Some Thoughts

As you know I had surgery for cancer of my left sinus. I won't bore you with a sob story, but I will say it has been and continues to be a very difficult road. I tire easily, and in a few short weeks I will be starting 6 1/2 weeks of radiation therapy but today, one day short of 4 weeks since my surgery, I am here to share some feelings with all of you.

1. I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ who have been by my side in my darkest hours. I am thankful for priesthood blessings that have been given and fulfilled; it is the power of God here on the earth. All good things in my life are given to me from God.

2. I love all my family and friends who have been so vigilant in their prayers and support. You will never know the strength you have imparted to me and you will probably never know how much I have needed that strength. I have yet to find the words to express how deeply and literally it was your strength that brought me through these days. Thank you all so very much.

3. I am thankful I am alive. I am thankful to have more time to spend with all of you. I am thankful to have more time to peek in on your blogs and see the every day motion of your lives. I am thankful to see you on facebook, to send e-mails back and forth, and to hear your voices. My life is good because you are in it, you make me a better person.

4. I am thankful that I can still see. There are many beautiful things on this earth but the most beautiful to me is the light and how it illuminates everything. No wonder God's glory is like the glory of the sun.

5. Even though it is hard and makes me very tired, I am thankful that I can chew (some) food. Our bodies are marvelously put together and how everything functions with each other is amazing. You don't just pop food in your mouth and use your teeth. You also use your tongue, cheeks, the top of your mouth, and your throat...all of which have been affected by my surgery. Let's just say I have a new appreciation for babies when they are learning how to eat food. I KNOW why so much of that applesauce comes pushing back out of their mouths!

6. I am glad that today I could do some of my laundry. We are blessed to have work to do that never ends. We are blessed to have reasons to get out of bed. We are blessed to have homes and families and all the mundane tasks that are involved in keeping up with those homes and families.

7. I express gratitude for all my blessings. I have so much to be thankful for. Even though I have my emotional times when I have things I need to work out and deal with, I hope to be thankful for the answers to the prayers that have been given. I have felt the power of all the prayers and I have felt those prayers reach Heavenly Father's heart and He has answered them and I am here. I never want to treat Heavenly Father's goodness disrespectful by not being grateful.

8. I love you all.

My sisters were able to come to help me and when Kay Marie left she wrote this quote for me which I read daily:

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, "I'll try again tomorrow." (Radmacher)

My motto is: "Every day gets better."

Every one deserves a smile

I bought a box of tissue for my poor nose.
I wanted something nice and sassy.
So I looked until I found one that had snowmen on it.
I love snowmen, they make me happy.
I bought it and took it home and put it on my desk.
Day after day I enjoyed my snowmen box of tissue.

Then one day the box was in the way of my big
project...disguised as homework.
I moved my snowmen box to the other side of my desk.

The next day I was feeling rather sad. Ever have one of those days?
I did.
I was sad. Until I looked up and saw my box of tissue....
This is what greeted me.








See...everyone deserves a smile.

I felt happier after that.

And the winner is...

The towel give away is offically closed. Thank you for all the great, fun comments, this was really fun.

AND THE WINNER IS...BRIT JO!!! congratulations! Please send me your address and I will get the towels in the mail to you pronto! If you don't want to leave your address on my blog here is my e-mail address. suzih19@gmail.com I promise I won't share your address with anyone, no matter how much they beg.

BUT WAIT! I have SIX towels to give away, so these three people will each receive one towel.

Luanne.......Monika......and Kay Marie.

Addresses, I need addressses! Hurry I want to get these mailed out to you all.

Thanks to every one for making this so fun.

This is what I know so far...

For the last few weeks these thoughts have been forming in my head, a list, of sorts, of things that I know about myself.

* I like bold colors. Not obnoxious bold colors, but bold colors that say, "here I am, this is the color I was made, I am glad to be this color and I think I am good at being this color." I should be like a bold color, even if the color is pastel.

* I like material. There I said it. I like the different textures, the patterns and the pleasing idea that a piece of flat material can become something dimensional. (Like making a hand towel look really really cute...there are still two more days to the end of the give-away! Thanks for all of the participation and great comments!) I like to think that I am like the material, learning how to fold and bend and turn into a more dimensional person.

*I also like paper in the same way that I like material. Feels good to get that off my chest! I like to make paper for books and cards, and seed paper. Paper is a must in my house.

* I like office supplies. Especially if they are crazy cute. There is nothing like finding a great pen that writes smooth and silky. Once I find a pen I like, I buy 2-3 because I know when they run out of ink I'll never be able to find them in stock again. Also, office supplies make me feel organized, and I like being organized.

*I like my toast/bread buttered to the very edge. Not ALMOST to the edge, and not only part of the edge. The.whole.entire.edge. Please don't leave any of the bread poking out naked.

*I like being in my garden and working in the yard. I love growing things. I love it. I love how it makes me feel like I have accomplished something great. Puttering around the garden and the yard provides me time to get in touch with myself.

*In that same light, I think tomatoes are beautiful. when I pick one out of my garden and it is deep red with its cute little green stem cap on, I hold it up so I can look at it and I think it is a perfect example of beauty.

*I like zucchini...in small amounts. It's just sooooo hard to get them to grow in small amounts!

* I like carrying my 1/2 bushel basket to my garden and bringing it back to the house full of fresh garden stuff to eat.

* I like tomato soup when it is made from beautiful home grown tomatoes. ummmmm yummy.

* I like when my husband looks at me and sees me like I am 20 years old. Granted he has to squint and pretend, but I still like it.

*I like looking at How-To books. They get me all excited to DO something creative and/or new. I like how my mind starts whirling with ideas about how to change one idea into something slightly different. Fun!

*I like taking pictures. I love it. When I look through the viewfinder of a camera, it is like stepping through a door into another world. I become completely lost in discovery. I can't even describe it.

*I like writing. I use to write in my journal every night. I have 27 journals that span my life from 1972 - 2007. But it is not just journals that I like to write. I like to make up stories and short essays. I like putting words together to paint pictures.

* I like being with my family. They are the people who I love the most, and the treasure of my soul.

Towels for Mom

My Mom LOVES hand towels that hook over the towel rack
or oven door and just hang there ready to dry a pair of wet hands.
UNFORTUNATELY when I went to see her, ALL of her
hand towels were Trashed...

yucky
grimy
putrid
old
worn out
and
eeeewwwuuuu!!!!


So, I made her some new ones!
they are....


Sweet....
so so cute
clean
happy
bright
and just what my mommy needed!

Take a look for your self.




Here is Mom with some of her new towels.
She was EXCITED!




So here is the deal.
Each hand towel makes TWO towels.
I have extras...and what can I do with them?

I am having a free give away, (thought I would try it.
I am borrowing the rules from other people...thank you.)

Comment on this post for one entry
Link it and let me know for another entry. (To give you two entries.)
Do this by Midnight Sept. 24.
If I draw your name you will get three towels.
I will post the winner Sept 25.

I hope you win!

I have been gone a long time.

Some of you may be asking, "where have you been?"

Well, the answer is not simple.

Let's just say, I have been busy." and call it good.

But, you might say, "What have you been doing?"

Then I would have to reply, "This":

22 bottles of peaches....

They are so beautiful.

And I have done 24 bottles of pears. They're beautiful also, but I was

too tired to take pictures.

And....

I have been doing other stuff too.

Mother's Day Addendum

Thought you might like an update on my
mother's day present....and how the flowers are doing.


Here is a reminder of what they looked like. Look
at all the pretty colors!






Here is where I planted some of them.
In the front yard along the side of the driveway.

Here is what some of them look like close up.

The purple button flowers are hanging in there pretty good.

Remember the beautiful orange flowers?

(You can revisit my mother's day blog if you want to

see what they use to look like.....)

The blossoms were the first to go...oh saddness!

and the plant isn't looking so happy either....woe is me!

Can you say "transplant shock?"

This is the lemon bush. It use to have cute little bright

yellow flowers all over it...Hummmm where are the lemon-y flowers?

(Actually this plant got...shall we say, a bit thirsty in its container before

I planted it, so it is in the process of making a come back.)

As long as there is still green on it, there is hope!

My little white flower bush has done really well.

I just need to cut back the old flowers and see if new ones will

grow back. This one I call my "happy" flower bush, it is always

smiling.

I'm not worried. They'll bounce back!