I've been distracted!

I was absent the last part of 2013, I had a bit of a health scare! My blood results came back with elevated tumour markers at the end of November and I had to find an oncologist here in the states to follow me up! 

He did a new blood test and another tumour marker came up too high so you.can imagine my panic!

Mammo and ultrasound showed my breast and my belly boob (that's what I call my reconstructed boob!) to be clear!

Bone scan came back suspicious so on to an MRI! They found bone cysts on my hips but they say that they are benign! Also osteoarthritis on my hips and lower back, but more on my hips! Oh and my hip is dislocating! Hence the pain I am in!

I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon next week, see what happens there!

So, no cancer! I'm trying to believe that but I have this strange gut feeling that I just can't get rid of!

Everyone says to get a second opinion but that is not that easy with the bloody insurance!!

In the meantime I got my visa so I was a proper resident of the United States!

The other week I receive my green card! All I need now is my social security number! They messed that up during the visa proces!

Then I need to get my drivers licence, I have to do the test because my license is not valid in the states pfff! Ah well, see how that goes lol!

My birthday and Xmas was pretty overshadowed by the cancer scare so it wasn't a really nice Xmas!

But I did get a doggy just before new year! 

She is a little miniature pincher chihuahua mix, we rescued her from the shelter. She is almost six months old now and she is such a doll! I spoil her like crazy, she is my baby lol

In the shelter they had named her Foxy because of the way she looks but I have named her ROXY!

She is my little buddy, goes with me everywhere, I carry her in a pouch and she rides along to pick up the kids from school. She is so good in the car!

Okay Lisa Kettell design team project!

Go over to her wonderful blog and check out my canvas art! Enjoy!

http://faerieenchantment.blogspot.com

 I've also been crocheting my little heart out!! Check these out!

My cutie cosies! You can order by sending me an email as I have not placed on Etsy yet. $12 + shipping

Also these fabulous boot cuffs! They are super trendy! $ 16 a pair plus shipping 

And I've been doing granny squares! So relaxing, I do them while waiting in the pick up line at school lol!  I have made a beautiful throw with them for our sofa and am now making a bedspread in pink and Bordeaux.

Well that's all folks!

Love and peace

Tanya xxx

embrassing changes!

mid november i flew back to Belgium for ten days, it was nice to see some of my friends and family because i had been feeling a little homesick. 

while i was there i had my final interview at the US embasy for my resident visa, it was nerve racking cause it's a matter of someone having last say about your future. But three hours later the kids and I came out with our tickets to pick up our visas two days later, it was a weight off of my shoulders!!

So on Thanksgiving we flew back to the US, our new home!! the plane was almost empty so we got to use the whole row! kids took a window seat each and i could take a nap streched over the three middle seats! it was so peaceful, the kids were glued to their screens the whole 9 hours and 20 minutes of the flight.

Im still doing my best to feel at home, i love the house we rented but seeing that it is only for a year because we want to buy our own next year, its hard to make it a home. i dont know if i should hang things on the wall or not, should i unpack all the boxes or just leave some things packed?

well, seeing we couldnt do Thanksgiving dinner on the actual day, I decided to do it this past weekend.

So yesterday we had turkey and tofurky roast for me, sweet potatoes with pecan crunch topping, roast potatoes, honey glazed carrots and parsnip, homemade cranberry sauce, chedder roasted broccoli, green beans, chocolate-bourbon-pecan pie and pumpkin pie cake.

we all said our thanks and it was just the kind of family occasion to make it feel like home. my little girl made a speech on how thanful she is that i am her mim, it was so moving! she is so special!!!

Christmas helps too! i searched for the perfect tree, bought new lights cause my old ones obviously only work with 220 volt! decorated the tree with some new and some old decorations plus the souvenirs we got in London and disney paris and my little irish fairy that i bought on my roadtrip to Ireland with my daughter Debby in 2011, after my cancer treatment.

i do miss my eldest kids Inez, Bart and Debby! i hope that one year they can manage to come over for Christmas. That would be the best gift ever!!

well for now, the kids are off to school, hubby at work, im still dealing with a bad cold so im going to cuddle up on the sofa with a nice hot cup of english tea and catch up on some recorded tv.

wishing you all wonderful holiday preperations!

love & peace xxx tanya

My second pink ribbon tattoo!

I got my second pink ribbon tattoo done yesterday and I love it!

It is placed on my chest to hide the very nasty scar I have from where the port-a-cath was placed. A port-a-cath is a small device they place under your skin in your chest with a tube going straight to your heart. It is used to administer the chemo. 

Now

 Mine started to grow into my muscle and was causing physical damage so just a few months after my last treatment it was removed, so another cut on top of the barely healed scar resulted in an ugly scar that really bothered me.

So my tattoo was born!

Years ago I had already decided to get a swallow tattoo some day, some day just never came, I turned 40 and then decided I was too old for tattoos.

I'm 46 next month and you know what? I'm NOT too old! Lol apparently my skin is still perfectly suitable for ink!

I've already decided to get the top scar running from my breastbone to my armpit tattooed because wearing swimming suits it does show.

I'm going to get a branch of Japanese cherry blossom done there. Pink blossom of course!

I really liked the artist who did my tattoo yesterday so he is definitely doing my next one.

Hope to show you some of my own art soon! Still working on my art room!

Love & peace

Tanya 

Design team Lisa Kettell designs!

I am very proud to announce that I am a 2013-2014 design team member for the wonderful and talented Lisa Kettell!

I met Lisa at Ranger U 2008 and fell in love with her sparkly art.

I'm very happy to be on her team.

Please go visit her blog to meet the design team http://faerieenchantment.blogspot.com/

Creative chemistry 102

Hiya

As a Ranger Educator or Rangerette as we called ourselves during Ranger U, I love all things Ranger and Tim of course! 

He has to be one of the most sharing people I know! I mean seriously!

I actually missed creative chemistry week but I registered today, you can register anytime you want and I highly recommend you do if you haven't already!

http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/

So seeing my back is still out due to being a bit enthusiastic with unpacking boxes on Monday, I thought it would be a great time to watch all the CC102 videos in one go and I did!

So I've had a Tim overload today lol and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Of course I had to order some things! I still didn't have any Distress Glitter and that was high on my wish list along with a 'few' other things...

I can't wait until my art room is finished so I can actually sit down and create, at the moment my table is full of things that still need to find a place. I hope my back allows me to clear it all this weekend cause I really want to play and get dirty hands.

The Rusty Angel in me is ready to go!

See you soon

Love & peace

Tanya

New beginnings!

Hi!

I've been away a long time and it was high time I restarted my blog! So here goes.

A lot of things have been going on in my life, breast cancer, as some of you already know. Well after all the treatment and a year of reconstructive surgeries I was left exhausted, unmotivated and with no desire to make much art. It was a sad dark place to be but I had to get through it.

I'm not totally there yet but I can feel the butterflies if inspiration fluttering through me and now that I have all my art supplies back I feel ready to get paint and ink moving again.

Oh yeah, I made the big move from Belgium to the US.

Living in South Carolina is challenging and new and different and does take some getting used to but it is also inspiring and beautiful.

Last week we finally received all our household goods after a nine week wait!!! Military moves don't go very fast!!!. So I'm slowly but surely getting my art room ready, still loads to unpack, I think we are almost halfway through the 370 boxes that are packed up to the ceiling!

It is exciting to open the boxes with my art supplies, I'm like a kid on Xmas morning! Lots of ohhhhs and aaahhhhs when I rediscover my inks and paints and paper and canvas and and every single piece of treasure.

I hope you start my new life with me and follow me on my new journey, I should say y'all really lol

So Y'all come back soon to see my art and follow my life as a Belgian Brit in South Carolina!

Love & peace

tanya

Rusty Angel Art For Sale

Hello everyone,

My name Inez. I'm Tanya's eldest daughter.

As maybe some of you know, my mom went through breast cancer last year.

Having cancer is something nobody deserves.

We are so happy that she has beaten this horrible beast.

And now she's having reconstructive surgery in May.
We are so excited and happy for her.

She really deserves some luck and joy in her life.
The down side is the cost of all of this.

That's why we decided to start a benefit and raise money for my mom's surgery.

We are selling postcards, of course with my mom's fabulous art on them.(as you can see in the photo )

The price is 10 euro/14 dollars for 5 amazing postcards.

We also have T-shirts and shoulder bags. Just visit mom's fanpage on facebook to see more photo's and prices: https://www.facebook.com/rustyangelart or send me an e-mail.

If you would like to support and order postcards, t-shirts or a bag, you can contact me at inez_andries@hotmail.com.

I hope you don't mind that we ask something extra for the shipping costs.

Don't hesitate to contact me.

we need to raise 2000 euro for mom's surgery and all extra money raised will be donated to a breast cancer charity.

Please spread this message :-)

We can use all the help we can get, and others as well.

Love,

Inez