Be Aware!!

First More funnies!!

Thanks for the chuckle Denise!

Now, on a more serious note, it's Leukemia Awareness month. Someone I love is a Leukemia survivor and I'm so proud of him. I'm going to take a moment to toot his horn since he's not the kind of guy to do it himself. I can't even imagine how it would feel to think you have the flu one day and then to find yourself facing your mortality the next. I've learned of the crazy amount of treatment and medications he had to take. The side effects of each and every one of those really opened my eyes. I had no idea. On top of that are the tests that are just as unpleasant as the treatments. Some people would give up. I see it all the time. People who use their illnesses as a crutch. But, as if I needed another reason to admire him, he did nothing of the sort. He dedicated two years of his life to the treatments, as the doctors recommended, but he also lived during that time. He takes the hard times in stride and has an amazing perspective on life. I have the opportunity to talk to the most amazing person I know every day and I'm so thankful. Please take some time to go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's site. You can read more about Leukemia here and you can read about the type of Leukemia my hero had here. It's rarer for someone his age to get ALL and he was only the second person his age to go through the treatment program he went through. Luckily it worked! He has been cancer free and off treatment since May. Thank God for modern medicine.

Believe it or not, this does have a connection to crochet! Since the Leukemia ribbon is orange, I decided to wear something orange every day this month. So I made this awareness ribbon pin that I'm wearing today.

                    

I'll have to take a picture of the orange flower I made to put on a hairband. It's super cute. This weekend I plan on finding more orange stuff to make and wear. Headbands, etc. I'll put up a picture of the flower hair band and other orange stuff a little later.

I have to say that I'm kind of proud of myself. I so should have taken a before picture, but I'm kind of glad I didn't document the mess my living room was in. I was fortunate to inherit two huge garbage bags of yarn from a friend of my mom's. Sooo many colors! I had absolutely nowhere to put all that yarn, though.So I had it in plastic grocery bags piled in a corner of my living room. Of course I'm in those bags all the time looking for what colors I want to use and eventually half the bags were spilled all over the floor. It was a tad out of control. So Kami, in all of her brilliantness, told me about these shelves she got from Ikea (check them out here). So off to Ikea we went and low and behold, they were only $15! So I got two and a couple of really cute cardboard boxes. I put all the odds'n'ends'n'balls in the boxes and there's plenty of room for more. Then I threw all the longer skeins on the bottom shelves and some shorter skeins up higher. Now my odds'n'ends'n'balls bag has turned into a smaller project bag. I can throw a hook in with a ball of something and make small things like scrubbies. It's easier than carrying my big bag. Hooray! My big book of patterns can go on the top shelf too.

Apologies for the crappy camera phone pic

I just realized I haven't taken pictures of the market bag I finished. I'll have to get on that, but you can see it hanging from the side in this pic. I love that there's still room for more stuff! (Just what I need, I know)

Anyone out there with good craft organization tips?

-Shannon