Happy New Year!

NOTE: I wrote this post in 2016 and I never completed it, but I wanted to post now (in 2018)what I wrote to show some growth since the loss of my mother. 


It's been one year since I posted on the blog...a YEAR! How did that much time go by? The last year had many ups and downs. Grief, illness and so many other things that I am sure each of us deal with as well. Now it's 2016 and I say this all the time, I will post more often. I WANT to post more often and I want to post things that are helpful, or entertaining. I've been thinking a lot about what I am supposed to be doing with my life. I pray about it a lot, asking God to open my mind and show me where I fit, what I should be doing, what he wants me to be doing because I feel like I am not doing anything. Being a mom of two children is itself, doing something; being a homemaker is itself doing something, but I want to do more, to feel useful, but what? This is something I have really been praying about and giving a lot of thought on because I also want to find that place in my church where I am needed and can serve to the best of my abilities...whatever those are. I guess I have always wanted to help people, and I do when I get the opportunity, but even that seems like it's not enough. So it's a new year and I am hoping this is my year to figure out where God wants me to serve. Those of you who might happen upon my little blog, please if you would, say a prayer that my mind will be open, my heart will receive whatever it is that God wants me to do. I hope I haven't ignored it. 

I don't want to bore you with everything that happened in my life in the past year. I don't want a pity party for the trials I have faced and am facing now. I know that God gives us these trials for his plan. Do I understand that plan? No. Should I complain about the trials given to me? No. Should I seek God's grace and accept his will, and give my burdens to my savoir, Jesus Christ? Yes! Is that easy? No! I am far from a perfect Christian, NONE OF US ARE. I want to keep this verse in my head at all times, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." I Peter 5:7 This past fall my church invited a revival group to revive us, and it was wonderful. Prior to them coming to speak to us for those 4 days, and yes, I attended with my children each night because I felt it was a commitment that was important, my pastor asked that if we felt driven to do so, that we fast, for a week, a few days, a few meals, whatever we were comfortable with, to prepare our hearts for the message. I am not going to tell you about my journey, but I will say that it was good time of reflection for me. I had never fasted in that way before. My journey had me reading in the book of James and Psalms and I was being touched by the words. Psalms 119:50 says this, "My comfort in my suffering is this, your promise preserves my life." God made us a promise, and his promise wasn't that we would not be subject to loss, to pain, to illness, to any sort of trial or bad season of your life. John 3;16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life

when suffering, don't run

My mother's birthday is coming up in two days. Of course she no longer has birthday's. Thursday will be a hard day for me and my family. My mom would have been just 64. I am certainly not the only person in the world who's lost a parent, in fact my husband lost his mother to cancer after a 14 month battle on Jan 25, 2006. That was 8 years ago and though the pain may have lessened, its still there and I am sure much more so for him and his family. Her birthday was just one day after mine. She was 60 when she passed away. I know they say it gets easier - maybe it does - I really don't have a read on how my husband and his brother deal with their mother being gone. I had become close with their Dad following that and I do know how badly he suffered. He has since re-married and celebrated his one year anniversary this year. Its fantastic to see him so happy and I know his wife wanted that too. 

We are studying Job in Sunday school right now. There were two different classes to choose from and I was torn on what I wanted to study, but now that we are in it, I think this is probably where I need to be right now. When you talk about suffering, Job suffered. Its interesting to hear my pastor talk about this man and his life. I know my pastor gets that many of us are also suffering in some way and he knows how that makes many of us feel - our human nature. We are only in the 3rd week of the study and sadly I will be missing week 4, but we have already learned that Job was a good man and believer and trusted in his Heavenly Father. The Bible suggests that Satan came to God and asked to test Job, thinking that he would surely falter once life wasn't so easy for him. After everything was taken from him ; his wealth, his lands, his farmhands, his animals, his children, his wife's trust, his health ; Job responded by worshiping the Creator. He didn't sit there and wallow in self pity or give up hope and wish to die. Those trials, those tests, that I talked about in my last post, Job went through that, and God knew he would not falter. 

trials that change you

I'm not sure if anyone reads this blog or has a care about what I post on it. Perhaps if you do, you are tired of hearing about the loss of my mother; as has been the focus for the past several months. Death of someone close to you is not an easy thing to go through. One questions their very existence and possibly even the world as they know it; their faith, their beliefs, their life. Is it how my mother died that is so hard to get over? Is it that she was only 63? Is it that I had only 3 short months to deal with the idea of her possible death to cancer? My mother, as we now know, knew something was amiss, she had to know it was likely cancer, and she knew this for at least 8 months before a doctor saw what was going on and she got diagnosed. Three months, and a horribly painful three months, later and my mother was gone. We had so little time to deal with her diagnosis or to even try and figure out her best options for treatment. We were led to believe it was caught at an early stage where she would have a least a year to fight it. It became apparent to us that was not the case when in May she landed in the hospital for 2 straight weeks with a very diminished cognitive state and weak body. She had suffered multiple infections, blood infections, due to the chemotherapy killing off everything that was left to fight disease; and it didn't make a dent in the cancer. She wasn't going to give up though I know she felt like it. She knew it was grave but she so badly wanted to stay and get things done; she knew we still needed her. As those days past, we didn't want to diminish her hopes but we did have to eventually tell her that we would be okay. She needed to focus on herself and not us. We would take care of what needed to be done.

Curve balls...

Mom's favorite flower

Matthew 5:4 - "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Life tends to throw you a curve ball now and then. It just takes you for surprise, out of nowhere. When something hits you and hits you hard it changes your whole perspective about everything. Your priorities change; pretty much everything changes. As a Christian, I know its bigger than 'life' - it's God. He knows what He is doing and it's all for a purpose. He throws us these things, or so I think to be so, and then leaves up to us how we handle it. He wants us to rely on him for strength and the help we need to get through. Or that's what I tell myself. Having to lose so many of my loved ones so close together was hard enough, but having one of them be my 63 year old mother, to cancer, has felt like hell on earth, frankly.

My Grandfather passed away in 2011, I wasn't very close with him, but it was still sad to lose him. Then in Dec 2012 (Christmas time) my Grandmother passed away after a series of health issues. She was in a nursing home at the time. We buried her in January 2013. Those were both of my Mother's parents. That year, May 2013 we put our 14 year old dog to sleep due to heart problems she'd been fighting for over a year. That was hard not just for me and my husband but my kids too. That was the first pet they really knew and loved that we lost. My grandparents and my dog were all elderly, not that it makes it easier, but you knew one day it was coming. Nobody lives forever, not on Earth. Sometime in February 2014 is when I noticed my 9 year old cat's mouth was smelly. I hadn't thought too much about it as he was prone to chronic gingivitis/stomatitis. A recurring problem for him. So when I took him to the vet I was expecting the same diagnosis and same treatment. Before I made the appointment I looked in his mouth, something he hated me for, and noticed a strange ulcer. Okay, stomatitis can cause that. The vet wasn't overly worried either. Antibiotics were given and schedule for a tooth removal and cleaning.

Finding more than stuff...

We've been cleaning out my mothers belongings. Its been 3 weeks since she went home to be with the Lord. I knew my mother was a hoarder; she never threw anything out. It wasn't always that way, or maybe not as bad. I am not sure when my moms "collections" took over her life, but I think now I am realizing why. In the toss and keep of things we have found several notebooks and note pads my mom kept as journals. Most only have a few pages written on, but its been giving us an insight to what was really going on inside my mothers head.  I never felt guilty about reading what she wrote, but I have been overcome by immense sadness now that I know just how sad my mother was. We knew she had moments of melancholy; who doesn't? She was clearly struggling and was seeking council from not only people, but God and His word as well. She was for the most part a very private person, and its clear to me now that my mom was suffering from severe depression and an internal struggle; not just physical pain.

Journal after journal there is one recurrent theme; my mother's loneliness and regret for things that happened in her past. Its terribly sad that she was never able to make peace with herself before she passed away. Even surrounded by family and friends my mom felt a lone. She questioned why all her relationships failed, or in her mind they did, and she often blamed herself and felt un-worthy of happiness. A lot of what I read was all too familiar. I too have had moments like that and as a teen and young adult wrote some of those very same words in my journals. I guess its something a lot of people struggle with. I think reading these journals and remembering my mother and her struggle with illnesses and ultimately cancer is showing me that I need to change my attitude about life and try to be a more positive person. I guess I am trying to use my mother's life and death to better my own. Right now though, of course, I am terribly sad that I lost my mother and equally frustrated that she left us with so much to clean up and tie up and figure out how to pay for. In this time, I am finding it hard to find much joy and to get up out of bed and face it...but I do...I have too and with God's help I will get through it.

Too Young

Today I want to speak from my heart. This year has been one of the hardest I have ever had to go through yet. If you read my previous post than you know that I recently lost my beloved cat to a fast growing, incurable cancer. I found out his diagnosis in late February and on March 12 my mother informed me she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I just lost my mother on June 16 from stage 4 invasive triple negative inflammatory breast cancer. This particular form of breast cancer, like my cat's oral cancer, is aggressive, somewhat rare, hard to treat and has a poor prognosis. Not only that, but it can be harder to detect and doctors are still trying to learn about this fast growing difficult to treat breast cancer.

We just laid my mother to rest on Monday, June 23. She died at a hospice facility just after 3:30 am June 16. I know my mother went home to be with our Lord and Savoir and some day I will see her again. My mom was 63. After my mothers death we have discovered she knew about, or suspected she'd had cancer for quite some time but she didn't seek a diagnosis until March of this year. My mom was very secretive and wouldn't share any details with us on diagnosis or treatment or prognosis. There are a lot of questions. I wish I could ask her why she waited so long to be checked...why she waited so long to begin treatment..why she wasn't honest with us. I know in part she was trying to protect us, but in turn made it more difficult for us all.

Feline oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

I am not a vet or an expert but I am a pet parent who's beautiful 9 year old Siamese cat was diagnosed with mouth cancer in February 2014.

Feline oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

What is it? A fast growing invasive cancer found inside the mouth of cats.

Where is it located? It can be found on the gum tissue, the roof, or under the  tongue, pretty much anywhere inside the mouth. There may be a tumor present or there may not be. The cancer invades the bones of the teeth and jaw and depending on location and growth may  invade  the sinus cavity.

What are the signs? This is difficult  because  cats are very good actors. By the time you notice any signs it's probably already very advanced. Pain - if they stop eating or in the case of my cat, he stopped eating dry and switched entirely to wet food (but he was diagnosed with Feline Stomatitis some years ago (plaque allergy) so when I took him to the vet I thought this had flared up again). Drooling - can be blood tinged. Drooling alone doesn't mean cancer, it can be gingivitis or tooth absess, or anything tooth related. None of the symptoms of SCC are much different than tooth problems. Odor - my cat developed a very bad smell in his mouth. Tumor - if you are able to open and look into your cats mouth, do it. My cat is very skiddish and difficult but I still looked in his mouth. That's when I saw the tumor and made him an appointment sooner rather than later.

7 Months, 41 pounds and counting

I started Weight Watchers in March, and here we are in October already. Bring out the jackets and long sleeves and almost ready to say goodbye to the flip-flops. Today was pretty warm for fall, no jacket needed and the flip-flops were worn, but tomorrow will be another story as here in the NEPA we are getting hit with some cold weather again. Will we have another freak 14 inches of snow this Halloween? That's anyone's guess. Anyway, back to Weight Watchers...next week marks 7 months for me. In 7 months I am happy to report that my scale tells me I have lost just over 41 pounds and my next weigh in is Sunday which I am hoping for a least one pound down. I am far from thin but I am happy with what I have achieved and it is definitely getting harder but I tell myself I do not want to undo all that I done when I think about going back to not thinking about what I eat.

Maybe some people at this point no longer track what they are eating, but I am. I think I have too. I don't trust myself. Will I do it forever? I really don't know. There are some days I don't track, but mostly I do. Once I get closer to where I want to be I plan to go back and join Weight Watchers online for support and guidance on how to maintain. I will probably re-join as I get close to that goal, for now I am doing it on my own after having been a subscriber for 3 months. I know these posts are probably getting old, but I can't say it enough that Weight Watchers works...but you have to stick to the plan...NO CHEATING! You must stay within your points. It's not so hard, really. They give you an extra 49 points a week to use how you want. You will still lose weight even if you use them plus all your daily, just slower maybe, unless you add some workouts to your day.

If I can do it, so can you!

My weight loss journey is far from over but today when I uploaded some current photos from my camera to my computer I compared them with photos I've taken of myself through my journey and ones that others took of me (and regrettably put up on Facebook)and I can see the change is happening. When I look in the mirror I am still not happy with what I see. Okay, I am happier, but I have a long way to still go. I am a coward and will not post full body pics of me online and I un-tag myself when others post them of me. However today, here, on my blog I am gonna post a little photo journey. It's not spectacular.

Person in the mirror

I'm kinda foggy today, but it's been way too long since I blogged. Allergies or whatever I've got are bringing me down today. I have a lot I want to blog about, but I'm going to narrow today's down to weight loss.

If you've read any of my posts in the past you know that I joined Weight Watchers Online in March. In June it was time to renew but after having bought a food tracker/weight tracker calculator (you can use an online one, and there is an app, but I do not, nor am ready for, a smart phone), 2 Weight Watchers journals, the Food Companion book and the Dining Out Companion book, I didn't feel I needed to continue to pay $19 a month for the online tools as they essential do the same thing only digitally. Now I will have to try to find more journals, sure I could just use a regular notebook, and maybe I will, but I really like the the ease of the pre-printed ones. So I've been going it 'on my own' since about mid June and so far so good.

Burned out

There's a story inside me itching to get out. Now if I could only find the time to sit down and get started. But what about now, you say? I am literally exhausted. If I tried to write anything where my brain had to really gear up and fingers needed to work, it would be a big mess right now. You should have seen how many times already I have have used the back-space just on this much of my blog post tonight. I like to write when I have a clear head, when I am not feeling like laying my head on my laptop and taking a snooze. With two kids at home again for the summer and a borrowed child I am kept very busy during the day and I gotta say, they wipe me out. Maybe not in physical form as I am not leaping and jumping and bouncing as they are, but maybe just mentally drained. I usually don't have more than a few minutes to sit down at my desk as they are going in and out of the house and requiring my attention frequently. So at night when the kids are in bed is my "me-time", only then I am too tired to want to do anything but relax. I guess a true writer would push through exhaustion..but I get grumpy if I don't sleep and my kids wouldn't like that...think of the Hulk..that could be me.

Teaser?

So you've heard the saying about bad things, right? How they come in threes? Well what if they never stop happening? I feel like the universe is laughing as it's kicking me repeatedly until I'm raw. I don't want this blog to be about this so I'm keeping this post brief. Have you ever been stuck in one of those ruts where nothing, and I mean nothing goes right? That's me right now. Whatever hell this is I would like to soon find my way out of it. I'm a Christian and I have been praying but beginning to think I'm praying for the wrong thing. Maybe instead of asking God to help me find a way to fix this or that I should be asking him for the strength to get through this mess. It can't stay like this forever, right? I want to believe that, but as a pessimist (yes I openly admit that) that is not easy to do!

I would surely like to pick God's brain, wouldn't you? So many questions for him, but when my time comes to meet him I won't care about those questions anymore. Everything you go through has some purpose, right? I don't know what it is. I had some minor health issues - yes minor, but still annoying. I felt like my body was falling apart and now my car is falling apart and my laptop, for which I have a love-hate relationship with, is also falling apart and could literally die at any moment - the list goes on. I know these are minor in comparison to what others suffer with but it's still hard to get through. All these things falling apart costs money. Money, a necessary evil, just like my laptop, and frankly my car.

When life won't throw you a bone don't you just feel like doing something crazy? Maybe something you never did or something out of your character, something others wouldn't expect? I'm about at that point. Stay tuned because you're bound to hear about it!

Grand-Opening

Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to open an online store. I am not sure what kind of traffic I might get or how it will all go, but I did it. Like I do all the time, I researched all the various places to host an online store for my handmade jewelry. Artfire wants a monthly fee. Etsy takes listing fees as well as a commission when you sell something and another fee if you choose to set up direct buy from their website rather than off site. Ebay also has fees. I could have set up shop on my Jewelry blog site at Weebly.com which would have just gone right through Paypal, but as I was getting zero traffic on that site I decided to shut it down and go a different route. That's where Storeny.com came in. There are ZERO fees. Signing up for an account, be it that you're a buyer only or buy and sell, is free. Setting up a store is free. There are no listing fees, no commission fees. Storenvy in it's most basic format takes no money from the sale of your items or to host your items in your store. There are features to which you can pay for. Storenvy connects you to your paypal account. Buyers pay through their paypal accounts therefore it's secure. Think of Storenvy sort-of like eBay if it listed only Buy-it-now items. It's not an auction. You pay the price listed plus shipping/taxes. The only fee than is if the item is paid for by credit card to which paypal has deemed it takes a small amount of the sale (possibly under $1 depending on amount of sale). If paying via bank account or paypal to paypal there are no fees, this is called an instant transfer.

So the store is open. I do not plan to list everything on there at once, at least not in the beginning as my Facebook page remains to be the main location for all things Expressions by Holly. I really didn't need another website to constantly have to keep up to date. I want to streamline and simplify my online life as much as possible. I have more things to eliminate. If you send a friend to my Facebook page and they LIKE me I will send you a promo code for 10% off in my store. If you have never been to my Facebook page yourself and arrive there via Write World Wrong Planet be sure to post that on my wall, like my page and I can give you the promo code.

Expressions by Holly on Facebook
Expressions by Holly Store

The good, the bad, and the excess

First for today's post, a small update on my Weight Watchers journey. It's been going well. I've been on the plan for 3 weeks and each week I have lost some weight. I am down now, at least according to my scale, first thing in the morning, almost 11 lbs. I feel great about it, but I do wonder if it's possible that I even lost that much. Here's why; I've been having some health issues totally un-related to my weight watchers diet and went with reluctancy to see my doctor and of course they weighed me. I was expecting the number on their scale to be higher than on mine, but not that much higher! There was a 4 lb difference. Of course I was weighed in the late morning, before lunch, but after breakfast and lots of water. Still I wonder how off my own scale is. I can't say it's been super easy because there are days when I just want to eat what I want, when I want it and not have to calculate how many points it is. I've been trying really hard to keep tracking everything I eat and fining all the foods points values. It will be worth it, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Springing to weigh less

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, officially. In my neck of the woods it has felt like spring most of the month and we had an extremely warm, mild winter with little precipitation. Living here in the mountains of NEPA I really enjoyed the winter of no snow (we had some flurries and a couple inches, nothing that stuck around) as I despise the white stuff. Today it's cooler and rainy, but still, is this really March?? I remember some other March's that were still very cold and very snowy. My son was born in March in 2005 and I remember thinking, what if it snows and I go into labor?? How will I get to the hospital which was nearly an hour drive away? I ended up with a planned c-section, but still the fear was there. I do remember it wasn't this warm back then but we had no snow on the morning my husband and I drove to the hospital to check in and meet our son I'd been carrying for 37 1/2 weeks. That was 7 years ago. Another child later and here is another March, 2012, and it feels like we're in May or maybe even June. I fear a long, dry, hot summer. That will not be good for farmers or gardeners. Not that extreme rain is either as we experienced a couple years ago when tomatoes rotted because of too much rain and no sun. That was definitely a rough summer which affected our fall as well.

Fat Tuesday?

Fat Tuesday, fastnacht day, shrove Tuesday....whatever you call it...today was the day. So what is it? Good question. I have been partaking in fastnacht day for the last 15 years or so but I never really knew what exactly it was all about. I did it because people said you get to eat a doughnut. Usually bakeries make a special potato flour variety for just this day. I used to work in a bakery many many years ago. That is where I first remember hearing about this day.

But what is it? I've been told in many years past, over and over, that if you don't eat your fastnacht you have bad luck. Huh? Yeah..that's what I thought. So eat a doughnut, what can it hurt? Maybe your waistline. Today I wanted to know what REALLY is this day supposed to be about. The internet...you can learn anything and everything from there. Things you want to know, don't want to know, and things you aren't sure about at all. It can be a great research resource though if you do your homework. Don't trust just any old source. For this topic though I felt pretty confident in what I did learn.

Reflections, Expressions and New Directions

Where do I begin? Okay at the top and promote myself, no matter how conceited that may seem. Without advertising or promotion you are nothing. So here goes:

I am a creative person, duh; if you don't know that already you either don't know me or this is your first visit to my blog, or both. I don't feel whole without doing something, and that something is usually something creative. Creative writing, pencil drawing, sewing doll clothes, and yes in the past I have made a few pieces of jewelry just for myself that I never wore really other than the earrings. I don't wear a lot of jewelry. I like rings and earrings and I stick to one of 2 Celtic cross necklaces...pretty simple. I have some nice pieces that my husband had bought me moons ago, but since I am not a fancy person and I don't dress up or go to fancy places I don't find much use for them so I always look for more practical things, things though I'd miss if they broke or were lost I wouldn't fret too much over should that happen. I've lost LOTS of earrings.

So, rambling aside - I decided to try and make my own rings. I discovered, many YouTube videos later, that a basic ring isn't all that hard to do. The materials though...the materials...they can be very expensive. I'm starting out with different kinds of copper wire. It's still not cheap when you factor in all them and the embellishments but a whole lot cheaper than using Sterling or Gold. So one day I decided to post the things I made on my Facebook page. I got some really great comments and some people asking me if I would sell them. Since I made a couple earrings I knew I would never wear, I sold them. Thus a new venture began. I am selling jewelry and I just sort-of stumbled into it. It's kinda like how my Nana (now 91 years young) starting sewing and selling things to her friends and their friends. It was something she enjoyed, the sewing, kept her busy, and she made a few dollars all because someone asked her where she got this or this and when she told them she made it, they wanted one. Maybe it's better this way that it just fell into my lap, but there are so many things I have yet to work out if I do make this a job. So far I have sold 2 pairs of earrings and one ring with 3 pairs (maybe 4) of earrings and another ring on the way out. If all sales go through than i am nearly half-way to breaking even and I just started this about a week ago. Will this momentum keep up? In today's economy I don't have high hopes, all the more reason to PROMOTE!! So if you have a moment I love suggestions and seeing that someone has LIKED my page...please do! Here's the link, Expressions by Holly. I also have a page on this blog with a Facebook LIKE box.

The art of being

To add on to my last post, I am done. Yes, finally I got the template/layout code for my friends art blog complete! It took 4 days of constant sitting down in front of the computer, racking my brain, testing, testing, and more testing, but I did it. It certainly wasn't easy. Perhaps if I had more knowledge of this kind of thing I wouldn't have been so hard. My sister, a computer programmer for a living (why!!?) eats, sleeps, and works on code - she may very well have been able to solve the issue, but she's busy and not not exactly around the corner, so I plugged away. Stubbornness paid off this time! I will admit that I was ready to give up - but I've never been a quitter and I wouldn't feel good about myself if I had.

So without delay, the artist profile this month (if you remember I wanted to do this) is my friend Rebecca Morris. Rebecca is an astounding artist. She is selling work like crazy, showing work all over the east coast and for good reason. She paints a lot of fantasy style pieces, she's done several people portraits as well and in a style that is unique to only her. Uniqueness stands out, and her style is her own; you know you're looking at a Morris piece of art and that is so important. There's nothing carbon copied, boring, or generic about what she does. She's not only a fantastic painter, but she is amazing at working in graphic art, such as logo designs, illustrations, that sort of thing. She's had work published in children's books and book covers. She is currently working on a Masters degree in art. Rebecca is skilled, schooled, and though those things are important, even more so is that she is imaginative, creative in her own right, and a natural born artist.

Please take a moment to check out her website (and not only because I am so proud to have put something clean, functional, and useful together). PlasmaHermitage

why I'm not a programmer

I have been working on blogger template testing, not for my blog, but for a friend's that I manage. I will be back posting to my blog soon. This project is consuming all my time. It's not hard to tell why I would never do this for a living or frankly do any work for non-family, non-friends. It takes hours...days...months sometimes. Maybe it would help if I knew more about what I was doing. I learn as I go. I had learned HTML and CSS for coding websites and I made layouts all the time for Myspace, but this blogger thing seems to be way more challening.

Blogger uses XHTML and I have never used that, plus lots of JavaScripts and Widget codes. The 18 hours I've put into this testing phase hasn't gotten me anywhere but frustrated. I do enjoy challenges...to a point. Trying to please the "client" and make the requests possible is not enjoyable when you don't know how. I know what she wants, but I can't make it happen. I've tried everything I know to do and even more that I just learned to do to no avail.

But no to ramble...I will be back...hopefully sooner than later because I don't have the time to spend on template making.

I'm thankful for...

...my faith, my life, my family (who are my life), my wonderful children (even when they are driving me to the insane asylum), and though I complain about it, I'm thankful for my little house because at least I have one to live in.


Happy Thanksgiving Write World, Wrong Planet readers!! (all 2 of you!)


May your day be filled with laughter, love, warmth, family and of course FOOD!!!