I haven't been getting in much quilting time and so I've decided, as ruler of my own personal realm, that I am going back to "Shirley Wednesdays". This is a day that I get to do what I want to do. No laundry, no running errands, no housework (aside from the basics). So today is my day for a walk in the sunshine and the rest of the day spent quilting, reading, whatever I choose to do with it.
I've signed up for another online College course. I need to always be learning and this time I've chosen to study Greek Mythology at Universal Class Whenever questions come up on Jeopardy about mythology I don't know the answers and I want to know the answers. Mythology is fascinating. I'm only on my first lesson but so far what I've read is amazing. I love it!
I've also started another blog. I have a new email friend and we were discussing what books we've read. It's very strange that the book I happen to be reading at the moment, Endless Chain by Emilie Richards, is the same book she's reading. Now that's weird. It's not like it's a newly published New York best seller or anything, we are just very much alike, obviously. So I'm making a blog called Shirleymac's Book Picks There's a link in my side panel there. So far I'm listing books I've already read and why I like them. Once I get those finished I want to start listing books as I read them and review them. Most of them are cozy mysteries but I can be deeper than that sometimes.
Okay, off to spend my day doing whatever. Have a good one everyone.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Where's Shirley?
I feel like it's been eons since I last posted but it's only been 10 days. Sorry I haven't even been visiting everyone else's sites much.
First off I want to show you want I got in the mail today from Angela
So much has happened. But I'll try to keep it short. My appointment at the clinic really did scare me. I'm not afraid to die it's just that if someone is telling me that I could die in my 60's then I'd like to know when so I can get all the stuff done that I want to get done. There is a possibility that I will live longer than that but that's where my head was so I had to do a mental check to prioritize what I want to get done.
First is my daughter's wedding quilt, of course, so instead of jumping from one thing to another I need to focus on that and get it done. Then I can work on other things.
My cleaning up and clearing out resolutions have to be done. And I've started to do that. I've got two rooms cleaned out and now want to rip off wallpaper and paint.
I need to begin cooking and baking from scratch more so I can stick to my diet restrictions. I hate cooking mostly unless it's simple recipes. There's so much else I'd rather be doing. But I'm trying.
I also need to get into an exercise program so we went and bought a Treadmill which is being delivered tomorrow. Sears had amazing deals on these things, basically half price, and all three of us could benefit from it.
Last, but certainly not least is I want my father's name out there. I want people to know what he contributed to medical history by being willing to be an experiment so the doctors could learn. I contacted the Kidney Foundation of Canada and they suggested I enter their Stories of Hope contest. I don't want to enter a contest, I just want the information out there but what the heck. If I enter and win the Foundation gets $2500 and I get $500 which I would automatically donate back. I don't want the money. She also suggested I draft a longer story for their consideration to be put on their website.
This is the story I've written but not edited yet for their contest.
***
On October 23, 1963 54 year old Verne Trewin lay in a hospital bed at Ottawa Civic hospital. His only kidney had failed and his wife Gretta was told she had two choices. Be a widow by 5pm or rush him to Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal for a highly experimental transplant operation. She chose the transplant. He was put on dialysis in Montreal to await a suitable kidney. One month later on November 23, 1963 he was wheeled into an operating room to receive a kidney from a patient who had passed away that morning. The doctors had successfully transplanted a kidney from one living twin to another and were theorizing that it would be possible to transplant a kidney from a cadaver to a living recipient, even if they weren’t related, as long as they had the same blood type. Their first 3 attempts had failed. With my father they found the success and proof they were looking for and were able to move on beyond the operation to discover what drugs and care the recipient would need to avoid rejection of the new organ.
It was a long 10 months with many ups and downs but eventually my parents were able to return to their home in Ottawa. A lot of the success was due to the doctors but a huge contribution was my mother’s loving presence. She stayed by his side every moment, except for the 8 hours she slept at night in a nearby rooming house, and learned everything she could about how to take care of him, including gowning up and changing his dressings herself. When they returned home she continued to take care of his physical needs, keeping the wound clean and monitoring his vital signs and diet. He made weekly trips to Montreal for outpatient checks. In approximately April of 1965 that first kidney failed. A second attempt at transplantation was not made. His body had been so ravaged by the medications the doctors had used trying to find exactly what worked that it was worn out. He was put back on dialysis and eventually passed away on June 30, 1965.
The good news is that because of his contribution over those 19 months doctors were able to conduct further successful transplants and save lives. Her parent’s contribution was something that a 13 year old girl who had just lost her father couldn’t appreciate. In the mid 1990’s at a church in Delta, B.C. I met a couple whose teenage son had received a life saving transplant in Winnipeg in 1965 – the year my father died. He was still alive 30 years later. His type of disease was one that destroyed the donor kidney but he subsequently received a second kidney from his sister shortly after I met his parents. Now he is still alive 45 years later. I finally got to see the miracle.
I have Polycystic Kidney Disease myself and it’s comforting to know that my own father paved the way for future generations of kidney patients, even his own daughter.
***
I have all of the newspaper articles from 1965 and am thinking of posting them on a separate blog for people to read. I didn't know a lot of what was going on because I was so young that my family wanted to protect me. A lot of the stuff I just learned now at 58 years old.
First off I want to show you want I got in the mail today from Angela
Isn't it great? I have it hanging on the cupboard in the kitchen beside the sink. I love having seasonal stuff around. And she sent me two knit dishcloths too:
I use knit dishcloths all the time because they are so great for cleaning up crumbs and other larger hunks of stuff *LOL*
So much has happened. But I'll try to keep it short. My appointment at the clinic really did scare me. I'm not afraid to die it's just that if someone is telling me that I could die in my 60's then I'd like to know when so I can get all the stuff done that I want to get done. There is a possibility that I will live longer than that but that's where my head was so I had to do a mental check to prioritize what I want to get done.
First is my daughter's wedding quilt, of course, so instead of jumping from one thing to another I need to focus on that and get it done. Then I can work on other things.
My cleaning up and clearing out resolutions have to be done. And I've started to do that. I've got two rooms cleaned out and now want to rip off wallpaper and paint.
I need to begin cooking and baking from scratch more so I can stick to my diet restrictions. I hate cooking mostly unless it's simple recipes. There's so much else I'd rather be doing. But I'm trying.
I also need to get into an exercise program so we went and bought a Treadmill which is being delivered tomorrow. Sears had amazing deals on these things, basically half price, and all three of us could benefit from it.
Last, but certainly not least is I want my father's name out there. I want people to know what he contributed to medical history by being willing to be an experiment so the doctors could learn. I contacted the Kidney Foundation of Canada and they suggested I enter their Stories of Hope contest. I don't want to enter a contest, I just want the information out there but what the heck. If I enter and win the Foundation gets $2500 and I get $500 which I would automatically donate back. I don't want the money. She also suggested I draft a longer story for their consideration to be put on their website.
This is the story I've written but not edited yet for their contest.
***
On October 23, 1963 54 year old Verne Trewin lay in a hospital bed at Ottawa Civic hospital. His only kidney had failed and his wife Gretta was told she had two choices. Be a widow by 5pm or rush him to Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal for a highly experimental transplant operation. She chose the transplant. He was put on dialysis in Montreal to await a suitable kidney. One month later on November 23, 1963 he was wheeled into an operating room to receive a kidney from a patient who had passed away that morning. The doctors had successfully transplanted a kidney from one living twin to another and were theorizing that it would be possible to transplant a kidney from a cadaver to a living recipient, even if they weren’t related, as long as they had the same blood type. Their first 3 attempts had failed. With my father they found the success and proof they were looking for and were able to move on beyond the operation to discover what drugs and care the recipient would need to avoid rejection of the new organ.
It was a long 10 months with many ups and downs but eventually my parents were able to return to their home in Ottawa. A lot of the success was due to the doctors but a huge contribution was my mother’s loving presence. She stayed by his side every moment, except for the 8 hours she slept at night in a nearby rooming house, and learned everything she could about how to take care of him, including gowning up and changing his dressings herself. When they returned home she continued to take care of his physical needs, keeping the wound clean and monitoring his vital signs and diet. He made weekly trips to Montreal for outpatient checks. In approximately April of 1965 that first kidney failed. A second attempt at transplantation was not made. His body had been so ravaged by the medications the doctors had used trying to find exactly what worked that it was worn out. He was put back on dialysis and eventually passed away on June 30, 1965.
The good news is that because of his contribution over those 19 months doctors were able to conduct further successful transplants and save lives. Her parent’s contribution was something that a 13 year old girl who had just lost her father couldn’t appreciate. In the mid 1990’s at a church in Delta, B.C. I met a couple whose teenage son had received a life saving transplant in Winnipeg in 1965 – the year my father died. He was still alive 30 years later. His type of disease was one that destroyed the donor kidney but he subsequently received a second kidney from his sister shortly after I met his parents. Now he is still alive 45 years later. I finally got to see the miracle.
I have Polycystic Kidney Disease myself and it’s comforting to know that my own father paved the way for future generations of kidney patients, even his own daughter.
***
I have all of the newspaper articles from 1965 and am thinking of posting them on a separate blog for people to read. I didn't know a lot of what was going on because I was so young that my family wanted to protect me. A lot of the stuff I just learned now at 58 years old.
Friday, January 15, 2010
1 2 3 Stitch!
I just found the greatest site for any crafter. It's 1 2 3 Stitch! I saw a cross stitch pattern on there that I wanted to do for my kitchen. They have crochet, scrapbooking, cross stitch, I could go on and on. The prices are really good. They also have free cross stitch patterns.
Ordering from the States to Canada is expensive. The kit was $17 and I was sure by the time all was said and done it would be in the $30+ range. I was wrong. It cost a grand total of $21! and it was here within 2 weeks! I would expect to pay that for a kit anywhere at a store I went to here plus because we have no stores near us that sell these things I'd have to take an almost hour round trip to get it, which means the expense of gas for the car.
Ordering from the States to Canada is expensive. The kit was $17 and I was sure by the time all was said and done it would be in the $30+ range. I was wrong. It cost a grand total of $21! and it was here within 2 weeks! I would expect to pay that for a kit anywhere at a store I went to here plus because we have no stores near us that sell these things I'd have to take an almost hour round trip to get it, which means the expense of gas for the car.
The above is the kit I ordered. It's 10x14. The kit even has all of the threads on an organizer and a needle! I can't wait to get started on it.
They have lots of sale items for around $8.
A few weeks ago I wanted to bid on an afghan on eBay. It was pretty. It was $7. So I wrote to the person selling it and asked what the postage & handling would be to Canada. She wrote back and said $30. That means I'd pay $37.00 for a $7.00 kit? Postage within the states was $4.50. I turned it down, of course, I wanted to make it for charity and $37.00 is a bit much for charity. I found a huge ball of Bernat yarn here for $8 and am doing a simple pattern I found free on the Bernat site instead.
So I'm super impressed with this 1 2 3 Stitch site. I've put a link in my sidebar.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Cookie Anyone?
Oh my goodness, what can you do but laugh? Because my report at the doctor on Monday was not a good one I've decided to try some of the Renal Friendly recipies I've come across. I couldn't believe the size of these things when they came out of the oven! And I didn't even use their suggestion of using Tbsp size balls, I made more Tsp size like I'm used to.
Looking at them as compared to store bought cookies they do seem to be a bit better salt wise and calorie wise.. but not that much. Cookie brands don't put potassium amts or phosphorous amts on their cookes so maybe they don't have them? I dunno. One of these cookies is slightly better than the recommended Safeway's chocolate chip cookies (who can eat just one) when it comes to Calories. These have 112 cals, Safeways 2 cookies are 170 cals. They do taste good if you like ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
This recipe came from the Spice It Up site. There are a few on there I want to try. The apple, carrot and cranberry muffins look good. Click on the issues, like Spring 2009, and all of the recipes in that issue come up as printable.
We got a major God Hit in the mail yesterday. Because my husband's company has changed insurance companies when I had my root canal done in December for some reason they decided they would pay for $800 of it! Here I was thinking I was out of benefits and I know the old company wouldn't have paid cause they will only pay for one root canal per tooth, and this company sends this huge check! So instead of $1150 it only cost me $350. Whew. But the God Hit thing is that we decided we'd go into Sears and get a reasonably priced treadmill. And as soon as we made the decision along comes this money. This doctor wants me to walk 1 hour a day. I tried yesterday but even though I went the longest local route I could think of I came up at 35mins. And I don't always feel comfortable getting too far from home so a treadmill would be perfect and after taxes this will just about cover it!
Haven't been doing much today. I had to start an additional medication for my blood pressure and it's making me dizzy so I'm laying low. My main sewing project right now is still my daughter's wedding ring quilt. I think I need to just do it and let everything else sit in my ToDo box.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Catch A Christmas Star
My quilt is finally back from the long arm quilter. She had some problems in Dec so wasn't able to get it finished by Christmas. This photo definately doesn't do it justice. The photo looks a bit funny too cause DH held it sideways and then I had to rotate it to post so it's not headon. This was a BOM that I did at the quilt shop. The only thing I'd do differently if I was doing it again is the placement of the HST around the edge. I did that on my own cause the pattern was just a wide red border and I didn't like that. I still haven't bound it either. I spent a few nights sewing on all the buttons. Boy is it hard to sew buttons on a quilt after it's been quilted!
Friday, January 8, 2010
2010 Winter Olympics
I'm not a 2010 Olympics supporter, or as Eve Arden said in Grease I'm not an "athletic supporter" *LOL*
Okay that's wrong, I do support althletes but the Olympics goes beyond athletics, in my opinion. Sure it's young people's chance to compete in something really special but the whole thing has turned into a money grab for the OAC and leaves cities (Provinces, States whatever) in huge debt.
Vancouver is a huge city. The games won't be held in any one area. There are at least 3 venues. There is Whistler, north of Vancouver, for snow events such as skiing, luge, snowboarding etc. Oh, and women ski jumpers are not allowed to participate in the games. They say it's too dangerous. Horse hockey I say. They jump in other events anyways, it's what they do as althetes. To disallow them is a crime IMO.
The Hockey rink is in Downtown Vancouver proper. The skating oval for speed skating is in Richmond, south of Vancouver.
For people not staying in Whistler village there is a brand new multi-million dollar "sea to sky" highway. But cars aren't allowed on it during the Olympics. Only busses carrying people attending Olympic events. Locals have to use the older more dangerous highway still. They will benefit from the new highway after the Olympics. And the busses leave Whistler before the presentation of medals. I don't know how popular those events are but at the price people are paying for tickets it would be nice to have a chance for those from whatever country(ies) wins a medal to see it presented and support their althete.
They've legislated that 50% less cars travel into Vancovuer during the Olympics. It could get more people using transit if it wasn't for the fact that the public has been asked not to use transit during the games. My daughter's friend works for a company that has decided to just close down completely for 3 weeks to avoid hassles.
Parking on major streets is banned. Plus they've hired double the number of tow trucks so don't even think about stopping and running into 7-11 for a sandwich. For those streets with parking meters it will now cost $6 an hour to park. And that won't change once the Olympics are over. You could use a public parking lot or parking garage. It's only $16 a day, approximately, but they've added a 21% tax onto that. That also applies to monthly parking passes AND to parking lots for visitors at hospitals. That's sick.
People who are unable to attend for some reason may sell their tickets to events but only on a special website put up by the Olympic Committee. They have to pay 10% up front and 10% once the ticket sells. Tickets for the final hockey game are selling at $15,000 a piece. And no one knows which countries will be playing!
I guess what bothers me most about it is all the money going into venues for the Games, which last only 3 weeks, means cuts to other things. Seniors programs that cost maybe $10,000 a year have been axed to add that money to the millions the Province has spent. Seniors in residences will no longer have free access to wheelchairs and walkers. We have a HUGE homeless problem which has been going on for years and is getting worse with this economy. Many of these homeless people need to be in medical facilities because they suffer from things such as Schizophrenia and Paranoia. But their hospital was closed down a few years ago and they were all put out on the street. Now for 3 weeks during the Olympics they are going to be rounded up and housed in that same building so they don't sully Vancouver's image. This is mostly against their will. They feel safer on the streets.
Oh, and I forgot. We have a new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) coming into effect on July 1. Everything will be taxed 14%. This includes things which were previously tax exempt.. children's clothing, school supplies, books, food. I like to support local business but with a tax like that I'll probably shop even more online in Provinces that don't have the HST and in the States. With shipping it may cost as much but it's just my way of contributing to the "don't want it" population. We weren't asked, we were told. There are petitions against it and I have signed but I have little hope anything will change.
Guess I better shut up now. Thankfully we live outside of greater Vancouver and as long as we stay home during the time the games are on they won't affect us aside from the pocket book. We're going to be paying for years for this through our income taxes. And the burden won't stop with us, it will be passed onto our children and grandchildren. The Province is very far in debt.
I will watch the games cause I always do. I like the ski jumping, skating and curling the best. But I'll be snuggled up on the couch in a quilt while I watch.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2010 RESOLUTIONS
Well, since everyone else is making resolutions I guess I better get on the bandwagon. My main resolution this year is the same as every year. Maybe I'll make it this time. I need to "clean out and clean up". I've gotten a bit of a start but I'm nowhere close to my goal. I found this great website that I'd like to try to follow.
I like the link to the make your own Swiffer duster. I gave in to using them a few years ago. I hate putting more junk in landfills so it was a real push to get myself to use them. This solution is perfect. I can still use the handle but wash the duster part.
I'm also going to follow Nancy's suggestions on coupon clipping.
I do have a Canadian Tire card and do save up and spend the money. Well, DH usually spends the money on stuff he needs, but still it's a savings. I was going to use only that card for everything to get the Canadian Tire money but then I discovered that I get points for using our Royal Bank Visa card. These points can be exchanged for certificates to pay down our Line of Credit. So now I use my Visa card for the things I used to use my debit card for. It's just been a bit of a shock to get such a big bill the last couple of months but I've always had the money to pay it cause I didn't pay for things straight out of the account. This only works if you stick to what you would normally buy.
A few other resolutions:
1. Volunteer for something again. I've given up working at the quilt shop so I need something else to do.
2. Use up my stash bits. I'm tired of all the little ones in the drawers.
3. Crochet afghans or make quilts for women's shelters.
4. Don't get so stressed.
Okay, so I've already broken one. I'd have to give a whole long explanation for that one so I'll just let it be. I'll go for "try not to get so stressed so often." A hard one but manageable. I'd like to leave you with a great thought a friend sent me.
The River of Life
The River of Life meanders without apparent purpose. To question Life is to invite suffering. To attempt to overpower Life is to tilt at windmills. Life is best enjoyed without resistance. Surrender to the flow of the River of Life, yet do not float down the river like a leaf or a log. While neither attempting to resist time nor to hurry it, become the rudder and use your energy to correct your course to avoid the whirlpools and undertow.
That's quite a list I've made for myself. I better get busy. The day is almost gone now!
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