As August Approaches ...

RETIREMENT - Today I am one month shy of being retired for one full year.  The year has passed so quickly.  It seems I turned around twice and here I am.  It has been a wonderful year.  I loved working but I do not miss the high stress, unhappiness in the agency, countless hours of feeling sad because some of the issues I dealt with were out of my hands.

A New Year ... 2015 ... Do NOT Look Back

Time has gotten away from me since I decided in October 2014 that I was going to start blogging more.  Where  has the time gone?   Seems we looked up and it was Christmas and now we are on the 4th day of January 2015.  There are three things we will never get back.  1) Words after they are spoken; 2) Opportunity after it is missed; and 3) Time after it is gone.  Are you a time waster?  Do you look up from your iPhone and realize the day is gone and you haven't gotten anything accomplished?  And now that time is gone, never to be seen again.  You promise yourself that tomorrow you will be better.  Tomorrow comes and nothing changes.  I have to admit, this has been me on many occasions.

Time Management and A Trip Down Breast Cancer Memory Lane

Time management has become a terrific sore spot in my life.  I do not know what the issue is or if I even have an issue.  I do not have time to make a To Do List <smile>.   All I know is I cannot seem to get things done like I did in the past.  Things that I know needs to be done, things that I really want to do ... have a garage sale, clean out the garage,  get the 1 1/2 wooden pallets out of my garage and to the back of the shed where I plan to use them.  Oh and laundry, I seem to have trouble just getting the laundry finished on the weekends.  Grocery shopping ... who needs groceries if you have a carton of eggs and a loaf of gluten free bread.  NO NO NO ... it's not supposed to be this way.  I am the QUEEN of organization.  I am the person who has to buy her groceries every Saturday morning, I am the person who starts her laundry on Friday afternoon when I get home from work to get a jump start on it, I am the person whose yard has always been picture perfect. I've always been that person with great organization skills and good time management.  I am now into letting grocery shopping go and if I eat a good lunch, who needs a good dinner ... just fix myself a bowl of grits, add some cheese, butter, salt and pepper and call it good.  I am now leaving laundry not only in the dryer but in the washer all weekend after I get it started Friday afternoon.  I am now looking at my yard and saying ... OH I'll do that NEXT weekend.  I do not think that life is supposed to be this way ... the way I am talking about is letting our TO DO list take over our life and when we do not get those things marked off we beat ourselves up.  I often think maybe it's my age ... but wait, I told myself I would never let sitting and watching The Pioneer Woman control my life on Saturday mornings ... no, there's way too much to do.  Well it happens and by the time she goes off, I've gained five pounds and I'm out of the mood to clean out the garage.  <laughing> Yes, I'm laughing at myself as I type.  Time management plus getting things done has always equaled MY NAME.  I'm here to tell you ... not anymore.

Saturday was my THREE year cancer free anniversary.  Praise God Praise God Praise God ... I am where I am today because of Him.  That is one anniversary which a cancer survivor will never forget.  I hope when someone tells you how many years of survival they have had, you will be as happy as they are.  Unless you have walked the cancer road (and my prayer is that you haven't), you cannot begin to know how much these anniversaries mean.  God is good ALL the time.  Today I want to take you on a little picture tour of my journey ... beginning with family pictures we had taken in September 2011 after I found out I had bilateral breast cancer.

 

 Holding back the tears that day as I held these two precious grandbabies.  

 

My hope stone given to me by the nurse navigator at Joan Katz Breast Center.  Sheree was the first person I talked to after my diagnosis.  She answered all my questions, held my hand as I cried, calmed my fears and slipped this stone in my hand on our parting hug.




After surgery (not pretty)


Up and about

  First real clothes after surgery




Four drains/four measuring cups.  One of the bulbs at the bottom of each drain that pulls fluid out of surgery site.

Dr. Alan Johns ... breast cancer survivor.  Tells a mans version of breast cancer.











Above:  Hooked up for the first time to chemo

One section of the Chemo Room
Short and spikey preparing for bald.  

 Reddish wig.

BALD is beautiful.

 I have probably exceeded my picture quota on my blog for the day so I'll stop.  CANCER stinks.  BUT I am a walking testimony with God by your side, you can even smile through the baldness.  I tear up just looking at these pictures and remembering how God walked beside me all the way and on those days I could find the energy to walk, He carried me.  Thank you Father for loving me enough to hold me no matter what.

Philippians 4:19  My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.

Blessings !!!

genam44@charter.net

I Love Holiday Mondays

Today is a glorious cool holiday for me and I'm so thankful.  After waking with a major migraine on Saturday and literally not doing anything all day which meant getting nothing accomplished, it's good to have an extra day.  While having an extra day off makes me think more and more about retiring in December 2015.  I have some financial goals that I am working on to make this happen.  When thinking about retirement, it really is a flip flop decision for me.  I have worked since I was 16 years old so working is pretty much all I know.  I am praying for God's guidance in this big decision.

One thing I do know for sure is that God loves me and guides me in all my decisions.  When I try to make decisions on my own, things just do not seem to always work out the best.  Psalms 31:3 For you are my rock and fortress; For Your names sake You will lead me and guide me.  Isn't that an amazing scripture knowing that God is in control?

I got up at 5:00ish this morning and got going.  I mentioned Young Living Essential Oils (YLEO)  in my last post so I wanted to show you what I made this morning.  --- Little cosmetic background about me.  I began selling and then using Mary Kay products over 12 years ago.  I stopped selling because it was such a hassle and began ordering with family and friends just to get the discount.  I decided over a year ago to let my Mary Kay discount go and would use Merle Norman products.  That didn't really fit in my budget at ALL.  So I decided that was not what I wanted so I joined up again with Mary Kay for $35. to get the discount.  And then decided I didn't want to order that stuff when I could make my own using YLEO.  I made my first batch of face cream about 6 weeks ago and loved it.  So this morning, I have made another jar of face cream and used the jar from Merle Norman (that cost $54.) to put it in.  The ingredients ... Organic Coconut Oil and YLEO Frankincense.   It's awesome I tell ya!  While using the face moisturizer I made, I was using up the last of my MK face scrub knowing that I could make my own with YLEO.


So next came the face scrub.  I've been searching Pinterest for just the right recipe for face scrub using YLEO.  After reading the recipes, I made a batch and let me tell you that it is literally AMAZING. The ingredients ... Organic Coconut Oil, 12 drops of YLEO Frankincense, 3 drops of YLEO Peppermint for aroma and about 1/2 tablespoon of white sugar for the exfoliate.  I used some of this on the back of my hands to test ... and as I said it is AMAZING.

After the face scrub, it was time for YLEO Thieves Foaming Hand Soap.  Has anyone read anything about YLEO Thieves Oil?  There is an awesome story how YL Thieves oil came about. My recipe for foaming hand soap, I used 3 tablespoons of Dr. Bronners Castille Soap, 3 drops of Vitamin Oil and 7 drops of YLEO Thieves oil and topped off the container with filtered water from the fridge.  I used a Dial Foaming Hand soap decanter - after I poured all the Dial out - shook and waa-laa you have the best foaming hand soap ever.   I have this soap at all of my sinks in my house.  My grandbabies all know that it has Thieves in it and they love using it.

After a trip to my local Sprout's for Aloe Vera Gel and distilled water, I will be making Thieves Hand Sanitizer and Thieves Spray to keep in my purse for use on grocery carts, public toilets, etc.  After that I plan to make Thieves Sore Throat Spray for my girls and their families.  I am blessed as I do not get sore throats often but I want to help my family.  [Side story]   I found out when I was pregnant with my first daughter that I didn't have tonsils.  Ladies you know when they are taking your history about previous surgeries and ask the question ... when you had a specific specified surgery? Well I was ask at that time when did I have my tonsils out?  I didn't have them out ... so it was determined I was born without them.  [My family would probably tell you that I burned them out with all the spicey foods that I eat and love. <smile>]

YLEO also has Thieves cleaner that you can buy.  It is so concentrated that I think you use 1 to 20 (or something like that) portions.  YES, there is a spray bottle of Thieves cleaner in the kitchen and both bathrooms.

The information I've shared on my blog today is a mere tip of the iceberg so to speak with Young Living 100% guaranteed pure Essential Oils.  You can cook with YLEO too.  Let me know when you are ready to hear more and we can get together one on one or you can gather family and friends and we can have a class.  I teach great classes with lots of humor and experiences with YLEO.  My classes are not boring I promise.

During the night we experienced some storms [I may or may not have heard the thunder but my little pooch, Tootie did.]  So we got up this morning to a clean, cool and refreshing morning.  Leviticus 26:4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield her fruit.  [Side note from me ... notice the use of the word 'her' ... God realizes how hard we 'hers' work.] <smile>

Prayer request:  I believe we ALL need to be praying for the folks experiencing dreadful health issues, especially those who are infected with or going through the possibility of being infected with ebola.  You may think it's all hype about this but the state in which our nation's health care is in is scarey.  All the more reason I use YLEO.

Blessings for a great week.

genam44@charter.net

Nice Cool October Day

God sent a wonderful cool front rolling across Texas last night bringing a good rain.  During the night, I heard one big clap of thunder and turned over and went back to sleep knowing the rain had arrived and the glory of cool fall days.  This is my favorite time of year.  Watching the leaves changing to gold and red while some take their sweet time to lose the green.  This is God's gorgeous paint pallette and He allows us to see the preview of His painting all the way through to His finished product.  The beauty of it all ... what an amazing artist He is.  This picture combines two of  my favorite sites ... a wooden bridge and changing leaves.  Beauty!

Life continues to be busy busy busy. I do believe there are times that God says you really need to slow down.  At those times, I have to agree with him.  My health seems to suffer during those times, primarily with the horrible migraines that I get when my week has been rush rush rush.  AND these blooming headaches always happen on either my day off or Saturday morning.  Life comes to a complete stop for me until the headache subsides, then all is right with my world again.  I have been reading a book by Lysa Terkuerst titled "The Best Yes".  I know this book was written for me.  I tend to say 'yes' to so many things and end up over booking myself.  I was able to put in practice what I have learned from this book this past week.  It is not that I didn't want to accept the invitation but it literally was not going to work with my schedule.

It's been a lazy relaxing Saturday watching the cooking shows and enjoying the cool air coming in the window.  I walked across the street earlier to chat with my sister and it was actually more than cool outside, it was cold (YES, I just said it was cold...that doesn't happen very often in my world. <smile>)

In October 2013 I began using Young Living Essential Oils and they have proved to be the best investment in my health and such a blessing.  I have never been one to like or want to use any type of presciption or OTC meds and most often have had side effects.  I started my oily journey with the Premium Starter Kit which includes 11 of the most commonly used oils, a diffuser which is awesome in getting the oils dispersed in the air, samples of the oils and brochures and helpful information.  Both of my girls are using the oils as well and I am happy to report that my precious grandbabies have not been to the doctor for anything other than a check up since before October 2013.  If we do not take control of our health, who will?  At this point, the state of health care in America is scarey.  If you want to know more about Young Living Essential Oils which are 100% pure (no additives what so ever), let me know.  I have a $20 coupon off the Premium Starter Kit if you are interested in beginning your oily journey.

Psalm 13:6  I will sing to the Lord; for He has been good to me.
Blessings!


gkmorrison12@gmail.com

A New Look

I've spent most of my evening working on the background of my blog and changing the look up things up.  I'm not sure that I'm 100% on board with it and I would love to know what you think. Leave a comment or email me at the address below.

October 1 is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   I got good news today from my 4 month check up so I'm praising the Lord.  I will continue on a 4 month check up for now and I am perfectly OK with that.

I've got lots of exciting things to share but those will have to wait for future posts.  I'm tired and ready to get in a more comfortable chair tonight.

Blessings!

*** Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.***  Hebrews 13:8


gkmorrison12@gmail.com

When The Game Is Over ... All The Pieces Go Back Into the Box

If you are in Texas, you know what I am getting ready to say ... THE HEAT IS ON.  While some might thin it is not too bad, I personally think it is hot.  It is like walking outside into an oven when you leave an air conditioned place.  Personally I immediately begin sweating ... yes, sweating not glistening when I step out.  Certainly not fussing because I thank God everyday that He has allowed me to be here and do the things He has laid before me.  And to think I used to be a sun worshiper.

The Long Way Home

The days run by like a train on a fast track.  It always
seems there's so much to be done and never enough time to do it all.  Why
is it that we feel such pressure all the time to get here, get there, get this
or that done.

Catch Up Post ....

It's been four months since I sat down here at my computer to write and share and I realized I missed writing when I revisited my blog.  Four months seems like a long while but in essence it's really a mere blink of an eye.  It seems the hours, days, weeks, and months go by so quickly that before we know it another year is come and gone.  Do you ever stop and think about a memories you made?

It is so important for me to make memories,

Stay Tuned ...

I am returning to my blog.  I realized just how much I miss writing so I am coming home to a true love of mine.  Stay tuned.... don't leave me now.  Much writing forthcoming and probably a NEW look for the blog.

Blessings!

genam44@charter.net