This Image Speaks For Itself

Good grief.  How did it get to be May already when the last time I was here I was whining for Spring?  Yikes. 

While I haven't been posting, obviously, I have been lurking blog land and I've been watching you all.  lol.  And I'm jealous as heck.  That's another reason I haven't blogged, got nothin' to show.  ha hah.  I've been busy though.  I've been some lazy too but more busy lately I'd say.  lol.

I've wanted to come on and post for awhile now with some good news and sadly it has taken me this long to pass it on.  A few posts back I mentioned that my sisters cancer was back.  Well, I am happy, no, that's not the word, elated to say that she is again cancer free.  Already.  She had taken 3 sets of chemo's and a cat scan has revealed that there is nothing present in the liver or lung at all anymore.  Praise the Lord!!  A big huge Thank You to those of you who prayed and thought of her during this last round.  We are firm believers in God answering prayers.  She will still have to have two more chemo's just to be sure but she is a champ.  She said she can handle it because she knows she's got it beat now.  Thank God.  I had to share that with you all.  Thanks again.

I should have my tail in the sewing room but I can't do it.  Not even for a minute.  I don't know what's wrong with me but I have no motivation in that area whatsoever.  And I need to.  I really do, trust me.  lol.  What has my attention right now is the great big beautiful outdoors.  Oh, I love Spring and watching the earth spring forth it's bounty and glory.  Especially after the long, ugly Ohio winter we've had.  I've been planting and transplanting and the guys put up the rest of my fence for me on Mother's Day so as soon as I can get some equipment in here, I'm ready to move and plant my vegetable garden.  The flower beds should be done but you never know what I might find along the way to add.  lol.  I'll have pics later but  it's taking my phone forever to send them to my email for some reason.  When I get them all loaded up, I'll post them too.

Hope you all get some good sewing time in today.  Send vibes my way that I'll get my tail motivated to get in there and do what I need to do to finish a project and start some more.  And take time to get some fresh air today too.  Take care.

Happy Stitching,

Renee

Can't Wait For Spring

Hello There.  Happy Sunday to everyone.  I hope this finds everyone well.  So far, so good here in my little corner of the world. 

I can't talk long today because I have major, major work to do.  I've had a friends quilt for 2 years and still haven't finished quilting it and she showed up the other day to check progress.  Yikes.  So now I am planning on spending a huge portion of the day today belting out some stitches on that beast.  Not really looking forward to diving in but I am excited to do it too.  Doesn't make sense does it?  lol.  Anyway, those are my plans today.  How bout you all?  Anything exciting today?

I also can't wait for Spring.  I mean Spring like weather anyway.  The rains last week melted most of the snow finally but it also flooded alot of areas unfortunately.  I usually get my cabin fever in February real bad but I am proud to say I was pleasantly surprised to see it was March already before I began to whine about it.  lol.  I'm ready to get outside and garden/yard work.  I have iris and resurrection lilies coming up already.  Couple more weeks and the plum tree should bloom.  Love that time of year.  It's so pretty right outside my back door.  I'm already seeing signs of things in bloom through other folks' blogs and now I want that here too.  Particularly in Alabama I've noticed that Spring is showing it's head.  Too bad I'm in Ohio.  lol. 

I'd also like to mention before I go, please, please think of the people in Japan and say your prayers for them today.  It's so devastating what has happened and I am so deeply saddened by the coverage in the news.  Seems like prayer is all I can do about the situation.  And God bless those going/sending aid.

Hope you've had a great weekend.  Enjoy the day.  Happy Stitching.

Renee

Rockin' To Pandora Radio

First of all, Hello everybody! I hope everyone is doing well.  Not too bad here.  I apologize that it's been some time since I posted last but it's been quite hectic here and it is starting to settle down some.  I want to Thank everyone very much for thoughts, prayers and well-wishes for my sister and our family.  That means so much to me.    She is having her second day of round two today.  She sounded wonderful last night.  I continue to pray that this won't take a terrible toll on her.  It's easy for me to say but so far, so good.  One prominent lymph node under her arm is already gone to the touch.  They will do a PET scan probably within the month to see if anything has shrank, etc.  I think that happens before her 3rd round of treatments this time.  If not this month, next month I'm sure.  I always am eager to hear good results from those scans.  Too bad those are the ones that confirm the bad news as well though.  But Thank God for that technology.  Again, thank you for all your thoughtfullness.

And now, for what I'm currently raving on:   Love me some Pandora Internet radio.  I first discovered it a year and a half ago on my smartphone.  Spent most of my time last summer outside wearing headphones and listening while I gardened.  It was very hard at times not to bust out in dance while raking or something when a good beat came on.  lol.  Can you imagine what my neighbors would think of me out in my backyard cuttin' a rug and air guitaring my rake all by myself?  lol.  I'm listening to The Hustle  right now.  And let me tell you, what I do in the privacy of my own home while listening is a different story.  lol.  I'm not doing so much actual physical dancing as I am rockin' this chair I'm sittin' in at the moment, but you know, it's movement.  Right?  lol.  My favorite music I've found so far is mostly, don't laugh- Disco.  Yeah, I said it, disco.  I put in KC and The Sunshine Band and I've not been disappointed in a selection yet.  I also like what I get by putting in AC/DC.  I search by artist, not genre.  Does anyone else ever use it?  Today's actually the first time I've used it on the desktop.  What are some of your favorites?

I haven't been doing a super, duper big lot of anything major at all on the sewing front.  I have managed to finally finish my son and daugher-in-laws comforter for them.  They bought a brand new bedding set and one of their nice little doggies forgot he was chewing on his butt and chawed on the new comforter.   Ugh, I would not have wanted to be the doggies when that situation was discovered.  Anyway, amazingly the offended area was right on the edge.  That was the good news.  Too bad it was on one of the long ends.  I had some fabric that was like one shade away from matching the comforter and wanted to just patch it but Nooo.  Sonny boy thought maybe I could just cut it off past the hole and re-seam it.  That's what I ended up doing but I didn't like it and it was not good work at all but it was the best I could do because I put it off and put it off until they were almost desperate for it.  Lesson learned.  They were super happy with it but still.  lol. 

My son got a job working with my husband in a fab shop and let me tell you, them boys are hard on the britches.  I'll be dad-gone, I've been sewing patches on top of patches.  I just got hubs talked in to getting uniforms so I could take a break from weekly mending.  Well now my boy is picking up where his dad left off.  I have a small basket full of jeans to patch here so I'm gonna find a spot on the floor and get ready to do some mad patching while I watch The Waltons on t.v.  My chair has seen better days and is not comfortable for sewing so I sit on the floor in front of it and lean on it with my back and I'm more under the light of the lamp that way and anything that helps me see better works for me.  Hopefully as soon as Shawn has his 90 days in at work, he will take them up on the uniforms himself.  They cost a little out of their pay checks but they mend, they wash, they iron, etc.  See what I'm gettin' at?  lol.

I hope everyone is having a great day.  I have to say, today is one of the better ones I have had in a long time.  I feel good today.  Not at all hateful or anything.  lol.  I'm trying to work on my sweet countenance.  lol.  If you knew me, you'd know that might be a long row to hoe for me.  lol.  Take care.  Happy Stitching today.

Renee

Prayers Please

I don't know if anyone remembers me saying last week was a rough one or not but it was and to be honest, this one hasn't been the best either.  But I couldn't say nothin'.  Hate being put in that position.  But I understand completely why.  And now we all know what we've been waiting to hear pretty much.  It hasn't been all bad news but what's bad is plenty bad enough, trust me.

Let me explain.  Last Wednesday I called my sister because we hadn't heard much from her since Christmas.  Older brother and me joked that she sure must be enjoying her new computer she got because we hadn't heard from her.  My husband said maybe I should call on her cause we were right, none of us had heard from her but for an email or two.  So I called her and she's been going through some medical procedures that ended up in a biopsy Monday and the diagnosis today.  I was asked not to talk about it because she didn't want our one brother to worry unnecessarily if she didn't need to say anything.  She has been in remission from Non-Hodgekins lymphoma for a year and a half or so.  The lymphoma is back in her liver and a small spot on her lungs.  I still have to tell my kids but she is calling the brothers tonight to talk to them herself.  The prognosis is good but it involves massive chemo and all the related procedures.  Just please pray for her please if you wouldn't mind.  For strength to battle this again and strength for her husband who is her rock.  This is not what we wanted to hear.  I'm very sad right now.

Last Thursday, on my husbands birthday, he had a sort of routine doctors appointment.  To check and see if the blood pressure meds he has been on are working.  Well, he had a cough because he smokes and we were just sick not long ago and because he has lost 12 pounds in 2 months, he was ordered blood tests and a chest x-ray.  He didn't ask any questions and told me he guessed he was getting the x-ray cause he was coughing.  Well,  that's not how I roll.  I gotta know how, what, when, where and why of all things.  lol. The weight loss friegtened me.   I have been standing on my head with worry between him and my sister.  We went for his results yesterday and thank God he is fine.  He does have high cholesterol but nothing came back irregular anywhere including the chest x-ray.  And of course, we didn't tell our sons this either so as not to worry them.  I'm glad I don't have anything bad to report to them.  As far as the weight loss, he was weighed once with his work boots and the next with his tennis shoes.  He had on boots again yesterday and gained 2 pounds so we account that for some of it.  The blood pressure medicine does contain a diuretic and he says he has been peeing more so maybe that's some of it.  And he just don't eat like he should plus he runs his tail off at work about 11 hours a day.  They recommend a low fat, low cholesterol diet for awhile before they put him on cholesterol meds for that.  Now my question is, how do you fatten somebody up if you gotta feed them low fat food?  lol. 

Last Friday, my Mom's cousin and his wife were in a terrible car crash which ended up claiming the life of my cousin Oscar early Sunday morning.  His poor wife Carole sustained major injury and I do not have any information as to whether she is even out of the hospital yet and this concerns me.  She is so sweet and I know her heart is broken.  Maybe another prayer request please for her family during their loss.

Two nights ago a long-standing factory in town here caught fire and burned almost to the ground.  About 40 people are now out of work in this already badly hit town.  Our friend's wife worked there and they don't know anything yet as to what they are going to do.  It's so sad.

I have been diligently trying to finish up my sister's quilt.  I've gotten side-tracked picking fabrics for my next project though.  Then I'm really feeling drawn to do some Bible Study and I just decided yesterday and again this morning that I had to put it all down for a minute until I heard today from my sister.  The worry/anxiety renders me mind boggled sometimes and these past few days have been doozies.  lol.  Now that I know what's what with everyone, I can move forward and hope to do so starting in the morning.  I want to finish the quilt top, I have to "reduce" a comforter for my son about 2 inches which should be real fun.  Not!!  lol.  I am gonna need to keep busy and keep my mind as busy on trying focus as I can.  Thank you for being a great bunch.  I'm sorry to report so many woes as of late but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.  Thank you for any prayers you can send out for my family right now. 

Take care,

Renee