Doing the December Daily

Good Tuesday Morning! How close to "ready" are you for the rest of this week? Tomorrow is going to be crazy-busy for me; what with my son's school celebration. I get to make and bring sweet potoatoes to the bash... How many four year olds do you think will try them?

Anyway, I've also been a bit crafty this month. I decided that I NEEDED to participate in the December Daily, ala Ali Edwards. I needed the distraction in November to create the album. I need the distraction of "finding the happy" in December, as I'll continue receiving chemo until further notice. Yeah, I NEED the happy! I thought I'd share a few pics of what I've created so far. You'll see that the pages are still really basic. Since I don't know how I'll approach photo arrangement yet, I didn't want to go crazy with embellishments.... except the cover. I'ma go crazy with the cover as time ticks on...

So...


I LOVE to play with paint, chipboard and die cuts. The base is actually that really thin chipboard that supports paper in a package; painted red. On top is a Technique Tuesday tile, painted silver, adorned with Prima e-line crystals. The "25" was cut with the help of the Cricut cartridge, Winter Wonderland. The remaining chipboard pieces are from Crate Paper's Peppermint line. I fully intend to add more and have a go at making a collage, but I want to make it relevant to the events, so I'm waiting.


I'm impatient! I wanted to start having Christmas fun now, so I added a piece of paper to the inside of the cover (Pink Paislee) and brain-stormed a list of activities to fill the month. You know, just in case I find a day with nothing to do. The right side was the beginning of my theme, "The Night Before Christmas." My goal is to have a strip on each page inside.




One of the pieces of G45 that I bought last year. I'm pretty sure this day will be Breakfast with Santa, so I made a pocket on the right for any extras I'd want to include.



Another pocket here, though I have no set plans for that date. I need to get over myself and make some tags for journaling, I think. The polka dot background is more G44, Playtimes Past. I about squealed when I found this at Hobby Lobby. The moment was squashed when my four-year-old declared the whole paper section "lame."


G45 Playtimes Past, some kraft paper for journaling....


A mix-mash of the G45 and K&Co paper, plus the story at the bottom....


Flip side of the K&Co and back to the Peppermint line. I gotta say, I'm happy that this has a good dose of "masculine" to it. My son is really feeling his boyish ways. Who wants to bet at some point, he'll see this album and wonder why I haven't put any skulls or cross bones in it?

There's more, but I think I got the idea of my album across. My next goal is to post completed pages every week or two; trying to keep some sort of frest content and purpose here. I hesitated to try this because I've never completed a mini album and I thought sure I just couldn't figure it out. These are fun! I want to try making more; some even girly!

Surprisingly Still Kicking!

Good Tuesday evening! Guess who's still alive and kicking?! Did you miss me? Did you forget who I was and why I'm appearning on your dashboard?

I miss blogging, too. It's the norm, now, that I have a set number of down days and a whole lotta up days; though I am still fighting cancer. I feel like I want to share tons of pictures and a few crafty moments; but I also want to give you an idea of what I've been doing for the past couple/few months.

In August, I went wig shopping. I call her Molly. She is beautiful, though likely ready for her first bath. I didn't know, prior to my appointment, that she requires special shampoo.... and that I need to keep her from heat. Molly is high maintenance.

At the end of August, on the same day that my son started Junior Kindergarten, I was informed that the national drug shortage had hit home and I wouldn't be receiving part of my chemo until further notice. They also changed my routine and I hated it. By the end of September, I was back on track.

In addition to just dealing the chemo; I've been trying to participate in my son's class activities as much as possible.

I've made quickie cards for his teachers.

There was a school-wide reading day.

I tried to do the field trip to the pumpkin patch, but just wasn't healthy enough. Luckily, my Dad took my place and I'd already paid for Gramma Camera to go as well. I still have photos and a page prepped for the album.

My son has been testing social boundaries, so I've spent as much healthy time as possible just sitting on him. Momma WILL NOT raise a bully.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Yesterday was one of my healthiest days in each cycle so I helped out with the in-class party then finished the day with an hour of trick-or-treating with a pygmie zombie.

Also, after watching his teacher organize and practice for the class' turn at all-school-mass, I've decided she needs one heck of a thank-you at Christmas time. I've started working on a few special gift tags for the upcoming season.

I've had many appointment with my oncologist. My cancer marker -- the number that basically says "how much" I've got continues to drop. When this started in April, I was at 22. As of a couple weeks ago, I'm at 0.9. I have yet another scan in a couple weeks to see what the inside scoop is; and I'm really hoping for continued good news. While I may be settled into a routine, and find a level of comfort in knowing what to expect, I'm mentally done with this nonsense and wanting to move on with life.

That's all I can think to share right now. Once I'm up out of bed, I'll work on taking pics of layouts and the like. They've become quite basic again, but I'm claiming a victory that I'm doing anything at all.