Get Well Pressies

I had a bit of surgery on the 18th. Here is some of the sweet pressies I received.

 My sister Penny gave me this oh so soft Winne the Pooh and Piglet. It was to hold when I coughed. Cause you know how that is not too much fun after surgery!

 Our sister Debbie Jo gave me this pretty Vera Bradley purse with matching wallet. I love it! And everything fit too.

 My dear friend Venda, from our Girl Scout leader days, sent me from NM this friendship angel. She is a Jim Shore resin piece. LOVE her! And sweet Venda. So glad we have reconnected after a few years of business/moving away. The details are so much prettier in person. Love the two girls walking in friendship. That covered so much for us. Our love of girls and our friendship also. Thank you again honey! Taking the pics with my phone makes them not so clear. But so much faster. :0)

 And then Miss Laura from MN (who dropped her blog and reallllllly needs to restart it) sent me a box of sunshine cheer. And let me tell you, it was yellow and oh so happy. This is what I saw when I opened it.

 Made me laugh. But she put so much thought into it!

 She covered it all, quilting, chocolate, crafts, bathtime fun, candy, comfy (socks and lip balm) and crocheting! That is a LOT of yellow.

 Look at this clever triangular pincushion with butterfly pins. It is made from 30's reproduction fabric. Adorable. This girl is clever I am telling you!

I am so thankful for my family and friends. They are great encouragers and support. Very grateful also to Penny and Heather for manning our Farmer's Market booth the past 2 weeks without me. I know they are having some bonding time (hahahaha) but still appreciate them so much.
I am blessed. ~Angela

It is time!

Our Relay for Life is this Friday! You can go HERE to read my story. You will also find the donate buttons there. (hint hint HINT) I will walking the Survivors Lap with Mom and Daddy. That one lap around the track will be hard to accomplish. But we will get'r done. I have pleurisy again in both my lungs. A huge thank you to all that have supported me financially in this. I completely realize that monies are tight. No worries or pressures for anyone. Just offering you the opportunity.

I am blessed. ~Angela

Catching up

Photos of some of my Farmer's Market wares. Wool felted bags and cozies. Wool pins. Only 2 Saturday's left of market. I am going to miss it greatly. The people are wonderful and the sales have been great. 

Then I had to share the newest pics of Miss Jaidyn. My great-niece will be 3 in December. Such a joy to our family.

Here is an update on my health for all those sweet ladies who have asked. I have just finished up 3 weeks of treatments, will be off 5 and then back on for 4. Another MRI and then we will see what is what. The surgery is on hold for the present. My September MRI showed the tumor had shrunk from treatments this summer down to what it was in December. Which was a God thing! If it will stay this size, the dr feels it is better to maintain it with periodic treatments rather than do surgery. With my other health issues, it would be safer and easier on my overall health. I am having problems with my blood so have been having transfusions to help that. Right now I am trying to rest a lot. That is a huge thing. 

The cooler, no humidity weather is making me happy. Feeling more crafty than I have in months. Have been doing some needle felting. AND Penny and I have signed up to vendor at two wool fiber shows in spring 2011. Yaya us. Gotta keep making our little girl plans. I will be hostessing a quilt retreat next month. Very excited about that. I rest a lot at these and it is such good energy there. Love being with my friends.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the autumn.

~Angela

Hand painted yarn

Here is a pair of small wool soakers I made from Penny's hand painted yarn. I love how it worked up. She will be listing her hand dyed and painted yarns on Etsy soon. This skein made me think of a froggy playing in a pond.

More pics here at my Etsy shop.

Health update, because some of your sweet ladies have asked. The new meds I have been taking once a week, stink. That crazy pill knocks me on my hiney and I do not even know my name for about 3 days/daze. The good news is I do not have to take it this week. Having a blood transfusion with platelets on Wednesday, so off the nasty medicine for a week. Sad when I am looking forward to this procedure which makes my head pound like a jackhammer. BUT at least I still know who I am. Trade offs work for me. I am easy like that. :o)

UGH!

This is me.

Pleurisy and 2 cracked ribs. They say it is from the lupus. I do not have TIME for this nonsense! Just sayin'. The last couple of weeks we have been the bug. Hopefully soon, we will get to be the windshield. :o)

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

C. S. Lewis

My headaches are doing much better. Had a hard go of them last week, but this week is starting much improved. So praise the Lord! They have been so intense, I cannot explain it. The past month has seemed to be a bit of a blur. I know I am going through the motions, but cannot remember too much of it all. Maybe a good thing? :o)

Getting ready for our annual retreat in May. I am the hostess and love to see my online friends. The ladies are so much fun. We just enjoy being together. Working on the final details now. Last Minute Nellie here as usual. But it just all comes together in the end each year.

I am looking for my first robin. Then I will know spring is coming!

Hope everyone is well.

Home, headaches and healing

 

In and out of the hospital. Had a reaction to the go-nite-nite medicine. And having huge constant headaches. The hospital called me today to do a little over the phone checkup. When I told her my head was killing me, she ticked off a list of reasons...the reaction to the meds, where I had the surgery, tumor in my nogin, the swelling from the surgery AND the tumor....yep you probably do have a headache. Here is a pic of my neck.

You can tell how swollen I am all around, especially in the back. Looks like I have a goiter back there. Sis took this photo yesterday. No stitches on the outside, they used skin super glue. Nifty stuff I think. Thank you for all the good wishes and prayers. I go to the surgeon on Thursday hopefully he will have the biopsy results then. If not, I have another appt the next Thursday with another dr and she will surely know what is what.

My Birthday Give-A-Way

I didn't forget my promise of a give-a-way. I just saved it for my birthday week. Yep! Celebrating 47 next Wednesday on the 13th. So....everyone who comments on this post will be entered into the drawing. Seems I spend much of my time crocheting. Requires little thinking and slight movement. Works for me these days/daze. So...the winner will receive a special doily from me. It will be in red and white to celebrate St. Valentine's Day. And you can also use it for Christmas. Here are a few pics of my recent endeavors. Mindless work. I actually had a stack of 14 in various sizes, colors and patterns. Gave several away and now have several new ones not pictured.

 

My lighting was really bad that day. Your winning doily will be a medium red and white.The ones in the second picture are ecru and dark red on the left and the medium red on the right. If you prefer to grunge it a bit, you can darken it with your favorite antiquing method (tea, coffee, RIT dye).

We have gotten snow today. And more in the forecast for tomorrow. It is pretty but a bit of a trickymicky to tool around in. I had to drive out in it, but the highway was in good shape. I go back to the surgeon on Monday to get his (hopefully) final decision on what is going with me. When I went this past Monday, he found several more enlarged lymph nodes and a couple of places in my breasts. Surprise! And I was not a happy camper that day. So...this week has been about tests and more bloodwork. It is amazing what they do now with technology. Not like in years past where everything had to be poked with a needle to find out what was what. Now they give you some dye and take a lookyloo with "magic eyes". And girls, GO GET THOSE MAMOGRAMS DONE! Just cannot stress that enough. Get your girls squeezed and checked out yearly if you are over 30.Many insurance company's will pay 100% also.  It isn't fun. But the alternative sure isn't either! I just had one 6 months ago and it was clear. So see what I mean, things just happen.

Hope your home is warm and you are all snuggled in for the night.

~Angela

Purdy flowers

My sweet friend Laura in MN had these delivered last week. They smelt sooo good. Very sweet with roses and the mini carnations and all the special little flowers tucked around. All nestled into a keepable china tea cup. Thank you again honey! I kept them right by my bed on the dresser the whole time. The doll in the pic is an old Boyd Bear doll. She has an embroidery hoop, a small bunny and bear with embroidery floss tangled up on them. Mark bought me a few of this line of dolls several years ago. I love her glasses.

And thank you all for the sweet comments and emails. That each meant alot to me!

I am feeling better. Still being a bum and sleeping alot. I just got through telling Penny, enough already! And she reminded me it hadn't even been 2 weeks yet. Having a devil of a time keeping Toby boy from jumping up onto my tummy. He is used to me picking him up, big ole doggie that he is and that is what he does to let me know he "wants me". A quick pounce and then the puppy dog eye thing. Mark told me to take a pillow and use some fabric to tie it around my waist. I may just have to!

I am behind in my blog reading. So I am off to live my crafting/sewing through you all! :o)) My next post will be 294. That means a Give-A-Way at 300!!! I love doing them.

Operation...and not the game. LOL

Had a bit of surgery here last Friday. My gal bladder, icky sicky thing that it was, is no more. My liver is a lobe smaller and my belly button hernia is tucked under and down where it belongs. Just a bit of surgery. LOL Sheesh. I feel like I have been out of touch with life for a month, not a bare week. Penny has been a huge blessing...thank you Penny. Took some time off this week to babysit me and Toby. So glad she loves the lil brat. Toby not me. LOL Ok maybe both of us are a bit bratty. But we both love her. The surgeon told me today it would be 3-4 months before my liver area would feel normal. And the fatigue the same if not longer. So my summer plans, are being a bum.

Tests came back.

No cancer. But I am not happy either. Findings...non-alcoholic steatohepatitis NASH, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis (stage 3). Blech. Basically my liver is not happy. Not happy at all. :o(