BIG BIG BOAT!

Do you think the neighbors will notice it...or complain??? Yikes!
This is my brother in law, Fred's boat. He brought it over here last night. He is taking Chad and his girlfriend to Lake Powell this afternoon and needed a place to keep it in the mean time. Cole took this picture. He was standing in the neighbors yard and couldn't even back up far enough to get the truck that's pulling it in the shot. This thing is HUGE! He keeps inviting us to go out on it with him and I might ONE time, but I'm really not a sun and water kind of girl. I'm more like an air conditioned scraproom with a pepsi and a box of whoppers kind of girl. It is a nice boat AND it would make for some great pictures to scrap....hmmmm....will have to ponder that one a bit longer.

Days 15, 16, and 17

I'm so grateful that Rhonna has come back to finish the 21 day challenge. It seems like all I do lately is cry, so it will be nice to get re-focused with my goals. There's so much to do around here. I appreciate everyone support. I did find out that the nodule is 7mm and in the upper outer quadrant. They also found a 5mm one, but that turned out to be a limp node. I'm trying to do some research since this is all new to me. Heck! I'm only 38! This is not exactly what I thought I'd be doing at this age. It's important to me that I still be here to support Brittany with the baby and his problems. That's a lot for an 18 year old girl to handle. Hopefully I will be able to have the biopsy before the baby comes. I have a good friend making calls for me to find out more about the cost of the procedure. In my prayers I ask to have strength and that it not be cancer and that we will have enough work to be able to afford this whole thing. I know Heavenly Father will look after me and I will find the blessing in the battle.

mammogram update...

I went in early this morning for the follow up mammogram. I was very nervous and scared because of the pain and what it could be. I was talking to the woman who does the mammos about how surprised I was with how much pain they were and then she said she was sad to tell me that this one would be even more painful. SHE WAS RIGHT! It was so horrible! They took 4 different shots of my right breast. When she left the room to have the doctor look at the pictures I sat there in my gown crying. After about 10 minutes she came back and said they need to do an ultrasound as well because of what they were seeing. She gave me tissues and tried to comfort me while I waited for that procedure. Then another woman brought me back. She didn't talk to me at all through the whole ultrasound, which was a bit un-nerving. Then she said "you're done. We'll sent the results to your doctor in a day or two". So I got dressed and me and my very sore breast went to Sam's Club to get some groceries. By the time I got to the check out line my cell phone rang and it was doctor's office saying that they were called my the mammo place and that they are recommending that I get a biopsy. So there I was...all alone, putting my groceries up on the conveyer belt with tears uncontrollably streaming down my face. I managed to check out, load up my car and get home. My boys took care of the groceries for me so I could try to make some phone calls. Right now I'm waiting for a call from my doctor's office. Oh wait! The phone is ringing...doctor calling now...okay, it looks like I have to have an incisional biopsy done. I have a consultation appointment with a surgeon on July 10th. We have NO insurance. I've paid $178 so far and that appointment will cost me $185. The biopsy will have to be done in a hospital and I have no idea how much that will cost, but it can't be cheap. How on earth am I going to be able to afford all this? I'm so tired! I got less than 5 hours sleep and I've cried the better part of the day away. I'm too upset to eat. I think I'm going to go take a nap. I'm completely exhausted!

Days 11, 12, 13, and 14

I'm getting worried about Rhonna. She hasn't been around in days. I understand the weekend, but nothing from her today either makes me really worry. Hopefully all is well with her and her family. Just wanted you all to know that I haven't given up on this challenge. Getting ready to go do my nightly rountine right now. Dishes, exercise, shower, bed. I have to get up early so I can be to my follow up mammogram appointment by 7:15. Praying that all goes well.

birthday card

I made some simple cards today with the scraps from my name thingie. I used chatterbox chateau pattern paper, bazzill cardstock, chipboard and chipboard topper, and making memories ribbon charm. I can't remember who the sheer ribbon is made by, but it's pretty!

mammogram results

I got a call from the doctor's office and they found a small cluster of "something" in my right breast. They don't know what it is at this point, but I have to go in for further looking. I have to call Monday morning to schedule an appointment. I was already having an emotional bad couple of days, now I have this to worry about. I will let you all know the results of the next exam.

my name

Rhonna still hasn't posted a challenge quote today, so I decided to work on this project. I bought the letters a few weeks ago and decided to cover them with the amazingly beautiful Chatterbox Chateau line. I do really love all the rooms (and have them all) These colors look nice in my scraproom. I think I'm going to work on some birthday cards after I get a bite to eat for dinner.

Da y 10

Well...I've made it to the double digit days now. Rhonna wasn't kidding about it getting hard. I've found that I let things distract me from my goals, like not feeling well, busy with lots to do with kids home for the summer, deep sadness from missing my sister so much, you name it I want to us it as an excuse. I have to try harder than ever to keep up with my goals....and that's exactly what I'm going to do!
For those of you who are not doing the challenge, I want you to go check out Rhonna's blog. She is doing a fundraiser of sorts to help her dear friend named Laura. You can read more about it there. She needs our help and is much deserving.

Day 9

Last night I did get my kitchen clean and shined my sink, but I didn't get to exercise, because I was babysitting my niece and nephew until real late. I will exercise this morning and tonight to make up for it. Gotta feel the burn. :o)

What's great about today's quote is that depending on what side of the choice you're on will depend on your own personal happiness. If you choose to dwell on the trials placed before you, it can only bring you sadness and depression. If you focus on the blessings it can only bring you peace and happiness. The Lord gave us ALL trials to test how well WE handle them. How are YOU choosing to handle them? It's all up to YOU! I for one, plan to pass this test. :o)

Day 8 and fathers

Day 8 is here! Still glad I joined this challenge. I love how it makes me feel so accomplished, I love that my family can see a difference without me saying anything, I love all of Rhonna's inspirational quotes, and I love everyone's heartfelt, funny, supportive, very sweet comments. My heart is full of appreciation!
Fathers day was yesterday and we had my whole side of the family over for dinner, except for Julie and Justin's family. Still so sad that they moved to Tennessee. I missed them so much...especially on holidays. (HUGS GUYS!) Anyways, it was a yummy dinner and fun conversation with the people I love. I want my sweet dad and my dear husband Mark to know how much I love and appreciate them and their roles as fathers. My dad helped my mom raise 5 ornery daughters and he still has all his marbles. Mark is still helping me with raising 5 ornery sons. (now a daughter in law too and soon a new grandson to boot) His hair his graying fast, but marbles are still intact as well, but we're not done so the verdict is still out on that one. They are both wonderful men who do this hard job called fatherhood with a smile on their face and love in their hearts!

Day 7

WOW! It's already been a week! That is so amazing. I can't help think about what it would have been like if I hadn't joined this challenge. My dirty dishes would be in the sink every morning waiting for me and I would'nt be back on a regular exercise routine, and I'd be feeling just terrible about all of it. Such great things are coming from this....I feel happy and that my friends is priceless!

Day 6

Day 6...still going good. Rhonna says the first week is easy, then it starts to get tough. I'm going to try so hard to keep it up for the full 21 day...then hopfully it's a new formed habit and I can keep it up permantly. I've really enjoyed the challened so far.

Here you go Chris...kitchen with stuff on the counters. Now it looks like people live here instead of a vacant home. STILL haven't put everything back in the cabinets. Gotta get that done today since we are having fathers day dinner here and both tables are covered with tupperware, pots and pans, glassware, etc...such a mess!

I had to laugh this morning when Pumpkin discovered the mirror in my bathroom. She was growling, barking, pouncing, at her reflection. Everytime she goes missing I go up there and sure enough she's playing with herself again. She also runs in there and grabs the rug, shakes it around and runs off with it. It's so funny! She's such a pill!

Counter tops in!

The counters are in and I'm about to start lining the shelves with paper and putting everything back in the cupboards and stuff back on the countertops. Mark doesn't want anything on them, but I have far too much I use on a daily basis that has to be out, so I win. Plus it will make it look more lived in and homey. After all, LOTS of people do live here! ;o) We opted to not get granite because of cost, grout lines and yearly sealing. I'm so not missing the 20 year old stained, chipped, cut up formica. The company that did ours is called Rembrandt Countertops.They did a wonderful job and we are very happy with them. So loving the new faucet and soap pump too...just real pretty, I think. :o)

Day 5

Since my kitchen is still not put together we ordered pizza, so that means no dirty dishes for me. I did however get a workout in. YAY ME! Along with the pizza came heartburn so I've been awake since 4:30a.m. That makes me feel so old. I'm only 38 years old, yet I get heartburn, had a mammogram, going to be a grandma soon, and have daily pain. My hopes are that my new exercise routine will help me feel younger than I do. I LOVE the quote today. I'm excited to do this. Thank you Rhonna for giving be the desire to better my life and boost my self esteem.

Day 4 plus a bunch of stuff

Here we are on day 4...I was up till past midnight, but i did it all...even coming off of a monster migraine. I'm so dang excited to be challenged and to be holding myself accountable for doing what I said I'd do. Feeling great about the whole thing!
Busy day today...took Brittany to her ultrasound. Everything is looking good. There is no damage yet to the baby's intestines. He is such a cute little boy!
Then I went in for my first mammogram. Oh my heck! It was just terrible! I was under the wrong idea about just how they are done. I thought they just give your breasts a good squishing, but noooo! They smash them REAL HARD between 2 ice cold square hard things I like to call the boob vise grips. I almost cried it hurt so bad. The tech girl is like "don't breathe"...well hello! I couldn't breathe! I understand it gathers important information, but boy was it a horrible experience!
The best thing today was that the new counters were installed. Still don't have the faucet in or running water. It looks so pretty that I will actually WANT to do the dreaded dished! YAY! Counter top pictures to come!
Puppy news...Pumpkin can climb the baby gate and throw her body right over, so that she is free to chew up everything in sight and piddle where she shouldn't! Cutest little thing, but lots and lots of work!

Are'nt they so cute?!

Okay...I got Cinnamon and Pappi (Paprika) after they were a little bit bigger and over the whole "puppy" stage. Oh my gosh is it ever hard! Pumpkin chews on EVERYTHING insight...including the other dogs. Pappi will play with her a little bit but Cinnamon is too darn old and has no patience for all her puppy energy. Right now they are all taking a little nap. (thank heavens)
I've got to go clean out all my lower kitchen cabinets...new counters being installed in the morning....then it's on to puppy proofing the house.

Day 3

I am feeling a bit defeated today since I got a screaming migraine yesterday afternoon. I laid in bed in so much pain and all I could think about was I need to get up and do the dishes and exercise, but the pain over took any ability I had. Today is a bit better so I am hopeful to get back on track.
My journal pages are beyond simple, because in my crazy busy full house, that's all I have time to do each day. On day 21 I'll have to create something beautiful! :o)

Meet Pumpkin Pie

Mark brought home this little bundle of joy from our friend Cal who breeds golden retrievers. She was born April 4th 2006 and is the newest member of the George household. Brittany put a little bit of water in the baby pool and she had a good time cooling off in there. She is use to being an outside dog, but we allow our dogs in the house (Hello! Arizona) so it's going to take some training to get her to use the doggy door and to know where she is suppose to do her business. Everone loves her...even Cinnamon and Pappi. Correction...The kitty does not love her...which by the way the kittly is pregnant, so we will have a litter of kittens sometime soon here too. So my over crowded house has gotten a bit more crowded.

Day 2

Oh my gosh does it ever feel good to walk downstairs in the morning and not see a pile of dirty dishes waiting for me. Plus, it feels great to have sore muscles from exercising last night. (I can't believe I just said that) So loving this challenge!...Big thanks to Rhonna for the motivation!

Living room done!

The living room is finally done! YAY! The nasty old (87) peach carpet is gone and replaced my beautiful soft new carpet and the very rustic looking fabric couches are here. It has a repeating pattern of moose, leaves, bears, canoes, and fish. The moose look a teeny bit creepy, but I love the rest. You know how you go look at furniture in a warehouse and it looks like normal sized furniture....well we get this home and Mark and Brek had a real hard time just getting it through the front door. Plus cleary our living room is way too small for the huge stuff, but hey...it's cozy and I love it! :o)

Day 1-challenge

Today is day one of round 4 of Rhonna Farrer's 21 day challenge, but this is my first time joining in. Tember did it in round 2 and 3. She got so much out of it that I though I need some personal growth myself. I bit the bullet and decided on two things that I need to work on. #1 is doing my dishes every single night and #2 is exercising every single night after that. I loathe dishes, but I also loathe being embarrassed when people come over and my kitchen is a disaster. As for the exercise, I use to do this every night and I lost almost 30 pounds doing so. Then I stopped doing this and you guess it. I put the weight right back on! I know!...what was I thinking??? UGGG! So here I am back at square one and starting over. Since I'm going to be Grammy George in September, I really want to be in better shape...and so it begins!
If any of you are interested in joining me in working on your own goal, just get yourself a little journal to track your progress and check out Rhonna's blog for her daily motivation. Her link is in my sidebar.

Master bathroom

Here is my almost finished bathroom. I was going to wait until it was actually done, but who the heck knows when that will be. I still need to get a ladder and finish painting above the cabinet in the corner. I also need to oil down all the wood in here. It gets so dried out. Plus I need to replace the faucets. I bought new ones close to 2 years ago, but there they sit all lonely in the closet. Chad relaced the other bathrooms, but never did mine. Maybe I can bribe him with gas money for his car. :o) So does it look relaxing and spa like? Mark didn't like the blue at first, but I think it's starting to grow on him.

I'm off to eat breakfast and work on my primary lesson for church today. It's on I am thankful for smell and taste. You know what that means??? Yep! We get to eat and smell a bunch of stuff! LOL!

baby shower invitation

Coverinside topinside bottom

I finally finished designing Brittany's baby shower invitation. It wont be till August, but I wanted to get a head start on them. My scrapbook store had their club party tonight, so I got all the supplies I needed to make them at 20% off. So love that!!! I know this is not the typical pink or blue shower invitation, but I was going for something creative and different from the norm and I really like what I came up with. I plan to carry the "movie" theme through to the shower too. So what do you think? Am I weird or is it a cute idea?

Arizona dust storm

This is what blew through Arizona today....nice huh?! I've been stripping wallpaper and painting all day and this afternoon I could hear the wind kick up and the bathroom got darker so I go and look out the bedroom window and there was this thick brown ick outside. Now my pool is gross and everything is filthy. Oh the joys of living in the Arizona desert. Here is a link if you want to watch a video of it.

My Bedroom

Here is my newly updated bedroom. I love it! love it! love it! The furniture has a rustic look to it, yet it has a smooth finish. That was important to me since I have to dust it so much. In the warehouse this stuff didn't look so big, but when we got it home it was like holy smokes...IT'S HUGE! It made our room shrink down quite a bit, but that's okay. I'm still happy. I didn't take a picture of Marks office corner since it's still a mess. It's right next to the mini fridge by the window. I know what you're probably thinking..."she has pink walls" but I don't...honest! They just showed up like that in the pictures. It's really a color called Grand Teton that looks a lot like the red rock mountains in Sedona Arizona and closer to the color of this font, but not so orange. It's a Ralph Lauren paint that has sand in it for a different texture. (we did that along time ago, as well as the beadboard) The bedding feels so nice! It's a micro fiber set that I got at Mervyns on sale. I love getting things on sale! I know this is mean to say, but I'm glad the bed is taller now so the dogs can't jump on it anymore. I love my dogs, but that's one less place for hair to accumulate.
I have yet to start on the bathroom, but that is a goal this week. I just hate stripping wall paper. It's easy, yet very messy...wish me luck!

Graduation party

Here are a few pictures from the graduation party last night. It was 111 degrees outside! So freaking hot! We fed a total of 50 people. I had enough food to feed way more than that. I know what we're eating for dinner tonight. :o) Brittany and I cooked and prepared food all day yesterday as well as cleaned house. Keeping all the salads and condiments in the baby pool filled with ice kept it all cold so nobody would get sick. The gianormous grill I made Mark get for me for mothers day. I love that thing, and since we cook big all the time it's nice to have. I want to thank all my family, Marks family, Brittany's family, Chad's friends, our good friends the Stokums and the Walkers for coming to help us celebrate this milestone in Chad and Brittany's life. It was a very fun evening! Today is my day to rest...and that is exactly what I plan to do!

The Graduates!

Here they are...the graduates! Chad and Brittany George! I'm so proud of them for working so hard to get through school. They both did real well with grades too. Don't they look so cute and happy?! The ceremony was very nice. We could have done without some of the rude guests there, but over all a very nice evening. Afterwards we all went out to eat with Brittany's parents to celebrate. We sure like them...just good people!
Tomorrow is the crazy day of cleaning, buying groceries, cooking and entertaining who knows how many guests at the pool party/barbeque. I will take pictures and share later.