Just A Random Update

My sister, Gina, is doing well. She hasn't had her surgery yet; they rescheduled because she had a sinus infection and a day later she found out it would've been moved anyway-all non-emergency surgeries are being rescheduled because of the antibiotic resistant strain of Staph that our area has apparently been hit with. She isn't doing any radiation or chemo right now, they've decided to put her on immune suppressants and just keep an eye on the spot in her lung and throat. Now that she's not struggling with the side effects of those two treatments she's feeling better, although the immune suppressants create their own set of issues for her and some days are worse than others.

It's harder to write about her than I expected. It's too difficult to write about how I feel about her illness, but I thought recording my memories would be easy, that in doing so I would be able to cope better. There are some truly funny times that I would love to talk about, some rough times, some happy times. Some moments that are just memorable for no real reason at all. But when I set out to write about things like that it feels like I'm giving up in some way, like I'm focusing on the past because I'm worried there isn't a future. Which I know isn't true, and it's a little silly to think like that, but I over-analyze everything and can't help but feel that way when I try to write these things down. I hope to get over this soon, since most of these memories are fun to talk about regardless of why I initially thought to record them.

Now that she's feeling better most days, Gina has signed up for a 3-day, 60-mile walk to support Susan G and breast cancer research (we've found almost no lung cancer awareness programs outside of stop-smoking support). She has started walking again, she was able to do 5k's as late as last fall but the last few months she hasn't really been able to run much, so having to restart with just walking is a little disappointing for her. I always say I want to walk/run with her, we used to do a 2 mile jog 3-4 times a week when we were younger-then I got a serious boyfriend and wasn't nearly as interested in jogging at 9pm anymore! Anyway, last week I finally decided to quit making excuses and I walked her home. It's ~4 miles and took us an hour and 15 minutes. It was rough-if I had remembered that it was all uphill, I probably wouldn't have quit making excuses to get out of it! The quality, one-on-one time with her was great though, plus I was finally able to get a picture of the tree I moon over every time I drive by.

We're supposed to go again tomorrow. Wish me luck :)

Anything is a Trigger, in 100 words

Every week I check out the prompt for Velvet Verbosity's weekly 100 Words challenge. Every week I think about participating, mentally forming an entry but rarely do I follow through.  This week I tried harder, and since the challenge host got to meet Queen Latifah last week she gave us an extra day to finish the challenge-otherwise I might not have made it.***

This week's word is "shake"; we can use the prompt however we feel, as long as the result is 100 words. My 100 are titled "Anything is a Trigger".

no advice

            available,

none too helpful

            anyway,

watch for signs -

ha, good luck -

            the effect is inconsistent

one beer, one case;

one shot, one pint, one fifth -

            doesn't matter

expect the worst,

don't bother

hoping for the best-

            just hope

your smile

            isn't too big,

            too small;

your tone

            isn't too happy,

            too sad,

            sarcastic at all.

Don't be noticeable.

            but, again,

it doesn't matter -

anything, nothing,

            is a trigger.

Just survive until

you are

            safe in bed.

in the morning:

don't ask

            why his hands shake,

be sure

bruised feelings

            aren't visible

on your face.

           

            anything

                        is a trigger.

I figure since this is my first time participating in the challenge that I might as well fully participate and include the blog hop--be sure to check out the rest of this week's entrants!



****Edited-I misunderstood the blog host's post, she doesn't meet Queen Latifah until this week. The extra day was because she hosted her friend's poetry :)****

February's CQJP block

We're a third of the way through March and I am finally posting last month's block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project. I didn't set out to make an all-pink block, especially since I'm not actually big into Valentine's Day, but I discovered I have a lot of pretty pinks in my stash (which was still unpacked at the apartment even though we'd been there almost 6 months-have I mentioned I hate unpacking?).  

Once I realized this was going to be all pink, I decided to offset it with all black embellishments. 

I love how it turned out. Once I find my box of crafting stuff I might add some beads to the almost white patch on the left. It's actually three pieces of the same fabric, so there were three seams to decorate, but since I didn't think to keep out anything other than my black floss it ended up kind of plain compared to the rest.

I haven't pieced March's yet; since the first to blocks were mainly just one color I am probably going to continue the monochrome theme.  Although it really matters on what I find in the first box I touch this afternoon--it may be a mix of colors instead!

Unpacking still sucks...

I hate unpacking. I have moved so many times in my lifetime that you'd think I'd get used to and start to enjoy it, but not really. It's still on the same level as housework or maybe it's even as low on the list of fun as a dental visit is. 

The two main reasons I hate unpacking:

First, I have to look at every.single.little.piece of hoarded treasure I see--books, craft supplies of all mediums, photos, notes and other personal ephemera-some of which is legitimate memorabilia while some of it is probably trash.  This habit of mine makes it very time consuming to try and get through even one box, making it much easier to just hunt for that one picture or piece of fabric I know I saw in that one box rather than attempt to unpack until I absolutely have to.

Second, I rarely actually help to pack up the rest of our stuff, since I have to handle all of my stuff myself, so I never know where anything is-like the paperwork I actually need, or the camera or battery charger (of course they won't be packed together which means I will find them a week or two apart and both are worthless without the other).  But since unpacking it means I won't have to dig through unmarked boxes I won't be able to put it off forever.

Anyway, I believe I mentioned back in September that we had moved into an apartment a couple months after we returned from Florida and recouped a bit. We thought that would be our last move before buying a house-which is ~2 long years away still. But our two toddlers weren't too happy in the second-story two bedroom we originally chose. But you know what sucks more than unpacking? Constantly having to put your kids in time out for being kids. And so we spent a couple weeks looking for a house with a yard within 15 minutes of my sister's house, and moved in two weeks ago.  

And with this being our last move for a couple years, hopefully anyway, I don't have a legitimate reason to not unpack everything. Although before I can actually focus on that, I am going to attempt this weekend's Trifextra Challenge and I need to upload the crappy cell picture of my February block for The Crazy Quilt Journal Project-2013, hopefully the first box I actually make it through has the camera and the charger in it, then I can put off the rest of the boxes for a little while.