It's a Wonderful Life

Hi, Anyone Who's Still Out There!

I did it!  I retired from nursing after 45 years!  Last shift was August 14, and check out my retirement gift to myself:

To paraphrase Shelby from Steel Magnolias, "Purple is my signature color".  It's almost all grown out now, and faded to lavender, but I still get compliments on it.  It was also the first color Hazel learned to identify. So, I'm getting it done again the end of January, if not before.

We sold the house, too. This past summer was even more of a headache than I anticipated, since we found a house in VA and submitted an offer 2 weeks before we listed our house. Not the smartest decision I ever made, but houses were moving fast in NC and VA, and I was afraid of losing out on one of the few houses that met our criteria. This new house not only ticked off all our needs, but all my wants, too. It was a nail-biter, what with having to do some additional, unexpected repairs on the old house, re-scheduling the closing date in VA, and dealing with a seller's agent who tried to sabotage closing. But we made it happen!

This year's Halloween decor was skimpy, most of it not yet unpacked, but we moved into a neighborhood where kids from all over come to trick-or-treat. Everybody decorates! (Well, except the Mennonites. There's a pretty large number of them living around here.) We had probably 150 kiddos (including my adorable granddaughter) in two hours!

Dawn  bought her first house in October, and her whole septic system had to be redone before the lenders would sign off on it. I am totally convinced that HGTV lies to us. The "problems" on their shows just don't compare to the ones in real life, do they? At any rate, we are now only 35 minutes apart. We haven't all lived in the same state since 2002! My sister-in-law, the wife of my brother who died in 2014, flew up for Thanksgiving and we all celebrated it at my daughter's house. It's the first time in decades that I have celebrated Thanksgiving on the actual date, eating traditional Thanksgiving food, and spent it with anyone who wasn't Jack. It was wonderful!

The house is a work in progress. I still have boxes to unpack, furniture that needs to be moved to yet another place in the house, a garage where Jack still cannot park, and two sewing machines that haven't seen the light of day in 4 months. There are toddler clothes and diapers in my guest bedroom dresser; a booster seat, wildly colored utensils and bibs in my kitchen; episodes of Thomas the train and Sesame Street on the DVR; Nemo and Dory slippers in the closet; shelves of toys and books in the office; and a car seat in the SUV.  But a little voice asks "Po'sy (can't get that second P in there yet), watch choo-choo Thomas?" as soon as she wakes up from sleep-overs;  "Meen-go (Mango) holp?" putting on her shoes; and squeals of "I hiding!" when I find a munchkin in the master closet.

I hope I never have to work again.

Semi-Annual Update

Hello, Blogland. I really do want to get caught up, both with my blog and yours, and I'm going to work it back into my schedule. This month. Which is less than a week left, but who's counting? Seems I don't get much accomplished besides work, some housework, PT on a painful knee, and trips to VA to see our sweet granddaughter.

Speaking of which, let me catch you up on her birth and growth:

Hazel Marilla and her mommy face to face for the very first time.

 

 

Meeting "Popsy"

 

Going home

 

"Mango" is the Baby Whisperer

 

Hazel and Mommy at 1 month

 

Easter--2 months old

 

 

 

Three  and 1/2 months old

 

Liking "tummy time" much more now

 

Jumparoos are fun! 

 

 

We only get to go up there every 6-8 weeks, and she changes so fast! Dawn has a tiny house, so we always have to stay in a motel, and that gets expensive after a while, even with deals. My hope is to semi-retire next summer, put the house on the market, and move to VA. I can't stand her having her grow up so far from us, and Dawn could use the help. She's a great mom, but times like a month ago when they were both sick, can be overwhelming when you're a single parent. Just gotta convince the hubs. Moving again at our age is a daunting thought, and no fun, but I really want to be a bigger part of Hazel's life.

 

Haven't been sewing much, just working on the drapes for Hazel's room--which are taking forever! Never try to make drapes long distance. It just doesn't work. Hope to get those finished soon so I can get back to doing what I really love--cutting up fabrics and putting them back together again!

 

 

 

 



Cycling Back Through Again

Since Facebook, I've spent most of my time keeping up with friends and family there. And after Google discontinued Blogger, it's been harder to find my favorite blogs. But I've missed reading about your lives and your activities and your quilts, so I'm going to get back to my favorites and start over again. Don't think I can catch up on the past 2 years all at once, so forgive me if I ask stupid questions in your comment sections!

Still living in NC, still working in hospice, never have enough time to get everything done--same old, same old!  Jack is good, Tandi is battling another health crisis, I've joined Weight Watchers and lost 31 lbs, and--we're going to be grandparents any day now!

 



 DD has never found a guy she felt she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, but her biological clock was ticking. Loudly. (She's 36). So she went to a fertility clinic and decided to become a single mom. Her due date was Jan. 23, but I told her my grandchild wanted a purple birthstone, so it looks like it will be an amethyst after all. It's going to be a girl, and probably a pretty laid back little gal, based on the easy pregnancy and said baby's reluctance to vacate the premises right now.

Since DD lives 7 hours away, we paid for a doula for her, so she wouldn't have to go through the whole process alone.

This is the baby bump Thanksgiving weekend. We got to see her a couple of weeks before Christmas, but not since then, so I've requested another belly pic. DD's doing the nursery in a woodland theme:

Everything is all set up and ready now, except for the curtains, which Grandma has been trying to make. However, my machine is mal-functioning right now, and I can't figure out why.  It's a Bernina 1130S, and this is what it's doing:

 

 

I changed out the needle, and it did fine for about 45 minutes, but has started balling up and wrapping around the bobbin again. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I've checked to make sure it's threaded correctly, and it is. The fabric is $17.00/yd, the most expensive fabric I've ever sewn, and this is making me nervous. As the rate this is going, granddaughter will be entering kindergarten before I get her curtains finished. (that's scrap fabric above).

Any ideas will be appreciated!

Vincent Price's The Raven

I'm back--is anyone still out there?

It was only supposed to be a little break--but it's been almost 10 months since I've posted. And I'm still not sure I have anything worth blogging about!  Not to mention I have to dust off the camera and get busy with pics.

We've all had some health issues. My diabetic meds weren't controlling my sugars last fall, so I was dragging my way through the days and not realizing what was going on, because I'd quit checking my sugars. Bad girl. They had been stable so long, I just took it for granted they'd stay that way, even though I know diabetes is a progressive disease.

So my doc added Actos in early Dec., which controlled my sugars very well. Problem was, the side effects were awful--chest pain, shortness of breath, weight gain, blurred vision, back pain, and-- overwhelming fatigue. I was right back where I started. March we stopped that and tried going with only the Januvia again, but that still wasn't enough. Then we tried the Januvia with Metformin, even though I historically couldn't tolerate those side effects either. Nothing's changed there--still can't tolerate Metformin. Now we're trying only Glipizide. If that doesn't work, we go to Victoza, which is an injectable non-insulin medication. My doc says starting insulin on a type II diabetic is a slippery slope and we're trying to avoid that. So far, so good.

J-Man is doing okay--has a biopsy scheduled for Tues., so we will know more in a week or so. It's a guy thing.

Tandi--my little furbaby--finally healed from her second knee surgery and rehab and all was well for 5 months. Then she began getting very lethargic, feverish, and wasn't eating. And when she doesn't eat, she's really sick. Thought it might be dental-related, but it wasn't that, and during the cleaning, she really bled. Her platelets were pretty low. A week on antibiotics didn't change that, and didn't stop the fever, and her platelets dropped more. Her vet had me take her to the veterinary hospital in Greenville, SC, about an hour away, where they kept her for 6 nights over Memorial Day weekend. Turns out she has an autoimmune disease that kills off her platelets, and she could have bled out. The platelets should have been around 200,000, but they dropped to 2,000 at one point.

But they managed to turn her around, and now she's on Cyclosporin ( at $100.00/ 30 pills) and Prednisone. A cocker spaniel on Prednisone? Can you say "voracious" appetite? Poor little thing wants to eat constantly. I had to take the toilet paper off the roll and put it up on the counter, because she was unraveling that to eat it. Two weeks ago I bought a big basket of peaches at the local farmer's market to put up for freezing, and the little foodie managed to get 3 of them out and eat them before I caught her! She gets green beans in her food at suppertime, because the fiber makes her feel fuller, and I go through a huge bag of carrots about every two weeks, because we give her those for snacks during the day. And apples. I've never had a teenage boy, but I'll bet it's not much different!

 

I'm still loving Hospice nursing--can't imagine going back to hospital nursing. I'd retire first. The plan was to stay at the inpatient unit for a while, then go to home hospice, but I'm so happy where I am, I'm planning to stay for now. Plus, I think I like the structure. My job can be difficult at times--the families, especially, break my heart--but it's so rewarding. I feel blessed to be a part of their lives at this critical time, and sometimes I can make a difference. And that's what we all want, isn't it? To make a difference in this world?

(Taken from our facility last Dec.)

In other news, the countdown to Hallowe'en is on. I'd almost decided not to do it this year, as it gets harder every year to come up with something different, and get it all set up and taken down by myself. Plus, I was scheduled to work. But a couple of months ago, a young mother was pushing a stroller down my street, with another small son, maybe 4 years old, trailing behind. I was out working in the yard (before the Great Monsoon of  '13) and she waved and called "Just want you to know how much we enjoy your yard every year at Hallowe'en!" I thanked her and asked the little guy what he was dressed as last year. He said he was a character from "Cars"  (I don't remember who) and he's going to be Darth Vader this year. I was suckered in. The show must go on. I requested off and got it, and the planning and search for props are in full swing. More later.

 

I was doing pretty well at reading your blogs until Google  discontinued its Reader (though they still let you post--where's the sense in that?). Took me a while to find bloglovin', so now I can find out what you've all been up to this summer.  8^)

Anyway, if you're still out there, thanks for hanging with me. I'll try not to let you down again.