bodner006

Ahhhhhhhh.  Yes, that was a long sigh of relief.  Relief over the unnecessary anxiety of going far from the house for a day of fun, hoping it would turn out that way.  And it did.  The Jimmy Fund Clinic puts on a Summer Festival in Dedham for their cancer patients and families and it was pretty great.  Carnival rides, complete with midway games.  Of course there was cotton candy and fried dough, because, DUH, couldn't be a carnival without it.  There was an adorable animal baby petting zoo that you couldn't drag Jack from.  The police car ride was a big hit.  The BBQ was tasty.  Photos with princesses and Wally the Green Monster was part of the fun.  Wouldn't be a great day without balloon hats.  Running into families that we've connected with along this journey was extra special.  So glad to have the kids' cousins with us. Haley in heaven with her princesses Jack is definitely a Wally stalker. Loved the police car...

Can I just tell you that I love these chairs?  They are adorable, COMFORTABLE, and pretty darned easy to make.  Heck, I made five of them!  The plans are available from Ana White for free!  If you know me, you know I worship the Alaskan ground she walks on.  :) I made three of the adult versions as a special thank you to my son's preschool teacher and aides.  He is a full-time job in and out of our home and these ladies needed a place to relax for the summer.  I hope they've got a lot of use out of them.  I purchased the fabric from JoAnne's Fabrics and the wood I used for these is cedar, coated with Thompson's Water Sealer.  You can find the plans for the adult-sized version of the beach sling chair here .   I also had to make a few for my little darlings.  Ana has slightly different plans for the kid's version.  You can find the plans here .  These bad boys were made with pine, and I decided to paint them with white ext...

I hate the mess of my garage.  This is what I've been working with : a piece of plywood propped on two saw horses, with loads of supplies taking up every last inch of space. I was beginning to wonder why I didn't want to go into the garage, what I hoped would be my haven after a crazy day of singing the ABC's with my 3 year old and giving chemo treatments to my 6 year old with leukemia. Then it dawned on me: I'm not organized!!! I start to get the shakes if things are not in their place. So, I began to dream up my perfect work bench, one place where I can store my main necessities. I don't work well without plans. So I checked out Ana White's site (my go to girl) to see if she had anything resembling my inspiration.  Nope.  Of course it dawned on me too late to contact Ana herself to help me. But when I thought about it, I realized that it was basically a box.   Just start with a box. So I checked out a few of Ana's plans that started out as ...

If you are a friend or relative, you know that our son has leukemia.  Jack is 6 years old and was diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) the day after Thanksgiving.  "Black Friday" has a whole new meaning to us now.  Jack also has Down syndrome, and children with DS are at a greater risk (20% more) than typical kids.  Still, a longshot.  Guess he should play the lottery. Anyhow, about the first month of treatment was inpatient at Children's Hospital in Boston.  The following 2 years is outpatient treatments.  That's right, no mis-typing here:  2 years.  At this point in the protocol to treat ALL, we go into the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston once a week.  Soon, we'll only need to travel in once every three weeks for the duration of his treatment.  But Jack continuously gets medicine at home and chemotherapy at home too.  And I have the pleasure of giving him his chemotherapy through h...