I'm Grace Kelly

I got this in an email but thought it would be fun to post here. I'm Grace Kelly... who are you? Leave your answer in my comments section. Sorry Lane it only works for women.... discrimitory huh?

1. Which describes your perfect date?
A) Candlelight dinner for two
B) Amusement Park
C) Roller blading in the park
D) Rock Concert
E) Have dinner & see a movie
F) Dinner at home with a loved one

2. What is your favorite type of music?
A) Rock and Roll
B) Alternative
C) Soft Rock
D) Classical
E) Christian
F) Jazz

3. What is your favorite type of movie?
A) Comedy
B) Horror
C) Musical
D) Romance
E) Documentary
F ) Mystery

4. Which of the following jobs would you choose if you were given only these c hoices?
A) Waiter/Waitress
B) Sports Player
C) Teacher
D) Policeman
E) Bartender
F) Business person

5. Which would you rather do if you had an hour to waste?
A) Work out
B) Make out
C) Watch TV
D) Listen to the radio
E) Sleep
F) Read

6. Of the following colors, which do you like best?
A) Yellow
B) White
C) Sky blue
D) Teal
E) Gold
F) Red

7. Which one of the following would you like to eat right now?
A) Ice cream
B) Pizza
C ) Sushi
D) Pasta
E) Salad
F) Lobster Tail

8. Which is your favorite holiday?
A) Halloween
B) Christmas
C) New Year's
D) Valentine's Day
E) Thanksgiving
F) Fourth of July

9 If you could go to any of the following places, which would it be?
A) Reno
B) Spain
C) Las Vegas
D) Hawaii
E) Hollywood
F) British Columbia

10. Of the following, who would you rather spend time with?
A) Someone who is smart
B) Someone with good looks
C) Someone who is a party animal
D) Someone who has fun all the time
E) Someone who is very emotional
F) Someone who is fun to be with

Now total up your points on each question:

1 a-4; b-2; c-5; d-1; e-3; f-6
2. A-2; b-1; c-4; d-5; e-3; f-6
3. A-2; b-1; c-3; d-4; e-5; f-6
4. A-4; b-5; c-3; d-2; e-1; f-6
5. A-5; b-4; c-2; d-1; e-3; f-6
6. A-1; b-5; c-3; d-2; e-4; f-6
7. A-3; b-2; c-1; d-4; e-5; f-6
8. A-1; b-3; c-2; d-4; e-5; f -6
9. A-4; b-5; c-1; d-4; e-3; f-6
10. A-5; b-2; c-1; d-3; e-4; f-6


NOW . Take your total and find out which Movie Star you are:

(10-17 points) You are MADONNA:
You are wild and crazy and you know it. You know how to have fun, but you may take it to extremes. You know what you are doing though, and are much in control of your own life . People don't al ways see things your way, but that doesn't mean t hat you should do away with your beliefs. Try to remember that your wild spirit can lead to hurting yourself and others.

(18-26 points) You are DORIS DAY:
You are fun, friendly, and popular! You are a real crowd pleaser. You have probably been out on the town your share of times, yet you come home with the values that your mother taught you. Marriage and children are very important to you, but only after you have fun. Don't let the people you please influence you to stray.

(27-34 points) You are DEBBIE REYNOLDS :
You are cute, and everyone loves you. You are a best friend that no one takes the chance of losing. You never hurt feelings and seldom have your own feelings hurt. Life is a breeze. You are witty, and calm most of the time. Just keep clear of back stabbers, and you are worry-free.

(35-42 points) You are GRACE KELLY:
You are a lover. Romance, flowers, and wine are all you need to enjoy yourself. You are serious about all commitments and are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday, and never forget a Birthday.. Don't let your passion for romance get confused with the real thing.

(43-50 points) You are KATHERINE HEPBURN:
You are smart, a real thinker. Every situation is approached with a plan. You are very healthy in mind and body. You don't take crap from anyone. You have only a couple of individuals that you consider 'real friends'. You teach strong family values. Keep your feet planted in them, but don't overlook a bad situation when it does happen.

(51-60 points) You are ELI ZABETH TAYLOR:
Everyone is in awe of you. You know what you want and how to get it. You have more friends than you know what to do with. Your word is your bond.. Everyone knows when you say something it is money in the bank. You attract the opposite sex. Your intelligence overwhelms most. Your memory is the next thing to photographic. Everyone admires you because you are so considerate and lovable. You know how to enjoy life and treat people right.

I'm aspiring to be Debbie Reynolds *LOL*

Fantastic new embroidery designs

If you do embroidery you simply CAN'T miss out on this one! Bronwyn of Red Brolly  is posting a free block each month. Her designs are gorgeous! She's the one who published the Polka Dot Girls quilt that was so popular a couple of years ago. Her designs are sometimes in Homespun Magazine and you can buy her patterns online. They are very expensive but very very good. That's why I'm so excited by this. Every month she is offering a new block from previous designs that she's had in magazines.

I made a wheel!

Okay, so I didn't invent the wheel but I'm pretty darn proud of this bicycle wheel that I cross stitched. I haven't cross stitched in many years. I've loving this! The brown is a basket on the front of the bicycle and the white/gold are the pants of the french chef. I'm very impressed at how I can make the shading!

I was finding the counting hard but then I realized that it has lots of black backstitch lines so I decided to do those and then I only have to count from those. It makes it a lot easier. So this is what I've been doing with my evenings while I watch TV. It will take months to finish but it's just so neat. My husband attached a humungous crafters magnifying glass that I can swing out to use cause I can't see those little holes. I'd be lost without it. Makes the pattern easier to read too.

I'm liking the treadmill. I did another 20 mins yesterday at my brisk walking speed and today I tried the weight loss program. I got through 12 minutes of that one but it's going to take awhile before I can do the full 30 mins. Boy it gets going fast! And it keeps raising the incline. So I shut that part off, removed the incline and did a slow walk to cool down. I'm listening to Mary Queen of Scots by Jacob Abbot which I got free from the Librivox site. If I hadn't been focusing on waiting to have a heart attack I think it would have been as good as having a TV down there *LOL*

I couldn't figure out why my specialist wanted me to lose weight. Then I looked at my weight for height chart for my age and I've got 30lbs to lose. So I see what she was saying. My husband feels like he needs to lose 20 so this is good. I said no desserts, no cookies, no chocolate bars, and he's agreed to that. It's so much easier when we're both on the same wavelength.

 Gonna go sew some more arcs for my daughter's quilt. Have a good Wednesday everyone.

I'm Walkin

As Fat's Domino would say "I'm walkin"... but I'm not going right back to anywhere or anyone. Maybe this is what my recurring dream is about. I have these dreams where I walk and walk and never get to my destination. The treadmill has finally arrived and I actually used it without falling off and killing myself. We've put it in our daughter's somewhat empty ex-room. She still needs to pick up all her childhood plush toys but I don't see that happening soon so right now they're off to the side cheering me on.

Everyone keeps telling me we need a television down there. I didn't believe them cause look at the view I get while I'm walking. Problem is depending on the time of day there's not a heck of alot going on out there. The Magnolia in the middle of the lawn has buds on it though and will be blooming in 6 weeks or so.

So I did 15 minutes this morning. I wanted to do another 15 this afternoon but it warns you not to do too much to fast. I eventually want to get up to an hour a day... my blood pressure isn't budging. Some days it will be down at some point but aside from that it's still way too high. By the time I get to an hour I may want a TV down there. I can see it getting boring.

No sewing this past weekend cause I was working on my Mythology essay. It got marked really fast and I got 100% on it. It's been so long since I've done school type work I wasn't even sure of the format, but I did it!

This and That

First the important stuff. I actually finished something this week! I bought this apron panel when I was in Ottawa last June visiting my sister. I asked if she wore an apron. She said she would if she had a nice one like that. Well, now she's going to have one. The panel also included two hot pads. I used Insulbright for the batting so they will protect her counter or her hands or whatever she chooses to do with them. I think they'd even look good just hung on a wall for decoration. Gosh I hope she doesn't come on here to read my blog. She's having a birthday with a 0 in February. We normally don't exchange gifts cause we live so far from each other but I wanted an excuse to make something for her. She's the best sister a woman could have. I just wish we lived closer to each other.

And, of course, I will be sending our birthday card. I sent this card to my sister on her birthday in 1977. It's a joke card. Well the joke was on me when she sent it back to me for my birthday 4 months later. So I sent it back to her in 1978 and it's been travelling Canada Post twice a year ever since, and it's never gotten lost! So that's 33 years, 66 times across the country, going on 200,000 miles.

It's been such a busy last 3 days. On Wednesday I went for my walk before starting anything else. It was about 15C here, 60F, and sunny. I decided rather than go for a walk and then get in the car to run errands I'd just walk down and pick my stuff up that I needed. It ended up being a 2 mile walk and I wasn't tired after it, surprisingly, but Thursday and Friday I was totally drained. Guess it caught up with me. My normal long walk is less than a mile. But I had a nice Wednesday sewing arcs for my daughter's wedding quilt and listening to Mozart on my iPod. I'm trying to learn to distinguish between composers. Time to put a new CD on there but I just love his music so much.

Thursday I went down to the quilt shop to buy thread and a couple of the stitching group women were there. I hadn't gone for the January meeting cause I figured my latest project is cross stitching and besides needing a humungous table mounted magnifying glass to work on it I need to concentrate so wouldn't be able to visit. I saw the project they're working on this year so I guess I'll be embroidering too cause I just can't resist it. The pattern is called Hocuspocusville by Crabapple Hill. I came home and ordered the pattern online right away cause the shop didn't have any.

Yesterday we got our new treadmill. It's actually not too big for the room which is a relief. Some of them are huge. We have it in my daughter's old room facing the window so we can see what's going on out on the street - not that much ever happens around here.

Off to do an essay for my Greek Mythology class now and then I promised to go down to the shop again and visit with the owner cause I haven't seen her since before Christmas.

Shirley Wednesday

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.

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

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.