What to blog?

School seems to be the story of my life. I ended another semester at Weber, only five more remain!!!! This summer semesters is pretty relaxed; I am taking a health educator's class online and then I also have a British Lit class that will start at the end of June. Until then I have been studying for my CAAP test. I will be taking it June 4th. This test is required to apply to the education department. It mimics the ACT. Also, I didn't end up getting the straight A's I hoped for, but I did get 3 A's and a B!

Since I am tired of just writing about school and I haven't really been writing poems or stories as often as I should--- I don't really know what to write about. I will however, give a quick update on my dad. It has been a few months since I have talked about the whole WBC & platelets. Dad went to Huntsman Cancer Institute where he was evaluated. They looked at the bone marrow biopsy that he had done in March (I believe), they too stated that it is not Leukemia. WHEW!!!! They are not really sure what is going on. One of the doctors believed it could be Myelodysplastic syndrome (pre-leukemia), but he didn't feel confident in making that diagnosis. They sent dad home with really no answers and we are back to square one. Dad eventually got over his sinus infection (it took several months), he still gets tired easily, and his counts are still low. However, dad has made it very clear he isn't going to worry if the doctors are not worrying. He isn't on any treatments for it and the last blood test showed that his counts were normal again. I guess we will just live life and worry later! :-)

Thanks for reading and I am sure I will add some poems and stories soon!

Cards....

Cards that I made for people that are graduating this year.

From drab to fab...

What does one do with plain dish towels? Add a little fabric to make them look better!

Step 1: Buy dish towels
Step 2: Use cricut to cut out designs with decorative fabric
Step 3: Cut out fabric
Step 4: Sew fabric design onto dish towels



White dish cloth


Added fabric flowers


Yellow dish towel



Added fabric border


Different view of the yellow towel

Sewing is my relaxation...

I have had a little extra time since Spring Semester is dwindling down. So, I decided to do some more sewing projects. I have done a few receiving blankets and matching burp cloths. I had someone ask me if I was trying to tell people something, NO!!!! I am not announcing I'm expecting a baby, nor will I be any time soon. I am making these, because I enjoy doing it. I also give them away as gifts; I have had several friends/family members announce they are expecting. Since things are so expensive I have made things for them instead of buying. I often pull out my sewing machine when I have a lot weighing on my mind. It allows me to be alone with my thoughts. So, people are getting gifts and I am able to relax a little!

Here are my receiving blankets and matching burp cloths:


Receiving blanket with frog print--background is green stripe


Burp cloth front and back with frog print



Receiving blanket with duck print--background is yellow checkered



Burp cloth front and back with duck print


Burp cloth pink pig/flower with green stripe back


Burp cloth pink pig/flower with pink checkered back

Crafty bug...

Every once in awhile I get the crafty bug and need to work on a project! I really enjoy working on crafts and I find myself coming up with new ones everyday. One that I have been working for quite some time now is a patchwork baby quilt. I am teaching myself how to do it, so it is coming along very slowly. I posted about it before, but decided I should post pictures now for future reference! Pictures are not the best, because I took them with my phone.


I love the fabric I am using, it is really cute!


Another view of fabric. If you were in person you could see the design it is starting to create. I traced the design from a quilt my Great-Grandma Dodge made for my parent's wedding as inspiration.


Full quilt thus far! I only have a few runs left to do, but again slowly learning. I learn something new the further I go. I also still need to stitch it so it will lay flatter and not look so bunchy.

Another fun crafty thing I have fallen in love with is making cards! I made all of our Christmas cards this past year and here are a few others I have made:


I made this one for my Aunt Mutt! It was a simple card, I just took different papers and layered them and then embelished with stickers. The back was used for a little letter/note.


I made this one for my boss; he is moving to Califonia (thus the scuba guy). The group of people I work with and I wanted to do something nice before he left. A card was something on the list. Again, this was an easy card. I just layered paper and tied a ribbon around it. Then I layered the blue paper on top with the scuba guy I made with my Cricut.

Festival of Colors 2011...

Today I went to Spanish Fork with Aimee (a girl I work with at WSU) and her friend Daniel for the festival of colors. The festival of colors is the Hindu holiday celebrating the welcoming of spring and the mythological triumph of good over evil. It was located at a temple in Spanish Fork. Every few hours there would be a countdown, and a kaleidoscopic explosion of colors filled the air like a powdered rainbow. There was an array of yummy Indian food and lots of lively music. It was a great way to release pressure and tension of everyday life; people dance, and sing and leave everything behind on that field. You forget about race or genders or whatever once you're covered with colors and look like aliens from a different planet. Everything just melts away and we ended up having the time of our lives!!!!

Here are some pictures:




Daniel, Aimee, and Myself waiting for the shuttle to the temple of fun!


This was right after we got there, we were buying our own colors.


Enjoying the yummy Indian food




Standing in one of the temple towers getting a view of all the people




The beautiful temple


Myself, Daniel, and Aimee all colorful right before we headed home.

Who knew throwing colored chalk at people could be so much fun? It was a really fun day!!!!!

Dad update...

So, things have taken me away from keeping up on this blog once again. However, I have come to terms with this fact, I will never be one that updates and post regularly.

Here is a quick update on what has been happening in my life and the lives of the Burton family.

As for me, I am still working hard in all of my classes...only five more weeks left of this semester!!! I have healed from my surgery wonderfully and at my two week appointment all of my restrictions were lifted. I finally heard back from "Metaphor" (Weber State's literary journal), none of the pieces I submitted will be included in this edition. It hurt to hear that, but then again I don't consider myself that great of a writer so all is well. I will include on this post the three pieces I submitted (yes, they are included in earlier post, but I have made modifications to them).

As for the rest of the Burtons, life is still an up and down roller coaster. Dad finally figured out why his face has been swelling, he is allergic to the antibiotic the doctor proscribed. Now that he is no longer on that the only concern is figuring out why his white blood count and platelets are so low. When he was admitted to the hospital back in February his white blood count was at 2.1 (normally between 5 &10) and his platelets were 10 (normally 150-400). Therefore his body would not be able to fight the infection that he had. While he was in the hospital they gave him some platelet transfusions which brought his WBC to 4.5 and his platelets to 97. Still low, but manageable.

Upon being released from the hospital he has gone through several tests. His counts have started to decrease once again. They did a bone marrow biopsy (he had one a few years ago too)but this showed exactly the same thing it did last time---nothing. He has seen an ear, nose, and throat specialist but was told they don't think that is causing any of the problems. Dr. Hansen (the oncologist at McKay Dee) has referred my dad to Huntsman's Cancer Institute since he does not know what is going on. My dad has an appointment next week with them and hopefully we can get a name, condition, and treatment for whatever is going on. My dad is staying hopeful and positive throughout all of this. He has been going to work trying to keep his mind occupied. This week he is finally starting to sound and look better (we believe the sinus infection is finally leaving his system after 2 months). I will post once we know more! Thank you to all our friends and family who have been keeping us in your thoughts and prayers we truly feel them!





As stated above, these are the pieces I submitted to "Metaphor"....

my poems....

Gift of Freedom

Red, White, and Blue
Oh, how can I repay you?
You stand at attention
And yet often go unmentioned.

Your loved ones stand by
So that our flag can fly;
You fight for our voice
and to give us a choice.

Red, White, and Blue
Oh, how can I repay you?
You put yourself in danger,
all for some strangers.

You die so we can live
It’s such a precious gift you give.
As I stand by your grave
I’m grateful you were brave.

Masquerade
Every day is like Halloween,
I wake up and put on a different mask.
Some days I am Bo-Bo the Clown,
laughing away my tears.
Other days I am a biker chick—
my tough exterior hiding the fear I have within.
I once was an heiress to some grand fortune
just to be accepted into a group.
At times I feel like Perfect Penny,
too afraid to show people that I am human.
But, being all of these people is getting exhausting
I am ready to remove my mask and
for the first time be myself!