Grand Canyon Trip

Well, it has been a few weeks, but I thought I would tell you a little about our trip to the Grand Canyon. We took our 5th wheel and camped along the way. We spent about ten days totally enjoying Arizona. Now, I will tell you, that the part of Arizona we were in is DESERT!!! With the exception of Flagstaff (which I loved) our scenery was DESERT!!
We spent 5 days in Williams Az. the gateway to the Grand Canyon, even though it's maybe 60 miles away. Williams is a quaint little town on the old Route 66 Hwy. I guess I have to admit that it was a pretty little town. It had some trees surrounding it!!! The town itself is really a cool place to visit. Lots of little shops and many of the same store fronts from years ago.
We took the train into the Canyon from Williams. The train ride is over 2 hours long. The scenery isn't that great DESERT, but there was some entertainment on the train and the anticipation of seeing the canyon for the first time made it loads of fun.
Seeing the canyon for the first time is an amazing experience. You can't really see much of it until you walk up to the rim. so it's an OMG moment!!! We spent two days there, we drove back the second day and I liked the views much better that way. It's is a spectacular place and somewhere everyone should visit at least once. There's a lot of history there and the park does a great job of making that history available to you.
After visiting the canyon we camped at a place not too far from Sedona for a couple of nights. We went into Flagstaff, Sedona and a wonderful little place called Jerome. Jerome is an old copper mining town. It's a ghost town (their descripton) and haunted!!!! We walked around this wonderful city up on the side of a mountain and then visited an old "junk yard." It's more of a museum for old cars, trucks, tools, and mining equipment. That was very interesting. I really loved all the artwork and handcrafted items in the shops. The last couple of nights was spent in Mund Park near Flagstaff. I think that's where I got the 39 bites on my legs, but I can't be positive!!!
Great fun!!!

Etsy Treasury in Kate Smith's Color Blog

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I should!! Plus I have something to post. I put together a treasury on Etsy and it would up in this wonderful blog by Kate Smith. It's a color blog. It's really fun, interesting and definitely colorful, so go check it out. You will love it, and get some wonderful ideas from it.
http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorpro/etsy-inspired/

Trip to the beach

I love going to the beach and camping in our 5th wheel. California beaches are really beautiful, especially the central beaches. Pismo Beach is no exception and we just spent 5 days there. The weather was beautiful, and the food was great.

We take our two mini schnauzers with us when we camp. Our male dog, Mackie, had diabetes and Cushings Disease. He had been doing pretty well in the last 3 1/2 years since he was diagnosed, but when we got to then coast he started getting sick. We took him to the vet and it wasn't good news. We had a tough decision to make, but we had to let him go. He was a wonderful companion and a beautiful dog, but he was sick and in pain. It was a terrible day.....I miss him terribly. After he was gone we drove up the coast a ways, found a bench on the cliffs above the ocean and watched the sunset. It just seemed appropriate.

Ok, now that I have that out!!! On to more pleasant things. The clam chowder in Pismo Beach is really good, especially if you eat at Splash!! (Which we did several times) We also had some really good BBQ, as in ribs, at Mo's.

I also made a couple pieces of jewelry while we were there, walked on the beach finding a few treasures and did a little shopping.

It's Been A Long Summer

This is my first blog, and I really don't think I'm very good at it. I ask my daughter what I should blog about. She said "well, whatever you want to." So I decided I would give that a try.

This has been a really long summer for my husband and myself. My husband has had some heart problems for about 5 years. Those problems turned into needing a mitro valve repair or replacement a few of months ago.
In the meantime, I have discovered a nodule in my thyroid. Since having the left side of my thyroid removed 4 years ago, I have kept a close watch on the other side. My mother had thyroid cancer, so I needed to watch mine closely. In doing that a dominate nodule was discovered. So off to UCLA to see what the surgeon wanted to do this time. He suggested a needle biopsy, and I suggested just removing it. He agreed, and on July 9th that's what happened. The doctor said he didn't see anything out of the ordinary during surgery. That was good news and also short lived. I guess that's why they send it to the lab. So a week later at my follow up appointment he gave me the news. A tiny tumor was found that was cancer. It was 1mm. Very small, but still cancer.
So while I am getting this news, my husband is across the street at the Cardiologist's office talking to him about his heart valve. Since we don't live in the Los Angeles area, we planned out appointments on the same day. Since I wasn't expecting the news I got, I sent my husband on to his appointment. I would join him as soon as I was done.
I did make my husband appointment in time. It was decided he needed to have the valve repaired (hopefully, and not replaced). It was also decided that it probably could be done with a Robot!! That was good news, since it's a less invasive surgery. So, we leave with all this information swimming around in our heads. Cancer....open heart surgery..... it was a full day.

Husbands Surgery

Well, we weren't really excited about it, but it just had to be done. We arrived at the hospital the day before surgery. The doctors had some pre-surgery tests to do. It was a tough day. Doctors all coming in to tell you what could go wrong and if it did this could happen, and if that happened, this could be the result. I know that they have to do all that, but it kinda freaked me out. By the time I got to my hotel room I was spent. Of course I couldn't sleep, so at 4:00 am I am back in his hospital room. Surgery was scheduled for 9:00 am, so at 8:00 he's off to OR. It was a little tough to see him going down the hallway towards the OR.
But it had to be done.
It was a really long day. It was 11:00 pm before I was allowed to see him in ICU. The surgery had gone really well. The valve was repaired and they were able to do it using the Robot. But....as they were moving him from the OR table to the gurney to take him to ICU, his blood pressure dropped and he was bleeding. So they had to reopen and find the bleed. It turned out not to be the heart at all. It was from a vein in his neck that they had attempted to place a line to use during surgery. It clotted and the clot dropped down behind his lung. Very serious. But the Dr. is incredible and he stops the bleeding.
So, eight days after my husband enters the hospital, he is home and starting to recover. This is now day 16 after surgery and we went out for our favorite meal....Mexican!!!

So I still have to deal with my issue. I will need Iodine Radiation. It's not a big deal, the Radiation just gets rid of any little pesky cells hanging around.
So, I will be taking care of that soon. Think I'll watch the Olympics. Later...

Welcome to DesigningIt

Please visit my Etsy Store!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5633812



Etsy Shop Is Open
As you can see I am just getting started. Please come back as I will be adding items each day. I have a lot of different kinds of things I'm working on. I have some jewelry supplies, some pet necklaces (aka Bowser Bling), chainmaille, lots of earrings.....Well, just stop by and check it all out. I hope you like what you see.

If you are interested in something, but want a different color, please let me know.

I don't mind if you convo me (Etsy talk for talking to one another).
I also would just enjoy hearing from you....so convo away!!!

Also, THANK YOU to Simplydoodles ... www.simplydoodles.etsy.com for the Banner and Avatar. She does such a great job.