Saturday, September 20, 2008

coming up for air ... and checking in

I'll bet y'all thought I fell off the edge of the world. Well, it feels like I have. I hope everyone is doing well here at the BB Chat.

I've been staying extremely busy working in my own personal sweat shop ... er ... sewing up a storm, all related to our son's upcoming wedding in November. I'm making my outfit since ready-to-wear never really fits me well. I finished the jacket a couple weeks ago and have started on the dress. The tailored jacket is done. MAJOR Snoopy Dance.

The dress got put on hold while waiting for some Swarovski "hot-fix" crystals to arrive via online order, so I started a quilt for the kids to hopefully have completed and give to them when they are married. It's not an "heirloom" quilt by any stretch. :o) I'm making the Double Irish Chain, since both kids are of Irish ancestry. The top goes together very fast; I've made this quilt a couple times before. I also am doing the easy machine trapunto (ha ha ha ... spell check is pinging this one. Spell check is not a quilter.) technique, in Hari Walner's wonderful book, and today I just finished basting a layer of batting under each of the 24 feathered wreath motifs I marked this week in the alternate blocks, and will FMQ.

Meanwhile, the back ordered hot-fix crystals arrived in today's mail, so tomorrow I'm back to the dress. That is a deadline item. The quilt can wait if necessary.

LaVinia in TN - was it you asking how we're faring? Thank you for asking. We're all okay, but no thanks to Hurricane Ike, we're having a terrible gasoline crisis. Nashville is receiving 20% of our normal shipments ever since the storm landed, and everyone is driving at 100% business-as-usual and 80 mph down the interstate highway (giving no thought to slowing down to conserve fuel). It's quite a crisis, with the occasional fist fights at gasoline stations, lots of testy tempers, long lines to fill up, and stations selling out in hours. Most stations have absolutely not one drop of gas to sell for days(!), which will spur another sort of economic crisis for them (on top of the national one) because nobody is stopping in to buy their convenience store items, further affecting their cash flow. Right now, a person could burn 1/4 tank of gas, just looking for a station that has gasoline. This, too, will pass ... but we don't know when. I'm making as few car trips as possible, and driving 60 mph on the interstate when I do. I may be grounded next week if DH's cannot fill his car up before he runs out and needs to drive mine to work. The good news is the grocery store is two miles away and I can walk if I need to.

Grace's Retreat - Has it happened yet? Happening right now? I would have loved to attend but . . . DS's wedding and all the related expen$es . . . This, too, shall pa$$. .... ~sighs~ .....

Ronna - I am so sorry to read about your sister's cancer. (((Hugs))) for you and her.

Jane in NC - awesome new car! And you'll save all that ga$oline money and have it for fabric. Woo HOOOooooo!!! I think my next car may be a Prius. Wish I had one right now.

Hugs to everyone,
Doris W. in TN

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Kansas Quilt show

I know there are a few here from Kansas, so I thought I'd share our upcoming quilt show.

Sept. 27, 2008
10 a.m - 5 p.m.
St. Thomas Parish Center
Stockton, KS

$2.00 Entry Fee

Food stand provided.

Join us if you can!

Happy Quilting!
Karen in KS

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

MARION

That letter is priceless. And, yes, my heart goes out to him. How lonely he must feel. Send him some cookies or something. He'll never notice that they are stale having been in transit from so far away.

I used to get thank you notes after Christmas when my DGSs were that age. Typically they went:

Dear Granny,

Thank you for the 1-2-3

Your grandson,
Peter Talpey (or Gregory which ever the case was.)

They seemed to feel the need to tell me their last names and their relationship to me in case I didn't know. Always made me smile.

Granny Jane

It's all about anticipation...

I was so excited to see a letter in my mail box this morning from my DGS (9) , at boarding school in UK. I rushed home to open it, made a cuppa, sat down and read :

Dear Nana,

School is fine but very boring. Sam (brother) is head boy, it sucks.

Lots of love Charlie

aahhhhh doesn't your heart go out to him ?

Marion.

For Everyone Whom Ike Passed

Hope all of you are all right and will check in and let us know. Pat in Rockport comes to mind, but I know there are more, considering the territory the storm covered. Doris-TN are you okay too? Thinking of all of you out there.

Jane, cute new car! We're holding out for the CNG (compressed natural gas) since we cannot trade at the moment. Hopefully by then the whole situation will be resolved. Now, if they would just get more comfortable car seats....

Hugs to all... Lavinia

Monday, September 15, 2008

Spring !


A posy from my garden ! Wish you could all smell it , the hyacinths are lovely.
I'm exhausted after my time in the garden ! I've been out there all day. Time now for a shower , hope that revives me as I've got a meeting to go to tonight !
Marion.

It wasn't 10 years ago

Sorry to say that the chemo my Mom and Dad did was not 10 years ago. Mom's was in 2000 and Dad's was just before he died in April 2007.
Sandi, I sent a contact form to you from your website. (from Ronna Iguana of course! ;) )
I have to do some reading on the BRCA mutations. Lisa may have one and now she is trying to decide whether or not to get tested below the radar or not. She will definitely get tested... but is not sure how much protection from insurance discrimination Dana, my niece, will have if Lisa tests positive.
Thanks for the offer to talk to me and my sister, Kathi. Lisa has decided not to do reconstruction. Neither she nor her husband has a problem with that. She feels that she will be able to detect any recurrence easier without construction and that gives her some piece of mind. Well, that is what it is all about--piece of mind for each person who experiences this.
Along with this major problem, she is in the midst of a kitchen remodel. They demolished the kitchen.... and then when they were replacing one of the support posts of the house (land drops off and back of kitchen is on second floor level) they realized that it had deteriorated much more than they thought along with the retaining wall that keeps their land out of their neighbor's yard. Soooo....being California, it was time for a soil study and then the engineer's plan, inspector's approval, etc. She STILL has no kitchen after more than a month. They have to put in new supports and there is no way to get machinery back into her side yard. They have to do all of the digging by hand.
Her DH would be fine with eating out every night, but Lisa knows that the kids don't eat right when they eat out and wants to eat in. They have a make-shift kitchen set up, but they have no sink! So they have to do dishes in the bathroom sink and that makes her DH whine because he usually does the dinner dishes (she does the rest + all of the cooking).
When I did my kitchen remodel (which came out really nice!) the contractor rigged up a temporary sink. I was without a sink for only one night and without a stove (gas) for one night. Both because they couldn't get the plumber to come due to it being the beginning of the heating season and people finding out that their heat didn't work! Anyway, my contractor was really good about keeping a working kitchen. I didn't have a problem with the temporary countertops... plywood was fine. I just covered it with contact paper so it was easier to clean. When I go out to visit, I'll try and find out why her contractor can't rig up a temporary sink. Or I will figure out how to make something work.
Ah well... just babbling at this point! Good night all!

Photos...

Posting a photo here is a lesson in patience...I have just spent 15minutes , doing just that , only to have it disappear as soon as I started to write the message... Maybe I'll try again later !

A lovely sunny day here , a little bit "fresh" but it will warm up. I spent the afternoon in the garden yesterday pulling weeds and cutting back a few things. Nothing like dirt under the fingernails to make you feel good ! I'll be out there again today, just waiting for the dew to disappear..

A few weeks ago my DH challenged his golfing buddy to prepare a meal for the four of us. (these two men are both retired farmers who have never prepared a decent meal in their lives...) To make it more special we invited some mutual friends along to join us.. My DH had a frantic week of menu planning , buying, and preparing food while I tried to stay in the background... the evening went well with lots of laughs and the food was remarkable good (!) Last Saturday we had the return match ! Our host looked exhausted and his wife looked stressed but the meal was a great success.. neither are keen to repeat the exercise ! Maybe a BBQ in the summer...

Time to get out into the garden.
Marion.

Ronna

Despite what Jane says, I've been the mastectomy/reconstruction/chem/radiation route with no adverse effects. I'm of the opinion that every patient needs to make her (or his, as some of us are men) decisions based on what is best for them both physically and mentally. I know that TerTer opted not to do reconstruction, but in my case it was something that I had to do.

I almost felt guilty about sailing through chemo and radiation the way I did (and those were on my second go-round) and have had absolutely no problems related to lymphedema. The new chemotherapies are a whole lot different than they were ten years ago, and even in breast cancer there are a variety of treatment courses.

If you or your sis want to contact me, I'd be happy to talk.

Kathi

Oops! I had posted this on the other page. Guess I shouldn't post late at night

HI everyone. It's been ages but I do read regularly.
Ronna, I have ter's email address if you would email me yours through my irishchain.com website, I can send it back to you.

Jane, love the new car, very cute.

Jill, I remember going to Multnomah falls with you when I was there a few years back, it's so pretty.

I wish I was doing the retreat but I have so much traveling in the next couple of months, I didn't even consider it. I'm sure it will be a blast.

Just wanted to say hi. I'll try to be a little more regular!
Sandi in MN

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Ronna

Dear Ronna,

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister's illness. My daughter is rehab director at City of Hope in LA where almost all their patients are referred and mostly cancer patients. She's an occupational therapist and has worked and researched extensively on the problem of lymphedema in post mastectomy patients. She happens also to be very generously endowed. She told me she'd not ever settle for a mere lumpectomy and wouldn't mess around with reconstruction. She's seen too many complications from that approach. If your parents underwent their chemo a decade or more ago I think your sister will find that it is a much more humane process. It has far fewer side effects than in years past. It's certainly not pleasant but it's better than the grave.

I'm so glad you're not gone from the chat. I was afraid you'd fallen off the edge of the earth on one of your many out of country adventures. Welcome back.

Jane in NC

Hi Gang

Hi Gang!

I know I have been off screen for sometime. Things have been busy. I have had time for a little quilting. Right now, I am trying to finally finish the stack an whack lizard quilt in time for our Guild show in March. I think I will make it. When finished, I will try to post a picture.

Bad news, my sister now has a tumor in her *other* breast. I will be going out to San Francisco area on Sept 23 because she will be operated on September 26. I will be out there for a week, seeing what I can do to help with the kids and such. If someone knows Terter's email, let me know because she might want to know. She always asked me how Lisa was doing. Right now, she is doing ok.... but they want her to do chemo this time and she and I are not thrilled about that. We saw what it did to Mom and Dad and they will have to make a good case for it to convince her, I think.
She is opting for mastectomy rather than trying a lumpectomy. The tumor is 10mm. Last time, she had to go back for a mastectomy after the lumpectomy did not have a clean margin. She figures it will "even things out".
Keep her in your thoughts, if you have a moment.

Ronna in Happy Valley __/^^^^^o>

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