Aw Man It Was Hot

Too many days that were too humid and way too hot.  I had all I could do to go out of the house and walk the boys and hit a few doctor appts. 

My appointment with the endocrinologist was interesting  This chubby liver is nothing to sneeze at, especially given my family history of diabetes and...well....roundness.  It seems I am the best canditdate for diabetes that there is if I don't take care of this chubby liver (notice that I am  not admitting that I really need to loose weight...HA) AND if I do not take care of the issue at hand non alcoholic cirrhois is another huge possibility.  Blah blah blah-since I liked the doc I guess I will do what he says but it aint gonna be easy I tell ya!

The heat was a great time to work on Christmas gifts-
 This is what I am calling an 'Eye Spy Me' quilt.  It so fun to do and I have another in the works.  The pictures were taken by  me, then printed onto fabric paper, sewn onto quilt blocks and then into the quilt design.

 The craft of machine quilting scares the poop outta me.  Quilting is the process of sewing the sandwich (top batting and backing) together with those wonderful designs that you see.  I have tried it and just have not yet gained the knack.  So I am now quilting in the hoop.  I use my embroidery settings, hoop up a section of the quilt and sew embroidery designs on the quilt to 'quilt' the sandwich together.  The larger the quilt the more difficult any quilting is because you have to bunch it all together somehow to get it through your machine.  Many, lots, most quilters-unless they have a long arm machine-take their projects to someone who does the quilting professionally.  Ahhh it is expensive and making a quilt is expensive enough much less dropping a coupla hundred to have it professionally quilted!  So here is how I am quilting the sandwich on my quilts for now.
If you click on the photo you can see the embroidery.  This is the back of the quilt-the designs are not as visible on the front because of the fabric.

 And then there is the raggedy quilt-these are 'quilted as you go' and the seams are on the exterior of the quilt.  As you wash it the seams fray making a nice comfy quilt.  You quilt together each square separately.  On a regular quilt you first sew the squares together making the top and then you layer that with the batting and backing-pin it all up and secure the sandwich together by 'quilting' it.
With a raggedy quilt you cut the top fabric, batting and backing all in the same size squares.  They are layered (top square-batting and backing square) individually and then 'quilt' each individual sandwich together by sewing an x through each sandwich.  The next step is to then sew each quilted square together with the seams on the outside, wash it and wallah you have a quilt. 

And then there is the 'Quillow'.  This is a lap or afghan size quilt that folds up into a pillow.  I cannot believe that I didn't get a picture of it in it's pillow form before I gave it to the recipient but I didn't.
Every quilt should have a label.  I came up with this poem for all of my quillows and I kind of like it.

 the 'quilting' on this was done with some of the words that were on the top fabric

 And breast cancer butterflies

 This is the back of the quillow.  If you look closely you may be able to see the pillow pocket, that the quilt folds into, on the top.

 I love these fabrics together.

 I have a few more quilts to go and some knitting.  Busy busy

Movin on-
The annuals survived the heat thank goodness.  This was the perfect spot for the menopausal maiden.

 And the stepping stone that Julia and Shelby gave me for Mother's day a few years ago.  Getting home-made gifts from the grands is the best.  I hope they never stop (hint hint to all of the grands :)

 The hosta glade is finished, complete with solar lights, and looks wonderful.  Do I dare tell you that the area right behind the glade-at the end of the path-is going to be an extension of the glade!  I know I know.....here we go again.  BUT the plan is to continue to plant things that Mary gives me...kidding...sort of.  The plan is to plant things that take care of themselves hence less work but fun to look at.

We have a great little spot here we do.  It may be a little close to the road and when the windows are open the noise of the traffic is loud, other than that the setting could not be better.  I cannot even begin to say how nice it has been to spend time with our friends on an almost daily basis and of course there is the fact that I now have HyVee back!  We have been able to spend time with Rachel and Dez when they visit MN and it is easier for Ryan and family to spend time with us as well.  And the MN girls-babysitting has been great as well as just being able to spend time with them.  Yep life is pretty darn good chubby liver and all .  And tomorrow we are goin to the State Fair-see you there!  Watch out chubby liver it's gonna be a tough day.

Birthday And Potty Parties

Little Miss Shelby Marie turned 2 on July 22nd, the day was celebrated with family, gifts, laughter and a Dora cake.

 Ready to blow out the candles.

 Some of the group.  Great Grandma Loi and Aunt Kelly seem to make it to every celebration which is wonderful.  Rachel and Dezbah were in town and came as well.

 And  there was Grandma Alisa

 Not sure who was more excited about this gift (talking Abby from Grandma Bobbi) Shelby or Julia.

 I so love those dimples-the princess of the day.

 Aunt Kelly's gifts always rock.  For someone who has no children she seems to find the most fun things for the kids.  The bubbles were the toy of the day.  This one was for Julia, the non birthday gal.

 I love bubbles and Dezbah must as well

 Ohhhhh, she can hardly believe all of those bubbles, and they are so big!

Two weeks later Shelby decides she wants to wear underpants and is now pretty much potty trained.  Had to have the celebratory potty party with an ice cream cake...yum.

 Shelby, like her Grandma, likes the chocolate in the cake the best.  And, again like her grandma, she doesn't leave any on the plate and figured this blue frosting was worth eating as well.

 This has always been one of Julia's favorite grandpa things.  The pink blanket is the saddle and gramps is the horse.  Once they get to the couch the ole horse bucks the girls right off.

 It was a gorgeous day 

 With just the right amount of wind

 To fly a kite. 

 I love watching Lenny play with his girls.

 And oh yes

 Julia was able

 To fly the kite

 All on her own

 While grandpa played with Shelby who soon lost interest in kite flying

 Yep, it was a wonderful day

It Wasnt What I Expected

The past two days have been a whirl wind of doctor appointments.  Yesterday was my annual oncology appointment where I totally expected him to tell me that I was doing swell and see ya next year.  Not
Last month during my regular physical the doc found my liver enzymes elevated and wanted me to redo the test in a month's time, as well as be checked for hepatitis.  So me thinks yesterday's draw will get sent to her and all will be covered.  Not
OK, back to my oncology appointment.  Sitting in the lounge waiting and Doc C's nurse comes to get me.  I notice  a thoughtful expression on her face.  We go through the regular stuff-medications, any pain etc etc, she leaves and in comes Doc C who himself has a thoughtful expression on his face.  Seems they both have a reason for the look and it is not another patient it is me.  The liver enzymes are elevated (I let him know that they were a month ago as well) and he is concerned about it (cancer of the liver) especially since I have had cancer.  He says we can just re-check in a month or we can do a CT scan to be sure-his preference is the CT and mine too....hello.
Doc leaves- nurse re-enters and we talk.  They both review the day's patients the night before so they had chatted about me right away that morning.  She is able to get me in for the CT scan a few hours later and said Doc C would call me either that night or the next day with the results.
Well hell I hate needles yes I do and little did I realize that I would have to have an IV catheter put in my arm so that dye could run through the veins.  I have had these before and I think I may have been avoiding the damned needle part of it.  The poor X-ray fella could not get the cath in and I begged him to call someone else.  Thankfully he did after the first failed attempt.  Wallah the needle went in no problem-thank you procedure nurse.
It is not over yet.  Over the next hour I need to drink more dye that is nicely mixed up in two bottles with water and Tang.  I got er down I did.
On to the scan, which is absolutely painless and quick.  However if you ever have one beware of the feeling that you are peeing your pants.  Yes Bugsy just the feeling of.  The contrast dye has this side affect and it is the weirdest feeling.
OK-tests are complete and as we are getting ready to go the nurse gives me a huge hug and tells me not to worry...ummm hummmm
David and I are both nervous but chat away about anything and everything  except that stupid ass C word.  And then a thought runs through my head, 'Nah it is not cancer you've got too much to look forward to'.  That would be my good angel sitting on my shoulder :)
Eventually the call comes-Doc C's nurse- and this time there is absolute joy in her voice.  No evidence of cancer however I do have a fatty liver (which in itself can cause various problems-that damned liver is a pretty important piece of equipment).  She shares that when the results came through she ran back to Doc C hollering at him...'Did you see this did you see this?"  Ya know, where else do you get treated so well, seriously.
So because of this chubby liver (as a friend called it) I have an appointment to see an endocrinologist and back to Doc C in two months just to check it all out.
So for now my annual check shows what it has shown for the last 6 years-I am cancer free.  You know though as I think on it, last year they found this goofy nodule on my thyroid and this year it's the chubby liver problem.  Something is telling me that I best start taking a little better care of myself.

Kentucky Kids

Ryan and family were able to make a quick trip to Minnesota last week and found some time to spend with the Woelpern clan.  Time gets short when you have so many to see.

This is the second time we have seen Aiden since he was born and has he ever grown up-looks like his Daddy.

 Abigail Rose continues to be a charmer.  She and Julia are a few weeks apart in age and it would had been fun to get them together.

Aiden is the one and only grandson of the family..watch out Ry and Jen when he wants to begin 'carrying on' the Woelpern name :)  This guy is gonna have no problem finding himself a date or two.

There was not a problem fitting four adults and two grands in our motorhome

 

 Aiden even found places to climb on

 And enough area to practice his newly acquired walking skills

Gramps splitting his time between coloring with Abigail and playing catch with Aiden

 Oh yes, as hot as it was we had to go outside

 And go for a ride.  This is our friend's four wheeler with Daddy and Abigail on it.  David cautioned Ryan to drive a little more safely than he did when he was a kid.  He and Lenny used to jump over the road in Kasota on these crazy things-or was it motorcycles-or perhaps both!

 Aiden's turn and yes Daddy took it easy.  Funny how things change when you become a parent :)

And because Abigail has recently become afraid of dogs Peeko and Roscoe spent the time behind closed doors in the bedroom.  They were just fine but certainly wanted to join in the fun as you can see.

It was too soon time for the kids to say goodbye and head back to Jen's mom and dad's.  I regret not having gotten a picture of great grandma Loi with her great grands from Kentucky...next time.

Can-a-da

Because Windsor is a border city lots of trips are made to detroit to shop and sight see.  Our hosts took us over a few times, once to Mexican town (no camera no pictures), which is a really....really run down area with a block of very popular authentic Mexican resturaunts.  The food was delish.

And another day we were off to Greek town with a stop at the Renaissance Center which is the corporate head office for General Motors

 And is right on the boardwalk on the water.  The kids enjoy the spray of water that shoots up on and off

 Especially when it is as hot as it has been here.  This place is a huge hit as you can imagine.

 Then off to Greek Town.  The buildings here are fabulous

 And the sky was perfect

Pagasus is an authentic Greek restaurant that serves authentic Opa.  One is a cheese opa and the other is a sausage opa.  What looks like a piece of deep fried bread is actually the cheese, you scoop a piece up and eat it on bread.  The sausage was different and I liked it.

 

When they bring the cheese opa to you it is lit and flames up quick nicely.  As the wait person does this it is customary for them to say 'Opa' in a loud strong voice.

 One must not eat at a Greet place and not have a Gyro.  They were quite tasty.

Cold Stone may not have anything to do with the Greek but who can walk by one and not imbibe?

 This bakery was authentic.  Baklava and other yummy treats to be had.

These two border towns celebrate Independence day together.  Canada celebrates their Independence Day on July 1 and of course the US on July 4th.  Along the boardwalk of both Windsor and Detroit there is celebration for two weeks over the 1st and 4th of July.  There are street fairs, food tents, street entertainers that come from all around and much much more.  The creme de la creme is the combined fireworks set of from three barges sitting in the water.  This is the 2nd largest fireworks display in North America, New York City is the largest. 

A million people gather on both sides to show their patriotism.

 And amongst those million sat David and Mark

 A pre- fireworks shot of the Renaissance Center

The architecture across the water is quite impressive especially with the American Flag proudly waving

 To begin the show a helicopter flies the Canadian flag across the skyline.  I was happy to get the shot of it near the US flag.  Patriotism at its best.

 And then the US flag is coptered across.  Unfortunately they flew much lower you are able to see the flag here but not the helicopter flying it.  There was applause all around when both flags flew.  Patriotism at its best.

 And the display begins

 This was a bit eerie I thought

 Not only was the view fabulous but the sounds, oh the sounds booming over the water and through the skyline

 Colors that lit up the sky

 And the good ole red white and blue.  It was quite the feeling sitting there amongst all of the Canadian citizens with the US across the way enjoying the very same show applauding each others country.  Patriatisim at it's best.

It has been said that this may be the very last combined fireworks due to Detroit's financial difficulties.  It would be a huge huge lose and missed by millions. David and I are happy to have been a part of this combined Independence Day celebration.

I am not sure what the deal is with these Canadians (I say with a smile on my face) but they celebrate Thanksgiving in October not November....egh?  So we thought what the hell, let's celebrate ours in June.  Turkey, dressing, gravey and corn on the cob with wonderful friends and great hosts.

 

It has been a fabulous almost three weeks, time we will never forget, spent with friends who now feel like family.  They welcomed us into their home and their lives.  Thanks guys-love ya.