I made it through the day!!!

The last day of the month. The last day of the year. And I made it through the day. It was a good day as well. I finished all my work and got ready for next month.

I talked to my Dad today and he is doing better. They are still trying to get all his medications straightened out. He is getting some type of Cancer treatment that is specific to Lung Cancer. He will get two or three of these treatments and then do some more test to see if it is working. So for now all is well. He is off my immediate worry list. Besides I can't do much to help with any ways. I gave that one up to God two weeks ago just so I could get through the day.

I am working on my photo journal challenge that Ali Edwards put out. It is going well and is very fun. I am taking lots of pictures of everyday things and of course daily photos of myself.

I am still waiting to hear about my friend Lannette. She was getting her test results today. I am hoping for a good report. She was diagnosed with Pancrate Cancer a few months back. She has been doing very well and we are all hoping for some good news today from her.

All else is well on Shogo Mountain.

Try This!!

Try this word association and post your answers on your blog site.

I say ... and you think ... ?

Memory :: Loss
Original :: Idea
Exclusively ::Mine
Listings :: Real Estate
Bucket :: List
Knight :: Of the rounds
Dusty :: Rooms
Choice :: Mine
Sunlight :: Healing
Change of plans :: OK


Don’t feel like retyping the words? Just copy and paste the following into your blog:

Scrapbook Challenge

Ali Edwards has put a challenge out there to all you creative types. http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/

I love this challenge and I am going to try to do it this next week. I have Ali's book and I like her blog site. You can make as much of this project or as little as you want. It is really cool to look back in a few years from now and have a week of your time documented. I also like doing it when i don't have a lot planned. You tend to document the little things in life.

Good Luck and let me know if you are playing along.

Lights-Camera-Action

Gary has tagged me with this Meme. I am not much of a movie buff but here goes:


1. Name the movie you have watched the most times?
The Wizard of OZ is my all time favorite old movie. I don't watch much movies.

2. Name your favorite actors (male & female) and in what movies you liked them best.
Julia Roberts "Pretty Women" and many others
I am not sure about the male actor.

3. List your favorite 3 movies:

1. The wizard of Oz
2. Pretty Woman
3. The Bucket List

4. What movie cartoon character is your favorite?
I really don't have a favorite cartoon character.

I am going to Tag Jeanine, Heather, Tish

Yeh!! Its friday!!

I am so happy for it to be Friday! This has been a long week for me. I worked Mon, Tues, Wed, & Thursday. It is the end of our Fiscal year at work. So I need to make sure everything gets done. It seemed like every night we had something to do. Mondays we always get home late. Tuesday we took Todd his truck back and picked up the trailer & truck from him they borrowed last weekend to go to the river. Wednesday night we met our friends the Farson's for dinner in San Clemente. Yesterday we got home fairly early.

This is going to be a busy weekend. I am getting my hair done today. I need to clean my house. And finish a few projects that I have going.

Saturday we are going to a Surprise 50th Birthday party for a friend in Laguna Beach. Sunday I hope to do nothing and try to get ready for next week. Only a few more days in this month. I don't know where the time goes.

Happy Friday everyone!!

Happy Autumn

I was down most of the weekend with a Migraine. Today I am at work and still not feeling very good. I will try to blog later on this week when things settle down a little for me.

Today is the first day of Autumn!!! This is my favorite time of the year. The temperature is perfect at my house. Everything seems so fresh and clean. I am hoping to really enjoy the weather this year. Lots of outdoor fires with the neighbors etc.

Happy Autumn to all!!

Mac!!

This is our dog Mac!!  He is 15 years old. Marissa M. was asking about him so this one is for you Marissa!

He is blind and can't hear very well.  He bumps into things and has several growths on his face.  But we love him.  He still walks around and wags his tail.  And he loves his bones. 

Orchid's

These Orchid's were given to use as a gift after Agnes pasted away a year ago by the Garcia Family. I can't believe they are still alive let alone blooming now. They sit by my front door and are just beautiful.
That is Sergie sitting to the left of this plant.  They love to sit here by the door.

We are so luck to be able to gown all kinds of things here on Shogo Mountain.

Avi

Avi is looking for my Mom!!  They often sit on this counter are by the front door.
She is such a sweet cat!
Ready to leap.

Life!

"Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or your getting ready to go into another one."

Rick Warren the author of the "Purpose Driven Life" recently said this in an interview.

Agnes Gilmore

It is one year from today that we lost my Mother-In-Law Agnes. It has been a hard year for me. I miss her lots and think of her often. These last few weeks she has been on my mind. I have news of several people I know battling Cancer. Whenever I hear these stories I think of Agnes. She had Cancer of the Panceris. She fought a good fight until the end. She lived exactly 23 days from her diagnosis. There is something to be said about knowing you are going to die. I saw her go through all the stages. She taught me so much about life and dying during this time. She was a very lucky women to have all her children with her through out this journey.
Agnes with her dog Quigley.  She loved that dog!
Zach and Agnes.  She loved all her grandchildren very much!
Agnes with her Lottery Tickets.  She did love the quick picks, and of course Bingo.

Agnes wanted to die on a Sunday.  Sunday is the Holy Day.  She would often asked me what day it was. Often disappointed when it wasn't Sunday.  I think she was at peace with herself and God before she died.  

Agnes Justine Gilmore died Sunday September 15,2007.

My Dad

My Dad has been in the hospital now for 6 days. He had a reaction to some Cancer medication that he was taking. He has been battling Lung Cancer for 6 years now. The first round was treated with Radiation. When it came back the second round was treated with Chemo. That did not go well. He was clear for awhile and then the Cancer came back. He has been in pain and on lots of medication. They decided to try a new drug instead of the Chemo. The drug was fine for the first week. Then the side effects kicked in. Fever, Diarrhea, Bad Rash, Dehydrated. He fell and they took him to the hospital. That was last Monday. They can't find out what is causing the fever. Everything else has been cleared up. 102-104 is not good. He has had all the tests and now it is just a waiting game.

This is very hard for me. I live 3,000 miles away. My Dad is in New Hampshire and I am in California.

What is god's plan? I give it all up to him! I am about to worry myself to death.

He really needs prayers!!

Butterfly's!!!

We went to the "Grand Tradition" for a Hospice celebration of life.  The "Grand Tradition" is a place here in Fallbrook that has weddings and other events.  It is very beautiful there.  These Butterfly's when released were everywhere.  They landed right in front of us on the grass.
This is the hand out they gave us.
We also got gifts.  This is a candle.
It was very hot.  The whole thing only lasted about 30 minutes.
Here the pastor is trying to release the butterfly's.  They didn't want to come out of the net.
This was a fun thing to do with my Mom.  Pete came with us and afterwards we met Alexi for lunch.

Mom is gone!!

My mom is gone and I miss her lots. It was a wonderful time to have her here for so long. It feels lonely with out her here.

We went to Mexico, the Pala Casino, Bingo at Rudene's. We went to a labor day party at the Libbrecht's. We got massages and Manicures & Pedicures. We even took a Yoga class.

We went to a butterfly releasing ceremony in honor of our loved ones that had passed on.

Mom had lots of individual time with the kids. They all came over for her Birthday. She had lunch and an afternoon alone with Alexi. Fishing and WII training with Zach.

We did a lot but it didn't seem to rushed or tiring.

I think Avi misses her the most. She is looking for her all the time. Standing up on her hind legs to get picked up and laying on the back of the chair purring away. I think she is still looking for her glasses to chew on.

Until the next visit I will feel like something is missing in my life. I can't wait for March to go there.

I love you MOM!!

Baby Book!!

I have several people that are having Babies these days. I decided to make up a few gifts. You have already seen the blankets here are a few baby books. This is the same book just a different angle. The Raffia was Mom's idea and it looks cute!



I now need to make some cards to match!!  To be continued.

Fishing at the Lake!!

Mom & Zach went to Ross Lake to go fishing. Usually it is more waiting than catching. They did well. They each caught one fish. Don't tell them but I think it was the same fish.
Mom with her catch!!
Zach with his!!

They got bored and decided to feed the ducks ice cubes.

Flower!!

This flower came from my camp site area.  It was a wild plant growing up in some rocks.  Mom & Pete brought it to me while out on a ride.

Wedding Dress!!

Shelley & Michelle started this one. They decided to pull out their wedding dresses and try them on. They were asked to do a photo shoot with their wedding dresses on called "Trash your dress" It really isn't trash your dress just do something different in a photo that you wouldn't have done on your wedding day. Then others followed suit and tried theirs on.

This is Pete & I on our Wedding Day 25 years ago.

I finally dug mine out. But before I could try it on Alexi got to it with the help of my Mom they took some photo's.


And here are the pictures of me & my dress! The back doesn't zip up all the way but it doesn't fit as bad as I thought it would.  I still have the curly hair but now it is naturally instead of a perm.

Here is a back view.  You can't tell it doesn't even zip up all the way.

WII action

Mom & I played the WII.  Here is a picture of Mom boxing.  She did very well.  We tried all of the sports and some Yoga poses.  My right arm hurts from Bowling.

Zach showed her how to play Mario Galaxy yesterday.  I didn't get any pictures of that.  I am really loving my WII.

Flowers & Bees

These bees were all over these flowers. They really are beautiful.
I love my new camera.

Summer recap!!

We had a busy summer. It has seemed to go by very fast. It was a good one and we had lots of company. Kendra & Josh graduated in June. Kendra came for a 2 week visit. We went to a few Padra's Game. Several Mexico trips. Not as many as I would have liked but a few. 4th of July with the Graykowski's for 5 days this year in Mexico. That is always fun. We had a few family parties. My mom came to visit for 20 days. She still is here. I went to the casino a few times and we to a few bingo nights as well. I wasn't a winner but it still was fun.

I am excited for this time of year. September & October are my favorite times of the year on Shogo Montain.

What have you done this summer?