A Real Need

Dear Friends and Family,

I will be undergoing major brain surgery on July 15th. I'm having this surgery out of state by a Chiari specialist. The costs for this surgery are quickly rising. There are medical expenses, travel expenses for me and my family, and living expenses for the weeks my mom will have to take off work with little or no pay in order to stay home and take care of me during my recovery.

Most of you know the struggle I have had with my health challenges. This surgery is a hope (unfortunately, not a guarantee, but a hope) to putting an end to the weekly passing out/seizure spells I have been battling for the past 16 years.

I appreciate all of the love and prayers that are being said on my behalf as I prepare for this surgery. There are many of you who have asked how you could help more. As much as I hate asking for financial help that is where my family and I truly need the most assistance.

I have set up a charitable account at America First Credit Union so that anyone who is able and willing may donate. Every donation amount big or small will help me tremendously!!!
The account information is as follows:

America First Credit Union
Account Name: Tiffany Goodson Charitable Account
Account Number: 9077140 Savings

To donate you can visit any AFCU branch and make a deposit into the account. (If you want to be anonymous, this is how you'll need to do it). Or, if you bank at AFCU, you can do an online transfer from your own account into this account. Use last name Goodson and transfer it into Share Savings. Remember, if you do an online transfer, it will show your name.

I have been waiting 16 years for a hope like this to come around, any help you can give will mean the world to me. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Love, Tiffany

Vegas Trip

Vacations are among my top ten favorite things to do. This past week my mom had a 5-day work conference in Las Vegas. My sister and I decided to tag along as a vacation. While five days in Vegas is a lot, we made the most of it and had a blast.

We stayed at Bally's right in the middle of the strip. While I loved being right next to Paris and in the middle of the strip I would not recommend this hotel at all! I hated the hotel itself! First of all, the food options in this hotel were minimal, they didn't even have any sort of cafe for a sit down meal, it was ridiculous. Second, the room was dirty. The carpet had gross stains, the bedspread had a hole in it, and we even had a moth in our room! YUCK! Finally, the pool was nine miles away. In order to get to the pool you had to walk a mile through the shops and food court area. Who wants to do that in a bathing suit?? Not I! 

The saving grace regarding the hotel was that it was attached to the Paris hotel. Yay!! We spent most of our time over there. The food options were much better with a cafe, bakery, and a delicious buffet. It was also a fun hotel to simply walk through. You felt like you were taking a stroll on the cobblestone streets of Paris! I also enjoyed playing in the casino there much better. The slots options were a lot more fun. They had a set of slots with fun wilds. Tara sat down one day and won a quick $50 playing Wild Pixies. It was fun to watch. They also had a Wizard of Oz slot that was a lot of fun to watch other people play. I played it but didn't win too much. 

My mom's conference went from 7-5 every day, so Tara and I were on our own regarding entertainment during the day. The first day we spent time just exploring the Paris hotel. I am obsessed with Paris so it was fun to walk through the different shops. We also went through a lot of the shops at our hotel and stopped for some frozen yogurt. That night we went over to Treasure Island and had dinner at Kahunaville! They have a pina coloda chicken that is to die for! Seriously the best meal in Vegas!! Afterward we stopped into Senor' Frogs. They were having karaoke night and Tara wanted to dance. It wasn't long before a group of girls adopted her and had her on stage singing with them. She had a blast. Tara did a lot of dancing during this trip, and every time she did she ended up with a group of people surrounding her. I think next time we go we should take a boom box and let her dance on the street for money! We'd be rich!! 

Day two of the trip was the best! We walked down to the Mirage and spent the day at Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden Habitat. They have three pools with a total of ten dolphins. The trainers do dolphin interaction shows every 45 minutes. There is also an underwater viewing area for a different perspective of the dolphins. Tara and I found a lovely spot where we could sit in some comfortable chairs under an umbrella and watch the dolphins swim and play in one of the pools. It was perfect! I could have sat there all day! It was beautiful. The habitat is also the home to some white tigers, leopards, and lions. The spotted leopard was strikingly beautiful as were the white tigers. 

The highlight of the day was when we participated in a meet and greet with the dolphin. The first thing we had to do was take off our shoes and roll our shorts up as high as we could. Then they made us step in this black liquid stuff. The liquid was to remove any impurities from the bottom of our feet, so we didn't transfer it into the dolphin pool. Once we'd stepped in the black stuff we were free to walk around on the dolphin side of the pool. The trainer signaled to have one of the dolphins slide up onto the "shore". The dolphin we were able to meet was named Lightning. He is a 40-year-old

dolphin and the father of the twin 3-year-old dolphins also playing in the pool. Once the trainer had

Lightning up on the "shore" we got to walk over and pet him, hug him, have a photo taken with him, etc. It was SO much fun!! I have also wanted to meet a dolphin. My ultimate goal is to swim with the dolphins, but I couldn't afford that this trip so this was the next best thing. When Tara's turn to meet the dolphin was over she walked back to the wall of the pool and shouted, "I can't believe I just did that!" All the trainers started to laugh. It was definitely an experience to remember for both of us. 

To finish off the day we decided to do the Eiffel Tower Experience. We waited until my mom was out of her conference so she could do it with us, and so we could do it in the dark. We rode the elevator inside the Eiffel Tower all the way up to the top. It is 460 feet in the air and once you are up there the observation deck gives you a 360 degree view of the Las Vegas lights. It was pretty awesome! The best part was being able to see the Bellagio water show from that height. It gave you a whole new perspective of the show! It was breathtaking! 

After walking almost 20,000 steps we decided to take it a bit easier the next day. We spent most of day three resting and playing in the casino. My mom brought us bagels from her conference for breakfast and Tara and I hung out in the room putting together a puzzle. Then we went over to Planet Hollywood walked through the shops, and played a bit in the casino. My mom had an earlier day and once she was done with her conference she and Tara decided to take a nap. I wasn't feeling sleepy so I decided to take $20 and go play while they slept. I walked over to Planet Hollywood and sat down at the Willy Wonka machine. I had watched people play this while I was over there earlier that day, and it looked fun. I put in my $20 and started to bet the minimum amount because I wanted to be able to play on my $20 for as long as I could and not lose it right off the bat. This particular machine has lots of bonus features, one of which is that randomly the Oompa Loompa's will come up and sing their little song while pushing a wild down and making a reel wild. Well, on my second hit they popped up on my screen. They started singing and pushed down a wild, and another wild, and another...they just kept going! They ended up giving me 4 reels wild!! Then on top of that they gave me a 5x multiplier!! I couldn't believe it!! The lady sitting next to me couldn't believe it either! We both started freaking out as the win amount kept getting higher and higher! I ended up walking away from that machine with $280!! It was such a rush!! Once I cashed out I quickly made my way back to the room where my mom and Tara were just waking up. My mom about died when I told her how much I had won! It was so fun, the only thing that would have made it more fun was if they had been there to watch! I did start to think about how cool it would have been if I had been betting more than the minimum, but then decided that was selfish thinking and was happy with what I had. I took $200 for the trip and ended up coming home with $240! I'd say that's pretty good for five days in Vegas!! 

Day four, Tara and I walked over to Caesar's Palace. We did some window shopping and spent time looking at the fish in the aquarium, as well as watching the ten minute show they have on the fall of Atlantis. Tara really enjoyed it. That night we went to a mentalist show. Oh mylanta, it was amazing!! The guy's name was Frederic Da Silva. He started off the show by throwing out four frisbee's. We had VIP seats and were right on the front row so I caught one easily and was called up on stage. He did a few things with me but the one that got to me the most was he asked me to think of a person I knew well, someone I knew details of their life. Then he walked away and did something with another person on stage. A few minutes later he came back to me, got down on one knee, and stared at me. Then he said he was getting that it was a young person. I said yes, it was. He stood and kept staring at me then he said..."eight". I was floored and said yes. He grabbed a white board and marker and then said he was getting an "S" I again confirmed he was correct. He stared at me a moment longer and then said, "This is a long name". Flabbergasted, I confirmed he was once again correct. He then turned and wrote something down. He put the white board down and did something with someone else on stage, then he came back to me and handed me the microphone. He asked me to say the name of the person I was thinking of, I said, "Savannah". He then turned over his white board to reveal he had written down the name Savannah! It was crazy!! My mom started crying she was so in awe that he had correctly read my mind. It was trippy! I have no idea how he was able to do that! He did two other things involving me and then later in the show my mom was called up on stage and I am in complete shock as to how, but he was able to use another audience member to correctly state my mom's birthday. It was mind blowing!! If you are ever in Vegas I highly recommend going to see his show!! 

Finally, our time in Vegas came to an end, but we weren't ready to come home just yet. We drove to St. George and stayed the night with our good friends Rob and Sherry. It had been years since we had seen them and it was great to reconnect. A wonderful way to end the vacation. 

As much as I love vacations 6 nights away from home is a long time. I am glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed again! 

Luvs & Hugs, 

Tiff

Merge!!

Any Survivor fans out there?

I love the TV show Survivor. I think I have only missed one season out of the thirty they have had so far. The only reason I missed that one season was because I'd just moved and didn't have access to television yet!  I think the best job in the world would be the person whose job it is to test out all of the challenges and make sure they are good for the contestants. How fun would that be? Sign me up, please!

A dramatic time that happens on every season of Survivor is when it is time for a merge. It's an exciting time because the game shifts and those playing can either gain more allies or more enemies. It also means they are one step closer to winning the title of sole survivor.

Well, today I am going to take from the Survivor playbook and call for a merge of my own.

I love to write and have lots of things in my head that I want to share with others. I want to share my thoughts on certain topics, my updates on what's happening in life, stories from my past, etc. I also want to share things about my hobbies, the cards I make, the books I read, etc. In the past I've tried doing this on several different blogs and it has not turned out well. I always end up neglected one or the other. It also confuses me and limits my creativity because I'm not sure what blog to post what story to. So, as of right now I am merging my blogs!

All of my blogs will end except the one titled Life's Daily Treasures. This will now be the blog I use for everything. I hope you will find this merge to be exciting and come follow me and my adventures on my blog. I will still post the same content as I have been on this blog, there will just be more of it and other things in between.

Thanks for being a friend, reader, and supporter of my ramblings.

Love & Hugs,
Tiff

Where Have I Been?

First of all I want to apologize I have been severely neglecting this blog. I feel like I have a good reason though and I'll get to that in a minute. Despite having a good reason I do feel bad and promise I'll repent and do better to post here more often than I have been lately. I really like this blog and the way it helps me clear my head when I write, post my lists, and share pictures of what I've been up to lately. Hopefully, I can remember that and give more time to writing here.

Okay, now to tell you about my "good reason"...

I have started a new adventure and it has been taking up a lot of my time. I opened my own business! Yep, that's right I am now a business owner...wow that makes me sound so important...I kinda like it! My company is called Tiff's Corner Creations. I make and sell handmade greeting cards.

I can see the wheels turning in your head. You are probably wondering where in the world this came from. One day I'm sitting around watching every episode of Pretty Little Liars and the next thing I'm starting a business? You probably want to know how I got from point A to point B.

Several years ago a friend of mine invited me to attend a Relief Society activity with her. It was a craft night and they were going to be learning how to make cards. It sounded interesting so I joined her. At the activity they had four stations set up and you rotated through them. At each station you would make a new card and learn a different technique for each one. I was caught off guard by how much I enjoyed it. I went home and started to try my hand at making cards on my own. I'll admit while I was having fun my cards were not that great. However, I didn't give up. I kept at it and tried to make each card better than the last.

I joined an online card maker club where each month they sent you a kit with all the stuff you would
need to make some cards as well as an instruction pamphlet. Following these instructions I learned some fun techniques and improved my skills little by little. As I watched the quality of my cards start to improve I became even more enthusiastic about the creation process.

Then I discovered Pinterest! Pinterest took my card making to a whole new level as I watched hundreds of tutorial videos, and browsed thousands of cards for ideas and techniques.

By this time I was making so many cards that I didn't know what to do with them all. My mom suggested she take some to work and see if any of her co-workers were interested in buying them. I couldn't believe how many she sold! Not only did she sell a majority of the cards I sent her with, but she came home with orders for custom cards as well as wedding invitations! It was awesome! When my sister-in-law heard about the success I'd had selling them she suggested I open my own shop on Etsy and try selling them there. I'll admit I was hesitant at first, but the more I thought about it the more it felt like the right thing to do.

I officially opened my shop about a month ago. I also created a Facebook page and a blog for my shop. I've been making cards like a crazy lady spending way more time in my craft room than I should, but I am enjoying every minute of it! I love getting custom orders. When someone calls and asks if I can you make a mermaid card for them to send to their daughter in Hawaii, or a fishing card for their grandsons birthday, I get chills I am so excited! I love making cards with that extra special personal touch. I am also taking orders for Christmas cards and am already getting way excited about that.

I am still pretty new to this whole thing, but it is turning out to be a fun little adventure.

Come check out my store and let me know if you are ever in the need of a card!  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TiffsCornerCreations

Luvs & Hugs

Busy Weekends

Wow, time has gotten away from me recently! The past few weekends have been crazy busy.

Two weeks ago I traveled up to Idaho for an Ivy Girl Academy workshop. The workshop went so well! We had 56 beautiful young ladies join us and make it a huge success. I love watching these girls and how they grow throughout the day. We had a handful of girls at this workshop who did not want to be there when they first arrived. One girl actually left, but luckily came back about a half hour later. I pay particular attention to these girls and loved watching them smile as they make new friends, volunteer for things, and really get involved throughout the day. Following the workshop a lady came up to us just beaming, she told us that she is a foster mom and two of her foster daughters had been at the workshop that day. One of them was very against it from the start, but was bouncing off the walls with excitement by the end of the day. With tears in her eyes this foster mom thanked us for taking the time to do what we do, she could not believe the change that had come over her girls. Hearing/seeing things like this makes all the hard work we do worth it. If we only help one girl it's all worth it! I love that I get to be a part of such a wonderful organization!

Last week I attended the Chiari Walk Across America in support of chiari awareness and research. It was a fun day mingling with fellow chiarians and feeling of their support. The worst part of having an incurable chronic illness is feeling all alone in it. It was nice spending the morning with people who get it! 

At the start of the walk everyone was given a bead necklace. They gave purple beads to anyone who had chiari, silver beads to those with friends and/or family with chiari, and green beads to those who were walking in honor of someone who had died from chiari. I was shocked and saddened by how many people were wearing the green beads.

Living with chiari is not easy. Some days are great and relatively symptom free. Some days are terrible. Some days I just lay in bed crying, begging for it all to stop. Some days I'm just tired of hurting, crying, missing people, and missing out on fun things. There's so much in life I want to accomplish, so much I'll never be able to do. I want to live freely and not have to think out my days to see if I'll have enough energy to do what needs to be done. Some days I am so tired of the battle that I just want to throw in the towel and give up. Then I remember that every day is an opportunity to grow, to learn, to live. Each day is a gift and each day my fight matters. I may be knocked down, but not out. Crying, but still breathing. Broken but brave. Each day is a day to have hope, courage, and faith; because losing this fight is not an option! 

For more information on chiari go to conquerchiari.org

Here are just a few pics from the walk.

Chiari Awareness

Lately there has been a lot of awareness for the awful disease of ALS with the ice bucket challenge taking the world by storm. However, I'm writing to tell you of another awful disease that has no cure and not many are aware of. I know more than I'd like to about this illness because I live with it every single day. 

Arnold Chiari Malformation is a serious neurological disorder where the bottom part of the brain, the cerebellum, descends out of the skull and crowds the spinal cord, putting pressure on both the brain and spine causing many symptoms. Chiari has wide range of diverse symptoms and affects everyone differently. 

I was diagnosed with Chiari in October of 1999. I was having pain in my back and doctor's sent me in for an MRI. I got a call saying that the MRI results looked fine...a week later they called back. This time they informed me that the MRI had barely caught a malformation at the base of my brain and they already had me scheduled to see a neurosurgeon. After an extensive review of my medical history the neurosurgeon explained that I started having symptoms of Chiari when I was about twelve. However, so little is known about Arnold Chiari that is took them seven years to diagnose it...and then it was only on accident!

A month after discovering the Chiari I underwent brain surgery. The surgery is not a cure! It is only a way to help relieve some of the pressure on the brain and spinal column. Roughly six months after my surgery I began having spells of unconsciousness. During a typical "spell" I lose consciousness without any warning and I am out anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours. During this time I have severe pseudo seizures. I shake uncontrollably as though I were having a grand mal seizure...but my brain waves are always normal. I awake from these spells extremely sore and weak. It typically takes me 2-3 days to recover from it. I have been having these spells about once a week for the past 15 years. 

I have seen doctors all over the country including at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and I still do not have an explanation for my spells or any ideas on how to treat them. We know that these spells are neurological and somehow related to my Chiari, however doctors still do not know enough about Chiari to know what is causing my spells or what to do about them. 

Along with these spells I battle other symptoms of Chiari daily such as extreme fatigue, terrible headaches, extreme dry eye, pain in my neck, shoulders, and back, muscle weakness, constant tingling in my feet, constant ringing in my ears, hearing loss, etc. The list goes on and on. 

I do the best I can to stay positive. I try to keep a smile on my face no matter how much I am hurting. I know a lot of people look at me and tell me that I don't look sick...that is my goal. However, underneath that smile I am suffering almost every second of every day. There is no cure for Chiari or it's symptoms. Most people don't even know what Arnold Chiari is...including the doctors, ER staff, and EMT's that work on me! There needs to be more research and awareness. I shouldn't have to go into the doctors office and explain to them what Chiari is! Living a life like mine it is very easy to give up hope, however, I am still holding on to some! I am holding on to hope that someday someone out there will find the answer. I have hope that someday someone will figure out what is causing my spells and think of a way to stop them. I have hope that someone out there will figure out a way to calm down Chiari symptoms without adding new ones due to medication side effects. Unfortunately these things won't happen if people don't even know what Chiari is!

On September 20th my family and I are participating in a walk to raise awareness and funds for Chiari research. My hope in doing so is that we can make enough people aware of this illness that maybe we'll reach the one who has the smarts and the initiative to take the funds we raise and find the answers so many of us Chiari sufferers are hoping for. 

My goal in sending out this email was to make you aware of what Chiari really is and maybe you can pass that info on to someone else. However, if you do feel so inclined to support my family and I on this walk and also help me raise funds for Chiari research you may donate at https://www.conquerchiari.org/ccwaa14/TiffanyGoodson 

 

I want to stress that I did not write you today to ask for money. Please don't feel any pressure to donate unless you'd like to. My main goal here is awareness!! Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Luvs & Hugs, 

Never Give Up!

When I first moved to North Ogden in 2008 I didn't have enough money to pay for internet or television service. This left me with very little to do in order to entertain myself. I started looking for something that would keep up my interests as well as fill my time. While browsing around Walmart one day I found a puzzle that was a picture made up of a million other little pictures. It looked like something that would definitely take up a lot of time, so I made the purchase.

At home I cleared off my table and dumped out the box of puzzle pieces. My first thought..."This is going to be harder than I expected." Piece by piece I started putting the puzzle together. I got excited when I started to see sections of it coming together. I gained a new sense of accomplishment with each completed section. However, it did turn out to be harder than I thought and several times along the way I considered packing it all back in the box and calling it quits. The puzzle took up my entire kitchen table and I was getting sick of eating off the floor. I was also frustrated that I had pieces that I was sure were from an entirely different puzzle. Day by day I kept going back to my puzzle. Some days I would just sit and stare at it never finding a piece to put together, other days I'd only place one puzzle piece, and some days I'd luck out and find several pieces that fit together. One by one the pieces came together to create a beautiful puzzle.

I was thrilled the day I placed the final piece of the puzzle in it's correct spot. I had worked so hard on this puzzle that I didn't want to take it apart. I bought some puzzle glue and permanently sealed the pieces together. I told myself I was going to frame it and hang it up so that I always have the physical reminder that I can do hard things.

Six years later I was gearing up to move back home and I found my puzzle tucked behind the bookshelf still unframed. I worked so hard to finish the puzzle, but then gave up when I struggled to find the perfect frame to fit it in. I hid it away and forgot about it. Upon finding the puzzle a renewed sense of determination came over me and I decided it didn't matter if I couldn't find a frame to fit it perfectly. It was more important to simply have it framed than to have it framed perfectly. It took me six years, but I finally added the final

"puzzle" piece and hung up my masterpiece.

Do you have anything in your life that you've started and are struggling to finish? Are you frustrated because the puzzle pieces of your life don't seem to fit together? Is there something you felt was too hard to accomplish so you hid it away and forgot about it?

Just like my experience with this puzzle. Life needs to be handled day by day, piece by piece. We all get frustrated when things don't go the way we planned or come together when we want them to, but eventually things always work out and we find that the puzzle comes together in the end, the trick is to never give up. No matter what your puzzle looks like or how difficult it seems to finish, keep picking up the pieces and doing your best every single day. It may take a week, six years, or a lifetime to fully finish your puzzle, but I promise someday it will come together and you'll realize it was worth every frustrating minute along the way.