~I HAVE BREAST CANCER~

I don't even know how to go about saying this as I can't find any way to try to sugar coat it.
I have been diagnosed with Lobular Invasive Carcinoma Breast Cancer. I have to have a double mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and chemotherapy.
I will have to do chemo 3 weeks after the surgery and they will call me tomorrow to let me know which day I am going in for my mastectomy. My lump is the size of a golf ball in the shape of an egg. During surgery they will biopsy my lymph nodes to see if it has spread. My surgery will be at least 3 hours. This came on very fast as I do monthly breast exams and just had my yearly check done in late August.
I haven't had time to be scared as everyone else is worrying for me. (maybe that's a good thing)
And....I am still planning on listing on the website as I can, although it may be sporadic. I love my work with the site and eBay and I think it will help me through a lot of what is about to happen. Good therapy I hope!!!
I want you to know how much you mean to me and please hang in there with me. I won't always be able to answer emails and I plan on journaling all of this right here on the blog.

I am going to beat this, and Jill (my best friend who just lost her sister)said to me . "It's better to have rough days, than no days at all."

If anyone can get thru this.....It will be me!!!!
PLEASE IF ANYONE HAS HAD THIS TYPE OF CANCER.....LET ME KNOW, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER and GOD IS GOOD!!!! Love and Hugs, Amy

~When it RAINS~~~It POURS~

It's been a crazy week here at our house. Bob was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis, where the muscle in the arch of his foot is tearing away. He has been put in a plaster cast from his toes to his knee. (he of course, can't work being a Firefighter because he can't get his fire boot on.)

Then, our 14 year old son was running his last race in track and tore some muscles in his leg and is now on crutches for the next 6 weeks.

I had a biopsy on Friday and will find out the results this coming Tuesday and boy am I sore, I can't hardly move my right arm.

We are also trying to get ready for our 17 year olds CNA Graduation Ceremonies which we volunteer to host (over 100 people will be here on Sunday and it's not the party...IT'S THE CEREMONIES!!!! )

So needless to say, I have been a bit busy this week. Isn't is funny how when it rains...it pours. Have a great weekend and I will be back posting soon.... Amy

~CAMP FIRE IN THE COUNTRY~

~A FUN TIME had by ALL, The night before MOTHER'S DAY~

Sitting around the camp fire outside in our back yard....We had 15 kids here Saturday Night and it was a BLAST!!!!

WE NEED MORE WOOD!!!!

THE KIDS KEEP COMING......

HOW MANY MARSHMELLOWS CAN YOU SHOVE IN YOUR MOUTH.....SIX according to BROOKE

WHEN CAN WE DO THIS AGAIN?????

We had so much fun and it was one of my favorite Mother's Day weekends. I love having all the kids here with their friends.....I can honestly say "We are the Kool-aid House".....which is what I love.....

Hope everyone's Mother's Day was as fun as mine......Amy

~MORNING COFFEE in the COUNTRY LIFE~

~MORNING COFFEE in the COUNTRY LIFE~

This is where I sit every morning in the SPRING and SUMMER to drink my coffee and wake up. I have 2 to 3 cups of coffee (French Vanilla with lots of French Vanilla Creamer) on the front porch as I watch the sun come up. The picture with the sun is of course out of the East and the other picture is to the North. Pretty soon, that entire field will be filled with Iowa Sweet Corn!!!

OH THE COUNTRY LIFE!!!!

~I've Fallen & I can't get up~

I've fallen off the BLOG WAGON and I can't get up.....

Boy, I totally blew it these past few weeks by not posting anything and I feel like I have fallen off the blog wagon. I haven't even had time to read anyone else's blog and that is one of my favorite things to do.

I just want you to know I am still here.....just busy as ever with SPRING in the air.

Stay tuned for more......

Amy

~WE HAVE A WINNER~

WE HAVE A WINNER

Terri from http://momsdailythoughts.blogspot.com/ was my 8th person to leave a comment on my April Pay It Forward.

Terri, please contact me via email (my address is on the right side of my blog) so I can get your information. Also, you have 30 days to spend the $10.00 gift certificate and I will be listing all new treasures this weekend on the website if you don't find anything this week.

THANK YOU EVERYONE who left comments.....Amy

~Still Looking for a Winner~

STILL LOOKING FOR A WINNER.....

(above is the little cabinet that my Mom found for me and I redid it with fabric and trims)

I'm still looking for a winner for our April's Pay It Forward....

I have 3 comments so far and just need 5 more....

For APRIL'S PAY IT FORWARD...I am once again giving away a $10.00 gift certificate to our website.....just be the 8th person to leave a comment on this blog entry....HAVE FUN!!!~Amy (Mom to the Four Sisters~)

~GOOD FRIDAY~I WOULD SAY SO~

GOOD FRIDAY???

Good Friday was the day I went with my wonderful hubby to ride along to his Firefighter training class he was teaching. On the way home, we had to pick up his boat which was being serviced at the marina. As we drove home, we were taking the back roads and I saw, sitting across the road from a house, an old vintage wicker rocking chair and a bright yellow 1940's metal porch gliding sofa. I thought, "How strange to have those sitting next to a mail box across the street from the house." As we drove by I saw a HUGE SIGN tape on both pieces saying "FREE". OH, IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I tried to sputter out the words, "PLEASE TURN AROUND...THAT STUFF IS FREE!!!"

WHAT A GREAT MAN I HAVE MARRIED, He managed to swing the truck around while hauling his big fishing boat and not only did he stop and check each piece out to make sure they were structurally sound but he loaded them up without any hesitation and unloaded them for me too. You see, I have am not used to having anyone do anything for me like that (years of bad marriages) and every time Bob does those kinds of things for me...I am amazed!!!! I would say, It's was a GOOD FRIDAY INDEED. Now the ideas are swirling around in my head and I really need to learn to sew. Couldn't you just see some adorable porch pillows on the wicker rocking chair and repaint the yellow porch sofa to white and add some happy vintage RED CHERRY Tablecloth pillows to it. What a fun find....AND WHAT AN AWESOME HUSBAND.....Thank you Bob!!! I AM TRULY BLESSED!!!
Amy (Mom to the Four Sisters)

~PAY IT FORWARD~151 NEW TREASURES at www.FourSistersInACottage.com

If you get a chance, check out all 151 yummy new treasures at www.FourSistersInACottage.com

And for APRIL'S PAY IT FORWARD...I am once again giving away a $10.00 gift certificate to our website.....just be the 8th person to leave a comment on this blog entry....HAVE FUN!!!
~Amy (Mom to the Four Sisters~)

~THANKS MOM~

~THANKS MOM~

JUST THE BEST BLUE/GREEN DUCK EGG COLOR INSIDE

TONS OF DETAILS INCLUDING THE RIBBING DOWN BOTH SIDES OF THE FRONT

What a wonderful surprise to see my Mom show up with this darling vintage cupboard.

She said I needed a "pick me up" after the week I have been through and she bought this for me at one of our local thrift stores yesterday. She knows me SOOOO WELL!!!

It is already painted white (although it needs a bit of scrubbing) and the inside is a delicious blue/green robin egg color. There is a small piece of wood missing off the front door but I believe I am going to cover the top and the doors with vintage fabric.....Shabby Roses of course!!! I might replace the knobs with some vintage milk glass ones or maybe even some of the pink cut glass knobs I already have. I will just have to wait and see once I add the fabric to it.

The details are awesome from the ribs on the side, to the little cut out curves on each leg. The doors are perfect and I can't wait to get started on this little dear. THANKS MOM!!! You always know how to make me smile!!!! Love you tons!!! ~Amy~

~FREE*FREE*FREE~

*FREE*FREE*FREE*.....I LOVE SAVING FOR FREE~~~

MY DEAR FRIEND PAT and FAMILY FRIEND gave me this OLD VINTAGE WESTINGHOUSE STOVE/OVEN over this past week because they have moved to an Island off of Seattle, Washington.....OH I AM SO WAY EXCITED and CANNOT WAIT TO put it in my "studio/shop" and play around with it. My hubby said it STILL WORKS and just look at all those OLD ENAMEL KNOBS!!! Now, does anyone know how to clean something like this??? I was thinking maybe olive oil or some type of vegetable oil to clean up the black cast iron??? I really have no clue or maybe I should just use hot soapy water. If anyone has any suggestions or knows how to clean this BABY up....please let me know. Thanks so much!!! ~Amy~

I LOVE THOSE ENAMEL KNOBS....And should I use PINK ENAMEL accents or RED ENAMEL accents??? Decisions Decisions....

~YUMMY FLAVOR ZONE OVEN.....It just LOOKS DELICIOUS~ Any decorating ideas are GLADLY WELCOME....~Amy~

~Little Girls ~ Little Girls~

~LITTLE GIRLS ~ LITTLE GIRLS~

Some Women are draped in DIAMONDS....

Some Women are draped in PEARLS....

But LUCKY ~ LUCKY ~ LUCKY ME....

~~~I'M DRAPED IN LITTLE GIRLS~~~

~SPRING IN IOWA~

Just a few of our 23 TALL PINE TREES going up the lane to our house. They are at least 50 years old and are as tall as a 10 story building. Fresh green pine sprigs and pine cones that smell like HEAVEN at Christmas Time are why I love these trees!!!

Mr. Face Looks at us when we look out our 9 foot long front picture window. The field across the highway will be planted with IOWA CORN very soon!!!!

Notice the pine cones hanging off Mr. Face Tree??? The girls took some pine cones that had fallen off the pine trees and coated them with PEANUT BUTTER for our feather friends in the winter.

In the back yard which faces the south, we have more pine trees and it was so fun to see little tuffs of green grass coming thru the ground. Love those PINE CONES TOO!!!

This is what we see out of our back door.....this too will be filled with IOWA CORN this summer that grows TALLER than 6 foot and I will be sure to take pictures for all of you to see.

IT'S HERE...IT'S HERE....SPRING IS FINALLY IN IOWA and today we broke a weather record with 79 degree weather. Lots of sun and warm wind and so I thought I would take a picture of what I saw today......Our Backyard...Out our Front Picture Window and those AWESOME TALL Pine Trees that line the lane up to our house. We have 23 pine trees on our property alone.....that doesn't include any of the other trees we have.....I LOVE THE COUNTRY in the SPRING AND SUMMER!!!! And soon they will be planting the corn. I hope to be able to take some night time pictures of the farmers in their big tractors. It's so neat to see them working in the dark planting the corn.

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE.....Amy (Mom to the Four Sisters)

~OUT VOTED~

I am sad to say I have been "OUT VOTED" in the decor of Maddi and Alex's Room. No longer do they want the pretty girly vintage stuff. I am so sad as I love nothing better than to walk into that room and see those old treasures from the past. Bunk Beds are going up, their "taste" is moving in....I'm sad and not handling this change very well. Anyone else out there ever had this happen??? If so, I need you to write to me and give me some words of comfort.....I have no place to put all of these collections and well, I'm really sick about it.....The picture above is just one side of their room that I have decorated....it's all coming down....WAAAAA!!!! ~Amy~

~Vintage Gardening at FourSistersInACottage.com~

~Vintage Gardening at FourSistersInACottage.com....Hope you can stop by!!!~

~And don't forget the Vintage Linens~

I SURE DO LOVE THOSE VINTAGE LINENS...How about you???

~SPRING and EASTER have arrived at FourSistersInACottage.com

SPRING and EASTER TREASURES are now on the website....Hope you can have a look see.

~WHERE I WORK~

WHERE I WORK....EVERYDAY....

When I open my door to my "shop" this is what I see everyday. I LOVE IT IN HERE. My AWESOME Hubby transformed one of our 2 stall attached garages into "Amy's Shop" for me to work in everyday. It has electricity, heat and air, so it's just the best!!! Where the window is, used to be the garage door, it has painted floors & carpet. And I get to rearrange it whenever the mood strikes me. Just like our trade mark....Because We Love Playing House!!! I am truly blessed and happy that my "work" is only steps away from the rest of the house. This of course, is only a small area of the "shop"....as seen on my previous posts, the opposite wall is my pink painted striped wall.....that is the north wall....the above picture is my south wall. I will of course, get pictures of the east and west walls but I have sooooo much decorating to do with those....LOL
~Amy~

~ANOTHER "COLLECTION" of mine.....VINTAGE RIBBONS~

~"MY SHOP" at CHRISTMAS TIME~

~FEBRUARY'S PAY IT FORWARD~

FEBRUARY'S PAY IT FORWARD CONTEST

As of 4:11pm CST on Sunday March 4th, 2007

I AM ONLY AT POST #9 so don't let the numbers fool you...STILL LOOKING FOR LUCKY NUMBER 10 (only one post/entry per person)

I CAN'T BELIEVE this is the LAST DAY of FEBRUARY!!!
Time just walks away from me...and I realized this morning that I didn't do my monthly PAY IT FORWARD.....So, Get ready friends....

THIS MONTHS'S PAY IT FORWARD is...

A $10.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE to our website...YEP...TEN DOLLARS to www.FourSistersInACottage.com FOR YOU TO SPEND AS YOU WISH.

The 10th person to leave a comment in my blog will win it.....If you have previously won one of my PAY IT FORWARDS, please give others a chance to win.

GOODBYE FEBRUARY, HELLO KITE FLYING MARCH!!!

(PS...Only one post per person will qualify per pay it forward)

~A SNEAK PEEK~

I LOVE "Pink" PARIS IN THE SPRINGTIME

That is my theme this week with all the new treasures going on the website......

YEP...everything you see is for sale...well, okay I am having separation axiety with the petal cake, the cake pedestal that it sits on and the vintage rose fabric covered hatbox...but other than that....everything you see....is going.

I HOPE YOU CAN HAVE A LOOK SEE....