Happy Family Day 2014

Happy Birthday to my sister, Sandra! I won't say the number but she's older than me.....

Had a long weekend of just catching up on paperwork, Olympic watching & some creative stuff.

I'm totally missing home & my family on this Family Day, but the sun is shining, so I think the Vitamin D is helping. 

I'm grateful I can connect to friends & family with FaceTime, pics & videos of home with my ipad! Such a great invention since my last time living in Toronto on the waiting list. 

Here's what I'm keeping busy with:

Finished a felted bunny

Now back to my felt & thread paintings
(Started this Pickerel & Landscape before I left home & finally took them out to finish)

Started this weekend - work in progress....

Just pluggin' along here.

It's been a mission for the last few weeks to keep busy. Idle hands make for an idle mind. Or something like that.....
My friends Leslie & Suzie arrived from Thunder Bay to keep me company & keep me busy. We always have lots of good laughs & Suzie is great for finding the comedy in any situation. Laughter really is the best medicine!

My artist friend, Leslie Bailey (Vintage Pixie Studio) had planned to offer some workshops to her customers in the GTA who have been following her work from the One of a Kind Show.
In order for me to participate, Leslie agreed to hold her classes at my apartment.

It was great to be able to join in & learn along with other creative people without having to leave my home or go out in the windchill or snow. 

The others attending were an amazing group of artist/teachers themselves, including a professional puppeteer/puppet creator & a gourd artist who operates a gourd farm, while travelling the world in search of unique gourds & gourd art. 

In another workshop was a porcelain doll artist/shop owner & her sister, a porcelain doll repair artist trained in Germany.
We all learned from each other while meeting new friends & I hope to travel to some of their studios for their classes when I am able. 

I am quite limited right now, as far as venturing too far from my apartment for longer than an hour or 2 with my oxygen, & I don't have the energy to do much more than my physio. 

Contrary to what many of you may think, I am not out & about shopping, antiquing & on the town as I would love to be!

But, back to the good stuff...

Besides the formal classes, Leslie did some trial classes with me as the practice student. It was great to play with new techniques.  Interesting to see what goes into developing a class, too.
Time, steps, materials, tools required & ease of application need to be tested. I was the perfect student, except I had to take some nap breaks. 

We needle felted these funny little creatures,

made these steampunk jewellery pieces,

sculpted a character figure,

& created some wings.

These last few weeks have flown by for me. It's good to keep my hands & mind busy & not think so much!

Taking one day at a time. 

Coldest Winter in 30 Years

I'm still hanging in here.

Toronto news says it's the coldest winter & most days with wind chill warnings, in 30 years!

I was counting on the warmer temperatures here in Southern Ontario making up for the fact that I have to be here this winter. There doesn't seem to be any heat arriving soon, the polar vortex continues sweeping right through Thunder Bay to Toronto from the Arctic.   

Thankfully, I am keeping pretty cozy inside most of the time.....and

I'm wearing my Christmas socks - the Chris & Gerry Stricker version of NIPIGON NYLONS. 

Clinic Day - Hurry up & Wait!

(Oops, forgot to push publish button on Wednesday when I wrote this)

Today is my busy day at the hospital. Because of the freezing wind chill today, I chose to take my car. 

Yep, from my building parkade to the hospital parkade. My lungs wanted nothing to do with that icy wind. I'm sure they would've just shut down. Even my oxygen tubing freezes, gets hard & inflexible, so pops off my ears. 

When I got here the parkades were all full, so I had to wait in line for cars to leave before I could get in to park. 

I'm one of the first appointments of the afternoon so I got put in an exam room pretty quickly. Now I wait....lucky to have a window! hope I'm home before 7pm this time. 

Don't let this sunny view from my exam room at the hospital fool you. 

This is a view of my apartment building from the hospital - it's the tall narrow greyish brown coloured building. 

And a view down at the 2 block walk from my building to the hospital. Notice how the sun does not hit any part of that walk & you can see the wind tunnels created by the buildings. 

A Reason, A Season, A Lifetime

I am saddened by the passing of the mother of one of my oldest and dearest friends. 

Anne was an important part of my teen years. Along with her husband Al, their home was always open to our group of friends as a safe place to hang out for Rumoli game, a spaghetti dinner or a house favourite card game of "Bugger up your Neigbour"!

From Anne we learned to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas in her very unique way. She was a character & while some saw her as a little eccentric sometimes, she was always entertaining & a loyal friend.  

Every year I think of Anne & Al Anderson on Ukrainian Christmas & this year was more poignant when Anne was quite sick & admitted to hospital on the Ukrainian holiday.  

I will continue to remember those good times. 

So for you Anne,

I won't touch my cards before they are all dealt & I NEVER play with my money during a card game!

My thoughts & love are with my good friends Ray & Bob, 

as well as their families on the loss of their mother & grandmother (Baba). 

New Year Resolution?

Well, I'm eating to gain weight & it's working. I'm up 3 pounds this week. 

(It's not really as fun as you are thinking....& I know after transplant, the dietician will be seeing me for the opposite reason...)

Last week I asked to get my cholesterol checked because it just feels so wrong to be eating like this. 

I haven't got the results of my bloodwork yet, so I'll keep trying. I'm still working on finishing off the Christmas baking. 

Some of my favourite no-no's....gravy & garlic mashed potatoes, bacon & pancakes with syrup, macaroni & cheese...& eating rich ristorante food when I get the chance. 

Thanks Mitch & Laura for feeding me so well. 

goodbye 2013.....hello 2014

After a wonderful holiday break with Brad & Amory, now with Mitch & Laura, it is back to work for me.  

I started back to my physio workouts yesterday. It was pretty tough going back but luckily Mitch is still here to drive me over because this cold weather is just nasty for breathing & walking!

Today I did bloodwork & my workout. Both went a little easier than last time. 

The good news at TGH is that there were at least 3 patients who received new lungs over Christmas. No break for the hard-working transplant team. 

I am praying for the recipients, but mostly for the families of the donors who chose the ultimate gift in their time of loss.  May saving the life of others bring you some peace.