What's New with me

With the holiday season coming upon us I have been busy on the visual team with Pottery Barn in the Woodlands.

With my creative genes working I have been working on my traditional scrap-booking and card making using Karen Burniston's diecuts.

Outside of Flip-up Flower

Inside of Flip-up Flower with flower close

Inside of Flip-up Flower with flower open

Outside of Floating Frames

Inside of Floating Frames

Outside of Friendship

Inside of Friendship (zig-zag insert)

Outside of Chandelier "Phantom of the Opera"

Inside of the Phantom of the Opera

 Also hosted a baby shower at my house. Here are some of the items I made for the shower using the Cricut.

Borrowed some of the ideas from Pinterest.com

Cupcakes made by Cakes by Jules, Thankful Tree in the background also an idea from Pinterest.com

Food Spread created by the hostesses.

Missing Tominac Fitness Center

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

-Vince Lombardi

I have to say Vince Lombardi said it best.  I have managed to get out of my exercise route and it is hard going back.  I got on the scale today and about died from a heart attack.  I did not weigh this much when I was pregnant with either one of my boys. (okay I know that was almost 22 years ago).

Before I left Savannah I was in the habit of going to Tominac Fitness Center (gym on Hunter Army Airfield) I had a great trainer plus it was free. :)  After my workout I would then go walk the Savannah Squares with my daughter in-law and grandson.  It really does not feel like you are exercising when you walk in Savannah.  There is so much to see it takes your mind off of the fact that you are working out.  I would always lose track of time and think I was only walking for maybe a hour and the next thing I knew it had been walking for four or five hours.  When I worked downtown it was even better because I always took the stairs in the office building and parking garage. 


I now I live back in Texas not close to a military post so no more free gym for me.  Now my husband keeps reminding me of the lovely gym we have in our subdivision that is included in the HOA fees.  It is nice but I still do not have the free trainer.  Then there is the Biggest Loser game I just purchased last Friday for the XBox 360 Kinect. It is so much easier to come up with excuses not to exercise but reality is I only have 43 days to lose 30lbs. I have to get to my ideal weight before JK's graduation from The Citadel.  Wish me luck... :)

Houston Rodeo Time

It has been a long time since Mike and I have been to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The last time we went the Rodeo was still in the Astrodome and George Strait rode in on his horse. It was kind of sad seeing the Dome looking so empty and in bad shape. Does anyone remember when you had to get up early to be the first one in line to purchase tickets(because you wanted the best seats)? Now you just go online or pull up an app to purchase them.




My Christmas present this year was Chute Seat tickets for the night Sugarland was performing. If you are going to go to the Rodeo that is the way to go. I was two rows up from the actual chute. You can watch the real cowboys in their Wrangler jeans (don't tell Mike I said that) prepare to ride. It brought back memories of when I use to watch my Dad during his Rodeo Clown days.(too young to have seen him bull ride) I am not one of those people who just goes for the music entertainer that is performing that night . I like all the events from the Horse Cutting to the calf scramble. My favorite event is of course the Bull Riding Event. Although it was nice sitting on the dirt with our folding chairs watching Sugarland. (note the guitar pick in the picture above) Kristian Bush threw it out towards some young girls. They missed it and I got it LOL


This year was also special because we were able to take our youngest grandson Tre. ( would have been even better if Aaron was here too). I had so much fun going to Cavender's with Tre getting him ready for the Rodeo ( thought Mike was going to kill me once he saw the bill) Tre was so excited about his John Deer Boots and George Strait hat and of course his Big Texas belt buckle. The first time he walked with his boots on, you would have thought he just got off his horse from a long Texas trail ride. We tried to get a picture of him on the Longhorn but he would have no part of that. ( maybe we can pull that off this summer at my Dad's) He loved looking at all the animals. His favorite was the chickens, gee I wonder why I guess because he is use to them from visiting my Dad who has Tyson chickens.

I will end this post with cowboy Tre singing.

Cancer $@(&$

I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

First I would I like to apologize for my bad word. I could not find another word to describe it.

A couple of days ago we learned that our 7 year old lab Gretchen has Lymphoma.

The "typical" canine lymphoma patient is a middle-aged dog brought to the veterinarian because one or more lumps have been found. The veterinarian rapidly determines that all of the peripheral lymph nodes (those near the skin surface) are enlarged and firm. Usually the dog has not been showing any signs of illness. The next step is a blood panel and urinalysis to more completely assess the patient's health and one or more lymph nodes are aspirated or biopsied to confirm the diagnosis of lymphoma.

It is believed we caught it early and with treatment she will live another 1 to 2 years. Without treatment she would only live maybe another 4 to 6 weeks. My question is why do you even think about if we are going to have your beloved animal go through treatments or not. Yes I know the treatments will cost us up to $5,000.00. My youngest son is in his last year at the Citadel and my oldest son just left to go over seas. The thought of them not being able to say goodbye to one of their best friends just breaks my heart. Gretchen is also so good with my grandsons and loves running with her Daddy. Tre loves feeding, playing fetch, and hugging her. How do you tell a 2 year old?

When my Mother was diagnosed with IBC stage 4 back in 2006 I did not even give her a chance to say she did not want treatment. I pick up my cell phone and got her the best doctors in Savannah. My Mom was 76 years old she had lived a full life. She had great accomplishments in her life she was one of the first Medical Navy Waves(what they called females during Korean War), first female pharmaceutical rep (she worked for Smith Kline and French) and these are just the ones I know about but I was not ready to let my Mom go. Now remember she was at stage four and chemo treatments for humans is not pleasant by any means. She did not have her get up and go like she use to and she was always nauseated after treatments. Thank goodness we had great insurance because her treatments were very expensive over $10,000.00 a treatment. With this being said the treatments only gave me one more year with Mom. Yes a year that I am grateful for but was I wrong in having her go through that. Then when the cancer moved to the rest of her organs and she was moved to Hospice. It was so sad watching someone who was so intelligent go to not making any sense in what she was saying. But yet you could see it in her eyes that she knew she was not making sense and could no longer communicate. So now comes to my second question why do we let our love ones live in such pain? When our animals get to where they cannot function we give them meds and let them go to sleep and out of pain. Why don't we do that for those that have done so much for us? I really hate these questions and having to come up with answers. I know I am not suppose to question GOD but sometimes I just wonder how strong he really thinks I am. Mom waited until I was in church the response was "I have asked and you have answered me" I knew she had gone to Heaven that very moment.

After much thought and research we have decided to have Gretchen go through treatments. Everything we have read stated she will be the same. She will be able to run with Mike and play fetch with Tre. Still give me a hard time about wanting to be on the furniture. She had her first treatment today.

To decide is to walk facing forward with nary a crick in your neck from looking back at the crossroads. ~Betsy Cañas Garmon

Once Asked

Several weeks ago I asked how I felt about my son maybe working for HPD or becoming a cop else where. Without hesitation I said "I am ok with it, it cannot be any different from being a military wife, mother and mother in-law." My thought process is that they love this country and what a great honor it is to protect what we believe in. Now I would be lying if I said I do not worry about them. In regards to my son and daughter in-law that our serving our country. I know they are with highly trained soldiers.
This morning I must admit I thought about the question again. The words "Special Report: HPD Officer Shot" first I prayed for our friends who are HPD Officers. (update the Officer is doing fine and is asking if he can go back to work now. He was shot in the arm and hip) The news was showing the ambulance going to Memorial Hermann. The freeways were still a little crowded with people heading downtown to work. As I watched news footage I wondered 1) why didn't they call LifeFlight? 2) why aren't these people moving out of the way? My husband who is now a Lifeflight pilot said think about it this way that if the Officer was in really bad condition they would have been called. So look at it that he is going to be ok. Still watching the news they showed the hospital and it was surrounded with HPD (on motorcycles, on foot, in car and on horse) This reminded me of our military family and we surround each other in good times and and bad times. I feel better now and I will be very proud to wear the name tag saying "Proud Mom of a Soldier and Police Officer"