Giveaway Winners!!

It's looks like I will be posting this just under the wire but here we go . . .

For the desk calendar . . .

For the wall calender . . .

 And because it was so much fun picking winners and I hated to stop, I picked an extra giveaway winner. I have no calenders left but this winner will be getting a little something in the mail as well . . .

Congratulations to all the winners! I will be contacting you in the next few days for details on where to send your gifts.

It really stinks that you couldn't all be winners though . . . I am going to have to figure something out before my next giveaway to address that problem . . .

Stay tuned!

New Deadline To Enter Giveaway, Good News . . . And A Few Pictures.

It's been an odd week.

Monday morning found me walking into the Cross Cancer Clinic.

 It was strangely unsettling.

I had been relieved when my surgeon told me it was very unlikely that I would been called to go there and consult about further treatment.

Because going to the Cross would make me one of those people.

You know . . .

 People with cancer.

 People whose lives were forever changed.

And that wasn't me. Not really. I was cancer free now . . . so it wasn't the same.

Walking in there Monday morning for my first appointment at the Rehab department brought home to me very clearly that it is the same . . .

.I am a person who had cancer.

My life has been forever changed. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I met the nicest physiotherapist. (you have no idea how many amazing people I have met in the last few months!) It turns out this is where I will be going for both lymphodema and physio.

This  visit was to assess where I am when it comes to lymphodema. There is some swelling. I will likely be trying out some types of compression stocking, although as  I am not physical able to get one on yet  our first focus will be on learning how to  do the self massage that will hopefully aid the built up fluid in moving to areas that still have lymph nodes. I will have to do this daily. I am also going to the clinic twice a week to have someone trained in this technique to massage my leg thoroughly.

It's a little tricky, although I am assured that once I get the hang of it I'll be able to do it in my sleep . . .

Wouldn't it be great if you really could do something like that in your sleep? It would save so much time . . .

In the afternoon I saw my surgeon. Before I had even gotten there my drain was up to 66ml and I don't usually add up the day's amounts until 10 at night!! More than double the 30 I had been aiming for.

The doctor came in and asked how it was going.

I patted my drain.

"Well, good news." she said cheerfully. "That's coming out right now! You're going to be free!"

"What!!" I was just a little freaked out. When a drain comes out too soon the fluid can build up in a pocket and often it needs to be drained with the aid of a needle. Not my idea of a good time!

She explained that at this point the drain would continue to run forever and that the drain itself was likely causing irritation and adding to the fluid.

The drain was coming out and we would just have to wait and see what would happen.

So far so good I think. My leg is aching as I type and that still makes me nervous. But as I spent the last two days getting back to a normal life  it's likely that the ache is more from overdoing than fluid building up in a pocket.  My leg overall is swelling a bit more but that's to be expected. (The whole thing still freaks me out . . .  but that's what prayer's for isn't it?)

So . . .

I had intended to do the giveaway draw tonight however. . .

Although I know lots of you read the giveaway post, very few of you actually entered, so I'm giving you all another chance.

It doesn't matter if you are family, or already have a calender, or just dropped by for the first time, or feel that as you never comment it wouldn't be right to do it for a giveaway. (why do you think so many bloggers have giveaways??? We want to hear from you and this is our sneaky way of getting you to do it! ;D )

Just enter!

I have decided to extend the deadline for entering until this Monday at midnight or when ever I get up Tuesday morning. (because I do not want to have to figure out what time zone someone from across the country is in and whether they made it before midnight.)

The giveaways are two calenders, one wall and one desk, as well as a few surprise goodies to to keep things interesting.

You can either leave a comment on this post or go to the original one to check out all the pictures on the calender and comment there. Click here to go to the post.

Not sure how to leave a comment?

 At the bottom of every post you will see leave a comment or it will say how many comments there are. Click on that and it will bring you to the comment page. Type a message, making sure you give me a way to contact you should you win the giveaway. (remember, everyone can see your comment, so you probably won't want to leave a phone number.) Leave your name in the comment and if you don't have a Google account you can just sign in as anonymous and click on publish your comment.

Easy . . .

The two winners will be announced on Wednesday morning. (as long as things go as planned. Sometimes they don't . . .)

And because I'm always playing around with my camera ( the most likely reason my leg is aching as I couldn't resist the hoar frost outside today.)

A few amaryllis pictures . . .

Good luck!

A New Year's Giveaway

In honour of a new year, I am holding a little giveaway here at Diary of a middle aged gardener.

I have one wall calender and one desk calender left from my 2013 calendar line.

The give away is very simple. . .

Leave a comment along with your e-mail or some other way to contact you  and your name will be entered in a draw to be held one week from today.
(if you find it difficult to comment here I will also accept comments on facebook)

There will be two winners. One person will win the wall calender and the other the desk calender.

All entries must be in by midnight next Thursday January 10.

And because I'm super excited to host this giveaway it is quite possible that there will bit a little extra in each of the winners packages. . .

Because, really, is there anything more exciting than a nice surprise???

This giveaway is open to everyone no matter were you live in the world. . . which is making me pretty excited!

The calendars are made from heavy weight cardstock and all pictures were taken by me.

Here's a preview. . .

Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June (on the desk calendar)

June (on the wall calendar)

July

August

September

October

November   (and in case you are not quite sure. . . it's a pine cone . . .  ;D )

December

Good luck!

Starting The New Year Out Right.

Normally at this time of year, I go into list making mode.

I start decluttering, reorganizing, menu planning.

The menu planning doesn't usually last past week two but the huge pile of cookbooks I bring home from the library and pile beside my chair help me keep up the delusion that this is the year to get ahead of the whole . . . supper comes every day thing . . .

I do a massive spring cleaning in January because I know come spring I'll be outside and I won't come back in until October sometime. (November if I'm lucky)

I have a list of house projects and a list of garden projects and a list of new things to learn.

Of course I know I'll be lucky to get even a fraction of each  list done but I like feeling as though I know where I'm going and how I plan to get there.

This year, for the first time in my adult life, there are no lists.

I have no idea where I am going or how I might get there.

I don't even pretend to think I know what tomorrow is going to look like.

The thing that's odd about that???

I'm actually kind of relieved.

I am going into this new year with the certain knowledge that each day is a gift.

And what that gift will hold when I unwrap it each day is going to be a surprise . . . and beyond my control.

Does that mean I think it will be a happy, skip with joy from one day to the next, kind of year?

Not at all.

My days right now are a struggle as I work hard on sitting in my chair each day, getting up only to go to the bathroom in hopes that my drain will slow down once and for all.

Yesterday? That worked.

Today? Not so much. It seems my state of mind has something to do with it as well.

Yesterday? Happily hanging out, reading my book and visiting with Ev who dropped by.

29 ml at the 24 hour mark. Yes!! One ml below the target.

Today? Anxious all day, worrying about what a trip to my doctor's will do to my drain's fluid count.
Thankfully I was able to postpone the appointment  Only got up to load the dishwasher and make boxed scalloped potatoes to go with the roast chickens Henry brought home.

57 ml at the 24 hour mark. Nearly double what it needs to be before they will take the drain out.

I need there to be no more than 30 ml in 24 hours two days in a row.

It seems I not only have to sit perfectly still all day, I also have to be happy while doing it!

Am I getting frustrated?

Absolutely. The thing is though, I also know that the drain will come out at the very second it should, according to God's plan. Not a second early or a second late.

God's timing is perfect.

And that's the joy I am bringing into the new year.

Not that everyday is going to be fabulous, or interesting, or even just okay. But everyday will bring anew God's plan for me and I am looking forward to finding out what that plan might be.

It was my hope to blog everyday but until this drain comes out and I have the whole fluid thing under some kind of control, that might not be possible.

So I let go. I choose to meet each day with the steady joy of knowing that God is in control and he has a plan for me and that plan will be worked for my good.

My sister Tamara posted a few verses on Facebook the other day and they struck me as the perfect verses to take into the year ahead. . .

"22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:22-23

What I can do to ring in the New year???

Take a trip to Home Depot with Holly and brighten the house with these. . .

A Photography Challenge

As a way to improve my photography this year I decided to join Clickin Moms, an awesome photography forum.

One of they creative challenge things they do is to weekly post a list that has a photo prompt for each day with the idea being that these photos help to give you a glimpse into your daily life

I thought this would be fun but the forum challenge is to use an iPhone or android and then posting it to Instagram.

As I have neither iPhone nor android and I am one of likely a small handful of people in the world who doesn't think Instagram is the best thing since sliced bread .  . .

I decided to use whichever camera is handy and just post the pictures to my blog everyday instead.

*hopefully I'm not breaking any forum rules though . . . (Chandra? Any idea?)

Clickin Moms calls this Glimpse for obvious reasons but as I am not really following the rules properly I am just going to call it Daily Life . . .

Today's words are:

Favorite Recipes . . .

Best chocolate treat ever!

The Start Of A New New Year's Eve Tradition??

My sister Tamara commented that she was looking forward to seeing the new way we were going to bring in the New Year.

When I talked about a new way of doing things in the New Year, that was not quite what I meant . . . but . . .  perhaps she knew what we would be up to later that day. . .

Have we just started a new tradition???

Some time after lunch yesterday (which we hadn't yet eaten) Henry wandered back in the house and asked if I wanted to go to Denny's for a bite to eat. I can count on one hand the number of times we've gone to Denny's, but the kids go there every so often so I do know that the food is pretty good.

I agreed as Holly flopped on the couch rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Ooohh that sounds like fun! You guys should go!"

I looked at Henry.

"Was this supposed to be a date??"

He snorted. "No. . ."

"Holly would you like to come too?"

Her eyes sparkled. "If you're sure you don't mind. . . "

"Run down and wake up Jesse. See if he wants to come too."

Once he realized the meal was on us he was up and dressed in no time.

Morgan had been sleeping over at a friend's house so they could watch World Junior Hockey in the middle of the night.

But he's got good radar for stuff like this and phoned from a fast food parking lot wanting to know if anyone would like him to bring home food.

He beat us to Denny's.

 As many of you know, I have this weird quirk that causes my face to contort in all manner of ways when a camera is pointed in my direction. . .

 It took poor Henry ten minutes to get something he felt was acceptable. . . (I'm still not so sure. . .)

 Some of us had breakfast. . .

Some of us had lunch. . .

And some of us had supper. . . . (and a bad attitude  . . . because for some reason grumpy faces are fun  when you make them at your sister . . ? )

While composing the shot below Henry looked at me as though I had lost what was left of my mind and asked  "What are you taking a picture of??? A spoon?? Garbage??"

Holly calmly informed him that I was looking for the artistic shot.

I told him that as I can't get out and have fun the normal way, I have to make my own fun.

And sometimes that means taking artistic (Ahem) pictures of spoons and crumpled straw wrappers.

Cause that's how I roll now. . .

The new tradition?

Well we had quite the discussion on just what this meal was.

It was too late for breakfast but some of us hadn't yet had breakfast. It could be a latish lunch but Henry looked at me, grinned and said "but you aren't going to cook supper anymore are you?"

Ahhh. . . probably not.

So . . .  not brunch or even lupper. . .

Blupper! New's Year's Eve day Blubber!!!

* No that last one's not a typo. . . my kids can never leave well enough alone ( and I have no idea who they got that from!) and somehow blupper morphed into blubber.

Why?

Sigh.

Holly tells me it's for all my American readers who think Canadians live in igloos and eat blubber everyday . . .

I can almost guarantee that next New Year's Eve day you will find us back at Denny's for a now annual New Year's Eve Blupper . . . I mean  Blubber.

Why not join us and start a  tradition of your own. . .