A Blue Christmas

Hi, stitching friends!

Here we are, Christmas Eve Eve, and I am writing this with a heavy heart. We came home from our awesome, amazing, wonderful-beyond-belief vacation on the Oregon Coast, and I had routine scans Monday morning once we were back home.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that my cancer is still in the bone. That's REALLY good news. The bad news is that it has progressed. The last few days have been a flurry of doctor appointments and planning. I'm having surgery Friday to have a titanium rod inserted in my femur to stabilize it and keep it from breaking. After that, we'll be looking at several weeks of radiation to various parts of my body to kill the cancer and reduce pain.

After that, I don't know. Lots of fighting with insurance, probably. Maybe more chemo. One day at a time.

So. Much. Fun.

We've decided it's wise to stay close to home this next year, so we cancelled our 2020 Ireland/Scotland trip. But we are not sad. Shawn and I can have fun anywhere, doing just about anything together. Grocery shopping can be an adventure.

And, I'm so thankful that I have cross stitch as a hobby. I can't count the number of life challenges that stitching has helped me through. It keeps me centered. And I will have plenty of excuses to stay off my feet in the near future.

I would appreciate your prayers, though. Pray for strength, pray for healing, pray for wisdom and skill in my doctors.

In the meantime, we will have a wonderful Christmas. My mom is here with us, and with any luck, a family friend will be able to join us as well.

"Blue Christmas House," freebie from Live to Stitch

Blue Christmas House Freebie

My Christmas gift to you is a little ornament I designed called "Blue Christmas House." The design is based on a painting by Charles Wysocki called "Cape Cod Christmas." Click here for a PDF of "Blue Christmas House."

I owe the New England charm to Mr. Wysocki, though. I just adore his work. Here is the original painting:

I made some changes to make the ornament my own, but the spirit of the house is there. I hope you enjoy it!

Sweet Seventeen

My son turned 17 last week! I can hardly believe it. He is growing up to be such a kind, thoughtful young man, and I couldn't be prouder.

I asked him what kind of cake he would like for his birthday, and he said red velvet cheesecake. I made a red velvet cheesecake cake, and wow.... let me tell you, it was amaaaaaazing. See that picture above? That's MY cake! It turned out better than I expected, and my son was so thrilled. I have not been eating sugar since August, but I made an exception and had a piece of this. It was worth the calories. Click here for the recipe.

With that, I'll sign off for now. It may be a while before I post again, as life is about to get a lot more complicated for me. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and an amazing 2020!

Joy

Hi, stitching friends!

We enjoyed our last full day here by going to the waterfront in Newport. We saw the sea lions sunning themselves on the dock, browsed the gift shops and stopped at Beverly Beach again on the way back. It was pretty windy today and the tide was high, so we are saving our beach walk for tomorrow (fingers crossed). I finally pulled out my hat, scarf and coat today!

This evening we checked out the clubhouse at the condo and made a mental note to bring our swimsuits next year. Heated pool...check! We shot a few games of pool, and while I am not good, I am happy to report that I won two out of five games, so it wasn’t a total embarrassment.

After we check out tomorrow but before hitting the road, we hope to squeeze in one last walk on the beach. And, stitching friends, Shawn insists that I go to Starlight Stitchery in Corvallis one more time. What should I get? They have so many things I’ve never seen.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday hustle and bustle, and I hope you are taking some time to pamper yourselves. Thanks for all your sweet comments!

Tillamook

The ocean view tonight from the back patio

Hi, stitching friends!

The storm seems to be passing, but the water and wind are still wild tonight. We hibernated yesterday and watched the waves crash on the rocks, and I worked on writing Christmas cards. After dark, we turned off the lights and snuck out in our bathrobes to skinny dip in the hot tub! Nobody needs to see that! That’s one huge benefit of visiting in the off-season. The condos on both sides of us are vacant. (Thank goodness.)

We drove north to Tillamook today to visit the cheese factory and get ice cream. They have a fun self-guided tour and free samples.

Shawn took five turns going back for free samples. The man loves cheese!

Yours truly!

Shawn loves to get ice cream at Tillamook. Last year they had a limited-edition flavor with maple syrup and bits of pancake in it, so he was looking forward to some of that. They didn’t have it this year, so he got FIVE big scoops of birthday cake ice cream AND a big scoop of praline pecan. I envy that man’s metabolism! I got ONE scoop of white chocolate raspberry.

Hey! Who ate all my ice cream? You did! You ate all your ice cream!

On our way “home,” we stopped at a post office in little Hebo, Oregon (population 231) to mail our Christmas cards and a Christmas package to my dad and his wife. They are hard to buy for, but I found some socks for them at the novelty sock store in Depoe Bay. Here’s what I sent them:

Socks for my dad and his wife, Marcia

He will think her socks are funny, and she will think his socks are hilarious. Perfect!

Until next time, friends, I hope this finds you happy, healthy and finding lots of time to stitch!