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

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

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

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

Beautiful Sunday

The sky is blue, it's warm-ish out, and the snow is gone! Of course the last time the weather was this nice, we got 6 inches of snow the next day.

I'm having a nice lazy weekend. Yesterday we went to the diner for breakfast, then to the Amish market for chicken croquettes, twice baked potatoes, broccoli salad, pasta salad and rice pudding- enough for all weekend. Today Ralph is Mom-sitting, so I went to Target and did laundry.

Tonight we're going to Frank and Charlotte's for cake for Frank's birthday, which is March 1. Mom's is March 3, and Big Mike's is March 31.

I just had a nice phone chat with my girlfriend Pat, who lives in Florida. We only talk once every couple of months, but we always pick up right where we left off. Our conversations range from who in our family is making us crazy, to what we're reading, to our jobs, and everything in between.

I'm working on an afghan in shades of blue and cream, which is coming along nicely. I still have a lot of green yarn, but I had to switch colors or go insane. I was visiting quilt shops online, as part of the fab-shop-hop, and I ordered some springy charm packs.

Manda and Ben were in Florida for the final launch of The Discovery, and they spent some time with John. They hadn't seen him since the wedding. They've been married 7 months already! She's back to knitting, with the assistance of Kitten. She finished the second sock!

And now it's time to put the laundry away.
And the beat goes on!

Holly

President's Day

Last week we had a party. Ralph and Miss Millie had to rest up after cleaning up the house for company. When they were done, we could see the dining room table!
Julianna will be 4 on March 3, and they came up for a long weekend, so we had her party. It was hard to get a picture, because MacKenzie never stops moving! They loved the princess crowns.
When Mackenzie ran off to play outside, her Mom Sharon decided to be a princess.
Steph couldn't be at the party because she had class, but she picked up the cakes for me.
March 3 is also Grandmom Mary Jane's birthday, but she didn't feel up to coming out. We has the party on my birthday, so it was one big party! The chocolate cake had a filling of banana and strawberry.
Grandmom Florence was able to come to the party, and she looked wonderful. Julie needed some help to blow out the candles, and the 5 little boys were happy to help her.
Princess gifts are always a hit!
After the party, Miss Millie and Ralph were playing around.
I took saved Christmas and Birthday money and got myself an Accuquilt. Joann's Fabric had it for the cheapest I've seen it. I've been wanting one since last fall.
It folds up really nice, so I can store it under the sewing machine table. I do love my gadgets!
Here it is opened out. It uses a die system to cut fabric to specific shapes. It came with one die, and I have to order the ones that I'll use a lot. As with most things, Amazon has the best prices. What did we ever do before Amazon?
I cut the fabric for the ABC swap I'm in . I chose the letter "P" for Peace Symbol. I have to get the squares packed up and mailed to the swap hostess. There are always swaps going on at the HGTV quilting boards, but I only participate in the ABC swaps.

We just had the news on, the the midwest is getting terrible blizzards. Even NYC is getting snow. Here, the sky is threatening, and we got some drizzle. The 60's weather last week was just Mother Nature's tease.

Yesterday I met Steph at Joann's Fabric, and she picked out fleece. A friend of hers at work wants to give his wife a snuggli, and she asked if I'd make it. A snuggli takes 3 yards of fleece, which we got on sale 50% off. It takes less than an hour, and it makes a wonderful snuggli- the commercial ones can't compare. Then she took me to lunch for a birthday gift. We went to an Italian place in Voorhees, and it was really good. I got fettucine, and had so much left that Ralph had it for dinner.

It's nice to be off work today. It's the last holiday til Good Friday, which is late in April. Luckily I haven't used my personal days, so I can take a long weekend somewhere in there.

I read a fun book by A.E. Hotchner called "Paul and Me". It's about the author's life long friendship with Paul Newman, and how they started the Newman's Own products, and how every cent of profit goes to charity. Then I read "Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind" by Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia is a 60-some lady from NC who was widowed when her husband had a heart attack. She discovers that she is now rich, and the slimy minister from her church tries to get her money. And a young woman and a child show up, and the child is the spitting image of her late husband. The book is the first of a series, and I may read some others in the series- the library has them all.

I finished another afghan, in shades of green. This one will be a shower gift for a friend of Steph's who is getting married. Steph and Kate are being grooms-women, since they and Jay have been best friends for years and years.

I was scheduled for jury duty next week. The walk from the parking to the courthouse is long and not paved, and would hurt my knee, so my doctor wrote me a note, which was accepted, so I'm excused. Uneven ground is really hard for me to walk on, so I'm relieved.

And the beat goes on!
Holly

Flowers!

When I got home from work today, I had a lovely surprise- Ralph got me roses! They're not quite open, and they smell wonderful! Some yellow, some pink, and some red.

I was so surprised, because my birthday isn't until Sunday, and of course Valentine's Day isn't until Monday. And he made dinner- cheese ravioli. And he vacuumed up, and started raking off the dining room table.

Weather permitting, Heather, Ed, Eddie and Julianna are coming up for the weekend, so we're having a Dora party for Julianna's 4th and Mom's 81st birthdays. Originally they predicted bad weather, but now it's supposed to be nice. Unfortunately, Steph has an all day class on Saturday, followed by a concert, so she can't attend. The grand-dogs are coming over Friday night to stay the weekend.

I had been having some issues with my front teeth, so yesterday I went to the dentist. Turned out that the bonds on my lower 2 teeth were crumbling, and he recommended caps for both. Good thing I have dental insurance, and it still cost $700. But it should solve the problem for good. He also did some gum work, and I don't want to know what that means. He said the area may ache for a few days, and it sure does. It was worse today than yesterday. I can't bite down onto anything.

And the beat goes on!
Holly