Having a Bit of Fun!

It's a sunny day and I'm loving the fact that I can use the sunshine in my craft corner! I had to run in to work and finish the tips I started yesterday, but I've been able to be at home since then, doing laundry and creating. I just have to share this card with you. It's one I'm very pleased with. Something I can't say about all of my cards lately, that's for sure!! Thanks to the creative inspiration via challenges over at Cococat's Cardmaking!!

A RIDE!!!

BIG NEWS!!! I got to go for a really long ride! Oh, BOY! Oh, BOY!!! And the coolest part?!?! Pixie was at the other end! We went to Grandpa and Grandma's house this weekend. I always like it when we go there. They have a super cool park that I get to walk around (not many trees, but LOTS of great smells) and Pixie's there and I get to be so close to mom that I can just lick her face in the middle of the night to let her know I'm still there!! Life is grand on road trips! I have to tell you, this time was kinda weird. You shoulda seen Grandma! She had the FUNNIEST legs! She made some weird noises with her extra legs, too! And everyone told me to move when she was walking around! I heard something about some surgery or something like that. You'll have to ask mom. Mom spent most of Saturday cooking stuff up so that the Gr's can eat for awhile. Every once in awhile I'd get called over to pick up the carrot or broccoli that fell to the ground! I LOVE it when mom cooks! Anyway, that was our weekend. Oh, and Grandma wouldn't pose, but sister did. These were Grandma's legs. Grandpa and Dad put together the little wooden thingy so that Grandma could get around better. Man, I'd think with 5 legs life would be great, but apparently the little rolly-thingy's even better!



Yes, mom had surgery on her great toe last week. She's to be off of her foot for one month, followed by 2 months of limited pressure and then another 3 months of getting better. They fused and pinned and plated and rodded and whatnot so that she'll hopefully have no more foot pain. So that dad doesn't have to work so hard after work, we went down and I cooked up quite a bit of food for their freezer in addition to keeping us all fed through the weekend. It was good to have that time there, even without mom and I getting to craft! As you can see, Dad and Kent had the privilege of being the creative ones this time! It's always good to see the great friends that mom and dad have there, too! Such a privilege to get to be in fellowship with them on Sunday morning! On our way there I read the book "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. Maybe you've seen the video of his spoken "Last Lecture"? I highly recommend both the book and the video. Make sure to have the tissues ready, but also maybe a notebook or highlighter. Really a great read and some great lessons that I would like to take to heart! I never had the opportunity to know this man in person, and for that I'm now very sad, but I'm thankful to have "known" him through his works and hope to learn from him through his legacy! Check it out at www.thelastlecture.com .

16 Years

"I promise to be true to you in sunshine and in rain, through good times and bad, in my talking and my silence, in my waking and sleeping, all the days of my life. I love you."

AWESOME news!!

My friend's husband came into the store yesterday and told me that her last PET/CT scans came back with really AWESOME news! (You'll remember SHE visited me a few weeks back and made me so happy!) Her bones are showing cleared of cancer, her liver spots are VERY diminished as are her original sites (breast) and her lymph nodes are also almost clear! She'll continue treatment through December, but things are looking VERY good and VERY promising!! YAY JEN!!!!!

And in honor of all women (and the 1000 men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year), will you click each day at this site to grant mammogram's for under-privileged women? Thanks!!

Breast Cancer Site

Half Marathon Weekend

What an AWESOME weekend with some AWESOME friends! Friday night Jolyn, Victoria, Tiana (Li'l T), Kent and I drove over to Leavenworth to meet up with John and Linda, Jill, Trevan and Toriana, Donna and Terry, John and Gill, Sue, Jan, Kate, Becky, Mary, Kateen, Big T(Tiana), Robert, Justin, Elaine and Gentry so that those of us in italics could run/walk the Oktoberfest Half-Marathon the next day. We got in fairly late, but still had to "carb-load" at our favorite German restaurant -- Andreas Keller. It was quite rowdy with the beer flowing for most people, but the accordian player was having all sorts of fun getting people moving, laughing, singing, having a general great time! Just after we received our salads, Kateen, Justin, Big T and Robert walked in and we had them join us at our table! What a great way to start our weekend! From there we were off to the KOA campground where we had a total of 4 cabins and a tent site reserved. Poor Justin and Robert had to stay in a tent in the rain! Bummer for our s'mores fest, too! Trevan did manage to put together a roaring fire so that at least a few marshmallows were roasted! Saturday we headed off to the start line where Dave (and some extra support group!) joined us. At 9:05, with great anticipation, we started out running. It doesn't take long for the course to put a few paces between us! Dave, Justin and Kateen ran the whole thing -- as a repeat of the weekend before! --and Jill and Trevan tried to keep pace with them. The rest of us did plenty of walking. Poor Jill's knee didn't allow her to finish. (very sad face here!) For my part -- I'm very happy to say that I PR'd (personal record) this year by shaving a full 43 minutes off of last year's showing!
Due to the rain, I have no pictures to share with you, but maybe Donna wouldn't mind me pointing you to her blog. This is our whole group minus Jill and Trevan (sorry we didn't get any of you!) We should have made sure to get all of the support group, too, but well, NEXT YEAR!

KLUTZ ALERT!!!

Ok, what a day! So I was scheduled to go into work at 12:30 today so I was super excited to get to walk in finally! It's been awhile and since the 1/2 marathon is next weekend, I thought it would be a GREAT opportunity to get at least 4 miles in. Well.... The best laid plans, I guess, are meant to not happen. Before 7:30 even I got a call from my manager that someone hadn't shown and was not answering her phone -- could I come in early. Well, work I did, for almost an hour longer than I was originally scheduled. Oops! There goes the labor budget! So, I get off work and think, "YOU MUST GO FOR A RUN!!!!" (In my terms, that's a walk/run, but I like to put the greater emphasis on the run part.) So, anywho, I head out get a good pace goin', enjoyin' the sun on my face, get up to the wood-chipped trail, start the run part and BIFF!!! There was a root hiding under fresh chips. Down I go! So embarrassing! And right on the main drag, too! I have to say, though, my pride bounced back with my extremely quick recovery and continued run! All that was really damaged was a bit of "road rash" on my elbow! No knee injuries, no nothing! I completed the just over 4 mile course in 55 minutes (with a nice 2-3 minute stop at the stop light!). Not too bad. Unfortunately, it's a bit shy of the 13.1 mile mark that I'm aiming for, but... well, last year I did the whole 13.1 fairly cold, as last year the dog had pulled me over and damaged my knee pretty badly just two weeks before! In the two weeks prior to race day I didn't walk one mile, so I'm sure that these 4 mile practice runs will help a lot! Anyway, had to go ahead and share the klutz story of the day!

A ray of sun!

Today at work I had the most awesome ray of sunshine on a cloudy rainy day! My friend Jenna came in to get a cup of iced green tea. What's so remarkable about that you ask? Jenna hasn't been in the store more than maybe 5 times in the last 4½ months because she is battling stage IV metastasized breast cancer. Wednesdays are usually some of the worst days for her because it is the "hit day" post chemo on Mondays! She drove herself in today (she said it was only the 2nd time out alone!) and she looked GREAT! It made my day to see her and to know that she is doing so well despite and in spite of this thing called cancer! I know she is doing the best she can to support conventional therapies with good nutrition and quietness and a very strong, positive attitude. I applaud her and continue to wish her the very best and am thankful to be a part of her circle of friends as she fights this! It truly made my day to see her so perky today! What brightens your day? Pull up a chair, grab your cup of tea, or coffee, or hot cocoa, or diet Coke and share!