First, I'd like to say a huge thank you to all of you who phone me, send emails and leave comments, both here and on facebook. I must have the nicest, most sincere group of women surrounding me, and not a day goes by that I don't think of how lucky I really am. I've spent most of the day, on the phone, with cancer centers/hospitals, oncologists, pathology departments, family and neighbors and even Peter's clients. The phone has finally quieted and it's given me some time, this evening, to reflect and think about all of the conversations I've had today. From Mayo Clinic, with one of the most compassionate women I've spoken with, to my grandpa who had a stroke the day before my surgery in June. (Gramps also has 3 cancers, so we talked for awhile about the different cancer centers here in Phoenix and the bedside manner of various oncologists.) It's easy to feel alone when something unexpected happens, but then I find myself in the middle of this huge group of people who only want the best for me. People who call, just to see if there were any updates this week and when my next apt. is. It's kind of ironic, the fact that ordinarily, I'm a very shy and private person. I'm not use to the phone ringing so much, or people wanting to know my current health status.... I'm not sure how much everyone wants to know, so I try to keep things simple, tell everyone I'm doing good, just getting ready for the next surgery and then the wait for the next set of path reports to come back. I'll admit, sometimes I'm a little weirded out by all of the questions.... but then I try to have a sense of humor and laugh about the awkward moments. :) (That's my new favorite word, awkward, I say it alot when I get off the phone...especially lately.) So, that brings me to the photo part of this post. We've had our neighbors and friends already volunteering to make us dinner and watch the kids for us, after my surgery. (Who knew that having a hysterectomy would come with dinner and a babysitter! It's almost like having a real date with Peter!) So last week, I started making little giftbags filled with pumpkin spiced candles and cinnamon pecan swirl candles. I'll give them away as thankyous to our visitors, but I thought it was an ingenious idea to make them now so they're all ready come next month! Hopefully our friends/family love autumn scented candles as much as I do!! If not, I guess I'll be forced to keep all of the candles and the super cute little gift bags. :)) (insert tooting my own horn *here*) (all of the pink and red leaves are from Kitschy Digitals. Those are my absolute favorite go-to scrap item for everything I create!) If you're still reading this, thankyou! I have a question for you... What else could I purchase as a thank-you gift? I realize that not everyone appreciates candles, so I'm trying to think of something small and simple that I could give away. Any ideas?? ~ Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far!