Think Pink

Think Pink. There are so many people/businesses who base everything on pink. They started a support group at church for women with breast cancer, what about people who have other forms of cancer. I just found out that a dear friend has cervical cancer. Since she is in her 80s, I don't imagine there is a lot of treatment that she will want to do. Sometimes doctors won't do so much when someone is sick and that age. It if almost like being written off as too old to think about. There is something in this country that we really need to start thinking about. We Baby-Boomers are beginning to retire and soon there may be a lot more "old" people.

Those young people who are making fun of "the old guy" or the "old lady" might try sitting down with some and learning what life is about. I notice that the young people tend to think about themselves, but as you get older, you start noticing the pathos of the world and all the hunger, homelessness, and illness that can make life unbearable.

When you get older, you begin to see that money doesn't have the meaning that it did when you were younger. You begin to see money as a way to help other people and help to make life bearable for them. The point that you reach when you realize that you are wealthy in so many things. Wealthy in family, friends, associates, and even your kindness to strangers. Okay, I am off my Soapbox.

 I have been having so much fun. Judy and I posed at the quilting group in our Udderly Smooth hat and all the wonderful product that our friend at Udderly Smooth sent to us. I received one package last summer after #slumberparty and then they sent me another one right after Christmas last year. Well, we finally made our picture. I posted the picture somewhere but I cannot find it. I did however, send it to Udderly Smooth on Twitter. I just cannot find it on my computer.

I was invited to a Breast Cancer Support Group at the Cancer Center last Thursday. Evidently, they have one now. I am 3 years out now, and I am still so tired that I can barely make an evening function on my best days. I was surprised in my early days of dealing with breast cancer, even the Cancer Society didn't have any available partners to help through the process. I had to rely on the support that I got on Twitter and Facebook.

Today, I went to a neurological psychologist. He asked me lots of questions and I have to go back in in April to have 2- 2-hour sessions. I have been having some strange memory problems and tomorrow I am going to have a MRI of my head and spine to see what is going on there. Ray is taking me. I have to have Valium before I can go in the machine, so I won't be able to drive. I am going in positive that everything is alright. Say a little prayer for me if you can. All prayers appreciated.

Tomorrow, Ray is having a Birthday and a kinder man hasn't been born in this generation. We are as much in love as we were when we met and fell in love 20 years ago.
Love to all, Barbara

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME

Everyday Pink

There has been a lot going on lately. I am sorry I haven't been writing, and I hope that I can remember everything.

At the #Slumberparty on Twitter last Friday, there was no sponsor and I didn't see a message from @DabneyPorte until late in the evening asking me to host. Anyway, I got my ducks in a row and with help of our friends, we got it together and had a grand time. Everyone had a wonderful party, drinking virtual cocktails, eating virtual food.

As you can see from the pictures, we had a pillow fight and someone had the gumption to bring a can of silly string. I think that Dabney's fiancee. Vic, brought popcorn. I am still finding kernels in the sofa. LOL! You must know that this party is all in our heads and on our screens. We send pictures of some of the most yummy food. I am excited. I go to bed feeling like I ate some of those brownies or the cheesecake, but the most wonderful thing of all is that it is all Virtual and, therefore, calorie free!

That weekend is when we all heard about the beautiful and talented Whitney Houston's passing. I am so sorry and my prayers are for her family in this time of mourning. It is so wonderful to know that Whitney was a saved Christian and her passing was a real home-going and she is with her Father in Heaven.

I meant to finish this last night. I have more to say, but it might take me a day or so. I am really in a mood to write. Yes!

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

Always Love You Pink

This picture shows the anthuriums that I received for Valentine's Day. That is what I asked for. We went out to dinner and had a very nice evening. I made Ray promise not to give me any chocolate. Candy is not good for my Rheumatoid Arthritis.

It is becoming evident to me that every time I eat sugar, I have intestinal problems and lots of joint pain. I guess I need to do a little more research on the subject. When I went on Tricare for Life, I had to drop my regular medical insurance. Shouldn't have done that. I am paying a lot more for drugs now since Medicare doesn't pay for medicine. I wish I could have avoided going on Disability. I didn't know you had to go on Medicare if you were approved for Disability. Medicare has so many conditions that they don't cover tests for. I am not allowed to have a mammogram twice a year any more. I went to my GYN Doctor the other day and if I wanted a PAP smear and exam, it would have cost me over $300. Turns out that Medicare doesn't pay for one every year, I think it is every other year. Anyway, I didn't get the exam. It really didn't matter, because I didn't really want one. My GEHA insurance was the best. When I went on Medicare, I was able to put it on hold in case I ever wanted or needed to use it again.

Why is everything so difficult? It seems like when you get sick, the government steps into your business and changes everything. I cannot work now, but I am not prevented from making money passively. What does that mean? It means money from rental properties, stocks, etc. I understand why seniors are in such a pinch. Evidently, Uncle Sam thinks we should all live on less than a thousand a month. I know people that their car payment is that much. I am glad I have a nest egg and don't have to worry about it.

This past weekend, I was so shocked to learn about the passing of Whitney Houston. She seemed to bookmark my life as she did so many others. All of her beautiful songs bring back so many memories. I am so sorry that she succumbed to drugs. They plagued her most of her adult life. When will celebrities learn that whatever talent they have is a gift from God and they should use it for His Glory. I have no doubt that Whitney is with God now. Satan couldn't claim her. Once you accept Christ, all Satan can do is tempt and mess up your life. I think I heard that Whitney was a Christian. You cannot lose your salvation. Whitney is up there singing with the angels. She was so loved while here and missed now she has gone home. All we can do is appreciate the fact that we have her wonderful music on audio and video sources. I pray that her family can accept her passing easily because she had just joined our father. There is no pain where she is, only Joy. I find it very comforting to think of her this way.

I guess I better get to bed, tomorrow is quilting for the Children of the King's Daughters Hospital. Got to get busy. I have been reading a lot about quilting and think I really could do this. It is something that I enjoy also. I even added a Sewing and Quilting pages on my Pinterest Board.

I love you all and thank you so much for reading my blog. Please subscribe for updates, and remember:

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME

Valentine Pink

Valentine's Day is almost here! It is not really my favorite day. When I was single and that was a few years, it always seemed like whoever I was dating would break up just before Valentine's. Either I was dating jerks or just tightwads. LOL! My first husband used to complain when I gained weight, but would give me pounds of chocolate on Valentine's. I couldn't resist and then he had something else to complain about.

Sweet Ray knows better than to give me chocolate. He gives me jewelry and I buy him dinner. He likes food in restaurants. Don't get me wrong, he loves my cooking, but likes to eat dinner with me when I don't have to cook and clean. He likes it when I focus on him. I like it when his focus is on me too.

One of my quilting friends passed away. Her name was Mary Helen Porter. She was a dear sweet lady and she had just turned 71. Since we have a couple of ladies in their 80s, Mary Helen was one of the younger ones, other than me. She was very precise with her quilts and had a wonderful sense of color. She was a wonderful Christian woman who shared her faith with others. She retired as a school teacher and retired from the Newport News School System where she continued to substitute and tutor after she retired. Her obituary and comments on the Legacy network are wonderful. We will surely miss her sweet smile and good humor.

There is a mess going on in our area. A company called "Mo Money" made a big mistake and did not properly file taxes or pay the customers on time. Now the IRS and the Government are all tied up in it. WTKR (CBS) jumped on a report about someone not being able to cash their check from "Mo Money". From everything I have heard, they are charging exorbitant amounts of money to do the taxes in the first place. I am not sure I would have entrusted my tax information to a company that could not spell. I hope they get this all straightened out and those poor people get their money.

I discovered Pinterest. It is just so much fun. I have pinned everything I can think of so far. I even pinned my SweetTweets on Twitter. I made having their real smiling face and real name the only way that I will pin them. Slumberparty is a little different. It is a fun thing. It is a Party.

Oh well, Craig Ferguson is coming on. I need to go to bed now. Love you all

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME

Traveling Pink

Ray and I went down to our home in NC this past weekend. It was a very restful trip. We don't go the way that our GPS  wants us to go. It wants us to go down HW 17 to New Bern and we go down HW 13/11 through Greenville. If we go the GPS way, we would get to drive through parts of The Great Dismal Swamp. Of course, there may be some better places to stop for a potty break. NC has never been a great place for that. We have a list of places that are acceptable to stop at.

It was really funny, Sunday on the way back, we stopped at a small grocery in Whaleyville. Not a fancy place at all, but the bathroom (not pretty) is reasonably clean. A lady and I stood there for about 10 minutes waiting to go in and she finally gave up and went to the Men's room. An employee came to the back and I told her I thought someone had taken up residence in there. She asked me if I saw someone go in there and I said "no, I was waiting because another lady was waiting and finally went into men's room". She tried the door and it was stuck. It came open and no one was there! I felt a little dumb, but the relief of having an empty restroom soon overrode that. When I came out, the other lady was coming out of the Men's Room. We had a good laugh about waiting for no one.

Of course, then I had to buy something, that is the least you can do when you have used the facility. No Diet Dr. Pepper, it was all gone. So I tried a Diet Mt Dew. How refreshing. I was really surprised. I have never had one before. Then I had to have Creole Cheese Popcorn. Not bad, a little hot thought. Ray liked them. Why do we feel obligated to spend money when all we want to do is use the bathroom? I guess it is just courtesy.

Another thing I have discovered when we have traveled, NEVER eat in a place that has a dirty restroom. Can  you imagine what the kitchen is like, if no one cleans the restroom. There is a difference between a clean restroom and a mess one. A clean restroom is clean (it may be a little messy from careless customers), but a dirty one has nastiness. Women definitely know the difference. It is pretty bad when you go into a place, you cannot even pee in. LOL!

I guess that is my soapbox complaint for the week. (Don't you hope so?)

Saturday, I went to Ft Barnwell Baptist Church for my granddaughter's Girl Scout Brownie  Meeting. It was a very good meeting. They made enough money again this year to take an overnight trip to one of the Amusement Parks within driving distance. Last year, they earned enough money to go to the Great Wolf Lodge and Busch Gardens in Williamsburg VA. They had a grand time. Also, there is a trip scheduled to go to the Washington Mall for the Flash Dance by the Girl Scouts to celebrate the 100th Anniversary. I was looking for the video of the instructions but cannot find it this morning.

I love Pinterest. Take a look at this. It is my nephew and friends "planking" in Kentucky. Thoughts of Family  By the way, if you want an invitation to Pinterest,  you need to send me a DM on Twitter with your email address or subscribe to me on Facebook.

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

SOPA Pink

I may be just showing my ignorance, but I supported SOPA, I think. I am not sure exactly what it means but I do know that the government has too much control over almost everything in our lives. At least, we have free speech and can pretty much say what we want. We have the rights because a few hundred years ago, a bunch of Christians came over from Europe and founded a colony that is supposed to protect our speech and our basic human rights. That is kind of what Christianity is all about - Freedom. Freedom to worship, make our own decisions, say what we feel, and protest things that are not good for the majority of people.

Personally, I am offended by a lot of people on the Internet, druggies, hookers, jerks, etc. I am offended by the way they use the "F" word and other words that people tend to use when they cannot think of anything really intelligent to say. Why in the world would someone want to pose for a picture in the nude and then upload it to Twitter or Facebook where children can see their disgusting body parts. Or, why would they want to let the world know that they are so stupid that even though they were born in the USA, they cannot speak English. I am not talking about the English language, I am talking about those people that think that if they use the fewest letters they can in a word, everyone can understand what they are saying. I am not a medium, I cannot read your mind. Say what you mean in a language I can understand. The point is, if I don't like your language or nudity, I can delete you or block you. I really don't want to see your body parts or stupidity in my timeline. That is because this is the USA and I may not like your language or your morality, but I defend your right to do it. I don't think that it is proper in social media, but that is just my opinion.

I had a wonderful 30 hours. I went to a Doctor Appointment, and 2 Bible Studies yesterday. It was great. I picked my ladies at the Chesapeake and we had dinner at church. I got some housework done. It was very difficult not to turn on the computer, but I didn't. I thought I would turn it on at midnight, but instead, I went to bed early and had a great nights sleep. I probably spend too much time on the computer anyway.


We had quilting at church today. It was great. I found some new ways to cut and put things together from watching quilting videos on YouTube. I know that one night, I stayed up until 3am looking at quilting videos. There are all kinds of videos out there, you can learn just about anything you want to learn how to do on YouTube.

Rebecca started a basic drawing class on Tuesday evening. She had to take Benita, her mother who has Alzheimer's. Poor Benita was so miserable, I told Rebecca to come by and pick me up to ride with her and Benita can stay here and watch TV in a nice warm house. The gym was cold and kind of not a fun place to take a class. Imagine my surprise when I got there and the other 7 students in the class are all 9 years old. Well, I am a little older than that. They called me "Ms. Barbara" and called Rebecca "Miss Edwards." Actually, my grandchildren, twins Garrett and Taylor are 9 years old. So I got along well with the other students. And, I did learn a few things. Got to practice though.

I just got back on the Internet after I came home this afternoon and got dinner on. Wow, loads of email, Empire Avenue is crazy, Twitter is great, Facebook I haven't even looked at yet. I be Farmville is stuffed with things to do. I know, you thought I quit Farmville, and I did, but I didn't delete it. I am playing catch up and will probably get out again soon. I just like to do it sometimes. It is just fun to do sometimes.

Well, that is my couple of days without computer. I am so tired I am probably  going to have to have a nap just to go on.

Love to you all,

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!

Pain Pink

Monday is Methotrexate day. Sunday, I took the Enbril shot. Every day I take Folic Acid  along with about 12 other pills each day. The only benefit I can see is my hands are not getting deformed. Yaaaaah! This Rheumatoid Arthritis is for the birds. Wish I had a bird I could give it to. LOL! No, I am nicer than that. I couldn't hurt a little bird like that. Everyone thinks that RA is just arthritis. That is really very far off the truth. It is an Autoimmune Disease, related to Osteoporosis, Lupus, and a myriad of other diseases. I do have Osteoarthritis in my knees. In face, I had shots in both knees this morning at the Knee Orthopedist office. Did you know that they have different orthopedists for each part of your body, back, knee, foot, hip, elbow, hand, shoulder, etc.? I have been to a hand doctor for a anular cyst on my right hand. He drained it and gave me a shot of cortisone in the palm of my hand and said it would not come back. The next day, it was back. Then my rheumatoid doctor shot it full of cortisone, and it is still there. It makes my hand hurt a lot. I think it is pressing on a nerve.

On a lighter note, Ray took me to York County and I signed up for a basic drawing class. My friend Rebecca is teaching. After we got home, I was replacing our coffee pot with one we bought at Walmart. I set it on the table while I was setting up the new one. I turned around to get it and it fell on the top of my right foot which immediately started to swell. I am sitting at my computer perch with the portable keyboard typing this. I have had a Vicodin, a cup of extra coffee from WaWa, and now am drinking a Dr. Pepper. I will be wired by the time my class starts at 6 p.m. I may call Rebecca and have her pick me up.

I just went into Triberr and approved all the bloggers in my Tribes. This is really a fun thing. Oh, and have you tried Pinterest. If you want, let me know and I will send you an invitation for Triberr or Pinterest. I could become obsessed with Pinterest. It is more fun than Farmville on Facebook. Triberr is great because it really gets your blog posts out there for people to see. I have had a lot more interest in this blog since I joined. I started a Tribe of my own called SweetTweets and I am going to tie it to my SweetTweetslifeplan.blogspot.com blog.

I just love @DabneyPorte on Twitter. If you know someone who would like to be a sponsor on the big Twitter #slumberparty from 11 p.m. - midnight every Friday. I would like to get some sponsors for this so I can become more involved with #SMGirlfriends (live 24/7) or #latteclub (live 24/7). Tonight at 10 p.m. EST is Social Media Manners (#smmanners).

Twitter chats involve using a #hashtag to bring everyone together in one column on either Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Personally, I like Tweetdeck. I think it is because the background is darker with white print and is easier to read. All you have to do is click on the #hashtag and it automatically creates a column at the end. You just go there and press the arrow on the left at the bottom to bring it back to your normal screen so you don't miss anything there while you are in the #chat. We would love to see you there tonight or any Tuesday night.

Oh, and the #slumberparty is a place where you can win terrific gifts if we have a sponsor. I know @Udderly Smooth has sent me a lot of Udderly Smooth cream to share with my girlfriend who are making quilts for the children's hospital. Last Friday 5 ladies won purses from Rebagz.com They are just awesome. I am going to get one to take my art stuff to class. They have purses, computer bags, rolling bags, and all kinds of bags.

My foot is numb with cold now, at least it is not hurting, or I am just feeling no pain. Maybe Ray will drive me to class if Rebecca can't pick me up.

Midnight Stars

Check this out: http://pinterest.com/barbarapduke/sewing-and-quilting/ and take a look at some of my Pinterest stuff. This is one on quilts. I have Dream Home, My Style, My Virtual Puppy, etc. It really is fun.

Got to go get my stuff together for class, if I can walk, that is.

I love you all, and please remember:

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

(even when a coffee pot falls on your foot!)