delays...

Hello, friends. Thanks for all of your kind wishes. Marian was due to enter the hospital for chemo round one in preparation for her bone marrow transplant on the 17th, but came down with a little fever, so we're bumping everything a week to make sure her body has a possible infection figured out

She's feeling pretty chipper, so we're not worried or anything, just letting out a collective held breath and looking forward to a sudden bonus week. Maybe I'll clean out the pantry. For sure I'll finish those Easter dresses...and finish up my etsy work (including a delayed giveaway to celebrate my 400th sale. Comment on my blog by Friday, 5 pm ET here for a chance to win this little porcelain vines cake stand).

If you already sent mail, thanks! They know who we are there & will hold it for Marian's arrival next week.

What a Wonderful World Love

I was doing this while I was having IVIG. I have IVIG to help me. While I was painting with my IVIG in, I was having fun, and as you see I painted part of the tree when I didn't have my IV in and part of the tree when I did have my IV in, and I also painted the roses as you see here. That's all I painted and my mom painted the rest. That's all I did 'cause it was hard to paint in all the roses. I am going to use this scarf for my bone marrow transplant. My room theme is going to be "What a Wonderful World," and I will be glad if you will make some pictures of what a wonderful world and you will send them right to me to decorate my room with. [you can find the lyrics to Louis Armstrong's beautiful world here].

Caitlin's Smiles workshop

I like this 'cause it is special to me and we could give lots of stuff to Caitlin's Smiles. It is great 'cause it gives a journey to me everyday and when I got there I saw a BUNCH of people and they are from Pennsylvania and I was using this to help Caitlin's Smiles and I was doing it at my school at the art room.

Love, Marian

Mirabelle

I love my doll.
She is so cute.
She is so nice.
She is a goot.

Who is she?
She is a ballerina!
She dance about
'Til night and noon.

Now that's the end of my poem. Thank you, Jennifer, she just looks like me 'cause I go to ballet class with short hair and I have a pink ballet leotard. And also I have black ballet slippers. Her name is Mirabelle.
Love, Marian.

love sweaters

I love my doll with this sweater on. I like it 'cause it's brand new from my Grandma Goates. And it's lucky that I have one that matches me. I decided every day to wear this sweater when it's spring time or summer and have my dolly get a dress and put this sweater on, too, and at recess we will always play together with our two coats. Thank you, Grandma Goates!

bunny love

Our new pet is gonna be a bunny. We thought of it 'cause bunnies are cuddly. And also they're cute. They're soft. And because we can take walks with them. And also we can sleep with them.

computer notes

I made this for my sister named Audrey. She likes them. The one with the cents sign and the six on it I wanted her to put 6 cents on the line. So she did a nickel and a penny. The one that has a picture of a pancake on it and the other stuff on it, those are for things that she likes to do. Her favorite food is pancakes, her favorite color is purple, she likes to play on the computer, and her favorite animal is cats. I made these notes when we were playing on Webkinz World. And also there's different kids of A+s. One with a plus that's made out of two lollipops, and another plus that is curly and another plus that is made out of two 9s.

girl owl.

I love my owl.
She is so cute.
I just finished her.
She's like a bug-a-boot!

She flies away, 'til night and noon.
She catch some wheat, to eat from the ground.
She takes the wheat, and puts them in her house.
She makes that wheat into speet.
Speet is a kind of soup.
She takes the speet, and puts it in a pot.
She roasts it for ten million minutes.
She eats it up, and goes to bed to sleep.

And that is my owl poem.

[from a sewingstars pattern, Woodland Toys to Sew. I made one in the fall for my nephew, "somebody sweet and sneaky" & Marian wanted a "girl owl." And to show you all the sides, though skipping the right side was accepted: "It's okay you only took one picture here because both of them are the same".]

finally!

Our superstar shirt order finally arrived yesterday, along with superstar buttons we're throwing in to apologize for how long it took us. Because ...[I typed the reasons and they looked as weak as excuses usually do. We just had all you'd expect]

Also, this dumb situation: they sent us all unisex tees instead of part ladies' tees. So the men's tees will go out tomorrow, and if you don't care & just want the usual (the difference isn't in cut, just shorter sleeves and a slimmer neck ribbing), then I'll send your ladies' right away, too. The printer I used, acmeprints.com, is being super-awesome and doing a rush job, printing & shipping the replacement tees today, so I hope the delay won't be too long.

if you're local...

...please join us for a project superstar work party on Friday afternoon. A copy of the note I sent to Marian & Audrey's school secretary this morning to e-mail out:

Many of you know that Marian Goates, a first grader at GBLUES, is having a bone marrow transplant this spring. Her family and medical team have high hopes that this will be a turning point in her health, but it will also be a long, frightening journey. As part of her personal preparation, she is earning money and doing work for Caitlin's
miles, a Harrisburg-based organization that distributes craft kits to children in hospitals, and have passions that match ours: crafts and brave kids! They are low-profile, but powerful: in 2007, they distributed 49,536 craft kits to kids in hospitals, as well as thousands of other bags of treats and family support items. You can learn more about this marvelous group at http://www.caitlins-smiles.org/ , and more about Marian's work, project superstar, at her blog, imacraftartist.blogspot.com.

This Friday, March 14th, Marian and the Goates family will be hosting a work meeting for Caitlin's Smiles in the Art Room. We'll meet right after school (2:45 pm) in the Art Room, have a snack, and get to work assembling craft kits, making get-well cards, and decorating bags for their “Bag of Smiles”, a treasure trove that includes a drawing pad/coloring book, crayons/markers/colored pencils, a journal with pen, modeling clay, two craft activities and a Ty Beanie (they distributed 4,715 of those last year!).

Showing up for an hour or a few minutes will really help Marian to feel supported in her sweet charity work. If your child is a friend of Marian's, and worried about her, the opportunity to help can be empowering in a confusing and scary situation. Thank you for being part of the nurturing environment Marian has found at GBLUES. She loves you!