SomeBody

Somebody please tell Gracie (in doggy language) it is raining outside and there will be no trip to the park for sniffing, chasing and doing doggy business this am. Maybe when it dries out some we will go. Oh if our life were all that simple and we could be so easily amused by chasing a ball and having the park be your giant toilet with someone to clean up after you. UPDATES: Rich had blood work done yesterday and his white counts are really low - he really needs to stay away from sick people and so do I, so I don't bring anything home. Last night was the RED HAT, SWEET TART Christmas Feast-gift exchange. We went to Debbie's house and it was so festive and decorated with all kinds of great Santa's and Snowmen. She had this great sign in her kitchen that said " I only have a kitchen because it came with the house" FUNNY. There was plenty of food and good desserts even though someone forgot to bring her dessert...

Rich and I are really feeling the BLESSINGS, from our friends and family with their phone calls, invitations (although we have had to turn some down which makes us very sad, but we will be back next year), fabulous soups and those great elves that came to help me decorate the house! Time for errands in the rain... Sounds like that should be a song...
Have a wonderful wet, blessed day.

It's Been Awhile

Yes, it has been awhile since I blogged. There are at least 100 reasons why. Why today... A little boredom and not to much to do since I am at the City of Hope watching my hubby take a little cat nap. The Journey has begun and being the trooper he is he is downloading all his new chemo drugs. Things are going pretty smooth except for the one side effect the HICCUPS. He has had them off and on for hours for hours at a time. I think they are wearing him out more than the chemo right now.Praying we get done here by 6pm so we can go home. We've been here since Sunday and I slept in his room last night. Not the most comfortable but when you have been married almost 33 years (we will be as of this Friday), you get used to sleeping with someone every night and the bed at home gets a little lonely even though Gracie takes up half of it. Most of the Christmas cards are addressed. That is good. I keep trying to talk Rich into doing a Christmas letter/note for us since he has this laptop and needs a project (I think he needs a project and what could be more fun than a Christmas year end update from Hyland's Island?)Oh my I hear the groaner down the hall that is a little distributing. All the people fighting cancer are very brave - not sure I could do it. Lots of love to everyone GOD BLESS. more updates to follow.

BACK - BACK - From the Islands

What a fun time we had visiting Oahu and Kauai. Friends, warm water, Mai Tai's, fresh fish on the bbq. Great flights with ALOHA AIRLINES. It was all good. Jimmy Buffett on Saturday after our return. Now it's back to reality. Time to start scrapping the rest of cousin Eileen's book. I wallpapered it, gave it to her in Oahu and she gave it back in Kauai saying can't you please put the pictures in.... SO it came home in my luggage. I was really ready to start something new... SOON.... Enjoy... Those pictres really came out small. Forgot to check a box someplace. Have a good one.

ALOHA

Off to Hawaii for a couple of weeks.... Really ready to leave it all behind and feel some Island Magic. Hope it works... Some one said to me yesterday I can handle the flood - I can deal with the flood... It is the constant drip, drip, drip that I have trouble dealing with... AMEN... I am in the drip, drip, drip part and it is trying to make me crazy! This is a great time for a little break in the drip routine. Take care everyone... and ALOHA

CITY OF HOPE

Appointment next Tuesday at the City of Hope. Not much else to say. Just moving onto the next Chapter. Thank GOD for a creative outlet. Wall papering an 8X8 book for Rich's cousin Eileen who is going to Hawaii with us in three weeks is keeping me some what distracted and occupied. Used a Jenni Bowlin kit and did a page for the first time ever after being a member for a year and half. To say that stuff is backed up is an understatement..... I took pictures so I will have to post some later... Love to all. Does anyone ever read this Blog?

30th BD - Fun- FishTales - Next Chapter

Celebrated Jeff's 30th birthday by going out on a half day fishing boat Sunday. We went on the San Mateo out of Dana Wharf Fishing company they were GREAT and I highly recommend them. Everyone put money in the pot for the biggest fish and guess who won.... Grandma (my mom), she won for biggest, most, last and whatever other category there might have been. That Fish is a 30 to 50 pound Black Sea Bass, it is about 20+ years old and protected so yes, it went back into the ocean. It took mom all of her 71 years and lots of help from the captain about 30 minutes to land this beauty. They even strapped her in that apparatus that you put around your body to hold the pole... You can see it in the picture looks like a fanny pack almost. GOOD JOB MOM. Needless to say it is the biggest fish she has ever caught and at one point the captain said to her "that's no rainbow trout"... Obviously.... It was a great day and all the fisher people came back here after the trip to celebrate with BBQ, brownies and cookies. We celebrated 3 birthdays, Jeff his friend Nelo and our nephew Jonathan who turned 10 on Sunday. I hope he looks back and really remembers how much fun his 10th birthday was someday.

SHE DID IT! Meghan's 2nd time ever scrapbooking and she completed a MAYA ROAD, album this weekend of her and Michael's trip to Oahu from last June. Her technique, texture and arts form was so very cool. She must be a natural cause she just sat at the scrap table and off she went. It was so amazing to see her using so many different techniques (and lots of product, I too need to make room for the new stuff) UNDERSTAND- she has never looked inside a scrap book magazine and as far as I know she has never been on line to scrap sites.

The pink & blue page you can't tell by the picture but she took fabric and rolled it up into a frame and safety pinned it with little pins. So much creativity. The only other time Meghan scrapped was at the Scrapbook Oasis, back in the spring when we took a class. It kind of feels like when your child takes their first steps or makes honor roll or graduates from college.

Meghan and Mike being here for the weekend was so nice. They could not stay for fishing -Not enough time wish they could stay for weeks or months. Michael had to get back to work yesterday and Meghan had yet another round of Chemo. We got to see her in one of her new wigs and she looked like a total rock star. Our news on hubby was not what we expected or wanted last week either... Lymphoma is still there and the treatment he received last May did not work the way it was supposed to or the way we wanted it to. More scans next week and we will meet with the doctor to discuss our next chapter and course of action. Maybe more Chemo and maybe City of Hope for a stem cell transplant... Prayers for Meghan and Rich are always appreciated.

Big Bear Lake - Remission

Swim Grace -Swim. See Gracie Swim in Big Bear Lake. She had such fun even though her human parents stood on the shore a bit worried when one tennis ball throw went especially far out into the water. The breeze came up the water got choppy and she was heading a little to the east in the current. Oh my... We didn't have to jump in (but I was ready if needed) and she made it back safely to shore. I guess we just need to trust in her abilities. She was a tired out of breath dog when she made it back with that tennis ball in her mouth. She would drown before she gave up that ball. That is devotion or stupidity- not sure which description best fits.

We spent an overnighter in Big Bear with our good friends the Archers (Donna has been my friend since we were 10... )We were going to take a TIM HOLTZ class at Collective Journey and when Donna stopped in on Friday and saw the sample she discovered it was the same class we had already taken at Scrapbook Oasis. The class description was a little mis-leading. Oh well such is life, we scrapped at her house and hit the Scrap stores in Big Bear pretty good. They have 3 of them up there on the mountain and it amazes me that there are 3 located in such a small area and they all seem to be doing well. The men played golf - we shopped, walked and scrapped what could be better. Donna is doing the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk (20 miles a day for 3 days) in Arizona this November. It will be her 3rd. I have done two in the past with her and I know how hard it is to train and raise the money so I really admire her for taking on this challenge again. If you'd like feel free to send my best - friend - sister scrap booker a donation (click above on Donna). Her sister turns 50 this year and she is a survivor so Donna is walking in her honor.. NICE.

REMISSION... "You are in REMISSION" - those are the words we want to hear tomorrow or the next day. Rich went for his scan this morning to find out if the treatment he received last May has killed all the cancer and he can again be cancer FREE. Lots of Prayers for remission! I don't want to think about it any further or any more until tomorrow... I just keep the spot prayers going every time I think about it. Remission is a word we would like to hear for Meghan too. We finally talked to her this last week and she told me she had to shave her head since she got tired of seeing all that hair laying on her pillow every morning when she woke up... Seems to be having some fun with it - she said she now has three different style wigs in three different colors. I will have to get some pictures from her I would love to see them on her. Continued prayers for this beautiful girl too. Time to get on with the day. Have a great day everyone.