She was found in Michigan. I heard from her about an hour ago. She couldn't really give any good reasons for what she has done, but I've come to expect that from her.  As long as she is safe, has shelter and food, I guess I'll be ok with it.

Kids, please please PLEASE, don't treat your parents this way! You have no idea how much pain and heartbreak it causes for not just the parents but other family and friends.

Thanks to everyone for helping in the search. All the forwarded emails, prayers, and words of support have been a blessing.

Here are some photos of recent quilts I have completed. I keep telling everyone it is the most relaxing thing I can do besides play the banjo. Enjoy!

Here is a wall hanging I made for my errant teenage daughter. We won't go into that now though.

 

Lots of things have been going on lately. I realize I haven't updated my blog in several months. So I guess a bit of catching up is in order.

Mom and I were at the Home Crafts Day at MECC in October of 2008. We tacked a flannel quilt which was donated to MEOC to auction off to help raise funds for some programs at the agency. Sadly it looks like 2008 will be our last year. Mom has gotten married and expressed some reluctance to participate in the quilt demonstration of 2008. I want to come back in 2009, but have been accepted at Radford graduate school for social work. I start that in late August.

I've also been laid off from my job at MEOC. It was a very brief but fruitful experience. The economy seems to have taken a bite out of my family and many others. So once again I find myself going back to fast food to earn a living of any sort. I've been looking for work for 6 weeks with no luck. It doesn't take long for anyone to realize that unemployment doesn't pay the bills very well--especially if you have just recently graduated from college. Don't even get me started there. That soapbox is reserved for another day and another blog.

I still would like to make a video recording of quilting. Working on a way to make a quality video, not some blurry poor-quality video like the quilt tacking one I posted on YouTube. More on that as I figure it out (and have time to work on it).

I recently watched Michael Moore's documentary film Sicko. You may not be a fan of his, but this documentary really touches on a lot of things that are wrong with our current health care system. I would highly recommend you watch it if you can find it. Youtube does have a few clips. Michael Moore's website has the trailer which tells a bit about it. I can personally empathize and identify with many of the people interviewed for the film. How many of us here in the Appalachian mountains know what it's like to not have health insurance? How many of us know what it's like to have health insurance, but know that if you're sick or in the hospital, the copays and deductibles could send you to the poor house? And finally, how many of us here know what it's like to be fortunate enough to be able to go to the doctor because we have insurance or can find a sliding-fee clinic only to realize the prescriptions the doctor gives you are unaffordable? One of my inhalers (for asthma) costs $150.00 for one month. With insurance (when I had insurance, it's around $50.00 for one inhaler which lasts one month. Now you tell me what's wrong with our current system. Remind me to tell you sometime about the last visit I had with a doctor before I lost my insurance. Specifically ask about the doctor's less than pleasant reaction when she/he realized I would no longer have insurance. Talk about falling through the cracks or being dropped like a hot potato!

Anyway, maybe more on this later on. I plan on writing a pretty extensive blog with some websites and other information as I can dig it up. I'm sure there's a lot of information out there. Leave it to me to find it.