Walking Pneumonia

Yep, I've been down with walking pneumonia - I know they call it "walking" cuz you aren't bad enough to warrant a hospital stay, but let me tell ya, when you're wheezing and panting for every breath, you aren't walking around much either.  It all started the day we went to Spokane for the pathology report and to schedule my chemo appts.  Boy has it been a rough week.  I did a little knitting in between trying to hack up a lung or two and I did finish a good book - the Templar Legacy by Steve Berry.  Other than that, nothing.  Just sat around, couldn't lay down for a few days cuz I couldn't breath.  I've gone through so much kleenex I should own the company.

On a happier note, today is my CR's birthday.  And 3 years ago this past Friday he had his radiation seed implants to kill the prostate cancer he was battling, so his birthdays are particularly special.  I made him a cake and will fix a crab casserole and salad for dinner for him.  We're just taking it easy today as we do most Sundays.  The sun is out, but the wind is howling, so it's a good day to stay inside and just chill.  I might try to get to my sewing room and work on something and then again I may knit, haven't decided yet.

I hope you are all doing well and having a good day.
Happy Stitches and Big Hugs,
Tam

The Pathology Report

Well my post-op wasn't quite what I expected, it would seem that one of my tumors was high grade.  So the BCG Chemo went from being a good option to a must do because not only are the tumors recurrent, they are getting more involved.  Between that news and the urgency and spasms my bladder has been having since surgery I just don't want to deal with anything else.  The doc gave me vesicare and I"m hoping that it starts helping sooner rather than later.  On the 24th I will start the chemo - once a week for 6 weeks, then a maintenance schedule.  So grateful there is this option.

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Naps and More Naps

I'd like to tell you I've been full of energy and accomplishing great things, but truly all I've done well of late is nap a lot.  Thankfully the weather has been cold and damp and foggy, so I don't feel so guilty staying in and napping and not doing much of anything.

So first I thought I'd share with you my retail therapy of yarns to make scarves with:

And a couple of the scarves I've made using some of the yarn:

Yesterday I went to Craft Warehouse, a fun store close to where I live and they have it all, home decor, fabric, yarn, scrap booking, beads.  You name it, you can find it there and I like the ladies in the fabric department and needed some fabric for a project and since I had a 40% off coupon, well you can see why I decided to go - nothing better than a coupon.  On Saturdays they have a few make and take projects going on and one caught my eye.  It involved a piece of canvas, crayons that you hot glue to the canvas, and then melt with a heat tool and ta-da, you have some art:

I hot glued the flowers on to make it more interesting.
I also wanted to show my messy table with my finished quilted table cloth on it, we love how it turned out:

Today I plan to be in my sewing room while CR listens to the super bowl game.  I like the commercials, but the rest I can do with out, so tomorrow I'll catch the best of the commercials on the Internet.  We have a pot of chili on the stove and it should be an easy day around the house.  I'm staying in my pj's and I'm sure I'll be taking a nap or two with the way things have been going. 

Now I need to get off the computer and make some brunch for us.

Happy Stitches, big Hugs, and Many Thanks for the prayers and good vibes this past week!!
Tam

At Home and Doing Fine

Thank you all my wonderful friends for the prayers and good vibes you sent my way.  We arrived home yesterday, I slept the day away, so it's a good thing CR was driving.  Then I went to bed early and probably slept another 12 hours.  I'm wiped out and my neck is so stiff I think they had me doing a head stand for surgery.  It's good to be home, there's no place like it when you just aren't yourself.  I did some retail therapy and bought scarf yarn.  I will take a picture soon, beautiful yarns at a store called Paradise Fibers in Spokane - LOVED that store, it's huge and is in an old brick building and just fun to wander through.  I think they have everything and then some. 

Off to get a haircut and meet a friend later for coffee at Starbucks and naps, lots of naps again today.  Poor CR waited and waited and waited and the doctor didn't come out to talk to him and then all of a sudden they took him back to my recovery, after recovery room to see me.  So we've no idea what all got removed, etc.  Guess we'll find out on Wednesday for my Post-op.  In the recovery after recovery room they give you some toast and coffee and let your head clear a bit, then you get to go home and I was ready to go let me tell ya.  Hospitals are not my favorite place to be.

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Can't believe I forgot this

I totally forgot to share the Christmas present the kids gave me when we were up in Spokane a couple of weeks ago.

It's a picture of Ben right after the kids had picked up their new black lab pup Scout.  Ben is our Grandson and quite adorable if you ask this Grandma, even if at 9 he probably doesn't want to be called adorable.  The kids have a friend - Alycia, who puts these gorgeous necklaces together.  She is quite the photographer and puts some of her unique photos on necklaces as well as taking custom orders.  I plan to get a necklace with my dog on it in the near future.  Please check out her work, it is amazing and beautiful - even the way she displays and photographs her necklaces is amazing.  You can find her website HERE.  Well I have a Bust Your Buttons Butter cake in the oven to take to the kids and I had better stop procrastinating and pack for the next few days.  At least I won't need makeup this trip!!

Happy Stitches and hugs,
Tam

Longing for Spring

Do you ever just reach a point where you are sick to death of having to wear a coat.  I do, and I'm at that point with several more weeks of winter to go.  I think in part, I crave sunshine and mild weather and about this time of year you feel like winter will never arrive.

We leave in a couple of days for Spokane and surgery to remove my nasty tumors.  I've been an emotional wreck and rather quiet - which isn't like me, but I am a person who needs to go into myself at times like this and reflect.  Doing things I love like knitting and quilting and baking really help and I've been doing a lot of all three.

The owner of the tanning salon I work at has always encouraged me to put some of my handy work in the salon to sell, so recently I've been knitting up this fast and fun scarves, they're light weight and not for warmth, but very cute.  So I'm selling them for $20.00 each and I honestly didn't think any one would buy them, well the first day I put them out at the salon I sold 2 right off the bat.  I was shocked and very pleased that someone liked them.



My wonderful friend Mary has been so good to me and caring about how I'm feeling, she is always sending me PGV (positive good vibes).  Well the other day she brought me in this wonderful card and beautiful necklace and earrings (I love crosses) as a PGV Charm.  Wear it and it will bring you all those good vibes she said.  I'm wearing it today.

Then out of the blue my good friend Cathy showed up this morning with a bag of fun goodies to enjoy and she hoped they'd put a smile on my face given all that I've been feeling of late.  Beautiful note cards that say Believe, a journal, some yummy dark chocolate covered pretzels and some green tea hand soap - oh and something else that we'll get to in a minute.  I also got a couple cards from friends today as well.  Man I feel so loved and blessed.  Not just for the gifts and cards, but for the love and the prayers that everyone is sending my way.  And the positive good vibes!!

I wanted to show you my Grandmothers beautiful diamond ring that my Aunties gave me last October when I was visiting them.  I finally got it sized and it is gorgeous.  Of course my ugly, arthritic, man hands don't do it justice.  But I love wearing it and am thrilled to have it.

And one more gift from my friend Cathy - this car air freshener that made me laugh out loud.  Haven't we all had a situation or two in which this might be the case.  And if you haven't then, well, you haven't lived, haha. 

I won't be posting till later next week, so until then............

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Let it Snow

Unfortunately our trip to Spokane was timed for the first big storm of the winter for our area.  But the trip couldn't be postponed as I had my 3 month check and I unfortunately have more tumors.  I wasn't surprised, I actually expected it, it is a very invasive cancer.  So we have scheduled surgery to remove the tumors on the 31st of the month and then my Urologist agreed it is time to start the BCG Chemo treatments.  I will have to heal for a few weeks after surgery and then we will begin the chemo.  I'm feeling rather down today even though we have a path forward with it all, I think it's just the stress and the waiting to find out that puts your body into a funk after it's done.

Our drive homes wasn't as bad as we thought it would be with all the snow until we got about an hour north of our home and then it was slick and crappy.  Today has been a steady dose of fine snow and freezing rain.  And I think tomorrow is to be more of the same.

So here are a few pictures taken from inside our house of the winter wonderland.  I just hope the city gets busy and starts to sand, salt or whatever - the slick and messy roads.  It's a zoo out there of bad drivers, scared drivers, idiot drivers.  Oy Vey!!

My StepDaughter loved her shawl so that was the bright spot in our trip.  I'm so glad she was happy with it and will be able to use it.

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

A Knitting Finish

I'm so excited to share this picture - I finished the fan and feather shawl I made for my Step-Daughter.  I will be giving it to her on Monday when we go spend a few days with them to celebrate a late Christmas and I have my 3 month Urology -bladder check.  We already know there is a tumor, so we'll see what else has grown and then schedule surgery to remove those bad boys!!

Fan and Feather Shawl, using Simplicity Yarn by HiKoo - Merino Superwash Wool

Ah the cat approves of the shawl - isn't he so cute.



Hooray - Mom is done with that project - now she better give me so attention and fix some popcorn for us to share!!  And she better snuggle with me, I need some mommy/doggy time, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

The felines chilling out on a cold day together, they're so cute - I just love them both so much!!


Tomorrow I bake cookies for Ben our Grandson and get our stuff together and we'll be outta here after I get off work on Monday.  It's supposed to snow, so I'm hoping it's not much and the roads are clear for us.

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Happy Birthday Mary

Today is my very special friend Mary's Birthday.  It's a big one, but I won't tell on her which big one.  Mary is just the sweetest lady in the world and she is such a great friend to me.  We are alike and yet different and we enjoy each others company to the fullest.  We can talk for hours and it feels as if it's only minutes.  She's one of a kind.  I've already given her a birthday gift, but I felt she needed a cake to fully celebrate the occasion.  So I made her a chocolate chip pound cake with a dark chocolate glaze.  I think she'll be pleased.

Happy Birthday Mary, Love ya girl!!

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Working Feverishly

I have been working feverishly on a shawl for my wonderful Step-Daughter.  She and her family do civil war re-enacting and she mentioned that when I got to a point in my knitting that I felt I could do a shawl she'd like to get me to make her one.  So I bought some gorgeous washable wool in late November and set about making her a fan and feather shawl in a charcoal grey (trying to stay in a color shade for the civil war era).  Anyhow I had 10 balls of yarn and I only have 4 left.  I need to have it done by the 16th of this month when we will celebrate Christmas with them and when I see my urologist next.  I am really feeling the pressure and yet I had a lot of stops and starts with getting sick, Christmas, etc and still I only have 4 balls of yarn left to do.  I've timed myself and when all is said and done I'll have about 55 hours of work into it.  Lord I hope she likes it, if not I'll keep it as I think it's beautiful.  So here it is, I'll post a picture when it's done too.

Just wondering when you knit or quilt or do any craft project, do you put not only love and care into it but wishes for the person whom it is for to have happiness and to feel surrounded with the love you are putting into it.  Guess I might be weird, but I try to silently do that when I am making something for someone as it truly is a gift from my heart.

This is my first really large knitting endeavor and while I'm a slow knitter, I really like how it's turning out.  Once I'm done with this I can get to some quilting - I need to quilt my tablecloth and get started on my good friend/sister Robyn's quilt.  So many exciting projects on the horizon!!

Happy Stitches and hugs,
Tam

A Great Way to Spend the Afternoon

I worked this morning, then came home and spent the afternoon sewing.  Cliff loved the quilted tablecloth that I made for Christmas several years ago and wanted one for the table for the rest of the year.  So I thought about it, found the perfect material - Moda Circa 1934 and got busy this afternoon and put the top together:

I just love it and it was such a fun afternoon to sew away while CR watched the Rose Bowl.  CR just told me he loved it and thought it was very pretty.  SCORE!!!

On a sad note, this morning CR heard a crash against the window and went to see what it was, sadly it was a beautiful male quail who'd for some reason flown into the window and we think broke his neck.  We LOVE the quail and it saddened us so much that this poor guy lost his life.  He was probably spooked and that was it.

Because I love quail so much CR left him on the deck so I could see him up close as I've never seen one this close and I took some pictures of this amazing bird.  Then CR buried him out back on our property where we have bushes growing for the quail to provide cover for them.  So here are the pictures of the Quail:

So beautiful and so sad. 

What did you do for your New Year Holiday??  Anything fun and exciting?  Ours was quiet and just hanging around home. 

Happy New Year and Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Resolutions?

I'm not one to make resolutions, how about you??  For me I prefer to make plans and try to accomplish them.  This year my plan is pretty simple, get this dog gone cancer under control and have as much fun as possible.  And also to be healthy as well, I believe that will help me in my fight with cancer.  I plan to fly fish, visit my Aunties in the Fall, visit my good friend Robyn in the spring and make her sweet daughter a quilt for her high school graduation.  It's all about enjoying and savoring the good things in life that we sometimes get to busy to recognize.

Did you make it till Midnight to ring in the New Year??  I didn't.  At 9pm I was beat, I said to CR that it was midnight on the east coast, Happy New Year, gave him a kiss and the dog and I went to bed.  We are a wild household - I think CR wasn't far behind me in going to bed.

That said, the little man of the house was all about - hey, lets stay up and party, we can't go to bed yet.  He is so funny and so full of it.  It's rather fun to have a kitten in the house again.  But we do miss our sweet Skeezics and so does his brother Chanceman.  Chance and Butrscotch get along well and play well, but there just isn't the connection that he had with Skeezics, he's become reclusive and not as social as he once was.  I hope that changes with time.

Well Happy New Year and Big Hugs and a big Thank-you for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to this past year!!
Tam

Happy New Year

Wishing Everyone a Very Happy and Wonderful New Year.

Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam

Merry Christmas!!

Some fun things to show and tell

Who knew an Eddie Bauer shopping bag could provide hours of entertainment!

Somebody has no problem being noisy and watching what the neighbors are up to.

Meanwhile, Chanceman decides it's all to much for him so he's taking a nap and hiding his eyes so no one bugs him.

Butrscotch loves the computer and loves to watch and slap at the mouse pointer on the screen.

Finally we got sunshine, both cats were following the sun around the house laying in the glorious sunshine.
I think we aren't the only ones who need vitamin D

A few new purchases, the saucepan is a Christmas present from CR to me.  Then I had an amazon gift certificate so I got us a 4 slice toaster and a nutmeg grinder to grind fresh nutmeg on our eggnog lattes.

Nutmeg grinder close up - it's so cool!!

I received the ornament I won from Joanna's blog giveaway.  Oh mercy it is simply gorgeous!!

I also received my new coat, scarf and gloves today from Lands End.  The coat is beautiful and oh so warm.  It's been so frosty and cold here lately and in the mornings we seem to have a reoccurring theme of freezing fog.  More of the same through the new year, no white Christmas according to the weather man.

I started getting a cold on Monday and by 3am Wednesday morning I knew I was in trouble, I couldn't lay in bed and breath too.  So I called the doctor and he put me on antibiotics and a prescription cough syrup.  I hate the taste of cough syrup, but I swear the coughing makes a person feel like their ribs are broken.  I think tonight I may be able to sleep in bed and breath so that's a good sign.  Darn asthma, every time I get a cold it goes to my lungs and I'm on drugs to get over it.  Just once I'd like to beat a cold with  over the counter remedies and chicken soup.  Oh well, it could be much worse.

The owners of the tanning salon I work at give all of us whatever tanning lotion we want and a regular lotion of our choice as well for Christmas.  On top of that they also gave me a gift certificate to a new restaurant in town, I thought that was so nice and so generous of them.  I love the restaurant so after the new year CR and I will go out to a nice dinner.  I made them my dark chocolate cake and used my Christmas tree bundt pan then sprinkled it with powdered sugar so it looked like a ring of trees with snow on them.  For the kids I gave them See's Candy pops - they are awesome pops, so I hope they liked them.

I'm all ready for Christmas.  Having some folks over for Brunch Saturday morning and then it's just me and CR in our sweats chillin, watching football (well not me - just CR) and cooking a prime rib for dinner.

Hope the holiday rush hasn't gotten to you.
Happy Stitches and Hugs,
Tam