Cancer again....

Just about a year ago I wrote about my father being diagnosed with prostate cancer. I am relieved that I can say he is cancer-free. After his PSA rose again last summer, he chose to have radiation treatments and in November was declared cancer-free.

About the time he got his all-clear, his brother had a very high PSA. The doctor felt it could be an infection and treated him for that to begin with. Unfortunately that was not the case and my uncle has now been diagnosed with cancer. This is the brother that he is closest to... both age wise and as friends. Mike is 15 months older than Dad and they are like "2 peas in a pod".

Mike and his wife have 4 children. 2 girls and 2 boys (not to mention the grandkids and great-grandkids!). The oldest girl is 9 months older than me and the next girl is 9 months younger.... We were close growing up and I still spend a lot of holidays with their family. They consider me a part of their family and have for many years. When I heard about his diagnosis, I was floored. Not only does he have prostate cancer, he also has bone cancer. And from what I have learned the bone cancer is not only in his back but also small spots on his one hip, a rib and a lymph node. And, the prostate cancer is Stage 4.... He is having treatment for both cancers so we can only hope for the best.

I am again raising money for our county Relay for Life. But, you know what.... Mike's 2nd daughter has raised money for Relay for several years also. Last year, our efforts were for my Dad. This year they will be for her Dad.....

I.hate.the.word.Cancer.

I'm such a procrastinator!

Yup.

Tax time.

I said last year that I would keep up with my Quicken program to make tax time easier in 2007. I lied. Well, I did good until April but let things go after that.

So this weekend I sat down and got all the papers in that Longaberger basket (at least it was a smaller basket this year!) together and started the process. Amazingly, all the data input was done in less than 8 hours. Then it was time to double check everything and do the bank recs. Got that done this morning.

Next I installed my tax program and started the process. Getting rid of Schedule C sure makes it go faster! I then e-filed my federal return thru the tax program. Also, love the state of Ohio tax website where I can file both the state and school district returns for free. All 3 done by 5:00.

Now to get back the refunds :)

Bad Hair Day

Need I say more....

Even dogs have bad hair days....

LOL!

Blizzard - Day 2

Woke up this morning to hear that my employer canceled 1st shift :) Made me a happy camper especially after I looked outside.

The drifts at the garage door were close to 2 feet in places. Not sure the 4-wheel drive would have made it thru since I would have had to back out.

As the day went on, I was getting more and more upset since the guy I hired to clear the drive never showed up and he had told me yesterday he would do it again today! Not to mention the 3 closest neighbors to me are all guys in their 30's. Of course, one is the guy who flaked on me. One used to do it but stopped several years ago (when flake took over). And, in a dire situation a couple of years ago I asked #3 to help and offered payment but he refused. Today all 3 of them looked at my drive, saw that I was home but did any of them ask if I needed it done.... NO.

I tried shoveling an area for the dogs and had to quit after 5 minutes. Went back out later and just tried to knock some of the snow in the deep areas down so it wouldn't go up the exhaust pipe in the morning. Didn't get very far with that either.

But, about 5:30 the dogs started going crazy so I thought my friend might be out there. Nope. It was some guy in a pickup and I didn't recognize him. He was plowing my driveway. When done he just drove away.

For once, somebody did something nice for me without me asking....

Thank you whoever you are.

Today's pics:

7:30 a.m.















10:00 a.m.















10:00 a.m.

BLIZZARD!!!

Ohio version that is.

On Sunday, it was a winter storm warning.
On Monday, it was changed to a heavy snow warning. Tuesday 1 a.m. to Wednesday 7 a.m.

Today at 1:15 p.m. it was changed again.

Blizzard Warning until 7:00 Wednesday a.m.

My employer decided that we could leave early once any necessary work was done. Several left before lunch and the rest of us stayed a little longer. The IT guy and I left at 2:15. I wasn't worried about getting home since I have 4-wheel drive. The drive wasn't too bad since it was all in town driving. Days like this I'm super glad I live and work in the same town. The wind had really kicked up by this time so there was lots of snow blowing across the roads.

I was actually more worried about my driveway. The guy I had arranged to clear my driveway this winter (lives across the street) hasn't done it yet! Sunday I saw a friend and asked if he would do it for me. He also lives in the neighborhood so he wouldn't have to go far. He said he would. He knows what time I get off work so I was afraid that since I was early, it wouldn't be done. At first it looked like it wasn't but then I realized that there were piles along the edge of the driveway that weren't there before. He called after I had been home a couple of hours and told me he had done it late morning-early afternoon. When he called we were having very high winds and it was still snowing. I couldn't even see my tracks from 2 hours earlier! He wondered if he needed to do it again before I go to work in the morning. Luckily my employer has no problem with us waiting to come in during daylight hours so I told him that. I also said I'd just put it in 4-wheel drive and barrel my way out if needed!

Here's my driveway at 7:15 this morning....















Here it is at 2:45 this afternoon....















And, here it is at 6:00 this evening....















These 2 pictures show the bush in the front flower bed at 2:45 and 6:00.
































And this is how far the snow has drifted against the garage door a little over 3 hours.














Now I have to admit, it is pretty to look at now that I am home and I don't have to go back out. But, even with that, can I say how much I hate winter?!?!?!?

Artic cold weather...... I HATE IT!

I.hate.cold.

I.should.really.live.in.Florida.or.Hawaii.

But.I.live.in.Ohio.....

We've had the very cold temperatures here the last couple of days with wind chills below zero. I don't function well in cold weather. Heck, even my dogs don't like it outside. They go out and do their thing and come right back in. Pepper usually likes to check things out when he's outside. He is very content to spend time outside, sometimes I can't get him to come in but not these days.

Now for the point of this blog. I've got a garage and I put the garden hoses in the garage during the cold months. In October, I brought them in and for a few days there was water dripping out of them that had been in the hoses. But, I haven't seen dripping water since early November.

The scene today.....
















Dang if it ain't cold!

SS Blog Challenge - Slide Show

I haven't done an SS blog challenge for awhile but this week's peaked my interest.

Here's your challenge: choose a group of photos and make a slide show! Choose key photos from a single event, or showcase a collage of photos from all over the place. It doesn't matter! But choose a grouping of photos and tie them together somehow with a story or an essay or a letter.

Since this blog is supposed to be about my Havanese, what better subject to do a slide show on. Pepper is almost 7 and Paige just turned 5. So I do have lots and lots of pictures of them. These are just a few of my favorites that also depict their lives. And, yes, they do LOVE to pose for pictures!

So here it is, my slide show on my Havanese babies....

SS MI Winter Retreat

Here we are, the ScrapShare MI Retreat attendees....

Front - SharonJordan5, tsbegley
Middle - momtomaxandaaron, Mary (a friend of Sharon), buckIscrapper, InkyFingers, ReneInOH
Back - bdren, bonnenuit, aimless, GoldieP, CMCEmmyLou, Betty Cropper

A Buckeye in Spartan Country

I'm here.

In Michigan.

East Lansing.

On the campus of Michigan State University......


wearing my Buckeye clothing!!!

I will say this. The facilities for this retreat are great! The price was right and I'm having a fantastic time with my SS friends.

Although I'm not the only Buckeye here :) There's Benita, a Buckeye fan from Columbus, and Susan, a Buckeye fan from Rochester Hills, MI. Although she's not a Buckeye fan, we've also got Beth from Girard, OH.

We've come from all over. Christy from Ontario. Judy from Wisconsin. Amy, Sharon, Mary, Jody, Diane and Tiffany from Michigan.

But, the best moment so far was the serenading of the Buckeyes by Tiffany's 4-year old daughter via cell phone.... Had to love her rendition of Hail To The Victors!

Everyone is having a great time laughing, talking and scrapping....

That alone makes it worth being a Buckeye visiting Michigan :)

Scrap Share Retreats

I love scrapbooking. I have found a home at ScrapShare, a message board community devoted to scrapbooking.

So what am I doing this weekend?

I'm driving 3 1/2 hours to meet up with 11 other people from SS and spend the weekend scrapbooking!!!

Am I crazy or what? We've all heard and read the horror stories about internet meetings.....

I'm still going to do it. I have met one of these girls already, so it is really only 10 I don't know. But, yet, I feel that I do know them. I read their posts every day. I've read about their good times, their bad times and their opinions on anything and everything. I've shared with them also. Some of them I feel I know better than some of my blood relatives.....

I'm excited! So excited that I probably won't be able to sleep. Heck, I haven't slept well all week thinking about everything I need to do for this weekend and the weekend itself!

This time tomorrow I will be scrapbooking, laughing and having a heck of a time with my new-old friends from SS.

I'm ready.....


well, except for the pesky thing called packing......

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Apprentice. You've got the basics down pat and you might just be falling in love with this hobby. Big needles, funky yarns and simple shapes are the name of the game, but it doesn't mean you don't experiment a bit, here and there. As an apprentice, you probably fall back on other people to get you through those rough spots, and if you don't know anyone who knits, you probably have a few books or online sources to tap. http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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Another Silly Blog Question.....

You Are Most Like George H. W. Bush

You're considered boring by people that don't know you well. But like Bush senior, you do crazy things. Maybe you'll end up banning broccoli in your house, or puking on the Prime Minster of Japan!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

Remarkable Life?

Week 2 of the Scrapshare Blogging Challenge:

Write about your less than remarkable life. Write about your routines,
your habits, your schedule. Find the unremarkable things about your
life and CELEBRATE them.

I live a very ordinary life. Small town America. I've never lived outside the state of Ohio and 40 of my 50 years have been in this small town. But, it is my life and I love it!

I love the simple things in life and will leave the glitz and glamour to others. I love my home and prefer to spend my time there. I absolutely love my furkids and hate to leave them. I don't mind being alone, actually prefer it many times. I have my friends but if we don't talk every day that is not a problem. I am a creature of habit. Go to work and come home 5 days a week. I grew up as an only child so have always had to entertain myself. Because of that I am not afraid to be alone.

I have/had wonderful parents. They taught me that I can be happy no matter what and that my happiness is not based on other people being/not being in my life. I'm so thankful that they were my parents.

My life. Not so remarkable compared to others.

But to me, ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE!

Color Me Beautiful....

Many, many years ago I found out about a service called Color Me Beautiful. A "color consultant" worked with you to determine the colors best for you. I figured what the heck, might as well find out.

I must say it was a very enlightening experience. I learned that I was wearing colors that were all wrong for my skin tone and hair color. The whole concept of Color Me Beautiful is based on a book written by Carole Jackson and she uses the categories of spring, summer, fall (autumn) and winter to describe the colors.

I learned by reading the book before my appointment that your skin tone, hair & eye colors help to determine what colors look best on you. And, that these either have a blue or golden tone. The color palettes used are divided by "cool" or "warm" with the cool being the blue undertones and the warm based on the yellow. Cool are summer & winter. Warm are spring & autumn. I figured I had blue undertones and by looking at the colors I figured I was a summer.

I go for my appointment and being the smart-aleck 20-something I was at that time I figured I knew it all. With the consultant's first comment, I woke up and shut up!

First she determined that I had blue undertones (at least I was right on that!) and then draped me in swatches from all the groups. Right away I could tell that the spring and autumn colors were completely wrong. Then she did the summer swatches. I thought that I looked pretty good in some of those colors and she agreed but she wasn't done yet. She pulled out the winter swatches and started going thru them individually. WOW! Was I amazed at what some of those colors did for me! Some looked OK, others were pretty good and some were absolutely gorgeous.

In the 4 seasonal palettes, only 1 season has the colors of black & white. The other 3 palettes have less harsh versions of these colors such as ivory, soft white or oyster white and shades of gray. Winter has the black & white and amazingly, black is one of my best colors with white being pretty close. She told me that some winters cannot wear these as their main colors but only as accent colors but I could wear them both as a main color. Of course, she suggested to always have a "little black dress" in my closet because it would look terrific on me. They also pick one color out of the palette that would be the perfect color for a bathrobe. Amazingly, for me that was "icy aqua". They also tell you whether silver or gold jewelry looks better on you. Silver is my color! But when I asked her about all the gold jewelry I had, she said I could wear it but consider mixing gold and silver possibly by wearing a silver watch. To this day, I always buy silver watches or silver/gold watches. Even the ring I had made of my mother and grandmother's engagement rings is gold with silver and it looks very nice on my hand. I haven't entirely given up the gold jewelry because a lot of it was inherited but I always wear silver earrings and my silver watch.

Now there are some colors in the winter palette that don't look good on me and those are very good for accent pieces. That lemon yellow.... put it with navy blue or black or charcoal gray. Then I asked her about colors not in my palette, especially since I wore suits to work and I had several that weren't in the palette... namely that chocolate brown one. She said to go ahead and wear it but put one of my best colors with it... brown suit, blue-red blouse. Amazing look! Much better than the orange print blouse I usually wore. Know what I did with the orange blouse... I wore it with a black sweater every Halloween (and my black cat earrings).

They gave you a nice little color swatch book with notes as to which colors looked best as main or accessory colors and I carried that with me for years whenever I went shopping. She also went into what color shoes, handbags, hosiery, makeup, and hair color (if coloring) are best for a winter. To this day, I try to stick with those main colors in my wardrobe. Don't get me wrong, I will wear a color that isn't good for me, but it is usually a casual outfit that I only wear around the house. For work and dress-up occasions, I always wear a good color. That's one reason you see me in a lot of black :)

The colors of the winter palette rated 2-check excellent for me:

Light true gray, black, navy blue, emerald green, magenta, fuchsia, blue-red, icy aqua and icy pink.

My 1-check excellents are:

Pure white, medium true gray, charoal gray, true blue, royal blue, chinese blue, shocking pink, royal purple, true red and icy violet.

Good colors for me: True green, deep hot pink, bright burgundy, icy yellow and icy blue.

Colors that should only be used as accents or mixed with excellents or away from my face: Taupe, hot turquoise, lemon yellow, light true green, pine green and icy green.

Anyways, if you ever meet me, I'll be the one in black :)

Big Brother 6 - Which housemate are you?

You scored as Rachel. You're Rachel. You're very strong and love your life and you never let people take advantage of you. You're smart and cunning.

Which Big Brother 6 Character are you?
created with QuizFarm.


Big Brother All-Stars coming soon! Are YOU ready?

What Color?

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

October 4

Ok... I stole this from Heidi who stole this from Melissa who stole this from Pamela who stole it from some other people....

Go to Wikipedia and do a search for your birthday (day and month only, exclude the year). Post three facts, two births and one death on your blog including the years.

Events:

1537 - The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1927 - Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mt. Rushmore.
1957 - Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and first Avro Arrow rolled out of main plant.

Ok, so I put 4 events. I could have had a lot more!! A lot happened on 10/4. Other events to note -- 1824 Mexico became a federal republic, 1830 creation of state of Belgium after separating from The Netherlands, 1958 Fifth Republic of France created, 1966 Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho. Notice a trend??? And a couple of fun ones -- 1931 debut of Dick Tracy comic strip, 1957 debut of Leave It To Beaver, 1983 1st Hooters restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida.

Births:

1949 - Armand Assante, American actor
1950 - Peppermint Patty, fictional, charactor in Peanuts cartoon strip by Charles Schultz (boy she looks good for her age!)

Also born on this date, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1822. I'm feeling very presidential ;) I'm more impressed by sharing my birthday with "Moses" and "Ben-Hur", Charleton Heston (1924), one of my favorite actors way back when!

Deaths:

1970 - Janis Joplin, American singer (b. 1943) I remember this. I lived in a small town where drugs weren't out in the open so this opened my eyes to the world!

And, since this is Derby Weekend where the favorite horse got hurt and may have to be euthanized, I'll add this death: in 1989 - Secretariat, the Triple Crown winner in 1973.

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 88 days remaining.

The Things People Do......

Our local Relay for Life is this coming weekend. I volunteered to walk for our company team. The local Relay does theme laps during the overnight hours to keep it fun and interesting.

One of the lap themes is Ohio State-Michigan. Living where I do, it is mainly OSU fans. After all we are only 90 minutes from Columbus. But, you will find a few UM fans in town. So most of the people walking during this time wear OSU clothing although last year a few people wore both!

I volunteered to walk this hour -- from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. There is no way you will get me into any Michigan clothing. Cold.Day.in.Hell..... But I wanted to do something a little different than just wear my OSU clothes. I knit and I happened to have the yarn colors needed for a UM scarf -- yellow and blue. (Hey these are U of Toledo's colors too and I do like that school!!!!). So I started knitting me a scarf. Instead of the whole thing being yellow and blue, I made it 1/2 yellow/blue and 1/2 red/gray.

Unique isn't it :)

And, since it is supposed to be in the 40's I just may need a scarf in May!

My Ideal Career

Your Career Type: Conventional

You are orderly and good at following a set plan. Your talents lie in working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way. You would make an excellent: Bank Teller - Bookkeeper - Court Clerk Mail Carrier - Post Office Clerk - Secretary Timekeeper - Title Examiner - Typist The worst career options for your are artistic careers, like comedian or dancer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Hmmm...... In my life I've been a secretary and am now an accounting clerk. Fits.Me.To.A.Tee!

Spring has Sprung!

I.hate.winter.

Sure, I like looking at snow once in awhile, but I prefer warmer weather. My ideal world would be snow for about 2 weeks -- over Christmas and New Year's and then we'd be back to spring. Summer could start about March and last until October. Fall would be November and early December. But, living in Ohio that sure isn't going to happen (and, no I won't be moving anytime soon.....)

The last couple of weeks have been pretty nice. We've had some rain, but it hasn't really affected getting out and working in the yard. It really is nice seeing the neighborhood active with people working in the yards and the kids playing. I let the dogs out at 8:45 last night and ended up talking to the neighbors!

I've already gone on one walk today with the dogs, and if it stays nice, we just might take another later on. After all I've got to get ready for the Relay for Life walking!

The lilac bushes and trees at some homes along my walk are just gorgeous. I love purple ones especially. One neighbor has a tree that is absolutely gorgeous, not sure what it is but it is a gorgeous red color. All the lawns are so green. I really should take my camera and get some pics, isn't that what scrapbookers do? :)

And, most importantly....

The sun is out!!!