My dear friend Kylee's project

Kylee is one of the sweetest gals you will ever meet!  I met her in college and we have been friends since.  I have watched her become a wonderful mom.  I am lucky to have her on my side.   I LOVE her scarfs and can't wait to get mine in the mail!  Kylee has decided to make scarfs in my honor.  Here is her blog for more information.

Kylee I love you!  You are an amazing friend, THANK YOU!!

Changes

Well as I can imagine changes are just beginning.  I am scared, hopeful, sad, happy, devastated, grateful.  I know some of those words sound bizarre but I have FAITH!   I have been through some tough times before and I have only become stronger. 

I always lean on this scripture in my time of need!  We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly god loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
-Romans 5:3-5

Okay on to the changes.  First change is I will be going to KU Med for my treatments.  I have 2 appointments the 1st one is humongous amount of labs, x-rays, and body scans.  Oh and you can believe I told them that I have a vasovagal response when it comes to needles so they are just going to start an IV instead of many needle pokes! :)    I will then meet with my new oncologist the following morning to see what the plan of action is.  Dr. Fabian's nurse believes they will start chemo to shrink the tumor before we do surgery.  I did get some good news regarding my markers.  I don't know what some of these terms mean so I will just add links for you to research on your own if you wish.  I found out that estrogen/progesterone is highly positive which is good news as well as the her2 protein being 1+.  The tumor growing rate is 41% so it has been there awhile but I personally have felt the lump for 2 months.  So that was nothing new.    The radiologist new right away just by looking at the tissue which is why we really had the blow last Friday and was prepared on that following Tuesday.  They test your tissue with histological grade and I have Nottingham grade 3.  YUCK! :(   My total score was 8/9.  

Oh and one really sweet story!  This made my day yesterday! I was dropping Miles off at preschool and one of his classmates was headed inside and looked at me and said, Hey your sick!?  I said yes, but the Dr.'s are going to make me feel better really soon!   It is at those times that I smile and say I can do this!  I will beat this. 

Thank you sooo much for all your prayers, phone calls, visits, cards!  I feel soo supported and know that I can get through this.  I know the first lesson I will be learning is that the laundry and dishes can be loaded multiple ways and they get clean the same way!!! GASP! Ha!  I laugh just thinking about this :)

HOPE!

Today I was diagnosed with Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma another name for breast cancer.  I am 30 years old with 3 children the youngest not a year.  I had been waiting on the results since last Friday and got the call at 12:15pm from the clinic to come in at 1:30pm.  I hung up the phone and quickly called my husband as he was an hour away in Hiawatha working.  My in laws were eating at Nelson's Landing and they rushed over here too. 

 On our drive to the clinicI kept telling Brian that god was preparing me for this news.  I believe these are not coincidences but message from god.  The 1st one was 3-4 months ago when my mom was having an ultrasound on her breast (luckily it is nothing!) however I told her she shouldn't hide that kind of information from us girls because one of us could have cancer!   The second one is that my mother in law every year for the past 6 years has purchased a yearly calendar for me and this year is the only year that I have received that is dedicated to breast cancer.  So we were talking about this and we pull up to park and the car in front of us has a breast cancer license plate.  I know that God is here with me and will guide me through this journey and I love how he sends me messages.  So yesterday diagnosis day was 1-11-11 so I am praying that this is another message and that I only have stage 1 breast cancer.  We won't find out anything until I have surgery next week.  

Thank you, thank you for all your kind words and prayers!   I feel blessed to be going through this because I know that I have a HUGE network of family and friends willing and ready to do anything to help me or my family out. 

Day 7-Pantry

Day #7 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Pantry)



Well I was off to a good start then the news hit on Friday so I was really unmotivated to do anything and I mean anything.  Laundry, cook, clean, etc.  Luckily my mother and father in law came to town and helped me take down Christmas, make supper, and helped me organize the pantry and cabinets.  So I am a couple days behind but will catch up soon!

This isn't my pantry but a really disorganized cabinet that holds all types of food.  Oh and the best part was finding 3 yes 3 candy bars.  I am one to hide chocolate from my children and eat it DAILY :) I have such a weakness for chocolate. I am still working on my pantry and will post pics later but for now enjoy the look of the clean cabinet.  Thanks Janis and Frank for all your help!!!

Thank you all for the prayers!!  I have an amazing support network of family and friends and feel sooo blessed!

Please pray...

 Let me start from the beginning.

At the end of November beginning of December I felt a lump in my breast.   I nursed Lila from birth until she reached 7 1/2 months old.  We were told at her 6 month check up we needed to be supplementing her with formula.  My breasts were starting to go down to regular size when I felt the lump.  I just assumed the lump was either a clogged milk duct from drying up or the start of mastitis.  So after 1 1/2 months of the lump not going away we felt we needed to follow up with a Dr.  My neighbor and friend is a new Nurse practitioner and I saw her on January 3rd.  The nurse practitioner then scheduled me for an ultrasound the following morning at the local hospital.  The ultrasound found 3 lumps the first being 2 cm by 1.6 cm and the other two lumps are 1 cm. each.  I received a phone call shortly after from a Dr. in the same practice as the nurse practitioner.  She called to tell me that I would need a biopsy on the lump for more information.  On Friday, January 7th I had my breast biopsy.  The procedure was a little painful.  The radiologist numbed the area and stuck a large needle into the lump then another needle was inserted.  The second needle would remove tissue samples from the lump.  The radiologist removed 4 samples of tissue.  After the procedure the radiologist took my hand and told me that the tissue did appear to be cancer.  I looked at him in shock and just said matter of fact (Courtney style)  "You do realize I have 3 small children at home and they are my whole world!"  He replied that he was sorry but this wasn't his first time and he understands my pain.  He said it is 50-60% likely that it is breast cancer.  I look over at my husband who at this point is headed my way and all I can think about is how sad and devastated my husband looks.  I told him it would be okay we can get through anything.  We were told that the results would be back January 11th.  I have been praying hard that he is WRONG and that he made a mistake and that it is mastitis scar tissue but I don't know.

Please pray!!

Day 6-Dresser Drawers

Day #6 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Dresser Drawers)


I HAVE CLEAN DRAWERS, GET IT!! :) HAHAH!



Well, well, well, bet you weren't expecting me to say this...

That is one thing I have done!!! Whoohoooo!  I am thankful that this is completed b/c I am out of commission today.  I will be back and ready for tomorrow's challenge.  I am going to spend this evening having my husband help me take down Christmas!  See you tomorrow!

 My dresser

Boys dresser

Day 5-Under the Kitchen Sink

Day #5 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Under the Kitchen Sink)

Well it is day 5 and I have enjoyed getting this house organized!!  I am a little embarrassed at how disorganized my house is however it eases my mind that I am not alone in this.  I have seen some great blogs with awesome organization going on!  Keep it up ladies. 

HOWEVER, I do feel as though we should have 1 challenge strictly for the husbands! :)  ha ha!  I say this b/c my husband is loving the work I am doing and I keep hearing these comments. 

a) Sooo what is your challenge today?
b) I really like these challenges!
c) I hope one of the challenges is ____ and ____ and ____!!
d)That is a good one!
e)That needed to be done!

This list could go on and on but I will stop with these few! :)  This of course is all in fun but you know just 1 challenge for my hubby would be nice!

Well as you can see by the pics this was a mounting pile as well.  I didn't realize I had so many multiples.  I took wipes to each bathroom, car, etc.  This isn't perfect but my Walmart didn't carry the door hangers so I will have to drive an hour to the closest Target and find something there.  One of my friends is now a Shaklee member so once these are done I will be purchasing from her.  We are transitioning to a greener home.  It takes time but we will get there.

 Before

 Rows of Multiples/Piles of Dust cloths

AFTER

Item Needed:

Wire Door Organizer

Day 4-Linen Closet=Toy Closet

Day #4 Challenge (The Linen Closet)


PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT AND HELP WITH MY POLL!  I am having a hard time knowing what to do with those leapster cartridge boxes.  Thank you in advance!


Well I don't have a linen closet.  We will eventually put the toys downstairs in the playroom when that is finished and this will be the linen closet. 

So last month Brian and I spent 3 hours on this darn room.  We were able to donate 2 boxes of toys and throw away 1 1/2 bags of trash.  I am one mama who needs desperately to work on accountability!!  I have days that I make them do their chores and other days that I was okay with them just throwing the toys in the closet as long as it closed.  :(  Well no more of that!  We have kept the bottom half of the closet cleaned and organized for over a month now!!  Today I worked on the top shelf that needed to be organized. 

I am LOVING, LOVING this challenge and as you can see with all these pics this house NEEDED this badly!  I feel great and less stressed.  Thank you so much Toni!

*I have several people asking how I created the labels for the tubs.  I wanted the children to be able to put their own toys away even if they didn't know how to read.  It is amazing to see children know logos/symbols and relate them to toys!  I went to google dot com and typed in lego logo etc.  and printed them out and taped them.  This has been one of the best things I have done! 

 Before

 Top Shelf

 After

After- Top Shelf

Linked my DIY logo labels on this blog:



Day 3-Tupperware cabinet

Today my challenge for you is to organize your tupperware cabinets. This may be a cabinet where you hold your mixing bowls, leftover containers, baking dishes, and everything in between (not just tupperware). You do NOT have to organize more than one cabinet today (unless you want to).

This morning when I woke up to see what our challenge was I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  Just the night before I had opened up this exact cabinet to get a cup and out came 4-6 containers at my feet.  What did I do?  Yes, you guessed it!  I threw them all back in their as fast as I could and slammed the door.  I do this at least 4 times a week but never, never clean it out.   So that started the first morning laugh!!  A good laugh...

 Before

 Lids/tupperware with no matches=TRASH!

AFTER!

Day 2-Computer Desk

Front View-Before

Side View

Yuck!  Dust bunnies!

AFTER

Challenge #2 - Your computer desk (top only)

Well our computer desk is currently in our bedroom temporarily.  We will be moving it downstairs when we have that organized.  Eek...  That will take a good couple of months. 

As I was taking everything off to wipe down I found a gray bunny not really but jeez!  I lay my head down just a couple of feet from that.  This morning Brian saw the challenge but didn't see the TOP ONLY and said finally the box will be gone.  Oh sorry, bubba maybe next challenge :)  Thankfully!  That box is full of papers, odds and ends that will take me at least  2 1/2 hours to go through.  

A couple of things needed for computer desk is:

1.  Pencil/pen holder
2.  Drawer organizer like Toni for the ipods, address labels, etc.



Biggest Junk Drawer in America

Before I removed anything
GO AHEAD AND DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PICS
 AND GET A REAL GOOD LOOK! :)

The bottomless pit after ONLY removing the 4 books

AFTER

Here is your challenge (I started out simple)...




Whoa, what did she type?  Simple, really?  I am in for a challenging 21 days!  Ha!  However I am super excited to see what I have accomplished when the challenge is over.  Oh and you should see my husband he is SUPER GIDDY about this too!!

Well here is my junk drawer in my kitchen.  It is a crazy mess! A dumping ground for ANYTHING  and EVERYTHING as you can see.

It looks incredible now and I have to say I love that I found the same liner at Target and it matches perfect with my walls!  So for day 1 of the challenge I feel good and can't wait til Monday.


I have linked to these as well: