We are so thankful for so many things….

 

This is the face of cancer…..

August of 2015

 

November of 2015

December of 2015

When I see these photos my heart just breaks….he is fighting for his life…he has really good odds of beating this disease, he is my son and it tears me apart everyday to see him suffer so……

He has an incredible spirit and I thank God everyday for it….

This disease is not just for the person who has it, it is for everyone who loves them!

I want to take this time to thank each and every one of you for the prayers, the good thoughts, the help you have all given us….we have a bit of a ways to go yet.  Surgery the first part of January to take out about 7 inches of cancer ridden bone in his thigh, then 12 more treatments….but we have learned to take it one day at a time…

So during this holiday season hug your loved ones a bit harder and be sure to tell everyone that you love them!  We are so thankful for everyone who has joined our fight….

And please…keep praying for my boy….

A Tough Start to October

 

 

I am always happy to see October roll around, it means our 100 + degree days are waning….it is actually beautiful at night.

I won’t be on my blog much this fall.  This last Monday our family found out that our youngest grown son Chris has Osteogenic Sarcoma in his right thigh.  The tumor is a little bit bigger than 7 inches and it is inside and outside of the bone.

He is going to Mayo Clinic here in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The Orthopedic doctor he was referred to immediately saw the issue and got ahold of a Dr. Beauchamp at Mayo.  He is one of the two top Orthopedic oncologists in AZ.   Lots of tests, and he starts chemo October 8th.  A few sessions and then the diseased portion of the bone has to come out.  We are as ready as we can be.  We feel good about the doctors,   and Chris has an amazing upbeat outlook so far….

 

So prayers are appreciated and I will be back when I can……

Have a blessed Autumn my friends!

The Beginning of Fall Crafting Fun

 

 

I was in Deb at Garage Sale Gal’s Fall Pocket Letter Swap and I had Pam as my partner.  We have swapped before and she is a real sweetie….

This is her FIRST Pocket Letter  everybody….it is fantastic and so fun!!!!!  One the front is kind of like little art projects in each pocket and the backs has some goodies for you….oh and there was tea packets….they are gone…lol

You can write a letter and stick it in of the pockets, I don’t but Pam did and I really appreciated it…..my handwriting days are over….the RA has taken care of that…..but I sure do love all the bits and bobs she sent me…. yours goes out tomorrow Pam…:)

Pocket Letter are just another fun way to enjoy our paper crafting and  be creative in an easy peasy way…..there is also more than one FB groups for this craft……juts if you want to check it out…:)

 

first photo courtesy of Google

Before and After…I can breathe again!

 

I just had to share this with all of you….I have tried so many times to get my craft room workable, and it never stays that way.  Well, I finally asked my husband to help me…he is very methodical and it took a total of 2 days at 4 hours each day…. but we went through everything.  I have a lot of items I have sold on my FB group and I have a lot going to my favorite Scrapbook Store’s garage sale in October…

I am so proud of the work we did together ! Here are the before’s and after’s…..

 

Even my desk was cleaned off….

 

I can now work in my space…I was having to use the kitchen table….I still have a lot of paper I am getting rid of and right now I have three bins for the Scrapbook Garage Sale…..but I feel great!!!!

 

I also want you to know that I have QUIT buying….I went out with my best friend last night and all I got was one magazine that I adore called Daphne’s Diary…..that was it.  We went to Michaels, Barnes & Noble, and Dollar Tree.  Pretty awesome for me…..

Look out creativity….here I come!

 

 

I’m Still Here…..

 

 

 

     Working one me…again….still…always…

                            ( photo courtesy of Pip Studios) 

Giving up is not the answer. Neither is giving in. Stand your ground. There is a way of doing that without having to be combative. There is a way of hanging on to your true self, and demonstrating it, without resorting to aggression. But giving up and giving in is not the way. Simply and quietly claiming your right to be You is the way.

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom

 

Om May 10, 1942 my folks were becoming Mr. & Mrs. Charles Burgess:

 

They were both just short of their 20th birthdays….I look at this photo and try to imagine how happy they must have been….

Life was not easy for my Mom…she married a man who loved her dearly but could be difficult to be around sometimes.  She never had a bad word to say about him or anyone else.

They had my brother Brad in 1948, after World War II, he was the apple of my folks eye.

 

When  Brad was 4 years old, my Mom lost a full term daughter.  She was never the same….how she got through it back then when NO one talked about it, and she couldn’t either….I will never know.

In 1954 I came to be….

Nothing like my brother, who was a pretty easy kid, but feisty and hard to manage.  Little was known back then about hyper-active kids.  And boy, was I one of those!  Of course a constant diet of sugar and candy did not help the situation, but I totally understand why she always gave in…I was quiet for a few minutes.

We went through a lot together, my teenage years were tough.  But she was always there…always willing to listen, and being a typical teenager I blew that off way too often. Somehow we got through those years.

One short failed marriage and then in 1979, I married my husband Wayne. Things got on the right track really fast, so we started a family right away and it was wonderful!  The telephone call to my folks to let them know they had a grandson was the best call of my life!

Bryan Burgess McClay was born Septemeber 3, 1980 and our lives were just perfect!

 

I had come down from Nevada to have Bryan’s first birthday party with all of his grandparents and family, and when I walked through the door I knew she was in trouble.  My brother came and took her to the hospital, my Dad was already in there.  So she missed the birthday party…six weeks later she died in that hospital, having never left it.  My Dad got out…this is one of my favorite photos of that day, bittersweet as it is:

Wayne eventually got to learn how to put the shoes on the correct feet! Poor Bryan….

The photos of Bryan’s first birthday always make me cry. Someone very important was missing.

She passed away a month after his first birthday. October 3, 1980.

And every year at this time I get really sad, we never got to have that wonderful “friends” doing things together type of time….I see so many blog posts about how through the years a mom and her daughter become friends and their relationship becomes so much richer.

Then I get mad….I was cheated out of so much so young….and it will never be OK…..ever….

The memories I have of my Mom  have started fading a bit, never thought they would….but they are….we really had so few times when I was old enough to really remember them.

But this I know….My Mom, Lois Jane Harstad Burgess, did the best she could….loved me almost too much and was so sorry that she had to leave me….

 

 

                                            I love you Mom,

 

Happy Easter !

 

 

 

Viv’s Easter Swap….

 

I decided to join one Easter/Spring swap and it was Viv’s!  My partner was the wonderful Pam from Virginia Retro….

 

So many wonderful vintage items…and look what she wrapped the basket in!

Yes!  A wonderful vintage Spring Apron…..so cute!

So many cute crafty items to decorate with…I am going to sue Pam’s photo to show you all of it….

I once more have that NASTY virus going around, and I can feel a fever coming on….Pam, thank you so much for all of thee wonderful goodies!  You are the best!

A Wonderful Day

How simple this title is today, but how meaningful it is to me.  I re-connected with a woman who has been my friend since we were just kids, she was 14 and I was 15.  We had an ugly parting at one point in our lives and have slowly come back together through life’s hard lessons and the grace of getting older and wiser.

I cannot explain how good it felt to see her. Like it was just yesterday we were together….it felt so right….we laughed and cried and laughed some more.

We were the lucky ones that got to have horses as teenagers.  A fun place to board them called El Rancho Neglecto and lots of adventures….even back then I think we knew how special those days were…this photo is not us, but this shows the type of happiness we felt each and every time we got dropped off “at the barn”. It was an old dairy barn and it is where we kept the feed….I had a little mustang mare that was 4 years old, broke but not trained and she had a beautiful 2 year old just barely broke Appaloosa gelding that went on to have a great show career…but he was a stinker!  lol   Good times and great memories…..

                                                 (Google)

Her main home is in Colorado, but she ended up with a beautiful ranch that she had sold some years ago down here in Arizona, coming back into her life.  This was a 40 acre ranch in Cave Creek, Arizona that many many moons ago I managed for awhile while Melisa lived elsewhere in the summers, as the heat was an issue for her daughter.

This is where we got together….

 

Cave Creek has become a total “tourist trap” as we call them here, but so much fun! One main road….with lots of fun places to eat and shop….

 

Back to the Ranch…..

Here are a few photos of how the ranch looks today, more going on, more horses than when I was managing it, that is for sure, a total of 85 boarders on this property now, but just as beautiful as always….

Looking out the back porch of the home on the property….

 

The main barn….

The mountains are all around this beautiful ranch….

Not uncommon to see these critter either up in Cave Creek….thanks goodness I didn’t see any of these yesterday….

Bob cats

Rattlesnakes

And years ago….right near the ranch…

Mountain Lions….

And these disgusting creatures…Javelinas… used to walk through the barn, getting the grain on the floor that the horses had dumped…

 

Pardon my French, but these were ugly nasty, mean tempered freaking little buggers!  You did not approach them!

And of course lots and lots of these….

Coyotes…..

               (all critter photos from Google)

 

For lunch, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Cave Creek, still there after 20 years,

We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant  in Cave Creek, still there after 20 years, and sat at one of the tables that look out on to a large pond…our table was that area across the pond in this photo…

 

…..and for some reason the red ear turtles that lived in the pond decided to come visit us!

This is just at our feet with a pane of glass between us and the pond…this one little guy kept staring at me….

Such a  beautiful Arizona winter day….and so grateful for this chance to see each other again.

Oh, and this is her 5 month old Bernese Mountain puppy Kismet….

5 MONTHS old and his paws as bigger than my palms of my hands…he will top out a about 120 pounds….look at the size of those feet!  lol