One Year in Arizona

365 days ago around 4pm we drove into Phoenix for the first time as new residents. Our first year has definitely been interesting but we're still happy to call it home. So happy with living out here that we decided to get new cell phones this weekend with Arizona area codes. My new number is 480-341-1539 and Mark's is 480-341-1538 if you want to update your contact info.

The house is always a work in progress and we're still adding things here and there, but I did make some progress this fall/winter that I never got around to sharing. Some of these projects started in the summer and I managed to drag them out to right before my surgery. And some aren't even completely finished, but I'll still share.

Kitchen/Living Room Valences
Ever since I picked my kitchen paint color (yes, back in February 2012), I've been wanting to make valences for all the windows in our kitchen and living room, included the sliding glass door. Well I finally bit the bullet and bought the 7 yards of drapery fabric I needed to do just that. I started in November and managed to get 2 finished before surgery. 2 for the other are almost done, I just need to do the top seam and add the Velcro for hanging them. And then I'll have to tackle the biggest one yet - the door valence. I'll get to them soon enough but this is what they look like.

Yards and yards of pretty but intimidating fabric

Mark mounting the wood for the valance to hang from

Two down, three to go.

My New Sewing Desk
I wanted to find a old desk and paint it white for my sewing table in our craft room/office. This summer we found one at Habitat ReStore for $50. I forgot to take a before picture but you can  see it off to the side in this picture of the garage. The fronts of the doors were solid wood but the top and sides were laminate. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out painting the laminate but it worked. It's been in my craft room for a while but I finally founds knobs at World Market the night before my surgery and Mark helped me put them on since then.

Desk after sanding

Drawers after sanding

Drawers after painting

Reassembling the drawer slides

My new knobs!

All finished...finally

Wall of Frames
A while back I saw a picture in the Pottery Barn magazine (and everywhere else since then) of these walls of picture frames. I decided that the big empty wall in our dinner room/living room was going to be the new home to just that. This fall I started my hunt of thrift stores and finally the dollar store to find an assortment of frames. I got a couple cans of black spray paint and made them all the same finish. The other day I found two wall candle holders I liked and added them to the design. I've had them laying on the floor in the dinning room for a while now and finally decided to go ahead and hang them on the wall without pictures because it finally looked complete. Now they're up and I just have to get our photo printer working right and it will be complete. That and I need to decided which 20+ pictures I want to put up there!

First 8 frames I found

My sophisticated spray painting technique

The finished wall, except I think I need one more frame on the top right side

As for me, I'm doing great. I got my last drain out on the 3rd and have since been able to sleep on my left side again. I haven't been able to sleep on my right side though because it's still sore. I'm still limited in my range of motion with my right arm and I have some numbness in that armpit which I'm told will improve with time. On Wednesday, I go see a physical therapist so they can do an assessment and give me exercises to do at home. 

I met the the Radiology Oncologist on the 2nd and besides telling me all the potential side effects of radiation, I found out that I will have 6 weeks of radiation treatment, 5 days a week. I start with a simulation on January 28th and will start my treatments a week or so later. During the simulation they will make a mold for me to lay in during every treatment to keep me in the same position. Also that day I will get blood drawn to do the other part of the genetic testing (BRAC Analysis) because our new insurance company as of January 1 covers it.

Last Wednesday, I had post-op appointments with both surgeons and was told the biopsy results from the tissue taken out during surgery. Turns out there was only 5% of live cancer cells left which means the chemo reduced my cancer by 95%. The doctors were quite happy with those results and we definitely were too. We talked some about radiation and recurrence and learned that the national average for recurrence in the same location is about 17%. Radiation reduces that risk to about 5%, but the Mayo Clinic's average is lower, closer to 2%. Those numbers make radiation seem like a pretty good idea to me, not that I was doubting I should do it.