Scraps

Pictures of Christmas

2012-01-14T19:30:00.002-05:00

Aha! Didn't find the battery charger yet, but did find a package of AA batteries tucked back in a drawer.

I know you're all way past Christmas and have everything down and packed away, but here are some lingering reminders....

I don't know why my computer will not save this image correctly. I keep getting an error message. But it did hang vertically, not horizontally, from one of the bedroom doors. (!)

I finally got the stuffed candy canes made this year. Five of them were sent to Mightymom, who generously sent yardage of red and white fabric last year. I have 4 more that need to be finished off, but these were so much fun and have so much potential (ribbons, bells, springs of holly, etc.), that I plan to make more this year.

This is a punched copper tree topper (rhymes!) I bought off Etsy this year. I tried to buy only American-made gifts and decorations this year, and some of my gifts were handmade and/or bought off Etsy.

I love to hang lights inside my windows, under the curtains, in all the rooms. When the room lights are off, you get a lovely, colorful glow.

Above my sink is a soffitt, that runs the length of the wall. I have all my antique kerosene lamps up there (filled with lamp oil), and all but one are in working condition. This year, I ran a string of red lights behind them. It wasn't until I turned the light on that I realized how dusty and grimy they'd gotten, so after numerous trips up and down the stepladder, all the lamps were clean and sparkling in front of a red glow.

Along the front walk, where the tipsy pots once stood, I placed 2 upside-down tomato cages and wrapped them with artificial pine garland. I cut up a couple of dollar-store poinsettias and stuck tthe individual blooms in the garlands, then wrapped them all in lights. They were festive by day and by night.

I was fortunate to have 4 days off at Christmas. Neither Jack nor I could remember the last time I was off Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. Such is nursing. DD unfortunately couldn't come until Sat. afternoon and had to go back Mon. morning, so we enjoyed every minute we spent together.

I hope you all made some lovely memories, too.

Fell off the Edge of the Earth...

2012-01-14T01:37:00.003-05:00

....and yes, there be dragons there.

I survived, but the battery charger for the camera is now missing and I can't post any pictures! I'm sure it'll turn up sometime, but this means a short post, because how boring is it without pictures?

New addictions--Pinterest. Angry Birds. E-News Reader Today (lists free Kindle books every day on Facebook.) I now have over 450 free books and short stories on my Kindle. If I should ever get snowed in or stuck on a desert island, I'm set.

And....

Oh, yeah. I'm not a fanatic, but when I asked for DVDs for the portable player in my sewing room, (so I can "watch" videos while sewing) and didn't get the Twilight Saga, I ordered them myself. Um, yes, I did see Breaking Dawn part 1 in December, and have pre-ordered the video.

Actually, Eclipse is on right now.

Sigh.

Somewhere inside me still lives a sappy 15-year-old.

Does it help that I also liked the Hunger Games Trilogy?

I didn't think so.

One Nurse's Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

Most of my adult life, we've had Thanksgiving whenever. When I worked in the operating room, it was easier to have it on the actual day, since the OR was only open for emergency cases on holidays and weekends. But I haven't worked there since DD was 4 years old, so all she ever knew was Turkey Day happened sometime around the 4th weekend of the month. In addition, she was only 5 years old when we moved across the country from our family, so out of necessity, it's just never been a big holiday for us. I'm sure that's true for many other occupations, not just nursing.

Over the years, we've shared Thanksgiving with a couple of other families, but usually it's just the 2-3 of us, depending on where DD is living at the time. She was never interested in learning to cook as a child or young teen, but as she got to be college age, she began experimenting. She and some of her close friends would host a big Thanksgiving party for friends of all ages and the gal cooks a mean turkey, I must say. In fact, she's turned into quite a cook. She didn't get it from me.

This year she was invited to spend Thanksgiving with her best friend from work and her family. I'm grateful for her many friends, as she never really has to spend a Thanksgiving alone. She may be 7 hours away, but she's still surrounded by people who care about her.

As for this household, well, I had to work Wed. night and Thurs. night, so our Turkey Day will be tomorrow. It'll be a small one, with only a turkey breast, Stovetop Stuffing, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, some sort of cranberry dish, and a storebought pecan pie (which we actually cut into tonight. Hey, in another world, it would be leftovers!) Some years I do the whole Betty Crocker thing, but that's not going to happen this year. There are much more interesting things to do! Sewing has been happening here, and though I'm not ready to post pictures yet, I'm happy the mojo is continuing.

So if cooking is your thing, hope you are having a great time. If shopping is your thing, stay safe! Weird people are roaming around out there. However you are spending this holiday weekend, I hope you are making wonderful memories.

Thanks for stopping by.

Connecting Threads Giveaway

2011-11-15T11:30:00.001-05:00

Pat at Bell Creek Quilts posted this info about a Connecting Threads Giveaway, and I boogied over and filled out the info.

You have to register to create a wish list, and once you do, you must add items to the wish list to total at least $50.00. Then you must email the wish list to someone, and share on your blog or facebook.

But the contest ends tomorrow, and the winner is announced on Thurs., so hurry!

American Christmas

2011-11-13T12:43:00.001-05:00

I received this as an email today, and I like it so well, I'm going to post this. Most of us are quilters, and "get" this already, but still, feel free to copy it into your email and pass it around.

Christmas 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods --
merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This
year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine
concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift
giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes
there is!

It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in
a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?

Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates
from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some
health improvement.

Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned
detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a
book of gift certificates.

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down
the Benjamins on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift
receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or
driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift
certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about
a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this
isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town
Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.

How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or
motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a
local cleaning lady for a day.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is
struggling to get his repair business up and running.

OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin
their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery
and beautiful wooden boxes.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave
your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at
your hometown theatre.

Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese
lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about
fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to
burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that
China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about
US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow
their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our
communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

THIS is the new American Christmas tradition.

Forward this to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion
groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the Rants and Raves section in
your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations,
and TV news departments. This is a revolution of caring about each other,
and isn't that what Christmas is about?

Broke the Barrier

2011-11-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

With all that has gone on this year, starting with my arm injury last Dec., I had lost my quilting mojo. I'd walk into the sewing room, and walk out again, totally overwhelmed and uninspired. I didn't even buy any fabric between October last year and August of this year. Not that I really needed much--my stash is getting unmanageable.

But by late September, things had begun to turn around, and I finished 3 placemats for a blogging friend's children. I didn't think to take pictures, but she did, and they're on her site, here. I handquilted the center panels, as there were parts I wanted to stand out more, and then machine quilted the outer parts, all with glow in the dark thread--and it really does glow!

I also started 3 wall hangings for my own house for Halloween, but didn't get them finished.

As you can see, I've only reached the sandwiching stage. I have some embellishments to add as well, but they probably won't get picked up again until after the holidays.

In preparation for hanging them, I bought this hanger from Ackfeld Manufacturing:

Is this not the cutest thing?

They sent me a catalog with some of their products: fabric hangers, fabric hooks, ornament holder, etc.

I had never heard of them before, but I really like what they have, and will probably order some of their hangers to include with wall-hanging gifts. I know I never seem to be able to do justice to some of my little quilts with just a dowel and ribbon.

What do you use for hanging wall quilts?

More Pictures from 10/31

2011-11-01T23:47:00.000-04:00

A bit blurry--it was hard to stand still long enough for a night shot, but it's the only one I have of the whole scene under the tent.

The Mourners.

The "deceased".

Zombie Girl.

Freaky Spider.

Welcome to November, everyone.

"Over, Done With, Gone."

2011-11-01T10:13:00.001-04:00

(Can you identify that quote?)

Where do I start????

Since I have lost 4 family members and a good friend all in 10 months' time, I just didn't get into the Hallowe'en frame of mind as early this year. If you've followed my blog, you know that I start dreaming of props and spooks and things that go bump in the night 'long about May or June, and usually have a theme by July. DD came up with a theme for me, and I really like it, but never got around to putting it together, so I've decided to use her idea next year, and no, I am NOT sharing that right now, thankyouverymuch.

So I'd just decided to put most all my stuff out there, sort of in stations, for people to walk around and view. Aliens over here, mad scientist's paraphernalia over there, and a cemetery in the upper 40. Okay, yard.

I pulled out my 2 life-sized skeletons and Short Stuff (the little skeleton) and placed them in lawn chairs. Then I pulled out my casket from under the back deck where it had been tarped all year, and stacked it on 4 pallets I'd picked up from the loading dock at the hospital.

Hmmm, what if it rained? I guess I could still use the tarp, but wait: I have the canopy tent I bought last year for my Gypsy Curse theme. I could place that over the casket. Then, bingo, ladies and gentlemen, we have a theme: The Funeral.

What can I say? It's certainly been on my mind this year.

So for the last 2 weeks, I've been in a frenzy, trying to put everything together. I bought the 12 pumpkins, but when it came time to carve them, only 4 were soft enough to carve. The other 8 were hard as gourds, necessitating a large knife and a mallet to pierce them! All I could do with those were geometric faces--the usual triangles, etc. It took way longer than usual, and put me even farther behind. The good thing is, I got to watch some of my favorite Hallowe'en movies while brutalizing pumpkins!

Bless her heart, one of my neighbors came over about 3:30, walking her dog, and decided to help me get the last minute stuff done. It was probably the first year I've not regretted them changing Daylight Savings Time to the first Sun. of November instead of the last Sun. in October. We only got one Trick-or-Treater before 6:15.

Here are some stills from the evening. I was so busy, I didn't get out there to take pictures at twilight, which is the best time for Hallowe'en pics, so I'm debating lighting all the candles and battery-powered flicker candles tomorrow evening just so I can get good photos.

The zombie body in the casket. He sits bolt upright and moans "Welcome to our graveyard."

One of the tombstones. It reads "Ye who walk o'er me will wish you'd died 'fore me."

Entrance through the cobwebbed cemetery gate .

The front porch. I had orange light bulbs in the porch and garage lights--that's why everything looks so red here.

Rats gnawing on bones.

The Mourners.

If you're watching "The Walking Dead" on AMC, you'll get the significance of the next two pictures.

Tricycle Zombie Girl

Some of these required a flash and thereby decreased the creepiness, so I probably will go out at twilight and take more pictures. At any rate, Zombie Girl crawls out of the garage, but needs a flat surface, so I had to place a sheet of insulation foam there to bridge the narrow step. It was covered with leaves at the end, but she managed to push most of them off.

This is the one prop that scared some children and brought one pre-teen to tears. Most of my gruesome and scary stuff was at the back of the graveyard so that parents could bring their little ones to the front door, but there was just nowhere else to put her. She was sound or motion activated, so sometimes she didn't go off, but unfortunately with excited little ToTs yelling and running around, she was set in motion at a couple of inopportune times.

We had lots of Trick-or-Treaters come around, but there was no way to count them all. Some came while I was trying to turn on lights and light candles, and then some came back later when it was dark just to walk around and look at the props. I dressed in old scrubs and zombied up my face, slung a stethoscope around my neck and became Zombie Nurse. Even the kids got what I was. I was having such a good time, I just sat out on the porch steps awhile and watched.

I have a rule that most of the neighborhood knows now. All ToTs are welcome, no matter the age, but you must be dressed up in some way, even if it's only a mask. Costumers get a handful of candy, no matter how big or little you are. But if you come to my house, enjoy my efforts, but don't make any effort of your own, you get only ONE piece of candy. That's begging; expecting something for nothing, in my book.

What can I say? I'm a Conservative. (And that is most likely the only political statement you'll ever see on this blog. I don't beat people over the head with my views.)

Most of the visitors were done by 8:30 pm. It was a school night, after all. I still had the porch light on and the front door open, and was sitting down at the computer, when I heard a noise on the porch. I turned around, and their, staring at me through the storm door, was Michael Meyers! He was tall, dressed in the correct mask and dark clothing, was all alone, and never spoke a word. I swear, he 'bout scared the snot out of me!

Serves me right, huh?

I shut everything down after that.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-29T21:31:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to go buy my pumpkins. Rumor was there was a pumpkin shortage this year and I wanted to get mine "early". This was a popular idea. Half of Hendersonville must have been out driving as well as the annual leaf peepers.

I checked out several places, but Grandad's Apple Farm had the most pumpkins, and therefore, the best prices.

In addition, they had a barbecue stand going, a corn maze (that I found out about later), a huge dinosaur statue that all the kids wanted to climb and all the parents wanted as a backdrop for pictures, and two little goats and a llama you could feed by trickling 25-cent handsful of grain down a long trough.

I appreciated the invitation below, but just didn't feel like maneuvering through the crowds. I like to take my time and look for weird shapes or pumpkins with smooth surfaces for carving.

So I left, and came back the following Fri. morning, when I picked out 4 large pumpkins and 8 mid-sized ones for only $40.00.

Guess what I'm doing tonight?

Countdown

2011-10-26T14:24:00.001-04:00

See what hubby bought me from Cracker Barrel?

It screeches and groans on the hour. I'm still not used to it and sometimes, late at night, when I'm indulging in a scary movie, it creeps me out. Love it.

For those of you who have asked, YES! I am doing Hallowe'en this year!

More info (and pictures) in a day or so.

Autumn Sunrise

2011-10-25T21:10:00.000-04:00

I got off work a little earlier than usual Monday morning, so I sat in my car a few minutes and waited. It was a partly cloudy morning, which generally means a colorful sunrise, and I was not disappointed.

I moved my car to a different part of the parking lot so I could get less obstructed views.

People were coming in and trying to park, so I turned to get back into my truck, and saw the first rays of the sun tip the trees on the hills behind me.

Then the clouds moved all the way in and the sun disappeared again and I went home to bed.

Autumn in My Little Corner of the World

2011-10-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

It started the last week of September...

....and this is my world now:

I know I say this every year, but fall is my favorite season, and I'm so glad I live here now.

End of an Era

2011-10-16T13:58:00.002-04:00

Back in late July, I had the privilege of caring for the husband of the couple who own the closest local quilt shop. (There was another one just a couple miles further, but they relocated about a year ago.) They have an unusual last name, but clueless me didn't make the connection until the off-going day nurse mentioned I would probably get along well with the wife, as she had lots of quilty stuff with her, and hmmm, she thinks they own a quilt shop. Duh.

I'm just one of many customers, and not a regular, so she didn't know me of course, but we talked quilting and about her daughter and son-in-law, (who service Berninas and used to live in my neighborhood) and cruising. When this couple lived in Florida, they used to arrange cruises for folks--didn't understand that part entirely--and we discussed cruise lines, etc. All in all, a pleasant case and I was able to get him comfortable enough to sleep through the night. I was off work the next two nights and when I came back, he was gone, so I assumed he'd gone on home.

On Thurs. before the trip, I dropped my Bernina off at the shop to be cleaned and oiled and serviced while I was gone, as I hadn't had this done since buying it second hand 3 years ago. It was then I learned that David had died! Seems he was diagnosed with stage IV cancer the day after I took care of him, was transferred to the hospital in Asheville, and died 2 weeks later. I was shocked--I'd had no idea. I dashed off a sympathy note to his wife and dropped it in the mail the next morning.

A few days after I returned (and could manage not to sneeze my head off!), I picked up my machine, which had been serviced by Pete Bonesteel, husband of Georgia Bonesteel, of lap quilting fame (!) The family was still recovering from the loss. I renewed my 20/20 membership there ($20/year for 20% off all non-sale items all year long) when I paid for the machine. The next week, I dropped by the shop in search of some more blacks for some Hallowe'en wall hangings I've started. Usually I just get a few fat quarters, but I was having trouble finding many. While searching, I heard a customer ask didn't the shop carry something-or-other, and the shop gal said they usually did, but they were in the middle of a going-out-of-business sale and didn't have any more. Clueless me again--I whipped my head around, and noticed for the first time how empty all the shelves were looking. There were sale signs on all the Horn tables, most of the notions had disappeared, and the long-arm machine was gone out of the shop. None of this was present 5 days before, so the decision had to have been made over the weekend. I'm assuming the shop help got first dibs on items in the shop, because they hadn't advertised the sale and there were no signs outside.
I guess the shop must have been too much for one person to handle, so she decided to just close down. The signs stated everything was 40% off if you paid by check or card, and 50% off if you paid by cash. So the next day I came back in with some of my pocket savings and loaded up. I felt like a darned vulture, but told myself she needed the money and I "needed" the fabric, and that's just life.

I loaded up on solids, and fabrics that "read as solids", and some that will coordinate with some rose fabrics I intend to put together later this winter. I also needed more kid fabrics, as I'd like to make some I Spy quilts for my great-nephews.

Grand total before discount: $198.00. And mostly in fat quarters, with a little yardage thrown in, as minimum cuts were one yard. With taxes and discount, $101.06. And that included 2 cute little jack-o-lantern candleholders I couldn't pass up. All that fabric has been washed and dried, and about 1/2 of it has been ironed and put away. The rest is still piled up on the cutting table, ready for another marathon ironing session, but heaven knows where I'm going to store it. I am running out of room.

I drove by there the first week of October. The shop is empty, dark, and no signage even to show it was ever there. So very sad. I wish his family the best.

Final Cruise Day

2011-10-07T11:33:00.003-04:00

I almost forgot the rest of Fri. night. Jack was tired, so he went back up to the room and to bed, while the rest of us went down to the Stardust Theater for a montage of Hollywood musicals. The closest bar was also taking orders for drinks--2 for the price of 1--but I don't drink often, so DD chose Bahama Mamas for us and by golly, that was pretty good! lol! Once the show was over, many of the crew members paraded across stage for us to meet and applaud. Herbert wasn't up there--I'm sure he was turning down beds and making towel origami animals for us all.

We still weren't ready to call it a night, so we decided to hit the chocoholic buffet. O.M.G. There were chocolate sculptures gracing offerings of brownies and fudges and cakes and pies and just about every form of chocolate you could imagine. I wish I'd thought to take pictures of it, because it was unbelievable! Three of the 4 of us were diabetics, but we decided to forget that little detail for an hour. The only thing I couldn't find was a chocolate/peanut butter combo of anything. Between the Bahama Mamas and chocolate, I went to bed a happy camper that night.

Saturday we weren't due into Victoria, BC until 6pm, so part of the day was spent sorting and packing what we could. It was an interesting system--we could choose what time we wanted to disembark, in 20-min. intervals, and place the corresponding color-coded tag on our luggage. Then we would place it outside the door by 11pm and it would all be taken to a central area for storage, to be unloaded the next morning at the dock. The hard part was trying to find room for all the stuff I'd bought on the trip; remember the $100.00 worth of fabric? lol The suitcases were bulging, but I sure didn't want to overload myself with the carryons.

Sat. evening, we docked in Victoria, and were greeted at the pier by a welcoming committee whose speech ended with "God bless America and God save the Queen!" I'd forgotten for the moment that we would be in Canada, and would need our passports.

DD had decided to do a hop on/hop off excursion--a very informal tour on a bus throughout the city. She got to see part of the museum that we only heard about, but would love to see some day. We trotted past it on our horse-drawn trolley ride.

That's our guide, Jan, and our Clydesdales, Dolly and Molly, who were voice-trained. If they picked up the pace too much, Jan would simply say, "We're walking ladies, we're walking", and the horses would slow down again.

Jan drove us past a house similar to one that sold recently for $499,000.00!

Not much to look at, was it? I thought examples like this were only found in California or New York.

I would have loved to stop in at this little place:

Victoria was a pretty little town, and very tourist-oriented. Passersby would wave and call out a greeting, and wait patiently for our little trolley to clear the intersection.

We passed a "state building", though I forget what the actual title was. It was gorgeous, with a fountain in the middle and people just hanging out on the lawn. I would expect more security, but maybe the inside was well guarded. Or maybe that's just an American thing. I just didn't expect it to be so accessible.

The building faced the harbor, and perpendicular to that was the Queen's Hotel. It was also lovely:

We passed some parks that I would have loved to explore.

This one had a huge water pitcher playground for the kidlets:

There were peacocks strolling the grounds, too, but the best I got was a blurred pic as we trotted by. (Molly and Dolly were feeling a bit frisky.)

Looking across the Strait towards Port Angeles, WA. Twilight, anyone?

It was only an hour excursion, so within minutes we were back at the busy pier.

If we'd been a little less mobility-challenged, I would have loved to tour the Butchart Gardens, but there just wasn't an excursion that fit us. Next time, if there is a next time, I'll research non-cruise line excursions to see if there is some way to tour the Gardens.

As it was, I could feel a cold starting, and was just as content to go back to the ship, eat supper and finish the packing. Herbert, who had placed various origami towel creations on our bed this week (swan, puppy dog, penguin, monkey--we missed the elephant) had left a towel heart with a sweet note in the middle thanking us for being such nice passengers. I'm sure that was what he told all his customers, but it was a nice touch. Jack's back was really bothering him, so we persuaded DD to give up her firmer sofa bed for him and sleep in the queen-sized bed with me. Unfortunately, he was the only one who got much sleep. Between his snoring and my sneezing and coughing, DD didn't rest well, either. I'm sure if we ever do this again, DD will want her own room!

We were supposed to be out of our staterooms by 9am. DD didn't read that part of the daily newsletter, so she was a little miffed that I'd set the alarm clock so early, but as it was, we still didn't have time to get breakfast--again. My brother and his wife left early, but due to the weather pattern, part of their flight was cancelled, so their airlines put them up in a hotel in Vegas (!) and flew them the rest of the way home on Mon. DD couldn't find a good combo of flights for herself, so she'd chosen to spend the night in WA and fly out the next day. I wish we'd done that. The airport was so crowded, we couldn't get a wheelchair pusher, and getting through Security was a PITA. One of the gals at the ticket desk told us it is this way every Sunday during cruise season--not enough wheelchairs or pushers. (Just warning you!)

I'm sure I was the most popular person on board the plane, what with all the coughing and sneezing. I offered to wear a mask, but the flight attendant said they didn't carry any. Seems like that would be a handy item to add to their stock, with the close quarters and re-circulated air. So I utilized my hand sanitizer and the tissues as much as possible, but I have to wonder how many of my co-travelers came down with a cold the next day. I apologize if you were on my flight!

We touched down to a warm, humid night in Charlotte--such a change from the week's 50s highs. Airport assistance was at a minimum, I couldn't remember where I parked, and I'd lost the parking receipt sometime during the week. The lack of sleep and my cold really did a number on my head, so halfway home, we pulled off at an exit and Jack drove the rest of the way. We brought in just enough baggage to find our meds and toothbrushes and gratefully collapsed into bed about 1:30 am.

Looking back, I'm so glad we went when we did. Parts of the trip were really hard, and I don't think Jack would have been able to do this if we'd waited another few years. Despite all that, we saw some amazing scenery, experienced things we'd never have the opportunity to do here, took far too few pictures, and made some wonderful memories.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Ketchikan

2011-10-01T15:29:00.003-04:00

We cruised into Ketchikan on a rainy, cold, dreary day. It didn't help that it was 6am, either. Jack and DD were going on a separate excursion, so by the time I helped him get dressed and ready and got myself ready, I didn't have time to grab anything for breakfast. That was a mistake.

I barely remembered the underwater camera before dashing down the gangplank to stand under the shelter until we were allowed to board the bus. Figuring we were going to get wet anyway, I didn't bother with an umbrella or a jacket, just wearing jeans and a sweatshirt over my swimsuit. Forgetting a jacket was mistake #2.

Eighteen hearty souls (or mindless nitwits) boarded the bus to go snorkeling. In the ocean. In Alaska!
In wet suits, of course.

One of our guides, a gal named Allix, spent the bus trip giving us a brief tutorial on how to don a wet suit, but nothing could really prepare me for the experience of inserting a bulky body into a latex glove. And no, there are NO pictures of that, thank goodness!

At the small office, they separated us by gender and asked us our heights and weights, choosing wetsuits they thought might fit. First you fold the top half down, so you can put your legs in the proper holes. Then, while you can still bend over (Allix's words, not mine), you must put on your snug-fitting boots. Frankly, I think they should have provided barrels of olive oil for dipping body parts. The suits are stretchy, but on my short stature, they rippled. I couldn't get the boots on, so Allix helped me.

Once the boots were on, we focused on putting our arms into the sleeves and getting the hoods on before zipping up over the hood flaps to secure them. I put my hood on and promptly ripped it back off. I am severely claustrophobic and that was just too much. One of the guides brought me a larger one. Still too much. So she suggested I wait until the last minute before going into the water to put it on.

Then we carried our flippers and re-boarded the bus to ride down to the area set up for us. Once there, we were given masks and the options of wearing weights and led down a steep, rocky slippery path to the water's edge. The tide changes so quickly, a marker must be left so we know where to return. I opted not to wear weights, as I don't swim well and thought it might make it harder. Mistake #3.

Since I still couldn't bear to wear the hood, Matt told me I shouldn't put my head under water, as it was too cold, and we all know we lose body heat through our heads. However, the wetsuit provides so much buoyancy, I rolled around like some huge beachball and it wasn't long before my head was wet and some of the water was seeping down the collar. There were 3 of us who either couldn't swim or had back problems and had difficulty in the water, so we held onto lengths of foam floats and were towed to the sites. Matt grabbed my underwater camera and took this perfectly horrible picture of me:

Do I not resemble some fat, alien Superfly?

Anyway, because it had rained for 2 weeks, the waters were murky. By putting my face down as I was towed, I could see a little, but not much, and neither could most folks, unless they were wearing weights and could make it down to the bottom. So the guides brought things up for us to see.

This was a sea cucumber. They are normally long and flat, but when feeling threatened, they contract all their muscles and become short, round and hard--just like the vegetable.

This one was starting to relax a bit and become a little floppy.

A little farther out, one of the guides brought up a starfish for us. This one had lost a leg, and instead of regrowing it, had started growing a new one underneath the old one.

Did I mention that 2 of our guides were diving instructors, and that the other two, including Alex, were DiveMasters as well as marine biologists? They decided they'd need to try and mark this guy somehow to monitor that leg growth.

They also brought up something that looked like a burgundy kush ball, the insides of which are used in some sort of rare sushi. It costs about $10,000 dollars to get a license to hunt them, and hunting season is Oct. through Dec., which are the worst months for storms up there, but because of their rarity, a licensee can make around $60,000 in that time. I couldn't stay upright long enough to get a picture of this one. (If you click on the link above, you'll see lots more pictures, including the "kush balls")

By this time we'd been out there about 45 minutes, and I was getting exhausted and nauseated, probably because I had taken my diabetic meds the night before, as usual, but hadn't eaten breakfast. I told Allix I was done, so she towed me back to shore. I must have looked a little green, because she and another guide kept asking if I was okay. Allix helped me pull off my flippers and unzipped the back of my wet suit and poured some water down it. This is supposed to help, but I'm sure my lips were starting to turn a little blue. I was kicking myself for not finishing the excursion, but in reality, there was only one area I didn't go to, and within 5 minutes of my reaching the shore, the whole group was swimming back in. Besides, how many people can say they've had a marine biologist pull off their flippers? Or for that matter, have been snorkeling in Alaska?

We made the long, slippery treacherous journey back up to the van, where "coolers" of hot water awaited us. We took the scoops and poured the hot water inside our wetsuits to warm up. Ahhhh. It was almost as good as a hot tub! Back at the office, we peeled the suits off and redressed. Cups of coffee, hot chocolate or hot water for tea were waiting for us, and I felt infinitely better once I got a little sugar in my system. (Warmer, too, as my hair was starting to dry.)

Allix and the guys saw us back onto the bus, and we were taken back to the ship--and a hot shower.

We sailed out of Ketchikan by 1pm, so I didn't get a chance to get back to town. The rest of the day was spent reading, wandering around the ship, and another eye-rolling dinner with my brother and his wife at the Asian restaurant on board.

We were headed back down the coastline to Victoria, British Columbia.

(Next: Last day.)

Glacier Bay

2011-09-22T16:25:00.002-04:00

Since we would be cruising Glacier Bay on Thursday, we decided to sleep in, so we filled out a menu for breakfast in the room. We scheduled it for 8:45, just before cutoff time of 9:00, so we could sleep as long as possible.

At 8am, we were all wakened by the voice of an assistant cruise director or someone, coming over the loudspeakers--and one was conveniently just outside our door. She was pointing out glaciers and sites and educating everyone about what was out there. With the door closed, we couldn't understand her words, but there was no way we were opening it just to hear. I'm afraid we were less than grateful, for the first hour or so.

We did turn the TV to the front-of-the-ship channel, so we could see when a glacier was coming up, but we didn't need that. A glacier was usually preceeded by chunks of ice floating by us.

So we munched our breakfast, taking turns going out on the balcony to take pictures, and coming back in to warm up.

I had my iPhone and my point-and-shoot and would alternate cameras. It was interesting the difference in the color perception between the two.

The bluish tint was the more realistic. I never knew glaciers were blue. I mean, ice cubes are white, right?

Just look at those striations of blue!

Even the color of the water is affected by the runoff from the glaciers.

See the "snow cave" in the center of the picture?

It made me want to explore it!

If you look closely, you can see that same lovely shade of bluish green just to the right of the mountain peak.

That's the same glacier--it flowed down and curved to the sea.

After a couple of hours, we were headed back down the coastline again.

I was trying to figure out what we just HAD to wash, because we were running out of clothes, and had finally selected about 5-6 items, which would run us about $28.00. Laundry was so expensive on board. After I'd set the bag outside our door, our steward Herbert showed up with a flyer, which was offering a $25.00 flat fee for all you could stuff in the paper laundry bag. Geronimo! More options!

Herbert was a great steward. Did I mention he does this 10 months of the year? He's from the Phillipines and only gets to see his wife and little boy for 2 months every year. When he left for one stint, his little boy was still crawling. When he got back, the little guy was walking and talking. But the money is good, so he continues.

One of the other crew members (I don't know what her job was), is saving to open her own motel in an area of her country (again, don't know where) that is a mecca for birdwatchers. I overheard her telling my brother her plans. She said tourists have to jeep in for quite a ways to get to where the best birdwatching is, and she feels if there is a motel closer in, she'd get lots of business.

She and Herbert are so goal-oriented. I have it so easy compared to them.

I spent a couple of hours in the library, because 3 adults in one stateroom can get a bit confining, and everywhere else on the ship was so noisy. In the library, it was quiet and peaceful, with huge picture windows and big soft chairs and sofas. There was a chess game going on in the corner, and lots of kindles to be seen. I was able to log on to the internet for a few minutes to check my email, but spent a lot more time just gazing out at the incredible scenery.

DD and I decided to go down to the Sushi bar for dinner and gorge ourselves, while Jack decided to stay in the room and read or watch TV. He really likes Chinese food, but is not a fan of sushi. I've not had much sushi in my life, and certainly not the really good kind, so I let DD order for us. We had spicy tuna, and some eel, and something called a "caterpillar" roll. I know it had avocado in it, but don't remember what else. It was delicious, though. I discovered I don't like sake, whether warmed or cool, but am totally sold on green tea cake and green tea ice cream. The color was not appetizing at all, but the taste was far better than I expected. I wish I'd thought about taking a picture of it.

After dinner, we went straight back to the stateroom rather than hang out at the piano bar or browse the jewelry sale, because our next stop would be Ketchikan, and excursions would be starting at 6:30 in the morning.

(Next: Friday = Ketchikan)

Skagway in the Afternoon

2011-09-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

After getting Jack settled in the stateroom, I left the ship again and walked the couple of blocks to town--which is about 4 blocks wide and maybe 7 blocks long, but so cute! Bought some gifts for the various kidlets in my life and hunted up the quilt shop. Yep, there is a quilt shop in little Skagway and it's fabulous! Allyson of Fat Cat Quilts works there, but, as I found out when I visited, only in the wintertime. In the summer, she's the stationmaster of the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway station--which was to be our afternoon excursion. (If you want to see some glorious photos of Alaska, check out her site!)

I succumbed to temptation and bought myself some Northwest and Alaskan-themed fabric:

I loved the fabrics in this kit, but even more, the pattern, so I bought more fabrics to make an additional, different tablerunner.

AND I bought more animal fabrics to make some quilts for my great-nephews.

I don't have any particular pattern in mind yet, so I'm sure I'll have to browse their site for more material. Life is hard, isn't it?

This is the snowblower used on the tracks for the narrow gauge railway we would be riding. I understand it is still in use.

There was a wheelchair lift on one of the cars, meaning Jack didn't have to climb steep, scary steps to get onto the train. I was grateful. Watching him maneuver that gives me additional gray hairs.

Once the train got going, several of us got up to get better views from some of the picture windows. My brother and his wife went outside to the connection between the cars to get photos, but that was just too cold for me. It was hard to get good pictures, what with the back and forth movement of the train in addition to the forward movement, but some turned out pretty well.

We were going to be climbing up this mountain range, following an old gold mining trail.

Maybe you can see the thin line where the train was headed:

Looking back over where we came:

Headed up the mountain

Seats lined both sides of the train, but on the right side going up, many times we were inches away from bedrock. I tried to get pictures, but the closeness just made for lots of blurring.

A voice from the speakers overhead pointed out places of interest, explained landmarks, and told once of a bear sighting, but we were so far back in the train, he was gone by the time we reached that point.

As we climbed to the top, amidst the clouds, we saw this old trestle

At the very top is a lake, where the train stopped. The tradition is, on the last tour of the season, brand new guides must jump into this lake, as all the passengers pile out of the train to cheer him or her on. Then the guide must continue the tour back down the mountain. As the last tour of the season is at the end of September, it must be a brutal rite of passage.

As our engines prepared to switch control from front to back, we flipped the seats, now facing them back down the mountain, and all passengers changed sides of the train so that everyone got a change

of view.

Looking back over the town, we could see the clouds had parted and there was sun shining down.

The guide said it had been raining and overcast for several weeks; the last "sun watch" was over 2 weeks ago.

The clouds were piling back in as we reached Skagway. I never did get to meet Allyson.

One last look as we started up the gangplank.

Sleep came easily to all of us that night as we sailed down the coast.

(Next: Glacier Bay)

Skagway, Alaska Part One

2011-09-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

Wed. morning brought us to Skagway. Nestled between mountain ranges, I thought it would be warm and protected. Not so! The valley acts as a wind tunnel, and I immediately regretted not bringing my jacket. I stood behind Jack in the wheelchair at the dock, blocking him from the wind, while we waited for our excursion group to assemble. Suddenly I felt a rain poncho being pulled over my head, and there stood my brother, with another windbreaker/poncho for Jack. It was amazing how much that cut the cold!

Our first activity of the day was a glass-blowing experience. The bus dropped us off at Jewel Gardens and our guide, Nick, took us to the shop, where we donned blue lab coats and goggles, for those who weren't wearing glasses. We were shown examples of the different patterns we could request: twirl, drapery, "hurricane", and were told to choose either ornament or globe style and up to 3 colors.

Our expert (I've forgotten her name) loaded up a rod with molten glass and dipped it in trays of the colored glass and then inserted it into the furnace, where we were to twirl it around .

If we wanted the drapery or hurricane pattern, we used the "tweezers" to pull and twist the pattern.

Once we had it in a semblance of symmetry, our hostess cupped it in a water-drenched holder and shaped it.

As she did, we were to blow through a mouth piece to "inflate" it, like a balloon.

Then she clamped it to seal it off.

Next, she took another rod of glass and melded it to the top of the sphere to make the loop, if you wanted an ornament.

Once done, you got a quick shot at a "photo op" before the ornaments were placed in a 900-degree oven to slowly cool. In the morning, they would be removed and packed for shipping to our homes.

Once all 6 of us had had our turns, she made a large bowl, based on the colors all 3 couples chose. Frank started off with orange, the next couple chose white, and I really wanted to go with black (Halloween!), but I hesitated to allow Jack to choose for us. The gal jumped in and said "Cranberry makes a nice combination", so cranberry it was. We had the option to buy the bowl at a discounted price, but none of us wanted it. Now, if I'd said black.....

The finished product:

After this, we were taken through a gorgeous garden, where glass "flowers" and globes bloomed next to brick paths and nature's pride. Those bluish purple flowers in the center are glass. (As usual, you can click on the photo to enlarge).

I couldn't believe how many gorgeous flowers and gardens we saw in Alaska. For a place that didn't get a lot of sun, it was so colorful.

I think these were called "goats beard".

As part of the excursion, we were taken to the tea room and given a "girly" lunch, as my brother put it. First there was a mushroom and tarragon soup. I loved it, so Janell gave me hers. Frank pushed his away after a sip.

Then we had a delicious veggie quiche. Janell gave hers to Jack. Frank ate a bite or so, and pushed his back.

Dessert was a rhubarb something, not a pie, but something soft and luscious. Janell ate hers, but Frank was grumbling about needing a "corn dog on a stick." The other couple felt the same as he. My brother looked at me and said "I know you weren't raised like this." "No," I told him. "I overcame MY upbringing!" lol

The iced tea was made from rosehips. I thought it was wonderful, but Frank was shaking his head. It definitely wasn't Southern iced tea. I mentioned that it would probably be delicious hot, so Nick got me a cup of hot tea, and yes, it was just as wonderful. Everything we ate was from their own gardens, and I wish we'd had more time to tour them, but we only had a few minutes to go through the shop. I started to buy a cute glass-blown mushroom to put in my own garden, but then I found this:

a glass-blown pumpkin! I had to have it for my growing collection.

After a snafu with the van they sent for us (Jack couldn't get into it), they sent another and took us away. My brother and sister-in-love and the other couple got off in town (I know they were looking for someplace to eat!) but Jack and I were dropped off at the ship. Our next excursion was later in the afternoon, so he decided to rest awhile and I grabbed my jacket, because I wanted to explore this little town.

A week later after we arrived home, our ornaments were delivered.

Jack's ornament:

Mine

I can hardly wait for Christmas to display these!

(Next: Afternoon in Skagway)

Alaskan Trip, Mon-Tues.

2011-09-13T12:15:00.010-04:00

(Sorry to be so late in posting this. Blogger was really slow in uploading the photos, and in the middle of this, the ISP went down for almost 48 hours!)

(Forgot to post the above picture of Seattle, taken from the dining room just before the lifeboat drill. With all the rush, not many pictures were taken that first day.)

Monday was cruise day, as we were making our way up the coastline to Juneau. We slept in, thwarting Herbert's efforts to "clean" our spotless stateroom. DD explored the ship for a while, then came back and she and her dad read their Kindles. The day was overcast, with occasional glimpses of land, but mostly just open water. Actually, we didn't see the sun for 6 days!

I took a stroll later, leisurely making my way around the promenade deck. It was always so noisy inside, but the deck, though breezy, was much quieter, even with the ship noise.

Ran into Frank and Janell near the shops, so we decided to all dress up a bit and go to the steakhouse for dinner. We had a sumptious dinner overlooking the pool and hot tub, ending with some yummy creme brulee. Just outside the restaurant was a giant chessboard with a game in progress:

Afterwards, Frank and Janell wandered to some other places, while Jack and I sat down in the main atrium where a "One-Man-Party" performer entertained. After a while and some Motown, more folks began to gather and the bar nearby began to pick up a little. Soon he was playing 60s and 70s music and a group of ladies began to dance. The guys weren't as bold, though they were bustin' some moves in the back. I couldn't stand it--I got up there with them. I've never been able to dance, but what the heck--I was never going to see any of these folks again anyway!

Tues. morning brought more cloudiness, but glimpses of land as we neared Juneau. Lush greenness everywhere and waterfalls hinted at the mountains hidden by the clouds.

Once we set foot for the first time in Alaska, we had some time to stroll the streets before going to our first excursion. We were starved, so stopped at a street vendor and had some barbecue on a stick while watching sea planes take off. There was a street mural nearby:

Saw cute little shops with residences above, and this incredibly steep staircase leading to--? more residences?

Our first excursion was the only one all 3 of us did together. DD hates to have her picture taken, so I sneak one in when I can.

We went whale-watching on a covered boat. The guides were great in getting Jack on board with the wheelchair and the views were awesome. I spent some time up on deck 2 out by the rails, and when we slowed to a stop, went up to the third deck for photos. The humpback whales were off in the distance, so all we could see were their blow-spouts, but there were some killer whales swimming alongside the boat. Two of them were a little ways off, but one seemed to be showing off for us:

DD got a really good picture of him leaping out of the water, with a close-up of his markings. He was beautiful. I had left my point-and-shoot camera on the bus, but had my smartphone with me and managed to get some pics. Fortunately, we rode the same bus back and my camera was right where I left it.

Inside there was a wonderful little buffet, with salmon mousse, veggies and crackers with dips, and a multitude of scrumptious desserts. I made 3 trips to the buffet: one for J-Man, one for the lady on the inside of the row who wouldn't crawl over him to get herself a plate, and then one for me. I know folks thought I was hogging the food, but truly, I was too excited to eat much.

On the trip back to the ship, we could see the Mendenhall Glacier in the distance. It's the blue-greenish part between the two mountain peaks. Frank and Janell took a helicopter ride to the glacier and walked around on it, and Frank even laid down and drank from the glacier water.

Back on board, I had time to grab a couple of shots as we pulled out of port:

A glorious ending to a lovely day.

Next: If it's Wed., this must be Skagway.

Alaskan Trip, Fri-Sun.

2011-09-06T12:43:00.004-04:00

Jack and I have talked about going to Alaska for years; DD remembers us talking about it when she was a little girl. When he had his health scare in the fall of 2009, it emphasized the point that we don't know what can happen, and the best thing to do is just set a date, work toward it, and GO! So we did.

It still didn't seem real. Suitcases upset Tandi, so I didn't even start packing until after dropping her off at the boarder's on Fri. She'd been on doggy Prozac for a week already, and then we started the anti-diarrheal medicine in hopes of preventing the condition she fell into after our trip to Alabama in June. Doesn't she look happy? We like Doggy Prozac.

Since we were due to fly out of Charlotte via USAirways about 9:30 Sat. morning, I made another last-minute decision to drive into Charlotte Fri. night and spend the night at a motel. We finally left the house at 8 pm, went to Cracker Barrel for supper and got into Charlotte about 11:30pm. We were so excited, we only slept about 3 hours, no matter how hard we tried.

In anticipation of the non-stop flight, we'd bought an iPad and loaded it up with games and some great apps, and packed our fully-charged Kindles. We were laden down with 2 suitcases, 2 garment bags, 2 carryons, my purse, my C-PAP, and Jack in the wheelchair we recently bought. We had great curbside service at the airport, and they got us a "pusher" for Jack. I wish I'd caught her name, because she was wonderful, getting us through the lines, helping Jack get "re-dressed" after security, etc. Since he can't raise his left arm, and can't walk around without his splint and shoes, he's always a wand or pat-down. It's time-consuming.

We'd reserved bulkhead seats for the extra legroom, but that wall in between us and First Class is a little intimidating. I could feel my claustrophobia rearing its ugly head, but was able to stand up now and then to look behind us and stretch my legs a bit. The pilot mapped out a route around the mid-nation weather woes, so we had a smooth flight and even got into town 15 min. ahead of schedule. Washington was having one of their rare sunny days, and the views were terrific. We could see Mt. St. Helen in the distance and Mt. Ranier and other mountains whose names I've forgotten.

We'd been a wheelchair brigade of 3 getting on the plane, and of course, were the last ones off. As we were waiting to get everyone in their chairs, I saw a guy with a cane standing there. Turns out he was our Pusher. I was wondering how he could possibly push Jack around this huge airport, seeing as he had mobility problems himself, but he handed Jack the cane (complete with horn) and off we went. I got a Smart Carte (ridiculous price) and we loaded up and headed out for the shuttle pick-up. When we left him, he refused my tip, and handed me a folded-up copy of a newspaper article written in Dec. 2009. Seems our pusher, Tom Martin, was a salesman who was badly injured in a car accident several years ago. He's disability retired, but he takes a bus 1 1/2 hours into town to volunteer to push wheelchairs at the airport for 4 hours a day. He can't afford a physical therapy program, so this is his therapy. As long as he can hold on to the wheelchair, he can walk as well as with his cane, and let me tell you, his pace almost had me breathless. If you ever fly into Sea-Tac, I hope you see him and tip your hat to him.

Sat. night we were booked at the Red Lion, and DD, who was in Charlotte for a conference, was due to fly in that evening and stay there, too. Jack and I were dog-tired, so rather than try to explore Seattle, we chose to nap. We barely made it to the restaurant next door to eat, before going back to bed.

Sun. was nowhere near as smooth as Saturday. We met DD in the lobby about a quarter to noon, where there was supposed to be a car service waiting for us. The desk clerk had assured me their flat fee would be less expensive than a taxi, whose meter would continue to run no matter what the traffic would be, and insisted a town car would be enough for the three of us, our baggage, and a wheelchair. I should have stood my ground about an SUV. The driver was 20 min. late, and then took 15 min. trying to arrange everything in the car. I ended up with a bag at my feet and a suitcase in my lap, and still had to stop at a grocery store to get a jug of distilled water for my C-PAP. It was NOT a comfortable ride.

At the Pier, traffic was terrible. Apparently there was a Hemp Festival going on. Seriously. I wish I'd gotten some pics of Seattle, but was too busy and flustered to even think about it. I put labels on the C-PAP and the gallon of water and loaded them with our luggage to be transported to the ship, but kept the carryons with our meds and jewelry and my purse with me. Going through Security was even worse than at the airport. It was like cattle lines, rushing us through when I could barely push the wheelchair and hold onto the forms. Some officer wanted to confiscate Jack's rocker knife that was in my purse and told me we'd get it back at the end of the trip.

I put my foot down about that; this is how a one-handed person cuts his meat, and he didn't need me cutting his food as if he was a child. He relented, telling me not to "brandish it about." Right.

Then it was up to a desk where we signed forms assuring them we had no contagious illnesses, no diarrhea, etc., and attached a credit card to the room for expenses. Turns out we had little need for the cash we'd brought, other than for tips. Anything extra goes on the credit card.

(Our ship in a later port, not Seattle)

Despite an email acknowledging we would need embarkation assistance, there was no one to help me push the wheelchair up the long, fairly steep gangplank to the ship. It was brutal. We were told there was a buffet set up, but the directions were only a vague wave in another direction. It seems English was the second language for most of the crew, so in the incredible noise on board, it was difficult at best, to understand what was being told us. Honestly, in that hour or two, if I could have turned around and left, I would have. I was almost in tears.

We finally made it to the buffet, got our food, and had 15 min. to eat before the lifeboat drill. Once that was over, we were allowed to go to our unbelievably tiny stateroom. I should have reserved a handicap access room, but we usually don't need it. We collapsed the wheelchair and stored it on the balcony. Two people could not walk shoulder to shoulder anywhere in the room, and the only plug was across the room from the bed, under the TV. The 6-ft. extension cord I'd brought for my C-PAP was nowhere near long enough to reach the plug.

(This is the ship's picture of the type room we had, only reversed, but this makes it look bigger than it actually was!)

Fortunately, we had a great steward, Herbert, who was bringing our luggage, piece by piece, to the room. He told me I could get an extension cord from the service desk, and also told me to ask them about my gallon of water which was missing. Actually, it took TWO of their extension cords, plus my own, to reach the plug. And the water was still missing. The motorized scooter we'd arranged for was there, thank goodness, but we kept stumbling over it getting to the bathroom or the door.

When there came a knock at the door, I answered it, saying, "Oh, Herbert, did they find the water?" but it wasn't our steward; it was my brother and his wife! They had been coordinating with my daughter and had booked the cruise two days before the Tornado. When Garrett was in the hospital, they had cancelled, but after he died, they called and re-booked with the assistance of some lovely people at the cruise line. What a wonderful surprise! Suddenly all was right with my world again. It was no longer all up to me. My brother is always so supportive and helpful, and I knew I could lean on him. And Janell has a wit that can always make me laugh.

Janell and Frank

We arranged to meet at one of the restaurants for supper, and had a great time catching up while watching the land slowly recede. When we got back to the stateroom, Herbert had converted the sofa into DD's bed, brought us fresh ice, and turned the beds down.

My C-PAP had been located (missing the label I'd applied at the pier), and though the water never was, the service desk sent up another jug of distilled water. The ship was rocking over 4-12-ft. swells, so Jack donned a scopolamine patch just in case, and I downed a Meclizine because and we hit the hay.

(Tomorrow: first day at sea)

I'm Almost Back...

2011-09-01T02:42:00.001-04:00

...in a lot of ways.

I'll be uploading pictures from our Alaskan cruise this weekend, and yes, I bought fabric in Alaska! But not enough, I don't think. I need some Alaskan batiks!

More later. Thanks for staying with me here.

Thoughts

2011-06-26T09:27:00.005-04:00

(I started this post 2 weeks ago, then said thunderstorm took out the computer.)

It's a little after 3pm on Sunday. There's a load of clothes in the washer, one in the dryer, and about 3 in the baskets, waiting to be folded. Tandi, worn out by 5 days at the boarder's, is sprawled on the sofa, one eyeball occasionally following me about the room, but primarily snoring away. J-Man is sleeping in the recliner, his head propped on his right fist. I'll bet he'll be awakened by the pins-and-needles sensation soon. All the plants are finally watered, and of course, the summer afternoon rainshower has started, thunder rumbling and echoing around the mountains. It seems like a normal day, but it's surreal following an extraordinary week.

One week ago today, my nephew Garrett succumbed to complications from the injuries acquired in the April 27 tornados in Alabama. One week ago today, he left this earth to be with his wife Jennifer, and his brother Brandon, who also died 10 years ago this week. One week ago today, my other nephew became an only child, and his children became the only grandchildren my brother and sister-in-love will ever have. Odd to think of death in these terms.

Tues. Jack and I left for Birmingham, to stay with Frank and Janell for a few days. DD was already there, staying with the other nephew and his family. I was prepared to stay at a motel, giving my brother and his wife space to grieve, but they would have none of it. My sister-in-love should have been born under the sign of Cancer, not Leo, because she loves cooking for and tending to a house full of people. Hers is a back-door house, where only deliverymen ring the front doorbell. Everyone else enters through the kitchen, and close friends as well as family know where the spare key is kept.

The viewing was at the funeral home Wed. night, scheduled from 5-8 pm, with family coming a half hour early. When they opened the doors, the line was already down the hall, through the foyer, and out to the parking lot, and it was 9pm before everyone had come through and the doors were closed. Co-workers of Garrett and Jennifer came, as did co-workers of Frank and Janell, old friends, in-laws of family members; nurses who'd cared for Garrett came, and even the wife of the primary ICU physician left her 3-week-old infant to come and convey to my brother and his wife just how much Garrett and his family had meant to her husband. I got to meet Jennifer's parents for the first time, hugged family members I haven't seen in over 40 years, and saw friends from elementary school. It's different when you continue to live in the town where you grew up.

My brother, who has a wonderful voice, sang at yet another son's funeral. He sang the same song he did at Jennifer's funeral. I don't know how he did it. The chapel was standing room only. There was a brief graveside ceremony, with both Jennifer's parents and Garrett's parents releasing doves who joined a flock of others and flew home. Garrett was buried next to where Jenn had been buried 3 1/2 weeks before.

When we got back to the house, friends had already brought chicken, mac and cheese, slaw, baked beans, rolls--Southern food for sure. More friends came bringing more food, pizza, desserts, drinks. At one point, there were 6 little ones, ranging from 14 months to 6 years, a couple of teens, and 28 adults in the house. Guys clustered in front of the big screen TV and some sports event, women swapped birth stories and family gossip, babies were passed from one's hip to another's, barefooted kids ran the circle of rooms, and the kitchen table demographics shifted constantly. My sister's oldest girl had brought several family photo albums she found at her mom's, which prompted my sister-in-love to pull hers out. We laughed over big hair, sideburns, plaid tennis shoes ("Mom, why'd you let me wear those???), little girls in Easter dresses and little boys in short pants, Christmases past.

At one point, looking around at it all, my daughter dissolved in tears. "They should be here." She was right. It could have been any family gathering--Independence day, a birthday, Thanksgiving. It was a renewing of friendships, relationships, family ties.

In the midst of death, it was a celebration of Life.

Together Again

2011-06-05T08:41:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Jones June 7, 1985 - April 27, 2011

Garrett Jones March 7, 1986 - June 5, 2011

Still Here

2011-06-04T23:35:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been 3 1/2 days since we were told Garrett had only hours, at best 2 days, to live--and they underestimated. They underestimated the strength of Garrett's will and the Power of Prayer. On the facebook page "Prayers for Garrett Jones", there are over 5000 people signed up to pray at a specific time every night, and those are only the folks on FB. We have heard of prayer chains and church groups, and people who are not on the computer at all, but have heard of Garrett's plight and pray for him, his family, and the staff caring for him. It's miraculous in itself, and it's very humbling.

We aren't delusional; we know his condition is still critical, and his oxygen levels still dangerously low. Besides praying for him to survive, I also ask God that he not have brain damage, because to come through all this and then to spend the rest of his days in an adult diaper, being fed, would be too awful for words. So I pray for all that I want, because God knows what's in my heart, anyway.

Those who post on Facebook tell of their experiences of healing; how a 4-yr-old son survived the pediatric version of ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome); how an 80-year-old parent survived it; how a young woman survived it and wrote to tell us. We've heard from a soldier in Kuwait and one in Afghanistan, and we pray for them in return. Survivors of the Joplin tornado have sent their prayers. It's an amazing experience. I invite you to go and check it out, and if you feel so led, "like" the page and add your prayers to ours. Because of the sheer volume of responses and comments, I am still posting the updates on the blog for Garrett, to make it easier to sort through. We've been told of Caring Bridge, but I can't see how that is any more informative or convenient than what we already have.

Neither Frank nor Janell have been back to work yet. So far, their jobs are still available for them, and I pray that continues. We have set up an account for Garrett's use, for medical costs, and for supplies he will need when he comes home, and checks have been sent for Frank and Janell's use, as they pay at least $6.00/day in parking, and usually eat at the cafeteria or various fast food places around. Frank said he really misses home-cooked meals right now, and that his buns are being permanently re-shaped by the waiting room chairs. Day after day, they go up there and sit for hours, and sometimes they don't go home at night. Their faith is tested; my brother was in tears when he called me at 4:30 the other morning, but he ends almost every post with "Expecting a Miracle".

My co-workers have been so understanding. Several have offered to work for me if I have to miss a shift, or if I feel like I need to leave. So far I've not had to take them up on it; I have my meltdowns at home. They've taken up money to send my brother, and some others, who signed their card only "from some folks who care", have also sent an envelope of cash for my family. The chaplains sent Garrett $50.00. I can't tell them all "thank you" enough, and it seems so inadequate.

I hope and pray that none of them, nor the 5000+ ever find themselves in a similar situation, but if they should, I hope they call on me for prayers and help. I have a huge debt to repay.

We Need That Miracle Now

2011-06-01T13:33:00.001-04:00

Sorry, but just had to post this for those of you not on FB or not readers of the blog for Garrett.

Garrett has taken a serious turn for the worse, and, barring a miracle, it's only a matter of hours to a couple of days before all his organs fail. If his oxygen levels continue to remain this low much longer, he most assuredly would have brain damage. My brother and his wife have changed him to a Do Not Resuscitate status.

It's been 5 weeks today since The Tornado, since Jennifer was taken from us.

We're still praying for a miracle.

New Blog for Garrett

2011-05-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

I'm going to separate this out slightly. I've started a new blog entitled "Praying for Garrett" . This has pictures, links to articles, and all the facebook entries since Garrett was found. Sifting through all the posts and comments can be cumbersome, so I've placed them in chronological order. This way, newcomers to the group "Prayers for Garrett" can read his ordeal so far, and those who are not on Facebook, but read my blog and want to keep up with the latest can do so. I'll just limit my entries here to my own feelings or perceptions, and try to get back to normal blogging again.

Thanks to those of you who have gone over to the FB group and "liked" it. We're nearing 1000 already! Hope to have 1000 praying at the same time every evening, in addition to all the prayers that continually go up for Garrett.

Facebook Page for Garrett

2011-05-29T17:29:00.000-04:00

If you're on facebook and have been praying for Garrett, someone has started a page for him:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Prayers-for-Garrett-Jones/118038981615121

The plan is for all of us to pray at the same time every night, in addition to whenever you usually pray. It will be at 9pm EDT, 8pm CDT, 7pm MDT and 6pm PDT. If you're in other time zones, you'll have to figure it out, because I don't know the different zones! Also would like you to sign the page with your town and state, or country if you're not in the US, so we can see where the prayers are coming from.

Thanks to all of you who keep encouraging me and sending virtual hugs. They are so much appreciated.

Notes on Garrett

2011-05-28T02:26:00.001-04:00

If you've read more than enough about The Tornado and my nephew, and are ready for some other kinds of posts--you'll want to skip my blog altogether for a while. Nothing else is on my mind right now, though I will say I bought some fabric today to try and make a couple of summer dresses for myself.

I wanted to write about Garrett and what we've been through the past few days, but decided you could better understand it if I copied my brother's last few facebook posts. Here they are verbatim, no corrections in spelling or punctuation. Raw.

Thursday, May 26 4:30 pm

We have had a day of soul searching as we know that if conditions don't improve greatly in several areas, we will be forced to make possible life changing decisions for our son. I talked at length with a chaplain here, and her words were simple but clear. Her prayers for us after knowing us for four weeks are that (a) God will do what is best for Garrett and (b) what will bring the most glory to God, whatever that may be. There is nothing wrong with praying for healing, but if His will is not to heal Garrett here on earth, then we are trying to change Gods will. Not impossible, but improbable. She suggests we pray that God will, through our prayers, bring us in line with His will. And that, to me, makes sense. With literally thousands praying for us, I would ask that all of you pray that for us. God knows whats in our heart before we pray. But my prayers will be more effective if they ARE claiming His will, and not praying against His will. Does that make sense? I'm not blessed with articulation, but hopefully I've conveyed my thoughts well enough for you to understand. I'm still believing a miracle is coming, and that is the ONLY thing, according to the Doctors, that will change my Tiny Mans condition.
I do read all comments and messages, but with so many, I can't respond to every one, but please know my appreciation and love for all of you can't be put in words!

Update Midnight Thursday

Today has been extremely challenging. I realize my earlier post was vague, but due to my middle son not knowing about a crisis we were in, and not needing to inform him of it till after he got off work, I could not say anything for fear of it getting back to him before we could talk. Here is what transpired today. When we arrived at the hospital this morning we were informed of the Trauma dept head dr's of the need to put Garrett on dialysis due to worsening chemical imbalances, and early signs of possible kidney distress. The decision was ours, and being blindsided with this life changing scenario was quite distressing. This could effect Garretts quality of life when God allows him to walk out of here. Plus putting him on it will open a whole new world of infection possibilities. After stuggling for a couple of hours and deciding to allow it, the chief kidney specialist was called in and after his study of Garretts case and current evaluation, decided that it was not neccesary today, but could be at a future date. Maybe tomorrow, next week, but not today.
Then at 8PM tonight, Garretts pulse suddenly jumped from 120 to 200 and his BP started dropping. A facebook prayer request blitz happened at that time, thanks to a friend I was talking with when the doctor came to inform us of the crisis. A couple of shots os some kind of medication, and then a jolt from the paddles put him back in stride and 30 minutes after it happened he was back to his normal settings.

So now you are all up to date, and know why the earlier post wasn't more informative. Another days ride on the Garrett Coaster. We know there are more of these kinds of days ahead, and simply ask God for wisdom, strength for the journey, and the peace that passes all understanding. Good night everybody. (or good morning!)

Update Fri. 6:30 am
Just spoke to night nurse: Garrett had a very eventful evening as we slept. His heart repeated last nights episodes another 3 times....,the cardio specialists were called in and a medication they had used on the first 3 episodes was changed and his last event was at around 4:30 AM. Since his last "shock" to achieve rhythem, his heart rate has stayed in the 90's, his O2 is coming back up in the 60's now, his CO2 is the lowest it's been in a week (almost normal) and he is, as of 6:20, resting. Unbelievable. What a story we're going to have to tell him when he wakes up. More Later

Update Noon Friday
As I write this, They are putting Garrett on dialysis, will be a 24 hr.cycle, and they hope by doing this, it will reduce the toxins that are building up. Kidney function is still at acceptable levels, but chemical imbalances are present.Cardiac Dr never showed up, so we're still in the dark on what is specifically causing it. His current heartrate is 187, and I'm sure God has his hand around his heart because that makes about 14 hours this has been going on. There's a healing coming, just hope it's on this side of Jordan. Father, nothing I can do for Tiny Man but put him totally in your strong arms. It Is Well.

Update 11:30pm Friday

I'm sorry for the late posting, but from about 2:30 till 10:15 we had a steady stream of visitors and it was just a very very busy afternoon! Garrett is on the dialysis and has tolerated it very well. The kidneys were not in crisis but were showing signs of distress, plus toxins building up were possible causes of cardiac arythmia. So he will have 24-7 dialysis until such time as the kidney's functions and creatnin (?) levels return to normal for several days in a row. No idea how long that could take, but just glad he is tolerating it. Improved blood oxygen levels in the later evening hours are a welcome relief, and CO2 levels are now normal. White count level is coming down slowly, but moving in the right direction. His cardiac team ordered a new blood pressure medicine that they feel his body will tolerate better. Several early afternoon attempts to transition him to it were met with rejection, but persistance paid off, and he is close to a complete changover. Heart had to be shocked back into rythem again around 5 pm (5th time in 21 hours), but since then, BP which had been being between 65/60 to 95/65 (yes I said 65/60), when we left was 120/75, and heart rate which had been 185-200 BPM with no rythem had dropped to 80 sinus rythem. (I know I'm not spelling "rythem" right or am I, my brain is fried) A very marked improvement in cardiac function.
I will check his stats again between 6-8 AM and hopefully post a morning report by 9:00. We are normally at the hospital from 9:30 AM till 10PM. If I can figure out a way to bring my grill in and find a deck somewhere to throw a couple of ribeyes on, I will be one happy camper!

Neither my brother nor his wife have been at work in a month. Frank's company has assured him he still has a job, but they are so small, they cannot afford to pay him while he's off. Janell's company has continued her pay so far. I lend my voice to his, if there is an Express Oil Change near you, please give them your business for supporting her during this time.

As always, thank you all for your continued prayers. I don't know how we'd all make it through the day with the love and support of friends and strangers who pray for us.

Roller Coaster

2011-05-25T12:04:00.001-04:00

For over 4 days, Garrett was fairly stable, with no adverse events. Then the carbon dioxide level in his blood reached a critical level and something needed to be done. Since the doctors had not done a bronchoscopy to suction fluid out of his lungs since Thursday, they did a quick in-and-out at the bedside and were successful in removing a lot of junk. However, to do that, they must take him off the ventilator, and he did not tolerate the loss of pressure well. He was in crisis mode again, with medication to keep his blood pressure up and a temp of 103.5.

The doctors approached my brother and his wife about what they wanted done if Garrett should go into cardiac arrest. That is never a good sign. Basically, they said they are out of options; nothing more to offer at that point.

After talking about it, my brother and his wife and son decided the doctors could give whatever medications necessary, but they didn't want chest compressions or cardiac shocks. If his heart stopped, God could take him home, and though that's not what they wanted, they were at peace with it. Local family and friends gathered 'round to wait and pray, and the word was put out that we needed massive prayers. Again.

Late last evening the doctors decided to switch Garrett off the "pediatric" oscillating vent that keeps a continuous pressure and gives him 3 breaths/second and place him back on the original, traditional ventilator. He never does well with changes, and I don't think they expected him to survive it, but it was a last ditch effort.

Not only did Garrett survive the switch, he tolerated it without any setbacks, and this morning his carbon dioxide level, while still a little high, is no longer critical. His oxygen levels are still low, but his heart rate has slowed from the 140s to the 130s, and his fever dropped to 102.5. He is hanging onto the cliff by his fingernails, but he is still with us.

Prayer is a powerful thing.

Marginally Better

2011-05-22T01:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I find it so hard to be here, though I know there is really nothing much I can do in Alabama right now, except sit with family. It's just that getting information second-hand, from a non-medical person, is not very satisfying. I itch to be there to see him for myself, to ask questions, to read between the lines. I don't flash my RN around, but I do check his lines and drains and numbers. I can't help it; been a nurse too long.

Thursday, we thought for sure we would lose Garrett. But the prayers are working, because he's still hanging on. They decided to try something that they haven't had much success with--giving him nitrous oxide--because that helps oxygenate the cells better. For a while his levels were better, and then they dropped dangerously low again. So they switched him to a pediatric ventilator that gives him 3 breaths a second. Small miracles: there was only one of these not in use in that particular building (University Hospital covers 12 blocks in its entirety); there was a technician in-house, as well as a physician familiar with these particular ventilators; they were able to transition him to the new vent with only a minor drop in his levels. And then, the combination of the new vent and the nitrous oxide has been working. His lungs are functioning slightly better. They plan to leave him on this combo until Mon. or Tues., then possibly change him back to the other ventilator. For now, they are keeping him sedated and paralyzed to let the machine do its work.

The other big problem is the pneumonia/infection. He isn't responding to the 6 antibiotics they are giving him, though cultures show these are the correct antibiotics for the bacteria growing there. If they can't get this under control, it will undo all the progress they have made. So far, his vital signs remain stable, and his kidneys continue to function. We are grateful for small things, but worry about the pneumonia. Secretly, I worry what the lack of oxygen may have done to his brain, but I don't mention it to any of the family.

The nurses and doctors have been wonderful. Nurses call on their days off to see how he's doing--even the ones who haven't taken care of him. Doctors leave his bedside and go to the conference room to pray for guidance in caring for him--and this is not a faith-based hospital. We know the staff is doing their dead-level best to save him. I encouraged my brother to tape up some pictures of Garrett for everyone to see how he looks when he's healthy, because it helps to keep everyone focused on him as a person. So in addition to that, my sister-in-law brought in pictures of Garrett as a 3 lb 7oz preemie--and the staff is loving it! (Garrett is 6'4" now and weighed 285 when admitted.) One of the nurses who took care of him the other night was a guy he used to go to school with. We really are blessed to have such wonderful caregivers.

My brother and family have just about staked their claim on a certain area of the waiting room. They leave their stuff underneath the chairs, and no one bothers it when they aren't there. Those whose family members have "graduated" from Trauma ICU still come to check on Garrett's status and report on their own loved ones. Everyone rejoices when another one gets to be "promoted" or discharged, and give encouragement when someone takes a step backwards. It's a little community all its own, there in the waiting room. A community of draftees, not volunteers.

The Body's Here, but the Heart is in Alabama

2011-05-19T00:17:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all of you for your comments, and the prayers that I know are going on behind the scenes. I haven't read any blogs in a while now; I took my mini-computer with me so I could read them as I sat in the waiting room, but just couldn't keep focused.

Saturday night was a crisis; we called family in and at one time there were 15 of us sitting vigil in the waiting room. It was so heartbreaking and so stressful, but in the middle of all this, I was reminded of how much it means to have family and friends so close. Having moved across the country so many years ago, the three of us--J-Man, DD and I--grew to be our own support group, our own entity. I'd forgotten how comforting it is to just sit with family and friends, united in a common concern.

Sunday afternoon was Jennifer's graveyard service, and a reporter friend of my brother's family had this to say about it:
http://www2.alabamas13.com/blogs/mikes-blog/2011/may/16/mikes-blog-frank-jones-sang-again-sunday-ar-1850817/

It was a lovely service; the pastor was so positive and upbeat and brought several smiles to our faces. Afterwards we went back up to the hospital and socialized a bit. It was good to see everyone relaxing a bit.

Monday night I drove back home and got in about 1am Tues. morning. Today we're in crisis mode again. That nasty stuff in Garrett's lungs is causing major problems. His heart and kidneys and all are fine; it's just the lungs. I took my brother's dog to the vet on Saturday for a 2-week check-up on her broken paw, and he told me he's seeing the same thing with the animals that survived the tornados--a nasty pneumonia that just won't let go. Heaven knows what was in those winds: fertilizer, fiberglass, asbestos, lead paint, rat droppings--could be anything. Garrett's white count is extremely high, and his body is fighting it off as best as it can with the help of mucho antibiotics, but the right lung keeps filling up and has tried to collapse several times, so he now has 3 chest tubes in the right side alone, and one on the left. He's maxed out on the ventilator, and they are running out of options.

We need a miracle here, God. A genuine miracle. Do you hear me, God?

In Birmingham

2011-05-14T15:12:00.000-04:00

I drove down to Birmingham to visit Garrett and my brother and family yesterday. He's had a setback; is still on the ventilator and they have put him on total ventilator support to rest his lungs awhile. So he is unaware of us or time passage for now, and making microsteps forward.

Yesterday, a local TV station interviewed my brother and ran a personal touch story about the tornado and its aftermath. Here is the link if you're interested:

http://www2.alabamas13.com/blogs/Alabamas13-Weather-Blog/2011/may/13/concord-ar-1841869/

My brother's faith is strong, but everyone is having a hard time here. They're tired, riding the emotional rollercoaster, frustrated and still faced with the overwhelming everyday details of living. Please continue to keep them all in your prayers. Pray for strength, for rest, guidance and protection from illness for my brother, his wife, and his other son, as the two older have health problems already.

I'll post more later.

Thanks, friends.

Update

2011-04-28T19:10:00.003-04:00

They've found Jennifer. She had a severe head injury, and the coroner said she would have died quickly, maybe instantly. Her brother identified the body.

Garrett has been in surgery most of the day, with repairs to his arm. They found a place under his arm where he had been impaled , and were pulling out pieces of wood 2-3 inches long. They took the time to clean out that wound and several others. Tomorrow he'll go back to surgery to repair his broken jaws, right and left, and to clean out a head wound. He's being kept on the ventilator for now, until the major surgeries are completed, so he won't be told about her for a while.

The family is going to proceed with Jennifer's funeral, since they can't be expected to postpone it for 2-3 weeks. We don't know any details yet. Everyone is devastated. Jennifer and Garrett adored each other, and her family told my brother they'd never seen her happier in her life than she's been since they met. My brother and sister-in-love feel they've lost a daughter, not an inlaw.

Please continue to keep them all in your prayers, particularly my sister-in-love. She's a rock, but is taking this really hard.

Frank says it looks as if 2/3 of Alabama has been wiped off the map. My nephew says there is nothing above ground level left standing in their neighborhood: not a tree, not a bush--just foundations for homes that are no longer there. It's amazing that either one of them made it out of there at all.

Thanks again for all your support, and please remember all the victims and families of this catastrophic event.

Please....

2011-04-28T12:30:00.002-04:00

Blogging friends, I'm going to ask a huge favor. If you're a praying person, please send prayers. If you believe in good thoughts, positive energy, whatever, please send them our way.

Some of you may know I come from Alabama originally. I have family in Birmingham, Cullman, Blountsville and Tuscaloosa. Most of them are okay after yesterday's tornados. Two are not.

This is my nephew Garrett, and his bride of 8 months, Jennifer, taken on their honeymoon last August. Their house was leveled yesterday in the horrible tornado that ravaged Alabama. Garrett was found under a 5-foot pile of rubble approximately 100 yards from where his house used to be. He is alive, with a broken jaw, broken left wrist, broken left arm, slightly damaged spleen, bleeding around the kidneys, and a large gash in his right side. Right now he's on a ventilator at the University Hospital in Birmingham.

We don't know where Jennifer is.

When Kevin, Garrett's older brother, couldn't reach them by cell phone, he jumped in his car and went looking for them. He got there just as the first responders found Garrett, and helped them dig him out. They told Kevin there had been a female body nearby, no ID, and the body of a white bulldog in a cage, but they had already taken them to a staging area.

Garrett and Jennifer have a white English bulldog.

I've spoken with my brother, Garrett's dad, and Garrett will probably be all right, though he's not out of the woods yet. He doesn't know Jennifer's missing, and Frank doesn't know how to tell him. This is the same brother and sister-in-love who lost their oldest son to bone cancer at the age of 19--ten years ago this June. Janell also lost her mother 2 months ago.

Jennifer's dad has said if they call, he doesn't think he'll be able to go identify his little girl, so Frank will do it for him.

Frank and Janell have been through so much, and they loved Jennifer as a daughter. I can't believe they must go through this too.

So please, pray that Jennifer is found alive and well, and that Garrett heals completely. Miracles still happen everyday, and this family could use one. Please pray for strength for my brother and sister-in-love as they trudge through yet more tests of their faith.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks, all.

Stephanie

Rationalizations

2011-03-29T21:43:00.002-04:00

Happy Spring, everyone! Hope you're getting in some nice, warm, sunny days wherever you are! We've had some lovely warm weather, followed by lots and lots of chilly, rainy days. The forsythia have peaked, as have the daffodils and the Bradford pear trees. Tulips are beginning to bloom, and so have the trees I know only as tulip trees, as well as the weeping cherry trees. I got a little bit of raking done in the front flowerbed, but nothing else yet. So what HAVE I been doing? Not yard work. Not quilting. Not making jewelry. Not taxes. Not housework. Bless J-Man's heart, he so rarely complains, even when the dishes are piled up in the sink and the hamper is overflowing onto the bathroom floor and you can write your name in the dust on the end tables. I do think the Christmas tree still up in the dining room is getting to him, though. That's on my agenda for the long weekend I have coming up. Of course, I said that the last weekend I was off, too...

Actually, I've been pretty unproductive lately. Finally finished up physical therapy, and have just been lazy as a result. After 8 weeks of either staying late after work or getting up early and driving 30 miles roundtrip to go to PT, I rebelled. Last Monday, my first offday from PT, I stayed in my PJs until about 3 in the afternoon, playing on ancestry.com. What a black hole that is! I get to searching around on that site and just lose track of time entirely. Have you been watching their show Who Do You Think You Are?

It's been simply fascinating to me. Some folks have complained that they should profile non-celebrities' searches, but honestly, would you rather learn about Ashley Judd's family history or that of Joe Blow down the street? And yeah, I don't have the money to zip here and there across the country to visit actual sites, but hey, it's still entertaining to watch folks who can afford it.

It doesn't help matters that I broke down and bought myself a Kindle, either. Back when I first started going to PT, my therapist would set me up in a room after our exercises, and attach the electrical stimulator thingy with a hot pack onto my shoulder and there I'd be by my lonesome for about 20 minutes. After the first visit, I dug around in a box of yard sale finds and took a paperback book with me. I used to be such an avid reader, but have drifted away from it in past years. Well that's changed. One book led to another and then another and then I was talking to one of our surgeons who always arrives on the unit with his earbuds in place. Turns out he's listening to books on his MP3 player, downloaded from audible.com. He spends quite a bit of time traveling between the office and 2 different hospitals and this satisfies his need to read. I looked into that, but it seemed a little expensive over the long run, and besides, I have podcasts over a year old that I have yet to hear.

And I don't know about you, but I really never spent much time reading the classics when I was younger. I think teen years are generally too young to really appreciate the classics, no matter how much one loves to read. When I was in high school, we had to read 6 books a school year for English: 2 fiction of our choice, 2 non-fiction, and 2 from a list of required reads, such as Last of the Mohicans or Lord Jim. Frankly, Lord Jim was the only book I ever fudged and read "Cliff Notes" instead. I just could NOT get into that book. But when you have 6th period English Lit, all the good books have been checked out from the school library.

However, any book published before 1923 is generally out of copyright, so most of the classics are free on Amazon. I've downloaded about a dozen books, some free, and some that cost about half the published price. Currently, I'm reading Les Miserables. Besides being lightweight and easier to tuck in my purse or even jacket pocket, the Kindle also has a built-in dictionary, which is convenient for searching those old English (or old French) words unfamiliar to me. Yes, I know I can borrow books from the library for free. But when I go, I always come home with more than I can read in 2 weeks' time, so I rack up big bucks in overdue fines. As in $8.00 at a whack.

Now there are some books I'll always buy in hardback; my Stephen King books, for example. I also bought a boxload of hardback James Patterson books at a yard sale this weekend for $1.00 each. I won't keep those; I'll donate them to a thrift store when I finish, because I just don't have the storage room for every book I want to read. But with my daughter also owning a Kindle, we can swap books easily--even though we're 7 hours apart.

Okay, that was a totally unpaid advertisement for Kindle.

Oh, and did I mention "Dancing With the Stars" is on again?

With all these distractions, who can concentrate on mundane things like cooking and laundry?

Yes, Virginia, There Really IS a Quilt Police Force.

2011-02-28T19:19:00.000-05:00

I just have to link to this post today; it really burns me up to read of such snobbery. With a little research, you can figure out exactly who the Quilt Police are.

Stephanie to Blog World: Come in, Please.

2011-02-26T13:55:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm jumping back into the blogging game, even though I don't feel I have anything very interesting to write about. I think it's just been the usual winter blahs. So I'll just do some "bullet point" posts here to catch you up to speed.

Still doing physical therapy on the arm, and it's much stronger, though not up to speed just yet. I am getting tired of PT, though, so this is probably my last week. I can now sleep at night and do most things without discomfort. Yay!
Because I'm still on lifting restrictions, and my arm still fatigues quickly, there has still been no sewing or ironing, and that Christmas tree is still in my dining room, fully decorated.
Finished precepting one student nurse, a gal after my own heart, and now am co-precepting another to help him get all his hours in in time to graduate. I've really enjoyed this.
Planning a cruise to Alaska! We're booked in August and now I'm trying to get the info together to get our passports. Jack has never had a birth certificate, so his will be a challenge.
Stuck at 35 pounds lost; juggling the same 3 lbs over and over again.

Took a 2-hour class at a local beading store making a pendant out of microscope slides. I still have some more accessorizing to do on it, but when I finish, I'll post a picture. It was a lot of fun, and I'm thinking of playing with some funky jewelry making. Nothing fancy, but they will make fun gifts.
Along the same line, I've been playing with my Kumi-loom and discovered the neatest yarn shop, where I bought some yarn to use for my funky necklaces. The shop is run by a husband and wife team, and I think he's from the middle east, but they both knit and teach knitting--he teaches lefties and she teaches right-handers. The yarns are so lovely, it almost makes me want to start crocheting again!
I've decided to sort out and sell a lot of my rubber stamps and supplies, keeping only a few special ones. It's been years since I made Christmas cards or Thank-You cards, and I'm not into scrapbooking, so the stamp pads are probably all dried out. Heck, I can't even remember what some of those supplies are for.
My oldest Compassion child, Dalia from El Salvador, turned 18 this month, and has graduated from the program. We've been writing for 10 years now, and it makes me feel like an empty-nester all over again. I'm allowed to write her one final letter, and then that's that. Fortunately, I still have Aduri in Bangladesh, and she's only 11 so there are many more years til we have to say goodbye.
But I did miss my Spanish-speaking gal enough to go online and find another little girl: Maria in Columbia. She's 8 (I'm drawn to the 7- and 8-year-olds) and born on one of my favorite days of the year. Can you guess which day?

The weather is greatly improved! After getting home from PT, Tandi and I took a walk at a nearby park, and look what we saw:

Daffodils, I think!

Maybe daylilies?

The first forsythia blossom. ( Sorry for the blurriness--it's my new Coolpix point and shoot and I haven't mastered it yet.)

Spring is coming!

2 in One Month

2011-01-25T00:49:00.001-05:00

Wow, I'm on a roll, right? 2 blog posts in the same month!

Okay, let's play catchup. First off, I am trying to get caught up on all your blogs. Usually I'm able to knock off 10-12 posts or more while at work on slow nights, but I'm precepting a student nurse who will graduate in March and feel I ought to at least pretend to work.  She's doing so well, though, she should be finished with me in a couple more weeks.

What else? Well, Workers' Comp is still "investigating" my arm re-inury, but in the meantime they've sent me to one of their docs. Xrays show no fractures, so it seems I have strained my rotator cuff and my deltoid muscle. I'm on Celebrex ($130.00 for a 30-day supply!), Flexeril as needed (knocks me for a loop!), physical therapy, and a 40# lifting restriction with no overhead work. This means Christmas may extend into February.

Yep, the tree's still up. I don't turn the lights on anymore, though.

The PT scheduler, knowing I work nights, tried to be helpful and made my appointments for 8am Mon-Wed-Fri. People, I don't see the sunrise unless I've worked all night. This getting up at 6:15 to be showered and dressed and at someplace by 8am is killing me! It's not by accident that I work night shift.

Appointments are ruling my life these days:
     Last Tues. I had a repeat mammogram and ultrasound at 10:45 (just fluid cysts again), met with the home medical folks at 1pm to get a new C-PAP mask, and saw the WC doc at 2:45.

     Today I had PT at 8am, saw my ENT doc at 9:30 and endured the yearly GYN exam at 10:30.

     Fri. I will have PT at 8:00, get a bone density scan at 9:30am and try for a hair appointment by noon.

     Next Tues. I only have 2 appointments (so far): dental cleaning and a WC follow-up Whatever will I do with myself the rest of the day?

No sewing or quilting yet this month. I tend to hunch my shoulders when machine sewing, so that doesn't work, and the forward motion of rotary cutting is one that causes difficulty. I need to dig around and find some handwork to take with me to all these appointments.

In the meantime, I ordered a Kumiloom starter kit and additional book. Have you ever heard of kumihimo? I hadn't til a couple of months ago when someone in blogland mentioned it (can't remember who.) The starter kit had a few strands of yarn in it, and easy as it looked, my braid was still a little lumpy. Guess the tension wasn't even.

Anyway, look at some of these examples:

Bracelet

Examples of braids

I wish you could get a closer look, but that's a fish with bubbles coming out of his mouth--so cute!

How clever is this one?

Not your average friendship bracelets, wouldn't you say? Apparently some of the art quilters are using this in their work, too, especially with the beading. I have a lot of beads left from when I used to bead earrings many moons ago, and other sizes that I've added over the years. I love beads, but really haven't used them in quilting except for that one daisy wallhanging. I can see myself playing with them again, but doubt I'll ever aspire to this level:

In the true traditional form, you should be on your knees in front of the maru dai, and lifting each thread with the open fingers and hands--not between the thumb and finger. Very graceful and oriental, but I don't do knees. Or grace.

But I can see how it would be very meditational to work on one of these.

One thing the month has brought, however, has been a LOT of reading. So far I've read the entire Hunger Games trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. (Yeah, I know they're considered young adult fiction, but I liked them. The author really knows how to grab your attention and not let go.)

I've also just finished Sundays at Tiffany's, by James Patterson, author of the Alex Cross novels and the Women's Murder Club mysteries. It was fluff, a quick read with an interesting premise, but not much thought or substance to it. No matter. Getting interrupted to go from one waiting room to another requires light reading.

Just to let you know that I do read non-fiction, one of the books I'm currently reading is Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness. No, I am not a Rush Limbaugh fan. Nor do I want to learn how to skin a squirrel with a pocketknife or eat pine bark. However, we've had a rash of snowstorms the last couple of years, and I thought it might just be a good idea to figure out a preparedness plan, what to stock, etc., especially since I've had to leave Jack here alone while I spent a couple of days sleeping at the hospital or hotel. If I can have everything together and easily accessible for him, I won't worry as much when I'm gone. This book encourages you to look at your own situation, what emergencies are likely to occur, and any special needs you may have, such as small children, pets or disabled adults. This guy's writing style is conversational, easy to read, and, well, practical.

Last, but certainly not least, is the $376 plumbing bill today. Sheesh. Yesterday I spent several hours trying to plunge and then snake a plugged commode, and the only result was more arm pain. I felt somewhat validated today when the plumber didn't have any success, either. So we have a new toilet in the master bath, and a new floater thingy in the guest bedroom's toilet. I'd post a picture, but really doubt you'd want me to. Suffice it to say the commode is taller, which is easier for Jack, and it's low-flow. That's not what I would have chosen, but between that and fixing the slow leak, we should see the water bill go down considerably next month.

This has been an expensive month! If this keeps up and if WC denies my claim, I may meet our annual deductible of $3500.00 all by myself in the first 32 days of the year.

More snow and sleet in the forecast for tomorrow, but no accumulation is "expected". Doesn't mean it won't happen, though. But at least we don't have the same problems as this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1453678875/ref=oss_product

Snow Day

2011-01-11T01:17:00.000-05:00

Can the month be 1/3 gone already?? I had bigger plans for January than this.

Christmas is still in force here at the Scraps household. Tree's still up, inside and outside lights are still up (but not on!) and there are still gifts in their boxes, waiting for someone to play with them. Seems all I've done is work and lie around in bed or on the sofa. The sinus infection left me so congested, I couldn't use my C-PAP for 9 days, so sleeping was a distant memory, and I think that's why it's taken so long to get over this virus thing.

But Friday night I found the right combination of meds and got my first night's sleep in over a week and wow, what a difference! The bathrooms are now cleaned, groceries were bought, the sewing room was put back together, Mount Washmore has almost been conquered and there was even some cooking done!

And then it snowed.

And it snowed some more.

And I shoveled. And shoveled. Then the snowplow came and re-deposited snow onto my driveway.

I have a love/hate relationship with the snowplow.

Thurs. night I was put on call, which was great for me, since I was so tired, but they called Fri., Sat, and Sun. to ask me to work. I felt really guilty saying no, but I had worked sick for 3 shifts, and was exhausted and the house was a mess. When I got up Mon. morning, I was so glad I'd said no. There was no way I'd have made it home until 3pm when the snowplows finally got to my road, and I have to work Tues. and Wed. nights as it is.

Tandi amused herself by attempting to prune the rosebushes for me.

But after sticking with me through repeated shovelings, even Tandi was losing her enthusiasm for the snow.

So was I.

Then my little Halloween helpers came by and spent some time re-posing Napoleon Bone-apart.

Napoleon sported a Santa hat for Christmas; now he just serves to remind me where the edge of the driveway is.

Maybe on my next offday, I can get the cars taken care of, and on the one after that, take down Christmas, and THEN maybe I'll get to sew.

Maybe.

Last Post of the Year

2010-12-31T16:46:00.000-05:00

This has been SOME week!

You'll remember we had Christmas on the 24th, because I had to work the 25th. What I didn't tell you was that we got a phone call right in the midst of unwrapping gifts on Friday. My youngest brother, the black sheep of the family, was found dead Christmas Eve morning. The best we can figure is a heart attack, since nothing else seems out of whack. He had been living with my mother and stepfather, helping them out, and when he didn't wake up early as usual, she found him. With the holidays, arrangements were in limbo for a few days, and I wasn't sure whether we'd try to go or not. I won't go into the weird family dynamics (I'm sure you all have some of those), but I hadn't seen him in over 20 years, and hadn't seen or spoken to my mother in even longer than that.

Saturday it began snowing--and snowing and snowing! We got a total of 8 inches where we are, and I wrenched my arm coming out of a skid trying to get to work. I first tried to drive DD's car, since Jack's was unreliable, but got stuck twice, and had to be pushed up a hill by 4 neighbors. I transferred everything over into the SUV and made it in early, but my right arm became increasingly more painful as the night went on, and I couldn't lift it more than about waist high. After getting off work Sun, I went down to the ER and got it checked out. It's probably a strained deltoid, but since it was a re-injury of a strain from lifting patients several weeks ago, I'm to see an orthopedist if it's not better in 7-10 days. They gave me a sling, which has helped considerably.

Mon. we got the word that my brother's funeral would be on Tues, so after talking it over, DD and I drove down to Birmingham to stay with my other brother and his wife. Jack stayed here and kept the dog and DD's cat and just held down the fort. DD hadn't seen her cousins in years, so it was good for her to visit with them, despite the reason. Tues. night after the funeral, they all went out for Thai food and had a great time! I got to spend more time with my other brother and my sister as well as all the nieces and nephews--that makes twice in one year!

Wed. we left there and drove back here to NC, and Thurs. morning DD left here headed for HER home. That's a lot of driving in just a few days, but she's young and beautiful and she can do it. lol Yesterday I had the mandatory mammogram done, and last night came down sick with what is probably a sinus infection. I had chills and fever, with a temp of 101.4 and a very sore throat, but the worst seems to be over for now. However, the Christmas stuff is going to stay up for a while longer. Lifting is still difficult, and I don't even feel like playing with my "new toys" for now. I plan to continue vegging out on the couch and may not see 2011 come in. I will have to work this weekend, so conserving energy seems to be the best option.

Here's hoping 2011 will be a wonderful year for us all, and if you're making resolutions, hoping that they'll last more than a week!

Anybody Home?

2010-12-24T18:18:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been out of commission for the last few weeks--seems like I would never get caught up. And I almost didn't. We had our Christmas this morning, since I have to work Christmas night, and didn't really want to get up, have Christmas, then go back to bed before going to work, and then come home to DD leaving on Sun. morning. At 10pm last night, I declared the tree finished, even though only about a third of our ornaments were on. When DD went off to bed at 11pm, I began wrapping gifts. By 2am I had lost 3 gifts, one pair of scissors, and all my creativity. Found the gifts, got to bed by 3:00, but haven't found the scissors yet!

Here's what I ended up doing for ICU/Telemetry decorating this year:

These were repeated over all the doors in both units.

One wreath over a wrapping-paper covered bulletin board in ICU, one in Telemetry.

A little tree behind the nurses' station in Telemetry,

and a bigger one in ICU, because they had more space.

And wreaths for the glass doors on the rooms in ICU.

My sewing room is a wreck.

DD came in on Monday, and we've had a really good time with her and the animals (she brought both the dog and the cat.) She set her alarm and we got up at 3am to view the lunar eclipse, but it was overcast, so we hurried back to bed. We've watched Sleepless in Seattle, Scrooge, other movies, finished shopping, cooked a little, and just hung out. Wed. we all went to a very entertaining Christmas play and then out to eat. It's been good family times here at the Scraps household.

There have been a couple of glitches, though. I remembered my car registration hadn't been renewed and needed to get my emission test done first as well as an oil change, so I swung by on my way to the store and had them do it all, including rotating my tires, which was also overdue. One of the mechanics came in very apologetically to tell me he'd broken off the stem under one of the lug nuts. It was stripped and just broke off, and I don't even remember who rotated them the last time. I've been so busy, I forgot to call the place the next day so they could make arrangements to fix it. They said it would be okay to drive with 4 lug nuts/stems, but it would need to be fixed soon.

Then Jack's car has been haunted. (You'd think it would have been mine, right?) It's been locking and unlocking itself, and sometimes the inside lights go on and off. He was going to take it in next week to be checked, but last night it apparently stepped up the pace, and when Jack went to make a trip to the grocery store for me, the battery was all but dead, and the security alarm was making weird noises. Our roadside assistance service sent out a repairman, who managed to jump start it, but said we really need to get a new battery. Right. 5pm on Christmas Eve. Last year on Christmas Eve, there was snow and ice on the ground and I scraped my daughter's car as I backed out of the garage. I think we are going to refuse to drive any car on Christmas Eve ever again. As it is, I'm supposed to work tomorrow night and of course, it's supposed to start snowing tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed either the roads won't be bad, or we'll be able to start the car.

Oh, and one other thing: I went to see my doctor last week, and my A1C, the 3-month compilation of blood sugar averages, has come down from a moderately dangerous 8.6 to a high normal of 6.5 in the 4 months I've been on the South Beach diet. I've also lost 35 pounds and lowered my cholesterol a little. Still got lots to work on, but the progress is encouraging!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and that you all make wonderful memories tomorrow!

End of November

2010-11-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

Where has this month gone? Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Did you get to spend time with family?

DD has a major deadline coming up next week, so we didn't get to see her this holiday. It'll be Christmas soon, though, and I hope she has some vacation time left and can spend more than just a couple of days here.

We did have a couple of visitors, though. Well, Tandi and I did. Tandi wants them to play, but I think they come by hoping I'll go back to giving them treats again.

The black and white dog loves to chase cars, and I'm worried one day she'll get hit. This was just as a car was coming up the street.

The brown dog is shyer, but has the sweetest expression in her eyes. I'd adopt her in a heartbeat if we didn't have Tandi.

I don't know to whom they belong, but I think they're the reason Tandi got fleas earlier this summer, so I don't encourage them to stick around.

As for me, I had 4 days of PDO to use or lose by Christmas, so I took one day last week, and will be spacing the other 3 out during the next few weeks. Since I was off Mon-Fri night, I decided to go ahead and cook, even though there were only going to be the two of us, and one of us is on the South Beach Diet.

Challenges can be so overrated.

I did try some new dishes off Kalyn's Kitchen website: baked artichoke hearts au gratin, Double Berry Jello salad, and SBD-friendly Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with a crushed pecan crust. Oh, my, goodness. That pie was SO good. Jack had dressing with gravy, and pecan pie, but he liked my cranberry salad better than the canned jellied stuff he usually prefers.

My weight loss has ping-ponged between 31 and 33 lbs for the last 3 weeks, and I think I'm going to have to go back on phase 1 for a few days just to get back in the right mindset. Now that I've lost enough to be comfortable in the next size down, I find my motivation to be slipping a bit. In 2 weeks I go back to my doc for repeat bloodwork and I am expecting much better numbers and a pat on the back. Maybe that'll help. I haven't told DD yet, and she hasn't seen me since July, so there's another reason to keep plugging.

Outside the weather was beautiful the last 2-3 weeks, with temps in the low 60s, until a cold front came through on Fri., and now the nighttime temps are below freezing. The Bradford pears are the last to change colors and drop their leaves, holding on to autumn as long as they can.

They're also the first to announce that spring is on the way, with hard little buds appearing as early as February. It's as if they know their time on earth is limited and they don't want to spend any more time sleeping than Mother Nature makes them. One of them is struggling mightily, and I don't know if it will last the winter, or collapse with the first ice storm. Maybe we'll get lucky and not have any ice storms this year.

Sure.

My manager at work asked if I'd head up the Christmas decorating of ICU/Telemetry this year, because I "had such a fantastic Halloween display". Pure flattery, as he didn't see it himself, and besides, being able to do Creepy and Macabre does not guarantee one can do Comfort and Joy. But I'm a sucker for flattery, so I agreed.

Since themes seem to help me stay focused, I made an executive decision and chose "An Old-Fashioned Christmas". We have a lot of elderly patients who will enjoy it, and I think it's something most people can relate to, whether we've experienced these ourselves, or watched "The Waltons" on TV or seen Norman Rockwell's work.

Here's hoping I can pull this off--but if not, someone else will get asked next year and I'll be off the hook, right?

November

2010-11-11T09:10:00.001-05:00

The yard looks bare without all the Hallowe'en stuff in it.

All that's left are the two wheat straw bales with some pumpkins on top, the little skeleton who is also perched on it and waving to passersby, and the spiderweb on the house that I can't quite get to behind the bales.

I spent most of last Tues. and Wed. pulling everything down, as it was supposed to rain, and then spent Thurs. and Fri. in continuing education classes. Then it was time to go back to work, so lots of items are piled on the back porch for now, waiting to be sorted into the various storage bins.

For years, I managed to miss working the fall time change night--a 13-hr shift--because it fell on the last Sunday in October, and that was usually close enough to Hallowe'en to be included in my "vacation" time. Now that they've extended it an extra week, it ain't happening. Drats. Then, to my pleased surprise, census dropped on Saturday and I was put on call--and didn't have to come in. Dodged another one! I used the time to cut open some of those pumpkins that never got carved, and tried a couple of recipes using the seeds: both found on Delia's blog. Still haven't found a recipe I really like--and there are probably 8-9 pumpkins left out there. I hate for them to go to waste, so maybe I should just clean and dry the seeds and toss them out for the wildlife. Do critters eat the insides of the pumpkins, too? I know Tandi was trying to get at one.

The weather's been mild this week, with highs in the mid 60s, though it has been windy. Tandi and I spent a lot of time outdoors on Tues, futilely raking leaves off the bushes and out of the flower beds. Our friend the Mower Man has a mulching attachment on his riding mower, which saves me from having to fill bag after bag with leaves. The Bradford Pears are always the last to drop their leaves, and they are holding on mightily. Last week's cold snap killed off the last of the coleus, celosia and herbs, and the Mexican heather is about to give up the ghost. The tipsy pots came down and are stored in the crawl space until spring.

This is the one plant in it that hasn't died yet. I believe it was the only perennial in the pots, and I'm not sure if I should at least put it on the back porch, or in the house, or ust leave it outdoors to renew itself in the spring.

It's supposed to stay mild through the weekend, so I may have one last chance to get some spring bulbs into the ground. Even the rose bush is still blooming.

It was warm enough that when I got tired, I just plopped into the hammock, which is up for just a few days longer. With a light quilt, it would have been easy to take a nap out there.

I'm really itching to get into the sewing room, which is in a critical state of havoc right now.

There are UFOs in there, pleading to be finished, not the least of which is the string quilt I started for DD 2 years ago.

I got stuck when it came time to sandwich it, and I'm still not sure what to do. The strings are sewn onto muslin, of course, making them a double layer already, so they only need a fabric backing. But the border is only a single layer, so do I try to cut a thin batting for the already attached border and then baste the whole thing to a fabric batting? Or do I just quilt the border more densely, giving it the weight it needs to hold up to the string center?

No one has had answers for me so far. I wish I hadn't put a border on it, but I ran out of the fabric I was using for the center string, so couldn't make any more squares, and adding a border was the only way to make it large enough for a sofa quilt.

If you've got any suggestions for me, I'd appreciate it, because I'd really like to get this finished and off to her so she can enjoy it before spring gets here again!

Halloween

2010-11-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

Whew! It's over. 363 days to plan the next Halloween. No matter how much I think I have it all planned out, the last day or so, sometimes the last couple of hours, I end up trying to put out more items or rearrange what I have. Anyway, here's how it all turned out.

This is the view from inside my sewing room on a truly sunny day. I've posted the view from the outside at night, but I get to enjoy it during the day. Now, however, I'm anxious to get it down and get my room de-spooked and ready for sewing again!

And the kitchen window, looking out:

The front door:

The hall bathroom before the party:

And the shelf :

During the week I had the tall skeletons out on lawn chairs in the yard, while the short one rode the flowerpot tricycle with pumpkins in the back. Not scary, but fun to view. For Halloween, I scattered the skeletons and the pumpkins about the yard as if there'd been some random carnage. Here's a daytime view before I show you the nighttime pics:

The little guy ended up in a tree with his ghost dog below:

Night views:

The "dude" responsible for the situation:

And then there was the graveyard.

By day:

By night:

One of the witch jars hanging in the trees to the left of the graveyard:

Remember the little casket MightyMom gave me? This is what I did with it.

There were "jewels" all around the sides. I put a finger inside and the kids all wanted to touch it. Since it was made of soap (found in an Etsy shop), it was slick and just a bit slimy. On the end, I smeared red hot glue, from Hot Blood. It was so realistically colored--even in the daylight, it looked amazingly real.

Then I painted the glass box as well, and it held the glowing heart.

These were extracted from clients who refused to pay me. The casket cackles maniacally when opened.

This was my table inside the gypsy tent:

My "jewels"--payment for placing or removing curses:

The shelves of potions and "trophies":

You can see the glowing heart there in the middle:

I placed the carnival mirror just to the right so the kids could see themselves when they came in. They loved it. I really needed more light, but their flashlights and glow sticks helped. This is the view of the shelves opposite through the carnival mirror:

Inside the tent, I burned clove-scented candles bought from Dark Candles, and every female over 12 years old commented on how good it smelled inside the tent. In the graveyard, I burned--of course--"graveyard" scent. The REALLY good scents I've selfishly saved for inside the house. Later. For me.

In anticipation of sitting outside and toasting marshmallows at the party, I'd bought a firepit at Ace Hardware. They had marked it down from $60.00 to $40.00, so I decided it was a good deal, and am I ever glad we bought it, even though we didn't use it Saturday night. Halloween night was cold, so I had the firepit set up about 10 feet outside the tent, and had those duraflame logs burning. It was nice to go out and warm my hands, and it helped the visitors know where to go, as I had blocked my driveway with my truck, and turned out the front porch lights. Once they saw me in front of the fire (which wasn't real easy, as I was dressed all in black, except for a red scarf around my head and lots of shiny jewelry), they figured out the candy was in the tent.

And we had just as many kids on Sunday night as we did on Saturday night, only they were all spread out over the evening, and I recognized them as more of the neighborhood kids. One of the parents stood there and looked around and asked "Where do you store all this?" I had to answer her, "I don't know."

But it was worth it.

And They Just Kept on Coming....

2010-10-31T00:20:00.001-04:00

Oh. My. Gosh.

I was already running behind due to the rain and/or wind for 3 days running this week, not to mention the handyman (who was also here 3 days this week!), so the last 48 hours I've been trying to play massive catch-up. The canopy tent went up Thurs. afternoon, despite a beginning wind, and the walls went up on Friday. This morning my little neighbor and I hung black sheets inside the tent, put out the casket, mummy parts, and skeleton groundbreaker, and assembled the firepit for tonight's party.

Then I came in and damp mopped the floors, threw one of the cake mixes for Kitty Litter cake into the oven, sent Jack to the ABC store, picked up what I could and threw white sheets over everything else, and grabbed a shower. The party was to start at 5. It was 6pm before anyone came, and then a couple more families came. All of a sudden the doorbell started ringing off the wall.

Trick-or-Treaters were out in full force tonight. I have to confess, I was taken completely by surprise. I thought we might have a dozen or so due to Hallowe'en falling on a Sunday night, here in the upper edge of the Bible Belt, but I was not prepared for the influx we had tonight. At one point the kids were lined up down my steps, my sidewalk and into my driveway! There were at least 30 of them. I have never had this many kids at one time in all the years I've been giving out candy. I don't think most of them live in this neighborhood, even. There were only 2-3 I recognized.

I think what happened is, downtown Hendersonville had their "festival" on Main Street tonight, (with a headless horsemand and carriage, no less) and when it was over, about 7pm or so, some neighborhood native said, " I know--let's go out to ______; there's a Hallowe'en nut lives in that place." It was a darned parade!

And the thing is, the yard haunt isn't finished yet! I didn't get the dry ice into the casket, I haven't carved the first jack o'lantern, there are still more ghosts and creepies to put up, I haven't even tested the fogger, the witch jars aren't ready to hang, and the cobwebs are still in the bags. And the tent is dark. My light sources weren't even in there and neither was I. But you know, as I went out there to show my next door neighbors more of the almost-finished product, I didn't see a single thing vandalized or even missing. I really appreciate everyone respecting our property.

Poor Tandi is on sensory overload. There were 3 kiddos in the house, including a 2-year-old, who could crawl under the table where Tandi was trying to take refuge, and at one point he even crawled into her crate. Between that and the almost constant ring of the doorbell , she was freaking out, despite the doggy Prozac I gave her this afternoon. There was no safe place for her, so she finally lost it and snapped at the little boy. At that point, I put her in the crate and pulled the sheet down. The poor baby needed a break, and I didn't want her to hurt anyone. Next year, she'll spend party time at the boarder's place. This was the whole point in putting up the tent--to re-route all the ToTs away from the doorbell so she wouldn't go psycho on me. Who knew there would be so many tonight?

Tomorrow I will need to make another run to the grocery store for more candy, as I have about 1/3 left, and will be putting out the last of the props. I have to say, even for an amateur, they look pretty good--especially in the dark. If I weren't so doggone tired I'd go take pictures now, while it's quiet.

So another pictureless post for now. Crystal Dragonfly, if you're reading this, I have to tell you the casket is a hit! Thanks for passing it (and more) on to me via Craigslist.

I'm Not Paranoid. They Really ARE Out to Get Me.

2010-10-27T00:37:00.006-04:00

I have taken several nights off, as usual for this time of year, hoping to finish up the yard haunt and inside preps for the party. I had it all set up.

Mon: Sears man to deliver the new flat screen TV hubby and I bought ourselves on Friday for our anniversary last month.

Problem 1: We didn't buy a table for it at Sears, because Jack said he'd seen some inexpensive ones at Wal-Mart. When will I remember there are always big gaps in his stories? He saw some wooden cabinets he thought might work, but won't hold the size we're buying.

Solution 1: So Saturday I spent a valuable hour searching online at Wal-Mart, Sears, Best Buy, Lowe's and Home Depot before I found one that had good reviews, looked nice, fit a 55" TV and was in stock. With Best Buy, I could pay for it online, then hubby could drive over while I slept, and have them load it in the car. The plan was to put it together after I got home on Monday. We won't even talk about the fact that the one at Sears was on sale and about $70.00 cheaper.

Problem 1a: The darned thing weighs 83 lbs and I can't get it up the garage stairs into the house, even with a dolly.

Solution 1a: Delay the delivery until Wed. afternoon, and add it to the list of projects for the Handyman Matters guy to do on Tues. morning.

Tues, HM guy was to come over and do some repairs, set up the TV table and install the ceiling fan hubby bought me for my birthday (which was in July), but that I didn't pick out until last week. I also arranged for Tandi to be at the groomer's to minimize trauma for her and protect our ears from her alarmed barking.

Problem 2: The ceiling fan post isn't long enough to clear my slanted cathedral ceiling; the re-caulking and drywall repair of the bathroom was more extensive than originally thought, and it's raining, so he can't replace the facing that blew off the side of the roof until it stops.

Solution 2: Make a quick run to Lowe's for an extension rod for the ceiling fan, and get one for the kitchen fan at the same time, as it wobbles due to poor clearance of said slanted ceiling. Also, schedule return visit for Wed. afternoon to finish the bathroom.

Problem 2a: Extension rod for the kitchen ceiling fan, which are now all standardized, is too large in diameter to fit the 20-year-old fan--discovered after the fan has been taken down from the ceiling.

Problem 2b: Also, rain + wind is predicted to continue through Wed., which may prohibit facing from being attached.

Solution 2a: HM guy thinks he might can find a smaller extension rod through his ex-brother-in-law.

Solution 2b: Bag it until next week.

Bonus: Ceiling fan is now up in sewing room, and gives off twice as much light as the old fixture. Hurray!

Bonus 2: TV table is put together! (no pictures at this time) Of course, it's sitting in front of the monsterous big screen TV, which will have to be moved out to get the new TV in. And did I mention the carpet cleaner is coming in the morning?

Problem 3: HM left about 2:30 this afternoon, and at 3pm, the groomer called to say Tandi was ready. Solution 3: That didn't leave much time to do anything but finish the deep cleaning I was giving the kitchen, and dust the living and dining rooms in preparation for the carpet cleaner. I decide to tackle the laundry and start carving jack o'lanterns after a quick supper.

Back home by about 4pm, Tandi freaks a bit at the new thing hanging from the ceiling in Momma's sewing room, the new table in the living room, the rearranged back porch (where I had to put the coffee table) and the scent of a stranger in her house. We haven't shown her the bathroom yet. Her little heart could only take so much, I'm afraid. Since I only slept 4 hours last night, my butt is dragging, so when I sit down for a few minutes in the recliner, I fall asleep for about half an hour.

Problem 4: Did I mention it's rained all day? At 5:50 pm, the power goes out. Supper has not yet been started.

Solution 4: Change into a clean shirt (found with the aid of a flashlight) and go to the Firehouse for supper. Diet be damned. We pass the guys from Duke Power working at the entrance to our neighborhood. Yay!

Problem 4a: After supper, we drive home through thunder and lightning. The repairmen are smart enough to get in out of the storm. The power is still off. Tandi is freaked and her wireless collar is beeping, which usually precedes a sting for venturing outside the boundaries.

Solution 4a: Remove Tandi's collar and let her sit in Jack's lap for a while. Light the oil lamps, and several halloween candles, fish the battery-powered radio out of the closet and listen to Delilah while folding a load of clothes. Never mind there is still a wet batch in the washer.

Bonus 3: The power comes on at 9:45pm, just in time to turn on the last few minutes of "Dancing With the Stars" and see Audrina and Tony get voted off. What the heck????? Did her telephone number quit working or something? KURT needed to go!

Bonus 4: Tandi and I are going to bed now, because the carpet guy, the Sears guy and the Handyman are all coming over tomorrow. Maybe we could just sleep through it all?

Bonus 5: Here are some quick photos of the inside of the house (which isn't finished yet, either.)

Entryway:

Now look at his face from a different angle:

Entrance into the kitchen:

Above the sink to the left:

Above the sink to the right:

Above the Hoosier:

In the darkened hallway beside the garage. The right goes to the master bedroom.

It's a funhouse "mirror", which I had hoped to mount on foam insulation board to prop inside the tent for Halloween night. It might just be mounted on cardboard instead.

On top of the china cabinet in the dining room:

Sorry for the blurriness; I really need to find my tripod before the weekend. The witch on the right is a new acquisition this year, given to me by a friend at work who no longer decorates for Halloween. She is sound activated, and rocks back and forth and cackles. She's turned off at the moment because she is VERY sensitive.

And this is above the dining room table:

This little guy is motionless right now, but loud noises make him drop down about a foot before slowly ascending back to the fan. By the time I get some cobwebs up, he should be really impressive.

And that's the end of tonight's show, folks. There's a little more, but I'll save it until I set up for the party. Keep your fingers crossed that this crazy warm, wet and windy weather will end on Wednesday. (Did you like that little bit of alliteration?)

We've been under tornado watches and warnings all evening.

See Problem 4a.

I may just have to remove that countdown banner!

2010-10-20T10:00:00.001-04:00

It's making me crazy.

The graveyard is mostly up, but a few key pieces will be waiting until the last couple of days, because the neighborhood kids believe in hands-on learning. Some of them have been hanging around, offering to help, or giving their opinions on where things should go. Excuse me? lol

I finally had to make a Rule: If I am not out in the yard, you may NOT come play with my toys. All the batteries have now been removed from items and won't be reinstalled until next week, or else they'll die before Halloween ever gets here. Besides, there needs to be a little scare factor left.

Tomorrow I meet a guy from Craigslist to buy a couple more skeletons. They're new, 5 feet tall, movable, but not posable, and sturdy. What's been the most fun is that he and his wife are new at yard haunting, and I had the pleasure of introducing them to some of my favorite internet resources. I might should have waited until after I took possession of the skeletons, because he may decide he needs these two.

I still have potions to make and bottles to label, fabric to sew, pants to hem, walls to build, a firepit to buy and a house to clean. Oh, and pumpkins to carve. As soon as I buy them, that is. The inside decorating is mostly done, but there are still items to place. My plan is to have all the outside done by next Thurs, so I can do a dry run that night, lighting and all. That way, if there's a glitch or two, I still have Fri. to fix whatever. Once tonight is over, I have 3 more shifts to work, and then I'm off work for 12 nights! Well, not totally. The last two days will be spent in a certification class, and I have to study after SpookNight is over. But keep your fingers crossed the weather stays mild so things can get set up!

Oh, yeah, and the leaves have turned, too.

Mail Delivery

2010-10-05T18:59:00.000-04:00

Fall has arrived! Heck, it's almost winter at times--tonight's lows will be in the low to mid 30s. Daytime temps usually reach the low to mid 60s, and it takes a long time to get there.

Look what else arrived last week:

Julie of Quilter Behind the Barn Door (formerly Through the Barn Door) celebrated her 175th post with a giveaway and I won the selvages! I've been slowly collecting them for the past year or so with no particular project in mind yet, and this bag from Julie has probably doubled my collection.

This is how much I had before Julie's giveaway:

And now look how much:

She just recently attended a Quilt Show, and has several posts of eye candy, so you should treat yourself to a look at them. And take a look at her header--she's made some beautiful little autumn pumpkin quilts.

I also won this adorable handmade pumpkin girl from Jeanne, a Halloween Artist:

Is she not exquisite? She stands about 8 inches tall and the detail is awesome. Jeanne has a blog called The Candy Corn Chronicles and has more items on eBay. Even if you're not a Halloween geek yourself, her blog is a feast for the eyes.

Thanks, Julie and Jeanne! You made my week!

I know the Post Office is considering discontinuing Saturday mail delivery due to a decreased volume of snail mail, but they may as well wait until the first of December. These are the catalogs that came in today only:

Let the shopping begin!

Wednesday Weigh-In

2010-09-29T10:54:00.000-04:00

Ooops! I forgot that I was going to post something every Wednesday. Maybe just once a month is enough, anyway.

The group is still going strong, and we've added 2 new members since I joined, so if this is something you're considering, you can still jump in. As a group of 27, we've lost almost 300 lbs. Isn't that amazing?

My little piece of the pie is 19.8 lbs so far. My scale broke and I had to buy a new one, and this one measures in 2/10 of a pound increments, where my last one only measured in 0.5 lbs. The jury's still out on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Still in the same size clothes, but they fit so much more comfortably now. The swelling in my legs has gone down to almost nothing, and my knee only bothers me once in a while. I haven't started exercising yet, but probably will soon. Work has imposed lots of mandatory meetings lately (don't they know it's my busiest time of the year?), one of which is the annual Health Risk Assessment required to participate in their health insurance. They'll be checking our blood pressures, BMI, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugars. I'm anxious to see what my numbers are after 7 weeks on the South Beach Diet.

Yesterday I found another recipe we both like--and that's not easy!

It's on Kalyn's Kitchen again, and is a crockpot stew/soup, which is what the weather called for. I forgot to add the Parmesan cheese at the end, and I did modify the recipe to accomodate the beans I had on hand, but it was scrumptious! (Picture from her blog) Just looking at it makes me hungry all over again. Thank goodness there were leftovers.

Fall Blog Hops

2010-09-28T11:24:00.003-04:00

Finally, autumn weather has arrived! Yesterday morning started out with thunderstorms and rain straight through til at least 3:30 this morning. I left some windows open and froze my poor husband, so had to close them and turn the heat on for a little while to take the chilll off. Today is bright and sunny, but cool and so exhilerating.

There are some blogs celebrating fall and thought I'd share them, in case you haven't discovered them.

Found this one over at Positively Splendid.

This one is for quilters--check it out!

And for anyone even mildly interested in Halloween Art, this is an awesome giveaway:

(You know I had to put something in about Halloween.)

I think there was another quilty one starting out there, but can't find it right now. When I do, I'll post it!

AHA! Found it!

How I Spent my Day Off

2010-09-25T21:01:00.001-04:00

Since we've decided to have a Halloween party after all, I looked around with a critical eye--and the first thing I saw was the kitchen floor. Lately, no matter how much I've mopped, it still seems dirty, so I knew it was time to strip off the layers of old wax, and that meant ammonia. Yuk. So all day yesterday was spent scrubbing the floor, with frequent breaks to breathe fresh air, despite opening the windows and turning on the floor fan and the ceiling fan.

While I had the Hoosier partially emptied and pulled away from the wall, I decided to take a few pictures to show you. This was a Mother's Day gift about 10 years ago, bought from a consignment store in Albuquerque. I'm not sure it's the real thing, actually. The plate looks too shiny, for one thing.

And it looks as if it's been stripped and a stain wiped on the front and sides, but not the back, though the back looks to have old paint on it.

See how the top has been attached to the bottom? It's metal, but looks as if the piece has also had a brown stain wiped on it.

But it has a lot of what I've read are Hoosier features.

The two doors on the top open to shelving.

And the one on the side has the flour grinder. (Can you see it under the mess?) This is where you load the flour, or whatever you're grinding.

Underneath is the crank, that empties into your container.

The cutout had a glass rolling pin on the rack and I added some semi-old pharmacy bottles on the upper rack. Usually I keep my most frequently-used cookbooks standing here.

The bottom left cabinet has more shelving.

And the bottom drawer has a sliding metal top, the reason for which, I have no idea. I just store candles and candleholders in it.

It needs a good cleaning again; it's beginning to stick.

The metal tray on the top slides out,

and the wheels are the old small ones of yesteryear.

So, what do you think? Is it authentic, a mish-mash of old and new parts, or just a thrown-together piece of furniture?

I've been seriously considering changing out the hardware, because I'm sure those are new, and maybe painting the whole piece. I don't think it will change the value of the piece, and even if it does, who cares? I didn't buy it to resale, and it's mine to enjoy, anyway.

This piece I bought at a yard sale, also when in Albuquerque. A man had taken his childrens' old toy box and remade it, with screens in the front of each door.

He had painted a vine with leaves, and flower decals on the top. I took the decals off and changed the knobs, but haven't painted it yet, though that is definitely in the works. I just haven't decided exactly how. Right now it stores plastic baggies and in the bottom I used to keep potatoes and onions.

Well, everything's back in place for now. If you look closely, you can see I still have to take a brush to the edges where the floor meets the baseboards, and clean the baseboards, too, but that was all I could manage on one day off. Tuesday will find me on the floor with a mask, scrubbing away, and then reapplying a mop-on shine. All the floor will need before the party is damp mopping a few times.

Next will be both bathroom floors, and that should last for another year. It's a lot to try and get done this soon before Halloween, but we're coming up on more holidays and then hunkering in for the winter, and I like the house to be as clean as possible so all I have to do is decorate. And sew. And maybe paint the kitchen.

The Light's Right but the Temps are All Wrong

2010-09-24T10:55:00.002-04:00

So I heard yesterday was the first full day of autumn. Really? You'd be hard pressed to know it from walking around outside. Though the nights might dip into the upper 50s, daytime highs are still in the mid 80s. Thankfully, the humidity remains pretty low, and next week the highs should be in the mid 70s, but it just doesn't feel like fall yet.

My roses are still blooming.

The celosia finally took hold.

The phlox has renewed blooms.

My coleus plants just went nuts towards the end of the summer.

I've pinched the blossoms and tiny tomatoes off the tomato plants so all the energy will go to enlarging and ripening those hard green blobs, but I don't know if that'll be enough.

Here are the latest photos of the tipsy pots:

One of the pots below suffered greatly when we went to Birmingham for 4 days over Labor Day weekend and just never did recover.

The vinca in the top pot stayed pretty sparse, too, though the blossoms were lovely.

That's the problem with clay pots--they dry out so quickly. I've already talked with one of the little neighbor girls about paying her to water my plants if I'm going to be gone for a while, but it'll be next year before that happens again.

The moss rose in the second pot from the top was supposed to trail, but it didn't really. In the 4th pot I planted something with the moss rose (can't remember the name) and it looked much better than the moss roses.

I might plant vinca and moss rose again next year, but not in the tipsy pots.

The chilly mornings have made some of the insects rather sluggish.

This little wasp was just sitting there, not moving at all. Even when I disturbed the plant a little, he only twitched an antenna.

But there are some signs the season is changing. The jalapeno plant yielded up its last pepper yesterday, so it's been pulled up and tossed in the trash. The petunias are giving up the ghost, too, so most of them have been uprooted and I'm thinking of putting pansies in the pots instead. My neighbor planted 75 spring bulbs yesterday. Ron the Mower Man comes by only every 3 weeks now.

It's time to pick a permanent home for the Japanese maple and decide on which trees will replace the Bradford Pears I lost last winter. But the other Japanese maple is showing those lovely burgundy tips.

A lot of my herbs have been trimmed back or gone to flower. It wasn't a good year for the mint or
basil, but the lavender, parsley and chives have been outstanding.

The afternoons are shorter and showing that golden cast that signifies the changing of the seasons. The State Fair is over for another year.

My Halloween counter says it's only 37 days til October 31, and I should be getting a little sense of urgency here. I've ordered several items from Fright Catalog, Spirit Halloween and Grandin Road, and spent a few hours dismantling the red dresses as well as putting the first coat of paint on a display box for the glowing heart, and on the small coffin MightyMom gave me.

Last year, the party I'd planned was cancelled after Jack's hospitalization, and I hadn't given it another thought since then. But at least 3 people have asked if we were having it this year, and one gal arranged her schedule to be off the weekend in order to come. So it looks as if the party's on for this year. The decorations are going up anyway, so why not? But nothing elaborate--just going to throw a couple pots of chili on the stove and maybe make some grilled cheese sandwiches, and everyone can just bring something to share.

A friend asked if we had a fireplace or outdoor firepit to toast marshmallows, and we don't, but I'm thinking the place in the center of the yard where the old oak tree was taken down will serve as a good place to make a firepit. There are no trees close by, and the hose will reach as a water source, and it's right in the center of the action for this year's yard haunt, so I just need to dig out the leftover mulch and encircle it with the scalloped cement borders. What a great place to tell ghost stories, huh? Guess I need to head back to the thrift stores to find wire coat hangers. Gee, another trip to the thrift shops. What a hardship.

Junkin'

2010-09-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was gorgeous: sunny, low humidity, and it started off cool but warmed up to the mid-80s during the day. I'd been watching too many episodes of American Pickers, I guess, but it felt like a good day to go junkin'.

Mostly, I was looking for Halloween items, but I found all kinds of goodies.

I've been wanting an old double boiler to use for candlemaking--well, mostly melting down those old chips of candles to make more--and just stumbled upon this one. My next trip to Michael's, I'll get some wicks and I'm set.

At the same place, I found the book on herbs. I know I under-utilize the ones I grow, so this should give me some ideas. There's always the internet, of course, but nothing beats a book if you're going to lie in a hammock or work in the kitchen.

Look what else was there:

I found this beauty for $15.00--and it's at least 90 years old! After a little lubricating, I got the burner element unstuck and cleaned and she burns well. Later I'll check out the pattern in my books.

I broke one of their other lamps--not an oil lamp, but a small glass table lamp. This place is a warehouse, with multiple small rooms, and some dusty, dark ones. There was a rickety old staircase with lamps on one side of a narrow passageway, and a glass display case with knick-knacks on the other. I had my eye on the knick-knacks and brushed a lampshade with my shoulder. I managed to catch that lamp, but knocked it into another lamp that went crashing to the floor. The owners were really nice about it and said the stairs were probably too crowded anyway. They were, but I should have been more careful. Anyway, they didn't charge me for the broken lamp.

There was also this large old Ball jar, patented 1930, for $3.00. I'm going to paint the lid black and use it for a specimen jar for Halloween.

There were 3 more places I wanted to hit, but I spent so much time in the warehouse, it was almost 5pm when I finished and the other places were closing. Another day, maybe.

Three red dresses also came home with me. To avoid double-posting, I wrote my plans for those on the other blog.

The WNC state fair is going on right now, and I was debating going over there today, while it's not so crowded, but there are several sewing/quilting things I want to accomplish, and I'm afraid the scent of Polish sausages and baklava might be too much to resist.

Then again, there's always this weekend...

Remember

2010-09-11T17:49:00.000-04:00

Seriously Yummy Simple Desserts

2010-09-10T04:38:00.000-04:00

One of my nieces can cook but rarely does. The other one loves to cook. For this past Labor Day celebration, Bethany made one of these desserts and told her sister how to make the other. I was a very good girl and didn't have any, but the recipes look delicious, and Jack assured me they were.

The rat.

Anyway, I give you Bethany's recipes:

4-LAYER DESSERT

First Layer
1 C flour
1 C chopped pecans
1 stick butter, melted

Mix together and press flat on bottom of pan. Bake at 350 until golden brown.

Second Layer
1 C confectioner's sugar
1 small container Cool Whip
12 oz cream cheese, softened

Mix on medium to high speed. When crust cools, spread this layer on top of crust.

Third Layer
2 boxes instant chocolate pudding

Mix as directed on box and spread on top of white mixture (2nd layer).

Fourth Layer
Top with another small container Cool Whip and sprinkle with more pecan pieces.

Now, my sister-in-law said she's made this, using instant lemon pudding instead of chocolate, and coconut instead of pecans on top. This version sounds equally tasty to me.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE

1 Graham cracker pie crust
1 pkg Chips Ahoy cookies
1 C milk
1 container Cool Whip

Dip cookies in milk and layer evenly over pie crust. Cover with layer of Cool Whip. Continue with layers of milk-soaked cookies and Cool Whip to desired depth. Crumble several dry cookies and sprinkle on top.

Could this one get any easier?

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the desserts, but I was having serious cravings and couldn't trust myself to focus on them. You'll just have to use your imaginations.

Maybe I'll make the easy one and take it to work one night...like when I have a stomach flu or something.

Labor Day Fun

2010-09-07T23:55:00.001-04:00

Jack and I headed down to Alabama this weekend to see family--some of whom I've never laid eyes on, and some I haven't seen in 10 years or more. It was fantastic!

We couldn't all get together at the same time, which is probably a good thing, but we got to see all my nieces, nephews, in-laws and out-laws, grandnephews and my grandniece.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend:

(This one's for you, Audrey!)

(The water was only 73 degrees, but we were all crazy enough to go in with our clothes on!)

(Well, not ALL of us. Some had good sense.)

There was a ton of food; we are Southerners after all. Got a couple of super simple, yummy dessert recipes from a niece. At least, I heard they were yummy. I didn't try any myself but dang it, I sure wanted to. Don't know if I can adapt them, but I'm hoping so. We got back this evening and I'm too tired to hunt them up right now, so I'll post them later in the week.

Hope you all had at least half as good a time as I did!

Smooching Babies

2010-09-06T23:49:00.000-04:00

I've been smooching babies--back with pictures and a couple of recipes on Tues--maybe Wed.

Wednesday Weigh-In

2010-09-01T10:26:00.000-04:00

Remember when I had my stress echocardiogram in March of last year? All those resolves I had to lose weight, attain better lab results?

Well, somewhere along the way I've strayed. Mightily. Chalk it up to whatever, but they are only excuses, not good reasons. My doctor has only been prescribing a month's worth of anti-cholesterol tabs at a time, as this is his way of blackmailing me to come in, so I caved and went and had my labs drawn.

Yesterday was my appointment to go over the results with him.

They were awful.

I had a suspicion they would be; after all, I reached my highest weight ever about 3 weeks ago. I have been so uncomfortable, huffing and puffing at the least bit of exertion, almost unable to tie my shoes. It was disgusting and disheartening. The South Beach Diet worked for me before, but I kept putting it off, dreading doing without simple carbs for 2 weeks. Who really wants to give up ice cream, baked potatoes, bread, and those yummy Reese's cups?

But something clicked in my head. Enough. I scheduled the labwork, started the diet, and bit the bullet. It hasn't been easy. The first two days I felt awful, headachey, irritable and overwhelmed. Jack is trying to be supportive, but he's a white bread, sweets after supper, meat and potatoes kind of guy. Some nights I end up cooking different dishes for each of us, and there have been a couple of off-days spent cooking to have things ready to take to work. I really don't like to cook. I just like to eat.

But the good part is, I've lost 12 lbs already! Although I haven't dropped a size yet, my clothes are not so constricting, and I haven't had to buy the next size up, thank goodness. My center of gravity has changed, too, making me feel lighter and more energetic. Another few pounds and I will start an exercise program. My knees have been taking the brunt of the weight, and the left one has really been bothering me, so I need to lose just a little more so it can tolerate long walks.

My doc and I have set a date in December to recheck my labwork. Hopefully I will be able to come off the diabetic medication he started me on yesterday. I hated to start it, but it's time to swallow my pride and accept that I need help--from several sources.
To that end, I've also joined Stephanie's Wednesday Weigh-In to hold myself accountable. Her blog is A Ditchin' Time Quilts and she's had this group going for over 3 months now. The group loss should exceed 200 lbs sometime today! Check it out, and it's not too late to join up with us, if you're facing the same challenges. There's comfort in numbers, you know. Well, numbers of people, not numbers of pounds.

And if you're interested in the South Beach Diet, besides the official website, there's a blogger who has been developing some really yummy-sounding recipes after losing 42 lbs on the diet. Her site is Kalyn's Kitchen, and I plan to spend some more time browsing her blog. Her recipes are a bit more down-to-earth than the South Beach folks'.

So, anyway, every Wed. I'll have a brief post about my progress. This is your advance warning, in case you want to skip it!

Saturday Fun

2010-08-21T16:04:00.003-04:00

Within 24 hours, all this appeared on my front steps, courtesy of UPS and the US Post Office:

First, from MightyMom, wrapped in fabric scraps (that I am about to look at more closely):

a papier mache skull.

You can never have too many skulls.

And this little casket, which, when opened, emits a Fun House type laugh which goes on as long as the box is open. I have plans for this small casket.

Next, from Victorian Trading Company, this set of electric candles, perfect across a shelf or windowsill.

There are 5 groups of three.

And, of course, THE pincushion.

Jeepers, it's tall! But I love it!

Then, from Dark Candles:

Tea light votives in Clove, Graveyard, and Bonfire scents. I think they'll smell great in the jack-o-lanterns.

I like it a lot, even though it's not red as it was labeled.

I'd call it purple, wouldn't you?

Which is fine with me, as purple is my favorite color.

However, it isn't what I ordered. This is what I ordered:

I want it for my Gyspy tent.

I've sent an email to the gal at Dark Candles to work out a solution, because, now that I have the purple one, I want to keep it. It's taller and I can envision it on another table or shelf in the tent. This red one needs to be right beside me and the crystal ball, don't you think?

Yesterday was like Christmas here!

This morning I got up and showered and went out to the tailgate market for some fresh eggs and vegetables. I know I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoy going out there and seeing all the stands and jars of fresh-cut flowers and lovely colors. Today there was a banjo picker out there entertaining folks, and a big yellow lab on a leash, walking along with his owner and cleaning up all the stray green beans near the trucks. He'd hit the motherlode and he was happy!

I drove to another fruit and vegetable stand, where an older gentleman is usually parked with a couple of helpers. I've cared for him and his grandson both in my hospital, and he was an inpatient only a couple of weeks ago. Since I wasn't his nurse that time, I don't know what was wrong with him, but today his open air shed is locked and completely empty. It appears he has closed up shop. I'm sorry to see that.

Back at home I unloaded the car and fixed myself a late breakfast, then got back in and went out to get my hair cut. In the same small shopping center is one of our 2 local quilt shops. I stopped in for some machine needles.

I came out with a bit more.

All the "fun fabrics" were 30% off today. If I'd known before checkout, I might have bought more!

Lovely fall array. I never can pass up fall-colored fabrics.

Nor could I pass up this panel fabric. I had to fold it in half to get all of the panels in.

I really like that spooky tree.

One of the blogs I visited last year had some stuffed fabric candy canes, and I've been collecting some red and white fabrics to make my own. Let's hope they get made for this Christmas.

Now it's raining steadily outside and I'm dying to get into the sewing room, but the kitchen is a disaster, and it's not long til I need to start supper. Guess I'll toss all this in the washer and hope for a nice rainy day tomorrow. Somehow I am more inspired when it's cloudy and dreary. Maybe it's the contrast of bright fabric with overcast skies.

Does the weather have any effect on your productivity or creativity?