Why am I Really Doing This?

Hi all, it's been a long time since my last post I know. I was substitute teaching a lot and I don't balance work and home as well as others. I thought I might just delete my blog if I am not able to keep it up regularly, but for now I have decided to leave it - sporadically updated and all.

Georgia also has had a rough few weeks - pneumonia and another virus - but she is doing better now. I realize that things could be much worse. Another dear cancer mom lost her 4 year old daughter to leukemia last week. Last year at this time, my friend Tiffany lost her daughter to a rare tumor. Another family from Siloam Springs is hoping for a miracle for their baby boy also struck by leukemia. These are just the ones I know. There are many others I follow through caringbridge that I have never met but battle just the same. Childhood cancer is an beast that must be stopped! But how? I was talking to one of the nurses at Arkansas Children's Hospital yesterday and she was relaying to me that they are seeing a large increase in oncology patients. Why is this happening? Logically, I care more about this issue because I have a huge stake in it, but shouldn't everyone care about a disease striking our children?

The survival rate for childhood cancer is about 8 in 10. Sounds pretty good doesn't it? But what if your child is one of the 2? The kind of cancer that Georgia had, has a survival rate of somewhere in the 90%. That's awesome especially when you consider that it was 0% only 15 years ago. A cure is awesome, amazing, wonderful, but I would love to see more focus on prevention! The medicines that Georgia and other leukemia patients take are wonderful and horrible at the same time. Yesterday the nurse and I were discussing the drug that Georgia was receiving through her port - as she does every month. The drug is called Vincristine - and I thank God for it. However, one dose of it in the tissue or spine - rather than a vein causes immediate death! That is sobering. Prevention would be so much less dangerous and painful.

That brings me to my title today. Why am I blogging? Why am I blogging about home decorating of all things? I am reminded daily of how trivial most things are. How the things that really matter are usually the things that get put aside. Yet here I sit typing away the precious minutes. I guess I do this because it is an escape. I used to tell myself that I was making a wonderful home for my family. But we all know that a home is made by love and dedication, not chalkboard plates or refinished chairs. So I have come to the conclusion that I decorate and blog about it as a means to escape the realities of life and sometimes to think about them while I am crafting.

So I hope that I have not brought you down, but reminded you that the family inside the home is more important than the home itself. BUT decorating and crafting are a fun way to get away from it all. I will keep decorating and rambling about a cure!

So here are a few of my Christmas projects:


Here is the wreath that I made per Kimba at A Soft Place to Land. See the link on the right of my blog.



Here is sign I made by simply painting over an ugly one I found for $2.




Here is a little display on a cabinet in the dining room. Simple candle in a jar with fresh greenery from the yard, add a wreath I already had and VIOLA!



I found this "ready to paint" sign at HobLob for 1/2 price, of course. I painted it red and then covered the bottom. I then splattered the top with white paint to create the snowed on look.


These are my favorites, but of course there is more- such as my burlap table runner. If I find time I will post more pictures. I leave you with a picture of me under our Christmas tree - literally! It fell on me while I was steadying the base. I wasn't hurt but could not get up - it is a real tree and HEAVY. The kids were too busy laughing like mad and taking pics to help me. Merry Christmas!