I collect thimbles

I started sewing at 12 yrs old.

I love thimbles & antique sewing items. I've collected them for approxamitely 15 yrs. It is one of my favorite gifts to receive a thimble from someone's travels.
I have them from all over the world. One from someone I never met (my room mate's boss).
Years ago I started taping a piece of paper that included the name of the person that gave it to me along w/ the month & yr inside the thimble.
Some day I'm going to reorganize them & take new photos. These are really old photos. Last count I had over 90 thimbles. Of course I bought at least 5 on our vacation in September 2007.

I also collect ornaments from the places we visit. Maybe next yr I'll remember to take a photo of just the travel ornaments.

My dad collects fancy inkpens. He has hundreds. One day I'll take photos.

sister surgery

Please say a special prayer. My sister is having surgery.
Last night my niece stayed with us. She & Colin go to the same school & her parents had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. Colin bugged me every 10 min when was she going to come to our house. At 8 pm he wanted to call her. He was so excited he waited up. I let them stay up a little longer then made them go to bed. My niece got up & went to bed & to sleep. My child says I don't want to go to bed, I need some tissue...

Update K is out of surgery it all went well; she's in recovery.

new side effect

G has a new side effect that is very challenging. Some of the other effects are lasting longer than they have in the past. This is an ever changing journey. I'm ready to get off the roller coaster ride now!

craft stuff organization

I bought this container years ago for sewing items. I've tried to find another one but can't find the same container. So I can't buy any more bobbin ribbon unless I use up some. :)



I tried a few things to organize my bobbin ribbons; I tried cropper hopper ribbon organizers until I realized I would need 10; then I tried the little wooden boxes & drilled holes for the ribbon.

More organizing photos

before ribbon

I crop at home 25% of the time so I needed my ribbons more portable for away from home crops.

I rolled a lot of this during G's hospital stay. Some I did in the

evenings watching TV.

ice cream sundae

Last night I made an ice cream sundae for Colin as a treat. I put ice cream & crushed up oreos in a bowl. I drizzled a little chocolate syrup on top. 5 min later he asked me where was the chocolate syrup. I assumed he wanted to add more & told him he could have more tomorrow if he behaved well.

A few minutes later I walked into the family room to find him sitting in the middle of the floor w/ the ice cream, ice cream scoop & oreos. He was wanting the syrup to make himself a second helping of the sundae. I took it all except everything that was in the bowl & told him he could have more tomorrow if he well behaved.

Good news

G got the results of his CEA blood test. Anything below 6.8 is good. His was a 5 which is very good. We are excited; it means the chemo is working & the tumor/cancer is gone. We have 5 more months of chemo just to make sure it doesn't come back. If everything continues to go as well as it has.
So please keep praying & thank you in advance.

Happy Birthday mom

We went out to celebrate mom's birthday. I couldn't believe she chose
Hideaway pizza. They had fabulous pizza; I ate their in college.
Colin thought it was Incredible pizza & so did G. We had a good time.
I got a salad because I eat dinner early & wasn't very hungry. I still only
ate a few bites of my salad. It was grilled chicken & artichoke salad w/
balsamic vinaigrette. I love all 3 of those but I couldn't eat much of it.

MLK Parade

I had on 5 layers on the top & 2 on the bottom. My thighs & rear froze. Next year more layers on the bottom. It was around 35º. Warmer than expected. Ha! The hard part this year was we were toward the end so we stood for more than 2 hours before we could start walking. It was really freezing cold, windy & raining.
We did have a little fun waiting. We turned on some music & did the Cuban shuffle. Some other groups ran over the join us or learn the dance. It warmed me up for a minute. That dance is awesome exercise for the thighs.

We have one of the largest parades in the nation which surprises most because we had one of the worst race riots in history in the 1920's.
The parade normally has about 250 groups enter this year it was 400. It has approximately 10,000 viewers. Many were in the cars this year & I don't blame them, it was cold.
I parked at my sister house & walked to the parade it was a little closer than my home.
She was sweet & made me some hot chocolate when the parade was over.
Our group took a photo w/ the major.

Chemo today

Hubby had chemo today & felt the affect almost immediately. Daddy took & him picked him up. They went to lunch afterwards & G is home laying down. G sd he tried to pay for lunch but dad wouldn't let him. He should know daddy better than that by now.

My Dr visit yesterday went ok; he changed my medication again. He's going to give me a referral to the neurologist I saw in the hospital. The neurologist will give me the other test. So hopefully we will figure out what's going on with my body other than stress.
My Dr sd maybe I was drinking too much water because I still had a little swelling. I told him I was drinking less water than in the past but I didn't know there was a such thing as drinking too much water.

embellies before

Here is an older photo of some of my embellishments. I reorganzied them this week. I'll post the after photos & soon

as I take the photo.

iodine deficiency

I'm allergic to iodine, seaweed, kelp, fish, seafood. No wonder I'm having some of these symptoms. I also eat a lot of spinach & cabbage.
Symptoms of iodine deficiency include muscle cramps, cold hands and feet, proneness to weight gain, poor memory, constipation, depression and headaches, edema, myalgia, weakness, dry skin, and brittle nails. Sources include most sea foods, (ocean fish, but not fresh fish, shellfish, especially oysters), unrefined sea salt, kelp and other sea weeds, fish broth, butter, pineapple, artichokes, asparagus, dark green vegetables and eggs. Certain vegetables, such as cabbage and spinach, can block iodine absorption when eaten raw or unfermented and are called goitrogens. But eating fish won't give you iodine in mg amounts. To get
13.8 mg iodine, you would have to eat 10-20 pounds of fish per day.

I hope my Dr has a solution for me. I see him today.

headaches

I originally was put on blood pressure medicine years ago to help my headaches & deal w/ my slightly elevated pressure.
My new medicine has helps my swelling but now I'm getting headaches again. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. with my head splitting. I woke up & still had a headache this morning. I can't go back to having migraines.

altered lunch pail

I altered this for mom's birthday '06

G

G is feeling better just tired. Working yesterday really wiped him out.
I went to bed at 10pm & slept great.

Colin has been his usual funny self. Last night in the tub I could hear the
water splashing in another room. I came in & told him to quit splashing so much
water. He told me he we water bending & started swirling the water so I could
see how to water bend. He gets water & air bending from the cartoon Avatar.
He's such a funny little boy.

He had quite the work out in gymnastics last night. He loved every minute of it.
I haven't signed him up for break dance class. I'm going to wait until Spring.
Hopefully in Spring I will have a little less on my plate.

More sleep please

I took medicine from my Dr for the headaches that started Friday. It has a lot of caffeine as a result I couldn't get to sleep last night. The last time I looked at the clock it was 2:30 a.m.
My mind would not shut off. I think I'll go to bed at 9 pm tonight hopefully I will be sleep by midnight.

G goes to work today. He's feeling a little shut in & wants to go to work. I hope it goes well.
I'm at work today but feeling very tired.

Heros

Some of the guys G work came over & cleaned up our tree limbs from the ice storm.
Thank you guys. I'll invite them all to dinner sometime soon.
I'm very grateful. I tried to help last weekend by dragging limbs to the street. The next day
I work up w/ a horrible rash on my neck.

Thank you family

My aunt C is taking Colin to the movies. It is nice to have a break & for him to spend time w/ CR. Thank you C.
I want to send a big shout out to my sister K & BIL D for keeping Colin for 3 evenings while I was in the hospital. He enjoyed being over Auntie K. Thank you so much!

My health gets a little better everyday. Yesterday I had a headache almost all day but not today. My swelling is down in my legs, ankles & feet. I still have a little numbness in my right arm but not my legs.

Today starts G 1 week break from chemo. He's tired but feeling pretty good. At this moment he's watching football & talking back to the TV. It makes me smile when he does that, I just laugh under my breath. He gets so into those football games.

He's also enjoying some soup I made, it turned out pretty good. It's chicken, chicken broth, carrots, celery, onion, seasoning, noodles & cream of mushroom soup. Yum

On the mend-very long

Monday night was not my best night. I went to the Dr Monday because I haven't been feeling well. For weeks, I've had chills, swelling & numbness in my legs & hands. My feet had been swelling so bad in the evenings I could hardly walk. My eczema was the worst it's been in my life & I was broke out from head to toe.
Saturday I drug some of the broken branches from the ice storm to the curb. G can't do it, so I tried. Well I woke up Sunday morning w/the eczema on my neck hurting & oozing. My skin hurt so bad. I moved as little as possible.

Monday at the Dr office he wasn't sure what was wrong so he gave me a different prescription ointment for my skin & sent me to the lab for blood test. The took 4 vials of blood.
I went back to work after the Dr appt. After picking Colin & J up from school, he did his homework & we headed for gymnastics. We went home after gymnastics, I put Colin in the tub & went to pick up my prescriptions. I was hungry but decided to eat after I picked up my new medicine. I came home took my bath. I went to the kitchen to eat & make Colin's lunch. I felt very drained tired & lightheaded. I was trying to finish Colin's lunch so I could lay down.
I heard G ask me was I OK & I sd I didn't feel well. I know now he asked me because I fell on the dishwasher. I didn't realize I had blacked out. I went to finish making Colin's lunch. G sd I took 2 steps & went down. The next thing I know is I'm on the floor & they both are standing over me. My back was hurting, I had landed on one of Colin's trucks. G sd Colin broke my fall & he thought I was going to fall on C. He sd C deflected my fall & I went the other way otherwise I was headed for the corner of the counter. I have scars & bruised down my back. My right lover arm was bloody & scrapped. I have a bruise on my right upper arm. My night shirt has two huge rips in the back.

After I ended up on the floor, G asked what was wrong I sd I didn't feel well & maybe I needed to eat. He handed me the food I had prepared. I asked him to call my mom to take me to the hospital. He called her but she didn't come right away.
I ate 2 bites of chicken & 2 mini carrots as I sat on the floor. I didn't feel I could stand up & walk; then I passed out again. I came too & I was slumped over. I passed out 1 more time then I asked him to call my mom again.

I needed to use the bathroom or thought I did. G helped me get up & we walked to the bathroom close to the front door, we were still waiting on mom. I sat on the toilet & my legs started to get really tight & spasms, my toes distored & I couldn't control them. It scared me I thought I was having a stroke. I asked G to remove my house shoe & look at my toes. They were distorted. I sd I think I'm having a stroke or something call 911.
I sd see if mom's outside she was but the firemen were there too. We live really close to EMSA & the fire department is down the street. Mom & the 3 firemen came in they asked me to sit down. They started asking questions & examining me, then EMSA arrived. I still felt lightheaded & wanted to lay down & sleep. I was tired like I had run a marathon.
Two EMSAmen came in w/ a stretcher or gerny (sp). They put me in the ambulance & put on ozygen & started an IV. My breathing got better, it was really hard & deliberate.

G rode in the front of the ambulance but I didn't know until later & I wonder why he or mom didn't ride w/ me. Mom called my sister S to come get Colin. When they took me out of the ambulance mom & G were standing there at the emergency room door. G wasn't feeling well at all so mom had to take him home about 10 pm. They stopped to pick up Colin.

The ER Dr sd my potassium was low & they gave me two potassium pills to take. He sd my potassium was 3.0 & the norm is 3.5-5.0 so mine wasn't low enough to cause all of the passing out. I stayed in the ER listening to all of the noise & etc. until 2 a.m. The hospital was so packed there were no rooms available. At 2 am they moved me to a small room in the ER w/ a door & turned out the light. I slept until 8 am. Dad came to visit at 9 am then G showed up at later.

At 1 p.m. Tuesday they moved me to a cardiac emergency room because they were still no hospital rooms available. There wasn't a chair for G to sit in. Dad was long gone he only stayed about an hour. They served me lunch then at 3 pm I was finally moved to a real room.

I was in the hospital from Monday night to Thursday evening. They ran a lot of test but still have no real answers.

Better day

G seems to be doing better today. I went to the Dr to see if there is any help for my eczema. Same ole same ole he gave me a prescription. I hope it helps. I'm so tired of it.

TGIF

Whew it was hard to get up & go to work this morning. I'm sleeping in tomorrow. G is doing a little better. I hope he keeps improving. I plan to cook a lot this weekend so he has good stuff to eat when I'm not home.

Whoo hoo I went to Macy's to exchange my kitchen aid yesterday. G had bought me one for Christmas it was red & beautiful but it doesn't match my kitchen. I exchanged it for the metallic silver color. I have a different stand mixer that's stainless steel. I like stainless if it's not too much. Too much of it starts to look sterile to me. I also exchanged the pasta attachment for the slicing one. I have a pasta making machine that ummm doesn't get used much.

G this week

G is having a tough week. He doesn't complain but I can tell by his actions. I suggested he take 1 of the many classes listed in his chemo book about nutrition. He need to get his counts higher. I think better nutrition & supplements will help. He also needs to rest when his body tells him too; instead of trying to push on. He told me yesterday he didn't want to just lay around. I told him he needs to listen to his body if he's tired, rest.

Happy New Year

It's 2008. A brand new year. I'd like to have more fun this year. G & I need a little fun. When he feels better, I'd like to go see a movie.
My biggest goals for 2008 is to get healthier. To eat healthier & exercise more.