and the results are in ...

   But before I reveal what is behind Door # 3,  this was shortly after I cut my hair last Sunday, before I did the purple color wash (which is already fading, unfortunately).  I can't decide if I like it spiked or not since my forehead looks remarkably larger than I expected when I style it up.  But I do like some kind of a color wash in it because with my normal 75% white hair, I think I just look ... washed out.

    Naturally, after spending a few hours in the hospital (and stressed by the blowout), I started to catch a throat cold the next day so have been popping cough drops like candy and drinking an herbal throat coat with licorice in it.

    On the right here is Door # 1.  One of my birdcages with the English Ivy.  This one is standing in my dining room by the window.  The original pot would not fit in the tiny door, so I repotted it into three smaller pots (one of which is actually a mug with two little birds at the base of it). 

   Door # 2 is the larger of the two birdcages that actually has a door wide enough to fit my favorite bird planter.  (there's a theme going on here)  It sits on the end table in the living room by the side yard window.  The "fairy" looking item hanging from the top is actually a hummingbird ornament from Hallmark.

  I posted a note on a "free stuff" Facebook page that I was looking for free cuttings of houseplants, or even potted houseplants.  I'd like to get more greenery in the house.  As a result of my post, someone offered a peace lily, which I picked up on Thursday.  Fully expecting a small plant, it was actually quite a large one that is about two years old.  I'm thrilled!  It is now sitting on the table with the hummingbird cage where it will get some filtered sun and block the view of me from prying eyes as they walk the street.

  Onto Door # 3 ...

   The bloodwork came back on Wednesday.  Some of it was good news, some of it not so good news.   Not necessarily bad, just not good and not what the doctor wanted to see.  The inflammatory marker that was 101 in May dropped to normal levels which is VERY good news.  However, I'm still anemic even after being on iron for a month.  In fact, more anemic than I was in May (my number dropped from 9.7 to 9.1).  So more tests will follow and there is no avoiding a colonoscopy now.

  Late Friday afternoon I got the result of the CT scans.  I have several enlarged lymph nodes in my lower abdominal area, and the radiologist asked if I had a "history of gynecological cancer."  I did, and apparently, I still do.  They also noticed a large dark area on my liver, which I think is a known hemangioma and nothing of concern.  My doctor's voice said more than he did, however, and when I asked if I could wait until my appointment on the 9th of August to see the GYN doctor, he suggested that I should try to get in to see her sooner, and he would recommend she review the CT scans as well.

  None of it was a surprise.  I've known this diagnosis was coming, and have been expecting it for at least nine years since my last surgery.  I will see what she recommends for treatment, and hope at the very least that it will be just an outpatient surgery to remove my ovaries and the lymph nodes.

~*~

   Crafting is my distraction from all things stressful, so I have started working on one of the used book projects.  It will be a time-consuming one.  I started with clamping the book closed, and unfortunately, the picture to the right is misleading.  I realized I would need to open the front cover after I had started otherwise I would have glued it shut and simply had a door-stop.  Once correctly clamped, I forgot to take a new photo.  

  

    I glued the edges so that I could then start cutting out the internal pages to make it a box.  It may become a jewelry box or a secret stash box on a shelf, or I may decide to make it a miniature diorama.  It was a Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection, and of the stories, there is one called "Airport" that could be fun to do.  But there is also one called "The New Year" and so I may decorate the interior with that theme of fireworks, and use it to keep my tiny slips of paper for burning my regrets, anger, and negativity on New Year's Eve to start the year with a clean slate and peace of mind.

   The pages I'm cutting out will be used for another project.  I found on Pinterest a rose wreath, and the roses are made of rolled book pages and may attempt that, or use them for one of the other gazillion ideas Pinterest has.  Sue talks about flower catalogs being "flower porn."  Pinterest is my "craft porn."