Work to be done

I'm slowly buying fabric for the new curtains. I'm quite indecisive and have expensive taste....thus, having to start over from square one. I picked out $45/yd fabric. Ummm....not gonna happen. :-)

Above is what has been purchased so far. The dark material will be used for the windows in the den on the left & right of the fireplace. I will make plain panels. One rod (only had one 40% off coupon), the lining and main fabric has been purchased. We will paint the fireplace wall a dark brown.


The lighter striped fabric is for the kitchen & keeping room. I will do scalloped-typed valences on all 6 windows. They will be lined in green (see the scrape of fabric lying on top of the bolt). That green will also be used to make a roman shade for the bay window. During the summer the sun beats in that window and we're unable to eat at the table in the late afternoon/early evening. The entire kitchen & keeping room will be painted green.

I still have to order the green fabric. I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday to pick up the striped fabric. It's on back order until 9/30 and I bought all they had. I think I may be a yard or so short. They didn't have enough of the green in house so I thought I'd order it on-line and have it shipped for FREE to my house vs. ordering at the store and paying them $15 to ship it to the store....then having to lug the kids to the store to pick it up. But....as fate would have it, I can't find it on-line. Soooo.....back to the store I go next week. I hope they still have the 40% off sale running.

While there I found some fleece blankets for $.75 each. I picked up 5 and will try to crochet around the edges.

Jason should be close to finishing the playroom entertainment center this weekend and then it's my turn for some sewing!

More Prayers Today

Deana meets with her new dr's at MD Anderson today (in about 20 mins actually) for the first time. Please pray for a healing course of treatment! Above is a picture of Deana with her 2 young sons. You can follow along more depth at her caringbridge site.

Prayers for Deana

Dear friends out there reading, please add my internet friend Deana to your prayers. Several months ago she was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma. It's rare, but the odds of beating it were in her favor...but things do not look well now. Deana is a mom to 2 young boys that need her badly. Below is an update posted by her husband a few days ago.

Dearest family and friends,

Deana and I met with her doctor today and received some disturbing news. Apparently Deana's cancer is not responding at all to the chemotherapy treatment she's been receiving these last several weeks. It has started to appear on the right side of her face causing a numbing sensation that Deana describes as 5 novacaine shots after a dentist visit.

Deana has tried two different chemotherapy protocols and is now going to start a third (possibly final) no later than Monday. We will know in as little as two weeks if it is successful.

To our shock and utter dismay, the doctor is not optimistic about this round of chemotherapy, but given the odds are greater than zero, we charge forward. We will not give in.

Tomorrow, Deana's oncologist and I will each be contacting medical oncologists at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX. Apparently their lymphoma treatment is the most progressive and if there are applicable clinical trials with experimental drugs -- should it come to that -- that hospital will be leading those efforts.

Deana wanted me to let everyone know that while we are hopeful, and are trying to remain positive, that the doctor did tell us that given the aggressive nature of Deana's cancer, we are dealing with just a matter of weeks for Deana if not addressed. He has encouraged us to contact Hospice.

I apologize for the impersonal nature of this update, but wanted to make sure to keep you all informed.

Please keep Deana and our boys Zane and Zachary in your prayers. It means so much to us. We need them now more than ever.

On a much happier note, when asked last week by his teacher how Zane's parents met (apparently a Valentine's Day exercise at school), he responded:

They ate chocolate donuts, brown donuts and chocolate donuts and just fellin love.

Priceless. This hangs on our refrigerator now.

Please, please take the extra moment to hug your spouse and kids today and often.

Either I or Deana will post an update just as soon as we know more.

God bless you all,

Jack

EGF Message Board

One of the MANY things on my "to do" list for EGF is create a message board. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I made one. Check it out if you'd like to join some crafting discussion......or should I say, more crafting discussions. I really needed a way to post updates and needs of EGF without constantly changing the main website, which I do not have access to yet.

Alive and Well

We're all good! Don't you know to assume "No News Is Good News" with me?? :-) Thanks for checking on me Sarita and Kathy! wink! wink!

Austin's fine! He had some kind of "mystery" fever that went away as mysteriously as it came. He never really had any symptoms, other than being cranky.

So....what have I been doing for the last few weeks.....

1. 3 dr's appts - yearly GYN stuff, u/s to check a fibroid that popped up when pg with Austin, and a dental appt


2. Hosting Bunco


3. Hannah's weekly PT


4. Meeting with the school to develop a 504 Plan for Hannah to receive some therapy there. Since she got the ataxia cerebal palsy diagnosis, I think they will let us receive therapy now.


5. A gazillion trips to Jo-Ann Fabrics trying to pick out material for drapes. The den fabric is ordered, but I'm back at square one on the kitchen keeping room. Upon check-out, I discovered that I have expensive taste......$45/yd taste.....sssoooooo I'll keep looking.


6. Yard work - spring greens are planted, playground almost complete, rock bed done.


7. KID DUTY - because Jason is building a PotteryBarn-like entertainment center for the playroom. It's ready for paint....finally.

Looking ahead to March:

1. Family coming this weekend.


2. More Kid Duty so that Jason can finish the entertainment center.


3. Organize playroom.


4. Consignment sale the 2nd week in March.


5. Nephew coming for his Spring Break.


6. Start planting shrubs in the backyard.


7. Try to find a ballet class for Hannah.

Catching Up

Austin's sick and napping right now so I thought I'd take a second before Hannah gets off the bus to catch up a bit.

Above is a little rag quilt that Hannah and I made last Friday night. I got the idea from Marcia and like she suggested, I did not put any batting between the two layers. They are super cute and quick.....provided that you don't mix up the squares. Oops!

On Saturday, I rushed off BY MYSELF to Jo-Ann Fabrics and picked out some deco fabric for some curtains. It was they last day of their 50% off sale, but since I'm Miss Indecisive I didn't buy anything, only checked out some samples.

When I returned home, Miranda (our 12 year old neighbor) called saying she was bored and wanted to come over. As she and Hannah made a pillow, I worked in the EGF room.


Afterwards, she wanted to do a rag quilt herself. So....I cut out the squares and she sewed them together. I don't have a picture of that one because it's now at her house. She's using it as a pattern.

See....on Sunday, I had to go to her house to set up her mom's old sewing machine.

And.....tomorrow her mom and I will be heading back to Jo-Ann's to turn in my samples and buy the fabric for the den curtains......since I finally made up my mind. Now, I must decide on my kitchen curtains. I'll post a separate photo with some pictures when I have time. I'm sooooo ready to get rid of all this "builder's tan" on my walls. Between that and this neverending winter weather, I'm getting depressed. :-)

Btw, if anyone knows where I can find that groundhog, please let me know. I have a few choice words for him!