Good news - didn't sleep nearly as much this Thursday/Friday cycle as I have been, just short naps in the afternoons.  No idea why, but I am certainly not complaining!  Did spend much of the time horizontal, reading or watching an eclectic range of movies.  

Dolphin Tale (certainly no surprises in the plot, but very enjoyable)

In and Out (different sort of role for Kevin Kline - and he does a fantastic job)

Rabbit Hole (well done - no pat answers here)

Hot here - of course that's no real surprise for summer in Arizona. But it's hot everywhere..... saw in the paper that over 1000 heat records were broken earlier this week. 

Talked to Mom this morning - their temps are practically as high as ours, but of course they have that awful humidity... I can only imagine how miserable everyone is.

 Looks like a long, hot summer! But Tuesday morning when Tom woke up to pack up and head home from northern CA (where he was camping) there was an inch of snow; when he drove through Palm Springs the next day it was 115. How's that for a contrast?

I finally have my quilting 'room' back - Alex opened up the table for me last night.  I sure have missed it.  This morning Patti is coming over to 'borrow' some stitches on my machine, and maybe while she's working I will too.  My projects have really piled up these past 6 months.

Lisa cooked dinner last night (tilapia, rice, and roasted cauliflower) and it was delicious.)  She can have the job any time!

Enjoy your weekend, and try to stay cool!

My dog Echo had a heart of gold.   

But she was also quite the little oinker.

Once she ate an entire chicken I had left out to thaw overnight on the kitchen counter (back when it was still 'okay' to do that.)

However, she was never this bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZZtKnKTJOI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Great day at quilting - everyone happy to see me, and the feeling was mutual. As usual my favorite part of the meeting was Show and Tell when I got to see lots of the ladies' quilts, some of which are shared below. 

First up were the patriotic applique projects (some finished, some not) from Sandy Steele's recent class:

Joyce, Joanie, Pat

Louise, Carolyn, Pennie

Bobbi, Patty, Jan

We also got to see some cupcakes from Bobbi's class:

Joanie's

Betty's

Carol's

and Pennie's, proudly held by the recipient, her granddaughter Jillian

This impressive Dresden Plate was finished by Monica (she merely received a pile of the hand-sewn plates from the maker's great-grandson. ) Monica then mounted them on the cream background and finished it up with her usual beautiful quilting. The quilt turned out gorgeous, and is sure to be treasured by Elizabeth's family!

I also liked this UFO from Sandy Steele.  When she first started quilting she cut a small square from each fabric she bought, and also had the ladies (many of whom are 'no longer with us') sign a plain square, which she turned into this memory quilt.

Afterward, Carol and I headed down to the quilt store where I picked up the 9 fabrics I need for Zach and Bekka's wedding quilt. How nice that blues and purples, the main colors, were on sale (today and tomorrow only.)  But since I want the actual quilt to be a surprise, I won't be posting any pix (only progress reports) until it's finished and delivered to them.   I would like to report that was a very good girl at the store.... I only looked at fabrics I needed for their for quilt, and that's all I bought.  Mind boggling, huh?

Many thanks to Carol for helping me decide on the 9 fabrics.

While I was at quilting I got a phone call from Estera that she'd made too much breakfast quiche and wanted to bring me some. Luckily Lisa was here to take delivery, and it made an absolutely delicious lunch when I got home.

Many thanks to Estera, also!

And that was my exciting Wednesday.  

Tomorrow not likely to be as exciting since it should include several naps.  

I don't usually turn on the bathroom light at night when I go in while I have the bedroom TV on, but I'm sure glad I did last night. Otherwise I would have stepped right on a big nasty scorpion.

Chemo is later this morning, so I have been busy with stuff around the house (laundry, trash, bills, etc.) before the next sleepathon kicks in. 

 Alex gets to do the chemo-schlep 'honors' this time. I expect Lisa to return from Pittsburgh sometime today, and Tom to return from northern California sometime tomorrow, 

both 'just in time' for a week of temps above 110.

Sad to report that I'm dragging this Monday morning. Not sure if the cumulative chemo is catching up with me or I just had a busy weekend. Usually Mondays have been good days, with me all 'recovered' from the previous Tuesday's chemo.

Yesterday Patti and I spent the day in Prescott at their annual bluegrass festival. 

The music was delightful (as always) and of course it was certainly much cooler than Phoenix... wonderful to be able to spend the day outside although shade was definitely in order, and we kept having to move our chairs as the sun skirted the trees on the square. 

We did get a bit of a scare as we approached the square - it was empty! (Usually we go on Saturday but patti had a prior commitment this year.)  However all's well that ends well - seems that this year (for the first time) the festival was set up on the other side of the courthouse.

But for a few seconds we thought we'd made the drive up for nothing.

I've already had my shower and been to get my weekly blood draw; I had thought about doing a few other things this morning but don't think they're going to happen after all. Now I'm left wondering if my (somewhat) productive Mondays are a thing of the past. 

This morning Mary picked me up and we went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Despite the fact that there were few surprises in the plot it was an enjoyable film, possibly due to the excellent cast.

Once home I expected to take a nap, but instead ended up watching the Olympic diving trials for the women's synchronized team and the men's platform. 

 Amazing what these athletes can do, and I look forward to watching the 'real' thing in another month.

Good news yesterday from the cardiologist on last week's Echo and stress tests - all results normal. The whole time spent with him took maybe a minute.. 

too bad he couldn't have delivered the news over the phone, saving me the trip (naturally the only available appointments were during serious post-chemo nap times) and the co-pay. Many thanks to Patti for chauffeuring me and sitting in on the consultation; I figured that given the fact I missing my sleep I might need some help processing (and remembering!) whatever news I got. She also deserves extra Brownie Points for bringing over a delicious dinner.

Wednesday Sandie delivered dinner and I was finally able to give her the thank-you quilt I made.

I'm really looking forward to getting my quilting 'fix' at the monthly Busy Bee meeting on Wednesday; I had to miss last month's meeting because chemo was moved over a day (due to Memorial Day) and also miss last month's Foothills meeting because of the cardiology tests. Those meetings, always enjoyable, have become even more important to me these past six months since I've been stuck at home.

Irrigation is tonight, and yep - our first chance of monsoon rain is over the weekend. Pretty toasty here (it's 'officially' hot since we're over 110, although with single-digit humidity as low as 4% I'll take it over most other places.) Alex mowed in preparation and the yard has lost that shaggy 'foreclosed property' look.

Not much on my 'schedule' for today (Fridays are also heavy naps days) although I do plan to at least fill the empty hummingbird feeders. Alex had a baby check him out in the yard yesterday.  Check out this picture of hummer babies - and note the fly, for scale.

Another chemo treatment completed. 

And if that isn't enough good news, I found out today that this 3-months-long regimen of Herceptin (along with the Taxol) 'counts' toward my needed 12-months of Herceptin. In short, that means I will finish up all of my planned treatments 3 months sooner, in April of 2013 instead of July....

http://www.youtube.com/embed/auSo1MyWf8g?rel=0

All's well that ends well - I got an electrician over here this afternoon, 

and once again we have hot water.  :-)

Also Sylvia sent another (better!) picture of us from yesterday's visit:

Lovely visit with Sylvia yesterday!

Haven't seen her since January 2010 (her last visit from New Zealand) and naturally (despite e-mail and Facebook) we had lots of catching up to do. Hopefully I will get to see her again the end of the summer when she returns to Phoenix briefly before heading back across the pond.

That morning when I went to do the dishes there was no hot water (which Lisa and Alex each discovered later when they tried to shower.) This was a bit of a surprise, and especially disturbing since we just bought a new water heater a few months back.  

(Remember The Three Stooges Go Plumbing?) 

I was hoping it was something simple, like a breaker, and wished Tom was here to deal with it.  (Gary was also out of town the other day when Patti discovered her water heater spewing water all over her garage - but I digress...)
Anyway, when Sylvia's son Russ (whose business involves fixing up homes) came to pick her up yesterday afternoon she had him take a look. Turned out the electricity was noisily crackling at the plug, and a 'wiggle' produced smoke and an acrid smell. 

 Needless to say Russ immediately unplugged the water heater and also turned off the breaker. I guess my next step is to call an electrician this morning (now that I've already been to get my blood drawn, dropped off books at the library, and had the exterminator here.)  
So much for just kicking back for the rest of the day..  As Dad liked to say: