and sun! Instantly helped my spirit - sunshine for my soul!

I have a feeling this is going to be a good month for me and hopefully I can blog about some things that I have had on my mind and buried in my heart for awhile....thinking on them, stewing, deciding what I want to say and how.....

O Happy Day!

Superbowl Sunday

I am off to a party of 14.....what teams are playing again - football lost my interest when the COLTS were ousted!

So more like....off to see the superbowl advertisements!

Ang aint going to be happy when he realizes he still has homework to doooooo!

Lord....help me make it through the 4th grade.....Pleeaasseee!