Finally!!

I finally made a couple of no sew fleece blankets last week. I have wanted to try one for ages, so I finally did.

This one is for my nephew's daughter

and this one is for my nephew's son

They were very easy to put together, each one took about 2 hours to cut and tie all the knots. I will definitely be making more of these in the future!!

Christmas Spirit!

The house is decorated, the gifts are almost all bought and wrapped, the baking has begun.
WAIT! This is me I'm talking about???
I have never had all this done this early before . . . never . . . ever. Not sure what came over me but it sure feels nice that I will be able to enjoy the holidays without the usual chaos.

Here are some pictures of the decorations.
The fireplace in the family room . . .



The main staircase . . .

October 30th . . . 55 days til Christmas

Not much has been going on here lately to warrant a post on my blog.

I'm still fighting my disease, some days are good, others not so good. I have learned to take advantage of the good days to get things done that need to be done. On the positive side, I am now down to 12.5 mg/day of Prednisone, down from 40mg I started out with in June.

I'm still working, but barely, only a few hours most days.

I'm still stitching a little bit, and I am going to try my hand at quilting this year. I hope to make a couple of Christmas presents for family this year.

We've had snow twice already and it is quite chilly most days now. The snow tires are already on one vehicle, now they just need put on my car and I will be ready for winter.

Jen and I have been enjoying the new PS3 game "Little Big Planet". You can play on co-op mode, so we have logged on several hours this week. We have laughed so hard while playing this game. You can't help but smile and laugh at the adorable little sackboy and sackgirl.

Look what came to visit on October 21st!!!!

Cooler weather brings out the baker in me

I love to spend Sunday afternoons baking, especially with Fall and Winter approaching. Last Sunday I spent the afternoon making "Orange Buns". Even though they took hours to make, allowing for the "risings", they were very good.

Reading is . . .

my escape, my passion, my companion during this illness.

I have recently discovered Historical fiction and now I can't seem to read it fast enough.

I'm currently reading "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory. This is a captivating book told from Hannah Green’s perspective, a young Jewish girl who flees Spain with her father to escape persecution and lands in England. She is a seer and is sought after during the troubled times for the Tudor court. This is the third book by Philippa Gregory that I have read and I highly recommend them. She is becoming one of my favourite authors.

A Sea of Graduates

A picture taken from my Daughter's June 2008 Graduation ceremony.

"This above all: to thine own self be true" Hamlet quote (Act I, Sc. III).

We just returned from a mini vacation to Stratford, Ontario where we spent much of the entire time at the Shakespeare Theatre, oh, and um, shopping of course. This year's headliners are Christopher Plummer, who is playing Caesar in "Caesar and Cleopatra", and Brian Dennehy who is playing the King of France in "All's Well That Ends Well"

We spent the first morning taking a backstage tour of the Theatre. Wonderful time!! We saw where all the costumes and props are made, the rehearsal halls, the dressing rooms, the sound and lighting booths and got to wander around the stage and empty theatre.

Next we went across town to the warehouse where the costumes for the past 60 years are stored. 88,000 square feet of costumes and props, aisle after aisle of wonderful "stuff". For a much clearer picture, click on it to see it full size.







The next afternoon, we went and saw the performance of Hamlet. We all enjoyed it immensely. We're already planning a trip back next year to see Midsummer's Night Dream, Julius Caesar and Macbeth.

We did find time to wander around this very charming little town and found a wonderful book store that had the most awesome prices! When we left "The Book Vault", we left with a box of books, not a bag!

Even though it was a very short trip, it has done me the world of good to get away for a couple days and try to forget about everything that is not so well in my life right now. I feel much more re-charged now to face whatever comes my way.

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

The Dark Knight is fantastic!

My daughter and I went to see this last Friday, and all I can say is WOW! Great movie! Heath Ledger was superb!

What a beautiful sight!!!!!!

I have now finished the first round of cancer scans and each one had the same outcome . . . "No malignancy found". I have to undergo the second round of scans in the new year and then once a year for the next 4 years, but it's a huge weight off my mind getting thru the first round and not finding anything.

I needed to make a list of the tests I've had since May, just to justify how I feel. Here's the list:
- Biopsy (hand)
- Chest X-ray
- Pap
- Full Body CT scan (with drinking contrast dye and IV dye)
- Electromyography test
- Nerve conduction test
- Bone Density
- Mammogram & Ultrasound
- Barium Swallow (Upper GI)
- Pelvic Ultrasound
- Gastroscopy
- Colonoscopy
and so far, 58 vials of blood taken.

I still can't celebrate though, cause I still have a serious connective tissue disease that I will probably be on medication for for the rest of my life for, but at least I'm not fighting cancer, and the medication is making me feel better and able to function more normally again. I actually got out of the house and went to the mall for a little while last week and went to see a movie this week. It felt really good going somewhere that wasn't a doctor's appointment or the hospital. I finally don't feel so abandoned and lonely like I have been feeling for the past 7 months. I may get my life back afterall.

Grade 12 Graduation

My Daughter graduated from Grade 12 a few weeks back. She was the recipient of many Awards for her high marks and involvement in many areas. She also received the Ontario Scholar Award. Her are some pics from the evening.

First stitchy finish of the year!!

I finally got inspired by some new stitching "stash" I ordered and received a few weeks ago and felt well enough to get some stitching done. I really enjoyed working on this one . . . Country Cottage Needleworks - Summer Garden, stitched on 32 ct Water Lily linen.

Ban Comic Sans!!

OK, I'm a fontaholic. I have way more fonts on my computers that anyone has a right to, but one I refuse to have on my computer or use is Comic Sans. This horrible font was designed by Microsoft as an attempt to humanize and perhaps update their characterless operating system and software.

I hate to see the use of this ugly font on professional printed pieces, or for that matter, I hate to see it used anywhere.

As a Graphic Designer, and having received training in the use of typography, I know a thing or two about communicating visually using type and the correct font for the purpose. If I want to communicate something serious, I use a serif font, something modern I use a sans-serif, but most people don’t know this and rarely make a conscious choice of choosing a good font. Comic Sans will turn anything that doesn’t contain the word “lemonade” into a farce.

I would have rather won the lottery . . .

I have a disease, a rare disease, a lonely disease. I found out that the frequency of this disease is about 1 in a million which equals a good chance of winning a lottery. I'd rather have the money please.

I began feeling unwell last Christmas, but it took until April to be diagnosed with Dermatomyositis. Since then I have seen my GP, a dermatologist, a neurologist, a rheumatologist, a gastroenterologist, an opthamologist and have been run thru so many tests I'm losing track. I have had over 50 vials of blood taken, a full body CT scan (with IV dye and drinking dye), chest x-rays, upper GI series x-rays with barium swallow, EMG test and nerve conduction tests, ultrasounds, mammogram, biopies, the list continues . . . I would really, really rather have had the money!