I Can Make it Through the Day!

-I can get passed the ignorant people in the world and keep a positive outlook.

-I can put in my 7.5 hours in a job that can take a person to the brink of crazy.

-I can think of my two furry critters who love me unconditionally and will make it all worth while once I get home.

-I can hope that the cancer currently growing in my mother's left lung will shrink with the radiation treatment she started Tuesday.

-I can desire more creativity in my left brain world.

-I can look forward to Happy Meal Friday with Brianna and Makayla this week!

It is the little moments that enable me to make it through the day.

So sorry for no post since 09/12/10, but has been crazy around the house with the radiation taking even more of mom's energy. I will try and get back on track next week as tomorrow I am a chauffeur for Andrew and Friday my nieces are coming over for Happy Meal Friday.

What is in a name?

A little bit miffed about the name I finally decided on for this blog and it not being as unique as I thought! This reminds me of the time I thought the name Jezebel sounded good for a little girl and was set straight by my mom who told the 7 year old me what a "Jezebel" was.

Well I am on the hunt for a unique name and so far have ruled out:

Oldest of three
Melanie's Daughter
I am a Dabbler
Taledo
Idle Hands
I am a Love Child

So The Dragonfly's Den might survive in the long run because I like dragonflies and it does not have anything to do with creativity in the name.

I want this to be something I created but not be dependent upon creative content to survive.

Let me think on this and will let you all  know tomorrow whether a change of name will be made.

Crisp Fall Nights

The past week here in Philly has been beautiful chilly fall nights so much so that I needed to put the flannel sheets on my bed.

Fall colors, the smell of burning leaves, the dark blue sky with little hints of light blue peaking through. These are reasons why  I LOVE FALL.

How I would like to do this.

In hopes of keeping this fresh and interesting I hope to have a routine (cause that is how I do things in my anal retentive world) and here it is.


Monday = Inspirational Quote and picture


Tuesday = Post about family


Wednesday = Recipe or project


Thursday = Book Review or what I am reading


Friday = something crafty. something I want to do over the weekend


Saturday = pretty picture or few lines about Mike's girls or life


Sunday = and on the seventh day she rested

Everyone can use a Smile Book

It is amazing how one minute the man in the white coat is in the hallway joking with a medical student and the next minute he is sitting in front of us telling Mom that the tumors in her left lung have grown!

We have tried two types of chemotherapy drugs already and both seem to have pissed off the tumors we have nicknamed fat man and little boy therefore our next course of action is radiation.

Thank Goodness that I was able to finish the Smile Book and give it to her before we left. Here are some quick pics:

She looked at the pictures but did not read the excerpts so that is something we can do on Friday when we check into Aria Torresdale for the blood transfusion.

Well that is all for now but I will be posting probably tomorrow a sort of plan for how I would like to keep this creative journal of mine a little fresh. Hope you check it out.

Stand up to Cancer

I do not remember where I heard about the book "Between Me and the River" by Carrie Host but as soon as I read the last page a craft idea popped into my head. My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in March of this year and I have been documenting her struggle.

The author as italized text at the end of some of the chapters which I found helpful and think my mom will find it helpful if I put it into a format that she will take the time to read.

So I am typing out the entries that stood out to me and putting them in a scrapbook with pictures of mom the day she lost her hair which was also the day that we all shaved our heads in solidarity.

And a picture of her waiting to get her first blood transfusion that was needed to bring her hemoglobin level up.

I would like to get this done by September 8 as we are headed to see her oncologist Dr Dold for the results of a  CT scan she had done Friday to see if the two tumors in her left lung have shrunk or if we need to change chemotherapy drugs yet again.

Maybe I need to work on this for her and for me as a means to try and keep my hands busy so my mind will not wander to what he "might"say.

Staying hopeful!

About Me

Whenever I am asked the question "Tell us about yourself?" I freeze!

Do they want to know that I am the oldest of three and have two younger brothers with Michael being 4 years younger and Andrew 10 years younger?

                                                        Michael, Me, Andrew in the back and Mom in front.

Or is it my work ethic and the fact that I am a quick learner and hardworker who works well by myself or in a group?

Maybe it could be that when I was younger I wanted to have 26 kids, 1 for each letter of the alphabet, but that I do not currently have any children. Just nieces that I love very much.

                                          Michael and his daughters Brianna and Makayla

I suppose that each of these answers would apply for the proper situation and the answer to this question if asked by anyone in the blogging world would be:

Tammy is a thirty something year old woman living in Philadelphia who is striving to rediscover her creativity!