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15248. thoughtful - 5/31/2005 5:22:22 PM I'm on pins and needles today...brother went in for an angioplasty and stent on his carotid artery...hoping to prevent another stroke, like he had in March. He's being operated on now and I'm waiting to hear. I hate waiting.
Dang he's only 53.
But to look at him, he looks much older. He's a smoker, drinks beer doesn't eat right and has diabetes. He's betting our 80 year old mother will outlive him. It doesn't have to be that way, but if he's not willing to change his lifestyle.... 15249. Magoseph - 5/31/2005 6:47:12 PM Oh, I feel for you waiting to know--please let us know what's going to happen. 15250. judithathome - 5/31/2005 6:49:27 PM Good thoughts for your brother, Thoughtful.
Mags, it was fantastic! These are friends we see only once a year, usually, and we'd never seen their house. It's out in the country and is absolutely beautiful. A pool and party area and the landscaping is gorgeous, as is the interior of their house. Very open and comfortable. She has done a really nice job of decorating with an eclectic mix of modern and antiques.
We had a great time and the food was delicious. Nice weather and good music, good food, and good conversation with friends...the perfect day! 15251. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 7:25:13 PM Well wishes for your bro, Thoughtful. 15252. thoughtful - 5/31/2005 7:36:22 PM Thanks Mags, Judithah and Ms No....
I heard from hubby and he came through the procedure ok.
They're keeping him in the hospital for a few days though. Apparently his artery was severely blocked and now that they've opened it up, they're afraid he might pop a brain artery if they let his bp stay normal, so they're lowering it a lot and will gradually raise it to let his brain readjust to the new greater blood flow.
I just hope this scares the shit out of him so he turns his health habits around....
but somehow, I don't hold out much hope. And his wife is no help at all. She looks like an auschwitz survivor and she lives on coffee and cigarettes.
Let's just say there's lots of room for improvement there... 15253. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 7:38:49 PM I had rather a craft-y weekend. Now, understand that I'm not much of a dab hand at crafts. My grandmother sewed like nobody's business but she didn't teach my mother nor did she teach me. My mom didn't have time or inclination if she'd had time for craft projects. She doesn't knit, she doesn't decoupage, she doesn't paint or scrapbook. Hell, I keep photos just like my mother does: in a box on the shelf with all the empty albums I've never gotten around to filling up.
For myself, I've done some ceramics (a bitch if you don't have a kiln of your own and a room that can be totally devoted to clay) I've done some painting --- I suck unless it's abstract stuff on denim. I've beaded a little - I like to collect and hoarde cool-looking beads and dream up beading projects but I don't actually like to put them together. There are any number of companies insisting that anyone can be a fabulous scrap-booker, but I don't have the mini-van or the kids at soccer camp that I think are mandatory accessories for that.
So, I took up leather tooling. Quit snickering, it's not that kind of leather.
I've attended exactly three classes at the Tandy Leather store and I've found that leather tooling is possibly the most gratifying craft in the world. You can be a totally suck-ass beginner at it and your projects still look kind of like they're supposed to. Truly.
I'm almost done with my first project --- I've only been working on it in class since there are tricks and skills to each phase/tool used. I've learned an incredible amount just on this first one. So much that I picked up another pattern to try at home on some scrap leather that I got. My second piece is already worlds better than my first one if only because I figured out how not to hit the stamps so hard. (I told my instructor that I just have a lot of aggression.)
So now I'm all antsy to do more and more and more, but I'm about a month away from having the hand-skills needed to start any real figure carving. I'm very enthused about it all, though. I think I may have finally found a craft/hobby I can stick with.
It just occurred to me that I might have rhapsodized about this already. Blame it on the tanning fumes. 15254. thoughtful - 5/31/2005 8:03:27 PM I love finding a new craft to develop. It's very energizing.
Getting into leather...why am i not surprised?
:-) 15255. wabbit - 5/31/2005 8:07:47 PM Best of luck to your brother, thoughtful. If only he would follow your example.
For that matter, *I* should follow your example. 15256. judithathome - 5/31/2005 8:08:35 PM A friend of mine has a guest room with a half bath that he has done in Western Style, comeplete with a 6 foot cardboard John Wayne. Anyhow, in his half bath, he has an oak toilet seat and on the top of it, a tooled leather cover attached with brass tacks. It sounds crazy but is very impressive! 15257. wonkers2 - 5/31/2005 8:15:07 PM Jex, In my era most of the Episcopalians who went to boarding school went to Sewanee. 15258. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 8:19:43 PM Ha! I'll have to put that on my list - a tooled leather toilet seat cover!
I think there's a wallet and a key holder next on the list in my class. I'm not very enthused about either one of them just for their own sake, but the patterns look challenging. Celtic knot on the key holder and basketweave on the wallet. Both are more challenging, but neither one as pretty as the Acanthus flower we've just finished. 15259. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 8:22:02 PM I've been to the Remmington museum but next time I'm in the DFW area I'll have to visit the Tandy headquarters. I think they've got a museum there as well and they're bound to have some Al Stohlman works. 15260. thoughtful - 5/31/2005 8:47:23 PM thanks wabbit.
i love celtic knots...had a book on celtic design...fascinating stuff....or since it's knots...fasten-ating stuff, I guess.
I love my toilet seat. Not because it's anything that looks special, but because it's a toto no slam toilet seat....just get the lid started and it lowers itself ever so silently, ever so gently. No more SLAM! in the middle of the night waking me up! Especially difficult to cope with since it took me long enough for him to lower the seat in the first place, I couldn't possibly push to get him to lower it quietly. 15261. arkymalarky - 5/31/2005 9:26:40 PM I hope things go well for your brother, Thoughtful. He's Bob's age, and your description of him sounds like Bob ten years ago: heavy smoker, beer drinker, overweight and underactive, ate anything and everything he wanted. Bob quit smoking and never was much of a drinker, but when he got diabetes he turned all that around and has maintained his weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, and everything else, so it can certainly happen. He drinks some (it actually helps control blood sugar if you are very moderate), but very rarely beer. I don't think he's had more than two or three in the last year. 15262. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 9:38:28 PM The Celtic designs look pretty challenging -- easy to miss a line/cut or to cut through some line you're not supposed to. The one we'll be doing is fairly simple, but I downloaded a pattern for a Celtic Cross that makes my hand cramp just to look at. 15263. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 9:45:01 PM Here's an Al Stohlman pattern
15264. thoughtful - 5/31/2005 9:47:38 PM Thanks Arky, I hope you're right. But knowing my brother, he's always been one to take the easy road and has never been one for self discipline. He's also never been one to take responsiblity for his own actions...everything is someone else's fault. So I don't hold out much hope. But there's always a chance...
15265. arkymalarky - 5/31/2005 10:26:03 PM The diabetes diagnosis right after watching his father die a slow and unpleasant death from cancer after two heart surgeries did it for Bob, but then he had to sustain it himself, which required a real change in his whole personality and attitude. If I had put money on his success I'd have lost bigtime, because I'd have bet against him. For so many people, including Bob's father, major surgery meant positive talk and a few moderate lifestyle changes that didn't last long before they were back to their old ways. Bob's dad never drank or smoked, but he didn't eat well or exercise. 15266. arkymalarky - 5/31/2005 10:27:47 PM That's a really cool craft to pick up, No. Once you get going, bring your work down to some of the AR festivals and it will sell well. 15267. Ms. No - 5/31/2005 10:47:33 PM I've probably got two solid years of making belts and handbags for family members before I'm off the hook there and can make any kind of surplus items for sale.
Just as well, though, I'm pleased with my progress, but I imagine I'll look like an amateur for a good long while.
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