It Works!

 The new chair was delivered and seemed to be approved by all.  Joseph and his mommy got to sit in it and also Nathan and Isaac.  So it has been tested and seems to fit right into the scheme of things.  I'm sure that the delivery men got more entertainment at our house than at any of their other deliveries today.  We had school this morning.  Graham had his Goosey (Woody) time and Esther had her time with me.  They headed home and I started to fix our lunch as we were on a tight schedule today...school...birthday parties...chair delivery...grocery shopping...church library.  About the time that I had one of the ingredients out for our lunch, two little girls popped in to tell us that the furniture delivery truck was here.  Then all little heads except for Joseph popped in to watch the old chair be taken out and the new be brought in.  As soon as it was in place I asked who was going to sit in it first...and bodies flew to the new chair!  They figured out how to get everyone in it so I could take a picture.  As soon as the excitement over the new chair wore down, we headed next door to celebrate Abigail and Joy's birthdays.  Their birthdays are next week but the family celebration needed to be this week.  So party down we did!  We had a delicious s'more concoction and ice cream...yummy.  That easily took the place of lunch as I never did get our lunch made.  Presents were opened to many squeals of excitement for each of them.

Here Joy is reading out of a "Knock, Knock Joke Book" that Abigail gave her.  Joy will be 9 on Sunday and Abigail will be 11 a week from Friday. I broke away from the party to head home and get ready to head to the church. A little after I left, Woody headed to the grocery store to do our weekly Krogering. He also managed to get in his walk early this morning.

And, now for the rest of the story...when I got home from church the following proves that the new chair works:

Woody was dozing soundly...so it must be comfortable.  Well, I'm heading downstairs to get a turn sitting in the new chair! All this excitement has worn me out!

On to the Next Treatment

I am going to write the blog on my iPad and then perhaps add a photo later.  We have had another very long Vanderbilt day...made even longer due to an accident that had traffic really backed up on I-24 on our way to Vandy. We were able to exit and go a different way to Vanderbilt, but it did take longer and we got to Woody's PET scan later than they had asked.  But such is the life in a large city...glad that we don't have to be in high traffic rush hours very often!  We left the house at 5:30am and got home a little after 6pm. We were at Vandy from a little before 8am till around 3pm.  On the way home we did stop for our treat of the day at Steak and Shake.  Woody really deserved the stop today as he hadn't had anything to eat since last night. We got back on the road and headed toward Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex's house in Murfreesboro and stopped for a short visit with them.  They had gotten some new furniture and new carpet that we hadn't seen.  It was hard to get me up out of the nice cushy recliner when it was time to head home! I can say that I have seen all nine of our grandchildren today as when we got home I went next door for a few minutes to give them the latest on Woody.

So speaking of the latest...Dr. Sosman came in and said that the tumors have gotten larger since the last PET scan.  So he recommended that Woody wait four weeks and then come back to get set up for taking the "latest and greatest" newly approved Melanoma drug, Keytruda.  This is also given by infusion and is an immunotherapy drug.  It has only been FDA approved since the first of September and is only approved for late-stage melanoma patients for whom Yervoy (ipilimumab) didn't work.  It is still going through trials to be approved for other Melanoma patients.  So that is the latest in Woody's treatment saga...on to the next treatment.

Frost One Day, Storms the Next

There was frost on the roofs in our neighborhood yesterday morning and this morning we were having a thunderstorm with hail...typical "back-and-forth" weather for us here in Middle Tennessee.  Woody went for a four-mile walk early and got back home just before the storm hit. The storm let up just in time for Isaac to come over for his school time.  Since we didn't know if we were going to get more rain and storms,  Elijah came on over and he hung out with Goosey (Woody) while Isaac and I had school.  Elijah and Goosey played a game of Junior Monopoly and read a story.  I walked Isaac back home and then came back for Elijah's time. Esther read to me next and then Joy read to me.  Then Abigail came and we got busy sewing.  Her dress is starting to look like a dress after today's sewing session.  After lunch Graham came over to read and then Elijah came back and had his long Grammy time.  Today he built something with K'nex following the directions all by himself.  I just had to help him snap one piece on.  After he finished with that he asked if he could paint.  So he painted for a while...mainly mixing colors. Oh, and he did paint the handle of one of the wooden paint brushes. When it dries he plans to paint the other side.  I rested for a bit after school was over for the day.  Then I headed downstairs to make a casserole for tonight's supper. Woody planted garlic in our garlic bed this afternoon. After we ate, Woody went next door to grandchild sit for a little while. I am contemplating going downstairs and finishing up a job that I started over the weekend...I have a small area of carpet to do before my rug shampooing job can be considered complete.  Just not sure that I have the energy.  But there won't be time to do it tomorrow as we will be leaving here VERY early to go to Vanderbilt for Woody's 3-week follow-up PET Scan, labwork and appointment to see the doctor.  His original appointment for the PET scan was at 7:45am...that was early enough, but this morning they called and moved it to 7:15am.  Guess we will be getting up with the birds in the morning? Another long day of sitting around and/or lying in a scan machine waiting for things to happen at Vandy!

Time to Store Up Those Nuts!

I guess today's colder temps (got down to 39 overnight) told this little squirrel that he needed to get going on his winter storehouse!  I caught this little guy perched rather precariously on a "knob" at the edge of this branch.  He was sitting there when I pulled into the driveway and I guess I scared him into sitting very still, as I was able to roll down the car window, snap several pictures and get out of the car and walk up the front walk and get almost right in front of him before he dared scamper off up the tree.

Woody did Saturday errands early this morning...WalMart and the library.  I lazed around for a while this morning as it was hard to leave the warmth of the throw that I had managed to wrap around me.  I always look forward to the cooler temperatures of Fall, forgetting that my body due to the Transverse Myelitis doesn't like the change of seasons and really doesn't like colder temperatures.  It was a good day to do some chores around the house as moving around vacuuming and mopping floors helped to warm me up!  I also researched how to make a "crafty something" that Abigail wants for her birthday.  Something that I am just not good at making...never have been...and I am finding out that I'm still not good at doing it.  I have read instructions and watched video "how-tos" online to not much avail when I look at what I have made so far.  If I ever get an end product perhaps you will see it when I post pictures of the girls' (Abigail and Joy) birthday celebration this coming week.

Woody walked four miles after lunch.  He has also done crossword puzzles, watched library DVD's, watched some football, and has read.  We both have donned sweatshirts in honor of the cooler temps. I think that it did manage to get to 60 this afternoon, but just barely.  Well, back to my crafting effort...and then I will read a bit.  Once again...a quiet evening in the Dorrell household.

Out and About

Woody and I went on a little jaunt today in search of a new recliner (Can you hear me saying "yay?") for the family room.  The one we have has been about used to death! We headed west and a bit south to Leoma, TN to Story and Lee Furniture (a little over 80 miles from our house...one way). We hear this furniture store advertised on Huntsville TV quite often, but it was the first time that we had ever been there.  We had oodles of recliners to choose from.  After much sitting and rocking and reclining we went back to two of the first ones that we had tried out and chose from those two.  This coming Wednesday we will find out if we chose well, when it is delivered and placed in the family room (and the old one happily (for me) carted away). After we made our purchase we headed back home and made one more stop at Rick's Barbecue which was just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the furniture store. We had noted it's location when we drove by and since it was lunch time when we drove back by we couldn't resist stopping as  we both enjoy tasting different restaurant's renderings of  barbecue pork sandwiches.  I guess that this was the first time that I had had one that included slaw on the sandwich (had heard of such, but never partaken before).  After enjoying our sandwiches and Woody also enjoying sides of beans and slaw, we headed on down the road for home.  The morning started out drizzly with low hanging clouds, but by the time we were returning the clouds were breaking up.  I don't have pictures of the beautiful clouds and blue sky as my camera battery died and I forgot to take along the spare. It will have to suffice for me to say that the cloud formations were beautiful and that also the hillsides are starting to get a tint of Autumn color.

After we got home, Woody went on a four-mile walk and I talked on the phone with my sister...well, we had talked on the drive home, but the connection kept dropping.  So when I got home and downloaded the picture of the recliner that we had chosen I called her back to tell her that I had sent her the picture via email. And, "of course" we talked a little longer! At this point of the evening, Woody and I have settled in for another quiet evening of TV, reading, crossword puzzles...

Designed and Sewn By Joy!

Here's Joy modeling the sewing project that she finished today.  When we were looking for some fabric a while back, Joy spotted a napkin that I had put into my "stash" to use "sometime" for "something." She studied it for a while and she said that she thought that it would make a good purse and then proceeded to fold it this way and that till she was pleased with the way the fringe looked. She had been interested in learning how to use a twin needle to do stitches so she chose two colors of thread and then very meticulously looked through and sewed out stitches on another piece of cloth till she found just the ones that she wanted to use.  We ended up doing the twin needle stitching on my machine as their machine (my former machine) just didn't work as easily as my newer model (why struggle when there is an easier way!).  She learned about mirror imaging stitches also.  She sewed up the sides the last time we had a sewing session and then today she VERY quickly crocheted (something that Grammy can't do) a chain for the handle and then I showed her how to make tassels. She headed home this morning a very happy camper with her new purse over her shoulder and a dollar bill in it that Goosey (Woody) gave her.

Woody walked four miles this morning and was heading in our front door as Isaac was heading in our front door for school. Isaac is coming right along with his lessons.  His time with me just flies by...as do all the times with each of the children.  It always amazes me when the next child arrives for their turn...that it is already time for the one I have been working with to go home.  The whole morning just flies by. Elijah is having fun with his reading (about to complete a big Dick and Jane book) and has also discovered a really fun reading lesson: VERBS!  He loves to read the cards that have verbs on them as he gets to do the action that he reads.  His favorite is "bowl" as we have a Fisher Price bowling game that was Nathan's when he was little.  The bowling game resides in the school room so when he reads "bowl" he gets to pull it out and work on making strikes (I'm the pin setter and ball returner).  That is usually the next to the last verb card that I hand to him to read. I hold out the "stop" verb card to hand to him when it is time to head on to the next activity.   His least favorite verbs are "hug" and "kiss"...a typical little boy!  Though I did convince him to give me a hug this morning.  He likes math a lot and he really likes one of the lessons we have been doing lately: Domino Addition.  I have a set of dominoes in the school room and he takes out a domino and then writes the equation that a domino represents (one of today's 9+5=13)...of course his favorites to write down are the ones that are really small or where a number is added to 0. After he has done some problems he likes for us to set up the dominoes and see if they will all knock down in a row or curve or...As you can probably tell, we have a pretty good time in school.  He seems to be loving his kindergarten lessons that he does with his mom at his house. He always has a very positive comment...about what he has done or is going to do when he gets home.  Another amazing thing is how well he is doing with juggling.  Esther is also doing very well with her juggling.  This morning she showed us how many catches she can do when juggling  three balls...six catches!  I can't even walk and chew gum at the same time!

This afternoon I rested for a while and then decided that it was finally time to make that chicken noodle soup.  It really hit the spot for our supper.  Now we have settled in for a quiet rest of the evening.  

Hot Off The Press!

I'm happy to announce that Woody's book Prayers from God is now available in e-book form. This has been long in the writing/publishing and has been at the publishers since the first of the year.  I have been anxious to share with our blog readers about Woody's book, but I had to be patient while the last touches were completed.  The process that took the longest was Woody getting permission from various authors that he had quoted in his book.  Finally last month he received the last permission.  And, last week he got a copy of the paperback book to proof.  All changes have been made as he requested, except in this proof reading he found a printing error...that hopefully has been taken care of and Woody will be receiving a corrected copy shortly.  At the moment the e-book version is the only one that we know is correct.  Woody says to buy the e-version anyway...as it was the only one that he had any say about the price...and he has set the e-price at 99 cents.  He has been disappointed with the publisher's pricing of the paperback from the first time he heard their quote of $24.95.  He just wants it out there so it will be read and he figures at 99 cents that folk might down-load an e-copy!  We know that there are presently three places where the e-book is available.  I just purchased it from Christian Book Distributors (cbd.com) for 79 cents...even more of a bargain!  This is the first time that I have bought an e-book from CBD and I had to download a free app for their e-reader for my iPad.  I am used to the Kindle app and this is a bit different...but definitely readable. You can also purchase it as an e-book for 99 cents from Amazon for those who use a Kindle and for 99 cents from Westbow Press (not sure what form Westbow's e-copies download).  At this point Barnes and Noble hasn't made the price change for the e-book...so wait a bit if you want it for your Nook. And, for those who feel the need of having an actual book in your hand, please wait till we are sure that the latest changes have been made before ordering.  We'll let you know when the paperback book is available.

Needless to say that this has been a very exciting day for us.  But we have done ordinary things too...we had school according to the Wednesday schedule...well, almost...Abigail did have an orthodontist appointment so she came a bit later than usual.  Graham had his science time with Goosey (Woody) and Esther had her sewing time with me.  After lunch, I headed off to the church to work in the library for a couple of hours and Woody headed off to do our Wednesday Krogering.  Since I got home, Woody and I have been checking various sites to see if the corrected e-copy of his book was available.   And, with that new found information and the e-book on my iPad I was able to come in to blog and say that it is available in corrected form at bargain prices!