Thursday, March 24, 2011

A long year

On the happy side, it's been a year since Manda's bridal shower. We had such a nice day, being together with a lot of friends and family. The final countdown to the wedding started.

On the down side, it was the week that I had the medical procedure that was supposed to fix some medical issues and instead let to a spiral of sickness that led to surgery and missing three months of work. A year later, I'm a different person. I tire more easily. The inactivity led to my arthritic knee getting worse- I'm a mess on steps. I have nights where I'm up for an hour or two in the middle of the night, which is really annoying, since the alarm clock continues to go off at 6.30. Today I came home from work and took a nap.

I'm hoping for good things during the rest of 2011. Heather and Ed and Eddie and Julianna are planning to move back to NJ. North Carolina is a beautiful place to live, but job opportunities are few and far between. And when your entire support system is 9 hours away, it's hard. We'll all be delighted when they get back for good.

I finished the blue granny stripe afghan, and made a blue and cream baby afghan that Steph needs to give a friend. I stated another granny stripe, in shades of purple and cream. The stash is slowly diminishing. The 2.5 strip die for the Accuquilt arrived yesterday, so I have to play with that.

I just finished the last of the Wedding Planner mysteries by Deborah Donnelly. I had the first 3, and got the last 3 from the library. I just started the last of the Diva mysteries by Krista Davis, on my Nook.

Ben and Manda gave me a Lady Gaga CD for Christmas, and it's become Ralph's favorite. If he's working around the house, the CD is on. He's been working on cleaning up the basement. This was the week that the housecleaner came, and the house was all sparkling clean. I should have hired her years ago- it's well worth every penny!

When I got to work this morning, the rain turned to snow! It looked pretty, but I'm so glad it didn't lay- we've had enough of snow this year! Tomorrow night the pups come to stay, while Steph has class all day Saturday. One more Saturday after that and that class will be done. It's been hard on her- work all week, and class all day Saturday.

And tomorrow is finally Friday!
Holly

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Another week

Last week was the longest ever. The time change did me in- I just couldn't catch up on sleep. And I had a week where I was up almost every night for an hour, which didn't help. And my back hurt from where I fell.

Friday night I finally slept all night, and slept in til almost 9 a.m. Heather, Ed and the kids are up for a race, so Ralph and I had lunch with Heather, Eddie and Julianna, then we went and visited with my mom for a couple of hours. The kids are growing so fast!

Today Ralph is at church and mom-sitting for Mom Florence, so I have a quiet morning. I'm reading two series- The Diva series by Krista Davis, and Deborah Donnelly's Wedding Planner series. Diva is on the Nook, Wedding is some of mine and some of the library's. Both cozies.

I'm also crocheting and catching up on shows that I've DVR'd. Last night I watched some of CSI:NY.

I just ordered the 2.5 inch strip die and mat for the Accuquilt. Amazon has some of the best prices, as it does for everything! And I went thru a stack of quilting magazines and marked the patterns I want to keep. I'm sitting here with a cup of lemon blueberry tea made in the Keurig.

And so it goes!
Holly

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Daylight Savings Time

It will be so nice to have that extra light time in the evenings! I'm not looking forward to having to get up earlier tomorrow, tho.

It was one of those weeks at work that you think will never end, just go on and on. I was so glad to see Friday come! And I managed to fall out of a chair, leaning forward just a little too much. The chair went one way, I went the other, and landed on my tailbone. It seems to be muscular pain now- I'm OK standing and OK sitting- it's going from one to the other that hurts. A lot.

Target has teaspoons on sale, 6 for $4, so I went and got 18. I knew the teaspoons were disappearing, and blamed Steph. Yep, she'd taken 4. So now I have plenty! I stopped at WaWa for a few things for Sam, and went and visited with her and Lou. She's actually got an appetite, and looks so much better than last week. Then I dropped of library books to Mom, and headed home to do laundry.

I just read "Night Vision" the new Doc Ford book by Randy Wayne White. Doc is a marine biologist who works for an ultra secret government organization. It's a fast paced series.

The blue afghan is almost finished. We dog sat for Friday and Saturday while Steph had all day classes, so the pups kept me company in the sewing room. I'm happy to see them come, and happier to see them go home!

And the beat goes on!
Holly

Saturday, March 5, 2011

An up and down week

The week started out great with birthday cake at Frank and Charlotte's for Frank's birthday. It was fun to visit with the family. Mom Florence looked good, though tired.

Monday the week fell apart with a call from Sam at the hospital. She was so short of breath she could barely talk, and she asked me to pick up Lou and take him home. After I took him home I went back to see her- she looked and sounded so bad I was afraid we were going to lose her, from various medical issues. We had The Conversation- what her wishes are. Neither of us could believe we were having the conversation.

Tuesday and Wednesday crept by. The high point of the week was when they made Sam aware of Vitas, the hospice program. I'd always heard good things about Vitas, and they are living up to their reputation. Thursday Sam came home under hospice, and Lou will also have them as a main medical provider. There will also be home health aids, visiting nurses, and social workers. Vitas leaves Virtua's program in the dust.

When I talked to Sam last night she sounds clear and like herself. We all know she won't recover, but she is better and they have a plan.

Tuesday we decluttered so that the house could be cleaned by a professional. She swears that she will keep the secret of how messed up the house was, and will consider not blackmailing me. Roseanne has been urging me to get a cleaning lady for months- at this point in our lives, we'd rather pay someone to clean, and enjoy our spare time. The house will be cleaned every other week, which forces us to pick up things.

Thursday was birthday day for Mom Mary Jane and granddaughter Julianna. Heather and Julianna made a strawberry cake with pink icing and purple decorations, and strawberry ice cream. Pink overload! When I called, Julianna told me that she'd just gotten out of the tub and had more cake, because it was still her birthday.

Ralph and I met Mike, Donna, Jake and Steph at Mom's. Mike got pizza and Steph got me a cake from Sweet Eats. Mikey stopped by after work. I got Mom new phones, because she wanted one that she could attach a head phone to. Seems her arm gets tired when she talks to her girlfriend for two hours.

So it was quite an eventful week. I barely went into the sewing room, much less crochet or sew. I didn't even watch any of the shows I DVR'd this week. I'm ready for a quiet weekend in my sparkling house!

And the beat goes on!
Holly