Fill 'er Up

Today I went to the plastic surgeon for a "fill up" and then we stopped by the gas station to get another type of fill up. Both were painful!

Can you believe these gas prices? We sure have learned to give more thought to our frequent trips out and about. We opt to stay closer to home and find ourselves asking, "do we really need to go there"? When we do go out, we try to make the most of the trip by taking care of as much business as possible.

This morning we saw gas for $3.99 and we got excited...how pathetic!!

Cruisin' for Breast Cancer on the Cruise

No, I didn't go on a cruise but my good friend Beth did recently!! She was on a cruise with her hubby and daughter and had an opportunity to participate in the On Deck for the Cure walk! She said 100 people walked for the cure and raised $1,000! It was freezing that morning, overcast and windy but she did it for me (and others)! She's the one in the picture with the knee brace on and she's having surgery next week! What a friend!

It was really awesome when she emailed me and said that she had thought about me 22 nautical miles off the coast of Mexico! I guess it was the next best thing to being there, right?

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends! The gals in this picture are my friends who meet at my home for Bible study! Each one of them have a special place in my heart and they have prayed me through this journey and fight against breast cancer!

I've Been Tagged for the Favorite Four

I've never done one of these before but Sherry tagged me, so here it goes!

Four jobs I've had:
1. Clerical
2. Transcriber (sat with headphones listening to cassette tapes and typing up accident reports for an insurance company...boring! Didn't last long!!)
3. Assistant for special needs preschool class. Preschool teacher one year at a Christian school.
4. Realtor

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. While You Were Sleeping
2. Speed
3. Miss Congeniality
4. My Girl

Four places I've lived:
1. Hawaii (only first six months of my life)
2. California (9 years)
3. Arizona (37 years)
4. Final destination...heaven

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Law & Order
2. CSI
3. American Gladiators
4. Extreme Makeover

Four places I've been:
1. South Dakota - Mt. Rushmore
2. Kansas
3. Oklahoma
4. Nebraska
(Quite the world traveler, huh?)

Four people who email me regularly:
1. Beth Munoz
2. Karen (my girl brother)
3. Karen Lipps
4. Stacey Thomas

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Mexican (green corn tamales)
2. Italian (eggplant parmesan)
3. Asian (orange chicken)
4. American (chicken fried chicken)

Four places I would love to visit:
1. Hawaii (want to go there with my hubby)
2. Kentucky (to see my friend Melanie)
3. California (love taking the grand kids there!)
4. New York

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Possible vacation with my family
2. Celebrating 1 year cancer free in October
3. Reconstruction surgery and getting these darn expanders out!
4. Selling houses...what a novel idea!!

Four friends I'm tagging:
1. Shawnette
2. Donna
3. Beth (cuz she's starting her blog soon!)
4. Everyone else has done it!!

Blessings in Ordinary Days!

Recently, I have been blessed by two strangers while out in my community. It just so happens that each of these women were breast cancer survivors!

First, I was shopping in JC Penney's with my sister (or as Seth calls her, my girl brother) where I was checking out the clearance racks in the kids department. Another gal was shopping in the same area but I wasn't really aware of her because I was on a mission...looking for a bargain! Then, the lady excused herself and spoke to me, asking if I was a breast cancer survivor. She explained that she, too was a survivor and for her it had been a couple of years now. Instantly, there's a bond! She went on to tell me that she is planning to participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk and asked if she could put my name on her shirt. Isn't that awesome? We chatted for a short while and she just kept telling me to be strong and fight.

The second encounter was in Walmart. This time, I was focused on finding the right paper towels...you know, there are so many choices these days! You know how you get that feeling that someone is looking at you? So, I turned to see an older woman standing there staring at me with such a friendly smile. She sheepishly asked if I had had breast cancer and was I going through treatment. I explained that I had completed my chemo and she went on to say that she, too, was a survivor of many years. She asked if she could give me a hug. She began fumbling in her purse and asked if I would accept a gift? She presented cross bookmarks that she had made out of plastic canvas and ribbon and asked me to choose one . She asked if Sherry was my sister (gotta love it) so I introduced her as my youngest daughter. She offered one of her cross bookmarks to Sherry, as well. She makes these and then carries them with her so that she can give them to cancer patients that she meets. Isn't that sweet?

I love how God puts wonderful little blessings in the middle of an ordinary day!

Reconstruction is a Pain...Literally!

This may be too personal for some of you, so I apologize in advance and you may want to skip this post.

For those who care to read on...
I am continuing the reconstruction process towards eventually having implants. I'll be honest and say, it's not been an easy process for me. My first frustration came when the first set of expanders were defective and they had to replace them 3 months ago and start the process all over. I seriously considered having them removed and not getting new ones but they say it's better for your back and spine because your body is used to having the weight of breasts and now your body is trying to adjust to having them removed. So, I chose to get the replacements and so far, the new expanders are working well! It requires me to make regular (usually weekly) visits to the plastic surgeon to have the expanders filled with saline in order to stretch and expand the area where the implants will be placed eventually.

Today was my routine visit to get "filled up". Normally, these visits leave me a little uncomfortable for a couple of days but today it left me in pain! So much so that I've had to take pain medicine tonight and I haven't had to take pain medicine since surgery. I feel like I have broken ribs on my left side and it hurts to move. Oh, and sneezing...oh, my goodness!! I'm hoping the pain will be gone when I wake up in the morning or else I may be making a phone call to the doc!

Catching Up

Okay, you know it's been too long when you forget how to sign in on your blog! I've been a bit out of touch but that doesn't mean I haven't had bloggable moments and I promise I will be blogging about some of them soon!

Celebrated my birthday in May, with the family! Yep...47!


Here are some answers to FAQ, to bring you up to date on my life:

1. No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

2. No, we didn't go to San Diego.

3. My dad is out of the hospital and has been back at the care center for 3+ weeks now.

4. We babysat my two youngest grandsons (1 and almost 4) for an entire week and we survived...in fact, we had a lot of fun!

5. Yes, my real estate business is s l o w l y picking up but the market is still a big challenge!

6. Yes, Sherry is still walking and we are rejoicing!

7. Yes, I'm moving forward with the reconstruction process but I have a ways to go before my next surgery.

8. I'm feeling good but having a few problems that I will be seeing the doctor about this week.

9. Yes, my hair is growing out. It's only about an inch long and too short to do anything stylish yet!

10. Yes, Art is still working for PVC and no we haven't broke ground yet but God willing, it won't be much longer!

11. Yes, it is HOT here in sunny Arizona, in fact about 120 these days! Ugh! (It's a dry heat, though, right?)

12. No, we don't have a swimming pool...I wish!!

So, that's about it for now! God continues to meet our needs and bless us abundantly. Each day is a gift from His hand and I am so grateful!

Jesus said, "with men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God."