Declutter Friday

My biggest decluttering project this week was the file cabinet. How does it become such a mess so quickly? Take a look at the stack I had to shred!

My husband has a tendency to think we should keep every receipt, bill, piece of mail, etc. that we ever get, but he doesn't put them where they belong, so it's left to me, and I have to say that we will never need some of the things he wants to keep. Do we really need a receipt for the glasses he bought two years ago? I thought I was a pack-rat! So don't tell him, but I threw away a lot of things he would've kept. The file cabinet is cleaned out for now. Now, f I could just stay on top of the filing, this won't happen!

Also got rid of a tee shirt, coat, sweater, and some papers from my children's younger school days that I didn't really need to continue to hang onto.

I hope you'll visit Organising Queen and consider joining us for De-clutter Friday. All it takes is the will to want to de-clutter at least one thing a day.

Then Along Came an Angel & a Prize

I was invited to read and post about a new book, Then Along Came an Angel. What a great deal of hope and inspiration these stories offer, hope and inspiration I'm in desperate need of right now, in a world that sometimes feels hopeless and cold. It is a great dose of warmth and will make a terrific holiday gift.


True, never before published angelic intervention stories are included in this book, Then Along Came an Angel: Messengers of Deliverance. You can order the book at online bookstores or via the publisher. It's available from Amazon for $12.74. Perhaps someone on your holiday list will love it, too!
Excerpt from the book:
Suddenly, I heard a large crash followed by Katie's faint screams for help. The sight I encountered when I rushed into her room will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. There lay my precious four-year old girl under a massive three hundred pound, six foot tall oak chest-of-drawers! I began screaming. I knew that her body was probably crushed and there was no time to waste...we were able to pull the dresser off and she lay silently as my husband scooped her up and rushed her into the car. Later at the hospital after complete x-rays, the doctors questioned what we saw. "Are you absolutely certain a piece of furniture fell on her?" The doctor asked, for the x-rays showed no injuries. To everyone's surprise, Katie, who had until then lay silent, sat straight up on the gurney and announced, "It DID fall on top of me! I was scared but it didn't smush me because Angel Number 7 was holding it until mommy got there. He stayed with me until just now but he had to go!" From "Angel Number 7" by Sandy Williams Driver.

There is a big prize for one "Heavenly Commentor" among the participating blogs. A gift bag worth $118.00! (Go see all the goodies you will win here. Tote bag, hair/skin care, books, DVD's. It's an amazing prize pack!)All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post.

AND - Help me win a prize, too! The reviewer with the most individual comments on his/her blog post will receive a gift bag as well. Leave a comment and let's both win! Get your friends to come leave comments - remember, the more comments I have, the more likely I'll win, plus they'll get a chance to win!

Thank you Julie Bonn Heath and Family Review Network for the opportunity to read this amazing book. Visit other blogs on this angel tour here.

Thursday Thirteen

If you’re looking for something cheerful, you will want to click away right now. In light of the news about my mother yesterday, I’ve done a lot of reading about lung cancer today. I read some things I already knew, but I did learn a few things, too. Sorry, but it’s very depressing.

1. Because lung cancer metastasizes quickly, it is one of the most difficult cancers to treat.
2. Lung cancer is responsible for the most cancer deaths in both men and women throughout the world.
3. Almost 70% of people diagnosed with the condition are over 65 years of age, while less than 3% of cases occur in people under age 45. (My mom is exactly 65 years old.)
4. Lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer in causing the most cancer-related deaths in women in the United States. (This surprised me.)
5. Ninety percent of lung cancers are a result of cigarette smoking.
6. Among people who smoke, 1 in 7 will die of lung cancer.
7. When a person quits smoking, his/her risk of cancer DECREASES each year as normal cells replace damaged cells in the lung. (I’m glad my mom quit – wish it had been sooner.)
8. Nonsmokers who live with smokers have a 24% higher risk of developing lung cancer than those who don’t live with smokers. (I grew up in a smoker’s home.)
9. Exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer.
10. Radon gas, a decay product of Uranium that occurs at dangerous levels in 1 out of every 15 homes in the U. S., can also increase the risk of lung cancer.
11. One percent of lung cancer is attributed to pollution.
12. Twenty-five percent of lung cancer is first diagnosed from a routine chest x-ray or CT scan. (Like my mom.)
13. Persistent or chronic coughing and breathing difficulties are often the first symptom of lung cancer. (Like my mom.)

In addition to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, there are several experimental treatments being developed. I feel blessed to live near the best cancer hospital in the country, M. D. Anderson.

Information on lung cancer from Medicinet

Sad News

Last Monday, I drove my mom to the hospital for a lung biopsy. She had two suspicious masses. She had to be awake during the procedure to breathe in and out at the right moments to get the needle where it needed to be. Her skin was deadened on the surface, but I'm sure it was quite uncomfortable. It seemed to take forever (a couple of hours), and they had to hold her for observation and further chest x-rays for three hours after the test. We were at the hospital for eight hours that day.

She had been a smoker for years until, with God's help alone, she quit almost a year ago. I used to smoke years ago. My sister and I both did. And you know that ex-smokers hate smoking worse than anyone! But we couldn't influence her not to smoke. God did. And He and mom succeeded!

She had originally gone to the doctor for a persistent cough that felt like it gave her a lump in her throat, but nothing would come up. Most doctors simply dismissed her with an anti-biotic telling her she likely had pneumonia again. The pulmonary doctor performed x-rays and noticed something. He then sent her for several more tests culminating in the biopsy.

The results - stage 1 lung cancer (3 to 5+ years). However, she is meeting with an oncologist Tuesday. The prognosis, at this point, is hopeful. The cancer seems to be on the outside of the base of the lung, so "surgical resection, or cutting away, of the tumor generally is indicated for disease that has not spread beyond the lung. " That may prolong her prognosis if the surgery is successful.

Please keep her in your prayers for healing. I've already lost my dad (at age 69, suddenly, from hemotosis of the brain). I need to keep my mom around for a while. And thanks for reading.

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Tackle it Tuesday - The Bookcase

5 Minutes for Mom makes housework bloggable!

My bookcase was in serious need of attention. I decided to take every single book out of the bookcase because there were entirely too many books than there should be on this small bookcase and it needed a good dusting, too! There were papers that needed to go into binders, and it just generally looked sloppy! Athough it took a while to sort through everything, I now have a huge bag of books to donate, the pictures and papers are where they belong, and there is order.

I decided to make the top shelf for fiction, the middle shelf for nonfiction, and the bottom shelf for reference and scrapbooks. Wouldn't you agree that it looks much better? What did you tackle today? Click the link above to go to 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling, too.