Bench seat

I must be feeling better because I finally crossed a long overdue project off the list. Our bench seat by the door at the farm was about to fall completely apart. Look at this thing. Hideous. Whoever covered it with this fabric in the first place made a big mistake in using some super flimsy cotton - they should have used an upholstery fabric. It was pretty scraggly and ugly - really needed a make-over.

I found this fabric at Joann's. Pretty cute for right off the rack. And it was on sale. I measured the foam pad on the seat and bought the fabric and then got some extra at even more discount because it was the end of the bolt.

Exhibit A - the scraggly old cover

The fabric for the new cover - love it!

Here it is splayed out on the dining room table.

 Note: I didn't use a pattern - I just made it up - which is my usual way - because I just think "what the hell - I'll figure it out". When you do projects this way, be sure to think through it all the way. Don't just start cutting - you'll screw it up for sure. I measured several times. I've learned something about myself over the years. It is SUPER easy to measure wrong. Even when you think you've measured several times already - measure everything again. Then start cutting pieces. And you'll find that the measuring and cutting is not necessarily the fun part. It takes forever and is boring.... so so boring. But then you can get on with the sewing....

Old things sometimes break.

 But then this happened. The sewing machine crapped out. I tried not to panic. The motor was working but the wheel wasn't spinning which seemed to be a belt problem - and hmmm, when was the last time I changed the belt. Uh, never. So it seemed reasonable that the belt being more than 30 years old could probably use a change. I raced down to the Joann's again, but alas... they don't sell parts for machines from prehistoric times. What? You modern computer techy project runway seamstresses - bite me.... I had to order a belt online - so I got 2. Project on hold - one week delay. Got back to the farm this weekend with new belt (and a spare) in hand. Put everything back together and .............nuthin'. No worky. DON'T PANIC. DON'T PANIC..... oh, think through this. Motor works, belt moves turny thing - turny thing moves belt, but something else is wrong. I got out the flashlight and looked through everything like I thought an old sewing machine repair guy would do. And lo and behold, deep in the dark backside of the turny thing that the belt attaches to...there was a screw loose. Teeny tiny - requiring a super teen tiny screwdriver. Couple of turns later, and we are back in business. Putting that on the resume for sure. Sewing machine repair, check!

Decided velcro was the correct closure for the long backside.

I decided to sew the back side panel first and that velcro was a better solution than a zipper because the zipper would have been 8 feet long - that's too much. So velcro it was, and I found the iron-on stuff - which worked great. So i hemmed an edge, added the velcro, attached the other side to another piece, connected them as if they were one piece of fabric and got on with the sewing. 

Iron-on velcro works great.

Other piece that the velcro opposite will attach to

Both pieces of fabric with vecro holding them together

Sewing top to side to bottom to side - then ends.

 Once the whole business was sewn together, I just unvelcro'd the back side, turned the whole thing inside out and shoved the foam padding inside and worked the fabric around it so that it fit nicely and lined up correctly. Then i reattached the velcro and called it done. It was a lot like alligator wrestling. I was sweating by the end of it.

Final product

So, here it is in it's final resting place. I have enough fabric left to make a pillow or two which might be a nice add to the area. Hopefully this heavy fabric will last longer than the other stuff - plus, a darker background will work much better to hide dirt. I thought it turned out pretty well, and just in time for Thanksgiving. Done and done. 

Parenting is exhausting

Kit and I spent Friday afternoon with this little whirling dervish. I would have more pictures to show but the kid never stopped moving and therefore every photo was a blurry mess. We checked out MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) at their new South Lake Union space - it was fabulous. Actually, we didn't see all of it because certain little people gotta keep moving, man - so we let her lead. It was her day. We had agreed for her birthday present that we would have a date with her and she got to choose what she wanted to do and where she wanted to eat. 

After MOHAI, we went to her favorite restaurant Burgermaster - yes, seriously. Her favorite. Cheeseburger - no bun, and a chocolate shake. She couldn't have been happier.

After dinner we hung out at home for a while and did some drawings and used our "imaginations" and then it was time to take her home. 

Then fell into bed EXHAUSTED. Not kidding - EXHAUSTED. I don't know how you parents do it. This is one kid, and she's good. No fussing, whining or bad behavior. She's fun to have around, she likes to chat and tell stories and is quite easy for an 8 year old - but they never ever ever stop moving and talking - so it's pretty tiring. But super fun. Having nieces and nephews is great - and partly because you can give them back when you're beat.

Field Trip

Photo credit: The Stranger

Have you been here yet? Intermezzo Carmine is a little bar/restaurant at 409 First Ave S. in Seattle. It's owned and operated by the same family that owns Il Terrazzo Carmine next door and it is SUPER CUTE. I found this review in Seattle Magazine which pretty much reflects our experience - you should definitely go there asap. I haven't yet figured out who did the interior design, but I'm in love with banquette that runs the entire length of the restaurant - the tufting and the color of the linen are especially fabulous, and the wood accents all have sort of a gray/unfinished look - I love it. Whoever you are who designed this little slice of heaven - you're awesome!!!!! There are some lounge-y type chairs too if you stumble in after shopping and need to take a load off and have a drink. Which I will! There are 2 and 4 top tables and bar seating if you want to eat and drink like regular people. It's super super charming, and the waiters were super nice too. Shout out to Joe - he was a lot of fun. Oh, I should mention also my love for the waitstaff's aprons. Leather, totally cool, would like to make a sofa out of their aprons. Cozy.

Ok, let's chat about the food. I think they are still ironing things out a bit. Last night they said they were coming out with a new menu today, and they were working on expanding the wine list too. The food selections are fine, but the menu didn't seem quite "small plates to share" enough for what we wanted and it seemed like some things were missing. We didn't see a single green vegetable on the menu, so we asked for a salad. They whipped up an insalata mista for us which was great - but we had to ask for it. The main course foods were good, but we were hoping for a better selection of small plates over the selection of entrees. But that's ok, I'm sure they will get there with more feedback from diners. And it certainly isn't going to keep me from going back.

In fact, we would totally go back, if for no other reason than the sweet vibe of the place. Excellent hang out. 

Worst to Best

I got some really good news!

But first I'll tell you about my very nervous completely uncomfortable date for my lumpectomy following the 5 months of chemotherapy I just went through. Let me just say this right away - every single day following the very bad day that I was told I had breast cancer has been a big huge learning experience and has gone really really well. I know that doesn't happen for everyone so I'm super grateful that my experience was what it was rather than what it could have been. Not to say that there weren't days that completely sucked  - but looking back, I'm thankful for a lot lot lot of things. Here are a few:

1. I live in the USA, and more specifically, Seattle, Washington - a place where the medical community is very very progressive.

2. I was treated at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. That's huge. SCCA is part of a collective that includes Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Children's Hospital and UW Medical Center (a teaching hospital) - and altogether have first rate cancer care and cancer research.

and 

3. I was assigned (did not choose, but was miraculously assigned) these oncologists who I am so grateful for: 

Dr. Julie Gralow - 


Dr. Kristine Calhoun

As I mentioned in past posts, I was given a diagnosis of HER2 Positive breast cancer - which is sort of scary, but these women had a plan and the appropriate treatment in place and we got down to business and did the work.

One part of my chemotherapy included the drug Perjeta - which if you've watched the news lately - has been extraordinary! While my HER2 cancer hadn't had a chance to get anywhere near terminal, I was given Perjeta along with Herceptin as part of my treatment - and I responded very well.

After my chemo was done, I was scheduled for surgery. From the outset, the surgery was planned to be (hopefully) a lumpectomy but it depended on how well I responded to the treatment. By the time I met with Dr. Calhoun we knew the chemo had gone well, and confirmed that a lumpectomy was the agreed protocol - which gave me a lot of relief because the idea of a mastectomy seems a little bit (or a lot) overwhelming. Surgery was planned for September 25th. 

My history of surgery in life included getting my tonsils out 20 years ago, so based on that - you know - I was afraid  - which seemed pretty normal since in the past 6 months I've been afraid of about everything that's come up for me that has been new. So, on September 25th, no different, afraid but not stopping now.

I had to get a wire localization first - followed by what they call lymph mapping - neither of which anyone should really have done while awake, yet both are done with local numbing - so WIDE AWAKE and not that fun. It's best to just not look at anything they are doing because the first one involves needles and wires, and the second one again with the needles. These little procedures are necessary to make sure the surgeon can find where the "tumor" tissue is or was - so they mark the area with a wire. Then they shoot radioactive isotopes into your breast tissue to drain to the sentinal lymph node - so the surgeon can id which lymph node to take to make sure the cancer really really didnt go to the lymph nodes or beyond. Neither of these procedures hurt, they just freak you out if you think about them too much.

Surgery was right after that. Went perfectly. Lumpectomy done and done. Felt like I was in and out of there super fast, after waiting all morning to get it all going. Not that they weren't doing stuff behind the scenes getting ready, we just had to do a lot of sitting around waiting. In any case, we were relieved that it went so well, then we promptly forgot to stop at the pharmacy on the way out to get the pain meds (we're idiots) - so we had to drive back to the hospital for that. Turned out to be totally unnecessary though - really didn't have any pain at all. Stayed at home healing for a 5 days, then back to normal life stuff and continuing to heal properly. 

Here's where the GOOD NEWS comes in. Results of the surgery (pathology of the tissue) concluded that no cancer had every gotten to the lymph nodes. While they suspected that anyway and the biopsy early on indicated that, it was nice to get final reports that it was true. And......the best part.... the tissue where my lump-mass-tumor was showed no cancer at all. Meaning - I've had a "complete response" to treatment (docs words). So, 6 months ago I had cancer, but I don't have cancer anymore I'm happy to report. As Dr. Calhoun put it, I hit a home run. I'm very very thankful and fortunate that my treatment went so well. With my sort of breast cancer and the size of my tumor, it's not often that they see such results, so hot damn!!!

I still have to do the course of radiation to sweep through that area because it could always be possible that there is as little as one cell they can't detect that could go haywire. I'll do that happily. Everyone says if you've been through chemo - radiation is a breeze. 

My next step is reconstructive surgery on the 22nd of October (next Wednesday), followed by radiation starting around the first of December. That is the last "new" thing I will do. After that I just continue to get an infusion of herceptin every three weeks until end of next May, and then I will be completely finished with this business. Herceptin doesn't have any side effects so it's easy to tolerate. It's also not a "chemotherapy" but a "biologic."

Anyway, it's been a long year but I've had an outcome that has been really good. I have a lot of love in my heart for all the people at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and along with the Oncologists above, I love love love these two gals below. Denise Bundow is the Nurse Practitioner that works with Dr. Gralow, and I've seen her all along and she's been so great. 

Denise Bundow

And this gal below, Kay Tilton was the nurse assigned to me on day one. She is a dolly - I love her too. She helped me through all the chemo and gave me all the good warnings about side effects and what was coming next. 

Kay Tilton

The biggest thing is this. I was scared shitless the first time I walked into this building and now I love this place.It's weird to think how many times I drove by this building in all the years I've lived in Seattle and then in one day it turned into my home away from home. And it's good that I like this place, because fortunately for me, I'll be "watched" by these peeps for the next forever.....every 6 months for the next 3 years, and then on after that forever, and that's fine by me.

If you are reading this and you are a woman - please get an annual mammogram. I found my lump myself because of where it was - so it was easy to feel. But a mammogram would have found it too! Get one!! Every year!