Saturday, May 18, 2024

Two Days Left!

Hard to believe there are only two days of radiation and chemo pills left for Manny! The next step will be 2-3 weeks off then he will begin one 5-6 hour session of intravenous chemo every two weeks along with a portable intravenous chemo drip for two days before removal. But no more M - F daily visits to OHSU - yay! We met with the medical oncologist on Friday and he said Manny is among the 15% who have had no side effects from radiation and the chemo pills. Here's hoping the intravenous treatment goes just as smoothly.

Last weekend we attended Monica's son Jordan's last flag football game. These are middle school kids and the size difference in the same age groups are amazing. Jordan is a little fella and he was up against boys that were close to six feet tall with whiskers!  

On Sunday Sam, Jordan, Christian, Jimmy and Hazely stopped by for a Mother's Day lunch. Jordan gifted me a gnome village, Jimmy gave me a fuschia plant, and Sam gave me a hanging plant post. I also received a hanging plant from Monica. 



Hazely singing Let It Go!

Jordan Gnome Village

I added a glass ball to the post

Still strong enough to lift up Sam!

Mother's Day plants and post

Candy loves faryies so I repurposed a porcelin doll into a wizard fairy for her.



Spurred on by a friend commenting on my "silver" hair, last week paid a visit to hair goddess Abbie to get my hair trimmed and colored.  So much better. She does leave a few silvery white streaks in there but beat the rest into submission.

Last Friday picked up a $10 large birdcage off of Facebook Marketplace. The lady was getting rid of it as her pet "chicken" didn't care for it. Cleaned and repainted it, added a vase, nest, and bird and now it's adorning my dining room table.



Painted a bird based upon the bird seed sack, then repurposed the bag into a shopping bag.




Today cleaned and organized the spare room as the bed was buried with numerous craft supplies and projects.  Although no one has slept in it, changed the bedding and freshened the covers.

This afternoon decided to paint the dreary, dingy, and downright ugly knife block. Looks brighter with more personality (as much as you can expect from a knife block) so it received a reprieve and can remain on the counter.




Have a great week everyone!! ❤️


Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Chemo and Crafts

We are now at the halfway point with Manny's radiation treatment. Doctor's say he's doing awesome! He also hasn't experienced any nausea or other side effects. 


Aside from my daily OHSU Portland commute M - F, I've filled my time with organizing, including cleaning our two junk drawers, bathroom cupboard (including fixing the broken door), and crafting my butt off as usual.

Here's the most recent crafts:


Rag Wreath

Revised the porch flower bed


Bird wreath for front porch

Beach display by front porch

Tiny bench for the tree



Rooster fabric painting 

Gnome garden 

Gnome garden next to large tree


Another wreath for out front

Dollar Tree birds painted and nest



Jimmy and Hazely on Easter

We now have ducks visiting


Was raking by the tree and discovered a Juicy ring


Manny's daughter Monica is on a soccer league so we watched one of her games last week

On the way home from Portland on Tuesday, made at stop in Woodland to visit the Rose and Thorn Boutique. Had never been there before but it was right up my alley. Lots of beach and bird items that were reasonably priced. Picked up a couple of sewing machine drawers to repurpose. Will definitely return.




Drawer waiting for its transformation!

That's it for now! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there and especially to my mom in heaven - miss you every day!! ❤️




Saturday, March 23, 2024

Nuggets in a Nutshell

Too busy to pay attention to my little blog!

In a nutshell -

  • Work is overwhelming.
  • Still cramming in crafting on my off hours.
  • In February Manny was diagnosed with the Big C so we are now juggling trips to the Portland OHSU to prepare him for M-F chemo/radiation treatments.
Here are a few pictures of my recent life adventures.

Crafting!





Added a painted piece of driftwood to the front tree as a squirrel perch.

Visited with Jordan's rat Cecil.


Made tiramisu trifle.

Took my first ride on the OHSU tram.





Found this sweet, vintage $2 bunny at Goodwill that sells for $30 on Ebay (although he'll be staying with me!)


Happy 29th birthday Sammy on 2/17!