Susie, you asked time frame for recovery. Can be long-3 mos or short 6 weeks or less. I think shape you are in before surgery, drs that do it, age etc. all make a difference. My GF hubby had it last yr & he refused all pain medications since hospital he was at is known for medication mistakes. How he did it I don't know. But he recovered amazingly fast. Lady friend of mine had it for 2nd time after getting off a plane & complaining she was sick, everyone ignored her except a vehicle that pulled up to curb to take people to their stored cars, he said, hey lady, you look sick, want me to call for help- he saved her as they went to side street & fire dept arrived & after 2 days of kidney failure she was in good enough shape for the bypass. Took about 2 mos in bed & couple more to get on feet. Another man at church in 70's had it & it was about 6 weeks. Need to check out hospital well & tour area the patients are in if at all possible as 1 hospital out here seems to have very sick patients after the surgery, I visited several times over 6 weeks & patients were basically unconscious. Very few seemed to be making any progress. Lady I was visiting died. I man was back to work in 2 weeks,didn't have to do any lifting tho!!Don't know what hospital he was at. So it varies!! Jan

I love your blog also. I saw beige coffee filters at TS yesterday & almost bought them to experiment with leaves but then i didn't as I thought they might not take color right& would look dirty. Any brand of white bleached ones will work I guess. Better check out MS site & get it down as I really love the roses!! What a great idea jeaninWA has to make the handprints up of each child. Great for the xmas tree & then straight into the baby book as a wonderful memory!! I used my kids hands & footprints once for some craft & that was cute-too long ago to remember.LOL Jan

Thanks Susie :D This cheers me up,too! Hey Kirk, that's what the tree looked like when I was growing up. We planted hundreds and hundreds with our mother it seemed like,even staying out in the woods til well past dark with all sorts of wild animals jumping around at us out there,(back then it was moonshiners you ran into on your property, now it's meth labs) and it was scary when you're only about 6 or 7 years old! I never inherited my mother's ability or want, to wander alone in the woods til wee hours of the morning. After I was married and lived here, we still cut down our own trees, until trespassers stole all of them(to sell, I guess)one year. Some grew back up from the trunks, but we didn't feel like fooling with them any more after that. The smell is great, there's no comparison to a live tree, but we broke down and got an ARTIFICIAL pre-lit one :D lol Too many allergies, they dried out quickly,too. Boy could I tell you some FUNNNNY stories us and the kids endured with live trees ( one year involving a crazy Himalayan cat we had :D ) I can't wait til next Christmas!oh and I see Carol's tree skirt! It's just perfect. Cherry/Kudzu

This is how I bend the head pins. Put the bead on and hope the hole is small enough that it doesn't slip off!! If it does, I use a seed bead first. I use pliers to bend them one way,then move up a little and bend it back the other way and cut off the excess,sort of like a fish hook is what I read to do,although mine sorta come out triangle shaped.Slip it over the link and squeeze it closed with the pliers.Sometimes I use 2 pair of pliers if I'm having trouble. My DH gave me his little needle-nose pliers. And I don't worry about them being perfectly shaped,all the same size. My DH bought me a "third hand" like you see old guys tying fishing lures in the movies? That's how I hold my chain while I attach the beads. :) Now as far as drilling the silverware, I had silver plate,which was pretty soft, but my sister gave me some Oneida with real pretty roses right down to the bowl of the spoon,let me tell you...I knew I was in trouble when the bolt cutters would hardly cut the handles off. Then I broke a few drill bits trying to drill the holes, I got one spoon done,and gave up on those. They must have been high quality stainless flatware!So I hope you get extra drill bits. I use a cordless drill and titanium drill bits,and those still break after a while. Hope this helps! Cherry Oh yeah,and before you drill you might want to use a nail set,or something to mark your hole before you drill it,even a nail and hammer to make a little dent, because it slips all over the place!