"Not an April Fool's Joke."

Steph called last night and the first thing she said was:

"Mom, this is not an April Fool's joke, Ella is gone."

And so it is - another chickie is gone.

Ms Ella won't be entertaining us any more.   :-(

She was my favorite chickie because she was attached to me and so friendly.  We don't know what happened to her, just that Stephenie found her dead outside.  Maybe she didn't make it in before the automatic door closed at night - or maybe a dog got her during the day.

Whatever happened to Ella, the end result was the same - she is gone.  Another sad day for this chickie mom.

Ella, I am gonna miss you girlie!  I think Chelsea and Cadence will miss you, too. I've never seen a chicken that loved dogs and horses like you did!

I wish you were cuddled up to your kid just taking a nap again.

Rest in peace Ms Ella, Yes, I will miss your curious little self; always being the first in the to race to greet me, walking through the yard by my side to check things out, being our 'Mikey' and trying anything treat I tossed your way, and mostly for being my feathered, faithful friend.

Tearless Day

Today I went in for my Sjogren's Syndrome testing - this is where they tested me to see if I made tears.  Wanna see how it is done?

Yes, those are strips of paper they stuck ONto my eyeBALLS to see how many tears I made in 5 minutes.

One eye failed the test, one eye was a bit better.  They did this two times - to just confirm, ya know?

Not!  Fun!

Since the criteria was not definite, I go back for a lip biopsy on Thursday, but it is possible that I do have Sjogren's.

In other news, I was officially accepted to the NIH study today.  I do fit all of the criteria for Idiopathic CD4+ Lymphocytopenia.  

This news is bittersweet;  I am sad that this blood disorder is officially a part of me, but I am thrilled to have a TEAM of wonderful Drs and nurses helping me whittle through the muck that comes with it - even if it is a half a country away.

I can look on the bright side - it is not half a WORLD away, right?

Let the Fun Begin!

Have my schedule:

22 vials of blood drawn.

Fainted.

Ammonia x 3 makes for an awful headache!

Recovered.

Waiting for step 2:

But the CAT scan for contrasts broke.

Day 1 not going well so far.  Send prayers please!  

Cold, Cold Rain

Flying in, we found we were arriving in a very cold rain:

I was surely glad the pilot was able to see the runway - even if it was 10 seconds before touchdown...

It is a day later and:

Yup!  Rain!

But we had a great breakfast made by friends:

Who even provided live music!

Wonderful way to start a day!

As an extra bonus (and good luck charm) I met a 'Scrapal' friend today.  Steve and I drove to Waldorf, Maryland (!) and ate lunch with Cheryl Baez.  We had a wonderful visit!  Thank you, so much, Cheryl, for meeting up with us.  What a terrific treat!

Today has been a great start to our trip - may it all go so well.

How about this?  I am blogging from my phone!  Is it working?

An Adventure Begins!

I am off on this new adventure; seeing where my life goes from here, the plans other people will make for me, meeting the team that has become my friends for life - literally.

How do I feel?  Apprehensive.  I am afraid of what more I will find out and my life expectancy.  I am afraid they won't be able to help my reactions to antibiotics - which with no immune system, I obviously need to live.  I am afraid there are so few of us to try to help that there is no reason to bother.  I am afraid I will never be able to go overseas again.  

So many fears, so many questions.

Answers may be coming... Am I prepared?

I have Steve with me... It'll be ok.

SWEET calls from family and friends... From all over the world.  

Thank you all.

I love you!

Underground Railroad Quilt Sampler - Finished!

Several years ago, my partner in crime, Sharon, told me this story about a quilt called The Underground Railroad Sampler.  She shared a bit of the history that came with it and said that she would love to make the Underground Railroad and give the quilt to someone special she had in mind.  

Sharon and I were 'new' friends, and I was a 'new' quilter, but I offered to share that adventure with her.  We bought the book spend hours shopping for our fabrics, put a brazillion miles on our vehicles for 'just the perfect piece':

 We laid it out over and over again auditioning and regrouping:

Finally, when we felt brave enough, we pasted our final selections into the book, assured that it would all come together with ease:

And we would finally have a quilt that we could proudly display that somewhat looked like this:

And we started our adventure.  Nearly every week we would get together and work through a block.  Some weeks it was a breeze.  Other weeks, we found that even though Eleanor Burns is a terrific quilter, she sometimes doesn't document her measurements correctly - or her publisher doesn't transfer them correctly.

On those weeks, we would try and try again to make the block work.  Once we were convinced it was not Sharon (or more often me) making the mistakes, we would race to the Public Library and ask my beloved (and famous quilting) friend, Claudia Plett, to help us figure out what we had done wrong.  Claudia would get out her trusty little pencil and whittle away on the numbers and hand us the CORRECTED version of what Eleanor Burns had given in her book and we would start our trusty little block again. And with Claudia's help we were actually able to finish it!

Nearly two years later.

So with no further ado, I will let you decide how my quilt came out:

Started in August 2012 and finally finished March 25, 2014

I am super proud of this one!  It was my first ever quilt that I actually had a pattern to follow, one to correct, and a quilt that I actually accomplished making!  Oh sure, I have done my Batik quilt, but friends had made treasured blocks for me; so while it was mine, it was not all my work.

I have also made rag quilts, and finally finihsed the faux quilt, and some lap quilts - but this is one that is... well, it is special.  I love it for all the hard work that went into it, for all the wonderful hours I have spent with a very dear friend, all the tears and laughter we shared getting through it and I love the colors I chose.


Thank you to these people for helping me make this quilt:

Hillside Stitches 
4407 E 480 Rd
Pryor, OK  74361
918-434-5612

You did an amazing job quilting my precious quilt!  I have never been disappointed in their work and dedication to our art.

Claudia Plett for helping us through the author's mistakes and for hand-stitching the binding for me since my hands don't work so well.  I have only one question for you - how in the world do you make those itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie perfect stitches?  You did an amazing job and I can only aspire to be as good as you are!  I can't wait for you to join our Wednesday group so you can share some of your wisdom!

Sharon for taking me on this amazing adventure; for sharing the laughter, the frustrations, the tears, the curses, the miles, the celebrations - and finally the success!  We will remember the adventure for a lifetime - don't you think?

I must say this;  Last I heard, Sharon had decided so much blood, sweat and tears have gone into her quilt that she just might need to keep this for herself!  Personally, I think she has the knack now - she needs to make the another one for her friend!

And finally, thanks to Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard who inspired Sharon to start the Underground Railroad Sampler!

And we forgive you for the mistakes - it added to our adventure!   ;-) 

Rockin' Around...

Steve got 14 pallets of  native rocks from where he was working.  They were removing them from the front walls of the building and remodeling.  He asked what they would be doing with them and it so happened they were taking them to the dump!

Enter Steve, who offered to take them all to our place!  FREE native rock for the taking - and of course chipping cement off of them.  Steve, spent hours chipping the cement and then we started making our flower bed:

I have never done anything of this magnitude, so as I said a day or so ago, we took a hose, layed it out in a pretty fashion and we started laying rocks beside it:

Not sure about the final flower bed, but we are sure trying to add character to the place:

Now to just remove the patio blocks, then move those stinkin' pots, till it up, add dirt, flowers, mulch...

It is going to be soooo worth it!  This is the north side, so it is shady most all the time.  The west side gets morning to noon-ish sun.  Research, research... and work, work, work! 

Trying to stay busy for the upcoming Bethesda adventure - and it seems to be working!