Getting Back to Reality

December. I can't believe it's just over two weeks till Christmas. I haven't been very attentive to this blog the past couple of months and I apologize to my readers. It's been kind of a crazy time and I didn't get much reading done, hence the lack of regular posts. For six mind-numbing weeks I was waiting to get tests results to find out if the cancer I had last year has come back. The symptoms pointed to that, but the tests didn't show anything conclusive. I was told there is "something" there (abdominal) but my Oncologist doesn't think it's cancer. I have to have one more test to make sure. An x-ray showed a spot on my lung as well, so I'm waiting now to have a CT scan that will show more clearly what that is. It will be the end of March before the testing is done, results are in and I see him again, so it's going to be another long wait. I think I'm past the shock and panic stage of those first six weeks though. I'm able to read and concentrate on what I'm doing and not feeling quite so scatterbrained as I did. There is Christmas to be celebrated and life to be lived and I'm not going to let what "might be" change all that.  So here's hoping I'll get some reading done in the coming weeks, well, once I finish the shopping, wrapping, baking, etc.!


Several weeks ago 100 Thoughts very generously awarded me the Life Is Good award and I am only now getting around to thanking her and passing it on. I have linked back to her blog so you can check out some of her reviews. I'm passing it on to Jamie at perpetualpageturner. I chose her and her blog because 1.-I like her positive attitude and 2.-although I am a lot, lot older than her, I'd still like to be her if I ever grow up. Which I probably won't. Go have a look at her blog;. She's....well she's likeable. You'll like her!

Award recipients are asked to answer the following questions:
1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now? I did consider anonymity in the beginning but it didn't feel right for me. I was a little nervous about family/friends reading it but I don't think many of them do anyway. Only a couple of friends are regular readers.
2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side. Well....I assured myself it would be a good idea to cut back on Christmas this year, a small tree, very little baking, fewer gifts, etc. I'm sitting here looking at the biggest tree we've had in years, there is already baking in the freezer and I have a stack of recipes sitting on the kitchen counter, and I can hardly get to my bed because there is a mountain of bags and boxes that need to be wrapped and put under the huge tree. Stubborn or stupid?
3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror? Someone whose outside and inside don't match.
4. What is your favorite summer cold drink? A mango margarita.
5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do? Read.
6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in life? What is it? I want to write something good.
7.When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching? The shy person. I wouldn't wish it on anybody.
8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see? There was a moment when my son was about 5 and my daughter 10.  It was a Saturday and we were all at home. My husband was reading the paper, my son playing with cars in the hallway and my daughter was in her room doing nothing in particular, just enjoying a day off school. I was sitting in my chair in the livingroom reading when I became aware that the moment was perfect. Everybody was together at home, healthy, happy and doing something they wanted to be doing. It was so perfect, and I knew how precious it was and that it had to be savoured because there was no guarantee of having that moment again. I've never forgotten it.
9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events? I tend to write mostly about the books I'm reading. I'm not very comfortable making myself vulnerable, so this post is going to get read and reread and rewritten a hundred times before it's posted.
10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why? Read, always. I'm sort of anti-phone. I don't like making calls and I don't like it when the phone rings. I may be the only person left on the planet who doesn't have (or want) a cell phone.

I hope to have a review ready to post soon now that I'm reading again. Thank-you to all my readers for your patience. And thanks for being here.
Dianne