Update

HI,
I decided to post here instead of answering on Facebook one by one..that's one thing MySpace has going for it..I can blog it there or do a bulletin..

ANYWAY...the news was mostly good. The lump was pre-cancerous. The surgeon got all of the affected tissue out..

The next part is where it gets difficult..Traditional medicine says 6 weeks of radiation, or mastectomy..those 2 options are not at all what I want to do. Most disease comes from environmental causes and my biggest issue in life is nutrition and exercise..I am trying to make better choices and am supplementing with good, healthy supplements, but have a ways to go..at this point, I believe that's how I will choose to keep this at bay, but will look at all sides..

Thanks for all your prayers and support..

Love you all,
Carolyn

Fun with Anne and Sara

Today I got together with longtime friends, Anne and Sara..We all went to high school together..Anne now lives in Virginia, Sara in Kent and me..well..Shelton, but you all knew that..

Here we are at Jared's picking out my new wedding ring..My Mom left me my Grandmother's ring, so I'm using the diamond from that.

Here is the ring I'm getting..I'm excited..I have Reg's blessing to make this change. I am thinking of having a pendant made with my original diamond to give to Tillie when she is older..I'm not sure yet what I'll do..
From Jared's we drove up to Kent to where Sara gets pedicures and she treated us all to pedicures..It was fun!! It should be added that this year all 3 of us turned 50..So, this was an especially fun visit..
Our pretty toes!!
From pedicures we wandered the shops at Kent Station and ended up at Dukes for a drink and some hors d' oerves..
We headed back to Lakewood..that's where Reg visited with Anne's husband Steve..they can talk for hours. Emily and Tillie went to Chuckee Cheese with Anne's kids..(kids..they're 26, 24, 20, etc....)

It was a wonderful visit!!

Duke's New Family

Here is Duke's new family..2 kids and a large fenced yard! Perfect for a puppy!!

It doesn't take much to excite me...

Today we took out the gross shower doors and put in a new curved rod and shower curtain..It's pretty cool..it's a little bit long..Reg didn't take into account that it would hang just a bit longer because of the hangers..but, I think it looks cool!

Ooohhh....the curved rod..
Another view..One other problem is that it's much darker in the shower now..I'm not sure that can be fixed..I also scrubbed the ceiling..we have a mold problem and later down the line we will probably tear out everything and start over..but for now we'll see how long my mold scrubbing will last!!

Puppy Update

Most of you know that last month we got a new puppy..His name is Duke..Here he is on October 28th...

a few weeks later..
Sleeping on his back...However...

after 3 weeks, I decided that Duke was a lot more than I bargained for. We found him a new home with 2 kids and a fenced yard. So, yesterday Duke went to his new home..Many thanks to Elisabeth Cooper who helped me find the home..they are friends of hers..Duke will be much better off..Thank you Reg for supporting me in this decision..it was much harder for him..

Shop Hop part 2

This is our shop here in Shelton..I may be a bit biased, but of the 12 I visited..this is the best!! I picked up my material here after Chehalis and Centralia..

On Oct. 31, my friend Doras went with me to my last two stops. They were in Aberdeen and Ocean Shores. We had a great time..I did forget the camera though, darn it!! This quilt project will be for the new year..I have plenty to do for now..including a top secret project!!

Shop Hopping

Two weeks ago I visited my sister in Salem. On the way home I started my journey on my very first Shop Hop. This was the SW Washington Shop Hop. There was a list of 12 shops between Vancouver and Shelton. At each shop you get a free piece of fabric and directions for one of the 12 squares. Since this was my rookie Shop Hop, I was learning along the way..like I needed to purchase more fabric for the squares..so, I started doing at later stores.

This first store was in Vancouver. I combined this stop with lunch with our good friends, Glenn and Cindy! (Miss you guys!)
Inside the Vancouver shop they had a quilting room. There were 2 huge quilting machines, all computerized..It can be quite hi-tech..maybe that's why I haven't finished any quilts yet..this is daunting..granted..the home quilter usually doesn't have all this fancy stuff.. Here is the shop in Battleground. This shop was on the owner's property. I had to maneuver around the chickens in the yard!

My next stop up I-5 was in Longview. Not only did this shop have sewing and vacuum, it had a whole kitchen section..It was pretty cool..

Traveling just a few miles north, the next stop was Castle Rock. I've never been to Castle Rock and it's a cute little town.

After heading a bit further north, I turned east and went to Morton. That was the hardest drive, only because it was 3o miles off of I-5..but, it was a beautiful drive and had a beautiful view of Mt. Saint Helens!

As the hour was getting late, I wasn't able to get to Chehalis or Centralia on Friday, so I continued up to Tumwater..It was opened until 6:30....this shop is not too far from my house so it's another place to learn..

On Saturday, Oct. 25th, I headed to Emily's candle party and spent the night. She and I went to church the next day and on my way home, I detoured to do some more "hopping." This shop is in Yelm...I should say that both days were wonderfully sunny..I couldn't have asked for better driving weather.

From Yelm I went down a back highway to Chehalis and Centralia. I went through the town of Rainier..I wondered where that town was. We have friends there, so that was fun to see. This is the Chehalis shop..once again, I had never been in the downtown part of Chehalis. Only stops right off of I-5. I think that's been one of the neatest thing of this journey..

Here is the Centralia shop. Now this was fun..the shop?? No, the 2 guys in there planning their next quilt. Not that guys can't quilt, but I hadn't seen it before..they were brothers..one did the sewing and piecing and such and the other did the grunt work..the cutting!

More to come on the next post..

Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of.....Milk?

Here is Pirate Tillie!!!

What a cutie!

Projects

Here are the first 3 squares of the 2008-09 Block of the Month club..I'm caught up on that one..

I've also joined the "buck a block" club. It's using a method called Thangles. I have some questions, so off to the quilt store tomorrow I go!

David's old room is just about finished..meaning that it should be able to hold heat in the winter better and hopefully stay a bit cooler in the summer. I'll be moving my craft stuff up there, giving us more room in the family room and giving me my very own space. I'm excited..

My New Life...

This week has been the first week since "retiring" that I have had to rest, relax, start projects and the such..How nice!! There were 3 nights that I didn't sleep well, but made up for it by sleeping in until 11AM....I got 2 quilt squares finished for the current block of the month club. I'm now trying to master setting triangles...Tomorrow I'm going to Sue's for help!

Emily and Tillie came over Saturday for Chrissy Hammond's baby shower and they're staying for my candle party on Tuesday..need candles?? Come on over!

Here's Tillie wearing Uncle DJ's boots!! Size 12..mens!!

These boots WEREN'T made for walking..by a 2 year old!
Tillie and Reg having fun before bedtime..Tillie's working hard at saying Grandma and Grandpa...

Giving Uncle DJ a kiss goodnight..and you know what?? David loves it! (He'll never admit it)

This next week doesn't have a whole lot to it either..I can't wait!

3445 miles later and.....

We arrived home Friday, Oct. 3rd around 9:30. We had such a WONDERFUL trip! Here are the latest highlights.

Here's Reg, the photo dude! On Tuesday Sept. 30th, we went from The Homestead in Utah to Boise, Idaho to visit my Mom's cousin. It was an easy drive so we stopped for many photo opportunites for Reg.

This is a Utah outhouse..yuck!!
The Utah scenery is awesome. We were northern, so it's not quite as neat as the southern areas, but it is sure nice..it's so different than what we are used to in the Northwest.
On Wednesday, Oct.1st, we went to this warbird museum in Nampa, Idaho

This is my Mom's cousin, Marion Harford. She has always been my aunt as far as I'm concerned. We hadn't seen each other for 22 years. I sure hope it's not that long again!!

Here is Aunt Marion, my second cousin, David and his wife Bev. Dave and I were trying to figure out how long it had been since we've seen each other..probably 35-40 years..whatever it was, he was a kid when I saw him last..so was I!

The Homestead

Today we went from Craig, Colorado to Midway, Utah.

Here is Reg, the Photo Dude! Since today was an easy day, we made lots of photo stops..the scenery went from dull to spectacular and back. As we were getting near to Midway, we came down a canyon with incredible fall colors.

We are staying at The Homestead Resort. My family stayed here in 1968. I was looking through the AAA Tour Book for Utah to see if it was listed. I had no idea if it was still in operation. It still is and it is fantastic. I don't remember a lot of specifics, except for the pool. I was only 10 when we were here. I remember it being a lot of fun. The pool HAD a diving board and also a ladder that you jumped from onto a trampoline and into the water..It's not there anymore..gotta love liability insurance!
It was about 80 degrees here! It's such a pleasant place to be!
This is a picture of the main building. I remember it being all white. I have some of our trip in 1968 on video, so I want to take a look again..

This is the patio outside of our room.

This is our room..it's small but very quaint..

Focus on the Family..Adventures in Odyssey...12,050 Foot Elevations..oh my

Ok..this update has a couple of days and since there are so many pictures, I'll give them to you in 2 links. We arrived in Colorado Springs Friday night..Sept. 26th..Saturday morning we started our day with a really good free breakfast at our hotel..then off to visit Focus on the Family. This is a ministry that is 32 years old..I think..it has grown from Dr. Dobson and 2 employees to a whole lot more..As a family when we traveled, we listened to "Adventures in Odyssey." It was a radio show that put different collections together on tape/cd..It was wonderful..At Focus on the Family, their whole downstairs area in the Welcome Center is dedicated to children and most of it is Odyssey stuff..It was really neat. Reg and I wandered around quite a bit, and then had lunch at Whit's End. We both got emotional..it was cool to be there..because this show has played an important role in our lives. Click here to see the pictures...

Today, Sunday Sept. 28th, we left Colorado Springs and headed north to Denver to have brunch with our niece, Meredith. She is going to school in Denver. Meredith suggested as we travel, to go to Boulder, which we did..we drove around a bit and toured the town. We decided to continue that path and head over the Rockies (which we would have gone over somewhere). We kept climbing and climbing and climbing...the highest point we reached before going back down was 12,050 feet above sea level..Let me back up a bit..We have been at higher elevations than we are used to..we live at sea level. So, both Reg and I have noticed the higher elevations..less breath..feeling like we're more out of shape than what we really are..well, at the 12000 level, let me tell you! WOW..out of breath, nauseous, light headed..you name it..but it was so beautiful..and so worth the trip. The fall colors are really beautiful...Here is a link to these pictures..

We are on the homeward stretch of our trip..Both Reg and I are ready to be back at sea level, that's for sure. We do have 2 more stops on our journey. One is to spend a couple of days in Boise with my Mom's cousin and then we'll have dinner with our dear friends, Glenn and Cindy..

So, until the next update...

More Rushmore..Wed. September 24, 2008

We spent several hours at Mt. Rushmore...it is spectacular..incredible..I could go on and on..

There are so many views that you see depending on where you stand. Here we're at the base of the monument.
Some views have more of a focus on Washington and others on Lincoln. Jefferson and Roosevelt are seen head on.

This is the Hallway of Flags. Each state is listed with the date they were admitted to the Union.
Reg and a steam locomotive. There is a train that runs between Keystone, which is where Mt. Rushmore is located and Hill City, 10 miles away..

Reg!!

Each night, during the summer season, there is a lighting ceremony. It starts with a ranger talk, then a video. Then they had us rise to sing the National Anthem and the lights went up on the monument..another awesome moment. Afterwards, all military personnel, past and present are invited up to the stage. The flag is lowered and folded. The ranger then went from person to person and had them place their hand on the flag, say their name and what branch of the military they had served..or were serving..it was a touching moment.

Today we are heading for Colorado Springs!

Roadtrip!!

Here is the hotel we stayed at in Billings, Mt...it was a Best Western..see the bears on the balconies..it was cute. We left there around 10AM and arrived at Keystone, SD around 5PM..

We drove up to the monument, but the park was closing..so we found this area that shows Washington's profile..Tomorrow starts the real fun!!!

George, up close and personal!!
We had dinner tonight at the Powder House Lodge. It was yummy..More later! Good night!!