Mary's Double

While waiting for Mom to have her tests last week, we met Mary's double! How ironic to meet someone who looked like Mary so much that her own sisters kept staring at this woman and her own mother thought she was seeing a ghost and to meet this person in the breast cancer center waiting room. Her name is Michelle and she is from IL. Her sister is going through cancer treatments.

She is about Mary's age, built like Mary, same haircut, similar features, same facial expressions and similar mannerisms. It was eerie!!!!

Mom Has Cancer

I've posted on my other blog, www.xanga.com/booby_sister about my mom. She has cancer - breast cancer - and it's in the lymph system. We spent the day at MD Anderson last week where she had an exam, mammogram, and ultrasound with fine needle biopsy. Because the lymph node was positive, they want to look for metastatic lesions by doing a chest x-ray, liver scan and bone scan. This will be done 2/10. Then she will see the oncologist and start chemo before any surgery.

Also, as part of this and because of Mary's cancer, we will all go through genetic counseling. Kathy has been diagnosed with atypical ductal hyperplasia so she is already at risk of developing breast cancer. I may be as well and that's what the genetic counseling will tell us. And if need be, we will get David to have Audrey tested as well.

I'm scared and I'm angry!!!! Why is our family having to go through this one more time? Haven't we been through enough???? I know that God doesn't plan for our suffering, and that He is with us, but it feels like we have been thrown overboard without a life preserver. I'm treading water and wondering if I'm going under or not!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Sharon, shazzt, at DSP, so I'm responding and passing on.

4 Jobs I've held:
Chemist
File clerk
Pizza cook
Grill cook at DQ

4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over:
Guarding Tess
Pretty Woman
Dirty Dancing
Kindergarten Cop

Four Places You Have Lived:
Pearland, TX
Seabrook, TX
Naperville, IL
College Station, TX

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:
Law & Order - the original one
7th Heaven
Trading Spaces
Without a Trace

Four Places You've Been On Vacation
Norway
Belgium
Hawaii
Georgia

Four websites you visit daily:
www.digitalscrapbookplace.com
www.weightwatchers.com
www.websudoku.com
www.google.com

Four of your favorite foods:
Mexican food - anything there
Chocolate - preferably dark
Ice Cream
McDonald's french fries fresh from the fryer

Four places you would rather be right now:
Atlanta - with Audrey
Colorado - skiing, wait I can't ski right now - ok looking at the scenery
With my sister, where ever she is
Hawaii

Four bloggers you are tagging:
Stacey Jewell - http://staceyjewelstahl.blogspot.com
Stacery42 - http://readwhat42.blogspot.com
MommyMeg - http://spaces.msn.com/members/armybeverlys/
hmmm... I'll have to think of one more.

I did this layout for a challenge on www.digitalscrapbookplace.com called Look Back at 2005.

The Houston Half Marathon was my second half marathon ever. I had done the Virginia Beach RockNRoll Half the previous September. Anyway, I was really pleased at how this layout turned out with the blending of 3 photos. 

My Scrapbooking Projects

DSU 295

1. Voices page
2. Interview layout
3. Bullets layout - use Stacey's kit
4. Revise conversation page
5. Emotive
6. Figure out where I'm going to put a curved text in a layout

Looking Back at 2005

1. March by Sunday - cycling, my birthday, Ovarian cancer walk

Powerscrapping - I finished one as part of DSU 295, 9 more to go.

Kathy's Mini-album

Am I going to do NKOTB - that's a question - I think I'm still eligible, but do I want to put myself through that again?

9/11

Dear Audrey,

Today I saw a bumper sticker with the date "9/11/01" on it. That was the day that terrorists tried to bring the USA to its knees. I'm sure you will read about it in history books when you're in High School. Terrorists hijacked 4 airplanes and managed to crash 3 of them into buildings, important buildings. The fourth one was prevented from crashing into a building, possibly the White House or Capitol, by some very brave passengers that forced the terrorists to fly it into the ground in a rural field in Pennsylvania. These people had heard what had happened to the other planes and they knew that they were probably going to die. But they weren't going to die without trying to stop the terrorists.

On 9/11/01, I was in Atlanta staying with you because your Mommy and Daddy were on a business trip in Seattle. They had gone to see Mommy's friend Allison while they were there - the Allison you were named for. I had taken you to Howell Academy that morning like you normally did. I was at your house - the one on Woodbine Hill Way - folding towels when Shannon called me, asking if I was watching TV. I wasn't, but quickly turned it on. I couldn't really understand what Shannon was trying to tell me because she was crying. All I could hear was something about a building collapsing.

As I realized what I was watching on TV, the second tower of the World Trade Center came crashing down. What was going on? The world seemed to be ending. All the smoke and fire on TV were scary. And then they were saying that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Shannon and I kept trading phone calls in disbelief.

Then your Mommy called. She had been in the fitness center at the hotel and had just started walking on the treadmill and was watching TV to pass the time. (And it was 6:30 in the morning in Seattle, so it was unusual that your Mommy was even up yet.) She was trying to figure out what was going on. The man that was in there before her hadn't really been paying attention so they had to watch a few minutes to realize what was going on. When she realized what was going on, she told me later that her first thought was getting to your Daddy and her next thought was getting to her baby.

She wanted to know where you were and I told her you had gone to "school" as usual. Did she want me to go get you so that I could keep you close and know you were OK. At this time, we didn't know what else was going to happen. All flights were being cancelled, but no one knew if there were still hijacked planes. We decided that I should let you stay at school because you would pick up on my fear and anxiety. I called Miss Sandy and she said that they would be there all day and that they were keeping the kids inside all day. So Mommy and I felt that you would be safe at school and you could play with your friends.

Like I said, all flights were being grounded. So your Mommy and Daddy managed to rent a car before they were all taken - remember it was early in Seattle, but people were scrambling to find transportation. They started driving that morning, I believe it was a Tuesday. I stayed in contact with your Mommy and Daddy, but they were worried that their phone batteries wouldn't last. And your Mommy kept saying that she just wanted to see her baby.

I stayed glued to the TV all day. I still couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV. The news kept playing the planes crashing in the buildings, and then the buildings crashing to the ground. They were afraid that tens of thousands of people had been killed when the buildings fell. As it turned out, over 3,000 people died, including some very brave policemen and firemen that were going into the buildings as others were trying to leave. These heroes were going in to save as many lives as they could.

When it was time for me to pick you up, I didn't feel like cooking so you and I went to Ruby Tuesday's to eat. It was almost empty in there. People were staying home. I was trying to play with you and keep one eye on the TV in the restaurant. And I was waiting to hear from your Mommy and Daddy to find out where they were staying for the night.

As it turned out, Mommy and Daddy drove non-stop for over 24 hours. They finally stopped the second night and got home on the third night. Your Mommy said she wanted her baby, you, and she wanted to get to you as fast as possible. Your Mommy was so glad to be home, but she was even more glad to be holding you and hugging you. And you were so glad to see Mommy as well.

I took the car that your Mommy and Daddy had rented and drove home to Houston that weekend. The planes were just starting to fly again and the airports were clogged with people that had been stranded since Tuesday

All of the networks and news stations stayed on this story for around 3 days non-stop. We didn't know who had done this and why. It took several weeks for the full story to become apparent.

I hope that you never have to go something like this again in your lifetime. And know that you were loved so much that your Mommy and Daddy drove clear across the country as quickly as they could to be with you and hold you and make sure you were truly safe.

And I love you that much, too.
Maggie

At Last - A way to organize my projects

If nothing else, I can use this spot to list and organize my thoughts on my scrapbook projects.

Powerscrapping Challenge

1. I need to review my choices for my kits for my 10 projects. I was in a hurry last night when I did that.
2. Create titles for all 10 projects and see if there is any Word Art that is appropriate.
3. Download the kits for the Cancer page.
4. Begin building the files for each page.

DSU 295

1. Hope Stacey doesn't read how far behind I am.
2. Create my voices layout
3. Figure out how I'm going to handle the interview page so that I can pare down my uncle's interview and create the black and white journal page.
4. Pick out fonts for all 6 projects.
5. Create folders for all 6 projects - just like powerscrapping.
6. Choose final photos
7. Shoot some more pictures of Buddy.
8. Pick out kits.

February 2005 Layout Challenge

1. Settle on final photos
2. Pick out kit
3. Create layout by Sunday.

DET Boot Camp 8th Challenge

1. Download freebie
2. Decide if I'm really going to do this challenge.
3. Decide on photos.
4. Complete layout by 1/23.

I think I'm overextended. Why do I do this to myself?

My Blogspot

I've jumped on the bandwagon to blog for my scrapbooking. I have a xanga blog that I use for issues surrounding my sister's illness and death from breast cancer - www.xanga.com/booby_sister.

I'm going to try my hand at journaling to have for my scrapbooking.