15 Inspiring Breast Cancer Survivor Blogs PINK

• I received this email and decided to share this with you since it is Breast Cancer Month. I believe it is imperative for everyone to get the best education they can. Online options are great.. See the email  below:

We at Toponlinecolleges.com recently came across your blog and were excited to share with you an article “15 Inspiring Breast Cancer Survivor Blogs” was recently published on our blog at ( http://www.toponlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/15-inspiring-breast-cancer-survivor-blogs/ ), and we hoped that you would be interested in featuring or mentioning it in one of your posts.
 Either way, I hope you continue putting out great content through your blog. It has been a sincere pleasure to read.  
Thanks for your time,
Jennifer Lynch

Anyway, today is Friday and my daughter, Rhonda, and granddaughter, Taylor, are coming. I am so excited. They hardly ever come to Virginia. Jesse and Garrett are going on a Boy Scout trip for the weekend. It is very difficult to get Jesse out of North Carolina. Rhonda is going to help us with our Poker Run for the Lions Club tomorrow. 


See http://nnlions.blogspot.com/ for the details of what is going on. We entered the info in the HRTownSquare.com over 2 weeks ago but we didn't make into the Daily Press today. I sure hope people show up at the Harley-Davidson Shop on HW 17 in Grafton in the morning. This is our first one but we are thinking of doing it once or twice each year and maybe even creating a Motorcycle Lions Club. Wouldn't that be awesome? I don't know why they even have HRTownSquare any more. The Daily Press just doesn't do much free advertising for non-profits any more. They are really becoming a thing of the past and HRTownSquare is so confusing, I don't think it will ever take the place of the paper. I don't think they have upgraded it at all since they put it into play a few years ago.                                  


Yesterday was a real bummer.The lady at the Vet Clinic that was going to give away a 3-year old Yorkie decided not to give her away. So I cried and got over it. I really want a little dog to keep me company when Ray is out working. I think I have talked him into it. When we had Precious and then Pepe, he was the primary caretaker. I was working at Langley then and it was difficult for me to take care of them. But, now that I cannot work, it would mean a lot to me to have a little dog to love.
I was reading an article in Arthritis Today about having pets is good for people with arthritis.


It is a beautiful day today. I hope everyone is having a lovely day. I did my FollowFriday's this morning on Twitter already, but I am sure that I will do more later. I am busy watching Regis & Kelly and their annual Halloween show. They are wearing lots of costumes today. What fun. Maybe I will be Lady GAGA since I have the perfect wig for it. LOL.


The Rheumatoid Arthritis has been giving me fits. I never really knew what it meant to have this terrible disease. I thought arthritis was arthritis, but this is an auto-immune disease and a connective tissue disease, so sometimes the pain isn't even in a joint, it is in the connective tissue and can cause absolutely excruciating pain. The doctor gave me some prednisone to take if the pain gets too bad because pain medication doesn't seem to do very much. Although, I have found that XanGo works for the inflamation. I mix it in my 7-Up and drink it all day. It really is a wonderful drink. 


The O2 Breakthrough with @ZnaTrainer works also. I am doing the exercises and it really seems to help with the pain. Thank you Zna for all you do.



It has been a difficult week. Dr Norman Edwards passed away in his car on Wednesday. He was waiting at a stop light and the driver behind him found him and called 911. It was too late. Norman was in our choir and a wonderful baritone. He sang solos occasionally and people loved to hear him read. His wife Benita is a friend. She was on the Board of Commissions for years and she was a member of my Women's Club. She has been having memory issues for the past year. I am worried that she won't be able to live on her own now with Norman gone. I imagine she is in her late 60s but I am not sure. 


I had to unfollow over 1400 people on Twitter yesterday. I hate to do that, but if you get too many people who are not following you, but you are following them, it creates an uneven balance and you cannot add any more people until you get it down. I don't know why people don't follow other people. It doesn't clog up your feed. It is really kind of awesome because your feed moves and you get to see a whole lot more of what is going on. TweetDeck is awesome because I have 5 columns that I can see what is going on. 2 columns are ones that I created so I see my favorite peeps there and #SweetTweet them at least once a day. 


It is amazing how once someone has said to you, "It's cancer" you never get over it. Even when the doctor tells you that it is gone and you are "cancer-free" you never really believe it. It is like waiting for the ball to drop. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have faith in Christ Jesus. He keeps me grounded and positive. He is my source and salvation. If you would ever like to discuss this aspect of treatment, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

• Love to All, God is Good, All the time.

I WORE PURPLE PINK

On Wednesday, I heard on TV that we should wear purple in support of those who had been bullied and/or committed suicide. It said gay but I think it is for any young person who has been bullied. If you have the time, I have a story for you:

There was a baby boy who was born in England and traveled with his military parents, brother, and sister back to the United States in 1960. He was so tiny, but so precious. His brother was 14 and sister 12. The sister cared for baby Paul as if he was her own. It was like playing with a real doll and really took the pressure off her mother. She loved to rock him to sleep at night. A couple of years later, her mother had her baby sister, Cindy. Paul was the good boy and Cindy was the one who always caused a ruckus. Paul grew up into a fine young man who was very popular at school and was considered a real catch. He was in the band and played the trombone and Cindy played the clarinet. He had a girlfriend and they seemed very happy. They were in Louisiana by then and the older brother and sister had made families of their own.
Paul went off to school at North Western and I am not sure if he discovered it there or had been hiding it, but he was gay. He didn't want the family to know, so we didn't. His parents moved to Dallas and his mother started her business there as an interior designer. Paul worked with her a few years and decided to get a more regular job with benefits. He went to work for American Airlines. Flight attendant was a good job for him. He was a nice person and a real people person. Unfortunately, the lifestyle for male flight attendants swings toward homosexual. There being so many opportunities to travel and vacation in exotic places was a real perk. He did this for a few years and then he came back to Dallas. His sister had moved to Dallas to work  for his mother and he would stop by occasionally to work in the shop when he had a customer. He told her he was gay and then he told his mother and father. It didn't seem to matter to his mother, but his dad took it really hard. Soon, his sister left and moved back to Virginia.
A couple of years down the road, his sister received a phone call, Paul had AIDS. He was still working for AA and never missed a flight. One day, his supervisor called his mother and told her that he hadn't shown up for work and that just wasn't like him. They were really worried whether he was alright or not. Mother found him in his apartment just sitting and staring at the wall. There was a  tumor in his brain and he couldn't recognize anyone unless they spoke to him.  He was in the hospital for a short time and sent home to die. His father stepped up and even took care of him until he passed. He was a kind, loving person who was sweet and caring. He had been through some bad times being gay. He was bullied by some. I think that is why he didn't tell anyone until he was older because he was afraid of the bullying.

When Paul died, AA flew all the brothers and sisters to the funeral in Dallas, First Class. They provided flight attendants as pall bearers. AA was very supportive of my parents and made sure that things were expedited in a timely manner.

No one should have to put up with being bullied. Paul had to put up with it from his father, who was a bully, so why open himself up to others. His father, my stepfather was basically a good man at heart who had a terrible temper when things didn't go his way. He bullied us all, beat on us until we all left home, one by one; we escaped. We went home occasionally, but not too often. If you were around too long, it would start again.

Paul Burns was my brother. I loved him very much. The upshot of this is that after living with a father who was a bully and a brother who was gay, I wore purple in support of those who have been bullied. I had also married an alcoholic who spend his life bullying others, not with violence but with his mouth.
Breast cancer is not the worst thing that can happen to you in life. It feels like it sometimes, but when you have a past that takes over your life, you can see that there are other things that can be even more devastating. Make it clear to those that you know that you will not tolerate a bully. Anyone who is a bully has no place in your life, whether it is a friend or relative.

There is no one in the world who has the power to bully you if you won't let them.  Don't let them. If you need to, report them to someone. If they are physically violent, make sure they spend some time in jail or treatment. Don't put up with a bully. If you are married to one, remember the bully is not just changing your life but the life of your children and your family. Nothing is worth the pain a bully costs. There are people out there who can help.

DON'T PUT UP WITH A BULLY!

GOD LOVES YOU AND SO DO I! God is good all the time!

Shrimp & Grits Pink

We went to NC last Friday. We didn't get there until late in the evening and fixed a DGiorno Pizza in the oven. It really did taste like someone just made it. We stopped at Sam's Club on the way through Greenville to  provision our weekend stay. Rhonda was at our house when we got there. She had taken all the plastic drop cloths off the furniture and was vacuuming. She is a wonderful daughter. She knows the troubles I have gone through and she helps when she can. She had bought me a pot of gold mums and in the birthday card she had two coupons: one for painting the porch and one for a complete detail house cleaning. When Jesse got there with Garrett and Taylor, they gave me their handmade cards. They are so cute.
Ray and I slept in on Saturday and just rested most of the day. We got together with Rhonda, Jesse, and the twins and went to the MUMFEST in New Bern. It was nice. It is held in the old downtown part of New Bern on the water. There was a band there but they had it closed off so you had to pay to get in to see them. Since we could hear the music, why pay? I guess I am used to the cities around here. They usually provide the Entertainment in a effort to get people to come to the event. Anyway, the children had fun on the Ferris Wheel, teacups, and bumper cars. We walked much further than I am used to. I found a pretty necklace, earrings, and bracelet from Africa. We bought drinks from the New Bern Lions Club and I met the President of their club whose name is Barbara too.

After MUMFEST, we went to Annabelle's Restaurant in New Bern. I don't think I ever said it out-loud before, but I love shrimp and I love grits. The thought that someone actually took two of my favorite foods and made such a luscious dish as shrimp and grits is almost beyond my comprehension. It was awesome. Actually, I would have put more shrimp in it and maybe a little Old Bay Seasoning. But it was really good. Then my precocious granddaughter told the waiter that we were having my birthday dinner. So the waiter brought all the other waiters and presented me with "Death by Chocolate." (with 6 spoons, thank goodness)

Garrett stayed the night with us. He laid down with his blanket on the sofa and fell right to sleep. I fell asleep in my recliner. We were all so exhausted that we stayed in bed late on Sunday. I think I overdid it Saturday. When I got up, I made pancakes. Rhonda came and got Garrett. Ray fixed a few things around the house and I cleaned up what I could. Then Ray and Jesse went to a barbecue restaurant to get dinner. They brought home barbecue chicken, Carolina Pork Barbecue, potato salad, cole slawb, but there were no hushpuppies in the bag. And I really had my mouth set for hushpuppies. LOL! It is about 20 miles to New Bern and too far to go to get the hushpuppies. Oh well, we made do. Jeff, Sharon, and Dillon came out and had dinner with us. It was good to see them. Rhonda was trying to get the children's things together for the week so they didn't stay long.  It sure was nice to see them.
Ray and I got up and got the car packed and came back to VA on Monday. When we got home Ray turned on the computer and it didn't come on. I went to the HP site and went through everything it said and still nothing. We tried to call a friend from church on Tuesday but he never called back so Ray called Geeks and they sent someone to fix it. He was here about the time I left to go to my Genesis class. Anyway, he replaced the power supply and Ray was working on the computer when I got home. He didn't lose anything. I am so glad. It was a wake-up call for him. He will be backing up everything every day now.

BACK IN THE PINK!

If you have been following me on Twitter, you know that I have been having some issues. My rheumatoid arthritis is worse and I have been on antibiotics for over 10 days. I had the most awful flu or something. Doc said it was an infection. It made me miserable. I couldn't breathe, barely get around and was becoming a woman with cabin fever. Then I thought, @ZnaTrainer had been calling a tweeting me. She knows how sick I have been and she also knows that she has to keep pushing me to exercise. Needless to say, I hit bottom. I was just miserable and decided to try the O2 Breakthrough again. It is so amazing. It is a shame that I think I have to quit when I feel better. I don't think I will be able to quit again. It really makes a difference in how I feel, my flexibility, and the pain. The pain goes away! All I have to do is do the "Power of Perfect Ten" and the endorphins begin to flow. I actually went through 2 workouts this morning, one right after the other. Zna told me a new one this morning that you stand up and I can do it periodically during the day when I have a couple of minutes by myself. I am committing myself to do this and do it well. Zna is one of the kindest people that I know. Zna, You are a life-saver!

I have stayed with Xango and starting today, I am drinking a half a bottle a day. I figure I have enough to last a month and I will see how it works for this. Along with the O2 Breakthrough, I should be one of the healthiest people around. LOL! I will publish my results. I am making a smoothie in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is supposed to increase my energy. All things being equal, I should be better next week. 

As for things in my life, they are going well. I learned a friend, Margaret (Peg) Clarke passed away. She was a dear lady. Her husband, Ed, was in my Lions Club. Peg worked every bit as hard as Ed even though she was not a member of the club. She is also a member of the GFWC Newport News Women's Club. She has been living in Richmond for the past few years with her children.

We are going to celebrate my birthday on Friday by going to the Blue Iquana in Fairfax VA on Friday.

I love that restaurant. My wonderful husband, Ray and I will be in Fairfax at the Hyatt Fair Lakes (http://fairlakes.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp). It is a lovely hotel. We stay there about once a year when we have our NAP Conferences. I won't be able to eat in the meetings, because of all the people. I will stay in the room and snack prepared things from home. It is difficult for me to eat out anyway. I will go to the classes, because I can sit in the back away from everyone. My immune system is so low. I just know the O2 Breakthrough is going to make everything better.

Today is dinner at church and I will be picking up Dot and Kitty at the Chesapeake at 4:15. I hope they go today. It sure is raining hard but we are going to brave the weather. We are all so glad to see the rain, it seems like months since it rained. I sure hope it saves my bushes in the yard.

Ray and I have really gotten into Dancing With the Stars. I cannot believe how interested he is this year. Since that is the way we met, I have always thought it was strange that he did not watch it. We both love dancing and that was actually how we got together. He could dance very well because he had Ballroom Dance lessons. I asked him to teach me and the next thing I knew, he asked me out to the Rockola Cafe. The rest is history.

I am coming up on this birthday on October 1st and that always makes me take stock. I can say that over this past year and a half I have met some awesome people on Twitter, Facebook, and other networks. I have also learned so much about my church family and just how dear they are. Despite my illnesses, they have shown me how to be the hands and feet of Christ and I love them all so much. My family has been very supportive. Although I don't think they realize the severity of the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. I wasn't aware of it. I though arthritis was arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease that can really knock you down in a relatively short time. 

 We are getting a new Samsung Fascinate. It was supposed to come yesterday, but I guess it will be here today. I am trying to be patient. LOL. 

·       God closes doors no man can open & God opens doors no man can close..Have a blessed day and remember to be a blessing...

God is Good All the Time.

What a Week Pink

Clay, Erika, Savannah & Summer

I have two new great-nieces, Savannah and Summer. My lovely niece Erika and husband Clay Scaramaca. They are pictured to the right. Erika is my sister Jan's youngest daughter. They live in Florida not too far from Jan. That is a good thing. Erika has 2 little girls already and I know from experience, twins are a handful. All of Jan's grandchildren are girls. LOL! I think that Heather in Texas has 3 little girls. It is hard to keep up with them all. I can barely keep up with ours. Now I want to go to Florida to visit. I just don't know how our family got so scattered. LOL! Don't you just love babies?                                                                                             I have been sick with the flu since last Thursday. Started out with sneezing, then nausea, then the big "D", fever, dizzy, tired. What else could happen, today it seems to have traveled to my chest. I guess I really need to go to the doctor. I have blood tests this afternoon and I am going to see the doctor after that. Dear Catherine is here today helping me out with the house. I just love her sweet smile and all the help she has been to me all this past year.                                                                  I have been tweeting a lot lately. I have over 32,000 followers. They are so positive. I try to select people with smiles. That way, when I pull up the TweetDeck, everyone is smiling at me. It is so much easier to be positive to smiles. I unfollow lots of people each month who do not follow me back. I think of Twitter as a 2-way street. I follow you, you follow me. Those "celebrities" who do not follow me aren't followed by me over a few days, because they get unfollowed at the end on the month, just like everybody else. Kathy Ireland is the sweetest celebrity, she follows me too, so she never gets deleted. She is so real in everything she does. Her life would be a much better watch than some of the reality shows on TV. She is busy and traveling around the world for charities. Her business is doing well and people really love her. 

It is a beautiful day here in Southeastern Virginia. 72 degrees this morning but only getting to 80 later. I would love to be out in the yard, but I just feel so bad, so I am blogging and tweeting. I even worked on FarmVille some this morning. I guess I am going to have to just quit Farmville. It has gotten aggravating. I like to make the screen big when I am working on the farm and it seems to go back to small screen every minute or two. It is just frustrating to try to do anything. Now, I have to stop planting and go to the Marketplace to purchase gas for my tractor/seeder/harvester. How aggravating is that. Not really a game any more. Becoming like real life, and that could become very boring.

Time for pills. I have missed my O2Breakthrough Training with @ZnaTrainer since last Thursday. I have had trouble breathing and if you cannot take deep breaths, O2 Training doesn't work. Oxygenation is what Zna calls it and it is a very unique way to do it. It really helps with my RA pain, but right now all it does is make me cough. I have viruses. I hope there is something the doctor can give me to help with this problem I have.

I need to get better so I can go to  church tomorrow. I suppose Carol could take the ladies, but I would hate to miss dinner and Bible teaching, even though I have the teaching on DVD. I was going to put them on UTube, but they changed when Google acquired it. Now you cannot put a video on longer than 10 minutes and my videos are over 30 minutes. I cannot even put them on the blog. Pastor Dale Seley is a wonderful pastor and teacher and I am sure that everyone would enjoy his teaching. Maybe when they get the new church website up, they can put his sermons on or at least as podcasts.

I am praying for you today. God is Good, All the time, Love, Barbara

9/11 PINK

Saturday was a difficult day. As we all remember the events of 9/ll/2001, we also have personal memories of where we were and how we felt when we saw the events unfold on television. As for myself, I was home sick that day, waiting to go to the doctor. Ray was in Arlington VA taking a class to become a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. I had gotten up and took a shower, did my hair, and gotten ready to go to see my doctor when a friend called to tell me about the first plane. It is strange, but I cannot remember who called. I turned on the TV just as the second plane was hitting the second tower. Of course, my first reaction was to call Ray in Arlington. No way to get through. I tried on the house phone and on my cell. Nothing. Circuits were busy. I called work and told them what was going on. There was no TV there and no one that I knew of listened to the radio except the boss had a Sirus radio. They had not heard. Then I felt guilt at telling them such horrific news.

When the plane hit the Pentagon, Ray and his classmates, heard and felt the crash. They ran outside and saw the smoke. They had trouble getting back in and later couldn't leave. The hotel was secured because it was a place where military stayed when in DC on duty. I went to the doctor and waited for Ray to call. It was one of the most terrifying days of my life. My blood pressure was up that day, which is truly unusual for me. I couldn't relax until I heard from him. Watching and listening to all the events that happened that day was so traumatic. For weeks and months afterward, I could remember something from that day and feel the tears falling from my eyes.

The thing that was so difficult for me and for so many Christian Americans to understand was that the terrorists did this for their god, Allah (who we think of as Satan). How could a false god inspire people to murder their fellow man? The One True God would never do such a thing. I know that there are people who would disagree, but God didn't approve of this. All this was caused by men who have let false teaching invade their minds and their countries. How could the sons of Abraham be so different. One son follows the only true God and one son follows Satan (who was a creation of God). I guess there is always opposing forces and one day, when Christ returns we will all see the light. Muslims say they see Christ as a prophet, but that is wrong. How could they read His teachings and believe that?  I am just sorry that there are so many nice people who are Muslims who we will not see in Heaven because of their false beliefs.

A Muslim man on line once told me that he prayed 5 times a day and that Christians only prayed on Sunday. I told him he was wrong. As a Christian, my life is a prayer. I pray constantly for others. I pray for their health and well-being. I pray for the protection of their children from forces that could destroy their lives, i.e., sex, drugs, violence, pornography, etc. I pray for the people I have met on Twitter and FaceBook, just as I pray for people in my church, my clubs, my neighbors, our country, and  most of all, our troops. I love them all. I even love Muslims. I try to pray them into true faith. I forgive the terrorists, they are led by people who are insane or brain-washed. I pray for the Holy Spirit to open their minds and hearts to the One True God.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become a sounding brass or, a tinkling cymbal. and through I  have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.

Love suffereth long and is kind; Love envieth not; Love vaunteth not itself and is not puffed up; Doth not behave itself unseemly, Seeketh not her own, Is not easily provoked, Thinketh no evil, Rejoiceth not in inequity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth; but whether there are prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I become a man, I  put away childish things, For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known, And now abideth faith, hope, Love, these three: but the greatest of these is Love. 1 Corinthians 13

Okay, I am off my soapbox. Just please remember, I do not argue. What you believe is your business, I just put my beliefs out there for you to see. I love you all.
GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

Labor Day Pink

We drove down to NC for the weekend. We went out for a Mexican Dinner at our favorite place in Kinston. It was so good. Afterward, we went to Roses. I haven't been in a Roses store in ages. I bought some little blankets for the kids to use at our house. They had some great prices.

Ray and I went to Sam's Club on Sunday and bought a big rack of pork ribs. We took them to Rhonda's and Jesse  put them on the grill after Rhonda parboiled them. We had them with red-potato salad, corn on the cob, and yummy rolls. Later we had strawberry shortcake. Jeff and Sharon brought Dillon and Grandmother Hazel followed them. We finally got to see Taylor's Dance Recital on DVD.

It was a restful weekend altogether and the ride home wasn't bad. Not as much traffic as we thought there would be with the holiday weekend. I had an appointment on Wednesday and my blood PT/INR was too  high (4.6), so I had to go back on Friday and it was 2.6. Thank God.

It was a sad week. On Sunday, Sept 3, our neighbor, Chuck Kessler, passed away. Chuck was a dear sweet man. He and his wife, Barbara, used to keep our grass cut back when I was working. They helped us in so many ways. Our dogs thought they were their grandparents because Chuck and Barbara would watch them when we went off for the weekend or even a week. They couldn't stand the thought of Precious at the Vet for a week or Pepe when he came along. Lovely people. We took them with us as "Roadies" for a long time when we DJ'd. Chuck was a DJ at the NASA Dances in Hampton 20 years ago and had retired but loved going with us. They could dance so well. We went to the reception for him even though it was for family. His niece, Paula is married to Ray's son, Kevin so we are related in a way. The funeral was on Thursday at the Lutheran Church on HW 17. There was a nice crowd and the funeral itself was pretty formal. Chuck was cremated, so it was more of a memorial service.

Evelyn Kenney also passed away on September 3. Evelyn was living in healthcare at the Chesapeake. Reverend Dr. Furman Kenney is her husband. He married Ray and I over 15 years ago and is also in our Lions Club. Evelyn was a lovely woman, great mother, and wonderful wife. She was also a minister but followed her husband of over 60 years. Dr. Kenney was instrumental in starting the Chesapeake when it was known as the Baptist Home. He has a lovely apartment there and has written 4 books in the past few years and I hear that he is working on a new murder mystery.

The third person in my life to pass away this week was Connie Rowe. Connie was a hairdresser that worked at Hairrington Place on Warwick Boulevard in Hilton. When I went in to get my haircut in January 2010, I told her I was going to have surgery for breast cancer. Then she told me that she was starting chemo the next week for cervical cancer. She didn't work any more after that day. She was a ray of sunshine in her life. She brought a smile to everyone.

The most comforting thing about these three dear people, they were devout Christians. It is so much easier when someone you know is a Christian goes to be with the Lord. It is more of a celebration than mourning. I love them all, will miss them, but I will see them again. Praise the Lord. 
God is Good, All the time.