Make The Best of Things

Last year at this time we lived in a beautiful place with a gorgeous view. And every winter looked like this....

It was a gorgeous place with snow every winter. And power outages whenever the snow topped two inches, and frozen water pipes, and a snowed in driveway and a long drive to the hospital for my surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. We lived there 25 years so we knew how to cope, but when I got sick, this became the biggest problem for us......

...we lived far away from our kids and grandkids and had to drive over a 3800' pass to go visit them. This was the highway just before Thanksgiving of last year. Even with studded tires, that frozen snow and ice was treacherous.

Can you see the long icicles on the rocks? That's as close as I wanted to get to them, and I was NOT getting out of the car!

Yeah, it was a long, hazardous drive but totally worth it. And we did it again at Christmas, usually in deeper snow. Or our family drove over to see us. For years.


Hello, ladies! The men are all in the other room.

Now we live in the same town as our kids and grandkids. My sisters still have a bit of a drive but no one has to cope with that snowy mountain anymore. By the Grace of God, we sold our old home and moved here very close to our family. We see them every week and plan some great holiday celebrations this year.

So thankful and counting our blessings. Yes, we are.

So where am I now? Well, this is me in October of last year as my hair started to go, about three weeks after my mastectomy and into intensive chemotherapy.

See the hospital gown? Yeah, I'm getting drains out at this visit.

This is me in December of 2010. Hairless with drawn on eyebrows and a large collection of hats and scarves. Tired tired tired. Deep into chemo.

February 2011. Free wigs from the American Cancer Society! Chemo almost done, ready for radiation. Wigs and bright lipstick and fuzzy scarves are my fashion mainstays.

And here I am with The Welding Man at my parent's 60th Anniversary Dinner Dance in August. I made it! Still have five years of medication and lots of mammograms ahead but feeling almost as good as I felt before I was told I had breast cancer.

So, I'm still here. Rocking a bit of a Judi Dench look.

Except, Judi Dench has longer hair, lol!

I'm starting to get my creative and blogging mojo back, and trying to regain some of the momentum for sales in my Etsy shop, which were building nicely way back last fall. Onward and upward, I say!

I said I would not turn my blog into a cancer blog and I haven't. But ladies, believe me, it's important....do those breast self exams and get regular mammograms. I had pain in my armpit which led me to discover the lump in my breast. Take charge of your own care and pay attention to your body!



This is me, now. Thankful and counting my blessings. We live in the same town as most of our kids and grand kids and we have family get togethers once a week. So thankful that I'm around to enjoy life and make the best of things.

And thankful for all of you. Bless you, ladies.