Heart Attack!

My husband, Chuck, has been having some problems breathing for a while now. I actually wondered if it could be tied to the mold in this old house, but the doctor said no. He started having some pain in his neck and pressure behind his left eye, and then he started seeing double. Add that to the breathing problem and I wound up taking him to the emergency room late on April 4th. He was admitted to the hospital at about 4 am on April 5th because the tests they did showed he had been having a series of mini-strokes. Some old, some not-so-old. On April 6th, while still in the hospital, he began having chest pains. I am proud to say I calmly called the nurse, who then rushed right in to check on him. She called for help, they did an EKG right then and there, and called the doctor, who happened to be in the hospital. This all took place in Medford, Oregon, at the Rogue Valley Medical Center, where they have doctors called hospitalists, (never heard that term before) whose sole practice is there in the hospital, on-call at all times. Anyway, they upped his oxygen, did another EKG and decided he needed to see a heart surgeon. Oh, yeah, one of the lines on his first EKG was almost flat!

They also did CT scans again, an MRI, and I don't remember what all, but the crux of the matter was that two of the three major arteries to his heart were 95% blocked and he had to have two stents put in. They were successful and he is doing much better in the heart department, but I think he is still having the mini-strokes. He got really confused yesterday and couldn't tell me what he was talking about. He got kind of clammy, too, which is another sign. They did an MRI of his brain yesterday morning to check out the stroke thing, so now we're waiting for results. I just hope I don't have to take him back to the ER.

Every day since he's been home has been like a roller coaster. Ups and downs and loopdy-loops! The first couple of days were fine. We spent a lot of time going through cook books, looking for low-sodium recipes that sounded appetizing. The problem is they sound good, but they either don't taste the way they sound, or they take such exotic ingredients that we can't find them or afford them! He is feeling like his throat's been cut, he said. He had to give up cigarettes, Dr. Pepper, salt, fried foods, fats, yadda yadda yadda. All the things he likes and all at the same time!! But I'm really proud of him. He is trying really hard and being really good. He wants to be around to see our grandchildren grow up.

So that's life in our house right now. We are trying to be positive and keep our heads up and always look at the bright side. Most days we succeed, too. We're grateful for each other and for our family, and hope to be around to enjoy them for many years to come.

Now I'm going to show you some of my earlier scrapbook pages. (My kids have all the really early ones...the ones with my own artwork and pictures cut from wrapping paper and birthday cards to decorate the pages.)

 All my first scrapbooks were 81/2 x 11 because that's what we had then. When I decided to make my scrapbooks 12x12, I had to decide whether to leave my old books alone or to redo the pages. Well, they were glued really well and didn't come apart, so I had to find a way to just make them into 12x112 pages, because I wanted all my books to be the same size. The first four pictures are the first four of my children to get married. You can see that they were 8 1/2 x 11, but I added elements to them to bump up the size. Some worked better than others, but I think they all turned out OK.

This was my youngest daughter's wedding, and you can tell that she got married after I started making 12x12 books.

So that's the news and the reason for the lapse in posts this time. The way things are right now, I won't have time to do much in the way of crafting, but I will keep you posted on what's going on with Chuck. This has all put me in a mood to ponder life and love and  what it all means, and I remembered this little poem.

Love puts the fun in together...

                the sad in apart...

                the hope in tomorrow...

                The joy in a heart.

I hope you all have joy in your hearts and appreciate your loved ones while you have them, because you never know when they'll be gone. Have a good night and keep those socks all matched. Gramma G

E Reader!

My oldest daughter, who was just visiting last week, bought me an e-reader. First. she bought the LookBook at Wal*Mart, but when we got it home, she tried it out and didn't like it much. She took that one back bought a AmazonKindle from Best Buy. We tried it out, and didn't like it much either. They were both OK, but navigation was not as easy as I need it to be. I plan to download the LDS scriptures on it and use it at church. That is really my only reason for wanting one, although I will probably put books on it, too, to read in the car. Anyway, back to navigation....it was not easy to get from one book of the bible to another and back again fast and easy. I knew that the class would be on to the next scripture reference before I even got  to the first one! So now, we have ordered one from Wal*Mart.com called the Kyros Touchscreen Entertainment Tablet, made by Coby. Its powered by the Android Market, and I'm not sure what that means, but I know its good. It means it works like an Android phone, with a touchsrcreen and easy navigation between screens, and it also means I can download from any of the e-reader stores out there, and not just from one. The Kindle can only get books from Amazon, and some others only get books from Barnes and Noble, etc. There are a lot of markets out there and I want to have access to them all! Its supposed to be here either Tuesday or Wednesday, so I'll let you know if I like it. I'm really excited about getting it. My eyes are getting so bad that I have to have the large print scriptures, and they are so heavy and my hands and wrists are getting so bad, that they hurt when I hold my scriptures. I seem to be falling apart all over!!!

Okay, here's the last of the ABC book photos.



I told you the uncles would have their day!



I actually got three W's on this page! The more aliteration, the better.

X marks the spot!

This is the granson I made the book for. His name is Cyric.

I got these cute little zebras from Google images and then adjusted for what I wanted.

Well, that's the end of that! And the end of this post, too!  Oops! Not quite.  When you havce the book all done, you can take it to a copy place or to Office Depot or Staples and have them bind it if you want it done professionally. Or ir you have your own binding system, then go for it! You can also put it together with notebook rings, ribbon or torn fabric strips. You can decorate the binding, too, with ribbons and torn fabric strips and embroidery floss, buttons, etc. Just have fun!
Hope you have enjoyed this little project (although not really so little), and yes, it was a lot of work, but my grandsons love it, and that makes it all worthwhile. Keep matchin' up those socks, and I'll see you soon.  Gramma G

Whew!

Well, the rest of the family left today. Kristen has been busy cleaning and I have been surfing the Internet for jobs. Peace and quiet reign once again. Until the kids get home from school. I am still trying to find a legitimate way to earn money on the Internet, and having a hard time of it. My son that was here has found something that might be what I need, and if so, maybe things will get a little better. If I can earn enough money then maybe my husband can stay home and fill his time any way he wants to. We'll work on it.

I think Spring has finally sprung! We are having gorgeous weather here in southern Oregon. Today it's in the low 70's and beautiful. I hope it will stay this way for a while. I want to explore and walk and go to the local parks, etc. etc. etc. The trees are starting to bloom with tiny pink and white blossoms and I need to go to the library and check out a book on the trees of this area. I got one on wild flowers, and so if I get one on trees I will be armed and ready. I love to collect wild flowers. I need to start a new book. I dry a sample and put it in a book, along with the name and when and where I found it. My old book got ruined when we had a flood, so its time to start a new one. I will enlist the aid of the grandchildren as I teach them the proper ways of collecting wildflowers and keeping them for others to see. I love to introduce children to nature. They are so amazed, as am I, at the beauty and oddities that abound in the outdoors. Maybe we'll paint a few water colors this summer, too.

OK. Here is the next installation of the ABC book photos. We're almost done! And the patterns are coming along, too. I have most of them drawn up now, and I just have to make the PDFs, so you can access them online. Working hard, now that the house is back to normal.



I collect sheep paraphernalia, so there had to be lambs in the book somewhere. The first book I did had "Lambs in Leggings." The lambs were at a gym exercising in their leggings and headbands.

We had just been to Disneyland.



The first "O" pages I did were cute. There were  "octagon" windows through which you see the "ocean".



We like postcards, and the little grandson receiving this particular book calls everyone a pickle, so.....

I think "Q" is the hardest one to come up with cute ideas for.



I got these drawings from the dictionary.

Well, that's all for now. Next post will have the rest of the pages. I hope you like them and are inspired to come up with ideas for your own pages. The more personal for the child, the better. They feel really special when their book reflects their own interests.
I heard something really good at church last Sunday. The young man giving the talk in Sacrament meeting said "This life is for testing, not for resting." I don't do a lot of resting, but I'm not sure I'll pass any testing, either, so I better work on that, soon. Keep smilin' and matchin' those socks! Gramma G.