Scripts & Scraps from a Survivor

I LOVE Kristi’s new blog with Make Something Monday.  Last week, we made these blessing jars after reading Kristi’s post.  My kids LOVED making them. I had actually showed them the post on Tuesday and then all day I heard…when are we going to make our blessings jars?? LOL :)  They just LOVED this project.  (Mom, if you are reading this, one of Mari’s blessings was the quilts you have made for her. :)  She LOVES them and I thought it was so cute that she thought of them when doing her blessings.)

 Today we ended up cleaning for most of the day but we had time to do one project. Nicholas wanted a diary like Mari’s (this is the problem when you have boy/girl twins) but I couldn’t find a boy diary anywhere with a key so we took this:

And made it into this:

Modge podge came out lumpier than I would have liked but Nicholas was thrilled with it and that’s what counts. While we were putting this together, he asked - who is the BEST scrapbooker in the WORLD? I said…I don’t know but NOT your mom. He said…I think you are. LOL :)  Don’t you just LOVE when your kids think of you this way.

 I’ve been focusing on 12 x 12 layouts because I’m working on my Library of Memories system but I forgot HOW much I missed altering stuff and making little books.  I think next week I’m going to make a book for Houston to bring with me. I’ve already decided that I need to make sure it’s one I can add to in case I get to go back for the stem cell.

 My friend ended up calling tonight to cancel for tomorrow.  All of her kids are sick and with my immune system, we decided it was best to postpone.  Now I have a clean house and….I’ve decided to make tomorrow a scrapbooking day.  Really bummed we don’t get to see them though.

 The kids and I cleaned out a cabinet that I haven’t cleaned out in YEARS.  I ended up finding these books that I have carried from house to house in there. I thought there were just photos in them but when I looked, here is what I found:

How funny is this. It’s actually from 1984 so apparently I was scrapbooking WAY before I thought I was (2003).  There are only about 5 pages but there is also an envelope of all this really, really cool memorobilia.  I’m not sure what to do with this but I feel like I need to turn it into some type of project. The stuff is from high school, college and even my year abroad to London.  If you have any thoughts on how I can incorporate these pages (they are huge -the book is one of those sketch books with black covers and it must be 15 x12 or something like that).  I’d love to remove the pages and turn it into a smaller type book. I have NO idea what I used for glue at the time but it’s all still attached to the book and in great shape. Finding these was just another incentive to keep cleaning my house. LOL

 Off to make dinner but wanted to post while I had 10 minutes to myself.

Hope you are having a joyful day.

Deb

Baseball was officially over yesterday and I couldn’t be happier to have my weekends back. This year was crazy, we had three kids playing (Mari was playing softball, Nicholas Little League and Matthew AAU). It was the AAU tournaments that put us over the edge. This weekend alone, we had one game on Friday night, two on Saturday and three yesterday. The team came in fourth.

It’s was a hard year for Matthew.  It’s his second year with AAU but this year, he wasn’t getting the playing time he normally does. Matthew is a great player but not the best on the team and the coach (I think) kind of had it in his mind who he was going to play.  There were a lot of tears and I have to tell you that seeing your child so upset causes your heart to break a lot.

We told Matthew that just like sometimes doctors are wrong so our coaches.  The difference was though that we told Matthew he had to have good manners and be respectful and he had to finish out the season.  It was a great opportunity for us to learn though.  We went and read all the stories about professional atheletes who were told at one point or another in their career that they weren’t good enough - Michael Jordan, Justin Pedroia, and Jerry Azuma (who went to school with my brothers). 

I’m sorry that Matthew had a to learn a life lesson at 8 but I think he’ll be a better person because of it.

We also went to the DSM Art Festival on Saturday. WOW! What a great deal that is.  They had TONS of kids crafts (which were all free for kids).  We spent about 5 hours down there. I was exhasted from all the walking.  I still can’t get over that everything was free. Of course, we still spent tons of food but after we left Nicholas declared “this was one of the best days EVER”.  I just love hearing that from my kids.

I’m off to clean for company tomororow. After spending the weekend at the ball park, this house is SCARY. Don’t forget to check out Kristi’s make it Monday.  Hoping to get the cleaning done quickly so I can play.

Happy Monday.

Deb 

WOW. What a year it’s been.  As I had mentioned in November, I ended up fracturing my neck (Ok…let me rephrase that…the cancer fractured my neck). Man…what a hard time that was. I was in the hospital for 4 days and in a neck brace for 3 months plus…no driving.  The no driving was the hardest part for me of fighting cancer. It’s such a freedom to get taken away.  My heart does out to anyone who finds that they lose that ability.  

Since then though, life has been good. I’m on a new chemo cocktail (Navolbine, Avastin and Zometa), I got to keep my hair and…unlike Xeloda, I have returned to my “normal” weight. That in itself is kind of exciting. I’m starting to look more like the person I was before cancer.

 It will be five years in September that I’ve survived…I can’t believe it’s been that long. Some days, it feels like I’ve always had it and others, it just doesn’t feel that long.  I had scans on May 27th and I feel so blessed to say that it is still only in my bones (ie. no organ involvement). I know so many women who were diagnosed either at the same time as me or after who are no longer here and I swear, I wake up every morning so grateful to be here.

 My kids are officially out of school. We switched from private to public this year and we are SO happy that we did. The kids had an outstanding year and I can’t say enough about the public school system.  The funny thing is it took me like three weeks in September to get used to no having kids all day.  I had NO idea what to do with myself but….after that, I was having a ball - shopping, going to the pottery place, lunches and coffees with friends, etc.  Now I’m back to having three kids at home - so far so good. Yesterday, we had a few friends over and their children (both their husbands are in Iraq at the moment) and my kids were amazing. I’m going to brag just a bit ok??? LOL :)  Not only did they help clean but I realized recently that they can help cook as well - one peeled the carrots, one cut up strawberries and the other cleaned the blueberries. How awesome is that.

I also am finishing up an online scrapbooking class called Library of Memories by Stacy Julian. I can not say enough about this class. I was in suck a rut with scrapbooking because of course, I had decided long ago that each child would have their own book so I was doing three pages for each event well….no more of that. I know have 7 albums - one for each of the kids and the others are All About Us, Things We Do, Places We Go and People We Love.   Here’s what my scrapbook corner looks like in my den:

Thanks to Stacy, I’m so energized to scrapbook again that I’ve been getting pages done like crazy.  It also helps that I organized my room (actually…..my kids offered to help me sort paper so….my paper is actually sorted by color :)).  It gets a little confusing with certain lines but I’ve tried to keep those seperate (BG, Scenic Route, etc).   Here are some pics of my new room (with new paint and everything LOL ) 

BTW, that gorgeous frame from CM is from my friend Marilyn who decided to surprise me in November with it.  She knew I was eyeing and decided to spoil me (as she is ALWAYS doing). The funny thing is she gave it to me the day before I ended up in the hospital and I have to tell you that it was one of the things that I thought about while in the hospital.  Thanks for always making me feel so special Marilyn.

Here’s a picture of me and the kids from Mother’s Day. 

I promise to update more.  I’m actually headed down to MD Anderson on July 8th to see if I qualify for Stem Cell and I’ve decided that I’ll be using this to update friends and family.

I’m sure it will take everyone a while to find this since it’s been way too long since I’ve posted.

Do something joyful today.  Live joyfully is my “mantra” this year.

Deb 

 P.S. Here is a picture of all of us from Matthew’s First Communion on May 3rd. What a special, special day.