Updates on the Pok, Coppin, and Spallina families
Vacations, Parties, Holiday News
Anniversary Pictures
Misc
These pictures came up on my memories this morning and I thought I would share them with you. Annalee, Sam and I all in the studio. What a blast from the past!
We celebrated Sam’s 16th birthday today at Texas Roadhouse and as a reward he got to sit in the saddle! We had a yummy lunch of ribs and the fixins and he had a bowl of ice cream afterwards! What a wonderful day!
From the Coppin, Pok and Sandoval families, here are some pictures!
These are just some pictures from April 20 to April 25, when Candis, myself, and the Pok Pak went to Pismo for a few days of sun and fun. We had a wonderful time playing games, walking down to the beach, eating and just catching up with each other.
These last few pictures are inspiration for ideas that I saw while we went on long walks on the beach. Of, and of course what I bought.
DGD (age 10) came over all last week and on Thursday she decided she wanted to make a tote for herself. So, we played with some patterns and ideas and on Friday she came over and we looked at fabric. I had some fun fabric that I thought she would love, scales that iridescent and really pretty. NO! She wanted something with Valentines on it, so we pulled out my shoebox bin and looked at fabric.
Seriously, I love my DGD, but she is very stubborn. Wonder who she gets that from? 
I showed her the whole overstuffed charms box and we went through it together. She decided that she wanted mainly light colors with not much contrast, but we finally decided on a nice layout with a few darker colors. Tomorrow is President’s Day, so no school and she will be coming over to decide on how to lay out the blocks and hopefully finish it before Tuesday.
I had PT yesterday and only 2 more visits to go. I am at 0-120 degrees and am now working on my balance. I have not sewn as I have been working on getting my blog and a few other computer issues taken care of first.
Today, I have finally gotten my blog together the way I want it after changing themes about 3 or 4 times and I am finally happy with it. This afternoon, while watching a movie, I went through 3 good sized bins and separated all of my orphan blocks and spare parts from other pieces of fabric and they are all nice and neatly put away where I can find them easily.
Tonight I plan to do some more sorting so I can clear my table off. Oh, I do have a top that needs to be sandwiched and readied for the quilter soon.
And here she is with her new Valentine tote!!
I am at 115 degrees with manipulation and am now free to go to the gym and continue with my exercises there along with PT for a few more weeks and I’m okay with that. I can almost feel that elusive 120 degrees, so close! I can’t use the pool yet as my Diva scab just won’t fall off yet but it’s getting closer to falling off. It has a tiny little hook at the end that catches on my clothes. No cane except for uneven surfaces. Still need to work on my balance.
Hello everyone!
I know I haven’t been online very much lately but it has been very busy here. As some of you know I need a total left knee replacement and was thinking it would be around January or February before it happened. I have been working hard to lose some weight before and I did! I lost a total of 72 pounds since last year and am now close to below 200 pounds. That was one requirement for surgery and I did it!!!
Anyway, Tuesday morning while going through my emails, I got a call from the surgery scheduler at Kaiser. I already was on the list of those to be called and way down on that list. I had called a couple of times before to see if there was a cancellation and if I could be on that list. Well, that paid off! Dr. Gaur (my surgeon) said that there was a 3 month waiting list and I was on there for only 2 months. She remembered that I wanted to do it and called to see if I would like to have my surgery this coming Tuesday, December 13! I called my hubby, he said go for it, and I called her back and I am scheduled for then. I have only had less than 7 days to prepare and I have been hopping ever since!
I had my preop appt with the doctor, she went over everything including my history, meds, allergies, etc. I then had an echocardiogram and labs and everything is perfectly within normal limits. This morning I had my covid test and that was negative and no fever or symptoms. I have to check with her every day until Saturday to give her a temp report and after that, I am assuming and hoping that it is set! Oh, so many hoops to jump through!
I am now waiting to hear back from Continuing Care for home care and a visit from them and I believe, that will happen after the clearance from my preop doctor. Also, cleaning the house, moving stuff around for the walker, meal prep, meds and therapy.
That’s enough for now but I will keep you posted. From a tired but very happy and excited Donna!
I WILL BE PUTTING THINGS ON HOLD for a while. I just got a call from the surgery scheduler and they have a cancellation for December 13, one week from now. Very excited about having surgery and I am ready for it, but was flummoxed when she called this morning! I wasn’t expecting it until at least January or February, but now I have 6 days to prepare for total left knee replacement. It will probably take me a month or so to recover to the point of doing much, even sewing. I hope you will understand. And for this reason, Oh, My Stars! the final layout and sashing is going to be put on hold until after January 1, 2023.
I will continue to coordinate swaps with my moderators, Karen and Cheryl’s help, and hope to get those posted soon and ready to start next year.
I will be online up until my surgery date, though maybe sporadically, afterwards. I can’t go more than a day or even less without checking in with you as this group is my anchor. Thank you for understanding and I will check back with more info tomorrow. Have appts this afternoon and the rest of this week. 
Thank you!
Please wait, sewing is on hold for a while. I thought I would have 4 more finishes before the end of the year but they will probably be done in early January….. maybe. But I do have a couple of wool felt projects that I might be able to handle. I was really hoping to get more sewing done beforehand, but just not going to happen and that’s okay. I have to concentrate on me now. But just because I may not be able to sew doesn’t mean I can’t look, drool and plan for next year. I have a huge stack of magazines and books filled with eye candy. I am looking forward to perusing our albums and other websites!
Tomorrow is the last day before the Big Day and I’m so ready for it! Thank you in advance for your prayers, good thoughts and friendship!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I cannot believe that it will be 14 days on Tuesday postop. No flings for me yet, but on Tuesday I may be able to fling this old bandage and my walker for my cane instead! I’m doing a lot better with walking around the house and am able to do a few things for myself. I’m starting to meet my goals of flexion and still have PT 1-2 times a week. This is what I truly want for Christmas, just being able to move around without pain.
I will post more later!
Today was a good day as I saw my PA this morning and he has set me free to start working with my cane instead of my walker and my ROM is good! Bandages came off and now I can shower like a normal person again! Woohoo!
Anyway, I am planning to sew the binding on a small quilt either tonight or tomorrow. And maybe pin another binding on. Who knows what I can do now!
Time to do my exercises.
What a week this has been! Since our son-in-law started his new job in IT, the Coppin taxi service has been in full swing! Our grandkids are in different grades, high school and elementary and of course, go to separate schools at different times, one at 8 the other at 9 am and also get picked up at different times, 230 and 4. But, I am getting quality time with Annalee in the afternoons and we’re having a good time together playing cards!
I was supposed to have an appt with Dr. Gaur, my ortho surgeon on Friday, but the office called on Wednesday and asked if I could reschedule it for another day as he wouldn’t be in on Friday. I said okay and she suggested Oct 29 and I said no, I am having pain in both knees and trouble standing for very long (true) so she said how about Thursday the 6th at 3:30 and I jumped at that!
Well, knowing that he runs late, usually, we (Doug and I) figured it would be around 5 or later before we got out. Dr. Gaur normally spends an hour with each patient, is very thorough, friendly and goes into detail, we were surprised, pleasantly, that we were in and out before my appt time! He was happy to see that I had lost 57 pounds this year and asked that I try and lose another 20-30 pounds before surgery. Two reasons, they are booked solid until middle of December and he wants me to be below 200 before the surgery for optimal success. I am at 219 and I know that in 3 months with a lot of hard work and diet, that I can get down to at least 190 by that time. I am very stubborn that way when I want something bad enough and this is very important to me.
I am continuing to go to the gym and plan to step it up more with water aerobics and weights plus using the bike at home. This is a major surgery and that means that I will be having a nurse and physical therapist coming to my home for a while and I will not be able to drive for close to a month or longer, depends on how the surgery goes and how well I do before and during surgery. I will be hearing from the surgery nurse soon and she will give me more info then and a lot of paperwork and a lot of cleaning and prep. I am still reading through the pamphlets and reading articles and figuring out all of this.
Oh, I almost forgot! He sent me a list of medications that I “need” to take. I looked at the list and there were at least 3 that I cannot use due to allergies and/or intolerances, like oxycontin, Motrin, and one I cannot recall at the moment. I sent him an email letting him know and if we could revise the list. He said that we could do that before surgery and that we had time. He had originally (on the paper) said that I needed to get these now and I was wondering why I needed them this soon. Oh well, all taken care of.
This is all that I know for certain at the moment and will keep everyone in the loop as I go along. I am thinking it could be as soon as next week or later before I hear from the nurse about the date of surgery. They do this early so as to make sure about all my meds, what I can stay on or stop before surgery and sometimes you have to go off of them for a few weeks. Depends on the date of surgery. Until I hear from the nurse, I am going to concentrate on exercising and diet and losing as much as I can before surgery!
Now, I am going to go hide in my studio and sew all day long after I ride the bike. Next week is going to be busy also, MRI on Wed, class on Thursday guild meeting the same night, and who knows what else may arise! Then, quilting retreat away from home in town for 3 glorious days the following week!!
Chat more later.
We had a wonderful time at Danny and Francene’s house a couple of weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting pictures. Anyway, the Pok Pak and the Coppin Clan all showed up along with Robi, and most of the Awbrey kids and their families.
Funny, I was just thinking recently that in 15 years I will be 80 years old! YIKES! Of course, that’s if I make it to that age. And I have been pondering what can I accomplish in 15 years if I set that as a goal to use up my stash and finish all my UFOs? And there I am, stuck! It’s somewhat overwhelming! So, I have decided to go ahead and sort my larger bins full of scraps, about 6 of them, and organize them by size and color. At least 3 of them are 2.5 inch strips, full and partially cut. But then, I think I need to finish what I have going on first. I believe I am at 34 UFOs in various stages and I really want to get them finished. I am down from 63 from the beginning of this year, some were given away, actually finished or dismantled and put back in with the scraps. And I have 3 coming back next week from the quilter. So, I will do a combo of each day, a little sorting and a little sewing, at least for now. And I will continue to donate scraps and yardage to the guild. Oh, and that does not include projects that people leave for me to finish or those wayward UFOs that keep showing up at the Home for Wayward Fabric. I guess this is the long way of saying NO to new projects online or otherwise until I have nothing else to make. yeah, right.
Delightful Designs 