My wife just got diagnosed with breast cancer. As i’m sure you can guess its very scary. We have attacked the situation head on. The doctors all say that its 95% curable because its small and we caught it early. The type is DCIS hers is very small and still contained within the milk ducts (as far as they can tell). Debbi and I have both decided that she shouldn’t have to deal with the stress of every year going back for a mammogram and wondering if its going to come back, so the plan is double mastectomy. Some say this is drastic measures, but in our case Debbi is a worry wart and she admits this freely. She shouldn’t have to be scared every year whether its going to be ok or not. With this decision she will not need any chemo or radiation as long as the cancer hasn’t spread anywhere else, (they will know this on Friday when they do the surgery) So I’m begging all of you out there to send us your positive thoughts and prayers. My wife is young (46) and has a full life ahead of her, we want her here to share all there is out there.

Now more begging for help, I feel bad having to ask for help but i don’t want any hand outs. We are putting all the things we have made up on our web site, etsy, and ebay over the next couple of weeks. Debbi is a massage therapist and works for herself so when she isn’t working she isn’t making any money, but yet the bills don’t stop coming. The insurance we have is for small business’s and its not really the best. She will be out of work after the surgery for 2 to 5 weeks (dr says realistically around 3 weeks she will be able to do minor work). So if you know anyone looking for some nice glass or wood art (maybe xmas presents) please check out our sites and let your friends now. Most of all send your positive thoughts and prayers our way.

my web site check out my capabilities if you want something custom or hit the buy it button to go to my etsy store.
http://www.tvartglass.com/

my etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5371582

Debbi’s site
http://www.inspirationsmassage.com/

myspace
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=247247635

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you have some words of wisdom about our situation. Peace to all Doug

So i had this old router table that i had made and the cross members for the legs had holes drilled in them to hold all my router bits. Nice and easy access for quick changes, well i never expected what the hazards could be until it happened…...

At the time i had a very cramped shop, having to share with my wife and her stained glass shop plus we had lots of other things stored in there. I was sanded down some cutting boards that i was making for a craft show i was going to be working soon. I dropped something off the table (pencil, sandpaper, can’t remember what) when i bent down to pick it up my right cheek experienced mass pain. When i say right cheek i mean the one that you sit on not the one on your face. It was summer so i had shorts on instead of a more protective jeans (lesson learned). Well as i’m sure you have guessed the router table had been behind me and one of the bits that was in the cross member sliced a good 6” long cut in my cheek. There was blood running down my leg like Niagara falls. After the initial shock from the blood went away and the reality set in and my wife and daughter couldn’t stop laughing and my misfortune. There was all sorts of sayings for me the next couple weeks since i couldn’t hardly sit down. I had cut my self a new crack, don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split you kinda had a different meaning.

Anyway hope this makes someones day, and please have a laugh about it thats what life is all about..

talk to you all soon..

Doug

A couple of you were asking about pics well this is the table after i brought it home from storage. I hope to have the new creations (hope chest) done this weekend. If so i’ll get it posted.

Have fun..

Many years ago my grandpa made a coffee table for us, i’ve been trying to figure it out and my best guess is between the years of 1972-1974. It has passed through all our family at one point or another, but the last several years its been in storage because its a hard table to make work in ones living area. You see its very large about 6’ long to be more specific. It was once so beautiful, made from pine and mahogany with its butcher block/arts-n-crafts style. Some of the pine pieces were made with 8/4 the bottom mahogany shelf is a full 1” thick all solid wood.

Over the years, cuts and gouges appeared even a burn mark from a certain someone in college passing out after being too much of a student (wink wink) without blowing out the candle. Anyway different times in my younger years hee hee.

So for the past 2 years or so i’ve been contemplating refinishing it and selling it because nobody has room for it. Well i just can’t bring myself to part with it, grandpa is gone and although we do have many pieces he made over the years he won’t be making any more, every piece is just as precious as any other.

Enter my sleepless nite two weeks ago, i got a great idea, when i was trying to sleep (of coarse thats when all my idea’s hit). My wifes b-day is coming up and she was kinda hinting that she wants a hope chest/linen chest thingamachig. Mann the idea just came outta the blue i’m going to rip down the table and rebuilt it as a chest using the same design technique as grandpa originally used. I kept going over the design and how to approach it, and what size, and how much of the original wood hardware i could reuse…..... whew

In the end i started tearing it apart this last weekend, designed, and redesigned how i’m making it. So please check back and see my progress, i’ll be posting it when i’m done. Both before and after pic’s to see if you all approve or not.

I’m so excited that i get to keep it in the family for hopefully another 30 years.

Please let me know what you think, maybe some similar experiences also.