Importance of a Variety of Interests - My New Interest

Last week I had a nice little visit with one of my aunts. At one point she shared with me how when my grandfather retired from farming how he was discouraged and bored. She tried to get him into some projects but he just wasn't interested. We talked about the importance of developing different interests. Have a variety of things that you are interested in doing - helps you have options. I enjoy gardening, but when it is hot outside it is great that I also enjoy sewing, quilting, scrape booking and the like. 

Well last week I added something to the list of things I like to do- Painting!!! 

The new church that I have been attending for over a year now offers a painting class- 1 time a month we get together and we work on a painting project! The leaders pick out a painting and then they walk us through it step by step. 

I had been interested in going to this class for a long time but it seemed like something always got in the way. Well this time I decided to send a text to the lady that leads out and ask her what would be painted. I wanted to have the photo to show my granddaughter to see if she would be interested in going with me and painting. Sure enough she was interested and I was also able to get her Daddy to go with us. We had a great time. 

At first I was feeling a bit overwhelmed but I quickly noticed that it was a nice slow pace. Step by step we were directed what to do. And as we took each step it wasn't long before we realized this was doable. And not only doable but enjoyable. 

Here is my painting!!! 

Every time I look at it I am thrilled with the fact that I painted it! I look forward to next month when we will be painting a fall themed painting. Fall happens to be the season I enjoy decorating the most!! And I have wanted a fall picture to put up - but just haven't found the right one. Just think next month I will create one that I can use every single fall(maybe more often) and I am sure that every time I look at it I will feel that same sense of accomplishment!! Praising God for this opportunity and that He gave me the courage to go. And take my family with me. And next month - there is a very good chance that I will have my husband with us as well! Might even get my other son to go as well. We may be a painting family before long!

You can look forward to me posting a photo and sharing with you about each new painting. Maybe it can inspire you to pick up a new hobby.. Something to expand your life and your mind. :O)

One Year Ago

Wow- Can you believe it has been a whole year since I decided to no longer wear hats?

We had gone camping for the weekend and while we were in a small town where no one knew us - I decided to take off my hat here and there because it was so hot. And on the way home I did not wear the hat and I just decided it was time to put that hat down and just face the world. It was not easy all the time and there were times that I felt anxiety - like going to places for the first time. And the first time people I knew saw me. That was challenging to me - but thankfully I have a lot of great people around me and everyone was very supportive!

 

It's a good thing that I was realistic about how long it would take for my hair to get back to where I am used to wearing it- because even though it has been a year it is still not back to the pre "adventure" length yet. The front is - but the back is not. But that is fine. I am so thankful to have hair - and to feel it blowing in the breeze. You just don't realize how good that feels until you experience not having any hair. I am thankful that - that "adventure" is behind me.

Here is a then and now photo.

 

 

Just as last year I came to a point where I knew I had to make a change- by no longer wearing the hat. I think I might be at another one of those points in my life.

 

You know I told you all about how my right eye lashes - half of them curl up and some of them basically just go straight out if not a little bit of a downward turn? Well I have prayed about it that it would clear up and go back to how they were before - but that prayer has not been answered with a yes yet. I have tried to wear mascara and kind of make it look decent but I am tired of the top lashes kind of getting tangled with the bottom lashes - so I have decided not to wear mascara- at least for now. I have actually worn just lipstick and eye liner that last couple of days. And might continue that. I might eventually go to less make up than that. Who knows. I have to get alright with seeing myself like that so right now I really like to at least wear those two things - that is all I have on in the "now" photo. Eventually I may go back to wearing more make up but for now this is working for me. You gotta do what you gotta do, that's what I am figuring out.

 

Well I better close for now. I am trying to get some caulking done around the backsplash in my kitchen. I have a list of things that I really want to get done before July - so that July I can spend focused on SweetPea and the things that I have to do.

 

****Oh and by the way! I made my goal of walking 30 miles for the month of June!! I did other exercise things like working in the yard, etc. But I wanted to at least track 30 miles for the month. Next Month won't be as much due to the increased responsibilities that I will have but I will still be- being active. Let me know how you guys are doing on getting more exercise.

Oh one more thing - I was watching a health show today and they said that for people that sit 8-10 hours a day - that it increases their chances of dying in the next 3 years. And if you sit even longer - the chances increase. They suggested trying to get up at move at least every 2 hour to help yourself be more healthy. Just wanted to share those things to help encourage you all to get exercise ~ It's good for you! :O)

Key Limes and Me

I have shared in the past about how I make my Key Limeade.

And I think that I shared that what I was doing was processing all the key limes at once and putting each 7-8 key lime juice into a small Tupperware container and putting them in my fridge till I was ready to use it.

Well I have found a better way to do it and I wanted to share it with you all.

 

I found these adorable little ice cube trays for a quarter a week or so ago. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but they were so cute I could not pass them up.

 

So what I do is I process my key lime juice and then pour it into the ice tray - I pay attention to see about how many ice cubes makes one batch. Then I put foil over this and put it in the freezer. The next day I get the squares out and I put the number of cubes that I will need for a pitcher of limeade into sandwich bags. And then put all the sandwich bags into a quart sized freezer bag and put it in the freezer. Then I am able to get a bag out and make up Limeade when ever I want to and I am not rushed to use it up. When it is kept in the refrigerator I am worried about it getting sour so we would go through it faster. Anyway it's great to find better ways to do things.

 

I got a hair cut this week - and I wanted to share a photo with you all since I have not shared one in a while. I was going to wait until Monday to share these photos but I decided to do it today.

The reason I was going to wait until Monday is because it will be the one year mark since the day I decided I was NO longer wearing a hat. And here is a photo of where my hair was at that point:

My hair is no where near where I would like it in length in the back as what I would like it to be now- but maybe in about 6 month to a year and it will be there again.

My hair is still finer than what it was before- it was more coarse before.

Anyway So I am SO thankful to have hair again. It is great to feel it blowing in the wind. It is great because my hair is long enough that I am again using a thinner towel as a hair to dry my hair- for the past year or more I have just used one towel because there was no need for a second one. Now I use my thinking one for my hair and it is great to be needing to use it again.

 

This week I have walked the last 5 days in a row. Tomorrow I will not be going on a walk in the morning - but I have errands to run and groceries to get so I will still be getting exercise and that is good. My goal is to have at least 30 miles logged for the month of June and I am shooting for 12-15 for the month of July. It will be a more challenging month for getting walking in - but I will do the best I can.

I hope you all are doing well. :)

Part Three of our Date Day

Today I will share with you some of the beautiful flowers that we saw. This is just a small sampling.

 

This is actually called a Chenille Tree. I thought it was cool.  

 

I did not get the names of everything. I wish I had have. But at this point - I was getting tired. And we still had a couple of errands that we needed to run.

 It is such a blessing from God - to have so much beauty to see and enjoy.

 I think that He could have went with a lot less variety - but I think that the huge variety of His creations - shows just how very much He loves us.

Well that and of course the fact that He died on the cross for our sins.

I mean seriously - just Him giving up living in Heaven and coming down to this sinful world was already such a great sacrifice, but to lay down His life for us. This is true love.

 I love how being out in nature is really therapeutic to the soul.

 I feel close to God, while I am out in nature. And to be honest - I am getting more and more the desire to be around God's beautiful nature. 

Maybe it is because it is Spring. A time for new beginnings.

 

I hope you have enjoyed a little peak inside of our date day.
And I hope that it did your soul some good just looking at the photos.



Part Two of our Date Day

So as you walk into the botanical Conservatory - we were welcomed not only by the sound of the waterfall, and the beautiful view, but we also were welcomed by many butterflies fluttering around.

 

 And let me say that it is hard to get photos of butterflies. Many of the butterflies that we saw were always on the move.

 It seemed that most of the brighter colored butterflies were always moving. A lot of them were smaller butterflies as well.

 The sun was shining that day - and we were lucky to get a few of the butterflies sitting in the sunshine.

 This one - feeding at the pretty purple flowers -kept fluttering his wings but I think that my husband did a good job at capturing a photo of him.

And while we were walking around looking at the beautiful scenery and all of the butterflies,

my husband caught a glimpse of this guy and just had to get a photo.

 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow

as I will show some photos

of some beautiful flowers that we saw.

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By the way- today is chemo #5 for me. I would sure appreciate it if you would all continue to keep me in your prayers. Pray that the chemo will only kill the cancer and that my healthy cells/organs and such will be protected from the poison. I sure do appreciate it. :O)

 

Ready for The Amazing Race....

So now I know that if my husband and I were to be on The Amazing Race - that I would be willing to shave my head for a million dollars!

As you know on Friday I started to lose my hair. This morning when I took my shower - I gently washed my hair with baby shampoo. Each time I would get done with each of my hands- I would have to pull of a lot of hair off of my hand - and then put it on the wall of the shower(trying to keep as much from going down the drain as I could) then as I was just making sure I had all the shampoo out of my hair - I swiped my hand down across the side of my head - and when I looked at my hand - I gasped! I was very used to seeing lots of hair - but that time - there was even more hair. I finished my shower and brushed my hair as gently as I could and let it air dry. I had to make it through the day - we would be spending the afternoon with the grandbaby.

I pulled all the bedding off of our bed and washed the sheets, blanket, and quilt. There was so much hair all over the place. It was so bad last night that there was two times I had to pull a piece of hair out of my mouth. So now you know why I had to wash everything today.

Anyway after she left at about 5pm- it was time. Time to take care of my hair- or the increasing lack of hair. I still had about half of my hair. My sweet husband took his hair clippers and shaved my head. Then we went to the bathroom and he got his razor out and shaved it. He wanted to get as much hair off of my head - cause I will continue to lose the hair - it would be uncomfortable to lose a lot of small pieces of hair. I did not see it in the in between stage at all. Once I was done - he put a small towel over my head and moved the towel off of the mirror. And I was able to move the towel off of my head when I was ready. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think the time that I have grieved about this over the last couple of weeks helped me deal with it all. Plus the alarming rate in which I was losing my hair.

Oh - I have to share some blessings with you all. So we took care of our grandbaby for a while today - and then when her Daddy got here- I was surprised to see him BALD! Yep! He had shaved his head for me. As did my husband!!! And my other son is thinking about doing it as well. I am SO tempted to go to JCPenny's and get a family photo done! And am so thinking of doing the photo - bald. Do I want to go around bald all the time - don't think I can - but we will see. But there is something about the love that I feel from my family that makes me think that this photo my be my favorite one ever! You find out there are things in live so much more important than your hair- and that is your family!! And I am SO grateful for mine!! God has really blessed me!

It's an Adventure!

Today - was the day - the day that I went to the American Cancer Society and tried on wigs. I had one my best friends go with me - she is such an encourager. God blessed me when he brought her into my life.

 

When she picked me up - she had on a cute - Rainbow striped wig on over her hair! We both got a good laugh out of that. I ended up trying on about 5-6 wigs and I am hoping that I picked out the best one. I am going to share one of the wigs that I did not choose. I love the photo! The wig was great while it sat there on the white Styrofoam head- but once it was on me - I figure out right quick this was not the wig for me. Too much width across for me. The back was cute, and if they had have made the sides calmer - I would have thought it was adorable. Anyway I ended up going with a longer wig. It has highlights - which is new to me. I have never had my hair colored or had highlights or anything kind of coloring. But it seemed like it was the most flattering wig that I tried on. There is a chance that I will need to take the wig to the lady that cutes my hair and have her trim the bangs on it - but I don't want to do anything until I lose my hair and can try it on like that. I would hate to get it cut and it end up being cut too short. So I will wait. It will take some to get used to the wig, but I am praying that God will help me with that as well.

Not only did I get a free wig - but I also got a free hat- that I got to pick out. If you, or anyone you know has cancer- be sure and tell them to call the American Cancer Society and see what they offer. It is such a great thing for those of us going through this. There is enough expense with all the other stuff - so it is nice to be able to get a few things for this journey - free.

 

There is also a make up class that they provide. There is a chance that the chemo changes your skin and what you can handle -so even though you have been wearing the same make up for years, chemo can cause you to become sensitive to it. So they offer this class and also give you make up. So this is also something I will be signing up for.

 

This whole journey has stretched me outside of my comfort zone- but I have learned so much and I have grown as a person. And I continue along this journey and wonder what adventure is next for me.
The word Adventure - is an interesting one to put along with a diagnosis of cancer- but today - my friend said something about this adventure of mine - and it just struck me. At the beginning of the year when everyone is talking about a fresh new start and all their goals and aspirations for the year. I had felt kind of bad- kind of sorry for myself to be truthful, I mean I don't have a fresh new start or anything to look forward to - I have chemo and radiation to look forward to and those along with all the side affects are no fun, but just maybe if I keep an open mind - there will be adventure along the way. Fun activities, fun times, new things to learn, new people to meet, and new opportunities to share the love of Jesus with those that are hurting. And that is adventure. So I will continue to walk along this journey that is before me and I will look for the adventure along the way.