Welcome Kolby!

Welcome to Kolby Jeren Eiman! Proud Daddy and excited big brother a re all smiles. He's gorgeous and looks exactly as Brayden did when he was born. We are happy he's here and that he and his mom, Our Lovely Elizabeth, are doing well. Take a look at Beth's blog for more details.

Monday, Updates

First the Good News! The tumors in Larry's lungs have shrunk! The only one that could be measured in cm went from 1.4cm to 1.04cm an indication that the chemo worked. Dr Allen said that any other tumors did the same! Unexpectedly good news from the oncologist this morning. No more chemo for the moment. In three months he'll have an X-ray of his lungs if the tumors are visible (at about 2cm) then he can have more chemo if he wants it but they may just hang out for a while. Life expectancy went from 6-12 months to 1 to 5 years! 5 years is extremely optimistic but we can plan things farther out than next week at least. He's getting stronger and eating more every day but the chemo will be in his system for a while yet. Every muscle in my body relaxed at the news, as we had expected the tumors to have at least doubled!

We had a birthday dinner for Beth and Lucas yesterday, shrimp and steak with all the fixings. Chad and Kelly came for dinner as well. It's always good to have the children here, much laughter and kidding around! Poor Steve, always misses that!

It's Monday, so here's the past week's cross-stitching. Only a little progress, but better than none! I've been working on the denim and the past couple of nights I just did nothing!

Last but not least here's the photo of "Ricky the Refrig." We have decided to trade the baking center (alas, losing the open shelves for my jars of spices etc) with the former refrig's spot. First I have to find homes for the jars etc, then the guys have to run a long line for the icemaker. Hopefully, that will all be done this week. Altho, Larry wants to go look at fifth wheels again.

Guess, I'll go do laundry!

A new Frig

Yesterday Larry had the best day he's had in a long while. We ran around town most of the day--to two Lowe's, Walmart, Olive Garden and Baskin Robbins. He managed all that easily and didn't take a nap! Today is, of course, he's a little less energetic. We went to two Lowes to buy a new refrigerator, the one we have for drinks and storing milk etc in the basement has been freezing things for quite some time so we've had to store all the milk in the frig upstairs which created a problem but it had just begun freezing soda so it needed replacing. I should point out that it was probably older than Steven! I was not buying a new frig for the basement though but for the Kitchen! I wanted a side-by-side so I could have all the jars on the door--tired of having to practically enter the frig to find the pickles! Larry picked out a lovely stainless steel one--like 26 cft and much larger than the 18 cft we had. Outrageously expensive but high quality. It was delivered today and doesn't fit the hole between the broom closet and the stove hood! Now we're trying to decide wether to switch it with the baking center or go get a new (and smaller) stove hood. I swear when we replace the dishwasher ( which Larry really wants to do) we'll have bought all new major appliances in less than a year! I hope not to replace any of them again soon. I'll put in a photo tomorrow when I've finished loading it and the guys have the old one moved down to the laundry. I have to go buy some milk and eggs yet tonight.

I've been working on the denim bags have the handles on three more, finally figured out a way to make the handle itself that doesn't involve my turning them and killing my hands in the process. Only three to go and only one still needs tying so I'm good. I post a photo when they are all finished! I've made 8 blocks for the second rag quilt and done some stitching as well.
Wednesday night I went looking for fabric to make some aprons for myself and found I had forgotten quite alot of the fabrics I have purchased--I actually have a stash! Woo-hoo! Small but still. Anyway, I washed it all and am now ironing it and folding it to store in a way that I don't lose track of it again. I did find several pieces for aprons, too!

Like everyone else I'm ready for spring, my daffodils are up and some have buds on them, hope they don't get frostbite!

Larry has been working on his 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle, I loaned him one of my Ott lights to help with colors as it's quite dark and has lot of places that are similar. His leg is healing up really nicely since ending chemo, he's complaining that it hurts again and he's really fed up with the wound vac. We have an appointment with his oncologist on Monday and may have to go by ortho for a look see, maybe it's time to stop using it? I don't know but I can't make that sponge much smaller!

Weird arrangement

I don't understand how to get the photos on so they are in the same place as in the draft, so this one on cross-stitching is looney! The top one was taken today and the bottom one on Jan 30. Technology making my life better again! I'm really not complaining as without it I wouldn't be able to read blogs and I do like to do that!

Monday cross-stitch update

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated this so this is what it looked liked then.

This is what it looks like now. I'm pleased with the progress.
I did some re-arranging in the basement again, sigh. Seems like I re-arrange somewhere every week! I just wish to add a couple hundred square feet, over night!

Larry and I took the four remotes and set the big screen up to watch VHS movies on so we've been watching the Major League movies. We don't watch much of anything else so we don't change it back. I'm completely serious when I say it takes four remotes! Technology makes my life easier? Gonna get the stitching out and get ready to watch part 2.

Sunday special

I finally cooked a meal that Larry could eat! His favorite fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and apple celery salad, I don't know who is happier. I don't think I can cook fried chicken every night tho! I've been sewing a few more blocks for another rag quilt, want to use up ALL the fabric I already have cut, no rush on this one and I'm only using two fabrics in each block so it will be a bit different than Braydens. I've been cross-stitching up a storm at night so tomorrows post should show some real progress. I've tied three denim bags, only two to go, and cut handles for one. Trying a different handle approach so I won't have as many layers to sew through. The handles are the worst part and probably why I've put them off so often.

Think I'll go put on a Major League movie and make some little stitches!

Friday, no quilting update

I know I promised to show my quilting work for the week but, gee whiz, I already showed Brayden's quilt! I have been working on my denim shopping bags (they are quilted!) but there isn't much to show as they just look like a fat wad of denim at the moment. These bags have been on my to do list for four years so they qualify as a WISP. Anyway, I'll be setting down to the tv and hand work in a few moments.

Larry and I went to the RV show this afternoon, kind of looking for a new trailer/fifth wheel. Only saw four that the truck will pull that we even remotely liked so I guess we'll be out in the Trail Cruiser again this summer. That's not so bad, actually it's good as it means I'm not spending any more money!! We will just adjust our trips around the weather more than we have in the past.

Looking forward (Sort of) to hearing the results of his next CT scan on the 23rd as that will give us a better picture of what is happening in his lungs. Since the Chemo isn't expected to work in the long term, seeing if the tumors have grown just a little or a great lot will give us a more workable timetable. As the Doctors have said 6-12 months of life left, we'd like to know where in that spectrum he falls. We have a really busy year of big events ahead and he wants to be there at them all! The rest of us just want to keep him!

The Valentine's train

Brayden needed a Valentines box for Day Care and Aunt Tanya volunteered. Since we all know how much he loves Trains she decided on a train. A lot of recycled things went into it, a shoe box, an oatmeal box and a kleenex box plus cardboard, wrapping paper, etc. She worked pretty hard but had fun!

When she was done it looked like this! He liked it!



I just wonder what he'll want next year!

A Finish

I finally have a finish in the year of 2009! Brayden's rag quilt. I think it came out well and he seemed to like it. He's the short one helping to hold up the quilt! I do recommend using the laundro-mat for the washing and drying of one of these quilts. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, I wasn't sure about it as I was working on it, (a good thing as I have enough flannel to make another one.)

We went to Columbia yesterday as Larry's mom had surgery. Not really serious but one always worries when the person is older and has had alot of surgery in the last year. She was supposed to go home today but was in too much pain to get up and move around so she wasn't allowed. So Marie gets another night's sleep and several more trips to the hospital--hummm, the good and the bad! Hope she gets to go home tomorrow. We got home after dinner with Scott, Bri, Kris, Owen, Marie, Tom and Alayna--all 10 of us at Ruby Tuesdays. We'd have liked to stay and visit but had a two hour drive ahead and it was getting late with a storm coming on. Luckily, no rain until we were nearly home and no traffic to speak of (anyone who drives this stretch of road knows that's a rarity!)

Eagles

We left Minneapolis and drove to Wabasha MN to the National Eagle Center. They have four resident eagles; Dan, Harriet, Columbia, and Angel, who are all flightless due to accidents. We got to see them and to see 4 ( or maybe 5, it's hard to tell when they're moving) eagles on the river. Turns out Eagles are opportunistic birds who sit on the ice and wait for the fish to float by! We saw one doing just that. Angel put on a show for us, the volunteer said she wasn't really very angelic, but she ate her fish and didn't throw her food at anyone. It was definitely worth the side trip! We have visited the wolf center, the bear center and the eagle center all in MN and enjoyed all of them. I think everyone should go, but winter is best if you want to see wild eagles.

This is Larry with Dan, a California Golden eagle.

After we left there we headed home, sort of. We decided we'd drive US 63 south thru MN and then IA. Think we may have had the idea that we'd drive clear through to Columbia! It was a beautiful drive, good highway for the most part and we really enjoyed it UNTIL it began to be time to quit for the day. We left the atlas at home and didn't have an Iowa map but we knew we'd hit I-80 sooner or later if we just keep going south so we did. Intersected with it about 46 miles east of Des Moines so we are sleeping here tonight. Guess we'll be home fairly early tomorrow as it's only about 3 hours from here, and we intend to take the interstate!

Day two in the Frozen north

We were at the Convention Center before the show opened, didn't have much trouble finding it, nor too much traffic so that was good. So we went around and looked at a great many fifth-wheel, drive-ables, and trailers. They began to look quite the same and we didn't find anything that we fell in love with, well one we fell in love with and good pull with our pickup! We had hoped to look at RV's etc with cold weather packages but they really weren't showing much more than in KC. I think we decided that we'd just stay with the one we have even though we have a few things we'd really like to change. I went to a neat quilt shop in an old railroad station and bought a few fat quarters plus the book of shops accross the country, should save me some work looking for them! Then I went to IKEA. Really neat stuff there but I didn't buy much. Tomorrow we're leaving Minneapolis and going to Wabasha, MN to an Eagle center on the Mississippi River where you can see multiple eagles flying and fishing. Winter is the best time for this so off we go. We saw an eagle just outside of Des Moines on the way up, it was pretty neat. So, we won't be home before Sunday, at least. I haven't figured out our path home, and who knows how many shops we'll have to stop at.

Happy birthday to Brayden!!!

Day One in the Frozen North!

Well, we're here and settled in watching CSI and chilling out. It was a good drive and we're staying right across from the Mall of America. There's a (wait for it) IKEA across from the Mall--Larry says he feels his wallet shrinking already! Since we don't have one I'll be sure to have a look. We're heading to the RV show in the morning and then I'll probably try to find a quilt shop. It's what I do when we travel and I'm still looking for fabric to make some quilts I bought the books for last time we were here. (That was two years ago, two weeks before the bridge collapsed.) We'll be home Saturday or Sunday.

Trip Update

Larry's feeling MUCH better today, eating fairly well, so we'll head up to Minneapolis on Thursday. I have some errands to run and Rob's car to license so we set it back a day. We'll be home on Sat or Sun. going to look at trailers/fifth wheels with the winter stuff on them as we don't see them here. I think it's an excuse to leave home!

Monday quilt photos

Today's photos are of a block as quilted and two blocks sewn together. I have only about 20 left to quilt then I can lay it out and start sewing the blocks together! I hope to get that done tomorrow so I can take it to MN, if we go, to clip the seams.

Larry is feeling pretty down. He can't find anything to eat, today he couldn't even eat his chicken soup! Our standby. He did enjoy a Strawberry shake tonight but who knows if tomorrow it will taste as good. Be assured we'll be trying it! He gets dizzy and is weak, I think a combination of chemo, no food and low blood sugars. If this doesn't improve soon We'll have to call his oncologist. Our trip to MN is on hold, we don't want to head north if he isn't able to eat and walk a bit. What fun is going north if you don't want to eat at the Machine Shed!? He has an appointment with Orthopedics in the morning, a checkup on his vacumn and the wound. Chemo has slowed the healing but the wound looks pink and healthy and his skin is healthy, not red or tortured by tape. I don't think he'll get it off tomorrow as it is still near the size it was a month ago. We are both tired of dealing with it!

Brayden was over tonight after school, we had a good time and he even ate--a little! What a character! He and Alayna began playing with the Land Before Time puppets our kids collected from Pizza Hut (an eon ago) on Saturday and he is still playing with them. It's odd, those puppets have been in the toy box the whole time and he's just playing with them. Even odder, he didn't get his trains out.