another mom update

My mom's surgery went well today. Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, and Care Bear stares!

She is now into the recovery phase, which, in a few days, will include food! My dad counted today and found that it has been 85 days since this all started, and I would say a good 75 of those were spent with no eating. The fantasy food lately has been root beer floats, but this morning it was chili beans.

So if you had to go three months without eating, what would you crave?

llama-wool hat

made with Cascade Yarns Pastaza yarn; embellished with recycled buttons and kool-aid dyed red wool

mom update

My mom went back into the hospital Tuesday to be treated for fevers and dehydration. After some tests, they discovered that the pancreatic pseudocyst that developed back in November had grown rather than shrunk in the past weeks. It is now about 8 cm across and is pushing on her bile duct. The doctors have decided that it is time for the surgery to drain the cyst. Surgery is scheduled on Tuesday morning.

The reason they had been waiting was that the cyst has shrunk previously, and seemed to be resolving on its own, and they wanted to give it a chance to do that. But now that it is growing, they are going to take action. From what I understand the surgery is somewhat risky, as the pancreas is an organ that doesn't like to be touched. (The site I linked to above lists the rate of overall success rate as 85-90%) They will be taking the safest route to open the cyst, which is by way of open abdominal surgery, through the stomach, then cutting a hole through the layers of stomach, pancreas, and cyst, so as to drain the cyst into the stomach. Also, she has had to have a catheter placed in her neck, as the other methods of infusion were no longer working.

Please be thinking, praying or Care Bear Staring in the next days that the surgery goes well, but also for her spirits up to and after the date. She is in some serious pain and is in understandably low spirits. This is the third hospital stay since November 5th, and the fifth admission total when you count ER and outpatient visits. Keep in mind that most of the time she's been unable to eat at all. I would be a basket case, believe you me. She is low on hope right now, and your support is welcomed. Thank you to y'all for being there for me through this. Let's hope for the best. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.


(Care Bear Stare: "The Care Bears' ultimate weapon is the "Care Bear Stare," in which the collected Bears stand together and radiate light from their respective tummy symbols. These combine to form a ray of love and good cheer which could bring care and joy into the target's heart.")

what i did on my vacation--part 1

As you may know, I just got home from a quick tour of the Pacific Northwest. Here are a few very poor photos to commemorate my journey:

I trained my way up to Olympia, WA. This is a photo from the Amtrak San Joaquin, which was very empty. When I got on the Coast Starlight, I began to miss the space I had enjoyed on the SJ, so I searched for quiet. Oddly, enough, I found it in the arcade. Yes, there is an arcade on the train. For only $.50 a game, you can enjoy Ms. Pac Man while riding the train. The trick is maintaining a standing position while the train rocks. I used the room for quiet (when empty, which was often) and to charge my phone, as the long distance trains have very few outlets.


The above photo shows somewheres in Oregon being beautiful and snowy. For those of you who have never taken the train, I recommend it. Yes, it takes forever and there are issues, but I still prefer it to an airplane on occasion. I enjoy being able to walk about between the cars and chatting with all the friendly folk who travel the rails. On my northbound trip, for instance, I met Betty and Mia.

Betty is a retiree who was headed home to Vancouver, B.C. with her husband, Ray. They were at the end of their 30-day rail pass, which they had used to visit family from Toronto to New Mexico. I found out that she enjoys making fancy chocolates and knitting (lots of knitters on trains!), as well as doing crossword puzzles (she would let me "help"
like Adam does).

Mia was a 19-year-old relocating from a bad situation in the LA area, to a hopefully better one in Seattle, WA. She was traveling with her 10-yr-old cousin, Devonte, who, after talking a few minutes, reached out his had and politely asked to be friends. We shook on it, and hung out for the rest of the trip.

Now, I have met a number of wonderful folks while traveling by plane, but it's just different when you're on the train. Trust me. You must try it once in your life. It's refreshing.

I pulled into Olympia Thursday night. My hosts here were Amanda, Devon, Kaia, and Devon's brother, Kelly. Below is a picture that Amanda will hate, but I say, too bad, Jerk! We worked on a project for her work, which is shown oh so fuzzily in the photo. I was delirious from lack of sleep (I had some trouble getting rested on the train) but it was fun!

After the project, it was off to sleep. Vladimir slept with me so I wouldn't miss my kitties so badly. Here he is in the morning, mad at me for waking him up:
Friday was a day of rest until Amanda and Devon got home. Amanda and I went to the store for fruit salad mixings, and we all hung out and had a great time. In the morning, we packed up and headed north to Seattle to have a glorious brunch made by none other than Justin. See, this whole trip came about because I kept hearing about the wonderful food Justin would make for his friends and roommates. I finally said I was inviting myself up, checked out ticket prices, and booked my trip. So, of course, he had to pull out all the stops. I should have gotten a photo of the spread, but I was too excited. I won't go into the list of what all was there, partly because I'm forgetful of names, and because I'm concerned you'll drool on your keyboard. In any case, It was great food and awesome company.

Kaia, Amanda and Devon's (2-yr-old) daughter, took this photo of the festivities:

then spent some time rocking in the rocking chair:
and went outside with me for a little walk. She's sweet, eh?
This is a (very bad) photo of the Seattle skyline from Justin's porch.
After the festivities, Justin and I bundled up and head to Capitol Hill for some shopping and sightseeing. I had to take a shot of this:
It's directions on how to do the Cha-cha-cha if you have really pointy feet and want to slide around on a public street in the rain. How awesome, eh?

One highlight of the trip for me was going to Stitches, a fabric store in the Capitol Hill area. It's a cute little shop that has lessons on sewing, etc. on a drop-in schedule. We couldn't make it for a class, but we did find some amazing stuff to buy.

I got some very soft rose-colored llama-wool blend yarn that is being turned into a hat:And some Echino fabric for me to look at when I need a pick-me-up:
And some fabric to line Justin's messenger bag that, yes, is still in the process of being made:

are you ready?

Butters is...

i'm in love with josh jakus

Beautiful, eh? Well look what this bag can do:


It unzips to show the deceptively simple design. Words cannot express how I feel. It must be love. Thank you Josh, you have made my day.

something to say; dedicated to edward

I'm adding a link to my page for The Center for the Dull. Please check it out. I know the artist, and think y'all should get some clothes from him. Do it!