SURGERY IS OVER AND THE PATIENT IS HOME

Yesterday was my daughter's surgery, and she came home today.  All is well, and hopefully we can all get a good night's sleep tonight - although I'm not really very tired.  She has done quite well, and it wasn't a very invasive surgery, so I think her recovery will be rapid.  Thank you for all of your prayers for her.  Much love to everyone.

MY ORGAIZATIONAL BENEFITS

One of our Scraprack Challenges from last week is to  make a sign stating the BENEFITS  I hope to achieve from organizing my craft room.  I thought for a few days, and here's what I came up with (although I haven't made my sign yet):
1.  To be able to see my floor again, and to walk into my craft room and feel lifted up instead of depressed.
2.  To have my scrapbook supplies in permanent and easily accessible places.

I know those are pretty simple, but right now when I walk into my room, I just want to get out as soon as possible.  That's sad, isn't it?  I have also proceeded to get a "purge" box, and things are being put in it.  All scrapbooking supplies laying around the house have been put in one place and will find permanent homes as soon as I get the rest of my Scraprack system (I had to order some more pages and spindles).  I have bought some 50% off wicker baskets to put my finished albums in.  They going to go out in the living room in plain sight - hopefully to tempt people to look through them.  I've even gotten some smaller baskets to put my little mini-albums in.  Doing this has cleared up a numer of shelves in two of my bookcases.

Then I have made the momentous decision to store away my Cricut Imagine and the cartridges that go with it.  Frankly, it takes up a huge amount of counter space, and I really don't use it at all.  I suspect Cricut is going to quit making new cartridges for it anyway and probably will quit making the machine.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it's very heavy and can't be transported to crops, so people just aren't buying them, or, like me, if they do, they aren't using them.  I'll probably end up selling mine.  Anyone want one for about $125.00?  I've got a lot of cartridges to go with it too.

So, I shall keep plugging away this week, but then I'm going back to Florida to take care of my daughter, who's having some surgery next week.  I'll be gone for two weeks, so my clean up project will have to go on hold for a while.  I'll still keep in touch though.

JUST A LITTLE SKIN CANCER. NOT!!

TWO DOLPHIN FANS

Today our grandson (on the left) got to go see a Miami Dolphin ball game with his Daddy.  He and his friend were so excited, and they really dressed up for the occassion.  I have no idea how the game turned out, but I'm sure the two little boys had a wonderful time.  Just look at those painted faces!!

I'm on my back on the couch today because of a muscle spasm in my back, and I am having the surgery on the skin cancer on my leg on Tuesday.  Tomorrow I have to go in for my pre-op physical.  Please lift me up in your prayers that they can remove it all.  This is going to be a scarey week for me.

I HAVE SKIN CANCER!!

I thought I had an ingrown hair (from shaving my legs) on my left shin, but it didn't get better and sort of scabbed over after about 2 weeks, so I had a surgeon take a look at it.  The next thing I knew I was going in for a biopsy, and when I went in to get my stitches taken out, I found out the lesion was a squamous cell skin cancer.  The most common skin cancer are basal cells, and they mostly stay on the surface and don't tend to be invasive.  Squamous cells are slow growing, tend to involve the top two layers of the epidermis, but they can be invasive if not taken care of completely.  Therefore, right after we get back from Florida, where we're going for Thanksgiving, I will be admitted to the local out-patient surgery center for a more complete excision.  This is going to leave a 6 inch scar right down the middle of the front of my leg, across the shinbone.  

All in all, I'm thankful that I discovered it early, and, most of all, that it wasn't a melanoma.  The surgery doesn't bother me at all - after going through breast cancer, chemo and reconstruction, I can go through this.  I just have to be really vigilant for any and all skin lesions in the future, and so should ALL of you reading this blog!!  Everyone is vulnerable, and skin cancer can even pop up "where the sun don't shine."