Chemo - Bye Bye

Hello blogging friends.  I'm back and feeling great. 

I had my last chemotherapy treatment on January 19 and felt bad for a few days but I feel absolutely normal now.  And I still have all my hair!!  My oncologist is going to make me wait 2 months before they will remove my port.  The port is in my chest and it was used to administer the chemo.  I thought it would be removed immediately but she tells me it is standard procedure to wait 2 months...dang it!

Radiation starts around March 19.  I will go to the hospital every day (5 days a week M-F) for 6 weeks.  I am not looking forward to that. 

For now I have a little break from seeing doctors.  I have been spending my time with family, also quilting and reading. 

I finally finished quilting this quilt.  I machine quilted it using my Bernina Activa 145.  This quilt is for my cats.  They seem to really like laying on it.  And it will keep their fur off my furniture!!

I used fabric from my stash and pieced the backing fabric.

For the binding again I used fabric from my stash and pieced the binding using coordinating fabrics. 

I borrowed this book from my local library.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  It has motivated me to dig in and get rid of things I no longer need.  If you are interested in decluttering your home, organizing your home, simplifing your life and becoming a better steward of this earth then you will find this book to be an interesting read. 

It feels good to be back in the blogging world.
Until next time,

Tiger Cubs at OKC Zoo

The Oklahoma City Zoo has 4 new tiger cubs.  They were born July 9th, 2011, 3 females and 1 male.

This is Momma, her name is Suriya.  She is watching over her cubs. 

The cubs were behind a fence so it is in most of the pictures.  They look large but they are about the size of a German Shepherd dog. For a tiger that is still pretty small.

The male was named Leonidus.  The 3 females were named Leeloo, Lucy and Lola. 

It is rare for a tiger to have four cubs; most have two or three.  And it is very rare for all four cubs to survive.

There are only 250 left in the wild.  66 live in accredited zoos.  Now there are 71 in living in a zoo!!

They started getting soooo tired.

All tuckered out.

Until next time,

 

Snow Oh My Goodness

We had a light snow tonight, our first this winter.  Totally caught me by surprise.  I wore a  T-shirt, shorts and flipflops all day so I wasn't dressed for snow.  Good thing I stayed home all day. 

Crazy weather, warm one minute, snowing the next.

I should have a blog post in the next few days showing our new tiger cubs at the OKC zoo.  They are soooooo cute. 

Goodbye 2011

I am more than happy to say goodbye to 2011.  For me it has not been a good year.  Wow, what a downer way to start a blog post. 

On a good note, I just finished my 5th chemo treatment and I am feeling pretty good.  One more treatment to go and I will be finished with chemo, woohoo, celebration!!   2012 is already looking better.

My only New Year's resolution is to get healthy in 2012 and put cancer behind me.  In 2012 I have one more chemo treatment, 6 weeks of radiation and another surgery in August.  By this time next year I can say "bye bye" to cancer.

So I leave 2011 showing you the blooms in my greenhouse.  It is so much fun to go to the greenhouse on a cold winter day and have blooming plants greet me.

Bird of Paradise

Ti plant, No blooms but lots of color

Angel Wing Begonia



Cyclamen

I think this is Josephs Coat



Bird of Paradise again....because I love them so much!

Kalanchoe and Poinsettia

I hope you have a very Happy New Year!! 

Until next time,

Christmas Lights at Chesapeake

These are the Christmas lights at the Chesapeake Energy business complex in Oklahoma City. 

My daughter and I had attended the Christmas program at her church.  Mother had told me I needed to go see these lights so after the program we drove to Chesapeake.  Mom was right.  This light display is spectacular.

We took turns taking pictures of each other.

There is Christmas music playing and the lights on the trees change color with the music.

If you live in the Oklahoma City area and haven't seen these lights I highly recommend that you drive by the complex.

Since then I have had my fourth chemo treatment.  My side effects have not been near as bad this time.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Until next time,

My 6 Trees for Christmas

I have 6 decorated Christmas trees in my house.  Sounds impressive, BUT 4 of them stay decorated all year long.  I can pick them up and store them in a closet.  The 2 large trees are a little work.

 

This little 9 inch tree is in my bathroom

This tree is about 12 inches tall and sits in the kitchen

A little larger, this tree sits in our sun room





Our Charlie Brown tree in the living room

This is my tree.  It is completely decorated with Wizard of Oz ornaments.  It is 4 foot tall and sits in the dining room. 

Picture taken with a flash

And here is the big one, 7 foot tall, sitting in the living room. It has hundreds of ornaments on it and took me, my daughter and 2 granddaughters 3 hours to decorate. It is our memory tree. Each ornament was purchased on a trip or is a special gift from someone.

Picture taken without a flash,  I kind of like this version

My daughter was very happy to be finished decorating.

I will be shopping the after Christmas sales.  I NEED another 4-5 foot tree....right!!

Happy Holidays.

Until next time,

I'm Back

Oh my, it has been a long time since I did a blog post.  My last chemo treatment was a little harder to recover from than the first 2.  I was in bed 4 days, then another 4 days of feeling lousy.  By then it was the day before Thanksgiving.  I was serving Thanksgiving dinner to 15 at my house so I called in my Mom and kids to help me prepare the food.  I could not have done it without them.

I felt good Thanksgiving day.  We had a great day.  I also celebrated my birthday.  I truly cherish my birthdays now.  Cancer can make you look at life differently.  Instead of dreading the fact that I am getting older, I celebrate the fact that I was given another year of life. 

Since then I have been running around frantically trying to get my house decorated for Christmas and get all of my Christmas shopping finished.

You see.....in 3 days I have my 4th chemo treatment and if it is anything like the last one I will be down for over a week.   Yikes, I have Christmas parties to attend, gifts to wrap, christmas caroles to sing.

Enough with the blah blah blah, it will all work itself out. 

One thing I love about this time of year....I get to use my Christmas dishes!!  The pattern is called Winter's Greetings.  I start using it Thanksgiving Day and use it throughout December.

My kids bought me the first 4 place settings and I keep adding to it.  I now have service for 20. 

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season.  Tomorrow I will be doing a post about our Christmas Trees.

Me and Hubby  (see I still have my hair!!) 

Until next time,