Making Good Out Of Bad

Tuesday afternoon I arrived home with my brand new overlocker that had arrived that day. I put it on the table and then proceeded to tell Darren all about my day. He kept asking me when was I going to open my overlocker. I said I would have a look after dinner. After dinner came and I still hadn't opened it. I said to Darren that I was feeling a bit dispondent as I hadn't sold many beanies and thought that buying the overlocker was probably going to be a big fat waste of time and money.

With that, my cellphone beeped. It was a message from a lady wanting to buy two beanies as soon as possible. I rang her back and took her details. She said that she has looked all over the place for bright, cheerful beanies and found some of mine on Trademe and had had a look at my website and loved what she saw.

I got her order together and then I received another text from her to thank me for making what was otherwise a shitty day, into a happy one.

Another text followed. It said that her sister has a new baby and has leukemia. That day she had cut off her sisters long hair and how sad she felt watching her sister suffer through all this. She wanted me to know how excited they both were at finding my website and can't wait for her beanies to arrive. This humbled me and bought me to tears. I cried for the fact that this poor woman has to go through this illness; that she has a new baby to take care of and can't enjoy all the beauty that a new baby should bring because she is so ill herself. I cried because of the obvious love that this lady has for her sister and wanting to be there for her. I also cried because there are others who have such a long, hard road and have it far worse than I did. With that, I ripped open my overlocker. Together we will sew beautiful beanies for beautiful ladies and put a little happiness into day.

Up And At 'Em

Well, time is flying.  I have been so busy lately that I haven't got around to posting.
I had my 3rd round of Paclitaxel last week.  I didn't have any reaction the two previous times so I was allowed out of the ward and into a laz-y-boy this time.  I also only had to have half of the antihistamine.  So I am now over a quarter of the way through.  I have had relatively little side effects, just a little tired, but what's new!  I feel almost 100% again and am back cooking meals, getting groceries and doing a little bit of exercise.

You regular bloggers may remember a few posts back that I was busy making chemotherapy beanies.  Well I have gone one step further with this concept and have gone into mass production, if you will.

I told the wonderful Cancer Society volunteer at Oncology that I would like to start making them for other wearers and she has helped me immensley in getting this off the ground.  So far she has given me email addresses of four women who may be interested.  Over the weekend my lounge became a sewing factory and by 6pm Sunday evening I had cut out and sewn 17 beanies, all in beautiful bright colours.   I have also put together my own little business card and am in the process of completing a flyer.  My darling husband has built me a website and if you click on the J'Beanies tab at the top of the page, it will take you to the link.

These beautiful beanies will also be available through this blog at $12.50 each.
I have gone with a jelly bean theme because of:-
1.  The bright colours that I will be using are similar to jelly bean colours
2.  The play on the word beanies and beans
3.  The 'J' obviously being my initial.

I have also approached our local Cancer Society and they are interested in perhaps displaying them for me.

So out of a bad situation, perhaps a new venture will be born. Wish me luck!!