We're off for the next week! The kids at school really need the time off. Food fights are starting, and they just need a break from school. As do the staff.
It was nice and warm, in the 80's, and now it's chilly again, and overcast. I never listen to the weather, I just call Mom and she gives me a report. She's got the TV on constantly, which would annoy me, but I think she uses it like I use the CD player, for background.
Easter dinner will be at Mike and Donna's. I have to go food shopping this morning. My contributions will be mini hotdogs wrapped in crescent rolls, roasted vegtables (Steph's favorite), a new potato casserole that I want to try, and a new trifle that I want to try. Our family dinners are great places to try out recipes, because there's so much food that if one thing isn't good, it can be avoided. Steph is going to make a vegan dish.
I'm still having nights of not sleeping well, so by the end of the week I'm so tired that I go to bed around 7. Both doc's agree that it's hormonal, but since I go right to sleep I don't want to take anything. And I don't want to take anything when I wake up at 4 a.m. because I have to get up at 6.30.
My goal for the week off it to get one of my flimsies up on the longarm and get it quilted. And to clean at least one closet. Sam has been wanting to go to Wegman's, and it's a place I've never been, so we're going to do that one day.
Steph is bringing Dan to Easter dinner. We've met him twice, and he reminds me of Ralph, which is a good thing. Heather and Ed and the kids will have dinner at their house, and Easter Monday Ed, Jeanne, Michelle and her three girls are going to NC for 4 days to visit. Ben is working the next launch, so Ben and Manda have to be in Houston over Easter. I haven't asked my Mom yet what she's doing Sunday. She said the other week that she doesn't feel up to going to Mike's.
The crocheting continues- I finished the purple afghan, and started on a multicolored baby afghan. The quilting patterns I want are all organized and stored, and the rest of the magazines went out in the recycling.
And my spring cleaning is being done! This week Sharon did all the windows, and what a difference! Last year I was too sick, and last fall didn't feel like it. Ralph said that having the house cleaned every other week has made him more aware of cleaning up after himself- I should have hired her years ago!
And the beat goes on!
Holly
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Brrr
It was really nice for a day, then rainy for several, then nice-ish, now it's chilly again and rain is predicted for tomorrow.
Last week was kind of rough. April 5 was the fourth anniversary of my Dad's death, and April 7 was his birthday. I was glad to be at work and my mind occupied. This week my Mom started in home physical therapy. The therapist asked what her goals are. Mom said she's perfectly content to stay in the house, but the family wants her to go out. Yesterday she had a doctor's appointment, and Mike took her. She had a hard time coming back up the steps. She told me last night she won't be able to go to Easter dinner at Mike's. I knew she was going to try to get out of going. I try not to get upset, because I can't change anything, so I just keep her supplied with library books.
I'm over halfway done the purple afghan! Ralph found 3 plastic totes of yarn that I have no memory of buying, and don't know what I was going to do with them. So I packed them up and took them into the home ec teacher at work. She teaches all the kids to knit and/or crochet, so the yarn will be put to good use.
I went thru an entire bookcase full of quilting magazines, and tore out the pages I wanted, and put the rest out for recycle. I have about a hundred patterns that I saved, and it freed up the bookcase, which is now in the dining room holding cookbooks.
Steph had a scary allergic reaction and ended up in the ER and got a shot of epi. She's referred for allergy testing. We just got back from having dinner with her and Dan at Dublin Square, and she looks good. She was maroon in the ER, which is never good.
My work space at work is totally organized- I can put my hands on anything with no delay. My house is another story. It's getting better since we have the house cleaned every other week. That forces us to declutter on a regular basis, which is good.
I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. This getting up at 6:30 a.m. gets old real fast.
And so it goes!
Holly
Last week was kind of rough. April 5 was the fourth anniversary of my Dad's death, and April 7 was his birthday. I was glad to be at work and my mind occupied. This week my Mom started in home physical therapy. The therapist asked what her goals are. Mom said she's perfectly content to stay in the house, but the family wants her to go out. Yesterday she had a doctor's appointment, and Mike took her. She had a hard time coming back up the steps. She told me last night she won't be able to go to Easter dinner at Mike's. I knew she was going to try to get out of going. I try not to get upset, because I can't change anything, so I just keep her supplied with library books.
I'm over halfway done the purple afghan! Ralph found 3 plastic totes of yarn that I have no memory of buying, and don't know what I was going to do with them. So I packed them up and took them into the home ec teacher at work. She teaches all the kids to knit and/or crochet, so the yarn will be put to good use.
I went thru an entire bookcase full of quilting magazines, and tore out the pages I wanted, and put the rest out for recycle. I have about a hundred patterns that I saved, and it freed up the bookcase, which is now in the dining room holding cookbooks.
Steph had a scary allergic reaction and ended up in the ER and got a shot of epi. She's referred for allergy testing. We just got back from having dinner with her and Dan at Dublin Square, and she looks good. She was maroon in the ER, which is never good.
My work space at work is totally organized- I can put my hands on anything with no delay. My house is another story. It's getting better since we have the house cleaned every other week. That forces us to declutter on a regular basis, which is good.
I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. This getting up at 6:30 a.m. gets old real fast.
And so it goes!
Holly
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Raindrops on Roses
Some of my favorite things are the green and cream quilt that hangs on the family room wall, and the green and cream striped afghan that lives in the family room.
My sewing machine- a Janome 6500 that I bought in 2004, when I got addicted to quilting. It weighs 37 pounds, and it's name is Moose.
The quilt that my HGTV quilting group made me to "fix me" when I was so sick last year. It took awhile, but it worked!
My Nook, which has a whole lot of books on it, and gets a whole lot of use. It has a skin with trees on it, and is in it's new cover. A lot of people name their Nooks. My Nook may be named Elvis- I'm not sure yet.
This is the front of the Kate Spade cover. I loved it, but didn't want to pay $85 for it. When it went on sale for $19.99 with free shipping, I ordered it.
The spring Vera Bradley collection is out, and I fell in love with English Meadow. Today is nice and sunny and a good day for some retail therapy.
Manda knitted me socks for my birthday! I love them! They're a kind of wool that can be machine washed, and air dried. The color is so pretty! I can't believe she taught herself to knit by watching you-tube videos.
Last weekend Steph and I went to a small quilt show. I have this pattern, so I took a pic of how it can look.
This quilt is made of all fruit and veggie fabrics!
A bunch of different pointsettia fabrics.
Bargello- I love the colors.
Paper pieced- I have a couple of books on these quilts, and it's on my bucket list to make.April is here. A lot of the northeast got a real April Fool with a lot of snow. We had rain, which is fine! My niece Naureen's birthday is today. Mike and Donna and Frank and Charlotte have April anniversaries. My Dad and Father in law were both born in April. And this year Easter is the end of April, so late that when we go back to school it will be May.
In March I read 17 books- 7 from the library and ten either from the Nook or my paperbacks. My favorites were the Krista Davis series, about Sophie, who is an event planner and has a fun group of family and friends. Sophie tends to fall over dead bodies.
Ralph found 3 totes of yarn downstairs that I'd forgotten I had, and don't remember why I bought. So I bagged them up and have been taking them in to the home ec teacher at work. She teaches the kids to knit and crochet, and some of them really get into it and make beautiful things.
I went to a baby shower yesterday for the daughter of my longtime friend Roseanne. The food was good, the company enjoyable, and the gifts gorgeous. The women at my table who were around my age were telling the young women how many things we didn't have when we had babies. Ultrasounds were rare, disposable diapers were expensive and leaky, the baby sat in a carseat in the front with us, there were no baby moniters or registries- they were incredulous. And of course no cell phones or digital cameras to take pix with, and no computers to send the pix by.
This week my cleaning person comes, and I look forward to the house being gorgeous. I find that we, especially Ralph, aren't cluttering as much, since we know we have to declutter before Sharon comes.
And the beat goes on!
Holly
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
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
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
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
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
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