The fourth picture thing

Notice: There is no fourth picture folder! My computer died about 3 months ago and I am working off of my laptop so I dont have very many pictures. So the fourth picture is of Elvis and Lola, my mother's Pugs. Elvis is on the right and Lola is on the left. Elvis is a rescue dog that attacked my mother shortly after she got him. He was promptly neutered and now is a wonderful dog!

Up All Night

I have been awake almost all night! I went to be around 9pm and was back up at 11 eating Lucky Charms. When back to be at midnight and then up again at 0230 with Charlie Horses in my legs. I have heard different things about how to cure these but nothing seems to help so tonight I tried the mustard theory. I am not big on mustard but I took two teaspoons full of mustard. Yuck!! I haven't had any more cramps but I haven't had any sleep either.
I have accomplished a lot. I was able to contact my insurance company about a bill they haven't paid. I shaved my legs. I contacted my boss about an issue I had forgotten to tell her about. Laundry is going. (I would love to vacuum but don't think my family would appreciate that)
Tonight is our ladies Christmas dinner at church and I will be there, I just hope I get a nap before then. So if I am looking a little rough, be easy on me.
PS: Is there a song named "Up All Night"?

New addition to the family

About two weeks ago, we lost one of our dogs. Since that time, Buddy has whined pretty much non stop. We brought him in the house with us and he was happy but the minute he was outside, he would start whining again. I was determined not to get another dog to keep him company. He is old and probably won't live another year so I had plans to take my backyard back.

Then I met Daisy. I stopped by animal control in Evansville for my mother. She wanted me to check out a pug for her (it had already been adopted). I did a quick walk through and two hours later came home with my new yellow lab. She is approx 3 years old. She does not bark at all or at least hasn't in the past 18 hours. She is potty trained, knows sit, shake and down. She fetches too and CJ is excited about teaching her to retrieve.

She had been at the shelter since the 11th. They keep strays for 7 days then put them up for adoption for seven days. After that there are no guarantees. Her seven days would have expired Weds.

I have searched old lost adds. She is such a great dog that I can't believe someone isn't looking for her. Her one negative is that she jumps on us when she is excited but I think we can break her of this.

Buddy thinks she is pretty cool too!

Another reason to always WASH YOUR HANDS

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C455067%2C00.html

Wonderful West Virginia

I took the boys to West Virginia this weekend over fall break to visit a girlfriend. It was Bridge Day at the New River Gorge. Several people were base jumping from the bridge which is the second largest bridge in the northern hemisphere. Check out the pictures.

Long Lost Friend

Have you ever met someone and just knew instantly that you could be great friends?

Nine years ago in September my husband and I were married. We went on a cruise to Mexico and New Orleans. About half way through the cruise, we met a couple from England, Claire and Matthew. We all hung out for the rest of trip. We took Matthew to Hooters (He had never been) and Claire and I purchased Boa's while in New Orleans. We had a great time together. When the cruise was over, we came home to Indiana. Claire and Matthew returned to England. We wrote letters for several months. On Christmas Eve, I returned home to find a box of red carnations on my doorstep. They were from Claire.
Claire had a baby boy. I had a baby boy. We both got busy and quite writing.
Sometime last month another girlfriend called and said that someone from England was trying to find me. I checked out the site and the posting was actually from 2003. It didn't have an e-mail address but I remembered Claire's from way back then. I sent an e-mail and waited...........

About five days later, I got an e-mail from Claire. I was so excited. She is 13 weeks pregnant with her second child. She lost her father to lung cancer about 18 months ago and the baby is due on his birthday. She cried when she read my blog.

To think that we only spent about four days together (Yes I know it was my honeymoon) and have developed this friendship. I sure hope we don't ever lose contact again. Maybe one of these days I will be able to go to England to see her. Wouldn't that be wonderful!

God's timing is ALWAYS Perfect

During the pizza sale, a gentleman that I do not personally know had purchased $40.00 in pizzas but written his check for $540.00. I had heard that he lost his wife to cancer. I wrote to him, thanking him for his generosity and filling him in with the good news that I had received. I assured him that the money he had donated would help others with this dreaded disease.

I had decided to share the profits from the pizza sale with others who are struggling with bills and expenses associated with breast cancer. I had one person in particular who I intended to bless but wasn't sure when or with how much. She has had to endure the full expanse of treatments for her cancer. She has had two surgeries, is currently going through chemo, will have radiation after and then on with reconstruction. She has insurance but as we all know, it is still a financial burden. I figured she could use some blessings!

She was the first person I called after my diagnosis. We had been friends before but now it is a different kind of friendship. I went to see her today at work. As I drove, God kept telling me $250.00. I figured this was a good amount, since it was half of what the gentleman had blessed me with. I was going to get cash but the bank was closed. So I wrote her a check from the benefit account. Of course she didn't want to accept it but I explained to her that it was half of the amount given to me and that I had promised this gentleman that I would help others. She relented and accepted the check.

When I arrived home, I had a letter from this gentleman. Here is a portion of it:

I lost my mother to Cancer when she was only 42 years old. I was in the Army in Vietnam at the time which made it even more difficult for me.

Then in 05' I lost my wife to cancer.

So I guess what I am trying to say is BE STRONG-Have Faith in God and cherish each day. Fight the good fight and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your boys each and everyday.
God bless you and live a long and happy life. Peace be with you and smile each day.

Also take a moment each day just for yourself to reflect on where you have been and all the great things ahead of you!

Thank you, Mr. Morris and I will do my best to follow your advice!

What a week!

Well most of you already know but Tuesday I was notified that I would not have to go through Chemotherapy. My Onco typing came back that the cancer was a very NON aggressive type. My chance of reoccurrence with only tamoxifen would be 3% in 10 years. The doctor did not feel that chemotherapy could reduce this percentage. Prior to this test returning, they were saying that I had a 15% chance of reoccurrence in 5 years so this was a huge decrease. Typically this test takes at least two weeks to come back but mine came back early. I was to start the therapy on Thursday. I can't even begin to express my thankfulness to God for all of His work!

So once I found out that my hair wouldn't be falling out I figured I needed to get it professionally fixed. It is still darker than I am used to but it looks a whole lot better. For those of you who saw the black hair, I hope you agree.

Pizza Fundraiser

My girlfriends organized a pizza fundraiser to help off set the time I will be off work with chemo. Barb was in charge because she has organized one before for the greyhoud rescue. Several of my former coworkers came out and helped. People from church, the Evansville Police Dept, The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Dept and Central Dispatch all bought. There were several others that bought but I can't list them all. We made over 400 pizzas in about 2 1/2 hours not including set up and tear down. But they raised over $1000 from the pizzas and then had over $1000 in donations. It was an awesome experience to be there with all of my dear friends and to know they were doing this for me. The young girls helping were friends of my friends daughter. They were a huge help. Check out the pictures of all the fun and all the pizzas we made.

Bad Hair job gone worse

In preparation for chemo, I decided to get my long hair cut short. I paid $31 dollars for a haircut that is going to fall out in about 20 days anyhow. I went and bought haircolor the stylist recommended. It was OK but I didn't really like it. I did all of this on Monday. On Tuesay I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to die it blond instead. So he went to walmart and bought me a box of "real blond". It sat at the house for two days until he said "Are you going to use that box of color?" So I did. I then became pumpkin orange. It was awful. So Friday night I ran to walmart at 9pm to get a box of brown. I put it on and all it did was tone down the orange and make it lucille ball red. It was doo able but I still didn't like it. So tonight I sent Jordan (CJ's girlfriend) to get me a darker brown. Well now my hair is gothic black! My scalp is sore and I have talked to two professional beauticians who say "DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE TO IT."
Since it is sunday night, I guess I am going to work looking gothic tomorrow. AAAARRRGGGHHH

Where do I start?

Where do I start? I haven't posted in some length of time because I had been so busy with my job. I was starting to feel comfortable in my job and at least had a clue what I was doing. I had traveled to Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia and Atlanta was in the forecast.
Shortly before the trip to Atlanta, I was showering and found a lump on my left breast. I wasn't too concerned because I have had cysts in the past and drink LOTS of Dt. Mountain Dew. So I checked it occasionally and had my husband feel it just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. John said it felst like a muscle. I had to teach him that women don't have muscles in their breasts and he had to remind me that he is a plumber not nurse!
After I returned from Atlanta I called and had a mammogram and ultrasound completed. The technician stated it looked like a fibro adenoma. 90% of masses in the breast are this kind. They reassured me not to worry all weekend but said for me to come in on Monday and have it biopsied. I did this on Monday and went right back to work. I was slightly concerned but not really. On Tuesday I recieved a call on my office line from the radioligist asking for me to either call him or the breast advocate back. At this point I knew it was cancer. I called him back and left a message then he returned my call and told me that it was indeed cancer. His exact words were "We found a little invasive ductile carcinoma." I thought "Is this like being a little pregnant?" and the answer is yes. You have cancer and you are pregnant(No I am not pregnant). Neither one is little.

On Weds March 5 I had a total mastectomy. I was released from the hospital the next morning and felt pretty good. The doctor said that my lymph nodes looked good and he doesn't think the cancer has spread. I do have a 6mm spot on my liver that they aren't concerned about but I am.
We are doing a Pet scan on Friday to check for any metastisis. I met wth the oncologist this past Friday and he wants me to have chemotherapy. I had been under the impession that I was not going to need this but apparently I do. I will elaborate more on that later. Please keep me in your prayers that I handle the chemo with grace and that I am not too sick. I will update more maybe tomorrow but I need to rest right now.

Willis Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Vintage pictures - Find my lost relatives