All About Kim

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL

January 2000

Well, the New Year is here Everyone, and I hope it turns out to be a great year for you all!

To end 1999, I have more good family news! My niece April Nicole was born right on time on Dec. 22, 1999! Congratulations Ken, Sue, and big sister Haley! And nephew Ethan Christopher seems to be coming along very nicely also. He turned a month old on Dec. 20th.

We were able to visit family during the New Year's weekend and enjoyed touring Beringer Winery in St. Helena (Napa Valley) and eating at a great Italian ristorante there called Tra Vigne.

My plans for this month include making fleece jackets for all my little nieces (2) and nephew (1) and great-nephews (2, soon to be 3). I will make them to fit these little people next fall and winter, so they have time to grow and I have time to sew!

Everyone goes back to work, the kids go back to school, sewing classes start again and things get back to normal soon. (what's normal????)I should also begin teaching some sewing classes at a local JoAnn's store this month.

February 2000

Well, circumstances being what they are, I didn't get my sewing done for the nieces and nephews like I'd planned. Due to the rain, Mike hasn't been working too much, so was home a lot last month. Plus, Meghan had a bad head/chest cold for about 10 days. I just can't sew with people around. Maybe this month I can catch up.

Mike and I attended a formal Party for the 100th Anniversay of the Company (Graniterock) he works for in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. I bought all the material to make Simplicity 8839, but after making a muslin mock-up of the bodice, I didn't really like it on me, so switched to Butterick #6401, which was more to my taste. It turned out very nice, but I was up until 1 a.m. the morning we were to leave just finishing up the last details!

While in San Francisco, the company had arranged for a speech to be given by ex-president George Bush, but instead of attending with our hubbies, my friend Susie and I went to Britex Fabrics, located just about 2 1/2 blocks from our hotel, The Argent on 3rd. Street! I have been wanting to go there for years, and finally made it! I have pictures below to show you all 4 floors of fabrics!!! This store literally has floor to ceiling fabric!!It was so fantastic, we didn't know where to start!

We had a great time and were very impressed with the selection. They carry domestic and imported fabrics of all kinds. Fine wools, silks, and other natural fibers, all kinds of trims, accessories, and buttons. The fabrics are arranged by colors where possible, so it is a very dramatic effect! Check out the pictures below!

Kim

P.S. Let's see, what would YOU choose? A 4 story fabric store or a speech about the future by George Bush? Actually, it was never even an issue! (Sorry George!)

BRITEX FABRICS 146 Geary Street San Francisco
The Store's Geary Street Entrance	Decorator Fabrics and Misc.
Wools on the shelves, silks (on rolls) on the tables	More woolens & silks
Arranged by color	A beautiful heavily-beaded lace
The boas and other fun trims	Some of the hundreds of tassels on display
Trims and Laces also arranged by color	Some of the millions of buttons available
Threads, tapes, more tassels & feathers	The notions department
More ribbons and buttons	Britex Fabrics website: http://www.britexfabrics.com

March 2000

Hi People!
Well, I spent the last 3 weeks sick from one thing or another.(bronchitis, head cold, bad back) In fact most of my family was sick too. Now my allergies are starting because the great weather has started everything blooming, but I don't care! Needless to say, I haven't been doing ANY sewing.
I just this week managed to start teaching again. After 5 real bad (almost no work) weeks, the good weather has gotten Mike back on the road again! WOOHOO! I know they say we need the rain, but as far as this girl's concerned, that's a buncha hooey!
Hopefully next month will be more fruitful and I will finally get my sewing done. I have my 25th anniversary coming up next month so I will need a nice dress for that occasion!



APRIL 2000

Hello!
Well, as usual, a lot has gone on this month! First of all, my mother and I were off shopping while my dad had his chemo treatment. The treatments take 3 hours or so and he tells us to go out and shop or whatever to kill the time. Well, when we got back the doctor's staff informed us that they had taken my dad over to the hospital (on the same property) because he had most likely had a heart attack!

Needless to say we were upset! We spent the rest of that day in the hospital while they did tests and things on him. The conclusion was that he had NOT had a heart attack, just a "warning". Further tests revealed he had 2 totally blocked arteries and 1 60-70% blocked! He had had a triple-bypass 12 years before. The lifespan for those surgeries is about 8-10 years, so this was not unusual. But, since he has a continuing low platelet count (the part of our blood that does the clotting) they couldn't do surgery on him to fix the situation.

We spent 4 days in the Los Gatos/San Jose area to be close to him. The first night we couldn't get a hotel room anywhere so one of the volunteers (pink ladies) graciously allowed us to stay at her house! My mother and I were so grateful! She really takes her volunteer work seriously! We were able to get a hotel the next day, but many thanks to our good Samaritan Ethelyn!

4 days and 2 hospitals later, they released him and put him on one medication for the blockage, and another to help raise the platelet count. Now they have stopped chemo, but are doing catscans and bonescans to see where he is with the cancer. He seems in good spirits and is trying to enjoy life. Now that he is off the chemo he feels better and has more energy to do things.

My anniversary (25th) passed without much fanfare. We will be celebrating it a little later in the year. Between all the doctor stuff, doing taxes, and just plain being beat we didn't feel up to a big celebration.

Last weekend my son (19) moved out and we began the arduous task of scraping 12 years of a boy's life off the walls and turning the room into a (DRUMROLL PLEASE!) SEWING AND CRAFTING ROOM !!!!!! YAY !!!!!! I can't sleep at night because I am mentally designing the layout of the room! It will probably take at least 2 weeks of solid work to get it even ready to paint! It's pretty bad! I will keep you posted!

Kim

'About Me' up to March 1999
March-July 1999
August-December 1999
May-August 2000
September-December 2000
January-April 2001
May-Current 2001
September-December 2001
January-April 2002