The first is the one and only request I’ve had from Jason for a clay item. 

 

You might notice he doesn’t look happy.  Here’s why:

 

I guess that would make anyone cranky.

 

And this piece is my entry into the soon-to-be-opened-to-voting-June-Challenge:

 

 

The theme is “For The Guys,” and this faux leather with copper accents (real copper, btw) was fun to make and looks even nice in real life.

 

I’ve got another new piece – a grist mill for my collection  of wee buildings.  That was a lot of fun.  It’s all been baked as of this afternoon, now comes assembly and painting a bit to age the “wood”.  Took me forever to get the wheel right but I think it’ll even spin when it’s assembled. (Notice I am cautious – “think”)

 

Still struggling with serum sickness, especially as the temperature rises – my temperature is always highly susceptible to changes in the atmospheric temp, but with this serum sickness it’s even more so.  A/C goes on tomorrow – were to hit 90.  We probably should have turned it on the other day but we’ve been trying to keep expenses low – we realized that some expenses can’t be avoided. 

 

Faron still hasn’t gotten a job – we heard this week he didn’t get the forestry job for which he’d interviewed.  Meanwhile, he continues to get invitations to apply for still other state jobs so he keeps returning them indicating he’d be willing to work there.

 

Next week is Jason’s and Tiana’s housewarming party, on Sunday afternoon – open house.  If you’re in the area, drop in! Call me for the address. 

 

And finally, our good friend Anne Gordon Kane (Our former – and much loved- pastor’s youngest daughter) was diagnosed officially this past week with a Stage IV glioma, a tumor in her brain.  She’s already had surgery to reduce the size of the tumor and is researching clinical trials.  Anne’s the mother of 10 year old twins, Francis and Paul.  She’s a nurse who works for the Dept of Health and has the craziest sense of humor.  She’s a lovely girl (well, maybe not so much “girl” but it’s how I think of her.)  As you think of her in the coming months, please pray for Annie and her family. 

 

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I suddenly realized tonight I’d never edited and posted our photos from Easter.  Silly me!  At first I was in so much pain, I guess I just couldn’t be bothered.  After that, I was enjoying being able to move! 

After the cellulitis – which included 6 days in the hospital and 18 days in a nursing home – I came home with terrible joint pain all the time.  I lived from ibuprofen dose to dose.  Finally I saw my GP for my 1-week post nursing home check and he took a bunch of blood for testing – a BUNCH!  Another week went by and I went back and he told me it was serum sickness, caused by a reaction to the protein in the large, large, large dose of antibiotics I got for those three weeks.  Good news is, he put me on a burst of prednisone, starting with 4 pills at once that first night, and by 2 am when I should have been craving more ibuprofen, I was happy to wake up with no pain!  And it’s stayed that way.   Just took the last prednisone tonight, and had more blood tests today to see if my SED rate is back to normal, which would indicate all is well again with that area.  Along with no pain, prednisone has given me this “‘roid” energy burst.  I have felt so good!  I am sure that particular part of things won’t last but it helped me to get back on the exercise schedule I started in the nursing home and had somewhat abandoned for all the pain. 

I’m just happy to be slowly dropping medications – no more antibiotics, no more dreadful potassium supplements (which have to be among the nastiest pills ever created to swallow!) and now no more steroids.  For now.  The likelihood is that I will get cellulitis again in that same leg.  The amount of tissue damage done by repeated instances of cellulitis is extensive.  All of that damage makes me very vulnerable to infection.  And, I read this week that I’ll almost certainly get serum sickness when I take antibiotics again.  Sooner, even, than this past time.  Yippee!  But we’ll know what’s happening anyway, and how to treat it. 

So back to Easter.  We’d planned to have the MeyerClan Easter Egg Hunt here that afternoon, but rain changed things.  We had dinner here with Jason & Tiana and her mom who’d flown in to see the kids’ new house and help get some stuff done with them, and Joe & Amy and the boys, who drove up for the day, and Joe’s mom & dad, Shirley and Bud – 11 of us counting the boys.  Dinner was great and then when Derek was saying, “I want to go outside!” I pulled the ultimate Grandma-distraction tool: bribes! to keep him and his brother out of the rain.  “Well, I want you and Jared to open presents!” 

This was very well received. 

I had all sorts of gifts for the boys – Jared’s birthday gifts, a Valentine’s gift, a leftover Christmas gift and some odds and ends for Easter.  First present they opened caused Derek to go into spasms of delight – he shrieked and carried on and then finally asked what it was.   He was excited by the packaging – all Woody from ToyStory.  They were a pair of red plastic harmonicas I’d gotten to fill in the amount on Amazon to get free shipping on some order or another. They LOVED them.  Here’s a bit of video of our two instant virtuosos:

They also sat on these two chairs in front of the front doors and performed.  Several times.  Finally, it stopped raining and they took their show on the road.  Outside.  I think they mostly went to the barn to sit on Grandpa’s tractor and play their harmonicas to the tractor.  Jason & Tiana followed shortly to become groupies. 

Both boys love playing on my scooter – as long as it’s not running.  Jared’s buckling in for a long ride, I guess. 

Shirley and Bud had filled a couple of small baskets for the boys, with PillowPets that made Derek go even crazier than he did for the harmonicas.  And this time he knew just what they were!  They both really loved them, although I think Jared just loves stuff because Brother does.  There was also a bit of chocolate in the baskets.  Derek immediately opened his hollow chocolate bunny, but Jared opted for the Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg.  Which he eventually shared with me:

You can see the next piece of candy was already lined up. 

I just love Joe’s happy smile here.  I love Joe, too.  For the record. 

After several phone calls between the crowd at Hazel’s (Kim and her family ate there as well as Hazel’s own true crowd – true in the sense that her kids’, their spouses, their kids and now their spouses and kids, are TRULY a crowd!!) and us, and we decided, with Tiana’s decisive help, to just have a quick “on the porch” egg hunt for Derek and Jared.  Kim came up, bringing the buckets and shovels Hazel had gotten each of the little kids, and Ron came with her.  Joe told the boys they had to use their shovels to scoop up the candy.

At nearly 4, Derek tried very hard to chase candy around with the shovel and scoop it up. Jared, on the other hand, at 2, decided the best method was to pick it up with his right hand and place it on the shovel in his left.  After several minutes of chasing candy with his shovel, Derek looked at Joe and said, “Can I use my hands, Dad?” 

Things did move much more quickly after that. 

Ron had his own plan.  No bucket and shovel, but he was on a mission to get every full-sized candy bar available:

He did quite well. 

The boys both over-filled their buckets, but their mean-old mom sorted through it and sent most of it back with Aunt Kim when she took the leftovers down for the egg hunt going on in Hazel’s living room.  (The boys couldn’t have cared less, as you can see – here they are both sharing with Grandma.

And of course, Jared felt the need to show that his belly got all filled up!

It was a fun day, if a bit different.  It’s always fun having the Regels here.  The boys love it when Grammy & Pappy and Grandma and Grandpa are all in one place, and having Tiana’s mom, Alaine here was fun, too – both boys took to her instantly.  They’re always ready to have another grandmother. 

Now that I’m home and life is getting somewhat normal – which will be even more normal when Faron gets a job…which should be soon.  He’s had letters of interest from four separate departments in the Pennsylvania Department of Forestry. He was interviewed so far for one department, and he should hear very soon about that one.  We’re praying and trying to be patient!  Anyway, now that things are getting back on a routine, I’m claying again.  The very first thing I did when I got home was to finish this guy:

My Rich Dutch Doctor Bobblehead Doll – unofficial mascot of a blog I frequent, called, The Uncrushable Jersey Dress, dedicated to all things Neels, in honor of British romance novelist, Betty Neels. She wrote about 134 novels, and probably about 80% of her heroes were, you guessed it, Rich Dutch Doctors.  One day in a very silly discussion thread, it was put forth that we needed an RDD Bobblehead.  It seems there’s a firm online who’ll make custom bobbleheads for only $80 each!  I couldn’t let that go – I announced that I could make one for about $10 – the cost of the clay.  And yes, his head really does bobble. If you follow the link and scroll down to the 2nd entry, you’ll find a quick video I made to verify that fact. 

The 2nd thing I did was to make this:

My entry into the current challenge of the PCAGOE, Flora and Fauna.  Obviously, I went with flora. 

Make sure you go and vote!

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